Introduction For the past decade, economists and information technology specialists have argued back and forth whether IT investments have generated return on investments and increased national output of goods and services. Businesses, fueled by high expectations on productivity growth generated by IT investments, heavily invested into computing power between the mid 1980s and the 1990s. It was generally accepted that IT spending would prove to be a valuable investments and would pay for itself in the long run. Growth and high return on investment were expected. A few years later, managers and business leaders were beginning to question the gains in productivity, which at best seemed to be in a state of status quo (Brynjolfsson, 1993). Though a few success stories were recorded and praised, for most, information technology became a source of frustration and disillusion. The notion of the productivity paradox emerged. Companies, learning from the wasted billions in questionable IT investments, had to reinvent the way they did business to integrate their IT investments into their strategic planning. Today IT resources are specialized, tailored and customized to the needs of the company, and optimized to maximize companies' efficiency and output level. This transition has been slow, lengthy, and painfully costly. This paper presents an analysis of the evolution of the philosophy of investments in IT projects--by both pubic as well as private sector companies. The paper discusses the empirical evidence--both at macro and micro levels--that led to questioning of the contribution of IT investments to productivity gains and other measurable returns such as ROI (return on investment), an analysis of three major examples of high profile failed IT projects, and four periods of evolution of IT investments starting from the time of euphoria when no one questioned IT investments to the current (fourth) period of the total (IT) integration management. Questioning the Return on IT Investments In recent years computers have revolutionized the way companies do business with customers and other businesses; yet business data and other productivity statistics do not reflect any added growth. To solve this mystery, academic economists and scholars began collecting macroeconomic data. The focus of the research mainly concerned many factors and labor productivity statistics. Economists discovered that both indices and the GDP dropped after 1973 when the first mainframe was introduced in the business world (Hubbard, 2003). In the late 1990s, the threatening Y2K bug forced companies to invest even more in IT resources to prevent a massive loss of data that many IT specialists predicted. Nothing happened and companies had more technology than needed and productivity growth was not seen. Many have written books and articles explaining this paradox. A great deal of time was also spent on detailing how to measure productivity. Economists just could not assess whether technology contributed to growth or negatively affected it. Productivity and GDP were still growing but at a much slower pace. Many argued that most analysts measured macro data when computer contribution can only be noticed on a micro level (Devaraj & Kohli, 2002). Finally, the argued theories of the old economy and the new economy did not answer the problem or explain the paradox. Researchers came to the conclusion that this paradox exists due to seven factors that mask proper measurements and analysis. These factors are: (1) IT investments only represent a small share of GDP. (2) Computers have a rapid rate of depreciation and obsolescence. (3) Old measurements do not apply in the new economy. (4) Poor analogy exists between the service sector (where productivity slowed down the most) and its heavy reliance on computers. (5) Computers have provided many intangible benefits. (6) A time lag exists between technology arrival and productivity benefits. …


James S. Haskins, professor in the UF Department of English, was a social activist, an educator and an award winning author of over 100 adult and children's books. His book, "The Cotton Club," was made into a major film in 1984.


The response of Synechococcus sp. growth, primary production and loss rates was examined in a large-scale mesocosm nutrient enrichment experiment in a coastal NW Mediterranean bay community during the summer of 1997. The mesocosm units (33 m 3 ) received N, P and Si at a sto- chiometric ratio of 20N:7Si:1P, at the normal nutrient loading rate for the site (5 mmol N m -2 d -1 ), and at 0.5-, 2-, 4-, 8-, and 16-fold the normal nutrient loading input into the bay. Growth and primary pro- duction of Synechococcus during the early phase of the experiment increased 2- to 4-fold in the mesocosms receiving ♢ 4-fold the normal nutrient loading rate compared to those receiving less, pro- viding evidence of nutrient-limited growth of the population in the Mediterranean bay studied dur- ing that summer. Synechococcus growth was saturated at approximately 0.25 µM DIN, and was unsustained as nutrient inputs continued, showing growth inhibition at relatively high DIN levels (> 8 µM). The response of loss rates of Synechococcus to the experimental nutrient inputs was similar to the growth responses, although the dynamics of Synechococcus population size seemed to be an interplay between growth and loss rates. The population size of Synechococcus increased early by almost 3-fold, indicative of limitation of Synechococcus biomass in the Bay of Blanes during summer. The increase is suggested to result from the lag between Synechococcus growth and loss rate responses during the early phase of the experiment when growth rates exceeded loss rates, resulting in an increase in net production with increased loading. The increase of Synechococcus population size towards the end of the experiment was a result of decreased grazing pressure on Synechococcus, despite the low growth rates of Synechococcus at the high nutrient inputs. Grazing of Synechococcus is suggested to be the main loss process (>50% of calculated loss rates) except towards the end of the experiment when grazing was only 13% of the calculated losses.


This paper sets out to explore the themes and issues which are relevant to understanding the career experience of professional women civil engineers in Britain. A central focus of the paper is gender as a variable in career experiences and organisational processes. A good number of studies ( e.g. women scientists in the NHS, Hilary Homans 1987, women GPs, Barbara Lawrence, 1987 ) have shown how women are ostracised, alienated, belittled or made invisible when they enter male-dominated work places. Despite this, for many years now women have been entering occupations and professions, which traditionally have been perceived as men's work and within the UK civil engineering profession have begun to make significant inroads. However women remain severely under represented in management and "partner" positions in the consulting firms and the 1998 Salary Survey conducted by the leading industry journal 'New Civil Engineer' indicates that in the middle ranks of the profession women earn on average 18% less than their male counterparts and at the top of the profession are present in such small numbers that no comparison could be made. This suggests that the theoretical framework underpinning equal opportunity policy fails to challenge the conceptualisation of work and management as gender neutral. This has been a theme in Cynthia Cockburn's work on the structure of organisations which has informed my research.The paper will thus discuss the cultural, social and organisational factors affecting the professional progress of women civil engineers in the UK.


'Environmentalism' covers a range of social and political movements and ethical perspectives which share a concern for the protection and improvement of the quality of the environment. Almost twenty years after the 1960s when sizeable environmentalist mobilizations had first come to light and begun to shore up critical public debates and projects for radical social change in Western Europe and North America, the environment was still not a very substantial worry across a wide spectrum of social movements in Turkey. In the 1970s small mobilizations for the environment had surfaced here and there in connection with the tide of student and working class radicalism; yet these were only sporadic groupings. None of them succeeded in reaching a scale capable of developing the capacity to influence the political context in their own right.

The situation had changed drastically with the military intervention in 1980. The junta banned almost all political activities, especially those that aimed to improve the political and economic conditions of the working class. With the brutal suppression of class politics, all forms of mobilization for radical social change had either receded or gone underground. Paradoxically it was in the post-junta period that environmentalism had become popular and influential not only among radical societal activists but also within the official political society.

With the return to 'democracy', now forced to fit the limits drawn by the restrictive 1982 Constitution, public space was opened, for the first time, to several environmentalist movements which, in less than a decade, were to be momentous mobilizations. These "new social movements" made effective use of the opportunities provided by the new codes and regulations legislated and implemented by successive governments in response to an alarmingly deteriorating natural environment, in addition to the international obligations acceded by the Turkish state by signing bilateral or multilateral environmental accords.

The majority of such mobilizations were initially local and focused in their horizons. A typical case was the contention between the concerned people of a locale, mobilized usually by the initiations of professional associations of lawyers, engineers and doctors or marginal and perhaps clandestine left wing groups, and a multi-national corporation operating without even minimal reverence for the natural riches of that locale. Needless to say, this was not only a typical case in Turkey but rather a common experience around the world, especially in the South, as a consequence of the insertion into the new global governance regime, later to be called Neoliberalism, which puts the demands of corporations before the environment and is prone to the "market solution".

It was within and through such local mobilizations that the environmentalist movement in Turkey not only proliferated but also expanded in its reach and broadened its horizon. Various environmentalist mobilizations since the 1980s, which have also increased their connections with transnational environmentalist currents and movements, can be grouped under five categories with respect to the issues that they have been concentrating on and struggling against:

1. Mobilizations against the adverse effects of fossil fuel plants - mostly coal-fired thermal power plants.
2. Mobilizations against the lack of regulations aiming to protect the commons
3. Mobilizations against the adverse effects of nuclear power plants
4. Mobilizations against gold mining
5. Mobilizations against hydro power plants built along rivers

The objective of the chapter

In this chapter, against the background of the emergence and consolidation of the environmentalist movement in Turkey in terms of the prevalent structural conditions of the global and local contexts at particular intervals of time over the period of our analysis, we analyze the ethical bases and principles guiding, governing and justifying the actions of the aforementioned mobilizations. Using a two dimensional taxonomy we aim to differentiate mobilizations according to their ethical premises. On one hand, we observe groups of mobilizations that share the assumptions, values and judgments of the anthropocentric perspective. On the other hand, we single out groups of mobilizations that move beyond the former and draw from the ecocentric perspective. The difference between these two is that while the former conceives present and future human beings as the only things that have intrinsic value, the latter sees all living organisms as things with equal significance in value terms.

Our initial examination of the particular mobilizations within the environmentalist movement in Turkey leads us to recommend the following generalizations (which surely need to be further studied and elaborated by future research).
1. In terms of the historical trajectory, as a general trend, mobilizations move away from the anthropocentric perspective towards the ecocentric perspective.
2. The general trend that we observe is more salient in grassroots mobilizations than those sponsored by the corporations under the auspices of social responsibility projects.
3. The dividing line between the two sorts of ethical positioning is the position taken vis-a-vis the capitalist system. Those that take on a definitive anti-capitalist stance are almost completely inclined toward the ecocentric perspective. Unlike these, those that take on a reformist line of action and are associated with various corporate agendas remain very much anthropocentric, and thereby aim to rectify the wrongs of an otherwise well-functioning status quo.


