Botswana's economic growth has hinged on its abundant natural resources, particularly diamonds, which generate nearly half of its fiscal revenues. In terms of sustainable growth, this dependency on natural resources poses the biggest challenge for the country. To prepare Botswana for 'life after diamonds,' the government developed a growth paradigm in its 'vision 2016' strategy document (Presidential Task Group 1997), which suggests that the development of 'new economy' skills will play an extremely important role in the country's future. Botswana is aiming to develop new engines of growth, supplementing the diamond industry with manufacturing, financial, and transport services, and transforming the country's entrepreneurship sector into a buoyant, productive, and innovative private sector led by entrepreneurs with cutting-edge skills. A key ingredient of this strategy is the development of a holistic approach to skills development. Botswana has achieved high enrollment in basic education (90 percent in primary education) and the government continues to invest a high share of gross domestic GDP, almost 8 percent, in the education sector. In 2010–11, expenditures on education amounted to 25 percent of total government expenditures. Nevertheless, a skills constraint is repeatedly cited as a major challenge for businesses in the country. In 2010, the Enterprise Survey for Botswana reported that of the 10 major business constraints, the majority of firms in the country reported skills shortage as the key problem (World Bank, 2010a). The country also has high unemployment rates reported at approximately 17.8 percent and approximately 27 percent, when discouraged jobseekers are included (CSO, 2011). This note reviews the current landscape of the education sector in Botswana and attempts to identify key bottlenecks in the supply of relevant skills for economic diversification. Recommendations for preparing students who can be readily integrated into the labor market are then offered, using examples of best practices from successful case studies.


Background: Asthma is one of the most common chronic disorders among children. Zinc (Zn) is an essential dietary antioxidant and may have a special role in the conducting airways of asthmatic subjects. Aims and Objectives: Primary objective was to determine serum Zn level among asthmatic school children aged 7-14 years and compare it to healthy matched children. The secondary objective was to investigate the association of Zn levels with the degree of asthma control and dose of inhaled steroids. Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted including forty asthmatic school children of both genders and forty matched healthy controls. Weight, height, body mass index (BMI), BMI Z-scores, serum Zn, hemoglobin, total protein and albumin concentrations were measured in both groups. Serum IgE levels, FEV1 and dose of inhaled steroids were measured in asthmatic school children. Results: Mean Zn level among asthmatics children was 12.78±1.8 µmol/L, and out of these four patients had Zn deficiency. Asthma and control groups were matched in age, gender, and BMI Z score (P>0.5). No significant difference observed in Zn levels, hemoglobin, albumin, and total protein between both groups (P>0.5). Among asthmatics, Zn levels were not significantly associated with degree of asthma control (well controlled, mean Zn=12.9±1.5), (partially controlled, mean Zn=11.9±1.6), and (uncontrolled, mean Zn=3.62±2.2) (P=0.053). Zn level was positively correlated with FEV1 and FEV1/FVC Z scores. However no significant association was observed between Zn levels with dose of inhaled steroids and IgE. Conclusions: Zn does not seem to play a major role in asthma and degree of asthma control. Larger studies are needed to confirm their association.


This paper introduces general methodologies for constructing closed-form solutions to several important partial differential equations (PDEs) with polynomial right-hand sides in two and three spatial dimensions. The covered equations include the isotropic and anisotropic Poisson, Helmholtz, Stokes, and elastostatic equations, as well as the time-harmonic linear elastodynamic and Maxwell equations. Polynomial solutions have recently regained significance in the development of numerical techniques for evaluating volume integral operators and have potential applications in certain kinds of Trefftz finite element methods. Our approach to all of these PDEs relates the particular solution to polynomial solutions of the Poisson and Helmholtz polynomial particular solutions, solutions that can in turn be obtained, respectively, from expansions using homogeneous polynomials and the Neumann series expansion of the operator $(k^2+\Delta)^{-1}$. No matrix inversion is required to compute the solution. The method naturally incorporates divergence constraints on the solution, such as in the case of Maxwell and Stokes flow equations. This work is accompanied by a freely available Julia library, \texttt{PolynomialSolutions.jl}, which implements the proposed methodology in a non-symbolic format and efficiently constructs and provides access to rapid evaluation of the desired solution.


Novel formulations of the two-body bound state problem in quantum field theory are examined. While equal in rigor, these have several calculational advantages over the traditional Bethe-Salpeter formalism. In particular there exist exact solutions of the bound state equations for a Coulomb-like interaction in quantum electrodynamics. The corrections to such zeroth-order solutions can be systematically computed in a simple perturbation theory. These methods are illustrated by computing corrections to the orthopositronium decay rate and to the ground state splittings in positronium and muonium.


This paper focuses on the role of information and information-handling technologies within the many rural microenterprises that currently lack access to ICTs. On the basis of field research in Botswana, it finds that poor rural entrepreneurs rely heavily on informal, social and local information systems. While highly appropriate in many ways, these systems can also be constrained and insular. Priorities for breaking this insularity will be greater access to shared telephone services. ICTs may play a supplementary role. They will need to be based in intermediary organizations that can provide complementary inputs of finance, skills, knowledge and other resources. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


We identified and characterized a novel beta0-thalassemia mutation due to the deletion of 22 bases from codons 81 through 87, found in a compound heterozygous state with codon 30 (G-->C) in a patient originating from West Bengal State, India. The deletion causes a shift in the reading frame of the coding sequence and creates a stop codon at position 81. Direct and inverted repeat sequences present in the deleted region might be involved in the origin of this mutation. The patient had moderate anemia and did not require blood transfusions (thalassemia intermedia).


The impact of a laser field on the process of photon radiation by an ultra-relativistic electron in an atomic field is investigated. The angular distribution and the spectrum of the radiated photon are derived. By means of the quasiclassical approximation, the obtained results are exact in the parameters of the laser field and the atomic field. It is shown that the impact of the laser field is significant even for fairly average values of the laser field parameters routinely achievable nowadays. Therefore, an experimental observation of the influence of the laser field on bremsstrahlung in the atomic field is a very feasible task.


OF THE THESIS The Maintenance and Role of Arthritis Related Exercise SelfEfficacy in Older Adults by Jaclyn Eliza Goldbarg Master of Publich Health with a Concentration in Health Promotion and Behavioral Science San Diego State University, 2013 Despite strong evidence that arthritis symptoms and disability can be reduced through physical activity, less than one quarter of U.S. adults with arthritis meet recommended physical activity guidelines. Research supports the use of self-efficacy enhancing strategies in interventions to improve symptoms and increase physical activity in older adults with arthritis. The aim of this study was to re-evaluate an intervention program called Choosing Arthritis Appropriate Physical Activity (CASAPA) from post-intervention to 1-month follow-up, to determine if improvements seen at post-intervention were maintained, and to examine the predictive ability of physical activity self-efficacy subtypes and intention for predicting physical activity. CASAPA was 4-week, psycho-behavioral, educational intervention designed to increase knowledge, skills, and confidence in selecting arthritis appropriate physical activity, delivered to an ethnically diverse, low-SES sample of older adults (n = 143, M age = 66.93), recruited from non-residential community senior centers in San Diego County. Participants completed written questionnaires at baseline, postintervention, and 1-month follow-up to measure self-efficacy for arthritis related exercise, for overcoming barriers to exercise, and for choosing appropriate physical activity. McNemar's test was used to determine if improvements in self-efficacy measures seen at postintervention in the intervention group were maintained at 1-month follow-up. Linear regression was used to test the predictive ability of the self-efficacy subtypes and intention for physical activity. Results show no significant change in self-efficacy levels for the intervention or control group, suggesting that the intervention group maintained their improved self-efficacy, and remained higher than controls at 1-month follow-up. Results also show that neither the self-efficacy subtypes nor intention at post-intervention were significant predictors of physical activity at follow-up. Findings support evidence that arthritis related self-efficacy subtypes can be increased and maintained for some time following an intervention, but that further research is needed to understand the roles of these self-efficacy subtypes and physical activity intention on physical activity in older adults with arthritis.


This paper presents a performance‐based reliability design methodology for axially loaded drilled shaft foundations using the Monte Carlo statistical methods. The performance criteria for an axially loaded drilled shaft are defined in terms of the drilled shaft head displacement. The load transfer method is used as the computational model for solving the nonlinear soil–foundation interaction problem and to predict the load–settlement curve at the drilled shaft head. The input to the computational model and the model error are treated as random variables. Particularly, soil properties such as soil strength parameters are modeled as random fields to account for soil spatial variability. Random field samples are generated using local averaging subdivision according to the prescribed statistical descriptors, including mean, variance, and correlation length. Given performance‐based acceptance criteria, the probability of failure can be evaluated for the prescribed load effects. A computer program is developed to facilitate the computation of the load–displacement curves of the drilled shaft head by using the commonly adopted load transfer concepts (t–z curves and q–w curves for shaft side and toe, respectively). Two design examples are presented, one for uplift and the other for compression, to illustrate the application of the developed performance‐based reliability design methodology. One of the important observations from the examples is that the computed probability of failure can be sensitive to the spatial variations of soil strengths characterized by the correlation structures. It is strongly recommended that spatial variation of soil properties be considered in the reliability‐based foundation design. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Screening of a Thermus thermophilus genomic library led to the identification of a homologue of the ylmE gene. ylmE is highly conserved in widely divergent organisms from prokaryotes to mammals, suggesting an important, albeit currently unknown, cellular function. The 633 bp gene has a GC content of 69.2% overall and 90% in the third nucleotide position, while the gene product is predicted to be a soluble cytoplasmic protein of 23441 Da. It belongs to a family of conserved proteins of unknown function and exhibits amino acid identities ranging from 45% to 28% to the Aquifex aeolicus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae family members, respectively. We speculate that the gene product may be involved in a cellular stress response in T. thermophilus.


