Twelve trilobite species, plus rare agnostid arthropods, are described from the Giles Creek Dolostone (Cambrian Series 3, Stage 5; Templetonian) at Ross River Gorge and Gaylad Dam in the north‐eastern Amadeus Basin, Northern Territory, central Australia. Amphoton krusei sp. nov., Nepea ommacrada sp. nov., Penarosa oepiki sp. nov. and Schopfaspis shergoldi sp. nov. are described in association with Deiradonyx toddi Öpik, 1982, Dinesus sp., Kootenia sp., Pagetia silicunda Jell, 1975, Solenoparia sp., Tonkinella? sp., Xystridura filifera Öpik, 1975a, and Xystridura gayladia Öpik, 1975a, in addition to indeterminate agnostids. Pagetia silicunda and Xystridura filifera suggest an early Templetonian age, within the Pentagnostus anabarensis or Pentagnostus praecurrens Zone. This is supported by the co‐occurrence of Amphoton Lorenz, 1906, Deiradonyx, Öpik, 1982, Dinesus Etheridge, 1896 and Kootenia Walcott, 1889, all of which occur in Templetonian successions in the Georgina Basin (Northern Territory and Queensland), Gnalta Shelf (western New South Wales) and the Heathcote Greenstone Belt (Victoria). We argue that the Tempe Formation (central Amadeus Basin) and the Giles Creek Dolostone are not contemporaneous as previously suggested, indicating that regional stratigraphical schemes need to be amended.


This paper is centered on family conversations and focuses on the conditions that allow a specific strategic maneuver, the invocation of the authority, to be an effective argumentative strategy when used by parents to convince their children to accept rules and prescriptions. Within a corpus of argumentative sequences selected from 30 video-recordings of family mealtime conversations, an argumentative sequence between parents and children, which brings to light the results obtained through the qualitative analysis of a corpus of 60 argumentative sequences, is presented and discussed. The analysis relies on a communicative-argumentative methodology based on the extended pragma-dialectical theory and on the Argumentum Model of Topics to identify the participants' moves and to analyze the inferential configuration of arguments, respectively. The findings of the analysis show that the invocation of the authority by parents represents an argumentative strategy that is effective when two conditions are met: (i) the nature of the relationship between the person who represents the authority and the person to whom the argument is addressed is based on the certainty of positive feelings, rather than on the fear of punishment, and (ii) the reasons the prohibition is based on are not to be hidden from the child's eyes, but are to be shared by family members. The analysis has thus brought out a specific type of invocation of authority that we have defined as the authority of feelings. The results of this study contribute to research on family argumentation and on the interactional dynamics between parents and children.


In recent years, laparoscopic surgical procedures have revolutionized many gynecological and abdominal procedures, leading to dramatic reductions in recovery time and scarring for the patient. While techniques and instruments for performing laparoscopic surgery have improved over the years, loss of vision through the endoscopic lens caused by fog, liquid, and solid debris common to laparoscopic procedures remains a significant problem. In this paper, a shielding mechanism that maintains visibility through the laparoscope by removing debris from the distal end of the lens is presented. This device provides an inexpensive and convenient alternative to the current practice of removing, cleaning, and re-inserting the laparoscope during surgical procedures. This device is shown in multiple trials to repeatably remove debris from the distal tip of the lens, thereby restoring vision for the surgeon without requiring removal or reinsertion of the endoscope.


This book provides the historical background for a central issue in the history of science: the influence of artisans, craftsmen, and other practitioners on the emergent empirical methodologies that characterized the "new sciences" of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Long offers a coherent account and critical revision of the "Zilsel thesis," an influential etiological narrative which argues that such craftsmen were instrumental in bringing about the "Scientific Revolution." "Artisan/Practitioners" reassesses the issue of artisanal influence from three different perspectives: the perceived relationships between art and nature; the Vitruvian architectural tradition with its appreciation of both theory and practice; and the development of "trading zones"--arenas in which artisans and learned men communicated in substantive ways. These complex social and intellectual developments, the book argues, underlay the development of the empirical sciences. This volume provides new discussion and synthesis of a theory that encompasses broad developments in European history and study of the natural world. It will be a valuable resource for college-level teaching, and for scholars and others interested in the history of science, late medieval and early modern European history, and the Scientific Revolution.


This paper describes a unified network synthesis approach for the conceptual stage of mechatronic systems design using bond graphs. It facilitates knowledge interaction with evolutionary computation significantly by encoding the structure of a bond graph in a genetic programming tree representation. On the one hand, since bond graphs provide a succinct set of basic design primitives for mechatronic systems modeling, it is possible to extract useful modular design knowledge discovered during the evolutionary process for design creativity and reusability. On the other hand, design knowledge gained from experience can be incorporated into the evolutionary process to improve the topologically open-ended search capability of genetic programming for enhanced search efficiency and design feasibility. This integrated knowledge-based design approach is demonstrated in a quarter-car suspension control system synthesis and a MEMS bandpass filter design application.


The USDA encourages people to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables through the Food Guide Pyramid and participation in the National 5-A-Day Partnership. A varied diet helps ensure a complete mix of nutrients, and a lack of variety in vegetable consumption has been further linked to the incidence of obesity (e.g., McCrory et al.). To assist these efforts, the USDA's Economic Research Service has investigated the factors that influence the purchase of vegetables, and identified obstacles to variety.


Background: Over recent years a number of studies have suggested that phonological and deep dyslexia are not separate acquired dyslexias but actually reflect different points along a single continuum. Behaviourally this continuum was originally defined in terms of the graded presence/absence of the "symptoms" of deep dyslexia. Aims: Given that orthography → phonology translation is core to phonological-deep dyslexia, it becomes critical to measure the degree and nature of any such direct phonological activation in these patients. Nonword reading accuracy has been the most commonly used measure of the status of direct orthographic → phonological activation but this measure can floor out in many phonological-deep dyslexic patients. In such circumstances, however, researchers have found evidence for some residual O→P function using reading tasks that do not require overt production—and these tasks might provide an important set of additional measures to test for a gradation of performance at the severer end of the phonological-deep dyslexic continuum. Methods & Procedures: In the present study three tasks of this type (spoken-to-written nonword-matching, a novel word-matching task, and pseudohomophone reading) were developed and tested in a case-series of phonological-deep dyslexia (and made available in the appendices to this paper). Outcomes & Results: As suggested from past studies, even patients with severely impaired overt nonword reading exhibited above-chance performance on the matching task and a pseudohomophone effect. The accuracy on these tasks varied in a graded manner across the case-series. Conclusions: Two factors are key to this dyslexia continuum: the severity of phonological impairment and also the degree of interaction between semantic and impaired phonological representations, indicating that semantic representations become more central to reading in the face of phonological impairment.


Purpose: Osteoporosis is a major public health concern that affects millions of women around the world. Although the diagnosis of osteoporosis greatly impacts the life of the patient, the health care cost associated with the sequelae of the disease process is exponentially greater. Commonly recognized as a disease of the old, osteoporosis is generally discovered in older age, but it is the result of many factors—both modifiable and non-modifiable—that impact bone strength beginning in childhood. This article discusses how the choices that a woman makes in her younger years can greatly impact her risk of developing osteoporosis. Methods: To collect and analyze information regarding risk factors for osteoporosis in young women, an extensive literature review was conducted. MEDLINE and various educational sites including DynaMed, National Osteoporosis Foundation, and American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology were searched. Many articles were found from 1998 and newer. Results: It can be seen that the pathogenesis of osteoporosis culminates in the later years of a woman's life, but it is the actions throughout the lifetime that lead to the development of osteoporosis. Therefore, it is imperative that health care providers, especially physician assistants and nurse practitioners, understand the factors that put patients at risk, recognize when those factors are present, and provide ways in which one can decrease or completely prevent the disease in young patients. Conclusion: Although the focus of osteoporosis has always been treatment in older women, it is necessary now to shift the focus of osteoporosis to prevention in younger women. By educating patients about the risk factors that are present and gaining awareness that development begins during childhood, providers and patients can work together towards prevention. The mnemonic "Use L.O.G.I.C. against risk factors for a L.I.F.E. of prevention!" was created as an easy way for mid-level providers to educate patients today, to recognize potential risk in a younger woman, and to work to completely prevent the development of the disease. The goal is to eradicate osteoporosis and to make this preventable disease a disease of the past.


Bariatric surgery, specifically Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), has a rapid and drastic effect in obese patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), many of whom show complete remission of the disease within days of the procedure. This has introduced the option of a surgical mode of diabetes therapy (1–3). The exact mechanisms by which RYGB drives clinical remission of T2D are not well understood. T2D develops when patients have a combination of two core defects—insulin resistance along with defects in insulin secretion (4). The significant weight loss induced by the procedure is obviously associated with increased insulin sensitivity. On the other hand, the rapid resolution of T2D prior to major weight loss may hint that the procedure directly affects β-cell function, independent of weight loss.

RYGB consists of two major anatomical modifications: restriction of gastric volume by creation of a small pouch and division of the jejunum in a manner that reroutes nutrients from the pouch directly into the jejunum while bypassing the proximal small bowel. These modifications have led to the development of two hypotheses explaining the effects of the gut following RYGB on β-cell function (5). According to the "foregut hypothesis," a yet-unidentified "anti-incretin" is secreted in patients with T2D upon exposure of the foregut to nutrients. Preventing contact of nutrients with the upper gut may lead to reduction of such a factor and thus relieve/unstress the β-cell. The "hindgut" hypothesis suggests that early exposure of the jejunum to nutrients results in a modification of gut-derived hormones, specifically incretins, leading to boosting of β-cell function (6).

