ABSTRACTHealth impact assessments are useful for governmental authorities and decision-makers to determine the need for action and address potential public health problems arising from exposure to air pollution. The present study was conducted to assess the short-term health impacts of ambient air pollution in Tehran using the AirQ 2.2.3 model for March 2013–March 2016. Hourly concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, O3, NO2 and SO2 were acquired from the Department of Environment (DOE) and Tehran Air Quality Control Company (TAQCC). Air pollution data was validated according to the USEPA criteria, and only valid monitoring stations for each of the three years were entered to the AirQ 2.2.3 model. The pollutant concentrations were lower in the March 2015 March 2016 period compared to the previous years. The three-year average (± standard deviation) of PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations were 80.21 (± 34.21) and 39.17 (± 17.26) µg m–3, respectively. The three-year averages (± standard deviation) for ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and sulphur dioxide (SO2) were 54.88 (± 24.15), 103.97 (± 25.88) and 39.84 (± 11.17) µg m–3, respectively. The total estimated number of deaths attributed to PM10, PM2.5, O3, NO2 and SO2 over these three years were 4192, 4336, 1363, 2830, and 1216, respectively. The health impacts attributed to all pollutants except for PM10 were estimated to decrease in 2016, compared to the prior years. However, the air quality in Tehran still poses significant risks to public health. In conclusion, urgent efforts are needed such as mandating the replacing of old and poorly functioning vehicles from the roadways in order to reduce the health burden that air pollution is currently imposing on this city.


A concurrent system is persistent if throughout its operation no activity which became enabled can subsequently be prevented from being executed by any other activity. This is often a highly desirable or even necessary property; in particular, if the system is to be implemented in hardware. Over the past 40 years, persistence has been investigated and applied in practical implementations assuming that each activity is a single atomic action which can be represented, for example, by a single transition of a Petri net. In this paper we investigate the behaviour of GALS Globally Asynchronous Locally Synchronous systems in the context of VLSI circuits. The specification of a system is given in the form of a Petri net. Our aim is to re-design the system to optimise signal management, by grouping together concurrent events. Looking at the concurrent reachability graph of the given Petri net, we are interested in discovering events that appear in 'bundles', so that they all can be executed in a single clock tick. The best candidates for bundles are sets of events that appear and re-appear over and over again in the same configurations, forming 'persistent' sets of events. Persistence was considered so far only in the context of sequential semantics. In this paper, we move to the realm of step based execution and consider not only steps which are persistent and cannot be disabled by other steps, but also steps which are nonviolent and cannot disable other steps. We then introduce a formal definition of a bundle and propose an algorithm to prune the behaviour of a system, so that only bundled steps remain. The pruned reachability graph represents the behaviour of a re-engineered system, which in turn can be implemented in a new Petri net using the standard techniques of net synthesis. The proposed algorithm prunes reachability graphs of persistent and safe nets leaving bundles that represent maximally concurrent steps.


In this chapter, we argue that another factor should be brought into the general picture of third and additional language acquisition: the comprehensible linguistic input. Predictions of current models have been predominantly based on the cognitive-psychological prominence of the three languages (native or not, adult-onset or not, naturalistic or instructed, proficient of not) as well as on the structural linguistic properties to be acquired, which may overlap or contrast. We argue that even keeping these two factors constant, discrepancies in learning outcomes still arise, which have to be explained by the linguistic experience of the learners. We support our arguments with results from two recently published studies, which document diverging developmental paths for two properties that should have been acquired in a similar manner.


This article is a theoretical approach on products and services as value satisfiers. Consumers have knowledge about the personal, symbolic values that products, services and brands help them satisfy or achieve. Values are people's broad life goals. Values often involve the emotional affect associated with such goals and needs (the strong feelings and emotions that accompany success). Recognizing when a value has been satisfied or a basic life goal has been achieved is an internal feeling that is somewhat intangible and subjective. In contrast, functional and psychosocial consequences are more tangible and are more obvious when they occur. Salespeople add value by identifying customer needs and devising or delivering a solution for those needs. Salespeople are able to adapt how products or/and services are presented or even to adapt products/services so that they meet the needs of the buyers. Such adaption powers professional selling, because customers often don't know what they need or how to configure a solution to their needs. Satisfying a value usually elicits positive affect (happiness, joy, satisfaction), whereas blocking a value produces negative affect (frustration, anger, disappointment). Consumers can have products and services knowledge about products and services attributes, consequences of products or services use and personal values. Most marketing research focuses on one type of products and services knowledge – usually attributes or consequences, where the focus typically is on benefits rather than risks. Values are examined less frequently and usually in isolation. This paper objective is to show the importance of creating, delivering, and capturing buyer value. A company's ability to deliver value to its customers is closely tied with its ability to create satisfaction for its employees and other stakeholders. Value ultimately depends on the perceiver. Smart companies not only offer purchase value but also offer use value as well.


For situations, in which the size of a droplet is comparable to the roughness scale of the solid substrate, we explore possible wetting morphologies on patterned hydrophobic substrates and investigate their dependence on the initial droplet position, droplet volume and the surface geometry. For a regular array of cubical pillars, small perturbations of a symmetric droplet state are restored by capillary forces. Larger deviations, on the other hand, may lead to completely new morphologies. Our studies also suggest that the previously reported 'reentrant transition' upon quasi-static evaporation (a transition from the suspended state to partial penetration and then back to the suspended state) (Gross et al 2009 Europhys. Lett. 88 26002) is not restricted to a symmetric initial state but may occur for quite non-symmetric morphologies as well. In contrast, a change in the substrate geometry may lead to a completely different behavior, fully precluding the reentrant transition. This underlines the importance of substrate design for the use of reentrant transition as a self-cleaning mechanism.


Embedded systems are an established part of life. Their security requirements underline the importance of properly formulated, implemented, and enforced security policies throughout their life-cycle. Currently, security is just an afterthought, and most solutions are meant to thwart particular attacks. However, the increasing number of security breaches, the ensuing economical losses, and potential dangers all emphasize the importance of fundamental security solutions. This paper first surveys the current situation and then proposes a holistic approach where security is considered from the beginning of the design of embedded systems throughout their entire life-cycle. In our approach, the entire system life-cycle is analyzed and appropriate countermeasures are incorporated in the design. Obviously, prevention is not the complete solution. A 4-level defense strategy assures not only that a system has been properly designed in terms of security, but also that the liabilities of its designers are adequately covered.


The design and performance of an all-optical wavelength converter based on a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and a delay interferometer (DI) are presented for 10-Gb/s return-to-zero (RZ) transmission systems with pulsewidths of 25-45 ps. The performance of the wavelength converter is investigated in terms of the operating conditions for the SOA and DI, and the properties of the input signal. The regenerative characteristics of the wavelength converter are also examined for input signals degraded by amplified spontaneous emission noise and residual dispersion. With proper design, the SOA-DI structure provides a high-performance all-optical wavelength converter for 10-Gb/s RZ transmission with practical pulsewidths.


We document geodetic strain across the Nepal Himalaya using GPS times series from 30 stations in Nepal and southern Tibet, in addition to previously published campaign GPS points and leveling data and determine the pattern of interseismic coupling on the Main Himalayan Thrust fault (MHT). The noise on the daily GPS positions is modeled as a combination of white and colored noise, in order to infer secular velocities at the stations with consistent uncertainties. We then locate the pole of rotation of the Indian plate in the ITRF 2005 reference frame at longitude = − 1.34° ± 3.31°, latitude = 51.4° ± 0.3° with an angular velocity of Ω = 0.5029 ± 0.0072°/Myr. The pattern of coupling on the MHT is computed on a fault dipping 10° to the north and whose strike roughly follows the arcuate shape of the Himalaya. The model indicates that the MHT is locked from the surface to a distance of approximately 100 km down dip, corresponding to a depth of 15 to 20 km. In map view, the transition zone between the locked portion of the MHT and the portion which is creeping at the long term slip rate seems to be at the most a few tens of kilometers wide and coincides with the belt of midcrustal microseismicity underneath the Himalaya. According to a previous study based on thermokinematic modeling of thermochronological and thermobarometric data, this transition seems to happen in a zone where the temperature reaches 350°C. The convergence between India and South Tibet proceeds at a rate of 17.8 ± 0.5 mm/yr in central and eastern Nepal and 20.5 ± 1 mm/yr in western Nepal. The moment deficit due to locking of the MHT in the interseismic period accrues at a rate of 6.6 ± 0.4 × 10^(19) Nm/yr on the MHT underneath Nepal. For comparison, the moment released by the seismicity over the past 500 years, including 14 M_W ≥ 7 earthquakes with moment magnitudes up to 8.5, amounts to only 0.9 × 10^(19) Nm/yr, indicating a large deficit of seismic slip over that period or very infrequent large slow slip events. No large slow slip event has been observed however over the 20 years covered by geodetic measurements in the Nepal Himalaya. We discuss the magnitude and return period of M > 8 earthquakes required to balance the long term slip budget on the MHT.


The method of multiple scales is used to derive a solution of the damped optical Bloch equations of a two‐level atomic system due to a strong pulsed field. The time dependence of the oscillations of the atomic inversion influenced by detuning and power broadening is found. The population inversion consists, in general, of three terms: a quasisteady term, quasisteady term that decays with time, and an oscillatory term that also decays with time. In the limit of constant fields, the solution of Torrey for damped systems and that of Rabi for undamped systems are recovered. For an adiabatic switching of the field, the solution for undamped systems reduces to that of Crisp in the adiabatic following limit. An equation describing the field envelope is derived for an arbitrary amount of detuning. At exact resonance, this equation reduces to a pendulum equation, in agreement with previous analyses.


