OBJECTIVE: To determine the common types of injuries among children (0-14 years) in Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates (UAE). DESIGN: A retrospective descriptive hospital based study. SETTING: Al-Ain Medical District, Al-Ain Teaching Hospital, UAE. SUBJECTS: All patients aged 0-14 years seen at Al-Ain Teaching Hospital for injuries during 1994. RESULTS: The number of children with an injury who attended the emergency room was 16,518 (69.9% boys; 30.1% girls). Injury rates were higher among non-UAE nationals. The most frequent reason for hospital admission was poisoning (41%). In the age group < 5 years, the most common causes were falls, blunt trauma, and burns or scalds, while in the 5-9 year and in 10-14 year groups the most frequent cause was road traffic accidents (RTAs). Fights and sporting injuries were also seen frequently in children aged 10-14 years. CONCLUSION: Injury rates were higher in boys and RTAs mostly occurred in children over 10 years. The majority of cases (56%) occurred among non-UAE nationals, who are usually of lower socio-economic status. RECOMMENDATION: Injuries can be prevented by developing strategies to substantially increase the profile of health education to parents and children, by educating policy makers and health professionals, and by environmental modification, legislation, and enforcement. The UAE government can play an important part by establishing and supporting injury prevention programs with these goals.


Interfacial instability is a fundamental issue in heterostructures ranging from biomaterials to joint replacement and electronic packaging. This challenge is particularly intriguing for lithium ion battery anodes comprising silicon as the ion storage material, where ultrahigh capacity is accompanied by vast mechanical stress that threatens delamination of silicon from the current collectors at the other side of the interface. Here, we describe Si-beaded carbon nanotube (CNT) strings whose interface is controlled by chemical functionalization, producing separated amorphous Si beads threaded along mechanically robust and electrically conductive CNT. In situ transmission electron microscopy combined with atomic and continuum modeling reveal that the chemically tailored Si-C interface plays important roles in constraining the Si beads, such that they exhibit a symmetric "radial breathing" around the CNT string, remaining crack-free and electrically connected throughout lithiation-delithiation cycling. These findings provide fundamental insights in controlling nanostructured interfaces to effectively respond to demanding environments such as lithium batteries.


U-Pb analyses of four fractions of zircon from felsic volcanic rocks in the upper part of the Uwharrie Formation plot on a concordia diagram along a chord between 586 and 340 m.y. These data indicate an Early Cambrian or late Precambrian age of 586 ± 10 m.y. for deposition of the upper part of the Uwharrie. The lower concordia intercept at 340 m.y. might represent a time of episodic lead loss, perhaps indicating Acadian metamorphism in the area. However, all data points cluster near the upper concordia intercept, and the lower intercept is not accurately defined. A continuous lead-loss model cannot be ruled out. The zircon ages from the Uwharrie show that in central North Carolina the conformable volcanic and sedimentary sequence ranges from rocks older than 586 m.y. up to beds about 552 m.y. old containing probable Middle Cambrian trilobites. This contrasts with relations reported from the Roxboro-Durham area to the northeast, where a similar volcanic and sedimentary sequence with a 620 ± 20–m.y. zircon age was folded and faulted by the Virgilina deformation before emplacement of a 575 ± 20–m.y.-old pluton. The events of the Roxboro-Durham area can be correlated with those of central North Carolina in three possible ways that are consistent with the radiometric and fossil data: (1) The stratigraphic sequences of the two areas are partly correlative. The Virgilina deformation was synchronous with deposition of the upper part of the central North Carolina sequence, but the deformation did not extend into the central North Carolina area. (2) The stratigraphic sequences of the two areas are correlative, and the Virgilina deformation was younger than the central North Carolina sequence but was weak or absent in that area. (3) The central North Carolina sequence is entirely younger than the Virgilina deformation, and the volcanic rocks may represent an extrusive phase of the plutonism of the Roxboro-Durham area. Interpretation 1 is preferred because it harmonizes best with both lithologic correlations and ages. Interpretation 2 offers the poorest agreements as to age, and interpretation 3 conflicts with the suggested lithologic correlation of the two stratigraphic sequences.


Pakistan is suffering from shortage of surface
 supplies, which is being overcome by the conjunctive use of good
 quality ground water for growing cereals in irrigated areas and
 use of sewage/ industrial effluents for raising vegetables in city
 conurbations. The farmers get good vegetable yields with sewage
 water as it contains large amount of organic matter and plant
 nutrients. However, sewage also contains some metals which could be
 potentially toxic for biological life. The amount of each metal
 accumulated in plant depends on the quality of sewage used for
 irrigation. The metals which have been identified in sewage include
 chromium, cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, zinc, cobalt, magnesium,
 iron and arsenic.
 This study was carried out in Rawalpindi area with the objective to
 quantify the heavy metal accumulation in different vegetables and
 soils irrigated with sewage. Study was carried out in two different
 stages. In the first stage, field survey was carried out during 2003
 and2004. During this survey, water samples from different irrigation
 sources such as tubewells, wells, minidams and sewage were
 collected. Vegetable leaf samples and soil samples (0-30 cm depth)
 were obtained from the fields from where water samples were
 collected. The collected samples were processed following standard
 procedures and were analysed for lead, cadmium, chromium and nickel.
 After the survey work, three experimental sites having good quality
 tubewell water and sewage were selected in Taxila, Rawalpindi and
 Gujar Khan area. In the second stage,
 field experiments on the selected sites were conducted in Rabi, 2004
 and Kharif, 2005. At each site, three treatments were tested viz, T1
 = sewage irrigation, T2 = sewage and tubewell irrigation
 alternativeely, T3 = tubewell irrigation. Each treatment was
 replicated thrice following two factor factorial design. The plot
 size was 10 x 5 meter square. Cauliflower was sown in august, 2004
 and spinach was sown in November, 2004. Okra and squash were sown in
 march, 2005. Each field was irrigated with measured quantity of
 water depending upon their crop water requirements. Water samples
 were collected before irrigation. Soil samples were collected from
 0-30, 30-60 and 60-90 cm depth before and after each season. Leaves
 samples were collected after 30, 60 and 90 days and fruit samples
 were collected after 90 days of crop germination. The collected
 soil, water and plant samples were analyzed for lead, cadmium,
 chromium and nickel along with zinc, iron, copper and manganese.
 The survey data showed variation in heavy metals concentration of
 different water sources. All water samples for lead were within safe
 limits. Heavy metals in tubewell irrigated vegetables were below the
 safe limits and in sewage and industrial effluents irrigated
 vegetables were above the safe limits. Heavy metals in soil samples
 irrigated with different water sources were below the critical
 levels.
 The field experimental data showed that due to sewage application,
 lead and copper contents were much higher in leaves of spinach,
 leaves and fruits of cauliflower, okra and
 squash as compared to tubewell irrigation at Taxila, Gujjar Khan and
 Rawalpindi sites.Cadmium accumulation in all the vegetables
 irrigated with sewage at all the three sites were also much higher
 as compared to tubewell irrigation, but found less than lead and
 higher than chromium. Like all the heavy metals, nickel showed the
 similar trend for its accumulation in all the vegetables. The
 accumulations of all metals in vegetables irrigated with alternate
 treatment were even lower than those irrigated with sewage and
 higher than tubewell irrigation. Similarly, heavy metals
 accumulation in soil and vegetables were maximum at Taxila site, as
 the sewage used for irrigation was more contaminated as compared to
 other sites.


New Zealand is both an Annex I Party to the UNFCCC, and an Annex B country of the Kyoto Protocol. By ratifying the latter, NZ has committed to reduce greenhouse gas emission to 1990 levels. The country should take domestic actions and can also use any of the Kyoto Protocol flexible mechanisms. Afforestation and reforestation on low carbon density land has been recognised as a carbon sink and hence a possible mitigation option for climate change. The current situation for New Zealand is that at least over the first commitment period (2008-2012) the country is in deficit, because emissions have continued to grow over the 1990 level, there is an increase in the deforestation rate and lower rates of new planting. The objective of this study is to analyse the potential of the New Zealand forest sector as an integrated system to mitigate climate change. It also analyses the impact of different mechanisms on potential area of new land planting, management of stands, and the supply, allocation, and demand of wood, and wood products. The New Zealand forest industry carbon balance (i.e net atmospheric exchange minus emissions) is modelled for different national estate scenarios, log allocation of harvested volume and residues used for bioenergy. The net present value of these scenarios is estimated and the economic viability assessed. The level of incentives needed to increase the returns to an economically viable level is estimated in term of carbon unit value ($/tC). Moreover the land use economics at a project level (land market value vs land expectation value) is assessed. Incentives needed in monetary terms and carbon value are also estimated. The implications of discounting carbon benefits are discussed. It was found that the carbon balance of the whole industry should be analysed for policy development on climate change mitigation options. New planting, longer rotation ages, avoiding deforestation, and allocating additional harvested volume to sawmills showed positive impact to the atmosphere. New planting appeared to be not economically viable, thus incentives are needed. It is acknowledged that, there are emissions from the sector that were not included, and that data and models used need further research to improve the


Significant γ-ray pulsations have been detected from ∼40 millisecond pulsars (MSPs) using 3 years of sky-survey data from the Fermi LAT and radio timing solutions from across the globe. We have fit the radio and γ-ray pulse profiles of these MSPs using geometric versions of slot gap and outer gap γ-ray emission models and radio cone and core models. For MSPs with radio and γ-ray peaks aligned in phase we also explore low-altitude slot gap γ-ray models and caustic radio models. The best-fit parameters provide constraints on the viewing geometries and emission sites. While the exact pulsar magnetospheric geometry is unknown, we can use the increased number of known γ-ray MSPs to look for significant trends in the population which average over these uncertainties.


