ABSTRACT.Violence among schoolchildren is an increasing concern in Europe and the European Union member states cannot afford to consider this issue can be avoided. They have taken a clear stand against violence, supporting their position with policies and practices concerning its prevention, involving the teachers, the central and local authorities, as well as the parents. If the creation of programs for preventing violence in schools is the common denominator of all the legal measures, their financing differs from country to country; generally, this matter is handled by the management of schools.Keywords: school, security in schools, school violence, child protection1. IntroductionAt European level, statistics on violence in educational institutions present only forms of "minor violence" but their number is increasing. Generally, minor violence is categorized as "lack of discipline," but it is important to mention that most of the research suggests that the number of minor acts of violence can spiral up and can generate major acts of violence.1According to the UNICEF studies2 violence in school represents "any manifestation of certain behaviors such as:* inadequate or offensive expressions, such as: name calling, teasing, irony, mimicry, threatening behavior, harassment;* bullying, shoving, hitting, hurting;* behavior that falls under the provisions of the law (rape, consumption/distribution of drugs, vandalism - deliberately causing damages);* offense to the state/educational authority (irreverent language or behavior towards the teachers);* inappropriate school behavior: delay in class, leaving the room during the class, smoking in school and any other behavior that flagrantly infringes upon the school regulation in force."Besides the familial, social-economic or individual factors, the most important causes of violence in school include a series of school-related factors. The lack of an adequate level of awareness, of efficient teaching strategies or management decisions puts many schools in the position of not being able to counter the violent manifestations generated by certain out-ofschool factors. Although the schools play an important part in the protection of children, my schoolchildren are exposed to violence in schools, thus being denied the right to education. This situation occurs because violence in schools and around schools makes it difficult for the children to go to and come from school, to lean efficiently and to stay in school long enough to benefit from education.2. International RegulationsAt international level, in the absence of a study on the issue of violence in schools, three articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted at the General Assembly of the United Nations, on November 20th 1989 are relevant: article 19, paragraph 1, article 28 paragraph 2 and article 29. Article 19(1) explicitly stipulates that "States Parties shall take all appropriate legal, administrative, social and educational measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of violence, harming or physical or mental abuse, abandonment, negligence, bad treatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while under the care of the one of the parents or both, the legal proxy (proxies) or any other person to whom the child was entrusted," the last category including teachers as well.The revised European Social Charter, adopted by the European Council, enforced in 1999 and monitored by the European Committee of Social Rights stipulates in article 7, paragraph (10) that it is necessary to ensure special protection against the physical and moral risks to which the children are exposed. The Committee considered that this article concerns the measures to protect children in at home, at school and generally in the society.Resolution 1803/2011 of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly requests that firm measures be taken to counter this phenomenon, including criminal punishments for those committing these deeds. …


We develop a version of the pi-calculus, picost, where channels are interpreted as resources which have costs associated with them. Code runs under the financial responsibility of owners; they must pay to use resources, but may profit by providing them. We provide a proof methodology for processes described in picost based on bisimulations. The underlying behavioural theory is justified via a contextual characterisation. We also demonstrate its usefulness via examples.


Abstract. Glacial terminations are characterized by a strong rise in sea level related to melting ice sheets. This rise in sea level is not uniform all over the world, because regional effects (uplift and subsidence of coastal zones) are superimposed on global trends. During the early Holocene the Siberian Shelf became flooded before 7.5 ka BP and the coastline reached modern-day high stands at 5 ka BP. This area is currently known as a sea-ice production area and contributes significantly to the sea-ice exported from the Arctic through the Fram Strait. This leads to the following hypothesis: during times of rising sea levels, shelves become flooded, increasing sea-ice production on these shelves, increasing sea-ice volume and export through the Fram Strait and causing the sea-ice extent to advance in the Nordic Seas, yielding cooler and fresher sea surface conditions. We have tested this hypothesis in an atmosphere–ocean–sea–ice coupled model of intermediate complexity (LOVECLIM). Our experiment on early Holocene Siberian Shelf flooding shows that in our model sea-ice production in the Northern Hemisphere increases (15%) and that sea-ice extent in the Northern Hemisphere increases (14%) but sea-ice export decreases (−15%) contrary to our hypothesis. The reason of this unexpected behaviour has its origin in a weakened polar vortex, induced by the land–ocean changes due to the shelf flooding, and a resulting decrease of zonality in the Nordic Seas pressure regime. Hence the winter Greenland high and the Icelandic low strengthen, yielding stronger winds on both sides of the Nordic Seas. Increased winds along the East Greenland Current support local sea-ice production and transport towards the South, resulting in a wider sea-ice cover and a southward shift of convection areas. The overall strength of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation is reduced by 4% and the heat transport in the Atlantic basin by 7%, resulting in an annual cooling pattern over the Nordic Seas by up to −4 °C. We find that the flooding of the Siberian shelf resulting from an orbitally induced warming and related glacioeustatic sea level rise causes a Nordic Seas cooling feedback opposed to this warming.


Municipal solid waste (MSW) composting has been increasingly recognized as a promising alternative for solid waste management. Because of the variation in both geographic origin (thus feed stock) and composting technology, the properties of MSW composts generated in various regions are likely to be different. In this study, 10 composts were collected from different facilities throughout the USA. Elemental composition and some physical properties were determined. Trace elements and organic C were partitioned into water soluble, exchangeable, complexed, organically bound, mineral particulate, and residue forms based on sequential extraction with H{sub 2}O, 1 M KCl, 0.1 M Na{sub 4}P{sub 2}O{sub 7}, 0.1 M NaOH, and 4 M HNO{sub 3}, respectively. Substantial variabilities were observed in both chemical and physical properties among the MSW composts generated in different facilities. Our results indicate that the trace element contents of MSW composts are in general lower than the average trace elements reported for sewage sludges, and below the pollutant concentrations (PC) for sewage sludges regulated by USEPA. The exception is for Pb, which was higher in some of the MSW composts than the average Pb content in sewage sludges and exceeds the PC. Solid particulate was the dominant form of Cd, Mn, Cu,more » and Pb, but the majority of Zn was organically complexed. Both solid particulate and residue were dominant forms of compost Cr and Ni. The differences in distribution patterns of trace elements in the MSW composts studied indicate that these elements will vary in their potential mobility and bioavailability in the environment. 39 refs., 3 figs., 9 tabs.« less


The United States Congress enacted the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as the Superfund, in 1980, with the purpose of dealing effectively with the dangers posed by the nation's hazardous waste sites (HWS). In this research, we evaluated lead levels in soil, sediment, and surface water collected from selected locations near a HWS in Mississippi, and estimated the potential ecological health risk associated with the presence of lead in these environmental matrices. Monthly samples were collected for a period of 12 months, at four different stations selected with respect to the HWS, and analyzed for their lead content by AA or UV/Visible spectrometry following a sample preparation by microwave -assisted acid digestion, or by mild digestion on hot plate. Other physical and chemical parameters including BOD, COD, conductivity, DO, nitrate, pH, sulfate, temperature, TDS, TSS, and turbidity were also assessed. Levels of lead in soil, sediment, and water collected from the sampling site (Site 1) closest to the controlled HWS were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than the other three sampling sites. While lead levels in soil and sediment were found to fall below the screening level (500 mg/kg), its concentrations in water samples exceeded the required criterion (3.2 ug/L) set by EPA for protection of aquatic life from chronic toxicity. No significant difference was found in the values of nitrate, pH and temperature at the 4 sampling sites; however, there were significantly (p < 0.05) lower levels of DO, and higher levels of BOD, COD, conductivity, sulfate, TDS, TSS, and turbidity, at Site 1 compared with Sites 2, 3, and 4.


This article explores how devolved outreach work for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia works to govern the past as it acts to reshape and reframe potentially ambivalent and conflicting memories of political violence. The article specifically examines an example of outreach targeting a former Khmer Rouge community that has been situated as a key party in Cambodia's attempts to realize 'justice' and 'reconciliation'. The article analyses the sites and crucibles of memory that outreach work for the court utilizes in licensing a particular reading of Cambodia's experiences of war and genocide. First, the article shows how museum and memorial sites and technologies produce acquiescent, ambivalent and resistant effects among outreach subjects. Second, the article then considers the consolidation and contestation of memory at a public forum event, noting the ways in which outreach attempts to disarm and reconstitute memorial accounts that conflict with the officially sanctioned reading of Cambodia's past political violence. Whilst acknowledging the unique characteristics of the case, I argue that it is illustrative of the various ways in which Cambodians might question the legitimacy of the Extraordinary Chambers.


BACKGROUND
Individuals with mental illness have a higher prevalence of smoking than those without a mental illness. Nicotine has several effects on mood and cognition. After many studies, the nature of the effect of smoking on mental illness is not clear.

METHODS
We performed a cross-sectional study of smoking status and symptom load in an outpatient bipolar disorder population. Data were collected and analyzed from 134 outpatients regarding smoking status and symptom profile and severity using the Rapid Psychiatric Interview Data scale.

RESULTS
Smokers had more severe anxiety symptoms (5.2 ± 7.6 vs 2.2 ± 3.3, z = 3.8, P = .0001), depressive symptoms (9.0 ± 9.6 vs 6.5 ± 8.1, z = 3.2, P = .0015), and manic symptoms (3.0 ± 4.2 vs 1.5 ± 2.9, z = 2.1, P = .04) than nonsmokers.

