In 2020, our understanding of the distributions of HIV risks in the most burdened settings including eSwatini remains limited. In part, this is driven by the limited availability of the size and burden of the populations at the greatest risk for HIV. Given pervasive social and healthcare stigmas, the size estimations of these populations often rely on the multiplier method – a variant of the capture-recapture approach where the first survey is replaced by an enumeration of population members who used some service or attended an event. To characterize the distributions of marginalized communities in eSwatini, multiple data sources are available at each region for the multiplier method. Current practices in such circumstances produce multiple population size estimates at each region ignoring the correlation among these estimates. We recast multiple multiplier method as a special case of capture-recapture problem with incomplete data, and propose a fully model based approach for size estimation using multiple capture-recapture data with arbitrary pattern of incompleteness. We use a data augmentation scheme that allows us to model the correlations in the data and produce a unified estimate of population size per region. A hierarchical model ties together the models for multiple regions, allowing us to borrow strength across the regions enabling extrapolation to areas without data. In eSwatini we also encounter data misalignment where counts from some of the data sources are not available for each region but as an aggregate over few regions. We propose a solution to the general misalignment problem which considers data-source-specific patterns of misalignment. We use simulation studies to demonstrate the accurate inferential capabilities of our Bayesian multiplier method. This approach is then used to produce uncertainty-quantified population size estimates of key populations in eSwatini. Lastly, we propose a Bayesian non-parametric extension for incomplete capture-recapture that allows non-independent data sources. MSC 2010 subject classifications: Primary 60K35, 60K35; secondary 60K35


The debate on the financial crisis risks to hide the black holes which are nested in accepted theories and policy guidelines. Among such black holes there are important issues: how money is created in a growing economy, which is the role of wealth assets not linked with current production, which are the relations between such phenomena and monetary savings, how chronological time affects production and in its changes, how the emergence of sophisticated contracts and the explosion of discretionary behaviours have complicated the problem of coordination. The paper, which aims at reaching an audience of social scientists wider than the economists' community, shows that the endogenous creation of money for financing the productive activities (Wicksell) is unlikely to be sufficient to feed a moving economy. Additional money is likely to be needed. It can be provided by public deficit or by credit going to finance speculative investments. In the meanwhile monetary savings have a high probability to result, in developed economies, in excess with respect to productive investments. These interrelated elements may imply an inflation concerning the prices of unproductive assets and a possible displacement of real activities. However, while the inflation concerning productive flows is considered as an evil, everybody seems to be happy when the values of assets not directly connected with current production increase, and the central banks end up admitting that they support such tendencies. The paper discusses how we ought to revise policy strategies, favouring a non-Keynesian policy of deficit spending linked to long lasting programs and adopting banking policies for the financing of industrial projects.


Background
The public health significance of the reported higher incidence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) with intensive systolic blood pressure (SBP) lowering is unclear.

Objective
To examine the effects of intensive SBP lowering on kidney and cardiovascular outcomes and contrast its apparent beneficial and adverse effects.

Design
Subgroup analyses of SPRINT (Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial). (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01206062).

Setting
Adults with high blood pressure and elevated cardiovascular risk.

Participants
6662 participants with a baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of at least 60 mL/min/1.73 m2.

Intervention
Random assignment to an intensive or standard SBP goal (120 or 140 mm Hg, respectively).

Measurements
Differences in mean eGFR during follow-up (estimated with a linear mixed-effects model), prespecified incident CKD (defined as a >30% decrease in eGFR to a value <60 mL/min/1.73 m2), and a composite of all-cause death or cardiovascular event, with surveillance every 3 months.

Results
The difference in adjusted mean eGFR between the intensive and standard groups was -3.32 mL/min/1.73 m2 (95% CI, -3.90 to -2.74 mL/min/1.73 m2) at 6 months, was -4.50 mL/min/1.73 m2 (CI, -5.16 to -3.85 mL/min/1.73 m2) at 18 months, and remained relatively stable thereafter. An incident CKD event occurred in 3.7% of participants in the intensive group and 1.0% in the standard group at 3-year follow-up, with a hazard ratio of 3.54 (CI, 2.50 to 5.02). The corresponding percentages for the composite of death or cardiovascular event were 4.9% and 7.1% at 3-year follow-up, with a hazard ratio of 0.71 (CI, 0.59 to 0.86).

Limitation
Long-term data were lacking.

Conclusion
Intensive SBP lowering increased risk for incident CKD events, but this was outweighed by cardiovascular and all-cause mortality benefits.

Primary Funding Source
National Institutes of Health.


Canadians on the transplant waiting list are dying every day because there are not enough available solid organs for transplantation. An important aspect of addressing this problem is to increase deceased organ donation consent rates. Consent rates are, in part, affected by the number of adults registering their commitment to deceased organ donation in the event of their death through a donor registry. In provinces such as Ontario, approximately 30% of the population is registered for deceased organ donation and approximately 60% of families consent to organ donation. These low figures have been attributed, without evidence, to the relatively high proportion of immigrants or ethnic minorities living in Ontario. This research uses Ontario's large administrative databases to examine organ and tissue donor registration in the general population and familial consent among those referred for organ and tissue donation. Modified-Poisson regression was used to identify characteristics associated with donor registration and familial consent. The first manuscript examines deceased organ donor registration and familial consent among Chinese, South Asian and the remaining general public. Chinese and South Asian individuals registered and their families consented less for deceased organ donation than the general public. The second manuscript examines deceased organ donor registration among immigrants compared to long-term residents and identifies and quantifies characteristics associated with organ donor registration. Compared to long-term residents, immigrants as a group were much less likely to register for organ and tissue donation. Characteristics among the immigrant population associated with a higher likelihood of registration included economic immigrant status, living in a rural area (population < 10 000), living in an area with a lower ethnic concentration, less material deprivation, a higher education, ability to speak English and French, and more years residing in Canada. The third manuscript examines familial consent among immigrants and identifies and quantifies characteristics associated with familial consent. Compared to long-term residents, families of immigrants as a group were less likely to consent for deceased organ donation. However, there was no statistical difference in consent rates among immigrants and long-term residents who had registered for organ and tissue donation.


Objective: Majority of studies to date have focused on injury profiles and types of injuries in rugby, without looking at the risk factors associated and the management of these injuries. It was thus the aim of this study to determine the risk factors and management of rugby injuries in the greater Durban area. Methods: This was a prospective, cross-sectional based study, using a self-administered questionnaire, developed specifically for this research utilizing a focus group and pilot study. The questionnaire details a patient injury history, rugby history, resources, management, coaching and training parameters. Letters of informed consent and the questionnaire were distributed to 300 players / coaches for completion and data was analysed using Pearson's correlation and t-tests. Results: A response rate of 70% (n=210) was achieved. Selected risk factors were found to be significantly related to current and / or previous injury. New risk factors which did significantly impact injury, were also determined. Conclusion: It is advised that coaches and players take note of significant injury risk factors and management protocols in order to improve player health and decrease injury risk. Further research may look into the factors identified in order to set up better structures in order to prevent further injuries.


Background: Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and interaction and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests or activities. In most cases, the cause of ASD is likely to be a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental exposures occurring in fetal life or early infancy. Consequently, a prospective pregnancy cohort like MoBa represents an ideal platform for studies of ASDs in children. Methods: The Autism Birth Cohort (ABC) Study has identified potential ASD cases in MoBa through questionnaire- based screening, parental and professional referrals, and linkages to the Norwegian Patient Register. ASD diagnoses have been ascertained through in-person clinical assessments and medical record reviews. Current results : By the end of 2012, the ABC Study had identified 518 ASD cases in MoBa. The ASD prevalence in school-age children is 0.7-0.8%, which is in line with nationwide estimates for Norway. The most important source of ASD case identification was registry linkages, while only a minority was detected through early screening. Published findings show that screening at 18 months misses the majority of ASD cases. Analyses of risk factors for ASDs have shown that maternal use of folic acid supplements in early pregnancy may lower the child's risk of developing ASDs and that paternal obesity appears to increase the child's risk of ASDs. Future plans: ASD case identification will continue through annual registry linkages and subsequent reviews of medical records. Analyses of plasma samples and RNA samples will be conducted to investigate prenatal and perinatal microbial exposures, innate immune and inflammatory responses, biomarkers of autism risk, and exposures to xenobiotics. Analyses of deciduous teeth will also investigate the effect of medications and environmental toxins. Exome sequencing of DNA from ASD cases and their parents is ongoing, and will elucidate the role of de novo DNA mutations in the pathogenesis of ASDs. Future epidemiological analyses will explore the results of the 36-month screening for ASDs, the diagnostic stability and developmental trajectories in ASD children, and psychiatric and medical comorbidities in ASDs.


