The study was aimed at assessing the effects of the application of different rates of cattle compost manure and N, P, K fertilizer on the growth and production of mustard greens. The study was done from May to June 2013 at Agrotechnology Trial Farm of Djuanda University. A factorial completely randomized design with two factors was used. The first factor was cattle compost manure in four levels, namely 0 ton/ha (R), 5 ton/ha (0,5 R), 10 ton/ha (R), and 15 ton/ha (1,5 R). The second factor was N, P, K fertilizer in four levels, namely 0 kg/ha (0 R), Urea 187 kg/ha + SP-36 155.5 kg/ha + KCl 112 kg/ha ( 0.5 R), Urea 374 kg/ha + SP-36 311 kg/ha + KCl 224 kg/ha ( R), and Urea 561 kg/ha + SP-36 466.5 kg/ha + KCl 336 kg/ha ( 1.5 R). Results showed that no interaction effect was found on all parameters measured except on the shoot diameter at 2 weeks after planting (WAP). Increasing rates of cattle compost manure did not give significant effects on all parameters measured except on number of leaves at 2 WAP. Increasing rates of N,P,K fertilizer were found to significantly increase the growth and production of mustard greens. This positive effects were found on plant height, number of leaves, and trunk diameter at 2, 3, and 4 WAP and shoot diameter at 3 and 4 WAP. Shoot wet and dry weights of plants in 1.5 R, N, P and K were significantly higher than those in other treatments. Keywords: Brassica juncea L., cattle manure,N, P, and K


The aim of this research is to formulate an advanced computer model for predicting the deterioration of marine reinforced concrete (RC) structures due to corrosion of steel reinforcement. This research is a part of the larger Linkage Project LP0883290 which is co-funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC), Geelong Port, Sydney Ports and AECOM Ltd. Chloride-induced corrosion of internal steel reinforcement is one of the major causes of concrete premature deterioration which incur significant ongoing costs to repair and replace the affected infrastructure. Despite increased research efforts worldwide to predict damage propagation over the years, knowledge gaps remain and existing models still cannot satisfactorily produce outputs which match with the damage observed in field marine structures that are located in corrosive seawater tidal, splash, and aerosol spray conditions. A 3-D Finite Element (FEM) computer model was developed to simulate damage propagation in RC structures resulting from reinforcement corrosion. It addresses the limitations of the existing models by incorporating algorithms for predicting dynamic (time-variant) corrosion rate and simulating non-uniform distribution of rust products around the reinforcement bar. The FEM was also programmed so that the environmental factor inputs can be varied along the 3rd dimension of the structure, thereby allowing the spatial variation of damage in 3-D to be simulated. The FEM can provide visual outputs for the development of corrosion-induced cracks over time and can be used to predict the type of damage and the time of damage occurrence within the concrete cover zone. The 3-D FEM was calibrated against published experimental data in the literature and against port data collected from field marine structures. It was found that the 3-D FEM damage predictions matched closely with the damage published in the literature and the damage observed in field structures. The 3-D FEM was used to analyse a wide range of corrosion scenarios involving different structural geometries, material properties and environmental exposures. The analysis results were used to formulate damage maps and regression models, which can be used by port asset managers who may not have the expertise to use the FEM to predict the damage propagation in RC structures. The key outcomes of this research have improved the understanding of concrete deterioration behaviour by providing new capabilities to predict the location, time of occurrence, type and degree of damage in field marine RC structures. This enhanced modelling allows port asset managers to make better decisions regarding the timing and method of repair and/or rehabilitation over the life cycle.


: It appears that a variety of surgical techniques are available to safely decrease the size of hyperplastic inferior turbinates; when used properly in appropriate patients they can provide significant improvement in the symptoms of chronic nasal obstruction.


Abstract Purpose: Little is known about the experiences of people with disabilities (PWD) who live with HIV. Existing research largely assumes a "double burden" approach, which views HIV as doubling the load for people already burdened by disability. Intersectionality (a dynamic process of converging systems of relationships) offers an alternative approach for understanding differences in experience. This study uses an intersectional approach to explore the experiences of PWD in Zambia who have become HIV-positive. Methods: We conducted semi-structured, in depth interviews with 21 PWD who live with HIV in Zambia (12 women, 9 men). Participants had various impairments (visual, hearing, mobility, intellectual). Interviews were conducted to meet participants' accessibility preferences. Results: Our intersectional analysis demonstrates the dynamic and situational emergent meanings and consequences for PWD who are living with HIV related to: (1) meanings of HIV and disability linked with time and trajectory; (2) oppression and negotiation related to accessing health services and (3) social roles and relationships. Three case studies illustrate these circumstances. Conclusions: Intersectionality offers a complementary approach for examining the complex interrelationship among HIV, disability, gender and time among PWD living with HIV. Findings illustrate directions for improved services and policies for this important group. Implications for Rehabilitation Rehabilitation services need to take a cross-disability (multiple disabilities) approach working with people living with HIV and disability. Rehabilitation, as illustrated by a CBR approach, needs to include services that will facilitate not only health, but education, jobs and housing for people living with HIV and disability. Rehabilitation needs to make more direct connections with Zambia social service sector to help address the fluctuating experience of living with HIV and disability.


The paper summarizes the medium-sized deinothere records from Romania, improving the palaeontological data of two less-known specimens from the Eastern Carpathians Foreland. The area is famous primarily by the large deinothere of Găicena and Mânzaţi assigned to the " Deinotherium gigantissimum" . Later, several fossils of Deinotherium were documented, but they remained generally unknown, and the morphological and biometrical data were not engaged in the further deinothere comparisons. The most important specimen is a fragmentary right hemimandible with well-fossilized m1-m2, housed in the "Ion Borcea" Natural History Museum of Bacău. The p3-p4 and m3 preserved only the roots; even there are not obvious reworking signs. Furthermore, a tibia sin. fragment were firstly added. The fossil remains were unearthed from the Late Bessarabian rocks (MN 9) near Drăgesti (Bacău County). The second specimen represents an isolated M2 sin. of Deinotherium giganteum stored at the Museum of Paleontology "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iasi. It was collected from a microconglomerate bed (Early Bessarabian, ?MN 7-8–MN9) cropping out in the Pietrăria Hill Quarry (Deleni, Iasi County). The age of fossil-bearing layers was accurately documented by several mollusc assemblages.


With a large amount of tyres being discarded every year, the question of how to manage the end-of-life tyres (ELTs) has become a serious issue. Thus this study identifies different driving forces for this management and the most possible scenarios for the future management of ELTs. The study also compares the business as usual model with a waste hierarchy model to explore the possibilities for optimizing management of ELTs through cascading. This study collects opinions about the driving forces of ELT management from 29 experts working in the area. Important driving forces identified were: price of substitute products, recycled materials' market, environmental legislation, and technology. This study also surveys 23 experts in the tyre area about the most possible scenarios for ELTs in 2020. One of the more believed in futures was: "Due to increasingly limited fossil fuels and a rise of sustainability awareness, applications for ELTs are growing both in material and energy recycling." This suggests that a shift toward an equal recycling situation of ELTs among material and energy might be likely to happen by 2020. Based on the most possible scenario for ELTs in 2020, a comparison between waste hierarchy model and business as usual model has been performed. The result shows that the (cascading) waste hierarchy model would likely create more environmental benefits than business as usual model. This is done though the saving and cycling of more materials from energy recovery into material recycling.


Abstract. Today's expectations for historical maps are widely different from what they were ten or even five years ago. Today, maps are expected to be freely available online and viewed in easy-to-use, interactive web apps. Collections of maps, such as maps in atlases or in a map series, are no different. While there have been great strides in developing methods for scanning and sharing smaller collections of maps online, less effort has been directed toward sharing larger and more varied collections of historical maps. Even less energy has been focused on the development of common workflows and off-the-shelf resources that could be used by many who want to digitize and share their own collections.These deficiencies are complicated by the fact that different types of map collections require different solutions. There is wide variety in the types of map collections, including those with many maps of the same extent and map scale but varying themes (as in a thematic atlas), those with maps of varying scales and extents but a single theme (as in a topographic map series), and those with combinations of both. The workflows to convert the maps in these collections to digital format that can then be shred online must assure expediency and accuracy in the processing of the maps, despite their variations. For example, the workflow in figure 1 could be used for collections of maps with varying scales, extents, and themes.Another requirement for sharing historical map collections online is the ability to add new images or replace faulty images in the collection. The workflow in figure 1 allows for this by first updating the metadata, then adding new images to the mosaic dataset, and finally updating the image service. The view of the collection in the web app is updated automatically so no edits need be made to the app code.The web apps used to display the map collections must also vary in order to provide an optimal experience for viewers to interact with the collection. The app in figure 2 was developed to allow viewers to explore a very large set (over 186,000) of historical topographic maps of the United States. This collection includes maps of varying scales, dates, and sizes. The app allows viewers to find maps, compare maps using transparency sliders, download maps images that can be used in software applications such as ArcGIS, and share the current map view with others via social media or a hyperlink.Variations of this app could be used for other types of collections. We have explored modifications to support viewing more than 500 maps compiled by the U.S. Department of Defence during the Vietnam conflict (figure 3). The Vietnam map collection requires a slightly different app solution because there is no significant variation in the dates of the maps, although there are two map scales (1:50,000 and 1:250,000). Additionally, the marginalia on the maps contains information critical to reading the maps, such as the legend and a glossary of Vietnamese names.Our work to date provides solutions to sharing large collections of maps in a series or from atlases, even if the maps have different scales, dates, sizes, and themes. These collections can be shared via web apps that provide viewers with useful interactivity and functionality. We have also developed the means to update collections on a regular basis – for example, the USGS topographic map collection is now being updated quarterly. To support developers of these collections, we provide documentation on the workflow, share example datasets to allow them to test the methodology, and allow access to the web app which can be configured to conform to users' requirements. In this presentation, we detail the workflows and resources we have developed, and we demonstrate solutions for map collections of different types.