CONCLUSION
Smokers with bipolar disorder carry a greater symptom burden than nonsmokers. However, this is an associational study, and the true nature of the relationship is not clear.


The aim is to review landscape ecology and the contribution it can make to sustainable rangeland management, using Australia as an example. An examination is made of how much traditional ecology, as a discipline, influences landscape ecology in Australia. Also evaluated is whether, under this influence, landscape ecology is emerging as effectively as it could be as a trans-disciplinary science that can contribute significantly to rangeland sustainability. Surveys of landscape ecologists in Australia make it possible to classify Australian landscape ecology as being 'unidirectional interdisciplinary' in approach, with ecology being the coordinating discipline. The important contribution that research under this classification provides in terms of understanding structure, process, and change in rangelands is recognised and acknowledged. However, the question is raised as to whether following an ecological construct is constraining the application of landscape ecology more widely to address the complex environmental problems facing Australia's (and the world's) rangelands that also require consideration of the social and geographical aspects of landscapes. Recent shifts in the landscape ecological paradigm towards a science for sustainability that links science and practice, with particular focus on landscape design, social and cultural aspects of landscapes, and the value associated with landscape services, make landscape ecology increasingly more useful as a 'goal-oriented' approach for addressing rangeland sustainability. This paper suggests that those involved in rangeland management need to consider landscape ecology within its wider context. In doing so, it is argued that they should explore the possibilities it has to offer in dealing with development and management of rangelands, including interrelationships between people and landscapes, and to ensure ecosystem goods and services valued by people are preserved.


This article provides an overview of findings from a European study of media use patterns in nine different countries, and presents a typology of European media audiences. The first section offers a brief review of previous research on audiences' uses of "new" and "old" media, individually and in combination, specifying the analytical perspective of the comparative study. The following three sections detail three aspects of the findings: a mapping of the landscape of media in which European audiences move in terms of their choice of and time spent on different media types; a cluster analysis of the distinctive ways in which different sociodemographic groups locate themselves in the media landscape overall; and a further analysis and interpretation of how media are integrated by audiences into the contexts of their everyday lives. The conclusion notes some theoretical lessons of the project, and considers ways of conceptualizing and operationalizing the communicative practices of audiences in future research.


We examined student characteristics, statistics anxiety and attitudes toward science among 104 (76 females, 23 males, 5 gender not disclosed) undergraduates. Younger students were more negative regarding the implications of science and the enjoyment they perceived in learning science. No significant gender differences were found and Latinos/Hispanics, Caucasian, and other ethnic groups did not differ on statistics anxiety and attitudes toward science. However, anxiety for interpretation of statistics and taking a test and class in statistics were moderately high for these groups. These findings support the notion of the ubiquity of statistics anxiety across groups, regardless of previous experience. We also found that statistics anxiety was inversely related to attitudes toward science, suggesting that future research examine how to improve attitudes toward science to lessen statistics anxiety among students. Limitations of the study are also discussed. Keywords: statistics anxiety, science attitudes, age, gender, ethnicity ********** Different student characteristics have been shown to be related to academic success, such as low levels of procrastination (Rothblum, Solomon, & Murakami, 1986), high levels of work drive (Ridgell & Lounsbury, 2004), good emotional stability (Ridgell & Lounsbury), and low amounts of negative life stress (Petrie & Russell, 1995). However, of particular concern for many professors of statistics is anxiety associated with taking a course in statistics. Studies that have examined statistics anxiety have shown that a student's competence and success in a statistics course is influenced by their attitudes toward the course (Kottke, 2000). Baloglu (2004) pointed out that statistics anxiety is a relatively new construct and is related to but different from math anxiety. Although both types of anxiety have to do with the stress that students feel when dealing with mathematical reasoning, Baloglu states that statistics anxiety is distinct in that students also have apprehension involving the verbal reasoning and manipulation of the mathematical symbols that are required in understanding statistics. If this is true of statistics anxiety, do attitudes about science, which is a field that also involves a degree of verbal reasoning, relate to statistics anxiety? To better understand statistics anxiety, we explored student characteristics and attitudes toward related fields in the present study. Student Characteristics and Statistics Anxiety A variety of student characteristics, such as age and gender of the student, have been examined in relation to statistics anxiety. For example, nontraditional students (age 25 or older) were found to have greater statistics anxiety related to taking tests and being in the class (Bell, 2003). Additionally, traditional students had higher final statistics course grades compared to their non-traditional counterparts. Bell suggests that the lower grades of the non-traditional students can be partially explained by statistics anxiety, but they could also be due to non-traditional students' longer absence from math courses prior to enrolling in their current statistics course. Although Bell's comparisons between traditional and non-traditional students provide important findings for instructors who teach a variety of students, the study did not examine the relationships between statistics anxiety and other student characteristics and background, such as prior math experience (e.g., level of last math course and the number of years since the student's last math course). To explore these relationships, in the present study we compared non-traditional and traditional college students' statistics anxiety and the influence of previous math experience. Mji (2009) examined whether the student characteristics of gender and college major were related to statistics anxiety. Using the Statistical Anxiety Ratings Scale (STARS; Cruise & Wilkins, 1980), Mji found that statistics anxiety was high among all 226 South African technical college students sampled. …


N-((Diphenylamino)methyl)acetamide was synthesized using Mannich reaction and its complexes of cerium(IV), thorium(IV) and dioxouranium(VI) were prepared and characterized by elemental analysis and various spectral studies. The bidendate chelation of ligand, bonding through carbonyl oxygen and azomethine nitrogen is suggested. Based on spectral and magnetic studies, hexa coordinate geometry is assigned for all the complexes. The complexes were screened for their antibacterial, antifungal and anticancer activities. They show positive results.


Ribonucleic acid (RNA) was previously thought to remain inside cells as an intermediate between genes and proteins during translation. However, it is now estimated that 98% of the mammalian genomic output is transcribed as noncoding RNAs, which are involved in diverse gene expression regulatory mechanisms and can be transferred from one cell to another through extracellular communication. For instance, microRNAs are 22-nucleotide-long noncoding RNAs that are generated by endonuclease cleavage of precursors inside the cells and are secreted as extracellular microRNAs to regulate target cell posttranscriptional gene expression via RNA interference. We and others have shown that different populations of microRNAs are expressed in distinct regions of the human epididymis and regulate the expression of target genes that are involved in the control of male fertility as indicated by knock-out mouse models. Importantly, some microRNAs, including the microRNA-888 (miR-888) cluster that is exclusively expressed in the reproductive system of human and nonhuman primates, are released in the sperm-surrounding fluid in the epididymis via extracellular vesicles, the so-called epididymosomes. In addition to interacting with the membrane of maturing spermatozoa, these extracellular vesicles containing microRNAs communicate with epithelial cells located downstream from their release site, suggesting a role in the luminal exocrine control of epididymal functions. Apart from their potential roles as mediators of intercellular communication within the epididymis, these extracellular microRNAs are potent molecular targets for the noninvasive diagnosis of male infertility.


We study focus-focus singularities (also known as nodal singularities, or pinched tori) of Lagrangian fibrations on symplectic $4$-manifolds. We show that, in contrast to elliptic and hyperbolic singularities, there exist homeomorphic focus-focus singularities which are not diffeomorphic. Furthermore, we obtain an algebraic description of the moduli space of focus-focus singularities up to smooth equivalence, and show that for double pinched tori this space is one-dimensional. Finally, we apply our construction to disprove Zung's conjecture which says that any non-degenerate singularity can be smoothly decomposed into an almost direct product of standard singularities.


The broad spectrum of interconnected sensors and actuators, available on various mobile devices and smartphones and collectively defined as the Internet of Things (IoT), have evolved into platforms with ability to both collect personal sensory data and also change the users' immediate environment. The continuous streams of richly annotated sensory data on these IoT devices have also enabled the emergence of a new class of context-aware apps that use the data to infer user context and accordingly customize their responses in real-time. However, this growth in the number of apps has not been complemented with adequate system support on the IoT devices resulting in monolithic apps that each implement and execute their own customized sensing pipelines. In this paper, we outline our vision of a sensing stack, akin to a networking stack, that can facilitate the development and execution of context-aware apps on IoT devices. There are several advantages to building a rich sensing stack. First, it allows apps to reuse stages of the sensing pipeline easing their development. Second, the layers of the stack allow for both in- and cross-layer resource optimization. Finally, it allows better control over the shared data as instead of raw-sensor data, higher-level semantic abstractions, such as inferences can now be shared with apps. We describe our initial efforts towards creating the different building blocks of such a sensing stack.


