Restoration of the sympathovagal (S/V) balance, involving a lowering of sympathetic and/or an augmentation of vagal modulation or a combination of both is associated with improvements in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. To determine whether acupuncture exerts a favorable influence upon resting blood pressure and sympathovagal balance, a single-blind cross-over investigation was used to study the acute effects of acupuncture on S/V balance in normal healthy subjects. The ANOVA revealed a significant lowering of the sympathovagal balance (LF:HF) during rest for the acupuncture treatment from pre (4 +/- 2 nu) to post (2.2 +/- 1.8 nu)(p < 0.05). No such change was seen during sham treatment. The ANOVA revealed significant differences in systolic blood pressures during rest (114 +/- 4 vs. 108 +/- 3 mmHg) for the acupuncture treatment (p < 0.05). No significance was found during the sham treatment. The ANOVA failed to reveal any significant improvements in sympathovagal balance during the sustained isometric contraction. The clinical significance of these findings appears to suggest that acupuncture treatment might be beneficial in lowering blood pressure at rest. Furthermore, the lowering of the blood pressure might be in part due to a lowering of the sympathovagal balance. These findings are of importance since acupuncture treatments are non-pharmacological and have no known detrimental side-effects. This investigation employed healthy volunteers, yet acupuncture has been found to have more potent effects in animal models of hypertension and or in the presence of an autonomic imbalance.


Background: Frequent users of primary care have not been adequately characterized. The unique characteristics of this population was sought—why they come so often, what their care costs, and whether psychosocial factors play a role in their high utilization of health care. Methods: The billing system of a rural primary care clinic was used to find the frequency of visits for all patients attending the clinic for the previous 12 months. The 211 most frequent visitors were selected. A comparison group of 250 patients was drawn from the billing records using a random number generator. Charts were reviewed to compare diagnoses (by frequency), number of procedures, amount billed for care, amount received from those billings, number of psychotropic medications prescribed, and response to medication. A subgroup of each group was interviewed to confirm chart review findings and to inquire about personal reasons for coming to the clinic. Results: Compared with patients who were random users, patients who were frequent users were more likely to come from the younger and older age groups, they averaged significantly more emergency department visits and visits to other specialists (P < 0.0001), and they had more mental health problems diagnosed (P < 0.01). Significantly more frequent users were insured by Medicaid and fewer were insured by Medicare. They had more detailed office visits and more laboratory tests. They received twice as much psychotherapy and had a higher percentage of problem-focused office visits. Chart audits and interviews of selected patients revealed that many nonmedical reasons were related to visits in addition to psychosocial stressors. Conclusions: Nonmedical factors are important among the most frequent users of a primary care clinic. Proposals to improve care for frequent users should consider the psychosocial needs of this population.


Evidence-based medicine (EBM) requires appropriate information to be available to clinicians at the point of care. Electronic sources of information may fulfill this need but require a high level of skill to use successfully. This paper describes the rationale and initial testing of a system to allow collaborative search and ontology construction for professional groups in the health sector. The approach is based around the use of a browser using a fuzzy ontology based on the National Library of Medicine (NLM) Unified Medical Language System (UMLS). This approach may provide high quality information for professionals in the future.


A description is provided of the performance of the CMS detector for photon reconstruction and identification in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV at the CERN LHC. Details are given on the reconstruction of photons from energy deposits in the electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) and the extraction of photon energy estimates. The reconstruction of electron tracks from photons that convert to electrons in the CMS tracker is also described, as is the optimization of the photon energy reconstruction and its accurate modelling in simulation, in the analysis of the Higgs boson decay into two photons. In the barrel section of the ECAL, an energy resolution of about 1% is achieved for unconverted or late-converting photons from H→γγ decays. Different photon identification methods are discussed and their corresponding selection efficiencies in data are compared with those found in simulated events.


Correspondence to Sang-Il Lee, M.D. Department of Internal Medicine, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, 79 Gangnam-ro, Jinju 52727, Korea Tel: +82-55-750-8853 Fax: +82-55-758-9122 E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Thank you for your interest in the article entitled "Medication nonadherence in Korean patients with rheumatoid arthritis: the importance of belief about medication and illness perception" and your comments. First, we divided into two groups, unintentional and intentional group, and if a patient has both intentional nonadherence behavior and unintentional nonadherence behavior, we classified them as unintentional nonadherence group. This is because we focus on intentional nonadherence, which can be improved rather than unintentional nonadherence. Secondly, we measured adherence by the tools presented in the reference literature [1] and that was validated. Finally, it was difficult to assess adherence with each drug because we investigated adherence through the questionnaire, the patient was unable to distinguish between drugs. Instead, we analyzed adherence with daily medication (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and/or disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs group), once a week medication (methotrexate group), and biological medication. We appreciate your interests in our article and we hope that our explanation has addressed your questions.


"Every graph of order three or more is reconstructible." Frank Harary restated one of the most famous unsolved problems in graph theory. In the early 1900's, while one was working on his doctoral dissertation, two mathematicians made a conjecture about the reconstructibility of graphs. This came to be known as the Reconstruction Conjecture or the Kelly-Ulam Conjecture. The conjecture states: Let G and H be graphs with V(G) = {v_1, v_2, ..., v_n}, V(H) = {u_1, u_2, ..., u_n}, n greater than or equal to 3. If G - v_i is isomorphic to H - u_i for all i = 1, ..., n, then G is isomorphic to H. Much progress has been made toward showing that this statement is true for all graphs. This paper will discuss some of that progress, including some of the families of graphs which we know that the conjecture is true. Another big field of interest about the Reconstruction Conjecture is the information that is retained by a graph when we begin looking at its vertex-deleted subgraphs. Many graph theorists believe that this may show us more about the conjecture as a whole. While working on a possible proof to the Reconstruction Conjecture, many mathematicians began to think about different approaches. One approach that was fairly common was to relate the Reconstruction Conjecture to edges of a graph instead of the vertices. People realized that when deleting only one edge of a graph, then logically more information about the original graph would be retained.


The Low-Background Infrared (LBIR) facility at NIST has recently completed construction of an infrared transfer radiometer with an integrated cryogenic Fourier transform spectrometer (Cryo-FTS). This mobile system can be deployed to customer sites for broadband and spectral calibrations of space chambers and low-background HWIL testbeds. The Missile Defense Transfer Radiometer (MDXR) has many of the capabilities of a complete IR calibration facility and will replace our existing filter-based transfer radiometer (BXR) as the NIST standard detector deployed to MDA facilities. The MDXR features numerous improvements over the BXR, including: a cryogenic Fourier transform spectrometer, an on-board absolute cryogenic radiometer (ACR), an internal blackbody reference, and an integrated collimator. The Cryo-FTS can be used to measure high resolution spectra from 4 to 20 micrometers, using a Si:As blocked-impurity-band (BIB) detector. The on-board ACR can be used for self-calibration of the MDXR BIB as well as for absolute measurements of infrared sources. A set of filter wheels and a rotating polarizer within the MDXR allow for filter-based and polarization-sensitive measurements. The optical design of the MDXR makes both radiance and irradiance measurements possible and enables calibration of both divergent and collimated sources. Details of the various MDXR components will be presented as well as initial testing data on their performance.


Hybrid glass materials are used in the photolithographic fabrication of optical and optomechanical structures. Two different photolithographic hybrid glass processing methods are described. The first one is referred as photolithographic patterning and the second as direct photolithographic deforming of hybrid glass materials. No etch transfer of the photoimaged structures is needed. In the latter method even the chemical development step can be excluded from the fabrication. Fabrication of lens-arrays, gratings and other binary structures is presented. The synthesized hybrid glass materials feature minimum optical transmission of 97% at wavelengths ranging from 450 nm to 1600 nm and refractive index of, e.g., 1.53 at 632.8 nm. The photolithographic patterning resulted in structure heights in excess of 180 /spl mu/m with rms surface roughness values ranging from 10 to 45 nm. The direct photolithographic deforming resulted in structure heights in excess of 27 /spl mu/m with rms surface roughness values ranging from 1 and 15 nm.


The demand for collaborative robots is growing in industrial environments due to their versatility and low prices. Thus, more collaborative solutions are emerging for industrial scenarios. However, implementing scenarios where robots work autonomously while synchronizing their operations in a safe industrial environment with shopfloor workers is not easy. To fill the gap existing in the safe implementation of industrial collaborative scenarios, this manuscript presents a review based on five identified challenges that gathers the primary vital aspects to bear in mind while developing applications for them. Thus, a four-level classification is proposed, which collects the identified challenges and the previous developments in the field of human-robot interaction. The five identified challenges pretends to be the missing enabling key for implementing industrial collaborative scenarios in modern industrial plants. Lastly, a discussion and conclusion are exposed to analyze the degree of development in the field and its potential growth.


In Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone of Nevada v. United States Department of the Interior, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reviewed claims that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) when it approved an amended exploration project in northeastern Nevada. The Court defined certain requirements under NEPA, namely the assessment of cumulative impacts. The Court also discussed the scope of the NHPA's requirements to protect only discrete historic locations and the FLPMA's limited application in exploration activities as opposed to mining activities.