. Males employing a mixed reproductive strategy may increase their fitness through extra-pair copulations (EPCs), but also risk lost paternity when they leave their own mate unguarded. How males maximize the effectiveness of forced extra-pair copulation (FEPC) attempts while minimizing the risk of cuckoldry was studied in a non-migratory population of the white-cheeked pintail, Anas bahamensis bahamensis, a tropical species with extended breeding seasons. Despite substantial asynchrony in the laying dates of females, males directed FEPC attempts primarily at females in fertile condition. The rate of pair copulations also peaked during the female's fertile period, but 23.1% of all successful copulations with laying females were FEPCs. Males guarded their paternity by vigorously defending their mates from males attempting FEPC, by escorting females to their nests, by defending a territory, and by forcing copulation on their own mates after they had been subjected to an FEPC attempt by another male. Contrary to expectation, males did not temporally partition mate guarding and FEPC activity but pursued FEPCs primarily during the period when their own mates were fertile. There was no evidence, however, of a trade-off between FEPC activity and the quality of male mate guarding. Females paired to males with the highest FEPC rates were rarely subjected to FEPCs themselves. In addition, although females that abandoned nesting efforts suffered a high frequency of FEPC attempts, their mates were much less active in FEPCs than the mates of females that nested successfully. These results suggest substantial variation in male quality: some males excelled at both guarding their mates and achieving FEPCs, while others neither pursued FEPCs nor mate-guarded effectively.


Abstract Engineering change orders (ECOs) are part of almost every development process, consuming a significant part of engineering capacity and contributing heavily to development and tool costs. Many companies use a support process to administer ECOs, which fundamentally determines ECO costs. This administrative process encompasses the emergence of a change (e.g., a problem or a market-driven feature change), the management approval of the change, up to the change's final implementation. Despite the tremendous time pressure in development projects in general and in the ECO process in particular, this process can consume several weeks, several months, and in extreme cases even over 1 year. Based on an in-depth case study of the climate control system development in a vehicle, we identify five key contributors to long ECO lead times: a complex approval process, snowballing changes, scarce capacity and congestion, setups and batching, and organizational issues. Based on the case observations, we outline a number of improvement strategies an organization can follow to reduce its ECO lead times.


A security policy which includes the appropriate phases of implementation, enforcement, auditing and review is vital to protecting an organisations information security. This paper examined the information security policy of a government organisation in response to a number of perceived shortcomings. The specific issues identified relating to the organisations security policy as a result of this investigation were as follows: a culture of ignoring policies, minimal awareness of policies, minimal policy enforcement, policy updating and review ad hoc at best, policy framework, lengthy policy development and approval process, no compliance program, no formal non-compliance reporting and an apparent inconsistent enforcement across the whole of the organisation. In response to these identified issues, the following recommendations were made to improve the information security of the organisation: changing the organisations culture, creating an awareness mechanism for policies, improving the organisations culture, create an ICT policy awareness programme, review and re-write existing policies, policy enforcement, policy compliance, policy noncompliance reporting, policy updating and review, improve the policy development and approval process, policy compliance checking and uniform policy enforcement. Whilst it is also likely that a lack of governance contributed to these issues, this aspect was not addressed in this paper. It is hoped that timely implementation of the remedies presented here will increase the organisations information security.


The purpose of this study is to describe and examine the tourist market segment of inbound holiday visitors to New Zealand who choose to travel without pre-booking their holiday. These travellers are known as Free Independent Travellers (FITs). They are considered to be a growth segment, but there is little known of their activities in New Zealand, who they are or why they choose to travel independently. Information about travellers and FITs in particular was collected through exit interviews at New Zealand's largest ports (Auckland and Christchurch international airports) during February and March 1988. As well as containing a description of holiday characteristics, demographic characteristics and lifestyle profiles of FITs, the results of the study indicate that: 1) some demographic and holiday characteristics are significantly associated with an independent travel style, 2) segmenting FITs using lifestyle identified five segments which were given descriptive names of, Sports People, Budgeters, Gregarious, Family Oriented and Comfort Seekers. Each lifestyle is associated with particular demographic and holiday characteristics consistent with their central life interest. This market research infonnation could be utilised by tourism planners involved in designing suitable products and services for independent travellers.


This study is a literature review of factors determining postpartum weight gain retention. According to the literature the main factors include gestational weight gain and intensity of lactation. Various studies show that the greater the weight gain during pregnancy the greater the postpartum weight retention. Smoking was associated with lower retention while lactation only demonstrated a protective effect against weight retention in some studies. Various factors like physical activity food consumption age at menarche number of abortions and mother's work status have still not been properly studied. The conclusion is that there are few studies on postpartum weight changes suggesting the need for new research on the theme especially in developing countries where obesity has been insufficiently researched thus far. (authors)


Plan: To develop some 1,3-dimethyl-7-[2-(piperazin-1-yl)acetyl]-2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-purine-2,6-dione derivatives for their antiasthamatic activity. Objective: Xanthene derivatives are known for their vasodilatory activity. Development of Phosphodiesterase 3 inhibitors is current area of interest for development of anti-asthmatic agents. Many compounds containing xanthene nucleus are also found to possess a number of pharmacological activities. Thus a new series of 1,3-dimethyl-7-(2-(piperazin-1-yl)acetyl)-2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-purine-2,6-dione has been synthesized, characterized and screened for the vasodilator activity. Methodology: In our present study the intermediate 27-(chloroacetyl)-1,3dimethyl-3,7-dihydro-1H-purine-2,6-dione [A] was prepared via reaction of theophylline and chloroacetyl chloride. This compound was treated with Piperazine in presence of methanol followed by hydrazine hydrate to yield the key intermediate 1,3-dimethyl-7-(2-(piperazin-1-yl)acetyl)-2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-purine-2,6-dione (B). This compound was treated with various substituted aromatic amines to get the title compounds [1-12]. The title compounds were characterized by MP, TLC, IR, UV, and NMR & Mass spectrum. The compounds were screened for pulmonary vasodilator activity. Outcome: All compounds showed significant activity compared to standard Cilostazol. 7-(2-{4-[1-(3,4-di-chlorophenyl) ethyl]piperazin-1-yl}acetyl)-1,3-dimethyl-2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-purine-2,6-dione (8) was most active derivative from the series. 7-(2-{4-[(2,4-di-nitrophenyl)methyl]piperazin-1-yl}acetyl)-1,3-dimethyl-2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-purine-2,6-dione (6) and 7-(2-{4-[1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethyl]piperazin-1-yl}acetyl)-1,3-dimethyl-2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-purine-2,6-dione (4) showed moderate to mild activity. Conclusion: Activity of the derivatives with di-chloro substitution indicated that the compounds with electron withdrawing groups are showing significant activity than other compounds which indicated mechanistic details of all the compounds in near future would lead to potent anti-asthmatic compounds.


Hypotension under spinal anaesthesia for Caesarean section remains a common problem with attendant maternal and foetal morbidity attached to it. This review examines some of the issues surrounding the prediction of spinal hypotension, including concerns with current evidence, debate regarding the mechanism of hypotension and the utility of prediction in this group of patients. It will then cover some of the more conventional and established preoperative predictors of hypotension. Particular attention will be paid to the assessment of autonomic function and some of the novel methods being used as predictors of severe maternal hypotension. The implications of autonomic dysfunction and areas for future research are discussed.


Qatar experience in Standard Breast Cancer Screening Authers: Dr Salha Bujassoum ,Dr Hekmet Bugrein , Dr Reena ALaSSAM , Dr Mufid Elmistiri Abstract Qatar has one of the highest age-adjusted breast cancer incidences in the Arab world. Although this is much lower than the incidence in the West. Breast cancer incidence in Qatar was 45 per 100,000 in 2003-2007.These higher incidence rates in Qatar are mainly due to the growing population. The prevalent age group, between both Qatari and non-Qatari patients, was 40-50 years old. This suggests that the age-specific incidence of breast cancer in Qatari women is shifting more to a pattern usually not seen in Western nations where median age at diagnosis is 61 years of age, moreover the diagnosis is often at advanced stages of breast cancer. These factors, together with reconfirmed evidence of mortality benefit from breast cancer screening trials, led to establishment the first hospital based mammographic breast cancer screening program in Qatar. It uses a distributed model of mammography service. The program accepts eligible asymptomatic women at age between 45 - 69 years and was launched in 2008. It adopted international standards of breast screening practice and breast cancer detection. Methods A retrospective study was conducted to describe the breast cancer screening program in Qatar and to overview the detection rates, positive predictive values and sensitivity and specificity of mammogram. Results Total number of screened women was 4264 with an increasing participation, year by year. Out of these, Qatari patient's accounts for 1145, and non Qatari for 3119. The age group of breast cancer detected cases from screening program (43-51). Total breast biopsies were 82 core, of which 45 were positive of breast carcinomas, (37) invasive ductal carcinoma, (8) noninvasive ductal carcinoma. The Invasive cancer detection rate was 8.2 % The positive predictive value (PPV) was 46%. Sensitivity value has improved from 51% in 2008 to 70% in 2012 as well as specificity value that has increased from 77% in 2008 to 83% in 2012. Conclusion Public acceptance of the breast cancer screening program in Qatar gradually increased and detection rates were acceptable in this part of the world. We have a unique population of multinationals that merits tailored screening tools.


This research was conducted to learn the inhibiting factors for renewal of forest utilization policy, particularly the policy of small holder plantation forests/HTR), by government. To achieve the objective of this research, there were studies on contents of law and regulations, respond of stakeholders toward those law-regulations, and problem of contents and constraints of law and regulations improvement through analysis approach of policy making process. It was found that technical constraints in HTR development were weak provision of forest territory and poor institutional strengthening of the participant community to be ready to receive permit or fund for HTR development.  Such phenomena were due to contents of HTR policy which have more tendencies to answer the problem of absence of bureaucracy and administration procedure which should be determined on the basis of authorities of agencies of central and local government, rather than answering the problem faced by HTR participant community. Policy narrative in the past period in implementing large business policy of natural forest utilization were still dominant, accompanied with weak consideration in making and implementing policy toward forest territory conflict and weak socio-economic and bargaining position of the community, resulting in expensive public service which could not fulfill the community's need.


