Imperative to increasing diversity in the physician workforce is increasing the pool of qualified underrepresented minority applicants to medical schools. With this goal in mind, the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine (A&M College of Medicine) has partnered with Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU), a historically black college and university that is a component of the Texas A&M university system, to develop the undergraduate medical academy (UMA). The UMA was established by legislative mandate in 2003 and is a state-funded program. The authors describe the development of partnership between the A&M College of Medicine and PVAMU, focusing on the key attributes that have been identified for success. The administrative structure of the UMA ensures that the presidents of the two institutions collaborate to address issues of program oversight and facilitates a direct relationship between the dean and associate dean for academic affairs of A&M College of Medicine and the director of the UMA to define the program objectives and structure. The authors delineate the admission process to the UMA, as well as the academic requirements of the program. Students attend lecture series during the academic year and participate in summer programs on the A&M College of Medicine campus in addition to receiving intensive academic counseling and opportunities for tutoring in several subjects. The authors also describe the initial success in medical school admissions for UMA students. This partnership provides a model blueprint that can be adopted and adapted by other medical schools focused on increasing diversity in medicine.


Soil functions are fundamental for food security and for provision of ecosystem services for sustainable development. Climate change affects soil functions directly through changes in temperature, rainfall and moisture regimes, and indirectly via adapted management practices. While comprehensive evidence exists for the direct effects such as increased soil erosion risks, accelerated nutrient turnover and gas fluxes, less is known about how agricultural adaptation pathways may affect soil functions. The objective of this study was to analyze the evidence from European case studies about the possible impacts of climate change adaptations on soil threats and soil functions, and link soil functions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We analyzed 20 regional case studies across Europe using Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework. Our major findings were (1) adaptation pathways reflected local conditions, (2) reduced soil erosion threats and decelerated organic matter decline were anticipated in more than half of the cases, but soil compaction risks may increase in some areas, (3) the majority of adaptation pathways were expected to improve three soil functions, namely food and biomass production, carbon sequestration, and storing, filtering, transforming and recycling capacities, with little evidence about possible implications for soil biodiversity, (4) the linkage between soil functions and SDGs suggest improvements regarding SDG 2 (food security and sustainable agriculture) and SDG 13 (climate action), whereas SDG 15 (terrestrial ecosystems) requires attention. In conclusion: while direct climate change effects are expected to increase soil degradation, agricultural adaptation may counteract this process in many regions in Europe.


. A prairie site at Pipestone National Monument in southwestern Minnesota was burned each spring from 1983-1987. During the past cen tury of use, much of the site had been invaded by various, non-native, cool-season grasses and broadleaf weeds. Also, various woody species have invaded parts of the site. Annual bums generally induced positive changes in native remnants, primarily with big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii Vitman) and prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis A. Gray) increasing cover from 6.4 to 21.0%. Cover of native forbs also increased, from 6.5 to 12.8%, due to increased vigor of existing plants and estab lishment of new individuals. While some tree and shrub species were pennanently damaged, wild plum (Prunus americana Marsh), chokecherry (Prunus virginiana L.), and smooth sumac (Rhus glabra L.) re-sprouted from underground parts each year and were able to maintain or slightly increase pre-bum cover levels, although stature was reduced. Dense stands of quackgrass (Agropyron repens Beauv.) were reduced in height and vigor, but, unlike stands dominated by other species, were not open to estab lishment of prairie species. In general, while prescribed burning triggered increases of diversity, cover, and vigor of native prairie species, this was not a unifonn effect across the site as most changes occurred within and along the edges of existing prairie remnants. Essentially no changes were observed within the large stands of quackgrass in which additional suppres sion of the sod is required, which could be accomplished by delay of spring burning, summer mowing, and plantings of native plant materials.


Vascular reactivity to norepinephrine is increased in experimental hypertension. The binding of 3H-prazosin, an alpha 1-adrenergic antagonist, to membranes obtained from the mesenteric vascular bed of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and age-matched control rats (WKY), as well as one-kidney and two-kidney one clip Goldblatt hypertensive rats was studied to determine whether this altered sensitivity depended on changes in alpha-adrenergic receptor density or affinity. In SHR at four, six and 12 weeks of age the density of alpha 1-adrenergic binding sites was significantly increased (P less than 0.05). There were no changes in affinity in SHR versus WKY. In renal hypertensive rats the density of binding sites was decreased versus normotensive control rats. Alpha 1-adrenergic receptors may be inappropriately up-regulated in SHR. This abnormality is present in the pre-hypertensive period.


While there are dramatic differences between recent bluetongue (BT) developments in Europe and the situation in Australia, there are also a number of similarities. About 25 years ago, as a BT-free country, Australia was advised that a BT virus (BTV) had been identified, though there was no evidence of disease. During the following 15 years, 8 BTV serotypes were identified. Despite the presence of some virulent viruses, Australia remains free of BT disease. Nevertheless, the economic impact is considerable due to disruption to trade. In the last decade, research efforts have focussed on reducing the impact of BTVs on the export of livestock, semen and embryos. In 1993, the National Arbovirus Monitoring Program (NAMP) was established as a co-operative initiative between the livestock industries, national and state governments. The main emphasis of NAMP has been to define the distribution of BTVs and their vectors, together with monitoring annual fluctuations of viruses and vectors. A combination of climatic, geographical, virus and vector monitoring data that have been gathered over more than 25 years, have allowed the accurate delineation of BTV-free zones and zones of possible BTV transmission in accordance with OIE guidelines. These zones are now promoted to trading partners to facilitate trade.


Even before the founding of the Republic, Americans desired to expand Westward taking with them their unique civilization across the continent. By the 1840s this idea of the United States extending its boundaries was encompassed by the phrase Manifest Destiny. Americans not only considered Westward expansion a desirable objective but an endowment from God through which they could take their democratic republicanism across North America. The purpose of this article is to explore American interpretations of Manifest Destiny in the 1840s and 1850s and its environmental impacts on the Western territories, specifically the role which democratic society, Christianity, and capitalism played in transforming the land, nature, and relationships with Native peoples.


Periphrastic causatives in Latvian, Lithuanian, and Old Prussian are discussed to differentiate shared and language-specific constructions. It is shown that factitive constructions evolved independently, while the permissive ones are partly shared. One of the possible reasons for this is that the Baltic languages had a productive category of morphological factitive causatives and periphrastic factitives were less salient in the past. In contrast, permissive causation could not be expressed by morphological means and, as a result, permissive constructions reflect some common innovations. The permissives based on the predicate 'give' are a Baltic or even a Balto-Slavic development areally shared with the Finnic languages. Latvian and Lithuanian share two roots *lḗid'release' and *vḗl'want', which gave rise to permissive constructions, but their root ablaut or inflectional stems differ and reflect independent morphological developments. Of note is that Baltic *lḗidis a cognate of Germanic *lēt-, which is also used in permissive constructions (German lassen, English let, etc.) and is not found in Slavic. Only Latvian has fully developed permissive use of ļaut. Baltic periphrastic factitive constructions share some common paths of semantic shifts, but the verbs employed are unrelated and these developments are probably relatively late and individual.


This paper proposes a new method for representation of the long-term transmission expansion planning model. The main contribution of this approach is that the developed mathematical model permits to consider the installation of series compensation devices. With the inclusion of these devices, in this new formulation, the objective function becomes non-linear and the behavior of the constraints related to Kirchhoff laws becomes ever more non-linear and complex. In order to validate the proposed model, studies are conducted to verify the active power flow behavior in the presence of series compensation devices. A specialized genetic algorithm, with integer and real codification, was implemented to solve this model. The optimization solution supplies the amount and the local where new transmission lines and series compensation devices must be installed. In the case of series compensation devices, the compensation level capability is also provided. The impacts caused by the installation of the series compensation devices are presented though detailed studies by using the IEEE 24 bus system. The results show that the method has great potential to be applied to real long-term transmission expansion planning problem.


This research was developed in a cocoa farm on the Ecuatorian coast and consisted in validating the methodology of the cenirrometro, as an alternative to programming irrigation in cocoa; comparing it with a program from the evaporation tank class A and tensiometers. For its development, a CCN-51 cocoa plantation with sprinkler irrigation installation was used, where two irrigation modules were evaluated, selecting 16 sprinklers in each, to establish the average precipitation of the sprinklers. The textural components of the soil and the contents of organic matter were determined, to indirectly obtain the physical constants of field capacity, permanent wilting point and apparent density; using the USDA Soil Water Characteristics model. For the evaporation measurements, two plastic containers were used, one for the methodology of the cenirrometro and the other to fulfill the function of the tank class A. An effective root depth of 300 mm and an irrigation threshold of 0.25 was considered, which together with a culture coefficient (Kc) of 1.10, a constant sheet was established for the 16 mm cenirrometro (mark on the container). The number of fruits/plant, diameter and length of fruits, and the yield of dry grains were evaluated; selecting 15 plants in each methodology and using the Student test. The results of production support the methodology of the cenirrometro, therefore, it can be considered as an alternative of programming irrigation by sprinkling in cocoa.