TO THE EDITOR: The study by Rickwood and colleagues1 of aggregated national data for young people attending headspace centres is most welcome, as we can now compare headspace with other pre-existing and current datasets. In 2001, we reported on mental health services provided during 46 515 consultations by 386 general practitioners (mean patient age, 46 years; 34% male).2 At the time, we noted that being aged under 25 years was associated with unmet need for both threshold (odds ratio, 1.34) and subthreshold mental disorders (odds ratio, 1.94–2.11).3 We concluded that young people with mental disorders were particularly poorly served by general practice.4 While these data informed subsequent development of youth-specifi c services, we did not specifi cally report data for people aged under 25 years. Of these participants, 3503/5868 self-reported a signifi cant mental health problem. Consequently, we can compare directly our 2001 cohort2,3 with that of the new aggregated headspace cohort.1 At this stage, it would appear that only small differences are evident (2001 v 2013, respectively: male, 27% v 36%; born overseas, 12% v 7%; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent, 5% v 8%; living in major cities, 65% v 57%; non-participation in employment or education, 36% v 29%; and no days out of role, 41% v 36%). In a dataset collected between 2007 and 2009 from two urban headspace sites managed by the University of Sydney, we noted a more substantial engagement of young men (of 1260 participants, 53% were male) and comparable disability characteristics to the two other datasets (non-participation in employment or education, 30%; no days out of role, 34%).5 In future reports from headspace nationally and locally, we look forward to presentation of other data that permit relevant comparative assessment and challenge us to design new services to meet known gaps.


This paper presents an artificial neural network (ANN) aided design approach for the determination of the measurement scheme, employed for on-line power system state estimation (PSSE). According to predetermined values of both the state estimator performance objectives (accuracy, running time), the proposed technique provides decisions regarding the adequate number of measurements, meter type, and meter locations for the a specific network configuration. An efficient modeling to the output layer of the proposed ANN is developed in this paper. The network is trained using off-line prepared I/O data pairs and the back-propagation learning algorithm. Numerical experimentation is conducted on a simple 6-bus system and simulation results are assessed.


This article provides theoretical and empirical insights into the effects of transparency on civil society empowerment by analyzing the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Myanmar. It identifies three processes through which the EITI (dis)empowers civil society: constituting, using, and debating transparency. Whereas most transparency literature focuses on the effects of information disclosure—(using transparency), the empowering effects of constituting and debating transparency are, for the EITI in Myanmar, much greater. While civil society organizations (CSOs) hardly use the EITI report as it lacks actionable information, the EITI has given CSOs a previously unimaginable role through their involvement in designing and implementing the EITI—i.e., in constituting transparency— and in EITI-related awareness-raising activities and debates, or debating transparency. Though in unequal ways, the processes of constituting and debating transparency empower CSOs to request, collect, and use more actionable information than through EITI alone. This article argues that transparency initiatives could benefit from focusing attention on not only what information to disclose but also through which processes.


On the basis of an extensive new spectroscopic survey of Galactic O stars, we introduce the Ofc category, which consists of normal spectra with Cm /A4647^465(W652 emission lines of comparable intensity to those of the Of defining lines Nm XX4634^l640^l642. The former feature is strongly peaked to spectral type 05, at all luminosity classes, but preferentially in some associations or clusters and not others. The relationships of this phenomenon to the selective Cm X5696 emission throughout the normal Of domain, and to the peculiar, variable Of?p category, for which strong Cm XX4647^l650^l652 emission is a defining characteristic, are discussed. Magnetic fields have recently been detected on two members of the latter category. We also present two new extreme Of?p stars, NGC 1624-2 and CPD -28° 2561, bringing the number known in the Galaxy to five. Modeling of the behavior of these spectral features can be expected to better define the physical parameters of both normal and peculiar objects, as well as the atomic physics involved.


Crimes against the historically marginalized Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC and ST) by the upper castes in India represent an extreme form of prejudice and discrimination. In this paper, we investigate whether changes in relative material standards of living between the SCs/STs and upper castes – as measured by the ratio of consumption expenditures of SCs/STs to that of upper castes – are associated with changes in the incidence of crimes against SCs/STs. Based on the hierarchical social structure implied by the caste system, we posit that an increase in the expenditure ratio is positively correlated with the incidence of crimes committed by the upper castes against the lower castes. Using official district level crime data for the period 2001–2010, we find a positive association between crimes and expenditure of SC/ST vis-á-vis the upper castes. Further, distinguishing between violent and non-violent crimes, we find it is the violent crimes that are responsive to changes in economic gaps. Moreover, this relationship is on account of changes in the upper castes' economic well-being rather than changes in the economic position of the SCs and STs.


A new collection of stories from A. S. Byatt is always a winner, and this one takes an unexpected turn, bringing shivers as well as delights. Leaves rustle underfoot in a dark wood: two middle-aged women walk into a forest, as they did when they were girls, confronting their fears and memories and the strange thing they saw in their childhood - or thought they saw - so long ago. A distinguished obstetrician and young woman artist find they have sharply contrasting ideas about body parts, birth and death; an innocent member of an evening class harbours unexpected view on 'raw material'. The stories in this marvellous collection are by turns funny, spooky, sparkling and haunting. The Little Black Book of Stories holds its secrets, adding a dark quality to Byatt's famous skill in mixing folk and fairy tale with everyday life.


Concern among policymakers that the Federal estate tax might force the liquidation of some family farms has resulted in the enactment of a variety of special provisions over the years. Providing relief to farmers and other small business owners was the primary impetus for the 1997 changes to Federal estate and gift tax policies and a major objective of the 2001 law that will phase out and eventually repeal the Federal estate tax. While only about 4 percent of all farm estates owe Federal estate taxes, a much larger percentage of farm estates must file an estate tax return, make use of special farm provisions, alter their business practices, or engage in costly estate planning in order to reduce the impact of the estate tax on their farm business. Thus, the phase-out and repeal of the Federal estate tax will affect a much broader group of farmers than just those who owe tax.


The structural response of a building to applied loads depends on the behaviour of the soil supporting the structure. Structures may undergo various support deflections dependant on their support conditions. Such deflections are associated with soil deformation: the short-term deflections are known as the elastic component and, the long-term deflections are known as the permanent plastic component. Differential support displacements cause structural interaction between supports.
To analyse such interaction, there are different approaches; it can be analytical or numerical, static or dynamic and deterministic or probabilistic, with the rigour in the analysis being commensurate to the degree of displacement likely to be experienced. Mathematical rigour, however, may or may not be justified if inadequate knowledge of parameters exists. In the context of the natural variability of constituent parameters, a closer examination of the soil parameters associated with this interaction, particularly for plane frame structures, is warranted.
The behaviour of soil media at a structure's supports during structural analysis has been the focus of much investigation and research over the last century. Efforts have been made to describe such interaction and many computer packages have been developed to incorporate different soil models with the structural studies. Unfortunately the models are usually too complex or require too much input data for easy use by professional engineers.
This study focuses on the interaction context through a linear elastostatic and deterministic analysis of plane frame structures with different soil idealisations. The study concentrates on the behaviour of a space frame structure that is constructed by a number of typical plane frames in a parallel series subjected to individual loads. A homogeneous elastic half space is utilised for the soil support.
A displacement-type analytical-numerical technique of elastic solution is used to evaluate support interaction. In this approach, the behaviour of soil is modelled by means of homogenous, elastic half-space, whilst in the analysis of the structure, a Direct Stiffness Method is applied.
The Boussinesq and Cerruti force-displacement solutions are used for isotropic behaviour, whilst the Gerrard-Wardle and Gerrard-Harrison models are used for cross-anisotropic behaviour. The flexibility matrix of the elastic half-space, related to the interaction forces is developed. The author has prepared an integrated software program to perform the analysis on a desktop PC.
The interaction results of the support were analysed for sensitivity to the soil parameters. A number of typical soil parameters were considered for Winkler, isotropic and cross-anisotropic soil models in the structural analysis. Analysis outputs were shown in graphs and tables and were used to investigate for sensitivity of interaction to different soil parameters. Finally, the conclusion of the research work is drawn and the recommendation for further research study is suggested.


This report examines evidence from post-Mitch Central America and disasters in other parts of the world to identify the ways disasters affect women and to highlight women's participation in prevention, relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction efforts. This report is based on background papers prepared on the effects of Mitch and past disasters on women, and inputs from a technical meeting with government and NGO representatives of the four countries directly affected by Mitch -El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua- and Costa Rica, which suffered indirect impacts. The report was prepared for and presented at the meeting of the Consultative Group for the Reconstruction and Transformation of Central America which took place in Stockholm, Sweden on May 25th-27th, 1999.


This study examined the reasons for the declining economic quality of life of pollution victims residing in the most severely dioxin-polluted site in Southern Taiwan. At this site, the government has spent enormous amounts of money to compensate victims for their losses and alleviate their anger, and to alleviate the local poverty problem. We constructed a problem-oriented system dynamics model, and identified the reinforcing feedback mechanism in the system that renders the government'sexpenditures ineffective based on the simulation results. Because the cash compensation program activates a reinforcing feedback mechanism, worsening the economic quality of life among victims, we suggest that both the government and pollution victims be prudent in primarily employing cash compensation programs to solve problems caused by pollution.


BACKGROUND & AIMS
There is controversy over the effects of direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapies for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence and tumor aggressiveness. We compared HCC recurrence patterns between DAA-treated and untreated HCV-infected patients who had achieved a complete response to HCC treatment in a North American cohort.

METHODS
We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients with HCV-related HCC with a complete response to resection, local ablation, transarterial chemo- or radioembolization, or radiation therapy from January 2013 through December 2017 at 31 health systems throughout the United States and Canada. Cox regression was used to examine the association between DAA therapy and time to recurrence after a complete response, with DAA therapy analyzed as a time-varying exposure. We also estimated the association between DAA therapy and risk of early HCC recurrence (defined as 365 days after complete response).