As a dispatchable clean energy source, concentrated solar power (CSP) can be one of the key technologies to overcome many problems related to fossil fuel consumption and electricity balancing problems. Solar is a variable location, time and weather dependent source of energy, which sets challenges to solar field operations. With proper dynamic simulation tools it is possible to study dynamics of CSP field under changing weather conditions, find optimum control strategies, and plan and predict the performance of the field.CSP technology considered in this paper, linear Fresnel reflector (LFR), is a proven line focusing technology, having simpler design but suffering in optical performance compared to more mature parabolic trough (PT) technology. Apros dynamic simulation software is used to configure and simulate the solar field. Apros offers a possibility to dynamically simulate field behavior with varying collector configuration, field layout and control mode under varying irradiation conditions. The solar field applies recirculation (RC) as a control mode and direct steam generation (DSG) producing superheated steam. DSG sets challenges for the control scheme, which main objective is to maintain constant steam pressure and temperature at the solar field outlet under varying inlet water and energy conditions, while the steam mass flow can vary.The design and formulation of an entire linear Fresnel solar field in Apros is presented, as well as the obtained control scheme. The field includes user defined amount of collector modules, control system and two modules describing solar irradiation on the field. As two-phase water/steam flow is used, an accurate 6-equation model is used in Apros. Irradiation on the solar field under clear sky conditions is calculated according to time, position and Linke turbidity factor. Overcast conditions can be created by the clear sky index. For LFR single-axis sun tracking system is applied.In order to test the model functionality and to investigate the field behavior, thermal performance of the field was simulated at different dates at two different locations, and the results were compared. Similar field dimensions and control schemes were applied in each case, and simulations were done for full 24 hours in order to study the daily operations and ensure process stability. Control scheme functionality is evaluated based on the plant behavior in simulation cases having different operational conditions.The proper operability of the configured LFR model is evaluated. Obtained performance results show differences between locations and variation depending on season and time. The importance of a proper control system is revealed. The results show that the dynamic model development of a solar field is necessary in order to simulate plant behavior under varying irradiation conditions and to further develop optimal field control schemes and field optimizing process. The future work in the development of the LFR model presented will focus on dynamic response behavior development under transient conditions and field start-up and shut down procedure development.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


The contemporary meanings and usages of "cultism" range widely, depending on the assumptions and stance of the user. For scholars and social scientists of religion, the term is employed dispassionately—to denote what may be either an end point or a path through "secthood" to the status of local or even worldwide "religion." Hence, all of today's great faiths and recognized denominations were once cults and sects; so that, in an important sense, we address one aspect of the complex interface between medicine/psychiatry and religion itself.1-4 "Cultic" phenomena, in the inclusive (religious, political, commercial, and psychotherapeutic) sense in which this volume conceives of them, are therefore nothing new or recent. A constant feature of world history, such activity has tended to wax in eras of cultural transition or dislocation. Despite broad variations among cults and their effects on society and individuals, current public and clinical attitudes toward them are mostly


A 14-year-old cat was presented for corneal rupture of the right eye and bulla formation of the left cornea. It was diagnosed with acute bullous keratopathy, based on clinical and histopathologic examination. This is a rare condition of unknown origin in cats; it was treated successfully with bilateral conjunctival pedicle grafts.


Data availability at global scale is increasing exponentially. Although considerable challenges remain regarding the identification of model structure and parameters of continental scale hydrological models, we will soon reach the situation that global scale models could be defined at very high resolutions close to 100 m or less. One of the key challenges is how to make simulations of these ultra-high resolution models tractable ([1]).

Our research contributes by the development of a model building framework that is specifically designed to distribute calculations over multiple cluster nodes. This framework enables domain experts like hydrologists to develop their own large scale models, using a scripting language like Python, without the need to acquire the skills to develop low-level computer code for parallel and distributed computing.

We present the design and implementation of this software framework and illustrate its use with a prototype 100 m, 1 h continental scale hydrological model. Our modelling framework ensures that any model built with it is parallelized. This is made possible by providing the model builder with a set of building blocks of models, which are coded in such a manner that parallelization of calculations occurs within and across these building blocks, for any combination of building blocks. There is thus full flexibility on the side of the modeller, without losing performance.

This breakthrough is made possible by applying a novel approach to the implementation of the model building framework, called asynchronous many-tasks, provided by the HPX C++ software library ([3]). The code in the model building framework expresses spatial operations as large collections of interdependent tasks that can be executed efficiently on individual laptops as well as computer clusters ([2]). Our framework currently includes the most essential operations for building large scale hydrological models, including those for simulating transport of material through a flow direction network. By combining these operations, we rebuilt an existing 100 m, 1 h resolution model, thus far used for simulations of small catchments, requiring limited coding as we only had to replace the computational back end of the existing model. Runs at continental scale on a computer cluster show acceptable strong and weak scaling providing a strong indication that global simulations at this resolution will soon be possible, technically speaking.

Future work will focus on extending the set of modelling operations and adding scalable I/O, after which existing models that are currently limited in their ability to use the computational resources available to them can be ported to this new environment.

More information about our modelling framework is at https://lue.computationalgeography.org.

References

[1] M. Bierkens. Global hydrology 2015: State, trends, and directions. Water Resources Research, 51(7):4923–4947, 2015.
[2] K. de Jong, et al. An environmental modelling framework based on asynchronous many-tasks: scalability and usability. Submitted.
[3] H. Kaiser, et al. HPX - The C++ standard library for parallelism and concurrency. Journal of Open Source Software, 5(53):2352, 2020.


Both cultured Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells (BMSCs) and non-cultured Bone Marrow Mononuclear Cells (BM-MNCs) can improve random-pattern skin flap survival. However, whether prior culture expansion of bone marrow cells is beneficial for this therapy remains unclear. In the current study, the protective effects of BM-MNCs and BMSCs derived from identical bone marrow aspirates were compared in a random-pattern skin flap rat model. The mean skin flap survival rates were 71.6 ± 8.4% in the BM-MNC-treated group and 66.2 ± 3.1% in the BMSCtreated group, both of which were significantly higher than the control group (55.9 ± 3.4%). The protective effects were confirmed by blood perfusion analysis and vessel density assay. However, no significant difference was observed between the cell transplanted groups. These results indicate that the current method for pre-culture of BMSCs does not bring therapeutic benefits in skin flap protection. Therefore, BM-MNCs without pre-culture might be more practicable in the clinical setting.


Late onset dysthymic disorder (DD) in middle-aged and elderly men responds poorly to established antidepressants. Previous studies noted an improvement in mood accompanying sildenafil citrate treatment for erectile dysfunction. We sought to evaluate whether sildenafil's mood effects were independent of the effect on erectile function. A 6-week open label study was conducted with 20 male participants, aged 41–60 who were diagnosed with DD and who had normal erectile function. Participants were treated with sildenafil citrate 25 mg per day for 6 weeks. The primary outcome measure was the 21-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. Depressive and sexual symptoms were also evaluated using self-report questionnaires. Treatment with sildenafil resulted in a significant reduction in Hamilton Depression Rating Scale mean scores: from 14.61 ± 3.5 at baseline to 6.39 ± 5.13 at end of study (F(3,51) = 32.52, p ≤ 0.001). No changes in sexual functioning were detected. Significant improvement was also noted on the self-report measures of depressive symptoms. Sildenafil citrate might have an antidepressant effect on late onset DD, that is not attributable to improvement in erectile function. Possible explanations for this effect are offered. Larger placebo controlled studies are warranted.


Hypersecretion of FSH and alpha-subunit was documented in a man with a pituitary adenoma that was previously diagnosed on clinical grounds as nonfunctioning who had been treated by transsphenoidal surgery and postoperative irradiation. Postoperatively, the patient had high serum FSH levels and normal serum, LH levels. Ten years after the surgery, immunostaining of the tumor revealed the presence of beta FSH, beta LH, and beta TSH in the cytoplasm of scattered adenoma cells, although not always in the same cells. LH levels were elevated during the middle portion of the 12 yr that this patient was followed. However, as LH immunoreactivity was shown (in specimens recently drawn) to be largely due to cross-reactivity in the alpha-subunit RIA, the high LH values may represent high alpha-subunit levels. The elevated FSH levels and alpha-subunit concentrations did not rise after GnRH administration. Thus, during the course of 12 yr, this patient's tumor hypersecreted FSH and alpha-subunit and possibly LH. The evolution of these events may represent the natural history of the tumor or the effects of the therapeutic modalities used. We conclude that adult men with pituitary tumors and complaints of hypogonadism should be evaluated for a FSH-secreting tumor.


Flow over the embankment-type weir shows a transition from the submerged hydraulic jump to the surface flow as the tailwater depth increases. The submerged hydraulic jump induces so called "hydraulic or drowning machine" downstream of the weir and severe scour in the vicinities of the free surface and bed, respectively. The increase of the tailwater depth makes the transition to the surface flow, resulting in the dramatic change of the flow structure. This study attempted numerical simulations of the two flow regimes for the flow over the embankment-type weir using the k-ω SST model. Both submerged hydraulic jump and surface flow are simulated and computed results are compared not only with measured data but also with results by the k-ε model. Hydraulic characteristics of the two flow regimes are presented and discussed.


