The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Employment Plus Program in the Chesapeake(VA)Public Schools by determining the extent to which the program was effective in achieving its goals. Six questions were addressed: (1) What proportion of the students completed in each year between 1991 and 1997 all five parts of the GED test at a passing level? (2) To what extent did the program change the behavior of the students? (3) What pre-employment skills of the students were developed as a result of participation in the program? (4) What employment skills of the students were developed as a result of participation in the program? (5)

What basic living skills of the students improved as a result of participation in the program? (6) To what extent did the program provide hope for the students to graduate in the Employment Plus Program?

 Except for the data on the first question-- the propor- tion of students passing the GED between 1991-97, forty randomly selected students (50 percent) from the 1993-94 school year were the focus of this study. This was the first year that the program was in all five high schools in the school division.

 Data were obtained through teacher, student, and employer interviews and through a review of written program materials. Data were analyzed thematically and findings were shared through tables and narrative summaries.

 The researcher reported the Employment Plus Program findings to be (in order of importance): 71.6 percent of the students passed the GED in the years 1991-97, only two students were dismissed for discipline infractions in 1993- 94, four of the Employment Plus students that started working in 1993-94 are still working in the same job today.

 In the years 1991 through 1996, progress has been made in the number of students obtaining their GED. One year, 1996-97, showed a regression of students obtaining their GED. The researcher concluded as a result of the findings that the Employment Plus Program is meeting the majority of the stated goals.

 The 1993-94 baseline data should be used for future comparisons. Variables which affect the Employment Plus Program that could be manipulated to increase the number of students in obtaining their GED would be to improve upon the student truancy and drop-out rates. Educators should use this information to continue to help the students obtain their GED in the future.


Despite technical advances in efficiency, devices in standby continue to consume up to 16% of residential electricity. Finding practical, cost-effective reductions is difficult. While the per-unit power consumption has fallen, the number of units continuously drawing power continues to grow. This work reviews a family of technologies that can eliminate standby consumption in many types of electrical plug loads. It also investigates several solutions in detail and develops prototypes. First, burst mode and sleep transistors are established as building blocks for zero-standby solutions. This work then studies the application of two types of wake-up signals. The first is from an optical transmission, and is applicable to remote-controlled devices with a line-of-sight activation, such as set-top boxes, ceiling fans, and motorized curtains. The second is from a wake-up radio, and is applicable to any wireless products. No single technology will address all standby power situations; however, these emerging solutions appear to have broad applicability to save standby energy in miscellaneous plug loads.


Basilica is an event-driven software architecture for creating conversational agents as a collection of reusable components. Software engineers and computer scientists can use this general architecture to create increasingly sophisticated conversational agents. We have developed agents based on Basilica that have been used in various application scenarios and foresee that agents build on Basilica can cater to a wider variety of interactive situations as we continue to add functionality to our architecture.


An architecture for a low-power asynchronous DSP has been developed, for the target application of GSM (digital cellphone) chipsets. A key part of this architecture is an instruction buffer which both provides storage for prefetched instructions and performs hardware looping, This requires low latency and a reasonably fast cycle time, but must also be designed for low power. A design is presented based on a word-slice FIFO structure. This avoids the problems of input latency and power consumption associated with linear micropipeline FIFOs, and the structure lends itself reactively easily to the required looping behaviour. The latency, cycle time and power consumption for this design is compared to that of a simple micropipeline FIFO. The cycle time for the instruction buffer is around three times slower than the micropipeline FIFO. However the instruction buffer shows an energy per operation of between 48-62% of that for the (much less capable) micropipeline structure. The input to output latency with an empty FIFO is less than the micropipeline design by a factor of ten.


Studying images on social media introduces several challenges that relate to the size of data sets and the different meaning-making grammars of social visuality; or, as aptly pointed out by others in the field, it means "studying the qualitative on a quantitative scale." Although cultural analytics provides an automated process through which patterns can be detected in many images, this methodology doesn't account for other modalities of the image than the image itself. However, images circulating social media can (and should) be analyzed on the level of their audience. Bridging the study of platform affordances and affect theory, this article presents a novel methodology that repurposes Facebook reactions to infer collective attitudes and performative emotional expressions vis-a-vis images shared on the large Syrian Revolution Network public page (+2M). We found visual patterns that co-occur with certain collective combinations of buttons, displaying how sociotechnical features shape the discursive frameworks of online publics.


The well-known jury paradox -- the more demanding the hurdle for conviction is, the more likely it is that a jury will convict an innocent defendant -- heavily relies on Bayesian updating. However, with ambiguous information (e.g., a forensic test with accuracy of 60%, or more), standard Bayesian updating becomes invalid, challenging the existence of this paradox. By developing novel theoretical models and by testing their predictions in laboratory settings, this study advances our understanding of how individuals process more realistically imprecise measures of information reliability and how this impacts on information aggregation for the group decision-making. Hence, our findings inform the institutional design of collective deliberation, for small to large group decision-making.


This paper is a project progress report of an innovative approach to software process improvements. It starts with a theory that whether some of the supply chain quality assurances practices be put into software projects as part of improving their development efficiencies. This paper is a snapshot of the events of this project. It starts with analyzing processes in various complex software projects. A test script automation project was chosen. This paper gives details on the factors on which the choice was made, how the process bottlenecks were identified and how a process improvement solution was designed. This process improvement solution includes a project management model which is capable to take into account all the new variables and provide the ability to track and monitor the process improvements made from this model, hence providing a productivity analysis capability. An excel workbook which was custom designed as part of the solution is also part of this paper. This excel workbook is where the project team members would enter the various times and is used by the project managers to estimate, track , monitor the productivity of the team in improving the delivery efficiencies in time and quality. In short, this is a snapshot of how a process improvement model can be designed which has a productivity analysis capability for a self feedback. This paper also describes the human factors such as reluctance to change and the overhead for the project members. This paper is an attempt to customize the regular project management techniques to target the process inefficiencies of complex software projects. This paper also provides of how to use customizations such as projects like these to create more generic models for process improvement solutions which have more robust productivity analyzing capabilities.


Title of Dissertation: HOW TEEN GIRLS AND PARENTS MAKE MEANING OF A CERVICAL CANCER VACCINE CAMPAIGN: TOWARD A FEMINIST, MULTICULTURAL CRITIQUE OF HEALTH COMMUNICATION Jennifer Eileen Vardeman, Doctor of Philosophy, 2008 Dissertation directed by: Associate Professor Linda Aldoory Department of Communication The purpose of this study was to understand how teen girls and parents of teen girls make meaning of an HPV/cervical cancer vaccine communication campaign. Factors that were considered in investigating meaning-making were personal, familial, educational, sociopolitical, and technological and media factors. Other cultural concepts explored were identity, difference, communication preferences, and medicalization. Using a cultural study approach and feminist, qualitative methods, 40 teens between the ages of 13and 18-years old and 14 parents of teen girls were interviewed using focus groups, dyad interviews, and individual interviews. The study employed the grounded theory approach to data analysis. Overall, parents and teens hold resolute beliefs about the Gardasil vaccine and media about it, and participants are divided as to their favorability toward the vaccine and its promotion to them. More specifically, the data suggest that teen girls largely make meaning of the HPV/cervical cancer vaccine campaign through the sociopolitical and mediated relationships in their lives, and in particular, how the girls perceive and act around difference in their lives largely contribute to the ways they view communication about sexual health topics like HPV, cervical cancer, and the vaccine. Differently, parents largely make meaning of the campaign through the personal, familial, and educational aspects of their lives, for how they understand their roles as parents reflects a contradiction between their sexual lives growing up compared to their perceptions of how the media represent sexuality and health threats to their daughters. Overall, the data suggest that this campaign provides some empowering ideas and opportunities for teen girls and parents. However, the data also largely suggest that campaigns as such complicate not only decisions teen girls and parents must make about teen girls' health, but such campaigns also obscure how teen girls and parents know themselves individually, in relationship to one another, and in relationship with social and authoritative bodies outside their comfort zones. These data confirm previous studies findings in public relations, feminist media, and cervical cancer intervention research. The data also extend and combine extant research about culture, women's health topics, and communication campaigns in ways that suggest a feminist, cultural-centered health communication critique that encourages communicators to wholly reconsider traditional approaches to the origination, development, deployment, and involvement of communication campaigns involving women and teen girls and important health topics to them. Implications for health communication practice as well as feminist methodology are considered for similar future projects. HOW TEEN GIRLS AND PARENTS MAKE MEANING OF A CERVICAL CANCER VACCINE CAMPAIGN: TOWARD A FEMINIST, MULTICULTURAL CRITIQUE OF HEALTH COMMUNICATION


This paper presented a multimodal discourse analysis of some visual images in the political rally discourse of 2011 electioneering campaigns in Southwestern Nigeria. The data comprised purposively selected political visual artefacts from political rallies across the six Southwestern States in Nigeria (Osun, Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti, Ogun, and Lagos). The data were analyzed using Halliday's (1985) systemic metafunctional principles and Barthes' (1977) concepts of anchorage and relay. The study noted that, vests are the commonest type of semiotic artifact while caps, Ankara, and surrogate languages complement the use of vests for visual signification and meaning potentials in the discourse environment. The study also noted that, various political party colors reflect in almost all the visual images and they are suggestive of the ideology or level of commitment and political leanings of discourse participants. The study concluded that, semiotic resources or artefacts are an important aspect of political rallies because of the inherent political, cultural, and social communication that are revealed through them.


