OBJECTIVE
Bdellovibrio-and-like organisms (BALOs) are small-sized, parasitic bacteria that rely on other Gram-negative bacteria for survival. Our work aimed to characterize the community diversity of BALOs associated with tropical shrimp ponds.

METHODS
We collected water samples from eight shrimp ponds culturing Litopenaeus vannamei, in Zhanjiang, China, and extracted total DNA of the samples. Then the 16S rRNA gene clone libraries were constructed following PCR amplification with BALOs family-specific primers. The community composition and structure of BALOs were further analyzed based on phylogenetic analysis.

RESULTS
A total of 726 and 664 valid clones were obtained from the 16S rRNA gene libraries of families Halobacteriovoracaceae and Peredibacteraceae, respectively. Subsequently, they were respectively grouped into 68 and 44 OTUs (operational taxonomic units) at 99.5% sequence similarity, and assigned into 37 and 28 clusters at 97% similarity. For the Halobacteriovoracaceae libraries, most clusters were so far uncultured with the exception of 5 members, which accounting for 43.5% clones. And the cultivable cluster IX and the uncultured cluster B28 were the first and second dominant ones respectively. For the Peredibacteraceae libraries, the cluster pa12 and the only cultivable cluster A3.12 were the first and second dominant ones respectively. Notably, the values of Shannon diversity indices of Halobacteriovoracaceae and Peredibacteraceae tend to be reversed with the change of salinity, but the total BALOs diversities among the eight shrimp ponds were similar.

CONCLUSION
Shrimp mariculture ponds in Zhanjinag harbor a high diversity of BALOs comprising of Halobacteriovoracaceae and Peredibacteraceae, and salinity affect their community structure and composition greatly.


Adenoviral vectors have been identified as useful tools for gene transfer to the pituitary gland with the aim of providing therapeutic treatments for pituitary diseases. Although successful adenovirus-mediated gene transfer to the pituitary has been shown, the duration of transgene expression, local immune responses and consequences on circulating pituitary hormone levels have not been investigated. These are critical not only for the successful implementation of these gene transfer techniques both for physiological and/or therapeutic applications but also for assessing the safety of these approaches. We have therefore assessed duration and levels of transgene expression 3 days, 14 days, 1, 2, and 3 months after delivery of adenoviruses expressing herpes simplex virus type 1 thymidine kinase (HSV1-TK), under the control of the major immediate early human cytomegalovirus (RAd-hCMV/TK) or human PRL (RAd-hPrl/TK) promoters, to the anterior pituitary (AP) gland in situ. The presence of vector genome and cellular immune infiltrates within the AP gland were also studied along with the levels of circulating anti-adenovirus neutralizing antibodies and AP hormones in sera. Ubiquitous or cell-type specific expression of HSV1-TK within the AP gland was seen from RAd-hCMV/TK and RAd-hPrl/TK respectively at all time points, although a reduction in expression was seen over time. PCR amplification of HSV1-TK specific sequences showed the persistence of adenoviral genomes for up to 3 months. Analysis of the AP showed the presence of a virus-induced inflammation that peaked around day 14 and was resolved between 2-3 months. ED1-positive macrophages, CD8-positive T-cells and CD161-positive NK cells were identified up to 1 month after virus administration. A virus-induced humoral immune response was also present as anti-adenovirus neutralizing antibodies were detected from 14 days after virus administration. Levels of circulating pituitary hormones were unaffected by virus administration with the exception of the stress hormone ACTH which was increased at 3 days but normalized by 14 days. In conclusion, our data indicates that adenovirus-mediated delivery to the AP gland in situ may be a useful tool for the treatment of pituitary diseases as no major cytotoxicity or disruption of AP hormonal functions are seen. Despite of this, further developments to this approach still need to be made to combat the reduced transgene expression seen over time and the induction of virus-induced immune responses.


Absence of the atrioventricular septum and a cleft in the anterior leaflet of the mitral valve is characteristic of almost all anomalies resulting from maldevelopment of the endocardial cushions. These changes produce a specific angiocardiographic picture, characterized in systole by a scalloped right border of the left ventricular outflow tract, with a small lucent notch within it, and in diastole by a gooseneck appearance of the subaortic portion of the ventricle. This appearance is independent of the associated hemodynamic changes or the presence of other lesions. Because the angiocardiogram provides a direct demonstration of the underlying anatomic abnormalities, it is the most sensitive diagnostic method for the recognition of an endocardial cushion defect.


During the early 1990s, the Toyota Production System (TPS) became widely accepted across the industrialized world. Companies from different industries gained in experience by applying lean principles as well as by developing and refining customized approaches to optimize products and processes. From a practical standpoint, the implementation of TPS- elements such as one-piece-flow, visual standards or U-shaped layouts, can easily be identified on the shop floor. Meanwhile, most of the underlying management processes and structures remain hidden to the outside observer. Closing this major gap is the objective of shop floor management. It provides and formalizes an integrated framework of processes with defined roles, responsibilities and competencies to sustain and improve efficiency. Its fundamental principles include a focus on prevention, frequent high decision making and empowered teams consisting of experts, managers and operators. The objective of this article is to define the scope of shop floor management, to sketch a generic structure in terms of an overall process reference model as well as to detail new and modified sub processes, roles and responsibilities to enhance its implementation.


Background: Little is known about the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus nasal colonization and the epidemiology of methicillin-susceptible and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) among cystic fibrosis (CF) patients and their household members. Objectives: We sought to determine the epidemiology of S. aureus among children and adolescents with CF and their household members. Methods: Three CF centers enrolled case subjects with at least 1 MRSA-positive respiratory tract culture from 2001 to 2006 and control subjects with MRSA-negative cultures. S. aureus isolates from the anterior nares of CF subjects and their household members were assessed for staphylococcal chromosomal cassette (SCC) mec type. Strain similarity was determined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Results: S. aureus nasal colonization occurred in 52.4% (22/42), 27.0% (17/63), and 25.0% (72/288) of case, control, and household participants, respectively. Case subjects and their contacts were more likely to harbor MRSA in their nares and be from a multipatient CF family. Of 31 MRSA strains, 10 (32.3%) were SCCmec type IVa, associated with community-acquisition. Overall, 27.6% of 98 households had ≥2 members colonized with closely related isolates. Household members were equally likely to be colonized with closely related strains of MRSA (20/31, 65%) versus MSSA (38/80, 48%). Conclusions: This study demonstrated that household members of CF children harbor both MSSA and MRSA, including CA-MRSA, and that S. aureus is transmitted within CF households. Carriage of S. aureus by household members of CF children may have implications for infection control and treatment strategies. Future studies should monitor the distribution and virulence of SCCmecA types in patients with CF.


This paper presents a novel high-order space-time method for hyperbolic conservation laws. Two important concepts, the staggered space-time mesh of the space-time conservation element/solution element (CE/SE) method and the local discontinuous basis functions of the space-time discontinuous Galerkin (DG) finite element method, are the two key ingredients of the new scheme. The staggered spacetime mesh is constructed using the cell-vertex structure of the underlying spatial mesh. The universal definitions of CEs and SEs are independent of the underlying spatial mesh and thus suitable for arbitrarily unstructured meshes. The solution within each physical time step is updated alternately at the cell level and the vertex level. For this solution updating strategy and the DG ingredient, the new scheme here is termed as the discontinuous Galerkin cell-vertex scheme (DG-CVS). The high order of accuracy is achieved by employing high-order Taylor polynomials as the basis functions inside each SE. The present DG-CVS exhibits many advantageous features such as Riemann-solver-free, high-order accuracy, point-implicitness, compactness, and ease of handling boundary conditions. Several numerical tests including the scalar advection equations and compressible Euler equations will demonstrate the performance of the new method. AMS subject classifications: 65M99, 76M25


The safety and efficacy of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) was examined in a group of 91 octogenarians during 133 consecutive procedures and compared to the younger part of our PTCA population (3,443 procedures) during an 8-year study period. Most octogenarians presented with refractory or unstable angina pectoris and multivessel involvement, but had normal left ventricular function. The angiographic success rate was 84%. Technical failure was observed in 12% of cases and complications in 14%. Two early procedure related deaths were observed. Restenosis was estimated at 24%. The proportion surviving and the proportion without cardiac event estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method at 2 years were 0.89 and 0.60, respectively. In comparison to the younger population, the immediate angiographic success was lower as a result of a higher incidence of technical failure (P less than 0.05). Otherwise, no difference in terms of restenosis or overall related complication rate was noted (P greater than 0.1). It is concluded that PTCA is an efficient and safe therapeutic option for octogenarians with severe or refractory angina pectoris. Technical failure is more frequently observed than in younger patients and explains a lower immediate angiographic success. Nevertheless, at 2-years follow-up, a large majority of patients are alive and asymptomatic.


Abstract Introduction. Chances for survival of a patient who has suffered from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) depend on a number of factors. One of the most important however, is the time within which the patient is provided with actions to restore normal heart function. In the Guidelines for Resuscitation 2015, The European Resuscitation Council states that defibrillation done within 3-5 minutes since a patient with SCA lost his/her consciousness can increase the survival rate up to 50-70%. However, such a short time of providing help is only achievable through the implementation of universal defibrillation programs and the automatic external defibrillator (AED) devices densely distributed in public places. By contrast, every minute of delay in defibrillation reduces the probability of survival by approximately 10-12% until the hospital discharge. Aim. The purpose of the research was to elicit the opinions of adult respondents on first aid and the use of automatic external defibrillator (AED). Material and methods. The research method used in this paper was a diagnostic survey, the technique was a web-based questionnaire, and a research tool was the authors' own questionnaire survey. The survey was active between April 8, 2016 and May 20, 2016. During this time, 116 opinions were collected. Results. As many as 77% of respondents declared that they had attended a first aid course, but 21% of them stated that they no longer remembered the knowledge acquired. The number of 63% of respondents did not know what an automatic external defibrillator is. Only 27% of respondents knew that AEDs are public devices, and only 47% believed that using an AED would not worsen the health of the victim. Conclusions. The availability of AEDs and knowledge of their use are insufficient. Low social awareness and irrational fear of using an AED (fear of deterioration of the victim's health) support the need for continuing education in this area.