A functional central nervous system (CNS) is composed of numerous types of neurons. Neurons are derived from a limited number of multipotent neural stem cells. Previous studies have suggested three major strategies nature uses to diversify neurons: lineage identity specification that gives an individual neural stem cell distinct identity based on its position in the developing CNS; temporal identity specification that gives neurons derived from a neural stem cell distinct identities based on their birth-order within the lineage; and binary cell fate specification that gives different identities to the two sister postmitotic neurons derived from the terminal division of a common precursor. Through the combination of the three strategies, almost unlimited neuron types can be generated. To understand neuronal diversification, we have to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms of each of the three strategies. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster , has been an excellent model for studying neuronal diversity, mainly due to its easily traceable nervous system and an impressive collection of genetic tools. Studies in fly have provided us fundamental insights into lineage identity, temporal identity, and binary cell fate specifications. Nevertheless, previous studies mostly centered on the embryonic ventral nerve cord (VNC) because of its simpler organization. Our understanding of the generation of neuronal diversity in the fly brain is still rudimentary. In this thesis work, I focused on the mushroom body (MB) and three antennal lobe neuronal lineages, studying their neuronal diversification during postembryonic brain development. In Chapter I, I reviewed the previous studies that have built our current understanding of the neuronal diversification. In Chapter II, I showed that MB temporal identity changes are instructed by environmental cues. In Chapter III, to search for the potential factors that mediate the environmental control of the MB temporal identity changes, I silenced each of the 18 nuclear receptors (NRs) in the fly genome using RNA interference. Although I did not identify any NR important for the regulation of MB temporal identities, I found that unfulfilled is required for regulating axon guidance and for the MB neurons to acquire all major subtype-specific identities. In Chapter IV, I demonstrated that the Notch pathway and its antagonist Numb mediate binary cell fate determination in the three classical antennal lobe neuronal lineages— anterodorsal projection neuron (adPN), lateral antennal lobe (lAL), and ventral projection neuron (vPN)—in a context-dependent manner. Finally, in Chapter V, I did detailed lineage analysis for the lAL lineage, and identified four classes of local interneurons (LNs) with multiple subtypes innervating only the AL, and 44 types projection neurons (PNs) contributing to olfactory, gustatory, and auditory neural circuits. The PNs and LNs were generated simultaneously but with different tempos of temporal identity specification. I also showed that…


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With over 3 Million users/developers, Spring Framework is the leading out of the box Java framework. Spring addresses and offers simple solutions for most aspects of your Java/Java EE application development, and guides you to use industry best practices to design and implement your applications. The release of Spring Framework 3 has ushered in many improvements and new features. Spring Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach, Second Edition continues upon the bestselling success of the previous edition but focuses on the latest Spring 3 features for building enterprise Java applications. This book provides elementary to advanced code recipes to account for the following, found in the new Spring 3: Spring fundamentals: Spring IoC container, Spring AOP/ AspectJ, and more Spring enterprise: Spring Java EE integration, Spring Integration, Spring Batch, jBPM with Spring, Spring Remoting, messaging, transactions, scaling using Terracotta and GridGrain, and more. Spring web: Spring MVC, Spring Web Flow 2, Spring Roo, other dynamic scripting, integration with popular Grails Framework (and Groovy), REST/web services, and more. This book guides you step by step through topics using complete and real-world code examples. Instead of abstract descriptions on complex concepts, you will find live examples in this book. When you start a new project, you can consider copying the code and configuration files from this book, and then modifying them for your needs. This can save you a great deal of work over creating a project from scratch! What youll learn How to use the IoC container and the Spring application context to best effect. Springs AOP support, both classic and new Spring AOP, integrating Spring with AspectJ, and load-time weaving. Simplifying data access with Spring (JDBC, Hibernate, and JPA) and managing transactions both programmatically and declaratively. Springs support for remoting technologies (RMI, Hessian, Burlap, and HTTP Invoker), EJB, JMS, JMX, email, batch, scheduling, and scripting languages. Integrating legacy systems with Spring, building highly concurrent, grid-ready applications using Gridgain and Terracotta Web Apps, and even creating cloud systems. Building modular services using OSGi with Spring DM and Spring Dynamic Modules and SpringSource dm Server. Delivering web applications with Spring Web Flow, Spring MVC, Spring Portals, Struts, JSF, DWR, the Grails framework, and more. Developing web services using Spring WS and REST; contract-last with XFire, and contractfirst through Spring Web Services. Springs unit and integration testing support (on JUnit 3.8, JUnit 4, and TestNG). How to secure applications using Spring Security. Who this book is for This book is for Java developers who would like to rapidly gain hands-on experience with Java/Java EE development using the Spring framework. If you are already a developer using Spring in your projects, you can also use this book as a referenceyoull find the code examples very useful.


Jordan is deemed as one of the least water-endowed regions in the world. The acute water shortage, accompanied with changing climatic conditions have necessitated the increasing use of treated wastewater (TWW), predominantly in irrigated agriculture sector. This is especially true with the upper Zarqa River. The ample supply of TWW resources can be found there; paradoxically, the practical implementation of TWW reuse is hindered by the enforcement of irrigation water quality standard, compounding pressure on the dwindling groundwater resources. In light of the large potential source of TWW, this study aims to supply knowledge on maximizing the safe reuse of TWW while minimizing the environmental impacts within the local environment of the upper Zarqa River. A SWOT analysis was conducted to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of TWW reuse for agriculture in the local context. In recognition of the projected growth in the treated effluent to more than 135 MCM in the coming ten years, and how it would affect the water use on the study region, several plausible development scenarios were proposed based on expected developments on the ground. Considering the vital role of TWW in sustaining multiple ecosystem services, this study addresses the need to review current standard, encourages managed aquifer recharge with TWW, recommends crops type modification, and enhances knowledge on suitable practices at farm level. Each of these factors is needed in order to deliver a range of ecosystem services to sustain the local rural communities and to advance them in the face of profound challenges, thereby leading to its stability and increased productivity.


In recent years, a number of studies have been performed to assess the damages caused by biofouling, which is simply the attachment of organisms to a surface in contact with water for a period of time. This explanation sounds fairly straightforward, but there are several organisms that cause biofouling, many different types of affected surfaces, and therefore many solutions dealing with this problem. Regarding the marine renewable energy emerging and promising area of research, this paper aims to provide a critical review of the biofouling issue in the context of Marine Renewable Energy Converters (MRECs). The proposed review will specifically highlight biofouling impacts on MRECs and solutions to prevent fouling. In addition, a discussion will highlight challenges that MRECs market needs to undertake to overcome the biofouling problem. Keywords—Marine renewable energy converters, biofouling, corrosion, microorganisms, marine environment.


This new edition of the definitive Pascal reference updates the text with the most recent revisions of the ISO Pascal standard, performed by working Group 2 of the ISO community, since the standard was formally approved in 1983. This reversion of the ISO standard resolved differences between it and the American (ANSI) standard, and these as well as other changes are subsequently reflected in this new edition. It should be noted that in 1984 the third edition of this book was modified with respect to the standard while retaining the readability and elegance which originally set it apart from the standard. This book consists of two parts: The User Manual, and the Revised Report. The User Manual is directed to those who have some familiarity with computer programming, and who wish to get acquainted with the language Pascal. The style of the User Manual is that of a tutorial, and many examples are included to demonstrate the various features of Pascal. Summarizing tables and syntax specifications are among the Appendices. the Report serves as the ultimate, concise reference for both programmers and implementors. It describes Standard Pascal which constitutes a common base between various implementations of the language.


Multivariate clustering in astrophysics is a recent development justified by the bigger and bigger surveys of the sky. The phylogenetic approach is probably the most unexpected technique that has appeared for the unsupervised classification of galaxies, stellar populations or globular clusters. On one side, this is a somewhat natural way of classifying astrophysical entities which are all evolving objects. On the other side, several conceptual and practical difficulties arize, such as the hierarchical representation of the astrophysical diversity, the continuous nature of the parameters, and the adequation of the result to the usual practice for the physical interpretation. Most of these have now been solved through the studies of limited samples of stellar clusters and galaxies. Up to now, only the Maximum Parsimony (cladistics) has been used since it is the simplest and most general phylogenetic technique. Probabilistic and network approaches are obvious extensions that should be explored in the future.


This research study seeks to understand the nature of organisational change with respect to offshore outsourcing of information technology services in a multinational pharmaceutical company, and to examine the effectiveness of approaches used to manage this change so that lessons may be drawn from these experiences. Despite the abundant literature on effective organisational change management, the key factors that need to be managed properly at different stages of the offshore outsourcing process are not well understood. The research adopts a processual view to paint a broad picture of the issues involved in these different stages. A generic process model of change, based on the review of the change literature, was first developed to represent how change was intended to occur. This model focuses on the following four stages in the change process: context, diagnosis and planning, implementation, and institutionalisation. The research employs an interpretive case study approach and draws on fieldwork from three independent information systems departments (cases) of the company, where offshore outsourcing programmes were implemented. Qualitative data from semi- structured interviews, direct observation and document analysis are analysed by applying the generic process model to produce a detailed account of the way in which change was managed in the case organisations. The findings reveal that a combination of contextual factors, both external and internal to the company, influenced the adoption and use of offshore outsourcing in the case organisations. Externally, the economic forces were found to be the main catalyst for the change, while internally the role of the executive leadership and the lack of internal resources further explain the motivations behind the adoption of offshore outsourcing. The study illustrates that achieving successful outcomes from offshore outsourcing activities critically depends on the organisation adequately addressing a number of factors, such as conveying a sense of urgency, developing and communicating the vision, identifying the benefits of change and how they will be delivered, generating short-term wins, providing education and training, developing a fit between the change and organisational culture, etc., throughout the change process. The findings also highlight the effects of offshore outsourcing on the case organisations, including change in job roles and responsibilities and organisational learning activities that enable corrective actions to improve change management efforts. An important contribution of this research is the development of a model providing a more comprehensive understanding of the change process associated with the implementation of offshore IT outsourcing. Recommendations for policy makers and change managers to improve change management practice based on the research findings, as well as recommendations for further research, form a significant part of the conclusions.


