ABSTRACT In recent years, many progressive U.S. cities have witnessed the rapid popularization of dockless small vehicles as a car-free travel alternative to meet the short distance travel demand. The research gap exists in revealing the social outcome of the massive influx of shared small vehicles on public space. To that end, this study analyzed 4,100 parking violation reports in Austin, Texas, crowdsourced from the Austin 311 non-emergency service request system. The results showed that sidewalk and other public space intrusions were the two most frequently reported violations. Additionally, it found that improperly parked vehicles in parks required the longest time to be cleaned. Among the three reporting methods included in this study, 91% were submitted through smartphone applications, compared to 5% by phone calls and 2% through the web interface. The response time of smartphone reports was significantly greater than that of phone call reports (17.4 hours vs. 2.5 hours). Finally, the GIS hotspot analysis showed that university campus and downtown were both violation clusters, yet campus violations were solved more quickly. This study proposed a shared responsibility framework of key players in shared micro-mobility management and suggested using crowdsourcing 311 system data to facilitate communications between stakeholders.


An organization needs to determine its development model that is able facilitate it to achieve the goals of development and for improving both the individuals and performances. The MODEL is a personal development design-based on Islamic ideology that combines artificial intelligence theories and Islamic concepts. It consists of four components The Principle (Islam Principle and Sunnatullah Principle), The Vision (True Vision and Big Vision), The Character (Islamic Personality and Efective Character), and The Responsibility (Personal Responsibility and Mabdai Responsibility). This paper aims to describe a theoretical application of The MODEL in organizational context. Applications of it in organizations are related to keys elements that exist in the organization: the people, the work, the formal organization, and the informal organization. The MODEL for organizations is also applied in accordance with organization life cycle. The applications connected with key elements of organization and organization life cycle focus not only on personal development, but also have responsibility to build a world civilization based on Islamic rules (syariah).


Actual four-year operating experience with the CA-706 copper-nickel alloy hull of the Copper Mariner has shown it to be a good business investment for workboats and potentially for large vessels as well. Capital recovery period is under seven years and return on investment between 12.9 and 16.7 percent after taxes for shrimp trawlers of this type. The resistance to biofouling is found to be a stable, enduring property of the same corrosion product film that gives the CA-706 alloy its very low 0.05-mpy (mils per year) corrosion rate. Both the corrosion resistance and biofouling resistance are unaffected by the amount of iron in solution or precipitated in the alloy, by the mill processing variables, or by shipyard fabrication. The CA-706 alloy hull demonstrated unusual resistance to crack propagation when subjected to unanticipated local high cyclic stress loadings. Construction, design changes, and damage repair procedures for steel are applicable to CA-706 alloy. The use of copper-nickel and copper-nickel clad hulls offers the marine industry an opportunity to operate vessels close to initial design efficiency for 30 years or more with no need to drydock for four or more years.


In 1979 the Regional Development Group at IIASA became engaged in a case study of economic and demographic development, land-use and related problems in the region of southwestern Skane in Sweden. The case study is the third in a series of attempts made by the group to apply systems analytic methods to regional planning problems in regions with different economic structures, resource endowments and organizational settings.

The research in the Skane study was done in collaboration with the Intermunicipal Association of Southwest Skane, as a part of their ongoing work in physical and public transport planning for the metropolitan region of Malmo, and its neighboring municipalities. The research was partly sponsored by the Swedish Council for Building Research.

In the study an integrated package of models has been used. The models have been developed within the Regional Development Group in cooperation with a group of Swedish researchers and planners. In that package, separate models have been developed for interregional economic and demographic problems, and the intraregional land-use problems.

The current collaborative paper represents one of this central background materials for the study. Since the Skane region is specialized in agricultural production as well as in food and chemical industry production, a quite detailed analysis of the structure and prospects of those industries is needed to provide a solid foundation for the comprehensive economic and land-use modeling. That analysis must also embrace the alternative industrial development options. Thus the paper contains an economic analysis of agriculture and industry as a whole in the Skane region.

Ulf Stromqvist has structured his economic analysis in a novel way. Rather than building the analysis on average data, the author stresses strongly the importance of tracing out the distribution of production units along a profitability scale. The dynamics of these industrial profitability patterns are at the core of the analysis. Utilizing a general method for identifying and describing structural invariances of production systems, this analysis with its considerable originality, is an important part of the southwest Skane case study. It also has a substantial independent interest.


As part of a revised Graduated Licensing Scheme (GLS), a new drive test for car driver licence applicants has been developed and introduced in Victoria. The central purpose of this undertaking was to create a test that discriminates those young drivers who have completed the new mandatory minimum of 120 hours of supervised driving practice from those who have not. This paper outlines the key activities which underpinned the successful introduction of the test across Victoria on 1 July 2008. It provides an overview of the major steps and processes necessary to take the new test from trial to operational test. This includes the communication and training programs required to make the new test a reality.


A "Choice" Outstanding Academic Book"Readers will be grateful for this excellent comprehensive survey of Aquinas' theology. It is a compendium in the best sense of the word, both introduction for beginners and a reliable source of information for advanced scholars. Even experts in Thomist thought will highly appreciate the great number of original and stimulating essays which provide new views and interpretations of seemingly well known texts." --Ulrich Horst, O.P., Ludwig Maximilian UniversityThis comprehensive volume provides an in-depth overview of every major aspect of Thomas Aquinas's theology. Contributors offer fresh and compelling readings of Aquinas on the Trinity, creation theology, theory of analogy, anthropology, predestination and human freedom, evil and original sin, Christology and grace, soteriology, eschatology, sacramentology, ecclesiology, moral theology, the relation between theology and philosophy, and scriptural exegesis.Contributors to"""The Theology of Thomas Aquinas"come from seven different countries and a variety of specialties within the discipline of theology. Their diverse perspectives add considerable merit to the depth and breadth of this project. Contributors both outline the thought of Aquinas in its own right and bring it into dialogue with present theological concerns. The high quality of these essays make this volume a valuable reference tool."


When China joined the World Trade Organization in December 2001, it marked a watershed for the world economy. Ten years from now, the opening of China's capital account and the financial integration that will unfold will be viewed as a milestone of similar importance. This paper discusses the benefits, to China and the rest of the world, of deepening China's capital account liberalization. We assess China's current level of de jure and de facto integration, in relation to other G20 economies. We update the Pasricha et al. (2015) data on capital control actions to 2015 for China, to assess China's international financial integration. We also look at its relative international investment position to gauge its de facto integration. We then estimate the size and composition of capital flows likely to ensue assuming that China's further capital account liberalization results in its gross international investment position converging to that of the G20 average. In addition, we discuss the risks involved with the further opening of China's capital account and how they can best be managed. We also emphasize the potentially stabilizing effects of residents' flows and the importance of liberalizing inflows and outflows in a balanced way and at the same time.


Consider spanning trees on the two-dimensional Sierpinski gasket SG(n) where stage n is a non-negative integer. For any given vertex x of SG(n), we derive rigorously the probability distribution of the degree j ∈{1,2,3,4} at the vertex and its value in the infinite n limit. Adding up such probabilities of all the vertices divided by the number of vertices, we obtain the average probability distribution of the degree j. The corresponding limiting distribution φj gives the average probability that a vertex is connected by 1, 2, 3 or 4 bond(s) among all the spanning tree configurations. They are rational numbers given as φ1=10957/40464, φ2=6626035/13636368, φ3=2943139/13636368, φ4=124895/4545456.


Over the last decade, as the mining industry of South Africa is moving to ever deeper mines, the borehole radar is becoming an increasingly important field of research. In December 2000, Burger completed his thesis on Electromagnetic Modelling of a Borehole Radar Environment with the FDTD Method. The goal of this thesis is to extend the research presented in Burger's thesis, considering how more advanced modelling techniques can be applied to the FDTD analysis of the borehole radar environment. Some of these techniques include implementation of dispersive and conductive material models, and developing Uniaxial Perfectly Matched Layer boundary conditions for matching these model. Simulations were run to measure the performance of these boundary condition for matching dispersive and conductive materials. The thesis also includes the implementation of a parallel version of the FDTD algorithm using the Message Passing Interface library. Finally several realistic borehole models where simulated to test the accuracy of the code and to show how the code can be used to model real world problems.