Sustainability practice in facilities management (FM) is becoming a crucial principle throughout the life-cycle of project development mainly at post-occupancy phase. FM collaboration would be productive to support sustainability through improvement of sufficient training and skills coupled with practice culture between designers and facility managers. Systematic review of literature and questionnaire survey was conducted to establish the most important design parameters, and these were separated into four categories of people, process, economy and social. Statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) and relative significance index (RSI) with rank analysis techniques were then used to further explore the significance and influence of each design parameters in sustainable practice of FM. The top five most design parameters were recognised and highlighted in the design process included: "cost-effectiveness", "value of asset" "environmental" and "practiced culture". Finally, "design adaptability" and "health and safety". The study concludes with development of a conceptual model for integration of design parameters to guide facility managers for appropriate actions.


Maps were at the heart of cultural life in the Americas from before colonization to the formation of modern nation-states. The fourteen essays in Early American Cartographies examine indigenous and European peoples' creation and use of maps to better represent and understand the world they inhabited. Drawing from both current historical interpretations and new interdisciplinary perspectives, this collection provides diverse approaches to understanding the multilayered exchanges that went into creating cartographic knowledge in and about the Americas. In the introduction, editor Martin Bruckner provides a critical assessment of the concept of cartography and of the historiography of maps. The individual essays, then, range widely over space and place, from the imperial reach of Iberian and British cartography to indigenous conceptualizations, including "dirty," ephemeral maps and star charts, to demonstrate that pre-nineteenth-century American cartography was at once a multiform and multicultural affair. This volume not only highlights the collaborative genesis of cartographic knowledge about the early Americas; the essays also bring to light original archives and innovative methodologies for investigating spatial relations among peoples in the western hemisphere. Taken together, the authors reveal the roles of early American cartographies in shaping popular notions of national space, informing visual perception, animating literary imagination, and structuring the political history of Anglo- and Ibero-America. The contributors are: Martin Bruckner, University of Delaware Michael J. Drexler, Bucknell University Matthew H. Edney, University of Southern Maine Jess Edwards, Manchester Metropolitan University Junia Ferreira Furtado, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil William Gustav Gartner, University of Wisconsin-Madison Gavin Hollis, Hunter College of the City University of New York Scott Lehman, independent scholar Ken MacMillan, University of Calgary Barbara E. Mundy, Fordham University Andrew Newman, Stony Brook University Ricardo Padron, University of Virginia Judith Ridner, Mississippi State University |Maps were at the heart of cultural life in the Americas from before colonization to the formation of modern nation-states. The fourteen essays in Early American Cartographies examine indigenous and European peoples' creation and use of maps to better represent and understand the world they inhabited.


'On top of the sea' is the literal translation of Shanghai, whose urban structure was built around thin canals that crossed the city. These canals, just as the traditional street in Chinese culture, were able to move people and goods while creating a public arena for interaction. It was infrastructure – streets and canals – that was the basis for the city's morphology. As the rivers and streets eventually grew, merged, and monumentalised, they created separation. Thus, infrastructure, which once was used to collect , now divided – as is witnessed in the new six-(or more) lane-streets or the Huangpu River, isolating Puxi from Pudong. This transforming notion of infrastructure is directly linked to changes in Shanghai's housing typologies. The traditional lilong housing structure is comprised of a unit that multiplies through group linkages to create streets. In these lilong dwellings, the street and the architectural type are one. More recently, an influx of high-rise apartment typologies has dislocated the relationship between infrastructure and building. Here, infrastructure is used to subdivide massive plots onto which built form is whimsically placed. The disconnection and monumentalisation of infrastructure that corresponds to these shifting building typologies reveals an even deeper transformation of the public sphere – one in which isolation and alienation are substituting a loss of reality. It is here that we witness the rise of the Private and the emerging loss of public life.


Cornell University Press has added another gem to its fine series on national security affairs. Chris Demchak's Military Organizations, Complex Machines is an excellent analysis of the interaction of technology and organization in the employment of modern weapons. The specific technology examined is the M-l Abrams tank, and the hosting organization described is the U.S. Army; but the attempt is to provide broader lessons for militaries and organization theory. Demchak is at her best in the conceptual chapters, where the problem of organizational complexity is effectively explored. Here, the influence of the emerging Berkeley school of organizational analysis is clearly visible and fully acknowledged. We learn that complex systems are vulnerable to a series of surprises because of their large number of internal relationships, each of which can be disrupted in unknown and undesirable ways. These nasty surprises ("rogue outcomes") plague the systems, forcing their managers into a continuing quest for coping strategies. Limited resources frustrate the managers' abilities to respond quickly and successfully to the inevitable rogue sets cascading through the systems. As downtime grows, the capacity of organizations to meet external challenges weakens dangerously. The M-l tank was designed to reduce the army's battlefield uncertainties. It was intended to be faster, tougher, and more lethal than the Soviet tanks it might someday encounter at the Fulda Gap. To do this, the M-l was to utilize the latest technologies, including a gas turbine engine, laser-assisted targeting, and advanced gun-turret stabilization techniques that would allow it to fire accurately while maneuvering. The army's procurement agency, beset with its own political and organizational uncertainties, promised Congress that the M-l would also be more reliable and cheaper to maintain than predecessor tanks, thus justifying its higher purchase costs. In order to achieve this, much of the repair was to be pull-and-replace after diagnosis by specially developed automatic test equipment. Of course, not all of these promises were kept. Although it has excellent combat capabilities, the M-l has poor fuel economy, relatively short range, and a cranky disposition and is a nightmare to maintain. The bulk of the book focuses on the army's attempt to deal with the nightmare. Demchak, a reserve officer, apparently had the needed access to the operators and the required technical knowledge to understand the maintenance adjustments initiated. In short, what was expected to be simple became very complex indeed as field units and an overly lean support network strove to cope with the operating uncertainties of the tank. Demchak offers some—but not enough—comparisons with the introduction of other complex weapon systems into the air force and navy to make convincing generalizations of this experience. Nevertheless, Demchak is ready to draw lessons, particularly as they relate to wartime operations. Complex procedures instituted to cope with the surprises of complex technologies, she argues, will increase the operational uncertainties in the rear, as well as on the battlefield, raising the risk of catastrophic organizational failure. Instead, she believes, we should cautiously weigh the pros and cons of adding technical complexity to organizations with difficult, dangerous tasks like the military. Simplicity, if not the main guideline, should be at least a major option. The Gulf War, which occurred as the book's final editing was being completed, is dismissed as exceptional. There, the M-l was shown to advantage, as was nearly every other of our very complex weapon systems. But that war revealed how the American military actually copes with the risks of complexity. Two full complements of tanks for the units assigned were sent, one after the other. There were spares for spares. It is only junior officers and organizational theorists who worry about scarcity. Senior officers know that the organizational goal in that war and all others is to avoid American casualties and, like American politicians, believe the promise that costly, complex technologies offer for achieving that goal. Complexity, it turns out, is the only acceptable option.


The synthesis of allylic thioethers arising from the reaction between phosphorothioate esters and alcohols is described. The synthesis is accomplished in one step by the addition of an exogenous alkoxide to the corresponding allylic phosphorothioate ester. It is demonstrated that this process is amenable to various functional groups and a wide variety of heterocycles. In contrast to conventional methods for thioether synthesis, no malodorous sulfur compounds such as thioacetic acid or thiols are required.


This paper present the impact of some of the unique characteristics, like shared wireless medium, stringent resource constraints, highly dynamic network topology, and peer to peer, multi-hop autonomous network architecture, of MANETs from a wide perspective. These additional features never come for free as they make the routing and other services more challenging and causes vulnerabilities in network services. Resource constrained, battery powered wireless mobile nodes not only have to self configure and self monitor them but also generates a very accommodating, trustworthy and affable environment. Recent advances in wireless networks have led to enhance existing protocols specifically designed for mobile ad hoc networks. We present a classification of routing protocols and their brief description, based on their operating principles and underlying features.


Yunnan Province is known to host the highest species diversity of the true freshwater crabs in China; 50 species have been recorded from the province by 2017. In 2004, our team conducted a biodiversity survey of the freshwater crabs in Yunnan Province to determine how well the diversity of crabs in the area has been characterized. We collected a total of 25 species, of which nine species proved to be new to science, and eight of which are described here. These include four species of the genus Indochinamon Yeo & Ng, 2007, two species of the genus Potamiscus Alcock, 1909, and one species each of the genera Pararanguna Dai & Chen, 1985, and Parvuspotamon Dai & Bo, 1994. The new species of Pararanguna and Parvuspotamon represent the second species of respective genera, which are here redefined. Detailed comparisons with morphologically allied species are provided. Photographs of the type specimens of their comparative species which are poorly illustrated in the literature are also provided to allow better understanding of their morphology. This study brings the number of the freshwater crabs of Yunnan Province to 58. Since about 13.8% of the number of species (eight out of 58 species) is increased by surveys conducted within a relatively short period, it is most probable that the species diversity of this group is still understudied in Yunnan Province.