During the course of their duties, police regularly have contact with mentally ill persons who are experiencing psychiatric crisis and require some form of mental health transfer. This study examined 2611 unique mental health transfers completed by police in the Australian state of Victoria over an eight-month period in 2009–2010. The overwhelming majority of mental health transfers performed by police during this period were the result of unplanned calls for assistance. Although police frequently requested assistance from other services, these were often not available. The study findings support a substantial body of anecdotal evidence from police citing lengthy involvement with people experiencing mentally illness, with the average mental health transfer consuming 2.5 h of police time. The frontline responses of police to people in psychiatric crisis need to be more formally acknowledged and creative solutions need to be sought with health and welfare services to better meet the needs of those who are falling between the cracks of community mental health care services.


Signal transducer and activators of transcription 3 (STAT3) is an important transcription factor that is essential for lung cancer cell survival. STAT3 is activated by diverse upstream receptor and nonreceptor tyrosine kinases, and blockade of STAT3 results in tumor growth inhibition. Therefore, a search for STAT3 inhibitors is under way. We demonstrate that SCH66336, at 4 μmol/l, completely blocks STAT3 phosphorlyation in a variety of nonsmall cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) cell lines, whereas the effect on AKT and extracellular signal-regulated kinase activation is variable. Furthermore, SCH66336 has antiproliferative effects on NSCLC cells. When NSCLC cells are exposed sequentially to SCH66336 and a small molecule dual tyrosine kinase inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, synergistic activity is observed with an increase in the fraction of cells undergoing apoptosis. Concurrent exposure to both agents is, however, associated with antagonism and decreased apoptosis. We conclude that blockade of STAT3 phosphorylation might be one of the mechanisms by which SCH66336 exerts its antitumor activity, and that this can be synergistic in vitro when administered sequentially with epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors.


The headlines proclaimed the 1919 fix of the World Series and attempted cover-up as "the most gigantic sporting swindle in the history of America!" First published in 1963, Eight Men Out has become a timeless classic. Eliot Asinof has reconstructed the entire scene-by-scene story of the fantastic scandal in which eight Chicago White Sox players arranged with the nation's leading gamblers to throw the Series in Cincinnati. Mr. Asinof vividly describes the tense meetings, the hitches in the conniving, the actual plays in which the Series was thrown, the Grand Jury indictment, and the famous 1921 trial. Moving behind the scenes, he perceptively examines the motives and backgrounds of the players and the conditions that made the improbable fix all too possible. Here, too, is a graphic picture of the American underworld that managed the fix, the deeply shocked newspapermen who uncovered the story, and the war-exhausted nation that turned with relief and pride to the Series, only to be rocked by the scandal. Far more than a superbly told baseball story, this is a compelling slice of American history in the aftermath of World War I and at the cusp of the Roaring Twenties.


We propose a new method to compute the phase-only computer-generated hologram (CGH) that can modulate an image on a tilted plane. We used the fractional Fourier transformation to compute light propagation between the hologram plane and the tilted plane. The phase-only hologram was obtained by an iterative algorithm. We proposed a method to calculate the inverse optical propagation from the hologram plane to a tilted plane by coordinate rotation and a simple interpolation in the Fourier domain. The experimental results show that the projected image on the tilted plane can be reconstructed by a phase-only hologram generated by our iterative algorithm. We also show that the quality of the projected image on the tilted plane is better than the image projected by the phase hologram generated by traditional method.


Abstract Objective To evaluate safety, dose response, and preliminary efficacy of reldesemtiv over 12 weeks in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Methods: Patients (≤2 years since diagnosis) with slow upright vital capacity (SVC) of ≥60% were randomized 1:1:1:1 to reldesemtiv 150, 300, or 450 mg twice daily (bid) or placebo; active treatment was 12 weeks with 4-week follow-up. Primary endpoint was change in percent predicted SVC at 12 weeks; secondary measures included ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised (ALSFRS-R) and muscle strength mega-score. Results: Patients (N = 458) were enrolled; 85% completed 12-week treatment. The primary analysis failed to reach statistical significance (p = 0.11); secondary endpoints showed no statistically significant effects (ALSFRS-R, p = 0.09; muscle strength mega-score, p = 0.31). Post hoc analyses pooling all active reldesemtiv-treated patients compared against placebo showed trends toward benefit in all endpoints (progression rate for SVC, ALSFRS-R, and muscle strength mega-score (nominal p values of 0.10, 0.01 and 0.20 respectively)). Reldesemtiv was well tolerated, with nausea and fatigue being the most common side effects. A dose-dependent decrease in estimated glomerular filtration rate was noted, and transaminase elevations were seen in approximately 5% of patients. Both hepatic and renal abnormalities trended toward resolution after study drug discontinuation. Conclusions: Although the primary efficacy analysis did not demonstrate statistical significance, there were trends favoring reldesemtiv for all three endpoints, with effect sizes generally regarded as clinically important. Tolerability was good; modest hepatic and renal abnormalities were reversible. The impact of reldesemtiv on patients with ALS should be assessed in a pivotal Phase 3 trial. (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03160898)


Overview: This thesis studies the coordination of individuals' transactions in a large, decentralized market. The first half of the thesis examines the role of market institutions in an environment with frictions. In particular, it studies the interaction between "intermediaries" (banks, shops) and decentralized "equilibrium arrangements" such as money or credit. The second half of the thesis studies the role of public and private information in coordinating individual actions, as well as the macro-economic effects of such coordination. First Half: I study a search economy in which intermediaries are the driving force co-ordinating the economy on the use of a unique, common medium of exchange for transactions. If search frictions delay trade, intermediaries offering immediate exchange opportunities can make arbitrage gains from a price spread, but they have to solve the search market's allocation problem. Intermediaries solve this problem best by imposing a common medium of exchange to other agents, and a Cash-in-Advance constraint arises in equilibrium: Agents trade twice in order to consume, once to exchange their production against the medium of exchange, and once to purchase their consumption. I extend my analysis to the study of fiat currencies and, in particular, free banking regimes. Second Half: The second half consists of two essays studying the role of public and private information in coordination games. In the first, I relate the convergence of equilibria to the convergence of higher-order beliefs. The central result of this essay relates the convergence of players' higher-order beliefs (and hence equilibrium convergence) to the parameters of the signal structure. This provides a limit condition determining the uniqueness or multiplicity of equilibria in the coordination game. Building on the previous chapter, the second essay studies the effects of information policies on output and inflation, when price-setters face higher-order uncertainty concerning the money supply. I show that this may lead to substantial delays in price-adjustment following a shock. To the extent that public announcements coordinate expectations, they reduce this delay, and thereby reduce the effect and persistence of monetary shocks on output in the short-rim. On the other hand, public announcements introduce a second component of noise, and may therefore increase short-run volatility.


The involvement of actin filaments (AFs) in vesicle trafficking, cell wall construction and tip growth was investigated during pollen tube development of Picea meyeri. Pollen germination and tube elongation were inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by the latrunculin B (LatB) treatment. The fine AFs were broken down into disorganized fragments showing a tendency to aggregate. FM4-64 labeling revealed that the dynamic balance of vesicle trafficking was perturbed due to F-actin disruption and the fountain-like cytoplasmic pattern changed into disorganized Brownian movement. The configuration and/or distribution of cell wall components, such as pectins, callose and cellulose, as well as arabinogalactan proteins changed in obvious ways after the LatB application. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis further established significant changes in the chemical composition of the wall material. Our results indicate that depolymerization of AFs affects the distribution and configuration of cell wall components in Picea meyeri pollen tube by disturbing vesicle trafficking.


Organizations constantly strive to unleash their entrepreneurial potential to keep up with market and technology changes. To this end, they engage employees in practices like corporate crowdsourcing, incubators, accelerators or hackathons. These organizational practices emulate independent "green-field" entrepreneurship by relinquishing hierarchical control and granting employees autonomy in the choices of how to conduct work. We aim to shed light on two such choices that are fundamental in differentiating hierarchical from entrepreneurial modes of organizing work: (1) choosing projects ideas to work on and (2) choosing project teams to work with. Both of these choices are typically pre-determined in hierarchies and self-determined in entrepreneurship. We run a field experiment in an entrepreneurship course carefully designed to disentangle the separate and joint effects of granting autonomy in both choosing teams and choosing ideas compared to a pre-determined base case. Our results show that high autonomy in choosing implies a trade-off between personal satisfaction and objective performance. Self-determined choices along both dimensions promote subjective well-being in a complementary way, but their joint performance impact is diminishing. After ruling out alternative explanations related to differing project qualities and homophilic team choices, the detrimental performance impact of too much choice seems to be related to the implied cognitive burden and overconfidence.