We study how competition in the product market affects the link between firms' real investment decisions and their asset return dynamics. In our model, assets in place and growth options have different sensitivities to market wide uncertainty. The strategic behavior of market participants influences the relative importance of these components of firm value. We show that the relationship between the degree of competition and assets' expected rates of return varies with product market demand. When demand is low, firms in more competitive industries earn higher returns, whereas when demand is high firms in more concentrated industries earn higher returns.


An unprecedented, sympathetic, and systematic exploration of the mysterious world of Islamic women, by women who have been there. More than half a billion women live their entire lives peeking out from behind heavy veils. Theirs is a mysterious, misunderstood life often lived without hope and under great persecution. This groundbreaking book is written by evangelical Christian women who have seen the other side. Ranging from missionaries in Islamic countries, to former reporters and columnists, the contributors give a powerful and unsilenceable voice to the women behind the veil. Written by women with such deep knowledge of Muslim life that some of the identities have been obscured for their protection A discussion of the real women of Islam--not the veils, protocols, and rules


Abstract Translation, for Saussure, assumed the codified rule of language respecting the difference between synchronic and diachronic linguistics. Translation may be regarded as a theoretical possibility, though impossible for the creative speech of language speakers. Peirce's logical semiotics reasoned the linguistic-and-cultural (linguïcultural) interpretants of received signs. Semiotranslation is a semiotic game to change the symbiosis of two languages into one language. Identified with both Saussure and Peirce, Jakobson's intralingual, interlingual, and intersemiotic forms of translation propose rewording, translation proper, and transmutation. Peirce's semiosis creates simple and complex symbols but navigates between translation, semiotranslation, and transduction. Translation derives from the para-functions of replicas in "paraphrase" and "parasite" to signify the multiplicity of ideas and trends in biotranslation. The source text can be re-organized into the iconic activity of Saussurean paraphrase; or the target text can be indexically recontextualized in the parasitical evolution of Peirce's instinct and facts of life applied to arts — neither approaching pure science.


This article presents the results of a scientific literature analysis based on Kitchenham ' s (2004) proposal, regarding the technological-pedagogical knowledge of the content under the TPACK model. Research studies containing data-driven information in primary education were revised. The selection of the 622 articles was conducted in Scopus, WoS (Web of Science), ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center), and Google Scholar databases; considering the period from which this model was initially described to May 2019. The following criteria were also observed: open access sources, referring to social sciences, and full text available. To conclude, there is limited scientific production regarding TPACK model in primary education, with 3,05% of the articles reviewed in this systematic literature review. An increase in using the TPACK model in terms of teacher knowledge and enriched environments with information and communication technology has also been observed. Participation of other members of the school community as students, parents and managers is also recommended.


Although the DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) have been under
development for most of the last decade, the IETF has never written
down the specific set of threats against which DNSSEC is designed to
protect. Among other drawbacks, this cart-before-the-horse situation
has made it difficult to determine whether DNSSEC meets its design
goals, since its design goals are not well specified. This note
attempts to document some of the known threats to the DNS, and, in
doing so, attempts to measure to what extent (if any) DNSSEC is a
useful tool in defending against these threats. This memo provides
information for the Internet community.


Exploiting the power of nanopore sequencing requires the development of new bioinformatics approaches to deal with its specific error characteristics. We present the first nanopore read mapper (GraphMap) that uses a read-funneling paradigm to robustly handle variable error rates and fast graph traversal to align long reads with speed and very high precision (>95%). Evaluation on MinION sequencing datasets against short and long-read mappers indicates that GraphMap increases mapping sensitivity by at least 15-80%. GraphMap alignments are the first to demonstrate consensus calling with <1 error in 100,000 bases, variant calling on the human genome with 76% improvement in sensitivity over the next best mapper (BWA-MEM), precise detection of structural variants from 100bp to 4kbp in length and species and strain-specific identification of pathogens using MinION reads. GraphMap is available open source under the MIT license at https://github.com/isovic/graphmap.


In this paper we propose a theoretical framework to understand the governance of internet-mediated social production. Focusing on one of the most popular websites and reference tools, Wikipedia, we undertake an exploratory theoretical analysis to clarify the structure and mechanisms driving the endogenous change of a large-scale social production system. We argue that the popular transactions costs approach underpinning many of the analyses is an insufficient framework for unpacking the evolutionary character of governance. The evolution of Wikipedia and its shifting modes of governance can be better framed as a process of building a collective capability, namely the capability of editing and managing a new kind of encyclopedia. We understand Wikipedia evolution as a learning phenomenon that gives over time rise to governance mechanisms and structures as endogenous responses to the problems and conditions that the ongoing development of Wikipedia itself has produced over the years. Finally, we put forward five empirical hypotheses to test the theoretical framework.


Abstract: In the British Isles the majority of volcanic rocks containing upper mantle and lower crustal xenoliths occur in Scotland. Most of the occurrences are of Carboniferous–Permian age. This paper presents new data on the mineral chemistry of spinel lherzolite xenoliths from the five principal Scottish tectonic terranes. Compositional variations among the minerals emphasize the broad lateral heterogeneity of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle across the region. The remarkable range of Al2O3 v. CaO exhibited by the clinopyroxenes compared with data from other 'xenolith provinces' emphasizes the extremely complex tectonomagmatic history of the Scottish lithosphere. The generalized age increase from southern and central Scotland to the Northern Highland and Hebridean terranes of the north and NW, with concomitant complexity of geological history, is reflected also by trace element and isotopic studies. Reaction relationships in lherzolites from the Hebridean Terrane, owing to pervasive metasomatism, involve secondary growth of sodic feldspar. This, and light REE enrichment of clinopyroxenes, points to involvement of a natro-carbonatitic melt. Most pyroxenitic xenoliths are inferred to form a basal crustal layer with a generally sharp discontinuity above the underlying (dominantly lherzolitic) mantle. A second discontinuity is inferred to separate these ultramafic cumulates from overlying, broadly cognate metagabbroic cumulates.


Ultraendurance mountain bike racing is a relatively new sport and has received scant research attention. The practical difficulty of field-testing during competition has played a role in this dearth of knowledge. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the physiology and bioenergetics of cross-country marathon (XCM) and 24 hour team relay (24XCT) mountain bike racing.

Study One analysed the physiological characteristics of XCM competitors and compared them to data from studies in the literature for Olympic-distance cross-country (XCO) mountain bike competitors. The XCM participants had lower mean peak aerobic capacity (58.4 ± 6.3 mL•kg-1•min-1), greater body mass (72.8 ± 6.7 kg) and estimated percentage body fat (10.4 ± 2.4%) compared to values reported for XCO competitors in the literature. Stature (1.77 ± 6.0 m) and normalised peak power output (5.5 ± 0.7 W•kg-1) were comparable. These data suggest that specific physiological characteristics of XCM competitors differ from those of XCO competitors.

Study Two quantified and described the exercise intensity during a XCM race by monitoring heart rate responses. The mean heart rate (150 ± 10 beats•min-1) for the duration of the race equated to 82 percent of maximum heart rate and did not differ significantly throughout the race (p = 0.33). The data indicated that the XCM race was of a high aerobic intensity. Prior to the competition the relationship between heart rate and O2peak for each participant was established during an incremental laboratory test. Energy expenditure was estimated by assigning 20.2 kJ to each litre of oxygen consumed. The mean rate of energy expenditure during the race was estimated to be 59.9 kJ•min-1. Furthermore, no anthropometric or physiological measures were correlated to race speed, indicating that other factors contribute to race performance.

The third study was a laboratory-based investigation to determine whether physiological factors relevant to 24XCT racing change with time of day. On separate days participants cycled on an ergometer for 20 min at 82 percent of maximum heart rate at 06:00, 12:00, 18:00, and 00:00 h. Significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed for several physiological responses (heart rate, oxygen uptake, salivary cortisol concentrations and intra-aural temperature) but not for performance variables (power output and self-selected cadence). It was concluded that the laboratory protocol lacked ecological validity and that it was necessary to test within a race using authentic 24XCT competitors.

In order to measure in-race performance, Study Four examined the agreement between a bottom-bracket ambulatory ergometer (Ergomo®Pro) and the criterion SRM power meter in a field-based setting. Analysis of absolute limits of agreement found that the Ergomo®Pro had a systematic bias (± random error) of 4.9 W (± 6.12). Based on tolerances recommended in the literature the unit was considered fit for purpose for measuring power output during 24XCT racing.

Study Five was a multiple case-study design that examined the physiological and performance parameters of a team during a 24XCT race. It was reported that mean work-shift speed (18.3 ± 2.6 km•h-1), power output (219 ± 50.9 W) and cadence (64.1 ± 9.3 rpm) were variable between participants and between work-shifts. A commonality amongst the participants was an increase in speed during the final work-shift compared to the penultimate one. A decline in work-shift heart rate was observed throughout the race. For the majority of participants an increase in gross efficiency (1.7 ± 1.4 %) was reported from the penultimate to the final work-shift. It was concluded that pacing strategies were employed and that the improved efficiency was caused, in part, by an increased familiarity with the course during the race.