With email traffic increasing, leading Web mail services have started to offer features that assist users in reading and processing their inboxes. One approach is to identify "important" messages, while a complementary one is to bundle messages, especially machine-generated ones, in pre-defined categories. We rather propose here to go back to the task at hand and consider what actions the users might conduct on received messages. We thoroughly studied, in a privacy-preserving manner, the actions of a large number of users in Yahoo mail, and found out that the most frequent actions are typically read, reply, delete and a sub-type of delete, delete-without-read. We devised a learning framework for predicting these four actions, for users with various levels of activity per action. Our framework leverages both vertical learning for personalization and horizontal learning for regularization purposes. In order to verify the quality of our predictions, we conducted a large-scale experiment involving users who had previously agreed to participate in such research studies. Our results show that, for recall values of 90%, we can predict important actions such as read or reply at precision levels up to 40% for active users, which we consider pretty encouraging for an assistance task. For less active users, we show that our regularization achieves an increase in AUC of close to 50%. To the best of our knowledge, our work is the first to provide a unified framework of this scale for predicting multiple actions on Web email, which hopefully provides a new ground for inventing new user experiences to help users process their inboxes.


Background: Lipid expression is increased in the atrial myocytes of mitral regurgitation (MR) patients. This study aimed to investigate key regulatory genes and mechanisms of atrial lipotoxic myopathy in MR. Methods: The HL-1 atrial myocytes were subjected to uniaxial cyclic stretching for eight hours. Fatty acid metabolism, lipoprotein signaling, and cholesterol metabolism were analyzed by PCR assay (168 genes). Results: The stretched myocytes had significantly larger cell size and higher lipid expression than non-stretched myocytes (all p < 0.001). Fatty acid metabolism, lipoprotein signaling, and cholesterol metabolism in the myocytes were analyzed by PCR assay (168 genes). In comparison with their counterparts in non-stretched myocytes, seven genes in stretched monocytes (Idi1, Olr1, Nr1h4, Fabp2, Prkag3, Slc27a5, Fabp6) revealed differential upregulation with an altered fold change >1.5. Nine genes in stretched monocytes (Apoa4, Hmgcs2, Apol8, Srebf1, Acsm4, Fabp1, Acox2, Acsl6, Gk) revealed differential downregulation with an altered fold change <0.67. Canonical pathway analysis, using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis software, revealed that the only genes in the "superpathway of cholesterol biosynthesis" were Idi1 (upregulated) and Hmgcs2 (downregulated). The fraction of stretched myocytes expressing Nile red was significantly decreased by RNA interference of Idi1 (p < 0.05) and was significantly decreased by plasmid transfection of Hmgcs2 (p = 0.004). Conclusions: The Idi1 and Hmgcs2 genes have regulatory roles in atrial lipotoxic myopathy associated with atrial enlargement.


We demonstrate lensfree holographic microscopy on a chip to achieve ~0.6 µm spatial resolution corresponding to a numerical aperture of ~0.5 over a large field-of-view of ~24 mm2. By using partially coherent illumination from a large aperture (~50 µm), we acquire lower resolution lensfree in-line holograms of the objects with unit fringe magnification. For each lensfree hologram, the pixel size at the sensor chip limits the spatial resolution of the reconstructed image. To circumvent this limitation, we implement a sub-pixel shifting based super-resolution algorithm to effectively recover much higher resolution digital holograms of the objects, permitting sub-micron spatial resolution to be achieved across the entire sensor chip active area, which is also equivalent to the imaging field-of-view (24 mm2) due to unit magnification. We demonstrate the success of this pixel super-resolution approach by imaging patterned transparent substrates, blood smear samples, as well as Caenoharbditis Elegans.


Purpose

Customer interactions with sellers change as social interactions in society change. The old dichotomy between transaction and relation exchange may no longer be valid as customers form relationships with sellers in new ways. It is against this background that the authors study how customers' subjective perception of relational exchange appears in objectively defined transactional and relational exchange forms. The authors study one bank's customers, and, based on objective bank records, the authors identify segments that behave as transactional and relational customers. The authors also identify a group of customers who are in between transactional and relational, and the authors call these interimistic relational, since they interact repeatedly with the bank in a short period of time. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors study how subjective attributes of relational exchange differ in objectively defined transactional, interimistic, and relational customer groups. The authors use a large data set, consisting of a combination of survey and objective bank records for 90,528 bank customers.

Findings

Findings are that the old dichotomy between transaction and relation is no longer valid, since customers' exchange behavior and perception of exchange do not match up when it comes to the transaction-relation dichotomy. The authors find empirical evidence for that the subjective relational attributes can be observed in objectively defined relational, interimistic, and transactional customer groups. Overall, subjective relational attributes are strongest in the objective relational group; they are weaker in the interimistic group. Relational attributes are weakest, but still present, in the transactional group.

Practical implications

The findings presented here suggest strong support for relationship marketing practice, since even customers who behave transactionally perceive that they have an element of relationship with the seller. The authors find that customers may behave in a relational, interimistic, and transactional way, but that they perceive themselves as more or less relational. The practical implication is that customer analysis should focus on exchange forms, and that it is essential to analyze how exchange changes, and how multiple exchange forms may be combined in customer behavior and perception.

Social implications

The social implications of this paper are that marketers should consider the exchange between customer and financial service supplier as more or less of a relationship, and more or less of a service. Financial service firm strategies and regulation of financial services should acknowledge that no financial service transaction is independent of the relationship between the financial service provider and the customer. It may seem so objectively, but subjectively, it is not.

Originality/value

The authors present a unique comparison of objective and subjective customer exchange. There are two contributions that come from this research. The first is that customers perceive themselves as partially relational, even though they behave transactionally. The other contribution is that the authors identified interimistic relational exchange (IRE) as an exchange form in between relational and transactional. IRE can potentially be very important for market research and practice, as it captures modern market behavior. In today's world, consumers form their perceptions in a multitude of ways, and may therefore have relational attitudes and transactional behaviors. More research is needed into how consumer perceptions and behaviors relate to each other, and how it impacts consumer purchase of financial services.


AIMS AND METHOD

Memory clinics have become very popular in old age psychiatry and there is some pressure for them to be developed in old age services. However, there is little evidence to suggest that they are more advantageous over the traditional domiciliary visits or who should be seen in clinic. This was a naturalistic comparison of 76 consecutive new referrals to a memory clinic, with 74 consecutive new domiciliary requests within the same service over the same period of time. A retrospective case note review collected the clinical features and an 18-month prospective follow-up examined the subsequent clinical management.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

The two groups were characterised more by their similarities than their differences. However, the domiciliary group had greater behavioural and psychological complications. The memory clinic patients were less likely to receive psychotropic medication and here more likely to be followed up.

RESULTS

We conclude that memory clinics might be less suitable for patients with prominent psychiatric complications. Memory clinics could complement the domiciliary model by providing early psychosocial/neuropsychiatric approaches, although this is likely to lead to an increased clinical case-load.


In a three-phase study, changes in moisture content, bale thickness, and bale tie forces in cotton bales were strongly influenced by bale density, storage climate, and permeability of the protective covering on the bales. In Phase I, eight bales of cotton were packaged at universal density and stored without bagging at ambient conditions for 81 d. Bale thickness and tie force were measured periodically, and the bale weights were taken before and after the storage period. The same eight bales were then randomly placed in four different types of bagging and stored at 26.7 °C (80 °F) and 80% relative humidity (RH) for 100 d (Phase II). The bagging included two types of experimental bagging and two types of standard bagging. The experimental bagging was less permeable than the standard bagging. In Phase III, the same bales were stored for 305 d at 21.1 °C (70 °F) and 50% RH. The bales gained moisture (weight) during Phases I and II but lost moisture during Phase III. In Phase I, bale thickness and tie force initially increased after storage and then responded to the fluctuations in climatic conditions. During Phase II at 80% RH, the bale thickness and tie force increased, but during Phase III at 50% RH, the thickness and the tie force decreased. Weight of bales covered in the standard bags changed by 2.19, 1.42, and -2.35 after storage at ambient conditions, 80% RH, and 50% RH, respectively. Weight of bales covered in experimental bags changed by 2.08, 1.02, and -1.67% after storage at ambient conditions, 80% RH, and 50% RH, respectively.


Semiconductor nanowires (NWs) are one- or quasi one-dimensional systems whose physical properties are unique as compared to bulk materials because of their nanoscaled sizes. They bring together quantum world and semiconductor devices. NWs-based technologies may achieve an impact comparable to that of current microelectronic devices if new challenges will be faced. This thesis primarily focuses on two different, cutting-edge aspects of research over semiconductor NW arrays as pivotal components of NW-based devices.
The first part deals with the characterization of electrically active defects in NWs. It has been elaborated the set-up of a general procedure which enables to employ Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) to probe NW arrays' defects. This procedure has been applied to perform the characterization of a specific system, i.e. Reactive Ion Etched (RIE) silicon NW arrays-based Schottky barrier diodes. This study has allowed to shed light over how and if growth conditions introduce defects in RIE processed silicon NWs.
The second part of this thesis concerns the bowing induced by electron beam and the subsequent clustering of gallium arsenide NWs. After a justified rejection of the mechanisms previously reported in literature, an original interpretation of the electron beam induced bending has been illustrated. Moreover, this thesis has successfully interpreted the formation of NW clusters in the framework of the lateral collapse of fibrillar structures. These latter are both idealized models and actual artificial structures used to study and to mimic the adhesion properties of natural surfaces in lizards and insects (Gecko effect). Our conclusion are that mechanical and surface properties of the NWs, together with the geometry of the NW arrays, play a key role in their post-growth alignment. The same parameters open, then, to the benign possibility of locally engineering NW arrays in micro- and macro-templates.