The purpose of most images is to effectively convey information. Implicit in this assumption is the fact that the recipient of that information is a human observer, with a visual system responsible for converting raw sensory inputs into the perceived appearance. The appearance of an image not only depends on the image itself, but the conditions under which it is viewed as well as the response of human visual system to those inputs. This thesis examines the scale-dependent nature of image appearance, where the same stimulus can appear different when viewed at varying scales, that arises from the mechanisms responsible for processing spatial vision in the brain. In particular, this work investigates changes in the perception of blur and contrast resulting from the image being represented by different portions of the viewer's visual system due to changes in image scale. These methods take inspiration from the fundamental organization of spatial image perception into multiple parallel channels for processing visual information and employ models of human spatial vision to more accurately control the appearance of images under changing viewing conditions. The result is a series of methods for understanding the blur and contrast present in images and manipulating the appearance of those qualities in a perceptually-meaningful way.


The aim of this study was to describe how adolescents experience having asthma. Data was recorded from 39 adolescents, 18 girls and 21 boys, interviewed by using Focus Groups. Mean age was 14 year (12 to 16 years). They were observed and interviewed within 7 groups. Most (80 %) had had asthma for more than 10 years. All but two, used inhaled steroids. Only 33 % had experienced respiratory symptoms more than once a week during the last 14 days. The adolescents did not experience themselves as having a disease, and to discuss having asthma with other youths were unusual for most. Some felt that they had to deal with a demanding environment without the aid of a supportive network. They expressed mistrust by teachers and friends related to physical training and school activities as most traumatically. Adolescents are at high risk for poor outcomes from asthma owing to lifestyle and developmental changes. The result of the study suggest a need to better inform the people in the adolescent's surrondings (i.e. school teachers and friends) about asthma. Teachers and parents have an important task: to find physically challenging activities as well as leisure activities that strengthen the adolescent's self-esteem and ability to cope with their asthma. The focus group's methods allowed the adolescents to experience a supportive social enviroment and created openness conserning their health problems. There is a need for further studies about the adolescents, chronic disease and quality of life.


Myers and Diener (1995) asked "Who is happy?" but examined the question of who is more and who is less happy In fact, most people report a positive level of subjective well-being (SWB), and say that they are satisfied with domains such as marriage, work, and leisure People in disadvantaged groups on average report positive well-being, and measurement methods in addition to self-report indicate that most people's affect is primarily pleasant Cross-national data suggest that there is a positive level of SWB throughout the world, with the possible exception of very poor societies In 86% of the 43 nations for which nationally representative samples are available the mean SWB response was above neutral Several hypotheses to explain the positive levels of SWB are discussed


In the interests of globalization, many companies today are establishing theories and practices for international management accounting. This book discusses the current status of international management accounting in Japan through interviews with three major electronics companies. By tracing the history of the business expansion of the three companies, as well as their transition of strategies and accompanying organizational structure, key features and details of international management accounting are faithfully described. The book is divided into two parts. Part I describes general concepts of international management accounting in global companies, while Part II analyzes the experiences of three leading electronics companies - Matsushita, Sharp and Sanyo - in international management accounting. Written in a scholarly yet accessible manner, this book will benefit both academics and industry professionals practicing in the field.


Cholera is a severe diarrheal disease typically caused by O1 serogroup strains of Vibrio cholerae. The pathogenicity of all pandemic V. cholerae O1 strains relies on two critical virulence factors: cholera toxin, a potent enterotoxin, and toxin coregulated pilus (TCP), an intestinal colonization factor. However, certain non-O1, non-O139 V. cholerae strains, such as AM-19226, do not produce cholera toxin or TCP, yet they still cause severe diarrhea. The molecular basis for the pathogenicity of non-O1, non-O139 V. cholerae has not been extensively characterized, but many of these strains encode related type III secretion systems (TTSSs). Here, we used infant rabbits to assess the contribution of the TTSS to non-O1, non-O139 V. cholerae pathogenicity. We found that all animals infected with wild-type AM-19226 developed severe diarrhea even more rapidly than rabbits infected with V. cholerae O1. Unlike V. cholerae O1 strains, which do not damage the intestinal epithelium in rabbits or humans, AM-19226 caused marked disruptions of the epithelial surface in the rabbit small intestine. TTSS proved to be essential for AM-19226 virulence in infant rabbits; an AM-19226 derivative deficient for TTSS did not elicit diarrhea, colonize the intestine, or induce pathological changes in the intestine. Deletion of either one of the two previously identified or two newly identified AM-19226 TTSS effectors reduced but did not eliminate AM-19226 pathogenicity, suggesting that at least four effectors contribute to this strain's virulence. In aggregate, our results suggest that the TTSS-dependent virulence in non-O1, non-O139 V. cholerae represents a new type of diarrheagenic mechanism. IMPORTANCE Cholera, which is caused by Vibrio cholerae, is an important cause of diarrheal disease in many developing countries. The mechanisms of virulence of nonpandemic strains that can cause a diarrheal illness are poorly understood. AM-19226, like several other pathogenic, nonpandemic V. cholerae strains, carries genes that encode a type III secretion system (TTSS), but not cholera toxin (CT) or toxin coregulated pilus (TCP). In this study, we used infant rabbits to study AM-19226 virulence. Infant rabbits orally inoculated with this strain rapidly developed a fatal diarrheal disease, which was accompanied by marked disruptions of the intestinal epithelium. This strain's TTSS proved essential for its pathogenicity, and there was no diarrhea, intestinal pathology, or colonization in rabbits infected with a TTSS mutant. The effector proteins translocated by the TTSS all appear to contribute to AM-19226 virulence. Thus, our study provides insight into in vivo mechanisms by which a novel TTSS contributes to diarrheal disease caused by nonpandemic strains of V. cholerae. Received 12 May 2011 Accepted 19 May 2011 Published 14 June 2011 Citation Shin OS, et al. 2011. Type III secretion is essential for the rapidly fatal diarrheal disease caused by non-O1, non-O139 Vibrio cholerae. mBio 2(3):e00106-11. doi:10.1128/


In order to contextualise the main work a general overview of surface engineering technology is given. There follows a detailed account of current state of play in sputter magnetron design, the coatings which can be grown and their properties.

Next the magnetic field surrounding a two dimensional magnet is described. This allows a check on the subsequent derivation of an equation in integral form which in principle enables the calculation of the magnetic field associated with any simple (usually one ferromagnetic component) magnetron whose geometry may be regarded as being two dimensional. The equation is arrived at using conformal mapping techniques. It is used to find analytic expressions for the magnetic stream function and the magnetic field for the 'standard' rectangular magnetron geometry. General behaviour of sputter magnetrons as a function of magnetic field is discussed. Theoretical results are given for a commercial planar magnetron and these are supported by experiment. The results are used to calculate the effective potential well as seen by electrons in the vicinity of this device. Some device characterisation is included.

Theory, design, construction and performance of a magnetron system based on the Penning geometry is described. This apparatus is referred to as the Dimag. It is retrofitted to an existing high vacuum facility. This system is then used to produce Carbon Nitride coatings with approximately 39 atomic percent Nitrogen incorporation.


A novel image quality evaluation method, which is based on combination of the rigorous grating diffraction theory and the ray-optic method, is proposed. It is applied for design optimization and, tolerance analysis of optical imaging systems implementing diffractive optical elements (DOE). The evaluation method can predict the quality and resolution of the image on the image sensor plane through the optical imaging system. Especially, we can simulate the effect of diffraction efficiencies of DOE in the camera lenses module, which is very effective for predicting different color sense and MTF performance. Using this method, we can effectively determine the fabrication tolerances of diffractive and refractive optical elements such as the variations' in profile thickness, and the shoulder of the DOE, as well as conventional parameters such as decenter and tilt in optical-surface alignments. A DOE-based 2M-resolution camera lens module designed by the optimization process based on the proposed image quality evaluation method shows ${\sim}15%$ MTF improvement compared with a design without such an optimization.


One of the most important issues facing the Commonwealth of Massachusetts today is maintaining a hospitable climate for business. If Massachusetts' taxes are deterring firms from locating and expanding within its territory, then the Commonwealth should consider ways of making its tax system less repellent. On the other hand, if its tax system is not such a deterrent, the Commonwealth should devote more attention to issues of greater concern to its employers, such as high unemployment insurance taxes, workers' compensation premiums, health care costs, and energy prices. ; This article presents guidelines and analytical tools that policymakers will find useful in evaluating their state's business tax climate. Applying these tools to Massachusetts, the study concludes that Massachusetts compares favorably according to the tax burden that should concern profit-maximizing businesses the most: the extent to which taxes depress the long-run rate of return on business investment. On the whole, the Commonwealth's tax structure is neither an asset nor a liability in interstate economic competition.


The development of an accountant`s profession is quite a widespread subject in scientists` researches in different countries. It topicality has especially been underlined recently in connection with international conditions affecting the above profession, for example, Framework for International Education Standards for Professional Accountants and Aspiring Accountants (2015). This refers to the need of the investigation of accountant's role at the enterprise. Following the research methodology carried out at Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia) in 2016 to find out the students' point of view as regards the accountants` role in Estonian enterprises has been aggregated in Latvia and Lithuania. The purpose of the article is to evaluate the perception of accountant's role at the enterprise and the skills required for the profession in Latvia and in Lithuania. A questionnaire-based study among practicing accountants working in Latvian and Lithuanian enterprises and students of the accounting study program at both the University of Latvia and University of Vilnius was used. The study is based on the hypothesis that on these issues the views of accountants - practitioners as to the role of accountants in an enterprise, the scope and character of their daily work functions as well as the necessary knowledge and skills are different from those of students. The conclusions made at the end of this research regarding the connection of the survey data with the knowledge and skills accounting students will gain at completing the university study program allowed us to identify the directions for improvement in accounting study programs.