The Islamic Inheritance Law is a comprehensive inheritance distribution system.
It covers all aspect of distribution of wealth such as how to distribute, to whom
and what percentage to be distributed. It is very important for Muslim to learn
about the Islamic Inheritance Law because they would face situations that
require them to understand the distribution of wealth in the Islamic Law in one
day. Hence, the author decides to share the knowledge of Islamic Inheritance
Law using Intelligent Faraid Calculator system. The system is mainly proposed
to provide the system that can help Muslims to calculate the distribution of
wealth based on Islamic Law which most of the Muslim nowadays get confuse
with the complexity of the calculation. The research on the system also is used to
enhance the current system that being produced by USM student. Last but not
least, the objective of the system is to educate the overall Muslims in planning
the distribution of the wealth to their family members after they die.


Once the Bank of Russia lifted regulatory easing related to the pandemic, the quality of corporate loan portfolios of Russian banks did not deteriorate: the average level of past due debt remains stable and at a low level; the growth rate of corporate lending corresponds to the 2020 values; the interest rates dynamic is moderately volatile. At the same time, the increase in banks' risk appetite in the context of economic recovery requires increased attention of the regulator to the quality of the bank's corporate portfolio and the adequacy of risk accounting. Accumulated credit risks can become a source of problems for the banking system in the event of destabilization of the economic situation in the wake of epidemiological, political and other factors.


We analyze cross-country trends in technological progress over the period of 1980-2011 by examining citations data from almost 4 million utility patents granted by the US Patent and Trademark Oce (USPTO). Our estimation results on patent quality and distance to the knowledge frontier reveal the following stylized facts. The emerging Asian economies of Korea, Taiwan and China have indeed achieved substantial catch-up towards the technology frontier. In the case of Korea and Taiwan, progress has been made in terms of patent quality as well as distance to the frontier. Chinese patents are of higher quality now than before but Chinese inventors have yet to reduce the citation lag relative to the frontier. In contrast, advanced economies of Europe and Japan have displayed steady decline in their patent quality. Finally, the US has maintained, and in some cases strengthened, its position as the world technology frontier.


Iridology, the study of the iris of the eye, has existed for approximately 100 years. Yet, many controversies remain as to its usefulness in determining health problems. To further the understanding of iridology, research on clients with chronic renal failure was conducted. This study was specifically done to reevaluate the findings found by Simon, Worthen, and Mitas (1979). In their study, iridologists were unable to distinguish clients with renal failure from clients without renal failure. The findings of this study indicate that the level of expertise of the iridologist is extremely important.


Currently, there is a great interest in nanoparticle-based vaccine delivery. Recent studies suggest that nanoparticles when introduced into the biological milieu are not simply passive carriers but may also contribute immunological activity themselves or of their own accord. For example there is considerable interest in the biomedical applications of one of the physiologically-based inorganic metal oxide nanoparticle, zinc oxide (ZnO). Indeed zinc oxide (ZnO) NP are now recognized as a nanoscale chemotherapeutic or anticancer nanoparticle (ANP) and several recent reports suggest ZnO NP and/or its complexes with drug and RNA induce a potent antitumor response in immuno-competent mouse models. A variety of cell culture studies have shown that ZnO NP can induce cytokines such as IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-2, and IL-12 which are known to regulate the tumor microenvironment. Much less work has been done on magnesium oxide (MgO), cobalt oxide (Co3O4), or nickel oxide (NiO); however, despite the fact that these physiologically-based metal oxide NP are reported to functionally load and assemble RNA and protein onto their surface and may thus also be of potential interest as nanovaccine platform. Here we initially compared in vitro immunogenicity of ZnO and Co3O4 NP and their effects on cancer-associated or tolerogenic cytokines. Based on these data we moved ZnO NP forward to testing in the ex vivo splenocyte assay relative to MgO and NiO NP and these data showed significant difference for flow cytometry sorted population for ZnO-NP, relative to NiO and MgO. These data suggesting both molecular and cellular immunogenic activity, a double-stranded anticancer RNA (ACR), polyinosinic:poly cytidylic acid (poly I:C) known to bind ZnO NP; when ZnO-poly I:C was injected into B16F10-BALB/C tumor significantly induced, IL-2 and IL-12 as shown by Cohen's d test. LL37 is an anticancer peptide (ACP) currently in clinical trials as an intratumoral immuno-therapeutic agent against metastatic melanoma. LL37 is known to bind poly I:C where it is thought to compete for receptor binding on the surface of some immune cells, metastatic melanoma and lung cells. Molecular dynamic simulations revealed association of LL37 onto ZnO NP confirmed by gel shift assay. Thus using the well-characterized model human lung cancer model cell line (BEAS-2B), poly I:C RNA, LL37 peptide, or LL37-poly I:C complexes were loaded onto ZnO NP and delivered to BEAS-2B lung cells, and the effect on the main cancer regulating cytokine, IL-6 determined by ELISA. Surprisingly ZnO-LL37, but not ZnO-poly I:C or the more novel tricomplex (ZnO-LL37-poly I:C) significantly suppressed IL-6 by >98–99%. These data support the further evaluation of physiological metal oxide compositions, so-called physiometacomposite (PMC) materials and their formulation with anticancer peptide (ACP) and/or anticancer RNA (ACR) as a potential new class of immuno-therapeutic against melanoma and potentially lung carcinoma or other cancers.


Rutting, which is permanent deformation or consolidation of asphalt pavement, is one of the flexible pavement failures. Research has shown that one of the ways of resisting this failure is by modifying the rheological properties of bitumen. This modification can be achieved by the addition of dissolved plastic water sachet (DPWS), a well-known waste in Nigeria, to bitumen. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of DPWS on the rheological properties of bitumen and at the same time reduce the environmental hazard associated with PWS disposal with consequential pavement material improvement. Bituminous blends containing DPWS at various percentages 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 and 17% by weight of conventional bitumen were used for the study. Tests on rheological properties such as dynamic viscosity, phase angle, peak shear stress and peak shear strain were carried out on unmodified and DPWS modified hot and warm bitumen blends to determine the corresponding complex shear modulus and complex shear modulus elastic portion. Results obtained from the tests were compared between control sample (0% DPWS) and DPWS modified bitumen samples. The test results showed that the dynamic viscosity increased upon addition of the DPWS at 135°C and at 165°C, it initially increased upon addition of DPWS up to 7% before it became constant till 17% DPWS addition; and the phase angle decreased upon addition of DPWS at both 135°C and 165°C for hot mix bituminous samples. Likewise, for the warm bituminous samples, the absolute viscosity increased and phase angle decreased upon addition of DPWS at both 135°C and 165°C. The best complex shear modulus elastic portion results occurred upon 9% and 17% DPWS addition for hot mix bituminous samples and upon 5% and 17% DPWS addition for warm mix bituminous samples when subjected to temperatures of 135°C and 165°C respectively. These percentages are the best to resist rutting on our traffic roads from this study.


The possibility of osteonecrosis of the carpal bones should always be considered when athletes present with pain of unknown origin in the hand and wrist, in particular, if they are participating in sports such as gymnastics or weight-lifting that involve extreme loading of the wrist with axial compression and microtrauma. This sort of extreme loading of the wrist combined with a constitutionally "weak" blood supply to the individual carpal bones may lead to the formation of osteo-necrotic zones. A treatment method that can produce excellent results, depending on the pathomorphology, is available in the form of vascularized bone grafting.


We review recent results of point-contact spectroscopy (PCS) in doped (with Al, C or Mn) and neutron-irradiated samples of the two-band superconductor MgB2. The aim of these measurements was to clarify the role of inter- and intra-band scattering, and to test the theoretical expectations about the effects of substitutions and disorder on two-band superconductivity. The gap amplitudes, Δπ and Δσ, were obtained as a function of the critical temperature of the junctions (or of the doping content) by fitting the conductance curves with the two-band BTK model. The analysis of the resulting curves within the Eliashberg theory allowed us to extract information on the partial DOSs, as well as on the scattering rates within and between the two bands. The results are discussed and compared to theoretical expectations.


Abstract The role of fungi in the treatment of wastewater has been extensively researched. Many genera of fungi have been employed for the dye decolourization either in living or dead form. In this study, the removal of an acidic dye, Indigo Carmine (IC), from an aqueous solution by biosorption on dead fungus, Pleurotusostreatus, was investigated. The effects of contact time, initial dye concentration, amount of dead biomass, agitation rate and initial pH on dye removal have been determined. Experimental results show that an increase in the amount of dead biomass positively affected the dye removal. The highest removal was obtained at 150-200 rpm. Slightly lower removing activities were found at lower agitation rates. The dye adsorption effi ciency was not affected by pH except minor variation in the pH of 2-8. Color removal was observed to occur rapidly within 60 minutes. The removal of dye by dead biomass of P. ostreatus was clearly dependent on the initial dye concentration of the solution. Dye removal was reduced from 93% to 64% as concentration was increased from 50 to 500 mg/L Indigo Carmine. This study showed that it was possible to remove textile dyes by dead biomass of P. ostreatus.


