My PhD-project investigates how students in an upper secondary music program learn concepts introduced in lessons in music theory and aural skills (Swedish: Gehors- och musiklara). This means I am very interested in how these students talk about music. However, learning and knowing a concept (musical or otherwise) must be understood as something more than only mastering its definition and being able to use it in discourse (Miller, 2011, ch. 9). Additionally, in a field like music education it might be especially apparent that not all knowing is readily expressible in language. As Bennett Reimer puts it: "At the heart of aisthesis, knowledge and meaning are ineffable in essence" (Reimer, 1997, p. 104). While Reimer appears to be expressing something akin to Polanyi's famous dictum that "we can know more than we can tell" (Polanyi, 2009, p. 4, emphasis omitted), other researchers have opted to put more stress on the multimodal (eg. Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001) nature of communicating, learning, knowing, and thinking in and about music (eg. Falthin, 2015; Pramling & Wallerstedt, 2009; Sandberg Jurstrom, 2009; Weekes, 2013). In my view, taking the multimodal approach to communication seriously means (1) that my methods must be sensitive to communicative and sense making processes that are not expressed in (narrowly defined) language or conventional music notation, and (2) that I do not assume that these other communicative modalities are languages in the sense of (narrowly defined) language and can be analyzed in the same way (Marner, 2005; McDonald, 2012). To meet the second requirement, I suggest thinking of playing music as a communicative case of musical knowing-in-action (Molander, 1996), and reflection-in-action (Schon, 1987). The question then becomes, how can this be studied? At least since Piaget, interviews have been a common way to investigate knowing and the development thereof. Today, interviews are commonly viewed as joint construction of knowledge, or co-construction of meaning by the participants (Branco & Valsiner, 1997; Hallden, Haglund, & Stromdahl, 2007; Kvale, 2007, ch. 2; Saljo, 1997). It is not uncommon in interviews to use means other than linguistic ones—just a few examples out of many are Piaget's different tasks, photo- elicitation in qualitative interviews (Bryman, 2008), and listening to music and playing on handheld drums in a study by (Wallerstedt, Pramling, & Saljo, 2013). Jeanne Bamberger's work with "Jeff" (Bamberger, 1995) might be another example, where the boundaries between interview, experiment, and teaching/learning situation blend together. To my knowledge however, musical communication and co-construction of musical meaning by musical means—i.e. playing music together—has not been conceptualized as an interview in itself. It is easy, if we forget that music is a communicative mode and a realm of knowing in its own right, to view music making or listening in interviews in a similar way as Bryman views photographs in photo elicitation, as means to an end, which is to talk about it. In this paper I will discuss the methodological implications of taking seriously the idea that playing music together can be a form of interviewing. What kind of meaning is co-constructed in such an interview? How can it be analyzed? Can we, for example, use analytical techniques from music theory, much like conventional interviews can be analyzed with tools originating in linguistics?


We consider the problem of (macro) F-measure maximization in the context of extreme multilabel classification (XMLC), i.e., multi-label classification with extremely large label spaces. We investigate several approaches based on recent results on the maximization of complex performance measures in binary classification. According to these results, the F-measure can be maximized by properly thresholding conditional class probability estimates. We show that a naive adaptation of this approach can be very costly for XMLC and propose to solve the problem by classifiers that efficiently deliver sparse probability estimates (SPEs), that is, probability estimates restricted to the most probable labels. Empirical results provide evidence for the strong practical performance of this approach.


An olfactory receptor senses lactate to stimulate breathing. In response to hypoxia, the oxygen-sensitive glomus cells of the carotid body release neurotransmitters that activate the carotid sinus nerve to increase breathing. Chang et al. found that the olfactory receptor Olfr78 acts as the oxygen sensor in glomus cells. Olfr78 transcripts were enriched in the carotid body, and a fluorescent Olfr78 reporter was expressed in the glomus cells but not in other cells implicated in oxygen sensing. Mice lacking Olfr78 breathed normally under normoxic conditions, but they failed to increase their respiratory rate when placed in a hypoxic environment. In contrast, Olfr78–/– mice increased their respiratory rate in response to hypercapnia (increased CO2), implying that the mutants were unable to adjust breathing specifically in response to decreased O2. By marker gene expression and morphological criteria, glomus cells were normal in Olfr78–/– mice. Hypoxia stimulated the activity of the carotid sinus nerve in carotid bodies explanted from wild-type mice but not in carotid bodies from Olfr78–/– mice. Experiments in HEK293T cells demonstrated that physiologically relevant concentrations of lactate, a metabolite that rapidly increases in abundance during hypoxia, activated Olfr78. Activation of Olfr78, like many other G protein–coupled receptors, releases calcium from intracellular stores. Carotid bodies isolated from mice expressing a fluorescent calcium indicator in glomus cells exhibited calcium transients in response to hypoxia or application of lactate. Although hypoxia or application of lactate stimulated activity of the carotid sinus nerve in carotid body explants from wild-type mice, neither stimulated the nerve in carotid bodies from Olfr78–/– mice. Thus, the lactate that accumulates in the blood under low-oxygen conditions binds and activates Olfr78, thereby enabling glomus cells of the carotid body to sense hypoxia and stimulate breathing. A. J. Chang, F. E. Ortega, J. Riegler, D. V. Madison, M. A. Krasnow, Oxygen regulation of breathing through an olfactory receptor activated by lactate. Nature 527, 240–244 (2015). [PubMed]


Potentiometric titration studies for the ligands (barbituric acid (BA), 5-nitrobarbituric acid (NBA), phenobarbital
(PB) and 2-thiouracil (TU)) and their complexes (Zn2+, Cd2+, Hg2+, VO2+, Pd2+, Y3+, Ce3+ and Sm3+) were done
in aqueous media and in 50% (v/v) dioxane-water at different temperatures (25-40°C). The pKai values of
5-nitrobarbituric acid are smaller than that of barbituric acid due to the strong electron withdrawing nitro group.
The pKai values of phenobarbital and 2-thiouracil in 50% (v/v) dioxane-water media are mostly higher than that
in aqueous media, due to lower ionizing power of the mixed solvent. All the VO2+ complexes are of the highest
stability constants. The thermodynamic parameters of the ligands and their metal complexes were investigated.
The enthalpy-entropy relationship is applied for the complexes where the isokinetic temperatures (I²) were obtained.
Majority of complexation reactions are entropy controlled.


This study examined family and individual processes influencing the future expectancies of adolescents (N = 345) from an economically stressed rural community. The anticipated timing and sequencing of key role transitions (school completion, job entry, marriage, and parenthood) were examined for each gender. In addition, factors contributing to individual differences in expected timing were examined, and gender differences in predictors were tested. Results indicated that rural adolescents' expectancies about adult role transitions diverged somewhat from societal norms with respect to timing. Family background and relationships, adolescents' attitudes and behaviors, and educational aspirations all contributed to individual differences in expected timing, with somewhat different factors being salient for boys and girls. These findings provide clues to the psychological processes linking adolescent experiences to the construction of the adult life course.


Proving of bread dough was modelled using classical one-component diffusion theory, to describe the rate of growth of bubbles surrounded by liquid dough containing dissolved carbon dioxide. The resulting differential equation was integrated numerically to predict the effect of initial bubble size and system parameters (carbon dioxide concentration, surface tension at the bubble interface, temperature) on bubble growth. Two situations exist, potentially; the dough could be either supersaturated or subsaturated with carbon dioxide. When the dough is supersaturated, the model predicts a critical bubble size above which bubbles grow indefinitely,while belowthe critical bubble size bubbles reach a limiting size and stop growing. The critical bubble size decreases with increasing carbon dioxide concentration and increases with increasing surface tension.Below saturation, all bubbles reach an upper size limit proportional to their initial size. The final bubble size increases with carbon dioxide concentration and decreases with increasing surface tension. Higher temperatures increase the rate of bubble growth and reduce the critical bubble size for supersaturated doughs, by increasing the value of Henry' s Law constant. Higher temperatures also increase the final bubble size for subsaturated systems. The model could be extended to include yeast kinetics and entire bubble size distributions, to develop a full simulation of the proving operation.


What is daily life like for an elderly person whose income barely covers basic needs? How is life constrained if that person is living within the same marginal enclave to which she first migrated decades ago? How does the implementation of national policies and programs affect the daily life of those growing old in Spanish Harlem? In Growing Old in El Barrio, Judith Freidenberg addresses these questions by examining the life-course and daily experiences of the elderly residents of El Barrio. She interweaves the economy of immigrant neighborhoods with the personal experiences of Latinos aging in Harlem--such as Dona Emiliana, who lived in Spanish Harlem from her migration in 1948 to her death in 1995. Freidenberg further links policy issues to social issues critical to the daily lives of this population. Combining extensive fieldwork interviews with historical and demographic population data, Growing Old in El Barrio paints an ethnographic picture of aging in Spanish Harlem and illustrates the emergence of New York as a city divided by ethnicity and class.


In West Africa, approximately 16 million people depend directly or indirectly on cotton cultivation. But subsidies in the developed world have suppressed cotton prices and have made it difficult for West African producers to compete.  Compounding the problem, WTO negotiations on the problem have been suspended.  This publication contends that the dialogue between developed and developing countries on this topic must continue. It sets out the regional stakes linked to the economic and social importance of cotton in West Africa. It retraces the consultation process on the West African cotton crisis with the aim of finding a negotiated solution acceptable to all parties. Also discussed are the challenges and the measures that need to be taken over the medium and long term in order to prevent this sub-sector's sudden collapse.