Action sports have increased in popularity, particularly over the past two decades. Research in the area has also proliferated, as multiple disciplinary perspectives and theoretical and conceptual frames have been applied to understanding and exploring a host of research questions concerning action sports culture, contexts and participants. However, despite this flurry of research activity, not much is known empirically about the learning of action sport participants, and few studies have focused specifically on learning in action sports. A scoping review was, therefore, conducted with the aim of synthesising the work that has been undertaken, and mapping future research agendas. Informed by Arksey and O'Malley's six-stage framework, leading sports and education databases and Google Scholar were searched for empirical literature on learning in action sports published before July 2018. After the results were screened and relevant studies identified, data were extracted and analysed using a frequency and thematic analysis to form both a descriptive and thematic summary. A total of 78 empirical studies both from the peer-reviewed and grey literature were included in the scoping review. The frequency analysis concerned information on publication year, academic field, study design, study tools, sport and population. The thematic analysis led to the development of five main themes, addressing learning in social, physical, cultural, and cognitive/psychological contexts and via various forms of feedback. The majority of articles on learning in action sports were published from 2010 onward, suggesting a growing interest in the area. More theses/dissertations resulted in peer-reviewed publications; however, less than half of all reviewed journal articles were published in education/pedagogy journals. Theoretical and conceptual frameworks were rarely explicitly referenced and/or lacked clarity. There was consensus that learning in action sports is largely informal and self-regulated. With the increasing professionalisation of many action sports and their inclusion in international competition events and also in national curricula, an increase in more formalised learning is predicted. Finally, learning in action sports can be highly individualistic but only a few studies acknowledged this. A greater variety of research questions and methodologies, and more work across disciplinary boundaries will assist in the generation of new knowledge.


This paper shows how political parties differentiate to reduce electoral competition. Two parties choose platforms in a unidimensional policy space, and then candidates from these parties compete for votes in a continuum of constituencies with different median voters. Departing from their parties' platforms is costly enough that candidates do not take the median voter's preferred position in every constituency. Because the candidate whose party is located closer to the median voter gets a higher expected payoff, parties acting in their candidates' best interests differentiate---when one party locates right of center, the other prefers to locate strictly left of center to carve out a "home turf,'' constituencies that can be won with little to no deviation from the platform of the candidate's party. Hence, competition that pulls candidates together pushes parties apart. Decreasing "campaign costs'' increases party differentiation as the leftist party must move further from the rightist party to carve out its home turf, as does increasing heterogeneity across constituencies.


The winter of 2013-14 will be remembered by the worst storms to affect Britain since records began; homes damaged, lives lost and continual electrical black-outs leaving many without access to essential services. As images of flooded villages and submerged cars spilled across news networks around the globe, the British Government's emergency response committee COBRA convened in Whitehall. Over the next three months COBRA would meet over thirty times, chaired by a number of different politicians. During this same period COBRA RES invited a selection of artists, filmmakers and writers to respond to the 'emergency event' or the existence of the COBRA committee itself. This publication and DVD, bring together those film and text based responses.


Software-Defined Networking (SDN) control software executes in highly asynchronous environments where unexpected concurrency errors can lead to performance or, worse, reachability errors. Unfortunately, detecting such errors is notoriously challenging, and SDN is no exception. Fundamentally, two ingredients are needed to build a concurrency analyzer: (i) a model of how different events are ordered, and (ii) the memory locations on which event accesses can interfere. In this paper we formulate the first happens-before (HB) model for SDNs enabling one to reason about ordering between events. We also present a commutativity specification of the network switch, allowing us to elegantly capture interference between concurrent events. Based on the above, we present the first dynamic concurrency analyzer for SDNs, called SdnRacer. SdnRacer uses the HB model and the commutativity rules to identify concurrency violations. Preliminary results indicate that the detector is practically effective---it can detect harmful violations quickly.


The purpose of this article is to present a lesson template designed to engage students in a specific science event from the past in a manner that relates to the students' lives and experiences. Making activities relevant to students aids in retention of science knowledge and helps promote active participation in the activity. This student-focused approach is characterized by fast-paced, student-centered, highly motivating activities that promote cognitive and affective growth. It demonstrates that instruction anchored in real-life situations promotes higher-level thinking and the development of reasoning skills (Meese, 2001). Such activities empower students with learning disabilities to achieve at a high level in science and other content area courses (Phillips, Fuchs, Fuchs, & Hamlet, 1996). Similar activities have been found to increase comprehension among students with mild cognitive and intellectual disabilities (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 2000). In addition, the guided questioning format assists them in developing inquiry skills that lay the foundation for future inquiry and can be applied throughout the curriculum. In addition to students with learning disabilities, this activity is also appropriate for students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), allowing them to focus on class work while actively moving about the classroom engaged in the role-play (Williams & Hounshell, 1998).


Information and communications technology (ICT) is increasingly used in bureaucratic and regulatory processes. With the development of the 'Internet of Things', some researchers speak enthusiastically of the birth of the 'Smart State'. However, there are few theoretical or critical perspectives on the role of ICT in these routine decision-making processes and the mundane work of government regulation of economic and social activity. This paper therefore makes an important contribution by putting forward a theoretical perspective on smartness in government and developing a values-based framework for the use of ICT as a tool in the internal machinery of government. It critically reviews the protection of the rule of law in digitized government. As an addition to work on e-government, a new field of study, 'e-regulation' is proposed, defined, and critiqued, with particular attention to the difficulties raised by the use of models and simulation. The increasing development of e-regulation could compromise fundamental values by embedding biases, software errors, and mistaken assumptions deeply into government procedures. The article therefore discusses the connections between the 'Internet of Things', the development of 'Ambient Law', and how the use of ICT in e-regulation can be a support for or an impediment to the operation of the rule of law. It concludes that e-government research should give more attention to the processes of regulation, and that law should be a more central discipline for those engaged in this activity.


Do political parties merely represent divisions in society? Until now, scholars and other observers have generally agreed that they do. But Building Blocs argues the reverse: that some political parties in fact shape divisions as they struggle to remake the social order. Drawing on the contributors' expertise in Indonesia, India, the United States, Canada, Egypt, and Turkey, this volume demonstrates further that the success and failure of parties to politicize social differences has dramatic consequences for democratic change, economic development, and other large-scale transformations.This politicization of divisions, or "political articulation," is neither the product of a single charismatic leader nor the machinations of state power, but is instead a constant call and response between parties and would-be constituents. When articulation becomes inconsistent, as it has in Indonesia, partisan calls grow faint and the resulting vacuum creates the possibility for other forms of political expression. However, when political parties exercise their power of interpellation efficiently, they are able to silence certain interests such as those of secular constituents in Turkey. Building Blocs exposes political parties as the most influential agencies that structure social cleavages and invites further critical investigation of the related consequences.


Aims: The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of timing of leaf removal on yield components, berry sensory characteristics, composition and sensory properties of Vitis vinifera L. Grenache wines under non-irrigated conditions. Methods and results: The effects of timing of defoliation (fruit set and veraison) on yield components, berry maturity, wine composition and sensory properties of head trained, non irrigated, Grenache vines grown in Rioja appellation were studied. Leaf removal did not significantly modify total leaf area per vine as well as yield components. Grenache berries from early defoliated vines achieved the highest skin and technological maturity. Wine parameters, such as alcohol content, pH, titratable acidity, tartaric acid and total polyphenol index were unaffected by defoliation. Conversely, early leaf removal carried out at fruit set, significantly reduced the malic acid content of the wine and enhanced its colour intensity. Aroma complexity, mouthfeel, tannin quality and persistence were found to be significantly higher in the wine corresponding to the early leaf removal treatment. This was also the most preferred wine in terms of overall value. Conclusion: This article shows that timing of leaf removal had a marked effect on berry maturity, wine composition and sensory properties of Grenache wines made from grapes grown under dry-farmed conditions. Significance and impact of study: The results suggest that the timing of defoliation induces significant changes in Grenache wine composition and its sensory attributes. Late leaf removal was much less effective than early leaf removal in affecting final wine composition and quality. Grenache wine from the early defoliation treatment was rated the most preferred as of global value.


view changed as obser-ABSTRACT. Coastal upwelling ecosystems around the world are defined by wind-generated currents that bring deep, nutrient-rich waters to the surface ocean where they fuel exceptionally productive food webs. These ecosystems are also now understood to share a common vulnerability to ocean acidification and hypoxia (OAH). In the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME), reports of marine life die-offs by fishers and resource managers triggered research that led to an understanding of the risks posed by hypoxia. Similarly, unprecedented losses from shellfish hatcheries led to novel insights into the coastal expression of ocean acidification. This work revealed insights into the expression of OAH as coupled environmental stressors, their temporal and spatial variability, and impacts on species, ecological communities, and fisheries. Sustained investigations also deep-ened the understanding of connections between climate change and the intensification of hypoxia, and are beginning to inform the ecological and eco-evolutionary processes that can structure responses to the progression of ocean acidification and other pathways of global change. Moreover, because the severity of the die-offs and hatchery failures and the subsequent scientific understanding combined to galvanize public attention, these scientific advances have fostered policy advances. Across the CCLME, policymakers are now translating the evolving scientific understanding of OAH into new management actions.


