This thesis presents laboratory investigations on the competitive interactions which take place within and between bethylid parasitoids. Part one investigates the compatibility of three bethylids (Cephalonomia hyalinipennis, Cephalononlia stephanoderis and Prorops nasuta) for biocontrol releases against the principal pest of coffee, the coffee berry borer (CBB), Hypothenemus hampei. Cephalonomia hyalinipennis is able to hyperparasitise and consume pupae of C stephanoderis and P. nasuta. Cephalonomia stephanoderis also engages in intra-guild predation, consuming pupae of C hyalinipennis. In contests for CBB hosts, fatal fighting occurs in 69% of inter-specific replicates but never occurs in intra-specific replicates. This suggests that interspecific competition is stronger than intraspecific competition and that species coexistence may be compromised. Cephalonomia tephanoderis is the superior interspecific contestant while P. nasuta is the least successful and never kills an opponent. Where CBB infested coffee berries are provided to the three bethylids, coexistence between species is possible, but rare, within a single coffee berry. Prorops nasuta is the most successful species in interspecific replicates and replicates containing C. hyalinipennis generally have low production, regardless of the species combination added. Part two investigates contest interactions, the variables that influence contest outcome between Goniozus nephantidis females and chemical release. Prior ownership and difference in contestant weight have positive influences on contest outcome. Host weight positively influences the outcome of contests between two 'owners' and 'intruder' take-over success increases when intruders are older than owners. Seven bethylid species are found to release volatile chemicals when stressed. A pilot study identifies the volatile chemical in G. nephantidis and employs Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionisation-Mass Spectrometry for real-time analysis of chemical release during contest interactions. The appendix contains an advanced investigation using this technique. Bethylids are useful model organisms for the study of competitive interactions but appear to be generally ineffective as biological control agents.


Due to the gradual and rapid increase in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry, it is very important to introduce energy efficient techniques and infrastructures in large scale distributed systems. Content Distribution Networks (CDNs) are one of these popular systems which try to make the contents closer to the widely dispersed Internet users. A Content Distribution Network provides its services by using a number of surrogate servers geographically distributed in the web. Surrogate servers have the copies of the original contents belonging to the origin server, depending on their storage capacity. When a client requests for some particular contents from a surrogate server, either this request can be fulfilled directly by it or in case of absence of the requested contents, surrogate servers cooperate with each other or with the origin server. In this paper, our focus is on the surrogate servers utilization and using it as a parameter to conserve energy in CDNs while trying to maintain an acceptable Quality of Experience (QoE).


PURPOSE
Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is a highly aggressive disease with poor long-term survival. Despite growing knowledge of its biology, no molecular biomarkers are currently used in routine clinical practice to determine prognosis or aid clinical decision making. Hence, this study set out to identify and validate a small, clinically applicable immunohistochemistry (IHC) panel for prognostication in patients with EAC.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
We recently identified eight molecular prognostic biomarkers using two different genomic platforms. IHC scores of these biomarkers from a UK multicenter cohort (N = 374) were used in univariate Cox regression analysis to determine the smallest biomarker panel with the greatest prognostic power with potential therapeutic relevance. This new panel was validated in two independent cohorts of patients with EAC who had undergone curative esophagectomy from the United States and Europe (N = 666).

RESULTS
Three of the eight previously identified prognostic molecular biomarkers (epidermal growth factor receptor [EGFR], tripartite motif-containing 44 [TRIM44], and sirtuin 2 [SIRT2]) had the strongest correlation with long-term survival in patients with EAC. Applying these three biomarkers as an IHC panel to the validation cohort segregated patients into two different prognostic groups (P < .01). Adjusting for known survival covariates, including clinical staging criteria, the IHC panel remained an independent predictor, with incremental adverse overall survival (OS) for each positive biomarker (hazard ratio, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.03 to 1.40 per biomarker; P = .02).

CONCLUSION
We identified and validated a clinically applicable IHC biomarker panel, consisting of EGFR, TRIM44, and SIRT2, that is independently associated with OS and provides additional prognostic information to current survival predictors such as stage.


This article examines two comic book adaptations of Shakespeare's Hamlet produced for teenage readers and used in school classrooms. It seeks to understand the ways in which particular kinds of literacy are being implied and constructed through the textual practice of multimodal adaptation. It presents a close reading of sections of the texts and places them within the framework of multimodal theory and adaptation studies. The paper is part of a larger study of comic book adaptations of Shakespeare's plays based on a series of semi-structured interviews with the producers (publishers, artists, textual editors) involved in the adaptation process. The data are analyzed in order to raise questions concerning the assumptions about literacy inherent in educational texts, and to outline the importance of further qualitative research in the area.


BACKGROUND
Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a risk factor related to adverse outcome in patients with heart failure (HF). Less is known about its influence in patients in their first hospitalization by HF.   Aims: Our objective was to investigate the prognostic role of RDW in elderly patients firstly hospitalized for acute HF.

METHODS
We reviewed all patients ≥ 65 years old admitted to a tertiary care university hospital with a main diagnosis of acute HF during a two year period (January 2013 to December 2014). Patients were divided in two different groups according to admission RDW values (< or ≥ 15%).

RESULTS
A total of 897 patients were included in the study. Mean age was 80.25 ± 7.6 years. Admission RDW was ≥ 15% in 474 (52.8%) patients, with a mean RDW of 15.5 % ± 2.3. Multivariate analysis confirmed the relationship between a higher admission RDW and a previous diagnostic history of diabetes and admission higher serum sodium concentrations. All-cause mortality was significantly higher among patients with RDW  15% at one year of follow-up (29.6% vs. 23.2%, p 0.026). Multivariate analysis confirmed the association between RDW and higher risk of one-year mortality, as well as with older age, higher Charlson comorbidity Index, higher potassium serum concentrations and no hypertension as a previous diagnosis.

CONCLUSIONS
In elderly patients experiencing their first admission due to acute HF, a higher RDW at baseline might help identify patients at higher risk for one-year all-cause mortality.


Recent published information suggests that New Zealand's wine industry continues to grow rapidly. An activity related to the wine industry, wine tourism, is developing in wineries that provide cellar door sales, tasting rooms, restaurants, tours to their vineyards, and even accommodation. These developments demonstrate the potential of wine tourism as an alternative activity for travellers to rural areas, and as a business concept for wineries. However, still today research on wine tourism in New Zealand has been limited, including the way in which winery visitors are presented in the wine tourism literature. This paper reports the results of an exploratory study that investigated potential relationships between different winery visitor groups in New Zealand, including their commercial contribution in the form of winery expenditures. The results confirm significant differences among various visitor groups when comparing their age, income, or whether they are domestic or international. These findings could have significant implications for the wine and wine tourism industries.


Field survey and questionnaire survey was made to a building with manually operated natural ventilation system, to investigate the optimum way to operate the system. From the field survey, amount of ventilation air volume was measured, and it was known that in day time, air was getting out of the noon, and in night air was getting in to the noon from bottom of the window, and getting out from the top. It was known that the frequency of the window operation was low. Although, from the questionnaire survey, it was known that the office workers were well willing the way of manually operating. Furthermore, it was indicated that the factor of the window opening is related to outdoor temperature and time. Also by factor analyzing the reason of opening and closing the window, it was known that the psychological reasons are similarly important as physiological reasons.


Despite deep reinforcement learning has recently achieved great successes, however in multiagent environments, a number of challenges still remain. Multiagent reinforcement learning (MARL) is commonly considered to suffer from the problem of non-stationary environments and exponentially increasing policy space. It would be even more challenging to learn effective policies in circumstances where the rewards are sparse and delayed over long trajectories. In this paper, we study Hierarchical Deep Multiagent Reinforcement Learning (hierarchical deep MARL) in cooperative multiagent problems with sparse and delayed rewards, where efficient multiagent learning methods are desperately needed. We decompose the original MARL problem into hierarchies and investigate how effective policies can be learned hierarchically in synchronous/asynchronous hierarchical MARL frameworks. Several hierarchical deep MARL architectures, i.e., Ind-hDQN, hCom and hQmix, are introduced for different learning paradigms. Moreover, to alleviate the issues of sparse experiences in high-level learning and non-stationarity in multiagent settings, we propose a new experience replay mechanism, named as Augmented Concurrent Experience Replay (ACER). We empirically demonstrate the effects and efficiency of our approaches in several classic Multiagent Trash Collection tasks, as well as in an extremely challenging team sports game, i.e., Fever Basketball Defense.


Throughout the last 2500 years, the classification of individual differences in healthy people and their extreme expressions in mental disorders has remained one of the most difficult challenges in science that affects our ability to explore individuals' functioning, underlying psychobiological processes and pathways of development. To facilitate analyses of the principles required for studying individual differences, this theme issue brought together prominent scholars from diverse backgrounds of which many bring unique combinations of cross-disciplinary experiences and perspectives that help establish connections and promote exchange across disciplines. This final paper presents brief commentaries of some of our authors and further scholars exchanging perspectives and reflecting on the contributions of this theme issue. This article is part of the theme issue 'Diverse perspectives on diversity: multi-disciplinary approaches to taxonomies of individual differences'.


We consider the problem of decision-making with side information and unbounded loss functions. Inspired by probably approximately correct learning model, we use a slightly different model that incorporates the notion of side information in a more generic form to make it applicable to a broader class of applications including parameter estimation and system identification. We address sufficient conditions for consistent decision-making with exponential convergence behavior. In this regard, besides a certain condition on the growth function of the class of loss functions, it suffices that the class of loss functions be dominated by a measurable function whose exponential Orlicz expectation is uniformly bounded over the probabilistic model. Decay exponent, decay constant, and sample complexity are discussed. Example applications to method of moments, maximum likelihood estimation, and system identification are illustrated, as well.


