The determination of trace amount of sulfide based on the addition reaction of sulfide with malachite green at pH= 7.5 and 25 oC has been investigated in micellar media. Surfactants studied include  non-ionic surfactant, Trition-x-100, anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC). The reaction is followed spectrophotometrically by measuring the decrease in absorbance of the indicator at l max = 630 nm by the fixed time method. The reaction in the presence of Trition-x-100 is faster than in the absence of surfactant in medium. No significant change was observed with SDS, CTAB and CPC. Under the optimum experimental conditions decreases in the absorbance of malachite green is proportional to the concentration of sulfide in the range 25-1750 ng.ml -1 with a fixed time method at the first 5, 15 and 25 seconds from initiation of the reaction. The detection limit and quantification limit of the proposed kinetic method were 0.166, 0.207and 0.281μgml -1 (Dt=5,15 and 25)and 0. 555, 0.692and 0.959μgml -1 (Dt=5,15and 25) respectively. To confirm the usefulness of the proposed method, sulfide was determined in river, spring, fish farm, and tap water wastewater samples without any purification or using masking reagents.


Low frequency excess noise associated to gate-induced floating body effect is for the first time reported in Partially Depleted SOI MOSFETs with ultrathin gate oxide. This was investigated with respect to floating body devices biased in linear regime. Due to a body charging from the gate, a Lorentzian-like noise component superimposes to the conventional 1/f noise spectrum. This excess noise exhibits the same behavior as the Kink-related excess noise previously observed in Partially Depleted devices in saturation regime.


Kocer E, Kocer A, Degirmenci Y, Eryılmaz M. Long-term depression is a stroke risk factor. Background and Aim: Only a few studies have evaluated depression prevalence in pre-stroke period in comparison to controls. We investigated this association based on a hospitalised stroke population. Methods: One hundred and forty-eight stroke patients were evaluated. The presence of depression was compared with those of 100 healthy controls without stroke, from the same region. Depression was accepted as present or not present after history and clinical evaluation according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV. Socio-demographic variables, other stroke risk factors and the time of diagnosis of depression (how many year or month they got depression) were recorded. Results: Gender and mean age of patients and controls were similar in comparison. Depression was diagnosed in 27 patients and 24 controls (p > 0.05). The time period passed after diagnosis of depression was longer in stroke patients in comparison to controls (p < 0.001). Conclusions: The risk of stroke should be considered in elderly with long-term depression. This indicates that treatment of depression is another factor which should be considered in prevention of brain stroke.


This study aims to identify the reality and challenges faced by the Syrian women refugees working in the Jordanian society by highlighting the following aspects: knowledge of the living conditions of the working Syrian women refugees, and identifying the main social, cultural, economic, legal and practical challenges facing the Syrian women refugee workers. The descriptive analytical approach that is based on the intentional sampling method was used, and a sample of 120 Syrian women refugees, , working in Irbid governorate, was designed for identification, which was chosen in the intended manner in a snowball-rolling way. The findings showthat Syrian refugee women face economic challenges to a high degree, as well as social, cultural, and legal challenges, and challenges inherent to the work environment in a moderate degree.


Many microorganisms have the ability to propel themselves through their fluid environments by periodically actuating their body. The biological fluid environments surrounding these microswimmers are typically complex fluids containing many high-molecular weight protein molecules, which give the fluid non-Newtonian rheological properties. In this thesis, we investigate the effect that one such rheological property, viscoelasticity, has on microswimming. We consider a classical model of a microswimmer, the so-called Taylor's waving sheet and generalise it to arbitrary shapes. We employ the Oldroyd-B model to study its swimming analytically and numerically. We attempt to develop a mechanistic understanding of the swimmer's behaviour in viscoelastic fluids. It has recently been suggested that continuum models of complex biological fluids might not be appropriate for studying the swimming of flagellated microorganisms as the size of biological macromolecules is comparable to the typical width of a microorganism's flagellum. A part of this thesis is devoted to exploring this scenario. We propose an alternative method for modelling complex fluids using a two-fluid depletion region model and we have developed a numerical solver to find the swimming speed and rate of work for the generalised Taylor's waving sheet model swimmer using this alternate depletion region model. This thesis is organised as follows. In the first chapter, we outline a physical mechanism for the slowing down of Taylor's sheet in an Oldroyd-B fluid as the Deborah number increases. We demonstrate how a microswimmer can be designed to avoid this. In the second chapter, we investigate swimming in an Oldroyd-B fluid near a solid boundary and show that, at large amplitudes and low polymer concentrations, the swimming speed of Taylor's sheet increases with De. In the third chapter, we show how the Oldroyd-B model can be adapted using depletion regions. In the final chapter, we investigate optimal swimming in a Newtonian fluid. We show that while the organism's energetics are important,


In this modern digital age, software-based systems are becoming essential in everyone's life. During the industrial evolution, human society has experienced many industrial revolutions. Presently, the world is undergoing hi-tech industrial revolution with information technology, computer network and artificial intelligence as its main features. Mechatronics is also an emerging technology in the evolutionary process of modern engineering design. The role of mechatronics with effective real-time software called as software-based mechatronics system which is having high potential in a system development. In this, the ineffective parameter design may produce the severe consequences in the application field, even there is a chance of accidents. So, it is important to do a perfect process parameter design in software-based mechatronics systems. Taguchi method of experimental design has widely used in industry for parameters design in achieving useful goals. This research outlines the Taguchi optimisation methodology using four factor L9 orthogonal array for the parameters design in a software-based electro-pneumatic system.


^ Ghosh SM, Agarwala RB, Pandey M, et al. Efficacy of low-dose caudal clonidine in reduction of an indication for which it is rarely used today. Since the early 1990s, clonidine has become increasingly popular with paediatric anaesthetists as a sedative agent, as an additive to neuraxial and peripheral nerve blocks, for miscellaneous indications such as the prevention of post-operative agitation and for the treatment of postoperative shivering. Although in adults clonidine is used primarily to achieve haemodynamic stability and a blunted stress response, in children the primary focus is on the quality of recovery from anaesthesia. In both groups, clonidine is used for prolongation of a regional block. A considerable amount of clinical experience with the compound now exists in both adults and children.


This article examines "Hello, War Brides," a series of short, auto/biographical essays authored by two Japanese war brides from the state of Washington. I view this text as a product of collaborative "memory work." Based on a textual analysis of its narratives and form, I argue that this work represents individual war brides' memories as counter-memories that provide a new understanding of the experiences of Japanese war brides. Such an understanding could be thought of as an alternative to the monolithic and stigmatized images of Japanese war brides, imposed primarily by the Japanese mainstream media against which these women have struggled for decades. The production of the text also worked to reconstruct and renew the women's own memories in a positive light and to create a new form of community of remembrance. This essay aims to shed light on both the literary and the social significance of "Hello, War Brides" as a way to re-evaluate the Japanese war brides' transnational movement that has taken place in the years after its publication.


The process window for highly efficient laser-based powder bed fusion (LPBF), ensuring the production of parts with low porosity, was determined by analyzing cross-sections of samples that were generated with laser powers varying between 10.8 W and 1754 W, laser beam diameters varying between 35 μm and 200 μm, and velocities of the moving laser beam ranging between 0.7 m/s and 1.3 m/s. With these parameters, the process alters between different modes that are referred to as simple heating, heat conduction melting (HCM), key-bowl melting (KBM), and deep-penetration melting (DPM). It was found that the optimum process window for a highly efficient LPBF process, generating AlSi10Mg parts with low porosity, is determined by the ratio PL/db of the incident laser power PL and the beam diameter db of the beam on the surface of the bead, and ranges between PL/db = 2000 W/mm and PL/db = 5200 W/mm, showing process efficiencies of about 7–8%. This optimum process window is centered around the range PL/db = 3000–3500 W/mm, in which the process is characterized by KBM, which is an intermediate process mode between HCM and DPM. Processes with PL/db < 2000 W/mm partially failed, and lead to balling and a lack of fusion, whereas processes with PL/db > 5200 W/mm showed a process efficiency below 5% and pore ratios exceeding 10%.


Data mining is the process of finding interesting or valuable structures in large data sets. It is a modern discipline, and takes ideas and methods from statistics, machine learning, data management and other areas. In many ways, it is similar to exploratory data analysis, although the size of current data sets distinguishes between data mining and standard exploratory data analysis. Data mining can pose novel challenges because of the amount of data to be analysed.

This thesis is concerned with modelling different aspects of credit card holders' behaviour and detecting patterns in the ways customers use their card accounts. A review of the literature on consumer purchasing behaviour and data mining is given, and for the latter the differing viewpoints of the statistical and the computer science communities are discussed.

Two types of models are examined: descriptive models, which describe how customers have been observed to behave; and predictive models, which predict how customers are likely to behave in the future. Both types of model are applied to the main types of credit card use: repayment behaviour and transactional behaviour. Relationships between the two different sorts of behaviour are described, and models are examined which can link the two. Some valuable insights and discoveries of potential commercial value are described.

Simple graphical tools are used to illustrate the unearthing of unexpected patterns and relationships, and it is shown how more sophisticated modelling can build on such discoveries.


The need or a more basic understanding of welding processes has engendered efforts to provide an experimental data base for use in weld process modeling. Work to determine interrelationships of heat source, molten pool, and weld bead geometry is described here, and the sensitivity of these interrelationships to welding variables is discussed. The effects on bead morphology of changing current, welding speed, and filler wire speed, with practical boundaries, are presented as a multivariable plot. A model of the relationship between process parameters and weld bead morphology is presented; the model involves dynamic heat and mass balances in a control volume containing the molten pool.


