OBJECTIVE
The therapeutic alliance is recognized as an important contributor to treatment outcomes. In this study, the session-to-session interplay of the alliance (as perceived by the patient) and alcohol involvement (drinking days and heavy drinking days between successive treatment sessions) was examined. The analyses also tested the extent to which pretreatment changes in drinking altered these interrelationships.

METHOD
Participants (N = 63) seeking treatment for an alcohol use disorder received 12 weeks of CBT for alcohol dependence and completed weekly assessments of the alliance.

RESULTS
Higher session alliance scores at a given session significantly predicted lower alcohol involvement (both drinking days and heavy drinking days) in the period until the next treatment session, controlling for previous alcohol involvement. This relationship was further moderated by pretreatment change (changes in drinking before the first treatment session). Among those who demonstrated low pretreatment change, alliances continued to predict alcohol involvement. In contrast, alliances were not associated with alcohol involvement among those who significantly reduced their drinking before the first treatment session (high pretreatment changers). Finally, alcohol involvement during the period preceding a treatment session did not significantly predict alliance ratings.

CONCLUSIONS
These data demonstrate that more positive patient ratings of the alliance at any given treatment session are associated with less alcohol involvement during the period until the next treatment session, most particularly among patients who have not initiated reductions in their drinking before the first treatment session. For such patients, efforts to maximize therapeutic alliances may be warranted and productive. (PsycINFO Database Record


Pigment in mammals is produced in melanocytes of the skin derived from the neural crest and in the pigmented epithelial cells of the retina derived from the optic cup. Tyrosinase (monophenol, L-dopa:oxygen oxidoreductase, EC 220.127.116.11) is regarded as the key enzyme in pigment synthesis in both these cell types. In this study, we have investigated the temporal regulation of expression of the tyrosinase gene during early eye development and in the developing hair follicle of the mouse by in situ hybridization and have asked whether transgenes would precisely mimick this pattern. We show that the mouse tyrosinase gene is expressed in the pigment epithelium of the retina as early as day 10.5 of gestation. In the hair follicle, tyrosinase gene expression in melanocytes is detected from day 16.5 onwards. This cell type-specific and temporal expression is largely reproduced in transgenic mice carrying a tyrosinase minigene. Our results suggest that sequences in the immediate vicinity of the mouse tyrosinase gene are sufficient to provide cell-type specificity and developmental regulation in melanocytes and in the pigment epithelium.


Summary Hashimoto's encephalopathy (HE) is rarely reported with only a few hundred cases published. Diagnosis is made in patients with an appropriate clinical picture and high antithyroperoxidase (anti-TPO) antibodies after infectious, toxic and metabolic causes of encephalopathy have been excluded. There is little objective data on the neurocognitive impairment in patients with HE and their improvement with treatment. We present the case of a 28-year-old woman with HE. Approach to management was novel as objective neuropsychological assessment was used to assess her clinical condition and response to treatment. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) as the first-line treatment instead of steroids. She responded well. The case illustrates that a different approach is required for the diagnosis and treatment of HE. A new diagnostic criteria is proposed that includes neurocognitive assessment, serum and CSF antibodies, an abnormal EEG and exclusion of other causes of encephalopathy. Furthermore, treatment should be tailored to the patient. Learning points: Neurocognitive assessment should be carried out to assess the extent of brain involvement in suspected Hashimoto's encephalopathy pre- and post- treatment. Treatment of Hashimoto's encephalopathy should be tailored to the patient. Unifying diagnostic criteria for Hashimoto's encephalopathy must be established.


Nanoparticles, with their distinct properties that vary from their bulk material equivalent, continue to gain popularity for studies into multi-modal applications in medicine. This research introduces the use of thulium oxide nanoparticles for biological applications and characterizes the potential of this novel nanoparticle for image-guided radiotherapy of brain cancer. In this study, we investigate the structural characteristics of this nanoparticle, and reveal a significant dose enhancement towards radioresistant brain tumour cells in vitro that also underlies an improvement in the CT image contrast of brain tumours in vivo. The thulium oxide nanoparticles utilized in the investigations described in this article were measured to be 40–45 nm from x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy data. In vitro investigations assessed the cell survival and DNA damage in 9 l gliosarcoma cells following irradiation with 150 kVp orthovoltage x-rays. Immediately after the 150 kVp irradiation (15 min) an increase in the number of γ-H2AX induced foci indicates the production of more double-strand DNA breaks. Following from the short time-frame irradiation outcomes, clonogenic cell survival assays confirmed long-term radio-sensitization, with the cell sensitivity increasing by a factor of 1.32 (measured at the 10% survival fraction) for the irradiated 9 l cells exposed to thulium nanoparticles. A simple CT experiment shows that our thulium nanoparticles suspended in water at concentrations >0.5 mg ml−1 (0.05–20 mg ml−1 investigated) are clearly observable against water. Extending the CT experiment to an in vivo investigation, cellular uptake of the nanoparticles was demonstrated through CT image enhancement of the cancer site in 9- to 10-week-old Fisher rats bearing 9 l gliosarcomas, 12 days after cell implantation. The 9 l cancer is clearly visible on the CT image after injecting 40 μg of nanoparticles (2 μl at 20 mg ml−1) directly to the cancer site (5.5 mm from the dura and 3.5 mm right laterally of the bregma, 5 mm depth). To our knowledge, this work demonstrates the first application of thulium nanoparticles in biology and medicine, for radiotherapy and image guidance purposes


This paper quantifies the finance uncertainty multiplier (i.e., the magnifying effect of the real impact of uncertainty shocks due to financial frictions) by relying on two historical events related to the US economy, i.e., the large jump in financial uncertainty occurred in October 1987 (which was not accompanied by a deterioration of the credit supply conditions), and the comparable jump in financial uncertainty in September 2008 (which went hand-in-hand with an increase in financial stress). Working with a VAR framework and a set-identification strategy which focuses on - but it is not limited to - restrictions related to these two dates, we estimate the finance uncertainty multiplier to be equal to 2, i.e., credit supply disruptions are found to double the negative output response to an uncertainty shock. We then employ our model to estimate the overall economic cost of the COVID-19-induced uncertainty shock under different scenarios. Our results point to the possibility of a cumulative yearly loss of industrial production as large as 31% if credit supply gets disrupted. Liquidity interventions that keep credit conditions as healthy as they were before the COVID-19 uncertainty shock are found to substantially reduce such loss.


Background Recently, total hip arthroplasty (THA) has come to focus on restoration of individual anatomy including femoral neck anteversion and global offset (femoral and acetabular offset). Three-dimensional (3D) computed tomography (CT) data could provide a better basis for preoperative templating. The use of CT has been hampered by high radiation dose. Purpose To evaluate the effective dose used in pelvis and hip CT for THA templating. Material and Methods CT data from two clinical trials of THA were evaluated for CT scan length and volume CT dose index (CTDIvol). The effective doses from hip-knee-ankle CT and pelvis and hip radiography were compared. Conversion factors for effective dose for radiography were calculated using the PCXMC software. Results A reduced dose CT protocol for pelvis imaging gave a substantial dose reduction compared with standard CT, while maintaining sufficient image quality. Between the two clinical trials there was a significant reduction in effective CT dose corresponding to changes in the CT protocol (P < 0.01). The CT dose for the latter group was similar to, but nevertheless significantly higher than for, radiography (P < 0.01). However, in the latter group the theoretical minimum dose for CT, using the minimum scan length required by the templating software, was equal to the dose from radiography. Conclusion Although the CT dose remained higher than for radiography, potential reductions in scan length could reduce the dose further so that CT would have a comparable level of risk to radiography with the added benefit of 3D templating.


Twitter, as a form of social media, is fast emerging in recent years. Users are using Twitter to report real-life events. This paper focuses on  detecting those events by analyzing the text stream in Twitter. Although event detection has long been a research topic, the characteristics of Twitter make it a non-trivial task. Tweets reporting such events are usually overwhelmed by high flood of meaningless "babbles". Moreover, event detection algorithm needs to be scalable given the sheer amount of tweets. This paper attempts to tackle these challenges with EDCoW (Event Detection with Clustering of Wavelet-based Signals). EDCoW builds signals for individual words by applying wavelet analysis on the frequencybased raw signals of the words. It then filters away the trivial words by looking at their corresponding signal autocorrelations. The remaining words are then clustered to form events with a modularity-based graph partitioning technique. Experimental results show promising result of EDCoW.


