From the bestselling author of "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" - everything parents need to know during their baby's first year. "Gentle Baby Care" provides immediate answers to the daily questions that arise when caring for a baby. Written by bestselling author and parenting expert Elizabeth Pantley, this valuable guide includes information and practical tips to allow readers to choose the gentle, loving solutions that best suit their parenting style and their baby. "Gentle Baby Care" provides more than 1,000 practical tips and solutions to the everyday issues that arise during a child's first year, including: colic, teething, colds, sleep, diaper, rash, independent play, traveling with baby, and developmental milestones.'As a new mother, there were many times when I wished my babies came with an instruction manual. Now they do - in the form of Elizabeth Pantley's "Gentle Baby Care", the best 'baby instruction manual' I've read. Elizabeth guides the new parent through the ups and downs of baby parenthood with her usual nonjudgmental gentleness and warmth. Its easy-to-read format is great for those emergencies when you need information in a hurry. I'll be recommending this book to all of our new parents' - Maribeth Doerr, Editor-in-Chief, StorkNet.com. 'A trusted handbook for parents. It offers practical, well researched advice on health, safety and developmental issues as well as lots of gentle support and guidance for parents on the many choices they must make during the first year with a new baby' - Joan K. Comeau, PhD, Director & Editor, Family Information Services.'Elizabeth Pantley has done it again...provide parents with a valuable tool to help overcome the challenges that accompany the joys of being a mom or dad. "Gentle Baby Care" puts everything a parent needs to know at their fingertips in an easy to use reference system. The book is organized in a way that takes you to the answers you need and refers you to additional topics related to the subject, eliminating the need for busy parents to flip back and forth from index to chapters. Every mother should have two copies of "Gentle Baby Care" - one for herself and one for her caregiver, mother-in-law or spouse' - Maria Bailey, CEO, BSM Media, Founder, BlueSuitMom.com, Smart Mom Solutions, and Host of "Mom Talk Radio".' An encyclopedia of childrearing advice and information with practical tips on crying, sleep, discipline, baby milestones and much, much more. Elizabeth's soothing advice will help both new and seasoned parents relate to the newest member of the household!' - Betsy Gartrell-Judd, Editor, "Pregnancy and Baby.com". 'At last, the perfect resource guide for new parents. "Gentle Baby Care" is informative, easy to follow, and well organized. Parenting expert Elizabeth Pantley has gathered a wealth of information and valuable resources' - Lori Lee Helman, mother of two and owner of Mommas Baby (mommasbaby.com)."'Gentle Baby Care" is an impressive resource guide for every parent new and old! It contains in-depth information that covers baby-care basics plus unique yet equally important topics, such as handling overzealous grandparents, dealing with your baby's crying in a car seat, and keeping your baby quiet during worship services. The added tips from experienced parents are great-tried-and-true ideas from the trenches! Spread the work about this helpful and supportive new resource manual that will benefit every parent and caregiver' - Andrea Grace, president, Mommy and Baby Fitness, Inc.' The first year of life is filled with worry for many parents, and Elizabeth Pantley offers expert advice for them in a nonjudgmental and, most important, supportive way. This book's format also enables a new parent to quickly access vital childrearing information in their most anxious times. I highly recommend this book to new parents, and am envious that I did not have my hands on a copy during my son's first year' - Gloria Perez-Walker, Founder, Latina Mami.


From a European perspective, the share of recycling of reclaimed asphalt (RA) that is reused in new asphalt surface courses is rather lower than what can be technically achieved. The use of RA in pavement construction can conserve natural resources and reduce environmental impacts (e.g. CO2 emissions, depletion of natural resources etc). However, for RA to be used to its full potential it must first be fully characterised. This would include an environmental assessment to determine whether or not the RA contains any contaminants associated with its previous use as a pavement material. Without this information the handling and reuse of RA could cause adverse environmental and health effects due to new or higher emissions of potentially hazardous substances. To increase the reuse of RA, and to ensure safe handling during the whole life cycle, it is thus important to correctly characterise these materials and to quantify potential emissions that arise at different stages (e.g. during production, processing and handling etc.). This study outlines a methodology for the environmental characterisation of RA, allowing the identification of potentially hazardous compounds in RA. This includes: GC-MS screening to identify potentially hazardous organic compounds susceptible to leaching from RA; Identification and evaluation of leaching tests (both with respect to characterization and compliance testing); Ecotoxicological testing of leachates, using a biotest battery (freshwater algae, terrestrial plant, water arthropod and fish) that represent different trophic levels. The study is part of the European FP7 project Re-Road – end of life strategies of asphalt pavements.


Parents are central stakeholders within the youth sport context, yet their own health and well-being can be compromised due to the extensive commitment required to support their child's sport development. Against a backdrop of transformative sport service research and eudaimonic well-being, the study presents an autoethnography of my experience as a parent attempting to subvert the traditional role of parent–spectator by engaging in "sideline" physical activity simultaneous to my child's sport. A secondary purpose is to identify the program and facility design attributes within the community sport environment that facilitate or inhibit the well-being of parents via simultaneous participation. This study highlights how the lines between researcher and subject can be blurred to challenge taken-for-granted assumptions and strengthen well-being through mastery, autonomy, personal growth, interpersonal relations, and self-acceptance. Through lived experience and personal voice, I hope that my story will open new possibilities for transformative practices within community sport.


Tax rules change frequently, and each change raises the question of how to deal appropriately with the winners and losers created by the change. Scholars have long discussed this issue of transition policy. The rich literature on tax transition policy, however, implicitly assumes that Congress or, in the case of regulations, the Treasury Department, and not the individual taxpayers who are affected by the change, will ultimately determine when the new law will become applicable to all taxpayers. This is not necessarily the case. Many tax law transition provisions include transitional elections, which cede to the affected taxpayers the authority to choose whether the old laws or the new laws will apply to them during a transition period. This deference to the choices of individual taxpayers merits special attention because tax elections reduce revenue and can increase complexity, and because the policy benefits of a law change can be enhanced or stunted by the manner in which the change is implemented. This attention has been lacking until now. To fill this gap in the literature, this article explains how transitional elections are used in the tax law and analyzes when, if ever, transitional elections should be used as part of tax transition policy. Ultimately, this article aims to help policymakers make informed decisions about whether and when taxpayers should be empowered to make individual choices about the implementation of changes in the tax law.


Opportunistic computing is a new computational paradigm enabling mobile users to access the heterogeneous services present in a pervasive mobile environment. With respect to conventional service-oriented approaches, in opportunistic computing services are provided by the users' mobile devices themselves, and are accessed exploiting opportunistically direct contacts between devices, i.e. without relying exclusively on fixed infrastructures such as the cloud. Pair-wise contacts are exploited to collect information on services and providers available in the network. A proper support may exploit this information to choose the most efficient composition of services satisfying a service request issued either by a user or an application. This paper defines a support for service selection and composition in opportunistic environments based on a mathematical model able to describe the different phases of the execution of a service composition. The model enables an estimation of the execution time of a composition and is exploited by the support for choosing the best composition among a set of available alternatives. The paper presents a set of simulations proving the effectiveness of our approach. The experiments show that our approach achieves better query resolution time and better load balancing of the service requests on the providers with respect to reference alternative approaches.


The destiny of Australian newspapers and the journalists who work for them came into sharp focus in August 2008 when Fairfax Media announced it was cutting five per cent of its Australian and New Zealand workforce. At the same time it flagged it would be outsourcing some editorial production, notably the sub-editing of non-news pages, to private contractors. Fairfax's cost-cutting measures illustrate the extent to which the survival of some of our biggest newspapers is threatened by the modem medium of the Internet.
This thesis synthesises and assesses the views of notable players in the news industry on the future of Australian newspapers. Its concern is the future of the print platform per se, not the likely structure and future output of today's newspaper companies. It draws on interviews with practitioners and publishers, public statements, documents and academic literature. It also seeks to determine the status of newspaper circulation and readership in Australia relative to the increasing size of the potential market. It examines available data on readership and circulation and benchmarks that data against Australian population growth to indicate audience-share and market penetration in a different light to that provided by the conventional publications of the Audit Bureau of Circulations and Roy Morgan Research, which report actual sales and estimated readership in absolute rather than terms relative to the potential market. The thesis establishes that newspapers are losing their patronage across the population at large.
In developed nations, online news and advertising that are delivered on computer screens at home, in the workplace and on mobile devices challenge the viability and utility of daily newspapers in their traditional form. The embrace of digitised news in its various formats heralds a third wave of technological challenges to newspapers and to those practitioners for whom journalism is still a form of higher calling.
Part of the response by newspapers to the challenge to their dominance has been to create their own news websites. This thesis confirms that a successful business model for these websites has yet to emerge, certainly not one that provides pre internet advertising share and revenue.
This thesis breaks new ground in two areas: the real terms decline of Australian newspaper circulation and readership; and it finds consensus, notably between current and former Fairfax executives, that the future of Australian newspapers is a complex equation, primarily determined by the market in which each operates and its primary source of revenue.