This thesis examined self-regulation and motivational structure as two important psychological constructs related to alcohol consumption. Three studies were conducted for this thesis. Study One was designed to assess relationships among self-regulation, motivational structure, and alcohol use. Participants were student drinkers (N = 105, females = 77.7%, mean age = 19.82 years). They were asked to complete four questionnaires, including a brief demographic characteristics questionnaire, the Personal Concern Inventory, Alcohol Use Questionnaire, and Short Self-Regulation Questionnaire. The results partially supported one of the hypotheses of the study. Total SSRQ scores were negatively correlated with the amount of alcohol that students drank on atypical occasions, as was predicted. That is, as participants' degree of self-regulation increased, the amount of alcohol that they consumed decreased. In Study Two, a manipulation technique was used to examine individuals' self-regulation and to clarify whether a manipulation for changing their self-regulation caused their motivational structure to become more adaptive and thereby reduce their alcohol consumption. Participants were 80 students (males = 26.6 %, males, mean age = 21.19 years). The main purpose of Study Two was to examine the effects of a task that used Concept Identification Cards on participants' self-regulation. The task aimed to enhance individuals' self-regulation and clarify whether manipulations aimed at triggering changes in their motivational structure to become more adaptive would reduce their alcohol drinking. Two types of instruments were employed. The first type included those that were administered to identify changes in participants' self-regulation, motivational structure, self-efficacy, procrastination and urges to drink. The second type included those that the experimenter used to manipulate self-regulation in the experimental group. The results partially supported one of the hypotheses of the study. Total SSRQ scores were negatively correlated with students 'atypical drinking, as was predicted. That is, as participants' degree of self-regulation increased, the amount of alcohol that they consumed decreased. However, the results only partially supported the fourth hypothesis of the study, viz. that motivational structure would partly mediate the relationship between self-regulation and amount of alcohol consumed. This outcome was not consistent with the results of previous studies. Study Three was designed to explore whether relationships among a withholding response, impulsivity, self-regulation, and memory capacity were related to one another and to drinking behaviour. The hypotheses tested in Study Three were as follows: (a) Participants who were heavy drinkers and low in self-regulation, high in impulsivity, and low in working memory capacity would perform more poorly than others on a Go/No Go task. (b) More errors would be made when the stimuli on Go/No Go trials were alcohol-related than when they were alcohol-unrelated. Participants were students (N = 108, male = 41.8%, males' mean age = 19.86 years). Measures used in the study were a measure of (a) alcohol consumption, (b) impulsivity, and (c) self-regulation. In addition, two computerised tasks were used to measure participants' behavioural impulsivity and memory capacity. The results of Study Three supported both of the hypotheses. In conclusion, this thesis demonstrates that self-regulation and related psychological constructs play an important role in university students' alcohol consumption.


Most of the past seismic fragility studies on typical highway bridges in the Central and Southeastern United States (CSUS) have focused on regular three-span bridges with little to no skew. However, past earthquakes and studies have shown that skewed multi-span simply supported bridges may also be susceptible to earthquake damage, specifically causing coupled responses (longitudinal and transverse) that place more demand on individual components. With over 27 percent of simply supported steel girder highway bridges in the CSUS having a skew angle over 15 degrees, there is a specific need to further quantify the vulnerability of such bridges exposed to seismic hazard. This study seeks to add to the current knowledge base of the seismic fragility of multi-span steel girder bridges in the CSUS by specifically addressing the issue of skew in the assessment. A sensitivity study for each of the column, abutment, and bearing components along with the system as a function of skew angle is presented. This comparison indicates that bridge vulnerability appears to be largely unaffected by skew angles under fifteen degrees, but larger skew angles do indeed result in more fragile bridge systems. Within this system the longitudinal components of the bridge become less fragile with increasing skew, but to a lesser degree than the transverse components become more fragile. Understanding the impact skew plays on seismic bridge fragilities will facilitate more robust regional risk analyses of highway systems.


The objective of this'thesis is to create a model, which provides a detailed description of the electrical load on a low voltage distribution network in the context of a typical UK urban feeder from a primary transformer. The aim of the work, when used in association with a power flow analysis package, is to help to provide a risk assessment for over-voltage events and over-heating in the network when different levels of embedded generation are applied. A fine-grained domestic load model has been constructed with a three layered approach-to provide per-consumer, 1-minute averaged loads on an end-use basis. Datasets from the Load Research Group have been used as the starting point and form the basis for layer 1 which represents group-averaged demands on a halfhourly basis. Layer 2 of the model introduces diversity in terms of number of occupants, living space, ownership and soci? -economic factors. Layer -3 uses appliance duty cycles to create wider variations by random triggering to derive 1minute loads from assigned half-hourly values. The domestic model has been adapted for use with smaller (sub MOW) non-domestic consumers. The research question for this study is whether or not the models provide an adequate representation of the electricity demand for a typical urban LV network, judged in terms of a variety of parameters. The output from the domestic model compares well with measured data giving realistic demand characteristics in terms of mean, peak, load factor and distribution. Compared against diversified peak demands currently in use within the industry, the model estimates values within 10% for groups fewer than 25 and 5% for groups of 100 or more. When used together with a power flow analysis package, the predicted voltage variation agrees with measured results in terms of mean value and distribution. The investigation of time and group averaging of demand, power factor surveys and, with a matching model for PV and solar thermal output, studies into electrical demand reduction within mixed communities are all possible additional applications for the model.


This essay examines two versions of an essay by Adrienne Rich on Anne Bradstreet to argue that Rich's intervening relationship with Audre Lorde facilitated her development of a rhetorical technique I call additive emendation. This method allowed her to supplement the original essay so as to both comment on its errors and let them remain evident to the reader. Lorde's emphasis on knowledge as an ongoing phenomenon rather than a finite commodity, and her understanding of prose as a means to inscribe that process, informed this technique and became evident to Rich in a series of contentious print exchanges between them. As such, the three pairings in this essay—Rich and Bradstreet, Lorde and Rich, and Rich's later and earlier authorial personae—reflect the feminist phenomenon of the open letter, whereby anger, rather than critical dispassion, founds argumentative cogency.


This book dispels common myths about electricity and electricity policy and reveals how government policies manipulate energy markets, create hidden costs, and may inflict a net harm on the American people and the environment. Climate change, energy generation and use, and environmental degradation are among the most salient—and controversial—political issues today. Our country's energy future will be determined by the policymakers who enact laws that favor certain kinds of energy production while discouraging others as much as by the energy-production companies or the scientists working to reduce the environmental impact of all energy production. The Reality of American Energy: The Hidden Costs of Electricity provides rare insights into the politics and economics surrounding electricity in the United States. It identifies the economic, physical, and environmental implications of distorting energy markets to limit the use of fossil fuels while increasing renewable energy production and explains how these unseen effects of favoring renewable energy may be counterproductive to the economic interests of American citizens and to the protection of the environment. The first two chapters of the book introduce the subject of electricity policy in the United States and to enable readers to understand why policymakers do what they do. The remainder of the book examines the realities of the major electricity sources in the United States: coal, natural gas, nuclear, hydrodynamic, wind, biomass, solar, and geothermal. Each of these types of energy sources is analyzed in a dedicated chapter that explains how the electricity source works and identifies how politics and public policy shape the economic and environmental impacts associated with them.


Summary
People with high education are less likely than people with low education to believe in conspiracy theories. It is yet unclear why these effects occur, however, as education predicts a range of cognitive, emotional, and social outcomes. The present research sought to identify mediators of the relationship between education and conspiracy beliefs. Results of Study 1 revealed three independent mediators of this relationship, namely, belief in simple solutions for complex problems, feelings of powerlessness, and subjective social class. A nationally representative sample (Study 2) replicated these findings except for subjective social class. Moreover, variations in analytic thinking statistically accounted for the path through belief in simple solutions. I conclude that the relationship between education and conspiracy beliefs cannot be reduced to a single mechanism but is the result of the complex interplay of multiple psychological factors that are associated with education. © 2016 The Authors. Applied Cognitive Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.


In recent months the World Trade Organization (WTO) has seen increasing conflict over the rules for government support of the energy sector. Government subsidies for particular forms of energy have long influenced producers' investment choices and consumers' consumption patterns in ways that affect both international trade and the environment. Trade and environmental lawyers have thus closely watched the WTO's efforts to develop rules on government support for the energy sector. This essay outlines recent activity in the WTO on subsidies for both traditional fossil fuels and the renewable energy sector. It also discusses the difficulties posed by the increased application of WTO subsidies rules to renewable energy subsidies at a time in which fossil fuel subsidies programs continue to elude significant WTO scrutiny. This discrepancy – caused in part by WTO rules on subsidies and in part by energy politics in a number of countries that have shifted support for renewable energy subsidies to local governments less skilled in drafting WTO-compliant programs – threatens to undermine the WTO's ability to develop an environmentally-friendly jurisprudence on energy trade issues.


: Over the past decade, asylum seekers and refugees arriving in Italy were accommodated in reception facilities located not only in large metropolitan centres but also in Small-medium Towns and Rural Areas (STRAs). Italy's reception system evolved quickly to face the peaks of asylum applications, especially in the 2015-2017 period. At the same time, the changes in Italy's reception policies were pushed by the increased polarisation in the asylum debate, which, in turn, has led to great heterogeneity in the development of reception practices. This paper argues that the reception-territory nexus is a critical dimension to focus on when investigating the implications connected to the arrival and establishment of asylum seekers and refugees. This appears particularly true in STRAs where the reception system provided new resources that, when well-managed, showed transformative potential, developing virtuous interconnections with the local territories and communities. These virtuous interconnections have, however, been affected by the continuous changes in reception policies and came to a critical juncture in 2018, when the so-called Security Decree entered into force. While further modi fi cations are currently underway, such legislation profoundly affected the Italian reception system's functioning and working principles, creating new frictions and tensions among institutional actors and within the local governance of the reception system itself. We argue that the reform contributed to disrupting, both materially and symbolically, the previous virtuous combination of refugee inclusion and local development, especially in STRAs. Our situated qualitative analysis – carried out between 2019 and 2020 through discursive in-depth interviews – investigates the interconnections between territory and reception in three small to medium-sized towns and rural areas before and after this regulatory shift. It does so by introducing a novel analytic framework, focusing on symbolic and material aspects within and around reception. The analysis suggests that the stress and disruptions connected to the regulatory changes have had a negative impact on the internal organisation of the reception as well as on the refugees' inclusion and on the chances of local development.