ELearning has been part of language education for years being both praised for its benefits and criticized for its lack of human interaction. The use of electronic media and information and communication technologies in education was first a means to bring traditional teaching into the new era and as a result, it became extremely popular as provider of both synchronous and asynchronous learning through a modern approach. Ranging from the sheer use of laptops in the classroom, to real distance learning, eLearning attracted not only teachers, but also institutions to the mirage of cheap, 24-hour available courses, which offered not only modern, but also tailored and self-paced learning. Practice showed that eLearning became extremely popular due to the mixture of technologies (emails, blogs, wikis, discussion boards etc) it involved and its connection with social media (Facebook, Twitter etc.). In addition, the use of hypertext documents, audio and video files on portable devices, the third wave in computing (ubiquitous computing) made teaching and learning a lot easier and marked a step forward towards mobile learning. However, there are language teachers who still consider eLearning a variant of traditional courses as, according to them, it provides just old content and activities in a new format. This paper will examine not only the way language courses have been poured into the eLearning mold by analyzing the forms the traditional classroom activities had to take in order to suit the new digital format, but also their aggregation into completely new and challenging forms to better meet learners' needs.


In 2014, Indonesia inaugurated as president the former Governor of Jakarta, Joko Widodo, or "Jokowi," raising public expectations for reform especially among people outside the powerful political and business elite circles. It is uncertain to what extent, and how, the new government will achieve his reform agendas. Moreover, a relatively weak economy and declining civil liberties may pose an additional challenge, despite Jokowi's avowed commitment to structural reforms and good governance.


In current cooperative communication schemes, to achieve cooperative diversity, synchronization between terminals is usually assumed, which may not be practical since each terminal has its own local oscillator. In this paper, based on the stack construction proposed by Hammons and El Gamal, we first construct a family of space-time trellis codes for BPSK modulation scheme that is characterized to possess the full cooperative diversity order without the synchronization assumption. We then generalize this family of the space-time trellis codes from BPSK to higher order QAM and PSK modulation schemes based on the unified construction proposed by Lu and Kumar. Some diversity product properties of space-time trellis codes are studied and simplified decoding methods are discussed. Simulation results are given to illustrate the performance of the newly proposed codes


Integrating higher shares energy mix of variable renewable energy (VRE) technologies, such as wind and solar PV, in the energy transition process presents many challenges in its operation. One of the required services needed in this activity is the Primary Frequency Regulation (PFR). Many studies have studied various ways to provide PFR services, such as using the Conventional Generating Unit (CGU) and Lithium Battery Energy Storage (LiBESS). This paper presents several battery sizing methods used for comparison between the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of a CGU and the Levelized Cost of Storage (LCOS) of a LiBESS, which used as PFR of a VRE penetrated grid system in a case study: the grid of southern Sulawesi, Indonesia. The results show that the LCOE of LiBESS is still below the LCOE of the CGU, but for projections in 2030, the LCOS LiBESS shows a competitive number compared to the LCOE of CGU.


This study examines the banking crises in Finland, Norway and Sweden, which took place in the early 1990s, and draws some policy conclusions from their experiences. One key conclusion is that factors in addition to business cycle effects explain the Nordic countries financial problems. Although the timing of the deregulation in all three countries coincided with a strongly expansionary macroeconomic momentum, the main reasons for the banking crises were the delayed policy responses, the structural characteristics of the financial systems, and the banks inadequate internal risk-management controls.


Much of our understanding of normal low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol metabolism can be traced to studies in human carriers of naturally occurring mutations, which perturb proteins acting at key metabolic checkpoints.1 The best known among these single-gene disorders is familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), which in the heterozygous state affects ≈1 in 250 to 500 individuals and classically results from a loss-of-function mutation in 1 allele of the LDLR gene encoding the LDL receptor, primarily in the liver.2 Untreated FH heterozygotes have plasma LDL cholesterol levels 2× to 3× normal and begin to express atherosclerosis symptoms and signs in the third to fourth decade of life.2 FH heterozygotes respond well to multidimensional treatment, including lifestyle modification plus medications, primarily statins plus cholesterol absorption inhibitors, and bile acid sequestrants, which all act to upregulate the 1 functional (wild-type) LDLR allele.3 In contrast, the much rarer homozygous form of FH (HoFH) affects ≈1 in 250 000 to 1 000 000 individuals, classically results from loss-of-function mutations in both LDLR alleles, is associated with plasma LDL cholesterol levels 4× to 10× normal, is expressed clinically by the second decade with significant lipid deposits affecting skin, tendons, and arteries, and is characterized by minimal response to traditional lipid-lowering therapies.4 In fact, the miniscule biochemical response to statin treatment in patients with HoFH confirms that statins reduce plasma LDL cholesterol by upregulating expression of LDL receptors, which are functionally absent in these patients.

Article, see p 591

The standard of care for HoFH is weekly or biweekly plasmapheresis or LDL apheresis.5 However, this treatment is not universally available, and although it has likely improved longevity, patients with HoFH still develop early cardiovascular disease, including premature coronary atherosclerosis and significant left ventricular outflow tract disease.6 Liver transplantation has also been attempted …


Chronic administration of efavirenz is associated with decreased serum bilirubin levels, probably through induction of UGT1A1. We assessed the impact of efavirenz monotherapy and UGT1A1 phenotypes on total, conjugated, and unconjugated serum bilirubin levels in healthy volunteers. Healthy volunteers were enrolled into a clinical study designed to address efavirenz pharmacokinetics, drug interactions, and pharmacogenetics. Volunteers received multiple oral doses (600 mg/day for 17 days) of efavirenz. Serum bilirubin levels were obtained at study entry and 1 week after completion of the study. DNA genotyping was performed for UGT1A1 [*80 (C>T), *6 (G>A), *28 (TA7), *36 (TA5), and *37 (TA8)] and for SLCO1B1 [*5 (521T>C) and *1b (388A>G] variants. Diplotype predicted phenotypes were classified as normal, intermediate, and slow metabolizers. Compared with bilirubin levels at screening, treatment with efavirenz significantly reduced total, conjugated, and unconjugated bilirubin. After stratification by UGT1A1 phenotypes, there was a significant decrease in total bilirubin among all phenotypes, conjugated bilirubin among intermediate metabolizers, and unconjugated bilirubin among normal and intermediate metabolizers. The data also show that UGT1A1 genotype predicts serum bilirubin levels at baseline, but this relationship is lost after efavirenz treatment. SLCO1B1 genotypes did not predict bilirubin levels at baseline or after efavirenz treatment. Our data suggest that efavirenz may alter bilirubin disposition mainly through induction of UGT1A1 metabolism and efflux through multidrug resistance–associated protein 2. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Efavirenz likely alters the pharmacokinetics of coadministered drugs, potentially causing lack of efficacy or increased adverse effects, as well as the disposition of endogenous compounds relevant in homeostasis through upregulation of UGT1A1 and multidrug resistance–associated protein 2. Measurement of unconjugated and conjugated bilirubin during new drug development may provide mechanistic understanding regarding enzyme and transporters modulated by the new drug.


ABSTRACT Initiatives using parkour and parkour-inspired hybrid activities are emerging in increasingly varied settings from formal physical education to the performance arts. This proliferation in England has led to the need for more formal governance resulting in the formation of a Sport England-sanctioned national governing body, Parkour UK. In this paper, we document attempts to challenge the perceived sportization process in England through the emergence of Performance-Parkour [2PK] a version of parkour practice rooted in the performance arts. We discuss the implications of these developments for maintaining parkour's diversity and inclusivity as a practice for inspiring participation. We draw on a range of data sources including observations, formal interviews, and reflections from different positions from academic outsides to involved practitioner. We then consider the implications of these developments for maintaining parkour's diversity and inclusivity as a practice for inspiring participation, particularly with regard to pedagogic style and gender inclusion. This process highlights some of the challenges and difficulties in the institutionalisation of an informal movement practice into an organised and formalised one. Our paper therefore contributes to our understanding of the role informal sporting activities can play in promoting inclusive and equitable physical cultures, and provides insights into emergent boundary-crossing practices that are situated between sports and the arts.


Metallic lustre decorations of glazed ceramics, which appeared in Mesopotamia during the 9th century AD, can be considered nowadays as an historical example of controlled nanotechnology for optical devices. Their surprising optical properties are directly due to metallic nanoparticles that Islamic potters were able to bury in the first layers of glaze through empirical chemical means. Lustre technology is fascinating and many papers have been devoted to this subject. Many lustre samples have been investigated with the most modern equipment such as the synchrotron radiation, electron microscopy, micro-Raman spectroscopy and other spectroscopic methods. This decor made in the twelfth century during the Fatimid dynasty shows a quasi-perfect double layer of nanoparticles confirming the high technological mastery of this civilization. Moreover, up to now, no lustre has been found with an organization of nanoparticles as elaborate as the decor presented here.


The subsequent performance of broilers subjected to 40% feed restriction at different ages was studied using 140 day-old chicks. The chicks were weighed and randomly assigned to 20 cages in completely randomized design (CRD) with seven chicks per group and four replications. The treatments were as follows: Treatment 1 - ad libitum fed, Treatment 2 - 40% less feed intake at 5 to 11 days of age, Treatment 3 - 40% less feed intake at 8 to 14 days of age, Treatment 4 - 40% less feed intake at 15 to 21 days of age, and Treatment 5 - 40% less feed intake at 22 to 28 days of age. No significant differences (P<0.05) on live weight were observed among the treatment birds at 42 nd day of age, implying that restricted re-fed birds were able to exhibit growth compensation relative to the control birds. Feed consumption and feed conversion efficiency were significantly different (P<0.05) among treatment birds. The restricted birds had significantly lower (P<0.05) feed intake and better feed conversion efficiencies relative to the ad libitum fed birds. Birds on treatment 3 showed the highest income over feed and chick cost.


