The minimum anesthetic dose (MAD) and the cardiopulmonary dose-response for halothane were determined in male chickens. The MAD for halothane was 0.85 +/- 0.09% (mean +/- SD), with a range of 0.75% to 0.98%. There was a significant (P less than 0.002) positive correlation between increasing concentrations of halothane and PaCO2, and significant negative correlations of halothane concentration with respiratory rate (P less than 0.04), arterial blood pH (P less than 0.008), and mean arterial blood pressure P less than 0.008). A significant correlation was not found between halothane concentration and heart rate or arterial blood bicarbonate concentration. It was concluded that the MAD for halothane in chickens is similar to values for minimum alveolar concentrations of halothane in mammalian species, and that there is substantial dose-dependent depression of cardiopulmonary function in chickens.


Forest is one of the natural resources that are facing a serious threat in the world today. Overexploitation of forest resources for timber, fuelwood and agricultural land is increasing faster, to the extent that the future prospects for most forest in the world are open to question. While there are various reasons responsible for the decline in vegetation, this study explores the situation of the Northern Nigerian region arid zone forest by studying the changing pattern of vegetation in relation to the cooking fuel situation in the region using both national and regional statistics and a local area case study. The study uses multiple methodologies (Remote Sensing, Geographical Information Systems and a local survey using household survey, focus group discussion and participant observation) to examine various aspects of the overall problem at different geographical scales. The combined methods serve as a triangulation strategy to identify causal linkages between changes in forest cover, fuelwood consumption and cooking fuel supply problems in the region. Past studies have used some of the methodologies, singly or in combination. However, no previous study has utilised the full range of methodologies listed above to examine the fuelwood problem across all scales from the national to local level, which is a contribution to knowledge that this present study offers.

The study commences by using a time series analysis of Landsat satellite images of the North-Eastern part of Nigeria (NEN), covering a period of about three decades, using the technique of Remote Sensing (RGB-NDVI model), with a view to identifying areas where deforestation is evident in the vegetated areas of the region. The results indicate that the vegetation of the area has drastically reduced since 1970s. However, both the pattern and causes of the observed change were non-linear. Similarly, evidence from ground truthing investigation has shown that fuelwood collection is among the major factors of deforestation in the region, mainly due to lack of alternative energy sources in the region.

This initiated a wider national exploration of fossil fuel supply and consumption in the country, with a view to examining whether there are any spatial patterns of such inequalities amongst households across the 36 states of Nigeria (and Abuja the capital city). Spatial analysis of the distribution and consumption of cooking fuel is conducted using Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The results show that fossil fuel supply is precarious in the country. The majority of the northern states are deprived of sufficient fossil fuel supply, and this is closely correlated with their dependence on traditional fuels (fuelwood), leading to considerable pressure on the region's scarce vegetation resources.

Further investigation of the national findings relating to fossil fuel supply is undertaken using a local survey, which explores the pattern of household fuel consumption and commercial fuelwood activities in some selected areas of North-Eastern Nigeria. The results also reveal that there are some local inequalities in the choice of cooking fuel among households (in favour of fuelwood), which is related to the unreliability in the supply of fossil fuel in the region (cooking fuel poverty). This has paved the way for the expansion of organised commercial fuelwood vending in the region to supply households with fuelwood.


low perinatal mortality rate, whereas in fact it had been shown that "those parts of Holland with the highest incidence of hospital confinement have the lowest perinatal mortality rates." Secondly, they appear to suggest that the physical safety of mother and baby measured in terms of mortality and morbidity should not be the overriding preoccupation. What more important considerations are conceivable? It is surely a truism to state that it is better that the mother and child should be delivered in an efficient maternity unit where unpredictable emergencies can be rapidly treated (although they occur with comparative infrequency) rather than in an inevitably improvised fashion in the patient's own home. I believe that a great majority of doctors think hospitals could be made more friendly and less impersonal with obvious benefit to patients and indeed to themselves. Nevertheless, the prime objective of safety to mother and infant should not be obscured by more nebulous factors such as those mentioned in the study group's letter. MARK REID


Rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) may be the most important rabbit control agent to be made available to graziers in Australia since the advent of myxomatosis. Documenting the benefits of RHD to agricultural production values is an important process in determining best-practice strategies for the use of the disease in controlling rabbit populations. In this paper we review previous studies on the impact of rabbits and present recent Australian case studies that tracked the effects of RHD on agricultural production as the disease first spread across the continent. Indirect consequences of RHD, such as changes in costs of rabbit control as monitored through the use of 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate), are reported. Potential negative impacts such as adverse effects on the wild rabbit fur and meat trade and in the spread of woody weeds are also discussed.


OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the extent to which human airway carinas accumulate ambient atmospheric particles, a newly developed technique was used to micro-dissect and analyse particle concentration in tubular segments and carinas of the large airways of 10 necropsy lungs from non-smokers from the general population of Vancouver. METHODS: Ratios of the particle concentrations on the carinas to the tubular segment immediately preceding it were measured with analytical electron microscopy for the mainstem bronchus, upper and lower lobe bronchi, and four different segmental or subsegmental bronchi--that is, Weibel generations 1 to about 5. A total of 119 carinal-tubular pairs was evaluated. RESULTS: Over all cases, both carinal and tubular particle concentrations increased with increasing airway generation; the median ratio of carinal to tubular particle concentration was 9:1 and did not show any trend with airway generation. The ratio was > 5 in 71% of carinal-tubular pairs, > 10 in 42% of pairs, > 20 in 31% of pairs, and > 100 in 9% of pairs. Some subjects showed a notable tendency to high ratios, with many ratios > 100, and other subjects had a tendency toward low ratios. The predominant mineral species in both carinas and tubular airway segments was crystalline silica and the relative proportion was similar in both sites; however, mean particle diameter was consistently less in the carinal tissues. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the ratio of carinal to tubular retained particles in the large airways in non-smokers is higher than might be supposed from data generated in airway casts, and that there is considerable variation in this ratio between subjects. This finding is of potential interest in models of carcinogen, toxin, and dose of fibrogenic agent to the large airways as it suggests high and sometimes extreme concentrations of toxic particles at carinas, and thus reinforces the notion that carinas may be sites of initiation of disease.


Continuous manufacturing offers potential opportunities for the improved manufacturing of pharmaceutical products. A key challenge is the development of an appropriate control strategy. The experimental application of an automated control strategy is presented for an end-to-end continuous pharmaceutical pilot plant. The process starts from an advanced intermediate compound and finishes with the tablet formation steps. The focus of the experimental results is on the design and performance of the control loops needed to produce a slurry of an active pharmaceutical ingredient and a solvent with specified material properties. The results demonstrate that automated control can successfully keep critical material attributes close to the desired set points for a sustained period of operation. This work aims to contribute to the development of future continuous pharmaceutical processes by providing a realistic case study of automated control of an integrated, continuous, pharmaceutical pilot plant.


INTRODUCTION
This study reports the outcomes of patients with locally advanced rectal cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiation followed by surgery in a local population of Singapore.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The records of 85 patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemoradiation for locally advanced rectal cancer followed by surgery at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) between November 2002 and January 2012 were reviewed. The treatment protocol comprised radiotherapy to a total dose of 50.4 Gy concurrent with 5-fluorouracil-based chemotherapy. Patients underwent total mesorectal excision surgery following the completion of neoadjuvant chemoradiation. Local control, disease-free survival and overall survival were analysed using Kaplan-Meier methods.

RESULTS
Median age of the patients was 61 years. All of them completed radiotherapy. One patient did not complete neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The median time to surgery was 52 days. Fifty-five percent (47 of 85) of patients achieved pathological downstaging and 13% (11 of 85) of patients had a pathologic complete response to preoperative treatment. The neoadjuvant chemoradiation was well tolerated. Four percent of patients had grade 3 diarrhoea and 4% of them had grade 3 dermatitis. There were no grade 4 toxicities. With a median follow-up of 41 months, the 5-year actuarial local recurrence, disease-free survival and overall survival rates were 7%, 71.9%, and 83.2% respectively. Univariate analysis showed that patients with positive surgical margins had significantly worse disease-free survival and overall survival (P=0.012 and P<0.001 respectively) and a trend towards a higher rate of local recurrence (P=0.08).

CONCLUSION
Our study provides evidence that neoadjuvant chemoradiation is an effective treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer. Our outcomes are comparable with internationally published data and demonstrate the reproducibility of the neoadjuvant approach in an Asian population.


[Excerpt] Coming to work when we are sick raises some interesting questions: How contagious are we? Should we stay home? What could be done to prevent disease transmission to others, with its effects on absenteeism, performance, and efficiency, as well as in the interests of public health? Is working from home an option? Shouldn't the employer provide sick leave or flextime to discourage working when sick? Without sick leave, aren't people more likely to go to work sick, as well as send sick kids to school? Should an employer sponsor, or even require, vaccinations? When trying to change policy and attitudes on communicable infectious diseases in the workplace, there is a good business case to be made. Workplaces traditionally plan for a variety of crises – especially infrastructure damage and its recovery – but planning and prevention for diseases seems to get overlooked, despite its very significant cost in both human suffering and dollars. Some diseases that have had a costly impact on businesses include mumps, measles, norovirus, SARS, tuberculosis, and whooping cough.