Rabbit ear arteries were isolated and perfused with Krebs-bicarbonate buffer. Brief periods of supramaximal nerve stimulation caused reproducible constriction of the arteries, which was inhibited by dopamine (EC50 approximately equal to 0.1 microM). Verapamil or flunarizine (at 1 or 5 microM) antagonized this inhibitory effect of dopamine. The maximal effect of verapamil, 5 microM was reached after 8 min and that of flunarizine, 5 microM after 40 min of perfusion with the drug. The antagonism of dopamine by verapamil, even at 5 microM, was incomplete (approximately equal to 80%), whereas flunarizine, 5 microM completely antagonized the effect of dopamine. Nitrendipine, nimodipine, or nisoldipine, at either 1 or 5 microM, or solvent (ethanol, 0.03%) had no significant effect on dopamine-induced inhibition of vasoconstriction even after perfusion for 40 min. Antagonism of dopamine at central synapses may conceivably explain reported Parkinsonian side effects of flunarizine. Our results suggest a mechanism for the tendency of flunarizine to cause Parkinsonism and an explanation why 1,4-dihydropyridines are not likely to have this side effect.


Two-dimensional (2D) heterointerfaces often provide extraordinary carrier transport as exemplified by superconductivity or excitonic superfluidity. Recently, double-layer graphene separated by few-layered boron nitride demonstrated the Coulomb drag phenomenon: carriers in the active layer drag the carriers in the passive layer. Here, we propose a new switching device operating via Coulomb drag interaction at a graphene/MoS2 (GM) heterointerface. The ideal van der Waals distance allows strong coupling of the interlayer electron-hole pairs, whose recombination is prevented by the Schottky barrier formed due to charge transfer at the heterointerface. This device exhibits a high carrier mobility (up to ~3,700 cm^2V^-1s^-1) even at room temperature, while maintaining a high on/off current ratio (~10^8), outperforming those of individual layers. In the electron-electron drag regime, graphene-like Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations are observed at low temperatures. Our Coulomb drag transistor could provide a shortcut for the practical application of quantum-mechanical 2D heterostructures at room temperature.


A 42-year-old woman presented with a clinically obvious giant rhinophyma. The protocol of the unit handling the case mandated that all lesions amenable to biopsy should have a core biopsy before any definitive surgery, but the unnecessary biopsy was not representative and suggested an incorrect diagnosis of perifollicular fibroma. The lesion was excised. The sections showed dilated hair follicle pores on the skin surface, squamous lined hair follicles plugged with keratin, prominent sebaceous glands, perifollicular inflammation without granulomas, intradermal budding of hair follicle basal cells, and extensive hypocellular, mildly edematous fibrous tissue with slightly dilated, thin-walled vessels and a few chronic inflammatory cells. These fully representative sections confirmed the diagnosis of giant rhinophyma, suggesting that preoperative core biopsies of this condition are unnecessary and may be misleading.


Hardware and associated software for nonmechanical rotation of the polarization basis of a dual linearly polarized cross-correlating radiometer are demonstrated. The technique requires precise measurement of two orthogonal-mode antenna temperatures along with cross-correlation of the two orthogonal-mode field amplitudes. Collectively, these are the first three Stokes parameters. A polarized blackbody load was developed for accurate calibration of the orthogonal-mode and cross-correlating channels. Using the hardware, rotation of the radiometer antenna's polarization basis by a matrix transformation was demonstrated by 91.65 GHz near-Brewster-angle scans of a polarizing water surface. The experimental results demonstrate the viability of the rotation technique and suggest practical calibration schemes for airborne and spaceborne polarimetric radiometers. Application of the rotation technique in mechanically scanned polarization-sensitive imaging radiometers will eliminate polarization coupling inherent in conventional fixed-feed dual-polarization scanner designs. >


Understanding the resilience of social-ecological systems can advance our ability to transform environmental governance and achieve ecologically sustainable and socially just outcomes. However, measuring this multidimensional emergent system property has been elusive. We translated theoretical principles of resilience into ecological and social metrics and used expert knowledge to assess how they have changed through three sequential governance regimes of the Pacific herring fishery in northwestern Canada. We showed a significant reduction in system-wide resilience between previous Indigenous and historical colonial governance regimes, and limited change with the onset of the latest environmental justice era. We also detected recent signs of recovery among several metrics of resilience, thereby signaling that this system exhibits the preconditions for governance transformation. Pinpointing the erosion and recovery of attributes that confer social-ecological resilience can reveal leverage points and highlight strategic pathways to enable deliberate transformation toward a more ecologically sustainable and socially just future.


Teacher preparedness is one of the basic requirements which enable teacher trainees to engage themselves successfully in their daily teaching activities. Teacher training determines the child's success in school, and eventual career development. The purpose of this study was to establish if there were factors responsible for the poor ECDE teacher trainees' performance in Kisumu Central Sub-county, Kisumu County. The objectives that guided the study were to: find out the performance trends of ECDE teacher trainees in KNEC examinations from the year 2009 to 2013, establish the influence of ECDE teacher trainers' qualification on their students' performance in KNEC examinations, determine the influence of the availability of teaching/learning materials on the performance of ECDE teacher trainees in KNEC examinations, find out the influence of teacher trainees teaching experience on their performance in KNEC examinations and establish the influence of the entry qualifications of ECDE teacher trainees on their performance in KNEC examinations. Descriptive research design was used to address the problem under study. The two college principals, all the teacher trainees and teacher trainers in the sub-county participated in the study. Data was collected using questionnaires and document analysis. The content validity of the research instruments was determined through consultation with the two supervisors to ensure the instruments addressed all the objectives. The reliability of instruments was determined using the test-retest method. The correlation between the tests was found to be 0.89 for teacher trainers' questionnaire and 0.92 for the principals' questionnaires using the Pearson's product moment formula. The data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. Descriptive statistics used were measures of central tendencies, frequency distributions and percentages. The inferential statistics used Pearson Product Moment Correlation Co-efficient, simple regression, ANOVA and chi- square to establish whether there was any significant relationship between variables. Data collected was coded and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0 software. The major findings includes: From the year 2009 to 2013 a total of 1518 teacher trainees had done their diploma ECDE examination in which no student had a distinction and a total of 299 and 28 had referral and fail respectively. The general performance of teacher trainee in KNEC had a positive trend with general positive index from the year 2009 to 2013. The study further found that the ECDE teacher trainers' professional qualification and the length taken by the ECDE teacher trainees in their Teaching practice did not have a significant contribution toward the teacher trainees' performance in KNEC examination. However the availability of teaching/learning material and teacher trainees' entry grade made a significant contribution towards the teacher trainees' performance in KNEC examination. Because a number of issues were not comprehensively covered due to the study's wide range of limitations, the study recommends that another study be conducted in another location to confirm these findings and investigate whether the findings have any implications with Kenyan pre-primary teacher training programmes.


Recently, two-dimensional (2D) Janus structures have been extensively explored because of their robust electron mobility and unique photocatalytic properties. In spite of the increasing interest, the origin of high photocatalytic activities and the behaviors of photoinduced carriers in this kind of materials have not been well understood. Herein, we present a step-by-step protocol based on the first-principles calculations combined with the ab initio non-adiabatic molecular dynamics (NAMD) simulations to unveil the origin of high photocatalytic activity of highly stable typical 2D Janus XMMX' structures (X = S, Se; M = Ga, In; and X' = Te). Their band structures, optical properties, exciton binding energies, carrier effective masses, solar-to-hydrogen efficiency, hot carrier relaxation and recombination times, etc. have been calculated. We find that the difference between X and X' atoms on the two surfaces of the XMMX' monolayer not only builds an out-of-plane electric field, which significantly affects the charge distributions on the valence band maxima (VBM) and the conduction band minima (CBM) and subsequently decreases the exciton binding energy, but also transforms the indirect band structures of XM into the direct ones with well suitable energy gaps for visible-light absorption as well as endows the XMMX' structures with unequal electron and hole mobility, rapid hot carrier relaxation and slow electron-hole recombination processes on a timescale of tens of nanoseconds. The current work suggests that Janus XMMX' monolayers are good photocatalytic materials for overall water splitting and provides a guide to regulate the materials' properties for efficient energy harvesting and optoelectronic applications.


The solar and thermal performance of window is subject to a wide range of parameters. To simulate the energy performance is therefore difficult, and limitations might occur depending on the complexity of each case. This study presents some of the current limitations related to the assessment of window considering solar and thermal performance into the policy framework (standards, regulations and certifications) and two dynamic thermal modelling (DTM) tools. It is observed that the regulations and certifications referred to various standards regarding the assessment of solar and thermal performance that could affect the results. The study concluded that for more complex constructions, the difference between the software resulted in bigger deviation among the simulation outputs. By investigating some of the limitations in the DTM tools, this study also provides possible warnings for the assessment of window. (Less)


The non-relativistic and relativistic wave equations of a particle are solved in momentum space for different kinds of fields. It is assumed that the potential, when defined in co-ordinate space, is central; but the method applies also to more general forms of momentum space potentials. First, the general integral equations which correspond, in momentum space, to Schrödinger and Dirac equations are derived, and the angular variables separated. Then, a general method of solution of these integral equations is given, which lies mainly on a transformation into a four-dimensional hyperspace. These results are (relativistically and non-relativistically) applied rigorously to the Coulombian field (hydrogen atom) and to the scalar Yukawa potential. A more general case is further investigated. In this, the momentum space potential can be expanded in a series of powers of the modulus of the momentum (this last application involves a cut-off procedure). A mathematical appendix deals with some properties of the hyperspherical harmonics (especially the integral equation of these functions) and with the Fourier transform of some kinds of central potentials.


18. Tewari A, Sooriakumaran P, Bloch DA et al: Positive surgical margin and perioperative complication rates of primary surgical treatments for prostate cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis comparing retropubic, laparoscopic, and robotic prostatectomy. Eur Urol 2012; 62: 1. 19. Chade DC, Eastham J, Graefen M et al: Cancer control and functional outcomes of salvage radical prostatectomy for radiation-recurrent prostate cancer: a systematic review of the literature. Eur Urol 2012; 61: 961.


