It is hard to believe that rewarding opportunities in a liberalised market are left unexploited by acquisitive market participants or even by proficient institutional investors. Notwithstanding this, the sources of momentum profits have been puzzling academics for many years. Therefore, the incentives for these rewarding opportunities remain an unresolved mystery long after the momentum phenomenon has been identified. The significance of the momentum phenomenon is reflected in the voluminous studies that investigate it. This thesis aims to investigate a number of issues surrounding the debate on the momentum phenomenon in order to provide a broader understanding of the profitability of momentum strategies and its sources by using alternative as well as some new methods. Furthermore, this study investigates momentum strategies in the UK market by controlling for several market microstructure effects and finds that momentum profits tend to disappear after the six months holding period, from the year 2000, providing evidence of fading momentum profits. While market states fail to explain fading momentum profits, this study argues that it is the result of gradual market awareness. Seasonal effects on momentum returns after 1998 show evidence of continuing tax-loss selling activity, and hence, draw impactions on the effectiveness of the governmental 1998 Tax-Act. This thesis also supports the presence of an industry effect on the cross-section of momentum returns; however, this effect is small and is confined to the stocks that have performed well in the past and increases with liquidity. Empirical evidence suggests that momentum profits exist among the highly liquid stocks that are weekly traded. The findings also suggest that market frictions such as short sales constraints and trading costs cannot eliminate momentum profits among optioned or non-optioned (comparable) stocks using a new technique to measure transaction costs. The overall evidence implies that the observed momentum profits are not fully attributed to the argued trading obstacles but mainly driven by biased investment decisions and that momentum profits are significant even after controlling for uncertainty, ambiguity and trading costs


A Lumped Computational Model for Sodium Sulfur Battery Analysis Fan Wu Due to the cost of materials and time consuming testing procedures, development of new batteries is a slow and expensive practice. The purpose of this study is to develop a computational model and assess the capabilities of such a model designed to aid in the design process and control of sodium sulfur batteries. To this end, a transient lumped computational model derived from an integral analysis of the transport of species, energy and charge throughout the battery has been developed. The computation processes are coupled with the use of Faraday's law, and solutions for the species concentrations, electrical potential and current are produced in a time marching fashion. Properties required for solving the governing equations are calculated and updated as a function of time based on the composition of each control volume. The proposed model is validated against multidimensional simulations and experimental results from literatures, and simulation results using the proposed model is presented and analyzed. The computational model and electrochemical model used to solve the equations for the lumped model are compared with similar ones found in the literature. The results obtained from the current model compare favorably with those from experiments and other models.


People live storied lives and it is in the telling of those stories that the richness and complexities of those lives emerge. Arthur Frank (1995) notes that a distinctive element of postmodern times is the emergence of people reclaiming the telling of their own stories. Frank's voice is only one among many in the social sciences raising doubts about privileging any one method of obtaining authoritative knowledge about the social world, and expressing interest in personal narrative and autoethnography as genres for expression in research (Ellis & Bochner 2000). Traditional methods of research writing are often inadequate as a means to express the complexity of social life. Expressing research as story, including oneself as an actor in the text, provides an alternative way of writing about social life and self-other interactions, potentially an empowering and illuminating experience. This paper unpacks my journey to method; it is an autoethnographic account based on personal experiences, transcribed interviews, journal entries and emails over the course of 2006. My interaction with a number of African refugee women in Perth, Western Australia - participants in my PhD research project, is framed around our mutual understanding of grief, loss and suffering, out of which has arisen empathy, affection and respect. I use story to weave our differences and similarities together to provide an understanding of the connections that emerge between researcher and researched, and the multiple-selves that critical narrative uncovers.


The main purpose of this research is to study the business value of XBRL from the report senders' perspective. Business value in IT is a complex topic of study. Literatures with diverse conception and results speak for the extent of complexity in IT business value. From productivity paradox to process oriented study and resource based views, researchers used different measures and produced different results. Despite the richness of literatures, a holistic model that provides more complete view, which encompasses important IT business value measures is still lacking. Thus, a holistic model to study IT business value is first developed and then operationalized by using XBRL business value literatures and a pilot study to arrive at framework to study business value of XBRL. The business value framework is based on four dimension of business value; informational, operational, personal and organizational related business value. This study takes the route of exploratory research aimed at uncovering the details of the XBRL business value framework rather than testing and verifying it. Thus, the results of this study are based on qualitative data collected in two stages; a pilot interview and a focus group discussion with XBRL experts. Focus group provides richer qualitative data and thus, was a preferred method of data collection. The results of study shows that Business value of XBRL is a dynamic concepts that is influenced by internal, external and technological factors that moderates the business value created by it. Further, respondents also agreed on the fact that XBRL creates business value, all four components, for the report senders but with the influence of moderating factors. The most significant result of this study is incorporation of contextual factor in business value model. Further, it also sets a sound foundation for future research in IT business value. The framework developed can be used to study another technology and with slight modification can be used in other setting. The framework can also be used to evaluate different information technologies and also to make sound IT investment decisions.


Two pairs of identical experimentation modules are being developed within the framework of a collaborative initiative named NOMAD – Network of Optimization Modalities in Architectural Design - between the Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Performance-Integrated Design (LIPID) and the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST), both at EPFL. NOMAD relates to a series of projects related to the optimization of the building envelope in a sustainability context. Based on comparative evaluations in two climates (cool-temperate versus hot-arid), these projects will most notably rely on a dual infrastructure: the NOMAD modules. These modules will be located in Lausanne, Switzerland and in the Middle East (Ras-Al-Kaimah, United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.). They are currently in design development and will be operational in the fall of 2012 for the launching of the Master in Energy Management and Sustainability Caravans. One pair of modules will be located on the main EPFL campus in Lausanne, Switzerland and the other pair will be installed on the site of the EPFL Middle East campus in Ras-Al-Kaimah, U.A.E. The modules' dimensions will be 3 m wide x 3 m high x 9 m deep so as to allow deep plan layouts, and include an active insulation skin for temperature and heat exchange control. Having the modules in pairs offers the option either rely on a reliable reference case in any measurement campaign, to hide the measurement setup from the users in field studies, or to conduct two experiments simultaneously to get most out of periods where optimal climate conditions are scarce. This dual climate approach allows us to open up an innovative and original research framework, able to generate new facade concepts with high environmental standards, and to develop bio-climatic strategies based on multiple criteria. This unique dual research facility will thus be particularly adapted to investigate climate-related issues in building technology and to enhance the educational potential in sustainable architecture at EPFL and EPFL Middle East.


Introduction: Early detection and treatment of sepsis can be lifesaving for critically ill patients. Sepsis caused by Gram negative organisms is on the rise in cancer patients. It is important to identify the infecting organism and test the effectiveness of antibiotics against it as soon as possible. We aimed at studying the in vitro effectiveness of commonly used antibiotic against pathogenic Gram negative organisms in cancer patients with sepsis. Methods: We conducted a four year and one month study of all Gram-negative isolates from blood samples of patients received from oncology units in our hospital. All isolates were processed as per standard microbiology laboratory operating procedures (SOPs). Isolates were identified to species level and susceptibility tests were performed, interpreted and reporting of results was as per Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines. Results: A total of 5391 blood cultures were received during the study period of which 179 tested positive for Gram negative bacterial sepsis. Escherichia coli Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter spp. were most commonly encountered pathogens. Resistance to piperacillin-tazobactam in the Enterobacteriaceae group was high at 63.46% in K. pneumoniae and 46.4% in E. coli respectively. Although resistance to cefoperazone–sulbactum was 65% in K. pneumoniae, three-fourths of the isolates remained susceptible to ceftazidime. K. pneumoniae and E. coli also showed a very high rate of resistance 69.3% and 83.2% respectively to the fluoroquinolone ciprofloxacin. Half of the Acinetobacter strains were resistant to meropenem a carbapenem antibiotic. Three isolates of Klebsiella pnuemoniae were resistant to Colistin. Conclusion: A high level of resistance to cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones and beta-lactam – beta lacatamase inhibitor combinations is seen in Gram negative sepsis causing organisms in cancer patients, particularly E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter spp. Resistance to carbapenems is also on the increase in this group of organisms.


The International Journal of Organizational and Collective Intelligence (IJOCI) focuses on computing theories and empirical analyses of shared knowledge relevant to businesses. Containing both practical and theoretical articles on the technical and managerial aspects of intelligent computing, this journal re ects on current advancements in a variety of areas including knowledge computing, decision science, organizational systems, and robotics.


The Copler Au deposit (measured and indicated resource of 122.8 million tonnes at 1.7 g/t Au, 4.8 g/t Ag, and 0.1 wt % Cu) is centered around shallow-level dioritic to granodioritic intrusive rocks of the middle Eocene Copler-Kabatas magmatic complex, which have been emplaced into a succession of regionally metamorphosed late Paleozoic-Mesozoic sedimentary and carbonate rocks.