Over the past few years, new abstractions from the Sherwood Sandstone aquifer in North West England have only been permitted in areas with known saline intrusion subject to the abstractor demonstrating that the new pumping will not cause deep-seated saline groundwater to up-cone. This requirement has necessitated drilling deep boreholes to prove the depth to the fresh–saline groundwater boundary and also to facilitate long-term monitoring. Vertical salinity profiles were defined during borehole construction in two such investigations by monitoring the conductivity of water samples obtained from drilling returns during air-flush drilling and later by the geophysical logging of the completed boreholes. Deep piezometers were constructed allowing samples to be taken from specific depths for chemical analysis, and the results have been compared with the earlier data. These methods successfully defined the broad features of vertical salinity profiles within the aquifer and showed that measurements during drilling provide a practical and economic indication of the position of the interface so that the borehole final depth can be determined.


Abstract:In 1912, Horii Duplication opened a branch office in Keijō, or present-day Seoul, aiming to sell what the company optimistically described as "a great invention of the East," its patented tōshaban (K. tŭngsap'an) duplicator. The tŭngsap'an was, indeed, a remarkably accessible technology. It was simple and inexpensive to operate; it could reproduce images, roman letters, and East Asian scripts; and it was capable of generating duplicates on any type of paper using readily available ink. Tŭngsap'an technology was deeply implicated in Japanese expansionism from its inception, and in Korea, its role in enabling knowledge production, surveillance, and other forms of political control furthered the reach of the colonial state. Even so, tŭngsap'an duplication was widespread beyond official use, and its unique combination of affordances led colonial authorities to view the tŭngsap'an as both a tool for and a target of state surveillance, especially as independence activists utilized tŭngsap'an duplication in fluid and interactive ways to further resistance efforts. The paradoxes that tŭngsap'an duplication embodied make it a unique site of textual practice, and a rich vantage point from which to study how arrangements of power in colonial Korea were enacted, experienced, navigated, and contested.


Edge detection of is a process that aims to detect line the edge that limits two areas image. Writing this will discuss about the comparison detection the edge of digital image with the methods prewitt, sobel and canny with programming matlab.n The detection of the edge of done with detect 6nn (six) digital image namely hestain.png , onion.png , saturn.png , tape.png , tissue.png and toysflash.png. Sweep edge indicated by many white pixel show detection edge of the process .The results show that for the detection the image of digital canny better method of the sobel and methods sobel better than prewitt method.


Miniature melanocytes have been observed scattered among the typical melanocytes in the skin of the PET/Wmr mouse strain, They are weakly DOPA reactive and their cell bodies and nuclei are one quarter the size of those in typical melanocytes, Both populations reach a peak during the first postnatal week and then gradually disappear within the following three weeks. The miniatures appear very early and are among the last cells to disappear. During the first postnatal week, their population remains relatively constant against a radically changing population of typical melanocytes. That they may represent a stage in the development of typical melanocytes has been the subject of previous experiments using UVL, and heterologous and homologous grafting to stimulate differentiation into typical melanocytes. The present study extends these experiments by employing topical applications of nitrogen mustard to stimulate differentiation. All three studies have failed to alter the relationship between the two melanocyte populations. It is concluded that the miniat~ melanocytes represent a distinct cell type in the epidermis of the PET/Wmr mouse I


We present prevalence rates, along with demographic and economic characteristics associated with elevated depressive symptoms (EDS), in a nationally representative sample of hired crop workers in the United States. We analyzed in-person interviews with 3,691 crop workers collected in 2009–2010 as part of a mental health and psychosocial supplement to the National Agricultural Workers Survey. The prevalence of EDS was 8.3% in men and 17.1% in women. For men, multivariate analysis showed that EDS was associated with years of education, family composition, having a great deal of difficulty being separated from family, having fair or poor general health, ability to read English, fear of being fired from their current farm job, and method of payment (piece, salary, or a combination). Interactions were found between region of the country and family composition. Multivariate analyses for women showed that fear of being fired, fair or poor general health, having children ⩽15 years of age, being unaccompanied by their nuclear family, expectation for length of time continuing to do farm work in the United States, and authorization status were associated with EDS. Interactions were found with Hispanic ethnicity and region of the country, as well as presence of the nuclear family and region. The present study identifies important risk factors in this first population-based assessment of EDS in a nationally representative sample of U.S. crop workers. The importance of social support from family, job insecurity, and high prevalence of EDS in female crop workers support the need for screening and outreach in this primarily rural group of men and women crop workers.


Introduction The effect of metabolic syndrome (MS) on carotid stiffness (CS) in the context of gender is under research. Objective We examined the relationship between the MS and CS in men (M) and women (W) and investigated if the impact of cardiovascular risk factors on CS is modulated by gender. Patients and Methods The study included 419 subjects (mean age 54.3 years): 215 (51%) with MS (109 W and 106 M) and 204 (49%) without MS (98 W and 106 M). Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and CS parameters (beta stiffness index (beta), Peterson's elastic modulus (Ep), arterial compliance (AC) and one-point pulse wave velocity (PWV-beta)) were measured with the echo-tracking (eT) system. Results ANCOVA demonstrated that MS was associated with elevated CS indices (p = 0.003 for beta and 0.025 for PWV-beta), although further sex-specific analysis revealed that this relationship was significant only in W (p = 0.021 for beta). Age was associated with CS in both M and W, pulse pressure (PP) and body mass index turned out to be determinants of CS solely in W, while the effect of mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate was more pronounced in M. MANOVA performed in subjects with MS revealed that age and diabetes mellitus type 2 were determinants of CS in both sexes, diastolic blood pressure and MAP – solely in M and systolic blood pressure, PP and waist circumference – solely in W (the relationship between the waist circumference and AC was paradoxical). Conclusion The relationship between MS and CS is stronger in W than in M. In subjects with MS, various components of arterial pressure exert different sex-specific effects on CS – with the impact of the pulsative component of arterial pressure (PP) observed in W and the impact of the steady component (MAP) observed in M.


Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is common in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and limits therapeutic options. Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors represent a novel class of oral glucose-lowering agents and are known to be safe and effective in the general population. Methods: We searched Cochrane, EMBASE, and PubMed from the time of their inception until March 2015. We included randomized controlled trials analyzing the efficacy (change in hemoglobin A1C [HbA1C]) and safety of DPP-4 agents in individuals with reduced kidney function (estimated glomerular filtration rate <60 mL/min/1.73 m2). We extracted study characteristics, participants' baseline characteristics, and safety outcomes from eligible studies. We performed a random effects meta-analysis to summarize the change in HbA1C and the relative risk of cardiovascular events in patients with T2DM and CKD. We also collected data on hypoglycemia, other serious adverse events, and mortality. Results: We reviewed 12 studies with 4,403 patients with CKD and 239 on dialysis, finding a mean weighted decline in HbA1C of -0.48 (95% CI -0.61 to -0.35) with DPP-4 inhibitor therapy compared to placebo. DPP-4 inhibitors did not result in any additional adverse events, hypoglycemic episodes, or increased mortality. Restricting to studies with low risk of bias did not alter these findings. Conclusions: DPP-4 inhibitors can lower HbA1C without increasing the risk of cardiovascular or other major adverse events in patients with CKD. Few studies reported critical adverse events such as heart failure and hypersensitivity. If compared with other oral antiglycemic drugs, the effect of DPP-4 inhibitors is limited; however, their low risk of hypoglycemia may favor their use in patients with CKD. Summary: This systematic review of DPP-4 inhibitors in CKD suggests that they reduce HbA1C by about 0.5%. Furthermore, there was not any increase in the risk for significant adverse events. More research is needed to determine the safety and efficacy of DPP-4 inhibitors in CKD.