The work presented in this thesis concerns the optimisation
of the hour-to-hour generation schedule (over a scheduling interval
of 24 hours) of the generating stations in an all-hydro electric -
system. The day-to-day system storage policy is assumed known
from the long-term schedule. System load demand is first treated
as deterministic. Later, attempts are made to treat it as
stochastic. Throughout the text, system transmission losses are
represented by means of the B-coefficient loss formula.
Chapter 1 presents brief discussions on various topics
which may play - a part in the optimization process. In particular,
the concept of frequency control and the distinction between
long-term and daily scheduling are outlined. The optimization
objective is then formulated and some of the known methods of
obtaining the solution are briefly discussed. In chapter 2, the optimization problem is first formulated .
as that of minimizing the instantaneous total power drawn from
the system subject to satisfying a . predetermined time-varying
load demand.This is analogous to the minimization of the
instantaneous total cost rate in thermal systems. Station
characteristic curves are approximated by straight line segments
and head variations are assumed negligible. The optimising -
conditions are derived using the Lagrange multiplier technique.
A small system consisting of 4 stations is studied, where
optimisation is achieved by means of an analogue computer.
By introducing weighting factors in the objective
function, the storage policy can be satisfied. (Analysis carried
out in chapter 3 later reveals that this is the correct measure
which must be taken to meet the storage policy). Problems do
arise, however, when - there are multi-unit stations present in
the system. Due to the non-monotonic nature . of the incremental
Output curves' of such stations, a. number of solutions would satisfy the optimising conditions. The optimum solution can only
be established after testing each possible solution, a prohibitive
task for large systems. Approximating the incremental output
curves of such stations may create undesirable errors. Another
weakness of the method is that it cannot readily take into account
the effects of head variations.
The application of Pontryagin's Maximum Principle is
attempted in chapter 3. It is shown that, for systems with fixed—
head stations, the optimising conditions are exactly identical to
that derived using the Lagrange multiplier technique with weightings
being introduced in the objective function. Unfortunately, those
problems associated with the presence of multi—unit stations are
still unsolved.
Under ideal system conditions, it is shown that optimum
generation schedule would result if all stations; except the
frequency control station, were step loaded. Step loading mode
is defined as an operating mode where the instantaneous station
discharge rate is only allowed to take one of two discrete values
with stepwise transitions. The analysis indicates that the
switching instants do not play any part, except they must be so
chosen that the output of the frequency control station is kept
within its limits.
When step loading technique is applied to non—ideal
systems, the optimisation. becomes that of searching for the
optimum switching instants of the step loaded stations. This is
discussed in chapter 4. For practical reasons, only two step
loading modes are assumed admissible. A system consisting of 18
stations is studied. Experimental results indicate that the
optimum step loading modes can be established within - a reasonably
short computation time.
One striking feature of the step loading technique is
that it can handle the optimal scheduling problem where the load demand is treated as being stochastic. The effects of head variations
can be estimated fairly accurately.
The application of the principle of dynamic programming
is discussed in chapter 5. Due to the multi-dimensional nature of
the problem, this principle must be combined with the relaxation
principle to minimise the computation time and computer storage
requirements. A good initial guess for the optimum schedule may
be obtained using step loading technique. The step loading modes
are then modified by applying the combination of dynamic programming
and relaxaxtion principles.
Finally, chapter 6 outlines the general conclusions drawn
from the work presented in the preceeding chapters. The possibility.
of applying Pontryagin's Maximum Principle to obtain the long-term
storage policy is also studied. Related future research areas are
suggested.
To the author's best knowledge, the materials presented
in chapters 3, 4 and 5 are original. Chapter 2 is based on the work
of Chandler Jr. and Gabrielle, where the mathematical error found
in their text has been corrected and the weighting procedure, among
other materials has been included.


"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."--Genesis 1:24-26In this crucial passage from the Old Testament, God grants mankind power over animals. But with this privilege comes the grave responsibility to respect life, to treat animals with simple dignity and compassion.Somewhere along the way, something has gone wrong.In "Dominion," we witness the annual convention of Safari Club International, an organization whose wealthier members will pay up to $20,000 to hunt an elephant, a lion or another animal, either abroad or in American "safari ranches," where the animals are fenced in pens. We attend the annual International Whaling Commission conference, where the skewed politics of the whaling industry come to light, and the focus is on developing more lethal, but not more merciful, methods of harvesting "living marine resources." And we visit a gargantuan American "factory farm," where animals are treated as mere product and raised in conditions of mass confinement, bred for passivity and bulk, inseminated and fed with machines, kept in tightly confined stalls for the entirety of their lives, and slaughtered in a way that maximizes profits and minimizes decency.Throughout "Dominion," Scully counters the hypocritical arguments that attempt to excuse animal abuse: from those who argue that the Bible's message permits mankind to use animals as it pleases, to the hunter's argument that through hunting animal populations are controlled, to the popular and "scientifically proven" notions that animals cannot feel pain, experience no emotions, and are not conscious of their own lives.The result is eye opening, painful and infuriating, insightful and rewarding. "Dominion" is a plea for human benevolence and mercy, a scathing attack on those who would dismiss animal activists as mere sentimentalists, and a demand for reform from the government down to the individual. Matthew Scully has created a groundbreaking work, a book of lasting power and importance for all of us.


For many years, few therapeutic options were available for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. Recent advances in our understanding of the molecular biology of prostate cancer, particularly in the transition to castrate resistant disease, have led to the development of more potent and selective endocrine therapies. In addition, elucidation of the many factors in the bone microenvironment that promote the development and subsequent progression of skeletal metastases has led to the discovery of new bone-targeting agents that can delay the onset of skeletal related events and improve quality of life and survival. This review will highlight recently approved novel agents as well as others currently under investigation for the treatment of castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).


Vibrio cholerae O139 Bengal emerged as the second etiologic agent of cholera in the
Indian subcontinent in late 1992, it then spread to several neighboring countries and
also some developed countries. V. cholerae O139 Bengal is closely related to V.
cholerae O1 E1 Tor strains associated with the seventh pandemic, and it causes a
disease which is virtually indistinguishable from cholera caused by V. cholerae O1.
V. cholerae O139 Bengal and V. cholerae O1 E1 Tor share several phenotypic and
genotypic properties. However, all the genes of the rfb complex which encode the O
antigen in V. cholerae 01 El Tor have been found deleted in V. cholerae O139. In
their place, there is a new chromosomal region detected. Based on a published
sequence, six set of V. cholerae O139 primers have been designed. Primer
combination Sl -AS2 (5'-AGATGCCGAAGACTATAA-3' and 5'-GAGGAATAACAACTGAGA-3') was found to be specific for detection of V. cholerae O139 in a
polymerase chain reaction (peR) assay, as they produced an amplicon of 520 bp
from all tested pure cultures of V. cholerae O139 strains but not from 39 pure
cultures of other bacteria. The newly designed primer combination has been used to
develop a, diagnotic kit for the identification of V. cholerae O139 in our laboratory.


This book unpacks central business operation mechanisms driving the economic development of a Queensland creative industry. The mapping of the booming Queensland music sector, its development and dynamics is examined in cluster and network terms within creative industries literature and practice.
The findings enable policy and management practitioners to facilitate and harness, in a more methodical manner, the growth potential of a local creative industry in terms of regional, national and global market places. The outcomes crucially inform industry operation trends, themes and policy enhancements to advance new economy growth drivers. The conclusions are central to the economic development agendas of world agencies like the United Nations (UNCTAD, UNIDO, UNDP, UNESCO, WIPO ILO, World Bank, International Trade Centre) and the Asian Development Bank, as well as Federal and State Governments.
The work is invaluable to policy makers, practitioners and academics seeking evidence-based findings across a range of areas, including: industry development, trade and economy improvement, innovation management, intellectual property commercialisation and the creative industries.


Background Drug abuse is a serious subject that can lead to social, economic, cultural and health problems. The routine approaches in treatment of drug abuse are either medication or non-medication methods. Non-medication approach is focused on mental and social health. Non-drug treatment requires appropriate tools. Objective To determine the validity, reliability, and structure of the Processes of Change Questionnaire. Methods In this cross-sectional study, which was conducted in 2016, three hundred sixty-two drug dependents in Sabzevar Substance Abuse Treatment Centers (Iran) were enrolled in the study. Samples were selected through the multi-stage sampling method. They completed the 40-item Processes of Change Questionnaire (drug version). In this study, Backward-Forward method, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), test-retest, Cronbach's alpha, content validity ratio (CVR) and content validity index (CVI) were used, using AMOS 5.0 and SPSS version 11.5. Results Findings of the CFA showed the questionnaire has a good fit. The fit index of the CFA was calculated as 0.75. Cronbach's alpha was 0.93 for the whole questionnaire, and ranged from 0.51 to 0.88 for its different domains. Also, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and content validity were satisfactory. Conclusion Based on the findings of this study, the processes of change 40-item questionnaire: drug version was a credible, reliable and valid tool to identify effective factors in the treatment drug abuse among the population of the Sabzevar, Iran.