Motivation: Throughout the recent years, 454 pyrosequencing has emerged as an efficient alternative to traditional Sanger sequencing and is widely used in both de novo whole-genome sequencing and metagenomics. Especially the latter application is extremely sensitive to sequencing errors and artificially duplicated reads. Both are common in 454 pyrosequencing and can create a strong bias in the estimation of diversity and composition of a sample. To date, there are several tools that aim to remove both sequencing noise and duplicates. Nevertheless, duplicate removal is often based on nucleotide sequences rather than on the underlying flow values, which contain additional information. Results: With the novel tool JATAC, we present an approach towards a more accurate duplicate removal by analysing flow values directly. Making use of previous findings on 454 flow data characteristics, we combine read clustering with Bayesian distance measures. Finally, we provide a benchmark with an existing algorithm. Availability: JATAC is freely available under the General Public License from http://malde.org/ketil/jatac/. Contact: email@example.com Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online


When selling complementary products, manufacturers can often benefit from considering the resulting cross‐market interdependencies. Although using independent retailers makes it difficult to internalize these positive externalities, the ensuing double marginalization can mitigate within‐market competition. We use standard game theoretic analysis to determine optimal distribution channel strategies (through independent retailers or integrated) for competing manufacturers who participate in markets for complements. Our results suggest that a firm's optimal channel choice is highly dependent on its competitive positioning. A firm with a competitive advantage in terms of product characteristics (customer preferences) or production capabilities (cost) might benefit from selling through company‐controlled stores, allowing coordinated pricing across the two markets, whereas a less competitive firm might be better off using independent channel intermediaries to mitigate price competition. We consider two scenarios depending on whether the two firms make their distribution channel decisions sequentially or simultaneously. Although firms are unlikely to make such decisions at exactly the same instant, the simultaneous model also serves as a proxy for the scenario where firms decide sequentially, but where they cannot observe each other's strategic channel choices. For the sequential case, we find that the sequence of entry can have tremendous impact on the two firms'profits; whereas in some cases, the first mover can achieve substantially higher profits, we find that when the two markets are of sufficiently different size and only loosely related, a firm with a competitive advantage might be better off as a follower. Interestingly, our results suggest that, when the markets are of rather similar size, both firms are better off if they enter the industry sequentially. In those cases, the first entrant has incentive to reveal its planned channel strategies, and the follower has incentive to seek out and consider this information. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2010


The thesis investigates the value of quantitative analyses for historical studies of science through an examination of research trends in insect pest control, or economic entomology. Reviews are made of quantitative studies of science, and historical studies of pest control. The methodological strengths and weaknesses of bibliometric techniques are examined in a special chapter; techniques examined include productivity studies such as paper counts, and relational techniques such as co-citation and co-word analysis. Insect pest control is described. This includes a discussion of the socio-economic basis of the concept of `pest'; a series of classifications of pest control techniques are provided and analysed with respect to their utility for scientometric studies. The chemical and biological approaches to control are discussed as scientific and technological paradigms. Three case studies of research trends in economic entomology are provided. First a scientometric analysis of samples of chemical control and biological control papers; providing quantitative data on institutional, financial, national, and journal structures associated with pest control research fields. Second, a content analysis of a core journal, the Journal of Economic Entomology, over a period of 1910-1985; this identifies the main research innovations and trends, in particular the changing balance between chemical and biological control. Third, an analysis of historical research trends in insecticide research; this shows the rise, maturity and decline of research of many groups of compounds. These are supplemented by a collection of seven papers on scientometric studies of pest control and quantitative techniques for analysing science.


Abstract:Uganda enjoys the reputation of a fairly stable nation amidst the chaos of the Great Lakes Region. President Museveni has been hailed as leader among a "new breed" of African leaders who will transform the continent to shed its image of poverty, disease and war. Between 1986 and 1994 Uganda's human rights record and economic recovery were remarkable. From 1994, government started a web of constitutional provisions, laws and regulations that entrenched one-man rule. In 2004, government proposes to amend the Constitution to enable Museveni to rule for life, which will add him to a long list of African sittight dictators.


The aim of this study is to adapt the Self- consciousness Scale (Mittal & Balasubramanian, 1987) to Turkish and to examine its psychometric properties. Participants were 740 university students from Sakarya University. In this study firstly, the language equivalency between English and Turkish forms were tested. After that exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, Internal consistency coefficients, and test-retest reliabilities, corrected item-total correlations and t-tests between items' means of upper 27%-lover 27% points of the Turkish form were examined. Results showed that the scale called Self-consciosness Scale as a valid and reliable instrument can be used in the fields of psychology and education.


This paper uses Consumer Expenditure Survey data and a seminonparametric statistical model to estimate life cycle profiles of consumption, controlling for demographics, cohort, and time effects. We construct age profiles for total and nondurable consumption as well as expenditure patterns for consumer durables. Special emphasis is placed on the comparison of different approaches to control for changes in demographics over the life cycle. We find significant humps over the life cycle for total, nondurable, and durable expenditures. Changes in household size account for roughly half of these humps. Bootstrap simulations suggest that our empirical estimates are tight in that standard errors are small.


Recent field studies indicate that dinoflagellates are key degraders of copepod fecal pellets. This study is the first to publish direct evidence of pellet grazing by dinoflagellates. Feeding and growth on copepod fecal pellets were studied for both heterotrophic (4 species) and mixotrophic dinoflagellates (3 species) using a combination of classic incubation experiments and video recordings of feeding behavior. Fecal pellets were produced by adult Acartia tonsa feeding on Rhodomonas salina. Two mixotrophic species (Karlodinium armiger, a gymnodinoid dinoflagellate, Gy1) and all heterotrophic dinoflagellates (Gyrodinium dominans, Gyrodinium spirale, Diplopsalis lenticula, Protoperidinium depressum) studied fed on fecal pellets. Using natural concentrations of dinoflagellates and copepod fecal pellets, average ingestion rates of 0.2 and 0.1 pellets cell �1 d �1 and clearance rates of between 0.2 and 0.3 ml cell �1 d �1 were obtained for G. spirale and P. depressum, re- spectively. Pellet feeding resulted in average growth rates of 0.69 and 0.08 d �1 with growth yields of 0.58 and 0.50 for G. spirale and P. depressum. Important factors for the grazing impact of the dinofla- gellates on fecal pellets in this study were: dinoflagellate concentration, the dinoflagellate-to-pellet size ratio, the feeding mechanism, pellet food source, and pellet age. This study reveals a new trophic role for dinoflagellates as detritivores, and shows that large (>20 µm) heterotrophic dinoflagellates alone can account for reported pellet degradation rates in field studies. Thus, dinoflagellates can function as an effective 'protozoan filter' for fecal pellets in the water column.


In the absence of third party and prepayment systems such as health insurance and tax-based healthcare financing, households in many low-income countries are exposed to the financial risks of paying large medical bills from out-of-pocket. In recent years, community based health insurance schemes have become popular alternatives to fill such void in the healthcare financing systems. This paper investigates the impact of these schemes on out-of-pocket spending based on three rounds of nationally representative data from Rwanda. We estimate an Extended Two-Part Model to address endogeniety in insurance enrollment and censoring in healthcare expenditure data. We find that community based health insurance program has non-linear and mixed impacts on out-of-pocket expenditure. While the program significantly increases the probability of overall spending, it decreases the amount of per capita spending on healthcare. The program also significantly reduces spending on drug but increases outpatient spending with no detectable impact on inpatient services. Furthermore, we find notable heterogeneity in treatment effects in which households in the top income distribution realize the highest reduction in out-of-pocket spending.


This paper presents an evaluation of the use of a high-level language (HLL) with garbage collection to implement a monolithic POSIX-style kernel. The goal is to explore if it is reasonable to use an HLL instead of C for such kernels, by examining performance costs, implementation challenges, and programmability and safety benefits.

The paper contributes Biscuit, a kernel written in Go that implements enough of POSIX (virtual memory, mmap, TCP/IP sockets, a logging file system, poll, etc.) to execute significant applications. Biscuit makes liberal use of Go's HLL features (closures, channels, maps, interfaces, garbage collected heap allocation), which subjectively made programming easier. The most challenging puzzle was handling the possibility of running out of kernel heap memory; Biscuit benefited from the analyzability of Go source to address this challenge.

On a set of kernel-intensive benchmarks (including NGINX and Redis) the fraction of kernel CPU time Biscuit spends on HLL features (primarily garbage collection and thread stack expansion checks) ranges up to 13%. The longest single GC-related pause suffered by NGINX was 115 microseconds; the longest observed sum of GC delays to a complete NGINX client request was 600 microseconds. In experiments comparing nearly identical system call, page fault, and context switch code paths written in Go and C, the Go version was 5% to 15% slower.


