Young children search for cues about gender—who should or should not do a particular activity, who can play with whom, and why girls and boys are different. From a vast array of gendered cues in their social worlds, children quickly form an impressive constellation of gender cognitions, including gender self-conceptions (gender identity) and gender stereotypes. Cognitive perspectives on gender development (i.e., cognitive developmental theory and gender-schema theory) assume that children actively search for ways to make sense of the social world that surrounds them. Gender identity develops as children realize that they belong to one gender group, and the consequences include increased motivation to be similar to other members of their group, preferences for members of their own group, selective attention to and memory for information relevant to their own sex, and increased interest in activities relevant to their own sex. Cognitive perspectives have been influential in increasing understanding of how children develop and apply gender stereotypes, and in their focus on children's active role in gender socialization.


BACKGROUND
Little is known about the impact of sleep disturbances (SD) or sleep-related impairment (SRI) in adults with AD or their relationship with severity of AD and itch and other predictors.

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between AD severity, SD, and SRI.

METHODS
We conducted a prospective online questionnaire-based study of 287 adults with AD, including assessment of AD severity by Patient-Oriented Eczema Measure, self-reported global AD severity, Self-Assessed Eczema Area and Severity Index and visual analog scale-itch, Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System SD and SRI individual items, and T scores.

RESULTS
Adults with AD commonly endorsed all SD and SRI symptoms examined; only 58 (21.8%) reported having good or very good sleep quality in the past week. However, only a minority of adults with AD endorsed a more profound impact from these individual aspects of SD and SRI in the past week or Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System T scores greater than 55. In particular, SD and SRI were associated with severe or very severe AD (Patient-Oriented Eczema Measure, self-reported severity, visual analog scale-itch, and/or Self-Assessed Eczema Area and Severity Index). Sleep-related impairment was also associated with comorbid hay fever and/or anxiety.

CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that SD and SRI are common in adults with AD, particularly those with severe diseases. Sleep disturbances and SRI should be considered when assessing burden of AD and therapeutic decisions.


An experimental test rig has been constructed which is capable of recreating within a laboratory setting the dynamic response exhibited by a prime mover onto a motor – generator assembly. The prime mover can simulate from real or modeled time series data any varying source such as a wind turbine, a hydraulic motor or a wave energy air turbine. The initial application around which the test rig has been designed is a wave energy converter. In this regard, the case study considered in this paper is the emulation of a floating Oscillating Water Column – Wells turbine device operating under a number of sea states. Particular attention has been given to the control algorithm of such a converter and to the effect on device performance including the flywheel storage. Simulations were conducted in Matlab/Simulink and results demonstrate by means of peak to average power ratios that significant improvements in the system's performance were achieved for any given sea state with the addition of a flywheel energy storage device. In particular, the ratios for power exported to the grid were seen to improve by up to a factor of 4.5.


Preterm born children have more behaviour problems than term born children. Perinatal risks, current child functioning, sociodemographic characteristics, parental psychological distress and parental perceptions of child vulnerability (PCV) have been shown to be risk factors for behaviour problems. However, the role of maternal and paternal PCV is unclear, as these have not been investigated as a risk factor for behaviour problems, with all other risk factors taken into account. Aim of this study is to investigate whether maternal and paternal PCV are independent risk factors for behaviour problems in very preterm (VP) and term born children. The present study is a single centre prospective cohort study. Preterm children (n = 104), born at <30 weeks' gestation and/or birth weight <1000 g, and term children (n = 95) were assessed at age 5. Results showed that risk factors for parent-rated behaviour problems were low/middle parental education, VP birth, parental stress and, in VP children, maternal PCV. Risk factors for teacher-rated behaviour problems were low/middle parental education, foreign parental country of birth, intrauterine growth restriction and objective child vulnerabilities. It can be concluded that maternal PCV is a risk factor for parent-rated behaviour problems in VP children. When VP children are presented with behavioural problems, clinicians ought to be aware of the possibility that parents might still perceive their child as vulnerable. The neonatal history of the child, the way parents experienced that period, their perceptions of the child and possible consequences of these perceptions could be subjects for conversation during visits at follow-up clinics. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In light of the riots and unrest among immigrants in France during the fall of 2005, the question of how immigrants are faring with respect to a certain minimum in society is both a timely and pertinent question for a number of European countries. In Norway, the prevalence of poverty is alarmingly high among immigrants and stands in stark contrast to the very low poverty rates for the native Norwegian population. Thus, unless the high poverty rates in the immigrant population are just a temporary feature of the immigrants' initial period of adjustment in the host country, poverty among immigrants is a cause for concern in Norway, too. This paper wishes to serve as a complement or extension of previous studies of immigrant adjustment; the study also aims to provide insights on the substantial heterogeneity -- observed, unobserved and unobservable -- in the immigrant population in Norway.


Mountain social‐ecological systems (MtSES) are vital to humanity, providing ecosystem services to over half the planet's human population. Despite their importance, there has been no global assessment of threats to MtSES, even as they face unprecedented challenges to their sustainability. With survey data from 57 MtSES sites worldwide, we test a conceptual model of the types and scales of stressors and ecosystem services in MtSES and explore their distinct configurations according to their primary economic orientation and land use. We find that MtSES worldwide are experiencing both gradual and abrupt climatic, economic, and governance changes, with policies made by outsiders as the most ubiquitous challenge. Mountains that support primarily subsistence‐oriented livelihoods, especially agropastoral systems, deliver abundant services but are also most at risk. Moreover, transitions from subsistence‐ to market‐oriented economies are often accompanied by increased physical connectedness, reduced diversity of cross‐scale ecosystem services, lowered importance of local knowledge, and shifting vulnerabilities to threats. Addressing the complex challenges facing MtSES and catalyzing transformations to MtSES sustainability will require cross‐scale partnerships among researchers, stakeholders, and decision makers to jointly identify desired futures and adaptation pathways, assess trade‐offs in prioritizing ecosystem services, and share best practices for sustainability. These transdisciplinary approaches will allow local stakeholders, researchers, and practitioners to jointly address MtSES knowledge gaps while simultaneously focusing on critical issues of poverty and food security.


The conventional symbolic learning algorithm can not infer data that contains fuzzy information. In the past few years, we have designed a parallel loop scheduling method called KPLS based upon a knowledge based approach, that chooses an appropriate schedule for a different loop to assign loop iterations to a multiprocessor system for achieving high speedup rates. Unfortunately, we found that the attributes that were applied in KPLS contain some fuzzy information, which are inapplicable to the traditional symbolic learning strategy for inferring some concept descriptions. In this paper, we apply a fuzzy set concept to an AQR learning algorithm that is called FAQR. FAQR which can induce fuzzy linguistic rules from fuzzy instances is then proposed to solve the above parallel loop scheduling problem. Some promising inference rules have been found and applied to infer the choice of parallel loop scheduling. We apply FAQR to the IRIS flower classification problem. Experimental results show that our method yields high accuracy in both domains.


Death, like most experiences that we think of as 'natural', is a product of the human imagination: all animals die, but only human beings suffer Death; and what they suffer is shaped by their own time and culture. Tragedy was one of the principal instruments through which the culture of early modern England imagined the encounter with mortality. The essays in this book approach the theatrical reinvention of Death from three perspectives. Those in Part 1 explore Death as a trope of apocalypse - a moment of un-veiling or dis-covery that is figured both in the fearful nakedness of the Danse Macabre and in the shameful 'openings' enacted in the new theatres of anatomy. Separate chapters explore the apocalyptic design of two of the period's most powerful tragedies - Shakespeare's Othello, and Middleton and Rowley's The Changeling. In Part 2, Neill explores the psychological and affective consequences of tragedy's fiercely end-driven narrative in a number of plays where a longing for narrative closure is pitched against a particularly intense dread of ending. The imposition of an end is often figured as an act of writerly violence, committed by the author or his dramatic surrogate. Extensive attention is paid to Hamlet as an extreme example of the structural consequences of such anxiety. The function of revenge tragedy as a response to the radical displacement of the dead by the Protestant abolition of purgatory - one of the most painful aspects of the early modern re-imagining of death - is also illustrated with particular clarity. Finally, Part 3 focuses on the way tragedy articulates its challenge to the undifferentiating power of death through conventions and motifs borrowed from the funereal arts. It offers detailed analyses of three plays - Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra, Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, and Ford's The Broken Heart. Here, funeral is rewritten as triumph, and death becomes the chosen instrument of an heroic self-fashioning designed to dress the arbitrary abruption of mortal ending in a powerful aesthetic of closure.


The myriad of litigation and class action suits surrounding Syngenta's Viptera corn covers many issues that have been well addressed in previous litigation and literature. However, the case of Syngenta v Bunge raised the fascinating issue of 'regulatory lag', i.e., a situation where there are significant delays in approval of a GM product in an emerging export market, or differences in the regulatory approval timetable between significant export markets. In this case, Syngenta argued that Bunge's blanket refusal to accept Viptera corn into its facilities because China had not yet approved the variety, even though the variety was approved in the United States and in many other larger export markets, amounted to illegal activity that would cause significant harm to Syngenta. Although the litigation was ultimately settled in December 2014 by a confidential agreement between the parties, the case raises significant issues for the technology developers, producers, handlers, processers and shippers in instances where 'regulatory lag' is occurring or is possible. This article examines the legal implications of these lags for these parties, including an examination of their potential legal obligations and liabilities.


