Introduction: Challenge arises for medical undergraduates as the subject of medicine is intricate and extensive. Although students come from the same pool of excellent academic background, the medical undergraduates are still prone to failure in exams, resulting in them repeating the year of study or even having the thought of changing to other courses. In order to cope with the programme, students may adopt learning approaches that would help them to go through the programme. Therefore, it would be interesting to explore the learning approaches of medical students in Universiti Putra Malaysia. Methods: The purposes of this study were to determine the learning approach of medical undergraduates of Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia (FMHS, UPM) together with its associated factors, which were socio-demographic characteristics and learning environment. This research was a cross-sectional study where the sample size calculated was 554. Self-administered questionnaires were given to the respondents chosen by simple random sampling. The socio-demographic characteristics were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage. Chi-square test was used to analyse the association between the variables. Results: The response rate was 83% (460 respondents agreed to participate). The majority of the respondents were females (73.7%), Malay (67%), and in their clinical years of study (58.7%). Overall, most students preferred deep approach (DA) of learning (49.6%), followed by strategic approach (29.1%) and surface apathetic approach (21.3%) of learning. There were statistically significant associations between learning approach and gender (p=0.005), as well as between learning approach and year of study (p=0.037). Conclusion: Our study showed an association between learning approaches and year of study and gender. DA of learning was the preferred learning approach in medical students at FMHS, UPM. This approach of learning, where students learn to understand the subject matter, may result in students become effective learners. Their understanding about the subject matter will be applicable to their clinical practice in the future.


Fat embolism syndrome is a serious post-operative complication of orthopaedic procedures such as fracture fixation and total joint replacement. Fat embolism syndrome can be a result of increased intramedullary pressure during the insertion of prosthetic implants in long bones. A macro was developed that automates the creation of finite element models representing a simplified bone/fluid/implant system and a hammering event. The finite element models were validated by computing the peak stresses at various locations in the bone and comparing them to pressures measured at similar locations in experimental tests. Finite element models were used to test the effect of using hollow implants on intramedullary pressure in the bone, in some cases yielding an average reduction of 19.1%. It has been shown that it is acceptable to use finite element models for such parametric studies and that hollow implants have the potential to decrease intramedullary pressure during insertion.


This study aimed to describe legislation that govern labelling of food information on pre-packaged foodstuffs in Lilongwe and Blantyre (Malawi) and Kota Kinabalu in
Sabah (Malaysia), and investigate industry and consumer practices to identify areas for improvement. Data were collected from November 2010 through March 2012. This involved a random survey of 2583 consumers and 2713 food products, .and interviews with food experts. Consumers were approached and interviewed after they checked out at supermarkets. Shop managers gave their consent to conduct
the consumer survey outside the shops to avoid affecting customer behaviour and revenues. A series of food categories were purchased and surveyed to capture relevant packaging data for further analysis and interpretation. The results of the study showed that 76.5% of the products surveyed carried nutrition information (68.6% for Malawi and 90.2% for Sabah), while 20.7% and 39% displayed nutrition and health claims, respectively. Compliance rates with Codex requirements for nutrition labelling and use of claims on products also varied Significantly between the two countries, with Malawi comparing unfavourably. Such differences were also observed in the consumer survey. For example, self-reported use of nutrition labels was 70.8% for Sabah and 40.5% in Malawi. However, only 13.7% of the respondents had numerical ability to interpret the nutrition labels correctly in these countries. This meant that the majority of consumers read labels without understanding them. Results from principal components analyses showed that
three main factors influenced consumers to use food nutrition labels, namely the marketing environment, nutrition knowledge, and product attributes. The study
developed a conceptual model to put these factors into perspective that if well applied can help healthcare practitioners in the formulation of evidence-based plans
and policies for nutrition. The research already established that food experts in the study countries valued and viewed food labelling as a viable way to ensure healthful diets.


Context: Lung is the most common site of small cell carcinoma (SCLC) – a poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma (PDNEC). SCLC comprises 15–20% of the invasive cancers of the lung. Aim: This study was conducted to appraise the accuracy and pitfalls of the diagnosis of PDNEC on cytology along with treatment responses if available. Settings and Design: Retrospective study for 2 years yielded 21 cases on cytology. Subjects and Methods: Slides of fine-needle aspiration of lymph nodes, the tumor, bronchial brush, and bronchoalveolar lavage specimens were used. The histological correlation was obtained as were treatment responses. Results: Eighteen SCLCs were confirmed on review. Of these, 13 initial reports were concordant and five, discordant. The rest three cases which initially reported as SCLC were found to be negative (2) and combined SCLC (1). One SCLC with concordant initial and reviewed diagnoses failed to confirm on histopathology. The patients, all heavy smokers, were predominantly males in the seventh to eighth decade age group. The sensitivity and specificity of reviewed diagnoses were better than that of the original. The difference between histopathology and cytology diagnoses (reviewed and original) was statistically insignificant. All patients were categorized as "extensive stage" by positron emission tomography-computerized tomography, and five were treated with etoposide and cisplatin with/without radiotherapy. Conclusion: Age group (61–70) and gender (males) distribution were statistically significant. Intermediate variants of SCLC may be misdiagnosed as adenocarcinoma. Similarly, combined SCLC may be missed on cytology if the observer does not sustain a high index of suspicion. Unequivocal cytology diagnosis opposed to negative histopathology report demands repeat biopsy.


We investigate the comparative technical efficiency of producer cooperatives (PCs) and conventional firms (CFs) by looking at the performance of a mixed sample of Sardinian wine producing companies over the period 2004-2009. Thanks to the similarity of the habitats in which the firms operate, the peculiarities of the production environment, and the careful measurement of some key inputs through suitable aggregation of accounting data, the observed units are "twins" in all nonorganizational respects, providing one natural setting for comparative work. The analysis is carried out in two steps: in the first, technical efficiency indicators for each firm in each year are calculated using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with reference to a common production frontier. Subsequently, the measured efficiency scores become the dependent variables of a pooled truncated maximum likelihood regression in which we control for external covariates and firm type. To assess the procedure's appropriateness, we test whether the separability condition that the support of the output variables does not depend on the set of external variables is satisfied. Moreover, a double bootstrap algorithm is run to compute valid standard errors and confidence intervals of the coefficients estimates. According to our findings cooperatives are less technically efficient than their capitalist counterparts and displays decreasing returns to scale. Both results are particularly worrying in light of the main challenges (liberalization of EU planting rights and climate changes) facing the wine industry in the near future.


Presbycusis is a common disorder in the elderly, which causes hearing loss and may contribute to the development of some psychiatric disorders, leading to isolation due to communication difficulties in the social environment. Objective To identify through the WHOQOL (World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire), the quality of life of hearing impaired individuals before and after hearing aid fittings. Method We had 30 individuals with hearing loss, all over 60 years of age - patients from a Speech Therapy Clinic. The patients answered the WHOQOL questions without the use of hearing aids; and after the effective use of a sound amplification device for a period of three months they answered it again. The WHOQOL - Bref consists of 26 questions, two general quality-of-life questions and 24 associated with four aspects: physical, psychological, environmental and social relations. Results There was a significant improvement in quality of life in general, as far as leisure activities were concerned, there were no major changes regarding the frequency of negative feelings; even after the hearing aid fitting, the patients continue to have such feelings. Conclusion The use of hearing aids favored the overall quality of life of the individuals evaluated.


Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) stand as powerful experimental designs for identifying DNA variants associated with complex traits and diseases. In the past decade, both the number of such studies and their sample sizes have increased dramatically. Recent GWAS of height and body mass index (BMI) in ∼250,000 European participants have led to the discovery of ∼700 and ∼100 nearly independent SNPs associated with these traits, respectively. Here we combine summary statistics from those two studies with GWAS of height and BMI performed in ∼450,000 UK Biobank participants of European ancestry. Overall, our combined GWAS meta-analysis reaches N∼700,000 individuals and substantially increases the number of GWAS signals associated with these traits. We identified 3,290 and 716 near-independent SNPs associated with height and BMI, respectively (at a revised genome-wide significance threshold of p<1 × 10−8), including 1,185 height-associated SNPs and 554 BMI-associated SNPs located within loci not previously identified by these two GWAS. The genome-wide significant SNPs explain ∼24.6% of the variance of height and ∼5% of the variance of BMI in an independent sample from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Correlations between polygenic scores based upon these SNPs with actual height and BMI in HRS participants were 0.44 and 0.20, respectively. From analyses of integrating GWAS and eQTL data by Summary-data based Mendelian Randomization (SMR), we identified an enrichment of eQTLs amongst lead height and BMI signals, prioritisting 684 and 134 genes, respectively. Our study demonstrates that, as previously predicted, increasing GWAS sample sizes continues to deliver, by discovery of new loci, increasing prediction accuracy and providing additional data to achieve deeper insight into complex trait biology. All summary statistics are made available for follow up studies.


With the launch of the GetSmarter and UCT Social Media course in late 2012, many posed the question: can social media marketing skills be taught? It's a valid question, given the volatility of the social media landscape and a certain X-factor quality that many online influencers possess. Social platforms are in a constant state of flux and marketers are often left wondering whether an update or redesign will throw their best intentions into disarray. Furthermore, many agonise over the quest to secure more likes and followers, searching desperately for the elusive recipe to make people like their brand online.


textabstractThis paper investigates the prices set within the Exchange Network of Chania and tries to examine what prices are attributed to which products and services, how those prices are set and what they reveal about the values of the goods offered. Moreover, the further aim of the paper is to explore the implications of those prices concerning the function of the scheme itself, within the context of the local economy of the Chania area.

