Purpose: To determine the level of nurses" patient safety competencies in Aceh, Indonesia.Methods: A descriptive study was conducted to randomly recruit 207 nurses in a hospital in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. The nurses" patient safety competencies was measured by using the Patient Safety Competencies of Nurses Questionnaire (PSCNQ) which was a self-reported, 29-item questionnaire rated on a 4-point Likert scale (1 to 4), developed based on the Canadian Patient Safety Institute"s Safety Competencies. Result: More than half of nurses participated in the study were less than 30 years old, with a mean age of 31 years. The majority was female, married, earned diploma degree, and had working experience of 1-10 years. The overall nurses" patient safety competencies was at a high level. The area that nurses reported highest competency was "use personal protective equipment". Whereas the area they reported lowest competency was "maintain the documents of adverse events and report each adverse event."Conclusion: The study findings suggested that Acehnese nurse leaders should further maintain and promote nurses" patient safety competencies. Studies exploring factors contributing to nurses" patient safety competencies together with utilizing other data collection methods, such as observation is worth investigated.


Few ideas can be more assured to work the press into a lather than the notion of taxpayers' hard earned money being used to swell the coffers of rich private conglomerates. And so it has proved to be with the issue of the private finance initiative (PFI)—a scheme introduced by the Conservative government and adopted by the present Labour administration, which involves private companies building hospitals and schools and then leasing them back to the state over a 20 or 30 year period. The buildings may never revert to public ownership, prompting the Scottish National Party (SNP) to dub PFI "Privatisation For Infinity." It has become one of the most fiercely fought over issues in the election for the first Scottish parliament for 300 years, generating many column inches in the newspapers over the past few weeks.

The Scottish press has variously described the private finance initiative as "the only practical means of providing patients and staff with first class treatment facilities"; "a poor deal for taxpayers, who will pay huge …


The Urkut (Hungary) manganese (Mn) ore, hosted by Jurassic black shale, was studied using high-resolution mineralogical, microtextural, and chemical methods. Two independent superimposed biostructures were identified consisting of rhythmic laminations that provide important proxies for paleoenvironments and duration of ore formation. Millimeter-scale laminae reflect a depositional series of Fe-rich biomats, mineralized microbially produced sedimentary structures. These biomats formed at the sediment-water interface under dysoxic and neutral pH conditions by enzymatic Fe 2+ oxidizing processes that may have developed on a daily to weekly growth cycle. The early diagenetic sedimentary ore is composed of Ca rhodochrosite, celadonite, and smectite, and also shows a 100-µm-scale element oscillation that produces Mn(Ca)-rich and Si(Fe clay)-rich microlaminae. This microlamination may reflect a 10 h to daily rhythmicity produced by the growth of microbial communities. If true, then the giant Urkut ore deposit may have formed over hundreds of years, rather than hundreds of thousands of years as previously thought.


The thermal infrared sensor (TIRS) is a quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP)-based instrument intended to supplement the Operational Land Imager (OLI) for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). The TIRS instrument is a far-infrared imager operating in the pushbroom mode with two IR channels: 10.8 and 12 m. The focal plane will contain three 640 ~512 QWIP arrays mounted onto a silicon substrate. The readout integrated circuit (ROIC) addresses each pixel on the QWIP arrays and reads out the pixel value (signal). The ROIC is controlled by the focal plane electronics (FPE) by means of clock signals and bias voltage value. The means of how the FPE is designed to control and interact with the TIRS focal plane assembly (FPA) is the basis for this work. The technology developed under the FPE is for the TIRS focal plane assembly (FPA). The FPE must interact with the FPA to command and control the FPA, extract analog signals from the FPA, and then convert the analog signals to digital format and send them via a serial link (USB) to a computer. The FPE accomplishes the described functions by converting electrical power from generic power supplies to the required bias power that is needed by the FPA. The FPE also generates digital clocking signals and shifts the typical transistor-to-transistor logic (TTL) to }5 V required by the FPA. The FPE also uses an application- specific integrated circuit (ASIC) named System Image, Digitizing, Enhancing, Controlling, And Retrieving (SIDECAR) from Teledyne Corp. to generate the clocking patterns commanded by the user. The uniqueness of the FPE for TIRS lies in that the TIRS FPA has three QWIP detector arrays, and all three detector arrays must be in synchronization while in operation. This is to avoid data skewing while observing Earth flying in space. The observing scenario may be customized by uploading new control software to the SIDECAR.


The current smart home is a ubiquitous computing environment consisting of multiple autonomous spaces, and its advantage is that a service interacting with home users can be set with different configurations in space, hardware, software, and quality. As well as being smart technologically speaking, a smart home should also never forget to retain the "home nature" when it is serving its users. In this paper, we first analyze the relationship among services, spaces, and users, and then we propose a framework as well as a corresponding algorithm to model their interaction relationship. Later, we also realize the human-system interaction framework to implement a smart home system and develop "pervasive applications" to demonstrate how to utilize our framework to fulfill the human-centric interaction requirement of a smart home. Finally, our preliminary evaluations show that our proposed work can enhance the performance of the human-system interaction in a smart home environment.


Furilydenepropanenitrile derivatives, which are useful as monomers, have been obtained in high yields by coupling the oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5-diformylfuran (DFF) and the Knoevenagel condensation of DFF with methylene active compounds in a one pot process. The oxidation step was studied using an Fe containing metal–organic framework (MIL-100(Fe), and Fe(BTC)), a Cu containing MOF (Cu3(BTC)2), an Fe exchanged HY zeolite and homogeneous Fe salts in the presence of 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxide (TEMPO) as a cocatalyst, NaNO2 as an additive and oxygen as the terminal oxidant. The results showed that the synthesized MIL-100(Fe) post treated with NH4F was the most active catalyst achieving 100% HMF conversion with 100% selectivity to DFF and can be reused with good success. Additionally, the catalytic system has been applied to the oxidation of different primary and secondary alcohols to aldehydes and ketones under mild reaction conditions with good success. The second step, the Knoevenagel condensation of the obtained DFF with malononitrile or ethyl cyanoacetate, was performed taking advantage of the basicity of the reaction medium.


The current El NiA±o episode may be among the strongest on record (Earth Institute 2015). This year again, serious localized production shortfalls have occurred or are expected, creating an urgent need for policy actions to ensure adequate food supply and food mobility from surplus to deficit regions. Although global cereal production is not expected to decline significantly, complacency is not warranted: The situation calls for careful monitoring of production and prices, promotion of transparent international and domestic trade policies, and expanded coverage of safety nets and nutrition programs for the households most severely affected, all while working toward long-term improvements in resilience and agricultural production.


As the population ages across the world, societies are increasingly being challenged to find ways to enable older adults to play active economic
and social roles later in life and to keep learning for employment or social cohesion purposes. At the same time, the demographic of games players is changing from a profile that was traditionally dominated by young men, to one that is more diverse with growing numbers of female and older players. These changes suggest that it is now time to extend the focus of research on games and learning beyond its current emphasis on younger people and formal education and training, into the areas of lifelong and informal learning. At the present time, computer games that are explicitly designed for older people tend to be dominated by concerns around cognitive function. Such concerns lead to the design of games that are structured around behaviourist models of learning, with an emphasis on repetition and practice. This approach, however, may well over-simplify the capacities, interests and aspirations of older adults both in respect of their attitudes towards learning and in their attitudes towards gaming. In order to move beyond this stereotypical view of older people, learning and gaming, this paper discusses the results of a small pilot study of five interviews with people aged over fifty. These interviews demonstrate that there is a greater diversity of need and aspiration among this group and that there is evidence of a real potential for game-based learning. The paper concludes by calling for a research agenda that recognises the diversity of older adults, challenges assumptions and stereotypes and supports an interdisciplinary approach to investigating the potential of games for lifelong learning.


Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)-diamond films have been widely utilized not only as a hard protective coating for molds and dies but also as a functional substrate for bio-MEMS/NEMS. Micro-texturing into these hard coated molds and dies provides a productive tool to duplicate the original mother micro-patterns onto various work materials and to construct any tailored micro-textures for sensors and actuators. In the present paper, the high density oxygen plasma etching method is utilized to make micro-line and micro-groove patterns onto the DLC and diamond coatings. Our developing oxygen plasma etching system is introduced together with characterization on the plasma state during etching. In this quantitative plasma diagnosis, both the population of activated species and the electron and ion densities are identified through the emissive light spectroscopy and the Langmuir probe method. In addition, the on-line monitoring of the plasmas helps to describe the etching process. DLC coated WC (Co) specimen is first employed to describe the etching mechanism by the present method. Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) diamond coated WC (Co) is also employed to demonstrate the reliable capacity of the present high density oxygen plasma etching. This oxygen plasma etching performance is discussed by comparison of the etching rates.