The Department of Homeland Security recently set forth a new policy allowing suspicionless searches of the data inside the laptops of international travelers upon entry into the United States. The government has justified these searches under the border search and special needs doctrines, which render constitutional any "routine" search performed at the international border. The logic behind the special needs doctrine is that the government can operate outside the traditional confines of the Fourth Amendment because there is something "special" about the border. However, where data is concerned, the special needs and border search doctrines do not apply, because data travels electronically via cyberspace, not through the United States' physical borders such as airports and highways. Therefore, the government has no special need to search data at these physical borders separate and apart from searching data in computers already inside the country. In fact, suspicionless data searches compromise border security by allowing officers to engage in time-consuming data searches instead of preventing the entry of weapons that can cause immediate harm. Since such data searches hurt rather than help to achieve border security, the government's interest in performing suspicionless data searches at the border does not outweigh an individual's interest in privacy. On balance, an individual's privacy interests should prevail. Consequently, the Policy allowing suspicionless searches of laptop data violates the Fourth Amendment.


The 2014 Working Group on California Earthquake Probabilities (WGCEP14) present the time‐independent component of the Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast, Version 3 (UCERF3), which provides authoritative estimates of the magnitude, location, and time‐averaged frequency of potentially damaging earthquakes in California. The primary achievements have been to relax fault segmentation and include multifault ruptures, both limitations of UCERF2. The rates of all earthquakes are solved for simultaneously and from a broader range of data, using a system‐level inversion that is both conceptually simple and extensible. The inverse problem is large and underdetermined, so a range of models is sampled using an efficient simulated annealing algorithm. The approach is more derivative than prescriptive (e.g., magnitude–frequency distributions are no longer assumed), so new analysis tools were developed for exploring solutions. Epistemic uncertainties were also accounted for using 1440 alternative logic‐tree branches, necessitating access to supercomputers. The most influential uncertainties include alternative deformation models (fault slip rates), a new smoothed seismicity algorithm, alternative values for the total rate of M w≥5 events, and different scaling relationships, virtually all of which are new. As a notable first, three deformation models are based on kinematically consistent inversions of geodetic and geologic data, also providing slip‐rate constraints on faults previously excluded due to lack of geologic data. The grand inversion constitutes a system‐level framework for testing hypotheses and balancing the influence of different experts. For example, we demonstrate serious challenges with the Gutenberg–Richter hypothesis for individual faults. UCERF3 is still an approximation of the system, however, and the range of models is limited (e.g., constrained to stay close to UCERF2). Nevertheless, UCERF3 removes the apparent UCERF2 overprediction of M  6.5–7 earthquake rates and also includes types of multifault ruptures seen in nature. Although UCERF3 fits the data better than UCERF2 overall, there may be areas that warrant further site‐specific investigation. Supporting products may be of general interest, and we list key assumptions and avenues for future model improvements.


The (semi-) automatic detection of significant (feature) points is a key task in in vivo assessment of cancer staging and progression. However, this is a challenging task due to the relatively poor signal-to-noise, limited resolution and variable intensity of medical images. We propose to use phase congruence (PC), the Morrone and Owens (1987) feature model, to extract local descriptors. We overcome the limitations of the currently accepted PC measure, estimate PC without using an image energy weighting factor. We show that: (i) relative phase values from a single scale are not equivalent to phase values from PC, and should not be used to assess local image structure; and (ii) our approach results in higher specificity to features of interest, and lower sensitivity to noise, as demonstrated in in vitro microscopy (e.g. tumour microvessels) and in vivo pre-clinical pancreatic cancer images.


Herbivory is a key ecological process that often determines the composition and abundance of plants. Estimates of herbivory in seagrass meadows are typically lower than those in other vegetated coastal ecosystems, but herbivory can be intense when large herbivorous vertebrates are abundant. We surveyed rates of herbivory on 2 species of tropical seagrasses (Thalassia hemprichii and Enhalus acoroides), the abundance of herbivorous vertebrates, and the diet of 2 abundant herbivorous vertebrates (the green turtle Chelonia mydas and the rabbitfish Siganus lineatus) in lagoons adjacent to remote islands off northwestern Australia. Rates of herbivory in some deployments of tethered seagrass were more than 1000 times higher than rates of production and were among the highest recorded. Consumption exceeded production in half the deployments (9 of 18). Remote underwater video revealed that S. lineatus was the most abundant herbivore. Stomachs of S. lineatus contained mostly seagrass, and models based on stable isotopes indicated that seagrass was the primary source of nutrition. Stomach contents of C. mydas were more variable, containing seagrass and macroalgae (although the sample size was low), but models based on stable isotopes indicated that seagrass was likely the primary source of nutrition. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that the high rates of herbivory on the seagrasses T. hemprichii and E. acoroides are mainly due to direct consumption by the abundant S. lineatus, and perhaps also C. mydas. Seagrass is the primary contributor to the nutrition of both species.


We conducted an assessment on the capacity to grow maize under rainfed conditions as well as under simulations of climate change scenarios in Mexico. The selected method took into account the most limiting factor from different variables that maize requires to grow. These factors were compared, resulting in potential areas for maize distribution, classified in four different suitability levels: suitable, moderately suitable, limited suitability and not suitable. The emissions scenarios of climate change selected were A2 and B2 by 2050, including the GFDL-CM2.0, UKHADGEM1 and ECHAM5/MPI models. The results indicated that in base scenario, 63.1% of the national surface presents some degree of maize growing suitability. Specifically, 6.2% of the national surface indicated suitable conditions, while 25.1 and 31.6% had moderated and limited conditions, respectively. According to the climate change models, we were able to determine the full suitability level is also the most vulnerable one and as a consequence, this will also be the most aggravated one by decreasing its surface 3% according with UKHadley B2 and up to 4.3% in accordance with ECHAM5/MPI A2. This will make the limited suitability classification the one with the largest national territory, as much as 33.4%, according to ECHAM5/MPI A2 and up to 43.8% reflected by the GFDL-CM2.0 A2 model. The ECHAM5/MPI model indicates the most adverse conditions for maize growth, while GFDL model represents the less aggravating. All this clearly reflects that the natural conditions given for maize growing will become more restrictive, making it critical to implement environmental adapting measures.


A casual browse through almost any bookshop reveals a growing interest in Aborigines and their cultures, not because of their importance and significance in their own right, but because of their perceived utility in satisfying Western needs and desires. There is hardly a complaint, problem (be they personal or symptomatic of wider issues) or variant of spiritual questing to which elements from Aboriginal cultures have not been applied. Although this work comes wrapped in the spirit of 'good intentions', the constructions of Aborigines the authors employ rarely escape the crude notion that they remain a people from and of the past. In this article I look at one of the more popular books that perpetuates this myth, but my primary focus is on how the author misleadingly substantiates his portrayal of Aboriginal peoples. The book poses as a work of serious—if not anthropologically original—scholarship.


Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths around the globe. For patients receiving liver tumour resection, the risk of reoccurrence and metastasis is high. Cancer metastasis can occur as a consequence of a physical change known as epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). In this instance, cancer cells acquire migratory and invasive characteristics that allow the cells to move into adjacent tissue or enter the bloodstream to reach a secondary site, where they begin to form a new tumour. Targetting proteins involved in the signalling pathways that induce the mesenchymal phenotype has been an ongoing field of research. A recently published study has described a novel role for the heart development protein with EGF-like domains (HEG1) in promoting EMT. This research provides new insights into the biological function of this protein in HCC. Furthermore, the research indicates a new target for future prognostic and therapeutic research in HCC.


In "Transforming Health Care: A Safety Imperative",1 Leape et al highlight the slow progress towards safe healthcare (see page 424) . They notice that efforts in the USA to improve healthcare have fallen short. They conclude that only a transformation of healthcare can deliver safer care and better health outcomes. They identify transforming concepts, all pertinent and familiar.

Minimising errors has been central to Australia-wide efforts to improve healthcare since 1995 when the Australian Health Care Study was published.2 In Australia, as elsewhere, there are many enclaves of excellent care; they are testimony to human resilience and enlightened healthcare workers. What is it about these safe healthcare professionals and why aren't their attributes universal? Have we focused on the right parts of healthcare in our attempts to make improvements? Have our efforts in Australia made a difference?

Improved healthcare can ultimately lead to a transformation in the way care is delivered. Take complaints. Independent health complaint commissions established by states and territories have transformed the way complaints are managed. Important lessons are identified and passed on. From 1985 to 2000, I was responsible for complaints about health services and healthcare professionals in New South Wales. Patient complaints were the first indicators of the extent of adverse events. During the 1980s, an adverse event experienced by a patient and later complained about was not taken seriously by the providers or hospital management. Patients or carers were commonly told that all care had been taken and that the harm suffered was due to their condition or a complication and not to any failure by providers or management. Observations by …


BERT and its variants have achieved state-of-the-art performance in various NLP tasks. Since then, various works have been proposed to analyze the linguistic information being captured in BERT. However, the current works do not provide an insight into how BERT is able to achieve near human-level performance on the task of Reading Comprehension based Question Answering. In this work, we attempt to interpret BERT for RCQA. Since BERT layers do not have predefined roles, we define a layer's role or functionality using Integrated Gradients. Based on the defined roles, we perform a preliminary analysis across all layers. We observed that the initial layers focus on query-passage interaction, whereas later layers focus more on contextual understanding and enhancing the answer prediction. Specifically for quantifier questions (how much/how many), we notice that BERT focuses on confusing words (i.e., on other numerical quantities in the passage) in the later layers, but still manages to predict the answer correctly. The fine-tuning and analysis scripts will be publicly available at this https URL .