Cervical cytopathologists are mainly interested in automatically detecting abnormal cells (dysplasia), CIS (carcinoma in situ) and SCC (squamous cell carcinoma) and also their scoring. This paper presents an interactive algorithm based on color image processing, a combination of morphological algorithms based on shape analysis and finally the connected component analysis for scoring. This system runs on Windows '98/NT PC-400 MHz (Pentium-II) platform, using Visual C++ (6.0) environment in three different architectures: single document interface, multiple document interface and dialog based applications. The system takes around 1.5 seconds per image of 512/spl times/484 square pixels using a high speed threading architecture. The system's accuracy is 95%.


Audit is developing both in theory and practice. This article highlights topics suitable for clinical audit across the whole range of pregnancy care. Many of the examples chosen specifically relate to recent publications that have attempted to set clear guidelines and standards, which can thus be audited. The topics have also been chosen to illustrate the different perspectives of audit, enabling hospitals to develop a varied, interesting and relevant audit programme.


Accommodating large groups of people typically requires large architecture. However, in precious landscapes, such as National Parks, large architectural interventions are often opposed on the grounds of an aesthetic cost to the landscape. Most of the building activity that has attracted this opposition detracts from the natural environment by both dominating the landscape and being indifferent to it. In attempts to mitigate aesthetic damage, other buildings are composed in such a way that is 'sympathetic' with the landscape. Employing strategies of fragmentation, dispersion, miniaturization, and camouflage, the ideal of these approaches is an invisible building. But because no building is invisible, this is an unproductive direction for the discipline. The high-end resort typology would require a relatively large footprint and would suffer the same critique as the approaches noted above. What strategies do architects need to take to develop large buildings in the landscape that are neither invisible nor an aesthetic expense? And, in the pursuit of large architectural interventions, how can these operations enhance the qualities of the landscape, such that the landscape is made more intelligible, more spectacular, more powerful or more dramatic?  Forming the first section of this thesis, a proposed high-end resort development at Waikaremoana critically explores formal solutions that enhance the Urewera landscape. Employing a research through design methodology, a critical analysis of both problematic and exemplary precedents has unearthed a range of formal strategies that enhance and detract from the landscape respectively. A 'before and after' comparison technique has been employed throughout this analysis - and the design process - to determine whether the interventions strengthen or weaken the landscape. In response to the densely forested site, the scheme employs cutting as a general formal gesture - generating both an ecological and cultural cross section through the site, while providing pedestrian access from road to lake. Developed through an intuitive design process, the scheme has tested the architectural possibilities of occupying a cut and how such an intervention may enhance the dramatic qualities of the landscape.  Highlighting the intellectual implications of the issues raised throughout the design process, a written argument forms the second section of this thesis. This proposition looks to the cutting formal traditions of land-art, particularly of the 1960s-70s, for insight into architectural forms that enhance the landscape. Reading the cut as "not landscape" and "not architecture," Rosalind Krauss's (1979) "Sculpture in the Expanded Field" provides a starting platform for this inquiry. Several overlooked cutting interventions within Te Urewera build on this knowledge, rethinking various aspects of the cut and how it can operate to enhance the landscape. Providing connectivity, security and a place for confrontation, a cutting formal strategy offers opportunities to enhance both architecture and the landscape.


The wood-concrete research project uses medium to high density reclaimed tropical hardwoods from the Brazilian Amazon region and steel rods scraps from a construction site. The beams studied are composed of a bottom layer of staggered wood boards and a top layer of concrete. The wood members are laterally nailed together to form a wide beam, and horizontal rebar connectors are installed before the concrete layer is applied on top. Wood-concrete layered beams with horizontal rebar connectors were tested in third-point loading flexural bending. An improvement on the previously conceived connection detail for a composite wood-concrete structural floor system was achieved. The new layout of the horizontal rebar connectors added more strength and higher composite efficiency for the beams tested. Further analysis is suggested to optimize the connection parameters in terms of spacing and number of connectors. Composite wood-concrete decks can attend a large demand for pedestrian and road bridges in rural areas, as well as residential and commercial slabs.


Agribusiness incubators (ABI) catalyze entrepreneurship development by facilitating technology and institutionalized services. The study addresses the performance analysis of enterprises promoted through coconut sector ABIs working in Kerala. Primary and secondary data collected from 30 randomly selected ABI graduated entrepreneurs in business were used to characterize the enterprises. The results indicated that 56 per cent of enterprises joined ABIs at the nascent stage and were able to receive government funding under different subsidy schemes. Majority of enterprises (72%) shared features of micro-enterprises in terms of the number of persons employed (01-10) and annual turnover less than ` 25 lakh. Most of the micro-enterprises (66%) functioned as sole proprietary firms, whereas small enterprises were registered as limited company/partnership firms (20%). Virgin coconut oil (VCO) was the major product in 40 per cent of enterprises followed by coconut chips (20%), coconut chocolates (10%), desiccated coconut (07), neera and tender coconut water-based drinks (07%). Performances of two purposively selected enterprises producing VCO and coconut chips were undertaken using break-even analysis. Production and sales of both VCO and coconut chips were more than the calculated BEP values of 1000 litres and 500 kg respectively. This indicated that both enterprises operated at profitable levels. The findings suggest that the entrepreneurs who completed the business incubation program had greater success in their business irrespective of the business size. This can be attributed to their greater access to technologies and entrepreneurship development programmes under the ABI.


Upbringing and teaching processes are interrelated. During the separation of these processes some difficulties begin to arise, although in modern educational practice in some countries there is a tendency to separate them. An example of an empirical study of the properties of adaptation of children to school in the first grade shows that in the absence of the willingness of teachers to consider teaching and upbringing as related processes a dissonance is created between the demands of school on the one hand and the creation of psychologically conducive conditions to the education of the child on the other. Poor identification of the health condition of pupils, and reluctance to take into account their individual psychological characteristics do not make it possible to realize well the full scope of the learning process and to create an atmosphere conducive to successful learning in school.


The year 2009 has been a crucial year for Prion, as our journal entered this year being listed in PubMedl Medline, Scopus and ISI databases. Our inclusion in these databases signifies recognition of Prion as a full fledged member of the community of the respected biomedical journals. This comes as a result of dedication and hard work of our publishers, editorial board members, authors and reviewers, who altogether made the very existence and timely functioning of Prion possible. Our thanks go to all of you, as well as to all our readers, whose needs and interests necessitate our existence, and to whom we sincerely hope to continue being useful and faithful.


Brain Computer Interface (BCI) is device that enables the use of the brain's neural activity to communicate with others or to control machines, artificial limbs, or robots without direct physical movements. Brain–computer interfacing is an uprising field of research wherever signals extracted from the human brain are used for deciding and generation of control signals. Selection of the most appropriate classifier to find the mental states from electroencephalography (EEG) signal is an open research area due to the signal's non-stationary and ergodic nature. In this research work the proposed algorithm is designed to solve an important application in BCI where left hand forward–backward movements and right hand forward-backward movements as well as left leg movement and right leg movement are needed to be classified. Features are extracted from these datasets to classify the type of movements. A staked Deepauto encoder is used for classification of hand and leg movements and compared with other classifiers. The accuracy of stacked deepauto encoder is better with respect to other classifiers in terms of classification of hand and leg movement of EEG signals.


The finds from Flinders Petrie's excavations in Egypt 1908-13 and 1920-22 in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek have been documented and published with their contexts by T. Bagh, Finds from W.M.F. Petrie's Excavations in Egypt in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen 2011. Important joins and contexts have been discovered within the frame of the Petrie project. The Glyptotek received finds from Memphis, Meydum, Hawara, Gerzeh, Shurafa, Tarkhan, Riqqeh, Harageh, Lahun, Sedment and Abydos. A quartzite block from Memphis showing Amenhotep III offering to Sakhmet turned out to form a corner of a chapel together with a similar block now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Another join with Boston is a limestone crown with horns and plumes from the Labyrinth in Hawara in the Glyptotek and a Sobek bust in Boston. Two painted wall fragments with a man with his wife behind him complement the famous scene from the chapel of Atet in Meydum with the "Meydum Geese". Her husband Nefermaat is dressed in two leopard skins and holds a tail in each hand. Various tomb finds from, for example, Meydum and Abydos have found 'relatives' in other collections and all in all a 'Petrie project' like the present is well worth the effort and more discoveries may await in the future.


The rise and decline of hegemonic powers in the early modern Europe were largely determined by the intercontinental trade interests. The supremacy in foreign trade was based not only on the geographical location, immigrating merchants and bankers, but also on military capability and mercantilist policies. As clearly shown by the British example, the strength of military forces was dependent on potential of taxation and public borrowing. The business of public credit developed in tandem with capital markets both at home and abroad. The growing foreign trade facilitated use of credit money like bill of exchangei¼Œalong with metallic money, The debasement of metallic money undertaken repeatedly was one of the causes of inflation in the 16th century.


In the centre-line tiltrotor configuration considered here, the rotors are mounted on the aircraft centre-line to allow the wings to be optimised without the constraints of carrying wing tip mounted rotors. Both approaches (wing tip mounted and centre-line mounted) provide the major advantage of speed and range over other edgewise operating rotorcraft. As described elsewhere, the centre-line configuration offers the additional important benefits of a more compact, agile design with improved field of view. The challenge is optimising the aerodynamics and control of the proprotors and airframe for rotary and winged flight over the complete flight envelope, and in particular the conversion process between helicopter and airplane modes. A 1/10 th scale model of a centre-line tiltrotor is being used. The airframe will develop to have the same general layout as that proposed for the full scale aircraft but targeted for a 10 kg take-off weight and to be operated safely within the flight envelopes of conventional fixed and rotary wing radio-controlled models. The test programme has four stages of investigation: hover rig, helicopter mode, airplane mode, and conversion. For the hover rig, the airframe is reduced to just landing skids so that it is flown as a meshing rotor helicopter. For the helicopter, airplane and conversion testing, the full fuselage and fixed wing surfaces are used, with a conventional wheeled, fixed undercarriage. The conversion testing starts with the rotors tilted to different fixed. For the full mode the pilot is free to fly all the flight modes, using conversion as appropriate. Flight test results to date are discussed.