Latin American governments, social movements, and regional organizations have made a far greater contribution to the idea and practice of international human rights than has previously been recognized. Most discussions of the global human rights regime stress its origins in the countries of the Global North. This article explores the role of Latin America states as early protagonists of the international protection of human rights, focusing in particular on the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man. Histories of human rights in the world emphasize the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, passed by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948, as the founding moment of international human rights. Few know that Latin American states passed a similar American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man a full eight months before passage of the UDHR. The American Declaration thus was the first broad enumeration of rights adopted by an intergovernmental organization. This article explores the A...


Demands on working memory are associated with mental stress, but little is known about the underlying connection between the two. The primary purpose of this study was to quantify individual mental stress, and to monitor heart rate variability (HRV) during high and low working memory (WM) demands influenced by Stroop interference. Another aim was to quantify the performance and response time during the Stroop task and observe their trends during high and low (WM) demands. Finally, the third goal of this thesis was to predict the relationship between mental stress and performance. To this end heart rate was recorded both at rest and while performing the Stroop task. High and low WM demands were obtained by increasing the level of Stroop interference. The response time and performance were calculated for each difficulty level of the Stroop task, as well as during high and low WM demand. The power spectral components HF, LF, LF/HF and the time domain Mean R-R (S), Mean HR (1/min), were used as the components of HRV in the analysis. The results indicated that all the components of HRV examined were sensitive to WM demands. The HF and Mean R-R (S) components decreased with an increase in WM demands from the baseline values. The Mean HR (1/min), LF and the LF/HF ratio increased with increase in demands. Overall, the results indicated a reduction in HRV when higher order cognitive tasks were performed. The response time increased with WM demands. The performance in the Stroop task was decreased with an increase in WM demands. The results also indicated that an increase in WM demand correlates with an increase in an individual"s stress level, and a decrease in performance level.
The present thesis contributes to the ongoing analysis of human computer interaction in the laboratory environment, and its effects on the autonomic nervous system. It is recommended that future research be conducted at the workplace to better understand the relationship between human computer interaction and mental stress levels.


We present in this paper three batches of Roman coins belonging to Roman Republican and Imperial hoards, from the collections of Museum of Vrancea in Focșani and Town Museum in Adjud. The coins were discovered in the following locations: I. Adjud (Vrancea County) (3 AR dated from C. Maianus to C. Mamilius Limetanus); II. Repedea (Străoane commune, Vrancea county) (4 AR, dated from M. Papirius Carbo to Ulpia Severina); III. Olăreni (Slobozia Bradului commune, Vrancea county) (6 AR, dated from Marcus Antonius to Marcus Aurelius and 1 AE – Constantinopolis type). In regards to the last two hoards we have serious doubts that the most recent coins actually belong to the initial findings.


In the Anglo-American legal tradition, people are responsible for damage caused by their failure to conform their conduct with that of the "reasonable person." With few exceptions, so long as one's conduct conforms to that of the reasonable person, then even if the conduct harms others, it does not create liability. Courts understand that the "reasonable person" is an idealized legal fiction but believe the construct to be a useful way to identify culpable conduct. For the reasonable-person test to be useful, courts must identify the characteristics of this reasonable person. As to cognitive and perceptual abilities, courts endow this hypothetical reasonable person with what they believe are "ordinary" skills and abilities. Recent cognitive psychological research, however, indicates that intuitions about ordinary skills and abilities vastly overstate the cognitive skills people actually possess. Consequently, reliance on intuition and folk wisdom about ordinary abilities leads courts to overattribute accidents to negligent carelessness, rather than unavoidable misfortune.


The authors start by observing that the optimal holding periods for long, short, and long/short equity portfolios must vary with transaction costs. The optimal holding period ranges from six to nine months, depending upon the type of portfolios being considered. Optimal efficiency occurs in portfolios containing between 20 and 80 securities, while efficiency is compromised in portfolios consisting of more than 100 stocks. They show that adjusted short and long/short equity portfolios' returns exhibit graphical patterns similar to the ones in the original short and long/short equity portfolios; however, these adjusted portfolio returns are amplified.


Rehabilitating the degraded rangeland in Ethiopia is very crucial issue for improving the livelihood of pastoralist life style and the environmental sustainability of the country. In Yabello rangeland area the local communities used enclosure method in order to rehabilitate the degraded rangeland area and try to address their livelihood problems. In general the current study tried to assess the benefits obtained from the rehabilitated rangeland area from the three study site chosen through purposively techniques based on the information gathered from different aspect. Semi- structured interview, Focal group discussion was held with key informants and different stakeholders at each kebele level have been conducted to gather information from the total of 150 respondents (50 from each kebele) and analyzed both in qualitative and quantitative approaches. The result showed that the rehabilitated rangeland area mainly used to get both numerical and non-numerical benefits like livestock fattening, grazing purpose, wood cutting and charcoal production and among this livestock fatting is the major source of income across the whole study site and Dida Tuyura (A1) is the most productive site among the rest. From this we recommend that there is a need to enhance market linkages for restored rangeland products that would then drive the adoption of rangeland restoration initiatives and those helps for sustainable utilization of the rehabilitated.


Winner of an iParenting Media Award, this book uses photographs of students engaging in a variety of real-life social situations. The realistic format plays to the visual strengths of children with ASD to teach appropriate social behaviors. Color photographs illustrate the 'right way' and 'wrong way' to approach each situation - and the positive/negative consequences of each. A facilitator - parent, teacher, etc. - is initially needed to explain each situation, and ask questions such as 'What is happening here?' Children role-play skills until confident enough to practice them in real-life interactions.


Despite the recently demonstrated importance of consumer credit for the economic health of nations and families, little is known about the history of consumer credit markets and their regulation. An important chapter in the history of consumer credit regulation came between 1909 and 1941, when policy experts at the Russell Sage Foundation (RSF) engaged in a national campaign to transform small loan markets and policy in the United States. Concentrating its efforts on state-by-state passage of the Uniform Small Loan Law, the foundation's political success hinged upon an alliance with the American Association of Personal Finance Companies. While most scholarship portrays experts as being dominated or co-opted by industry, our case provides a countervailing example. Far from controlling RSF experts, lenders became dependent on the foundation for legitimating their political lobbying and their business activities. We explain how the foundation built its expert reputation through a process of reputational entrepreneurship, and we trace how RSF experts deployed this reputation as a power resource in their negotiations with small loan lenders.


Alteration of wound healing increases the risk of a patient's morbidity and mortality. This can lead to scarring, infection, malignant transformation and a reduction in quality of life. Management of wounds costs the UK an estimated £5.3 billion annually which is paid for by the state, with further financial burden due to health related productivity loss. Wound care is managed by a broad spectrum of different health professionals leading to different standards of care. For example, only 16% of lower leg wounds have either an ankle-brachial pressure index measurement or Doppler scan. Due to this variation in wound care, we have summarised all available NICE guidelines and guidance up to February 2021 on the topic of wound healing listed in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) archives. The goal is to provide an easy to access summary of wound care interventions. Our search provided us with 18 technology appraisals related to wound healing which have been summarised.


Carabid beetle data from the UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) terrestrial sites. The count of individual species is recorded. These data are collected by pitfall traps at all of ECN's terrestrial sites using a standard protocol. They represent continuous fortnightly records from 1992 to 2015. ECN is the UK's long-term environmental monitoring programme. It is a multi-agency programme sponsored by a consortium of fourteen government departments and agencies. These organisations contribute to the programme through funding either site monitoring and/or network co-ordination activities. These organisations are: Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru - Natural Resources Wales, Defence Science & Technology Laboratory, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, Llywodraeth Cymru - Welsh Government, Natural England, Natural Environment Research Council, Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scottish Government and Scottish Natural Heritage.


OBJECTIVE
To study the occurrence and the clinical picture of musculoskeletal (MSK) complications including reactive arthritis (ReA) following an outbreak of Campylobacter jejuni.

METHODS
An outbreak of C. jejuni infection occurred in 2000 in Asikkala, Finland, during which 350 exposed subjects contacted the Municipal Health Centre (MHC). All primary care physicians in the MHC were advised to refer patients with acute MSK complications to the Rheumatism Foundation Hospital (RFH) for a specialist clinical examination, which was performed <or= 3 months after the onset of the outbreak.