To elucidate the effects of the gut on β-cell function …


This article emphasizes how individual decision-makers and their perceptions of windows of opportunity can play a decisive role for major changes in the foreign policy of states by conducting two case studies. The first case is the change that occurred in Denmark's foreign policy in August 1990 when its government dispatched a warship to the Persian Gulf to participate in the monitoring of the United Nations sanctions against Iraq. The second case is the change that occurred in Australia's foreign policy in April–May 2003 when its government abandoned Australia's long-standing "hands-off" approach toward Solomon Islands by leading a multinational military intervention. The article demonstrates that individual decision-makers, with a long-standing desire to change policy, perceived structural changes as a window of opportunity for initiating the desired policy changes. The article concludes that, had it not been for these particular individuals, and their perceptions of the world around them, events would most likely have unfolded in a different way.


A recently celebrated kind of deep neural networks is Generative Adversarial Networks. GANs are generators of samples from a distribution that has been learned; they are up to now centrally trained from local data on a single location. We question the performance of training GANs using a spread dataset over a set of distributed machines, using a gossip approach shown to work on standard neural networks [1]. This performance is compared to the federated learning distributed method, that has the drawback of sending model data to a server. We also propose a gossip variant, where GAN components are gossiped independently. Experiments are conducted with Tensorflow with up to 100 emulated machines, on the canonical MNIST dataset. The position of this paper is to provide a first evidence that gossip performances for GAN training are close to the ones of federated learning, while operating in a fully decentralized setup. Second, to highlight that for GANs, the distribution of data on machines is critical (i.e., i.i.d. or not). Third, to illustrate that the gossip variant, despite proposing data diversity to the learning phase, brings only marginal improvements over the classic gossip approach.


Mention of irony is common to the critiques of all Walter Kempowski' s novels, and it was with this in mind that the present examination of the novels constituting his Deutsche Chronik was undertaken. Firstly, a study was made of irony in order to provide a basis for the investigation. It was found that irony works both on a surface level, where the reader becomes aware of some semantic disparity and attempts to reconstruct meaning, and on a deep structure level, where the relationship of the author to his text is revealed in the work's narrative structure, the author's process of self-analysis can be viewed and the reader's reception of the novel can be investigated.
The study of the six novels themselves revealed that irony does, indeed, enable a thorough investigation of the works at both levels. On the surface level Kempowski has utilised irony as a tool to uncover the real workings of the respective period focused upon in each work. Rather than the narrator informing the reader about family relationships, education, or the political situation, the characters of the novels tell their own stories through their everyday lives, and it is through the contradictions between their words and actions or their passing of comments, the folly of which is obvious with the hindsight of contemporary perspective, in other words through irony, that the author presents to the reader the history of Germany in the first half of the twentieth century.
On the deep structure level Kempowski attempts to construct his narrative in such a way as to be able to stand back from the material he presents. But this clashes directly with the autobiographical aspects of the Deutsche Chronik, and thus reveals the fundamental irony of the series. The narrative is a mixture of fiction and material taken directly from the author's and others' lives which, in its entirety, sheds light on Kempowski's own investigation of his past. The focus of the work is not exclusively on the past, however. While the novels' readers are given the opportunity to share Kempowski's examination of German history, the series also invites them to apply the lessons that can be learnt from this period, not only to the present, but also to the future, and it is here that the real value of the Deutsche Chronik lies.


The present paper concentrates on the movement of the spring thermal bar with time, and a simple theoretical model is derived for the case of an axisymmetric circular lake. The lake is considered to consist of three different zones: 1) a nearshore stably stratified warm water zone, 2) the thermal bar zone of descending water with temperature approximately equal to that of maximum density, and 3) an offshore cold unstably stratified zone. The basis for the model is the heat budget equation, where horizontal dynamical heat exchange in the vicinity of the bar zone is taken into account. In comparison with a previous model (Zilitinkevich et al . 1991), describing an infinite wedge of water, the present model is more general and takes into account the effect of shore-line curvature. This effect is characterized by a non-dimensional number and causes a marked increase in the displacement rate of the bar at the final stage of its existence. Model predictions are also compared with field data taken from the literature.


Flow harmonics ($\textit{v}_{n}$) of the Fourier expansion for the azimuthal distributions of hadrons are commonly employed to quantify the azimuthal anisotropy of particle production relative to the collision symmetry planes. While lower order Fourier coefficients ($\textit{v}_{2}$ and $\textit{v}_{3}$) are more directly related to the corresponding eccentricities of the initial state, the higher-order flow harmonics ($\textit{v}_{n>3}$) can be induced by a mode-coupled response to the lower-order anisotropies, in addition to a linear response to the same-order anisotropies. These higher-order flow harmonics and their linear and mode-coupled contributions can be used to more precisely constrain the initial conditions and the transport properties of the medium in theoretical models. The multiparticle azimuthal cumulant method is used to measure the linear and mode-coupled contributions in the higher-order anisotropic flow, the mode-coupled response coefficients, and the correlations of the event plane angles for charged particles as functions of centrality and transverse momentum in Au+Au collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{\textit{s}_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV. The results are compared to similar LHC measurements as well as to several viscous hydrodynamic calculations with varying initial conditions.


Over the 50 years between 1940 and 1990, the countries of eastern Africa were embroiled in a range of debilitating and destructive conflicts, starting with the wars of independence, but then incorporating rebellion, secession and local insurrection as the Cold War replaced colonialism. The articles gathered here illustrate how significant, widespread and dramatic this violence was. In these years, violence was used as a principal instrument in the creation and consolidation of the authority of the state, and it was also regularly and readily utilised by those who wished to challenge state authority through insurrection and secession. Why was it that eastern Africa should have experienced such extensive and intensive violence in the 50 years before 1990? Was this resort to violence a consequence of imperial rule, the legacy of oppressive colonial domination under a coercive and non-representative state system? Did essential contingencies such as the Cold War provoke and promote the use of violence? Or was it a choice made by Africans themselves and their leaders, a product of their own agency? This article focuses on these turbulent decades, exploring the principal conflicts in six key countries – Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and Tanzania.


Rather than using aerobic glycolysis to support their proliferation, activated T cells use this metabolic pathway to produce optimal amounts of interferon-γ. Resting T cells use both aerobic glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation to generate ATP. To become activated, T cells need to use oxidative phosphorylation for their energy requirements; however, once activated, T cells use aerobic glycolysis even under conditions of sufficient oxygen to support oxidative phosphorylation. It is thought that, although it is a relatively poor generator of ATP, aerobic glycolysis, rather than oxidative phosphorylation, meets the metabolic needs of proliferating T cells. However, Chang et al. found that, once activated, T cells could use either oxidative phosphorylation or aerobic glycolysis to support their proliferation and survival. Replacing glucose in the culture medium with galactose, thus shutting off glycolysis, resulted in the T cells producing less of the effector cytokine interferon-γ (IFN-γ) than was produced by activated T cells that were cultured with glucose. During aerobic glycolysis, the enzyme glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) acts on its substrate glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate (G3P). In addition to functioning in the glycolytic process, GAPDH also binds to the 3′ untranslated region of IFN-γ mRNA. Indeed, Chang et al. found that in activated T cells cultured in galactose, which have reduced G3P abundance, more GAPDH was associated with IFN-γ mRNA than occurred in cells cultured in glucose, an effect that was reversed by the introduction of G3P into the cells. Coculture of activated T cells with EL-4 lymphoma cells resulted in increased glucose consumption by the tumor cells and reduced IFN-γ production by the T cells compared with that in cultures of activated T cells alone. The addition of sufficient glucose to the coculture medium restored IFN-γ production by the T cells. Together, these data suggest that rather than supporting cellular proliferation and survival, aerobic glycolysis is used by activated T cells to ensure optimal IFN-γ production and effector function by alleviating inhibition of IFN-γ translation by GADPH. C.-H. Chang, J. D. Curtis, L. B. Maggi, B. Faubert, A. V. Villarino, D. O'Sullivan, S. C.-C. Huang, G. J. W. van der Windt, J. Blagih, J. Qiu, J. D. Weber, E. J. Pearce, R. G. Jones, E. L. Pearce, Posttranscriptional control of T cell effector function by aerobic glycolysis. Cell 153, 1239–1251 (2013). [PubMed]


Aligned liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are capable of undergoing large reversible shape change in response to thermal stimuli and may act as actuators for many potential applications such as self-assembly and deployment of micro devices. Recent advances in LCE patterning tools have demonstrated sub-millimetre control of director orientation, enabling the preparation of materials with arbitrarily complex director fields. However, without design tools to connect the 2D director pattern with the activated 3D shape, LCE design relies on intuition and trial and error. Here we present a design methodology to generate reliable folding in monolithic LCEs designed with topology optimization. The distributions of order/disorder and director orientations are optimized so that the remotely actuated deformation closely matches a target deformation for origami folding. The optimal design exhibits a strategy to counteract the mechanical frustration that may lead to an undesirable deformation, such as anti-clastic bending. Multi-hinge networks were developed using insights from the optimal hinge designs and were demonstrated through the fabrication and reversible actuation of a self-folding box. Topology optimization provides an important step towards leveraging the opportunities afforded by LCE patterning into functional designs.


