Lily is one of the prominent cut flowers on the international markets, so that its longevity is an important post-storage attribute. Blockage of xylem vessels and insufficient water uptake contributes to the short vase life of cut flowers. Bacteria block stem xylem vessesls and because of that reduce rates of water supply to flowers. Nano silver has antimicrobial effects at low concentration. Prolongation of vase life cut lilies (L. orientalis 'Bouquet') flowers by nano-silver particles was studied. Cut flowers were kept in vase containing 5, 15, 25, 30 ppm of nano-silver solutions and deionized water as control treatment under controlled conditions. During vase period, vase life, vase solution uptake, initial fresh and bacterial numbers were measured. According to the results, all nano-silver treatments extended the longevity of cut flowers compare to control. Among these treatments the concentration of 30 ppm of silver-nano showed the highest vase solution uptake, initial fresh weight and lowest bacteria colony during the first 2 days of vase life. It was concluded that nano silver particles had a high potential for eliminating of bacterial contaminants. These for suggest that application of solutions containing superior advantageous of nano-silver particles is recommended to improve postharvest of L. orientalis 'Bouquet'.


The Liquid State Machine (LSM) is a recurrent spiking neural network designed for efficient processing of spatio-temporal streams of information. LSMs have several inbuilt features such as robustness, fast training and inference speed, generalizability, continual learning (no catastrophic forgetting), and energy efficiency. These features make LSMs an ideal network for deploying intelligence on-device. In general, single LSMs are unable to solve complex real-world tasks. Recent literature has shown emergence of hierarchical architectures to support temporal information processing over different time scales. However, these approaches do not typically investigate the optimum topology for communication between layers in the hierarchical network, or assume prior knowledge about the target problem and are not generalizable. In this thesis, a deep Liquid State Machine (deep-LSM) network architecture is proposed. The deep-LSM uses staggered reservoirs to process temporal information on multiple timescales. A key feature of this network is that neural plasticity and attention are embedded in the topology to bolster its performance for complex spatio-temporal tasks. An advantage of the deep-LSM is that it exploits the random projection native to the LSM as well as local plasticity mechanisms to optimize the data transfer between sequential layers. Both random projections and local plasticity mechanisms are ideal for on-device learning due to their low computational complexity and the absence of backpropagating error. The deep-LSM is deployed on a custom learning architecture with memristors to study the feasibility of on-device learning. The performance of the deep-LSM is demonstrated on speech recognition and seizure detection applications.


A large Pt–Pd geochemical province within the Emeishan basalt province has been identified previously and was considered as an exploration target for platinum-group element (PGE) mineralization. To evaluate thoroughly the prospect of economic Pt–Pd mineralization in this region, a series of geochemical surveys was conducted in a selected area, with an exploration strategy involving the progressive reduction of the target area and stepwise increase in the sampling density. A regional Pt and Pd geochemical anomaly was delineated by a stream sediment survey at a sampling density of 1 sample km−2 over an area of mafic intrusive bodies and basalts in Miyi County, Sichuan Province. In a follow-up phase, three local Pt and Pd geochemical anomalies were defined by data from a stream sediment survey with a density of 4 samples km−2. Finally, PGE mineralization within a gabbroic rock was discovered in the geochemical anomalies delineated by the following more detailed survey, namely a soil survey with a 100 m × 20 m sampling grid. The level of Pt+Pd mineralization was 0.33 μg g−1. A new concealed mafic–ultramafic intrusive body containing PGE mineralization was predicted.The success of this case has provided an excellent example of how to identify possible PGE target areas in the basalt environment using geochemical surveys at various scales.


This report presents findings from a retrospective study of the academic histories of International Baccalaureate (IB) students and other students in the state of Florida. The IB Diploma Program is an internationally recognized college-preparatory curriculum designed to provide students with a rigorous and comprehensive academic experience. IB has grown dramatically in recent years and is thought by many to be among the best college-preparatory programs in existence. As such, there is tremendous interest in the potential impacts of IB, but any attempts to examine those impacts must deal with selection bias that results from the voluntary participation of schools and students. Failure to do so makes it impossible to determine whether the performance of participating students was actually influenced by IB, or whether the outcomes for these students would have been just as good without IB. As a critical step in understanding the impacts of IB, the analyses presented in this report examined the selection mechanisms behind IB participation across Florida, the state with the second highest representation of IB programs in the nation. We use longitudinal student and school-level data from 1995 through 2009 from the Florida K-20 Education Data Warehouse (EDW) to characterize individual students' educational histories from elementary school through high school and into college. To address issues of selection bias, we use propensity score methods (Rosenbaum & Rubin, 1983) to adjust for preexisting differences between IB and non-IB students. Disciplines Curriculum and Instruction | Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | International and Comparative Education Comments View on the CPRE website. Author(s) Henry May, Awilda Rodriguez, Philip M Sirinides, Laura W. Perna, April L Yee, and Tafaya S. Ransom This report is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/cpre_researchreports/75 Henry May Awilda Rodriguez Philip M. Sirinides Laura W. Perna April Yee Tafaya Ransom A COLLABORATIVE PUBLICATION BETWEEN Apples and Oranges: Comparing the Backgrounds and Academic Trajectories of International Baccalaureate (IB) Students to a Matched Comparison Group University of Pennsylvania Teachers College, Columbia University Harvard University Stanford University University of Michigan University of Wisconsin-Madison Northwestern University CONSORTIUM FOR POLICY RESEARCH IN EDUCATION


Estimators of Effect Modification of Cumulative Incidence: Aalen-Johansen and Targeted Minimum Loss-based Estimator Maria Clara Fernandez Oromendia Co-Chairs of the Supervisory Committee: Marco Carone Peter Gilbert In time to event settings there are many occasions in which multiple events can occur. This competing risks phenomenon is often encountered in vaccine trials when interest is given to efficacy against a specific subtype of the disease, particularly those included (or not) in the formulation of the vaccine. In these settings, the parameter of interest is cumulative incidence the probability of being infected by a particular subtype by a certain time. In this thesis we present and compare two estimators of cumulative incidence in various simulated scenarios and compare additive and multiplicative treatment effects as well as effect modification across groups. We apply these estimators to two phase-III double-blind placebo controlled trials of Sanofi Pasteur's dengue vaccine, which has recently been approved in Mexico and is likely to gain approval from the FDA and many other countries in 2016.


Parvalbumin-expressing interneurons (PVs) in the dentate gyrus provide activity-dependent regulation of adult neurogenesis as well as maintain inhibitory control of mature neurons. In mature neurons, PVs evoke GABAA postsynaptic currents (GPSCs) with fast rise and decay phases that allow precise control of spike timing, yet synaptic currents with fast kinetics do not appear in adult-born neurons until several weeks after cell birth. Here we used mouse hippocampal slices to address how PVs signal to newborn neurons prior to the appearance of fast GPSCs. Whereas PV-evoked currents in mature neurons exhibit hallmark fast rise and decay phases, newborn neurons display slow GPSCs with characteristics of spillover signaling. We also unmasked slow spillover currents in mature neurons in the absence of fast GPSCs. Our results suggest that PVs mediate slow spillover signaling in addition to conventional fast synaptic signaling, and that spillover transmission mediates activity-dependent regulation of early events in adult neurogenesis.


This pocket guide offers researchers a framework for conducting research in a culturally sensitive manner with individuals, families, and communities in diverse settings. This unique framework focuses on a process, rather than a typology of behaviors, attitudes, values, and beliefs. All too frequently, cross-cultural research improperly attributes behaviors, beliefs, and values entirely to culture, when a closer examination would reveal the shared influences of gender, socioeconomic status, immigration status, and racial and ethnic backgrounds that interact in complex ways. By encouraging practitioners to incorporate an intersectionality lens into their work, this pocket guide helps researchers reveal stories that are more than the sum of particular identities. Sharing their extensive research experience with diverse populations around the world, the authors present a range of fluid and dynamic cross-cultural research practices that readers can easily adapt to their unique circumstances. At the intersection of culture and research methods, chapters illustrate the application of the model to three broad areas of inquiry: describing the nature of a problem; understanding the etiology of the problem; and evaluating the interventions designed to ameliorate the problem. Each area is illustrated with examples of research projects that incorporate multiple epistemologies and methodologies in order to better understand and respond to a population's needs. This guide offers a complete roadmap for developing cross-cultural projects that truly engage communities, and will be a trusted resource for students and seasoned researchers alike.


Evolution is presented as a trial-and-error process that produces a progressive accumulation of knowledge. At the level of technology, this leads to ephemeralization, i.e. ever increasing productivity, or decreasing of the friction that normally dissipates resources. As a result, flows of matter, energy and information circulate ever more easily across the planet. This global connectivity increases the interactions between agents, and thus the possibilities for conflict. However, evolutionary progress also reduces social friction, via the creation of institutions. The emergence of such "mediators" is facilitated by stigmergy: the unintended collaboration between agents resulting from their actions on a shared environment. The Internet is a near ideal medium for stigmergic interaction. Quantitative stigmergy allows the web to learn from the activities of its users, thus becoming ever better at helping them to answer their queries. Qualitative stigmergy stimulates agents to collectively develop novel knowledge. Both mechanisms have direct analogues in the functioning of the human brain. This leads us to envision the future, super-intelligent web as a "global brain" for humanity. The feedback between social and technological advances leads to an extreme acceleration of innovation. An extrapolation of the corresponding hyperbolic growth model would forecast a singularity around 2040. This can be interpreted as the evolutionary transition to the Global Brain regime.