An American war on terror has profound rhetorical, political, and legal implications. Someday, perhaps not too far off, this war will end in all senses. This paper, anticipating the end of that long war, uses the artifice of a draft speech by President Obama to a joint session of Congress to shape the future. Weaving policy and law, the President explains the factors that caused him to conclude that the United States can shift exclusively to the criminal justice system for handling the problem of domestic and international terrorism.President George W. Bush, after the 9/11 attacks, coined the war-on-terror phrase. For a while, the phrase was useful in motivating the American public and its allies against terrorism. Eventually, it went stale. President Obama, in his 2009 speech at the National Archives, recognized this staleness and instructed his administration to discard the phrase as much as possible. The rhetorical value was gone.A president at war has enhanced powers. He can point to the commander-in-chief clause and seek congressional authorizations for the use of force. Indeed, a week after 9/11, Congress boosted President Bush's power through an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). This authorization continues to boost President Obama's power. Therefore, his conclusion that the long war is over would arguably diminish his own power under both the Constitution and the AUMF.Other American armed conflicts came to relatively clear endings. An unconditional ceasefire was accepted; a treaty was signed; a presidential proclamation was issued; or a statute was amended. For over two centuries, when courts have been called upon to define a war's endpoint to interpret statutes, contracts, or other legal instruments, they have deferred to the actions or inactions of the political branches. But, as commentators have delighted in noting, the long war will not end with an exchange of pens on an aircraft carrier — or anything comparable. So, if this war is to ever end, at least one political branch must take action. Accordingly, the Supreme Court in Boumediene v. Bush implored the other two branches in 2008 to provide more guidance in defining the "outer boundaries of war powers."An end to the long war, as explained in the president's hypothetical January 2015 speech, would affect many policies: targeting suspected terrorists outside conventional war zones; detaining suspected terrorists in Guantanamo, Bagram, and other locations; snatching and transferring suspected terrorists between points outside the United States; triggering financial sanctions by national emergencies; and maintaining secrecy to keep these and other tactics in the shadows. On the other hand, policies unconnected to war powers (e.g. prosecutions for material support to terrorists) would continue.Declaring an end to the long war is not only about law. It creates the potential of a political boomerang. If a terrorist attack occurs after the speech, the President will be accused of having let down his guard. For this reason, the President's speech will require great finesse. He will need to explain why terrorism can be handled as something other than a military problem at the same time he tells the country to be resigned to additional attacks. President Obama, an able instructor, will use this speech to educate the American people about terrorism's evolution.The killing of al Qaeda's leader, Osama Bin Laden, in May 2011 was a clear victory against international terrorists. Even so, the threat continues. It is not clear whether al Qaeda remains a top-down organization or whether it has been reduced to a brand or a franchise. Those who believe it is a mistake to think about al Qaeda in terms of an organizational chart choose other metaphors: virus, mold, or cancer, to name a few. Whatever the metaphor, it appears that al Qaeda is more diffused today, more decentralized than on 9/11. Besides al Qaeda, homegrown terrorists have emerged as greater threats, whether Yemenis in Lackawanna, Somalis in the Twin Cities, or lone wolves anywhere in America.


This research investigates wine drinkers' engagement with sparkling wine, including why they drink it, how they evaluate it, and certain country‐based preferences they have for it. It used qualitative processes with both professional and non‐professional informants, and was designed to explore in depth what drinkers feel about the product and their appraisal of its quality. The study confirms some existing assumptions about sparkling wine (for instance, its role as a symbol of celebration and country of origin issues) but also offers new suggestions about its function. Specifically, the study suggests that consumption of sparkling wine has more symbolic than experiential significance — and specifically that the role of memory and recollection may be important for some consumers. It also highlights the problems many drinkers have evaluating sparkling wine due to factors inherent in the style of wine (such as delicacy and mousse), as well as extraneous issues such as a paucity of benchmarks. The findings are useful to the marketer of sparkling wine as they offer insights into the motivation of those who drink it.


To be able to score the aesthetic and emotional appealing of digital pictures through the usage of ad-hoc computational frameworks is now affordable. It is possible to combine lowlevel features and composition rule to extract semantic issues devoted to isolate the degree of emotional appealing of the involved subject. We propose to assess the aesthetic quality assessment on a general set of photos focusing on consumer photos with faces. Taking into account local spatial relation between involved faces and coupling such information with simple composition rule an effective aesthetic scoring is obtained. A further contribution of the proposed solution is the novel usage of the involved facial expressions and relative pose to derive additional insights to the overall procedure. Preliminary experiments and comparisons with recent solution in the field confirm the effectiveness of the proposed tool.


Research has shown that marine ecosystems are not only complex but also extremely difficult to replicate. Reef aquarists aim to replicate these marine ecosystems within aquariums in their homes, for the aesthetic beauty of such coral reef tanks. To assist aquarists in the task of maintaining environmental parameters in their tanks, a number of control and monitoring systems have been created through the advancement of embedded systems.

The project, that this thesis is based on, involves the development of a control and monitoring system for a marine ecosystem sustained within an aquarium. The aim for the system was to control and monitor water parameters not yet considered by existing systems, in turn improving the stability of the ecosystem and reducing maintenance of the aquarium.

As a part of this report, significant research was undertaken to assess existing systems and further understand the important water parameters necessary for marine ecosystems.

The main focus of this thesis was to outline the approach, design and implementation of the control and monitoring system. This includes details on the systems selected features including:

Control and monitoring of pH, Dissolved Oxygen, Temperature and Salinity.
Control of realistic lighting.
Control and monitoring of system parameters, water levels, pumps and other equipment.
HMI interface for easy monitoring.

To facilitate these features a PiLeven microcontroller has been programmed as a master device and performs all control and monitoring functions along with the communication to slave sensors. Additionally a Raspberry Pi microprocessor was utilised as the computer interface enabling the programming of the microcontroller and HMI for monitoring. At the completion of this thesis all aspects of the control and monitoring system are considered complete aside from the control of the pH and Salinity. Despite this the control and monitoring system was effectively implemented and is ready to house a marine ecosystem.


This paper provides a summary of key reports and papers published by UK HE sector organisations between September 2016 and January 2017.  The organisations and groups covered are: Department for Education (DfE); Disabled Students' Sector Leadership Group; Higher Education Academy (HEA); Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE); Heads of e-Learning Forum (HeLF); Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI); Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA); Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR); Jisc; jobs.ac.uk; Leadership Foundation for Higher Education (LFHE); New Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff; Northern Universities Consortium (NUCCAT); Office for Fair Access (OFFA); Prospects/Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS); Quality Assurance Agency (QAA); Social Market Foundation; Student and Assessment Classification Working Group (SACWG); Social Mobility Advisory Group (SMAG); Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS); University and College Union (UCU); Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association (UCISA); and Universities UK (UUK). The themes covered in this paper include: HE participation and enrolments; academic teaching qualifications; recruitment of teaching staff; the Higher Education and Research Bill (including the Teaching Excellence Framework); teaching quality; the Bell Review; re-assessment practice; supporting technology-enhanced learning; learning analytics; learning spaces; student satisfaction; equality and diversity; admissions and unconscious bias; supporting transition (in university and after graduation); student wellbeing; university rankings; partnership in universities; civic engagement; internationalisation; and alternate providers of HE.


This paper forms part of an ongoing, multidisciplinary study of land degradation in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. A series of studies of erosion, runoff and the development of gullies, badlands and sediment delivery to small farm reservoirs in the Sneeuberg uplands have shown that the semi‐arid Karoo is vulnerable to soil erosion. Cereal cultivation and increased livestock numbers are thought to have played a major role in triggering erosion over the last 200 years. To test this assumption, we analysed pollen, non‐pollen palynomorphs and microscopic charcoal from sediments that have infilled one farm dam since the 1930s and which is located in the Sneeuberg uplands of the Eastern Cape. The results, supported by sediment source tracing, indicate that soil erosion was closely associated with agricultural activity. The reconstructions appear to be in agreement with historical documentary records. However, records of livestock stocking densities were found to be insufficiently detailed to enable direct matching against microfossil proxies for grazing, especially the coprophilous fungal spore, Sporormiella type. This study demonstrates the importance of combining sediment tracing techniques with palynological analyses to provide a more informed interpretation of land use changes as recorded by lake and reservoir sediments. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The regime of caudillos is a common subject in the classic analysis of the first half of the 19th century in Latin America. In the case of Rio de la Plata, the experience of caudillos has been subject of academic revision. Scholars have discussed about the cultural background of this phenomena, contrasting their outcomes with the typical picture of a "lawless realm". Within this debate, they have proposed new interpretations on the classic topic of the extraordinary powers granted to governors during this period. Considering the extraordinary powers as a sort of legal response to political violence, this paper deals with the historiographical characterizations of such powers, trying to outline a different framework of interpretation. At first, in order to define the "political violence", we consider the possible normative meanings of the notion of political crime and its relationship with the diverse cultural backgrounds, pointing out some relevant features of our context of study. In the second place, we analyze the historiographical approaches on caudillo's regimes and on their extraordinary powers. Rejecting the theses according to which these "extraordinary powers" took part of a presumed "ancient constitution", we suggest that they were rooted both, in a paternal conception of the sovereign, and in the role assigned to the adjectives ordinary / extraordinary in the traditional legal language.


Depression is an experience known to millions. But arguments rage on aspects of its definition and its impact on societies present and past: do drugs work, or are they merely placebos? Is the depression we have today merely a construct of the pharmaceutical industry? Is depression under- or over-diagnosed? Should we be paying for expensive 'talking cure' treatments like psychoanalysis or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy? Here, Clark Lawlor argues that understanding the history of depression is important to understanding its present conflicted status and definition. While it is true that our modern understanding of the word 'depression' was formed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the condition was originally known as melancholia, and characterised by core symptoms of chronic causeless sadness and fear. Beginning in the Classical period, and moving on to the present, Lawlor shows both continuities and discontinuities in the understanding of what we now call depression, and in the way it has been represented in literature and art. Different cultures defined and constructed melancholy and depression in ways sometimes so different as to be almost unrecognisable. Even the present is still a dynamic history, in the sense that the 'new' form of depression, defined in the 1980s and treated by drugs like Prozac, is under attack by many theories that reject the biomedical model and demand a more humanistic idea of depression - one that perhaps returns us to a form of melancholy.