The main objective of this paper is to calculate the distribution of the tax burden across income levels in Spain between 1960 and 1990. The chosen period covers the final years of Franco's dictatorship and the first ones of the present parliamentary regime, and is thus meant to explore how political change was reflected on taxation. Does transition entail a fiscal revolution? Here is one case study developed and compared to other national experiences. Effective tax reform seems to have been politically blocked during the dictatorship, with public budgets growing fundamentally on the grounds of social security contributions. Democracy brought about a comprehensive transformation starting in 1977, which aimed at improving fairness (progressivity) and increasing revenue (to fund the development of the Welfare State). In this work I analyze whether the reforms entailed effective changes in the distribution of the tax burden, by imputing tax collection to taxpayers, based on income and consumption micro-data from Household Budget Surveys. The results show a persistent (albeit decreasing) regressivity in the tax system, which caused an increasingly negative redistribution of income. Pre-Tax incomes grew unequal during the period and net incomes even more so as a result: the tax reform did not fulfill its equalizing promises. The joint effect of the fiscal system, however, seems to have been slightly positive due to progressive social spending.


Intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films can yield in outstanding electronic surface passivation of crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafers as utilized in the HIT (heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer) solar cells. We have studied the correlation between the passivation quality and the interface nature between thin amorphous layers and an underlying c-Si substrate for understanding the passivation mechanism. We found that a thin ( 5nm) intrinsic layer is inhomogeneous along the growth direction with the presence of a hydrogen rich layer at the interface and that completely amorphous films result in better passivation quality and device performance than an epitaxial layer. Post annealing improves carrier lifetime for the amorphous layer, whereas the annealing is detrimental for the epitaxial layer. We have also found that the passivation quality of intrinsic a-Si:H(i) film deteriorates severely by the presence of a boron-doped a-Si:H(p+) overlayer due to Si-H rupture in the a- Si:H(i) film. Finally, for a passivation layer in the hetero-junction structure, a-Si1-xOx will be demonstrated in comparison with a-Si:H.


: This article studies the demand for one particular component of the money stock, currency, in Malta in the light of the existing theoretical and empirical frameworks. In particular, it argues that the commonly applied analytical framework needs to be tweaked slightly for it to explain better the reasons underpinning the relatively high currency demand in Malta compared with other euro area countries. In particular, the presence of a large tourism sector is likely to be boosting demand beyond what one would expect. Similarly the presence of a significant shadow economy appears to be exerting some influence on the magnitude of currency holdings. That said, this study suggests that there is scope for a number of policies which could lead to lower demand for notes, particularly measures to facilitate the use of electronic means of payment and efforts to discourage the shadow economy.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the frequency of mutations of the H-ras gene in transitional cell carcinomas of the human urinary bladder using direct DNA sequencing based on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method and to compare the results with those of other methods. In addition, the relationship of the mutation frequency to tumour stage and grade was examined.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Bladder tumour samples, taken by cystoscopic resection from 50 patients with newly diagnosed transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder, were analysed by PCR-based direct DNA sequencing for point mutations in the H-ras gene at codon 12.

RESULTS
Point mutations were found in 9 of 50 tumours examined (18%). The most frequent mutation (8/9) was a G to T transversion converting GGC to GTC, which would result in a glycine to valine substitution. The remaining mutations was a G to A transition altering GGC to GAC, producing a glycine to aspartic acid substitution, which has not previously been reported in bladder cancer. In all tumour samples examined the wild-type allele (GGC) was also evident. Variation in the proportion of wild-type to mutated sequence was found within tumour samples. No relationship between mutations and tumor grade and stage was apparent.

CONCLUSION
The frequency of H-ras mutations detected in this first large scale study using the highly sensitive and rapid PCR-based sequencing method was comparable to that reported by earlier studies with the nude mouse tumorigenesis variation of the 3T3 transfection assay. H-ras mutations can be early events in the development and progression of a significant proportion of human bladder cancer cases.


ABSTRACT Small firms can expect to face increasing human resource related pressures due to changes in America's labor and economic environments. This study examined forecasted human resource changes by comparing and contrasting anticipated predicted workforce, organizational adjustments, and employee benefits of various size small firms. Also, it addressed whether a relationship exists between forecasts and firm size. The results indicated that firms have varying expectations for the year 2000. Organizational size appeared to influence respondents' attitudes, though the results were not uniform. Smaller-sized firms tended to support maintaining a status quo internally, with relatively few changes within their respective labor markets. INTRODUCTION As America approaches a new century, more attention is being given to the importance of small firms. Many expect the nation's economic growth to be in organizations of less than 200 employees. Management within small businesses faces increasing pressures due to changes in America's labor and economic environments. Some of the changes include intensified global competition; integrating work and family needs; use of advanced technology; demands for workers' education and training; and, more women, minorities, and immigrants entering the workforce (Duffy, 1988; Belous, 1989). Continuing workforce changes call for smaller entities, like their larger counterparts, to properly plan as well as effectively manage human resources. Proficient short- and long-term human resource planning greatly depends upon their underlying forecasts. A literature review of successful and unsuccessful small businesses supports the importance of thorough environmental scanning and analysis in planning practices (for example, see Bracker & Pearson, 1986 and Bracker, Keats, & Pearson, 1988). Bracker et al. concluded that a firm's success may well depend upon planning activities that are "well-developed, properly implemented, and controlled . . ." (p. 591). Human resource management is a critical part of entrepreneurship and the small business owner/manager must be aware of likely changes in resources needed to operate the enterprise. Indeed, practically all firms' ability to compete and survive depends upon how well they manage internal and external people-related issues. Forecasting and planning for workforce changes are important factors in effective human resource management. Several studies have echoed the need for small businesses to devote greater attention to the management of human resources. See, for example, Hornsby and Kuratko's (1990) examination of current critical issues in the 1990s; the emerging importance of employment-at-will (Holley and Wolters, 1987); and Fairfield-Sonn's (1987) linking of strategic planning and training programs. Anecdotal evidence suggests that, like planning, forecasts differ due to organizational size. Size mainly determines the resources available to develop human resource forecasts used in organizational planning. This limitation leads to errors such as the firm's perception as to the availability of needed human resources in the 1990s. Since small businesses provide a significant share of the nation's economic growth, these perceptual errors (if such errors actually exist) could have severe economic consequences. This paper has three objectives: (1) to examine the relationship between human resource forecasts and firm size, (2) to buttress this study's findings against forecasts reported by other sources, and (3) to analyze the realistic nature of perceptions held by those responsible for human resource management in smaller firms. The size objective relates to the premise that a firm's size determines to a large extent its perceptions of future internal and external changes related to human resource. This investigation undertook to establish if, indeed, differences existed in human resource projections-encompassing year 2000 workforce diversity, employee shortages, organizational programs and policies, and employee benefits. …


Recent merger decisions by competition authorities have revived the debate on the relationship between competition and innovation. This article reviews this issue by drawing on the relevant economic literature, and by placing it in the broader policy debate on the benefits of competitive markets. The economic literature provides general principles that can guide the competition assessment of the impact of a merger on dynamic competition, including its effects on innovation.


The Mission Data System provides a framework for modeling complex systems in terms of system behaviors and goals that express intent. Complex activity plans can be represented as goal networks that express the coordination of goals on different state variables of the system. Real-time projection extends the ability of this system to verify plan achievability (all goals can be satisfied over the entire plan) into the execution domain so that the system is able to continuously re-verify a plan as it is executed, and as the states of the system change in response to goals and the environment. Previous versions were able to detect and respond to goal violations when they actually occur during execution. This new capability enables the prediction of future goal failures; specifically, goals that were previously found to be achievable but are no longer achievable due to unanticipated faults or environmental conditions. Early detection of such situations enables operators or an autonomous fault response capability to deal with the problem at a point that maximizes the available options. For example, this system has been applied to the problem of managing battery energy on a lunar rover as it is used to explore the Moon. Astronauts drive the rover to waypoints and conduct science observations according to a plan that is scheduled and verified to be achievable with the energy resources available. As the astronauts execute this plan, the system uses this new capability to continuously re-verify the plan as energy is consumed to ensure that the battery will never be depleted below safe levels across the entire plan.


This short masterwork in twentieth-century philosophy provides both a major reinterpretation of Hegel and insight into the evolution of Adorno's critical theory. The first study focuses on the relationship of reason, the individual, and society in Hegel, defending him against the criticism that he was merely an apologist for bourgeois society. The second study examines the experiential content of Hegel's idealism, considering the notion of experience in relation to immediacy, empirical reality, science, and society. The third study, "Skoteinos," is an unusual and fascinating essay in which Adorno lays out his thoughts on understanding Hegel. In his reflections, which spring from his experience teaching at the Goethe University in Frankfurt, questions of textual and philosophical interpretation are intertwined.Rescuing the truth value of Hegel's work is a recurring theme of the critical theory of the Frankfurt School, and nowhere is this goal pursued with more insight than in these three studies. The core problem Adorno sets for himself is how to read Hegel in a way that comprehends both the work and its historical context, thereby allowing conclusions to be drawn that may seem on the surface to be exactly opposed to what Hegel wrote but that are, nevertheless, valid as the present truth of the work. It is the elaboration of this method of interpretation, a negative dialectic, that was Adorno's underlying goal.Adorno's efforts to salvage the contemporaneity of Hegel's thought form part of his response to the increasingly tight net of social control in the aftermath of World War II. In this, his work is related to the very different attempts to undermine reified thinking undertaken by the various French theorists. The continued development of what Adorno called "the administered world" has only increased the relevance of his efforts.