We consider the generating polynomial of the number of rooted trees on the set $\{1,2,\dots,n\}$ counted by the number of descending edges (a parent with a greater label than a child). This polynomial is an extension of the descent generating polynomial of the set of permutations of a totally ordered $n$-set, known as the Eulerian polynomial. We show how this extension shares some of the properties of the classical one. A classical product formula shows that this polynomial factors completely over the integers. From this product formula it can be concluded that this polynomial has positive coefficients in the $\gamma$-basis and we show that a formula for these coefficients can also be derived. We discuss various combinatorial interpretations of these coefficients in terms of leaf-labeled binary trees and in terms of the Stirling permutations introduced by Gessel and Stanley. These interpretations are derived from previous results of Liu, Dotsenko-Khoroshkin, Bershtein-Dotsenko-Khoroshkin, Gonzalez D'Leon-Wachs and Gonzlaez D'Leon related to the free multibracketed Lie algebra and the poset of weighted partitions.


Background: Mental Health Research across cultural groups is often criticised for using imprecise measures of cultural group and for using outcome measures as if they have universal validity. Aims: 1. To Investigate the effect of using different cultural group variables on the findings of a survey of prevalence of Common Mental Disorders. 2. To demonstrate that assumptions of validity for outcomes measures can affect the interpretation of data from prevalence surveys. Methods: We recruited Punjabi and English subjects to a phase prevalence survey that included the Amritsar Depression Inventory and the General Health Ques tionnaire as screening instruments. The Clinical Interview Schedule was the out come measure. This paper reports on a secondary analysis of the data. We used ethnic group, place of birth, religion, first language and language spoken at interview as possible cultural group variables and compared the prevalence estimates. We then considered the limitations of conventional methods to assess prevalence, by looking at mean scores on each of the three instruments in both cultural groups. Results: Cultural group variables did not influence the prevalence estimates for Common Mental Disorder. Although conventional scoring methods showed no difference in prevalence across cultures, the mean scores on each instrument, when compared across cultural groups, differed for the Amritsar Depression inventory. This instrument showed a higher mean score for the Punjabis suggesting a higher prevalence. The findings are discussed in the context of value laden 'assumptions' about validity. Conclusions: The findings of prevalence surveys depend on assumptions of validity. The 'culture' of psychiatry is a closed system in which validation studies support its basic assumptions.


The Differential Laser Gyro (dilag) is a significant advancement in strapdown inertial guidance. Its four simultaneously oscillating modes allow it to retain the advantages inherent in a laser gyro without many of the drawbacks found in present two mode units.

The DILAG concept employs two complete laser gyros operating in the same optical cavity. The gyros are distinguished from each other by their polarization state; one is right circularly polarized (RCP), while the other is left circularly polarized (LCP). Both gyros are biased out of their respective dead-band regions by the same Faraday cell. Because of their opposite polarization states, the gyros respond with equal but opposite frequency shifts to a given rotational input rate. When one gyro output is subtracted from the other, the result is a doubling of rate sensitivity combined with a cancellation of the common Faraday bias.

Operated in this manner, the DILAG becomes insensitive to variations in the Faraday bias and thereby eliminates the usual requirements for Faraday cell stability. In addition the DILAG requires no dithering, either mechanical or electrical.

This paper considers these points as well as a number of other special characteristics of the DILAG which offer significant improvements in gyro performance. Among those areas discussed are the reduction in shielding requirements, the elimination of all moving parts including those associated with cavity length control, and the advantages occurring in data collection and self check capability.


Many cell types contain a subset of long-lived, 'stable' microtubules that differ from dynamic microtubules in that they are enriched in post-translationally detyrosinated tubulin (Glu-tubulin). Elevated Glu tubulin does not stabilize the microtubules and the mechanism for the stability of Glu microtubules is not known. We used detergent-extracted cell models to investigate the nature of Glu microtubule stability. In these cell models, Glu microtubules did not incorporate exogenously added tubulin subunits on their distal ends, while >70% of the bulk microtubules did. Ca(2+)-generated fragments of Glu microtubules incorporated tubulin, showing that Glu microtubule ends are capped. Consistent with this, Glu microtubules in cell models were resistant to dilution-induced breakdown. Known microtubule end-associated proteins (EB1, APC, p150(Glued) and vinculin focal adhesions) were not localized on Glu microtubule ends. ATP, but not nonhydrolyzable analogues, induced depolymerization of Glu microtubules in cell models. Timelapse and photobleaching studies showed that ATP triggered subunit loss from the plus end. ATP breakdown of Glu microtubules was inhibited by AMP-PNP and vanadate, but not by kinase or other inhibitors. Additional experiments showed that conventional kinesin or kif3 were not involved in Glu microtubule capping. We conclude that Glu microtubules are stabilized by a plus-end cap that includes an ATPase with properties similar to kinesins.


scattered HCI events and networks. There is an initiative to connect local communities through Facebook. All other countries in Latin America use Spanish as the main scientific and education language. Four colleagues from Mexico, which is close to Brazil in terms of population, showed us the current state of HCI in the country, as far as information is available. Although there is a Mexican HCI society, it seems that related disciplines like psychology and anthropology focus on different areas, and computer science is usually not interested in HCI. Large companies have their HCI research done somewhere else. HCI professionals from Guatemala, Colombia, and Chile seem to agree about the low publishing rank for HCI-related research, the low level of education in academia, and the lack of support to participate in relevant international events. Industry is interested mainly in usability, and some companies have installed usability labs. Remarkably, the usability community in Colombia counts more than one thousand people, many of whom are members of the Usability Professionals Association (UPA); a small number are connected to SIGCHI. There are also missionary HCI professionals. For example, Christian Rusu from Chile also lectures in Peru and Bolivia. Finally, IBM is active in HCI in Argentina and Brazil, bringing HCI professionals to both of these countries. The local HCI champions persuaded us to do something. We are After years of volunteer investment, SIGCHI is now at the center of the HCI network in North America, Europe, and the Pacific Rim. South of the border, however, is a different story. We meet occasionally with some of our Latin American colleagues at our conferences— typically only about 25 when CHI is held in North America and less whenever CHI moves to Europe. But things are changing. Adjunct Chair for Developing Worlds Zhengjie Liu and IFP Liaison John Karat have initiated a movement to grow CHI activities in Latin America and other regions. In response, local organizers Alfredo Sánchez, Clarisse de Souza, and Raquel Prates organized a workshop in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, on July 11 to 13. They managed to bring together 18 HCI professionals from both industry and academia, from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, and Argentina, all of whom worked with five SIGCHI Executive Committee members. Brazil is the fifth-largest country in the world by size and by population. It is also the only Portuguesespeaking country in this part of the world. We learned from six professionals from industry and academia about the activities of the Brazilian Computer Society surrounding HCI, about HCI in academia (research is rare, and mainly government funded; HCI education is often a oneor two-week course taught by a professor who is unqualified) and in industry (which shows no interest in academic research), as well as about the now going to consider producing a promotional event, tentatively named A Taste of HCI. We will submit requests for support from the SIGCHI Development Fund, a membership-funded pot of money to help isolated HCI champions start up new initiatives that lack sufficient bottom-up support. If those local volunteers identify an opportunity, we will consider relating it to our SIGCHI Public Policy Group. Our Education Group is standing by to consider a SIGCHI-specific "courses to go" program, analogous to ACM's Distinguished Speakers program, but customized for the context. We will consider publishing translated material, with the help of local volunteers, targeted to different groups. The biannual HCI conference CLIHC (trilingual, with some contributions in English) has so far alternated between Mexico and Brazil. We expect it will change into a "workshop to go," which can be affiliated with any more or less relevant event (e.g., a computer science conference), and that we will happily embrace as a fully SIGCHIsponsored, specialized conference. On the last day of the meeting, I could happily endorse the newborn Latin American HCI community, which is now featured on SIGCHI's website (see http://www.sigchi.org/ communities/laihc). Gerrit C. van der Veer President, ACM SIGCHI


Experience from other domains suggests that videotaping and analyzing actual clinical care can provide valuable insights for enhancing patient safety through improvements in the process of care. Methods are described for the videotaping and analysis of clinical care using a high quality portable multi-angle digital video system that enables simultaneous capture of vital signs and time code synchronization of all data streams. An observer can conduct clinician performance assessment (such as workload measurements or behavioral task analysis) either in real time (during videotaping) or while viewing previously recorded videotapes. Supplemental data are synchronized with the video record and stored electronically in a hierarchical database. The video records are transferred to DVD, resulting in a small, cheap, and accessible archive. A number of technical and logistical issues are discussed, including consent of patients and clinicians, maintaining subject privacy and confidentiality, and data security. Using anesthesiology as a test environment, over 270 clinical cases (872 hours) have been successfully videotaped and processed using the system.


Efficient delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNA) remains the greatest technological barrier to the clinical implementation of RNA interference strategies. We are investigating the relationship between the biophysical properties of siRNA nanocomplexes and their transfection efficiency as an approach to the generation of improved formulations. Peptide-based formulations are of great interest, and so in this study we have compared nanocomplex formulations for siRNA delivery containing linear and branched oligolysine or oligoarginine peptides. Peptides were combined with cationic liposomes in siRNA formulations and compared for transfection efficiency, siRNA packaging efficiency, biophysical properties, and particle stability. Nanocomplexes containing linear peptides were more condensed and stable than branched peptide formulations; however, their silencing activity was lower, suggesting that their greater stability might limit siRNA release within the cell. Thus, differences in transfection appeared to be associated with differences in packaging and stability, indicating the importance of optimizing this feature in siRNA nanocomplexes.