This essay argues that the biopolitical logics of settler colonialism function according to a naturalization in Western thought of politics as a project of hierarchically ordering life in relation to the sphere of politics. Significantly, such a mode of thinking discredits socio-political orders that operate on the basis of a non-hierarchical place-based relationality of all life forms including the land. Through a reading of Foucault and Agamben in their use of Aristotle, I want to show how hierarchy as a principle of the political is already implemented in the premise they draw upon for analyzing the biopolitical. In the same way it remains unrecognized in their analysis of biopolitics, this principle also becomes operative within settler colonial logics of life and land. Recently, however, Indigenous scholars and writers have mobilized relationality in its formative characteristic for Indigenous polities and politics as strategy to disrupt biopolitical logics and denaturalize settler colonial rule, which I want to show through engaging Daniel Heath Justice's Indigenous fantasy trilogy The Way of Thorn and Thunder: The Kynship Chronicles as a site of disruptive relationality and political knowledge production.


Background/Aims: We previously reported that increase in plasma homocysteine (Hcys) levels by a 6-week methionine treatment produced remarkable glomerular injury. However, the mechanism by which hyperhomocysteinemia (hHcys) produces glomerular injury remains unknown. The present study was to observe when glomerular injury happens during hHcys and to explore the possible role of podocyte injury in the progression of glomerulosclerosis associated with hHcys. Methods: Uninephrectomized Sprague-Dawley rats treated with methionine were used to examine the time course of glomerular injury induced by hHcys. Results: Creatinine clearance was not different until rats were treated with methionine for 6 weeks, although plasma Hcys levels significantly increased at the 1st week of methionine treatment. However, urinary albumin excretion increased at the 2nd week of methionine treatment. Morphological examinations showed that mesangial expansion occurred at the 2nd week and podocyte effacement was also observed as processed glomerular damage during hHcys. Immunofluorescence analyses demonstrated that podocin and nephrin expressions were reduced, while α-actinin-4 increased during hHcys. Conclusions: Increased plasma Hcys level is an important pathogenic factor resulting in glomerular injury even in the very early time of hHcys. These pathogenic effects of Hcys are associated with podocyte injury and changed expression and distribution of podocyte-associated proteins.


The mechanical properties of cement bonded fibreboards theoretically influenced by several factors like density, water cement ratio, fibre to cement ratio and geometry of fibre has been discussed by previous researchers. This experimental research work was conducted to explore the role of EFB Fibre geometry on the mechanical performances of cement boards. The experiment work designed for 1300 Kg/m density boards consist of two parts, first is cement boards mixed with different length of EFB; retained 7 mesh (R7M), retain 14 mesh (R14M) and retain 80 mesh (R80M). Subsequently, second part is based on the cement boards fabricated from mixed of 6 different percentage lengths of EFB known as SA, SB, SC, SD, SE and SF. The ratio of EFB to cement was 3:1, while water used in the system was 35% based on cement weight. To improve the compatibility of EFB-cement, the fibres were soaked in 0.4% NaOH solution for 24 hours. The mechanical properties were investigated in this study like modulus of elasticity (MOE), modulus of rupture (MOR) and internal bonding (IB). It was observed that the higher presence of shorter EFB (R80M) in cement boards, the lower mechanical properties were produced. The boards fabricated with heterogeneous fibre length, SE (35% R7M + 45% R14M + 20% R80M) produced the highest mechanical properties with MOE of 4859.5 N/mm, MOR of 10.06 N/mm and IB of 0.36 N/mm. The properties of MOE and MOR for boards fabricated from SE mixture were satisfy the minimum requirement of British standard. 


"The Gentle Voices of Teachers":Aspects of Learning in the Carolingian Age. Edited by Richard E. Sullivan. (Columbus: Ohio State University Press. 1995. Pp. xiv, 361. $49.50 clothbound; $18.50 paperback.) This book grew out of six papers read at a conference masterminded by Professor Richard Sullivan in 1989. His preface evokes "gentle voices" (the phrase is from an Alcuin in nostalgic mood) in a world "anything but gentle." A sense of Carolingian hard times recurs in Sullivan's list (pp. 53-54) of "factors" inimical to the nurturing of "culture": "constrained material resources, anemic societal infrastructures, massive illiteracy, brutality of manners, endemic violence, adherence to diverse and 'primitive' mind-sets running counter to the light of learning" It depends, of course, on what you mean by culture. This is not a book about material culture in the archaeologists' sense (there is scant reference to archaeology here), but nor do the authors concern themselves with the wider Carolingian world sketched with a certain roughness by the editor. Sullivan acknowledges that his is a cultural history which neglects "the little people and the realms where they lived their silent, unlettered, culturally unadorned lives." It is clear what this book is not-and what, perhaps, a broader vision might have made it. Still, "learning is tackled here from a variety of standpoints, all of them of interest to students and scholars working in Carolingian and other parts of the medieval field. Are Carolingianists too specialized, asks Sullivan (p. 82)? If they are, this book may be all the more timely. Do not be put off by the Introduction, specially written by Sullivan for the book, rather than the conference, yet perplexingly remote from the rest of it, including Sullivan's own Chapter 2."Factors shaping Carolingian studies" include a ritual incantation of the names of French structuralists (p. 15) followed by other (partly overlapping) lists of "seminal thinkers" (p. 19) of the postmodernist brigade, of avatars of "the new social history", "the new cultural history," and the annalistes, all cited in voluminous footnotes with scarce a reference to anything written on the Carolingian period. All allegedly represent currents of thought" of which Carolingianists, hitherto negligent, it seems,"must be aware. Well, those assembled in this book may not be unaware-but they are clearly old-fashioned, theoretically unaccredited jobbing historians: Lawrence Nees (p. 217) points out that his Carolingians were already postmodern in their receptivity to multivalent messages;Thomas Noble (p. 228), eschews poststructuralism to "proceed on the assumption that Theodulf [in the Libri Carolini] had both the means and the will to articulate his own views"; while David Ganz (p. 262), fires off some refreshingly acerbic criticisms at those who apply "concepts such as literacy, dramatic narrative, or `the social function of grammatica'. . to the sources in an effort to discover original insights." Frankly, this book is all the better for its contributors' sticking resolutely to their trade-one learned, in the cases of Contreni and Noble, in Sullivan's own workshop: good historians that they are, they parade no postmodernist warrant for the importance of close critical readings, and contextualizing, of their texts.Theory they no doubt have under their belts, where it belongs: what they have produced are beautifully crafted, custom-made pieces of scholarship. Appropriately, the first substantial chapter (Chapter 2) is the master's: Sullivan's observations on the context of cultural activity are specific, and telling. He stresses how an upstart dynasty sponsored reform, of which high culture was part and parcel, to establish its legitimacy. He both affirms and qualifies the importance of Charlemagne's mandate, rightly saying that some have exaggerated the Great Man's personal responsibility for the renaissance that bears his name (isn't the tendency reinforced, though, by the shorthand use-especially by Americans? …


Harsh marine environment makes anticorrosion to be a technical challenge of ocean engineering. Glass flake, as the pigment for under seawater coating, is required by anticorrosion standard and has been the bottleneck of Chinese marine technology. Basalt planar glass flake is novel anticorrosive pigment developed by the authors, which is environmentally friendly, strong, heavy-duty anticorrosion, water impermeable, anti-weather and UV blocking and superior to the traditional c-glass flake and basalt glass-ceramic flake. Epoxy resin has excellent properties of film forming, corrosion resistance, low permeability, high adhesion and dimensional stable. Hence, basalt glass flake reinforced epoxy resin coating has significant advantages in the marine engineering, in terms of anticorrosion.


Events are real-world occurrences that unfold over space and time. Event mining from multimedia streams improves the access and reuse of large media collections, and it has been an active area of research with notable recent progress. This paper contains a survey on the problems and solutions in event mining, approached from three aspects: event description, event-modeling components, and current event mining systems. We present a general characterization of multimedia events, motivated by the maxim of five BW( sa nd one BH( for reporting real-world events in journalism: when, where, who, what, why, and how. We discuss the causes for semantic variability in real-world descriptions, including mul- tilevel event semantics, implicit semantics facets, and the influence of context. We discuss five main aspects of an event detection system. These aspects are: the variants of tasks and event definitions that constrain system design, the media capture setup that collectively define the available data and necessary domain assumptions, the feature extraction step that converts the captured data into perceptually significant numeric or symbolic forms, statistical models that map the feature representations to richer semantic descriptions, and applications that use event metadata to help in different information-seeking tasks. We review current event-mining systems in detail, grouping them by the problem formulations and approaches. The review includes detection of events and actions in one or more continuous sequences, events in edited video streams, unsupervised event discovery, events in a collection of media objects, and a discussion on ongoing benchmark activities. These problems span a wide range of multimedia domains such as surveillance, meetings, broadcast news, sports, documentary, and films, as well as personal and online media collections. We conclude this survey with a brief outlook on open research directions.


The identity and functional potential of dopamine neurons derived in vitro from embryonic stem cells are critical for the development of a stem cell-based replacement therapy for Parkinson's disease. Using a parthenogenetic primate embryonic stem cell line, we have generated dopamine neurons that display persistent expression of midbrain regional and cell-specific transcription factors, which establish their proper identity and allow for their survival. We show here that transplantation of parthenogenetic dopamine neurons restores motor function in hemi-parkinsonian, 6-hydroxy-dopamine-lesioned rats. Exposure to Wnt5a and fibroblast growth factors (FGF) 20 and 2 at the final stage of in vitro differentiation enhanced the survival of dopamine neurons and, correspondingly, the extent of motor recovery of transplanted animals. Importantly for future development of clinical applications, dopamine neurons were post-mitotic at the time of transplantation and there was no tumour formation. These data provide proof for the concept that parthenogenetic stem cells are a suitable source of functional neurons for therapeutic applications.