There is nothing trivial about illicit consumption in contemporary societies. While cultural capital can play a significant role in structuring social mobility, the desire to acquire goods, whether legitimately or illegitimately, has a direct and obvious link to a widespread business crime of Theft from Stores (TFS). Thus far, over time, and throughout society, TFS has flourished in our consumer-focused society, and while it has been on the increase in recent years, it has received relatively limited attention in the research literature. Evidence mainly showed that TFS is extremely widespread, and is not just restricted to the store from which "goods" are stolen or where criminal loss is caused, and it often affects society as a whole. This commonly committed crime has seldom been researched from the viewpoint of victims, and the means of considering the publics reactions and attitudes towards such phenomenon was of importance in this study. Previous research has argued that causal societal response might pinpoint an alternative way of tackling criminality and thus develop better effective strategies to confront and reduce TFS. Using attributions to understand the effects of causal explanations on respondent's reactions was this study's methodological standpoint. This study ground its discussion on the structural reaction of the causal explanatory nature through the eyes of the victimized "key stakeholders" perceptions, by linking attitude research and TFS research. Thus, the purpose of this study was to develop more insights into how lay attitude toward the potential causes of TFS in general concur with, or differ from research accounts. Another important aspect of this study was to simplify the data and construct those reactions into specific domains that influence the formation of their attitudes toward the causes. Attitudes were measured by an attributional style design. The results of the study indicate the following: (1) lay attitudes varied between different backgrounds, and (2) a structural pattern underlying the formation of those attitudes towards the causes of TFS. Overall, the results captured belief values of seven specific goal-directed strategic domains that had found support on evolutionary reasoning and understanding. The identification of those seven factors formed the structural framework of the lay attributes that reflect to domain-specific social psychological mechanisms, which have evolved to deal with the unique complexities of contemporary demands, and thus are selected for very specific goals and their attendant strategies. This study argues that the origins why some people might want to commit an offence of so-called "shoplifting" or "consumer theft", and serves an evolutionary psychology (EP) purpose, since results suggest that there are very clear ancient behaviours still at work here in our current consumer-obsessed environment. Overall, it makes sense in our consumer-obsessed cultures that so many people steal, since results reveal that such reasoning can take information a step further. More than just a means of acquisition, TFS allows people to immediately experience of other symbolic values through strategic solutions likely to be successful for human survival. Where resources are scarce, accruing "goods" illicitly form stores can help both males and females ensure they have the means they need to successfully pass on their genes to the next generation. This study followed the beliefs and desires created in "us" by"our" psychological mechanisms to explain those numerous conditional and circumstantial sought causes that compel people to accumulate resources by stealing. This study provides theoretical and practical contributions, given that TFS has not been surveyed before in such an exploratory research style. The discovery of the underlying goal-directed strategic effort that arouse from this study's factorial structure, will constitute central implications for further TFS research, and may also facilitate methodological advances.


In this paper, I will be looking at the practice of walking through the lens of rhythmanalysis. The method is brought to attention by Lefebvre's last book Rhythmanalysis (2004) in which he suggests a way of interrelating space and time; a phenomenological inquiry hinged on the concrete experience of lived life. My interest in the nuance of walking was initially evoked by the structural film Fergus Walking which was made by the film maker William Raban in 1978. I will explore the potential of using structural films in sensitising us to the temporalspatial relationship of things. The main body of the paper centres around two themes: Firstly I address the primacy of movement as a mode of engaging with the world. It is through 'muscular consciousness' (Bachelard 1964: 11) that walking becomes a form of experiential knowing, feeling, connecting and protesting. Secondly, I examine the practices of walking in relation to the radical transformations of the Docklands' landscape since the beginning of the 1980s. I propose that the contesting interests of different groups can be explored by analysing the rhythmic interactions of their activities. The transition and recomposition of an economy from locally based industrial activities to globalised financial services were manifested in the syncopation of regeneration rhythms to the living rhythms of the Docklands. The fast changing urban landscapes were negotiated through alternative ways of navigating the streets, hence engendering a different set of rhythms.


There is myriad research that explores the nature of marketing generally, and more specifically within SME (small to medium sized enterprise) contexts. Most of this research, however, focuses upon orthodox and relational marketing. Recently, it has also been argued that the literature fails to pay adequate attention to the role that critical studies might take in helping to understand marketing. Moreover, qualitative approaches to researching SME marketing have recently gained favour. This thesis takes the opportunity to employ a qualitative approach to researching SME marketing while at the same time exploring the implications for education, training and development (ETD). This research explored how the subjective individual can make sense of particular social arenas. Adopting a social constructivist approach involving the researcher and participants, this research offers some clarity to the SME marketing ETD context. To illuminate new ways of seeing, this research looked to both SME and ETD participants to be part of a study located in the North East of England. The study employed a semi-structured interview that, when transcribed, provided research texts that were then analysed through a Discourse Analysis lens. This allowed discourses to emerge from the texts that illuminated aspects of marketing in a SME context, as well as aspects of ETD. It is clear from the research that the extant nature of orthodox marketing's central model, known as the 4Ps, is for the SME participants obvious and in the background. For the ETD participants this model is still central to how they see marketing ETD for SMEs in their role as educators, trainers and developers. However both SME and ETD perspectives include relational components, particularly networking. Critical components, in the light of Critical Theory and the turbulent business environment, can also be seen in the discourses of this thesis. The standpoints that the participants of this study combine, adapt, juxtapose or shape to fit conditions to their everyday lives, were exposed. The research texts contain metaphoric and other references that negotiate key tensions leading to confrontation and resistance to the dominant orthodox marketing form. This thesis explores the ways that participants use marketing-related discourse to inscribe their behaviours in a complex ideological system, immersed in social worlds. Marketing realities are found to be more critical than at first assumed. A schema is developed that portrays the relationships between these actors and this social arena. I therefore assess themes that emerge from the narratives of participants and within each theme discourses are used to describe participants' world views. This thesis provides a new way of seeing marketing and develops the relational, orthodox and critical (ROC) schema of SME marketing, applied to ETD. This schema informs thinking on a range of issues such as flows of information, relationships, network coordination and specific competencies. The schema should be considered carefully before the design and delivery of any form of SME marketing ETD programme and any materials are devised. The findings of this thesis suggest that the ROC schema is potentially applicable to other marketing contexts.


The three-dimentional plant canopy architecture is often characterized using the foliage clumping index useful for ecological and land surface modeling. In this paper, an algorithm is developed to retrieve the foliage clumping index with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) parameter product (MCD43A1), which is generated using the RossThick-LiSparse Reciprocal (Ross-Li) model. First, the Ross-Li model is modified to improve the simulation of the reflectance at hotspot using the Polarization and Directionality of Earth Reflectance measurements as benchmarks to determine BRDF parameters. Then, the modified model (Ross-Li-H) is used to simulate the reflectance at hotspot and darkspot, which is used to calculate the normalized difference between hotspot and darkspot (NDHD). With the relationship between clumping index and NDHD simulated by the 4-Scale geometrical model, the clumping index over China's landmass at 500-m resolution is retrieved every 8 days during the period from 2003 to 2008. Finally, The effect of topography on the retrieved clumping index is corrected using a topographic compensation function calculated from the digital elevation model at 90-m resolution. The topographically corrected clumping index values correlate well with field measurements at five sites over China, indicating the feasibility of the algorithm for retrieving the clumping index from the MCD43A1 product.


Background: Stroke is a chronic disease that requires stroke survivors to be supported long-term by their families. This is especially because of the inaccessibility to post-stroke rehabilitation outside hospitals. The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis and the pandemic restrictions in Malaysia are expected to exponentially increase the demand from family caregivers in supporting stroke survivors. Thus, this study aims to explore the burden, experience, and coping mechanism of the family caregivers supporting stroke survivors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology: A phenomenological qualitative study was conducted from November 2020 to June 2021 in Malaysia. A total of 13 respondents were recruited from two public rehabilitation centers in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. In-depth interviews were conducted with the participants. Comprehensive representation of perspectives from the respondents was achieved through purposive sampling. The interviews were conducted in the Kelantanese dialect, recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Three themes on burdens and experiences were identified. They were worsening pre-existing issues, emerging new issues, and fewer burdens and challenges. Two themes on coping strategies were also identified. They were problem-focused engagement and emotion-focused engagement. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the entire system of stroke management. While family caregivers mostly faced the extra burden through different experiences, they also encountered some positive impacts from the pandemic. The integrated healthcare system, especially in the era of digitalization, is an important element to establish the collaborative commitment of multiple stakeholders to compensate burden and sustain the healthcare of stroke survivors during the pandemic.