RESULTS
Of 793 patients with HCV-associated HCC, 304 (38.3%) received DAA therapy and 489 (61.7%) were untreated. HCC recurred in 128 DAA-treated patients (42.1%; early recurrence in 52 patients) and 288 untreated patients (58.9%; early recurrence in 227 patients). DAA therapy was not associated with HCC recurrence (hazard ratio 0.90, 95% confidence interval 0.70-1.16) or early HCC recurrence (hazard ratio 0.96, 95% confidence interval 0.70-1.34) after we adjusted for study site, age, sex, Child-Pugh score, α-fetoprotein level, tumor burden, and HCC treatment modality. In DAA-treated and untreated patients, most recurrences were within the Milan criteria (74.2% vs 78.8%; P = .23). A larger proportion of DAA-treated than untreated patients received potentially curative HCC therapy for recurrent HCC (32.0% vs 24.6%) and achieved a complete or partial response (45.3% vs 41.0%) but this did not achieve statistical significance.

CONCLUSION
In a large cohort of North American patients with complete response to HCC treatment, DAA therapy was not associated with increased overall or early HCC recurrence. HCC recurrence patterns, including treatment response, were similar in DAA-treated and untreated patients.


This thesis examines the cultural world of students and how they negotiate viable selves at the margins of education exclusion. Bridgeworth Youth Wing (BYW), a part of Bridgeworth Community College (BCC) school site for an ethnographical study focused on students' linguistic repertoires and language codes embedded within their social practices. Critical engagement with these processes led to the development of a pedagogic approach based on a model of knowledge production rooted in social practice rather than individual cognitive performance.

The introduction locates the research in a wider policy context and discusses the rise of performance management, the use of pupil assessment data and the development of
alternative curricula.

Chapter one presents the research context, research population, issues identified and the initial outline of an intervention. In chapter two I explore a methodological approach. I draw on Freire and a concept of liberation education in order to develop a research strategy, which enables me to answer initial research questions. The initial
research phase uses a developing methodological approach in order to explore the wider social practices of the students. Data from this initial phase of research provides an evaluative framework from which further research can be conducted.

Chapter three presents and analyses data on language and practice collected in the initial research phase. A framework for analysis draws on Bernstein's (1971) theoretical model of codes. Chapter four explores the correlation between discourse and the students' developing conceptual understanding. Key questions informing selfproduction are identified. The social structure of language and the linguistic structure of dialogue is examined.

Chapter five considers the emerging theoretical framework and explores the role of language and its use within the context of self-production. A conflict between the prevailing school models of self and that of the students is identified and outlined.

Chapter six explores the assumption that the real is not solely confined within organisational discourse. The linguistic dimensions of multiple discourses and associated practices are explored both within school and social sites outside. Chapter seven presents and analyses themes emerging from two further interventions. This illuminates the significance of staff and family as actors within the students' discursive narratives. Further existential questions guiding the production of the self within those
conditions, are considered.

In conclusion chapter eight identifies claims to new knowledge emerging from the thesis. I assert that knowledge and its use in terms of sustaining self-identity is
conceptualised within reflexive discourse emerging from relationships with significant other actors, who may or may not be located physically within BCC or BYW sites. I
argue that language and linguistic codes engaged by the students are not located in the production of GCSEs but rather in the production of the self. Therefore knowledge
is reflexively produced and mutually understood through the students maintaining multiple discourses.

I also identify a confluence point between the students' social alignments and the organisational alignments at BCC. I then discuss how an alternative curricula model I
currently manage might develop in order to meet the needs of the students in the light of the emerging theoretical framework.


Abstract A generalization of multigroup energy condensation theory has been developed. The new method generates a solution within the few-group framework that exhibits the energy spectrum characteristic of a many-group transport solution, without the computational time usually associated with such solutions. This is accomplished by expanding the energy dependence of the angular flux in a set of general orthogonal functions. The expansion leads to a set of equations for the angular flux moments in the few-group framework. The zeroth moment generates the standard few-group equation while the higher-moment equations generate the detailed spectral resolution within the few-group structure. It is shown that by carefully choosing the orthogonal function set (e.g., Legendre polynomials), the higher-moment equations are only coupled to the zeroth-order equation and not to each other. The decoupling makes the new method highly competitive with the standard few-group method since the computation time associated with determining the higher moments becomes negligible as a result of the decoupling. The method is verified in several one-dimensional benchmark problems typical of boiling water reactor configurations with mild to high heterogeneity.


Objective:To perform long-term histopathological and clinical assessment of patients who have previously undergone cardiomyotomy for achalasia. Background:There are few studies on long-term outcome for patients treated by cardiomyotomy for achalasia. Recent publications suggest that these patients may be at high risk of both squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the esophagus. Methods:All patients, in whom at least 5 years had elapsed since laparoscopic cardiomyotomy for achalasia, were identified from a prospective database. Patients were invited to attend for endoscopy and clinical outcome was assessed by questionnaire. Results:Out of 171 patients identified, 2 had died from esophageal carcinoma. Of the remainder, 68 were recruited [mean age 52 years (range 26–72)]. Fifty-six percent reported minimal symptoms and 6% experienced frequent reflux symptoms. Almost all patients (93%) reported some dysphagia, but dysphagia scores remained significantly lower than preoperatively (P < 0.0001). Quality of life was comparable to normal subjects, and 97% of patients indicated they had made the correct decision to undergo surgery. At endoscopy 83% had evidence of chronic inflammation in the distal esophagus on histopathology, including 22% with moderate to severe esophagitis and 7% with Barrett's esophagus. Five patients showed esophageal candidiasis, and 2 had eosinophilic esophagitis. No dysplasia or malignancy was identified. Conclusions:The clinical outcome remains excellent in most patients at long-term follow-up after cardiomyotomy for achalasia. Surveillance endoscopy might identify high-risk patients but routine endoscopy in all patients is probably not necessary, particularly early after surgery.


Phagotrophic protists have been established as the major consumers of ocean primary production and as such occupy a pivotal position in pelagic food webs, yet knowledge gaps remain regarding the seasonal and spatial variability of protistan grazing, and of its drivers, both environmental and biotic. The aim of the present research was to address such gaps. To do so, I gathered field measurements and observations and evaluated modifications and alternatives to current methods used to estimate grazing rates and characterize plankton communities. In a study conducted in the Western Antarctic Peninsula aimed at quantifying the seasonal variability of protistan herbivory (Chapter 2), the magnitude of grazing rates measured during austral fall 2013 and austral spring 2014 did not vary with prey biomass. Despite contrasting levels of phytoplankton biomass assessed by chlorophyll a measurements (< 0.4 μg L in the fall, up to 18.5 μg L in the spring), grazing rates measured during austral fall (0-0.26 d) were as high or higher than rates measured during austral spring (0-0.1 d), and approximately half of the experiments in both seasons yielded no measurable grazing. Overall low grazing rates could not be explained by a lack of predators. Small cells dominated the austral fall phytoplankton community, and during austral spring, grazing was detected when the prey size-structure resembled fall conditions most, suggesting an association between detectable grazing and the dominance of small cells. These results indicate a lack of predators' functional response in the WAP, which is contrary to the assumption made when describing zooplankton grazing in models. Instead, plankton population dynamics and ultimately phytoplankton biomass accumulation rates in the WAP region may be best predicted as a function of plankton community composition, emphasizing the importance of characterizing these communities concurrently while measuring rates of protistan herbivory. Results also underline the need to extend measurements for the global ocean to less productive seasons in order to verify whether the assumed enhancing effect of prey abundance on grazing rates is always observed in the field. Quantifying the variability of protistan grazing requires increasing the sampling resolution of grazing rate measurements, which is currently precluded by the sampling logistics associated with the standard multiple-dilution technique used to quantify grazing rates. In Chapter 3, I assessed an abbreviated version of the method that uses only two dilutions. I found that rate-estimates for either phytoplankton growth or grazer-induced mortality obtained using only two dilution levels did not substantially deviate from those obtained when using multiple dilutions, and that their accuracy was satisfactory and similar in magnitude to the inherent error associated with the dilution-series estimates (± ~0.1 d), supporting the usefulness of the abbreviated method. Routine characterization of phytoplankton communities in terms of their size structure and overall taxonomic composition is needed to decipher patterns of association between these characteristics and the level of grazing. In Chapter 4, I showed that a qualitative characterization of plankton populations could rapidly be achieved using the FlowCAM, an automated plankton imaging system. Expanding the spatial and temporal resolution of protistan grazing rate measurements and further investigating the factors influencing grazing magnitude, including plankton species composition, is essential to provide reliable parameters for plankton models, and to underpin the importance of phagotrophic protists in pelagic food webs.


This paper proposes a dynamical model for the gamification@learning and presents its simulation. Based on the theories of Game Design Features (GDF - cool features, fancy graphics, challenging puzzles, and an intriguing setting and story), Key Characteristics of a Learning Game (KCLG - Challenge, Curiosity, Fantasy and Control), a theory of educational environment design model (ARCS - attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction), and the theoretical background of Gamification labeled as the MDA (Mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics) framework, four primary factors such as curiosity, challenge, fantasy and control have been originated. By using these four primary factors, the dynamical model for Gamification was developed. In this paper an example for the model is considered and simulated. The example and simulation make the values and characteristics of the four primary factors meaningful. I posit that this dynamical model for the gamification can strengthen the 'theoretical foundation' of gamification as well as spread the idea of 'the pure and right function of game'.