The abstract nature of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) creates unique issues for IT practitioners and non-practitioners as they manage project uncertainty and its associated risk. Organisations are often driven by the need to acquire the latest technology without assessing potential risks, often believing the technology will be able to evolve to fit their user requirements. This paper examines the literature to ascertain if themes pertaining to the type of strategies organisation have adopted or should adopt to reduce or remove risks due to project uncertainty have emerged.


Nationalism in the sense of symbols or actions glorifying the fatherland can be detected in many Chinese commercials today. In the form of a mythical narration, various aspects of an idealized China image are communicated, an image designed to bring about a sense of identity for all Chinese people. While first and foremost serving consumer preferences, these emotionally charged constructions of a "super nation" can also be interpreted in an ideological sense. Seen against the background of the public discourse on patriotism underway since 1989, this "Sinization" of advertising suggests the more or less subtle influence of party-state propaganda. In analysing TV commercials and interpreting their content, the ambivalent position and general background of advertisers must, however, be kept in mind. Even as they attempt to address and leverage popular trends, these advertisers are part of the community that has shaped the worldviews and values (some of them ideological) that are also reflected in the ads.


The ocean is full of untapped energy, however it is a wild place where harsh conditions can occur that can damage wave energy converters (WEC's). During high load conditions, many WEC's must go into survival mode to prevent damage or are overdesigned to continue operating in high sea states, which can increase capital costs. The authors propose a different approach, where geometry control is used to change to an absorber shape that experiences minimal hydrodynamic loads during high sea states. This could allow for a decrease in capital costs while increasing the operating range of WEC's. This paper seeks an optimal geometry of a submerged planar pressure differential WEC that minimizes heave excitation force or motion magnitudes without using the power take-off system. Simple elliptical and circular absorbers as well as optimized absorbers are compared to quantify heave load reductions. Optimized absorbers are generated using a summation of Fourier terms with controllable weights and phases that are optimized with a genetic algorithm for two regular wave conditions. Heave load reductions are found to depend on wave frequency, orientation angle, and elongation. It is shown that peak loads can be reduced by up to 60% when comparing to a circular absorber.


Bayesian Network Classifiers are popular approaches for classification problems where instances have to be assigned to one of several classes. However, in many domains, it is necessary to assign instances to multiple classes at the same time. This task has been normally addressed either by (i) transforming the problem into a single-class scenario by defining a new class variable with all of the possible combinations of classes or, (ii) by building an independent classifier for each class variable. Either way, the resulting models do not capture all the relations and dependencies between classes and features resulting into unprecise multidimensional classifiers. In this paper, we introduce a two-step method for learning Multidimensional Bayesian Network Classifiers (MBC) from data based on mutual information measures. The first step of the method learns an initial MBC structure which then, in the second step, is refined. Our approach is simple and keeps all the interactions and dependencies among classes and features. The method was tested on three benchmark multidimensional data-sets. Preliminary experimental results show how our method outperforms state-of-the-art methods used in multidimensional classification.


This study investigates the challenges that academic and research libraries in Tanzania experience in their quest to enhance and sustain systematic journal collection development and management and sought views and suggestions in order to ensure constant availability and access to scholarly journals. The study adopted the Evans Model of Collection Development. Six purposively selected institutions participated in this study. A triangulation approach for data gathering was adopted. In the first instance, a structured and standardized self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 339 respondents who were randomly selected. The population sample comprised library staff, teaching staff and researchers. Key informant interviews were conducted with 6 library directors and 6 heads of periodicals sections to complement the questionnaire survey. Data were analyzed using SPSS and content analysis. Key findings reveal that journal collection development in academic and research libraries in Tanzania is constrained by inadequate funding, lack of policies to guide collection development, low level of involvement of stakeholders in the selection process, lack of support and commitment from management, and limited training opportunities for library staff on IT skills. Findings further revealed that journal collection development is donor-dependent. A major recommendation is that librarians should lobby top management to consistently allocate adequate funding for journal collection development activities, and also explore alternative ways to generate income internally to meet user information needs. Keywords: collection development, academic libraries, collection development policy


Normal mode expansions are used to mode match the tangential electric field at the transverse junction of two cylindrical waveguides. Instead of mode matching the tangential magnetic field the principle of conservation of complex power is invoked and leads, without a matrix inversion, to an expression for the junction's input admittance matrix, as seen from the smaller guide. Simple matrix algebra and the reciprocity theorem then provide the generalized scattering matrix of the two-port (with higher order modes included). It is also shown that the solution satisfies the continuity condition for tangential magnetic field in the junction's aperture. Numerical results are given for parallel plate waveguides with TEM, TE/sub 1/, and TM/sub 1/ incident fields, numerical convergence being achieved with about ten modes in the smaller waveguide.


—This paper studies the role of multiparty shuffling protocols in enabling more efficient metadata-hiding communication. We show that the process of shuffling messages can be expedited by having servers collaboratively shuffle and verify secret-shares of messages instead of using a conventional mixnet approach where servers take turns performing independent verifiable shuffles of user messages. We apply this technique to achieve both practical and asymptotic improvements in anonymous broadcast and messaging systems. We first show how to build a three server anonymous broadcast scheme, secure against one malicious server, that relies only on symmetric cryptography. Next, we adapt our three server broadcast scheme to a k -server scheme secure against k − 1 malicious servers, at the cost of a more expensive per-shuffle preprocessing phase. Finally, we show how our scheme can be used to significantly improve the performance of the MCMix anonymous messaging system. We implement our shuffling protocol in a system called Clarion and find that it outperforms a mixnet made up of a sequence of verifiable (single-server) shuffles by 9 . 2 × for broadcasting small messages and outperforms the MCMix conversation protocol by 11 . 8 × .


In this paper, we present 'Virtual Observation' (VO) a software tool for contextual observation and assessment of user's directly from within the virtual reality (VR) simulation framework. Unlike other recording systems, the VO system described in this paper focuses on recording and reconstructing VR user's positional, rotational and input data to recreate the same experience the user had with a VR simulation. Different from animation-based approaches, VO records user inputs and reconstructs the simulation from them and the user positional data. Moreover, the system allows the broadcast of this information to a remote machine enabling remote live observation of the simulation. Datasets recorded by the system can be shared by exporting them as XML files or, optionally, into a standalone online application, such as browser WebGL, allowing researchers, developers and educators to share and review a VR user simulation through a free-moving camera using a web browser. In this paper, the consistency of the data generated from the software by the client, server and reconstructed datasets acquired during real-time live observations was evaluated. We conclude that this Virtual Observation software offers detailed reconstruction of low-level information and visual information of user actions during simulations for both live and offline observations. We envision that our system will be of benefit for researchers, developers and educators that work with VR applications.


Bulk-to-single layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) is widely used as a robust candidate for photodegradation of organic pollutants, hydrogen production, and CO 2 reduction. This material features active edge sites and narrow band gap features, which are useful for generat- ing reactive species in aqueous suspensions. However, the high-charge carrier recombination, photocorrosion, unstable sulfide state, and formation of Mo-S-O links during photocatalytic reactions limit its applicability. Thus, research has focused on improving the performance of MoS 2 by tailoring its bulk-to-single layer structure and combining it with other semicon- ductor materials to improve the photocatalytic performance. Different strategies have been successfully applied to enhance the photocatalytic activity of MoS 2 , including tailoring of the surface morphology, formation of heterojunctions with other semiconductors, doping, and modification with excess sulfur or carbon nanostructures. This review describes the influence of starting precursors, sulfur sources, and synthetic methods to obtain hetero structured morphologies and study their impact on the photocatalytic efficiency. Finally, the relevance of crystal facets and defects in photocatalysis is outlined. Future applications of MoS 2 with tailoring and tuning physicochemical properties are highlighted.


Electroosmosis flow refers to motion of liquids induced by an applied voltage across microchannels.1 This phenomenon has been known for a couple of centuries now and since then it has been used in a variety of technological applications (inkjet printer technology, electrochromatography, isoelectric focusing,etc. [1–3] and is still drawing even more attention from the scientific community particularly because of its relevance to micro-scale technology. Electroosmosis is known to be first formulated in its present form by von Smoluchowski. [4]. He predicted that bulk fluid velocity under application of an external electric field would be equal to: Ub = − Eext η ζ (0.1) where Eext shows the external electric field applied tangentially to microchannel surface and η and refer to fluid bulk viscosity and electrical permittivity respectively. The ζ term was then introduced to represent the scalar electric potential at the so called "shear plane" where the no-slip boundary condition applies. Smoluchowski's formula(2.4) is the most famous, fundamental equation in microfluidics and is used extensively in both research and design applications. Nevertheless and like many other physical formulae, it has been derived by making a few simplifying assumptions that are not necessarily always true. 1 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electro-osmosis In One of the early modifications to(2.4), Overbeek and Lyklema [5], modified the formula and accounted for variability of η and inside the so called "double layer" based on previous evidence from the theory of double layer capacitance in electrochemistry and experiments on the effects of electric field on viscosity of fluids [6, 7]. Recently researchers have studied interesting nonlinear AC electrokinetic phenomenon and come up with new intriguing experiments [8–11]. The novel results of these experiments have once again led researchers to consider modifying the classical equations of electrokinetics in order to explain their experimental observations. [11] Yet another reason to urge for doing more research on the HelmholtzSmoluchowski classic electokinetic theory comes from undesirable discrepancy between different data sets on ζ potential measurements of certain solid-liquid interfaces. Notably Kirby and Hasselbrink, pointed out this problem in their 2004 paper and proposed normalization of measured ζ potential by ionic strength of solutions which resulted in a better agreement between the various data sets [12]. The goal of this project which started on May 2009 under professor B.J Kirby's supervision was then to look for a way to either modify the classical electokinetic phenomenon theory or provide interpretation of available data sets on ζ potential measurements in the literature such that this discrepancy can be explained. This would result in a better understanding and insight to the physics of double layer theory and fluid mechanics and better models to rely on in engineering design applications where prediction and control of zeta potential in microchannels is crucial.