RESULTS
Fifteen subjects with acute MSK complaints (11 women, 4 men; mean age 58 yrs) were examined in the RFH, where the following MSK diagnoses were assessed: ReA (9 patients), reactive arthralgia (2). exacerbation of previous rheumatoid arthritis (3). and previous fibromyalgia (1). In the patients with ReA, all adults, the arthritis was oligoarticular in 6 patients and polyarticular in 3; one patient had monoarthritis. The most frequently affected joints were knees and ankles. Besides peripheral arthritis, one patient had clinical sacroiliitis. Of the ReA patients, the antigen HLA-B27 was positive in 33%, including the patient with sacroiliitis. At the clinical examination, 6 ReA patients had subsiding signs of synovitis, 2 had only arthralgia, and one was symptom-free.

CONCLUSION
The frequency of ReA following an outbreak of C. jejuni was low: 2.6% (9 of 350). In the ReA patients, the clinical picture was mild, the primary outcome good, and the association with HLA-B27 not high.


: This paper is focused on the study of professional morbidity caused by risk factors from the mining sector in the Petro ş ani Depression but also on analysing its influence on the quality of the workforce. Professional diseases generated in the coal-extraction industry, belonging to the category of degenerative diseases, profoundly affect the miners' state of health, who still form a high proportion of the active population (40%). In this context, it is necessary to correctly identify the professional risks and to take measures to limit them, as well as to initiate actions to diagnose and to treat people ill with silicosis. At the same time, the high incidence of professional disease cases also impose a series of changes in the profile and distribution of the workforce.


In Languages for Specific Purposes (LSPs), variation and term formation are often seen as related phenomena, variation being interpreted as a sign of neology. In scientific discourse though, variation can play specific roles, thereby giving a different dimension to neology as a linguistic process than generally implied in terminological studies. The well-known referential function, consisting of creating new designations for naming new concepts, can be set aside in scientific texts to create space for what we define as the cognitive function: a situation where a scientist purposefully employs term variation as a means for theorising and better explaining a given concept. We argue that Halliday's "grammatical metaphor" and "given-new" information theory provide an interesting background for understanding scientific term formation processes, and the ensuing issue of terminological variation. Consequently, in this article, we try to place the phenomenon of neology and of terminological variation within the framework of discourse analysis, by devising a method for probing sequential behaviour of terminological variants across text sections. Additionally, this study aims to improve building lexical resources within the ARTES terminological and phraseological multilingual database project, which serves as a support for developing lexicographical and translational skills in students in specialised translation.


This commentary takes issue with the idea that replication is a "fundamental element" in natural selection. Such an assumption is based on a traditional, mechanistic view of evolution. A symbiogenetic theory of evolution offers an alternative to traditional theories, emphasizing reproduction and qualitative development rather than replication and quantitative development. The issues raised by the symbiogenetic alternative may be extended to discussions of behavioral development.


Problem drug use in pregnancy affects a sizeable population in Europe. A literature review was carried out of articles in PubMed, European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction publications, and related documents in order to assess public health challenges and possible intervention strategies related to problem drug use and pregnancy in Europe. It revealed the following: Involving pregnant drug users in drug treatment is likely to decrease the chances of preand perinatal complications related to drug use and to increase access to prenatal care. Timely medical intervention can effectively prevent vertical transmission of human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B virus as well as certain other sexually transmitted diseases, and would allow newborns infected with hepatitis C virus during birth to receive immediate treatment. Pregnancy may be a unique opportunity to also help women with dual diagnosis (substance use combined with mental illness) and enrol them into special treatment and support programmes. Issues related to homelessness and intimate partner violence can also be addressed with appropriate interventions. Treatment and care for pregnant drug users should offer coordinated interventions in several areas: drug use, infectious diseases, mental health, personal and social welfare, and gynaecological/obstetric care.


This study strives to examine how microfinance activities can be successfully applied in the developed world. This is done through a field study in New York City. Throughout interviews and observations with three of the largest actors in New York: Acción USA, Grameen America and Project Enterprise, as well as interviews with their clients, the lending processes and key characteristics of the organizations have been mapped. Furthermore, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has been interviewed on the general opinion of microfinance in the US. Previous theory elaborates on some of the major challenges with implementing microfinance activities in the developed world, such as lack of funding and cultural differences hindering the lending processes to be carried out as they are in the developing world. Henceforth, problems regarding regulation, awareness and outreach are discussed. Throughout the observation of the institutions we can confirm that some of the challenges brought up in theory actually are apparent. We do, however, question the criticism towards the use of groupbased lending programs in the developed world. Our study does, in contrast to previous research, imply that the concept does work as well in the US as it does in developing countries. Since this is a case study based on the observations of only a few organizations, it is precarious to draw any general conclusions based upon the findings. Indications of key success factors are, though, group-based lending programs, non-financial services, creating awareness, financial sustainability, savings as funding, standardized regulations and increased transparency. Finally we advocate focus on job creation to obtain acknowledgement.


T.A. Sedlak, Anarcho Grow Pura Vida in Costa Rica (Madison, WI: This Press Kills Fascists Publishing, 2010), illustrated by Leslie LePere, 235 pages, $14.95, paperback. Anarcho Grow Pura Vida in Costa Rica is a modern story that carefully blends author T.A. Sedlak's knowledge of Costa Rica and cannabis cultivation with socialist ideals in an American capitalist dominated world.… Protagonist Ben Starosta travels through Latin America under the guise of teaching English while helping small agrarian communities develop illicit crops and reach new markets. His expertise in the risky cannabis trade funds community projects like schools and libraries, and earns him the loyalty of the communities he helps. Tension builds, as his dedication to the people is viewed as dangerous criminal activity by the CIA agents assigned to his case. This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website , where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


In the context of rapid social, ecological and technological change, there is rising global demand from private, public and civic interests for trans-disciplinary sustainability research. This demand is fuelled by an increasing recognition that transitions toward sustainability require new modes of knowledge production that incorporate social and natural sciences and the humanities. The STEPS Centre's 'pathways approach' and the Stockholm Resilience Centre's (SRC) 'resilience approach' are two distinct trans-disciplinary frameworks for understanding and responding to sustainability challenges. However, the varieties of trans-disciplinarity pursued by the SRC and STEPS each have distinct origins and implications. Therefore, by selecting either the 'resilience' or 'pathways' approach, or indeed any distinct approach to sustainability, the researcher must contend with a range of foundational ontological and epistemological commitments that profoundly affect the definition of problems, generation of knowledge and prescriptions for action. What does an (un)sustainable world look like? How might we 'know' and research (un)sustainability? How should sustainability researchers position themselves in relation to civil society, policy, business and academic communities? In this paper we explore how resilience and pathways address these questions, identifying points of overlap and friction with the aim of generating new research questions and illuminating areas of potential synergy.


US Federal Legislation is a common subject of discussion and advocacy on the web. The contents of bills present a significant challenge to both experts and average citizens due to their length and complex legal language. To make bills more accessible to the general public, we present Many Bills: a web-based visualization prototype that reveals the underlying semantics of a bill. We classify the sections of a bill into topics and visualize them using different colors. Further, using information retrieval techniques, we locate sections that don't seem to fit with the overall topic of the bill. To highlight outliers in our 'misfit mode', we visualize them in red, which builds a contrast against the remaining gray sections. Both topic and misfit visualizations provide an overview and detail view of bills, enabling users to read individual sections of a bill and compare topic patterns across multiple bills. We obtained initial user feedback and continue collecting label corrections from users through the interface.


From the Great Fire of 1666 to the Blitz of the Second World War, from the building of the Tower of London to the building of Canary Wharf, London has always been much more than just a capital city. This anthology, edited by A. N. Wilson, reflects not merely a sense of place but also the teeming eclecticism and vitality of a town which prompted Samuel Johnson to declare: "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.' "A delight. A. N. Wilson understands that London is not loved by its inhabitants for what it is, but for its vivid existence in their imagination". (Jenny Diski, Independent on Sunday). "A likeable, diverse, idiosyncratic and immensely enjoyable anthology". (Literary Review). "A perfectly splendid anthology. All London, even the bits not quite fit to be seen, are contained in this delightful collection. If you are tired of London, this book could easily help you change your mind". (Dirk Bogarde, Daily Telegraph).


This paper investigates voltage stability of the power system during steady state and transient conditions. The voltage stability enhancement is achieved by utilizing FACTS devices at the best location of the system. The weakest bus in the system is the best location to implement shunt compensation device. In this paper, the weakest buses are identified via a fuzzy technique that utilizes two critical indices: Line Flow Index (LFI) and Voltage Profile Index (VPI) during normal and fault conditions. These indices are used to evaluate Criticality Index (CI) using Fuzzy rules, and thus, the system buses are ranked. Remedial actions are discussed to enhance the power system voltage stability by using FACTS devices (SVC and STATCOM) at the most vulnerable system buses. The results of this study show that the (STATCOM) performance is preferable to that of the (SVC) during fault conditions.