Hematology is a common tool for wildlife health assessments. Manual leukocyte counts are required in reptiles, however, disagreement between quantification methods has been observed in some chelonians. This study determined agreement between two methods of leukocyte quantification, eosinophilic leukopet, and blood film white blood cell (WBC) estimates, in free-living eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina). Simultaneously, we assessed the impact of handling duration on both leukocyte quantity and corticosterone levels. We collected blood at capture (<2 min from disturbance) and again before release 30-150 min later from 92 box turtles at six sites in Illinois and Tennessee. Constant and proportional error was present in the leukopet results for WBC, lymphocytes, and basophils compared to the estimate method. Both methods were in agreement for heterophils, monocytes, and eosinophils. Agreement between the methods was significantly more likely at WBC counts below 23,241/µl. All hematologic parameters were significantly higher at the final blood draw compared to the initial blood draw using both WBC determination methods, except relative eosinophil and basophil counts. Corticosterone levels varied with time, with maximum concentrations reached at 54 min postcapture, followed by a rapid return to baseline levels. Corticosterone level was not significantly associated with any hematologic parameter or sex. This study provides a framework for understanding the effects of animal handling methodology and diagnostic modality when evaluating hematologic health in box turtles.


A far-red light–activated split-Cas9 (FAST) system was developed for controlling gene editing in both mammalian cells and mice. It is widely understood that CRISPR-Cas9 technology is revolutionary, with well-recognized issues including the potential for off-target edits and the attendant need for spatiotemporal control of editing. Here, we describe a far-red light (FRL)–activated split-Cas9 (FAST) system that can robustly induce gene editing in both mammalian cells and mice. Through light-emitting diode–based FRL illumination, the FAST system can efficiently edit genes, including nonhomologous end joining and homology-directed repair, for multiple loci in human cells. Further, we show that FAST readily achieves FRL-induced editing of internal organs in tdTomato reporter mice. Finally, FAST was demonstrated to achieve FRL-triggered editing of the PLK1 oncogene in a mouse xenograft tumor model. Beyond extending the spectrum of light energies in optogenetic toolbox for CRISPR-Cas9 technologies, this study demonstrates how FAST system can be deployed for programmable deep tissue gene editing in both biological and biomedical contexts toward high precision and spatial specificity.


ABSTRACT Background: People who inject drugs have a greater risk of infectious disease and mortality than other substance abusers and nondrug users. Variation in risk behavior among people who inject drugs is likely associated with comorbid mental health disorders. Objectives: Examine the association between a history of mood disorder and recent risk behavior among people who inject drugs. Methods: With baseline data from a behavioral HIV prevention clinical trial in a population of people who inject drugs, we used logistic regression models to compare the risk behaviors of people who report a past diagnosis of bipolar disorder (n = 113) or depression (n = 237) to a comparison group with no history of diagnosed mental illness (n = 446). We also assessed differences between groups before and after adjusting for demographic characteristics and current depressive symptoms. Results: While there were no differences between groups in frequency of drug use, people who inject drugs who report a history of mood disorders reported more injection risk behaviors, drug overdoses, sex exchanges, and multiple partners than those with no history of mental illness. Adjusting the comparison for demographic characteristics and current depressive symptoms had little impact on these findings. Variation in risk between depression and bipolar disorder groups was minimal. Conclusions/Importance: People who inject drugs and have mood disorders have unique and significant social, clinical, and risk reduction needs. Despite the limited validity of self-reported mental health history, simply asking about a history of mood disorder may be effective for identifying a particularly vulnerable population of people who inject drugs.


The granular nature of the photographic emulsion places a limit on the accuracy with which the density of a small area on the film can be defined. This in turn limits the accuracy with which incident exposures can be calculated when, for example, a spectrograph is employed for radiometric measurements. The quantity of information conveyed by a single density measurement is estimated for a particular emulsion and microdensitometer scanning aperture.


Above 80 percent of Iran is currently located in arid and semi-arid to dry and sub-humid climates and they have sensitive conditions given the climatic conditions and natural characteristics of these regions and improper utilization methods, hence they are potentially and actually subject to the phenomenon of desertification. In this research, the sensitivity of the lands of Masjed Soleiman basin to desertification is evaluated by using IMDPA model, which is one of the methods of desertification assessment in arid and semi-arid regions. For this purpose, after initial assessments 3 criteria, including Climate, Soil and Water, were selected as the effective criteria in desertification of the region with different indices. By using the above-stated method, the scales of each index was obtained in the related criterion and the value of each criterion was calculated using geometric average of the scales of the indices. Then each criterion was elaborated in ArcGIS as database layers. By integrating raster layers of the stated criteria, calculating geometric average of the criteria and analyzing them by using the mentioned model, desertification intensity map of the studied regions was obtained. The results showed that about 2774 square kilometers of the studied area was found to be in medium class of desertification and about 23 square kilometer of the region was in two classes of low and high desertification. Climate with the numerical value of 2.46 and Water with the numerical value of 1.25 had respectively the highest and lowest effects in desertification of the region. Soil, with the numerical value of 2.13, shows the medium desertification intensity.


Orthogonal frequency-division multiple-access (OFDMA) small-cell networks of next-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE-Advanced) standard, is perhaps a key factor to efficiently provide beneficial usage of expensive radio resources, while maintaining adequate network capacity. Network capacity is without doubt a critical resource for LTE networks. At the same time, real-time multimedia transmission requires effective quality-of-service (QoS) provisioning, as well as power admission. This paper proposes a traffic-aware OFDMA hybrid small-cell deployment for QoS provisioning and an optimal power admission control strategy for 4G cellular systems. By performing real-case scenario simulations of user-type multimedia transmission, we show that the implemented framework achieves high QoS levels of performance, increased throughput capacity, lower delay levels and optimally adapted network traffic.


Dexter is a popular television show because it uses the narrative devices of classic cop shows while adding the twist of having a protagonist as an antihero who kills people. Accordingly, this study examines how audiences read the text of Dexter and offers unique implications for the field of entertainment studies. This study uses a mixed-method approach for a more holistic understanding of audiences. The findings show four dominant audience perspectives, each of which coincides with both a mode of audience engagement and a theory of moral reasoning. This study suggests that future research must look at audience interpretations to fully understand the dynamic between texts, audiences, and effects.


Through this book, you can-gain student interest and convince them of the importance of this life-changing information, -encourage students to examine how the information may apply to them in the real world, and-show students how to use the information to their benefit.Preparing for the future is what school is all about. Unfortunately, many students fail to see the importance of establishing healthy lifestyle habits during these crucial years. While they work hard to ensure their future financial health, many young people mistakenly believe they can wait until they're older to worry about their physical and mental health.This updated edition of Physical Activity for Health and Fitness will help students make physical activity a priority today and continue to do so throughout their lives. With the help of many interactive elements, this attractive, full-color textbook introduces important physical activity, health, and nutrition concepts that students will want to remember their entire lives, not just for a semester. Special elements include the following: -Healthchecks--Quick questions that test students' learning comprehension-Key points and key terms--Information of special importance-Laboratories--Practical exercises that ask students to apply physical activity ideas in the book to their own livesPhysical Activity for Health and Fitness begins by presenting students with medical evidence showing that a lifetime of physical activity will improve their fitness and enhance their quality of life. They'll learn the importance of both cardiovascular and muscular fitness and discover how to develop healthy habits in these areas.Next, the book explains the far-reaching effects of obesity on personal health. It includes updated information and references on good nutrition, and it provides students with guidelines for maintaining a healthy body weight. Physical Activity for Health and Fitness also explores the close connection between sedentary living and several major diseases and conditions. Cancer, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and depression are just a few of the conditions covered. Students will learn about the causes of these diseases, ways to prevent or lessen their risks, and how physical activity affects the diseases.Finally, students are asked to consider the overwhelming benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle and are encouraged to begin incorporating regular physical activity into their lives now rather than later. They'll find basic guidelines for getting started and advice on staying motivated. This new edition includes new art and references, updated figures and statistics, and practical charts and worksheets to enhance students' learning experience.


The thirty chapters of this innovative international study are all devoted to the topic of the play within the play. The authors explore the wide range of aesthetic, literarytheoretical and philosophical issues associated with this rhetorical device, not only in terms of its original meta-theatrical setting – from the baroque idea of a theatrum mundi onward to contemporary examples of postmodern self-referential dramaturgy – but also with regard to a variety of different generic applications, e.g. in narrative fiction, musical theatre and film. The authors, internationally recognized specialists in their respective fields, draw on recent debates in such areas as postcolonial studies, game and systems theories, media and performance studies, to analyze the specific qualities and characteristics of the play within the play: as ultimate affirmation of the 'self' (the 'Hamlet paradigm'), as a self-reflective agency of meta-theatrical discourse, and as a vehicle of intermedial and intercultural transformation. The challenging study, with its underlying premise of play as a key feature of cultural anthropology and human creativity, breaks new ground by placing the play within the play at the centre of a number of intersecting scholarly discourses on areas of topical concern to scholars in the humanities.