This paper sets a framework for using semiotics as an analytical method for Earth system science. It illustrates the use of such a method by analysing a dataset consisting of 32,383 abstracts of research articles pertaining to Earth system science, modelled as semantic networks. The analysis allows us to explain the epistemological advantages of this method as originating in the systems thinking common in both Earth system science and semiotics. The purpose of this methodological proposal is that of bringing the recent and critical planetary boundaries framework to the attention of ecosemiotics and biosemiotic criticism, and vice versa. Ecosemiotics is a branch of the biosemiotic modelling theory and is thus grounded in Charles Peirce's schematic semiotics, but also developed in inspiration of Juri Lotman's systemic semiotics. Both of these foundations of ecosemiotics are compatible with the rationale of Earth system science, given the schematism of Peirce's semiotics and Lotman's notion of meaning as an affordance of the biosphere. Far from exhausting the hermeneutic possibilities evoked by the discussed dataset, we argue that such semiotic analysis, made possible by the digital capacity of modelling large amounts of data, reveals new horizons for semiotic analysis, particularly regarding humans' modelling of the environment.


There are no published studies directly comparing the accuracy of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices in the outpatient setting. We tested the performance of the Dexcom G5, Abbot Freestyle Libre Pro, and Senseonics Eversense (an implantable CGM approved in Europe) during a 6-week, free-living, outpatient bionic pancreas study involving 23 subjects with type 1 diabetes who wore all 3 devices concomitantly. The primary outcome was the mean absolute relative difference (MARD) vs. plasma glucose (PG) values measured with the Nova Biomedical StatStrip Xpress meter that was also used for calibrations according to the manufacturer9s instruction (except for Libre Pro that is not calibrated). We compared PG values with CGM readings when they were available from all 3 CGMS in the 5 minutes preceding the PG values (n=829 sets). Since the Libre Pro records readings every 15 minutes, we also did a two-way comparison between the G5 and the Eversense that allowed a higher number of comparisons (n=2277 sets). Statistical significance was determined using a repeated measurements model fitted with the generalized estimating equation method. All 3 CGM systems produced higher average MARDs than during in-clinic studies. However, since all three CGM systems were worn by the same individuals and used the same meter for calibration and as comparator, we were able to directly compare their performance under real-world conditions. In the 3-way comparison Eversense achieved the lowest nominal MARD (14.8%) followed by Dexcom G5 (16.3%) and Libre Pro (18.0%) (Eversense vs. Libre Pro p=0.004, other comparisons p=NS). In the 2-way comparison the MARD difference between Eversense (15.1%) and G5 (16.9%) was statistically significant (p=0.008). We found that the point accuracy of the Eversense was significantly better than two other CGM systems. The Eversense CGM system may be useful to provide glucose values to artificial pancreas devices. Disclosure R.Z. Jafri: None. C.A. Balliro: None. F. El-Khatib: Stock/Shareholder; Self; Beta Bionics. Employee; Self; Beta Bionics. M. Maheno: None. M.A. Hillard: None. A.J. O9Donovan: None. R. Selagamsetty: None. H. Zheng: None. E. Damiano: Other Relationship; Self; Beta Bionics. S.J. Russell: Other Relationship; Self; Beta Bionics, Novo Nordisk Inc.. Advisory Panel; Self; Companion Medical, Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc., Unomedical a/s. Research Support; Self; Beta Bionics, Zealand Pharma A/S, MITRE Corporation.


Abstract In Zimbabwe, studies were made of the numbers of tsetse (Glossina spp.) and stable flies (Stomoxys spp.) attracted to cattle of different nutritional status, age and sex. Host odours were analysed to determine the physiological basis of these differences and improved methods are described for measuring rates of production of kairomones. Seasonal fluctuations in host weight, related to changes in pasture quality, had no significant effect on attraction of tsetse or Stomoxys. However, both attraction to different individuals and carbon dioxide production by these individuals were strongly correlated with weight, suggesting a possible link. Attraction to the odour from different types of cattle decreased in the order ox > cow > heifer > calf, and oxen were twice as attractive as calves of less than 12 months old. Lactation did not alter the relative attractiveness of cows. Calves less than six months old produced lower levels of carbon dioxide, acetone, octenol and phenols than oxen, but for older calves and cows, levels of production of known kairomones and repellents were similar to those of an ox. Carbon dioxide produced by cattle varied according to time of day and the animal's weight; cattle weighing 500 kg produced carbon dioxide at a mean rate of 2.0 l min−1 in the morning and 2.8 l min−1 in the afternoon compared to respective rates of 1.1 and 1.9 l min−1 for cattle weighing 250 kg. Artificially adjusting the doses of carbon dioxide produced by individual cattle to make them equivalent did not remove significant differences in attractiveness for tsetse but did for Stomoxys. Increasing the dose of carbon dioxide from 1 to 4 l min−1 in a synthetic blend of identified kairomones simulating those produced by a single ox, increased attractiveness to tsetse but not to the level of an ox. The results suggest that the main sources of differences in the attractiveness of individual cattle are likely to be variation in the production of carbon dioxide and, for tsetse, other unidentified kairomone(s). The biological and practical implications of these findings are discussed.


Rhotics, or r-sounds, are known to display a large amount of variation, both cross-linguistically and within particular languages. Dutch is an example of such a language. Even within what is generally regarded as the standard variety, there is variation in place of articulation (ranging from alveolar to uvular), manner of articulation (trills, taps, fricatives, approximants and vowels), and r can be voiced, voiceless, or not there at all. This wide-ranging variation is governed by both linguistic and extra-linguistic factors, in a complex interplay of intra- and inter-speaker variation. The present study's main empirical aim is to catalogue the variation and untangle the underlying factors, based on the collection and analysis of a corpus of acoustic speech data from over 400 speakers (~20.000 tokens) in ten cities in the Netherlands and Flanders. In addition, it presents a detailed articulatory (ultrasound) study of an innovative coda approximant variant. Results from the urban accent corpus show that around 20 different phonetic variants of r can be distinguished and that many of these variants occur in all of the cities in the study. Syllable onsets are more restrictive and allow around 10 variants, whereas around 16 variants occur in codas (with all 20 occurring in the Utrecht accent). The most frequent variants in onsets are the voiced alveolar tap, the uvular approximant, and the uvular trill; most frequent in codas are the retroflex or bunched approximant, the voiceless alveolar tap or trill with frication, and the uvular fricative. Speakers tend to have either alveolar or uvular consonantal variants in onsets, although 16% have variation between these two places of articulation; Belgian Dutch speakers also have trill, tap or fricative variants in codas, but speakers in the Netherlands prefer approximants and vowels, with the retroflex/bunched approximant most frequent. Results from the ultrasound study reveal that the coda approximant known as Gooise r in Dutch, which is currently rapidly spreading in the Netherlands, is produced as either a retroflex or a bunched palatal approximant, echoing similar results from studies of American r. They also show the abstract, phonological nature of r-allophony for these speakers, as their articulatory strategies for the coda allophones do not depend on their onset allophones (alveolar taps or uvular trills, which can both be combined with retroflex or bunched articulations). The theoretical contribution of the thesis lies in the development of a model of progressive sound change to account for the origins, development and current status of Dutch r-variation. In doing so, it shows the relevance of detailed sociophonetic analysis for answering phonological questions. A diachronic model of "family relationships" between the different variants of r is proposed, which shows how the appearance and distribution of particular variants can be explained by reference to casual speech processes, particularly that of lenition. This proposal expands on earlier models that showed the phonetic commonalities between different r-variants without making predictions related to the sound changes that could give rise to them. Making these family relationships explicit provides a way to establish the long sought for unity among r-variants. Importantly, this unity is found in the diachronic, not the synchronic, domain.


Foreign aid has become a traditional part of the foreign policy of the United States, but in the eleven years since the enactment of the Marshall Plan there has been a steady increase of opposition to foreign aid programs. The votes in the Senate in favor of the Marshall Plan were 4.06 times the negative votes. Ten years later, in 1958, the \yea\ votes in the Senate on the Mutual Security Administration bill were 3.00 times as many as the \nay\ votes. The votes in the House for these same two years show an even greater manifestation of a growing opposition to foreign aid. In 1948 the affirmative votes were 4.48 greater than the negative, while in 1958 the figure drops to 1.93. While only two out of the eight Kansans in Congress voted against the Marshall Plan in 1948, three voted against the Mutual Security Act in 1958, and Senator Schoeppel, who did not vote, was known to be against the bill. This indicates that the Kansas Senator s and Representatives in Washington have roughly followed the national trend of a mounting opposition to foreign aid bills (3.00 more "yea" votes as "nay\ votes in 1948 as compared to 2.00 more "yea" votes than "nay" votes in 1958). Throughout this study the writer has attempted to show why this opposition has increased as far as the Kansans were concerned. Speeches, both in and out of Congress as well as the public statements of the Kansas Senators and Representatives for the period 1948 to 1959 were checked in an attempt to ascertain why these men voted as they did. A study was also made of the Congressional Record, the Topeka Daily Capital, the Hutchinson News-Herald, the Garden City Daily Telegram, the Emporia Gazette, and the Kansas City Star. Letters of inquiry were also submitted to these men. It is the considered opinion of the author that the main reason for the Kansans voting in favor of foreign aid was basically due to the agricultural interest of their State. If any of the Senators and Representatives from Kansas have attempted to solve the problem of surpluses in agricultural commodities by foreign aid legislation. The majority of these men who voted in favor of foreign aid hoped that these plans would permit the flow of agricultural commodities to the rest of the world. This would, as they believed, solve the problem of hunger in the world while solving the problem of surpluses in the United States. That feeding hungry people is a humanitarian purpose cannot be disputed, but to feed the hungry of the world and collect a return for the food is a degree beyond a humanitarian purpose. The Kansans wanted the United States to be the chief source of food for the world, yet they wanted the United States to be justly compensated for their food in the form of foreign currencies, strategic materials or military defense in Europe. Not all the Kansans believed foreign aid would solve the agricultural surplus problem in the United States. Those men who voted \nay" on foreign aid measures argued that a better and a cheaper plan could be legislated to solve the surplus problem. They believed that foreign aid measures were not the best defensive maneuver the United States could utilize for security in the world. They believed the money collected from taxpayers of the United States could be used to gain the real advantages of security for the nation. The key to this security for the United States was a financially sound nation, one that built its military defenses upon its own shores, not the far-off shores of foreign countries. Although the form of foreign aid has changed considerably, such as in the form of the Point Four Program (assistance to underdeveloped countries), Mutual Security Administration, or the International loan Fund; the debate in Congress concerning foreign aid has not actually changed. Those arguments that were used in 1948 were used in 1959.