The data have been gathered during regular visits to the open markets of the scheme since January 2012. Therefore, the paper attempts to contribute original research findings concerning prices in parallel currency schemes and study several important issues which arise in multiple currency practice.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * A PRACTICE CONTINUATION PLAN ENSURES that in the event of death or disability, a CPA's practice will go on and its value will not evaporate. * TYPICALLY, SUCH AN AGREEMENT PROVIDES for four basic elements: The mechanism for a smooth and quick transfer of the practice, an agreed-on price or valuation method for the practice, an escape clause for both parties and an attorney's review and discussion with the spouse or heir. * THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF practice continuation agreements: The one-to-one agreement (usually a buy/sell agreement written to cover the practitioner's death or disability and undertaken with a firm that can absorb the firm's work), the group agreement (several CPAs may act as successors to each other's firm, and clients are given the choice of several surviving firms to choose from) and the state society plan (local associations or MAP committees assist the spouse or heir(s) in finding a buyer for the practice). * THE CPA MUST ASSEMBLE A COMPLETE SET of operating documents, which should list types of services offered, key employees, location of accounting records, bank account information and contracts and lease agreements; a client list, including key contacts, services provided and important deadlines; procedures used to monitor work in progress, so the standby firm can easily determine the status of uncompleted work; location of workpapers; description of filing system; and a complete guide to office procedures. * ONCE THE SOLE PRACTITIONER HAS ANALYZED the practice, he or she can begin to develop a realistic valuation for the business. No discussions with a potential alliance partner should begin without this step. * THE MOST DIFFICULT FACET OF VALUING a practice is determining what each client represents in terms of a future revenue stream. Eads says to link buyout terms to client retention. If the client decamps, the buyer reduces payments. After breaking away from larger regional firms, CPAs Sharyn Maggio of Shrewsbury, New Jersey, and Michelle Gallagher of Lansing, Michigan, took the plunge and started an independent practice in the past year. Brand-new to the world of sole practitioner and with the heady tasks of getting and serving clients, opening and staffing an office and developing long-term growth strategies--neither has considered the possibility of untimely death or disability. But some veteran practitioners and practice management advisers say it's not too early for Maggio and Gallagher each to develop a plan to keep their businesses viable if a setback prevents them from working for an extended period. This article describes the practice continuation plan, its key dements, how it helps a sole practitioner and his or her dependents and clients and how to take the first steps in implementing a plan. ALLY AND CONQUER Although Maggio and Gallagher have wills, estate plans and life and disability insurance, neither has a practice continuation plan for her business. "I've thought about doing one," says Gallagher. "But I haven't had a chance to." Maggio also sees the merits, yet says she's too busy taking care of clients. But a practice continuation plan may be the most important insurance policy a sole practitioner can have. It ensures that in the event of death or disability, a CPA's practice will go on and that its economic value to heirs will not evaporate. The heart of such a plan is a strategic alliance, spelled out in a contract, between the sole practitioner and another firm. Under such an agreement, the second party is ready to operate and/or buy the practice at the request of the practitioner or his or her heir or designee. Sometimes it's as simple as the buy/sell agreements any CPA would recommend to a similarly situated client, but experts say it's an essential part of any firm's--single owner's--planning for life's uncertainties. Considering the large numbers of CPAs approaching senior citizenship, San Francisco CPA Jerry Sample says practice succession is "one of the most serious issues facing our profession. …


Do we use one cerebral hemisphere or both to process positive and negative emotions? Is it more physiologically economical for the brain to initiate responses to both types of primary affect from a unilateral locus, or does our readiness to react to emotional stimuli depend on the differential contribution of each hemisphere based on the approach or avoidance behaviours positive and negative affect elicit? This thesis is concerned with these questions that have so far remained unanswered even though they form a key part of emotional perception research. The behavioural literature has provided evidence for both unilaterally (right hemisphere) and bilaterally derived responses to different types of emotional stimuli, with the directionality of response patterns changing depending on stimulus type and task demands. The neuroimaging literature has addressed whether there is a functional need for the lateralised processing of basic emotional stimuli by mapping subcortical and cortical emotional attention networks, specific to different variants of only negative affect (i.e. fear, sadness). How this subcortically originating lateralisation manifests into observable behaviour however still remains to be established. This research therefore posits that hemispheric lateralisation may be a modulated process, and aims to explore how this modulation guides the directionality of our behavioural responses to primary affect. The thesis introduces a novel methodology that provides the first evidence of the modulation of emotional lateralisation by establishing a behavioural paradigm that can effectively investigate hemispheric lateralisation through measures of response efficiency. The thesis further investigates whether subcortically originating lateralisation may be inferred through its resulting behavioural response, by examining visual field asymmetries in responses to positive and negative affect through nasally and temporally viewed stimuli. Additionally, the thesis considers the modulating properties of contextual emotion-enhancing features of facial expressions such as direct vs. averted gaze and the presence of looming sounds on behavioural responses to negative affect, and also investigates whether individual variability in anxiety levels translates into lateralised responses to affect. Findings from the present thesis suggest that lateralisation is not a sustained, static phenomenon, but in fact a dynamic, modulated process that depends on subtle stimulus-contextual elements to subsequently translate into observable response.


Seed dispersal and germination are two primary processes influencing plant community assembly. On freshwater shores, water levels regulate both processes. However, it is still unclear how water levels, shore morphology and species traits interactively affect seed dispersal and germination, and how these interactions determine plant community assembly. We hypothesize that a drawdown water regime enhances seed establishment compared to a year‐round stable water level, that this increases species richness and diversity, and that this is modulated by species traits and shore morphology. Germination of 20 wetland plant species with different dispersal capacities (floating capacity expressed as seed floatation half‐time) and soil moisture preferences for germination (Ellenberg F) was tested on artificial shores in 24 outdoor ponds in two complementary experiments over 8 weeks. The 'dispersal experiment' tested the effect of water regime on recruitment of hydrochorously dispersing seeds. The 'seed bank experiment' tested the effect of water regime on germination from a sown seed bank, on steep and gradual shores. In the dispersal experiment, the drawdown regime increased recruitment and species richness. Longer floating species colonized a larger shoreline section. Soil moisture preference for germination did not determine colonization patterns. In the seed bank experiment, the drawdown regime increased the number of seedlings on gradual sloping shores, but not on steep shores. The number of germinating seedlings corresponded to the area subjected to the drawdown regime in both shore types. Species richness was not affected by water regime or shore morphology, and species traits did not determine shoreline colonization. Most seeds germinated in moist soil conditions for all species. Synthesis. A spring drawdown instead of stable water regime stimulates establishment of hydrochorously dispersing seeds in temperate wetlands, leading to higher species richness and diversity. Germination from the seed bank is more affected by water regime and shore surface than by the tested species traits. Species traits, water levels and shore morphology together determine wetland plant community assembly, with dispersal as the main driver of seedling community diversity. Water‐level regulations and shore morphology can be used to influence plant communities in wetland restoration.


Mycobacterial infections and tuberculosis pose global public health threats. High tuberculosis
morbidities and mortalities are due to the diagnosis problems among other
causes. This chapter describes and compares diverse mycobacterial infections and tuberculosis
diagnostic efforts and point-out the direction so as to inform areas of and motivate
research toward early, rapid, and accurate diagnosis for effective TB control. We have
grouped diagnostic approaches according to the type of sample taken for or organ targeted
during diagnosis. The sputum-based methods include smear microscopy, culture,
and rat sniffing. Interferon-γ (INF-γ) release assays, transcriptional blood signatures, and
proteomic profiling use blood samples while colorimetric sensor array (CSA) and mass
spectrometry use urine samples. Patho-physiological methods include tuberculin skin
tests (TSTs) and radiography. Chromatography and acoustic wave detection can also be
used to diagnose TB from breath. Comparative description of these methods is based on a
time frame to diagnosis, accuracy, cost, and convenience. The trend shows that there is a
move from time-consuming, slow and narrow-spectrum to quick and broad-spectrum TB
diagnostic procedures. The sputum-based and patho-physiological approaches remain
conformist while blood-based procedures lead research developments. Absence of single
best approach calls for synergistic research combinations that form accurate, rapid,
cheap, and convenient package at point-of-care centers.


Background: One barrier to receiving adequate asthma care is inaccurate estimations of symptom severity. Aims: To interview parents of children with asthma in order to: (1) describe the range of reported illness severity using three unstructured methods of assessment; (2) determine which assessment method is least likely to result in a "critical error" that could adversely influence the child's care; and (3) determine whether the likelihood of making a "critical error" varies by sociodemographic characteristics. Methods: A total of 228 parents of children with asthma participated. Clinical status was evaluated using structured questions reflecting National Asthma Education and Prevention Panel (NAEPP) criteria. Unstructured assessments of severity were determined using a visual analogue scale (VAS), a categorical assessment of severity, and a Likert scale assessment of asthma control. A "critical error" was defined as a parent report of symptoms in the lower 50th centile for each method of assessment for children with moderate–severe persistent symptoms by NAEPP criteria. Results: Children with higher severity according to NAEPP criteria were rated on each unstructured assessment as more symptomatic compared to those with less severe symptoms. However, among the children with moderate–severe persistent symptoms, many parents made a critical error and rated children in the lower 50th centile using the VAS (41%), the categorical assessment (45%), and the control assessment (67%). The likelihood of parents making a critical error did not vary by sociodemographic characteristics. Conclusions: All of the unstructured assessment methods tested yielded underestimations of severity that could adversely influence treatment decisions. Specific symptom questions are needed for accurate severity assessments.


