The application of phytoremediation for purification of an anaerobically treated dairy manure and production of forage crops was investigated. Four crops (two cereals and two grasses) were examined for their ability to grow hydroponically and to remove pollutants (nutrients) from dairy wastewater. The preliminary experiments showed that timothygrass and orchardgrass did not perform well as aquatic plants. Only 24 and 29% of the seeds germinated after 19-21 days giving a crop yield of 21 and 19 t ha-1 for timotygrass and orchardgrass, respectively. Wheat and barley grow very well as aquatic plants with a seed germination of 83 and 73 (in 7 days) and a crop yield of 106 and 86 t ha-1 for wheat and barley, respectively. The effect of light duration, seeding rate, wastewater application rate and fungicidal treatment on the wheat crop yield and pollution potential reduction were studied. The results indicated that with this system, a wheat forage crop could be produced in 21 days from germination to harvest. A treatment combination of wastewater application rate of 900 mL day-1, a seeding rate of 400 g and a light duration of 12 hrs gave the best results for crop yield (3.81 kg of wheat tray-1). Based on thirteen harvests per year, a total possible yield of 3300 t ha-1 per year can be achieved with the system. This is more than 102 times grater than the yield obtainable from a filed grown conventional forage of 245 t ha-1 per year. Wheat had a superior nutritional value (higher digestible energy, higher carbohydrates, fat, protein and mineral contents and less crude fiber) compared to the other field forage crops. It also contained higher macro and micro nutrients (Sodium, Magnesium, Manganese, Iron, Copper, Boron, Selenium, Iodine and Cobalt) than field forage crops. Removal efficiencies of 72.4, 88.6 and 60.8 % can be achieved for the total solids, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and ammonium nitrogen, respectively. A nitrate nitrogen concentration of 7.1 mg L-1 was also found in the effluent from the hydroponic system. This is below the Canadian Environmental and Health Guidelines of 10 mg L-1.


In recent patent reform proposals made by the Federal Trade Commission [FTC] and the National Academy of Sciences [NAS], there has been discussion that the United States Patent and Trademark Office [USPTO] might have a high grant rate of patents compared to rates of other industrialized countries, including Japan and European countries. This discussion began with papers of Quillen and Webster that suggested that the grant rate might be as high as 97% and more reasonably is at least 85%. Clarke suggested that the issue rate is closer to 75%. While Quillen and Webster based grant rate on applications "allowed," Clarke based his studies on applications "issued." In this paper, we use data from the USPTO to show that the difference between "allowed" and "issued" applications is not the reason for the divergence in grant rates. Instead, we suggest that Quillen and Webster's elevated grant rates arise from a flawed numerical approach.


Upper extremity arterial trauma may lead to significant disability with a poor functional outcome. This study represents a retrospective review of all trauma patients presenting to a university-affiliated medical center. Patients suffering from upper extremity arterial injuries requiring treatment were identified. The injured vessels were identified along with the mechanism of injury and method of repair. The degree of functional disability was evaluated by using a previously validated questionnaire, the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) Outcome Measure. Between September 1999 and December 2004, 17 patients presented with traumatic arterial injury to the upper extremity, with 9 and 8 patients suffering from blunt and penetrating traumas, respectively. One patient required amputation representing a limb salvage rate of 94%. The mean length of hospitalization was significantly shorter for penetrating trauma (5.1 vs 12 days, P = .03), with blunt trauma victims being more prone to coexisting orthopedic injuries (P = .009). Length of follow-up did not differ between the 2 groups and ranged from 1-60 months. Patients with blunt trauma tended, although not statistically significant, to have higher DASH scores (61.8 vs 22.8, P = .08), indicating a greater degree of disability. By utilizing a validated disability questionnaire, this study confirms that patients suffering from blunt injuries to upper extremity arteries are more likely to have greater degrees of disability affecting everyday activities.


Online deliberations in social studies classrooms are increasingly feasible as more schools incorporate online learning environments into their programs. The present study investigates student participation in online deliberations with particular attention to (1) the differences between opinion expression and participation in anonymous versus named conditions, (2) whether the magnitude of any such differences varies by gender, (3) whether males and females express a preference for deliberation in named or anonymous online environments, and (4) the impact of named and anonymous environments on developing students' deliberative skills. When opinion expression and participation results are analyzed by gender, we find that differences between females and males that manifest in named conditions disappear when discussing anonymously. We find that female students are significantly more likely to prefer discussing in anonymous environments. Finally, we find that students deliberating anonymously express more opinions in a subsequent deliberation than those in the named condition.


Treatment of industrial and municipal wastewater containing refractory organic compounds is of primary concern. In this research, the feasibility of ozonation as a treatment process for the removal of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol was studied. The chemical kinetics of the reaction between 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) and ozone were determined. A wetted-sphere absorber was used to measure rates of absorption of ozone into aqueous buffered solutions of TCP. Gas consisting of approximately 2.5% ozone in oxygen was contacted with aqueous buffered TCP solution flowing over a sphere in a laminar liquid film. Absorption data were obtained by measuring the change in the liquid phase concentration of TCP from the inlet to the outlet of the absorber. A rigorous numerical model for this diffusion/reaction process was used to analyze the absorption data in order to determine the second-order rate constant of the reaction between ozone and TCP. Results were obtained over the temperature range of 15 to 35°C at pH values of 2 and 7. The kinetic data indicate that the rate limiting step for the reaction of aqueous TCP with ozone is the same at pH 2 and 7. Four reaction products which occur early in the reaction of ozone with aqueous TCP were identified by GCMS, including: 2,3,4,6tetrachlorophenol (TRCP), 4,6-dichlorocatechol (DCC), 2,6-dichlorohydroquinone (DCHQ), and 2,6-dichloroquinone (DCQ). Only DCHQ and DCQ were found to occur in significant concentrations. Over the pH range of 2 to 5, both DCHQ and DCQ were detected in the reacted solutions, while for pH 6 and 7 only DCHQ was detected. Over longer ozone exposure times, it was found by carbon-13 NMR analysis that short chain carboxylic acids are the dominant species in the reacted TCP solutions. The kinetics of the ozonation of DCHQ were also determined at 25°C.


Historically, anti-doping efforts have focused on the detection and deterrence of doping in elite and competitive sport. There is, however, a growing concern that doping is occurring outside the organised sporting system; giving rise to the belief that the misuse of doping agents in recreational sport has become a societal problem and a public health issue that must be addressed. The EU Commission awarded a contract (EAC/2013/0617) to a Consortium to undertake this Study with the aim of developing the evidence-base for policies designed to combat doping in recreational sport. Fourteen internationally recognised experts shaped the Study which comprised (i) the collection of primary data through a structured survey, and (ii) secondary data through literature searches and website analysis. All 28 Member States participated in the information-gathering process. Specifically, this involved a systematic study of the ethical considerations, legal position, prevention research landscape, and current practise in relation to the prevention of doping in recreational sport. The Study provides a comprehensive overview of current practice and legislation as it applies to the prevention of doping and promotes and supports the sharing of best practices in the EU regarding the fight against doping in recreational sport. It concludes with seven recommendations for future action that focus on the need for a coordinated response in relation to the problems arising from doping in recreational sport.


Mobilization efforts by parties and candidates during election campaigns tend to reach those who are more likely to vote in the first place. This is thought to be particularly consequential for turnout among the young. Harder and less cost-effective to reach, young adults are less mobilized and vote less often, creating a vicious circle of demobilization. However, new forms of political communication—including online and text messaging—have created expectations this circle might be broken. Is this happening? We examine data from Module 4 of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems surveys, looking at the prevalence of different types of party contacts in 38 countries, the profile of voters who are reached, and the effects of these efforts on turnout. New forms of party contacting do matter for turnout and partially reduce the age gap in contacting, but still fail to compensate for the much larger differentials that persist in traditional forms of contacting.


The career of Medicine at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile was established from the beginning (1929), with a classical Flexner curriculum design. In seven years, the career is divided in three cycles: basic sciences, clinics and internship. It obtained Chilean accreditation and fulfilled American Association of Medical Colleges accreditation requirements. Changes in the Chilean epidemiological profile and health system, and new teaching methods in medicine, stimulated a process of deep curricular analysis, identifying strengths and weaknesses of the medical career. The curricular strengths were well-developed scientific and clinical components, fully committed students and faculties, well defined learning objectives and excellent clinical campuses. Curricular weaknesses included a poor vertical and horizontal integration, few student centered methodologies and a weak emphasis concerning doctor's professionalism. Subsequently, the whole community of teachers, students and medical educators worked on the design of a new curriculum, establishing a new graduate profile and designed it oriented by learning objectives, of six years of duration, with an optimized course sequence that melds basic science and clinical concepts, with strong emphasis on humanities and professionalism. It prioritizes an early contact with patients from the first year and expands teaching methods. The main objective of this process was to achieve a new curriculum with an integrative structure. This was implemented in 2015 with an approved protocol to evaluate the outcomes.