Hindu temples constitute a complex architectural typology that has even more complicated cognitive associations in the form of traditional beliefs, rituals, and practices. This building typology is most abundantly found in India, but it is also growing outside the subcontinent, spurred by an increasing Hindu diaspora, making this discussion relevant in contexts far beyond India. This paper, however, examines how preservation policies in India, as well as provisions of the Venice Charter, often create conflict when applied to religious historic structures such as Hindu Temples and lead to struggles of designation, preservation, maintenance, and use. Many non-Judeo-Christian religions, such as Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Zoroastrianism, account for a significant share of the historic built environment in India, and each of these religions guides the care of its sites according to its particular set of beliefs and practices, including the use and reuse of sites and structures. While the diversity of these faiths deserves a detailed discussion, this paper will focus on places of Hindu worship as a means for facilitating a broader discussion regarding how non-Judeo-Christian sites are impacted by central and state policies in India, as well as the tenets of the Venice Charter. It will also propose to examine what can be done to better serve and preserve them, keeping the religious and cultural cognitions in mind.


The atomic spectra of Li i and Li ii have been observed in the region 215–160 A. The flash-pyrolysis technique has been used to produce the atomic vapor. A toroidal focusing mirror has been used which allows the background continuum from the BRV source to be photographed with a single shot. Thirteen lines of the principal series of singly ionized lithium and the continuous absorption at the limit of the series have been observed. Absorption lines from inner-shell excitation of neutral lithium have also been observed and tentatively identified.


In this paper, we present a new method for the estimation of the prediction-error covariances of a Kalman filter (KF), which is suitable for step-varying processes. The method uses a series of past innovations (i.e., the difference between the upcoming measurement set and the KF predicted state) to estimate the prediction-error covariance matrix by means of a constrained convex optimization problem. The latter is designed to ensure the symmetry and the positive semidefiniteness of the estimated covariance matrix, so that the KF numerical stability is guaranteed. Our proposed method is straightforward to implement and requires the setting of one parameter only, i.e., the number of past innovations to be considered. It relies on the knowledge of a linear and stationary measurement model. The ability of the method to track state step-variations is validated in ideal conditions for a random-walk process model and for the case of power-system state estimation. The proposed approach is also compared with other methods that estimate the KF stochastic parameters and with the well-known linear weighted least squares. The comparison is given in terms of both accuracy and computational time.


In this study, the long-term outcome and the development of osteoarthritis (OA) after collateral ligament (CL) rupture in metacarpophalangeal (MCP) or metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joints with either open or closed MCP / MTP joints was evaluated. Horses were included in the study on the basis of radiographic evidence of subluxation or luxation in stressed MCP / MTP joints in the dorsopalmar / dorsoplantar (DP) view. Horses were clinically and radiographically evaluated at first presentation in the clinc as well as at follow-up examination. Fifteen horses met the inclusion criteria. Lameness varied between 2 / 5 to non-weightbearing lameness. Three horses presented with a clinically severely instable fetlock. Opening of the MCP / MTP joint as consequence of associated wounds or lacerations was diagnosed in 4 horses. In 11 horses CL rupture without opening of the associated MCP / MTP joint was diagnosed (no wounds communicating with the MCP / MTP joint). Six of these horses were treated conservatively, 5 were treated surgically. Three months after admission 11 horses were sound at walk and trot. Three horses showed a grade 3-4 / 5 lameness. One of these was euthanatized 6 weeks later because severe OA had developed in the injured MTP joint. Another horse had been euthanized because of laminitis. In 12 horses long-term follow-up examination (9 months – 12 years) was possible. All horses showed radiographic signs of OA in the affected MCP / MTP joint. In 6 horses there was also mild to moderate OA in the PIP joint of the affected limb. 67% (n = 10) of the horses returned to be used for pleasure riding as prior to injury, 13% (n = 2) of the horses remained pasture sound, 20% (n=3) were euthanatized because of persistent lameness. The study shows the long-term prognosis of CL ruptures with open and closed MCP / MTP joints. In horses with chronic lamness after CL rupture in MCP / MTP joint the PIP joint should also be considerd as a potential source of pain.


With the increase in international mobility, healthcare systems should no longer be ignoring language barriers. In addition to the benefit of reducing long-term costs, immigrant-friendly organizations should be concerned with mitigating the way language barriers increase individuals' social vulnerabilities and inequities in health care and health status. This paper reports the findings of a qualitative, exploratory study of the health literacy of 28 Francophone families living in a linguistic-minority situation in Canada. Analysis of interviews revealed that participants' social vulnerability, mainly due to their limited social and informational networks, influenced the construction of family health literacy. Disparities in access to healthcare services could be decreased by having health professionals' work in alliance with Francophone community groups and by hiring bilingual health professionals. Linguistic isolation and lack of knowledge about local cultural organizations among Francophone immigrants were two important findings of this study.


In considering the need for a newly formed research area, or emergent discipline, of 'dialogue studies' this paper will explore three interrelated themes: the concept of 'dialogue studies' and its parameters and framing as an emergent discipline; the potential benefits of such a discipline to practice and policy; and the importance of critically understanding the cultural and epistemological context of 'dialogue' and its role in living with not only diversity, but difference. Whilst recognizing that there is a clear practice-driven need for the development of an area of research under the banner of 'dialogue studies' and that there are existing bodies of research, which such a field can effectively build on, this paper argues that the development of dialogue studies as a field cannot simply bring together and augment existing discourses, but needs to create new perspectives by adopting a multidisciplinary approach. It is also postulated that there is a need to develop an internal critical discourse within 'dialogue studies' which builds reflexivity into future research development and that ultimately any research undertaken in this area has to be both beneficial and supportive of practice, whilst also clearly articulating its successes and failures.


This article reports the results of an experimental study testing the effects of the use of Task-Based Learning on EFL students' intrinsic motivation to learn reading and reading comprehension. The study was conducted in a high school in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam where English teaching methods are still lagged behind innovative developments in English language pedagogy. Sixty-nine tenth-grade students from two intact classes participated in this study. Participants were assigned in either control or experimental group. A questionnaire and two reading tests were used to collect quantitative data about participants' motivation and achievement in reading comprehension. Interviews were followed to investigate participants' attitude towards the use of task-bask learning in their reading lessons. Results indicated that participants' intrinsic motivation in the experimental group increased and both groups showed significant improvement in reading comprehension. Participants in the experimental group addressed benefits and challenges in learning reading comprehension with Task-Based Learning. To help students enhance their reading comprehension, teachers may take into consideration the use of both Task-Based Learning and Grammar-Translation Method.


The genus Hydrastis has been variously classified as a monotypic taxon in the Ranunculaceae, the Berberidaceae, the Glaucidiaceae, or its own monogeneric family, the Hydrastidaceae. The objectives of this paper were 1) to review the previous classifications of Hydrastis and 2) to critique a recent paper by To be and Keating reevaluating the classification of the genus based on comparative morphological and anatomical studies. One conclusion of this review was that To be and Keating overlooked certain important papers which might have substantially altered their conclusions, viz., that Hydrastis is sufficiently distinct from the other genera of the Ranunculaceae to warrant a classification as a monogeneric family. Another conclusion was that, with the present information available, Hydrastis can be classified as a subfamily within the Ranunculaceae, but that molecular data might well alter this conclusion.


Real business cycle models have recently been applied to settings in which equilibria are suboptimal. In most models the solutions are approximated using some type of linearization with little attention being given to the accuracy of the approximation. In this paper we investigate three different approximation methods in the context of a neoclassical model with a production tax and compare their solutions with solutions obtained from a discrete state space solution to the Euler equations of the model.


This is the first Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) book to introduce this complex imaging standard from a very practical point of view. It is aimed at a broad audience of radiologists, clinical administrators, information technologists, and digital medicine practitioners. It provides a gradual, down-to-earth introduction to DICOM and is accompanied by an analysis of the most common pitfalls and problems associated with its implementation. Whether you are running a teleradiology project or writing DICOM software, this book is for you; it will prepare you for any DICOM project or problem solving and will help you to take full advantage of this powerful tool.


The main objective of this paper is to propose an alternative procedure to carry out one of the key steps of immersion and invariance stabilising controller design. Namely, the one that ensures attractivity of the manifold whose internal dynamics contains a copy of the desired system behaviour. Towards this end we invoke contraction theory principles and ensure the attractivity of the manifold rendering it horizontally contractive. The main advantage of adopting this alternative approach is to make more systematic the last step of the design with more explicit degrees of freedom to accomplish the task. The classical case of systems in feedback form is used to illustrate the proposed controller design.


This paper gives a personal perspective on some models of national settlement systems, and draws attention to the importance of population migration within these models. It includes a discussion of the inadequacies of current models of interurban migration for the analysis of the dynamic interaction between the demographic and economic growth sectors of a system of postindustrìal cities. The paper is not, however, a review; instead, the aim is to obtain insights on how to progress towards a framework and a strategy for research that will usefully contribute to the analysis of national settlement policy. Section 2 considers recent developments in multiregional demographic analysis and argues that these are of limited usefulness unless they are integrated with models of regional economic growth. Results are presented which show that multiregional demographic analyses are extremely sensitive to the assumptions about migration movements. Section 3 outlines three models which interrelate demographic and economic growth, and stresses the links between the two sectors. Each model considers population migration a key link, and two of them assume that the movement of workers provides an equilibrating mechanism between labour supply and demand. Section 4 questions the validity of this traditional approach to migration and argues that, for a system of postindustrial cities, a new approach is required (Morrison, 1973; Renshaw, 1972; Cordey-Hayes and Gleave, 1973; 1974). A conceptual framework, which emphasizes information flows, differential mobility, and inhomogeneity of labour, is sketched. The final section concludes that no single model or approach provides a royal road to models of national settlement systems, owing to gaps in our understanding of the dynamics of interactions amongst cities. It is suggested that a hierarchy of models should be developed at varying levels of approximation.