In the urban culture of the ancient Near East religious festivals offer a major occasion to present and to re-establish the social networks of a city. An analysis of the ritual texts from the Late Bronze Age city of Emar (13th century BC) reveals how various groups in the urban society were involved in the preparation and consumption of food. Feasting meant the participation of persons from different households at urban localities such as a temple. Most interestingly the meaning of the foodstuffs consumed in urban festivals was already established during their preparation, in which various organizations were involved.


Aim/Purpose: The purpose of this research is to determine whether ESL teaching videos as a form of asynchronous online knowledge sharing can act as an aid to ESL learners internalizing knowledge in language acquisition. In this context, internalizing knowledge carries the meaning of being able to remember language, and purposefully and accurately use it context, including appropriacy of language, and aspects of correct pronunciation, intonation, stress patterns and connected speech, these being the elements of teaching and practice that are very often lacking in asynchronous, online, instructional video.

Background: Knowledge Management is the field of study, and the practice, of discovering, capturing, sharing, and applying knowledge, typically with a view to translating individuals' knowledge into organizational knowledge. In the field of education, it is the sharing of instructors' knowledge for students to be able to learn and usefully apply that knowledge. In recent pandemic times, however, the mode of instruction has, of necessity, transitioned from face-to-face learning to an online environment, transforming the face of education as we know it. While this mode of instruction and knowledge sharing has many advantages for the online learner, in both synchronous and asynchronous learning environments, it presents certain challenges for language learners due to the absence of interaction and corrective feedback that needs to take place for learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) to master language acquisition. Unlike other subjects where the learner has recourse to online resources to reinforce learning through referencing external information, such as facts, figures, or theories, to be successful in learning a second language, the ESL learner needs to be able to learn to process thought and speech in that language; essentially, they need to learn to think in another language, which takes time and practice.

Methodology: The research employs a systematic literature review (SLR) to determine the scope and extent to which the subject is covered by existing research in this field, and the findings thereof.

Contribution: Whilst inconclusive in relation to internalizing language through online, asynchronous instructional video, through its exploratory nature, the research contributes towards the body of knowledge in online learning through the drawing together of various studies in the field of learning through asynchronous video through improving video and instructional quality.

Findings: The findings of the systematic literature review revealed that there is negligible research in this area, and while information exists on blended and flipped modes of online learning, and ways to improve the quality and delivery of instructional video generally, no prior research on the exclusive use of asynchronous videos as an aid to internalizing English as a second language were found.

Recommendations for Practitioners: From this research, it is apparent that there is considerably more that practitioners can do to improve the quality of instructional videos that can help students engage with the learning, from which students stand a much better chance of internalizing the learning.

Recommendation for Researchers: For researchers, the absence of existing research is an exciting opportunity to further explore this field.

Impact on Society: Online learning is now globally endemic, but it poses specific challenges in the field of second language learning, so the development of instructional videos that can facilitate this represents a clear benefit to all ESL learners in society as a whole.

Future Research: Clearly the absence of existing research into whether online asynchronous instructional videos can act as an aid to internalizing the acquisition of English as a second language would indicate that this very specific field is one that merits future research. Indeed, it is one that the author intends to exploit through primary data collection from the production of a series of asynchronous, online, instructional videos.


ICT use in education is a key instrument to enhance educational quality and change the educational paradigm. For example, Korea has been using computers and Internet into primary and secondary schools since the 1980s. There have been many educational policies for ICT use in education. Not only developed countries but also developing countries make a lot of effort to enhance the quality of education by using ICT in education. First of all, ICT competence of teachers is very important in order that ICT can be an effective tool in education. The level of teachers' ICT competence decides the level of using ICT in education. However, it is not easy for many teachers to take training for enhancing the level of ICT competence in a short time. This study suggests an e-learning system for strengthening the ICT competence of teachers by using an example of an educational environment in Nicaragua. Since this e-learning system can be operated by using cloud computing technology, it will provide implications for education projects with ICT use in primary and secondary schools in developing countries


In this study, we introduce a technique to generate synthetic histologic image data by blending parts of different images into a new image patch. The proposed approach, which we call multi-patch blending (MPB), crops parts of two histologic images of tumor growth patterns annotated with single but different labels and pastes them into a newly created image patch comprising areas with two different annotations. A Cycle-GAN model is employed in MPB to smooth out transitions between the pasted image crops and make the output image patch look realistic. The goal of implementing the MPB is to support the task of semantic segmentation of lung adenocarcinoma grown patterns in whole-slide images (WSI). We used MPB to increase the number of training patches extracted from a set of 18 WSIs with sparse annotations. De facto, MPB was implemented as a novel data augmentation strategy. U-Net trained with MPB-generated patches achieved 13% higher F1-score than the U-Net trained with original (sparsely annotated) patches in a 4-class semantic segmentation task.


We report quantitative measurements of the effects of a phase-diffusing field on coherent transients when the detected signals are averaged over many shots. Experiments were made at a millimeter wavelength, and frequency fluctuations were simulated by deliberately applying a well-defined random Stark field to the gaseous sample: This permits a separate adjustment of the amplitude and the rate of fluctuations. In the case of slow frequency fluctuations, two- and three-pulse-induced photon echoes clearly exhibit a reversible behavior that is closely related to the definite shape of the frequency-autocorrelation function.


We investigated the feasibility of sonodynamic therapy for glioma by low frequency ultrasoundwith5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA), a precursor of protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) in heme synthetic process. In vivo tumor model was made by inoculating human glioma cell line U87-MG subcutaneously in nude mice. The tumor was sonicated by 25-kHz ultrasound 4 hours following administration of 5-ALA. The tumor size decreased in 5-ALA administered (ALA(+)US(+)) mice, while increased in non-5-ALA administrated (ALA(-)US(+)) mice and non-sonicated mice (ALA(+)US(-)). The immunohistochemical analysis revealed an apoptotic change in tumor tissue of ALA(+)US(+) mice. The results showed the therapeutic effect of 25 kHz ultrasound for the glioma in 5-ALA administered tumor-bearing mice by inducing apoptotic change of tumor cells. This is a first report to elucidate the feasibility of therapeutic use of 25 kHz, relatively low frequency, ultrasound in sonodynamic therapy using 5-ALA as a sonosensitizer precursor. The utilization of this frequency will contribute to the development of sonodynamic therapy for gliomas and the spread of this technique in many hospitals that possess ultrasonic aspirators.


Using implicit feedback collected from user clicks as training labels for learning-to-rank algorithms is a well-developed paradigm that has been extensively studied and used in modern IR systems. Using user clicks as ranking features, on the other hand, has not been fully explored in existing literature. Despite its potential in improving short-term system performance, whether the incorporation of user clicks as ranking features is beneficial for learning-to-rank systems in the long term is still questionable. Two of the most important problems are (1) the explicit bias introduced by noisy user behavior, and (2) the implicit bias, which we refer to as the exploitation bias, introduced by the dynamic training and serving of learning-to-rank systems with behavior features. In this paper, we explore the possibility of incorporating user clicks as both training labels and ranking features for learning to rank. We formally investigate the problems in feature collection and model training, and propose a counterfactual feature projection function and a novel uncertainty-aware learning to rank framework. Experiments on public datasets show that ranking models learned with the proposed framework can significantly outperform models built with raw click features and algorithms that rank items without considering model uncertainty.


Before a narrative can be constructed, it must be pre-constructed by a cognitive process that begins with a decision that a given event is reportable. Pre-construction begins with this most reportable event and proceeds backwards in time to locate events that are linked causally each to the following one, a recursive process that ends with the location of the unreportable event — one that is not reportable in itself and needs no explanation. Comparison of such event chains with the sequence of narrative clauses actually produced will help to understand how the narrator re-organizes and transforms the events of real time in the finished narrative.


Ebola virus (EBOV) causes epidemics with high case fatality rates, yet remains understudied due to the challenge of experimentation in high-containment and outbreak settings. To better understand EBOV infection in vivo, we used single-cell transcriptomics and CyTOF-based single-cell protein quantification to characterize peripheral immune cell activity during EBOV infection in rhesus monkeys. We obtained 100,000 transcriptomes and 15,000,000 protein profiles, providing insight into pathogenesis. We find that immature, proliferative monocyte-lineage cells with reduced antigen presentation capacity replace conventional circulating monocyte subsets within days of infection, while lymphocytes upregulate apoptosis genes and decline in abundance. By quantifying viral RNA abundance in individual cells, we identify molecular determinants of tropism and examine temporal dynamics in viral and host gene expression. Within infected cells, we observe that EBOV down-regulates STAT1 mRNA and interferon signaling, and up-regulates putative pro-viral genes (e.g., DYNLL1 and HSPA5), nominating cellular pathways the virus manipulates for its replication. Overall, this study sheds light on EBOV tropism, replication dynamics, and elicited immune response, and provides a framework for characterizing interactions between hosts and emerging viruses in a maximum containment setting.