This paper studies the accuracy of two versions of the procedure proposed by Kydland and Prescott (1980, 1982) for approximating the optional decision rules in problems in which the objective fails to be quadratic and the constraints linear. The analysis is carried out in the context of a particular example: a version of the Brock-Mirman (1972) model of optimal economic growth. Although the model is not linear quadratic, its solution can nevertheless be computed with arbitrary accuracy using a variant of the value function iteration procedures described in Bertsekas (1976). I find that the Kydland-Prescott approximate decision rules are very similar to those implied by value function iteration.


This essay examines how Du Bois's critique of global political economy proceeds as a critique of American constitutionalism in his 1935 Black Reconstruction in America, 1860–1880. Analyzing how Du Bois reworks a set of Marxian concepts—phantasmagoria, fetish, and tran-substantiation—toward a theory of the "new imperialism," Powers argues that Black Reconstruction subverts a triumphal narrative of American constitutionalism as exceptionalism by undoing the temporality of legal progressivism that sustains it. Writing against a generation of historians who treated Reconstruction as an anomalous deviation from an American constitutionalism thought to embody the realization of immanent reason at the end of history, Du Bois demonstrates that the forms of barbarism, custom, and status posited as prior in this telos of constitutional progress to be products of the American juridico-political regime. Through examining the ways in which the Constitution operates as a fetish that doubly posits a fiction of race war as an alibi for its own lawlessness, and a fiction of world-historical lawlessness as an alibi for empire, Du Bois punctures a doctrine of race that phantasmagorically distorts human capacity for both juridical and phenomenological modes of recognition.


A new numerical integration method for dynamic finite element analysis is proposed in the paper. In the proposed algorithm, the acceleration change in a particular time step is first assumed to be curved variation, and then the displacement vector, velocity vector and acceleration vector at the current instance can be expressed in terms of the results at last time instance. Because of the curvilinear property of the acceleration change in a particular time interval, the complicated dynamical responding such as high-oscillatory modes can be captured with the present method. The efficiency and accuracy of the proposed algorithm are validated by two numerical examples and numerical results show that the present formulation has better accuracy than the Wilson's method and the Newmark's method used in the conventional finite element method.


The Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) is a process-based continuous simulation erosion model that can be applied to hillslope profiles and small watersheds. One limitation to application of WEPP (or other models) to the field or farm scale is the difficulty in determining the watershed structure, which may be composed of multiple channels and profiles (and potentially other features as well). This presentation describes current efforts to link the WEPP model with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and utilize Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data to generate the necessary topographic inputs for erosion model simulations. Two automated approaches for applying the WEPP model have been developed and compared to manual application of the model. The first approach (named the Hillslope method) uses information from a DEM to delineate the watershed boundary, channel and hillslope locations, and then configure "representative" hillslope slope profiles from the myriad flowpath data. The second approach (named the Flowpath method) also uses DEM information to delineate the watershed boundary, but then runs WEPP model simulations on every flowpath within a watershed. For a set of research watersheds, the automatic Hillslope method performed as well as a manual application of WEPP by an expert user in predictions of runoff and sediment loss. Tests also showed that the Hillslope and Flowpath methods were not significantly different than each other or different from manual model applications in predictions of hillslope erosion. Additional research work ongoing at the National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory is examining the feasibility of using commonly available digital elevation data (for example from on-vehicle Geographical Positioning Systems (GPS)) to provide input for the automated techniques for driving the erosion model.


In Malaysia an official fatwa must be based on the opinion of the Shafi'i school of law, as required by the State Enactments and administrative convention. The reasons behind this are basically historical and social and to certain extend political. As the Malaysian society especially the Muslim has progressively developed into a more open minded and civilized society stimulated by the process of globalisation and modern education, reference to the Shafi'i school in matter of fatwa is sometimes abandoned by the Muftis. The evidence of this can be seen in many of the fatwa issued by the Mufti in Malaysia. It is therefore opportune to see and analyse what are the reasons and factors for this change. As Quran is the main source of law in Islam the analysis of the above fatwa is made with respect to the legal values that are provided in the Quran. It is also served as a benchmark or controlling variable in the analysis. The data on the fatwa at hand are collected up to the year 2000. The paper contains three parts: (1) elaboration on the meaning of the Quranic values in respect of Islamic law (2) elaboration on the system of fatwa in Malaysia and (3) analysis on the selected fatwa issued in Malaysia in respect of the Quranic values.


In Industrie 4.0, machines are expected to become autonomous, self-aware and self-correcting. One important step in the area of manufacturing is feature recognition that aims to detect all the machining features from a 3-D model. In this research area, recognizing and locating a wide variety of highly intersecting features are extremely challenging as the topology information of features is substantially damaged because of the feature intersection. Motivated by the single shot multibox detector (SSD), this article presents a novel deep learning approach named SsdNet to tackle the machining feature localization and recognition problem. The typical SSD is designed for 2-D image objection detection rather than 3-D feature recognition. Therefore, the network architecture and output of SSD are modified to fulfil the purpose of this research. In addition, some advanced techniques are also utilized to further enhance the recognition performance. Experimental results on the benchmark dataset confirm that the proposed method achieves the state-of-the-art feature recognition performance (95.20% F-score), localization performance (90.62% F-score), and recognition efficiency (243.85 ms per model).


This thesis investigates a potential imaging method to provide high spatial resolution impedance information, known as Magneto-Acousto-Electrical Tomography (MAET). Both the forward and the inverse problems in MAET are explored by theoretical analysis and numerical simulations. The current density distribution that would exist in a sample if a current were to be applied through the measurement electrodes or a coil is first mapped by applying the reciprocity theorem of electromagnetism. Once the current distribution is known, it is possible to calculate the conductivity from this current density by solving a system of ordinary differential equations for the conductivity. These are obtained by applying the method of characteristics on the relevant Maxwell's equations involving the conductivity.


Quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling phenotypic differences between cultivated sunflower and its wild progenitor were investigated in an F(3) mapping population. Composite interval mapping revealed the presence of 78 QTL affecting the 18 quantitative traits of interest, with 2-10 QTL per trait. Each QTL explained 3.0-68.0% of the phenotypic variance, although only 4 (corresponding to 3 of 18 traits) had effects >25%. Overall, 51 of the 78 QTL produced phenotypic effects in the expected direction, and for 13 of 18 traits the majority of QTL had the expected effect. Despite being distributed across 15 of the 17 linkage groups, there was a substantial amount of clustering among QTL controlling different traits. In several cases, regions influencing multiple traits harbored QTL with antagonistic effects, producing a cultivar-like phenotype for some traits and a wild-like phenotype for others. On the basis of the directionality of QTL, strong directional selection for increased achene size appears to have played a central role in sunflower domestication. None of the other traits show similar evidence of selection. The occurrence of numerous wild alleles with cultivar-like effects, combined with the lack of major QTL, suggests that sunflower was readily domesticated.


In this paper, a new method of analysis and design of a fuzzy system is presented based on the concept of fuzzy entropy of fuzzy partitions of the system's input space. Two cases, namely, linear partitions and nonlinear partitions of the system's input space, are considered. Firstly, we establish the system's fuzzy model. The linearly-divided system is expressed with Mamdani type rules, whose rules are gained through fuzzification of input-output data. The nonlinearly-divided system is represented with the relational partitioning of fuzzy rules due to Yager and Filev (1996), whose rules are abstracted through both samples clustering and neural network techniques. Then, we define fuzzy entropy functions of the two cases and propose their respective optimization algorithms, which permit us to add several rules or merge related rules if necessary. Finally, an example is given to illustrate the effectiveness and high efficiency of the proposed method, which shows that this method is robust with the initial knowledge of the system.


We describe a method for preparing highly enriched cultures of Drosophila myoblasts from a heterogeneous cell population derived from gastrulating embryos. Enriched cultures are prepared by plating this heterogeneous population of cells in medium from which much of the free calcium is chelated by ethylene glycol-bis(beta-aminoethyl ether)N,N,N',N'-tetraacetate (EGTA). Adhesion of myoblasts to tissue culture plastic is better than that of other cell types when plated in this medium. Data concerning cell identity, timing of S phase, and fusion kinetics document the degree of enrichment for myogenic cells and illustrate their synchronous differentiation in vitro.


The environmental impact of gas flaring on the oil bearing enclave of the Niger Delta, Nigeria, was examined with a view to evaluating the abatement measures put in place by the Federal government of Nigeria and the oil producing companies. Primary and secondary information and data were analyzed during the study. We found that the ecological costs of gas flaring on the inhabitants of the oil bearing region of the Niger Delta in particular and the nation in general are searing. There were strong indications that the implementation of regulations and incentives to abate gas glaring in Nigeria have not gone far enough. Thus, there is need for an upward review of the current tax/charges paid by defaulting companies who still engage in gas flaring. In practical terms, there is need for a change in property rights in Nigeria to encourage sustainable development and community participation. Such participation and community involvement can be effective in enforcing sustainable use of resources where institutions are weak or enforcement is expensive. Keywords: Degradation, ecological cost, Niger Delta, oil-bearing enclave, gas exploitation.