Study Six examined the nutritional practices and energy expenditure of the same team during the same 24XCT race. Energy expenditure during the work-shifts was estimated in accordance with Study Two. Resting energy expenditure during the recovery periods was estimated using the Harris and Benedict formula (1919). Food and fluid consumption were determined via food diaries and hydration status was assessed by measuring the refractive index of urine. Energy consumption (17.3 ± 2.2 MJ) was considerably less than energy expenditure (30.4 ± 6.1 MJ) with the former accounting for only 57 percent of the latter. The energy cost during the work-shifts was estimated to be 74.5 kJ•min-1. Mean fluid intake (6.3 ± 0.9 L) for the 24 h was sufficient to maintain hydration status.

Based on these studies an integrated model of the factors that influence ultraendurance mountain bike performance was developed. The domains that influence race speed are physiological factors, technical and tactical factors, and nutritional strategies. The sub domain that influences these is environmental factors. Collectively this information is of practical importance to sport scientists, coaches and athletes involved with designing nutritional and tactical preparation strategies and training programmes for this sport.


S6 kinase 1 (S6K-1) is known to function in the nutrient-sensing and insulin pathways; in those pathways it is a target of mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) and it regulates protein translation. Mice deficient in S6K1 have decreased insulin secretion and are glucose intolerant. Um et al. report that S6K1-deficient mice had reduced fat storage during aging compared with wild-type mice and were resistant to diet-induced obesity. The mice had increased metabolic activity and lipolysis in white adipose tissue because of increased numbers of mitochondria and mRNA for genes involved in energy combustion and oxidative phosphorylation. When fed a high-fat diet, the S6K1-deficient mice had increased circulating free fatty acids compared with wild-type mice on the same diet. Furthermore, despite chronically high levels of circulating free fatty acids and insulin, the S6K1-deficient mice fed a normal or high-fat diet continued to respond to insulin (based on response to an insulin-tolerance test). However, these S6K1-deficient mice had less autophosphorylation of the insulin receptor when fed a high-fat diet, which suggests that receptor desensitization had occurred, as it does in wild-type mice. Thus, in the absence of S6K-1, cells are able to continue to respond to insulin or nutrients despite having desensitized receptors, which suggests that S6K-1 feeds back on the system downstream of the receptor to inhibit the pathway. Indeed, protein kinase B phosphorylation in the S6K1-deficient mice on either a normal or high-fat diet is higher than in wild-type mice, and phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate 1 is decreased. Thus, loss of negative feedback by S6K-1 on the insulin signaling pathway and increased metabolic activity protect the S6K1-deficient mice from obesity. S. H. Um, F. Frigerio, M. Watanabe, F. Picard, M. Joaquin, M. Sticker, S. Fumagalli, P. R. Allegrini, S. C. Kozma, J. Auwerx, G. Thomas, Absence of S6K1 protects against age- and diet-induced obesity while enhancing insulin sensitivity. Nature 9, 200-205 (2004). [Online Journal]


Optimum design of continuous stirred tank reactors (CSTRs) in series to biodegrade organics in wastewater was carried out. It was assumed that cell growth kinetics follows Contois model with endogenous decay. The optimal design was based on the minimum overall reactors volume required for a certain degree of substrate removal. The effect of operating parameters such as substrate inlet feed concentration to the first reactor, substrate removal efficiency, and number of CSTRs in series on the optimum design were investigated. The non-linear constrained optimisation problem was solved using the MATLAB function fmincon . For equal CSTRs, the system of non-linear equations was solved by 'fsolve' MATLAB function. Results indicate that the optimum multi-stage bioreactors are beneficial only at high substrate conversion. The substrate concentration in the feed to the first reactor has little effect on the total reactors volume. Recycle of biomass to the first reactor reduces the required total reactors volume. In general, at high percentage of substrate removal the optimum reactors design requires smaller volume compared to equal-size reactors.


textabstractIt is by no means a new idea that the world we live in is an interconnected one. Centuries before Castells'
seminal trilogy 'The Information Age', various European philosophers adopted a systemic view in order to
explain certain physical and social phenomena. The 1950s were the heyday of total systems thinking: the
idea that everything is connected to everything. This led to the assumption that planning and policy making
should cover every relevant variable, and planners and policy makers alike aspired to develop all-inclusive
models of society. This was then combined with a comprehensive rational approach in an attempt to weigh all
alternatives to arrive at a certain decision. Planning bureaus were established in order to facilitate such efforts
at social engineering (Klijn & Snellen 2009)


Background: Discharging patients from the hospital is complex and challenging. The discharge process includes discharge planning, medication reconciliation, discharge summation, and patient instruction. The enormity of information and complexity of the process directly impacts patient compliance and re-admission. Given the extent of this process, efforts toward assuring clarity of knowledge have the potential to improve patient compliance. We sought to identify and address gaps in post discharge patient awareness.

Methods: A follow-up phone interview was conducted 1 week post discharge, with 26 stroke patients. All patients had received verbal and written stroke education prior to discharge. The qualitative assessment tool included 10 questions regarding general wellbeing, follow-up appointment compliance, medication utilization, and stroke knowledge. The patient responses were categorized accordingly. A copy of the patient's discharge instructions was utilized during the interview for verification and clarification of discharge information.

Results: Regarding wellbeing, 77% of the patients reported a reasonable sense of well being. The majority (77%) had scheduled follow-up appointments with the remaining 23% requiring clarification. Concerning medication compliance, 92% of the patients were able to obtain and comprehend use of their new medications. Review of stroke type confirmed 54% with understanding, whereas, 44% expressed lack of clarity regarding the subject. The same was true in regards to comprehension of stroke risk factors (56% verbalized understanding and 44% lacked awareness). Lastly, 54% of respondents were unable to identify the signs and symptoms of stroke despite the majority (60%) verbalizing a correct use of the 9-1-1 system

Conclusion: Our findings imply that a post discharge phone call practice serves to identify information gaps and provide opportunity to clarify stroke awareness, thus, "bridging the gap" of understanding and compliance regarding stroke management and prevention


In this study, antioxidant and antihemolytic activities of ethanolic extract of flowers, leaves, and stems of Hyssopus officinalis L. Var. angustifolius were investigated employing different in vitro assay systems. Extracts showed good antioxidant activity. IC50 for 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl radical-scavenging activity were 148.8 ± 4.31 μg mL−1 for flowers, 79.9 ± 2.63 μg mL−1 for stems, and 208.2 ± 6.45 μg mL−1 for leaves. All extracts showed moderate iron (II) chelating ability. Extracts exhibited good antioxidant activity in the hemoglobin-induced linoleic acid model and also they were capable of scavenging hydrogen peroxide in a concentration dependent manner. Extracts showed good antihemolytic activity againts hydrogen peroxide-induced hemolysis (IC50 were 48.51 ± 2.27 μg mL−1 for flowers, 19.47 ± 0.73 μg mL−1 for leaves, and 63.1 ± 2.65 μg mL−1 for stems). The total amount of phenolic compounds in the extracts was determined as gallic acid equivalents and total flavonoid content was calculated as quercetin equivalents from a calibration curve.


Communication skill is an important social variable in employment interviews. As recent trends point to, increasingly asynchronous or interface-based video interviews are becoming popular. Also getting increasing interest is automatic hiring analysis, of which automatic communication skill prediction is one such task. In this context, a research gap that exists and which our paper addresses is"Are there any differences in perception of communication skill and the accuracy of automatic prediction of say classes of communicators (e.g. those below average) when we compare interface-based and face-to-face interviews". To this end, we have collected a set of 106 interview videos from graduate students in both the settings i.e., interface-based and face-to-face. We observe that perception of behavior of participants in interface-based (when no person is involved) vs. face-to-face (when interviewer is involved) according to the external naive observers is slightly different. In this paper, we present an automatic system to predict the communication skill of a person in interface-based and face-to-face interviews by automatically extracting several low level features based on audio, visual and lexical behavior of the participants and using Machine Learning algorithms like Linear Regression, Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Logistic Regression. We also make an extensive study of the verbal behavior of the participant when the spoken response is obtained from manual transcriptions and Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) tool. Our best automatic prediction results achieve an accuracy of 80% in interface-based and 83% in face-to-face setting. CCS Concepts •Information systems → Content analysis and feature selection; Speech / audio search; •Applied computing → Law, social and behavioral sciences;


This study explored the acculturative experiences of international graduate students of Color. Current literature on international students' acculturative experiences is predominantly limited to students' perceived inadequacies (e.g., language skills) and challenges (e.g., "passive presence"). Although knowledge about these students'challenges is valuable for counselors to provide effective interventions, a preoccupation with limitations and challenges of this community deprives counselors of an opportunity to offer an empowering space to further strengthen international students' cultural assets and coping strategies (e.g., strong familial and ethnic community affiliation and personality traits of resilience) in the face of adversities. Perhaps this preoccupation partially explains why the utilization rate of campus counseling services for international students remains at a dismal 2% (Nilsson, Berkel, Flores, & Lucas, 2004; Yi, Lin, Jenny, & Kishimoto, 2003). The Eurocentric narrative of international students as culturally impoverished perpetuates an impression of deficiency, consequently perhaps limiting what college counselors address with their international student clients, especially those who come from People of Color communities. Given that international students constitute almost 14% of total enrollment in graduate schools in the U.S., this study focused on the experiences of international graduate students of Color through interviews analyzed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, 1996, 2007, 2009). Yosso's (2005) theory of Community Cultural Wealth challenges the dominant interpretation of cultural capital and highlights the diversity of cultural assets found in minoritized communities. A fit between the study findings and Yosso's (2005) was also explored as a secondary research question. Eight participants were interviewed. A total of nine super-ordinate themes were identified: Acceptance and Interactions with the American Society, Higher Education in the US, Adverse Mental Health Experiences, Home Country and Influences, Acculturation, Coping Strategies, Campus Counseling Services, Familial Cohesiveness and Growth and Self-Development. Participants identified a variety of mental health stressors and cultural capitals to overcome the former. Implications for counselors and university officials are also offered to further aid a more positive and social-justice oriented support for international graduate students on American college campuses.