Network function virtualization (NFV) has played important role in both industry and academic change in telecommunication services. NFV has the ability to handle reduction on OPEX and CAPEX; it provides new service and also increases quickly in getting a time value. NFV has an opportunity in doing research in developing new innovation in architecture, framework, and measures some of the technology used in deploying in NVF. In this paper, the author describes the relation between NFV, SDV and cloud computing.  The architecture of NVF its advantage in using network function virtualization and some activity used in NFV and adoption of NVF and future direction of NFV, issues, and difference in NFV and SDV.


Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board outlines a modest proposal for abolishing agency independence. The Supreme Court's decision creates a framework for challenging the constitutionality of agency independence and the restrictions on removal that shield the heads of independent agencies from presidential oversight. In the course of assessing the constitutionality of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB or Board), the Court provides the reasoning for undermining most forms of agency independence. Yet the potential scope of the decision has gone largely unnoticed. Most commentators have pronounced the decision insignificant for presidential authority. This Article questions the conventional interpretation and demonstrates that the structure of the Court's argument logically calls into question the constitutionality of agency independence. Moreover, the Court's remedy of severing invalid for-cause removal limits provides a workable approach for future cases – eliminating agency independence without eliminating the independent agencies. Chief Justice John Roberts' opinion sets out an ambitious proof that establishes several principles that follow from separation of powers: (1) accountability for faithful execution of the laws requires presidential oversight and control of executive branch officers; (2) presidential oversight and control require the capacity to remove such officers; (3) Congress cannot restrict the President's removal power. The principles apply uneasily to the facts of Free Enterprise Fund, which ultimately leaves the Securities and Exchange Commission, an independent agency, responsible for the Board. But the principles logically apply to the first layer of agency independence and suggest that for-cause removal protections for the heads of independent agencies are unconstitutional. The Court makes clear that the President's removal power is a constitutional requirement, but limitations on the removal power were created by the Court – opening up the possibility that the Court will reevaluate precedents such as Humphrey's Executor in a future case.


Abstract This paper discusses fact as fiction in Debo Kotun's novel, Abiku wherein the interesting locus of history and fiction is expounded as an expose on Nigeria's recent political history to establish the book as a worthy example of a novelistic hybrid of history and fiction. Thus this work shows that in its bid to articulate social and historical reality, it also harnesses the intricate resources of fiction and history as a socio-historical aesthetic imperative. Introduction Apart from the generally accepted notions of underdevelopment, African creative imagination is confronted by a number of challenges, and a more daunting task is how to unleash this creative energy in an atmosphere that is most certainly not conducive for such activity, as underscored when its mentioned that '... in Africa today, all literary activities take place in the midst of poverty, exploitation, wild urbanizing processes and cultural alienation, but also amidst an undercurrent resistance to those dehumanizing syndromes (Yai 1986: 41)'. And while one admits that given the above scenario, the creative impulse could still radiate a bubbling energy, yet we can ask how creativity is made to give a desired impact, against a backdrop of seeming apathy in the market of literary ideas. The aesthetic and stylistic direction of Debo Kotun's Abiku can be situated within the inherent root-seeking quest of the African self. Thus, the novelist engages history and societal realities set in Nigeria under military dictatorship to provide a discourse in social history as he refreshes one's knowledge of recent Nigerian history by introducing literary embellishments which contribute to his enduring brilliance as a creative writer. As I intend to show, the literary worth of Abiku is inseparable from its historical reverberations, thus one way of appreciating this is to compare Kotun's account of actual events to the events in actual historical perspectives as he attempt to weave fiction into the accounts to allow the actualities of the accounts to be easily deciphered. The Intersection of Fact as Fiction Kotun's theme centered post-independent Nigerian history with artistic finesse, and even though the events are not entirely alien to reckoning, the reader is nonetheless held in awesome suspense as the events unfold, a method scholars have identified in Africa novelistic trends as a reconstruction of history (Okpewho 1980). Yet, as far as Ogundele is concerned, this claim to an historical exposition is mere pretence, myth, rather than history have engaged contemporary literary and creative impulse, he thus states that '... although there is much ado about myth, history and literature in African literary discourse, the overwhelming bulk of that labor is expended on myth and literature, with fairly little to spare on history and literature (Ogundele 2002: 126)'. Intractably, Kotun's engagement with historical reconstruction seems to be a subtle response to Ogundele's challenge. Interestingly, Kotun also lends a mythical dimension to his narrative, but as we have explained elsewhere (Coker, 2003), naturally gets immersed in his satiric agenda, and the intermittent "remembrance" of mythic undercurrents in the book betrays the work as basically committed to social and political reformation, and a conscious engagement in social reality, for example 'when Dr. Ademola entered, the mood in the operating room changed. He took one look at the face of the little boy who lay unconscious on the bed. But the ones that caught his attention were the two old scars on each cheek of the boy's face.... (p.46)? These foregoing instantiates of Kotun's attempt to assert mythic relevance unconsciously makes his plot discordant, but certainly does not encumber his literary agenda, and in fact, his satire is well orchestrated and satisfies the African literary heritage of commitment to the letter. Kotun's experiment in fusing history into fiction and vice-versa is remarkable, and thus brings Africa's messiahs of pain to the centre stage while scarcely veiling their identity thus he describes a set of African rulers: Sakara looked up and saw a seven-headed phantom seated where Akin had been only seconds before. …


Mobile malware threats (e.g., on Android) have recently become a real concern. In this paper, we evaluate the state-of-the-art commercial mobile anti-malware products for Android and test how resistant they are against various common obfuscation techniques (even with known malware). Such an evaluation is important for not only measuring the available defense against mobile malware threats, but also proposing effective, next-generation solutions. We developed DroidChameleon, a systematic framework with various transformation techniques, and used it for our study. Our results on 10 popular commercial anti-malware applications for Android are worrisome: none of these tools is resistant against common malware transformation techniques. In addition, a majority of them can be trivially defeated by applying slight transformation over known malware with little effort for malware authors. Finally, in light of our results, we propose possible remedies for improving the current state of malware detection on mobile devices.


The study of the foraminiferal fauna in the Ogmore section in south Wales produced a detailed late Chadian–early Arundian biostratigraphy and sequence stratigraphy with a higher resolution than in the Arundian stratotype in Hobbyhorse Bay. The earliest Visean (late Chadian) pedogenic horizon close to the Gully Oolite and Caswell Bay Mudstone boundary (MFZ9) corresponds to the mid-Avonian unconformity. The entry of primitive archaediscids of MFZ10 within the Caswell Bay Mudstone is followed by more advanced archaediscids of MFZ11 at the base of the High Tor Limestone. The mid-Avonian unconformity at the Chadian–Arundian boundary is not confined to the London–Brabant Massif, but is also present in central Europe, the East European Platform, the Urals, west Siberia and probably also in Kuzbass and North America. The global extent of the the mid-Avonian unconformity suggests that it is a consequence of early to mid-Visean glacioeustacy.


Triplications of the superior cerebellar arteries are rare cases but when present are culminating factors to thromboembolism and arterisclerosis leading to infarction of areas supplied. We present a rare case of arterial plexus, where there were not only triplicated branches of the superior cerebellar but these anastomosed forming a single branch that later bifurcated normally lateral to the cerebral peduncles. This kind of formation is attributed to embryological malfusions of primitive neural arteries towards the basilar trunk. Anastomosis can be clinically important in neurovascular surgery ligation therefore caution should be taken not to damage the forming branches.


The problem of optimal trajectory planning and control for orbit transfer with on-off actuators is considered in this paper. The emphasis is on finding an approximate closedform solution for a range of initial conditions but with marginal number of online computations. In order to achieve this goal, the problem is initially formulated in a general form, that is, to find the optimal switching schedule between different modes in a switching system. Afterward, a simple scheme for solving the problem without enforcing a specific mode sequence or a number of switching is introduced. Two representative problems are presented wherein optimal path planning is achieved with on-off actuators for control. Numerical results and analysis demonstrate the potential of the developed method.


The formation of heterojunctions is an efficient strategy to extend the light response range of TiO2-based catalysts to the visible light region. In addition to the bandgap edge match between the narrow bandgap semiconductors and the TiO2 substrate, a stable phase interface between the sensitiser and TiO2 is crucial for the construction of heterojunctions, since it acts as a tunnel for the efficient transfer of photogenerated charges. Herein, the coincidence site density (1/Σ) of graphite-like carbon nitride (g-C3N4) nanoflakes and two types of TiO2 nanofibres [anatase and TiO2(B)] was calculated by near coincidence site lattice (NCSL) theory. It was found that the coincidence site density of g-C3N4 and TiO2(B) nanofibre with an exposed (001) plane is 3 times of that of the g-C3N4 and anatase nanofibre with exposed (100) plane. This indicated that the g-C3N4 nanoflakes are more favoured to form stable heterojunctions with TiO2(B) nanofibres. As expected, a stable phase interface was formed between the plane of (22–40) of g-C3N4 and the plane (110) of TiO2(B) which had same d-spacing of 0.35 nm and the same orientation. Under visible light irradiation, the photogenerated electrons could efficiently migrate to the TiO2(B) nanofibres from the g-C3N4 through the heterojunctions. So the g-C3N4/TiO2(B) system exhibited better photodegradation ability for sulforhodamine B (SRB) dye than the g-C3N4/anatase system, although the photoactivity of the anatase nanofibres was much better than that of the TiO2(B) nanofibres.