Schizophrenia is characterized by a broad range of unusual behaviors that cause profound disruption in the lives of the patients suffering from the condition. individuals with schizophrenia show dysfunction within brain lobes. The aim of this research was to compare brain posterior areas' wave activities in the schizophrenic patient with a healthy group.

 Materials & Methods: In this research 38 schizophrenic patients and 38 healthy individuals were studied. The results of Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) and Scale for Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) showed that 18 patients had negative and 20 had positive symptoms. Q-EEGs of patients and control groups were obtained from six areas of parietal and occipital lobes and the results were compared with Hoteling Trace criterion.

 Results: The findings indicated that except 6 variables, in 18 related variables to parietal and occipital lobes there were significant differences. The means of two groups signified that in schizophrenic patients delta waves of these two lobes increased and theta and alpha waves decreased. Also in patients, beta waves of these two lobes in the left hemisphere decreased and in the right hemisphere increased.

 Conclusion: The decrease of beta waves in left hemisphere and its increase in right hemisphere in these lobes in schizophrenic patients were consistent with previous studies that say the activities of the right hemisphere in schizophrenic patients were higher than the left hemisphere.


Using data on housing voucher recipients with school-aged children residing across the state of Wisconsin, we perform a three-stage analysis of the relationship between voucher receipt and the educational opportunities of children in recipient households. First, we examine the extent to which voucher receipt results in households relocating to a different school district. Second, we estimate the effect of voucher receipt on the quality of the school district—as measured by average standardized test scores in the district—in which recipient households reside. Finally, for the subset of recipient households residing in the Madison Metropolitan School District, we estimate the effect of voucher receipt on the quality of the specific school attendance zone—again measured by average standardized test scores—in which recipient households live. Our results indicate that voucher receipt initially induces cross-boundary relocation for households with children, but provides greater stability in subsequent years; there is some evidence that these moves result in voucher recipients residing in areas with access to higher quality public schools, particularly in urban areas. We discuss the implications of these findings for research and


The circulation of low temperature hydrothermal fluids through the oceanic crust has significant effects on the geochemical composition of the oceans and crust. Quantification of the magnitude and extent of these changes is essential for determining the crustal inputs to the mantle at subduction zones, the sub-sea floor microbial biomass, and the net changes in basement and seawater geochemistry. A highly heterogeneous upper crustal permeability structure, and variabilities in sediment thickness, lithology type, and spreading rate, means that fluid pathways and the extent of alteration are difficult to constrain. The effects of low temperature hydrothermal alteration in basement rocks are quantified at two hydrological end-member locations: a 0.97 - 3.59 Myr basement transect across the Juan de Fuca (JdF) Ridge Flank in the East Pacific Ocean, and at 8 Myr basement Hole 395A, located at 23N on the western flank of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The influences of regional hydrology are demonstrated in observed variabilities in the character of alteration. Generally, the JdF basement rocks are characterised by orange, green, and grey alteration halos, and net geochemical changes associated with alteration occurring under oxidising conditions. Hole 395A basalts are orange and grey, and net geochemical changes reflect a change from open to partially restricted circulation at 400 mbsf. At both sites, whole rock 87Sr/86Sr, Fe3+/FeTOT, and secondary mineral abundances show no trends of increasing alteration intensity with depth. The magnitude of alteration is similar in JdF and North Pond Holes (?-10 %), implying that the oceanic crust is altered up to average values early; within the ?rst million years of formation. A global study of the oxidation extent of the oceanic crust supports these findings. The average Fe3+/FeTOT ratio for 3000 new and compiled analyses are weighted according to alteration type, and show that the oxidation extent is raised to an average of 34 % within the first 1 Myr of crustal formation, and does not increase as a function of crustal age. Additionally, results show that flow type has only minor influence on the oxidation extent of basalts. Downhole plots of Fe3+/FeTOT show that a sharp transition to lower oxidation ratios with depth is only evident in Hole 504B. New data from Hole 1256D show that elevated oxidation ratios are maintained to as deep as 1500 mbsf. A new estimate for the total oxidation extent of young and old ocean crust is 21 plus or minus 4 % to 23 plus or minus 4 %, respectively. An age representative calculation of the total net flux of ferric iron transported to the mantle at modern subduction zones is 1.20 x 1013 molFe3+/yr.


Lung cancer (LCa), the most frequent malignancy worldwide, causes millions of mortalities each year. Overexpression of the long noncoding RNA MIR210HG in LCa has been established; however, a more comprehensive investigation into its biological role within LCa is imperative. This study aimed to validate the MIR210H levels in LCa tissues and cells. The expression of indicated genes was evaluated using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and/or Western blotting. The viability, proliferation, migration, and invasion of LCa cells were measured using the 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT), colony formation, wound healing, and transwell assays, respectively. The methylation levels of LCa cells were determined via methylation-specific PCR; additionally, chromatin immunoprecipitation or RNA immunoprecipitation assays were performed to determine the targeting relationship between DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) and the SH3-domain containing CRB2 like 3 (SH3GL3) promoters and the interaction between DNMT1 and MIR210HG, respectively. Our findings revealed the upregulation of MIR210HG, coupled with a diminished expression of SH3GL3 in LCa tissues and cells. Knockdown of MIR210HG or overexpression of SH3GL3 suppressed the proliferative, migratory, and invasive capacities of the cells. DNMT1 bound to the SH3GL3 promoter region, and MIR210HG inhibited the transcription of SH3GL3 by recruiting DNMT1. These findings indicate that MIR210HG facilitates LCa cell growth and metastasis by repressing SH3GL3 transcription via the recruitment of DNMT1 to the SH3GL3 promoter region.


Three cases are described in which complications developed which were believed to be due to the enhancement effect of irradiation by methotrexate during the course of therapy for lung, kidney, and bladder cancer. These included esophageal and large bowel complications. In two of these cases, the patients improved with conservative therapy.


The facts of John Milton's life are well documented, but what of the person Milton -- the man whose poetic and prose works have been deeply influential and are still the subject of opposing readings? John Shawcross's "different" biography depicts the man against a psychological backdrop that brings into relief who he was -- in his works and from his works.While the theories of Freud, Lacan, Kohut, and others underlie this pursuit of Milton's "self," Jung and some of his followers provide the basic understanding by which Shawcross places Milton in the panorama of history. His explorations of the psychological underpinnings of Milton's decision to become a poet, of the homoerotic dimensions of his personality, and of his relationships with father and mother demonstrate the extent to which psychobiography proves itself invaluable as a means to appreciate this complex writer and his complex writings.This biography combines the traditional chronological narrative with a technique akin to that of fiction, "a mixture of times and a triggering of remembrances from various time frames without time differentiations." Such an approach offers a view of Milton "not only in being but in process of being."Shawcross's examination of two current concerns, gender attitudes and political ideologies, ranges Milton's work against the self he exhibits. Specialists and nonspecialists alike will find in this magisterial biography a wealth of new insight into one of the greatest of English poets.


The frictions of living and learning in times of climate precarity, global unrest, and uncertainty require educators to consider the ways we can collectively engage in speculative pedagogies that respond to the complex, coinherited common world(s) we inhabit. This conceptual and practice-based paper considers the way early childhood education is implicated in ongoing settler colonialism. It aims to notice, generate, and stay with the trouble of stories that disrupt and unsettle the extractive and colonial dialogues about the forest as a resource and pedagogical tool.


Half of all competitors—and all those who win medals—can expect to be tested for performance enhancing drugs at the London Olympics, the organisers have announced.

A 150 strong team will take more than 6000 samples from Monday 16 July to the end of the games for analysis at a laboratory that will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

But do performance enhancing techniques exist that cannot be detected and that may emerge only years later, when somebody admits to having used them to win a medal in London? Leading sports medicine scientists at a media briefing at the Science Media Centre in London on 16 July admitted that there may be.

Among well established methods, autologous blood transfusions can be used by athletes to boost their oxygen carrying capacity by transfusing their own blood, stored earlier, just before competition. The transfusions can be detected by measuring the ratio of mature to immature red cells in the …