An improved DC- and Nyquist-free error control line code based on the (8,4) extended Hamming code is proposed and its performance is analyzed. To increase its code rate, two blocks of error control codes are used as a line code with simple pre-coding. The proposed code can be well suited for high speed communication links, where DC- and Nyquist-free pulse format, channel error control, and low-complexity encoder-decoder implementations are required. As results of performance analysis, the proposed code shows null points at DC and Nyquist frequency and low levels of complexity. In addition, the proposed code shows wider eyewidth due to its Nyquist-free property.<<ETX>>


This article explores the usefulness of recent economic sociology literature for understanding processes of market attachment. It focuses particularly on concepts like agencement and market devices proposed by authors like Michel Callon, Fabian Muniesa and Franck Cochoy and to their application to mass consumer markets. The article addresses critical responses which have been levelled at this literature to argue that despite what some regard as an overly descriptive and apolitical banality, this may in fact be a prime and necessary virtue.


Introduction: The optimum and sustainable use of soil is only possible with correct and complete understanding of its properties. The objectives of the present research were to study 1) genesis and development of soils related to different geomorphic surfaces in Kouh Birk Area (Mehrestan City), 2) Soil classification according to Soil Taxonomy (2014) and WRB (2014) systems, and 3) physicochemical properties, clay mineralogy and micromorphology of soils.
Materials and Methods: Mean annual rainfall and soil temperature in the selected location are 153.46 mm and 19.6 oC, respectively. From geological point of view, the studied area is a part of west and south west zones and Flysch zone of east Iran. Soil temperature and moisture regimes of this part are thermic and aridic, respectively. Eight representative pedons on different surfaces including rock pediment, mantled pediment, Alluvial fan and Upper terraces were selected, sampled, and described. Routine physicochemical analyses, clay mineralogy, and micromorphological observations performed on soil samples. Soil reaction, texture, electrical conductivity, calcium carbonate, and gypsum were identified. Four samples including Bt horizon of pedon 1, Bk1 horizon of pedon 4, By2 horizon of pedon 5 and Bk1 horizon of pedon 7 were selected for clay mineralogy investigations. Four slides including Mg saturated, Mg saturated treated with ethylene glycol, K saturated, and K saturated heated up to 550 oC were analyzed. A Brucker X-Ray diffractometer at 40 kV and 30 mA was used for XRD analyses. Undisturbed soil samples from Bt horizon of pedon 1, Bk2 horizon of pedon 2, Btn horizon of pedon 3, By2 horizon of pedon 5, Bk1 horizon of pedon 7, and By1 horizon of pedon 8 were selected for micromorphological observations. A vestapol resin with stearic acid and cobalt as hardener was used for soil impregnation. Bk-Pol petrographic microscope was used for micromorphology investigations.
Results and Discussion: Due to the presence of argillic and petrocalcic horizons in rock pediment, soils of this surface were more developed compared to other landforms. High amount of CaCO3 (39.5%) was observed in pedon 4 on rock pediment geomorphic surface which is attributed to calcareous parent material. The presence of argillic horizon in this geomorphic position is due to the more available water of the past climate. The maximum salinity was observed in the mantled pediments. Calcic over gypsic horizons formed in pedon 7 on alluvial fan surface due to higher solubility of gypsum than calcium carbonate. Kaolinite, illite, chlorite, and palygorskite clay minerals were found in pedons 1 and 4 on rock pediment. Palygorskite in this position seems to be pedogenic, but kaolinite, illite, and chlorite are inherited from parent material. Mantled pediment and alluvial fan showed smectite, kaolinite, illite, chlorite, and palygorskite clay minerals. Pedogenic smectite in this position is probably formed from weathering of illite and chlorite. On the other hand, palygorskite stability decreased in mantled pediment surface. This is the reason why smectite was the dominant clay mineral in this landform. Clay and calcite coatings were investigated in Bt horizon of pedon 1 (rock pediment). Coatings and infillings of calcite in Bk2 horizon of the same geomorphic position caused a calcic crystallitic b fabric. A diffused clay coating due to the presence of Na in Btn horizon of pedon 3 in rock pediment was observed. Micromorphological observations of By2 horizon in pedon 5 (mantled pediment) showed gypsum interlocked plates and gypsum infillings. Interlocked plates formed due to re-solubility of gypsum crystals. Micro spars and infillings of calcite are among dominant pedofeatures found in Bk1 horizon of pedon 7 (alluvial fan geomorphic surface). A calcic crystallitic b fabric and Primary calcite mineral were also observed in this pedon. Release of Ca from calcareous parent material caused Ca+2 to SO4-2 ratio to be increased which could be a probable source of gypsum formation. Results of the study showed that more and less developed soils formed on rock pediment and upper terrace geomorphic surfaces, respectively. Illuviation of clay, gypsum, and CaCO3 together with formation of cambic, calcic, petrocalcic, gypsic, argillic, and natric horizons were among the dominant pedogenic processes in studied soils. Paleosols containing Bt horizons were only observed on rock pediment geomorphic surface. Kaolinite, illite, chlorite, and palygorskite clay minerals were observed in almost all surfaces. Smectite was not discovered in rock pediment, but was only investigated in mantled pediment and alluvial fan which could be attributed to higher available moisture of formation time in these surfaces. Secondary calcite and gypsum caused stability of pedogenic palygorskite in soils under study. Micromorphological observations proved the presence of clay and calcite coatings, calcite and gypsum infillings, and gypsum interlocked plates. Gypsum pedofeatures were not observed in rock pediment, but clay and calcite pedofeatures were only found. On the other hand, clay and calcite pedofeatures were not observed in upper terraces and gypsum pedofeatures were the only features determinded in this position.
Conclusion Results of the present research showed that difference in soil characteristics is highly affected by geomorphology.


Vygotsky's social psycholinguist approach is not incompatible with computational approaches to the study of mind. In this way William Frawley sets the stage for a Vygoskyan cognitive science. Socioculturalists' theorizing on the work of the human mind has long maintained boundaries against cognitive science's information processing approaches and language, and vice versa. Frawley argues that no such division is entirely necessary and offers powerful ways of linking the two ways of thinking. Frawley's background in both Vygotskyan and other sociocultural theories, as well as in cognitive science and computational theories, places him in an important position to make these links.


With their high relative permeability, magneto-dielectric materials show great potential in antenna miniaturization. This paper presents an annular ring antenna with self-biased magnetic films loading in the gigahertz frequency range. The annular ring antenna was realized by cascading a microstrip ring and a tuning stub. Self-biased NiCo-ferrite films were adopted to load an annular ring antenna on a commercially available substrate that operates at 1.7 GHz. Novel antenna designs with self-biased NiCo-ferrite films on one side and both sides of the substrate were investigated. Antennas with self-biased magnetic films loading working at 1.7 GHz showed a down shift of 2-71 MHz of the central resonant frequency. An antenna gain enhancement of up to 0.8 dB was observed over the non-magnetic antenna.


UNLABELLED
Assessment of reversible perfusion defects in exercise (201)Tl perfusion SPECT has low sensitivity and high specificity for detection of multivessel coronary artery disease (CAD). The goal of this study was to evaluate whether worsening of left ventricular regional wall motion assessed by an automated algorithm in exercise (201)Tl electrocardiography-gated SPECT had incremental diagnostic value over perfusion data for detection of multivessel CAD.

METHODS
Two hundred one patients underwent exercise (201)Tl gated SPECT. Software that automatically analyzes left ventricular function was used to assess exercise and rest regional wall motion. Regional wall motion on initial images was compared with that on rest images, that is, delayed images for patients without reinjection images and reinjection images for patients with reinjection images. The left ventricle was divided into 9 segments, with individual segments assigned to 3 coronary territories. Worsening of wall motion was defined as worsening in any segment on initial images compared with rest images.

RESULTS
Of 73 patients with multivessel CAD, 20 (27.4%) had reversible perfusion defects in multiple coronary territories, 26 (35.6%) exhibited worsening of regional wall motion in multiple territories, and 37 (50.7%) had reversible perfusion defects or worsening of regional wall motion in multiple territories. The sensitivity of the combination of reversible perfusion defect and worsening of regional wall motion was significantly higher than that of reversible perfusion defect alone for detection of multivessel CAD (50.7% vs. 27.4%, P < 0.05). The specificity of the combination of reversible perfusion defect and worsening of regional wall motion for detecting multivessel CAD did not differ from that of reversible perfusion defect alone and that of worsening of regional wall motion alone (94.5% vs. 99.2% and 97.7%, respectively, P = not statistically significant).

CONCLUSION
Combined assessment of worsening of left ventricular regional wall motion by exercise and perfusion data in exercise (201)Tl gated myocardial SPECT was more sensitive, with acceptable specificity, than was assessment with perfusion data alone for detection of multivessel CAD.


