The fundamental limits of cantilevered piezoelectric energy harvesters have not been well established. As with any other power generation technology, it is critical to establish the limits of power output and efficiency. Mathematical models for piezoelectric energy harvester power output have seen continued refinement, but these models have mainly been used and compared to individual harvester designs. Moreover, existing models all assume power scales with acceleration input, and take no account for the upper limit of the acceleration due to the ultimate strength of the piezoelectric material. Additionally, models for efficiency have been developed, but the limits have not been thoroughly explored. In this paper, we present the upper limits of input acceleration and output power for a piezoelectric harvester device. We then use these expressions, along with a previously developed ideal design method, to explore the upper limits of power production across a range of system masses and excitation frequencies. We also investigate general efficiency limits of these devices. We show the upper limit using an existing model and develop an alternate model that is applicable to excitation sources that are not capable of energy recovery.


This thesis will examine the process of sensemaking and the costs involved, and present and evaluate a prototype document-oriented web information workspace that aims to reduce these costs. The user interface of this prototype system enables various forms of organization with the intent of increasing the efficiency of locating documents in the workspace. Furthermore, it will propose a system that aggregates the organizational structure of multiple users to form a collective mental model of the web. In traditional IR, user information need is defined only by the query. By providing the query's context, more information about the user information need is provided. The context is used to search the collective mental model for relevant documents, and used to modify the ranking obtained from a more traditional keyword-based search.


This study seeks to explore best practices of peace facilitation by an external third party. It examines why peace processes are abrogated, leading to military approaches to resolving conflicts. The 2002 Norwegian- led peace facilitation in Sri Lanka is a case in point. The study examines the processes of intervention and the role of culture in order to identify aspects of ethical inquiry in negotiations and facilitation that seem to be relevant to the case. Thereby the study seeks to advance innovation and change in conflict transformation by third party peace facilitation, primarily in Asia and the Pacific. Introduction The Sh Lankan secessionist conflict lasting nearly three decades made world headlines and, in the current post-conflict scenario, is still attracting world attention. Discussions commonly stress the long-held Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) argument for the right to self-rule by Tamils in a Tamil Homeland within the existing boundaries of Sh Lanka. This very same argument was the centre of negotiations by unsuccessful third parties facilitating in Sh Lanka since 1987. For example, India virtually brought Sh Lanka to its knees in accepting the 1987 Indo-Lanka Peace Agreement that resolved to amend the Sri Lankan constitution in order to allow a Tamil state. This Indian intrusion was by no means altruistic or ethical as India confronted the issue with her military might but was forced to give up by the maneuverings of the LTTE. Norwegian peace facilitation began as early as 1997, but in more conventional style. Nevertheless, as a consequence of changing demands by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), they were obliged to review the process on four separate occasions (Sjeberg 2003). In 2002, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the Government of Sh Lanka (GoSL) and the LTTE culminated in the largest Norwegian- led (Nordic) peace facilitation attempt. Interestingly, in January of 2008 the GoSL abrogated the MOU and requested the Norwegian facilitation team to leave. The resultant military offensive was unobtrusively tied to the loss of human capital and other resources which are unquestionable components that peace facilitators are called into protect. Sustaining a peace processes is important in peace facilitation. Yet it seems that facilitators did not give much attention to how best they could sustain such a process as they seem to have missed the vital ingrethent of ensuring appropriate ethical perspectives are maintained in the peace process. Therefore, the argument presented in this article is the vital importance of ethical inquiry in peace facilitation based on evidence from the Sri Lankan case. Answers may enrich peace research. Facets of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka documents a fascinating history of over 2500 years of civilisation built on the principles of Dasa Raja Dharma, the Ten Royal Qualities of Leadership. She has never waged war against another nation but since the 6th century, her northern territories faced twenty two invasions by Indian Tamil Kings. Thereafter, prior to the arrival of European colonists- the Portugese in 1505, the Dutch in 1658 and the British in 1796 - the nation witnessed a very peaceful period (Powell 1973). To fathom this unique situation, it is imperative to recognise the strategic positioning of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean that attracted invaders from Southern India and Europe and as an important sea hub from the West to the Orient. The ancient Greek and Chinese ships travelling the southern silk route crossed the Gulf of Mannar while Mannar itself was an important harbor to the ancient seafarers. Other enticing attractions were its natural resources and the world renowned natural harbor of Trincomalee described by Lord Nelson as the world's finest. Trincomalee became the East Asian home base for the British Admiralty during World War II. The geography for Eelam included Mannar and Trincomalee. Subsequently, having played a key role in the diplomatic history of Europe in the context of 'European rivalry for colonial domination in South Asia' (Mendis 2002) Sh Lanka gained international prestige in diplomacy and international relations, which was an art practiced since the third century B. …


Cardiac morphogenesis and the maintenance of cardiac physiology require complex and well-orchestrated cardiac transcription programs. Misregulation of cardiac transcription programs leads to severe developmental defects, and is associated with human congenital heart diseases (CHD). To better understand the transcription program governing normal heart development, my research focused specifically on two essential genes for vertebrate heart development: tbx20 that encodes a cardiac transcription factor and rtf1 that encodes a multifunctional transcription regulatory protein. First, I reported the identification of a zebrafish tbx20 null mutation that causes severe cardiac progenitor defects, highlighting a previously unappreciated role for Tbx20 in promoting vertebrate cardiogenesis. I also revealed a novel function of Tbx20 in enhancing cardiomyocyte proliferation as a transcriptional activator. Second, I found that loss of Rtf1, a RNA polymerase II associated factor 1 (PAF1C) complex component, suppresses the cardiac transcription program and prevents the formation of cardiac progenitors. I discovered that Rtf1 controls cardiac progenitor formation and heart tube morphogenesis via two independent mechanisms: Rtf1 pushes multi-potent mesodermal cells to a cardiac fate through activating the cardiac transcription program and Rtf1 supports cardiomyocyte differentiation and heart tube morphogenesis by modulating the epigenome. Lastly, I found that cardiomyocyte-specific ablation of rtf1 in adult mouse heart leads to dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure. Expression of genes encoding lipid metabolism related proteins, myofibrillar proteins, mitochondrial proteins and ion channels were significantly downregulated in rtf1-deficent hearts, suggesting that Rtf1 is an important regulator of the cardiac gene program that maintains myofibril integrity and cardiac function. Taken together, my studies provide new insights into the regulation of cardiac transcription program in developing and mature myocardium, and presents new candidate genes for CHD and cardiac dysfunction in humans.


The specific functions of p57Kip2 in lymphocytes have not yet been fully elucidated. In this study, it is shown that p57Kip2, which is a member of the Cip/Kip family of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors, is present in the nuclei of normal resting (G0) T cells from peripheral blood and in the nuclei of the T cell-derived Jurkat cell line. Activation through the TCR results in rapid transport of cytoplasmic cyclin-dependent kinase 6 (cdk6) to nuclei, where it associates with cyclin D and p57Kip2 in active enzyme complexes. Using purified recombinant proteins, it was shown in vitro that addition of p57Kip2 protein to a mixture of cyclin D2 and cdk6 enhanced the association of the latter two proteins and resulted in phosphorylation of p57Kip2. To probe further the function of p57Kip2, Jurkat cells stably transfected with a plasmid encoding p57Kip2 under control of an inducible (tetracycline) promoter were made. Induction of p57Kip2 resulted in increased association of cdk6 with cyclin D3, without receptor-mediated T cell stimulation. The overall amounts of cdk6 and cyclin D3, and also of cdk4 and cyclin E, remained unchanged. Most notably, increased p57Kip2 levels resulted in marked inhibition of both cyclin E- and cyclin A-associated cdk2 kinase activities and a decrease in cyclin A amounts. Therefore, although facilitating activation of cdk6, the ultimate outcome of p57Kip2 induction was a decrease in DNA synthesis and cell proliferation. The results indicate that p57Kip2 is involved in the regulation of several aspects of the T cell cycle.


In this paper we propose a framework for the computational extraction of time characteristics of a single choreographic work. Computational frameworks can aid in revealing non-salient compositional structures in modern dance. The computational extraction of such features allows for the creation of interactive works where the movement and the digital feedback (graphics, sound etc) are integrally connected at deep level of structures. It also facilitates a better understanding of the choreographic process. There are two key contributions in this paper: (a) a systematic analysis of the observable and non-salient aspects of solo dance form, (b) computational analysis of temporal phrasing structures guided by critical understanding of observable form. Our analysis results are excellent indicating the presence of rich, latent temporal organization in specific semi-improvisatory modern dance works that may provide rich structural material for interactivity.


Detailed high-temperature compression creep experiments on a pure 3 mol% yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia (3YTZ) and 3YTZ doped with 4.8 wt% TiO2 revealed that both materials exhibit a similar transition in stress exponents from n similar to 1 to n similar to 2 with a decrease in stress. The stress exponent of 1 and the inverse grain size
dependence p of similar to 3 are consistent with the Coble diffusion creep at high stresses; the increase in stress exponent at low stresses is attributed to an interface-controlled diffusion creep process. Measurements revealed that grain-boundary sliding contributes to >similar to 50% of the total strain in both regions with n similar to
1 and n similar to 2, indicating the operation of the same fundamental deformation process in both regions. The creep data indicate that doping with TiO2 leads to an increase in the grain-boundary diffusion coefficients. The increase observed in the dihedral angle with doping is also consistent with the increase in grain boundary diffusion
coefficient and the reported enhanced ductility in such materials.