The power industry has undergone significant restructuring throughout the world since the 1990s. In particular, its traditional, vertically monopolistic structures have been reformed into competitive markets in pursuit of increased efficiency in electricity production and utilization. However, along with market deregulation, power systems presently face severe challenges. One is power system stability, a problem that has attracted widespread concern because of severe blackouts experienced in the USA, the UK, Italy, and other countries. Another is that electricity market operation warrants more effective planning, management, and direction techniques due to the ever expanding large-scale interconnection of power grids. Moreover, many exterior constraints, such as environmental protection influences and associated government regulations, now need to be taken into consideration. All these have made existing challenges even more complex. One consequence is that more advanced power system data analysis methods are required in the deregulated, market-oriented environment. At the same time, the computational power of modern computers and the application of databases have facilitated the effective employment of new data analysis techniques. In this thesis, the reported research is directed at developing computational intelligence based techniques to solve several power system problems that emerge in deregulated electricity markets. Four major contributions are included in the thesis: a newly proposed quantum-inspired particle swarm optimization and self-adaptive learning scheme for radial basis function neural networks; online wavelet denoising techniques; electricity regional reference price forecasting methods in the electricity market; and power system security assessment approaches for deregulated markets, including fault analysis, voltage profile prediction under contingencies, and machine learning based load shedding scheme for voltage stability enhancement. Evolutionary algorithms (EAs) inspired by biological evolution mechanisms have had great success in power system stability analysis and operation planning. Here, a new quantum-inspired particle swarm optimization (QPSO) is proposed. Its inspiration stems from quantum computation theory, whose mechanism is totally different from those of original EAs. The benchmark data sets and economic load dispatch research results show that the QPSO improves on other versions of evolutionary algorithms in terms of both speed and accuracy. Compared to the original PSO, it greatly enhances the searching ability and efficiently manages system constraints. Then, fuzzy C-means (FCM) and QPSO are applied to train radial basis function (RBF) neural networks with the capacity to auto-configure the network structures and obtain the model parameters. The benchmark data sets test results suggest that the proposed training algorithms ensure good performance on data clustering, also improve training and generalization capabilities of RBF neural networks. Wavelet analysis has been widely used in signal estimation, classification, and compression. Denoising with traditional wavelet transforms always exhibits visual artefacts because of translation-variant. Furthermore, in most cases, wavelet denoising of real-time signals is actualized via offline processing which limits the efficacy of such real-time applications. In the present context, an online wavelet denoising method using a moving window technique is proposed. Problems that may occur in real-time wavelet denoising, such as border distortion and pseudo-Gibbs phenomena, are effectively solved by using window extension and window circle spinning methods. This provides an effective data pre-processing technique for the online application of other data analysis approaches. In a competitive electricity market, price forecasting is one of the essential functions required of a generation company and the system operator. It provides critical information for building up effective risk management plans by market participants, especially those companies that generate and retail electrical power. Here, an RBF neural network is adopted as a predictor of the electricity market regional reference price in the Australian national electricity market (NEM). Furthermore, the wavelet denoising technique is adopted to pre-process the historical price data. The promising network prediction performance with respect to price data demonstrates the efficiency of the proposed method, with real-time wavelet denoising making feasible the online application of the proposed price prediction method. Along with market deregulation, power system security assessment has attracted great concern from both academic and industry analysts, especially after several devastating blackouts in the USA, the UK, and Russia. This thesis goes on to propose an efficient composite method for cascading failure prevention comprising three major stages. Firstly, a hybrid method based on principal component analysis (PCA) and specific statistic measures is used to detect system faults. Secondly, the RBF neural network is then used for power network bus voltage profile prediction. Tests are carried out by means of the "N-1" and "N-1-1" methods applied in the New England power system through PSS/E dynamic simulations. Results show that system faults can be reliably detected and voltage profiles can be correctly predicted. In contrast to traditional methods involving phase calculation, this technique uses raw data from time domains and is computationally inexpensive in terms of both memory and speed for practical applications. This establishes a connection between power system fault analysis and cascading analysis. Finally, a multi-stage model predictive control (MPC) based load shedding scheme for ensuring power system voltage stability is proposed. It has been demonstrated that optimal action in the process of load shedding for voltage stability during emergencies can be achieved as a consequence. Based on above discussions, a framework for analysing power system voltage stability and ensuring its enhancement is proposed, with such a framework able to be used as an effective means of cascading failure analysis. In summary, the research reported in this thesis provides a composite framework for power system data analysis in a market environment. It covers advanced techniques of computational intelligence and machine learning, also proposes effective solutions for both the market operation and the system stability related problems facing today's power industry.


A new fossil leaf beetle species, Pulchritudo attenboroughi (Chrysomelidae, Sagrinae), is described from the Eocene Green River Formation in Colorado and is the second known fossil representative of this subfamily from North America. The fossil stands out by its remarkable preservation of elytral patterns. Such sharp and high‐contrast preservation of exoskeletal colouration is extremely rare in the fossil record of beetles and unique in its definition and fidelity. Sagrinae currently do not occur in North America, but two extant species are present in tropical and subtropical South America, one of which is similar in several aspects to the new fossil. Many extant Sagrinae live in a warm, humid climate similar to that suggested for the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum of the Green River Formation.


In this study, 11 reverse osmosis (RO) concentrate samples from six full-scale potable reuse facilities in the southwestern United States were treated by a new photobiological treatment process using brackish water diatoms at a laboratory scale. While eight out of the 11 RO concentrate samples were successfully treated by the photobiological treatment, the other three samples obtained from the facilities where non-nitrified effluent was used as a source water were unsuitable for the treatment due to high levels of ammonia-N in these samples. As low as 16 mg · L−1 of ammonia-N was found to be inhibitory. Lower pH was found to be undesirable because of lower calcium removal efficiency. Ozone pre-treatment and the presence of antiscalant appeared to have no impact on the photobiological process. This study demonstrated a wider applicability of this photobiological process for the treatment of RO concentrate from potable reuse facilities with different process schemes.


The availability of drugs such as thalidomide, bortezomib and lenalidomide changed the landscape in myeloma treatment and has extended the median survival up to 10 years with a substantial improvement in quality of life. This development prompted a Swiss expert panel to re-evaluate the current status and formulate updated clinical recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of plasma cell myeloma. These recommendations should help clinicians in their decision making to achieve the best outcome based on currently available data.


This document briefly introduces the existing mechanisms that could be
utilized for IPv6 site renumbering and tries to cover most of the
explicit issues and requirements associated with IPv6 renumbering. The
content is mainly a gap analysis that provides a basis for future
works to identify and develop solutions or to stimulate such
development as appropriate. The gap analysis is organized by the main
steps of a renumbering process.


In this paper, we consider the airport-landing problem of scheduling different types of aircraft on a single runway. Since the minimum allowable landing separation time between two consecutive aircraft depends on the relative weight of both aircraft, this is a state-dependent scheduling problem, which, in the general case, is NP-hard. We attempt to modify the aircraft landing sequence from the traditionally used "first-come-first-served" (FCFS) order to be able to land more aircraft in a given period of time. Given a set of planes, the goal is to find a sequence such that no plane can land before it is actually available for landing, the minimum safety separation between two consecutive planes is always satisfied, and the total landing time (makespan) is minimized. Based on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) partition of aircraft into weight categories, our algorithm provides a polynomial-time feasibility condition for scheduling a set of planes in a given time interval. It ensures that the Aircraft Scheduling Problem (ASP) presented earlier is not NP-complete and allows us to develop possible practical real-time air traffic control (ATC) execution policies.


The purpose of this research is to unearth the factors which affect consumers attitude and their intention to purchase remanufactured goods in an emerging country like Malaysia. Thus, the proposed research model used in this study was grounded on the most frequently applied model, i.e. Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and was further extended by integrating constructs like perceived knowledge, perceived risk and perceived benefit along with the original TPB constructs namely attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control. The data was collected from 253 Malaysian consumers, primarily working adults with a steady income who have purchasing and absolute power over their choices of consumer electronics, specifically remanufactured products. The outcomes propose treasured understandings about the importance of studied constructs and how these constructs are indispensable in shaping positive behaviour towards acceptance of remanufactured products. Thereby, regulative bodies, remanufacturer, educators, government institutions, non-profit organizations and industry players could joint effort to raise awareness among Malaysian consumers towards sustainability and to encourage their attitude and behavioural intention towards remanufactured products. This research is one of the very few empirical researches endeavoured to evaluate Malaysian consumer's attitude and purchase intention towards remanufactured products. Research paper Keywords: Theory of Planned Behaviour; Remanufactured goods; Attitude; Intention; Malaysia Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Keong, K. Q. C., Kumar, M. K., & Abbasi, G. A. (2020). An Extended TPB Model to Predicting Consumer Acceptance Towards Remanufactured Goods: A case for Malaysia, Journal of Entrepreneurship, Business and Economics , 8 (2), 93–119.


Reconfigurable computers (RC) can provide significant performance improvement for domain applications. However, wide acceptance of todaypsilas RCs among domain scientist is hindered by the complexity of design tools and the required hardware design experience. Recent developments in hardware/software co-design methodologies for these systems provide the ease of use, but they are not comparable in performance to manual co-design. This paper aims at improving the overall performance of hardware tasks assigned to FPGA. Particularly the analysis of inter-task communication as well as data dependencies among tasks are used to reduce the number of configurations and to minimize the communication overhead and task processing time. This work leverages algorithms developed in the RC and reconfigurable hardware (RH) domains to address efficient use of hardware resources to propose two algorithms, weight-based scheduling (WBS) and highest priority first-next fit (HPF-NF). However, traditional resource based scheduling alone is not sufficient to reduce the performance bottleneck, therefore a comprehensive algorithm is necessary. The reduced data movement scheduling (RDMS) algorithm is proposed to address dependency analysis and inter-task communication optimizations. Simulation shows that compared to WBS and HPF-NF, RDMS is able to reduce the amount of FPGA configurations to schedule random generated graphs with heavy weight nodes by 30% and 11% respectively. Additionally, the proof-of-concept implementation of a complex 13-node example task graph on the SGI RC100 reconfigurable computer shows that RDMS is not only able to trim down the amount of necessary configurations from 6 to 4 but also to reduce communication overhead by 48% and the hardware processing time by 33%.


: The subarachnoid injection of gentamicin into rats causes a transient flaccid paralysis of the hindlimbs lasting 1 to 5 hrs followed by a permanent flaccid paralysis which develops after 24 to 36 hrs. Although the early transient paralysis could be attributed to a pharmacologic blockade of central synaptic transmission, the mechanism of the blockade was not apparent. This study examines the effects of gentamicin and two other aminoglycoside antibiotics, kanamycin and neomycin, on reflex transmission in the isolated, hemisected spinal cord of the neonatal rat and the interaction with calcium. Gentamicin produced a concentration-dependent depression of reflex activity with a 50% inhibitory concentration of 1.6 mM at an external calcium concentration ([Ca2+]o) of 2.5 mM. Reducing the [Ca2+]o by half (i.e., to 1.25 mM) lowered the 50% inhibitory concentration of gentamicin to 0.22 mM. Gentamicin also increased the magnitude of homosynaptic depression of reflex activity in a manner qualitatively similar to that of decreasing [Ca2+]o. Lowering the [Ca2+]o potentiated the effect of gentamicin on homosynaptic depression. The actions of neomycin, kanamycin and magnesium on reflex transmission were nearly identical to those of gentamicin. These findings demonstrate that the early paralysis seen after subarachnoid injection of gentamicin may result from a central blockade of transmission. It is most likely that the site for blockade of reflex activity by gentamicin is presynaptic.