The thalassinideans comprise the infraorders Axiidea and Gebiidea, two distinct groups of decapods that have converged morphologically and ecologically as burrowing forms, commonly known as mud lobsters and mud or ghost shrimps. These groups are an important component of the macroinfauna of intertidal and subtidal environments and are distributed throughout the world, with species diversity increasing from high lati‐ tudes toward the equator. These species are burrowing benthic decapods, with more than 95% of species inhabiting shallow waters in marine and estuarine environments, exerting considerable influence over the structure of benthic communities through their ability to bioturbate the sediments, with effects on the infauna and seagrasses in coastal environments. Upogebia vasquezi has an ample geographic distribution, it is typically found in rocky outcrops near mangroves. This species reproduces year round, which is subjected to strong seasonal fluctuations in salinity due to the local precipitation regime. The Amazon Macrotidal Mangrove Coast, representing 10% of the Brazilian coastline and encompassing more than 56% of the country's mangrove forests, is a high priority area for conservation. This chapter aims to elucidate the reproductive traits of U. vasquezi with a revision about the known ecological information available for thalassinidean spe‐ cies all over the world.


Abstract Threats of armed force are frequently employed in international affairs, yet they have received little ethical scrutiny in their own right. This article addresses that deficit by examining how threats, taken as a speech act, require a moral assessment that is distinctive vis-à-vis the actual use of armed force. This is done first by classifying threats within the framework of speech act theory. Then, applying standard just war criteria, we analyze conditional threats of harm under Thomas Schelling's twofold distinction of compellence and deterrence. We aim to show how threats of armed attack, while subject to many of the same evaluative principles as the corresponding use of force, nevertheless have distinctive characteristics of their own. These are outlined under the headings of just cause, ad bellum proportionality, legitimate authority, and right intention. The overall aim is to explain how threats in the international sphere represent a special category that warrants a just war analysis.


This paper develops and tests a theoretical model of the online news adoption/use process, based on expectancy-value and innovation-diffusion theories, to examine the predictive power of nine common features of online news in its potential development. Using data from a national survey of online news uses in Australia, the study finds that while some online attributes such as its immediacy and content-richness features have a strong impact on the way online news is adopted, used and integrated into daily life, its unique attributes such as customisation and interactivity still have a limited effect. Also, despite that online news attributes tend to be integrated together in online news packages and thus can be unintentionally used without motivation, there is strong evidence to suggest that each of the nine online news features is substantially used because it is consciously appreciated and evaluated.


Key management is a core mechanism to provide secure and reliable communications in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In large-scale WSNs, due to the resource constraint on sensor nodes, it is still an extremely challenging task to achieve good performance in terms of high network connectivity and strong resilience against sensor nodes capture with low overheads. To address this issue, in this paper we propose a novel random pairwise key establishment scheme, called RPKE. In RPKE, sensor nodes differentiate their roles as either auxiliary nodes or ordinary nodes prior to network deployment. The auxiliary nodes act as distributed key distribution center (KDC), and neighboring ordinary nodes can establish pairwise key with the help of the distributed KDC. Theoretical analysis and simulation evaluation demonstrate that RPKE performs well in terms of network connectivity and resilience at the cost of low computation/communication/storage overheads, compared to the existing counterparts.


Territoriality has primarily been seen as a spatial rather than temporal phenomenon. In this paper, we want to investigate how time functions in territorialising processes. In particular, we are attracted by the multi-temporality that is co-present in each process of territorialisation (i.e. processes in which time and space are used as means of measure, control and expression). The article is divided into two main parts. In the first part, we draw inspiration from Gilles Deleuze's book Logic of Sense, as well as from authors such as Simmel, Whitehead, Benjamin and Jesi, in order to articulate three different types of the present (Aion, Kronos and Chronos). In the second part, we move to a short case study of the collector John Soane and the establishment of his house-museum. The case is used to exemplify how these three presents can be used to discuss and temporal aspects of territorialisation in general, and the production of a specific sort of territory – the house-museum as a new building type in particular.


Trust assurances for customers of online transactions is an important, but not well implemented concept for the growth of confidence in electronic transactions. In an online world where customers do not personally know the companies they seek to do business with, there is real risk involved in providing an unknown service with personal information and payment details. The risks faced by a customer are compounded when multiple services are involved in a single transaction. This dissertation provides mechanisms that can be used to reduce the risks faced by a client involved in online transactions by allowing the him/her access to information about the services involved and control or prescribe how the transaction uses the services. The dissertation uses electronic transactions legislation to ground a trust assurance protocol and minimize the assumptions that have to be made. By basing the protocol on legislation, no information that isn't already required by law is used in the protocol. A trust assurance protocol is presented so that the client can establish which services are involved in a transaction so that the he/she can begin to determine whether or not he/she is willing to conduct business with the services. A trust model that calculates an assurance measure for services is developed so that the client can automatically establish a measure of trust for a service based on the external perceptions of a service, and his/her own personal experience. A simulation environment was created and used to monitor the services involved in a transaction to evaluate the trust assurance protocol and gain experience with the trust calculation that the client computes. Vocabularies that simplify and standardize descriptions of personal information, business types and the legal structure imposed on Web services offering goods or services online are presented to reduce the ambiguity involved in gathering information from different online sources. The vocabularies also provide a cornerstone of the trust assurance protocol by providing information that is necessary to compute the trust value of a Web service. Results of the trust assurance protocol are obtained and evaluated against the qualitative requirements of providing assurances to clients, and confirms that the protocol is feasible to be deployed, in terms of the overhead placed on a transaction. This dissertation finds that a trust assurance protocol is necessary to provide the client with information that he/she legally has


AIM: To investigate the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results of patients complaining from diplopia with ocular nerve palsy. MATERIAL and METHODS: A routine ophthalmic examination was performed, a neurological consultation was requested, and cranial MRI was performed for all patients. The image results were sorted into four groups: ischemic lesions, demyelinating disease lesions, tumors, and no lesions. White matter gliosis and cerebral infarcts were included in the ischemic lesion group. The medical histories of the patients were acquired from medical records. The chi-squared test was used to analyze the relationship between age and cranial MRI images and to analyze the relationship between the image and paresis type. The statistical significance threshold was set at p<0.05, unless otherwise stated. RESULTS: Ischemic MRI images were the most common image type seen in our study. Third nerve paresis was significantly correlated with ischemic cerebral lesions observed by MRI (p=0.009). Furthermore, lesions were significantly correlated with patients aged above 50 years (p=0.004). There were no significant correlations between fourth or sixth nerve paresis and cranial ischemic images (p=0.680 and p=0.678, respectively). There were two instances of cerebral artery aneurysm, three instances of cerebral infarct, and one instance of intracranial mass, all in patients aged over 50 years. CONCLUSION: Although our patients had minimal or nonexistent neurological symptoms, some had serious cranial pathologies. These pathologies were commonly seen in patients aged over 50 years. We recommend performing MRI on all patients with binocular diplopia.


G-DYN is a multi-body dynamic simulation software engine that automatically assembles and integrates equations of motion for arbitrarily connected multibody dynamic systems. The algorithm behind G-DYN is based on a primal-dual formulation of the dynamics that captures the position and velocity vectors (primal variables) of each body and the interaction forces (dual variables) between bodies, which are particularly useful for control and estimation analysis and synthesis. It also takes full advantage of the spare matrix structure resulting from the system dynamics to numerically integrate the equations of motion efficiently. Furthermore, the dynamic model for each body can easily be replaced without re-deriving the overall equations of motion, and the assembly of the equations of motion is done automatically. G-DYN proved an essential software tool in the simulation of spacecraft systems used for small celestial body surface sampling, specifically in simulating touch-and-go (TAG) maneuvers of a robotic sampling system from a comet and asteroid. It is used extensively in validating mission concepts for small body sample return, such as Comet Odyssey and Galahad New Frontiers proposals.


This research is about a study on the architectural features of heritage
buildings that have been converted into museums. These buildings are known to be
climate responsive, and its building materials were properly selected to attenuate
exterior conditions. Museum, on the other hand need to have a stable indoor climate in
order to safeguard collections it housed. This practice is part of preventive
conservation, an approach to prevent objects from deterioration. The characteristics of
heritage buildings which were built to response with the climatic conditions may help
to contribute a better indoor environment for the collections. The aim of this research
is to undertake an investigative study exploring the heritage buildings which currently
have been converted into museums to find its architectural features that able to control
indoor climate passively which in turn can used in preventive conservation. A proper
methodology was adopted in this dissertation to fulfill the objectives. The
methodology includes reviewing related books, journals, working papers, and articles
from internet. Case studies were also applied in this dissertation and were analyzed
through physical observation. Two museums were chosen; the Army museum in Port
Dickson and the National Textile Museum in Kuala Lumpur. This study showed that
the buildings, occupied by those museums were designed to deal with climate
passively and have features that able to regulate the temperature and relative humidity,
which in turn can be utilized by the museums. It showed that converting the heritage
building into a museum requires only minimum changes and alterations to the
building. This in turn helps to preserve and maintain the authenticity and
characteristics the building has. The result of this study can provide answers and
examples of architectural features of heritage buildings that can be incorporated into
the decision-making process for museum projects. The process also can be used to
promote building design that able to control climate passively, without relying heavily
on the HVAC mechanical system which in turn highlight energy efficiency and
sustainability in museum design. Apart from that, this research could also act as a
catalyst for future research on the standards and practice of museum and also on the
adaptive re-use activities in Malaysia.