After an extensive introductory chapter (Chapter I), in which the background and the aim of the research is dealt with, the hydrothermal synthesis and the characterization of Na-beidellite is discussed in Chapter II and III. The conditions of temperature, water pressure, and sodium activity under which Na-beidellite can be synthesized in the chemical system Na₂0-AI₂0₃-Si0₂-H₂0 are investigated in Chapter IV. The stability field is limited at low temperatures by the formation of kaolinite and at high temperatures by that of paragonite and quartz. In Chapter V solid-state magic-angle spinning 23Na NMR combined with XRD and TGA is used to study the interlayer collapse and the migration of sodium present at the interlayer during dehydration of synthetic Na-beidellite. It is shown that the Na+ surrounded by two water molecules is relocated in the hexagonal cavities of the tetrahedral sheet. The low-temperature synthesis of ammonium-saponites is considered in Chapter VI, while solid-state 27AI NMR combined with 29Si I\lMR provides evidence for the presence of AI at the octahedral and the interlayer sites as dealt with in Chapter VII. In Chapter VIII a model is developed for the crystallization of saponite based on the hydrothermal synthesis of ammonium-saponite at increasing periods of aging time. Chapter IX discusses the synthesis of Mg-saponites using gels containing different competing cations. Since the preparation of AI pillaring agents is highly important in the preparation of pillared clays, much work has been devoted to the study of the forced hydrolysis of AI³⁺. Chapter X to XV are dealing with NMR studies of the aqueous chemistry of AI³⁺. Chapter X to XIII concentrate on the formation, thermal stability, and aging of monomeric, oligomeric, and tridecameric A1³⁺ species during forced hydrolysis. In Chapter XIII direct evidence based on NMR line broadening data for the existence of the [AI(OH)₂] + species is provided. The aging of the tridecameric AI complex in partly hydrolyzed AI-sec-butoxide solutions and the reaction to fibrous boehmite are considered in Chapter XIV. Chapter XV and XVI deal with the characterization, thermal stability, and NMR properties of basic AI sulfate resulting from addition of sodium sulfate solution to partly hydrolyzed AI solutions containing the tridecameric AI species, such as described in Chapter X to XIII. Pillaring and thermal treatment of synthetic beidellite and natural montmorillonite is described in Chapter XVII and the catalytic conversion of thiophene over pillared clays into which nickel has been applied in Chapter XVIII. Finally in Chapter XIX some concluding remarks concerning the results obtained in this study and the implications for the applications of (synthetic) clay minerals in catalytic reactions are made


The CUYAHOGA METROPOLITAN HOUSING AUTHORITY (CMHA), the nation's first such organization, was established as the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority in 1933, largely through the efforts of ERNEST J. BOHN, its director until 1968. Also instrumental in the formation of CMHA was Monsignor ROBERT B. NAVIN's survey of a slum neighborhood. An independent public agency regulated by the Ohio Housing Board, CMHA was created as an advisory and coordinating entity to improve housing for low-income families and to eliminate slums. The passage of the U.S. Housing Act in 1937 enabled CMHA to plan, construct, and manage federally subsidized housing facilities, the first units being the Cedar Apartments (Cedar and E. 30th) and the Outhwaite Homes (E. 55th and Outhwaite Ave.). CMHA was granted authority to borrow money, issue bonds and notes, and appropriate property at fair market prices. CMHA provided housing for war workers and their families during World War II, and for returning veterans after 1945. High-rise PUBLIC HOUSING for the elderly, such as the Golden Age Centers, was established in the mid-1950s and praised as a model; this idea later expanded to include family units. High crime statistics, charges of racial discrimination, and the Federal Housing Act of 1968 initiated changes in CMHA's approach. Tenant organizations requested more social-service programs and safer living conditions. The Housing Act provided for the rehabilitation of single-family units as scatter-site housing. In 1971, emphasizing a broader service area, the organization changed its name to the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority. A board of 5 unpaid members governs CMHA. Following the passage of the Federal Housing Act of 1974, CMHA has administered the "Section Eight Program," which allows selected families to choose their own housing throughout the county. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, scandals and financial and administrative problems plagued the agency, while crime in public housing continued to make headlines. In 1989 CMHA was located at 1441 W. 25th St. In 1990 federal Dept. of Housing and Urban Development officials considered CMHAs bookkeeping procedures, centralizing operations, and increasing the occupancy rate to 96%, the CMHA under Freeman introduced two new residential drug treatment programs, Miracle Village and Recovery Village, on the grounds of the Outhwaite Homes in the Cedar Central neighborhood, that served as models for a national HUD initiative. In 1995 the agency was making preliminary plans to build between 450 and 680 new homes throughout the county that would allow more CMHA residents to become homeowners. Ernest J. Bohn Collection, Freiberger Library, CWRU. Navin, Msgr. Robt. B. "An Analysis of a Slum Area in Cleveland."


Abstract.
 The Robsonius ground-warblers are forest birds endemic to the Luzon Island complex in the Philippine archipelago. Their systematic relationships have long remained ambiguous; until recently they were included in the timaliid genus Napothera. Two Robsonius species are currently recognized on the basis of plumage differences: R. rabori from northern Luzon in the Cordillera Central and the northern Sierra Madre, and R. sorsogonensis from southern Luzon and Catanduanes Island. Recent specimen collections, including the first adult specimen from the Cordillera Central, establish plumage differences between populations of R. rabori in the Cordillera Central and Sierra Madre and reveal a third diagnosable population within Luzon. These differences have gone unnoticed because R. rabori (sensu stricto) had been known only from the juvenile holotype. Molecular phylogenetic data further support the hypothesis that three highly divergent taxa occur across the Luzon Island complex: Robsonius rabori is known only from the northern Cordillera Central in Ilocos Norte; an undescribed taxon (formerly included in R. rabori) occurs in the northern Sierra Madre in Cagayan, Isabela, Aurora, and Nueva Vizcaya provinces; and R. sorsogonensis occurs in southern Luzon (Bulacan and Laguna provinces), the Bicol Peninsula, and on Catanduanes Island. The existence of three putatively allopatric species within the Luzon island complex highlights the role of in situ diversification in island systems, and brings attention to the need for forest conservation to protect geographically restricted populations throughout the Luzon Island complex.


The default rules of corporate law make shareholders' control rights a function of their voting power. Whether a director is elected or a merger is approved depends on how shareholders vote. Yet, in private corporations, shareholders routinely alter their rights by contract. This phenomenon of shareholder agreements—contracts among the owners of a firm—has received far less attention than it deserves, mainly because detailed data about the actual contents of shareholder agreements has been lacking. Private companies disclose little, and shareholder agreements are thought to play a trivial or nonexistent role in public companies.

I show that this is false—15% of corporations that go public in recent years do so subject to a shareholder agreement. With this dataset in hand, I show the dramatic extent to which these shareholders redefine their control rights by contract. Shareholders restrict the sale of shares and waive aspects of the duty of loyalty. Above all, however, shareholders use their agreements to bargain with each other over votes for directors, and to bargain with the corporation itself for other control rights, such as vetoes over major corporate actions. In essence, while statutory corporate law makes control rights a function of voting power, shareholder agreements make control rights a function of contract instead, separating voting and control.

Studying this phenomenon raises new questions of doctrine, theory, and empirics that go to foundational issues in corporate law. Is it desirable to let shareholders redesign corporate control rights wholesale by contract? What should be the law that governs their contracts when they do so? I provide a novel account of shareholder agreements' use in public firms, before offering preliminary views on their welfare effects, implications for corporate theory, and on their governing law, which remains strikingly underdeveloped.


The political line in Swedish disability policy advocates the use of generalized solutions in order to fit potential needs of the largest possible group of people and, where needed, special solutions to bridge the remaining gap between the generalized level of accessibility and additional individual needs. This is referred to as the disability perspective (DP). The DP has embraced two tracks: one that pertains to generalized solutions that promote an overall high level of accessibility and usability, and another one that pertains to different types of individual support for people with disabilities. The present study is a self-reflective inquiry on key issues for the development of future disability policies. Five experts entered a discussion about the pros and cons concerning the DP. This confirmed or refuted assumptions, dilemmas, themes as well as reoccurring patterns in the political viva voce procedure that has formed the contemporary disability policy. Over the course of time, the experts believed that the DP had nurtured a belief that there is a dichotomy. This may have created an imbalance in the relation between the DP and policies such as those concerning healthcare and social care. With a clearer focus on interdependence, the experts saw synergies between needs for assistive technology, assistive products and the requirements for the built environment.


This paper examines structural breaks in the vertical price relationships in U.S. beef/cattle and pork/hog sectors using monthly data of the past 40 years. A major methodological issue addressed is how to estimate price relationships when data contain intermittent structural breaks with unknown break dates. The adopted procedures endogenously search for structural break dates while explicitly accounting for this search in statistical inferences. Four breaks for the beef/cattle price relationship and three breaks for the pork/hog price relationship are identified. The estimation results further confirm the importance of allowing for structural breaks in the analysis of vertical price relationships.