The article raises issues of transparency in relationships between doctors and drug manufacturers. It indicates how important it is as a way for physicians and the pharmaceutical industry to regain public trust. The manuscript will define the concept of disclosure. It will discuss in detail The Physician Payment Sunshine Act from the U.S., which imposes a legal obligation on pharmaceutical companies to disclose their relationships with doctors and university hospitals. The article will also show the diverse regulation of disclosure in different countries of the European Union. The situation in Poland will be also described. In the summary, there will be a discussion about the importance of disclosure for patients and the advantages and disadvantages of such regulations for physicians and drug manufacturers.


We analyze the interaction of electromagnetic waves with double-layered subwavelength metallic slits on a dielectric substrate. This structure allows efficient transmission of an incident TM-polarized electromagnetic wave into the dielectric substrate, due to the presence of surface modes which couple the incident wave to the TEM waveguide modes supported by the subwavelength metallic slits. Our study shows that electromagnetic transmission through double-layered subwavelength metallic slits is strongly geometry dependent. Based on this observation, a terahertz modulation scheme is presented which, compared to existing terahertz modulator solutions, has the promise of significant enhancement in modulation index over a broad range of terahertz frequencies.


The partnership between the civil and military elements of peace support operations has generally not been a very happy one. Differences in their immediate aims, in their needs concerning relations with local groups as well as in their formulation and attitudes often creates conflicts and misunderstandings. In this paper, the reasons for these difficulties are described and analysed from the point of view of how the international mission could be perceived as a threat by local groups and leaders. Furthermore, a new institution meant to ease some of these problems, the Institution for Co-ordination in Complex Emergencies (ICCE) composed of the civil and military organisations present in the area, is proposed and discussed. It has been concluded that the ICCE has to grow based on voluntary organisational contributions rather than on compulsory ones. When tested on the earlier identified problems it can be concluded that an ICCE may ease problems due to differences in organisational structures as well as misunderstandings and distrust. However, an ICCE only provides marginal aid in dealing with political problems such as national control over forces, or principles regarding which immediate aims are to be prioritised.


A theoretical investigation is carried out into the cross phase modulation (XPM) in an asymmetric double AlGaAs/GaAs quantum wells structure with a common continuum. It is found that, combining resonant tunneling-induced transparency and constructive interference in the third-order Kerr effect, a giant XPM can be achieved with vanishing linear and nonlinear absorptions, accompanied by the velocities of the probe and signal fields being matched. Furthermore, this giant XPM could induce a \pi-phase shift at a single-photon level which is favorable for the applications in two-qubit quantum logic gates.


Computer programs written in one language are often required to be ported to other languages to support multiple devices and environments. When programs use language specific APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), it is very challenging to migrate these APIs to the corresponding APIs written in other languages. Existing approaches mine API mappings from projects that have corresponding versions in two languages. They rely on the sparse availability of bilingual projects, thus producing a limited number of API mappings. In this paper, we propose an intelligent system called DeepAM for automatically mining API mappings from a large-scale code corpus without bilingual projects. The key component of DeepAM is based on the multimodal sequence to sequence learning architecture that aims to learn joint semantic representations of bilingual API sequences from big source code data. Experimental results indicate that DeepAM significantly increases the accuracy of API mappings as well as the number of API mappings, when compared with the state-of-the-art approaches.


Background and Rationale
Pressure ulcers (PUs) present significant threats to patients and cost billions of total healthcare expenditure. In radiography/radiotherapy, a potential for high interface pressure (IP) on radiography/radiotherapy tables may exist, however no study has investigated this to an acceptable scientific level.

Thesis aims

This thesis involved two-phases. The primary aim of phase one was to investigate whether IP risks exist on radiography/radiotherapy tables. The secondary aim was to assess the perception of pain and comfort on radiography/radiotherapy tables. The aim of phase two was to determine the impact of pressure relieving interventions on IP at jeopardy areas.

Method and results

In the first phase, an Xsensor pressure mapping system was used to measure IP of jeopardy areas in healthy volunteers (26 females, 23 males; aged 18-59 (mean=34.6±10.5)) on three radiography/radiotherapy surfaces, after which they completed a pain and comfort questionnaire. ANOVA identified statistically significant differences in the mean IP for head, sacrum, and heels across the three surfaces (p≤0.001). Results indicated high IP values for head (75.9±6.9mmHg) on the radiotherapy table. This high IP could induce tissue breakdown, thereby increasing the risk of developing PUs in at risk populations. Volunteers experienced most pain whilst lying on the radiotherapy table. In phase two, a thin gel intervention with low radiation attenuation, which also has no impact on image quality, was assessed to reduce IP risks identified for the head. Pressure mapping was conducted on 20 healthy volunteers (14 males (70%) and six females (30%)); aged 25-53 years (mean=34.4±7.0). Paired-samples t-test indicated a statistically significant difference in the mean IP for the head with and without the intervention; both comparisons recorded mean IP values of 62.4±6.1 and 83.9±8.1 mmHg respectively, p≤0.001. Similarly, there was statistically significant difference in the PPI of the head with and without the intervention (mean=159.8±26.8, and mean=205.1±28.2mmHg respectively; p≤0.001).

Conclusion

IP risk exists for the head on radiotherapy tables. This could induce tissue injury in patients accessing prolonged interventional radiography and radiotherapy procedures for the head. A thin gel silicone intervention can reduce this risk. Further research is needed to assess its impact in at risk populations.


There has been an increasing interest in the impact of individual well-being on the attitudes and actions of people receiving services designed to offer support. If well-being factors are important in the uptake and success of service programmes it is important that the nature of the relationships involved is understood by service designers and implementers. As a contribution to understanding, this paper examines the impact of well-being on the uptake of intervention programmes for homeless people. From the literature on well-being a number of factors are identified that contribute towards overall well-being, which include personal efficacy and identity, but also more directly well-being can be viewed as personal or group/collective esteem. The impact of these factors on service use is assessed by means of two studies of homelessness service users, comparing the implementation of two research tools: a shortened and a fuller one. The conclusions are that the factors identified are related to service use. The higher the collective esteem – esteem drawn from identification with services and their users and providers – and the less that they feel isolated, the more benefits that homeless people will perceive with service use, and in turn the more likely they are to be motivated to use services. However, the most important factors in explaining service use are a real sense that it is appropriate to accept social support from others, a rejection of the social identity as homeless but a cultivation of being valued as part of a non-homeless community, and a positive perception of the impact of the service.


Background: For quite a while, there has been controversy over whether or not angiogenin is associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) risk. A lot of meta-analysis has been done in the last few years to support the fact that angiogenin has no relationship in improving the outcome and muscle strength in ALS. In the other hand, for about 3 decades angiogenin has been thought to play an important role in cell survival, growth, and proliferation. Evidence suggests that the expression and activity of ANG increases the odds of developing a variety of human cancers. We present the results of an observational study done in wild type (WT) and angiogenin knock out (ANG -/- KO) mice in order to determine phenotype and different features as explained below.
Methods: We used 2 population of mice, 5 WT and 5 ANG -/- KO were involved in the study. They all were old, each 12 weeks old. These 2 populations were studied for a total of 8 weeks. We invested about 4 hours per day, 5 out 7 days per week. We had the mice running at different speeds on a treadmill in cycles of 300 seconds each, repeating these between 7-10 cycles per population. We used different speeds, being anywhere between 1 MPH to 7 MPH at the highest. We tested our theory that mice ANG -/- KO will have better strength and resistance by observing whether the mice looked stronger compared to the other population. Also by observation, we looked for physical abnormalities as well as evident malignancies in the ANG -/- KO vs. WT mice.
Results: After conducting this study for 8 weeks, we found that ANG -/- KO mice did not have any statistical significant (p=0.36) muscle strength or resistance improvement compared to the WT mice. Also, at the end of our study we could conclude that ANG -/- KO did have less alopecia, skin cancer (basal cell carcinomas; squamous cell carcinomas), benign lesions of the skin, and malignant development of lymph nodes compared to WT mice. All 5 mice in the WT population did have skin lesions consistent with skin cancer and lymphadenopathy consistent with malignant lymph nodes of either lymphomas or metastatic disease.
Discussion: At the end of the study, we could conclude that there was no statistical significance while evaluating both WT and KO mice as they had equal muscle strength and resistance. Conversely, we did see an increase in the number of benign and malignant proliferations in WT mice vs. KO mice.


The rhythms of the Northern Shoveller's (Anas clypeata Linnaeus, 1758) activities during its wintering period in 2 wetlands, Garaet Hadj-Tahar (North-East Algeria) and Garaet Timerganine (Oum El-Bouaghi, Algerian highlands), were studied during 2 wintering seasons in Garaet Hadj-Tahar from November 2007 to March 2008 and November 2008 to March 2009, and in the Timerganine wetland from November 2007 to March 2008. They were linked to certain spatiotemporal variables, i.e. daytime activities and 2 different wetlands. During the wintering season, the main activity at Garaet Hadj-Tahar was sleeping (70%), followed by swimming (12%). By contrast, feeding was the dominant activity at Garaet Timerganine, occurring 45% of the total monitoring time, followed by sleeping (35%). The frequency of the behaviours did not differ significantly between the sites as a function of the date (P > 0.05). The choice of the site was made according to either the feeding resources or the resting place. These factors are therefore essential and highlight the importance of the protection of the sites where the species is concentrated outside of the breeding period.