The doping culture represents an issue for sport and for society. Normative debates on doping have been mainly concerned with questions of the justifiability of doping. The practice of assigning responsibility for doping behaviour has chiefly been individual-based, focusing mainly on the individual athlete's doping behaviour. The overarching aim of this thesis is to investigate the relevance and the importance of the ideas of responsibility in relation to ethical debates on doping. The more specific aim is to examine the possibility of broadening the scope of responsibility beyond the individual athlete, and to sketch a theoretical framework within which this expansion could be accommodated. In the first study, it is argued that bioethicists have a moral/professional responsibility to start out from a realistic and up-to-date view of genetics in ethical debates on gene doping, and that good bioethics requires good empirics. In study 2, the role played by affective processes in influencing athletes' attitudes towards doping behaviour is investigated, both on an individual and on a collective level. It is concluded that an exclusive focus on individual-level rule violation and sanctions may entail overlooking the greater social picture and would prove to be ineffective in the long term. In study 3, the common doping-is-cheating arguments are examined and it is argued that they fail to capture vital features of people's moral responses to doping behaviour. An alternative account of cheating in sport is presented in terms of failure to manifest good will and respect. It is concluded that putting cheating in the broader context of human interpersonal relationships makes evident the need to broaden the scope of moral responsibility and agency beyond the individual athlete. In study 4, the particular case of assigning responsibility for doping to sports physicians is used to examine the current individual-based approach to responsibility. This approach underestimates the scope of the responsibility by leaving out a range of other actors from the discourse of responsibility. The central conclusion of the thesis is that transforming the current doping culture requires broadening the scope of responsibility to include individuals and groups of individuals other than the athletes themselves.


Hardwood lumber is one of the most important commodity groups exported, and this exportation has had a significant impact on the balance of trade in the United States. The production of hardwood lumber, however, has fallen 25 percent (more than 4 billion board feet per year) since 2000. The loss of employment opportunities throughout the United States from this sector has caused difficulties for many individuals and their communities. Unfortunatly, this disturbing development has now combined with the current global financial and economic crisis impacting the wood industry. The majority of U.S. sawmills are working harder to develop relationships with customers and are being more aggressive in searching for new markets. In this work, hardwood exporters and other hardwood lumber manufacturers were studied and compared to determine the factors associated with exporting. It was found that exporters differed significantly in their transportation methods, marketing activities, and production profiles from those of other hardwood lumber manufacturers. They also were significantly larger in their total production and employment. As the forest products industry continues to become more global, an analysis of the importance of these factors has suggested how firms can begin exporting or increase sales in international markets.


The hypothesis presented in this paper is that the sequence of 'modifier-modified' is a fundamental unit of sequencing in Modern Standard Chinese (MSC). It is shown that this sequencing unit extends beyond word pairs such as adjective-noun to sentences with complex clauses and also that it constitutes a fundamental principle of sequencing at discourse and text levels. Examples of 'modifier—modified' sequencing (also called 'because—therefore' sequencing) occurring at levels of the complex sentence, extended spoken discourse and written text are provided. These examples are taken from naturally occurring MSC data. A discussion concerning the implications of the differences in information sequencing between MSC and English in the fields of cross-cultural communication and language teaching concludes the paper.


No government has a more ambitious and far-reaching plan to harness the power of data to change the way it governs than the Chinese government. Its Social Credit System (SCS), laid out in a plan released in 2014 and still under construction, aims to extend financial credit scoring systems—commonly used by financial institutions in the United States—to other areas of government regulation, from contract enforcement to food safety, corruption, and environmental protection. The plan is to link public and private data on financial and social behavior across China, use the data to evaluate behavior of individuals and organizations, and punish or reward them according to certain agreed upon standards of appropriate conduct. While many of the SCS goals are laudable, the scale and potential impact pose serious risks to individuals and organizations that could result in the opposite of the promised effects. There is still time to shape the SCS to become an effective tool to deal with some of China's most intractable domestic problems and at the same time minimize the odds of it becoming an Orwellian system of social control.


The expanding global economy presents various challenges to production and environmental systems worldwide. Biosecurity provides a framework for managing the risks presented by different types of diseases and species spread by globalisation. One element of biosecurity is protection against invasive alien species (IAS). These are species spread by human actions outside their natural zones of dispersal. IAS present a threat to biological diversity at all levels and may have a negative impact on the goods and services provided by ecosystems. IAS may result in non-production and production costs. The first category includes physical impacts materialising as environmental, health and cultural costs, whereas the second category includes the subsequent economic impacts, such as production losses, domestic market effects and trade effects. In addition, IAS may impose control costs either on the society or a specific sector, depending on the type of species and the chosen policy. Management of IAS is a public good and remains under-provided by the free market, which partly explains the involvement of the state in IAS control. A broad division of IAS management is between what is here called pre-emptive and reactive control. Pre-emptive control refers to actions taken to totally eradicate the IAS when found. Such actions reduce the probability of entry and/or establishment of IAS. Reactive control refers to letting a possible invasion to take place and be followed by application of reactive control measures, reducing the extent and magnitude of damages in the event of an invasion. Preventative actions are generally advocated as the preferred strategy to deal with IAS, but it is possible that the costs incurred due to an invasion are less than the costs incurred in continued preventative actions. In such a case, continued efforts to prevent the species from invading consume the limited resources and may lead to other, more dangerous, species not being targeted with sufficient resources. These two policies are in this study considered in the context of the Colorado potato beetle (CPB). The CPB is a destructive plant pest, whose main host plant in Finland is the cultivated potato. The potential for the beetle's range expansion to Finland has been shown by both genetic and climatologic studies, and it provides a convenient case for studying the effects of invasions, uncertainty and local change. Given the life history characteristics of the CPB, there are five important factors from an economic point of view. First, the beetle has spread very rapidly across the continent, although its spread has slowed down as it has approached its ecological limits. Second, in propitious environmental conditions its population size can increase extremely rapidly. Third, it is capable of causing significant damage to potato plants. Fourth, cold summers and winters hinder its establishment, but it is most likely capable of establishing in at least some parts of Finland. Finally, lack of natural predators and ability to develop resistance to chemical control substances make the beetle difficult and expensive to control. This thesis seeks answers to four specific issues: i) review and evaluate the scale, type and magnitude of impacts IAS are capable of causing; ii) specify the policy problem in IAS management and review how the institutional framework in Finland addresses the issue; iii) review existing cost-benefit studies on agricultural IAS and determine the components that such studies should include; and iv) undertake an economic risk assessment of the CPB in Finland and evaluate the conditions under which it is optimal to prevent the species from establishing. On basis of a literature review undertaken, we suggest ten points to be taken into account when conducting economic policy evaluations of IAS: i) choose at least two realistic policy options to evaluate; ii) consider all possible direct and indirect impacts, monetise the ones you can and take the others into account qualitatively; iii) describe which costs and whose costs are included in the analysis and how they are derived; iv) formalise the basis of the analysis; v) undertake an ex-ante analysis to supplement an optional ex-post analysis; vi) carry out sensitivity and uncertainty analysis; vii) consider how the impacts excluded from the quantitative analysis affect the results; viii) discuss to whom the costs and benefits accrue; ix) make a (conditional) policy recommendation; and x) relate the findings to the wider framework of biosecurity measures. The empirical analysis uses a cost-benefit framework to assess the policy response, comparing the costs of prevention with the costs that would ensue if the species is allowed into the country. The primary focus is on ex-ante analysis, although an ex-post assessment of past seven years is also conducted. The framework presented estimates expected aggregate costs over time, using Monte Carlo simulation and allowing stochastic variation in the key variables. In addition, linear temporal change in certain key variables is included in the analysis. The main lesson from the ex-post cost-benefit analysis carried out in this study is that it is not sufficient to look at the costs over only a short period of time. Protection against IAS is to a large extent an investment that may produce potentially very high revenues in terms of avoided costs in the future. The results of the ex-ante cost-benefit analysis indicate that the current policy based on a protection system is economically viable, provided that there will be some future change and a non-insignificant level of pest winter survival. Considered the other way round, we can give up protection if we are certain that there is no future change, pest winter survival stays permanently below about 20%, or potato crop losses will not exceed 5% of the yield. If we cannot be certain that one of these three conditions materialises, we should be cautious regarding the possibility of abandoning protection because the risk associated with giving up protection is at the extreme nearly thirty times greater than that associated with protection. Results also indicate that the fact that invasions come very seldom is not a valid argument for abandoning protection, and that it is the variable costs of the protection system rather than the fixed costs that are important in determining policy profitability. The sensitivity analysis suggests that winter survival, logistic spread rate and variable cost of protection are the most important variables in determining economic profitability. The aggregate results suggest that the current policy of CPB exclusion should be continued. The future challenge lies in considering the issue of IAS and diseases in a holistic biosecurity framework. Within this framework, the issue would be managed in an integrated fashion from the point of view of multiple threats, multiple pathways, multiple parties involved and multiple methods and stages of control. Many challenges lie ahead in planning a functioning framework to deal with the issue of biosecurity.