Abstract Winter cover crops (CCs) provide soil conservation benefits for strip-tillage tobacco producers, but soil-residual herbicides may interfere with their establishment and growth. Tobacco is planted later than many agronomic crops, but growers often terminate CCs early to minimize CC residue at planting, and this may reduce weed suppression potential. We examined residual herbicide effects on CCs across two seasons and the potential for CC-based weed suppression within strip-tilled tobacco. Mixtures of wheat plus crimson clover and cereal rye plus crimson clover were examined, with a no-CC control. Herbicides included two rates of PRE sulfentrazone (177 or 354 g ai ha–1) plus carfentrazone (20 or 40 g ai ha–1); the higher rate was also followed by POST clomazone (840 g ai ha–1) or mixed with PRE pendimethalin (1,400 g ai ha–1). Controls with no weed management and hand weeding were also included. CC density and biomass were not reduced by weed management (WM) treatments with residual herbicides. However, CCs did not reduce density of annual grasses, small-seeded broadleaves, or perennials in the tilled in-row or untilled between-row zones. Cereal rye plus crimson clover resulted in lower weed biomass at tobacco harvest in the untilled between-row zone in 2017. WM effects were variable between the years, weed groups, and zones. Adding clomazone or pendimethalin was more consistent for reducing weed density and biomass compared to the low rate of sulfentrazone plus carfentrazone. Tobacco yield was unaffected by CCs in 2017 but lower in some WM treatments in 2018. In this study, tobacco herbicides did not interfere with wheat, cereal rye, or crimson clover establishment, but additional research should determine if these results apply to other environments and soil types. However, when these CC species were terminated 5 to 6 wk before transplanting, they did not consistently contribute to weed control. Nomenclature: Carfentrazone; clomazone; pendimethalin; sulfentrazone; cereal rye, Secale cereale L.; crimson clover, Trifolium incarnatum L.; tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum L.; wheat, Triticum aestivum L.


Sinks, disappearing streams, hanging valleys, and natural bridges add a karst-like element to the miniature mountain topography represented in badlands. The Chinle Formation [Triassic] of the Petrified Forest in Arizona largely consists of compact, montmorillonitic and illitic claystones. Sinks in it result from disaggregation of swelling clay minerals rather than solution which affects limestone in true karsts. Ravines whose bottoms are pierced by sinks may develop into hanging valleys because their channels, robbed of surface flow downstream from these swallow holes, cannot keep pace with downcutting in the master drainage to which they are tributary. Growth of the sinks soon creates a disappearing stream that continues to deepen the upstream segment of a ravine. Thus the abandoned downstream segment beyond the sinks, no longer eroded by the stream, develops into a transverse barrier. Where the abandoned channel was initially short, the barrier may be eventually narrowed by weathering and slope erosion to form a natural bridge. Other bridges consist of jumbled material. that has collapsed from steep valley walls, undercut by small stream meanders.


Vessel  length  is  an  important  but  understudied  dimension  of  variation  in  angiosperm  vascular  anatomy. Among other traits, vessel length mediates an important tradeoff between hydraulic efficiency and safety that could  influence  how  plants  respond  to  extreme  weather  with  climate  change.  However,  the  functional significance  of vessel length variation within individual stems is poorly known, in part because existing data analysis methods handle uncertainty in a way that makes vessel length distributions difficult to compare. We provide a solution to this problem through a hierarchical Bayesian framework for estimating vessel lengths and we demonstrate the flexibility of this method by applying it to data from serial cross sections of dye injected stems. Our approach can accelerate data collection and accommodate  associated uncertainties by statistically correcting for bias and error that result from subsampling images. We illustrate our analytical framework by estimating and comparing vessel length distributions for 21 woody species characteristic of a North American forest.  The best-fit  model  corrected  for both bias due to secondary  growth  and sampling  error  within  and among  species.  Vessel  length  estimates  from  this  model  varied  by  almost  an  order  of  magnitude  and parameters  of these  distributions  correlated  with  point  estimates  derived  from  a different,  commonly  used method. Furthermore, we show how key contrasts can be estimated with the Bayesian framework, and in doing so, we show that the shape of the vessel length distribution differed between ring- and diffuse-porous species, suggesting that within-stem vessel length variation corresponds to water stress seasonality and contributes to landscape-level  habitat segregation. Our analysis method revealed the importance of within-stem variation in vessel length, and our results complement work on between-species variation in average vessel length, further illuminating how vascular anatomy can influence woody plants' responses to water stress.


In today's society, we view new as good, a universal standpoint that has become so commonly accepted as true, that to question it would be absurd. While many new items are an upgrade over their predecessor, it is important to understand that used items still retain a high amount of value and efficacy. Our landscape is filled with the mundane, industrial elements that surround us, yet due to our familiarity with them they are pushed to the background of our consciousness. However their commonplace should not mask their true potential value. By using what is already there before us, we will limit our dependence on new materials, as well as begin to diminish our waste. The surplus of idle materials compounded by skyrocketing construction cost has set the stage for a revolutionary change to architecture.
Alternative construction methodologies such as up-cycling will undeniably reconfigure the design spectrum, showcasing an entirely new layer of building materials that exists, while giving us a better understanding of our environment. Up-cycling, is the process of turning waste materials and by-products into new, useful items which will reduce our waste and limit our dependence on virgin materials. These revitalized objects create an undeniable usefulness and practicality with dynamic flexibility, all the while changing our mentality. This inventive language has the capability to dictate the way we view common objects by unveiling a potential transformation of architecture. My aim is to create a center for up-cycling education, a facility that will demonstrate the sustainable practice of re-using materials and found items in an effort to achieve an inventive dialect of sustainability that is affordable.
This center will demonstrate how everyday items can be utilized in an unorthodox manner to become part of our built environment. The unique components of the structure will create dynamic spaces that encourage interaction with building materials while giving us a better understanding of our environment. This resourceful method of sustainability will showcase a potential change to architecture by revealing a new vocabulary of building materials, as well as serve as a comment on our throw away culture. This new theory of devised architecture will not only prove to be beneficial economically, but more importantly it will provide a sensible solution in creating an affordable sustainable environment. The stage is set; we must do more with less.


With this sixth volume The Hogarth Press completes a major literary undertaking - the publication of the complete essays of Virginia Woolf. In this, the last decade of her life, Woolf wrote distinguished literary essays on Turgenev, Goldsmith, Congreve, Gibbon and Horace Walpole. In addition, there are a number of more political essays, such as 'Why Art To-Day Follows Politics', 'Women Must Weep' (a cut-down version of Three Guineas and never before reprinted), 'Royalty' (rejected by Picture Post in 1939 as 'an attack on the Royal family, and on the institution of kingship in this country'), 'Thoughts on Peace in an Air Raid', and even 'America, which I Have Never Seen...' ('['Americans are] the most interesting people in the world - they face the future, not the past'). In 'The Leaning Tower' (1940), Virginia Woolf faced the future and looked forward to a more democratic post-war age: 'will there be no more towers and no more classes and shall we stand, without hedges between us, on the common ground?'. Woolf stimulates her readers to think for themselves, so she 'never forges manifestos, issues guidelines, or gives instructions that must be followed to the letter' (Maria DiBattista). In providing an authoritative text, introduction and annotations to Virginia Woolf's essays, Stuart N. Clarke has prepared a common ground - for students, common readers and scholars alike - so that all can come to Woolf without specialised knowledge.


This work is concerned with the study of
thin structures in Computational Mechanics. This field is
particularly interesting, since together with traditional finite
elements methods (FEM), the last years have seen the development of
a new approach, called discrete differential geometry (DDG). The
idea of FEM is to approximate smooth solutions using polynomials,
providing error estimates that establish convergence in the limit
of mesh refinement. The natural language of this field has been
found in the formalism of functional analysis. On the contrary, DDG
considers discrete entities, e.g., the mesh, as the only physical
system to be studied and discrete theories are being formulated
from first principles. In particular, DDG is concerned with the
preservation of smooth properties that break down in the discrete
setting with FEM. While the core of traditional FEM is based on
function interpolation, usually in Hilbert spaces, discrete
theories have an intrinsic physical interpretation, independently
from the smooth solutions they converge to. This approach is
related to flexible multibody dynamics and finite volumes. In this
work, we focus on the phenomenon of membrane locking, which
produces a severe artificial rigidity in discrete thin structures.
In the case of FEM, locking arises from a poor choice of finite
subspaces where to look for solutions, while in the DDG case, it
arises from arbitrary definitions of discrete geometric quantities.
In particular, we underline that a given mesh, or a given finite
subspace, are not the physical system of interest, but a
representation of it, out of infinitely many. In this work, we use
this observation and combine tools from FEM and DDG, in order to
build a novel discrete shell theory, free of membrane
locking.


OBJECTIVE
To compare risks of maternal and perinatal outcomes by completed week of gestation from 39 weeks in low-risk nulliparous patients undergoing expectant management.

METHODS
We conducted a secondary analysis of a multicenter randomized trial of elective induction of labor at 39 weeks of gestation compared with expectant management in low-risk nulliparous patients. Participants with nonanomalous neonates, who were randomized to and underwent expectant management and attained 39 0/7 weeks of gestation, were included. Delivery gestation was categorized by completed week: 39 0/7-39 6/7 (39 weeks), 40 0/7-40 6/7 (40 weeks), and 41 0/7-42 2/7 (41-42 weeks) (none delivered after 42 2/7). The coprimary outcomes were cesarean delivery and a perinatal composite (death, respiratory support, 5-minute Apgar score 3 or less, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, seizure, sepsis, meconium aspiration syndrome, birth trauma, intracranial or subgaleal hemorrhage, or hypotension requiring vasopressor support). Other outcomes included a maternal composite (blood transfusion, surgical intervention for postpartum hemorrhage, or intensive care unit admission), hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, peripartum infection, and neonatal intermediate or intensive care unit admission. For multivariable analysis, P<.0125 was considered to indicate statistical significance for the coprimary outcomes.

RESULTS
Of 2,502 participants who underwent expectant management, 964 (38.5%) delivered at 39 weeks of gestation, 1,111 (44.4%) at 40 weeks, and 427 (17.1%) at 41-42 weeks. The prevalence of medically indicated delivery was 37.9% overall and increased from 23.8% at 39 weeks of gestation to 80.3% at 41-42 weeks. The frequency of cesarean delivery (17.3%, 22.0%, 37.5%; P<.001) and the perinatal composite (5.1%, 5.9%, 8.2%; P=.03) increased with 39, 40, and 41-42 weeks of gestation, respectively, and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy decreased (16.4%, 12.1%, 10.8%, P=.001). The adjusted relative risk, 95% CI (39 weeks as referent) was significant for cesarean delivery at 41-42 weeks of gestation (1.93, 1.61-2.32) and for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy at 40 weeks (0.71, 0.58-0.88) and 41-42 weeks (0.61, 0.45-0.82). None of the other outcomes were significant.

