Background The 1000s of people who die from cancer each year have become one of the leading causes of death among the Chilean population, placing it as the second cause of death in the region of Valparaiso between 1997 and 2003. Statistics have provided different measures regarding the life expectancy of cancer patients which have resulted in being useful to establish courses of action for prevention and treatment plans to follow. Methods Data was extracted from the cancer module of the Epidemiology Assistance System (SADEPI for its initials in Spanish) which stores information about cancer cases in the provinces of Valparaiso and Petorca. The survival period is defined as the difference in days between the date of occurrence and the date of death of the patient by separating the data into quartiles. Results The more frequent cancers in the region of Valparaiso behave similarly to global behaviours of the disease. The majority of affected patients are around 65 years of age which progressively lowers its occurrence in younger adults under the age of 45. Conclusions Further efforts are required for early detection and timely access to treatment for cancer patients. Statistics are an important support in achieving this.


Using case studies from six Asian countries, this paper (a) assesses the relevance of underlying rationales for public intervention in foodgrain markets, (b) documents the existing policies and regulations that support operation of grain parastatals, (c) provides estimates of benefits and costs of parastatals, and (d) compares experiences of countries that liberalized (or reduced intervention) with the ones that continue to have significant presence of parastatals. Our results suggest that conditions in the region have improved significantly over the past thirty years; and none of the four commonly agreed rationales - that is, poorly integrated domestic markets, thin and volatile world market, promoting modern technology and the scarcity of foreign exchange reserves - for public intervention in foodgrain markets are now persuasive. Domestic foodgrain markets are integrated, international markets for both wheat and rice are significantly more robust than they were thirty years ago, High-Yielding Varieties (HYV) now cover practically all of the high potential area sown to wheat and rice; and foreign currency reserves have increased dramatically in all countries in recent years. However, although rationales have lost their significance, many countries continue to practice old policies and provide regulatory supports to parastatals, including monopoly control over international trade, preferential access to transportation, restrictions on movement of foodgrains, and cheap or interest-free credit. Relative to the private sector, the costs of the grain parastatals have been high and are increasing, as special interests and rent-seeking are increasingly dictating their operation. This is being manifested in various forms, such as excessive public stocks in India, vacillating import policies in Indonesia and Pakistan, questionable government foodgrain import decisions in the Philippines, and politically-determined ceiling and floor prices in India. On the other hand, the experiences of Bangladesh and Vietnam, both of which have implemented extensive reforms over the last fifteen years, suggest that reduced government intervention can promote competition in the domestic markets, reduce subsidies, and release funds for development and anti-poverty programs without jeopardizing price stability. The paper concludes that reforms are overdue and the delay in changing the old ways of doing price stabilization will be increasingly wasteful.


OBJECTIVE
To determine if changes in biomarkers of inflammation and bone turnover in response to treatment with infliximab plus methotrexate (MTX) versus MTX alone are associated with improvement in clinical measures of signs, symptoms, and structural damage in early rheumatoid arthritis.

METHODS
Sera were collected from patients in the ASPIRE study who received 3 mg/kg (n = 48) or 6 mg/kg infliximab plus MTX (n = 55), or MTX alone (n = 41). Several baseline biomarker levels correlated with changes in median percentage of American College of Rheumatology improvement (ACR-N), 50% improvement in ACR response (ACR50), and van der Heijde-modified Sharp score (vdHSS) at Week 54.

RESULTS
Infliximab plus MTX treatment resulted in more rapid decreases in levels of matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3), intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1, interleukin 8 (IL-8), and tumor necrosis factor-a than treatment with MTX alone. Baseline levels and decreases from baseline to Weeks 6 and 54 in MMP-3 correlated with improvement in ACR-N response at Week 54. An increase in IL-8 levels from baseline to Week 54 correlated with worsening in vdHSS at Week 54 in the MTX-alone group. Regression analysis of markers at baseline showed that MMP-3 was the only variable associated with ACR50 response and less worsening in vdHSS at Week 54.

CONCLUSION
Treatment with infliximab plus MTX resulted in a rapid decrease in inflammation markers. MMP-3 levels at different timepoints were consistently associated with clinical improvements at Week 54 in the infliximab plus MTX group, while increases in IL-8 levels correlated with a worsening in vdHSS at Week 54 in the MTX-alone group.


BACKGROUND
Chinese older people have approximately half the risk of falling as their white counterparts, but no studies to date have explained why such a disparity exists.

METHODS
A total of 692 Chinese and 764 white community-dwelling older people participated in a multicohort study conducted in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Australia. Baseline measurements included sociodemographic, psychological, and physical measures; concern about falling (Falls Efficacy Scale-International scores); and physical activity levels. Falls were monitored prospectively for 12-24 months.

RESULTS
The standardized annual fall rates for the 3 Chinese cohorts were 0.26 ± 0.47 in Taiwan, 0.21 ± 0.57 in Hong Kong, and 0.36 ± 0.80 in Australia, which were significantly lower than that of the white cohort at 0.70 ± 1.15. The fall rates for the Taiwan and Hong Kong cohorts were also significantly lower than that of the Australian Chinese cohort. The difference in fall rates was not due to better physical ability in the Chinese cohorts. However, the Chinese cohorts did more planned activity and expressed more concern about falling. Negative binomial regression analysis revealed a significant Cohort × Falls Efficacy Scale-International score interaction. After adjusting for this interaction, Falls Efficacy Scale-International scores, other predictors, and confounders, the incidence rate ratios comparing the cohorts were no longer statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS
Low fall rates in Chinese cohorts appear to be due to increased concern about falling as manifest in high Falls Efficacy Scale-International scores. These findings suggest that the Chinese cohorts are more likely to adapt their behaviors to lessen fall risk and that such adaptations are partially lost in Chinese people who have migrated to a "Westernized" country.


Literature is human's expression. Literary work is a result of human being thinking which tells about life that deals with feeling, ideas, experience, ambition, imagination and problem. Novel is one of literary work. Novel is a book-length in prose, whose author tries to create the sense of actual life. Through reading novel, the readers can get enlargement of experience and a life interpretation. On the other hand, investigating novel gives the readers better understanding on many things to be investigated specifically. In this thesis, the writer focuses on the divorce of Lillian Roth, the main character in the novel "I'll Cry Tomorrow".
The research design which is used in this thesis is descriptive qualitative. Descriptive research studies are designed to obtain information concerning with the status of phenomena. Qualitative means that the researcher observes persons or events in their natural setting. This thesis only described or interpreted condition or situation. The writer used objective approach in doing the analysis because the writer views the novel to be an individual entity, reading and understanding anything that existing on the page in researcher own right, without necessary studying the author's life or the age in which it is written or its possible effect on its reader.
This research deals with two problems: what the causes of Lillian Roth's divorce are, and what the effects of Lillian Roth's divorce on her life are. The objectives of this study are: to know the causes of Lillian Roth's divorce and to know the effects of Lillian Roth's divorce.
As a result, this analysis showed that there are social and personal causes of Lillian Roth's divorce. The personal causes are: poorly prepare for married, children of divorce or unhappy parents, childless marriage, couple who cannot tolerate differences, and poor quality of sexual relationship. The social cause of Lillian Roth divorce is changes in gender roles, especially the participation of woman in labor force. Moreover, this thesis also showed that there are personal and social effects toward Lillian Roth's life. The personal effects of divorce to Lillian are psychological difficulties such as; depression, alcoholism and loneliness, besides, she got financial hardship. The social effects are: altered family structure and social dislocation.


We describe a new genus and a new species in the family Epiphragmophoridae, Minaselates paradoxa sp. n. The new species was found at the National Park Cavernas do Peruaçu, in northern portion of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Minaselates paradoxa sp. n. is classified in Epiphragmophoridae based on the fact that it shares the following diagnostic features of the family: a dart apparatus with a single dart sac, and two unequal mucous glands at the terminal genitalia. Minaselates gen. n. differs from Epiphragmophora Doering, 1874 by having a granulose protoconch, shell spire with blunt apex, complex microsculpture on the teleoconch and closed umbilicus fused with the shell wall. Also, significant differences between the two genera are the presence of a long and thin kidney that extends more than half the length of the pulmonary cavity, the presence of a flagellar caecum, and a smooth jaw in Minaselates gen. n. The finding of this new species and genus is particularly significant to refine the definition of the family, since Epiphragmophoridae has been traditionally diagnosed using the same characters of Epiphragmophora. Dinotropis Pilsbry & Cockerell, 1937, the other valid genus in the family, is monospecific and is only known by the morphology of the shell. In many ways it is similar to Epiphragmophora. A cladistics analysis was made in the present study which supports Minaselates gen. n. as a different entity and as sister group of the Epiphragmophora within Epiphragmophoridae.


Pre-pandemic, EU policies towards North Africa, especially Tunisia and Morocco, focused on two main paradigms: trade liberalization and the minimization of both regular and irregular migration. These agendas were incoherent and had overwhelmingly negative implications for the livelihoods and employment opportunities within the EU for the most vulnerable people in the Maghreb. As the coronavirus impacts continue to wreak havoc on world economies, any future negotiations on the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (DCFTAs) ought to be geared towards supporting fair and inclusive recovery in North Africa based on reducing inequality and promoting shared prosperity and development.