Many of the region's roads and bridges are in need of significant repair and improvement. There is concern that current revenue sources are inadequate relative to the projected expense of maintaining and keeping New England's roads, bridges, and other transportation assets in good condition. How to address the projected gap in transportation revenues and expenditures is largely a policy choice. Most states rely on the motor fuel excise tax or "gas tax" but this revenue source is widely recognized as not fiscally sustainable. The tax does not automatically grow with inflation, whereas the costs associated with maintaining, constructing, and reconstructing roads tend to increase as prices and wages rise. And, as vehicle fuel efficiency increases, the gas tax will generate less revenue for a given amount of road use than in the past. This research compares existing gas taxes in the New England states and examines alternative tax structures that could improve fiscal sustainability. It simulates tax revenues under various alternatives and compares them to estimates of revenues generated by actual gas taxes in the New England states between 1993 and 2012. Forward-looking projections for selected alternatives are also provided.


Biologics are important treatments for a number of cancers. Patents for several biologics will expire over the next decade, removing a barrier to the development and commercialization of biosimilars. As biologics differ from small-molecule drugs due to their size and complexity, multifaceted manufacturing process, and their potential for immunogenicity, biosimilars cannot be considered "generic versions" of currently approved biologics. In highly regulated markets, biosimilars can be authorized only if they are demonstrated to be highly similar to the original drug from an analytical and clinical perspective. Any differences must be justified and shown to have no clinically meaningful effect on the safety and efficacy of the biosimilar. The European Medicines Agency has approved a number of biosimilars and the recent approval of the biosimilar infliximab monoclonal antibody is another regulatory milestone. This article will provide context regarding key safety issues addressed in biosimilar development, approval, and delivery, as well as inform oncologists on matters of safety to consider when prescribing biosimilars. Pertinent issues about safety from countries or regions where biosimilars are currently in use also will be reviewed.


This study investigates the underlying factors elucidating why solid waste management in Eldoret Town, Kenya, has up to now remained inadequate notwithstanding the existing legal framework that mandates the County Government of Uasin Gishu to ensure that all residents have access to a clean and healthy environment. The study adopted a descriptive research design. While, primary data were collected through field photography and a questionnaire administered to the Director of Environment and Enforcement, secondary data was obtained from the County Government publications and reports. The study findings indicated that the reasons why the County Government of Uasin Gishu was not successfully discharging its statutory mandate included understaffing, low education level of technical staff, lack of an adequate number of receptacles, irregular solid waste collection, inadequate number of transportation vehicles, limited prioritization in the funding of solid waste management and a scarcity in the engagement of stakeholders. Key recommendations included preparing a comprehensive staff establishment policy that includes succession planning, prioritizing solid waste management within the annual development planning, regular solid waste collection, incorporating system approach to solid waste management, and adoption of smart waste management through the integration of Geographic Information Systems and remote sensing. This paper contributes to the international debate on urban management by critically investigating the institutional barriers towards solid waste management.


We present a practical causal framework to estimate the effects of a treatment and its timing on a doubly censored response. We then apply the methodology to find the effect of fertility on work duration where, not just fertility itself, but the timing of fertility should matter greatly. Since fertility and its decision of timing are chosen by the individual, it is likely to be endogenous. We use a populationwide data set over mothers with two children to address the endogeneity issue by using the first two children's same‐sex instrument in a 'control function' setting. We find that having a third child reduces the average labour market work duration, and that the magnitude of the effect increases monotonically with the waiting time between the second and third children. Moreover, the negative effect varies substantially over education and second‐birth age, being stronger for mothers with higher education and lower second‐birth age.


Abstract Variance components were estimated from type appraisal data to determine the importance of year, herd, sire, and herd×sire effects upon 49 body, udder, and management traits. Estimates were based on over 16,000 appraisals on daughters of Holstein artificial insemination sires. The variation explained by these effects never exceeded 34% of the total variance. Year effects were almost nonexistent (–2 to 3%). Herd effects were small for all traits except feeding speed, body weight, intensity and persistency of edema, and ketosis, and never exceeded 25%. Most appraisal traits had low heritabilities. The estimate for milking speed was .23 while estimates for other management traits were less than .08. The estimates for body weight and upstanding-ness were .40 and .39. Other body traits having estimates from .16 to .21 were sharpness, height of thurls, depth of body, levelness of rump, tightness of shoulders, and height of tail setting. The heritability estimates for udder traits were low. Estimates for only three of 21 udder traits exceeded .14. These were strength of rear attachment, rear teat spacing, and depth of udder.


This study is done in order to find out whether netlingo, which is usually used for communication in cyber space or internet, uses in someone?s offline writing or not. The writer is interested in this topic after finding the fact that netlingo is also used in someone?s offline writing. It makes the writer want to find out the features of netlingo found in her subject?s blog and book. Not only that, the writer also wants to find the differences and similarities in the use of netlingo in those two medias. For this research, the writer uses Melanie Subono who is one of many female celebrities in Indonesia as her subject. Melanie is not chosen by accident. The writer chooses her because Melanie writes in two different medias, blog and book. She writes actively in her blog which is called RocknRollers. Moreover, she has also published her first book and in the process of publishing her second book. Next, the writer uses both Melanie?s blog and book as the data of the research. Not only using them as the data, the writer also compares the use of netlingo in Melanie?s blog and book. These two medias are different from each other since blog can be considered as online writing and book can be considered as offline writing. These two medias of course can help the writer to find out what she wants to know which is netlingo is used in someone?s offline writing or not. Here, the writer uses the theory of features of netlingo by Crispin Thurlow, Laura Lengel, and Alice Tomic (2004) as the main theory. This theory is used in order to know about features of netlingo found in Melanie?s blog and book. The result shows that there are some differences between the use of netlingo in Melanie?s blog and book. There are seven features of netlingo found in Melanie?s blog while there are only six features of netlingo found in Melanie?s book. The writer also finds that the total frequency and total percentage between Melanie?s blog and book are different to each other although the writer uses same length of data and almost same number of total words. Moreover, the most frequently used feature found in those medias is different to each other. The result also shows some similarities between the use of netlingo in Melanie?s blog and book. There are six features of netlingo which are found in both Melanie?s blog and book and there are four features of netlingo which are not found in both Melanie?s blog and book.


As social media use continues to rise, studies have linked high social media use with rising levels of depression, particularly in young adults. This narrative has pervaded, yet in the research thus far, there is no general consensus as to causation or direction. What remains constant is that when mediators such as 'comparison' and 'envy' are introduced between social media use and depression, there is a negative correlation. In a qualitative study, I examine the connection between social comparison, Instagram use, and envy in young women. I conducted semi-structured interviews with a group of 10 female university students between the ages of 18-24. Interviews were analysed through qualitative descriptive analysis. Overwhelmingly, subjects engaged in frequent social comparison offline, which translated to frequent social comparison, made worse, on Instagram. As a result, participants admitted to feeling envious as well as other feelings like frustration, loneliness, anger, and overwhelm. However, users also reported positive experiences such as inspiration, humour, motivation, and happiness, when they are on Instagram. Offline affect proved to be the biggest moderators and indicators of comparison and the positive or negative experiences of the participants. This research may suggest future care in this area should focus on offline affect rather than the social networks themselves.


This paper analyzes within the context of a multicommunity model the effects of several policies that affect the financing of public education. The key features of the model are: (I) individuals differ with respect to income, (ii) individuals choose in which community to reside, (iii) communities are characterized by a proportional tax on income and a quality of public education, and (iv) a community's tax rate is chosen by majority vote. We examine three types of policies: subsidies for residency of specific income groups in particular communities, ceilings or floors on community level educational spending, and income redistribution. In each case we examine the consequences of these policies for both welfare and the quality of education across communities. We identify several policies which make all individuals better off and increase the quality of education in all communities.


From a psychiatric perspective, the detection of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) can be seen from the differences in some parts of the brain. The availability of the four-dimensional resting-state Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rs-fMRI) from Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange I (ABIDE I) led us to reorganize it into two-dimensional data and extracted it further to create a pool of neuroimage dataset. This dataset was then augmented by shear transformation, brightness, and zoom adjustments. Resampling and normalization were also performed. Reflecting on prior studies, this classification accuracy of ASD using only 2D neuroimages should be improved. Hence, we proposed the use of transfer learning with the InceptionResNetV2 model on the augmented dataset. After freezing layer by layer, the best training, validation, and testing results were 70.22%, 57.75%, and 57.6%, respectively. We proved that the transfer learning approach was successfully outperformed the convolutional neural network (CNN) model from the previous study by up to 2.6%.