A novel Cr(VI) ion imprinted polymer (IIP) was proposed for fast removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution. 4-Vinylpyridine and N,N-diethylaminoethyl methacrylate were used as functional monomers, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate and 2,2-azoisobisbutyronitrile were used as cross-linker and initiator in the presence of a binary porogenic solvent. The prepared Cr(VI)-IIPs were characterized by the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The effects of pH, initial concentration of Cr(VI) in aqueous solution, temperature, and operating time on adsorption were investigated. At the low pH range of 1.5–2.5, the adsorption capacities were high. The influence of temperature was slight. The adsorption equilibrium time was within 3 min. The adsorption process followed the pseudo-second-order equation and the Langmuir isotherm model. The maximum adsorption capacity was up to 286.56 mg/g, and the selectivity factors of Cr(VI)/Cu(II), Cr(VI)/Cd(II), and Cr(VI)/Cr(III) were up to 135.78...


Background There is emerging evidence that falls are an increasing problem for older Aboriginal people in Australia. We examined concepts of healthy ageing and fall prevention using Aboriginal ontology and knowledge systems through yarning circles in Aboriginal communities in Australia. Methods We used a conversational method to gather knowledge through yarning circles with Aboriginal communities in the Central Coast, Dubbo, Mt Druitt and Shoalhaven areas of New South Wales, Australia. The yarning circles were held with 80 people aged from 45 to 85 years of age, in 8 groups between November 2014 and April 2015. Data were audio recorded and transcribed with the consent of communities and analysed using an Indigenous research standpoint methodology, incorporating ways of knowing, doing and being. Results Yarning circles helped identify key issues around healthy ageing including the role of falls, in particular the impact these have on individuals, their families and communities. Discussions around falls highlighted concerns that they would lead to an inability to fulfil family roles or remain involved in community life. Participants reported that healthy ageing and maintaining independence were imperative in enabling them to continue to pass on cultural knowledge, and that they were comfortable attending health-related programs in their own communities. Conclusions Aboriginal people felt comfortable attending programs in their own community and yarning circle participants voiced strongly that healthy ageing is essential for them to continue to share their knowledge of Aboriginal history and culture to their families and communities. Yarning circles also identified the need for Aboriginal-specific, culturally appropriate fall prevention programs to address healthy ageing and concerns about falls.


Turning points are considered to be one of the key factors that can influence not only the formation of negative images but also their perpetuation or elimination in a conflict society. As a result, the examination and analysis of potential negative and/or positive turning points for a specific conflict are of central importance since they can reveal a great deal of both the already existing images and the possible shifts in these images. In the present study, a negative and a positive turning point in the Cyprus Conflict were chosen to be examined. The violent incidents in the Green Line in 1996 are described as one of the worst episodes since the partition of the island. They caused the lives of at least three people, whereas many others were seriously injured. Inevitably, it led to the escalation of the conflict. On the other hand, the opening of the checkpoints in 2003 is characterized as the first serious attempt for the resolution of the conflict. For the first time after thirty years, they had the chance to meet and talk to the 'other' by visiting their places of origin. This thesis examines the negative or positive impact of turning points on the change of images in the case of Cyprus Conflict. The data were derived from citizens' narratives published as articles in the press. Content analysis was used for their analysis, whereas a coding schema was created for the depiction of the potential changes in the images. The results of the research suggest that positive turning points lead to positively changing in the images that each party holds for the 'other' and, respectively, negative turning points lead to the negatively changing in the images that each party holds for the 'other'.


In many invertebrate and vertebrate species, cell fates are assigned through the cellular inheritance of differentially localized maternal determinants. Whether mammalian embryogenesis is also regulated by deterministic mechanisms is highly controversial. The caudal domain transcription factor CDX2 has been reported to act as a maternal determinant regulating cell fate decisions in mouse development. However, this finding is contentious because of reports that maternal Cdx2 is not essential for development. Notably, all of the previously published studies of maternal Cdx2 relied on injected RNA interference constructs, which could introduce experimental variation. Only deletion of the maternal gene can unambiguously resolve its requirement in mouse development. Here, we genetically ablated maternal Cdx2 using a Cre/lox strategy, and we definitively establish that maternal Cdx2 is not essential for mouse development.


The overall aim of the experiments presented in this thesis is to investigate the onset and regulation of mRNA splicing in early mammalian development. To investigate splicing efficiency in single mouse embryos, we have constructed splicing probes that exploit the properties of fluorescent proteins. A DsRed Express-intron-EGFP construct would report splicing by the expression of the fusion DsRed-EGFP protein, when injected in mouse embryos. In the absence of splicing the vector yields only DsRed. The ability of the probe to monitor splicing was confirmed by compromising the Ul small nuclear ribonucleoprotein or by mutation of the intron's 5' splice site. Furthermore, I show that inhibiting Ul-mediated splicing at the onset of development inhibits development beyond the 2-cell stage. Following the characterization of the splicing probe, the development of nuclear speckles was investigated during early mouse development by determining the nuclear localisation of the splicing factor SC35. These experiments showed a developmental change in nuclear organisation during oocyte maturation and through embryo development. We could also show that splicing takes place as early as the 1 -cell stage embryos in the absence of nuclear speckles. Finally, the role of an SR protein, SRp38, was also investigated. SRp38 has been reported to be a potent splicing inhibitor when dephosphorylated in mitotic cells or under heat stress. SRp38 was present during all stages of the early mouse development. Oocytes and embryos were found to be sensitive to the levels of SRp38. Expression of SRp38-EGFP or depletion of SRp38 using morpholinos caused an arrest of oocytes at the GV stage and embryos at the 2-cell stage. The splicing reporter was used to reveal that these effects were independent of splicing suggesting a novel role for SRp38 in cell biology. These studies provide a novel approach to monitoring splicing activity in single living cells and that splicing activity is necessary for the onset of early mammalian development.


Remote collaborations in companies are today more frequently used as a consequence of increasing cross-national business and the benefits of cost, time and environmental impact reductions as a consequence. Nevertheless, it has been shown that remote collaborative meetings do not live up to the alternative of meeting in person in matters of effectiveness. The aim of this master thesis project is to investigate the remote meeting situation at two multinational, development companies and by the found data create a solution that supports remote collaboration. The project focus has been to identify existing user needs in remote meeting situations and to translate these into either a physical or digital product. The project has been carried out on behalf of Ericsson AB and Semcon AB and supported by several other stakeholders, part of the external project MERCO. The findings display the need for considering the social context and to challenge the existing meeting culture to facilitate collaboration and increase individual motivation within the meeting environment. The importance of facilitating and encouraging creativity and interaction throughout the meeting has been found as crucial when aiming for creating a collaborative environment remotely. Therefore, the final result of this master thesis project includes a framework with factors of how to enable informality within the meeting context, aiding designers and product developers how to work with informality as an important factor for facilitating communication. The project process has been carried out through literature and user studies several concept ideas were created as a result of the found user needs. By consulting meeting participants related to the concepts intended users and the MERCO objectives could one final concept be taken further into developing an early digital prototype, aimed for supporting the collaborative process when meeting remotely. The final developed concept is a software program that is supporting remote collaboration by including functions that supports increased interactivity and inclusiveness within the remote meeting. Functions to visually display participants even though the network connection is low, to capture important aspects within the meeting and allowing the participants to interact with the displayed artifacts during the meeting is some of the developed functions incorporated within the software. An early prototype was developed to test some of the functions during remote collaboration. Further development will be required to design more of the software program functions and to test it thoroughly. The project findings means to support the following MERCO project to take the software program to new levels of development and market adaption.


Each of the five short stories in this collection depicts the struggle of a Belizean character and takes place in a locale that recalls the history or culture of a specific region of Belize. There are both male and female protagonists in these stories and their circumstances represent both urban and rural life. These characters are also of various ages--from a ten year old boy to a woman in her seventies. There are however two important characteristics that are common to all of these protagonists. They all represent demographic groups that have historically been marginalized in Belize. There is for example a Q'eqchi Maya farmer whose infant son dies as a result of racial prejudice and neglect at a public hospital. There is also a ten-year-old village boy who longs to own a store-bought kite but his father's meager earnings makes this nearly impossible. The second similarity among these characters is that in their quest to free themselves from their external circumstances--racial prejudice poverty rural life broken family--they all discover that they must first overcome their own self-imposed constraints.  The title Brackish Water represents the threads that run through all five stories. First it symbolizes the physical landscapes in the stories as each one is set chiefly in a community that is located on the banks of a river or creek in Belize: Moho River Sittee River Halouver Creek and Belize River. These bodies of water are all brackish due to the mixture of fresh water with water that flows inland from the Caribbean Sea. Rivers and creeks have played a major role in Belize's history: from pre-Colombian days when rivers formed a major part of Maya trading routes to the colonial era when timber and chiclA©--then the mainstays of the economy--were floated down-river and shipped to overseas markets to the present day when many communities still rely on rivers and creeks for their livelihood. The title Brackish Water also points to the dichotomies that are explored in the five stories: male and female rich and poor privileged and marginalized urban and rural black and white North Side and South Side local and foreign and so forth. Furthermore the title Brackish Water symbolizes the complex mixture of ethnic groups in Belize and the challenges and triumphs that this plurality creates. Finally brackish water is hard water and therefore represents the challenges that the characters in these stories must overcome in order to achieve personal fulfillment.