We have studied Xe + 4d inner shell photoionization in a direct experiment on Xe + ions, merging an ion and a photon beam and detecting the ejected electrons with a cylindrical mirror analyzer. The measured 4d photoelectron spectrum is compared to the 4d core valence double ionization spectrum of the neutral Xe atom, obtained with a magnetic bottle spectrometer. This multi-coincidence experiment gives access to the spectroscopy of the individual Xe 2+ 4d -1 5p -1 states and to their respective Auger decays, which are found to present a strong selectivity. The experimental results are interpreted with the help of ab-initio calculations


Single Index Models (SIMs) are simple yet flexible semi-parametric models for machine learning, where the response variable is modeled as a monotonic function of a linear combination of features. Estimation in this context requires learning both the feature weights and the nonlinear function that relates features to observations. While methods have been described to learn SIMs in the low dimensional regime, a method that can efficiently learn SIMs in high dimensions, and under general structural assumptions, has not been forthcoming. In this paper, we propose computationally efficient algorithms for SIM inference in high dimensions with structural constraints. Our general approach specializes to sparsity, group sparsity, and low-rank assumptions among others. Experiments show that the proposed method enjoys superior predictive performance when compared to generalized linear models, and achieves results comparable to or better than single layer feedforward neural networks with significantly less computational cost.


PURPOSE
To gain a better understanding of neurenteric (NE) cysts via correlation of imaging findings and surgical and pathologic data.

METHODS
The medical records, imaging studies, surgical information, and pathologic material were retrospectively reviewed in nine patients with NE cysts, including seven proved and two very probable cases.

RESULTS
NE cysts occurred in the cerebellopontine angle in one case and extended from the cerebellopontine angle to the C2 level in a second. In the latter patient and the remaining seven with intraspinal lesions, the NE cyst was always located anterior to the spinal cord. The most common myelographic and CT myelographic appearance was that of a lobulated intradural extramedullary (IDEM) mass. Two patients had an intramedullary NE cyst with a somewhat unusual appearing exophytic IDEM-appearing expansion that can be a characteristic feature of these lesions. MR imaging demonstrated the NE cyst to be isointense to hyperintense relative to cerebrospinal fluid on long TR sequences and isointense or slightly hyperintense to cerebrospinal fluid on T1-weighted images. These signal characteristics correlate with the high-protein-content fluid within the cysts, usually described at surgery as milky or mucinous in character.

CONCLUSION
The diagnosis of NE cyst should be considered when imaging studies reveal the presence of a lobulated IDEM or an exophytic intramedullary cystic mass, especially in association with anterior spina bifida or other vertebral anomalies. MR can uniquely confirm the cystic nature of these masses and is the method of choice for their imaging investigation. Because cyst recurrence can occur, MR should also be used for long-term patient follow-up.


Resilience is interpreted in multiple, often conflicting ways, which prompts critiques but is also viewed by others as a strength, bringing together otherwise disparate groups, institutions, disciplines and scales. The absence of explicit values within resilience concepts has caused some authors to caution its use as a guiding narrative or framework. A major challenge for practitioners lies in how to explicitly inject values and to navigate tradeoffs in resilience between groups, locations and timescales.

This working paper sets out the multiple ways in which resilience is interpreted. It highlights the broad dichotomy between functional and dynamic interpretations of resilience, which lead to different operational approaches. A functional perspective tends to fit with existing institutional approaches and a projectised approach, while dynamic interpretations perhaps represent the complexities and chaos evident across the world. The inconsistent treatment of system transformations is also a major challenge; while some see transformation as occurring incrementally within a system, others see it as when resilience fails and systems collapse.


According to several major theories in the field of consciousness research, the valid assessment of conscious awareness requires subjective measures, i.e. participants' reports about their conscious experience. However, there is a considerable amount of uncertainty in the field if and how scientifically valuable data can be obtained from subjective measures.
The present work empirically examines how subjective measures of conscious awareness need to be designed and applied to provide maximally useful data for empirical studies of visual consciousness. Specifically, it is investigated what contents subjective measures should require participants to report, at which granularity subjective measures ought to be recorded, and what statistical procedures should be used to quantify the relation between subjective measures and discrimination task performance.
Concerning content, subjective measures that referred to the accuracy of a preceding discrimination response and subjective measures referring to participants' visual experience of the task-relevant stimulus feature were compared during a series of visual psychophysical experiments. Subjective measures about the accuracy of the responses were associated with more liberal psychophysical thresholds: At lower stimulus quality, participants reported that they feel confident that their discrimination response was correct without reporting a visual experience of the stimulus feature. Only at greater stimulus quality, they reported that they had a visual experience of the stimulus feature in addition to being confident. Moreover, subjective measures about confidence in discrimination responses predicted task accuracy more efficiently than measures about visual experience. Finally, subjective measures of experience and task accuracy as content were compared while event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded. The earliest electrophysiological correlates of subjective measures where predictive of the fact if participants reported that they selected the response to the discrimination task based on knowledge instead of guessing, but were not yet predictive whether participants reported a clear experience over and above making the task response based on knowledge. The strongest ERP correlate of visual experience occurred a short period in time before participants responded to the discrimination task. As a consequence, it is argued that conceptual considerations are required which conscious contents are relevant for a specific research question, and subjective measures should be about the relevant contents accordingly.
Concerning the granularity of subjective measures, a continuous scale and a scale with four discrete labelled categories were compared as subjective measure of conscious experience of motion. The subjective measures contained more information when participants used the continuous scale instead of the discrete scales. The greater amount of information provided by continuous scales rendered subjective measures more predictive of task accuracy and enhanced internal consistency.
Regarding the statistical procedure to quantify the relation between subjective measures and task performance, it was found that logistic regression is a suboptimal method because the relationship between subjective measures and the transformed accuracy was frequently not linear. In contrast, meta-da, a measure of the relationship between subjective reports and task accuracy derived from signal detection theory (SDT), provided the most consistent results across all studies.
Overall, it is concluded that subjective measures are suited to provide highly useful data to address non-trivial research questions for the scientific study of consciousness: As prerequisite, the content of a subjective measures should be tailored to the current research question. In addition, the problem of a lacking objective standard can be addressed by using the relation between subjective measures and task performance as a reference frame.


AIATSIS has compiled this bibliography on Indigenous governance as part of its Indigenous Governance Building: Mapping current and future research and practical resource needs project. It is to be read in conjunction with an AIATSIS bibliography on free, prior and informed consent, engagement and consultation, and other bibliographies relating to various aspects of Indigenous governance which have been included in the following pages and are also available via the project webpage linked above. The term 'governance' is wide reaching and it has not been possible to cover all Indigenous governance related topics comprehensively. Within the context of this project governance is broadly defined as a cultural construct where the principles and standards of what constitutes 'good', 'good enough', 'strong', 'legitimate', 'ineffective', 'corrupt' or 'bad' governance are informed by culturally-based values, traditions and ideologies; and vary significantly between different societies. There is no end-point goal of 'perfect' governance that will eventually be achieved in the future. Rather, governance is adaptive according to context and circumstances. This means it may swing between effectiveness and dysfunction. It is to be found as much in people's daily self-determined practices, processes and relationships, as it is in visible structures and formal institutions.


Abstract. Simultaneous observations of cloud microphysical properties were obtained by in-situ aircraft measurements and ground based Radar/Lidar. Widespread mid-level stratus cloud was present below a temperature inversion (~5 °C magnitude) at 3.6 km altitude. Localised convection (peak updraft 1.5 m s −1 ) was observed 20 km west of the Radar station. This was associated with convergence at 2.5 km altitude. The convection was unable to penetrate the inversion capping the mid-level stratus. The mid-level stratus cloud was vertically thin (~400 m), horizontally extensive (covering 100 s of km) and persisted for more than 24 h. The cloud consisted of supercooled water droplets and small concentrations of large (~1 mm) stellar/plate like ice which slowly precipitated out. This ice was nucleated at temperatures greater than −12.2 °C and less than −10.0 °C, (cloud top and cloud base temperatures, respectively). No ice seeding from above the cloud layer was observed. This ice was formed by primary nucleation, either through the entrainment of efficient ice nuclei from above/below cloud, or by the slow stochastic activation of immersion freezing ice nuclei contained within the supercooled drops. Above cloud top significant concentrations of sub-micron aerosol were observed and consisted of a mixture of sulphate and carbonaceous material, a potential source of ice nuclei. Particle number concentrations (in the size range 0.1 D −3 . Ice crystal concentrations in the cloud were constant at around 0.2 L −1 . It is estimated that entrainment of aerosol particles into cloud cannot replenish the loss of ice nuclei from the cloud layer via precipitation. Precipitation from the mid-level stratus evaporated before reaching the surface, whereas rates of up to 1 mm h −1 were observed below the convective feature. There is strong evidence for the Hallett-Mossop (HM) process of secondary ice particle production leading to the formation of the precipitation observed. This includes (1) Ice concentrations in the convective feature were more than an order of magnitude greater than the concentration of primary ice in the overlaying stratus, (2) Large concentrations of small pristine columns were observed at the ~−5 °C level together with liquid water droplets and a few rimed ice particles, (3) Columns were larger and increasingly rimed at colder temperatures. Calculated ice splinter production rates are consistent with observed concentrations if the condition that only droplets greater than 24 μm are capable of generating secondary ice splinters is relaxed. This case demonstrates the importance of understanding the formation of ice at slightly supercooled temperatures, as it can lead to secondary ice production and the formation of precipitation in clouds which may not otherwise be considered as significant precipitation sources.