Abstract. Coral cores provide vital climate reconstructions for site-specific temporal variability in river flow and sediment load. Yet, their ability to record spatial differences across multiple catchments is relatively unknown. Here, we investigate spatial linkages between four coral proxies of terrestrial runoff and their relationships between sites. Coral cores were drilled in and around Antongil Bay, the largest bay in Madagascar, and individually analysed for fifteen years of continuous luminescence (G / B), Ba / Ca, δ18Osw and δ13C data. Each coral core was drilled close to individual river mouths (≥ 7 km), and proxy data were compared to modelled river discharge and sediment runoff data for the three corresponding catchments. A reasonable agreement between terrestrial runoff proxies with modelled river discharge and sediment yield was observed. Some inconsistencies between proxy and modelled data are likely linked to proxy behaviour, watershed size and local environmental physiochemical parameters. In general, the further a coral resided from its river source, the weaker the proxy relationship was with modelled data and other corals, due to mixing gradients and currents. Nevertheless, we demonstrate that two coral Ba / Ca and luminescence (G / B) records influenced by the same watershed are reproducible. Furthermore, a strong Ba / Ca relationship was observed between two cores from distant watersheds, with baseline averages in agreement with modelled sediment runoff data. As humic acids behave conservatively in the water column, luminescence (G / B) data gave the highest regional correlations between cores, and showed the most consistent relationship with site specific modelled discharge. No statistical relationship was observed between cores in terms of interannual δ18Osw and δ13C, meaning corals were recording a localised signal at their respective sites, confounded by vital effects. Comparing proxy baseline averages and mean seasonal cycles provided a good overview of the runoff dynamics of the bay system.


Conservation biologists routinely face the dilemma of keeping small, fragmented populations isolated, wherein inbreeding depression may ensue, or mixing such populations, which may exacerbate population declines via outbreeding depression. The joint evaluation of inbreeding and outbreeding risks in the wild cannot be readily conducted in endangered species, so a suggested 'safe' strategy is to mix ecologically and genetically similar populations. To evaluate this strategy, we carried out a reciprocal transplant experiment involving three neighboring populations of endangered Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) now bred in captivity and maintained in captive and wild environments. Pure, inbred, and outbred (first and second generation) cross types were released and recaptured in the wild to simultaneously test for local adaptation, inbreeding depression, and outbreeding depression. We found little evidence of inbreeding depression after one generation of inbreeding and little evidence of either heterosis or outbreeding depression via genetic incompatibilities after one or two generations of outbreeding. A trend for outbreeding depression via the loss of local adaptation was documented in one of three populations. The effects of inbreeding were not significantly different from the effects of outbreeding. Hence, at the geographic scale evaluated (34–50 km), inbreeding for one generation and outbreeding over two generations may have similar effects on the persistence of small populations. The results further suggested that outbreeding outcomes may be highly variable or unpredictable at small genetic distances. Our work highlights the necessity of evaluating the relative costs of inbreeding and outbreeding in the conservation and management of endangered species on a case‐by‐case basis.


This thesis summarises research into adaptive room correction for small rooms and pre-recorded material, for example music of films. A measurement system to predict the sound at a remote location within a room, without a microphone at that location was investigated. This would allow the sound within a room to be adaptively manipulated to ensure that all listeners received optimum sound, therefore increasing their enjoyment. The solution presented used small microphone arrays, mounted on the room's walls. A unique geometry and processing system was designed, incorporating three processing stages, temporal, spatial and spectral. The temporal processing identifies individual reflection arrival times from the recorded data. Spatial processing estimates the angles of arrival of the reflections so that the three-dimensional coordinates of the reflections' origin can be calculated. The spectral processing then estimates the frequency response of the reflection. These estimates allow a mathematical model of the room to be calculated, based on the acoustic measurements made in the actual room. The model can then be used to predict the sound at different locations within the room. A simulated model of a room was produced to allow fast development of algorithms. Measurements in real rooms were then conducted and analysed to verify the theoretical models developed and to aid further development of the system. Results from these measurements and simulations, for each processing stage are presented.


Chronic vitamin and mineral deficiency, also known as 'Hidden Hunger', is one of the most serious health problems confronting developing nations, especially Nigeria. Successive governments have implemented several nutritional programs such as school feeding program, mineral fortification program and supplementation with vitamin A capsules to combat the level of child malnutrition. Despite these efforts, the level of malnutrition cases has not dropped below average in rural and urban households. FGDs were conducted with women who registered at the Primary Health Centers  (PHCs) in each of the communities selected for the study. The selection cut across rural and urban communities. In all, three FGDs were conducted in Ekiti State (Ado-Ekiti, Ikere-Ekiti and Ikoro-Ekiti). Each FGD included 10-12 discussants randomly selected from the list of weekly attendance at the PHCs. Results from the problem tree analysis revealed that constraints to the adequate dietary intake among women included income, cultural preference, nutritional knowledge and practice. Keywords : Dietary intake, Constraints, Primary health centers


In this paper, we propose a general formal framework for organising multiagent systems whose participants are rational agents. This model is based on the idea of organisational mechanisms. These are mechanisms introduced in a multiagent system with the aim of influencing the behaviour of the agents towards more effectiveness with regard to some objectives. We define two kinds of organisational mechanisms: i) informative mechanisms which provide additional information to agents, that may persuade agents to behave in a certain way, and ii) regulative mechanisms which produce changes in the environment of the agents, that may impose certain behaviours. We also define some properties of these mechanisms which will make it possible to prove certain characteristics of organised multiagent systems. Finally, we present a discussion about how the social concepts proposed by different organisational paradigms can be considered as either informative or regulative organisational mechanisms.


Purpose – This research paper studies how the strategy of repositioning enables marketers to communicate CSR as their brand's differentiating factor. It aims at understanding how consumer perceptions can be managed to generate brand value through corporate brand repositioning when CSR is the differentiating factor. The purpose of this paper is to answer the following research question: How can consumer perceptions be managed to generate brand value through corporate brand repositioning when CSR is the differentiating factor? The two research objectives were: 1. to build a model, which describes the different components of consumer perceptions involved in generation of brand value through repositioning when CSR is the differentiating factor, 2. to identify the most critical components in the context of the case company, IKEA for generation of brand value during the process of corporate brand repositioning. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on the literature review covering the logic of brand value generation, repositioning strategy and consumer perceptions connected to CSR activities. A key concept of the positioning theory, the brand's differentiating factor, was explored. Previous studies have concluded that desirability of the differentiating factor largely determines the level of brand value-creation for the target customers. The criterion of desirability is based on three dimensions: relevance, distinctiveness and believability. A model was built in terms of these desirability dimensions. This paper takes a case study approach where the predefined theoretical framework is tested using IKEA as the case company. When developing insights on the multifaceted nature of brand perceptions, personal interviews and individual probing are vital. They enable the interviewees to reflect on their feelings and perceptions with their own words. This is why the data collection was based on means-end type of questioning. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 12 consumers. Findings – The paper highlights five critical components that may determine whether IKEA will fail in its repositioning efforts. The majority of the critical components involved believability perceptions. Hence, according to the findings, establishing credibility and trustworthiness for the brand in the context of CSR seems primary. The most critical components identified of the believability aspect were: providing proof of responsible codes of conduct via conducting specific and concrete CSR actions, connecting the company's products and the social cause, and building a linkage between the initial and new positioning while also weakening the old positioning. Originality/value – Marketers' obligation is to prepare the company for future demands. Companies all over the globe have recognized the durable trend of responsibility and sustainability. Consumer´s worry about the environmental and social impact of modern lifestyles is growing. This is why Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) provides brands an important source of differentiation and strength in the future. The strategy of repositioning enables marketers to communicate CSR as their brand's differentiating factor. This study aimed at understanding how consumer perceptions can be managed to generate brand value through corporate brand repositioning when CSR is the differentiating factor.


Geometric dispersion in the deep ocean sound channel causes wideband modal arrivals to be spread significantly in time at long ranges. This results in a low modal peak signal‐to‐noise ratio and interference due to multiple overlapping arrivals. These effects make the identification of individual modal arrivals difficult without the use of a vertical receiving array. The time compression of modal arrivals using phase‐only filters is examined as a method for locating and identifying arrivals from a reception at a single depth. A search display, dubbed the dispersion diagnostic display, has proved its worth in computer simulations using a 60 mode range invariant model of SLICE89 propagation. The DD display simultaneously shows a raylike (no dispersion) structure and a patterned modal structure with strongly dispersed early arrivals and lightly dispersed terminal arrivals. [Work supported by ATOC.]


OBJECTIVE
In patients with osteoarthritis (OA), moderate physical activity (PA) can reduce the progress of joint damage. PA is therefore an important target of in the non-surgical treatment of OA. To know about factors associated with PA can increase the success of interventions aiming at increasing PA. The aim of the study was to determine predictors of PA in patients suffering from OA to the hip or to the knee.

METHODS
In total, 1250 outpatients from 75 general practices were consecutively approached, 1021 returned questionnaires containing sociodemographic data, and short forms of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scale and the Patient Health Questionnaire to assess concomitant depression. A hierarchical stepwise multiple linear regression analysis with the IPAQ continuous score as dependent variable was performed.