ABSTRACT: Lakeview Hotel Investment Corp. (LHIC) is a publicly traded owner and operator of hotel properties located primarily within smaller centers in western Canada. The case provides students with the opportunity to develop research and analytical skills by investigating related party disclosures found within LHIC's financial statements. Students are asked to identify related parties and analyze the transactions between LHIC and its related parties. They are then directed to comment on the underlying value of the transactions. This case illustrates both how much can be learned by careful reading and analysis of related party transaction disclosures and also how many questions about related party transactions remain unanswered based on the information contained in financial statements. Although all information used in the case is publicly available, the degree of difficulty can be adjusted for use within undergraduate and graduate courses by varying the amount of information provided to students. This ...


INTRODUCTION
The aim of this study was to describe specific doula interventions, explore differences in doula interventions by attending provider (certified nurse-midwife vs obstetrician), and examine associations between doula interventions, labor analgesia, and cesarean birth in women receiving doula care from student nurses.

METHODS
A secondary analysis of data from the Birth Companions Program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing was conducted using t tests, chi-square statistics, and logistic regression models.

RESULTS
In the 648 births in the sample, doulas used approximately 1 more intervention per labor with certified nurse-midwife clients compared to obstetrician clients. In multivariate analysis, the increase in the total number of interventions provided by doulas was associated with decreased odds of epidural (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.92; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.86-0.98) and cesarean birth (AOR 0.90; 95% CI, 0.85-0.95). When examined separately, a greater number of physical interventions was associated with decreased odds of epidural (AOR 0.85; 95% CI, 0.78-0.92) and cesarean birth (AOR 0.80; 95% CI, 0.73-0.88), but number of emotional/informational interventions was not.

DISCUSSION
Student nurses trained as doulas have the opportunity to provide a variety of interventions for laboring clients. An increase in the number of interventions, especially physical interventions, provided by doulas may decrease the likelihood of epidural use and cesarean birth.


This essay complicates our understanding of the May Fourth Movement of the late 19teens by isolating a layer of culture that was integral to the era but largely forgotten in later scholarship. This cultural layer of discourse and practice intersected with two of the Movement's most iconic projects – connecting with "the people" and establishing a vernacular language. This view from the cultural margins helps us excavate the less known byways and potentialities of what has come down to us as an epochal history. It further leads us to question the inevitability of established historical trajectories: from May Fourth populism to the mass politics of the PRC, from the vernacular movement to the linguistic form that stabilized to become baihua.


Since 2004, the World Bank has been supporting the efforts of the Government of Colombia (GoC) to deepen its knowledge on poverty and inequality, particularly through the technical assistance provided to the Poverty Mission (MERPD). In September 2007 the Direccion Nacional de Planeacion (DNP) requested assistance from the Bank on their income and employment generation strategy. The Bank provided support through three main activities that included: i) technical assistance in the analysis and revision of the poverty measurement; ii) assistance in the organization of a conference on employment and development; and iii) technical assistance (TA) to the National Economic and Social Policy Council (CONPES) on income and employment generation. This TA consisted on periodic meetings, workshops, and the production of different technical notes and papers that discussed areas relevant to the CONPES and that were discussed and delivered to the Government.


Spain emerged from the Civil War (1936-1939) with formidable economic problems. They were caused by military destruction, by foreign condemnation, and especially by the establishment of an autarkic system, in which the victorious Francoist side followed the political and economic path of other European fascist regimes. Despite legal restrictions, many foreign companies continued to seek out and exploit both new and old relationships in Spain, usually in association with the state-owned holding Instituto Nacional de Industria (INI). This foreign support was a major factor in ending Spain's international isolation, increasing confidence in the Spanish economy, and removing obstacles for later growth. The purpose of this article is to analyze the collaboration between French firms and INI in the early Franco era (1940s and 1950s), identifying the main enterprises, agreements, and results. We assert that foreign assistance to Spain was present during the autarky period and highlight the continuity of the collaboration between Spain and France in those difficult years. Therefore, we defend multinationals' flexibility in adapting themselves to a hostile environment, particularly across political and economic networks with local partners.


When Paramount Pictures released its "controversial classic" Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) for the last time in 1997, it promised viewers, "nothing can prepare you for this film9s shocking ending." That shocking ending turned out to be obscurity: the final VHS copies of Richard Brooks9s once controversial film will become unplayable around 2027, but the movie has already been marginalized by film-historical economy of value dependent on commercial distribution. This article thinks through the ways that digital video platforms and economies structure scholars and viewers' relation to film history. Artificial economies of scarcity are indispensible components of the classic film market, but the critic often feels an urge to save a beloved text, to somehow prevent its loss. That fear of loss engenders an affective response that I call the savior complex, which gives rise to two critical imperatives: an interrogative quest to uncover the truth about the text and compassionate redescription, which sustains viewers' hope through the embrace of filmic pleasures. Working through both responses in relationship to Looking for Mr. Goodbar , I argue that the film forces a figural and material encounter with loss that pushes its viewer to sit with and accept rather than resist mortality and material transience. In so doing, she gains greater awareness of her own critical motivations and can figure out what it is she truly wants to know about film.


Secondary arc discharge is a complicated physical phenomenon and one of the key fundamental issues associated with ultra high voltage (UHV) half-wavelength transmission lines (HWTL). With the establishment of a physical simulation platform for the HWTLs, experiments were carried out regarding the motion and extinction characteristics of secondary arcs. The cathode arc root and the anode arc root were found to show an obvious polarity effect while the arc column was moving in a spiral, due to their different motion mechanisms. The extinction behavior was also recorded and experiments were designed with different compensation conditions. Results show that the arcing time can be greatly reduced if there exists an electrical compensation network. The research provides fundamentals for understanding the physics involved, especially the motion and extinction mechanisms of the secondary arcs.


BACKGROUND
This is the second update of a Cochrane review that was first published in 2009, Issue 1, . Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) is a rare but curable disease arising in the fetal chorion during pregnancy. Most women with low-risk GTN will be cured by evacuation of the uterus with or without single-agent chemotherapy. However, chemotherapy regimens vary between treatment centres worldwide and the comparable benefits and risks of these different regimens are unclear.

OBJECTIVES
To determine the efficacy and safety of first-line chemotherapy in the treatment of low-risk GTN.

SEARCH METHODS
We electronically searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE and Embase in September 2008, February 2012, and January 2016. In addition, we searched online trial registers for protocols and ongoing trials.

SELECTION CRITERIA
For the original review, we included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), quasi-RCTs and non-RCTs that compared first-line chemotherapy for the treatment of low-risk GTN. For this updated versions of the review, we included only RCTs.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two review authors independently assessed studies for inclusion and extracted data to a pre-designed data extraction form. Meta-analysis was performed using the random-effects model.

MAIN RESULTS
We included seven RCTs (667 women) in this updated review. Most studies were at a low or moderate risk of bias and all compared methotrexate with actinomycin D. Three studies compared weekly intramuscular (IM) methotrexate with bi-weekly pulsed intravenous (IV) actinomycin D (393 women), one study compared five-day IM methotrexate with bi-weekly pulsed IV actinomycin D (75 women), one study compared eight-day IM methotrexate-folinic acid (MTX-FA) with five-day IV actinomycin D (49 women), and one study compared eight-day IM MTX-FA with bi-weekly pulsed IV actinomycin D. One study contributed no data. Moderate-certainty evidence indicates that actinomycin D is probably more likely to lead to primary cure than methotrexate (risk ratio (RR) 0.65, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.57 to 0.75; six trials, 577 participants; I(2) = 26%), and first-line methotrexate treatment is probably more likely to fail than actinomycin D treatment (RR 3.55, 95% CI 1.81 to 6.95; six trials, 577 participants; I(2) = 61%; moderate-certainty evidence) Low-certainty evidence suggests that there may be little or no difference between methotrexate and actinomycin D treatment with respect to nausea (four studies, 466 women; RR 0.61, 95% CI 0.29 to 1.26) or any of the other individual side-effects reported, although data for all of these outcomes were insufficient and too inconsistent to be conclusive. Low-certainty evidence suggests that there may be little or no difference in the risk of severe adverse events (SAEs) between the groups overall (five studies, 515 women; RR 0.35, 95% CI 0.08 to 1.66; I² = 60%); however, the direction of effect favours methotrexate and more evidence is needed. Furthermore, evidence from subgroup analyses suggests that actinomycin D may be associated with a greater risk of SAEs than methotrexate (low-certainty evidence). We found no evidence on the effect of these treatments on future fertility.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
Actinomycin D is probably more likely to achieve a primary cure in women with low-risk GTN, and less likely to result in treatment failure, than a methotrexate regimen. There may be little or no difference between the pulsed actinomycin D regimen and the methotrexate regimen with regard to side-effects. However, actinomycin D may be associated with a greater risk of severe adverse events (SAEs) than a methotrexate regimen. Higher-certainty evidence is still needed on treating low-risk GTN and the four ongoing trials are likely to make a significant contribution to this field. Given the variety of treatment regimens, findings from these trials could facilitate a network meta-analysis in the next version of this review to help women and clinicians determine the best treatment options for low-risk GTN.