Leisure and recreation is an area which is constantly changing and must be closely monitored to retain the hotels competitive advantage and subsequent market share. Leisure and recreation facilities (LRF) benefit a hotel in the following areas: competitive advantage, positive image and as a marketing asset. Guests in a hotel expect LRF to be available in a hotel. This research examined the LRF available in three star hotels in Nairobi County, Kenya and the extent to which they are used. The research aim was to determine whether the use of LRF benefits the hotels in increased rate charges, turnover rates in room occupancy, restaurant and conference and also in membership which are indicators of revenue gains. A cross sectional descriptive research design was used to gather information from the respondents. The location of the study was three star hotels in Nairobi County Kenya, where the general managers, front office managers, recreation managers, recreation attendants and or instructors and facility users who were present at the time of data collection were the target population. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used as the research instruments to collect data. The instruments were pretested in order to obtain the reliability using the test retest method which was subjected to Pearson's Product Moment correlation coefficient. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency distributions, percentages and means. Inferential statistics were used to determine the relationship between LRF and rates charged, turnover rates and membership. Data from the open-ended items was summarized into frequency tables. The data was presented in pie charts, graphs and tables. The study found out that three star rated hotels in Nairobi County, Kenya had diverse LRF which included; swimming pools, golf course, steam bath, massage parlor, squash court and tennis court. The research found out that more than half of the clients in S6 percent of 3 star hotels made use of LRF. The hotel clientele was composed of in house guests (11%), walk in guests (SO%) and registered members (39%). The study indicated that on average, LRF contributed 7 % to the total hotel revenue. According to the respondents, it was found out that LRF had impact on the rates charged on the hotel services and facilities. Positive associations were found between the presence of LRF and turnover rates in room occupancy (p=O.OOO<O.OS), restaurant (p=0.004<0.OS) and conference booking (p=0.009<0.OS) in three star rated hotels in Nairobi County, Kenya. LRF and I' hotel membership had a positive association of p=O.OOI <O.OS. Based on the findings of the study it was concluded that: LRF are essential as either direct or indirect sources of hotel revenue, LRF contributed to the revenue of 3 star rated hotel in Nairobi County Kenya, through direct charges for LRF, rates charged, high turnover rates in room occupancy, restaurant, conference booking and membership fee. The study recommended that hotels should invest more on LRF in an effort to attract new clients and to maintain the existing ones as they increase the hotels revenue both directly and indirectly. A research on the trends in LRF in hotels was also recommended to help the government realize the way forward in achieving the vision 2030.


In volcanic arcs, two main types of magmatism are recognized: (1) widespread calc-alkalic magmatism, generated by hydrous partial melting of a metasomatized mantle wedge, and (2) less common adakitic volcanism produced by subducted-slab melting. The Cayambe volcanic complex in Ecuador shows a progressive temporal change from an older calc-alkalic volcano (Viejo Cayambe) to a younger adakitic edifice (Nevado Cayambe). This evolution may be related to the unusual geodynamic setting of the Ecuadorian Andes, controlled mainly by the subduction of the Nazca plate, including the Carnegie Ridge thickened oceanic crust. The Viejo Cayambe magmas appear to be generated from a mantle-wedge source, slightly metasomatized by slab-derived melts. Conversely, the Nevado Cayambe magmas imply either stronger and more advanced interactions between slab melts and mantle peridotite, or that adakitic magma could reach the surface due to higher degrees of slab melting. Fractional crystallization, assimilation, and mixing processes also contributed to lava diversity. We propose that the magmatic evolution of the Cayambe volcanic complex is due to increasing efficiency of interaction between slab melts and the mantle wedge, because of higher degrees of slab melting in response to the subduction of the Carnegie Ridge.


Summary Regression models are often used to test for cause‐effect relationships from data collected in randomized trials or experiments. This practice has deservedly come under heavy scrutiny, because commonly used models such as linear and logistic regression will often not capture the actual relationships between variables, and incorrectly specified models potentially lead to incorrect conclusions. In this article, we focus on hypothesis tests of whether the treatment given in a randomized trial has any effect on the mean of the primary outcome, within strata of baseline variables such as age, sex, and health status. Our primary concern is ensuring that such hypothesis tests have correct type I error for large samples. Our main result is that for a surprisingly large class of commonly used regression models, standard regression‐based hypothesis tests (but using robust variance estimators) are guaranteed to have correct type I error for large samples, even when the models are incorrectly specified. To the best of our knowledge, this robustness of such model‐based hypothesis tests to incorrectly specified models was previously unknown for Poisson regression models and for other commonly used models we consider. Our results have practical implications for understanding the reliability of commonly used, model‐based tests for analyzing randomized trials.


The direct and continuous measurement of the littoral drift is an essential problem with investigations on erosion of sandy coasts, as for instance at the island of Sylt. The measuring conditions require equipment of very particular features. Recent measurements have supplied informations about the conditions of sound propagation in sediment loaded water, leading to the conception of a sand discharge measuring device. It will consist in a combination of a current meter and a sand concentration meter. A convenient equipment is actually being developed. It is to supply an idea about the magnitude of the instantaneous sand discharge, the approximate remaining sediment transport vector, the phases of maximum and minimum sediment load, and so on. Consequently it will help to obtain a reliable statement about erosion processes, indispensable information for successful coastal engineering work.


INTRODUCTION
Prisoners frequently engage in high risk behaviours for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and blood borne viruses (BBVs) and effective interventions are required to control the transmission of STIs and BBVs among prisoners. The variation in engagement in high risk behaviours among prisoner sociodemographic sub-groups in Western Australia, including differences between prisoners admitted to metropolitan and regional prisons, has not been systematically described. The objective of this article was to describe self-reported engagement in unprotected sex and sharing injecting equipment among prisoners on admission to prison in Western Australia, using routinely collected data.

METHODS
A retrospective medical record audit was conducted for a total of 946 individuals admitted to prisons in Western Australia. Quota sampling was used to ensure adequate sampling of females, juveniles, and individuals from regional prisons. Initial health assessment records completed on admission to prison in Western Australia were audited to evaluate self-reported engagement in unprotected sex and the sharing of injecting equipment among prison entrants.

RESULTS
Unprotected sex in the previous 12 months was reported by 48% of prisoners, and ever sharing injecting equipment was reported by 16% of prisoners. Adults were more likely to report both unprotected sex (52%) and sharing injecting equipment (18%) than juveniles (40% and 11%, respectively). Adults admitted to a metropolitan prison were significantly more likely to report sharing injecting equipment (23%) than adults admitted to a regional prison (10%). Associations between risk behaviours, sex and Aboriginality differed among prisoners admitted to metropolitan and regional prisons.

CONCLUSION
There is distinct sociodemographic patterning of high risk behaviours among prisoners in Western Australia by age, sex, Aboriginality and prison location. The effectiveness of interventions to prevent STI and BBV transmission in prisoners may be enhanced by addressing the diversity in the prison population, including the differences identified in reported risk behaviours between prisoners admitted to metropolitan and regional prisons. Culturally appropriate and comprehensive interventions are required to promote risk-reducing behaviours and address the health needs of all prisoners in Western Australia.


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To review the research studies on the current treatments for radiation therapy-(RT-) induced mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer.

DATA SOURCES
MEDLINE search of the literature from 1966-2001.

DATA SYNTHESIS
Four types of agents (i.e., antimicrobial, coating, anti-inflammatory, and cytokine-like agents) have been evaluated for the management of RT-induced oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer. Most of the published studies had relatively small sample sizes and used inconsistent measures to evaluate the extent and severity of oral mucositis. Therefore, definitive conclusions regarding the effectiveness of any of the agents tested in the prevention and treatment of RT-induced oral mucositis cannot be drawn.

CONCLUSIONS
Oral mucositis remains the most common complication among patients with head and neck cancer. Although a number of strategies and products are being investigated and new directions are promising, the therapies tested to date have not produced consistent results.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
The most effective measure to treat RT-induced mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer is frequent oral rinsing with a bland mouthwash, such as saline or a sodium bicarbonate rinse, to reduce the amount of oral microbial flora. Dental care, consistent oral assessments, and the initiation of a standardized oral hygiene protocol before the initiation of cancer treatment are the most effective approaches for oral mucositis.


Evolutionary Algorithms used to generate Artificial Neural Networks have relied on both binary and real value representation approaches to encode connection weights in the chromosomes. This paper documents a study which examined how the utilisation of these two approaches affects the convergence of the Structured Genetic Algorithm when used to evolve Artificial Neural Networks. This study found that Structured Genetic Algorithms exhibited better performance when they utilised a real valued approach to encode the weights, especially when multiple control levels were utilised. Structured Genetic Algorithms which used real number encoding for the weights in their parametric level attained reduced training and testing errors. A reduction in the duration of the SGA simulations was also observed, though this diminished with each added control level. In contrast to this, Genetic Algorithms performed better with the binary encoding approach.