Organisations often tend to justify their business activities by citing improved business performance neglecting conservation of environment in which these activities are carried-out. This research investigated the corporate social responsibility activities of motor vehicle retailers that aim to improve business performance and conserve the natural resources in the environment in Gauteng Province, South Africa. A qualitative research approach was used in this research to address the research objective and interviews were conducted with managers of motor vehicle retailers. A content analysis was used with the aid of Atlas.tiversion 7 to generate themes in analysing the primary data. The research uncovered that motor vehicle retailers execute social responsibility activities to promote environmental conservation, improve organisations' business performance, and build relationships with external stakeholders. This research provides recommendations to key stakeholders in the motor vehicle industry, and future research are also provided in this research. Corresponding author: Makgopa SS Email addresses for corresponding author: firstname.lastname@example.com First submission received: 2nd October 2017 Revised submission received: 6th November 2017 Accepted: 18th December 2017


The comparison between theatre and playing has spread on many levels, from metaphors to sayings, aesthetic concepts to deterministic models. This paper examines scenography as an active play environment. Play, in the context of theatre space, is defined according to the classical characteristic features of playing: spatial and temporal limits, fictionality that runs in parallel with everyday reality, and direct involvement.  The paper focuses on the specific aspects of play environment as it appears in the Tartu New Theatre's performances of "The Death of the Author" and "The Beatles of Vanemuine". Both productions are set in fictional locations with a visually static set design. Both are unique in that different locations are created without changing the physical space on stage – places appear and disappear through the performances, created by an odd textual allusion or two, or the audience's imagination. The changes can be understood through the audience's corporal perception, which this paper interprets using Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological concept of corporeity.  Using Tartu New Theatre's stage practice and Hans-Georg Gadamer's hermeneutic aesthetics, the paper aims to answer the question: what is the aesthetic structure of such stage environments and how can an environmental experience be created, if the direct interference in space is minimal. Gadamer's aesthetic concept revolves around play, interpreting works of art as a structure, a meaningful whole that can be presented and comprehended repeatedly. However, he qualifies that the structure, itself, is also a play as, despite a theoretic unity, it only exists when it is played. In this case, the scenography becomes an environment with open meanings, where attributing meaning and function happens through the agreements made during the act of playing, which don't necessarily also imply physical changes to the environment. The environment is an agreed-upon space-time that is created by a shared corporal presence wherein understanding of the meanings is dependent on participation, i.e. taking part in the agreement that creates the game.  When the invisible, yet perceptible space created by the scenography is analysed using Gadamer's aesthetics, the main issues become presentation and presence. The "invisible scenography" is perceived only in the moment in which it is presented. Though the fictional room partially materialises (through the audiencestage relationship, elements of design, etc.), creating the scenography as non-visual spaces provokes a conflict of perception, where there is a disparity between the visible space and its use or meaning. And this, in turn, requires a constant re-interpretation of the agreements. Interpreting the visual, which has historically been scenography's main role, as a play changes its function and meaning.


This article reflects the authors' experience of undertaking an oral history project in the regional Victorian town of Rushworth. The authors of the article contend that to conduct an investigation of the natural and cultural heritage of the town and surrounding forests is also to engage in an archaeology of historical landscapes. The authors, after articulating the theoretical and methodological issues of oral history, name and trace the various historical layers of the landscape of Rushworth and the forest that surrounds the town. They argue that the use of oral history in conjunction with cultural landscape analysis enables a deeper understanding of the cultural complexity of the history of Rushworth and the surrounding region. Broader issues concerning regional identity and the role of historians in providing a greater understanding of the community in the present day are also evaluated.


[1] Particle size distributions and gas-phase particle precursors and tracer species were measured aboard an aircraft in the plumes downwind from industrial and urban sources in the vicinity of Houston, TX during the daytime in late August and early September 2000. Plumes originating from the Parish gas-fired and coal-fired power plant, petrochemical industries along the Houston ship channel, the petrochemical facilities near the Gulf coast, and the urban center of Houston were studied. Most of the particle mass flux advected downwind of Houston came from the industries and electrical utilities at the periphery of the city rather than from sources in the urban core. In SO2-rich plumes that did not contain elevated concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particle volume increased with increasing plume oxidation (age) at a rate consistent with condensation and neutralization of the gas-phase oxidation products of SO2. In plumes that were rich in both SO2 and VOCs, observed particle growth greatly exceeded that expected from SO2 oxidation, indicating the formation of organic particulate mass. In plumes that were enhanced in VOCs but not in SO2, and in the plume of the Houston urban center, no particle volume growth with increasing plume oxidation was detected. Since substantial particle volume growth was associated only with SO2-rich plumes, these results suggest that photochemical oxidation of SO2 is the key process regulating particle mass growth in all the studied plumes in this region. However, uptake of organic matter probably contributes substantially to particle mass in petrochemical plumes rich in both SO2 and VOCs. Quantitative studies of particle formation and growth in photochemical systems containing nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2), VOCs, and SO2 are recommended to extend those previously made in NOx–VOC systems.


Aquaculture has been the fastest growing agricultural sector for more than a decade and has become a significant contributor to global fisheries production. In 1996 aquaculture supplied approximately 73% of freshwater fish, 57% of mollusc, 43% of diadromous fish, and 17% of crustacean production worldwide. Projected population growth and static landings of capture fisheries indicate a need for aquaculture production to double by 2025 from its 1996 output of approximately 26 mmt. Industry use of feed-based production technologies is anticipated to rapidly increase demand for manufactured aquafeeds. Production of manufactured aquafeeds grew in excess of 30% annually in recent years. Growth in manufactured aquafeeds has been particularly strong in China, where aquafeeds are forecast to increase to 20% of market share of 100 mmt of premixed animal feed production by 2005. It is expected that strong demand for feed resources by the aquaculture industries of Asia, and particularly China, will significantly impact future world commodity markets and feed prices. Soybean products have become the focus of protein substitution in aquafeeds for every fed aquaculture species. Soybeans have the best amino acid profile of all protein-rich plant feedstuffs for fish. Soybean production can be structured to meet demand, and soybean meal is considerably less expensive and more consistent in quality than traditionally used marine animal meals. Research has demonstrated that soybean products can supply a major portion of the feed protein for nearly every fed aquaculture species around the world. Inclusion rates of up to 50% in aquafeeds for freshwater fish are projected to stimulate a demand for more than 6 mmt of soybean meal in China alone by 2005. The use of soy products in aquaculture is projected to increase significantly. Aquaculture will benefit from genetic improvements in soybeans and advances in feed processing and related technologies. High lysine, methionine and phytase soybean varieties currently under research will allow greater inclusion levels of soybean meal in aquafeeds. Processing advances in the removal of anti-nutritional factors will improve soybean utilization by aqua species. Research on attractant additives and synthetic flavorings will broaden opportunities for soybean product use in aquafeeds. Collectively these advances will result in greater demand for soybean products in all sectors of the aquaculture industry.


This paper discusses the spectrum of synthesis methods available to generate, explore and test theory, their value to the field of international development and innovations required to make better use of the primary research available. It goes further than setting substantive priorities for international development impact and learning. It addresses current advances and priority gaps in the methods for research before considering the substantive and methodological direction of evidence synthesis for impact evaluation in international development, particularly as this relates to the work of CEDIL. This scope encompasses methods for all stages in the process, from setting the question to appraising and synthesising the findings. It describes existing methods for synthesis, including how methods vary and the guidance and standards available. It then considers how well existing methods match the field of international development and the latest innovations emerging or required before providing a research agenda for advancing synthesis methods. In particular, it argues for clearer distinctions between syntheses produced as public goods, and those tailored to specific circumstances; and strengthening knowledge systems through greater use of maps to navigate existing and missing evidence, harmonised outcomes and measures, and advances in automation technologies. Improved methods and guidance are required for synthesising formative research and investigating contextual factors. Engaging stakeholders and working across academic disciplines support the production of policy-relevant syntheses and inspire methods development.


In 2012, Susan Cain published a nonfiction book: Quiet, The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, in which she claimed that the modern western society was dominated by the Extrovert Ideal and it led to "a colossal waste of talent, energy, and happiness" (Cain, 2012, p.12). The concept of Extrovert Idea, according to her, is the "omnipresent belief that the ideal self is gregarious, alpha and comfortable in the spotlight" (Cain, 2012, p.4). Other psychologists and cultural historians also mentioned this cultural ideal, stating that it changed how people teach, how people work, how people interact with each other, and how people perceive themselves. Cain noticed a change in the characters portrayed in teen sitcoms: they are not the "children next door" of the 1980s; instead, they are rock stars and celebrities with extremely extroverted personalities. Inspired by Cain's observation, the researcher chose Disney and Nickelodeon to explore how the teen sitcoms produced by "the big two" reflect the Extrovert Ideal. Textual analysis of four popular teen sitcoms in the past ten years was conducted. Representation of both extroverted characters and introverted characters and the power relation between the two were analyzed.