In classification problems, Support Vector Machines maximize the margin of separation between two classes. While the paradigm has been successful, the solution obtained by SVMs is dominated by the directions with large data spread and biased to separate the classes by cutting along large spread directions. This article proposes a novel formulation to overcome such sensitivity and maximizes the margin relative to the spread of the data. The proposed formulation can be efficiently solved and experiments on digit datasets show drastic performance improvements over SVMs.


Anemia is among the most widespread health problems for children in developing countries. This paper evaluates the impact of a randomized health intervention delivering iron supplementation and deworming drugs to Indian preschool children. At baseline, 69 percent were anemic and 30 percent had intestinal worm infections. Weight increased among assisted children, and preschool-participation rates rose by 5.8 percentage points, reducing absenteeism by one-fifth. Gains were especially pronounced for those most likely to be anemic at baseline. Results contribute to a growing view that school-based health programs are an effective way of promoting school attendance in less developed countries.


Introduction: Nodular regenerative hyperplasia (NRH) is a known etiology of noncirrhotic portal hypertension. Cases of biopsy-proven NRH in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–positive patients have been described. While these patients often have normal synthetic liver function, several reports described disease progression to liver failure. Case: We here present a 26-year-old woman with history of congenital HIV on antiretroviral therapy complicated by Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia at age 14. CD4 counts have been >300 with undetectable viral load. She was referred to our Hepatology service for evaluation of splenomegaly, elevated liver tests, and thrombocytopenia. On initial presentation, she reported easy bruising and gingival bleeding, and abdominal imaging showed evidence of portal hypertension without associated cirrhosis. Upper endoscopy was significant for large esophageal varices without bleeding stigmata. Liver biopsy showed minimal fibrosis around the portal areas without significant inflammation. The lobules showed focal zones of thin hepatocyte plates on reticulin stain with adjacent areas showing mild regenerative changes. The diagnosis of NRH was made and patient was placed on propranolol for variceal bleeding prophylaxis. Two years later, the patient presented with bleeding gastric varices warranting transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt. Postprocedure course was complicated by mild encephalopathy. Subsequent magnetic resonance imaging showed a 1.7 × 1.3 cm lesion suggestive of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The patient was deemed to be a candidate for liver transplantation, and she is now delisted due to ongoing pregnancy. Conclusion: This report describes the first case of HCC in an HIV patient with NRH. The possible association of NRH with HCC warrants further investigation.


ABSTRACT Aim: Knowledge about somatic driver mutations in cancer is crucial for decision-making in personalized therapy. Samples with low tumor content cannot be sequenced reliably with traditional methods. We have developed a complete pipeline to sequence more than 550 cancer-relevant genes in parallel using next-generation sequencing of FFPE or frozen tumor tissue. Interpretation of somatic mutations yields a medical report for the oncologist to support treatment decision. Methods: FFPE or frozen tumor sections are macrodissected and DNA is extracted from tumor material and patient's blood. Enrichment for more than 550 cancer-relevant genes is performed using a specially designed custom enrichment kit and the samples are sequenced to a very high depth. Somatic mutations are detected with very high sensitivity by comparison of sequencing data from the tumor and the blood sample. Clinical interpretation of mutations is performed by a team of scientists and medical doctors. A medical report listing actionable mutations, potentially beneficial targeted drugs and contraindications, as well as clinical trials the patient may wish to participate in. Results: Sensitive and specific detection of somatic mutations is achieved with this diagnostic sequencing panel, even in samples with a tumor content as low as 20%. A majority of patient samples contains actionable mutations, allowing personalized treatment. In addition, the panel allows the classification of CUP as metastasis of previous cancer. The analysis is also able to assign the source of metastasis to one of multiple primary tumors, where histology was not informative. In addition, the panel allowed the classification of CUP as metastasis of a previous cancer and assignment of metastases to one of multiple primary tumors, when histology was not informative. Conclusions: Conclusions: Comprehensive molecular profiling using panel-based next-generation sequencing can identify therapeutic targets in tumor patients. This helps to decide on an optimized therapy and to clarify the source of metastases. Early sequencing can also save costs and provide an advantage to the patient by excluding therapies that will likely have no benefit. Disclosure: M. Menzel: Employee of CeGaT; S. Armeanu-Ebinger: Employee of CeGaT; M. Feldhahn: Employee of CeGaT; S. Biskup: Founder and director of CeGaT.


The growth of agricultural trade has direct implications for the Asia-Pacific region. Agricultural supply chains employ millions of people and there is a growing need for food commodities and high-value food products. The Asia-Pacific region is both a major consumer and producer of agricultural products. Its growth in both imports and exports is accelerating, but not to the potential. There is significant opportunity in this region to expand agro-trade especially due to population growth, dietary change of consumers and trade of high-value products. A number of constraints act as barriers to realizing the trade potential of the Asia-Pacific region: cumbersome trade procedures, inadequate compliance to product standards, poor trade logistics and lack of financing for agricultural trade. The status of least developed and landlocked developing countries are worse in many of these categories. Some Asia-Pacific countries have adopted effective measures to deal with their national bottlenecks, mostly based on simplifying procedures, introducing paperless trade transactions, improving quality infrastructure and introducing innovative financing mechanisms. Still, many countries in this region lag behind in facilitating agricultural trade and will need to adopt similar measures


OBJECTIVE
We sought to evaluate the effects of muraglitazar, a dual (alpha/gamma) peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) activator within the new glitazar class, on hyperglycemia and lipid abnormalities.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
A double-blind, randomized, controlled trial was performed in 1,159 patients with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled with metformin. Patients received once-daily doses of either 5 mg muraglitazar or 30 mg pioglitazone for a total of 24 weeks in addition to open-label metformin. Patients were continued in a double-blind fashion for an additional 26 weeks.

RESULTS
Analyses were conducted at week 24 for HbA1c (A1C) and at week 12 for lipid parameters. Mean A1C at baseline was 8.12 and 8.13% in muraglitazar and pioglitazone groups, respectively. At week 24, muraglitazar reduced mean A1C to 6.98% (-1.14% from baseline), and pioglitazone reduced mean A1C to 7.28% (-0.85% from baseline; P < 0.0001, muraglitazar vs. pioglitazone). At week 12, muraglitazar and pioglitazone reduced mean plasma triglyceride (-28 vs. -14%), apolipoprotein B (-12 vs. -6%), and non-HDL cholesterol (-6 vs. -1%) and increased HDL cholesterol (19 vs. 14%), respectively (P < 0.0001 vs. pioglitazone for all comparisons). At week 24, weight gain (1.4 and 0.6 kg, respectively) and edema (9.2 and 7.2%, respectively) were observed in the muraglitazar and pioglitazone groups; at week 50, weight gain and edema were 2.5 and 1.5 kg, respectively, and 11.8 and 8.9%, respectively. At week 50, heart failure was reported in seven patients (five with muraglitazar and two with pioglitazone), and seven deaths occurred: three from sudden death, two from cerebrovascular accident, and one from pancreatic cancer in the muraglitazar group and one from perforated duodenal ulcer in the pioglitazone group.

CONCLUSIONS
We found that 5 mg muraglitazar resulted in greater improvements in A1C and lipid parameters than a submaximal dose of 30 mg pioglitazone when added to metformin. Weight gain and edema were more common when muraglitazar was compared with a submaximal dose of pioglitazone.


Abstract Nominally hydrous high-pressure silicate phases such as the superhydrous phase B are of considerable importance for the understanding of the water-cycle between the surface and the interior of the Earth. This study tackles the controversial issue of hydrogen positions in superhydrous phase B, a phase believed to be potentially stable in cold subducting ultramafic slabs. To investigate the nature of hydrogen incorporation into the structure of superhydrous phase B, neutron powder diffraction experiments have been performed. A structural model based on Pnn2 symmetry has been used for the analysis of the data, which is consistent with earlier spectroscopic studies. Application of Fourier synthesis with subsequent analyses of difference nuclear density maps and Rietveld fits reveal two distinct positions for deuterium, at 4c (0.194, 0.052, 0.596) and at 4c (0.186, 0.119, 0.388). This unambiguously shows that deuterium lies within large channels, which are formed between the edgeshared octahedra and vertex-linked tetrahedra along the b-axis of the structure. These results contrast with recent polarized single-crystal infrared spectroscopy studies where the position of one of two H atoms was estimated to lie close to the octahedral edge of an MgO6 octahedron, thereby leaving the large structural channel empty.


Artistic style transfer can be thought as a process to generate different versions of abstraction of the original image. However, most of the artistic style transfer operators are not optimized for human faces thus mainly suffers from two undesirable features when applying them to selfies. First, the edges of human faces may unpleasantly deviate from the ones in the original image. Second, the skin color is far from faithful to the original one which is usually problematic in producing quality selfies. In this paper, we take a different approach and formulate this abstraction process as a gradient domain learning problem. We aim to learn a type of abstraction which not only achieves the specified artistic style but also circumvents the two aforementioned drawbacks thus highly applicable to selfie photography. We also show that our method can be directly generalized to videos with high inter-frame consistency. Our method is also robust to non-selfie images, and the generalization to various kinds of real-life scenes is discussed. We will make our code publicly available.


