IZEMBAEVA, A. K., B. Zh. MULDABEKOVA, A. I.IZTAEV and S. T. ZHIENBAEVA, 2013. The use of composite mixtures in the production of biscuits. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 19: 28-31 At present, the combination of increasing trends of biological value of food makes us look for the confectionery industry and new unconventional sources of plant raw materials. One of the promising directions for the production of confectionery products is the use of composite mixtures in the production of biscuits. The article considers the scientific basis of the composite effects of the mixtures on the organoleptic and physico-chemical characteristics, nutritional value biscuits, defining many important parts of consumer properties of food.


Microgrid (MG) is an efficient platform to integrate distributed energy resources in distribution networks. The operation of MG is also expected to take advantage of emerging smart grid technologies to improve operation and robustness. Among these emerging technologies, blockchain technology provide a big potential to rule the energy transaction in an innovative way. In this paper, a physical architecture of the ecosystem with MGs is firstly presented. Moreover, as the main parts of the blockchain technology, the operation of distributed ledger and smart contracts are introduced in the transaction process. Considering dynamic pricing scheme in the process of energy transaction in the ecosystem, we model the energy transaction between MGs and distribution system operator (DSO) to decide the trading amount and price of the energy. The welfare maximization mathematical model is established accordingly, and the formulated dual problem will be used to find the shadow price of selling renewable energy to grid and real-time retailer price from DSO. Finally, with the deployment of distribution ledger, the energy transaction process can be fully recorded, and transaction execution can be achieved with the help of smart contracts. In light of the mentioned perspective, beside demonstrated benefit brought to both MGs and DSO, the energy transaction and management based on the blockchain will result in higher reliability and improved auditability in the ecosystem.


This work is about understanding the dynamics of neuronal systems, in particular with
respect to brain connectivity. It addresses complex neuronal systems by looking at
neuronal interactions and their causal relations. These systems are characterized using
a generic approach to dynamical system analysis of brain signals - dynamic causal
modelling (DCM). DCM is a technique for inferring directed connectivity among
brain regions, which distinguishes between a neuronal and an observation level. DCM
is a natural extension of the convolution models used in the standard analysis of
neuroimaging data. This thesis develops biologically constrained and plausible
models, informed by anatomic and physiological principles. Within this framework, it
uses mathematical formalisms of neural mass, mean-field and ensemble dynamic
causal models as generative models for observed neuronal activity. These models
allow for the evaluation of intrinsic neuronal connections and high-order statistics of
neuronal states, using Bayesian estimation and inference. Critically it employs
Bayesian model selection (BMS) to discover the best among several equally plausible
models. In the first part of this thesis, a two-state DCM for functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI) is described, where each region can model selective
changes in both extrinsic and intrinsic connectivity. The second part is concerned with
how the sigmoid activation function of neural-mass models (NMM) can be
understood in terms of the variance or dispersion of neuronal states. The third part
presents a mean-field model (MFM) for neuronal dynamics as observed with
magneto- and electroencephalographic data (M/EEG). In the final part, the MFM is
used as a generative model in a DCM for M/EEG and compared to the NMM using
Bayesian model selection.


This book is a long overdue contribution to Russian-language work in the field of sociolegal studies. It offers a selection of empirically based investigations of the Russian judiciary, cast within the "law in action" paradigm that scrutinizes how things happen in the real world rather than how they are intended or ought to happen. The volume makes a significant step away from the stereotypical black-and-white accounts of the Russian legal system often produced by Western and Russian scholars alike. Here the authors provide an analytical approach to the subtleties of how verdicts are reached in Russian courts. The comparative method that most of the authors employ is also valuable in situating findings on Russia within a global perspective.


Abstract: Workforces are aging in most developed countries. At the same time, the parents of workers nearing retirement age are more likely to still be alive and in need of care. This study investigated the association between the survival of parents and retirement timing in Sweden. Data was derived from Swedish population registers for men and women born in 1940-1945. Discrete-time survival analysis using complementary log-log functions was employed. The study finds evidence that parental survival was positively linked to retirement timing and that the association was stronger and more consistent for women than for men, particularly for women with only a mother or father alive. Additionally, women had a higher risk of retirement in the immediate period after parental death, especially when the father was widowed. In contrast, men had a higher risk of retiring when either the mother or father had been widowed for some years. Moreover, siblings seem to moderate the effect of retirement, and the pattern was most noticeable among women. Overall, the risk of retirement was greater among individuals without siblings, with both parents alive, or with only a mother or father alive. The findings indicate that individuals with parents who were vulnerable due to widowhood were able to work longer when they were from larger families, a finding consistent with a caregiving explanation. That the relationship was more evident among women provides support for the conclusion that care provision for parents motivates labor force disengagement in the form of retirement.


"The book amounts to a comprehensive literary history of the time." (David Sexton, Evening Standard). Volume 5 of The Letters of T. S. Eliot finds the poet, between the ages of forty-two and forty-four, reckoning with the strict implications of his Christian faith for his life, his work, and his poetry. The letters between Eliot and his associates, family and friends - his correspondents range from the Archbishop of York and the American philosopher Paul Elmer More to the writers Virginia Woolf, Herbert Read and Ralph Hodgson - serve to illuminate the ways in which his Anglo-Catholic convictions could, at times, prove a self-chastising and even alienating force. 'Anyone who has been moving among intellectual circles and comes to the Church, may experience an odd and rather exhilarating feeling of isolation,' he remarks. Notwithstanding, he becomes fully involved in doctrinal controversy: he espouses the Church as an arena of discipline and order. Eliot's relationship with his wife, Vivien, continues to be turbulent, and at times desperate, as her mental health deteriorates and the communication between husband and wife threatens, at the coming end of the year, to break down completely. At the close of this volume Eliot will accept a visiting professorship at Harvard University, which will take him away from England and Vivien for the academic year 1932-33.


The focus of this mini-dissertation is the use of riparian buffer zones to manage nitrate pollution of water resources. Riparian buffer zones are vegetated areas adjacent to streams, lakes and rivers, that are managed to enhance and protect aquatic resources from the adverse impacts of agricultural practices. These zon¥s are recognised globally for their function in water quality amelioration. Despite the growing literature, there is little consensus on how to design, assess and manage these riparian buffer zones specifically for nitrate attenuation. For the purpose of this mini-dissertation, a literature review of world-wide research into the nitrate attenuation efficiencies of riparian buffer zones was undertaken. A database was created using the key information from this literature. Two key processes responsible for immobilising and/or removing nitrate from surface and subsurface flows are generally recognised in the available literature, namely: vegetative uptake and the process of denitrification. A comparison of the available riparian studies indicated that there are similar characteristics in riparian buffer zones that may be responsible for enhancing these key mechanisms. Studies where there was shallow lateral subsurface or uniform surface water delivery pathways, vegetation of close structure and composition, high organic matter in the soils and fluctuating soil surface saturation rates showed the most significant nitrate attenuation efficiencies. The mini-dissertation proposes that these similarities can be used to both assess a riparian landscape for its potential to attenuate nitrate, and to size a riparian buffer zone specifically to meet this function. A set of proposed guidelines based on the findings of the dissertation attempt to illustrate how riparian pollution control recommendations can be achieved. These guidelines are an example of how to assist a farmer or similar landowner in achieving good nitrate removal efficiencies from a riparian buffer zone. The guidelines work through three steps, which help to establish and prioritise management zones, assess each zone's potential for nitrate attenuation, and determine adequate riparian buffer widths for each management zone. A case study was used to illustrate the practical application of the guidelines. Full testing of these guidelines was not within the scope of this mini-dissertation, however the guidelines are an indication of how information regarding riparian function can be applied to a system to determine effective management of water resources.


The aim of this study is to examine the determinants of the capital structure of Thai banks. The data spans a ten year period from 1999 – 2008. The differentiation point of this study is that, whereas most studies on capital structure focus predominantly on internal bank variables, this study, in addition to internal variables includes market-based risk variables. A range of market-based default and value at risk variables were considered which were then narrowed down to improve the model. Fixed effects panel data analysis is employed, with both market and book leverage used as dependent variables. The Thai bank study is benchmarked to Japanese and Malaysian banks. The study found that the significance of the market-based variables is greater for market leverage than for book leverage. The results can assist regulators and banks in understanding the impact of different market and internal variables on capital.


CONTEXT
Altered quadriceps activation is common following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR), and can persist for years after surgery. These neural deficits are due, in part, to chronic central nervous system alterations. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive modality, that is, believed to immediately increase motor neuron activity by stimulating the primary motor cortex, making it a promising modality to use improve outcomes in the ACLR population.

OBJECTIVE
To determine if a single treatment of tDCS would result in increased quadriceps activity and decreased levels of self-reported pain and dysfunction during exercise.

DESIGN
Randomized crossover design.

SETTING
Controlled laboratory.

PATIENTS
Ten participants with a history of ACLR (5 males/5 females, 22.9 [4.23] y, 176.57 [12.01] cm, 80.87 [16.86] kg, 68.1 [39.37] mo since ACLR).

INTERVENTIONS
Active tDCS and Sham tDCS.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Percentage of maximum electromyographic data of vastus medialis and lateralis, voluntary isometric strength, percentage of voluntary activation, and self-reported pain and symptom scores were measured. The 2 × 2 repeated-measures analysis of variance by limb were performed to explain the differences between time points (pre and post) and condition (tDCS and sham).