NOTE: THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED WITH THE INFORMING SCIENCE INSTITUTE.

Aim/Purpose...........................................................................................................................................................
The focus of this study is to find the relationship between the components in Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) such as attitude, subjective norms (Media), subjective norm (celebrity), psychological attribute (self-esteem) and psychological attributes (social status) which influence Seoul Korea female intention to undergo cosmetic surgery in Seoul, Korea.

Background.............................................................................................................................................................
South Korea was ranked third in the world of cosmetic surgery in 2015. The Korean cosmetic surgery market is a promising market with 24% market share of the total world market. The market data about female willingness to undergo cosmetic surgery strongly suggests that marketers who work in the beauty and health industries associated with cosmetic surgery should pay attention to Seoul Korean women who are in the age group under 40 years old as the potential target market. In Korea, cosmetic surgery is frequently mentioned in normal conversation as a general topic and it is naturally settled as a culture.

Methodology...........................................................................................................................................................
The Seoul Korean female behavior with respect to use of cosmetic surgery is approximately determined by factors underlying the consumer's behavioral intent. Thus, the theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) is used in this study because it attempts to explain consumer intentions and has a strong power of prediction of utility for a wide range of human behavioral attributes such as attitude, subjective norms (Media), subjective norm (celebrity), psychological attribute (self-esteem) and psychological attributes. A survey was conducted in Seoul, Korea where 400 female were interviewed by self-administrated questionnaire. Descriptive analysis, exploratory factor analysis and multiple regressions were used to examine the factors that influence Seoul Korean female intention to engage in cosmetic surgery.

Contribution............................................................................................................................................................
This research provides an insight to the health and beauty industry, marketers, decision makers and academics on the factors that influence Seoul Korea female intention to engage with cosmetic surgery.

Findings
According to the research findings, Seoul Korean female attitude towards cosmetic surgery are generally positive, or favorable intention. That is to say, they usually think that the most effective way to improve their appearance and social status is to undergo cosmetic surgery. The study results (both qualitative and quantitative) support the proposition that the variables such as the media and the celebrities play important role in influencing females to do surgery. The results also provide important information to formulate and design strategies for the development and effective conduct of advertisements and promotions of cosmetic surgery. Lastly, other potential influencing factors were psychological attributes which are self-esteem and social status.

Recommendations for Practitioners....................................................................................................................
It is suggested that psychologists can try to find the clinical roles in helping the cosmetic surgery patients by identifying patients who may not adjust well psychologically or psycho-socially after surgery. Psychologists can examine the issues related to cosmetic surgery due to the increasing popularity and the link between appearance, body image, eating disorders, sexual functioning and social phobia.

Recommendations for Researchers...............................................................................................................................................................
To help to fill in the research gaps, it is recommended to examine on how cosmetic surgery makes patients feel, how cosmetic surgery affects those around the recipients and what the effect of cosmetic surgery would be on children and teenagers.

Impact on Society
The increasing number of cosmetic surgery is having a dramatic impact on the Korean society. In Korea, the number of cosmetic procedures has nearly doubled in the past few years. Distorted perception of self-image, over dependence on the social media is enormous and cannot be overstated had also caused the dramatic rise of cosmetic surgery. The impact of social media has resulted in the rising demand for injectable facial fillers, liposuction, breast implants, buttock augmentation and Botox among younger generation.

Future Research....................................................................................................................................................
It is suggested to conduct further research involving Korean females who have undergone cosmetic surgery. The extended research should attempt to determine the level of satisfaction towards non-core and post cosmetic surgery services. That is, after sales services, the skills and knowledge of the doctor, the clinic environment and other attributes that further define the total or augmented product.


Background: Austrocedrus chilensis (D. Don) Pic. Ser. et Bizzarri commonly known as Patagonian cypress is a member of the Cupressaceae family, characterized by a high adaptive potential for growing in marginal areas and good timber quality. The species grows over a wide area and under a wide range of rainfall. This study assessed adaptive genetic variation at SNP level in candidate genes involved in response to drought stress. Results: A total of 18 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were found among 1,428 bp. Average nucleotide diversity value (π = 0.00312) was similar to those previously reported in other Cupressaceae. The Fst average among genes and populations was 0.163 and the lowest differentiation was observed in continuous and humid populations. A number of neutrality tests were applied to find evidence of positive selection in our candidate gene set, but only AcAQP2 gene in Pedregoso and San Ramon populations revealed significant departures from neutrality with positive values suggesting balancing selection. Conclusions: In this study we report the levels of nucleotide diversity searched in some drought stress candidate genes in Austrocedrus chilensis and the selective factors that may be acting on this species.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The WEB Occlusion Score has been proposed to assess angiographic outcomes for intracranial aneurysms treated with the Woven EndoBridge (WEB) device. Using a large series of experimental aneurysms treated with the WEB, we had the following objectives: 1) to compare angiographic outcomes as measured by the WEB Occlusion Scale with histologic results, and 2) to assess interobserver and intraobserver agreement of the WEB Occlusion Scale. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Intracranial aneurysms were created in 80 rabbits and treated with WEB devices. Animals were sacrificed at last follow-up for histologic evaluation. DSA was performed just after the deployment of the device and at follow-up. Four investigators independently and retrospectively graded the DSA twice according to the WEB Occlusion Scale. One histopathologist blinded to the angiographic results graded the occlusion according to a 4-point scale patterned on the WEB Occlusion Scale. Intra- and interobserver agreement were evaluated for DSA. Follow-up angiographic grading and histologic reference were compared to determine the WEB Occlusion Scale accuracy for complete (with or without recess filling) versus incomplete occlusion and adequate (complete occlusion or neck remnant) versus inadequate occlusion. RESULTS: Inter- and intraobserver weighted κ for the angiographic WEB Occlusion Scale were, respectively, 0.76 and 0.76, indicating substantial agreement. The sensitivity and specificity of the WEB Occlusion Scale for complete occlusion at follow-up compared with the histologic reference standard were, respectively, 75% and 83.3%, with an overall accuracy of 80%. Similarly, for adequate occlusion at follow-up, sensitivity was 97.7%, specificity was 64.9%, and overall accuracy was 82.5%. CONCLUSIONS: The WEB Occlusion Scale appears to be consistent, reliable, and accurate compared with a histologic reference standard.


Objective-To investigate associations between exposure to pot emissions (fluorides, sulphur dioxide) and mortality from chronic obstructive lung disease, coal tar pitch volatiles and mortality from diseases related to atherosclerosis, and carbon monoxide and mortality from ischaemic heart disease. Methods-Mortality between 1962 to 1991 was investigated in a cohort of 1085 men hired by a Norwegian aluminium smelter between 1922 and 1975. Associations between cumulative exposure and mortality were investigated through SMR analysis based on national mortality rates; temporal relations were explored by considering exposures only within specific time windows. Circulatory mortality was also investigated by Poisson regression analysis. Results-There were 501 deaths v 471-3 expected in the cohort. The excess was confined to short term workers and did not seem to be associated with exposures in the smelter. Analysis of mortality among the 661 men with at least three years employment showed associations between cumulative exposure to tar 40 years before observation and atherosclerotic mortality (P = 0 03), and between exposure to pot emissions 20-39 years before observation and mortality from chronic obstructive lung disease (P = 0.06). No association was found between exposure to carbon monoxide and mortality from ischaemic heart disease, but cerebrovascular mortality was associated with exposure to pot emissions (P = 0.02). Results for atherosclerotic and cerebrovascular diseases were confirmed through Poisson regression analysis. Conclusions-The data support previous findings of increased mortality from ischaemic heart disease in workers exposed to tar, and some support is also provided for earlier reports of increased respiratory mortality in potroom workers. (Occup Environ Med 1995;52:255-261)


The discovery of oil and gas in Uganda has attracted many investors, leading to increase in fuel/gas distributing companies and fueling stations creating rapid demand for land to locate the stations compared to available open urban land. Because of the explosive and combustion characteristics of fuel stored and dispensed at stations, several studies have been conducted on different fires at fueling stations such as static fire, jet fire, vapor cloud explosions, open fires, etc. but there was need to assess spatially the risk of fire from stations, its consequences and sovereignty on buildings surrounding them. This was done basing on seven parameters—proximity of buildings to stations, building materials, distance between buildings, wind speed, temperature, slope and vegetation. Analytical hierarchy process and pairwise comparison were used to weight the parameters based on their relative importance. Weighted sum tool was applied to generate the fire risk maps for the quarters—December to February, March to May, June to August, and September to November from 2008 to 2013. The parameters were overlaid with the buildings in each risk zone for all the four quarters and their influences determined. The highest contributors were proximity of the buildings to stations, building materials and separation between buildings. Most of the affected buildings were made of rusted corrugated iron sheets and wood; the separation distance from one building to another ranged from 0 - 4 m. Most of buildings located within 100 m from stations were at moderate risk level and within 50 m were at highest risk level. The period of December to February and June to August had the highest risk. The findings can be used to guide planners and policy makers on building location vs. material vs. separation. It can also guide developers on where, when and how to carry out their developments.