On the development of the galvanomagnetic amplifier with Bi Justi and Thuy had to overcome some technological difficulties. The greatest one was the large brittleness of the Bi-foils or -wires. However, in the last years Aske and Fitzpatrick have shown that the ductility of Bi can be enlarged by small amounts of some other metals like Ni.
In this paper the authors give a thorough and systematic analysis of the electrical and mechanical properties of Bi-Ni-alloys. After a detailed discussion of the preparation methods metallurgical and X-ray investigations give a first glance into the structure of the alloys with Ni-contents final to 3,5 atomic per cent. Measurements of the magnetoresistance [Delta] [rho]/[rho]0 at room temperature and at the temperatures of liquid nitrogen and liquid hydrogen confirm generally the expectation of a large decrease with increasing Ni-concentration. Nevertheless at 77°K there is in increase in the [Delta] [rho]/[rho]0-values, possibly connected with a substitution mixed crystal of the otherwise unsoluble Ni in the Bi-lattice.
The ductility of the Bi-Ni-alloys is tested with some kind of bend experiment on wires, produced by pressing the material under 120 kp/mm^2 through a nozzle of 1mm diameter. In contradiction to the statements of Aske and Fitzpatrick the ductility is a monotonic decreasing function with increasing Ni-content up to 0,7 weight% Ni, if the pressure form is not warmed up. However, if the production of the wires is realised at 90°C an alloy with 0,15 weight% Ni is more ductile than a specpure Bi-specimen in agreement with Aske and Fitzpatrick. Yet the absolute value of the ductility is lower than that of a pure Bi-wire, manufactured at room temperature. These experiments are further discussed in connection with some preliminary results on wires produced by cooling the nozzle to liquid air temperature.
Summing up from a practical point of view these investigations show that the Bi is more convenient for a galvanomagnetic amplifier when it contains a small amount of Ni and the wire itself is manufactured by cold working below room temperature.


This thesis deals with the monolithic integration of long wavelength (1.3-1.55 µm) p-i-n photodiodes with HEMT field effect transistors for the realization of wide bandwidth OEIC receivers for lightwave communication systems. Part of this work was carried out in collaboration with the Laboratory for Electromagnetic Fields and Microwave Electronics (IFH) of the ETH-Zurich. The p-i-n photodiode structure consisting of a n+-InP lower contact layer, a 1 µm undoped InGaAs absorption layer and a 100 nm p+-InGaAs upper contact layer was grown lattice-matched on an InP substrate by Chemical Beam Epitaxy (CBE). The p+-InGaAs layer allowed the fabrication of low resistivity ohmic contact. Being thin enough (100 nm) this layer did not induce any degradation of the quantum efficiency nor of the speed of response of the photodiodes. I-V measurements up to -25 V were performed at different temperatures to identify the processes causing the dark current. It was shown that the dark current at low voltage is dominated by a diffusion current and not by generation-recombination effects. At higher bias, the exponential behavior of the dark current with the applied reverse bias was well fitted by taking into account the effect of the electrical field on the generation process. To integrate horizontally the very different p-i-n and HEMT layer structures, a two-step growth approach was used. First, an AlInAs/InGaAs HEMT structure was grown lattice-matched on a semi-insulating InP substrate by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE); except a thick AlInAs buffer layer (1,2 µm), this structure is conventional. Mesas down to the InP substrate were then formed using wet etching. Finally, in the second growth step, the InGaAs/InP p-i-n structure was grown by CBE. Comparisons between photodiodes grown in one-step and regrown photodiodes showed only minor difference; in particular the dark current of the regrown photodiodes remained very low : 130 pA at -5 V for 30-µm diameter diodes. The influence of the p-i-n regrowth on the two-dimensional electron gas (2-DEG) transport properties, that is to Say ns2D,μn2D and the channel sheet resistance Rcc, is more critical, as it was determined by both Hall and TLM measurements. In a first phase, the CBE regrowth was done using a SiO2 mask layer deposited by CVD on the top of the HEMT structure in order to achieve a selective area regrowth of the p-i-n structure. However this growth step, done at around 520°C for more than one hour, led to a severe degradation of the 2-DEG transport properties. After the first growth Rcc was 240 Ω/square and it became as high as 600 Ω/square after the p-i-n selective regrowth. Test samples consisting of AlInAs were prepared; an increase in the trap concentration was measured when these samples were exposed to a similar treatment. The results showed that the degradation was clearly due to the presence of the SiO2 mask layer and the CBE growth conditions themselves were not responsible. In order to overcome this problem, the SiO2 deposition step was omitted resulting in a non selective regrowth. In this case, the p-i-n material is also deposited on top of the HEMT structure. This scheme of integration is therefore only feasible if the undesired p-i-n layers can be selectively etched away without degrading the underlying HEMT structure. In a first set of experiments, this selective etching was performed using the n+-InP p-i-n lower contact layer as an etch stop. Satisfying results were obtained, since Rcc remained under 300 Ω/square. In a second approach, an InP cap layer was added to the HEMT structure before its patterning. This led to a very slight reduction in the 2-DEG properties with an increase of only 3 % of Rcc after the regrowth and the subsequent selective etching of the undesired p-i-n material. Using the latter scheme of integration, complete photoreceivers were successfully fabricated using standard contact photolithography, except for the definition of the 0.25-µm T-shape HEMT gates. The current gain cutoff frequency fT exhibited by single HEMTs was higher than 100 GHz and a flat photoresponse with a bandwidth of 18 GHz was obtained for the OEIC receivers. The average equivalent input noise current density was 11 pA/√Hz and the responsivity measured at 1.55 µm of the photodiodes was 0.5 A/W. These values led to a sensitivity of -18 dBm calculated for a data bit rate of 20 Gbit/s at a BER of 10-9.


The recent empirical literature on firm performance has highlighted the multidimensional concept of managerial strategies. The paper analyzes the nexus between these strategies and performance based on specific entrepreneurs' characteristics, corporate strategies, organizational capabilities and firms' approaches to internationalization. Using a dataset obtained by matching and merging Capitalia, ICE-Reprint and AIDA surveys we investigate the possible non-linear impact of managerial strategies on firm performance in Italy. While the specific entrepreneurs' characteristics do not seem to have a significant impact on firm performance, the mode of internationalization plays an important role. Important non-linearities arise when we singled out the role of skilled workers and managers in determining a firm's success in highly competitive markets.


This essay examines the role of organized crime in local, state and federal politics during the 1920s era of Prohibition. More specifically, it interrogates how these relationships affected the social, political, cultural and economic climate of New York City. The three organizations that will be examined are (1) the municipal political machine at Tammany Hall, (2) the ItalianAmerican Mafia and (3) the federal organizations established as a result of the Progressive Reform Movement. Primary evidence consists of a series of articles from the New York Times and other accounts from individuals involved with any of these three interest groups. Secondary sources consists of academic articles from intellectual and political historians, including mafia historians as well as several biographers. Argued here is that each of the above mentioned institutions were able to establish their own models of efficiency in order to achieve each of their desired ends. These goals are investigated in regards to the structure of these organizations, which in various cases chose to structure themselves as being organized as either from the top down, or conversely from the bottom up. Explored here is how each of these structures, when adopted, led to both advantages and disadvantages for the organization using them. The leaders of these organizations are then brought into question by looking at their own primary accounts or accounts from people close to them.


ABSTRACT In recent years, CGIAR researchers have investigated the effectiveness of using agrobiodiversity, and more particularly crop and crop varietal diversity, as an adaptive practice to mitigate climate-change impacts on agriculture and to contribute to rural household and community resilience. The hypothesis informing this research is that the sustained practice of crop diversification leads to ecological redundancy, which allows farmer households and their communities to produce multiple positive livelihood benefits. The validity of this hypothesis is investigated by means of an extensive literature review (covering 2015–2020). Findings reveal ample evidence of positive outcomes, including increased yields and household incomes, improved nutrition and food security, new marketing opportunities, reduced poverty, and strengthened adaptive and innovative capacity. However, the evidence is far less convincing about the last part of the hypothetical impact pathway, i.e. the link between positive livelihood benefits and (increased) resilience. This shortcoming is addressed through the elaboration of a more clearly articulated theory of change for crop diversification and a refined methodology to support farmers in making appropriate diversification decisions. At the same time, the critical review opens a window on an important, novel perspective, which is to look at the role that crop diversification could play in a wider societal transition toward a more sustainable future.


Aim: To describe our experience in supraumbilical cesarean deliveries in severely
and morbidly obese patients (body mass index > 35 kg/m2) with a voluminous
abdominal panniculus. Methods: A retrospective study in France between
January 2009 and May 2014. Every woman who underwent a cesarean delivery with a
supraumbilical incision was included through her digital medical record. A
senior doctor made the decision for a supraumbilical skin incision after
careful examination of the patient's anatomical conditions. Results: Twenty
patients were included, for a total of 21 cesarean deliveries. Their mean body
mass index 50 (40 - 61.7). Nineteen of them (95.0%) had an abdominal panniculus
in supine "apron" position. Twelve patients (57.1%) had a scarred uterus.
During the cesarean section, 14 (66.7%) had a segmentary hysterotomy. The median
operative time was 49 minutes (32 - 70). Four patients (19.1%) had a postpartum
hemorrhage and 4 (19.1%) a postpartum infectious complication, none of which
were severe. Conclusions: In this specific population of severely obese
women undergoing cesarean procedures, variations in anatomy require each
patient's incision choice to be individualized. In women with a voluminous panniculus the
supraumbilical skin incision seems to offer an adequate exposure to the
peritoneal cavity and the lower uterine segment, therefore allowing to safely
carry out the procedure. However a prospective study on a larger sample remains
necessary to compare this technique to the classical cesarean procedure.