RESULTS
There was a significant time main effect for quadriceps percentage of maximum electromyographic of vastus medialis (F9,1 = 11.931, P = .01) and vastus lateralis (F9,1 = 9.132, P = .01), isometric strength (F9,1 = 5.343, P = .046), and subjective scores for pain (F9,1 = 15.499, P = .04) and symptoms (F9,1 = 15.499, P = .04). Quadriceps percentage of maximum electromyographic, isometric strength, and voluntary activation showed an immediate decline from pre to post regardless of tDCS condition. Subjective scores improved slightly after each condition.

CONCLUSIONS
One session of active tDCS did not have an immediate effect on quadriceps activity and subjective scores of pain and symptoms. To determine if tDCS is a valid modality for this patient population, a larger scale investigation with multiple treatments of active tDCS is warranted.


A to classical realism, diplomacy is the means by which states defend their interests and achieve their objectives short of war, using a mixture of persuasion, compromise, and the threat of force. In the quartercentury since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian diplomacy has evolved from a passive, Western-orientation toward a muscular, multilateral and assertive posture. In the immediate post-perestroika years Russian diplomacy reflected the nascent democratic character of the new Russia, and the search for a new post-Soviet identity. Since Vladimir Putin ascended to the presidency, Russian diplomacy has become highly effective at several diplomatic issues. These include: Promoting and representing Russian national interests; defending key principles of sovereignty; non-interference in internal affairs; and respect for Russia as a great power; consolidating the former Soviet space as a privileged sphere of Russian influence; and addressing Russia's vital security concerns in the Eurasian region, including concerns with The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) expansion eastward.


How do local leaders govern in a large dictatorship? What resources do they draw on? This book examines these questions by looking at one of the most important authoritarian regimes of the twentieth century. Starting in the early years after the Second World War and taking the story through to the 1970s, the book charts the strategies of Soviet regional leaders, paying particular attention to the forging and evolution of local trust networks. The book begins with an explanation of what dictatorship is and how it works, and it analyzes how countries move from one form of dictatorship to another. It also looks at the most important dictatorships of the modern era in a new perspective. It focuses on the personal dictatorship that formed in the Soviet Union from the 1930s that center on the supreme leader, Joseph Stalin, and talks about substate dictators that were nested in Stalin's statewide dictatorship. The book builds on recent developments in the theory of dictatorship, such as the distinction between the dictator's problem of controlling threats from the masses, the problem of authoritarian control, and the problem of authoritarian power sharing. It discusses the challenges that substate leaders faced after the war and the party-based tools they used to forge networks. The book moves on to examine the stabilization of hierarchies and the changing balance between co-optation and political exclusion after the war, and explores the various ways in which substate leaders responded to new impulses at a regional level. It looks at the succession struggle in Moscow and its effects on the environment in which substate leaders operated. The book's conclusion suggests how a public discursive framework can help provide a benchmark for comparing the Soviet Union with other regimes, including that of contemporary post-communist Russia. It summarizes how substate leaders and their strategies can shed light on dictatorship and on how it changes over time. It also explains that the Soviet case falls into two broad categories, one empirical and historical, the other comparative and theoretical. The chapter draws attention to a parallel act of delegation at the regional level. It also recounts how Joseph Stalin handed over power on a provisional basis to regional leaders due to his inability to penetrate the inner recesses of local administration.


In recent decades, drug delivery systems (DDSs) based on polymer nanoparticles have been explored due to their potential to deliver drugs with poor water solubility. Some of the limitations of nanoparticle-based DDSs can be overcome by developing an appropriate polymer prodrug. In this work, poly(NIPA)-b-poly(HMNPPA)-b-poly(PEGMA-stat-BA) was synthesized using reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization and Chlorambucil (Cbl), an anticancer drug, was conjugated to the copolymer via 3-(3-(hydroxymethyl)-4-nitrophenoxy)propyl acrylate (HMNPPA) units to prepare the prodrug. A few biotin acrylate (BA) units were also incorporated to bring potential targeting capability to the prodrug in the copolymer. This polymer prodrug formed spherical micellar nanoparticles in physiological conditions, which were characterized by dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy measurements. The very low critical aggregation concentration (cac) (0.011 mg/mL) of the prodrug, as measured from Nile Red fluorescence, makes it stable against dilution. The polymer prodrug was shown to release Cbl on photoirradiation by soft UV (λ ≥ 365 nm) and laser (λ = 405 nm) light. The prodrug micellar nanoparticles were capable of encapsulating a second drug (doxorubicin, DOX) in their hydrophobic core. On photoirradiation with UV and laser light of the DOX-loaded nanoparticles, both Cbl and DOX were released. Light-induced breaking of photolabile ester bond resulted in the release of Cbl and caused disruption of the nanoparticles facilitating release of DOX. 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay confirmed the nontoxicity of the polymers and effectiveness of the dual drug-loaded micellar nanoparticles toward cancer cells. Confocal microscopy results showed a better cellular internalization capability of the DOX-loaded nanoparticles in cancer cells, possibly due to the presence of cancer cell targeting biotin molecules in the polymer. This new photoresponsive potentially biocompatible and cancer cell-targeted polymer prodrug may be useful for delivery of single and/or multiple hydrophobic drugs.


Fundholding enabled General Practitioners (GPs) to have financial responsibility for practice budgets to purchase health services for their patients. This thesis examines that significant episode in the history of the UK"s NHS (Chapter 2) when independent contractors chose to be accountable as part of the creation of the internal market within the ethos of New Public Management (NPM). The reasons for practices electing to go fundholding are investigated, followed by examination of the implications of, and potential for, accounting in the management of fundholding at practice level through an empirical study of twelve fundholding practices in one region in England (Chapter 4). Accounting per se did not loom large, but in addition to significant findings on why practices went fundholding, the role of the lead partner for fundholding and why they took on that role emerged as a significant issue. Several years after the completion of the fundholding episode in the NHS, the GPs concerned were asked to reflect on its implications for their careers, in particular the relationship between their work as doctors and managers (Chapter 7). This brings a longitudinal element to the research.

This thesis is based on two major and one minor previously published refereed journal articles, together with further interpretation and more empirical work. The thesis structure reflects the emergent character of the overall research project (Chapter 3). After presenting the already published research on why practices volunteered to go fundholding and how those practices selected their "lead" partner (Chapter 4) and attitudes of GPs who took the management role(Chapter 6), a second analysis of the first phase of data is presented for the first time, finding different levels of engagement in management once fundholding was "live" and evidence of doctors in primary care taking hybrid manager roles (Chapter 6). GPs are found to adopt different levels of engagement in management. The factors that contribute to doctors" engagement in management are identified. Accounting is found to enable doctors in management and assist them in securing notions of professionalism.

The study contributes to knowledge on a number of levels: it presents the case of an application of a NPM "experiment" in an institutional setting recognising the context of general practice and financial responsibility as important in engaging doctors in management; it contributes to an emerging "doctors in management literature", complementing the majority of that literature by focusing on primary care rather than secondary care. The study recommends that as doctors are increasingly being asked to get involved in the management of the finite NHS resource that fundholding was a significant episode to guide the design of policy and structures that will engage doctors in management. Future studies should investigate doctors in management, using case studies to examine the schemes in order to capture the "lived experience", identifying the different levels of engagement, what they do and how they do it.


: The paper offers an integrative interpretation of the different lines of thought Wittgenstein was inspecting in On Certainty and what he might have been looking for through them. It suggests that we may have been focusing our attention too strongly in the wrong place and comes to a new conclusion about where the real import of these reflections lies. This leads to an answer to the initially posed question of foundationalism that revises the way in which there can be said to be a grounding intention in On Certainty


Depression is a prevalent mental illness in developed countries. In Western medicine, experimental and clinical investigations have demonstrated that depression is associated with the dysregulation of neurotransmitter signaling, and symptoms of depression can be alleviated by therapeutic intervention. However, patients taking antidepressant drugs often experience serious side effects and high relapse rates. On the other hand, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) views depression as a manifestation of liver qi stagnation. Practitioners of TCM have long been treating depression with herbs that promote qi circulation in the liver. In this article, we offer a hypothesis stating the biochemical basis of the linkage between liver qi stagnation and depression. Liver qi is involved in the processing of macronutrients into molecules to fuel energy metabolism in brain neurons, as well as the synthesis of plasma proteins that maintain blood circulation to the brain, thereby enabling these fuel molecules to be delivered to the brain. In cases of liver qi stagnation, the failure in delivering sufficient fuel molecules to the brain disrupts mitochondrial ATP production in neurons. Because neurotransmitter release and neurotropin transport are driven by ATP, the deficiency in release and transport processes resulting from insufficient ATP production could lead to depression. Therefore, if liver qi stagnation is causally related to the pathogenesis of depression, the promotion of liver qi circulation by Chinese herbs might offer a promising prospect for the effective treatment of depression.