RESULTS
Comparison of our findings with General population suggests that the overall PA of OA patients is decreased. Main predictors of PA were physical limitation to the lower body (beta = -0.179; P = 0.001), social contacts (P = -0.134; P < 0.001), pain (beta =-0.120; P = 0.001), age (beta = -0.110; P = 0.004) and the body mass index (beta =-0.043; P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION
The findings emphasize the influence of physical as well as psychosocial factors on PA of patients with OA and should help to tailor future interventions more appropriately. Further research is needed to determine if these tailored interventions will result in better compliance and in increased PA.


e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com The paper deals with the influence of different types of WC-Co powder mixtures processed by SLM technology on the final properties of the prototype build. The powder mixtures used differed in the morphology of the powder particles, i.e. the shape, size and chemical composition of the individual powder particles. In total, two different types of WC-Co powder mixtures were used for the experiment. The study was focused on the evaluation of the effect of these powders and other parameters of SLM technology (applied energy) on the resulting properties of the prototype sample. The samples were subjected to metallographic analysis after their preparation. This analysis was performed using metallographic and scanning electron microscopes. The metallographic analysis was supplemented by analysing the phase composition of the prototype samples and the changes in their chemical composition. The experiments enabled us to compare the differences in the properties of the prototype samples, especially in terms of their porosity, structural changes, changes in chemical and phase composition. The information obtained in relation to the parameters of the technology and the powders provided us with interesting data. The diffusion of the elements, especially carbon, meant the eta phase was formed in all of the samples, which is considered to be an undesirable phase in cemented carbides. However, its volume varied depending on the type of powder and the processing conditions. The smallest amount was recorded for samples made from a powder mixture with a free bond between the binder particles and tungsten carbide grains.


Objective: Antioxidant activity of natural compounds in food and in dietary supplements plays an important role in healthy life. Scientific evidences suggest that antioxidants reduce the risk for chronic diseases including cancer, diabetes mellitus and heart diseases.
Methods: The antioxidant activity of wild Cyclamen persicum, Malva sylvestris and Urtica pilulifera leaves and their cultivated species were studied using 2, 2-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity and compared to Trolox antioxidant activity. The exhaustive extractions yields for these samples were estimated by using polar and nonpolar solvents.
Results: The results showed that the wild Cyclamen persicum, Malva sylvestris and Urtica pilulifera leaves have higher exhaustive extraction yield and as well the higher antioxidant activity (IC50) comparing with their cultivated species.
Conclusions: Both of cultivated, as well the wild natural growing forms of Cyclamen persicum, Malva sylvestris and Urtica pilulifera are a good source for natural foods supplements, pharmaceutical industry purposes and for organic food rich with antioxidant compounds.


The thesis deals with the design of an intelligent sensor network for protecting premises from chemical, biological and intruder attacks. This thesis gives a logical level design along with the architectures at various levels of hierarchy. The use of object technology is proliferating in the development of software, and in order to build robust and maintainable complex systems, mastering object-oriented (O-O) analysis and design is essential. The main goal of this thesis is to report on the experience of applying object-oriented modeling, analysis and design methodology to a real-world complex system represented by an intelligent sensor network for a building. UML has been used to model the software and automation infrastructure, which handles the interactions among processing elements in a modern building.

A set of system design requirements are developed that cover the hardware design of the nodes, the design of the sensor network, and the capabilities for remote data access and management. A formal model is proposed for the architecture, and the behavior diagrams explain the dynamic nature of the system. The static and dynamic diagrams together validate and verify the system. Agent UML is discussed to model evacuation of a room. This thesis discusses some extensions to UML for agent-based modeling where the agents follow a purely reactive and proactive approach. In this work, agent-based architectures and behavior diagrams are proposed as a method to envision security in buildings. Extensions are provided to support a multi room scenario. Sensor fusion is used to provide a robust functionality and reducing the events of false alarms occurring in the system. Linear programming techniques are used to solve for the minimal point in the cost vs. performance trade off curve for the sensor network as well as for the access system proposed. The tradeoff explores the relation of variables and suggests an operating point satisfying all constraints and without violating any requirement. Solver, an Excel add-in has been used to run the linear optimization.


There is increasing evidence of the importance of herbivory in seagrass communities, but the factors that regulate seagrass-herbivore interactions remain largely unknown. Many terres- trial plants and marine algae chemically deter herbivores using secondary metabolites, yet their inci- dence and role on seagrasses have received little attention. Posidonia oceanica, the dominant sea- grass in the Mediterranean Sea, suffers a high level of herbivory and produces phenolics, a type of compounds known to deter feeding in algae and terrestrial plants. We have experimentally quanti- fied the chemical deterrence of P. oceanica against 3 types of sympatric consumers by comparing feeding on palatable agar-based foods containing aqueous and organic extracts of P. oceanica at nat- ural concentrations with that on appropriate controls. The effect of plant chemistry was measured on the feeding of the sea urchins Spharechinus granularis, Paracentrotus lividus and Arbacia lixula, the mesograzer gastropod Cerithium vulgatum, and the general fish assemblage inhabiting P. oceanica meadows. Since these 5 experiments were run independently, we used meta-analysis to test the over- all hypothesis that P. oceanica is chemically defended against multiple consumers and to compare the magnitude of their inhibition. Our results clearly showed that the seagrass extracts significantly deterred feeding, although inhibition varied between consumers. S. granularis was the most deterred organism, while the mesograzer C. vulgatum was the only species unaffected by P. oceanica extracts. These results represent the first experimental evidence for seagrass chemical deterrence against a range of consumers, and emphasise the potential importance of chemically mediated interactions between seagrass and herbivores.


The orientational texture of gel-phase lipid bilayers is a phenomenon that can structure membrane domains. Using two-photon polarized fluorescence microscopy and image analysis, we map the lateral variation of the lipid orientation (the texture) in single domains. With this method, we uncover a lipid-induced transition between vortex and uniform textures in binary phospholipid bilayers. By tuning the lipid composition, the hydrophobic mismatch at the domain boundary can be varied systematically as monitored by AFM. Low hydrophobic mismatch correlates with domains having uniform texture, while higher mismatch values correlate with a vortex-type texture. The defect pattern created during early growth persists in larger domains, and a minimal model incorporating the anisotropic line tension and the vortex energy can rationalize this finding. The results suggest that the lipid composition and the domain nucleation process are critical factors that determine the texture pattern of membrane domains.


Most atmospheric scientists agree that greenhouse gas emissions have already caused significant changes to the global climate system and that these changes will accelerate in the near future. At the same time, atmospheric scientists who – like other scientists – rely on international collaboration and information exchange travel a lot and, thereby, cause substantial emissions of CO 2 . In this paper, the CO 2 emissions of the employees working at an atmospheric research institute (the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, NILU) caused by all types of business travel (conference visits, workshops, field campaigns, instrument maintainance, etc.) were calculated for the years 2005–2007. It is estimated that more than 90% of the emissions were caused by air travel, 3% by ground travel and 5% by hotel usage. The travel-related annual emissions were between 1.9 and 2.4 t CO 2 per employee or between 3.9 and 5.5 t CO 2 per scientist. For comparison, the total annual per capita CO 2 emissions are 4.5 t worldwide, 1.2 t for India, 3.8 t for China, 5.9 t for Sweden and 19.1 t for Norway. The travel-related CO 2 emissions of a NILU scientist, occurring in 24 days of a year on average, exceed the global average annual per capita emission. Norway's per-capita CO 2 emissions are among the highest in the world, mostly because of the emissions from the oil industry. If the emissions per NILU scientist derived in this paper are taken as representative for the average Norwegian researcher, travel by Norwegian scientists would nevertheless account for a substantial 0.2% of Norway's total CO 2 emissions. Since most of the travel-related emissions are due to air travel, water vapor emissions, ozone production and contrail formation further increase the relative importance of NILU's travel in terms of radiative forcing.


We present the Fabry-Perot observations obtained for a new set of 108 galaxies in the frame of the Gassendi Ha survey of SPirals (GHASP). The GHASP survey consists of 3D Ha data cubes for 203 spiral and irregular galaxies, covering a large range in morphological types and absolute magnitudes, for kinematics analysis. The new set of data presented here completes the survey. The GHASP sample is by now the largest sample of Fabry-Perot data ever published. The analysis of the whole GHASP sample will be done in forthcoming papers. Using adaptive binning techniques based on Voronoi tessellations, we have derived Ha data cubes from which are computed Ha maps, radial velocity fields as well as residual velocity fields, position-velocity diagrams, rotation curves and the kinematical parameters for almost all galaxies. Original improvements in the determination of the kinematical parameters, rotation curves and their uncertainties have been implemented in the reduction procedure. This new method is based on the whole 2D velocity field and on the power spectrum of the residual velocity field rather than the classical method using successive crowns in the velocity field. Among the results, we point out that morphological position angles have systematically higher uncertainties than kinematical ones, especially for galaxies with low inclination. The morphological inclination of galaxies having no robust determination of their morphological position angle cannot be constrained correctly. Galaxies with high inclination show a better agreement between their kinematical inclination and their morphological inclination computed assuming a thin disc. The consistency of the velocity amplitude of our rotation curves has been checked using the Tully-Fisher relationship. Our data are in good agreement with previous determinations found in the literature. Nevertheless, galaxies with low inclination have statistically higher velocities than expected and fast rotators are less luminous than expected.