In 1997, Chicago implemented a policy that required algebra for all ninth-grade students, eliminating all remedial coursework. This policy increased opportunities to take algebra for low-skill students who had previously enrolled in remedial math. However, little is known about how schools respond to the policy in terms of organizing math classrooms to accommodate curricular changes. The policy unintentionally affected high-skill students who were not targeted by the policy—those who would enroll in algebra in its absence. Using an interrupted time-series design combined with within-cohort comparisons, this study shows that schools created more mixed-ability classrooms when eliminating remedial math classes, and peer skill levels declined for high-skill students. Consequently, their test scores also declined.


Severe epidemics caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and avian influenza viruses have recently killed hundreds of people while causing chaos and panic in many countries. These epidemics have distinct characteristics that make their politics significant and interesting, although both health policy analysts and political scientists have neglected the phenomenon. In this article, I propose an analytical framework that treats epidemics as political processes divided into four phases: "prepolitical," "announcement," "mitigation," and "rebuilding" phases. I then apply the framework to the case studies of Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, and show how level of democracy, level of centralization in the state structure, and the social construction of risks shaped government responses to epidemics in these cases. The cases suggest that global health governance should not ignore politics at the national level and the redistributive impact of epidemics originating from or transmissible through livestock.


Psychopathy has been a sustained interest among psychologists and, to a lesser extent, among criminologists. Studies on psychopathy have tended to focus on its measurement and predictive ability, primarily in adolescence and primarily among more serious offenders. This article moves beyond prior research on psychopathy and is the first to link childhood risk factors and offending trajectories measured through age 40 to psychopathy at age 48 in a community sample of several hundred South London males in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development. Results show that although childhood environmental and, to a lesser extent, childhood individual risk factors are associated with a range of psychopathy measures, controlling for offending trajectories renders most of those childhood risks insignificant. Evidence also shows that while extreme scores of psychopathy are rare among this community sample, chronic offending is strongly linked to psychopathy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)


The aim of this thesis is to develop the dimension theory of self-affine carpets in several directions. Self-affine carpets are an important class of planar self-affine sets which have received a great deal of attention in the literature on fractal geometry over the last 30 years. These constructions are important for several reasons. In particular, they provide a bridge between the relatively well-understood world of self-similar sets and the far from understood world of general self-affine sets. These carpets are designed in such a way as to facilitate the computation of their dimensions, and they display many interesting and surprising features which the simpler self-similar constructions do not have. For example, they can have distinct Hausdorff and packing dimensions and the Hausdorff and packing measures are typically infinite in the critical dimensions. Furthermore, they often provide exceptions to the seminal result of Falconer from 1988 which gives the 'generic' dimensions of self-affine sets in a natural setting. The work in this thesis will be based on five research papers I wrote during my time as a PhD student, namely [Fr1, Fr2, Fr3, Fr4, Fr5]. The first contribution of this thesis will be to introduce a new class of self-affine carpets, which we call box-like self-affine sets, and compute their box and packing dimensions via a modified singular value function. This not only generalises current results on self-affine carpets, but also helps to reconcile the 'exceptional constructions' with Falconer's singular value function approach in the generic case. This will appear in Chapter 2 and is based on the paper [Fr1], which appeared in Nonlinearity in 2012. In Chapter 3 we continue studying the dimension theory of self-affine sets by computing the Assouad and lower dimensions of certain classes. The Assouad and lower dimensions have not received much attention in the literature on fractals to date and their importance has been more related to quasi-conformal maps and embeddability problems. This appears to be changing, however, and so our results constitute a timely and important contribution to a growing body of literature on the subject. The material in this Chapter will be based on the paper [Fr4], which has been accepted for publication in Transactions of the American Mathematical Society. In Chapters 4–6 we move away from the classical setting of iterated function systems to consider two more exotic constructions, namely, inhomogeneous attractors and random 1-variable attractors, with the aim of developing the dimension theory of self-affine carpets in these directions. In order to put our work into context, in Chapter 4 we consider inhomogeneous self-similar sets and significantly generalise the results on box dimensions obtained by Olsen and Snigireva, answering several questions posed in the literature in the process. We then move to the self-affine setting and, in Chapter 5, investigate the dimensions of inhomogeneous self-affine carpets and prove that new phenomena can occur in this setting which do not occur in the setting of self-similar sets. The material in Chapter 4 will be based on the paper [Fr2], which appeared in Studia Mathematica in 2012, and the material in Chapter 5 is based on the paper [Fr5], which is in preparation. Finally, in Chapter 6 we consider random self-affine sets. The traditional approach to random iterated function systems is probabilistic, but here we allow the randomness in the construction to be provided by the topological structure of the sample space, employing ideas from Baire category. We are able to obtain very general results in this setting, relaxing the conditions on the maps from 'affine' to 'bi-Lipschitz'. In order to get precise results on the Hausdorff and packing measures of typical attractors, we need to specialise to the setting of random self-similar sets and we show again that several interesting and new phenomena can occur when we relax to the setting of random self-affine carpets. The material in this Chapter will be based on the paper [Fr3], which has been accepted for publication by Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems.


"It is not only the cause, but our manner of conducting it, that will establish character."--John Dickinson, 1773 A nation at war and widespread mistrust of the mil-itary. A financial crash and an endless economic crisis. A Congress so divided it barely functioned. Bitter partisan disputes over everything from taxa-tion and the distribution of wealth to the role of banks and corporations in society. Welcome to the world of the Founding Fathers. According to most narratives of the American Revolution, the founders were united in their quest for independence and steadfast in their efforts to create a stable, effective government. But the birth of our republic was far more complicated than many realize. The Revolution was nearly derailed by extremists who wanted to do too much, too quickly and who refused to rest until they had remade American society. If not for a small circle of conservatives who kept radicalism in check and promoted capitalism, a strong military, and the preservation of tradition, our country would be vastly different today. In the first book to chronicle the critical role these men played in securing our freedom, David Lefer provides an insightful and gripping account of the birth of modern American conservatism and its impact on the earliest days of our nation. Among these founding conservatives were men like John Dickinson, who joined George Washington's troops in a battle against the British on July 4, 1776, and that same week drafted the Articles of Confederation; James Wilson, a staunch free-market capitalist who defended his home against a mob of radicals demanding price controls and in the process averted a bloody American equivalent to Bastille Day; Silas Deane, who mixed patriotism with profit seeking while petitioning France to aid America; and Robert Morris, who financed the American Revolution and founded the first bank and the first modern multinational corporation in the United States. Drawing on years of archival research, Lefer shows how these and other determined founders cham-pioned American freedom while staying faithful to their ideals. In the process, they not only helped defeat the British but also laid the groundwork for American capitalism to thrive. "The Founding Conservatives "is an intellectual adven-ture story, full of gunfights and big ideas. It is also an extraordinary reminder of the punishing battles our predecessors fought to create and maintain the free and prosperous nation we know today.


In the modern knowledge economy, employees are becoming the most important asset for more and more organisations. To achieve an optimal physical support of employees at work is an interdisciplinary management and academic research problem. While the cost transparency in commercial real estate is usually high, benefits are not clear at all. for CRE and FM to decide on how to allocate costs for achieving optimal benefits, they need insight in the causal relationships between physical work environment input variables (e.g. layout, indoor climate, aesthetics) and employee outcome aspects (e.g. productivity, performance, attitude). Existing empirical studies usually focus on a small part of the overall picture. This paper aims to provide a holistic state-of-the-art of the approaches taken in such studies through a literature study of 134 empirical studies related to office buildings (from 50 different journals). The articles are selected based on a keyword search in common databases and then entered into a database with information on the empirical parameters of the study, the methodology and author information. From this database cross-tables were build and tested with canonical correspondence analysis (CA), to make strong and weak areas in existing research become clear, identify the gaps in research that still exist and show the (sometimes limited) research focus of different research disciplines.The analyses showed that although most of the seven categories (and 19 variables) of input and 11 outcome variables have been related to each other in at least one study, there is a clear focus in research on specific topics, leaving interesting gaps for future research. They also showed how the different disciplines of authors (with different knowledge objectives) take very different approaches on the topic in terms of variables and methodologies that are taken up. More cross-disciplinary research is necessary to study some of the gaps that are identified in order to be able to provide CREM with a complete overview of effects.


Supply chain is one of the hottest issue in today's academic research. It changes the traditional mode of competition, making market competition invert from the competition between individual enterprises into the competition between supply chains. Therefore, the supply chain management has a certain expertise and market competitiveness has a cooperative arrangement between enterprises, which is a activity combining optimal and efficient value. Choose of each node of supply chain system follows the principle of combination, offering the most competitive market power of economic resources. It fuses efficiency of the single enterprise to the overall competitiveness of the core competitiveness, which greatly enhances the market competitive advantage through supplementing each other and harmonious communion of the integration of enterprise resource and ability. How to ensure the combination to bring more advantages, how to reduce the conflicts of the joint between the enterprise and how to test this kind of joint in order to achieved better performance, these all need supply chain members to focus on. Therefore, further systematic research on performance evaluation of supply chain and its management have important theoretical and practical significance[1].