Potassium-ion
batteries have been envisioned to herald the age of low-cost and
high-performance energy storage systems. However, the sparsity of viable
components has dampened the progress of these energy devices. Thus, herein, we
report coronene, a high-voltage cathode
material that manifests a high-voltage of 4.1 V enkindled by anion
(de)insertion. This work not only illuminates the broad class of polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons as prospective cathode materials but also sets a new
benchmark for the performance of future organic cathode materials.


The synthesis and characterisation of constrained geometry scandium permethylindenyl chloride, aryloxide and borohydride complexes Me2SB(tBuN,I*)Sc(Cl)(THF) (1), Me2SB(tBuN,I*)Sc(O-2,6-iPr-C6H3)(THF) (2), Me2SB(tBuN,I*)Sc(O-2,4-tBu-C6H3)(THF) (3) and Me2SB(tBuN,I*)Sc(BH4)(THF) (4) are reported. The activity of complexes 1-4 as initiators for the ring-opening polymerisation (ROP) of l- and rac-lactide is presented. The ROP of l- and rac-lactide using complexes 2 and 3 show first-order dependence on monomer concentration, and produced isotactic polylactide (PLA) and moderately heterotactic PLA (Pr = 0.68-0.72), respectively. Good agreement between experimental and theoretical molecular weights of PLA (Mn) and relatively narrow dispersities (Mw/Mn < 1.20) were obtained. Complex 4 showed higher activity for ROP of l- and rac-lactide than 2 or 3, with second-order dependence on monomer concentrations. However, poorly controlled molecular weights and lower heteroselectivity (Pr = 0.61-0.67) were observed. The effect of temperature and catalyst concentration for the ROP of l-lactide using 2 and 3 was also studied.


The intertwined relationship between urban functionality and human activity has been widely recognized and quantified with the assistance of big geospatial data. In specific, urban land uses as an important facet of urban structure can be identified from spatiotemporal patterns of aggregate human activities. In this article, we propose a space, time and activity cuboid based analytical framework for clustering urban spaces into different categories of urban functionality based on the variation of activity intensity (T-fiber), mixture (A-fiber) and interaction (I- and O-fiber). The ability of the proposed framework is empirically evaluated by three case studies.


3D printing has recently been applied to many areas of life including education, healthcare, aerospace, automotive, industrial design and other domains in industry. Due to the fact that the benefit of 3D printing is significant, the copyright issue of 3D printing has been become essentially and importantly. To solve the copyright issue of 3D printing, we would like to propose a 3D printing watermarking algorithm based on the mean distance of 2D slices in this paper. In the proposed method, 3D printing model is sliced into a set of 2D slices, and each 2D slice is then embedded a bit of watermark data by changing the length of mean distance of that slice. Finally, the coordinates of points in each 2D slice will be altered according to the changed mean distance value of 2D slice which has been embedded watermark bit. Experimental results showed that the mean distance error between the watermarked 2D slices and the original 2D slices is very small. The bit error rate (BER) between the extracted watermark and the original watermark is also very low. So, we verify that the invisibility of the proposed method is effective, and the proposed method is also robust to geometric attacks as rotation, scaling, and translation. Comparing to the conventional works, the proposed method also provides a solution with better accuracy.


Luteinizing hormone concentration in the blood serum and luliberin content in the hypothalamic arcuate body and medial eminence were determined in castrated mature rats 1, 3, 6, 12, 24 hours afte single injections of testosterone and its 5 alpha-reduced metabolites (dihydrotestosterone, 5 alpha-androstane-3 alpha, 17 beta-diol and 5 alpha-androstane-3 beta, 17 beta-diol) at a dose of 2.5 x 10(-7) kg/kg body weight by radioimmunoassay. Principal differences between testosterone and its 5 alpha-reduced metabolite action on the hypothalamohypophyseal system were detected from the stand point of their effectiveness and the effect realization rate.


Tissue and plasma concentration of peptide YY (PYY) were measured by means of a radioimmunoassay (RIA) developed in our laboratory, using a specific PYY antiserum generated in New Zealand white rabbits against synthetic PYY, and dextran-coated charcoal to terminate the assay. Cellular localization of PYY was studied immunohistochemically using the peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) technique. The highest tissue concentration of PYY was found in the mucosa of the terminal ileum and colon. PYY-containing secretory granules were primarily found in the basal pole of open-type endocrine cells. Basal plasma concentration of PYY was 70 +/- 9 pg/ml and rose to 357 +/- 30 pg/ml during the IV administration of PYY at 400 pmol/kg-h. A significant correlation was found (r = 0.94, p less than 0.05) between dose of PYY (12.5, 25, 50, 100, 200, 400 pmol/kg-h, IV) and plasma concentration of PYY. The calculated half-life of PYY in plasma was 8.3 +/- 1.9 minutes. Plasma concentration of PYY during the intraduodenal administration of sodium oleate (150 +/- 20 pg/ml) or long-chain triglyceride (187 +/- 37 pg/ml) was similar to plasma concentration of PYY obtained during the IV administration of PYY at 100 pmol/kg-h. Plasma concentration of PYY raised (126 +/- 10 pg/ml) after the administration of bombesin (400 pmol/kg-h, IV). Bile enhanced release of PYY. The present study suggests a hormonal role for PYY.


Movements of white-tailed deer fOdocoileus virginianus Rafinesque) in the eastern Great Plains and Midwest were examined. The proportion of deer that move between distinct summer and winter home ranges varies among different populations. Seasonal migration between home ranges is influenced primarily by phenological period, agricultural activities, and the availability of cover and food. Corn provides a nearly unlimited source of cover and food in summer and early fall. In late fall and early winter, deer move to areas of permanent cover, such as wooded river bottoms, draws, or slopes. Hunting, crop harvest, or seasonal change may influence deer movements and distribution, depending on the past experi ences of individual deer and their situation. Emigration rates increase with deer population density because of increased social pressures, increases may or may not be proportional to the increase in overall populations. The ability of white-tailed deer to adapt to human activities has allowed them to thrive throughout the region, and current populations are stable to increas ing. The availability of large tracts of secure winter cover and safe travel corridors between seasonal ranges are the primary factors limiting their populations.


Targeting at recognizing and localizing action instances with only video-level labels during training, Weakly-supervised Temporal Action Localization (WTAL) has achieved significant progress in recent years. However, living in the dynamically changing open world where unknown actions constantly spring up, the closed-set assumption of existing WTAL methods is invalid. Compared with traditional open-set recognition tasks, Open-world WTAL (OW-TAL) is challenging since not only are the annotations of unknown samples unavailable, but also the fine-grained annotations of known action instances can only be inferred ambiguously from the video category labels. To address this problem, we propose a Cascade Evidential Learning framework at an evidence level, which targets at OWTAL for the first time. Our method jointly leverages multi-scale temporal contexts and knowledge-guided prototype information to progressively collect cascade and enhanced evidence for known action, unknown action, and background separation. Extensive experiments conducted on THUMOS-14 and ActivityNet-v1.3 verify the effectiveness of our method. Besides the classification metrics adopted by previous open-set recognition methods, we also evaluate our method on localization metrics which are more reasonable for OWTAL.


Viruses that infect bacteria are the most abundant biological agents on the planet and bacteria have evolved diverse defense mechanisms to combat these genetic parasites. One of these bacterial defense systems relies on a repetitive locus, referred to as a CRISPR (clusters of regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats). Bacteria and archaea acquire resistance to invading viruses and plasmids by integrating short fragments of foreign nucleic acids at one end of the CRISPR locus. CRISPR loci are transcribed and the long primary CRISPR transcript is processed into a library of small RNAs that guide the immune system to invading nucleic acids, which are subsequently degraded by dedicated nucleases. However, the development of CRISPR-mediated immune systems has not eradicated phages, suggesting that viruses have evolved mechanisms to subvert CRISPR-mediated protection. Recently, Bondy-Denomy and colleagues discovered several phage-encoded anti-CRISPR proteins that offer new insight into the ongoing molecular arms race between viral parasites and the immune systems of their hosts.


OBJECTIVE
To study the quality of life, health satisfaction and family impact on caregivers of children with developmental delays in Taiwan.

DESIGN
Cross-sectional study.

SUBJECTS
The caregivers of children with diagnoses of developmental delays recruited from a teaching hospital in northern Taiwan.

METHODS
The main caregivers of 48 male and 22 female children with developmental delays were recruited. WHOQOL-BREF for health-related quality of life (HRQOL), PedsQL-Health Satisfaction for health satisfaction, PedsQL-Family Impact Module and Impact on Family Scale for family impact were evaluated. The correlation of caregivers' HRQOL, health satisfaction and family impact were also studied.

RESULTS
Caregivers in nuclear families had higher health satisfaction scores (78.2 for nuclear families vs. 66.9 for extended families, P < 0.05) when assessed by the PedQL-Health Satisfaction questionnaire. Children's age was negatively correlated with family impact, including parent (-0.272, P = 0.023), family (-0.262, P = 0.029) and total scores (-0.281, P = 0.018) as assessed using the PedsQL-Family Impact Module.

CONCLUSION
A negative relation between impact of burden and child's age suggests that family members gradually adapt to the delayed developmental status in their children as they grow. Caregivers in nuclear families having higher health satisfaction than those in extended families may be due to Chinese cultural effects.


Abstract Is the social media hype about being cool or about making money? For Adam Froman, the answer is easy: Marketers need to be very clear about how social media activity supports overall business strategy. Only if the digital experience fi ts into the whole customer journey will consumers become engaged and add value to the company … and only then will the social brand become cool.