The most common natural hazards affecting the Bâsca River Catchment (extended over a surface of 785. 1 sq. km in the Curvature Carpathians) are floods and flooding. The purpose of this paper is to investigate and analyze structural and non-structural measures for flood risk mitigating in this catchment. The study focuses on the main factors which generate and favour floods, as well as on flood characteristics (frequency, the largest floods and its consequences). The main methods are the statistical analyze hydrologic and climatic data, field observations, expeditionary mapping and spatial analyses using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In order to analyse flood potential, there were processes processed maximum instantaneous monthly and annual discharges of the Bâsca River at the Bâsca Roziliei hydrometric station (1953 2007), Varlaam I (19562005), Comandău h.s. (1968-2005) and of the Bâsca Mică River at the Brebu h.s. (1959-1974) and Varlaam II h.s. (1973-2005). Considerations on structural and non-structural measures for protection against floods are presented in the last part of the paper. An inventory of structural works in the middle and lower part of the catchment (hydrotechnical and erosion control works) and their condition was made.


A biodegradable and non-toxicity hydrogel derived from the extracted okara cellulose and its potential application as wearable sensor were evaluated. Physical properties, biodegradability, and cytotoxicity were determined to characterize the okara cellulose and okara cellulose hydrogels. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy shows the extracted cellulose is pure without protein, lipids, hemicellulose, and lignin. Porous structure can be found on the fracture surface of okara cellulose hydrogels from scanning electron microscope. The tensile strain at fracture of the okara cellulose hydrogel can reach to 98.2% in the case of 0.7 molar ratio of epichlorohydrin (ECH) to anhydroglucose units (AGU). No hydrogel residue can be found after burying in the soil for 28 days, indicating its good biodegradability. Three different dilutions of hydrogel extract expressed no cytotoxicity on NIH3T3 cells according to MTT assay. Application test shows that the resistance change ratio of okara cellulose hydrogel can be 20% when the finger and wrist bending to 90 degree as a wearable sensor, which implies the feasibility of new material made from okara. This research discloses its enlightenment to the comprehensive utilization of food by-products.


Extracted from text ... O
50 Management Today August 2006
Team building:
solving problems with brainstorming
Prof Drikus Kriek lectures at the Unisa
Graduate School of Business Leadership
and may be contacted on 0824648074
for more information on the team management
profile, references used or other
information on teams.
One of the key processes most teams must
master is problem solving. A plethora of
techniques has been developed to assist
teams with this task.
Of these, brainstorming is probably the
one employed most often and very few
teams would be able to say that they have
not yet made use of this technique ..


Roads have a significant impact on wildlife world-wide. Two of the ways to mitigate the impact of roads are to improve connectivity and reduce mortality through fences and wildlife crossings. However, these are expensive actions that will have different effects in different places. Thus, deciding where and how to act in order to achieve the greatest return on investment is crucial. Currently, there are no quantitative approaches to prioritize different road mitigation options. Here, we use a decision science framework to determine the most cost-effective combination of actions to mitigate the effects of roads on wildlife under budget constraints. We illustrate our approach using a case study of a threatened koala Phascolarctos cinereus population in south-east Queensland. We applied a spatially explicit population model to explore the benefits of three kinds of mitigation actions: no action at all and fences with or without crossings, on different road segments. We explored the trade-off between expected koala population size, relative to the best outcome, and budget. There is a strong demand for mitigation as the already declining population was reduced even further when no mitigation was employed, while applying the most cost-effective combination of mitigation actions minimized that decline. Additionally, uncertainty in species attributes (speed of crossing a road and population growth rate) affected population viability but not the decision about which suite of actions (mitigation measures) to take - so our advice on the best action is robust to uncertainty even if the outcome is not. Most importantly, the trade-off curves between investment and population size are almost linear in this case study. Hence, there is no cheap solution and any reduction in the budget will result in a substantial reduction in expected population size. Synthesis and applications. This is the first time that the problem of mitigating the effects of roads on wildlife was formulated mathematically and systematically using decision science. Our approach is adaptable to a diversity of species and systems affected by road mortality allowing flexibility for a range of mitigation actions and biological outcomes. Our method will allow managers and decision-makers to increase the efficiency of mitigation actions.


Indic Texts often contain out-of-vocabulary (OOV) words leading to significant errors in text scanned with Optical Character Recognition (OCR). We present an interactive framework for adaptively assisting Indic OCR corrections. Subsequently, we propose OCR correction methods for resource-constrained settings, such as multi-OCR consensus, plug-in classifiers, and LSTMs with a fixed delay.

Modern Indian street signs and license plates pose an even tougher reading challenge. They often appear in a variety of languages, fonts, sizes, and orientations. We present the first scene text recognition results using multi-headed attention models.


The cytoplasm of prokaryotes contains many molecular machines interacting directly with the chromosome. These vital interactions depend on the chromosome structure, as a molecule, and on the genome organization, as a unit of genetic information. Strong selection for the organization of the genetic elements implicated in these interactions drives replicon ploidy, gene distribution, operon conservation, and the formation of replication-associated traits. The genomes of prokaryotes are also very plastic with high rates of horizontal gene transfer and gene loss. The evolutionary conflicts between plasticity and organization lead to the formation of regions with high genetic diversity whose impact on chromosome structure is poorly understood. Prokaryotic genomes are remarkable documents of natural history because they carry the imprint of all of these selective and mutational forces. Their study allows a better understanding of molecular mechanisms, their impact on microbial evolution, and how they can be tinkered in synthetic biology.


By measurements of NO2-/NO3- (NOx) production and Northern blot analysis, we studied the effects of a membrane-permeable cAMP derivative, 8-bromo-cAMP, on the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene and the synthesis of NOx in cultured rat vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). 8-bromo-cAMP stimulated NOx production and increased steady-state levels of iNOS mRNA in rat VSMC in a time- and dose-dependent manner. NG-monomethyl-L-arginine, a NOS inhibitor, completely blocked the 8-bromo-cAMP-induced NOx production, whose effect was partially, but significantly reversed by an excess L-arginine, but not by D-arginine. Compounds that increase intracellular cAMP levels (cholera toxin, forskolin, and 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine), all stimulated NOx production. Dexamethasone inhibited the stimulated NOx production, as well as the induction of iNOS mRNA by cAMP. Both actinomycin D and cycloheximide completely blocked the stimulated NOx production by cAMP. Actinomycin D abolished the cAMP-induced iNOS mRNA, whereas cycloheximide remarkably increased iNOS mRNA levels in the presence and absence of 8-bromo-cAMP (superinduction). Actinomycin D, but not dexamethasone, completely abolished the cycloheximide-induced iNOS mRNA. The half-life of cAMP-induced iNOS mRNA was approximately 2 h, whereas no decay in the cycloheximide-induced iNOS mRNA was observed during 12 h. These results demonstrate that iNOS gene is upregulated by cAMP and the superinduction of iNOS mRNA is attributable to increased mRNA stability in rat VSMC.


Dual-Energy (DE) imaging is a powerful technique in x-ray imaging that increases the ability to detect specific materials in a cluttered background, and is used to more accurately visualize anatomical features and diagnose abnormalities. Single-shot imaging has arisen as one of the dominant techniques used to obtain DE images, but has the intrinsic drawback of a loss of x-ray photons in a metal mid-filter. I propose a new design of a stacked three-layer x-ray detector for DE single-shot imaging that addresses this fundamental drawback. Each layer consists of its own scintillator of individual thickness and an underlying thin-film-transistor-based flat-panel. Three images are obtained simultaneously in the detector during the same x-ray exposure, and thus the imaging system is immune to motion artifacts. The detector operation is two-fold: a conventional radiography image can be obtained by combining all three layers' images, while a DE subtraction image can be captured from the front and back layers, where the middle layer acts as a filter that helps achieve spectral separation. Two sample imaging tasks that can particularly benefit from this new detector design are selected. These are iodinated vessel visualization in coronary angiography and calcified nodule detection in pulmonary radiology. I proceed to optimize the detector parameters and imaging system configuration to best fit these two tasks by obtaining the best possible contrast to noise ratio per root entrance exposure. To achieve this, I develop an analytical model by adapting well-established theoretical foundations to fit this new detector design. These results are compared to a conventional DE temporal subtraction detector and a typical single-shot DE subtraction detector with a metal mid-filter, both of which underwent a similar analytical optimization process. The findings are then validated using advanced Monte Carlo simulations for all optimized detector configurations. The analytical and simulation results indicate that the proposed detector performs comparably as a DE imager to established single-shot detectors. It is therefore clear that this new design is an improvement on the state-of-the-art since it provides an additional feature at no performance cost. Given the performance expected from these initial results and the recent decrease in price for digital x-ray detectors, the simplicity of the three-layer stacked imager approach appears promising to usher in a new generation of multi-spectral digital x-ray imaging.


Abstract CrxCy–NiCr coatings with thickness in the range 200–250 μm were deposited by detonation spray coating on a nickel base superalloy (IN718) substrate and subjected to thermal cycling. Each thermal cycle involved heating to 650°C, the creep temperature of the IN718 substrate, followed by a dwell and then natural cooling to ambient temperature. With thermal cycling, the bulk of the coatings experienced preferential oxidation along the splat boundaries, contributing to an increase in porosity and cracking. Despite the development of porosity and cracks, no spallation of coatings was observed even after nearly 600 thermal cycles. The microhardness of coatings did not undergo significant change, owing to oxide formation and retention of the total carbide content of Cr3C2, Cr7C3 and Cr23C6. The wear behaviour of the as sprayed and thermally cycled coated samples was evaluated in abrasive and erosive wear modes. Wear measurements on as sprayed and thermally cycled coatings showed virtually no deterioration in properties even after exposure to nearly 600 thermal cycles.