Abstract. Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE II) version 7 (v7) ozone profiles are analyzed for their decadal-scale responses in the middle and upper stratosphere for 1991 and 1992–2005 and compared with those from its previous version 6.2 (v6.2). Multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis is applied to time series of its ozone number density vs. altitude data for a range of latitudes and altitudes. The MLR models that are fit to the time series data include a periodic 11 yr term, and it is in-phase with that of the 11 yr, solar UV (Ultraviolet)-flux throughout most of the latitude/altitude domain of the middle and upper stratosphere. Several regions that have a response that is not quite in-phase are interpreted as being affected by decadal-scale, dynamical forcings. The maximum minus minimum, solar cycle (SC-like) responses for the ozone at the low latitudes are similar from the two SAGE II data versions and vary from about 5 to 2.5% from 35 to 50 km, although they are resolved better with v7. SAGE II v7 ozone is also analyzed for 1984–1998, in order to mitigate effects of end-point anomalies that bias its ozone in 1991 and the analyzed results for 1991–2005 or following the Pinatubo eruption. Its SC-like ozone response in the upper stratosphere is of the order of 4% for 1984–1998 vs. 2.5 to 3% for 1991–2005. The SAGE II v7 results are also recompared with the responses in ozone from the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) that are in terms of mixing ratio vs. pressure for 1991–2005 and then for late 1992–2005 to avoid any effects following Pinatubo. Shapes of their respective response profiles agree very well for 1992–2005. The associated linear trends of the ozone are not as negative in 1992–2005 as in 1984–1998, in accord with a leveling off of the effects of reactive chlorine on ozone. It is concluded that the SAGE II v7 ozone yields SC-like ozone responses and trends that are of better quality than those from v6.2.


From the Publisher:
Neuromorphic engineers work to improve the performance of artificial systems through the development of chips and systems that process information collectively using primarily analog circuits. This book presents the central concepts required for the creative and successful design of analog VLSI circuits. The discussion is weighted toward novel circuits that emulate natural signal processing. Unlike most circuits in commercial or industrial applications, these circuits operate mainly in the subthreshold or weak inversion region. Moreover, their functionality is not limited to linear operations, but also encompasses many interesting nonlinear operations similar to those occurring in natural systems. Topics include device physics, linear and nonlinear circuit forms, translinear circuits, photodetectors, floating-gate devices, noise analysis, and process technology.


Many methods have been developed for multiple criteria analysis and/or ranking of discrete alternatives. Most of them require complex specification of preferences. Therefore, they are not applicable for problems with numerous alternatives and/or criteria, where preference specification by the decision makers can hardly be done in a way acceptable for small problems, e.g., for pair-wise comparisons.

In this paper we describe several new methods implemented for a real-life application dealing with muti-criteria analysis of future energy technologies. This analysis involves large numbers of both altrnatives and criteria. Moreover, the analysis was made by a large number of stakeholders without expeience in analytical methods. Therefore, a simple method for interactive preference specification was a condition for the analysis. The paper presents a number of new methods based on the developed out performance aggregations that take into account inter-alternative factors. Finally, a comparison of methods and experience of using them is discussed.


We describe a methodology to discriminate burned areas and date burning events that use a burn-sensitive (V, W) index system defined in near-/mid-infrared space. Discrimination of burned areas relies on a monthly composite of minimum of W and on the difference between this composite and that of the previous month. The rationale is to identify pixels with high confidence of having burned and aggregate new burned pixels on a contextual basis. Dating of burning events is based on the analysis of time series of W, and searching for the day before maximum temporal separability is achieved. The procedure is applied to the fire of Monchique, a large event that took place in the southwest of Portugal in August 2018. When the obtained pattern of burned pixels is compared against a reference map, the overall accuracy is larger than 99%; the commission and omission errors are lower than 5 and 10%, respectively; and the bias and the Dice coefficient are above 0.95 and 0.9, respectively. Differences between estimated dates of burning and reference dates derived from remote-sensed observations of active fires show a bias of 0.03 day and a root mean square difference of 0.24 day.


In this paper we demonstrate that the axiomatic measurement approach developed in the poverty and inequality literature can be usefully applied to the measurement of corruption. We develop a conceptual framework for organizing corruption data and discuss several objective, aggregate corruption measures consistent with axiomatic requirements. We then provide an empirical application of the methodology and estimate the respective corruption measures for a sample of over 25 countries during the year 2000. Our empirical analysis reveals significant discrepancies between the country rankings generated by these measures and those provided by the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) from Transparency International. To our knowledge, this paper represents a first analysis of corruption measurement using an axiomatic framework.


This dissertation responds to the question, "What would it be like, what would it mean, to approach texts lovingly?" in terms of the work of 20th-century theorists, writers, and thinkers such as Jacques Derrida, Roland Barthes, Luce Irigaray, Helene Cixous, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Brian Massumi, Jean-Luc Marion, E. E. Cummings, Rainer Maria Rilke, Teresa Brennan, and W. J. T. Mitchell. In order to demonstrate the appropriateness and place of love in the philosophical canon, the dissertation combines a consideration of affect with these writers' work. Beginning with an exemplary reading of Cy Twombly's painting The Ceiling, the then dissertation adapts Mitchell's question "What do pictures want" to an approach to texts, as defined with reference to Barthes. An introduction and literature review trace the places love in texts by Plato, Freud, Lacan, Cixous, and a host of writers who fall under the rubric of 'affect theorists'. Because an approach to texts is the dissertation's focus, a chapter is spent discussing the possibilities for deconstruction to be part of such an approach. Derrida's work is constellated with that of Cixous, Irigaray, Marion, and Brennan in order to emphasise the integrity of sensory and affective information to such an approach. The writing of Rilke and Cummings provides examples of an authorial approach to texts that can inform a readerly one, and serves to further expand the canon of texts that suggest the possibility of this approach. The final chapter is a second exemplary reading of the story of Moses and the burning bush. Deliberately aiming to stretch the expectations of scholarly work, I combine the anecdotal, the affective, and the textual as modes of engaging with and ways of knowing about love.


Lake' Sidney Lanier, located in northeastern Georgia, is a large reseIVoir in a watershed that is agricultural with urban and considerable suburban residential areas. Lake Lanier provides the drinking water for 60 percent of the population of Georgia and is also heavily used for recreation. Recreation, increasing urban and suburban development, and continued agriculture have resulted in siltation, sewage loading from treatment plants and septic tanks, and non-point source pollution. However, many of the effects that nonnally occur in heavily developed lakes, such as decreased transparency and blue-green algal blooms, have not been extensively noted in Lake Lanier. Data from a water quality monitoring program begun in 1987 are reported here and compared to data collected in 1978 and 1979 in order to evaluate the trophic status of Lake Lanier over the last 12 years.


*Corresponding author: Dr. Bahram Goliaei, Laboratory of Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 13145-1384, Tehran, Iran. Fax: +98 21 66956985 E-mail: email@example.com Background: Rad51 is a protein with critical role in double strand break repair. Down-regulation of this protein has a significant effect in radiosensitivity of some cell lines like prostate carcinoma. Compared to monolayer cell culture model, the spheroids are more resistant to radiation. The aim of the current study was to determine the Rad51 protein level in DU145 spheroids, and monolayer cells before and after exposure to gamma irradiation. Materials and Methods: In the present study, western blot was used to determine the level of Rad51 protein in DU145 cell line grown as monolayer and spheroid. Results: Western blot analysis showed that in the spheroid cells, Rad51 had an elevated level before and after radiation in comparison with monolayer cells. Higher doses of radiation induced elevated expression of Rad51 protein in both culture models. The level of at protein after exposure to gamma rays had been timedependent. Conclusion: Rad51 might act as a mediator of radiation resistance in tumor cells. Repression of Rad51 activity could be a prominent strategy to overcome radiation resistance of tumors.


Electric power performs a very indispensable role in our daily life.For economic growth of countries continuous sprinting of industries is an essential part. For nonstop running of these industries, ceaseless availability of electric power is an essential requirement. To cop the power outages in the world, solar energy is getting enormous attention for the last few years because of its renewable nature, cleanliness and instant power. The only limiting factor is the efficiency of the solar system. Because on STP the PV panel gives maximum output power at 25 0 C. The electrical efficiency of PV cell is adversely affected by the significant increase of cell OPT during absorption of solar radiation. To overcome the temperature increase of the panel we can use different cooling agents like water, air, oil, gases and liquids but here air and water has been used as cooling agents. Due to higher heat absorption capacity of water as compared to air, output power of the panel was found higher than air. Finally, computational models were made in MATLAB to obtain results that were compared with the experimental and analytical results. Keywords—Standard temperaturepressure, Photovoltaic, Operating temperature.


For Western economists and journalists, the most distinctive facet of the post-war Japanese business world has been the keiretsu, or the insular business alliances among powerful corporations. Within keiretsu groups, argue these observers, firms preferentially trade, lend money, take and receive technical and financial assistance, and cement their ties through cross-shareholding agreements. In "The Fable of the Keiretsu", Yoshiro Miwa and J. Mark Ramseyer demonstrate that all this talk is really just urban legend. In their insightful analysis, the authors show that the very idea of the keiretsu was created and propagated by Marxist scholars in post-war Japan. Western scholars merely repatriated the legend to show the culturally contingent nature of modern economic analysis. Laying waste to the notion of keiretsu, the authors debunk several related "facts" as well: that Japanese firms maintain special arrangements with a "main bank," that firms are systematically poorly managed, and that the Japanese government guided post-war growth. In demolishing these long-held assumptions, they offer one of the few reliable chronicles of the realities of Japanese business.


