PURPOSE
The use of DMH as an alternative method to validate the treatment plans of the head and neck region has been investigated in the past[1].For patient geometry contains large air cavities,high statistical uncertainties were found in dose distributions calculated using MC method in air cavities and tissues that surround air cavities.These previous studies reported that the shape of DMH is less affected by the statistical uncertainty than DVH. But the authors did not verify the differences between DIs derived from DVH and DMH.In the present work we compare the DIs derived from DVHs and DMHs based on dose distributions calculated using MC method and different levels of statistical precision.

METHODS
Six IMRT plans were calculated using the EGS4 based MCSIM code.MCSHOW allows to built DVHs and DMHs from dose distributions calculated with different statistical uncertainty(from 0.5% to 10%). The DIs were derived from the DVHs and DMHs for the target and critical structures (cord, chiasm, larynx,brainstem and parotid).

RESULTS
Comparing the values (averaged over 6 patients) of target DMH (0.5%) and DMH (2%) we found that all DIs (D05, D95, Mp, Dmax) do not differ in more than 0.7%. By comparison of target DVH (0.5%) and target DVH (2%) we observed differences of about 14% on the value of Dmax and V95 changes in more than 3%. We verified that the statistical effect is not significant (less than 1%) for the DVH of critical structures.

CONCLUSION
The DIs derived from DMHs are not strong dependent on the statistical uncertainty of the dose values as those derived from DVHs. Our results confirmed the previous idea that DMH is a better parameter than DVH for evaluating treatment plans calculated by MC simulations in low density regions. [1]-G.Mora et al., MCTP 2009,Cardiff 2009.


The study presented in this article analyses the influence that translation has exerted on the work of Basque writer and translator Joseba Sarrionandia. This analysis shows that the interaction between his original works and his translations is bidirectional, and that the distinction between creation and recreation is much more confused that it can seem in the beginning. By means of intertextual references, rewriting of poems, variations or imitations of texts written by his predecessors, or even by composing translations without originals, Sarrionandia throws into question some of the notions of the modern discourse of translation, and suggests a new way of understanding literature and translation. His strategies aim to demonstrate that it is impossible to create from scratch, that each poet writes over the traces left by the poets he has read, and that each of his texts will necessarily be a conversion or a translation of the literary tradition he has inherited. Therefore, there is no original text, and each text is no more than a translation of a translation. However, the links and relations that each writer/translator suggests with regard to this literary tradition will be new and original, and it is in these new relations that the creating power of translation lies.


Considerable attention has been given to nonlinear metamaterials because they offer some interesting phenomena such as solitons, frequency shifts, and tunable bandgaps. However, only little is known about the spectro-spatial properties of a wave propagating in nonlinear periodic chains, particularly, a cell with multiple nonlinear resonators. This problem is investigated here. Our study examines both hardening and softening nonlinearities in the chains and in the local resonators. Explicit expressions for the nonlinear dispersion relations are derived by the method of multiple scales. We validate our analytical results using numerical simulations. The numerical simulation is based on spectro-spatial analysis using signal processing techniques such as spatial-spectrogram and wave filtering. The spectro-spatial analysis provides detailed information about the interactions of dispersive and nonlinear phenomena of waveform in both short- and long-wavelength domains. Furthermore, we validate and demonstrate the theoretically obtained bandgaps, wave distortion, and birth of solitary waves through a computational study using finite element software, ansys. The findings, in both theoretical and computational analyses, suggest that nonlinear resonators can have more effect on the waveform than the nonlinear chains. This observation is valid in both short and long wavelength limits.


Lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs) are a group of genetic disorders caused by mutations in genes encoding enzymes involved in lysosomal function. Schindler disease is an autosomal recessive, inherited LSD caused by defective or non-existent activity of the enzyme α-N-acetylgalactosaminidase (α-NAGA). To date, three main phenotypes of Schindler disease have been described. We report the case of a 68-year-old man presenting with axonal and demyelinating polyneuropathy, sensorineural hearing loss, chronic lymphoedema, angiokeratoma corporis diffusum and bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome. Genetic testing (PCR) for α-galactosidase revealed the c.577G>T (p.Glu193*) mutation in the NAGA gene, confirming Schindler disease, which is clinically compatible with Kanzaki disease and Schindler disease type II. LEARNING POINTS Schindler disease is a very rare lysosomal storage disorder. To our knowledge, fewer than 20 cases have been described to date. Consequently, each new case should be reported to enhance understanding of the wide range of presentations.


We aim to understand the impact of nation-wide structural policies such as product market regulation and employment protection legislation and that of macroeconomic factors such as trade exposure, inflation and the level of government debt on the economic growth of regions in the OECD. In particular we seek to explore how the impact of these nation-wide factors might vary across regions depending on their productivity gap with the most productive region in their country. Our hypothesis is that regional productivity growth is positively related to the productivity growth of the leading region within the country and positively related to the productivity gap with the region that has the highest level of productivity in the country (in other words productivity growth increases with distance to the productivity frontier as lagging regions catch up). We use a policy-augmented growth model in which the effects of macroeconomic and structural policies are estimated in addition to the usual determinants of regional growth, physical and human capital and regional labour market density. Our methodology enables us to test simultaneously the catching-up effect, the influence of the productivity growth of the leading region, and the effect of nation-wide policies and how this might vary with distance to the frontier. We use panel data on 335 regions in 30 OECD countries defined at territorial level 2, taken from the OECD Regional Database, between 1996 and 2007. We first find that the growth of frontier regions in OECD countries has a positive effect on regional growth. Secondly, regional growth increases in the productivity gap with the frontier region within the country. Thirdly, we find that nation-wide factors do affect regional growth, and sometimes differentially according to the productivity gap with the frontier region, advocating in favour of place-based policy responses. We consistently identify a negative effect of product market regulation on regional growth, which is larger for lagging regions than for leading regions. The negative effect of regulation on economic indicators has been empirically demonstrated, however we show that this effect is more detrimental to lagging regions. Employment protection legislation and inflation have a negative impact on regional growth overall, while trade exposure and government debt have a positive effect on regional growth on average. Key words: regional economic growth; structural policies; catching-up; lagging regions. JEL codes: R10; R11.


Hyperspectral remote sensing methods are advancing rapidly and offer the promise of estimation of pigment, biochemical, and water content dynamics. The recent Earth Observer 1 (EO-1) Hyperion mission, and associated field campaigns, has allowed a range of biophysical and biochemistry attributes of eucalypt foliage to be analyzed in conjunction with remotely sensed spectra. This paper reports on a study at Tumbarumba (Bago-Maragle State Forest), Australia, which has a wide variety of eucalypt species, ranging in productivity and age. EO-1 Hyperion imagery was obtained in April 2001, and a field program was undertaken involving the establishment of plots, collection of standard forestry inventory data, and green leaf samples. Leaf nitrogen (N) content was measured from leaf samples using wet chemistry techniques and canopy N concentration estimated using leaf mass and proportional species leaf area index data. A number of models were developed from Hyperion reflectance, absorbance, and derivate transformations using partial least squares regression and multiple linear regression. The most significant calibration model predicted N with a correlation coefficient (r)=0.9 (82% variance explained) and a validation r/sup 2/=0.62 (P<0.01). The standard error of the estimate of foliar N was 0.16% equating to 13% of the mean observed %N at the site. These initial results indicate that predictions of canopy foliar N using Hyperion spectra is possible for native multispecies eucalypt forest. Similar studies worldwide, particular those associated with the flux tower network, will allow these findings to be placed in context with other biomes and functional types.


Summary

The Indian state of Bihar has long been a byword for bad governance. It was however governed particularly badly between 1990 and 2005, and has since experienced something of a 'governance miracle'. How can we account for the 1990–2005 deterioration? The answer lies in the interaction of three factors. The first was the type of leadership exercised by Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was Chief Minister throughout most of this period – even when his wife formally occupied the post. The second lies in electoral politics: the need to maintain the enthusiasm and morale of an electoral coalition that Yadav had constructed from a number of poorer and historically oppressed groups. Such was the scale of poverty among this core electoral coalition that Yadav had limited prospects of maintaining its cohesion and allegiance through the normal processes of promising 'development' and using networks of political patronage to distribute material resources to supporters. More important, that strategy would have involved a high level of dependence on the government apparatus, that was dominated by people from a number of historically-dominant upper castes. That is our third factor. Yadav preferred to mobilise his supporters on the basis of continual confrontation with this historically oppressive elite. He kept public sector jobs vacant rather than appoint qualified people – who were mainly from the upper cases. He tried to micro-manage the state apparatus from the Chief Minister's office. He denuded the public service of staff. He was then unable to use it to deliver 'development'. We show that, among other things, the Bihar state government sacrificed large potential fiscal transfers from the Government of India designed for anti-poverty programmes because it was unable to complete the relevant bureaucratic procedures. Yadav knowingly undermined the capacity of the state apparatus. There are parallels in many other parts of the world. Low state capacity is often a political choice.


About once a year, the Linux Foundation analyzes the online repository that holds the source code of the kernel, or core, of the Linux operating system. As well as tracking the increasing complexity of the ever-evolving kernel over a series of releases from versions 3.0 to 3.10, the report also reveals who is contributing code, and the dominant role corporations now play in what began as an all-volunteer project in 1991.