Why do the keypads on drive-up cash machines have Braille dots? Why are round-trip fares from Orlando to Kansas City higher than those from Kansas City to Orlando? For decades, Robert Frank has been asking his economics students to pose and answer questions like these as a way of learning how economic principles operate in the real world--which they do everywhere, all the time. Once you learn to think like an economist, all kinds of puzzling observations start to make sense. Drive-up ATM keypads have Braille dots because it's cheaper to make the same machine for both drive-up and walk-up locations. Travelers from Kansas City to Orlando pay less because they are usually price-sensitive tourists with many choices of destination, whereas travelers originating from Orlando typically choose Kansas City for specific family or business reasons. The Economic Naturalist employs basic economic principles to answer scores of intriguing questions from everyday life, and, along the way, introduces key ideas such as the cost benefit principle, the "no cash left on the table" principle, and the law of one price. There is no more delightful and painless way of learning these fundamental principles.


Soil structure can significantly enhance or modify infiltration rates and flow pathways in undisturbed field soils. Relations between features of soil structure and features of infiltration were elucidated from the velocities of wetting fronts. To study flow geometries during wetting, 100 sprinkler infiltration experiments were performed in situ at 25 different sites. Applied sprinkler irrigation rates ranged from 20 to 100 mm h−1 and lasted 1 h. Time domain reflectometry (TDR)‐based observations of soil moisture time series at various depths yielded 215 velocities of wetting fronts between 0.2 and 5.5 mm s−1 Application of Poiseuille's Law to the velocities resulted in radii and densities of equivalent Poiseuille pores in the ranges of 5 to 30 μm and of 2 × 106 to 2 × 108 m−2, respectively. From the equivalent Poiseuille pores capillary heads were estimated to be in the range of −2.0 to −0.2 m. They served as initial conditions for modeling infiltration with the HYDRUS‐2D code using hydraulic properties representative of the sand, silt, loam, and clay soil textural classes. The observed in situ wetting velocities indicated preferential flow; however, the calculated equivalent pore radii suggested that no macropores were required to initiate preferential flow. HYDRUS‐2D reproduced the bulk of observed wetting velocities when hydraulic properties typical of sandy soils were used.


Our proposal for an alternative to the exclusionary rule differs from others in that while damages actions play an important role, it proposes a regulated experiment - crafted and enacted into law by Congress pursuant to its Section 5 power to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment - whereby federal, state and local law enforcement agencies can operate free of the exclusionary rule if they develop internal mechanisms to deter police misconduct. The central focus would be on developing systematic police compliance with the Fourteenth Amendment rather than addressing individual violations. To help frame the discussion, consider the following formulation of our proposal: Application for Review and Certification of Effectiveness of Alternative Remedial System for Fourth Amendment Violations (a) The Department of Justice (Department) is authorized to review and certify applications by federal and state law enforcement agencies (Agency) seeking a declaration that the Agency has adopted and is able to implement an effective system for deterring and remedying Fourth Amendment violations committed by its personnel or those acting on its behalf. (b) A certification authorized by Subsection (a) shall issue only if the Department determines that the Agency (1) has or will (upon certification) put in place (i) a regularly updated, publicly accessible registry of all searches and seizures by the Agency, including all search, seizure and arrest warrants issued at its behest, and all complaints from members of the public and Agency actions taken in response to those complaints; (ii) quality and conduct standards for Agency personnel, including annual training requirements and a discipline schedule for repeated Fourth Amendment violations (up to and including termination of employment); and (iii) an ombudsman's office to review complaints from members of the public and to monitor compliance with this Subsection; and (2) has provided for a legally effective compensation system, waiving all sovereign and official immunity, enabling victims of Fourth Amendment violations by the Agency to bring an individual or class action suit for appropriate injunctive relief and special damages (on a schedule approved by the Department) against the Agency. (c) Any certification authorized by Subsection (a) will have effect for one year only, subject to an annual renewal process as authorized by Department regulations. (d) A certification authorized by Subsection (a) reflects the Department's considered determination that in light of the Agency's system for deterring and remedying Fourth Amendment violations, it is not necessary for any court within the United States to exclude any evidence because it has been obtained by the Agency in violation of the Fourth Amendment. A certification authorized by Subsection (a) shall be reviewable in the ordinary course by a court of appropriate jurisdiction. The program would be entirely voluntary, open to federal, state or local law enforcement agencies interested in operating free of the exclusionary rule. Congress would authorize the Department of Justice to craft standards for evaluating training and disciplinary regimes for certification. Participating law enforcement agencies (which in an appropriate case could include an entire state) would be required to submit training and discipline policies consistent with the Department's requirements. In order to provide information necessary to meaningful monitoring of the agency's compliance, participating agencies would have to maintain a periodically updated, publicly accessible registry of all searches and seizures conducted by the agency's personnel, including warrants issued at the agency's behest, and complaints received from the public. In addition, participating agencies would have to provide for a schedule of substantial damages for Fourth Amendment violations sufficient to create a financial incentive to bring 42 U.S.C. & 1983 actions against jurisdictions whose law enforcement agencies regularly and systematically violate the Fourth Amendment, and also sufficient to provide compensation for dignitary harms visited on victims of Fourth Amendment violations, whether or not they have been charged with crimes. Certifications would be annually renewed and subject to judicial review in the ordinary course. Presumably, victims of unlawful searches would still try to initiate a suppression hearing and whether they succeed would depend on judicial acceptance of the certification as reflecting an effective alternative to the exclusionary rule. States which decline to participate or which do not develop adequate training and enforcement plans would continue to be bound by the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule.


This opinion of the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) deals with the setting of Dietary Reference Values (DRVs) for protein. The Panel concludes that a Population Reference Intake (PRI) can be derived from nitrogen balance studies. Several health outcomes possibly associated with protein intake were also considered but data were found to be insufficient to establish DRVs. For healthy adults of both sexes, the average requirement (AR) is 0.66 g protein/kg body weight per day based on nitrogen balance data. Considering the 97.5th percentile of the distribution of the requirement and assuming an efficiency of utilisation of dietary protein for maintenance of 47 %, the PRI for adults of all ages was estimated to be 0.83 g protein/kg body weight per day and is applicable both to high quality protein and to protein in mixed diets. For children from six months onwards, age-dependent requirements for growth estimated from average daily rates of protein deposition and adjusted by a protein efficiency for growth of 58 % were added to the requirement for maintenance of 0.66 g/kg body weight per day. The PRI was estimated based on the average requirement plus 1.96 SD using a combined SD for growth and maintenance. For pregnancy, an intake of 1, 9 and 28 g/d in the first, second and third trimesters, respectively, is proposed in addition to the PRI for non-pregnant women. For lactation, a protein intake of 19 g/d during the first six months, and of 13 g/d after six months, is proposed in addition to the PRI for non-lactating women. Data are insufficient to establish a Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for protein. Intakes up to twice the PRI are regularly consumed from mixed diets by some physically active and healthy adults in Europe and are considered safe.


Specific ganglion cells in the mammalian retina regulate responses to light without forming images, including entrainment of the circadian clock. However, genetic studies in mice have suggested that this response to light remains largely intact even in the absence of these photoreceptors. Panda et al. now report that the photoreceptors in mice of the classical image-forming visual system (rods and cones) also regulate light input into the photoresponse process that does not form images. This finding indicates that light inputs from multiple photoreceptor types are integrated in the control of processes such as circadian rhythm. S. Panda, I. Provencio, D. C. Tu, S. S. Pires, M. D. Rollag, A. M. Castrucci, M. T. Pletcher, T. K. Sato, T. Wiltshire, M. Andahazy, S. A. Kay, R. N. Van Gelder, J. B. Hogenesch, Melanopsin is required for non-image-forming photic responses in blind mice. Science 301, 525-527 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Program Corporate Social Responsibility what given by PT.LEDO LESTARI have started implementation of since operating it company of seed coconut of the oil palm (since year 2005) just for example develop; building of place of religious service for local society, relocation barracks, housing, school, polyclinic, opening walker the tacking on ushering countryside, recruitment SDM of about, regional security of state frontier. develop; bridled of the company, so that the dedication which debarking to State and socialize about able to increase the prosperity socialize where company operate. And line news program this Corporate Social Responsibility PT.LEDO LESTARI have been displayed in Metro TV (Thursday, 13 December 2007, 13.00 WIB). The Sinar Baru Countryside of regional broadly 75.000 Ha, populating 520 by 70 is KK represent area which seldom the resident. Area which is a lot of with river and farm which still be the wide represent area of corner which less be seen by its existence though the region represent regional borderland of State of Indonesia and State Malaysia. The Sinar Baru Countryside is which have the dominant dweller of tribe of this Malay have is production to from rubber plantation, wood, farmer, and trade, 30% from countryside resident (156 soul) representing employees in PT.LEDO LESTARI. Internal issue Formula this research for example is there any implementation Corporate Social Responsibility PT.LEDO LESTARI influence to prosperity socialize about and how big influence of between implementation Corporate Social Responsibility which have been conducted by PT.LEDO LESTARI to prosperity socialize about. There is even also the theory used in this research is theory socialize mass and integrity. This research represent research of explanative associative, that is research to test link of between variable which the hypothesis. Hypothesis of Itself depict influence of between two variable or more, to know whether an variable influenced or do not by other variable. While base of this research is research of survey representing an research by collecting data from a number of unit or individual during (or the duration) what at the same time. Population of this Research is society of Sinar Baru Countryside, Regency of Bengkayang Kalimantan of West with certain characteristic matching with target of this research. Pursuant to the characteristic, sum up population which got as much 77 people. Sample got by using totalizing the sampling. Technique of data collecting used in this research is questioner and documentation. To look for influence of implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility ( X) to prosperity socialize ( Y) used by a formula analyze linear regress modestly, Y= a+ bX. Result of research indicates that implementation of corporate social responsibility give positive influence to prosperity socializes of Sinar Baru countryside. Result of research show equal to 74, 0%. And the rest of equal to 26,0% influenced by other; dissimilar factors is which not discussed in by this research. Keyword : Implementasi Corporate Social Rewsponsibility; Kesejahteraan Masayrakat Link terkait : http://skripsi.umm.ac.id/files/disk1/279/jiptummpp-gdl-s1-2008-khusnulfau-13924-PENDAHUL-N.pdf