Background: Better methods are needed to predict risk of progression for Barrett's esophagus. We aimed to determine whether a tissue systems pathology approach could predict progression in patients with nondysplastic Barrett's esophagus, indefinite for dysplasia, or low-grade dysplasia. Methods: We performed a nested case–control study to develop and validate a test that predicts progression of Barrett's esophagus to high-grade dysplasia (HGD) or esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), based upon quantification of epithelial and stromal variables in baseline biopsies. Data were collected from Barrett's esophagus patients at four institutions. Patients who progressed to HGD or EAC in ≥1 year (n = 79) were matched with patients who did not progress (n = 287). Biopsies were assigned randomly to training or validation sets. Immunofluorescence analyses were performed for 14 biomarkers and quantitative biomarker and morphometric features were analyzed. Prognostic features were selected in the training set and combined into classifiers. The top-performing classifier was assessed in the validation set. Results: A 3-tier, 15-feature classifier was selected in the training set and tested in the validation set. The classifier stratified patients into low-, intermediate-, and high-risk classes [HR, 9.42; 95% confidence interval, 4.6–19.24 (high-risk vs. low-risk); P < 0.0001]. It also provided independent prognostic information that outperformed predictions based on pathology analysis, segment length, age, sex, or p53 overexpression. Conclusion: We developed a tissue systems pathology test that better predicts risk of progression in Barrett's esophagus than clinicopathologic variables. Impact: The test has the potential to improve upon histologic analysis as an objective method to risk stratify Barrett's esophagus patients. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 25(6); 958–68. ©2016 AACR.


We present an optical security method for binary data information by using 4-step phase-shifting digital holography and we analyze tolerance error for the decrypted data. 4-step phase-shifting digital holograms are acquired by moving the PZT mirror with equidistant phase steps of ${\pi}/2$ in the Mach-Zender type interferometer. The digital hologram in this method is a Fourier transform hologram and is quantized with 256 gray level. The decryption performance of the binary data information is analyzed. One of the most important errors is the quantization error in detecting the hologram intensity on CCD. The greater the number of quantization error pixels and the variation of gray level increase, the more the number of error bits increases for decryption. Computer experiments show the results for encryption and decryption with the proposed method and show the graph to analyze the tolerance of the quantization error in the system.


Originally published in Polish to great acclaim and based on interviews with survivors of the Holocaust in Poland, Holocaust and Memory provides a moving description of their life during the war and the sense they made of it. The book begins by looking at the differences between the wartime experiences of Jews and Poles in occupied Poland, both in terms of Nazi legislation and individual experiences. On the Aryan side of the ghetto wall, Jews could either be helped or blackmailed by Poles. The largest section of the book reconstructs everyday life in the ghetto. The psychological consequences of wartime experiences are explored, including interviews with survivors who stayed on in Poland after the war and were victims of anti-Semitism again in 1968. These discussions bring into question some of the accepted survivor stereotypes found in Holocaust literature. A final chapter looks at the legacy of the Holocaust, the problems of transmitting experience and of the place of the Holocaust in Polish history and culture.


We studied benthic foraminifer and ostracod faunas from the Southwestern coasts of Antalya (Turkey) in 227 sediment samples collected by SCUBA divers in July and August, 2002. We identified 50 foraminifer genera and 96 species, some of which contained numerous large specimens. The large abundances of Indo-Pacific species, such as Peneroplis arietinus (Batsch), Amphisorus hemprichii Ehrenberg, Sorites variabilis Lacroix, Amphistegina lobifera Larsen, and Heterostegina depressa d'Orbigny is noteworthy. In some samples 75% of the sand is composed of Amphistegina lobifera Larsen tests. In contrast to this rich foraminifer fauna, ostracods are poorly represented by only 21 genera and 23 species.


Background: The U.S. Natality database from 2001 and 2002 was used to investigate the relationship between maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy and the risk of having a child with polydactyly, syndactyly, or adactyly. Methods: The records of 6,839,854 live births were examined to identify 5171 newborns with isolated polydactyly, syndactyly, or adactyly and 10,342 controls with no congenital anomalies. Results: Maternal cigarette use during pregnancy was associated with a significantly elevated risk of having a child with a congenital digital anomaly (unadjusted odds ratio, 1.33; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.21 to 1.47; p < 0.0001). Univariate analysis indicated that maternal marital status and medical risk factors (anemia, cardiac disease, lung disease, diabetes, hydramnios/oligohydramnios, pregnancy-associated hypertension, incompetent cervix, previous preterm or small-for-gestational-age infant, and rhesus factor sensitization) were potential confounding factors. After adjustment for these variables, the odds ratio remained significant (adjusted odds ratio, 1.31; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.18 to 1.45; p < 0.0001). Cigarette consumption per day was divided into four groups: no smoking, 1 to 10 cigarettes per day, 11 to 20 cigarettes per day, and 21 or more cigarettes per day. A statistically significant dose–response relationship was found when comparing each smoking category with the no-smoking reference group: 1.29 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.15 to 1.46), 1.38 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.12 to 1.71), and 1.78 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.97 to 3.26), respectively. Increased cigarette smoking during pregnancy resulted in an elevated risk of having a child with polydactyly, syndactyly, or adactyly. Conclusions: This is the largest study to date to investigate specifically the association between maternal cigarette smoking and the risk of having a newborn with a congenital digital anomaly. The elevated odds ratio for tobacco use and the significant trend in the dose–response relationship suggests smoking during pregnancy may be an important preventable risk factor for these common congenital differences.


There is a clear trend of future embedded systems in moving toward wireless, multimedia, multi-functional and ubiquitous applications. This emerges new challenges in the existing solutions on performance, power, flexibility and costs, calling for innovations in both architecture and design methodology. In this paper, we propose a design flow consisting of three stages to handle dynamic data, allowing the designer to create highly customized dynamic memory managers, make them bank-aware and create a design-time schedule of the different tasks of the application. We evaluated the proposed flow using the visual texture coding (VTC) application, mapping it on a dual processor embedded platform achieving 5.5% reduction in memory footprint and 10% gains in execution time


Objective The aim of this study was to provide updated evidence to assess the association between parental alcohol consumption and the risk of total congenital heart diseases (CHDs) and specific CHD phenotypes in offspring, and explore the possible dose–response pattern. Methods PubMed, Embase and Chinese databases were searched with an end-date parameter of July 24, 2019 to identify studies meeting pre-stated inclusion criteria. A random-effects model was used to calculate the overall combined risk estimates. A meta-analysis of the dose–response relationship was performed. Subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis, and Galbraith plot were conducted to explore potential heterogeneity moderators. Results A total of 55 studies involving 41,747 CHD cases and 297,587 controls were identified. Overall, both maternal (odds ratio (OR) = 1.16; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.05–1.27) and paternal (OR = 1.44; 95% CI: 1.19–1.74) alcohol exposures were significantly associated with risk of total CHDs in offspring. Additionally, a nonlinear dose–response relationship between parental alcohol exposure and risk of total CHDs was observed. With an increase in parental alcohol consumption, the risk of total CHDs in offspring also gradually increases. For specific CHD phenotypes, a statistically significant association was found between maternal alcohol consumption and risk of tetralogy of fallot (OR = 1.20; 95% CI: 1.08–1.33). Relevant heterogeneity moderators have been identified by subgroup analysis, and sensitivity analysis yielded consistent results. Conclusions Although the role of potential bias and evidence of heterogeneity should be carefully evaluated, our review indicates that parental alcohol exposures are significantly associated with the risk of CHDs in offspring, which highlights the necessity of improving health awareness to prevent alcohol exposure during preconception and conception periods.


We study the realistic potential of conducting backdoor attack against deep neural networks (DNNs) during deployment stage. Specifically, our goal is to design a deployment-stage backdoor attack algorithm that is both threatening and realistically implementable. To this end, we propose Subnet Replacement Attack (SRA), which is capable of embedding backdoor into DNNs by directly modifying a limited number of model parameters. Considering the realistic practicability, we abandon the strong white-box assumption widely adopted in existing studies, instead, our algorithm works in a gray-box setting, where architecture information of the victim model is available but the adversaries do not have any knowledge of parameter values. The key philosophy underlying our approach is -- given any neural network instance (regardless of its specific parameter values) of a certain architecture, we can always embed a backdoor into that model instance, by replacing a very narrow subnet of a benign model (without backdoor) with a malicious backdoor subnet, which is designed to be sensitive (fire large activation value) to a particular backdoor trigger pattern.


Introduction: This study aimed to investigated diabetes self management differences based on sex, marriage status, educational level, job status, incomes, insurances, life network, diabetes duration, treatment type, disease severity, smoking and age. Method: No. of 500 outpatients with type II diabetes (245 men and 255 women) were selected by convenience sampling method in Tehran Shariati Hospital Clinics. 259 patients received drug treatment and 241 patients received insulin. Data collected by diabetes self-management scale and demographical questionnaire then analyzed by t test, ANOVA and Scheffe post hoc test. Results: Self Management was significantly different based on sex, smoking behaviors, treatment type, marriage status, educational level, job status, insurance, life network, incomes and disease severity. Also most of the differences were significant in Scheffe post hoc test. Conclusion: Diabetes Self Management behaviors are different on basis of social, demographical and disease factors. This result has clinical implications for clinicians and diabetic clinics. Based on this research and perform need assessment, priority action on programs of Self Management behaviors enrichment and improvement programs of Self Management behavior underlines (improvement of insurance, employment, income...) necessitate not only for diabetes associated harms reductions but also for society health promotion.


Evaluate the e ffi cacy and safety of non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS) for the treatment of post-traumatic headache (PTH)


BACKGROUND
Effective in vivo T-cell depletion is a critical component of many transplantation tolerance protocols. We have previously demonstrated T-cell depletion in miniature swine using a CRM9-based CD3-immunotoxin, pCD3-CRM9. CRM9 is a mutant form of diphtheria toxin (DT) that binds less efficiently than wild-type DT to the DT receptor (proHB-EGF) of primates. In this report, we describe and characterize the dose-dependent neurotoxicity associated with CRM9-based immunotoxin administration in swine.

