The object of the study was to determine the incidence of the following oral diseases, Aphthae recidivante, Lichen ruber planus, symptoms of xerostomia and stomatopyrosis, and oral parafunction, brux-ism and dysgeusia and to examine their possible connection with different intensities of psychological characteristics of self-esteem, anxiety and neuroticism in a sample of inhabitants from the Gorski Kotar area. The study consisted of 277 subjects in whom a detailed oral examination and oral testing were performed. Psychological testing was performed by using part of pychotest " 18 PF ". The examination showed that in the area of Fuaeina and Lokava oral parafunction most frequently occurred (in 36.1% of subjects) aph-thae lesions (19.2%), followed by bruxism (13.7%), xerostomia (12.27%) and stomatopyrosis (10.3%). Taste disorders (2.3%) and oral lichen (1.2%) rarely occurred. The psychological examination indicated that there was a tendency towards a high level of self-esteem, low level of anxiety and still lower level of general neuroticism. Positive correlation was determined between the occurrence of xeros-tomia, stomatopyrosis, recurring aphthae and bruxism in relation to the occurrence of anxiety, and stomatopyrosis and xerostomia with neu-roticism. The findings were statistically significant, although on the basis of such descriptive examinations it is impossible to claim that the examined psychological characteristics are the cause of the occurrence of these diseases, only that they are significantly connected with their occurrence.


Modern electricity network will increasingly rely upon a set of intelligent communication and control technologies like home area network. Within the smart grid network, Home Area Network (HAN) help develop the demand response and demand side management. Renewable Energy opportunities such as Rooftop PV systems is also closely linked to the development of HAN and Demand Response. Several communication technologies are available in the market to implement HAN, but it is very important to choose the right one. Simply installing tools for implementing smart grid does nothing to influence customer energy usage behaviour. In this paper, we analyse the opportunities to improve demand management in a home for peak load curtailment and implementing the dynamic pricing policy. Wet also propose the comprehensive assessment of different technologies available for HAN and develop an approach for selecting suitable technologies, which contribute to demand management.


None of the existing English editions of Marx's Capital, Vol. I, including the new Ben Fowkes translation published by Penguin in 1976, fully incorporate the text as revised by the author for his 1872-75 French edition. These omitted or alternate texts cover the subjects of the role of private property in capitalism, alienation and unskilled factory work, capitalist crises, unemployment, and imperialism. Finally, the French edition of Capital is viewed briefly in the overall context of the writings of Marx's last decade, 1873-1883.


In this paper we summarise four recent optimisations to the FFS implementation in FreeBSD: soft updates, dirpref, vmiodir and dirhash. We then give a detailed exposition of dirhash's implementation. Finally we study these optimisations under a variety of benchmarks and look at their interactions. Under micro-benchmarks, combinations of these optimisations can offer improvements of over two orders of magnitude. Even real-world workloads see improvements by a factor of 2–10.


The current line of presidential succession is no safer than playing presidential roulette. It imprudently privileges politics and tradition over competence and leadership. We should rethink the rules that currently govern succession to the Presidency – legal and constitutional rules that, in my view, serve the wrong institutional and political interests. The task I have given myself in these pages is to propose and defend an alternative to the current presidential succession regime: revising the order of succession to insert former living presidents – in reverse chronological order of service beginning with former presidents of the same party as the unavailable president – into the line of succession and concurrently removing the House Speaker and the Senate President pro tempore from the line of succession. Temporary presidential succession is a promising alternative to the current succession regime for several reasons that I endeavor to justify. Yet even if readers disagree with my proposed alternative to the current line of presidential succession, the larger purpose of my project nevertheless remains achievable: to probe the values that currently shape presidential succession and to invite reflection about whether they are the right ones for our time.


This PhD thesis utilises diagrams as a language for research and design practice to critically investigate algorithmic prediction. As a tool for practice-based research, the language of diagrams is presented as a way to
read algorithmic prediction as a set of intricate computational geometries, and to write it through critical practice immersed in the very materials in question: data and code. From a position rooted in graphic and interaction design, the research uses diagrams to gain purchase on algorithmic prediction, making it available for examination, experimentation, and critique. The project is framed by media archaeology, used here as a methodology through which both the technical and historical "depths" of algorithmic systems are excavated.

My main research question asks:

How can diagrams be used as a language to critically investigate algorithmic prediction through design practice?

This thesis presents two secondary questions for critical examination, asking:

Through which mechanisms does thinking/writing/designing in diagrammatic terms inform research and practice focused on algorithmic prediction?

As algorithmic systems claim to produce objective knowledge, how can diagrams be used as instruments for speculative and/or conjectural knowledge production?

I contextualise my research by establishing three registers of relations between diagrams and algorithmic prediction. These are identified as: Data Diagrams to describe the algorithmic forms and processes through which data are turned into predictions; Control Diagrams to afford critical perspectives on algorithmic prediction, framing the latter as an apparatus of prescription and control; and Speculative Diagrams to open up opportunities for reclaiming the generative potential of computation. These categories form the scaffolding for the three practice-oriented chapters where I evidence a range of meaningful ways to investigate algorithmic prediction through diagrams.

This includes, the 'case board' where I unpack some of the historical genealogies of algorithmic prediction. A purpose-built graph application materialises broader reflections about how such genealogies might be conceptualised, and facilitates a visual and subjective mode of knowledge production. I then move to producing 'traces', namely probing the output of an algorithmic prediction system|in this case YouTube recommendations. Traces, and the purpose-built instruments used to visualise them, interrogate both the mechanisms of algorithmic capture and claims to make these mechanisms transparent through data visualisations. Finally, I produce algorithmic predictions and examine the diagrammatic "tricks," or 'chicanes', that this involves. I revisit a historical prototype for algorithmic prediction, the almanac publication, and use it to question the boundaries between data-science and divination. This is materialised through a new version of the almanac - an automated publication where algorithmic processes are used to produce divinatory predictions.

My original contribution to knowledge is an approach to practice-based research which draws from media archaeology and focuses on diagrams to investigate algorithmic prediction through design practice. I demonstrate to researchers and practitioners with interests in algorithmic systems, prediction, and/or speculation, that diagrams can be used as a language to engage critically with these themes.


The design of vibration energy harvesters (VEHs) is highly dependent upon the characteristics of the environmental vibrations present in the intended application. VEHs can be linear resonant systems tuned to particular frequencies or nonlinear systems with either bistable operation or a Duffing-type response. This paper provides detailed vibration data from a range of applications, which has been made freely available for download through the Energy Harvesting Network's online data repository. In particular, this research shows that simulation is essential in designing and selecting the most suitable vibration energy harvester for particular applications. This is illustrated through C-based simulations of different types of VEHs, using real vibration data from a diesel ferry engine, a combined heat and power pump, a petrol car engine and a helicopter. The analysis shows that a bistable energy harvester only has a higher output power than a linear or Duffing-type nonlinear energy harvester with the same Q-factor when it is subjected to white noise vibration. The analysis also indicates that piezoelectric transduction mechanisms are more suitable for bistable energy harvesters than electromagnetic transduction. Furthermore, the linear energy harvester has a higher output power compared to the Duffing-type nonlinear energy harvester with the same Q factor in most cases. The Duffing-type nonlinear energy harvester can generate more power than the linear energy harvester only when it is excited at vibrations with multiple peaks and the frequencies of these peaks are within its bandwidth. Through these new observations, this paper illustrates the importance of simulation in the design of energy harvesting systems, with particular emphasis on the need to incorporate real vibration data.


The visions of mathematics classrooms called for by current educational reform efforts pose great challenges for kindergarten through Grade 12 schools and teacher education programs. Although a number of colleges and universities throughout the country are making changes in their teacher education programs to reflect these reform recommendations, we have little systematic information on the nature of these programs or their impact on prospective teachers. These issues are of central concern in the study-Learning to Teach Secondary Mathematics in Two Reform-Based Teacher Education Programs-that we draw on in this article. The article focuses on 1 preservice teacher's (Ms. Savant) knowledge, beliefs, and practices related to proof, tasks, and discourse. A situative perspective on cognition and components of teachers' professional knowledge frame our research. We examined data on Ms. Savant's experiences in her teacher education program to understand the influences of teacher education on her development as a mathematics teacher. This research indicates that Ms. Savant's teacher education experiences did make a difference in her development as a teacher. Her mathematics methods course provided a large collection of tasks, engaged her and her preservice colleagues in discourse, and provided her with both formal and informal experiences with proof-all of these experiences reflecting reform-based visions of mathematics classrooms. The situative perspective on cognition directed our attention to issues of compatibility of goals and visions across the various university and kindergarten through Grade 12 classroom settings, and it helped us to understand why some aspects of reform-based pedagogy are more easily learned than others: Why some ideas and practices learned as a student in the university setting are more easily transported to the novice teacher's kindergarten through Grade 12 field setting. We conclude that compatibility of these settings on several key dimensions is essential for the settings to reinforce each other's messages, and thus work in conjunction, rather than in opposition, to prepare reform-minded teachers.


This is a collection of papers by participants at High Dimensional Probability VI Meeting held from October 9-14, 2011 at the Banff International Research Station in Banff, Alberta, Canada. High Dimensional Probability (HDP) is an area of mathematics that includes the study of probability distributions and limit theorems in infinite-dimensional spaces such as Hilbert spaces and Banach spaces. The most remarkable feature of this area is that it has resulted in the creation of powerful new tools and perspectives, whose range of application has led to interactions with other areas of mathematics, statistics, and computer science. These include random matrix theory, nonparametric statistics, empirical process theory, statistical learning theory, concentration of measure phenomena, strong and weak approximations, distribution function estimation in high dimensions, combinatorial optimization, and random graph theory. The papers in this volume show that HDP theory continues to develop new tools, methods, techniques and perspectives to analyze the random phenomena. Both researchers and advanced students will find this book of great use for learning about new avenues of research.