Brands ofen use celebrities to get impact. Celebrity endorsement has become a marketing communication strategy used to build a congruence between brand image and consumers. Objectives. Research attempts to analyse celebrity endorser-product congruency and to measure the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement compared with a non-celebrity endorsement (fashion models). Prior Work. Research conducted to date have reached topics as: the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement; celebrity endorsers and purchase intention, added-value of the endorsement; positive or negative effects of celebrity endorsement, congruence between product/brand and endorser, consumer association with the endorser, attractiveness, credibility and trust in celebrities. Approach. A marketing experiment was used in order to mesure the impactul of endorser type and endorser-product match on Aad, Ab, and Pi. Results. Research has confirmed that attractive endorsers fit clothing products, whether they are celebrities or models. Also, the more consumer likes advertising, the more likely it creates a favorable attitude towards the brand. Results suggest ads using celebrities increase the likelihood of consumers to buy an endorsed product. Value. Study shows what celebrities are considered credible and perceived fit to promote classical suit. A fashion brand can select a celebrity for advertising campaign, due to it's influence on consumers' purchase intention.


Many undergraduate learners at English departments who study English as a foreign language are unable to speak and use language correctly in their post -graduate careers.  This problem can be attributed to certain difficulties, which they faced throughout their education years that hinder their endeavors to learn. Therefore, this study aims to discover the main difficulties faced by EFL students in language learning and test the difficulty variable according to gender and college variables then find suitable solutions for enhancing learning.  A questionnaire with 15 items and 5 scales were used to help in discovering the difficulties. The questionnaire was distributed to the selected sample of study which consists of 90 (male and female) students selected randomly from the 3rd and 4th year class levels at English departments from colleges of Languages and Education (Ibn-Rushd) at the University of Baghdad. The results of the study showed that EFL students face difficulties in language learning such as the role of society in discouraging English language learning, the learners' shyness, which prevents them from speaking English in fear of making mistakes, lack of motivation, and the influence of class size and crowdedness. After analyzing the results, some recommendations and suggestions were presented to solve the problem and eliminate difficulties.


Corporations are critical actors in the political, economic, social and cultural development of all countries. Besides providing goods and services in order to achieve profitability, they also serve as a source of livelihood for many, pay taxes that enable governments to operate, and have an impact on the physical and social environment. However, the practice of social responsibility poses a challenge to many financial institutions in Ghana including the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB). The socially responsible acts of financial have been assumed to have negative effect on the expenditure and profitability of some financial institutions thereby affecting their profit margins in the short-term. This research therefore focused on determining the extent of the effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditures on the financial performance of financial institutions. A survey and interviews of some selected department heads at the ADB and reviews of the annual CSR reports revealed that the immediate effect of socially responsible activities on the financial performance of financial institutions tends to be negative. In the long term, such efforts have the potential to accrue positive impacts for financial institutions that engage in socially responsible behaviors as part of their core functions. It is therefore recommended that financial institutions need to undertake socially responsible activities that are part of their core functions so as to overcome the initial shocks that are associated with such programs. Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Financial Performance, Financial Institutions


Reducing the burden of falls and fall-related admissions to hospital and care homes is an important policy area. Falls cause significant injury leading to a reduced quality of life. We wanted to know if the environment around people's homes changes the risk of falls for older people in Wales.
We linked routinely collected, anonymised health data on frailty, dementia, hospital admissions, care home admission, and A&E attendance in the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage Databank. We also linked individual level demographic data and household level neighbourhood walkability and accessibility metrics detailing the built environment (e.g. access to services, greenspace). We capture change in the built environment and house moves between January 2010 and December 2017. Using unadjusted and adjusted cox regression models we will assess how the risk and severity of a fall changes in relation to the built environment.
We have created a dynamic national e-cohort linking data on frailty, dementia, hospital admissions, care home admission, A&E attendance and built environment measures for people living in Wales aged 60 and above between January 2010 and December 2017. At the conference we will report summary statistics for each quarter as well as the overall population. We will also report unadjusted cox model odds ratios, as well as fully adjusted models. We will adjust for age, sex, urbanicity (urban/rural), deprivation (WIMD), dementia diagnosis, and seasonal weather trends. We will also report odds ratios for our stratification analysis where we will investigate whether associations vary by urbanicity and deprivation.
With an aging population, it is becoming more important to help the current and future older population age healthily, preventing adverse health outcomes before they happen. This research will help guide policy and resource allocation to support people staying at home and have a more fulfilling life for longer.


SUMMARY Neurological status of chronic depressive states have not been resolved as yet. Recent classificatory systems ICD-X and DSM-III-R have included chronic depression under affective disorders and have done away with the category of neurotic depression. The present study was undertaken with the aims of (a) to study clinical variables associated with major subtypes of chronic depression (chronic major depression and dysthymia) and (b) to investigate personality characteristics and life events associated with major subtypes of chronic depression. The sample was drawn from outpatients and inpatients as per DSM-DI-R criteria. 30 patients were studied (21 chronic major depression and 9 dysthymia). They were administered Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Eysenck Personality Inventory and Interview for recent life event (Paykel and Mangen, 1980) and details of sociodemographic and clinical variables were recorded. Symptomatically dysthymia and chronic major depression are indistinguishable. More patients of dysthymia have positive family history of depressive disorder. Dysthymia had significantly higher score on neuroticism. All chronic depressives tend to report more life stresses during the courses of illness.


Single-case design has a long history of use for assessing intervention effectiveness for children with disabilities. Although these designs have been widely employed for more than 50 years, recent years have been especially dynamic in terms of growth in the use of single-case design and application of standards designed to improve the validity and applicability of findings. This growth expanded possibilities and inspired new questions about the contributions this methodology can make to generalizable knowledge about intervention in special education. In this article, we discuss and extend previous standards for studies using single-case designs. We identify new suggestions for internal validity, generality and acceptability, and reporting. We also provide considerations for single-case synthesis and discuss the complexities of assessing accumulating evidence for a given practice.


This paper describes circuits and operating details of an electronic device designed to provide, through field excitation control, a regulation of a-c generator voltage within a range of ±1/10 per cent.


This article explores explanations for differences in penal severity in industrialized countries, evaluating quantitative data and theoretical perspectives to examine several aspects of penal systems. These include rates of imprisonment in different countries, crime rates in relation to prisoner rates, welfare and social equality, trust and legitimacy, and democracy and political economy. The focus is not restricted to the Anglophonic world, but encompasses the Scandinavian countries, Western and Eastern continental Europe, and the Baltic states. Unprecedented expansions of penal control have occurred in recent decades in different parts of the world. American imprisonment rates have increased nearly fivefold and Dutch rates sixfold since the early 1970s. Substantial changes of differing magnitudes may be observed in many countries. An increase in states' willingness to use penal power has provoked criminological and sociological explanations, most from writers in North America and English-speaking countries. An unspoken assumption that developments in the United States and England and Wales occurred elsewhere has influenced efforts to formulate general explanations of changes taking place under general conditions of late modern society.However, the author notes that things have not happened the same way everywhere, and to overlook differences between nations may lead to overgeneralised and simplified pictures of the dynamics of penal change. For example, alongside general growth in cultures of control, there are divergent trends and country-specific deviations. The Scandinavian countries with their more restrained penal policies serve as one important counterexample: despite some recent criticisms, Nordic penal policy has been an example of a pragmatic and non-moralistic approach, with a clear social policy orientation. It reflects the values of the Nordic welfare-state ideal and emphasizes that measures against social marginalization and inequality work also as measures against crime. In conclusion, the author argues that the pre-conditions of rational policy-making must be prioritised over populist posturing through the production of more and better information for politicians, practitioners and the public. The normal rules of political accountability should also be applied in penal discourse. However, the author notes that things have not happened the same way everywhere, and to overlook differences between nations may lead to overgeneralised and simplified pictures of the dynamics of penal change. For example, alongside general growth in cultures of control, there are divergent trends and country-specific deviations. The Scandinavian countries with their more restrained penal policies serve as one important counterexample: despite some recent criticisms, Nordic penal policy has been an example of a pragmatic and non-moralistic approach, with a clear social policy orientation. It reflects the values of the Nordic welfare-state ideal and emphasizes that measures against social marginalization and inequality work also as measures against crime. In conclusion, the author argues that the pre-conditions of rational policy-making must be prioritised over populist posturing through the production of more and better information for politicians, practitioners and the public. The normal rules of political accountability should also be applied in penal discourse.


Acute lung injury (ALI) is an acute hypoxic respiratory insufficiency or failure caused by various factors inside and outside the lungs. ALI is associated with high morbidity and a poor prognosis in hospitalized patients. The lungs serve as a reservoir for platelet precursor megakaryocytes and are closely associated with platelets. Platelets not only play a central role in hemostasis, coagulation and wound healing, but can also act as inflammatory cells capable of stimulating non-hemostatic immune functions under inflammatory conditions, participating in the progression of various inflammatory diseases, and can result in tissue damage. Therefore, it was speculated that platelets may play an important role in the pathogenesis of ALI. In this review, the latest research progress on secretion of bioactive mediators from platelets, platelet activation-related signaling pathways, and the direct contact reactions between platelets and neutrophils with endothelial cells that result in ALI are described, providing evidence to support the importance of the consideration of platelets in the search for ALI interventional targets.