Surgical treatment of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries has improved in leaps and bounds over the past several decades. Surgeons have progressed from extra-articular tenodesis procedures that over-constrained the knee and reduced motion, to intra-articular reconstruction techniques that more accurately recreate the native ACL (1). Recently, tunnel and graft placement has improved to make ACL reconstruction even more anatomic, further improving the kinematics and joint health in reconstructed knees (2,3).


The take up of mediation has been relatively slow in the United Kingdom. A study of the mediation pilot at the Central London County Court indicated that in only five percent of cases did the parties agree to mediate. Lack of experience in mediation by lawyers, fear of showing weakness by accepting mediation, and resistance to the idea of compromise were cited as the main reasons for the low take up. Public awareness of ADR in the United Kingdom is also acknowledged to be low. There are wide-ranging efforts to turn this tide. This article provides an overview of the main factors which are either hindering the take up of mediation, or encouraging its use, in non-matrimonial cases in the United Kingdom. It will be shown that much of the recent impetus for ADR has come from Europe-wide initiatives.


BACKGROUND
Studies of related individuals have consistently demonstrated notable familial aggregation of cancer. We aim to estimate the heritability and genetic correlation attributable to the additive effects of common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for cancer at 13 anatomical sites.

METHODS
Between 2007 and 2014, the US National Cancer Institute has generated data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for 49 492 cancer case patients and 34 131 control patients. We apply novel mixed model methodology (GCTA) to this GWAS data to estimate the heritability of individual cancers, as well as the proportion of heritability attributable to cigarette smoking in smoking-related cancers, and the genetic correlation between pairs of cancers.

RESULTS
GWAS heritability was statistically significant at nearly all sites, with the estimates of array-based heritability, hl (2), on the liability threshold (LT) scale ranging from 0.05 to 0.38. Estimating the combined heritability of multiple smoking characteristics, we calculate that at least 24% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 14% to 37%) and 7% (95% CI = 4% to 11%) of the heritability for lung and bladder cancer, respectively, can be attributed to genetic determinants of smoking. Most pairs of cancers studied did not show evidence of strong genetic correlation. We found only four pairs of cancers with marginally statistically significant correlations, specifically kidney and testes (ρ = 0.73, SE = 0.28), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and pediatric osteosarcoma (ρ = 0.53, SE = 0.21), DLBCL and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) (ρ = 0.51, SE =0.18), and bladder and lung (ρ = 0.35, SE = 0.14). Correlation analysis also indicates that the genetic architecture of lung cancer differs between a smoking population of European ancestry and a nonsmoking Asian population, allowing for the possibility that the genetic etiology for the same disease can vary by population and environmental exposures.

CONCLUSION
Our results provide important insights into the genetic architecture of cancers and suggest new avenues for investigation.


We report a preliminary functional and complete structural characterization of a highly unusual geldanamycin analog, natalamycin A, that was isolated from Streptomyces strain M56 recovered from a South African nest of Macrotermes natalensis termites. Bioassay-guided fractionation based on antifungal activity led to the isolation of natalamycin A, and a combination of NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallographic analysis, including highly-accurate quantum-chemical NMR calculations on the largest and most conformationally-flexible system to date, revealed natalamycin A's three-dimensional solid- and solution-state structure. This structure along with the structures of related compounds isolated from the same source suggest a geldanamycin-like biosynthetic pathway with unusual post-PKS modifications.


The aim of this work is to study the influence of copper doping and annealing temperature treatment on structural, morphological and optical properties of nickel oxide (NiO) thin films. Cu doped NiO thin films were deposited on glass substrates at 350 °C by spray pyrolysis technique. Nickel chloride hexahydrate NiCl26H2O, deionized water and copper were used as precursor, solvent and dopant source respectively after annealing at different temperatures of 400, 450, 500 and 550 °C. The grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) patterns revealed that NiO:Cu films are polycrystalline with face centered cubic structure and preferred orientation direction along [200] corresponding to 2 value of approximately 43°. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) visualization revealed that surface morphology was found to be influenced by incorporation of Cu and average roughness increases from 5.17 nm to 99.03 nm when the doping rate varied from 2 % to 6 %. The optical transmittance decreases from 85 % to 65 % with the increase in Cu doping concentrations of NiO films annealed at 550 °C and the optical band gap was blue-shifted from 3.63 eV to 3.82 eV.


This article explores how undocumented Peruvian laborers have established a significant presence within some of Korea's powerful evangelical churches through their identification of respuestas (answers or signs) from God. Many Peruvians arrived in Korea in the early 1990s on their way to more profitable labor destinations, such as Japan or Europe, but stayed after finding factory work. Through their conversions to Protestantism in Korea, they have begun to identify events such as unplanned pregnancies or their ability to evade deportation as signs that their migration to Korea was predestined. Through promoting their respuestas to various audiences, Peruvians not only recast their unlikely migration as predestined but change their own status from being economic laborers to recognized leaders within Korean churches. Korean church leaders embrace Peruvians and respuestas as a way to promote their church's own cosmopolitan image and desires for launching global missions to locations such as Peru. As such, respuestas are a common framework through which migrants and church leaders co-create their global aspirations and experiences.


Summary: Our study compared two pediatric wheelchairs designed for less resourced settings, a wheelchair made by the Association of the Physically Disabled of Kenya and the Regency chair made in the US and distributed globally. The Regency chair outperformed the APDK chair in most aspects measured. Introduction: Many wheelchairs are donated to less-resourced countries by well-meaning organizations without regard to local, cultural, and physical conditions and without ensuring appropriate knowledge, tools, and support are present1. In the last ten years, several organizations have been manufacturing and distributing wheelchairs designed for low-income countries, however few outcomes studies have been done on these chairs. We completed a set of tests to compare two pediatric wheelchairs that are currently distributed in Kenya for children with disabilities. By providing accurate outcomes measures to manufacturers, we hope to enable design improvements2. Materials and Methods: During the 2010-2011 school year, local high school students pushed first graders sitting in the chairs on two surfaces (sidewalk and gravel drive) for six minutes. From heart rate data collected and distance covered, physiological cost indexes were calculated for pushing both chairs and time-walk test comparisons were made. In addition, a series of timed maneuverability tests from the Wheelchair Skills Test were performed, up and down a curb, up and down a ramp, and in a figure eight pattern3. Subject input was obtained by a visual analogue scale question and an opportunity to comment on each test. Results: Paired T tests showed that the APDK chair required significantly more energy to push than the Regency chair on both rough and smooth surfaces, and that the APDK chair was perceived as significantly harder to push on both terrains as well as more difficult to maneuver around tight spaces. Discussion: Results favored the Regency chair in all tests with significant differences. User comments indicated issues with the APDK chair about manufacturing quality control such as wobbling wheels due to lack of alignment and asymmetrically assembled frames. Results from this study as well as from a parallel study in Kenya have been provided to manufactures and on-going discussion is underway.


Robotic rovers which are designed to work in extra-terrestrial environments present a unique challenge in terms of the reliability and availability of systems throughout the mission. Should some fault occur, with the nearest human potentially millions of kilometres away, detection and identification of the fault must be performed solely by the robot and its subsystems. Faults in the system sensors are relatively straightforward to detect, through the residuals produced by comparison of the system output with that of a simple model. However, faults in the input, that is, the actuators of the system, are harder to detect. A step change in the input signal, caused potentially by the loss of an actuator, can propagate through the system, resulting in complex residuals in multiple outputs. These residuals can be difficult to isolate or distinguish from residuals caused by environmental disturbances. While a more complex fault detection method or additional sensors could be used to solve these issues, an alternative is presented here. Using inverse simulation (InvSim), the inputs and outputs of the mathematical model of the rover system are reversed. Thus, for a desired trajectory, the corresponding actuator inputs are obtained. A step fault near the input then manifests itself as a step change in the residual between the system inputs and the input trajectory obtained through inverse simulation. This approach avoids the need for additional hardware on a mass- and power-critical system such as the rover. The InvSim fault detection method is applied to a simple four-wheeled rover in simulation. Additive system faults and an external disturbance force and are applied to the vehicle in turn, such that the dynamic response and sensor output of the rover are impacted. Basic model-based fault detection is then employed to provide output residuals which may be analysed to provide information on the fault/disturbance. InvSim-based fault detection is then employed, similarly providing \textit{input} residuals which provide further information on the fault/disturbance. The input residuals are shown to provide clearer information on the location and magnitude of an input fault than the output residuals. Additionally, they can allow faults to be more clearly discriminated from environmental disturbances.