Collaborative decision-making (CDM) to solve problems is an aspect of human behavior least yielding to rational theory. To simplify, early game theorists assumed that logical conceptions of cooperation and conflict in static configurations could represent the actual choices made by humans in an interaction, leading to the first stable solution of mutual competition (Nash equilibrium). Later, second stable solution of mutual cooperation was found by Axelrod to evolve in extensive form. But unary maps underdetermine reality, R; cooperation in the field to solve ill-defined problems produces suboptimal solutions; and a rigorous logical map from multiple individual preferences to a single group preference is not possible. More problematic for multiple agent systems or computational autonomy, as information (/) completeness produces knowledge (K), as the number of interactants approach an N 100 or more, or as agents depart from cooperation, computability decreases significantly. In contrast, adapting quantum logic to the interaction while difficult to understand produces a robust model of decision-making even as N increases. The evidence suggests that adversarial collaboration is superior.


In this work, we focus on improving ASR output segmentation in the context of low-resource language speech-to-text translation. ASR output segmentation is crucial, as ASR systems segment the input audio using purely acoustic information and are not guaranteed to output sentence-like segments. Since most MT systems expect sentences as input, feeding in longer unsegmented passages can lead to sub-optimal performance. We explore the feasibility of using datasets of subtitles from TV shows and movies to train better ASR segmentation models. We further incorporate part-of-speech (POS) tag and dependency label information (derived from the unsegmented ASR outputs) into our segmentation model. We show that this noisy syntactic information can improve model accuracy. We evaluate our models intrinsically on segmentation quality and extrinsically on downstream MT performance, as well as downstream tasks including cross-lingual information retrieval (CLIR) tasks and human relevance assessments. Our model shows improved performance on downstream tasks for Lithuanian and Bulgarian.


The 2010 USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommends a diet largely composed of fruit and vegetables. Consuming a diet high in fruit and vegetables and low in refined carbohydrates and saturated fat may reduce an individual's risk for type 2 diabetes, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, low‐grade chronic inflammation, and metabolic syndrome (MetS). Several recent studies have implicated the bioactive sphingolipid ceramide as an associative and causative biomarker for the development of these conditions. Considering that the intake of fruit and vegetables is frequently inadequate in young adults, we performed a pilot investigation to assess the efficacy of a free‐living fruit and vegetable intervention on overall metabolic health, circulating ceramide supply, and inflammatory status in young adults. We discovered that adoption of the recommended DGA for fruit and vegetable intake for 8 weeks decreased waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, and circulating cholesterol. Lipidomics analysis revealed that nutritional intervention can lower circulating ceramides, including C24:0 ceramide, a known inhibitor of insulin signaling. Unexpectedly, we observed an increase in C16:0 ceramide, suggesting that this form of ceramide in circulation is not associated with metabolic disease in humans. We also observed an improved inflammatory status with enhanced fruit and vegetable intake that was correlated with ceramide concentrations. These data suggest that adopting the recommended DGA is associated with a reduction of many, but not all, ceramide species and may help to prevent or mitigate MetS. Future research needs to assess whether the ceramide‐lowering ability of nutritional intervention is associated with reduced risk of developing metabolic disease.


Bridge dictionaries are a new sort of dictionary for learners of English. They are based on the monolingual Cobuild learners' dictionaries, and they are partly translated – they contain translated definitions and translation equivalents. This paper shows the possible ways of exploiting Bridge dictionaries for creating new bilingual or multilingual dictionaries. One possible way is to extract corresponding translation equivalents, edit them, and make a new printed dictionary. As both sides of such a dictionary were originally created as translations from English, the dictionary requires quite a lot of lexicographic work. Another possibility is to create an electronic version of the dictionary "as is". For this purpose, it is necessary to convert the dictionary first into SGML format and define its DTD. This format can then serve as a standard for future Bridge dictionaries and adding new language modules to existing dictionaries would be quite easy.


Accessory to Obesity? Melanocortin receptors are a family of cell membrane receptors that control diverse physiological functions. Mutations in the gene encoding melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) are a cause of familial early-onset obesity. Asai et al. (p. 275) studied the function of an accessory protein for MC4R signaling, MRAP2, and found that mice genetically deficient in MRAP2 develop severe obesity. Sequencing of MRAP2 in unrelated, severely obese humans revealed one individual with a clearly disruptive genetic variant, suggesting that MRAP2 mutations might also be a rare cause of human obesity. In a zebrafish model, Sebag et al. (p. 278) studied two paralogs of the MRAP2 accessory protein, one of which enhanced MC4R responsiveness to α–melanocyte-stimulating hormone, which regulates feeding and growth. Disruption of a protein required for effective signaling by a melanocortin receptor causes severe obesity in mice. Melanocortin receptor accessory proteins (MRAPs) modulate signaling of melanocortin receptors in vitro. To investigate the physiological role of brain-expressed melanocortin 2 receptor accessory protein 2 (MRAP2), we characterized mice with whole-body and brain-specific targeted deletion of Mrap2, both of which develop severe obesity at a young age. Mrap2 interacts directly with melanocortin 4 receptor (Mc4r), a protein previously implicated in mammalian obesity, and it enhances Mc4r-mediated generation of the second messenger cyclic adenosine monophosphate, suggesting that alterations in Mc4r signaling may be one mechanism underlying the association between Mrap2 disruption and obesity. In a study of humans with severe, early-onset obesity, we found four rare, potentially pathogenic genetic variants in MRAP2, suggesting that the gene may also contribute to body weight regulation in humans.


Background: Misdiagnosis of the acute appendicitis may increase the rate of negative appendectomies, which involve a huge waste of resources and are sometimes associated with severe complications. Furthermore, false negative result of ultrasonography (US) could lead to perforation of appendix. Since ultrasonography is still the most common imaging technique used in Iranian appendicitis patients, the study focused on evaluate the accuracy of ultrasonograghy in an educational hospital in Iran. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the results of ultrasonograghy in 270 patients who referred to Rasoul-e-Akram hospital in Tehran, Iran, between April 2002 and October 2004 with acute abdominal symptoms suggestive of appendicitis. The results of ultrasonography were compared with the histopathologic reports of biopsies as a gold standard. In data analysis Chi-square, independent t-test and MannWhitney U-test were performed. Results: The accuracy of ultrasonograghy in acute appendicitis was 60.4% and the rate of negative appendectomy was 17.4%. Diagnostic values of US were calculated as the sensitivity of 55.4% [95% confidence interval (CI)=48.6-62], specificity of 72.3% (95%CI=57.1-83.9), positive predictable value (PPV) of 90.4% (95%CI= 83.9-94.6) and negative predictable value (NPV) 25.6% (95%CI=18.6-34). Conclusion: Although the results of our study implied that the diagnostic values of ultrasonography were not considerable, but it is still the only imaging techniques available for patients in Iran. In reference to the low NPV, using an alternative technique such as abdominal CT scan is recommended. More attention must be paid on the signs and symptoms related to acute appendicitis in such patients especially in teaching hospitals.


Reforming legal education to best accommodate law schools and foreign students' interests is an excellent idea. This article, consequently, will concern itself with the reasons why the US legal education system needs reassessment and the channels by which this process may occur. This reform is particularly important because most foreign law students have been educated in the civil law tradition with methodologies that prioritize memorization of rules while generally excluding policy and ethical considerations from the learning process. In fact, the concept of what is "strictly legal" and, hence, belongs in the law school curriculum, is generally narrower in the civil law tradition than in the common law tradition. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Foreign Law Students in the United States There is a rich variety of reasons that attract foreign lawyers to the practice-oriented LL.M. programs in the United States. After studying the motivations of foreign LL.M. students, law professors Carole Silver and Mayer Freed identified the most common reasons offered as the following: an expansion of professional opportunities in the home countries, an interest in a substantive area of law, and a desire to improve English language skills and experience US culture. For those international students who do not wish to remain in the United States upon conclusion of their studies, one of the most crucial considerations is that a US legal education is perceived as a valuable credential back in their home countries. Needless to say, this perception is not based solely on an evaluation of US legal education. It also clearly includes consideration of the importance and impact of the United States relative to the rest of the world. In this respect, crucial changes are taking place, for example, in terms of trade relations. It would be enough to say that the European Union as a whole, and not the United States, has become South America's most important trading partner and, as an individual country, China has surpassed the United States in its position as the key trading partner of numerous countries within the region. These developments require special attention, considering that foreign students seek professional and personal experiences abroad which will be relevant to their future careers back home. As a result, the increasing relative weight of other countries in international relations will result in more competition in attracting foreign lawyers to LL.M. programs. Rising Status of Foreign Law Schools The economic importance of a country is not the only factor to be considered in determining the attractiveness of its educational system; the reforms of other countries also merit consideration. In particular, due to Europe's development and legal culture, it is noteworthy to observe the processes currently taking place there. The Europeans have embarked upon an ambitious process to transform higher education, with the involvement of 46 countries, including 27 EU member countries and 19 non-EU countries. In a symposium offered by the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) and summarizing the impact in Europe of the different initiatives to internationalize its legal education system, Julian Lonbay of the United Kingdom's University of Birmingham gives a thorough account of the rich discussion concerning the transformation of legal education in Europe. These efforts, according to Lonbay, are for the purpose of creating a EU higher-education area, with the aim of making the European Union the world's most dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world. This process has resulted in a profound reassessment of legal education with the participation of numerous actors in the discussion, including the legal profession itself. The United States would do well to make its own reassessments, especially in light of the challenge from Europe. The Europeans are not the only ones who should worry the United States. …