Introduction: Metabolic acidosis is a by-product of the energy production process
required during high-intensity exercise, and it is thought to play a part in influencing
muscle function and fatigue. Consequently, the efficacy of an athlete"s intra- and extracellular
buffering systems may influence their performance during an exercise task. These
buffering systems can be enhanced through exercise training and nutritional
supplementation. Therefore, the purpose of this series of studies was to investigate
combined training and sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) supplementation techniques for
enhancing performance in well-trained athletes.
Study 1. The aim of this study was to evaluate high-intensity interval training (HIT) for
improving performance in already well-trained athletes. To achieve this we compared
traditional rowing training (CT) to HIT in state-representative rowers. Following baseline
testing (2000 m rowing test, incremental rowing test) 10 rowers were randomly allocated
to HIT or CT, which they performed seven times over a 4-week period, after posttreatment
testing the rowers were allocated to the alternative training method, completing a
cross-over design. The HIT produced significantly greater improvements in 2000 m time,
2000 m power and relative VO2 peak when compared to CT (P < 0.05). It was concluded
that four weeks of HIT improves 2000 m time-trial performance and relative VO2 peak in
competitive rowers, more than CT.
Study 2. After establishing that HIT was effective in improving rowing performance the
next step was to investigate if the combination of HIT and NaHCO3 supplementation could
further enhance performance. However, the research literature was still equivocal as to the
most effective method of NaHCO3 supplementation. Consequently, the aim of Study 2 was to compare acute NaHCO3 loading with serial NaHCO3 loading (split doses over three days) in well-trained cyclists to establish which method was best for producing performance improvements and enhanced acid-base balance with minimal side effects. Eight male cyclists completed three tests in a double blind, randomised design over a three week timeframe: acute NaHCO3 loading (AL), serial NaHCO3 loading (SL) and a placebo loading condition (P). Following each loading protocol, cyclists completed a 4-min performance test on a cycling ergometer. Both the AL and SL trials produced a significantly higher average power in the 4-min test when compared to the P trial (P < 0.05), with no significant difference between AL and SL trials (P = 0.29). The improvements in performance associated with the SL trial were despite any changes to the measure blood-gas variables (pH and HCO3-). It was concluded that SL may provide a convenient and practical alternative approach for athletes preparing for competition; however, AL was the most effective for altering acid-base balance as well as improving performance with minimal negative side-effects, and was deemed the most appropriate method to use when combing HIT and NaHCO3.
Study 3. With appropriate protocols for both HIT and NaHCO3 loading in well-trained athletes confirmed, the aim of Study 3 was to combine these two strategies and investigate whether there was any additive benefit when used in a chronic training setting. Subjects were 12 elite rowers preparing for international competition. Following baseline testing, rowers were allocated to either NaHCO3 (ALK) or a placebo (PLA) group (sodium chloride matched for equimolar sodium content). Both groups performed 8 HIT sessions over a 4-week period. Prior to each HIT session, subjects were required to ingest NaHCO3 or a placebo substance. The 2000 m time-trial performance improved after 4 weeks of HIT; however, there were no statistically significant performance improvements (P > 0.05)attributable to the NaHCO3 supplementation during HIT training of fixed volume and intensity.
Study 4. Due to the results from Study 2 and 3, along with some inconsistencies in the literature regarding the influence of NaHCO3 loading on athletic performance, it was hypothesised that a possible reason for lack of performance improvements after NaHCO3 supplementation was the use of sodium chloride (NaCl) as a placebo. The sodium content has been proposed to provide some performance benefits, possibly through blood volume shifts, obscuring some of the benefits associated with NaHCO3 supplementation, limiting its use as a valid placebo substance. Therefore the aim of Study 4 was to compare NaHCO3 and NaCl to a physically inert substance by evaluating the haematocrit changes and their influence on high-intensity cycling performance. Subjects undertook three tests in a random, double-blind design over a one week timeframe: NaHCO3 loading (SB), NaCl loading (SC) and dextrose loading (D). Following each loading protocol, subjects completed a 2-min performance test on a cycling ergometer. The SB trial produced a significantly higher (P 0.05). It was concluded that the HCO3- not the Na+ was primarily responsible for providing any ergogenic benefit during high-intensity exercise performance.
Conclusions: The findings from these studies suggest that independently, both HIT and NaHCO3 supplementation can improve high-intensity exercise performance in well-trained athletes. However, this thesis provides the first study to investigate the combination of these two techniques in highly-trained athletes and provides evidence that such an approach does not lead to additional performance gains in this population; however, further research is warranted. The findings from the final study of the thesis suggest that it is the HCO3- content in NaHCO3 which is likely to facilitate performance benefits more so than the Na+ content. The findings of the studies included in this thesis are applicable to high-intensity exercise performance in the context of high-level athletic competition. The research adds to the knowledge base regarding practical information for athletes and coaches in terms of novel NaHCO3 loading and interval training protocols while providing likely performance outcomes.


We mapped the amplitude of the Nankai Trough subduction thrust seismic reflection from the trench into the seismogenic zone with three-dimensional seismic reflection data. The decollement thrust forms within the lithologically homogeneous Lower Shikoku Basin facies along an initially nonreflective interface. The reflection develops from a porosity contrast between accreted and underthrust sedimentary material because of accretionary wedge consolidation and rapid loading and delayed consolidation of the underthrust section. A decollement-amplitude map shows a significant decline from high amplitudes at the trench to barely detectable levels 25–30 km landward. Three other observations coincide with the amplitude decline: (1) the decollement initially steps down to deeper stratigraphic levels, (2) the wedge taper increases dramatically, and (3) the thrust becomes seismogenic. The amplitude decline and the coincident decollement and accretionary- wedge tectonic and seismogenic behavior are attributed to the loss of fluids and potentially loss of excess fluid pressures downdip along the subduction thrust.


The NF-B transcription factor family plays a central role in many aspects of the immune response, and activation of this family of transcription factors has been shown to trigger many disease processes. Thus, the ability to modulate NF-kB activity may be an attractive way to treat these diseases. We used an in vitro cell-based assay to test potential NF-kB inhibitors by measuring their effect on IL-1-induced expression of the NF-B dependent intracellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1, CD54). To develop the cell-based system we sorted IL-1b-responsive U373 human astrocytoma cells to obtain a population of cells with minimum background expression and maximum induced expression of CD54 following stimulation with IL-1. We tested ethyl pyruvate, a novel anti-inflammatory drug candidate, and the ability of related compounds to block activation of NF-kB activity by measuring the expression of CD54 on U373 cells exposed to IL-1. 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvic acid was the best inhibitor of CD54 upregulation. We further tested the compounds using the mouse macrophage-like RAW 264.7 cell line which produce a variety of cytokines and nitric oxide (NO•) following exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in an NF-kB-dependent manner. The drugs downregulated LPS-induced IL-6 production, iNOS upregulation, and NO• production following the same efficacy trend observed in the primary screening using CD54 expression in U373 cells. These studies show the ease of using an endogenous reporter gene (i.e., CD54) and FACS analysis to rapidly characterize the relative efficacy of pharmacologic inhibitors. A second completely unrelated topic of the dissertation dealt with the receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE). RAGE is thought to be important in a variety of pathological conditions, including diabetes, sepsis, atherosclerosis, renal diseases, hypertension and Alzheimer's disease. However, RAGE proximal signaling events are still unclear. We were able to establish that original RAGE, sequenced from bovine lung, is only present in the lung. This observation was based on antibody specificity, Northern blotting and N-glycosylation analysis. One of the antibodies that we used (H-300, Santa Cruz, CA) was very selective for lung RAGE and not cross-react with other RAGE isoforms. Only lung RAGE had a transcript size of 1.4 kb as determined by Northern blot and only lung RAGE was N-glycosylated. Non-lung tissues and cell lines appeared to express their own unique RAGE isoforms. Non-lung derived cell lines were permissive for lung RAGE isoform expression but lung derived cell lines were not. Interestingly, all transfected cell lines (of lung and non-lung origin) expressed RAGE mRNA transcripts. In addition, we established that previously described endogenous soluble RAGE (esRAGE) does not contain any of the canonical RAGE epitopes, but includes sequence encoded in intron 9. RAGE knockout mice lose esRAGE isoform along with the canonical one confirming that esRAGE originates from the RAGE gene. Signaling studies with pro-inflammatory stimuli in mouse lung slices of wild-type and knockout mice revealed the importance of RAGE in LPS and IL-1-induced inflammatory response, but not when reported RAGE ligands, including AGEs, HMGB1 and S100B, were applied.


This essay applies Neff's venture labor concept to crisis in journalistic production and attempts by journalism schools to reconcile their roles of training students for a professional workforce with the slow-motion disintegration of that workforce. Specifically, it looks at entrepreneurial journalism training programs in the United States and the complex ways these programs both reify and challenge notion of venture labor.


Non-silicate oxide minerals are minor but important constituents of many igneous and metamorphic rocks, a major component of Earth's lower mantle, and are well represented in planetary and meteoritic materials. Oxide minerals also have important roles in technology, for example as semiconductors, thermal and electrical insulators, fuel cell components, substrates for thin films, photovoltaic materials, and as products of metal oxidation. Because of their technological applications, and their fundamental interest to geosciences, materials science, physics and chemistry, the diffusion properties of many oxide minerals have been studied intensively, using a wide range of experimental, analytical and computational approaches. In many cases, particular attention has been devoted to deciphering the atomic-level mechanisms involved in diffusion. With the possible exceptions of metals and halides, oxides have probably been studied in more detail with regard to their point defect and diffusion properties than any other group of minerals.