Angiolipoma is a benign fatty neoplasm characterized by a vascular component that commonly occurs in the subcutaneous tissue and rarely in the gastrointestinal tract. The neoplasms of the small intestine are difficult to diagnose. There has been no report of angiolipoma of the ileum in Korea. Therefore, we report a case of symptomatic ileal angiolipoma. A 75-year-old man was admitted to our hospital due to intermittent periumbilical pain. Neither upper gastrointestinal endoscopy nor colonoscopy disclosed any abnormalities, but small bowel series showed a tumor-like shadow at the proximal portion of the ileum. The patient underwent a segmental resection of the ileum including the tumor. Grossly, the tumor was a polypoid submucosal mass measuring mm with smooth margin and mild erosion. Histologic examination disclosed a benign angiolipoma of the proximal ileum.


The present study describes the semantic nature of burnout and engagement in the operators involved in the management of illegal immigration. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on a sample of Italian practitioners (n = 62) of the two levels of the reception system considered: (1) rescue and first aid and (2) reception and integration. Within the framework of the job demands–resources model (JD-R), the interviews deepened the analysis of the positive and negative dimensions of burnout and engagement: exhaustion versus energy, relational deterioration versus relational involvement, professional inefficacy versus professional efficacy and disillusion versus trust. The interviews were analysed using the T-Lab software, through a cluster analysis (bisecting K-means algorithm), which emphasised noteworthy themes. The results show that, in the vast majority of the dimensions considered (for both levels of reception), the same dimensions of engagement of the operators (energy, relational involvement, professional efficacy and trust) are able to lead them into a condition of burnout, with experiences, conversely, of exhaustion, relational deterioration, professional inefficacy and disillusion. These findings expand the knowledge on burnout and engagement in practitioners of illegal immigration, a context characterised by the value of help and welcome.


The validity of the shear coefficient K has been experimentally tested using a large number of rectangular glass beams and cylindrical phosphor-bronze beams. The theoretical expressions of K=(5+5m)/(6+5m) for rectangular beams and K=(6+12m+6m2)/(7+12m+4m2) for cylindrical beams, where m is Poisson's ratio, have been confirmed to yield the best agreement with experiment. For cylindrical beams, Timoshenko's theory has been shown to give good results over a fairly wide frequency range. For rectangular beams, it is suggested that a better expression should be proposed to fit the experimental results.


Bc. Bím, M. Corporate Social Responsibility in Automotive Industry. Diploma thesis. Brno: Mendel University, 2016. This diploma thesis deals with the topic of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which encompasses responsible behaviour towards society in economic, environmental and social area. The aim of the thesis is to provide suggestions of strategies for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of Czech automotive industry. The recommendations are based on results of quantitative and qualitative research conducted among Czech SMEs in automotive industry. The research examines their awareness, knowledge and usage of CSR principles. The results show decent awareness of CSR. Czech SMEs operating in automotive industry are to certain extent knowledgeable and partly apply CSR principles. Reserves can be found in establishing, conducting and communicating of CSR strategy. The recommendations contain generally applicable CSR principles for the whole industry and practical example in form of the case study. Suggested CSR strategies help Czech based SMEs to be more competitive and overcome barriers of understanding and successful functioning of CSR.


The last decade has seen increasing efforts to circumscribe and bound the cosmological Hubble flow in terms of model-independent constraints on the cosmological fluid—for instance, the classical energy conditions of general relativity. Quite a bit can certainly be said in this regard, but much more refined bounds can be obtained by placing more precise constraints (either theoretical or observational) on the cosmological fluid. In particular, the use of the w parameter (w = p/ρ) has become increasingly common as a surrogate for trying to say something about the cosmological equation of state. Herein we explore the extent to which a constraint on the w parameter leads to useful and non-trivial constraints on the Hubble flow, in terms of constraints on density ρ(z), Hubble parameter H(z), density parameter Ω(z), cosmological distances d(z), and lookback time T(z). In contrast to the case for other partial results in the literature, the computations here are carried out for arbitrary values of the space curvature , or equivalently for arbitrary .


Summary The present study focused on evaluating the effects of a methanol crude extract of Artemisia dracunculus (tarragon) leaves on human platelet function in vitro and several markers of platelet coagulation, including the prothrombin time (PT), the activated partial thrombin time (APTT) and bleeding time (BT) using wistar rats and mice for in vivo pulmonary thrombosis. Human platelets were incubated with different concentrations of the test extract and then activated with thrombin. Adhesion, aggregation and spreading to the laminin-coated plates were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In the control samples, most of the adhered platelets showed extensive spreading on laminincoated plates. Pretreatment of platelets with the plant extract had inhibitory effect on the secretion of adenine nucleotides and malonldialdehyde (MDA) formation. On the other hand, oral administration of the extract protected the mice against thrombotic death or paralysis induced by collagen and epinephrine in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, the extract had significant effects on the coagulation parameters. Mouse tail bleeding time was significantly prolonged among the treated mice. Our results showed that the methanol crude extract of tarragon has anticoagulant and antithrombotic activity. These findings provide scientific basis for traditional use of tarragon for treatment of thrombotic diseases. Keyword: Adenine nucleotides; Antiplatelet; Antithrombotic; Artemisia drancunculus L.; Malondialdehyde


Nanotechnology is a scientific and engineering technology conducted at the nano-scale, such as in the fields of compound fabric manufacturing, food processing, agricultural processing, and engineering, as well as in medical and medicinal applications. In recent decade, nanomaterial applications for antimicrobial works have of prime interest of by many researchers. Available reports show that some of the metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) including Al2O3, TiO2, ZnO, CuO, Co3O4, In2O3, MgO, SiO2, ZrO2, Cr2O3, Ni2O3, Mn2O3, CoO, and Nickel oxide have toxicity toward several microorganisms and they could successfully kill numerous bacteria. Based on our literature review there are some effective factors that can influence the ability of nanomaterials in reducing or killing the cells, and there are mechanisms for nanomaterial against bacteria, which are briefly listed as follows: surface charge of the metal nanomaterial, shape, type and material, concentration of nanomaterial, dispersion and contact of nanomaterial to the bacterial cell, presence of active oxygen, liberation of antimicrobial ions, medium components and pH, physicochemical properties, specific surface-area-to-volume ratios, size, role of growth rate, role of biofilm formation, cell wall of bacteria, and effect of UV illumination. It can be considered that in the use of nanomaterials as antimicrobial agents, consideration of many factors remain principal. Antibacterial resistance to common chemical antibacterial agents can be due to long production-consumption cycle, thereby reducing their efficiency, and use of poor quality or fake medicines in undeveloped and developing countries. NPs as antimicrobial agents have become an emerging approach against this challenge, which can establish an effective nanostructure to deliver the antimicrobial agents for targeting the bacterial community efficiently. In addition, they are so potent that microbial pathogens cannot develop resistance to wards them. On the other hand, most of the metal oxide NPs have no toxicity toward humans at effective concentrations used to kill bacterial cells, which thus becomes an advantage for using them in a full scale. However, over the present decade, several studies have suggested that NPs are excellent antibacterial agents, at least at the research level.


The livestock sector forms an essential component of the agricultural output in both the developed and developing world. Of the animal species used, poultry considerably contribute to the total food and agricultural production. However, with increasing loss of genetic diversity that has been observed for all agriculturally used species, poultry genetic resources are considered to be one of the most endangered. In order to conserve poultry genetic resources, basic information about local poultry populations has to be established. This has been conducted in some countries worldwide, but the actual situation of these populations under field conditions is less known, Egypt is considered one of these countries. Characterization provides data on present and potential future uses of these local poultry populations and establishes their current state as distinct breed populations and their risk status. Data on production systems, phenotypes and molecular markers are used altogether in an integrated approach to characterization. On the other hand, transboundary animal zoonotic disease is considered an ongoing growing problem, which particularly affects poultry producers and rural societies in developing countries and endangers poultry genetic resources. In Egypt, since the onset of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in February, 2006, the Egyptian government is making continuous efforts to control the disease. During the control process an estimated 30 million birds were culled, and more recently there has been widespread vaccination of private commercial sector and some of backyard poultry. In this paper, we discuss current activities and prospects to evaluate existing diversity in poultry, study the characterization of phenotypic characters of Baladi chickens and ducks at three Egyptian governorates as initiated and guided by FAO. Methodological approaches, along with modern techniques, and potentials of modern biotechnological methods are tools to identify, characterize and conserve genetic resources.


The cytoprotective activity of the isolated functional groups of several sesquiterpene lactones is reported. Among them the highest activity is shown by alpha-methylen-gamma-butyrolactone and 2-cyclopenten-1-one. The activity shown by those Michael acceptors with a beta carbon hindered by an alkyl substituent was always lower or almost null. A three-way mechanism of action is proposed: a) reduced glutathione synthesis, b) prostaglandin synthesis and c) mucosal glycoprotein synthesis.


Leishmaniasis is a disease acquired by humans, due to Leishmania parasites, which exist in two forms. A flagellated extracellular promastigotes in the sandfly vector or in vitro culture and aflagellar intracellular amastigotes in the macrophage cells of mammals, lizards and tissue culture. Leishmaniasis takes several clinical forms including: cutaneous, mucocutaneous and visceral disease. Leishmaniasis and especially cutaneous leishmaniasis was reviewed in terms I n of epidemiology, biology and isoenzyme electrophoresis. Leishmania research in Saudi Arabia is some what a new undertaking. Cutaneous leishmaniasis is found to be a wide spread disease in Saudi Arabia which eventually affects a large number of people each year and is regarded as a public health problem. In the present study three human isolates of cutaneous leishmaniasis were obtained from patients living" in Abha province, with the objectives of critical investigation on some biological aspects of this organism. These isolates were cultivated in different culture media and the growth rate of promastigotes was assessed quantitatively in three culture media including (NNN, MEM and 199). Animal susceptibility to infection with the three isolates was also tested using syrian hamsters and BALB/c mice. The ultrastructure and morphological characteristics of the parasite were investigated.The three human isolates were also biochemically characterized using isoenzyme electrophoresis technique. I The growth rate studies showed that NNN medium was the most suitable culture medium which gave the the highest . promastigote count. After inoculating the promastigotes of the three isolates into healthy syrian hamsters and BALB/C mice no symptoms of positive infection was observed. Examination of ultra-thin sections of promastigotes of the three isolates using electron microscopy revealed certain consistency of the principal structure~ of keishman promastigotes. Each promastigote possessed an elongated form with a single smooth plasma membrane, a subpellicular layer ~ of microtubules together with many organelles within the cytoplasm. Biochemical characterization of the three isolates was performed by applying the thin layer starch gel electrophoresis technique and using 12 enzyme systems. The activity bands produced by the three isolates were compared with those of four marker strains representing L. Major and L. Tropica. The three studied isolates were found to represent 2 zymodemes of L. Tropica strain.