A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of high temperature and humidity stress [(40 +/- 2) degrees C/(30 +/- 2) degrees C, RH (95 +/- 5)%/(70 +/- 5)%, 10 h/14 h (day/night)] at the physiological maturity stage of two spring soybean cultivars (Xiangdou No. 3 and Ningzhen No. 1) on seed vigor indices, main nutritional components and coat anatomical structure. High temperature and humidity stress were found to cause the decrease of seed viability, germination potential, and germination percentage as well as the dehydrogenase and acid phosphatase activities, but increased the seed cell membrane permeability as well as H+, soluble sugar and leucine levels in the seed soaking liquid of each cultivar. Moreover, the stress led to irregular changes of seed oil and protein contents and alteration of anatomical structure of episperm and hilum in the two cultivars. A shortterm stress (less than 5 h) had no significant impact on seed vigor, but a long-term one (more than 48 h) caused rapid decrease of seed vigor indices. Xiangdou No. 3 showed less decreases in seed germination potential and enzyme activities, and less increase in extravasation content in the seed soaking liquid, had compact seed coat and intact hilum, suggesting it was more resistant to high temperature and humidity stress.


This work describes a generalized decoder implementation for structured low-density parity check (LDPC) codes. The decoder features low logic consumption, efficient memory management, and full parameterization for reconfiguration. The goal is to provide a unified solution for fast evaluation of a broad class of structured LDPC codes utilizing the properties of field programmable gate arrays (FPGA): high speed and configurability. As a fully reconfigurable core, it is ready to be used in different applications to lower the design to market time. The throughput and resource consumptions are evaluated.


This study compared paranormal belief systems in individuals with and without childhood physical abuse histories. The Revised Paranormal Belief Scale and the Assessing Environments III Questionnaire were completed by 107 University students. Psi, precognition, and spiritualism, which are thought to provide a sense of personal efficacy and control, were among the most strongly held beliefs in abused subjects, and were significantly higher in abused versus nonabused subjects. Superstition and extraordinary life forms, thought to have an inverse or no relation to felt control, were the least strongly held beliefs in abused subjects, and, along with religious beliefs, did not differ between the two abuse groups. Witchcraft was unexpectedly found to be the most strongly held belief among those with abuse histories. Results suggest that by providing a sense of control, certain paranormal beliefs may offer a powerful emotional refuge to individuals who endured the stress of physical abuse in childhood.


We propose distributed deep neural networks (DDNNs) over distributed computing hierarchies, consisting of the cloud, the edge (fog) and end devices. While being able to accommodate inference of a deep neural network (DNN) in the cloud, a DDNN also allows fast and localized inference using shallow portions of the neural network at the edge and end devices. When supported by a scalable distributed computing hierarchy, a DDNN can scale up in neural network size and scale out in geographical span. Due to its distributed nature, DDNNs enhance sensor fusion, system fault tolerance and data privacy for DNN applications. In implementing a DDNN, we map sections of a DNN onto a distributed computing hierarchy. By jointly training these sections, we minimize communication and resource usage for devices and maximize usefulness of extracted features which are utilized in the cloud. The resulting system has built-in support for automatic sensor fusion and fault tolerance. As a proof of concept, we show a DDNN can exploit geographical diversity of sensors to improve object recognition accuracy and reduce communication cost. In our experiment, compared with the traditional method of offloading raw sensor data to be processed in the cloud, DDNN locally processes most sensor data on end devices while achieving high accuracy and is able to reduce the communication cost by a factor of over 20x.


OBJECTIVE
To identify strategies with tactics that enable point-of-care (POC) testing (medical testing at or near the site of care) to effectively improve outcomes in emergencies, disasters, and public health crises, especially where community infrastructure is compromised.

DESIGN
Logic model-critical path-feedback identified needs for improving practices. Reverse stress analysis showed POC should be integrated, responders should be properly trained, and devices should be staged in small-world networks (SWNs). First responder POC resources were summarized, test clusters were strategized, assay environmental vulnerabilities were assessed, and tactics useful for SWNs, alternate care facilities, shelters, point-of-distribution centers, and community hospitals were designed. PARTICIPANTS AND ENVIRONMENT: Emergency-disaster needs assessment survey respondents and Center experience.

OUTCOMES
Important tactics are as follows: a) develop training/education courses and '"just-in-time" on-line web resources to ensure the competency of POC coordinators and high-quality testing performance; b) protect equipment from environmental extremes by sealing reagents, by controlling temperature and humidity to which they are exposed, and by establishing near-patient testing in defined environments that operate within current Food and Drug Administration licensing claims (illustrated with human immunodeficiency virus-1/2 tests); c) position testing in defined sites within SWNs and other environments; d) harden POC devices and reagents to withstand wider ranges of environmental extremes in field applications; e) promote new POC technologies for pathogen detection and other assays, per needs assessment results; and f) select tests according to mission objectives and value propositions.

CONCLUSIONS
Careful implementation of POC testing will facilitate evidence-based triage, diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of victims and patients, while advancing standards of care in emergencies and disasters, as well as public health crises.


In order to contribute to "enlighten" the dark side of organizations as an issue related to organizations studies, this article presents a research about bullying at homosexual men in Brazil. To this end, we performed a qualitative study in Brazilian major cities Aracaju, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Vitoria, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. The method used was the story of life and to assess the corpus of interviews were employed some categories of the discourse analysis. Through the empirical analysis, it was observed that most recurring symbolic violence involved the homosexual depreciation. These rely not only on indirect or subtle insults but also ways of contempt, exclusion of non-heterosexual subjects of certain social cycles, with emphasis on formal organizations, and pressure for the adjustment of these heteronormatives standards. We note that such violence, in many cases, are introjected by the subjects, causing loss of confidence and disbelief in their own personal and professional potential, the experience of ambiguity and subsequent identity crisis, and the feeling of exclusion or non-belonging together with statements of anger with the status quo, constant feeling of loss and the disbelief in the possibility of a changing reality. In relation to the internalization, there is a reproduction of violence on others, especially those non-heterosexuals who become distant, in other respects, from the homogenic model. In this process, the association with women was essential since the closer to the feminine approach, the greater the risk of being socially unsuccessful. We concluded this work, emphasizing the importance of developing new studies in the area.


Abstract Asphalt pavements suffer from field aging that accelerates distresses and reduces service life of pavements under the complex in-service environment. The majority of the current methods to study aging are performed in an indirect manner, designed in the laboratory to simulate the field. This study targets the field pavement aging directly and aims at characterising and predicting field aging using the kinetics-based modelling, which contains the field mixture moduli and field aging temperatures. The Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) data from the Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) database are employed to provide the field moduli of asphalt mixtures over a long aging period. A pavement temperature model that considers solar radiation, air temperature and wind speed is utilised to determine the temperature fluctuations over the entire aging period and then appropriate field aging temperatures. Eight pavement sections from the four different climate zones are selected and the modulus, temperature, mixture property and climate data are collected. For each pavement section, the rheological properties are first determined to characterise the temperature-dependency of field asphalt mixtures. Then based on the kinetics-based aging prediction models for asphalt pavements, the aging properties are determined to characterise and predict aging of field asphalt mixtures. In the determination of aging properties, it is critical to divide the modulus vs. aging time curve into different segments according to the features of the constant-rate period and fast-rate period. The proposed approaches are validated by comparing the predicted moduli at specified ages to the field measurements by the FWD. It is expected that with more calibration and validation work accomplished in the future, the number of FWD measurements required for nondestructive evaluations could be reduced with the aid of the approaches proposed in this study.


The article substantiates the distinction of professional journalistic language as a variant of langue representing journalistic style, and implemented in three groups of speech genres – informing, estimating and stimulating. Alongside stylistic features common with journalistic macrostyle, this professional language has its own specific characteristics, expressed through faithfulness to the facts, social estimation and administrative stimulation. Stylistic analysis of even only one genre – stimulating – reveals that the professional and linguistic activities of journalists can be analysed as typical execution algorithms, using the aforementioned method. The article demonstrates that the proposed analysis of speech representations in professional language can be productive for the study of language in action in the journalistic sphere of communication.


The analysis of thunderstorm activity is carried out in Timiryazevskiy forestry of Tomsk region. The authors used data from the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) in 2010-2015. The five WWLLN stations nearest to Tomsk (until 2015) were Bryansk (≈3200 km), Yakutsk (≈2600 km), Beijing (≈2900 km), Lanzhou (≈2700 km) and Vladivostok (≈3600 km). The network registered data throughout the year. Data on spherics recorded by WWLLN contain the following indicators: date, time, latitude, longitude, error and number of stations in which the electromagnetic pulse was recorded. The year of the maximum number of lightning discharges according to WWLLN is 2015 in Timiryazevskiy forestry. The smallest number of lightning discharges was observed in 2010, 2012 and 2013. During one day, the peak of lightning discharges is observed at noon time, at 14-15 hours, and at night, 22-1 hours, according to the local solar time. The minimum number of spherics is observed in the early morning, at 5-6 hours. The highest density of lightning discharges is characteristic for the central parts of Timiryazevskiy forestry. As a conclusion, it should be noted that lightning activity was complex over the territory of Timiryazevskiy forestry in the period from 2010 to 2015. Days were found when more than 300 discharges per day were recorded with a maximum both in the afternoon and at night. In addition, the maximum number of lightning discharges in certain years can be observed not only in July, but also in June and August.