In recent years there has developed a movement in the West which seeks to convince people that the original teachings of the Buddha were far more mundane than his later followers would have us believe. An extreme recent example of this is the book The Trouble with Buddhism in which Dr. Robert Ellis claims that every Buddhist who has ever lived has been 'scandalously" confused about the central doctrines of Buddhism, especially the 'Middle Way' philosophy, which is a central teaching of all Buddhist schools. He also claims that if one takes Humean scepticism 'seriously', as he thinks one should do, it follows that it is impossible to know anything with any certainty. Metaphysics therefore become a 'foolish' dream. In fact according to Ellis it is "foolish" to think that quantum physics supplies "evidence about the universe itself." This article considers Ellis's claims regarding metaphysics and physics in detail, particularly focusing on the implications of the quantum violation of Bell's theorem, in order to show that we must be sceptical of extreme scepticism.


Rheological effects may complicate the dispensing of complex fluids, when compared to their Newtonian counterparts. In this work, fluids with tailored rheological properties have been studied using high-speed video-microscopy. The level of viscosity, the degree of shear thinning, and the elasticity have been varied independently. At low-flow rates, droplets are formed that pinch off. The drop volumes, breakup mechanisms, and times have been identified. At higher-flow rates, a continuous jet is observed, with the transition depending on the rheology of the dispensed fluid. The relevant nondimensional groups are the Ohnesorge, Deborah, and elasto-capillary number, for when viscosity, inertia, or elastic forces dominate flow. In each of these cases, the transition between dripping and jetting dispensing occurs, controlled by a critical Weber, capillary, and Weissenberg number, respectively. This set of six nondimensional groups can be used to construct an operating space and map out areas of potential problems. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 58: 3242–3255, 2012


The Fédération Internationale de Natation implemented rule changes in 2013 to promote more dynamic movement, creativity, explosive speeds and reduce static situations in water polo. This study aimed to determine if the intents of the rule changes were met. The characteristics of 16 international matches played by the same team under both the old (n = 8) and new (n = 8) rules were compared. Under the new rules, there was a decrease in the average total number of shots from the offensive 2-m area (72%), impediments (70%) in most field of play except the center, and ordinary fouls in the offensive 5 m and beyond area (57%), thereby suggesting more dynamic play. Conversely, there was an increase in average total static time (25%) arising from an increase in the average total number of exclusion fouls (110%) albeit an increase in the number of passes prior to the offence (86%). The intents of the rule changes were partially achieved.


Ameloblastoma originates from the dental tissue and is generally regarded as a benign tumor although it often recurs and sometimes becomes malignant. The choice of treatment is very impor-tant in this disease. The incidence of relapse in patients treated surgically has been reported to be fewer than that in patients treated by conservative methods. Even when this tumor had been removed radically however, the possibility of recurrence remains.In this paper, a 56-year-old male with recurrent ameloblastoma is reported. The patient under-went hemimandibulectomy and an ameloblastoma was resected in 1971. The postoperative course was good.In 1995, however, he complained of swelling in the left gingiva and was referred to our hospital. On physical examination, a hard, reddish tumor located on the lateral side of the left gingiva was revealed. CT and MRI showed that the tumor was located in the left inf ratemporal f ossa, and that it grew from the bone remaining after the previous surgery. The tumor was regarded as a recurrent ameloblastoma and was removed surgically by means of Weber's incision. Histological examination confirmed a diagnosis of ameloblastoma of the follicular type. There has been no sign of recurrence 10 months after surgery.


Over the past decade, awareness has grown that transitions of care are particularly vulnerable periods in the patient's journey. Evidence suggests that during these transitions vital information often is lost, distorted or misinterpreted. When transitions between the primary care setting and the inpatient hospital are less than optimal, the repercussions can be far-reaching—including hospital readmission, and avoidable morbidity and even mortality. This supplement of BMJ Quality and Safety reports the findings of the HANDOVER Project, initiated in 2008 as the first multi-year, multi-million-euro effort to improve handovers at the interface between the hospital and the home. 5 Six European nations (Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, UK, Spain, and Sweden) participated in the Project, along with researchers from the United States and Australia. The aims entailed optimising the continuum of clinical care between primary care and the hospital to reduce unnecessary treatment, medical errors, and avoidable harm. Specific objectives included identifying and studying best practices, creating standardised approaches to handover communication, and measuring their effectiveness in terms of impacts on patients and health care costs. The Project was initiated by a group of health services researchers and clinicians from the six participating nations. Countries were specifically selected to represent different European systems for the organisation and funding of healthcare. The HANDOVER Project was funded by the European Union's (EU's) Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), which brings EU research initiatives under a common roof to foster growth in research and innovation through competitiveness, training programmes, and funding to support regional and cross-national collaborations.


Competitive advantage is the ultimate intention of strategic management; positioning a company ahead of its rivals through the formulation and implementation of effective strategies. There is therefore need for adopting strategies for a sustainable competitive advantage in an ever changing market environment. In the absence of such strategies, a company can lose its market share or face the possibility of extinction. This research is a study of SMEP Deposit Taking Microfinance Ltd (SMEP), which is one of twelve microfinance companies regulated by the Central Bank of Kenya. As one of the large institutions in the young microfinance industry, a study of the company would be an important contribution to the body of knowledge in the industry. The objective of this study is to determine the strategies adopted to give SMEP Deposit Taking Microfinance Ltd a sustainable competitive advantage. This research used the case study method employing both primary and secondary data. Primary data was gathered through in-depth interviews with the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and Senior Managers of SMEP Deposit Taking Microfinance Ltd. Secondary data was collected from SMEP"s strategic plan, audited financial statements, operational reports, and various internet sites. Reports from the Central Bank of Kenya website were used to establish the client base and loans advanced to customers of SMEP"s competitors. The data was collected for the five year strategic period from 2007 to 2011. Additional data for the years 2012, 2013, and 2014 was also collected to assess the effect of the strategies adopted after the strategic period. The findings show that SMEP"s financial performance improved in the strategic period as a result of strategies that were effective to realize growth objectives. The market share however, remained unchanged within the strategic period but assumed a declining trend thereafter. This implies that SMEP"s strategies have seen the company grow in size but not on competitiveness. In addition, the company only managed to defend its position within the industry in the strategic period, but the market share is threatened subsequently. In conclusion, SMEP needs to specifically target increasing the market share by employing those strategies that will defend the current market share and those that will effectively encroach on the markets of her competitors. The result of this study provides insights into the factors at play within the competitive microfinance industry and how those factors can inform strategic formulation and implementation to secure a sustainable competitive advantage. The study further bridges the competitive advantage theory and practice. The study recommends more research on competitive advantage in the financial sector. More studies on sustainable competitive advantage of microfinance banks would add to the body of knowledge of the fairly young regulated microfinance industry.


The aim of this project was to make the historical content of Wikipedia articles visual and easily
accessible to the Wikipedia users. By doing this, the goal was to make it possible for users to see,
while reading an article, how it has evolved over time. Based on the design results, an interactive
prototype was to be built, demonstrating the results. There were three main objectives for the
design, stating that users should be able to see how much an article has been edited, how many
have contributed to it, and if some have contributed more than others.
The project was performed as an exploratory design study, using methods such as the 6-3-5-
method, extreme characters, personas and prototyping. During the design process, several
challenges arose, such as; what metaphor to base the design on; how to use the screen space most
efficiently; how to visualize what has been done by different contributors; and, how to
distinguish live content from historical content. When a final design was reached, it was
implemented into an interactive prototype, which could be used live on Wikipedia, thereby
fulfilling the aim and the main objectives of the project.
Some of the main features in the final design includes; dividing historical content into smaller
parts based on articles subtopics; distinguishing different contributor types; making the
visualization available for the users while reading an article; and providing access to the
historical content, making it possible to view it while reading article. Making the history of an
article easily accessible have several possible benefits. One such benefit is that it could make it
easier for users to value the content in terms of trustworthiness. Easier access to historical
content has been requested in previous studies, and after this project, we see no reason to doubt
the benefits put forward in those studies.


The Sixth Circuit recently vacated the Tax Court's decision in Hubert Enterprises, Inc. v. Commissioner that LLC members' deficit restoration obligations (DROs) did not give rise to amounts at risk under section 465. In Hubert, the LLC members did not guarantee or directly assume any portion of the entity's recourse liabilities. Thus, the case raises an issue of first impression concerning whether LLC members should be treated as at risk for a liability that is recourse to the entity under section 1001 but, absent a DRO or similar arrangement, nonrecourse to the members under section 752. Professor Burke argues that the economic-risk-of-loss (EROL) analysis under the section 752 regulations provides the appropriate framework for determining whether the LLC members were "payors of last resort" for purposes of section 465, the standard articulated by the Sixth Circuit. The article also addresses the broader problem of integrating the EROL and at-risk rules in the event the Tax Court determines, on remand, that the DROs imposed an unconditional obligation to repay the LLC's recourse liabilities. As Hubert illustrates, guidance concerning the relationship between the EROL and at-risk rules is long overdue.