A hierarchical view of program representation is used to explain the problems of matching various representations to underlying distributed architectures. If a program is to effectively use a distributed computer system, it is necessary to represent and detect a high degree of parallelism. Methods of detecting such parallelism and their limitations are discussed. The actual machine level representation of a high-level language program also affects the ability to achieve a good match between the computer system resources and the program. The concept of an ideal machine for the program leads naturally to a representation employing a directly executed language. The initial program representation profoundly influences the possibility of obtaining a good representation at other levels of the hierarchy. A poor initial language representation leads to unnecessary architectural contraints or insufficient information to efficiently execute a program. The issue of suitable initial representation for distributed hardware is approached employing a functional language basis.


Many analytics applications generate mixed workloads, i.e., workloads comprised of analytical tasks with different processing characteristics including data pre-processing, SQL, and iterative machine learning algorithms. Examples of such mixed workloads can be found in web data analysis, social media analysis, and graph analytics, where they are executed repetitively on large input datasets (e.g., "Find the average user time spent on the top 10 most popular web pages on the UK domain web graph."). Scale-out processing engines satisfy the needs of these applications by distributing the data and the processing task efficiently among multiple workers that are first reserved and then used to execute the task in parallel on a cluster of machines. Finding the resource allocation that can complete the workload execution within a given time constraint, and optimizing cluster resource allocations among multiple analytical workloads motivates the need for estimating the runtime of the workload before its actual execution. Predicting runtime of analytical workloads is a challenging problem as runtime depends on a large number of factors that are hard to model a priori execution. These factors can be summarized as workload characteristics (i.e., data statistics and processing costs), the execution configuration (i.e., deployment, resource allocation, and software settings), and the cost model that captures the interplay among all of the above parameters. While conventional cost models proposed in the context of query optimization can assess the relative order among alternative SQL query plans, they are not aimed to estimate absolute runtime. Additionally, conventional models are ill-equipped to estimate the runtime of iterative analytics that are executed repetitively until convergence and that of user defined data pre-processing operators which are not "owned" by the underlying data management system. This thesis demonstrates that runtime for data analytics can be predicted accurately by breaking the analytical tasks into multiple processing phases, collecting key input features during a reference execution on a sample of the dataset, and then using the features to build per-phase cost models. We develop prediction models for three categories of data analytics produced by social media applications: iterative machine learning, data pre-processing, and reporting SQL. The prediction framework for iterative analytics, PREDIcT, addresses the challenging problem of estimating the number of iterations, and per-iteration runtime for a class of iterative machine learning algorithms that are run repetitively until convergence. The hybrid prediction models we develop for data pre-processing tasks and for reporting SQL combine the benefits of analytical modeling with that of machine learning-based models. Through a training methodology and a pruning algorithm we reduce the cost of running training queries to a minimum while maintaining a good level of accuracy for the models.


Abstract In sagebrush ecosystems invasion of annual exotics and expansion of piñon (Pinus monophylla Torr. and Frem.) and juniper (Juniperus occidentalis Hook., J. osteosperma [Torr.] Little) are altering fire regimes and resulting in large-scale ecosystem transformations. Management treatments aim to increase resilience to disturbance and enhance resistance to invasive species by reducing woody fuels and increasing native perennial herbaceous species. We used Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project data to test predictions on effects of fire vs. mechanical treatments on resilience and resistance for three site types exhibiting cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) invasion and/or piñon and juniper expansion: 1) warm and dry Wyoming big sagebrush (WY shrub); 2) warm and moist Wyoming big sagebrush (WY PJ); and 3) cool and moist mountain big sagebrush (Mtn PJ). Warm and dry (mesic/aridic) WY shrub sites had lower resilience to fire (less shrub recruitment and native perennial herbaceous response) than cooler and moister (frigid/xeric) WY PJ and Mtn PJ sites. Warm (mesic) WY Shrub and WY PJ sites had lower resistance to annual exotics than cool (frigid to cool frigid) Mtn PJ sites. In WY shrub, fire and sagebrush mowing had similar effects on shrub cover and, thus, on perennial native herbaceous and exotic cover. In WY PJ and Mtn PJ, effects were greater for fire than cut-and-leave treatments and with high tree cover in general because most woody vegetation was removed increasing resources for other functional groups. In WY shrub, about 20% pretreatment perennial native herb cover was necessary to prevent increases in exotics after treatment. Cooler and moister WY PJ and especially Mtn PJ were more resistant to annual exotics, but perennial native herb cover was still required for site recovery. We use our results to develop state and transition models that illustrate how resilience and resistance influence vegetation dynamics and management options.


Routine early age child immunization is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions. The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools such as Immunization Information Systems (IIS) to improve efficiency of vaccination programs has shown mixed but encouraging results in terms of success. The objective of this paper is to present evidence of Evaccs -- a successfully deployed smartphone based vaccinator monitoring app, discuss the need to create a smartphone enabled IIS (called Har Zindagi -- every life matters) that can store digital records of every child, discuss various design and implementation features of Har Zindagi's android application, and present findings of the usability testing performed on the Har Zindagi android app. Given that the vaccinators are non tech-savvy, and the real estate on a smartphone is limited, this application was particularly designed to allow easy record entry process, and smoothen the workflow. This paper builds upon previous work on user interface design for low-literate users, and identifies techniques to iteratively design interfaces with government employees, who may be uncomfortable with giving usability feedback due to fear of repercussions or might have different field reality when compared to their supervisors and policy makers.


The paper shows how different concepts and technologies, such as high quality multimedia content production and delivery, social media interaction, and methodologies for monitoring and analysing social network activity, can be practically combined with traditional virtual reality installations into an innovative experimental system that enhances the experience of the visitors in cultural educational centers. Apart from offering a modern, immersive, richer experience to the visitors, the proposed system involves significant benefits for the organizers as well, supplying them with valuable feedback extracted from the monitoring and analysis mechanisms. The experimental system has been successfully deployed and used in the Foundation of the Hellenic World cultural center.


This research tried to find out the types and causes of accidents that happen in food-manufacturing factories in small and medium-sized industries (SMIs) in Kedah and the actions taken by the employers following the occurrence of the accidents. Results showed that majority of the respondents had encountered slight injuries. The majority of the accidents were caused by human factors, and employers seldom took serious actions against those involved in workplace accidents. Small cut was identified as the commonest type of accident that occurred in the SMIs for the past two years. Findings also indicated that many of the employers were less interested in giving out incentives when their employees complied with all the safety rules and regulations while punishments were less serious for those who do not complied with safety rules and regulations.


Purpose: This study aims to investigate the 2D monolithic silicon diode array size of 52 × 52 mm2 (MP512) angular response. An angular correction method has been developed that improves the accuracy of dose measurement in a small field. Methods: The MP512 was placed at the center of a cylindrical phantom, irradiated using 6 MV and 10 MV photons and incrementing the incidence of the beam angle in 15° steps from 0° to 180° and then in 1° steps between 85° and 95° The MP512 response was characterized for square field sizes varying between 1 × 1 cm2 and 10 × 10 cm2. The angular correction factor was obtained as the ratio of MP512 response to EBT3 film measured doses as a function of the incidence angle (Θ) and was normalized at 0° incidence angle. Beam profiles of the corrected MP512 responses were compared with the EBT3 responses to verify the effectiveness of the method adopted. Results: The intrinsic angular dependence of the MP512 shows maximum relative deviation from the response normalized to 0° of 18.5 ± 0.5% and 15.5 ± 0.5% for 6 MV and 10 MV, respectively, demonstrating that the angular response is sensitive to the energy. In contrast, the variation of angular response is less affected by field size. Comparison of cross‐plane profiles measured by the corrected MP512 and EBT3 shows an agreement within ±2% for all field sizes when the beams irradiated the array at 0° 45° 135° and 180° angles of incidence from the normal to the detector plane. At 90° incidence, corresponding to a depth dose measurement, up to a 6% discrepancy was observed for a 1 × 1 cm2 field of 6 MV. Conclusion: An angular correction factor can be adopted for small field sizes. Measurements discrepancies could be encountered when irradiating with very small fields parallel to the detector plane. Using this approach, the MP512 is shown to be a suitable detector for 2D dose mapping of small field size photon beams.