International cooperation is needed to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and avoid dangerous climate change. The possibility of cooperation is influenced by the presence of uncertainty in both damages from climate change and the development of low-carbon technologies. This paper integrates uncertainty into an analysis of the stability of global climate cooperation, using cooperative game theory. I find that the deterministic result does not necessarily carry over to the case including uncertainty, and that the stability of global cooperation crucially depends on the ability of a coalition to redistribute risk between members with different levels of risk aversion. The results suggest that risk redistribution should feature prominently in the international climate regime.


The construction industry contributes a significant amount to a nation's Gross Domestic Product and National Income. The industry products are enormously important to other organisational sectors, and provide a considerable amount of employment to the nation's populace. However, the industry is significantly under-achieving in terms of clients' and stakeholders' satisfaction. In addition, the resources in the industry are currently under-utilised. It is affirmed that resources' wastes management in the industry is far behind that obtainable in other organisational sectors. Thus, there is a need for re-assessment of the way in which the industry generates its products towards utilising the scarce and costly resources efficiently.It is noteworthy that a project could be completed, within the estimated cost, time frame and quality expected, and even satisfying the clients' and stakeholders' implied needs, with lots of resource wastefulness during the construction production process. Despite the lean construction techniques being effective in reducing resources utilisation wastefulness; currently there are difficulties in achieving the approach objectives adequately. Thus, to maximise resources utilisation and avoiding inefficiency, it is paramount to critically evaluate, identify, and establish the several wastage occurrences, occurring either consciously or unconsciously during the project construction process.This research responded to the need for the construction industry to review the use of resources during production process, and to minimise the "gap" between the construction industry and the other sectors in efficient resources utilisation.To establish a valid and reliable best practice operational framework, towards utilising construction resources optimally, this research study was triangulated. Both structured and unstructured questionnaires and in-depth interview research surveys were exploited for its data collection. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 13, (SPSS 13), software was used to analyse the data obtained through the questionnaire research survey, while NVivo, (version 8) statistics software was explored to analyse the information collected through the in-depth interview research survey.This research was grouped into three main studies. The first study evaluated the issues associated with site managers' efficient performance, and causes of site managers' inefficiency in performances established were identified. In this respect, the factors that will enhance site managers to optimally utilise resources were established. Secondly, the scenarios of budgeting for resources' wastes were investigated, and factors that will reduce their effects on optimal resources utilisation were established. Lastly, the causes and modalities of averting resources wastefulness during the production process were investigated and ascertained. The success factor of these studies is the evaluation of the knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions, (KAP), of construction participants on resources utilisation. Based on these three main research studies and their sub studies, an operational framework for optimal utilisation of construction resources during the production process was developed, validated and established.This research study was conducted within the UK construction Industry. The implementation of the research findings and inferences will not only enhance optimal resources utilisation in the UK construction industry. In respect that the UK construction industry is vast in innovations, research development and construction reengineering, the established framework is significant for global construction industry adoption.


• Copper is an essential nutrient for symbiotic nitrogen fixation. This element is delivered by the host plant to the nodule, where membrane copper transporter would introduce it into the cell to synthesize cupro-proteins. • COPT family members in model legume Medicago truncatula were identified and their expression determined. Yeast complementation assays, confocal microscopy, and phenotypical characterization of a Tnt1 insertional mutant line were carried out in the nodule-specific M.truncatula COPT family member. • Medicago truncatula genome encodes eight COPT transporters. MtCOPT1 (Medtr4g019870) is the only nodule-specific COPT gene. It is located in the plasma membrane of the differentiation, interzone and early fixation zones. Loss of MtCOPT1 function results in a copper-mitigated reduction of biomass production when the plant obtains its nitrogen exclusively from symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Mutation of MtCOPT1 results in diminished nitrogenase activity in nodules, likely an indirect effect from the loss of a copper-dependent function, such as cytochrome oxidase activity in copt1-1 bacteroids. • These data are consistent with a model in which MtCOPT1 transports copper from the apoplast into nodule cells to provide copper for essential metabolic processes associated with symbiotic nitrogen fixation.


Four different metal–organic framework powders (UiO-66, UiO-66-NH2, UiO-67, and HKUST-1) were shaped into tablets. The effect of the applied pressure on porous properties, mechanical resistance and tablet bulk density is reported. We observe a linear relationship between densification and tensile strength for all four studied MOFs, with the slope being MOF-dependent. We also report conditions for improving significantly the volumetric uptake. Finally, we evaluated our tablets' stability over time in the presence of moisture.


Withania somnifera (Linn.) Dunal is a subtropical shrub with important medicinal properties. The nutritive value and the elemental composition of different parts of plants, Withania somnifera which are grown in two distinct geographical regions (Sondekola and Karthikere) of Karnataka have been determined. The investigation revealed that the variation of macro, micro and proximate components varied not only in the plants of different regions but also in the different parts of the same plant. Among the macro elements, Karthikere samples recorded maximum values of nitrogen, phosphorous and magnesium and Sondekola samples recorded maximum values of sodium, potassium and calcium. Among the components of micronutrients, the highest values of iron were recorded both in Sondekola and Karthikere samples. The average values of manganese, copper and zinc were more in the Karthikere samples and comparatively less in the Sondekola samples. Whereas, all the samples of Sondekola recorded maximum values of nutrition. It is believed that the dry climatic condition of the region may contribute the high values of nutrition. Further, the observations are discussed with reference to the geography, elemental composition and nutritional values. The strong and negative observations on herbal drugs and their validity, the study emphasizes the role of elemental composition, proximate components, nutritive value, habitat and geographical features which influence growth and development of Withania somnifera and also herbal products of Withania somnifera in particular and medicinal plants in general.


Malaria remains the most devastating infectious parasitic disease, inflicting both death and economic loses on at least half the world population. Numerous attempts have been made to control the disease by using vector control measures or/and chemoprophylaxis, but they have had limited success. Immunoprophylaxis hold promises but effective vaccines are still not available. Presently, the most effective way of dealing with malaria is the administration of chemotherapeutic agents. Although drugs treatments of malaria are currently the best means of disease management, there is an urgent need for the development of effective anti-malarial drugs.
Earlier assessment of Goniothalamus scortechinii King showed to possess significant anti-malarial properties, in vitro. A phytochemical study of G. schortechinii King was thus carried out and has led to the isolation and characterization of two compounds, goniothalamin and pinocembrine, from the bioactive chloroform fraction. Both compounds were assayed for anti-malarial activity using the pLDH method. Both exhibited anti-malarial activity against P. falciparum in different degrees, goniothalamin gave an IC50 value of 4.0824 μg/ml while pinocembrine gave 19.308 μg/ml.
Goniothalamin was evaluated for its anti-malaria activity in-vivo using 4-Day Suppressive Test against Plasmodium berghei ANKA strain in Swiss Albino Mice. The 4DT was carried out by inoculating the clean mice with P berghei ANKA strain and the infected mice were then treated orally and subcutaneously with goniothalamin. The suppression of parasite parasitemia and the ED90 value of goniothalamin were determined. Control drug used in this study was Chloroquine. Results showed that goniothalamin when given orally at a dose of 90 and 120 mg/kg mice body weight, exhibited suppressions of P. berghei infection of 98% and 99.7%, respectively. Meanwhile, goniothalamin given subcutaneously at a dose 120 mg/kg mice body weight gave 90.5% suppression of P. berghei infection.
Ex vivo assay was carried out to investigate the effect of goniothalamin towards P. falciparum in vitro using the mouse serum treated with goniothalamin. This was done to prove that goniothalamin reaction toward P. falciparum should same as reaction towards P. berghei in in vivo reaction. Ex vivo test was carried out using pLDH assay with serum of mice given goniothalamin orally and subcutaneously. A graph to determine the 90% inhibition of drugs-serum towards P. falciparum was plotted for each treated mice serum. Results showed the IS90 of mice serum given goniothalamin orally was ranging from 0.050 to 4.00 μg/ml, for subcutaneous route the IS90 was ranging from 0.009-4.750 μg/ml. A graph for estimating the length of time goniothalamin can remain in the blood was plotted. This gave the estimated time of goniothalamin both given orally and subcutaneously can remained a minimum of 6 hours in the blood.
In conclusion, goniothalamin does strongly inhibit P. falciparum, although it is not as potent as the standard drugs in use. More investigations such as drug combination, cytotoxicity, mechanism of action and toxicology studies, need to be carried out in order to determine its full potential as an anti-malarial.


Beyond Oral/Digital: Ghanaian Electronic Literature as a Paradigm for African Digital Textuality Kwabena Opoku-Agyemang This dissertation speaks to a massive dearth of research in African electronic literature (African e-lit), a discipline that boasts a growing number of works but little scholarship. With African literature incorporating digital technology into its creative process, and with electronic literary criticism focusing on areas outside its predominantly western cannon, African e-lit positions itself as an important area of scholarly endeavor. After considering the implications of placing African e-lit as the direction in which both African literature and electronic literature take, this dissertation looks at three different genres of African elit in the context of oral literature. There are analyses of examples of concrete poetry, conceptual poetry, and mobile video games, all from Ghana. Ultimately, the aim of this project is to ascertain the ways in which oral tradition influences the nature, form, and shape of African electronic literature.