Research exploring sexual assault within universities and sexual harassment within companies has largely overlooked how leadership in organizations can shape constituents' perceptions of sexual violence. This question has become particularly relevant as organizations are increasingly tasked with measuring and communicating about sexual violence. We use two national survey experiments to test how altering an organization's communication of information about sexual assault or harassment affects participants' agreement that it is a high-priority issue. In Study 1, we show that participants are strongly influenced by the way in which the leader interprets the problem of sexual violence at the organization and not by the placement of prevalence statistics in the statement. In Study 2, we identify the leader messages that are the most influential in shaping opinions about sexual assault and harassment. This research demonstrates the influence that leaders of organizations have in shaping narratives about sexual violence within them.


Background: The influence of sex hormone and insulin/insulin-like growth factor (IGF) axis signaling on endometrial cancer recurrence is unknown. We evaluated these pathways in a prospective cohort of Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG)0210 trial endometrial adenocarcinoma patients. Methods: Stage II–IV patients (N = 816) were included in this study. Pretreatment specimens were tested for tumor mRNA and protein expression of IGF1, IGF2, IGF-binding proteins (IGFBP)-1 and -3, insulin (IR) and IGF-I receptors (IGF1R), phosphorylated IR/IGF1R (pIGF1R/pIR), and estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) using qPCR and IHC. Serum concentrations of insulin, IGF-I, IGFBP-3, estradiol, estrone, and sex hormone binding globulin were measured. HRs and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for progression-free survival were calculated from Cox models adjusting for age, stage, and grade. Results: Recurrence occurred in 280 (34%) cases during a median of 4.6 years of follow-up. ER positivity (HR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.47–0.95), IR positivity (HR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.29–0.98), and circulating IGF-I (highest vs. lowest quartile: HR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.47–0.92) were inversely associated with recurrence risk. Circulating estradiol (highest vs. lowest tertile: HR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.02–2.36) and pIGF1R/pIR positivity (HR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.02–1.92) were associated with increased recurrence risk. Conclusions: Circulating estradiol and tumor tissue phosphorylated (activated) IGR1R/IR were independently associated with higher risk of recurrence in patients with endometrial cancer. Impact: This study may inform future clinical trials of endocrine-targeted adjuvant therapies in patients with endometrial cancer that could include baseline assessment of serum and tissue biomarkers of estradiol and insulin signaling pathways.


In 1935, the first Labour government introduced elements of Liberal Internationalism into New Zealand's foreign policy for the first time. Before that, New Zealand's foreign policy had been wholly Realist. The new elements were an enthusiastic support for international organisations and a concern for human rights, democracy and self-determination. These elements have formed part of New Zealand's foreign policy ever since, although they have been emphasised more by Labour governments than National ones. The first Labour government continued a number of Realist policies as well, and this mix of Idealism and Realism set the pattern of modern New Zealand foreign policy. Two further elements of Liberal Internationalism- the promotion of disarmament and of free trade — were not adopted by the first Labour government, but they would be added to New Zealand's foreign policy mix by later Labour governments.


A multi-faceted model is developed to demonstrate the consequences of sample size choice in usability testing. This model takes into account the severity levels of user performance, the distribution of severity levels, the impact of usability problems, the benefit of improving user interface components, and the decision-making regarding which usability problems to solve. A large-scale usability test (N=103) of two products (Connexions and Snapfish) was carried out to provide real-world empirical data for the multi-faceted model. Simulations based on both the empirical data and other possible situations in usability testing were done to demonstrate the sample size influence on the estimation of severity, impact, and benefit given various types of parameters. The results showed that there were great risks in using small samples in various situations, especially when the shapes of the distributions of severity levels were positively skewed or bimodal. The results also indicated that user distributions at different severity levels and the impact weights of the usability problems had the most influence whereas the improvement factors and the improvement schemes had little influence on the sample size requirements. In addition, the user distribution data from the empirical study were transformed to dichotomous data. The analysis of the dichotomous data, together with the simulations based on the dichotomous data and the binomial model used frequently by the previous researchers, showed that the assumptions of usability problem independence and homogeneous users for the binomial model were seriously violated in such a way as to greatly overestimate the rate of problem detection.


Organized in the mid-1970s as a means of communal protection against livestock rustling and general thievery in Peru's rugged northern mountains, the rondas campesinas (peasants who make the rounds) grew into an entire system of peasant justice and one of the most significant Andean social movements of the late twentieth century. Nightwatch is the first full-length ethnography and the only study in English to examine this grassroots agrarian social movement, which became a rallying point for rural pride.

Drawing on fieldwork conducted over the course of a decade, Orin Starn chronicles the historical conditions that led to the formation of the rondas, the social and geographical expansion of the movement, and its gradual decline in the 1990s. Throughout this anecdotal yet deeply analytical account, the author relies on interviews with ronda participants, villagers, and Peru's regional and national leaders to explore the role of women, the involvement of nongovernmental organizations, and struggles for leadership within the rondas. Starn moves easily from global to local contexts and from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, presenting this movement in a straightforward manner that makes it accessible to both specialists and nonspecialists.

An engagingly written story of village mobilization, Nightwatch is also a meditation on the nature of fieldwork, the representation of subaltern people, the relationship between resistance and power, and what it means to be politically active at the end of the century. It will appeal widely to scholars and students of anthropology, Latin American studies, cultural studies, history, subaltern studies, and those interested in the politics of social movements.


The aim was to evaluate the current state of knowledge pertaining to patient safety and its link to person-centred care. The international relevance of patient safety has expanded, as have the models of person-centred care. Inspired by this new trend, we collated and summarized the literature for evidence of the two topics. The study was guided by Russell, Whittemore and Knafl's integrative review framework. An electronic database search was conducted for relevant articles from 2005 to 2016. This review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. The structure and process of the evaluation of the evidence are described and the findings interpreted by means of a thematic synthesis. One theme emerged: trustful, safe communication in the relationship between the patient, family members and healthcare professionals and two domains; safety culture and multidisciplinary capacity building. The dominant dimension in the safety culture domain is respectful communication, which implies sharing experiences that lead to a sense of control during labour and birth and is related to the women's feeling of personal capacity. The dominant dimensions in the multidisciplinary capacity building domain are collaborative teamwork, coordination and risk management, knowledge sharing and patient-centred communication. In conclusion, to enhance patient safety, it is necessary to develop patient-focused, evidence-based skills and guidelines as well as a supportive organization. Due to their interaction with patients, midwives' communication competence on the part of midwives is essential for supporting the birth and fulfilling the women's needs and expectations.


Within the Arabidopsis inflorescence, two distinct developmental phases exist. The early inflorescence phase is characterized by nodes bearing coflorescences and leaves, and the late inflorescence phase by nodes bearing flowers. Four genes, TERMINAL FLOWER 1, LEAFY, APETALA1 and APETALA2 are necessary to initiate the switch from formation of early to formation of late inflorescence nodes at the appropriate time. We have investigated the relative roles of these genes in development by isolating and characterizing new alleles of TERMINAL FLOWER 1, LEAFY and APETALA1, and by constructing double mutants to test gene interactions. We suggest that the TERMINAL FLOWER 1 gene product is part of a mechanism that controls the timing of phase- switching in Arabidopsis. We propose that this mechanism involves factor(s) whose activity changes in response to shoot development and environmental variation. TERMINAL FLOWER 1 influences phase transitions in Arabidopsis, and appears to regulate the timing of expression of LEAFY, APETALA1 and APETALA2. LEAFY, APETALA1 and APETALA2 have partially redundant functions in initiating the floral program. In the absence of any one of the three genes, there is a gradual transition from coflorescence to flower-like lateral shoots. This suggests that (1) LEAFY, APETALA1 and APETALA2 are required in combination to ensure that the floral program is initiated rapidly and completely and (2) in the absence of one of the three genes, the others are activated slowly in response to the mechanism controlling timing of phase switching. Besides their role in establishing the floral program, phenotypes of flower-like lateral shoots in mutant inflorescences suggest that all three, LEAFY, APETALA1 and APETALA2, influence expression of whorl identity genes. Loss of LEAFY results in decreased Class B gene expression, as well as altered expression patterns of Class A and Class C genes. In the absence of either APETALA2 or APETALA1, reproductive organs develop in the perianth whorls, suggesting that both genes should be considered Class A organ identity genes, restricting Class C gene expression to inner whorls.


Drag-ring correction schedule for one dimension trajectory correction projectile, with the characteristics of simple control actuator, reliable action, low cost, and greatly improving the ground vertical intensity etc., has been applied on the shells and achieved good application effect in recent years. Two aspects are extremely important in the implement of this projectile: First, the corresponding firing elements (i.e., the elevation angle) should ensure that the flight distance of uncontrolled projectile is greater than or equal to the desired distance. Second, real time identification of the characteristic parameters of the projectile should be performed based on the measurements of a segment of flight data. However, high altitude meteorological conditions cannot be obtained in practice, which makes it extremely difficult to ensure that the average impact point center of uncontrolled projectiles is consistent with the generalized target, and brings a great impact for the accuracy of trajectory prediction and the trajectory correction effect. For those problems, in this paper the corresponding equivalent wind parameters are obtained based on a few rounds of the impact point data of the uncontrolled shells test-fired in advance, to ensure the validity of the setting firing elements and trajectory prediction. Furthermore, the number of test-fired and the different methods and their effects of getting the equivalent wind parameters are analyzed. The research content reported in this paper is able to provide useful guide for the application of the trajectory correction technique for the one dimensional trajectory correction projectile.