Cemented tungsten carbides are industrially one of the most used composite materials as cutting tools, wear parts and replacements of standard materials for tools, dies and machine components. This work focuses on various aspects of diffusion bonding of tungsten carbide to AISI 304 stainless steel using a Ni-foil interlayer. WC/Ni/AISI 304 combinations were diffusion bonded at 1000°C using different holding times under argon atmosphere. The microstructure characterization of the resulting interfaces was carried out by SEM and EPMA. The results show that successful joining between WC and AISI 304 steel is achieved by the formation of a diffusion zone at both ends of the Ni foil. All WC/Ni/AISI 304 samples have been joined with no severe interfacial cracking or porosity at the interface. The joint strength is determined by four-point bending testing, a maximum of 210 MPa for samples joined at 1000 °C for 60 minutes has been achieved. These results indicate that there is a strong relationship between the thickness of the diffusion interface and the mechanical strength of the joints.


Increasingly surveys of Scottish business, in common with UK and European surveys, have highlighted the continuing and deepening concerns as to the sovereign debt crisis in the Euro zone. These, together with growing fears of recession coupled with more signs of a slow down both in the UK and internationally, forecasts of lower rates of growth in 2012, consumer insecurity, pressures on household spending, rising energy costs and continued difficulties in obtaining finance have all contributed to a dampening of business confidence and activity. However, the Scottish Engineering Review (Q3) retained a positive outlook, as did the Oil and Gas UK Quarterly Index (Q2), albeit more modestly and with more reservations it noted the announcement of a substantial investment and 'the Government's apparent willingness to engage with companies to lessen the negative impacts may have reassured companies and resulted in a slightly more positive outlook'.


Plants produce an array of secondary metabolites that play important ecological roles as anti-herbivore and anti-pathogen defenses. Many herbivores experience physiological costs when they consume secondary metabolites, yet some also benefit, for example when these chemicals confer resistance to parasites and predators. Secondary metabolites are often present in nectar and pollen, which is paradoxical given that floral rewards are important in the attraction of mutualists rather than deterrence of antagonists. Motivated by studies of interactions among plants, herbivores, and parasites, as well as research showing that secondary metabolites can reduce bee disease, we characterized the occurrence of two iridoid glycosides, aucubin and catalpol, in floral rewards and other tissues of the bee pollinated plant, Chelone glabra. We then experimentally investigated effects of nectar iridoid glycoside concentrations on the foraging behavior of bumble bee pollinators naturally afflicted by a parasitoid fly and a protozoan intestinal parasite, and subsequent effects on an estimate of plant reproduction. We found that floral nectar had lower iridoid glycoside concentrations than leaves, pollen, and corollas, and that, compared to those plant parts, the relative ratio of the two primary iridoid glycosides, aucubin and catalpol, was reversed in nectar. Whether bees carried parasitoid fly larvae did not affect their response to nectar chemistry; however, there was a significant interaction between protozoan parasite infection and nectar treatment, with infected bees foraging longer at flowers with high compared to low nectar iridoid glycoside concentrations. Parasitized bees were also more likely to return to inflorescences with high iridoid glycoside nectar. Consequently, flowers in the high iridoid glycoside nectar treatment donated significantly more pollen to conspecific stigmas than did flowers in the low iridoid glycoside treatment, suggesting an increase in male plant fitness. Taken together, these results demonstrate that nectar secondary metabolites can mediate the behavior of pollinators with subsequent benefits for estimates of plant reproduction.


To determine the antigenic determinants of cholera toxin, the passive immune hemolysis test was used. This test, proved to be highly sensitive (100-200 pg/ml) and specific, yielded results quicker than all other immunological methods for the determination of cholera toxin. The study of 36 cholera and NAG-vibrio strains revealed that V. cholerae synthesized the greatest amount of the toxin, whereas V. eltor formed a heterogenous group, comprising strains capable of synthesizing the toxin in considerable amounts, as well as strains synthetizing no toxin. Some strains of NAG-vibrio were found to produce insignificant amounts of the toxin.


The actions of octopamine on the Schwann cells of the giant nerve fibre of the tropical squid are described. The pharmacology of the receptors mediating the actions of octopamine has been investigated in terms of stereospecificity, amine specificity and interactions with a range of agonists and antagonists. The receptors are maximally activated by D(-)-octopamine and share many of the characteristics of OCTOPAMINE2 class receptors in other preparations. The octopamine receptors appear to mediate their actions by increasing the intracellular levels of cyclic AMP in the Schwann cells. Low concentrations of octopamine potentiate the actions of the nicotinic cholinergic activation system of the Schwann cells. The results are discussed in terms of the possible physiological role of octopamine in the modulation of Schwann cell activity during stressful conditions when the giant axon system is likely to be used at a high frequency to facilitate the escape response of the squid.


We performed a chart review study to determine whether physicians provided less vigorous treatment for elderly patients with breast cancer than for younger patients. Seven hospitals, varying with respect to size, medical school affiliation, and patient socioeconomic status participated in this study. Patterns of breast cancer care were compared with a set of branching logic standards in the form of a criteria map. A chart-based comorbidity index was developed to control for the influence of coexisting diseases on cancer management. Logistic regression analysis of 374 breast cancer cases revealed that both patient age and comorbidity status significantly and independently affected treatment. Among stage I and II patients with no or very mild comorbid disease, 96% of those aged 50 to 69 years received appropriate surgery vs 83% of patients aged 70 years and older. We conclude that physicians may manage patients with this highly treatable disease according to chronologic age without regard for physiological condition and that this age bias may result in a less favorable prognosis than could be achieved using currently recommended therapy.


Retrieval Augment Generation (RAG) is a recent advancement in Open-Domain Question Answering (ODQA). RAG has only been trained and explored with a Wikipedia-based external knowledge base and is not optimized for use in other specialized domains such as healthcare and news. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of joint training of the retriever and generator components of RAG for the task of domain adaptation in ODQA. We propose RAG-end2end, an extension to RAG that can adapt to a domain-specific knowledge base by updating all components of the external knowledge base during training. In addition, we introduce an auxiliary training signal to inject more domain-specific knowledge. This auxiliary signal forces RAG-end2end to reconstruct a given sentence by accessing the relevant information from the external knowledge base. Our novel contribution is that, unlike RAG, RAG-end2end does joint training of the retriever and generator for the end QA task and domain adaptation. We evaluate our approach with datasets from three domains: COVID-19, News, and Conversations, and achieve significant performance improvements compared to the original RAG model. Our work has been open-sourced through the HuggingFace Transformers library, attesting to our work's credibility and technical consistency.


Most of the empirical literature on migration in the context of developing countries focuses on migration from rural to urban areas. This paper aims to extend the analysis by incorporating rural-rural migration in Peru for the year of 1997. Based on a theoretical result, three empirical factors are explored in the paper using data from the Peruvian Living Standard Measurement Survey. First, wage differentials from different jobs shape the probabilities of rural-urban and rural-rural migration in distinct ways. Second, as compared with individuals that migrate to rural areas, urban migrants accumulate private wealth – in the form of durable goods and acquire more public services. Finally, migrants are equally likely to move to a rural or an urban district as long as these are located in richer provinces.


Northeast Puerto Rico is home to a wide range of terrestrial and aquatic climatesensitive ecosystems. Climate disturbances such as extreme events (e.g. hurricanes) and drought have cascading impacts on the biota. The biota responds to changes in precipitation variability on daily and sub-daily time scales. As a result, high temporal and spatial resolution climate data are needed to adequately assess climate impacts on the ecological process occurring in the region. This dissertation analyzes past, present, and future precipitation variability at a highly localized scale in northeast Puerto Rico. Additionally, a more comprehensive understanding of the regional climate forcing on precipitation variability is achieved. Artificial neural networks are used to downscale synoptic scale atmospheric variables to precipitation. These tools allow for modeling precipitation and determining the atmospheric processes driving precipitation variability This dissertation finds that precipitation throughout Puerto Rico is driven primarily by variability in specific humidity and wind shear in the low-troposphere. The driest daily precipitation in northeast Puerto Rico is observed in synoptic environments with high wind shear and low moisture at 700 hPa. Both of these atmospheric variables are driven by changes in the north Atlantic sea-surface temperature, the Saharan Air Layer, and the North Atlantic Subtropical High. The historical record shows little linear trend in total precipitation, however, precipitation variability is shown to be changing especially during the early rainfall season. It is posited that this increase in variability could be in part due to changes in the mechanisms driving the Caribbean Mid-Summer Drought. Future precipitation in northeast Puerto Rico is likely to be more variable with an overall drying trend. The highest magnitude changes are expected to occur in the early rainfall season as the trade wind inversion strengthens and wind shear across the region increases. These changes will cause disruptions to precipitation processes across several scales of motion, from tropical storm development to deep, moist convection. These trends in precipitation will likely cause significant impacts to the ecosystems of northeast Puerto Rico. INDEX WORDS: Tropical Climatology, Climate Modeling, Precipitation Variability, Puerto Rico Climate, Climate Change, Artificial Neural Networks THE RESPONSE OF DROUGHT AND PRECIPITATION VARIABILITY TO REGIONAL CLIMATE FORCING IN NORTHEAST PUERTO RICO


Based on analyzing the system and network characteristics of the railway financial analysis, it discusses the necessity of financial analysis based on network. Combining with a specific case, it analyses the related network, associated projects, with or without project and other key issues, then expounds the with or without project volume, identification and calculation of costs and benefits in detail. For cost calculation, it probes into construction investment estimate of this project, the associated investment estimate, operating costs, and other important issues. For benefits, it detailed analyses the increase of the number of transport products, improvement of transport quality and lower transportation costs three parts. Finally it concludes the necessity, objectivity and feasibility of network-based financial analysis in railway construction projects.