Preschool is known to prepare children for formal school. Studies worldwide have shown that children who attend preschool perform better than those who do not attend preschool in early years. There is some evidence that preschool curriculums that incorporate executive functions yield better results in literacy and numeracy in early school. Studies have also shown that oral language skills predict literacy attainment in primary school years. It is not known however, whether preschool prepares children to perform better in literacy and numeracy skills in the first grade in Zambia. This study, therefore, sought to establish the predictive role of preschool, executive functions and oral language in literacy and numeracy in the first grade in Lusaka Zambia. Specifically, the study sought to establish the extent to which preschool prepares children for learning to read and numeracy in first grade when social economic status (SES) and intelligence are controlled. In addition, the study examined whether preschool is beneficial for the development of executive functions (EF) like working memory and inhibitory skills as well as whether preschool stimulates reading, writing and numeracy through executive functions. The study further assessed whether preschool may interfere with learning to read in first grade if children do not speak Nyanja at home and depend on school for learning to read as well as learning the language of instruction (Nyanja).The study utilised a quasi-experimental design as children with and without preschool were assessed within the school setting. Eighteen schools took part in the study. The target sample per school was twelve (12) pupils, giving a total of 216. Out of these, 45 per cent were boys and 55 per cent girls (98 without preschool and 118 with preschool). Children were tested individually at the start of Grade one (Phase I). Follow-up testing (Phase II) commenced approximately seven months after the initial testing was completed. Hundred and ninety seven (197) of the children in the original sample were tested in Phase II. The tests were administered in Nyanja (the language of instruction in first grade) in Lusaka.To assess early literacy skills, the Basic Skills Assessment Tool (BASAT) was used. In addition to word recognition and text comprehension, the BASAT includes tests to assess basic skills like letter knowledge, phonemic awareness and short-term memory. Executive function skills were assessed using the pencil taping test, the Stroop-like test and the BRIEF. Familiarity with language was tested by eliciting a narration from each child and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test measured receptive vocabulary. Pattern Reasoning (Kauffman Test Battery for Children) was utilised to measure general intelligence, while information processing was measured using the RAN. A variety of methods were used to analyse the data including, correlations, t-test, factorial anova and multi-level regression. Results revealed that pupils who went to preschool did not outperform pupils who did not go to preschool in first grade. On the contrary, they performed worse than those that never went to preschool. Children with preschool had a head start in alphabetic skills compared to children without preschool in the first grade but on all other literacy and numeracy tests, there were no effects in favour of children who went to preschool. In terms of executive functions, the study revealed that executive functions do predict literacy and numeracy skills. Specifically, working memory and inhibitory control predict literacy and numeracy skills over and above other executive functions. However, preschool did not promote executive functions. But, it was established that executive functions are better predictors of numeracy than literacy. The study further revealed that oral language is important for performance in literacy skills. The study revealed that linguistic diversity may explain delays of children who attend preschool in the first grade. Children are taught in English in preschool but in a local language, Nyanja when they proceed to first grade. This theory is in line with the finding that children with the most confusing language situation, the non Nyanja speakers, were lowest performers. Non Nyanja speakers speak another language at home, learnt English in preschool and need to learn a third language, Nyanja, in first grade. The study recommends that the Zambian Government should assess the quality of preschools to ensure that the curriculum has preparatory activities for literacy and numeracy skills, alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, counting and rhyming. It is also recommended that executive function stimulating activities be part of preschool. In addition, schools should use the same language in preschool and first grade.


Intraguild (IG) interactions are common among mammalian carnivores, can include intraguild predation (IGP) and interspecific killing (IK), and are often asymmetrical, where a larger more dominant species (IGpredator ) kills a smaller one (IGprey ). According to ecological theory, the potential for an IGpredator and IGprey to coexist depends on whether the direct consumptive benefits for the IGpredator are substantial (IGP) or insignificant (IK), the extent to which the IGprey is the superior exploitative competitor on shared prey resources, and overall ecosystem productivity. We used resource selection models and spatially explicit age and harvest data for two closely related mesopredators that engage in IG interactions, American martens (Martes americana; IGprey ) and fishers (Pekania pennanti; IGpredator ), to identify drivers of distributions, delineate areas of sympatry and allopatry, and explore the role of an apex predator (coyote; Canis latrans) on these interactions. Model selection revealed that fisher use of this landscape was strongly influenced by late winter abiotic conditions, but other bottom-up (forest composition) and top-down (coyote abundance) factors also influenced their distribution. Overall, fisher probability of use was higher where late winter temperatures were warmer, snowpack was deeper, and measures of productivity were greater. Martens were constrained to areas of the landscape where the probability of fisher use, coyote abundance, and productivity were low and selected for forest conditions that presumably maximized prey availability. Marten age data indicated an increased proportion of juveniles outside of the predicted area of sympatry, suggesting that few animals survived >1.5 years in this area that supported higher densities of fishers and coyotes. Consistent with asymmetrical IG interaction theory, the IGpredator (fishers and, to a lesser degree, coyotes) competitively excluded the IGprey (martens) from more productive, milder temperature habitats, whereas IGpredators and IGprey coexisted in low productivity environments, where a combination of abiotic and biotic conditions enabled the IGprey to be the superior exploitative competitor.


Unsupervised machine translation, which utilizes unpaired monolingual corpora as training data, has achieved comparable performance against supervised machine translation. However, it still suffers from data-scarce domains. To address this issue, this paper presents a meta-learning algorithm for unsupervised neural machine translation (UNMT) that trains the model to adapt to another domain by utilizing only a small amount of training data. We assume that domain-general knowledge is a significant factor in handling data-scarce domains. Hence, we extend the meta-learning algorithm, which utilizes knowledge learned from high-resource domains to boost the performance of low-resource UNMT. Our model surpasses a transfer learning-based approach by up to 2-4 BLEU scores. Extensive experimental results show that our proposed algorithm is pertinent for fast adaptation and consistently outperforms other baseline models.


In Mediterranean regions the economical sustainability of fruit tree crops strictly depends on the limited availability of water resources. Deficit irrigation (DI) strategies are particularly suitable to optimize water resource, improve water use efficiency by reducing crop water requirements. In the study, DI strategies were adopted on a young orange orchard in Sicily (Southern Italy) and crop physiological features were monitored and analysed for possible negative effects. The orchard includes 300, 4-years old, trees, irrigated with drip and sub-drip irrigation systems. Four irrigation strategies (replicated 3 times), based on DI concepts, were adopted, each supplying different percentages (50, 75, 100%) of the irrigation requirement (IR). IR values were calculated via the Penman-Monteith model, by assuming a crop coefficient (Kc) of 0.45 typical for immature orchard, and correction coefficients accounting for the localized irrigation. Several physiological indices were measured during the trial, including Leaf Area Index, stem water potential, canopy temperature, and trunk diameter, among others. Preliminary observations, obtained during the two irrigation periods (2011-2012), evidenced slight variations of xylematic potential and stomata conductance among the monitored treatments. LAI, canopy volume and trunk circumference increases were quite similar among treatments. Accordingly, trees growth seems to sustain the imposed water restrictions, without significant stress symptoms on the analyzed physiological features.


In this paper, we consider the issue of stabilizing a class of linear systems using irregular sampled output measurements. For this purpose, we design a standard linear state feedback controller and an impulsive observer to provide an estimate the non-measured states, which are subsequently fed back in the control algorithm. We consider linear systems that can be decomposed, via a change of coordinates, into their respective measured and unmeasured dynamics. We consider the cases where the unmeasured subspace is stable and unstable respectively. In the case where the unmeasured subspace is stable, we employ a standard impulsive observer coupled with a continuous linear feedback control to stabilise the system. In the case where the unmeasured subspace is unstable, we employ two cascaded observers - an impulsive and a Luenberger observer - in conjunction with a linear feedback control to stabilise the latter. In order to prove the stability of the overall closed-loop system we proposed a practical stability result for a class of linear impulsive systems. Some simulation results are presented to show the performance of the observer-based control. Finally, some conclusions are drawn.


Electronic commerce (EC) has considerable potential to nurture the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developed and developing nations alike. However, e-commerce growth among SMEs in developing countries are still in entry adoption level and not moving beyond this stage. The aim of this study is to examine the factors affecting e-commerce adoption in SMEs in developing countries. A questionnaire survey technique was used to collect the data from a sample of 209 manufacturing SMEs in Ghana. This study uses structural equation modeling to investigate how different factors affects different levels of e-commerce adoption. The key findings revealed that each level of e-commerce adoption was affected by different factors from another level of adoption. Also, relative advantage and intensity of competition have a significant effect on adoption behavior in Ghanaian manufacturing SMEs. Implications of the study, limitations and future research directions are also discussed. Keywords: E-commerce adoption levels, B2B, TOE framework, SMEs, Structural Equation Modeling, Ghana


The dimension of micro turbine engine is usually only few millimeters, so the centrifugal structure is usually adopt. It must be designed by transonic speed for the higher single pressure ratio. The speed of the ration axis can reach 105r/min, so the gas bearing is adopt because the general rolling bearing is impossible. This paper designs a new wedge structure for the micro gas journal bearing. First the feasibility of this structure is verified by using the FLUENT software simulation. Comparing the simulation results with various parameters, finally major optimization parameters are confirmed.


In this paper, we present the architecture of an innovative docking station for electric vehicles recharging and a hybrid control scheme for automatic docking of the vehicles. This work is a part of on-going project concerning the development of a smart charging station for electric vehicles equipped with an automated arm, which connect the vehicle to the charging station, and an infrared beacon system for localizing the automatically maneuvering vehicle in the docking area. The proposed control scheme combines time-optimal (bang-bang) control with continuous time-invariant nonlinear control, which stabilizes the vehicle to a small neighborhood of the docking point. Simulation and experimental results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.


B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is an accumulative disease of slowly proliferating CD5(+) B lymphocytes that develops in the aging population. Whereas some patients with B-CLL have an indolent course and die after many years from unrelated causes, others progress very rapidly and succumb within a few years from this currently incurable leukemia. Over the past decade studies of the structure and function of the B cell antigen receptor (BCR) used by these leukemic cells have helped redefine the nature of this disease. In this review we summarize and reinterpret several aspects of these BCR-related studies and how they might relate to the disease. In particular, we address the ability of antigens to select out and drive B cell clones from the normal state to overt leukemic cells by binding to BCRs that are relatively unique and characteristic of B-CLL cells. The differential capacity of some B-CLL cases to continue to transduce signals through the BCR during the leukemic phase and the consequences for the in vivo biology of the leukemic clone is also considered. Finally, we discuss current and emerging views of the cellular origin of B-CLL cells and the differentiation pathways down which we believe these cells progress.