Objectives: The authors of this manuscript seek to define the role, and scientific backing for the inclusion of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) principles in the chiropractic techniques know as Applied Kinesiology (AK) and Neuro-Emotional Technique (NET). A discussion of the suitability of TCM principles within the chiropractic profession is also presented.

Data Sources: A search through the electronic databases Medline, Meditext, Pubmed, OVID, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Library was performed for the period of 1900 – 2007 using the key words Traditional Chinese Medicine, Meridian, five-element, five-phase, acupuncture, chiropractic, Applied Kinesiology, and Neuro-Emotional Technique. The results were limited to works published in English appearing in peer-reviewed journals. A hand search was then performed within the reference lists of the articles retrieved.

Study Selection: Based on their relevance to the subject, 196 references were obtained.

Data Extraction and Synthesis: Only those historical principles and current research findings that pertain specifically to the TCM concepts used in AK and NET have been included.

Conclusions: Principles and philosophies from TCM are incorporated into the diagnostic and treatment of protocols of the chiropractic techniques AK and NET. The scientific backing for this inclusion is still evolving and it is clear that further research is required to support the placement of TCM principles and practices within these chiropractic techniques. The welcoming of TCM principles into chiropractic practice may broaden the scope of the chiropractic profession and allow chiropractors to more faithfully adhere to the biopsychosocial model of healthcare.


Today there are more technology, technologists, knowledge and experts than at any time in human history; but from a global perspective, it is difficult to argue that this accumulation of knowledge and technology has put the world in an unambiguously better position than it was in the past. Business is not getting any easier to do and major corporate collapses based on poor decisions, poor conduct, and poor judgement continue to occur. In public administration too, basic institutions and services (education, health, transport) seem to be continually undergoing "crises" of inadequate delivery and excessive pressure. Wisdom and Management in the Knowledge Economy explains why unwise managerial practice can happen in a world characterized by an excess of information and knowledge. Drawing on Aristotle's idea of practical wisdom, the book develops a theory of social practice wisdom that addresses important social psychological and sociological dynamics that underpin wise management and organizations. As well as providing a detailed theory of social practice wisdom, this book considers practical issues in organizational communication, behavior, culture, change and knowledge as well as in HRM, leadership, ethics, strategy, international business, business education, and wisdom research. By introducing the notion of social practice wisdom, aspects of social structure, organizational culture, and organizational communication needed for wisdom to flourish are for the first time rendered visible in a way that opens new possibilities for wiser management, wiser organizations, and wisdom research.


Novelty search is an evolutionary approach which promotes phenotypic diversity in a population. Novelty search has been successfully applied to a wide range of domains and a number of variants have been proposed. Here we introduce Multiple Assessment Directed Novelty Search (MADNS), which exploits the notion that a diverse population optimised through phenotypic novelty may contain solutions to multiple conflicting objectives. We show that by utilising the MADNS algorithm, an evolutionary trajectory may be simultaneously directed towards conflicting objectives. We conclude that, through applying MADNS and MC-MADNS, a divergent evolutionary trajectory may be directed to provide simultaneous solutions to multiple conflicting problems in domains with large potential for exploration.


Excerpt] With EU enlargement to eastern Europe, much attention has focused on the effects of migration from the 10 central and eastern European Member States (referred to in this study as EU10) to the former EU15 countries. While research on the topic has already explored the causes, extent and consequences of the outward migration of one particular group, healthcare professionals, there has been less emphasis on identifying specific common problems (such as shortages of this group in some occupations) and possible solutions for the EU10. However, it is a more complicated task to find solutions as the shortages are due not only to high outward migration, but also to other problems in the health systems of these countries, such as attrition, or regional and occupational imbalances. This report highlights the key challenges facing the EU10 as a result of the high number of health professionals leaving to work abroad, focusing on specific problems and identifying topics for further research. A thorough analysis of the consequences is critical, since it appears the inflow of third-country nationals or return migration would not make up the shortfall caused by the outflow. However, as this is not equally true for all the countries, the report presents a differentiated picture between the countries concerned. The study draws on the results of two European research projects: Mobility of Health Professionals (MoHProf) and the Health Professional Mobility in the European Union Study (PROMeTHEUS). Three countries have been selected to illustrate the challenges faced by the healthcare sector – Hungary, Lithuania and Poland – and the report focuses on the latest available information for these countries. The three countries vary not only in the scale of outward migration and its trends, but also in how their economies and labour markets have been affected by the crisis.


Problem Statement: The quality of education carried out in schools depends largely on the performance of teachers and school principals in cooperation. It is possible to say that a qualified education of students depends on the performance and compliance degree of these two groups. In this process, teachers' having the primary responsibility for teaching in compliance with school administration and supported by administration is very critical. For a more qualified education/teaching school, principals should support their teachers as an institutional leader responding to their expectations and needs. Purpose of the Study: The aim of this study is to determine teachers' expectations from school principals so that they can do their jobs better. Teachers included in the study were asked what they have expected and hoped from principals while they were teaching. Method: A qualitativeresearch methodology was employed, usingphenomenology to collect and analyze the interpretations and meanings of teachers' expectations as drawn from their responses to openended semistructured questions. The research group consists of volunteer teachers who were employed in the district and province of Duzce city in Turkey. Teachers were invited to fill out the openended form consisting of a single question via e-mail. A total of 677 volunteer teachers participated in this study: some of whom gave more than a single response, whereas some preferred short responses. Findings and Results: In the finding section of the study, which aimed to investigate and analyse the teachers' expectations and opinions, a major category and eight subcategories were identified. When analysing the expectations of teachers fom principals, it was evident that nearly one-fourth of the expectations were centered on the subcategories of coprehension and support (25 percent). Subsequently, satisfaction with the current administration (21 percent), leadership (13 percent), justice and equality (12 percent), communication (11 percent), physical equipment (9 percent), school development (9 percent) and no expectation (2 percent) followed.Consequently, valuebased informal behaviors such as appreciation, cooperation, consulting, respecting, fairness, confidence, and motivation were emphasized most often by the teachers. Conclusions and Recommendations: The concepts and themes generally focused on human relationships, meaning that behaviours of principals should be shaped by considerations of leadership and communication. Communication, emphathy, and initiative are the concepts teachers paid the most attention to throughout the study, and these are the psychological characteristics that principals need to adapt most whatever their preferred leadership style has been. Having a considerate style of administration and providing support for teachers were the core recommendations of the research. Keywords: Principal, instructional leadership, school improvement, justice and equality


Based on fieldwork carried out on Islamic Relief's relief programme for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, this article contributes to the debate on whether Muslim aid agencies bring added value when working with Muslim beneficiaries in Muslim areas. The author explores the significance of religion in relations between actors in the aid process and argues that a common religion does not necessarily override political, social, and cultural divisions. The article questions whether it is useful to claim that Muslim solidarity exists in the aid process when in practice it is difficult to have any meaningful engagement with religion in the field.


The aim of this paper is to investigate the growth dynamics of young small firms (in contrast with larger and older incumbents) in a developing country context, using a unique and comprehensive dataset of non-agricultural Tunisian companies. Our results suggest that significant differences between young and mature firms can be found as far as the drivers of their growth are concerned. The key finding being that - while consistently with the extant literature Gibrat's law is overall rejected - the negative impact of the initial size is significantly larger for young than mature firms. This result has interesting policy implications: since smaller young firms are particularly conducive to employment generation, they can be considered good candidate for targeted accompanying policies addressed to sustain their post-entry growth.


This is an invited review essay of Michael Sandel, The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good? (FSG 2020), for the inaugural issue of The American Journal of Law and Inequality (R. Kennedy, M. Minow, C. Sunstein, eds.). Sandel makes three principal arguments: (1) meritocracy is deeply flawed because it worsens inequality and fills meritocracy's winners with hubris and losers with shame; (2) universities should introduce a lottery into the admissions process; and (3) this reform, coupled with increased emphasis on the dignity of labor, will repair the politics of resentment that now roil our country.

I respond in the following ways. First, treating meritocracy as an ideology, I assess the underlying tension in Sandel's logic, which accords primary moral value to the form of politics over outcomes, and status over materiality. Given the complex culture of meritocracy, I question whether its excesses can be curbed, or gross inequality reduced, with an approach that fails to stress material outcomes.

Second, I conclude that Sandel's proposal to reform university admissions could only be realistically implemented at a handful of highly selective and wealthy institutions. Even then, its impact on meritocratic faith or tangible inequality is likely to be exceedingly modest. Worse, randomizing distribution may in fact lead to a backlash among communities that have (over)invested in the means to compete for slots at elite universities and colleges, which would undermine Sandel's objectives. Despite these misgivings, his idea may still be worth a try.