Low-temperature polycrystalline-silicon thin-film transistor (LTPS TFT) has emerged as one of the promising candidates for low-power low-cost applications on flexible substrates. In this paper, we propose a statistical simulation methodology to estimate parametric variations in scaled LTPS TFT due to the inherent properties [such as the number, location, and orientation of grain boundaries (GBs)] of the polycrystalline material. Our simulation technique employs the response surface method (RSM) to consider multiple process parameters which affect the performance distribution of LTPS TFT devices/circuits. Simulation results show that inherent GB variations result in multimodal delay distributions in basic logic building blocks (inv, nand, and nor) in scaled LTPS TFT technology, contrary to unimodal distributions in conventional bulk CMOS technology. We also observed that with increasing logic depth, the multimodal distribution converges to a unimodal distribution. Hence, to ensure robust and stable functionality of TFT technology under inherent process variations, we propose a multifinger (MF) design technique to improve the reliability of TFT circuits and to reduce the impact of GB-induced variations on TFT performance. Simulation results obtained from a 20-stage inverter chain show that by applying the proposed MF-based design, one can achieve 28% and 61% reductions in delay variations using two- and four-finger structures, respectively.


Background: According to the literature, parenteral testosterone replacement therapy (TRT)-induced polycythaemia is associated with cardiovascular events. No or minimal data exist for the prevalence of TRT-induced polycythaemia in late-onset hypogonadism (LOH) patients from South Africa. Polycythaemia is the side effect most frequently associated with parental TRT formulations. Design: This was a quantitative, observational, descriptive, retrospective study. Setting: The study setting was a private practice male clinic in Emalahleni. Subject: An all-inclusive sampling method was used. Outcome measures: The main outcome measure for polycythaemia was haematocrit (Hct). An Hct percentage of > 50% at month 3 (post-treatment initiation) constituted a positive diagnosis for polycythaemia. For the rise in total testosterone (TT) and Hct, the variance was used as documented between pre- and post-treatment initiation. Results: The prevalence of polycythaemia was 34%. A statistically significant increase in both TT and Hct was observed. The Cohen's d effect size was 0.68 and 0.73, respectively, for TT and Hct. Conclusion: Depot-testosterone undecanoate parenteral formulation induces polycythaemia in LOH patients, where the rise in TT demonstrates the effectiveness of therapy.


Objective: Atrophy of the ipsilateral hemisphere, cerebral peduncle, and contralateral cerebellum predict outcome after stroke; little is known of the effect of stroke on the contralateral hemisphere although it plays an important role in functional reorganization.

Methods: All patients who underwent decompressive hemicraniectomy for malignant hemispheric infarction at UH-CMC between 1/2003-12/2009 were analyzed with IRB approval. Patients with adequate CT scans both prior to surgery and after reconstructive cranioplasty were included; those with communicating hydrocephalus, confounding lesions or ≥ 10 mm of midline shift were excluded. Brainlab iPlan® software (Germany) was used to manually trace the infarct, non-infarct ipsilateral and contralateral hemisphere on axial, sagittal and coronal slices.

Results: Of 30 patients, 9 met inclusion criteria. The inter-rater reliability of volumetric analyses was excellent (r=0.99). The mean contralateral hemisphere volume at follow-up was significantly reduced compared to the baseline study (465.987 ± 78.32 cc vs 493.429 ±76.92 cc, p< 0.0001, Fisher's two-tailed t-test ). Contralateral hemispheric atrophy was identified in all patients (mean 27.441 cc, range 4.985 - 42.807 cc) and represented a loss of 5.7% (1.2 - 11.16%) of the original volume. Contralateral hemispheric atrophy was significantly related to the volume of the infarct and the time from stroke onset to decompressive hemicraniectomy but not to the extent of midline shift on the post-operative scan nor <10 mm on the pre-operative scan. Contralateral hemispheral atrophy was identified early and not related to the length of follow-up (median 4.5, range 2-43 months).

![Graphic][1]

Conclusions: Contralateral hemispheric atrophy occurs within months of major hemispheral infarction and is related to infarct size and the time to decompressive hemicraniectomy.

 [1]: /embed/inline-graphic-1.gif


The purpose of this research was to study infant mortality and their rates in Duval County, Florida. Infant mortality rate is the estimate of infant deaths per 1,000 live births. The U.S. Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) currently ranks 27th among industrialized countries, with wide and persistent disparities by race, socioeconomic status, and geography. The objective of this research was to study infant mortality rates in each zip code in Duval County along with demographic information such as poverty, household income, prenatal care, and education. An analysis of the data collected was then used to establish whether there is a correlation between as poverty, household income, prenatal care, and education with infant mortality rates in zip codes with the highest and lowest infant mortality rates. The data for this research was gathered through the Florida Health department and nefloridacounts.org. The infant mortality rates and demographic information was sourced from the year 2014.


Agriculture has a significant impact on many economic activities. Its development is very important for every economy. Modern lifestyles as well as the increasing recognition of the value of sustainable development had influenced organic farming which importance has risen on the market as a significant and sustainable in the long-run. The subject of this paper is farming in protected areas in the Republic of Croatia. The same is achieved by conducted empirical research on shopping centres in Istria (primary research) and specific systematization and analysis of data from secondary sources. This has also proven the fundamental hypothesis that in the long run the agricultural situation in the Republic of Croatia is unsustainable due to the fact that too small and fragmented farms with inadequate institutional structure cannot be competitive and survive on the market. The goal of the paper was achieved by presenting proposals and arguments to improve the conceptual design of the present state in Croatia through the OTN Company, with special emphasis on production in protected areas.


Both individual and collective labour relations are covered in ample detail, with attention to such underlying and pervasive factors employment contracts, suspension of the contracts, dismissal laws and covenant of non-competition, as well as international private law. The author describes all important details of the law governing hours and wages, benefits, intellectual property implications, trade union activity, employers' associations, workers' participation, collective bargaining, industrial disputes, and much more.


The article aims at presenting a Web learning porta l that allows for improving employees' competencies in implementation of the Internet related technologies in business. Such a portal is dedicated to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The starting point for considerations is in suggesting initiatives that are necessary to undert ake in the SME sector in the context of the knowledge based economy. Particular attention is pa id to improving employees' competencies. Then SME needs related to improving knowledge and skills required to use the Internet in business are presented. In the context of the needs in question, a model of a Web learning portal dedicated to SMEs is suggested.


This study considers the issue of the transition and growth of new farmers into U.S. agriculture, by examining land ownership and leasing trends. Our approach is to characterize the entire distribution by farmer age and farmer experience rather than using young versus old and beginning versus established farmer categories. We also use a linked-farms longitudinal approach instead of a repeated cross-sectional approach to show trends over time in farmland expansion and contraction. Differences in farm size are more pronounced based on farmer experience than farmer age, as farms operated by older beginning farmers tend to be smaller and do not tend to grow over time. We find that it is mostly young farmers as opposed to all beginning farmers that rapidly expand their farm operations after entering agriculture. Our findings inform policy makers about the strategies that young and beginning farmers use to start their businesses and expand over time and suggest more effective approaches for targeting loan programs to young and beginning farmers.


In Analyzing Talk in the Social Sciences: Narrative, Conversation & Discourse Strategies, Katherine Bischoping and Amber Gazso introduce three analytical approaches to talk data: narrative analysis, conversation analysis, and discourse analysis. Taking a sociological perspective, the authors engage in critical dialogue on research that employs these approaches, and provide step-by-step guide to analyzing talk data, using these strategies. They expand on introductory qualitative research concepts by taking up the complex interrelationships among epistemological, ontological, paradigmatical, and theoretical lenses that guide these analytical strategies. Through examples from a wide range of studies and their own research and advising experiences, Bischoping and Gazso articulate various analytical approaches to talk data to demonstrate the strength of these strategies in qualitative inquiry. Despite its minor shortcomings, such as its narrow focus on three analytical approaches and prevalent focus on talk data elicited in interviews, this book offers insights and strategies for students, faculty, and researchers interested in fine-tuning approaches guided by narrative analysis, conversation analysis, and discourse analysis. Keywords: Narrative Analysis, Conversation Analysis, Discourse Analysis When I was invited to discuss my dissertation proposal a couple of weeks ago at a graduate-level qualitative research course, I noticed some students grappled with the eclectic theoretical framework and layered approach to analysis in my research. In my work, I combine the discourse analytical approach of positioning with the ethnographic method of Photovoice, informed by poststructuralist views on second language learning and social identity theory (Norton, 2013). This emergent and complex process between epistemological, ontological, theoretical, and methodological lenses was unsettling to students who aimed for a clear cut path from theory to method. In the academic research community there is a need to contextualize available research methods at our disposal. For students and faculty in search of understanding the relationship among social scientific paradigms that inform qualitative research methods, Analyzing Talk in the Social Sciences: Narrative, Conversation & Discourse Strategies, provides guidelines to make connections between larger concepts and individual work. The authors, Katherine Bischoping and Amber Gazso, Associate Professors of Sociology at York University, offer a close examination of narrative analysis, conversation analysis, and discourse analysis from a sociologist viewpoint, by clarifying the interrelationships and differences among these approaches. Perhaps the most interesting feature of this work is the contextualization of the research project in relation to the epistemological, ontological, paradigmatical, and theoretical stances selected to examine a question, an alignment that perhaps novice researchers grapple to understand. Bischoping and Gazso adopt a broad definition of talk or discourse, "as encompassing naturally occurring, scripted talk, text, practices, ideology, and power" (p. 5). In their book, they explain analytical strategies with particular focus on talk data. Emergent between two parties in scripted interviews or natural conversation, talk data includes oral histories, including testimonio, life history, or life course interviews, narratives about turning points, everyday conversations, such as, interactions during play and announcement of news, and institutional talk, such as doctor-patient interactions, emergency calls, and qualitative research interviews. Analyzing Talk in the Social Sciences includes three parts and 13 chapters: Analyzing Narratives (chapters two through four); Analyzing Talk-in-interaction (chapters five through eight); and Analyzing Discourse (chapters nine through 12). In each part, the authors present an overview of a method and devote a chapter to discuss strategies related to analyzing talk data in interview, a common data collection method. …


BACKGROUND
Production of yellow and dark-green leafy vegetables at the household level may provide economically deprived households with direct access to provitamin A-rich foods.