The deposit comprises a centrally located subeconomic porphyry Cu-Au system characterized by a potassically altered (biotite-K-feldspar-magnetite) core overprinted by a more extensive phyllic (quartz-sericite) alteration zone. The potassic alteration zone is associated with early M-type hairline magnetite and crosscutting B-type quartz ± magnetite ± sulfide veinlets, whereas the enveloping phyllic-altered rocks contain abundant D-type quartz-pyrite and lesser polymetallic quartz-sulfide veinlets. Intermediate-sulfidation epithermal Au mineralization that overprints the porphyry occurred in two stages. Main-stage epithermal mineralization is characterized by carbonate sulfide veinlets consisting of manganocalcite, arsenical pyrite, arsenopyrite, marcasite, chalcopyrite, tennantite/tetrahedrite, galena, and sphalerite. Late-stage sooty pyrite veinlets contain some realgar and orpiment and are associated with zones of extensive carbonate alteration. In the carbonate sulfide veinlets, invisible gold is primarily hosted within arsenical pyrite and, to a lesser extent, by arsenopyrite, tetrahedrite, and tennantite. In sooty pyrite veinlets, invisible gold is associated with fine-grained arsenical pyrite. Manto-type carbonate-replacement zones occur in the distal portions of the porphyry system and constitute a significant gold resource. These carbonate-replacement bodies display a mineral paragenesis similar to that of the epithermal carbonate sulfide veinlets in that they contain abundant arsenical pyrite together with lesser chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, and marcasite, and sparse sphalerite, galena, tennantite, and tetrahedrite. Invisible gold in these ores is contained mainly within pyrite and chalcopyrite and, to a lesser extent, in arsenopyrite, tetrahedrite, and tennantite.

Polyphase brine inclusions (~47–62 wt % NaCl equiv) in early B-type quartz ± magnetite ± sulfide veinlets were trapped together with low-salinity (~3–5.5 wt % NaCl equiv), vapor-rich inclusions at temperatures ~390°C and at a depth of ~1.5 km under lithostatic conditions. Fluids associated with the overprinting phyllic alteration were slightly cooler (~370°C) and less saline (37–42 wt % NaCl equiv). Fluid inclusions in manganocalcite and sphalerite from epithermal carbonate sulfide veinlets trapped moderate-salinity (4–15 wt % NaCl equiv) fluids at ~290°C, whereas fluid inclusions hosted in barite and realgar from sooty pyrite veinlets were formed from low-temperature (~100°C) and low- to moderate-salinity (1–14 wt % NaCl equiv) fluids. These data indicate that the Au-mineralizing system at Copler progressed from a high-temperature porphyry system to a relatively low temperature, intermediate-sulfidation epithermal system. Deposition of gold in the early stages of epithermal mineralization resulted from cooling, sulfidation, and neutralization of predominantly magmatic sourced hydrothermal fluids, whereas a meteoric water component is evident in the latest stage of mineralization.

Deposit-scale geologic observations combined with fluid inclusion and stable isotope evidence suggest that mineralization at Copler records activity of a relatively deep epithermal system and that its formation was structurally and lithologically controlled. Specifically, the thick, premineralization carbonate sequence once overlying the deposit acted as a pressure seal and also as a neutralizing agent during the build up of the magmatic-hydrothermal system. The weakening of this carbonate cover by igneous intrusion and subsequent hydrothermal activity may have contributed to later selective erosion of the alteration zone, thereby telescoping the intermediate-sulfidation epithermal system onto the earlier porphyry system and creating the Copler window.


An innovative education and simulation of the Best Value (BV) business model was carried out in a Project Management (PM) course at an International Engineering University in Italy. The BV model has been applied in a variety of organizations and projects to minimize risk and increase performance; however, its use in education at the University level is less explored. The BV educational sessions held in the PM course revealed that BV is instructive because it educates students regarding PM concepts via an industry-applied model, and is transformational as it promotes a change in perspectives of the students and the instructors. The simulation was a course group project that utilized the BV concepts and tools, which revealed that BV is flexible because students realized their increased knowledge via the project, the project was easier to administer as compared to previous years, and it was multicultural as it was easily used in a course with individuals from numerous cultural backgrounds. The performance information of the course revealed that, compared to previous years, the project was clearer, evaluations saved time and limited subjectivity, and the students' performance increased overall. The BV business model contributed to positive transformative learning experiences.


An experimental study was done to observe the hypocholesterolaemic effect of wheatgrass (Triticum aestivum) juice on experimentally induced hypercholesterolaemic rats, especially on serum low density lipoprotein (LDL) level, which was carried out in the Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka, between July, 2009 and June, 2010. A total number of 48 healthy adult male Long Evans rats (Norwegian strain) were used for the present study. 6 rats were taken in each group of total 8 groups treated differently with 1 control group. Rats of the first 5 groups were sacrificed at 29 th day and their serum total cholesterol levels were measured. The rest of the rats were sacrificed at 57 th day and their serum total cholesterol levels were measured. The mean serum LDL of 10ml/kg grass juice fed normal rats was decreased by 11.64% than that of the laboratory diet fed control group (P<0.01). Serum LDL of the group of rats treated with 10ml/kg grass juice and1% cholesterol diet were decreased by 36.59% than that of the hypercholesterolaemic control group (P<0.001). Serum LDL of the hypercholesterolaemic rats treated with 10ml/kg grass juice for 28 days were decreased by 29.10%, and in hypercholesterolaemic rats treated with 20ml/kg grass juice for 28 days were decreased by 39.46% (P<0.001). Reduction of LDL as evident on hypercholesterolaemic rats treated with 20ml/kg grass juice, which was similar to hypercholesterolaemic rats treated with 0.14mg/kg Atorvastatin for 28 days. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjpp.v30i2.22678 Bangladesh J Physiol Pharmacol 2014; 30(2): 18-24


How Student Positioning Can Lead to Failure in Inquiry-Based Classrooms Kelly Campbell Department of Mathematics Education, BYU Master of Arts In an effort to improve mathematics instruction, I studied how the positions students choose or are pressed to take on can lead to failure in an inquiry-based classroom. Positioning refers to the temporary roles that a student or a teacher can place each other in or take on in a given classroom environment. Since positions are constructed and maintained by language use, I drew from positioning theory and discourse theory for my theoretical framework. From analyzing transcripts of classroom episodes and interviews with the teacher and a student, I identified common positions that the teacher and the student took on. I also looked at how these positions were negotiated in the classroom. I give a specific example of how positions could negatively change between the teacher and the student. The teacher went from a position that supported inquiry-based instruction to a position that supported traditional instruction, and the student went from a position that supported learning to a position that was detrimental to learning. The positions and the negotiation of positions impacted learning and helped to explain why the student might be failing. I found that positions changed (for better or worse) because of specific pressures, which I analyzed. For instance, when the teacher and the student succumbed to specific pressures and stepped out of certain positions, the teacher felt ineffective and the student engaged in less desirable positions that hinder learning. From this study, we can learn how to better address student and teacher failure in an inquiry-based classroom. These results have significant implications for research, teaching, and teacher education. Therefore, positioning is vital to the implementation of inquiry-based instruction in that it can either maintain or undermine it.


Atlantic bluefin tuna Thunnus thynnus (ABFT) is a fish of high market value which has recently become strongly overexploited, notably in the Mediterranean Sea. This area is an essential habitat for ABFT reproduction and growth. We present here an approach for deriving the daily mapping of potential ABFT feeding and spawning habitats based on satellite-derived sea surface temperature (SST) and chl a concentration. The feeding habitat was mainly derived from the simultaneous occurrence of oceanic fronts of temperature and chl a content while the spawn- ing habitat was mostly inferred from the heating of surface waters. Generally, higher chl a con- tents were found to be preferred for the feeding habitat and a minimum SST value was found for the spawning habitat. Both habitats were defined by the presence of relevant oceanographic fea- tures and are therefore potential and functionally-linked habitats. This approach provides, for the first time, a synoptic view of the potential ABFT habitats in the Mediterranean Sea. The model performs well in areas where both satellite data and ABFT observations are available, as 80% of presence data are in the vicinity of potential habitats. The computed monthly, seasonal and annual maps of potential feeding and spawning habitat of ABFT from 2003 to 2009 are in good agreement with current knowledge on ABFT. Overall, the habitat size of ABFT is about 6% of the Medi - terranean Sea surface. The results displayed a strong seasonality in habitat size and locations as well as high year-to-year variations (30 to 60%), particularly for the potential spawning habitat, which is key information for evaluating the utility of ABFT Marine Protected Areas in the Medi - terranean Sea.


Due to lack of effective diagnosis, most of the women are diagnosed for ovarian cancer in late stages, which reduces their survival chances. Hence, there is a dire need for development of effective biomarkers and diagnostic strategies that can help in predicting the disease in early stages. Such developments can provide the biomarkers which have the capacity to provide effective results in limited time. They can direct the treatment strategies thereby revolutionising the way ovarian cancer is dealt worldwide. The article focuses on the current diagnostic and prognostic methods available and the potential biomarkers for ovarian cancer detection. These markers are currently being studied and validated. Some of the recent nanotechnological approaches that can be used to develop diagnostic platforms are discussed, which may represent the next generation of ovarian cancer diagnostics and prognostics.