Cerambycidae is one of the most diversified groups within Coleoptera and includes nearly 35,000 known species. The relationships at the subfamily level within Cerambycidae have not been convincingly demonstrated and the gene rearrangement of mitochondrial genomes in Cerambycidae remains unclear due to the low numbers of sequenced mitogenomes. In the present study, we determined five complete mitogenomes of Cerambycidae and investigated the phylogenetic relationship among the subfamilies of Cerambycidae based on mitogenomes. The mitogenomic arrangement of all five species was identical to the ancestral Cerambycidae type without gene rearrangement. Remarkably, however, two large intergenic spacers were detected in the mitogenome of Pterolophia sp. ZJY-2019. The origins of these intergenic spacers could be explained by the slipped-strand mispairing and duplication/random loss models. A conserved motif was found between trnS2 and nad1 gene, which was proposed to be a binding site of a transcription termination peptide. Also, tandem repeat units were identified in the A + T-rich region of all five mitogenomes. The monophyly of Lamiinae and Prioninae was strongly supported by both MrBayes and RAxML analyses based on nucleotide datasets, whereas the Cerambycinae and Lepturinae were recovered as non-monophyletic.


Highway asset management is a systematic process that aims to preserve, expand, and operate highway assets in the most cost-effective manner. It is an analytical tool that facilitates organized, logical, and integrated decision-making in asset management practice. This study proposes a methodology for the development of a highway asset management system that addresses asset valuation, performance modeling, marginal benefit analysis, and multicriteria decision-making, including tradeoff analysis as well as project selection and programming. While most existing management systems deal with individual physical highway assets or system usage only under certainty or risk, this research focuses on the management of an entire highway network that also incorporates tradeoff decisions involving uncertainty. Systemwide multiattribute utility functions and standardized focus gain-over-loss ratio functions based on utility theory and Shackle's model, respectively, are calibrated using data collected through a series of questionnaire surveys. A system optimization model, along with a solution algorithm, is formulated to facilitate project selection and programming. A Highway Asset Management System software program is developed and utilized in a case study for systemwide project selection based on information for candidate projects proposed for state highway programming in Indiana during 1998-2001. For all given years and regardless of the tradeoff decision under certainty, risk, or uncertainty, the software outputs match with the results of actual highway programming at least 85 percent of the time. The case study results validate the proposed methodology and research findings and also reveal the advantages of using the algorithm for overall highway asset management practice.


In the largest and most detailed survey on the ethics of scientific coauthorship to date, members of the Ameri- can Physical Society (APS) were asked to judge the number of appropriate coauthors on their last published papers in three different ways (1). The papers reported on by the respondents were papers in which the respondents' authorship was more involved than chance would dictate. From this discrepancy it is possible to infer "subconscious" rates of inappropri- ate authorship. The shapes of the curves of these subconscious rates are very similar to the curves of the consciously re- ported inappropriate authorship though the actual rates are much higher. The earlier reported "conscious" ratings indicated that the probability of any third and subsequent coathors being inappropriate was 23% for the APS guideline, 67% for the tighter guideline of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors', or 59% if the guideline was "direct contribu- tions to scientific discovery or invention"; the currently reported subconscious rates varies between 94 and 97%.


SUMMARY 1 Competitive interactions are assumed to play a role in governing species distributions but are difficult to infer using observational data. In addition, morphological identification may overlook species, obscuring patterns of competitive exclusion. To address these limitations, we showcase a molecular (DNA barcoding) approach to species-unit delineation and sample stream insect communities at small spatial scales where environmental filtering and dispersal limitations are minimised. 2 Rocks from riffles were sampled for stream insects, in particular caddisfly (Trichoptera), beetle (Coleoptera) and blackfly (Simuliidae) larvae from filterer and grazer guilds at White Clay Creek, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. (20 June, 2013). Additive partitioning of species diversity was used to establish at which spatial scale(s) variation in the distribution of species occurs; this informed us of the spatial scale at which to conduct checkerboard analyses, which tested for signatures of species segregations (e.g. competitive exclusion). 3 Only a small portion of the total species diversity occurred at the smallest spatial level (mean = 30% on individual rocks). Distributional variation in species was greatest at the kilometre scale (where beta-diversity was 37% and 41% for filterers and grazers respectively). At the scale of White Clay Creek sampled (c. 3 km extent), species of filterers showed a strong tendency to segregate on individual rocks, while grazers showed random structure approaching aggregation. 4 This study demonstrates a potential approach to assessing the role of competition in structuring communities using observational data and highlights the importance of accurate species units for analysis (e.g. DNA barcoding). Using a combination of analyses, we were able to link patterns of segregation to competitive interactions among stream insect species in a filterer guild, while determining these interactions were not important in a grazer guild.


In recent years, ceramics for a few mechanical and electronic parts are performed on the cutting process of the green-compact. The residual crack on the finished surface is influenced the strength of the ceramics after the sintering. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the cutting performance of the ceramics green compact that used the alumina of the grain size 0.2 μ m. The machining performance of alumina green-compact is discussed from view point of the relation between the shape of tool edge and the surface roughness on the workpiece. In the cutting test by turning, the cutting condition is cutting speed 100m/min, feed 0.1mm/rev, depth of cut 0.2mm. The tool shape on the insert tip are made chamfer angle from -25°to 5° The main results obtained are follows:(1) The surface roughness in feed direction and the in circumference direction was existed an correlative. (2)In the chamfer angle -10°on the tool edge, the surface roughness at cutting could give rise to Rmax 4.0 μm. (3)The tool life of this cutting was lager than other cutting.


Although the reason for insufficient release of insulin in diabetes mellitus may vary depending on the type and stage of the disease, it is of vital importance that an amplified insulin biosynthesis can meet the increased need during periods of hyperglycemia. The insulin mRNA is highly abundant in beta cells and changes in insulin mRNA levels are, at least in part, controlled by altered rates of mRNA degradation. Since the mechanisms behind the control of insulin messenger stability and translation are still largely obscure, the work presented in this thesis therefore aimed to further investigate the role of insulin mRNA binding proteins in the control of insulin mRNA break-down and utilization for insulin biosynthesis. To clarify how glucose regulates insulin mRNA stability and translation we studied the correlation between polypyrimidine tract binding protein (PTB) gene expression and insulin mRNA levels. It was found that an increase in PTB mRNA and protein levels is paralleled by an increase in insulin mRNA levels. It was also found that PTB binds to the 5'-untranslated region of the insulin mRNA and that insulin mRNA can be translated through a cap-independent mechanism in human islets of Langerhans, possibly due to the interaction with PTB. Further it was discovered that the suppressed insulin biosynthesis in human islets during glucotoxicity is partly due to an induction of the microRNA miR-133a. This induction leads to decreased levels of PTB and insulin biosynthesis rates in human islets. Finally, we were able to identify two proteins, hnRNP U and TIAR, that bind specifically to the insulin mRNA in vitro, and show that the stability and translation of insulin mRNA is oppositely affected by these proteins. In conclusion, insulin producing cells seem to be able to regulate insulin messenger stability and translation by a control mechanism in which the binding of specific proteins to the insulin messenger dictates the outcome. A better understanding of the events leading to insulin production may in the future aid in optimal diagnosis and treatment of type 2 diabetes.


Title of Document: DESIGN OF A WIRELESS FISH LENGTH MEASURING BOARD FOR FISHERIES RESEARCH Omar Farooq Amin, Master of Science, 2006 Directed By: Associate Professor, Omar Ramahi, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo. The goal of this work is to design and implement the fundamental technology needed to construct a wireless fish measuring board that performs non-contact length measurements. After taking the measurement, the board sends the information containing the length of the fish amongst other parameters wirelessly to a receiver located several meters away. The receiver in turn decodes the information and sends it for display on a computer monitor. The wireless transmission must be immune to the typical non-line of sight (NLOS) environments that are found in the fisheries industry. The non-contact technique used here is based on the Hall-effect sensing mechanism. The wireless link operates in the 902-928MHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band. The entire system was fully developed using Commercial Offthe-Shelf (COTS) components and is shown to perform satisfactorily in typical NLOS environment. DESIGN OF A WIRELESS FISH LENGTH MEASURING BOARD FOR FISHERIES RESEARCH


Matrix multiplication is very important in many types of applications including image and signal processing. The suitability of reconfigurable hardware devices, in the form of field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), is investigated as a low-cost solution for implementing two matrix multipliers for 3-D affine transformations and colour space conversion. A first solution based on processing large matrix multiplication, for large 3-D models, and for the evaluation of the Celoxica fixed-point library and Xilinx CoreGen performance has been reported. A novel architecture for efficient implementation of a colour space converter (CSC) based on distributed arithmetic (DA) principles has been presented. The two multipliers have been developed and implemented on the RC1000-PP Celoxica board-based development platform. Results show that the FPGA-based first parallel multiplier can achieve the performance of a graphics card when performing 3-D affine transformations, while the second multiplier, which is fully pipelined and platform-independent, has a low latency (8 cycles) and is capable of a sustained data rate of over 234 mega-conversions per second.


Joan Woodcock always dreamed of becoming a nurse. And in 1966 the dream came true. From her very first day as a naive sixteen-year-old cadet, standing nervously outside Matron's office, this is Joan's story of an eventful career spanning forty years in the NHS. Working on hospital wards, casualty units and out in the community, as well as stints in a prison and a police unit dealing with sexual assault, Joan has seen it all. In this moving memoir she gives an honest, revealing account of a challenging, unpredictable and ultimately rewarding life in nursing. From an early encounter with a horrific axe injury, to the patient who swallowed their suppositories, to daily dealings with difficult patients and all kinds of bodily fluids, Joan shares memories of laughter and tragedy, and of the now defunct matron system that at one time instilled nurses with such high standards of professionalism and patient care.