When former New York Giants outfielder Danny Gardella died at age eighty-five on March 6, 2005, the baseball world paid little attention to his passing. But in the late 1940s, Gardella posed a clear and present danger to the baseball establishment when he challenged the game's reserve clause. In 1946, Gardella failed to sign a contract with the Giants and bolted to the Mexican League. Gardella and other major leaguers enticed south of the border by Mexican entrepreneur Jorge Pasquel were blacklisted for five years by Commissioner A. B. "Happy" Chandler and unable to resume their baseball careers in the United States when the Mexican League folded. Denied an opportunity to make a living playing major-league baseball, Gardella sued the sport, arguing that baseball's reserve clause was in restraint of trade and violated antitrust law. The vitriolic reply of the baseball establishment was to label Gardella a radical threat to the American way of life--as it is embodied in the traditions of the national pastime. Brooklyn Dodgers executive Branch Rickey deserves credit for defying baseball's color line by signing Jackie Robinson, but he was also a staunch anticommunist Republican who interpreted any challenge to management prerogatives as an example of Bolshevism. Speaking in Baltimore on April 13, 1949, Rickey proclaimed that individuals questioning baseball's sacred reserve clause were persons "of avowed communist tendencies who deeply resent the continuance of our national pastime." Commissioner Chandler also employed rhetorical excess in describing the dire consequences the Gardella lawsuit posed to the American way of life. Insisting that he tried to reason with Gardella and others who deserted the United States for Mexico during a time of national crisis, Chandler argued, "I tried to get them to live up to their obligations and responsibilities. This was a fight against baseball in the United States. These players joined a group who said they were going to kill baseball in the United States." (1) Gardella, of course, was no Bolshevik. He was simply a young man of working-class origins who sought to maintain a job in baseball and obtain a fair salary in return for his labor. Gardella, like many other ballplayers, perceived the sport's reserve clause as limiting his economic options and endangering his livelihood. Therefore, he sued baseball for banning his return to the major leagues after testing the Mexican labor market. Gardella was essentially advocating for a free labor market, while baseball ownership sought to maintain a restricted labor supply. The baseball establishment, however, attempted to portray Gardella as a radical who was challenging traditional American values. The red-baiting employed by Major League Baseball (MLB) was an old tactic going back to nineteenth-century efforts by business to label union organizers as communist agitators. Such rhetoric was even more politically charged during the post--World War II red scare in which feminists, liberals, labor unions, and civil rights activists seeking change and reform were characterized as communist sympathizers undermining the American way of life. Danny Gardella wanted an opportunity to continue playing baseball, but MLB ownership responded to his legal challenge with the rhetoric of the blacklist and postwar anticommunist crusade. Thus, an examination of Gardella's lawsuit against MLB offers insight into the economic structure of the game as well as how business interests sought to use the rhetoric of anticommunism to discredit challenges to monopolistic practices. A SPORT OR A BUSINESS? In April 1921, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled that professional baseball was not subject to antitrust law because the sport failed to constitute interstate commerce. The appeals court concluded that although the travel of players from state to state might appear to be interstate commerce, the game of baseball was "local in its beginning and in its end. …


Historically, the inequitable funding for First Nations schools in comparison to funding for provincial schools has been an issue from the time of early day schools, to residential schools in which students worked half a day to tend to crops in order to grow food for consumption by students and staff, and to present day where band-managed schools still experience lack of funding.  Similarly, the lower salary levels for teachers in federal and today in First Nations-managed schools has been identified as a significant issue related to teacher retention. The purpose of this research was to identify current factors affecting teacher recruitment and retention in present day First Nations' managed schools. In this paper we report on one case study comparing funding and teacher retention in one provincial school system and schools in one Tribal Council in Saskatchewan. Keywords: funding; First Nations schools; administration; teacher recruitment; teacher retention


On January 22, 2013, the Philippines submitted to arbitration its dispute with China regarding the interpretation and application of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in the South China Sea. China declined to participate, but did communicate its position on jurisdiction and certain other matters. On July 12, 2016, the arbitral Tribunal rendered its unanimous award. It concluded that China's claim of historic rights to the maritime areas of the South China Sea encompassed by China's "nine-dash line" is contrary to the Convention. Without addressing the competing claims to sovereignty over the islands, the Tribunal also determined that all of the Spratly Islands features that emerge above high tide are "rocks" that do not generate entitlement to an exclusive economic zone or continental shelf beyond a 12-mile territorial sea. In addition, the Tribunal found that China's island-building activities in the Spratly's, commenced after the dispute was submitted to arbitration, caused extensive damage to coral reefs that violated the environmental provisions of the Convention, and also aggravated and extended the dispute. The Tribunal held that failure to control fishing for internationally protected endangered species and failure to respect international collision regulations violated the Convention. The award also protected traditional artisanal fishing in the territorial sea of Scarborough Shoal. The perceptions of those that border and use the South China Sea will unquestionably be affected by the award's authoritative contribution to the law of the sea. Among the award's long term effects may be a tempering of disputes over small features at sea and the entitlements they generate, as well as a decline in gratuitous environmental disruption occasioned by attempts to artificially enhance such features to reinforce claims to maritime jurisdiction.


We tested the hypothesis that the comorbidity of migraine and epilepsy results from a shared genetic susceptibility to the two disorders.We used semistructured telephone interviews to collect information on migraine and epilepsy in the families (parents, siblings, and offspring) of 1,957 adult probands with epilepsy. Epilepsy was defined as a lifetime history of two or more unprovoked seizures, and migraine as self-reported severe headaches with two or more of the following symptoms: unilateral pain, throbbing pain, visual aura, or nausea. As a first test of the hypothesis of shared susceptibility, we assessed risk of migraine in relatives of probands with genetic versus nongenetic forms of epilepsy, using two proxy measures of genetic susceptibility--a first-degree family history of epilepsy and idiopathic/cryptogenic (versus postnatal symptomatic) etiology. Neither of these two measures was associated with risk of migraine in relatives. As a second test, we assessed risk of epilepsy in the relatives of probands with versus without migraine. With the exception of one subgroup (sons of female probands), risk of epilepsy in relatives was not associated with the proband's history of migraine. This pattern of results is inconsistent with the hypothesis of a shared genetic susceptibility to migraine and epilepsy. NEUROLOGY 1996;47: 918-924


Recent publications showed that circulating neurofilaments (Nfs) may be used as a diagnostic biomarker distinguishing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) from ALS mimics with high sensitivity and specificity.1–3 Furthermore, it has been shown that patients with higher Nf levels show faster disease progression1 and shorter survival.2 3 Nf levels remain rather stable during the course of disease.2 Current literature suggests that the diagnostic value of neurofilament light chains (NfL) and phosphorylated neurofilament heavy chains in cerebrospinal fluid is about equal, whereas in blood NfL seems to be superior.4 In this study, we investigated the effect of a high-caloric fatty diet (HCFD) on NfL serum levels, using blood samples collected during the LIPCAL-ALS (efficacy, safety and tolerability of high lipid and caloriesupplementation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) study, a randomised, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled, multicentre trial, which investigated the therapeutic effect of HCFD in ALS.5 In LIPCAL-ALS, 201 patients (80 women, 121 men, age 62.4±10.8) were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either HCFD (405 kcal/day, 100% fat) or placebo in addition to riluzole (100 mg/day) for 18 months.

Although the primary outcome overall survival was negative in the whole study population (p=0.44), the post hoc analysis revealed a significantly longer survival for fast-progressing patients (ie, patients with an Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale Revised (ALSFRS-R) slope >median between disease onset and baseline) in the HCFD group compared with placebo.5

To further corroborate our hypothesis of a disease-modifying effect of HCFD, we analysed NfL serum levels from LIPCAL-ALS participants.

At each on-site visit during LIPCAL-ALS (6-month intervals), patients were asked if they were willing to provide an additional serum sample for NfL analysis on a voluntary basis. Serum NfL concentrations were measured with the single molecule array (Simoa) platform provided by Quanterix (Lexington, Massachusetts, USA) with single measurements …


This thesis investigates whether corporate governance conformance by Malaysian banks improves their financial reporting quality. It is motivated by the controversies surrounding corporate governance reforms and the calls for systematic research on its efficacy in the post-reform period. Malaysian banks have been subject to international standards of corporate governance since before and after the 1997–1998 Asian Financial Crisis. Malaysia's common-law tradition, greater level of financial and capital market development in the region, predominantly centralised and stable political power and robust regulatory framework are apparent strengths for corporate governance conformance. However, characteristics such as ownership concentration, political links and lack of regulatory enforcement question the ability of any governance reform to enhance the Malaysian banks' financial reporting quality. This setting, coupled with Malaysian banks' differing business models compared to those of U.S. banks, provides an Asian focus to extant literature. The analyses focus on three specific reforms, namely: (i) the initiation of the Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance (MCCG) in 2000; (ii) the circular issued by Bank Negara Malaysia in 2003 on Guidelines on the Establishment of Board Committees, Minimum Qualification and Training Requirement for Directors, and Definition and Responsibilities of Independent Directors (BNMCIR); and (iii) the revision to Guidelines on Directorship in Banking Institutions in 2005 (REVGP1). The analyses utilise 64 listed bank-year observations from 1996 to 2004 for the MCCG reform; 80 licensed bank-year observations from 1999 to 2007 for the BNMCIR reform; and 56 unlisted bank-year observations from 2001 to 2009 for the REVGP1 reform. The research questions addressed for each reform period are: Have banks' corporate governance practices changed in response to the reforms? If so, have the changes in corporate governance improved financial reporting quality? This study first identifies governance attributes with significant statistical difference from the pre- to the post-reform period. These attributes are then used to gauge their effectiveness in improving banks' financial reporting quality in the post-reform period using five proxies: (i) earnings persistence; (ii) earnings predictability; (iii) the relationship between loan-loss provisions and loan charge-offs; (iv) total accruals; and (v) discretionary accruals. From an initial concern of the low quality of financial reporting during the pre-reform period, the empirical results suggest that there was no improvement to the financial reporting quality of listed banks initiating a nominating or remuneration committee and/or complying with committee composition requirements in response to the MCCG reform. A similar situation prevails for licensed banks complying with initiating a nominating, remuneration and risk-management committee and/or complying with composition requirements. The results suggest that neither a voluntary reform approach following the U.K. standards of governance practices (pursuant to MCCG) nor a mandatory reform approach tailoring governance practices to suit local environment (pursuant to BNMCIR) were effective for improving Malaysian banks' financial reporting quality. In contrast, the empirical results pursuant to REVGP1, show improved earnings persistence and earnings predictability for unlisted banks complying with enhanced board independence, suggesting some benefits from the efforts to enhance financial reporting quality of Malaysian banks.