Recently, artificial intelligence (AI) systems gain an increasing popularity and their development is fast. One of the most important fields of the AI system development are artificial neural networks (ANN's) which, due to continuous progress in microelectronics and integrated circuits (IC) manufacturing, can be realized as large integrated blocks. Designers of such IC ANN's take inspiration from biological networks. Networks of this type operate with analog signals, include a big number of neurons and a still bigger number of interconnections between them and, as a result, are able to process the information in parallel on a large scale. Recent advances in digital CMOS technologies enable implementation of different analog circuits in a VLSI integrated circuit form. The design and optimization efforts go towards reducing power dissipation, which is especially important in various diagnostic applications.


Medical care in the interests of clinical approbation of methods of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation is carried out to confirm evidence of efficiency and is essential function of medical organizations. Based on the clinical approbation, the Expert Council of the Ministry of Health Care of the Russian Federation can recommend a method for inclusion in clinical guidelines (treatment protocols) to providing medical care. The article contains an example of the assessment of 28 reports on the implementation of the clinical approbation protocols completed in Russian Scientific Center of Roentgenoradiology of the Ministry of Health of Russia at 2016–2020. In the provision of medical care during clinical approbation, improvement is arrived in 59,6%, recovery – 32,9%, no change – 7,5%, there were no bad ones. As well as the procedure for the provision of medical organization to carry out clinical approbation, which is presented to medical organization by the Expert Council of the Ministry of Health Care of the Russian Federation.


The ability of nanosecond pulsed DBD actuators to control flow separation was investigated on a NACA 0015 profile for velocities reaching Re = 230,000 (24 m/s). The optimal location for the actuator was determined from oil flow experiments. Moderate voltage levels were applied (3 and 6 kV) and the actuator was operated at frequencies ranging from 0.058 to 10 kHz, in pulse and burst modes. The peak effectiveness of the actuator occurred at reduced frequency values of around 1. Plasma influence was observed at all tested angles of attack (up to 26°), and the stall angle was delayed by 8°.


The seven fully described canine papillomaviruses (CPVs) have been allocated by sequence comparison and other genetic features into three phylogenetic clades. This largely reflects clinical findings, so each sequence of a newly discovered CPV in combination with clinical and pathological details is a valuable piece of evidence. We hypothesize that the genomic sequence of a new CPV can help to predict clinical features and progression, and that this can be tested in subsequent cases. In this case, a 2-year-old female dachshund-mix presented with papillomatosis clinically and histologically characterized as pigmented viral plaques. PCRs using primers evaluated for CPVs successfully amplified papillomavirus (PV) DNA. Sequencing of the products revealed an unknown PV putatively belonging to the PV genus Chi. Rolling circle amplification was used to amplify the entire viral genome. Sequencing revealed a novel PV, designated as CPV8, which was most closely related (63% homology) to the recently discovered CPV4. CPV4 is associated with benign pigmented plaques in pugs. Phylogenetic analysis based on the nucleotide sequences of four viral genes showed that the novel virus was closest to CPV3, CPV4 and CPV5. The presence of viral DNA was confirmed in the lesions by in situ hybridization using specific probes. CPV8 may consequently be regarded as the fourth member of the Chi-papillomavirus genus. All viruses belonging to this genus induce pigmented plaques in dogs. These findings support the hypothesis that genomic sequences can be useful in predicting the clinical features of CPV infection.


Cardiovascular health (CVH) is a concept developed by the American Heart Association (AHA) in 2010 when the organisation set its impact goals for the next decade: 'By 2020, to improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20%, while reducing deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20%'. The rationale of creating the concept of CVH was to change the focus on disease prevention and treatment to incorporate and enhance health promotion. Ideal CVH was then defined by the presence of four ideal health behaviours (non-smoking, body mass index <25 kg/m2, regular physical activity and adopting a healthy diet) and three ideal health factors (untreated total cholesterol <200 mg/dL, blood pressure <120/80 mm Hg and fasting blood glucose <100 mg/dL) in individuals free of cardiovascular diseases.1 For each metric, the individual could otherwise be classified as having intermediate or poor health and a score based on these metrics—the Cardiovascular Health Score—has also been proposed (table 1).

View this table:

Table 1
Cardiovascular health metrics according to the American Heart Association1

Since then, many studies have been published using the AHA metrics. In the US population, data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey have shown that the number of ideal metrics is inversely related to all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality. Individuals who met ≥5 metrics had 88% reduction in the mortality of cardiovascular diseases (adjusted HR 0.12; 95% CI 0.03 to 0.57) compared with individuals who met ≤2 metrics.2 The number of ideal CVH metrics is also related to incident cardiovascular events and subclinical cardiovascular disease. In the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, for example, adults with high or moderate CVH scores were 67% (95% CI 41% to 82%) and 37% (95% CI 22% to 49%) less likely to experience a cardiovascular disease event after 10.3 years of follow-up than adults with low scores.3 Findings from other populations worldwide are also …


A new approach for enhancing the process-variation tolerance of digital circuits is described. We extend recent advances in statistical timing analysis into an optimization framework. Our objective is to reduce the performance variance of a technology-mapped circuit where delays across elements are represented by random variables which capture the manufacturing variations. We introduce the notion of statistical critical paths, which account for both means and variances of performance variation. An optimization engine is used to size gates with the goal of reducing the timing variance along the statistical critical paths. We apply a pair of nested statistical analysis methods deploying a slower more accurate approach for tracking statistical critical paths and a fast engine for evaluation of gate size assignments. We derive a new approximation for the max operation on random variables which is deployed for the faster inner engine. Circuit optimization is carried out using a gain-based algorithm that terminates when constraints are satisfied or no further improvements can be made. We show optimization results that demonstrate an average of 72% reduction in performance variation at the expense of average 20% increase in design area.


Preparing students to be critical thinkers and effective communicators is essential in today's multinational and technologically sophisticated environment. New electronic technologies provide opportunities for creating learning environments that extend the possibilities of 'old' but still essential technologies: books, blackboards, and linear, one-way communication media. Such technologies contribute to engagement and meaningful learning in the higher education sector. Greater understanding in educational psychology and the effectiveness of educational interventions has motivated the development of various student-centred pedagogies (e.g. Problem-Based Learning (PBL)) addressing perceived shortcomings of traditional didactic instruction. PBL as a pedagogy promotes meaningful learning due largely to its power to stimulate critical, reflective and creative thinking. Can teaching staff, then, adopt technology-based approaches to create multi-disciplinary interactive PBL environments that enhance learning and excite students, inspiring them to take ownership of their own education? This paper presents a cross-case analysis of four cases that explore how classroom-based learning activities have been transferred to online formats in universities to improve critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and other learning attributes across a range of disciplines.


Successful triage is the basis for sound emergency department (ED) care, whereas unsuccessful triage could result in adverse outcomes. ED triage is a rather unexplored area in the Swedish health care system. This thesis contributes to our understanding of this complex nursing task. The main focus of this study has been on the organisation, performance, and decision making in Swedish ED triage. Specific aims were to describe the Swedish ED triage context, describe and compare registered nurses' (RNs) allocation of acuity ratings, use of thinking strategies and the way they structure the ED triage process. In this descriptive, comparative, and correlative research project quantitative and qualitative data were collected using telephone interviews, patient scenarios and think aloud method. Both convenience and purposeful sampling were used when identifying the participating 69 nurse managers and 423 RNs from various types of hospital-based EDs throughout the country. The results showed national variation, both in the way triage was organised and in the way it was conducted. From an organisational perspective, the variation emerged in several areas: the use of various triageurs, designated triage nurses, and triage scales. Variation was also noted in the accuracy and concordance of allocated acuity ratings. Statistical methods provided limited explanations for these variations, suggesting that RNs' clinical experience might have some affect on the RNs' triage accuracy. The project identified several thinking strategies used by the RNs, indicating that the RNs, amongst other things, searched for additional information, generated hypotheses about the fictitious patients and provided explanations for the interventions chosen. The RNs formed relationships between their interventions and the fictitious patients' symptoms. The RNs structured the triage process in several ways, beginning the process by searching for information, generating hypotheses, or allocating acuity ratings. Comparison of RNs' use of thinking strategies and the structure of the triage process based on triage accuracy revealed only slight differences. The findings in this dissertation indicate that the way a patient is triaged, and by whom, depends upon the particular organisation of the ED. Moreover, the large variation in RNs triage accuracy and the inter-rater agreement and concordance of the allocated acuity ratings suggest that the acuity rating allocated to a patient may vary considerably, depending on who does the allocation. That neither clinical experience nor the RNs' decision-making processes alone can explain the variations in the RNs triage accuracy indicates that accuracy might be influenced by individual and contextual factors. Future studies investigating triage accuracy are recommended to be carried out in natural settings. In conclusion, Swedish ED triage is permeated by diversity, both in its organisation and in its performance. The reasons for these variations are not well understood.