Estrogens and insulin/insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) are potent mitogens for breast epithelial cells and, when co-administered, induce synergistic stimulation of cell proliferation. To investigate the molecular basis of this effect, a MCF-7 breast cancer cell model was established where serum deprivation and concurrent treatment with the pure estrogen antagonist, ICI 182780, inhibited growth factor and estrogen action and arrested cells in G0/G1 phase. Subsequent stimulation with insulin or IGF-I alone failed to induce significant S-phase entry. However, these treatments increased cyclin D1, cyclin E, and p21 gene expression and induced the formation of active Cdk4 complexes but resulted in only minor increases in cyclin E-Cdk2 activity, likely due to recruitment of the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor p21WAF1/Cip1 into these complexes. Treatment with estradiol alone resulted in a greater increase in cyclin D1 gene expression but markedly decreased p21 expression, with a concurrent increase in Cdk4 and Cdk2 activity and subsequent synchronous entry of cells into S phase. Co-administration of insulin/IGF-I and estrogen induced synergistic stimulation of S-phase entry coincident with synergistic activation of high molecular mass (∼350 kDa) cyclin E-Cdk2 complexes lacking p21. To determine if the ability of estrogen to deplete p21 was central to these effects, cells stimulated with insulin and estradiol were infected with an adenovirus expressing p21. Induction of p21 to levels equivalent to those following treatment with insulin alone markedly inhibited the synergism between estradiol and insulin on S-phase entry. Thus the ability of estradiol to antagonize the insulin-induced increase in p21 gene expression, with consequent activation of cyclin E-Cdk2, is a central component of the synergistic stimulation of breast epithelial cell proliferation induced by simultaneous activation of the estrogen and insulin/IGF-I signaling pathways.


The trafficking of illicit drugs by sea has become an industry comprised of many individual enterprises of variform size and organization. Seizure statistics for the 1980s indicate that 70% of the total quantity of drugs intercepted in the trafficking stage were interdicted in the maritime sector or attributed to having been transported by sea. More significantly, it appears that only between 8 - 12% of the total volume of drugs trafficked are intercepted. The use of the seaborne modes of transport is the result of planetary geography which made the maritime medium one of only two ways by which drugs may enter several states. In response, varying sophisticated counter-trafficking offensives, policies and strategies have been implemented and contemplated in select geographical regions - examples being the Caribbean and Pacific Basins. However, the importation of illicit substances to the primary consuming states has not been curbed and indications are that the overall flow of drugs remains unimpeded. This thesis focuses on the maritime trade in illicit drugs during the 1980s by providing both qualitative and quantitative analyses of the activity. Specifically, the theme addressed is the question of why there is so little success in combating the maritime drug trade. Embraced by the study are the various geographical, physical, technical and socio-political elements supportive of the trade. Among the pertinent topics revealed are the flow structure to the trade, the categories of drugs transported, the classes of vessels utilized, the methods of concealment and deception employed, the involvement of organized crime, the contributing geographical elements and the unique variations to specific routes as determined by destination and region. Additionally, the international law suppressing the maritime trade in illicit drugs is examined. To lend completeness to the study a brief review of the historical dimension to the smuggling of drugs by sea is included along with analysis of drug production and consumption. Because the threat of drugs is perceived to be greatest, albeit wrongly, among the developed states this thesis tackles the subject from the perspective of the coastal member states of O.E.C.D. Lastly, recommendations and innovations to old strategies are proffered specifically as they apply to the maritime component of the illicit drug trade.


Spontaneous antitumor T cell responses in cancer patients are strongly controlled by Tregs, and increased numbers of tumor-infiltrating Tregs correlate with reduced survival. However, the tumor antigens recognized by Tregs in cancer patients and the impact of these cells on tumor-specific T cell responses have not been systematically characterized. Here we used a broad panel of long synthetic peptides of defined tumor antigens and normal tissue antigens to exploit a newly developed method to identify and compare ex vivo the antigen specificities of Tregs with those of effector/memory T cells in peripheral blood of colorectal cancer patients and healthy subjects. Tregs in tumor patients were highly specific for a distinct set of only a few tumor antigens, suggesting that Tregs exert T cell suppression in an antigen-selective manner. Tumor-specific effector T cells were detectable in the majority of colorectal cancer patients but not in healthy individuals. We detected differences in the repertoires of antigens recognized by Tregs and effector/memory T cells in the majority of colorectal cancer patients. In addition, only effector/memory T cell responses against antigens recognized by Tregs strongly increased after Treg depletion. The selection of antigens according to preexisting T cell responses may improve the efficacy of future immunotherapies for cancer and autoimmune disease.


A method of intensity-dependent polarization switching is proposed. The effect is based on simultaneous action of two phase-matched second-order processes in a quadratic medium. Using analytical and numerical techniques, we demonstrate that a single linearly polarized fundamental wave, when it is propagating in such a medium, can efficiently generate a new fundamental wave of orthogonal polarization. The polarization switching is explained by an effective four-wave-mixing process that is performed through second-order cascading.


The Future of Capitalism After the Financial Crisis: The Varieties of Capitalism Debate in the Age of Austerity contains thirteen world leading political economists writing from within eight different countries who critically analyze the current crisis tendencies of capitalism both globally and in particular countries. Given the likelihood of an increasingly crisis prone future for capitalism, it is important not only to rethink capitalism in its current manifestations or varieties. It is also important to rethink research methods and conceptual frameworks in preparation for understanding an increasingly rocky future in which capitalism itself could go the way of the many species that in the past were endangered only to become extinct.

More and more titles of books and articles are suggesting that capitalism or perhaps civilization itself is endangered if we do not make radical changes in the near future. This book breaks with academic path dependency and attempts to open new vistas of political economy and of multidisciplinary analysis that are crucially important if our thought processes are to be effective in a world in jeopardy.

The varieties of capitalism (VoC) debate itself came into being as the Soviet Union unraveled. It drew in scholarship from a cross-section of Marxian and heterodox political economy. The key argument of VoC was that if capitalism was the only global option then those on the Left must get involved in policy discussions on how capitalist economies can be fashioned to become competitive as well as progressive. However, the financial crisis has seen policy across the advanced economies veer toward competitiveness coupled with austerity. The lesson for the Left is that alternatives to capitalism must be sought in the here and now.


Readers of this Review are doubtlessly familiar with the famous equation of exchange, MV=PQ, frequently employed to analyze the price level effects of monetary shocks. One might think the algebraic formulation of the equation is an outgrowth of the 20th century tendency toward mathematical modeling and statistical testing. Indeed, textbooks typically associate the transaction velocity version of the equation with Irving Fisher and the alternative Cambridge cash balance version with A. C. Pigou, two early 20th century proponents of the application of mathematics to economic analysis. The equation, however, is considerably older, as Thomas M. Humphrey demonstrates in "Algebraic Quantity Equations Before Fisher and Pigou." Humphrey traces the origins and prehistory of the equation in both its variants, showing that Fisher and Pigou were the inheritors of a long tradition. In fact, by 1900 the equation of exchange was over 120 years old and at least nineteen writers in five countries had presented versions of the equation. Certain versions were even more intricate than the equations of Fisher and Pigou. As early as 1771, writers had produced formulas showing that excessive growth of the money stock causes inflation.


It is acknowledged in the literature and in professional practice that there are "gaps" between the theory of pre-service teacher education and the realities of classroom practice. The report from the 2002 National Meeting of Professional Educators identified tensions between theory and practice and suggested that teachers were "living these out in everyday learning environments" as a "creative tension" (Cumming, 2002, p. 3). We believe the challenge for teacher educators is to assist beginning teachers in making links between pedagogical theory they have accrued in their pre- service training and practice they are attempting to put into place in their classrooms. From our work with teachers in schools it is apparent that beginning teachers find it difficult to link theory with their practice This article describes a model of profession learning that greatly assisted one beginning teacher begin to make connections between her pre-service training and the relevance of this training to her classroom practice.


Energy-related Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects contribute to sustainable development through reducing air pollutants in addition to CO2 emissions. This paper evaluates the co-benefits of ten coal-fired power generation CDM projects which are currently in registration and validation with a power generation mix linear programming model in India's power sector from 2006 to 2031. Two scenarios are developed to identify impacts of the CDM projects. As a result, the co-benefits are invoked by the CDM projects in India's power sector. CO2 emissions decrease by 79 Mt CO2 and SOx and NOx emissions decrease by 0.8 Mt SOx and 0.6 Mt NOx from the baseline in 2031. Including benefits from the reduction of the air pollutants warrants sustainable development benefit and contributes to enhance the generated CER prices. Thus, we argue that addressing co-benefits encourages both host countries and investors to participate CDM projects.


Reuse of recycled wastewater is one of the most feasible unconventional urban water sources in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The extraction and reuse of greywater might affect the water and sewer pipe networks by changing flow characteristics. Therefore, the research question is how much greywater can be reused without affecting the existing water and sewer pipe networks? A residential complex located in Al Ain, UAE was investigated in this regard. Water pipe network, water consumption and sewer flow data were collected and a scenario modelling was conducted using the EPANET software. It was found that 100% capture and reuse of greywater has no impact on the upstream water distribution network, but reduces the recommended design flow in the downstream sewer network. The modelling results show that about 50% of generating greywater (about 95 litres per capita per day) can be harvested without affecting the upstream and downstream water and sewer flow characteristics, respectively.