A 37-year-old man with Behçet's disease suffered secondary subarachnoid hemorrhage and intracerebral hematoma in the right temporal lobe caused by a ruptured aneurysm of the right middle cerebral artery. The aneurysm was successfully clipped. Aneurysm formation is common in the visceral arteries in Behçet's disease, but extremely rare in the intracranial arteries. Vasculitis may be involved in the etiology of intracranial aneurysms in patients with Behçet's disease.


Foreword by Richard P. Gabriel. Foreword by Wayne Cool. About the Authors. About this Book. Guide to the Reader. Beyond the Hype. Beginnings'. A Story of Success - with Some Exceptions. Pattern Definitions and their Interpretations. Toward a Deeper Understanding of Patterns. PART I: INSIDE PATTERNS. 1. A solution to a Problem and More. 1.1 A Solution to a Problem. 1.2 A Process and a Thing. 1.3 Best of Breed. 1.4 Forces: the Heart of Every Pattern. 1.5 The Context: Part of a Pattern or Not? 1.6 Genericity. 1.7 A Diagram Says More than a Thousand Words? or Less. 1.8 Evocative Names Help Pattern Recollection. 1.9 Patterns are Works in Progress. 1.10 A Pattern Tells a Story and Initiates a Dialog. 1.11 A Pattern Celebrates Human Intelligence. 1.12 From a Problem-Solution Statement to a Pattern. 2. A Million Different Implementations. 2.1 Does One Size Fit All? 2.2 Patterns and Frameworks. 2.3 Patterns and Formalisms. 2.4 A Million and One? and then Some. 3. Notes on Pattern Form. 3.1 Style and Substance. 3.2 The Function of Form. 3.3 Elements of Form. 3.4 Details, Details. 3.5 Aerial View. 3.6 Different Pattern Forms. 3.7 Style and Substance (Redux). PART II: BETWEEN PATTERNS. 4. Pattern Islands? 4.1 Patterns Connect. 4.2 A Design Experiment: Patterns as Islands. 4.3 A Second Design Experiment: Interwoven Patterns. 4.4 Pattern Density. 5. Pattern Complements. 5.1 More than One Solution to a Problem. 5.2 Patterns in Competition. 5.3 Patterns in Cooperation. 5.4 Patterns in Combination. 5.5 Complementary: Competing, Completing, Combining. 6. Pattern Compounds. 6.1 Recurring Pattern Arrangements. 6.2 From Elements to Compounds. 6.3 From Complements to Compounds. 6.4 Element or Compound? 6.5 Compound Analysis and Synthesis. 7. Pattern Sequences. 7.1 Patterns Tell Software Engineering Success Stories. 7.2 Pattern Stories. 7.3 From Stories to Sequences. 7.4 Sequences of Patterns. 7.5 Pattern Compounds and Complements Revisited. 7.6 Returning to the Question of Context. 7.7 Pattern Connections. 8. Pattern Collections. 8.1 Toward a Handbook. 8.2 Organizing Pattern Collections. 8.3 Ad Hoc Organization. 8.4 Organization by Level. 8.5 Organization by Domain. 8.6 Organization by Partition. 8.7 Organization by Intent. 8.8 Organizing Pattern Collections (Reprise). 8.9 Problem Frames. 8.10 Pattern Semiotics. 8.11 Pattern Collections and Style. 8.12 Toward Pattern Languages. Part III Into Pattern Languages. 9. Elements of Language. 9.1 Designing with Patterns. 9.2 From Pattern Stories and Sequences to Pattern Languages. 10. A Network of Patterns and More. 10.1 A Network of Patterns. 10.2 A Process and a Thing. 10.3 Best of Breed. 10.4 Forces: the Heart of Every Pattern Language. 10.5 Pattern Contexts Define Topology and Architectural Style. 10.6 Patterns Form Vocabulary, Sequences Illustrate Grammar. 10.7 Genericity. 10.8 A Whole Language Says More than a Thousand Diagrams . 10.9 Domain-Oriented Names Help to Recall Pattern Languages. 10.10 A Pattern Language Initiates Dialog and Tells Many Stories. 10.11 Work in Progress. 10.12 Pattern Languages Reward Creative Human Intelligence. 10.13 From a Pattern Network to a Pattern Language. 11. A Billion Different Implementations. 11.1 One Size Does Not Fit All. 11.2 Piecemeal Growth. 11.3 Refactoring Not Excluded. 11.4 One Pattern at a Time. 11.5 Role-Based Pattern Integration. 11.6 Pattern Languages and Reference Architectures. 11.7 Pattern Languages and Product-Line Architectures. 11.8 A Billion and One? and then Some. 12. Notes on Pattern Language Form. 12.1 Style and Substance. 12.2 The Function of Form. 12.3 The Elements of Form. 12.4 Details, Details, Details. 12.5 Style and Substance (Redux). 13. On Patterns versus Pattern Languages. 13.1 Patterns and Pattern Languages: Similarities. 13.2 Patterns and Pattern Languages: Differences. 13.3 Patterns versus Pattern Languages? 14. From Patterns To People. 14.1 Patterns are for People. 14.2 In Support of Software Developers. 14.3 In Support of Software Users. 14.4 In Support of Pattern Authors. 14.5 Technology for Humans. 15. The Past, Presence, And Future of Patterns. 15.1 The Past Three Years at a Glance. 15.2 Where Patterns Are Now. 15.3 Where Will Patterns Go Tomorrow? 15.4 A Brief Note about the Future of Patterns. 16. All Good Things? Afterword. Pattern Concept Summary. Referenced Patterns. References. Index of Patterns. Index of Names. Index.


To succeed, nineteenth-century friendly societies – mutual aid organizations designed to help people protect themselves against problems which arose because of the illness or death of a breadwinner – needed the trust of members, patrons, and potential members. Banners carried on orderly church and civic parades helped to counter opponents' claims of extravagance, trade union activity, or the likelihood of collapse. The words and images on the societies' banners linked them to mutuality, loyalty, mythology, history, trades, locality, empire, and the Bible. They also showed members as a trustworthy and vigilant fictive fraternity with the capacity and willingness to help their brethren.


Two types of fumarate reductase transducing phages, lambda frdA, carrying the wild-type frdA gene but differing in the orientation of a R.HindIII fragment of bacterial DNA were isolated from populations of recombinant transducing phages by their ability to complement the lesions of frdA mutants of E. coli. In lysogens, the cloned frdA gene was controlled by its own promoter and was fully responsive to normal regulatory stimuli. The lambda frdA phages would not complement the defects of succinate dehydrogenase (sdh) mutants. Genetic studies showed that the R.HindIII fragment contains ampA, the cis-acting regulatory locus for the chromosomal beta-lactamase gene ampC. No evidence for the presence of other markers was detected but the bacterial segment could be extended to produce plaque-forming phage derivatives containing the amp operon and a gene concerned with bacteriophage morphogenesis, groE(mop). A physical map of the 4.9 kb R.HindIII fragment was constructed by restriction analysis and flanking fragments were identified by DNA:DNA hybridization analysis. The frdA region contained a single asymmetric R.EcoRI target 3.33 kb from one end and the orientation of the physical map with respect to the E.coli linkage map was established.


We study theoretically various design considerations for efficient generation of second harmonic using a nonlinear substrate patterned with nano-antennas. The analysis is focused on a gap Bowtie nano-antenna array recessed in LiNbO₃ which is shown to be preferable over on surface structures due to field enhancement, field profile and linear and non-linear polarization considerations. In addition, we develop the nano-antenna counterpart of the Boyd-Klienmann model in order to analyze the impact of a Gaussian shaped fundamental beam on the generated second harmonic. Finally, we show that the dielectric properties of the substrate lead to preferable directions for the incident fundamental harmonic and the emission of the second harmonic. Our analyses lead to several design rules which can enhance second and high harmonic generation from nano-antennas arrays by several orders of magnitude.


Between August 5 and November 27, 1949, the writer studied various aspects of malaria control in Iran. During that period his services were loaned by the U. S. Public Health Service to the Imperial Iranian Government and he worked under the auspices of the Seven Year Plan Organization. The purpose of this article is to put on record some of the entomological data obtained during that experience.
Areas Visited. Traveling mostly by automobile, the writer made two extended trips to different parts of central and western Iran. (See map and accompanying list of localities where mosquitoes were collected.) On the first trip, which lasted from August 11 to September 12, the writer traveled east and northeast across the Central Plateau, then crossed the eastern end of the Elburz Mountains and descended to the Caspian Littoral. Working westward along the shore of the Caspian Sea, he spent from three to six nights at four successive bases in the provinces of Gorgan, Mazandaran, Tonekabon, and Guilan.


Rajathi Salma and Kim Longinotto's Salma: Filming a Poet in her Village is a hugely engaging, disconcerting book that takes you behind the scenes of BAFTA award winning Kim Longinotto's beautiful film Salma. This is not an academic book but reads more like a travelogue or a personal journal, exploring the experiences of two women who come together to make the film.