The fibroblasts of mouse skin connective tissue arise from two distinct lineages during embryonic development. One forms the upper dermis, including the dermal papilla, dermal sheath and arrector pili muscle, and is required for hair follicle formation. The other forms the lower dermis, including the reticular fibroblasts that synthesize the bulk of the fibrillar ECM, and the skin adipocyte layer. The lower dermal lineage is responsible for the first phase wound repair. We have been investigating the changes in the composition of adult mouse dermis when epidermal tumors arise through oncogenic beta-catenin activation. Our studies highlight the contribution of different fibroblast subpopulations to the stroma of skin tumors. Citation Format: Fiona M. Watt. Fibroblast heterogeneity in skin tumour stroma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Function of Tumor Microenvironment in Cancer Progression; 2016 Jan 7–10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(15 Suppl):Abstract nr IA03.


Objectives The goal of this study was to determine the short-term and long-term prognostic value of red cell distribution width (RDW) in congestive heart failure (CHF) patients hospitalised in cardiac care unit and to compare the value of haemoglobin (Hgb) levels. Methods In a cross-sectional study, patients with acute onset of CHF and admitted to cardiac care unit in Juntendo University Hospital were enrolled from Jan 2007 to Dec 2009 and were followed for a median of 24 months (range 6–42 months). We measured red blood cell distribution width, haemoglobin and other biomarkers when admission. The results were statistically analysed by software JMP 8.0 and SPSS 18.0. Results A total of 521 patients were enrolled, with a median (IQR) age of 72 (64, 80) years old (66.6% male). Multivariate analysis showed that Hgb, B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were independent predictors of RDW. The mean level of Hgb in in-hospital-dead group was 11.0±1.8 g/dl and 11.8±2.6 g/dl in in-hospital alive group (p>0.05), and the median (IQR) value of RDW was 16.2% (15.1%, 17.6%) and 14.4% (13.5%, 15.8%), respectively (p<0.0001). Through a median of 24 months follow up, the mean level of Hgb in no-endpoint-group was 12.5±2.4 g/dl and 11.4±2.5 g/dl in endpoint-group (p<0.0001), and the median (IQR) value of RDW was 13.8% (13.3%, 14.4%) and 14.9% (13.9%, 16.5%), respectively (p<0.0001). Logistic regression analysis showed in-hospital mortality was significantly related with RDW (p=0.044), NYHA IV (p=0.0037), eGFR (p=0.042) and C response protein (p=0.0044), not with Hgb (p=0.10). In the final multivariate cox proportional hazard models, RDW (per SD increase, HR 2.19, 95% CI 1.92 to 2.50, p<0.0001), left ventricular ejection fraction (per SD increase, HR 0.81, 95% CI 0.71 to 0.92, p=0.0016), age (10 years increase, HR 1.19, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.34, p=0.0017) and NYHA III/IV (HR 1.52, 95% CI 1.15 to 2.03, p=0.0029) remained independent predictors of long-term outcomes after adjustment, while Hgb did not add prediction value (per SD increase, HR 1.01, 95% CI 0.96 to 1.13, p=0.86). Conclusions Higher red cell distribution width values at admission in congestive heart failure patients were associated with worse short-term and long-term outcomes, with more prognostic value than haemoglobin. RDW is inexpensive and contained in routine test. It should be included in multi-markers prognostic models to predict short-term and long-term outcomes in patients with acute exacerbation of heart failure.


Recent reports have suggested that sucrose phosphate synthase (EC 22.214.171.124), a key enzyme in sucrose biosynthesis in photosynthetic "source" tissues, may also be important in some sucrose accumulating "sink" tissues. These experiments were conducted to determine if sucrose phosphate synthase is involved in sucrose accumulation in fruits of several species. Peach (Prunus persica NCT 516) and strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa cv. Chandler) fruits were harvested directly from the plant at various stages of fruit development. Kiwi (Actinidia chinensis), papaya (Carica papaya), pineapple (Ananas comosus) and mango (Mangifera indica) were sampled in postharvest storage over a period of several days. Carbohydrate concentrations and activities of sucrose phosphate synthase, sucrose synthase (EC 220.127.116.11), and acid and neutral invertases (EC 184.108.40.206) were measured. All fruits contained significant activities of sucrose phosphate synthase. Moreover, in fruits from all species except pineapple and papaya, there was an increase in sucrose phosphate synthase activity associated with the accumulation of sucrose in situ. The increase in sucrose concentration in peaches was also associated with an increase in sucrose synthase activity and, in strawberries, with increased activity of both sucrose synthase and neutral invertase. The hexose pools in all fruits were comprised of equimolar concentrations of fructose and glucose, except in the mango. In mango, the fructose to glucose ratio increased from 2 to 41 during ripening as sucrose concentration more than doubled. The results of this study indicate that activities of the sucrose metabolizing enzymes, including sucrose phosphate synthase, within the fruit itself, are important in determining the soluble sugar content of fruits of many species. This appears to be true for fruits which sweeten from a starch reserve and in fruits from sorbitol translocating species, raffinose saccharide translocating species, and sucrose translocating species.


Small scale fading makes the wireless channel gain vary significantly over small distances and in the context of classical communication systems it can be detrimental to performance. But in the context of mobile robot (MR) wireless communications, we can take advantage of the fading using a mobility diversity algorithm (MDA) to deliberately locate the MR at a point where the channel gain is high. There are two classes of MDAs. In the first class, the MR explores various points, stops at each one to collect channel measurements and then locates the best position to establish communications. In the second class the MR moves, without stopping, along a continuous path while collecting channel measurements and then stops at the end of the path. It determines the best point to establish communications. Until now, the shape of the continuous path for such MDAs has been arbitrarily selected and currently there is no method to optimize it. In this paper, we propose a method to optimize such a path. Simulation results show that such optimized paths provide the MDAs with an increased performance, enabling them to experience higher channel gains while using less mechanical energy for the MR motion.


This is the second part of the article dedicated to the discussion of some methodological problems related to the history of Khinalug, published in the current volume of Iran and the Caucasus (see Schulze 2018). Whereas the first part analyses some basic data on Khinalug in its genetic problem and addressed some questions of loans and cognates, the second one turns to grammatical issues. Khinalug, a minority language spoken by some 1500 people mainly in the village of Khinalug in the north of Azerbaijan Republic, is generally regarded as the most divergent East Caucasian language. Its exact genealogical place within the world of the roughly 30 East Caucasian languages has been debated since long. Still, at least some of the relevant contributions to this debate ground their arguments in just a rather small piece of evidence, usually taken from a handful of assumed lexical correspondences and typological analogies. The same holds for grammar. As for morphosyntax, the problem is complicated by the fact that hitherto it is virtually impossible to safely reconstruct a more systematic inventory of Proto-East Caucasian morphemes together with their function values. A closer look at the morphosyntax of Khinalug may lead to just the same conclusion that seems to emerge from a more comprehensive analysis of the lexicon: I suggest, to consider the possibility that Khinalug is not an East Caucasian language from a genetic point of view, but a non-East Caucasian language that has become 'Caucasianized' over times.


Butterfly's wing has paid great attention due to its unique properties, such as attractive iridescence, super-hydrophobic characteristics, and quick heat dissipation ability. These characteristics are closely related to its structure. The multilayer thin-film structures that make up a butterfly's wing produce a bright iridescence from reflected daylight. In this study, we will introduce the optical effect of viewing angle, structural characterizations and color-producing mechanism. Since the reflectance patterns are extended in angle, we have to use a spectrophotometer equipped with an integrating sphere. According to the result, the peak reflectrance decreasing, blue-shifts and the difference between spectra of p-polarization and the s-polarization was enlarged when the incident angle increasing. In addition, the directional and strongly angle-dependent reflection of the ventral wings suggests the question whether or not the wing reflections may play a role in visual signaling by the butterflies during flight. Furthermore, we determined the shape and surface texture of the scales by scanning electron microscope (SEM). From SEM images, the scales cover the wing membrane and appear to overlap like roof tiles. These nanometer structures of the cover scales will decide the attractive iridescence of the wing.


Structural studies of rocks along the Carolina slate belt – Charlotte belt boundary reveal two generations of folding, the earlier of which is represented by a large-scale antiformal nappe. As shown by field relations and quantitative analysis of the fold geometry, this early folding began prior to metamorphism, the mechanism being largely buckling. With the onset of metamorphism and cleavage-forming process, new folds were formed and the pre-existing buckle folds were modified by compressive strain. During this time, a metamorphic gradient developed along the boundary of the two belts; as the rocks became more ductile, the large antiformal nappe was emplaced in the Charlotte belt, with its root located close to the boundary between the belts. Sillimanite-grade metamorphism in the Charlotte belt outlasted the early deformation, and some upwelling of material in this hot zone may have gently arched the nappe. Late, post-metamorphism deformation produced two sets of folds with different orientation, which appear to have a conjugate relationship, and which probably formed contemporaneously. The relation between the Charlotte and Carolina slate belts may be analogous to the infrastructure/superstructure relation commonly found in other intensely deformed mountain belts of the world.