Abstract Numerous studies have found that suburban residents drive more and walk less than residents in traditional neighbourhoods. What is less well understood is the extent to which the observed patterns of travel behaviour can be attributed to the residential built environment (BE) itself, as opposed to attitude‐induced residential self‐selection. To date, most studies addressing this self‐selection issue fall into nine methodological categories: direct questioning, statistical control, instrumental variables, sample selection, propensity score, joint discrete choice models, structural equations models, mutually dependent discrete choice models and longitudinal designs. This paper reviews 38 empirical studies using these approaches. Virtually all of the studies reviewed found a statistically significant influence of the BE remaining after self‐selection was accounted for. However, the practical importance of that influence was seldom assessed. Although time and resource limitations are recognized, we recommend usage of longitudinal structural equations modelling with control groups, a design which is strong with respect to all causality requisites.


The Russian leadership envisages Russia as a bridge connecting East and West via Asiatic Russia. Nevertheless, this self-image seemingly does not fully correspond to the current trends; moreover, it is unclear what the Russian Government tries to 'bridge' as it has been unable to construct a bridge across the Lena River connecting Yakutsk, the capital of its largest Republic, to Russian mainland. This work attempts to examine both the external and internal dimension for the Russian Far East of Russia's 'turn' to Asia, and the way Sakha Republic experiences the tension between the domestic and international dimensions of this 'turn' to the East.


[1] Analysis of 10 year temperature records collected along the Florida Keys reef tract (FLKRT) reveals strong, regional-scale synchrony in high-frequency temperature variation suggestive of internal wave forcing at predominately semidiurnal frequencies. In each year and at all sites, the amplitude of semidiurnal temperature variation was greatest from March to September, and markedly lower from October to February. Comparisons of the semidiurnal component of the temperature variation among sites suggest complex patterns in the arrival of internal waves, with highest cross correlation among closely spaced sites and synchrony in periods of enhanced internal wave activity across the length of the FLKRT, particularly in summer. The periods of enhanced semidiurnal temperature variation at the 20 and 30 m isobaths on the reef slopes appear to be associated with the dynamics of the Florida Current and the onshore movement of warm fronts preceding the passage of Florida Current frontal eddies. Regional-scale satellite altimetry observations suggest temporal linkages to sea surface height anomalies in the Loop Current (upstream of the Florida Current) and setup of the Tortugas Gyre. The synchronized forcing of cool water onto the reef slope sites across the FLKRT is likely to affect physiological responses to temperature variation in corals and other ectothermic organisms, as well as larval transport and nutrient dynamics with the potential for regionally coherent pulses of larvae and nutrients arriving on reef slopes across the FLKRT.


During the EURATOM FP7 project FREYA, a number of experiments were performed in a critical core assembled in the VENUS-F zero-power reactor able to reproduce the ALFRED lead-cooled fast reactor spectrum in a dedicated island. The experiments dealt with the measurements of integral and local neutronic parameters, such as the core criticality, the control rod and the lead void reactivity worth, the axial distributions of fission rates for the nuclides of major interest in a fast spectrum, the spectral indices of important actinides (238U, 239Pu, 237 Np) with respect to 235U. With the main aim to validate the neutronic codes adopted for the ALFRED core design, the VENUS-F core and its characterization measurements were simulated with both deterministic (ERANOS) and stochastic (MCNP, SERPENT) codes, by adopting different nuclear data libraries (JEFF, ENDF/B, JENDL, TENDL). This paper summarizes the main results obtained by highlighting a general agreement between measurements and simulations, with few discrepancies for some parameters that are discussed here. Additionally, a sensitivity and uncertainty analysis was performed with deterministic methods for the core reactivity: it clearly indicates that the small over-criticality estimated by the different codes/libraries resulted to be lower than the uncertainties due to nuclear data.


Abstract. National Institute of Education (NIE), Singapore is a national teacher education institute with a mission to excel in teacher education and educational research. It is where student teachers in Singapore are trained. Its program consists of undergraduate, higher degrees and professional learning. Geography as a discipline is offered under the Humanities and Social Studies Education (HSSE) an academic group at NIE.An Introduction to GIS course has been offered to second-year pre-service undergraduate and the higher degree level in-service Geography student teachers (STs) at HSSE/NIE. There are a total of 14 STs (eight pre-service and six in-service) aged between 19 and 32 years old. Pre-service STs will become a primary school, secondary school or junior college teachers once they graduate from the undergraduate program from NIE. In-service STs are currently teachers at the above-mentioned education institutions. They are returning to NIE for the higher degree program. They all had no prior experience with GIS. Key GIS theories and techniques including data models, map projection and GPS, spatial join, geo-processing, geo-referencing and digitizing were introduced to them throughout the course.Assignments were given to students to work individually as part of the assessment components. Assignments asked them to create thematic maps showing spatial and temporal distribution of the world's total fertility rates (TFR), issues in Economic Geography and Education related issues by applying GIS theories and techniques learned during the lectures. Upon submitting each assignment, STs were asked to indicate the challenges encountered while completing the assignments and suggestions to solve their problems.The major set challenge for STs was downloading, cleaning, joining table and understanding the attribute tables. STs, especially those who had limited prior experience working with the dataset, found the above-mentioned tasks to be problematic and confusing all together. Those STs had a hard time applying those steps when they need to do the assignment, which required starting the process from scratch.In order to avoid under or over-representation, almost all STs expressed major challenges when it comes to choosing color and number of classes for choropleth maps. STs further emphasized that it required them to know beyond GIS skills in order to make thematic maps meaningfully. For instance, in order to showcase TFR, one needs to understand that TFR of 2.1 is the replacement rate, TFR of 1.5 or below is considered low or in danger in terms of population growth. Therefore, one needs to take those factors into consideration when choosing the cutoff points and the total number of classes.To overcome those challenges, a series of suggestions were provided by STs. For instance, more practices and more exercises of the same nature, pair or group work instead of individual work, allocate more time for each assignment, both instruction manual and video tutorials are needed.This exercise pedagogically provides both STs and me, the instructor, a fresh perspective when it comes to teaching GIS to students. As an instructor, I need to strike the balance between concepts and practices. Furthermore, I need to take student's profiles and prior knowledge into account when planning my lectures in order to leave no one behind. Understanding both concepts and practices of GIS in crucial for STs because they will be teaching GIS upon completing the course. Integration of GIS into primary school, secondary school and junior college will be part of Singapore's smart nation initiative.


This paper examines the challenges of conducting research in secretivecorporate organisational settings where corporate professionals areinformants and gate keepers of the research. It draws on experiences ofnegotiating access to informants and conducting research within regulatoryand Contract Research Organizations (CROs) for a PhD project aimed atexploring the ethical and regulatory issues associated with the conduct offirst-in-human clinical trials in the UK. The explicit ways in which secrecysurrounds the practice of clinical trials, relates to a theory of, and ways of,knowledge production that directly opposes the principles of modernacademia. This brings up important questions for researchers: is it possibleto carry out research while abiding by the values of good research practice,such as transparency, if one's informants or gatekeepers are not open andtransparent? This is because the secrecy in the practice of pharmaceuticalresearch is in sharp contrast to postmodern social research practices in whichsocial scientists believe that the production and distribution of knowledge iskey to resolving social problems. Precisely, this paper explores thechallenges faced by early career researchers (ECRs) in negotiating access andconducting research, and how such settings influence not only the questionsfor the research but the methods to be used as well. Drawing on experiencesin tackling these issues, the paper argues that to carry out research ECRshave to use a swathe of tactics and sometimes depend on luck to gain accessand eventually do their research.


Many data sets contain rich information about objects, as well as pairwise relations between them. For instance, in networks of websites, scientific papers, and other documents, each node has content consisting of a collection of words, as well as hyperlinks or citations to other nodes. In order to perform inference on such data sets, and make predictions and recommendations, it is useful to have models that are able to capture the processes which generate the text at each node and the links between them. In this paper, we combine classic ideas in topic modeling with a variant of the mixed-membership block model recently developed in the statistical physics community. The resulting model has the advantage that its parameters, including the mixture of topics of each document and the resulting overlapping communities, can be inferred with a simple and scalable expectation-maximization algorithm. We test our model on three data sets, performing unsupervised topic classification and link prediction. For both tasks, our model outperforms several existing state-of-the-art methods, achieving higher accuracy with significantly less computation, analyzing a data set with 1.3 million words and 44 thousand links in a few minutes.


Z-scan studies have been carried out on CS2 with a 6.5-ns, doubled Nd:YAG source. Sample thicknesses ranged from the nearly thin- through the thick-sample regime. The data were analyzed with both an analytic theory, correct to first order in irradiance, and a Gaussian Laguerre modal-decomposition modeling approach, correct to all orders. It was found that the n2 values obtained through both methods of analysis were in agreement to within 10%. The results also indicate that a suitable thickness for a self-focusing optical power limiter is six times the Rayleigh length in the medium.


