Education in South Africa faces challenges relating to change management as a result of transformation. The introduction of various legislative and transfromational policy initiatives pose numerous challenges for schools' change management processes. Apart from ensuring that change is implemented to achieve equity and redress of past imbalances, schools still have to ensure that education delivery takes place without interruptions. This requires school managers to possess not only change management skills, but engage and utilise change management models and approaches that ensure the success of school improvement and transformational change. This study presents a change management model for school managers. The focus of the study is on the nature of change management. The school is approached from a theoretical orientation that describes it as a social ecological system, which then requires a change management approach that recognises the ecological make-up of the school and thus focuses on the whole school change management processes. This implies creating school organisational conditions that are amenable to and promote change management efforts. The model proposed in this study namely, the Integrated Change Management Model (ICMM) focuses on essential elements of holistic change management at school level, which are, knowledge of fundamental aspects of change and knowledge of the change process itself and are manifested in aspects such as goal setting, organisation setting, training and education, promotion, sharing of success stories, incentives and rewards, diagnosis and monitoring and achievement of results, The ICMM brings a holistic dimension to change management. Its emphasis is on knowledge of the people side and the organisational side of change management. This is a critical aspect oflen overlooked by most change management models, which tend to focus on specific and particular aspects of organisational change management.


This is an architectural perspective on the transformation of capital cities in an age of globalization, from Baghdad and Belgrade to Brussels and Washington D.C.This edition of "Perspecta", the oldest and most distinguished student-edited architectural journal in America, investigates the transformation of capital cities in the era of globalization. This redevelopment, renewal, and recycling of the urban landscape - termed by the editors as "Re_Urbanism" - takes place as capital cities try both to cater to an influx of global capital and to reassert their roles as symbols of national sovereignty. Re_Urbanism investigates this process from an architectural perspective. The contributors explore the various ways capital cities struggle to assert their vitality and continuing relevance, examining capitals that compete internally with their own global counterparts (Abu Dhabi vs. Dubai), capitals that must be rebuilt after periods of destruction (Belgrade and Baghdad), and capital cities that are responding to hyperbolic development (Beijing, New Delhi, Kuwait City).Some cities are examined for their impact on border politics (Washington D.C.) while others reveal mythologies parallel to their modernist origins (Brasilia).


Provoked by more frequent discussions about the "emigration-diaspora" nexus among the researchers on international development, this policy brief, written based on the explanatory notes submitted by country-experts of CARIM-East project, explores the emigration-diaspora issues in migration policies of post-Soviet states in the EU neighborhood. As the examination of CARIM-East country experts reveals, the primary focus of emigration policies of post-Soviet states remains linked to labour migration and focuses on the prevention of emigration (and return of emigrated co-nationals), although migration policies of post-Soviet states also emphasize the need for integrating their labour-force into the international labour market. Post-Soviet governments offer various stimuli to attract their former residents to return to homeland, ranging from advocacy campaigns on business development to matching financial investments from remittances to providing grants to those trained abroad. Despite the conceptual ambiguity stemming from including labour migrants into diasporas, or as the development community has referred to -"migrant diasporas", the policy documents of post-Soviet states use the term diasporas to refer to both permanently emigrated former citizens, and to current citizens living abroad (regardless of length of residency abroad). However, a more systematic examination is needed to understand whether and in which aspects the focus of migration policies of post-Soviet is different or overlaps for labour migrants abroad vs. diasporas.


The end of dramatic exponential growth in single-processor performance marks the end of the dominance of the single microprocessor in computing. The era of sequential computing must give way to a new era in which parallelism is at the forefront. Although important scientific and engineering challenges lie ahead, this is an opportune time for innovation in programming systems and computing architectures. We have already begun to see diversity in computer designs to optimize for such considerations as power and throughput. The next generation of discoveries is likely to require advances at both the hardware and software levels of computing systems. There is no guarantee that we can make parallel computing as common and easy to use as yesterday's sequential single-processor computer systems, but unless we aggressively pursue efforts suggested by the recommendations in this book, it will be "game over" for growth in computing performance. If parallel programming and related software efforts fail to become widespread, the development of exciting new applications that drive the computer industry will stall; if such innovation stalls, many other parts of the economy will follow suit. The Future of Computing Performance describes the factors that have led to the future limitations on growth for single processors that are based on complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. It explores challenges inherent in parallel computing and architecture, including ever-increasing power consumption and the escalated requirements for heat dissipation. The book delineates a research, practice, and education agenda to help overcome these challenges. The Future of Computing Performance will guide researchers, manufacturers, and information technology professionals in the right direction for sustainable growth in computer performance, so that we may all enjoy the next level of benefits to society.


Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) is a monophasic autoimmune postinfectious demyelinating disease that predominantly affects children. It appears to occur in a seasonal distribution (winter and early spring) and is characterized by the acute onset of diffuse neurological signs and symptoms. The diagnosis is often made by exclusion, and it is strongly suggested by preceding infection or immunization coupled by evidence of multifocal lesions of demyelization on neuroimaging. High dose corticosteroid therapy is the treatment of choice. Prognosis in pediatric patients is generally favorable.


An attempt has been made to construct an N2O balance of the troposphere in order to demonstrate the state of knowledge of the cycle of atmospheric N2O. This balance has been constructed considering the parameters relevant for atmospheric N2O as far as known such as the horizontal and vertical distribution in the atmosphere and in the oceans, the variation of the atmospheric mixing ratio with time, the fluxes in the air-sea and in the air-soil systems, and man-made fluxes. The total atmospheric burden of N2O appears to be in the range 1600-2100 Mt, the tropospheric turn-over time between 4 and 12 years. Most of the atmospheric N2O seems to originate from microbial activities at the Earth's surface with the oceans apparently being the major source with about 35 % of the total source as obtained from the tropospheric N2O mass and turn-over time (range of uncertainty 5-100 %) followed by soil and fresh water with about 25 % of the total source (range of uncertainty 4-100 %) including the contribution of industrial nitrogen fertilizers with about 10 % of the total source (range of uncertainty 2-24 %). Direct man-made N2O sources seem to be relatively small with about 2 % of the total source (range of uncertainty 0.5-5 %), but may grow considerably in the future. The N2O production by chemical reactions in the troposphere itself (e.g. electrical discharges) is not known; a figure of between 3 and 70 % of the total source has been inferred from laboratory experiments. The sinks of atmospheric N2O are poorly known. The only known major N2O destruction appears to occur in the stratosphere. The rate of transport into the stratosphere, however, limits this sink to about 10 % of the total amount of N2O to be destroyed under steady state conditions (range of uncertainty 3-22 %). The major problem of the cycle of atmospheric N2O is the unknown main sink. Since the stratosphere does not seem to come into question, the missing sink should be found somewhere in the troposphere, pedosphere, and/or hydrosphere.


Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Excavation of the site began in 2010 by the University of Saskatchewan Department of Archaeology and Anthropology field school, with the participation of the Saskatchewan Archaeological Society field school. A Master of Arts thesis examining the outcome of the first two field seasons is currently being completed by M. Mampe.
 An analysis of the assemblage from the 2012 and 2013 field seasons comprises this thesis. Four distinct cultural levels are denoted by unique corresponding projectile point complexes and series. The absence of lithic materials in Level 5 has led to it being described as "non-cultural". The four projectile point complexes and series found at the site include: Plains Side-Notched, Prairie Side-Notched, McKean Series, and Oxbow complex. Due to the significant gap in occupational progression that exists between the Prairie Side-notched and McKean Series occupation levels, it was decided that a geoarchaeological investigation of the site be undertaken to ascertain the geomorphological reasons for its occupational discontinuity as well as provide an overview of site formation processes at the Wolf Willow site.
 The "hiatus" in cultural occupations at the Wolf Willow site spans approximately 1000 years, from 2500 years B.P. to 1200 years B.P., and is manifested by a discrete sedimentary unit comprised mainly of coarse sand and gravel. It is known from research pertaining to other sites within the Opimihaw Creek valley that hillslope activity began at approximately 7000 years B.P. and slowed nearly 4000 years later. Although no regional analog for landscape instability exists for the period between 3000 and 1200 years B.P., climatic proxy data in the form of stable hydrogen isotopes from bison bone and tooth enamel samples effectively bridge the gap. Furthermore, the composition of sediments gleaned from landforms similar to that on which the Wolf Willow site currently lies show little similarity to one another. These gaps in the research record of the Opimihaw Creek valley make climatic, environmental, and sedimentological correlations difficult on a regional scale, and highlight the importance of implementing geoarchaeology in the interpretation of the Wolf Willow site.


This paper reports a novel architecture for the design of dense wavelength-division multiplexing interleavers based on planar echelle gratings. Double astigmatic point design of the echelle grating is discussed. The important and inherent limitation of aberrations associated with the echelle grating has been eliminated by the introduction of aberration free elliptical facets. A mechanism for compensating the variations of the refractive index with wavelength is also described. The theoretical analysis was used to design and manufacture remarkably low footprint 50/100 and 100/200 GHz interleavers in silica-on-silicon with the waveguide refractive index contrast of 0.62%. The comparison between the theoretical and experimental results shows an excellent agreement. The fabricated devices based on the proposed approach showed low nonuniformity in insertion loss, high dynamic range, and precise channel periodicity over the entire C band.