Micro hydro deep drawing is a promising technology to fabricate micro metal products with complex 3D shapes. However, the size effects in the micro hydro deep drawing become considerable and significantly influence shape accuracy of drawn cups. In this study, a Voronoi micro scale simulation model was developed to consider the size effects of SUS304 foils. A surface layer model was additionally applied in the simulation to further explain the size effects. The micro hydro deep drawing experiments were conducted with annealed SUS304 foils and the drawn cups were examined. The wrinkling phenomenon was generally aggravated with the hydraulic pressure. Simulation results also show that the high hydraulic pressure does not improve the shape accuracy of the drawn cups as that in the normal scale hydro deep dawning process does. The simulation results are in accordance with the experimental results.


The aim of this paper is to show that the approximant feature refers to a phonetic class which includes other subcategories of sounds, such as semi-vowels, rhotics, laterals and a subset of consonants. The consonants – due to the lack of articulatory precision – keep neither the obligatory closure for stops nor the aerodynamic characteristics required to produce a turbulent airstream, as is characteristic of fricatives. I am referring to these sounds as [[Voiced bilabial fricative] [Voiced dental fricative] [Voiced palatal fricative] [Voiced velar fricative]]. Moreover, I suggest a new definition of the approximant feature, which points out that the outflow of non-turbulent airstream is caused by either the opening of the organs or the lack of articulatory precision, or even both phenomena together.


This paper presents a novel approach for efficient computation of adaptive weights in phased-array antennas. The fundamental philosophical differences between adaptive antennas and adaptive signal-processing methodology are also delineated. This approach, unlike the conventional statistical techniques, eliminates the requirement for an interference covariance matrix, and represents a rethinking of the entire conventional approach to adaptive processing. This approach provides greater flexibility in solving a wider class of problems, at the expense of a slightly reduced number of degrees of freedom. It is important to note that the application of a deterministic approach to address stochastic problems with an ergodic structure can be seen in the works of Wiener (1949) and Kolmogorov (1939). This paper presents examples to illustrate the effectiveness and uniqueness of this new pragmatic approach.


Objective To consolidate the evidence on the effect of physical exercise on fear of falling in individuals with stroke. Data Sources PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane Database and MEDLINE Methods An extensive database search was conducted to identify the randomised controlled trials that examined the effect of physical exercise on fear of falling post-stroke. Grading of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) was used to assess the quality of evidence for each meta-analysis. Results Fourteen trials totalling 1211 participants were included in this review. Thirteen of these (1180 participants) were included in the meta-analyses. In the primary analysis, very low-quality evidence suggested that exercise reduced fear of falling post-stroke (standardized mean difference (SMD) 0.48; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.23 to 0.72). The effect was diminished at three- to six-month follow-up after exercise training ended (SMD −0.09; 95% CI −0.27 to 0.10; high-quality evidence). In the sensitivity analyses, the treatment effect was more pronounced in individuals with a lower baseline Berg balance score (BBS ≤45; SMD 0.53; 95%CI 0.17 to 0.88) and for those trials with exercise frequency of ≥3 sessions per week (SMD 0.70; 95%CI 0.39 to 1.01). Compared with circuit-based training consisting of a combination of walking, balance and strengthening exercises (SMD 0.27; 95% CI −0.09 to 0.63), walking programmes seemed to generate a larger effect on fear of falling (SMD 1.06; 95%CI 0.43 to 1.70). Conclusion Physical exercise was beneficial for reducing fear of falling in individuals with stroke, particularly those with poorer balance ability.


We have studied the decay of a Bose-Einstein condensate of metastable helium atoms in an optical dipole trap. In the regime where two- and three-body losses can be neglected we show that the Bose-Einstein condensate and the thermal cloud show fundamentally different decay characteristics. The total number of atoms decays exponentially with time constant tau; however, the thermal cloud decays exponentially with time constant (4/3)tau and the condensate decays much faster, and non-exponentially. We show that this behaviour, which should be present for all BECs in thermal equilibrium with a considerable thermal fraction, is due to a transfer of atoms from the condensate to the thermal cloud during its decay.


This Law includes substantive provisions dealing with occupational health aspects of work by minors and women in Japan. Section 65 lays down, in particular, that an employer must not employ a woman for six weeks (or 10 weeks, in the case of a multiple pregnancy) before childbirth, if she requests leave during this period. An employer must not, except as indicated, employ a woman within a period of eight weeks following childbirth. A woman nursing an infant under one year of age is entitled to two nursing breaks a day, each for a period of at least 30 minutes. Under Section 68, an employer may not require a woman to work if she suffers from dysmenorrhea and requests leave for that reason.


Joint political mobilisation between trade unions and community groups, often referred to as 'social movement unionism', has been upheld as a way forward for organised labour in a neoliberal world economy. Analysing the interaction between unions and communities is critical for understanding the potential and actual roles played by trade unions in voicing the concerns of marginalized workers and poor communities. This article examines the efforts of organised municipal workers and urban social movements trying to unite their forces in post-apartheid South Africa, by looking at the politics of the Cape Town Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF). While the participants of the APF have in common their opposition to commercialisation and privatisation of service delivery, their political unity is fragile. By contrasting the 'ideal-type' social movement unionism depicted in the contemporary literature on labour and globalisation with the findings of this particular case, we uncover some main dimensions along which this organisational cooperation is challenged. In contrast to the political unity experienced during the anti-apartheid struggle, the APF initiative operates in a restructuring post-apartheid economy where bridging internal organisational differences and confronting the hegemonic position of the African National Congress (ANC) in civil society have proved particularly challenging.


Background: Spontaneous preterm labor is one of the common obstetrics problems causing several physical, psychological and economical outcomes. Although due to these outcomes and the efficacy of cares for decreasing them, preterm labor screening is cost-effective and it is still one of the challenging issues in obstetrics. Objective: In this study preterm labor screening by using cervical transvaginal sonography was evaluated. Materials and Methods: This observational cohort study was performed in Yazd, Iran. Samples were selected from pregnant women at gestational age of 21-24 weeks who had single live fetus and referred to the obstetrics clinics of two selected hospitals in Yazd. Gestational age was estimated based on the sonography of the first trimester and cervical length measured by transvaginal sonography. Data analysis was done by using t and x2 test as well as ANOVA. Statistical significant level was considered as p<0.05. Results: From 450 participants, 47 cases had preterm labor and 6 cases had positive funneling. Mean age of women with term labor was 26.09±4.13 years and that of women with preterm labor was 26.7±3.51 years (p=0.334). Duration of pregnancy and cervical length significantly differed between women with and without funneling (p=0.001). The sensitivity and specificity of screening based on cervical length of 25mm were 55.5% (50.9-60.1%) and 93.6% (91.2-96%) respectively. Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, transvaginal ultrasound assessment of cervical length in low risk women has an acceptable reliability for screening of preterm labor.


Objectives: To characterize the events and examine suicide precursors among women and to examine gaps in surveillance. Setting: A statewide study in North Carolina. Methods: Suicides of women age 15 and older for the time period 1989–93, as identified from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, were included. All case files were reviewed by hand and telephone interviews were attempted with investigating law enforcement officials for every case in 1993. Results: Altogether 882 suicides met the case definition, for an age adjusted rate that fluctuated between 5.53 and 7.26 per 100 000 women across the period. Interviews with law enforcement officials were completed for 135 of the 177 cases from 1993. White women had rates nearly three times those of racial minorities. Women under age 45 were proportionally more likely than older women to have recently experienced the breakup of an intimate relationship. Information about precursors was not as consistently reported as had been hoped. Medical examiner records were variable in completeness. Law enforcement interviews frequently did not yield information about the factors we had hoped to examine, probably because the investigations were conducted primarily to rule out homicide. Conclusions: This study suggests somewhat different precursor patterns by age group. It also points to the need for reconsidering how suicide surveillance is accomplished as a strategy to guide intervention.