Third, I praise Sandel's concern that meritocracy is contributing to the broader politics of resentment. But I say that his approach to emotions in politics is incomplete, for it focuses too narrowly on white grievance in a single election, and we need to get better at assessing historical claims of anger and disillusionment from multiple communities across time. I conclude by suggesting that Trumpism was not a coherent attack on meritocracy, but one that tried to harness resentment to introduce meritocratic logic into new domains, such as immigration and refugee policy. If we want to reduce meritocracy's dominance in particular social domains, I argue, we must offer a potent substitute that can bring elites and everyday people together. In certain domains such as university admissions or border control where the politics are fraught, that alternative may be the rhetoric of fairness.


Background. Lenalidomide (Revlimid® ) is a novel, orally active immunomodulatory drug, effective in multiple myeloma (MM) patients. In newly diagnosed patients the addition of Thalidomide to the standard oral melphalan and prednisone (MP) significantly increase response rate and event free-survival compared with MP. No data are available on the clinical use of Revlimid® in combination with MP. In this multicenter phase I/II trial, we evaluate the dosing, safety and efficacy of the combination Revlimid® , melphalan and prednisone (R-MP). Methods. Patients (pts) with newly diagnosed symptomatic MM older than 65 years were treated with 9 courses of Revlimid® (5–10 mg/day for 21days every 4–6 weeks) plus MP (melphalan 0.18–0.25 mg/kg and prednisone 2 mg/kg for 4 days every 4–6 weeks) followed by maintenance therapy with Revlimid® alone (10 mg/day for 21days every 4–6 weeks). Four different dose-levels were tested: 1.melphalan 0.18 mg/kg + Revlimid® 5 mg/day; 2.melphalan 0.25 mg/kg + Revlimid® 5 mg/day; 3.melphalan 0.18 mg/kg + Revlimid® 10 mg/day; 4.melphalan 0.25 mg/kg + Revlimid® 10 mg/day. Each cohort included 6 pts, with additional 15 pts enrolled at dose level 3 and 4. All pts received ciprofloxacin and aspirin (100 mg/day) as prophylaxis. Results. Between January and October 2005, 54 pts (median age 71) were enrolled in the study. No DLTs were observed in the first 2 dose-levels. In dose-level 3, one pt experienced DLT (grade 4 neutropenia lasting>7 days). In dose-level 4, three pts showed DLTs (neutropenic fever, grade 3 cutaneous toxicity, pulmonary embolism, delay in the start of cycle 2) during the first cycle. The MTD was defined at dose-level 3 (melphalan 0.18 mg/kg+Revlimid® 10 mg/day). In the dose-levels 3 and 4, after a median of 7 cycles, all patients showed at least a minimal response and 85.4% of patients showed at least a partial response (PR); 41.5% of patients achieved at least a very good partial response (VGPR) and 17.1% of patients reached immunofixation negative complete remission (CR). In the dose-level 3, defined as MTD, 85.6% of patients showed at least a PR, including 52.3% of patients who achieved at least a VGPR and 23.8% who showed immunofixation negative CR. After a median follow up of 9.6 months, the progression free survival (PFS) was 87% at 16 months. FISH informations on chromosome 13q deletion were available in 42 patients (79%): no difference in response rate and PFS was observed between patients with or without 13q deletion. Toxicity was manageable, and occurred more frequently during early cycles. Major grade 3–4 adverse events consisted of hematological toxicities (neutropenia 66%, thrombocytopenia 34% and anemia 17%); major grade 3–4 non-hematological toxicities were cutaneous eruption (10%) and febrile neutropenia (8%). Three cases of tromboembolic events occurred: two of them after aspirin discontinuation, at cycle 7 and during maintenance. Conclusions. R-MP induced a high proportion of responses and appeared to overcome the poor prognosis of patients with chromosome 13q deletion. It was well tolerated, toxicities were predictable and manageable. An update of these data will be presented.


This study used field lysimeter leachate and pesticide concentration data within an inverse modeling framework to estimate pesticide degradation and sorption parameters. Experimental data comprising four pesticide applications during 3 yr were used to compare a local parameter estimation algorithm (Levenberg–Marquardt, LM) with a global algorithm (Shuffled Complex Evolution Metropolis, SCEM). Good model fits (only marginally better model fits using SCEM) with respect to both the observed leachate volumes and corresponding pesticide concentrations were obtained using both algorithms. Parameter optima found with LM and SCEM were very similar, thus suggesting that LM correctly located the global optimum for our experimental data. Equally as important as the optimal parameter values, however, are the estimated parameter uncertainties. This study revealed that LM (using a Jacobian‐based approach) provided too large parameter uncertainties. A logarithmic transformation of the parameter tended to decrease the uncertainty in most cases. The overestimation of parameter uncertainty by LM suggests that model sensitivity close to the optimal parameter set was relatively small and underestimated the sensitivity to large parameter changes. A multiobjective Pareto analysis was subsequently compared with a sequential single‐objective approach to reveal the capability of the multiobjective approach to verify model structure and model concept. Our results indicate that a multiobjective SCEM approach is recommended when the objective is to estimate pesticide degradation and sorption parameters and their uncertainty.


In twenty years of reform in China, the key development has been the opening-up of the market to foreign trade and international investment. This increased economic openness has been accompanied by profound changes in both economic organisation and regional disparity. This comprehensive book focuses on the link between these economic reforms and the causes – and ultimately the implications – of regional inequalities in the most populous country in the world.


South Africa has a peculiar industrial structure given its factor endowments: production is capital intensive in sectors and concentrated in capital intensive sectors despite an abundance of unskilled labour. Part of the reason for this phenomenon lies in the development process of South African industry: it grew around the mining sector and its core sectors remain close to the minerals endowment up until today. A possible explanation for this path dependent development is the existence of forward and backward linkages between sectors that drive industrial development. We use an SVAR approach with realistic identification assumptions from input-output relations—following a paper by Abeysinghe and Forbes (2005)—to estimate the eect of linkages between sectors on sectoral growth performance.


During the summer of 1842, Emir Nasrullah of Bukhara, in what is now Uzbekistan, beheaded Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Stoddart and Captain Arthur Conolly, two British officers sent to his kingdom on a diplomatic mission. Reports of the officers' deaths caused an uproar across Britain, and raised questions about the extent to which Britons abroad were entitled to government protection. Historians have generally examined the officers' deaths exclusively in the context of the Great Game (the nineteenth century Anglo-Russian rivalry over Central Asia) without addressing the furor the crisis caused in England. By focusing too narrowly on the relevance of this crisis to the Anglo-Russian relations, scholars have overlooked the way Britons of the 1840s interpreted the crisis. This thesis argues that in order to understand the Stoddart and Conolly crisis fully, historians must also consider the British response to it, both in the press and in the form of a popular campaign. Seen in this light, the Stoddart and Conolly crisis is significant not merely as an event in the history of the Great Game, but also as an incident which raised lasting questions about the extent of the government's responsibility to and for its agents.


Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) should, on the one hand, provide theoretical and practical knowledge to students and, on the other hand, make valuable contributions to theoretical knowledge and provide new insights by means of research. However, HEIs have to face changing and increasing demands with respect to what they are expected to achieve. Education and research issues are no longer enough, what matters today is the so called "third mission". A specific example for implementing a third mission is the cooperation between HEIs and business incubators. With this in mind, a local consortium consisting of regional HEIs, e.g. Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, as well as public and private institutions and partners initiated and established an incubator hub for the region Bonn/Rhein-Sieg in 2016, called "Digital Hub Region Bonn". This conference contribution reports on our experience with regards to this cooperation approach resulting from the above- mentioned case. Furthermore the pros and cons as well as some issues of this kind of cooperation will be discussed. Last but not least this paper initiates the opportunity to share and compare the experiences of other university business incubators in Africa as well as in Germany. As we will describe, the financial investment of HEIs in a joint-incubator with other public as well as private partners offers substantial benefits, such as mutual know-how transfer from HEIs to the economy and vice versa. This strengthens entrepreneurial mindsets and activities and contributes to the development and growth of the local economy. Consequently, this cooperation sometimes creates challenges at various levels, for example due to differing interests between HEIs and business partners. This conference contribution offers approaches to solve these issues and to support private public partnership in business incubation. Published In: Munyoki, Bode (Eds.): Universities, Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development in Africa - Conference Proceedings 2017. Nairobi, Kenya, 19. July 2017


Recent advances in generative modeling have led to an increased interest in the study of statistical divergences as means of model comparison. Commonly used evaluation methods, such as the Frechet Inception Distance (FID), correlate well with the perceived quality of samples and are sensitive to mode dropping. However, these metrics are unable to distinguish between different failure cases since they only yield one-dimensional scores. We propose a novel definition of precision and recall for distributions which disentangles the divergence into two separate dimensions. The proposed notion is intuitive, retains desirable properties, and naturally leads to an efficient algorithm that can be used to evaluate generative models. We relate this notion to total variation as well as to recent evaluation metrics such as Inception Score and FID. To demonstrate the practical utility of the proposed approach we perform an empirical study on several variants of Generative Adversarial Networks and Variational Autoencoders. In an extensive set of experiments we show that the proposed metric is able to disentangle the quality of generated samples from the coverage of the target distribution.


Clusters of spherical particles are called "colloidal molecules" because they adopt structures that resemble those of true molecules. In this analogy, the particles are the atoms, the attractive interactions between them are bonds, and the different structures that appear in equilibrium are isomers. We take this analogy a step further by doping colloidal molecules with colloidal "isotopes," particles that have the same size but different bonding energies from the other particles in the system. Our molecules are two-dimensional clusters consisting of polystyrene and silica microspheres held together by depletion interactions. Using a combination of optical microscopy and particle tracking, we examine an ensemble of 4- and 5-particle molecules at different isotope ratios. We find that the isotopes tend to segregate to particular positions in the various isomers. We explain these findings using a statistical mechanical model that accounts for the rotational entropy of the isomers and the different interaction potentials between the different types of particles. The model shows how to optimize the yield of any particular isomer, so as to put the isotopes in desired locations. Our experiments and models show that even in systems of particles with isotropic interactions, the structures of self-assembled molecules can in principle be controlled to a surprisingly high extent.