Boolean satisfiability problems are an important benchmark for questions about complexity, algorithms, heuristics and threshold phenomena. Recent work on heuristics, and the satisfiability threshold has centered around the structure and connectivity of the solution space. Motivated by this work, we study structural and connectivity-related properties of the space of solutions of Boolean satisfiability problems and establish various dichotomies in Schaefer's framework. On the structural side, we obtain dichotomies for the kinds of subgraphs of the hypercube that can be induced by the solutions of Boolean formulas, as well as for the diameter of the connected components of the solution space. On the computational side, we establish dichotomy theorems for the complexity of the connectivity and st-connectivity questions for the graph of solutions of Boolean formulas. Our results assert that the intractable side of the computational dichotomies is PSPACE-complete, while the tractable side which includes but is not limited to all problems with polynomial time algorithms for satisfiability is in P for the st-connectivity question, and in coNP for the connectivity question. The diameter of components can be exponential for the PSPACE-complete cases, whereas in all other cases it is linear; thus, small diameter and tractability of the connectivity problems are remarkably aligned. The crux of our results is an expressibility theorem showing that in the tractable cases, the subgraphs induced by the solution space possess certain good structural properties, whereas in the intractable cases, the subgraphs can be arbitrary. Work done in part while the authors were interns at IBM Almaden. On leave from UC Santa Cruz


ABSTRACT:Geologic mapping in Nebraska and environs is an ongoing endeavor that has spanned more than 170 years, involved dozens of scientists, and evolved through many changes. Digital mapping has risen to dominance in the state only since 1996. Geologic mapping in Nebraska today concentrates on surficial mapping, which emphasizes materials exposed at the land surface and their relationships with landforms, and which is particularly relevant because non-bedrock geologic materials (regolith) lie at the surface across at least 87% of the state. Moreover, surficial geologic maps assist the understanding of groundwater and sand and gravel resources, to name a few applications. The statewide bedrock map of Nebraska, which dates to 1986, remains an important and widely used geologic map, but it needs to be revised. Notwithstanding, when contemplated deeply, Nebraska's statewide bedrock map reveals that (1) effects of gentle geologic structure, mainly those that came to be in the past 80 million years, can be discerned, and (2) some aspects of the map patterns (not the mapped sedimentary rocks per se) probably predate the beginning of the Pleistocene Epoch, about 2.6 million years ago. The geologic mapping of Nebraska, however, is far from completed.


Aiming for regime transformation, post-transition Angolan civil society activism moved from reformism and confrontationism to ultra-confrontationism. Reformism and confrontationism evolved until the 2008 elections, influenced by development thinking (neoliberalism/institutionalism vs neo-Marxism/world-system thinking), in two opposing strategies: 'constructive engagement' vs political defiance. The dispute ended with ultra-confrontationism gaining impetus with the Arab spring, with a younger generation resorting to new methods (information and communications technology and demonstrations). Despite the lack of funding or international links, the newer methods caused more concern to the regime. Nevertheless, they suffer from the same shortfalls as their predecessors: they are confined to an urban/suburban social segment, and unable to attract the majority of the population.


The objective was to undertake a systematic review of the performance of wound measurement instruments used for patients with pressure ulcers. Studies of any design, evaluating methods for estimating wound diameter, depth, surface area, or volume in patients with pressure ulcers were included. Eligible evaluations had to report intra‐ or inter‐rater reliability, accuracy, agreement, or feasibility of methods. Electronic databases and other sources were accessed for study identification. Included studies were critically appraised using a modified checklist for diagnostic test evaluations. Twelve studies were included. Most had methodological problems and/or used inappropriate statistical methods. Reliable methods for measuring pressure ulcer surface area may include: grid tracings from photographs combined with whole plus partial square count; a portable digital pad; and stereophotogrammetry combined with computerized image analysis. The agreement between photographic tracing and direct transparency tracing may be satisfactory (both methods being combined with computerized planimetry). No definitive conclusions could be reached about studies of diameter or depth; this means that there is little evidence to underpin recommendations in clinical guidelines. Evaluations of volume measurement were of poor quality, and there were few data on feasibility. Further primary research is needed to evaluate methods of wound measurement used in clinical practice.


The continued drive to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in order to mitigate climate change has led to an increase in demand for low-carbon energy sources, and the development of new technologies to harness the available energy in the wind, waves and tides. Many controversies surround these technologies, however, particularly with regards to their economic cost, environmental impacts and the implications of the variability of their output for security of the electricity supply. In order to make informed policy decisions on future developments of the electricity system, it is necessary to address these controversies and confirm the environmental, economic and social sustainability of these new renewable generators. This thesis specifically examines two key issues: whether new variable-output renewable energy generators actually deliver a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over their lifetimes, and whether they produce a viable energy return on energy investment. Although renewable energy sources are themselves 'carbon free', GHG emissions (and energy consumption) occur during the construction, maintenance and decommissioning of the generator infrastructure required to convert this energy into electricity. Furthermore, the variability of the output power from such generators has implications for the operation of the grid there may be a requirement for additional reserve capacity and the increased part-loading of conventional plant is likely to reduce its operating efficiency. Carbon and energy paybacks are measures of the time required for a new renewable installation to offset these life cycle impacts. The work presented in this thesis examines both the life cycle impacts and the GHG emissions displacement of variable renewable generation, using Great Britain as a case study, in order to provide a basis for significantly more robust and reliable estimates of carbon and energy paybacks. The extensive literature survey concentrates on two key areas: current calculation methodologies and estimates for life cycle carbon and energy consumption of power generators; and the marginal emissions displacement of variable renewable generation. A detailed life cycle assessment of the Pelamis wave energy converter is presented, which sets the embodied carbon and energy in the context of the wider environmental impacts and includes an examination of the effect of different assumptions on the analysis results. In order to investigate the true emissions displacement of renewable generation, a historical analysis of real data from the National Grid was carried out, identifying the marginal displacement factor of wind power and taking into account the effect of the efficiency penalties of conventional plant. The findings of the analyses presented in this thesis are combined with information from the literature to examine the actual carbon and energy payback of existing renewable generation infrastructure on the British grid, and to provide detailed recommendations for future carbon and energy payback calculations.


Objective. To elicit women's personal understanding of future cardiovascular risk, following a pregnancy complicated by preeclampsia, and to identify the postnatal needs of these women. Methods. Semi-structured interviews with 12 women with a recent history of preeclampsia who had attended a postnatal follow-up clinic. Results. The interviews were held at a median of 47 weeks postpartum (range 24–62 weeks). Family history of cardiovascular disease was associated with a greater awareness of future cardiovascular risk. Women without traditional risk factors found it hard to envisage themselves as being at risk and may not see the relevance of such information. It may take several months after delivery for a woman to be able to fully consider her own health as well as the baby's; a reminder of risk and health information is needed. Conclusions. Although receptive to follow-up, the situational factors of being a new mother need to be taken into account to engage successfully with this patient group. Further research is needed to help clarify the extent to which a history of preeclampsia is an independent factor for future cardiovascular disease to provide a solid foundation for effective risk communication.


In this study, we propose a novel system to create vivid animated 3d creature model from user's freeform 2d stroke. The most famous technique that construct 3d model from user's 2d sketch is Teddy system[Igarashi et al. 1999]. Past teddy like system create 3D mesh from user sketched 2d-shape, only what is needed is the stroke. These approaches allow a lot of freedom of creativity to us. However, there are also the cases we need to build the identification or determine the character of contents such like most games. In these cases, although it proper to design or control the contents in advance by the developers, the past methods are too much freely to control their contents. To address this, our approach enables end-users to collaborate with product developer's design without decreasing the freedom of creativity. It creates 3d animated creature from the combination of user's freeform stroke and the primitive models that are created by contents' designer beforehand. The generated creature depend on the user's inspiration, so obtained variations are infinte, but don't lack of the identification of the contents which is designed by the creators. Furthermore, our approach makes us to animate the generated model as if it is alive much easier than past methods.


Mammalian Scribble is a target for proteins encoded by human papilloma virus, retro- and flaviviruses. Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is a flavivirus that have evolved distinct strategies to escape antiviral responses. Information of how flaviviruses intrude on cell integrity comes from understanding of the roles that host-factors play when they interfere with viruses. The first part of this thesis describes a novel interaction between the TBEVNS5 protein and Scribble. The importance of the interaction was demonstrated by RNAi-mediated depletion of Scribble, which prevented suppression of JAK-STAT signaling by NS5. Together, these results define Scribble as a novel target for NS5. TBEV is known to cause central nervous system disease TBE in humans that can lead to cognitive dysfunction. A unifying theme in CNS related diseases are defects in neuronal extensions. We therefore addressed the effects of TBEV expression in PC12 cell differentiation, which is characterized by extensive neurite growth. Our data show that TBEVNS5 suppresses neurite outgrowth through the Rho GTPase Rac1. These findings provide evidence that Rac1 is an indirect target of NS5 in neurite inhibition. Scribble was recently implicated in spine morphogenesis. Thus, we tested the role of Scribble in neurite elongation. Depletion of Scribble in PC12 cells, reduced neurite density but increased length of those remaining. Moreover, Scribble bound components in the Ras/ERK cascade in a growth factor dependent manner. Together, these results demonstrate that Scribble controls neurite elongation by scaffolding MAPK components. Moreover, as loss of dendritic spines, actin-rich protrusions on neurons, is a feature in cognitive dysfunction we speculate that cognitive dysfunction in TBE might involve disturbed Scribble expression by NS5. We also investigated the binding between NS1 of Influenza A virus and Scribble. The PDZ domains of Scribble are usually selective for specific C-terminal motifs in proteins. Because NS1 has a canonical PDZ motif we tested if binding to Scribble depends on this motif. We found that Scribble binds NS1; the association is dependent on the NS1 C-terminus that is recognized by PDZ3-4 of Scribble. Together, these results suggest that Scribble is a target for the H5N1 NS1 protein


Teaching a foreign language is a tricky business, and it is not as straightforward as one could suspect. Even though you will be teaching something you have learnt during a life time, the way of teaching and the cultural differences you may encounter will make this a very tough task. In this article, useful tools and resources are presented. The aim is for this article to serve as a guide for new teachers of ELE (Espanol como Lengua Extranjera, Spanish as a foreign language).


