Background and Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between organizational structure and organizational performance from the perspective of the staff of 115 emergency departments of Mazandaran province, Iran. Materials and Methods: In this study, data were collected from the emergency personnel of different hospitals of Mazandaran province, Iran in 2014. Moreover, data on two variables of organizational performance and organizational structure were obtained using Frank's standard organizational structure questionnaire (2006). In this questionnaire, organizational structure is assessed in three dimensions of formalization, centralization, and complexity. This study was conducted on the staff of 115 emergency departments of Mazandaran province. Initially, 499 emergency personnel were selected, and sample population was determined using the Cochran's formula and random sampling. In total, 207 participants were enrolled in this study. Data analysis was performed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Spearman's correlation-coefficient, and Friedman's rank test. Results: According to the results of Spearman's correlation-coefficient, the correlation-coefficient between organizational structure and organizational performance was 0.793. Moreover, the correlation-coefficients of the complexity and centralization dimensions of organizational performance were 0.979 and 0.493, respectively. Correlation-coefficient of the formalization dimension of organizational performance was obtained at 0.287. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, all the dimensions of organizational structure (formalization, complexity, and centralization) had significant, positive correlations with organizational performance in the viewpoint of the staff of 115 emergency departments of Mazandaran province.


Introduction: Three-dimensional (3D) collagen scaffold models, due to their ability to mimic the tissue and organ structure in vivo, have received increasing interest in drug discovery and toxicity evaluation. Methods: In this study, we developed a perfused 3D model and studied cellular response to cytotoxic drugs in comparison with traditional 2D cell cultures as evaluated by cancer drug cisplatin. Results: Cancer cells grown in perfused 3D environments showed increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production compared to the 2D culture. As determined by growth analysis, cells in the 3D culture, after forming a spheroid, were more resistant to the cancer drug cisplatin compared to that of the 2D cell culture. In addition, 3D culturing cells showed elevated level of ROS, indicating a physiological change or the formation of a microenvironment that resembles tumor cells in vivo. Conclusions: These data revealed that cellular response to drugs for cells growing in 3D environments are dramatically different from that of 2D cultured cells. Thus, the perfused 3D collagen scaffold model we report here might be a potentially very useful tool for drug analysis.


Background: Nowadays, in paediatric surgery, intra-abdominal procedures are commonly performed with a laparoscopic approach. Nevertheless, the effects and advantages of laparoscopy in children have not been extensively investigated. Aims of this thesis are: 1) To quantify the absorption of carbon dioxide (C02) during laparoscopy; 2) To investigate if laparoscopy provides benefits compared to open surgery in the management of common surgical conditions in children. Methods: The thesis includes two parts: one part focuses on the absorption of C02 during laparoscopy. The second part focuses on the outcome of laparoscopy. Data were obtained by investigating two common surgical procedures: the Nissen fundoplication for treatment of gastro-oesophageal reflux (GOR) and the Ramstedt pyloromyotomy for treatment of pyloric stenosis. For the laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication, a follow-up study on a randomised controlled trial (RCT) including 38 children was performed. Also, a large review on patients who underwent a second operation (redo-Nissen fundoplication) for recurrent GOR was performed. For the laparoscopic pyloromyotomy, a double blind, multicentre, international, RCT was performed enrolling 180 children. Results: the work in this thesis demonstrates that 10-20% of C02 eliminated during laparoscopy in children is derived from the absorption through the peritoneum. The results of the RCT comparing laparoscopic and open Nissen fundoplication shows that this antireflux procedure improves the quality of life and controls GOR independently of the technique used. The laparoscopic technique is associated with an improvement of gastric emptying in the post-operative period and lower incidence of retching at 4-year follow-up. In children requiring redo-Nissen fundoplication, there is a high failure rate and redo-fundoplication after primary laparoscopic Nissen has lower risk of failure. The RCT comparing laparoscopic with open pyloromyotomy reveals that both procedures are successful. The laparoscopic pyloromyotomy provides a shorter post-operative recovery, lower analgesia requirement and higher parental satisfaction.


Background A cost evaluation was performed due to the high cost of biological treatment (BT); possible benefits of optimising BT were also investigated. Purpose To analyse the economic impact of optimising biological treatments for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other spondyloarthritis (SpA) conditions such as ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis. Materials and methods Retrospective observational study of all patients treated in the BT Rheumatology Service from March to September 2013. For optimisation (dose reduction and/or expansion of dose interval), patients were selected according to clinical remission (DAS28 <2.6), low clinical activity (DAS28 <3.2; BASDAI <4) and clinical recommendations. The following data were collected: diagnosis, biological treatment, demographic characteristics, date and dose/interval after and before adjustment. The net unit price of the drug was used to perform the cost calculation. Results 365 patients were treated with BT, 203 patients (55.6%) with RA and 162 (44.4%) with SpA. 81 patients (22%) were candidates for optimising treatment, 40 patients (49.4%) with RA and 41 (50.6%) with Spa. Mean age: 54.78 (SD:13.69) years old; 56% female and 45% male. 37 patients were in clinical remission, 30 patients in low clinical activity and 14 were chosen due to clinical recommendation. The optimisation regimens were defined as follows: Golimumab (1.23%): 1 patient expansion of dose interval from 4 to 6 weeks; Adalimumab (12.34%): 9 patients expansion of dose interval from 2 to 3 weeks and 1 patient to 4 weeks; Etanercept (29.62%): 16 patients expansion of dose interval from 7 to 10 days; 5 patients to 15 days, 2 patients to 21 days and 1 patient to 30 days; Tocilizumab (2.46%): 1 patient dose reduction to 6 mg/kg and 1 patient expansion of dose interval from 4 to 6 weeks; Rituximab (9.87%): 7 patients expansion of dose interval from 6 to 7 months and 1 patient to 9 months; Abatacept (3.7%): 2 patients dose reduction from 750 mg to 500 mg and 1 patient expansion of dose interval from 4 to 5 weeks; Infliximab (40.74%): 2 patients expansion of dose interval from 6 to 7 weeks, 27 patients to 9 weeks, 2 patients to 10 weeks, 1 patient dose reduction from 5 mg/kg every 9 weeks to 4 mg/kg every 12 weeks. At the moment all patients are in clinical remission, except a patient with IFX who had to return to the previous dose because of skin diseases. Patient- year cost (theoretical doses) would be 835.538 €, while patient-year cost (optimised doses) was 594.102 €, which means a saving of 241.435 € (29%). The most saving was achieved with the optimisation of adalimumab and etanercept treatment, making savings of 36% and 39%, respectively. Conclusions The optimisation of BT could reduce the cost while maintaining efficacy and safety of treatment. The optimisation of BT begins with a rational selection of the patient, according to criteria of clinical activity and clinical recommendations rather than looking at the costs. No conflict of interest.


The paper presents the historical arguments that led to the Clementi review of the legal profession and its culmination in the Legal Services Act 2007. There were two strands: one based on consumerism (too many complaints about lawyers' services); the other based on a sustained investigation by the competition authorities into professions' restrictive practices (anti-competitive unless proved in the public interest). These led to the abandonment of traditional forms of organization for lawyers' practices (alternative business structures) and the imposition of a new regulatory structure for the profession (oversight and frontline regulators). In the second part of the paper I examine the trends in lawyers' practices as currently pursued and as envisaged by the Act as aligned with our conceptions of professionalism. Using two hypotheticals: Tesco Law, and Goldman Sachs Skadden, I chart a move from professionalism to deskilling and proletarianization in the legal profession, not unlike that which existed in the 19th century. This dystopian view, which is essentially a top down conception of the legal industry, is contrasted with a more optimistic view based on the changes in the idealization of careers and life as represented by Generation Y. This is augmented by the changing nature of work, ie, post-Fordist, within organizations which in a number of ways escapes control and measurement because the distinctions between production and consumption, work and leisure allied with distributed network forms of production blur the boundaries that we have taken for granted. In contrast to the socio-economic approaches, I argue that we must examine conceptions of career, inclusion and exclusion, vocation, and community in order to understand how the professions will adapt to the postmodern condition.


This paper develops and estimates a spatial general equilibrium job search model to study the effects of local and universal (federal) minimum wage policies. In the model, firms post vacancies in multiple locations. Workers, who are heterogeneous in terms of location and education types, engage in random search and can migrate or commute in response to job offers. I estimate the model by combining multiple databases including the American Community Survey (ACS) and Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI). The estimated model is used to analyze how minimum wage policies affect employment, wages, job postings, vacancies, migration/commuting, and welfare. Empirical results show that minimum wage increases in local county lead to an exit of low type (education 12 years), which generates negative externalities for workers in neighboring areas. I use the model to simulate the effects of a range of minimum wages. Minimum wage increases up to $14/hour increase the welfare of high type workers but lower welfare of low type workers, expanding inequality. Increases in excess of $14/hour decrease welfare for all workers. I further evaluate two counterfactual policies: restricting labor mobility and preempting local minimum wage laws. For a certain range of minimum wages, both policies have negative impacts on the welfare of high type workers, but beneficial effects for low type workers.