The oscillatory motion in nonlinear nanolattices having different interatomic potential energy functions is investigated. Potential energies such as the classical Morse, Biswas – Hamann and modified Lennard – Jones potentials are considered as interaction potentials between atoms in one-dimensional nanolattices. Noteworthy phenomena are obtained with a nonlinear chain, for each of the potential functions considered. The generalized governing system of equations for the interaction potentials are formulated using the well-known Euler – Lagrange equation with Rayleigh's modification. Linearized damping terms are introduced into the nonlinear chain. The nanochain has statistical attachments of $40$ atoms, which are perturbed to analyze the resulting nonlinearities in the nanolattices. The range of initial points for the initial value problem (presented as second-order ordinary differential equations) largely varies, depending on the interaction potential. The nanolattices are broken at some initial point(s), with one atom falling off the slender chain or more than one atom falling off. The broken nanochain is characterized by an amplitude of vibration growing to infinity. In general, it is observed that the nonlinear effects in the interaction potentials cause growing amplitudes of vibration, accompanied by disruptions of the nanolattice or by the translation of chaotic motion into regular motion (after the introduction of linear damping). This study provides a computationally efficient approach for understanding atomic interactions in long nanostructural components from a theoretical perspective.


In new environments of trading, customer's trust is vital for the extended progress and development of electronic commerce. This paper proposes that in addition to known factors of electronic commerce B2C websites such a design of websites, security of websites and familiarity of website influence customers trust in online transactions. This paper presents an application of expert system on trust in electronic commerce. Based on experts' judgment, a frame of work was proposed. The proposed model applies ANFIS and Mamdani inference fuzzy system to get the desired results and then results of two methods were compared. Two questionnaires were used in this study. The first questionnaire was developed for e-commerce experts, and the second one was designed for the customers of electronic websites. Based on AHP method, Expert Choice software was used to determine the priority of factors in the first questionnaire, and MATLAB and Excel were used for developing the fuzzy rules. Finally, the fuzzy logical kit was used to analyze the generated factors in the model. Our study findings show that trust in EC transactions is strongly mediated by perceived security.


Abstract People with chronic diseases are likely to require some form of domestic care, however their care needs acquire low visibility in housing policy frameworks. Amongst Yolŋu (Indigenous Australians from north-east Arnhem Land), high rates of kidney disease reinforce needs for housing and care. I consider how access to housing shapes relations and practices of care in the families of Yolŋu renal patients in Darwin, Australia; and how Yolŋu relations and practices of care are implicated in housing policy. Through an ethnographic case study approach, I show that in Yolŋu families, practices of extending shelter to kin are care practices fundamental to the performance of domestic labour. I argue that while housing policy frameworks rely on familial relations and practices of care to reduce rough sleeping and achieve other policy objectives, Yolŋu relations and practices of care are also marginalised through the governance of public housing. The politics of care that play out in their places of residence reproduce housing precarity.


Pump/probe optical-transmission measurements are used to monitor in space and time the ionization of a liquid column of water following impact of an 800-nm, 45-fs pump pulse. The pump pulse strikes the 53-μm-diameter column normal to its axis with intensities up to 2 × 10(15) W/cm2. After the initial photoinization and for probe delay times < 500 fs, the neutral water surrounding the beam is rapidly ionized in the transverse direction, presumably by hot electrons with initial velocities of 0.55 times the speed of light (relativistic kinetic energy of ~100 keV). Such velocities are unusual for condensed-matter excitation at the stated laser intensities.


Conditional mating strategies and within-sex variation in mating patterns occur across a wide range of primate taxa. Attempts to model the evolution of human mating strategies should incorporate current primatological data sets and phylogenetic perspectives. However, comparisons between interview and questionnaire-based human behavioral data and observationally and experimental generated nonhuman behavioral data should be conducted with prudence.


Current frequency allocations below Ku- band are becoming increasingly congested. The problem continues to grow as the use of telecommunications becomes more pop- ular. In order to compensate for increased in demand, telecommunication operating frequencies have to be raised, yielding larger channel capacity. However, raising the operating frequency has the adverse result of intensifying the attenuation effects of the troposphere. At high frequencies, such as V-band, rain is known to cause the most severe attenuation. It has been shown that model data for numerical weather prediction, combined with propagation prediction models, can be used to forecast telecommunication link atten- uation. The forecast of attenuation can be used to improve the effectiveness of fade mitigation techniques. A key problem in determining rain attenuation from rainfall rate is the considerable variability of the raindrop size distribution (DSD). Based on the analysis of disdrometer and numerical weather prediction model data, the aim of this work is to constrain the parameters of the DSD and ultimately generate proba- bilistic forecasts of attenuation. Using disdrometer analysis, a relationship between mean raindrop size and rainfall rate is established, and a link between drop concentration and rainfall rate is also demon- strated. The DSD is shown to vary with season and shows some small relationships with meteorological parameters. It is concluded that, despite some relation of the DSD with rainfall rate and meteorological parameters, there are too many variables to conclusively recreate the DSD. Analysis of the attenuation-rainfall rate relationship illustrates that variability due to the DSD increases with frequency above 40GHz. At 30-40GHz the DSD is shown to have little impact on the attenuation-rainfall rate relationship. Finally, this thesis examines the horizontal structure of rain cells in the UK, demonstrating the suitability of the EXCELL model and illustrating that rain cells are more elliptical in the UK.


Costs for treating End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patients were estimated for the financial years 1996/97 and 1997/98, using a hospital costing model. A total of 165 patients were treated: 101Aboriginal and 64 non-Aboriginal, at a total cost of $12.4m in this two-year period. These 165 patients, around 0.7% of total inpatients, used up 31.6% of 59,568 episodes (18,527) and 8.8% of total inpatient $140 millions ($12.4 m) in the Top End Hospitals of the NT in the study period. Among $1:2.4m, $9.5m (75%) was used in routine haemodialysis treatment (RHI) and $2.9m (25%) in hospitalisation. Whole year RHT per patient in the study was cos ted at approximately $82,000 in 1996/97 and $88,000 in 1997/98. The combined average cost per RHT in two years was $524, or $78,600 per patient completing a year's treatment. Hospitalisations for comorbidities occurred in 86% of Aboriginal and 39% of non-Aboriginal patients. For non-Aboriginals, the average cost per patient was $8,229 (with 1.2 admissions and 13 length of stay). For Aboriginals, it was $23,140 (with 4.1 admissions and 35 days). All these statistics were significantly higher in Aboriginals than in non-Aboriginals (p <0.05). After adjusted for patient year, there was still statistical significant between two groups, which was $41,648 for Aboriginals vs. $21,295 for non-Aboriginals (p<0.05). Aboriginals tended to be commonly admitted for fluid overload, respiratory diseases and dialysis complications, while non-Aboriginals were admitted for dialysis-related complications, access procedures and cardiovascular disease. But from cost concerns, septicaemia, dialysis-related complications, respiratory diseases and skin diseases were strongly related to the overall costs in the Aboriginal patients. In the non-Aboriginals, cardiovascular disease, fluid, electrolyte and acid disorders and digestive diseases were highly related to the overall costs.


Online social platforms collapse or converge public and private boundaries, creating both opportunities and challenges for pursuing publicity, privacy, and sociality. Presentations of the self thus become networked performances that must convey polysemic content to audiences, actual and imagined, without compromising one's own sense of self. This study explored how individuals perform the self through the use of Twitter trending hashtags. Content and discourse analyses were used to examine performative strategies and the form of performance in 140 or fewer characters. Findings underscored play as a dominant performative strategy and pointed to the reordering of grammar, syntax, and literary conventions as prevalent ways through which play is performed. Affect, redaction, and deliberative improvisation frame performances that become part of the ongoing storytelling project of the self on Twitter.


In the last years several direct (i.e. featureless) monocular SLAM approaches have appeared showing impressive semi-dense or dense scene reconstructions. These works have questioned the need of features, in which consolidated SLAM techniques of the last decade were based. In this paper we present a novel feature-based monocular SLAM system that is more robust, gives more accurate camera poses, and obtains comparable or better semi-dense reconstructions than the current state of the art. Our semi-dense mapping operates over keyframes, optimized by local bundle adjustment, allowing to obtain accurate triangulations from wide baselines. Our novel method to search correspondences, the measurement fusion and the inter-keyframe depth consistency tests allow to obtain clean reconstructions with very few outliers. Against the current trend in direct SLAM, our experiments show that by decoupling the semi-dense reconstruction from the trajectory computation, the results obtained are better. This opens the discussion on the benefits of features even if a semi-dense reconstruction is desired.


The goal of this paper is to explain the mathematics involved in modeling biochemical oscillations. We rst discuss several important biochemical concepts fundamental to the construction of descriptive mathematical models. We review the basic theory of di erential equations and stability analysis as it relates to two-variable models exhibiting oscillatory behavior. The importance of the Hopf Bifurcation will be discussed in detail for the central role it plays in limit cycle behavior and instability. Once we have exposed the necessary mathematical framework, we consider several speci c models of biochemical oscillators in three or more variables. This will include a detailed analysis of Goodwin's equations and their modi cation rst studied by Painter. Additionally, we consider the consequences of introducing both distributed and discrete time delay into Goodwin's model. We will show that the presence of distributed time lag modi es Goodwin's model in no signi cant way. The nal section of the paper will discuss discrete time lag in the context of a minimal model of the circadian rhythm. In the main, this paper will address mathematical, as opposed to biochemical, issues. Nevertheless, the signi cance of the mathematics to the biochemistry will be considered throughout.