Testosterone mediates suites of physical and behavioral traits across vertebrates, and circulation varies considerably across and within taxa. However, an understanding of the causal factors of variation in circulating testosterone has proven difficult despite decades of research. According to the challenge hypothesis, agonistic interactions between males immediately prior to the breeding season produce the highest levels of testosterone measured during this period. While many studies have provided support for this hypothesis, most species do not respond to male-male competition by elevating testosterone. As a result, a recent revision of the hypothesis ('challenge hypothesis 2.0') places male-female interactions as the primary cause of rapid elevations in testosterone circulation in male vertebrates. Here, we offer a test of both iterations of the challenge hypothesis in a tropical bird species. We first illustrate that male White-shouldered Fairywrens (Malurus alboscapulatus) differ by subspecies in plasma testosterone concentrations. Then we use a social network approach to find that males of the subspecies with higher testosterone are characterized by greater social interaction scores, including more time aggregating to perform sexual displays. Next, we use a controlled experiment to test whether males respond to simulated territorial intrusion or courtship interaction contexts by elevating testosterone. Males sampled during courtship had greater plasma testosterone both relative to flushed controls and males sampled during simulated intrusion. Ultimately, our results are consistent with challenge hypothesis 2.0, as males rapidly elevated testosterone following interactions with females, but not during territorial challenges.


It is well known that carbon nanofillers (CNFs) enhance the stiffness, electric conductivity and thermal conductivity of polymers. Alignment of carbon nanofillers in polymer is expected to increase the performances in the aligned direction. Several papers have reported that applying alternating electric field to a liquid suspension including CNFs causes alignment of CNFs in the electric field direction. Only a few papers have reported the fabrication of nanostructurally controlled composites by using AC field, but the conditions to let CNFs align have not been investigated. In this study, unidirectionally aligned carbon nanofiller/epoxy composite was fabricated under AC electric field, and the alignment of CNFs was in-situ observed during fabrication by using an optical microscope. Then, the effects of applied voltage, frequency and the weight fraction of CNFs on nanostructure were investigated. As a result, it is found that CNFs in uncured epoxy resin align in the AC electric field and form a chain-like network, and that in the end the network structure is hold with cured epoxy. It is also shown that the applied voltage and weight fraction affect the morphology of the network. Furthermore, the network morphology was quantified by using texture analysis. Local homogeneity in the longitudinal and transverse directions of the AC electric field was used. It is found that there is strong relationship between the changes of local homogeneity and network morphology.


Urinary tract infections are a common global problem among physicians of various specialties, including therapists, pediatricians, nephrologists and urologists. Today UTI is one of  the  leading bacterial infections in  both adult and child populations. The main type of therapy and prevention of recurrent UTI is the use of drugs with an antibacterial effect (antibiotics, uroseptics). An urgent problem in modern medical practice is the increasing antibiotic resistance, which requires the development of new approaches to therapy and prevention, including UTI. In recent years, special attention has been paid to the study of vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms as a possible risk factor determining the predisposition to a number of infectious and noninfectious diseases. More than 200 polymorphisms of the VDR gene have been identified, four of which – FokI, BsmI, ApaI, and TaqI – are particularly common. Different VDR alleles can cause small changes in receptor function, which can affect resistance or susceptibility to a particular infection. The review presents data from modern studies demonstrating the relationship between vitamin D supply and development, the frequency of recurrence and the nature of the course of UTI. In one study, vitamin D has been shown to enhance the cathelicidin-mediated antibacterial action of bladder epithelial cells. It also demonstrated the currently known defense mechanisms of vitamin D against urinary tract infections, including its effect on components of the innate immune system.


ABSTRACT Pubs, clubs, and music festivals are places characterised by increased alcohol consumption. Drinkaware, a UK alcohol awareness charity, delivered two crime-prevention initiatives designed to reduce alcohol-related harm among young adults: the "Drinkaware Crew" initiative implemented at night-time-economy (NTE) venues, and more recently, the Drinkaware "Festival Crew". This paper uses mixed methods to present (a) an outcome evaluation of the societal impact of the "Drinkaware Crew" initiative using routinely collected data; and (b) a process evaluation examining the transferability of the "Drinkaware Crew" initiative to a music festival-context. Findings indicate that the Drinkaware Crew occupy a unique gap in existing NTE and festival infrastructures, however, a number of improvements to the data available are recommended to ensure that such initiatives are thoroughly evidence-based.


Major tight gas sandstones in Texas range from lenticular to blanket geometry, from hydropressured to geopressured, and from Pennsylvanian to Eocene in age. The Cotton Valley sandstone (East Texas basin) includes barrier- and marine-bar sandstones (blanket) derived from prograding fan deltas with associated braided stream, delta-front, and pro-delta deposits. The overlying Travis Peak Formation contains a lower deltaic facies, a middle, dominantly braided fluvial facies (broadly lenticular), and an upper transgressive clastic-to-carbonate transition. Estimated gas in place varies from 53 tcf (Cotton Valley) to 25 tcf (Travis Peak); most wells initially produce from 500 to 1,500 mcf and few wells produce 2,500 mcf. Tight gas sandstones in the Wilcox and Vicksburg Groups (G lf Coast basin) are mostly geopressured delta-front, shelf, and slope deposits. These lenticular sandstones isolated in shale have pressure gradients up to 0.81 psi/ft (18.3 kPa/m). Initial well yields are mostly 300 to 2,400 mcfd; resource estimates for tight Wilcox and Vicksburg trends are not available. Canyon Group sandstones of the Sonora basin (parts of the Ozona arch, Concho platform, and Val Verde basin) contain 24 tcf of estimated gas in place and initial flow rates are commonly 100 to 1,000 mcf. These sandstones are broadly lenticular and are interpreted to be submarine fan and possibly shelf-margin deposits. The Olmos Formation (Maverick basin) contains gas within broadly lenticular delta-front deposits of high-constructive delta systems; liquid hydrocarbons in the Olmos are trapped in more proximal facies. Gas in place in the Olmos is estimated to be 5 tcf and initial well yields are 300 to 3,000 mcf. In 1980, 893 wells were completed in formations designated as partially or completely tight by the Railroad Commission of Texas. These completions represent 2.5% of new gas wel s in the state, but 28.0% of those completed in the 5,000 to 15,000-ft depth range in that year. End_of_Article - Last_Page 476------------


Maximal voluntary inspiratory breath-holding time (MVIBHT) has proved to be of clinical utility in some obstructive ventilatory defects. This study aims to correlate the breath-holding time with pulmonary function tests in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and to determine the feasibility of using a breath-holding test in assessing the severity of COPD. A cross-sectional study including male patients with stable COPD were conducted. Patients with respiratory comorbidities and severe or unstable cardiac diseases were excluded. Patients were interviewed and examined. Six-minute walk test (6MWT) and plethysmography were performed.For MVIBHT collection, the subject was asked to inspire deeply and to hold the breath as long as possible at the maximum inspiratory level. This maneuver was repeated three times. The best value was used for further analysis. A total of 79 patients (mean age: 64.2 ± 8) were included in this study. The mean value of MVIBHT was 24.2 ± 8.5 s. We identified a positive and significant correlations between MVIBHT and forced vital capacity (r = .630; p < .001) as well as MVIBHT and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1%) (r = .671; p < .001). A significant inverse correlation with total lung capacity (r = −.328; p = .019) and residual volume to total lung capacity ratio (r = −.607; p < .001) was noted. MVIBHT was significantly correlated to the distance in the 6MWT (r = .494; p < .001). The mean MVIBHT was significantly different within spirometric grades (p < .001) and GOLD groups (p = .002). At 20.5 s, MVIBHT had a sensitivity of 72% and specificity of 96% in determining COPD patients with FEV1 <50%. Our results provide additional evidence of the usefulness of MVIBHT in COPD patients as a pulmonary function parameter.


The incremental construction of housing for the urban poor is the main agent of progressive development in developing countries. Low income households in Davao City, Philippines, were classified into five different types from informal to formal housing. The aim of this paper is to explore the incremental construction of different housing types in the course of their development. Fieldwork revealed that the degree of security of tenure was directly related to the stages of incremental construction. For example, a simple dwelling in an informal settlement was upgraded with permanent building materials and standard methods of construction when the inhabitants' degree of security improved. Over time, the physical condition of the house deteriorated when the inhabitants focused on payment for the land. Eventually, the completion of the house (defined here as a formal structure) coincided with legal ownership of the land. This typical incremental building pattern in informal environments, built by the urban poor, requires detailed understanding in order to provide effective housing interventions, and concomitant policy decisions, which are both appropriate and sustainable in developing countries.


This paper addresses issues related to the estimation and equalization of channels with a large delay spread and an impulse response with significant values only over small regions. For a time-varying environment, an adaptive matching pursuit (AMP) algorithm is considered which updates the channel estimate while exploiting the channel's sparsity. From the channel estimate, the equalizer taps are then derived. We show through simulations that using AMP to track the time-varying channel gives significant improvement in equalization performance over using the LMS or RLS algorithms. We also demonstrate how ANP may be modified to more quickly adapt to a fast time-varying channel.


The article begins with a review of the structural differences between act consequentialist theories and human rights theories, as illustrated by Amartya Sen's paradox of the Paretian liberal and Robert Nozick's utilitarianism of rights. It discusses attempts to resolve those structural differences by moving to a second-order or indirect consequentialism, illustrated by J.S. Mill and Derek Parfit. It presents consequentialist (though not utilitarian) interpretations of the contractualist theories of Jurgen Habermas and the early John Rawls (Theory of Justice) and of the capability theories of Sen and Martha Nussbaum. It also discusses two roles that well-being or a surrogate for well-being typically plays in theories of human rights: (a) well-being plays a role in the justification of at least some exceptions to human rights principles; and (b) some human rights seem to be best understood as rights to some level of well-being or expected well-being (or of a surrogate for one of them). It reviews two consequentialist challenges to the moral adequacy of non-consequentialist accounts of human rights, one based on a duty to relieve suffering and the other generated by Parfit's Non-Identity Problem, and concludes with a contrast between two ways of looking at the history of the development and implementation of human rights conventions and laws.