Abstract Using protection motivation theory (PMT), this study investigates the influence of cognitive assessment and affective response on customers' behavioral intention amid COVID‐19 in the context of restaurants. More specifically, this research draws attention to (1) the influence of protection motivation (i.e., perceived vulnerability, perceived severity, maladaptive reward, response efficacy, self‐efficacy, response cost) on hope and fear, (2) hope and fear as mediators between protection motivation and behavioral intention, and (3) diverse customer behavioral intentions that have emerged during the COVID‐19 pandemic (i.e., health‐focused behavior, conscious consumption, and the supporting of local businesses and products). A total of 473 completed responses were obtained through an online survey. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test the hypothesized relationships. The research model proposed in the study successfully explained the process in which individuals commit to hygienic behaviors, prioritize local restaurants, and engage in conscious consumption under the threat of COVID‐19. The proposed model can be utilized in examining consumer behaviors in the hospitality industry, especially in the COVID‐19 era.


In the aged society, it has become more important than in the past to develop technologies for human assist. In this paper, a power assist system for the attendant of an omni-directional transport wheelchair is developed. The input force of the attendant is measured using a force sensor attached to the handle of the wheelchair. The desired motion of the wheelchair is estimated from the output signal of the force sensor using fuzzy reasoning. Then, it is transmitted to four motors of the wheelchair to make it move toward desired direction. The effectiveness of the proposed method is examined by experiments.


Abstract:Vibrational spectroscopy is a valuable quantitative tool for the determination of structure at surfaces. Various techniques may be applicable and useful, depending on what is available, the transparency of the substrates, the need for in situ probes, and the degree of interfacial specificity required. We examine and compare signals in infrared absorption, Raman scattering, and vibrational sum-frequency generation spectroscopy to the underlying molecular response. In all of these experiments, varying the beam polarizations enables the orientation of specific chemical functional groups to be determined. However, the sensitivity of each technique is directly connected to the manner in which the molecular response manifests itself in the measured signal. Starting with simple distributions of a single vibrational mode, leading up to multiple vibrational bands in more complex orientation distributions, we compare these three techniques in terms of their sensitivity to features of the molecular orientation distribution. This review is aimed at guiding planned experiments when multiple techniques are available for surface structural analysis.


Eustoma grandiflorum is one of the leading cut-flowers in Japan. There are market demands for cultivars with deep-yellow flowers, but they have never been bred successfully. By investigating the carotenoid accumulation and carotenogenic gene expressions, this study attempted to explore the reasons that block the formation of deep-yellow colour in Eustoma. High performance liquid chromatography analysis showed that the carotenoid compositions in petals were similar to those in leaves, accumulating mainly lutein, violaxanthin and β-carotene. The total carotenoid contents decreased as the petals matured in all the cultivars tested. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that the expression levels of PSY, LCYB, ZDS and LCYE showed significant differences between white and pale-yellow petals or between petals and leaves, indicating that these enzymes may play a key role in the carotenoid biosynthesis in E. grandiflorum. The expression levels of CCD4 were high in both pale-yellow and white petals during development, suggesting that carotenoid degradation activity is high in the petals. We then conclude that the total carotenoid accumulation level could be determined by the balance between carotenoid biosynthesis and degradation activities.


Next-generation radio-interferometers face a computing challenge with respect to the imaging techniques that can be applied in the big data setting in which they are designed. Dimensionality reduction can thus provide essential savings of computing resources, allowing imaging methods to scale with data. The work presented here approaches dimensionality reduction from a compressed sensing theory perspective, and links to its role in convex optimization-based imaging algorithms. We describe a novel linear dimensionality reduction technique consisting of a linear embedding to the space spanned by the left singular vectors of the measurement operator. A subsequent approximation of this embedding is shown to be practically implemented through a weighted subsampled Fourier transform of the dirty image. Preliminary results on simulated data with realistic coverages suggest that this approach provides significant reduction of data dimension to well below image size, while achieving comparable image quality to that obtained from the complete data set.


An automatic system of the stage-by-stage differential diagnosis of acute disorders of the cerebral circulation has been developed. Investigation of the efficacy of computer-aided diagnosis and its comparison to the diagnosis made by physicians at different levels of the care of patients with acute impairments of the cerebral circulation have shown the advisability of employing this system in the diagnosis of brain stroke at the prehospital stage at variable levels of the public health service.


The most difficult tasks in the Software Language Engineering (SLE) process, are the design of the semantics of a Domain Specific Modeling Language (DSML), its implementation (typically in a form of a compiler), and also its verification and validation. On the one hand, the choice of the appropriate level of abstraction when designing a DSML's semantics, affects directly its usability, and the potential for its analysis. On the other hand, in practice, not only the compiler's implementation, but also its verification and validation are performed manually, while having as reference the DSML's semantic models. The challenge of this research work is to apply a complete model driven software development approach in the tasks of designing a DSML's semantics, implementing, verifying and validating DSMLs' compilers. This involves the choice of the most appropriate abstraction levels, and the design and development of adequate tools to support SLE practitioners on these tasks. This thesis reports: i) the design and implementation of formal languages (and associated tools) to support the task of DSML's semantics design (i.e., DSLTrans and SOS); ii) the automatic generation of DSMLs' compilers based on translation specifications; and iii) automated validation of DSMLs' semantic designs based on the analysis of translation specifications. Finally, the approach presented in this thesis is illustrated with the design and implementation of a real life DSML.


Smallholder farming still dominates most agricultural systems in Tanzania. In Njombe and Mvomero districts, it was found out that smallholder farmers face many constraints. The main constraints identified are insufficient skills on dairy cattle husbandry such as proper feeding and animal diseases. This article shows that although there are many constraints in smallholder farming, there are also many opportunities like the availability of land for intensification of agriculture and increased manure production which could be used to improve both soil fertility and increase crop production; and the production of biogas which would reduce the dependence on fuel wood. The article concludes that the key for the advancement of smallholder farming in Njombe and Mvomero districts is increased skills on how to take advantage of crop livestock integrated production.


This work presents a combined energy-efficient medium access control (MAC) and routing protocol for large-scale wireless sensor networks that aims to minimise energy consumption and prolong the network lifetime. The proposed communication framework employs the following measures to enhance the network energy efficiency. Firstly, it provides an adaptive intra-cluster schedule to arbitrate media access of sensor nodes within a cluster, minimising idle listening on sensor nodes, leading to improved energy performance. Secondly, it proposes an on-demand source cross-layer routing protocol ensuring selection of best routes based on energy level and channel quality indicator for the multihop inter-cluster data transmission. Lastly, an unequal cluster size technique based on cluster head residual energy and distance away from the base station is utilised. This technique balances the energy among clusters and avoids early network partitioning. This work further presents the analytical performance model for energy consumption and delay of the proposed communication framework. The performance measures used for evaluation are energy consumption, delay, and network lifetime. The results indicate that combining routing and MAC schemes conserves energy better than utilising MAC scheme alone.


SUMMARY

Autoxidation of lipids in raw, ground turkey tissues was studied with the 2-thiobarbituric acid (TBA) method. Samples prepared immediately post-mortem and held at 4°C for approximately one week showed significant differences between the rates of autoxidation for certain of these tissues, notably red and white muscle. Failure to detect other differences, as between skin and white muscle, reflects variation in both lipid and fatty acid composition. A significant delay of autoxidation was achieved by the addition of 1% egg albumen solids (w/w), 0.04% butylated hyldroxyanisole, or 0.35% phosphates to the ground tissue; 1% gelatin exhibited no beneficial effect. Possible mechanisms by which these materials delay oxidative changes are discussed.


In this work, we are working with the unsteady Navier-Stokes equations in the stream function-vorticity formulation. In order to show that thenumerical schemes used are able to handle highReynolds numbers, we are reporting results for the well known problem of the un-regularized driven cavity. We are dealing with Reynolds numbers in the range of 7500 ≤Re ≤ 50000. The results shown here are obtained using two numerical schemes, the first one, is based on a fixed point iterative process (see [1]) applied to the elliptic nonlinear system that results after time discretization. The second scheme (see [2], [3]) which, as we are going to show in the results, is faster than the first one, solves the transport type equation appearing in the Stream function-vorticity formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations using matrixes A and B; the first one resulting from the discretization of the Laplacian term appearing in the equation, and the second one resulting from the discretization of the advective term. Both schemes, for this problem, have been robust enough to handle such high Reynolds numbers, but the second one has proved to be much faster, especially for high Reynolds numbers. In [4] it has already been said that even though turbulence is a tri-dimensional phenomenon, two-dimensional flows at high Reynolds numbers give some clues of transition to real turbulence.


Abstract— An educational platform is presented here for the beginner students in the Simulation and Artificial Intelligence sciences. It provides with a start point of building and simulation of the manipulators, especially of 2R planar Robot. It also displays a method to replace the inverse kinematic model (IKM) of the Robot with a simpler one, by using a Multi-Layer Perceptron Neural Network (MLP-NN), to make the end-effector able to track a specific path, which has a rectangular shape (in this article), and allocated in the robot's workspace. The method is based on Back-Propagation Levenberg Marquardt algorithm. This paper also suggests a good strategy for the simulation of the robot's motion in Matlab to tell the beginners how the operation could be done quite closely to the built-in Matlab functions. The control part was ignored here for the simplicity. So we can classify this paper as a manual in the robotic world.