A bio-optical mooring, which was deployed for 240 days during 1987 in the western Sargasso Sea (∼35°N, 70°W), provided among other things a detailed record of the seasonal distribution of chlorophyll a fluorescence and the scalar irradiance of photosynthetically available radiation. This data base was augmented by shipboard measurements of chlorophyll a concentration, chlorophyll a fluorescence, scalar irradiance, and net photosynthetic rate during four seasonal cruises to the mooring. The combined data base clearly shows a spring bloom in the surface mixed layer associated with initial stabilization of the water column, formation of a subsurface chlorophyll maximum caused by enhanced stratification of the water column, and disappearance of this feature in the winter caused by deepening of the surface mixed layer. The moored and shipboard data were applied to a detailed description of the seasonal variability in the vertical distribution of chlorophyll a and photosynthetic rate. Specifically, photosynthetic rate at a given depth was calculated as the product of scalar irradiance, chlorophyll concentration, the specific absorption coefficient of the phytoplankton crop, and the quantum yield of photosynthesis. Values of scalar irradiance and chlorophyll a concentration were obtained directly from the moored sensors, values for the specific absorption coefficient of the phytoplankton were obtained by linear interpolation of shipboard measurements, and the quantum yield of photosynthesis was calculated as a function of scalar irradiance. Comparisons of photosynthetic rate calculated from such a formulation with measured rates of carbon assimilation indicated good agreement, with no apparent or easily explained biases in the predictions. Surprisingly, daily values in both the crop of phytoplankton and gross photosynthetic rate varied by only a factor of 2 during the year. The annual rate of gross photosynthetic production at the mooring was 12 mol C m−2. An analysis of errors suggests that the precision of this estimate is about ±20%.


A subset of familial and sporadic clear cell renal cell carcinomas (ccRCCs) is believed to develop from cystic precursor lesions. Loss of function of the von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor gene (VHL) predisposes renal epithelial cells to loss of the primary cilium in response to specific signals. Because the primary cilium suppresses renal cyst formation, loss of the cilium may be an initiating event in the formation of ccRCC. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed the consequences of inducible renal epithelium-specific deletion of Vhl together with ablation of the primary cilium via deletion of the kinesin family member 3A (Kif3a) gene. We developed a microcomputed tomography-based imaging approach to allow quantitative longitudinal monitoring of cystic burden, revealing that combined loss of Vhl and Kif3a shortened the latency of cyst initiation, increased the number of cysts per kidney, and increased the total cystic burden. In contrast with findings in other cystic models, cysts in Kif3a mutant mice did not display accumulation of hypoxia-inducible factor 1-α (HIF1α), and deletion of both Hif1a and Kif3a did not affect cyst development or progression. Vhl/Kif3a double mutation also increased the frequency of cysts that displayed multilayered epithelial growth, which correlated with an increased frequency of misoriented cystic epithelial cell divisions. These results argue against the involvement of HIF1α in promoting renal cyst growth and suggest that the formation of simple and atypical renal cysts that resemble ccRCC precursor lesions is greatly accelerated by the combined loss of Vhl and the primary cilium.


ZrV2O7 has attracted much attention as a negative thermal expansion (NTE) material due to its isotropic negative structure. However, rarely has investigation of the lithium storage behaviors been carried out except our first report on it. Meanwhile, the electrochemical behaviors and energy storage characteristics have not been studied in depth and will be explored in this article. Herein, we report on the synthesis, characterization and lithium intercalation mechanism of superstructure ZrV2O7 nanofibres that were prepared through a facile solution-based method with a subsequent annealing process. The thermal in situ XRD technique combined with the Rietveld refinement method is adopted to analyze the change in the temperature-dependent crystal structure. Benefiting from the nanostructured morphology and relatively high electronic conductivity, it presents acceptable cyclic stability and rate capability. According to the operando evolution of the XRD patterns obtained from electrochemical in situ measurements, the Li intercalation mechanism of the solid solution process with a subsequent conversion reaction can be concluded. Finally, the amorphous state of the electrodes after the initial fully discharged state can effectively enhance the electrochemical performances.


An accurate and reliable massive MIMO channel model is crucial for supporting design and performance evaluation of such systems in the future. However, massive MIMO channel sounding systems are cost prohibitive and complicated, where a large number of antenna elements and associated radio frequency transceiver chains are needed. Virtual large-scale arrays have been extensively utilized as an alternative for massive MIMO channel characterization. In this paper, we investigate virtual large-scale array systems formed by repositioning a real subarray system for channel characterization. With this scheme, we have the flexibility to scale between system cost and system channel sounding capability. Based on this scheme, general beampatterns of subarrays and subarray-based virtual large-scale arrays are derived, based on measured complex antenna patterns of antenna elements on the subarray. Three real subarray antenna systems, i.e., a 16-element uniform rectangular array (URA) at 3.5 GHz, an 8-element uniform circular array at 3.5 GHz, and an 8-element uniform linear array (ULA) at 10 GHz, were utilized to form the respective large-scale virtual arrays, i.e., a 128-element URA, a 48-element uniform cylinder array, and a 64 element ULA, respectively. Beamforming analysis based on the measured complex radiation patterns of the real arrays is provided to demonstrate that virtual large-scale arrays can significantly improve the capability of multipath parameter detection compared with the subarrays. Therefore, such cost-effective systems are promising for characterization massive MIMO propagation channels.


Chasing multiple mobile targets with multiple agents is important in several applications, such as computer games and police chasing scenarios. Existing approaches can compute optimal policies. However, they have a limited scalability, as they implement expensive minimax searches. We introduce a sub-optimal but scalable approach that assigns individual agents to individual targets and that can dynamically re-compute such assignments. We provide a theoretical analysis, including upper bounds on the number of time steps required to solve an instance. In a detailed empirical evaluation on grid maps, our algorithm scales up very convincingly beyond the limits of previous methods. On small problems, where a comparison to a minimax approach is possible, the results demonstrate a good solution quality for our method.


In this study the bioconversion of bismuth to volatile derivs. was investigated in cultures of the common sewage sludge methanogen Methanobacterium formicicum. The prodn. of volatile bismuth compds. was analyzed during growth of M. formicicum with respect to the concn. and chem. formulation of the applied bismuth. The main volatile bismuth compd. detected in the culture headspace was trimethylbismuth (TMBi), with a max. conversion rate of up to 2.6 +- 1.8% from spiked 1 mM bismuth nitrate [Bi(NO3)3] in the culture media. This main compd. proved to be stable under the incubation conditions in a CO2-H2 atmosphere. Bismuthine and the partially methylated bismuthines monomethylbismuth hydride and dimethylbismuth hydride were addnl. detected in the late exponential growth phase, but only in the presence of low concns. of spiked Bi(NO3)3 (10 nM, 100 nM). The conversion of bismuth to TMBi from the bismuth-contg. pharmaceuticals Bismofalk [contg. bismuth subgallate and Bi(NO3)3] and Noemin (contg. bismuth aluminate) could also be obsd., however, with a lower rate than found for Bi(NO3)3. In vitro expts. with crude exts. of M. formicicum suggest that the methylation of bismuth is mainly catalyzed by enzyme-catalyzed reactions with methylcobalamin as Me donor.


Passive immunisation of fish was carried out to determine whether anti-Vibrio
anguillarum antibodies (AVA), anti-Streptococcus sp. antibodies (ASA), and antiParamoeba
sp. antibodies (APA) raised in sheep, rabbits and rainbow trout
(Oncorhynchus mykiss) were persistent and biologically active in rainbow trout.
Results of passive immunisation were compared with results of active immunisation in
which fish were immunised by immersion in or injection with formalin-killed cells.
Assessments of passive and active immunisation were undertaken concurrently for up
to three months in order to demonstrate their relative efficacies and, especially, to
evaluate the practical potential of passive immunisation.
Sheep and rabbit antibodies were detected in fish sera by enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for up to 70 days after intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection.
The relative percent survival (RPS) of fish challenged with virulent V. anguillarum
after an i.p. injection (0.1 ml 100 g-1 fish body weight) of sheep, rabbit or fish AVA
was 93.3, 86.6, 40% at one month; 25, 18.7, 12.5% at two months and 13.3, 4.1, 9.0%
at three months post-immunisation (p.i.) respectively. In order to obtain equivalent
protection to undiluted fish serum, rabbit and sheep sera had to be diluted 1: 8 and 1:
50 respectively. Protection conferred by immune sera was shown to be due to the
specific antibodies alone. Also inactivation of complement from sera had no effect on
the potency of either immune or non-immune sera. Affinity purified sheep and rabbit
AVA sera were demonstrated to have equivalent protective potential as whole antisera
in rainbow trout. Fish actively immunised by immersion showed RPS of 86.6, 93, and
81.8% after one, two and three months p.i. respectively in the same trials. Fish
immune responses to sheep and rabbit antisera were determined (using specific
ELISA) with the greater response being to the rabbit serum.
Rainbow trout given sheep AVA conjugated to LTB (the GM-1-binding subunit
of Escherichia coli heat-labile toxin) orally had a RPS of 37.5% at 15 days and a RPS
of 27% after one month post-immunisation. In contrast, sheep AVA conjugated to
TraT (an internal membrane of E. coli) and Quil-A had RPSs of 18.7 and 6.2% after
fifteen days and 13.3 and 0% after one month p.i. respectively.
The relative percent survival of rainbow trout challenged with virulent
Streptococcus sp. after an i.p. injection (0.1 ml 100 g-1 fish body weight) of sheep,
rabbit or fish anti-Streptococcus sp. antibodies was 88.8, 50, 0.0% after one month ;
33.3, 6.8, 6.8% after two months and 13.3, 0, 6.6% after three months p.i. respectively.
Fish immunised actively had RPS of 88.8 and 11.1% after one month, 38.1 and 4.7%
after two months 36 and 0.0% after three months p.i. for the injection and immersion
routes respectively. Thus, passive immunisation shows potential as a therapeutic and
prophylactic against streptococcosis as it gives similar results to active intraperitoneal
vaccination and would be expected to provide immediate protection.
 In one trial Atlantic salmon immunised i.p. with Paramoeba vaccines showed
marked humoral responses. In another trial, Atlantic salmon were immunised
passively with an i.p. injection (0.1 ml 100 g-1 fish body weight) of sheep APA.
Immunised fish (both actively and passively) were exposed to a natural infection (by
cohabitation with infected Atlantic salmon) one month post-immunisation.
Transmission of the disease was successful. No unequivocal protection was
demonstrated in any of the immunised fish in this experimental challenge trial.
Moreover, local antibody against Paramoeba sp. in gill mucus of experimentally
infected Atlantic salmon was not detected (by ELISA).
It is shown in this study that passive immunisation has significant potential in
disease prevention when given to fish at strategic times, especially in the face of an
outbreak when there is not enough time for an active immune response. Thus, there
should be a future for the use of mammalian hyperimmune sera against fish diseases,
in particular, those for which useful immunity by active immunisation is not available.