The production of antimicrobial compounds known as colicins has been shown to be an important mediator of competitive interactions among Escherichia coli genotypes. There is some understanding of the forces responsible for determining the frequency of colicin production in E. coli populations; however, this understanding cannot explain all of the observed variation. A survey of colicin production in E. coli isolated from native Australian mammals revealed that the frequency of colicin production in strains isolated from carnivores was significantly lower than the frequency of production in strains recovered from herbivores or omnivores. The intestine of Australian carnivores is tube-like and gut turnover rates are rapid compared with the turnover rates of the intestinal tracts of herbivores and omnivores, all of which possess a hindgut fermentation chamber. A mathematical model was developed in order to determine if variation in gut turnover rates could determine if a host was more likely to harbour a colicin-producing strain or a non-producer. The model predicted that a colicin producer was more likely to dominate in the gut of a host with lower gut turnover rates, and a non-producer to dominate in hosts with rapid gut turnover rates.


A portion of an exploratory investigation conducted recently at Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, Sunnyvale, Calif., into the comparative effectiveness of various prediction techniques for data compression is described. The comparisons were made by simulation with an IBM 7094 digital computer with the use of approximately 150,000 samples of actual vehicle telemetry data received during a typical satellite launching, in addition to synthetic telemetry data. The compression techniques discussed employed zero-, first-, and second-order polynomial predictors, or modifications thereof. The results showed that one of the zero-order techniques (one which would be relatively simple to implement) was the most effective in removing redundancy from the data. Although these data were somewhat limited both in scope and quantity, the results tend to support the oft-repeated objection to polynomial predictors that an inordinate amount of emphasis is given to sample points far removed from the point to be predicted, compared to that afforded the most recent samples.


Street photography is perhaps the best-loved and most widely known of all photographic genres, with names like Cartier-Bresson, Brassai and Doisneau familiar even to those with a fleeting knowledge of the medium. Yet, what exactly is street photography? From what viewpoint does it present its subjects, and how does this viewpoint differ from that of documentary photography? Looking closely at the work of Atget, Kertesz, Bovis, Rene-Jacques, Brassai, Doisneau, Cartier- Bresson and more, this elegantly written book, extensively illustrated with both well-known and neglected works, unpicks Parisian street photography's affinity with Impressionist art, as well as its complex relationship with parallel literary trends and authors from Baudelaire to Philippe Soupault. Clive Scott traces street photography's origins, asking what really what happened to photography when it first abandoned the studio, and brings to the fore fascinating questions about the way the street photographer captures or frames those subjects - traders, lovers, entertainers - so beloved of the genre. In doing so, Scott reveals street photography to be a poetic, even 'picturesque' form, looking not to the individual, but to the type; not to the 'reality' of the street but to its 'romance'.


The purpose of this study is to provide an insight into the government's need for sustainable socialization on the importance of paying taxes. This study also aims to analyze the taxpayer's awareness, whether it can mediate the knowledge and understanding of tax regulations on taxpayer compliance or not. The approach in this study is quantitative, with taxpayers as the respondents. The results show that knowledge and understanding of tax regulation and awareness of taxpayers simultaneously contribute to taxpayer compliance. Also, indirectly, knowledge and understanding of tax regulation in the society through the awareness of taxpayer do not have significant influence on tax compliance. Based on the questionnaire, the people have not fully mastered the tax administration using information technology and they have not fully realized the importance of paying taxes for the progress of the nation, due to the different demographic background. This study offers a new understanding and a better perspective of the influence of knowledge, understanding, and awareness of taxpayer compliance. The results will be useful for academics, communities, and governments as they are related to the subject of this study.

 Key words: Knowledge and understanding of tax regulation, awareness, taxpayer compliance.


We have studied the syn‐kinematic very low‐grade metamorphism in a polyphase Variscan deformed region using X‐ray diffraction techniques. Two phases of regional metamorphism are related to their respective episodes of penetrative deformation in the southern Central Iberian Zone. The data obtained suggest that the rocks did not reach metamorphic equilibrium, but strain favoured the progress of mineral reactions in the more deformed parts. The first deformation is Devonian in age and consists in a heterogeneous ductile shearing coeval with large‐scale recumbent folding that were produced under high‐anchizone to epizone metamorphic conditions. The heterogeneity of the shearing originated strain gradients that can be said to enhance the growth of new minerals and the illite polytype transformation in the highly strained overturned limb of the preserved pile of recumbent folds, but illite crystallinity remained constant throughout the structure. The second deformation is Mid‐Carboniferous in age and consists in an upright folding that took place under late diagenesis to low‐anchizone metamorphic conditions. The distribution of mineral parageneses and illite crystallinity across one of the upright folds suggests that strain gradients favoured the metamorphic reaction progress from the hinge (low strain) towards the limbs (high strain). Other characteristics of the region such as a metamorphic gap associated with an unconformity at the base of the Lower Carboniferous rocks, or cryptic contacts aureoles surrounding volcanic intercalations and a large granitic batholith, are also studied.


Abstract We evaluate a program by a private Internet Service Provider (ISP) intended to encourage low-income households to subscribe to broadband internet service. As part of its approval of the Comcast-NBCU merger in 2011, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandated a "voluntary commitment" by Comcast to introduce a low-income broadband program that Comcast has branded "Internet Essentials (IE)." We use data from the U.S. Census Current Population Survey (CPS) and the National Broadband Map and a differences-in-differences approach to evaluate the program's effects on subscription rates for eligible households. We find that between 2011, when the program began, and 2015, broadband adoption by eligible households—those with school-age children who were eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches—had increased by more among households that lived in areas in which Comcast provided broadband internet service than among households that lived in areas served by other cable providers. In our difference-in-differences approach, we estimate that about 66 percent of IE subscribers represent true increases in low-income adoption as a result of the program, with the remaining subscribers being households that switched from a competitor and households that would have subscribed as part of a general upward trend in adoption. We find that CPS survey respondents in IE eligible households had small and insignificant increases their likelihood of taking online courses or job training in Comcast territory relative to similar households residing in the territories of other cable providers and they showed no difference in the propensity to apply for jobs online. These results provide no evidence to support internet literacy training. We also did not find robust effects of some of the program's other components. In particular, IE makes computers available for $150, but we found no difference in the change in low-income computer ownership across cable territories. As a result, it would be hard to conclude that subsidized computers made a difference in broadband subscription despite the visceral appeal of such programs.


The 3D orthogonal woven basalt fiber reinforced polyimide (PI) composites were fabricated and characterized in this study. The PI film was firstly prepared to determine PI processing parameters. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis showed that 300°C was the suitable imidization temperature. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results showed relatively good thermal properties of the PI film. In the fabrication of composites, the multi-step impregnation method was applied. The bending properties of 3 mm-thick composite showed increasing trend in all and the second-time impregnated composite had much higher value than the first-time impregnated composite. Moreover, the bending fracture mode photos showed obvious creases except for the first-time impregnated materials, which agreed well with the bending property values. The dielectric constants for the composites were complex because they had not regular value following the mixing rule of the composites, which was mainly due to the interfacial polarization and other effects in the fabrication processing.


The abstract test cases generated through model-based testing (MBT) need to be concretized to make them executable on the software under test (SUT). Multiple re-searchers proposed different solutions, e.g., by utilizing adapters for concretization of abstract test cases and generation of test scripts. In this paper, we propose our Model-Based Test scrIpt GenEration fRamework (TIGER) based on GraphWalker, an open source MBT tool. The framework is capable of generating test scripts for embedded software controlling functions of a cyber physical system such as passenger trains developed at Bombardier Transportation AB. The framework follows some defined mapping rules for the concretization of abstract test cases. We have evaluated the generated test scripts using an industrial case study in terms of fault detection. We have induced faults in the model of the SUT based on three mutation operators to generate faulty test scripts. The aim of generating faulty test scripts is to produce failed test steps and to guarantee the absence of faults in the SUT. Moreover, we have also generated the test scripts using the correct version of the model and executed it to analyse the behaviour of the generated test scripts in comparison with manually-written test scripts. The results show that the test scripts generated by GW using the proposed framework are executable, provide 100% requirements coverage and can be used to uncover faults at software-in-the-loop simulation level of sub-system testing.