Policy interventions in large open economies do not only affect the allocation of domestic resources but change international market prices. The change in international prices implies an indirect secondary burden or benefit for all trading countries. This secondary terms of trade effect may have important welfare implications: Countries without change in domestic policies may nevertheless gain or suffer from the action of other countries; in turn, the primary welfare effect of countries interfering domestically may be substantially enhanced or weakened due to international spill-overs. Obviously, policy makers of economies that are integrated into international markets have an essential interest to gain insights about the different sources of welfare changes associated with domestic policy changes. In this paper, we present a decomposition that splits the overall welfare effect into a domestic market effect holding international prices constant and an international market effect as a result of changes in international prices (terms of trade effect). We demonstrate the usefulness of our decomposition approach in the context of an empirical welfare analysis of international carbon abatement policies.


Abstract The implications of commonalities in the contributions of five key thinkers in twentieth century phenomenology are discussed in relation to both original aims and contemporary projects. It is argued that, contrary to the claims of Husserl, phenomenology can only operate as hermeneutic phenomenology. Hermeneutics arose within German idealism. It began with Friedrich Ast and Heinrich Schleiermacher and was further developed by, among others, Wilhelm Dilthey and Martin Heidegger. Hermeneutics claims that current understanding is created on the basis of the prior understanding taken to any new situation, in that what is initially understood or believed determines the direction and scope for inquiry or action. Subsequent action and conclustions are similarly based on what has been previously understood and believed. As a consequence, however, what may, in some cases, result is the confirmation of prior inaccurate understanding. For these reasons, it is important to be clear about how initial understandings are formed and how they inform a discipline, be it the Husserlian phenomenology of intentionality or any empirical phenomenological approach.


Investment in the global Oil and Gas sector is huge. In 2014, the cumulative investment in between 2014 and 2035 was estimated to be US$22.4 trillion, equivalent to an average annual spend of more than US$1 trillion. A high percentage of Oil & Gas projects go over budget, however, because of poor performance and major schedule delays. Many of these can be traced to problems originating in the design phase. This phase is typically carried out by experienced design consultants, followed by tendering and then execution, involving large construction organisations.
Project delivery methods in the sector vary, with 57% using Design-Bid-Build, 38% Design-Build, and 5% Construction Manager at Risk. These methods provide no clear integration or collaborative approaches to ensure stakeholders involvement early during the design phase. This research examines the potential for using Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) as a new approach to improve collaboration by engaging full project teams from early in the design phase. It addresses the following questions: How do current practices in the Oil & Gas sector influence project performance? What are the factors behind poor project performance, and how can project performance be improved by the implementation of IPD?
The aim of this research is to create a conceptual framework to implement IPD principles in Oil & Gas projects as a way of improving their performance. This framework will help project stakeholders to be involved during the design phase, which in turn will help to deliver high quality projects, where schedule and costs are tightly controlled. An extensive literature review found 1,056 factors affecting performance, of which 85 could be resolved if addressed at the design phase. A total of 55 factors were related to communication, project management, planning and design problems. A conceptual framework was created to equip stakeholders with a tool to implement IPD effectively. This framework was validated using case studies of very large Oil & Gas projects. This confirmed the criticality of the factors identified, and that they occurred during particular project stages.
The framework was structured by plotting the major project stakeholders on one side and the project phases on the other (design phase, tendering, and construction), followed by the performance factors related to project management, planning, design and communication. For each factor, the stakeholders responsible were identified.
The research concluded that the Oil & Gas industry suffers from poor performance and the current practices and execution strategies are influencing project delivery. There is a clear gap between the design and construction phases. The conceptual framework developed here will help to improve project performance by bridging the gap and involving all the stakeholders during the design phase, making sure that all the identified poor performance factors can be managed by all those affected, at the most suitable time. The framework is also expected to resolve other factors related to resources, procurement, environment and contracting which are linked to design, planning and project management factors.


Disease-causing variants in human genes usually lead to phenotypes specific to only a few tissues. Here, we present a method for predicting tissue specificity based on quantitative deregulation of protein complexes. The underlying assumption is that the degree of coordinated expression among proteins in a complex within a given tissue may pinpoint tissues that will be affected by a mutation in the complex and coordinated expression may reveal the complex to be active in the tissue. We identified known disease genes and their protein complex partners in a high-quality human interactome. Each susceptibility gene's tissue involvement was ranked based on coordinated expression with its interaction partners in a non-disease global map of human tissue-specific expression. The approach demonstrated high overall area under the curve (0.78) and was very successfully benchmarked against a random model and an approach not using protein complexes. This was illustrated by correct tissue predictions for three case studies on leptin, insulin-like-growth-factor 2 and the inhibitor of NF-κB kinase subunit gamma that show high concordant expression in biologically relevant tissues. Our method identifies novel gene-phenotype associations in human diseases and predicts the tissues where associated phenotypic effects may arise.


Phase retarders usually present a strong frequency dependence. We discuss the design and characterization of a terahertz achromatic quarter-wave plate. This wave plate is made from six birefringent quartz plates precisely designed and stacked together. Phase retardation has been measured over the whole terahertz range by terahertz polarimetry. This achromatic wave plate demonstrates a huge frequency bandwidth (upsilonmax/upsilonmin approximately 7), and therefore can be applied to terahertz time domain spectroscopy and polarimetry.


The importance of agri-food systems for global sustainability calls for researching and advancing socio-technical transitions towards environmentally friendly models of farming. These transitions hinge on many prerequisites, one of which is providing access to land for farmers and new entrants who experiment with sustainable farming models. However, for socio-technical transitions in farming to be viable, access to land should be complemented with securing access to "intangible" resources such as skills, knowledge or networks. It seems that increasingly often these resources are being provided by various grassroots initiatives. The goal of this paper is to identify how the strategies employed by grassroots initiatives support farmers and new entrants in transitioning to sustainable farming models. In order to answer that question, we perform case studies of three Polish initiatives—Agro-Perma-Lab, PermaKultura.Edu.PL and the Ecological Folk High School in Grzybów—active in promoting agroecology, permaculture and organic farming. The results show a diversity of strategies employed by these initiatives that reflect the frameworks in which they operate. Considering these strategies from the perspective of transition studies suggests that they can be replicated in other contexts and potentially contribute to advancing socio-technical transitions of agri-food systems.


1-Energy expenditure is an important component of foraging ecology, but is extremely difficult to estimate in free-ranging animals and depends on how animals partition their time between different activities during foraging. Acceleration data has emerged as a new way to determine energy expenditure at a fine scale but needs to be tested and validated in wild animals.

2-This study investigated whether vectorial dynamic body acceleration (VeDBA) could accurately predict the energy expended by marine predators during a full foraging trip. We also aimed to determine whether the accuracy of predictions of energy expenditure derived from acceleration increased when partitioned by different types of at-sea activities (i.e., diving, transiting, resting and surface activities) vs calculated activity-specific metabolic rates.

3-To do so, we equipped 20 lactating northern (Callorhinus ursinus) and 20 Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella) with GPS, time-depth recorders and tri-axial accelerometers, and obtained estimates of field metabolic rates using the doubly-labelled water (DLW) method. VeDBA was derived from tri-axial acceleration, and at-sea activities (diving, transiting, resting and surface activities) were determined using dive depth, tri-axial acceleration and traveling speed.

4-We found that VeDBA did not accurately predict the total energy expended by fur seals during their full foraging trips (R2 = 0.36). However, the accuracy of VeDBA as a predictor of total energy expenditure increased significantly when foraging trips were partitioned by activity and used activity-specific VeDBA paired with time activity budgets (R2 = 0.70). Activity-specific VeDBA also accurately predicted the energy expenditures of each activity independent of each other (R2 > 0.85).

5-Our study confirms that acceleration is a promising way to estimate energy expenditures of free-ranging marine mammals at a fine scale never attained before. However, it shows that it needs to be based on the time-activity budget that make up foraging trips rather than being derived as a single measure of VeDBA applied to entire foraging trips. Our activity-based method provides a cost-effective means to accurately calculate energy expenditures of fur seals using acceleration and time-activity budgets, a stepping stone for numerous other research fields.