Overlay networks are widely adopted in many distributed systems for efficient resource sharing. Recently, issues in overlay network have also been introduced into cloud systems, in order to organize thousands of virtualized resources. In parallel, the explosion of P2P applications introduces the multi-overlay environment in which a number of nodes simultaneously participate in multiple overlays. When multiple applications running over a large set of nodes, some of nodes may take repeated efforts to preserve multi-overlay networks. Therefore, maintaining these co-existing overlays brings the redundant maintenance overhead. This paper presents a cooperative strategy to analyze the overlay maintenance of multi-overlay environments and to elaborate multiple overlays for simplifying the overlay maintenance. The proposed strategy exploits the synergy of co-existing overlays to handle their common overlay-maintenance, so that the redundant maintenance overhead could be eliminated while keeping performance. To evaluate the system performance, this paper not only analyzes several overlays but also considers realistic multi-overlay environments by varying the intersection ratio of diverse overlays and the combination of multiple overlays. Experimental results show that the proposed cooperative strategy significantly decreases the redundant overlay-maintenance overhead, where the reduction ratio of maintaining multiple overlays is higher than 60 percent in some of cases.


When entrepreneurs encounter business failure, they have to bear the financial, emotional, and social cost of failure. Prior research on the effects of these costs has focused mainly on entrepreneurial exit context or on the quantity of new firms. Moreover, these studies suggest to policy makers to establish institutions to lower the costs of failure with the aim of increasing entrepreneurial activities. However, this dissertation seeks to improve our understanding by providing more extensive and fine-grained assessments of the effects of the cost of business failure in entrepreneurship contexts. The first essay in this dissertation conducts a systematic review regarding the role of institutions that are related to the cost of business failure in entrepreneurial decisions and behaviors. The review extensively takes stock of what has been studied on the effect of the costs of failure and provides future research questions to advance our knowledge. The second and third essay respond to the call of research questions from the review study of this dissertation while utilizing real options logic and multi-level analysis. In particular, the second essay shows that while high social costs of failure can negatively impact the quantity of entrepreneurs in society, there can also be a positive impact on the quality of the entrepreneurs who enter and persist in their careers. In particular, this study finds evidence of a positive relationship between high social costs of business failure and the entry of entrepreneurs with growth and export orientation. The third essay finds that the stigma of failure is positively associated with social entrepreneurship entry decisions. Further, the stigma of failure affects revenue-generating type social entrepreneurship, but not NGO-type social entrepreneurship. BUSINESS FAILURE AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP: THREE ESSAYS ON THE EFFECTS OF THE COST OF FAILURE


This Research Brief evaluates the potential long-term socio-economic implications of return migration on countries of origin in the 'post-crisis' phase because both the circumstances and consequences of return during 'ordinary times' are likely to be different from crisis-induced return. Because of the dearth of available data on the micro-, meso-, and macro- level outcomes of return resulting from conflicts or natural disasters in host countries, the literature on return in 'ordinary times' is used as an entry point. Given the different historical, political, economic and social contexts of countries affected by crises and the countries of origins to which migrants return, this Research Brief proposes key avenues for investigation.

The impact of crisis on migrants will vary depending on a wide range of factors such as the economic stability and geo-political positioning of the origin or host country, the high-profile (or low-profile) nature of the crisis and resulting external responses, the socio-economic status of migrants, their relationships with non-migrant populations and with the origin state or host state, as well as migrants' "preparedness" and "resource mobilisation" (Cassarino, 2004), which is particularly relevant for crisis-induced returns. Furthermore, the long-term consequences of crisis on host or origin countries and on migrants themselves differ according to migrants' social qualifiers such as age, gender and legal status.

Return migrants, regardless of the circumstances of their return or their socio-economic status, may or may not bring back human capital (skills), social capital (networks abroad) and financial capital (savings) though it has been rather difficult to measure the actual impact of these transfers (Ammassari and Black, 2001: 25-30). Therefore, while it is impossible to cover all the possible outcomes of crisis-induced return, this Research Brief explores likely scenarios emanating from desk-based research for the European Union-funded Migrants in Countries in Crisis (MICIC) research component examining six case studies, namely: Cote d'Ivoire, Lebanon, South Africa, Libya, Thailand and Central African Republic.


The use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools is gaining popularity in the analysis of flow phenomenon in components used in air-conditioning and refrigeration systems. However, simulation of two phase (e.g., gas and liquid or oil and refrigerant) and phase changing (evaporation or condensation) flow is still unfeasible in many engineering problems. In this review, the development and status of direct numerical simulation of two-phase phase changing flow is discussed. The scope of this review is primarily focused on the boiling and evaporation methods that are most frequent in HVAC&R applications but generally relevant to all phase change simulations. The phase change method fundamentally depends on the properties and capabilities of its underlying multiphase methods and all studies of multiphase methods have been a naturally followed by their extension to phase change problems. Thus a comprehensive review on both multiphase and phase change numerical method is presented with a particular focus on the front capturing methods. Although developments of numerical methods for direct multiphase and phase change methods have shown promising results in solving simple phase change problems, applications to larger scale problems such as coiled tubes and heat exchangers unit still seems rough and has not been as successful. There are still major obstacles to overcome such as the mesh resolution requirement, higher order discretization schemes on unstructured grids, the nucleation sites, sharp interface properties and the associated accuracy and stability issue among others. Review of some large scale simulations and the underlying challenges are presented.


The Ediacaran period began with the deglaciation of the ca. 635 Ma Marinoan snowball Earth and the deposition of cap dolostones on continental shelves worldwide during post-glacial sea-level rise. These carbonates sharply overlie glacial sediments deposited at low paleolatitudes and preserve negative carbon isotope excursions. The snowball Earth hypothesis invokes an almost complete cessation of primary productivity in the surface ocean. Because assimilatory uptake of Zn appears to fractionate its isotopes, Zn isotope ratios measured in carbonate precipitated in the surface ocean should track fluctuations in primary productivity. Here we report the first Zn isotopic data, together with carbon and oxygen isotopic profiles from a Neoproterozoic cap dolostone, the Nuccaleena Formation in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. We interpret the Zn isotopic data in terms of a two-stage evolution of the deglacial ocean. Slightly ^(66)Zn-enriched values at the base of the cap dolostone indicate immediate resumption of the biological pump upon melting of the surface ocean, but this signal was diluted by intense surface runoff that drove δ^(66)Zn (^(66)Zn/^(64)Zn, versus the JMC Lyon reference) values down to the composition of continentally derived Zn. A subsequent rise in δ^(66)Zn records a vigorous increase in primary production and export from a nutrient-laden surface ocean.


This study describes the design of forward-looking monopulse arrays able to reconfigure the radiation pattern from the sum mode to the difference one by electronically switching a set of parasitic dipoles placed in front of a driven array of radiating dipoles. The antenna architecture is synthesised by optimising the geometric parameters of the passive elements, namely their positions and lengths. The generation of the difference beam is yielded by imposing a phase displacement of π to the excitations of half active array and activating the parasitic array by turning-on the switches that partition their lengths. As for the sum pattern, the effect of the parasitic dipoles is made negligible by turning-off the switches. A set of representative results is reported and discussed to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


We present two software DSM protocols that dynamically adapt between a single writer (SW) and a multiple writer (MW) protocol based on the application's sharing patterns. The first protocol (WFS) adapts based on write-write false sharing; the second (WFS+WG) based on a combination of write-write false sharing and write granularity. The adaptation is automatic. No user or compiler information is needed. The choice between SW and MW is made on a per-page basis. We measured the performance of our adaptive protocols on an 8-node SPARC cluster connected by a 155 Mbps ATM network. We used eight applications, covering a broad spectrum in terms of write-write false sharing and write granularity. We compare our adaptive protocols against the MW-only and the SW-only approach. Adaptation to write-write false sharing proves to be the critical performance factor, while adaptation to write granularity plays only a secondary role in our environment and for the applications considered. Each of the two adaptive protocols matches or exceeds the performance of the best of MW and SW in seven out of the eight applications.


In this article, I describe the history of the constitutionalisation, amendment, and ultimately, abolition of the fundamental right to property in the Indian Constitution. Articles 19(1)(f) and 31 together constituted the fundamental right to property in the Constitution as adopted in 1950. Article 31 codified what is often described in political and legal parlance as the "eminent domain" powers of the state. The Land Acquisition Act, 1894 which is the subject of extensive current debate and slated to be repealed and replaced by the Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill is one of over a hundred laws enacted in exercise of the state's power of eminent domain. This power inherent in the exercise of a state's sovereignty allows the state to compulsorily acquire property belonging to private persons for a public purpose upon payment of just compensation. The twin requirements of public purpose and just compensation are based on the rationale that no individual should have to disproportionately bear the burden of supporting the public good.In the article, I review the Supreme Court's jurisprudence on the fundamental right to property enshrined in Articles 19(1)(f) and 31 from the period 1950-1978, and on the constitutional right to property enshrined in Article 300 A post the 44th Constitutional Amendment that abolished Articles 19(1)(f) and 31. In light of this historical review of the Court's jurisprudence, I argue that reinstatement of the fundamental right to property in the Constitution on its own will do little to protect the interests of poor peasants and traditional communities who are currently facing displacement through processes of large scale acquisition of land for private industry and infrastructure projects.


Proper selection of cement plays an effective role in the success of ceramic laminate veneers. The cement can affect the final color by changing the optical properties of the ceramic.

 Due to the ease of clinical use of the seventh generation of cement (Self-Adhesive Cement), this study aimed to evaluate the effect of this type of cement on the final color of Ceramic Veneers (CV).