Objectives: In the present investigation, the effect of a calpain inhibitor, AK 295, on ischemia/ reperfusion damage in rat kidney were investigated and evaluated.
Materials and Methods: 28 male Wistar Albino rats were separated into 4 main random groups (n=7), named group I (control), group II (ischemia-reperfusion), group III (AK295+ischemia-reperfusion) and group IV (DMSO+ischemia-reperfusion). Right kidney nephrectomy under anesthesia of xylazine (5 mg/kg) and ketamine (75 mg/kg) was performed to the rats except for group I. The rats under reversible general anesthesia underwent 30 min total ischemia and then, blood samples (5 cc) and kidney tissues were taken from all the groups rapidly. Caspase 3 enzyme activity was detected in the kidney tissues by Western-blot technique. Serum creatinine and urea values, amount of kidney malondialdehyde, and differences in the cellular antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase and catalase were also analyzed.
Results: In AK295+IR group, caspase-3 enzyme band was not observed due to the fact that the calpain inhibitor AK295 prevented the ischemic damage. On the other hand, in DMSO+IR group, significant bands appeared due to apoptosis. It was also found that catalase levels in AK295+I/R and DMSO+I/R groups increased insignificantly compared to I/R group (p<0.05).
Conclusions: As a result of the study, AK295 could provide further knowledge on ischemia-reperfusion damage that has no current treatment and it could have a place in ischemia-reperfusion damage treatment protocol.


This article is intended to formulate several points of interest in the study of various forms postmodern curricula take in our contemporary classrooms. A critical look at the state of the latter poses the question of accommodating the needs of an increasingly diverse student population. The answer lies in curriculum negotiations (Hyun, 2006) representing sustainable adaptability. However, in an era of accountability that prescribes the structure and sequence of curriculum, our schools (perceived as a social system) lag behind. Therefore, the connection our students develop among truth , knowledge , value , and their own petits recits – personal texts that weave the web of their public lives in and outside of schools – represents the focus of future research into effective design, implementation, and evaluation of inclusive and student-centered curricula.


This paper draws on early findings from a multiple-case study analysis to consider the ways in which country code top-level domain names (ccTLDs) are embedded with specific political, economic and cultural values and the extent to which these techno-social objects go on to mediate geopolitical and economic conflicts, including political censorship, intellectual property rights enforcement and cybercrime. It suggests that a focus on power and the sociopolitical and cultural relations that both shape and are shaped by these technological objects is crucial to understanding the role of ccTLDs in the networked public sphere. To this end, the following overarching research questions inform the overall direction of this project: (1) to what extent, if any, do ccTLDs mediate geopolitical, social, and economic conflict, and in what ways? And (2) to what extent, if any, are ccTLDs mediated by geopolitical, social, and economic conflicts, and in what ways? To answer these questions the project draws on a multiple-case study design focusing on three cases, which I suggest are emblematic of the extent to which ccTLDs serve as boundary objects, mediating power and counter-power in the networked information economy. Before delving into the cases, the project begins with a historical analysis of the origins of ccTLDs and their role in early debates over Internet governance. Drawing on publicly available texts and archival materials from relevant stakeholders, this analysis seeks to provide much-needed historical context to contemporary debates over ccTLD policy and Internet governance more broadly. This is followed by early findings from a case study of Switzerland's "ch" ccTLD and its role as the "domain of last resort" for Wikileaks. Filling a gap in the literature on the role of ccTLDs in global Internet governance debates past and present, this study suggests that notions of territorial sovereignty and local authority, often associated with ccTLDs, belie a much more complicated reality in which geographically agnostic relations are constructed along political, economic and cultural lines. To this end, the paper concludes by situating ccTLDs in the larger context of Internet governance and the politics of Internet architecture.


Working in teams often leads to productivity loss because the need to feel accepted prevents individual members from making a unique contribution to the team in terms of the information or perspective they can offer. Drawing on self-affirmation theory, we propose that pre-team relational self-affirmation can prepare individuals to contribute to team creative performance more effectively. We theorize that relationally-affirming one's self-views increases general feelings of being socially valued by others, leading to better information exchange and creative performance. In a first study, we found that teams in which members affirmed their best selves prior to team formation (i.e., by soliciting and receiving narratives that highlight one's positive impact on close others) outperformed teams that did not do so on a creative problem-solving task. In the second experiment, conducted using virtual teams, we show that pre-team relational self-affirmation leads to heightened feelings of social worth, which in turn explains the effect of the treatment on the team's ability to exchange information.


A Jewish man and a Jewish woman, both residents of the State of Israel, are married in a Jewish religious ceremony. After their relationship encounters difficulties, the woman applies for a divorce in accordance with Jewish law (hereinafter: a Gett). A Rabbinical Court determines that the man has to grant his wife a Gett, but he disobeys the ruling. The Rabbinical Courts (Enforcement of Divorce Rulings) Act, 1995, enables the court to impose various sanctions on the recalcitrant husband but despite the sanctions, or as a result of the court's reluctance to impose them, the man remains recalcitrant. Under these circumstances the woman cannot marry another man nor can she live with another man, if she wishes to marry him in the future. Moreover, any child she may have with another man before she receives a Gett from her husband will be stigmatized as a Mamzer and deprived of certain rights. The woman is ensnared in an unwanted marriage, and cannot start a new family. This article endeavors to determine if the woman may sue the recalcitrant husband for her non-pecuniary loss. It discusses the jurisdiction of civil courts over tort actions of this type and the various causes of action that may be used by the woman. There seem to be three possible legal bases for claiming damages: breach of constitutional duty, negligence, and breach of statutory duty. The article contends that an independent constitutional tort cannot be recognized; that an action for breach of statutory duty based on constitutional violation should not be allowed between two private persons; and that an action for negligence based on infringement of a constitutional right is indistinguishable from a traditional action for negligence. The article further argues that subject to several conditions ordained by Jewish divorce law, the woman may recover under two theories: negligence, and breach of statutory - penal - duty. In any consideration of a tort action Jewish divorce law must be taken into account. According to Halachic authorities and in light of the current policy of Rabbinical Courts concerning coerced divorce, a Gett that is granted after the husband has been obliged to pay tort damages to his wife may be deemed Meuseh (coerced) and therefore invalid. Thus, applying the principles of Jewish divorce law guarantees that the benefit (tort damages) to the woman is not outweighed by the detriment (an invalid Gett). The article attempts to harmonize the civil action with Jewish divorce law, not because the outcome is ideal with respect to the woman's interests or from a social perspective, but because under existing law any other solution may be detrimental to the interests of both the woman and society, instead of promoting those interests. The article suggests what seems to be the most practicable solution for a painful phenomenon within the existing legal framework, in which Jewish couples in Israel cannot terminate their marriage without a Gett. The proposed solution does not attempt to resolve the severe ideological dispute between proponents of the current law and reformists. In fact, the two authors of this article do not hold the same opinion concerning the desirability of this legal condition. Any attempt to fashion a solution within existing law should be viewed as neither justification nor criticism of that law. The main difficulty arises where the woman aspires to obtain a valid Gett and brings a tort action prior to receiving the Gett. It is very likely that a Gett obtained under such circumstances would be deemed coerced and therefore invalid. If the woman's right of action is not constrained in light of Jewish divorce law harsh consequences may ensue. For example, a Rabbinical Court may refuse to hear an action for divorce until the woman abandons her tort action, waives her right of action in torts, or signs over to her husband any sum obtained through a tort action. The Rabbinical Court may even refuse to arrange a Gett. The article suggests that the woman should only have a right of action in tort when a Rabbinical Court has held that the husband (1) may be coerced into rendering a Gett, or (2) is obliged to render a Gett. In cases of the first type no further adjustment of the tort action is required. In cases of the second type the article suggests that tort damages be paid in accordance with the Jewish law of maintenance. The Rabbinical Courts might consider payment of tort damages to be an enforcement of the Jewish obligation to pay maintenance. The monetary burden would then be regarded as coercion by means of giving a choice and the subsequent Gett would be valid. But since the woman is entitled to maintenance anyway, what is the value of a tort action? Rabbi Isaac Herzog expressed the opinion that a recalcitrant husband may be obliged to pay enlarged but not excessive maintenance, i.e. ordinary maintenance plus a certain amount (that may be termed the punitive element) that is not untenable, in consideration of the husband's financial status. This addition does not affect the validity of the consequent Gett imposed by a Rabbinical Court. Rabbi Moses Feinstein added that where a civil court obliges the husband to pay maintenance in an amount that is lower than, equal to or slightly higher than the sum that could have been imposed by a Rabbinical Court, the following Gett is also valid. Our suggestion is therefore based on the views of Rabbi Herzog and Rabbi Feinstein: a civil court may impose tort liability on a recalcitrant husband, provided that the extent of liability is similar to the punitive element in enlarged but not excessive maintenance. The woman may recover a lump sum for the period of her husband's recalcitrance prior to the ruling in her tort action, together with periodical payments thereafter until she receives her Gett. Since we are mainly dealing with non-pecuniary losses, this adjustment is tolerable within the law of remedies. Our model may to a certain extent alleviate the suffering of the woman awaiting a Gett and induce her husband to give her the desired Gett. Equally important, it ensures that the Gett when given will be valid, so that the woman's fundamental will is realized.


Recent interventions by non-Islamic states into conflicts involving Islamic nations have shifted the focus of debates within the Muslim community from the conflicts themselves to whether non-Muslim states have the moral right to intervene into Muslim matters at all. Hashmi delivers an overview of fundamental issues Western leaders ignored when evaluating their power of intervention in the Persian Gulf, Bosnia, Somalia, and Afghanistan. In Islamic law (sharia), for example, national sovereignty carries an explicitly separate and less clearly defined meaning than in Western philosophy. Lack of consensus within the international community on the definition and criteria of intervention exacerbates even further the flaw of not incorporating non-Western thought into the decision-making process of intervention. In the aftermath of the Cold War, Hashmi proposes this as a long overdue moment for reassessing the UN chapter on intervention, reappraising the value of human rights and justice, and most important, including Islamic thought into the new system.