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All physical labour requires physical exertion which indicates the level of physical workload involved. This paper examines the energy expenditure in four working postures of gari-frying (garification) workers in southwestern Nigeria. The postures include sitting-beside (SB), sitting-in-front (SF), alternating-sitting-and-standing (ASS) and standing (S). Some anthropometric data, blood pressure and heart rate, were collected from 120 processors at the beginning and close of work. Physical workload was then computed using Mean Arterial Pressure (MAP), Rate Pressure Product (RPP) and Barach Energy Index (BEI). The mean total energy expenditure (TEE) for the postures was SB 3.58, SF 3.56, S 3.55, ASS 3.53 MJ/8hr-day. Statistical analysis of the physical workload showed significant difference (P≤0.05) between the postures with ASS and SB consistently maintaining the lowest and highest values respectively in all the indicators. Normal range of BEI was maintained throughout the gari frying task, indicating that the task is a light one. Comparison showed that S posture had the highest myocardial oxygen consumption. Processors in sitting posture had low circulatory blood pressure while it was higher for those in standing posture, particularly ASS. ASS posture by comparison, therefore, is the best posture with least energy expenditure and is recommended for adoption. Keywords: energy expenditure, workload, gari-frying, posture, heart rate, blood pressure  Journal of Applied Science, Engineering and Technology , Volume 8, 2008


Indian sandalwood (Santalum album), a commercially important root hemi-parasitic angiosperm, was partnered singly in pot culture with one of three nitrogen-fixing legumes or a eucalypt host. Xylem (tracheal) sap of stems of host and parasite and ethanolic extracts of endophytic tissue of haustoria of the parasite were analysed for amino acids, organic acids and sugars to determine which sets of solutes were available to and obtained by the parasite from different hosts. There were high concentrations of asparagine, followed by glutamate, aspartate and γ-amino butyrate in the xylem sap solutes of the three legume hosts (Sesbania formosa, Acacia trachycarpa and A. ampliceps) and much higher levels of glutamate, aspartate, glutamine and arginine in the non-legume, Eucalyptus camaldulensis. Close resemblances between Santalum and legume hosts in concentration and composition of xylem sap amino acids, and in the amino acid spectra of the corresponding parasite endophytic tissue, indicated substantial direct intake of xylem N by Santalum from these hosts. By contrast, low N levels in xylem sap of E. camaldulensis and dissimilarities between its amino acid composition and that of partnered Santalum indicated that the parasite obtained little N from the xylem sap of this host. Xylem sap of hosts contained variable amounts of sucrose. glucose and fructose, whereas that of matching parasites was dominated by fructose. Dissimilarities were also evident in the proportional amounts of xylem-borne organic acids between hosts and parasite particularly for the eucalypt: Santalum partnership. Leaf extracts of the host: parasite pairings generally showed substantial differences in sugar and organic acid balance between partner species. Similarly, where amino acid spectra of host and parasite xylem sap and corresponding haustorial endophytes were closely similar, respective leaf compositions were markedly dissimilar. This implied that substantial metabolic patterns of incoming xylem solutes were highly idiosyncratic of the species in question. Data are related to previous information showing superior growth performance and higher photosynthetic rates and foliar N concentrations in Santalum partnered with the three legumes than with the eucalypt.


nature, the discrimination of benign and malignant cysts is, therefore of crucial importance, and in spite of the continuous improvement of diagnostic means, it remains sometimes impossible to differentiate functional from organic (malignant or not) ovarian cysts. The therapeutic decision will search for the main midway between cancer's negligence and the fear of performing an unnecessary surgical operation for an ovarian cyst.Objective: To review of 116 cases of ovarian cystic diseases aiming in identify proper management and reducing unnecessary surgical intervention.Methods: A retrospective study was conducted at Al-Elwiya maternity teaching hospital/ Baghdad/ Iraq. One hundred sixteen women underwent surgery for ovarian cystic diseases between January 2010 and December 2011. Age, menopausal status, referral history, clinical features, diagnostic methods, treatments and histopathological results were recorded and the collected data was arranged in tables for analysis.Results: From One hundred sixteen women, One hundred five (90.5%) were premenopausal and eleven (9.5%) were postmenopausal. Thirty two women (27.6%) underwent laparoscopic evaluation for Ovarian cystic diseases, while eighty four (72.4%) were candidates for laparotomy. Benign pathological conditions were found in thirty six (31%) pre-menopausal women and three (2.6%) post-menopause. The functional cysts presented in sixty of the cases (51.7%), Fifty five (47.4%) were premenopausal and five (4.3%) postmenopausal.Conclusion: There is difficulty in accurate discrimination between types of ovarian cysts In Iraq and we recommend to use risk of malignancy index (RMI) as a simple diagnostic tool that provide to discriminate between malignant and benign ovarian cysts.


A series of transcurrent faults with northerly trend is well exposed in the cliffs of Shetland. The Walls Boundary Fault which cuts through the middle of Shetland has a continuously changing trend so that it forms a very flattened S. Dextral movement along the fault seems to have created further dextral transcurrent faults, including the Nesting Fault, across the eastern concavity in the trend. These main faults lie within broad zones of cataclasis, subsidiary faulting and local folding. The offsets on the subsidiary faults are very much less than on the main faults, and the crushed rocks have isotropic fabrics. The zones probably arose during faulting from varying local stresses caused by the interaction of the unevennesses on the two sides of the non-planar main faults. Gouge in the Walls Boundary Fault contains analcite. Gouge-like laumontite in subsidiary shears was probably formed by mechanochemical reactions. The occurrence of these minerals and of blastomylonitic scapolite veins near the Walls Boundary Fault may indicate up to three phases of movement taking place between Cretaceous and Devonian times under different depths of overburden. Slices of secondarily cataclastic mylonite occurring along the Walls Boundary Fault are probably relics of the Great Glen Fault now partially cut out by the nearly coincident Walls Boundary Fault.


The production cross section of prompt $\mathrm{\Lambda_{c}^{+}}$ charm baryons was measured with the ALICE detector at the LHC at midrapidity in proton-proton (pp) and proton-lead (p-Pb) collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV. The $\mathrm{\Lambda_{c}^{+}}$ and $\rm {\overline{\Lambda}{}_c^-}$ baryons were reconstructed in the hadronic decay channels $\rm \Lambda_{c}^{+} \rightarrow p K^{-}\pi^{+}$ and $\rm \Lambda_{c}^{+}\to p K^{0}_{S}$ and respective charge conjugates. The measured differential cross sections as a function of transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) and the $p_{\rm T}$-integrated $\mathrm{\Lambda_{c}^{+}}$ production cross section in pp and in p-Pb collisions are presented. The $\mathrm{\Lambda_{c}^{+}}$ nuclear modification factor ($R_\mathrm{pPb}$), calculated from the cross sections in pp and in p-Pb collisions, is presented and compared with the $R_\mathrm{pPb}$ of D mesons. The $\mathrm {\Lambda_{c}^{+}}/\mathrm {D^0}$ ratio is also presented and compared with the light-flavour baryon-to-meson ratios p$/\pi$ and $\Lambda /\mathrm {K^0_S}$, and measurements from other LHC experiments. The results are compared to predictions from model calculations and Monte Carlo event generators.


In a context of laissez-faire, the propositions established in this paper shed light on the evolution of the problem of greenhouse gas (GHG) accumulation in the atmosphere for each type of strategic behaviour resulting from countries' interconnection on global markets. In a framework of strong economic interdependencies, they show the potential consequences of the free trade arrangements on the environment and question the idea that free trade liberalisation should necessarily lead to an increase in countries' welfare. This paper provides an exhaustive typology of countries' strategic behaviours and a strong static comparative analysis with regard to the exogenous parameters of the model. Whereas some assumptions tend to be less relevant from an environmental point of view; others that are very relevant have not yet been considered in the literature. Using lattice theoretic notions, this paper generalizes the existing results of the literature and determines new equilibria not yet exploited. It thus extends the current framework of the traditional public economic theory dealing with public goods.


This study presents a new citation analysis methodology that combines elements of classic methodologies dating back to very early "by-hand" citation analyses with modern technological tools that allow researchers to quickly organize and retrieve citation data and articles. The researchers examined nearly 13,000 citations from knowledge management articles published in the top MIS journals in order to establish both quality contributions to the field as well as to gain insight into where the field is heading. A steep decline in the number of articles cited after 2001 leads researchers to question why recent publications are not being cited more often. The researches suggest that this decline might be due to a decrease in relevant research or changing dynamics in the field. The 25-most cited works in KM are presented along with a timeline of citations in the field.


The spectral reflectivity (0.30 to 1.10 microns) of several asteroids has been measured for the first time. The reflection spectrum for Vesta contains a strong absorption band centered near 0.9 micron and a weaker absorption feature between 0.5 and 0.6 micron. The reflectivity decreases strongly in the ultraviolet. The reflection spectrum for the asteroid Pallas and probably for Ceres does not contain the 0.9-micron band. Vesta shows the strongest and best-defined absorption bands yet seen in the reflection spectrum for the solid surface of an object in the solar system. The strong 0.9-micron band arises from electronic absorptions in ferrous iron on the M2 site of a magnesian pyroxene. Comparison with laboratory measurements on meteorites and Apollo 11 samples indicates that the surface of Vesta has a composition very similar to that of certain basaltic achondrites.


ABSTRACT An in vitro study was carried out to investigate the volatile odorous metabolites produced by necrotic enteritis inducing Clostridium perfringens (Cp) type A field strain (EHE‐NE18) cultured in two broth media (thioglycollate broth, brain heart infusion broth) at three levels (0, 103 cfu/mL, 106 cfu/mL) using 2 × 3 factorial arrangement of treatments, with each replicated three times. The culture media with and without Cp was freshly prepared on the day of measurement and the culture headspace concentration of odorants was measured using selected ion‐flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT‐MS). The results showed that media type and Cp level affected the concentration of a range of volatile odorous metabolites including sulfur compounds, alcohols, ketones, amines, and carboxylic acids. Thus, Cp contributes to the production of a wide range of odorous metabolites that can impart noxious smell during infection.