OBJECTIVE
The aim of the study was to determine whether the dietary intake of yellow and dark-green leafy vegetables and the serum retinol concentrations of children improve with a home-gardening program.

DESIGN
A home-gardening program was integrated with a community-based growth-monitoring system in a rural village. Cross-sectional data were collected at baseline and 20 mo after implementation of the program. The dietary intake, serum retinol concentrations, and growth of 2-5-y-old children and maternal knowledge regarding vitamin A were determined. A neighboring village served as a control village.

RESULTS
In the experimental village, 126 home gardens were established, representing approximately one-third of the households. Serum retinol concentrations in the experimental village increased significantly (P = 0.0078), whereas those in the control village decreased significantly (P = 0.0148). At follow-up, children from the experimental village consumed yellow and dark-green leafy vegetables more often and had significantly higher (P = 0.005) serum retinol concentrations (0.81 +/- 0.22 micro mol/L; n = 110) than did children from the control village (0.73 +/- 0.19 micro mol/L; n = 111). Maternal knowledge regarding vitamin A improved significantly in the experimental village (P = 0.001).

CONCLUSION
A home-gardening program that was integrated with a primary health care activity, linked to nutrition education, and focused on the production of yellow and dark-green leafy vegetables significantly improved the vitamin A status of 2-5-y-old children in a rural village in South Africa.


: Data on the effect of some factors on interferon production in vitro are presented The kinetics of interferon synthesis in response to superinduction was similar to the respective curve of the effect of UV-radiation on the cell. Possible similarity in the effect of these factors on the mechanisms controlling interferon production is noted. An increase in interferon synthesis under the effect of ascorbic acid in cells of chick embryo fibroblast and L-929 was found. Combined use of the inductors provided an increase in the tests of interferon.


In this paper we introduce the brep-index, a new multi-dimensional space partitioning data structure that provides quick access to the vertices, edges and faces of a boundary representation (brep), thus yielding a single unified representation for polyhedral solids. We d~cribe the cortStruction of the brep-index and show that its size is O(v +e + f), where VI €I and J are the number of vertices, edges, and faces of the hrep. The lower bound can be achieved for some breps by compressing the structure using simple rewrite rules. We apply the hrep-index to solve the point/solid and the line/solid classification problems, and outline an efficient collision detection algorithm as an example of its use.


Studies on the Carpathian / Mountain Roma (Bergitka Roma) in the context of audiosphere exploration build innovative contexts whose main aim is to discover the past and present space of group functioning, its heritage, culture, as well as interpersonal relations with outsiders. The novelty of sound research of Bergitka Roma community concerns the lack of previous explorations. The sounds of the Roma towns on the Polish-Slovak border were recorded mainly through songs in the context of collecting materials for ethnographic and folklore purpose, where a special role was attached to text and music than sounds themselves. Sound studies open a completely new approach to the current recognition of Roma soundscape, which in many aspects remain unknown. Sound studies among the Carpathian Roma bring important cognitive benefits for many scientific disciplines due to their interdisciplinary character and open new paths for further exploration. In this paper, I will focus on field recording gathered during research in borderland with Slovakia. I will present first results connected with soundscape of Roma world. I will draw attention to borderland aspects of audiosphere such as cultural melting pot, history and tradition of region, sacred and profane, outsiders and community members. The key issue of this work is also to show that Roma audiosphere is a unique element of their world which protect tradition and own identity.


Living Oil is a work of environmental cultural studies that engages with a wide spectrum of cultural forms, from museum exhibits and oil industry tours to poetry, documentary film, fiction, still photography, novels and memoirs. The book's unique focus is the aesthetic, sensory and emotional legacies of petroleum, from its rise to the preeminent modern fossil fuel during World War I through the current era of so-called Tough Oil. LeMenager conceives Tough Oil as a bid for continuity with the charismatic lifestyles of the American twentieth century that carries distinct and extreme external costs. She explores the uncomfortable, mixed feelings produced by oil's omnipresence in cultural artifacts such as books, films, hamburgers, and Aspirin tablets. The book makes a strong argument for the region as a vital intellectual frame for the study of fossil fuels, because at the regional level we can better recognize the material effects of petroleum on the day-to-day lives of humans and other, non-human lives. Varied forms of art, too, localize the material impacts of petro-culture. The fluid mobility of oil carries the book outside the United States, for instance to Alberta and Nigeria, emphasizing how both international and domestic resource regions have been mined to produce the idealized modern cultures of the so-called American Century.


The railway planning problem consists of several consecutive phases: network design, line planning, timetabling, personnel assignment and rolling stocks planning. In this paper we will focus on the line planning process. Traditionally, the line planning problem consists of determining a set of lines and their frequencies optimizing a certain objective. In this work we will focus on the line planning problem context taking into account aspects related to rolling stock and crew operating costs. We assume that the number of possible vehicles is limited, that is, the problem that we are considering is a capacitated problem and the line network can be a crowding network. The main novelty in this paper is the consideration of the size of vehicles and frequencies as variables as well as the inclusion of a congestion function measuring the level of in-vehicle crowding. Concretely, we present the problem and an algorithm to solve it, which are tested via a computational experience.


The leading mind behind the mathematics of string theory discusses how geometry explains the universe we see What if you were told that we actually live in a 10-dimensional universe-- that the leading theory of nature posits only 4 out of 10 are accessible to our everyday senses? How do we account for the other 6 dimensions? What do they look like, where are they hiding, and what, if anything at all, do they do? In The Shape of Inner Space, geometer and leading string theorist Shing- Tung Yau unpacks the widely-held belief that these undetected dimensions are tightly curled in elaborate, twisted shapes called "Calabi-Yau manifolds." Yau explains that these spaces are so miniscule that humans will probably never see any of them directly. Amazingly, however, this hidden realm may hold the answers to some of the most profound questions we have about our universe. In examining his life's work, Yau emphasises his most important finding: proof of the manifold's mathematical existence. This discovery has been critical in advancing our understanding of geometry and string theory, and, more broadly, physics and the universe. With this acquired knowledge, string theorists can go beyond the concept of the universe that Einstein left us with, and possibly expose some of nature's greatest mysteries. A fascinating exploration of a world we are only just beginning to grasp, The Shape of Inner Space will change the way we think about mathematics, cosmology, and our quest to learn the shape of the inner universe.


Sm: As one always ready t.o believe in my own ignorance of manipulatton procedures of the spine, and in that spirit, may I ask whether Dr Gordon Rich (Journal, December 14) is entitled to write up a case (or the Editor to accept a case report) under the above heading without at the same time producing X-ray films before and after the manipulation, Also, I would like the confirmation provided by the identification of which (unidentified) film is which, by a number of independent observers; and for that matter by Dr Rich himself. At the same time may I be corrected or better informed with regard to inquiries I have made to patients treated by manipulation after X-ray film has allegedly shown a dtsplacement.: never have I heard that a second X-ray film could demonstrate a correction. Lastly, are there any reports of healthy individuals, even athletes, who have presented with fictitious histories and complaints, s i tuat ion that has arisen around the reported development of septic abortions in women who become pregnant while fitted with a Dalkon shield. The manufacturers of this IUCD (A. H. Robins Ltd) circulated a letter earlier this year stating that they were aware of 36 secondtrimester septic abortions in the United States of America as a result of which there were four maternal deaths. However, the Food and Drug Administration have reported 209 septic abortions associated with Dalkon shields, with 11 maternal deaths.' The FDA estimate of Dalkon shield usage over the past three years is 1·3 million. This yields an incidence for septic abortions with this device, over this period, of about one in 6,500 women.


Evaluation of diamond nanoparticles (DNPs) electrical potential under ambient environment is important for their application in electronics as well as sensors and biology. Here we use a novel methodology for characterization of nanoparticles based on recording of their electrical potential as a function of their size by two‐pass Kelvin force microscopy (KFM). We study thermally oxidized detonation DNPs of 5 nm nominal size. The nanoparticles were deposited from diluted water solutions on a Si substrate half coated with Au. The KFM using conductive Si tip resolved characteristic negative potential differences of 10–60 mV on nanoparticles versus the substrate. When negative bias voltage to the KFM tip (−4 V) is applied during the topography acquisition (the first pass), subsequent potential measurement (the second pass) shows inversion of nanoparticles potential contrast. The same effects were observed also in the case of 20 nm colloidal Au nanoparticles. This effect is reversible and it is attributed to a charge retention in (or on) the nanoparticles.


Immune cells induced by bovine serum albumin (BSA) and its methylated derivative (MBSA) have been compared in a cooperative cell transfer system for their content of BSA-specific antibody-forming cell precursors (AFCP, B) and BSA-specific helper (T) cells. When MBSA immune cells were transferred together with hapten-primed cells into recipient mice which were stimulated by a hapten-BSA conjugate, their cooperative secondary anti-hapten response was as good as in case of transferred BSA immune cells. Their secondary anti-BSA response, however, was markedly reduced (reduction factor > 30). Hapten-MBSA conjugates had the same capacity to react with BSA-specific helper cells in the cooperative secondary anti-hapten response as hapten-BSA conjugates but had a reduced ability to react with BSA-specific AFCP cells. In spite of the pronounced reduction of the B cell response, MBSA had the same threshold dose as BSA for activating BSA-specific T cells. These data suggest that B and T cells recognize different epitopes on the BSA molecule, only those recognized by B cells being affected by the methylation procedure.