This thesis examines ways in which non-specialist primary ITE (Initial Teacher Education) students can make historically valid connections with people who lived in the past. The literature review analyses the work of R. G. Collingwood and is critical of the concept of Historical Empathy, developed by educationalists from his work. It then identifies, from recent literature, aspects of Historical Empathy which may be achievable for these non-specialist students of history, combined with findings from recent research in psychology and philosophy, particularly when they are applied to material culture. The literature review concludes, with a tentative first model of a proposed new concept, which was labelled Organic Historical Reasoning and comprised of four sub-concepts. Semi-structured interviews with 11 ITE students were recoded and transcribed. The data were analysed using a grounded first coding, which was aligned with a thematic approach to confirm overarching themes, reflecting the students' thinking about people in the past. The key concepts identified in the literature review as potential dimensions of Organic Historical Reasoning were broadly reflected in the first data analyses but the model was revised after a detailed analysis of the responses in each of the four sub-concepts of Organic Historical Reasoning (model 2). This model was finally revised as model 3, which orders the component parts of the proposed concept of Organic Historical Reasoning, based on their strength within the data and their dependence on pedagogy. This tentative model describes key types of thinking which enabled this sample of non-specialist primary trainee teachers to connect with the reality of past lives.


This article reports on a three-year-long international survey of public relations practitioners examining the impact blogs and other social media are having on public relations practice. Findings show these new media are dramatically changing public relations. Results indicate blogs and social media have enhanced what happens in public relations and that social media and traditional mainstream media complement each other. The study also finds the emergence of blogs and social media have changed the way their organizations communicate, especially to external audiences. Findings suggest social media complement traditional news media, and that blogs and social media influence coverage in traditional news media. The study reports blogs and social media have made communications more instantaneous by encouraging organizations to respond more quickly to criticism.


he term counterpoise has a long history in antenna engineering and amateur practice. Today, it may be among the most misused terms in amateur circles. Indeed, if we examine both the history of the term, its meaning, and its misuses, we might reach an interesting conclusion: there is no such thing as a counterpoise in antenna analysis, even though the term has a long and somewhat respectable use in antenna engineering.


The implementation of nature conservation initiatives is one of the major factors in successfully securing sustainability. According to social science literature, bottom-up approaches that build on community engagement are preferred over top-down approaches because the establishment of nature conservation relies on mutual agreement and non-opportunistic behavior of the parties concerned. This preference is particularly notable in political "hotbeds" with weak governmental enforcement. The success of bottom-up approaches depend heavily on how the governance arrangements concerning nature conservation initiatives incentivize the commitment and trust of the stakeholders involved. This study explores what types of governance frameworks are appropriate to establish commitment and trust in bottom-up nature conservation. This paper also investigates whether private law theories on contractual governance, namely contractual networks, can establish the basis for a governance framework in private relationships. Contractual networks are hybrid forms of organizations located between markets and hierarchies. "They are created to coordinate activities by legally independent parties who cooperate to achieve a common objective without creating a new corporate entity." We will demonstrate that the theory related to the governance of contractual networks has the potential to form such an effective framework.


The edns-client-subnet (ECS) is a new extension for the Domain Name System (DNS) that delivers a "faster Internet" with the help of client-specific DNS answers. Under ECS, recursive DNS servers (recursives) provide client network address information to upstream authorities, permitting topologically localized answers for content delivery networks (CDNs). This optimization, however, comes with a privacy penalty that has not yet been studied. Our analysis concludes that ECS makes DNS communications less private: the potential for mass surveillance is greater, and stealthy, highly targeted DNS poisoning attacks become possible. Despite being an experimental extension, ECS is already deployed, and users are expected to "opt out" on their own. Yet, there are no available client-side tools to do so. We describe a configuration of an experimental recursive tool to reduce the privacy leak from ECS queries in order to immediately allow users to protect their privacy. We recommend the protocol change from "opt out" to "opt in", given the experimental nature of the extension and its privacy implications.


The process of communication between author and reader is a critical issue in examining any text. When considering the communication of ideas from young people whose voices are seldom heard, the journey from author to audience has particular significance. The construction of children and young people as 'authors' is important, especially for those with learning difficulties or who struggle to comply with the current emphasis on spelling, punctuation and grammar. This article relates to a UK Research-Council-funded three-year collaborative research project involving the co-creation of fictional stories with young people with disabilities to represent aspects of their lives. Drawing on frameworks from narratology, I analyse the co-creation of one of the stories, and present an interpretation and elaboration of the discourse structure of narrative fiction to illustrate the complexities of the relationship between the multi-faceted 'author' and community 'reader' of these stories. The combination of qualitative research and fictional prose has particular characteristics and implications for the dissemination and communication of research findings; while extending feminist critique of Barthes' claim for the death of the author provides new insights for engaging children in writing with their own voice.


Centres of endemism and areas of endemism are important biogeographic concepts with high relevance for conservation and evolutionary biology. Turkey is located at the intersection of three global biodiversity hotspots (Mediterranean, Caucasus, Irano-Anatolian) and harbors remarkable levels of plant diversity and endemism. Nevertheless, hotspots of vascular plant endemics have never been identified using formal quantitative approaches in this diverse region. Here, using data on 1102 endemic taxa of three species-rich families (Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Boraginaceae) we identified (i) centres of endemism based on three well established indices (endemic richness, range-restricted endemic richness and weighted endemic richness) and (ii) areas of endemism using Endemicity Analysis. A total of 14 grid cells belonging to centres of endemism are identified as hotspots by at least one of the indices. Areas of endemism were identified in south-western Turkey (West-Taurus), southern and central Anatolia (Anatolian Diagonal), in north-eastern Turkey (Pontic-Ala), and in south-eastern Turkey (Hakkari). All hotspots of plant endemism in Turkey included high mountains, which are severely threatened by anthropogenic activities. Although the identified centres of endemism cover only 16% of surface area of Turkey they harbour 59% of the endemic taxa, emphasizing their conservation priority. As the majority of the endemic taxa of Turkey are local endemics and narrowly distributed, protection of the identified hotspots would allow a high proportion of likely threatened species to be protected.


The plate description of a typical, thin, compact plant leaf, introduced previously, has been generalized to the noncompact case and applied to experimental data including average reflectance and transmittance measurements on 200 mature, field-cotton leaves. A compact leaf has few and a noncompact leaf has many intercellular air spaces in the mesophyll. No statistically significant difference was found between the average leaf thickness and the mean effective water thickness of the leaves. The Kubelka–Munk scattering coefficient s for a typical leaf, measured at the 1-μ spectral region, is approximated by the relation s = r/t, where r and t, respectively, are the reflectance and transmittance of the leaf. The approximate equality of r and t, noted by previous investigators, is explained on the basis of the scattering of diffuse light within the leaf by critical internal reflections. Predictions from the plate (P) model for cotton leaves compare favorably with those of the Kubelka–Munk (K–M) and Melamed (M) theories. Applied to vegetation, all three theories predict a characteristic linear dimension related to the cellular structure of the leaf.


This invited essay explores the ways States use their domestic laws to regulate activities that cross national borders. Domestic-law enforcement decisions play an underappreciated role in the development of international regulatory policy, particularly in situations where the enforcing State's power to apply its law extraterritorially is not contested. Collective action problems suggest there will be an undersupply of enforcement decisions that promote global welfare and an oversupply of enforcement decisions that promote national welfare. These collective action problems may be mitigated in part by government networks and other forms of regulatory cooperation.


Healthcare organizations are beginning to implement the tools needed to receive government stimulus money for meaningful use. The use of electronic health records is directly related to the amount of stimulus funding available to each healthcare organization. Nurse educators are examining innovative training tools to implement in order to meet the needs of the organizations. The purpose of this paper is to examine the question is web-based training an effective model for training nurses on the electronic health record. A pilot study was created to examine the question. The focus group included medical surgical nurses that had taken webbased training. The paper will address the educational gaps related to this topic and provide recommendations from the pilot study and literature. DOES WBT FOR THE EHR MEET THE NEEDS OF THE MEDICAL SURGICAL NURSE 6


Based on the matrix description of the fractional Talbot effect, a new and effective method to numerically optimize diffractive optical elements that work in the Fresnel diffraction regime is described. When the investigation is restricted to spatially quantized phase-only gratings, diffraction can be described in terms of the fractional Talbot effect and the diffraction amplitude is efficiently evaluated from a finite set of sampling points. As an illustrating example we numerically optimize Talbot array illuminators. Our results show that a limited number of discrete phase levels does not imply a limited compression ratio but does lead to a reduced diffraction efficiency. Experimental results obtained from lithographically fabricated surface-relief gratings are compared with our theoretical designs.