Wireless networked mobile robots pursuing a common objective are envisioned to be an efficient solution for many military, industrial, commercial, and environmental applications. This paper presents the design considerations of an autonomous intruder detection system based on wireless networked robots. Specifically, three critical aspects of these systems, such as coordination and task allocation, communication, and map-based intruder detection, have been investigated and a multi-sensor fusion mechanism has been presented. Performance results show that the fusion of redundant information from different sensors can increase the accuracy of a system and reduce overall uncertainty in intruder detection applications.


Background The adverse life-long consequences of being looked after as a child are well recognised. However, systematic evidence on outcomes for looked-after children beyond the early adult years is currently very limited. Methods Data were used from »1 20 000 dependent children (aged <18 and never-married) in the ONS Longitudinal Study (LS) in each of the census years 1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001 (total n=495,165). Separately for each census, logistic regression was used to compare odds of long-term limiting illness and self-rated health 10, 20 and 30 years later for LS members with different care experiences in childhood (parental household, relative household, non-relative household and residential care). Results In this nationally-representative sample of children in England and Wales, approximately 1.4% of dependent children were looked after in non-parental households, 3664 children in relative households, 2351 in unrelated households and 1007 in residential care. From 1971 to 2001, there was a general trend of an increasing percentage of dependent children residing in relative households (0.4% to 1.2%) and decreasing percentage in residential care (0.3% to 0.1%)(p-values<0.001). At 10, 20 and 30-year follow-up, LS members who had resided outside the parental home in childhood, had higher odds of a long-term limiting illness and rating their health as 'not good' vs 'good'; with the highest odds for residential care. For example, for LS members who were dependent children in 1991, odds of a long-term limiting illness 10 years later were 7.8 (95% confidence interval: 5.3, 11.4) higher for those who had resided in residential care, 1.9 (1.4, 2.7) higher in relative households and 2.4 (1.9, 3.1) higher in non-relative households, compared to residence in a parental household. For non-relative and residential care, odds ratios increased with each successive census year. The longer the follow-up period the weaker the strength of association, but with all associations remaining significant. Weaker associations were seen for self-rated health compared to long-term limiting illness. Additional analysis to be presented will make step-wise adjustments for childhood demographics and social circumstances. Conclusion Decades after children and youths are placed in out-of-home care; they are still likely to report worse health than children who grew up in a parental household. Future work from this project will investigate how much of these associations are due to socio-demographic selection into different care experiences, compared to effects of being in care.


According to technology acceptance model (TAM), IT adoption is influenced by two perceptions: usefulness and ease-of-use. Researchers have discussed on what kind of IS applications offers opportunities for enhancing guest services to meet increasing customer expectations. However, little research has focused on IS adoption for collaboration IS in hospitality. Employees' working efficiency and creation are important in competitive advantages. Collaboration engineering (CE) is an effective method which can help group decision making, but there is little research about using the CE method in hotel information system (HIS) design. Therefore, in this study, we design a collaboration process and apply our self-developed CE based information system (CEIS) in a five-star hotel case in China. We find that although our design can be used in hospitality by the IT support, it cannot always enhance decision making effectiveness for this case. We also find some factors affecting the CEIS adoption in hospitality which could give clues to future research.


Roughly chronological, these essays explore Barnes early work in the New York newspaper world of the teens, proceed through the 1954 publication of "The Antiphon, "and include several approaches to such works as "Ryder, Ladies Almanack, "and "Nightwood. "This judicious mix of essays many of them illustrated by photographs and drawings presents a comprehensive picture of the creative imagination of Djuna Barnes. Essayists include Mary Lynn Broe, Nancy J. Levine, Ann Larabee, Joan Retallack, Carolyn Allen, Carolyn Burke, Sheryl Stevenson, Marie Ponsot, Frances M. Doughty, Susan Sniader Lanser, Frann Michel, Karla Jay, Jane Marcus, Judith Lee, Julie L. Abraham, Meryl Altman, Lynda Curry, Louise A. DeSalvo, and Catharine Stimpson. Individuals sharing personal recollections of Barnes are Ruth Ford, James B. Scott, Alex Gildzen, Hank O Neal, Chester Page, Andrew Field, and Frances McCullough. Janice Thom and Kevin Engel provide an updated bibliography. From "The Book of Repulsive Women "to "The Antiphon, "Barnes challenged old gender dichotomies as she shaped radical sociopolitical views. Her textual methods celebrated a multiplicity of voices, heterodox forms, and genres, transgressing those tenets of modernism that privilege the high art of a single, unified textual identity or a discrete discourse. These essays offer various critical approaches and sinuous readings of the full range of Barnes achievement. Interwoven through the essays and reminiscences is a lively commentary from Barnes friends and contemporaries as well as Barnes herself."


Sacrificial anode retrofitting to aging structures is routinely performed for life extension of offshore assets in matured fields. Sometimes earlier retrofit systems are now being replaced or supplemented. Understanding when remnant CP systems can no longer prevent depolarization is important as timely intervention can reduce overall retrofit cost, which is a significant factor. Life must be extended a required number of years, and design should take into account performance of remaining anodes and state of calcareous deposits. Data for this is generally available from past surveys. During design, computational modeling can be used firstly to gain quantitative understanding of the state of the structure, remaining life of existing anodes and estimated date at which serious loss of calcareous deposits will occur. Secondly, modeling can determine the short term effect of a new CP system on structural potentials. This information can be used to modify the numbers, positions and mass of new anodes. This optimizes distribution of potential and anode mass loss rates. Moreover, benefits of fewer large versus several smaller anodes can be weighed-up. Finally, modeling can determine the long-term effects of new, old, and combined CP systems, eg to identify when individual anodes reach their utilization factor and consequent effect on remainder of structure. The aim of this paper is to present a case where modeling has been applied to a jacket structure, using "long-term" polarization curves to represent accumulation of calcareous deposits. Hence, the key benefits achieved are: retrofit requirement reduction, significant cost savings, better CP current distribution despite reduction in number of anodes, maximized life. Other future benefits are possibility to predict future CP survey frequency and improved planning of retrofits requirements; hence saving further cost on needless future surveys.


The proposed data protection package that the European Commission unveiled on January 25, 2012 provides a sneak preview of the plans for a comprehensive reform of the data protection rules in the European Union. The new data protection framework would be based on two documents: a Regulation, (1) which would address the general privacy issues, and a Directive, (2) which would address the unique issues associated with criminal investigations. The proposed legislative texts are intended to redefine the legal framework for the protection of personal data throughout the European Economic Area. (3) The vision revealed in the documents published on January 25, 2012 (4) is generally consistent with the plan of action that was presented in late 2010. (5) What is new, or was not clearly specified in 2010, is the shift to a single law that would be common to all of the Member States. (6) The publication of the Proposed Regulation and Proposed Directive signals a very important shift in the way data protection will be handled in the future throughout the European Union. If the draft legislative texts are adopted in a form substantially similar to that which was presented on January 25, by 20157, the European Union Member States will be operating--for most types of activities--under a single data protection law that applies directly to all entities and individuals. (8) In many cases, companies will no longer have to suffer the fragmentation resulting from the significant discrepancies in the manner in which the 27 Member States interpreted and implemented the principles set forth in Directive 95/46/EC to create 27 different sets of national laws. (9) A single set of rules on data protection, valid across the EU, would make it easier for companies to know and understand the rules. Unnecessary administrative burdens, such as notification requirements for companies, (10) would be abolished. (11) Instead, the proposed Regulation provides for increased responsibility and accountability for those processing personal data. (12) In the new regime, organizations would only have to deal with a single national data protection authority in the EU country where they have their main establishment. (13) Likewise, people would be able to refer to the data protection authority in their country, even when their data are processed by a company based outside the EU. (14) The proposed reform would create more obligations for companies (15) and more rights for individuals, (16) while removing some of the administrative burdens that currently cost billions of Euros to companies.17 However, numerous additional requirements would come instead. While the new data protection regime would reduce red tape, it would require entities to be more accountable, (18) to have in place written procedures and processes that they actually use, (19) and to be able to show that they do comply with the applicable legal requirements. (20) Entities would be responsible for conducting privacy impact assessments in some circumstances, (21) to comply with individual requests to exercise their "right to be forgotten," (22) and to notify data protection authorities and individuals in the event of a breach of security. (23) U.S. companies that do business in or with the European Economic Area should start preparing for this dramatic change in the data protection landscape. Some of the provisions will require the development of written policies and procedures, documentation, and applications as necessary to comply with the new rules. Security breaches will have to be disclosed, (24) and incident response plans will have to be created accordingly. The development of these new structures will require significant investment and resources. IT and IS departments in companies will need to obtain greater, more significant budgets in order to finance the staff, training, policies, procedures and technologies that will be needed to implement the new provisions. …


Statistics Finland maintains a database which includes firm level data on public support in Finland. During this study it contained data from the years 20006. So far the data has been underutilized in economic and statistical analyses. We use the database in this descriptive study mainly to test the usability of the database. We analyze, for example, the scale, ways of use, and allocation of public support. We count as public support all the instruments in the database from loans and guarantees to direct employment and r&d subsidies. The results indicate that public support to firms is quite common, larger firms have higher probability of receiving public support than smaller ones, and that receiving public support once increases the probability to apply for and to receive it in the following years. The database seems to offer a quite good starting point for firm level public support studies, although it still lacks some essential public support instruments.