Loneliness is relatively common among older adults in the United States, and there can be significant physical, psychological, and cognitive impairments associated with feelings of loneliness. Consequently, this study seeks to uncover determinants of loneliness, particularly the impact of couples' negative and positive marital experiences (i.e., marital strain and strength) over the life course on loneliness in later adulthood. To accomplish this goal, an integrated analytical framework is utilized, incorporating growth curves within an actor-partner interdependence model, to capture the initial level and the rate of change in marital strain and strength over a period of 25 years (from 1991 to 2015) with a sample of 257 couples in enduring, long-term marriages. Couples first participated in the Iowa Youth and Family Project in 1989 and most recently participated in the Later Adulthood Study in 2015. The confirmatory factor analyses showed that latent constructs of marital strain and marital strength are distinct constructs. The univariate growth curve analyses showed that there were significant interindividual variations in the initial level (1991) and rate of change (1991-2015) in marital strain and marital strength for both husbands and wives. While the initial level and rate of change in perceived marital strain from 1991 to 2015 was generally of consequence for both spouses' loneliness in 2015 (actor and partner effects), only actor effects were noted for marital strength. Findings are discussed as they relate to health policies and interventions focusing on the well-being of married couples in later life.


The association between coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) and autoimmune disease has been mounting, and literature on COVID-19-induced flare-up of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) disease is lacking. We describe a case of lupus cerebritis triggered by COVID-19 in a young female with SLE, who presented with fluctuated mentation, psychomotor retardation, slow speech, and intermittent choreiform movement in the upper part of the body. She had a history of COVID-19 infection three weeks back. Her serum immunoglobulin G antibodies were positive against COVID-19. On examination, she had psychomotor agitation, intermittent choreiform movements of upper limbs, and poor speech. Brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed hyperintense signals in the white matter of both hemispheres, suggestive of lupus cerebritis secondary to COVID-19 infection and lack of any other identifiable risk factor. Management included methylprednisolone, prednisone, and olanzapine. The patient was also placed on monthly intravenous cyclophosphamide, and her condition started improving gradually.


The formation of auricles in human embryos was evaluated between Carnegie stage (CS)19 and CS23, and the findings were correlated across the stages. The auricle was categorized into 11 steps according to Streeter's criteria with modifications. Mesenchyme cell condensation was observed at Step 7, and two layers of cartilage consisting of the auricle were recognized at Step11. The representative steps at each CS shifted from Step 3 to Step11 during CS16 and CS23, although several steps overlapped between adjacent CSs. These results indicate that observations of the auricle between CS19 and CS23 may be utilized for determining embryo staging as convincing supportive evidence of external features reflecting the internal histological structure, although other findings should also be taken into account.


We report DNA and clinical analyses of cystic fibrosis (CF) in two previously unstudied, genetically isolated populations: Pueblo and Navajo Native Americans. Direct mutation analysis of six mutations of the CFTR gene--namely, delta F508, G542X, G551D, R553X, N1303K, and W1282X--was performed on PCR-amplified genomic DNA extracted from blood samples. Haplotype analyses with marker/enzyme pairs XV2c/TaqI and KM19/PstI were performed as well. Of the 12 affected individuals studied, no delta F508 mutation was detected; only one G542X mutation was found. None of the other mutations was detected. All affected individuals have either an AA, AC, or CC haplotype, except for the one carrying the G542X mutation, who has the haplotype AB. Clinically, six of the affected individuals examined exhibit growth deficiency, and five (all from the Zuni Pueblo) have a severe CF phenotype. Four of the six Zunis with CF are also microcephalic, a finding not previously noted in CF patients. Our DNA data have serious implications for risk assessment of CF carrier status for these people.


Rainfall-induced landslides pose a substantial risk to people and infrastructure. For this reason, there have been numerous studies to understand the landslide mechanism. Most of them were performed on the numerical analysis and laboratory experiment. This paper presents a review of existing research on field hydrological condition of soil slopes leading to the initiation of rainfall-induced landslide. Existing methods to study field hydrological response of slopes are first reviewed, emphasizing their limitations and suitability of application. The typical hydrological response profiles in the slope are then discussed. Subsequently, some significant findings on hydrological condition leading to rainfall-induced landslides are summarized and discussed. Finally, several research topics are recommended for future study.


Instant feedback plays a vital role in promoting academic achievement and student success. In practice, however, delivering timely feedback to students can be challenging for instructors for a variety of reasons (e.g., limited teaching resources). In many cases, feedback arrives too late for learners to act on the advice and reinforce their understanding. To this end, researchers have designed various automated feedback systems in different domains, including novice programming, short-essay writing, and open-ended questions. To the best of our knowledge, no previous study has investigated automated feedback generation for a more complex form of student work - student project reports. In this work, we present a novel data-driven system, dubbed Insta-Reviewer , for automatically generating instant feedback on student project reports. In addition to automatic metrics such as ROUGE scores and BERTScore, we propose a five-dimension framework for manually evaluating system-generated feedback. Experimental results show that feedback generated by Insta-Reviewer on real students' project reports can achieve near-human quality. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of automatic feedback generation for students' project reports while highlighting several prominent challenges for future research. 1


Abstract This study was directed at establishing the influence of dynamic loading situations on the sliding characteristics of the Gamma locking nail (Howmedica). It was postulated that the changing regions of load contact area that occur within the sliding mechanism during flexion and extension would favourably modify the jamming behaviour observed under static test conditions. The forces required to initiate sliding of the lag screw in the intramedullary device were investigated under a range of conditions representing clinical situations. The optimum sliding performance of the Gamma nail was shown to occur during test conditions of dynamic loading, when the rate of application of the load was rapid and the cyclic angle of flexion was greatest. The size and weight of the patient also influence the sliding characteristics, as a shorter lag screw length protruding from the barrel and a reduced vertical static load (body weight) yielded a lower axial sliding force. The results under dynamic loading conditions suggest that static testing of sliding hip screws does not accurately represent their clinical performance.


Teleoperated Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) are expected to play an important role in future search and rescue operations. In such tasks, two factors are crucial for a successful mission completion: operator situational awareness and robust network connectivity between operator and UGV. In this paper, we address both these factors by extending a new Free Look Control (FLC) operator interface with a graphical representation of the Radio Signal Strength (RSS) gradient at the UGV location. We also provide a new way of estimating this gradient using multiple receivers with directional antennas. The proposed approach allows the operator to stay focused on the video stream providing the crucial situational awareness, while controlling the UGV to complete the mission without moving into areas with dangerously low wireless connectivity. The approach is implemented on a KUKA youBot using commercial-off-the-shelf components. We provide experimental results showing how the proposed RSS gradient estimation method performs better than a difference approximation using omnidirectional antennas and verify that it is indeed useful for predicting the RSS development along a UGV trajectory. We also evaluate the proposed combined approach in terms of accuracy, precision, sensitivity and specificity.


Oxytocin (OT) stimulates phosphoinositide (PI) hydrolysis and prostaglandin (PG) F2 alpha secretion from the endometrium of cyclic pigs, but the presence of specific endometrial receptors for OT has not been demonstrated in this species. Two experiments were performed to detect the presence of functional OT receptors on endometrium collected 15 days post estrus from cyclic gilts. OT receptor density and Kd were determined by receptor assay and Scatchard analysis. Hydrolysis of PI (i.e., incorporation of [3H]inositol into total inositol phosphates) and PGF2 alpha secretion were studied with use of incubations of endometrial explants. Concentrations of PGF2 alpha were log-transformed for analysis of variance and are expressed as means +/- standard error of log-transformed data. In experiment 1, mean density and mean Kd of OT receptors on endometrium of gilts were 29.2 +/- 5.54 fmol/mg protein and 1.59 +/- 0.23 nM, respectively. OT receptor density was significantly correlated with the ability of 100 nM OT to stimulate PI hydrolysis (r = 0.83, p < 0.05) and PGF2 alpha secretion (r = 0.87, p < 0.10), but was not highly correlated with receptor Kd (r = -0.08, p = 0.85). In contrast, OT receptor Kd was not highly correlated with OT-stimulated PI hydrolysis (r = -0.19, p = 0.68) or OT-stimulated PGF2 alpha secretion (r = 0.14, p = 0.86). OT-stimulated PI hydrolysis was also significantly correlated (r = 0.80, p < 0.05) with OT-stimulated PGF2 alpha secretion.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Heating magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) with alternating magnetic fields (AMFs) have applications in biomedical research and cancer therapy. Accurate measurement of the heating efficiency or specific loss power (SLP) generated by the MNPs is essential to assess response(s) in biological systems. Efforts to develop standardized equipment and to harmonize results obtained from various MNP samples and AMF systems have met with little success. Without a standardized magnetic nanoparticle or calorimeter device, objective comparisons of estimated thermal output among laboratories remain a challenge. In addition, the most widely used adiabatic initial slope model fails to account for thermal losses, which are unavoidable. We propose a non-adiabatic method to analyze MNP heating efficiency derived from the Box-Lucas equation, wherein the sample is subjected to several short duration heating pulses. SLP is then estimated from an arithmetic average of the Box-Lucas fitted coefficients obtained from each pulse. Heating experiments were conducted with two identical samples that were placed within vessels having different thermal insulation using the same AMF parameters. Though the samples generated different temperature curves, the pulsed Box-Lucas method produced nearly equivalent SLP estimates. Further, the pulsed test enabled analysis of the heat transfer coefficient providing quantitative measures of sample heat loss throughout the test, with robust statistical confidence. We anticipate this new methodology will aid efforts to standardize measurements of MNP heating efficiency, enabling direct comparison among varied systems.


This highlight focuses on recent advances in controlling inter-nanoparticle coupling effects by template-assisted organization of colloidal particles. We show that the use of templates formed by wrinkling allows circumventing drawbacks of classical lithographic approaches for template formation like the large number of processing steps and poor scalability. Subsequently, we illustrate that confinement effects can be used for creating particle assemblies with excellent short and long range order. This allows controlling inter-particle coupling effects. As an example, we focus on plasmonic coupling in gold nanoparticle arrays. We demonstrate that these arrays can be applied to develop efficient and homogenous substrates for surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS).