Occupational therapists may embark on play therapy as part of an intervention package in child psychiatry. This article examines the effectiveness of play therapy with children who have experienced emotional deprivation. Even though emotional deprivation is seldom the primary reason for referral, it may underpin the behavioural difficulties with which the children present. One important aspect of emotional deprivation appears to be the disruption of early dose relationships and, traditionally, the damage caused by this has been considered irreversible. Consequently, the possibility of children deriving benefit from play therapy and the lack of clarity about emotional deprivation are examined. Research that sheds light on this discussion is considered and, finally, the ways in which occupational therapists might contribute to this body of research are suggested.


Decision making in sport in general and golf in particular has received only limited attention in the sport psychological literature. In addition, research which has been conducted has mainly used retrospective methods of data collection to investigate athlete's thoughts and decisions during performance. Ericsson and Simon (1993) proposed Think Aloud (TA) protocol analysis as a tool for collecting concurrent data of cognitive processes. As a result this thesis aimed to investigate the efficacy of this method for the collection of decision making data in sport using a self-paced sport in particular to investigate the decision making process in differing skill level golfer's. Within this thesis 4 studies were conducted. Study 1 used TA to investigate differences in decision making of 30 skilled and 30 novice golfer's on a putting task, and examine if different verbalization instructions influence performance. Participants performed 30 putts on an indoor green in either a level 2, level 3, or no verbalization condition. Level 3 verbalization produced a higher volume of verbal data than level 2. Skilled golfers verbalized more about gathering information and planning putts than novices, while novices verbalized more technical instruction than skilled golfers. TA verbalizations at either level 2 or level 3 did not impair putting performance compared to no verbalization. It was concluded that TA protocol is an appropriate method for exploring decision making in self-paced motor tasks such as golf.
Study 2 aimed to further investigate the appropriateness and the use of TA by examining the congruence between data collected via think aloud protocol at level 3 and cued retrospective recall of decisions on a golfing task. Six high level male golfers performed six holes of golf whilst engaging in level 3 think aloud, this involved describing one's thoughts and explaining one's decisions during the task. After performance, three semi-structured retrospective interviews were conducted. The first was ten minutes after performance, the second 24 hours after performance, and the third 48 hours after performance. Think aloud verbalizations and interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded. Content analysis was used to identify first and second order themes related to decision making on the golf task. A comparison of the themes identified indicated large discrepancies between the information reported during think aloud and at interview, with only 38-41% similarity in variables reported to influence decision making on each hole. These findings suggest retrospective recall of decision making is limited since relevant information is lost due to memory decay. Limitations of both methods were discussed. However, future research in sport could record decision making processes in event, employing the think aloud protocol.
Following the studies 1 and 2 which demonstrated that TA is a suitable method of data collection for collecting decision making data in golf Study 3 aimed to extend previous research on decision making in golf and the expert-novice paradigm by comparing the thought processes of six higher skilled (m handicap 4) and six lower skilled (m handicap 20) male golfers. Participants were asked to think aloud while playing six holes of golf. Verbalisations were recorded, transcribed, and grouped into the themes of (a) Gathering information, (b) Club selection (c) Planning (d) Technical instruction, (e) Shot evaluation and (f) Pre-performance routine. Differences were found between skill levels in that higher skill golfers decisions centred more on gathering information and planning whereas less skilled golfers focused more on technical instruction. These results are consistent with theories of skill acquisition in that higher skilled performers are less reliant on step-by-step monitoring of the skilled motor performance as opposed to beginners.
Finally, study 4 aimed to progress the findings of study 3 by investigating whether stress through the introduction of a competition with monetary prizes will influence performance and the thought process in high and intermediate skilled golfers. A total of 16 participants took part in this study, 8 skilled golfers and 8 intermediate level golfers. All golfers completed the Decision Specific Reinvestment Scale (DSRS; Kinrade, Jackson, Ashford and Bishop, 2010b). Following this participants either took part in a practice round or a competition round and this was counterbalanced to eliminate practice effect. All participants prior to the competition round were instructed that prizes were given to the top three performers and these consisted of £100 voucher for golf merchandise for the winner, £70 voucher for second place and £30 voucher for third place. All golfers were asked to think aloud whilst performing both practice and competition. Verbalisation were recorded, transcribed and grouped in to themes of (a) gathering information, (b) Club selection (c) Planning (d) Technical instruction, (e) Shot evaluation and (f) Dwelling on past shot. The introduction of stress did not influence performance, however under stress it was found that higher skilled golfers were more likely to use technical rules compared to normal practice conditions, especially during putting performance. Furthermore, high level golfers reported more planning compared to intermediate golfers during both practice and competition condition. These findings support Masters (1993) theory of reinvestment.
The findings of the thesis suggest first that the think aloud protocol is a viable methodology to obtain rich and valid data. Secondly, findings suggest that the decision making process is influenced by the skill level of the athlete and stress. Although the decision making process appeared to be more influenced in higher skilled golfers. From a practical perspective findings suggest using think aloud can aid a player or coach to understand their thought process and to identify what may happen to a golfers performance when faced with the pressure of a competition.


The early modern Dutch welfare system has often been described as relatively generous and efficient. Not only foreigners visiting the Dutch Republic, but also present-day historians have asserted that the Dutch, together with their English neighbours, stood out in early modern Europe in terms of solidarity with the poor and needy in society. Different from the English case, in the Northern Netherlands an extensive national legal and regulatory framework on social care was absent, as were obligatory poor rates for the financing of charitable activities. In Dutch towns social care was organized at a local level and largely financed from donations made to collections in the churches and in the streets. As contributions to these charitable appeals were in principle voluntary and not enforced by law, the question arises how the early modern Dutch managed to finance a substantial part of their welfare system through charitable collections. To understand how charitable donations could form the financial backbone of sustainable and relatively generous relief provisions, this thesis studies the policies of town councils and church boards in organizing collections as well as the population's giving behaviour. Based on archival research in the towns of Delft, Utrecht, Zwolle and 's-Hertogenbosch, it is argued that despite the absence of a legal and compulsory framework for giving, secular and religious authorities still had effective means at their disposal to persuade and exhort the population to donate. Municipalities and church boards made use of both organizational and rhetorical tactics to influence giving behaviour. By supervising the collection process, by strictly scheduling charitable appeals, by extensively advertising collections beforehand, and by asserting pressure on the population to give, they attempted to fill the collection bags, boxes and plates. Overall the authorities' fundraising campaigns, in which creating awareness, establishing trust, and exerting pressure formed the key components, can be described as successful. Many relief institutions managed to collect large amounts year after year, and to fund a substantial share of their activities from donations made to church offertories and door-to-door collections. This thesis moreover demonstrates that the authorities succeeded to mobilize large parts of the population to give to collections. In early modern Dutch towns, the financing of poor relief was considered the shared responsibility of the whole urban community. Collectors often went door-to-door, and municipalities and church boards urged all town inhabitants who could afford to miss a few coins to donate. Studying the population's giving behaviour reveals that not only the elites, but also the less well-off contributed to the financing of social care provisions.


Social cohesion is a concept difficult to define and to measure. As there can be many definitions, so there can be many measurements. The main problem, either in defining or measuring the concept, is its multi-level and multi-dimensional nature. At one extreme, country is the most commonly used level to view social cohesion but measurement at this level is of little use for interventions. At the other extreme, community is the most useful level but it is a social construct for which data are difficult to obtain, given the administrative boundaries used in social surveys. As an initial attempt to measure social cohesion at a sub-country level, this study focuses on census metropolitan areas for which data on several dimensions of social cohesion are available. We use the information gathered by the National Survey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating (NSGVP) on three domains of social cohesion: political, economic, and social. Statistical techniques including factor analysis and standardization are applied to the data to generate an overall index of social cohesion for each CMA.


Intramuscular fat (IMF) content and fatty acid composition affect the organoleptic quality and nutritional value of pork. A genome-wide association study was performed on 138 Duroc pigs genotyped with a 60k SNP chip to detect biologically relevant genomic variants influencing fat content and composition. Despite the limited sample size, the genome-wide association study was powerful enough to detect the association between fatty acid composition and a known haplotypic variant in SCD (SSC14) and to reveal an association of IMF and fatty acid composition in the LEPR region (SSC6). The association of LEPR was later validated with an independent set of 853 pigs using a candidate quantitative trait nucleotide. The SCD gene is responsible for the biosynthesis of oleic acid (C18:1) from stearic acid. This locus affected the stearic to oleic desaturation index (C18:1/C18:0), C18:1, and saturated (SFA) and monounsaturated (MUFA) fatty acids content. These effects were consistently detected in gluteus medius, longissimus dorsi, and subcutaneous fat. The association of LEPR with fatty acid composition was detected only in muscle and was, at least in part, a consequence of its effect on IMF content, with increased IMF resulting in more SFA, less polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), and greater SFA/PUFA ratio. Marker substitution effects estimated with a subset of 65 animals were used to predict the genomic estimated breeding values of 70 animals born 7 years later. Although predictions with the whole SNP chip information were in relatively high correlation with observed SFA, MUFA, and C18:1/C18:0 (0.48–0.60), IMF content and composition were in general better predicted by using only SNPs at the SCD and LEPR loci, in which case the correlation between predicted and observed values was in the range of 0.36 to 0.54 for all traits. Results indicate that markers in the SCD and LEPR genes can be useful to select for optimum fatty acid profiles of pork.