Cold in-place recycling (CIR) is a process that takes three to four inches of existing pavement surface and reuses 100% of it by milling and crushing it, adding asphalt emulsions and/or additives to it, before placing and re-compacting it. There is currently very little research regarding the interaction between the crushed aggregate and asphalt emulsion during the CIR process. In this study, the interactions between the combinations of crushed aggregates and asphalt emulsions were investigated along with select compaction metrics and a raveling performance test. The three types of aggregates included coated limestone, recycled asphalt pavement (RAP), and coated syenite. The two types of emulsifiers included a commodity and a proprietary one. The compaction metrics explored the compaction behavior of CIR and the raveling test is a standard test that evaluates a mixture's resistance to raveling under initial traffic. The results of this project indicated crushing aggregate and waiting between one hour to one day before mixing can be more optimal for easier compactibility than crushing and mixing immediately or waiting one week later. Not only were the results seen in the compaction metrics, but in the raveling test as well.


Cloud computing has been advancing at a feverish pace. It has become one of the most important research topics in computer science and information systems. Cloud computing offers enterprise-scale platforms in a short time frame with little effort. Thus, it delivers significant economic benefits to both commercial and public entities. Despite this, the security and subsequent incident management requirements are major obstacles to adopting the cloud. Current cloud architectures do not support digital forensic investigators, nor comply with today's digital forensics procedures - largely due to the dynamic nature of the cloud. When an incident has occurred, an organization-based investigation will seek to provide potential digital evidence while minimizing the cost of investigation. However, all members engaging in digital forensics must rely, to a very significant degree, upon the assistance of cloud providers to present relevant evidence. Unfortunately, providers often lack appropriate tools and features to perform adequate acquisition and analysis. Therefore, dependence on the CSPs is considered one of the most significant challenges when investigators need to acquire evidence in a timely yet forensically sound manner from cloud systems. This paper aims to achieve two objectives: the first objective is the development and validation of a forensic acquisition system in an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model in order to ensure organizations remain in complete control, remove the burden/liability from the CSPs and make it easy to acquire the evidence in a forensically sound and timely manner. Secondly, it is to investigate the technical implications and costs resulting from such a system on the day-to-day operation of a cloud system.


This article analyses the role of the sovereignty principle for the oil industry and the implication this relationship has for development in Africa. It also looks at the transnational social movements around the exploitation of natural resources, comparing Equatorial Guinea and Western Sahara. The main hypothesis is that international norms of self‐determination and those developed for non‐autonomous people in Western Sahara, allow us to raise questions and to make demands over mineral resources in a very different way than where sovereignty is not in question, as in Equatorial Guinea.


With the exponential growth of biological sequence databases, it has become critical to develop effective techniques for storing, querying, and analyzing these massive data. Suffix trees are widely used to solve many sequence-based problems, and they can be built in linear time and space, provided the resulting tree fits in main-memory. To index larger sequences, several external suffix tree algorithms have been proposed in recent years. However, they suffer from several problems such as susceptibility to data skew, non-scalability to genome-scale sequences, and non-existence of suffix links, which are crucial in various suffix tree based algorithms.
In this thesis, we propose a novel disk-based suffix tree algorithm for indexing DNA sequences called TRELLIS. Our algorithm does not suffer from any of the above drawbacks, effectively scales up to genome-scale sequences, and is also able to quickly rebuild suffix links. Specifically it can index, on a typical modern computer, the entire human genome using 2GB of memory in about 4 hours and can recover all the suffix links within an additional 2 hours. Despite the success of TRELLIS, the algorithm's main limitation is that it requires the entire input sequence to be kept in memory. To handle larger DNA sequences, we introduce a novel string buffering strategy that allows our algorithm to assign a very small amount of memory for the input string. As a result, TRELLIS is able to index very large sequences in a reasonable amount of time and memory. The buffer strategy also speeds up TRELLIS when the input string barely fits in memory. TRELLIS was compared to various state-of-the-art persistent disk-based suffix tree construction algorithms, and was shown to outperform the best previous methods, both in terms of indexing time and querying time.


Mobile television ( N ) is a relatively new an d unknown fie1 d of communication. Thu IS, role players in this field of communication find themselves in a new context for relationship. This raises the question as to what the key challenges in the relationship between content providers and users in mobile TV involve. More specifically, the following questions should be answered. Does mobile TV display particular characteristics of new media? If so, then how could content providers meet the challenge of understanding the user profile in mobile TV as a new medium? Also, how could content providers meet the challenge of adapting content provision according to the user experience of mobile TV as a new medium? This research paper explores these questions through means of an explorative literature study of relevant sources. Firstly, it provides a conceptual framework of mobile TV as well as an understanding of mobile TV within the greater context of new media. Secondly, it presents a means to understand the user profile in mobile N as a new medium. Lastly, it presents practical aspects that need to be considered when providing content for mobile TV as a new medium. The findings of the study can be summarised as follows: (a) Mobile TV portrays particular new media characteristics, such as, digitalisation, interactivity, hypertext, dispersal and virtuality. (b) A market-led approach should be employed in order to understand the user profile. (c) Mobile N content production should be integrated into the production process with the requirement that it is of a high quality and meets the technical and feasible limitations of the medium.


When states are failing, when basic state functions are no longer carried out, and when people have no security, humanitarian crises erupt. In confronting this problem, the stronger states have followed an ad hoc policy of intervention and aid. In some cases, humanitarian disasters have resulted from inaction. Often, the media are blamed. Politicians complain about the media when they interfere (the CNN effect), and when they do not. This article looks at how the media do cover failing states. Sierra Leone and Congo are used as examples. The analysis shows that there is little independent coverage. A Danish survey of newsrooms shows that the national world-view and prevalent news criteria prevent consistent coverage. It is argued that politicians are the ones who determine national agendas: it is from political initiatives, rather than media coverage, that failing states and humanitarian crises can expect action.


Protein degradation results in the production of peptides that can be presented to CD8 T cells in MHC class I molecules on the cell surface. The proteasome is the main protease responsible for protein degradation. Especially the IFNγ-inducible proteasome components (proteasome activator PA28 and the immunoproteasome subunits LMP2, LMP7 and MECL-1) play a central role in MHC I antigen processing, as well as in other aspects of immune responses. We studied the function of IFNγ-inducible proteasome components in MHC class I antigen processing and CD8 T cell responses. Deficiency of either PA28 or the immunosubunits leads to decreased MHC class I levels, reflecting lower production of MHC class I ligands. The finding that PA28 deficiency results in decreased MHC class I levels both in the presence or absence of immunosubunits, indicates that the effects of both proteasome components are additive and that they enhance the generation of MHC class I binding peptides through different mechanisms. However, the effect of PA28 on processing of certain immunodominant epitopes did not affect CD8 T cell responses, in contrast to the immunosubunits. The reduced expression of MHC class I molecules found on immunoproteasome-deficient cells could influence the education of NK cells, because MHC class I molecules are ligands for the inhibitory receptors of NK cells. Therefore, we examined whether immunoproteasome-deficient mice have educated NK cells in the periphery. The effector function of NK cells, measured by production of IFNγ and LAMP-1, was similar in RAG1-deficient and RAG1+immunosubunit-deficient mice, indicating that immunoproteasome-deficient mice have functional NK cells in the periphery. Although wildtype NK cells can reject MHC class I-deficient cells, immunoproteasome-deficient cells that were transferred into wildtype recipients were tolerized. However, this tolerance was broken upon infection in a NK cell-dependent way. The increased CD4/CD8 ratio found in immunosubunit-deficient mice is due to absence of MECL-1. To investigate how the effects of immunoproteasomes on CD4/CD8 T cell ratios are caused, T cell compartments of mice that differed in immunosubunit composition and developed in the same environment were analyzed. In this way, environmental factors and thymic selection were similar for all cells, but CD4/CD8 ratios were still enhanced in immunosubunit-deficient cells. Therefore, MECL-1 affects CD4 and CD8 T cell expansion by a T cell intrinsic, yet unknown, mechanism. To study where antigen processing and presentation to prime CD8 T cells occurs, we generated different BM chimeric mice in order to control the expression of immunosubunits in specific cell types, and we used an infection model harboring an epitope that is only efficiently generated by immunoproteasomes. We found that CD8 T cell responses to this immunoproteasome-dependent epitope required expression of immunoproteasomes in BM-derived cells. After depletion of DCs, we still were able to detect CD8 T cell responses to the immunoproteasome-dependent epitope, indicating that DCs are not essential for processing the epitope to prime CD8 T cells. Together, our results provide more insight in the role of proteasome components in antigen processing and immune responses, which could help in the development of CD8 T cell activating vaccins.


The performance and efficiency of an open-cathode PEM fuel cell system in dead-ended anode (DEA) configuration and hydrogen purges is analyzed in this work. Excess water and crossed-over nitrogen in the anode decrease the hydrogen concentration at the catalyst surface, which in turn causes performance losses. Purging the anode with hydrogen removes water and nitrogen and thus recovers the performance. However, this means wasting hydrogen and decreasing overall system efficiency. Gas chromatography was used to detect and quantify the accumulated nitrogen in the anode during DEA operation. The experiments show that the major performance limitation in the studied system is related to water instead of nitrogen. Moreover, oxygen was detected in the anode exhaust gas after long purge intervals, which is an indicator for corrosion of the cathode carbon support structure. Experimental observations revealed that the need for a hydrogen purge strongly depends on the operating conditions and the state-of-health of the fuel cell. It is shown that flooding on the anode and drying of the cathode catalyst layer may occur simultaneously during purged operation. Therefore, purge decisions must be evaluated online, depending on the operating conditions.