We examine snowmobile use conflict in Yellowstone National Park to assess the effect of different winter management policies on heterogeneous visitors' welfare. Using a stated preference choice experiment we quantify welfare changes for snowmobile riders and non-riders under different snowmobile restrictions. A key determinant of welfare change is visitors' willingness to trade-off reduced snowmobile access for improved ambient conditions in the park. Our findings support the notion that welfare losses to snowmobile riders could be offset by welfare gains to non-riders, but net benefits will depend on the number of riders and non-riders and the specifics of the policy. (JEL Q26, Q51)


Green photoluminescence (PL) from silicon microstructures fabricated by femtosecond laser in air was studied at different temperature by time-resolved spectroscopy. The PL decay profiles are well fitted by a stretched exponential function: I(t)=I(0)*exp[-(t/τ)β]. The dependence of the decay time constant τ and of the stretching index β on PL photon energy and on the temperature is investigated. A model of transport and recombination of the carriers is introduced as a possible explanation of the stretched exponential decay. The nonradiative recombination rate of the localized carriers, which is dependent on the carrier density and influenced by the trapping site density and the temperature, is deduced to be responsible for this kind of decay.


Understanding the source to sink relationship through time between the Eastern Kunlun Range, one of the major mountain belts in the northern Tibetan Plateau, and the actively deforming Qaidam Basin to the north has important implications for unravelling the growth history of the Tibetan Plateau. In this study, U-Pb dating (laser-ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry) of detrital zircons from 22 sandstone samples (Paleocene to Holocene) collected from four sections within the southwestern Qaidam Basin is combined with provenance analysis and new seismic profile interpretation to investigate the mountain building of the Eastern Kunlun Range and its effects on the development of the Qaidam Basin. The U-Pb age distributions of detrital grains from Paleocene strata are characterized by a major component of Paleozoic to late Proterozoic ages. Furthermore, carbonate debris containing foraminifera have been recognized in the Paleocene conglomerate sequences. We thus suggest that the Eastern Kunlun Range was already exhumed prior to the Paleocene. The southward onlaps of Paleocene to Oligocene strata observed on seismic profiles and the appearance of a Mesozoic component in the detrital zircon age spectra of Eocene to Oligocene strata indicate that the Qaidam Basin was widening southward during that early Cenozoic period. Well-developed post-Oligocene growth strata and the increasing proportion of Mesozoic and Paleozoic U-Pb ages in detrital zircon grains from late Neogene strata demonstrate that the relief of the Eastern Kunlun and Altyn Tagh Ranges increased, leading to isolation and narrowing of the Qaidam Basin, from Miocene to the present. The inferred pulsed deformation in the Eastern Kunlun Range highlights the complex growth history of the Tibetan Plateau.


The unprecedented economic development and increase in the number of global corporations in the Greater China region, comprising the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, have led to more emphasis on corporate leader-stakeholder communication. Bilingual web-based messages posted on corporate websites, which aim to strategically cultivate positive relationships between leaders and stakeholders, have emerged as a primary mode of communication for Chinese corporations. However, a research study investigating the prominent themes and underlying cultural values depicted in leaders' messages intended for different groups of stakeholders is lacking. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the themes and cultural values expressed through corporate leaders' web-based messages in a non-western context.,Using an inductive approach, open coding and a categorization system, this study analyzed the web-based messages of leading corporations with WordSmith 6.0.,Six prominent themes in leaders' communication were identified. These themes included, in order of importance: company development, operating philosophy, company profile, business environment, performance, and products and services. It was found that leaders strategically selected certain themes such as focusing on progress and the business environment but omitted others depending on how they wanted to strategically influence their stakeholders' attitudes. Differences between the cultural values depicted in Chinese and the corresponding English messages could be attributed to leaders' cultural adaptation of the messages intended for non-domestic stakeholders.,Since this study provides insights into the major themes preferred by leaders of corporations operating in Greater China, it will enable existing stakeholders to understand the main business focus of leaders and offer leaders more information about commonly accepted themes. These possibilities for enhanced knowledge on the part of stakeholders and business leaders, in turn, may potentially increase academic appreciation of the complexities involved in corporate communication. It also informs stakeholders about the variations in the values reflected in the English and Chinese messages of leaders, and, therefore, has a potential to offer value to academics and practitioners.


Data and data retrieval remain central to the challenge of environmental protection initiatives. Approaches such as walk-through inspections and environmental monitoring rely on environmental information that is concise, accurate, material timely and usable. However, current methods of collecting environmental data from the field are, on occasion, problematic in that they are labour-intensive and can take a considerable time to process between the point of collection and the period of analysis. These drawbacks create an obstacle for construction managers and can result in unnecessary environmental impacts, prosecutions and delays. Technological based surveillance has become an alternative in an attempt to overcome some of these disadvantages. But, in some circumstances it can be difficult to demonstrate a connection between the pollution detected and a specific source solely using these methods. Therefore, while physical environmental surveillance (observation/walk-through inspection) still remains important some improvements can be made through the application of Internet of Things technologies in order to accommodate the needs of both physical and technological based environmental surveillance in one system. This paper proposes a prototype of the Mobile Environmental Information System. This system is designed to assist construction environmental management teams to efficiently perform surveillance activities and make informed decisions in the light of a better awareness of the current status of environmental constraints and legislation. The user requirements, the conceptual model and the functional specifications as well as the system architecture for the prototype system presented in this paper will form the basis for the development of the prototype system.


INTERBIO-21 is Phase II of the INTERGROWTH-21 Background: Project, the population-based, research initiative involving nearly 70,000 mothers and babies worldwide coordinated by Oxford University and performed by a multidisciplinary network of more than 400 healthcare professionals and scientists from 35 institutions in 21 countries worldwide. Phase I, conducted 2008-2015, consisted of nine complementary studies designed to describe optimal human growth and neurodevelopment, based conceptually on the WHO prescriptive approach. The studies generated a set of international standards for monitoring growth and neurodevelopment, which complement the existing WHO Child Growth Standards. Phase II aims to improve the functional classification of the highly heterogenous preterm birth and fetal growth restriction syndromes through a better understanding of how environmental exposures, clinical conditions and nutrition influence patterns of human growth from conception to childhood, as well as specific neurodevelopmental domains and associated behaviors at 2 years of age. In the INTERBIO-21 Newborn Case-Control Study, a major Methods: component of Phase II, our objective is to investigate the mechanisms potentially responsible for preterm birth and small for gestational age and their interactions, using deep phenotyping of clinical, growth and epidemiological data and associated nutritional, biochemical, omic and histological profiles. Here we describe the study sites, population characteristics, study design, methodology and standardization procedures for the collection of longitudinal clinical data and biological samples (maternal blood, umbilical cord blood, placental tissue, maternal feces and infant buccal swabs) for the study that was conducted between 2012 and 2018 in Brazil, Kenya, Pakistan, South Africa, Thailand and the UK. Our study provides a unique resource for the planned Discussion: analyses given the range of potentially disadvantageous exposures (including poor nutrition, pregnancy complications and infections) in geographically diverse populations worldwide. The study should enhance current medical knowledge and provide new insights into environmental influences on human growth and neurodevelopment.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of our study was to determine the sensitivity of CT colonography (CTC) interpreted by human readers and with computer-aided detection (CAD) for genuinely nonpolypoid colorectal lesions, defined as 2 mm or less in lesion height at colonoscopy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A computerized database search for a 33-month period found 21 patients who had undergone both colonoscopy and CTC and who had a total of 23 genuinely nonpolypoid colorectal lesions: eight adenomas (9-30 mm in width), 10 stage Tis or T1 adenocarcinomas (10-25 mm), and five nonadenomatous lesions (8-20 mm). CTC was performed using a cathartic preparation and fecal tagging and was interpreted by experienced readers in a blinded manner using a primary 3D method and with CAD.

RESULTS
The sensitivities of human readers for nonpolypoid adenomatous lesions (i.e., both adenomas and adenocarcinomas), adenocarcinomas, and nonadenomatous lesions were 66.7% (12/18), 90% (9/10), and 0% (0/5), respectively. Sensitivities were 55.6% (10/18), 90% (9/10), and 0% (0/5) for CAD. A 10-mm stage T1 adenocarcinoma was missed by a human reader on blinded review but was detected with CAD. Both human readers and CAD yielded significantly higher sensitivity for adenomatous lesions than for nonadenomatous lesions (p = 0.014 and 0.046, respectively) and for adenocarcinomas than for noncancerous lesions (p = 0.003 and 0.0001, respectively).

CONCLUSION
CTC showed a high sensitivity for nonpolypoid stage Tis and T1 adenocarcinomas 10 mm or greater in width despite the limited overall sensitivity for nonpolypoid adenomatous lesions, when performed using cathartic preparation and fecal tagging.