While image retrieval and instance recognition techniques are progressing rapidly, there is a need for challenging datasets to accurately measure their performance -- while posing novel challenges that are relevant for practical applications. We introduce the Google Landmarks Dataset v2 (GLDv2), a new benchmark for large-scale, fine-grained instance recognition and image retrieval in the domain of human-made and natural landmarks. GLDv2 is the largest such dataset to date by a large margin, including over 5M images and 200k distinct instance labels. Its test set consists of 118k images with ground truth annotations for both the retrieval and recognition tasks. The ground truth construction involved over 800 hours of human annotator work. Our new dataset has several challenging properties inspired by real-world applications that previous datasets did not consider: An extremely long-tailed class distribution, a large fraction of out-of-domain test photos and large intra-class variability. The dataset is sourced from Wikimedia Commons, the world's largest crowdsourced collection of landmark photos. We provide baseline results for both recognition and retrieval tasks based on state-of-the-art methods as well as competitive results from a public challenge. We further demonstrate the suitability of the dataset for transfer learning by showing that image embeddings trained on it achieve competitive retrieval performance on independent datasets. The dataset images, ground-truth and metric scoring code are available at https://github.com/cvdfoundation/google-landmark


A new method for the synthesis of nano zero-valent iron (nZVI) was developed in the present study. Ultrasonic waves, as a novel method, were used to synthesize the nanoparticles. The morphology and surface compositions of the particles were characterized by using FESEM, XRD, BET, and particle size analyzer. The synthesized nanoparticles were then utilized as a Fenton-like catalyst to degrade of hydrocarbon contaminants of soil. The effect of using ultrasonic waves in combination with nZVI for hydrocarbon degradation was also investigated. The effects of ultrasonic power, nZVI concentration, pH, hydrogen peroxide concentration, and temperature on remediation were studied. It was found that the new nZVI synthesized by an ultrasound-assisted method had high efficiency in soil remediation. The results indicated that the efficiency of removing hydrocarbons by nZVI was 98.57%. Finally, the optimum conditions of degradation were obtained when pH, ultrasonic power, nZVI concentration temperature, and hydrogen peroxide concentration were respectively equal to 3.5, 500 W, 0.4 gr.l -1 , 40 °C, and 30 mM.


Occupation Healthy and Safety Management (OSHAH) is one of the tool that can be use in voluntary way by the organization to overcome workers safety problems in the work place. For that reason, this paper work is done to see how the effects of OSHAH 18001:1999 implementation from the perspective of the benefits received by organizations which applied it in their organization. These are 26 organization from various sector are been given OSHAH 18001:1999 certification from SIRIM Qas Berhad and all that organization have been chosen to be respondent from this research. The analysis data method in this research have been done by using several test such as comparison test ( T test ), related test (khi-square test), relation (pearson correlation test) between primary variable and secondary variable. Beside that, this research is using the significant level off 90% (p=0.009 until p= 0.10) and 95% (p=0.01 until p= 0.05) to justify the result of comparison data. Research result shows that there is a significant benefit for the organizations that have been implement OSHAH 18001:1999 such as reduce the accident risk, increase employer awareness and thought and establish awareness among the workers.


Got goods to sell? Then get this guide! Chances are, if something exists (and maybe even if it doesn't), it's been sold on eBay! But making sure that your items not just sell, but sell quickly, at your desired price, and without any snafus in shipping or payment takes some doing in the world's largest bazaar. To ensure that kind of eBay success, you need this no-nonsense guide. In these pages, eBay aficionados Jim Heid and Toby Malina have teamed with the folks at TechTV to create the first and last word on selling at eBay. Through easily digestible text and a visually approachable design that shows you how to take flattering photos of your merchandise and design beautiful pages, this handy guide hones in on precisely what you need to know to sell or even start your own business on eBay. Filled with need-to-know information about everything from payment methods to shipping considerations and establishing starting bid prices, this is where you'll want to go before you go online!


The political origins of various civil and political rights have been clearly theorized by Tom Ginsburg and others in work on the "insurance-based" function of judicial review in new democracies. To date, however, there has been relatively little work on the political origins of socioeconomic or second generation rights, such as rights to housing or health-care. The essay attempts to fill this gap, by expanding existing insurance-based theories to account for the potential insurance swap-based function of such rights for left-wing parties to constitutional negotiations, when making concessions on the scope of a property rights clause. Such an account, the essay suggests, fits closely with the actual drafting of ss. 25-29 of the 1996 South African Constitution, and thus also has potential implications for the interpretation of such provisions by the South African Constitutional Court. From an originalist perspective, at least, it suggests that in cases involving a potential conflict between property and other socioeconomic rights, courts should attempt to balance the two sets of rights in as context-sensitive a way as possible, and in other cases, to attempt to preserve scope for such an approach, by reasoning narrowly, or avoiding broad statements in favor of either a highly deferential or expansive approach to the definition of such rights. This also accords surprisingly well, the essay suggests, with the actual approach of the South African Constitutional Court in various cases decided in the 2010 Term on socioeconomic rights, such as Musjid, Abhali, Gudwana, as well as in many earlier cases.


In recent years, there have been significant advances in the treatment of patients with hepatitis B who are candidates for liver transplantation. This includes the prevention and management of hepatitis B posttransplantation. However, there is no established protocol for treating these patients. Ultimately, the goal would be to have patients HBV-DNA negative pretransplantation and then to prevent HBV recurrence posttransplantation to help ensure their quality of life. Several clinical case scenarios are presented and possible treatment solutions have been suggested. The timing of a transplant is critical due to the risk of viral mutation while the patient is on a nucleoside analogue antiviral agent and waiting for an organ. One successful option might be to start therapy pretransplant and continue it posttransplant. Combination therapy appears to provide the most effective course of treatment. This should include a nucleoside analogue and patients should be covered with hepatitis B immune globulin throughout the course of therapy. Several other variations of combination therapy are discussed, but many clinical issues remain to be resolved. Guidelines for future studies designed to answer these questions are proposed.


The introduction of Gallium Nitride High Electron Mobility Transistors (GaN HEMT) in early 2000 has left an undeniable mark on the entire satellite communication landscape. It is now possible for the first time since the introduction of the Solid State Microwave Technology to design and manufacture Power Amplifiers that exceed by several orders of magnitude the reliability, linearity, power density and energy efficiency of all existing technologies, being GaAs, LDMOS, or TWT. A comparison study between these technologies is presented in the current paper, with emphasis on linearity and efficiency.


The internationalisation of higher education has brought new dimensions of inquiry into cross-cultural aspects of pedagogy and practice. From the student learning perspective, a smooth transition into new and foreign learning environments is believed to determine academic success. However, the international academic transition period can be challenging for many students. Problems have been reported in the areas of poor decoding of English language and critical thinking skills; failure to participate in collaborative learning modes (e.g. group discussions); and difficulties communicating effectively in social settings. Refuting arguments have been provided by those seeking to break down ill-formed correlations between cultural anomalies and cognitive deficit. This paper takes the premise that sustainable forms of pedagogy in international contexts hinge on researching the language, culture and discourse intersection in academic learning communities during student transition. It will examine international students' cross-cultural learning experiences as attributed to internal and external factors. The paper discusses international students' interpretations of those intercultural communicative subtleties that are manifest in academic discourse and that may be overlooked by the academic community. The paper concludes by providing some implications for sustaining teaching and learning in international contexts.


We excluded Peutz-Jeghers syndrome for the negative family history of polyposis of the colon, for the late onset of the spots, for the noninvolvement of the pseudomucosa and the perioral skin. Addison's disease, which can start with a hyperpigmentation of the oral cavity, has been excluded for the negativity of the hormonal examinations and the absence of other symptoms. We ruled out other causes of hyperpigmentation of the oral mucosa, such as medications, exposure to heavy metals, cigarette smoke for negative history. Lichen planus pigmentosum of the oral mucosa was excluded due to the absence of other signs like whitish reticulated papules and plaques and especially for the histology, characterized by the complete absence of inflammatory infiltrate and by the presence of melanin in the mucosal basal layer mucosa. In our case of Laugier-Hunziker syndrome lacked striated melanonychia, which is present in 44-60% of cases.


This action based research project focused on Argument Driven Inquiry as a means to improve student learning during science laboratory investigations. The goal of the research was to determine if using argumentation, as part of the laboratory experience, would help students use their data to explain what was happening in the investigation. After students presented an oral argument in class and listened to other arguments, each individual wrote a conclusion to the laboratory investigation. The objective was to use argumentation as a means to help students gain a better understanding of the concepts covered by the laboratory investigation.