Video abstract (click to view)


Energy efficiency improvement methods can be applied at different layers of the network architecture for mobile ad-hoc networks. There have been many research efforts on improving the performance parameters at physical, data link, and network layers. The properties of directional antennas have been exploited for better energy efficiency. Some of the properties include simultaneous multiple transmissions, lower interference levels, optimum channel access, and low overhead. This paper proposes a virtual wired transmission scheme with MAC and physical cross layer protocol using directional antennas to improve the performance characteristics of the system. Energy efficiency is the main focus of this paper and results obtained from MATLAB simulations have demonstrated the proposed scheme to be energy efficient.


In the open source community such as GitHub, developers usually need to find projects similar to their work, with the aim to reuse their functions and explore ideas of features that could be possibly added into their project at hand. Traditional text search engine can help detect similar resources. However, it is difficult for developers to use in open source community because a few query words cannot describe the whole features of a project. In this paper, we present a practical software recommendation system, REPERSP, which is used to recommend personalized software projects in GitHub. According to the features of projects created by developers and their behavior to other known projects, REPERSP recommends the top N relevant and personalized software projects. Moreover, REPERSP is implemented with the MapReduce parallel processing frame - Apache Spark for large-scale data, which can be scaled to a large number of users and projects for practical usage. Empirical results show that REPERSP can recommend more accurate results compared with other two recommendationalgorithms, i.e., UserCF (user collaborative filtering) and ItemCF (item collaborative filtering). Video of our demo is available at https://youtu.be/WKigSUV4UA0.


The wild cotton species Gossypium stocksii produces a brown fiber that provides a valuable resource for the color improvement of naturally colored cotton (NCC) fiber. However, the biochemical basis and molecular mechanism of its fiber pigmentation remain unclear. Herein, we analyzed the dynamics of proanthocyanidins (PAs) accumulation in developing the fiber of G. stocksii, which suggested a similar role of PAs and/or their derivatives in the fiber coloration of G. stocksii. In addition, comparative transcriptomics analyses revealed that the PA biosynthetic genes were expressed at higher levels and for a longer period in developing fibers of G. stocksii than G. arboreum (white fiber), and the transcription factors, such as TT8, possibly played crucial regulatory roles in regulating the PA branch genes. Moreover, we found that the anthocyanidin reductase (ANR) was expressed at a higher level than the leucoanthocyanidin reductases (LARs) and significantly upregulated during fiber elongation, suggesting a major role of ANR in PA synthesis in G. stocksii fiber. In summary, this work revealed the accumulation of PAs and the expression enhancement of PA biosynthetic genes in developing fibers of G. stocksii. We believe this work will help our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of cotton fiber coloration and further promote the future breeding of novel NCCs.


Lysosomal storage disorders are a group of rare, genetically inherited metabolic disorders. Because the literature on epidemiologic data is scanty from India, we attempted to determine their relative frequency and regional distribution. Our retrospective study included 1558 patients with clinical suspicion of various lysosomal storage disorders referred to Sandor Lifesciences Pvt Ltd during 2007 to 2012. About 30% of the cases were tested positive, with sphingolipidoses as the most common subgroup, followed by mucopolysaccharidoses, and Gaucher disease as the most frequently occurring individual lysosomal storage disorder. Our data indicates that lysosomal storage disorders are more common in males than females and infants comprise the most common age group followed by juvenile. The burden of these disorders is predicted to be high in India because of the large population, coupled with the practice of consanguineous marriages. This study emphasizes the importance of epidemiologic studies in order to implement appropriate preventive measures.


The localization, release, and effects of substance P and neurokinin A were studied in the porcine pancreas and the localization of substance P immunoreactive nerve fibers was examined by immunohistochemistry. The effects of electrical vagus stimulation and capsaicin infusion on tachykinin release and the effects of substance P and neurokinin A infusion on insulin, glucagon, somatostatin, and exocrine secretion were studied using the isolated perfused porcine pancreas with intact vagal innervation. NK-1 and NK-2 receptor antagonists were used to investigate receptor involvement. Substance P immunoreactive nerve fibers were localized to islets of Langerhans, acini, ducts, and blood vessels. Vagus stimulation had no effect on substance P and neurokinin A release, whereas capsaicin infusion stimulated release of both. Substance P and neurokinin A infusion increased release of insulin, glucagon, and exocrine secretion, whereas somatostatin secretion was unaffected. The effect of substance P on insulin, glucagon, and exocrine secretion was blocked by the NK-1 receptor antagonist. The effect of electrical stimulation of vagus nerves on insulin and exocrine secretion was not influenced by tachykinin receptor antagonists. We conclude that tachykinins stimulate both endocrine and exocrine pancreatic functions through NK-1 receptors. Tachykinins are not involved in vagal regulation of pancreatic secretion in pigs but could constitute part of an alternative stimulatory system.


Since for the High Luminosity LHC the instantaneous luminosity will be increased by a factor 3, an efficient trigger selection will be crucial. Therefore, the ATLAS hardware trigger and the calorimeter read-out will be upgraded for HL-LHC to base the trigger decision on much more fine-grained information. A custom designed 63U rack has been chosen as a house for the ATCA based systems allowing installation of 50% more shelves in the detector proximity. Higher power dissipation requires an assessment of the impact on the existing underground infrastructures and cooling capabilities verification in a test setup, which also became the cooling facility to qualify the detector boards prototypes.


The autothermal oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane in short contact time reactors can be carried out with high ethylene yields on LaMnO3-based non-noble-metal catalysts. The performance of LaMnO3 honeycomb monoliths is evaluated in direct comparison with state-of-the-art Pt catalyst in an autothermal reactor configuration at varying external heating, N2 dilution, C2H6/O2 ratio, and total flow rate. LaMnO3 and Pt are also compared after the addition of a secondary fuel. Evidence is present that H2 and especially CO addition are the means of increasing ethylene selectivity above 80% on LaMnO3, as preferentially this is oxidized in place of ethane. The lower activity of Pt toward CO oxidation makes CO addition ineffective on such a catalyst.


Objective: Reported a case demonstrate the double approach repair of niche treatment through the hysteroscopy and laparoscopy technique. Methods: Case report. We reported a case starting from the patient admission untill 3 months postoperative condition. Case: A thirty three years old woman came with abnormal uterine bleeding, already got medication and combine oral contraception pill, but the bleeding never stopped. We found a cavity (niche) fi lled by menstrual blood with thin lower uterine segment (just serous layer) from transvaginal ultrasound. We did hysteroscopy and laparoscopy approach. We illuminated the niche by hysteroscopy, then resected it by laparoscopy. Patient had a day hospital admission and no symptoms anymore after the procedure. Conclusions: Many treatment methods have been described for repair of niche with varies effectivities. Double approach (hysteroscopy and laparoscopy) technique was a minimal access, but optimal approach of niche resection with up to 100% effectivity.


Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) with poly[2-(N,N-dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate] (PDMAEMA) side chains were synthesized via vinylidene fluoride-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of 2-(N,N-dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA). The graft copolymer can be readily cast into porous pH- and thermo-responsive microfiltration (MF) membranes with enriched "living" PDMAEMA graft chains on the surface (including the pore surfaces) by phase inversion in an aqueous medium. The morphology and surface composition of the membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. The pH and temperature of the aqueous media for phase inversion and the PDMAEMA content in the PVDF-g-PDMAEMA copolymers can be used to adjust the pore size of the membranes. In addition to having pH and temperature-responsive permeability, the PVDF-g-PDMAEMA MF membranes also exhibit both good antifouling and antibacterial properties, making the membrane potentially useful for biorelated applications. Furthermore, the dormant PDMAEMA chain ends on the PVDF-g-PDMAEMA membrane can be reactivated for the consecutive surface-initiated ATRP of other functional monomers, such as 2-naphthyl methacrylate (2NM), to produce fluorescent PDMAEMA-b-P2NM diblock copolymer brushes on the PVDF membrane.


The Cauvery River is the biggest river in south India. The Cauvery river basin flows through districts such as Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Salem, Namakkal, Karur, Dindigul, Pudukottai, Trichirappalli, Perambalur, Ariyalur Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Cuddalore and Nagapattinam in the state Tamil Nadu. The study area is between latitudes 76" 2'E, 79"8' E and 12"7' N, 10"14 N longitudes. The secondary data collected from the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSME) and statistical hand book of Cauvery basin districts. The data which collected are Food based, Textile based, Readymade garment and Embroidery, Forest based, Leather based, Chemical based, Plastic & Rubber based, Mineral based, Engineering based, Electrical & Electronics based and others industries. In this article, the industrial combination in the Tamil Nadu Cauvery Basin is outlined, followed by the discussion on the area using Doi's method industrial combination analysis. The study of industrial combination is very significant for any particular region because it provides an idea about the relative position of industries which is necessary for future development of industries in Tamil Nadu Cauvery basin.


A value chain starts with the production of a primary commodity, ends with the consumption of the final product. The aim of this study was to explain the agricultural value chain and to determine of value-creating activities in the agriculture sector. The literature review approach was utilized in the research. The agricultural value chain has seven stages which are input supply, production, producer organizations, traders, processors, wholesalers, and retailers respectively. In the value chain, it is aimed to get advantages against competitors by increasing the quality of crops and products, product differentiation or increasing the efficiency of the system. While the production costs of agricultural crops and products were affected by the input use and technology, product differentiation could be realized by the approaches of organic agriculture and good agricultural practices, etc. Although large enterprises in the agricultural sector could handle the value chain as a whole, small and medium-sized enterprises which had to leave the process early should focus on creating value as long as they remain in the process. With value chain analysis approach, it would be possible to contribute to the solution of certain main problems in the agricultural sector.