Abstract Magnetorheological (MR) fluids possess the unique ability to undergo dramatic and nearly completely reversible changes in their rheological properties under the application of a magnetic field. These controllable fluids can serve as quiet, rapid interfaces between electronic controls and mechanical systems. One area of application is to use these fluids in torque transfer devices, such as clutches and brakes. After determining MR fluid properties and behavior using a rheometer, a parallel disk type MR clutch was successfully developed, which utilized a stationary electromagnetic coil. Finite element analysis was used to design the coil and clutch assembly in order to maximize the magnetic field generated within the MR fluid. The resulting magnetic field was uniform over the active portion of the clutch, easily controllable by adjusting the current passing through the coil, and provided a large range of field strength values. The experimentally measured output torque was generally in good agreement with predicted values. This work details the design considerations and methodology used to develop this clutch, which can be extended to the design of other MR devices.


Recently, we proposed a noniterative cepstral technique for exact signal recovery in frequency-domain optical-coherence tomography. In this paper, we address the influence of measurement noise on the performance of the method. We derive analytical expressions for the bias and variance of the tomogram under a small noise approximation, and show that our technique yields unbiased and consistent estimators, which have a variance that is proportional to that of the noise and inversely proportional to the data size. We present simulation results to confirm the theoretical derivations. We also derive approximate Cramer-Rao bounds (CRBs) on the achievable accuracy of reconstruction.


Background Vitamin D is an endogenous hormone known to regulate calcium levels in the body and plays a role in cognitive performance. Studies have shown an association between vitamin D deficiency and cognitive impairment in older adults. Lebanon has a high 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) deficiency prevalence across all age groups. Methods In this cross-sectional study, we explored the cognitive performance and serum 25(OH)D levels using an electrochemoluminescent immunoassay in 254 older (>60 years) as well as younger (30–60 years) adults. Subjects' characteristics, including age, years of education, wearing of veil, alcohol consumption, smoking, and physical exercise, were collected. Participants were screened for depression prior to cognitive screening using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Arabic version. Visuospatial memory was tested using the Rey Complex Figure Test and Recognition Trial, and speed of processing was assessed using the Symbol Digit Modalities test. Results Pearson's correlation and stepwise linear regression analyses showed that a low vitamin D level was associated with greater risk of cognitive impairment in older as well as younger adults. Conclusion These findings suggest that correction of vitamin D needs to be explored as an intervention to prevent cognitive impairment. Prospective longitudinal studies are needed to ascertain the effect of such interventions.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the nature of osteopenia/osteoporosis in spondyloarthropathy, an inflammatory disorder, using the HLA-B27 transgenic rat model.

METHODS
HLA-B27 transgenic rats were housed individually and sacrificed at the peak of their disease (8-month-old). The spine and femurs were removed and stored in saline at -20 degrees C until analysis. The bone structure and strength were determined using a micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) device (Scanco Medical) and mechanical testing (Instron 5543). Vertebral bodies and femurs were scanned to determine trabecular structural properties in terms of bone volume (BV/TV), trabecular thickness, and spacing. After scanning, the mid-shaft femurs were subjected to a 3-point bending test (along anterior-posterior direction), the femoral necks were tested in bending, and the vertebral bodies (L4) were tested in compression. Structural (ultimate/yield load, stiffness) and apparent material (ultimate/yield stress, modulus) strength parameters were then determined.

RESULTS
The majority of the bone structural and strength parameters were significantly lower (P < 0.05) in the HLA-B27 transgenic rats as compared with control littermates. Micro-CT data suggested that the transgenic animals had lower BV/TV and trabecular thickness in their vertebral bodies. The poor trabecular structure observed in HLA-B27 rats is also indicative of the poor biomechanical strength properties in the vertebral bodies as well.

CONCLUSION
The HLA-B27 transgenic rats develop bone fragility similar to that seen in spondyloarthropathy and may be an important model for the study of osteoporosis in spondyloarthropathy.


Modeling the structure of biological molecules is critical for understanding how these structures perform their function, and for designing compounds to modify or enhance this function (for medicinal or industrial purposes). The determination of molecular structure involves defining three-dimensional positions for each of the constituent atoms using a variety of experimental, theoretical and empirical data sources. Unfortunately, each of these data sources can be noisy or not available in sufficient abundance to determine the precise position of each atom. Instead, some atomic positions are precisely defined by the data, and others are poorly defined. An understanding of structural uncertainty is critical for properly interpreting structural models. We have developed a Bayesian approach for determining the coordinates of atoms in a three-dimensional space. Our algorithm takes as input a set of probabilistic constraints on the coordinates of the atoms, and an a priori distribution for each atom location. The output is a maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimate of the location of each atom. We introduce constraints as updates to the prior distributions. In this paper, we describe the algorithm and show its performance on three data sets. The first data set is synthetic and illustrates the convergence properties of the method. The other data sets comprise real biological data for a protein (the trp repressor molecule) and a nucleic acid (the transfer RNA fold). Finally, we describe how we have begun to extend the algorithm to make it suitable for non-Gaussian constraints.


The epidermis is vitally important in protecting the organism from environmental insults. Consisting of dynamic outer strata of keratinocytes that terminally differentiate from basal keratinocytes stem cells (KSC), the epidermis is maintained by constant spatial and temporal control. In psoriasis, a dysregulated and intensifying crosstalk between keratinocytes and immune cells disturbs epidermal homeostasis resulting in hyperproliferation and loss of differentiation. Recently, short (~22 nt) genetic molecules called microRNAs (miRNA) that regulate gene expression by repressing messenger RNA (mRNA) have gained attention as robust regulators of keratinocyte biology and key players in psoriasis. A specific miRNA elevated in psoriasis, miR-184, modulates the expression of Argonaute 2 (AGO2), an established effector of miRNA function. However, there is a paucity of research investigating miR-184 and the miR-184:AGO2 axis in epidermal keratinocyte biology. As such, the aim of this thesis was to delineate miR-184 expression and function during keratinocyte proliferation, differentiation and migration. Firstly, it was revealed that miR-184 was induced during keratinocyte differentiation in a process that relies exclusively on Ca2+ and the major keratinocyte Ca2+ entry pathway called store-operated calcium entry (SOCE). Furthermore, miR-184 was upregulated in a cohort of eight psoriasis patient samples. By modulating miR-184 expression it was elucidated that miR-184 promotes early keratinocyte differentiation through concomitant induction of factors related to DNA damage, growth arrest and terminal differentiation. In addition, this thesis reports the discovery of SOCE-dependent induction of miR-184 during keratinocyte migration as well as a long non-coding RNA, UCA1 that has been implicated in the regulation of miR-184. Importantly, ectopic miR-184 stimulated keratinocyte migration in scratched monolayers while inhibition of miR-184 reduced migration. Studies on AGO1-4 transcripts identified that AGO4 mRNA was the most abundant AGO in human epidermal keratinocytes and revealed no reduction of AGO2 expression in response to enhanced miR-184 levels during differentiation. Furthermore, both AGO1 and AGO4 were downregulated in psoriatic patients. Finally, it was established that AGO2 localises to the nucleus of terminally differentiated keratinocytes in a Ca2+-dependent mechanism, pointing to an apparent nuclear role for AGO2 during keratinocyte differentiation. In summary, the results reported in this thesis highlight an important role for miR-184 in the regulation of epidermal keratinocyte biology, reveal SOCE as a regulator of miRNA pathways in keratinocytes and show for the first time a role for miR-184 in epidermal keratinocyte migration. Together, these studies may facilitate the development of miRNA based dermaceuticals for cutaneous diseases.


I. INTRODUCTION Michael Herz's article1 makes an important contribution to our understanding of both administrative law and the Rehnquist Court. Noting that nothing too significant has happened in the Supreme Court's administrative law jurisprudence under Chief Justice Rehnquist, Herz attempts to use the Court's administrative law decisions as a means of understanding the Court more generally and of assessing whether the leading critiques of the Court as a judicially supremacist, conservative institution are accurate. Herz's conclusion is important. After reviewing the Rehnquist Court's administrative law decisions, he finds that these opinions largely do not fit the portrayal in the leading critiques.2 In particular, in the two most important areas where one might expect to find evidence of the Court substituting its judgment for that of another branch-the Chevron and the hard look doctrines-Herz finds little.3 Herz's article thus poses a challenge to the critics to explain why the Court allegedly behaves one way regarding constitutional law, but another way concerning administrative law. This Comment adopts the reverse strategy of Herz's paper. Instead of using the administrative law cases to illuminate the leading critiques of the Rehnquist Court, I want to briefly examine these critiques, draw a different picture of the Court, and then see what light that picture sheds on the administrative law cases. I argue that these critiques of the Rehnquist Court are seriously flawed. First, criticisms, such as Larry Kramer's,4 that view the Court as pursuing an excessive or even unprecedented agenda of judicial supremacy are problematic because they rest largely on the controversial premise that individual rights cases should be treated differently than structural cases.5 Without that premise, the critique falls apart. Second, criticisms that view the Court as unduly conservative are mistaken because they exaggerate the conservative cases and neglect the liberal ones. Instead of viewing the Rehnquist Court as a judicially supremacist, conservative body, I argue that the Court should actually be viewed as politically moderate and as sensitive to its public reputation-in other words, as the O'Connor Court. Like Justice O'Connor herself, the O'Connor Court sometimes imposes its views on other branches, sometimes not; sometimes it is conservative, sometimes not. It is not a very principled institution, but it is also not extreme. The O'Connor Court is, however, especially concerned about its political capital. Indeed, I argue that some of the cases that critics have seen as arrogant are better understood as unprincipled decisions undertaken to protect the Court's reputation. This view of the Supreme Court has significant implications for one's assessment of the Court's administrative law decisions. First, it suggests that we should not be surprised by Herz's results. His description of the administrative law cases is consistent with my picture of the O'Connor Court. Second, it suggests a moderate revision in Herz's overall description of the Court's administrative law jurisprudence. My view of the O'Connor Court allows me to interpret some cases differently than Herz does and to find other cases that Herz does not discuss. These cases and interpretations support a view of administrative law that is less supremacist and less conservative than even Herz suggests. II. THE CRITIQUE OF THE REHNQUIST COURT Although various articles have criticized the Rehnquist Court, I understand there to be two leading complementary critiques. First, one group of commentators argues that the Rehnquist Court has strongly asserted a largely unprecedented power of judicial supremacy. Associated most clearly with Larry Kramer, this "We the Court Critique" maintains that the Court has refused to seriously consider the constitutional interpretations of the political branches.6 Second, another group of commentators holds that the Rehnquist Court has mainly pursued an agenda of conservative judicial activism. …