We study whether information leads voters and donors to "waste" fewer votes and donations on candidates who do not finish in first or second place. Examining U.S. primary elections featuring more than two candidates, we compare voting and contribution behavior across offices with varying levels of information. We find that voters and donors are more likely to support the top two candidates, and less likely to waste votes or donations on lesser candidates, when information levels are higher. In addition, we find that donors consistently act more "strategically" — i.e., waste fewer donations on lesser candidates — than voters. To supplement these analyses, we isolate the causal effect of information by leveraging adjacent U.S. counties that differ in their access to politically relevant information from the media. We again find that information helps voters avoid wasting votes on candidates who are unlikely to win. The results are relevant for understanding the behavior of voters and contributors, for understanding the role of information in elections, and for the evaluation of policies like runoff primaries designed to facilitate strategic voting outcomes.


Increasing functionality, growing media volumes and dynamic data in today's in-vehicle information systems bear new challenges for user interaction design. Traditional hierarchical and menu-based interaction can only provide limited support while new search-based approaches are promising. In this work we assess different search techniques and search-based user interfaces. In particular we compare free search across all data items with categorized search. Our experiments with functional prototypes show that free search is more efficient and easier to use than searching within categories. Tests in a driving simulator show promising results regarding safety and workload. Means for alphanumeric input appear to be essential for an efficient and safe search interaction while driving.


Modern organic agriculture is a concept, that have evolved since the 1920s, when the first pioneers of organic agriculture (Rudolf Steiner, Robert McCarrison and Sir Albert Howard), expressed their concern about the use of inorganic fertiliser in agriculture, and faced a turning point with the publication of "Silent spring" by Rachel Carson in 1962 (Kristiansen & Merfield, 2006). The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM) was founded in 1972 (IFOAM, 2010), and has formulated four key principles on which organic agriculture build upon: Health, Ecology, Fairness and Care (IFOAM, 2005). These principles should be adopted world-wide, inspire the organic movement (IFOAM, 2005) and ensure that the organic production are adapted to the local conditions of the individual farm (Kristiansen & Merfield, 2006).
Organic agriculture are very often, in the global south, confused with traditional farming, farming without chemical inputs or certified organic farming for export (Vaarst, 2010). In this assignment organic agriculture refers to agriculture based on the organic principles and is defined as followed: "Organic agriculture is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems and people. It relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects. Organic agriculture combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and good quality of life for all involved." (IFOAM, 2008). This leads to a concept of organic agriculture, in which certification not necessarily is implied.
Soil fertility and biodiversity will be enhanced, and land degradation, erosion, poisoning and other negative effects of chemical activities will be minimised, if the principles of organic is followed in practice (Vaarst, 2010). This is achieved by using agro-ecological farming methods, such as incorporation of legumes and compost to improve soil fertility, crop diversity to prevent pest and diseases and inter-cropping (Anonymous, 2010; Vaarst, 2010). The farmers can intensify and increase production, without necessarily depending on chemical pesticides and fertilisers, by using the agro-ecological farming methods (Anonymous, 2010). This leads to reduces risk of becoming indebted or poisoned by pesticides.
Agriculture are the basis for millions of peoples livelihood (Anonymous, 2010), and population pressure and low yields affects the farmers, so that they abandon the traditional farming system, with fallow and crop rotations, which has maintain their livelihood for millennia (Belay & Edwards, 2003). Livestock keeping are an important livelihood strategy for African smallholders (Descheemaeker et al., 2010). Soil fertility is general low in Africa (Lobe, 2008), and therefore, have there been approached to increase the soil fertility through chemical inputs (Belay & Edwards, 2003; Lobe, 2008). Some farmers have been fallen into the dept trap, because of the cost of purchasing chemical fertilisers (Belay & Edwards, 2003; Lobe, 2008). The organic agriculture, is an alternative to farming with chemical inputs, which can contribute to productivity increase and to reduce vulnerability and poverty among African farmers (Anonymous, 2010). With the use of organic farming practice the farmer does not have to purchase chemical inputs for the farm. The organic agricultural production system, is a system which are well-adapted to smallholders (Anonymous, 2010) and are a way of improving food security among smallholder farmers in developing countries (Halberg et al., 2009).
In developing countries lives 60% of the population in rural areas and of those is 85% agriculturalist (Dixon et al., 2001). The rural areas are also where 70% of the total poverty are found, with the poverty concentrated in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa (Dixon et al., 2001). Broad-based agricultural are in general a way of reducing poverty (Dixon et al., 2001), and especially livestock keeping are a way of escaping poverty in the rural areas (Peden et al., 2007) and have been a part of the culture of some communities for millennia (Omore et al., 2009). Livestock are a way to attain the organic principles of ecology, which says that "organic agriculture should be based on living ecological systems and cycles. Work with them, emulate them and help sustain them" (IFOAM, 2005). It means that the organic farm should base it production on ecological processes and recycling. Livestock production should therefore form an integral part of many organic farms, because of its role in nutrient recycling on the farm (Hermansen, 2003; Powell et al., 2004). In a natural ecosystem the wild herbivores scatter their faeces and urine in the environment when they are grazing, which gives nutrient for plant growth, which provide food for the herbivores, which then produce more faeces and so on.
When livestock are integrated into the whole system, is creates a situation where the livestock contribute to the system and at the same time the system should contribute to sure that the principles of fairness to obtained. Which means that "animals should be provided with the conditions and opportunities of life that accord with their physiology, natural behaviour and well-being" (IFOAM, 2005).
The integration of livestock into the whole system can both give benefits and conflicts. Therefore is the aim of this assignment is to illustrate (explore, discuss and analyse) some of the benefits and conflicts from integration livestock, especially ruminants, into the whole farm, with a specific focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. The first section of this assignment gives some highlights of the livestock in Sub-Saharan Africa, followed by a description of benefits from integration of livestock with focus on nutrient recycling and a description of conflicts, with focus on breeds and water. A case from Ethiopia will be reviewed and the final section will be a discussion of the case in relation to integration of livestock.


We report on a loop oscillation event observed by TRACE in the 195 A bandpass at the solar limb. The difference images reveal the first evidence for vertical kink oscillations of the loop, i.e., alternately expanding and shrinking motions, in contrast to horizontal transverse loop oscillations reported before, which exhibit swaying motions. Based on the 3D geometry of the oscillating loop derived from the observation by fitting with a circular or elliptical loop model, we simulate these two kinds of global kink modes and find that only the vertical oscillations produce a signature in the difference images in agreement with the observations. We also find that the oscillating loop is associated with intensity variations. Based on the measured displacement amplitude, the simulation predicts an intensity variation of about 13% due to density changes produced by the change of the loop length. The observed intensity changes have the same sign but are considerably larger than the predictions although the error bars are also large. This suggests that these oscillations are compressible.


This article addresses two types of conflicts of interests that arise in criminal cases: 1) when defense counsel has an employment relation to the prosecutor's office, and 2) when defense counsel faces criminal investigation or charges. Both these situations threaten both the defendant's representation and the actual as well as apparent fairness of the proceeding. Yet, only in extreme cases are these conflicts likely to result in a reversal of the defendant's conviction. As a result, protection of the defendant and the fairness of the process often depends on early intervention, which allows the court to advise the defendant of the risks inherent in counsel's situation and possibly accept a waiver from the defendant or disqualify counsel if appropriate. If defense counsel has an employment relationship with the prosecutor's office or if counsel faces criminal investigation or charges, the prosecution generally has ready access to the pertinent information, and neither the court nor the defendant is likely to be aware of the problem. Therefore, when a situation exists that may generate one of these two types of conflict, the prosecution must have an obligation to disclose relevant information to the court and the defendant. Imposing the obligation of disclosure on the prosecution will increase the likelihood that courts will be able to address these types of conflict early and appropriately.


BACKGROUND
Inhalation of fine particulate is hypothesized to increase risk of heart disease events.