Research into the role of the HPA system in mental disorders has recently increased. It has been found that hormones involved in regulation of the HPA system play an important role in stress-related disorders. In the past, baseline alterations were mainly inspected in patients with anxiety disorders. In order to assess changes concerning the acute stress reaction in these subjects, many studies also applied stress protocols such as pharmacological or nonpharmacological challenges. This review aims to provide an overview of the results regarding HPA function in various anxiety disorders, such as panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, specific phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. A PubMed-based literature search revealed 59 studies that met the inclusion criteria (i.e., double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial; diagnosis based on DSM‑III or ‑IV; and appropriate sample size – n ≥ 20 in the verum group). Results are presented and integrated with regard to baseline HPA system activation and response to a challenge. Markers of interest reporting on HPA system functioning were cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone. In addition, suggested explanations regarding pathophysiological mechanisms underlying these findings are discussed. The majority of current data do not point to an alteration of the HPA system in anxiety disorders. There is some evidence for an association between the magnitude of mental stress and a change in cortisol levels. Nevertheless, pharmacotherapeutical interventions affecting stress hormones might be promising, not only in augmentation of psychotherapy in a specific phobia, but also for secondary prevention in post-traumatic stress disorder.


Program analysis tools often produce undesirable output due to various approximations. We present an approach and a system EUGENE that allows user feedback to guide such approximations towards producing the desired output. We formulate the problem of user-guided program analysis in terms of solving a combination of hard rules and soft rules: hard rules capture soundness while soft rules capture degrees of approximations and preferences of users. Our technique solves the rules using an off-the-shelf solver in a manner that is sound (satisfies all hard rules), optimal (maximally satisfies soft rules), and scales to real-world analyses and programs. We evaluate EUGENE on two different analyses with labeled output on a suite of seven Java programs of size 131–198 KLOC. We also report upon a user study involving nine users who employ EUGENE to guide an information-flow analysis on three Java micro-benchmarks. In our experiments, EUGENE significantly reduces misclassified reports upon providing limited amounts of feedback.


BACKGROUND: Nail fold capillaroscopy has been largely used in the diagnosis of systemic sclerosis. It has been recently discovered that this test is also able to predict internal organ damage in systemic sclerosis. OBJECTIVE: This study was carried out to verify whether nail fold capillaroscopy findings are correlated with disease severity. METHODS: We studied nail fold capillaroscopy findings regarding dilated and avascular areas from 14 patients with systemic sclerosis; degree of skin involvement by means of a modified Rodnan index; and disease severity with the scale proposed by Medsger et al. RESULTS: The results showed that the number of avascular areas has a good correlation with disease severity (p = 0.043), but not with the number of dilated capillaries (p = 0.57). The degree of cutaneous thickening was not related to the degree of capillary dilatation (p = 0.76), but tended to be associated with avascular areas (p = 0.07). CONCLUSION: The authors conclude that the number of avascular areas in nail fold capillaroscopy could be used as a sign of disease severity in systemic sclerosis.


Objective To study the pathogenic distrsbution and clinical characteristics of infectious endophthalmitis in our hospital for the clinical referenles on rational administration. Methods The clinical data and laboratory findings of 203 patients with infectioua endophthalmitis were retrospectively reviewed. Results 106 cases of isolated pathogens in 203 cases of specimens, with detection rate 52. 2%, Among 106 strins pathogens, 57. 5% were bacteria, 41.5% were gram-position bacteria, 16.0 % were gram-negative bacteria and 42. 5% were fungi. The main fungi were fusarium(23.6%) , followd by aspergillus(16. 0%). Conclusion The main pathogens was bacteria in infection endophthalmitis, but we must pay attention to the infection of fungi.

Key words:
Infection endophthalmitis; Pathogens


Rotor-only axial fans feature rotors designed according to different vortex criteria. Nowadays the literature does not exhaustively clarify when a specific swirl distribution has to be used and which are the advantages/drawbacks in terms of fan performance and efficiency. A review of the experimental performance of rotor-only axial fans designed with different vortex criteria is summarized here in Φ−Ψ and σ − δ (specific speed specific diameter) graphs to identify the best operating conditions of each design. Four rotor-only axial fans (two free-vortex, a constant-swirl and a rigid-body swirl one) are tested on an ISO-5801-A rig. For two of them, flow velocities at rotor exit are measured with a 5-hole probe. The result is an experimentally based map around the Cordier curve for rotor-only axial fans. Indications on the best Φ − Ψ range for fans designed using different vortex criteria are provided and explained. The effects of increasing the tip clearance on the rotor performance at design duty are investigated as well.


Carbonyl sulfide (OCS) photoproduction rates were measured at selected wavelengths of ultraviolet light between 297 and 405 nm in sea water samples from the southern Pacific Ocean. Near-surface and column production rate spectra for natural sunlit waters were calculated using sea-surface sunlight data measured near the austral summer solstice. These plots show that photoproduction rates are at a maximum at 313 nm in tropical waters and at 336 nm in Antarctic waters. Tropical surface and column rates were found to be 68 pM/day and 360 nmol/m²/day, respectively, and Antarctic surface and column rates were found to be 101 pM/day and 620 nmol/m²/day, respectively. A high degree of variability was observed between photoproduction rates from different ocean regions, with coastal rates being the highest, suggesting that natural environmental variability is an important factor. Photoproduction rates at 297 nm were found to be constant at individual locations with increasing irradiation time. Relative photoproduction rates from this work are compared to previously measured rates from coastal sea water.


Chemistry
Emulsions consist of droplets of one liquid that are held inside a second liquid, where the two liquids do not normally mix. Haase and Brujic show a simple method to make emulsions in which multiple layers of droplets can be trapped inside each other. By varying the concentrations of oil, a polar solvent, and water, they can get up to five layers of inner droplets as the ternary mixture is dripped into a water solution containing surfactant. It is also possible to fuse droplets to give larger, stabilized droplets with ordered internal structure.

Angew. Chemie. Int. Ed. 10.1002/anie.201406040 (2014).


The study objective was to the basic recipe of Ready Made Mee-Krob (Crispy Rice Noodle) sauce were evaluated the sensory property appearance, color, flavor, taste, texture and overall acceptability by 7-Points Hedonic Scale. The first basic recipe including sugar tamarind juice, lime juice, fish sauce, shallots, bean paste and tomato sauce had the highest scores in overall acceptability. Mee-Krob sauces were packed in retort pouch and stored at room temperature for 90 days. The color-values (L* a* and b*) of the product were decreased while the viscosity and pH of the product were increased during storage. The microbiological shelf life of Mee-Krob sauce were assessed. The microbial population remained under 10 CFU/g for 90 days. Consumer acceptance testing was a passive measure to indicate the acceptance of the product by Home Use Test. The consumers gaving a high degree of product acceptance indicated that the product was well accepted. Keyword: Ingredient Ready Made Mee-Krob (Crispy Rice Noodle) Sauce Retort pouch


An offspring of holographic and shearing interferometry, digital shearography is a full‐field, optical technique. Its full‐field nature allows examination of approximately a one square foot area, requiring no scanning. In its usual implementation for vibration studies, time‐averaged speckle correlation fringes are formed. While sufficient for observing mode shapes, these fringe patterns carry several disadvantages when quantitative interpretation is attempted. Digital shearography, combined with stroboscopic laser illumination and optical phase stepping, overcomes these limitations. The differential displacement field during monofrequency vibration is calculated independently at each point, and is no longer dependent upon fringe interpretation. The system, a new combination of several well‐established techniques, has not been validated in either the optics or acoustics literature. The goal of the current work is to verify the technique via side‐by‐side measurements made with shearography and laser vibrometry. A simple cantilever beam is vibrated at several resonance and antiresonance frequencies and examined by both methods. Analysis techniques for comparing velocity output of the vibrometer to differential displacement output from shearography will be discussed. Agreement between the two systems is excellent, demonstrating the potential usefulness of this new method. [Work supported by the Penn State University Applied Research Lab.]


The strong cationic Bronsted acids [H(OEt2)2][Al{OC(CF3)3}4] (1) and [H(THF)2][Al{OC(CF3)3}4] (2) were prepd. in up to 95% yield by reacting stoichiometric amts. of di-Et ether/THF solns. of Li[Al{OC(CF3)3}4] and HX (X = Cl, Br), removing the solvent, and extg. the residue with CH2Cl2. Compds. 1 and 2 were characterized by multinuclear NMR and IR spectroscopy as well as by their single crystal x-ray structures and addnl. quantum chem. calcns. The cation in 1 probably contains an unsym. O-H...O hydrogen bond, while in 2 the protic hydrogen atom was not found in the difference Fourier map. From an anal. of all published [H(OEt2)2]+ structures, for an unsym. H-bridge further rearrangement of the structure occurs leading to the structural type III that may formally be viewed as ethanol coordinating to an Et cation. This point of view has hitherto been neglected in the discussion of the nature of short, strong, low-barrier H-bonds, although it needs to be accounted for. Both 1 and 2 are suitable starting materials to introduce the weakly coordinating and chem. very robust [Al{OC(CF3)3}4]- anion by protonolysis. [on SciFinder (R)]


As a result of current business trends, South African companies are being forced to examine changes in the finance function. The purpose of this research is to establish and examine the paradigm shift in the finance functions of selected South African companies in KwaZulu-Natal, and to develop a measuring tool to determine the degree to which these functions are evolving to be more in line with a value adding paradigm. A mixed methods approach was used in this study, with qualitative analysis supported by some quantitative analysis. A case study approach was adopted, and non-probability sampling using the purposive method was applied to select eleven respondents. The data was gathered by means of both a questionnaire and follow up interviews. The data has been analysed using a combination of both descriptive and inferential statistics, and qualitative analysis. It was found that the majority of respondents were not measuring the cost of, nor were they focused on reducing the resources allocated to the finance function. In addition, the major portion of finance function resources remain focused on the accounting processing roles of the finance function. However, an increasing emphasis on the decision support and strategy formulation roles was discovered. A measuring tool was developed and applied to the finance functions of respondents. This brought the researcher to the conclusion that the finance functions of respondents could not be confirmed as value adding business units. It was recommended that finance function resources be mapped according to the various roles identified. The measuring tool could then be applied to reveal potential areas of change that would result in the finance function transforming into a value adding business unit. Future research into an appropriate finance function performance measurement system, and the impact on the training of accountants of the changing finance function paradigm, was identified.


Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in developing countries. Because thousands of people are affected by this disease, medical device companies are constantly developing new intravascular devices in attempt to cure or alleviate the symptoms of the disease. However, before these devices can be brought to market or implanted in to patients, they must complete three stages of testing to receive FDA approval. These testing stages include: in vitro testing, in vivo testing, and clinical trials. Currently, there is a large gap between in vitro and in vivo testing because it is difficult to obtain physiologic information about a device during in vitro testing. Therefore, to obtain this information, most devices move on to in vivo testing , increasing the amount of time, money and animal models used during the approval process. In attempt to overcome this limitation of the approval process, Dr. Kristen Cardinal developed a tissue engineered blood vessel mimic (BVM) to bridge the gap between in vitro and in vivo testing to efficiently test intravascular devices. However, before the BVM can be utilized to test intravascular devices, key limitations must be overcome. The limitation addressed in this thesis is the lack of endothelial cell adhesion to the PLGA scaffold used in the BVM. In attempt to overcome this limitation, protein pre-coatings were characterized in 6-well plates and then implemented in to the BVM to determine if endothelial cell adhesion could be increased. The aim of this thesis was to analyze and compare the effects of different protein pre-coatings coatings on endothelial cell adhesion in 6-well plates and the BVM. The first phase of this thesis sought to characterize the coatings and their effects on cell attachment in a controlled and efficient setting. Different aspects of coating protocols were developed during this phase including the optimization of incubation periods and analysis protocols. The second phase of this v thesis included the implementation of the most effective pre-coatings from the 6-well plate studies (Conditioning Media and ProNectin-F) in to the BVM to determine which coating was most effective in increasing cell attachment and reducing cell loss after flow exposure. Using fluorescent staining and image analysis, it was concluded that Conditioning Media was as effective as ProNectin-F in increasing cell attachment and retention in the BVM. While both coatings significantly increased the number of cells adhered compared to a non-coated scaffold, the endothelial lining in the lumen was …


The work presented in this thesis consists of synthesis, characterization, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-HIV, carbonic anhydrase inhibitory, antimalarial and luciferase studies of some' novel sulfonamides bearing 1,3,4-oxadiazole moiety. The sulfonamide and 1,3,4-oxadiazole moieties are crucial functionalities because of their wide variety of known pharmacological activities. Therefore, some novel chiral and achiral compounds were synthesized which contain both the sulfonamide and 1,3,4-oxadiazole entities in the same molecule. These compounds include: chiral and achiral 2-or 4-(4-substitutedphenylsuIfonamido)alkane hydrazides, their corresponding 4-substituted-N-[l- or 3-(5-mercapto-l ,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)alkylbenzenesulfonamides and their various derivatives. Some of these benzenesulfonamides have also been synthesized using microwave irradiation method (Schemes 1.2-1.4). It is worth noting here that reaction times have been reduced from hours to just few seconds under the microwave irradiation.

Synthetic strategies (Schemes 1.5-1.7) were employed to synthesize 5-substituted-2-mercapto-1,3,4-oxadiazoles, their. esters and amides. Thirty N-[(5-substitutedary 1)-1,3, 4-oxadiazo 1- 2- ylthio )methyl ]-4-substitutedbenzenesuIfonam ides and three camphor-10-sulfonamides were synthesized in two steps; first was the oxidative rearrangement of various amides to their corresponding amine hydro chlorides which were converted to their respective sulfonamides in the second step (Scheme 1.7). Eight novel chiral N-[ (5-substitutedaryl)-1,3 ,4-oxadiazol-2-ylthio )ethyl]-4-substitutedbenzene-sulfonamides were also synthesized (Scheme 1.8) using the same methodology as employed in Scheme 1.7. Reduction reaction with acyloxyborohydride on various amide derivatives of 5-substituted-2-mercapto-l,3,4-oxadiazole was attempted, where oxadiazole ring was found cleaved yielding novel benzenediazasulfonamides (Scheme 1.9).

Direct chorosulfonation of various 5-substitutedphenyl-2-mercapto/methylthio-1,3,4-oxadiazoles with chlorosulfonic acid provided twenty five novel chiral and achiral benzenesulfonamides bearing 1,3,4-oxadiazole moiety (Scheme 1.10). Thirty two S-[(5-substitutedpheny 1)-1,3 ,4-oxadiazol- 2-y 1)-2-( 4-substitutedphenylsulfonamido) alkanthioate were also synthesized using two different already reported methods (Schemes 1.11 and 1.12). Five N-substitutedpyrrolidin-2-ones were synthesized using a novel approach (Scheme 1.13). In this cyclization reaction polyphosphate ester (PPE) was used as dehydrating agent 4-Substituted-N-[ 4-(5-substitutedphenyl)-1 ,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)-phenyl]benzenesulfonamides and their counter part tertiary benzene-sulfonamides were also synthesized using a modified method in presence of triethylamine and 4-(N,N-dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP) (Scheme 1.14).

All the synthesized compounds were characterized using IR, 1H NMR and mass spectral data. In addition, elemental analysis/HRMS in many cases and 13C NMR in some cases were also employed to support the characterization. A plausible mass fragmentation pattern of some representative compounds is also suggested. Single X-ray crystallography was performed on seven selected crystalline compounds in order to establish the exact geometry and enantiomeric purity (in case of chiral compounds). Some of the .synthesized compounds were evaluated for their antibacterial, antifungal, anti-HIV, carbonic anhydrase inhibitoty, antimalarial and luciferase activities. Some of them were found active and showed interesting results in various studies mentioned above. These data in comparison with the standard drugs, is presented and discussed.


A Peer-to-Peer(P2P) network is the most popular technology in file sharing today. With the advent of various commercial and non-commercial applications like KaZaA, Gnutella, a P2P network has exercised its growth and popularity to the maximum. Every node (peer) in a P2P network acts as both a client and a server for other peers. A search in P2P network is performed as a query relayed between peers until the peer that contains the searched data is found. Huge data size, complex management requirements, dynamic network conditions and distributed systems are some of the difficult challenges a P2P system faces while performing a search. Moreover, a blind and uninformed search leads to performance degradation and wastage of resources. To address these weaknesses, techniques like Distributed Hash Table (DHT) has been proposed to place a tight constraint on the node placement. However, it does not considers semantic significance of the data. We propose a new peer to peer search protocol that identifies locality in a P2P network to mitigate the complexity in data searching. Locality is a logical semantic categorization of a group of peers sharing common data. With the help of locality information, our search model offers more informed and intelligent search for different queries. To evaluate the effectiveness of our model we propose a new P2P search protocol LocalChord. LocalChord relies on Chord and demonstrates potential of our proposed locality scheme by re-modelling Chord as a Chord of sub-chords.


The process of capturing and modelling buildings has gained increased focus in recent years with the rise of Building Information Modelling (BIM). At the heart of BIM is a process change for the construction and facilities management industries whereby a BIM aids more collaborative working through better information exchange, and as a part of the process Geomatic/Land Surveyors are not immune from the changes. Terrestrial laser scanning has been proscribed as the preferred method for rapidly capturing buildings for BIM geometry. This is a process change from a traditional measured building survey just with a total station and is aided by the increasing acceptance of point cloud data being integrated with parametric building models in BIM tools such as Autodesk Revit or Bentley Architecture. Pilot projects carried out previously by the authors to investigate the geometry capture and modelling of BIM confirmed the view of others that the process of data capture with static laser scan setups is slow and very involved requiring at least two people for efficiency. Indoor Mobile Mapping Systems (IMMS) present a possible solution to these issues especially in time saved. Therefore this paper investigates their application as a capture device for BIM geometry creation over traditional static methods through a fit-for-purpose test.