Study Design: Retrospective review of a case series. Objective: To present the radiologic and surgical characteristics of scoliosis treatment in patients with Marfan syndrome (MFS). Summary of Background Data: The treatment of scoliosis in MFS has been reported to pose unique challenges. However, the information on surgical outcomes is sparse. In clinical practice, surgery for scoliosis in MFS is reported to confer higher perioperative risks and instrumentation-related complications compared with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis because of atypical and rigid curve patterns and the underlying desmogenic disorder. Methods: Database research identified 26 MFS patients treated surgically during 7 years at a single spine center. Three patients presented with previous failed surgeries and were excluded. The medical records, charts, and radiographs of 23 patients were analyzed focusing on curve characteristics, surgical outcomes including complications, and curve correction using modern third-generation hybrid or pedicle screw systems, and the behavior of junctional segments and compensatory curves. Results: The sample included 18 female and 5 male patients with an average age of 18.2±9.2 years (13–52 y) at index surgery and 21.2±9.2 years (14–53 y) at follow-up, averaging 35.8±23.5 months (6–95 mo). According to the Lenke classification, 30% presented as type 1, 9% as type 2, 22% as type 3, 9% as type 4, 17% as type 5, and 13% of patients as type 6. Seventy-four percent of patients had a type C lumbar modifier. In total, 48% of patients underwent a posterior spinal fusion (PSF). Thirty percent had instrumented anterior spinal fusion (AISF), whereas 22% had a combined anterior release and staged PSF. Ninety-one percent of patients achieved solid fusion; there was 1 asymptomatic nonunion and 1 recalcitrant nonunion. Add-on phenomena were identified in 13% of patients (n=3) treated with AISF, indicating staged PSF once. In total, complications were encountered in 30% of patients, indicating redo surgery in 17% of patients. The cause for revision included nonunion (2x), liquor leakage (1x), and wound infection at the iliac crest (1x). We judged the outcome as excellent/good if the patient had no major redo surgery and was very satisfied/satisfied. Overall, excellent/good outcome was noted in 78% of the patients. Blood loss averaged 659 mL in AISF and 1748 mL in PSF. The surgical time was 193 minutes in AISF and 229 minutes in PSF. Preoperative, postoperative, and follow-up Cobb T4–T12 was 13, 13, and 16 degrees, respectively; the mean thoracic curves measured 66 (23–106), 36 (0–58), and 38 degrees (0–58), respectively. Lumbar curves measured 63 (23–110), 27 (0–80), and 24 degrees (0–68), respectively. Coronal plumb line measured 2.2, 2.6, and 1.2 cm, respectively, indicating good trunk balance in most patients. The flexibility rates of thoracic curves and lumbar curves were 38% and 47%, respectively. Thoracic curve correction in PSF and combined anterior release/PSF was 44%, and in AISF, it reached 57%. Conclusions: The current study highlights the potential pitfalls in scoliosis surgery for patients with MFS. Surgery was performed using third-generation pedicle screw-based and hook-based systems for PSF and second-generation and third-generation implants for AISF. We illustrated that the treatment of scoliosis in MFS, taking into account the individual challenges of the underlying desmogenic disorder, can be performed with a moderately increased risk for surgical complications compared with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.


Two simple methods for dissolving salts of acid glycosaminoglycans with inorganic cations (e.g. Li+ and Na+) in dry dimethyl sulphoxide are described. Complete n.m.r. spectra of, e.g., Na+ and Li+ salts of chondroitin sulphate and keratan sulphate were obtained on these solutions. In [2H6]dimethyl sulphoxide the NH resonance of 2-acetamido-2-deoxy hexosides is in the range 7.2-8.0 delta, but is downfield (8.3-9.3 delta) when the NH is H-bonded to -CO2-. Heparan sulphate shows two NH resonances, of which one (at 8.3 delta) is probably indicative of H-bonding. Space-filling models show that a very close approach of NH to -CO2- across the alpha-glucosaminidic bond is possible, and a solution configuration for heparan sulphate is proposed. The n.m.r. results are entirely compatible with interpretations of periodate-oxidation kinetics, based on H-bonded secondary structures present in hyaluronate and chondroitin sulphates, but not in dermatan (or keratan) sulphate.


We report three cases of leg ulcers complicating cryoglobulinaemia which resisted conventional therapy but responded to interferon-2 alpha. All three cases improved with the complete resolution of painful vasculitic lesions and healing of deep ulcers. The dose of interferon to produce ulcer healing was determined by individual response with escalation of the daily dose to 4.5 x 10(6) units per day required in one case. A lower dose of maintenance interferon could be used to prevent subsequent relapses of disease.


Prosocial lie is an interesting subject in evolutionary psychology because generosity toward others is sometimes inconsistent with adherence to norms. People use justification to tell a lie without threatening the positive self-concept. Previous studies have demonstrated that observing desired counterfactuals encourages justified lying. For example, in the 'die-under-the-cup' experimental paradigm, where no one except the participant knew the number of a rolled die, participants who rolled the die once lied less than those who rolled multiple times. This suggests that participants in the multiple-roll condition reported the highest value they observed on all rolls. However, the effects of counterfactuals were only assessed indirectly. In this study, the number that was actually rolled in the 'die-under-the-cup' paradigm was determined using a mechanical die. Participants were given an incentive of a donation to charity. Only seven of 133 participants (5.2%) were prosocial liars (i.e., reported a larger number than their actual first roll). Six of the seven liars were female. Honesty decreased when the first roll was a lower number (1, 2 or 3). Not all prosocial liars reported the largest number they had rolled.


Sustainability is fast becoming fashionable in strategic management, and yet its meaning is often elusive. Some people restrict sustainability to environmental issues, and others use it synonymously with corporate social responsibility. In this essay, we return to the roots of its original meaning and argue that sustainability requires the consideration of time. Sustainability obliges firms to make intertemporal trade-offs to safeguard intergenerational equity. In this essay, we clarify the meaning of sustainability by showing that the notion of 'time' discriminates sustainability from responsibility and other similar concepts. We then argue that the omission of time from most strategic management has contributed to short-termism, which is the bane sustainability. We conclude with directions for future research that will integrate sustainability into strategy and contribute to a world in which both business and society can thrive for generations to come.


A number of studies in western countries have shown that respiratory and physical rehabilitation of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) only has a minimal effect on respiratory function but can significantly improve physical capacity. The aim of our study was to apply these methods to patients in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. We treated 38 patients (20 women) who had bronchial asthma (n=14) or COPD (n=24). These ambulatory patients were treated in two different hospitals in Kinshasa, the university hospital and the general hospital, three times per week for twelve weeks. The patients were treated with kinestherapy and inhaled bronchodilator drugs (salbutamol, and/or ipratropium bromide with a boreal nebulizer) as well as bronchial hygiene and performed breathing exercises on a Bodyguard Ergometer 990 with walking, running and climbing steps until exhaustion. After the rehabilitation program FEV1 increased from 1.37 +/- 0.62 (50% expected) to 1.54 +/- 0.69 (56% expected) (p<0.01). The same trend was observed for walking distance (from 644 +/- 459 m to 1213 +/- 569 m, p<0.001) and for maximal power developed on the cycloergometer (from 45 +/- 20 w to 73 +/- 37 w, p<0.001). In contrast, the maximal work load performed during climbing steps (from 106 +/- 44 w to 115 +/- 23 w) did not improve significantly. COPD patients improved their FEV1 significantly compared with asthma patients. Our study show that pulmonary rehabilitaion increase the level of spontaneous physical activity. The pulmonary rehabilitation program changes the quality of life of COPD patients who are able to move about better for longer periods of time, have a longer walking distance, and improved physical activity level.


Glotfelty et al. recently presented the conclusion (1, p. 845) that "differences in molecular weight and structure cannot be neglected when one is comparing the coefficients of dispersion of vapors in turbulent air." This conclusion is contrary to knowledge about mass transfer through turbulent media and is based on an apparently erroneous interpretation of gradient information. Two processes combine to produce the behavior reported by Glotfelty et al.: eddy diffusion through the air and molecular exchange at the surface. A reanalysis of the concentration profiles illustrated in their figure la shows no evidence that the eddy diffusivities were different for the chemicals considered. The differences in concentration profiles that were observed were most likely due to molecular effects at the surface. Atmospheric diffusivity is defined in terms of fluxes through the air and concentration gradients. In cases where direct measurements of fluxes are lacking, one may draw conclusions regarding diffusivities by looking at the curvature of concentration profiles. On can quantify curvature by using "shape functions," as


In the Swedish nuclear power plants a structural verification of the pipe systems is a necessity to ensure that the pipes are strong enough to withstand the forces which can result from a sudden event. One example of a component which generates forces in the systems while operating is the safety relief valve. Safety relief valves are used in order to prevent overpressure in a process system by releasing a volume of fluid from the process when a predetermined maximum pressure is reached.

In order to analyze the forces from water and steam in the pipe systems the software RELAP5, which performs calculations in one dimension, is commonly used within nuclear engineering. The valve model which is currently used when simulating a safety relief valve in RELAP5 is the motor valve model. However, the usage of this model with present settings results in forces higher than in reality in the pipe systems.

The purpose of this project was to investigate how a safety relief valve can be modeled with CFD and to find interesting parameter relations to be implemented in RELAP5 in order to obtain more realistic results of generated forces in the pipe systems. The aim was to modify the currently used motor valve model and to develop a servo valve model which is a more flexible model to use in RELAP5. The purpose of this project was also to investigate if a CFD simulation in 2D of the valve gives similar results as a 3D simulation.

The investigated valve in this project was a proportional valve. It starts to open at a set pressure of 31 bar(g) and is completely opened at 10 % overpressure, i.e. 34.1 bar(g), where the maximum lift of 8.5 mm is reached. The movement of the spindle is determined by the different forces acting on it. In this project the hydraulic forces, the spring force and the gravity force were considered.

The CFD simulations were performed in ANSYS FLUENT v.13. Dynamic layering was used in order to change the mesh during the opening process of the valve. The 2D and 3D geometries were created and meshed in ANSA v.13.2.1. Axisymmetry was used as a boundary condition in the 2D model, and in the 3D model mirror symmetry was used. The used turbulence model was SST k-omega. A sensitivity analysis was performed in order to investigate if and to which extent different mesh densities, turbulence models and time step sizes influence the results of the CFD simulations.

A verification of the 3D geometry and force calculations was performed, with the conclusion that they seem to be consistent with reality. The transient 2D and 3D simulations were conducted with both an instant and a gradual increase of inlet pressure. Differences could be observed between the 2D and 3D simulations but similarities were also evident. The simulations performed with a gradual increase of inlet pressure were verified with experimental data. Interesting relations were found such as that the total hydraulic force acting on the spindle is a function of different pressures in the valve and the mass flow through the valve.