At the turn of the 20th century according to estimations the population of Iran was around 10 million. In 1933 it had increased to 13 million in 1976 to 34 million and in 1986 to 49 million. By 1996 the Iranian population had reached 60 million a more than six-fold increase within a century. The last three decades of the countrys history have been marked by major political changes the main being the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and the war with Iraq from 1980 to 1988. In recent years the pace of the demographic transition which has occurred in the Islamic Republic of Iran has puzzled international observers. The total fertility rate (TFR) declined from over 6 children per woman in the mid-1980s to 2.1 in 2000. This decline has been observed in all the provinces and in both rural and urban areas of the country. How and why has fertility dropped so much in such a short time? What are the links between political and demographic trends in Iran? This article briefly reviews population policy changes over the last three decades examines fertility trends over the same period and offers some possible explanations behind the fertility transition in Iran. (excerpt)


Is there an alternative to voluntary self-reporting by surgeons? The article by Teloken et al. presents the experience of 56 surgical units performing colorectal cancer surgery in Australia and New Zealand from 2007 to 2014, inclusive of risk-adjusted inpatient mortality. The Bi-National Colorectal Cancer Audit Report 2016 states that the audit 'represents around 15% of all new colorectal cancer patients who would have presented over this period'. In that period, another 104 500 colorectal cancers were diagnosed in Australia and New Zealand and it is their data that may be more informative. As the authors note reliance on voluntary self-reporting by surgeons to establish benchmarks has a number of weaknesses. Possible biases exist towards large institutions and 'best case' reporting. It is disturbing that this highly selected experience is presented in the manner of a benchmark. The implication the audit is contributing to public reporting is likely to distort professional and public perceptions in genuinely assessing quality of colorectal cancer surgery. With limited population coverage, a voluntary audit is unlikely to identify a 'Bundaberg crisis', serious deficiency or adverse event. In Queensland, a multipronged approach utilizing administrative data, supplemented by clinical variables and expert peer review by specialist surgeons produces population-wide data for all colorectal cancer diagnoses. For 2012, the Queensland audit yielded all 2788 cases and details on 2774 were compiled for patient characteristics, staging, surgery, length of stay, in-hospital, 30-day and 90-day mortality and 1and 2-year survival. These results have been published in the Queensland Colorectal Cancer Audit 2016 and provided to every hospital in the state, with peer comparators and a validity beyond question. We suggest that this population-based approach is an alternative to voluntary selfreporting and that clinicians and administrators are ready to respond to excellent information in their quest for improvement – which is after all, the purpose of any good quality audit.


After the initiation of an investigation into concerns about the reporting of results, the articles have been retracted as the result of information provided by corresponding author David S. DeGeest, who informed the journal that he incorrectly reported the results of the data analysis completed by him. Specifically, DeGeest notified the journal that many of the parameter estimates and significance tests he reported in the papers are false.


Resonance isolators operating at X -band frequencies have been constructed in conventional 50-ohm microstripline by positioning ferrite strips on the surface of the alumina substrate adjacent to the stripline conductor. A transverse external magnetic field is applied in the plane of the surface to obtain the necessary Kittel resonance condition. It is shown that by suitable choice of ferrite dimensions the performance may be optimized to give a forward loss of 0.5 dB together with a reverse loss in excess of 30 dB at resonance. The influence of saturation magnetization of the ferrite as well as relative permittivity of the substrate material has also been examined. Nonreciprocal phase shift may be obtained by using this geometry; but high external field is required to saturate the ferrite. A modification employing an all-ferrite substrate, which may be used to design a phase shifter operated at remanence, is described.


Presented here for the first time in English translation is one of Harun Farocki's earliest publications in the journal Filmkritik, of which he later became editor. Composed largely of quotations, Farocki's text reports on film courses at the Wannseeheim Youth Center, a form of adult and alternative education in Berlin West. The introduction to Farocki's text connects with the New German Cinema and themes that remained central throughout his own work: collaboration and quotation, Bertolt Brecht's concept of "learning plays," using nonfiction to explore both social relations and the cinematic apparatus, and seeing film as a form of "productive thinking." It represents a kernel of Farocki's wish to put the tools of filmmaking into the hands of ordinary people, thus revealing both theoretical aspects of the cinematic apparatus itself and the interweaving of visual images with social relations. With a deadpan, whimsical tone, Farocki argues that all this is, or should be, film criticism—in German, Filmkritik.


The effect of the overproduction of SecF encoded by the tac-secF gene on a plasmid on the synthesis of other Sec proteins was studied in Escherichia coli. SecF overproduction resulted in the simultaneous overproduction of SecD encoded by the tac-secD gene on a plasmid. Deletion of the orf6 gene, located downstream of the secF gene, had no effect on SecD overproduction. A pulse-chase experiment revealed that the overproduction was due to stabilization of SecD with SecF. SecF overproduction also resulted in the overproduction of SecY encoded by the tac-secY gene on a plasmid as well. SecF overproduction also enhanced the level of SecY expressed by the chromosomal secY gene. This SecF effect was not due to its effect on SecD or SecE, since SecF overproduction did not affect the levels of SecD and SecE expressed by the chromosomal secD and secE genes, respectively. SecE-dependent overproduction of SecY has already been demonstrated. It is suggested that SecF interacts with both SecD and SecY. SecE-SecY interaction has been demonstrated. It is likely, therefore, that all Sec proteins in the cytoplasmic membrane interact with each other.


BACKGROUND
Routine use of caesarean section for breech presentation is widespread. However poor outcomes after breech birth may be the result of underlying conditions causing breech presentation rather than damage during delivery.

OBJECTIVES
The objective of this review was to assess the effects of planned caesarean section for breech presentation on measures of pregnancy outcome.

SEARCH STRATEGY
We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth trials register and the Cochrane Controlled Trials register. Date of last search: October 1997.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised trials comparing planned caesarean section for breech presentation with planned vaginal delivery.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Reviewers assessed trial eligibility and quality.

MAIN RESULTS
Two studies involving 313 women were included. Caesarean section was done in 93% (119/128) of women allocated to planned caesarean section and 54% (99/185) of women in the planned vaginal delivery groups. The policy of planned caesarean section was associated with significantly increased maternal morbidity (relative risk 1.31, 95% confidence interval 1.02 to 1.68) and reduced short term neonatal morbidity (relative risk 0.26, 95% confidence interval 0.08 to 0.88). The studies were unable to detect differences in brachial plexus injuries, low Apgar scores or perinatal mortality.

REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS
There is not enough evidence to evaluate the use of a policy of planned caesarean section for breech presentation. A large Canadian trial addressing this question is currently underway.


In this study, the NUCC-3 choriocarcinoma cell line was used as an in vitro placental cell model to investigate the effects of follistatin on basal and GnRH-stimulated hCG secretion and/or its subunit mRNA levels. Follistatin (1.5-100 ng/ml; 48 h) alone did not affect basal hCG secretion or its subunit mRNA levels. GnRH increased hCG secretion and hCG beta-subunit mRNA levels in a dose-dependent manner, with maximal effects (2.37- and 2.4-fold increases, respectively) at a dose of 10(-8) M after 24 h of culture (P < 0.001). The time-course study showed that the increase in hCG secretion induced by GnRH occurred between 6-48 h after treatment. Follistatin (6-100 ng/ml; 48 h) significantly suppressed GnRH-stimulated hCG secretion and hCG alpha- and beta-subunit mRNA levels, with maximal suppression of 73.1%, 106.9%, and 129.1%, respectively (P < 0.001). In addition, follistatin (25 ng/ml) inhibited hCG secretion in response to phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (100 nM) by 90.3%. However, follistatin had no effect on hCG secretion evoked by forskolin (10 microM), and no change in hCG secretion was observed after treatment with a calcium ionophore (A23187; 10 microM) alone or in combination with follistatin. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the half-lives of hCG alpha and -beta mRNA induced by GnRH alone compared with those induced by GnRH plus follistatin (P > 0.1), indicating that follistatin did not affect the stability of hCG alpha and -beta mRNA. Our data suggest that follistatin inhibits GnRH-stimulated hCG secretion as well as hCG alpha- and beta-subunit mRNA levels in the NUCC-3 choriocarcinoma cell line by decreasing the rate of transcription through the second messenger transduction system-protein kinase-C, rather than by affecting the stability of mRNA. These findings indicate that follistatin may play an important role in the regulation of hCG production in the placenta during pregnancy.


Within distributed computing platforms, some computing abilities (or services) are offered to clients. To build dynamic applications using such services as basic blocks, a critical prerequisite is to discover those services. Traditional approaches to the service discovery problem have historically relied upon centralized solutions, unable to scale well in large unreliable platforms. In this chapter, we will first give an overview of the state of the art of service discovery solutions based on peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies that allow such a functionality to remain efficient at large scale. We then focus on one of these approaches: the Distributed Lexicographic Placement Table (DLPT) architecture, that provide particular mechanisms for load balancing and fault-tolerance. This solution centers around three key points. First, it calls upon an indexing system structured as a prefix tree, allowing multi-attribute range queries. Second, it allows the mapping of such structures onto heterogeneous and dynamic networks and proposes some load balancing heuristics for it. Third, as our target platform is dynamic and unreliable, we describe its powerful fault-tolerance mechanisms, based on self-stabilization. Finally, we present the software prototype of this architecture and its early experiments.


Interfacial interactions at graphene/metal and graphene/dielectric interfaces are likely to profoundly influence the electronic structure of graphene. We present here the first angle-resolved near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS)spectroscopystudyofsingle-andbilayeredgraphenegrownbychemical vapordepositiononCuandNisubstrates.Thespectraindicatethepresenceofnew electronic states in the conduction band derived from hybridization of the C-π network with Cu and Ni d-orbitals. In conjunction with Raman data demonstrating charge transfer, the NEXAFS data illustrate that the uniquely accessible interfaces of two-dimensional graphene are significantly perturbed by surface coatings and the underlying substrate. NEXAFS data have also been acquired after transfer of graphene onto SiO2/Si substrates and indicate that substantial surface corrugation and misalignment of graphene is induced during the transfer process. The rippling and corrugation of graphene, studied here by NEXAFS spectroscopy, is thought to deleteriously impact electrical transport in graphene. SECTION Surfaces, Interfaces, Catalysis


High-speed motion pictures (2000 frames/s) of saltating spherical glass microbeads (of diameter 350–710 μm and density 2·5 g/cm3) were taken in an environmental wind tunnel to simulate the planetary boundary layer. Analysis of the experimental particle trajectories show the presence of a substantial lifting force in the intermediate stages of the trajectories. Numerical integration of the equations of motion including a Magnus lifting force produced good agreement with experiment. Typical spin rates were of the order of several hundred revolutions per second and some limited experimental proof of this is presented. Average values and frequency distributions for liftoff and impact angles are also presented. The average lift-off and impact angles for the experiments were 50° and 14° respectively. A semi-empirical procedure for determining the average trajectory associated with given conditions is developed.