To the Editor.— Psoriasis in concordant, monozygotic twin pairs tends to be similar, with respect to age of onset, distribution pattern, severity, and course. 1,2 The similarity in the behavior of the disease has been ascribed to the fact that both patients have two basic factors in common, ie, identical genetic endowment and nearly identical environmental conditions. 1 Recently we have observed 37-year-old monozygotic twins with a strikingly similar pattern of psoriasis on their hands (Figure) and feet. The patients, who have different jobs (one is a welder, the other is an ice-cream vendor), stated that their skin lesions first appeared in 1975 and—what is more—in the same month (October), while the welder was working abroad and the vendor was in Naples. In the following years, the disease ran a parallel course in the twins. The HLA typing yielded the identical haplotype for both, which is A1,2;B17,18;Cx,x;DR5,6y. Moderate diabetes and


The number of descriptive studies on the experiences of service users in psychiatric emergency wards is increasing. However, the experiences of users throughout the whole psychiatric emergency procedure, the "patient journey" from the moment of mental health crisis to admission to a psychiatric inpatient unit, have rarely been studied. Furthermore, there is little research on perceived solutions for improvement of the "patient journey" from different perspectives (those of service users and other stakeholders such as health care professionals, family members, police, representatives of the municipality, and ambulance staff). A responsive evaluation including interviews, focus groups and a dialogue session with a transformative aim was conducted in a mixed team of researchers with and without experiential knowledge. Service users and other stakeholders agreed on two main issues that needed to be improved: making contact with service users on the "patient journey", and better signaling of a crisis. The third main issue about more focus on recovery in the emergency ward was contested, as some stakeholders prioritized safety. Proposed actions for improvement of these issues differed between users and professionals. Service users proposed relational actions to offer good care. Professionals recommended actions in response to issues of fragmentation and discontinuity in the organization of care. We conclude that co-creation with service users in improvement is necessary to address their needs and tackle the complexity of psychiatric emergency care. Therefore, by utilizing Tronto's ethics of care model, we recommend that various actions need to be considered to meet the needs of service users.


The phenomenon of time was a central preoccupation of Tarkovsky throughout his career. His films present visions of time by temporal means - that is, in time. Tarkovsky does not represent time through coherent argument, Nariman Skakov proposes, rather he presents it and the viewer experiences the argument. This book explores the phenomenon of spatio-temporal lapse in Tarkovsky's cinema - from Ivan's Childhood (1962) to Sacrifice (1986). Dreams, visions, mirages, memories, revelations, reveries and delusions are phenomena which present alternative spatio-temporal patterns; they disrupt the linear progression of events and create narrative discontinuity. Each chapter is dedicated to the discussion of one of Tarkovsky's seven feature films and in each, one of these phenomena functions as a refrain. Skakov discusses the influence of the flow of and lapses in space and time on the viewer's perception of the Tarkovskian cinematic universe. He opens and closes his original and fascinating book on Tarkovsky's cinema by focusing on the phenomenon of time that is discussed extensively by the filmmaker in his main theoretical treatise Sculpting in Time, as well as in a number of interviews and public lectures.


Total dissolvable iron (TDFe) was measured in sections of ice cores recovered from Law Dome on the coast of Wilkes Land, East Antarctica. These samples include ice dating from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the Last Deglaciation, and the early and mid Holocene as well as samples from the Anthropocene that have been dated with seasonal to annual resolution. Combining our TDFe concentration data with estimates of the ice accumulation rate, we estimate the atmospheric iron deposition for Law Dome and the adjacent Southern Ocean during these periods. Our results indicate that the atmospheric iron deposition flux to this region during the LGM (∼8 μmol Fe m−2 yr−1) was an order of magnitude higher than the average Holocene deposition flux (∼0.8 μmol Fe m−2 yr−1). This Holocene flux estimate is significantly higher than recent estimates of atmospheric iron deposition based on the analysis of iron in samples of the Dome C EPICA ice core, implying that there are significant meridional gradients in eolian iron flux to the Antarctic region. Our data also suggest that there have been significant variations in atmospheric iron deposition to Law Dome and adjacent ocean waters over seasonal to decadal timescales during the past century. Analysis of ice samples dating from calendar years 1927 to 1928 indicates an anomalously high flux of TDFe to the Law Dome region, amounting to around half the maximum LGM flux, possibly as a result of severe drought conditions on the Australian continent. Given that chronic iron deficiency is thought to limit phytoplankton production in much of the ocean around Antarctica, such large secular variations in atmospheric iron supply are likely to have had profound impacts on year‐to‐year primary production and ecosystem structure in Antarctic waters.


The crusher dust in Manufactured fine aggregate (MFA), e.g. limestone powder in calcareous MFA, constitutes micro gradation of the aggregate and suitable content of crusher dust in MFA can improve the properties of concretes. In this paper, early hydration processes of samples substituting limestone powder and fly ash for part of cement are analyzed, and effects of limestone powder on cement hydrates are studied through experiment of mortar prepared with MFA partially replaced by limestone powder and fly ash. The result reveals that both the dormant period and acceleration period of hydration ended earlier in the samples substituting limestone powder for part of cement, and amount of crystals of calcium hydroxide and hydrated calcium carboaluminate increases in hardened paste in the samples substituting limestone powder for part of MFA, i.e. calcareous dust (limestone powder) in MFA can stimulate and enhance hydration of cement.


We have categorised the characteristics and the content of pervasive computing
environments (PCEs), and demonstrated why a non-dynamic approach to
knowledge conceptualisation in PCEs does not fulfil the expectations we may have
from them. Consequently, we have proposed a formalised computational model,
the FCM, for knowledge representation and reasoning in PCEs which, secures the
delivery of situation and domain specific services to their users. The proposed
model is a user centric model, materialised as a software engineering solution,
which uses the computations generated from the FCM, stores them within software
architectural components, which in turn can be deployed using modern software
technologies. The model has also been inspired by the Semantic Web (SW) vision
and provision of SW technologies. Therefore, the FCM creates a semantically rich
situation-specific PCE based on SWRL-enabled OWL ontologies that allows
reasoning about the situation in a PCE and delivers situation specific service.
The proposed FCM model has been illustrated through the example of remote
patient monitoring in the healthcare domain. Numerous software applications
generated from the FCM have been deployed using Integrated Development
Environments and OWL-API.


An investigation was undertaken to study the effect of poor curing simulating hot climatic conditions and remedies on the durability of steel in concrete. Three different curing environments were used i.e. (1) Saturated Ca(OH)2 solution at 20°C, (2) Saturated Ca(OH)2 solution at 50°C and (3) Air at 50°C at 30% relative humidity. The third curing condition corresponding to the temperature and relative humidity typical of Middle Eastern Countries. The nature of the hardened cement paste matrix, cured under the above conditions was studied by means of Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry for measuring pore size distribution. The results were represented as total pore volume and initial pore entry diameter. The Scanning Electron Microscope was used to look at morphological changes during hydration, which were compared to the Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry results. X-ray defraction and Differential Thermal Analysis techniques were also employed for looking at any phase transformations. Polymer impregnation was used to reduce the porosity of the hardened cement pastes, especially in the case of the poorly cured samples. Carbonation rates of unimpregnated and impregnated cements were determined. Chloride diffusion studies were also undertaken to establish the effect of polymer impregnation and blending of the cements. Finally the corrosion behaviour of embedded steel bars was determined by the technique of Linear Polarisation. The steel was embedded in both untreated and polymer impregnated hardened cement pastes placed in either a solution containing NaCl or an environmental cabinet which provided carbonation at 40°C and 50% relative humidity.


Methods for interpreting machine learning black-box models increase the outcomes' transparency and in turn generates insight into the reliability and fairness of the algorithms. However, the interpretations themselves could contain significant uncertainty that undermines the trust in the outcomes and raises concern about the model's reliability. Focusing on the method"Local Interpretable Model-agnostic Explanations"(LIME), we demonstrate the presence of two sources of uncertainty, namely the randomness in its sampling procedure and the variation of interpretation quality across different input data points. Such uncertainty is present even in models with high training and test accuracy. We apply LIME to synthetic data and two public data sets, text classification in 20 Newsgroup and recidivism risk-scoring in COMPAS, to support our argument.


To the Editor.— In a recent article (Archives1983;40:220-222) Matuzas and Glass reviewed two studies concerned with the treatment of phobic states published in the same issue of theArchives. The reviewers highlighted many important methodologic points that might have contributed to the difference in conclusions reached by the two research groups; however, two aspects of the planning of the studies were not mentioned and since future improvement of experimental design and hence more reliable findings must take account of these, I wish to draw attention to them. The points concern the duration of the phobic disorder and previous treatments that the patient may have received before the study commenced. In the study by Zitrin et al (Archives1983;40:125-138,139-145) the mean duration of disorder for the agoraphobic group was more than ten years, and 70% of their patients had received previous treatment. In the study by Marks et al (Archives


The number of older people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the UK is rising. Older people are at risk of acquiring HIV infection for a multitude of reasons. This, combined with effective HIV treatment which has significantly prolonged life expectancy, means that health care professionals working in the UK can expect to see increasing numbers of older people with HIV infection. In this review article, we summarise the epidemiology of HIV amongst older people, including data from our local cohort in the city of Sheffield, UK. We discuss specific and practical issues in older patients including why older people are at risk, how to make a diagnosis and the importance of doing so early, guidelines for HIV testing and an update on anti-retroviral therapy including drug interactions and side effects.


Objective: In Periodontics and other surgical disciplines, sutures play a detrimental role in healing of wound. The use of chemical adjuncts to boost healing has been experimented in recent years. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of hyaluronic acid rinse in influencing the tensile strengths of commonly used sutures. Materials and Methods: Two commonly used non-absorbable suture materials silk and polyamide were used for this in vitro study. Tensile strengths of the suture materials were determined pre and post immersion in hyaluronic acid (test) and chlorhexidine (control). Results: Polyamide showed better stability in terms of tensile strength when compared to silk. Hyaluronic acid as a chemical adjunct did not alter the tensile strengths of both suture materials pre and post immersion. Conclusion: This in vitro study has shown a promising property of hyaluronic acid with relation to stabilization of tensile strength of suture materials which needs to be evaluated in clinical settings. Two commonly used non-absorbable suture materials silk and polyamide were used for this in vitro study. Tensile strengths of the suture materials were determined pre and post immersion in hyaluronic acid (test) and chlorhexidine (control). NA The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of hyaluronic acid rinse in influencing the tensile strengths of commonly used sutures.