The nonviolent February 1986 EDSA Revolution ushered in a transition period from an authoritarian regime towards democratic one. This paper focuses on the interface of three basic factors in the Philippine context: the alternative vision, the immediate problems, and the concrete internal and external conditions, which either limit or actualize the possibilities of social transformation. The revolution, which, came about as an unintended product of a failed coup attempt and a coalition of different groups, placed the Aquino administration in charge. The events that followed saw various moves to rectify the repressions of the previous administration such as restoring the freedom of the press and abolishing all the repressive decrees. Afterwards, the Aquino administration entered a more progressive phase as it tried to address concerns of labor rights, institutionalization of people's councils, payment of foreign debt, dialogues with armed underground forces, land reforms, and political normalization. The dilemmas of political consolidation did not disappear and Cory Aquino's popularity steadily declined as it was based on how the current government could successfully provide livelihood. The virtues of self-reliance had to be scrapped with the nonexistent dynamism of private capital as the government needed the new loan provided by the IMF and the World Bank. Politically, the Aquino government maintains an open democratic regime but it faces tremendous odds as it presides over a "democratic conjuncture," a politicoeconomic phase which it cannot readily control. The Philippine experience shows that the conditions of toppling authoritarianism are different from what is needed to preserve and advance democracy and an alternative praxis is yet to be formed.


For many years, the tight bureaucratic and task centered approaches of civil service institutions of Ethiopia led to fragmentation, overlap and duplications of efforts than being responsive, flexible and customer focus. To this end, Business Process Reengineering (BPR) has been considered as a government sector technique to help organizations fundamentally rethink how they do their work in order to dramatically improve customer service, cut operational costs, become responsive, flexible and customer focus. BPR has great potential for increasing productivity through reduced process time and cost, improved quality, and greater customer satisfaction, but it often requires a fundamental organizational change. Despite the numerous advantages of BPR in terms of responsiveness, flexibility and customer focus, its implementation is perceived to be a difficult task and also many unsuccessful experiences have been reported in the literature. In fact, there are very few survey researches that attempt to highlight the kinds of activities that the organizations should pursue to ensure a reasonable transition to the new process; manage the human and technical issues surrounding implementation of the new process; and assess the results of its reengineering efforts. But these researchers saw the issues from private cooperative organizational perspectives and contexts. Besides, most of the discussions and findings were stretched up to showing that successful BPR implementations process are mainly associated with the organizations capability in managing changes. The researches paid no attention to other factors, like the issues of enabler, tools and techniques which can be utilized to build momentum. Hence, the present research investigated the factors associated with successful implementations of BPR projects in the contexts of public institutions. Based on a case study conducted in Ethiopian Ministry of Health and Gambella Regional Health Bureau; this research attempted to provide guidelines and best practices in public service providing institutions that will help them to achieve dramatic performance gains while implementing BPR projects. A cross sectional, qualitative and quantitative study was conducted taking 90 respondents and 20 interviewees as study subjects. Data were collected from June 1 to July 31 2010. A structured questionnaire was filled by 90 respondents where 43.3 % of them from Gambella Peoples' National Regional State Health Bureau and 56.7% of them were from Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health. The questionnaire was employed to collect data on change management and factors associated with the attainment of performance goals whereas in-depth interviews were utilized to substantiate the findings of questionnaire and investigate the use of information technology as enabler. The in-depth interviews included planners, core process owners and directors. Cross tabulation results imply that there is significant associations between attainment of performance goals and availability of written comprehensive plan for pilot test, refinement and implementation of change management plan, availability of communication strategy, placement of performance measures, motivation to take new roles and responsibilities, Use of information technology as enabler and pilot testing to evaluate new process. Hence, the findings of this research suggest that reengineering project implementation is complex, involving many factors. To succeed, it is essential that change be managed and that balanced attention be paid to all identified factors, including those that are more contextual (e.g., management support and technological competence), performance management, availability of comprehensive implementation plan, communication strategies, refinement and implementation of change management plan, use of pilot testing to evaluate new process, motivation to take new roles and responsibilities and usage information technology as enabler.


Rationale: A great wealth of studies expound on the impact of water and sanitation facilities on sustainable human development. But even though water-sanitation nexus is acknowledged in WaSH (Water-Sanitation-Hygiene) literature, they are seldom assessed collectively. In rural India, open defecation is still a major threat to human health, as much as potable water quality. Unfortunately, no study yet exists that attempts to assess the WaSH sector in a holistic sense. Objective: Present study was aimed to integrate multiple WaSH parameters into a composite WaSH Quality Index (WaSHQI) for rural India, within a geospatial framework, and understand potential effects of different sociodemographic factors that are likely to influece WaSH profile development. Methods: District-wise data for (i) within-premises latrine facility, (ii) water source type (safe/treated tap), (iii) water source location (near home/away from home), and (iv) wastewater drainage (closed/open) were mapped at nationwide scale. Gini Coefficients were computed for each parameter to elucidate spatial inequality. The parameters were integrated in various combinations to compute a composite index for each district called, WaSHQI. In the process, four hypothetical scenarios were generated (grading from most conservative to most liberal). The WaSHQI was later (a) merged with spatial algorithms (Moran's I and LISA) ) to identify WaSH-hotspots and (b) correlated with a range of sociodemographic factors (e.g., literacy, household density, caste). Results: Under a conservative aproach (presumably the most hygienic WaSH scenario), a vast expanse through central India were significantly (p < 0.001) lagging in multiple WaSH facilities and appeared as major hotspots that deserve urgent management actions. On the other hand, northwestern states (Punjab and Haryana) registered a better WaSH profile owing to a number of progressive social reforms. Significant (p < 0.01) correlations between the WaSHQI and literacy levels, especially that of female, in the hotspots called for more in-depth region-specific investigations in future. Rural WaSH sector in India is marked by intense spatial inequality/heterogeneity, calling for spatially-optimized interventions. Using multiple geospatial alrorithms and statistical analyses the study demonstrated the spatially interconnected nature of the WaSH and argued that policy decisions have to address the parameters collectively. Future
Implications: WaSHQI can offer the decision-makers a semi-quantitative approximation of overall WaSH infrastructural inadequacy at any level of administrative hierarchy anywhere in the world. However, some efforts to exapand/diversify the potentials WaSHQI (accounting for additional socioeconomic parameters) could be pursued on the premise of developing a WaSH informatics system to track regional progress/lag over time.


In the Iranian Persian Gulf several fields have been producing oil from Middle Cretaceous carbonates. Geological studies of these fields (limited to industry reports) describe the subsurface using lithostratigraphic principles. Lithological boundaries are obvious and are the focus for the correlation of the interwell areas. Most of the structural highs, which were easily found, have been drilled. The lack of a sufficiently detailed seismic sequence stratigraphic analysis has precluded the definition of reliable models at both regional and field scales. The development of many oil and gas fields requires seismic sequence stratigraphy as a predictive technique, particularly in areas between drilled structures. This study aims to re-evaluate the field-scale stratigraphy in an oil field in the southern Persian Gulf using these techniques. The high quality seismic and well data from this field form one of the first datasets of this kind presented in the literature. High-resolution seismic data reveal the internal complexity of carbonates. The Cenomanian carbonate systems of the southeastern Persian Gulf reveal internal architecture and subsurface variability that neither seismic nor well data alone can provide. This paper analyses the seismic character of the Cenomanian Khatiyah and Mishrif formations and discusses how, even after more than 25 years of production, application of sequence stratigraphic principles can improve the understanding of an oil field. For this oil field, the combination of seismic, wireline logs and biostratigraphy has allowed a better understanding of the internal heterogeneity of the Mishrif reservoir. Understanding the successive stages of drowning and back-stepping of a carbonate platform within this reservoir unit has important implications for well planning and further reservoir development. Important new information on the depositional geometries has also been obtained from within the Khatiyah Formation (the regional source rock) which leads to exploration targets in the interwell area. This information gives new insights as to the stratigraphic distribution and internal variability of the carbonate platforms and isolated build-up geometries. The insights gained are important to the estimation of reservoir volume, connectivity and variability.


Nevis, and St. Lucia), persons of African descent continue to manufacture earthenware pottery, generally somewhat loosely and variously referred to by modern Caribbean archaeologists as Afro-Caribbean pottery or ceramics (e.g., Petersen et al. 1999). 2 These small-scale industries have always played an insignificant role in insular national economies and at present they seem to have a very limited chance for long-term survival. Today they produce largely for the tourist market and are disappearing to varying degrees. Several of these industries have been ethnographically reported over the years, 3 and these reports provide a base line from which to examine the changing demands and pressures confronting local potteries. Diachronic studies of these industries permit researchers to chart changes as these industries decline, and also provide a lens through which archaeologists can understand the ways in which local craft industries have confronted changing economic landscapes. Moreover, traditional locally made earthenware is today found in historical archaeological sites in the West Indies and ethnographic knowledge about local industries helps interpret the archaeological data. The following information on the little-known industry in the small island of Antigua, a former British colony in the Leeward island chain-today an independent member of the British Commonwealth-is based on limited field work, published literature, and personal correspondence with persons possessing first-hand knowledge. Synthesizing and comparing different accounts presents some difficulties including inconsistencies in identifying the number of potters, varying attention to manufacturing details, and distinct analytical agendas.