 In this study, 21 IPS e.max ceramic disks (8mm× 0.7 mm) were used. They were divided into 3 groups of 7, depending on the type of cement. (Choice 2, RelyX U200, Speed Cem). In the first stage, ceramic disks were set on the facial surface of bovine's teeth by bonding agents and the color properties were analyzed by spectrophotometer. In the next stage, specimens were cemented on the prepared surfaces according to the manufacturer's instructions and their color was evaluated subsequently.

 Results were analyzed by repeated measures two-way ANOVA and TAMHANE post hoc methods (P < 0.05). Results showed that cement influences the color of the ceramic laminate. ∆E values were reported to be higher than the critical point after cementation (∆E > 2.69).

 There was no significant difference between the effects of three cement types on the final color of the ceramic veneers.


Standard methodologies for sampling the physicochemical conditions of groundwater recommend purging a bore for three bore volumes to avoid sampling the stagnant water within a bore and instead gain samples representative of the aquifer. However, there are currently no methodological standards addressing the amount of purging required to gain representative biological samples to assess groundwater bacterial and viral abundances. The objective of this study was to examine how bacterial and viral abundances change during the purging of bore volumes. Six bores infiltrating into unconfined aquifers were pumped for five or six bore volumes each and bacteria and virus‐like particles (VLPs) were enumerated from each bore volume using flow cytometry. In examination of the individual bores trends in bacterial abundances were observed to increase, decrease, or remain constant with each purged bore volume. Furthermore, triplicates taken at each bore volume indicated substantial variations in VLP and bacterial abundances that are often larger than the differences between bore volumes. This indicates a high level of small scale heterogeneity in microbial community abundance in groundwater samples, and we suggest that this may be an intrinsic feature of bore biology. The heterogeneity observed may be driven by bottom up processes (variability in the distribution of organic and inorganic nutrients), top‐down processes (grazing and viral lysis), physical heterogeneities in the bore, or technical artifacts associated with the purging process. We suggest that a more detailed understanding of the ecology underpinning this variability is required to adequately describe the microbiological characteristics of groundwater ecosystems.


Research on the shores in the sub-Antarctic region is discussed with respect to how lines of investigation developed, current status, and what areas of research should attract priority in relation to both outstanding questions and concerns for the ecological well-being of the region. The remoteness of the sub-Antarctic requires coordination of effort and resources and it is suggested that greater advances could be made if there is international coordination in a more prescribed way.


Abstract: In this essay, we explore the intersections of rhetoric and feminism and the resulting transformations to both disciplines. Rhetoric offers feminism a vibrant process of inquiring, organizing, and thinking, as well as a theorized space to talk about effective communication; feminism offers rhetoric a reason to bridge differences, to include, and to empower, as well as a politicized space to discuss rhetorical values. The fraditional rhetorical canons, with their enthymematic familiarity, mark the sections of this essay, for they emphasize the mutually heuristic nature of the border crossings between these two disdplines. Although the linearity of print demands that we treat the canons consecutively, they, nevertheless, have a tendency to overlap and interact. Our discussions of arrangement, style, and delivery, for instance, both assume and depend upon a rethinking of invention and memory—a rethinking that recognizes the role that both these canons play in current efforts to reconceptualize and reenact what it means to know, speak, and write. As our essay argues, such attention to what we speak about, and how and why we speak, urges ail of us not only to continued exploration and interrogation but also to a renewed responsibility for our professional and personal discursive acts.


Background The costs and the effectiveness of mental health services need to be evaluated if provision is to be efficient. Service use and costs are described for two geographical areas in south London. Method Service use was measured comprehensively for clients in both sectors for two six-month time periods using the Client Service Receipt Interview This information was combined with unit costs to calculate service costs. The 'hidden' costs of informal care and unsupported accommodation were also calculated. Results At baseline significantly more intensive sector clients had in-patient stays but by the follow-up this difference had disappeared. There was significantly more use of supported accommodation in the intensive sector during both time periods. Baseline and follow-up total service costs were significantly higher for the intensive sector. Costs were spread disproportionately and a small number of services accounted for a large proportion of cost. Conclusions While the cost at Time 2 was significantly greater in the intensive sector, this was largely due to the high use of supported accommodation. There was some convergence in cost between the sectors over time.


Wakeword detection is responsible for switching on downstream systems in a voice-activated device. To prevent a response when the wakeword is detected by mistake, a secondary network is often utilized to verify the detected wakeword. Published verification approaches are formulated based on Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) biased towards the wakeword. This approach has several drawbacks, including high model complexity and the necessity of large vocabulary training data. To address these shortcomings, we propose to use a large receptive field (LRF) word-level wakeword model, and in particular, a convolutional-recurrent-attention (CRA) network. CRA networks use a strided small receptive field convolutional front-end followed by fixed time-step recurrent layers optimized to model the temporal phonetic dependencies within the wakeword. We experimentally show that this type of modeling helps the system to be robust to errors in the location of the wakeword as estimated by the detection network. The proposed CRA network significantly outperforms previous baselines, including an LRF whole-word convolutional network and a 2-stage DNN-HMM system. Additionally, we study the importance of preand postwakeword context. Finally, the CRA network has significantly fewer model parameters and multiplies, which makes it suitable for real-world production applications.


We have performed first-principles calculations based on density functional theory to investigate the doping characteristics of 31 different adatoms on stanene monolayer, which includes the elements of alkali metals (AM), alkaline earth metals (AEM), transition metals (TMs), and groups III–VII. The most stable configurations of all the dopants have been explored by calculating and comparing binding energies of all the possible binding sites. To comment on the uniform distribution of adatoms on stanene, the adsorption energies (Eads) of adatoms have been compared with their experimental cohesive energies (Ec) in the bulk phase. A further comparison reveals that the binding energies of most of the studied adatoms on stanene are much stronger than other group IV monolayers. Apart from structural and binding characteristics, bond lengths, adatom–adatom distance, charge-transfer mechanism, electronic properties, and work function have also been explored in pristine and doped monolayers. The strong adsorption o...


Interest in the quality of the health and fitness industry has grown considerably over the last decade. Gymnasiums are increasingly placing greater emphasis on meeting members" expectations and needs. As more competition enters this industry, members" perceptions of gymnasiums facilities and services are becoming more important. It is apparent that there is a need to measure members" expectations and perceptions of service quality at Virgin Active gymnasiums in the greater Durban area. The aim of this study was to investigate customer service quality at commercial health and fitness centres. The four objectives of this study were: firstly, to identify members" expectations in terms of the delivered services provided at Virgin Active gymnasiums; secondly, to ascertain the perceptions of members towards the services provided at Virgin Active gymnasiums; thirdly, to measure the gaps between members" expectations and perceptions of service quality, using a modified version of the SERVQUAL model, and fourthly, to calculate and measure the score of the SERVQUAL dimensions. The instrument used to assess the members" expectations and perceptions of service quality was the SERVQUAL questionnaire, measuring expectations and perceptions according to five quality dimensions. Four hundred and fifty members were surveyed using the SERVQUAL questionnaire. The respondents were selected through non-probability sampling within which convenience sampling was applied. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. Conclusions and recommendations were thereafter drawn from the literature and the findings of the study. The study shows that members" expectations of service quality exceeded their perceptions on the five service quality dimensions used in the SERVQUAL questionnaire. The smallest dimension gap score proved to be tangibles, while the largest gap score of the study proved to be empathy followed by responsiveness. iv Therefore, it is recommended that Virgin Active gymnasiums in the greater Durban area attend to these gaps and ensure that necessary strategies are implemented so that members receive a high level of service quality in all areas of the service dimensions.


Objective: Depression is particularly prevalent in patients with advanced cancer. Cognitive therapy (CT) is an empirically supported treatment for depression in the general population. However, efficacy remains to be demonstrated in patients with advanced cancer. A prior controlled trial of CT in a group format showed improvements in depression, mood disturbance, and self-esteem; however, these effects were not maintained over time. Studies examining the efficacy of individual format CT interventions that may ensure more long-term maintenance of benefits are necessary. This study assessed the efficacy of CT for depression administered individually in women with metastatic breast cancer and its effect on immune function. Method: Forty-five women were randomly assigned to either individual CT or to a waiting-list control (WLC) condition. CT was composed of eight weekly sessions of CT and three booster sessions administered at 3-week intervals following the end of treatment. Results: Patients treated with CT had significantly lower scores on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale at posttreatment compared to untreated patients. Pooled data from both groups indicated significant reductions of depressive symptoms from pre- to posttreatment, as well as reduction of associated symptoms including anxiety, fatigue, and insomnia symptoms. These effects were well sustained at the 3- and 6-month follow-up evaluations. CT for depression did not appear to have a significant impact on immune functioning. Significance of results: Findings of this study support the efficacy of CT for depression in this population and suggest that the administration of individual and booster sessions after treatment termination may be instrumental in sustaining the treatment effects over time.