This article investigates how the success of a management practice depends on the underlying values articulated by the management. A large U.S. transportation company is in the process of fitting its trucks with an electronic on-board recorder (EOBR) to provide drivers with information on their driving performance. The company also has commenced a multi-year initiative to remake its internal operations, the first phase of which focuses exclusively on changing values toward a greater emphasis on teamwork and empowerment. In this setting, a natural question is whether the optimal managerial practice consists of: (1) letting each driver know his or her individual performance only; or also (2) providing drivers with information about their performance with respect to other drivers. Using the EOBR-provided driver performance data, we randomize these practices across sites. The main result of our experiment is that (2) leads to better performance than (1) in a particular site if and only if the site has not yet received the values intervention, and worse performance if it has. The result is consistent with the presence of a conflict between competition-based managerial practices and a shift to a cooperation-based value system. More broadly, it highlights the role of intangible factors in determining the optimal set of managerial practices.


Nursing records remain one of the most important communication tools for the multi-professional healthcare team. These records must provide an accurate and comprehensive report of the care planned and decisions made, as well as the treatment and care delivered to the patient. When considering the statistics reported by the SA Nursing Council (SANC), the prevalence of poor nursing care reported is notable, with 410 cases of a total of 899 professional conduct cases involving poor nursing care being reported. This represents 46% of the cases. 1 Total patient care constitutes both the hands-on physical care provided, as well as the recording thereof, followed by monitoring of the response and condition of the patient. Poor recordkeeping plays a role in all of these cases. Let's consider one of them.


COVID-19 is likely to have a large impact on the welfare of Tunisian households. First, some individuals might be more vulnerable to contracting the disease because their living conditions or jobs make them more susceptible to meeting others or practicing social distancing. Lack of adequate access to health insurance, overcrowded living conditions, and low access to water at home are reasons that make the Tunisian poor more susceptible to getting infected or not being able to seek health care in the event that they contract COVID-19. In addition, the elderly in the poorest households could be more susceptible to COVID-19 due to higher prevalence of intergenerational households among the poor. Second, many sectors of the labor market have experienced an economic slowdown, and those employed in these sectors are likely to experience disproportionate effects. Combining the labor shock and price shock simultaneously, the simulations in this paper show an increase in poverty of 7.3 percentage points under a more optimistic scenario and 11.9 percentage points under the pessimistic scenario, and individuals in sectors such as tourism and construction are expected to fall into poverty due to COVID-19. The paper estimates that the government's compensatory measures targeted toward the hardest hit are expected to mitigate the increase in poverty. Specifically, the increase in poverty will be 6.5 percentage points under the optimistic scenario if mitigation measures are in place vis-a-vis in their absence, when the increase in poverty is 7.3 percentage points.


The 'fetal origins' of cardiovascular disease (CVD) hypothesis proposes that maternal nutritional environment during pregnancy can play an important role in determining the cardiovascular health of an individual in adult life. A typical Western diet is rich in dietary fats, a fact that has been linked to the increased prevalence of CVD. In addition to the quantity of fat, the quality of fat is also known to affect the development of CVD. Whilst an increased consumption of saturated fatty acids (SFA) has been associated with higher incidence of CVD, a diet rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) has been suggested to lower the risk of developing CVD. Considering that nutrition patterns are shifting towards a higher-fat Western diet globally, it is of interest to understand the role of a high-fat maternal diet in the fetal origins of CVD. The current thesis was designed to understand the role of the quantity, as well as the quality, of maternal dietary fat intake during pregnancy, in the fetal origins of CVD in the adult offspring. In addition, the role of interaction between the pre- and post-natal dietary fat intake on the offspring health was assessed. Early programming experiments were conducted using C57B1/6 mice, which have been extensively used as an animal model to investigate the dietary fat-mediated regulation of lipid metabolism. Lipid metabolism and aortic vascular function were chosen as the study outcomes to estimate the risk of developing CVD in the offspring. Results indicated that a high-fat maternal diet rich in SFA (lard) was associated with a reduced expression of hepatic low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-receptor and a higher concentration of LDL-cholesterol in the offspring. On the other hand, a high-fat maternal diet rich n-6 PUFA (safflower oil) was associated with higher mRNA expression of hepatic lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase and higher concentration of high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol in the offspring. The high-fat maternal diet, irrespective of the type of fat, however was associated with reduced aortic contractile reactivity towards KC1, phenylephrine and thromboxane mimetic U44619, in the female offspring. In addition, significant interaction of pre- and post-weaning diets was reported for various outcomes studied in the offspring, suggesting the importance of both prenatal and postnatal environments in regulating the offspring cardiovascular health. -- In a separate study, the effects of n-3 PUFA-rich flax oil feeding were assessed on various parameters associated with metabolic syndrome, using the SHR/NDmcr-cp rat model. Flax oil feeding was associated with significantly lower hepatic triglycerides and cholesterol concentrations in the obese rats. In addition, flax oil feeding was associated with lower plasma insulin concentrations and oxidative stress in the obese rats. An up regulation in the hepatic expression of peroxisome-proliferator activated receptor-γ (PPAR-γ) was found to be negatively correlated with the hepatic TG and cholesterol concentrations in the obese rats, thus pointing towards the activation of PPAR-γ dependent pathways behind the hepatic lipid-lowering effects of flax oil supplementation. -- Taken together, the results presented in the current thesis support the role for the quantity and the quality, of dietary fats consumed during pre- and post-weaning time periods, on the development of key parameters associated with the onset of CVD.


In the age of search, keywords increasingly organize research, teaching, and even thought itself. Inspired by Raymond Williams's 1976 classic Keywords, the timely collection Digital Keywords gathers pointed, provocative short essays on more than two dozen keywords by leading and rising digital media scholars from the areas of anthropology, digital humanities, history, political science, philosophy, religious studies, rhetoric, science and technology studies, and sociology. Digital Keywords examines and critiques the rich lexicon animating the emerging field of digital studies. This collection broadens our understanding of how we talk about the modern world, particularly of the vocabulary at work in information technologies. Contributors scrutinize each keyword independently: for example, the recent pairing of digital and analog is separated, while classic terms such as community, culture, event, memory, and democracy are treated in light of their historical and intellectual importance. Metaphors of the cloud in cloud computing and the mirror in data mirroring combine with recent and radical uses of terms such as information, sharing, gaming, algorithm, and internet to reveal previously hidden insights into contemporary life. Bookended by a critical introduction and a list of over two hundred other digital keywords, these essays provide concise, compelling arguments about our current mediated condition. Digital Keywords delves into what language does in today's information revolution and why it matters.


Pump pulse duration is shown to determine the maximum efficiency of the up conversion process in ytterbium, thulium co-doped fluoride crystals through its role in determining the emitter temperature reached. We show that up-conversion efficiencies should only be measured when using the same pumping conditions as would be used in a proposed application and that thermal management of the up converting material is critical to optimized performance.


Bovine cervical mucus changes its biochemical composition and biophysical properties due to the variations in sex steroid levels during the oestrous cycle. As a consequence of oestrogen rise, cervical mucus is produced in larger amounts at oestrus—a stage also characterized by an increase in mucus crystallization when observed under light microscopy. The objective of this article is to provide an updated review of the main aspects regarding crystallization of bovine cervical mucus. First, it makes reference to the composition of cervical mucus and the critical functions that this secretion exerts on bovine reproductive physiology, as well as in other species. Then, the article deals with the phenomenon of crystallization observed in cervical mucus, describing the main models used to classify the crystalline patterns observable in mucus at oestrus stage (some of them resembling ferns, palm leaves and stellar patterns, among others). Finally, it addresses the importance of the phenomenon of cervical mucus crystallization for the understanding of bovine reproductive physiology.


BOBOEV, A., A. HASANOV, L. YOTOVA and H. HASANOV, 2012. Antioxidant activity of peptides obtained from wheat and cottonseed proteins. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 18: 103-111 Enzymatic hydrolysis of various wheat proteins and cottonseed with acid (Prolive PAC 30L "EnzymeBioProduct" Ltd, Russia) and neutral proteases (Neutrase, ''Novozymes'', Denmark) was studied. The antioxidant properties of the produced peptides depended on the properties of the proteins and enzymes used. It was shown that when using acid protease peptides, derived from wheat albumin possess 10-12 times higher reducing power than peptides derived with neutral protease. When using cottonseed albumin, a different relationship was established. Reducing power of peptides, produced with neutral protease was 2-3 times higher than peptides processed using acid proteases. When hydrolyzing cottonseed globulin, the reducing power of the resulting peptides is higher, when acid protease is used. In a model system, the highest inhibition rate of oxidation of (+)-catechin is observed when peptides derived from cottonseed and wheat proteins with neutral proteases were used. In all cases, peptides derived with acid protease reduce the rate of oxidation of (+)-catechin to a smaller degree. Apart from having antioxidant activity, the peptides can also affect the activity of antioxidant enzymes. Activating effect is observed at low degrees of hydrolysis of albumin and it depends on the type of the enzyme and the substrate protein.