Purpose: To examine the hypothesis that alternative flush media could be used for lower extremity optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging in long lesions that would normally require excessive use of contrast. Methods: The OPTical Imaging Measurement of Intravascular Solution Efficacy (OPTIMISE) trial was a single-center, prospective study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01743872) that enrolled 23 patients (mean age 68±11 years; 14 men) undergoing endovascular intervention involving the superficial femoral artery. Four flush media (heparinized saline, dextran, carbon dioxide, and contrast) were used in succession in random order for each image pullback. Quality was defined as ≥270° visualization of vessel wall layers from each axial image. Mean proportions (± standard deviation) of image quality for each flush medium were assessed using 1-way analysis of variance and are reported with the 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Four OCT catheters failed, leaving 19 patients who completed the OCT imaging protocol; from this cohort, 51 highest quality runs were selected for analysis. Average vessel diameter was 3.99±1.01 mm. OCT imaging allowed 10- to 15-μm resolution of the lumen border, with diminishing quality as vessel diameter increased. Plaque characterization revealed fibrotic lesions. Mean proportions of image quality were dextran 87.2%±12% (95% CI 0.81 to 0.94), heparinized saline 74.3%±24.8% (95% CI 0.66 to 0.93), contrast 70.1%±30.5% (95% CI 0.52 to 0.88), and carbon dioxide 10.0%±10.4% (95% CI 0.00 to 0.26). Dextran, saline, and contrast provided better quality than carbon dioxide (p<0.001). Conclusion: OCT is feasible in peripheral vessels <5 mm in diameter. Dextran or saline flush media can allow lesion characterization, avoiding iodinated contrast. Carbon dioxide is inadequate for peripheral OCT imaging. Axial imaging may aid in enhancing durability of peripheral endovascular interventions.


The concentrations of N (CN) and interstitial metal defects (CMi) and the film thickness (d) dependent microstructure and optical and electrical properties of InGaZnON thin films deposited by RF sputtering are studied. The thin films have a C-axis aligned crystalline structure with increased grain size and CMi and CN with rising substrate temperature and power during sputtering. The average visible optical transmittance (Tr) of 80% decreases with the increased d. The lowered Tr in the infrared region with the increment of free carrier absorption is observed. The refractive index and extinction coefficient and dielectric constants increase, and band gap decreases from 2.8 to 2.2 eV, due to the increased CN and d. The electrical resistivity decreases from 0.1 to 5.0 E-3 Ω.cm and the work function increases from 2.8 to 3.7 eV with the increased free carrier concentration (Ne). The electrical properties are air-stable stored for 1000 hrs due to the N passiviated surface. The thermoelectric properties, including the Seebeck coefficient (S) and power factor and electric thermal conductivity from 300 to 673 K, are evaluated. The S and extracted electron effective mass are temperature and Ne depended. The electron mean path and scattering time and plasma energy at room temperature are calculated.


Abstract
 A new post-fertilisation stage, consisting of secondary connecting filaments produced from the primary connecting filament in the vicinity of the auxiliary cell branch system, was observed in Mediterranean monocarpogonial and polycarpogonial species of Kallymenia. In the monocarpogonial species the connecting filaments were formed from a little modified primary connecting filament close to the auxiliary cell and in the polycarpogonial species they were produced from a highly modified, swollen, hyaline portion of the primary connecting filament that remained attached to the auxiliary cell. Since most of these connecting filaments were seen clearly linked by pit connections in both instances, they are interpreted as secondary connecting filaments produced in essentially the same way as the primary connecting filaments that derive from the carpogonial branch fusion cell.


Phospholipase C (PLC) is best known for its role in generating second messengers by hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP 2 ) in mammalian cells. In plants however, PLC's role is less clear as plants lack the prime targets for both inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (i.e. a ligand-gated Ca 2+ channel) and diacylglycerol (i.e. protein kinase C and TRP-type ion channels). The genome of Arabidopsis thaliana encodes for 9 PLC genes. Here, we analyzed the role of PLC3 . Promoter-GUS analyses revealed that PLC3 is specifically expressed in the vascular tissue (most likely phloem) of roots, leaves and flowers, but also in guard cells and at the base of trichomes. Knock-out mutants of PLC3 were found to be affected in seed germination, root development and stomatal closure. Using in vivo 32 P i -lipid labeling analyses, we found that ABA stimulated the formation of PIP 2 in wild type germinating seeds, seedlings and guard cell-enriched leaf peels, but not in plc3 mutants. The latter displayed decreased sensitivity to ABA during seed-germination inhibition and ABA induced-stomatal closure. Overexpression of PLC3 enhanced drought tolerance and decreased stomatal aperture. Together, our results uncovered novel roles for PLC3 in ABA signaling and plant development. buffers as above at a flow rate of 1ml/min. An on-line IN/US radiation detector was used to generate chromatograms. Four ml of Ultima-Flo AP scintillation cocktail (Perkin Elmer, Waltham, MA, USA) was added to each 1 ml eluted fraction post-detector to quantify the radioactivity of the eluted fractions using the 3 H window of a Beckman Coulter LS6500 Scintillation Counter. Scintillation counts were graphed using MicroSoft Excel. The 3 H- myo -Ins cpm incorporated into total IPPs was calculated by taking the sum of cpm of all fractions and subtracting the peak of free 3 H-Ins cpm. The amount of each IPP was calculated as follows: [( Σ cpms in peak) / (total IPP)]*100].


Organelles, proteins, and mRNA are transported bidirectionally along microtubules by plus-end directed kinesin and minus-end directed dynein motors. Microtubules are decorated by microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) that organize the cytoskeleton, regulate microtubule dynamics and modulate the interaction between motor proteins and microtubules to direct intracellular transport. Tau is a neuronal MAP that stabilizes axonal microtubules and crosslinks them into bundles. Dysregulation of tau leads to a range of neurodegenerative diseases known as tauopathies including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Tau reduces the processivity of kinesin and dynein by acting as an obstacle on the microtubule. Single-molecule assays indicate that kinesin-1 is more strongly inhibited than kinesin-2 or dynein, suggesting tau might act to spatially modulate the activity of specific motors1-4. To investigate the role of tau in regulating bidirectional transport, we isolated phagosomes driven by kinesin-1, kinesin-2, and dynein and reconstituted their motility along microtubules5. We find that tau biases bidirectional motility towards the microtubule minus-end in a dose-dependent manner. Optical trapping measurements show that tau increases the magnitude and frequency of forces exerted by dynein through inhibiting opposing kinesin motors. Mathematical modeling indicates that tau controls the directional bias of intracellular cargoes through differentially tuning the processivity of kinesin-1, kinesin-2, and dynein. Taken together, these results demonstrate that tau modulates motility in a motor-specific manner to direct intracellular transport, and suggests that dysregulation of tau might contribute to neurodegeneration by disrupting the balance of plus- and minus-end directed transport.


A low cost 1.5 GHz and 200 MHz dual channel broadband receiver IC for Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) is described. The SSOP-28 packaged Si bipolar device provides 28 dB of conversion gain, 4 dB NF and 50 dB 1M3 suppression to a common 920 MHz IF. Two novel 30 dF3 variable gain, 2.4 dB NF, low noise amplifiers are integrated with doubly balanced mixers, VCO, dual modulus prescaler, AGC and power management circuitry. With a companion IF IC, filters, and 20 MHz Frequency Synthesizer, it forms a complete DAB receiver for large dynamic range signals between -97 and -5 dBm.


Author(s): Vu, An Thanh | Advisor(s): Gallant, Jack L | Abstract: Gradient-echo blood oxygen level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD fMRI) is one of the most powerful and widely used tools for studying neural processing in the human brain. However, BOLD fMRI is limited to measuring neural activity indirectly through blood oxygen concentration and is heavily biased toward large draining veins. Although this large vein bias is often ignored when interpreting results of BOLD fMRI experiments, it can lead to inaccurate estimates of the strength, location, and cortical extent of underlying neural activity. In this dissertation, novel methods utilizing the entire complex-valued BOLD signal are proposed. These methods provide robust localization of large veins and quantification of large vein contributions to studies using gradient-echo BOLD fMRI.The BOLD fMRI signal is complex-valued consisting of both magnitude and phase components. Although most experiments using BOLD fMRI only analyze the magnitude component, the phase component exhibits BOLD activity exclusively from large veins. Thus the phase component can either be used to enhance or suppress BOLD activity from large veins. The work here demonstrates that by using the phase component to enhance magnitude component BOLD activity, functional signal-to-noise ratio (fSNR) is improved equivalent to collecting 115% more data. This improvement is expected to increase at higher field strengths and spatial resolutions. By using the phase component to suppress large vein contributions, it is found that current understanding of semantic category representation may actually reflect vascular differences rather than neural differences across cortex. By suppressing large vein contributions using the methods proposed here, gradient-echo BOLD fMRI can more closely reflect underlying neural activity.


This paper aims to (1) analyze the relationship between rice exports and economic growth for the world's top four exporting countries (Thailand, Vietnam, India, and the U.S) and (2) seek to determine to what extent market power affects a country's economic growth. The main objective of this paper is to determine to what extent economic growth impacts a country's rice exports as well as to what extent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) impacts a country's ability to export rice. This analysis also examines the impact of market power on economic growth. On the basis of these results, we examine the existence of market power in the international rice market with respect to rice supply, and moreover, propose that there is a bi-directional causality between the international rice trade and economic growth for major rice exporting countries.