METHODS
Seven Ontario construction unions participated in a retrospective cohort mortality study. Proportional mortality ratios (PMRs) were computed and a mortality odds ratio (MOR) analysis was performed to compare the risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality among heavy equipment operators (HEO) to that of members of other unions. Deaths attributed to lung cancer, mesothelioma, and accidental causes were excluded from the comparison.

RESULTS
Two hundred fifty nine of 1,009 deaths among the HEO were attributed to IHD. The PMR was 1.09 (0.96-1.2). None of the IHD PMRs among the other six unions exceeded 0.89. The MOR for IHD mortality, comparing the HEO to all other workers combined was 1.47 (1.17-1.84) for ages 25-64, was 1.20 (0.96-1.50) for ages 65 or more, and was 1.32 (1.13-1.55) for all ages combined.

CONCLUSIONS
Increased risk of IHD mortality among HEO is consistent with the hypothesis that exposure to diesel fume has adverse effects upon the heart and circulatory system.


More than 600 observations were recorded for the author's home-to-work trip for the same route from Boston to Cambridge, Mass., over the period 1980 to 2004. With this data, it is possible to graph the pattern of travel times and travel time reliability as a function of departure times during the morning rush hour. The image of rush hour performance that emerges from this study is more complex than what is often used in network models or abstract economic analysis. For example, as rush hour progresses, variability increases even though expected travel times start to decline. There may also be lulls in rush hour, i.e. intervals of 10-15 minutes when expected trip times and reliability temporarily improve. This type of performance cannot realistically be modeled as a linear function of traffic volume, nor can it be approximated using a steady state queuing analysis. It will be far better to view rush hour performance as a steady state cyclical queuing phenomenon: every day may start afresh, but expected conditions on next Tuesday at 8:30 am are likely to be similar to conditions last Tuesday at that time. Over the 25-year period, there was surprisingly little change in rush hour performance on this congested urban route. Average travel times were mostly in the range of 25-27 minutes with a standard deviation of three to four minutes. There was some spreading of the peak, especially during periods involving major construction, but performance in the most recent period was actually equivalent to performance in the 1980s despite an increase of about 10% in traffic volume. Variability in trip times is mostly related to variability in the delays associated with the most congested


Background. Asthma and obesity are common; however the impact of obesity upon asthma remains uncertain. Objectives. To assess relationships between obesity and fat mass with airway inflammation, lung function, and disease control in patients with refractory asthma. Methods. 151 refractory asthma patients were characterised for measures of airway inflammation, lung function, Juniper asthma control questionnaire (JACQ), body mass index (BMI), and fat mass index (FMI) derived from dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Patients were reassessed over 12 months. Results. 74% of patients had an elevated BMI. BMI and FMI correlated (r = 0.9, P < .001). FMI and JACQ correlated in men (r = 0.3, P = .01). After 12 months 23% lost weight. Weight change over 12 months correlated with FEV1 change (r = −0.3, P = .03), but not with change in JACQ or exacerbations. Conclusion. Increased fat mass is common in refractory asthma and is associated with asthma symptom control in men. Loss of weight is associated with improvement in lung function in refractory asthma.


ABSTRACT:Forming part of the University of Colorado Boulder's Grand Challenge initiative, the Nature, Environment, Science & Technology (NEST) Studio for the Arts is a new endeavor that explores the interrelation, generative overlaps and productive differences between the sciences and the arts by means of exhibitions, student work, lectures, panels, courses and events. Operationally launched in the summer of 2018, NEST seeks efforts that engage with central questions regarding alternative and constructive ways of passing information and methodologies back and forth between the two worlds. Efforts such as these are key to advancing cross-disciplinary efforts in siloed cam puses across the nation.


This chapter explores some of the ways in which medieval Irish scholars thought about the linguistic concept of the word. Starting points are (i) the observation that they have been credited with the implementation of forms of word division in scribal practice and (ii) the question of whether they perceived of the word as a lexical unit or as a stress group, or mot phonetique, since it is the latter which is reflected in scribal practice as well as in the terminology for case-forms of nouns in at least one grammaticographical tradition. The main themes addressed are the internal structures of the longest octosyllabic words possible in Irish, the production of speech sounds in the body which result in words, and the semantic range of lexemes that are used inter alia to denote the linguistic unit word.


The linearity of the relationship between income inequality and economic development has been long questioned. While theory provides arguments for which the shape of relationship may be positive for low levels of inequality and negative for high ones, most of the empirical literature assumes a linear specification finding conflicting results. Employing an innovative empirical approach robust to endogeneity, we find pervasive evidence of nonlinearities. In particular, similar to the debt overhang literature, we identify an inequality overhang level in that the slope of the relationship between income inequality and economic development switches from positive to negative at a net Gini of about 27 percent. We also find that in an environment characterized by widespread financial inclusion and high income concentration, rising income inequality has a larger negative impact on economic development because banks may curtail credit to customers at the lower end of the income distribution. On the positive side, a sufficiently high female labor participation can act as a shock absorber reducing such negative impact, possibly through a more efficient allocation of resources.


Toward the late 1990s, several research groups independently began developing new, related theories in mathematical finance. These theories did away with the standard stochastic geometric diffusion "Samuelson" market model (also known as the Black-Scholes model because it is used in that most famous theory), instead opting for models that allowed minimax approaches to complement or replace stochastic methods. Among the most fruitful models were those utilizing game-theoretic tools and the so-called interval market model. Over time, these models have slowly but steadily gained influence in the financial community, providing a useful alternative to classical methods. A self-contained monograph, The Interval Market Model in Mathematical Finance: Game-Theoretic Methods assembles some of the most important results, old and new, in this area of research. Written by seven of the most prominent pioneers of the interval market model and game-theoretic finance, the work provides a detailed account of several closely related modeling techniques for an array of problems in mathematical economics. The book is divided into five parts, which successively address topics including: * probability-free Black-Scholes theory; * fair-price interval of an option; * representation formulas and fast algorithms for option pricing; * rainbow options; * tychastic approach of mathematical finance based upon viability theory. This book provides a welcome addition to the literature, complementing myriad titles on the market that take a classical approach to mathematical finance. It is a worthwhile resource for researchers in applied mathematics and quantitative finance, and has also been written in a manner accessible to financially-inclined readers with a limited technical background.


Introduction Simulated Taekwondo combats have tended to elicit reduced physiological load than equivalent championship Taekwondo combats (Bridge et al. 2009; Butios and Tasika, 2007). The mechanisms that govern this response have not been elucidated. There is evidence to suggest that this phenomenon may be a function of dissonant stress hormone responses in these combat settings (Obminski, 2008). The aim of this study was to compare the physiological and stress hormonal responses to performing Taekwondo combats in simulated and championship settings. Methods Ten male Taekwondo black belts (mean ± SD, age 18 ± 1 years, body mass 64.5 ± 11 kg, height 1.77 ± 0.08 m) were examined during the first combat in an international championship event and during a simulated combat. The championship combats comprised three two-minute rounds of full-contact combat with one minute separating each round. In the simulated combats, participants performed an exercise protocol that replicated the structure and activity profile (physical workload) performed in the championship Taekwondo combats. The championship and simulated combat trials were separated by a period of two weeks. Participants were instructed to replicate the same warm up and nutritional practices for each combat. Heart rate (HR) was recorded at 5 s intervals during the combats. Venous blood samples were obtained before and after each combat to determine the plasma metabolite and hormone concentrations. Results Significantly higher (P < .05) HR (136 ± 13 vs. 116 ± 10 beats.min-1), plasma lactate (2.6 ± 0.9 vs. 1.2 ± 0.7 mmol.l-1), and glucose (6.7 ± 0.9 vs. 5.6 ± 1.2 mmol.l-1) concentrations were evident before the championship combats than before the simulated combats respectively. The championship combats also induced higher (P < .05) HR during combat than the simulated combats (188 ± 8 vs. 172 ± 4 beats.min-1). Significantly higher (P < .05) plasma lactate (12.2 ± 4.6 vs. 3.6 ± 2.7 mmol.l-1), glucose (10.3 ± 1.1 vs. 5.9 ± 0.8 mmol.l-1), glycerol (143 ± 49 vs. 78 ± 21 µmol.l-1), epinephrine (2.7 ± 1.7 vs. 0.6 ± 0.2 nmol.l-1) and norepinephrine (14.3 ± 9.4 vs. 3.0 ± 1.1 nmol.l-1) concentrations were evident after the championship combats than after the simulated combats respectively. Conclusions The findings of this study demonstrate that championship Taekwondo combats augment the physiological and hormonal responses in comparison to simulated combats. These contrasting physiological and hormonal profiles seem to be mediated primarily by the different stress responses to these combat settings. References Bridge C.A. et al. (2009) Int J Sports Physiol Perform, 4, 485. Butios S. and Tasika N. (2007) J Sports Med Phys Fit, 47, 179. Obminski Z. (2008) Res Yearbook, 14, 103.


The temporal output characteristics of an all-fiber gain-switched thulium-doped fiber laser near threshold are investigated experimentally and numerically. The pulse repetition rate and pulse energy of the 1550 nm pump source are found to be two important parameters that affect the laser performance. Adjusting these two parameters, three different output working states, namely no lasing state, unstable state, and steady state, are observed experimentally. Particularly, in the unstable state relatively stable output pulse trains with repetition rate trisecting (PRR 1/3) and halving (PRR 1/2) with respect to the pump source are found. The experimental results together with corresponding numerical simulation afford a deep insight into the related lasing mechanisms.