This paper focuses upon the work of internationally renowned Australian artist Patricia Piccinini in order to explore the hypertexted streams of meanings that intertwine narratives of maternal bodies and technologies that appear in her artwork. Focusing on the installations, The Young Family, Still Life With Stem Cells, and Truck Babies, I consider how flows of maternity and technology thread through Piccinini's creatures, all of which feature monstrosity. My critique develops an interpretation drawing on feminist theories about maternity and technology as well as Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari's notion of "becoming". I identify one particular response to Piccinini's work, which I call "monstrous cute", and I consider the implications and politics of this reading practice. Throughout the paper I draw upon David Bell's concept of the hypertextual moment derived from his work concerning the constantly expanding field of cyberculture studies. This moment refuses to concentrate on a single fixed focus. Instead, in the hypertextual moment, readings offer more than one, sometimes contradictory perspective. The notion of the hypertextual moment is useful to my argument as it enables identification and description of the flickering intersections of technologies and maternity that are inspired by Piccinini's work.


DOI: 10.14254/2071789X.2020/13-4/3 ABSTRACT. The purpose of the article is to build a gravitational growth model of Ukrainian economy. The correlation of the labour productivity macroeconomic indicator and its empirical verification is considered. The article looks at recent research dealing with data analysis of region groups as of 2004-2017. To determine the conditions for economic development of the regions, the magnitude and the possible influence of the main macroeconomic factors were assessed. The methodology of gravity modelling makes it possible to study the significance of each individual factor on the basis of statistical information and to predict these factors within the context of possible scenarios. Methods of statistical analysis and econometric modelling were used to build a gravity model and to assess its statistical significance and forecasting ability for economy. The methodological principles of the gravity theory in the context of the set tasks involve studying both regional GDP indicators and the geographical location and remoteness from the capital. The paper presents the influence of two macroeconomic aggregates on the dynamics of economic development labour productivity and physical capital per worker, with account of their relationship to gravitational effects. The economic analysis uses regional statistical data available on the website of the State Statistical Service of Ukraine. As a result, three main conclusions were formulated. First, 2001-2008 was the most favourable period for the development of Ukrainian economy (after the restoration of Ukraine's independence in 1991). Second, future strong positions of the Northern Ukraine were identified (Kyiv city, Kyiv region with account taken of the expected side effect). Third, a long-term one, to implement the regional development policy the volume of regional investment should be increased. In turn, investment attractiveness of the remote regions, with a relatively low expected economic polarization, will also increase.


Footprinting experiments involving the human thyroglobulin gene enhancer and thyroid nuclear extracts revealed a protected region called X2, containing an incomplete cAMP-responsive element (CRE). Band-shift experiments identified two binding activities recognizing the X2 element: a CRE-binding protein (CREB)/activating transcription factor (ATF) relative that binds the half CRE motif and a second factor that interacts with a G-rich motif located just upstream from the CRE. The first factor appears to be CREB itself, as indicated by the supershifting when using an antibody directed against CREB, and the second DNA-binding activity involved was shown to be zinc-dependent and exhibited an apparent molecular mass of 42-44 kDa in South-Western blotting experiments. This factor may represent a novel entity, which we named CAF, for 'CREB Associated Factor'. Three copies of X2 sequence conferred a strong cAMP-dependent transcriptional activation to a heterologous promoter in transient transfection assay in cAMP-stimulated primary thyrocytes and HeLa cells. Transfection experiments of constructs containing the X2 element mutated in either the CRE or the G-rich site showed that both motifs were required for this transcription activating function. Moreover, the combination of several individual X2 elements mutated in either the CRE or the G-rich motif did not exhibit full transcriptional activity. This suggests that, in the context of the X2 element, CREB requires a close interaction with CAF to achieve both basal and cAMP-dependent transcriptional activation.


Background There are people in Yogyakarta, who use black sugarcane decoction (BSD) to prevent stroke. BSD contains policosanol and antioxidants. It has been proven that policosanol can reduce global ischemia in Mongolian gerbils. This study aims to evaluate the effect of BSD on brain ischemia in a rat stroke model. Methods A laboratory experiment using eighteen 3-month old male Wistar rats without any defects, of 175-250 g body weight. Brain ischemia was produced by a 20-minute bilateral carotid communis artery oclusion (BCCAO).  Using a rat stroke model, brain ischemia was produced by a 20-minute BCCAO. The rats were randomized into three groups: BSD treated stroke model rats (group 1), non treated stroke model rats (group 2), and sham operated rats (group 3). BSD was administered by gavage for 1 week before BCCAO. Decapitation of rats was performed two hours post BCCAO. Brain tissues were stained with 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC). Ischemic areas were analyzed using Image J softwere. Statistical analysis was conducted by one way ANOVA test. Results The mean percentages of rat brain ischemic area differed between group 3 (0.0 ± 0.0%), group 2 (3.13 ± 0.59%) and group 1 (1.15 ± 0.47%) p =0.001). Post hoc test showed that there was no difference between group 3 with group 1. Instead, there was a significant difference between  group 2 and the other groups. Conclusion The administration of BSD reduced rat brain ischemia after bilateral carotid artery ligation.


In the Editorial, Enzo Collotti discusses the 60th anniversary of the end of the second world war. The celebration and march-past at Moscow were a major event in the media, to which all the participants Russians, Americans and the allies attributed an importance that went far beyond its historical significance. The date of 8 May 1945 was celebrated not so much for what it meant for international relations and the balance of power in the world, but as a means to legitimate political positions today, exemplifying the classic methods of a public usage of history. Luigi Tomba presents recent works of three well known specialists on China (Lucien Blanco, Guido Samarani, Rudolf Wagner) on the characteristics of the Chinese transition of recent years. It marks the return of the greatest of the Asiatic empires to the role it had occupied until the mid-nineteenth century; and raises questions about the originality of Chinese socialism and the paradox of socialist free trade. Erika Diemoz's essay explores the imaginary world of fascist Italy through the prolonged crisis of the Matteotti murder. Using newspaper reports and popular accounts, she illustrates the mentalities, experiences and prejudices of the spectators' participation in the event, pointing to the circular relationship between political intentions and public responses in the construction of social myths and representations. Sara Nocentini discusses the first years of activity of the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (Ice). Created in 1926 as the Italian Institute for Exports (Ine) in order to improve the balance of trade, it was transformed in 1936, after the sanctions imposed by the League of Nations, with the effect of changing both its structure and role. Following on the new rules affecting imports, exports and exchange rates, it was placed under the rigid control of the government and lost its autonomy. In the Contemporary Historians section, Gabriele Turi offers a profile of Luigi Salvatorelli during the fascist period, concentrating on his highly individual path as a
historian and an intellectual. After being forced to resign as deputy editor of La Stampa in 1925, he refused any compromise with the regime: he showed how it was possible to deploy his historical culture in ppropriate newspapers, journals and books through which to continue to uphold an outstanding civil and political
discourse, of considerable influence among his readers. In the Historians and History section, the Korean historian Jie-Hyun Lim discusses the representations of East and West that are embedded in the national
«Passato e presente», a. XXIII (2005), n. 66 english summary 191 historiography of north-east Asian countries. He concentrates in particular on the two examples of Japan and Korea. Through the analysis of the work of Bulat Okudzava, the first of the Russian bards of dissent, Simone Bellezza recreates the cultural and intellectual atmosphere of the Kruscev thaw in the Ussr, describing the changes in society, the emergence of youth cultures and the birth of public opinion between the Fifties and the Sixties.
Ferdinando Fasce reviews the Italian edition of Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker's The Many-Headed Hydra, originally published in 2000. He stresses the significance of the subtitle of the English edition Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic for its relevance to the theme of a rebel Atlantic proletariat, set in the context of the British empire between the 17th and mid-19th century. Aldo Agosti reviews the first complete critical edition, edited by Sandra Teroni and Wolfgang Klein, of the acts of the international Congress of writers in defence of culture, held at Paris in 1935. The congress constituted a significant moment in the reflections of intellectuals about the objectives and strategies of international antifascism. The issue ends with a group of short reviews, edited by Gianni Dore, of recent publications on the theme Africa: colonial experiences and studies.


We explore the relationship between individual control perceptions and the degree to which a country's institutions and policies are consistent with the principles of economic freedom. Using data from the World Values Surveys (WVS) and the Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) index, we find that people living in more economically free countries are more likely to perceive greater control over their lives. This effect is not diminishing at higher levels of economic freedom. One possible channel that explains this relationship is the perception of procedural fairness and social mobility. Decomposing the EFW index, we further find that the area of sound money is what drives the results.


This investigation is aimed at modeling the tensile behavior of electrospun polyurethane (PU) membrane. The PU web is produced with different morphologies and the structural parameters are studied through SEM images. Three-dimensional network is simulated using ABAQUS software. Each fibre is modeled as hyperelastic material and each crosslink is modeled as multi point constrain tie. The stress-strain behavior of PU mat is modeled by finite element method, and the effect of fibre diameter, fibre orientation and thickness of web is investigated. The stress–strain curves of networks at three different morphologies are compared with modeling measurements. The model by using third order reduced polynominal as fibre hyperelastic potential energy function shows good agreement with experimental findings which confirm that the tensile behavior of PU web can be explained entirely by microstructure of the network.