This thesis work aims to optimize the treatment of hydrocephalus. It consists of two distinct objectives: the optimization of the diagnosis of patients implanted with a shunt system for the derivation of cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) and the optimization of the treatment by a better understanding of the fluidic characteristics of shunts. The diagnosis optimization was addressed by a pressure sensor allowing for the measurement of the intra-cranial pressure (ICP). It has been characterized experimentally in vitro and in vivo in animals. The pressure sensor is integrated along a shunt system for the derivation of CSF and it can be interrogated by telemetry. The non-invasive access to the ICP will allow the physician to verify that the implantation of a shunt system has successfully restored a physiological ICP level. It will also provide a method to verify that the shunt is not blocked and fully functional. Simple mathematical models of the hydrodynamics of shunt systems used clinically are presented to address the second objective. These simple models are verified experimentally by characterizing the shunts on a setup developed for that purpose. This setup allows the characterization of non-bijective flow-pressure characteristics. The integration of mathematical models of shunt systems in a broader model describing the circulation of CSF in a patient implanted with a shunt will permit to predict the dynamics of the CSF circulation. It will also be a useful tool for shunt manufacturers to identify shunt characteristics critical to successfully restore a physiological condition after implantation. The results of this thesis work are presented in the form of an introduction, three scientific publications and a short conclusion. The motivations for the thesis work are presented in the introduction chapter along with background information about hydrocephalus and its treatment. A mathematical model describing the circulation of CSF is described in the same chapter. This model illustrates the interactions between the fluidic constituents of the cranial vault that lead to a physiological CSF circulation and ICP level. This model has been adapted to account for the implantation of a shunt system. The key technical characteristics of the pressure sensor are exposed in the subsequent section along with the experimental techniques and a short summary of the publications and patents. The pressure sensor is described in the first publication with a focus on the pressure transducer, the original sensor encapsulation technique, the electronics embedded in the sensor and the telemetry technique. A capacitive pressure transducer, which provides an accurate measurement of the absolute pressure, has been developed. The transducer technology guarantees a minimal drift of its characteristics with time. The design and the key manufacturing steps of the transducer are exposed. A hermetically closed capsule protects the sensor electronics. The effect of the packaging components and the assembly techniques on the sensor characteristics are analyzed. An analysis of the water diffusion through the walls of the capsule is presented since resistance to water permeation is a critical characteristics of the packaging. Minimal drift with time can only be achieved if the atmosphere in the capsule is extremely stable. The packaging provides a barrier to water diffusion in order to keep a constant low humidity level in the sensor. The telemetric link between the sensor and the external reading unit is provided by an inductive coupling between two loop antennas. The coupling allows the simultaneous transmission of power to the sensor and of the pressure data to the external unit. The fundamental characteristics of the telemetric link are described. The interfacing electronic components are integrated in an ASIC that consumes a minimal amount of energy. Lastly, the experimental characterization of the accuracy of the sensor and its thermal stability are presented. The second publication is focused on the in vivo characterization of the pressure sensor in animals. An animal model of hydrocephalus has been developed in order to characterize the correlation between the pressure measured by the sensor integrated into a shunt system and a reference provided by a direct measurement of the ICP in the ventricles of the brain. Hydrocephalus was induced in dogs by injection of kaolin and glue in the cisterna magna. The time course of hydrocephalus induction was followed by the measurement of the size of the ventricles by an ultrasonic imaging technique. Approximately 50 days after the injection of kaolin and glue, a shunt system integrating a pressure sensor was implanted between the brain ventricles and the peritoneum. A reference pressure sensor was also implanted in the ventricles. The pressure was then measured for up to 48 hours. The correlation between the pressure in the shunt and the intra-ventricular pressure is documented in the publication. The advantages associated with the measurement of the pressure in the shunt versus an intra-ventricular measurement technique are discussed and the pressure sensor is compared with other published sensors. The third publication describes three commonly used shunt systems by simple hydrodynamic mathematical models. A setup allowing the characterization of shunt systems having a non-bijective pressure-flow characteristics is presented. The experimental characteristics of the three shunt systems is compared to the theoretical models. The "pressure-controlled" and "flow-controlled" terminologies, which are frequently used in the clinical field, are discussed in the context of the hydrodynamic characteristics of shunts. Four patent applications have been submitted in the course of this thesis work. The three first applications have been granted, and the last one is filed. The first patent protects the pressure sensor encapsulation technique. The second patent protects the concept of a shunt system allowing the non-invasive adjustment of the resistance of the shunt valve. This concept has been developed as a result of the analysis of the critical parameters to successfully restore a physiological ICP level by the mathematical model of the CSF circulation. The third patent protects the use of the pressure sensor packaging technique for a flow sensor integrated in the shunt system. The last application protects the mechanism that regulates the power of the radio-frequency wave emitted by the external reading unit on the basis of the voltage induced in the sensor. The last chapter, entitled "Conclusion and Perspectives" summarizes the outcome of this thesis work in reference to the optimization of the treatment of hydrocephalus. This work laid the foundation for the use of the sensor in humans through a clinical study. The ICP data gathered during such a study would then allow the validation of the mathematical model of CSF circulation presented in this thesis.


Introduction Tendinopathy manifests as activity-related tendon pain with associated motor and sensory impairments. Tendon tissue changes in animals present in injured as well as contralateral non-injured tendon. This review investigated evidence for bilateral sensory and motor system involvement in unilateral tendinopathy in humans. Methods A comprehensive search of electronic databases, and reference lists using keywords relating to bilateral outcomes in unilateral tendinopathy was undertaken. Study quality was rated with the Epidemiological Appraisal Instrument and meta-analyses carried out where appropriate. Analysis focused on comparison of measures in the non-symptomatic side of patients against pain-free controls. Results The search revealed 5791 studies, of which 20 were included (117 detailed reviews, 25 met criteria). There were 17 studies of lateral epicondylalgia (LE) and one each for patellar, Achilles and rotator cuff tendinopathy. Studies of LE were available for meta-analysis revealing the following weighted pooled mean deficits: pressure pain thresholds (−144.3 kPa; 95% CI −169.2 to −119.2 p<0.001), heat pain thresholds (−1.2°C; 95% CI −2.1 to −0.2, p<0.001), cold pain thresholds (3.1°C; 95% CI 1.8 to 4.4, p<0.001) and reaction time (37.8 ms; 95% CI 24.8 to 50.7, p<0.001). Discussion Deficits in sensory and motor systems present bilaterally in unilateral tendinopathy. This implies potential central nervous system involvement. This indicates that rehabilitation should consider the contralateral side of patients. Research of unilateral tendinopathy needs to consider comparison against pain-free controls in addition to the contralateral side to gain a complete understanding of sensory and motor features.


In selection procedures like assessment centers (ACs) and structured interviews, candidates are often not informed about the targeted criteria. Previous studies have shown that candidates' ability to identify these criteria (ATIC) is related to their performance in the respective selection procedure. However, past research has studied ATIC in only one selection procedure at a time, even though it has been assumed that ATIC is consistent across situations, which is a prerequisite for ATIC to contribute to selection procedures' criterion-related validity. In this study, 95 candidates participated in an AC and a structured interview. ATIC scores showed cross-situational consistency across the two procedures and accounted for part of the relationship between performance in the selection procedures. Furthermore, ATIC scores in one procedure predicted performance in the other procedure even after controlling for cognitive ability. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.


In this paper we study the problem of estimating conditional probability distributions for structured output prediction tasks in Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces. More specifically, we prove decomposition results for undirected graphical models, give constructions for kernels, and show connections to Gaussian Process classification. Finally we present efficient means of solving the optimization problem and apply this to label sequence learning. Experiments on named entity recognition and pitch accent prediction tasks demonstrate the competitiveness of our approach.


We address the causes, consequences, and implications of the cross-border consolidation of financial institutions by reviewing several hundred studies, providing comparative international data, and estimating cross-border banking efficiency in France, Germany, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S. during the 1990s. We find that, on average, domestic banks have higher profit efficiency than foreign banks. However, banks from at least one country (the U.S.) appear to operate with relatively high efficiency both at home and abroad. If these results continue to hold, they do not preclude successful international expansion by some financial firms, but they do suggest limits to global consolidation.


What I share here is not directly a report on the North American Gospel and Our Culture Network (GOCN) and its activities. Some of the details of the network's activities are tucked in here and there. However, a strictly organizational report would mask the fact that what we do as network is only a small slice of what we do in our congregations, ecclesial streams and tangible contexts. There are many discernible signs that there has come to be a far-reaching ferment on the issues with which we are dealing. In a quiet but deeply-rooted way, something like a movement has been emerging that is in part spawned, stirred, and illumined by collaborative efforts within this GOCN network. The stated purposes of the network have been, "to provide useful research regarding the encounter between the gospel and our culture", and "to encourage local action for transformation in the life and witness of the church." Pursuing those goals together, we have come to know and value the synergy of making common cause, and we have fashioned work patterns that, i) bring face to face the diversities of our ecclesial traditions, ii) sustain a critical dialogue between theological and social scientific approaches, and iii) engage the stubborn frictions between academicians and practitioners. In order to depict the character and trajectory of the GOCN in North America, and in the course of that to give some indication of how we read our context and what we discern our vocation of the moment to be, I will describe something of the basic vision we have been following and the ground from which it arises. This will be my own rendering of it, but I believe it is a rendering shaped by what I have learned from colleagues and what I experience them to be seeing and pursuing. Each of them would undoubtedly have other ways of putting it, but from the place I have been privileged to inhabit at the intersection of visions, I offer this brief sketch to suggest what lies at the heart of the movement. 1. The churches of North America are experiencing a two-sided identity crisis It is well documented that two things have become true of the churches of North America. On the one hand, we are largely accommodated to the culture of which we are a part, and we live largely in terms of its most basic assumptions and values. Lesslie Newbigin has demonstrated this with respect to the undercurrents of the facts-values, and public-private dichotomies in Western culture generally. (1) Stanley Hauerwas and Will Willimon have observed, that the churches' "primary social task is to underwrite American Democracy", and that they tend to operate as though they have "no fundamental quarrel with the powers-that-be". (2) The churches have, to use Newbigin's terms, accepted relegation to the private realm, and in the process have become voluntary societies for the nurture of a private faith option. The churches have also, to use the terms of Hauerwas and Willimon, accepted the role of a religious civic club, and now run errands for America and, in the process, confuse citizenship and discipleship. To this we may add another of the forms of the churches' accommodation, viz. the way in which they have been pressed into an "economic" mold. David Bosch observed (in lectures a year before his death) that Reformational churches have inherited from the Reformers and their creeds a notion of the church that, if unintended, has nonetheless proven to be powerful. The church, it has come to be assumed, is "a place where certain things happen" (i.e. the right preaching of the gospel, the right administration of the sacraments, the exercise of church discipline). In this century, he said, we have reclaimed the biblical notion that the church is "a body of people sent on a mission." Bosch's assessment about this recovery is certainly true of global theorizing but not of the local structuring of the congregations of North America. I suggest that we have maintained the "place where" notion and extended it to its distinctive American form. …


We provide a geomorphological analysis of a glacial valley on Mount Pelister, in Macedonia. Three boulders from a frontal moraine were dated with the cosmogenic nuclide isotope 10Be. The results demonstrate that the boulders have been exposed since 15.24 ± 0.85 ka. This age constrains the formation of the frontal moraine to the Oldest Dryas cold event. This age fits with that of other glacier deposits dated to the Older Dryas in the Alps, Balkans, Carpathians and Turkish mountains. The Pelister palaeoglacier has been reconstructed and its equilibrium line altitude extracted, returning a value of 2250 m a.s.l. This is in good agreement with the equilibrium line altitudes of most other reconstructed glaciers of the same age in the circum-Mediterranean mountains, demonstrating a comparable response to the Oldest Dryas event. Other palaeoenvironmental records near the Pelister mountain indicate that the Older Dryas was here characterized by a cold and remarkably dry event. The temporal relationship between Older Dryas glacier advances in the Balkan region and recorded changes in the Atlantic thermohaline circulation during the Laurentide Ice Sheet massive ice discharge (H1 event) confirms the strong climatic link between the pan-Mediterranean regions and the North Atlantic Ocean. Supplementary material: Geochemical laboratory results are available at http://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3830254


OBJECTIVES
The Broselow pediatric emergency weight estimation tape is an accurate method of estimating children's weights based on height-weight correlations and determining standardized medication dosages and equipment sizes using color-coded zones. The study objective was to determine the accuracy of the Broselow tape in the Indian pediatric population.