Phase unwrapping recovers the actual surface topography from a calculated phase map, which is often degraded by a combination of surface defects and measurement noise. Prevalent unwrapping techniques are unable to differentiate between the surface and noise-created discontinuities, resulting in an improper surface recovery. In our approach the stochastic nature of the phase map is used by the data-dependent systems (DDS) methodology to separate the surface from noisy measurements. The DDS methodology identifies an adequate autoregressive moving-average model representing the measured phase values. An adaptive thresholding scheme carries out the phase discontinuity removal from the model residuals, employing statistical outlier detection. We then recover the surface by using the model and clean residuals. The proposed technique is found useful for unwrapping especially noisy and degraded phase maps.


Societies have laws, so why should virtual societies be any different? This article is a thought experiment in comparative law, an attempt to lay the necessary conceptual foundations for talking coherently about the internal legal systems of virtual worlds. I identify four recurring problems in virtual worlds, and discuss what we might gain by thinking about these problems as legal ones. First, I discuss virtual property, which has been one of the most spectacularly successful features of massively multiplayer games. Studying the mechanics and meaning of ownership within games has the potential to tell us a great deal about the mechanics and meaning of law in virtual worlds more generally. Second, I discuss the forms of investment and exchange governed by contract law in the real world. Virtual economies seem to be humming along without extensive bodies of contract law. Explaining this absence provides us a useful framework for thinking about wealth and society and how these concepts do or do not change as they go online. Third, I explore the social dynamics of groups of players, specifically how they prevent undesired conduct by others and how they band together for common purposes. Here, the challenge is to find good analogies to similar problems of real-life law. Finally, I turn to one of the most-discussed problems in game design: How does one reassure players that designers' overwhelming powers over game spaces will not be used maliciously? If we look at the corresponding problem from real-life law - how to restrain seemingly unrestrainable sovereign powers - we see that law has a good deal to say about the practical techniques by which a lasting and trusting relationship between seeming unequals can be established.


The IEEE 802.15.4 protocol offers great potential for industrial wireless sensor networks, especially when operating in beacon-enabled mode over star or cluster-tree topologies. However, it is known that beacon collisions can undermine the reliability of cluster-tree networks, causing loss of synchronization between nodes and their coordinator. For this reason, this paper proposes a Multichannel Superframe Scheduling (MSS) algorithm, a novel technique that avoids beacon collisions by scheduling superframes over different radio channels, while maintaining the connectivity of all the clusters. The paper describes the MSS algorithm and addresses the advantages it provides over the time-division superframe scheduling. Analytical results are shown which provide a quantitative estimation of how the schedulability space is improved, while simulation results show that the proposed technique increases the number of schedulable clusters and the maximum cluster density. Finally, this paper proves the feasibility of the proposed approach describing a working implementation based on TinyOS.


We demonstrate theoretically that the efficiency of four-wave mixing (FWM) can be enhanced by more than several orders in monolayer graphene by inserting it in a properly designed photonic crystal (PC). Two kinds of cases are considered. One is monolayer graphene embedded in defect PC, and the other is a stack of monolayer graphene in a dielectric multilayer structure. It is found that a larger enhancement of the efficiency in the FWM from the monolayer graphene can be obtained in two cases. Such an effective enhancement utilizes the improved field localization within the defect state or at the band-edge state. Due to the presence of a feedback mechanism at each interface of the multilayer, we demonstrate that the tunable phase conjugation by an external voltage can be effectively generated when only one pump wave is used.


The mistreatment of seasonal nonagricultural workers brought to the United States through the H-2B program is an area of concern for many immigration and workplace justice advocates. While recent proposed revisions of the H2-B regulations may bring some positive changes in the scheme, the H2-B program remains the same until the regulations are finalized. Examining the structure and flaws of the current H-2B framework shows that H-2B workers face many challenges, both when they try to participate in the program and when they try to challenge unfair treatment by their employers.


There are 884 million people in the world who lack access to safe drinking water; approximately one in eight (3.575 millions) persons die each year from the water-related diseases. The unclean drinking water and filth of sanitation claims more lives by diseases than any war can claim by guns. Poor people living in slums often pay 5-10 times more per liter of water than the wealthy people living in the same vicinity. An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than the per day use of water by an average citizen living in a slum of a developing country. As majority of diseases are caused by fecal matters, in every 20 seconds one child dies due to water-related illness. Non-availability of water at their home, specially drinking water, women living in remote areas have to carry water from wells, water pumps, canals, etc., and those living in cities slums may have to bring it from the government taps, from nearby wealthy homes, etc., and spend about 200 million hours a day in collecting water for their home use. Though, people have to make extra labour to avail water and face health and hygiene problems due to less availability of water; but there is no priority for access of water; in spite, they have a mobile than a proper toilet. In developing countries, due to lack of interest of the community in welfare and involvement in activities, 50 per cent of the water projects have failed. Less than five per cent of them are visited and far less than one per cent is at far longer-monitoring terms. Investment in safe drinking water and sanitation contributes to the economic growth. For one invested Dollar, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates return of $3 to $34, depending on the technology used and the region of investment. Almost, two in every three people who need safe drinking water, survive on less than $2 a day and one in three on less than $1 a day. Households, not public agencies, often make largest investment in the basic sanitation, with the ratio of household to government investment, typically as 10:1. Investment in drinking-water and sanitation would result in 272 million more school attendance, in a year. The value of deaths averted, based on discounted future earnings, would amount to US$ 3.6 billion a year.


UNLABELLED
Introducción: Preoperative nutritional status (NS) has consequences on postoperative (POSTOP) recovery. Our aim was to systematically review the nutritional interventions (NI) in Fast-Track protocols for colorectal cancer surgery and assess morbidity-mortality and patient´s recovery.

METHOD
Systematic review of scientific literature after consulting bibliographic databases: Medline, The Cochrane Library, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, Institute for Scientific Information, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature, The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature. MeSH Descriptors: "Colorectal Surgery", "Fast-Track", "Perioperative Care", "Nutrition Therapy" and "Enhanced recovery programme". Filters: "Humans", Adult (19+ years) and "Clinical Trial". Variables POSTOP outcomes: bowel recovery (BR), hospital stay (HS), complications and death.

RESULTS
Selected studies, 27, had good or excellent methodological quality. From 25 to 597 patients were included. Aged between 16-94 years, men were predominant in 66.6%. NS was evaluated in 13 studies; 7 by Body Mass Index while one by Subjective Global Assessment. One presented POSTOP data. Fast-Track groups had solids, liquids or supplements (SS) in prior 2-8 hours. SS were high in carbohydrates, immune-nutrients and non-residue. Free liquids, solids and SS intake was allowed in POSTOP. Half traditional groups fasted between 3-12 hours and resumed POSTOP food intake progressively.

CONCLUSIONS
Fast-Track groups had early BR (p < 0.01). Traditional groups had more infections episodes, deaths and a longer HS. Great variability between NI but had a common item; early intake. Although was seen patient's recovery. Future studies with detailed NI characteristics are need. Nutritional status must be assessed for a higher acknowledgement of NI impact.


The cryogenic industry has experienced a continuous growth in the last decades, partially sustained by the worldwide development of Liquefaction of Natural Gas (LNG) projects. LNG technology provides an economically feasible way of transporting natural gas over long distances, and currently accounts for nearly 30% of the international trade of this resource. The economic feasibility of these projects, in terms of both capital and operating costs, is to a large extent controlled by the performance of the main cryogenic two-phase flow heat exchanger. This industrial scenario provides then the motivation for a detailed study of the heat exchanger from a design perspective. On the one hand, it is widely accepted that a highly detailed analysis is required at a micro scale to properly take account of the two phase heat transfer process. On the other hand, a process-level description corresponds to larger time and space scales. In general, determining the proper methodology for considering these scales and their interaction remains a challenging problem. For this reason, current techniques focus in only one particular scale. The main objective of this project is then to develop a multiscale model applicable for two-phase flow heat exchangers. In this context, a three-scale framework is postulated. This thesis was divided into macro, meso (medium) and micro scale analysis. First, a macroscopic analysis provides a broad description in terms of overall heat transfer and pressure drop, using simple models without taking into account the details of physical phenomena at lower scales. Second, at mesoscale level, flow in parallel channels is considered following a homogenization approach, thus including the effects of flow maldistribution and partial mixing. Third, the microscopic description conceives a phenomenological representation of boiling flows, following multifluid formulations, for two specific flow patterns: annular-mist and post-dryout regimes. Finally, a multiscale design algorithm is proposed.


Using the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) as a laboratory, this paper examines the impacts of bank bailouts on bank-dependent clients. We find that large TARP recipient banks reduce credit supply to dependent borrowers in the post-TARP period. Such effect is more pronounced when recipient banks hoard more liquidity ex-post. We further show that a large fraction of credit supply reduction is due to regulatory uncertainty. This negative shock via credit channel causes dependent borrowers to become more constrained financially. Ex-ante analysis also reveals a significant valuation loss for these borrowers around the announcements of their main banks' TARP approvals.