Purpose: The main aim of this study is to identify the groups of indicators that can be applied to estimate the economic contribution of cruise ship tourism to the coastal tourist destinations. The research questions are as follows: 1) What are the areas where studies on the cruise ship tourism market in the world are conducted? 2) What entities on the cruising market are engaged in conducting such studies? 3) What entities are the beneficiaries of studies on the cruising market? 4) What type of quantitative and qualitative indicators are used in analysing the economic impact of the cruising market on social and economic development of coastal regions? 5) What groups of indicators used in studies on the cruising market may be interesting for the beneficiaries of these studies? Design/Methodology/Approach: The methods applied are literature review, exploration method of data, desk research method and comparative analysis. A model of a set of indicators dedicated to specific entities operating on cruise ship market and the list of quantitative and qualitative indicators, social subjective indicators, and indicators of interdependence is used. Findings: The analysis of reports regarding cruising market studies conducted in various regions worldwide proves that studies are performed based on various methodologies, at random, without any standardized research model, and therefore, it is difficult to conduct comparative analysis and assess the phenomena in a temporal perspective (dynamic analysis). The results indicate the wide scope of indicators that can be grouped in packages dedicated to individual entities involved in cruise ship market. Practical Implications: The modelling concept of the proposed economic indicators can be used in any configuration by the authorities of seaports, cruise ship-owners, suppliers of goods/services and local governments. Originality/Value: Traditional methodology of assessment of economic and social contribution of cruise market to the local and national economy refers to three basic measures, i.e., direct, indirect and induced impact. The study offers an in-depth insight into modelling of groups of indicators adopted to various entities.


Marine biofouling is a present and potentially increasing future problem at molluscan culture centres. The problem is highly variable, exists on different scales, and its negative impact on cultured organisms and related economic losses at these centres has not been significantly controlled. One approach to fouling control has been the incorporation of natural substances into anti-fouling paints which inhibit the settlement of common fouling organisms. The main objective of the present study was the isolation of naturally occurring substances from marine bacteria which were inhibitory to the settlement of Ciona intestinalis and Pyura praeputialis, two tunicate species causing serious fouling problems in scallop culture systems in Chile. Numerous bacterial strains were isolated from microfouling on natural and artificial substrates submerged in the sea; of 73 strains isolated, 20% demonstrated inhibitory effects on the settlement of the larvae of the above cited tunicates. The inhibitory substances produced by the active bacteria were extracellular, and could be incorporated in an inert matrix (Phytagel TM ) without losing their inhibitory properties. Some properties of the inhibitory substance isolated from bacterial strain Clon Nil-LEM ( Alteromonas sp) included thermostability, MW C. intestinalis ), and undiminished inhibitory activity when incorporated in the inert matrix.


Recent attacks on train facilities and passengers in different cities of the world have turned
attention to the security risks in the rail transportation system and the need to prevent,
eradicate and manage the risks and the consequences. The disruptive impacts on the
efficiency of transport systems and the safety and security of passengers and assets have
become a major concern to the government and management of Dubai Metro. The ability to
meet the security needs of passengers is therefore of vital importance and requires the
creation of a secure environment for passengers, staff and the facilities of the Metro.
This research evaluates the present security systems in place at the Dubai Metro lines to
forestall terrorist attacks and manage the aftermath of emergent crises effectively with
minimal loss or damage to the system. The evaluation aims to determine the extent to which
emerging social factors and emergencies and the impacts are taken into consideration
concerning existing planned action to formulate deferred action suitable to meet the
challenges of the current situation. This is with the view of designing an improved Metro line
security system that will enable the organization and the security personnel to act
purposefully in the face of terrorist attacks or any form of crime.
Dubai is described as the fourth most-visited city in the world based on the number of
international visitors and is the fastest growing city. A fast, modern and reliable
transportation system is therefore required to move people around the city.
A case study using Dubai and the Dubai Metro Line system was adopted in this research
investigation to provide a qualitative interpretation of the study phenomenon.
The study examines how the management of the Dubai Metro line plan for emergent
situations to forestall and manage terror attacks on the rail transportation system. It examines
iii
how the organization reacts to emergencies which describe the evolutionary and random
changes of relationships between agents and different organization systems. The study also
examines how such interactions facilitate the development of new systems.
The theory of deferred action which is a design and action theory was applied to evaluate the
three meta-design dimensions namely planned action (rational design), emergence and
deferred action or modalities. This was applied to determine how planning for emergent
situations required a fluid system that allows changes and adaptability of security systems to
coping with current emerging situations.
The three dimensions and constructs of the theory of deferred action helped the formulation
of the research framework which enhanced the research design, investigation, data collection,
analysis and interpretation of results using an interpretive qualitative methodology. Different
sets of data were collected using in-depth interviews, focus groups and document analysis for
a comprehensive and holistic view of the study phenomenon.
The data set was analysed using thematic analysis which identified concepts and themes that
showed the planned action (real systems) of the metro line in terms of its organisational
infrastructures, organisational framework and resource developments that are constantly
reviewed in line with the current trend in rail operations and security. The data also showed
the efforts of the organisation to plan for emergencies in terms of security training and the
involvement of passengers through awareness and feedback mechanisms. The findings also
showed how the organisation created a fluid system that easily merges the planning for
emergent situations into the existing planned action of the security system to create a deferred
action (system) to deal with any emergency crises at any time.
The study concludes that the management of the security system of the Dubai Metro line has
put in place structures and systems that can enhance the improvement and the development of the MetPass model required to forestall and manage crises. The MetPass model has extended
the deferred action by enforcing its concepts in the analytical tool, for the Dubai Metro Trains
security management system. This is an adjustment of the theory in practice. The research
further approved that deferred action is necessary for security systems development in
emergent organizations.


Since 1985 English has been an obligatory subject in the last two classes of Dutch primary schools. This fact provided an inducement to carry out an investigation to examine if balanced bilingual Turkish and Moroccan children would react differently from Dutch monolingual children to these English classes. Surprisingly research into third language learning appears to be very rare and seems to indicate on the one hand that bilingualism is not always an advantage. On the other hand research on cognitive and metalinguistic abilities of bilingual children suggests that bilinguals may benefit from having this specific learning experience. This research therefore aimed at testing the hypothesis that bilinguals would learn a third language in a different and more efficient way than monolinguals with the same IQ-level and socio-economic status.In this article a word production and a word comprehension test are discussed, which were administered to the subjects' groups after two years of learning English. The selection of subjects, a lexical analysis of textbooks and the test construction are described. The results of the two tests do not show any differences between mono- and bilinguals, which means that, with regard to vocabulary acquisition, bilingualism does not have a positive influence on learning a new language. The results of other tests (grammatical judgements, spontaneous production and word recognition) will show if this finding can be generalized to other skills.


Various extracellular matrix (ECM) scaffolds, isolated through decellularization, were suggested as ideal biomimetic materials for 'Functional tissue engineering' (FTE). The decellularization process comprises a compromise between damaging and preserving the ultrastructure and composition of ECM-previously shown to affect cell survival, proliferation, migration, organization, differentiation and maturation. Inversely, the effects of cells on the ECM constructs' biophysical properties, under physiological-like conditions, remain still largely unknown. We hypothesized that by re-cellularizing porcine cardiac ECM (pcECM, as a model scaffold) some of the original biophysical properties of the myocardial tissue can be restored, which are related to the scaffold's surface and the bulk modifications consequent to cellularization. We performed a systematic biophysical assessment of pcECM scaffolds seeded with human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), a common multipotent cell source in cardiac regenerative medicine. We report a new type of FTE study in which cell interactions with a composite-scaffold were evaluated from the perspective of their contribution to the biophysical properties of the construct surface (FTIR, WETSEM™) and bulk (DSC, TGA, and mechanical testing). The results obtained were compared with acellular pcECM and native ventricular tissue serving as negative and positive controls, respectively. MSC recellularization resulted in an inter-fiber plasticization effect, increased protein density, masking of acylated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and active pcECM remodelling which further stabilized the reseeded construct and increased its denaturation resistance. The systematic approach presented herein, therefore, identifies cells as "biological plasticizers" and yields important methodologies, understanding, and data serving both as a reference as well as possible 'design criteria' for future studies in FTE.