Author(s): Schramek, Travis Allen | Advisor(s): Terrill, Eric J; Cornuelle, Bruce D | Abstract: Coastal processes around islands encompass dynamics on a range of scales with physics that can differ from typical continental shelves due to steeper bathymetry, potentially allowing the surrounding basin waters to 'communicate' quickly to the shoreline. This thesis work advances our understanding about these interactions, using a unique set of nearshore oceanographic observations from around the island group encompassed by the Republic of Palau in the tropical western Pacific.The influence of large scale and climatic variability on nearshore island environments can be seen through an empirical model of fore reef temperature structure based on SST and sea level anomaly (SLA) made from nearly two decades of temperature observations (2-90m depth) from three stations around Palau. SLA complements SST by providing a proxy for vertical isotherm displacements driven by local and remote winds on intraseasonal to interannual time scales. Thermal stress on coral ecosystems can now be forecast into the mesophotic zone using this means of predicting subsurface temperatures which are easily accessible for the tropical Pacific. Baroclinic variability around islands has multiple drivers on a range of time scales. Observations of temperature and currents from around the main island group of Palau exhibit a persistent presence of baroclinic coastally trapped waves and internal tides. The largest amplitude signals of coastally trapped waves in fore reef temperature were concurrent with the passage of Typhoon Haiyan, which crossed the northern most Palauan islands in November of 2013. The sub-inertial signals present after Typhoon Haiyan were tracked propagating around the island group for upwards of a week after the typhoon passed. Internal tides were also deemed to be present, but with varying amplitude and phase modulating in and out of phase with the local surface tide. Surface currents impinging upon Palau have a direct impact on the local sea level field around the island group. An array of nearshore pressure gauges, in depths of 20-28 m, encircling the island group and a high resolution (1/120° x 1/120°) regional circulation model are used to examine the space-time characteristics of the flow in a channel in the southern extent of Palau in comparison to the large-scale currents near the island group. A balance between the along-channel pressure difference and bottom friction in the channel was inferred based on the current and pressure observations and the high-resolution model simulations. A drag coefficient for the channel, computed using in situ observations, is O(10-3-10-4). Variations in large-scale zonal currents correlate with the pressure difference across the channel as well as the along-channel flow. The model simulations indicate that as the large-scale flow impinges on the island group, topographic blocking results in a pressure difference on either side of the island which causes a pressure gradient along the channel. The fore reef waters of Palau are shown to be influenced by a range of dynamics across all spatial and temporal scales of our observations. There is an apparent omnipresence of both internal tides and coastally trapped waves throughout the observational window which provide a regular cycling of temperature at depth. These waves have their largest effects at the thermocline, the depth of which can be estimated in this region using only surface variables, as described above. Together, our assessments of these dynamics provide an enhanced perspective on the potential for thermal conditioning of benthic communities living on the outer reef slopes and an advanced perspective of how the large-scale oceanographic field translates to the fore reef environment.


This research investigates the survival probability of listings in the Airbnb platform during the COVID-19 period between January-October 2020 in Istanbul. In line with the research aim, Cox's Proportional Hazard Model is adopted to conduct survival analysis, where the physical and spatial attributes of Airbnb listings are used as predictors. Our findings show that while physical attributes show similarity to previous findings, spatial attributes show substantial differences in the Pre-COVID and Post-COVID comparison. The contributions of the study have two facets. Theoretically, this research's findings contribute to the current literature by understanding the changing consumer preferences and identifying the factors that affect Airbnb listings' survival rates during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings may also help practitioners understand changing customers' preferences during COVID, especially in terms of locational choices. Moreover, customer feedback's quality and quantity might help the Airbnb hosts to improve their service quality, attract more customers, and be more resilient under the changing conditions.


New drugs are urgently needed for the treatment of tropical parasitic diseases such as leishmaniasis and human African trypanosomiasis (HAT). This work involved a high‐throughput screen of a focussed kinase set of ∼3400 compounds to identify potent and parasite‐selective inhibitors of an enzymatic Leishmania CRK3–cyclin 6 complex. The aim of this study is to provide chemical validation that Leishmania CRK3–CYC6 is a drug target. Eight hit series were identified, of which four were followed up. The optimisation of these series using classical SAR studies afforded low‐nanomolar CRK3 inhibitors with significant selectivity over the closely related human cyclin dependent kinase CDK2.


Close observation of the working-through process in psychotherapy has led to the development of operational instructions for teaching the inner behaviors that seem to maximize possibilities for insight. These "focusing" instructions, when employed in settings where "listening" is normative, have proved useful in clinical practice and controlled research with normal and neurotic populations. The project described here was a pilot study designed to explore the usefulness of this approach with psychotics. Through special procedures, listening and focusing instructions were introduced to 23 chronic schizophrenics in a weekly group that met for eight months in a psychiatric day treatment center. In written and oral evaluations of the project, program staff and patients were overwhelmingly favorable toward the general approach.


Modeling and simulating of human musculoskeletal system is an important and challenging problem. This paper is aimed to build a computational platform to conquer this problem based on the China digital human project. First the 3D anatomical models of human musculoskeletal system were reconstructed and integrated. Second, the finite element models of human skeleton system were built. In the end, a computational platform, which integrated the models and six related analysis modules, was developed to model and simulate human musculoskeletal system. A case study of subject's gait was implemented to demonstrate that this computational platform had potential in research of human musculoskeletal biomechanics.


Abstract We evaluated the effect of carbendazim on non-target organisms using the parasite Chordodes nobilii as a test organism. The Gordiida act as a link between freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems; and C. nobilii, a neotropical representative species of this group, has been shown to be sensitive to other contaminants even at environmentally acceptable concentrations. The taxa susceptible to carbendazim, however, may not be adequately represented among the standard aquatic test species used in ecotoxicological risk assessment. Moreover, the autochthonous organisms in this area that could be used as bioindicators still need to be found. The aim of the present work was therefore to assess the susceptibility of the preparasitic stages of C. nobilii to noxious effects by carbendazim. The assay protocol consisted in 96- and 48-h acute exposures of early embryonic stages and larvae, respectively, to concentrations ranging from 10 to 360 μg/l. Embryonic development was not inhibited by carbendazim at any of the evaluated concentrations, but the infectivity of larvae emerging from the exposed eggs was significantly diminished. Larval survival rate was also affected at the lowest concentration assayed. Values of the mean inhibition concentration (IC50) were 7 and 11 μg/l for embryos and larvae, respectively. Compared to other freshwater organisms, C. nobilii can be considered a species moderately to highly susceptible to carbendazim. As the expected environmental concentrations of carbendazim range from 6.25 to 41.3 μg/l, C. nobilii could well be a species in danger when exposed to this fungicide.


Abstract Behaviour change is increasingly recognised as a common feature of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and may be similar to that seen in frontotemporal dementia (FTD). The behaviours most disturbed in ALS, and those that relate most significantly to caregiver burden, however, have not been well established. Forty ALS participants and their caregivers, and 27 age- and gender-matched healthy controls and their relatives, participated in this study. ALS participants were assessed on a disease rating scale, and caregivers and control informants completed the revised version of the Cambridge Behaviour Inventory and a measure of burden. ALS caregivers reported significantly more disturbance than healthy control informants on the functional domains of everyday skills, self-care, and sleep, and in the behavioural domains of mood and motivation. There were no differences between groups in frequency of memory and orientation difficulties, or behaviours characteristic of FTD, such as changes to eating habits or stereotypic and motor behaviour, indicating that the behavioural profile in ALS may differ from FTD. In the ALS group, the domains with the strongest relationship to caregiver burden were everyday skills, motivation and memory, likely because poor motivation, memory dysfunction and difficulties completing activities of daily living require more carer support via direct supervision, prompting or hands on care. Services to support ALS patients and caregivers need to provide targeted interventions for those functional and behavioural changes which are most burdensome in the disease.


This work presents a case study of incorporating projects on software and middleware development for mobile devices, into existing software engineering courses of a Computer Science curriculum. As a predominant technology among our student bodies (with smart phones and tablets), along with the growing market for Android or iPhone developers, students are yearning for opportunities to develop apps and interface with mobile devices. Here, we incorporate knowledge and practical experience with mobile systems (including app development, interfacing with research systems and off-the-shelf embedded devices) with existing software engineering courses.


Introduction When Julie van Camp called to inform me that the American Philosophical Association Committee on Law and Philosophy planned to schedule a session on my work, I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was pleased and honored that colleagues whom I respect thought that my work was worthy of such attention. On the other hand, I realized that sessions of this nature are normally scheduled for people whose careers are perceived to be winding down if not essentially over. Although I am conducting a serious flirtation with turning 70, I do not just yet want to think of myself as having acquired the status of an old academic fart. When I learned who the chair and panelists for the session were going to be, and when I read the papers of the panelists, good feelings moved aside all such reservations. I was honored that some of these colleagues were willing to travel considerable distance--never an easy experience in the contemporary world of air travel, particularly on a weekend when air travel is unusually heavy. To hear so many kind words expressed about my work from people whom I hold in esteem pleased me to the point of embarrassment, and the substantive criticisms and questions raised gave me much worth thinking about--so much, indeed, that I cannot possibly do these criticisms and questions justice in the brief time I am allowed for a response. Given the limits of time and space here, I will simply select one important issue from each paper presented and will comment on that--leaving open, of course, the possibility that other issues will be raised in later discussion. I will discuss the three papers in the order in which they were presented and will thus begin with Jerome Neu's work. Response to Jerome Neu Neu is worried, and rightly so, about the degree to which acquiring, extinguishing, or modifying our emotions is really in our power. I have conceptualized morally justified forgiveness as the overcoming of resentment for moral reasons; and I have offered, as an example of such a reason, the recognition of sincere repentance on the part of the wrongdoer. But it seems, alas, that one might recognize sincere repentance, believe that this now renders forgiveness appropriate and perhaps even obligatory, and yet still be filled with resentment--thus finding that forgiving in such a case is simply not in one's power, not in one's voluntary control. There may be simple steps to overcome or constrain some emotions--count to ten before losing one's temper, for example--but this does not seem to work for resentment and for other emotions such as love. Neu here reminds us of Kant's famous distinction in the Groundwork between practical and pathological love--the former being in our power (acting as love requires), the latter not in our power (feeling the emotion of love). (1) And so, too, Neu suggests, for overcoming resentment. It is in our power not to act on our resentments--by not taking revenge, for example--but is it in our power to extinguish or even limit our feelings of resentment? At this point I want to draw a distinction between direct and indirect control, and to draw the distinction in a way that seems right and has made me see a mistake (at least a mistake of emphasis) that has often occurred in my earlier writings on forgiveness. The mistake is in thinking of forgiveness primarily as a specific kind of act (the mental act of changing one's heart) whereas it should, at least frequently, be thought of as a disposition of character--a virtue in something like the Aristotelian sense. Like most people, I cannot immediately overcome resentment to forgive the person who has wronged me simply by seeing that I have adequate moral reasons to do so and then commanding myself to forgive right now. There is no direct control here. I can, however, work over time to develop a forgiving character--a character that is disposed to constrain resentment within reasonable and moral bounds. …