The influences of loyalty program membership on the relationships among service quality perceptions, customer satisfaction and loyalty were investigated using data obtained from interviews of 672 customers of Macao casinos. Regression analysis revealed that loyalty program membership negatively moderates the relationship between service quality and satisfaction but positively moderates the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty. These results extend the research on the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty by treating loyalty program membership as a moderator, yielding deepened insight into the effects of loyalty program in casinos.


The article deals with some particular transformations of scientific categories as costs, expenses, profits in the system of accounting and analytical coordinates. The main idea of the article is the need for harmonious combination of the linguistic, regulatory and engineering approach to solving the problem of improvement of the quality of information provision to define key financial and economic indicators. The era of economic globalization requires finding the most suitable ways of combining national and international accounting and analytical systems.Moreover, the rapid development of IT - technologies involves their widespread introduction of the system of accounting and information support of businesses that can be achieved through a variety of engineering tools. However, practical implementation of these tools requires a deep adaptation to the characteristics of the existing accounting and economic procedures, allowing preserving and strengthening the analytical and practical possibilities of information files, to combine them with the legal norms and requirements. From this perspective, the authors consider it necessary to further diversify the financial science and strengthen the role of strategic accounting and analysis.The study authors have concluded on the need to preserve the integrity in the use of accounting and economic procedures for determining financial performance, which should be carried out by a combination of modern engineering tools based on IT-technologies, while meeting the most important principles, gowns (particularly legal) and terminological apparatus of accounting science.


This paper surveys a variety of topics related to network economics. Topics covered include: consumer demand under network effects, compatibility decisions and standardization, technology advances in network industries, two-sided markets, information networks and intellectual property, and social influence.


It is commonplace to link neoclassical economics to 18th- or 19th-century physics and its notion of equilibrium, of a pendulum once disturbed eventually coming to rest. Likewise, an economy subjected to an exogenous shock seeks equilibrium through the stabilizing market forces unleashed by the invisible hand. The metaphor can be applied to virtually every sphere of economics: from micro markets for fish that are traded spot, to macro markets for something called labor, and on to complex financial markets in synthetic collateralized debt obligations-CDOs. Guided by invisible hands, supplies balance demands and markets clear. Armed with metaphors from physics, the economist has no problem at all extending the analysis across international borders to traded commodities, to what are euphemistically called capital flows, and on to currencies themselves. Certainly there is a price, somewhere, somehow, that will balance supply and demand. The orthodox economist is sure that if we just get the government out of the way, the market will do the dirty work. The heterodox economist? Well, she is less sure. The market might not work. It needs a bit of coaxing. Imbalances can persist. Market forces can be rather impotent. The visible hand of government can hasten the move toward balance. Orthodox economists as well as most heterodox economists see the Global Financial Crisis as a consequence of domestic and global imbalances. The most common story blames the US Federal Reserve for excessive monetary ease that spurred borrowing, and the US fiscal and trade imbalances for a surplus of liquidity sloshing around global financial markets. Looking to the specific problems in Euroland, the imbalances are attributed to profligate Mediterraneans. The solution is to restore global balance, which requires some combination of higher exchange rates for the Chinese, reduction of US trade deficits, and Teutonic fiscal discipline in the United States, the UK, and Japan, as well as on the periphery of Europe. This paper takes an alternative view, following the sectoral balances approach of Wynne Godley, combined with the modern money theory (MMT) approach derived from the work of Innes, Knapp, Keynes, Lerner, and Minsky. The problem is not one of financial imbalance, but rather one of an imbalance of power. There is too much power in the hands of the financial sector, money managers, the predator state, and Europe's center. There is too much privatization and pursuit of the private purpose, and too little use of government to serve the public interest. In short, there is too much neoliberalism and too little democracy, transparency, and accountability of government.


This paper develops the theoretical framework and the equations of a new robust Generalized Maximum-likelihood-type Unscented Kalman Filter (GM-UKF) that is able to suppress observation and innovation outliers while filtering out non-Gaussian measurement noise. Because the errors of the real and reactive power measurements calculated using Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) follow long-tailed probability distributions, the conventional UKF provides strongly biased state estimates since it relies on the weighted least squares estimator. By contrast, the state estimates and residuals of our GM-UKF are proved to be roughly Gaussian, allowing the sigma points to reliably approximate the mean and the covariance matrices of the predicted and corrected state vectors. To develop our GM-UKF, we first derive a batch-mode regression form by processing the predictions and observations simultaneously, where the statistical linearization approach is used. We show that the set of equations so derived are equivalent to those of the unscented transformation. Then, a robust GM-estimator that minimizes a convex Huber cost function while using weights calculated via Projection Statistics (PS's) is proposed. The PS's are applied to a two-dimensional matrix that consists of serially correlated predicted state and innovation vectors to detect observation and innovation outliers. These outliers are suppressed by the GM-estimator using the iteratively reweighted least squares algorithm. Finally, the asymptotic error covariance matrix of the GM-UKF state estimates is derived from the total influence function. In the companion paper, extensive simulation results will be shown to verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method.


Information about the pollen-collecting activities of bees is usually based on field observations. From such records it cannot be inferred whether pollen was actually collected, as bees, especially the males, also may visit flowers to suck honey or to rest. One may expect more exact data from an analysis of the pollen actually carried by the bees. This paper deals with a study on bees of the genus Andrena. Some species of this genus are supposed to be oligolectic. Pollen loads were taken from preserved collection specimens and the pollen was prepared following the usual methods for the study of recent pollen. In the greater part of the samples taken one type of pollen proved to be dominant. Apparently a bee tends to visit only one species of flower per flight. Whether a species of bee always collects from the same flower species remains to be seen. A large number of specimens should be examined before conclusions can be drawn. Also the bees should be collected at different sites so as to eliminate the influence of the local flora. We also have to take into account the floral succession throughout the season. Early flying species are restricted in their choice of supplier of pollen (e.g. Salix) but as the season advances other plants come into flower and may be preferred. When a sample contained less than 5% of a different kind of pollen this was considered a contamination, either due to the preparing technique, or to unintentional addition to the normal pollen load when the bee rested on or came into contact with other plants. The results have been compared with flower records from Van der Vecht (1928) and Stockhert (1933). A. florea is supposed to visit Bryonia only. This was confirmed by analysis


During conceptual design phase, system architects pre-validate architectures following different constrains. This paper proposes a new pre-designing method applied to a flexible multibody system to characterize its vibrational behavior analytically with Dymola/Modelica language. We study the vibration interaction between perturbations sources (motors) and receivers (electronic cards) through a flexible beam with arbitrary boundary conditions. In fact, a lot of mechatronic systems may have their natural frequencies and mode shapes dependent on their spatial configuration, which affect the dynamic response of the system. This methodology shows that using Modelica, we can implement different boundary conditions, making the element suitable for any multibody simulation. This model can help system architects to study the influence of the boundary conditions on the system response. Two types of boundary conditions are considered in this study, simply supported–simply supported (S-S) and clamped–clamped (C-C). The solution for this issue would be a pre-positioning procedure which targets to provide a support for decision-making on the feasibility of a given system architecture at an early design stage, before proceeding to the detailed design. The simulation results have been validated with respect to the literature and by a comparison with those obtained by the model based on the Beam component which belongs to the Modelica flexible Bodies Library.


Professional Teacher Development (PTD) is an ingredient essential to the creation of effective schools, positively impacting learners' performance and enhancing teachers' knowledge, skills and attitudes, which are imperative in improving leaner performance. Effective PTD requires considerable time, must be well organised, be carefully structured, purposefully directed and focused on both content and pedagogy. It should be cost effective, in terms of time and effort persistent to teachers' needs, relevant, practical and educationally sound. It is not a single stroke; one must work hard so as to attain mastery. PTD is an effective transfer of knowledge-sharing from within the institution, supporting critical junctures in its networks, ensuring integration within the externally. When carried out correctly, it is the key to 'recharging' teaches, giving them the tool they need. Principals are being challenged about what constitutes quality in education, and are forced to make efforts to change the status quo – instead of cocooning themselves in isolation. They have to design coherent and purposeful programmes effecting learning which is accompanied by change in behaviour, perception, thinking, beliefs, values, and awareness. It also will alter insight, and involve new patterns of operation, new strategies and new procedures. A structural PTD is determined by the specific institution's context, helping to overcome teachers' negative reaction to school-based PTD. They will be changed in major ways, both in terms of their teaching practices and their personal behaviour as there is no substitute for on-the-job learning with opportunities to reflect on action. One potential way to enhance PTD is to utilise constructivist strategies with the teacher. For PTD to be effective and bring improvement within the institution, the teachers should meet regularly to explore common problems and seek solutions based on shared experiences and collective wisdom. School-based PTD will cause DCS teachers to shift cultural paradigms, instil new values and goals, and help shape their professional identity, taking the microenvironment of DCS into cognisance. A good PTD needs to be mindful of connecting good theory to classroom practices, as quality PTD is the vehicle for providing the knowledge needed to support effective teaching – an adult institution. No improvement efforts can succeed in the absence of thoughtfully planned and wellimplemented PTD.


Grating couplers are used to efficiently couple light from an optical fibre to a silicon waveguide as they allow light to be coupled into or out from any location on the device without the need for cleaving. However, using the typical surface relief grating fabrication method reduces surface planarity and hence makes further processing more difficult. The ability to manufacture high quality material layers on top of a grating coupler allows multiple active optical layers to be realized for multi-layer integrated optical circuits, and may enable monolithic integration of optical and electronic circuits on separate layers. Furthermore, the nature of the refractive index change may enable removal via rapid thermal annealing for wafer scale testing applications. We demonstrate for the first time a coupling device utilising a refractive index change introduced by lattice disorder. Simulations show 44% of the power can be extracted from the waveguide by using uniform implanted gratings, which is not dissimilar to the performance of typical uniform surface relief gratings currently used. Losses determined empirically, of 5.5 dB per coupler have been demonstrated.