The oxide minerals considered in this chapter are relatively simple in terms of their structure and chemistry, but nonetheless exhibit quite complicated diffusion behavior in many cases. Due to the simplicity of the minerals, and to the amount and quality of data available, the origin of many of these complicated behaviors is fairly well understood. In magnetite, for example, cation diffusion rates have a complex dependence on oxygen fugacity. This dependence is due to internal redox reactions, and to a transition from an interstitial diffusion mechanism at low oxygen fugacities to a vacancy mechanism under more oxidizing conditions. Oxygen and titanium diffusion rates in rutile also vary strongly with f O2, due to internal reduction of titanium and the associated production of oxygen vacancies and titanium interstitials. Some cations in rutile exhibit strong diffusional anisotropy, which is thought to result from rapid diffusion along interstitial "channels" that extend along the c direction in …


Tacit knowledge is an organizational resource that is difficult to cultivate. It requires that responsible agents in the organization take an active role in encouraging trust and the development of relationships where individuals feel that their voice will be heard and that there will be a benefit from them passing knowledge onto someone else. In knowledge work tacit knowledge is especially important. This research found that servant leadership is an important factor in influencing tacit knowledge sharing, however leader-member exchange is a factor that will strongly support the sharing of tacit knowledge. If there is a dearth in servant leadership, then leader-member exchange quality is able to act as an influencer of tacit knowledge sharing. This indicates the conclusion that while servant leadership has its virtues, it is possible that other leadership constructs will be useful in encouraging tacit knowledge sharing.


INTRODUCTION In the last decade, a significant number of institutions have adopted open access (OA) policies. Many of those working with OA policies are tasked with measuring policy compliance. This article reports on a survey of Coalition of Open Access Policy Institutions (COAPI) members designed to better understand the methods currently used for measuring and communicating OA policy success. METHODS This electronic survey was distributed to the COAPI member listserv, inviting both institutions who have passed an implemented policies and those who are still developing policies to participate. RESULTS The results to a number of questions related to topics such as policy workflows, quantitative and qualitative measurement activities and related tools, and challenges showed a wide range of responses, which are shared here. DISCUSSION It is clear that a number of COAPI members struggle with identifying what should be measured and what tools and methods are appropriate. The survey illustrates how each institution measures compliance differently, making it difficult to benchmark against peer institutions. CONCLUSION As a result of this survey, we recommend that institutions working with OA policies be as transparent as possible about their data sources and methods when calculating deposit rates and other quantitative measures. It is hoped that this transparency will result in the development of a set of qualitative and quantitative best practices for assessing OA policies that standardizes assessment terminology and articulates why institutions may want to measure policies.


The previous researches regarding user and information systems (IS) acceptance focused on users' acceptance and intention to use of IS. However, it is difficult to explain online eService community's members who have got different user's behaviours. Therefore, this study will be performed for two purposes. Firstly, we will classify the members of an eService community by five layers according to consumption and exchange behaviour and social tie and secondly, we will investigate the different motivations that affect to perceive usefulness and intent and continue to use of eService community in five layers of members


Objective: To further establish the psychometric properties of the Parent Supervision Attributes Profile Questionnaire (PSAPQ), a questionnaire measure of parent supervision that is relevant to understanding risk of unintentional injury among children 2 through 5 years of age. Methods: To assess test-retest reliability, parents completed the PSAPQ twice, with a one month interval. Internal consistency estimates for the PSAPQ were also computed. Confirmatory factor analyses were applied to the data to assess the four factor structure of the instrument by assessing the convergent and divergent validity of the subscales and their respective items. Results: Test-retest reliability and internal consistency scores were good, exceeding 0.70 for all subscales. Factor analyses confirmed the hypothesized model—namely that the 29 item questionnaire comprised four unique factors: protectiveness, supervision beliefs, risk tolerance, and fate influences on child safety. Conclusions: Previous tests comparing the PSAPQ with indices of actual supervision and children's injury history scores revealed good criterion validity. The present assessment of the PSAPQ revealed good reliability (test-retest reliability, internal consistency) and established the convergent and divergent validity of the four factors. Thus, the PSAPQ has proven to have strong psychometric properties, making it a unique and useful measure for researchers interested in studying links between supervision and young children's risks of unintentional injury.


The tunnel design is a subject that demands a three-dimensional analysis dealing with two different players: lining and rockmass. The traditional methods of getting the necessary parameters for design do not consider a correct interaction between the two players, but the New Implicit Method (NIM) takes this characteristic in its core and develops some formulations for elastic, plastic and viscous rockmasses. Understanding that the stiffness of the lining and the distance between the lining and the tunnel face change the convergence of the tunnel, a code in MatLab for NIM is validated through Finite Element (FEM) with its results being presented. The validation of this method was compared with FEM analysis and the results obtained an average accuracy of 12% what represents a good approximation regarding geotechnical issues.


The introduction of large amounts of variable and uncertain power sources, such as wind power, into the electricity grid presents a number of challenges for system operations. One issue involves the uncertainty associated with scheduling power that wind will supply in future timeframes. However, this is not an entirely new challenge; load is also variable and uncertain, and is strongly influenced by weather patterns. In this work we make a comparison between the day-ahead forecasting errors encountered in wind power forecasting and load forecasting. The study examines the distribution of errors from operational forecasting systems in two different Independent System Operator (ISO) regions for both wind power and load forecasts at the day-ahead timeframe. The day-ahead timescale is critical in power system operations because it serves the unit commitment function for slow-starting conventional generators.


Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwaldi "Reinuvader Rebane" (1850) oli loomaeeposežanri esimeseks tutvustuseks eesti keeles. Ernst Peterson-Särgava kogumik "Ennemuistsed jutud Reinuvader Rebasest" (1911) on sarnaste rebasejuttude valimik lastele. Mõlemas teoses on ühisosa eesti folkloorsete loomamuinasjuttudega. Võrgustikuanalüüsi kasutades analüüsitakse kahe raamatu tegelaskonda. Mõlemas teoses tegelastena esitatud loomade kogum ja nendevaheliste suhete võrgustik katab enamiku eesti loomamuinasjuttude põhitegelastest. Mõlemas teoses on täheldatav vaenuliku võrgustiku domineerimine sõbraliku võrgustiku üle. Tsensuurist ja enesetsensuurist tulenevad muutused raamatutes ei ole tegelasvõrgustikesse olulisi muutusi toonud.

Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald's Reynard the Fox, a 12-chapter work of fiction loosely based on Johann Wolfgang  von Goethe's epic poem Reineke Fuchs and Aleksander Friedrich Franz Hoffmann's popular book Geschichte von Reineke dem Fuchs, first introduced the genre of the animal epic into the Estonian language. Ernst Peterson-Särgava's collection of stories for children Old Tales about Reynard the Fox (1911) had a somewhat similar structure; most of its tales are connected with the fox and have been brought together by the author to form a 20-chapter book of tales for children. The former book on the fox more strongly resembles a animal epic, the latter rather appears to be a less rigorously connected collection of animal tales. Both works, however, have elements in common with the animal tales of Estonian folklore. Both introduce the tales of the animal epic with a tricksterly protagonist to the Estonian readership, yet the focus of the works is slightly different. Similarly to the animal epic, Kreutzwald's book gives a survey of Reynard the Fox's misdeeds as he is summoned to the court presided by the Lion, but after giving a skilful talk in his own defence the fox is judged to be not guilty and is promoted to become the ruler of the whole state in the end. Peterson-Särgava starts the description of the events from a little girl named Pille who lives at a farm close to the forest; thereafter different confrontations between the woodland creatures and their shenanigans concerning the old man and woman are described, while the book ends  with the fox's death.
Both works have had to undergo censorship in their various editions. Several paragraphs were cut from the 1850 edition of Kreutzwald's Reineke the Fox at the behest of the censor, and even more were omitted from the second edition. The cut text was mostly restored in the third edition (1869). In the first Soviet-time edition of Peterson-Särgava's text, that appeared in 1947, the author made not only stylistic changes but also those prompted by self-censorship. The character networks of the books, however, have remained almost uninfluenced by censorship and the authors' self-censorship; the only character omitted was God to whom the old man started to climb in Peterson-Särgava's work.
Network analysis is used to study the characters of the two books. The communication of the characters is annotated as concerns communication at least one character is conscious of within the limits of an episode, as is the (positive or negative) modality of the communication.  Visual representation of the interaction of character networks is an efficient way of obtaining an overview both of a work's characters as well as the relationships between them. Narratives such as literary stories about animals and animal tales serve as a good basis for analysing character pairs as in animal tales characters usually appear in twos with much dialogue between them. The network has been visualised using Gephi software. The number of animals represented as characters in Kreutzwald's Reynard the Fox and Peterson-Särgava's Old Tales about Reynard the Fox, as well as the network of the relationships between the animals covers most of the main characters of Estonian animal tales. The character lists of both books mostly contain the animals  who appear in the list of the top dozen most popular animals in the animal tales of Estonian folklore.
Reynard the Fox, the protagonist of both books, appears as the central character judging by the number of links connected to him. In Kreutzwald's book also the lion, as well as the more important side characters the bear, the cat and the wolf appear in important positions in the network of characters connected  with the fox; in Peterson-Särgava's book the positions are held by the wolf, the bear, the old man and his daughter Little Pille. The general outlook of the network is also influenced by the fact that several characters only appear once or twice in the book and have no independent roles from the perspective of the plot; Kreutzwald in particular has used (based on Goethe)  a lengthy list of animals who do not participate in other activities to make it obvious to the reader that there were indeed many animals who suffered from the fox's actions. Both books mention a character other than the fox first and a part of the plot centres around them – in Kreutzwald it is the Lion and in Peterson-Särgava it is Little Pille who seemingly emerges as the protagonist in the opening chapter.
An analysis of the modality of the characters' relations in both works reveals the domination of the unfriendly network over the friendly network. In Kreutzwald's book about the fox positive and negative associations appear to an almost equal measure, while in Peterson-Särgava's work most of the links between characters are negative.
Although the communication acts appearing in the two fox-centred books discussed rather tend to be hostile, the books still retain a certain charm and delightfulness that has kept them among the people's reading material throughout the years. It is tricksterly cleverness, after all, that on occasion turns out to be the best means to cope with the obvious ills in life.