A System state in HTTP botnet uses HTTP protocol for the creation of chain of Botnets thereby compromising other systems. By using HTTP protocol and port number 80, attacks can not only be hidden but also pass through the firewall without being detected. The DPR based detection leads to better analysis of botnet attacks [3]. However, it provides only probabilistic detection of the attacker and also time consuming and error prone. This paper proposes a Genetic algorithm based layered approach for detecting as well as preventing botnet attacks. The paper reviews p2p firewall implementation which forms the basis of f iltering. Performance evaluation is done based on precision, F-value and probability. Layered approach reduces the computation and overall time requirement [7]. Genetic algorithm promises a low false positive rate.


Low temperature electrical measurements on particular semiconductor structures can exhibit effects due to the spatial confinement of carriers and reduced dimensionality. Examples are provided by studies of tunnelling in confining structures, transport in narrow channels, ballistic transport through constrictions and quantum interference in rings. These observations rely on the growth of layers by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) to provide both two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) and the very high material quality essential for the observation of some quantum effects. To define the specific geometries necessary for the above experiments electrostatic "squeezing" can be used to confine the planar carrier gas to regions of controllable extent. Recent results obtained from MBE GaAs/AlGaAs 2DEG structures can now be compared with measurements made on hole gases and the use of in situ ion beams in fabrication promises a new class of structures for investigation. However, it is rarely sufficient merely for MBE to provide a carrier gas with the highest maximum carrier mobility. The particular requirements of an experiment affect not only the design of the structure itself but also the MBE growth strategy and the optimum deposition conditions. Growth rate, substrate temperature and source material flux ratios are MBE variables and the suitability of layers for specific postgrowth physics experiments can be shown to depend upon these variables in a systematic manner. Moreover, further requirements for the grown material can include the need to provide specific sheet carrier concentrations, high mobilities in unilluminated samples and the complete absence of conducting paths in parallel with the 2DEG. There are often compromises inherent in attempting to simultaneously optimise several MBE variables and careful management of the MBE machine itself is essential.


Veys, C. A. (1974).British Journal of Industrial Medicine,31, 65-71. Bladder tumours and occupation: a coroner's notification scheme. The disease of bladder cancer accounted for 2 763 male and 1 107 female deaths in England and Wales during 1971. How much of this total is influenced by aetiological factors in the working environment is still largely unknown and is only now beginning to be studied. In order to elucidate this question further, a coroner's notification scheme for all bladder tumours occuring within a defined geographical area was started in 1965. Details of all persons dying, on whose death certificate a bladder tumour was mentioned, were notified to the coroner's office within a six-year period (1965-70). A necropsy was carried out in almost all cases. A subsequent searching enquiry into the lifetime occupational history was conducted and this was then related to two industrial check-lists previously drawn up, on which the occupations listed exhibited either a true cause and effect relationship, or were merely associated in statistical terms. The finding that about 20% of persons dying of this disease had a suspicious occupational history of exposure to a carcinogen was broadly in agreement with some other recent surveys whose methodology was different. In only one third of these cases, however, could the working environment be directly and realistically implicated. The study supports the conclusion that the importance of occupational factors in the aetiology of bladder tumours has hitherto been underestimated.


In this paper we briefly discuss the current condition of the German economy and the proposals from the government in March 2003 to reform labour markets. These reforms involve various measures to reduce the generosity of benefits and to increase the incentives to work. In order to analyse these reforms we simulate a temporary reduction in German real wage growth and discuss how German output, inflation, and interest rate are affected, under two distinct ECB monetary policy rules. We discuss the possible forward looking reactions of the ECB to these reforms and argue that it would be wise to respond in a fully accommodating way. The sensitivity of the ECB to changes in European key macroeconomic indicators is tested by analysing a scenario involving a reduction in French, Italian and German wages. It appears that single country wage moderation policies increase the country's competitiveness relative to other European countries, and hence helps raise the output effects in that country. We also consider that interest rates are set according to pre- 1999 rules, with monetary policy more responsive to German conditions. German output would respond more quickly to the labour market reforms, but the long run consequences are the same, so there are no sustained benefits from an independent monetary policy.


This paper establishes a framework that simulates the behavior of a spaceborne 532-nm micropulse photon-counting lidar in cloudy and clear atmospheres in support of the ICESat-2 mission. Adopted by the current mission design, the photon-counting system will be used to obtain surface altimetry for ICESat-2. To investigate how clouds affect surface elevation retrievals, a 3-D Monte Carlo radiative transfer model is used to simulate the photon path distribution and the Poisson distribution is adopted for the number of photon returns. Since the photon-counting system only registers the time of the first arriving photon within the detector "dead time," the retrieved average surface elevation tends to bias toward higher values. This is known as the first photon bias. With the scenarios simulated here, the first photon bias for clear sky is about 6.5 cm. Clouds affect surface altimetry in two ways: 1) Cloud attenuation lowers the average number of arriving photons and hence reduces the first photon bias, and 2) cloud forward scattering increases the photon path length and makes the surface appear further away from the satellite. Compared with that for clear skies, the average surface elevation detected by the photon-counting system for cloudy skies with optical depth of 1.0 is 4.0-6.0 cm lower for the simulations conducted. The effect of surface roughness on the accuracy of elevation retrievals is also discussed.


Introduction In Schmerler v. FBI, the D.C. Court of Appeals (April 1990): The FBI can withhold the identities of sources indefinitely, even if they are dead or would suffer no invasion of privacy as a result of disclosure. In this instance, the requester is an author working on a book about a 1931 murder of his aunt. The court ruling came 59 years after the crime (Lowe, 1994). Four years later, Janet Reno (1994) stated in her "Speech to the National Press Club": A few years ago a newspaper reporter toured the FOIA processing shop at one Justice Department component and noted that there was a sign on the wall that said, "When in doubt, cross it out." The sign is down now.... Our challenge is much like the one faced by a captain who must bring an aircraft career about.... You touch the controls. You hear a lot of noise and grinding and gnashing of gears, but you don't see much movement I am determined to make my message heard. Liberating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA, pronounced "foya") from the bonds imposed during 12 years of Republican role is among the many reforms professed by the Clinton administration. A conservative legacy, these tethers on the FOIA have drawn little media and public attention, because images of sheets of paper or computer tapes do not hold the TV spotlight long, particularly when contrasted with powerful pictures of violence (the Oklahoma federal government building bombing) and visible poverty (homeless people sleeping on sidewalks). The FOIA remains almost unnoticed, except by frequent, and sometimes frustrated, requesters. With FOIA, President William Clinton has articulated a policy diametrically opposed to his two predecessors, and his Attorney General Janet Reno has been following through on his 1993 FOIA executive order. Yet the realities of defending a regime in power through the manipulation of information have not escaped this new administration. The battle over access to and the control of information for political purposes still rages, this time under a Democratic president. Despite its public pronouncements, the Clinton White House has not avoided media ire for withholding documents. Perhaps conflict is unavoidable, for freedom of information, or "the right to know," is an emotional issue, a symbol of the best and worst aspects of democracy and capitalism. Regardless of how open a government might aspire to be, it can hardly avoid the temptation to limit access to and release of information in the name of governing effectively. At one extreme, totalitarian governments do not even go through the motions of openness. Yet even supposedly highly democratic countries, such as the United Kingdom, practice as much or more government secrecy than does the United States. Indeed, no modern state provides its citizens with total access to government information, and all engage in some limitation to government documents. This article examines the FOIA before and during the Clinton administration. When he took office, Clinton inherited the sprawling Executive Branch bureaucracy and a judiciary full of Reagan-Bush appointees who will interpret FOIA in years to come. What did Clinton's "New Covenant" mean to FOIA? Will his presidency change its course? In Reno's speech quoted above, she correctly depicted the huge government bureaucracy as being like an aircraft carrier, with the new administration attempting to modify its course on FOIA decisions. Other commanders have a hold on the helm: the Congress and the judiciary can set direction through rule-making and legal interpretation. Once in power, Clinton sent mixed messages about the FOIA to the press and public. To extend the ship metaphor, it appears that with FOIA the White House, where Clinton commands the bridge, is similar to a submarine, surfacing and then diving, depending on whether it is safe to be "in the sunshine" or not. In a word, he is inconsistent. Clinton's FOIA activity is an illustration of illusory ideology, where the political myth of participatory democracy confronts the pragmatism of people with a handhold on power. …


Imagine yourself spending years conducting a research project and having it published as an article in a refereed journal, only to see a plagiarized copy of the article later published in another journal. Then imagine yourself being left to fight for your rights alone, and eventually finding out that it would be very difficult to hold the plagiarist accountable for what he or she did. The recent decision by the Association of Information Systems to create a standing committee on member misconduct suggests that while this type of situation may sound outrageous, it is likely to become uncomfortably frequent in the information systems research community if proper measures are not taken by a community-backed organization. In this article, we discuss factors that can drive plagiarism, as well as potential measures to prevent it. Our goal is to discuss alternative ways in which plagiarism can be prevented and dealt with when it arises. We hope to start a debate that provides the basis on which broader mechanisms to deal with plagiarism can be established, which we envision as being associated with and complementary to the committee created by the Association for Information Systems.