Refugees and asylum seekers in Indonesia face a protracted and precarious wait to secure solutions to their plights.
Indonesia is not party to the Refugee Convention and does not give refugees basic rights or the option of local
integration. Resettlement to a third country, once the main durable solution that people waited years to attain, has
become increasingly unlikely. In late 2017, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) began informing refugees that
most would never be resettled. With the volatile situations in their home countries making voluntary return untenable
for most, refugees are left with no choice but to try to build a life, without rights, in Indonesia. Without the right to work,
vulnerability, poverty and dependency are rife. Support from local organisations is limited and around 40 per cent of
the 13,800 refugees and asylum seekers are without any assistance. This research focuses on the refugees and asylum seekers who have settled independently in urban areas and looks at how they create their lives in a 'transit' country that lost its transience. Beyond physical deprivation, the prohibition on work creates forced immobility, a limbo that breeds feelings of being stuck in-between, waiting for life to begin. Along with understanding how people are surviving,
this paper also addresses how the inability to work interacts with individuals' sense of purpose and agency. It looks at
livelihood activities to identify how initiatives that encourage self-reliance, skills development and empowerment help
refugees to create solutions for themselves and foster the belief that life is, once again, moving forward.


Maps showing depth to the Moho, the 6 km/s and 7 km/s isovelocity surfaces and the thickness of the crust with a velocity greater than 7.0 km/s for the UK and surrounding continental crust have been generated from a compilation of wide-angle/refraction data. The data show that the crust beneath northwestern Scotland is thinner and of higher velocity than that beneath southern Britain. The lower crust beneath the East Irish Sea and parts of the southern North Sea is formed from thick layers of high velocity rock. The lateral extent of these layers cross-cuts the downward projection of major structures mapped at the surface. This suggests that the major structures do not bound regions of lower crust with contrasting properties at depth. Instead these structures may be overprinted by modification of the lower crust, for example, by magmatic underplating, which is not observed directly at the surface. Mapped variations in crustal thickness do not mirror the variations in surface topography, which appears to contradict the view that the crust is in Airy isostatic equilibrium.


Background Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and hypertension are at high risk for stroke. Previous studies have shown elevated risk of stroke in patients with AF who have a history of hypertension (regardless of blood pressure [BP] control) and in patients with elevated BP. We assessed the association of hypertension and BP control on clinical outcomes. Methods and Results In ARISTOTLE (n=18 201), BP was evaluated as history of hypertension requiring treatment and elevated BP (systolic ≥140 and/or diastolic ≥90 mm Hg) at study entry and any point during the trial. Hazard ratios (HRs) were derived from Cox proportional hazards models including BP as a time‐dependent covariate. A total of 15 916 (87.5%) patients had a history of hypertension requiring treatment. In patients with elevated BP measurement at any point during the trial, the rate of stroke or systemic embolism was significantly higher (HR, 1.53; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.25–1.86), as was hemorrhagic stroke (HR 1.85; 95% CI, 1.26–2.72) and ischemic stroke (HR, 1.50; 95% CI, 1.18–1.90). Rates of major bleeding were lower in patients with a history of hypertension (HR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.66–0.98) and nonsignificantly lower in patients with elevated BP at study entry (HR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.77–1.03). The benefit of apixaban versus warfarin on preventing stroke or systemic embolism was consistent among patients with and without a history of hypertension (P interaction=0.27), BP control at baseline (P interaction=0.43), and BP control during the trial (P interaction=0.97). Conclusions High BP measurement at any point during the trial was independently associated with a substantially higher risk of stroke or systemic embolism. These results strongly support efforts to treat elevated BP as an important strategy to optimally lower risk of stroke in patients with AF. Clinical Trial Registration URL: https://ClinicalTrials.gov/. Unique identifier: NCT00412984.


Located at the crossroads between China, India, and the nations of Southeast Asia, Burma has long been a land that absorbed outside influences into its everyday life, from the Buddhist religion to foodstuffs like the potato. In the process, the people of the country now known as Myanmar have developed a rich, complex cuisine that makes inventive use of easily available ingredients to create exciting flavour combinations. Salads are one of the best entry points into the glories of this cuisine, with sparkling flavours - crispy fried shallots, a squeeze of fresh lime juice, a dash of garlic oil, a pinch of turmeric, some crunchy roast peanuts - balanced with a light hand. The salad tradition is flexible; Burmese cooks transform all kinds of foods into salads, from chicken and roasted eggplant to spinach and tomato. Mohinga, a delicious blend of rice noodles and fish broth, adds up to comfort food at its best. Wherever you go in Burma, you get a slightly different version because, as Duguid explains, each region layers its own touches into the dish. Tasty sauces, chutneys, and relishes - essential elements of Burmese cuisine - will become mainstays in your kitchen, as will a chicken roasted with potatoes, turmeric, and lemongrass; a seafood noodle stir-fry with shrimp and mussels; Shan khaut swei, an astonishing noodle dish made with pea tendrils and pork; a hearty chicken-rice soup seasoned with ginger and soy sauce; and a breathtakingly simple dessert composed of just sticky rice, coconut, and palm sugar. Interspersed throughout the 125 recipes are intriguing tales from the author's many trips to this fascinating but little-known land. One such captivating essay shows how Burmese women adorn themselves with thanaka, a white paste used to protect and decorate the skin.


Background Verbal augmented feedback (VAF) is commonly used in physiotherapy rehabilitation of individuals with lower extremity musculoskeletal dysfunction or to induce motor learning for injury prevention. Its effectiveness for acquisition, retention and transfer of learning of new skills in this population is unknown. Objectives First, to investigate the effect of VAF for rehabilitation and prevention of lower extremity musculoskeletal dysfunction. Second, to determine its effect on motor learning and the stages of acquisition, retention and transfer in this population. Design Systematic review designed in accordance with the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination and reported in line with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Method MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed and five additional databases were searched to identify primary studies with a focus on VAF for prevention and rehabilitation of lower extremity musculoskeletal dysfunction. One reviewer screened the titles and abstracts. Two reviewers retrieved full text articles for final inclusion. The first reviewer extracted data, whereas the second reviewer audited. Two reviewers independently assessed risk of bias and quality of evidence using Cochrane Collaboration's tool and Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation, respectively. Results Six studies were included, with a total sample of 304 participants. Participants included patients with lateral ankle sprain (n=76), postoperative ACL reconstruction (n=16) and healthy individuals in injury prevention (n=212). All six studies included acquisition, whereas retention was found in five studies. Only one study examined transfer of the achieved motor learning (n=36). VAF was found to be effective for improving lower extremity biomechanics and postural control with moderate evidence from five studies. Conclusion VAF should be considered in the rehabilitation of lower extremity musculoskeletal dysfunctions. However, it cannot be unequivocally confirmed that VAF is effective in this population, owing to study heterogeneity and a lack of high-quality evidence. Nevertheless, positive effects on lower extremity biomechanics and postural control have been identified. This suggests that further research into this topic is warranted where an investigation of long-term effects of interventions is required. All stages (acquisition, retention and transfer) should be evaluated.


Abstract A consistent and conservative scheme designed by Ni et al. for the simulation of MHD flows with low magnetic Reynolds number has been implemented into a 3D parallel code of HIMAG based on solving the electrical potential equation. The scheme and code are developed on an unstructured collocated mesh, on which velocity (u), pressure (p), and electrical potential (φ) are located in the cell center, while current fluxes are located on the cell faces. The calculation of current fluxes is performed using a conservative scheme, which is consistent with the discretization scheme for the solution of electrical potential Poisson equation. The Lorentz force is calculated at cell centers based on a conservative formula or a conservation interpolation of the current density. We validate the numerical methods, and the parallel code by simulating 2D fully developed MHD flows with analytical solutions existed and 3D MHD flows with experimental data available. The validation cases are conducted with Hartmann number from 100 to 104 on rectangular grids and/or unstructured hexahedral and prism grids.


Revolutionizing Motherhood examines one of the most astonishing human rights movements of recent years. During the Argentine junta's Dirty War against subversives, as tens of thousands were abducted, tortured, and disappeared, a group of women forged the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo and changed Argentine politics forever. The Mothers began in the 1970s as an informal group of working-class housewives making the rounds of prisons and military barracks in search of their disappeared children. As they realized that both state and church officials were conspiring to withhold information, they started to protest, claiming the administrative center of Argentina the Plaza de Mayo for their center stage. In this volume, Marguerite G. Bouvard traces the history of the Mothers and examines how they have transformed maternity from a passive, domestic role to one of public strength. Bouvard also gives a detailed history of contemporary Argentina, including the military's debacle in the Falklands, the fall of the junta, and the efforts of subsequent governments to reach an accord with the Mothers. Finally, she examines their current agenda and their continuing struggle to bring the murderers of their children to justice.