Background/Context Most educators have had little if any preparation in racial literacy, the understanding of social identity related to race and the ability to recognize and negotiate racism. In fact, they may view race as irrelevant. Yet teachers and school leaders hold deep-seated racial ideologies that shape their day-to-day practice and have implications for their students' learning and success This study presents an analysis of school leadership in three, predominantly African-American schools, and the constructions of race, learning, and leadership. Purpose The authors draw from Feagin's (2010) conceptual framework, the White racial frame (WRF), to analyze school leadership practice and ways in which racial ideologies emerge and shape leaders' work with teachers. The WRF consists of five dimensions including racial stereotypes, racial narratives and interpretations, racial images and language accents, racialized emotions, and inclinations to discriminatory action. Context and Participants This study took place in three schools in two urban districts in western Pennsylvania. Participants included three White school principals, instructional leaders, and several focal teachers. Research Design, Data Collection, and Analysis This ethnographic case study is part of a larger study that took place in three predominantly African-American elementary schools. More than 80 hours of school-based observations took place, by shadowing each principal weekly and observing her in various capacities as she supervised teachers, led walkthroughs and faculty meetings, and attended or provided professional development. Additionally, multiple interviews of the school leaders and focal teachers were conducted to surface beliefs about race, knowledge of culture and learning, and knowledge of teachers' cultural competence. We developed a coding scheme based upon Feagin's (2010) paradigm of the WRF to surface leadership beliefs and practice and used a qualitative data analysis software package to analyze our data. Findings The school leaders in this study were deeply rooted within the WRF in their daily leadership routines, perpetuating stereotypes and justifying discriminatory actions in the school, ultimately limiting learning opportunities for children of color and for teachers. Conclusions/Recommendations The findings underscore the need for critical knowledge of race and racism to be included in teacher and leadership preparation and professional development. The WRF serves as a fine-grained analytic tool for understanding how racial ideologies surface in leadership. The authors recommend that future research explore the role of school leaders in deframing and reframing the White racial frame and develop the concept of racial literacy in educational contexts.


ABSTRACT/RESUME Recent research in the field of ethnic conflict studies has taken up the theme of social capital. Bridging social capital, the interaction of members of different ethnic groups in associations of various types, is credited with helping to maintain peaceful ethnic relations. This paper evaluates that theory in the case of New Brunswick, using data from the New Brunswick Social Capital Survey (2003 NBSCS). We find no evidence that interethnic interactions in associational life are an important ingredient in explaining the absence of significant ethnic conflict in the province. Instead, other dimensions of associational involvement, including membership in multiple groups, intensive participation, and long-time involvement, have considerably stronger effects on attitudes conducive to social harmony. De recentes recherches menees dans le domaine des etudes sur les conflits ethniques ont eu pour theme central le capital social. Le capital social, c'est a-dire l'interaction de membres d'appartenance ethnique differente au sein d'associations diverses, aurait l'avantage de maintenir la paix dans les relations ethniques. Ces travaux tentent d'evaluer la theorie, dans le cas du Nouveau-Brunswick, a partir des donnees tirees de l'enquete sur le capital social du Nouveau-Brunswick (2003 NBSCS). Rien n'indique que l'interaction interethnique dans la vie associative soit un element d'importance pouvant expliquer l'absence de conflits ethniques marques dans la province. En revanche, d'autres aspects de la vie associative, dont l'adhesion a plusieurs groupes, une participation intensive et durable, ont des effets bien plus considerables sur les attitudes qui favorisent l'harmonie sociale. INTRODUCTION The past decade has seen an explosion of research focussing on social capital, the term used to describe the norms of trust and reciprocity developed in societies where citizens regularly interact with one another through civic involvement, membership in voluntary associations, and the like. The theory holds that social capital contributes significantly to a wide variety of positive social, economic, and political outcomes, including vigorous democratic participation and good government, effective education systems, healthy populations, economic prosperity, and low levels of crime (Putnam 2000). Ashutosh Varshney recently drew attention to another putative benefit of social capital: its capacity to contain conflict in ethnically diverse societies. Focussing on the tensions between Hindus and Muslims in modern-day India, Varshney demonstrates the significant variation in levels of communal violence in different Indian cities and identifies associational ties at the local level as a critical factor underlying this variation (2001a, 2002). This intriguing account represents a valuable addition to the burgeoning literature on social capital, as well as an innovative approach to the field of ethnic conflict studies. Varshney's work builds on a distinction central to the broader social capital literature: bonding versus bridging social capital (Putnam 2000, 22). Applying this distinction to ethnically diverse India, he distinguishes between intraethnic and interethnic networks of association. The fundamental point is that in ethnically divided societies, associational ties are most valuable when they cross ethnic boundaries. This observation represents an extension of the more general finding that associations with heterogeneous memberships tend to have more beneficial consequences for society at large than those with homogeneous memberships (Stolle 1998). A concern that arises in considering the work of Varshney and others, however, is the direction of causality between ethnic interaction in associations and peaceable ethnic relations. Where ethnic tensions run high, the likelihood of people from different ethnic groups coming together in sporting clubs, business associations, and the like is presumably reduced; conversely, where relations are amicable and violence-free, there will be a greater willingness to associate with ethnic others. …


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Workers reported that a large number of child workers are hired at a Chinese electronics manufacturing company named Jiangxi Lianchuang Electronics Co., Ltd. Some of the workers are as young as 12 to 14 years old, and they work 11 hours per day in the factory. Journalists later confirmed the use of child labor at Lianchuang. Based on Chinese media reports , the child workers at Lianchuang work under the same conditions as adults, receiving no special protection. The children work 11 hours per day. Shifts run from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., with only two one-hour meal breaks and two 10-minutes work breaks. The child workers at Lianchuang are all dispatch workers from a Shenzhen labor dispatch company and earn a low salary. According to Lianchuang's official website , the company is a joint-venture between a local Chinese and a Taiwanese company, mainly producing touch screens and optical parts for major brands such as Hisense, TCL, SHARP, and HTC.


A novel two-stage quaternion estimator from vector observations that is a synthesis between Wahba's approach and the Kalman filtering approach is presented. The first stage features an optimal denoising procedure of the elements of a time-varying noisy K-matrix. The second stage produces a quaternion estimate from the filtered K-matrix via any eigenvalue-eigenvector solver. This work's contribution consists in performing the denoising via Kalman filtering. For that purpose, a matrix Kalman filter (MKF) is developed, which has the advantage of preserving the natural formulation of the matrix plant equations. As a result, two aspects of a previous algorithm, called Optimal-REQUEST (OPREQ), are improved: the K-matrix update estimation stage uses a matrix gain rather than a scalar gain, and that gain is optimized with respect to the classical minimum-variance cost. This work assumes that the sensed lines of sight (LOS) are time invariant as seen in the chosen reference frame. This assumption fits in various operational mission architectures. An exact Kalman filter is developed that accounts for the state-multiplicative noise in the process equation. A reduced estimator is also developed assuming simple expressions for the filter covariance matrices. A constrained estimator, which enforces the symmetry and null-trace of the estimated matrix, is designed using the pseudomeasurement (PM) technique. Extensive Monte-Carlo simulations illustrate the performance of the novel filters with a spinning and nutating spacecraft (SC) as a case study. Extensive Monte-Carlo simulations show that the proposed estimator outperforms OPREQ. As illustrated by additional Monte-Carlo simulations, the constrained MKF exhibits a better transient and a better steady-state accuracy than the unconstrained filter for large initial disturbances in the symmetry and null-trace properties.


In the late 1960s an eclectic group of engineers joined the antiwar and civil rights activists of the time in agitating for change. The engineers were fighting to remake their profession, challenging their fellow engineers to embrace a more humane vision of technology. In Engineers for Change, Matthew Wisnioski offers an account of this conflict within engineering, linking it to deep-seated assumptions about technology and American life. The postwar period in America saw a near-utopian belief in technology's beneficence. Beginning in the mid-1960s, however, society--influenced by the antitechnology writings of such thinkers as Jacques Ellul and Lewis Mumford--began to view technology in a more negative light. Engineers themselves were seen as conformist organization men propping up the military-industrial complex. A dissident minority of engineers offered critiques of their profession that appropriated concepts from technology's critics. These dissidents were criticized in turn by conservatives who regarded them as countercultural Luddites. And yet, as Wisnioski shows, the radical minority spurred the professional elite to promote a new understanding of technology as a rapidly accelerating force that our institutions are ill-equipped to handle. The negative consequences of technology spring from its very nature--and not from engineering's failures. "Sociotechnologists" were recruited to help society adjust to its technology. Wisnioski argues that in responding to the challenges posed by critics within their profession, engineers in the 1960s helped shape our dominant contemporary understanding of technological change as the driver of history.


No aInitially, the thesis investigated the ecological energetics of N. norvegicus in order to construct an energy budget which could be used to estimate scope for growth. The diet of the Norway lobster Nephrops norvegicus in the Firth of Clyde was found to consist of crustaceans, molluscs, and to a lesser extent polychaetes and echinoderms. The proportion of bivalves was higher in the diet of N. norvegicus from south of Little Cumbrae than in the diet of N. norvegicus from south of Ailsa Craig which contained larger proportions of crustaceans and echinoderms. This appears to reflect the faunal composition of the areas. Despite a number of measures taken to preserve stomach contents, a large proportion of the diet was found to be macerated beyond recognition, particularly in the stomachs of animals from the south of Ailsa Craig stocklet. There were marked interspecific differences in the energy contents and organic contents of prey organisms. The calorific values of the prey items were found to vary according to the proportion of organic matter in the tissue. Organisms with low organic contents such as brittle stars had lower calorific values than organisms with a large organic proportion such as soft-bodied polychaetes.

Amounts of food consumption were calculated in 4h intervals over a 24h period. Results suggested that foraging is highest during the night at 2200-0200. A smaller increase in food consumption was also noticed during the morning at 0600-1000 and 1000-1400. The lowest amount of food was consumed between 1400-1800. Two different models were used to estimate the daily amounts of food consumption. The values obtained ranged from 476.5mg day-1 (wet weight) at Ailsa Craig in November to 1206.2 mg day-1 (wet weight) at Little Cumbrae in May.