Coastline recession is one of the best indicators of coastal erosion. Three methods for computing coastline recession – the baseline approach, the dynamic segmentation approach and the area‐based approach – have been used, each of which has one or more drawbacks. To overcome these problems, a new methodology for measuring coastline recession is proposed, using buffering and non‐linear least squares estimation. The proposed method was compared with the three existing methods with respect to two simulated cases and two real coastlines. Test results confirmed that the new method is more reliable than the three other methods, all of which are susceptible to variability of recession, scale, number of line segments, length of coastlines and direction of the baseline. The proposed method, incorporating two physically meaningful values – magnitude and variability of coastline recession according to the mean and standard deviation of coastline offsets, respectively – presents itself as an effective alternative method of assessing coastline recession.


BACKGROUND
Benign tremulous parkinsonism has never been precisely defined nor has the long-term course been studied.

OBJECTIVE
To report the clinical features and longitudinal course of patients with benign tremulous parkinsonism encountered in our movement disorders practice.

DESIGN
Computer search of medical records database.

SETTING
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.

PATIENTS
Of 116 patients identified, 16 (10 male and 6 female) had at least an 8-year history of this disease, had been examined by a senior movement disorders specialist, and had ultimately been diagnosed as having benign tremulous parkinsonism after an initial diagnosis of Parkinson disease (PD).

INTERVENTIONS
None.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Age at onset of disease, response to levodopa therapy, tremor characteristics, and family history.

RESULTS
Mean disease duration was 11 years (range, 8-25 years) at last follow-up. Mean age at onset, 58.5 years, was younger than in most PD series, and most patients had a poor levodopa response (although levodopa trials were inadequate in some). A moderate to marked postural tremor was noted in 13 of the 16 patients, including 6 with a kinetic tremor. A family history of PD and/or tremor was reported in 10 (63%) of our patients. Three patients required thalamic deep brain surgery to treat their tremor.

CONCLUSIONS
Benign tremulous parkinsonism may be a distinct clinical entity characterized by tremor predominance plus minimal progression of other aspects of parkinsonism. The tremor is often not very responsive to levodopa therapy. In this series, most patients had immediate family members with a diagnosis of tremor or PD.


This book presents the research of the 'Sydney School' in language and literacy pedagogy. Widely known as genre-based pedagogy, the research is cutting-edge, but is built on 30 years of developments in the field, in a unique collaboration between functional linguists and literacy educators. This collaboration has transformed linguistic and pedagogic theory into a powerful, comprehensive methodology for embedding literacy teaching in educational practice. The book is written to be useful for practitioners, researchers and students, building up pedagogic, linguistic and social theory in steps, contextualized within teaching practice. Topics covered include the genre-based writing pedagogy, genres across the school curriculum, pedagogy for learning through reading, and the pedagogic metalanguage developed in the research. On one hand this volume offers educators an unparalleled set of strategies for transforming educational outcomes; on the other it offers researchers powerful tools for investigating and redesigning educational practice.


In her more recent work, Chantal Mouffe enters into what she calls a 'dialogue' with Carl Schmitt on the political. So far, interpretations of this dialogue suggest that Mouffe attempts to revise Schmitt's friend/enemy-distinction and carve out a theory of agonistic pluralism. An interpretation on these grounds, this article argues, reduces the dialogue to its analytical dimension and cannot comfortably be upheld. Mouffe indeed appropriates Schmitt's friend/enemy-distinction, but she also gets inspired by the metatheoretical facet of his intellectual heritage with the result that her theory becomes organically interwoven with a polemical dimension. Rather than aiming at a post-structuralist defanging of Schmitt's conception of the political, Mouffe recontextualizes and applies it to the current academic discourse, for this allows decontesting her radical pluralist cause by establishing a we/them opposition along a political/post-political divide.


The combined effects of shoot pruning (one or two stems) and inflorescence thinning (five or ten flowers per inflorescence) on greenhouse tomato yield and fruit quality were studied during the dry season (DS) and rainy season (RS) in Central Thailand. Poor fruit set, development of undersized (mostly parthenocarpic) fruits, as well as the physiological disorders blossom-end rot (BER) and fruit cracking (FC) turned out to be the prevailing causes deteriorating fruit yield and quality. The proportion of marketable fruits was less than 10% in the RS and around 65% in the DS. In both seasons, total yield was significantly increased when plants were cultivated with two stems, resulting in higher marketable yields only in the DS. While the fraction of undersized fruits was increased in both seasons when plants were grown with a secondary stem, the proportions of BER and FC were significantly reduced. Restricting the number of flowers per inflorescence invariably resulted in reduced total yield. However, in neither season did fruit load considerably affect quantity or proportion of the marketable yield fraction. Inflorescence thinning tended to promote BER and FC, an effect which was only significant for BER in the RS. In conclusion, for greenhouse tomato production under climate conditions as they are prevalent in Central Thailand, the cultivation with two stems appears to be highly recommendable whereas the measures to control fruit load tested in this study did not proof to be advisable.


Road accidents are a significant source of community costs associated with transport operations. More than a quarter of all wet-road accident in the Malaysia is related to skidding conditions, conditions which could be avoided if application of exact road technologies. Therefore, a study is done to know the skidding performance of Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) during rainfall. The main objective of this study is to measure skid performance of SMA under various conditions which is different rainfall intensity and different crossfall percentage. The test result is compared to the skidding performance of ACW from previous study. This study use rainfall simulator in order to simulate different rainfall intensity and different percentage of crossfall. The Portable Skid Tester was used during rainfall for measurement of skid performance. Sand Patch Method is applied on road surface for determining the texture depth of SMA 14. Results from this study shows that, at crossfall between 0% - 4%, the skid resistance for SMA14 is higher than ACW14. However at high crossfall between 6% - 10%, the skid resistance for ACW14 is higher than SMA14.


Abstract Statistical parsers often require careful parameter tuning and feature selection. This is a nontrivial task for application developers who are not interested in parsing for its own sake, and it can be time-consuming even for experienced researchers. In this paper we present MaltOptimizer, a tool developed to automatically explore parameters and features for MaltParser, a transition-based dependency parsing system that can be used to train parser's given treebank data. MaltParser provides a wide range of parameters for optimization, including nine different parsing algorithms, an expressive feature specification language that can be used to define arbitrarily rich feature models, and two machine learning libraries, each with their own parameters. MaltOptimizer is an interactive system that performs parser optimization in three stages. First, it performs an analysis of the training set in order to select a suitable starting point for optimization. Second, it selects the best parsing algorithm and tunes the parameters of this algorithm. Finally, it performs feature selection and tunes machine learning parameters. Experiments on a wide range of data sets show that MaltOptimizer quickly produces models that consistently outperform default settings and often approach the accuracy achieved through careful manual optimization.


In this paper a framework for assessing the robustness of existing reinforced concrete structures under corrosion is presented. Robustness is defined as a structural property related to the tolerance to damage and is measured by ithe mean performance considering all possible damage scenarios. The proposed methodology is driven to meet the requirements of the structural maintenance interventions in the real lite, as it can be used to define the structural types with longer lifecycles (including both deterioration and loading) or, alternatively, those which may present longer time interval between maintenance/strengthening operations. This is an important issue
when dealing with the life-cycle management of existing deteriorated structures. In fact, when facing limited funding for the management of a large stock of bridges, the crucial question is whether postponing a specific repair/strengthening work increases the repair cost disproportionately. Firstly, a robustness index based on the deterioration process is proposed and explained. Secondly, the application to two real bridges shows how this index may help to
solve the question and to see which bridges are more sensitive to a postponing of the maintenance works, based on a life-cycle approach.


The Bahia Blanca Estuary is located in southern Buenos Aires province, Argentina. The area is linked to a petrochemical industrial complex, whose raw materials and final products contaminate the surrounding areas via atmospheric pollution and effluents, which are dumped in the estuary waters. To establish the effects of the industrial waste disposal on the nearest coastal soils, 17 samples were taken at different distances from the loading dock and the outfall pipes of the industrial complex. Later, the physicochemical characteristics of the soil samples, their hydrocarbon contents, sulfides, sulfates, Zn, Cu, and Pb were analyzed and a comparison was made to control samples, which were not affected by the industrial outfall. Hydrocarbons, Zn, Cu, and Pb contents were found at levels that modified the physical and chemical characteristics of the soils. The resistance to penetration shows that the thinner the film of water that surrounds the particles or aggregates, the smaller the migration of organic micelle, which settle on the surface of the contact material. This is demonstrated by the degree of cohesion reached by the particles and the strong influence on the index of hydrophobicity. The high porosity shows that the continuity of the porous space of the soil matrix is impeded by the presence of pollutants, which generate areas that are highly limiting to water flow. The oxidation-reduction potential and the low concentrations of soluble forms of Cu and Pb compared with their concentrations precipitated as sulfides confirm the action of the pollutants.