This is the second volume in an important new series on current developments in linguistics. The series is aimed at broadening the definition and application of psycholinguistics, often regarded as a specialist's field. Books in the series are addressed to psychologists, linguists, computer scientists, philosophers, and educators at the graduate and undergraduate level.The first chapter, "Structures and Processes," by Neil V. Smith, University College, London, introduces the subject of linguistics and its relation to other disciplines. It outlines the standard linguistic position on the structure of sets of rules (of a grammar), discusses alternatives to this position, and briefly considers the relationship between linguistics and psychology.The second chapter, "Infants' Perception of Speech and Other Acoustic Stimuli," by Jacques Mehler, CNRS, Paris and Josiane Bertoncini raises theoretical and empirical arguments designed to clarify the 'specificity' issue for language and examines some putative mechanisms that may be responsible for the emergence of language. Primarily a review of these issues as they relate to the auditory world of the very young human infant, this chapter concludes with an intriguing look at the results and implications of Mehler's latest experiments.The third and fourth chapters in the book are linked by a common theoretical framework, although they focus on quite different topics. In "Word Recognition," John Morton discusses the effects of context and word frequency on the recognition of words, and outlines the kinds of models that have been proposed to account for these and other phenomena, with particular reference to his own Logogen Model.Andrew Ellis, Psychology Department, University of Lancaster, also uses the Logogen Model as his framework in "Speech Production and Short-Term Memory," focusing on just one aspect--the Response Buffer--to bring together two areas of research that are normally treated separately: the study of short-term memory and the examination of the psychological processes underlying speech production.


Summary The field occurrence and the known immiscibility between silicate and carbonate melts suggest the Jombo alkaline intrusion and Mrima carbonatite intrusion have come from the same magmatic source. However, only the ijolite series apparently originated from a magma body at Jombo hill intrusion, while the feldspathoidal syenite series appears to have resulted from metasomatic alteration of the country rock-sandstone. The K/Rb ratios seem to indicate a mantle origin for the ijolites and a crustal one for the feldspathoidal syenites. The feldspathoidal syenite series were presumably formed by alkali metasomatism, resulting from magmatic fluid infiltration through intergranular movement. It is suggested that the partitioning of K and Na components in the metasomatizing fluid and solid feldspar phases at different temperatures, was the cause of two rock types – albite nepheline syenite and orthoclase nepheline syenite.


Increasing the space-bandwidth product of an imaging system will lead to a complex and expensive optical system. Techniques exist to simplify imaging systems. We propose the use of a hybrid imaging system using pupil phase modulation. Based on the reconstructed image's mean-squared error, we compute how this error is affected under various third-order aberrations. We determine the best cubic phase-mask parameter and study the impact of the orientation of the coma and astigmatism, as we have in a real optical system (from 0 to 2π). We then compute how the reconstructed image's quality varies by adding defocus-related aberrations (defocus and/or field curvature). Based on our analysis, we determine the limits of a hybrid imaging system using a cubic phase mask to develop simplified imaging systems. We conclude that the simplified lens design can be corrected if its aberrations are limited to 1 lambda of coma, astigmatism, and spherical aberrations and less than 1 lambda of field curvature or defocus.


Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured over both hemispheres in 20 patients with unilateral transient ischemic attacks (TIA) of the territory of the internal carotid artery on the day of the TIA. rCBF was estimated with the nontraumatic Xenon 133-inhalation technique using the initial slope index. 13 patients experienced their first TIA, 7 had several attacks. In 14 patients the first rCBF-measurement was performed during the presentation of clinical symptoms. The 2nd rCBF-measurement was done on day 2, the last one on day 7. Scans of the 15 patients studied with CT were normal. On day 1 mean rCBF of the TIA-side was significantly lower than that of the contralateral hemispheres. 22% of all areas showed a significant reduction of flow compared to mean rCBF. Mean rCBF of both the TIA- and the contralateral side was significantly reduced compared to the bi-hemispheric mean rCBF of a control group with no history of TIA or completed strokes but at least 2 risk factors for cerebrovascular disease. Whereas mean rCBF did not change in the contralateral side it increased significantly (+6.9%) in the TIA-side from day 1 to day 2 but not from there to day 7. This is reflected by the increase of the total number of ROI with normal flow from day 1 to day 2. Considering the actual flow and the flow course of that tissue which was believed to be responsible for the clinical symptoms the following regional patterns were observed: normal rCBF in 6 patients; early return to normal concomitant to the clinical course (n = 4).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Arrhythmia caused by drug-induced cardiotoxicity is among the leading reasons for late-stage drug attrition and is therefore a core subject in safety testing of new compounds. Alternative methods such as surface and interface characterization approaches for assessing the drug-mediated cardiotoxicity should be promoted, in order to reduce, refine and replace the use of laboratory animals. Here, we investigate the possibility of using known human Ether-à-go-go-Related Gene (hERG) channel blockers to induce irregular beating patterns in the mouse and human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived (miPSC and hiPSC) cardiomyocyte (CM) model systems. An AFM-based approach was developed to precisely monitor the beating interval and rate of cardiomyocytes. Verification was implemented using three individual cardiovascular compounds to validate the potential application of this AFM approach as a complementary drug screening tool. Consistent with previous reports, isoproterenol increased the beating rate, with a more pronounced effect in the mouse CMs, nifedipine increased the beating rate in a dose-dependent manner, and sotalol induced arrhythmias with a significant variation in beating interval responses at increasing concentrations. The results of this initial study show that accurate analysis of individual drug-mediated effects can be achieved using our method, comparable to previous reports, and that a well-controlled AFM test of ion channel manipulation on human and murine-derived cardiomyocytes can be performed for investigation on multi-compound effects. Preliminary results indicate that the hERG blocker E-4031 can stimulate irregular, arrhythmic beating patterns in the cardiomyocytes from both species, and that immediate subsequent treatment with the hERG enhancer nicorandil can rescue these back to regular beating patterns, similar to those observed when the cells were untreated. This approach has not been extensively reported, and the use of our AFM system provides a platform to further investigate compound-induced ion channel effects in cardiomyocytes for potential application in pre-screening drug development stages.


Empirically Derived Sensitivity of Vegetation to Climate Across the Globe Gregory Ross Quetin Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Assistant Professor Abigail L. S. Swann Department of Atmospheric Sciences To predict the response of vegetation to climate change, we must understand the physiological processes controlling productivity across large spatial scales, encompassing global climate space. To date there is not a fully empirical map of vegetation sensitivity to climate at the global scale. We use the response of satellite-based greenness (from Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) to inter-annual climate variations in surface air temperature (from ERA-Interim) and precipitation (from Global Precipitation Climatology Project) to derive the sensitivity of vegetation to temperature to infer mechanisms of climate constraint on vegetation productivity across the globe as represented by greenness. We focus on how the sensitivity of vegetation to temperature varies across climate space, finding that it is modulated by a balance of resources. The majority of grid cells in simultaneously warm (above 14 ◦C) and dry (below 1000 mm/year rainfall) conditions have negative vegetation sensitivity to temperature (browner in warm years) while at places with cooler temperatures the vegetation sensitivity is generally positive (greener in warm years). The mean annual temperature boundary between positive and negative sensitivities changes by 9 degrees C depending on how much rainfall a place receives. At very high rainfall levels (beyond 3000 mm/year), even the hottest vegetated places on Earth have positive sensitivity to mean annual temperature. The positive temperature sensitivity of these warm wet ecosystems suggests that water allows buffering against damaging maximum temperatures and that these ecosystems may actually benefit from near term warming on the scale of inter-annual variations of temperature.


Combination therapies are widely accepted as a cornerstone for treatment of different cancer types. A tumor growth inhibition (TGI) model is developed for combinations of cetuximab and cisplatin obtained from xenograft mice. Unlike traditional TGI models, both natural cell growth and cell death are considered explicitly. The growth rate was estimated to 0.006 h−1 and the natural cell death to 0.0039 h−1 resulting in a tumor doubling time of 14 days. The tumor static concentrations (TSC) are predicted for each individual compound. When the compounds are given as single-agents, the required concentrations were computed to be 506 μg · mL−1 and 56 ng · mL−1 for cetuximab and cisplatin, respectively. A TSC curve is constructed for different combinations of the two drugs, which separates concentration combinations into regions of tumor shrinkage and tumor growth. The more concave the TSC curve is, the lower is the total exposure to test compounds necessary to achieve tumor regression. The TSC curve for cetuximab and cisplatin showed weak concavity. TSC values and TSC curves were estimated that predict tumor regression for 95% of the population by taking between-subject variability into account. The TSC concept is further discussed for different concentration-effect relationships and for combinations of three or more compounds.