In Ireland, no barrister may enter into a partnership with another. A controversial report by the Competition Authority in 2006 concluded that this sole-trader edict is antithetical to Irish society, by virtue of its foreclosing the emergence of an efficient market structure in the industry. The Authority's recommendation that barristers be permitted to form partnerships encountered stiff resistance from the Bar Council and a number of leading Irish lawyers. These commentators questioned the efficiencies that would supposedly be facilitated by partnerships, warned that anticompetitive concentration within the profession would ensue, challenged the assertion that entry barriers into the profession are currently significant, argued that the emergence of a two-track system of sole practice and partnerships would degrade the prestige of the former route and ultimately lead to its demise, and contended that the abolition of the sole-trader rule would frustrate the attainment of efficiencies embodied in the Law Library. The most central overarching theme, however, was that the efficiency model underlying economics renders that mode of analytic inquiry ill-suited to the intricate social question of justice. In short – proponents of the status quo submit – competition economics is in tension with the larger values at play in the legal industry. In this, the first of two papers addressing the role of law and economics in Irish legal matters, the author contends that the sole-trader rule should be abolished. With respect to the normative quality of this rule, economic analysis is indeed fully commensurate with notions of justice. Bringing that analysis to bear on the arguments promoted by defenders of the status quo reveals their case to be of merely superficial appeal. Permitting barristers to form partnerships would significantly curtail the difficulties faced by promising law graduates who aspire to join the bar. It would also facilitate greater levels of competition at the top of the profession. The formal pooling of income and diversification of practice – two features inherent in a partnership – would reduce the otherwise systemic financial risk facing barristers. Cross-subsidization would yield considerable benefits by enhancing the provision of pro bono services. The formal combination of lawyers possessing expertise in complementary areas of law would induce axiomatic efficiency benefits in complex cases. As explored below, the objection that sole practice may become second tier is without significance, as is the worry that efficiencies found in the Law Library would be diluted. Finally, the fear that large-scale consolidation would foster tacit collusion and undesirably reduce the choices open to solicitors ought not to be countenanced. In this last regard, it must not be forgotten that the barrister profession will continue to be subject to the competition laws, which will foreclose combinations that yield monopoly or excessive concentration in certain fields of practice. Since the sole-trader rule stands on so insecure a foundation, it ought to be jettisoned.


The recent national efforts at reforming the welfare system and new research on the connection between teen pregnancy and statutory rape have led many states to enact stricter laws against statutory rape and to increase the enforcement of existing laws. Punitive statutory rape laws are being viewed more and more as a mechanism for shrinking the welfare rolls by reducing teen pregnancy. Rigel Oliveri documents the resurgence of statutory rape law and enforcement and explores the ramifications it will have on teen parents. In particular, Oliveri approaches the issue from several analytical frameworks, discussing arguments for consent-based standards, the privacy and substantive due process rights of both teens and offenders, and the practical needs of parenting teens. She also examines some of the theoretical tensions and pitfalls inherent in the criminal prosecution of teen pregnancies. This discussion leads to suggestions for possible improvements in the prosecution of statutory rape cases, as well as to the more radical proposal to eliminate many statutory rape laws altogether.


Peculiar anatomy of human hand with flexing fingers and opposing thumb give human beings clear edge over other existing living beings. We use hands for carrying out most of our daily activities. But at the same time this makes our hands vulnerable for getting traumatized. Hand injuries which involve underlying tendons make digits dysfunctional, which in turn affects overall precise functioning of hand. In this chapter we will briefly discuss related surgical anatomy of flexor tendons and associated structures, features of flexor tendon injuries at different zonal levels, surgical methods involved and different post-operative protocols used for management of these flexor tendon injuries.


Abstract. The two components of the tropical overturning circulation, the meridional Hadley circulation (HC) and the zonal Walker circulation (WC), are key to the re-distribution of moisture, heat and mass in the atmosphere. The mid-Pliocene Warm Period (mPWP; ∼ 3.3–3 Ma) is considered a very rough analogue of near-term future climate change, yet changes to the tropical overturning circulations in the mPWP are poorly understood. Here, climate model simulations from the Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP) are analyzed to show that the tropical overturning circulations in the mPWP were weaker than preindustrial circulations, just as they are projected to be in future climate change. The weakening HC response is consistent with future projections, and its strength is strongly related to the meridional gradient of sea surface warming between the tropical and subtropical oceans. The weakening of the WC is less robust in PlioMIP than in future projections, largely due to inter-model variations in simulated warming of the tropical Indian Ocean (TIO). When the TIO warms faster (slower) than the tropical mean, local upper tropospheric divergence increases (decreases) and the WC weakens less (more). These results provide strong evidence that changes to the tropical overturning circulation in the mPWP and future climate are primarily controlled by zonal (WC) and meridional (HC) gradients in tropical–subtropical sea surface temperatures.


Computed tomography imaging is a mandatory part of the permanent prostate brachytherapy procedure. It is used as a post-implant dosimetric check to evaluate the quality of the implant. It is proposed that by using a novel assembly of multiple high-resolution pixelated detectors Timepix, an in-body probe can be used as a multi-modality imaging device. Preliminary phantom studies of a PMMA prostate phantom with implanted dummy I-125 seeds (Oncura Model 6711) have shown a qualitative confirmation of three-dimensional tomographic reconstruction from limited angles and limited field of view based on iterative reconstruction algorithms.


The quality of phylogenetic inference made from protein-coding genes depends, in part, on the realism with which the codon substitution process is modeled. Here we propose a new mechanistic model that combines the standard M0 substitution model of Yang (1997) with a simplified model from Gilchrist (2007) that includes selection on synonymous substitutions as a function of codon-specific nonsense error rates. We tested the newly proposed model by applying it to 104 protein-coding genes in brewer's yeast, and compared the fit of the new model to the standard M0 model and to the mutation-selection model of Yang and Nielsen (2008) using the AIC. Our new model provided significantly better fit in approximately 85% of the cases considered for the basic M0 model and in approximately 25% of the cases for the M0 model with estimated codon frequencies, but only in a few cases when the mutation-selection model was considered. However, our model includes a parameter that can be interpreted as a measure of the rate of protein production, and the estimates of this parameter were highly correlated with an independent measure of protein production for the yeast genes considered here. Finally, we found that in some cases the new model led to the preference of a different phylogeny for a subset of the genes considered, indicating that substitution model choice may have an impact on the estimated phylogeny.


Abstract
This paper looks at the effects of the six main independent variables (sources of finance, social capital, ownership type, government policies, age and size, and human capital) on the main dependent variable (performance profitability and growth) of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana (the context for the project). The thesis is in three (3) parts.
Project One (1) is the thematic literature review of the independent and dependent variables in this study. The review introduces the literature on the characteristics of SMEs in Ghana, and refers to SMEs in the developed world in order to compare the contributions and characteristics of SMEs worldwide. Information about the Ghanaian economy is provided, in order to set the context of the study.
In addition, project one reviews the manufacturing and hospitality sectors and notes reasons for which they are the focus of this project. It ends with a presentation of summary of the review. Within this paper, the terms 'firm', 'organisation' and 'enterprise' are used interchangeably.
Project Two (2) is concerned with the methodology. It is a cross-sectional study and uses interview for data collection. It emphasises the descriptive nature of the work, the suitability and importance of all the necessary processes like snowball technique, sampling methods, and data analysis. Nvivo 8, a computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) is the primary software that is used for the analysis.
Project Three (3) is the result of the study. It exposes the impermeable wall separating lenders and Government and SMEs as the former lack better knowledge of the latter. The reluctance of SMEs to outsource funding is consistent with the pecking order theory because of the negative consequences of borrowing on their performance profitability and growth. Unclear, unhelpful and unsuitable government policy framework has led to eschewal of such policies by SMEs.
Social and human capitals affect the performance of the SMEs. Good social networks benefits SMEs as they reduce operating costs. Skilled and highly educated employees create positive value in the companies. The study is critical of the style of ownership structure of most SMEs. The "more is better" is very simplistic as age and size had mixed effect on SME performance profitability and growth in the study.


Can the fundamental processes that underlie molecular biology be understood and simulated by DNA nanotechnology? The early development of DNA nanotechnology by Ned Seeman was driven by the desire to find a solution to the protein crystallization problem. Much of the later development of the field was also driven by envisioned applications in computing and nanofabrication. While the DNA nanotechnology community has assembled a versatile tool kit with which DNA nanostructures of considerable complexity can be assembled, the application of this tool kit to other areas of science and technology is still in its infancy. This dissertation reports on the construction of non-equilibrium DNA nanotube dynamic to probe molecular processes in the areas of hydrodynamics and cytoskeletal behavior. As the first example, we used DNA nanotubes as a molecular probe for elongational flow measurement in different micro-scale flow settings. The hydrodynamic flow in the vicinity of simple geometrical objects, such as a rigid DNA nanotube, is amenable to rigorous theoretical investigation. We measured the distribution of elongational flows produced in progressively more complex settings, ranging from the vicinity of an orifice in a microfluidic chamber to within a bursting bubble of Pacific ocean water. This information can be used to constrain theories on the origin of life in which replication involves a hydrodynamically driven fission process, such as the coacervate fission proposed by Oparin. A second theme of this dissertation is the bottom-up construction of a de novo artificial cytoskeleton with DNA nanotubes. The work reported here encompasses structural, locomotion, and control aspects of non-equilibrium cytoskeletal behavior. We first measured the kinetic parameters of DNA nanotube assembly and tested the accuracy of the existing polymerization models in the literature. Toward recapitulation of non-equilibrium cytoskeletal dynamics, we coupled the polymerization of DNA nanotubes with an irreversible energy consumption reaction, analogous to nucleotide hydrolysis in actin and microtubule polymerization. Finally, we integrated the DNA strand displacement circuits with DNA nanotube polymerization to achieve programmable kinetic control of behavior within artificial cytoskeleton. Our synthetic approach may provide insights into natural cytoskeleton dynamics, such as minimal architectural or reaction mechanism requirements for non-equilibrium behaviors including treadmilling and dynamic instability. The outgrowth of DNA nanotechnology beyond its own boundaries, serving as a general model system for biomolecular dynamics, can lead to an understanding of molecular processes that advances both basic and applied sciences.