The reinforcing properties of ethanol are in part attributed to interactions between opioid and dopaminergic signaling pathways, but intracellular mediators of such interactions are poorly understood. Here we report that an acute ethanol challenge induces a robust phosphorylation of two key signal transduction kinases, AKT and DARPP‐32, in the striatum of mice. Ethanol‐induced AKT phosphorylation was blocked by the opioid receptor antagonist naltrexone but unaffected by blockade of dopamine D2 receptors via sulpiride. In contrast, DARPP‐32 phosphorylation was abolished by both antagonists. These data suggest that ethanol acts via two distinct but potentially synergistic striatal signaling cascades. One of these is D2‐dependent, while the other is not. These findings illustrate that pharmacology of ethanol reward is likely more complex than that for other addictive drugs.


The Milky Way (MW) bulge shows a boxy/peanut or X-shaped bulge (hereafter BP/X) when viewed in infrared ormicrowave bands.We examine orbits in an N-body model of a barred disc galaxy that is scaled to match the kinematics of theMWbulge.We generate maps of projected stellar surface density, unsharp masked images, 3D excess-mass distributions (showing mass outside ellipsoids), line-of-sight number count distributions, and 2D line-of-sight kinematics for the simulation as well as co-added orbit families, in order to identify the orbits primarily responsible for the BP/X shape. We estimate that between 19 and 23 per cent of the mass of the bar in this model is associated with the BP/X shape and that the majority of bar orbits contribute to this shape that is clearly seen in projected surface density maps and 3D excess mass for non-resonant box orbits, 'banana' orbits, 'fish/pretzel' orbits and 'brezel' orbits. Although only the latter two families (comprising 7.5 per cent of the total mass) show a distinct X-shape in unsharp masked images, we find that nearly all bar orbit families contribute some mass to the 3D BP/X-shape. All co-added orbit families show a bifurcation in stellar number count distribution with distance that resembles the bifurcation observed in red clump stars in the MW. However, only the box orbit family shows an increasing separation of peaks with increasing galactic latitude |b|, similar to that observed. Our analysis suggests that no single orbit family fully explains all the observed features associated with the MW's BP/X-shaped bulge, but collectively the non-resonant boxes and various resonant boxlet orbits contribute at different distances from the centre to produce this feature. We propose that since box orbits (which are the dominant population in bars) have three incommensurable orbital fundamental frequencies, their 3D shapes are highly flexible and, like Lissajous figures, this family of orbits is most easily able to adapt to evolution in the shape of the underlying potential. © 2017 The Authors.


In this chapter we survey areas of current interest in the use of technology for taskbased language teaching (TBLT) purposes and identify promising directions for pedagogy and research. We begin by reviewing the two vibrant topics of interaction and cognitive task complexity. We conclude that online interactions broadly promote the same processes that are known to facilitate second language (L2) learning in face-to-face interactions, albeit with interesting differences, whereas what constitutes cognitive task complexity online and how it may affect L2 learning remains ill understood. We then offer several exemplary illustrations of task-based investigations that have successfully leveraged the affordances of technology in non-trivial, creative ways. This is followed by a theoretical discussion of design principles for what we call technology-mediated TBLT. Finally, we examine two central benefits often boasted of tasks and technology: authenticity and motivation. We argue new technologies transform what counts as real-world within a traditional TBLT perspective and demand new understandings of "digital authenticity"; and we suggest theoretically principled ways must be found in the future to study motivational flows when experiencing specific tasks as well as complex motivational dynamics when adopting, integrating, or resisting any technology in general. Our hope is to help widen the scope of current discussions about the roles of technological innovation in TBLT and promote critical thinking about the harnessing of new technologies in task-based language education.


This paper replicates a study by Fennell (1990) which found that a sample of ecotourists to Costa Rica was statistically different from the average Canadian tourist along a number of attraction and benefit dimensions. This 1990 study is compared against a sample of Canadian ecotourists who recently travelled to Costa Rica. The purpose of the comparison was to examine if or how ecotourists have changed in their choice of attractions and the types of benefit sought, over the course of a decade. In general, very few differences were found between the two groups regarding the importance of attractions and benefits. Differences were found in the average age of respondents, the male–female ratio and, not surprisingly, the average price of a trip to Costa Rica. Implications are discussed in relation to hard- and soft-path ecotourism, with the former considered as essential for the integrity of the industry.


H. Onno Ruding describes the negotiations on the EU budget, which will resume in 2013 following their collapse in late November, as "more awkward than usual". In this new CEPS Commentary, he advises EU leaders to make the instrument more forward-looking in promoting economic growth in Europe and less focused on maintaining legacy entitlements of past years. In his view, this means more spending on research, innovation, education and infrastructure and also requires further reductions in the still-dominant agricultural subsidies as well as regional and structural funds.


Background Sex chromosome trisomies (47,XXX, 47,XXY and 47,XYY) are known to be a risk factor for language disorder, but it is hard to predict outcomes, because many cases are identified only when problems are found. Methods We recruited children aged 5-16 years with all three types of trisomy, and divided them into a High Bias group, identified in the course of investigations for neurodevelopmental problems, and a Low Bias group, identified via prenatal screening or other medical investigations. Children from a twin sample were used to compare pattern and severity of language problems: they were subdivided according to parental concerns about language/history of speech-language therapy into a No Concerns group (N = 118) and a Language Concerns group (N = 57). Children were assessed on a psychometric battery and a standardized parent checklist. After excluding children with intellectual disability, autism or hearing problems, the sample included 28 XXX, 18 XXY and 14 XYY Low Bias cases and 7 XXX, 13 XXY and 17 XYY High Bias cases. Results Variation within each trisomy group was substantial: within the Low Bias group, overall language scores were depressed relative to normative data, but around one third had no evidence of problems. There was no effect of trisomy type, and the test profile was similar to the Language Concerns comparison group. The rate of problems was much greater in the High Bias children with trisomies. Conclusions When advising parents after discovery of a trisomy, it is important to emphasise that, though there is an increased risk of language problems, there is a very wide range of outcomes. Severe language problems are more common in those identified via genetic testing for neurodevelopmental problems but these are not characteristic of children identified on prenatal screening.


The role of the androgen receptor (AR) signaling axis in the progression of prostate cancer is a cornerstone to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms causing castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Resistance of advanced prostate cancer to available treatment options makes it a clinical challenge that results in approximately 30,000 deaths of American men every year. Since the historic discovery by Dr. Huggins more than 70 years ago, androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) has been the principal treatment for advanced prostate cancer. Initially, ADT induces apoptosis of androgen-dependent prostate cancer epithelial cells and regression of androgen-dependent tumors. However, the majority of patients with advanced prostate cancer progress and become refractory to ADT due to emergence of androgen-independent prostate cancer cells driven by aberrant AR activation. Microtubule-targeting agents such as taxanes, docetaxel and paclitaxel, have enjoyed success in the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer; although new, recently designed mitosis-specific agents, such as the polo-kinase and kinesin-inhibitors, have yielded clinically disappointing results. Docetaxel, as a first-line chemotherapy, improves prostate cancer patient survival by months, but tumor resistance to these therapeutic agents inevitably develops. On a molecular level, progression to CRPC is characterized by aberrant AR expression, de novo intraprostatic androgen production, and cross talk with other oncogenic pathways. Emerging evidence suggests that reactivation of epithelial-mesenchymal-transition (EMT) processes may facilitate the development of not only prostate cancer but also prostate cancer metastases. EMT is characterized by gain of mesenchymal characteristics and invasiveness accompanied by loss of cell polarity, with an increasing number of studies focusing on the direct involvement of androgen-AR signaling axis in EMT, tumor progression, and therapeutic resistance. In this article, we discuss the current knowledge of mechanisms via which the AR signaling drives therapeutic resistance in prostate cancer metastatic progression and the novel therapeutic interventions targeting AR in CRPC.


ABSTRACT Analyzing photos and narratives of the "widows' battalion" in Aceh, Indonesia that appeared in international and local print media between 2000 and 2002, this article traces how images of female combatants initially provided evidence of a uniformed, armed ethno-nationalist movement motivated by past state violence and linked to historical legends of women involved in armed resistance to colonialism. Subsequently, the heroines were recast as immoral young women pursuing inappropriate sexual relationships with the occupying military. The problems of intelligence gathering, double agents, and the indeterminate zone of overlap in which male soldiers collaborated in the past were rewritten as a problem of sexual or intimate relations that violated religious and cultural norms. In Aceh, the affective power and complexity of women's positioning as both victim and combatant is fueled by the invocation of the iconic heroines of the anticolonial resistance and ideas about international human rights. Images and narration of the widows' battalion appear to champion female combatants past and present, but in fact, contribute to the consolidation of the power of male commanders and combatants in the resistance movement. Analyses of human rights photography must consider the affective power of images beyond engaging the empathy of distant spectators to consider their role in conflict dynamics.