Traditionally, the public library emerged as an institution founded on a democratic way of thinking. It aimed to provide free access to information through various forms of media, and bridge the gap between the different social statuses in the Danish society. However, with a constant societal transformation and development of information technology the role of the public library and the usage of its physical space is continually changing. The main aim of this research is to develop an understanding of and highlight the challenges that are facing the public library in reaching younger people. Our research has adopted a qualitative approach, which generated a diversity of empirical materials. This enabled us to investigate the relationship between young people and public libraries, and thus gain insights about the taken for granted assumptions about the public library practice in Denmark. The study showed findings indicating that adolescents relate negatively to the public library and provided an interesting opportunity to explore future possible design directions that e.g. involve strategic partnerships and pop-up libraries. INTRODUCTION By tracing the emergence of library practice in Denmark, it is found that since its origin in Copenhagen in the late 1800s it was conceptualized as a static physical space that was linked to the rise of democratic thinking (Duelund 1995). The public library is built upon the individual's right to knowledge and information, regardless of their social status and/or economical situation. Additionally, it initially aimed to foster democratic thinking by influencing and educating a large working class that supported society (ibid). This still plays a big role in the librarians' practices; however, in our research we found that some people respond negatively to that. As an institution the public library has the responsibility of ensuring that every citizen is allowed to request any publically available knowledge, and the aim is therefore primarily to foster information, education and cultural activity by making books and other suitable materials available for the general public (Duelund 1995). According to the library law (Danish National Library Authority, 2001) in Denmark the main requirement is that the materials displayed should be of high quality, as well as stay versatile and relevant. In former times, this was people's primary source of knowledge and thereby played an important role in the development of the individual; however, with time this perception of the library has


Abstract Aiming at studying the regulation quality of isolated turbine regulating systems under load disturbance and different regulation modes, the complete mathematical model of a turbine regulating system under three regulation modes is established. Then, based on dominant poles and null points, the method of order reduction for a high-order system of time response of the frequency is proposed. By this method, the complete high-order systems are solved and the regulation quality for time response of the frequency is studied. The results indicate that (1) the tail wave, which is the main body of time response of the frequency and the principal factor that determines the regulation quality, is mainly determined by the dominant poles; (2) for the three regulation modes, by deleting the high-order terms, the three equivalent overall transfer functions are fourth order, third order, and third order, respectively, and can be solved; (3) the analytical fluctuation equations of time response of the frequency solved from low-order equivalent overall transfer functions accurately simulate the fluctuation characteristics of time response; and (4) based on damped vibrations decomposed from analytical fluctuation equations, the regulation qualities of three regulation modes are analyzed.


This paper analyses the more important aspects of this process with particular emphasis on the microbiological. Some attention is also given to hygienic and sanitary implications as well as considerations on plant design. Compost is also analysed in its agricultural role, in particular its effects on plant growth. Problems regarding the evaluation of biological maturity and phytotoxicity are also discussed.


: Simple marketing notion is viewed by the business analysts as an effective strategy if the enterprise is planning to gather and/or keep the loyalty of the consumer. Furthermore, in circumstances of fierce and constantly increasing competition both locally and internationally, the pressure for marketing to demonstrate its value in improving the business performance is greater than ever. Therefore, many businesses in Kenya including the hotel industry has used various modes to attract and retain their customers, key among them is advertising. Very few studies have been conducted to show the extent of adoption of directional advertising mediums and their effect on the different aspects of businesses in Kenya. Thus, this paper aims to determine the extent of adoption of Directional-based advertising in the conventional and budget hotels in Kenya how it affects the customer retention. The study was done in Eldoret town in Uasin Gishu County. The study adopted descriptive research design. The target population comprised 20 convectional and budget hotels. Simple random sampling was used to select 10 establishments while systematic random sampling was used to select the 210 customers who participated in the study. Purposive sampling was used to select the 10 management staff. Data was collected using questionnaires. Data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics and Pearson linear regression with the aid of SPSS. The results showed that directional advertisement has a relationship with customer retention especially Newspaper classified and yellow pages because they are goal-oriented and highly organized setting that allow consumers to collect and process information at a desired pace. Use of directional media to mean those media whose primary goal is for directional advertising. Directional advertisings is used by actively engaging users rather than passively receiving audiences. It is the recommendation of the study that hotel managers should design directional advertisement to allow potential customers with a variety of backgrounds and ability to have realistic expectations of their chances of success with the organizations and it should be frequently advertisement so that the customers can be able to know the type of product that are available in the hotels.


: A 9-year-old female mixed-breed dog presented with alopecia, squama, scaling, erosion, and hyperpigmentation that had persisted for three months. Histopathological assessment of a skin biopsy, bone marrow aspiration, and fine needle aspiration of the liver and spleen revealed lymphocyte hyperplasia. A blood cell count also indicated severe lymphocytosis. These findings were consistent with lymphocytosis accompanied by cutaneous lesions, and not neoplastic proliferation of lymphocytes or any other pathology. The dog was treated with antibiotic, antimycotic, dietary therapy, and interferon therapy, and achieved remission of skin lesion and lymphocytosis on steroid therapy.


Despite the success of deep learning for text and image data, tree-based ensemble models are still state-of-the-art for machine learning with heterogeneous tabular data. However, there is a significant need for tabular-specific gradient-based methods due to their high flexibility. In this paper, we propose $\text{GRANDE}$, $\text{GRA}$die$\text{N}$t-Based $\text{D}$ecision Tree $\text{E}$nsembles, a novel approach for learning hard, axis-aligned decision tree ensembles using end-to-end gradient descent. GRANDE is based on a dense representation of tree ensembles, which affords to use backpropagation with a straight-through operator to jointly optimize all model parameters. Our method combines axis-aligned splits, which is a useful inductive bias for tabular data, with the flexibility of gradient-based optimization. Furthermore, we introduce an advanced instance-wise weighting that facilitates learning representations for both, simple and complex relations, within a single model. We conducted an extensive evaluation on a predefined benchmark with 19 classification datasets and demonstrate that our method outperforms existing gradient-boosting and deep learning frameworks on most datasets.


The adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) tumor suppressor gene is mutated in Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP), an inherited disorder that predisposes individuals to developing intestinal polyposis and eventually leads to cancer. In the Min mouse model, the genetic background of mice carrying a mutation in the murine homolog of the APC gene (ApcMin) is critical to the manifestation of tumor phenotypes, as inbred strains have been demonstrated to differ dramatically in their susceptibility to polyposis. Complex trait analyses from several laboratories, including our own, have identified modifier loci that alter intestinal tumor number and size in ApcMin/+ mice, but less than a handful of modifier genes have been identified to date. We review the results of several quantitative trait loci (QTL) studies that have exploited the genomic diversity among inbred mouse strains and report the identification of novel modifier loci that protect against polyposis. We compare the results with cancer susceptibility loci identified through GWAS and other studies in the human genome. The usefulness of using the mouse as a model organism for optimizing complex trait screens for cancer phenotypes and speeding the process of causative gene identification is discussed. Research supported in part by NCI grants to LDS. Citation Format: Stephanie Nnadi, Xiang Wang, Richard C. Crist, Arthur M. Buchberg, Linda D. Siracusa. Modifier genes and cancer susceptibility: Lessons from inbred mouse strains. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: The Translational Impact of Model Organisms in Cancer; Nov 5-8, 2013; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2014;12(11 Suppl):Abstract nr B36.


Concerning an ideal scaffold, evaluation of many factors, such as porosity, porous size and mechanical properties are needed so as to investigate degradation behavior in addition to chemistry and structure of materials used. In this study, the porous calcium phosphates were made on addition of a pore-former compound (PVA) by sinter processing. Mechanical properties, morphology, and weight change in in vitro testing were assessed. Experimental results indicated macropore sizes as large as hundreds of micrometers were generated and many micropores were also observed in the sintered body. After immersion in Hanks' solution, on the body surface there was a pitting appearance with immersion-induced micropores. The compressive strength of as-sintered bodies decreased steadily with addition of PVA. With increasing immersion time, the compressive strength and modulus of various porous bodies decreased and the weight loss increased. The biomedical uses of the present porous materials might limit to use as bone defect repair.


A new pyrrolizidine alkaloid, cremastrine (1), was isolated from the bulbs of Cremastra appendiculata. Its configuration was determined by spectroscopic and chemical analyses. Compound 1 inhibited the binding of tritium-labeled N-methylscopolamine to the muscarinic M3 receptor with a K(i) value of 126 nM.


The poplar (Populus tremula) belongs to the typical pioneer vegetation at former ore mining sites in East and Middle Europe as a result of its high metal-tolerance. Ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi are known to contribute essentially to the tolerance of plants against abiotic stress. We have determined the absorption/ accretion potential of the poplar related to heavy metals, as well as the growth rhythm of this species in conditions offered by polluted sites, correlated to the presence/ absence of the microbiota in the soil attached to the root. The research unravels how the poplar (Populus tremula), as a native species can be used in remediation actions of polluted sites based on its high adaptive potential, as well as on its capacity to absorb and accumulate heavy metals. In terms of survival strategy, mycorhrised fungi attached to the polluted soil play a significant part, since they induce plants a certain resistance by diminishing the absorption of heavy metals by the host plant. We suppose that the majority of EM associations of Populus tremula, in combination with high portions of metal-chelating organic acids containing fungal partners, contributes essentially to the high tolerance of this species against high metal concentrations in the soil.