Meeks and Perez present a survey of recent spectacular successes in classical minimal surface theory. The classification of minimal planar domains in three-dimensional Euclidean space provides the focus of the account. The proof of the classification depends on the work of many currently active leading mathematicians, thus making contact with much of the most important results in the field. Through the telling of the story of the classification of minimal planar domains, the general mathematician may catch a glimpse of the intrinsic beauty of this theory and the authors' perspective of what is happening at this historical moment in a very classical subject. This book includes an updated tour through some of the recent advances in the theory, such as Colding-Minicozzi theory, minimal laminations, the ordering theorem for the space of ends, conformal structure of minimal surfaces, minimal annular ends with infinite total curvature, the embedded Calabi-Yau problem, local pictures on the scale of curvature and topology, the local removable singularity theorem, embedded minimal surfaces of finite genus, topological classification of minimal surfaces, uniqueness of Scherk singly periodic minimal surfaces, and outstanding problems and conjectures.


Title of dissertation: Exploring Equilibrium Systems with Nonequilibrium Simulations Andrew J. Ballard, Doctor of Philosophy, 2012 Dissertation directed by: Professor Christopher Jarzynski Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Institute for Physical Science and Technology Equilibrium sampling is at the core of computational thermodynamics, aiding our understanding of various phenomena in the natural sciences including phase coexistence, molecular solvation, and protein folding. Despite the widespread development of novel sampling strategies over the years, efficient simulation of large complex systems remains a challenge. While the majority of current methods such as simulated tempering, replica exchange, and Monte Carlo methods rely solely on the use of equilibrium techniques, recent results in statistical physics have uncovered the possibility to sample equilibrium states through nonequilibrium simulations. In our first study we present a new replica exchange sampling strategy, "Replica Exchange with Nonequilibrium Switches," which uses nonequilibrium simulations to enhance equilibrium sampling. In our method, trial swap configurations between replicas are generated through nonequilibrium switching simulations which act to drive the replicas towards each other in phase space. By means of these switching simulations we can increase an effective overlap between replicas, enhancing the probability that these moves are accepted and ultimately leading to more effective sampling of the underlying energy landscape. Simulations on model systems reveal that our method can be beneficial in the case of low replica overlap, able to match the efficiency of traditional replica exchange while using fewer processors. We also demonstrate how our method can be applied for the calculation of solvation free energies. In a second, separate study, we investigate the dynamics leading to the dissociation of Na+Cl− in water. Here we employ tools of rare event sampling to deduce the role of the surrounding water molecules in promoting the dissociation of the ion pair. We first study the thermodynamic forces leading to dissociation, finding it to be driven energetically and opposed entropically. In further analysis of the system dynamics, we deduce a) the spatial extent over which solvent fluctuations influence dissociation, b) the role of sterics and electrostatics, and c) the importance of inertia in enhancing the reaction probability. Exploring Equilibrium Systems with Nonequilibrium Simulations by Andrew J. Ballard Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2012 Advisory Committee: Professor Christopher Jarzynski, Chair/Advisor Professor Silvina Matysiak Professor Garegin Papoian Professor Sergei Sukharev Professor John D. Weeks c © Copyright by Andrew J Ballard 2012 To my Family and Friends


This socio-spatial study explores the meaning of home in an Arab context. It reinterprets the
concept of the Muslim-family home (Arab courtyard-house), in terms of space
arrangement/flexibility/use, gender, and privacy. The overall aim is to develop a deep understanding
of the meaning of home from the perspective of users in Tripoli-Libya. It explores, therefore, the
change and continuity, tradition and modernity in the physical form and use of the courtyard house. It
also investigates how the role of the courtyard home influences the daily life of women in Tripoli.
Over the past four decades, the courtyard house, once the most common type of dwelling in Libya,
has been largely ignored in new housing development. On the other hand, the use of the courtyard
house continues to be supported by a minority of architects in Libya, inspired in part by the ideas of
Fathy. The opposition of these architects and more generally the ideas of Fathy, raise a series of
questions that are the focus of this study: 1) Why has courtyard-housing declined in new development?
2) Can courtyard housing be justified in the present Tripoli? 3) To what extent do modern Libyan
homes express points of continuity and change from traditional patterns? 4) How, as part of this, are
they embedded into contemporary lifestyles and patterns of family life?
To answer these questions, a mixed-method approach has been employed within two stages: the
first, socially-qualitatively driven (i.e. questionnaire survey, interviews, focus groups and photoelicitation)
and the second, architecturally-qualitatively driven (i.e. space-syntax). The first stage
utilized two focus groups – the residents and the architects, conducted as a platform to simultaneously
use photo elicitation, and semi-structured interviews. The second stage applied the space syntax to
extract more hidden socio-cultural aspects of the Libyan homes (e.g. gender and access control).
This study makes a contribution to the home research in a number of ways. Firstly, to the methods
of housing user research, as the study utilized mixed-methods that combine the qualitative research
with a socio-spatial analysis. Secondly, to understanding the production of courtyard-housing in Arab
countries, applying the epistemological frameworks of Lefebvre and the methodological example of
Boudon, integrated with the cultural prescriptive approach of Fathy, in an Arab context. In doing so,
it provides an original perspective that has, hitherto, received little attention in the literature,
particularly within Arab housing studies. Thirdly, to understanding the use of the home from women's
viewpoint.
The research has been undertaken from an explicitly female, Arab and architectural perspective.
The most subtle characteristics of the Muslim-Arab home, for example, come mainly from its
configuration of elements that were tested by people's traditions and culture. It is, therefore, very
different from Western writings on the home, including feminist writings of the home, gender and
space use. It is also different, however, from Arab studies of the home as these have been undertaken
predominantly from a male perspective. Finally, the involvement of a woman as an insider/indigenous
researcher provided access to a domestic world that it is not possible for male architects or housing
experts.


The Supreme Court's constitutional regulation of the American death penalty has yielded a plethora of doctrines that have shaped an alternative criminal justice process that is (mostly) limited to capital cases. Many of these doctrines offer a vision and practice of "roads not taken" in the ordinary criminal justice process that would be attractive improvements in that larger system. We consider three of these doctrines: (1) more searching review of the proportionality of sentencing outcomes; (2) imposition of a requirement of individualized sentencing that has led to the investigation and presentation of in-depth evidence in mitigation; and (3) greater regulation of the adequacy of defense counsel that has moved closer to a "checklist" model of mandated practices. Each of these doctrines was born and developed under the Court's "death is different" regime of constitutional regulation, and each of them has to some limited extent moved beyond the strictly capital context into the broader criminal justice process. We explain how these alternative models present attractive improvements for the broader noncapital system—a view that casts the Court's regulation of the American death penalty as a progressive laboratory that can yield alternative, more protective, and more idealized processes for the ordinary criminal justice system. Yet we also caution that the "differentness" of death—and of juvenile offenders, the noncapital context to which the Court is most likely to import its death penalty innovations—can also serve to normalize and entrench the less protective, less idealized practices that exist outside of these realms.


A numerical high order difference method is developed for solution of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. The solution is determined on a staggered curvilinear grid in two dimensions and by a Fourier expansion in the third dimension. The description in curvilinear body-fitted coordinates is obtained by an orthogonal mapping of the equations to a rectangular grid where space derivatives are determined by compact fourth order approximations. The time derivative is discretized with a second order backward difference method in a semi-implicit scheme, where the nonlinear terms are linearly extrapolated with second order accuracy. An approximate block factorization technique is used in an iterative scheme to solve the large linear system resulting from the discretization in each time step. The solver algorithm consists of a combination of outer and inner iterations. An outer iteration step involves the solution of two sub-systems, one for prediction of the velocities and one for solution of the pressure. No boundary conditions for the intermediate variables in the splitting are needed and second order time accurate pressure solutions can be obtained. The method has experimentally been validated in earlier studies. Here it is validated for flow past a circular cylinder as an example of a physical test case and the fourth order method is shown to be efficient in terms of grid resolution. The method is applied to external flow past a parabolic body and internal flow in an asymmetric diffuser in order to investigate the performance in two different curvilinear geometries and to give directions for future development of the method. It is concluded that the novel formulation of boundary conditions need further investigation. A new iterative solution method for prediction of velocities allows for larger time steps due to less restrictive convergence constraints.


The main objective of this work was to examlne the various stages of the production of industrial laminates based on phenol-formaldehyde resins, with a view of suggesting ways of improving the process economics and/or the physical properties of the final product. Aspects of impregnation, drying, and lamination were investigated. The resins used in all experiments were ammonia-catalysed. Work was concentrated on the lamination stage since this is a labour intensive activity. Paper-phenolic lay-ups were characterised in terms of the temperatures experienced during cure, and a shorter cure-cycle is proposed, utilising the exothermic heat produced during pressing of 25.5 mm thick lay-ups. Significant savings in production costs and improvements in some of the physical properties have been achieved. In particular, water absorption has been reduced by 43-61%. Work on the drying stage has shown that rapid heating of the wet impregnated substrate results in resin solids losses. Drying at lower temperatures by reducing the driving force leads to more resin (up to 6.5%) being retained by the prepregs and therefore more effective use of an expensive raw material. The impregnation work has indicated that residence times above 6 seconds in the varnish bath enhance the insulation resistance of the final product, possibly due to improved resin distribution and reduction in water absorption. In addition, a novel process which involves production of laminates by in situ polymerisation of the phenolic resin on the substrate has been examined. Such a process would eliminate the solvent recovery plant - a necessary stage in current industrial processes. In situ polymerisation has been shown to be chemically feasible.