This research investigated the effect of share valuation method used by Kenyan companies on the IPO/SEO outcome. The author explored the extent to which Kenyan companies use the various valuation methods and their effect on the initial return at the close of the first day of trading. The IPO offer prices and the initial return as well as the valuation method for the companies which issued IPOs between 2006 to 20 II were analyzed. Secondary data was used and data was analyzed using both descriptive statistics and correlation coefficient analysis. Average under pricing of 57.71% was observed in Kenya IPOs for the period under study. The Correlation between the offer price and the initial return was 0.341745, implying that the share prices and the valuation method tested do not significantly influence the IPO initial return on the first day of trading. The magnitude of the over subscription and under subscription together with the reasons for the choosing certain valuation methods have also been briefly explored. The study noted that in Kenya two main valuation methods are used for valuation of IPOs by most company. These two valuation methods are Discounted Cash Flow method and Company Comparable Multiples. The study concluded that valuation method alone does not significantly influence the outcome of the share on the first day of trading in the Kenyan market. The magnitude of the over subscription and under subscription is also briefly explored.


Vacuum‐thermal evaporation (VTE) is a highly relevant fabrication route for organic solar cells (OSCs), especially on an industrial scale as proven by the commercialization of organic light emitting diode‐based displays. While OSC performance is reported for a range of VTE‐deposited molecules, a comprehensive assessment of donor:acceptor blend properties with respect to their photovoltaic performance is scarce. Here, the organic thin films and solar cells of three select systems are fabricated and ellipsometry, external quantum efficiency with high dynamic range, as well as OTRACE are measured to quantify absorption, voltage losses, and charge carrier mobility. These parameters are key to explain OSC performance and will help to rationalize the performance of other material systems reported in literature as the authors' methodology is applicable beyond VTE systems. Furthermore, it can help to judge the prospects of new molecules in general. The authors find large differences in the measured values and find that today's VTE OSCs can reach high extinction coefficients, but only moderate mobility and voltage loss compared to their solution‐processed counterparts. What needs to be improved for VTE OSCs is outlined to again catch up with their solution‐processed counterparts in terms of power conversion efficiency.


This study compared the effect of simulation and clinical experience timing on self-confidence/self-efficacy for the nursing process. Using a randomized, double-crossover design, self-efficacy was measured 3 times. Although self-efficacy was significantly higher at time 1 for students who had clinical experience, there was no difference between the groups at the end of the course (time 2). Thus, simulation increased self-confidence/self-efficacy equivalently if placed either before or after clinical experience.


This manuscript describes a novel approach to monitor water flood front movement using Proximity Sensing in conjunction with contrast agents. Our technique exploits the presence of resistive layers between reservoirs, which act as a transmission line for electromagnetic signals, to achieve increased propagation range. This work focuses on numerical simulations to evaluate the potential of this approach to monitor water movement in the reservoir under different conditions.
 A series of 2D axisymmetric numerical simulations were conducted to assess the potential of Proximity Sensing to monitor moving fronts of labeled brine as well as to detect isolated pockets of brine labeled with contrast agents. The study was conducted using layered models that resemble a resistive seal bounded by reservoirs saturated with brine or brine and contrast agents. The effect of magnetic permeability (μ) on signal travel time and amplitude is reported and compared to the effect of electric permittivity (ε).
 The results show that Proximity Sensing is a suitable technique to detect changes in the μ of reservoirs adjacent to resistive seals. Therefore, our approach can be used in combination with contrast agents, such as Magnetic NanoMappers, to monitor water flood front movement in the reservoir. In addition, this technique can be used to detect isolated pockets of labeled brine, which suggests that injection of slugs of labeled water would be enough for field applications. The observed effect of μ on signal travel time is similar to the trend observed when the electric permittivity of the bounding reservoirs is changed. A significant difference is that increasing μ of the bounding reservoirs appears to reduce signal amplitude while increasing ε has the opposite effect. This result was unexpected and requires further simulations and experimentation to validate this behavior.
 Proximity Sensing offers a novel approach to address the challenge of electromagnetic propagation in conductive media and paves the way for the development of refined techniques that provide reservoir saturation and water flood front monitoring capabilities with greater resolution.


Language, Labour and Migration explores two fundamental aspects of the migrant experience through a multi-disciplinary lens which combines the research of leading academics at the cutting edge of their fields. This latest volume from the centre for the Study of Migration brings together the work of anthropologists, economists, geographers, historians, political scientists and medical practitioners. Essays explore topics which include the role of mother tongue as a bridge to assimilation, the racialization of immigrants and refugees through language, the patterns of resistance undertaken by lascars, the experience of black British seamen in the eighteenth century, health advocacy in the twentieth century and the way in which cyber-space is being used to rediscover ethnic identity in the twenty-first century. Other essays examine Chinese labour in France during the First world war, employment opportunities for those deficient in the majority language and poverty in old age. All provide new and at times controversial, insights into the problems of "language and labour" in an alien society.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the practice of midwifery within a busy urban tertiary hospital birth setting and to present findings on the relationships between nurses and midwives in providing maternity care.

DESIGN/METHOD
A focused ethnography on midwifery practice conducted over 2 years (2004-2006) in a teaching hospital serving a primarily Medicaid-eligible population in Northern California. Data were collected through participant observations and in-depth interviews with midwives (N=11) and nurses (N=14). Practices and relationships among the midwives and nurses were examined in an ethnographic framework through thematic analysis.

FINDINGS
Two themes described the nature of nursing-midwifery relationships: tension and teamwork. Tension existed in philosophic approaches to care, definitions of safe practice, communication, and respect. Teamwork existed when the midwives and nurses worked in partnership with the woman to develop a plan of care. Changes were brought about to improve the midwife-nurse relationship during the conduct of the study.

CONCLUSIONS
Midwives and nurses experienced day-to-day challenges in providing optimal care for childbearing women. The power of effective teamwork was profound, as was the tension when communication broke down. Failure to include nurses resulted in impaired translation of evidence into practice. All stakeholders in birth practices and policy development must be involved in future research in order to develop effective maternity care models.


A method is proposed for the calculation of a multiple-scattering correction to the single-scattering calculation of the radiance of the terrestrial atmosphere resulting from backscattered ultraviolet solar radiation in the spectral region used in the ozone profile inversion. This method uses jointly the usual analytical and Monte Carlo methods. Effects of the lower boundary of the atmosphere, cloud tops, and ground surface are investigated both qualitatively and quantitatively. The ratio of multiple to single scattering is determined, and its importance in ozone profile inversion of backscattered UV solar radiation from the terrestrial atmosphere is evaluated. The polarization of the atmospheric radiance is treated briefly.


In hybrid pixel detector fabrication, high-density interconnection between focal plane array and the read-out integrated circuit is important. Bump bonding is the preferable assembly method, it is small in size, low cost, high performance and flexible I/O. Flip-chip bonding is a vertical connection technique of focal plane array and top substrate with solder bumps. In this paper, Flip-chip bonding by electroplated indium bumps is described. There are advantages of using indium as the solder material. It is relatively inexpensive, it has good thermal and electrical conductivity, it is ductile, and it is cryogenically stable. Indium bumps with a diameter of 30 µm are successfully prepared by an electroplating method, however removing indium conductive layer after electrodeposition is challenging. The corresponding electroplating indium bump process is also discussed. Electrical measurement was applied to detect the connection integrity of the flip-chip assemblies.


Providing mothers with access to paid parental leave may be an important public policy to improve child and maternal health. Using extensive information from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Children (LSAC), we contribute to the literature by estimating the effect of paid parental leave entitlements on child health up to age seven. Exploiting detailed information on children's health, family background, mothers' pre-birth work histories and mothers' health behaviours during pregnancy within a propensity score matching framework, we show that paid parental leave entitlements reduce the probability of a child having multiple ongoing health conditions, but do not significantly affect any single condition. We find that the effect on multiple conditions is strongest for children from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Our study implies that the provision of paid parental leave, even for short periods (as usually available in Australia), will benefit children's health.


Background Concussion in sport has become a major injury prevention priority worldwide because of its potential severity. International consensus guidelines for concussion in sport have been developed and promoted. To date, there has been little consideration of the barriers that might influence how well these guidelines are adopted and implemented in practice, especially in community sport. Methods A self-report online survey was developed from Theory of Planned Behaviour constructs. 111 coaches and sports trainers from community Australian Football and Rugby League completed both pre- and post-season surveys and data on their attitudes towards using concussion guidelines was extracted. Post-season attitudes were assessed relative to pre-season attitudes and whether or not responders had used the guidelines during the intervening playing season. Specific feedback about any challenges in using the guidelines was also sought. Results 71% of respondents had used the guidelines. Post-season attitude was related to pre-season attitude (p = 0.002), football code (p = 0.015), and team role (p = 0.045). There was a significant interaction between team role and guideline use (p = 0.012), with coaches who had used the guidelines, and sports trainers who had not, reporting more positive post-season attitudes. Implementation challenges included disputing of decisions about return-to-play by players, parents, and coaches, and a perceived lack of time. Recommendations for improved guideline materials included using larger fonts and formal witnessing of advice given. Conclusions This is the first study to examine the implementation of concussion guidelines in community sport. Information from those who attempt to use them is valuable to inform the refinement of implementation and dissemination processes around concussion guidelines across sports. New education should be developed about the importance of advice given to parents/players them by those who follow these guidelines.