This book contributes to the fundamental understanding of the physical mechanisms that take place in pseudo turbulent particulate flows. In the present work we have considered the sedimentation of large numbers of spherical rigid particles in an initially quiescent flow field. We have performed direct numerical simulations employing an immersed boundary method for the representation of the fluid-solid interface. The results evidence that depending on the particle settling regime (i.e.\ Galileo number and particle-to-fluid density ratio) the particles may exhibit strong inhomogeneous spatial distribution. It is found that the particles are preferentially located in regions with downward fluid motion. The particles inside clusters experience larger settling velocities than the average. The flow in all flow cases is observed to exhibit characteristic features of pseudo-turbulence. The particle-induced flow field is further found to be highly anisotropic with dominant vertical components. The results indicate that, in the present flow configurations, the collective and mobility effects play significant role for the particle and fluid motion.


Sudden changes in the boundary conditions of water transmission systems, such as sudden opening and closing of valves or abrupt on and off switching of pumps and turbines cause a transient flow called 'water hammer'. In this study, comparisons were made between the effective parameters including pipeline material, on the one hand, and the equipment and tools available for reducing the effects of water hammer, on the other. For this purpose, a practical example of a water transmission line from a pumping station located near Shahid Shirdom Residential District to the upstream reservoir in Tehran was used for modeling by the Bentley Hammer XMV: 8 software. The results obtained for the different parameters and options were compared and it was revealed that, regarding the pipe material, GRP pipes reduced pressure by 49.1 Kpa compared to the Asbestos cement pipes and by 50.3 Kpa compared to the iron pipes. Comparison of the results for the protective systems indicated that the surge tank outperformed the other alternatives in controlling pressure such that maximum pressure was reduced by 3.9 bar when using surge tanks compared to the flywheel and by 5 bar compared to the check valve. Finally, it was found that the concurrent use of the surge tank and the flywheel would be the most ideal method for controlling the water hammer effects.


The intention of most film editing is to create the impression of continuity by editing together discontinuous viewpoints. The continuity editing rules are well established yet there exists an incomplete understanding of their cognitive foundations. This article presents the Attentional Theory of Cinematic Continuity (AToCC), which identifies the critical role visual attention plays in the perception of continuity across cuts and demonstrates how perceptual expectations can be matched across cuts without the need for a coherent representation of the depicted space. The theory explains several key elements of the continuity editing style including match-action, matchedexit/entrances, shot/reverse-shot, the 180° rule, and point-of-view editing. AToCC formalizes insights about viewer cognition that have been latent in the filmmaking community for nearly a century and demonstrates how much vision science in general can learn from film.


Introduction: Prevention of oral diseases can be achieved by preventive measures. There is an educational component associated to the preventive aspect. Health education is a cornerstone to the success of a preventive programme. Health education has always been regarded as a primary tool in imparting awareness, bringing changes in healthy behaviors and improved life. Aim: To assess the effectiveness of an Educational Video in improving oral health knowledge of subjects in a hospital setting. Methodology: The study was conducted in Outpatient Department, CDER, AIIMS. This was a cross sectional interventional study. In the present study a total of 109 subjects were considered those who completed pre and post intervention questionnaire. In order to assess baseline oral health knowledge, a-14 itemed questionnaire was specially designed, based on the contents of video and was pre-tested on 10 patients. Pre-intervention knowledge was assessed and then the 30-minute video was shown. Following this, post-exposure knowledge was assessed using the same questionnaire. Change in the knowledge score amongst the subjects was assessed pre and post-intervention (showing the video film). Results: Paired t- test was used to analyze the data. Pre-intervention mean knowledge score was 9.49±2.09 which increased to 11.55±1.60 post-intervention; the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Conclusions: It was found that increase in knowledge score was statistically significant after exposure to an educational video film in a hospital setting. Incorporation of video in imparting oral health education can be an effective tool in improving oral health knowledge, which can impact the oral health behavior of people and community.


4 Additional index words. survey Summary. Before analyzing the responses of Alabama garden center employees about the training they had received, we determined how satisfied 100 Alabama Master Gardeners were with the employee-s who helped them in the store from which they most often purchased plants for their homes, landscapes, or gardens. We mailed the primary survey to 472 employees of 130 retail garden center businesses in Alabama to determine the percentage of employees who received job training and the amount, frequency, and methods of training they received while working for their current employers (37% responded). Employees were categorized as managers (28%) or subordinate employees (72%) and full- time (72%) or part-time (28%). Forty- four percent of the employees had received some training at the time they were hired. Training continued for 68% of the respondents. Only 39% of the employees had a written description of their job responsibilities discussed with them. Most (85%) believed the training they received had prepared them to do their jobs well, but 82% said more training would increase their confidence in their work performance. Most employees were trained by one-on-one instruction (60%) and small-group sessions (5 or fewer persons) (65%). Few employees received training from videotapes (5%) or educational seminars (26%), and most that did were manag- ers and full-time employees.


The objective of this research is the analysis of the reaction time of older drivers, while talking on the cell phone and conversing with another passenger. For this purpose, a large driving simulator experiment is carried out, in which 72 drivers from three different age groups (young, middle aged and older) were asked to drive under different types of distraction (no distraction, conversation with passenger, cell phone use) in rural and urban road environment, in low and high traffic. In addition, two unexpected events are set in each driving scenario, where the reaction time of each driver is recorded. To achieve this objective, an appropriate modelling methodology has been developed, including descriptive analysis followed by a generalized linear model and a generalized linear mixed models. Results indicate that both conversing with a passenger and talking on the cell phone, while driving, leads to increased reaction time for all drivers. Female drivers, especially in rural areas, were found to have the worst reaction times, while being distracted (either conversing with a passenger or talking on the cell phone). Furthermore, regarding age groups, older drivers talking on the cell phone achieved the highest reaction time. Results clearly suggest that cell phone use while driving has a potential negative impact on road safety and leads to increased accident risk.


Biometrics has experienced significant advances during the last years becoming involved in several systems. Nevertheless, many of these systems are rejected by users due to a lack of usability. This indicates that the user-system interaction is a factor which needs to be improved in biometric environments. Even less studied, are the dynamic modalities (gait, signature, voice, etc.) which include behavioural conditions which exhibit greater variability from person to person. This paper showcases some of the latest efforts made by authors in the analysis of usability in dynamic signature verification (DSV). Several outcomes (such as the importance of the styluses used or stress in users) were extracted in order to establish guidelines for future developments.


Will there ever be a Nobel Prize in law? I use this question as a framework for discussing the current state of legal scholarship and the trend toward making legal scholarship more "scientific." I discuss the meaning of "science" and the scientific method and summarize the various theories that have developed over time to verify, modify, or reject scientific paradigms. Next, I consider whether the study of law is a science. All sciences share core theoretical beliefs about the same class of phenomena and agreed-upon methods of establishing the validity of claims made about those phenomena. This allows for the transnational study and dissemination of information about that scientific field, regardless of the country of origin of that information. Most legal academics believe that this description of a science does not and, more importantly, could not apply to their field. Rather, they argue that their field of study is inherently local by both geography and subject matter. Therefore, a legal academic who studies the tort liability regime in Moldova is generally thought to be studying something very different from someone who studies contract law in Moldova or the tort liability regime in Laos. I make three claims. First, I argue that there is no inherent reason why law cannot be scientific. There is no inherent reason within law why there cannot be a transnational theoretical core about, say, tort liability of which each particular jurisdiction's instantiation is but an example. I draw the analogy to economics in which there is a single microeconomic theory of individual and group decisionmaking that instantiates into different national and regional economies, as dictated by different histories, social and governmental organization, resource endowments, and personal and group preferences. Second, I argue that law seems to be in the process of developing a transnational theory of organizations, consensual agreements, liability regimes, and more and that law and economics is currently (but not necessarily) the source of that theoretical core. I give examples of four empirical studies of legal issues that illustrate these trends. The astonishing aspect of the first three of these studies is that although they make empirical claims that question widely held beliefs about what the law in action really is, there has been no apparent alteration in what we teach law students in response to these empirical claims. By contrast, the response to Professor Ellickson's remarkable empirical study of the Coase Theorem in Shasta County, California, has been a dramatic alteration in the profession's belief about the Coase Theorem and the centrality of law in affecting behavior - precisely the reaction one would expect in a science in which theory and empirical work are cognizant of and responsive to one another. Third, I believe that this trend toward a more scientific study of law has been greatly spurred by law and economics, whose impact on legal scholarship has been profound in the United States, if not elsewhere.