Usually, Germany's social market economy is understood to embody a compromise between a liberal market order and a corporatist welfare state. While this reading of the German case is certainly not entirely wrong, this paper argues that only if we account for the close intellectual correspondence between lutheran Protestantism and economic liberalism on the one hand and between Catholicism and welfare corporatism on the other, can we fully comprehend the nature of the German post-war compromise. In particular, this perspective allows to better explain the anti-liberal undercurrents of Germany's soziale Marktwirtschaft. It was especially the role which Protestant Ordoliberals ascribed to the state in upholding economic order and market discipline which accounts for the major difference between 'classic' and 'German-style' economic liberalism. Yet, the postwar economic order did not represent a deliberately struck compromise between the two major Christian denominations. Rather, Germany's social market economy was the result of the failure of German Protestant Ordoliberals to prevent the reconstruction of the catholic Bismarckian welfare state after the authoritarian solution, which Ordoliberals had endorsed so strongly up until 1936 and from which they had hoped the re-inauguration of Protestant hegemony, had so utterly failed. Since the ordoliberal doctrine up to the present day lacks a clear understanding of the role of the corporatist welfare state within the German political economy, its insights into the functioning logic of German capitalism have remained limit. The paper also claims that accounting for the denominational roots of the postwar compromise allows us to better understand the relationship between consociationalism and corporatism in 'Modell Deutschland'.


Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease is the most common
inherited peripheral neuropathy. Foot deformities are
frequent complications and orthopaedic surgery is often
required. However, there are no evidence-based guidelines
on the type or timing of the surgery. Only few studies have
described the long-term results of surgical procedures and
evidence regarding optimal surgical management of these
patients is lacking. We prospectively studied surgical management of CMT patients attending our centre.We collected data and assessed CMT patients before and after surgery.
Data included: history of ankle instability, pain, skin condition, details of physiotherapy and orthotic management, assessment of lower limb strength, Charcot-Marie-Tooth Examination Score (CMTES), Foot Posture Index, ankle dorsiflexion range of movement, quality of life questionnaire (SF-36) and specific questionnaires (foot index and Manchester-Oxford foot questionnaire, modified fatigue severity scale and modified falls efficacy scale), details of surgical procedures.
Patients were assessed yearly after surgery. So far 19
patients (14 males and 5 females, age range 20 – 58) have
been evaluated prior to surgery. 17/19 had genetically confirmed CMT (13 CMT1A, 2 CMTX, 1 CMT4A, 1 CMT2B). 10 patients have been assessed after 1 year, 6 patients after 2 years and 5 patients after 3 years from surgery. A wide range of surgical procedures were performed by one dedicated orthopaedic surgeon. Preliminary results showed improvement of foot alignment as measured by the foot posture index and pain as measured by the foot function index after surgery. Prospective assessments are still ongoing. Further analysis and a larger number of patients' assessment will help develop orthopaedic intervention guidelines and inform questions for further research.


Extracted text; This session will review the following Online Librarian practices: embedded librarianship, online monthly workshops on demand, and collaborative service-learning courses. Three librarians from various North Carolina libraries will review their best practices and suggestions for implementation for the three practices. Participants will be encouraged to ask questions and take away the process to create their own need-specific programs.

Learning Objectives for the Session:
Explain the concept of "embedded librarianship" and how to implement a comprehensive strategy to market embedded librarianship and maintain collaborative faculty relationships.

Review the need and strategies for developing online monthly workshops and discuss the process for implementation.

What service-learning courses are and how they could be useful to libraries and how to implement a collaboration with a service-learning course.


In 1999, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) introduced a new Housing Sample for the Rent and Rental Equivalency (REQ) estimators in the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI). The Housing Sample consists of nearly 10,000 sampled segments, composed of U.S. Census blocks, allocated in 87 Primary Sampling Units (PSUs), and collected in six panels every six months. In this paper, we model the 6-month price relative for both Rent and REQ, and analyze a random effects model that treats PSU and Segment as two random effects. We look at three years of data (1999-2001). We use the Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML) estimation method to produce the variance components. Then standard likelihood ratio test procedures are applied to determine the significance of the random effects in the model. Finally, the variance component results are compared to a set of variance components produced from the previous housing sample (19871998).


A positional interpolation/extrapolation method for the mapping of coarse-grained (CG) to atomistic (AT) resolution is presented and tested for single-component micelles formed by lysophospholipids of different chain length. The target CG nanoaggregates were self-assembled from random mixtures of surfactants in explicit MARTINI water and equilibrated by molecular dynamics simulations, at the microsecond time scale. The ambiguity inherent in the definition of the CG particles was explored by mapping the same CG structures to AT resolution surfactants of different size. After the conversion, the obtained AT micelles were simulated for 250 ns and the resulting trajectories were analyzed in detail. The mean lifetime of the surfactant–solvent interactions as well as the lateral diffusion coefficients of the surfactant molecules within the micellar aggregates were obtained for the first time. The results suggest that the individual molecules within the micelle behave like lipids in a fluid membrane. The employed mapping back method is efficient and versatile, as it can be applied to diverse combinations of force fields and systems with a minimum of code development. In a general context, this work illustrates the power of multiscale molecular dynamics simulations for the generation and subsequent examination of self-assembled structures, including the fine characterization of structural and dynamic properties of the resulting aggregate.


Large scale wind turbines are lightly damped mechanical structures driven by wind that is constantly fluctuating. In this paper, we address the design of a model-based receding horizon control scheme to reduce the structural loads in the transmission system and the tower, as well as provide constant (or at least smooth) power generation. Our controller incorporates two optimization problems: one to predict or estimate mean wind speed, given LIDAR data, and the other to carry out receding horizon control to choose the control inputs. The method is verified against an existing wind turbine control system, and shows reductions in both extreme loads and power fluctuations by 80% and 90% respectively when compared to a conventional controller.


Though the trend of competitiveness among students has been found to be declining recently, there are seldom reports analyzing the same among university students from biotechnology, life sciences, medicine, dentistry and veterinary sciences. The objective of the study was to analyze the trend of competitiveness of undergraduate and post-graduate students from a developing nation. This was done by a retrospective analysis of the data on participation of the students in a continuing health sciences education event that had both active knowledge-gaining (AKG) components such as quiz and passive knowledge-gaining components (PKG) such as plenary lectures as parts of the event conducted every year from 2006 to 2010 in that nation. The results showed a statistically significant linear trend in participation (p-value


The detection of the magnetic type B-mode polarization is the main goal of future cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. In the standard model, the B-mode map is a strong non-gaussian field due to the CMB lensing component. Besides the two-point correlation function, the other statistics are also very important to dig the information of the polarization map. In this paper, we employ the Minkowski functionals to study the morphological properties of the lensed B-mode maps. We find that the deviations from Gaussianity are very significant for both full and partial-sky surveys. As an application of the analysis, we investigate the morphological imprints of the foreground residuals in the B-mode map. We find that even for very tiny foreground residuals, the effects on the map can be detected by the Minkowski functional analysis. Therefore, it provides a complementary way to investigate the foreground contaminations in the CMB studies.


In this paper, I argue that the notion of "best explanation", as it appears in the Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE), can be defined in terms of explanatory power (EP) (i.e. the best explanation among a set of possible explanations is the one having the highest EP), if we employ a probabilistic measure of EP, which takes into account both the likelihoods and the prior probabilities of the compared explanatory hypotheses. Although the association between the EP of a hypothesis and its likelihood is largely uncontroversial, most of those working on EP do not see an association between EP and the prior probability of an explanatory hypothesis. I provide three examples (two toy examples and one from real scientific practice), in order to show that the role of priors in decisions about the best explanatory hypothesis deserves a serious consideration. I also show that such an explication of "best explanation" allows us to compare IBE and Bayesian confirmation theory (BCT) in terms of the probabilities they assign to two competing hypotheses, and thus to elicit the conditions under which both IBE and BCT lead to the same conclusion and are in this sense compatible.


A ring resonator containing a Kerr lens and a Gaussian slit is analyzed. From the point of view of Kerr lens mode locking, it is shown that a self-defocusing nonlinear element is as effective as a self-focusing one and that the positioning of the Kerr element introduces trade-offs between self-starting and operational stabilization. The nonlinearity can lead to unidirectional lasing.


An optical lithography system comprises a light source, a spatial light modulator, imaging optics and means for continuously moving a photosensitive substrate relative to the spatial light modulator. The spatial light modulator comprises at least one array of individually switchable elements. The spatial light modulator is continuously illuminated and an image of the spatial light modulator is continuously projected on the substrate; consequently, the image is constantly moving across the surface of the substrate. While the image is moving across the surface, elements of the spatial light modulator are switched such that a pixel on the surface of the substrate receives, in serial, doses of energy from multiple elements of the spatial light modulator, thus forming a latent image on the substrate surface. The imaging optics is configured to project a blurred image of the spatial light modulator on the substrate, enabling sub-pixel resolution feature edge placement.