Who are the youth and what is the problem? Are entrepreneurship and self-employment the solution? And what about youth aspirations? Such questions are addressed in this issue of the IDS Bulletin, drawing from the literature on how development research affects policy and noting that it says little about how young researchers move into policy engagement. Articles consider the evidence on youth employment policy and interventions, the politics of youth policy, the changing nature of young people's work, and the promotion of entrepreneurship. They are authored by the ten members of the first cohort of the Matasa Fellows Network (a joint initiative by the MasterCard Foundation and IDS), which has a particular focus on the youth employment challenge in Africa.Youth and employment concepts are not new to development discourse in sub-Saharan Africa but over the last decade interest has increased dramatically, becoming an increasingly important focus for policy, intervention and research throughout the continent (and globally). Fundamental to the Matasa initiative is the proposition that no matter how innovative or rigorous the research, policy influence will seldom be achieved by adding policy recommendations to a research paper. Rather, influence requires reflection, strategy, planning and tactics, and above all a nuanced understanding of the context and the politics that shape any given policy process.This IDS Bulletin reflects these challenges in Africa and demonstrates how political context shapes youth-related policy. It illustrates the need to critically reflect on the multiple and divergent meanings of work and employment and to re-think interventions that promote entrepreneurship and self-employment. The scope for quality research and effective policy engagement is tremendous.


1. State Board of Education Operating Rules, Amended January 31, 2017 2. Registration Form for Public Testimony at State Board of Education Meetings 3. Current Status of the Permanent School Fund 4. 2013-2017 Rule Review Plan for State Board of Education Rules This item outlines the rule r


Pathogenic mechanisms that account for the dramatic differences between the HIV-1 and HIV-2 epidemics remain unknown. Myeloid dendritic cells (DCs) are sentinels of the immune system, which sense invading pathogens and initiate immune responses. I hypothesize that failure of HIV-2 to overcome DC-intrinsic defense mechanisms results in diminished virus replication and reduced pathogenesis in vivo. Recent studies from our laboratory have identified capture of HIV-1 by CD169 (Siglec1), which results in preservation of virus infectivity in peripheral non-lysosomal compartments and transfer to CD4 T cells, a mechanism of DC-mediated trans infection. HIV-1 interaction with CD169 was dependent on incorporation of a ganglioside, GM3, in the virus particle membrane. We hypothesized that reduced interaction of HIV-2 with CD169 is crucial for its attenuated pathogenic phenotype in vivo. Interestingly, HIV-2 virion assembly sites were divergent from HIV-1, which correlated with reduced incorporation of GM3 in HIV-2 virions, and a significant decrease in capture of HIV-2 compared to HIV-1 by mature DCs. Furthermore, reduced CD169dependent HIV-2 capture by DCs attenuated access of HIV-2 to DC-mediated trans infection. In contrast to the trans infection pathway, HIV-2 could establish productive infection in DCs, though productive infection of DCs by HIV-2 resulted in innate immune activation, induction of IFN-α production and attenuated spread of virus in DC – CD4 T cell co-cultures. As opposed to HIV-2, productive infection of DCs by HIV-1 was attenuated and failed to trigger type I IFN responses, thus allowing for efficient spread of HIV-1 in DC – CD4 T cell cocultures. These results suggest that immune sensing of HIV-2 in productively infected DCs limits viral spread. Finally, we investigated GM3-expressing nanoparticles (GM3-NPs) for delivery of therapeutics that trigger innate immune responses in CD169 myeloid cells as a novel strategy to mimic myeloid cellintrinsic virus control observed in HIV-2 infection. We tested the ability of GM3coated nanoparticles that incorporated a TLR2 ligand, Pam3CSK4, to activate CD169 cells. Interestingly, Pam3CSK4 containing GM3-NPs robustly activated CD169 cells. These results suggest that induction of dendritic cell-intrinsic type I IFN responses might be a fruitful therapeutic strategy to restrict HIV-1 replication in vivo.


The article analysis physical preparedness of 2 frontier guard units' officers of Lithuania. There are discussed of physical preparedness index overages of different age group officers. Such components of physical preparedness are examined: tenacity, endurance of stomach, arms and shoulders muscles, running speed and swiftness, quickness, body and stomach strength and tenacity of arms muscles. 134 police officers took part in research. Physical preparedness estimation standards for different age group officers are presented. Comparative analysis of physical preparedness of two frontier guard units' officers demonstrated high level of officers' endurance in both units. Analysing results of pulling to the bar become clear that indexes in both frontier guard units and all age groups do not vary much. Results of 10x10 shuttle run test revealed tendency that increase of age decreases results in all age groups. Results of 100 m run in all age groups comparing both frontier guard units statistically do not separate. Results of arm bending and stretching it paring a floor in two minutes statistically do not vary only in 1st age group. Summing up points of all age groups turned out that police officers from Galiniai frontier guard unit gathered + 6 points while officers from Lazdijai frontier guard unit gathered +15 points. This index shows that estimation of officers physical preparedness in Lazdijai frontier guard unit leads to + 9 points to officers from (Galiniai frontier guard unit. Thus common physical preparedness of officers from Lazdijai frontier guard unit considers being better than it is possible.


We generate independent Gaussian random variables on a regular grid and use a spatial filter to smooth the independent random variables to obtain a spatially correlated Gaussian random field. The FFT is used to speed up the smoothing since convolution is a simple cell by-cell multiplication in the Fourier domain. A representation of the spatial convolution filter in the Fourier domain is efficiently obtained from the FFT of any stationary correlation function. Since FFT is cyclic, the grid must be padded to ensure that opposite sides are uncorrelated. The size of the padding is discussed in detail. Most standard covariance functions fail to be positive definite on finite cyclic domains. This causes striping artifacts in the final simulated realizations and failure to meet statistical properties such as variogram reproduction in the simulated realizations. These problems are addressed and solutions are provided to ensure near perfect statistical properties of the generated realizations. The method is fast and can generate a hundred million grid cell realization in approximately 1.5 minutes on a standard laptop PC. The method scales approximately linearly in the number of grid cells.


It is timely to examine alternatives to imposing liability on directors for creditor losses when a company is unable to pay its debts. Directors' personal liability for corporate fault and corporate social responsibility are currently being investigated by parliamentary committees, but there are dangers of risk aversion and unfair legal complainace burdens on directors if liability is extended too far. This article examines alternatives to director liability, such as mandatory capitalisation or insurance, shareholder liability and government funded schemes, to assess whether they provide appropriate and sufficient compensation for losses in times of corporate failure. It is concluded that imposing liability on directors appears to be a superior way in which to ensure creditor protection because it not only potentially gives creditors access to funds for compensation but also deters the adverse behaviour which may be a cause of loss to creditors. This article is available in Bond Law Review: http://epublications.bond.edu.au/blr/vol18/iss2/1 1 DIRECTORS' LIABILITY TO CREDITORS – WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES?


Sport is being increasingly recognized for the contribution it can make to the Millennium Development Goals and, in particular, the response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In both sport-for-development and HIV/AIDS sectors, partnerships are advocated as an effective approach to achieving policy goals. This exploratory study examined the nature of partnerships involving non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that use sport as a tool for HIV/AIDS prevention in Zambia. Sensitized by development literature, the study utilized an inductive, qualitative research approach primarily centred on interviews with key stakeholders from a variety of governmental and non-governmental agencies both based in Zambia and supporting sport-for-development programmes from overseas. A large number of different partnerships were identified by interviewees that varied significantly in terms of their purpose and form. Within the Zambian sport-for-development sector, organizational fragmentation and competition for resources provided by overseas agencies inhibited the development of partnerships aimed at policy co-ordination across the whole sector. Productive bilateral partnerships existed between sport-for-development NGOs and between these organizations and health-based NGOs. However, the sport-development sector lacked integration into more strategic partnerships that addressed HIV/AIDS policy issues. Incremental progress is identified as the key to future improvements in partnerships involving sport-for-development NGOs. Further research that examines how partnerships influence the delivery of programmes within specific communities would also enhance understanding of the contribution of sport to development efforts.


Purpose: The main purpose of this study/thesis is to, through an interview with researchers in medical field in Jonkoping, provide an empirical analysis of the link or relationship between medical researcher and patient through social networking sites specifically for collaboration in order to improve relationships, dissemination of information and knowledge sharing.Background: The importance of social networking websites as a means of interaction between groups of individuals cannot be underestimated. Their impact on daily life activities and activities cannot be underestimated. Because millions of individuals are making use of Social Network Sites (SNSs) to build or reinforce relationships, connect, disseminate and share information as well as sharing of knowledge whether personal or non-personal experiences with people they already know offline or new people online. Therefore, the authors are interested basically in how social networking web sites are being utilized in terms of collaborations, information and knowledge sharing and particularly in what benefits and challenge are connected to improving inter-groups collaboration in research study between researchers and ordinary citizens.Method: A review of literature gives us insight about the subject terms, critical and sensitive issues in regards to collaboration through social networking sites designed for research purpose. We apply in general networking theories such as social capital and two of its components couple with Putman´s theory of bonding and bridging social capital as a theoretical framework to synthesize the concept of ties (strong or weak) . Our analysis based on the empirical data gathered through surveys, interviews and observation provide us with interesting preliminary results and with blueprints to guide the analysis of the thesis.Conclusion: Social networking platforms are valuable and useful in our generation being part of daily life and activity to keep up with people within our networks. However, the authors discovered that the advantages of involving ordinary citizens to participate in improving researcher-patient collaboration through dynamic social networking actually outweigh the disadvantages despite all odds and sensitive issues such as trust, privacy issues and sceptics of some researchers. In others words, some of the researchers were enthusiastic to collaborate in terms of disseminating useful information and sharing valuable knowledge with ordinary citizens. Overall, the study revealed positive result that despite weak ties relationships, the willingness to collaborate is far more than the obstacles perceived in the course of establishing such collaboration.