METHODS
Miniature swine were treated with varying doses of pCD3-CRM9 followed by daily monitoring for symptoms of neuropathy, including limb weakness, paresis, sluggishness, and/or respiratory distress. Animals demonstrating severe respiratory distress were euthanized and peripheral nerve, spinal cord, and skeletal muscle tissue samples were obtained at autopsy for microscopic examination. Unconjugated CRM9 was administered to one animal to define its toxicity independent of the effects of T-cell depletion.

RESULTS
Excellent T-cell depletion was obtained using doses of pCD3-CRM9 greater than 0.1 mg/kg. However, neurotoxicity was observed at these doses, as manifested by transient muscle weakness or paresis, which in some cases progressed to respiratory failure and death. Dorsal root ganglia samples revealed pathological changes typical of diphtheritic polyneuropathy. The animal receiving unconjugated CRM9 exhibited the same neurotoxic side effects as those receiving the pCD3-CRM9 conjugate.

CONCLUSIONS
Administration of pCD3-CRM9 immunotoxin provides excellent T-cell depletion in miniature swine but is associated with significant dose-dependent neurotoxicity. A possible reason for CRM9-associated neurotoxicity in swine, but not primates, is suggested on the basis of a known amino acid difference in the exodomain of the DT receptor (proHB-EGF) of swine compared with that of primates.


The purpose of this study was to develop methodologies for determining the appropriate sediment removal frequency of wet-detention stormwater management facilities. Using data from a wet pond in the Town of Richmond Hill, a sediment accumulation model was developed using the US EPA's Stormwater Management Model (Version 5). Two different methodologies were then developed and applied to the facility. The first methodology is a real-time tool that provides the required time for sediment removal for a single cleanout cycle. The second methodology is analysis tool that relates cleanout frequency, annual cost and violations over a 50-year planning period. The results showed that the appropriate sediment removal frequency for the pond was approximately 16 to 17 years, and the annual cost of sediment removal ranged from $2,150 to $2,372, depending on the methodology used. It is recommended that these methodologies be considered for the planning and operation phases of stormwater ponds.


The phenomenon of ERTs (empresas recuperadas por sus trabajadores) in Argentina has gained popularity since the financial crisis of 2001-2002. The resulting drastic drop in gross national product, the high inflation rates, and the increased rates of unemployment and poverty reflected serious weaknesses and limitations of neoliberal institutions in Argentina. This phenomenon was also determined by specific historical patterns, such as state interventionism, a long tradition of trade unionism and workers' struggles, as well as a long and deep-rooted tradition of cooperativism. According to the latest survey (Ruggeri, 2014b), there are more than 300 ERTs in Argentina, employing over 13,000 workers. Data show that 95 per cent of ERTs are self-organized under the organizational and legal framework of worker cooperatives. This paper aims at providing a political, economic and social overview of the emergence and establishment of ERTs in Argentina over the past two decades. Moreover, the legal and institutional preconditions that significantly encourage, limit, and determine the scope of worker cooperatives, will be analyzed. In this analysis we will rely on the results of research on ERTs that has been done over the last 10 years, as well as on a historical analysis of the legal and institutional framework.


"The need to speak, even if one has nothing to say, becomes more pressing when one has nothing to say, just as the will to live becomes more urgent when life has lost its meaning."--from The Ecstasy of Communication First published in France in 1987, The Ecstasy of Communication was Baudrillard's summarization of his work for a postdoctoral degree at the Sorbonne: a dense, poetically crystalline essay that boiled down two decades of radical, provocative theory into an aphoristically eloquent swan song to twentieth-century alienation. Baudrillard's quixotic effort to be recognized by the French intellectual establishment may have been doomed to failure, but this text immediately became a pinnacle to his work, a mid-career assessment that looked both forward and back. By carefully distilling the most radical elements of his previous books, Baudrillard constructed the skeleton key to all of the work that was to come in the second half of his career, and set the scene for what he termed the "obscene": a world in which alienation has been succeeded by ceaseless communication and information. The Ecstasy of Communication is a decisive, compact description of what it means to be "wired" in our braver-than-brave new world, where sexuality has been superseded by pornography, knowledge by information, hysteria by schizophrenia, subject by object, and violence by terror. The Ecstasy of Communication is an anti-manifesto that confronted and dispensed with such influences as Marshall McLuhan, Guy Debord, and Georges Bataille. It is an essential crib-book, lexicon, and companion piece to any and all of Baudrillard's books. Twenty-five years after its original publication, it remains not only a prescient portrait of our contemporary condition, but also a dark mirror into which we have not yet dared to look.


Success in development over the past half-century was based on manufacturing-led export growth.Because the share of global employment in manufacturing will decline, manufacturing won't play the same role in the coming decades. An increase in manufacturing employment won't suffice to meet the need for new jobs, especially in Africa with its burgeoning population. There has to be another strategy.I deconstruct what enabled manufacturing to generate growth and structural transformation. It simultaneously provided needed foreign exchange, promoted learning, and provided employment. The new strategy I propose is more multi-pronged, addressing separately, in different sectors, the challenges of learning, foreign exchange, and employment.A carefully designed, co-ordinated multi-sector strategy, with sectoral policies in agriculture, natural resources, manufacturing, and especially services, has the prospect of attaining the same success as the old manufacturing export-led strategy. The development state will continue to be central, but has to be redefined. The new development strategies will require greater balance between the market, the state, and the community, a perspective articulated in the Stockholm Statement.


Traditional prejudice says that men are rational while women are "emotional." According to empirical studies this view seems to be held globally even today, while at the same time other results show that men are judged to be more aggressive and "angry" than women. These paradoxical results can be explained by a proper interpretation of what "emotional" means: the ancient Greeks did not believe that women had more emotions than man had, but rather believed that women were not in control of their emotions, and thus were generally "weak." This background belief can be traced throughout history until today. It imposes a certain paradox on female gender identity: to be or to become a woman seems to demand not being in full control of oneself, which again contradicts the possibility of voluntarily becoming a unified person. There is no rational way to be "emotional."


Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is a condition associated with severe difficulties recognising familiar faces, which occurs in individuals with normal intelligence, typical low-level vision, and in the absence of manifest brain injuries. The neuro-cognitive origins of DP are still debated. Cognitive accounts have attributed face recognition deficits to reduced holistic processing of faces (i.e., whereby individual features of faces are integrated into a unified perceptual whole), and mnemonic difficulties, whereby prosopagnosics may be able to form accurate percepts, but are unable to maintain those percepts over time. At the neurological level, differences have been reported in the structural and functional connectivity of occipito-temporal regions which include face selective areas. Chapter 2 of this thesis investigated facial emotion recognition in DP and revealed widespread difficulties recognising facial emotion in individuals with apperceptive profiles of DP (i.e., DPs exhibiting difficulties forming view-invariant structural descriptions of faces at early stages of encoding). Chapter 3 explored body recognition in DP and found evidence of impaired body and object recognition in DP individuals. Moreover, the lack of relationship between observers' object and body recognition performances suggested that body and object recognition impairments in DP may co-occur independently. Chapter 4 investigated the susceptibility to the composite face illusion in two independent samples of individuals with DP and failed to show evidence of diminished composite face effects in both samples. Finally, Chapter 5 considered the contribution of perceptual encoding and short term face memory in DP using a delayed match-to-sample task and found that recognition impairments in prosopagnosics were insensitive to changes in retention interval and viewing angle, supporting an apperceptive characterisation of DP. The implications of these findings for the characterisation of DP and for understanding its underlying cognitive mechanisms, are discussed in Chapter 6.


Two modeling approaches were used to explore the basis for variation in recruitment of pink shrimp,Farfantepenaeus duorarum, to the Tortugas fishing grounds. Emphasis was on development and juvenile densities on the nursery grounds. An exploratory simulation modeling exercise demonstrated large year-to-year variations in recruitment contributions to the Tortugas pink shrimp fishery may occur on some nursery grounds, and production may differ considerably among nursery grounds within the same year, simply on the basis of differences in temperature and salinity. We used a growth and survival model to simulate cumulative harvests from a July-centered cohort of early-settlementstage postlarvae from two parts of Florida Bay (western Florida Bay and northcentral Florida Bay), using historic temperature and salinity data from these areas. Very large year-to-year differences in simulated cumulative harvests were found for recruits from Whipray Basin. Year-to-year differences in simulated harvests of recruits from Johnson Key Basin were much smaller. In a complementary activity, generalized linear and additive models and intermittent, historic density records were used to develop an uninterrupted multi-year time series of monthly density estimates for juvenile pink shrimp in the Johnson Key Basin. The developed data series was based on relationships of density with environmental variables. The strongest relationship was with sea-surface temperature. Three other environmental variables (rainfall, water level at Everglades National Park Well P35, and mean wind speed) also contributed significantly to explaining variation in juvenile densities. Results of the simulation model and two of the three statistical models yielded similar interannual patterns for Johnson Key Basin. While it is not possible to say that one result validates the other, the concordance of the annual patterns from the two models is supportive of both approaches.