Catherine Stein, Advisor The present study is a qualitative inquiry focused on understanding community-based theater involving people living with psychiatric disabilities through the narratives of the troupe members and directors. The study uses a grounded theory case study design to investigate The Stars of Light theater troupe in Rockford, Illinois. The research specifically explores the developmental processes of the troupe and its members, social activism, and critical characteristics of the theatrical form. The project addresses individual, setting/group, and community levels of analysis using semi-structured interviews, a focus group, and archival/performance data. Emergent themes were analyzed through a hierarchical coding process that ultimately generated 18 theoretical constructs across the three primary domains of interest (developmental processes, social activism, and characteristics of theater). Findings indicate that individual, setting, and organizational characteristics interact with one another in a variety of ways, including 1) troupe flexibility enhances sustainability and personal growth, 2) personal gains from involvement are carried forward into other life settings outside the troupe, and 3) troupe activities impact the wider community in several ways beyond direct audience contact. Results also revealed emergent constructs related to the identity development of consumer participants, setting dynamics and trajectories, and theater as a means of aiding in the recovery process. These constructs are discussed in relation to previous research and theory related to recovery, identity and serious mental illness (SMI), consumer-driven programs, and arts initiatives. Specific recommendations are presented for mental health settings, theater iii settings, and activist organizations; study limitations and suggestions for future inquiry are also


The Totally Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Process (TASEP) is often considered one of the fundamental models of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, due to its well understood steady state and the fact that it can exhibit condensation, phase separation and phase transitions in one spatial dimension. As a minimal model of traffic flow it has enjoyed many applications, including the transcription of proteins by ribosomal motors moving along an mRNA track, the transport of cargo between cells and more human-scale traffic flow problems such as the dynamics of bus routes. It consists of a one-dimensional lattice of sites filled with a number of particles constrained to move in a particular direction, which move to adjacent sites probabilistically and interact by mutual exclusion. The study of non-Markovian interacting particle systems is in its infancy, due in part to a lack of a framework for addressing them analytically. In this thesis we extend the TASEP to allow the rate of transition between sites to depend on how long the particle in question has been stationary by using non-Poissonian waiting time distributions. We discover that if the waiting time distribution has infinite variance, a dynamic condensation effect occurs whereby every particle on the system comes to rest in a single traffic jam. As the lattice size increases, so do the characteristic condensate lifetimes and the probability that a condensate will interact with the preceding one by forming out of its remnants. This implies that the thermodynamic limit depends on the dynamics of such spatially complete condensates. As the characteristic condensate lifetimes increase, the standard continuous time Monte Carlo simulation method results in an increasingly large fraction of failed moves. This is computationally costly and led to a limit on the sizes of lattice we could simulate. We integrate out the failed moves to create a rejection-free algorithm which allows us to see the interacting condensates more clearly. We find that if condensates do not fully dissolve, the condensate lifetime ages and saturates to a particular value. An unforeseen consequence of this new technique, is that it also allowed us to gain a mathematical understanding of the ageing of condensates, and its dependence on system size. Using this we can see that the fraction of time spent in the spatially complete condensate tends to one in the thermodynamic limit. A random walker in a random force field has to escape potential wells of random depth, which gives rise to a power law waiting time distribution. We use the non-Markovian TASEP to investigate this model with a number of interacting particles. We find that if the potential well is re-sampled after every failed move, then this system is equivalent to the non-Markovian TASEP. If the potential well is only re-sampled after a successful move, then we restore particlehole symmetry, allow condensates to completely dissolve, and the thermodynamic limit spends a finite fraction of time in the spatially complete state. We then generalised the non-Markovian TASEP to allow for particles to move in both directions. We find that the full condensation effect remains robust except for the case of perfect symmetry.


Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications is considered to be one of the key enablers for the provisioning of advanced applications and services such as smart cities and hospitals, as well as automated vehicular and industrial automation operation. Currently, in LTE-Advanced systems, the main focus has been on supporting massive deployment of low cost devices, with enhanced radio access network coverage. In this work, we present the recent MTC enhancements in LTE system. Detailed performance analysis based on LTE system settings is also presented. The LTE capacity evaluations performed based on devices per physical resource block indicate that significantly large number of devices can already be supported in an LTE system, based on the assumptions used, with minimal system overhead. We also present an overview of some of the key scenarios, requirements and use cases currently being considered for M2M communication in fifth generation (5G) systems. The performance requirements currently being considered for massive and ultra-reliable M2M communication are also discussed.


We report a comprehensive ab initio structural investigation of more than 43 000 probable molecular structures of polydopamine (PDA) and eumelanin in various oxidation states. With the aid of a computational approach including a brute-force algorithmic generation of chemical isomers and density functional theory, all probable oxidized 5,6-dihydroxyindole (DHI) oligomers, ranging from dimers to tetramers, have been systematically generated and evaluated. We identify a set of the most stable molecular structures of PDA and eumelanin which represent the chemically diverse nature of these materials. Results show that more planar molecular structures have a tendency to be more stable. We also observe that, in some cases, forming cyclic molecular structures could reduce the energy of a DHI tetramer and make it more stable. This finding supports the hypothesis that cyclic molecules could exist in eumelanin-like materials. Additionally, the cyclic molecular models proposed in this work are energetically more favorable than the popular porphyrin-like models in this field.


Medical writing knowledge and skills can be applied relatively easily to other areas of technical regulatory writing, with a bit of home study. One such area is in the compilation and write-up of REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and restriction of Chemicals) chemical dossiers. A concise overview of the legislation, requirements, and dossier content is provided, with links to guidance documents available online for further study.


Al-Qaeda doesn't care about "Hope" and "Change" The threat of terrorism in America, the Obama administration assures us, is contained and controlled. Recent attempted attacks like the Times Square bombing, the "underwear bombing" on a flight over Detroit, and the attack on a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Oregon were all isolated plots that failed anyway. In the words of Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano, "The system worked." Don't believe it. In The Terrorist Next Door, investigative reporter Erick Stakelbeck exposes the staggering truth about our national security: the Obama administration is concealing and whitewashing the enormous terrorist threat growing right here within America's borders. If you believe terrorism is only a problem for other countries, Stakelbeck's on-the-ground reporting will open your eyes. He has been inside America's radical mosques, visited U.S.-based Islamic enclaves, and learned about our enemies by going straight to the source--interviewing al-Qaeda-linked terrorists themselves. In this shocking book, Stakelbeck reveals: * How Islamic radicals have established separatist compounds and even jihadist training camps throughout rural America * That an overt disciple of Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini now leads one of the largest mosques in America * How mega-mosques aren't just planned for Ground Zero--they're being built in the heart of the Bible Belt as part of a plan for Islamic domination * What a former U.S. covert agent inside the Iranian regime says about Iran's program to recruit Americans into terror groups * How the Obama administration's beguiling counter-terrorism policies are increasing the threat of another 9/11 The Terrorist Next Door sounds the alarm on a growing threat to every American--one that the U.S. government refuses to face honestly or even to name. As we struggle against a relentless and adaptable Islamist enemy that is committed to destroying our nation, we can't say we weren't warned.


Localized creativity, small high-tech entrepreneurship, related innovation platforms, social capital embedded in dynamically open territorial communities and context-specific though continuously upgrading policy platforms are all means to face new challenges and to promote increased absorptive capacity within local and national territories. The contributors illustrate that these capabilities are much needed in the current globalized economy as a path towards sustainability and for creating new opportunities for their inhabitants. They analyse the challenges and development prospects of local/regional production systems internally, across territories, and in terms of their potential and territorial connectivity which can help exploit opportunities for proactive policy actions. This is increasingly relevant in the current climate, in which the balanced allocation of resources and opportunities, particularly for SMEs, cannot be expected to be the automatic result of the working of the market.


This presentation was commissioned by the Poverty Reduction and Social Protection Network of the Regional Policy Dialogue for the VI Hemispheric Meeting celebrated on December 9th and 10th, 2003. Why reduce poverty? Social, economic, political and ethical questions. What is Poverty? Basic concepts: poverty, inequality, exclusion and vulnerability Who are the poor? Poverty indicators,base lines, measurement. Poverty profiles as instrument for design and focalization of programs. Family information Systems (Registro Unico).