We consider the laminar flow of a vortex crystal in the Corbino disk geometry. Laminar flow can be induced by thermal fluctuations melting the crystal, but also by shear stress after applying a large current at zero temperature. While the velocity profile is the same in the two cases, the underlying vortex structure is completely different. A vortex crystal in this geometry can flow in a laminar fashion whenever the appropriate curvature is established in the vortex lattice. This curvature requires the presence of geometrically necessary disclinations, which here migrate from the boundary to the bulk of the crystal in the form of current-induced grain boundary scars in flat geometry. We provide an estimate of the characteristic current needed to initiate such a laminar flow regime in the vortex crystal and show that the result is in good agreement with simulations.


Abstract The scientific community is currently experiencing an unprecedented level of growth in research output, with increasing numbers of multilingual professionals reading and publishing papers in English-language journals. Thus, improving the understanding of papers published in English has become an important issue for nonnative speakers, especially with regard to technical reading and critical understanding. This article presents a novel strategy to enhance the reading aptitude of young petroleum-industry professionals for whom English is a secondary language. My "schedule, preview, question, realize" (SPQR) methodology introduces a four-step process to systematically build a solid foundation to help young professionals fully understand scientific papers and improve their own writing. Study examples are provided to aid readers in fully comprehending this process and building on these study examples to match their needs. The SPQR approach should benefit anyone reading outside his or her principal lan...


Aims
Vegetation‐plot records provide information on the presence and cover or abundance of plants co‐occurring in the same community. Vegetation‐plot data are spread across research groups, environmental agencies and biodiversity research centers and, thus, are rarely accessible at continental or global scales. Here we present the sPlot database, which collates vegetation plots worldwide to allow for the exploration of global patterns in taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity at the plant community level.
Results
sPlot version 2.1 contains records from 1,121,244 vegetation plots, which comprise 23,586,216 records of plant species and their relative cover or abundance in plots collected worldwide between 1885 and 2015. We complemented the information for each plot by retrieving climate and soil conditions and the biogeographic context (e.g., biomes) from external sources, and by calculating community‐weighted means and variances of traits using gap‐filled data from the global plant trait database TRY. Moreover, we created a phylogenetic tree for 50,167 out of the 54,519 species identified in the plots. We present the first maps of global patterns of community richness and community‐weighted means of key traits.
Conclusions
The availability of vegetation plot data in sPlot offers new avenues for vegetation analysis at the global scale.


Introduction: Sexually transmitted diseases are an emerging problem especially among young people, increasing the burden of disease in this population. The aim of the study was to evaluate sexual habits, sexual relations and knowledge of STIs among the students in the nursing science course of the University of Palermo. Materials and Methods: In April 2019, a survey was provided to students that investigate on: personal information and habits, knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases, anti-HPV vaccination. Multivariable logistic regression was performed, considering it as a dependent variable "Have you occasionally had unprotected sex (without a condom)? Yes", in order to evaluate the role of the variables of the questionnaire. Results are expressed as adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR). Results: 405 students completed the questionnaire. The mean age of the sample is 21.65 years, 69.63% of the interviewees are women. The multivariable logistic regression shows that the risk of having occasional unprotected sex (without condom) is significantly associated with "Do you permanently have unprotected sex (without a condom)? Yes" (aOR 4.46); "Have you ever received information on sex education and/or sexually transmitted diseases? No" (aOR 6.02); "Age Class <22 years old (aOR 2.03); "Number of sexual partners: As the unit increase" (aOR 1.18). Conclusions: Too many young people receive confusing and conflicting information about relationships and sex, as they make the transition from childhood to adulthood. Nurses play an important role in promoting public health. The study showed that young students are not still enough sensitized on sexually transmitted infections and preconception care.(www.actabiomedica.it)


In this study male C57BL/6J (B6) mice were used to determine the possible effects of our Hungarian tart cherry extract in a chronic obesity mouse model on antioxidant capacity.
The control group received standard mouse chow, the high fat control group was switched to high fat diet and tap water supplemented with 5% sucrose. The high fat+anthocyanin group received the high fat and sucrose diet, but dissolved in the drinking water they received anthocyanin-rich tart cherry extract. After six weeks, the antioxidant capacity and SOD activity were measured. Antioxidant capacity was decreased with a significant elevation of SOD activity. The tart cherry extract made a significant enhancement in antioxidant capacity and SOD activity. Our results show that chronic anthocyanin intake has a potential to enhance redox status associated with obesity.


Citrus Limettioides peel (CLPC) has been modified with sulphuric acid to increase the quantity of sulphonic acid groups improving its metal adsorption capacity. The effect of various parameters such as solution p H, contact time, adsorbent dose and presence of other cations and anions under ambient conditions along with raw citrus limettioides peel (CLP) has been studied. According to the experimental results, the optimal equilibrium time and p H for Cr(VI) ions are found to be 3 h and 2.0 for CLPC and CLP, respectively. The equilibrium data agree well with Langmuir model, which confirm the monolayer coverage of Cr(VI) ions onto CLPC and CLP. The Langmuir monolayer adsorption capacity of the CLPC is found to be 176.50 mg/g which is significantly about 1.8 times greater than that of CLP (99.50 mg/g) at 300 K. The thermodynamic analysis reveals that the adsorption process was spontaneous and exothermic in nature. The kinetic data follow pseudo-second order model with film diffusion process. A single-state batch adsorber has been designed to estimate the amount of adsorbent required to treat the known volume of the effluent using the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Regeneration study show that CLPC could be effectively utilized for the removal of Cr(VI) ions for seven cycles of operation under study when compared with CLP.


This work aimed to identify harmful factors in the production environment, identify risk factors, and assess their impact on the health of workers of the Ferghana Oil Refinery Plant. The research was conducted in 2010-2014 at the Fergana Oil Refinery. Sanitary and hygienic, labouratory, calculation and statistical methods of research were used to achieve the goal. The research results showed that the activity of professional groups of the main production shops of the refinery is accompanied by an unfavourable impact of a complex of factors of the production environment and labour process. The workplaces of these categories of specialists correspond to the general class of working conditions according to the hygienic classification 3 class 1, 2, 3 and 4 degrees (3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4), where the high level of gas pollution, industrial noise and vibration, the severity of the labour process is observed. The technological cycle of production, consisting of sequential production operations, based on a multistage chain of chemical reactions, allowed identifying one of the leading harmful production factors chemical. The composition of chemical pollutants of the working zone included a wide range of gases and chemical substances: carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, chlorine, toluene, benzene, acetone, hydrocarbons, kerosene, mineral oils, phenol, sulphur oil, gasoline, methylethyl ketone, diesel fuel. Thus, based on the obtained research results, the nature and intensity of unfavorable production factors have been revealed, the level of professional risk for the employees' health has been assessed, the risk factors determining the employees' professional health have been identified, the priorities in implementation of preventive measures at the enterprise have been determined.


Abstract. It is well known that the ionosphere plays a role in determining the global state of the magnetosphere. The ionosphere allows magnetospheric currents to close, thereby allowing magnetospheric convection to occur. The amount of current which can be carried through the ionosphere is mainly determined by the ionospheric conductivity. This paper starts to quantify the nonlinear relationship between the ionospheric conductivity and the global state of the magnetosphere. It is found that the steady-state magnetosphere acts neither as a current nor as a voltage generator; a uniform Hall conductance can influence the potential pattern at low latitudes, but not at high latitude; the EUV generated conductance forces the currents to close in the sunlight, while the potential is large on the nightside; the solar generated Hall conductances cause a large asymmetry between the dawn and dusk potential, which effects the pressure distribution in the magnetosphere; a uniform polar cap potential removes some of this asymmetry; the potential difference between solar minimum and maximum is ∼11%; and the auroral precipitation can be related to the local field-aligned current through an exponential function. Key words. Ionosphere (ionosphere-magnetosphere interactions; modelling and forecasting; polar ionosphere)


This paper begins by reviewing different methods of automatic programming while emphasizing the technique of Ant Programming (AP). AP uses an ant foraging metaphor in which ants generate a program by moving through a graph. Generalized Ant Programming (GAP) uses a context-free grammar and an Ant Colony System (ACS) to guide the program generation search process. There are two enhancements to GAP that are proposed in this paper. These are: providing a heuristic for path termination inspired by building construction and a novel pheromone placement algorithm. Three well-known problems -- Quartic symbolic regression, multiplexer, and an ant trail problem -- are experimentally compared using enhanced GAP (EGAP) and GAP. The results of the experiments show the statistically significant advantage of using this heuristic function and pheromone placement algorithm of EGAP over GAP.