The Gulf Cooperation council countries (GCC) have recently embarked in an energy subsidy reform following the drastic drop of international oil prices in 2014. The reform consists of increasing energy prices (fuel, electricity, gas) in order to gradually phase out the subsidy and rationalize government expenditure. Governments however are concerned about the adverse effects of high energy prices on inflation, economic growth and the welfare of low-income households. The objective of this paper is to assess the economy wide effects of the energy price increase in Oman focusing in particular on income distribution as reflected in the Gini-coefficients and other inequality indicators. The study uses an extended version of the general equilibrium GTAP Model (MyGATP) in which the single regional household was splitted into a government account and 8 household types based on the income and expenditure survey of Oman. Results indicate the effects of reducing the energy subsidy by 50% would lead to a slight increase in the GDP by 0.62% , an increase in government saving by 2.9 billion US $ and a reduction in household welfare by about 3% due mainly to the increase in the price index of private consumption (general inflation). The effect on the Gini coefficient is however very small showing little sensitivity in the short run of income inequality to the subsidy reform.


We propose a fully conservative and less oscillatory multi-moment scheme for the approximation of hyperbolic conservation laws. The proposed scheme (CIP-CSL3ENO) is based on two CIP-CSL3 schemes and the essentially non-oscillatory (ENO) scheme. In this paper, we also propose an ENO indicator for the multi-moment framework, which intentionally selects non-smooth stencil but can efficiently minimize numerical oscillations. The proposed scheme is validated through various benchmark problems and a comparison with an experiment of two droplets collision/separation. The CIP-CSL3ENO scheme shows approximately fourth-order accuracy for smooth solution, and captures discontinuities and smooth solutions simultaneously without numerical oscillations for solutions which include discontinuities. The numerical results of two droplets collision/separation (3D free surface flow simulation) show that the CIP-CSL3ENO scheme can be applied to various types of fluid problems not only compressible flow problems but also incompressible and 3D free surface flow problems.


Natural areas such as forests provide important goods and services to the people, forests supply timber and wood fiber, provide and regulate water resources, provide genetic resources for medicines, and place for recreation/ tourism. There are benefits that people obtain from ecosystems are known as ecosystem services (ES). An initital attempt to identify the types of ES available in South Sumatra region, particularly in the landscape of Sembilang-Dangku


The microwave filter is an electronic circuit that selects a range of frequencies of the received signal which operates between 300 MHz and 300GHz. Is a circuit that"s defined by polynomials characteristics which it can be used to create matrix that mathematically reproduced the filter. These matrixes are called coupling matrixes and represent the connections that occur between the resonators that make up the filter.
Our "TFC" works on this matrix. From the coupling transversal matrix N+2 and folded, we don"t synthesis them, we obtain through matrix rotation, new types of filters.
Then we can say that the aim of this "TFC" is to obtain six different configurations, specifically: the symmetric inline, asymmetric inline, "pfitzenmaier", cascaded quartet (CQs), cul-de-sac and trisections.
This document will presented the mathematical development of these new types of microwave filters and their implementations in matlab. Our work will be used as a complement for the "New Class of Receiver filter for Space applications" (NCRS).
NCRS is a project of the UPC for the European Space Agency (ESA), is based on obtaining filters with ideals responses that take into account the inherent losses of material for space applications.
The path we"ve followed in order to structure the project has been the following:
First of all, give an overview of microwave filters where we have brought in the needed concepts to understand the work done.
Secondly, we explain the transformation basis where we detail the process of the rotation matrix.
And last we present a descriptive guide of the obtained configurations from the own generalization of the particular cases of each ones.


Objective: Tracheobronchial injuries have different clinical pictures and high mortality unless aggressive treatment is used. We reviewed our surgical experience. Methods: The records of 32 patients from 1988 to 2002 were reviewed. Mean age was 22.3 years (range: 4–53). Three patients were female. Prominent symptoms were dyspnea, subcutaneous air and pneumothorax in chest X-rays. Associated injuries were seen in 22 patients (68.7%): most frequently in the lung parenchyma (11 patients) and esophagus (seven patients). Bronchoscopic detection of a rupture of the trachea or bronchus was the main indication for surgery. Results: Nineteen injuries (59%) were penetrating and 13 blunt (41%). The most common presenting sign of airway disruption was subcutaneous emphysema (25%) and stridor (22%). Of the 32 patients, 22 underwent bronchoscopic examination. Bronchography was used in three patients admitted during the late period. Surgical morbidity was 19.3%. Seven patients died (21.8%), of whom six had been operated on. In operations performed during the first 2 h of trauma, no mortality occurred. There were associated injuries in 100% of patients that died and in 60% of those that survived. The proportion (100 vs. 24%) and duration (2.8 vs. 11.6 days) of ventilatory support were lower in patients that survived than in those that died. Mean injury severity score of patients that died was 34.7 ^ 8.8 while it was 24.3 ^ 8.6 in those that survived. Tracheal stenosis developed in three patients (9.3%). Conclusion: In civilian life, tracheobronchial injuries occur relatively rarely. Early diagnosis and operative intervention save lives. Associated injury is an important mortality factor. q 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.


Let $P\subset\R^d$ be a $d$-dimensional polytope. The {\em realization space} of~$P$ is the space of all polytopes $P'\subset\R^d$ that are combinatorially equivalent to~$P$, modulo affine transformations. We report on work by the first author, which shows that realization spaces of \mbox{4-dimensional} polytopes can be ``arbitrarily bad'': namely, for every primary semialgebraic set~$V$ defined over~$\Z$, there is a $4$-polytope $P(V)$ whose realization space is ``stably equivalent'' to~$V$. This implies that the realization space of a $4$-polytope can have the homotopy type of an arbitrary finite simplicial complex, and that all algebraic numbers are needed to realize all $4$- polytopes. The proof is constructive. These results sharply contrast the $3$-dimensional case, where realization spaces are contractible and all polytopes are realizable with integral coordinates (Steinitz's Theorem). No similar universality result was previously known in any fixed dimension.


It has been shown that the cosmic censorship conjecture holds for polarized Gowdy spacetimes. In the more general, unpolarized case, however, the question remains open. It is known that cylindrically symmetric dust can collapse to form a naked singularity. Since Gowdy universes comprise gravitational waves that are locally cylindrically symmetric, perhaps these waves can collapse onto a symmetry axis and create a naked singularity. It is known that in the case of cylindrical symmetry, event horizons will not form under gravitational collapse, so the formation of a singularity on the symmetry axis would be a violation of the cosmic censorship conjecture. To search for cosmic censorship violation in Gowdy spacetimes, we must have a better understanding of their singularities. It is known that far from the symmetry axes, the spacetimes are asymptotically velocity term dominated, but this property is not known to hold near the axes. In this thesis, we take the first steps toward understanding on and near axis behavior of Gowdy spacetimes with space-sections that have the topology of the three-sphere. Null geodesic behavior on the symmetry axes is studied, and it is found that in some cases, a photon will wrap around the universe infinitely many times on its way back toward the initial singularity.


Although often presented as a single basis for educational visual screen design, Gestalt theory is not a single small set of visual principles uniformly applied by all designers. In fact, it appears that instructional visual design literature often deals with only a small set of Gestalt laws. In this project Gestalt literature was consulted to distil the most relevant Gestalt laws for educational visual screen design. Eleven laws were identified. They deal with balance/symmetry, continuation, closure, figure-ground, focal point, isomorphic correspondence, pragnanz, proximity, similarity, simplicity, and unity/harmony.To test the usefulness of these laws in visual screen design they were applied to the redesign of an instructional multimedia application, 'WoundCare,' designed to teach nursing students wound management. The basic text-based screens in the original WoundCare application were replaced with graphical user interface screens, that were designed according to these principles. The new screen designs were then evaluated by asking students and others to compare the designs. The viewers were also asked to rate directly the value of using the eleven Gestalt design principles in the redesign, both for improving the product's appearance and improving its value for learning.The evaluation results were overwhelmingly positive. Both the new design and the value of applying the eleven Gestalt laws to improve learning were strongly supported by the students' opinions. However, some differences in the value of applying particular Gestalt laws to the interface design were identified and this forms a useful direction for future research.


Over the last decade, there has been an exponential increase in studies using social network analysis to describe the structure of animal societies. In this synthesis, we examine the contribution of social network analysis towards developing our understanding of the social organization of elasmobranchs and teleost fishes. We review and discuss the current state of knowledge of the mechanisms and functions underpinning social network structure in fishes with particular emphasis on cooperation, familiarity, site fidelity, population structure and the welfare of captive populations. We also discuss important methodological issues (e.g. how to identify and mark fish) and highlight new developments in this area of research and their implications for the study of fish behaviour. Finally, we outline promising future research areas for the application of social network analysis to teleost fishes and elasmobranchs.