The reaction process of an equimolar mixture of mono- and disodium orthophosphates was examined to serve as a reference for the considerations of the mechanism of the formation of sodium tripolyphosphate. Differential thermoanalysis, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis and thin-layer chromatographic analysis were done. Particularly, the reaction mechanisms (the formation of liquid Na3HP2O7, etc.) were also examined by the use of the "32P" radioisotope. The reaction process is as follows: (Remark: Graphics omitted.) A feedback phenomenon of Na2H2P2O7 was observed.


This paper uses an empirical approach to explore what motivates the adoption of integrated water resources management (IWRM). The study compares cases of local implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) from five German federal states representing various types of local policy addressees. Data were collected using policy analysis methods, including participatory observation and interviews with planners who had implemented WFD measures and conducted integration attempts of various types throughout the planning processes. The planning narratives on integration were analysed iteratively and its characteristics, drivers, and hampering factors were identified. It was found that policy addressees attempt integration due to the incentives for reaching their goals rather than according to their paradigms. Depending on the power relations, incentives result in the integration of different actors during different planning phases. The findings suggest that in order to strategically induce integration, it would be necessary to enhance the incentives based on a detailed knowledge of power relations. The WFD as a general regulatory framework was found not to be a driver for local integration, but the WFD did induce increased integrated management through setting goals.


Background While up to 45% of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) have a comorbid psychiatric disorder, and antipsychotics are commonly prescribed, gender differences in the safety of antipsychotics have rarely been studied in this population. Aims To compare men and women with IDD on medical outcomes after antipsychotic initiation. Method Our population-based study in Ontario, Canada, compared 1457 women and 1951 men with IDD newly initiating antipsychotic medication on risk for diabetes mellitus, hypertension, venous thromboembolism, myocardial infarction, stroke and death, with up to 4 years of follow-up. Results Women were older and more medically complex at baseline. Women had higher risks for venous thromboembolism (HR 1.72, 95% CI 1.15–2.59) and death (HR 1.46, 95% CI 1.02–2.10) in crude analyses; but only thromboembolism risk was greater for women after covariate adjustment (aHR 1.58, 95% CI 1.05–2.38). Conclusions Gender should be considered in decision-making around antipsychotic medications for individuals with IDD.


Objectives To evaluate the effect of etonogestrel implant on the control of the carbohydrate and lipid metabolism and on the progression of vascular complications in diabetic women treated with insulin, and to assess the acceptability of this modality of contraception in these patients. Methods Prospective-observational study of 23 women with insulin-treated diabetes. Clinical and metabolic evaluation was performed before and at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after implant insertion. Changes from baseline were compared using the mixed effects models or Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank tests. Results There were no significant changes in BMI, in daily insulin requirement and in mean HbA1c. There was a significant reduction of total serum cholesterol (TC) at 6 and 12 months, of triglyceride levels at 6, 12 and 24 months, and of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) at 6, 12 and 24 months. Neither the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels nor the HDL/TC ratio changed. Albuminuria decreased significantly at 12 and 24 months. No deterioration of the retina was observed over the study period. Amenorrhoea and infrequent bleeding were the most common menstrual bleeding patterns. One woman discontinued the method due to frequent bleeding. Conclusion We found no evidence of impaired control of the carbohydrate and lipid metabolism or aggravation of vascular lesions during the two years an etonogestrel implant was used by diabetic women.


The aim of the study is to examine, using the social networks as a starting-point, the way a local community is constructed in a specific historical context, namely the industrial community of Limhamn in southern Sweden at the time of the Industrial Revolution 1870-1914. In 1870 the Skanska Cement Company initiated a large-scale extraction of limestone in the area and soon had cement works built in the village, making Limhamn undergo a rapid urbanization.

Pierre Bourdieu's concepts, the economical, cultural and social capital are being used as analytical tools, revealing the access to power and influence of different groups and individuals. The study comprises everything from overlapping memberships of different kinds of boards of directors and qualitative analyses of the interaction between these boards, to the studies of individual networks on the basis of diaries. The focus has been directed towards the networks of trade and industry, club activities, local politics, housing and family and the way these are interrelated.

At Limhamn around 1900 it was obvious that the high value of religion as a cultural capital was linked with the fact that R.F.Berg, leader of the Skanska Cement Company, which wielded the financial as well as the political power in the local community, was himself a religious man. The managing director systematically chose reliable religious persons, placing them in positions where they could govern the companies and Limhamn. R. F. Berg tried to prevent the Labour Movement from gaining a foothold in Limhamn. His paternalistic attitude was a preventive strategy, an effort to create a hegemony by socializing the people of Limhamn into understanding the community and the world the way he did.

The Labour Movement was a counter hegemony. The local federation of social democratic unions was the unions? move to confront the municipality, governed by the companies. In the social democratic discussion club other things were discussed and other interpretations made than was the case in the Lecture Society.


Introduction The cessation of all professional and amateur sport due to the COVID-19 pandemic had a dramatic effect on the mental and physical capacity of the United Kingdom populace, but its impact was arguably felt more deeply by the athletic population. Thus, this research explored which limiting factors were experienced by team hockey players during the national lockdowns (1.0–3.0) with the objective of enabling coaches and team management to better support and protect players' physiological and psychological resilience in return to play. Methods Data were collected over 12 weeks during the 3rd UK lockdown (March 2021) from two top-tier London clubs. Hockey players (n = 63) completed an online questionnaire that included validated tests for self-compassion, sport motivation, and a custom open-ended style qualitative questionnaire on nutrition and lifestyle behaviour. Mean self-compassion, motivation scores, and common indicative limiting factors were evaluated and ranked according to significance. Results High "rebound resilience" was found with low amotivation scores (m = 8.33) and strong affinity for their sport identifying with the statement "because participation in my sport is an integral part of my life" with correspondingly high integrated regulation scores (m = 21.43). Participants' self-compassion showed the highest scores in mindfulness (m = 3.66) and lowest in self-kindness (m = 2.84) indicating a common trait in athletes for self-criticism. The highest limiting factor was cited as "no social outlets, social interactions, or seeing friends and family". Conclusion This study revealed the critical role that social connectedness plays in promoting resilience and enhancing motivation in return to play during extremely challenging circumstances. When the social outlet is absent, enhancing resilience factors with mindfulness, self-compassion, and the creation of a more facilitative environment where player welfare takes priority are potential strategies to support players when they are unable to participate in their sport.


We study the phenomenology of supersymmetric models that explain neutrino masses through the spontaneous breaking of R-parity, finding strong correlations between the decays of the lightest neutralino and the neutrino mixing angles. In addition, the existence of a Goldstone boson, usually called Majoron (J), completely modifies the phenomenology with respect to the standard picture, inducing large invisible branching ratios and charged lepton decays, like μ → eJ, interesting signals that can be used to constrain the model.


Multiple lung nodules were found at autopsy of a 56-year-old man who died of unrelated cause. The nodules contained adiaspores which were identified as those of Chrysosporium parvum var. crescens.


This study was conducted at the Cukurova University research farm as a double crop in 2013 and 2014 in Adana, Turkey. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of row distance and plant density on yield and yield components of peanut(Arachis hypogaea L.) grown as a double crop. The experimental design was a split plot design with three replications. The Halisbey (Virginia type) variety was used as a plant material in this research. The row spacing was arranged 70 and 75 cm, and intra-row spacing of 5,10,15,20 and 25 cm was arranged for different plants population. According to a two-year average, the highest pods weight (97.57g plant-1 and 94.83 g plant-1 ) and pod number (96.4 pods plant-1and 93.5 pods plant-1 ) per plant was obtained from 70 x 25 cm and 75 x 25 cm planting density, respectively. Pod number and pod weight per plant was increased when the plant density was decreased. Pod yield per hectare was increased when the plant density was increased. The highest pod yield (7511.9 kg ha-1 ) was obtained from 75x10 cm and the lowest (5171 kg ha-1 ) from 75x25 planting density according to a two-year average. As a result; optimum planting density was found 75x10 cm for Virginia market type varieties in double crop peanut production.


In this paper the author analyses the rapid expansion of part-time work in the Netherlands. This is not seen as the result of deliberate public policy, but rather as the outcome of a non-organised process driven by the late entry of married women in the labour force under adverse circumstances (austerity policy of the government, rising unemployment, and absence of childcare and paid leave facilities). The coping solution of women became the basis for a process of policy learning, which led to the acceptance and normalization of part-time work, with an emphasis on making the differences between full-time and part-time jobs as small as possible. In the final section of the article the social and economic viability of the "part-time" or "one-and-a-half earner" model is discussed.


The author suggests four ways that management information systems can complement the efforts of program evaluators. These ways are: clarifying the purposes of and uses for collecting information; clarifying the relevancy of information that is collected and stored; constructing a data base that accounts for the differential needs of users; and generating reports in a timely and comprehensible manner. Interwoven throughout these ways is the premise that program evaluators need to attend more to the decisional needs of various users, particularly managers. An information system can assist program evaluators toward this end.