Bacterial bioluminescence has been shown to be an accurate real-time reporter of bacterial internalisation and a valid alternative to viable counts. A self-bioluminescent strain of the bacterial pathogen Neisseria meningitidis was used to develop and optimise an internalisation assay with a range of cell lines including ECV-304, C6 and Caco-2 as an alternative to traditional indirect methods such as viable counting. The use of bioluminescence as a reporter of bacterial internalisation did not produce any robust evidence of internalisation of N. meningitidis C751 pGLITE within cell lines suggesting that internalisation is short lived, does not occur or is below the minimum level of detection. The traditional approach of using a gentamicin protection assay followed by viable counts to investigate internalisation of N. meningitidis suggested evidence of very low level internalisation, the reliability and reproducibility of which remains questionable due to methodological limitations. Although studying bacterial-cell interactions in internalisation assays using monolayers can provide useful insight into bacterial pathogenesis, when infecting the human host, bacteria are required to react with more than a monolayer of cells. The human blood-brain barrier (BBB) is considered to be the main physiological barrier controlling entry and exit from the brain parenchyma of molecules and bacteria. Knowledge of the exact mechanisms by which pathogens invade the brain remains incomplete for two main reasons; most of these pathogens are restricted to humans, limiting the relevance of any animal models and there are few good in vitro models of the BBB. It has been shown, that upon co-culture with C6 cells, ECV-304 cells demonstrate many of the key features of the BBB in vivo including an upregulation of endothelial tight junctions. This continuous co-culture model was further developed and adapted to enhance transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER), indicative of tight junction formation and adapted for use with bioluminescent strains of bacterial pathogens capable of crossing the BBB and entering the CNS to cause meningitis. Penetration of lux-expressing N. meningitidis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and pathogenic Escherichia coli across the BBB model was studied and subsequent effects on TEER and cell viability were also measured. Breaching of the BBB co-culture model by bioluminescent P. aeruginosa was observed after only 6 hours for 106 cfu whereas the other pathogens were not observed to cross the BBB model until in excess of 20 hours. For all pathogenic bacteria tested BBB penetration was associated with high bacterial numbers and all pathogens were observed to have a significant effect on TEER. The effect on cell viability was more variable. By combining the use of bioluminescence and a continuous cell culture model of the BBB, further investigation into breaching of the BBB by bacterial pathogens could be made that would be difficult or impossible to carry out in vivo. This study has resulted in the development of a robust system which has the potential to significantly enhance our understanding of bacterial translocation of the BBB and possible preventative measures.


The aim of the study is to assess of the biological distance between the populations from the Armenian Plateau and Georgia, with samples from Eastern Europe, and Central Asia on the basis of the frequency of dental non-metric traits. It is well known that these traits are characterised by high inter-population differentiation, low sexual dimorphism, and their recording is loaded by relatively small intra and inter observer error. The dental non-metric traits are successfully used in the description and explanation of the ethnogenetic processes. The comparative analysis was carried out on the basis of 19 populations. The frequency of the dental non-metric traits among all the populations was analysed using the multiple correspondence analysis and the cluster analysis. Analysis results do not allow to concretize the sources of components of the odontological structure of the Classical/Late Antiquity period populations of the Armenian Highland reducing them to the direct influence of representatives of any cultures or communities. Future dental morphology investigation in Armenia should focus on characterizing, with the aid of an identified skeletal collection, the frequencies of traits on an Armenia large sample. This would be only a gateway to a wider (geographically and, more important, chronologically) dental morphology characterization of Armenian peoples.


Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) encompasses a spectrum of pervasive neuropsychiatric disorders characterized by deficits in social interaction, communication, unusual and repetitive behaviours. The aetiology of ASD is believed to involve complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors; it can be further classified as syndromic or nonsyndromic, according to whether it is the primary diagnosis or secondary to an existing condition where both common and rare genetic variants contribute to the development of ASD or are clearly causal. The prevalence of ASD in children is increasing with higher rates of diagnosis and an estimated one in 100 affected in the UK. Given that heritability is a major contributing factor, we aim to discuss research findings to-date in the context of a high-risk autism candidate gene, SHANK3 (SH3 and multiple ankyrin repeat domain 3), with its loss resulting in synaptic function disruption. We present a 10-year-old patient with a pathogenic de novo heterozygous c.1231delC, p.Arg411Val frameshift variant in SHANK3. He presented with severe autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and pathological demand avoidance, on a background of developmental impairment and language regression. The number of genes associated with autism is ever increasing. It is a heterogeneous group of disorders with no single gene conferring pathogenesis in the majority of cases. Genetic abnormalities can be detected in ~15% of ASD and these range from copy number variants in 16p11.2 and 15q13.2q13.3 to several well-known genetic disorders including tuberous sclerosis and fragile X syndrome. Further, high confidence autism genes include but are not limited to NRXN, NLGN3, NLGN4, SHANK2 and SHANK3.


A different way to put triplets in play Most molecules adopt a singlet spin configuration: All their electrons are arranged in pairs. Unpaired triplet states engage in a variety of useful reactions but are hard to produce. Quantum mechanics dictates that photo-excitation from singlet to triplet states is inefficient. Instead, chemists rely on sensitizers, which populate the triplet states of their neighbors through energy transfer after absorbing light themselves. Mongin et al. now show that certain nanoparticles can act as triplet sensitizers. Science, this issue p. 369 Nanoparticles can channel photoexcitation to surface molecules to instigate spin-state–dependent chemistry in solution. Triplet excitons are pervasive in both organic and inorganic semiconductors but generally remain confined to the material in which they originate. We demonstrated by transient absorption spectroscopy that cadmium selenide semiconductor nanoparticles, selectively excited by green light, engage in interfacial Dexter-like triplet-triplet energy transfer with surface-anchored polyaromatic carboxylic acid acceptors, extending the excited-state lifetime by six orders of magnitude. Net triplet energy transfer also occurs from surface acceptors to freely diffusing molecular solutes, further extending the lifetime while sensitizing singlet oxygen in an aerated solution. The successful translation of triplet excitons from semiconductor nanoparticles to the bulk solution implies that such materials are generally effective surrogates for molecular triplets. The nanoparticles could thereby potentially sensitize a range of chemical transformations that are relevant for fields as diverse as optoelectronics, solar energy conversion, and photobiology.


Hydrogen is abundant, uniformly distributed throughout the Earth's surface and its oxidation product (water) is environmentally benign. Owing to these features, it is considered as an ideal synthetic fuel for a new world energetic matrix (renewable, secure and environmentally friendly) that could allow a sustainable future development. However, for this prospect to become a reality, efficient ways to produce, transport and store hydrogen still need to be developed. In the present thesis, theoretical studies of a number of potential hydrogen storage materials have been performed using density functional theory. In NaAlH4 doped with 3d transition metals (TM), the hypothesis of the formation of Ti-Al intermetallic alloy as the main catalytic mechanism for the hydrogen sorption reaction is supported. The gateway hypothesis for the catalysis mechanism in TM-doped MgH2 is confirmed through the investigation of MgH2 nano-clusters. Thermodynamics of Li-Mg-N-H systems are analyzed with good agreement between theory and experiments. Besides chemical hydrides, the metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have also been investigated. Li-decorated MOF-5 is demonstrated to possess enhanced hydrogen gas uptake properties with a theoretically predicted storage capacity of 2 wt% at 300 K and low pressure.The metal-hydrogen systems undergo many structural and electronic phase transitions induced by changes in pressure and/or temperature and/or H-concentration. It is important both from a fundamental and applied viewpoint to understand the underlying physics of these phenomena. Here, the pressure-induced structural phase transformations of NaBH4 and ErH3 were investigated. In the latter, an electronic transition is shown to accompany the structural modification. The electronic and optical properties of the low and high-pressure phases of crystalline MgH2 were calculated. The temperature-induced order-disorder transition in Li2NH is demonstrated to be triggered by Li sub-lattice melting. This result may contribute to a better understanding of the important solid-solid hydrogen storage reactions that involve this compound.