New and previously published micro-gravity data are combined with InSAR data, precise levelling and GPS measurements to produce a model for the processes operating at Krafla volcano, 20 years after its most recent eruption. The data have been divided into two periods: from 1990 to 1995 and from 1996 to 2003 and show that the rate of deflation at Krafla is decaying exponentially. The net micro-gravity change at the centre of the caldera is shown, using the measured Free Air Gradient, to be -85 µGal for the first and -100 µGal for the second period. After consideration of the effects of water extraction by the geothermal power station within the caldera, the net gravity decreases are -73 ± 17 µGal for the first and -65 ± 17 µGal for the second period. These decreases are interpreted in terms of magma drainage. Following a Mogi point source model we calculate the mass decrease to be ~2 x 10 10 kg/yr reflecting a drainage rate of ~0.23 m 3 /s, similar to the ~0.13 m 3 /s drainage rate previously found at Askja volcano, N-Iceland. Based on the evidence for deeper magma reservoirs and the similarity between the two volcanic systems, we suggest a pressure-link between Askja and Krafla at deeper levels (at the lower crust or the crust-mantle boundary). After the Krafla fires, co-rifting pressure decrease of a deep source at Krafla stimulated the subsequent inflow of magma, eventually affecting conditions along the plate boundary in N-Iceland, as far away as Askja. We anticipate that the pressure of the deeper reservoir at Krafla will reach a critical value and eventually magma will rise from there to the shallow magma chamber, possibly initiating a new rifting episode. We have demonstrated that by examining micro-gravity and geodetic data, our knowledge of active volcanic systems can be significantly improved.


During the current COVID-19 pandemic, the rapid availability of profound information is crucial in order to derive information about diagnosis, disease trajectory, treatment or to adapt the rules of conduct in public. The increased importance of preprints for COVID-19 research initiated the design of the preprint search engine preVIEW. Conceptually, it is a lightweight semantic search engine focusing on easy inclusion of specialized COVID-19 textual collections and provides a user friendly web interface for semantic information retrieval. In order to support semantic search functionality, we integrated a text mining workflow for indexing with relevant terminologies. Currently, diseases, human genes and SARS-CoV-2 proteins are annotated, and more will be added in future. The system integrates collections from several different preprint servers that are used in the biomedical domain to publish non-peer-reviewed work, thereby enabling one central access point for the users. In addition, our service offers facet searching, export functionality and an API access. COVID-19 preVIEW is publicly available at https://preview.zbmed.de.


We demonstrate a new method of determining the three-dimensional dipole orientations of single molecules by direct imaging of the emission patterns in the back focal plane of a high-numerical-aperture objective lens. We compare the reconstructed emission-dipole orientations with a previously established method of absorption-dipole mapping. We find that, for a given number of emitted photons, emission pattern imaging provides better accuracy (1°–2°) than absorption-dipole mapping of single molecules. Compared with some other methods for emission-dipole mapping, the presented method is (1) less sensitive to optical aberrations and adjustment and (2) data analysis is simplified because radiation patterns can be expressed in a simple analytical form.


Nanofluid is a kind of new engineering fluid consisting of solid nanoparticles with sizes typically of 1-100 nm homogeneously dispersed in base fluids. In this study, spherical shaped zinc sulphide (ZnS) nanoparticles are prepared by chemical precipitation method. The synthesised nanoparticles are ultrasonically suspended in gear lubricant oil and its suspension stability is evaluated by gravity driven sedimentation test for different gear lubricant applications. Further, the effect of molecular interaction and separation distance of dispersed additives on the sedimentation velocity is discussed through Lennard- Jones potential equation.


From June 1987 to April 1988 an epizootic of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)
occurred along the eastern coast of the United States from New Jersey to Florida. As a result of
this mortality, the mid-Atlantic "coastal migratory stock" of bottlenose dolphins was identified
and estimated to have been reduced by more than 50%, which resulted in its classification as
"depleted" under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act. Since that time, researchers have
documented the existence of multiple coastal stocks of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, which are
believed to include a complex mix of residents, seasonal inhabitants, and transient animals. One
of these putative stocks occurs approximately between Beaufort, NC and Myrtle Beach, SC; 40
of the animals belonging to this stock were the focus of this study. Sighting histories for these
40 bottlenose dolphins have been compiled over the past nine years as part of an ongoing photoidentification
study near Wilmington, NC.
Two hypotheses were tested for dolphins in the Wilmington, NC area: (1) a single
community of dolphins exists and (2) dolphins exhibit no preference for specific locations within
the study area. To account for survey effort, a weighted index was developed to standardize the
data. To investigate dolphin community structure, a variety of area use methods were tested
using a Geographic Information System (GIS). Most common in the literature are the adaptive
kernel estimator (ADK) and the minimum convex polygon (MCP) methods, which have become
standards in animal movement studies. Conversely, geographers and statisticians have
developed point pattern and density estimation techniques. These approaches were compared,
and the geographically-based interpolation methods were found to most accurately represent the
dolphins' distributions. Based upon the area use results and dolphin association values (CoAs),


This is the first article to analyze a large sample of terrorist groups in terms of their policy effectiveness. It includes every foreign terrorist organization (FTO) designated by the U.S. Department of State since 2001. The key variable for FTO success is a tactical one: target selection. Terrorist groups whose attacks on civilian targets outnumber attacks on military targets do not tend to achieve their policy objectives, regardless of their nature. Contrary to the prevailing view that terrorism is an effective means of political coercion, the universe of cases suggests that, first, contemporary terrorist groups rarely achieve their policy objectives and, second, the poor success rate is inherent to the tactic of terrorism itself. The bulk of the article develops a theory for why countries are reluctant to make policy concessions when their civilian populations are the primary target.


The push for gender diversity on public companies' boards has been gaining traction. Advocacy groups, institutional investors, regulators and companies themselves have all recognized the need for more diverse boards. However, gender parity is still absent from most public companies' boards, and a significant number of companies still have no women on their boards.

Current public and academic discourse has focused on the number of women serving on the board and their percentage compared to men as the litmus test for gender diversity. However, academic studies and the public push for more diversity have mostly failed to account for another important measure of board gender diversity - the actual role and clout that female directors have within the boardroom. This is what the Article terms as substantive gender diversity.

Substantive gender diversity matters. It is at the core of both the social cause and the business case for gender diversity on boards. This Article explores this substantive component of board gender diversity through empirical data relating to the role that men and women play on corporate boards. The Article finds statistically significant differences between the roles of female and male directors. Building on these findings, the Article asserts that regulators, investors and companies must focus not only on increasing the number of women on boards but also on ensuring that female directors enjoy similar parity once elected. The Article then proposes a shift towards a Substantive Gender Diversity Disclosure regime, which would measure and report the substantive aspect of gender diversity in boardrooms.


This investigation looks at the nature of synchresis in filmic contexts, with a particular focus on film-dance. I have discussed language that can be useful in this exploration, and have attempted to define terms in order to better develop a means of conceptualizing what synchresis is, and how it functions in establishing and shaping connections between media. This theoretical work is the background for my investigation of synchresis in the three contrasting works that make up my creative portfolio.
A better understanding of the complexity of synchresis in cross-media interactions provides a useful tool to unify and shape these interactions. The marriage of movement and sound is a central part of human experience and our experiences of music are potently transformed through visual gesture. Likewise film is transformed by music's vitality and meaning‐shaping role. In other words, synchresis emerges from the primary experience of intermodality. An enhanced understanding of it provides a platform for possible further explorations of the different ways in which different media can be combined. It is hoped that composers might be able to usefully apply ideas from this investigation to intermedia works of their own.


Current mandate of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act places students with mild to moderate learning disabilities in the least restrictive environment to the maximum extent possible with general education students. At the secondary level, this mandate challenges both general education teachers and students with mild to moderate learning disabilities. The purpose of this study is to understand the needs of students with mild to moderate learning disabilities and their general education teachers in an effort to move toward academic engagement and achievement through differentiated instruction. This study took place in a small coastal California high school where teachers were surveyed about their knowledge, understanding, and implementation of differentiated instruction. A teacher's focus group was also formed and met with the researcher in an effort to determine a better understanding ofthe principles and support needed for practicing differentiated instruction. Finally, high school students with mild to moderate learning disabilities were interviewed to determine the support they perceived as essential for achieving academic success in general education classrooms. The results showed that while many of the teachers knew the principles and components of differentiated instruction, many of the myths were also believed to be true. During the focus group many of the common barriers to inclusion were found to be present. A lack oftime to plan for differentiated instruction proved to be the most frequently mentioned barrier. The most common need for the students with mild to moderate learning disabilities is for general education teachers to be aware ofthe students' different learning styles so their strengths could be utilized and appreciated. This was closely followed by the need for approachable teachers and friends to satisfy the feeling of community and belonging. Until schools begin to identify ways to truly include students with mild to moderate learning disabilities in general education classrooms, the likelihood increases that genuine inclusion will not take place.