Totally, 932 small mammals and 458 questing adult Ixodes persulcatus from Sverdlovsk and Novosibirsk regions and Khabarovsk Territory, as well as 128 Haemaphysalis japonica, 34 H. concinna and 29 Dermacentor silvarum from Khabarovsk Territory were examined for the presence of Babesia by nested PCR based on the 18S rRNA gene. Babesia microti DNA was found in samples of small mammals from all the studied regions--in 36.2% of samples from Sverdlovsk region, 5.3% of samples from Novosibirsk region, and 6.7% of samples from Khabarovsk Territory. The determined B. microti 18S rRNA gene sequences from Novosibirsk region (6 sequences) and from Khabarovsk Territory (10 sequences) were identical to each other and to the sequences of pathogenic for human B. microti US-type, while the determined B. microti 18S rRNA gene sequences from Sverdlovsk region (12 sequences) were identical to those of B. microti strain Munich. B. microti were found most frequently in samples of Myodes spp., they were found also in Microtus spp., Apodemus spp., Sorer spp., and Sicista betulinav. It was shown that one of 347 analyzed I. persulcatus from Novosibirsk region and one of 77 I. persulcatus from Khabarovsk Territory contained B. microti US-type DNA. One I. persulcatus from Novosibirsk region contained B. divergens DNA. In this work B. divergens was for the first time determined in I. persulcatus and B. microti in I. persulcatus in Asian part of Russia. Three different genetic variants of Babesia sensu stricto were found in three H. japonica from Khabarovsk Territory. The first genetic variant was closely related to Babesia sp. revealed in a feral raccoon in Japan (99.9% similarity on the basis of 18S rRNA gene sequences). Two others Babesia genetic variants were most similar to the ovine pathogen Babesia crassa (97.1-97.6% similarity on the basis of 18S rRNA gene sequences).


We consider the setting of Reeb graphs of piecewise linear functions and study distances between them that are stable, meaning that functions which are similar in the supremum norm ought to have similar Reeb graphs. We define an edit distance for Reeb graphs and prove that it is stable and universal, meaning that it provides an upper bound to any other stable distance. In contrast, via a specific construction, we show that the interleaving distance and the functional distortion distance on Reeb graphs are not universal.


SDS-PAGE of pepsin-solubilized collagens obtained from testes of elderly men revealed types I, III, V, and VI but not type IV. The total collagen content was 21.3 +/- 1.96% (mean +/- SD) as determined by hydroxyproline assay. The ratio for the pepsin-soluble fraction was 7.98 +/- 3.27%, i.e. very low as compared with other tissues. Type I collagen was determined by SDS-PAGE of cyanogen bromide cleavage of the pepsin-insoluble residue.


Web applications are the dominant means to provide access to millions of on-line services and applications such as banking and e-commerce. To personalize users' web experience, servers need to authenticate the users and then maintain their authentication state throughout a set of related HTTP requests and responses called a web session. As HTTP is a stateless protocol, the common approach, used by most of the web applications to maintain web session, is to use HTTP cookies. Each request belonging to a web session is authenticated by having the web browser to provide to the server a unique long random string, known as session identifier stored as cookie called session cookie. Taking over the session identifier gives full control over to the attacker and hence is an attractive target of the attacker to attack on the confidentiality and integrity of web sessions. The browser should take care of the web session security : a session cookie belonging to one source should not be corrupted or stolen or forced, to be sent with the requests, by any other source. This dissertation demonstrates that security policies can in fact be written down for both, confidentiality and integrity, of web sessions and enforced at the client side without getting any support from the servers and without breaking too many web applications. Moreover, the enforcement mechanisms designed can be proved correct within mathematical models of the web browsers. These claims are supported in this dissertation by 1) defining both, end-to-end and access control, security policies to protect web sessions; 2) introducing a new and using exiting mathematical models of the web browser extended with confidentiality and integrity security policies for web sessions; 3) offering mathematical proofs that the security mechanisms do enforce the security policies; and 4) designing and developing prototype browser extensions to test that real-life web applications are supported.


This article offers a new tool for women of color scholars to write and analyze the data and archive from their own life journals and journeys. Coining a new concept of theomethaxis, a Black Womanist Theomethaxis framework is an integration of theory, methodology, and praxis focused on the intersection of race, gender, and spirituality. It uses Black women's autobiography, critical praxis autoethnography, counter-storytelling, and Black girl cartography as methodological tools. Drawing from cultural studies, feminist theories, African American history, women's history, and childhood studies, it integrates theoretical constructs from Black feminist thought, Black girlhood studies, Critical Black Feminism, Hip-Hop Feminism, Crunk Feminism, New Black Feminism, Womanist thought, Womanist theology, and the Wild Woman Archetype. Integrating personal narrative, the article illustrates how the framework facilitated the praxis of analyzing 45 years of journals, revealing revolutionary and transformational themes in the initiation journey from Black girlhood to Black womanhood. The concept of a womanist theomethaxis may also provide a framework for application to other academic areas and studies, such as Chicana/Latina feminist studies, Asian American feminist studies, and Indigenous feminist studies.


SUMMARY

The pith ducts of Ailanthus excelsa Roxb. (Simaroubaceae) secrete gum-resin. The synthesis of resin in the epithelial cells of the duct is associated with plastids and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) while dictyosomes are involved in the synthesis of the gum. In the secreting cells, large numbers of osmiophilic globules are scattered in the cytoplasm. Dictyosomes and ER produce abundant vesicles. The osmiophilic globules and vesicles fuse with the plasmalemma facing the duct lumen and are entrapped in plasmalemma invaginations. The walls of some of the epithelial cells have a few ingrowths which presumably enhance the efficiency of the cell in the transportation of materials from the cytoplasm. Some of the epithelial cells in a duct undergo autolysis and degeneration after secretion. The appearance of autophagic vacuoles containing portions of cytoplasm, the loss of tonoplast, the distortion of ER, mitochondria, dictyosomes and the darkening of cytoplasm are some of the autolytic features in the degenerating cells. The lysed cells with 'dark' cytoplasm, osmiophilic droplets and free ribosomes detach and disintegrate in the duct lumen, becoming part of the gum-resin content in the duct.


THE Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering the product license application for a monoclonal antibody—toxin conjugate for use in preventing and treating graft-vs-host disease (GvHD) in bone marrow transplant patients. This and other new agents for treating T cell mediated diseases recently were discussed at the Hoag Cancer Center's Biotherapy of Cancer Symposium in Newport Beach, Calif, and at an American Cancer Society seminar in Phoenix, Ariz. If the FDA approves the antibody— toxin conjugate (called Orthozyme CD5plus by its developer, XOMA Corp, Berkeley, Calif), it would be the first immunotoxin to be licensed for the treatment of any disease. Although the license application proposes its use for treating bone marrow transplant patients with steroid-resistant GvHD, the antibody—toxin conjugate also shows promise for treating autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and type I diabetes, as well as certain hematologic malignancies, says Vera S. Byers, MD, PhD, who is director


High throughput process development (HTPD) using liquid handling robotics and RoboColumns is an established methodology in downstream process development to screen chromatography resins and optimize process designs to meet target product profiles. However, HTPD is not yet widely available for use in viral clearance capability of the resin due to a variety of constraints. In the present study, a BSL‐1‐compatible, non‐infectious MVM model, MVM‐VLP, was tested for viral clearance assessment with various resin and membrane chromatography operations in a HTPD mode. To detect the MVM‐VLP in the high throughput experiments, an electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) assay was developed with up to 5 logs of dynamic range. Storage time suitability of MVM‐VLP solutions in various buffer matrices, in the presence or absence of a glycoprotein vaccine candidate, were assessed. Then, MVM‐VLP and a test article monoclonal antibody (mAb) were used in a HTPD design that included commercially available ion exchange media chemistries, elucidating a wide variety of viral clearance ability at different operating conditions. The methodologies described herein have the potential to be a part of the process design stage in biologics manufacturing process development, which in turn can reduce risk associated with viral clearance validation studies.


We compared how breeding parameters differ according to prevailing weather conditions between a marginal, subarctic (69°N) and temperate (61°N) population of the pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca, a small migratory insectivorous passerine. We predicted that the effects of weather on breeding performance (clutch size, hatching success, nestling growth, fledging success) would be greater at northern latitudes, where the weather conditions are more extreme and unpredictable. We found that the breeding parameters, except clutch size, were not, however, inferior in the north. Northern birds, unlike the southern ones, responded to colder conditions by laying smaller clutches and maintaining a larger energy reserve (indicated by higher female body mass and higher levels of subcutaneous fat). If a cold spell occurred during the nestling period, southern flycatchers had 5-10% lower fledging success than the northern ones. Our results indicate that in the north, the breeding individuals coped with cold and variable weather better than the individuals in the southern population. This could be adaptive, because at high latitudes there is a higher probability of cold weather at the time of breeding.


Give feedback to the students is an important aspect in the learning process and an essential role of the teachers. In the context of medical education, feedback refers to information describing the students' performance in a given situation or activity. The ability on giving and receiving feedback improves learning outcomes since it provides a basis for self-directed learning and critical thinking, helps the student correct errors, reinforces desirable attitudes and shows the student how he can improve. Despite the patent lack of feedback throughout the medical course, students greatly desire and value this constructive tool and consider it as an important aspect of qualit y teaching. Effective feedback should be assertive, delivered with respect, descriptive, timely and linked to specific observed behaviors. Both faculty and students should be offered proper training in order to enhance their ability to give and receive feedback. Program directors should value the role of feedback as an essential teaching/learning strategy for the undergraduate curriculum.