High-level scripting languages have become tremendously popular for development of dynamic Web applications. Many programmers appreciate the productivity benefits of automatic storage management, freedom from verbose type annotations, and so on. While it is often possible to improve performance substantially by rewriting an application in C or a similar language, very few programmers bother to do so, because of the consequences for human development effort. This paper describes a compiler that makes it possible to have most of the best of both worlds, coding Web applications in a high-level language but compiling to native code with performance comparable to handwritten C code. The source language is Ur/Web, a domain-specific, purely functional, statically typed language for the Web. Through a coordinated suite of relatively straightforward program analyses and algebraic optimizations, we transform Ur/Web programs into almost-idiomatic C code, with no garbage collection, little unnecessary memory allocation for intermediate values, etc. Our compiler is in production use for commercial Web sites supporting thousands of users, and microbenchmarks demonstrate very competitive performance versus mainstream tools.


PURPOSE: We previously reported the p27 expression level to be an independent prognostic factor, and a high S-phase kinase-associated protein 2 (Skp2) expression level was significantly correlated with a poor prognosis in patients with gastric cancer. We herein examined the Skp2 expression in breast cancer and attempted to identify any associations between the Skp2 expression status and either the clinicopathologic variables or the patient's prognosis. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We established four Skp2-transfected breast cancer cell lines and assessed the correlations between the Skp2 and p27 expressions using real-time reverse transcription-PCR and a Western blot analysis. We then analyzed the clinicopathologic significance of Skp2 mRNA expression in 169 Japanese patients with breast cancer. An immunohistochemical analysis was also done. RESULTS: The p27 protein expression markedly decreased after Skp2 transfection, whereas no alteration in the p27 mRNA expression was observed. The Skp2 protein expression level as determined by immunohistochemical staining thus showed a significant correlation with the Skp2 mRNA expression (P = 0.001) and a significant inverse correlation with the p27 protein expression (P = 0.042). The patients with a high Skp2 gene expression were significantly younger than those with a low expression (P = 0.002). The prognosis of patients with a high Skp2 expression was significantly (P = 0.022) poorer than for those with a low expression. Moreover, a high expression of Skp2 was an independent variable that correlated with a shorter disease-free survival (relative risk, 3.33; 95% confidence interval, 1.296-8.578; P = 0.013). CONCLUSIONS: The present results suggest that Skp2 may play an important role particularly in young breast cancer, and it is also considered to have strong independent prognostic potential and thus may prove to be a useful target for the treatment of breast cancer.


Abstract: Quentin Meillassoux has argued against Immanuel Kant's turn to the capacities of a knowing subject, describing this "correlationism" as out of step with science and logic. In contrast, Meillassoux's teacher, Alain Badiou, maintains a deep ambivalence regarding Kant; despite his criticisms of Kant's legacy, Badiou maintains an insistence on subjectivity comparable to Kant's. Through close attention to Badiou's article of 1998, "Kant's Subtractive Ontology," I argue that this troubled inheritance from Kant is necessary for Badiou in order to maintain a logical coherence of appearance following from his mathematical ontology. In particular, Badiou draws our attention to Kant's insistence on relationality in the presentation of objects, and argues for a transformation of the role of logic in this combination. By collapsing the distinction between general and transcendental logic, Badiou obtains a direct engagement between thought and reality. However, this ontology nonetheless retains the necessity of an impersonal subject in order to uphold consistency of relationality and to provide for the possibility of change. I compare Badiou's reading of Kant, partly inflected by Martin Heidegger's, to Georg Lukacs prior attempt to reconcile Kant with dialectical materialism. Avoiding Heidegger's aesthetic reconciliation, both Lukacs and Badiou insist on the active capacities of the subject. We might conclude that Kant is necessary to establish Badiou's particular conception of materiality and truth.


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Summer Olympic Games have been described as being the biggest social events in the history of humankind. They are not only the most significant of all global mega-sporting events but they are also are very powerful political, economic, environmental and cultural global forces. Hosting an Olympic Games is a much sought-after prize for the cities that seek the role; it is both, an honour and a reward. Honour, as it is indicative of the chosen city's global status and a reward, because the financial, cultural, diplomatic and infrastructural advances that are associated with being a 'host city' can be immense. Even so, it must be remembered that sport is the primary purpose and function of all Olympic festivals. In 1993 in a very close race between Sydney and Beijing, Sydney was chosen by the IOC delegates as the host city for the 2000 Olympics. Hailed as the 'best ever Olympics' the Sydney Games set new standards for not only athletic achievement but also in the areas of culture, environment, administration, organization, facility design, event management, security, ticketing, transport, volunteer activity, media and most significantly in terms of the mood that pervaded the host city and the whole of Australia throughout the Games. As a tourist event it was unrivalled. The organizers of Beijing's bid for the 2008 Games immediately embraced the Sydney model to drive their efforts and once successful again turned to their Asian Pacific trading partner to help them prepare for Beijing 2008. Australian sporting, commercial, industrial and diplomatic agencies gleefully accepted the invitation. This paper discusses the nature, scope and impact of the 'Olympic' engagement between Australia and China leading to the Beijing Olympic Games and will analyse the ramification of this multifaceted relationship. The Beijing Games showcased China's increasingly open economy and the level of its readiness to assume it role as a global superpower and this paper will illustrate how, for Australia, the 2008 Olympics provided and will continue to provide profitable diplomatic and trading opportunities to further enhance the existing political and economic partnerships with China. This paper will demonstrate how Australia, although being China's major supporter in its efforts to host a successful Olympic Games, still had to overcome an element of ambivalence as it supported China in its ambitions. Australian Olympic officials and athletes, diplomats and politicians at all levels had to pragmatically negotiate a series of major human rights, environmental and governance issues as it engaged in its role as China's leading supporter ahead of and during the Beijing Games. Many calls were heard for Australia to boycott the Beijing Olympics but little support emerged. The paper will conclude with a discussion of how and why Australia maintained its positive position and if this effort was diplomatically, economically and morally worthwhile. Also, it asks whether or not the Beijing Olympic Games have furthered China's ambition to establish its legitimacy as a global power and, if we are any closer to achieving the hope of "One World, One Dream?"


This study analyses the research output of four South Asia countries, namely Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal in S&T during 2001-10 on several parameters including its growth and country publications share in the world's research output, country publications share in various subjects in the national and global context, geographical distribution of publications, share of international collaborative publications at the national level as well as across subjects and characteristics of high productivity institutions and cited papers. The Scopus Citation Database has been used to retrieve the publication data for 10 years. Concludes that all the four South Asian countries needs to increase their output and bring about improvement in the quality of its research efforts. This can be done by investing much more in R&D expenditure, increase in the deployment of more qualified manpower and in increasing international collaboration and by modernizing and strengthening its research infrastructure.


This paper describes an authentication method aiming at providing consistent security communications on fixed mobile convergence (FMC) environments. The next generation network is now under studying in several standard organizations. Access networks can be integrated into the IP based core network by an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) and achieve FMC. The existing IMS authentication method is based on the third generation cellular mechanism, and the IMS access user equipment (UE) must support an IMS subscriber identification module (ISIM) which can provide high security compared to other methods. However, it is relatively difficult to support an ISIM for all UEs from backward compatibility viewpoint. So we evaluate several IMS authentication methods to achieve an IMS access for a non-ISIM capable UE, and the proposed solution can achieve to provide high security communication with no impacts on the existing IMS, and achieve roaming with high scalability


We present a one-pot synthesis of core-shell silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) as a novel fluorescent probe for biological applications. SiNPs were doped with a different number of dyes to ensure high efficiency Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET). Dyes are individually entrapped in the silica core without a covalent bonding between them. The strong interconnection achieved inside the core, a FRET with efficiency up to 86% was obtained. Nanoparticles called NTB530, NTB575 and NTB660 contain two, three and four different dyes respectively. Nanoparticles can be excited with a common blue laser and characterized by a long Stokes Shift up to the near-IR emission. Photostability, tested under continuous irradiation with a mercury lamp, showed higher stability of our Nanoparticles compared to commercial dyes like Fluorescein and R-Phycoerythrin. To prove the potential application of our Nanoparticle in flow-cytometry, they were conjugated with Anti-Human CD8 antibody and tested in comparison with commercial ones.