The Cooperative Cardiovascular Project (CCP) is a nationwide quality improvement project (quality indicator measurement, feedback, remeasurement) in Medicare acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients sponsored by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). In Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, 3,472 baseline records were abstracted from 76 hospitals from January 1994 to February 1995. After feedback, 2,270 remeasurements were collected from October 1996 to May 1997. At remeasurement, performance improved significantly for "ideal" candidates (defined by the CCP) on five quality indicators-aspirin during hospitalization 88% to 93% (p < .001), thrombolytic timing 60% to 69% (p <.01), discharge aspirin 83% to 90% (p < .001), discharge beta-blockers 69% to 82% (p < .01), and calcium channel blocker avoidance 83% to 93% (p < .05). Reperfusion, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, and smoking cessation advice did not improve significantly. This study demonstrates that evidence-based indicators, nationally designed data collection, and locally based interventions can significantly improve AMI care.


Complications of shoulder arthroplasty can present significant treatment challenges and complexity especially in the setting of periprosthetic humeral fractures. This paper will provide a review of timing and location of these fractures, classification, imaging modalities to best assess both the implant stability as well as fracture pattern, treatment strategies, and results. The goal in the management of this complication is to restore component stability and maximize shoulder arthroplasty implant survivorship as well as patient functional outcomes.


Interpretability of a deep neural network aims to explain the rationale behind its decisions and enable the users to understand the intelligent agents, which has become an important issue due to its importance in practical applications. To address this issue, we develop a Distillation Guided Routing method, which is a flexible framework to interpret a deep neural network by identifying critical data routing paths and analyzing the functional processing behavior of the corresponding layers. Specifically, we propose to discover the critical nodes on the data routing paths during network inferring prediction for individual input samples by learning associated control gates for each layer's output channel. The routing paths can, therefore, be represented based on the responses of concatenated control gates from all the layers, which reflect the network's semantic selectivity regarding to the input patterns and more detailed functional process across different layer levels. Based on the discoveries, we propose an adversarial sample detection algorithm by learning a classifier to discriminate whether the critical data routing paths are from real or adversarial samples. Experiments demonstrate that our algorithm can effectively achieve high defense rate with minor training overhead.


There are a variety of procedures to use once a common bile duct stone is discovered at the time of cholecystectomy. To be cost-effective, the surgeon must know how much money will be spent with each procedure chosen. Cost data is largely unavailable because costs are difficult to estimate and charge data are jealously guarded. In addition, costs are not the same at different hospitals and therefore cannot be compared. The factors that increase costs for treating bile duct stones are outlined in this report and real costs are used from one hospital to help with illustration. Surgical costs vary with the severity of the disease, the amount of operating room time required, and length of stay. These surgical costs can be avoided by choosing endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, but the new costs increase almost twice that of a successful laparoscopic common bile duct exploration. Knowledge of the pattern of choledocholithiasis, the varieties of treatment, the cost implications, and the outcomes of each are the subject of this report.


Based on how to construct the work environment of collaborative product design under manufacturing supply chain, three elements including task, department and role were introduced into collaborative model, which were consisted of the TD-RBAC model and jointly decided the authorization that subject could access to the object. Further, the authorization strategy and control strategy of TD-RBAC model was analyzed, which solved the access control problem faced with suppliers, customers and internal users of core enterprise under the environment of collaborative product design, and also achieved the access control in organizational levels among the members of collaborative product design. On this basis, the ontology was introduced to construct the knowledge concept hierarchy to achieve the knowledge-based access control management. Combining the four levels of knowledge concept hierarchy with TD-RBAC model, the knowledge sharing model in collaborative product design was established using UML.


This article deals with the new method for producing solid lubricant coatings on hard alloy tools by thermohydrochemical treatment (THCT). The results of investigation of the tribotechnical properties of solid lubricant coatings obtained on hard alloy ВК6 grade (94 % WC + 6 % Co) using THCT method are presented. The composition of the medium and the temperature and the time parameters of THCT process were optimized by the friction coefficient of solid lubricant coatings. The diagrams of "parameters of process–property" were constructed using mathematical models. Processing by optimal THCT regime of ВК6 hard alloy in hydrosol medium based on TiO2 MoO3 makes it possible under the condition of lubrication absence to decrease the friction coefficient of hardalloy surface by 3,8–4,2 times as compared with untreated.


Antithrombotic drugs like vitamin K antagonists and heparin have been the gold standard for the treatment and prevention of thromboembolic disease for many years. Unfortunately, there are several disadvantages of these antithrombotic drugs: they are accompanied by serious bleeding problems, it is necessary to monitor the therapeutic window and there are various interactions with food and other drugs. This has led to the development of new oral anticoagulants, specifically inhibiting either thrombin or factor Xa. In terms of effectiveness, these drugs are comparable to the currently available anticoagulants, however they are still associated with issues such as bleeding, reversal of the drug and complicated laboratory monitoring. Vitamin K antagonists, heparin, direct thrombin and factor Xa inhibitors have in common that they target key proteins of the hemostatic system. In an attempt to overcome these difficulties we investigated whether the intrinsic coagulation factors (VIII, IX, XI, XII, prekallikrein and high-molecular weight kininogen) are superior targets for anticoagulation. We analyzed epidemiological data concerning thrombosis and bleeding in patients deficient in one of the intrinsic pathway proteins. Furthermore, we discuss several thrombotic models in intrinsic coagulation factor-deficient animals. The combined results suggest that intrinsic coagulation factors could be suitable targets for anticoagulant drugs.


The polarisation degree and angle of the X-ray flux emitted by astrophysical objects holds valuable information on the responsible emission mechanisms and on the emission environments. PoGOLite is a balloon-borne hard X-ray polarimeter designed to measure polarisation using a segmented plastic scintillator array. The instrument was launched for its first scientific, near-circumpolar, flight in July 2013 from the Esrange Space Centre in Northern Sweden. The primary observation target for this flight, the Crab, was observed during the first 2 days of flight. One of the main challenges for PoGOLite is the relatively high measurement background, predicted to be induced by atmospheric neutrons. No measurement data on the neutron environment for the flight conditions of PoGOLite is however available, making exact predictions impossible. This environment was therefore studied in detail. A Monte Carlo based model of the atmospheric neutron flux was developed. This model is capable of providing differential neutron energy spectra for all altitudes, latitudes and solar activities. The predictions of this model were found to be in good agreement both with measurement data, measured by high altitude aircraft, and with predictions by location and time specific models. The results from the model were verified with data recorded by a purpose-build balloon-borne neutron detector, PoGOLino. The PoGOLino instrument uses novel neutron sensitive LiCAF scintillators sandwiched between BGO crystals which serve as an anti-coincidence system. PoGOLino was launched from the Esrange Space Centre to an altitude of 31 km on March 20th 2013 and performed the first successful measurements of the neutron flux for the PoGOLite flight conditions. Using the developed model the background as measured by the PoGOLite mission in 2013 was studied. Monte Carlo simulations were used to confirm that the PoGOLite background during flight is dominated by neutrons. The simulated neutron induced signal rate and its variations with time were furthermore found to be in good agreement with measurements. Based on these results the implications of the background on the polarisation measurements of the Crab were studied. Lastly, based on the acquired knowledge of the background, changes to the instrument geometry for potential future flight of PoGOLite were studied along with the expected achievable improvement in performance for such flights.


Introduction: Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy is considered the gold standard treatment for the large renal stones. Retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) is considered an option for the small renal stones only and even that with very low energy laser lithotripsy. Low energy laser lithotripsy in RIRS is a slow process. High energy laser is thought to be dangerous and difficult to handle. Over the period of a year we gradually adopted high energy laser (10-100watts) fragmentation in RIRS. This procedure was way faster than low energy dusting and we started treating bigger and bigger stones with this modality. We present our experience with high energy laser fragmentation in RIRS in large renal calculi in adults above 14years. Methods: All patients undergoing high energy laser fragmentation for renal calculi at our institution from August 2018 to October 2019 were reviewed. Demographics, surgical details and post-operative follow-up information were obtained to identify stone clearance rates and complications. Results: High energy laser fragmentation in RIRS was performed in 58 renal units, 54 patients (Mean age: 23.8years). The mean stone diameter was 22mm (Range: 15-32mm). Bilateral RIRS was done in 8 patients. Overall, 26 multiple calyceal stones and 32 single stones were treated. Pre-stenting was done in 53 patients. The mean anaesthesia duration for the procedure was 40minutes (Range: 25-123minutes). Out of 54 patients, 52 (96.3%) were completely stone free after 2 weeks. Only 2 patient had residual stone fragments and needed extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy. Both of them became stone free after single session of ESWL. There was no significant bleeding or sepsis encountered either during the operation or in the post-operative setting. No visual difficulty was experienced with high energy laser on fragmentation settings. Conclusion: High energy laser fragmentation in RIRS is a safe and fast procedure for large renal stones. It may challenge PCNL in near future.


In this thesis I examine the remediation of pilgrimage practices through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). If mediation is the engine of subject and object formation, the relationship between human and non-human aspects of the world, representations and experiences, meanings and interpretations, then remediation is about the transformations of these performative relations. Through ethnography and internet-based research, I take the concept of mediation as an analytical tool to study a set of practices in order to 1) extend the study of mediation and sociotechnical configurations within Science and Technology Studies (STS) to the domain of pilgrimage, and 2) gain a deeper understanding of pilgrimage through the lens of STS. The site of my research is the shrine of Imam Reza in Mashad, Iran. This thesis looks at remediations of pilgrimage at the shrine of Iman Reza over the last 10 years. It begins with an analysis of the use of landline telephones for remediated pilgrimage practices and traces further reconfigurations through which mediated pilgrimage is experienced today, including the mobile phone, Virtual Reality glasses, and applications on the web. Key themes emerging from the analysis are sensory experience, absence, emotions and (im)mobility. These themes shape the structure of this thesis, and also act as a scaffolding for a deeper understanding of pilgrimage remediated through the use of ICTs. This thesis contributes to research in the fields of media studies (specifically studies of remediation), science and technology studies, and pilgrimage studies. I argue that in the process of remediation social beings and technological artifacts are reproduced and reconfigured, at the same time that they mutually implicate each other. Shiite Iranians, in their use of ICTs, actively take part in shaping their connection to Imam Reza, demonstrating their creativity and openness in accommodating technologies for their religious purposes, at the same time that ICTs in return reshape and reconfigure what it is to be a pilgrim. This makes remediated pilgrimage an experience that is not coherent and stable, but rather always in the making. This research shows remediated pilgrimage through the use of ICTs to be continually crafted, making it multiple, transformative, contested and complex.