CONCLUSION
In expectantly managed low-risk nulliparous participants, the frequency of medically indicated induction of labor, and the risks of cesarean delivery but not the perinatal composite outcome, increased significantly from 39 to 42 weeks of gestation.


Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) carries a grim prognosis, with high mortality and morbidity rates. The mortality rate in the first 30 days postrupture is estimated to be in the range of 40 to 50%, and almost half of the survivors will be left with a neurological deficit. Unlike patients with aneurysmal SAH, those with unruptured intracranial aneurysms usually experience no neurological deficit, and their treatment is prophylactic, aiming to reduce the risk of future bleeding and its consequences. The risk of rupture therefore assumes special importance when making decisions regarding which patient or aneurysm to treat. In previous reports the risk of bleeding for unruptured aneurysms has been stated as approximately 2% per year. The retrospective part of the International Study of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms (ISUIA) reported very low annual bleeding rates (0.05-1%) and high surgical morbidity and mortality rates (8-18%), prompting discussion in which the benefits of prophylactic treatment in the majority of these lesions were questioned. Prospective data from the second part of the ISUIA recently included rupture rates ranging from 0 to 10% per year. The aim of this paper was to review the evidence that is currently available for neurosurgeons to use when making decisions regarding patients who would benefit from treatment of an unruptured intracranial aneurysm.


Two modern rose varieties, Floribunda and Hybrid Tea, were used to analyze and identify metabolic changes after foliar application with benzyladenine (BA). Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as metabolites were detected. Two pairs of doses of BA, at 11.16 and 17.87 mg/cm2, and 7.17 and 12.26 mg/cm2 were applied to the foliage of Hybrid Tea and Floribunda, respectively. Sampling time was optimized and treatment duration was 4 weeks. After treatment, the volatiles from the treated and untreated control roses were extracted using headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) technology by three-phase fiber 50/30 µm divinylbenzene/carboxen/polydimethylsiloxane (DVB/CAR/PDMS) and analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) coupled with a flame ionization detector (FID), and with mass spectrometry (GC-MS).The results showed that BA and its dose rate led to metabolic changes of treated roses in comparison with untreated controls. The number of VOCs extracted and detected from leaves, stem, rhizosphere and whole plants from the two rose varieties at doses rate of 17.87 and 12.26 mg/cm2 were 43, 65, 40 and 68 compounds for each plant material, respectively, for both rose varieties. Whilst the VOCs extracted and detected from both rose varieties for leaves, stem, rhizosphere and whole plants were 38, 61, 34 and 66 compounds for each plant material, respectively. The results demonstrate that some volatiles, such as 4-Heptyn-2-ol, Phenyl methyl ether and 3-Methyl-apopinene, increased with increasing doses of BA; these compounds are aroma chemicals with a very powerful smell. This study shows that BA treatments can have a significant effect on metabolite changes in different rose tissues. This method could be applied to other floriculture plants.


This is a forum for perspectives on designing for communities marginalized by economics, social status, infrastructure, or policies. It will discuss design methods, theoretical and conceptual contributions, and methodological engagements for underserved communities. --- Nithya Sambasivan, Editor


The advent of relatively cheap micro-computers in the 1980s has led to major investment in information and communication technology (ICT) for schools. The technology has been developed continually, creating a situation where there may be significant differences between policy and practice. The literature relating to innovation diffusion and the rationale for ICT in school education has concentrated upon effectiveness and teacher professional development. Existing models of development in the area are limited in scope or make ill-founded assumptions. Little work has been done on the question of alignment between policy and practice.
This study used a grounded theory approach to examine the relationships between policy, implementation and underlying models of development. This was done through a process of policy comparison, consultation with experts in the field and case study observations. The methodology used a comparative case study approach at national, school and classroom levels and examined issues such as the nature of development processes for policy in the area, implementation and practice in the use of computers in classrooms, teacher professional development and stages of development as perceived by practitioners. Data were gathered from the United States of America, England, Estonia and Australia from November 1999 to September 2002.
The study found ICT curriculum approaches for students were strongly aligned with a stage of development which emphasised the integration of ICT into existing curricula and current classroom practice. There was poor alignment between overlapping policies for teacher training and student learning outcomes and also between policy and classroom practice. It was confirmed that students generally have better access to computers outside school than within it, a situation largely ignored by policy. It was also found that experts in the field perceived increasing reliance upon generic office software as an outmoded tool approach, and saw ICT as a driver for transformative change in school education. School and classroom observations confirmed that local practice included transformative uses of ICT.
From these findings a general model of stages of development was derived. The model consisted of an introductory Phase 1, where students in school first use computers and information technology becomes a subject choice; an integrative Phase 2, where information and communication technologies are used to enhance learning opportunities in all traditional curriculum subject areas; and a transformative Phase 3, where the curriculum clearly includes topics of study that would not exist without information and communication technologies and schooling for most students no longer fits the traditional group-instruction model.
The model has implications for alignment in policy development based upon a national cross-curriculum framework. It demonstrates the importance for teacher professional development to include training in virtual teaching and the evaluation of digital materials. In particular, there is a need to examine the alignment between conventional learning outcomes, policy and practice when ICT is much more available to students outside school than within.
The study provides guidance for future policies concerning teacher ICT professional development and argues for their alignment with national cross-curriculum frameworks for ICT in school education. It will also be useful for educators training pre-service teachers to use and prepare online digital learning materials. Further, the study also informs school communities about the need to use ICT as a way of linking their institution with student homes and to extend learning opportunities.


Ice storms and resulting injury to tree crowns occur frequently in North America. Reaction of land managers to injury caused by the regional ice storm of January 1998 had the potential to accelerate the harvesting of northern hardwoods due to concern about the future loss of wood production by injured trees. To assess the effect of this storm on radial stem growth, increment cores were collected from northern hardwood trees categorized by crown injury classes. For a total of 347 surviving canopy dominant and subdominant trees, a radial growth index was calculated (mean annual increment for 1998-2000 divided by the mean annual increment for 1995-1997). Sugar maple (Acer sacchrum Marsh.), yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis Britt.), white ash (Fraxinus americana L.), and red maple (Acer rubrum L.) categorized in injury class A (crown loss of less than one-half had mean growth index values of approximately 1.0, indicating no loss of mean radial growth after 3 years. For injury class B (crown loss of one-half to three-quarters) and class C (crown loss greater than three-quarters), growth index values significantly decreased for sugar maple, yellow birch, and red maple. For white ash, growth index values of classes B and C were not significantly different from those of class A trees. Growth index values of A. saccharum and A. rubrum in injury class C were the lowest of those measured. These results indicated that the severity of growth loss due to crown injury depends on tree species and crown replacement as well as the extent of crown loss.