METHODS
The authors conducted a 6-week prospective cross-sectional study of 548 children at a government pediatric hospital in Chennai, India, in three weight-based groups: < 10 kg (n = 175), 10-18 kg (n = 197), and > 18 kg (n = 176). Measured weight was compared to Broselow-predicted weight, and the percentage difference was calculated. Accuracy was defined as agreement on Broselow color-coded zones, as well as agreement within 10% between the measured and Broselow-predicted weights. A cross-validated correction factor was also derived.

RESULTS
The mean percentage differences were -2.4, -11.3, and -12.9% for each weight-based group. The Broselow color-coded zone agreement was 70.8% in children weighing less than 10 kg, but only 56.3% in the 10- to 18-kg group and 37.5% in the > 18-kg group. Agreement within 10% was 52.6% for the < 10-kg group, but only 44.7% for the 10- to 18-kg group and 33.5% for the > 18-kg group. Application of a 10% weight-correction factor improved the percentages to 77.1% for the 10- to 18-kg group and 63.0% for the >18-kg group.

CONCLUSIONS
The Broselow tape overestimates weight by more than 10% in Indian children > 10 kg. Weight overestimation increases the risk of medical errors due to incorrect dosing or equipment selection. Applying a 10% weight-correction factor may be advisable.


A survey of conservation reserves, rainforest remnants and agricultural districts in northeastern New South Wales was conducted to determine the abundance, movements and habitat requirements of rainforest pigeons, to evaluate the extent and use of suitable habitat in conservation reserves, and to provide guidelines for the conservation and management of rainforest pigeons. Eight species of rainforest pigeon occur in northeastern New South Wales. Commencing with the clearing of rainforest in the 1860s for agriculture, rainforest pigeons declined in abundance throughout New South Wales and by the 1970s five species were thought to be threatened in the state. Since then, rainforest pigeons have apparently increased in abundance and distribution, but the Wompoo, Rose-crowned and Superb Pigeons continue to be listed by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service as vulnerable and rare. However, populations of all species of rainforest pigeons in New South Wales are relatively small and vulnerable to further loss of habitat. Most rainforest pigeons show a preference for subtropical rainforest habitat, but moist eucalypt forests, gardens and weedy exotic vegetation along roads and on abandoned farmland are also frequented to varying degrees by different species. To investigate recent trends in pigeon abundance we used data collected for up to 12 years from eight sites and during 1988, 1989 and 1990 from 17 rainforest remnants in northeastern New South Wales. The data suggest that rainforest pigeons now occur more frequently in lowland agricultural areas than in the recent past and tend to confirm an increase in abundance since the 1970s. Nesting and foraging habitats for rainforest pigeons are extensive in the conservation reserve system of northeastern New South Wales, but these habitats, which are largely at high elevations, lack winter food resources. Instead, pigeons congregate in remnant rainforest and exotic berry-bearing trees and shrubs in agricultural areas at lower elevations and near the coast. They rely on these habitats for food during winter and it is the restricted extent of this habitat that probably limits their abundance, not the area or quality of habitat at higher elevations. The conservation and management of rainforest pigeons requires the protection of low elevation and coastal rainforest remnants. As development of northeastern New South Wales proceeds, to avoid a decline in the abundances of rainforest pigeons it will be necessary to protect sclerophyll forest with native or exotic fruit bearing trees and shrubs and to extend the area of suitable habitat by the regeneration of rainforest and by the planting of native species used by pigeons as a food source. This will become increasingly important as the control and removal of exotic plants, such as Lantana Lantana camara and Camphor Laurel Cinnamonum camphora, on which some pigeons depend as a winter food source, becomes more successful.


The purpose of this work is to estimate the density and the population size of four primate species [Alouatta clamitans Cabrera, 1940; Callicebus nigrifrons (Spix, 1823); Callithrix aurita (E. Geoffroy, 1812); Cebus nigritus (Goldfuss, 1809)] which occur in a fragment of Atlantic forest of approximately 350 hectares located in Pouso Alegre, state of Minas Gerais, as well as to give subsidies for the conservation of those species in the area. The population surveying was carried out through the distance sampling method in linear transects (Distance Sampling). Data were collected between April and August 2008 from four transects deployed in the study area. The density and population size were calculated using the software Distance 5.0 and were estimated in 23,83 ± 9,78 ind./km² for Callicebus nigrifrons, 14,76 ± 5,92 ind./km² for Callithrix aurita and 7,71 ± 2,13 ind./km² for Cebus nigritus. The population size was estimated in 83,0 ± 34,0 individuals for C. nigrifrons, 52,0 ± 20,8 individuals for Callithrix aurita and 27,0 ± 7,4 individuals for Cebus nigritus. With regard to the howler monkey (A. clamitans), it was stated out that just a group with six individuals survive in the area. In conclusion, the chances for these isolated populations to survive are slim due to the risk of stochastic events. The creation of ecological corridors connecting the study area to the other fragments, besides the translocation of individuals from other areas of the Atlantic forest to this region, could provide alternatives to ensure the viability of these populations in a long-term. Therefore, it is necessary to consolidate public policies in Pouso Alegre that lead to the creation, enlargement and management of conservation units and incentives for the adoption of productive practices based on sustainability in these areas of ecological interest.


We evaluate different approaches for using monthly indicators to predict Chinese GDP for the current and the next quarter ('nowcasts' and 'forecasts', respectively). We use three types of mixed-frequency models, one based on an economic activity indicator (Liu et al., 2007), one based on averaging over indicator models (Stock and Watson, 2004), and a static factor model (Stock and Watson, 2002). Evaluating all models' out-of-sample projections, we find that all the approaches can yield considerable improvements over naive AR benchmarks. We also analyze pooling across forecasting methodologies. We find that the most accurate nowcast is given by a combination of a factor model and an indicator model. The most accurate forecast is given by a factor model. Overall, we conclude that these models, or combinations of these models, can yield improvements in terms of RMSE's of up to 60 per cent over simple AR benchmarks.


As the roll-out of antiretrovirals (ARVs) to people living with HIV / AIDS (PLWHA) continues to increase in South Africa, so too does the need to integrate mental health services into HIV care. In this editorial, we argue that the role of mental health in ARV programmes is central. The prevalence of mental disorders in PLWHA is higher than in the general population, and the impact of these conditions is substantial. Screening tools for mental disorders are both available and feasible. These should be incorporated into routine ARV care, with support from dedicated HIV mental health services.


The effect of aerosol water uptake on the aerosol particle light scattering coefficient ( σsp) is described in this study by comparing measurements from five European sites: the Jungfraujoch, located in the Swiss Alps at 3580 m a.s.l.; Ny-Ålesund, located on Spitsbergen in the Arctic; Mace Head, a coastal site in Ireland; Cabauw, a rural site in the Netherlands; and Melpitz, a regional background site in Eastern Germany. These sites were selected according to the aerosol type usually encountered at that location. The scattering enhancement factor f (RH, λ) is the key parameter to describe the effect of water uptake on the particle light scattering. It is defined as the σsp(RH) at a certain relative humidity (RH) and wavelengthλ divided by its dry value.f (RH) at the five sites varied widely, starting at very low values of f (RH= 85 %,λ = 550 nm) around 1.28 for mineral dust, and reaching up to 3.41 for Arctic aerosol. Hysteresis behavior was observed at all sites except at the Jungfraujoch (due to the absence of sea salt). Closure studies and Mie simulations showed that both size and chemical composition determine the magnitude of f (RH). Both parameters are also needed to successfully predict f (RH). Finally, the measurement results were compared to the widely used aerosol model, OPAC ( Hess et al. , 1998). Significant discrepancies were seen, especially at intermediate RH ranges; these were mainly attributed to inappropriate implementation of hygroscopic growth in the OPAC model. Replacement of the hygroscopic growth with values from the recent literature resulted in a clear improvement of the OPAC model.