After optimization of sterilizing of cyst and larva second stage of Heterodera schachtii, possibility of using nematode on seedlings of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) in in vitro conditions were studied using sterilized larvae of beet cyst nematode. For this purpose, non sterile cysts were extracted from infected soil and hatched into zinc chloride solution with concentration of 0.5 g L(-1). Then, for preparation of sterile second stage larvae, several sterilizing treatments were used. Mean comparisons were performed between sterilized live larvae number by Duncan's method. Results showed that 70% ethanol for 1 min followed by 2.5% hypochlorite sodium for 5 minutes and 0.1% hypochlorite sodium for 20 min were best treatments for disinfecting cysts and larvae, respectively. In parallel, two nematode susceptible sugar beet varieties were applied to produce seedlings in in vitro culture. PG(oB) medium containing different hormonal compositions was used for producing of hairy roots and inoculation of seedling with sterilized larvae. After nematode inoculation tests, daily observations were done by counting cysts and stained roots and larvae under stereomicroscope. Between 5-12 cysts formed on the roots of each seedling from two varieties 40 days after inoculation. As a result, it seems that this technique can be used for sugar beet germplasm evaluation to screen nematode resistant genotypes in in vitro controlled condition.


The response of a multi-story space frame structure resting on non-linear base isolation system, subjected to bi-directional harmonic and seismic ground motions are studied. A four-storey space frame structure with consistent mass system having six degrees of freedom (three translations along x, y, z-axes and three rotations about these axes) at each node is considered for study. The effect of isolation damping and the excitation frequency on the response of a base isolated structure is investigated. The effect of excitation frequency, isolation period, superstructure time period and superstructure damping on the optimum isolation damping is also studied in this paper. It is shown that the above parameters have significant effects on optimum isolation damping. The response of isolated system is found to be less in comparison to the corresponding response without isolation system, implying that the isolation is effective in reducing acceleration and forces of the system.


This article provides an overview of the ways in which the home environ- ment can affect human health, describes how specific health hazards in housing are related, and considers implications of these concerns for research and programs to address the health-housing connection. The widespread availability of decent housing has contributed greatly to improvements in health status in developed countries through, for example, provision of safe drinking water, proper sewage disposal, and protection from the elements. However, a lack of decent housing and homelessness among a significant number of Americans remains a significant public health concern. In addition, a number of specific health hazards can be found even in housing that is in good condition and provides all basic amenities. Specific health hazards related to housing include unintentional injuries, exposure to lead, exposure to allergens that may cause or worsen asthma, moisture and fungi (mold), rodent and insect pests, pesticide residues, and indoor air pollution. A number of these specific hazards share underlying causes, such as excess moisture, and all may be influenced by factors in the community environment or by occupant behaviors. We make recommendations for developing programs and research efforts that address multiple housing problems in an integrated way, rather than categorically, and for closer collaboration between housing and public health programs.


Background There is a strong will and need to find alternative models of health care delivery driven by the ever-increasing burden of chronic diseases. Objective The purpose of this 1-year trial was to study whether a structured mobile phone-based health coaching program, which was supported by a remote monitoring system, could be used to improve the health-related quality of life (HRQL) and/or the clinical measures of type 2 diabetes and heart disease patients. Methods A randomized controlled trial was conducted among type 2 diabetes patients and heart disease patients of the South Karelia Social and Health Care District. Patients were recruited by sending invitations to randomly selected patients using the electronic health records system. Health coaches called patients every 4 to 6 weeks and patients were encouraged to self-monitor their weight, blood pressure, blood glucose (diabetics), and steps (heart disease patients) once per week. The primary outcome was HRQL measured by the Short Form (36) Health Survey (SF-36) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) among diabetic patients. The clinical measures assessed were blood pressure, weight, waist circumference, and lipid levels. Results A total of 267 heart patients and 250 diabetes patients started in the trial, of which 246 and 225 patients concluded the end-point assessments, respectively. Withdrawal from the study was associated with the patients' unfamiliarity with mobile phones—of the 41 dropouts, 85% (11/13) of the heart disease patients and 88% (14/16) of the diabetes patients were familiar with mobile phones, whereas the corresponding percentages were 97.1% (231/238) and 98.6% (208/211), respectively, among the rest of the patients (P=.02 and P=.004). Withdrawal was also associated with heart disease patients' comorbidities—40% (8/20) of the dropouts had at least one comorbidity, whereas the corresponding percentage was 18.9% (47/249) among the rest of the patients (P=.02). The intervention showed no statistically significant benefits over the current practice with regard to health-related quality of life—heart disease patients: beta=0.730 (P=.36) for the physical component score and beta=-0.608 (P=.62) for the mental component score; diabetes patients: beta=0.875 (P=.85) for the physical component score and beta=-0.770 (P=.52) for the mental component score. There was a significant difference in waist circumference in the type 2 diabetes group (beta=-1.711, P=.01). There were no differences in any other outcome variables. Conclusions A health coaching program supported with telemonitoring did not improve heart disease patients' or diabetes patients' quality of life or their clinical condition. There were indications that the intervention had a differential effect on heart patients and diabetes patients. Diabetes patients may be more prone to benefit from this kind of intervention. This should not be neglected when developing new ways for self-management of chronic diseases. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01310491; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01310491 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6Z8l5FwAM).


Since the financial and administrative liberalisation from the government in the late 1980s and the 1990s, the Dutch housing associations have been very dynamic, regarding the considerable extension of both commercial and social activities, the increased reliance and dependence on market circumstances, and the large number of amalgamations, creating bigger organisations. In recent years the Dutch social housing sector is under increased pressure as a consequence of the credit crunch, increased tax levies and the national implementation in the sector of EU regulations on 'Services of General Economic Interest'. Factors like these are likely to have an effect on the organisational strategies of housing associations, the main providers of social housing in the Netherlands. The direction and the size of these effects, however, are not well known. A recent inquiry among housing associations sheds more light on this. In this paper, we make use of a classification including a socialcommercial dimension and a dimension between so-called 'prospectors' and 'defenders'. This classification proves to be an adequate tool to describe the recent developments in the sector. It is concluded that, in general, housing associations are focussing more on traditional social housing tasks and 'defending' strategies, implying a shift back compared to the trend in recent decades.


This paper describes a novel approach to detecting walking quadrupeds in unedited wildlife film footage. Variable lighting, moving backgrounds and camouflaged animals make traditional foreground extraction techniques such as optical flow and background subtraction unstable. We track a sparse set of points over a short film clip and use RANSAC to segment the foreground region. A novel technique, employing normalised convolution is then utilised to interpolate dense flow from the sparsely defined foreground. Dense flow is extracted for a number of clips demonstrating quadruped gait and other movements. Principal component analysis (PCA) is applied to this set of dense flows and eigenvectors not encapsulating periodic internal motion characteristics are disregarded. The projection coefficients for the remaining principal components are analysed as one dimensional time series. Projection coefficient variation reflects changes in the velocity and relative alignment of the components of the foreground object. These coefficients' relative phase differences are deduced using spectral analysis and degree of periodicity using dynamic time warping. These parameters are used to train a KNN classifier which segments the training data with 93% success rate. By generating projection coefficients for unseen footage, the system has successfully located examples of quadruped gait previously missed by human observers.


Web 2.0 technologies put the user at the center of data production and introduce a strong social collaboration. Therefore, the techniques used in traditional information retrieval systems do not meet the requirements of users who want to take into account their social preferences. The idea reported in this paper is about including not only the social context of the user but also the one for the resource. In the social network that we consider, the user social context brings its interests, which are captured from a collaborative tagging system, while the resource social context is related to clusters of tags, obtained by classification method, and users' opinions according to their expertise level on the resource. The results of our experiment evaluation on real-world datasets (crawled from delicious folksonomy) demonstrate significant improvements over traditional retrieval approaches.


A 3-D application-specific microelectrode array has been developed for physiological studies in guinea pig cochlear nucleus (CN). The batch-fabricated silicon probes contain integrated parylene cables and use a boron etch-stop to define 15μm-thick shanks and limit tissue displacement. Targeting the ventral (three probes) and dorsal (two probes) subnuclei, the custom four-shank 32-site probes are combined in a slotted block platform having a 1.18-mm2 footprint. The device has permitted, for the first time, high-density 3-D in vivo studies of ventral CN to dorsal CN connections, stimulating with 1000 μm2 sites in one subnucleus while recording with 177 μm 2 sites in the other. Through these experiments, it has demonstrated the efficacy of bimodal silicon arrays to better understand the central nervous system at the circuit level. The 160 electrode sites also provide a high-density neural interface, which is an essential aspect of auditory prosthesis prototypes.


Adenovirus vectors have significant potential for long- or short-term gene transfer. Preclinical and clinical studies using human derived adenoviruses (HAd) have demonstrated the feasibility of flexible hybrid vector designs, robust expression and induction of protective immunity. However, clinical use of HAd vectors can, under some conditions, be limited by pre-existing vector immunity. Pre-existing humoral and cellular anti-capsid immunity limits the efficacy and duration of transgene expression and is poorly circumvented by injections of larger doses and immuno-suppressing drugs. This review updates canine adenovirus serotype 2 (CAV-2, also known as CAdV-2) biology and gives an overview of the generation of early region 1 (E1)-deleted to helper-dependent (HD) CAV-2 vectors. We also summarize the essential characteristics concerning their interaction with the anti-HAd memory immune responses in humans, the preferential transduction of neurons, and its high level of retrograde axonal transport in the central and peripheral nervous system. CAV-2 vectors are particularly interesting tools to study the pathophysiology and potential treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, as anti-tumoral and anti-viral vaccines, tracer of synaptic junctions, oncolytic virus and as a platform to generate chimeric vectors.