This thesis addresses the question of how to deploy the infrastructure for wireless networks carrying high data rate services. It starts from the assumption that a major part of the costs for installing wireless infrastructure is caused by antenna site acquisition, planning of network coverage and capacity as well as manpower for setting up and wiring the antenna sites. Specific attention is therefore paid to simplifying the network installation and hence reducing the overall costs. The results show that the proposed user-deployment approach, where Access Points (APs) are set up by the customers themselves, can achieve coverage and data rates comparable to pre-planned networks with properly placed and wired APs. Typical for user-deployment is that APs are set up in an ad-hoc fashion, wherever wireless access is needed and a wired backbone infrastructure is available. A number of typical usage scenarios are developed for identifying characteristic situations and places where high data-rate applications are likely to be used. Service requirements and essential technical parameters are derived and motivated, based on these scenarios. A system design is proposed, featuring an air-interface with multi-carrier modulation and slow link-adaptation. Both coverage and capacity of this system, which achieves link-layer data rates between 40 and 130Mbps, are then studied in the different usage scenarios. The user-deployment approach, a core supposition in this thesis, requires the considered networks to be operated in an unlicensed fashion. Sufficient spectrum for unlicensed wireless services is allocated around 5, 17, 24 and 60GHz. The 5GHz band has been studied thoroughly in conjunction with the development of HiperLAN/2 and IEEE 802.11. This thesis focuses on the 17 and 60GHz bands and assumes that the performance of a system operating at 24GHz can be to some extent approximated from these results. An in-depth investigation of propagation properties at 17 and 60GHz shows that achievable cell radii are rather small. Shadowing severely impairs coverage and achievable data rates of a wireless network. A large number of APs is therefore necessary for providing sufficiently high signal levels to transmit high data rates. The shadowing problem is particularly severe for ad-hoc installations. Two different deployment scenarios and their impact on the system performance are investigated: arbitrary placed, wall-mounted APs and regularly placed, ceiling-mounted APs. The first represents the user-deployment paradigm and is certainly the cheapest method; the latter requires coarse network planning and suitable wiring and will hence be more costly. Results show that both installation methods achieve comparable performance for dense infrastructures, e.g. indoor environments. Since user-deployment is simpler and cheaper, it should be preferred in this case. Sparse networks are typical for large, open buildings or outdoor areas. In that case, regular installation should be favored, since cells typically overlap very little and achieving coverage is difficult. Consequently, some form of network planning is needed. The 60GHz band is best suited for indoor applications with a dense infrastructure, since achievable cell radii are very limited. However, very high data rates and capacities can be offered due to the large amount of bandwidth allocated at 60GHz. If capacity is less important, the 17GHz band should be preferred. The better propagation characteristics allow larger cells and fewer APs are required for reliable coverage, but the attainable network capacity is limited by the rather small amount of unlicensed spectrum. User-deployment is generally suitable for indoor applications. A slightly denser infrastructure will be required to compensate for the lack of network planning, but the costs for additional hardware will be likely insignificant compared to the potential savings by avoiding coverage planning and additional wiring.


The pressure of environmental sustainability and the introduction of strict transnational and local environment laws, regulations and targets have catalysed the emergency of Green IT. On individual level, Green IT can be achieved through environmentally responsible behaviour to purchase, use and disposal of products and services without damaging the environment. This research aims to investigate the Green IT behaviour of young consumers including their day-to-day Green IT practices, buying behaviour of mobile and computer devices and subscription behaviour of streaming services. The findings show that: 1) Understanding of Green IT practices (specific knowledge) has a positive influence on PBC, 2) Consumer's PBC has a positive influence on Green IT behaviour and 3) The communication strategy has a positive influence on PBC. Research results also show that young consumers' buying and subscribing decision are strongly influenced by factors such as appearance, specification, features, content and price than Green IT factors.


This study seeks to understand the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on a group of university ESL learners and their teachers in the U.S. While some schools quickly closed to protect students and teachers, others transitioned to remote teaching and learning. In addition to challenges associated with moving instruction to an online format, many teachers and students have had to grapple with a variety of additional issues regarding health, employment, finances, and other concerns. With the aim of better understanding the effects of the pandemic on students and teachers, researchers prepared a survey that addressed stress levels, learning and teaching English, and remote instruction. Participants indicated how important learning English was before and after the pandemic and responded to an open-ended question soliciting their perspectives on what was most difficult during the pandemic. The researchers looked at their responses, demographic information, and proficiency gains to learn more about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students and teachers. The results of this study show that the effects of the pandemic increased stress for both students and teachers across an array of contexts. Although still relatively important, the priority for teaching and learning decreased for both the practitioners and their students during the pandemic due to a variety of new stressors in their lives. The transition to online instruction was more challenging for the students than the teachers. Results also show that during the pandemic students experienced less language development for speaking than for writing.


Many published studies have sought to identify distinct strategy approaches with the objective of assessing whether certain strategies yield superior performance. Empirically derived strategy clusters are sometimes contrasted to theoretically derived strategy schemas or typologies as a point of reference, for comparison and contrast, or to explain associations with dependent variables such as performance. In some cases this theory dependence of observation can be misguided if the typology used lacks validity or incorporates flawed assumptions. This paper re-analyses a published work where empirically derived strategy clusters were identified using the multivariate mapping technique of correspondence analysis. The analysis provides further insights into the relationships between the variables under study by allowing the distance between variables to be seen (visually). In this case, the technique shows how close or distant various business strategies are to one another. This is of interest because if quite similar strategies yield dissimilar performance levels, the implications are that either minor differences in strategy are extremely important; or unobserved factors are influencing the results. Conversely, if superior performance is associated with markedly different strategy, an implication for managers is to take very different approaches to strategy. The paper concludes that the use of a well known generic strategy typology (Porter's (1980) generic competitive strategies) was of little use in interpretation of the clusters that were identified. Further, it suggests that Porter's (1980) generic competitive strategy schema does not describe/fit empirical reality, and provides no support for the notion that these generic strategies are routes to superior profit.


Organisations within the not-for-profit sector provide services to individuals and groups that government and for-profit organisations cannot or will not consider. The not-for-profit sector has come to be a vibrant and rich agglomeration of services and programs that operate under a myriad of philosophical stances, service orientation, client groupings and operational capacities. In Australia these organisations and services are providing social support and service assistance to many people in the community; often targeting their assistance to the most difficult of clients. Initially, in undertaking this role, the not-for-profit sector received limited sponsorship from government. Over time governments assumed greater responsibility in the form of service grants to particular groups: 'the worthy poor'. More recently, they have entered into contractual service agreements with the not-for-profit sector, which specify the nature of the outcomes to be achieved and, to a degree, the way in which the services will be provided. A consequence of this growing shift to a more marketised model of service contracting, often offered-up under the label of enhanced collaborative practice, has been increased competitiveness between agencies that had previously worked well together (Keast and Brown, 2006). Another trend emerging from the market approach is the entrance of for-profit providers. These larger organisations have higher levels of organisational capacity with considerable organisational slack to allow them to adopt new service roles. Shaped almost as 'shadow governments' they appear to be a strong preference for governments looking for greater accountability of outcomes and an easier way to control the interaction with the conventional not-for-profit sector.
The question is will governments' apparent preference for larger organisational arrangements lead to the demise of the vibrancy of the not-for-profit sector and impact on service provision to those people who fall outside of the remit of the new service providers? To address this issue, this paper uses information gleaned from a state-wide survey of not-for-profit organisations in Queensland, Australia which included organisational size, operational scope, funding arrangements and governance/management approaches. Supplementing this information is qualitative data derived from 17 focus groups and 120 interviews conducted over ten years of study of this sector. The findings contribute to greater understanding of the practice and theory of the future provision of social services.


POETRY IN PERFORMANCE ENTAILS THE SOUNDING OF A TEXT in a live performance context. Sound events become voice documents through the application of sound engineering values that supplement an authorial voice-practice. This engineering affects the pitch or tempo of a performance and changes the relationship between sonic figure and sonic ground. This essay details the technical, aesthetic, and ideological values that Caedmon Records brought to bear upon sound recording and reproduction and compares these with those of other publishers, such as Columbia and Folkways, of recorded poetry during the same period. It also explains how the relatively slow tempo of postwar public speech, spoken word, and sound recording regimes imprinted the voice documents of the monaural era. As Charles Bernstein has noted, "[A] large archive of audio and video documents, dating back to an early recording of Tennyson's almost inaudible voice, awaits serious study and interpretation" (5). Bernstein argues for a formalist analysis or "close listening" to poetry in performance. The listening I propose, which is materialist rather than formalist, allows for analysis of the heterogeneity of poets' voice-practices as preserved in the voice documents of the recorded poetry archive I propose an aural criticism that attends to the material production of voice documents in a manner that is analogous to the focus of critics such as Jerome McGann and Lawrence Rainey on the material production of textual documents. Many of the voice documents of the recorded poetry archive were produced during the monaural LP era, a period in media history that extended from 1948 to 1958. That era was part of a postwar "audio revolution" that marked a technical divide between partial and full sound spectrum recording and reproduction. It was enabled by three innovations: the long-playing vinyl record (LP) as the first medium to allow full sound spectrum reproduction of speech and sound events; magnetic audiotape as a medium of full sound spectrum recording and sound engineering; and high-fidelity sound reproduction systems. Several historical factors contributed to the social production of poetry as the spoken word content of the LP medium, but the editorial choices of Barbara Holdridge and Marianne Mantell, the two Columbia graduate students who founded Caedmon Records, were pre-eminent. Founded in 1952 with a recording of Dylan Thomas, the label soon began publishing recordings of the first generation of modern American poets and prose stylists, including T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, William Carlos Williams, and Wallace Stevens. The aesthetic and technical choices of the company's first sound engineer, Peter Bartok, shaped the formal characteristics of these voice documents and contributed to the distinctive Caedmon sound. Bartok was an exemplar of a sound reproduction value I call sonic realism. He was also an articulate spokesperson for the technical and aesthetic values that lay behind "lifelike" high-fidelity sound reproduction. In a 1954 article published in The Nation, Bartok defined the aesthetic and technical high fidelity standard in terms of its effect on the listener: "If the effect on the listener of a loudspeaker-produced sound is the same as it would be from a 'live performed' sound in a suitable auditorium with proper acoustics, then let us call the reproduction good" (485). Conversely, he also noted, "Any deviation in the sound characteristics due to acoustical conditions, in the time-relationship of the various sound components to each other, in their intensity relationship, in the components that are present, makes for bad reproduction" (485). The sound recording value I call "sonic romanticism" involves the manipulation of an electrical sound signal to produce certain forms of affect through, for example, the addition of reverb or the changing of the pitch of a speech or sound event. The sound recording value I call "sonic idealism" depends on sound editing, the manipulation of the figure/ground relationship, and a high signal-to-noise ratio. …