Symmetric positive semi-definite (SPSD) matrix approximation methods have been extensively used to speed up large-scale eigenvalue computation and kernel learning methods. The standard sketch based method, which we call the prototype model, produces relatively accurate approximations, but is inefficient on large square matrices. The Nystrom method is highly efficient, but can only achieve low accuracy. In this paper we propose a novel model that we call the fast SPSD matrix approximation model. The fast model is nearly as efficient as the Nystrom method and as accurate as the prototype model. We show that the fast model can potentially solve eigenvalue problems and kernel learning problems in linear time with respect to the matrix size n to achieve 1 + e relative-error, whereas both the prototype model and the Nystrom method cost at least quadratic time to attain comparable error bound. Empirical comparisons among the prototype model, the Nystrom method, and our fast model demonstrate the superiority of the fast model. We also contribute new understandings of the Nystrom method. The Nystrom method is a special instance of our fast model and is approximation to the prototype model. Our technique can be straightforwardly applied to make the CUR matrix decomposition more efficiently computed without much affecting the accuracy.


Background— Aspirin and clopidogrel are recommended for patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) or undergoing coronary stenting. Ticagrelor, a reversible oral P2Y12-receptor antagonist, provides faster, greater, and more consistent platelet inhibition than clopidogrel and may be useful for patients with acute ST-segment elevation (STE) ACS and planned primary percutaneous coronary intervention. Methods and Result— Platelet Inhibition and Patient Outcomes (PLATO), a randomized, double-blind trial, compared ticagrelor with clopidogrel for the prevention of vascular events in 18 624 ACS patients. This report concerns the 7544 ACS patients with STE or left bundle-branch block allocated to either ticagrelor 180-mg loading dose followed by 90 mg twice daily or clopidogrel 300-mg loading dose (with provision for 300 mg clopidogrel at percutaneous coronary intervention) followed by 75 mg daily for 6 to 12 months. The reduction of the primary end point (myocardial infarction, stroke, or cardiovascular death) with ticagrelor versus clopidogrel (10.8% versus 9.4%; hazard ratio [HR], 0.87; 95% confidence interval, 0.75 to 1.01; P=0.07) was consistent with the overall PLATO results. There was no interaction between presentation with STE/left bundle-branch block and randomized treatment (interaction P=0.29). Ticagrelor reduced several secondary end points, including myocardial infarction alone (HR, 0.80; P=0.03), total mortality (HR, 0.82; P=0.05), and definite stent thrombosis (HR, 0.66; P=0.03). The risk of stroke, low in both groups, was higher with ticagrelor (1.7% versus 1.0%; HR,1.63; 95% confidence interval, 1.07 to 2.48; P=0.02). Ticagrelor did not affect major bleeding (HR, 0.98; P=0.76). Conclusion— In patients with STE-ACS and planned primary percutaneous coronary intervention, the effects of ticagrelor were consistent with those observed in the overall PLATO trial. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: http://www.ClinicalTrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00391872.


One of the major optimizations employed in deep learning frameworks is graph rewriting. Production frameworks rely on heuristics to decide if rewrite rules should be applied and in which order. Prior research has shown that one can discover more optimal tensor computation graphs if we search for a better sequence of substitutions instead of relying on heuristics. However, we observe that existing approaches for tensor graph superoptimization both in production and research frameworks apply substitutions in a sequential manner. Such sequential search methods are sensitive to the order in which the substitutions are applied and often only explore a small fragment of the exponential space of equivalent graphs. This paper presents a novel technique for tensor graph superoptimization that employs equality saturation to apply all possible substitutions at once. We show that our approach can find optimized graphs with up to 16% speedup over state-of-the-art, while spending on average 48x less time optimizing.


Mono- and polyvalent galactosides have been investigated with respect to their binding to the plant lectin Ricinus communis agglutinin 120 (RCA120). Thermodynamic parameters (Ka, ΔG, ΔH, ΔS and n) have been determined by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and kinetics of binding (ka and kd) measured by surface plasmon resonance (SPR). ITC analysis using a single set of sites model found a non-statistical increase in avidity with increasing valency with the largest ligand displaying a greater than 20-fold increase in Ka compared to its monomeric precursor after correction for valency; binding was found to be enthalpically driven. SPR analysis supports the avidity increase but values of Ka observed were up to 100-fold greater than those measured by ITC. The large discrepancy between the two measurements is rationalized by the polyvalent–polyvalent interaction that is measured by SPR.


Tricarbonylmanganese(I) and -rhenium(I) complexes of the imidazolylphosphane ligands tris(imidazol-2-yl)phosphane (2-TIPH), tris(N-methylimidazol-2-yl)phosphane (2-TIPNMe), and tris[2-isopropylimidazol-4(5)-yl]phosphane (4-TIPiPr) as well as the phosphane oxide (4-TIPOiPr) and sulfide (4-TIPSiPr) ligands were prepared. These tris(imidazolyl) ligands act as N,N,N-tripodal chelating ligands. The solid-state structures of the manganese complexes [(2-TIPNMe)Mn(CO)3]OTf and [(4-TIPSiPr)Mn(CO)3]OTf as well as the rhenium compound [(4-TIPOiPr)Re(CO)3]OTf were determined by X-ray diffraction. The potential of these complexes as photoactivatable CO-releasing molecules (CORMs) was studied with the UV/Vis spectroscopy-based myoglobin assay. Within the series of compounds prepared, the substitution pattern of the imidazolyl groups was found to significantly influence the CO-release efficiency and stoichiometry. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2009)


Washed cuttings provide a continuous record of the rocks encountered during drilling of the main hole of the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD). Both protolith and fault rocks exhibit a wide variety of mineral assemblages that reflect variations in some combination of lithology, P‐T conditions, deformation mechanisms, and fluid composition and abundance. Regions of distinct neomineralization bounded by faults may record alteration associated with fluid reservoirs confined by faults. In addition, both smectites occurring as mixed‐layer phases and serpentine minerals are found in association with active strands of the San Andreas Fault that were intersected during drilling, although their rheological influence is not yet fully known. Faults containing these mineralogical phases are prime candidates for continuous coring during Phase 3 of SAFOD drilling in the summer of 2007.


Organisms face a constant risk of attack from parasites. While classic immunology has revealed numerous physiological and molecular mechanisms that underpin host immunity, the recently developed field of ecological immunology has attempted to understand the ecological and evolutionary causes that explain the diversity of such immune mechanisms. However, progress in the field has been hampered by the complex relationship between immunity and fitness as well as the methodological limitations of our experiments. There is an urgent need for eco-immunological studies that combine life history theory with experimentally tractable but ecologically realistic host and pathogen models. In this thesis, I tackle three novel aspects of host defence against parasites in an established model for insect immunity, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, with the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium robertsii, one of the most successful natural insect pathogens. In particular, I show in Chapter 2 that an immune and stress response gene, Turandot M, provides specific immunity against sexually transmitted fungal infections; but, this protective effect comes at a cost to life history in the absence of infection. In Chapter 3, I show that when exposed to the fungal pathogen, the fruit fly alters its temperature preference by seeking out cooler temperatures, which results in a dramatic shift in its life history strategy while simultaneously enhancing antifungal resistance, though not tolerance. Finally, I demonstrate in Chapter 4 that exposure to fungal parasites induces fitness-associated maternal effects on offspring meiotic recombination and life history, both of which have the potential to accelerate adaptive evolution. Taken together, these results demonstrate the benefits of integrating life history theory in eco-immunological research. They show that life history responses are an integral component of host defence against parasites, and that Drosophila-Metarhizium is a promising model system for ecological immunology


The study on the multi-level inverter has been increasingly progressing to reduce the switching loss and improve the THD of output current in photovoltaic inverter. Recently, the main topics of multi-level inverter are to reduce the number of devices maintaining the power quality. Therefore, the novel topology was proposed for these problem which is composed of the isolated H-bridge multi-level inverter using the three phase low frequency transformer. The proposed multi-level inverter may not be need for a independent DC power, diode and capacitor. Specially, It has a advantage in generating high voltage source. The proposed approach is verified through simulation and experiment.


Inductive learners seek meaningful features within raw input. Their purpose is to accurately categorize, explain or extrapolate from this input. Relevant features for one task are frequently relevant for related tasks. Reuse of previously learned data features to help master new tasks is known as 'transfer learning'. People use this technique to learn more quickly and easily. However, machine learning tends to occur from scratch.
In this thesis, two machine learning techniques are developed, that use transfer learning to achieve significant accuracy for recognition tasks with extremely small training sets and, occasionally, no task specific training. These methods were developed for neural nets, not only because neural nets are a well established machine learning technique, but also because their modularity makes them a promising candidate for transfer learning. Specifically, an architecture known as a convolutional neural net is used because it has a modularity defined both by the fact that it is a deep net and by its use of feature maps within each layer of the net.
The first transfer learning method developed, structurally based transfer relies on the architecture of a neural net to determine which nodes should or should not be transferred. This represents an improvement over existing techniques in terms of ease of use.
The second technique takes a very different approach to the concept of training. Traditionally, neural nets are trained to give specific outputs in response to specific inputs. These outputs are arbitrarily chosen by the net's trainers. However, even prior to training, the probability distribution of a net's output in response to a specific input class is not uniform. The term inherent bias is introduced to refer to a net's preferred response to a given class of input, whether or not that response has been trained into the net. The main focus of this work will involve using inherent biases that have not been trained into the net.
If a net has already been trained for one set of tasks, then it's inherent bias may already provide a surprisingly high degree of accuracy for other, similar tasks that have not yet been encountered. Psychologists refer to this is as latent learning. The accuracies obtainable in such a manner are examined, as is the use of structurally based transfer in conjunction with latent learning. These methods provide significant recognition rates for very small training sets.