Established in 2006 as the forward integration effort by Taesung Industry, the major cosmetic packaging company, TONYMOLY has phenomenally grown to one of the major cosmetic brand companies in the submarket called, 'one brand-shop' of cosmetic market since 2008, after overcoming the crisis of 'going out of business' in a couple of early years. Within a relatively short period of time, TONYMOLY`s performances have dramatically improved in terms of metrics such as growth in sales revenue, the number of stores, the average sales per store, transaction value per customer, the number of monthly transactions, the number of membership-based customers, and overseas sales. In this case study, we have examined TONYMOLY`s recent marketing activities which may explain the plausible reasons behind the substantial growth of a small but smart cosmetic company. Above all, the first key success factor of TONYMOLY would be found in its adherence to the clear philosophy of the customer value proposition and/or the differentiated position of TONYMOLY as a brand of providing value. Second, this brand concept of value was first penetrated and welcomed among the foothold customer target group of mid and late teens with appropriate products, while the target groups were later expanded into the age group of twenties along with expansion of relevant products. Third, its differentiation efforts have been concrete and meaningful by utilizing unique ingredients in its product development and marketing efforts, unique fun packaging, and continuously introducing new hit-selling products as well as managing steady-selling products. Fourth, TONYMOLY has been smart enough to use its limited marketing money efficiently and effectively in its marketing communication activities. Viral marketing, PPL, and concentrated media planning and execution turned out to produce effective and efficient market-based performances such as awareness, word- of-mouth, and sales. Lastly, the marketing leadership of CEO and top management, emphasizing communications and interactions, was confirmed in the relationship quality with and trust level of its franchisees and internal employees. These key success factors may explain the recent phenomenal market performances of TONYMOLY. Despite recent successes, the major issues are presented for TONYMOLY to consider for maintaining its sustainable advantages and growth. The first issue concerns TONYMOLY`s choice of growth philosophy between product/brand-centric marketing and customer-centric marketing. The second challenging issue relates to how TONYMOLY can cope with 'growing pains' plausibly accompanied with the rapid growth.


The biological clock relies on the integration of both photic and non-photic information in order to synchronize and entrain to the environment. In this thesis I examine the interaction between light and NPY, a known mediator of many non-photic stimuli. Previous studies have shown that both photic and non-photic stimuli interact in vivo and in vitro. However, the precise neural pathways and cellular mechanisms utilized in such a complex interaction are as yet unknown.

In my first set of experiments I have shown that microinjections of NPY directly onto the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in vivo, block the phase advancing effects of light and attenuate phase delays. Furthermore, I found that a specific NPY Y1/Y5 receptor agonist was able to inhibit photic phase shifts in a similar manner to that observed with NPY.

In the following series of studies I utilized a newly developed NPY Y5 receptor antagonist. It was found that injection of the Y5 receptor antagonist during light exposure prevented NPY from inhibiting light induced phase shifts during the night. Also, the administration of a specific Y1 receptor antagonist had no effect on the ability of NPY to influence the resetting of light during the early and late night.

It was previously shown that phase shifts to NPY were mediated via GABAergic interneurons. However, I found that NPY did not inhibit photic phase shifts via a similar GABA dependent mechanism, as the presence of bicuculline, a GABAA antagonist did not prevent NPY from altering phase shifts to light during the night.

Finally, to determine the possible site of interaction between NPY and light a time course study was designed. It was found that microinjections of NPY up to 60 minutes post light exposure were able to attenuate photic phase advances. This was also the case when animals were presented with a novel running wheel 60 minutes after an advancing light pulse.

Overall my work has shown that NPY interacts with light during the early and late night. Furthermore, NPY utilizes the Y5 receptor subtype and a neural pathway independent of GABAA activation. Finally the present data indicates that the possible site of interaction between NPY and light lies downstream from receptor binding sites within SCN cells.


Observations of climate are often available on very different spatial scales from observations of the natural environments and resources that are affected by climate change. In order to help bridge the gap between these scales using modelling, a new dataset of daily meteorological variables was created at 1 km resolution over Great Britain for the years 1961–2012, by interpolating coarser resolution climate data and including the effects of local topography. These variables were used to calculate atmospheric evaporative demand (AED) at the same spatial and temporal resolution. Two functions that represent AED were chosen: one is a standard form of potential evapotranspiration (PET) and the other is a derived PET measure used by hydrologists that includes the effect of water intercepted by the canopy (PETI). Temporal trends in these functions were calculated, with PET found to be increasing in all regions, and at an overall rate of 0.021 ± 0.021 mm day−1 decade−1 in Great Britain. PETI was found to be increasing at a rate of 0.019 ± 0.020 mm day−1 decade−1 in Great Britain, but this was not statistically significant. However, there was a trend in PETI in England of 0.023 ± 0.023 mm day−1 decade−1. The trends were found to vary by season, with spring PET increasing by 0.043 ± 0.019 mm day−1 decade−1 (0.038 ± 0.018 mm day−1 decade−1 when the interception correction is included) in Great Britain, while there is no statistically significant trend in other seasons. The trends were attributed analytically to trends in the climate variables; the overall positive trend was predominantly driven by rising air temperature, although rising specific humidity had a negative effect on the trend. Recasting the analysis in terms of relative humidity revealed that the overall effect is that falling relative humidity causes the PET to rise. Increasing downward short- and longwave radiation made an overall positive contribution to the PET trend, while decreasing wind speed made a negative contribution to the trend in PET. The trend in spring PET was particularly strong due to a strong decrease in relative humidity and increase in downward shortwave radiation in the spring.


Executive Summary After Brexit, the UK must show that it has a voice. It will need to re-earn international respect, and in particular establish the concept of a 'global Britain' on the basis of performance, not rhetoric. That means re-establishing a strong network of relationships around the world in support of its security and economic health, but also continuing to play a leading role in support of the international rules-based order. For example, it should make the most of its continuing status as a Permanent Member of the UN Security Council to act as a problem-solver and system-enhancer in the collective interest. An early, first-order priority will be establishing a new, mutually beneficial partnership with the European Union, which continues to form our economic and political neighbourhood. Reconstructing a modern relationship with the United States is not secondary to that, but cannot substitute for it and must be undertaken in recognition of the differing interests and instincts of the two sides. A further challenge is building the right relationship with China based on mutual interest in trade, peace, and international respect and on confronting expansionist or opportunistic practices. With Russia, too, it is possible to design a predictable set of behaviours on either side, and with both countries good communication channels will need to be maintained. Brexit gives the UK the scope to construct a more deliberate diplomatic approach to the rest of the English-speaking world than was explicitly possible as an EU member – notably in working with Canada, Australia and New Zealand to promote the international rules-based order. But this should be complemented by more effective outreach to non-English-speaking countries, notably in support of trade and investment opportunities with emerging nations. But with them as with all the UK's interlocutors, the need to earn its place, and to show that it realises that, will be vital. In defence and security, the UK will continue in its commitment to the strength of NATO as its essential alliance under US leadership, while also liaising carefully with EU Member States as they seek to improve their own capacities to contribute to European security. But it cannot simply rely on old institutional structures. It needs to lead, for example by playing a stronger role in the control of non-military forms of aggression, such as cyber warfare, economic sanctions, rivalry in space, and commercial espionage. A strategy for realising the UK's interests in the international arena will require the Prime Minister's constant attention, but also a specific mandate for a very senior minister to supervise the interlinked policy areas of foreign affairs, international development, and international trade within a single government department.


Potassium-ion batteries (KIB) are a promising complementary technology to lithium-ion batteries because of the comparative abundance and affordability of potassium. Currently, the most promising KIB chemistry consists of a potassium manganese hexacyanoferrate (KMF) cathode, a Prussian blue analog, and a graphite anode (723Whl−1 and 359Whkg−1 at 3.6V). No electrolyte has yet been formulated that is concurrently stable at the high operating potential of KMF (4.02V vs K+/K) and compatible with K+ intercalation into graphite, currently the most critical hurdle to adoption. Here we combine a KMF cathode and a graphite anode with a KFSI in Pyr1,3FSI ionic liquid electrolyte for the first time and show unprecedented performance. We use high-throughput techniques to optimize the KMF morphology for operation in this electrolyte system, achieving 119 mA h g−1 at 4 V vs K+/K and a coulombic efficiency >99.3%. In the same ionic liquid electrolyte graphite shows excellent electrochemical performance and we demonstrate reversible cycling by operando XRD. These results are a significant and essential step forward towards viable potassium-ion batteries.


This study explores the change in earnings management and conservatism as firms transition between private and public ownership. Using a unique sample of U.S. firms, a private phase, in which firm equity is privately held while firm debt is publicly held, is compared to a public phase, in which firm equity is also publicly held. As a large portion of the firms in the sample are backed by private equity (PE) sponsors, this study analyzes separately PE-backed firms and non-PE-backed firms. Evidence consistent with upward earnings management in the year of initial public offering, downward earnings management prior to management buyouts, and upward earnings management prior to leveraged buyouts is found. The study also finds that during the public phase, firms engage in greater upward earnings management to avoid small earnings decreases and recognize losses in a more timely manner. Furthermore, this study finds evidence that PE-backed private firms engage less in upward earnings management, and recognize losses more promptly, than do non-PE-backed private firms. Results are robust for various measures and controls, and are not affected by factors such as endogenous listing status and PE financing choices.