This article examines how translation practitioners might begin to develop a praxis that is based on an ontological polyvocality; one which allows for difficulty – even misconstrual and semantic breakdown – so that translations do not become mechanical reproductions, subsumed by systems of power, rather than machinic repetitions that allow for deterritorializations along lines of flight. Because, despite the fact that translations are regarded as relatively autonomous creations, they still conform; they are still produced in the socius which, in modern societies, aids the functioning of capitalism. The question arises: if translations – which are unavoidably a kind of literary repetition – are produced and constructed within capitalist societies, does this mean that they inevitably become mechanical reproductions rather than machinic repetitions? To answer this question, translation is investigated within the ethico-aesthetic framework developed by Felix Guattari and selected translations of passages in the oeuvre of the South African author Ingrid Winterbach are referenced.


Over the past decade, the new creative-cultural industries have increasingly become one of the main sources of greater production and employment in many countries. Although the growth of cultural industries has been mostly limited to the world's richest countries, a number of low- and middle-income countries have come to recognize that they too can participate in the cultural economy. In this regard, Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries have begun to identify new opportunities and are actively seeking sustainable solutions to maintain these industries as an integral part of cultural and economic life. The objective of this paper is to assess the strengths and weaknesses of cultural industries in LAC and offer lessons learned through this analysis to policymakers and donors. This study demonstrates the value and the potential for cultural industries in the LAC economy and also identifies the need for a comprehensive approach, structured policies, and targeted interventions aimed at improving the conditions and prospects of these industries.


A straight line drawing of a graph is an open weak rectangle-of-influence (RI) drawing, if there is no vertex in the relative interior of the axis parallel rectangle induced by the end points of each edge. Despite recent interest of the graph drawing community in rectangle-of-influence drawings, no algorithm is known to test whether a graph has a planar open weak RI-drawing, not even for inner triangulated graphs. In this thesis, we have two major contributions. First we study open weak RI-drawings of plane graphs that must have a non-aligned frame, i.e., the graph obtained from removing the interior of every filled triangle is drawn such that no two vertices have the same coordinate. We introduce a new way to assign labels to angles, i.e., instances of vertices on faces. Using this labeling, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions characterizing those plane graphs that have open weak RI-drawings with non-aligned frame. We also give a polynomial algorithm to construct such a drawing if one exists. Our second major result is a negative result: deciding if a planar graph (i.e., one where we can choose the planar embedding) has an open weak RI-drawing is NP-complete. NP-completeness holds even for open weak RIdrawings with non-aligned frames.


This Perspective by Galione and Churchill is one in a series on intracellular calcium release mechanisms. The authors review the evidence for cyclic adenosine diphosphate ribose (cADPR) being a second messenger involved in regulating intracellular calcium. In addition, the physiological stimuli and responses mediated by cADPR are discussed. The Perspective is accompanied by a movie showing a calcium wave triggered by cADPR.


"Global Food Safety: Keeping Food Safe from Farm to Table," is based on a colloquium convened by the Academy in 2009. This report reviews the current state of affairs in microbiological food safety around the world. It is extremely challenging to know how many people are made sick by food, which foods are at fault, which pathogens are most widespread or dangerous, and where those pathogens entered the food production system. In such a situation, where should research, prevention and education efforts be directed? In this report, each step in our complicated food production and supply system is described, highlighting key points of vulnerability, and making it clear that providing safe food is a shared responsibility.


Trajectory prediction is essential for autonomous vehicles (AVs) to plan correct and safe driving behaviors. While many prior works aim to achieve higher prediction accuracy, few study the adversarial robustness of their methods. To bridge this gap, we propose to study the adversarial robustness of data-driven trajectory prediction systems. We devise an optimization-based adversarial attack framework that leverages a carefully-designed differentiable dynamic model to generate realistic adversarial trajectories. Empirically, we benchmark the adversarial robustness of state-of-the-art prediction models and show that our attack increases the prediction error for both general metrics and planning-aware metrics by more than 50% and 37%. We also show that our attack can lead an AV to drive off road or collide into other vehicles in simulation. Finally, we demonstrate how to mitigate the adversarial attacks using an adversarial training scheme.


This paper offers an updated description of the macroeconomic and sectoral significance of PPPs in Europe, without assessing PPPs from a normative perspective. It shows that, over the past fifteen years, more than one thousand PPP contracts have been signed in the EU, representing a capital value of almost 200 billion euro. While PPPs have in recent years become increasingly popular in a growing number of European countries, they are of macroeconomic and systemic significance only in the UK, Portugal, and Spain. In all other European countries, the importance of investment through PPPs remains small in comparison to traditional public procurement of investment projects. However, PPP procurement is used extensively for major projects and this is spreading out from transport into other sectors.


The creation of a cooperative effect between zero-dimensional (0D) SnO2 particles and carbonaceous materials with space-confined structures has shown great potential in achieving advanced lithium-ion battery anodes (LIBs), but is full of challenges. Herein, we report a novel and green approach for the preparation of uniform SnO2 nanocrystals anchored within a continuous mesoporous carbon network. For the first time, the formation of SnO2 nanocrystals and in situ carbon-coating were achieved simultaneously through the ion exchange and hydrothermal method (IEHM), and the subsequent calcination further endows the composites with a robust 3D-interconnected porous structure. The resulting product consists of SnO2 nanocrystals with a uniform size (2.2–3.8 nm) and continuous mesoporous carbon network, which exhibits a large surface area (257 m2 g−1) and a high content of SnO2 (∼70 wt%). As a result, the as-prepared SnO2/C nanocomposites showed a high reversible capacity of 1024.6 mA h g−1 at 200 mA g−1 even after 300 cycles as an anode material for LIBs. Moreover, the facile preparation of uniform SnO2 nanocrystals by the IEHM would be helpful in promoting nanostructure engineering of other metal oxide materials.


It is frequently suggested that export diversification contributes to an acceleration of growth in developing countries. Horizontal export diversification into completely new export sectors may generate positive externalities on the rest of the economy as export oriented sectors gain from dynamic learning activities due to contacts with foreign purchasers and exposure to international competition. Vertical diversification out of primary into manufactured exports is also associated with growth since primary export sectors generally do not exhibit strong spillovers. Yet there have been remarkably few empirical investigations into the link between export diversification and growth. This paper attempts to examine the hypothesis that export diversification is linked to economic growth via externalities of learning-by-doing and learning-by-exporting fostered by competition in world markets. The diversification-led growth hypothesis is tested by estimating an augmented Cobb–Douglas production function on the basis of annual time series data from Chile. Based on the theory of cointegration three types of statistical methodologies are used: the Johansen trace test, a multivariate error-correction model and the dynamic OLS procedure. Given structural changes in the Chilean economy, time series techniques considering structural breaks are applied. The estimation results suggest that export diversification plays an important role in economic growth.


The article describes approximation technique for solving multiobjective stochastic optimization problems. As a generalized model of a stochastic system to be optimized a vector "input – random output" system is used. Random outputs are converted into a vector of deterministic performance/risk indicators. The problem is to find those inputs that correspond to Pareto-optimal values of the output indicators. The problem is approximated by a sequence of deterministic multicriterion optimization problems, where, for example, the objective vector function is a sample average approximation of the original one and the feasible set is a discrete sample approximation of the feasible inputs. Approximate optimal solutions are defined as weakly Pareto efficient ones within some vector tolerance. Convergence analysis includes establishing convergence of the general approximation scheme and establishing conditions of convergence with probability one under proper regulation of sampling parameters. Parallel computations are used for statistical evaluation of the performance indicators, as well as to accelerate sampling in the space of the system inputs. The proposed solution technique can also be interpreted as an interactive parallel Monte Carlo method with selection of approximately Pareto-nondominated points. The proposed technique is illustrated by an example of multicriterion optimization in insurance.


A mutation, spo-87, in the spoOJ locus of Bacillus subtilis allows appreciable transcription of spoZlA, spoZZD and spoZZG and later operons, even though most of the cells are morphologically blocked at stage 0 and the incidence of heat-resistant spores is about 1 per lo4 cells. This mutation therefore appears to disengage the genetic control of sporulation from the morphological changes to which it should be connected. spoZIA and spoZZG are transcribed independently of one another. However, the products of both operons are needed for the activation of spoZID which occurs later. This indicates a convergence of parallel pathways of operon expression. We have also shown that nonsense mutations in spoZZAC (which codes for a sigma factor of RNA polymerase) prevent transcription of spolZD ; by contrast, missense mutations in the same gene allow transcription of spoIZD.


BACKGROUND
It is unclear whether high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentration plays a causal role in atherosclerosis. A more important factor may be HDL cholesterol efflux capacity, the ability of HDL to accept cholesterol from macrophages, which is a key step in reverse cholesterol transport. We investigated the epidemiology of cholesterol efflux capacity and its association with incident atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease outcomes in a large, multiethnic population cohort.

METHODS
We measured HDL cholesterol level, HDL particle concentration, and cholesterol efflux capacity at baseline in 2924 adults free from cardiovascular disease who were participants in the Dallas Heart Study, a probability-based population sample. The primary end point was atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, defined as a first nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or coronary revascularization or death from cardiovascular causes. The median follow-up period was 9.4 years.

RESULTS
In contrast to HDL cholesterol level, which was associated with multiple traditional risk factors and metabolic variables, cholesterol efflux capacity had minimal association with these factors. Baseline HDL cholesterol level was not associated with cardiovascular events in an adjusted analysis (hazard ratio, 1.08; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59 to 1.99). In a fully adjusted model that included traditional risk factors, HDL cholesterol level, and HDL particle concentration, there was a 67% reduction in cardiovascular risk in the highest quartile of cholesterol efflux capacity versus the lowest quartile (hazard ratio, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.19 to 0.55). Adding cholesterol efflux capacity to traditional risk factors was associated with improvement in discrimination and reclassification indexes.