General abstract
Global climate change caused by increased carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases has become one of the most urgent worldwide environmental topics of the 21st century and alleviating climate change has become a core research interest. Forests cover 30% of total global surface and their role in alleviating global climate change has been highlighted because forests act as a continuous carbon sink of 1.9-2.6 Pg C (1 Pg = 1015 g) per year.
China is one of the biggest countries worldwide with large area of forests, and China's forests act as an important role in alleviating climate change. Plantation forests, as one important forest type in China, have reached an area of 61.7 million ha until 2008 due to massive plantation establishment activities in the past several decades, which amount to 29% of the global plantation area. From 1950 to 2011, plantations in China sequestered 1.686 Pg C by net uptake into biomass and soil organic carbon. Therefore, China's plantations have made a considerable contribution to reduce atmospheric carbon. However, the stand quality of plantations is relatively low due to the short rotations and a lack of appropriate management. Mean standing volume in plantations is 49 m3 ha-1, which is much lower than the world average of 130.7 m3 ha-1 according to 7th national forest inventory in China. This suggests a huge potential to increase carbon sequestration in China's plantations through forest management and thereby alleviate future climate change.
To improve the management of China's plantations, the objectives of this thesis, as a case study, were to provide a methodological basis for stand management of Chinese fir plantations and to develop a method to efficiently estimate regional biomass in Shitai County, China in context of carbon forestry. This thesis contains five main chapters that are prepared as manuscripts. Specifically, firstly, the aboveground biomass (AGB, including stem, branch and leaf biomass) and its dynamics were estimated in a Chinese fir plantation (Cunninghamia lanceolata) and a Castanoposis sclerophylla forest using the generalized algebraic difference approach (GADA) and biomass allometric models. GADA models were developed for both Chinese fir and Castanoposis sclerophylla to predict the diameter at any age of each individual tree. Secondly, a compatible taper function based on Fang et al. (2000) and a stand-level merchantable volume model were developed for Chinese fir plantations to estimate merchantable and total volume at the tree- and stand-levels. Thirdly, stand density management diagrams (SDMDs) were proposed to optimize stand management of Chinese fir plantations for different management purposes. Fourthly, soil organic carbon was analysed to examine the effects of land use change from secondary forest to Chinese fir and Moso bamboo plantations on soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N) stocks. Finally, regional biomass was estimated based on inventory data using five different methods, which is expected to contribute to optimize the selection of methods for efficient regional biomass estimation.
This thesis was a part of the Lin4carbon project, which aimed to develop and optimize integrated methodological approaches for the estimation of biomass and carbon stock and improve forest management in China. Forest inventories were conducted to deliver actual estimates of volume, biomass and carbon stock and provide information about the feasibility and costs of sampling and plot designs. To achieve these objectives, three different inventory scales were established: (1) a land use and forest inventory (LUI/FI) that produced information over the whole extent of the sampling frame based on a 3×3 km systematic grid; (2) a forest management inventory (FMI) for those stands with forest management information with a 500×500 m systematic grid, and (3) a stand inventory of selected stands (SI) with a 100×100 m systematic grid. A nested plot design with an inner radius of 6 m and outer radius of 10 m was used. A total of 258 plots were established, 74 of which were dominated by Chinese fir plantations.
In the SI plots, a total of 103 trees of different dominance classes of the five main species were felled for stem analysis and biomass allometric model construction. This included 46 Chinese fir trees. The stems were cut into sections at heights of 0.3 m, 1.3 m, 3 m and 2 m intervals thereafter up to the treetop. Cross-sectional stem discs (about 5 cm thick) were collected at each of these heights, as well as one disc at ground level.
In chapter III, GADA models based on stem analysis of 18 C. lanceolate and 15 C. sclerophylla trees were developed. The application of the GADA model yielded a very good performance in terms of diameter prediction for each individual tree. Combining the allometric models, estimated AGB increased with stand age, increasing from 69.4 ± 7.7 (mean ± standard error) in 2010 to 102.5 ± 11.4 Mg ha-1 in 2013 for Chinese fir plantations, compared to 136.9 ± 7.0 in 2010 to 154.8 ± 8.0 Mg ha-1 in 2013 for C. sclerophylla forests. AGB increment was 10.6 ± 1.2 for 2010-2011, 11.0 ± 1.2 for 2011-2012 and 11.5 ± 1.3 Mg ha-1 a-1 for 2012-2013 for C. lanceolate, respectively. They were significantly higher than those of C. sclerophylla forests with 5.8 ± 0.3, 5.9 ± 0.3 and 6.3 ± 0.4 Mg ha-1 a-1. Stems contributed 76% to total AGB and AGB increment, highlighting the importance of stems in ecosystem biomass stocks. By combining biomass allometric models, stand-level AGB dynamics were successfully estimated, which can contribute to our understanding of net primary production and carbon sequestration dynamics in these forest ecosystems.
Based on a statistical sample of n = 46 non-forked Chinese fir trees, a compatible taper function proposed by Fang et al. (2000) and a stand-level merchantable volume model were developed for Chinese fir plantations in chapter IV. A second-order continuous autoregressive error structure corrected the inherent serial autocorrelation of different observations in a given tree. The taper function and volume equations were fitted simultaneously after autocorrelation correction. The model developed by Fang et al. (2000) fitted the data well and had a very good performance in terms of diameter and individual tree volume prediction. The stand-level merchantable volume equation based on the ratio approach was developed using basal area, dominant height, quadratic mean diameter and top diameter (ranging from 0 to 30 cm) as independent variables. The high correlation between measured and predicted total and merchantable stand volume from this model highlighted the efficiency of stand-level merchantable model in stand-level merchantable volume and total stand volume estimation. Lastly, a total stand-level volume table using stand basal area and dominant height was proposed for local forest managers to simplify the stand volume estimation.
To provide a simple tool that guide the stand management for different management purposes, SDMDs for stand volume, stem biomass and total AGB were developed for Chinese fir plantations in chapter V. The number of the trees per ha was set on the y-axis and dominant height was set on the x-axis, while stand volume, stem biomass or AGB was presented on the isolines. To develop the SDMD, a system of four equations was fitted simultaneously using the data collected from 74 inventory plots. The relative spacing index was used to characterize the growing stock. Two practical examples with the same management target were also proposed to explain the use of SDMD for stand management optimization. The proposed SDMDs can be an easy tool for local forest managers to estimate the stand volume, stem biomass and AGB, and could be a reference to determine optimum thinning schedules. It is an effective planning tool based on relatively low input with reliable data.
Conversion of secondary forests to Chinese fir and Moso bamboo plantations represents an important land use change in subtropical China. The effects of this conversion on soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N) stocks have been examined in chapter VI. Soil samples were collected from six plots in the Castanopsis sclerophylla forest, five plots in the Chinese fir and three plots in the Moso bamboo plantations. Three profiles starting from the north direction, lying at 0°, 120° and 240°, and 3 m from the plot center, were sampled in each plot. Soil samples were collected down to 50 cm in four layers: 0-10 cm, 10-20 cm, 20-30 cm and 30-50 cm. Mineral soil was air-dried at room temperature and sieved through 2-mm and 0.15-mm sieves for total SOC and N concentration analysis. Over 0-50 cm, SOC and N stocks in the secondary forests were significantly higher than those of Chinese fir and Moso bamboo plantations with values of 203.68, 127.34 and 118.25 Mg ha-1 for SOC stock and 9.24, 5.10 and 6.35 Mg ha-1 for N stock. The results indicated that converting the secondary forests to Chinese fir and Moso bamboo plantations significantly decreased the SOC and N stocks at a depth of 0-50 cm. These reductions were associated with prescribed burning, site preparation, belowground metabolism and stand age. Therefore, it is expected that increasing the rotation age (and improving establishment techniques) could not only increase the AGB accumulation, but also increase SOC stock in the Chinese fir plantations.


My thesis explores the effectiveness of software techniques that bend digital abstractions in order to allow embedded systems to do more with less energy. Recent years have witnessed a proliferation of low-power embedded devices with power ranges of few milliwatts to microwatts. The capabilities and size of the embedded systems continue to improve dramatically; however, improvements in battery density and energy harvesting have failed to mimic a Moore's law. Thus, energy remains a formidable bottleneck for low-power embedded systems.
Instead of trying to create hardware with ideal energy proportionality, my dissertation evaluates how to use unconventional and probabilistic computing that bends traditional abstractions and interfaces in order to reduce energy consumption while protecting program semantics. My thesis considers four methods that unleash energy otherwise squandered on communication, storage, time keeping, or sensing: 1) CCCP, which provides an energy-efficient storage alternative to local non-volatile storage by relying on cryptographic backscatter radio communication, 2) Half-Wits, which reduces energy consumption by 30% by allowing operation of embedded systems at below-spec supply voltages and implementing NOR flash memory error recovery in firmware rather than strictly in hardware, 3) TARDIS, which exploits the decay properties of SRAM to estimate the duration of a power failure ranging from seconds to several hours depending on hardware parameters, and 4) Nonsensors, which allow operation of analog to digital converters at low voltages without any hardware modifications to the existing circuitry.


With double hashing, for an item x, one generates two hash values f(x) and g(x), and then uses combinations (f(x) +ig(x)) mod n for i=0,1,2,... to generate multiple hash values from the initial two. We show that the performance difference between double hashing and fully random hashing appears negligible in the standard balanced allocation paradigm, where each item is placed in the least loaded of d choices, as well as several related variants. We perform an empirical study, and consider multiple theoretical approaches. While several techniques can be used to show asymptotic results for the maximum load, we demonstrate how fluid limit methods explain why the behavior of double hashing and fully random hashing are essentially indistinguishable in this context.


Studies of N = 4 super Yang Mills operators with large R-charge have shown that, in the planar limit, the problem of computing their dimensions can be viewed as a certain spin chain. These spin chains have fundamental "magnon" excitations which obey a dispersion relation that is periodic in the momentum of the magnons. This result for the dispersion relation was also shown to hold at arbitrary 't Hooft coupling. Here we identify these magnons on the string theory side and we show how to reconcile a periodic dispersion relation with the continuum worldsheet description. The crucial idea is that the momentum is interpreted in the string theory side as a certain geometrical angle. We use these results to compute the energy of a spinning string. We also show that the symmetries that determine the dispersion relation and that constrain the S-matrix are the same in the gauge theory and the string theory. We compute the overall S-matrix at large 't Hooft coupling using the string description and we find that it agrees with an earlier conjecture. We also find an infinite number of two magnon bound states at strong coupling, while at weak coupling this number is finite.


BACKGROUND
Specialised disease management programmes for chronic heart failure (CHF) improve survival, quality of life and reduce healthcare utilisation. The overall efficacy of structured telephone support or telemonitoring as an individual component of a CHF disease management strategy remains inconclusive.

OBJECTIVES
To review randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of structured telephone support or telemonitoring compared to standard practice for patients with CHF in order to quantify the effects of these interventions over and above usual care for these patients.

SEARCH STRATEGY
Databases (the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE) and Health Technology Assessment Database (HTA) on The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED and Science Citation Index Expanded and Conference Citation Index on ISI Web of Knowledge) and various search engines were searched from 2006 to November 2008 to update a previously published non-Cochrane review. Bibliographies of relevant studies and systematic reviews and abstract conference proceedings were handsearched. No language limits were applied.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Only peer reviewed, published RCTs comparing structured telephone support or telemonitoring to usual care of CHF patients were included. Unpublished abstract data was included in sensitivity analyses. The intervention or usual care could not include a home visit or more than the usual (four to six weeks) clinic follow-up.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Data were presented as risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Primary outcomes included all-cause mortality, all-cause and CHF-related hospitalisations which were meta-analysed using fixed effects models. Other outcomes included length of stay, quality of life, acceptability and cost and these were described and tabulated.