Social Dominance Theory has problematic implications for humanitarian work: It suggests that stakeholders of the humanitarian sector collectively maintain the social hierarchies that disadvantage the very minorities that they are supposed to empower. Minority Influence Theory, on the other hand, suggests that social innovation in the humanitarian sector can emerge from the bottom-up, thus against the grain of social hierarchies. This thesis explores for the refugee service sector of Auckland, New Zealand, (a) if former refugees are indeed marginalised within the inter-organisational context that is supposed to empower them, (b) if this has detrimental effects on the sector's performance, and (c) if fostering minority influence might alleviate such effects. The first research question was approached through a stakeholder analysis, which revealed that the social hierarchies within the refugee service sector indeed mirror the marginalisation of former refugees in general New Zealand society. Then, stories of positive and negative incidents of collaboration in the sector were analysed through the lenses of Social Dominance Theory and Minority Influence Theory. A thematic analysis of negative incidents of collaboration gathered accounts of discrimination through disregard, as well as legitimising myths. The latter concerned the inaccessibility of services, confounding participation with collaboration, voluntarism as unambiguously positive, feelings of indebtedness among former refugees, and the false belief in opportunities in New Zealand. These findings support the idea that social dominance perpetuates social hierarchies in the refugee service sector and thereby negatively affects its performance. However, the assumptions of Social Dominance Theory concerning behavioural asymmetry did not match the data, which indicates different root causes of social dominance than claimed by the theory's authors. Stories of successful collaboration involved factors that facilitate minority influence, such as finding consistency, appealing to common values, enough time, bottom-up accountability in the form of community ownership, and trust. This suggests that facilitating minority influence in the Auckland refugee service sector simultaneously facilitates collaboration. Social Dominance Theory and Minority Influence Theory proved to be instrumental to analysing problems within the inter-organisational context of refugee services and for finding indications for future research and better practice.


The use of olfactory stimuli and the provision of food are a common practice to
prompt artificial aggregations of emblematic wild species and ensure the economic viability of the
wildlife-watching industry. Several elasmobranch species have been targeted by such operations
in a variety of locations for over 4 decades. A recent review succinctly addressed the potential
effects of shark diving tourism, including shark provisioning, on shark individual behavior and
ecology, but the paucity of data on the ecology of elasmobranchs precluded general statements.
By using a functional framework, we reviewed the findings of the 22 available studies that investigated
the behavioral, physiological, and ecological response of 14 shark and 3 ray species targeted
by artificial provisioning. Focusing on the underlying processes that rule the response of targeted
elasmobranch species, we report further effects acting beyond the individual scale. We
suggest that the most commonly described alterations of individual movement patterns have cascading
effects through the group and community scales, ultimately resulting in altered health condition
and individual behavior toward humans. We conclude by stressing the potential for provisioning
activities to support the investigation of complex ecological and behavioral processes in
elasmobranchs.


Experiments prior to this project demonstrated the capacity of the plant growth
retardant paclobutrazol to enhance flowering in commercially important Eucalyptus
nitens and E. globulus trees and produced anecdotal evidence of this material
reducing time to first flowering. Paclobutrazol is known to reduce the levels of
endogenous gibberellins (GAs) in several species and hence it was hypothesized
that the effects of paclobutrazol on flowering in these Eucalyptus species may be
mediated by an effect on GA levels. The lack of previous identification of GAs in
this genus necessitated the development of extraction and purification procedures to
identify and quantify GAs. The compounds identified suggested that the early 13-
hydroxylation pathway was the dominant mechanism for production of GAs, with
GA 1 as the likely biologically active compound. Persistence of a paclobutrazol
induced increase in flowering of grafted E. nitens material was related to the
continued depression of endogenous GA concentrations. Additionally, higher
concentrations of GA1 were found to be correlated with reduced flowering
responses in this reproductively competent material. A lowering of endogenous
GA levels, in combination with a co-requisite of a period of cold has been
associated with the induction of first flowering in newly grafted E. nitens material.
The effects of cold treatment were not mediated by an effect on levels of GA1 or
GA2o·
Soil applied paclobutrazol was shown to travel up stems and accumulate in leaf
tissue. Breakdown in plant tissue was shown to be rapid, with a half-life likely to
be substantially less than 21 d. Soil and foliar application methods were shown to
produce different patterns of metabolism of labelled paclobutrazol, as demonstrated
by HPLC separation of labelled metabolites extracted from growing apices. The
rate of breakdown in the soil was observed to be variable, but slow in comparison
to that within plant tissues and may be the source of the considerable persistence of
effects of paclobutrazol application observed in some field trials.
Application of paclobutrazol to 6 month old E. globulus seedlings resulted in
the production of flower buds at less than 18 months of age despite the retention of
juvenile foliage. One year later, following normal bud development, anthesis and
pollination, capsules were produced, while maintenance of material in a range of growth conditions over the second winter again demonstrated the strong
requirement for cold seen in grafted E. nitens, as well as revealing an apparent
promotion of flowering associated with reduced pot size. The reduction in
generation time achieved using commercial seedlings was ca. 50% (3 years) which
should be of major benefit to tree breeders, given that the long generation time of
eucalypts is a major determinant of the rate at which genetic gains can be made by
conventional tree breeding methods. In reproductively competent seedlings and
grafts, paclobutrazol application was confirmed to increase the average number of
flower buds per seedling. This could be advantageous when seed requirements
from an elite tree are high, or when yearly seed yield tends to be variable.


Objective To analyse the delivery room management of babies born between 22 and 26 weeks of completed gestational age and to identify the factors associated with the withholding or withdrawal of intensive care. Study design Population-based cohort study. Patients and methods Our study population comprised 2145 births between 22 and 26 completed weeks enrolled in the EPIPAGE-2 study, a French cohort of very preterm infants born in 2011. The primary outcome measure was withholding or withdrawal of intensive care in the delivery room. Results Among infants born alive at 22–23 weeks, intensive care was withheld or withdrawn for >90%. At 24 weeks, resuscitative measures were withheld or withdrawn for 38%, at 25 weeks for 8% and at 26 weeks for 3%. Other factors besides gestational age at birth associated with this withholding or withdrawal for infants born at 24–26 weeks were birth weight <600 g, emergency delivery (within 24 h of the mother's admission) and singleton pregnancy. Although rates of withholding or withdrawal of intensive care varied substantially between maternity units (from 0% to 100%), the variability was primarily explained by differences in distributions of gestational age at birth. Conclusions Although gestational age is only one factor predicting survival of preterm infants, practices in France appear to be based primarily on this factor, which thus has direct effects on the survival of extremely preterm infants. The ethical implications of basing life and death decisions only on gestational age before 25 weeks require further examination.


The management of agitated, combative, fearful critically ill patients is a significant challenge for critical care nurses. Intravenously administered haloperidol can be effective in treating these patients. Because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved the use of haloperidol intravenously, there are no widely accepted guidelines for intravenous use of this drug. This chapter reviews the literature and provides information to critical care nurses in the use of intravenous haloperidol. Haloperidol's pharmacologic properties are described; several published case studies are reviewed; and potential adverse effects associated with haloperidol's use are presented.


This overview highlights some recent advances in the epidemiology, diagnosis, risk stratification and treatment of acute coronary syndromes. The sheer volume of new studies reflects the robust state of global cardiovascular research but the focus here is on findings that are of most interest to the practising cardiologist.

Incidence and mortality rates for myocardial infarction are in decline, probably owing to a combination of lifestyle changes, particularly smoking cessation, and improved pharmacological and interventional treatment. Troponins remain central for diagnosis and new high-sensitivity assays are further lowering detection thresholds and improving outcomes. The incremental diagnostic value of other circulating biomarkers remains unclear and for risk stratification simple clinical algorithms such as the GRACE score have proved more useful.

Primary PCI with minimal treatment delay is the most effective reperfusion strategy in ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Radial access is associated with less bleeding than with the femoral approach, but outcomes appear similar. Manual thrombectomy limits distal embolisation and infarct size while drug-eluting stents reduce the need for further revascularisation procedures. Non-culprit disease is best dealt with electively as a staged procedure after primary PCI has been completed. The development of antithrombotic and antiplatelet regimens for primary PCI continues to evolve, with new indications for fondaparinux and bivalirudin as well as small-molecule glycoprotein (GP)IIb/IIIa inhibitors. If timely primary PCI is unavailable, fibrinolytic treatment remains an option but a strategy of early angiographic assessment is recommended for all patients.

Non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) is now the dominant phenotype and outcomes after the acute phase are significantly worse than for STEMI. Many patients with NSTEMI remain undertreated and there is a large body of recent work seeking to define the most effective antithrombotic and antiplatelet regimens for this group of patients. The benefits of early invasive treatment for most patients are …


STUDY OBJECTIVES: To develop a short form of an interview schedule used successfully in previous national surveys of care for the dying, and to investigate the effect of administering it by post on response rate, response bias and on the nature of responses to questions. DESIGN: Randomised controlled trial. SETTING: An inner London health authority. PARTICIPANTS: Informants (person registering death) of random sample of cancer deaths between June 1995 and July 1996. MAIN RESULTS: The shortened questionnaire (VOICES) has 158 questions. Response rate did not differ significantly between postal and interview groups (interview; 56% (69 of 123), postal: 52% (161 of 308). Responders in the two groups did not differ in terms of their sociodemographic characteristics. Postal questionnaires had significantly more missing data, particularly on questions about service provision and satisfaction with services. Responses to questions differed between the groups on 11 of 158 questions. Interview group respondents were more likely to give top ranking responses to questions on service satisfaction and symptom control. CONCLUSIONS: Postal questionnaires are an acceptable alternative to interviews in retrospective post-bereavement surveys of care for the dying, at least in terms of response rate and response bias. However, the increased costs of interview surveys need to be balanced against the fact that postal questionnaires result in more missing data, and possibly less reliable answers to some questions. Caution is needed in combining results from the two data collection methods as interview respondents gave more positive answers to some questions.