A fully revised second edition focused on the best practices of enterprise risk management
Since the first edition of Enterprise Risk Management: From Incentives to Controls was published a decade ago, much has changed in the worlds of business and finance. That's why James Lam has returned with a new edition of this essential guide. Written to reflect today's dynamic market conditions, the Second Edition of Enterprise Risk Management: From Incentives to Controls clearly puts this discipline in perspective.
Engaging and informative, it skillfully examines both the art as well as the science of effective enterprise risk management practices. Along the way, it addresses the key concepts, processes, and tools underlying risk management, and lays out clear strategies to manage what is often a highly complex issue.

Offers in-depth insights, practical advice, and real-world case studies that explore the various aspects of ERM
Based on risk management expert James Lam's thirty years of experience in this field
Discusses how a company should strive for balance between risk and return

Failure to properly manage risk continues to plague corporations around the world. Don't let it hurt your organization. Pick up the Second Edition of Enterprise Risk Management: From Incentives to Controls and learn how to meet the enterprise-wide risk management challenge head on, and succeed.


Treatment of cancer such as surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy ha s many side effects . Chemopreventive agent is needed to reduce the side effect and increase the effectivity of therapy. The discovery of  cochemopreventive agent should consider on its selectivity to reduce side effects. The selective cochemopreventive agents work effectively in cancer cells and safe for normal cells . Buah Makassar ( Brucea javanica ) is a natural product that is empirically used for anti-inflammatory and antitumor. The purpose of this study is to determine the cytotoxic effect of ethanolic extract of buah Makassar against 4T1 , MCF7, HeLa, an d Vero cell lines. The cytotoxic test is performed by MTT assay. The parameter obtained from the cytotoxic test was IC 50 . Selectivity index is determined from IC 50 ratio of cancer cells to normal cells. The results showed that ethanolic extract of buah Makassar has a cytotoxic activity on 4T1 , MCF7, HeLa, an d Vero cell s with IC 50 were 49,9±0,83 μg/mL; 107,6±8,14 μg/mL; 228,9±4,16 μg/mL and 395,5± 4,21 μg/mL respectively. It also has high selectivity on 4T1 metastatic breast cancer cell with selectivity index of 7,93. It can be concluded that the ethanolic extract of buah Makassar h as potential to be delevoped as cochemopreventive agent especially on metastatic breast cancer. Keywords: Brucea javanica, MTT assay, selectivity index, 4T1, MCF7, HeLa, Vero


The following text is taken from the publisher's website.
"This anthology traces the history of modern Irish literature from the revolutionary era of the late eighteenth century to the early years of political independence. It covers 150 years, from the writings of Charlotte Brooke and Edmund Burke to those of Elizabeth Bowen and Louis MacNeice, and it shows how these writings continually challenge and renew the ways in which Ireland is imagined and defined. The anthology includes a wide-ranging and generous selection of fiction, poetry, and drama. Three plays by W.B. Yeats, Augusta Gregory, and J.M. Synge are printed in their entirety, along with the opening episode of James Joyce's Ulysses. The volume also includes letters, speeches, songs, memoirs, essays, and travel writings, many of which are difficult to obtain elsewhere."


Natural History""An energetic start quickly became a trudge; we glanced back frequently towards our point of departure, an air-conditioned vehicle. Not only did the hot air feel like a blast from a smelter s furnace, but within minutes the reflected sunlight was doing perceptible damage to any exposed skin. I m sure I was sweating more than I ever had before, yet my skin was dry...We found ourselves blinking rapidly to keep the eyes moist. After a few more minutes, we turned back for the car, leading our youngest child who would no longer open her eyes.""- John Sowell Unlike books that merely identify what plants and animals live in the desert, "Desert Ecology" is a comprehensive but accessible introduction to how these organisms live where they do. Beginning with an overview of the Intermountain, Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts, Sowell presents the topographic and the meteorologic conditions that created these regions. He continues with a thorough examination of physiologic and behavioral adaptations that enable plants and animals, even humans, to survive and persist in these inhospitable places. While basic scientific principles such as photosynthesis, trophic levels, thermoregulation, and osmoregulation are presented in terms that nonspecialists will understand, the real draw is the fascinating life histories of dozens of particular organisms. Explore the life cycle of the yucca and creosote bush, trace the wanderings of the gila monster and tenebrionid beetle, breathe in the rhythms of the desert at night. "This book is for the curious," says the author, for all who enter the "wasteland," on foot or through imagination."


We share findings from empirical research into Kolb's experiential learning approach, using our reflections as teachers and data from our undergraduate management students. The experiential learning experience emerges as a space where bodies, feelings and ideas move and develop in intimate relationship with one another. This is a space where teachers exercise authority over, and commitment to, the here-and-now, risking corporeal and intellectual exposure. We probe the concept of experience in experiential learning, suggesting that teachers require a kind of 'experiential expertise' to draw both on embodied felt sense and on what one has done in one's own career to role-model the transformation of experience into knowledge, which is at the heart of Kolb's theory. We explore a blurring of experiential agency, and the tendency for students to appropriate the teacher's experience rather than dwell on or develop their own. For us, experiential learning is more usefully seen as 'relationship-centred' than 'student-centred', and we contrast this relational focus with the way experiential learning seems to have been popularised as anti-interventionist, a kind of educational 'laissez-faire'. Based on these reflections, we suggest powerful connections between phenomenology and theories of space as a way of conceptualising the complexities and richness of teaching and learning experiences.


Deep learning models have achieved state-of-the-art performances on many relation extraction datasets. A common element in these deep learning models involves the pooling mechanisms where a sequence of hidden vectors is aggregated to generate a single representation vector, serving as the features to perform prediction for RE. Unfortunately, the models in the literature tend to employ different strategies to perform pooling for RE, leading to the challenge to determine the best pooling mechanism for this problem, especially in the biomedical domain. In order to answer this question, in this work, we conduct a comprehensive study to evaluate the effectiveness of different pooling mechanisms for the deep learning models in biomedical RE. The experimental results suggest that dependency-based pooling is the best pooling strategy for RE in the biomedical domain, yielding the state-of-the-art performance on two benchmark datasets for this problem.


Analog Integrated Circuits for Communication: Principles, Simulation and Design, Second Edition covers the analysis and design of nonlinear analog integrated circuits that form the basis of present-day communication systems. Both bipolar and MOS transistor circuits are analyzed and several numerical examples are used to illustrate the analysis and design techniques developed in this book. Especially unique to this work is the tight coupling between the first-order circuit analysis and circuit simulation results. Extensive use has been made of the public domain circuit simulator Spice, to verify the results of first-order analyses, and for detailed simulations with complex device models. Highlights of the new edition include: A new introductory chapter that provides a brief review of communication systems, transistor models, and distortion generation and simulation. Addition of new material on MOSFET mixers, compression and intercept points, matching networks. Revisions of text and explanations where necessary to reflect the new organization of the book Spice input files for all the circuit examples that are available to the reader from a website. Problem sets at the end of each chapter to reinforce and apply the subject matter. An instructors solutions manual is available on the book's webpage at springer.com. Analog Integrated Circuits for Communication: Principles, Simulation and Design, Second Edition is for readers who have completed an introductory course in analog circuits and are familiar with basic analysis techniques as well as with the operating principles of semiconductor devices. This book also serves as a useful reference for practicing engineers.


We consider recurrent analog neural nets where each gate is subject to Gaussian noise, or any other common noise distribution whose probability density function is nonzero on a large set. We show that many regular languages cannot be recognized by networks of this type, for example the language {w e {O, I}*| w begins with O}, and we give a precise characterization of those languages which can be recognized. This result implies severe constraints on possibilities for constructing recurrent analog neural nets that are robust against realistic types of analog noise. On the other hand we present a method for constructing feed forward analog neural nets that are robust with regard to analog noise of this type.


OBJECTIVES
Early childhood caries (ECC) constitutes a serious public health issue, especially in communities without water fluoridation. We assessed the effectiveness of biannual fluoride varnish applications to prevent ECC in children from nonfluoridated rural areas.

METHODS
A triple-blind randomized control trial with two parallel arms was conducted with 275 two- to three-year-old children without cavitated carious lesions from 28 rural public preschools in Chile. The preschools were located in areas of low socioeconomic status without access to fluoridated water. An oral health education component was administered to children, parents and educators. A new toothbrush and toothpaste for each child was delivered to the parents at baseline and at four follow-up visits. The participants were randomly allocated to receive fluoride varnish or placebo applications every six months. Trained, calibrated dentists blind to the treatment arm performed visual dental assessments at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months. The primary endpoint was the development of cavitated carious lesions in children during the 24-month follow-up period using WHO criteria, and the secondary outcomes were an increase in caries measured as a change in the index of decayed, missing or filled teeth (dmft) since the beginning of the study and the development of adverse effects. An intention-to-treat (ITT) approach was used for the primary analysis.

RESULTS
We included 131 participants in the intervention group and 144 participants in the placebo group; of these children, 89 (67.9%) in the intervention group and 100 (69.4%) in the control group completed the protocol. The comparative ITT analysis of caries incidence after 24 months of follow-up showed a between-group prevention fraction of 18.9% (-2.9%-36.2%). Caries incidence was 45.0% for the experiment group and 55.6% for the control group (P = .081), with a mean dmft of 1.6 (SD = 2.4) and 2.1 (SD = 2.5), respectively. No adverse effects were reported.

CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, biannual fluoride varnish application is not effective in preschool children from rural nonfluoridated communities at a high risk of caries.