1. This document sets forth proposed principles for a legislation on stock companies that are considered to be appropriate for a country making the transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy. For each, views on the topic are explained and alternative approaches considered. The approaches currently used in three OECD economies - France, Germany, and the United States - are summarised, as well as those existing in the Russian Federation, a transition economy that has recently adopted a modern company law. 2. The focus of this exercise is company law, i.e. legislation that regulates commercial organizations with limited liability and investments represented by shares: corporations in the US, aktiengesellschaften in Germany, societes anonymes in France, joint stock companies in Russia. Although legislation on joint stock companies is the object of primary focus, all countries will need to have legislation providing for other types of business organisations. This will not be discussed here however, except when their provisions are relevant to the assumptions underlying this document. It is nevertheless important to note that the legislation should exhaustively list all available forms of legal entities, and that registration procedures should ensure a clear identification of every registered legal entity. This is mainly because improper formation of a legal entity might have dire consequences for both investors and third parties. 3. The discussion of company law principles in this document is based on an assumption of a civil law environment, i.e. the existence of a general civil code. Excluded from consideration are laws regulating securities exchanges and the rules for the general offering of securities to the public. It should however be noted that sometimes the boundaries between company and securities laws are blurred. Some countries will choose to regulate certain issues related to publicly-quoted companies and their shareholders through securities regulation while others include such provisions in the general company legislation. The principles that are discussed here and address these grey-area issues can be applied in either context. Regulations of the general relationship between stock companies and their employees, and special rules designed to handle the specific issues that arise for financial and industrial groups are also not discussed here. Finally, while the document considers the civil remedies for violation of the company law, it does not address criminal law issues related to stock companies and their behaviour. Published in English and Russian in: 24 Journal of Corporation Law 190-293 (1999); Stanford Law School, John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics Working Paper No. 165; Columbia Law School, Center for Law and Economic Studies Working Paper No. 138 This paper is available in Russian (below) and in English at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=126539


Objectives: To describe the health status and risk indicator trends in a representative sample of US health care workers aged 45 years and older. Methods: Using pooled data from the 1997 to 2009 National Health Interview Survey, logistic regression analyses were performed to determine whether age-group specific morbidity risks differed within occupational subgroups of the health care workforce (N = 6509). Health and morbidity trends were examined via complex survey adjusted and weighted chi-squared tests. Results: Rates of functional limitation and hypertension increased among diagnosing/assessing health care workers. The prevalence of hearing impairment, cancer, and hypertension was two to three times greater in health-diagnosing/assessing workers aged 60 years and older than in younger workers. Health care service workers were up to 19 times more likely to be obese than workers who diagnose/assess health. Conclusions: Healthier workplaces and targeted interventions are needed to optimize the ability to meet health care demands of this aging workforce.


An array of north-striking, left-stepping, active normal faults cuts the southwest margin of the Gulf of California and across the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. This is the gulf margin fault system of the oblique-divergent plate boundary within the Gulf of California. Detailed geologic and geomorphic mapping along the onshore San Juan de los Planes and Saltito fault zones allowed us to delineate geometric sections and to infer the tectonic history of the fault zones. To achieve a more complete understanding of these individual normal faults within a larger array, we mapped faults to ∼10 km offshore using seismic CHIRP (compressed high-intensity radar pulse) profiling. Both onshore faults slip at a low rate and have a low total offset. Along the San Juan de los Planes fault zone, which is entirely onshore, the young, scarp-forming fault reactivated older faults to rupture a broad, low-relief pediment surface with thin Quaternary cover, reflecting a two-stage slip history along this fault zone. The offshore study suggests a northward continuation of the onshore Saltito fault, and a complex fault array north of the La Gata fault on the east side of the San Juan de los Planes basin extending northward to the west Cerralvo fault. Our results suggest relatively low rates of active faulting of <1 mm/yr across the San Juan de los Planes system of faults compared to high rates on the active gulf-axis system, and relatively higher rates on earlier Neogene gulf margin faults in other areas along the southwest Gulf of California margin.


The paper discusses the spectral-broadening processes of femtosecond pulses in the high-frequency region when optical breakdown occurs in a gaseous medium. It is shown that the spectrum of the generated high-frequency radiation contains several isolated maxima whose positions are determined by the properties of the medium and by the thickness of the layer of gas. An illustration is given of the role of taking into account the dispersion of the nonlinear refractive index in the high-frequency region of the optical range of the spectrum when optical breakdown is being modelled. The results of the modelling are compared with experimental data from an investigation of the optical breakdown of a layer of sulfur hexafluoride.


Among the security issues in the environment of the Internet of things (IOT), the security of information source is a privilege to be concerned. To protect data collection and control devices in IOT, first of all, ones shall ensure the authenticity of information source. To address the uncertainty problem of information sources in IOT, identity authentication technology is essential. In this study, we suggested an enhanced bidirectional authentication scheme that is suitable for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) communications among devices or between devices and control devices in an IOT environment. Specific improvement measures included three aspects: back-up terminals, a condition monitoring device to increase authentication properties, and an alarm mechanism. The enhanced bidirectional authentication protocol presented in this article has the characteristics of excellent performance in security and privacy protection, which could authenticate data contents, even positions and other data properties, and resist the replay or denial of service attacks; at the same time, it could overcome the defect of data asynchrony between the front end and the back end, providing users with excellent forward security. The simulation experiments showed that system reliability was greatly enhanced by adopting the proposed protocol.


Growing levels of obesity (including among children), continued harmful consumption of alcohol, and the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are some of the greatest contemporary challenges to the health of European populations. While their magnitude varies from country to country, all are looking for policy options to contain these threats to population health. It is clear that public health organizations must play a part in any response, and that intersectoral action beyond the health system is needed. What is less clear, however, is what role public health organizations currently play in addressing these problems. This is the gap that this volume aims to fill. It is based on detailed country reports from nine European countries (England, France, Germany, Italy, the Republic of Moldova, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia and Sweden) on the involvement of public health organizations in addressing obesity, alcohol and antimicrobial resistance. These reports explore the power and influence of public health organizations vis-a-vis other key actors in each of the stages of the policy cycle (problem identification and issue recognition, policy formulation, decision-making, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation). A cross-country comparison assesses the involvement of public health organizations in the nine countries covered. It outlines the scale of the problem, describes the policy responses, and explores the role of public health organizations in addressing these three public health challenges. This study is the result of close collaboration between the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and the WHO Regional Office for Europe, Division of Health Systems and Public Health. It accompanies two other Observatory publications: Organization and financing of public


Morphometric characters of worker honeybees, Apis mellifera Linnaeus, were analysed by multivariate methods to characterize their populations in the sahelian, dry and wet tropical and equatorial regions of western and eastern Africa (mainly between 0 and 15 N latitude, 18 W and 39""E longitude). Two distinct morphocIusters and azoneof hybridization between them were identified. The bees are identified as Apis mellifera adansonii Latreille and A. m. jemenitica Ruttrter. The former subspecies is distributed in the equatorial and wet tropical regions, the latter in the dry tropical and sahelian eco-climatic zones. The hybrid zone extends into the two tropical and savanna biomes and it is suggested that the stability of the hybridization zone is largely the effect of extensive annual fire in the region.


People are increasingly concerned about how meat affects the environment, human health, and animal welfare, yet eating and enjoying meat remains a norm. Unsurprisingly, many people are ambivalent about meat—evaluating it as both positive and negative. Here, we propose that meat-related conflict is multidimensional and depends on people's dietary group: Omnivores' felt ambivalence relates to multiple negative associations that oppose a predominantly positive attitude towards meat, and veg*ans' ambivalence relates to various positive associations that oppose a predominantly negative attitude. A qualitative study (N = 235; German) revealed that omnivores and veg*ans experience meat-related ambivalence due to associations with animals, sociability, sustainability, health, and sensory experiences. To quantify felt ambivalence in these domains, we developed the Meat Ambivalence Questionnaire (MAQ). We validated the MAQ in four pre-registered studies using self-report and behavioral data (N = 3,485; German, UK, representative US). Both omnivores and veg*ans reported meat-related ambivalence, but with differences across domains and their consequences for meat consumption. Specifically, ambivalence was associated with less meat consumption in omnivores (especially sensory-/animal-based ambivalence) and more meat consumption in veg*ans (especially sensory-/socially-based ambivalence). Network analyses shed further light on the nomological net of the MAQ while controlling for a comprehensive set of determinants of meat consumption. By introducing the MAQ, we hope to provide researchers with a tool to better understand how ambivalence accompanies behavior change and maintenance.


Improving the outcomes of students undertaking vocational education and training (VET) in schools is important to ensuring it is a viable post-school pathway for students. Investigating how to strengthen VET in Schools, this report suggests the following changes: defining its purpose as foundational preparation for mid-level qualifications or employment-based learning; better aligning the vocational curriculum with labour market opportunities; developing thematic packages of curriculum; and making explicit connections between VET undertaken at school and post-school VET. This report is the culmination of three years of investigation as part of the research program, Vocations: the link between post-compulsory education and the labour market.


A new approach is described for calculating the current impulse response of an avalanche photodiode, allowing for an arbitrary model for carrier transport and also for an arbitrary distribution of ionization events in space and time, following carrier injection. The technique can evaluate both the mean current response and its variance. We find that while the effects of diffusion on mean current are small, the enhanced speed to early ionization can speed up the avalanche process significantly.


The Brief Smell Identification Test (BSIT) is a commonly used measure of olfactory functioning in elderly populations. Few studies have provided normative data for this measure, and minimal data are available regarding the impact of sociodemographic factors on test scores. This study presents normative data for the BSIT in a sample of English- and Spanish-speaking Hispanic and non-Hispanic Whites. A Rasch analysis was also conducted to identify the items that best discriminated between varying levels of olfactory functioning, as measured by the BSIT. The total sample included 302 older adults seen as part of an ongoing study of rural cognitive aging, Project FRONTIER. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that BSIT scores require adjustment by age and gender, but years of education, ethnicity, and language did not significantly influence BSIT performance. Four items best discriminated between varying levels of smell identification, accounting for 59.44% of total information provided by the measure. However, items did not represent a continuum of difficulty on the BSIT. The results of this study indicate that the BSIT appears to be well-suited for assessing odor identification deficits in older adults of diverse backgrounds, but that fine-tuning of this instrument may be recommended in light of its items' difficulty and discrimination parameters. Clinical and empirical implications are discussed.