Revisionism about moral responsibility is the view that we would do well to distinguish between what we think about moral responsibility and what we ought to think about it, that the former is in some important sense implausible and conflicts with the latter, and so we should revise our concept accordingly. In this paper, I assess two related problems for revisionism and claim that focus on the first of these problems (the reference-anchoring problem) has thus far allowed the second (the normativity-anchoring problem) to go largely unnoticed. Here I develop this new objection to revisionism and argue that, while revisionists can successfully respond to the reference-anchoring problem, the normativity-anchoring problem poses a serious objection to the view. In particular, the methodological commitments used to motivate revisionism make it uniquely difficult for revisionists to justify our continued participation in the practice of moral praising and blaming. I conclude by briefly addressing a potential objection based on a common charge against revisionism: that there is no real difference between the view and its conventional competitors and thus the normativity-anchoring problem is of little interest in the broader dialectic. I argue that both of these claims are false.


ence equation, developed from data in the initial study, would have predicted quite accurately the landscape preferences of people in Scotland. Study results strengthen the predictability and versatility of the initial equation. IUOTO Survey Reports 9% Growth in International Tourist Arrivals. The Travel Agent , October 4, 1973, p. 16, ff. The American Traveler, Inc., 2 West 46th Street, New York, N.Y. 10036. 50c.


(ABSTRACT) Arrival times from intermediate-depth (110-150 km) earthquakes within the region of flat subduction beneath central Peru provide constraints on the geometry and velocity structure of the subducting Nazca plate. Hypocenters for these events, which are beneath the sub-andean and eastern Peruvian basins, were determined using a best-fitting one-dimensional velocity-depth model with a 15-station digitally-recording network deployed in the epicentral region. For that model, P-wave travel times to coastal stations, about 6 • trenchward, exhibit negative residuals of up to 4 seconds and have considerably more complexity than arrivals at the network stations. The residuals at coastal stations are conjectured to result from travel paths with long segments in the colder, higher velocity subducting plate. Travel time anomalies were mod-eled by 3-D raytracing. Computed ray paths show that travel times to coastal stations for the eastern Peru events can be satisfactorily modeled if velocities relative to the surrounding mantle are 6% lower within the uppermost slab (a 6 km thick layer composed of basaltic oceanic crust) and 8% higher within the cold peridotitic layer (which must be at least 44 km thick). Raytracing runs for this plate model show that " shadow zones " can occur if the source-slab-receiver geometry results in seismic rays passing through regions in which the slab undergoes significant changes in slope. Such geometries exist for seismic waves propagating to some coastal stations from sources located beneath the eastern Peruvian basin. Observed first-arrival times for such cases do in fact have less negative residuals than those for geometries which allow for " direct " paths. Modeling such arrivals as trapped mode propagation through the high-velocity part of the plate produces arrival times consistent with those observed.


The purpose of this study was to examine the satisfaction and understanding of parents of young children with disabilities in North Texas in regard to the special education services they receive through their local education authority. A mixed non-experimental research design utilizing the survey method was used to obtain the data collected from a sample of 230 parents with children with disabilities from preschool to elementary ages. Factorial analysis techniques were first used to assess the validity of the 14 quantitative items by splitting the sample into 2 equivalent groups: the development group and the validation group. Exploratory factor analysis extracted 2 factors after eliminating 4 items: satisfaction and understanding. This 2-factor structure was confirmed in the validation group. The final 10-item survey demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity. Overall, parents were very satisfied with the special education services and reported a good understanding of those services. Two x two (number of children x years of services) ANOVAs were used to examine the differences on parental satisfaction and understanding. No statistically significant differences were found except that parents with 2 or 3 children were more satisfied than the counterparts with only 1 child in the special education program. This difference was practically meaningful. Data provided by 4 open-ended questions revealed that parent training and communication were the most popular strategies mentioned as methods to increase parental understanding of the special education process. The best sources of receiving special education information were ARD committees and teachers/diagnosticians. Excessive and wordy paperwork was the least helpful source of information regarding receiving special education. Postal-mail and the ARD meetings with diagnosticians were the best methods of acquiring special education information. Findings from this study, especially on the open-ended questions, suggested the special education program and services can be improved to better serve the parents and their children.


An Optimization-Based Method of Traversing Dynamic s-Pareto Frontiers Patrick K. Lewis Department of Mechanical Engineering, BYU Doctor of Philosophy The use of multiobjective optimization in identifying systems that account for changes in customer needs, operating environments, system design concepts, and analysis models over time is generally not explored. Providing solutions that anticipate, account for, and allow for these changes over time is a significant challenge to manufacturers and design engineers. Products that adapt to these changes through the addition and/or subtraction of modules can reduce production costs through product commonality, and cater to customization and adaptation. In terms of identifying sets of non-dominated designs, these changes result in the concept of dynamic Pareto frontiers, or dynamic s-Pareto frontiers when sets of system concepts are simultaneously evaluated over time. In this dissertation, a five-step optimization-based design method identifying a set of optimal adaptive product designs that satisfy the predicted changes by moving from one location on the dynamic s-Pareto frontier to another through the addition of a module and/or through reconfiguration is developed. Development of this five-step method was separated into four phases. The first two phases of developments respectively focus on Pareto and s-Pareto cases, where changes in concepts, models, and environments that would effect the Pareto/s-Pareto frontier are ignored due to limitations in traditional optimization problem formulations. To overcome these limitations, and allow for these changes, the third phase of developments presents a generic optimization formulation capable of identifying a dynamic s-Pareto frontier, while the fourth phase adapts the phase three method to incorporate this new dynamic optimization formulation. Example implementations of the four phases of developments were respectively provided through the design of a modular UAV, a hurricane and flood resistant modular residential structure, a simple aircraft design example inspired by the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, and a modular truss system. Noting that modular products only represent one approach for dealing with changes in preferences, environments, models, and concepts, the final research contribution connects the presented method with parallel research developments in collaborative product design and design principles identification, followed by two case study implementations of this unifying design approach in the development of a modular irrigation pump and a modular plywood cart for developing countries.


Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was initially conceptualized as a psychopathology that arose as a consequence of war time experiences. More recently, available evidence has demonstrated that post-traumatic stress (PTS) as a consequence of war is buffered by social identity processes. In such contexts, identity resources are arguably more readily accessible given the integral relationship between social identities and intergroup violence. There is no evidence as yet to suggest that social identity processes may act to reduce PTS responses to naturally occurring disasters such as earthquakes and even less data pertaining to non-Western contexts where the impact of such disasters tend to be particularly catastrophic. This paper reports on a study undertaken in earthquake-affected regions in Nepal devastated by April 2015 quake and its major aftershock a month later. Participants (n=399) completed measures of their earthquake experience, Post-Traumatic Stress and Post Traumatic growth (PTG), as well as measures of community identification and collective efficacy. In total 399 people completed the measures approximately six months after the quakes. Results of the study indicated that consistent with tenets of the social identity framework, ethnic and gender group memberships impacted on reported experiences during the earthquake. Reported experience during the quakes and ethnic group membership were both related to increased symptoms of PTS. Ethnicity was also linked to the proportion of respondents reporting clinical levels of PTSD symptoms. The relationship between earthquake experience and PTG was mediated by community identification and collective efficacy. Earthquake experience also had an indirect effect on PTS through collective efficacy. Implications of these findings for those working with traumatized groups are discussed.


Abstract Research evidence suggests that professional players across a variety of sports may be at greater risk of developing addictions and other mental illnesses than the general population, both during and post-career. In this paper, we report findings from a larger project on the experiences of career transition in UK professional footballers that provide some insight into this. Using an Interpretative Phenomenological approach, four ex-professional footballers who were attending the Sporting Chance Clinic for help with problems concerning alcohol and gambling were interviewed in depth about their experiences. Focusing on issues the players perceived to be relevant to their addictions, the data were analysed thematically, drawing on Van Manen's phenomenological method, and individual case histories were also produced. The analysis suggested that club culture was key to understanding the players' difficulties; a harsh, unsupportive psychological environment combined with expectations of manliness resulted in a culture of silence in the face of personal difficulties. Relationships within the culture of pro-football were fraught with anxiety and distrust, leaving the players feeling unable and unwilling to disclose their problems and feeling used and unvalued by their managers. The lack of supportive relationships in their clubs also resulted in loneliness and social withdrawal for the participants. We conclude with a number of recommendations for the governing bodies in professional football, clubs and individual players.