Dr. Malini Suchak. A guide to resources related to the fields of Animal Behavior, Ecology and Conservation and the ABEC major at Canisius College. Get help from the library


Policy making in Integrated Water Resources Management relies on understanding the concept of vulnerability. Therefore, it will be essential to identify the socio-economic state of the system under study as well as its hydrological state. In this paper, a water accounting framework is adopted to make a basis for integrated water resources management to embrace socio-economic aspects as well as the hydrological feature. The water accounting framework will be capable of integrating different data from economic, hydrological, and social domains. It is also suitable to address the effects of different policies. The aim of the present paper is to analyze vulnerability of the water resource system in the Rafsanjan study area. Adopting an analytical framework for assessing the system vulnerability to water scarcity, the paper then presented a derivation of vulnerability indicators based on the data organized in terms of different water accounts for 2001 and 2006. Analyzing the trends of indicators, the paper suggested policy options which could be applied in those periods to reduce the system vulnerability. The policy options are then simulated in a system dynamics model (using the VENSIM PLE software) built in association of the water resource and economic sub-systems of the study area. The results showed that the water resource system of the study area is highly vulnerable to water scarcity. To alleviate the system vulnerability, the policy options are suggested to shift partly from agricultural activities to industrial and mining activities.


What did we know about birds a thousand years ago, and how has our understanding developed? 'A History of Ornithology' offers a complete history of birdwatching in Britain, a classic for every nature lover's bookshelf. Today there is a huge interest in birdwatching as a hobby, and over the years amateur birdwatchers have contributed enormously to our understanding of the birds around us. At the same time, ornithology has developed as a science -- in the field, in the laboratory, and in the universities -- and birds have played their part in pushing forward the frontiers of biological knowledge. Peter Bircham looks at the history of British ornithology, spanning a millennium and exploring along the way the first bird book, the earliest British lists, various notable scientists, collectors and artists, the first studies of migration, and the challenges presented by classification. He traces the development of the British Ornithologists' Union and other organisations, and finishes with a review of the current state of ornithology in Britain. 'A History of Ornithology' is an authoritative and engrossing account, packed full of fascinating stories -- not only about the birds but also about the many colourful characters who have studied them through the ages. This beautifully illustrated book will hold great appeal both for the student of ornithology and for the enthusiastic amateur naturalist.


Objective.Only a minority of patients with low-risk prostate cancer needs treatment, but the methods for optimal selection of patients for treatment are not established. This article describes the Study of Active Monitoring in Sweden (SAMS), which aims to improve those methods. Material and methods. SAMS is a prospective, multicentre study of active surveillance for low-risk prostate cancer. It consists of a randomized part comparing standard rebiopsy and follow-up with an extensive initial rebiopsy coupled with less intensive follow-up and no further scheduled biopsies (SAMS-FU), as well as an observational part (SAMS-ObsQoL). Quality of life is assessed with questionnaires and compared with patients receiving primary curative treatment. SAMS-FU is planned to randomize 500 patients and SAMS-ObsQoL to include at least 500 patients during 5 years. The primary endpoint is conversion to active treatment. The secondary endpoints include symptoms, distant metastases and mortality. All patients will be followed for 10–15 years. Results. Inclusion started in October 2011. In March 2013, 148 patients were included at 13 Swedish urological centres. Conclusions. It is hoped that the results of SAMS will contribute to fewer patients with indolent, low-risk prostate cancer receiving unnecessary treatment and more patients on active surveillance who need treatment receiving it when the disease is still curable. The less intensive investigational followup in the SAMS-FU trial would reduce the healthcare resources allocated to this large group of patients if it replaced the present standard schedule.


Activities of man in rivers and their watersheds have altered enormously the timing, magnitude, and nature of inputs of materials to estuaries. Despite an awareness of large-scale, long-term changes in river-estuarine watersheds, we do not fully understand the consequences to estuarine ecosystems of these activities. Deforestation, urbanization, and agriculturalization have changed the timing and nature of material inputs to estuaries. Conversion of land from forest to almost any other land use promotes overland flow of storm runoff; increases the timing, rate and magnitude of runoff; and increases sediment, organic matter, and inorganic nutrient export. It has been estimated that total organic carbon levels in rivers have increased by a factor of 3–5 over natural levels. Man's activities have also changed the magnitude of particulate organic carbon relative to dissolved organic carbon export and the lability of the organic matter. Historically, rivers and streams had different features than they do today. Two of man's activities that have had pronounced effects on the timing and quality of river water are channelization and damming. Agricultural drainage systems, channelized and deepened streams, and leveeing and prevention of overbank flooding have had the combined effect of increasing the amplitude and rate of storm runoff, increasing sediment load, increasing nutrient delivery downstream, and decreasing riparian wetland productivity. Dams on the other hand have altered natural discharge patterns and altered the downstream transfer of sediments, organic matter, and nutrients. Patterns of estuarine community metabolism are sensitive to variations, in the timing, magnitude, and quality of material inputs from watersheds. The autotrophic-heterotrophic nature of an estuary is determined by three primary factors: the ratio of inorganic to organic matter inputs, water residence time, and the overall lability of allochthonous organic matter inputs. A simulation model is used to explore the effects of man's activities in watersheds on the spatial patterns of production and respiration in a generalized estuarine system. Examined are the effects of variations in the ratios of inorganic and organic nitrogen loading, the residence time of water in the estuary, the degradability of allochthonous organic matter, and the ratio of dissolved to particulate organic matter inputs. Simulations suggest that the autotrophic-heterotrophic balance in estuaries is more sensitive to variations in organic matter loading than inorganic nutrient loading. Water residence time and flocculation-sedimentation of organic matter are two physical factors that most effect simulated spatial patterns of metabolism in estuaries.


This paper describes the current background and state of energy sector investments and examines the needs in the future to transition to a low carbon, globally accessible energy system. The discussion is global but the Latin America region is particularly highlighted.

Global greenhouse gas emissions need to peak within a decade or two and decline vigorously thereafter if we are to limit the climate change to 2 degrees C by the end of the century, thus highlighting the need for immediate investments into low carbon energy. It is necessary to effectively integrate these investments with development goals including access to energy, reduction of in-door air pollution, improvements of labour productivity and reduction of land degradation. Thus, low carbon development is a new paradigm for limiting climate change while at the same time enhancing development outcomes. The recent economic crisis, while impacting global investments has also lead to stimulus packages in many countries that are directed towards "green" development. It will be important to continue this trend to prioritize low carbon energy in development strategies and identifythe main recipients of energy investments in the next two decades.

A global energy system that can effectively limits climate change to 2 degrees C and provides access to energy is seen to require annual investments of 2-3 trillion US$ by 2030, less than 3% of the estimated global GDP in that year. Low carbon energy supply and energy efficiency improvements are identified as principal areas for investments in the next two decades. Renewable energy in particular is seen to be a major component of a low carbon energy strategy. However there will need to be an enormous scale up of current investment levels in these sectors in the next two decades and will entail massive restructuring of existing infrastructure. For Latin America and the Caribbean, this would involve annual investments of around 180 billion US$ in 2030 and lead to more than a 30 percent reduction of CO2 emissions from the energy sector compared to current levels. Renewable energy will need a major share of these investments (more than 50 percent of total investments), mainly in decentralized electricity and biofuels production, both of which would need to be enormously scaled up compared to current levels.

The scale-up of investments in the energy system will require continued public funding through innovative financing mechanisms and but private-public partnerships will be important. Establishing carbon markets will be essential to provide the necessary impetus for investments. Technology will need to be at the forefront of the climate debate and framework for a massive scaling up particularly of investments in energy research and development. Also, technological transfer and deployment would need to be clearly defined.


Purpose of the paper: To understand the motivation of schools in their choice of travel destinations. To test the effectiveness of 'Curriculum based School picnics' as a tool to enhance the scientific temper of school students. Methodology: Interviews were conducted to understand the motivation of schools in their choice of travel destinations. Teachers were asked to design the school picnics/excursions for the academic session based on the curriculum of that particular class. The students were divided into two sections: Section A and B. Section A students were taken to the pre-decided destinations before the onset of the teaching sessions. Section B students were not taken for the picnic/excursion. Students of both sections were merged together in the teaching sessions and the class participation of the students was recorded and evaluated. The effectiveness of the experimental method was tested by Independent sample t-test. Findings: 'Curriculum based Picnics/excursions' was not one of the motivation to design school picnics The students who were taken to the curriculum designed picnics before the onset of the teaching session were found to be more inquisitive and participative during the teaching sessions. The p-values were found to be lesser than the alpha values thus confirming the effectiveness of the experimental method. Originality and value: Less research on creating and testing simple and effective tools to increase scientific temper in students is seen. This paper is valuable not only to the school authorities but to all the segments of the society as it enhances scientific temper in a very interesting and effective manner.


The Yangtze is the largest river basin in China and home to over 400 million people. In recent history, and especially during 1950s–1970s, extensive lakes and floodplains were reclaimed as polders for agriculture and rural development. Consequently, the flood retention capacity was decreased, many lakes were disconnected from the main channel of the Yangtze by embankments and sluice gates, and eutrophication was common. It is anticipated that there will be a greater frequency of extreme floods and droughts in the basin according to climate change scenarios. WWF commenced a programme in 2002 in partnership with government agencies and local communities to reconnect three lakes (Zhangdu, Hong and Tian-e-zhou) in Hubei Province to the river by opening sluice gates seasonally and improving lake management. The resilience of the lake environment to climate change and the livelihoods of local people were enhanced. The measures assessed here highlight: (a) the need for adaptation programmes to concurrently improve livelihoods and reduce exposure to physical risks; (b) the need to build the capacity of people and institutions; and (c) the value of decentralized adaptation as compared with new infrastructure investments.