VSC-HVDC has become an important member in the field of power electronics with application in transmission systems thanks to its capability of fast response operation and independent control of active and reactive power. An appropriate control strategy and a correct selection of input signals allow the VSC-HVDC to enhance transient stability, damp power oscillations and provide voltage support in power systems in a significant way. This paper presents, as part of a development of a multichoice control for a VSC-HVDC, the derivation of a control strategy for transient stability, based on control Lyapunov function. The VSC-HVDC is represented by a general model, referred to as injection model which represents the VSC-HVDC as an element in the power system that provides adequate interaction with other system elements.


The ancient rock-markings known as "Bilobites," and afterwards described by D'Orbigny under the name of Cruziana, have long been known, and have proved a fertile source of controversy, some regarding them as plant-remains, and others looking upon them as traces of animals. A host of smaller, but similar markings, such as Rysophycus or simpler forms, as Palæochorda, or the various very constant and symmetrical varieties known as Nereites and Myrianites, or those with a more plant-like outline, as Chondrites, all belong to the same line of inquiry. Few writers on the Cambrian and Silurian rocks have not had to refer to what they called fucoidal markings, or worm-tracks, which often have their importance increased by being the only traces of life in the bed. Throughout the geological series to the present day, similar things are found. But though observations on the tracks made by recent animals had long ago been made by Emmons (American Geology, Pt. vi. 1857), and though Dawson had watched and recorded the various markings produced between tides on the long shores of the Bay of Fundy (Acadian Geology, p. 25), it has remained for Nathorst, in his splendid monograph on "Tracks of Invertebrate Animals" (K. Svenska Vet. Academiens Handlingar, Band xviii. No. 7), to place the whole question on a new footing by his experiments with living marine animals, and his extended observations on recent and fossil forms. The very full bibliography given by him renders it unnecessary to refer more particularly to the various authors


This study investigated the effect of operational risk on equity returns of Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), using a population consisted of 19 listed deposit money banks in the Nigeria Stock Exchange. 15 DMBs were purposively selected for a period of 15 years 2005 to 2019. Descriptive and inferential statistics were explored for the data analysis which was sourced from the published financial statements of the banks, using dynamic and static panel data. Diagnostics tests were carried out since the application of the Hausman test provided the criteria for choosing between Random Effect Models and Fixed Effect Models. Breusch and Pagan Lagrangian multiplier test was employed to confirm the Hausman test results in order to decide between Random Effects and Pooled OLS. Correlation Matrix for multicollinearity test and cross-sectional dependent test were equally carried out for the study. Three models were estimated, based on the three proxies of the dependent variable. The study found that operational risk had a statistically positive significant effect on return on equity (ROE), while operational risk equally exhibited statistically positive significant effect on ROA. When the controlling variable of FSIZE was introduced, the study exhibited stronger effects which demonstrates that operational risk had a statistically positive effect on ROE, while operational risk with FSIZE had a statistically positive effect on ROA. The study recommends that DMBs managers should carefully carry out due diligence on loan applicants, to ascertain performance trend and creditworthiness of potential and prospective borrowers before advancing loans in order to reduce huge profiles of credit risk exposures.


Abstract. Decision makers in fluvial flood risk management increasingly acknowledge that they have to prepare for extreme events. Flood risk is the most common basis on which to compare flood risk-reducing strategies. To take uncertainties into account the criteria of robustness and flexibility are advocated as well. This paper discusses the added value of robustness as an additional decision criterion compared to single-value flood risk only. We do so by quantifying flood risk and system robustness for alternative system configurations of the IJssel River valley in the Netherlands. We found that robustness analysis has added value in three respects: (1) it does not require assumptions on current and future flood probabilities, since flood consequences are shown as a function of discharge; (2) it shows the sensitivity of the system to varying discharges; and (3) it supports a discussion on the acceptability of flood damage. We conclude that robustness analysis is a valuable addition to flood risk analysis in support of long-term decision-making on flood risk management.


ABSTRACT We develop a dynamic model to examine how information nudges influence digital services' consumer usage behavior and welfare under a three-part tariff structure. We study two types of information nudging: nudging through full and nudging through partial information provision. In the former, information nudges are provided to inform consumers of their usage status at every decision point in a billing cycle. In contrast, in the latter, consumers are nudged at one or more decision points within a billing cycle but not throughout the billing cycle. Our model considers two dimensions of consumer heterogeneity: inattentiveness and preference. Furthermore, our model investigates an important but under-investigated design element of information nudges, namely, the timing of the information nudges. We find that (1) nudging through information provision influences inattentive consumers' usage decisions and improves consumption efficiency, (2) consumers' welfare gains from full information nudging depict an inverted-U shape contingent on consumers' preference heterogeneity, and (3) the timing of nudging matters. Our findings provide managerial implications for the design of information nudging strategies and procedures. Finally, we empirically illustrate the analytical results in the context of consumers' mobile data usage behavior.


Immunomodulatory (IMiD) agents like lenalidomide and pomalidomide induce the recruitment of IKZF1 and other targets to the CRL4CRBN E3 ubiquitin ligase, resulting in their ubiquitination and degradation. These agents are highly active in B-cell lymphomas and a subset of myeloid diseases but have compromised effects in T-cell lymphomas (TCLs). Here we show that two factors determine resistance to IMiDs among TCLs. First, limited CRBN expression reduces IMiD activity in TCLs but can be overcome by newer-generation degrader CC-92480. Using mass spectrometry, we show that CC-92480 selectively degrades IKZF1 and ZFP91 in TCL cells with greater potency than pomalidomide. As a result, CC-92480 is highly active against multiple TCL subtypes and showed greater efficacy than pomalidomide across 4 in vivo TCL models. Second, we demonstrate that ZFP91 functions as a bona fide transcription factor that co-regulates cell survival with IKZF1 in IMiD-resistant TCLs. By activating keynote genes from WNT, NF-kB, and MAP kinase signaling, ZFP91 directly promotes resistance to IKZF1 loss. Moreover, lenalidomide-sensitive TCLs can acquire stable resistance via ZFP91 rewiring, which involves casein kinase 2 (CK2) mediated c-Jun inactivation. Overall, these findings identify a critical transcription factor network within TCLs and provide clinical proof of concept for the novel therapy using next-generation degraders.


BACKGROUND
Complement regulatory proteins have become important targets to potentially modulate inflammatory reactions or transplant rejection. Since pig into human xenotransplantation could potentially overcome the enormous shortage of donor organs and tissues, characterization of porcine complement regulatory proteins is critical.

METHODS
The porcine CD59 cDNA has been isolated from porcine aortic endothelial cells and its structure determined. In addition, a molecular genetic analysis of the gene and its transcriptional properties and a functional analysis have been performed utilizing the transfected cDNA.

RESULTS
The most prominent mRNA species is 1.8 kilobases but cloned reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction products suggest that multiple polyadenylation sites are utilized. Gene mapping was performed utilizing a polymorphism identified in the 3' UT, and the gene was localized to within 3 cM of follicle-stimulating hormone, beta polypeptide in the middle of the chromosome 2 linkage map. RNA expression was equivalent in endothelial, kidney, and testis cell lines. Comparisons have been made with CD59 sequences from other species to identify possible important domains of the protein. The cDNA has been utilized to express an epitope-tagged or wild-type protein either transiently on COS-7 cells or stably in Chinese hamster ovary cells. The porcine CD59 protein effectively inhibited the antibody-mediated lytic activity of both porcine and human complement. In contrast to human CD59, porcine CD59 is incapable of providing costimulation to human T cells.

CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that overexpression of porcine CD59 might be more effective than human CD59 in prolonging xenograft survival with transgenic pig organs because of reduced immunoreactivity.


The balance between selfing and outcrossing is a life history trait of major concern with deep evolutionary consequences in mixed mating species. Yet, our current understanding of the proximate and ultimate determinants of species' mating system is still unsatisfactory and largely theoretical. Indeed, evolutionary biologists are still puzzled by the often dramatic variation of mating strategies within single species. Of particular concern is the extent to which environmental conditions shape patterns of variation and covariation of mating system components within species. Here, we address this concern in the common morning glory (Ipomoea purpurea) by taking advantage of an extensive dataset of floral traits, genetic estimates of selfing and inbreeding, and relevant environmental factors compiled for 22 populations of this species distributed along a disparate set of environments along Southeast and Midwest USA. Combining a powerful array of parametric and model-free statistical approaches, we robustly identify a set of natural and anthropogenic environmental factors underlying population-level variation in selfing, inbreeding, and flower morphology. Remarkably, individual mating system components are found to be associated with different environmental factors and only loosely associated with each other, and thus potentially under multiple different selective pressures. These results not only corroborate theoretical expectations of the significant role the environment plays in the local determination of mating systems, but also provide compelling evidence of complex underlying interactions between multiple evolutionary processes.