Objective:To describe a syndrome of peripheral lipodystrophy (fat wasting of the face, limbs and upper trunk), hyperlipidaemia and insulin resistance in patients receiving potent HIV protease inhibitor therapy. Design:Cross-sectional study. Setting:Outpatient clinic of a university teaching hospital. Patients:HIV-infected patients either receiving at least one protease inhibitor (n = 116) or protease inhibitor-naive (n = 32), and healthy men (n = 47). Interventions and main outcome measures:Lipodystrophy was assessed by physical examination and questionnaire and body composition by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Fasting triglyceride, cholesterol, free fatty acid, glucose, insulin, C-peptide and fructosamine levels, other metabolic parameters, CD4 lymphocyte counts, and HIV RNA load were also assessed. Results:HIV protease inhibitor-naive patients had similar body composition to healthy men. HIV protease inhibitor therapy was associated with substantially lower total body fat (13.2 versus 18.7 kg in protease inhibitor-naive patients; P = 0.005), and significantly higher total cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Lipodystrophy was observed clinically in 74 (64%) protease inhibitor recipients after a mean 13.9 months and 1(3%) protease inhibitor-naive patient (P = 0.0001). Fat loss occurred in all regions except the abdomen after a median 10 months. Patients with lipodystrophy experienced a relative weight loss of 0.5 kg per month and had significantly higher triglyceride, cholesterol, insulin and C-peptide levels and were more insulin-resistant than protease inhibitor recipients without lipodystrophy. Patients receiving ritonavir and saquinavir in combination had significantly lower body fat, higher lipids and shorter time to lipodystrophy than patients receiving indinavir. Three (2%) patients developed new or worsening diabetes mellitus. Conclusion:A syndrome of peripheral lipodystrophy, hyperlipidaemia and insulin resistance is a common complication of HIV protease inhibitors. Diabetes mellitus is relatively uncommon.


OBJECTIVE
To determine prevalence and complications of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)-associated uveitis, and to evaluate risk factors for uveitis and its relation to articular disease.

METHODS
Records of 309 patients with JIA (244 female, 65 male, mean age at onset 4.9 yrs) were retrospectively reviewed. Occurrence of uveitis and complications were assessed among oligoarticular-onset JIA (193 patients), polyarticular-onset JIA (66 patients), and systemic-onset JIA (50 patients). The presence of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) was determined in patients with oligoarticular-onset JIA. Therapy and relapses of uveitis and arthritis were recorded at each visit during the followup (mean followup 7.6 yrs).

RESULTS
Sixty-two patients developed uveitis (20.1%); 57 patients had oligoarticular-, 3 polyarticular-, and 2 systemic-onset JIA. Uveitis was asymptomatic in 56/62 cases. Fifty-five of the 62 patients (88.7%) developed uveitis within 4 years from disease onset. In patients with oligoarticular-onset JIA, an early age at disease onset and the presence of ANA (p < 0.05) and DRB1*11 (p < 0.03) were the best predictors of uveitis, while a polyarticular course was not associated to uveitis (p > 0.05). Active arthritis was present at the first episode of uveitis in 46/62 patients. Forty-four of the 62 patients experienced relapses of uveitis: in 20/62, relapses were concomitant to arthritis relapses; in 24/62 relapses presented without active arthritis. Complications of uveitis developed in 35.5% of the patients (22/62), leading to visual impairment in 13 patients.

CONCLUSION
Current guidelines provide early identification of uveitis in 90% of patients. With the exception of the first episode of uveitis, uveitis and arthritis seem to run different courses; close ophthalmologic scrutiny then should also be maintained during arthritis remission.


Abstract. Particulate matter (PM) and equivalent black carbon (BCe) concentrations were measured at two locations in northern India during 2006–2010. The first measurement station was a background site in Mukteshwar, about 350 km northeast of New Delhi, in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas. The second measurement site was located in Gual Pahari, about 25 km south of New Delhi. Here we focused on resolving the effects of the Indian summer monsoon on the particulate matter and equivalent black carbon concentrations at two stations. The average monsoon time concentrations were decreased by 55–70 % compared to the pre-monsoon average concentrations at both stations, decreasing as a function of the total local rainfall during the monsoon season. In Mukteshwar during the monsoon, the 24 h PM 2.5 concentrations were nearly always below the Indian National Air Quality Standard of 60 μg m −3 . In Gual Pahari, 13 % of days exceeded this level during the monsoon season. However, the 24 h guideline of 25 μg m −3 given by the World Health Organization was more difficult to meet. In addition to loss processes, aerosol concentrations during the early monsoon were found to be affected by primary emissions, most likely from dust events from the Thar Desert. This resulted in elevated fractions of the coarse mode, PM 2.5–10 at both stations. In Mukteshwar, additional dust contribution came from east of the station, from the Himalayan region. We also determined the characteristic transition times between the pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon. The onset and withdrawal transitions occurred faster in Mukteshwar than in Gual Pahari, both being typically less than 10 days. Transition periods in Gual Pahari took between 17 and 31 days. The shorter transition times in Mukteshwar were probably related to the more intense rains due to the mountain location, and the fact that the station was most of the time in the free troposphere.


BACKGROUND
Physical activity (PA) and related energy expenditure (EE) is often assessed by means of a single technique. Because of inherent limitations, single techniques may not allow for an accurate assessment both PA and related EE. The aim of this study was to develop a model to accurately assess common PA types and durations and thus EE in free-living conditions, combining data from global positioning system (GPS) and 2 accelerometers.

METHODS
Forty-one volunteers participated in the study. First, a model was developed and adjusted to measured EE with a first group of subjects (Protocol I, n = 12) who performed 6 structured and supervised PA. Then, the model was validated over 2 experimental phases with 2 groups (n = 12 and n = 17) performing scheduled (Protocol I) and spontaneous common activities in real-life condition (Protocol II). Predicted EE was compared with actual EE as measured by portable indirect calorimetry.

RESULTS
In protocol I, performed PA types could be recognized with little error. The duration of each PA type could be predicted with an accuracy below 1 minute. Measured and predicted EE were strongly associated (r = .97, P < .001).

CONCLUSION
Combining GPS and 2 accelerometers allows for an accurate assessment of PA and EE in free-living situations.


If firms issue convertible securities to facilitate sequential investment, the securities should be engineered to give sufficient flexibility to accommodate timing of follow-on investment. We examine call provisions in convertible bonds and argue that firms with investment options expected to expire sooner (later) will offer weaker (stronger) call protection. We find that issues with weak or no call protection are offered by firms that invest greater amounts soon after issuance than those issuing convertibles with strong protection. Moreover, capital expenditure levels during the 5-year period following issuance are inversely related to the length of call-protection periods. Copyright 2004 by The American Finance Association.


People often reason about omissions. One line of research shows that people can distinguish between the semantics of omissive causes and omissive enabling conditions: for instance, not flunking out of college enabled you (but didn't cause you) to graduate. Another line of work shows that people rely on the normative status of omissive events in inferring their causal role: if the outcome came about because the omission violated some norm, reasoners are more likely to select that omission as a cause. We designed a novel paradigm that tests how norms interact with the semantics of omissive enabling conditions. The paradigm concerns the circuitry of a mechanical device that plays music. Two experiments used the paradigm to stipulate norms and present a distinct set of possibilities to participants. Participants chose which causal verb best described the operations of the machine. The studies revealed that participants' responses are best predicted by their tendency to consider the semantics of omissive relations. In contrast, norms had little to no effect in participants' responses. We conclude by marshaling the evidence and considering what role norms may play in people's understanding of omissions.


This article reviews the laboratory and clinical evidence that relates to the antimicrobial properties of honey. Observations show it is a broad spectrum antimicrobial agent with efficacy against bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses. It is also capable of eliminating malodours from wounds, eradicating antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria from wounds and acting as an effective prophylactic agent at the exit sites of medical devices.


The Fridays for Future (FFF) movement is a major climate movement on a global scale, calling for systemic change and demanding politicians act on their responsibilities. In this paper, we present and analyze original findings from a case study on the FFF movement in Finland, at a watershed moment for young climate activism. We explore the representations of young people's environmental citizenship within the framings of the FFF movement, using an environ-mental citizenship framework analysis of the Finnish news media and Twitter discussions. We identified three frames within the media debate on the school strikes: the sustainable lifestyle frame, which focuses on the individual aspects of environmental citizenship, the active youth frame, which focuses on justifications of youth participation in politics, and the school attendance frame, which is concerned about the young people's strike action. Our results explore the many aspects of environmental citizenship that young people express in the FFF movement. We reflect on the dominance of adult voices in the framing of this historic movement of young people for action on climate change. Our analysis contributes to a step change in the study of this important global movement, which is shaping the emergence of young people as active citizens in Finland and around the world. We argue that the FFF movement is shaping young people's perceptions of active citizenship, and we advocate a youth-centred focus on the collective action and justice demands of young people.


To the Editors :

Population screening for tuberculosis was discontinued in most Western countries, largely due to the decreasing prevalence of the disease. The use of chest radiograph examination for population screening has, therefore, appropriately declined and is now limited to the screening of high-risk groups, such as immigrants 1, prisoners or homeless persons in certain countries 2 and for disease prevalence surveys 3. Chest radiography, however, remains a key tool for the clinical diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. Previous studies suggest that chest radiograph abnormalities in tuberculosis are not specific and levels of intra- and inter-reader agreement are very variable 4–6. Modern digital tuberculosis screening has been noted to have high levels of sensitivity where chest radiograph examination is standardised, quality assured and a simple coding system is used 7–9. Levels of reader agreement are also reported to be higher among experienced readers 10.