In the United States, small businesses rely on commercial banks and the Small Business Administration (SBA) guaranteed loan program to satisfy their short-term and intermediate-term financing requirements. Unlike larger firms, small businesses have difficulties accessing long-term debt and equity markets. In general, their lack of tangible assets that can be pledged as collateral, higher business and financial risks, and greater operational flexibility have combined with other factors to limit the availability of long-term debt and equity sources of funds. Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs) offer some relief from the scarcity of financing for small firms. The SBIC program was established in 1958 to provide long-term funds to small businesses, not only through loans and other debt instruments, but also through equity investments (see U.S. SBA 1992). Individuals, banks, and other financial institutions, as well as nonfinancial firms, can form SBICs. During the first few years of the program, the number of SBICs increased rapidly; by the end of 1966, 794 SBICs had been licensed, and over $1 billion had been dispersed to small firms. The subsequent oil crisis led to extensive bankruptcies both among the SBIC-backed small firms and SBICs themselves (Gompers 1994). After languishing for several years, the program has shown renewed vigor since the mid1980s. The driving force behind the recent surge in SBICs' activities has been the SBICs owned by banking organizations. While banks cannot make direct equity investments, they can do so indirectly by establishing SBIC units. SBICs are also unique in that they have access to government subsidies and thus can leverage their private capital with government funds, unlike other venture capital firms. Such leverage is supplied through guarantees or direct purchases of SBICs' debt obligations by the SBA. This article examines whether SBICs are able to resolve the conflict between the types of investors and financing that are most appropriate for small businesses. The economics of financing small businesses is explored and the characteristics and investments of SBICs are described. Two hypotheses are examined. The first hypothesis is concerned with whether the type of financing provided by an SBIC varies according to the riskiness of the project and the identity of the SBIC. The second hypothesis examines whether SBICs that are associated with banking organizations behave differently than other SBICs. In addition, an SBIC's performance is related to its financial characteristics to further examine whether SBICs that are associated with banking organizations have chosen to take advantage of the SBIC program in such a way as to produce return possibilities different from other SBICs. PREVIOUS RESEARCH With their own capital and funds borrowed at favorable rates from the U.S. Small Business Administration, SBICs provide venture capital to both new and established small firms. Apple Computer, Compaq Computer, Costco Wholesale, Symbol Technologies, Cray Research, Federal Express, Intel, and Staples are examples of companies that were partly financed by SBICs in their adolescence (Zweig 1992). Osborn (1977), using SBIC data filed with the SBA from the beginning of the SBIC program in 1958 through March 1970, examined the nature of the small firms which have been financed by SBICs and the character of the financing that has been provided. He found that over the sample period 39 percent of SBIC funds went to manufacturing industries, while 61 percent went to non-manufacturing industries. Of the funds supplied to manufacturing, 68 percent were used for operating capital, compared with only eight percent for fixed assets. Acquisitions utilized 14 percent of this financing, and seven percent went into refinancing. In comparison to manufacturing, a smaller proportion of SBIC financing to non-manufacturing was absorbed by operating capital and acquisitions; more was supplied for fixed assets and for refinancing. …


In this paper we present a study of the predictive ability of the term structure of interest rates over future recessions in Portugal. The analysis will be based on factor models in which the term structure of interest rates is determined by latent factors, corresponding to their level, slope and curvature. Simple and modified probit and logit models will be used to examine the forecasting ability of term structure in predicting economic crises (recessions). Recession periods were determined based on the methodology proposed by Bry and Boschan. Our results suggest that all term structure of interest rates components allow to predict recessions in one-year time horizons, with an increase in adjustment quality when we include an autoregressive term as the explanatory variable. KeywordsTerm structure of interest rates; Recessions; Factor models' decomposition, Portugal


Understanding the timing, conditions, and characteristics of the Middle to Later Stone Age (MSA/LSA) transition in North Africa is critical for debates regarding the evolution and past population dynamics of Homo sapiens, especially their dispersals within, out of, and back into, Africa. As with many cultural transitions during the Palaeolithic, our understanding is based predominantly on archaeological and paleoenvironmental records preserved within a small number of deep cave sediment sequences. To use such sequences as chronological cornerstones we must develop a robust understanding of the formation processes that created them. This paper utilizes geoarchaeological analyses (field observations, sediment micromorphology, bulk sedimentology) to examine site formation processes and stratigraphic integrity during the MSA/LSA at the Haua Fteah cave, Libya, one of North Africa's longest cultural sequences. The depositional processes identified vary in mode and energy, from eolian deposition/reworking to mass colluvial mudflows. These changing processes impact greatly on the interpretation of the paleoenvironmental and archaeological records, not least in identifying potential colluvial sediment deposition and reworking in layers identified as containing the MSA/LSA transition. This study highlights the importance of developing geoarchaeological analyses of cultural sequences to fully unravel the limitations and potential of their contained archaeological and paleoenvironmental records.


Abstract This paper discusses some recent contributions to the use of polyimide in the fabrication of targets for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) and Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE). Polyimide has many desirable properties, including much higher strength and the ability to withstand much higher temperatures than similar polymer films. Recent research efforts have focused on the use of polyimide in a number of applications including gasbag targets, hohlraum windows, spherical target capsules, anti-convection baffles and various shaped membranes such as target capsule supports and cylindrical z-pinch targets where polyimide's advantages contribute to superior target performance. Also covered are the fabrication of thick-wall target capsules and the potential production of thin-wall spherical capsules by a fully automated process.


The relationship of body mass and body fat distribution to blood pressure has been recognized for many years. This relationship has formed the basis for much additional research, including the impact of growth and developmental factors on blood pressure levels. Blood pressure in children is related to somatic growth and is tied to increases in height, skeletal maturation, and sexual maturation. Sexual and ethnic differences in blood pressure levels are already apparent during childhood and may also be related to the process of growth and sexual maturity. Body size exerts a profound influence on a variety of physiological functions, including blood pressure and the onset of sexual maturity. In general, studies have reported a strong linear relationship between height and blood pressure and between body mass and blood pressure such that tracking correlations from childhood to adulthood for both blood pressure and body mass index are significant for most sex and ethnic groups. Studies evaluating the effects of hormone replacement therapy on post-menopausal women have thus far generated results suggesting that the age-related rise of blood pressure is not due directly to hormonal changes associated with menopause. The interrelated effects of growth, maturation, body weight, and body fat are influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Environmental influences may modify relationships established much earlier, perhaps as early as prenatally, during infancy, or during early childhood. Directions for future research and implications resulting from the complex relationship between body weight and blood pressure are discussed.


International and domestic tourism are leading economic activities in today's world. Tourism has been known to generate goods and services directly and indirectly, attract foreign currency, stimulate employment and provide opportunities for investment. It has also been recognized as an important means of achieving economic development. Substantial research has been conducted to evaluate the role of international tourism, and its associated volatility, within and across various economies. This paper applies several recently developed models of multivariate conditional volatility to investigate the interdependence of international tourism demand, as measured by international tourist arrivals, and its associated volatility in the four leading destinations in ASEAN, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Each of these countries has attractive tourism characteristics, such as significant cultural and natural resources. Shocks to international tourism demand volatility could affect, positively or negatively, the volatility in the tourism demand of neighbouring countries. The empirical results should encourage regional cooperation in tourism development among ASEAN member countries and also mobilize international and regional organizations to provide appropriate policy actions.


Sensor networks provide us with the means of effectively monitoring and interacting with the physical world. A sensor network usually consists of a large number of small inexpensive battery-operated sensors deployed in a geographic area. This dissertation considers a sensor network deployed to monitor a disaster area. First responders continuously issue ad-hoc queries while moving in the disaster area. In such an environment, it is often more beneficial to store sensor readings and process ad-hoc queries within rather than outside the sensor network. Recently, this led to an increased popularity of Data-Centric Storage (DCS). A DCS scheme is based on a mapping function from readings to sensors based on the attribute values of each reading. This mapping function defines the DCS index structure.
Two significant problems arising in this DCS network model due to data and traffic skewness are storage hotspots and query hotspots. Storage hotspots are formed when many sensor readings are mapped for storage to a relatively small number of sensor nodes. Query hotspots occur when many user queries target few sensor nodes. Both types of hotspots are hard to predict. Storage hotspots result in an uncontrolled reading shedding that decreases the Quality of Data (QoD). Due to the limited wireless bandwidth of sensors, hotspots decrease QoD by increasing collisions (thus losses) of reading/query packets. When lasting long enough, hotspots affect the Quality of Service (QoS) by unevenly depleting energy in the sensor network.
This dissertation addresses both problems of hotspots through load balancing. The main dissertation hypothesis is that data migration resulting from local or global load balancing of the DCS index structure can effectively solve the hotspot problems. The contributions of this dissertation lie in developing two schemes, namely, the Zone Sharing/Zone Partitioning/Zone Partial Replication (ZS/ZP/ZPR) scheme and the K-D tree based Data-Centric Storage (KDDCS) scheme. ZS/ZP/ZPR detects and decomposes both types of hotspots through load balancing in the hotspot area. KDDCS avoids the formation of hotspots through globally load-balancing the underlying DCS index structure. Experimental evaluation shows the effectiveness of the proposed schemes in coping with hotspots in comparison to the state-of-the-art DCS schemes.
Keywords Sensor Networks, Distributed Algorithms, Data-Centric Storage, Load Balancing, Storage Hotspots, Query Hotspots.