CONCLUSIONS
Cholesterol efflux capacity, a new biomarker that characterizes a key step in reverse cholesterol transport, was inversely associated with the incidence of cardiovascular events in a population-based cohort. (Funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation and others.).


The mobile agent systems are well suited for certain types of real world applications such as e-commerce and distributed transactions. However, this technology is not being used by many applications. This is due to the lack of infrastructures and methodologies that address fault tolerance and transactions. The basic requirements for fault-tolerant transactional mobile agent are: 1) non-blocking (i.e., a single failure does not prevent progress of the mobile agent execution); 2) exactly-once (i.e., multiple executions of the agent are prevented); 3) the execution atomicity (i.e., all tasks are committed or none at all). In this paper, we propose a mechanism for providing fault-tolerance capability based on the mobile agent replication and the backward process. The failure detection is not perfect. The replication may result in multiple executions of the agent. So, we defined a technique that detects multiple executions and allows only one agent to go on while the others are stopped. To ensure the execution atomicity of the distributed transaction we used a commit at destination approach.


This interdisciplinary study is an examination, from a comparative arts perspective, of the impact of Newton's "Principia" on the art and literary theory and practice of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The Greenwich connection with Newtonian science is exemplified by Sir Christopher Wren's spatially-extended, open-center design for the Greenwich Naval Hospital complex, the site of the Royal Observatory, and his application of Newtonian "conics" to the site; James Thornhill's Newtonian-based spatial treatment and iconography in the illusionistic ceiling painting in the Lower Hall at Greenwich; and James Thomson's celebration of the Royal Observatory in Poem Sacred to the Memory of Sir Isaac Newton as a locus for the Newtonian exploration of the universe, to which he gives dynamic form. The book includes a survey of the development of Newtonianism and its influence on English culture in general along with its role in the development of the aesthetics of the sublime.


Replacing humans with underwater robots for accomplishing marine tasks such as oceanic supervision and undersea operations have been an endeavour from long time ago. Hence, a number of underwater robots have been developed. Among those underwater robots, developing biomimetic swimming robots has been appealing for many researchers and institutes since these robots have shown superior performance. Biomimetic swimming robots have higher swimming efficiency, manoeuvrability and noiseless performance. However, the existing biomimetic swimming robots are specialised for a single gait of locomotion like cruising, manoeuvrability and accelerating while for efficient accomplishment of marine tasks, an underwater robot needs to have multiple gaits of locomotion. In order to develop multiple-gaited swimming robots, the optimal characteristics of each gait of swimming must be combined together, whereas the combination is not usually possible. The problem needs to be addressed during the design process. Moreover, the optimality of the actuation mechanism of robots that do not utilise any artificial muscle could be assured using the mathematical model employed for simulation of their swimming behaviour. However, the existing models are incomplete and, accordingly, not reliable since their assumptions like the constant speed of flow around the fish robot could be used when the average speed of the flow is determined during experiment while before development of robots, the flow speed is not known. In addition to that, the simulation results must be optimised using the experimental observations in nature and analytical results while the optimisation algorithms are based on one fitness function. The aforementioned problems as well as the fabrication challenges of freeswimming biomimetic robots are addressed in a development process of multiple-gaited fish-mimetic robots introduced by the author in this thesis. This development method engages the improvement of all development steps of fish robots including design, mathematical modelling, optimisation and fabrication steps. In this thesis, the aforementioned steps are discussed and the contributions of the method for each step are introduced. As an outcome of the project, two prototypes of fish robots called UC-Ika 1 & 2 are built.


Particle physics deals with the elementary constituents of our universe and their interactions. The electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism in the Standard Model of Particle Physics is of paramount importance and it plays a central role in the physics programmes of current high-energy physics experiments at the Large Hadron Collider. The study of scattering processes of massive electroweak gauge bosons provides an approach complementary to the precise measurement of the properties of the recently discovered Higgs boson. Owing to the unprecedented energies achieved in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider and the large amount of data collected, experimental studies of these processes become feasible for the first time. Especially the scattering of two W± bosons of identical electric charge is considered a promising process for an initial study due to its distinct experimental signature. In the course of this work, 20.3 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS detector at a centre-of-mass energy of √ s = 8 TeV are analysed. An analysis of the production of two W± bosons of identical electric charge in association with two jets, pp→W±W±jj, is conducted in the leptonic decay channel of the W± bosons. Thereby, emphasis is put on the development of methods for the estimation of experimental backgrounds as well as on the optimisation of the event selection. As a result of this work, first experimental evidence for the existence of the aforementioned process is established with an observed significance of 4.9. Based on the number of observed events in the selected phase space the extracted fiducial cross section is σfid = (2.3± 0.5(stat.) −0.3(sys.)) fb which is in agreement with the prediction of the Standard Model of σSM fid = (1.6± 0.2) fb. Of particular theoretical interest are electroweak contributions to the pp→W±W±jj process due to their sensitivity to the nature of the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism. Criteria for a dedicated event selection are investigated and implemented in the analysis with the goal of enhancing the sensitivity to these contributions. First experimental evidence for the presence of electroweak contributions to the pp→W±W±jj process can be claimed with an observed significance of 4.1. The cross section extracted in the selected phase space region is found to be σfid = (1.7 +0.5 −0.4(stat.)± 0.3(sys.)) fb which is 1.3 standard deviations above the theoretical prediction of the Standard Model of σSM fid = (1.0± 0.1) fb. A variety of extensions to the Standard Model predict modifications to the electroweak gauge sector. In the context of the electroweak chiral Lagrangian, which serves as an effective approximation of these theories in the energy regime E . 1− 3 TeV, anomalous contributions to the quartic WWWW gauge coupling can be described by the parameters α4 and α5. The selection of events is optimised again to enhance the sensitivity to these two parameters. On the basis of the number of events observed in this phase space region, the following one-dimensional confidence intervals at the 95% confidence level are derived: −0.09 ≤ α4 ≤ 0.10 and −0.15 ≤ α5 ≤ 0.15. At present, these limits represent the most stringent constraints on contributions from new physics processes to the quartic WWWW gauge coupling.


The ICP-MS brings particular attributes to the method that distinguishes it from organic mass spectrometry: relative insensitivity to concomitant organic or metallic species, equivalent sensitivity to all similarly-tagged complexes, inherent ability to provide absolute quantitation and linearity of response. All these positive features fit the requirements of modern-day biotechnology. In this work, the potential of ICP-MS is discussed in the context of several urgent problems of biotechnology including: the determination of the state of phosphorylation of proteins, quality control of biologically active materials and control of efficiency of cell line transfections.


Chinese officials put considerable effort into managing the fiscal and legal affairs of their jurisdictions, but they also devoted significant time and energy to performing religious rituals on behalf of the state. This groundbreaking study explores this underappreciated aspect of Chinese political life by investigating rainmaking activities organized or conducted by local officials in the Qing dynasty. Using a wide variety of primary sources, this study explains how and why state rainmaking became a prominent feature of the late imperial religious landscape. It also vividly describes the esoteric, spectacular, and occasionally grotesque techniques officials used to pray for rain. Charting the ways in which rainmaking performances were contested by local communities, this study argues that state rainmaking provided an important venue where the relationship between officials and their constituents was established and maintained. For this reason, the author concludes that official rainmaking was instrumental in constituting state power at the local level. This monograph addresses issues that are central to the study of late imperial Chinese society and culture, including the religious activities of Chinese officials, the nature of state orthodoxy, and the symbolic dimensions of local governance.


This paper presents a dynamical system based on the Poisson-Gamma construction for sequentially observed multivariate count data. Inherent to the model is a novel Bayesian nonparametric prior that ties and shrinks parameters in a powerful way. We develop theory about the model's infinite limit and its steady-state. The model's inductive bias is demonstrated on a variety of real-world datasets where it is shown to learn interpretable structure and have superior predictive performance.


Extracted from text ... SAJS VOL 43, NO. 3, AUGUST 2005 139
Born on 16 October 1928 in Marshall, Texas, Claude Organ
attended school in Denison, Texas, and then college in New
Orleans, Mississippi. He did exceptionally well at both and
was accepted at Creighton School of
Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska, in the
single place allocated for a black student
per year. Although he had experienced
racialism during his school and college
years, Omaha was also to prove an experience
for him. As always, he succeeded
despite the problems, and remained at
Creighton to complete his surgical training
between 1952 and 1957. After a stint
in the Navy, he returned to Creighton to
a staff position in 1960, rapidly ..


The article presents the results of management quality survey in Russian clusters that reveals specifics of cluster support policy in Russia. We compare 22 Russian clusters, supported by the Government, using series of indicators measuring cooperation intensity of cluster participants and activity of cluster management teams. We introduce a description of the typical Russian innovative territorial cluster, based on the average values of the indicators. Our analysis revealed that international communications, information about funding and training courses are highly useful tools to improve collaborations among cluster participants. This paper proposes a methodology for measuring cluster performance by the cluster scale index, cluster development index and cluster management efficiency index. In conclusion, we formulate recommendations for cluster policy improvement in Russia, based on our analysis of indicators' correlations and comparison between the results of our research and the similar researches in other countries. This analysis will be useful for researchers and policymakers from countries, where cluster policy has recently become a popular topic.