Islamic Rural Bank must deal with internal and external risks which will affect to the performance of the bank. This paper aims to assess the internal and external risks that influence to the bank performance. By adopting panel data analysis, the paper analyzes 21 biggest Islamic rural bank which as a representative of 21 provinces around Indonesia during 2013-2017 which result 420 observation period. Furthermore, Return on Asset (ROA) are utilized as dependent variable which represents Islamic rural bank's performance. As independent variables, Non-Performing Financing (NPF) and Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) are applied as internal risk in Islamic rural bank. To analyze external risk, regional macroeconomic factors, Regional Economic Growth (REG) and Regional Inflation (RInf) are employed then Total Asset of Islamic rural bank  (Size) is also used as complementary variable.  Based on the analysis, this study finds that SRB has robust risk management through internal and external risk. However, REG has significant ROA that explains the performance of Islamic rural bank will depend on regional economic growth in each province.


Mesoporous silica (MPS) was used for poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based solid polymer electrolytes as novel inorganic filler. For improvement in ionic conductivity in solid state, a room temperature ionic liquid (IL), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, was introduced into periodic nano-tunnels of MPS, and the modified MPS (IL-MPS) was filled with PEO-LiBF4 electrolyte. Ionic conductivity of neat-MPS-filled composites was approximately 4-fold higher than that of the original electrolyte. On the other hand, the conductivity was more than 11-fold enhanced by addition of IL-MPS, to be more than 10−6 S/cm at 30°C and at least 10 wt% silica contents. The conductivity increased with increasing IL-MPS contents, to be a maximum value of approximately 3×10−6 S/cm at 30°C and at 40 wt%. Dynamic mechanical measurements for neat- and IL-MPS composites revealed that the addition of fillers improves storage modulus of PEO-based electrolytes at room temperature. The addition of IL-MPS was able to realize the improvement in both ionic conductivity and storage modulus.


To investigate the effects of Baicalein (BAI) on the proliferation and differentiation of pig preadipocytes, and elucidate its potential mechanism. Primary preadipocytes of pig were cultured in vitro. The morphologic changes of preadipocytes differentiation were observed by Oil Red O staining. Status of cell proliferation was detected by MTT assay. The degree of adipogenesis and differentiation were measured by Oil Red O staining extraction assay. The activity of fatty acid synthase (FAS) was detected by spectrophotometry. The mRNA expression of special peroxisome proliferation activated receptor-gamma2 gene (PPARgamma2) was detected by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). When preadipocytes differentiated into adipocytes, the preadipocytes were changed from shuttle shape to oval or round, in which big and small lipid droplets were filled. The proliferation of preadipocytes was inhibited by the treatment of 160-640 micromol/L BAI (P < 0.05). The mRNA expression of PPARgamma2 and FAS activity and the differentiation of preadipocytes was repressed by 40-320 micromol/L BAI treatment (P < 0.05). It is concluded that the proliferation and differentiation of preadipocytes is inhibited by BAI in some degree. The effect of BAI on differentiation of preadipocytes may be resulted from inhibiting the mRNA expression of PPARgamma2 and reducing FAS activity.


Trees tend to stabilize mid-day sap velocity through apparently coordinated active canopy conductance (Gc) responses to atmospheric evaporative demand. We recently reported a model describing this stabilization based on the linear relationship between canopy resistance (Rc) and vapor pressure deficit (VPD). The model was able to accurately reproduce the daily and seasonal courses of sap flow in nectarine trees for different leaf water potentials. Here, we studied inversion of the model to determine mid-day stem water potential, Ψmd, from sap flow measurements. The study was in a nectarine orchard in the hot Hula valley of northern Israel. Measurements included sap flux, weather variables, mid-day stem water potential and other parameters. Twelve trees were measured, where four were well-watered and irrigation was withheld from eight trees for eight weeks in the hot and dry summer. Ψmd declined from -1.05 to -2 MPa, and pre-dawn Ψ from -0.42 to -0.89 MPa. Similar to previous results, we found that the slope of the linear relationship between canopy resistance and VPD increased as Ψmd decreased in a monotonic manner, which was described by a linear relationship. Slopes of the relationship of canopy resistance to VPD varied linearly from 1.2 to 2.2 s mm-1 kPa-1 over the range of Ψmd values. Re-calculation of Ψmd using the relationship was very successful, giving an r2 of 0.83 between calculated and measured values.


Negative resistance and memory effects occurring in formed thin insulating films are described and new experimental results for zinc sulphide thin film devices are presented. Contrary to previous work the voltage for maximum current is shown not to be a constant. The switching time of the devices is interpreted in terms of an activation energy. Previous theories are shown to be unsatisfactory and a theory based on the thermal rupture of conducting filaments and applicable to all such formed devices is presented.


Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes 30% of cancers attributable to infectious pathogens. HPV16 causes most cervical, anal, vaginal, vulvar, and oropharyngeal cancers. Although preventive vaccines targeting HPV16 and 18 are available, rates of vaccination are uneven. The incidence of HPV-associated cancers for which no screening algorithms have been validated continues to increase. Development of squamous cervical cancer and its precursor, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 2/3 is associated with integration of HPV genome into the host genome, and expression of the HPV E6 and E7- gene products, which inactivate p53 and pRb respectively. Since E6 and E7 are constitutively expressed in cervical carcinomas and CIN, they present attractive immunotherapeutic targets. Development of immunotherapies has been limited, in part, by modest immunogenicity of vaccines tested to date. The purpose of this study is to augment the immunogenicity of the E6 and E7 antigens through mutational screening. A subset of CIN2/3 do undergo complete regression. Our lab has carried out a series of prospective clinical studies, including immunotherapeutic interventions, in subjects with CIN2/3. Peripheral blood T cell responses to E6 and E7 are marginal, and do not distinguish regressors in either vaccinated or unvaccinated subjects. However, in vaccinated subjects, the lesion microenvironment is comprised of new tertiary lymphoid structures, evidence of T cell proliferation elicited by cognate antigen, and clonally expanded TCRs. Tissue T cells in vaccinated subjects access dysplastic epithelium, in contrast to T cells in persistent lesions, which were confined to the stromal compartment. These findings suggest that T cells that could mediate regression can be elicited by vaccination. However, strategies to enhance immunogenicity would likely increase therapeutic effect. Here we present an approach designed to determine the effect of mutations in E6 and E7 on antigenicity. Mutations can enhance immune responses to antigens by several mechanisms, including altering antigen processing, trafficking, glycolsylation, and affinity to major histocompatibility complexes. Using error prone PCR, we generated libraries containing random mutations in the coding sequence of E6 and E7. Clones from each library are currently being screened in vitro to identify immunogenic mutants, which could be potentially used for multi-epitope vaccines. Citation Format: Maria Agarwal, Ashley Saint-Fleur, Jie Fu, Hyam Levitsky, Cornelia L. Trimble. HPV16 immunity induced by immune responses to mutations in E6 and E7 proteins. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 4048. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-4048


By in situ hybridization we show that the SS rRNA genes in the mink map to chromosome 2q in three loci. The 2q1.1 locus containing 34% of the 5S rDNA, maps close to the centromere, and the remaining two loci of the 5S rDNA map to 2q1.3 (52%) and to 2q2.3. (14%). These data were obtained with a tritiated transcript of the 5S rRNA gene containing 121 bp. In a comparative FISH study performed with a biotinylated transcript of the 5S rRNA gene the procedure failed to detect the 2q2.3 site. A closely corresponding difference between the two procedures experienced previously in man and in the crab-eating macaque is discussed. The present results suggest a homology between 2q in the mink and part of 1q in man harbouring the 5S rRNA genes in 1q42.13 and 1q31, respectively.


Background: Given the rising number of elderly people in society that one day will outweigh the possibilities of health care institutions, alternative solutions have to be found to offer a safe but independent lifestyle to the elderly. Ambient assisted living (AAL) systems serve this function by monitoring elderly people in their own homes. The recorded data can be accessed by pre-defined caregivers, both formal and informal. In case of unusual data that are alarming in regard to the resident's health, this group of caregivers probably can react faster than they could without the data of the system. This literature review aims at giving an overview of unobtrusive AAL systems designed for providing more safety for the elderly in their own homes. The resulting overall research question is: What are possibilities and limitations in observational lifestyle of the elderly? This question was answered by giving answers to the following sub-questions: What objectives do the monitoring systems pursue and how are they operationalised? What is the reliability and validity of the different technology methods? How are the data of the monitoring systems stored and who can access them?
Methods: Based on several inclusion and exclusion criteria it was searched for suitable papers in the database Scopus. Among the inclusion criteria were the use of only privacy-preserving sensors and the use of sensors that did not need to be constantly worn on the body. Papers that were not written in English, did not include monitoring systems with the aim of assisting the elderly but another population and studies that included privacy-threatening technologies were not included in this literature review.
Results: Seven eligible studies were found. The systems described in these studies were compared in the prevalence and the operationalisation of AAL services as physical health tracking (including sleep pattern, vital signs, and body weight), mental health tracking (including cognition and well-being) and safety enhancement (including emergency detection and the possibility to call for help). Furthermore the quality of the system was assessed in terms of validity and reliability, data storage and data access. It was striking that in many studies clear numbers concerning reliability were missing, and also information on data access and storage was scarce. However, an overview of a variety of sensors used in monitoring systems is provided for physical health tracking and emergency detection. Mental health was not often taken into account in these systems.
Conclusion: In the future, more attention needs to be turned to usability concerns and to a more profound assessment of reliability and validity, sensitivity and specificity, study design and duration, and privacy concerns.