ABSTRACT Skeleton formation in corals is a biologically controlled process in which an extracellular organic matrix (OM) is entrapped inside the calcified structure. The analysis of OM requires a time-consuming and tedious extraction that includes grinding, demineralization, multiple rinsing and concentration steps. Here we present an alternative and straightforward method for the red coral Corallium rubrum that requires little equipment and saves steps. The entire skeleton is directly demineralized to produce a tractable material called ghost, which is further rinsed and melted at 80°C in water. The comparative analysis of the standard and alternative methods by electrophoresis, western blot, and FTIR of C. rubrum OM, shows that the 'alternative OM' is of higher quality. Advantages and limitations of both methods are discussed.


The aim of this study was to investigate the fracture resistance of unprepared and restored teeth, comparing the compression behavior of two important materials used for inlay realization-composite resins and ceramics. 80 human teeth, were extracted due to periodontal or orthodontic reasons (40 premolars and 40 molars). The teeth were randomly divided into three groups. Each group contained 20 teeth 10 premolars and 10 molars, and stored in water for one week. The first group acted as unprepared, control group. The second group was prepared and received resin composite inlays and the third one received ceramic inlays. The teeth were loaded to failure using a testing machine through a 2 mm diameter stainless steel rod. The results demonstrate that the unrestored teeth have the higher fracture resistance. Statistical analyses show that there are no significant differences between the restorative materials: resin and ceramic. This study draw the conclusions that the fracture resistance is influenced by the material properties and the modality of forces transmission to the dental tissues.


Aim: This study aims to evaluate the effects of prophylactic use of oral esomeprazole, pantoprazole and Placebo on Gastric pH and Gastric volume at the time of induction (post-induction) and at recovery (pre-extubation), in fasting patients undergoing surgical procedure under general anaesthesia. Material and methods: This prospective, randomized, double blind, placebo controlled study was done in sixty patients of ASA physical status 1or 2, aged between 18 – 65 years, of either sex, scheduled for elective surgery under general anaesthesia, were enrolled for the study. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the groups with respect to age and weight and also between the groups when compared to premedication to intubation time, premedication to extubation time and duration of surgery. When compared with placebo, the reduction in gastric volume was statistically (P<0.01) and clinically significant in both pantoprazole and esmoprazole group during post induction (V1) and pre extubation(V2) time. However, when comparing with esomeprazole and pantoprazole there was no significant difference between the two groups. In V1 (postinduction) the maximum volume obtained in placebo, pantoprazole and esomeprazole groups were 25ml, 15ml, and 15ml, respectively whereas in V2(preextubation) the maximum volume for placebo, pantoprazole and esomeprazole were 20ml, 15ml and 10 ml respectively. In fact we failed to obtain any gastric aspirate in one patient in each groups. Both post-induction(pH1) and pre-extubation (pH2) pH in esomeprazole group, the increase in gastric pH was statistically(P<0.001) and clinically significant when compared with placebo. In pantoprazole group also, the increase in gastric pH was statistically and clinically very highly significant when compared with placebo. Also when comparing esomeprazole and pantoprazole, esomeprazole was more effective in increasing gastric pH which was statistically significant (P<0.01). Conclusion: Both esomeprazole and pantoprazole when administered orally are effective in reducing gastric volume and increasing pH as compared to placebo. Tablet esomeprazole and pantoprazole are comparable with respect to reduction in gastric volume but esomeprazole increase the gastric pH more effectively than pantoprazole.


We find strong empirical evidence that the liquidity yield on government bonds in combination with standard economic fundamentals can well account for nominal exchange rate movements. We find impressive evidence that changes in the liquidity yield are significant in explaining exchange rate changes for all the G10 countries, and we stress that the U.S. dollar is not special in this relationship. We show how these relationships arise out of a canonical two-country New Keynesian model with liquidity returns. Additionally, we find a role for sovereign default risk and currency swap market frictions.


The aging of the baby boom generation has focused investor attention on the issue of how changing demographics will affect the economy generally and the stock market specifically. One commonly expressed view is that stock returns will be depressed as baby boomers liquidate their portfolios to fund retirement. In this article, Cornell returns to basic theories of economic growth and asset pricing to disentangle the various ways in which demographics can affect future economic growth and future stock returns. He concludes that whereas the aging of the baby boom generation is indeed bad news for future economic growth, in particular, on a per capita basis, it is unlikely to lead to lower future stock returns.


The phenomenon of sponsored search advertising is gaining ground as the largest source of revenues for search engines. Firms across different industries have are beginning to adopt this as the primary form of online advertising. This process works on an auction mechanism in which advertisers bid for different keywords, and final rank for a given keyword is allocated by the search engine. But how different are firm's actual bids from their optimal bids? Moreover, what are other ways in which firms can potentially benefit from sponsored search advertising? Based on the model and estimates from prior work [10], we conduct a number of policy simulations in order to investigate to what extent an advertiser can benefit from bidding optimally for its keywords. Further, we build a Hierarchical Bayesian modeling framework to explore the potential for cross-selling or spillovers effects from a given keyword advertisement across multiple product categories, and estimate the model using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. Our analysis suggests that advertisers are not bidding optimally with respect to maximizing profits. We conduct a detailed analysis with product level variables to explore the extent of cross-selling opportunities across different categories from a given keyword advertisement. We find that there exists significant potential for cross-selling through search keyword advertisements in that consumers often end up buying products from other categories in addition to the product they were searching for. Latency (the time it takes for consumer to place a purchase order after clicking on the advertisement) and the presence of a brand name in the keyword are associated with consumer spending on product categories that are different from the one they were originally searching for on the Internet.


The author is president of Research!America in Alexandria, VA. We're all looking for it—security, predictability, comfort—in pursuing our careers. That's what scientists had in the good old days, when they were comfortable enough to be able to concentrate on the future outcome of their endeavors. It has been repeatedly demonstrated that such an environment produced enormous dividends for the United States and the world. Today, however, many if not most scientists are not at all comfortable. Instead of looking into the future, they are forced to look over their shoulders to see if they will survive the next round of funding decisions. Members of the science community have come to realize that the continuation of even a modest level of comfort in science is by no means guaranteed, and many scientists (if somewhat begrudgingly) now understand that public advocacy is the route that must be taken to ensure the continued conduct of world-class U.S. science. Recent guest editorials and letters to the editor in Science have revealed different approaches to advocacy, reflecting some ambivalence on this topic among the concerned members of the science community. Such discussion and debate are timely, because collectively we're all seeking a comfort zone for advocacy. My contribution to this debate is to remind us that although one size of advocacy does not fit all, there is something for every scientist to do; that we all must be committed for the long haul; and that for most scientists the comfort zone is located close to home, not in Washington, D.C. Lobbying work in Washington is absolutely essential for the future of science; and every scientist should be contributing, through his or her professional associations, to responsible representation of the interests of science in the nation's capital. Scientists should also be receptive to calls from their societies' leaders for action in support of specific legislation. But Washington-based lobbying is not enough. There is a crying need for thousands of scientists to participate locally in public outreach and advocacy activities that will reinforce every community's commitment to the production of public goods—which is another way of describing the work of science. There are many ways for a scientist to become involved in the local community—through visits to schools or guest lectures at civic clubs, churches, and senior centers, for example. Ultimately, every scientist should be able to answer "yes" to what I call the "7-11 test": Do your community leaders recognize you by sight and know your issues when you see each other in the local convenience store? Do the editor of the local newspaper, the producer of local television news, a city council member, a religious leader, and your member of Congress know you? By "know you and your issues" I mean have you explained to these community leaders what science is contributing to their community in terms of good jobs and as a source of civic pride, in terms of returning federal dollars to their congressional district, and in terms of how the scientific work you do is important to their quality of life and that of their children and grandchildren? When even 10 percent of the members of the science community can pass the "7-11 test," we will have come a long way toward comfort with advocacy, as well as a long way toward increased support of science. When we're close to 100 percent and every scientist is engaged in some form of public advocacy, science will once again be confidently looking into the future, and it will be a bright future for the nation. One hundred percent is the right long-term goal, because there is indeed a comfort zone of advocacy for every scientist and a comfort zone of respect for advocacy on the part of every scientist. The sooner the scientific community sets its sights on achieving these goals, the better for science and for the nation. I urge every member of that community to commit to public outreach and find a way to get involved—make school visits, submit guest articles, call in to radio talk shows, write letters to the editor, attend town meetings. Advocacy isn't somebody else's job anymore, it isn't all happening in Washington, and it doesn't need to be uncomfortable.


For the purpose of fabricating electrically conductive composites via the fused filament fabrication (FFF) technique whose properties were compared with injection-moulded properties, poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and polycaprolactone (PCL) were mixed with different contents of graphene nanoplatelets (GNP). The wettability, morphological, rheological, thermal, mechanical, and electrical properties of the 3D-printed samples were investigated. The microstructural images showed the selective localization of the GNPs in the PCL nodules that are dispersed in the PLA phase. The electrical resistivity results using the four-probes method revealed that the injection-moulded samples are insulators, whereas the 3D-printed samples featuring the same graphene content are semiconductors. Varying the printing raster angles also exerted an influence on the electrical conductivity results. The electrical percolation threshold was found to be lower than 15 wt.%, whereas the rheological percolation threshold was found to be lower than 10 wt.%. Furthermore, the 20 wt.% and 25 wt.% GNP composites were able to connect an electrical circuit. An increase in the Young's modulus was shown with the percentage of graphene. As a result, this work exhibited the potential of the FFF technique to fabricate biodegradable electrically conductive PLA-PCL-GNP composites that can be applicable in the electronic domain.