The ribosome is an ancient RNA-protein complex essential for translating DNA to protein. At its core are the ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), the most abundant RNA in the cell. To support high levels of transcription, repetitive arrays of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) are necessary and the long-standing hypothesis is that they undergo sequence homogenization towards rDNA uniformity. Here I present evidence of the rich genetic diversity in human rDNA, both within and between individuals. Using state-of-the-art genome sequencing data revealed an average of 192.7 intra-individual variants, including some deeply penetrating the rDNA copies, such as the bi-allelically expressed 28S.59A>G. From 104 diverse genomes, 947 high-confidence variants were identified and unmask a hidden genetic diversity of humans. These findings support the emerging concept that ribosomes are heterogeneous within cells and extends the heterogeneity into the realm of population genetics. Fundamentally, do our ribosomal variants determine how our cells interpret the genome?


Fluidic, with the help of ARPA-E funding, has developed and deployed the world's first proven high cycle life metal air battery. Metal air technology, often used in smaller scale devices like hearing aids, has the lowest cost per electron of any rechargeable battery storage in existence. Deploying these batteries for grid reliability is competitive with pumped hydro installations while having the advantages of a small footprint. Fluidic's battery technology allows utilities and other end users to store intermittent energy generated from solar and wind, as well as maintain reliable electrical delivery during power outages. The batteries are manufactured in the US and currently deployed to customers in emerging markets for cell tower reliability. As they continue to add customers, they've gained experience and real world data that will soon be leveraged for US grid reliability.


This paper examines the macro-economic impact of capital flows into India. The variables identified in the study have been drawn on the basis of the transmission mechanism – to see how capital flows are transmitted into the economic system. To examine the issue the paper uses simple regression and Granger's Error Correction technique, which analyses long run and short run impact together. It has been found that out of the macro variables selected almost all are influenced by capital flows and represent the monetary environment of the economy.

 The Journal of Nepalese Business Studies Vol. IV, No. 1(2007) pp. 62-74


Poor Internet performance currently undermines the efficiency of hyper-responsive mobile apps such as augmented reality clients and online games, which require low-latency access to real-time backend services. While edge-assisted execution, i.e. moving entire services to the edge of an access network, helps eliminate part of the communication overhead involved, this does not scale to the number of users that share an edge infrastructure. This is due to a mismatch between the scarce availability of resources in access networks and the aggregate demand for computational power from client applications. Instead, this paper proposes a hybrid edge-assisted deployment model in which only part of a service executes on LTE edge servers. We provide insights about the conditions that must hold for such a model to be effective by investigating in simulation different deployment and application scenarios. In particular, we show that using LTE edge servers with modest capabilities, performance can improve significantly as long as at most 50% of client requests are processed at the edge. Moreover, we argue that edge servers should be installed at the core of a mobile network, rather than the mobile base station: the difference in performance is negligible, whereas the latter choice entails high deployment costs. Finally, we verify that, for the proposed model, the impact of user mobility on TCP performance is low.


Developing mechanical engineering design automation applications using current day textual programming languages like C, C++ requires extensive programming skills. However, learning to program in these environments can be time consuming and often frustrating to mechanical engineers due to the use of complex textual constructs and syntax to represent an algorithm in a linear fashion. Further, these programming languages offer a poor visualization of the data and the data flow due to their textual nature. The use of graphical objects for programming makes visualization easier and also eliminates the need for linear representation of algorithms. This thesis initiates the development of a visual programming language that makes use of objects representing geometric entities and relations for programming. The design exemplar was introduced in the literature as a representation that makes use of a structured set of entities and relations for representing, querying and modifying design data. This research investigates the possibility of developing the design exemplar system into a visual programming environment for mechanical engineers. To this end, the basic components of a visual programming language are identified and compared with the design exemplar system. The aspects of a programming language that the design exemplar system currently does not support are identified which includes the basic components and programming constructs. While, a visual language compiler is identified to be essential for this new programming environment, programming constructs like looping, conditional branching are identified to be important for handling large sets of data processing operations and thus can be useful for developing design automation programs. As a step towards the development of this visualized programming language, the design exemplar, system which inherently supports problem solving using the declarative design exemplar representation, is extended to support procedural processing of design data. This new feature in the design exemplar system extends the exemplar to support conditional branching and looping operations, which were identified as important for handling the data processing operations. The development of a compiler remains out of scope for this research and is left for the future work.


Combination with fluoropyrimidines and platinum-based agents have been used as first-line therapy for metastatic gastric/gastroesophageal junction cancer (GC) resulting in a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 5–6 months and a median overall survival (OS) of 10–15 months. Trastuzumab, a monoclonal antibody against human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), significantly improved the OS of HER2-positive GC patients, which consists of around 15% of patients (1). However, other randomized studies failed to show benefits of several molecular targeting agents for GC in first-line (2-7), thus development of more effective combination is important.


The CONRAD Project is a Coordinated Network for Radiation Dosimetry funded by the European Commission 6th Framework Programme. The activities developed within CONRAD Work Package 5 ('Coordination of Research on Internal Dosimetry') have contributed to improve the harmonisation and reliability in the assessment of internal doses. The tasks carried out included a study of uncertainties and the refinement of the IDEAS Guidelines associated with the evaluation of doses after intakes of radionuclides. The implementation and quality assurance of new biokinetic models for dose assessment and the first attempt to develop a generic dosimetric model for DTPA therapy are important WP5 achievements. Applications of voxel phantoms and Monte Carlo simulations for the assessment of intakes from in vivo measurements were also considered. A Nuclear Emergency Monitoring Network (EUREMON) has been established for the interpretation of monitoring data after accidental or deliberate releases of radionuclides. Finally, WP5 group has worked on the update of the existing IDEAS bibliographic, internal contamination and case evaluation databases. A summary of CONRAD WP5 objectives and results is presented here.


If the expenditure of resources in childhood affects the outcomes in adulthood, the adult distribution of education and incomes will depend at least partially on investments made in childhood. There is considerable variation in the amount of parental inputs children of various socio-economic statuses receive. In the empirical work that follows, we will show a relationship between very specific inputs of time by parents and later achievements of children.


A strong stable set in a graph $G$ is a stable set that contains a vertex of every maximal clique of $G$. A Meyniel obstruction is an odd circuit with at least five vertices and at most one chord. Given a graph $G$ and a vertex $v$ of $G$, we give a polytime algorithm to find either a strong stable set containing $v$ or a Meyniel obstruction in $G$. This can then be used to find in any graph, a clique and colouring of the same size or a Meyniel obstruction.


An experimental technique is presented to determine the aperture reactance of a short, radio frequency (RF) coaxial probe. The method is based on the inversion of the measured reflection coefficient at the probe's input port. The work was done at 500 MHz using an HP8510C network analyzer and high quality calibration standards. For precise inversion the attenuation and phase constants of the coaxial line must be determined with high accuracy. To a good approximation the measured probe capacitance was found to increase linearly with length from the value for a flush probe. This allows the CW capacitance of a short probe, with length up to 1/10 free-space wavelength, to be modeled using a simple two-term model. Bare and insulated probes, both shielded and unshielded, were studied.


How do changes in life expectancy and longevity affect life-span development? This paper argues that historical increases in life expectancy primarily have an impact on the later and less on the earlier parts of the life span. Increased life expectancy is both a challenge and an opportunity for positive development. A perspective is outlined according to which self-regulation is a key factor for successful aging. Assuming a compensatory relationship of social norms/expectations and self-regulation for developmental regulation, processes such as setting, pursuing, and disengaging from personal goals should be particularly important in old age, a life phase that is characterized by being less normatively structured than younger phases. This argument is elaborated in the domains of social relations, leisure, and work.


Introductory Note: Opera has always been central to my life. Listening to the Saturday afternoon broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera was a ritual in my parents' home, and we talked about our visits to the Met (albeit in the "nosebleed" seats) for weeks afterward. My love for opera was further nourished by my years at New York City's High School of Music and Art, then some twenty blocks north of Columbia University, during which time Handel oratorios were semistaged at the school's major concerts and Aaron Copland's The Second Hurricane (1937) was revived at Carnegie Hall in a 1960 performance by M&A students conducted by Leonard Bernstein. In the 1960s, it was my good fortune to attend Barnard College and then do graduate studies in musicology at Columbia, where chances to hear contemporary as well as older operas abounded and opera composers such as Douglas Moore, Otto Luening, Henry Cowell, and Jack Beeson were members of the faculty. Sadly, such opportunities diminished in the following decades, breaking Columbia's tradition of being a major source for the creation and performance of operas, which had reached its height in the 1940s and 1950s-the heyday of the Columbia Opera Workshop. After a brief history of the Workshop, the present article examines what it was like to be an opera -loving student at Columbia in the mid -1960s when Current Musicology was launched. Surrounded by the prominent composers mentioned above and other former participants of the Workshop who still taught courses in the Department of Music, including Willard Rhodes and Howard Shanet, we students had the chance to hear new and rarely performed works on campus or at nearby music conservatories and opera houses. In addition, this essay explores the contributions of Columbia graduates, particularly composers, to the world of opera. The article's final two sections detail the operas given at various Columbia locations from 1941 to 2004. The first lists operas presented by the Music Department and the Workshop. It also includes those operas that were put on independently during the same period at venues such as McMillin Theatre (later renamed Miller Theatre), Barnard College's Minor Latham Playhouse, and Brooks Hall, which featured Mozart operas in honor of his bicentennial year of 1956. The second section describes operas that were given at various Columbia locations after the Workshop closed.