One of the defining features of the global economic landscape over the past decade has been the increasing integration and cohesion of the transatlantic economy. Globalization is happening faster and reaching deeper between Europe and America than between any other two continents. Transatlantic markets are the cutting edge of globalization. Key sectors of the transatlantic economy are integrating as never before. Europeans and Americans have become so intertwined that they are literally in each other's business. These linkages underpin a $3 trillion economy that provides up to 14 million "insourced jobs" on both sides of the Atlantic. Deep integration, however, can also generate frictions when different systems rub up against each other. Neither the framework for our relationship nor the ways our governments are currently organized adequately capture these new realities. Case studies illustrate the phenomenon of deep transatlantic integration and its implications for a truly free Transatlantic Market in such sectors as aerospace and civil aviation, biopharmaceuticals, services, financial markets and telecommunications, and in such controversial policy areas as climate change and emissions trading, corporate governance and chemicals regulation. Contributors include: Richard Aboulafia (Teal Group), Matthew Dixon (Tyler and Company), Christian Egenhofer (Centre for European Policy Studies), Frederick Erixon (Timbro), Daniel Gros (SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins University), Arman Khachaturyan (Armenia Telephone Company and CEPS), Karel Lannoo (CEPS), Boaz Moselle (Brattle Group), Thomas Mayer (Deutsche Bank), Joseph A. McCahery (University of Amsterdam), Jacques Pelkmans (College of Europe, Bruges, and Scientific Council for Government Policy, The Hague), James Reitzes (Brattle Group), Andrea Rendo (CEPS), Garel Rhys (Centre for Automotive Industry Research), Dorothy Robyn (Brattle Group), Francoise Simon(Columbia University and SDC Consulting Group), and Michael Tyler (Tyler and Company).


5G will provide broadband access everywhere, entertain higher user mobility, and enable connectivity of massive number of devices (e.g. Internet of Things (IoT)) in an ultrareliable and affordable way. The main technological enablers such as cloud computing, Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) are maturing towards their use in 5G. However, there are pressing security challenges in these technologies besides the growing concerns for user privacy. In this paper, we provide an overview of the security challenges in these technologies and the issues of privacy in 5G. Furthermore, we present security solutions to these challenges and future directions for secure 5G systems.


Microstrip patch antennas with a tunable radiofrequency (RF) response are a great candidate for additive manufacturing (AM) process. First, three separate sets of ABS samples were created at three different machine preset fill densities using an extrusion based 3D printer. Once fabricated, actual solid volume fraction of each set of samples was measured using a 3D X‐ray computed tomography microscope. It is observed that the factory preset fill‐density values are only applied to the core region and actual solid volume fractions for each sample set are different from printer‐preset values. Also, the printed materials appeared to exhibit anisotropy such that the thickness direction dielectric properties are different from the in‐plane properties (planar isotropy). Microstrip patch antennas created on the AM fabricated ABS were tested for resonant frequencies using a vector network analyzer (VNA). The measured resonant frequencies combined with ANSYS‐HFSS simulation were used to estimate bulk dielectric constant of ABS and equivalent dielectric properties in planar and thickness directions. It is observed that the antenna resonant frequency decreases with an increase in core solid volume fraction. Also, in‐plane permittivity appeared to have minimal effect on antenna resonant frequency, while the thickness direction properties have substantial effects.


Recent wildfire risks in California have prompted the implementation of public safety power shutoff (PSPS) events, procedures enacted by utility operators to deenergize parts of the electrical grid and reduce the likelihood of wildfire ignition. Despite their yearly occurrence, PSPS events are severely understudied, and little is known about how these events affect disaster preparation activity, travel behavior, and transportation systems. With growing wildfire risks in North America and beyond, PSPS events require immediate and thorough research to reduce their negative externalities and maximize their benefits. This exploratory study employs survey data from East Bay Hills residents in Alameda and Contra Costa counties in California who were affected by two PSPS events in October 2019 (n = 210). Through descriptive statistics and basic discrete choice models for the decision to conduct typical or changed travel, this research contributes to the literature as the first assessment of PSPS event travel behavior. We found that travel did not change drastically during the event, although respondents conducted a high number of preparedness activities. A sizable portion of the sample conducted extended trips during the PSPS event days, whereas a small number evacuated to a destination overnight. Respondents received relatively clear information from multiple communication methods, indicating substantial information about the events. Modeling results found that power loss was a driver in travel behavior change, whereas demographics indicated heterogeneous responses within the sample. The paper concludes with a discussion of key takeaways and suggestions for research in this nascent field.


This article is a reflective account of a Physiotherapy educator's efforts to improve the facilitation of learning for undergraduate students, by implementing changes to the 'In-Service Training' (IST) or in-house teaching, based on accepted educational theories and relevant literature. The qualitative experiences of two subsequent pairs of students on the same practice placement were reviewed, before and after changes were made to the planning, structure, teaching methods and facilitation of the IST. The changes implemented resulted from the collection and analysis of student-generated feedback in the form of reflective pro-formas, learning style inventories, as well as the authors own reflective analysis. These raised concerns about the pedagogical, inflexible and didactic nature of the educational methods utilised. Changes to the facilitation of education in this practice placement were instigated for the second pair of students, which incorporated a transition to andragogical strategies/approaches, consisting of for example; greater evaluation of student centred factors such as their individual learning styles/ instructional preferences and learning processes, as well as the implementation of jointly set learning outcomes and more flexible participative methods of education. Following these changes, greater learner satisfaction was reported and a more consistent faster and broader achievement of the student's individual and placement learning outcomes was noted.


The H.264/AVC video coding standard aims to enable significantly improved compression performance compared to all existing video coding standards. In order to achieve this, a robust rate-distortion optimization (RDO) technique is employed to select the best coding mode and reference frame for each macroblock. As a result, the complexity and computation load increase drastically. This paper presents a fast mode decision algorithm for H.264/AVC intraprediction based on local edge information. Prior to intraprediction, an edge map is created and a local edge direction histogram is then established for each subblock. Based on the distribution of the edge direction histogram, only a small part of intraprediction modes are chosen for RDO calculation. Experimental results show that the fast intraprediction mode decision scheme increases the speed of intracoding significantly with negligible loss of peak signal-to-noise ratio.


The recent resurgence of populism poses a significant challenge to constitutional law today and to the deeper tradition of modern constitutionalism. Despite resisting formal limitations on their power to represent the "true" popular will, populist regimes nevertheless find instrumental and ideological reasons to endorse their own version of constitutionalism. And despite their nativist commitments, populist leaders across the globe find common constitutional cause and mutual encouragement in their critique of cosmopolitan institutions and values. The distinctiveness of populism's constitutional orientation rests on its occupation of a space between authoritarian and popular versions of constitutionalism, overlapping both but not reducible to either. There situated, populism involves a reaction against what it condemns as the neglect of the "unitary collective particular" in the liberal version of modern constitutionalism. Many critical of the inflated narratives and methods of populism nevertheless share some its underlying anxieties. For in an age in which an expanding commitment to the democratic pedigree of our constitutional arrangements has unfolded alongside the increasing transnationalization and fragmentation of political authority, the very instability of the balance between various constitutional goods—between plurality and unity, individualism and collectivism, and universal and particular rationalities—that fuels populists' ire, deepens the defining tension of modern constitutionalism, and poses a challenge to all who continue to endorse it.


Twelve years ago, Congress asked the National Institutes of Health to follow the health of a large group of children from birth to adulthood to examine the effects of environmental influences, such as chemicals and education, on children9s health and development. Last year, after recruiting about 4000 women for pilot tests, NIH scrapped its plan to have 40 university-led centers carry out the study in a random sample of about 100 U.S. counties. Who is to blame for the problems of the National Children9s Study? And how can the redesigned study succeed?


Summary 1. The practice of deliberately moving animals from one site to another for conservation is increasing as a tool to re-establish extirpated populations. Resource managers are faced with developing strategies for reintroduction attempts, but often lack experimentally derived evidence upon which to base decisions. 2. Using the northern water snake Nerodia sipedon sipedon in the USA, we compared the behaviour and performance of resident snakes with that of individuals translocated directly from the wild to a nearby nature reserve or reared in captivity prior to translocation. 3. Both translocated groups had low survivorship relative to resident snakes, but the proximal causes of their poor performance differed considerably. Captive-reared snakes exhibited restricted surface activity and movements and abnormal habitat use, and ultimately failed to maintain appropriate body temperature and body mass, with high mortality associated with the overwintering period. Wild snakes directly translocated to an unfamiliar site maintained body temperatures and growth comparable with residents, but their more extensive movements resulted in frequent excursions off reserve and high mortality. 4. Synthesis and applications. We contend that an individual's prior experience is an important factor in determining their behaviour and performance during the phase of early establishment at an unfamiliar site. This suggests the existence of common underlying mechanisms influencing the outcome of reintroduction attempts, and provides a potentially useful framework for improving reintroduction efforts. Resource managers would likely improve success of reintroductions by matching habitats (and associated resources and conditions) between source and release sites, by temporarily confining animals in enclosures that force new associations to be made while limiting exploratory wanderings, or by enrichment of environmental conditions in captivity.