The difficulty of reliably and accurately incorporating tariffrate quotas (TRQs) into trade models has received a lot of attention in recent years. As a result of the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations, TRQs replaced an assortment of tariff and nontariff instruments in an effort to standardise trade barriers, and facilitate their future liberalisation. Understanding the nuances of TRQs is now particularly crucial for New Zealand because of the preferential access arrangements that New Zealand has for a number of products in highly protected markets such as the European Union, Japan, and the United States. It has been argued that TRQs are complex instruments and are difficult to model because for any trade flow between two countries, one of three regimes may be applicable : 1. The import quota may not be binding and the within-quota tariff applies; 2. The quota may be binding, the within-quota tariff applies, and a quota rent is created; or 3. Trade occurs over and above the quota, in which case an over-quota tariff applies (although, even in this regime, someone is still able to collect the quota rent on within-quota trade). But even this characterisation, which many claim is too complex to model, is a major simplification of reality. Bilateral preferences are ubiquitous, and such preferences are usually included in the determination of multilateral market access quotas. It is usual, therefore, that the TRQ instrument has several tiers to the quota schedule, plus a number of within and over-quota tariff rates applicable on either a bilateral or a multilateral basis. Further trade liberalisation creates something of a dilemma for New Zealand. Any decrease in over-quota tariffs and/or increase in quota levels potentially reduces the value of quota rents, many of which accrue to New Zealand due to the bilateral preferences. It is important, therefore, that New Zealand trade negotiators understand how much additional trade is required to offset the loss of New Zealands quota rents. Modelling trade in the presence of TRQs is the only way to ascertain this knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to show that complex TRQs can be modelled very easily and precisely. The only catch is that the model must be formulated as a complementarity problem rather than the more conventional linear or nonlinear optimisation problem. The concept will be demonstrated using a simple 3-region, single commodity spatial price equilibrium model of trade.


Nowadays Portugal is under a large process of creation/revision of studies and plans related with land use and territorial planning, mainly due to the end of the lifetime period of the actual Municipal Master Plan, but also because of the creation of the new Metropolitan Authorities of Transportation, which will require Mobility Plans. Even though the Portuguese law doesnÂ't impose these Mobility Plans at the present moment, there is a general feeling about the importance of the mobility system for the society and economics in general. This is the case in highly density areas, where the need and complexity of the system requires these specific studies in order to obtain an efficient management; or in the case of low-density areas where the risk of loosing competitiveness is too high to ignore the importance of the transportation and mobility system, and the advantage of gaining local and regional competitiveness might increase the importance of the municipality in regional context. This paper intends to provide an innovative approach regarding the provision, at an early stage, of technical support to decision-makers in order to define Mobility and Transportation Policies. The opportunity provided by using adapted SWOT analysis (among others) to identify weakening or potential factors, and how to take advantage of the results, always using a cause and effect approach and a coherent policy in order to obtain high quality and effective studies and politics. The methodology relies on a two-stage process. In the first stage a summary diagnose is provided, using inputs which are supposed to well characterise the territoryÂ's mobility patterns. Afterwards, in a second phase, these are inter-related and evaluated in order to build-up a table of options, where policies are proposed with a careful attention to its qualitative cross impact with the measures and objectives intended to be achieved. The proposed methodology was applied in the AlcobaA§a´s Municipality case study, which provided different lines of action in diverse subjects, such as, public and private transportation networks, parking policies and organisation, and territory competitiveness. This study was particularly relevant, since this Municipality is under great pressure of its neighbour municipalities, has a low level of regional importance and a low intra-municipal cohesion. Finally, the general opinion of the decision-makers about this technical approach is presented. Keywords: Mobility; Transportation; Land Planning and Policies; Decision-making Support


The last few decades have seen the rise of Gentle soil Remediation Options (GRO), which notably include in situ contaminant stabilization ("inactivation") and plant-based (generally termed "phytoremediation") options. For trace element (TE)-contaminated sites, GRO aim to either decrease their labile pool and/or total content in the soil, thereby reducing related pollutant linkages. Much research has been dedicated to the screening and selection of TE-tolerant plant species and genotypes for application in GRO. However, the number of field trials demonstrating successful GRO remains well below the number of studies carried out at a greenhouse level. The move from greenhouse to field conditions requires incorporating agronomical knowledge into the remediation process and the ecological restoration of ecosystem services. This review summarizes agronomic practices against their demonstrated or potential positive effect on GRO performance, including plant selection, soil management practices, crop rotation, short rotation coppice, intercropping/row cropping, planting methods and plant densities, harvest and fertilization management, pest and weed control and irrigation management. Potentially negative effects of GRO, e.g., the introduction of potentially invasive species, are also discussed. Lessons learnt from long-term European field case sites are given for aiding the choice of appropriate management practices and plant species.


Traditionally in Old Testament redactional criticism, a distinction is made between the first half of Leviticus (usually Lv 1–16) and the second half (Lv 17–26). In historical-critical jargon, the first half is usually regarded as part of the Priestly texts (P) and the second is called H by some, after the Holiness Code. Some have argued that Leviticus 1–16 is mostly concerned with what we would call rituals, whereas the second half (or H) is concerned with 'ethics', amongst other things. The article attempted to explore the relation between rituals and ethics by first asking what Old Testament critics seem to mean when they use terms such as 'ritual' and 'ethics'. The article then critically engaged with two different hypotheses which attempt to explain the ethical turn in the Book of Leviticus.


The Moon is exceptional and important because it is the only planetary body besides the Earth for which we have both a detailed stratigraphic history and datable rock samples that can be related to specific geomorphologic units (Fig. 5.1⇓). The Moon has preserved much of its magmatic and impact record of at least the last 4 billion years. While its endogenic history is of great interest for the fundamentals of planetary interiors and surfaces, the Moon has become a calibration plate for the cratering record of the Earth-Moon system, and by extrapolation, of the entire inner solar system if one assumes a heliocentric origin for impactor populations. These populations range from asteroids through long and short period comets to interplanetary dust, and cover a size range from hundreds of kilometers to micrometers.

 Figure 5.1.
Telescopic view of the nearside of the Earth's Moon with landing sites of the Apollo and Luna missions.

This chapter reviews the presently available data sets in support of this paradigmatic assumption, as follows: (1) the phenomenology of lunar impact craters, (2) the terrestrial record of the impact cratering process and the interpretation of terrestrial impactites as far as this "ground truth" is relevant for the interpretation of lunar impact craters and datable lunar impact breccias and melt rocks, (3) the theory and numerical simulation of the cratering process and the characteristics of the Earth-Moon crossing population of impactors (asteroids and comets), (4) the principles of relative age dating of lunar surface units and the general lunar stratigraphy, (5) the stratigraphic significance and ages of lunar samples (impactites and basalts) and, based on this data set, the absolute ages of lunar surface units, (6) the cratering rate of the Moon as a function of time, and (7) the time calibration of this cratering rate based on the …


Nanosecond laser machining of titanium has gained increased interest in recent years for a number of potential applications where part functionalities depend on features or surface structures with microscale dimensions. In particular, titanium is one of the materials of choice to sustain the demand for advanced and miniaturized components in the biomedical and aerospace sectors for instance. This is due to its inherent properties of high strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility. However, in the nanosecond laser processing regime, the resolidification and deposition of material expelled from the generated craters can be detrimental to the achieved machined quality at such small scale. Thus, this paper focuses on the investigation of the laser–material interaction process in this pulse length regime as a function of both the delivered laser beam energy and the pulse duration in order to optimize machining quality and throughput. To achieve this, a simple theoretical model for simulating single pulse processing was developed and validated first. The model was then used to relate (1) the temperature evolution inside commercially pure titanium targets with (2) the morphology of the obtained craters. Using a single fiber laser system with a wavelength of 1064 nm, this analysis was conducted for pulse durations comprised between 25 ns and 220 ns and a range of fluence values from 14 J cm−2 and 56 J cm−2. One of the main conclusions from the study is that the generation of relatively clean single craters could be best achieved with a pulse length in the range of 85–140 ns when the delivered fluence leads to the maximum crater temperature being above but still relatively close to the vaporization threshold of the cpTi substrate. In addition, the lowest surface roughness in the case of laser milling operations could be obtained when the delivered single pulses did not lead to the vaporization threshold being reached.


The influence of hyperbranched polymer grafted polypropylene (PP-HBP) on the morphology of polypropylene (PP)/polyamide 6 (PA6) blends has been investigated. The final morphology was strongly influenced by the PP-HBP compatibilizer concentration. At low concentrations, PP-HBP acts as an emulsifying agent, reducing the size of the dispersed phase and preventing coalescence. This is due to the high reactivity and diffusitivity of PP-HBP rapidly forming a high density of copolymers at the interface. Compared to the use of maleic anhydride grafted PP (PP-MAH) at identical concentrations, PP-HBP yielded a smaller dispersed phase particle size. Therefore, PP-HBP allows the use of less compatibilizer to obtain identical morphologies. At higher compatibilizer concentrations, it has been shown that the PP-HBP efficiently stabilizes the interface and inhibits both coalescence and breakup of the PA6 droplets. The high concentration of reactive sites and the ability of PP-HBP to react with both chain-ends of PA6 suggest that interfacial stabilization occurs because of the formation of a partly crosslinked interface. The interfacial stabilization effects generated by PP-HBP should allow one to control the morphology of polymer blends in order to create specific functional morphologies.