We systematically investigated the Sr isotopic characteristics of a small silicate watershed, the Xishui River a tributary of the Yangtze River, and a small carbonate watershed, the Guijiang River a tributary of the Pearl River. The results show that the two rivers have uncommon Sr isotopic characteristics compared with most small watersheds. Specifically, the silicate watershed (Xishui River) has relatively high Sr concentrations (0.468 to 1.70 μmol L −1 in summer and 1.30 to 3.17 μmol L −1 in winter, respectively) and low 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios (0.708686 to 0.709148 in summer and 0.708515 to 0.709305 in winter). The carbonate watershed (Guijiang River) has low Sr concentrations (0.124 to 1.098 μmol L −1 ) and high 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios (0.710558 to 0.724605). As the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios in the Xishui River are lower than those in seawater, the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratio of seawater will decrease after the river water is transported to the oceans. Previous studies have also shown that some basaltic watersheds with extremely high chemical weathering rates reduced the seawater Sr isotope ratios. In other words, river catchments with high silicate weathering rates do not certainly transport highly radiogenic Sr into oceans. Therefore, the use of the variations in the seawater 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratio to indicate the continental silicate weathering intensity may be questionable. In the Guijiang River catchment, the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios of carbonate rocks and other sources (rainwater, domestic and industrial waste water, and agricultural fertilizer) are lower than 0.71. In comparison, some non-carbonate components, such as sand rocks, mud rocks, and shales, have relatively high Sr isotopic compositions. Moreover, granites accounted for only 5% of the drainage area have extremely high 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios with an average of greater than 0.8. Therefore, a few silicate components in carbonate rocks obviously increase the Sr isotopic compositions of the river water.


Understanding the complex regulatory network that determines stem cell fates requires a high-throughput platform that can generate a large number of precisely controlled microenvironments representing multiple factors for stem cell culture and analysis. Here, we developed a superhydrophobic microwell array chip on which the culture conditions in each microwell can be spontaneously isolated by a grafted layer of superhydrophobic polymers. Simple steps for medium exchange were developed to facilitate the on-chip culture of both adherent and non-adherent cells for up to six days without compromising cell viability and functionality. The culture conditions in each microwell were facilely manipulated using a robotic spotter. Stem cell niches combining soluble factors, extracellular matrices and microtopographic cues were generated on a single 512-well SMARchip and their combinatorial effects on the fate of mouse Oct4-EGFP iPSCs were systematically probed. We observed significant differences in iPSC pluripotency and proliferation between adherent flat and suspended spherical cultures on our platform, which might provide insights into improvement of stem cell technologies.


The article examines topical issues of work on projects and their implementation in local government bodies, analyzes the existing practice and the current situation. The study analyzes the legal basis for attracting budget funds for the development of local self-government, the procedure for preparing project applications, interaction with donor organizations and partners, as well as problems and opportunities in this area. The emphasis is on such aspects as the selection of projects for the competition, the role of the project manager in preparing a high-quality project proposal, the possibility of cooperation with NGOs, the presence of a team, the cooperation of municipalities, villages, communities, and communities in the preparation and implementation of joint projects. The analysis of the current situation, dynamics, and main trends in the development of project activities in local government bodies was carried out; the experience of cities and villages is compared. The main attention is paid to the prospects for the development of territorial units, potential areas of project activities. The author notes that one of the main obstacles to the successful work of the project in local governments is the lack of human resources and experienced specialists. The author focuses on the need for constant practical work and support from external experts who can advise and improve the qualifications of project management specialists.

Keywords: decentralization, project management, local government, donors, projects.


Vibronic coupling is believed to play an important role in siglet fission, wherein a photoexcited singlet exciton is converted into two triplet excitons. In the present study, we examine the role of vibronic coupling in singlet fission using polarized transient absorption microscopy and ab initio simulations on single-crystalline pentacene. It was found that singlet fission in pentacene is greatly facilitated by the vibrational coherence of a 35.0 cm-1 phonon, where anisotropic coherence persists extensively for a few picoseconds. This coherence-preserving phonon that drives the anisotropic singlet fission is made possible by a unique cross-axial charge-transfer intermediate state. In the same fashion, this phonon was also found to predominantly drive the quantum decohence of a correlated triplet pair to form a decoupled triplet dimer. Moreover, our transient kinetic experimental data illustrates notable directional anisotropicity of the singlet fission rate in single-crystalline pentacene.


This paper aims to examine how social and moral salience influences the activation/deactivation of consumer motives and how this in turn affects costly pro-environmental consumer behavior.,In two experiments involving real purchases, it was tested whether social salience (private vs public choice) and moral salience (recall of neutral vs immoral action) lead to the activation of normative motives, and/or the deactivation of economic motives, and whether this facilitated the purchase of a costlier green product.,Participants were motivated by both economic and normative motives, and they actively made trade-offs between these motives as the choice environment changed. Green consumption was positively influenced by social and moral salience but only when both salience conditions were present simultaneously. However, salience did not lead to the activation of normative motives, as was expected, but to a deactivation of the motive to save money. This may suggest that while the importance of norms was not altered by salience, the perceived value of the green option likely changed in such a way that participants became more inclined to choose the costlier green option.,The present research sheds light on how and why social and moral salience influences green consumption. It was demonstrated that social and moral salience influences the tendency to purchase costlier green products, however, only when both are combined. Also, the effects of social and moral salience may not rely on the activation of facilitating social and moral motives but rather on the deactivation of conflicting economic motives.


In the house credit process, banks and lenders rely on a fast and accurate estimation of a real estate price to determine the maximum loan value. Real estate appraisal is often based on relational data, capturing the hard facts of the property. Yet, models benefit strongly from including image data, capturing additional soft factors. The combination of the different data types requires a multi-view learning method. Therefore, the question arises which strengths and weaknesses different multi-view learning strategies have. In our study, we test multi-kernel learning, multi-view concatenation and multi-view neural networks on real estate data and satellite images from Asheville, NC. Our results suggest that multi-view learning increases the predictive performance up to 13% in MAE. Multi-view neural networks perform best, however result in intransparent black-box models. For users seeking interpretability, hybrid multi-view neural networks or a boosting strategy are a suitable alternative.


Mississippi summer, and Nickerson paints a picture of the Southern landscape that is rustic but ethereal and at times, eerie. Violet's conflicted feelings about the war and slavery are honestly but sensitively depicted: she's certainly a product of her times, casually tossing about the idea that her father "bought" Laney, her ostensible best friend, but she's also coming to realize that an institution that regards people as property is in fact morally compromised. Unfortunately, this realization comes with too much helpful reassurance from Laney, and most of the African-American players are reduced to being either wise templates or, as in the case of the VanZeldts, creepy others. The direct correlation to the Tam Lin folktale only shows up in the final chapters, but the blend of fairy tale tropes and the Southern Gothic setting make this a compelling, if somewhat flawed, retelling. KQG


Applicants use honest and deceptive impression management (IM) in employment interviews. Deceptive IM is especially problematic because it can lead organizations to hire less competent but deceptive applicants if interviewers are not able to identify the deception. We investigated interviewers' capacity to detect IM in 5 experimental studies using real-time video coding of IM (N = 246 professional interviewers and 270 novice interviewers). Interviewers' attempts to detect applicants' IM were often unsuccessful. Interviewers were better at detecting honest than deceptive IM. Interview question type affected IM detection, but interviewers' experience did not. Finally, interviewers' perceptions of IM use by applicants were related to their evaluations of applicants' performance in the interview. Interviewers' attempts to adjust their evaluations of applicants they perceive to use deceptive IM may fail because they cannot correctly identify when applicants actually engage in various IM tactics. Helping interviewers to better identify deceptive IM tactics used by applicants may increase the validity of employment interviews.


A report by Andrew Macintosh and Deb Wilkinson on the likely impact of proposed school voucher schemes has found that they could adversely affect education outcomes and would be expensive to implement. For several years, conservative think tanks and their supporters have been campaigning for the introduction of a school voucher scheme in Australia. Under a voucher scheme, parents would receive government funding on a per child basis, which they could spend on a public or private school of their choice. Supporters of vouchers argue that by providing parents with greater choice, promoting competition and encouraging greater autonomy in the management of schools, vouchers would lead to improvements in teaching standards, student outcomes, parental satisfaction and equality of opportunity. The evidence on the effects of vouchers The difficulty for voucher advocates is that they are asking for a radical change to the structure of the school sector, but are unable to point to any persuasive evidence on the supposed educational benefits of these schemes. The main pillars of their case are that: voucher-induced competition would raise teaching standards and improve academic outcomes at both public and private schools; vouchers would generate a more cost-effective school sector; and vouchers would provide parents with greater choice. The only one of these arguments that is supported by the available evidence is that vouchers would increase parental choice, although these benefits would probably be largely confined to middle and high income earners. Not only are the claims about the benefits of vouchers largely unsupported by the available evidence, but the research that has been undertaken also indicates that voucher schemes could have a number of adverse effects and that they are likely to be expensive.


This study adds to the burgeoning literature on e-governance and e-government by investigating the extent that city websites are used strategically to promote economic growth. Research based on content analysis suggests little strategic use. However, there is a paucity of research on the attitudes and intent of city officials themselves. Content analysis may not reveal the full extent of strategic efforts. The question remains: Do cities use their website in a strategic manner, particularly related to economic growth? To answer this, we used results of a survey of city managers in the state of Texas. Findings indicate a strategic element, but one that is underdeveloped, underutilized, and not fully recognized by city leaders. The extent that city websites are used for strategic purposes to facilitate economic growth may best be characterized as the result of an "accidental strategy" rather than as the result of deliberate decisions.


This paper provides a description of the proposed discipline of Financial Informatics. Financial Informatics is the application of Computer and Information Science to the storage, retrieval and processing of financial data. Given the ever increasing complexity of the financial marketplace, providing more targeted training in Financial Technology will create a pool of skilled financial information systems professionals who will enable continued growth in the financial services industry.