BACKGROUND
Prognosis of higher stages of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is very poor. Only 13% of patients in stage IIIA survive 5 years after the diagnosis determination. The purpose of neoadjuvant (inductive) therapy is to eliminate haematogenous and lymphogenous metastases and to cause a cytoreduction in the primary tumor before the resection. Especially detection of lymphogenous metastases is the main factor in the indication of the pre-operative chemotherapy, but this therapy is frequently indicated according to CT without any bioptic verification. The authors suppose such a discrepancy in radiological and histo-pathological staging to influence in a positive sense rather optimistic results of therapeutic protocols, which include the pre-operative chemotherapy.

METHODS
A biopsy of the lymph nodes was performed as a part of the staging. If the metastasis was proved, the lymph node was labeled and the patient was treated by 3 cycles of the pre-operative chemotherapy. The 57 labeled lymph nodes were removed during the subsequent lung resection and lymphadenectomy. An analysis of regressive alterations in the lymphatic metastases of lung cancer after an inductive chemotherapy and comparison with the pre-operative bioptic findings have quantificated the chance of the inductive therapy to eliminate lymphatic metastases.

RESULTS
The clinical down-staging was stated in 21 cases (36.8%), but the viable malignant cells rested in the majority 50 (87.7%) of the taken labeled lymph nodes 57 (100%) even after the neoadjuvant therapy. On the other hand, the satisfactory tumor regression changes was proven in 49 (86%) lymphatic metastases. CONCLUSIN: The results of the study may modify an indicating judgment in the therapy of locally advanced stages of lung cancer because it has brought a new view to the results of neoadjuvant therapy.


This article considers memory errors in a Siamese Network (SN) through an extensive analysis and proposes two schemes (using a weight filter and a code) to provide efficient hardware solutions for error tolerance. Initially the impact of memory errors on the weights of the SN (stored as floating-point (FP) numbers) is analyzed; this shows that the degradation is mostly caused by outliers in weights. Two schemes are subsequently proposed. An analysis is pursued to establish the filter's bounds selection by the maximum/minimum values of the weight distributions, by which outliers can be removed from the operation of the SN. A code scheme for protecting the sign and exponent bits of each weight in an FP number, is also proposed; this code incurs in no memory overhead by utilizing the 4 least significant bits (LSB) to store parity bits. Simulation shows that the filter has a better performance for multi-bit errors correction (a reduction of 95.288% in changed predictions), while the code achieves superior results in single-bit errors correction (a reduction of 99.775% in changed predictions). The combined method that uses the two proposed schemes, retains their advantages, so adaptive to all scenarios; The ASIC-based FP designs of the SN using serial and hybrid implementations are also presented; these pipelined designs utilize a novel multi-layer perceptron (MLP) (as branch networks of the SN) that operates at a frequency of 681.2 MHz (at a 32nm technology node), so significantly higher than existing designs found in the technical literature. The proposed error-tolerant approaches also show advantages in overheads comparing with for example traditional error correction code (ECC). These error-tolerant MLP-based designs are well suited to hardware/power-constrained platforms.


The theory of the coherent excitation of optical phonons in polar semiconductors is developed by use of the Boltzmann equations in which the collective behavior of carriers is taken into account. The linearized theory gives the critical condition for which the coherent emission of optical phonons exceeds the total damping of the system. Current and phonon wave-amplitude saturations due to non-linear effects are discussed by applying a quasi-linear theory. In a sample of finite size, phonon waves reflected at the boundary give rise to a further decrease of current by the acoustoelectric effect, resulting in a negative resistance. Such a negative resistance generates a current instability having its frequency determined by the transit time across the sample. Finally, the critical conditions of phonon wave growth are examined for GaAs and InAs.


For the wideband code-division multiple access (WCDMA) frequency-division duplexing (FDD) downlink of the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), we derive a chip-level equalization algorithm that jointly estimates the signals transmitted from multiple base stations. We focus on a scenario where the mobile terminal is located at the cell edge or in the intersection between different cells. Here, downlink transmission is not only affected by multipath propagation, which destroys the code orthogonality between different users' signals, but also severely by intercell interference caused by signals received from base stations of neighboring cells. We show by simulations that the new equalizer attains low bit-error rates in scenarios with strong intracell as well as intercell interference. Moreover, additional code-constraints based on the common pilot channel (CPICH) and, in case of soft-handover, based on the desired user's data channel are formulated which can further improve the equalizer performance.


1. Patterns of Policymaking: Partners or Partisans? Perspectives on Legislative and Executive Power. Partisan Control and Divided Government. Examining Policymaking. Determinants of Policymaking Patterns. Consequences of Presidential-Congressional Policymaking. 2. The Constitution and Shared Governance. Prelude to Constitution Making. Shaping Legislative and Executive Branches. Policymaking Patterns in the Early Republic. Policymaking Patterns from the Jackson Era to the Civil War. Policymaking Patterns from Reconstruction to the Depression. Policymaking Patterns in the Modern Era. The Impact of the Courts: Legislative-Executive Power. 3. The Presidency and Policymaking. The Potential for Presidential Leadership. Presidential Institutions. The Presidential Agenda. The Legislative Records of Modern Presidents. 4. Congress and Policymaking. The Potential for Congressional Leadership. Elections and the Political Environment. Congressional Institutions. Committees, Party Leaders and the Policy Agenda. 5. Foreign Policy. The Evolution of U.S. Foreign Policy. The New International Environment. Making Foreign Policy. Presidential Dominance: The Persian Gulf War (1991). Congressional Dominance: Cuban Sanctions Legislation (1996). Consensus/Cooperation: The Panama Canal Treaties (1978). Deadlock/Extraordinary Resolution: Aid to the Nicaraguan Contras (1982-89). 6. Civil Rights Policy. The Evolution of Civil Rights Policy. The Environment for Civil Rights Policy. Making Civil Rights Policy. Presidential Leadership: The Anti-terrorism (Patriot) Act (2001). Congressional Leadership: The Civil Rights Restoration Act (1988). Cooperation/Consensus: Same Sex Marriage Law (1996). Deadlock/Extraordinary Resolution: The Civil Rights Act (1991). 7. Economic and Budget Policy. The Evolution of of U.S. Economic and Budget Policy. The Environment for Economic and Budget Policy. Making Economic and Budget Policy. Presidential Leadership: The Tax Cut (2001). Congressional Leadership: The Shareholder Lawsuits Bill (1995). Consensus/Cooperation: The Tax Reform Act (1986). Deadlock/Extraordinary Resolution: The Balanced Budget Standoff (1995-96). 8. Social Welfare Policy. The Evolution of Social Welfare Policy. The Environment for Social Welfare Policy. Making Social Welfare Policy. Presidential Leadership: The Economic Opportunity Act (1964). Congressional Leadership: Catastrophic Health Care Insurance (1988-1989). Cooperation/Consensus: Comprehensive Welfare Reform (1996). Deadlock/Extraordinary Resolution: The Social Security Bailout (1983). 9. Patterns and Consequences: Can Presidential-Congressional Policymaking Be Improved? Presidential Leadership. Congressional Leadership. Consensus/Cooperation. Deadlock/Extraordinary Resolution. Can Presidential-Congressional Policymaking Be Improved?


The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that affect the intention to use Big Data Applications in companies. Research into Big Data usage intention and adoption is scarce and much less from the perspective of the use of these techniques in companies. That is why this research focuses on analyzing the adoption of Big Data Applications by companies. Further to a review of the literature, it is proposed to use a UTAUT model as a starting model with the update and incorporation of other variables such as resistance to use and perceived risk, and then to perform a neural network to predict this adoption. With respect to this non-parametric technique, we found that the multilayer perceptron model (MLP) for the use of Big Data Applications in companies obtains higher AUC values, and a better confusion matrix. This paper is a pioneering study using this hybrid methodology on the intention to use Big Data Applications. The result of this research has important implications for the theory and practice of adopting Big Data Applications.


A short guide to finding articles, and citing them in APA format. Some resources to help you write your paper


An important question raised by many political scientists is the impact of the EU enlargement policy on the democracy and state quality of candidate countries. It concerns not only the previous enlargement rounds (first of all the Southern and later the Eastern enlargement), but also the current process. The present determinants such as enlargement fatigue and more cautious EU enlargement strategy allow for a hypothesis that the aforementioned impact is changing. This article analyses the case of Turkey. Assuming a new institutional approach, the author intends to answer the question how the institutional framework changes of the EU enlargement policy (the principles of the enlargement strategy as well as formal and informal rules and mechanisms), particularly the EU-Turkey pre-accession policy influence the consolidation of the Turkish democracy as well as the redefinition of state model and state-citizens relations. Another question is also worth analysing: Will the negative developments (e.g., deficits of the principle of conditionality or politicization of the enlargement process) stop definitely the changes in Turkey driven by the pre-accession process - that is, the transformation of hegemonic nature of the state to build more liberal-democratic and citizen oriented regime? It is argued that there are other factors which will enable the development of these processes even if the EU enlargement policy loses its effectiveness. However, in this case the result of the consolidation of the Turkish democracy is far more uncertain.