ABSTRACT Background Argumentation, that is the coordination of evidence and reasons to support claims, is an important skill for democratic society, developing subject-specific literacies, and can be embedded in multiple school subjects. While argumentation has been extensively researched in science education, interdisciplinary argumentation is less explored, particularly between subjects where collaboration is not the norm, such as science and religious education (RE). Yet everyday issues often involve considering information from multiple sources, such as scientific information or ethical, moral, or religious perspectives. Purpose The purpose of this study was to better understand students' abilities in argumentation within and across the school subjects of science and RE to inform research and practice of interdisciplinary argumentation. Sample The participants of this study were 457 students, aged between 11 and 14 years, from 10 secondary schools in England. Following data cleaning, 394 student responses were analysed. Design and Methods Students completed simultaneous written assessments for argumentation in three tasks which are situated within three different subject contexts: (1) science (2) RE, and (3) an interdisciplinary context which involved argumentation from science and RE. Results In each of the three contexts, high proportions of students achieve all available marks for identifying claims and evidence. These proportions drop when constructing the link between claim and evidence (warrant) and constructing an evaluative argument. Higher performances were generally noted in the context of science and that students experience particular challenges in argumentation in the RE scenario. Conclusions This study contributes to our understanding of the challenges and successes of students' argumentation within and across the subjects of science and RE. Implications for both research and practice are discussed.


Pompeu Fabra (1868-1948) is renowned as the person who reformed and codified modern Catalan, giving it the condition of a normativised language of culture that proved fit to meet all the challenges of the twentieth century. The context in which he worked was defined by the ideology and momentum of a dynamic Catalan nationalism emerging out of the nineteenth-century cultural revival movement, energies which have continued to affect politics in the Spanish state through to the present. The imposing corpus of Fabra's writings —newspaper articles, lectures and papers, various grammars and the redaction of the official dictionary of Catalan— covered all aspects of the normativisation and the social normalisation of a rejuvenated national language. His work was, moreover, abreast of the most advanced developments in the newly emerging discipline of modern linguistics.The present volume was conceived in response to expressions of disappointment that the figure and the intellectual contributions of Pompeu Fabra have remained virtually unrecognised internationally. Some rectification of this situation is offered by this first ever translation into English of a representative selection of his writings, accompanied by the first substantial study on him in that language. In this way his work should be made much more accessible to the international community of linguists and of specialists in various branches of the social sciences, for whom Fabra's exclusive dedication to Catalan retains great relevance.


Identification of nonlinear systems is a problem with many facets and roots in several diverse fields. It is not possible to survey the area in a short text. The current presentation gives a subjective view on some essential features in the area. These concern a classification of methods, the use of physical insight in models, and some overall issues like bias-variance trade-off. It is also discussed how the methods can be made available in software packages.


This paper demonstrates how designers can enrich user experiences by purposefully involving negative emotions in user-product interaction. This approach is derived from a framework of rich experience, which explains how and under what circumstances negative emotions make a product experience richer and enjoyable. The approach consists of three steps, where the designer decides 1) which negative emotion is most appropriate for the user context; 2) how and when this emotion is best elicited; and 3) which protective frame is most appropriate to use and in what way it is applied to the product concept. Ten experience qualities were developed that offer prefabricated combinations of these steps, which are intended to lower the threshold of using the approach. The steps for these qualities are described, and each is briefly discussed. Lastly, the applicability of the approach in design is demonstrated by showing six examples of how the qualities have been used to generate concrete product concepts. Reflecting on the approach, we conclude that negative emotions are a viable and interesting starting point for creating emotionally rich product experiences.


The objective of this essay is to investigate the public function of Christian theology in the (politico-theological writings and hermeneutics of James H. Cone. It is also to articulate a critique of white American theology. In Cone's work, Christian theology is expressed as a public discourse and testimony of God's continuing emancipative movements and empowering presence in society with the goal (1) to set the oppressed and the vulnerable free, (2) to readjust the things of the world toward divine justice and peace, and (3) to bring healing and restoration to the places in which volitional (human) agents have inflicted pain, suffering, oppression, and all forms of evil. This essay is an attempt to imagine creatively with new hermeneutical lenses and approaches—anti-imperial, liberative, and postcolonial—the task of Christian theology as public witness to carry out the emancipative agenda and reconciling mission (salvation, healing, hospitality, wholeness, reconciliation, and peace) of God in contemporary societies and in our postcolonial moments. The basic argument of this essay is twofold. First, it contends for the essential role of liberation theology as a public witness in redefining Christian theology in general. Rather than being a "special interest" or merely political theme in theology, it suggests that black liberation theology has a special role to play in "freeing" Christian theology from racism, oppression, and imperialism. Second, by promoting some new understanding of Cone's work and applying it in some new context, this article is deploying Cone's public theology to critique or awaken dominant white theology to a new way of thinking about the whole field of theology in the 21 st century.


A set of strong-field Maxwell–Bloch equations is derived for a multimode, standing-wave, homogeneously broadened laser such as a dye laser, which obeys the atomic rate-equation limit. Numerical solutions show that the energy in the cavity oscillates between the field and the gain medium at multiples of the cavity mode spacing. By using these Maxwell–Bloch equations, intensity autocorrelation functions of a dye-laser system under varying conditions are calculated. We find that the numerical results qualitatively agree with recent experimental data.


Time-optimal path following considers the problem of moving along a predetermined geometric path in minimum time. In the case of a robotic manipulator with simplified constraints, a convex reformulation of this optimal control problem has been derived previously. However, many applications in robotics feature constraints such as velocity-dependent torque constraints or torque rate constraints that destroy the convexity. The present paper proposes an efficient sequential convex programming (SCP) approach to solve the corresponding nonconvex optimal control problems by writing the nonconvex constraints as a difference of convex (DC) functions, resulting in convex-concave constraints. We consider seven practical applications that fit into the proposed framework even when mutually combined, illustrating the flexibility and practicality of the proposed framework. Furthermore, numerical simulations for some typical applications illustrate the fast convergence of the proposed method in only a few SCP iterations, confirming the efficiency of the proposed framework.


Abstract:  Craft  Skills  Learning  Through  an  Approach  that  Empowers  Local Crafts. Craft skills education equips students with practices aiming  to make them possess  skills  through  appreciation  and  creativity  activities  to  produce  craft products  so  that  they  acquire  life  skills.  Such  learning  should  give  them  actual learning  experiences.  It  can  be  carried  out  by  selecting  traditional  crafts  in  a particular region and modifying them into modern crafts developed in accordance with  the  students'  and  society's needs.  It can be conducted by means of  the OIA (Observe,  Imitate,  and Add) method  to make  the  students  acquire  art  and  craft skills. Craft  skills education should employ  the contextual approach  so  that what happens  in  the  learning process at school  is  identical  to what exists  in society. An important point that teachers should note is how they can play roles as facilitators and  totivators  for  their students,  so  that  the students' competence can develop  to the maximum.  Keywords:  craft learning, art potential learning


This paper empirically examines the impact of Japan's debt forbearance policies with regard to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) stipulated in the "Act concerning Temporary Measures to Facilitate Financing for SMEs." Using unique Japanese firm survey data that identify firms that received "financing" (such as through the deferral of debt repayments) and firms that received "debt forgiveness" (such as through a reduction in principal and/or interest), we examine the determinants and the effects of debt forbearance to test the theoretical predictions of Krugman's (1988) "financing vs. forgiving a debt overhang" analysis. We find, first, that banks choose debt forgiveness for firms that are more creditworthy and more profitable, which is consistent with the theory of debt overhang. Second, among firms that received debt forbearance, those that had received debt forgiveness had better access to new loans and showed superior ex-post performance than those that received financing, which is also consistent with the theory of debt overhang. Third, compared to firms that had not received any debt forbearance, firms that had received financing were more leveraged and exhibited worse performance, especially those whose forborne loans were covered by public credit guarantees, while firms that had received debt forgiveness exhibited better performance, especially those without public credit guarantees. This suggests that the effectiveness of the SME forbearance policy is adversely affected by the moral hazard generated by public credit guarantee programs.


Bentonite from the 'Bogovina' coal mine in Serbia, was characterized. The influence of acid treatment on its composition, as well as mathematical descriptions of this influence are reported. The purpose of this work was to correlate the concentration of the acid used for the treatment with the resulting bentonite composition. X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy and quantitative chemical analysis were employed to define the changes caused by acid treatment.The contents of all the cations, except Si, decreased exponentially with increasing concentration of the HCl used for the treatment of the bentonite. This approach was tested on previously published data and was shown to be valid.The basal reflections of smectite decreased gradually and eventually disappeared after intense treatment, while the other reflections remained in the XRD patterns of all the samples, but decreased slightly with increasing acid strength. In addition, the amount of X-ray amorphous matter formed increased rapidly with increasing acid concentration up to 4.5 M. With further increase in the acid strength, the amount of X-ray amorphous matter remained virtually constant.


A protein that holds DNA together is also needed to break it apart. Chad Ellermeier and Gerald Smith (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA) show that the DNA glue cohesin regulates meiotic double-strand break (DSB) formation and recombination in fission yeast.

The cohesins that hold sister chromatids together during meiosis, called Rec8 and Rec11, are early arrivals on chromosomes during premeiotic replication. They provide a binding site for Rec10, which is a main component of linear elements—fission yeast's version of synaptonemal complexes.

Ellermeier and Smith found that deletion of Rec8 and Rec11 caused region-specific decreases in DSB formation and recombination. Loss of Rec10 blocked breakage and recombination throughout the genome. The team thinks the widespread problems in Rec10 occur because it must be present to bring in the enzyme that actually clips the DNA, called Rec12. Rec8 and Rec11, by contrast, are not evenly distributed over the meiotic chromosomes, and thus their absence only causes intermittent problems.

"It is surprising that cohesins, which hold sister chromatids together, are so important in recombination," says Smith, "because cross-overs occur between homologues." But the ordered loading process explains the puzzle. Cohesins are the first to load onto the meiotic chromosomes and must be there for the rest of the events to follow.