Purpose: To design and construct a deformable head and neck (HN) phantom with in‐vivo dosimetry for adaptive radiotherapy (ART) verification purposes. Methods: The two‐dimensional deformable phantom recreates a single CT slice of a HN patient. It consists of two parallel acrylic plates with deformable material sandwiched in between. Gypsum plaster is used for bony anatomy and is rigidly attached to the plates. Soft tissue is mimicked with TX151 solidifying powder mixed with water. Areas of denser tissue are obtained by adding plaster powder into the mixture of TX151 and water. Parotids are represented with properties in between less dense and denser tissue. Tissue is distributed around the bony anatomy and constrained by an elastic rubber band around it. The pharynx is created with a hollow nylon tube. An inflatable silicone balloon filled with diluted barium sulfate acts as tumor. Thin plastic markers are glued on the phantom surfaces adjacent to the clear acrylic plates, providing quantifiable visual information of the deformation. Fixed detector holders are placed inside the cord and near the mandible while holders on rails that move with phantom deformation are placed close to the tumor and inside one parotid. Results: The deformable phantom has been tested for the validation of ART. We have studied the symmetric property and the response of an SRS diode that is used for dose measurements. The four point doses are obtained before and after deformation with the original plan and the re‐plan irradiated. The deformable image registration (DIR) algorithm accuracy is also verified by the deformation ground truth provided by surface markers. Conclusion: We have designed and constructed a deformable and durable HN phantom. This phantom can be used for DIR algorithm accuracy tests as well as ART verification.


This study analyzes the impact of implementing carbon permit trading considered under the Kyoto Protocol, and the subsequent expected increase in energy and resource prices on U.S. crop production. The focus is on input substitution, net farm income, regional crop acreage, and crop prices. The analysis is carried out with a calibrated mathematical programming model which covers the major crops produced in the 48 contiguous states on a regional basis. The model accounts for both the variable inputs and the allocatable inputs of land and irrigation water, and it permits input substitution when farmers are faced with external shocks. The results suggest that when energy prices increase, the net cost to the crop-producing sector depends on the farmerÂ''s ability to substitute crop inputs and the elasticity of demand for the crops. The impacts of carbon tax cost increases differ significantly among crops and regions. Overall, crop acreage and output decrease, total net revenues increase in most regions, and consumer surplus declines.


New results in spectral interferometry are presented. The effect of imperfect calibration of the optical spectrometer is demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally. It is shown in particular that slight calibration imperfections can lead to mistakes because of the principle of spectral interferometry itself. Efficient methods are demonstrated to overcome this problem and to provide spectrometer calibration with a precision far superior to the instrument's optical resolution. Results for spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction are also demonstrated.


Written almost two millennia ago, Patanjali's work focuses on how to attain the direct experience and realization of the purusa: the innermost individual self, or soul. As the classical treatise on the Hindu understanding of mind and consciousness and on the technique of meditation, it has exerted immense influence over the religious practices of Hinduism in India and, more recently, in the West. Edwin F. Bryant's translation is clear, direct, and exact. Each sutra is presented as Sanskrit text, transliteration, and precise English translation, and is followed by Bryant's authoritative commentary, which is grounded in the classical understanding of yoga and conveys the meaning and depth of the sutras in a user-friendly manner for a Western readership without compromising scholarly rigor or traditional authenticity. In addition, Bryant presents insights drawn from the primary traditional commentaries on the sutras written over the last millennium and a half.


Clustering of multivariate data is a commonly used technique in ecology, and many approaches to clustering are available. The results from a clustering algorithm are uncertain, but few clustering approaches explicitly acknowledge this uncertainty. One exception is Bayesian mixture modelling, which treats all results probabilistically, and allows comparison of multiple plausible classifications of the same data set. We used this method, implemented in the AutoClass program, to classify catchments (watersheds) in the Murray Darling Basin (MDB), Australia, based on their physiographic characteristics (e.g. slope, rainfall, lithology). The most likely classification found nine classes of catchments. Members of each class were aggregated geographically within the MDB. Rainfall and slope were the two most important variables that defined classes. The second-most likely classification was very similar to the first, but had one fewer class. Increasing the nominal uncertainty of continuous data resulted in a most likely classification with five classes, which were again aggregated geographically. Membership probabilities suggested that a small number of cases could be members of either of two classes. Such cases were located on the edges of groups of catchments that belonged to one class, with a group belonging to the second-most likely class adjacent. A comparison of the Bayesian approach to a distance-based deterministic method showed that the Bayesian mixture model produced solutions that were more spatially cohesive and intuitively appealing. The probabilistic presentation of results from the Bayesian classification allows richer interpretation, including decisions on how to treat cases that are intermediate between two or more classes, and whether to consider more than one classification. The explicit consideration and presentation of uncertainty makes this approach useful for ecological investigations, where both data and expectations are often highly uncertain.


A 57-year-old male presented with low-grade fever and upper abdominal pain for 2 months. He was known to have Type 2 diabetes mellitus, systemic hypertension, and ischemic heart disease. He had pallor, jaundice, and had no other signs. He had severe thrombocytopenia and features of microangiopathic hemolysis. A diagnosis of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) due to clopidogrel was made excluding the other causes, and he was started on plasmapheresis. After a few cycles of plasmapheresis, he developed altered behavior. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of brain revealed multiple regions of restricted diffusion in both cerebral hemispheres, with cortical laminar necrosis and microhemorrhages within most lesions; suggestive of hemorrhagic infarcts [Figure 1]. Plasmapheresis was continued, but despite all efforts he succumbed to his illness 2 days later. End-organ dysfunction in TTP is due to microangiopathic disturbances. In TTP, thrombi formation occurs due to release of multimers of von Willebrand factor due to deficiency of ADAMTS13enzyme. Damage to endothelial cells within the blood vessel wall accelerates formation of platelet-rich microthrombi which cause microinfarctions of affected tissue and consequent neurological manifestations. [1] Imaging patterns in TTP include Frank hematoma, ischemic infarctions, and reversible bilateral cerebral edema. [2,3] Multifocal hemorrhagic infarctions due to TTP is very rare. Only one single similar case has been described. [4] Plasma exchange remains the mainstay of treatment for TTP. Other


Understanding the antecedents and consequence of Internet-enabled Supply Chain Integration (IeSCI) is an important concern to researchers and practitioners. Although the existing research has identified economic and legitimacy-oriented motives that lead IeSCI, there is a lack of research investigating how these motives are interrelated. In addition, the findings of previous studies on the consequence of IeSCI adoption have been mixed and even controversial. Drawing upon transactional cost economics (TCE) and institutional theory, this study develops a research model on the interrelationships between economic and legitimacy-oriented motives, the IeSCI dimensions, and firm performance. Results from a survey show that the firm's economic and legitimacy motives have positive effects on the adoption of IeSCI dimensions (i.e., information integration, planning synchronization and operational coordination). Meanwhile, economic and legitimacy motives are significantly interrelated. In addition, information integration and operational coordination can improve firm operational and customer service performance. Contributions and implications of this study are discussed.


By means of laboratory experiments and field measurements we investigated the chemodynamics and transport behaviour of organic micropollutants and inorganic ions in melting snowpacks. Dissolved substances (e.g. ions) were released from the snowpack by convection and diffusion within the melt water. Substances which were adsorbed onto particles (e.g. PAH) were not desorbed to a significant degree. Moving particles were generally filtered out within the snowpack and, therefore, adsorbed substances were hardly leached by this way of transport. Frequent melt-freeze cycles and a deep snowpack lead to an enrichment of dissolved substances in the first melt water fractions and of substances adsorbed onto particles in the final fractions. A different macroscopic and microscopic spatial variation of ions within the snowpack results in different elution patterns during the snow melt. Since the PAH are predominantly adsorbed onto particles, approximately 90% of all PAH of a snow column were eluted with the last 20% of water during the snow melt. PAH with a high partition coefficient k ow (e.g. benzo(a) pyrene, benzo(ghi)perylene) exhibited a stronger enrichment than fluoranthene with comparatively lower k ow . Since the HCH isomers occur in dissolved as well as in adsorbed phase because of their low k o w in melting snow, we observe an enrichment of the dissolved phase within the first fractions of melt water and of the adsorbed phase within the final fractions of melt water.


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To investigate whether quality of life (QOL) assessed before weight loss intervention predicts weight loss and, in turn, what the effect of weight loss is on QOL measures after 12 months in early-stage breast cancer survivors.

DESIGN
A clinical trial of a weight loss intervention in breast cancer survivors.

SETTING
Community-wide recruitment in Detroit, MI.

SAMPLE
39 breast cancer survivors (body mass index = 30-44 kg/m2), within three years of initial diagnosis and at least three months after chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

METHODS
Participants were randomized to one of three weight loss methods or a control group. The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Anemia (FACT-An) QOL questionnaire was administered at baseline and after the intervention.

MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES
Six subscales of the FACT-An and weight change.