◆ Bank Earnings: Competitive Pressures and Cyclical Risks—Intense competition to preserve or attract business can lead to relaxed underwriting standards and other changes to risk management practices that can reduce banks' ability to weather a downturn. As this economic expansion reaches an advanced age, prudent bankers will evaluate their lending standards and reserve adequacy with an eye to possible adverse changes in economic conditions. See page 3. By Ronald Spieker, Steve Linehan, George French


Ceramic materials, with their biocompatibility and wear resistance, are widely used in biomedical bearing applications such as artificial replacement joints, in implantable devices and as dental implants. As such, knowledge of the friction and wear performance of commonly used ceramic materials is of interest to the bio-tribology community.
In this paper, three commonly-used material combinations were tested to assess their wear performance for use in biomedical applications. Testing was performed in a pin-on-disk tribometer constructed by the Cardiff Tribology Group. The material combinations tested were (A) zirconia pin on alumina disk, (B) zirconia pin on zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA) disk, and (C) ruby pin on ZTA disk. The contact geometry was a 1mm radius spherical pin sliding on a flat disk, with an applied load of 5 N and a nominal sliding speed of 57 mm/s. The contact was lubricated with 2 ml of phosphate-buffered saline in a reservoir surrounding the disk. Each test was conducted for a nominal duration of 8 hours, which represents a total sliding distance of 1642 m. During the tests, friction was continuously monitored using a load cell, to allow the calculation of mean coefficient of friction. Following each test, the pin and disk components were measured using a surface profilometer, and the vast majority of wear in all cases was found to occur on the pin. It was demonstrated that when assessing the performance of ceramic materials, consideration must be given to both the frictional and wear behaviour.


This paper treats three structural problems in Leucippe and Clitophon . First Tyche and Eros vanish after book 6. Secondly the proleptic use of ecphrasis at the beginning of odd-numbered volumes disappears in book 7. Thirdly, the text never returns to the initial conversation. I argue that ecphrasis is analogous to Tyche cooperating with Eros to generate narrative and therefore, when the story ends, this system also must end. However, Achilles Tatius did not finish his novel with the obvious happy ending, but left open the possibility of the continuation of the outer frame. For Clitophon's story is structurally analogous to one of the subordinate narratives common in novels, but in fact extends to occupy the whole; this facilitates the use of ego-narrative unique in the extant Greek romances.


: Maternal and foetal results of 2020 elective inductions of labour are presented, compared with those of 2750 pregnancies in which labour was not induced during the 40th week of gestation, awaiting for its spontaneous onset. The morbidity, mortality, and the frequency of obstetric operations during labour were compared. In all the parameters compared, there were better results in the electively induced group. The author attributed this difference to the establishment of careful selection criteria for elective induction. These criteria are: reliable estimate of gestational age, mature foetus over 3000 g of body weight, ripe cervix, proven myometrial sensitivity to oxytocin. Following these rules, the elective induction of labour can be a valuable and safe method of prevention of maternal and foetal complications.


This paper presents a behavioral synthesis method for asynchronous circuits with bundled-data implementation. This paper extends a behavioral synthesis method for synchronous circuits so that an RTL model of bundled-data implementation is synthesized from a behavioral description specified by a restricted C language. Finally, this paper evaluates our method for several benchmarks through a tool implementation.


The purpose of this paper is to identify the meaning of negation in Dionysius the Areopagite's apophatism: how and towards which reality does it orient contemplation and what does it actually say about God who reveals Himself? My fundamental thesis is that, in fact, apophatic negation in Dionysius the Areopagite's teachings, as well as in those of other Eastern fathers conceals a super-affirmation, it indicates an infinite affirmation, beyond any determination. The meaning of the apophatic negation can be grasped at the confluence of three specific supra-intelligible terms: the alterity, the transcendence and the excess (the infinity).
Keywords: apophatic theology, Dionysius the Areopagite, Eastern Orthodox Tradition, alterity, transcendence, infinity


Large-scale code generation models such as Copilot and CodeT5 have achieved impressive performance. However, libraries are upgraded or deprecated very frequently and re-training large-scale language models is computationally expensive. Therefore, Continual Learning (CL) is an important aspect that remains under-explored in the code domain. In this paper, we introduce a benchmark called CodeTask-CL that covers a wide range of tasks, including code generation, translation, summarization, and refinement, with different input and output programming languages. Next, on our CodeTask-CL benchmark, we compare popular CL techniques from NLP and Vision domains. We find that effective methods like Prompt Pooling (PP) suffer from catastrophic forgetting due to the unstable training of the prompt selection mechanism caused by stark distribution shifts in coding tasks. We address this issue with our proposed method, Prompt Pooling with Teacher Forcing (PP-TF), that stabilizes training by enforcing constraints on the prompt selection mechanism and leads to a 21.54% improvement over Prompt Pooling. Along with the benchmark, we establish a training pipeline that can be used for CL on code models, which we believe can motivate further development of CL methods for code models.


In order to improve the startup flexibility of steam turbines it becomes relevant to analyze their dynamic thermal behavior. In this work, the relative expansion between rotor and casing was studied during cold start conditions. This is an important property to monitor during start-up given that clearances between rotating and stationary components must be controlled in order to avoid rubbing. The investigation was performed using a turbine thermal simplified model from previous work by the authors. The first step during the investigation was to extend and refine the modeling tool in order to include thermo mechanical properties. Then, the range of applicability of the model was validated by a two-fold comparison with a higher order finite element numerical model and measured data of a cold start from an installed turbine.Finally, sensitivity studies were conducted with the aim of identifying the modeling assumptions that have the largest influence in capturing the correct thermal behavior of the turbine. It was found that the assumptions for the bearing oil and inter-casing cavity temperatures have a large influence ranging between ± 25% from the measured values. In addition, the sensitivity studies also involved increasing the initial temperature of the casing in order to reduce the peak of differential expansion. Improvements of up to 30% were accounted to this measure. The studies performed serve as a base towards further understanding the differential expansion during start and establishing future clearance control strategies during turbine transient operation.Copyright © 2015 by Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB


• The diffusion of e-commerce in Denmark is mainly a result of a partnership between government and industry initiatives, rather than being purely marketor government-led. While environmental factors are important enablers of e-commerce diffusion, government policy aims to be a key driving force. • Although the size of government is substantial and the list of policy instruments is extensive, there is a serious question about whether the governments' efforts to stimulate use within the society (business, consumers, and government itself) are sufficient to stimulate diffusion of e-commerce adequately. Our analysis questions the effectiveness of the government-led approach because of its timing, its lack of coordinated actions, and the mixed motives of government actions, in particular at the European Community level. • Our analysis also found serious structural barriers such as high marginal income taxation and a limited supply of qualified labor. Contributing to the limited labor supply are strict immigration policies and late entry into the labor market (college graduates enter the job market at the mean age of 29). Adding to the structural problems is the lack of large hightech manufacturing companies that can function as locomotives, as well as an insufficient equity and venture funding market. • The Danish national e-commerce strategy is focused on rapid adoption, implementation, and exploitation of e-commerce in all sectors of the economy, rather than a production-led strategy. The official goals of the Danish government are to make IT available to all citizens and to be among the top five IT-using nations in the world. Although our analysis points to a high level of diffusion of the technologies that, in principle could enable e-commerce, actual exploitation is lagging behind the lavish display of technology.


Background A significant proportion of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) fail to improve with standard medication and cognitive behavior therapy. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been investigated for its role in treating OCD. Low-frequency rTMS over the presupplementary motor area (pre-SMA) has shown mixed results. Moreover, it has not been studied in highly treatment refractory OCD. We analyzed the outcome of low-frequency rTMS over pre-SMA in OCD patients refractory to multiple serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs), augmenting agents, and cognitive behavior therapy. Methods Low-frequency (1-Hz stimulus at 100% motor threshold) rTMS was delivered over the pre-SMA using a previously described protocol. At least 25% reduction Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale scores and 2-point reduction in Clinical Global Impression-Severity of Illness scores were used to assess treatment response. Results Seventeen patients were initiated on rTMS. Three of them dropped out within 9 sittings. Only 1 patient met the criteria for response after 1 month of treatment initiation. No major adverse effects were observed in any of them. Limitations The study is a retrospective analysis of outcomes when rTMS was administered as part of routine clinical care. Assessments of the patients were done by trained but different raters, and interrater reliability was not measured. Conclusions Low-frequency rTMS over the pre-SMA may not be effective in treatment refractory OCD. Further studies, taking note of the possible reasons for ineffectiveness discussed in the study, may help elucidate the role of rTMS in OCD.


1 Abstract—Double-ridged horn antennas were used in ultra wideband radar system to create microwave radiation images. The images were obtained using inverse synthetic aperture radar technique. Transfer function of the calibrated radar system was close to one up to 22 GHz. High quality images of metallic and organic objects were created due to unique characteristic of ultra wideband radiated pulse. Metallic objects covered by visually opaque obstacles became detectable. The components of measurement set-up and the data processing are both important for the formation of these images. The obtained results confirmed the ability of ultra wideband radar to form images for various practical applications including security systems. Higher frequency of such radar system can be raised up to 40 GHz-50 GHz.