The aim of this study was to determine the type of innovations in dairy technologies adopted by dairy farmers in Pasuruan Regency, East Java Province. The object being observed was the dairy farmers in Pasuruan Regency. This research was a descriptive quantitative research with survey method. The collection of data through observation, questionnaires, and interviews. The level of adoption of innovation seen by the continuation of the use of these technologies by farmers until the time of research. The results showed that innovation such as concentrate feed, artificial insemination (AI) and biogas were the innovations that still used by most farmers in the amount of 95.0% (feed concentrates), 78.3% (Artificial Insemination) and 33,3% (Biogas). While innovations such as ammoniation and fermentation of hay, concentrate feed, complete feed , the selection of superior cattle seeds, feed barn, compost making, recording , good cowshed, Milking machine, chopper engine and coffee skin fermentation on average 80% have never been used by dairy farmers in Pasuruan Regency. This innovation can be used as extension materials in the area.


Campy-Line agar, was compared to Campy-Cefex agar for recovery of Campylobacter spp. Five samples were examined from each of 18 broiler carcasses including: feathers, skin, crop, ceca and colon. An additional 16 rinse samples from fresh fully processed commercial broiler carcasses were also examined. Campy-Line agar provided Campylobacter spp. counts that closely mirrored those found by enumeration on Campy-Cefex agar. Campy-Cefex agar generally provided slightly higher counts (P<0.05) for all sample types except skin. However, Campylobacter populations recovered with Campy-Line agar were correlated with those recovered using Campy-Cefex agar; correlation coefficient values were 0.94 for feathers, 0.95 for skin, 0.98 for crop, 0.87 for ceca and 0.88 for colon samples. Observations suggest that Campy-Line agar is easier to use due to the virtual absence of contaminating colonies.


A constant modulus algorithm is presented for blind equalization of complex-valued communication channels. The proposed algorithm is obtained by solving a novel deterministic optimization criterion which comprises the minimization of a priori as well as a posteriori dispersion error, leading to an update equation having a particular zero-memory continuous Bussgang-type nonlinearity. We also derive a stochastic bound for the range of step-sizes for a generic Bussgang-type constant modulus algorithm. The theoretical result is validated through computer simulations.


In a number of environments, a component external to a network is
called upon to perform computations based on the network topology and
current state of the connections within the network, including Traffic
Engineering (TE) information. This is information typically
distributed by IGP routing protocols within the network. This
document describes a mechanism by which link-state and TE information
can be collected from networks and shared with external components
using the BGP routing protocol. This is achieved using a new BGP
Network Layer Reachability Information (NLRI) encoding format. The
mechanism is applicable to physical and virtual IGP links. The
mechanism described is subject to policy control. Applications of
this technique include Application-Layer Traffic Optimization (ALTO)
servers and Path Computation Elements (PCEs).


Place marketing approaches are increasingly employed by authorities competing to attract capital. While a rapidly growing number of case studies have provided valuable insights to the field, relatively little scholarly attention has been paid to the advancement of theoretical understanding. In this article we depart from central place theory and discuss its potential for providing a structure for place marketing research. We argue that place marketing is essentially used as a means to improve competitiveness in a hierarchical spatial system and we produce a range of hypotheses for future research to build upon.


PGI2 (prostacyclin) is a lipid mediator with vasodilatory and antithrombotic effects used in the treatment of vasoconstrictive/ischemic diseases including pulmonary artery hypertension. However, emerging research supports a role for PGs, including PGI2, in the regulation of both innate and acquired immunity. As PGI2 is unstable, we sought to define the effects of various PGI2 analogs on resident alveolar macrophage (AM) and peritoneal macrophage (PM) innate immune functions. The effects of iloprost, carbaprostacyclin, and treprostinil on the regulation of phagocytosis, bacterial killing, and inflammatory mediator production were determined in both macrophage populations from rats. Iloprost failed to suppress AM functions to the same degree that it did in PMs, a characteristic shared by carbaprostacyclin. This difference reflected greater expression of the Gαs protein-coupled I prostanoid receptor and greater cAMP generation in PMs than AMs. Treprostinil inhibited phagocytosis, bacterial killing, and cytokine generation in AMs to a much greater degree than the other PGI2 analogs and more closely resembled the effects of PGE2. Studies with the E prostanoid (EP) 2 receptor antagonist AH-6809 and EP2-null macrophages indicated that this was due in part to the previously unknown ability of treprostinil to stimulate the EP2 receptor. The present investigation for the first time identifies differences in immunoregulatory properties of clinically administered PGI2 analogs. These studies are the first to explore the capacity of PGI2 to regulate bacterial killing and phagocytosis in macrophages, and our findings may hold important consequences regarding the risk of infection for patients receiving such agents.


The South-west Greenland Open Water Area is an internationally important wintering area for seabirds in the North Atlantic. Nearly two decades after the area was last surveyed, we conducted a replicate aerial survey in March 2017 to update information on the distribution and abundance of seabirds. With a total effort of about 5800 km, we covered the coastal area from Aasiaat (69°N) to Kap Farvel (60°N), 56% of the open water area in the fjords, and the offshore bank, Store Hellefiskebanke. Line transect survey methodology was used except in the fjords, which were censused by total counts. By means of distance sampling analyses, the abundances of the dominant species were estimated to be roughly 1100 000 king eiders (Somateria spectabilis), 443 000 common eiders (Somateria mollissima), 42 000 long-tailed ducks (Clangula hyemalis) and 76 000 Iceland gulls/glaucous gulls (Larus glaucoides/Larus hyperboreus). For the great black-backed gull (Larus marinus), great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator), we present the first winter population estimates for the area (6100, 7700, 7600 and 3200 individuals, respectively). Areas around Kangaatsiaq, Nuuk and Julianehabsbugten were identified as key wintering sites, as was Store Hellefiskebanke which held 99% of the king eiders. For all species assessed in 1999, abundance in the coastal survey area was considerably lower in 2017. In some cases, this may be due to changes in distribution patterns. However, for thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia), long-tailed duck and black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), the reduced coastal abundances coincide with declining breeding populations.


Unknown values (Xs) may exist in a design due to uninitialized registers or blocks that are powered down. Due to limitations known as X-optimism and X-pessimism, such Xs cannot be handled correctly in logic simulation, producing inaccurate simulation values that can mask X bugs or corrupt simulation results. This can cause X bugs to escape verification and reduces design quality. To resolve such X-related issues, we propose a comprehensive methodology and several novel methods to detect masked Xs at the register transfer level and eliminate false Xs at the gate level. Our case studies show that the proposed methods are both effective and efficient.


Polonec T., Janosko I. , 2014. Improving performance parameters of combustion engine for racing purposes . Res. Agr. Eng., 60: 83–91. Mechanical parts of stock engine have a performance reserve which could be utilized when the engine is used under the race conditions. Especially normal turbocharged engines have their performance parameters designed to drive in traffic, where a good flexibility, reliability, fuel consumption and a long service life is required. It is possible to utilize the whole power of the engine, when changing or modifying some of its external parts and achieve better performance parameters without modifying or changing internal engine components. Performed changes must be realized thought fully and on the admittable level, so the engine and other drive train components would not be damaged. In our study we design several changes of external parts of engine which have a significant impact on the improvement of engine performance parameters. Their contribution has been verified in practice by an engine dynamometer.


The Sleeping Beauty area of the southeastern Cady Mountains, central Mojave Desert, contains a sequence of volcanic rocks >3 km thick which was erupted approximately 20 m.y. ago. Plate reconstructions indicate that the change from subduction to transform-fault tectonics off the coast of California occurred about 20 m.y. ago as well, and so these rocks contain a record of volcanism, extensional faulting, and potassic metasomatism during this time of tectonic transition.

The volcanic sequence comprises basalt to rhyolite flows and tuffs which are overlain by the widespread Peach Springs Tuff and by terrestrial sediments. Bedding below the Peach Springs Tuff generally dips 10°-50° to the southwest and is cut by numerous steep northwest- to north-trending faults. Tilting predated deposition of the Peach Springs Tuff. Bedding-fault relationships indicate that deformation was not by "tilted-book" geometry in its simplest form. No significant low-angle faults are exposed, but such faults occur to the west and may underlie the area. A major open, southeast-trending anticline in the area may be a drag fold related to the post- late Miocene, right-lateral, north-trending Ludlow fault.

All units below the Peach Springs Tuff were locally affected by severe potassic metasomatism, which raised measured K2O contents to as high as 13.3 wt%. Metasomatized rocks occur in irregular zones that follow northwest-trending faults and are best developed around northwest-trending breccia zones which have jasper matrices. Ba and Mn prospects are invariably found in metasomatized rocks. Geologic and geochemical constraints indicate that metsomatism occurred at shallow depth (<1 or 2 km) and low temperature (<150 °C). Metasomatism occurred in at least two distinct pulses and apparently predated deposition of the Peach Springs Tuff. The K may have been derived from percolating closed-basin brines or through hydrogen metasomatism of rocks deeper in the complex.


Community members and staff at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Learning Exchange collectively created a theatre piece, based on stories from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES), entitled Voices UP! This article examines the impact this project had on four DTES community members who took part in the collective creation process. The results are presented as both a thematic analysis and a short play script, entitled Give Me Your Hands. Give Me Your Hands is a play about making a play, illustrating the shared and individual learning experiences of those who took part in a community-based collaborative theatre process.