We present a wearable interface that allows a user to silently converse with a computing device without any voice or any discernible movements - thereby enabling the user to communicate with devices, AI assistants, applications or other people in a silent, concealed and seamless manner. A user's intention to speak and internal speech is characterized by neuromuscular signals in internal speech articulators that are captured by the AlterEgo system to reconstruct this speech. We use this to facilitate a natural language user interface, where users can silently communicate in natural language and receive aural output (e.g - bone conduction headphones), thereby enabling a discreet, bi-directional interface with a computing device, and providing a seamless form of intelligence augmentation. The paper describes the architecture, design, implementation and operation of the entire system. We demonstrate robustness of the system through user studies and report 92% median word accuracy levels.


What are the consequences when law's stories and images migrate from the courtroom to the court of public opinion and from movie, television and computer screens back to electronic monitors inside the courtroom itself? What happens when lawyers and public relations experts market notorious legal cases and controversial policy issues as if they were just another commodity? What is the appropriate relationship between law and digital culture in virtual worlds on the Internet? In addressing these cutting edge issues, the essays in this volume shed new light on the current status and future fate of law, truth and justice in our time.


Background: Approximately 20,000 new cases of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) are expected in the US in 2017 (ACS 2017), yet understanding of the psychosocial consequences of CLL is inadequate. Many people with CLL undergo an active surveillance ("watch and wait") treatment plan, which can pose unique challenges. The purpose of this exploratory study was to compare how CLL patients describe their quality of life compared to other US population groups and describe the extent to which CLL affects daily life, finances, and professional and family relationships. Methods: 134 individuals with CLL enrolled in the Cancer Support Community9s online Cancer Experience Registry, provided sociodemographic information and clinical history, and completed surveys including the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS-29v2.0), which assesses seven health-related quality of life domains. We used multiple linear regression analysis to examine the association between course of CLL (undergoing observation, currently receiving first treatment, currently receiving second or subsequent treatment, in remission or maintenance therapy) and PROMIS subscale T-scores adjusting for sociodemographic variables (age, gender, education, income). Results: The sample was 47% female, 96% White; mean age was 61 (SD=9) years; mean time since CLL diagnosis was 7 (SD=5) years. More than one-third (37%) were undergoing observation ("watch and wait") before initiating any treatment, 6% were receiving their first treatment, 12% were in active second or subsequent therapy, and 29% in remission. 38% of CLL respondents described their overall health as very good or excellent, and 45% as good; 17% indicated fair or poor health. When considering individual responses, considerable proportions of CLL patients reported substantially worse quality of life (>1 SD) than U.S. population national averages for anxiety (21% of respondents), fatigue (21%), physical functioning (15%), social functioning (12%), depression (11%), sleep disturbance (9%) and pain interference (5%). Additionally, many respondents indicated that CLL "somewhat to very much" affected their views on life expectancy (62%), quality of life (41%), finances (40%), ability to work (34%), and relationships with friends and family (26%). All regression models predicting PROMIS subscales were significant (R2 = .13 to .20, ps Conclusion: Over one-fifth (21%) of CLL survivors are experiencing substantial levels of anxiety and fatigue, compared to the general U.S. population. Poorer health-related quality of life was associated with active treatment but not active surveillance ("watch and wait") or when disease was in remission. It remains unclear the extent to which advancing disease versus treatment contributes to worse quality of life. Next steps include further examination of factors that put CLL patients at greater risk for poorer outcomes and the evaluation of interventions designed to address emotional distress and quality of life concerns, especially among people with progressing disease. Disclosures Buzaglo: Takeda Oncology: Research Funding; Pharmacyclics, Inc: Research Funding; Pfizer Oncology: Research Funding; Novartis: Research Funding; Janssen Biotech, Inc: Research Funding; Genentech, Inc: Research Funding; Eli Lilly and Company: Research Funding; Celgene Corporation: Research Funding; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Research Funding; Boehringer Ingelheim: Research Funding; AbbVie: Research Funding; Amgen Corporation: Research Funding; Bayer: Research Funding. Flowers: Burroughs Welcome Fund: Research Funding; Janssen Pharmaceutical: Research Funding; Infinity: Research Funding; TG Therapeutics: Research Funding; V Foundation: Research Funding; Celgene: Consultancy, Research Funding; OptumRx: Consultancy; Educational Concepts: Research Funding; Prime Oncology: Research Funding; Millennium/Takeda: Research Funding; Genentech/Roche: Consultancy, Research Funding; Onyx: Research Funding; Research to Practice: Research Funding; Pharmacyclics LLC, an AbbVie Company: Research Funding; Bayer: Consultancy; National Institutes Of Health: Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Consultancy; Gilead: Consultancy; Abbvie: Consultancy, Research Funding; Acerta: Research Funding; Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group: Research Funding; Clinical Care Options: Research Funding; National Cancer Institute: Research Funding; Spectrum: Consultancy.


Objective:To determine the utility of angiopoietin-1 and angiopoietin-2 as potentially novel biomarkers of morbidity and mortality in patients with severe sepsis. Design:Multicenter longitudinal cohort study. Setting:Three tertiary hospital intensive care units in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Patients:A total of 70 patients with severe sepsis were enrolled within 24 hrs of meeting the inclusion criteria for severe sepsis and followed until day 28, hospital discharge, or death. Interventions:Clinical data and plasma samples were obtained at intensive care unit admission for all 70 patients and then daily for 1 wk and weekly thereafter for a subset of 43 patients. Levels of angiopoietin-1 and angiopoietin-2 in stored plasma samples were measured and compared with clinical characteristics, including the primary outcomes of 28-day mortality and morbidity measured by the Multiple Organ Dysfunction score. Measurements and Main Results:Lower angiopoietin-1 plasma levels (≤5.5 ng/mL) at admission were associated with increased likelihood of death (relative risk 0.49 [95% confidence interval of 0.25–0.98], p = .046). Lower angiopoietin-1 levels remained a significant predictor of 28-day mortality in a multiple logistic regression model (adjusted odds ratio of 0.282 [95% confidence interval of 0.086–0.93], p = .037). Analysis of serial data using linear mixed models confirmed that sepsis survivors had higher levels of angiopoietin-1 (p = .012) and lower daily levels of angiopoietin-2 (p = .022) than nonsurvivors. Furthermore, survivors had higher peak angiopoietin-1 levels (median 13 vs. 10 ng/mL, p = .019) and lower nadir angiopoietin-2 levels (median 2.8 vs. 6.2 ng/mL, p = .013) than nonsurvivors. A score incorporating angiopoietin-1 and angiopoietin-2 and three other markers of endothelial activation discriminated with high accuracy between fatal and nonfatal cases (c-index of 0.80 [95% confidence interval of 0.69–0.90], p < .001). Plasma levels of angiopoietin-2 correlated with clinical markers of organ dysfunction and molecular markers of endothelial cell activation. Conclusions:Angiopoietin-1 levels at admission and both angiopoietin-1 and angiopoietin-2 levels measured serially correlated with 28-day mortality in severe sepsis. Angiopoietin-2 levels also correlated with organ dysfunction/injury and a validated clinical sepsis score. These results suggest the use of angiopoietins as clinically informative biomarkers of disease severity and patient outcome in severe sepsis.


In this senior thesis, chirp sub-bottom data were analyzed in order to place constraints on the dynamics of the Delaware River/Bay navigation channel. In 2003, the Delaware Estuary system (consisting of the Delaware River and Delaware Bay) was the 5 largest national waterborne area of commerce within the United States. Chirp profiles are a highly accurate type of seismic data that allow a user to observe bottom and sub-bottom features to a decimeter scale. This thesis is the product of a Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) sponsored benthic mapping project in the Delaware Estuary. The goal of the Delaware Benthic Mapping Project was to provide constraints on the bottom and sub-bottom sediments to aid in better understanding, managing, and preserving the Delaware Estuary. DNREC and University of Delaware scientists gathered chirp data using a vessel with a chirp towfish attached. The data collected were georeferenced with a GPS and were placed within SonarWiz5 and ArcGIS 10.1 to be analyzed. SonarWiz5 was utilized in order to view, edit, process and interpret the chirp profiles within the navigational channel of Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) ID sector Ge. Within SonarWiz5 features could be defined and measured. The navigation channel chirp profiles were also placed within a three-dimensional viewer in order to gain a better perspective on the navigational channel. The results were depictions of the navigation channel and its shape and sub-bottom structure. The figures and three-dimensional


The AAPM CT Working Group on Nomenclature and Protocols (CT WGNP) was established in 2010; this working group is comprised of AAPM members with considerable CT experience, as well as representatives from each of the major CT manufacturers, ASRT, ACR, DICOM, FDA and Image Gently. The CT WGNP has two charges: 1. To develop consensus protocols for frequently performed CT examinations, summarizing the basic requirements of the exam and giving several model-specific examples of scan and reconstruction parameters. 2. To develop by consensus a set of standardized terms for use on CT scanners, including all parameters that control the scan acquisition or reconstruction that are programmed by the user, are displayed on the final image or included in a DICOM-specified tag, or describe a fundamental CT setting that is not always user selectable (such as a beam-shaping filter). This working group has developed a set of tools for members and the general public that is available on the AAPM website. These tools include a Lexicon to allow users to translate important CT acquisition and reconstruction terms between different manufacturers' systems, thereby improving understanding of scan parameter meanings and decreasing the potential for parameter errors. A set of routine adult CT protocols have been provided that include Brain CT Perfusion, Routine Head, Routine Chest and Routine Abdomen/Pelvis exams. These provide a set of reasonable reference protocols for frequently performed CT examinations, summarizing the basic requirements of the exam and giving several model-specific examples of scan and reconstruction parameters. These resources directly address the original charges of the working group and continue to be the main focus of effort. Pediatric versions of these protocols are now under development. In addition, the working group has been asked by MITA to develop additional resources specific to CT. The working group provides an excellent venue for discussion of issues that affect each of the primary stakeholders in the CT community.Recommendations were developed regarding default values for use in the CT Dose Check feature that has been incorporated into newer CT systems. Additionally, a set of educational slides specific to radiation dose issues in CT have been made created and made available. Versions of the slides that include manufacturer-specific information, particularly with respect to radiation dose reduction features available on CT scanners, are under development. These resources will be reviewed during this lecture and directions regarding how to find and utilize this information will be given. Dr. Cody receives 'in-kind' support of research from GE Healthcare.