Gastrobiopsy specimens obtained from 15 patients, in whom gastroscopy examination pointed to gastric cancer and primary gastric lymphoma was later diagnosed in surgical material after gastrectomy, were immunostained using the anti MIB-1 antibody to assess the proliferative index. A control study was carried out on representative surgical specimens from these patients and on 10 gastrobiopsy specimens from patients in whom histopathology revealed moderate/severe gastritis. The proliferative activity was assessed with respect to the type of lymphoma (primary gastric marginal zone B-cell lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue MALT type vs. diffuse large B-cell lymphoma) and stage of the lymphoma, and we compared the proliferative indices between inflammatory infiltrate and lymphoma cells. There were significant differences in the proliferative indices between inflammatory infiltrate and lymphoma cells, with immunohistochemical reactivity for MIB-1 antigen being visible even in the case of markedly mechanically damaged (crushed) gastrobiopsy material and accompanying necrosis. There were also differences in the proliferative indices between the groups of lymphomas varying in stage, although without statistical significance. There were no statistical differences in the rate of proliferation between lymphomas varying in "malignancy". The present results argue for the auxiliary role of the assessment of proliferative activity in gastrobiopsy material facilitating differentiation between inflammatory infiltrate and neoplastic infiltrate, especially in cases where mechanical damage or necrosis do not allow for precise histopathological evaluation.


In this article I examine the growth of the New Age movement as an example of an invented tradition similar to those of 19th century nationalists. Unlike earlier inventions, the New Age is global in cultural and political perspective especially in its emphases upon borrowing from many cultures and the interconnectedness of humans and the environment. I focus on a case study of the growth of the earth energies movement as an example of a New Age invented tradition. I show this tradition to be a synthesis of orthodox and alternative theories about prehistory and modern New Age practices including the rediscovery of ley lines, the growth of astroarchaeology, Chinese geomancy or feng shui, occult theories of gematria, and dowsing.


Video action detectors are usually trained using datasets with fully-supervised temporal annotations. Building such datasets is an expensive task. To alleviate this problem, recent methods have tried to leverage weak labeling, where videos are untrimmed and only a video-level label is available. In this paper, we propose RefineLoc, a novel weaklysupervised temporal action localization method. RefineLoc uses an iterative refinement approach by estimating and training on snippet-level pseudo ground truth at every iteration. We show the benefit of this iterative approach and present an extensive analysis of five different pseudo ground truth generators. We show the effectiveness of our model on two standard action datasets, ActivityNet v1.2 and THUMOS14. RefineLoc shows competitive results with the stateof-the-art in weakly-supervised temporal localization. Additionally, our iterative refinement process is able to significantly improve the performance of two state-of-the-art methods, setting a new state-of-the-art on THUMOS14.


This thesis addresses the Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) problem, a key problem for any truly autonomous mobile robot. The task for the robot is to build a map of its environment and simultaneously determine its own position in the map while moving. The problem is examined from an estimation-theoretic perspective. The focus is on the core estimation algorithm which provides an estimate for the map and robot pose from two sensor inputs: The first sensor is odometry, i.e. the observation of the robot's movement from the revolution of its wheels. The second is the observation of environment features, so called landmarks. The optimal solution based on maximum likelihood or least square estimation needs excessive computation time, i.e. O((n + p)) for n landmarks and p robot poses. Popular approaches like Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) are more efficient but still need O(n) computation time and suffer from linearization errors. The first contribution of this thesis is an analysis of SLAM, in particular under the aspect of the inherent uncertainty structure of a map estimate. The key result can be phrased as "Certainty of relations despite uncertainty of positions". The discussion further analyzes the linearization error in SLAM and identifies the error in the robot's orientation as dominant source. The second and main contribution is a very efficient SLAM algorithm that works by hierarchically dividing the map into local regions and subregions. At each level of the hierarchy each region stores a matrix representing some of the landmarks contained in this region. On the level of finest subdivision, i.e. the lowest level, these matrices are naturally small because the regions are small and contain few landmarks only. On higher levels regions are large and contain many landmarks. For keeping the matrices stored at higher levels small only those landmarks are represented being observable from outside the region. This way it is ensured that even on high levels of hierarchy each matrix represents only few landmarks and computation is efficient. A measurement is integrated into a local subregion using O(k) computation time for k landmarks in a subregion. When the robot moves to a different subregion a global update is necessary requiring only O(k log n) computation time. Furthermore, the proposed hierarchy allows "nonlinear rotation" of the matrix stored at a certain region. Thereby linearization problems can be removed. The algorithm is evaluated for map quality, storage space and computation time using simulation experiments and experiments with a real mobile robot in an office environment. 5


Background: Older adults with advanced non-dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease (NDD-CKD) face a high risk of hospitalization and related adverse events. Methods: This prospective cohort study followed nephrology clinic patients ≥60 years old with NDD-CKD stages 4-5. After an eligible patient's office visit, study staff asked the patient's provider to rate the patient's risk of death within the next year using the surprise question ("Would you be surprised if this patient died in the next 12 months?") with a 5-point Likert scale response (1, "definitely not surprised" to 5, "very surprised"). We used a statewide database to ascertain hospitalization during follow-up. Results: There were 488 patients (median age 72 years, 51% female, 17% black) with median estimated glomerular filtration rate 22 mL/min/1.73 m2. Over a median follow-up of 2.1 years, the rates of hospitalization per 100 person-years in the respective response groups were 41 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 34–50), "very surprised"; 65 (95% CI: 55–76), "surprised"; 98 (95% CI: 85–113), "neutral"; 125 (95% CI: 107–144), "not surprised"; and 120 (95% CI: 94–151), "definitely not surprised." In a fully adjusted cumulative probability ordinal regression model for proportion of follow-up time spent hospitalized, patients whose providers indicated that they would be "definitely not surprised" if they died spent a greater proportion of follow-up time hospitalized compared with those whose providers indicated that they would be "very surprised" (odds ratio 2.4, 95% CI: 1.0–5.7). There was a similar association for time to first hospitalization. Conclusion: Nephrology providers' responses to the surprise question for older patients with advanced NDD-CKD were independently associated with proportion of future time spent hospitalized and time to first hospitalization. Additional studies should examine how to use this information to provide patients with anticipatory guidance on their possible clinical trajectory and to target potentially preventable hospitalizations.


According to design ideas of the frame of the 170 tons dump truck, and allaying effects on the frame carling from the lift oil cylinder support (LOCS), the lift oil cylinder support of float support structure (LOCSFSS) is designed by optimization technology. Then, hydraulic pressure lifting system is emulated by one-dimensional emulation, and the load curve is gotten during lifting. Based on the load curve, LOCSFSS and the frame carling are all analyzed by explicit dynamics. Afterward, contrasts and analysis are done among float support structure and the other two traditional structures of jointing on bottom steel board structure (JBSBS) and carling structure (CS). Results of that indicate LOCSFSS is obviously better than the other two structures.


The combination of two factors demands the need to find a solution that guarantees the well-being of the people suffering from chronic diseases. On the one hand, the increase of the life expectancy leads to an older world's population. On the other hand, the aged are more likely to suffer from chronic diseases and/or injuries. This thesis deals with the design of an Ultra-Wideband-based node of a Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) network. This node must be able to measure, collect and transmit some medical parameters of a patient. Existing RPM networks use two different hardware platforms: one for measuring and another one for transmitting. This leads to high cost and high power consumption. Since a RPM network is typically composed by hundreds or thousands of nodes, a new platform with lower cost and power consumption is vital to make such a system work. This thesis explores the viability to achieve the dual-mode operation: Radar Mode (RM) to obtain a certain parameter and Data Transmission Mode (DTM) to send it to another node. A platform using Impulse-Radio Ultra-Wideband (IR-UWB) has been proposed to accomplish this goal. The simulations done verified its feasibility. Moreover, the physical experiments carried out validated the transmitter. Nevertheless, due to time and hardware limitations, the receiver has not been experimentally validated yet.


The neem tree Azadirachta indica Juss (Meliaceae) is one of the most studied plant species for pest control, including mosquitoes. However, the effect of aqueous neem seed extracts (ANSE) on each of the 4 instars of mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae) is unknown. In order to determine the effect of applying ANSE on the growth of each of the 4 larval instars and pupal stage of C. quinquefasciatus, 8 bioassays with ANSE concentrations ranging from 30 to 1000 ppm were applied to larvae of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th instars. The experimental unit consisted of a plastic cup with 100 ml of water and 20 larvae. 1 ml of the different concentrations of ANSE was applied. Mortality was assessed when 93 to 98% of the larvae reached the pupae stage in the control. In the surviving population the duration of larval stages and pupae viability were recorded. The growth of larvae and development of pupae was recorded to determine a growth inhibition index (GII) and a relative growth index (RGI), which was used to calculate the EC50 (concentration of ANSE that caused 50% reduction in RGI) for each larval stage. The concentrations of 460, 440, 410 and 550 ppm inhibited the growth of 50% the population of larvae of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th instars, respectively; concentrations  500 and 700 ppm applied to larvae of 1st and 2nd instar, respectively, prevented the formation of pupae and concentrations  700 ppm prevented the emergence of adults in 4th instar larvae. The results showed that the different treatments inhibited the growth of larvae and pupae, prevented the formation and inhibited the development of pupae and reduced larvae and pupae viability.


In this paper, the adaptive control design is investigated for the chaos synchronization of two identical hyperchaotic Liu systems. First, an adaptive control law with two inputs is proposed based on Lyapunov stability theory. Secondly, two other control schemes are obtained based on a further analysis of the proposed adaptive control law. Finally, numerical simulations are presented to validate the effectiveness and correctness of these results.