Reference:

Ellermeier, C., and G.R. Smith. 2005. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. doi:10.1073pnas.0504805102. [PMC free article] [PubMed]


John Neal and Nineteenth-Century American Literature and Culture. Edited by Edward Watts and David J. Carlson. (Lanham, MD: Bucknell University Press, 2012. Pp. 319. Hardcover, $84.99.)Reviewed by Sari AltschulerThe John Neal novel that sits in my office is representatively disorienting. This edition ?? Rachel Dyer (1828), proclaimed a "literary classic" by its 1990s publishers, was nonetheless shelved as young adult fiction by the library that recently deacquisitioned it. Declared an antecedent to The Scarlet Letter (though largely superficially), the volume reveals the anxieties about its seriousness, originality, historical significance, and, most confusingly, genre that have long plagued Neal's critical legacy.Edward Watts and David Carlson's collection, John Neal and Nineteenth-Century American Literature and Culture, does much to counter these concerns and reestablish Neal's role as a central literary figure from the middle fifty years of the nineteenth century. By treating Neal as a serious object of study worthy of an essay collection and approaching an array of Neal's work from a wide variety of historical, aesthetic, and political angles, Watts and Carlson bring necessary attention to a lamentably marginalized figure. The volume is dynamic, expansive, and heartening; it hopefully heralds the further reconsideration of a number of popular, noncanonical figures - not only the now recognizable Robert Montgomery Bird and George Lippard but also less studied writers such as Sally Wood, Isaac Mitchell, and Ned Buntline.Until John Neal, scholarship on the author was sparse. Two biographies appeared in the 1970s, and 1980s scholarship treated Neal largely for his role in bridging early national and American Renaissance literature. Recently, scholars like Teresa Goddu, Dana Nelson, and Karen Weyler have moved Neal to a more central role in their considerations of the period. This laudable volume is the first sustained look at John Neal in this century.The collection proceeds largely chronologically with groups of essays that illuminate various angles of Neal's aesthetics and politics. Matthew Pethers's opening essay tackles Neal's fraught relationship to an emergent literary nationalism and longstanding early republican concerns about literary origins and originality. Jeffrey Insko, Jorg Thomas Richter, and Francesca Orestano expand the discussion of Neal's aesthetics in his prose, poetry, and art criticism. Together these essays do much to engage the generic and structural messiness of Neal's writing, productively recuperating it from disparaging critiques of Neal's aesthetics. Maya Merlob and Kerin Holt examine Neal in terms of broader shifts in the development of American genres; Merlob casts Neal's sprawling style as a commercialized, "Yankee" romanticism, while Holt limns Neal's turn toward a northern regionalism, picking up the nationalist questions raised by Pethers's essay.Matthew Wynn Sivils and Edward Watts reconsider Neal's approach to the frontier and Native Americans, reviving Neal as a humane and progressive political voice for the antebellum era. Sivils does so by putting Neal into conversation with James Fenimore Cooper to expose the haunted landscapes of Jacksonian literature, while Watts shows Neal "refut[ing] popular literature's divisive and destructive insistence on the frontiersman and the Indian as implacable enemies" through his essay's excellent discussion of the trope of the Indian Hater (209). David Carlson turns these discussions of Neal's novel attack on settler-Indian tropes toward their legal instantiations, exploring Rachel Dyer as an "assault on the concept of precedent" (160). Karen Weyler and Fritz Fleishmann's essays productively shift the discussion of Neal's progressive politics toward gender, with Weyler advocating for Neal as a key early feminist writer and Fleishmann asking how Neal's "male feminism . . . might affect the daily practice of masculinity" (248). …


Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS) is characterized by cyclical intractable nausea and vomiting in chronic cannabis users. These symptoms are pathognomonically relieved by hot showers and baths. In spite of the recognized antiemetic properties of cannabis, a paradoxical effect of hyperemesis is described in CHS. The present case is that of a 29-year-old, 15-week pregnant woman who presented with symptoms suggestive of Cannabis induced panic disorder and Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome. The patient was stabilized symptomatically with intravenous fluids, antiemetics and later set up on long-term drug rehabilitation. The case highlights the need for clinicians to recognize symptoms of CHS in pregnant women in whom these symptoms may resemble other diagnoses. The incidence of Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome is projected to increase with the rise in marijuana use and legislative attempts to decriminalize recreational marijuana.


Economic slowdown and downturn creates new situation for every organisation, no one can avoid facing to new situation created by the global financial-, and economic crisis. All of the organisational function should reconsider its own role within the company due to the new circumstances, Accounting and Mangement Accounting can not be exception, but they have more complex and emphasized role in these difficult times. In the following paper I can not avoid to mention some general statement about importance of accounting and accounting principles, while there are a number of critical accounting and financial reporting issues that accountants and auditors should consider. In the framework of the paper I can not face with all relevant issues of the topic, but after some general statement I would like to highlight some special area regarding to management accounting, which can be more important during these challenging time for decision makers and accountants. Regarding to balance sheet analysis its important to mention current debate about fair value comparing with historical cost from accounting point of view, on the other hand from the view of management reporting system I would like to highlight the importance of working-capital indicators. More practical topic is the crucial role of budgeting and forecasting during economic downturns, and at the end I would like to show why it is more important monitoring price variance and indirect cost allocation in these uncertain business circumstances.


In recent years, mobile applications (mobile apps) have gained widespread acceptance. Mobile apps services have effectively encircled most of the human activities, with the purpose of improving the living standard of the entire public. The adoption and diffusion of a mobile app are influenced by its characteristics. This study examines the adoption and diffusion of mobile commerce among the people living in a remote area of South Africa to determine the relationship between the characteristics of innovations and the adopters' attitudes. Through a survey that used diffusion of innovation as the basic framework, the opinions of the participants living in Mbongolwane in the Uthungulu District Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa were gathered. A total of 120 out of 300 questionnaires distributed, were returned, giving a response rate of 40%. It was found that the perceived attitudes of the rural dwellers are closely related to the characteristic of innovations as well as the adoption of mobile commerce. Also, the findings indicate that though the people are very keen to receive a new technological invention, they are still late adopters. This research work offers a support in improving the adoption and diffusion of mobile apps among the rural inhabitants.


Get internal communications right in your organization and the benefits are clear. Motivated staff, better financial performance, a strong external reputation and delighted customers are just a few of the reasons why getting your message over to staff effectively matters.Internal Communications explores what good practice in internal communications looks like, providing a no-nonsense approach to devising an internal communications strategy based on the authors' extensive experiences as consultants and in-house leaders in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. It provides a step-by-step guide to:

 -Building an internal communications team and plan
 -Devising messages and deciding which channels to use
 -Working with line managers and senior leaders
 -Researching and evaluating internal communications
 -Supporting change within an organization

 Supported by easy to follow models, example explanations of the core theory, and case studies, Internal Communications provides students and internal communicators alike with the practical tools and advice they need to make a difference in an organization.


This article describes a collaborative three-year research project that focused on nurses' experiences of a learning environment as they participated in an Internet-based cardiac nursing program. In addition to gathering data about the general appropriateness of the learning environment in a specialty content area, the study examined the environment's facilitation of online scholarly discourse about cardiac nursing. Scholarly discourse is characterized by evolution over time of communication by and among learners, inclusion of references to relevant nursing literature, and the practice of writing conventions appropriate to the discipline. Guided by professorial and other learner supports, it is the foundation of theory-guided, evidence-based practice for registered nurses. The data reflects the study's consideration of online scholarly discourse derived from the nurses' contributions to an online discussion forum. Research partners included Laurentian University's Centre for Continuing Education and School of Nursing, the Sudbury Regional Hospital (SRH), and the Office of Learning Technologies (OLT). The project was funded by the Office of Learning Technologies.


Abstract I argue for a perfectionist reading of Mill's account of the good life, by using the failures of development recorded in his Autobiography as a way to understand his official account of happiness in Utilitarianism. This work offers both a new perspective on Mill's thought, and a distinctive account of the role of aesthetic and emotional capacities in the most choiceworthy human life. I consider the philosophical purposes of autobiography, Mill's disagreements with Bentham, and the nature of competent judges and the pleasure they take in higher culture. I conclude that Millian perfectionism is an attractive and underappreciated option for contemporary value theory.


This book promotes good risk governance and risk management practices to corporate managers, executives, and directors wherever they operate around the world. The major corporate scandals have their roots in governance failure pointing to the link between risk governance and good performance outcomes. This topic is timely and of interest both to the academic community as well as to practicing managers, executives, and directors. The volume focuses on contemporary risk leadership issues based on recent research insights but avoids excessive technical language and mathematical formulas. The book is framed around the challenges imposed on executives and directors in dealing with an increasingly complex and unpredictable world. This requires a new risk leadership focus that not only avoids the downside risks but also considers ways to exploit the upside potential offered by a dynamic environment. The underlying logic is built on the principles of financial economics where benefits derive from reducing bankruptcy costs and increasing future cash inflows. This provides a stringent framework for analyzing the effect of different risk management actions and behaviors in effective risk-taking organizations. Hence, the book addresses the potential for upside gains as much as the threats of downside losses that represent the conventional risk perspectives. It states the simple fact that you must be willing to take risk to increase strategic responsiveness and corporate manoeuverability. The text builds the arguments in logical steps explicating relevant techniques and practices along the way that invite to immediate applications and practical thinking


This article introduces performativity and processes of place-making into discussions about middle-class residents' place attachments. It draws on interviews with middle-class residents in two different London neighbourhoods, Peckham (inner urban, socially mixed) and West Horsley and Effingham (commuter belt villages), to argue that (1) the practice of place is key to understanding middle-class claims to belonging; and (2) ways of 'doing' neighbourhood must be understood within the context of other circulating representations. While respondents in Peckham work with or against prevailing discourses about their neighbourhood as they perform place, in the commuter belt, residents strive to uphold the image of their village as the rural idyll, a classed and racialised vision. The contrast between the inner city and commuter belt reveals the different performative registers through which place is practised; while in Peckham middle-class residents invest in processes of place-making, respondents in the commuter belt engage instead in active processes of place maintenance.