A simple approach for preparing Fe3O4/graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposites through electrostatic self-assembly and their utilization in dye removal from aqueous media were investigated. Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles were synthesized by adding 1:2 ratio of Fe+2/Fe+3 to an aqueous solution, maintained in an inert atmosphere at a high pH. With the highly hydrophilic graphene oxide sheets and positively charged surface of the Fe3O4 nanoparticles, the nanocomposites were synthesized through electrostatic interaction in aqueous solutions. The nanocomposites were characterized by TEM, XRD, FT-IR, and UV-Vis. The adsorption properties of the Fe3O4/GO nanocomposites toward Congo Red as an anionic dye and Methylene Blue as a cationic dye in aqueous solutions were investigated.


We report on the occurrence of South American suckermouth armored catfishes (Loricariidae) in the Suwannee River basin, southeastern USA. Over the past few years (2009-2012), loricariid catfishes have been observed at various sites in the Santa Fe River drainage, a major tributary of the Suwannee in the state of Florida. Similar to other introduced populations of Pterygoplichthys, there is high likelihood of hybridization. To date, we have captured nine specimens (270-585 mm, standard length) in the Santa Fe River drainage. One specimen taken from Poe Spring best agrees with Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps (Kner, 1854) or may be a hybrid with either P. pardalis or P. disjunctivus. The other specimens were taken from several sites in the drainage and include seven that best agree with Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus (Weber, 1991); and one a possible P. disjunctivus × P. pardalis hybrid. We observed additional individuals, either these or similar appearing loricariids, in Hornsby and Poe springs and at various sites upstream and downstream of the long (> 4 km) subterranean portion of the Santa Fe River. These specimens represent the first confirmed records of Pterygoplichthys in the Suwannee River basin. The P. gibbiceps specimen represents the first documented record of an adult or near adult of this species in open waters of North America. Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus or its hybrids (perhaps hybrid swarms) are already abundant and widespread in other parts of peninsular Florida, but the Santa Fe River represents a northern extension of the catfish in the state. Pterygoplichthys are still relatively uncommon in the Santa Fe drainage and successful reproduction not yet documented. However, in May 2012 we captured five adult catfish (two mature or maturing males and three gravid females) from a single riverine swallet pool. One male was stationed at a nest burrow (no eggs present). To survive the occasional harsh Florida winters, these South American catfish apparently use artesian springs as thermal refugia. In the Santa Fe River, eradication might be possible during cold periods when catfish congregate in spring habitats. However, should Pterygoplichthys increase in number and disperse more widely, the opportunity to eliminate them from the drainage will pass.


The village farmers may possess perceptions on more seedlings application that applying more seedlings will ensure more yield of rice. That perception may lead them to use 4-7 seedlings in per cluster for rice production. The notion behind the application of more rice seedlings entails many folds cost, for instance, cost of resources consumed, and cost of seed. Land, labor, money, irrigation, and fertilizers include the resources cost. Seed and seedling raising cost, on the other hand, are overlooked. Therefore, effectiveness of more seedlings replication possesses justification to be studied. The common researchers are interested in measuring effectiveness of rice production in terms of yield, production function, input-output ratio, cost-benefit analysis, and so on. Yet, this study intends to focus on the replication of effectiveness of sowing one seedling following an organic farming method to measure spike number and spike length since no study is apparent on focusing one seedling application following organic rice farming method. Experiment method has been followed to produce organic rice seed in which rice grain had been kept as seed in ears to test the effect of that seed at the first stage. Seedlings have been raised with that experimented rice grain and were sown following one seedling approach to know the effect in spikes following organic farming approach. Data have been collected from the experimented plots of land from the second week of April to the first week of May 2016. The pikes were measured from the organic and non-organic rice fields. 391 spikes of 27 clusters from 20 plots of lands have been observed from the same area. The results show that the highest number of spikes produced in a cluster of one seedling is 34 having the highest length of few spikes is 12″ following organic farming method. The paired samples test has been followed by Statistical Package for Social Science to test the hypotheses. The test results show a positive relationship of one seed application approach and its length. The findings can help the farmers to save resources in farming rice along with ensuring environmental and soil benefits. Furthermore, the academics in agricultural research may get insights in shaping the production function theory holding single seedling approach as an independent variable. Available literature on applying one seed grain and organic rice were the noted limitation along with the measurement of yield in per acre. Upcoming study on the production of organic rice following one seedling application approach, however, may overcome the drawbacks of the current study. Aus. & NewZe J. Soci Busi. Env. Sus. Vol  4(1),  April 2018, P 46-57


Studies that utilize participatory action research (PAR) methods in immigrant communities draw on participatory methods to explore immigrant health and incorporation. Many of these studies have used PAR, mainly, to contact "hard-to-reach" immigrant populations who are ofttimes isolated from research and social services on the basis of language, status, and location. In this paper, I argue that PAR methodology and principles can be maximized in immigrant communities if it asserts migrants' lived experiences as "expertise" on the global institutionalization of migration and low-wage migrant work in the US. I provide data on the Filipino migrant experience and a PAR project with Filipino domestic workers in New York City to show how PAR can capture the systematically organized Philippine labor export policy alongside the individual experience of Filipino immigrants in the US. I discuss kuwentohan, or talk story in Tagalog, and theater as forms of participatory collection and analysis that captures the complex dynamics of migration from macro to micro scales. Lastly, I argue that the political potential of PAR in migrant communities presents itself when migrant workers recount their own experience and begin to understand that those individual stories are part of a larger story of forced migration, labor export policy, and low-wage work. PAR allows for these structural critiques to emerge through the research process.


One of the great medical controversies of the Enlightenment was the European debate on motion, sensation, and animal experimentation provoked by Albrecht von Haller's treatise on irritability and sensibility (1752). Irritating Experiments is the first full-length study to explore the theoretical background and the experimental process that led to Haller's description and separation of two fundamental bodily qualities: irritability, or the capacity of muscles to contract upon stimulation, and sensibility, or the capacity of the nervous system to transmit impressions that are felt as touch or pain in humans, or produce signs of pain in animals. This new concept presented a serious challenge to the reigning medical systems. Haller's animal experiments were repeated all over Europe, on a scale never seen before. The results, however, were contradictory. Haller's concept was largely rejected, and animal experimentation could not be established as a major research method in physiology. Focussing on procedural aspects of experimentation, the interaction between experiment and theory, the status of surgery, the use of medical and pathological models, and the culture of criticism, Irritating Experiments tries to explain why.


Why do people help others and what motivates them to engage in voluntary work? Are the psychological mechanisms that initiate prosocial behavior similar across cultures? In order to find answers for these questions, we give an overview of the prominent approaches to helping, and report findings of studies investigating informal spontaneous help and formal, planned forms of helping. A linchpin of our review is to go beyond a mere descriptive comparison of helping and volunteering across cultures, and to examine the pathways leading to helping and volunteering, which we argue can be considered universal across cultural contexts. Previous studies demonstrate cultural differences in the frequencies of helping and volunteering. Particularly when the prosocial act is not directed at close others, i.e., at out-group members, differences between cultural samples are likely to emerge. In situations of spontaneous helping, helping is more frequent in rural and less affluent contexts than in urban and wealthier contexts. For long-term commitments of helping (i.e., volunteering) however, the reverse direction is found. Here, rates of volunteering are higher in more western and affluent countries. We propose a model of helping that assumes different precursory mechanisms involved in these two forms of helping: spontaneous helping is an unconscious and implicit process activated by automatic affective components, whereas the decision and action of volunteering is a more conscious and explicit effort, initiated by elaborate considerations. We assume these two ways of initiating prosocial acting – implicit and explicit- to function similarly across different cultural groups. We conclude by highlighting conceptual, integrative avenues for a more systematic investigation of helping, and indicate methodological issues that need to be addressed in future research. In particular, we argue for the use of implicit measures in research of prosocial behavior, and present exemplary results for such an approach, which supports the proposed two-process model of prosocial behavior, and thus highlights the relevance for using both explicit and implicit measures in research on prosocial behavior.


Despite committees and elections being widespread in thereal-world, the design of agents for operating in humancomputer committees has received far less attention than thetheoretical analysis of voting strategies. We address this gapby providing an agent design that outperforms other voters ingroups comprising both people and computer agents. In oursetting participants vote by simultaneously submitting a ranking over a set of candidates and the election system uses a social welfare rule to select a ranking that minimizes disagreements with participants' votes. We ran an extensive studyin which hundreds of people participated in repeated votingrounds with other people as well as computer agents that differed in how they employ strategic reasoning in their votingbehavior. Our results show that over time, people learn todeviate from truthful voting strategies, and use heuristics toguide their play, such as repeating their vote from the previous round. We show that a computer agent using a bestresponse voting strategy was able to outperform people in thegame. Our study has implication for agent designers, highlighting the types of strategies that enable agents to succeedin committees comprising both human and computer participants. This is the first work to study the role of computeragents in voting settings involving both human and agent participants.