The little-known "Northern Crusades" were an era of conflict that gripped northeastern Europe between about 1200 and 1400 C.E. when German Crusaders turned their attention from the Holy Land to pagan tribes on the fringe of Europe. Today, a team of researchers is documenting the ecological impact of this military conquest and the colonization that followed. The project, one of the first of its kind, combines traditional archaeology with close looks at animal and plant remains, geochemical analysis, and archival research. Similar approaches have been used to look at the impact of colonialism in New Zealand and elsewhere, but the Ecology of Crusading project is particularly ambitious in terms of the number of sites and the use of historical sources.


The occurrence of lionfish (Pterois volitans/miles) complex on the southeast United States shelf represents one of the first documented invasions of a Pacific marine fish species into the western Atlantic Ocean. Temperature has been proposed as a possible factor limiting the range of this introduction. To examine this hypothesis, temperature-tolerance studies were conducted follow- ing the chronic lethal minimum protocol, with death as the endpoint. Overall, the mean chronic lethal minimum was 10.0°C and mean temperature at feeding cessation was 16.1°C. Rate of temperature decrease and acclimation temperature did not have a significant effect on chronic lethal minimum or temperature at feeding cessation. When combined with mean February water temperatures, lionfish thermal tolerance data indicated that lionfish could overwinter on the southeast United States conti- nental shelf, with a northern limit of Cape Hatteras and an inshore limit coincident with the mean 12°C isotherm, which equates to a 10°C minimum water temperature. The mean 12°C bottom isotherm also runs along the continental shelf break (200 m isobath), marking the offshore limit for lionfish on the southeast United States continental shelf. The current southern limit of the invasion is not bound by temperature, as lionfish could survive (but have not yet been reported) on the Florida coast south of Miami, throughout the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, extending into the southern hemisphere. Possible reasons for the constrained southern limit may include planktonic transport mechanisms, patterns of juvenile and adult movements, and the initial lionfish introduction site.


Cultural beliefs and traditions influence the consumption and the preparation of certain foods especially in special times in different cultures. Religion and traditions in different cultures lead to restrictions of some food from the diet. Culture and religion influence food consumption patterns. This paper documents how culture, religion and traditional knowledge impacts the food purchasing behavior and food choices. Most people in Turkey are Muslims and traditionally, their food consumption is influenced by the culture especially in Ramadan which involves religious fasting days and Ramadan is a time to purify the soul, refocus attention on God, and practice self-discipline and sacrifice. "Şeker Bayrami" which symbolizes the end of the fasting, is the first day of Shawwal, and it is the 10th month of the Islamic calendar period in which people treat their guests to sweets and traditional desserts. "Kurban Bayrami" commemorates Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael to show his faithfulness to Allah takes place 70 days after the end of Ramadan and during these days the meat of the slaughtered animal is shared with the poor and neighbors. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of Islamic beliefs and culture in moderating consumer's attitudes, purchase intentions and consumption of food during these special days. A questionnaire was administered online among 297 participants and the responses were collated with factor analysis, independent sample T-test and ANOVA tests. The empirical research indicates variable food consumption practices during the Muslim festivals.


Article history: Received January 20, 2014 Accepted 5 July 2014 Available online August 23 2014 The primary objective of most financial statements is to provide a concentrated as well as categorized reports on financial performance and flexibility to help decision makers reach suitable financial decisions. This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the relationship between internal auditing and quality of financial statements on selected firms listed on Tehran Stock Exchange. The proposed study selects 140 firms over the period 20082012. Using some regression technique, the study has determined that there was a positive and meaningful relationship between firms with internal auditing in their activities and quality of financial statements. © 2014 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Tehran Stock Exchange Quality of statement Internal auditing


A multilevel topology with medium-frequency ac link for medium-voltage grid integration of utility photovoltaic (PV) plants is discussed in this paper. A megawatt-scale PV plant is divided into many zones, each comprising of two series-connected arrays. Each zone employs a medium-frequency transformer with three secondaries, which interface with the three phases of the medium voltage grid. An insulated-gate bipolar transistor full-bridge inverter feeds the MF transformer. The voltages at the transformer secondaries are then converted to three-phase line frequency ac by three full-bridge ac-ac converters. Second line frequency harmonic power does not appear in the dc bus, thereby reducing the dc capacitor size. Cascading several such cells, a high-quality multilevel medium-voltage output is generated. A new control method is proposed for the cascaded multilevel converter during partial shading while minimizing the switch ratings. The proposed topology eliminates the need for line frequency transformer isolation and reduces the dc bus capacitor size, while improving the power factor and energy yield. This paper presents the analysis, design example, and operation of a 10-MW utility PV system with experimental results on a scaled-down laboratory prototype.


This volume presents the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, a great philosopher and social theorist of mid-twentieth century, as a viable alternative to both modernism and postmodernism. Douglas Low argues that Merleau-Ponty's philosophy offers explanations and solves problems that other philosophies grapple with, but do not resolve, given their respective theoretical presuppositions and assumptions. Low brings the work of Merleau-Ponty into critical contact with important thinkers, including Sartre, Heidegger, Derrida, and Marx. He highlights Merleau-Ponty's connection to the early Hegel, especially with regard to the criticism of modernism's "representational consciousness" and its subsequent skepticism with regard to our being in the world. Merleau-Ponty made a concerted effort to solve the problems that come about due to a wide variety of Western dualisms: body and mind, perception and conception, self and other, etc. He frequently does so by demonstrating the connection between these disparate terms, the connection of perception with affect and interest, fact with value, and a broadened view of science with moral and philosophical judgment. Merleau-Ponty's unique contribution is his focus on the lived-through perceiving body and its relationship to abstract thought and language. In his detailed analysis of the work of Merleau-Ponty, Low brings attention to a twentieth-century master capable of altering the landscape of modern and social philosophy in the twenty-first century.


In vivo wireless nanosensor networks (iWNSNs) consist of nanosized communicating devices, which can operate inside the human body in real time. iWNSNs are at the basis of transformative healthcare techniques, ranging from intra-body health-monitoring systems to drug-delivery applications. Plasmonic nanoantennas are expected to enable the communication among nanosensors in the near infrared and optical transmission window. This result motivates the analysis of the phenomena affecting the propagation of such electromagnetic (EM) signals inside the human body. In this paper, a channel model for intra-body optical communication among nanosensors is developed. The total path loss is computed by taking into account the absorption from different types of molecules and the scattering by different types of cells. In particular, first, the impact of a single cell on the propagation of an optical wave is analytically obtained, by modeling a cell as a multi-layer sphere with complex permittivity. Then, the impact of having a large number of cells with different properties arranged in layered tissues is analyzed. The analytical channel model is validated by means of electromagnetic simulations and extensive numerical results are provided to understand the behavior of the intra-body optical wireless channel. The result shows that, at optical frequencies, the scattering loss introduced by cells is much larger than the absorption loss from the medium. This result motivates the utilization of the lower frequencies of the near-infrared window for communication in iWNSNs.


The overall aim of the project was to investigate the role of the cell membrane as a barrier and/or target for drug action and relate this to the development of strategies for
overcoming multiple drug resistance (MDR).

The effects of doxorubicin on various bacterial strains expressing different levels of anionic phospholipid were compared. Giowth of wild-type Echerichia coli (E. coli) strain MRE600 was severely affected up to 9 hours following doxorubicin treatment (15uM), but resistance occurred after 9 hours. E. coli strain FIDL1 1 was resistant to doxorubicin (1 O0piM) over 9 hours, however, increasing the anionic lipid content showed little difference in sensitivity.

The mouse mammary tumour cell line (EMT6-S) and MDR sub-line (EMT6-R) were characterised with regard to growth kinetics, susceptibility to doxorubicin and membrane lipid composition. The log phase doubling times (h) were found to be 21.8 (EMT6-S)and 25.0 (EMT6-R) and the IC 50 values for doxorubicin to be 2.2 x 10-8 M and 1.8 x 10-6 M for EMT6-S and EMT6-R cells, respectively. No difference was observed between the phospholipid profiles of the two cell lines and total fatty acid composition was similar, however, the level of linoleic acid appeared to be higher in the resistant cells.

The photocytotoxicity of the cationic dyes methylene blue (MB), toluidine blue (TBO) and Victoria blue BO (VBBO) against the EMT6 cell lines was compared to the cyotoxic effect of doxorubicin and cis-platinurn. The cytotoxic effect of VBBO was enhanced 10-fold by illumination (7.2 J cm2) in both EMT6-S and EMT6-R cells. In order to overcome resistance, however, the EMT6-R cells required a 10-fold greater level of the dye than the parental cells to reach an IC50 value. By contrast, doxorubicin required almost a 100-fold increase in concentration to overcome this resistance.

Pre-treatment of EMT6-S and EMT6-R cells with low concentrations of VBBO resulted in a 2-fold increase in doxorubicin toxicity in both cell lines. Pre-treatment with MB and TBO resulted in a 1.4-fold and 2-fold increase in doxorubicin toxicity, respectively, in the sensitive cells, increasing to 2-fold and 3-fold, respectively in the resistant cells.

Glutathione (GSH) depletion of EMT6-S and EMT6-R cells did not enhance the photocytotoxicity of VBBO, suggesting that the primary site of action of VBBO is at an intracellular site not protected by GSH or that the mechanism of action is not via the in situ generation of singlet oxygen. Addition of the chemosensitizer, verapamil (7gM), increased the efficacy of doxorubicin by 2-fold in EMT6-S cells and by 18-fold in EMT6-R cells. By contrast, the presence of verapamil did not increase the cytotoxicity of YBBO in either cell line.