Aimed at the design of efficient smart actuating materials, we have fabricated a self-actuating material that sets the platform for conceptually new, hybrid biocompatible actuators capable of dual mechanical response—by changes in temperature and by stimulation with weak ultraviolet or blue visible light. We demonstrate herein that microcrystallites of thermosalient and photosalient (leaping) solids can effectively utilize thermal or light energy and act as a robust and dynamically active "skeleton" to actuate sodium caseinate films as an elastic, flexible, biocompatible, natural protein matrix, similar to artificial muscle. The spectroscopic, kinematic and mechanical profiles of the new material are all consistent with a mechanism whereby the cooperative strains induced by reshaping and motions of the thermosalient crystals trigger macroscopic mechanical deformation of the matrix. The elastic medium absorbs the stress, thus providing reinforcing feedback to the brittle crystals. The hybrid material conveniently combines fast energy absorption and conversion within single crystals and elasticity of polymers and displays a remarkable improvement in the tensile properties relative to the non-doped caseinate. Being based on natural protein, this thermally and photoresponsive artificial muscle is also biologically compatible and environmentally benign.


This article will consider the structure and effects of corporate acts of bribery as an entry point to explore why, notwithstanding its many critics, there are good reasons to retain corporate criminal liability along with individual liability in many circumstances. I will argue, first, that due to shared social intuitions about corporations as personified moral actors, the punishment of corporations along with their executives, if otherwise justified, serves an important expressive function that in turn helps legitimize the criminal justice system by vindicating the intuitions about moral blameworthiness that support it. Second, I will examine the example of the crime of bribery, especially in the context of recent enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), to demonstrate how some of the most important substantive harms caused by corporate bribery, including social deterioration and cultural malaise, flow in part from the very networks bribery creates to consolidate power -- real and perceived -- over consumers and other market participants. This consolidation is made possible by the enduring nature of a corporation, which is in turn created by the state and facilitates institutional connections with state power. I argue that a societal judgment of blameworthiness for the corruption of these networks must attach, through criminal sanction, to the collective entities perceived as directly participating in them in order for the perceptual aspects of this harm to be removed and for the adverse effects on the fabric of society remedied. (While corporate criminal punishment must primarily take the form of financial penalties, the expressive stigma of criminal liability in and of itself can serve to disrupt the perceived alignment between the corporate structure and sources of state power.) Third, I will suggest that the same perceptual harms identifiable in the context of bribery can be discerned in many other cases of corporate criminal misconduct, based upon the psychological and cultural effects of a corporation's enduring nature and institutional connections with state power. Finally, I will argue that, notwithstanding these strong arguments for corporate criminal liability, the bribery cases also demonstrate how the dramatic and variable role of prosecutorial discretion in attaching official blame to corporate harm runs the risk of undermining the expressive value of corporate punishment through an emphasis on consequentialist outcomes. These outcomes, I argue, improperly aggrandize the prosecutor's ex post remedial role at the expense of redressing the underlying corporate harm.


Assessing the quality of natural language generation (NLG) systems through human annotation is very expensive. Additionally, human annotation campaigns are time-consuming and include non-reusable human labour. In practice, researchers rely on automatic metrics as a proxy of quality. In the last decade, many string-based metrics (e.g., BLEU or ROUGE) have been introduced. However, such metrics usually rely on exact matches and thus, do not robustly handle synonyms. In this paper, we introduce InfoLM a family of untrained metrics that can be viewed as a string-based metric that addresses the aforementioned flaws thanks to a pre-trained masked language model. This family of metrics also makes use of information measures allowing the possibility to adapt InfoLM to different evaluation criteria. Using direct assessment, we demonstrate that InfoLM achieves statistically significant improvement and two figure correlation gains in many configurations compared to existing metrics on both summarization and data2text generation tasks.


This issue of Medical Clinics devoted to prediabetes and diabetes prevention belongs in the hands of every practicing internist, PCP, hospitalist, nurse practitioner, endocrinologist, and any healthcare provider who is concerned about the diabetes epidemic. The importance of this resides in our ability to prevent diabetes by early identification of individuals with a precursor condition termed prediabetes that affect 54 million adult Americans. This entity has grown globally over the recent decades paralleling the obesity epidemic. No country or region of the world is immune. Overweight and obesity affect approximately 60 per cent of our population and children as well as adolescents are not spared. Approximately 13 per cent of adolescents have prediabetes which has doubled since the year 2000. Both type 2 diabetes and prediabetes are preventable and reversible with lifestyle changes involving weight loss and exercise. This issue gives a historical perspective on diabetes prevention, examines its public health implications, and explores diabetes prevention initiatives. Essential topics covered include prediabetes definition, epidemiology, mechanisms of complications, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment recommendations. Diabetes prevention trials and the economics of prevention are also covered.


The notion of concept drift refers to the phe-nomenon that the distribution, which is underlying the observed data, changes over time; as a consequence machine learning models may become inaccurate and need adjustment. Many online learning schemes include drift detection to actively detect and react to observed changes. Yet, reliable drift detection constitutes a challenging problem in particular in the context of high dimensional data, varying drift characteristics, and the absence of a parametric model such as a classification scheme which reflects the drift. In this paper we present a novel concept drift detection method, Dynamic Adapting Window Independence Drift Detection (DAWIDD), which aims for non-parametric drift detection of diverse drift characteristics. For this purpose, we establish a mathematical equivalence of the presence of drift to the dependency of specific random variables in an according drift process. This allows us to rely on independence tests rather than parametric models or the classification loss, resulting in a fairly robust scheme to universally detect different types of drift, as it is also confirmed in experiments.


Abstract Station-nearness principles as we will discuss in this paper, deals with the coordination of urban functions with the public transportation network. When we talk about functions, we mean residences, workplaces, commercial services, entertainment venues, places of culture, etc. These functions should be high density, there should be a mix of them and they should be pedestrian friendly in nature. Effective integration of functions around train stations brings many benefits and is one of the best means by which you can increase public transport use and increase the accessibility for people in a region. More and more, cities in North America, Europe and other places, are exploring the idea of how this concept can be applied. The Copenhagen region as we will discuss, has placed station-nearness principles at the forefront of their finger plan. Since the Copenhagen region has applied these principles, they have seen clear results with increased public transit ridership, as well on the overall, an increase in the standard of living. As many places are exploring the concept, not everyplace has been able to make the concept work. When we look at Scania, the concept is under utilized to a degree. There continues to be many populated and dense areas in Scania where the coordination of urban functions with public transit is lacking. The automobile is also gaining stronger competition over public transportation; this is a concern in terms of the sustainable future and quality of life for the region. It is not always the solution to simply expand the public transportation network, rather it can be significant to explore more upon the concept of station-nearness principles so that the existing public transit network can be made more effective. It is important to compare places, see in our case study how the concept has worked in the Copenhagen region and look into why the concept is lacking in Scania, as well, what can be done to implement it more in Scania. It is also important how the Oresund region as whole, can play a role with developing the concept, as well, how the concept can benefit the Oresund region vice versa.


Drugs, crime, and public housing are closely linked in policy and politics, and their nexus has animated several intensive drug enforcement programs targeted at public housing residents. In New York City, police systematically conduct "vertical patrols" in public housing buildings, making tens of thousands of Terry stops each year. During these patrols, both uniformed and undercover officers systematically move through the buildings, temporarily detaining and questioning residents and visitors, often at a low threshold of suspicion, and usually alleging trespass to justify the stop. We use a case‐control design to identify the effects of living in one of New York City's 330 public housing developments on the probability of stop, frisk, and arrest from 2004–2011. We find that the incidence rate ratio for trespass stops and arrests is more than two times greater in public housing than in the immediate surrounding neighborhoods. We decompose these effects using first differences models and find that the difference in percent black and Hispanic populations in public housing compared to the surrounding area predicts the disparity in trespass enforcement and enforcement of other criminal law violations. The pattern of racially selective enforcement suggests the potential for systemic violations of the Fourteenth Amendment's prohibition on racial discrimination.


OBJECTIVE
To explore how rheumatoid arthritis (RA) antirheumatic drug-specific knowledge and numeric literacy, patient trust in physician, and demographic and disease-related factors relate to the confidence of patient decision-making related to disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD).

METHODS
Data were analyzed from 628 randomly selected patients with RA receiving care in community rheumatology practices, who responded to a multicenter, cross-sectional mail survey. We used multiple regression models to predict patient confidence in DMARD decision-making related to their most recently initiated DMARD.

RESULTS
Significant positive correlation was found between confidence in DMARD decision and trust in physician, DMARD-specific knowledge, and disease duration, but not risk-related numeric literacy, sex, or education. Negative correlations were found with disease severity and current bother with DMARD side effects. A multiple linear regression model of confidence in DMARD decision had an overall R = 0.788, R2 = 0.620 (p < 0.001). The 4 dependent variables contributing significantly to the model were female sex, Medicaid insurance status, satisfaction with RA disease control, and trust in physician, with standardized beta = 0.077, -0.089, 0.147, and 0.687, respectively.

CONCLUSION
In this sample of community patients with RA, the patient trust in physician had substantially greater effect on confidence in DMARD decision than DMARD-specific knowledge, disease-related factors, or demographic characteristics.