This study investigated Japanese first and second year undergraduate students learning English academic writing in their compulsory English composition courses in a Japanese university. The thesis takes a social constructivist approach to investigate the aspects of critical argument and writer identity in these students' classes and their writing.  The data for the study include classroom observations and teacher and student interviews, all conducted monthly throughout the academic year-long course. In total there were six courses, four teachers, and sixteen student participants. The observations were analyzed using an adapted version of Ivanič's (2004) Discourses of Writing framework, which focused on aspects of identity construction in the writing classroom. The linguistic data included a selection of one major piece of writing from each student, analyzed using an adapted Appraisal framework within Systemic Functional Linguistics (Martin, 1997; 2000). In order to maintain a focus on writer identity in the analysis, Clark and Ivanič's (1997) selves were identified through this analysis. In addition, the texts were analyzed for use of Casanave's (2002) writing game strategies, in order to further establish the students' approaches in writing their texts. The objective was not to generalize about how Japanese students learn to write academic English, but rather to provide, from a social constructivist, Western researcher's perspective, an analysis of what happened in these students' writing classes and how it affected their writing for those classes.  Teachers' general practices in the observed courses mainly focused on two aspects of writing: 1) as a communicative act (writing for a reader), and 2) as an exercise in critical thinking (developing a thesis). These two aspects emerged from the observation and interview data collection. The four teachers used very different approaches in designing their courses, and the students in the same classes responded in different ways, mostly depending on their ability to understand their teachers' intentions and to form appropriate academic identities in an attempt to meet their teachers' expectations. The analysis of the students' written texts revealed that students often did not meet the teachers' expectations of writing objectively and using a genre-appropriate voice as students often resorted to the same authorial voice to push their thesis.  This investigation was designed to inform pedagogic practices for university teachers of academic English and curriculum designers in Japan to establish effective English writing courses. The rich description of classroom practices and resulting written texts and the focus on differences in cultural expectations between teachers and students provide significant contributions to this area of inquiry. The main pedagogical suggestions are standardizing course objectives and goals, assigning more reading as a part of writing, and teaching students how to write authoritatively.


The author discusses the position of bacteriocins in ecology on the basis of the data accumulated to date in the speciality literature, referring to: (a)the great and varied number of bacteriocinogenic bacterial strains; (b)the classification of bacteriocins in terms of their structure, chemical composition and physico-chemical properties; (c)spectrum of activity; (d)elements of differentiation and similarity with other ecologic systems (virsuses, the genetic entities of other microorganisms, interrelations, bacteriocinogeny and certain genetic recombination phenomena). Bacteriocinogeny is regarded as a biologic process, the result of natural selection. Stress is laid on the importance of the bacteriocinogenic and bacteriocinosensitive properties, next to the lysogeny of bacteria, for the classification of microorganisms. It is foreseen that in the future purified bacteriocins may perhaps be used in therapy, at least in certain cases.


The Opisthobranchs dealt with in this paper were entrusted to me by Dr. C. O. van Regteren Altena, Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden, and belong to that museum. They are part of a large collection of marine molluscs from Surinam of which Dr. van Regteren Altena intends to publish an annotated catalogue. The material was preserved rather badly, e.g. 3 specimens of Bornella calcarata had dried out and were hard and stiff. No descriptions or colour-notes on the living animals were available. These appear to be the first Opisthobranchs recorded from the Guianas. The drawings illustrating this paper were made by Mr. Jos Ruting, artist at the Zoological Museum at Amsterdam. ORDER NOTASPIDEA FAMILY PLEUROBRANCHIDAE Pleurobranchaea hedgpethi Tucker Abbott, 1952 (fig. 1-2) RNHL no. 6266; 1 specimen, Surinam, dredged by the "Coquette" on her 5th trip, 29.IV.-3.V. 1957, NNW of Marowijne river, 20 miles off the coast, depth 15 fathoms. The preserved animal (slightly contracted) is 15 mm long, 5 mm high, the foot 5 mm and the total animal 6 mm broad. The body has an oval shape. The foot protrudes behind, with a small firm dorsal spur that is about 0.6 mm high. The pedal gland measures 2 mm. The animal has a pale yellow colour with a few traces of brown mottling near the tail and on the tip of the right rhinophore. The mouth shows as a straight line between the jaws with dark coloured skin of the trunk surrounding it. The border of the frontal veil is very slightly tuberculated. The velum with tentacles is slightly pushed aside on top of the head by the strongly protruding trunk. The dorsal surface of the mantle is thin and minutely pimpled.


This study examines ways in which loss can lead to individual experiences of change: the transformational face of loss. It is specifically interested in how loss can be experienced, recalled, and integrated as part of the journey towards what Kubler-Ross (1973) calls "acceptance" or Kessler (2019) calls "meaning". This paper draws on the recollections of five miners who lost both their job and community when the mine they worked in closed in 1996. The heuristic approach (Moustakas, 1990) adopted in this research helped the researcher and participants tap back into their lived experience of loss, enabling a new experiencing and documenting that was both data-driven and creative. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted, recorded, and transcribed as an expression of their journey towards change. Participants were asked questions about their sensory and emotional responses to their jobs in the mine environment, how it felt to lose those jobs, both then and twenty years on from the pit closure. Themes emerged that were common to all participants. Those explored in this paper relate to camaraderie and environment. Differences were found in the time participants took to accept the loss and the ways in which they found new purpose.


This study investigated the influence of egocentric and allocentric viewpoints on a comparison task of length estimation in children and adults. A total of 100 participants ranging in age from 5 years to adulthood were presented with virtual scenes representing a park landscape with two paths, one straight and one serpentine. Scenes were presented either from an egocentric or allocentric viewpoint. Results showed that when the two paths had the same length, participants always overestimated the length of the straight line for allocentric trials, whereas a development from a systematic overestimation in children to an underestimation of the straight line length in adults was found for egocentric trials. We discuss these findings in terms of the influences of both bias-inhibition processes and school acquisitions.


Aim: This study aims to provide a systematic protocol for the evaluation of a dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) ostium and to propose a scoring system to standardize the assessment. Methods: Retrospective evaluation of 125 consecutive lacrimal ostia post-DCR was performed. Medical records were screened, and photographs and videos were assessed to note the details of various ostial parameters. The major time points in evaluation were 4 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months post-DCR. The ostia were defined and parameters like shape, size, location, and evolution of ostium were noted. Evaluation parameters were defined for internal common opening (ICO), ostium stents, and ostium granulomas. Ostium cicatrix and synechiae were graded based on their significance. Surgical success rates were computed and ostium characteristics in failed cases were studied. Results: A total of 125 ostia were evaluated on the aforementioned ostium parameters. Because five ostia showed a complete cicatricial closure with no recognizable features, the remaining 120 ostia were studied. The ostium location was anterior to the axilla of middle turbinate in 85.8% (103/120) of the cases. Moreover, 76.6% (92/120) of the ostia were circular to oval in shape, with a shallow base. The ostium size was  8 × 5 mm in 78.3% (94/120) of the cases. The ICO was found to be located in the central or paracentral basal area in 75.8% (91/120). The anatomical and functional success rates achieved were 96% and 93.6%, respectively. All the five cases with anatomical failures showed a complete cicatrization and the ICO movements were poor in all the three cases of functional failure. Conclusion: The article attempts to standardize the postoperative evaluation of a DCR ostium and provides a systematic protocol and scoring system for possible use by surgeons and researchers alike. Optometry;


The dramatic rise of social media platforms for individuals has attracted a lot of attention in the academic and business literature. Web 2.0 and social media technology has also been used to develop platforms for entrepreneurs and Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs), which offer relevant information content and networking opportunities. Although there has been considerable growth and use in SME platforms there is a dearth of research into their strategy and operations. We take Zott and Amit's activity-system approach, to analyse a theoretical sample of four leading UK SME platforms and develop causal maps of their business models. The theoretical contribution is to propose a general framework that features the dynamic nature of business models by describing and explaining the complex interactions and influences between the business model elements of business strategy, value proposition, end-user and Web 2.0. The paper also makes an empirical contribution by testing the activity-system approach and demonstrating its utility and validity in a new organisational context. Results show that user acquisition and retention strategies (part of the business strategy) enable both the platform´s value proposition and the revenue model, where partnerships and Web 2.0 technology play a key role in most cases. This has important implications for Marketing managers and for strategy theorists.


Cognitive decline increasingly plague older adults. Although various studies have correlated aerobic exercises with decreased incidence of the development and progression of cognitive deterioration in older adults, there is no evidence as to whether or not the Wii Fit Plus Rhythm Kung-Fu, Hula-Hoop and the Wii Just Dance can improve the cognitive function of older adults as measured by the Standardized Mini Mental State Examination (SMMSE) instrument. A descriptive study design was used to explore the feasibility of implementing an aerobic exercise program for older adults in an assisted living facility using these Wii games, and evaluating whether or not older adults enjoyed playing the games. A sample of N =5 participants in the East Tennessee region of Appalachia completed the study in an assisted living facility. The games lasted from 5-20 minutes per session, twice a week for four weeks. Pre/post descriptive analysis of survey questions suggested that the sample enjoyed playing the games and these games may be feasible to implement in future studies. However, a larger, randomized, controlled research study is needed to further investigate the effect of these games on the cognitive status of this population. WII CARDIOVASCULAR EXERCISES AND COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS 4


Using material from three qualitative studies into the social and psychological consequences of racism, this paper explores the insights gained from conceptualizing race as stigma. Not only does this shed light on the construction and contestation of racism in the lives of the research participants, the material presented raises important issues for a social psychology of stigma more generally. These include an assessment of the embodiment of stigma, the ideological construction of stigma within particular histories, the impact of stigma on identity and the ways in which we collectively contest and resist stigma. While acknowledging how stigma, particularly the stigma of race, acts to deny humanity, agency and liberty, I illustrate how stigma is collectively constructed, institutionalized and resisted in social and political relations. I conclude that a crucial part of the psychology of stigma must be a focus on the possibilities for communities to contest and transform representations and practices that stigmatize; that is, we need to explore the possibilities and conditions for stigmatized communities as agents and not (only) as objects or victims of stigma.