Entrepreneurship date back thousands of years. Effective workforces require training and education. Entrepreneurs need a thorough training needs analysis before adapting training programmes. Training describes learning activities to improve entrepreneurs' knowledge, skills and abilities to perform and manage effectively. Education improves competency of entrepreneurs. Models are referred to in the literature review. Training and education needs were identified for entrepreneurs to maintain competitive advantage and profit margins. A study done in 2008 in Auckland, New Zealand found that training and education is necessary for entrepreneurs and employees; how they could gain greater efficiencies and increased profit through training of current employees.


In this paper, we simulate the inflation of fixed two ends polymer chain curvature as nano sensor in EOF which it provides a porous media for DPD (dissipative particles dynamics) solvent particles and inflation is resulted. Particles are driven by electroosmotic flow in nanochannel which is as an external force in DPD algorithm and part of particles should move through a non-charged polymer chain which they affect on curvature of polymer chain. Our results for simple nanochannel in EOF are validated with analytical results and we have developed our results when a fixed two ends polymer chain subject in nanochannel as nano sensor in both cases including simple and stenosis nanochannel. Amount of inflation (displacement) of fixed two ends polymer chain is related to electroosmotic forces and interaction between particles. Our aim is that a relation between effective parameters in electroosmotic flow such as electric field, zeta potential, kh parameters and amount of inflation in polymer chain curvature (interaction between particles) is provided for each test case. Based on our results, there is a linear relation between some parameters such as external electrical field, zeta potential and kh parameters (effect of Debye length and channel height) in low electrosmotic forces but non-linear behavior is observed for high electroosmotic forces especially for stenosis channel case. This study opens some new way toward designing proper nano EOF sensors to measure flow characteristics in EOF applications.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


Does it really help women to think of sexual harassment primarily as a legal issue? High-profile sexual harassment suits, such as that of Paula Jones against President Clinton, are often life-changing events, with all parties coming away with careers, reputations, and lives profoundly affected. Women have long suffered on the job from sexual extortion, now called quid pro quo harassment, but today the controversy centers on "hostile environment" harassment. Every one has an opinion about it; managements spend more and more money training people not to do it; and still the suits strike like lightning-devastating and seemingly random. Women and men often feel polarized in the workplace by what they perceive to be general hostility couched in sexual terms. What to Do When You Don't Want to Call the Cops questions establishment assumptions that women are, by definition, passive victims who require government help. It sees instead a period of transition toward a more balanced population of women in the workplace, with accompanying disruptions that can be minimized by understanding. Joan Kennedy Taylor presents what we know about the workplace and interviews managers, labor experts, and workers in such male-dominated fields as construction, engineering, business, and medicine to shed light on the male group culture that exists without women. She illustrates expressive behaviors that may be objectionable but are not sexual harassment and proposes specific strategies by which these objectionable behaviors can be countered, including a new feminist approach in company training programs. Taylor examines traditional and nontraditional workplaces, and female on male as well as male on male harassment, in order to apply these strategies to the entire picture. Lively and anecdotal, Taylor's balanced, non-adversarial study fills an important gap by providing strategies for businesses and employees, as well as for those who find themselves the target of sexual harassment.


Mussels belonging to the Mytilus edulis species complex have been the focus of numerous studies exploring the systematics and origin of this commercially and ecologically important genus. Species have wide geographical ranges and hybridise where their distributions overlap, making identification difficult. Several molecular markers have been used to distinguish between the species within the M. edulis species complex; however, no single marker system has been found to be completely diagnostic, and a combination of markers are used. Here, we used a combination of three nuclear genes and a mitochondrial gene region to assess the species composition of Mytilus mussels collected across its geographical range in Australia. Our results show that the majority (98.5%) of individuals sampled from Australian populations are Mytilus galloprovincialis, with 56.2% of them displaying a southern hemisphere haplotype, 10.3% displaying a putatively northern hemisphere haplotype, and 32% having M. galloprovincialis genotypes consistent with either northern or southern hemisphere M. galloprovincialis lineages. The taxonomic origin of the remaining 1.5% of samples (n = 3) could not be conclusively determined. Our results suggest that there have been significant introductions of non-native M. galloprovincialis lineages into both southern and northern hemisphere populations.


The main intention of this study was to investigate, using monthly data, whether prices in the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) follow a random-walk process as required for there to be market efficiency. The study applied the unit root tests to establish if the ZSE followed a random walk or not. If the ZSE follows a random walk it is said to be efficient and therefore managers of companies and investment specialists cannot take advantage of it to make unnecessarily huge profits. The ZSE was chosen because it represents a typical emerging stock market in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study used the Augmented-Dickey Fuller (ADF) tests with a lag length that was necessary to remove autocorrelation from residuals. Using monthly data from January 1998-November 2006 we found that the ZSE did not follow a random walk and therefore was not efficient in the weak form. This meant that past prices had an influence in the determination of future prices and this provided an opportunity for out-performance by skillful financial managers and investment specialists. During the period studied investment analysts and managers of companies were able to take advantage of these investment opportunities to make abnormal returns from the ZSE. The current study helped to corroborate the findings of a similar previous study that was carried out on the Zimbabwean economy for the period 1990-1998[8].


Introduction Conclusions References Tables Figures ◭ ◮ ◭ ◮ Back Close Full Screen / Esc Abstract Introduction Conclusions References Tables Figures ◭ ◮ ◭ ◮ Back Close Full Screen / Esc Printer-friendly Version Interactive Discussion EGU Abstract A simulation study has been performed in order to show the influence of the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) distribution together with the corresponding error distribution on the resultingÅngström exponent (AE) distribution. It will be shown that theÅngström exponent frequency of occurrence distribution is only normal distributed when the rel-5 ative error at the two wavelengths used for estimation of theÅngström exponent is the same. In all other cases a shift of the maximum of the AE-distribution will occur. It will be demonstrated that theÅngström exponent (or the maximum of an AE distribution) will be systematically over-or underestimated depending on whether the relative error of the shorter wavelength is larger or smaller compared with the relative error of the 10 longer wavelength. In such cases the AE distribution are also skewed.


Rammer compactor machines perform dynamic soil compaction. The complexity of this machine type makes design optimisation through traditional prototype testing impractical. This has pointed to the need for a theoretical model and simulation procedure for prediction of the dynamic behaviour of the machine and a procedure for optimisation as design parameters are changed during product development. In this paper a theoretical model of the rammer machine in combination with a soil model is described. This multi-body dynamics system is solved numerically. The system is non-linear and chaotic behaviour is possible. This parameter sensitivity emphasises the need for this kind of simulations in the product development process. A fairly regular behaviour is necessary for a predictable and safe operation. Parameter combinations giving too irregular behaviour are non-feasible. The energy transfer rate from the rammer machine into the soil is used as the objective function for optimisation. Multi-start Sequential Quadratic Programming for optimum search is used. To cover the design space well a Uniform Experimental Design is used for selection of starting points. This procedure proves to work well for the problem of this introductory study. The study shows a significant potential for improved compaction capacity although considering only the three design parameters that are most easily changed in practice. Approximately the same optimum is obtained both for operation on soft soil and hard soil, so a good all-round design seems possible. Including this theoretical support in the product development process should make it much more effective in finding optimum designs, also for other machines of similar type.


This thesis discusses about the application of pragmatic theory. The writer limits her discussion on locutionary and illocutionary act of the utterance which is produced by " Ratrimo ".The functions of" Ratrimo " are to refreshing the mind through its funny picture and criticizes the situation which happens in Indonesia through its utterance.The creator of "Ratrimo", Leak only uses short utterances in his caricature to express his idea. Thus, the understanding of locutionary and illocutionary act is very useful to avoid misinterpretation of the creator's idea and message. In this study, the writer wants to find out the most frequent type of locutionary and illocutionary act which occur in " Ratrimo ". The writer uses Langacker and Searle theory in analysing her data. Langacker divides locutionary act into three types namely declarative, interogative and imperative while Searle categorizes illocutionary act into five types namely representatives, directives, commisives , expressives and declarations. The writer collects thirty data .In analysing her data, the writer uses descriptive research to describe the types of locutionary and illocutionary act which occur in " Ratrimo. Besides, the writer also uses qualitative research to observe the particular setting or context of the data. The writer puts the result of the analysis in the table in order to make easier in counting the most frequent type of locutionary and illocutionary act which occur in " Ratrimo". After doing her analysis, the writer finds that the most frequent type of locutionary act which occur in " Ratrimo " are declarative type while the most frequent type of illocutionary act which occur in "Ratrimo" are directives-requesting. Besides, in her data, the writer does not find two types of illocutionary act namely expressives and declarations.


Tuberculosis (TB) is now a global public health problem that has been exacerbated by the emergence of multi- and extensively-drug resistant (MDR and XDR, respectively) strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. There have been claims in the region by Traditional Medicine Practitioners (TMPs) about being able to treat the symptoms of TB, but their work lacked proper documentation. A structured questionnaire was used to test the ability of (TMPs) to diagnose and treat symptoms of TB; the medicinal plants used treat TB symptoms, as well as the influence of socio-economic and cultural factors on the indigenous communities' choice of treatment. A total of 99 TMPs and 22 TB patients were interviewed. Over 30 medicinal plants were mentioned as being used to treat symptoms of TB, an indication of wide knowledge on management of TB in the region. Treatment costs were found to influence the patients' choice of TB treatment and a large proportion of the TMPs were found to be of advanced age (60-80 years of age). The conclusion was that TMPs have reasonable knowledge about TB and its management. There is urgent need to tap the indigenous knowledge from the custodians and scientifically validate it for future drug development.