Fear or anxiety in learning is a vicious cycle. A reaction at one stage may lead to consequences at another stage. The fear of learning sometimes gives negative impact on a learner's future learning encounters. The feeling of fear may hinder further learning experience possibilities. Studies on language learning have revealed that the fear of learning language skills influences learners' perception of language skills. This paper presents the cycle of fear in language learning from the perspectives of speaking, reading and writing skills. Past studies in fear of readings reveal that learners' choice of language strategies and their perception of reading difficulties influence their reading skill. Past research on writing found that fear of writing stems from the learners' perception, the writing task and also the environment. Fear of oral presentation is caused by trait and state apprehension. The concept of fear of language learning can be summarized from common fears found in all the three past studies on language skills.


It is known that the ultimate spatial resolution for a Brillouin-based sensor is limited by the lifetime of the phonons in the fiber that mediate the Brillouin loss process. At optical pulse widths less than 10 ns (corresponding to one meter spatial resolution) the Brillouin line width is considerably broadened, causing a severe penalty in resolving the Brillouin frequency shift. Around 5 ns the Brillouin line width is too broad to allow an accurate frequency determination. The fiber optics group at the University of New Brunswick, Canada, has recently developed an automated system for strain measurements in a distributed sensing system that uses a novel signal processing technique to measure strain at resolutions finer than the Brillouin line width limit. Strain has been resolved to 20 /spl mu//spl epsiv/ at 500 mm and to 40 /spl mu//spl epsiv/ at 250 mm.


Since the 1990psilas blue-ribbon commissions on engineering education have called for educators to graduate engineers who are capable of systems thinking. However, there is sparse information on how to cultivate this type of cognitive development. How do we develop and measure systems thinking? In this paper, we present the first of a series of methods that we are piloting to initiate the systems thinking process. This exercise, developed by Checkland and Scholes and called ldquorich pictures,rdquo requires the participant to express a reality in terms of images and connections between these images. We utilized the rich pictures exercise in combination with an appreciative inquiry strategy in pursuit of an initial research hypothesis regarding the impact of project-based learning on female students. We only partially answered our initial question, but the exercise unexpected yielded enthusiastic participation by the students and a rich set of data regarding unanticipated factors that influenced studentspsila learning. The value of the activity is that it initiates the process of thinking nonlinearly, an important first step in studentspsila cognitive development for systems thinking.


: Overall 19 male patients with attack-like schizophrenia were examined within the first 1-2 months since the disease manifestation till the onset of the antipsychotic treatment. To characterize the T immunity system, use was made of the E-rosette formation test and a kit of monoclonal antibodies. It has been revealed, that in the peripheral blood of the schizophrenic patients, the T lymphocyte count was noticeably decreased, the relative count of the cells of both the regulatory populations was increased, being statistically significant only for helpers. The ratio of T helpers to T suppressors remained unchanged. The count of poorly differentiated T lymphocytes turned out noticeably increased.


The classification of pendants is made from the view of constitutional type and operating method. There are only two different kinds: skin pendant and fat pendant. The operating correcture of skin pendants is made by Contamin and of fat pendants by Schrimpf. Good operating results, little complications and no case of death make it possible beside the pendant plastic to do other surgical interventions so as laparotomies, herniotomies and vaginal operations. Beside an operating method that takes care of the skin, the following conditions must be fulfilled: an intact coronary- and circulation system, thrombosis prophylaxis, most carefull haemostasis, skin suture without tension and REDON-Drainage.


POPULATION DYNAMICS OF SHEEPSHEAD (ARCHOSARGUS PROBATOCEPHALUS; WALBAUM 1792) IN THE CHESAPEAKE BAY REGION: A COMPARISON TO OTHER AREAS AND AN ASSESSMENT OF THEIR CURRENT STATUS Joseph Charles Ballenger Old Dominion University, 2011 Director: Dr. Cynthia M. Jones Sheepshead recently have seen an increase in fishing pressure in Virginian waters of the Chesapeake Bay. This increase in fishing pressure has led to demands to install effective management measures to protect the fishery. However, no study regarding the population dynamics, and thus potential yield, of sheepshead has been conducted north of Cape Hatteras. We addressed the need for information regarding the population dynamics of Chesapeake Bay sheepshead by investigating their age distribution, growth rate and reproductive biology. We used this information to construct yield-per-recruit models, which local management agencies may use in the formation of scientifically based management measures. We collected samples from 2006 to 2009 from both fishery-dependent and fishery-independent sources. Based on the age and growth analysis, we determined that Chesapeake Bay region sheepshead were living to a maximum of 35 years old, or 12-21 years older than previously reported for sheepshead, and were on average larger-at-age and attaining larger maximum sizes than their more southern counterparts. These drastic differences in age and growth leads to the distinction of Chesapeake Bay region sheepshead as a distinct population from sheepshead found south of Cape Hatteras. Despite these differences in age and growth, analysis of Chesapeake Bay region sheepshead reproductive biology reveals little difference from the reproductive biology of sheepshead found south of Cape Hatteras, with all sheepshead being non-hermaphroditic batch spawners, exhibiting early maturation by age 2, and a spawning season occurring from the late winter through the spring. When we integrate the information on age, growth and reproductive biology into a Beverton-Holt yield-per-recruit (YPR) model, results suggest YPR can be maximized by setting age of recruitment to the fishery to 7 years of age, corresponding to a 483 mm (19 in) minimum length limit, resulting in a maximum YPR of between 1.2 to 1.7 kg. This time of recruitment to the fishery and potential maximum YPR is 2-5 years older and 0.6-1.5 kg greater than suggested when we use age and growth data from other regions in the same Beverton-Holt YPR model.


The NANOGrav, Parkes, European, and International Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) Collaborations have reported evidence for a common-spectrum process that can potentially correspond to a stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) in the 1--100 nHz frequency range. We consider the scenario in which this signal is produced by magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in the early Universe, induced by a nonhelical primordial magnetic field at the energy scale corresponding to the quark confinement phase transition. We perform MHD simulations to study the dynamical evolution of the magnetic field and compute the resulting SGWB. We show that the SGWB output from the simulations can be very well approximated by assuming that the magnetic anisotropic stress is constant in time, over a time interval related to the eddy turnover time. The analytical spectrum that we derive under this assumption features a change of slope at a frequency corresponding to the GW source duration that we confirm with the numerical simulations. We compare the SGWB signal with the PTA data to constrain the temperature scale at which the SGWB is sourced, as well as the amplitude and characteristic scale of the initial magnetic field. We find that the generation temperature is constrained to be in the 1--200 MeV range, the magnetic field amplitude must be $>1$\% of the radiation energy density at that time, and the magnetic field characteristic scale is constrained to be $>10$\% of the horizon scale. We show that the turbulent decay of this magnetic field will lead to a field at recombination that can help to alleviate the Hubble tension and can be tested by measurements in the voids of the Large Scale Structure with gamma-ray telescopes like the Cherenkov Telescope Array.


This volume is based on a special issue of Logos that grew out of a meeting of an international group of book trade hands. It is the first broad-scale account and assessment of the commercial aspects of the U.S. book trade from publisher to library by way of book dealers and wholesalers. Two major phenomena, concentration into larger units and concern about the electronic future, are recurring themes in this collection. Concentration characterizes bookselling as much as publishing, and the electronic future preoccupies librarians even more than publishers. Chapters and contributors to The Book in the United States Today include: "A Religious Country Reflected in its Publishing Industry" by Werner Mark Linz; "Children's Books: 500 Million a Year" by Charles E. Gates; "U.S. School Publishing" by Cameron S. Moseley; "The Paperback Conquest of America" by Betty Ballantine; "Medical Publishing in the U.S." by Eric J. Newman; "The U.S. College Textbook" by Robert R. Worth; "The American University Library" by Hendrik Edelman; and "Between Academe and the Marketplace: University Presses Face the 21st Century" by Naomi B. Pascal. In the postscript, Gordon Graham discusses one of the defects of the U.S. book industry today, a shortage of collective memory. The common ground of the industry, he writes, is seen in securing legal rights and political advantage, not in any ideological attachment to the shared product, its history or its culture. The Book in the United States Today provides important information for publishers, librarians, authors, and book sellers.


As it is the well known, the control terms P1 and P2 are used in control theory for description of the dynamics of control objects. The control terms P1 and P2 describe linear system of the first and second order, respectively. In this paper it has been shown that these terms can also be used in the estimation of the rotation curve of the stars around galaxy. Following the related observation information, control terms P1 estimates the rotation curve related to Dark Matter, while control term P2 estimates the rotation curve related to Total Matter (Visible Matter + Dark Matter). On that way one obtains the analytical models for rotation curves that can be used for calculation of the mass of Dark and Total Matters.


Abstract. Large climate perturbations occurred during the transition between the penultimate glacial period and the Last Interglacial (Termination II), when the ice sheets retreated from their glacial configuration. Here we investigate the impact of ice sheet changes and associated freshwater fluxes on the climate evolution at the onset of the Last Interglacial. The period from 135 to 120 kyr BP is simulated with the Earth system model of intermediate complexity LOVECLIM v.1.3 with prescribed evolution of the Antarctic ice sheet, the Greenland ice sheet, and the other Northern Hemisphere ice sheets. Variations in meltwater fluxes from the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets lead to North Atlantic temperature changes and modifications of the strength of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. By means of the interhemispheric see-saw effect, variations in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation also give rise to temperature changes in the Southern Hemisphere, which are additionally modulated by the direct impact of Antarctic meltwater fluxes into the Southern Ocean. Freshwater fluxes from the melting Antarctic ice sheet lead to a millennial timescale oceanic cold event in the Southern Ocean with expanded sea ice as evidenced in some ocean sediment cores, which may be used to constrain the timing of ice sheet retreat.