The aim of this study was to evaluate effectiveness of training hope in the quality of life of elderly people. This study was an experimental research containing pre-test and post-test with control group. The research tools included adult hope and quality of life scales. The sample consisted of 30 elderly people from charities of Ahvaz being randomly selected and then divided into two experimental and control groups. Before training hope, both groups – experimental and control- were pre-tested. Then, the experimental group received 10 fifty-minute sessions of hope training whereas the control group did not receive any training. Upon completion of the course, immediately the posttests were taken from both groups. The results of multivariate covariance analysis (MANCOVA) and one-way (ANCOVA) showed that training hope significantly increased quality of life and its subscales among the elderly people.


A vivid and superbly written account of the unravelling of one of the great intellectual puzzles, set against the backdop of Europe in the Napoleonic era. When Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798, his troops were astonished to discover ancient temples, tombs and statues, all covered with hieroglyphs - the last remnants of an unreadable script and a language lost in time. On their return Egyptomania spread rapidly and the quest to decipher hieroglyphs began in earnest. Jean-Francois Champollion was obsessed with ancient languages from a very young age, and once he heard of the unreadable ancient Egyptian text he had found the challenge to which he would dedicate his life: the decipherment of hieroglyphs. Despite poverty he made gradual progress, although he had to fight against jealous enemies, both professional and political, every step of the way - a dangerous task when in post-Revolutionary France a slip of the tongue could mean ruin, exile or even death. Failure threatened, as he was only one of many attempting to read the hieroglyphs, and his main rival, the English Thomas Young, claimed that decipherment was imminent, but Champollion refused to be distracted and finally, in 1822, he made the decisive breakthrough: he was the first person able to read the ancient Egyptian language in well over a thousand years.


IMMIGRANT LIFE IS UNDERSTOOD AS CONSISTING OF CONSTANT DOUBT AND JUSTIFICATION of one's presence in a foreign land (see Yoon, 1997). Interviews with the children of immigrants indicate that this insecurity does not end with the immigrant generation. For the second generation, their life consists of constant doubt and justification of their reasons for being in, not a foreign land, but their own land. As part of a larger study of second-generation Asian Americans, I interviewed 88 Chinese and Korean American children of immigrants. One of the more remarkable patterns garnered from these interviews with high school and college-age young adults was how strikingly similar each of their responses were in describing their family's migration experience. Regardless of whether they were Chinese American or Korean American, middle-class, working-class, or upper-middle-class, lived in Chicago, Illinois, or Santa Clara, California, every respondent told essentially the same story of migration. In addition, neither their variation in age during migration, gender, nor birth order had any impact on the basic foundation of their narratives of why and how they arrived in the United States. I was puzzled as to how this could happen. How could the differences in race, class, and region--not to mention the history, culture, and global relationship of China and Korea as two entirely separate countries--not influence these children's retelling of such a seminal familial event? The respondents shared two basic characteristics in their immigration narrative. First, the children knew very little about the actual experience of their parents' decision to emigrate and their experiences upon arrival. Second, what little knowledge or memory the children do possess is strikingly similar to one another. This article will build upon a more cursory analysis of second-generation migration narratives provided in an earlier work (Park, L., 2005) by further investigating what is absent and what little is present in these children's stories. I approach these immigration stories as a significant source in understanding second-generation Asian Americans' sense of why they are here and consequently, how they "fit" into this country. It is ironic that second-generation Asian Americans--who supposedly embody the stereotypical measures of a "model minority," including hard working, college educated, law abiding, etc.--feel compelled to constantly justify their presence in the United States, a "nation of immigrants." Few researchers acknowledge this sense of doubt since most continue to believe in the model minority myth. This myth portrays Asian Americans as exemplary models for other minorities based (usually) upon measures of income, education, and public benefit utilization rates (see Cheng and Yang, 2000; Osajima, 2000). However, a number of studies have critiqued these assumptions. For instance, in her study of Indian-American youth culture, Maira (2002) concludes that the presumed Asian-American "model minority" has little relevance for the substantial numbers of working- and lower-middle-class people in their community. Maira's study (2002) points to the growing economic bifurcation of incoming Asian immigrants and their children. Cheng and Yang (2000) also critique this powerful image in their careful study of the vast differences, including class, education, and income, within Asian America. On its face, the model minority myth is a seemingly positive image that seduces both liberal and conservative political inclinations. The moral "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" lessons regarding individual responsibility and upward economic mobility derived from this imagery continue to hold favor in the current movement to dismantle the social welfare state. The model minority myth wholly endorses the American Dream of meritocracy and democracy with the notion that anyone regardless of race, class, or gender has an equal opportunity to work hard and consequently is justly rewarded for their labor though economic upward mobility. …


Abstract: The reported empirical findings using survey data from 531 Finnish companies show that for digitalized data-based innovation generated for both firm's own and market needs, the firm's ICT-specific absorptive capacity matters more than its general absorptive capacity arising from the firms' investments in R&D and intangible assets. User-driven innovators differ from companies that do not produce new data-based solutions for their own use in three major dimensions: 1) they tend to use selective ICT outsourcing strategy, 2) they tend to involve more internal units closely to innovation activities and 3) they tend to use wider external knowledge search strategy. In other words, firms using data for producing innovative solutions for their own needs balance their relatively open innovation strategy with the close in-house innovation collaboration among different units, and further employ an ICT strategy that relies selectively on a firm's own ICT-specific absorptive capacity and external ICT expertise.


Organic matter-rich Middle Jurassic rocks occur in the Mesozoic basement of the Carpathian Foredeep in Ukraine. Eighty-nine core samples from the Mosty-2, Korolyn-6 and Korolyn-2 wells as well as three oil samples from the Kokhanivka and Orkhovychi oil fields in the Kokhanivka Zone, were investigated. Bulk geochemical data as well as maceral analysis have been determined, and a subset of these samples, including all oil samples, have been investigated for biomarker composition. Middle Jurassic strata are rich in organic matter (average: 4.19 wt. %) and reach TOC contents of up to 14.98 wt. %. However, HI values are low, typically around 100 mg HC/g TOC, and only reach a maximum of 242 mg HC/g TOC, indicating dominance of gas-prone, Type III kerogen. Tmax values as well as random vitrinite reflectance measurements for the Mosty-2 (434 °C; 0.69–0.71 % Rr), Korolyn-6 (443 °C; 0.78–0.82 % Rr) and Korolyn-2 (448 °C; 0.85–0.90 % Rr) wells indicate that thermal maturity increases with depth from marginally mature to mature, suggesting that hydrocarbon generation may have occurred. However, biomarker data suggests no genetic link between these rocks and Upper Jurassic oils, as C27–C28–C29 sterane distributions, Pr/Ph ratios, DBT/Phenanthrene ratios and isotope data display significant differences between the two. New geochemical data, along with published biomarker data on Upper Jurassic rocks and crude oils belonging to the same oil family as the Upper Jurassic oils in the Ukrainian Carpathians, showed that Upper Jurassic rocks from the Korolyn-6 well present a better fit and are the source for the analysed oils.


Background Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk can be underestimated in HIV-infected patients receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART). Novel CVD risk markers in this population are needed. We hypothesized that eicosanoid metabolite production is increased with metabolic complications of ART. Our objective was to determine relationships between urine eicosanoids and traditional CVD risk factors in a cohort of HIV-infected persons receiving ART. Methods Cross-sectional analysis of 107 individuals from a prospective cohort study with urine eicosanoids (isoprostane [15-F2t-IsoP], prostaglandin-E metabolite [PGE-M], thromboxane metabolite [11dTxB2], prostacyclin metabolite [PGI-M]) determined by gas or liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. Results 15-F2t-IsoP was higher (P=0.003), 11dTxB2 tended to be higher (P=0.07) and PGE-M was lower (P=0.003) in females than in males. The overall median Framingham score was 4 (IQR 1–7). In multivariable analyses adjusting for age, CD4+ T-cells, smoking status, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use, aspirin use and body mass index (BMI), associations included: higher 15-F2t-IsoP with female sex (P=0.004) and current smoking (P=0.04), lower PGE-M with female sex (P=0.005) and higher BMI (P=0.03), higher 11dTxB2 with increasing age (P=0.02) and current smoking (P=0.04), lower 11dTxB2 with higher BMI (P=0.02), and higher PGI-M with current smoking (P=0.04). Conclusions In this pilot study of predominantly virologically suppressed HIV-infected individuals on ART, there were sex-specific differences in urinary eicosanoids, with females having more risk-associated parameters despite a low Framingham score. Eicosanoids might be useful CVD biomarkers in ART-treated, HIV-infected patients. Future studies should examine eicosanoids while assessing effects of specific ART regimens and targeted interventions on CVD outcomes.


Abstract The Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC) is a national program that aims to improve the quality and outcomes of palliative care in Australia. This is achieved via a standardised clinical language that supports a national data collection. This report provides a high level profile of 5,588 patients who received palliative care in NSW and ACT during July to December 2018 and had their pain, symptom, family / carer and psychological / spiritual issues assessed as part of routine clinical care. A


INTRODUCTION
Since the beginning of miniscrews as orthodontic anchorage, many applications have been described in the literature. Among these, one is the uprighting of mesially inclined molars. In regard to the mechanical aspects, however, there is little information about the application of orthodontic forces using such devices.

OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to describe a miniscrew supported spring for uprighting of mesially inclined molars. With this device, one can achieve the correct use of orthodontic biomechanics, thus favoring more predictable tooth movements and preventing unwanted movements from occurring.