MAIN RESULTS
Twenty-five studies and five published abstracts were included. Of the 25 full peer-reviewed studies meta-analysed, 16 evaluated structured telephone support (5613 participants), 11 evaluated telemonitoring (2710 participants), and two tested both interventions (included in counts). Telemonitoring reduced all-cause mortality (RR 0.66, 95% CI 0.54 to 0.81, P < 0.0001) with structured telephone support demonstrating a non-significant positive effect (RR 0.88, 95% CI 0.76 to 1.01, P = 0.08). Both structured telephone support (RR 0.77, 95% CI 0.68 to 0.87, P < 0.0001) and telemonitoring (RR 0.79, 95% CI 0.67 to 0.94, P = 0.008) reduced CHF-related hospitalisations. For both interventions, several studies improved quality of life, reduced healthcare costs and were acceptable to patients. Improvements in prescribing, patient knowledge and self-care, and New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class were observed.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
Structured telephone support and telemonitoring are effective in reducing the risk of all-cause mortality and CHF-related hospitalisations in patients with CHF; they improve quality of life, reduce costs, and evidence-based prescribing.


This thesis presents a novel approach to several problems in intelligent transportation systems using collaborative driving coordination. With inter-vehicle communication and intelligent vehicle cooperation, important tasks in transportation such as lane position determination, lane assignment and platoon formation can be solved. Several topics in regard to inter-vehicle communication, lane positioning, lane assignment and platoon formation are explored in this thesis: First, the design and experimental results of low-cost lane-level positioning system that can support a large number of transportation applications are discussed. Using a Markov-based approach based on sharing information among a group of vehicles that are traveling within the communication range of each other, the lane positions of vehicles can be determined. The robustness effectiveness of the system is shown in both simulations and real road tests. Second, a decentralized approach to lane scheduling for vehicles with an aim to increase traffic throughput while ensuring the vehicles exit successfully at their destinations is presented. Most of current traffic management systems do not consider lane organization of vehicles and only regulate traffic flows by controlling traffic signals or ramp meters. However, traffic throughput and efficient use of highways can be increased by coordinating driver behaviors intelligently. The lane optimization problem is formulated as a linear programming problem that can be solved using the Simplex method. Finally, a direction for cooperative vehicle platoon formation is proposed. To enhance traffic safety, increase lane capacities and reduce fuel consumption, vehicles can be organized into platoons with the objective of maximizing the travel distance that platoons stay intact. Toward this end, this work evaluates a proposed strategy which assigns vehicles to platoons by solving an optimization problem. A linear model for assigning vehicles to appropriate platoons when they enter the highway is formulated. Simulation results demonstrate that lane capacity can be increased effectively when platooning operation is used.


VELCHEVA, N., A. ATANASSOV, O. KARADJOVA and Z. HUBENOV, 2012. Parasitoid assemblages isolated from externally feeding lepidopterans and codling moth (Cydia pomonella L., Tortricidae) in a young apple orchard in West Bulgaria. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 18: 675-681 During the period 2005 – 2009, a gradual increase in the rate of insect parasitism was observed on externally feeding Lepidoptera developing on buds, flowers, leaves and fruits of young apple trees in an orchard located in West Bulgaria. The aim of the present study was to investigate the biodiversity of parasitoids associated with the lepidopteran complex and the codling moth in this orchard. The role of natural enemies for suppressing pest populations was estimated as well. During the five-year survey, 19 parasitoid species belonging to 6 families were identified. Species of family Ichneumonidae were dominant (42.1%), followed by Braconidae (31.6%). Three other families, Pteromalidae, Chalcidae, and Encyrtidae, were represented by one species each and accounted for 5.3 % of the abundance of the established parasitoid complex. Two tachinid flies were isolated, corresponding to 10.5 % of the complex. Dibrachys cavus (Walker, 1835) was the first parasitoid observed during the investigation and was found as cocoons on the leaves. Scirtetes robustus (Woldstedt, 1877) parasitized Orthosia cerasi (Fabricius, 1775) in the second year after planting of the orchard. Aporia crataegi (Linnaeus, 1758), Hedya nubeferana (Haworth, 1811) and Operophtera brumata (Linnaeus, 1758) exhibited the highest rates of parasitoid infestation within the complex of externally feeding lepidopteran larvae. The percentages of parasitism reached to 25% for the first two pests and 22 % for O.brumata. The rate of parasitism of codling moth collected in the young orchard was low: 5.3% in 2008 and 0.9% in 2009. Liotryphon caudatus (Ratzeburg, 1848) and Ascogaster quadridentata (Wesmael, 1835) were the first species established to infest the larvae of the pest. The ichneumonid wasp Glypta pictipes (Taschenberg, 1863) is a new species for the Bulgarian fauna. Pimpla arcadica (Kasparyan, 1973), isolated from codling moth, is a new distributional record for the parasitoid, and four new parasitoid - host relationships were established for the country: Diadegma armillata (Gravenhorst 1829) was reared of Coleophora hemerobiella (Scopoli 1763), Compsilura concinnata (Meigen 1824) of Aporia crataegi (Linnaeus 1758), Protapanteles vitripennis (Curtis 1830) of Yponomeuta malinellus (Zeler 1938), and Lissonota dubia (Holgren 1856) of Choristoneura hebenstreitella (Muler 1764).


Flavonol synthase (FLS) is a key enzyme for the formation of flavonols, which are a subclass of the flavonoids. FLS catalyses the conversion of dihydroflavonols to flavonols. The enzyme belongs to the 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases (2-ODD) superfamily. We characterized the FLS gene family of Brassica napus that covers 13 genes, based on the genome sequence of the B. napus cultivar Express 617. The goal was to unravel which BnaFLS genes are relevant for seed flavonol accumulation in the amphidiploid species B. napus. Two BnaFLS1 homeologs were identified and shown to encode bifunctional enzymes. Both exhibit FLS activity as well as flavanone 3-hydroxylase (F3H) activity, which was demonstrated in vivo and in planta. BnaFLS1-1 and -2 are capable of converting flavanones into dihydroflavonols and further into flavonols. Analysis of spatio-temporal transcription patterns revealed similar expression profiles of BnaFLS1 genes. Both are mainly expressed in reproductive organs and co-expressed with the genes encoding early steps of flavonoid biosynthesis. Our results provide novel insights into flavonol biosynthesis in B. napus and contribute information for breeding targets with the aim to modify the flavonol content in rapeseed.


The increasingly complex and turbulent business environments of these days frequently require greater specialised knowledge pertaining to the issues, which are usually beyond that of any individual. Therefore, group meetings are becoming more complex, more frequent, and more important. As part of the transition into this new environment together with recent advancements in computers, telecommunications and management science techniques, organisational researchers have made serious efforts to use advanced technologies to improve group meetings. An example of such attempts is the development of a Group Decision Support System (GDSS), an application of information technology to support the work of groups. One common example of GDSSs is the Decision Conferencing (DC), which combines the use of decision analytic softwares to incorporate the differing perspectives of the participants with group facilitation techniques. This thesis systematically reviews the existing case, field, and laboratory decision room type GDSS studies. It, then, explores the plausible factors for the inconsistent findings across studies. Main objective of the thesis, however, is to investigate the effectiveness of a DC in aiding group work with regard to decision processes, overall user attitudes, and decision quality, and to identify variables associated with differences in perceived effectiveness. Three theories were employed to build a conceptual framework with criteria by which to describe and evaluate the effectiveness of decision making in GDSS settings: Competing Values Approach, Stratified Systems Theory, and Human Information Processing Model. It was shown that these three approaches share common theoretical assumptions. Then, quantitative data were collected through a mailed questionnaire of participants in 22 conferences, hosted by the Decision Conferences Inc. in the U.S.A., Decision Analysis Unit at London School of Economics, and International Computers Ltd. in the U.K. Overall, a DC was perceived better than a conventional meeting for all of the evaluation criteria. The effectiveness of a DC, however, was perceived differently according to various factors: participants' levels in the executive hierarchy, differences in the culture and style of the organisation, task differences in terms of the degree of threat, group size, variety of facilitators, and careers of the participants. Of greater interest is the finding that independent of the numerous variables above, a DC was perceived highly effective in terms of user attitudes, improved decision quality, adaptable process, goal-centred process, and efficiency of decision; and relatively less effective with regard to implementation, and accountability of decision.


Previous research has highlighted a different pattern in the use of grammatical forms to successfully maintain coherent discourse by individuals with Down's syndrome. To maintain coherent discourse both linguistic and non-linguistic information must be integrated and maintained in a mental representation of current discourse. The ability of children with Down's syndrome to use such a mental representation has been assessed in this study. The ability of adults with Down's syndrome to comprehend and produce a range of grammatical forms was initially assessed, using a grammaticality judgement task, an imitation task, and a spontaneous speech sample. Results indicated that the production and comprehension of pronouns was found moderately difficult. The successful use of a pronoun depends on the ability to use a mental representation to retain information about its antecedent in order to assist correct interpretation and avoid ambiguity. A narrative task was used to investigate the use of referential forms by children with Down's syndrome and typically developing children. The effects of certain contextual features on the use of referential forms were investigated: the status of each character and the number of characters in the story; the method of presenting the story; and the position of a listener while the story was narrated. When narrating a story typically developing children distinguished the status of characters in the stories by consistently using different referential forms for each. As age increased this strategy was used more successfully and flexibly. Children with Down's syndrome did not use referential forms in the same way as typically developing children. It is likely that this is a consequence of a difficulty in maintaining information about the whole story-where many sources of information must be accessed, integrated and maintained in a mental representation. At a local level within the story, children with Down's syndrome used referential strategies successfully, demonstrating an ability to integrate limited amounts of information about characters in a story. The inability to maintain information in a mental representation across longer periods of discourse indicates the importance of short term memory in language production.