Social insurance schemes usually carry a certain degree of implicit redistribution, as certain individuals receive more or less than the monetary equivalents of the contributions they have made. This is usually the case of defined benefit insurance programs. In contrast with traditional designs, Chile has followed a different approach in their pension and unemployment insurance schemes. In the case of retirement, a structural reform undergone in 1980 replaced the traditional PAYG defined benefit scheme with a program based on individual accounts and financial savings. Redistribution occurs mainly through an explicit solidarity pillar introduced in 2008, which provides targeted non contributory benefits to individuals with low pensions. The current UI scheme was introduced in 2002 following a similar structure of the pension system but with the inclusion of a solidarity fund. We use contribution histories to compute the level of lifetime redistribution implicit in these two programs. We find essentially no redistribution in the contributory pension pillar but the inclusion of the recently created Solidarity Pillar greatly improves the pension distribution. In contrast, the UI scheme implies fairly limited redistribution – and not necessarily a progressive one – as eligibility conditions are relatively restrictive and tend to favor individuals with relatively stable careers. We also analyze the counterfactual effect of having benefits calculated according to a defined benefit scheme. To make the two systems comparable, we incorporate a distribution neutral tax schedule (with a fixed tax rate) used to finance the solidarity benefits or the DB scheme deficit. The results show that the neutral financing scheme has only a marginal effect in reducing inequality. In contrast, the DB scheme has only a marginal impact in reducing overall income inequality but a significant redistributive impact in reducing the income gap between men and women. JEL No. O15, H55, J6 1 Assistant professor, School of Government, Universidad Adolfo Ibanez. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com 2


This paper summarises results from the inaugural China Carbon Pricing Survey. The survey elicited expectations about the future of China's carbon price from China-based experts on carbon pricing and carbon markets during July to September 2013. The results indicate confidence that all seven of China's pilot schemes will be under way by 2015, with prices rising over time and having an effect on investment decisions; however there is significant uncertainty about price levels. There is strong confidence that China will proceed to introduce national emissions trading, probably in conjunction with a carbon tax. Carbon price levels are expected to rise, in time exceeding those currently prevailing in the EU emissions trading scheme. A large majority of respondents expect that China's 2020 emissions intensity target will be achieved or surpassed, and almost all expect further targets to be adopted in 2025 and 2030, possibly in the form of absolute limits on emissions.


Corn management practices, incorporating annual ryegrass intercrop, conservation tillage and water table management, were evaluated to reduce herbicide and N0−3 losses through surface runoff and tile drainage. The integrated management system being developed at Harrow in S.W. Ontario reduced herbicide input 50% by banding the chemical over the seed row. Runoff events close to herbicide application contained high concentrations of atrazine, metribuzin and metolachlor. However, the volume of runoff was low during the 1991 growing season, therefore herbicide loss was low (<2% of applied). The three herbicides rapidly dissipated in the soil so that subsequent runoff events transported little herbicide in the runoff water. The total quantity of de-ethyl atrazine loss was lower from soil saver than moldboard plow. No water table control or intercrop effects were found in 1991 for herbicide loss because of the drought Tile drainage resulted in a greater volume of water and loss of N0−3 than with surface runoff. Consequently, over 97% of the total N0−3 loss occurred through tile drainage. The flow weighted N0−3 concentration in tile drainage water was 22.5 mg N L−1 for the drainage treatments and 15.1 mg N L−1 for the water table control treatments from Nov. 1, 1991 till April 30, 1992. During this time period, N0−3 loss through tile drainage was 57.8 kg N ha−1 from the drainage treatments and 36.3 kg N ha−1 from the water table control treatments. Therefore, the water table control treatment reduced the flow weighted N0−3 concentration in tile drainage water by 33% and total N0−3 loss by 37%. The water table control treatments combined with soil saver tillage resulted in lower concentrations and losses of N0−3 than with any other treatments.


We present a first evaluation of a new multi-exposure laser speckle contrast imaging (MELSCI) system for assessing spatial variations in the microcirculatory perfusion. The MELSCI system is based on a 1000 frames per second 1-megapixel camera connected to a field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) capable of producing MELSCI data in realtime. The imaging system is evaluated against a single point laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) system during occlusionrelease provocations of the arm in five subjects. Perfusion is calculated from MELSCI data using current state-of-the-art inverse models. The analysis displayed a good agreement between measured and modeled data, with an average error below 6%. This strongly indicates that the applied model is capable of accurately describing the MELSCI data and that the acquired data is of high quality. Comparing readings from the occlusion-release provocation showed that the MELSCI perfusion was significantly correlated (R=0.83) to the single point LDF perfusion, clearly outperforming perfusion estimations based on a single exposure time. We conclude that the MELSCI system provides blood flow images of enhanced quality, taking us one step closer to a system that accurately can monitor dynamic changes in skin perfusion over a large area in real-time.


The Ambient Logic (AL) has been proposed for expressing properties of pro- cess mobility in the calculus of Mobile Ambients (MA), and as a basis for query languages on semistructured data. We study some basic questions concerning the discriminating power of AL, focusing on the equivalence on processes induced by the logic (=L). As underlying calculi besides MA we consider a subcalculus in which an image-finiteness condition holds and that we prove to be Turing complete. Synchronous variants of these calculi are studied as well. In these calculi, we provide two operational characterisations of =L: a coinductive one (as a form of bisimilarity) and an inductive one (based on structual properties of processes). After showing =L to be stricly finer than barbed congruence, we establish axiomatisations of =L on the subcalculus of MA (both the asynchronous and the synchronous version), enabling us to relate =L to structural congruence. We also present some (un)decidability results that are related to the above separation properties for AL: the undecidability of =L on MA and its decidability on the subcalculus.


Low-temperature operation of urea/NH3-SCR converters, required by recent emission regulations, is challenging due to technological limits related to poor catalytic activity, difficult urea decomposition and undesired ammonium nitrate formation. Herein, we present a novel concept of a catalytic device, which adds a NOx storage functionality to a typical SCR catalyst. This enables capture and storage of NOx in lean exhaust streams already at room temperature, with significant efficiencies under dry conditions, as well as direct reduction of the stored NOx at higher temperatures. The proposed system (AdSCR = adsorption + selective catalytic reduction) is intrinsically different from the well-known existing NOx storage reduction (LNT) + SCR systems. In fact, it is free of PGM materials and does not require lean–rich cycling, being operated just like an SCR catalyst. It has therefore potential advantages both in terms of costs and flexibility of the aftertreatment configuration: in principle, it can be integrated into conventional SCR converters, leading to improved deNOx efficiencies without additional modifications of the aftertreatment architecture.


Social Security, in 1935, was intended to provide for elderly individuals without adequate sources of income. And it has a progressive benefit schedule that replaces a higher percentage of past earnings for those with low past earnings than for those with high past earnings. For both these reasons, the U.S. Social Security system was thought to redistribute income from rich to poor--until recently, that is. Several research teams recently developed data and models that show a more complete picture of how much the U.S. Social Security system actually redistributes income. It is important to know as much as possible about how the current Social Security system redistributes money in practice and to whom. It may never be ascertained how much Social Security really helps the poor, or indeed whether it redistributes money toward people who are already well-to-do. But society needs to make informed choices. Therefore, this monograph does not try to provide final answers to the questions about the actual level of redistribution within the Social Security system. Instead, the authors review the many factors that might affect the measure of redistribution and how recent studies have dealt with these issues. The point is not to provide a critical review of past studies or to point out any bias in their results but rather to explain how these factors affect redistribution and how the gaps in knowledge might affect an understanding of redistribution. The authors also show how other considerations might affect the analysis. Along the way, they highlight what needs to be known: what kind of information might cause the system to look more progressive (or at least less regressive)?


This paper describes the development of spherical iron-based composite powder with carried alumina abrasive grains made by a plasma spray technique. Carbonyl iron powder (7.2 μm average size) and alumina abrasive grains (0.3 μm average size) are sprayed into the plasma flame from the respective nozzles simultaneously, or their mechanical mixture is directly plasma-sprayed. In case of the composite powder obtained by the direct spray method, the alumina abrasives are well carried on the carbonyl iron particles. However, a plasma current of more than 100 A causes melting and vaporizing of the alumina abrasives;, consequently the carbonyl iron and alumina abrasives are separated. The magnetic abrasive experiments with the composite powder developed are made for SUS304 stainless steel plate, and the result shows that the developed composite powder has high potential abrasive performance.


Photocatalytic technology has many new applications and great potential in providing clean energy and decomposing organic pollutants in the environment. Among them, TiO2 is a good photochemical catalyst, but has a limitation that is only shown in ultraviolet light. To expand the application of photocatalytic materials using solar radiation in visible light, this research focuses on the semiconductor photochemical transformation process. In this study, TiO2-Eu2O3 nanomaterial was synthesised by the sol-gel method with polyvinyl alcohol used as gelling agent. The effects of the contents of TiO2, Eu2O3 and the sintering temperature of the gel were investigated. The obtained material samples were analysed for characteristics and properties by the surface analysis techniques SEM, EDX, TEM, XRD, the infrared spectrum and the UV–vis molecular absorption spectrum. Analysis of modified TiO2 according to EDX, XRD showed the formation of crystalline and evenly dispersed Eu2O3 particles in TiO2 phases with an average particle size of 20–50 nm. The photocatalytic activity of TiO2-Eu2O3 nanoparticles was determined by the phenol decomposition efficiency in the hypothetical water sample and the actual wastewater samples with a concentration of 10 ppm under ultraviolet light and visible light. The resulting phenol decomposition was more than 90% efficient after about 150 min.