This paper emphasizes the importance of the changes that took place in the industrial sector during the first third of the twenty century, in order to understand the process of Spanish industrialization. Against the insistence in the economic factors of the backwardness, the object of this paper is explain how the «circular causation» of the backwardness could be broken. The explanation is the growth of subsectors, inside the secondary sector; related with the new technological change, which transferred their productivity gains and promoted demand spillovers that were enough to increase the market size of the whole of the industry and the economy. In the process referred, the electric energy played a determinant role.


Objective To make a proposal for formative evaluation for the development of professional competences on central venous catheterization performed by residents in a university institution. Materials and Methods Case study with alternative approach supported by grounded theory. Through 17 interviews with teachers, specialists, residents, administrative personnel, context and tensions were identified about educational terms and actors of the process. The information was triangulated and categorized to elaborate the proposal. Results The proposal must include a planning of activities by levels and constant evaluation. Simulation, observation, en vivo demonstrations and continuous supervision are prerequisites that guarantee patient safety. Graduate students must be trained in ultrasound. The teacher must be an expert in the procedure and have pedagogical training. The formative evaluation should include initial diagnosis, self-assessment, recertification, and instruments such as checklists, rubrics and web resources for recording activities. Conclusion The educational process for teaching, evaluating, and learning the central venous catheterization is complex. Therefore, the proposal must be implemented from the curriculum, seeking professional suitability, patient safety and the joint participation Artículo / Investigación Article / Research REVISTA DE SALUD PÚBLICA · VoLUmEn 21(5), oCTUBRE 2019 2 of health and education institutions.


Recent research has demonstrated that it is critical for designers to establish trust with collaborators in their ability, integrity and benevolence for successful co-design. It has also been acknowledged that in part, this trust is established through storytelling exchanges between designer and collaborator. This paper examines this finding across eight cases where stories have been exchanged between designer and collaborator at different stages in the design process. The cases are comprised of interviews with key stakeholders working in collaborative settings from: IDEO; the National Health Service; Glasgow School of Art; Northumbrian Water; Unilever; Royal Bank of Scotland; Tomato; Traffic Penalty Tribunal; and True North. The emerging themes suggest: stories based on real-life settings help to establish trust in ability and benevolence due to the compassion they can demonstrate; stories that employ novel modes of communication help to establish trust in integrity due to the fulfilment of an expectation to be 'cutting edge', and, stories that include elements of humour help to establish trust in benevolence due to the revealing of character. These findings are presented as a model for co-design, to help an ordinarily instinctive activity become strategic.


ABSTRACT Background Participants in the study were general practitioners (GPs) in private practice in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Objectives To determine and evaluate the criteria employed by GPs in Bloemfontein to diagnose and refer chronic and acute asthma patients aged 6–15 years and to investigate the actual diagnostic criteria used by GPs, as compared to the theoretical (i.e. textbook) criteria. Method A descriptive study was performed. A questionnaire was designed to investigate which methods of diagnosis were employed by GPs with regard to childhood asthma. The questionnaire was distributed to GPs who fulfilled certain inclusion criteria and were selected by means of simple random sampling. Statistical analysis of data was done by the Department of Biostatistics, University of the Free State, and results were summarised as frequencies and percentages. Results Certain elements were lacking with regard to the patients' histories taken by GPs. These included severity and frequency of attacks, as well as precipitating factors, such as smoking in the family and allergies. A worrisome number of GPs did not seem to be aware of the exact clinical picture of asthma in children and some failed to use the prescribed guidelines proposed for diagnosis of this condition in young patients. Most GPs indicated that they refer asthmatic children to private specialists, although this practice depended on the medical aid status of the patient's parents/guardian. Conclusion As portrayed by the feedback obtained from these Bloemfontein-based GPs, it could be presumed that the diagnosis of asthma in children did not always meet the standard criteria.


We propose a feature enhancement algorithm for wireless speech recognition in adverse acoustic environments. A speech recognition system is realized at the network side of a wireless communications system and feature parameters are extracted directly from the bitstream of the speech coder employed in the system, where the feature parameters are composed of spectral envelope information and coder-specific information. The coder-specific information is apt to be affected by environmental noise because the speech coder fails to generate high quality speech in noisy environments. We first found that enhancing noisy speech prior to speech coding improves the recognizer's performance. However, our aim was to develop a robust front-end operating at the network side of a wireless communications system without regard to whether speech enhancement was applied at the sender side. We investigated the effect of a speech enhancement algorithm on the bitstream-based feature parameters. Consequently, a feature enhancement algorithm is proposed which incorporates feature parameters obtained from the decoded speech and a noise suppressed version of the decoded speech. The coder-specific information can also be improved by re-estimating the codebook gains and residual energy from the enhanced residual signal. HMM-based connected digit recognition experiments show that the proposed feature enhancement algorithm significantly improves recognition performance at low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) without causing poorer performance at high SNR. From large vocabulary speech recognition experiments with far-field microphone speech signals recorded in an office environment, we show that the feature enhancement algorithm greatly improves word recognition accuracy.


Nowadays the efficient use of energy is a crucial necessity. Buildings are among the greater energy consumers in a country and the ventilation and HVAC systems account for a high percentage of this consumption. A way of reducing the energy consumption of these systems is taking advantage of the renewable energies available. In this document an opaque ventilated facade (OVF) was studied. An OVF takes advantage of the wind force and solar radiation to provide the indoor space with free ventilation and air preheating. The objectives of the study were: find evidence of this possible advantages, quantify the potential of an OVF to provide ventilation and heating in different situations and study the sensibility of the system to variation of the most important parameters. For this purpose an experimental module of OVF was built and monitorized, and a model was configurated and validate with the experimental data. With this model, simulations were carried out to study the performance of the OVF with the variations of estimated parameters and design parameters. It was also tested the performance of the OVF under different climatic conditions in several climatic areas of Spain. The results showed that for any climatic zone the OVF could provide buildings with free ventilation. However the flow rates yielded weren?t sufficient to meet the regulation requirement so this system would require mechanical ventilation support. The results also showed that the heating energy consumption could be reduced by two means: preheating the ventilation air and introducing ventilation air in non occupancy periods at a convenient temperature. From the sensibility study it could be concluded that the external and internal convection coefficients, and the solar absortivity were key parameters for predicting the energy savings an OVF could provide.


Background Resistant hypertension defined as blood pressure (BP) > 140/90 mm Hg on three antihypertensive agents is a common problem. It has been reported from centers worldwide that these patients have a near 20% prevalence of primary aldosteronism (PA). The etiology of the high prevalence of hyperaldosteronism in this high-risk group is unknown. The purpose of current study is to characterize resistant hypertensive patients and identify potential stimuli of aldosterone secretion in subjects with resistant hypertension. Methods Consecutive subjects referred for resistant hypertension and control subjects with normal or mildly elevated blood pressure were prospectively evaluated with plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC), plasma renin activity (PRA), brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), and a 24-hour urine collection for aldosterone (Ualdo), creatinine, protein, cortisol (UCort), sodium (UNa), and potassium (UK) during a normal diet. All hypertensive subjects were on a stable antihypertensive regimen. Results 290 resistant hypertensive subjects and 53 controls were evaluated. Age (54.51 ± 10.83 vs 50.36 ± 10.15, p = .01), clinic BP (145 ± 21/85 ± 15 vs 125 ± 10/79 ± 7 mm Hg), PAC (13.07 ± 9.3 vs 8.44 ± 5.17 ng/dL, p = .0005), Ualdo (12.79 ± 9.98 vs 9.73 ± 6.58 μg/24 h, p = .033), BNP (41.49 ± 47.79 vs 22.48 ± 24.74 pg/mL, p = .0069), ANP (105.60 ± 76.51 vs 49.87 ± 16.65, p = .008) were higher in resistant hypertensive subjects compared with controls. BMI and waist and neck circumference were similar. A multivariate regression analysis with age, sex, race, BMI, Una, and UCort as covariates predicting aldosterone secretion shows that UCort is the strongest predictor of UAldo (p = .012). The R2 for this model is 17.4%. Subgroup analysis further showed that resistant hypertensive subjects with high UAldo (> 12 μg/24 h, n = 68), UCort (103.95 ± 40.51 vs 77.75 ± 42.94, p = .0004), UNa (200.34 ± 94.79 vs 172.96 ± 75.20 mEq/24 h, p = .0072), and UK (80.44 ± 33.79 vs 49.49 ± 20.62, p Conclusion Our findings indicate a state of hyperaldosteronism and in spite of diuretic use, persistent intravascular volume expansion evident from a high BNP and ANP values in subjects with resistant hypertension. These findings also suggest that in these subjects, there may be a common stimulus for cortisol and aldosterone such as ACTH, other stimuli being dietary sodium and/or dietary potassium.