Nanocomposite fibers were prepared from poly hexamethylene adipamide (PA-66) via melt mixing of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) nanoparticles (octa-aminophenyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (OAPS) and octaphenyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (OPS)) into the PA-66 matrix. Analysis was then done using, fiber tensile testing, X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR, and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) to characterize the fabricated nanocomposite fibers to determine their mechanical and morphological characteristics. Tensile modulus and tenacity increased by up to 8% and 2% respectively. However, it was seen that 3% POSS loading does not give the material performance enhancements. XRD studies showed that the inter-segmental packing of the polymer chains is not disrupted by the incorporation of POSS nanoparticles. At 1%wt POSS, SEM micrographs showed a uniform cross section with no visible phase separation. As the POSS loading was increased to 3%wt, resultant nanocomposite fibre showed distinct phase separation with formation of distinctive micron size aggregates that led to reduced properties of nanocomposite fiber. OAPS at low concentrations produced nanocomposite fibers of better mechanical properties compared to OPS. OAPS at low concentrations dispersed in a polymer matrix of PA-66 has the potential to be used in nanocomposite fabrication and is recommended for further research.


Despite over 50 years of research into the states of consciousness induced by various meditation practices, no clear neurophysiological signatures of these states have been found. Much of this failure can be attributed to the narrow range of variables examined in most meditation studies, with the focus being restricted to a search for correlations between neurophysiological measures and particular practices, without documenting the content and context of these practices. We contend that more meaningful results can be obtained by expanding the methodological paradigm to include multiple domains including: the cultural setting ("the place"), the life situation of the meditator ("the person"), details of the particular meditation practice ('the practice'), and the state of consciousness of the meditator ("the phenomenology"). Inclusion of variables from all these domains will improve the ability to predict the psychophysiological variables ("the psychophysiology") associated with specific meditation states and thus explore the mysteries of human consciousness.


This paper analyzes the possible contribution of actuation redundancy in obtaining very high acceleration with Parallel Kinematic Machines (PKM). This study is based on redundant and non-redundant Delta/Par4-like robots (frequently used for pick-and-place applications). The dynamic model, valid for both redundant and non-redundant robots, is used to analyze the traveling plate acceleration capabilities: (i) at zero speed and in any directions, (ii) at zero speed in the "best" direction. The results show that actuation redundancy allows to homogenize the dynamic capabilities throughout the workspace and to increase the traveling plate acceleration capability. Finally, the design of a redundant Delta/Par4-like robot optimized for typical pick-and-place trajectories is presented.


Background: Nephrotic syndrome (NS) is a chronic disease in children that correlates with T lymphocyte dysregulation (imbalance of regulatory T cells (TReg)/ T-helper 17 (Th17) cells ratio). Vitamin D3 serum level was known decreased in children with nephrotic syndrome. Low vitamin D3 serum level can affect the outcome of nephrotic syndrome management with corticosteroid therapy. This study was aimed to investigate the effect of vitamin D as adjuvant therapy to 25 (OH) Vitamin D serum level and TReg population in children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome. Method: This study was designed as a randomized clinical trial, double-blind, pre and post-test control group which involved 30 subjects that newly diagnosed as NS. Subjects were divided into two groups, prednisone and vitamin D treated group and prednisone only treated group. TReg population in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was analyzed using flow cytometry. Vitamin D serum level was measured by ELISA method. Results: Results showed that there was a significant elevation of TReg (independent t-test, p = 0.001) and 25 (OH) vitamin D serum level (independent t-test, p = 0.001) in prednisone and vitamin D treated group as compared to prednisone only treated group. Pearson testing first group showed that vitamin D level was positively correlated with TReg (p = 0.332, r = 0.183). The number of early remissions was higher in group treated with steroid and vitamin D3 as a combined therapy compared to group treated with steroid only (50 % vs 20%). Whereas the number of late remission was higher in steroid only group (23% vs 6%). Conclusions: We concluded that corticosteroid and vitamin D3 as a combined therapy increase both of TReg and 25 (OH) vitamin D level which affect glucocorticoid therapy response in subjects. The number of early remission was higher in group treated with corticosteroid and vitamin D3 as a combined therapy.


Will prison sentences rise with Trump? During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump relied on vague "tough on crime" rhetoric over policy specifics. Trump's post-election selection of Jeff Sessions as attorney general, though, lends credence to his campaign trail exhortations. As the United States attorney for the Southern District of Alabama in the 1980s, Sessions prosecuted hundreds of federal cases during the apex of the mass incarceration e ra . Later, as a United States senator, he opposed legislation introducing modest reductions in prison time for drug offenders. In light of Sessions' track record, an uptick in federal prosecutions from recent years appears inevitable. The views on crime and punishment espoused by Trump and Sessions are out of step with reform-minded initiatives popular on both sides of the political aisle. Progressive proponents of criminal justice reform have long cited the disproportionate focus and deleterious effects of skyrocketing prison rates on low-income co m m u n i t i e s . In recent years, a growing chorus of Republicans has joined the movement away from mass incarceration. Among conservatives, the de facto leaders for systemic justice system reforms are federalist and libertarian organizations whose motivations include budgetary concerns, interests in personal liberty and consideration of the "moral and spiritual dimensions" of imprisonment. Chief among them is the Federalist Society, a highly influential national network of 60,000 lawyers, legal scholars and law students whose mission statement centers on "advancing the principles of freedom." If a Sessions-led Justice Department ramps up prosecutions, the likelihood of a mass incarceration reprise rests with the judiciary. A 2005 Supreme Court ruling expanded judicial sentencing discretion by rejecting the constitutionality of mandatory sentencing guidelines. Today, in addition to the nowadvisory sentencing guidelines, judges must consider the unique history and characteristics of each defendant and circumstances of the offense in crafting a just sentence. Moreover, the law requires judges to place the rehabilitative needs of the defendant on an equal plane with the retributive goals more commonly associated with sentencing. In effect, rather than a mechanical application of a prescribed imprisonment range, courts must narrowly tailor sentences to the specifics of each c a s e. Increasingly, federal judges are exercising their widened discretion to impose lower sentences than those handed down during the mass incarceration era. For instance, in the Northern District of Illinois in 2015, almost half of criminal defendants received sentences that fell below their advisory sentencing guideline range. That figure nearly tripled the number of similar reductions awarded in 2008. Even federal judges in Republican strongholds have shown sentencing leniency. In Mississippi, federal courts imposed below-guidelines sentences in nearly 20 percent of cases in 2015. In contrast, only 3 percent of Mississippi criminal defendants received reduced sentences in 2008. Due primarily to obstruction of Obama administration nominees, Trump has 124 federal judgeships to fill — the largest number of any president in 40 years. According to a recent New York Times article, the Federalist Society aims to play a leading role in the judicial selection process. Indeed, the organization's imprimatur was central to Trump's first Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch. As an appellate judge, Gorsuch demonstrated a sensitivity to the complexity and magnitude of criminal sentencing. In a 2014 opinion, he opined that sentencing a defendant "has to be one of a district judge's hardest t a s k s ." "How much punishment," Gor such wrote, "is enough to reflect the gravity of the offense" without "cold revenge or retribution?" He concluded that, in the absence of "a single right answer," the justice system "depends, as it must, on the discretion of thoughtful judges." While a "single right answer" for a criminal sentence may leave room for debate, the antithetical stance between mass incarceration and the bedrock ideals of federalism — liberty, freedom, and democratic self-governance — is abundantly clear. To do justice to its mission and its laudable efforts toward sensible criminal justice reforms, the Federalist Society must ensure that Trump and his judicial nominees understand the distinction. BY HUG H MU N DY


Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen causing severe, acute and chronic nosocomial infections in urinary and pulmonary tracts, burns and wounds. Currently, there is an urgent and global need for alternative antimicrobial strategies to fight the continuous rise of P. aeruginosa resistance to different antibiotics. This led to a re-evaluation of the therapeutic use of ancient medicines such as honey. Different concentrations ranging from 0.02-50% of six different Syrian honeys were used in this study against resistant P. aeruginosa . The minimum inhibitory concentration was determined using spectrophotometric at 620 nm. Carduoideae flowers, black seed, anise and oak honey samples showed a MIC of 12.5%, whereas the MIC of Montana and cotton honey samples was 25%. In conclusion, Syrian honey possesses an in vitro antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa and could be an alternative topical choice in the treatment of wound infections.


In recent years, the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) has become widespread in second language teaching and learning contexts. The language teaching and learning processes encompasses and requires the use of authentic language multimedia and multimodal materials such as text, audio, video and images. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (abbreviated as CEFR), is widely adopted and accepted as the European standard for teaching and learning foreign languages. It's implementation promote the linguistic diversity within the European Union and additionally support the use of ICT as networks and digital tools at the service of teaching / learning foreign languages. In this context, the use of new technologies has become a key factor. The expansion of augmented reality (AR) meets the recent advances in mobile devices (iPhone and Android phone, tablets) and in technologies that merge real world with augmented information leading to a new series of applications. Within this context, in this paper we first illustrate the current needs in teaching and learning second languages, according to CEFR, and then we discuss AR applications for second language teaching and learning.