'Figures in a Landscape' is a personal odyssey which transports the viewer through a world imbued with myths and legends. On this magical journey, from the hillsides of the West Country to the Marshes of Hackney, the viewer encounters ancient gods, goddesses and mythical monsters which inhabit the landscape and battle for supremacy between the otherworlds and the here and now.

This body of work was inspired by Thomas Couture's Romans during the Decadence (1847) where a scene of debauchery is depicted in the Ancient world with mortals and immortals inhabiting the same domain. The figures and forms painted in this scene seamlessly transform between statues, humans and ancient gods allowing the spectator to float between Earth, Hades and Mount Olympus. Taking this concept into my own ancient English landscape I have created a series of works which interweave childhood memories with contemporary experiences. The figures that inhabit these images shift between statue, mythical forms and people, transporting us through time and space, connecting us to ancient worlds, half-remembered myths and magical encounters.

My voyage starts in the Dorset village where I grew up, hearing tales of drunken revelry with couples gathering for May Day to fornicate beneath the naked male giant of Cerne Abbas to imbue fertility on body and field. As I move through the landscape I have encountered many other figures and forms, sometimes as dream-like glimpses from the back of my parents' Morris Traveller, others from train windows as I flash through the countryside. These ancient megalithic chalk figures straddle the hilltops and map out the landscape as the constellations map out the night skies. They look down upon the mortals, nymphs and Poseidon in his underwater grotto and waterways. Intermingled with these are childhood memories of visiting Crystal Palace where monsters rise from the primordial swamp and gateways to Hades invite us on a Victorian version of Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

These childhood fictions and myths interweave with references to my home in Hackney. Memories of balmy summer evenings spent swimming with lovers in luminous pools dissolve between myths of Lugus, the ancient Celtic God of the River Lea. This vision comes to an end at Winterville, where the mid-winter solstice pagan festival becomes distorted in an Olympian mountain top landscape. Here ancient and contemporary narratives clash and shatter into a dystopian consumerist nightmare.


This article is intended to be a practical guide to current bibliographies and other research sources dealing with French law. It is addressed to both the legal scholar and the law librarian. Some of the sources are acquisition or selection tools; others are guides to the literature.This guide includes primarily English and French language publications, but a few works in German are noted as well. Recent sources in particular are included so that the bibliography may serve to update some of the excellent French legal research guides already available.General sources are given first, and then specific sources. Part II deals with general bibliographies, Part III with legal bibliographies, Part IV with guides to the literature and introductory works, and Part V with other sources of bibliographical information such as encyclopedias, treatises, and periodical literature.


The Innovative Product Development Centre (IPDC) was established at the University of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region of the UK with a mission "to help small and medium sized companies improve their business, secure jobs and contribute to the economic regeneration of the West Midlands Region". Since 2000, the IPDC has helped several hundred enterprises to develop their businesses through innovation and new product development. Demand for help is high, which reflects a healthy desire by the SMEs to innovate. The assistance given is time limited, but its impact on the business is extremely varied. This paper will discuss the role that a university based product development and technology centre can play in supporting a regional agenda for developing entrepreneurship and innovation in SMEs. Using case studies drawn from the experiences of working with SMEs from the West Midlands region, the paper will consider key issues such as:  Entrepreneurial leadership in SMEs  Formalised approaches for managing NPD  Technology support for innovation  Product innovation  Business networks and entrepreneurial clusters The paper will conclude that university based centres like IPDC can play a vital role in regional development programmes by helping minimise the risks for entrepreneurs to develop new products or adopt new process technologies. Importantly, investments in such centres by regional development agencies can be pivotal for stimulating access to new technology for the exploitation of entrepreneurial clusters and creating attractive inward investment opportunities.


Recent advances in the implementation of spatial econometrics model estimation techniques have made it desirable to compare results, which should correspond between implementations across software applications for the same data. These model estimation techniques are associated with methods for estimating impacts (emanating effects), which are also presented and compared. This review constitutes an up-to-date comparison of generalized method of moments and maximum likelihood implementations now available. The comparison uses the cross-sectional US county data set provided by Drukker, Prucha, and Raciborski (2013d). The comparisons will be cast in the context of alternatives using the MATLAB Spatial Econometrics toolbox, Stata's user-written sppack commands, Python with PySAL and R packages including spdep, sphet and McSpatial.


The killing of thirty-four miners by police at Marikana in August 2012 was the largest massacre of civilians in South Africa since Sharpeville. The events have been covered in newspaper articles, on TV news and in a commission of inquiry, but there is still confusion about what happened on that fateful day. In Murder at Small Koppie, renowned photojournalist Greg Marinovich explores the truth behind the Marikana massacre. He investigates the shootings near Wonderkop hill, which happened in view of the media, as well as the killings that happened beyond the view of cameras at a nondescript collection of boulders known as Small Koppie, some 300 metres away. Many of the men killed here were shot in cold blood at close range. Drawing on his own meticulous research, eyewitness accounts and the findings of the Marikana Commission of Inquiry, Marinovich accurately reconstructs that fateful day as well as the events leading up to the strike, and looks at the subsequent denials, obfuscation and buck-passing by Lonmin, the SAPS and the government. This is the definitive account of the Marikana massacre from the journalist whose award-winning investigation into the tragedy has been called the most important piece of South African journalism since apartheid.


Transnational crime constitutes a challenge for even the most advanced industrial nations. The Pacific Islands are culturally, educationally and socially diverse, geographically isolated and sparsely populated. There is a degree of heterogeneity in their respective levels of governance, corruption and law enforcement capacity. Economic weaknesses and their impact upon infrastructure, poverty and general instability may increase the attractiveness of the islands to transnational crime. This paper explores the nature and quality of the available evidence concerning the issues of trafficking in drugs, people, arms and wildlife, corruption, money laundering, identity and electronic crime and terrorism. It concludes that the development of effective law enforcement and criminal justice infrastructure must be achieved within the broader context of continued improvements in economic, social and governance issues. To be able to respond in a timely and informed manner, it remains crucial for further research on transnational crime in the region to be undertaken. Toni Makkai Director Overview The UN Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change (United Nations 2004: 23) maintained that transnational organised crime was one of six key global security challenges. It is likely that there may be tangible differences between the nature and scope of global and regional transnational crime and that any debate concerning its presence at a regional level should be supported either by examples of infiltration or at least evidence of viable criminal opportunities (Boister 2004). It is important to examine the nature and scope of transnational crime at the regional level and more importantly to ascertain with requisite certainty what evidence, if any, exists to support the assertions made in relation to transnational crime infiltration. A variety of sources (Urwin 2005a; Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat 2003 and 2004) suggest that the Pacific Islands region is an actual, or potential, transnational crime hub. Equally, centres such as the Pacific Transnational Crime Coordination Centre (PTCCC) in Suva and law enforcement agencies such as the Australian Federal Police are dedicated to tackling such crime. Overall, however, the level, range and quality of information on transnational crime in the Pacific Islands region are, in terms of availability, quality and reliability, variable. This paper summarises the key issues reported in these sources and assesses whether they constitute sufficient evidence of a significant presence of organised criminal networks and the commission of transnational crime. Vulnerability of the region Transnational crime networks tend to follow a well-established and logical pattern of activity. Simply stated, they target areas of least resistance. The Pacific Islands are culturally, educationally and socially diverse, geographically isolated and sparsely populated. They are typified in whole or in part by poor governance, corruption and a lack of law enforcement capacity. It is arguable that the islands' economic weaknesses and their attendant consequences in terms of infrastructure, poverty and instability may increase the attractiveness of the islands to transnational crime networks (RentonGreen 2002; AusAID 2004). Transnational crime is enterprise-based which requires the presence of existing or prospective market opportunities to justify and sustain its presence. It is arguable that in terms of political, economic and social development, the Pacific Islands are not homogeneous in nature (May 2004) and that accordingly the nature and degree of transnational crime infiltration is likely to be heterogeneous. In terms of the broader Asia-Pacific region the presence of transnational crime networks is well documented (see UNODC 2005; US State Department 2005; Emmers 2003). The facts that the Pacific Islands fall geographically within this broader region and that they lack (per se and relative to that broader region) the capacity to deal with the threat effectively, suggest that a degree of transnational crime within the islands is likely. …