Climate change can markedly impact biology, population ecology, and spatial patterns of eruptive insects due to the direct influence of temperature on insect development and population success. The mountain pine beetle Dendroctonus ponderosae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is a landscape-altering insect that infests forests of North America. Abundant availability of host trees due to altered disturbance regimes has facilitated an unprecedented, landscape-wide outbreak of this pest in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, during the past decade. A previous outbreak in the 1980s, in central British Columbia, collapsed due to host depletion and extreme cold weather events. Despite the importance of such extreme weather events and other temperature-related signals in modulating an outbreak, few landscape-level models have studied the associations of extreme cold events with outbreak occurrences. We studied the individual associations of several biologically-relevant cold temperature variables, and other temperature/degree-day terms, with outbreak occurrences in a spatial-temporal logistic regression model using data from the current outbreak. Timing, frequency, and duration of cold snaps had a severe negative association with occurrence of an outbreak in a given area. Large drops in temperature (>10°C) or extreme winter minimum temperatures reduced the outbreak probability. We then used the model to apply eight different climate change scenarios to the peak year of the current outbreak. Our scenarios involved combinations of increasing annual temperature and different variances about this trend. Our goal was to examine how spatial outbreak pattern would have changed in the face of changing thermal regime if the underlying outbreak behaviour remained consistent. We demonstrate that increases in mean temperature by 1°C to 4°C profoundly increased the risk of outbreaks with effects first being manifested at higher elevations and then at increasing latitudes. However, increasing the variance associated with a mean temperature increase did not change the overall trend in outbreak potential.


Spiritual Formation: A History of Mysticism portrays a spiritual pilgrimage. It is a journey we take in our faith lives. Mystical experiences from the Old and New Testaments are described as are the revelations of early church leaders, from Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, to later European mystics and Saints such as John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila.

The eighteenth-century Enlightenment saw mystics, such as John and Charles Wesley, emphasize a "social holiness" evidenced in social action, such as Wilberforce's Anti Slavery Crusade. This emphasis on practical holiness continued with William and Catherine Booth's founding of The Salvation Army, which is typically Wesleyan in its understanding of holiness-in-action, and aligned with Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's Natural Evolutionary Theology.

The authors argue that spiritual leaders, poets, and musicians satisfy Matthew Fox's definition of a mystic as holding a "vital belief in a transcendent reality … as they can communicate with that reality by direct experience". This book provides a framework for ministry, social justice action, and policy with practical disciplines for the spiritual journey.


The susceptibility of human lungs to carcinogens depends on the metabolic balance between activation and detoxification pathways, though for the tumour to develop depcnds on activation of cell immortalisation pathway. The correlation of these
pathways has not been reported.
The present study described the correlation in transcription of genes of two phases of drug metabolism pathways and immortalisation pathway in four lung cell lines namely; a normal lung cell line (CDD32Lu), alveolar adenocarcinoma (A549), pleural adenocarcinoma (1-1460), and a drug resistance large cell carcinoma (COR-L23/5010).
The levels of transcripts of Phase I (CYPL4I, CYPIA2 and CYP2EI), phase II (GSTMJ) and immortalisation (hTERT) genes were investigated. There was evidence suggesting that the transcription of CYPJAI, and CYP/A2 is of cell specific since
CYPIAJ transcribed in the A549 eell line only, while CYPIA2 was transcribed in the H460 cell line. The present study validates the ability of CYPIA2 to be expressed in cell line.
Moreover, the present study showed abundant expression of CYP2E/ and GSTMJ mRNA in normal and lung cancer cell lines suggesting that these genes may play no active role in lung carcinogenesis. In addition, the transcription level of immortalisation gene (hTERT) and telomerase activity was determined and observed in the A549 cell line only.
The novel finding of this research is the cb-transcription of CYPJAJ and JITERT in the A549 cell line. The co-transcription was further analysed by induction of CYPJAJ in all cell lines with the AhR ligands TCDD and 3-MC. The finding reveals the existence of CYPIAI and hTERT co-transcription. Despite the fact that transcription of CYPJAI was observed CYP1A1 activity was not detected even after cell treatment with CYP1A1 inducers. This was possibly due to scarcity of CYP1A! and limited level of haem in the extrahepatic tissue.
This study demonstrated a novel basal and induced co-transcription of CYP1AJ and hTERT. The regulation of co transcription was analysed by silencing CYPIAJ using siRNA technology and observing hTERT knockdown. Silencing of CYP1AI was subsequently downregulate hTERT transcription and reduces cells viability.
The mechanism of co-transcription was investigated to rule out the involvement of suggested AhR signalling pathway. This was carried out by determining the level of mRNA expression of those genes, which their proteins were involved in the AhR
signalling pathway. The results obtained suggest the role of the AhR signalling pathway in the co-transcription of CYPJAJ and hTERT.
The data obtained from gene knockdown experiments revealed silencing of CYPJAJ alters hTERT expression and cell proliferation. The present study suggests that siRNA technology can be used as a reliable tool for the validation of co-transcription. Moreover, the concomitant silencing of CYPJAJ and hTERT and inhibition of cells proliferation not
only validate the co-transcription but also a valuable finding to be considered as a novel therapeutic target, which may contribute to management of lung cancer.
The transcription of CYPIAJ and hTERT has been identified as a cancer risk marker in a diverse range of cancers, the data of the present study suggests the use of CYPJA] 5iRNA as optional gene therapy in cancer management, where CYPJAJ plays a major risk.


The world's energy demand is increasing, and there is a need for alternative energy sources to replace depleting fossil fuels. Geothermal energy could be an important part of these new sources of energy. For efficient and reliable geothermal energy production, characterization of geothermal reservoirs is needed. Characterization of reservoir properties is for a large part obtained using geophysical methods. In this thesis I develop a new seismic modeling method that can be used in geothermal reservoir characterization. In passive seismics the amount of seismic data obtained at a geothermal reservoir can be quite large. For example, at The Geysers in California, over a period of about 30 years, hundreds of thousands of microseismic events have been recorded by about a hundred receivers. Efficient seismic modeling using, for example ray tracing, is therefore essential. In this thesis the main focus was on ray tracing. The goal was to develop a ray tracing algorithm, that is both fast and accurate. Ray tracing was implemented using three different numerical methods: Euler's method, the midpoint method and fourth order Runge-Kutta. From a systematic comparison for realistic geothermal reservoir models and their overburdens, it was found that the midpoint method with a small time step is the preferred numerical method. When performing ray tracing for e.g. source characterization it is essential to have reliable seismic velocity models. In this thesis an overview of velocity models at 15 enhanced geothermal systems was made. 1D velocity models exist at almost all the geothermal reservoirs. However, 3D velocity models, which tends to be much more accurate, only exist for half of these reservoirs. In this thesis the ray tracing algorithms were used for efficient waveform modeling, using both 1D and 3D velocity models, in order to check trade-offs in terms of travel times, amplitudes and waveforms. The velocity models used were a 1D velocity model of the The Geysers as given in the literature. The 3D model consisted of this 1D model on which were superimposed 3D perturbations. The modeling was done using two different seismic sources: a double couple source and a non-double couple source. The results showed that there were significant differences between the 1D and 3D modeling. The most significant deviations were differences in amplitudes and amplitude polarities for the calculated synthetic seismograms. Also, it was found that the results depend upon the seismic source, where there were large differences between the double couple and non-double couple source. Thus, the use of 1D velocity models for geothermal reservoir characterization, can lead to wrong results about permeability of fractures. It is recommended that 3D seismic velocity models are used, and if necessary developed, when studying microseismicity and especially when inverting for source mechanisms.


This study investigated selected Christian denominations in the Durban Functional Region's response to HIV/AIDS and the extent of their involvement within the issues of HIV/AIDS. The study also explored how the churches viewed the development of holistic services and hence their involvement with social workers. Seven of the so-called mainline Christian churches participated in the study. Interviews were conducted with the head of each denomination and one other member of clergy from each of the seven denominations. The study was exploratory in nature. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews with the participants being selected utilising purposive and availability sampling. The literature review comprised theological reflection on what the church's role should be as well as literature exploring the necessity for holistic services in the ambit of HIV/AIDS. Some of the findings of this research included the lack of knowledge clergy have around HIV/AIDS, the lack of knowledge some clergy have about their denominational policies regarding HIV/AIDS, and the limited response of some congregations to the pandemic. There is also a sense of negativism amongst some clergy about HIV/AIDS. There is no hope of the promise the Christian faith gives. The recommendations that stemmed from this research are the training of clergy in HIV/AIDS, training of clergy regarding their denomination's policies and offering practical advice on how a church can respond, the need for the dissemination of this information to all role-players so that a holistic service can become a reality, and finally that more extensive research is done into the church and HIV/AIDS.