A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Computer Science in Partial Fulfillment for the Degree of Master of Science in Computer Science.


Using the example of discussions of ornament and ornamentation, this paper sketches out scenarios in which "minor knowledges" (Foucault) and practices fail to be recognised in mainstream discourses of academics or professionals. The suppression of ornament, as is well known, went hand-in-hand with the putting down of an irrationality and excessiveness ascribed to women, the working class and savages. The latters' relative rise in power, and resulting perspectival changes manifest in, for instance, postmodernism, have freed ornament of some of the stigmata previously attached to it. However, the mechanisms involved in its suppression are still at work, and current frameworks are still based on countless unexamined assumptions. These effectively continue to re-enforce power/knowledge relationships and to marginalise non-fitting outlooks and practices. The paper sets out to discuss and critique some key aspects of knowledge production and the limits of our ability to know. I suggest that some conditions that applied to the discussions of ornamental practices are likely to apply similarly to dilemmas with which designers are confronted today, when they deal with something which is not acceptable or doesn't even feature in the canons into which claims to knowledge solidify. The paper argues for courage on the part of design theorists, professionals and educators to accept uncertainty and to exercise epistemological modesty. A crossover and mutual transformation of different ways of understanding is required if we are to unfold new knowledge and to look at the familiar with new eyes.


In this study, Aspergillus niger spores were powderised using freeze and spray drying techniques prior to the treatment of palm kernel cake (PKC) for subsequently used as an animal feed particularly for poultry. Initially, effects of several harvesting agents on the recovery of the spores from the growth solid media were investigated. Prior to freeze and spray drying processes, several cryoprotective agents (skimmed milk, maltose, glucose, lactose and leucine) were added to the prepared spore suspension in order to maintain high cell viability. In the freeze drying process, cell viability was reduced from 1.2 x 1012 CFU/g to 2.7 x 1010 CFU/g when using 10% w/v of glucose as the cryoprotective agent and achieved about 1.65 of log reduction. Meanwhile, highest cell viability (1.8 x 1011 CFU/g) was exhibited using 10% w/v of maltose compared to 10% w/v of skimmed milk (2.7 x 1010 CFU/g), which examined immediately after freeze drying process. However, 10% w/v skimmed milk showed the best cryorptective agent for long storage life. The viable cells were survived up to 61 weeks of storage using 10% w/v skimmed milk, while it was only 49 weeks for both 10% w/v glucose and 10% w/v maltose In the spray drying process, the cell viability reduced from 6.0 x 1012 CFU/g to 6.1 x 1010 CFU/g when using skimmed milk as the protective agent. The combination of 10% w/v lactose and 10% w/w leucine as the protective agents prior to spray drying process showed drastically decreased of cell viability from 5.0 x 1012 CFU/g to 4.3 x 1010 CFU/g. However, increased of leucine percentage (12% w/w leucine) in the combination of the cryoprotective agents slightly improved the cell viability from 4.3 x 1010 CFU/g to 6.0 x 1010 CFU/g. Comparison between freeze drying and spray drying process in terms of drying methods, cell viability immediately after drying process, survival rate, and long term storage product was made. As a result, the freeze drying process using combination of selected cryoprotective agents was showed to be the preferred method for long storage life. Generally, freeze drying process exhibited highest cell viability, high survival rate of spores and long term storage stability of product. Meanwhile, spray drying process showed shorter storage life of viable cells, which only last up to week 29 as compared to week 61 for freeze drying process and there were no viable cells detected at the end of each storage life. Higher reducing sugars were obtained from both spray dried (141.10 mg/g PKC) and freeze dried (86.83 mg/g PKC) A. niger spores compared to fresh A. niger spores that produce 58.57 mg/g PKC. While for mannanase production for spray dried spores was 341.75 U/g of PKC, freeze dried was 330.25 U/g of PKC and fresh A. niger 346.75 U/g of PKC. Powderised spores have shown promising results to reduced NDF, ADF, and CF in PKC and increase CP.


Introduction: Education quality improvement is one of the main goals of higher education. In this regard, has been provided various solutions such as holding educational Shahid Motahari annual festivals, in order to appreciate of educational process, development and innovation educational processes and procedures, preparation of calibration standards and processes of accrediting educational. The aim of this study was to comprehensive evaluating of educational Shahid Motahari festival during six periods (2008-2013) based on CIPP evaluation model. Method : This cross-sectional study was conducted among the 473 faculty members include; deputies and administrators educational, administrators and faculty members of medical education development centers, members of the scientific committee and faculty member's participants in Shahid Motahari festival from 42 universities medical sciences of Iran. Data collection based on self-report writing questionnaires. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 20 at α =0.05 significant level. Results: The subjects reported 75.13%, 65.33%, 64.5%, and 59.21 % of receivable scores of process, context, input and product, respectively. In addition, there was a direct and significant correlation between all domains. Conclusion : According to the study findings, in the evaluation and correlation of domains models, we can explicitly how to holding festivals was appropriate and the main reason for the poor evaluation in product domain is related to the problems in input and product domains.


Abstract Rules are presented for assigning coefficients to the genetic group portion(s) of the mixed model equations after transformation to solve directly for total genetic value (group plus animal solutions) simultaneously for sires and cows using an animal model. Inclusion of all known relationships seems to reduce the need for groups to account for genetic selection and genetic trend. Migration of animals into a population, however, results in a need for grouping to account for genetic merit of the migrants. Selection of parents on which records are not available also creates a need for grouping. Group solutions represent the average genetic merit of phantom (unidentified, or represented by only one descendant) animals selected to be parents that do not have records available. Groups can be cross-classified with time and the genetic path of selection. The total genetic value for every animal includes a function of genetic groups. The function of genetic groups is specific for each individual animal and depends on the number of generations to the base phantom ancestors and on the genetic groups to which those phantom ancestors are assigned. The group coefficients presented account for genetic selection that cannot be defined by known genetic relationships.


This paper describes and illustrates a generalized least squares (GLS) reconciliation method that can efficiently incorporate all available information on initial data in reconciling a large system of disaggregated accounts and can accurately estimate industry distribution of statistical discrepancy. The GLS reconciliation method is applied to reconciling the 1997 GDP-by-industry accounts and the Input-output accounts. The GDP-by-industry accounts measure GDP by industry using industry gross income, and the input-output accounts measure GDP by industry as the residual between gross output and intermediate inputs. The GLS method produced balanced estimates and estimated the industry distribution of the statisical discrepancy. The results show that using reliability to reconcile different accounts produces statistically meaningful balanced estimates. The study demonstrates that reconciling a large system of disaggregated accounts is empirically feasible and computationally efficient.


First published in 1986, this book describes the most important medicinal plants in tropical West Africa and similar humid tropical climates. After a short introduction about early traditional medicine, the bulk of the book gives an account of locally occurring plants, grouped by their medicinal actions. Plants that affect the cardiovascular and nervous systems are discussed, as are those with antibiotic, insecticidal and molluscicidal properties. Those which affect the hormonal systems of humans are catalogued and so are others that act as adrenal-cortex, sex and thyroid hormones. There is a full botanical index, which includes the commonly found synonyms for many of the plants and the work is illustrated by the author's own water colours. It may be of particular interest and use to pharmacists, biochemists, botanists and pharmacologists and of great value to those who exploit locally available resources in treating diseases in tropical areas.


[1] This paper evaluates global mean radiatively important properties of chemistry climate models (CCMs). We evaluate stratospheric temperatures and their 1980–2000 trends, January clear sky irradiances, heating rates, and greenhouse gas radiative forcings from an offline comparison of CCM radiation codes with line‐by‐line models, and CCMs' representation of the solar cycle. CCM global mean temperatures and their change can give an indication of errors in radiative transfer codes and/or atmospheric composition. Biases in the global temperature climatology are generally small, although five out of 18 CCMs show biases in their climatology that likely indicate problems with their radiative transfer codes. Temperature trends also generally agree well with observations, although one model shows significant discrepancies that appear to be due to radiation errors. Heating rates and estimated temperature changes from CO2, ozone, and water vapor changes are generally well modeled. Other gases (N2O, CH4, and CFCs) have only played a minor role in stratospheric temperature change, but their heating rates have large fractional errors in many models. Models that do not account for variations in the spectrum of solar irradiance cannot properly simulate solar‐induced variations in stratospheric temperature. The combined long‐lived greenhouse gas global annual mean instantaneous net radiative forcing at the tropopause is within 30% of line‐by‐line models for all CCM radiation codes tested. Problems remain in simulating radiative forcing for stratospheric water vapor and ozone changes with errors between 3% and 200% compared to line by line models. The paper makes recommendations for CCM radiation code developers and future intercomparisons.


In this work we study the use of amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) layers as an alternative to silicon nitride for passivating the surface of crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafers. Intrinsic and doped amorphous silicon layers were deposited by Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition onto n and p-type crystalline float-zone silicon wafers. QuasiSteady-State Photoconductance measurements of the c-Si/a-Si:H samples were used to measure the effective carrier lifetime and surface recombination velocity before and after thermal annealing at temperatures from 250C to 350C. The effective lifetime is shown to increase dramatically after annealing for nand p-type float-zone wafers when intrinsic a-Si:H is used to passivate the surfaces. However, the surface passivation for samples using doped a-Si:H layers is shown to be poor. Also, passivating hydrogen bonds from the heterojunction and the a-Si:H is shown to decrease with increasing temperatures, without detrimental effects from blistering which generally cause the effective carrier lifetime to decrease. This is attributed to the 500nm and 900nm a-Si:H layer thickness used.