Mountain forest ecosystems provide a wide range of direct and indirect contributions to the people who live in the mountains and surrounding areas. Occupying steep slopes at high elevation, these ecosystems provide services such as stabilizing slopes, regulating hydrological cycles, maintaining rich biodiversity and supporting the livelihoods of those who are diverse in culture but vulnerable to poverty and food security. This paper (i) reviews several tools for assessing the sociocultural, economic and ecological values of mountain forest ecosystem services, (ii) demonstrates case studies of tool applications from several countries namely, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Iran and Nepal, and (iii) discusses assessment challenges that should be considered in the application of these tools.In Bhutan, an application of benefit transfer showed that the average total value of forest ecosystem services was over USD 14.5 billion per year. In India, an application of stakeholder and household analyses indicated that a total of 29 different ecosystem services are available and sustain livelihoods of local communities near the Maguri Mottapung wetland. In Indonesia, an application of Q methodology identified anticipated benefits and concerns of forest watershed stakeholders related to certification applications for a payment for ecosystem services. In Iran, an application of the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs Tool showed that the regulation of ecosystem services has been declining in Hyrcanian forests despite the forests' critical roles in the region. In Nepal, an application of a spatial analytical approach and participatory assessment techniques identified key mountain ecosystem services for community forests at the Charnawolti sub-watershed of Dolakha, and demonstrated forest restoration on degraded lands over the last two decades. Several challenges exist for the assessment of mountain forest ecosystem services and these must be reflected in assessment design. These challenges include the complexity of defining and classifying ecosystem services; limited availability of data on ecosystem services; uncertainties associated with climate change; complex relationships among services including trade-offs and synergies; and limitation of assessments to build successful payments for ecosystem services.Mountain forest ecosystems provide a wide range of direct and indirect contributions to the people who live in the mountains and surrounding areas. Occupying steep slopes at high elevation, these ecosystems provide services such as stabilizing slopes, regulating hydrological cycles, maintaining rich biodiversity and supporting the livelihoods of those who are diverse in culture but vulnerable to poverty and food security. This paper (i) reviews several tools for assessing the sociocultural, economic and ecological values of mountain forest ecosystem services, (ii) demonstrates case studies of tool applications from several countries namely, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Iran and Nepal, and (iii) discusses assessment challenges that should be considered in the application of these tools.In Bhutan, an application of benefit transfer showed that the average total value of forest ecosystem services was over USD 14.5 billion per year. In India, an application of stakeholder and household analyses indicated that a total of 29 different ecosystem services are available and sustain livelihoods of local communities near the Maguri Mottapung wetland. In Indonesia, an application of Q methodology identified anticipated benefits and concerns of forest watershed stakeholders related to certification applications for a payment for ecosystem services. In Iran, an application of the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs Tool showed that the regulation of ecosystem services has been declining in Hyrcanian forests despite the forests' critical roles in the region. In Nepal, an application of a spatial analytical approach and participatory assessment techniques identified key mountain ecosystem services for community forests at the Charnawolti sub-watershed of Dolakha, and demonstrated forest restoration on degraded lands over the last two decades. Several challenges exist for the assessment of mountain forest ecosystem services and these must be reflected in assessment design. These challenges include the complexity of defining and classifying ecosystem services; limited availability of data on ecosystem services; uncertainties associated with climate change; complex relationships among services including trade-offs and synergies; and limitation of assessments to build successful payments for ecosystem services.


Tree-based discrimination methods provide a way of handling classification and d iscrimination problems by using decision trees to represent the classification rules. The principal aim of tree based methods i s the segmentation of a data set, in a recursive manner, such that the resulting subgroups are as homogeneous as possible with respect to the categorical response variable. Problems often arise in the real world involving cases with a number of measurements (variables) taken from them. Traditionally, in such circumstances involving two or more groups or populations, researchers have used parametric discrimination methods, namely, linear and quadratic discriminant analysis, as well as the well known non-parametric kernel density estimation and Kth nearest neighbour rules. In this thesis, all the above types of methods are considered and presented from a methodological point of v iew. Tree-based methods are summarised in chronological order of in troduction, beginning with the Automatic Interaction Detector (AID) method of Morgan and Sonquist ( 1 963) through to the IND method of B untine (1992). Given a set of data, the proportion of observations incorrectly classified by a prediction rule is known as the apparent error rate. This eiTOr rate is known to underestimate the actual or true error rate associated with the discriminant rule applied to a set of data. Various methods for estimating this actual error rate are considered. Cross-validation is one such method which involves omitting each observation in turn from the data set, calculating a classification rule based on the remaining (n1 ) observations and classifying the observation that was omitted. This is carried out n times, that is for each observation in the data set and the total number of misclassified observations is used as the estimate of the error rate. Simulated continuous explanatory data was used to compare the performance of two traditional discrimination methods, linear and quadratic disc1iminant analysis, with two tree-based methods, Classification and Regression Trees (CART) and Fast Alg01ithm for Classification Trees (FACT), using cross-validation error rates. The results showed that linear and/or quadratic discriminant analysis are preferred for normal, less complex data and parallel classification problems while CART is best suited for lognormal, highly complex data and sequential classification problems. Simulation studies using categorical explanatory data also showed linear discriminant analysis to work best for parallel problems and CART for sequential problems while CART was also preferred for smaller sample sizes. FACT was found to perform poorly for both continuous and categorical data. Simulation studies involving the CART method alone provided certain situations where the 0.632 error rate estimate is preferred to cross-validation and the one standard error rule over the zero standard error rule. S tudies undertaken using real data sets showed that most of the conclusions drawn from the continuous and categorical simulation studies were valid. Some recommendations are made, both from the literature and personal findings as to what characteristics of tree-based methods are best in pa1ticular situations. Final conclusions are given and some proposals for future research regarding the development of tree-based methods are also discussed. A question worth considering in any future research into this area is the use of non-parametric tests for detennining the best splitting variable. � l I C . �� -' -· ii


The aim of archaeology is the reconstruction of past cultures and the processes behind cultures. Conclusive evidence of cultural contacts between distinct groups of peoples is of great importance. It has long been realised that the study of the raw materials utilised for artifacts that were then moved far from their place of origin is vital in identifying these contacts and this study is concerned with the investigation of one such material - steatite.

Steatite is a soft talcose rock that is easily carved even with stone, bone or metal tools. It also has a low coefficient of thermal expansion. These physical properties have resulted in steatite being used as a raw material for the production of many domestic and decorative items throughout the world from prehistoric times until the present. However, the geological formation process has only occurred in a limited number of locations, and hence steatite sources have a relatively restricted geographical distribution. Thus steatite can be seen to fulfil a number of the basic requirements for provenancing, namely limited geographical distribution and extensive utilisation in the past. As a lithic material the physical production techniques do not affect the physical and chemical nature of the material, which may be a considerable problem with characterisation of other archaeological material, eg. ceramics, metal and glass. Thus by characterisation of source material, steatite artifacts of unknown provenance may be compared and their ultimate origin established. However, the formation of steatite is a complex process that often results in a source body that is inhomogeneous, making simple characterisation techniques inadequate.

This study seeks to establish differences between source regions and between individual quarries. If a unique pattern in measurable properties can be established, by comparing artifacts to sources, their origin may be established.


Software development project selection decision is a vital process in tech-nological organizations. These decisions are very important in two ways. First, in technovation organizations, software development project budget necessitates huge investment and this project selection decisions should be thought with the strategic objectives of the firm. Second, multidimen-sionality of the software development projects' organizational returns is naturally risky in terms of expected outcome. Real options approach helps to calculate this risky side of the selection process. This paper con-siders the software development project selection process in multi-criteria thinking. Vagueness is another consideration in the evaluation process. The fuzzy ELECTRE takes both fuzzy real option value criteria and non-monetary criteria into account. In this study integration of fuzzy real options valuation to fuzzy ELECTRE is offered for a selection process among software development projects.


After its introduction into North America, Euro‐Asian Phragmites australis became an aggressive invasive wetland grass along the Atlantic coast of North America. Its distribution range has since expanded to the middle, south and southwest of North America, where invasive P. australis has replaced millions of hectares of native plants in inland and tidal wetlands. Another P. australis invasion from the Mediterranean region is simultaneously occurring in the Gulf region of the United States and some countries in South America. Here, we analysed the occurrence records of the two Old World invasive lineages of P. australis (Haplotype M and Med) in both their native and introduced ranges using environmental niche models (ENMs) to assess (i) whether a niche shift accompanied the invasions in the New World; (ii) the role of biologically relevant climatic variables and human influence in the process of invasion; and (iii) the current potential distribution of these two lineages. We detected local niche shifts along the East Coast of North America and the Gulf Coast of the United States for Haplotype M and around the Mississippi Delta and Florida of the United States for Med. The new niche of the introduced Haplotype M accounts for temperature fluctuations and increased precipitation. The introduced Med lineage has enlarged its original subtropical niche to the tropics‐subtropics, invading regions with a high annual mean temperature (> ca. 10 °C) and high precipitation in the driest period. Human influence is an important factor for both niches. We suggest that an increase in precipitation in the 20th century, global warming and human‐made habitats have shaped the invasive niches of the two lineages in the New World. However, as the invasions are ongoing and human and natural disturbances occur concomitantly, the future distribution ranges of the two lineages may diverge from the potential distribution ranges detected in this study.