Thromboembolic disease (TED) has consistently been identified as one of the leading causes of direct maternal mortality in the CEMACH report, with a reported mortality of 1.94/100 000 maternities.1 In November 2009 the RCOG published a guideline on TED that involves risk assessment of women at booking visit, during any antenatal admission and at delivery and assigns them into low, intermediate or high risk groups. The aim of our study was to determine how the implementation of these guidelines would affect our obstetric population. A retrospective review of the first 100 women who delivered at the CWIUH in 2010 was conducted and risk stratification applied at the relevant time points. 51 women (i.e., more than half) were deemed to be at intermediate or high risk of TED at some point during pregnancy. 35 of the 51 women (70%) had an increased risk of thrombosis determined by either age > greater than 35, parity ≥3, body mass index (BMI) >30 kg/m2 or history of smoking. The adjusted odds ratio for thrombosis with these risk factors ranges from 1.3 to 3.4 in case controlled studies and there is no evidence that they have an additive or synergistic effect in increasing risk. In our obstetric population, the percentage of women > 35 years is 25.5%, parity ≥3 is 8.5%, BMI >30 kg/m2 is 19% and smoke cigarettes is 16.7%.2 Identification of women at increased risk of TED in pregnancy and administering appropriate thrombophrophylaxis remains paramount. The strategy of accumulating factors that individually have a low risk to assign the category of intermediate or high risk needs to be re-visited especially when these risk factors are prevalent in the population.


This study is focused at understanding what is motivating children towards
learning in a religious Jewish school? This particular context has the
distinctive feature of a dual curriculum, namely the National Curriculum and a
Jewish Studies curriculum. Given the span of learning which takes place in
this educational context the researcher was interested to explore the
motivational forces apparent in the school as perceived by school staff and
children with relation to both curricula. A further interest was to explore
whether 'learning' situated in a distinctive value-based context couched in a
set of religious beliefs would impact on children's motivational orientations
towards learning.
Despite the numerous motivational theories which have developed and been
applied to educational contexts over the last fifty years, the school researched
is situated as part of a closed community where no significant research has
taken place. Given the unique features of this educational setting the research
has been conducted in a context-specific way. Framed in Constructivist
Grounded Theory methodology (Charmaz 2006) the researcher has collected
and analysed data, and being part of this community has been able to
organise and interpret the generated themes underlying the motivational
orientations which are dynamic in this community. Consistent with Grounded
Theory methodology the theoretical framework was constructed through a
rigorous analysis and organisation of data in a bottom-up way which lead to
the following formulation: 'In the context of a religious Jewish school, learning is reinforced at every
level as being of ultimate value'.
This grounded theory was further broken down in terms of understanding its
psychological underpinnings, drawing from social learning theory, ecosystemic
perspective and moral psychology. This was further unpicked in
terms of the Jewish literature pertaining to motivation and learning and in
particular to its emphasis on the notion of respect to significant others and its
impact on children's adaptation to cultural and religious influences.
Apart from the fact that children are motivated towards learning in individual
ways, this study highlights the impact of societal and systemic influences on
motivational orientations towards learning. Although this has been
demonstrated in a particular context, the researcher advocates the position
that any school by virtue of being a social context will have environmental
influences operating at a systemic level. Therefore, the findings generated
from this study are shown to be generalisable to other educational contexts as
well. Following the call of the Every Child Matters (2003) agenda, to improve
the five major outcomes for children, it is fundamentally important to ensure
that children are motivated to learn. It is hoped that this study which can be
considered as a preliminary study of 'the influence of social processes on
motivation' will be replicated across respective communities and educational
contexts to demonstrate what the impact of these social processes are and
how children's engagement and motivation towards learning can be
enhanced.


The mathematical models of relaxing media with a structure for describing nonlinear long-wave processes are explored. The wave processes in non-equilibrium heterogeneous media are studied in terms of the suggested asymptotic averaged model. On the microstructure level of the medium, the dynamical behavior is governed only by the laws of thermodynamics, while, on the macrolevel, the motion of the medium can be described by the wave-dynamical laws. It is proved rigorously that on the acoustic level, the propagation of long waves can be properly described only in terms of dispersive dissipative properties of the medium, and in this case, the dynamical behavior of the medium can be modeled by a homogeneous relaxing medium. At the same time, the dynamical behavior of the medium cannot be modeled by a homogeneous medium even for long waves, if they are nonlinear. For a finite-amplitude wave, the structure of medium produces nonlinear effects even if the individual components of the medium are described by a linear law. The heterogeneity of the structure of medium always introduces additional nonlinearity. It is shown that the solution of many problems for multi-component media with incompressible phases can be obtained through the known solution of a similar problem for a homogeneous compressible medium by means of the suggested transformation. It is not necessary to solve directly the problem for the medium with incompressible component, and it is sufficient just to transform the known solution of the similar problem for a homogeneous medium. The scope for the suggested transformation is demonstrated by the reference to the strong explosion state in a two-phase medium. The special attention is focused on the research of blast waves in multi-component media with thermal relaxation. The dependence of the shock damping parameters on the thermal relaxation time is analyzed in order to provide a deeper understanding of the damping of shock waves in such media and to determine their effectiveness as localizing media. This problem attracts the interest also in view of the practical possibility to estimate the efficiency of medium for damping the shock wave action. To find the nature of the relaxation interaction between the components of medium and to estimate the attenuation of shock waves generated by solid explosives, we have studied experimentally both the velocity field of shock waves and the pressure at front in an air foam. The comparison of experimental and theoretical investigations of the relaxation phenomena which accompany the propagation of shock waves in foam indicates that within the scope of relaxation hy


We measure the local anisotropy of numerically simulated strong Alfvenic turbulence with respect to two local, physically relevant directions: along the local mean magnetic field and along the local direction of one of the fluctuating Elsasser fields. We find significant scaling anisotropy with respect to both these directions: the fluctuations are 'ribbon-like' – statistically, they are elongated along both the mean magnetic field and the fluctuating field. The latter form of anisotropy is due to scale-dependent alignment of the fluctuating fields. The intermittent scalings of thenth-order conditional structure functions in the direction perpendicular to both the local mean field and the fluctuations agree well with the theory of Chandran, Schekochihin & Mallet, while the parallel scalings are consistent with those implied by the critical-balance conjecture. We quantify the relationship between the perpendicular scalings and those in the fluctuation and parallel directions, and find that the scaling exponent of the perpendicular anisotropy (i.e. of the aspect ratio of the Alfvenic structures in the plane perpendicular to the mean magnetic field) depends on the amplitude of the fluctuations. This is shown to be equivalent to the anticorrelation of fluctuation amplitude and alignment at each scale. The dependence of the anisotropy on amplitude is shown to be more significant for the anisotropy between the perpendicular and fluctuation-direction scales than it is between the perpendicular and parallel scales.


The Province of Ontario made the Development Permit System (DPS) available to all municipalities in 2006, with the hope that municipalities could use this new tool to achieve various policy objectives, including intensification. Under the Growth Plan, municipalities have been instructed by the Provincial government to identify areas for redevelopment in order to meet the 40 per cent intensification target. Many suburban municipalities have been challenged to meet this target, and have requested Provincial assistance, and/or new regulatory tools. The DPS is one tool that has seen little use. This Major Research Paper explores the viability of the DPS for achieving intensification objectives in Port Whitby. The four existing DPS by-laws are compared, and other alternatives to zoning from different jurisdictions are reviewed. Lessons learned are incorporated into a set of recommendations to inform the Town of Whitby's approach to their upcoming Port Whitby zoning review.

Key words: Land use planning, intensification, policy implementation, planning tools


This paper presents the validation results of the Parenting Stress Index (PSI) as applied to a sample of Chinese mothers in Hong Kong. A cross-sectional research survey was launched employing a purposive sample of 248 Hong Kong Chinese mothers. The PSI was found to have a reliability coefficient of .93. The concurrent validity of the instrument was established by correlations of the PSI with various measurements for stress. Moreover, results from discriminant analysis indicated that using PSI scores, "high-stress" respondents could be discriminated from "low-stress" respondents with 93% overall accuracy. Finally, results of the study replicated the major factorial structure of the original scale. The present study indicates that the PSI represents an appropriate tool for measuring parenting stress with Hong Kong Chinese mothers. Findings from the study will facilitate practitioners and administrators in early screening of parenting stress, individual diagnostic assessment, pre-post measures of intervention effectiveness, and future research in parenting stress.


Background Parents are uniquely positioned to reduce unintentional injury risk in children. Early in childhood this takes the form of direct supervision, yet as children gain independence parents must devise new ways of keeping their children safe. Parent-child conversations about safety may help children to internalise safety values so that they are able to independently regulate their own behaviour. This paper reports studies that examine how these conversations unfold in both proactive (before an injury occurs) and reactive (after an injury has occurred) situations. Methods We studied proactive conversations by asking mothers and their children (8- to 10-years-old) to rate and discuss the safety of 12 photographs depicting children engaged in various physical activities. To examine reactive conversations, we examined interviews with parents about the strategies they used when discussing how an injury requiring a trip to the emergency department could have been prevented. Results In proactive conversations, parents referenced the potential outcomes of the activity and the dangerous features of the situation. In reactive conversations, parents relied on 4 main strategies: 1) providing an alternative strategy for future use, 2) telling children to be more careful in the future, 3) telling children not to engage in the activity again, and 4) explaining why the activity was dangerous. Parents varied their use of these strategies according to children's age, gender, and the circumstances surrounding the injury. Conclusions Parents promote the internalisation of safety values by pointing out dangerous features and outcomes of a situation, as well as by explaining why certain behaviours are dangerous. In doing so, parents are preparing their children for independent, safe navigation of the world around them.