FINDINGS
Modest but statistically significant associations were found for the physical and functional subscales of the FACT-An with weight loss for 39 subjects who completed 12 months of the study. Those reporting relatively impaired physical or functional QOL at baseline lost more weight, which accounted for 8%-9% of the weight loss variance beyond that resulting from the diet arm assignment. At 12 months, greater weight loss was associated with significant improvements in overall FACT-An score and in the physical, functional, fatigue, and anemia subscales (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
Relatively low physical function at baseline was not a barrier to weight loss; indeed, it may have been a motivating factor in adherence to the weight loss intervention. Weight loss was associated with improvement in several QOL subscale measures in breast cancer survivors, but the emotional and social subscales were not affected.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
Counseling for weight loss that includes recommendations for exercise should not be withheld for patients with relatively low physical functioning.


Studies on innovation have suggested that organizational creative climate tends to
play an important role and is a predictor for innovation. However, lately, the presence of
a learning culture in organization tends to equally explain a considerable influencing
effect on innovation too. This particular study examined the influence of both those
variables 011 innovation and to determine which one of the two could be a better predictor
for innovation. The results indicated that both learning culture and creative climate have
significant contribution of 58.5% to the explanation of the observed variances in the
innovation construct. The learning organization culture separately was found to have a
significant stronger relationship with innovation (r = .733) than did the creative climate (r
= .473) which implied a larger contribution from the learning organization variable
towards innovation. Two learning organization dimensions contributed most to the
variances in innovation especially the dimensions of 'Embedded Systems' and 'Systems
Connection' which have significant high predictive powers on innovation (Beta = .397, p
=.000; Beta = .313, p = .000 respectively) occurring within the sampled organizations as compared to the ten creative climate factors and the rest of the five learning organization
dimensions. The study also found that both the creative climate and learning organization
factors jointly contributed higher with significance (p = .000) at 67.6% to the explanation
of the observed variances in innovation for the MNCs (R2 = .676, F = 14.427) than for
the local organizations at 60.2% (R2 = .602, F = 7.476).
This study involved a sample of eighteen private organizations across vanous
core businesses, manufacturing, finance and insurance, consulting, property developing,
engineering, telecommunication, and education services, either local organizations or
MNCs within the Federal territory of Kuala Lumpur. The size of the respondents is 259.
In addition, the findings showed that there were no significant differences in the
mean scores (p > .05) among the three organizational job levels namely the top
management, middle management and staff, in the members' perceptions on innovation,
creative climate and learning culture. The study also found no significant differences in
the mean scores (p > .05) among the small, medium, large and very large organizational
population sizes in the members' perceptions on innovation, creative climate and learning
culture.


This study explores the variability in concentrations of dissolved CH 4 and annual flux estimates in the pelagic zone in a statistically defined sample of 207 lakes in Finland. The lakes were situated in the boreal zone, in an area where the mean annual air temperature ranges from −2.8 to 5.9C. We examined how lake CH 4 dynamics related to regional lake types assessed according to the EU water framework directive. Ten lake types were defined on the basis of water chemistry, color, and size. Lakes were sampled for dissolved CH4 concentrations four times per year, at four different depths at the deepest point of each lake. We found that CH4 concentrations and fluxes to the atmosphere tended to be high in nutrient rich calcareous lakes, and that the shallow lakes had the greatest surface water concentrations. Methane concentration in the hypolimnion was related to oxygen and nutrient concentrations, and to lake depth or lake area. The surface water CH 4 concentration was related to the depth or area of lake. Methane concentration close to the bottom can be viewed as proxy of lake status in terms of frequency of anoxia and nutrient levels. The mean pelagic CH 4 release from randomly selected lakes was 49 mmol m−2 a−1. The sum CH4 flux (storage and diffusion) correlated with lake depth, area and nutrient content, and CH4 release was greatest from the shallow nutrient rich and humic lakes. Our results support earlier lake studies regarding the regulating factors and also the magnitude of global emission estimate. These results propose that in boCorrespondence to: S. Juutinen (firstname.lastname@example.com) real region small lakes have higher CH 4 fluxes per unit area than larger lakes, and that the small lakes have a disproportionate significance regarding to the CH 4 release.


Filled with wry logic and a magical, unpredictable musicality, Kay Ryan's poems continue to generate excitement with their frequent appearances in The New Yorker and other leading periodicals. Say Uncle, Ryan's fifth collection, is filled with the same hidden connections, the same slyness and almost gleeful detachment that has delighted readers of her earlier books. Compact, searching, and oddly beautiful, these poems, in the words of Dana Gioia, "take the shape of an idea clarifying itself." "A poetry collection that marries wit and wisdom more brilliantly than any I know.... Poetry as statement and aphorism is rarely heartbreaking, but reading these poems I find myself continually ambushed by a fundamental sorrow, one that hides behind a surface that interweaves sound and sense in immaculately interesting ways." -- Jane Hirshfield, Common Boundary; "The first thing you notice about her poems is an elbow-to-the-ribs playfulness." -- Patricia Holt, San Francisco Chronicle.


In this paper, we present a multiple description video coding algorithm based on error-resilient and error concealment set partitioning in hierarchical trees (ERC-SPIHT). In this proposed approach, additional redundancy is generated by wavelet decomposing the spatial root subband and such redundancy is then intentionally inserted into the substreams. As a result, the novelty of the proposed approach is that the root subband coefficients lost during transmission in any substream can be reconstructed by exploiting both inherent redundancy and inserted redundancy. This reconstruction procedure is implemented in two steps, first by using existing 2-D error concealment techniques, and second with the proposed root subband recovery approach. The former step is used to estimate the missing coefficients in the spatial root and high frequency subbands by exploiting the inherent redundancy, while the latter attempts to utilize the inserted redundancy to further improve the precision in the estimation of the missing spatial root subband coefficients. The proposed root subband recovery method can be iteratively applied and accuracy of the reconstruction can be gradually increased with each iteration. Experimental results on different video sequences show that the proposed method maintains error-resilience with high coding efficiency. In particular, our results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm achieves a significant improvement on video quality by up to 2.5753 dB in the presence of a substream loss compared to ERC-SPIHT.


This research paper compares the cross national effects of pension reform on 33 indicators of social, economic, political and ecological well-being of nations with the effects on these 33 variables by dependency, the adherence to the advice by international financial institutions, world political or world cultural identities; the aging process; feminism, militarism; the public education effort and the development level. Traditionally, world system approaches explain human and economic misery by the dependent insertion of the periphery and the semi-periphery into the global economy. It is true that the ascending countries of East Asia, whose investment is often much higher than their savings rate, are at the winning side in the global social equation. It is also true that unequal exchange (1/ERDI) is still an important phenomenon, significantly explaining many processes of development. However, the privatization of public education, especially at the Third level, the developmental negative consequences of female distribution coalitions as well as the imperative of pension reform have been up to now neglected in cross-national devel-opment research. Interestingly enough, "economic freedom" as such is also not as relevant as pension reform in explaining economic or social success in the world system. We can say that foreign savings and pension reforms are among the most highly influential positive determi-nants of development today, while culturalist theories and dependency theories fail to achieve the levels of significance we had originally expected when compared to the new cross-national variable "pension reform". These findings have important repercussions for the European debate on pension reform and the Lisbon strategy to catch up with the US by 2010 to make Europe the most competitive region in the world economy. European Union membership years by themselves are lamentably enough a rather negative determinant of the processes of development due to the cumbersome mechanisms and distri-bution coalitions that European institutions present, and the reliance of many countries in the European Union on publicly financed systems of education also has to be re-considered. Po-litical feminism is another master variable of the European political discourse and it is the main loser in the 1990s and the early years of the 21st Century, indicating again that political distribution coalitions are likely to lose today and tomorrow. The results reported clearly indi-cate that world systems studies would be well advised to take the processes of pension reform very seriously. To neglect pension funds in investigations about the capitalist world economy would be mis-leading at any rate. Private pension funds already amount to 44 % of current world GDP, with countries like the United States; Japan; United Kingdom; Netherlands; Canada; Switzerland; Australia; Sweden; Ireland; Finland; and Denmark taking the lead in fund development either via the introduction of a "World Bank" three pillar models or simply via a strong element of private pensions ("the third pillar") besides the first, traditional PAYGO pillar (like presently in the United States of America). Slow pension fund development in most countries of the €-zone determines that the overall share of private pension funds from the €-zone is just over 2 % of world GDP. If Europe wants to fulfill its Lisbon agenda of catching up with the United States, it must overhaul its pension systems and introduce some form or other of private pen-sion funds, which are a major force in financing technological advance in the capitalist world economy today. Our investigations also clearly show that World Bank pension reforms are associated in a positive way with the rates of change of a country's performance to the better.


The bovine milk protein �-lactoglobulin (BLG) possesses a thioI group which becomes solvent exposed at elevated temperatures, leading to the formation of disulphide-linked milk protein aggregates . This phenomenon is of interest to the dairy industry because milk is heat-treated in many modern processes. This study is concerned with how the structure of BLG is altered during and as a consequence of heat treatment and how aggregates are formed. Bovine BLG exhibits genetic polymorphism and the A, B and C variants, present in New Zealand milks, differ in their susceptibi lities to heat-induced structural change and aggregate formation, and their response to heat treatment is examined in the present study. This study used the following techniques: near and far UV CD, intrinsic protein fluorescence, hydrophobic probe fluorescence, thiol group solvent-exposure and both native-PAGE and SDS-PAGE. Spectroscopic and thioI exposure results suggest that the tertiary structure of BLG is altered during and as a consequence of heat treatment and that the amount of �-sheet in this protein does not alter appreciably as a consequence of heat treatment. PAGE results indicate that BLG forms a mixture of non-covalently-linked and disulphide-linked aggregates during heating, and that disulphide-linked dimers in particular are associated into l arger non-covalently-linked aggregates. These non-covalently-linked aggregates are intermediates and large disulphide-linked aggregates are the end product of the BLG aggregation pathway. �-Lactoglobulin A forms aggregates , particularly large disulphide-linked aggregates, more slowly than BLGs B and C . Spectroscopic and thiol availability results suggest that the "intrinsic thermostability" of BLG C is appreciably greater than that of BLG B , which is slightly greater than that of BLG A. Furthermore, the extent of "irreversible structural change" in molecules of BLG C which occurs as a consequence of heat treatment is less than that in molecules of BLG A, which is less than that in molecules of BLG B . In the case of BLGs A and B this reflects the slower rate at which aggregates of BLG A form compared to that of BLG B . The present study has advanced the understanding of the BLG aggregation mechanism and how the A, B and C variants differ in their response to heat treatment.