It has been widely accepted by policy makers, corporate executives, and citizens alike that economic growth is the measure of a nation's prosperity and well-being. The almost single-minded focus on growth, however, is achieved at high ecological and social cost, which has become a source of great concern. One of the driving forces behind unbridled growth has been the unquenchable thirst for energy worldwide. This paper investigates the challenges posed by the growth-energy nexus. While renewables are making giant strides, they account for a mere fraction of the world's energy demand. The Papal Encyclical Laudato Si' offers a detailed analysis of the harm humanity has inflicted on its common home, and the arguments developed in this paper are evaluated through the prism of the Encyclical. The underlying mindset preventing more sustainable ways of generating and using energy is explored, and the need to articulate human spirituality while accepting scientific consensus is emphasized. The recent international accord addressing climate change, already facing the threat of withdrawal by the United States after the recent election, can only work if the "technocratic" paradigm is radically modified. The paper provides evidence that national and local policies mirror public attitudes to tackle deteriorating environmental and social conditions. It concludes that corporations, mentioned in passing in the Encyclical, are beginning to play a central role in finding sustainable solutions, regardless of whether the international consensus holds.


The intention of education in South Africa is that all learners should benefit in a new, inclusive education system. Inclusive education provides a single, integrated system which is able to recognise and respond to the diverse needs of the learner population, irrespective of the learning context. The most influential factor that caused the educational change was the introduction of Outcomes-based Education (OBE) in South Africa. Whilst inclusive education was a radical departure from previous apartheid and special education practices in South Africa, the implementation of OBE required a revolution in thinking about education. In fact, it is OBE that will allow inclusive education to succeed since OBE is inclusive in nature. The most important features of OBE are that, it establishes the conditions and opportunities, within the system, that enable and encourage all learners to achieve those essential outcomes like: 1. All learners can succeed but not necessarily on the same day. 2. Successful learning can result in more successful learning experiences. 3. Schools can create the space and possibilities for success. 4. Educators expect all learners to perform optimally". The majority of learners in South Africa who experience barriers to learning were already being taught in the mainstream since there was limited special provision for them. The state, in any case, has limited financial resources for separate special education, which implied that the national education system in South Africa at some time or other would have to deal with diversity. Moreover, the scrapping of apartheid legislation saw the rapid diversification of formerly linguistically homogenous schools. One of the most dramatic but unplanned consequences of the political changes that took place after the general election in 1994 as far as the education sector was concerned, was the sudden inflow of African language speakers into schools that had previously been open only to learners classified as White or Coloured. In addition to this movement of African learners, there also has been a steady flow of Coloured and Indian learners to schools from which they were previously excluded. The rapid changes in the linguistic profile of schools are, however, not accompanied by changes in the teaching staff. This has meant that in many classes the teachers may not be able to speak the language of a significant number of their learners. This is particularly problematic in the Foundation Phase, because where the teacher and the learners do not speak the same language, the communication between teacher and learners will be stunted. This may also result in discipline and control problems arising from the communication breakdown between teachers and learners who speak different languages. The main objective of this empirical research is then to determine whether educators are able to identify learning difficulties experienced by learners in a first additional language in the Foundation Phase in Grade 3. The main conclusion from the research was that the educators are unsure of the conceptual fields in which they work, and require specified guidance concerning the appropriate content and task standards they are supposed to teach and assess in. Educators are not equipped with the knowledge and skills to identify and support learners with spelling / learnirlg difficulties in first additional language. Therefore, it is recommended that the Department should consider regular in-service training where the educator will be taught how to support learners with barriers to learning and to focus on intervention strategies.


As exact inference for first-order probabilistic graphical models at the propositional level can be formidably expensive, there is an ongoing effort to design efficient lifted inference algorithms for such models. This paper discusses directed first-order models that require an aggregation operator when a parent random variable is parameterized by logical variables that are not present in a child random variable. We introduce a new data structure, aggregation parfactors, to describe aggregation in directed first-order models. We show how to extend Milch et al.'s C-FOVE algorithm to perform lifted inference in the presence of aggregation parfactors. We also show that there are cases where the polynomial time complexity (in the domain size of logical variables) of the C-FOVE algorithm can be reduced to logarithmic time complexity using aggregation parfactors.


Arctic coastal infrastructure, cultural, and archeological sites are increasingly vulnerable to erosion and flooding due to amplified warming of the Arctic, sea level rise, lengthening of open water periods, and a predicted increase in frequency of major storms. Mitigating these hazards necessitates decision-making tools at an appropriate scale. The objectives of this study were to assess potential erosion and flood hazards at Herschel Island, a UNESCO World Heritage candidate site, and produce a map to be used as a decision making tool. The study focused on Simpson Point and the adjacent coastal sections, because of their archeological, historical, and cultural significance.
Shoreline movement was analyzed using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) after digitizing shorelines from 1952, 1970, 2000, and 2011. For purposes of this analysis, the coast was divided in seven coastal reaches (CRs) reflecting different morphologies and/or exposures. Using linear regression rates obtained from these data, projections of shoreline position were made for 20 and 50 years into the future. Flood hazard was assessed using a least cost-path analysis based on a high-resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) dataset and current Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sea level estimates.
Widespread erosion characterizes the study area. The rate of shoreline movement in different periods of the study ranges from -5.5 to 2.7 m·a-1 (mean -0.6 m·a-1). Mean coastal retreat decreased from -0.6 m·a-1 to -0.5 m·a-1, for 1952-1970 and 1970-2000, respectively, and increased to -1.3 m·a-1 in the period 2000-2011. Ice-rich coastal sections most exposed to wave attack exhibited the highest rates of coastal retreat. The geohazard map combines shoreline projections and flood hazard analyses to show that most of the spit area has extreme or very high flood hazard potential, and some buildings are vulnerable to coastal erosion.


ABSTRACT Brussels is struggling with a negative image as a living environment. This converges with an outward migration of economically better-off inhabitants, which has a negative effect on tax revenues. Improving the image of Brussels has thus become a policy priority. This paper investigates perceptions about Brussels within three subpopulations: Brussels residents, commuters and non-residents. By applying cluster analysis to 180 interviews, distinctive patterns in the perceptions are found. These findings suggest that beliefs about Brussels are both mediated by people's affinity with the city and resonate with ingrained urban and anti-urban ideologies. Lessons for policy and place marketing are drawn.


Bringing together historically and ethnographically grounded studies of the social and political life of Brazil and Mexico, this collection of essays revitalizes resistance as an area of study. Resistance studies boomed in the 1980s and then was subject to a wave of critique in the 1990s. Covering the colonial period to the present day, the case studies in this collection suggest that, even if much of that critique was justified, resistance remains a useful analytic rubric. The collection has three sections, each of which is preceded by a short introduction. A section focused on religious institutions and movements is bracketed by one featuring historical studies from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries and another gathering more contemporary, ethnographically-based studies. Introducing the collection, the anthropologist John Gledhill traces the debates about resistance studies. In the conclusion, Alan Knight provides a historian's perspective on the broader implications of the contributors' findings.


Monoclonal antibodies (McAbs) against the myosin heavy chain (MHC) of adult chicken pectoralis muscle have been tested for reactivity with pectoralis myosin at selected stages of chick development in vivo and in vitro. Three such McAbs, MF 20 and MF 14, which bind to light meromyosin, and MF 30, which binds to myosin subfragment two (S2), were used to assay the appearance and accumulation of specific MHC epitopes with: (a) indirect, solid phase radioimmune assay (RIA), (b) immunoautoradiography, (c) immunofluorescence microscopy. McAb MF 20 bound strongly and equivalently to MHC at all stages of embryonic development in vivo. In contrast, the MF 30 epitope was barely detectable at 12 d of incubation but its concentration rose rapidly just before hatching. No detectable binding of MF 14 to pectoralis myosin could be measured during myogenesis in vivo until 1 wk after hatching. Immunofluorescence studies revealed that all three epitopes accumulate in the same myocytes of the developing pectoralis muscle. Since all three McAbs bound with high activity to native and denatured forms of myosin, it is unlikely that differential antibody reactivity can be explained by conformational changes in myosin during development in vivo. When myogenesis in vitro was monitored using the same McAbs, MF 20 bound to the MHC at all stages tested while reactivity of MF 30 and MF 14 with myosin from cultured muscle was never observed. Thus, this study demonstrates three different immunochemical states of the MHC during development in vivo of chick pectoralis muscle and the absence of later occurring immunochemical transitions in the MHC of cultured embryonic muscle.


Soils with small variations in relief and under the same management system present differentiated spatial variabilities of their attributes. This variability is a function of soil position in the landscape, even if the relief has little expression. The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of relief shape and depth on spatial variability of soil chemical attributes in a Typic Hapludox cultivated with sugar cane at two landscape compartments. Soil samples were collected in the intercrossing points of a grid, in the traffic line, at 0-0.2 m and 0.6-0.8 m depths, comprising a set of 100 georeferenced points. The spatial variabilities of pH, P, K, Ca, Mg, cation exchange capacity and base saturation were quantified. Small relief shape variations lead to differentiated variability in soil chemical attributes as indicated by the dependence on pedoform found for chemical attributes at both 0-0.2 m and 0.6-0.8 m depths. Because of the higher variability, it is advisable to collect large number of samples in areas with concave and convex shapes. Combining relief shapes and geostatistics allows the determination of areas with different spatial variability for soil chemical attributes.