Objectives:To provide an overview of key elements of the Affordable Care Act. To evaluate ways in which the Affordable Care Act will likely impact the practice of critical care medicine. To describe strategies that may help health systems and providers effectively adapt to changes brought about by the Affordable Care Act. Data Sources and Synthesis:Data sources for this concise review include search results from the PubMed and Embase databases, as well as sources relevant to public policy such as the text of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and reports of the Congressional Budget Office. As all of the Affordable Care Act's provisions will not be fully implemented until 2019, we also drew upon cost, population, and utilization projections, as well as the experience of existing state-based healthcare reforms. Conclusions:The Affordable Care Act represents the furthest reaching regulatory changes in the U.S. healthcare system since the 1965 Medicare and Medicaid provisions of the Social Security Act. The Affordable Care Act aims to expand health insurance coverage to millions of Americans and place an emphasis on quality and cost-effectiveness of care. From models which link pay and performance to those which center on episodic care, the Affordable Care Act outlines sweeping changes to health systems, reimbursement structures, and the delivery of critical care. Staffing models that include daily rounding by an intensivist, palliative care integration, and expansion of the role of telemedicine in areas where intensivists are inaccessible are potential strategies that may improve quality and profitability of ICU care in the post-Affordable Care Act era.


Purpose: Gentamicin is commonly prescribed for treatment of gram-negative bacterial infections. It has, however, been known to have vestibulotoxic and ototoxic effects in humans. Previous studies were confounded by the use of other types of ototoxic drugs, higher than therapeutic doses, and prolonged time periods between gentamicin administration and death. The purpose of this study is to observe the effects of parenteral gentamicin administration on the sensorineural elements of the cochlea in which the previously described factors did not exist. Materials and Methods: Temporal bone specimens were divided into 2 groups. Group 1 included 16 "normal" temporal bones with no history or histopathologic findings of otologic disease or ototoxic drug administration, and group 2 included 17 temporal bones that received gentamicin treatment within 6 months before death. Temporal bones were excluded from group 2 if patients had histopathologic findings or history of otologic disease and/or other ototoxic drugs. All temporal bones were examined under light microscopy. Results: The percentages of intact outer hair cells in the basal turn was significantly greater in group 1 compared with group 2. There was no significant difference in hair cell number between the groups in the other turns. There was no significant difference in the number of spiral ganglion cells between groups in any turn. Conclusion: Although gentamicin is primarily considered to be vestibulotoxic, this study showed that gentamicin can damage sensorineural elements of the cochlea, even in younger patients. During the administration of this drug, hearing of the patient should be carefully monitored. (Am J Otolaryngol 2004;25:313-317. © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)


The microstructure evolution of the supercooling austenite for the eutectoid carbon steel during deformation was analyzed. The experiment results show that during deformation part of the supercooling austenite transformed to pearlite. The pearlite transformation began around the grain boundary. The interlamellar spacing of the pearlite was fine. In addition, the kinetics of the austenite to pearlite transformation during deformation was discussed in detail. The analysis indicates that the kinetics of the pearlite transformation under deformation can be described by the Avrami equation: . Particularly, in the Avrami equation the value b varied obviously with the change of the deformation conditions. However, the influence of the deformation conditions on the value n was little.


This article concerns settlers introduced into a territory under a territorial regime that is illegal under international law. Such regimes usually take one of two forms. One is of entities which effectively operate as States and claim statehood on the basis of acts unlawful under international law; the other is established States which act as sovereigns over areas outside their recognized national territories, in violation of international law. The article focuses on one specific phenomenon associated with illegal regimes, namely the introduction or implantation of large settler populations into the territory under dispute. Illegal regimes often transfer of their own populations or populations loyal to them into the territory, and subsequently grant these populations residence or nationality in the territory. This is done in order to change the demographic composition of the territory under dispute and thereby solidify the regime. The article examines this phenomenon at a specific moment, namely when the illegal regime is replaced by a lawful one. The legal power of the lawful, post-transition regime to reverse the acts of the illegal regime by removal of settlers may be limited in various ways. There may be an obligation to give effect to whatever status the illegal regime conferred upon the settlers, on the basis of the law of occupation or of the law of non-recognition. Expulsion may also be limited by the operation of human rights law and standards applicable to long-term residents, in regardless of the original impermissibility of their arrival in the territory. The article studies in depth six cases of transition from an illegal regime to a lawful one. In five of them the process of transition to a legal regime has been completed: the transition from Ian Smith's regime in Rhodesia to independent Zimbabwe (1980), Namibia's transition from South African administration to Independence (1990), the restoration of the independence of the Baltic States following the annexation by the Soviet Union (1991), South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy and the elimination of the TBVC States (Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei) (1994), and East Timor's independence following Indonesian annexation (2002). The sixth case is the prospective reunification of the Republic of Cyprus with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which has yet to take place but has been negotiated in detail. Part 2 sets out the historical and legal circumstances of each of the cases examined. Part 3 focuses on potential constraints on expulsion of settlers based on the status of the settlers. Part 4 focuses on constraints on expulsion of settlers arising from substantive human rights law. Part 5 concludes by comparing the practice in the various cases investigated by reference to the parameters established earlier.


Cyber journalism is a term coined following the convergence of various
traditional media brought about by the proliferation of media industries due
to current influx of new technology and globalisation. Cyber journalism is
made possible by the internet technology and globalisation. Cyber journalism
has gained importance over the past years and new terms are attached to
it – some popular ones are internet journalism, online journalism, blogs and
citizen journalism. Cyber journalism is functioning as a pervasive medium
along with the traditional media such as print and electronic. However, cyber
journalism has created a big vacuum in journalism education and training since
it is a recent development in journalism and journalism educators are caught
unprepared. Whilst journalism educators are well groomed and prepared towards
the epistemology of journalism education and well aware of the demands of
professionalism in the real world, the emergence of cyber journalism has brought
new challenges to schools offering journalism courses. Journalism educators
have to strike a balance between the demands of new journalism knowledge
and professionalism. Furthermore with the onset of new technologies, the
definition of cyber journalist has gone beyond the realm of journalistic education.
Anybody who is techno-savvy can become a cyber-journalist. The question of
epistemology, professionalism, responsibility and credibility have now become
an epitome of cyber journalism. This paper will discuss the fundamentals of
cyber journalism and strategies in bridging the gap between professionalism
and the epistemology.


Phone-level pronunciation scoring is a challenging task, with performance far from that of human annotators. Standard systems generate a score for each phone in a phrase using models trained for automatic speech recognition (ASR) with native data only. Better performance has been shown when using systems that are trained specifically for the task using nonnative data. Yet, such systems face the challenge that datasets labelled for this task are scarce and usually small. In this paper, we present a transfer learning-based approach that leverages a model trained for ASR, adapting it for the task of pronunciation scoring. We analyze the effect of several design choices and compare the performance with a state-of-the-art goodness of pronunciation (GOP) system. Our final system is 20% better than the GOP system on EpaDB, a database for pronunciation scoring research, for a cost function that prioritizes low rates of unnecessary corrections.


Bridging the gap between designing digital artefacts and implementing them is still an open issue, despite agile system development. Interaction design is a design practice, whereas software engineering describes itself as engineering and science. There is a long tradition in design of discussing materials and the craft of making artefacts. Thus, if we have a material, it is reasonable to say that we have a craft. If programming language code is a design material, then, making a finished artefact is the shaping of that material. The development process can thus continue as a design process up to version 1.0. This calls for a new the role of software engineering in project and a change programming education.


People with low vision have a visual impairment that affects their ability to perform daily activities. Unlike blind people, low vision people have functional vision and can potentially benefit from smart glasses that provide dynamic, always-available visual information. We sought to determine what low vision people could see on mainstream commercial augmented reality (AR) glasses, despite their visual limitations and the device's constraints. We conducted a study with 20 low vision participants and 18 sighted controls, asking them to identify virtual shapes and text in different sizes, colors, and thicknesses. We also evaluated their ability to see the virtual elements while walking. We found that low vision participants were able to identify basic shapes and read short phrases on the glasses while sitting and walking. Identifying virtual elements had a similar effect on low vision and sighted people's walking speed, slowing it down slightly. Our study yielded preliminary evidence that mainstream AR glasses can be powerful accessibility tools. We derive guidelines for presenting visual output for low vision people and discuss opportunities for accessibility applications on this platform.


Arterial ageing is a process that can be quantified, at least to some degree, by measurement of pulse wave velocity along the aorta, the largest elastic artery, as a marker of arterial stiffness. In recent years the new concept of early vascular ageing (EVA) has been developed by a group of mostly European researchers and some reviews have been published. Based on a lecture given at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) Meeting in Vienna 2014, this review was written to describe recent developments in research dedicated to EVA and new emerging aspects found in studies of families at high cardiovascular (CV) risk. This brings new perspectives related to genetics, telomere biology, and the role of gut microbiota. Even if EVA has been described in general terms there is still no unifying definition available and no direct treatment, only recommendations for conventional CV risk factor control. However, a new intervention study (SPARTE) is ongoing in France with a randomised design to treat arterial stiffness in patients with hypertension versus conventional treatment strategies. Results are expected in a few years and will be of importance in defining the role of arterial stiffness, a core feature of EVA, as a target for treatment.