An emerging structure in our information processing-based society is the notion of trusted complex systems interacting via heterogeneous networks with an open, mostly untrusted world. This view characterises a wide variety of systems ranging from the information system of a company to the connected components of a private house, all of which have to be connected with the outside. It is in particular the case for some aircraft-embedded computer systems, which communicate with the ground through untrusted communication media. Besides, the increasing demand for new capabilities, such as enhanced on-board connectivity, e.g. using mobile devices, together with the need for cost reduction, leads to more integrated and interconnected systems. For instance, modern aircrafts embed a large number of computer systems, from safety-critical cockpit avionics to passenger entertainment. Some systems meet both safety and security requirements. Despite thorough segregation of subsystems and networks, some shared communication resources raise the concern of possible intrusions. Some techniques have been developed and still need to be investigated to ensure security and confidentiality properties of such systems. Moreover, most of them are model-based techniques operating only at architectural level and provide no guarantee on the actual implementations. However, most security incidents are due to attackers exploiting subtle implementation-level software vulnerabilities. Systems should therefore be analyzed at software level as well (i.e. source or executable code), in order to provide formal assurance that security properties indeed hold for real systems. Because of the size of such systems, and considering that they are evolving entities, the only economically viable alternative is to perform automatic analyses. Such analyses of security and confidentiality properties have never been achieved on large-scale systems where security properties interact with other software properties, and even the mapping between high-level models of the systems and the large software base implementing them has never been done and represents a great challenge. The goal of this project is to develop the new concepts and technologies necessary to meet such a challenge. The project ANASTASEC project will allow for the formal verification of security properties of software-intensive embedded systems, using automatic static analysis techniques at different levels of representation: models, source and binary codes. Among expected outcomes of the project will be a set of prototype tools, able to deal with realistic large systems and the elaboration of industrial security evaluation processes, based on static analysis.


From the late quattrocento through the cinquecento Florence's first sainted bishop, Zenobius (d. ca. 424), and the sainted Florentine archbishop Antoninus Pierozzi (d. 1459) were hailed as two of Florence's most effective intercessors. Their images were included in an impressive series of temporary and permanent decorations made for Florence Cathedral, and the historical and visual relationship between the two saints reached its symbolic peak in Giambologna's St. Antoninus Chapel (1578–88) at the Dominican church of San Marco. The present study will show that by pairing images of the saints and drawing on the style and iconography of the reliefs that Lorenzo Ghiberti created for the bronze St. Zenobius shrine at Santa Maria del Fiore (1432–42), the St. Antoninus Chapel's decorative program stresses Antoninus's importance as Zenobius's saintly successor and promotes the efficacy of his holy remains which lie at the center of that spiritually charged space.


Whirlpool hash function should be capable of processing the input data streams at high speeds. We propose a fully synchronous parallel pipelined architecture with ten stages of pipelining between rounds, and internal pipelining within each round stage. The proposed architecture can tremendously improve the performance of Whirlpool hash function. Our final implementation can encrypt continuous bit streams seamlessly, achieving a throughput of 56.89 G bps, which is considerably high compared to existing implementations in literature.


Scientists at five of Europe's major international research centers have reacted with dismay to news that Germany intends to make deep cuts in its contributions to their budgets next year. The cuts—part of an austere federal budget, some details of which were announced last month—would range from 9.3% of the amount Germany spends on CERN to 4.3% of its contribution to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. Laboratory directors are especially concerned that other countries may also seek to reduce their contributions if the German cuts go ahead. Germany's budget proposals are scheduled to be debated by the country's parliament this fall.


Technology is transforming twenty-first century education. Central to the study of English Literature is critical thinking and writing, and with the advent of digital texts (along with the precursor digitized writing) the space of the discipline continues to expand. One way to get at what is being done in the study of literature is to explore the core competencies most directly linked to the field: Written Communication, Information Literacy, and Critical Thinking. "Twitagogy" is a qualitative exploration of the use of the social media platform Twitter across two semesters of teaching a variety of courses in English. I offer over twenty examples of students Tweeting, the prompts that produced them, and analysis of their work, as well as student feedback via preand post-surveys, class evaluations, and Canvas discussions. Twitter strengthens critical thinking and pushes students to think critically outside of the classroom. Keywords:  mobile learning, Twitter, critical thinking, information literacy, social media


Every two years since 2000, the College of Engineering at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), has held a Student Environmental Design Competition, where engineering students from all over the world converge to put their best designs to the test. It is a cooperative effort between industry, government agencies, and academia to tackle real environmental problems facing industry in the region. The teams must prepare four different assignments: written, oral, poster and bench scale design. The concept of the competition is interesting because the engineering students are to approach the task as though a company has asked them to solve an environmental problem. Each team design is compared and judged with other competing designs to decide the winners. And more importantly, the competition is a unique event that brings together industry, government, and academia in the search for improved environmental solutions. It also provides the engineering design content required by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Hence, it is one solution to the missing bridge between fundamentals of engineering and appropriate design training that is a basic issue in engineering education. In the Third International Design Competition (EDC 2004) which was held on May 2±5, 2004, at the UAEU, 20 competing teams comprising 60 students participated. The competition gathered students from regional and international universities to tackle real environmental challenges while addressing issues including technical, legal, health, community relations and economics. The goal of the competition was to design, develop, and test actual environmental processes for real-world problems. Typically, the environmental tasks presented had no known solution, or the available solutions did not meet the desired performance criteria. In this competition, 6 students from Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), College of Engineering (Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Department) participated. The SQU team received first place in two tasks. This paper presents the experience and highlights the need for such competitions to raise environmental awareness of engineering students. All competing teams agreed that this competition was the best part of their engineering education.


The demands of the continually changing and developing workplace require individuals to be
adaptable, multi-disciplined and with the ability to work collaboratively, often in virtual
environments. Professional engineers of today must meet these demands and have appropriate
business and communication skills to operate in today's competitive, fast-moving, global
environment. Yet these engineers still need to remain productive and routinely keep abreast of
technological advances for their day-to-day working requirements. Thus, a range of continually
renewable competencies is essential, which in turn puts pressure on both industry and academia
to consider alternative ways to inform and educate their engineers and students. To help address
these requirements, electronic learning (e-leaming) has been researched as a possible solution to
facilitate a more flexible, distributed, collaborative, self-directed, virtual learning environment
for both work-based professional engineers and engineering students.
This research revealed gaps in both the existing literature and working practices regarding the elearning
needs of engineers and in current approaches to meet these needs. Consequently, the
main objective of the research was to develop a mechanism to assist providers of e-leaming to
construct effective e-leaming activities in engineering development environments. In this
context, 'development' environments refer to the engineer's product-development environment
and the engineering student's study environment, with the increasing responsibility for selfdevelopment
in an engineering career. The research identified and investigated factors that affect
learning in these engineering environments, and examined current Web-based technologies to
support and enhance learning experiences. A framework was developed as the mechanism to
group the different and non-comparable learning factors together into philosophy, delivery,
management and technology categories. These learning factors can be connected and sequenced
differently in the categories, depending on the learning requirements. Hence, the main research
innovation has been the creation of this framework to structure, link and order key learning
factors, which offers guidance to e-leaming providers developing e-leaming environments.
A predominant action research methodology was adopted for the research, as the author was
involved with engineering environments and their e-leaming practices, decisions, developments
and implementations in varying degrees. The main areas investigated for the research were:
1) Exploring learning methods & preferred learning styles in the engineering environment.
Important findings here identified that engineers have a strong visual learning style preference
and practise experiential learning in their engineering environments. 2) Examining technologies to support and enhance learning. This provided an understanding of 'hard' computer and Web capabilities, and 'soft' non-tangible technologies. Web technologies were of particular interest to this research due to their wide reach and interactive impact on the modem working and learning environments. 3) Investigating marketing considerations from the Web-based learning (WBL) providers' viewpoint. Marketing issues, products and services of WBL providers were investigated. This compared what and how the market offered and identified the business aspects of WBL. 4) Developing an e-learning framework. The research was consolidated to create a novel framework that grouped disparate learning factors for effective e-leaming development. 5) Studying practical engineering e-learning applications. Areas of the proposed framework were validated and refined from the case study data and experiences. Critical success factors (CSF) were derived to provide a business perspective for e-leaming developments, and these complemented the framework's learning factors. The above areas have been addressed in detail and documented in separate Engineering Doctorate submissions. This Executive Summary outlines and consolidates these areas, and describes, exemplifies and verifies the various factors within the e-leaming framework and the CSFs. The rationale, applications and guidelines for the e-leaming framework are also discussed.
The framework provides a toolkit for building effective e-leaming activities in engineering development environments. Thus, the research shows that e-leaming can provide the solution to facilitate a flexible, continuous learning environment for engineers.