A series of compounds, PVB, MVB and MOVB, based on the skeleton of VBBO was examined. VBBO was found to be the most effective photosensitizer. The rate of uptake for VBBO, MVB and PVB appeared to be very similar, whereas that of MOVB was slower. The uptake/dose trend was also similar four all four drugs tested and conelated to the levels of lipophilicity of the agents.

Confocal microscopy studies showed all the photosensitizers to be distributed widely throughout the cytoplasm, with considerable accumulation of VBBO and PVB in the perinuclear region. Time course studies showed the intracellular distribution of VBBO in both cell lines to be similar, although uptake of the drug appeared slower in the resistant cell line. VBBO was clearly localised throughout the cytoplasm, in a punctate pattern, which may be consistent with the widespread distribution of mitochondria. No interaction with the plasma membrane was evident. By contrast, doxorubicin was found to localise mainly in the nucleus of the sensitive cell line, whereas no nuclear involvement was seen in the resistant cells. The drug was also effluxed more rapidly from EMT6-R cells than EMT6-S cells. Time course studies with EMT6-S cells showed that the drug clearly interacts with both the plasma membrane and the nucleus. These results indicate that the main modes of action for the two drugs differ markedly, suggesting interaction with both the membrane and the nucleus in the case of doxorubicin, but possibly mitochondrial involvement for VBBO.


A review is made of recent studies on myofascial trigger points (MTrP) and their mechanism is discussed. Clinical and basic science studies have shown that there are multiple MTrP loci in a MTrP region. A MTrP locus contains a sensory component (sensitive locus) and a motor component (active locus). A sensitive locus is a point from which tenderness or pain, referred pain, and local twitch response can be elicited by mechanical stimulation. Sensitive loci (probably sensitised nociceptors) are widely distributed in the whole muscle, but are concentrated in the endplate zone. An active locus is a site from which spontaneous electrical activity can be recorded. Active loci appear to be dysfunctional endplates since spontaneous electrical activity is essentially the same as the electrical activity reported by neurophysiologists as that recorded from an abnormal endplate. A MTrP is always found in a taut band which is histologically related to contraction knots caused by excessive release of acetylcholine in abnormal endplates. Both referred pain and local twitch response are mediated through spinal cord mechanisms, as demonstrated in both human and animal studies. The pathogenesis of MTrPs appears to be related to integration in the spinal cord of response to the disturbance of nerve endings and abnormal contractile mechanism at multiple dysfunctional endplates. There are many similarities between MTrPs and acupuncture points including their location and distribution, pain and referred pain patterns, local twitch responses (de qi), and possible spinal cord mechanism.


Maximize the New and Improved Features of Oracle Database 12c Written by Master Principle Database Expert, Oracle, and Oracle ACE Robert G. Freeman, this Oracle Press guide describes the myriad new and enhanced capabilities available in the latest Oracle Database release. Inside, youll find everything you need to know to get up and running quickly on Oracle Database 12c. Supported by running commentary from world-renowned Oracle expert Tom Kyte, and with additional contributions by Oracle experts Eric Yen and Scott Black, Oracle Database 12c New Features offers detailed coverage of: Installing Oracle Database 12c Architectural changes, such as Oracle Multitenant The most current information on upgrading and migrating to Oracle Database 12c The pre-upgrade information tool and parallel processing for database upgrades Oracle Real Application Clusters new features, such as Oracle Flex Cluster, Oracle Flex Automatic Storage Management, and Oracle Automatic Storage Management Cluster File System Oracle RMAN enhancements, including cross-platform backup and recovery Oracle Data Guard improvements, such as Fast Sync, and Oracle Active Data Guard new features, such as Far Sync SQL, PL/SQL, DML, and DDL new features Improvements to partitioning manageability, performance, and availability Advanced business intelligence and data warehousing capabilities Security enhancements, including privileges analysis, data redaction, and new administrative-level privileges Manageability, performance, and optimization improvements


We Keep America on Top of the World is a lucid exploration of contemporary American journalism, with particular emphasis on its influential and controversial conponent - television news. Daniel Hallin's discussion encompasses the central and most controversial issues in the study of journalism: the wars in Vietnam and Central America; US-Soviet summits; the origin of the ten-second soundbite; the differences between print and television journalism; and the tension between professionalism and populism. We Keep America on Top of the World offers a distinctive approach to understanding an institution torn between the imperatives of the market, political ideology and popular fashion, and journalistic professionalism. It will be essential reading for students of media, communication and journalism.


Most theoretical work on how to calculate the marginal deadweight loss has been done for linear taxes and for variations in linear budget constraints. This is quite surprising since most income tax systems are nonlinear, generating nonlinear budget constraints. Instead of developing the proper procedure to calculate the marginal deadweight loss for variations in nonlinear income taxes a common procedure has been to linearize the nonlinear budget constraint and apply methods that are correct for variations in a linear income tax. Such a procedure leads to incorrect results. The main purpose of this paper is to show how to correctly calculate the marginal deadweight loss when the income tax is nonlinear. A second purpose is to evaluate the bias in results that obtains when a linearization procedure is used. Our main theoretical result is that the overall curvature of the tax system plays the same role as the curvature of indifference curves for the size of the marginal deadweight loss. Using numerical simulations calibrated on US data, we show that common linearization procedures may lead to substantial overestimation of the marginal deadweight loss.


This study highlights the results of an empirical survey focusing on the strategy implementation process in South African organisations. It explores the role of resource allocation, organisation structures, and control mechanisms, as "catalysts" in the strategy implementation process.
With the aid of descriptive and inferential statistics,differences in the role and use of these catalysts are established. These differences are highlighted through the mean "importance scores" computed for the different catalysts. These differences reflect both inter-industry and "scope of business" disparities, pointing to differences between primary and secondary industries,as well as differences between single, dominant and multi-product/service businesses represented in the survey. For instance, disparities in the use of "organisation structures" in the strategy implementation process,underscore the different influences impacting the choice of organisation structures; given inter-industry and scope of business constraints. Similarly, inter-industry differences,as far as the use of control mechanisms as a catalyst in the implementation process is concerned, were identified as well. The results highlight the importance of control mechanisms in primary industries.
Inter-industry differences touching on the role of resource allocation in the implementation process were identified as well. The use of this catalyst is considered more important in the context of secondary industries vis-a vis primary industries. These differences in usage underscore the more notable differences between single and multi-product / service businesses. Statistically significant differences regarding their mean scores are provided.


A SECONDARY ANALYSIS OF TWELFTH GRADE STUDENTS AND THEIR ENGAGEMENT IN RISK BEHAVIORS By Dana L. Morton, MSN, RN This study was a secondary analysis of data firom a national survey of 135 high schools throughout the nation, including both rural and urban settings. A sample of 14,056 twelfth grade students participated in the survey. This study explored the relationships between religious attendance, perceived importance of religion, and smoking and consumption of alcohol in adolescents. Very little research was found on the relationship between religion and adolescent health, indicating a need for more investigations. This study found that the greater number of times an individual attended religious services the less they reported engaging in smoking and drinking. Future intention to smoke or drink and attendance at religious services was also found to have a significant inverse relationship. Perceived importance o f religion, as reported by the adolescent, although weakly correlated, was also found to be inversely related to smoking and drinking. While all relationships examined in this secondary analysis were found to be significant, the correlations were weak and may be a result of the large sample size.


Recent years have seen a growing interest in augmented reality (AR) technologies due to their potential for simulating real-life situations and creating authentic learning tasks. Studies have shown that AR enables engaging and interactive learning experiences (e.g. Bressler and Bodzin 2013; Klopfer and Sheldon 2010) and can benefit student learning (e.g. Bonner and Reinders 2018; Siegle 2019). However, although research in AR for education is not scarce, educators often do not have a learning experience design (LXD) approach that is supported by the recent findings of learning sciences and instructional design models. To bridge this gap, the present study introduces an AR-learning prototype developed by using SAM I (Successive Approximation Model I), and the Threshold Concepts Framework, employed for meaningful integration of AR into the learning process. A pre-survey and a post-survey method were utilised in the data gathering process to gauge students' experience with the AR module. The findings show that the majority of students have not had educational experiences with AR prior to the study, and they struggled to find ways to incorporate this technology into their content areas in a meaningful way. Nonetheless, participants realised the value of AR and stated that they most likely would use this technology in the future. Based on the findings, the authors present a set of suggestions for instructors and LXDs, and provide recommendations for future research.
This article is part of the special collection: Mobile Mixed Reality Enhanced Learning edited by Thom Cochrane, James Birt, Helen Farley, Vickel Narayan and Fiona Smart. More papers from this collection can be found here.


Changes in extra and intracellular neurotransmitter amino acids concentration in the early stage of acute cerebral ischemia have been reported. In this the study, serum level of gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) and L-Arginine in acute ischemic stroke patients was assessed. 60 patients with acute ischemic stroke and sixthy healthy volunteers as a control group were assessed. Serum GABA was measured with modified enzymatic method and serum L- Arginine was measured by modified Sakaguchi method. Serum GABA level in stroke cases was lower than that of the control group. There was no relationship between GABA level and age or gender. Also, no significant correlation was observed between GABA levels with ischemic stroke risk factors such as smoking, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. Serum L- Arginine level in patients was slightly increased in comparison with control group. There was a positive relationship between serum L- Arginine level and acute ischemic stroke risk factors. Serum GABA level was reduced in patients and had no correlation with acute ischemic stroke risk factors.