Russula khanchanjungae and R. tsokae are described as new to science from subtropical to temperate forests of Sikkim Himalaya. R. griseocarnosa, recently described from China, is reported for the first time from India where it appears to be equally associated with Lithocarpus (Fagaceae). Macro- and micromorphological characters of all taxa are illustrated and their systematic placement and relations to other species are discussed.


The study was conducted to know the pollution status of upper stretch of Hindon River and its temporal changes over monsoon, post-monsoon and pre-monsoon seasons due to change of physiochemical parameters during the period June 2011 to May 2012. The upper stretch of the river receives large amount of untreated domestic discharge, agricultural runoff and industrial effluents and now considered to be the toilet bowl of western Uttar Pradesh. This study critically examines the present status of the Hindon River by analysing various physiochemical parameters. Pollution load in pre monsoon is more prominent as compared to monsoon and post monsoon due to the fact that Hindon River is entirely rain fed river and in pre monsoon season flow in the river is mainly due to the discharge of untreated municipal and industrial effluents. To restore the water quality and ecological stability of this river, the installation of sewage treatment plants, common effluent treatment plants, proper solid waste management, public awareness and participation programme are suggested.


Privacy-preserving record linkage (PPRL) addresses the problem of identifying matching records from different databases that correspond to the same real-world entities using quasi-identifying attributes (in the absence of unique entity identifiers), while preserving privacy of these entities. Privacy is being preserved by not revealing any information that could be used to infer the actual values about the records that are not reconciled to the same entity (non-matches), and any confidential or sensitive information (that is not agreed upon by the data custodians) about the records that were reconciled to the same entity (matches) during or after the linkage process. The PPRL process often involves three main challenges, which are scalability to large databases, high linkage quality in the presence of data quality errors, and sufficient privacy guarantees. While many solutions have been developed for the PPRL problem over the past two decades, an evaluation and comparison framework of PPRL solutions with standard numerical measures defined for all three properties (scalability, linkage quality, and privacy) of PPRL has so far not been presented in the literature. We propose a general framework with normalized measures to practically evaluate and compare PPRL solutions in the face of linkage attack methods that are based on an external global dataset. We conducted experiments of several existing PPRL solutions on real-world databases using our proposed evaluation framework, and the results show that our framework provides an extensive and comparative evaluation of PPRL solutions in terms of the three properties.


INTRODUCTION
Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use is increasing dramatically in developed countries, but little is known about these rapidly evolving products. This study analyzed and evaluated the chemical composition including nicotine, tobacco alkaloids, pH, and flavors in 36 e-liquids brands from 4 manufacturers.

METHODS
We determined the concentrations of nicotine, alkaloids, and select flavors and measured pH in solutions used in e-cigarettes. E-cigarette products were chosen based upon favorable consumer approval ratings from online review websites. Quantitative analyses were performed using strict quality assurance/quality control validated methods previously established by our lab for the measurement of nicotine, alkaloids, pH, and flavors.

RESULTS
Three-quarters of the products contained lower measured nicotine levels than the stated label values (6%-42% by concentration). The pH for e-liquids ranged from 5.1-9.1. Minor tobacco alkaloids were found in all samples containing nicotine, and their relative concentrations varied widely among manufacturers. A number of common flavor compounds were analyzed in all e-liquids.

CONCLUSIONS
Free nicotine levels calculated from the measurement of pH correlated with total nicotine content. The direct correlation between the total nicotine concentration and pH suggests that the alkalinity of nicotine drives the pH of e-cigarette solutions. A higher percentage of nicotine exists in the more absorbable free form as total nicotine concentration increases. A number of products contained tobacco alkaloids at concentrations that exceed U.S. pharmacopeia limits for impurities in nicotine used in pharmaceutical and food products.


Sesbania spp. can establish symbiotic interactions with rhizobia from diverse taxonomical origins, including the newly described Sinorhizobium saheli and S. teranga bv. sesbaniae, in addition to the Sesbania rostrata-specific symbiont Azorhizobium caulinodans. These different rhizobia exhibit a narrow host range, which is limited mainly to Sesbania spp. Nod factors from overproducing strains of S. saheli ORS611 were purified and their structures determined. Remarkably, the terminal reducing glucosamine of most compounds was found to bear both an arabinosyl group on C-3 and a fucosyl substitution on C-6. Other structural features are as follows: Nod factors are mainly chitopentameric compounds, N-methylated, O-carbamoylated and N-substituted either by a C18:1 or a C16:0 acyl chain at their nonreducing end. Nod factors from an overproducing strain of S. teranga bv. sesbaniae ORS604 were found to be identical to those of S. saheli on the basis of high-pressure liquid chromatography separation and liquid seco...


Abstract Objective To quantify the extent to which co-morbid FM is associated with higher disease activity, worse quality of life (QoL) and poorer response to TNF inhibitors (TNFis) in patients with axial SpA. Methods A prospective study recruiting across 83 centres in the UK. Clinical information and patient-reported measures were available, including 2011 criteria for FM. Multivariable linear regression was used to model the effect of meeting the FM criteria on disease activity, QoL and response to TNFis. Results A total of 1757 participants were eligible for analyses, of whom 22.1% met criteria for FM. Those with co-morbid FM criteria had higher disease activity [BASDAI average difference FM+ − FM− 1.04 (95% CI 0.75, 1.33)] and worse QoL [Ankylosing Spondylitis Quality of Life score difference 1.42 (95% CI 0.88, 1.96)] after adjusting for demographic, clinical and lifestyle factors. Among 291 participants who commenced biologic therapy, BASDAI scores in those with co-morbid FM were 2.0 higher at baseline but decreased to 1.1 higher at 12 months. There was no significant difference in the likelihood of meeting Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society 20 criteria at 12 months. Less improvement in disease activity and QoL over 3 months of TNFi therapy was most strongly related to high scores on the FM criteria symptom severity scale component. Conclusion Fulfilling criteria for FM has a modest impact on the assessment of axial SpA disease activity and QoL and does not significantly influence response to biologic therapy. Those with a high symptom severity scale on FM assessment may benefit from additional specific management for FM.


Mary Higgins Clark, America's Queen of Suspense, and her daughter, bestselling author Carol Higgins Clark, have followed the successful publication of last year's holiday bestseller "Deck the Halls" with a heartwarming tale that combines much of the charm of the classic movie "It's a Wonderful Life" with unexpected menace.Meet Sterling Brooks. His was not an exemplary life -- he was too self-absorbed to ever really think about anyone else or make a commitment to the woman he loved. On the other hand, he had endearing qualities. His actual misdeeds were few -- his were sins of omission, not commission.It is a few days before Christmas. For forty-six years Sterling has lingered in the celestial waiting room outside the heavenly gates, awaiting summons by the Heavenly Council. Will he be deemed fit for entrance into heaven? At last the day comes and the council settles on a test for Sterling -- he will be sent back to earth and given an opportunity to prove his worthiness by helping someone else.Sterling Brooks finds himself in Manhattan, at the skating rink in Rockefeller Center. Among the skaters is a heartbroken seven-year-old named Marissa, and as Sterling soon realizes, it is "she" he has been sent to help. Marissa's sadness comes from her separation from the father she adores, a talented young singer, and her sparkling grandmother, owner of a popular restaurant. Both have been forced into the Witness Protection Program because two mobsters, the Badgett brothers, have put a price on their heads to prevent their testifying against them in an arson case.Sterling, able to move back and forth in time and place, masterminds a plan to eliminate the threat from the Badgettbrothers and reunite Marissa with her loved ones.Filled with suspense and humor, "He Sees You When You're Sleeping" is a perfect story for the holidays, a delightful and warmhearted tale of perseverance, redemption, and love.


Obesity is an escalating global epidemic with exponential increasing rates in Saudi Arabia and Gulf Countries. Obesity has adverse effects on patients' health, psychology, and socioeconomic status. In addition, it is a burden on societies when obese individuals become less productive in their work and governments spend more money for their accommodation in the society and health care expenditure. A comprehensive interprofessional system approach inclusive of broad environmental and social interventions and individuals' psychological and behavioral changes is required to produce positive impact on obesity prevention and control in societies. The aim of this project is to involve concerned health care and non-health professions, policy makers, and other stakeholders to work together within a system framework. The idea of this project was initiated at the first residential meeting of the Manipal University – Foundation for the Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER, Philadelphia, USA) International Institute for Leadership in Interprofessional Education (MUFIILIPE) Fellowship Program, Manipal, India, in May 2015. The literature collected and carefully selected includes major reports, policies, guidelines, and interventions done at several sectorial levels; best-evidence practices on communities, health care professions, schools, and workplaces; implementation strategies, success stories, and barriers; and studies on assessment of the effectiveness and impact of these interventions. Out of hundreds of articles and reports in obesity and related NCDs published nationally and worldwide, this project documents and discusses local interventions and programs in this field with lessons learned. In addition, best-evidence practices/interventions, and policies that have worked globally to prevent and manage obesity are discussed and extrapolated to our local settings. Aided by national and international expert groups, this project tries to document a road map for a multisectorial interprofessional system approach to prevent and control obesity in the region to influence its impact on individuals and society.