Even though there are significant developments in recent years in medical education, physicians are still needed reform and innovation in order to prepare the information society. The spots in the forefront of medical education in recent years; holistic approach in all processes, including health education, evidence-based medicine and professionalism. Medical education; undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing medical education covering the period varies from country to country for the duration of this period. Increasing day pursuing the importance of medical education and student-centered education and is spread across the country as well as in blended learning model that includes educational centered education. Medical faculty, students and teaching staff should be informed about innovations and developments should offer opportunities for that matter, should support administrative and economic necessarily.


PURPOSE
To accelerate the image reconstruction process for iterative algebraic reconstruction techniques using a cylindrical voxelization method.

METHODS
Iterative image reconstruction has many advantages, such as noise reduction and mitigation of approximate cone reconstruction artifacts, over analytical image reconstruction. But its high computational cost prohibits its use in many clinical applications, such as image guided radiotherapy (IGRT). The system matrix used in iterative reconstruction is often too large to store on the hard drive or in RAM. The cylindrical geometry is a natural fit for the circular scanning trajectory employed in volumetric CT methods such as cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) and tetrahedron beam computed tomography (TBCT). In this study, the iterative simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (SART) algorithm using a cylindrical voxelization method is developed for TBCT. The new algorithm takes advantage of the symmetries of the axial scanning geometry used in TBCT and greatly reduces the size of the system matrix. An additional step is needed for interpolating the cylindrical data onto a Cartesian grid. The reconstruction algorithms were tested with numerical phantoms as well as patient CT data.

RESULTS
The system matrix with the cylindrical voxelization method is compact and can be easily stored in the computer RAM. SART reconstruction using the cylindrical voxelization method was implemented for the TBCT. The FOM results for the cylindrical voxelization method were slightly better than for the Cartesian voxelization. The cylindrical method was able to provide a speedup of 40 times over the traditional Cartesian method and to provide a reduction of two orders of magnitude in the storage requirement for the system matrix.

CONCLUSION
Image reconstruction using a cylindrical voxelization method was able to provide a significant improvement in the reconstruction speed while maintaining the image quality provided by the conventional reconstruction method using a Cartesian image grid. This work is partially supported by NIH SBIR contract #HHSN261201100045C.


Central CO2-chemosensitive neurons in the caudal solitary complex (cSC) are stimulated not only by hypercapnic acidosis, but by hyperoxia as well. While a cellular mechanism for the CO2 response has yet to be isolated, previous data show that a redox-sensitive mechanism underlies neuronal excitability to hyperoxia. However, it remains unknown how changes in Po2 affect the production of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) in the cSC that can lead to increased cellular excitability and, with larger doses, to cellular dysfunction and death. To this end, we used fluorescence microscopy in real time to determine how normobaric hyperoxia increases the production of key RONS in the cSC. Because neurons in the region are CO2 sensitive, we also examined the potential effects of CO2 narcosis, used during euthanasia before brain slice harvesting, on RONS production. Our findings show that normobaric hyperoxia (0.4 → 0.95 atmospheres absolute O2) increases the fluorescence rates of fluorogenic dyes specific to both superoxide and nitric oxide. Interestingly, different results were seen for superoxide fluorescence when CO2 narcosis was used during euthanasia, suggesting long-lasting changes in superoxide production and/or antioxidant activity subsequent to CO2 narcosis before brain slicing. Further research needs to distinguish whether the increased levels of RONS reported here are merely increases in oxidative and nitrosative signaling or, alternatively, evidence of redox and nitrosative stress.


El-Marj Plain is a closed depression on the upper terrace of the Jebel Akhdar of Cyrenaica. It is the largest karstic basin in the whole of Cyrenaica. The Plain has a subvalley shape with a total area of about 1,100 sq.km. Most of the Arable land is located between 278 and 300 m. above sea-level. The escarpments to the north and the south of the Plain are dissected by numerous wadis making the extension of the road system an expensive task. The water flows in the wadis during the winter and either reaches the sea or disappears into the pervious limestones without being utilised by man. Geologically, the most extensive strata are the Middle Eocene. Rainfall is the main fundamental factor in El-Marj Plain since dry farming is practised there, and there are no means of irrigation except on the coastal plain. El-Marj Plain receives an annual rainfall average varying between 300 and 500 mm. However, the rainfall is erratic both in quantity and distribution. The rather high average of rainfall, topography and heavy Terra Rossa soils determine the vegetation cover in the region. The flora of the Plain is related more to the Maghreb and southern Europe than to the rest of Libya. Shortage of water and soil erosion are the main physical obstacles to. Economic development. The underground water in El-Marj Plain is contained chiefly in fractures, bedding planes and solution opening in the limestone country rock. The Terra Rossa soils in El-Marj Plain are quite deep and provide an adequate rooting medium for plants and the limitations found are not so much inherent as related to the system, of management. There is no pedalogical reason to suppose that under a good management system the soils of El-Marj Plain should not prove particularly fertile. The long history of the region shows that it was subjected to the invasions of the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Turks and Italians. The invasion of Bani Sulaim tribally organised nomads in the eleventh century brought an end to a long period of sedentary life. After a long period of stagnation the Italians planned for a demographic colonisation, but this had come to an end in 1943 and the Bedouin again regained the control of the whole of Cyrenaica. El-Marj Plain's principle natural resource is agriculture and rising livestock. The main crops are barley and wheat followed by olives, almonds and vines. Vegetables are grown in the area on only a small scale. Livestock production in the area probably accounts for a greater value than crop production in most years. After the discovery of oil and the rapid increase in production, capital has become available for economic development. Consequently, the Libyan Government has planned to settle the Bedouin who occupied the former Italian farms. The highly favourable terms offered by the N.A.S.A. scheme for re-settlement taken along with a powerful internal trend towards sedentary life appears to give grounds for optimism. The total population of El-Marj Plain and the adjacent administrative units is 39,867 (l964). The only urban centre in the region is El-Marj town, which was struck by an earthquake in 1963. A new town will be built to replace the destroyed centre.


Arithmetic Properties of the Derived Category for Calabi-Yau Varieties Matthew Ward Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Max Lieblich Mathematics This thesis develops a theory of arithmetic Fourier-Mukai transforms in order to obtain results about equivalences between the derived category of Calabi-Yau varieties over non-algebraically closed fields. We obtain answers to classical questions from number theory and arithmetic geometry using these results. The main results of this thesis come in three types. The first concerns classifying moduli of vector bundles on genus one curves. Fourier-Mukai equivalences of genus one curves allow us to produce examples of non-isomorphic moduli spaces when a genus one curve has large period. The next result extends the result of Lieblich-Olsson which says that derived equivalent K3 surfaces are moduli spaces of sheaves over algebraically closed fields. We get the same result over arbitrary fields of characteristic p 6= 2. The last class of results are about finding properties that are preserved under derived equivalence for Calabi-Yau threefolds. Examples of such arithmetic invariants include local Zeta functions, modularity, L-series, and the a-number. We then prove a Serre-Tate theory for liftable, ordinary Calabi-Yau threefolds in positive characteristic in order to show that the derived equivalence induces an isomorphism of their deformation functors that sends the canonical lift of one to the canonical lift of the other.


The work reported in this thesis is divided into two distinct areas. The first involves the synthesis of monoaza- and diaza-[12]-ring macrocycles, with differing side-arm N-substituents. The twelve-membered macrocycles possess a convenient ring-size for exploring the stability and selectivity of complexation of small cations, in particular those from groups IA and IIA. Amide substituents on nitrogen were expected to function as effective σ-donors to cations with high charge density (e.g. Li (^+), Ca (^2)(^+)), because of their high ground state dipole moments. The effect of the length of the side-arms attached to nitrogen on the complexation has also been studied. Complexation behaviour has been probed using (^13)C NMR spectroscopy, titration calorimetry, and fast-atom bombardment mass spectroscopy. Copper (II) complexes of three of the [12]-ring cycles have also been characterised by X-ray crystallographic analysis. The second area involves the study of a series of macrocyclic ligands capable of forming homo- and hetero-dinuclear complexes. In particular, ligands containing the pyridyl-dithio (PyS(_2)) binding unit and a polyether chain linking the two sulphur atoms have been examined. The three binding atoms of each PyS (_2) group define three corners of a fairly rigid square planar environment which favours the formation of square planar d(^8) complexes. Accordingly, complexation with rhodium (I) [and (III)], palladium (II), and platinum (II) has been investigated: the structural properties of these complexes have been determined by the use of FT NMR and X-ray crystallography.


Author(s): Howard, Walter E.; Schmidt, Robert H. | Abstract: Compound 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate) is a uniquely selective predacide for controlling coyotes, compared to other predacides. In addition to discussing the biological aspects of 1080, the reasons for the current emotional-political status of 1080 are also reviewed because the biological rationale concerning 1080 has been largely determined by a conspiracy orchestrated in 1972 by an individual of the Council on Environmental Quality but assisted by others from the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency. Many of the distortions about 1080 can also be traced to environmental organizations which still use 1080 as an issue which they can be "anti" in order to solicit funds from the public. This paper is an attempt to clarify the true biological facts about 1080 and to expose the political conspiracies against 1080 by government and environmental organizations.