This thesis reports the application of static and ramped electric fields to the Rydberg
states of NO. Chapter 1 introduces the history of Rydberg states, their exotic
properties, decay mechanisms, and the effect of an applied electric field. Chapter 2
details the experimental set-up used for the experiments presented in this thesis.
Chapter 3 describes the structure of NO and multiphoton excitation scheme utilised
for the work presented in this thesis.
Chapter 4 investigates the effect of applied DC electric fields in the range
0 – 150 V cm-1 on the predissociating Rydberg states of NO below the υ+ = 0
ionisation limit, with principal quantum numbers n = 25 – 30. The Stark states are
accessed by two-colour, double-resonance excitation via the υ′ = 0,N′ = 0, 1, 2, and 4
rovibrational states of the A2Σ+ state. The N (2D) atoms produced by predissociation
are measured by (2 + 1) resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization. The zero field
and predissociation spectra are analysed using a matrix diagonalisation method. In
Chapter 5, initial progress on simulating the spectra is presented. The predissociation
spectra are compared with pulsed-field ionization spectra of the bound Rydberg state
population providing an almost complete picture of the Rydberg state dynamics.
In Chapter 6, ramped fields of varying slew rates are applied to the bound Rydberg
states of NO, and the ionisation time profiles are obtained. The development of the
experimental chamber and investigation into sources of electrical noise required to
achieve this is discussed. It is shown that the rotational quantum state composition of
field-ionised molecules can be controlled by varying the slew rate of the applied
electric field.


This is the case history of the evolution of Ecos Corporation, a business strategy consultancy that shapes its advice based on principles of sustainability. The fast-growing Ecos practice, based in Sydney, Australia, aims to make its clients more profitable while simultaneously achieving better outcomes for the economy, society and the environment. The firm's story is told through its people and its clients. How does Ecos operate? What attracts paying customers? Where have the firm's employees come from, and where are they going? Ecos Corporation staff writer Murray Hogarth, a former environment editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, gives an insider's account. "Activist in a suit" was the eminently predictable headline waiting to be written when Paul Gilding became a corporate consultant. The young Australian's personal re-invention followed back-to-back stints running Greenpeace in Australia and then internationally as Amsterdam-based executive director. Gilding had wanted Greenpeace to engage more with the business world to help drive a global environmental rescue. Others in the hierarchy of Greenpeace -- the guardians of the planet's best green action brand name -- were not ready. Gilding was ousted. He had something to prove. Days after he departed Greenpeace, Gilding addressed a conference of business leaders in Zurich. He spoke as a long-time social activist -- but one no longer shackled by Greenpeace correctness circa 1994. His optimistic topic was "The Role of Enterprise in Creating a Just and Sustainable Society." "Business faces the exciting opportunity to redesign itself into being a positive force for society, leading the way forward from the social and ecological crises we presently face," he concluded. "It is an opportunity to release the enormous positive human energy we need if we are going to turn the situation around." The activist had become enchanted with the potential for business to save the world, highlighting its power, its adaptability and its positive culture. The big question, then and still, was whether business was ready to take up the cause. Six years later, Gilding still believes passionately that business can lead the world to sustainable solutions. Like-motivated and similarly minded individuals have gathered around him, forging a team drawn from the ranks of high-level environmental and social activism, industry, the corporate advisory world, information technology and journalism. After taking stock of his life, Gilding and his partner Michelle Grosvenor established the firm that is now Ecos Corporation -- initially in partnership with the British-based consultancy group, Paras. It was 1995. The Internet was only just starting to attract attention in the wider community, outside of the cloistered world of academia. The "new economy" was still in gestation. The Kyoto summit on climate change was two years off. In Australia, and around the developed world, the environment had slipped down the political priority list after the fervour of the late 1980s and the early 1990s, culminating at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. In Australia, business was lagging well behind North America and Europe in terms of environmental awareness and commitment to eco-efficiency. It was in fully-fledged denial about global warming. Sustainability -- and the notion that corporations should focus on the community's social and environmental "values", as well as hard-nosed financial value -- was nigh on invisible on the national corporate agenda. While there was considerable talk about post-Rio commitments to ecologically sustainable development (ESD), it seemed that everyone had their own ideas about what this meant. Few, if any, were prepared to "walk the talk". In this climate, Paul Gilding was trying to make the leap from being commodore of the protest boat fleet to boardroom insider. For the first few years the business often struggled. Headquarters was a converted former church in an inner city Sydney suburb. …


We investigate a class of fractional distributionally robust optimization problems with uncertain probabilities. They consist in the maximization of ambiguous fractional functions representing reward-risk ratios and have a semi-infinite programming epigraphic formulation. We derive a new fully parameterized closed-form to compute a new bound on the size of the Wasserstein ambiguity ball. We design a data-driven reformulation and solution framework. The reformulation phase involves the derivation of the support function of the ambiguity set and the concave conjugate of the ratio function. We design modular bisection algorithms which enjoy the finite convergence property. This class of problems has wide applicability in finance, and we specify new ambiguous portfolio optimization models for the Sharpe and Omega ratios. The computational study shows the applicability and scalability of the framework to solve quickly large, industry-relevant-size problems, which cannot be solved in one day with state-of-the-art mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) solvers.


This study contrasts two types of prefixes in Lithuanian (a Baltic language), the lexical prefix and the nominal prefix. Despite being homophonous, I demonstrate that these prefixes are two distinct elements. There is a tradition in the literature to analyze lexical prefixes as part of a VP complement (Babko-Malaya 2003, Dimitrova-Vulchanova 1999, Svenonius 2004, ia.) since, despite being perfective, they also license an additional argument. Nevertheless, the data from Lithuanian show that the lexical prefix lacks phrasal properties. Instead, I propose that the lexical prefix is a morphological element, which is merged directly with a verbalized root (in line with Basilico 2008). In contrast, I show that the nominal prefix is a category-defining head n since it operates on the roots meaning space (Marantz 2001; Arad 2005) and can assign gender to a noun (Kramer 2016). I further gave evidence for this analysis showing that it correctly predicts polysemy resolution effects (Marantz 2013). This working paper is available in University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/ vol24/iss1/22 Lexical vs. Nominal prefixes and Their Meaning Domains∗


Sickle cell disease (SCD) and its variants are genetic disorders resulting from the presence of a mutated form of hemoglobin. Renal disease is one of the most frequent complications, and kidney damage starts very early and progresses throughout life causing severe complications. The present study is aimed to analyze creatinine-based estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in 616 SCD patients (507 HbSS and 109 HbSB+), receiving medical care at outpatient wing of Sickle Cell Institute, Chhattisgarh. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) estimated using the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD), Cockcroft-Gault, chronic kidney disease epidemiology collaboration (CKD-EPI) (<17 years analyzed with Schwartz), and SCD specific Jamaica Sickle Cell Cohort Study (JSCCS)-GFR equations were compared. Further, eGFR calculated using the CKD-EPI and Schwartz equations was used to define various stages of kidney function and compared with clinical and hematological variables. The mean age of patients was 15.8 years. Comparison of eGFR using various formulas revealed that MDRD and JSCCS formulas overestimated the GFR. Among SCD patients, prevalence of glomerular hyperfiltration (GHF) is high followed by renal insufficiency (RI) and renal failure (RF). However, no differences were found in hematological profiling among different functional stages of kidney. Age and body surface area are significantly more in SCD individuals with normal kidney function and GHF. Participants with RF showed a higher level of blood urea and fetal hemoglobin. In summary, this is the first study to analyze different functional stages of kidney among SCD patients of India. Our study revealed that the GHF and RI are the important indicators of kidney damage.


Detecting geometric changes between two 3D captures of the same location performed at different moments is a critical operation for all systems requiring a precise segmentation between change and no‐change regions. Such application scenarios include 3D surface reconstruction, environment monitoring, natural events management and forensic science. Unfortunately, typical 3D scanning setups cannot provide any one‐to‐one mapping between measured samples in static regions: in particular, both extrinsic and intrinsic sensor parameters may vary over time while sensor noise and outliers additionally corrupt the data. In this paper, we adopt a multi‐scale approach to robustly tackle these issues. Starting from two point clouds, we first remove outliers using a probabilistic operator. Then, we detect the actual change using the implicit surface defined by the point clouds under a Growing Least Square reconstruction that, compared to the classical proximity measure, offers a more robust change/no‐change characterization near the temporal intersection of the scans and in the areas exhibiting different sampling density and direction. The resulting classification is enhanced with a spatial reasoning step to solve critical geometric configurations that are common in man‐made environments. We validate our approach on a synthetic test case and on a collection of real data sets acquired using commodity hardware. Finally, we show how 3D reconstruction benefits from the resulting precise change/no‐change segmentation.


Studies show that in order to become a successful, respected and trusted, technical expert it is essential to display technical self-confidence, competitiveness and ambition. However, women in technical work settings often find it difficult to adjust to this work ideal. Rather than promoting themselves they choose to understate their technical competence. This article argues that the display of low technical self-confidence is a strategy used by women in order to become accepted in a work setting permeated by a technical and masculine work ideal. Women who try to conform to the competitive technical work ideal namely meet with disapproval since they fail to perform in accordance with gender-appropriate behaviour. Women in technical work settings are thus confronted with a double-bind dilemma that they need to develop strategies to cope with. By displaying lack of technical self-confidence they do not challenge the male supremacy and are hence accepted by their colleagues.


Hate speech detection models are typically evaluated on held-out test sets. However, this risks painting an incomplete and potentially misleading picture of model performance because of increasingly well-documented systematic gaps and biases in hate speech datasets. To enable more targeted diagnostic insights, recent research has thus introduced functional tests for hate speech detection models. However, these tests currently only exist for English-language content, which means that they cannot support the development of more effective models in other languages spoken by billions across the world. To help address this issue, we introduce Multilingual HateCheck (MHC), a suite of functional tests for multilingual hate speech detection models. MHC covers 34 functionalities across ten languages, which is more languages than any other hate speech dataset. To illustrate MHC's utility, we train and test a high-performing multilingual hate speech detection model, and reveal critical model weaknesses for monolingual and cross-lingual applications.