In the currently used motor valve model in RELAP5 an opening time of 1 ms, an instant increase of inlet pressure and the abrupt area change model are used. This model was modified by using an opening time of 41 ms which was a result from the 3D CFD simulation. This modification resulted in lower forces generated in the pipe right after the valve. The generated forces also reached more realistic magnitudes than the forces generated from the currently used model.

A servo valve model was developed in RELAP5 by specifying all necessary relations, needed for the valve to function, in control variables. One relation from the CFD simulations, describing the total hydraulic force acting on the spindle, was implemented successfully. The usage of the abrupt area change model in combination with short pipes resulted in a stable system and realistic forces. The trends in the opening process were fairly consistent with reality when the inlet pressure was gradually increased.

Both the motor and the servo valve model were also modified by using the smooth area change model including the implementation of a Cv table. This modification did not decrease the magnitude of the forces and instabilities were observed in the system.

The opening process of the valve, simulated both with CFD and in RELAP5, is faster than the opening process observed in experimental data. This concludes that the models are conservative, which is a requirement within the nuclear industry.


Abstract This paper presents breakthroughs in the chronostratigraphy of the heretofore poorly constrained Yellow Cat Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation, which is an important record of terrestrial environments, ecosystems and global change in the ancient North American Cordilleran foreland. Zircon populations from 10 stratigraphic horizons in the Yellow Cat Member yield youngest single-grain ages ranging from 142.5 ± 2.7 to 133.7 ± 2.7 Ma (Berriasian–late Valanginian); those from one mudstone palaeosol yield a robust Concordia Age of 136.3 ± 1.3 (Valanginian). Additionally, a new palynoflora – one of a few to be published from the Cedar Mountain Formation – is assigned to the middle Berriasian to early Hauterivian stages, based on the presence of Foraminisporis wonthaggiensis and Trilobosporites sp. cf. T. canadensis, and the absence of F. asymmetricus, Appendicisporites spp. and angiosperms. Furthermore, these chronostratigraphic data allow us to interpret part of the so-called 'Weissert Event' C-isotope excursion (Valanginian) in a new C-isotope profile through a palaeosol-bearing alluvial succession in the Yellow Cat Member. This research extends a firm understanding of the formation further back into the Early Cretaceous than was the case previously (except for ostracod biostratigraphy) and sets the stage for future advancements.


The Auckland Regional Council (ARC) has been working under existing governance to provide guidance for local authorities on how to structure and prepare Integrated Catchment Management Plans (ICMP). The aim of this project is to provide consistent outputs. However, this is not the case as institutional capacity, available budgets, community expectation and business practices of the individual councils are critical factors in the production of consistent planning outputs. It has become apparent that the systems and technical tools that support the calculations and designs/plans that are generated are proving to be increasingly important. The integration of information through Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and documented management systems can allow multi-department/organisational collaborations to flourish. Under a ̳total watershed management approach' that includes infrastructure, such as roads, wastewater/water supply and multiple land uses, it is possible to combine visions and resources to achieve more sustainable results. Given that the seven local councils in Auckland will be merged into a ̳One Auckland' super council, it is imperative that the tools are available and the business processes well understood to take advantage of the expected benefits of amalgamation. This paper investigates just what might be required in the ̳One Auckland Scenario' to achieve integrated catchment management best practice.


PURPOSE
To determine whether pollen triggers urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome (UCPPS) flares.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We assessed flare status every two weeks for one year as part of the Multidisciplinary Approach to the study of Chronic Pelvic Pain (MAPP) case-crossover study of flare triggers. Flare symptoms, flare start date, and exposures in the three days before a flare were queried for the first three flares and at three randomly selected non-flare times. These data were linked to daily pollen count by date and the first three digits of participants' zip codes. Pollen count in the 3 days before and day of a flare, as well as pollen rises past established thresholds, were compared to non-flare values by conditional logistic regression. Poisson regression was used to estimate flare rates in the three weeks following pollen rises past established thresholds in the full longitudinal study. Analyses were performed in all participants and separately in those who reported allergies or respiratory tract disorders.

RESULTS
Although no associations were observed for daily pollen count and flare onset, positive associations were observed for pollen count rises past medium or higher thresholds in participants with allergies or respiratory tract disorders in the case-crossover (odds ratio=1.31, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.04-1.66) and full longitudinal (relative rate=1.23, 95% CI: 1.03-1.46) samples.

CONCLUSIONS
We found some evidence to suggest that rising pollen count may trigger UCPPS flares. If confirmed in future studies, these findings may help to inform flare pathophysiology, prevention, treatment, and control over the unpredictability of flares.


When students perform complex cognitive activities, such as solving a problem, epistemic emotions can occur and influence the completion of the task. Confusion is one of these emotions and it can produce either negative or positive outcomes, according to the situation. For this reason, considering confusion can be an important factor for educators to evaluate students' progression in cognitive activities. However, in digital learning environments, observing students' confusion, as well as other epistemic emotions, can be problematic because of the remoteness of students. The study reported in this article explored new methodologies to assess emotions in a problem-solving task. The experimental task consisted of the resolution of logic puzzles presented on a computer, before, and after watching an instructional video depicting a method to solve the puzzle. In parallel to collecting self-reported confusion ratings, human-computer interaction was captured to serve as non-intrusive measures of emotions. The results revealed that the level of self-reported confusion was negatively correlated with the performance on solving the puzzles. In addition, while comparing the pre- and post-video sequences, the experience of confusion tended to differ. Before watching the instructional video, the number of clicks on the puzzle was positively correlated with the level of confusion whereas the correlation was negatively after the video. Moreover, the main emotions reported before the video (e.g., confusion, frustration, curiosity) tended to differ from the emotions reported after the videos (e.g., engagement, delight, boredom). These results provide insights into the ambivalent impact of confusion in problem-solving task, illustrating the dual effect (i.e., positive or negative) of this emotion on activity and performance, as reported in the literature. Applications of this methodology to real-world settings are discussed.


Globalization presents threats to and opportunities for women working in the informal sector. The paper, which draws on the work of Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) Global Markets Program and of HomeNet, focuses on women home-based workers and analyzes, within the framework of global value-chains, the impact of globalization on labor relations and other market transactions. The chains reviewed are: manufactured goods (fashion garments); agricultural products (nontraditional exports); and nontimber forest products (shea butter). The paper shows how this form of analysis helps to identify the uneven distribution of power and returns within the chains – between rich and poor and between women and men. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of the work of the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), HomeNet, and StreetNet in organizing home-based workers, both locally and internationally, as well as that of WIEGO in supporting them.


Thermal decomposition kinetics of calcium carbonate was studied by non-isothermal thermogravimetric analysis at different heating rates. The reaction mechanism was found to follow a two-dimensional phase boundary-controlled model by modelfree and model-fitting methods. Two non-Arrhenius equations (Harcourt–Esson equation and Berthelot–Hood equation) were used to interpret the decomposition kinetics and the results were correlated with those by using the Arrhenius equation. The ambiguous operations in kinetic analysis in the literature, including the determination of reaction mechanism by the shape of thermogravimetry/DTG curves and the correlation of the kinetic parameters of non-Arrhenius and Arrhenius equations, were discussed. Some suggestions were proposed when using nonArrhenius equations in interpreting solid decomposition kinetics.


Background Aromatase inhibitors (AI) are well established as adjuvant endocrine treatment for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive (HR+) early breast cancer (EBC). Drug-induced myalgia or arthralgia is among the most frequently reported adverse drug reactions to AIs. Objectives Little is known about the pathomechanism by which AIs cause muscle and joint injury. The literature on skeletal muscle complaints with AIs is confusing, in part because of a lack of clear definitions. Myalgia/arthralgia is defined as muscle/joint pain and is likely to affect patients' quality of life and compliance with AI medication. We designed a prospective trial to collect real world data on the effects of AI-associated myalgia or arthralgia on patient compliance, patient outcomes as well as treatment costs of myalgia or arthralgia. Methods COMPACT is an open, prospective, non-interventional study (NCT00857012) assessing the incidence of arthralgia, therapy costs, and compliance within the first year of adjuvant anastrozole therapy in postmenopausal patients with HR+ EBC. The study is sponsored by AstraZeneca and supported by German health insurance funds. Patients on adjuvant AI anastrozole for 3-6 months were enrolled and stratified by initial adjuvant anastrozole or switch from tamoxifen. All patients receive regular standardized information about breast cancer from baseline to week 20 after study start to support treatment compliance. Data on demographics, arthralgias, therapy of arthralgia and quality of life are collected at baseline, 3, 6 and 9 months. Primary endpoints are scaled data on arthralgia and compliance within the first year of AI therapy. Secondary endpoints include the incidence of arthralgias, therapy costs, reasons for non-compliance, and influence of arthralgias on clinical outcome. For a subgroup of patients data on arthralgia therapy and compliance will be validated with corresponding accounting data of participating health insurance funds. Results From April 2009 to March 2011, 2313 patients were recruited, 2007 receiving upfront anastrozole and 306 patients on switch therapy. Mean age was 64.5 years, mean BMI 27.7. 41.5% of patients had concomitant symptoms relating to skeleton or musculature, and 11.9% stated arthralgias existing prior to AI-treatment. 13.1% reported a worsening of preexisting arthralgias or new arthralgia after starting AI. All patients will be followed for arthralgia, arthralgia treatment, and compliance to therapy. Conclusions COMPACT aims to provide valid data on AI-associated arthralgias, treatment, therapy compliance and treatment costs. This may help to better inform patients and health care providers about these clinically important issues with the aim to improve adherence to AI-treatment, breast cancer outcomes, and therapy costs. Disclosure of Interest W. Bolten Consultant for: AstraZeneca, M. Blettner: None Declared, N. Harbeck Consultant for: member of study steering committee, H.-J. Hindenburg: None Declared, C. Jackisch: None Declared, P. Klein: None Declared, K. König: None Declared, W. Rief: None Declared, D. Wallwiener: None Declared, S. Zaun: None Declared, R. Kreienberg: None Declared, P. Hadji Consultant for: AstraZeneca