Background/Aims: The combination of inadequate technology and incomplete nomenclature systems created challenges for early neurosurgeons, and contributed to the dismal prognosis for brain tumors, particularly within the pediatric population. Methods: Following IRB approval, and by the courtesy of the Alan Mason Chesney Archives, we reviewed the Johns Hopkins Hospital surgical files from 1896 to 1912. A single case of a pediatric patient with an intraventricular glioma was selected for further review. Results: Here we report the case of a 10-year-old girl who presented to the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1907, with a 7-year history of subtle symptoms of increased intracranial pressure, secondary to a tumor. Dr. Harvey Cushing operated upon her, and during surgical intervention resected a large parenchymal and intraventricular glioma. Conclusions: High-grade gliomas are rare occurrences in pediatric patients, with intraventricular gliomas described in only a handful of cases. Although advances in neuroimaging, hemostasis and understanding of the cerebrospinal fluid system have allowed neurosurgeons to resect intraventricular gliomas more safely, the surgical approaches in use today are still fraught with challenges. Here we describe a case of attempted resection of an intraventricular glioma in a pediatric patient, which predates the earliest published report of intraventricular gliomas by 30 years.


Thin strips with varying thicknesses (TSVTs) produced by micro flexible rolling have wide applications in diverse micro manufacturing areas such as micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) and micro system technologies (MST). TSVTs consist of three regions based on different thicknesses, i.e. the thicker, the transition and the thinner zones. Among them, the transition zone plays a key role in evaluating the quality of TSVTs. In the current work, thin 1060 aluminium alloy strips were flexibly rolled under various thickness ratios followed by annealing treatment. The influences of annealing temperature on the microstructural evolution and hardness variation of the transition zone of TSVTs were investigated. The results reveal that the recrystallisation has happened after annealing at 400 °C for 30 min, which induces fine and homogeneously-distributed grains in both of the thinner and transition zones. Only moderate increase in hardness is found from the thicker to the thinner zones after annealing treatment. Disciplines Engineering | Science and Technology Studies Publication Details Huo, M., Zhao, J., Xie, H. & Jiang, Z. (2018). Effect of annealing on microstructure and hardness of thin aluminium strips fabricated by micro flexible rolling. MATEC Web of Conferences, 19


Text, reference, truth. The relevance of the reference issue to the reflection on the epistemological character of dogmatics In this article an outline is given of the way in which the reference of words, sentences and texts takes place. The emphasis is placed on the intra-textual text reference, which is also the meaning or world of the text. Some aspects of Derrida's notion of difference is considered and the difference -character of metaphor is recognized, especially in the diaphoric sense of the word. In the Christian faith, faith itself is a prerequisite for the ultimate reference of the religious text (which is to God). This makes the religious text auto-referential and intra-textual. Dogmatics is a science which is dependent on texts, and which continually transgresses and reinterprets these texts. This qualifies the truth-character of dogmatics as anti-metaphysical, metaphorical, relational and textual.


From silent films to contemporary blockbusters, religion has always proved a popular theme for the cinema. However, all too often religion and film are discussed from narrowly confessional perspectives, with the result that the field has long been dominated by the question of a film's fidelity to a religious text or worldview, or its value as a tool in ministry and mission. "Religion and Film: An Introduction" seeks to redress this balance, and argues for a new, holistic approach to the subject that draws on work from cultural studies, religious studies and film studies alike. Wright argues that the 'meanings' of a film are not encoded by its textual organisation, but are bound up with its interpretation by viewers in specific contexts. Focusing on religiously diverse films like "The Ten Commandments", "La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc", "Kadosh", "Lagaan", "My Son the Fanatic", "Keeping the Faith", "The Wicker Man" and Mel Gibson's "The Passion of The Christ", the author looks at varied screen representations of religion; at films shaped by strong convictions about the place of religion in society; and at the roles that audiences play as consumers of film. The book will have strong appeal to students as well as general readers interested in all aspects of the inter-relationship of religion and the cinema.


Objectives
Sweetened beverage (SB) consumption is highly associated with obesity, but the mechanism underlying this correlation is not understood. Our objective was to examine metabolomic links between SB intake and obesity to understand metabolic mechanisms.

Methods
We examined the association of plasma metabolomic profiles with SB intake and obesity risk in 782 participants, aged 45-75y, in the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study (BPRHS) using linear regression models, controlling for potential confounding factors. Based on identified metabolites, we conducted pathway enrichment analysis to identify potential metabolic pathways that link SB intake and obesity risk. Genetic variants in identified metabolic pathways were examined for their interaction with SB intake on metabolites of interest and obesity. Interactions between SB and genotypes on obesity were evaluated for replication in the Framingham Heart Study (FHS).

Results
In BPRHS, SB intake was highly correlated with BMI (β = 0.455, P < 0.05). Among 526 measurable metabolites, 109 metabolites showed significant correlation with SB intake and 170 metabolites with BMI (P < 0.05); and 43 were correlated with both SB intake and BMI. Pathway enrichment analysis identified two metabolic pathways: phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and lysophospholipid pathways linking SB intake and obesity, after correction for multiple testing. Focusing on the PE pathway, we identified 12 SNPs in nine genes that were significantly associated with BMI. At least four genetic variants showed suggestive interaction with SB intake on obesity risk and obesity-associated metabolites. In particular, CC carriers of rs4646360 in the PEMT (Phosphatidylethanolamine N-Methyltransferase) gene had increased risk of obesity when consuming SB. We replicated this finding in the FHS study.

Conclusions
We identified two key metabolic pathways linking SB intake to obesity, revealing potential mechanisms by which SB intake increases the risk of obesity. The interaction between genetic variants in the identified pathway and SB intake on obesity and obesity-associated metabolites further supports the mechanism.

Funding Sources
This work was funded by the US Department of Agriculture, under agreement no. 8050-51,000-098-00D, and NIH grants P01 AG023394, P50 HL105185, and R01 AG027087.


Vein-type gold mineralization in the Hill End gold field, New South Wales, is hosted by a tightly to isoclinally folded succession of Silurian to Devonian turbidites. Scattered occurrences of anomalous gold mineralization are known in veins throughout the gold field, but economic concentrations of gold are generally restricted to the northern portion of the doubly plunging Hill End anticline. The Hill End anticline is the highest amplitude fold and has the structurally highest crest of folds in the region. Most of the economic gold occurs in bedding-parallel veins on the east-dipping limb of the anticline, but smaller rich deposits have also been mined from the west-dipping limb and from adjacent anticlines. Rich ore shoots in the bedding- parallel veins pitch subhorizontally and are associated with the intersections of these veins with narrow, subhorizontal, extensional veins, or leaders. Vein textures indicate that both bedding-parallel and leader veins formed over a protracted interval, during regional deformation. Bedding-parallel veins started to form prior to folding and continued to form during regional deformation, acting as slip planes during late stages of flexural-slip folding. Leader veins formed as extensional fractures, due to transient supralithostatic fluid pressures developed in a low differential stress regime. Local zones of mineralized breccia and stockwork veining are also indicative of fluctuating fluid pressures and low differential stresses. During late stages of folding, as fold limbs attained steep dips, continued slip along them was permitted by transiently attained supralithostatic fluid pressures. Gold mineralization occurred during the middle to latest stages of deformation. Mineralization was via low- salinity, H 2 O-CO 2 -CH 4 fluids. Gold deposition occurred in the vicinity of vein intersections as a result of repeated fluid pressure fluctuations that may have allowed mixing of relatively reduced fluids, which had locally equilibrated with carbonaceous wall rocks, with more oxidized, deeply sourced, auriferous fluids.


This paper uses qualitative interviews with 26 transnational migrants in New York City to analyze socio-technical practices related to online identity work. We focus specifically on the use of Facebook, where benefits included keeping in touch with friends and family abroad and documenting everyday urban life. At the same time, many participants also reported experiences of fatigue, socio-cultural tensions and concerns about maintaining a sense of personal privacy. These experiences highlight how transnational practices complicate context collapse, where the geographic dispersal of participants' personal networks renders visible conflicts of 'flattened' online networks. Our findings also suggest a kind of technology-enabled code-switching, where transnational migrants leverage social media to perform identities that alternate between communities, nationalities and geographies. This analysis informs HCI research on transnationalism and technological practices, as well as the complexities of online identity work in terms of shifting social and spatial contexts.