Corporate discourse often distinguishes between internal and external regulation of corporate behavior. The former refers to internal decisionmaking processes within corporations and the relationships between investors and corporate managers, and the latter refers to the substantive mandates and prohibitions that dictate how corporations must behave with respect to the rest of society. At the same time, most commenters would likely agree that these categories are too simplistic; relationships between investors and managers are often regulated with a view toward benefitting other stakeholders.

This Article, written for the New Realism in Business Law and Economics symposium, will seek to develop a taxonomy of tactics available to, and used by, regulators to influence corporate conduct, without regard to their nominal categorization of "external" or "internal" (or "corporate" and "non-corporate") in order to shed light on how those categories both obscure and misdescribe the existing regulatory framework. By reframing the shareholder/stakeholder debate, we can identify underutilized avenues for encouraging prosocial, and discouraging antisocial, corporate action, and recognize areas of contradiction and incoherence in current regulatory policy. Finally, this exercise will demonstrate how corporations, far from being "privately" ordered, are in fact the product of an overarching set of choices made by state actors in the first instance.


This research examines the combined effect of mold and epoxy die attach materials on the cracking formation of fine copper traces routed under the die perimeters of plastic BGA packages, and under different thermal ramping rates. A designed plastic BGA package with specific traces routed and coupled with the active silicon device procured is used. The objective is accomplished by the use of the methods of finite elemental analysis coupled with a full factorial material experiment. For the JEDEC's MRT L3 and TC Condition B reliability stressing, it is found that a lower CTE and a lower dynamic tensile modulus combination of both mold and die attach materials tends to reduce the occurrence of trace cracking, while the effect of thermal ramping rate is found to be insignificant until 1000 cycles of TC is exceeded. Furthermore, a detailed failure analysis is performed on the stressed parts through continuity testing, mold decapsulation, high magnification X-ray, CSAM, SEM, and parallel polishing to confirm the modeling results and experimental findings.


Content Centric Networking (CCN) is a promising architecture for the diffusion of popular content over the Internet. While CCN system design is sound, gathering a reliable estimate of its performance in the current Internet is challenging, due to the large scale and to the lack of agreement in some critical elements of the evaluation scenario. In this work, we add a number of important pieces to the CCN puzzle by means of a chunk-level simulator that we make available to the scientific community as open source software. First, we pay special attention to the locality of the user request process, as it may be determined by user interest or language barrier. Second, we consider the existence of possibly multiple repositories for the same content, as in the current Internet, along with different CCN interest forwarding policies, exploiting either a single or multiple repositories in parallel. To widen the relevance of our findings, we consider multiple topologies, content popularity settings, caching replacement policies and CCN forwarding strategies. Summarizing our main result, though the use of multiple content repositories can be beneficial from the user point of view, it may however counter part of the benefits if the CCN strategy layer implements naive interest forwarding policies.


The fissility is the ability of some rocks to split along relatively smooth surfaces parallel to the bedding. This property observed mostly in fine-grained rocks is particularly expressed in outcrops, where rocks are subjected to weathering processes. Most authors associate the fissility to the abundance of clay minerals and their orientation parallel to the bedding. The horizontal fabric can be promoted by depositional conditions such as sediment composition, quantity of total organic carbon content (TOC) and depositional mechanisms, giving rise to a primary fissility. Alternatively, the alignment of platy minerals can be linked to the burial history of the rock, by processes such as mechanical compaction or secondary mineral growth, resulting in a secondary fissility. The present study aims to identify the main controls of fissility development at the micro- and macroscopic scale in rocks of the Vaca Muerta Formation exposed in the Cerro Mulichinco area and in a 121-meter-long core extracted from a well within the Neuquén Basin. In outcrops, fissility is related to fine-grained laminated facies with low carbonate content, revealing the strong control exerted by lithology. The TOC measurements allow establishing a positive correlation between organic matter content and fissility intensity. Moreover, the analysis of the transgressive-regressive cycles shows that fissility is higher around the maximum flooding surfaces. Regarding their mechanical characteristics, the different interfaces observed in core are classified into first and second-order, the last one including fissility planes. Some of these interfaces evolve from potential (partially open) to effective (totally open) discontinuities in response to changes of stress conditions during the core extraction and due to the stress relaxation through time: weeks (T1), months (T2) and years (T3) after extraction. The time evolution of the effective core discontinuities points out rock intervals that are variably broken and core segments that remain intact. The Drying Alcohol Discontinuities (DAD) methodology reveals potential discontinuities within apparently intact core segments. By using this technique, a 4-class index is established as a proxy for fissility degree. When integrated with geological, petrophysical and geomechanical data, this index enables characterizing the main mechanisms controlling rock fissility that express through discontinuities promoting the loss of competence of a rock. Consequently, this mechanical property is considered to influence the efficiency of hydraulic fracture in shale reservoir completion.


Background: The incidence of iron deficiency anaemia in infants, which is caused by the increased iron demand for rapid growth during this period, is reported to range from 10 to 40%. This age group also suffers from a number of acute illnesses (urinary tract infection, pneumonia and other viral illness). The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) values and the different methods of calculating the sTfR and serum ferritin (SF) ratio for differentiating anemia of inflammation (AI) from iron deficiency anemia (IDA) or a mixture of these two types of anemia. Methods: 173 infants among all the infants who visited Gyeongsang National University Hospital from 2000 to 2006 were enrolled in this study. The hemoglobin (Hb), SF and sTfR values were checked and the infants were divided into the Al subgroup (Hb <11g/dL and SF >50Ռg/L), the IDA subgroup (Hb <11g/dL and SF <12Ռg/L), the normal group (Hb ≥11g/dL and SF ≥12Ռg/L), and the unclassified anemia (UCA) group (Hb <11g/dL and SF 12∼50Ռg/L). Results: The mean sTfR and sTfR/Log SF values in the AI group were 3.89 and 10.6Ռg/mL, respectively (P<0.01). These values in the IDA group were 1.9 and 36.11, respectively (P<0.01). The mean Log (sTfR/SF) was statistically significant between all the subgroups (1.35 in AI, 3.29 in IDA, 1.76 in Nor and 2.35 in UCA). All the infants in the IDA group had a Log (sTfR/SF) value >2.55 whereas all the infants classified in AI group had a Log (sTfR/SF) value <2.55. Conclusion: The Log (sTfR/SF) value is a useful criterion for discriminating between AI and IDA.


The nonreceptor protein tyrosine kinase, focal adhesion kinase (FAK, also known as PTK2), is a key mediator of signal transduction downstream of integrins and growth factor receptors in a variety of cells, including endothelial cells. FAK is upregulated in several advanced-stage solid tumors and has been described to promote tumor progression and metastasis through effects on both tumor cells and stromal cells. This observation has led to the development of several FAK inhibitors, some of which have entered clinical trials (GSK2256098, VS-4718, VS-6062, VS-6063, and BI853520). Resistance to chemotherapy is a serious limitation of cancer treatment and, until recently, most studies were restricted to tumor cells, excluding the possible roles performed by the tumor microenvironment. A recent report identified endothelial cell FAK (EC-FAK) as a major regulator of chemosensitivity. By dysregulating endothelial cell–derived paracrine (also known as angiocrine) signals, loss of FAK solely in the endothelial cell compartment is able to induce chemosensitization to DNA-damaging therapies in the malignant cell compartment and thereby reduce tumor growth. Herein, we summarize the roles of EC-FAK in cancer and development and review the status of FAK-targeting anticancer strategies. Clin Cancer Res; 22(15); 3718–24. ©2016 AACR.


Background: The Seniors in the Community: Risk Evaluation for Eating and Nutrition II (SCREEN II) Questionnaire assesses nutritional risk among elderly people living at home. Our aim was to produce a Swedish language version of the SCREEN II and to examine response patterns, data completeness and the relationship between malnutrition and general health. Methods: The SCREEN II was translated into Swedish using dual panel methodology, and then followed up with field test interviews of 24 seniors (median age, 83 years). We used the survey data (n = 565) to assess item and score distribution, missing responses, and the relationship to the subject's general and nutritional health. Results: The Swedish SCREEN II was considered easy to understand, respond to, and relevant (n = 21; 88% of subjects found it so in all three respects) and its median completion time was 5 minutes. The level of survey item data completeness was 94–99%, and 82% of surveys had computable total scores. Of those subjects with completed forms, 35% had no nutritional risk; 35% had moderate risk; and 30% were at high risk. The malnutrition risk increased with poorer perceived health. Conclusions: Our study results are similar to those using previous SCREEN II versions, indicating that the scale adaptation was successful and providing initial support for use of the Swedish SCREEN II Questionnaire.


It is important for students to learn concepts and using them for solving problems and further learning. Within this respect, the purpose of this study is to investigate students' abilities to apply science concepts that they have learned from Science-Technology-Society based approach or textbook oriented instruction. Current study is based on quantitative research methodology. The participants of the study are 609 students. Science classes were designed based on STS approach curriculum for 301 students, which is called as experimental group and textbook oriented instruction was followed with 308 students as a control group. The students were from sixth grade to ninth grade (age 12-15). The Iowa Assessment Handbook for the Chautauqua Program was used to collect data. The mean differences, standard divisions and t-values were calculated and used to assess pre- and post-test results. The results indicate that students, who experienced STS based curriculum through one full semester, are able to apply basic science concepts to new situations meaningfully better than students who exposed to textbook oriented instruction.