Abstract The relevance of public interests in private law is at the heart of some central divides in tort scholarship. This paper argues that public interests pervade private nuisance cases. The uncertain and contested nature of public interests, and the absence in both the case law and the scholarly literature of an abstract definition of what is to count as a public interest, do not prevent these matters from playing a significant role in tort. In these circumstances, it is important to reflect on how we might set about articulating the public interest. This paper argues that administrative decisions that are intended to serve the public interest can in some cases provide a defensible vision of public interest for the purposes of private law. An examination of the process by which regulatory decisions were reached can provide indicators to assist in identifying and evaluating the strength of claimed public interests.


Deaf Smith County in the Texas Panhandle is being considered by the U.S. Department of Energy as a possible high-level nuclear-waste disposal site. Among the geologic issues being considered are the timing and processes of salt dissolution and related subsidence. Movement along northeast-trending Paleozoic faults in the Texas Panhandle appears to have influenced deposition during the late Paleozoic. Salt of the Upper Permian Seven Rivers Formation appears to have been dissolved preferentially along the same northeast trend. Structural features of post-Seven Rivers strata as well as segments of surface stream valleys overlie and are parallel to the zone of preferential salt dissolution. The association of structure, depositional features, dissolution, and physiographic features, ranging in age from Paleozoic to Neogene, suggests a persistent structural influence.


We present an algebraic geometric approach for segmenting both static and dynamic scenes from image intensities. We introduce the multibody affine constraint as a geometric relationship between the motion of multiple objects and the image intensities generated by them. This constraint is satisfied by all the pixels, regardless of the body to which they belong and regardless of depth discontinuities or perspective effects. We propose a polynomial factorization technique that estimates the number of affine motion models as well as their motion parameters in polynomial time. The factorization technique is used to initialize a nonlinear algorithm that minimizes the algebraic error defined by the multibody affine constraint. Our approach is based solely on image intensities, hence it does not require feature tracking or correspondences. It is therefore a natural generalization of the so-called direct methods in single-body structure from motion to multiple moving objects. We present simulation and experimental results that validate our approach.


Excerpt] The purpose of this monograph is to provide recommendations to busy rehabilitation service providers in the U.S. for effectively working with persons who hold traditional Korean values. The topics of Korean history, immigration, culture, language, religion, food, views on disabilities and rehabilitation services typically available in Korea are covered briefly to provide the reader with a quick overview and background. For those who seek more detailed information, the references cited in each section can be used as a starting point. For those with prior background knowledge of Korea, I suggest reading Part II first, in which I introduce Korean culture with case stories in the context of rehabilitation process.


The dynamics of actinyl ions (AnO2(n+)) in aqueous solutions is important not only for the design of advanced separation processes but also for understanding the fate of actinides in the environment. The hazardous nature of actinides makes it difficult to measure transport and thermodynamic properties experimentally, so predictive simulations are an attractive method for studying these systems. Here, we report the results of atomistic-level molecular dynamics simulations of actinyl ions (of U, Np, Pu, and Am) in their mono- and dication states in aqueous solution. Quantum mechanically derived force field parameters are used to compute self-diffusion coefficients of the actinyl ions, water exchange mechanisms, and residence times of water molecules in the first solvation shell of the actinyl ions. We find that monocation actinyl ions diffuse slightly faster than their dication counterparts. Our simulations suggest that there are two distinct water exchange mechanisms for mono and dications. An associative interchange pathway is observed for water exchange involving dication actinyls, while in monocation actinyls the exchange occurs via a dissociative mechanism. The residence time of water molecules in the first solvation shell depends on the water exchange mechanism. In the case of dications, a stiffer actinyl bond angle results in a longer residence time, while for monocations, a shorter water coordination distance leads to a longer residence time. The simulations predict much faster water exchange for UO2(2+) than what is observed experimentally with NMR, but other properties are consistent with experiments.


The interaction of atomic and molecular hydrogen with the actinide dioxide (AnO 2 , An = U, Np, Pu) (111) surfaces has been investigated by DFT+U, where noncollinear 3k antiferromagnetic (AFM) behaviour and spin-orbit interactions (SOI) are considered. The adsorption of atomic hydrogen forms a hydroxide group, and is coupled to the reduction of an actinide ion. The energy of atomic hydrogen adsorption on the UO 2 (0.82 eV), NpO 2 (-0.10 eV), and PuO 2 (-1.25 eV) surfaces has been calculated. The dissociation of molecular hydrogen is not observed, and shown to be due to kinetic rather than thermodynamic factors. As a barrier in the formation of a second hydroxyl group, an unusual charge distribution has been shown. This is possibly a limitation of a (1·1) unit cell method. The recombination of hydrogen ions on the AnO 2 (111) surfaces is favoured over hydroxide formation. Abstract: The interaction of atomic and molecular hydrogen with the actinide dioxide (AnO 2 , An = U, Np, Pu) (111) surfaces has been investigated by DFT+U, where noncollinear 3k antiferromagnetic (AFM) behaviour and spin-orbit interactions (SOI) are considered. The adsorption of atomic hydrogen forms a hydroxide group, and is coupled to the reduction of an actinide ion. The energy of atomic hydrogen adsorption on the UO 2 (0.82 eV), NpO 2 (-0.10 eV), and PuO 2 (-1.25 eV) surfaces has been calculated. The dissociation of molecular hydrogen is not observed, and shown to be due to kinetic rather than thermodynamic factors. As a barrier in the formation of a second hydroxyl group, an unusual charge distribution has been shown. This is possibly a limitation of a (1·1) unit cell method. The recombination of hydrogen ions on the AnO 2 (111) surfaces is favoured over hydroxide formation. Abstract: The interaction of atomic and molecular hydrogen with the actinide dioxide (AnO 2 , An = U, Np, Pu) (111) surfaces has been investigated by DFT+U, where noncollinear 3k antiferromagnetic (AFM) behaviour and spin-orbit interactions (SOI) are considered. The adsorption of atomic hydrogen forms a hydroxide group, and is coupled to the reduction of an actinide ion. The energy of atomic hydrogen adsorption on the UO 2 (0.82 eV), NpO 2 (-0.10 eV), and PuO 2 (-1.25 eV) surfaces has been calculated. The dissociation of molecular hydrogen is not observed, and shown to be due to kinetic rather than thermodynamic factors. As a barrier in the formation of a second hydroxyl group, an unusual charge distribution has been shown. This is possibly a limitation of a (1·1) unit cell method. The recombination of hydrogen ions on the AnO 2 (111) surfaces is favoured over hydroxide formation.


The aim of this review is to demonstrate the optimal use of modern imaging methods (CT, MRI and PET/CT) in the preoperative staging, therapeutic management and follow-up of gynecological cancer patients (neoplasm of cervix, uterus and ovary). We present an overview of the advantages and limitations of modern imaging modalities that are complementary to ultrasound, which remains the first choice in gynecology. The review should be used as a guide for gynecologists and oncologists on how to use the methods effectively.


Insufficient cytoplasmic maturation of MII oocytes may be one reason of the low rate of embryo production in vitro. To solve this problem, a two-step procedure of IVM is tested. In this case, there is a prematuration period (PMP) in which meiosis is arrested, followed by a resumption period (RP) during which the oocytes are liberated from the inhibition of meiosis. Preliminary studies have shown that a defined medium (DM) inhibits nuclear oocyte maturation (NM) (Unpublished data). Thus, our purpose was to verify if meiosis arrest is followed by an inhibition of cytoplasmic maturation (CM). Herein we investigated the effects of DM on NM and CM using the two-step procedure for IVM. COCs were selected from bovine ovaries and cultured in non-defined medium (NDM), composed of TCM-199 suplemented with 10% fetal calf serum and 200 ηg mL-1 FSH or in a defined medium (DM), MEMα supplemented with 0.1% Polyvinyl Alcohol. Both media are from Invitrogen-Gibco/BRL, Grand Island, NY, USA. In the PMP (experiment 1), COCs (n = 232) were distributed in G1 (NDM) or G2 (DM) and cultured for 24 h as usual. After this, NM and CM were analyzed. As inhibition of meiosis was observed in G2, a second step of culture (experiment 2) was performed to evaluate the ability of the COCs to reverse meiosis arrest. Thus, COCs (n =202) were distributed in G1 (NDM) or G3 (DM +NDM). COCs from G1 were cultivated in NDM for 24 h, and that ones from G3 in DM for 24 h followed by cultivation in NDM for an additional 24 h (RP). After this, NM and CM were analyzed. The CM evaluation (distribution of organelles) was performed in fresh oocytes (0 h) and in G1, G2, and G3 after usual preparation for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. The NM data were analyzed by Chi-square test. After the PMP period, G1 COCs presented 83.17% (84/101) of complete nuclear maturation whereas G2 presented 74.05% (97/131) of NM inhibition (oocytes in GV or GVBD) (P < 0.05). This meiosis arrest observed in DM was reversed after 24 h of cultivation in NDM, 79.17% (90/110) of G3 COCs were at MII. The analysis of CM has shown fresh COCs with ultrastructural characteristics of immaturity, as presence of mitochondria in the periphery of the ooplasm, and cortical granule clusters in the ooplasm; G1 COCs with mature cytoplasmic characteristics as mitochondria spread throughout the ooplasm and cortical granules located close to the oolema and G2 COCs with both immature and mature characteristics as presence of ooplasm granule clusters and presence of mitochondria spread throughout the ooplasm. G3 have shown mature cytoplasmic characteristics in the end of RP. In conclusion, a two-step procedure of IVM using a DM was able to maintain meiosis arrest while the cytoplasm undergoes maturation (G2). This could be a strategy to improve the rate of viable embryos obtained at in vitro embryo production. FAP-DF, Finatec, CNPq, Capes.