Abstract The underlying thesis of the research in ethical autonomy for lethal autonomous unmanned systems is that they will potentially be capable of performing more ethically on the battlefield than are human soldiers. In this article this hypothesis is supported by ongoing and foreseen technological advances and perhaps equally important by an assessment of the fundamental ability of human warfighters in today's battlespace. If this goal of better-than-human performance is achieved, even if still imperfect, it can result in a reduction in noncombatant casualties and property damage consistent with adherence to the Laws of War as prescribed in international treaties and conventions, and is thus worth pursuing vigorously.


This article updates the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 2007 classification of advanced heart failure and describes new diagnostic and treatment options for these patients. Recognizing the patient with advanced heart failure is critical to facilitate timely referral to advanced heart failure centres. Unplanned visits for heart failure decompensation, malignant arrhythmias, co‐morbidities, and the 2016 ESC guidelines criteria for the diagnosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction are included in this updated definition. Standard treatment is, by definition, insufficient in these patients. Inotropic therapy may be used as a bridge strategy, but it is only a palliative measure when used on its own, because of the lack of outcomes data. Major progress has occurred with short‐term mechanical circulatory support devices for immediate management of cardiogenic shock and long‐term mechanical circulatory support for either a bridge to transplantation or as destination therapy. Heart transplantation remains the treatment of choice for patients without contraindications. Some patients will not be candidates for advanced heart failure therapies. For these patients, who are often elderly with multiple co‐morbidities, management of advanced heart failure to reduce symptoms and improve quality of life should be emphasized. Robust evidence from prospective studies is lacking for most therapies for advanced heart failure. There is an urgent need to develop evidence‐based treatment algorithms to prolong life when possible and in accordance with patient preferences, increase life quality, and reduce the burden of hospitalization in this vulnerable patient population.


Convolutional neural networks require significant memory bandwidth and storage for intermediate computations, apart from substantial computing resources. Neural network quantization has significant benefits in reducing the amount of intermediate results, but it often requires the full datasets and time-consuming fine tuning to recover the accuracy lost after quantization. This paper introduces the first practical 4-bit post training quantization approach: it does not involve training the quantized model (fine-tuning), nor it requires the availability of the full dataset. We target the quantization of both activations and weights and suggest three complementary methods for minimizing quantization error at the tensor level, two of whom obtain a closed-form analytical solution. Combining these methods, our approach achieves accuracy that is just a few percents less the state-of-the-art baseline across a wide range of convolutional models. The source code to replicate all experiments is available on GitHub: \url{this https URL}.


BACKGROUND
The viral safety of blood depends on donor selection and screening of the blood for viruses.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the frequency of human immunodeficiency viruses 1 and 2, hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus in a population of donors.

DESIGN
Retrospective study including all blood donations at a hospital-based transfusion unit between January 1995 and August 1998.

RESULTS
A significant declining trend in the frequency of the human immunodeficiency virus from 4.5% in 1995 to 3.0% in 1998 was noted. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) decreased from 4.2% in 1995 to 3.9% in 1998, while hepatitis C (HCV) increased from 1.5% in 1996 to 1.8% in 1998. The changes for both HBV and HCV were not statistically significant.

CONCLUSION
The safety of blood and blood products with respect to HIV, HBV and HCV is very high. It is important to educate donors regarding transfusion transmitted infections. It is recommended that HCV screening be implemented as a standard test for all donations.


"The Naval Postgraduate School affords officers a unique opportuity to work simultaneously as full-time officer and as full-time student, each demanding in its own right. It was at NPS, while serving as a Naval Officer, a student, and a professor, that I truly understood the need for absolute determination and resolve to perform my best in order to accomplish my goals. Those challenging yet rewarding years equipped me with the skills to distinguish the opportunities that lie within or result from hard work. And, opportunity is what drives my engagement, excitement and pursuit of innovative science and technology solutions for our Warfighters."


The core of this study concerns the implementation of Art. 17 of the EU Proposal for a General Data Protection regulation, introducing a «right to be forgotten and to erasure», in light of the essential features of cloud computing services. In a wider perspective, the fundamental issues underlying this problem can be summed up as follows: how can personal information be deleted from the Internet? And, most important: when is it admittable to do so? As a matter of fact, both these questions can be specified by inquiring on whether full erasure is materially and technically possible and on which conditions and legal boundaries such an action should face. It has emerged that Art. 17, believed by many to be inappropriate already with reference to the expression «right to be forgotten», is not adequate to provide a satisfying response in terms of transparent regulation and efficient protection of relevant interests.   A practical paradox arises: in fact, those very characteristics of the web that make it so appealing and economically profitable prove themself as one of the main obstacles when it comes to effectively deleting information. The Internet, it has been said, has indeed an eternal memory.        Besides the pratical issues of removing copies and links from the web, the article focuses on the legal framework protecting the interest of data subject to the erasure of personal information. Under this aspect, a convincing evaluation of the currently applicable data protection rules comes from the Advocat General's Opinion in a recent case ( Google vs. Spain , C-131/12), on which the Court of Justice has only recently rendered its judgment, of which the article gives a first evaluation.   The AG has concluded that individuals cannot derive a general «right to be forgotten» from Directive 95/46. The following decision by the Court — mostly in light of artt. 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — while establishing that search engines must delete "inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant" data from their results, made clear that in order for "delisting" to be conceded, the proper balance has to be stricken by the search engine itself between fundamental rights and public interest in continued ability to access information, thus making the implementation of such a right unsystematic and potentially arbitrary. In contrast, a first glance at the Proposal for a General Data Protection Regulation may suggest that a major overhaul has been performed. However, when looked at more closely, Art. 17 do not seem to represent a substantial change. In fact, the hypothesis enabling erasure can be brought back to the cases of (a) data retention in contrast with the law and of (b) supervening lack of reasons legitimating data processing. The Author's opinon is that the real innovation, if any, consists in the role acknowledged to consent, which, according to Art. 7 of the Proposal, can be now withdrawn «at any time». It is not easy to understand how some of the grounds for erasure will adapt to the cloud dimension. There is a major problem to be highlighted as prejudicial to the implementation of Art. 17 in the context of cloud computing services: the most critical aspect about this provision is (first) defining and (then) identifying the subjects involved. That means, understanding who is the controller and who is the processor in each situation, as well as their relationship with the data subject. Compared to par. 1, the second paragraph of Art. 17 is more appreciable in the sense that it is implicitly devised with a view to the structure of the Internet and of Internet services: therefore, it is probably the more interesting when dealing with cloud computing. Even so, it is hard to understand how it can be implemented, for two main reasons which are (a) First, if we agree with Art. 29 WP's opinion, we should identify the controller with the cloud client; but this solution ignores the fact that the user usually does not have a range of technical tools comparable to the one of the provider. In contrast, qualifying the cloud provider as the data controller would lead to a better allocation of responsibility. (b) Secondly, it is unclear what will happen once third parties have been informed of the data subject's request to obtain erasure. Par. 2 remains silent on the point, but it is easy to realize that similar situations may be very frequent (if not the most frequent). In addition, in order to understand the scope and limits of a «right to be forgotten» in the current information age, the Author tries to pick up the relevant clues laid down by the Court of Justice in relation to cases involving ISP, on the assumption that the cloud provider can be intended as such. In this regard, the Proposal could play a key role in promoting privacy-oriented technologies, especially by means of the implementation of two principles: privacy by default and minimization of data collection. In conclusion, if Art. 17 entried into force as it is now, a number of problem would arise concerning its true scope; in particular, how cloud computing services could comply with that provision remains a riddle. What's more, the relevant issues of user-generated content and continue to be substantially unaddressed.


This paper is a continue of previous work (Новіков 2013) and represents new key for identification of genera from Ranunculaceae family of Western Ukraine (Lviv, Transcarpathian (Zakarpattia), Rivne, Volhynia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Ternopil and Khmelnitsk regions (oblasts)). This key is consensual and do not corresponds to contemporary taxonomical tendencies in all its points because it is build for non-specialists and/or young scientists which need easy identification tool for their routine field and herbarium work. However, most of modern taxonomical changes and related publications are shortly introduced here and in my previous paper (Новіков 2013). Hence, in present work I suggest that family Ranunculaceae in Western Ukraine is represented by 2 subfamilies, 10 tribes, 22 genera and 102 species. Corresponding consensual taxonomical system is represented. Short characteristics of genera are completed by information about species number and its distribution.


Objective: To develop a practical set of measures for routine monitoring, performance feedback, and improvement in the quality of palliative care in the intensive care unit (ICU). Design: Use of an interdisciplinary iterative process to create a prototype "bundle" of indicators within previously established domains of ICU palliative care quality; operationalization of indicators as specified measures; and pilot implementation to evaluate feasibility and baseline ICU performance. Setting: The national Transformation of the Intensive Care Unit program developed in the United States by VHA Inc. Patients: Critically ill patients in ICUs for 1, >3, and >5 days. Measurements and main results: Palliative care processes including identification of patient preferences and decision making surrogates, communication between clinicians and patients/families, social and spiritual support, and pain assessment and management, as documented in medical records. Application is triggered by specified lengths of ICU stay. Pilot testing in 19 ICUs (review of >100 patients' records) documented feasibility, while revealing opportunities for quality improvement in clinician-patient/family communication and other key components of ICU palliative care. Conclusions: The new bundle of measures is a prototype for routine measurement of the quality of palliative care in the ICU. Further investigation is needed to confirm associations between measured processes and outcomes of importance to patients and families, as well as other aspects of validity.