Here we aim to develop a facile emulsion-based method to prepare tripod gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with high suspension stability in an aqueous environment. A gyroid-structured polymer template formed by the hydrolysis of a degradable block copolymer, polystyrene (PS)-b-poly(l-lactide), is used for the fabrication of AuNPs. Also, a successful emulsification of dichloromethane (DCM) in the aqueous phase is developed by using thiolated polyethylene glycol (PEG-SH) as the stabilizer. Subsequently, the nanohybrids of PS/Au can be fabricated by templated electroless plating, and then selectively dissolving in the DCM dispersive phase. Most interestingly, a dedicated process for the simultaneous release of the tripod AuNPs from the dissolution of PS associated with PEG-SH at the interface of the emulsion is achieved, giving PEG-SH-functionalized tripod AuNPs dispersed in the aqueous phase, which significantly improves the suspension stabilization of tripod AuNPs. The in situ temperature-programmed electrospray-differential mobility analysis provides a quantitative, statistical analysis of mobility diameter, dynamic shape factor, polydispersity, and colloidal stability.

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Objectives. The study examined the impact of beginning a junior house officer post on possible changes in psychological health and propensity to make errors. It was predicted that there would be a significant increase in psychological disturbance and error making following the onset of the post. Design. Questionnaires were administered at two times-prior to and eight weeks after the beginning of a junior house officer post. Methods. Thirty graduates of medicine/junior house officers were recruited from a university medical school in the UK. All participants completed the General Health Questionnaire and the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire at Times 1 and 2, as well as a Medical Errors Questionnaire at Time 2. Results. Significant increases were found in reported levels of anxiety insomnia and somatic symptoms. There were also significant: increases in the number of errors that the respondents reported making in everyday life. These everyday errors were significantly related to the reported frequency of errors made in a medical context. Conclusions. Despite recent revisions to the working hours and conditions of junior doctors in Britain, the respondents in this study were experiencing considerable increases in stressful symptoms and consequent increases in the number of errors they made. These findings suggest: that further research and policy development is required to explore means of easing the transition to work for junior doctors.


A longstanding goal in character animation is to combine data-driven specification of behavior with a system that can execute a similar behavior in a physical simulation, thus enabling realistic responses to perturbations and environmental variation. We show that well-known reinforcement learning (RL) methods can be adapted to learn robust control policies capable of imitating a broad range of example motion clips, while also learning complex recoveries, adapting to changes in morphology, and accomplishing user-specified goals. Our method handles keyframed motions, highly-dynamic actions such as motion-captured flips and spins, and retargeted motions. By combining a motion-imitation objective with a task objective, we can train characters that react intelligently in interactive settings, e.g., by walking in a desired direction or throwing a ball at a user-specified target. This approach thus combines the convenience and motion quality of using motion clips to define the desired style and appearance, with the flexibility and generality afforded by RL methods and physics-based animation. We further explore a number of methods for integrating multiple clips into the learning process to develop multi-skilled agents capable of performing a rich repertoire of diverse skills. We demonstrate results using multiple characters (human, Atlas robot, bipedal dinosaur, dragon) and a large variety of skills, including locomotion, acrobatics, and martial arts.


Signaling by the growth factor TGF-β2 prevents the growth of squamous carcinoma that metastasizes to the bone. Just as no two types of soil are the same, the "seed and soil" theory of metastasis suggests that the different microenvironments of various organs can either inhibit or promote the growth of disseminated tumor cells (DTCs), explaining why cancers seem to have preferred metastatic sites. Bragado et al. used a mouse xenograft model to show that strong signaling by transforming growth factor–β2 (TGF-β2) in the bone marrow induced the dormancy of disseminated human squamous carcinoma cells, whereas weak TGF-β2 signaling in the lungs was permissive to metastatic growth. In situ confocal microscopic analysis of the dissemination of green fluorescent protein (GFP)–tagged HEp3 cells (a human squamous carcinoma cell line from primary tumors formed in mice) revealed that secondary tumors were localized primarily to the lungs (80%) rather than the bone marrow (28%) or liver and spleen (5%). Whereas the number of DTCs in the bone marrow remained constant for at least 4 weeks after surgical removal of the primary tumor and the bone marrow DTCs showed poor proliferation when transplanted into culture, the number of DTCs in the lungs increased substantially within 2 weeks and thrived in culture. In agreement with their respective proliferative capacity, HEp3 cell cultures derived from either the lung or the primary tumor had low abundance of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27 and a high ratio of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) extracellular signal–regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) to the MAPKs p38α and p38β (p38α/β) abundance. In contrast, bone marrow–derived HEp3 cells had high p27 abundance and a low ERK:p38α/β ratio. Bone marrow–derived DTCs also had increased expression of the tumor suppressor genes p53 and DEC2, as well as of TGF-β2, but not of TGF-β1 or TGF-β3. Knockdown of MAPK14 (encoding p38α), DEC2, p53, and TGFβR1 [encoding TGF-β receptor I (TGF-βRI)] in the HEp3 initially introduced in the mice resulted in increased DTCs in the bone marrow after the primary tumors were removed. Alternatively, systemic pharmacological inhibition of TGF-βRI, TGF-βRIII, or p38α/β in the mice after removal of the primary tumor increased DTCs in the bone marrow. HEp3 cells treated with either medium conditioned by isolated lung cell cultures and supplemented with TGF-β2 or medium conditioned by isolated bone marrow cells had decreased tumorigenicity when injected into mice. Depleting TGF-β2 from the bone marrow–conditioned medium prevented activation of p38 and inhibition of HEp3 tumorigenicity in mice. In contrast, treating bone marrow–derived DTCs with TGF-β1 before injection into the mice increased their tumorigenicity. The findings suggest that TGF-β2 secreted from the bone marrow functioned as a dormancy signal for squamous carcinoma cells. P. Bragado, Y. Estrada, F. Parikh, S. Krause, C. Capobianco, H. G. Farina, D. M. Schewe, J. A. Aguirre-Ghiso, TGF-β2 dictates disseminated tumour cell fate in target organs through TGF-β-RIII and p38α/β signalling. Nat. Cell Biol. 15, 1351–1361 (2013). [PubMed]


This paper integrates a simple model of banks into a two-sector neoclassical growth model. The integration yields an analytically tractable framework with two coupled accumulation rules for household capital and bank equity. We analyze steady state properties, transition and recovery patterns, as well as policies to accelerate recoveries. After establishing existence, uniqueness and global stability of the steady state, we identify in particular five key results and predictions, and we provide a quantitative assessment. First, larger financial frictions in financial intermediation may increase banker wealth although total capital is depressed. Second, negative shocks to bank equity cause considerably larger downturns than comparable shocks to household wealth, but their persistence is similar. Third, temporary worsening of shocks to financial frictions (called "trust shocks") induces divergent reactions of household wealth and bank equity, causes a boom in the banking sector, and possibly in the economy – after an initial bust. Fourth, the model replicates typical patterns of financing over the business cycle: procyclical bank leverage, procyclical bank lending, and counter-cyclical bond financing. Finally, a combination of bailouts and dividend-payout-restrictions ensures a rapid build-up of bank equity after a slump in the banking sector and increases total production.


The Every Bowl Counts (EBC 1-2-3) Plan The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recognizes an official national champion and national championship event in every sport at every level except football in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of Division One, which is the association's marquis product, made up of 120 Division One athletic programs. Bowl games are a college tradition dating back to 1902, ending college football's regular season long before the National Football League (NFL) existed. In fact, the NFL played its first 12 seasons before having a championship game. However, in today's sport culture, fans expect to recognize a champion. An official national champion is recognized in all other levels of college football and every other NCAA sport. But what has transpired in major college football is a tradition the brings exposure to various communities around the country, allows 34 teams to finish the season with a victory and allows coaches to take 3-4 extra weeks of practice to develop their younger players. The fact that there is a national champion, albeit unofficial, is touted by those who defend the status quo. "Every week is a playoff," University of Georgia Head Football Coach Mark Richt once said. Defenders of the status quo say that college football's regular season is the most exciting in all of sports. The popular demand for a national championship game was used as justification for the creation of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), which would allow the teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 to play each other in a bowl game at the end of the season. The rankings system was based on a combination of the Associated Press (AP) media poll, the USA Today Coaches Poll and several computer-based ranking systems. Eventually, AP backed out of the process and the Harris Interactive poll was used in its place. The ranking system and other aspects of the bowl culture have proven, over time, that conferences with larger, wealthier athletic programs and teams with a long tradition of successful football have an advantage in this system. Teams that have finished the season undefeated that are from smaller conferences do not have the option of changing conferences unless allowed by the conferences' current members. Such a system has brought about questions from public officials as to whether this situation is a violation of the spirit, if not the letter, of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Often used in cases involving football, the Sherman Anti-Trust act prohibits illegal monopolies that are used to suppress competition. Bowl committees in the BCS (Rose, Allstate Sugar, FedEx Orange and Tostitos Fiesta) continue to host the "major" bowl games and make a lion's share of the bowl money, but they collectively award automatic bowl bids to teams that are in the BCS conferences, which could also be interpreted as an illegal trust. Three teams finished the regular season undefeated in 2009 without getting to play in the BCS "National Championship" game. Two of those teams were not in the aforementioned "major" conferences. Two other teams from outside the "major" conferences finished the regular season undefeated without playing in the BCS Championship game. The participants in the first 12 BCS championship games were all from the "major" conferences: The Big 12, Big East, Big 10, Atlantic Coast, Pacific 10 and Southeastern. Also, denying undefeated teams a chance to play in the BCS Championship game has led to some critics saying that to promote the event as a "National Championship Game" is actually false advertising. Public officials as well as fans have been critical of college football in its current state. But the author believes that to preserve the bowl tradition, the significant regular season and the integrity of the national championship process would require some thinking "outside the box." College football is a unique sport genre and requires a unique approach to change. …