In many low incidence countries, tuberculosis is concentrating in specific urban populations, such as homeless persons and drug users, with high prevalence rates reported 2, 11. In the UK, this may be contributing to the general rise in tuberculosis 12. Using a sample of digital chest radiographs from a hard to reach population at high risk of tuberculosis in London, we assessed some of the factors associated with greater diagnostic accuracy and determined levels of agreement between readers.

The study was carried out in London (UK), Amsterdam and Rotterdam (the Netherlands) between July and October 2008. Of 20 physicians invited, 13 participated: three radiologists, six respiratory physicians and one infectious disease physician from London and three public health tuberculosis physicians from Amsterdam and Rotterdam. 56 randomly selected chest radiographs were chosen: 18 confirmed cases of tuberculosis, 19 other abnormalities and 19 normal films from …


The United States registered phenomenal economic growth between the establishment of the new republic and the end of the Civil War. Ross Thomson's fresh study accounts for the unprecedented technological innovations that helped propel antebellum growth. Thomson argues that the transition of the United States from an agrarian economy in 1790 to an industrial leader in 1865 relied fundamentally on the spread of technological knowledge within and across industries. Essential to this spread was a dense web of knowledge-diffusing institutions-new occupations and industries, the patent office, machine shops, mechanics' associations, scientific societies, public colleges, and the civil engineering profession. Together they composed an integrated innovation system that generated, disseminated, and employed new technical knowledge across ever-widening ranges of the economy. To trace technological change in fourteen major industries and the economy as a whole, Thomson analyzes 14,000 patents, the records of two dozen machinery firms, census data for 1,800 companies, and hundreds of business directories. This exhaustive research leads to his interesting interpretation of technological diffusion and development. Thomson's impressive study of the infrastructure that fueled and supported the young country's economic and industrial successes will interest students of economic, technological, and business history.


Low wool prices and high sheep-meat prices have generated interest in selection of Merino sheep that have high genetic capacity for wool and meat traits. This paper describes an analysis comparing a traditional fine-wool growing enterprise ("Wool") with one focused on wool and meat production ("Wool/Meat") in south-west Victoria. The two systems were modelled using the computer program MIDAS, and profitability was calculated for a range of commodity prices and production levels. The standard production levels for the "Wool" and "Wool/Meat" sheep genotypes was assumed to be 3.2 and 4.0kg clean fleece weight, 19.6 and 21.0μm, and 75% and 110% weaning rate, respectively. With these production levels, the "Wool/Meat" genotype was more profitable than "Wool" over a broad range of wool and meat prices. Alternatively, the "Wool/Meat" sheep genotype only needed to produce 350g more wool per ewe, be no more than 2.0μm broader or produce 14% more lambs to be as profitable as the "Wool" sheep genotype.


The second cruise of the new French research vessel, the Marion Dufresne, was also the second cruise of the IMAGES-II Programme, the aim of which was to explore the history of the Indian Ocean-Atlantic Ocean connection and of the southeastern Atlantic upwelling region over the last 300 000 years in the Late Quaternary. To this end, 24 giant piston cores, with an average length of 32 m, were recovered from the ocean basins and the continental slope and rise off southern Africa, between Durban (South Africa) and Lobito (Angola). The cores off the east coast of South Africa were predominantly foraminiferal and coccolith oozes with thin quartzose turbidites at intervals. Off the west coast of South Africa, the predominant lithology was the same, but turbidites were absent and the amounts of organic matter increased equatorwards toward the main upwelling cell of the Benguela ecosystem off southern Namibia. The imprint of upwelling was most clearly seen off Namibia in the abundance of organic matter, the presence of hydrogen sulphide, and the preservation of diatoms. Sea-level fluctuations led to seaward excursions of the upwelling cell during lowstands (glacials), when abundant organic matter was deposited on the slope and rise and landward shifts during highstands (interglacials like those of today), when the upwelling zone moved back onto the shelf. North of the Walvis Ridge, the Kunene and Angola margin is dominated by organic- and diatom-rich terrigenous muds, very distinct from the carbonate-dominated oozes off Namibia and South Africa.


This paper analyze the pricing system in force of refrigerated logistics operators in the transport of perishable goods in groupage loads, responding to how prices are determined in this transport, what influences them and how much. Using Spanish data for 2008, obtained directly from a sample of haulage firms, we formulate a model that allows the identification of the ordinary tariffs, final prices and the main components involved, and distinguishing what extent these prices reflect the cost of production resulting from the activity. Based on the estimated equations, it can state that distribution companies are pricing according to their total mean cost by using final prices expressly calculated for each customer from an ordinary tariff, reflecting the cost structure of the company, which is applied bonus depending on the requested service and the commercial policy of the company. Results represent a contribution to the transport economics literature, as they refer an economic phenomenon unexplored due to the difficulties in the measurement of prices and costs, as well as decision makers in company, which are provided with relevant information to achieve a reduction in costs.


The Serratia marcescens hemophore-specific outer membrane receptor HasR is a member of the TonB-dependent family of autoregulated receptors. It can transport either heme itself or heme bound to the hemophore HasA. On the basis of sequence and functional similarities with other TonB-dependent outer membrane receptors whose three-dimensional structures have been determined, a HasR structure model was proposed. The mature HasR protein comprises a 99-residue amino-terminal extension necessary for hasR transcription, followed by a plug domain of 139 amino acids and a beta-barrel domain inserted in the outer membrane, the lumen of which is closed by the plug. This model was used to generate hasR deletions encoding HasR proteins with the native signal peptides but lacking either the N-terminal regulatory extension or encoding the plug or the beta-barrel alone. The protein lacking the N-terminal extension, HasR delta11-91, was incorporated in the outer membrane and was fully functional for active uptake of free and hemophore-bound heme. The HasR beta-barrel, delta11-192, was also incorporated in the outer membrane and bound the hemophore but expressed no active heme transport properties. The HasR plug remained in the periplasm. Coexpression of the plug and the beta-barrel allowed partial plug insertion in the outer membrane, demonstrating that these two HasR domains interact in vivo. The beta-barrel and the plug also interact in vitro. Nevertheless, the two domains did not complement each other to reconstitute an active TonB-dependent receptor for free or hemophore-bound heme uptake. Production of the beta-barrel alone selectively increased passive diffusion of heme but not of other exogenous compounds. A mutation at histidine 603, which is required for heme uptake through the wild-type receptor, abolished heme diffusion, showing that HasR delta11-192 forms a specific heme channel.


The National Road Safety Strategy 2011n2020 states that each year road crashes kill about 1,500 Australians and hospitalise another 30,000. The total estimated cost to society is $A27 billion. Run-off-road crashes typically involving a single vehicle, account for about 30 per cent of all serious casualties, and a higher proportion of fatalities. This is a major concern for local government which is responsible for in excess of 80 per cent of the total road network. Around 45 per cent of the total annual fatalities also occur on the local road network. Councils are responsible for the design and management of their networks. However many parts of the network were designed for bullock teams and did not envisage use by current vehicles. Austroads has adopted a standard suggesting appropriate clear zones for use on all classes of road. Local government is unable to meet these suggested clear zones because of a number of competing requirements: the need for minimal speed restrictions; the environmental value of flora within the road corridor; and the shortage of resources to maintain infrastructure assets in a satisfactory condition. The IPWEA (NSW) Roads & Transport Directorate has carried out research into these issues and provided input into a number of Austroads projects. This presentation explains the dilemma facing local government engineers and the attempts being made to address the issues, both within individual councils and more broadly through Austroadsr current safe system projects.


The ability to identify semantically-related functions, in large collections of binary executables, is important for malware detection. Intuitively, two pieces of code are similar if they have the same effect on a machine's state. Current state-of-the-art tools employ a variety of pair wise comparisons (e.g., template matching using SMT solvers, Value-Set analysis at critical program points, API call matching, etc.) However, these methods are unshakable for clustering large datasets, of size N, since they require O(N2) comparisons. In this paper, we present an alternative approach based upon "hashing". We propose a scheme that captures the semantics of functions as semantic hashes. Our approach treats a function as a set of features, each of which represent the input-output behavior of a basic block. Using a form of locality-sensitive hashing known as Min Hashing, functions with many common features can be quickly identified, and the complexity of clustering is reduced to O(N). Experiments on functions extracted from the CERT malware catalog indicate that we are able to cluster closely related code with a low false positive rate.


Eco-tourism both at conceptual and empirical levels is significant in a number of respects. Traditionally it encapsulates scientific, aesthetic, and philosophical approaches which reflect the structure and function of the society. Over the decades numerous changes have been observed both in the content and context of eco-tourism. With globalisation the processes of these changes not only widened and multiplied, but also gained in importance. The present research paper in observing the treasure of tourism of the Orissa region in eastern India, emphasises the potential of eco-tourism in the scheduled areas which are largely dominated by the tribal communities. It argues - and concludes by way of recommendations - that if eco-tourism is properly developed it can not only attract tourists from far and near, but can also generate more revenue for the inhabitants of the region and for the state.