Technology matters, writes David Nye, because it is inseparable from being human. We have used tools for more than 100,000 years, and their central purpose has not always been to provide necessities. People excel at using old tools to solve new problems and at inventing new tools for more elegant solutions to old tasks. Perhaps this is because we are intimate with devices and machines from an early age -- as children, we play with technological toys: trucks, cars, stoves, telephones, model railroads, Playstations. Through these machines we imagine ourselves into a creative relationship with the world. As adults, we retain this technological playfulness with gadgets and appliances -- Blackberries, cell phones, GPS navigation systems in our cars. We use technology to shape our world, yet we think little about the choices we are making. In Technology Matters, Nye tackles ten central questions about our relationship to technology, integrating a half-century of ideas about technology into ten cogent and concise chapters, with wide-ranging historical examples from many societies. He asks: Can we define technology? Does technology shape us, or do we shape it? Is technology inevitable or unpredictable? (Why do experts often fail to get it right?)? How do historians understand it? Are we using modern technology to create cultural uniformity, or diversity? To create abundance, or an ecological crisis? To destroy jobs or create new opportunities? Should "the market" choose our technologies? Do advanced technologies make us more secure, or escalate dangers? Does ubiquitous technology expand our mental horizons, or encapsulate us in artifice? These large questions may have no final answers yet, but we need to wrestle with them -- to live them, so that we may, as Rilke puts it, "live along some distant day into the answers."


ABSTRACT Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is the third-generation (3G) cell phone technology. UMTS offers telecommunications services (like speech or SMS) and bearer services, which provide the capability for information transfer between access points. It is possible to negotiate and renegotiate the characteristics of a bearer service at session or connection establishment and during ongoing session or connection. Both connection-oriented and connectionless services are offered for Point-to-Point and Point-to-Multipoint communication. The radio interface of UMTS is called UTRAN (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) which uses W-CDMA as the underlying air interface [19]. 4G technology is also being developed for the heterogeneous networks e.g. WiMax. Today mobile wireless infrastructure is commonly-seen as one of the most advanced form of human communications. The last decade GSM technology has been a leading force in this revolution. Simultaneously with the phenomenal deployment of wireless networks and distribution of user terminals, also the Internet has seen a similar revolutionary growth. Handover means changing/switching of a mobile transmission from one channel to another. The main purpose of handover is to maintain an ongoing call when the hardware changes the channel, whether it is in the same cell or a different cell. Whenever a handover occurs there is always a handover delay which dictates that we cannot guarantee the service continuity. Though the handover time is msec but if there is a long handover latency, it will results in high packet losses and degradation of end-to-end TCP performance in case of packet switched data. Delay sensitive real-time applications demands packet lossless and low latency Quality-of-Service (QOS) guarantee during handover. In this thesis we will find the reasons of delay and packet loss during the handover and effect on the QOS (quality of services).


We investigate the career dynamics of high-tech entrepreneurs by analyzing the exit choice of entrepreneurs: to act as a business angel, to found another firm, or to become dependently employed. Our detailed data from CrunchBase indicate that founders are more likely to stick with entrepreneurship as a serial entrepreneur or as an angel investor in cases where the founder had prior experience either in founding other startups or working for a startup, or had a 'jack-of-all-trades' education.


Abstract. A comparative study of simultaneous heat and gas exchange measurements was performed in the large annular Heidelberg Air–Sea Interaction Facility, the Aeolotron, under homogeneous water surface conditions. The use of two gas tracers, N2O and C2HF5, resulted not only in gas transfer velocities, but also in the measurement of the Schmidt number exponent n with a precision of ±0.025. The original controlled flux, or active thermographic, technique proposed by Jahne et al. (1989) was applied by heating a large patch at the water surface to measure heat transfer velocities. Heating a large patch, the active thermography technique is laterally homogeneous, and problems of lateral transport effects are avoided. Using the measured Schmidt number exponents, the ratio of the scaled heat transfer velocities to the measured gas transfer velocities is 1.046 ± 0.040, a good agreement within the limits of experimental uncertainties. This indicates the possibility to scale heat transfer velocities measured by active thermography to gas transfer velocities, provided that the Schmidt number exponent is known and that the heated patch is large enough to reach the thermal equilibrium.


Excerpt] The aim of this chapter is to describe and analyze the efforts at skills development in Singapore and in India's booming outsourcing sector. Singapore is an important case because it started its skills development efforts in the early 1980s at a time when outsourcing of manufacturing was just beginning, and it has become one of the best-known examples of a nation that has successfully and continuously upskilled its workforce over the past twenty-five years. India, on the other hand, is just beginning to focus on skills development, stimulated by the growth in outsourcing of high-end services such as software development and business process outsourcing (BPO) of financial and medical research and low-end services such as call centers.


In semi-arid to arid countries water supply challenges will increase in the future with demographic and climate change putting pressure on available resources. Water supply and disposal paradigms of the temperate zone are unsuitable to address these challenges. Innovative water supply and wastewater treatment technologies that are embedded into a holistic integrated water resources management concept are needed, with strong aspects of stakeholder participation, institutional development and capacity building. In central northern Namibia, an eight-year project (CuveWaters) is initiated which links IWRM concept development to the implementation of demand side oriented, appropriate and regionally adapted innovative water technologies.


This book offers a practical guide to the everyday actions and decisions that anyone can take to promote gender equality and social justice in their own life and the world around them.

"I'm for equal rights but I'm not some radical feminist." It is a common sentiment, as people seek to avoid the aggressive, man-hating connotations that "feminist" unfairly carries. For in reality, by far the largest part of feminist activism today is moderate, respectful, and thoughtful, the sum total of a million individual decisions, actions, and encounters.

Beyond Burning Bras: Feminist Activism for Everyone is an antidote to the poison of shock jocks who caricature the women's movement as a radical fringe of man-haters and paint activists as spoiled hooligans. Two real-life feminist activists, Laura Finley and Emily Stringer focus on the mainstream of everyday feminism, explaining what feminism is really all about and fanning out a spectrum of simple, imaginative, user-friendly ways in which ordinary readers can promote gender equality and social equity in their own lives and in the world around them.

Beyond Burning Bras taps the life stories and first-person accounts of 50 ordinary individuals of every age, sex, sexuality, class, nationality, race, ethnicity, and learning style. All of them tell how they found within themselves the courage to take a stand on the front lines of feminist activism, whether in subtle private ways or in life-changing public ways. After a survey of the history of feminism in the United States, the authors and contributors show in successive chapters how feminism today meshes with other forms of activism relating to the workplace, sexual violence, the environment, politics, human bodies, the arts, youth, empowerment, and mothering.


Repeated pregnancy (RP) among adolescents is seldom researched in Brazil, even tough the debate on the reproductive rights is important for this extract of population. A transversal study was developed with data from the Declaration of Live Births of adolescent mothers, living in Rio de Janeiro (RJ, Brazil), in 2005. The aim was to estimate the magnitude and features associated with RP. Prevalence ratios (PR) of RP, with 95% confidence interval (CI) for selected variables, were estimated through log-binomial multivariate regression. Among 12,168 adolescents, a RP prevalence of 29.1% was identified and the principal factors associated were: age 15-19 anos (PR=5.42; RI 95% 3.72-7.81); not doing prenatal consultation (RP=2.36; CI 95% 2.16-2.58); educational status<4 anos (PR=1.48; CI 95% 1.25-1.76); housewife job (PR=1.8; CI 95% 1.57-2.15) or other (PR=1.9; CI 95%; 1.73-2.10). Giving birth by cesarean section and low birth weight were negatively associated to repeated pregnancy with RP equal to 0,94 (CI 95%; 0,86-0,99) and 0.69 (CI 95%; 0.62-0.77). The adolescents with RP had worst socioeconomic and assistance indicators than those on their first pregnancy. Specific social policies for adolescent mothers, in vulnerable situation, will enable them to have better conditions to exercise their reproductive rights.


During summer of 2010, we conducted a series of freshman orientation programs that were held for new science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors at Boise State University. Approximately 320 students were advised in this manner, during seven summer orientation sessions. This was a significant change from previous years, which used a collegespecific approach to advising, thereby limiting various retention programs and opportunities designed and promoted by the College of Engineering to engineering majors. The motivation for these changes was a Science Talent Expansion Program award from the National Science Foundation, and the fact that the retention rates for freshmen engineering majors is approximately 10% higher as compared with science and mathematics majors. The grant proposed to (1) integrate the science and mathematics majors with the engineering majors during summer orientation, (2) expand student learning community offerings to STEM majors, (3) create a General Sciences course for STEM students who are underprepared in mathematics, and (4) offer an elective, non-credit bearing mathematics online review course, free of charge, to students entering the university in STEM majors. An underlying and important rationale for widening the advisement base to include all STEM majors in an inclusive manner is the fact that many freshmen are unsure of their major. Therefore orientation materials were prepared that emphasized the commonalities between majors and the underpinning courses and their prerequisites. The results of these four activities, to date, will be presented together with strategy revisions planned for summer 2011.