Dynamic spectrum access is promising for mitigating worldwide wireless spectrum shortage. Crowdsourced spectrum sensing (CSS) refers to recruiting ubiquitous mobile users to perform real-time spectrum sensing at specified locations and has great potential in mitigating the drawbacks of current spectrum database operations. Without strong incentives and location privacy protection in place, however, mobile users will be reluctant to act as mobile crowdsourcing workers for spectrum-sensing tasks. In this paper, we first formulate participant selection in CSS systems as a reverse auction problem, in which each participant's true cost for spectrum sensing is closely tied to his current location. Then, we demonstrate how the location privacy of CSS participants can be easily breached under the framework. Finally, we present PriCSS, a novel framework for a CSS service provider to select CSS participants in a differentially privacy-preserving manner. In this framework, we propose PriCSS− and PriCSS+, two different schemes under distinct design objectives and assumptions. PriCSS− is an approximately truthful scheme that achieves differential location privacy and an approximate minimum payment, while PriCSS+ is a truthful scheme that achieves differential location privacy and an approximate minimum social cost. The detailed theoretical analysis and simulation studies are performed to demonstrate the efficacy of both schemes.


A 77-year-old man with essential hypertension abruptly developed marked hemiataxia, and paresthesia and decreased vibration sensation in the left-sided upper and lower extremities. There were no other neurological abnormalities. Cranial diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a localized infarction in the right-sided median zone of the middle pons. Cranial magnetic resonance angiography finding was normal. Under anti-platelet agent, he became asymptomatic within 5 days. Impairment of the descending corticopontine fiber and/or pontine nucleus causes contralateral hemiataxia. Involvement of the medial lemniscus induces paresthesia and disturbance of vibration sensation in the contralateral limbs. In our patient, not only the cerebro-ponto-cerebellar pathway but also the medial lemniscus might be damaged. Hemiataxia with ipsilateral sensory disturbance is commonly regarded as indicating sign of lateral thalamic lesion. However, we emphasize that hemiataxia with ipsilateral sensory disturbance rarely results from infarct lesion in the contralateral median zone of the middle pons. J Med Cases. 2014;5(3):180-181 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jmc1675w


Henry Mintzberg, Duru Raisinghani, and Andre Theoret A field study of 25 strategic decision processes, together with a review of the related empirical literature, suggests that a basic structure underlies these "unstructured" processes. This structure is described in terms of 12 elements: 3 central phases, 3 sets of supporting routines, and 6 sets of dynamic factors. This paper discusses each of these elements in turn, and then proposes a general model to describe the interrelationships among them. The 25 strategic decision processes studied are then shown to fall into 7 types of path configurations through the model.'


Side-channel attack has been a real threat against many cryptographic embedded systems. In this attack, the internal data is retrieved directly by analyzing the power magnitude according to the fact that there is a considerable difference in power when manipulating 0's and 1's. A commonly used algorithmic countermeasures incur large execution delay and resources overheads. In this paper, a novel technique using Variable Mapping Substitution (VMS) is proposed for mitigating side channel power analysis attack against Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). VMS-AES is a novel AES-like algorithm which uses Linear Feedback Shift Register (LFSR) to generate the required parameters used to remap the values of substitution box (S-box) randomly to another location depending on a secret key. This remapping also keeps the same good linear and differential properties of the AES S-box. VMS-AES algorithm can be easily deployed in most embedded applications because no architectural change is needed and only software modifications are performed. In our proposal, chipwisperer side channel attack analysis tool is used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. Also VMS-AES with different number of rounds is evaluated using three methods: NIST statistical suite tests, correlation coefficient analysis, and cryptographic parameters evaluation to study the effects of this change upon the AES security


The challenge and conundrum are to integrate within ourselves the dark/light cycles of the natural world, yet flourish in times of grief and pain. But how does one lose and be grateful? How does one create harmony between body and soul? Here we explore the lessons of a snail wedded to the earth, astute in its slowness, in its minute shadow; we listen for the small-throated life; we adopt the unapologetic, razor eyes of the raven. Questions lived and explored evoke shadow-answers and other questions. What lessons can be culled in the light of healing? What can we learn by entering moments closely? The suddenness of a death can bring us back to the radiance of the small: to see by means of black and to be at home in suffering. Keywords: radiance; suffering; alchemy; mystery; descent; paradox; black


Prior studies focus on information asymmetry as the primary source of relationship lending benefits. This study assesses the benefits of relationship lending in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), wherein loan credit risk plays nearly no role in the lending decision. Relationship firms, those that receive PPP loans from lenders with whom they have a past relationship, receive economically significantly larger loans and faster approvals than transaction firms, those without such relationships. PPP lenders tend to prioritize relationship firms mainly due to concerns arising from the increased risk of default associated with borrowers' pre-crisis debt—in line with evergreening motivation. However, these benefits come with costs. Firms are more likely to violate the program's rules when a relationship exists. JEL classification: G01, G21, G38, H32, H81, H84.


Economists have long favored a carbon tax as the most efficient policy to curb greenhouse gas emissions. One barrier to broader support for this policy option is its failure to ensure limits on emissions. Environmental groups, in particular, have expressed skepticism about carbon taxes for this failure to explicitly limit emissions. In response, policymakers have shown interest in a hybrid carbon tax that provides some assurance that emissions reduction targets will be met. To demonstrate how such a hybrid tax could work, I propose a prototype emissions assurance mechanism (EAM) that is practical, simple to implement, and easily understood. This EAM would be aimed at achieving a 45 percent reduction in energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, relative to 2005 emissions, by 2035. This would put the United States on track for deep emissions reductions by mid-century. More specifically, the EAM would track actual emissions in each year relative to an emissions pathway. If cumulative emissions exceeded benchmarks along the pathway, then the tax rate would increase annually more rapidly at a rate established in the initial legislation. The emissions pathway is a policy choice that determines desired emission reductions; I suggest that the pathway and EAM be built into carbon tax legislation.


ENH1165, a 4-page illustrated fact sheet by Gail Hansen and Erin Alvarez, takes homeowners through the process of developing an inventory and analysis of their yards to determine action items toward achieving the desired results in their landscape design. Includes additional sources of information. Published by the UF Department of Environmental Horticulture, June 2010.
ENH1165/EP426: Landscape Design: Analyzing Site Conditions (ufl.edu)


In the present study, a granular chitosan-Fe(III) complex was prepared as a feasible adsorbent for the removal of nitrate from an aqueous solution. There was no significant change in terms of nitrate removal efficiency over a wide pH range of 3-11. Nitrate adsorption on the chitosan-Fe(III) complex followed the Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm model. In order to more accurately reflect adsorption and desorption behaviors at the solid/solution interface, kinetic model I and kinetic model II were proposed to simulate the interfacial process in a batch system. Nitrate adsorption on the chitosan-Fe(III) complex followed the pseudo-first-order kinetic model and kinetic model I. The proposed half-time could provide useful information for optimizing process design. Adsorption and desorption rate constants obtained from kinetic model I and kinetic model II were beneficial to understanding the interfacial process and the extent of adsorption reaction. Kinetic model I and kinetic model II implied that nitrate uptake exponentially approaches a limiting value.


When a multi-plant firm must close one unit due to declining demand it can choose between two alternatives. On the one hand, the firm can announce a certain span of time in which the plants are evaluated according to relative performance with the least performing plant being shut down in the end (shutdown contest). On the other hand, the firm can use given information on the plants' productivities and close the least productive unit. This paper analyzes the selection and incentive properties of both alternatives. Multi-plant firms often operate in an international industry. Hence, in a second step we discuss the effects of governmental support for domestic plants on selection efficiency.


Privacy Enhancing Technology (PET) is the technology responsible to hide the identification of Internet users, whereas network forensics is a technology responsible to reveal the identification of Internet users who perform illegal actions through the Internet. The paper identifies the collision of these opposite-goal technologies and describes what happens in case they come across. Can a Network Forensics protocol discover the identification of an Internet user who is trying to be anonymous behind a PET? The paper also proposes a way to bridge and eliminate the gap between these two technologies.


Email between patients and physicians can be an effective means of communication and health care delivery, but concerns over security, privacy, fea- sibility, and legality prevail. This paper reviews the limited literature in this area, highlighting our current understanding of the prevalence of email in clinical prac- tice, patient attitudes toward email communication, and the impact of email communication on patient outcomes. While there is a paucity of data on the role, benefts, and risks of email communication, patients and physicians alike should consider secure email as a convenient tool for communication. Physicians require further guidelines on appropriate uses of email in clinical practice to best enhance patient autonomy, preserve patient confdentiality, and comply with current medico-legal standards.


The industrialization process of a country is often plagued by a failure to coordinate investment decisions. Using the Global Games approach we can solve this coordination problem and eliminate the problem of multiple equilibria. We show how appropriate information provision enhances efficiency. We discuss extensions of the model and argue that subsidies may be a property of a signalling equilibrium to overcome credibility problems in information provision. In addition we point out possible problems with overreaction to public information. Furthermore, we suggest a new focus for development policy.


Aborigines are the original inhabitants of Australia. Colonisation and subsequent alienation through perpetual neglect and torture eventuated in the excessive consumption of alcohol and illegal substances in their society. To tackle this serious problem, we propose an interactive virtual sociologist, Mr. W, as an embodied conversational agent that will simulate the role of a real sociologist in advising on strategies to overcome their addiction to substance use. Guided by coping theory, we come up with an optimal system design for the Virtual Counselor, Mr. W. We believe that such a system with affective human computer interaction interface will motivate Aboriginal Australians to lead a better quality of life alongside the rest of the Australian community in enjoying the fruits of socio-economic prosperity of the country.