Pain management often takes a multidisciplinary approach to minimize or eliminate pain. The therapist is faced with a patient in chronic pain has several important tasks. The goals include increasing physical activity, eliminating in safe medication use, and learning lifestyle behaviours that work towards wellness. Among the many tasks, the first is obviously the assessment of the pain and its various causes, including physical and psychological components. In most cases it is impossible to completely alleviate pain and thus a management plan has to be agreed with the patient. Furthermore, the clinician will need expert guidance in understanding and applying the broad range of available therapies. The purpose of this presentation is to provide the theoretical basis of therapeutic modalities and the acquisition of skills necessary to correctly and safely use modalities clinically. The delegates will also find information helpful for improved decision making regarding the utility of each modality in the pain management continuum. The author will also explain how to apply each therapy, why and when each modality would prove safe and effective.


A cytostasis assay has been used to study the natural immunity of mice to murine mammary tumor virus (MTV). Spleen cells from adults of all strains tested were found to be cytostatic to a variety of MTV-positive mammary tumor cell lines. Newborn spleen cells were unreactive in the same cytostasis assay. The degree of reactivity to the target cells was greater in spleen cell preparations from low MTV expressors than from syngeneic, high MTV expressors. The cytostasis was specific, since MTV antigens prepared from gradient-purified whole MT virions significantly blocked the reaction. In addition, spleen cells were totally nonreactive to MTV-negative cell lines. Other types of lymphoid cells, such as lymph node cells as well as peritoneal macrophages, were highly cytostatic under similar conditions. Spleen cells from nude athymic donors were not cytostatic. Since depletion of splenic T-lymphocytes by use of anti-theta serum also did not significantly affect cytostasis, it was concluded that T-cells were required for initiation of immunity to MTV but that the effector cells were not theta positive. Blocking factors were found to exist in the sera of mammary tumor-bearing animals that prevented cytostasis by reactive spleen cells.


Let $G$ be a connected $n$-vertex graph in a proper minor-closed class $\mathcal G$. We prove that the extension complexity of the spanning tree polytope of $G$ is $O(n^{3/2})$. This improves on the $O(n^2)$ bounds following from the work of Wong (1980) and Martin (1991). It also extends a result of Fiorini, Huynh, Joret, and Pashkovich (2017), who obtained a $O(n^{3/2})$ bound for graphs embedded in a fixed surface. Our proof works more generally for all graph classes admitting strongly sublinear balanced separators: We prove that for every constant $\beta$ with $0<\beta<1$, if $\mathcal G$ is a graph class closed under induced subgraphs such that all $n$-vertex graphs in $\mathcal G$ have balanced separators of size $O(n^\beta)$, then the extension complexity of the spanning tree polytope of every connected $n$-vertex graph in $\mathcal{G}$ is $O(n^{1+\beta})$. We in fact give two proofs of this result, one is a direct construction of the extended formulation, the other is via communication protocols. Using the latter approach we also give a short proof of the $O(n)$ bound for planar graphs due to Williams (2002).


Studies in Accounting Research #33 provides guidance for conducting empirical research on auditor litigation and for using data on auditor litigation in teaching. To facilitate research and teaching, the monograph includes a CD with a Database. The Database has over 1,000 client observations with audit litigation involving the Big Five and their legacy firms. Non-Big Five firms are included on joint litigation. The Database includes litigation over allegations of audit failure on audits from 1960 through 1995, as long as legal actions were filed by end of 1995. The Database contains an extensive amount of information. For example, it has information on clients and auditors, accounting and auditing issues, legal characteristics and issues, regulatory actions, and litigation resolutions. All information is from public sources available through early 1999. The Database should be easily usable by academics, practitioners, and students alike. It is designed for use with Microsoft Access (the CD has three versions for Access 2.0, 97, and 2000). While the Database as published provides a rich source of litigation-related information, it is also designed so that users can customize it to meet their particular needs. For example, the Database can be updated with further information about the observations or with additional observations, such as audit litigation filed after 1995. The monograph makes a number of suggestions for using the Database in a variety of research settings. The Database is designed for stand-alone use or it can be used in combination with data from other sources. The discussion of research considerations and applications encompasses both the usefulness and limitations of the Database. Further, the Database can be used in teaching a variety of graduate and undergraduate courses, including courses on financial accounting, financial statement analysis, auditing, securities litigation, accountant's liability, governance, and professional regulation and institutions. The discussion of teaching applications includes suggestions on opportunities for bringing litigation-related topics into the classroom through supplementing lecture materials, promoting active learning, developing new teaching cases, extending and enriching existing case materials, and designing student projects, assignments, and other educational activities.


Education of undergraduates in mental health nursing necessitates modeling interpersonal relationships and providing accessible educational experiences. This article describes (1) a distance education strategy that promotes interpersonal learning, and (2) a qualitative study exploring faculty's experience with this pedagogy. Several themes emerged from the data: I Feel Like I'm In A Different World; I Don't Get To Know The Students; They Have My Face; I Am Caught Up In The Technology; It Is A Lot Like Teaching In The Classroom; and It Is Helping Me Grow In My Teaching. A metaphor, "bringing it to life,"captures faculty members' capability to change lifeless lecture content into a learning experience involving human beings.


Abstract:This article reflects on the literary-theoretical and literary-historical significance of secret societies in the mystères urbains, a large corpus of popular novels produced in the latter half of the nineteenth century in response to the unprecedented success of Eugène Sue's Mystères de Paris (1842–43). In these novels, representations of secret societies challenge and transform our understanding of l'envers and, by extension, our approach to the (rewritten) text. Distorted reflections, by pointing to the shared preoccupations of readers of "popular" and "serious" literatures, hint at the arbitrary nature of groupings both within and outside the text. A protean system of initiates and outsiders echoes the engagements of both an exclusive "Happy Few" and an indiscriminate "masse idiote" with the text itself. The fusion of heterogeneous characters into fictional secret societies echoes the efforts made to demystify and defuse the threat of a new and alarmingly disparate reading public.


: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of alkali treatment of mucin on the mucoadhesive properties and tablet parameters of metronidazole tablets. Mucin was extracted from the African giant snails ( Archachatina maginata ) by differential precipitation using acetone, air-dried and pulverized. Different portion of the mucin powder was treated with mineral bases (sodium and ammonium hydroxides) and organic base (pyridine) at high and low concentrations and at varied times of 1 and 12 h. Ten batches of metronidazole tablets (B1-B10) were prepared with the modified mucin by direct compression. Their granules and tablets were evaluated for flow properties and tablets parameters, respectively. Tablet mucoadhesion was determined using the mass flow rate method. All the batches of granules gave good flow characteristics with their angles of repose < 30°. The formulated tablets passed the weight variation test and had hardness values within the range of 3.2 to 5.0 kp and friability of 0.7 to 2.0 % while the content of active drug met official compendial requirements. Tablets of 1 M NaOH treated mucin for 1 h gave the best mucoadhesion values of 5.95 g/sec, followed by the 0.1 M NaOH 12 h treatment and 0.1 M NaOH 1 h treatment with 4.34 g/sec and 4.14 g/sec, respectively. These values were higher than those of the unmodified mucin tablets which gave 0.75 g/sec. Tablets of 0.1M pyridine treated mucin for 1 h gave the least mucoadhesion values of 0.51 g/sec. Tablets of mucin treatment using NaOH gave improved mucoadhesive properties compared to the unmodified mucin. Thus, NaOH modified mucin can be preferred in the formulation of some mucoadhesive dosage forms. © JASEM


Tort actions based on religiously motivated conduct necessitate delicate balancing between the governmental interest in providing redress to injured plaintiffs and the Constitution's guarantee of religious free exercise. This Comment argues that when plaintiffs were members of defendant churches at the time of the alleged tort, a definitional balancing standard is the most appropriate means of measuring the competing interests. The proposed standard is based on the traditional tort law consent doctrine. The standard's definitional element shifts the burden of proving lack of consent to member/plaintiffs.


Under the conditions of a prolonged experiment in sterile water at 4-6 degrees with no outside supply of any substances pathogenic Y.pseudotuberculosis, Y.enterocolitica and other Yersinia species in pure and binary cultures remained viable for the period of 12-24 months (the term of observation). In monocultures, all Yersinia actually returned to their initial amounts. In associations with Y.enterocolitica O:3, Y.frederiksenii and Y.intermedia, a delay in the lag-phase (1-2 weeks) was observed in Y.pseudotuberculosis, while in the other pair they stimulated the lag- and log-phase in Y.enterocolitica O:8. In other associations, the growth of different cultures was balanced; 12 and 24 months later their amount characteristics exceeded the initial ones by 2-4.9 and 1-3.5 orders respectively. The possibility of interaction with the signs of protocooperation between different Yersinia cells under natural conditions is discussed.


At the request of the authors, 'Bosentan attenuates cardiac fibrosis in diabetic mice without affecting blood glucose' Journal of Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System, published ahead of print August 15, 2011 as doi: 10.1177/1470320311417274 has been retracted. This is due to mistakes in the published data at Figure 3. For clarification: this problem came to the attention of Bo Yang only after publication in the journal. Bo Yang immediately brought it to the attention of the Journal.


The booklet explains the MRC's complex procedural rules for cooperation in a simple language. It introduces the five sets of procedural rules to materialise the agreement, explaining how these procedural rules have supported regional cooperation and sustainable development of the Lower Mekong River Basin (LMB).