Floods are one of the most important factors on the bridge scour process. However, the uncertainty related to discharge is high due to the presence of clustering effects, the use of outdated rating curves, and the practical issue of measuring at extreme conditions. In this context, employing the best scour model with an uncertain discharge input leads to unreliable scour estimations. The goal of this research seeks to quantify the scour uncertainty due to the discharge uncertainty using stochastic tools and the BRISENT model [Pizarro et al., 2017] for discharge and scour analysis, respectively. To this aim, we examine several stations covering small and large temporal scales of the river discharge. These stations are selected under the criterion of ensuring low human influence on the natural process. The stochastic structure of discharge is modeled fitting the Hurst-Kolmogorov (HK) behavior in terms of the climacogram and a discharge generator was constructed based on the assumptions of homogeneity, stationarity, and ergodicity. Monte Carlo simulations of flood events coupled with the BRISENT model allow computing both the maximum scour depth for a fixed time interval (for instance, the bridge life) and the scour depth evolution over time. Results show that assuming a bridge life of 100 years and sufficient number of discharge simulations leads to a fixed non-exceedance scour probability distribution. Finally, the scour expected value is compared with two widely used in practice equilibrium scour predictive methods, i.e. (1) HEC-18 [Richardson and Davis, 2001], and (2) Chinese equation [Gao et al., 1993].


Incremental forming (IF) of sheet metal is emerging as a useful flexible manufacturing process for forming customized shapes, some of which may not be formable using conventional techniques due to limitations of tooling or forming limit. In IF, the toolpath has a significant impact on the geometric accuracy, surface finish, and forming time of the formed component. Toolpath generation techniques used until date are based on commercial CAM packages (Skjoedt et al., 2007, "Creating 3D Spiral Tool Paths for Single Point Incremental Forming," Key Eng. Mater., 344, pp. 583―590; Verbert et al., 2007, "Feature Based Approach for Increasing the Accuracy of the SPIF Process," Key Eng. Mater., 344, pp. 527―534) and do not allow the generation of 3D spiral toolpaths for freeform components with constraints on both surface finish and geometric accuracy while simultaneously minimizing forming time. This work exploits the similarities between incremental forming and layered manufacturing to develop a methodology for automatic generation of 3D spiral single point incremental forming toolpaths for forming symmetric and asymmetric components, considering specified constraints on desired geometric accuracy and maximum specified scallop height while reducing the forming time. To test the developed methodology, the scallop heights of components formed using the developed methodology are measured and compared with the maximum permissible scallop heights specified. Furthermore, the geometric accuracy and forming time of the components formed using the developed methodology and by the toolpaths generated using commercial CAM software are compared. It is shown that the toolpaths generated using the developed methodology form components with better or similar geometric accuracy as compared with that generated by commercial CAM packages and with scallop heights lesser than the maximum permissible scallop height specified by the user. At the same time, the developed methodology also reduces the forming time as compared with commercial CAM toolpaths. This methodology can handle symmetric as well as asymmetric shapes and is a critical step toward automation of the toolpath generation for incremental forming.


The formation of NDMA and other DBPs (including THMs, HANs, and HKs) has been investigated by chloramination of several tertiary amines in the absence and presence of bromide ion. NDMA formation from the most reactive tertiary amines (e.g., dimethylaminomethylfurfuryl alcohol or DMP30) was enhanced in the presence of bromide due to the formation of brominated oxidant species such as bromochloramine (NHBrCl) and the hypothetical UDMH-Br as an intermediate. The formation of NDMA by chloramination of less reactive model compounds was inhibited in the presence of bromide. This can be explained by competitive reactions leading to the production of brominated DBPs (i.e., THMs). In the presence of bromide, the formation of brominated THMs during chloramination can be attributed to the presence of small amounts of HOBr produced by the decomposition of chloramines and bromamines. The results are of particular interest to understand NDMA formation mechanisms, especially during chloramination of wastewaters impacted by anthropogenic tertiary amines and containing bromide ion.


Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common gynecologic malignancy in developed countries and affects predominantly postmenopausal women. It is estimated, however, that 15%–25% of women will be diagnosed before menopause. As more women choose to defer childbearing until later in life, the feasibility and safety of fertility-sparing EC management have been increasingly studied. Definitive treatment of total hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy precludes future fertility and may thus be undesirable by women who wish to maintain their reproductive potential. However, the consideration of conservative management carries the oncologic risks of unstaged EC and the risk of missing a synchronous ovarian cancer. It is further complicated by the lack of consensus regarding the initial assessment, treatment, and surveillance. Conservative treatment with progestins has been shown to be a feasible and safe fertility-sparing approach for women with low grade, early stage EC with no myometrial invasion. The two most commonly adopted regimens are medroxyprogesterone acetate at 500–600 mg daily and megestrol acetate at 160 mg daily for a minimum of 6–9 months, with initial response rates commonly reported between 60% and 80% and recurrence rates between 25% and 40%. Photodynamic therapy and hysteroscopic EC excision have recently been reported as alternative approaches to progestin therapy alone. However, limited efficacy and safety data exist. Live birth rates after progestin therapy have typically been reported around 30%; however, when focusing only on those who do pursue fertility after successful treatment, the live birth rates were found to be higher than 60%. Assisted reproductive technology has been associated with a higher live birth rate compared with spontaneous conception, most likely reflecting the presence of infertility at baseline. Close follow-up is of paramount importance, and definitive treatment after completion of childbearing is advised.


Computer tomography (CT) guided ablations of liver tumors using microwaves is a relatively new type of treatment. Studies examining treatment results and complications have been made but how the patients undergoing the treatment experience the care process has not yet been described closely. The aim of this study was thus to describe the experiences of patients undergoing CT-guided ablations of liver tumors using microwaves, focusing on identifying suffering during the time of care. A qualitative method was chosen, with a somewhat deductive approach. Eight semi-structured interviews were held and the data was analyzed using direct content analysis. For deductive application of categories, terms from Katie Erikssons theory on suffering were used. Both experienced actual suffering as well as potential suffering prevented or lessened was identified to present positive as well as negative experiences. The result was identification of suffering of illness such as pain, weariness, mictional dysfunction, breathing difficulties and anxiety directed towards a variety of aspects concerning situation and care; suffering of care such as lack of information, powerlessness, guilt and the feeling of being exposed; suffering of life such as regret and the feeling of mortal threat. Findings also include the opposite of many of the sufferings mentioned above, for example feeling of ease, thankfulness, hope and relieved pain. The conclusion was that the result largely confirms previous findings concerning complications from this kind of surgery as well as patient's experiences of cancer and going through surgery. The respondents' overall experience of the healthcare was found to be positive.


The development of an ultrafine grained carbon steel during repetitive shear deformation of side extrusion and the properties after heat treatment were investigated. Side extrusions were carried out at room temperature and the used material was 0.50% carbon steel. The repetitive side extrusions with a constant lateral pressure were carried out up to 3 passes without rotation. The specimens of these steels after 3 passes were annealed at a constant temperature of 600°C changing the treatment time. After side extrusion and heat treatment, the fatigue property was better than that of the as-received material.


Abundance, diversity, and high evolutionary rates make larger foraminifera useful biostratigraphic tools for datation of sediments deposited in shallow marine platforms. Twenty shallow benthic zones (SBZ) are defined in the time span ranging from the base of Paleocene up to the Eocene-Oligocene boundary. A SBZ zone is characterized upon the stratigraphic distribution of several taxa, belonging mainly to alveolinids, nummulitids and orthophragminids. The correlation of shallow benthic zones with the Paleocene-Eocene Time Scale by Berggren et al. [1995] is proposed on the basis of magnetostratigraphic data from the Pyrenean Basin and by biostratigraphic correlation with the biozonations of calcareous nannoplankton and planktonic foraminifera in the eastern and central part of Tethys.


The overarching theme of this paper is institutional analysis of basic characteristics of regulatory regimes. The concepts of path dependence and administrative traditions are used throughout. Selfreinforcing or positive feedback processes in political systems represent a basic framework. The empirical point of departure is the EU public procurement directive linked to OECD data concerning use of outsourcing among member states. The question is asked: What has caused the Nordic countries, traditionally not belonging to the Anglo-Saxon market-centred administrative tradition, to be placed so high on the ranking as users of the Market-Type Mechanism (MTM) of outsourcing in the public sector vs. in-house provision of services? A thesis is that the reason may be complex, but might be found in an innovative Scandinavian regulatory approach rooted in the Nordic model.