Aim: Counselling for Depression (CfD) is a person-centred experiential therapy developed for implementation in the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme. Training in this model has been available across England since 2011. This study aims to investigate counselling practitioners' experiences of learning the CfD model and implementing CfD in practice settings. Method: Participants were recruited by an email sent to the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy's (BACP) CfD Practice Research Network (PRN). Of the 53 CfD practitioners belonging to BACP's CfD PRN, 18 participated in this mixed-methods piece of research. All 18 participants completed an online questionnaire, and one hour follow-up semi-structured interviews were conducted with six of the participants. Results: Descriptive analyses from the online questionnaire indicated a positive experience of CfD training, with practitioners indicating a positive impact on sense of self, practice and skill set. Although a degree of challenge was encountered when training in the CfD model, thematic analysis from the six semi-structured interviews revealed factors contributing to the positives and challenges experienced on the course. Themes also revealed a predominately negative experience of CfD in practice and service settings, although this was service dependent. Conclusions and implications for practice: The findings can inform future recruitment of trainees to CfD training programmes and the training programme itself. They can also be used to achieve greater congruence between training in CfD and the delivery of the model. Future research may need to focus on the service level factors influencing practitioners' experiences, and whether this experience is specific to the CfD modality in IAPT.


Robotic manipulators will play a significant role in the maintenance and repair of space stations and satellites, and other future space missions. Robot path planning and control for the above applications should be optimum, since any inefficiency in the planning may considerably risk the success of the space mission. This paper presents a global optimum path planning scheme for redundant space robotic manipulators to be used in such missions. In this formulation, a variational approach is used to minimize the objective functional. It is assumed that the gravity is zero in space, and the robotic manipulator is mounted on a completely free-flying base (spacecraft) and the attitude control (reaction wheels or thrust jets) is off. Linear and angular momentum conditions for this system lead to a set of mixed holonomic and nonholonomic constraints. These equations are adjoined to the objective functional using a Lagrange multiplier technique. The formulation leads to a system of differential and algebraic equations (DAEs). A numerical scheme for forward integration of this system is presented. A planar redundant space manipulator consisting of three arms and a base is considered to demonstrate the feasibility of the formulation. The approach to optimum path planning of redundant space robots is significant since most robots that have been developed for space applications so far are redundant. The kinematic redundancy of space robots offers efficient control and provides the necessary dexterity for extra-vehicular activity that exceeds human capacity. >


Editor's note: EMJ has partnered with the journals of multiple international emergency medicine societies to share from each a highlighted research study, as selected by their editors.


The 1990 U.S. Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) instituted a national program in tradable sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission permits, referred to as "emission allowances," in the U.S. electricity sector. This paper provides a survey and assessment of the SO2 allowance trading program with a focus on the role of innovation. Over the last decade the cost of compliance has fallen dramatically compared with most expectations, and today the total cost of the program is 40– 140% lower than projections (depending on the timing of those projections and the counter-factual baseline considered). Marginal costs of reductions are less than one-half the cost considered in most analyses at the time the program was introduced. Innovation accounts for a large portion of these cost savings, but not as typically formulated in economic models of research and development (R&D) efforts to obtain patent discoveries. Innovation under the SO2 allowance trading program involves organizational innovation at the firm, market and regulatory level and process innovation by electricity generators and upstream fuel suppliers. An important portion of the cost reductions that are evident was already in the works prior to and independent of the program. Nonetheless, the allowance trading program deserves significant credit for providing the incentive and flexibility to accelerate and to fully realize exogenous technical changes that were occurring in the industry. This marks a significant departure from conventional approaches to environmental regulation, which would not be expected to capture these savings. The ongoing transition to restructuring of electricity markets and expanding competition in electricity generation complements the design of the SO2 allowance trading program by providing firms with full incentives to reduce costs of pollution control.


&NA; High flock‐level prevalence of keel‐bone fractures and deviations in laying hens are commonly reported across various housing systems; however, few longitudinal studies exist, especially for furnished and conventional cage systems. Load‐bearing exercise improves bone strength and mineral composition in laying hens and has the potential to reduce keel‐bone damage, especially if exercise is allowed during critical periods of bone growth throughout the pullet rearing phase. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of keel‐bone damage in laying hens housed in furnished and conventional cages, and assess whether opportunities for exercise during the pullet rearing phase influenced the prevalence of keel‐bone damage throughout the laying period. Four flock replicates of 588 Lohmann Selected Leghorn‐Lite pullets/flock were reared in either conventional cages (Conv) or an aviary rearing system (Avi) and placed into conventional cages (CC), 30‐bird furnished cages (FC‐S) or 60‐bird furnished cages (FC‐L) for adult housing. Keel‐bone status was determined by palpation at 30, 50, and 70 wk of age. Age (P < 0.001) and rearing system (P < 0.001) had an effect on the presence of keel‐bone fractures. The presence of fractures increased with age, and hens raised in the Avi system had a lower percentage of fractures (41.6% ± 2.8 SE) compared to hens reared in the Conv system (60.3% ± 2.9 SE). Adult housing system did not have an effect on the percentage of keel fractures (P = 0.223). Age had an effect on the presence of deviations (P < 0.001), with deviations increasing with age. Rearing system (P = 0.218) and adult housing system (P = 0.539) did not affect the presence of deviations. Keel fractures and deviations were strongly associated with each other at all ages: 30 wk: (P < 0.001); 50 wk: (P < 0.001); and 70 wk: (P < 0.001). Increased opportunities for exercise provided by an aviary rearing system reduced the prevalence of keel‐bone fractures through the end‐of‐lay.


In this work, leading Merleau-Ponty scholars state and interpret the philosopher's later ontology of flesh and reversibility, some defending and some challenging its accommodation of alterity and difference. Claude Lefort's seminal lecture criticizing Merleau-Ponty's treatment of otherness in "The Visible and the Invisible" and two previously untranslated essays by Emmanual Levinas shape this dialogue on reversibility, reciprocity, symmetry, and asymmetry in self-other relationships extending across ethics, politics, epistemology, and child development. The contributors respond to Lefort's and Levinas's critiques and expand the discussion to Merleau-Ponty's other works and his relation to Derrida and Hegel.


Everyone agrees that it is possible to learn to speak Japanese in a reasonable amount of time, but no one has ever said that about reading and writing it. It is widely held that spoken and written Japanese require separate efforts by the student, as if these two aspects were in fact distinct languages. A first step toward alleviating this situation was taken by Yasuko Mitamura in 1985 with the publication of Let's Learn Hiragana and Let's Learn Katakana, which continue to help thousands of students every year to master these two forms of Japanese script. Now, Let's Learn Kanji goes to the heart of the problem: the learning of kanji (i.e., Chinese characters as they are used in Japan). Not simply a brilliant exposition but also a workbook, it teaches the student how to write the basic strokes, how to put these together into full-fledged kanji, and how kanji function in the context of example sentences. Progress is continually checked, and the student is encouraged through quizzes and exercises. The result: 250 fundamental characters learned almost painlessly.


Rapid political and social changes during the twentieth century prompted changing understandings of what it meant to be a foreign missionary. After tracing several of the ways in which American Methodist missionaries conceived of their roles over the past hundred years, the essay queries the meaning of the apostolic call for United Methodist missionaries in the twenty-first century. The author argues that "rethinking missionaries" demands a critical imagination that simultaneously draws upon the fullness of the past while nurturing creative grassroots vitality in the present.  Representative of the church's biblical calling to be sent into the world, the idea of missionaries should be reinvigorated even if, or perhaps especially when, they are defined outside of failing denominational structures.


Abstract Objective To determine whether living in a food swamp (≥4 corner stores within 0·40 km (0·25 miles) of home) or a food desert (generally, no supermarket or access to healthy foods) is associated with consumption of snacks/desserts or fruits/vegetables, and if neighbourhood-level socio-economic status (SES) confounds relationships. Design Cross-sectional. Assessments included diet (Youth/Adolescent FFQ, skewed dietary variables normalized) and measured height/weight (BMI-for-age percentiles/Z-scores calculated). A geographic information system geocoded home addresses and mapped food deserts/food swamps. Associations examined using multiple linear regression (MLR) models adjusting for age and BMI-for-age Z-score. Setting Baltimore City, MD, USA. Subjects Early adolescent girls (6th/7th grade, n 634; mean age 12·1 years; 90·7 % African American; 52·4 % overweight/obese), recruited from twenty-two urban, low-income schools. Results Girls' consumption of fruit, vegetables and snacks/desserts: 1·2, 1·7 and 3·4 servings/d, respectively. Girls' food environment: 10·4 % food desert only, 19·1 % food swamp only, 16·1 % both food desert/swamp and 54·4 % neither food desert/swamp. Average median neighbourhood-level household income: $US 35 298. In MLR models, girls living in both food deserts/swamps consumed additional servings of snacks/desserts v. girls living in neither (β=0·13, P=0·029; 3·8 v. 3·2 servings/d). Specifically, girls living in food swamps consumed more snacks/desserts than girls who did not (β=0·16, P=0·003; 3·7 v. 3·1 servings/d), with no confounding effect of neighbourhood-level SES. No associations were identified with food deserts or consumption of fruits/vegetables. Conclusions Early adolescent girls living in food swamps consumed more snacks/desserts than girls not living in food swamps. Dietary interventions should consider the built environment/food access when addressing adolescent dietary behaviours.