BACKGROUND
The impact of occupational therapy on mental health outcomes for children is largely unexplored. The aim of this study was to investigate an evidence-based occupational therapy intervention designed to increase participation in daily occupations to prevent symptoms of mental illness for children and run in schools.

METHODS
The study used a pragmatic, cluster-randomised controlled trial design with two arms. Fourteen clusters (schools), equating to 151 child participants, were stratified by school decile-rank category and block randomised. Blinding of participants post-randomisation was not feasible; however, outcomes assessors were blinded. Outcomes were measured at baseline, after the parallel and crossover phases, and at follow-up; and were anxiety symptoms (primary), depression symptoms, self-esteem, participation and wellbeing. Intention-to-treat analysis was applied and mixed linear modelling was used to account for clusters and repeated measures, and to adjust for covariates identified.

RESULTS
This trial found significant positive effects of the intervention on child-rated satisfaction with their occupational performance and teacher-rated child anxiety. No evidence was found to support the effect of the intervention on anxiety and depression symptoms, self-esteem and wellbeing.

CONCLUSIONS
This was the first known cluster-randomised controlled trial to investigate an occupational therapy intervention promoting emotional wellbeing in a non-clinical sample of children. No compelling evidence was found to support the use of the intervention in schools in its current format, however, results were promising that the focus on occupations influenced participation. Recommendations are made to redesign the intervention as an embedded intervention in the classroom, cotaught by teachers and including parental involvement.


This thesis reports an investigation into the hydrogeological and geotechnical properties of household wastes within the context of sustainable landfilling and, particularly, the development of a high rate flushing bioreactor. The design and construction of a large-scale (2-metre diameter) purpose built compression cell used in the research are described. Tests on a number of different household waste materials (including pulverised and aged wastes) were undertaken at varying applied loads up to 600 kPa, equivalent to a 60 metre depth of landfill. Results of variations in refuse density, stiffness, absorptive capacity, effective porosity and hydraulic conductivity are reported against average effective stress in the waste. It was concluded that the hydrogeological properties of household waste vary considerably with effective stress and, hence, with depth in landfills. For example, the hydraulic conductivity of crude household waste could reduce by over three orders of magnitude from approximately 1x10 m/s to 1x10 m/s between placement (with minimal compaction) and burial to a depth of 60 metres. The principles of sustainable development are considered and applied to landfilling. The view that the polluting potential of landfills should be reduced to acceptable levels within a generation is supported. In most cases this will require that contaminants in the landfill are removed by introducing water into the site and recirculating and flushing leachate from it. The feasibility of achieving this with a variety of different leachate recirculation systems is examined in the light of the findings of the research. A new module has been written for MODFLOW, the USGS's groundwater flow model, to allow hydraulic conductivity to vary throughout simulations with effective stress. The altered code is used to model a grid of leachate abstraction and injection wells to illustrate the potential for flushing. It is concluded that changes are needed to current landfill design and operational practices to enable wastes to be flushed efficiently within landfills. It is argued, in particular, that there are significant benefits of operating landfills with large saturated zones. Abstract


Higher Education Support Services and Graduation Rates of Structured Education Program Students by Seth Hepner MFA, George Mason University, 2011 BA, Wright State University, 2008 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Walden University July 2017 Abstract The 1-year retention rate of the Structured Education Program (SEP) is 90%, yet the 6year graduation rate of SEP students is 29%. The gap between SEP 1-year retention and graduation rates is the problem that this study addressed. The low graduation rate of SEP students is an important issue because graduation rates are used to measure the quality of higher education institutions. The purpose of this study was to understand the low graduation rates of SEP students. Tinto's retention theory, which seeks to explainThe 1-year retention rate of the Structured Education Program (SEP) is 90%, yet the 6year graduation rate of SEP students is 29%. The gap between SEP 1-year retention and graduation rates is the problem that this study addressed. The low graduation rate of SEP students is an important issue because graduation rates are used to measure the quality of higher education institutions. The purpose of this study was to understand the low graduation rates of SEP students. Tinto's retention theory, which seeks to explain dropouts from higher education institutions, was the main framework of the study. The study's research questions focused on former SEP students' experiences with required and optional support services that were first introduced to students while enrolled in the SEP. This study used a qualitative, intrinsic case study research design. Data were collected through 12 semistructured interviews with participants who met the criteria of former SEP students who have completed the program within the last 5 years. Interviews were transcribed, member checked by interviewees, and then coded to identify 6 themes that focus on participants' commitment to support services. The findings revealed that required exposure to support services in SEP students' 1 year had a meaningful influence on each student's journey toward graduation. An outcome of this study was a policy recommendation paper designed to increase the study site's graduation rates through increased support service requirements for 1-year students. This study may provide positive local social change through more student commitments to support services and increased retention and graduation rates. Higher Education Support Services and Graduation Rates of Structured Education Program Students


This thesis aims to study the impact of mineral resource development on the indigenous peoples in the Philippines, focussing primarily on the consequential effect of the destruction of their ancestral domains and loss of access to their sacred spaces as it relates to their survival. Further, it seeks to bring to the widest attention possible their little known struggles against the invading and destructive forces of development, particularly large-scale mining, in their traditional areas. Most of all, this research ambitions to (1) debunk the prevailing research trend of dismissing emotions as irrational, illogical and useless in research because it is unquantifiable, and therefore, unscientific; and (2) critique Western-influenced paradigms on development by shedding light on the limitations of Eurocentric commitment to orthodox discourses that valorise resource development as supreme over cultural meanings and view environment as something completely detached from humans. In this study is presented the conflicting sides found at the heart of this age-old problem: the opposing views of government/mining companies on one hand, and those of the indigenous peoples on the other, their differing perceptions and stance on the issue of exploitation and control of natural resources found in ancestral domains.  This research explored the deep emotional connections of indigenous peoples to their ancestral domains and how these are inexorably linked to their cultural identity. The data illustrate their profound sufferings in the hands of development agents and, paradoxically, the Philippine government itself through its open-arms policy on foreign investments and liberalised mining laws, heavily compounded by the unwarranted deployment of the military to ensure a smooth transition in approved mining areas.  Using de-colonising methodologies and research approaches to tackle the issue, empirical data gathered are drawn from participant observation, semi-structured interviews and informal indigenous communities, and later organised according to themes evident upon collation of data. The findings are linked to a wider theoretical context and complemented with analyses of academic literature orientated to post-structural political ecology, emotional geographies and indigenous geographies that support the arguments in this study.  As well as highlighting potential areas for future studies on indigenous peoples, this research points to the root cause of the problem to a people's fundamental loss of power that denies them their control over their emotional spaces, resources and destiny. Accordingly, this fundamental relation needs to be given greater consideration in policy formulation and implementation of regulations that govern environment, natural resources and ancestral domains.


Mechanically assisted crevice corrosion (MACC) has become a significant problem in the orthopedic device industry, particularly in modular devices with metal-on-metal (MoM) tapered interfaces. Oxide film abrasion, leading to fretting corrosion in the presence of a crevice, accelerates the corrosion process and in some instances may lead to failure of the implant. Failure is defined as the need for revision surgery. The basic processes of oxide film abrasion and repassivation, and the associated effects (chemical, transport, mechanical and electrical) of these processes have been well described and studied over time. Despite these advancements, there is much that is still not well understood about modular taper performance and the role of design, materials, surgical techniques and biological factors, and their effects on MACC performance. For example, the load-displacement behavior of taper junctions during seating, the effect of seating load magnitude, rate of loading and loading orientation, and the role of taper contamination on seating mechanics, pull-off mechanics and MACC behavior remain to be well understood. In addition, few studies have been carried out to improve the understanding of the relationship between MACC, local tissue reaction, taper design and material combination. Thus, with continued concerns surrounding fretting corrosion and MACC of modular taper junctions there is a continuing need to develop appropriate in vitro tests to evaluate the roles of specific design, material and surgical techniques. These concepts are complex, interdependent and need to be clearly understood for effective design of, and surgical practice using modular taper junctions. Therefore, the goals of this dissertation are to systematically assess the effects of seating mechanics in terms of load magnitude, load rate and load orientation, contamination, taper design and material combination on the MACC behavior of head-neck taper junctions and taper locking stability (pull-off behavior) for commercially-used total hip replacements. The information provided from these studies offers a more detailed understanding of the interactions that arise between taper design and material combination based on surgical techniques and taper contamination in reference to taper fretting motions and corrosion. Preliminary testing consisted of a novel test protocol in which the seating (loaddisplacement) behavior and taper pull-off load were monitored in 12/14 Ti6Al4V/CoCrMo modular taper junctions. The seating behavior for four load magnitudes, three load orientations and five contamination groups was reported. The results showed an increase in seating load magnitude increased seating displacement, work of seating and the taper pull-off load while an increase in load orientation (to 20°) had no significant effect. Taper contamination testing presented findings which suggest the inclusion of lipids into the junction resulted in increased taper stability. The presence of contaminants increased seating displacement and work of seating compared to a control (dry) taper. Fretting corrosion testing incorporated identical taper testing conditions (load magnitude, orientation and contamination) and underwent incremental cyclic fretting corrosion testing. The goal was to investigate the effects of taper seating conditions on fretting motions and fretting corrosion. The outcome of testing highlighted the significant effects of taper seating conditions on each sample group. In the seating load magnitude groups, a correlation between subsidence and current at the end of testing was reported. An increased seating load orientation reduced micromotion throughout testing and the average onset load but had no effect on subsidence, current at the end of testing or taper pull-off. And the introduction of lipid contaminants into the taper junction reduced fretting corrosion currents. Lastly, the effects of taper geometry (C taper vs. V40 taper) and material combination (Ti-6Al-4V/CoCrMo vs. TMZF (Ti-Mo-Zr-Fe)/CoCrMo) as well as load rate and compliance were investigated using novel methodologies. The findings from these studies showed changes in the taper geometry affected the stiffness of the construct, fretting motions and the fretting corrosion performance while material combination had no significant effect. In terms of load rate and compliance, the study presented evidence to suggest load rate and system compliance had no significant effect on work of seating or taper locking stability. Design, Material and Surgical Assembly Effects on Fretting Corrosion Behavior of Modular Tapers in Orthopedic Implants