This paper extends recent theoretical work on sub-inertial trapped modes in bays to consider trapping of energy in the neighbourhood of estuary mouths on coastal shelves. The qualitative form of the theoretical predictions accords well with recent observations on the Scotian Shelf that show energy trapped near the Laurentian Channel at a frequency higher than that of the propagating waves on the shelf. The trapping and scattering of shelf waves is modelled for a shelf–estuary or shelf–headland system by considering barotropic waves in a straight, infinite channel with an attached rectangular estuary or interrupted by a rectangular headland. Taking the depth to increase exponentially with distance from the coast and expanding in cross-shelf modes reduces the problem to a system of real linear algebraic equations. Trapped modes with frequencies above the cutoff frequency of propagating waves are found near the mouth of the estuary. Waves propagating towards the estuary are strongly scattered and, for particular frequencies, incident energy can be either perfectly transmitted or totally reflected. An incident wave can be in resonance with the estuary causing energy to penetrate the estuary. Bounds on the frequencies of trapped and resonant solutions are given and allow an easy modal interpretation. If the frequency of an incident wave is sufficiently high, waves cannot propagate past a headland. Energy at these frequencies can however tunnel through the region and appear as an attenuated wave on the far side. For particular frequencies all energy passes the headland and none is reflected. For headlands long compared with the incident wave, transmission coefficients for single-mode scattering follow from spatially one-dimensional wave mechanics.


Background Evidence suggests that exposure to woodlands is associated with increased physical activity and reduced stress. Environmental enhancements of local woodland have therefore been identified as an opportunity to improve health outcomes. The aim of this study was to assess whether woodland users had benefited from government-funded improvements made to local woodlands in deprived areas of Scotland. This study examined whether the perceptions of and use of woodlands were different between woodland users at intervention sites and those at non-intervention sites and how these relationships varied between social groups. Methods A quantitative, case-comparison methodology was adopted. Questionnaires were used to collect data from woodland users recruited across four urban woodlands at two intervention sites and two non-intervention sites in deprived neighbourhoods in Scotland. In total, 198 participants were surveyed and asked about their views and use of the woodland. Outcome measures included frequent use of woodland (several times a week or more) and increased use of the outdoors. Demographic and socio-economic indicators such as age, gender and area-level deprivation for the respondent's place of residence were also included in the analyses. Relationships were assessed with chi-square tests, Mann-Whitney-U tests and binary logistic regression using SPSS. Results Results showed that perceptions of woodland users varied between the intervention and non-intervention sites, with people reporting more positive views at enhanced sites. For example, significantly more respondents reported they felt safe at the intervention sites than at the non-intervention sites (p < 0.05). At the intervention sites 61% of woodland users stated that they had increased their use of the outdoors following the enhancements. Those with a university or professional qualification had reduced odds of increasing use of the outdoors compared to those with fewer qualifications (OR = 0.079, 95% CI: 0.016–0.395). Results also showed that area-level deprivation for the respondent's place of residence was associated with frequent woodland visits (p < 0.01) and despite being located in highly deprived areas, approximately 73% of woodland users were from affluent neighbourhoods further afield. Conclusion The findings support the importance of well-maintained woodlands in urban areas for enhancing health and well-being. The study has shown that woodlands which are better cared for may encourage more outdoor exercise and positive attitudes towards woodlands than those that are unmanaged. However the results also suggest that the health benefits of urban woodlands may be unequal across socio-economic groups. Policy makers may be advised to also consider community engagement programmes for encouraging use of woodland among under-represented groups.


A method for modeling symmetries of the neighborhoods in gray-value images is derived. It is based on the form of the iso-gray-value curves. For every neighborhood a complex number is obtained through a convolution of a complex-valued image with a complex-valued filter. The magnitude of the complex number is the degree of symmetry with respect to the a priori chosen harmonic function pair. The degree of symmetry has a clear definition which is based on the error in the Fourier domain. The argument of the complex number is the angle representing the relative dominance of one of the pair of harmonic functions compared to the other.<<ETX>>


Group A rotaviruses remain the leading cause of diarrhoea in children aged <5 years. Mozambique introduced rotavirus vaccine (Rotarix®) in September 2015. We report rotavirus genotypes circulating among symptomatic and asymptomatic children in Manhiça District, Mozambique, pre- and post-vaccine introduction. Stool was collected from enrolled children and screened for rotavirus by enzyme-immuno-sorbent assay. Positive specimens were genotyped for VP7 (G genotypes) and VP4 (P genotypes) by the conventional reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. The combination G12P[8] was more frequently observed in pre-vaccine than in post-vaccine introduction, in moderate to severe diarrhoea (34%, 61/177 vs. 0, p < 0.0001) and controls (23%, 26/113 vs. 0, p = 0.0013) and mixed genotypes (36%, 24/67 vs. 7% 4/58, p = 0.0003) in less severe diarrhoea. We observed changes in post-vaccine compared to pre-vaccine introduction, where G3P[4] and G3P[8] were prevalent in moderate to severe diarrhoea (10%, 5/49 vs. 0, p = 0.0002; and 14%, 7/49 vs. 1%, 1/177, p < 0.0001; respectively), and in less severe diarrhoea (21%, 12/58 vs. 0, p = 0.003; and 24%, 14/58 vs. 0, p < 0.0001; respectively). Our surveillance demonstrated the circulation of similar genotypes contemporaneously among cases and controls, as well as switching from pre- to post-vaccine introduction. Continuous surveillance is needed to evaluate the dynamics of the changes in genotypes following vaccine introduction.


This paper develops a theory of capital structure based on the attempts of a firm to alleviate a holdup problem that arises in its bilateral relationship with a buyer. It is shown that by issuing debt to outsiders, the firm can improve its ex post bargaining position vis-a-vis the buyer and capture a larger share of the ex post gains from trade. Debt, however, is costly because the buyer may find the required price too high and refuse to trade. Since debt raises the payoff of claimholders, it strengthens the firm's incentive to make relationship-specific investments, and therefore alleviates the well-known underinvestment problem. A comparative static analysis yields a number of testable hypotheses regarding the firm's financial strategy.


The ability to monitor supplier performance is a critical capability for maintaining strong buyer–supplier relationships. Monitoring type B suppliers is especially challenging as they are not as clearly defined as either type A, with strong strategic partnerships, or type C, with little partnership. This research develops a non-parametric multivariate Hoteling's T 2 control chart to capture the in-control state of a dyadic relationship (Phase I), and show how it would be developed based on survey data of buyer–supplier relationship attributes. Modelling the satisfactory level of dyadic relationship performance is very useful for identifying when the relationship begins to move away from the desired state. We then use the designed control chart to monitor the relationship between dyads over time to determine if any unusual behaviour has occurred (Phase II) and illustrate its implementation through a case study from the auto industry. This research illustrates how supply chain managers can secure and improve their supply chain performance by monitoring and maintaining strong relationships with their partners. The proposed method extends the existing SPC tools to effectively manage Type B buyer–supplier relationships.


The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether females have different perceptions of diversity management and workplace happiness compared to their male colleagues. Furthermore, the paper explores whether diversity management perceptions mediate the relationship between workplace happiness and organisational citizenship behaviour.,A total of 260 questionnaires from a number of public hospitals in Egypt were analysed using both t-test and Structural Equation Modelling.,We found that female physicians perceive diversity management policies/protocols more positively than their male colleagues. Moreover, gender has no or little effect on physicians' perceptions of workplace happiness. We also found that workplace happiness positively affects physicians' organisational citizenship behaviour, and finally, diversity management practices can mediate the relationship between workplace happiness and physicians' organisational citizenship behaviour.,We believe that managers can raise the feeling of workplace happiness among their staff if they maintain some personal relationships with physicians, care about the physicians' work/life balance, promote after work gatherings, initiate coffee time talks, encourage open communication practices and more.,The paper is based on the argument that although employees might be happy in the workplace through (engagement, job satisfaction, affective commitment), their happiness, however,will unlikely be reflected into a positive organisational citizenship behaviour towards their organisation, except (social exchange theory) they feel or perceive (equity theory) the overall practices of diversity management in that organisation positively. Thus, studying the mediating effect of perceptions towards diversity management is mainly our contribution.


Essentials of Food Process Engineering provides basics and fundamentals of engineering subjects to students with a non-mathematical background who are perusing graduation and post-graduation career in Food Science and Engineering. This book is also useful as a handy refresher text for those involved in plant science and managers in the food processing and dairy industries. Beginning with engineering calculations, it covers the important topics like mass and energy balance, heat and mass transfer, psychrometry and refrigeration, etc., which are extensively used in Food Process Industry. A separate chapter on instruments for measurement of various parameters including measurement of food parameters is included.


We develop a detailed trade analysis to assess the potential impacts of a free trade agreement (FTA) on the agricultural sector of Southern African countries. We do this by combining the use of a partial equilibrium analysis with bilateral trade data at the four-digit Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) level for 193 agricultural industries in 14 Southern African countries. Results show that the overall welfare effects of a FTA would be positive but small in most countries. Largest benefits would go to countries with a regional comparative advantage for agriculture, while still being inefficient producers of regionally traded commodities. No direct gains for importing countries are expected because a FTA would increase imports from inefficient regional producers, with trade diversion dominating trade creation. These results suggest that the region should be looking at regional policies and interventions beyond trade arrangements, such as those targeting investment, agricultural productivity and diversification to enhance benefits of regional trade liberalization.