Recent studies have highlighted the impact of the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) on water temperature, ice conditions, and spring plankton phenology in specific lakes and regions in Europe. Here, we use meta‐analysis techniques to test whether 18 lakes in northern, western, and central Europe respond coherently to winter climate forcing, and to assess the persistence of the winter climate signal in physical, chemical, and biological variables during the year. A meta‐analysis approach was chosen because we wished to emphasize the overall coherence pattern rather than individual lake responses. A particular strength of our approach is that time‐series from each of the 18 lakes were subjected to the same robust statistical analysis covering the same 23‐year period. Although the strongest overall coherence in response to the winter NAO was exhibited by lake water temperatures, a strong, coherent response was also exhibited by concentrations of soluble reactive phosphorus and soluble reactive silicate, most likely as a result of the coherent response exhibited by the spring phytoplankton bloom. Lake nitrate concentrations showed significant coherence in winter. With the exception of the cyanobacterial biomass in summer, phytoplankton biomass in all seasons was unrelated to the winter NAO. A strong coherence in the abundance of daphnids during spring can most likely be attributed to coherence in daphnid phenology. A strong coherence in the summer abundance of the cyclopoid copepods may have been related to a coherent change in their emergence from resting stages. We discuss the complex nature of the potential mechanisms that drive the observed changes.


In this thesis we compute characters and supercharacters of irreducible admissible representations for the two affine superalgebras osp(l,2;C) and l(2|l;C).The work on osp(l, 2; C) includes a derivation of the embedding diagram. We compute the modular transformations of the Neveu-Schwarz characters of osp(l, 2; C) and show that they transform in a manner consistent with the different possible free fermion spin structures on a torus. In chapter 3 we turn our attention to ŝl(2|l;C). Characters and supercharacters are computed for three classes of admissible representation. We have to derive the embedding diagram for one of these classes. We show that the integrable characters in the classes we study are identical to characters of the N = 4 superconformal algebra and that some of the sl(2|l;C) characters have a pole in a certain limit. The residue at this pole is computed and it is found to be proportional to an N = 2 minimal character. Specialising to fractional levels k of the form k + 1 = l/u,u ϵ N, we consider the SL(2|1)/SL{2) coset theory and make a conjecture that it is a product of a parafermion theory and a rational torus model. The appearance of parafermion characters and rational torus model characters in the branching functions of some examples that we have worked out leads to a conjecture for the general form of the branching functions whenever the level k has the form k + 1 = 1/u.The modular T transformation can be worked out easily for any character or super- character we have computed. We work out the 5 transformation of the Neveu-Schwarz characters in two examples and find that we get a unitary S-matrix in each case. The thesis finishes with some interesting identities between ŝu(2) string functions which are a corollary of the work on branching functions.


In order to improve the accuracy and stability of bandgap reference output voltage, a bandgap reference circuit with high power supply rejection ratio and low temperature drift is designed based on 0.18um BCD technology. Based on the traditional bandgap voltage reference structure, this paper designs a current mirror cascade and a prereference circuit to supply power to the bandgap reference, and achieves a high power rejection ratio. At the same time, a PTAT 2 current generation circuit is designed to realize the second-order temperature compensation of the reference output voltage. The simulation results show that the power supply voltage is 5V, PSRR is 80dB, the temperature changes from 55°C to 125°C, and the reference voltage temperature coefficient is 4.27ppm /°C. The circuit is simple in structure and easy to integrate. It can be widely used in bandgap reference circuit design.


Standard C++ does not provide mechanisms for working with assertions in the spirit of design by contract (DBC) as proposed by B. Meyer (1996; 1992). We earlier developed a set of techniques and tools facilitating the prototyping of object oriented architectures based on the idea of design by contract (R. Ploesch, 1997; 1998). As it is crucial for us to support evolutionary prototyping, we need to provide mechanisms to automatically transform the classes and assertions specified in our prototyping environment to C++. Therefore we developed a system that automatically transforms classes and assertions of our prototyping system to C++. As a side effect, our environment provides general mechanisms for realizing design by contract for the programming language C++.


This study presents a c-C4F8 based chamber cleaning chemistry as an opportunity that has both process and ESH benefits with minimal cost and process modifications. c-C4F 8 was identified based on a balanced approach. The benefits of c-C4F8 compared to the C3F8  cleaning process were estimated to justify this work. Several factors related to cost and SHE were evaluated. Some issues pertaining to the cleaning gas delivery were considered. Previously optimized c-C 4F8 recipes were used to minimize the c-C4 F8 recipe development work. FTIR and optical emission endpoint detector were used to verify the completion of chamber cleaning, and the reductions in PFC emissions. The results indicated that the c-C4F8 cleaning process reduced PFC emission by 57%, compared to our current C3F8 cleaning process. Reduced gas consumption also enabled 20% cost saving on cleaning gas. This work demonstrated a low cost and low effort approach to reduce PFC emissions in installed-base tools


The process parameters of Directed Energy Deposition (DED) have been widely studied including laser power, powder flow rate, and scanning speed. These parameters affect clad dimension and melt pool temperature, which are directly related to part quality. However, laser/powder profiles and their alignment have obtained less attention due to the cumbersome characterization process, although they can be directly associated with local energy density for melt pool formation. This study examines the impact of the alignment between the laser beam and powder flow distributions in DED on clad dimension and melt pool temperature. The laser beam and powder profiles are characterized by measuring their respective 2D Gaussian profiles for a given standoff distance. Aligned and misaligned laser-powder profiles are then used to build single-clad square geometries. It was found that a 500 μm offset between the centers of the laser and powder profiles causes up to a 20% change in both the width and height of a single clad as well as an average temperature increase of 100 K. To understand the interaction between powder flow, energy flux, and local temperature, the local specific energy density distribution was plotted in 2D. These results suggest that laser-powder misalignment may significantly alter the thermal history and shape of deposited clads, possibly preventing DED-manufactured parts from meeting design properties and causing build failures.


This paper has examined the spatial integration, price dynamics, and pricing behavior of wheat markets in Ethiopia using 72 months retail price series (July 2001-June 2007) and cross-section data of structural determinants of spatial integration. Dynamic measures of spatial integration including long-run multipliers, speed of spatial price adjustment, and composite index were estimated to measure the magnitude, speed, and extent of spatial linkages and to identify the relative importance and pricing conduct in these markets. The common assertion that Addis Ababa is a central market dictating commodity price formation process in Ethiopia was disproved. Nazreth wheat market was found to be the center of price discovery in the country by dictating price formation in supply markets. The three hypothesized oligopolistic pricing behavior of wheat markets— spatial price discrimination, instantaneous and cooperative pricing, and perfect price matching — were tested. The two hypotheses that wheat markets exercise spatial price discrimination and cooperative pricing were rejected. However, the hypothesis of spatial price discrimination was accepted for some markets trading with Addis Ababa and Nazreth. This is verified to be the result of price discrimination exercised in Addis Ababa and the response of supply markets against the conduct in the destination markets. Supply markets with alternative market outlets were trying to establish short-run market independence depending on the pricing conduct prevalent in the destination markets while those without alternative market outlets were victims of the pricing behavior. This is an indication of inefficient pricing system prevalent in the wheat marketing system. Structural determinants of spatial market integration including inter-market road distance, road density, dissimilarity in per capita wheat production, and dissimilarity in population density were estimated and tested for their possible effect on the level, speed and extent of market integration to identify alternative market development interventions. Except for population density, all the selected factors of market integration were found to significantly determine market integration in Ethiopia. The spatial integration of Ethiopian wheat markets was found to be generally low in magnitude and sluggish in speed because of lack of flexibility and responsiveness of the marketing system.


Background Asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) is common among residents of residential aged care facilities (RACFs). However, differentiating between an established urinary tract infection and ASB in older adults is difficult. As a result, the overuse of dipstick urinalysis, as well as the subsequent initiation of antibiotics, is common in RACFs. Aim To find, appraise, and synthesise studies that reported the effectiveness, harms, and adverse events associated with antibiotic treatment for older patients with ASB residing in RACFs. Design and setting A systematic review using standard Cochrane methods of RACF residents with ASB using antibiotics against placebo, or no treatment. Method Three electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, and CENTRAL), clinical trial registries, and forward–backward reference checks of included studies were searched. Results Nine randomised controlled trials, comprising 1391 participants were included; two of which used a placebo comparator, and the remaining seven used no therapy control groups. There was a relatively small number of studies assessed per outcome and an overall moderate risk of bias. Outcomes related to mortality, development of ASB, and complications were comparable between the two groups. Antibiotic therapy was associated with a higher number of adverse effects (four studies; 303 participants; risk ratio [RR] 5.62, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.07 to 29.55, P = 0.04) and bacteriological cure (nine studies; 888 participants; RR 1.89, 95% CI = 1.08 to 3.32, P = 0.03). Conclusion Overall, although antibiotic treatment was associated with bacteriological cure, it was also associated with significantly more adverse effects. The harms and lack of clinical benefit of antibiotic use for older patients in RACFs may outweigh the benefits.