Crytpococcus neoformans usually infects individuals who are HIV-infected or immunosuppressed for other reasons and clinically presents as meningoencephalitis, pneumonia or disseminated disease. We describe a 57-year-old man with history of asthma, allergic rhinosinusitis, nasal polyps and chronic receipt of low dose steroids who presented to the emergency department with fever, dry cough, respiratory distress and hematuria. His laboratory studies showed leukocytosis and eosinophilia with a negative HIV antibody test. CT scan of the chest showed right lower lobe patchy opacities. The patient deteriorated during hospitalization, developed hemoptysis and hypoxia, and was electively intubated. Repeat CT scan of the chest showed diffuse alveolar and interstitial opacities with mediastinal lymphadenopathy. The cytoplasmic anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (C-ANCA) was markedly elevated and the patient was diagnosed with Churg-Strauss Syndrome (CSS). Culture of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid yielded growth of Cryptococcus neoformans . The patient responded well to treatment with cyclophosphamide, corticosteroids, plasmapharesis and fluconazole. This case highlights the possibility that Cryptococcus neoformans can either infect or colonize patients who are immunosuppressed, including those with CSS. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4021/jmc755w


In this paper, we present the design and evaluation of a compiler system, called APE, for automatic parallelization of scientific and engineering applications on distributed memory computers. APE is built on top of SUIF compiler. It extends SUIF with capabilities in parallelizing loops with non-uniform cross-iteration dependencies, and in handling loops that have indirect access patterns. We have evaluated the effectiveness of SUIF with several CFD test codes, and found that SUIF handles uniform loops over dense and regular data structures very well. For non-uniform loops, an innovative and efficient parallelization approach based on convex theory have been proposed and is being implemented. We have also presented a class of scalable algorithms for parallel distribution and redistribution of unstructured data structures during parallelizing irregular loops.


INTRODUCTION
Stevens-Johnson syndrome is a rare but consequential and often life-threatening disorder that is most often drug-induced.

CASE PRESENTATION
An 81-year-old Black man presented with 5 days of dysphagia, odynophagia, and rash. He said he had begun a course of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole 6 days prior for a presumed urinary tract infection. Owing to the cutaneous lesions and punch biopsy findings, he was diagnosed with drug-induced Stevens-Johnson syndrome.

DISCUSSION
Stevens-Johnson syndrome is associated with a relatively high mortality rate. It is most commonly drug-induced and presents with extensive erythema, erosions, and blisters throughout the body.

CONCLUSIONS
Stevens-Johnson syndrome is a rare and often life-threatening disease. Early diagnosis and management is important for delivering high-quality patient care.


Abstract Professional architects with several years of experience in various projects have unique methods to design an architectural work. One of these approaches is to leverage the value of emerging information technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) in architectural design. Leveraging these potentials requires promoting an appropriate context for the implementation and adoption of these new technologies. In response to the turbulent and multifaceted socio-technical nature of modern information technologies and the environmental uncertainty, architects enhance enablers to advance the architectural design process. Enablers are the preeminent factors that facilitate the implementation of new technologies and contribute to the sustainable development of projects and organizations. Given the lack of dedicated studies on the enablers affecting BIM application, this study aims to identify and classify these enablers in the architectural design phase. Following a systematic literature review approach, a comprehensive list of enablers for BIM application in the architectural design phase was identified. The prepared survey questionnaire was distributed to 205 construction experts (i.e. project managers, employers, consultants, and contractors). The collected data were analyzed with the Robust Exploratory Factor Analysis method, ended up with classifying 36 enablers into four main categories: human skills, environmental, technological, and organizational factors. The findings of this study, considering the organizational enablers, recommend that the support of government officials to implement a particular validation process for BIM adoption is crucial. The contribution of this research lies in identifying and classifying enablers for BIM application in the architectural design phase, with the potentials to be applied in real work practices to improve BIM capabilities and enhance BIM initiatives in construction projects.


The GdVO3 and GdVO4 catalyst has been prepared via solid-phase synthesis. It has been shown by a complex of physical and chemical methods that or GdVO3, the main one is the phase with the structure of the first homologue of the Roldlesden-Popper series of a rhombical distorted perovskite. Orthovanadate of GdVO4 crystallize in the structural type of zircon. The catalytic properties of GdVO3 and GdVO4 are studied in the propane cracking process to form propylene and ethylene. It was found that GdVO3 and GdVO4 has a high selectivity and catalytic properties. It was shown that propane conversion started at 773 K, was only 2% at 873 K, and raising the temperature to 923 K increased propane conversion to 21%. In the presence of GdVO4 and GdVO3, a considerable increase in propane conversion was observed that reached 60% at 923 K. The structure of the catalyst is stable under the conditions of preferential C3H8 reduction. Deactivation was much faster with GdVO3, and it was observed after 20 h of operation at a rate that was slightly slower than the one for GdVO4.


An unusual pattern of the Oxidation Induced Stacking Faults (OISF) in the heavily boron-doped silicon is reported. Instead of the commonly reported simple OISF ring, we observe a banded OISF pattern. The pattern reflects the distribution of residual vacancies as it is described by Voronkov and Falster [J. Crystal Growth 204 (1999) 462]. We show that the oxygen precipitates in the L- and H- bands grow to an abnormally large size during the crystal growth and which serve as the OISF nuclei during subsequent wafer oxidation. It is concluded that a combination of the high boron, oxygen and vacancy concentration is responsible for the enhanced oxygen precipitation during the crystal growth.


Solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation is a prominent environmental carcinogen, but it does not penetrate any deeper than the skin. The UV-related skin cancers are by far the most common form of cancer among white Caucasians in the USA and Australia, and this poses a serious public health problem. Chronic UV exposure of hairless mice is a well established model for squamous cell carcinomas in man. It is important to identify the essential physical variables, and explore fully how photocarcinogenesis evolves in dependence of these variables. The 3 main physical variables in photocarcinogenesis are (i) the wavelength of the radiation, (ii) the exposure and (iii) time. A good quantitative description of tumor induction and precursing stages can be given in terms of these variables. An analysis of this description shows us that the early induction of clusters of epidermal cells that over-express mutant p53 ('p53 patches') are closely and, most likely, causally linked to the eventual tumors. These p53 patches may thus serve as early indicators of tumor risk. The induction of an immune-tolerance toward the UV-induced tumors precedes the actual occurrence of the tumors at high daily doses, but extrapolation indicates that this order of events may be reversed at low daily doses. This disparity between the dose-time relationships for the tumor tolerance and the tumors needs to be investigated further. It could imply a shift to non-immunogenic tumors at low daily doses.


Various prosthodontic methods are available to replace missing teeth, ranging from simple to complex. This case report describes the multidisciplinary management, involving periodontal, oral surgical, orthodontic, and prosthodontic disciplines, of a 30-year-old Han Chinese female who presented with missing maxillary incisor teeth and psychological depression following a road traffic accident. After occlusal leveling and acquiring sufficient anterior interocclusal space by orthodontic therapy, four endosseous dental implants were placed at the sites of the missing teeth. Five months later, following satisfactory osseointegration, metal-ceramic crowns were fabricated and cemented. The patient achieved a stable functional occlusion and was very pleased with the final esthetic results and her much improved social relationships.


Prey selection and growth efficiency of juvenile sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka switched between live prey and pelleted diets were investigated. First feeding sockeye salmon fry were placed into one of three dietary treatments for 7 months prior to assessing potential differences with a growth and a behavioural assay. Dietary treatments were (1) adult Artemia franciscana for 1 month, followed by pelleted feed for an additional 6 months (Art− BD), (2) pelleted feed from first feeding for 7 months (BD) and (3) adult A. franciscana for 1 month, and a combination of pelleted feed and live adult A. franciscana for 6 months (Art+ BD). Equal numbers from each treatment group were then tagged, pooled into replicate 'common garden' tanks and fed novel live prey items (Daphnia sp. and mosquito Culex pipiens larvae) for an additional 3 weeks. No significant differences in the growth efficiency of sockeye salmon were found during the 3 week feeding trial on the novel prey items. Additional sockeye salmon from each dietary treatment were used in a behavioural assay to determine if the treatments had an impact on foraging efficiency (prey selection or time to capture prey). No significant differences in prey selection were found among treatment groups in time to capture pellets, A. franciscana or mosquito larvae. Also, no significant differences were found within treatment groups in time to capture different food sources. No substantive benefits in foraging efficiency of sockeye salmon associated with prior exposure to live prey were demonstrated. This suggests that altering existing hatchery practices for juvenile sockeye salmon by offering live food prior to release is unlikely to influence post-hatchery feeding behaviour or increase post-release survival.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Although brief interventions (BIs) are among the most highly promoted treatments for alcohol problems, their effective components are unknown. This may be particularly important when considering women since some reviews have suggested that BIs are more efficacious among men. The purpose of this pilot study is to utilize a mixed methods and gender analysis approach to generate hypotheses about the effective components of BIs given to women with medical problems exacerbated by problem drinking.

METHODS
Random sample of 20 BIs given to women with diabetes, hypertension, infertility, or osteoporosis. Quantitative and qualitative analytic methods were undertaken in a stepwise progression, followed by a gender analysis using the Worldview Assessment Framework.

RESULTS
Main findings include that a worldview encompassing drinking as an entitlement may be a moderator limiting the effectiveness of a BI, that understanding the impact of alcohol on infertility problems as distinct from prenatal alcohol use may be a mediator for BI effectiveness, and that providing information about sensible drinking limits in the context of a specific medical problem was feasible.

CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE
Content and process areas are important to consider when offering BI for risk-drinking women with medical problems and may help to improve treatment efficacy in this group.


A new dye, trans-4-[p-(pyrrolidinyl)styryl]-N-methylpyridinium iodide, has been synthesized, and the two-photon-absorption (TPA), TPA-induced frequency upconversion emission, and two-photon-pumped (TPP) frequency upconverted lasing properties of this new dye were experimentally studied. This new dye has a moderate TPA cross section of varsigma(2) = 5.7 x 10(-48) (cm(4) s(-1))/photon at 1064 nm but exhibits high lasing efficiency. The slope efficiency of the TPP cavity laser with this new dye as the laser medium is 1.6%.