In this paper we propose an approach to handle the additional level complexity and indicate the rate of increase or decrease of fault proneness in software product line applications. The proposed approach is based on measurement analysis and consisting of three main components.i.e., Analysis, Measurement and Visualisation to dynamically analyse the internal preprocessed source code characteristics, calculate metrics and visualise results in two dimensional diagrams.i.e., graphs, bar chart and tree maps. To evaluate the effectiveness of proposed approach we first implemented it in a real time software application and then performed experimentation using some real time data sets. Narrowing the scope of our research, we only focus on analysing software product line applications developed in C++ programming language.


This paper tries to probe the influence of the organizational culture on language classroom at a newly-established local college. It firstly reviews the knowledge of the organizational culture and finds out its features, and then discusses how the organizational culture was greatly influenced by the host educational environment. On the basis of this, the paper interprets how organizational culture in turn influences the classroom culture in terms of English language teaching and learning in China. Keywords-organizational culture; influence; language classroom


There is barely any agreement in the literature on the way one should compare the political parties defending the interest of a specific community on a particular territory – the ethno-regionalist parties – and classify them. Based on the analysis of the ideological positions of ethno-regionalist parties in Western Europe, this article suggests a identification of these parties, partially relying on previous attempts of building typologies. Focusing on the essential dimension of the strength of the demands regarding the preferred state structure and the future of their region, we will suggest a renewed typology and we will demonstrate the neglected importance of the protectionist parties (soft demands) and of the secessionist parties (strong or radical demands) in such typology. This article will also clarify the terminology used when dealing with independentist, irredentist and rattachist parties by complementing the traditional approach with studies from international relations.


The battle for same-sex marriage is likely to be the civil rights issue of this decade. Developments all over the world over the last several years have caused celebration, public outcry and passionate debate. In the last year alone, the first Latin American same-sex wedding was performed, Sweden joined the nations who allow same-sex marriage, and the United States saw the "Proposition 8" debacle in California, and the new federal lawsuits that will inevitably propel the issues toward the Supreme Court. The legal debate in the United States has asked the crucial question: is there a legal right to marriage for each person, regardless of sexual orientation? This article examines the debate through the prism of international law and argues that there is. Scholars and courts have analyzed the constitutional, legal and moral implications of this debate. This article adds a new argument to the debate: same-sex marriage should be allowed in the United States because it is protected by customary international law, and U.S. courts do, and should, consider international custom in their jurisprudence.Part One of the article details the myriad of areas in which "marriage" is a legally significant designation. Part Two describes the legislation, judicial opinions and contours of the debate in the United States to date. Part Three presents arguments for how same-sex marriage is protected by customary international law: it is protected through codifications of custom, it is a trend in at least parts of the world, and most importantly, the justifications of the nations who allow same-sex marriage evidence a sense of legal obligation to allow it. Part Four examines how the United States courts have used customary international law in a variety of cases, and explains how courts could incorporate those norms to find that same-sex marriage should be legalized. The article concludes with two essential appendices that illustrate the current status of same-sex marriage: a state-by-state current summary of the issue in the United States and a large selected nation-by-nation compilation.


This article considers the impact of China's insertion into the global political economy on the nature of political power in China. It argues that for most of the period of the transition from socialism, state leaders attempted to protect domestic interests where possible from the perceived detrimental impacts of globalization. However, China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) marked a key shift in this strategy. Through the creation of an international coalition for reform, key state leaders used WTO entry as a tool to enforce change on reluctant domestic constituents, rather than the earlier strategy of protecting them from competition and change. While domestic reform efforts have been responsible for many of the changes to the Chinese regime, external actors and interests have also played an important role in altering the fundamentals of politics in the People's Republic of China, and in particular, changing the raison d'être of Communist Party rule.


Background: This research was undertaken during a period of rapid change within the NHS including the deinstitutionalisation of care, and increased emphasis on partnership working. The main aim of the study was to examine collaborative goalsetting as a means of (a) involving people with learning disabilities in healthcare decision making and (b) measuring the impact of treatment interventions. Study Design: Initially a qualitative approach was taken. Case study methods centred on the introduction of Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) as an individualised measure of outcome within two acute specialist in-patient units. Views of co-operative care planning and evaluation were elicited from patients and clinicians through the use of GAS. A unique patient interview schedule was developed incorporating pictures as a supplementary method of establishing users' views. Following this a two-phase interview survey included views of care from eight practitioners and 10 managers and service commissioners. Finally a survey of 94 key stakeholders within Scottish learning disabilities services was undertaken. Findings: Practitioners had difficulties implementing GAS. Twelve patients were selected for the GAS study by members of the multidisciplinary team. In total 16 goals were set and scaled and impact measured. Six patients participated in interviews, describing the users' view of the therapeutic process. The findings highlighted barriers to the inclusion of people with learning disabilities such as rapid discharge, extreme behaviour and severe learning disabilities. In all surveys outcome measurement was viewed as complex as well as open to manipulation. A consistent preference for individualised measures of outcome for people with learning disabilities emerged. The research indicated multiple perspectives on stakeholders' attitudes to partnership working, regarding, for example, power differentials, professional terriorialism and interagency mistrust.


Previous work has shown that speakers of some southern Chinese dialects have difficulty perceptually differentiating English /n l/. In this study, an attempt was made to increase the perceptual salience of some possible acoustic cues. Seven native Chinese speakers labeled the first consonant of three combined sets of ten English /n l/ minimal pairs produced by a male and a female native English speaker. One set consisted of unaltered words from the earlier study. The consonant portion of the second set had been normalized for peak amplitude. The peak amplitude of the consonant was then equal to the peak amplitude of the vowel. In the third set, a portion of the CV transition had been normalized. Native English speakers labeled the words with high accuracy. Results and implications will be discussed.


PURPOSE
The aim of this report is to review a decade of experience in the management of perineal and genital burns at a major burn center.

METHODS
Seventy-eight children who sustained perineal or genital burns admitted to the Shriners Hospitals for Children in Galveston are discussed.

RESULTS
Genital and perineal burns occurred in the context of major burns and were rarely isolated. A total of 64.1% were caused by hot liquids (scalds), 29.5% were flame burns, 3.8% contact burns, and 2.6% electrical burns. A total of 61% of the burns could be treated conservatively with loose debridement, topical, and parenteral antibiotics with satisfactory outcomes. Foley catheterization did not increase the morbidity in these patients except in children less than 1 year of age. Testicular involvement was associated with the most severe burns. Child abuse was found in 46% and 48% of boys and girls, respectively, younger than 2 years that had sustained scald burns to the perineum and, or genitals.

CONCLUSIONS
Most perineal and genital burns in children can be treated successfully with a conservative approach. Child abuse should be vigorously investigated.


In this paper, we develop a novel theory of cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Firms can choose between different modes of foreign market access: exporting, greenfield FDI, and cross-border M&A. Our theory is based on three key ideas. First is heterogeneity in firms' capabilities. Second, these capabilities differ in their degree of international mobility. Third, capabilities are traded in a merger market. We address two questions: (1) what are the characteristics of firms that choose the various modes of foreign market access, and (2) how does the composition of international commerce vary across industries and countries? We show that the degree to which firms differ in their mobile and non-mobile capabilities plays a crucial role for the composition of international commerce: depending on whether firms differ in their mobile or immobile capabilities, cross-border mergers may involve the most or the least efficient active firms. A similar dichotomy obtains when analyzing the effects of country and industry characteristics on the distribution of firms' efficiencies.


ABSTRACT Since the Children Act 2004 in both England and Wales, schools are expected to give due attention to the issue of children's rights, particularly respect for the views of pupils in matters that affect them, as outlined in Article 12 of the UNCRC. However, one theme that has been relatively unexplored in the literature on children's rights and education is religion and the role it plays in everyday school life, an issue that has relevance for Article 12, but also Article 14, which refers to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This article approaches the topic of religion, schooling and children's rights empirically, through a focus on rural church schools. It draws on in-depth qualitative research with pupils and other stakeholders from two case study schools in order to explore the significance of ethos values and experiences of religious practices for debates in this area.


Procedures particularly applicable to Washington State have been developed to assist the highway designer in evaluating and minimizing the impacts of highway runoff on receiving waters. The guide provides computation procedures to estimate pollutant concentrations and annual loadings for three levels of analysis which depend on the watershed, the discharge system and traffic. It further provides means to judge the potential impacts of the runoff on receiving waters.


The public capital installed in a region has an important role in the development of that region, because the studies in this area show us that public capital has an important role on the private sector performance. It is expected that public capital enhances private sector efficiency, and thus the output of that sector. As it is well known regional disparities still exist in Turkey. The research in this area shows that public capital can be used to reduce regional disparities. In this respect the main aim of this study is to investigate the impact of public capital formation on the efficiency of private manufacturing industries in Turkey at NUTS II level. While most of the studies in this area use public capital as a direct input for production, we assume that public capital has an effect on private output by enhancing technical efficiency. For the aim of the study, we employ data envelopment analysis to calculate efficiency scores by using a panel data of 25 regions at the first stage; afterwards we estimate the effects of public capital on private sector efficiency econometrically by using these scores. The results reveal that public capital has positive impact on private sector efficiency both at the regional level and regional level.