The movement and activity patterns of the nurse shark, Ginglymostoma cirratum, a vulnerable species off Brazil, were investigated using mark-recapture and acoustic telemetry at an oceanic insular Marine Protected Area, the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, Brazil. A total of 93 sharks were captured and tagged, ranging from 82 to 265 cm of total length (TL). Nurse sharks were captured throughout the year, and all life-stages used the insular shelf. Fifteen sharks (16% of the total) were recaptured after periods at liberty ranging from 3.5 h to 705 days, and the distances between tag and recapture locations ranged from 0.07 to 3.5 km. Site fidelity and movements of 10 sharks ranging from 107 to 265 cm TL were investigated for 18 months with an array of automated telemetry receivers. The mean period of detection of the monitored sharks was 66 days, ranging from 13 to 119 days. One individual 158 cm TL was monitored with active tracking for 17 days, with distances between daily locations ranging from 0.84 to 3.32 km, exhibiting movements similar to those of sharks monitored by automated telemetry. Despite remaining motionless or exhibiting short range movements for several hours or days, nurse sharks can be relatively wide-ranging, and protected areas alone cannot be the only conservation measure used to protect this species, which requires a set of protective measures, including fisheries management.


Should monetary policy independence be maintained when the exchange rate is fixed under closed capital account conditions in a small open economy? We apply the Kalman filter at State Space model to test the Nepalese economy's policy trilemma condition involving restricting capital flow, maintaining policy independence and fixing the exchange rate over the period 1989-2019. Accounting for two-thirds of Nepal's total trade, Nepal is heavily trade-dependent to India in South Asia, which underwent economic liberalisation during the early 1990s. We modify the traditional Taylor-rule-based monetary policy reaction function to more closely represent Nepal's economic characteristics by mixing backward-looking and forward-looking strategies and incorporating a fixed exchange rate in the monetary policy reaction function. The simulation results provide strong evidence of policy trilemma failure and inevitable policy trade-offs. In the monetary policy reaction function of both domestic and foreign conditions, the parameter value of domestic condition needs to be close to zero, to get the simulated interest rate close to observed. The loss of monetary policy independence raises a range of policy issues for the Nepalese economy: the rationale for fixing the exchange rate, and the efficacy of capital account closure which might deteriorate the effectiveness of monetary policy.


The late-season extreme fire activity in Southcentral Alaska during 2019 was highly unusual and consequential. Firefighting operations had to be extended by a month in 2019 due to the extreme conditions of hot summer temperature and prolonged drought. The ongoing fires created poor air quality in the region containing most of Alaska's population, leading to substantial impacts to public health. Suppression costs totaled over $70 million for Southcentral Alaska. This study's main goals are to place the 2019 season into historical context, provide an attribution analysis, and assess future changes in wildfire risk in the region. The primary tools are meteorological observations and climate model simulations from the NCAR CESM Large Ensemble (LENS). The 2019 fire season in Southcentral Alaska included the hottest and driest June–August season over the 1979–2019 period. The LENS simulation analysis suggests that the anthropogenic signal of increased fire risk had not yet emerged in 2019 because of the CESM's internal variability, but that the anthropogenic signal will emerge by the 2040–2080 period. The effect of warming temperatures dominates the effect of enhanced precipitation in the trend towards increased fire risk.


SYNOPSIS: This study examines whether and how a nonprofit organization's financial efficiency and its solicitation type—namely, whether it allows donors the ability to restrict contributions to their preferred choices—influence individual donations. We find that a nonprofit organization's financial efficiency indirectly influences individual donations through its effect on donors' confidence. We also find that a nonprofit organization receives significantly more donations when it allows donors to restrict donations to their preferred choices than when it does not. This positive effect is greater when the organization reports low efficiency than when it reports high efficiency. Thus, allowing the restriction of donations not only influences individual donations directly, but also compensates for the effect of low efficiency on donations.


Size, shape and processing of the inorganic fillers are important for improving properties of nanocomposites. In this paper, a novel nanofiller containing mesoporous silica(MS) and fibrous sepiolite(SE) was prepared by in situ deposition method. EP/MS-SE nanocomposite was obtained by adding MS-SE to epoxy resin(EP) matrix. Morphologies and mechanical properties of the new ternary nanocomposite were investigated. For purpose of comparison, the corresponding binary nanocomposites, i.e., EP modified with either MS or SE, were tested as well. The test results of mechanical properties show that MS improves the strength of EP and SE obviously enhances the toughness of EP, but oM-MS exhibits synergistic effect on toughening and reinforcing of EP at the same time. Dynamic mechanical analysis revealed that the glass transition temperature and storage modulus of the EP/MS-SE nanocomposite was higher than those of pure EP.


In this paper, the thermal effect on the buckling and vibration of laminated composite plates with an arbitrary initial stress is presented. The governing equations including the transverse shear deformation effects are established using the variation method. The initial stress is taken to be a combination of pure bending stress and a uniform normal stress in the example problems. Temperature distribution in the laminate plate is assumed to be combined uniform and linear temperature change in the transverse direction. The effects of various parameters on the thermal induced vibration and stability of laminated composite plates are studied. It is found that the initial stress, rise temperature and elastic modulus cause drastic changes in the thermal vibration and buckling behavior of laminated composite plates. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.mech.22.1.8682


Stress and psychiatric illness have been associated with a dysregulation of glutamatergic neurotransmission. Recently, positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) of the metabotropic glutamate 2 (mGlu2) receptor have been found to exert antidepressant-like activity in rats performing under a differential reinforcement of low rate (DRL) 72-s schedule. An autoreceptor role at glutamatergic synapses is the most salient physiological role played by the mGlu2 receptor. Adenosine A1 receptors play a heteroreceptor role at many of the same forebrain synapses where mGlu2 autoreceptors are found. Agonists and/or PAMs of mGlu2 receptors act similarly to adenosine A1 receptor agonists with respect to a wide range of electrophysiological, biochemical, and behavioral responses mediated by limbic circuitry thought to play a role in the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric disease and to mediate therapeutic drug effects. Therefore, the role of adenosine A1 receptor activation on rat DRL 72-s behavior was explored to provide preclinical evidence consistent or inconsistent with potential antidepressant effects. The adenosine A1 receptor agonist N6-cyclohexyladenosine (CHA) increased the reinforcement rate, decreased the response rate, and induced a rightward shift in inter-response time distributions in a dose-dependent fashion similar to most known antidepressant drugs. The adenosine A1 receptor antagonist 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine (DPCPX) blocked these antidepressant-like effects. These novel observations with CHA and DPCPX suggest that activation of adenosine A1 receptors could contribute to antidepressant effects, in addition to previous preclinical reports of anxiolytic and antipsychotic effects. By implication, targeting a dysregulated glutamatergic system may be an important principle in discovering novel antidepressant agents that may also possess anti-impulsive activity.


The aim of this chapter is to give the reader a comparison between conventional electrical networks and future Smart Grid. The infrastructure of conventional electrical networks will be reviewed followed by highlighting their main characteristics. The motives behind modernizing conventional electrical networks which led to the development of the Smart Grid concept will be discussed. This is followed by discussing evolution of the Smart Grid concept. Finally, the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), which is considered as the fundamental and first step to the overall modernization of conventional electrical networks, will be covered.


The problem of assessing the quality of a given, or estimated, model is a central issue in system identification. Various new techniques for estimating bias and variance contributions to the model error have been suggested in recent literature. In this contribution, classical model validation procedures are placed at the focus of our attention. We discuss the principles by which we reach confidence in a model through such validation techniques and also how the distance to a "true" description can be estimated this way. In particular, we stress how the typical model validation procedure gives a direct measure of the model error of the model test without referring to its ensemble properties. Several model error bounds are developed for various assumptions about the disturbances entering the system.


In this paper, a novel neuro-fuzzy computing system is proposed where its learning is based on the creation of fuzzy relations by using a new implication method without utilizing any exact mathematical techniques. Then, a simple memristor crossbar-based analog circuit is designed to implement this neuro-fuzzy system which offers very interesting properties. In addition to high connectivity between neurons and being fault tolerant, all synaptic weights in our proposed method are always non-negative, and there is no need to adjust them precisely. Finally, this structure is hierarchically expandable, and it can do fuzzy operations in real time since it is implemented through analog circuits. Simulation results confirm the efficiency and applicability of our neuro-fuzzy computing system. They also indicate that this system can be a good candidate to be used for creating artificial brain.


Contributors and consultants Part 1 Disorders (in alphabetical order) Part 2 Drugs (in alphabetical order) Appendices Preventing miscommunication in drug administration Combination drugs: Indications and dosages Drugs by therapeutic class Selected references Index


The literature shows that electronic payments are key to improving financial inclusion and achieving global development goals such as the United Nation's (UNs) Sustainable Development Goals. The benefits are premised on the welfare-enhancing effects of digital payments, which reduce costs, the probability of loss and risk for low-income consumers, as well as improve access to formal financial services. This study thus investigates the conditions under which these welfare-enhancing gains can be obtained. It considers the conditions under which e-payments can be welfare enhancing by using qualitative data from Zimbabwe. The severe liquidity constraints in Zimbabwe provide a good case for evaluating how well e-payments work, as the relative absence of cash has made the use of mobile money inevitable. Focus group data are analysed to understand participants' everyday experiences with the e-payment system in Zimbabwe. The results indicate that the key challenges with payment systems faced by households include high costs, malfunctions of the system at the point of sale, lengthy refund processes and limited acceptance. Participants indicate a strong preference for foreign exchange cash as a mode of payment. High levels of concentration in the mobile money market, lack of transparency by financial service providers and a strong preference for cash by retailers are the main drivers of system failure. Therefore, this study identifies the need for the government to address the lack of competition in the market, as well as address macroeconomic liquidity constraints.