Investors try to predict returns of financial assets to make successful investment. Many quantitative analysts have used machine learning-based methods to find unknown profitable market rules from large amounts of market data. However, there are several challenges in financial markets hindering practical applications of machine learning-based models. First, in financial markets, there is no single model that can consistently make accurate prediction because traders in markets quickly adapt to newly available information. Instead, there are a number of ephemeral and partially correct models called"alpha factors". Second, since financial markets are highly uncertain, ensuring interpretability of prediction models is quite important to make reliable trading strategies. To overcome these challenges, we propose the Trader-Company method, a novel evolutionary model that mimics the roles of a financial institute and traders belonging to it. Our method predicts future stock returns by aggregating suggestions from multiple weak learners called Traders. A Trader holds a collection of simple mathematical formulae, each of which represents a candidate of an alpha factor and would be interpretable for real-world investors. The aggregation algorithm, called a Company, maintains multiple Traders. By randomly generating new Traders and retraining them, Companies can efficiently find financially meaningful formulae whilst avoiding overfitting to a transient state of the market. We show the effectiveness of our method by conducting experiments on real market data.


This ambitious project surveys the massive changes the 20th century has brought to Scotland. The nation's leading commentators give an overview of the most important trends, providing new insights and fresh perspectives. Comparative reference to other societies in the UK and Europe highlight the unique elements of Scotland's distinctive development. Home Rule issues, the discovery of oil, deindustrialisation, public housing, education, landownership, the role of women, social class, and many more areas of Scottish life are assessed and explored in this rich, rewarding and comprehensive study.


BORISOVA, A. and I. KAMENOVA, 2016. Occurrence of phytoplasmas of the apple proliferation group in fruit trees in Kyustendil region of Bulgaria. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 22: 465–469 Apple, pear and plum trees showing symptoms typical for apple proliferation, pear decline and European stone fruit yellow from Kyustendil region of Bulgaria were analyzed for phytoplasma infection by polymerase chain reaction technology. PCR was performed by the use of specifi c for Apple proliferation group set (Loewe Phytodiagnostica, Germany) and the protocol recommended by the manufacturers. The results obtained showed the presence of phytoplasmas in 85.0% and 62.0% tested apple and pear trees, respectively and in all tested plum trees. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis revealed that apple and pear were infected with apple proliferation and pear decline phytoplasmas, respectively, while European stone fruit yellows was detected in plum trees. Because many trees showed symptoms like those of sampled and analyzed trees, this preliminary assay suggest a high incidence of phytoplasmas from AP group in the surveyed region of the country.


Abstract. Following the disruption to European airspace caused by the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in 2010 there has been a move towards producing quantitative predictions of volcanic ash concentration using volcanic ash transport and dispersion simulators. However, there is no formal framework for determining the uncertainties of these predictions and performing many simulations using these complex models is computationally expensive. In this paper a Bayesian linear emulation approach is applied to the Numerical Atmospheric-dispersion Modelling Environment (NAME) to better understand the influence of source and internal model parameters on the simulator output. Emulation is a statistical method for predicting the output of a computer simulator at new parameter choices without actually running the simulator. A multi-level emulation approach is applied using two configurations of NAME with different numbers of model particles. Information from many evaluations of the computationally faster configuration is combined with results from relatively few evaluations of the slower, more accurate, configuration. This approach is effective when it is not possible to run the accurate simulator many times and when there is also little prior knowledge about the influence of parameters. The approach is applied to the mean ash column loading in 75 geographical regions on 14 May 2010. Through this analysis it has been found that the parameters that contribute the most to the output uncertainty are initial plume rise height, mass eruption rate, free tropospheric turbulence levels and precipitation threshold for wet deposition. This information can be used to inform future model development and observational campaigns and routine monitoring. The analysis presented here suggests the need for further observational and theoretical research into parameterisation of atmospheric turbulence. Furthermore it can also be used to inform the most important parameter perturbations for a small operational ensemble of simulations. The use of an emulator also identifies the input and internal parameters that do not contribute significantly to simulator uncertainty. Finally, the analysis highlights that the faster, less accurate, configuration of NAME can, on its own, provide useful information for the problem of predicting average column load over large areas.


William Kowalski's The Way It Works is a contemporary Horatio Alger tale, featuring a determined young man who succeeds because of his goodness and ingenuity. Walter Davis is biracial, twenty years old, and homeless in New York City. He is jettisoned to the streets through circumstances beyond his control. The financial woes stemming from his mother's illness and death have left him nearly penniless but not without his integrity, pride in his appearance, and faith in his ability. Armed with these qualities and a copy of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, he sets out to prove to himself and to Yolanda, the young postal clerk he falls for, that he can achieve his dream of a home and financial security. Walter's journey is not without setbacks. The car he lives in is impounded. He becomes innocently involved in a Ponzi scheme. Yolanda turns her back on him when he doesn't show up for a date. However, as in all romantic myths of upward mobility, Walter finds true love, learns self-reliance, and recognizes that substance is more important than appearance. With fewer than 120 pages, The Way It Works is one title in Raven Books' Rapid Reads series, designed for adult readers functioning at the most basic level of literacy. Adults with only a few hours to commit to reading may also find this book appealing. The first-person narrative offers a minimum number of characters, little introspection or detailed description, and a pleasantly predictable plot. It is a quick and easy read, aimed at urbanites. Educators who work with adults seeking to improve their reading skills should also find this book and series intriguing. The Way It Works deals with contemporary issues: homelessness, greed and dishonesty, the health care crisis, and interracial marriage. The plot may be structured simply, but the story could support fruitful discussion. It offers an uplifting message with a touch of romance. William Kowalski has written six novels, including two for the Rapid Reads series. In addition to writing, he teaches communication skills to adults at Nova Scotia Community College. No doubt this experience has given him some insight into the needs and tastes of this audience. The Way It Works is uncomplicated, but it works well at skillfully delivering an engaging character and story. GERALDINE A. RICHARDS (October 16, 2010)


Combinatorial Scientific Computing explores the latest research on creating algorithms and software tools to solve key combinatorial problems on large-scale high-performance computing architectures. It includes contributions from international researchers who are pioneers in designing software and applications for high-performance computing systems. The book offers a state-of-the-art overview of the latest research, tool development, and applications. It focuses on load balancing and parallelization on high-performance computers, large-scale optimization, algorithmic differentiation of numerical simulation code, sparse matrix software tools, and combinatorial challenges and applications in large-scale social networks. The authors unify these seemingly disparate areas through a common set of abstractions and algorithms based on combinatorics, graphs, and hypergraphs. Combinatorial algorithms have long played a crucial enabling role in scientific and engineering computations and their importance continues to grow with the demands of new applications and advanced architectures. By addressing current challenges in the field, this volume sets the stage for the accelerated development and deployment of fundamental enabling technologies in high-performance scientific computing.


Rice stripe mosaic virus (RSMV) transmitted by the leafhopper Recilia dorsalis is a tentative new species in the genus Cytorhabdovirus identified recently in South China. To explore its geographic distribution and genetic diversity, field investigation and viral whole-genome sequencing were conducted in this study. The results indicated that RSMV was present in the rice samples collected across southern China. Twelve representative samples from different geographical regions were selected for viral whole-genome sequencing and the viral genome variation was analyzed in combination with a previously reported RSMV isolate. Identity analysis showed that the genome sequences of 13 RSMV isolates were highly conserved with nucleotide identities over 99.4%. There was a strong negative selection pressure during the evolution of RSMV with more transitions (72.08%) than transversions (27.92%) found between the RSMV isolates. Among the seven genes encoded by RSMV, the P gene was the most variable, followed by N, M, L, and G; the P3 and P6 amino acid sequences were not found to be mutated and no mutations were found in the non-coding region. A phylogenetic tree based on the RSMV whole-genome nucleotide sequences revealed that all RSMV isolates clustered in two groups based on geographical origin. Notably, the L proteins of the Guangxi and Hainan isolates had five and one specific amino acid sites, respectively, suggesting that the L gene has undergone environmental adaptive variation during the dispersal of RSMV.