KG (Knowledge Generation) and understanding have traditionally been a Human-centric activity. KE (Knowledge Engineering) and KM (Knowledge Management) have tried to augment human knowledge on two separate planes: the first deals with machine interpretation of knowledge while the later explore interactions in human networks for KG and understanding. However, both remain computer-centric. Crowdsourced HC (Human Computations) have recently utilized human cognition and memory to generate diverse knowledge streams on specific tasks, which are mostly easy for humans to solve but remain challenging for machine algorithms. Literature shows little work on KM frameworks for citizen crowds, which gather input from the diverse category of Humans, organize that knowledge concerning tasks and knowledge categories and recreate new knowledge as a computer-centric activity. In this paper, we present an attempt to create a framework by implementing a simple solution, called ExamCheck, to focus on the generation of knowledge, feedback on that knowledge and recording the results of that knowledge in academic settings. Our solution, based on HC, shows that a structured KM framework can address a complex problem in a context that is important for participants themselves.


In the paper dynamic gravity models are estimated for the agricultural trade of six new EU Member States (the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia) with selected countries and trade groupings between 1996 and 2005. In general, we find low income elasticities and high price elasticities of import demand for agricultural commodities. The lagged values for trade were highly significant. The accession to the EU increased the new Member States' exports, but had less impact on their imports. The new Member States have gained significantly from liberalized access to the EU agri-food market.


A recurrent network is proposed with the ability to bind image features into a unified surface representation within a single layer and without capacity limitations or border effects. A group of cells belonging to the same object or surface is labeled with the same activity amplitude, while cells in different groups are kept segregated due to lateral inhibition. Labeling is achieved by activity spreading through local excitatory connections. In order to prevent uncontrolled spreading, a separate network computes the intensity difference between neighboring locations and signals the presence of the surface boundary, which constrains local excitation. The quality of surface representation is not compromised due to the self-excitation. The model is also applied on gray-level images. In order to remove small, noisy regions, a feedforward network is proposed that computes the size of surfaces. Size estimation is based on the difference of dendritic inhibition in lateral excitatory and inhibitory pathways, which allows the network to selectively integrate signals only from cells with the same activity amplitude. When the output of the size estimation network is combined with the recurrent network, good segmentation results are obtained. Both networks are based on biophysically realistic mechanisms such as dendritic inhibition and multiplicative integration among different dendritic branches.


Essential thrombocythemia is a rare hematological malignancy with good overall survival, but moderate to high risk of developing arterial or venous thrombosis lifelong. Different thrombotic risk scores for patients with essential thrombocythemia have been proposed, but only one of them (the IPSET-t scoring system) takes into account the classical cardiovascular risk factors as one of the scoring items. Currently, in clinical practice, the presence of cardiovascular risk factors in patients with diagnosis of ET rarely determines the decision to initiate cytoreductive therapies. In our study, we compared different risk models to estimate the thrombotic risk of 233 ET patients and the role of specific driver mutations and evaluated the impact that conventional cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, cigarette smoking, diabetes, obesity, and dyslipidaemia) have on thrombotic risk in patients with ET. Perspective studies conducted on a polycentric large cohort of patients should be conducted to estimate the impact of cardiovascular risk factors in determining thrombosis in ET patients, evaluating the opportunity of initiating a cytoreductive therapy in patients with cardiovascular risk factors, even if classified into low to moderate risk groups according to other scoring systems.


Open biomedical repositories, such as PubMed Central (PMC), are a means to make research discoverable and permanently accessible. Assessing the potential interest of key stakeholders in an Australasia PubMed Central was the objective of this research. The investigation is novel, assisting in the development of open science infrastructure through its systematic analysis of the potential interest in, and viability of a biomedical repository for managing openly accessible research outputs for the Australasia region. The research adopted a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews and a focus group. Forty-four stakeholders located throughout Australia and New Zealand participated in the research. Participants expanded upon their experience of PubMed, MEDLINE, PMC and their use of information resources for research and clinical practice. The Evidence Based Healthcare (EBHC) pyramid was the theoretical model adopted to explain open biomedical repository processes. A strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis identified support for exploring membership of an international PMC system, in particular Europe PMC. Lessons learnt from PMC US, Europe PMC and PMC Canada (collectively known as PubMed Central International) informed the investigation. A major strength identified was that PubMed Central International has been able to achieve high levels of compliance way beyond that of most institutional repositories. A great threat faced is overcoming the difficulties of working together with other major world bodies and financially sustaining an Australasia PMC. Improving Australasian biomedical knowledge management processes may be possible from adopting a PMC for retrieving and transferring research, linked to the data underlying the research. This in turn could help put regional research under a brighter spotlight, potentially leading to improvements in research quality. There is an opportunity for a potential Australasia PMC to harvest biomedical research from the National Library of Australia's aggregator database, Trove and work closely with Europe PMC to avoid duplication of effort. Overall, establishment of an Australasia permanent biomedical digital open repository is perceived as important, with significant potential flow-on benefits to healthcare, industry and society.


The present thesis evaluates the responses of the contemporary Greek foreign policy structures and processes, conceptualised as the Greek foreign policy system, in the face of the transformation of world politics. This transformation, precipitated by the concurrent complex processes of globalisation and regionalisation, pose empirical and analytical challenges to the national management of foreign policy. Consequently, government departments and agencies assigned with responsibility for the conduct of what has been traditionally termed foreign policy, namely the national foreign policy machinery with the foreign ministry and the diplomatic network at its core, find themselves challenged as roles and responsibilities are relocated. Such change underpins the machinery s institutional responses and the need to rethink its role and structure.
The thesis synthesises several literatures, primarily those identified with international relations, transformational foreign policy analysis, and new approaches to diplomatic studies informed by insights from institutionalist approaches. This is combined with extensive fieldwork within the Greek bureaucracy and the diplomatic network, and seeks to cast light on a relatively understudied area: namely the organisation and nature of the Greek foreign policy system in an era of considerable change.
The thesis draws a dual image of the contemporary Greek foreign policy system which displays elements of both continuity and change. According to the first image, the Greek foreign policy machinery embraces contemporary foreign policy developments, and is enmeshed in a process of change and adaptation as a response to its changing operational environment. The second image depicts the foreign policy system as traditionalist conforming to geopolitical approaches, which are linked to compartmentalisation in the organisation of foreign policy. This image is supported by evidence which suggests that the Greek foreign policy machinery is infused with elements of hierarchy, centralisation and verticality in its organisation, which prevent the adoption of integrated and horizontal models prescribed by globalist approaches to the management of foreign policy.


New educational methods and approaches are recently introduced and implemented at several North American and European universities using Problems and Projects Based Approach (PPBA). The PPBA employs a teaching technique based mostly on competences/skills rather than only on knowledge. This method has been implemented and proven by several pedagogical instructors and authors at several educational institutions. This approach is used at different disciplines such as medicine, biology, engineering and many others. It has the advantage to improve the student's skills and the knowledge retention rate, and reflects the 21 st century industrial/company needs and demands. Before implementing this approach to a course, a good resources preparation and planning is needed upfront by the responsible or instructor of the course to achieve the course and students related objectives. This paper presents the preparation, the generated documentation and the implementation of a pilot project utilizing PPBA education for a second year undergraduate electronic course over a complete semester, and for two different class groups (morning and evening groups). The outcome of this project (achieved goals, observed difficulties and lessons learned) is presented based on different tools such as students 'in class' communication and feedback, different course evaluation forms and the professor/instructor feedback. Resources, challenges, difficulties and recommendations are also assessed and presented. The impact, the effect and the results (during and at the end of the academic fall session) of the PPBA on students and instructor are discussed, validated, managed and communicated to help other instructor in taking appropriate approach decisions with respect to this new educational approach compared to the classical one.


This research is constructed to provide a comprehensive analysis of key factors that influence fund performance, and the methods of evaluating such performance. Our examination is from both the managerial and the investor perspectives in the context of the UK fund industry.

We begin by analysing the managerial response. We examine the effectiveness of the internal monitoring and control system in UK funds, focusing on the relation between top manager turnover and the performance of UK unit trusts and OEICs. We apply a series of methods, including performance evaluation based on the factor models, percentile ranking, and sample matching tests. Funds that have experienced replacement of top managers are examined for their performance in the pre and post-replacement periods. A variety of methods are applied to measure factors that affect the probability of replacement in the pre-replacement period. Bootstrapping simulations are implemented to further examine whether UK fund companies can distinguish between poorly skilled managers and unlucky ones. It is found that many fund companies are not captivated by the 'lucky' managers' extreme performance and are willing to give 'unlucky' managers another chance. Moreover, underperforming managers are more likely to be replaced when fund inflows are declining than are outperforming managers. Managers' adjustment of portfolio compositions exerts mixed influences on the probability of replacement.

Next, we apply tournament analysis to the UK fund market. We find supportive evidence of significant risk shifting in the family tournament; i.e. interim winning managers tend to increase their levels of risk exposure more than the losing managers do. Our results also show that the risk-adjusted returns of the winners outperform those of the losers following the risk taking. As such, risk altering can be regarded as an indication of managers' superior ability. However, the tournament behaviour can still be a costly strategy for investors, since in this case winners would be seen as beating the losers in terms of the observed returns due to deterioration in the performance of their major portfolio holdings.

Finally, the thesis further examines the cross-fund learning among investors. A linear hierarchical model is constructed to consider cross-learning of the funds within a fund family in performance evaluation. We apply a full Bayesian treatment of all factors of the pricing model and allow both the fund family and individual managers to have dependent prior information regarding the funds' alphas. The simulation results suggest that returns from peer funds within the family significantly affect investors' updating on fund alphas, since the posterior distribution on fund alphas exhibits a faster shrinkage than is reported in the previous literature. The model is also simulated with various prior beliefs on different factors of the pricing model, i.e. fund alphas, betas and factor loadings of each pricing benchmark, to better address the learning process.