We study the relationship between management behaviour and the subsequent market response in the German IPO market. When applying two forms for earnings management, issuers that overperform in the long run manage earnings less aggressively. Over shorter measurement horizons, however, the performance is sensitive to the starting date of the measurement period. The market takes a considerable time to respond to the fundamental message conveyed by management behaviour towards earnings management at the time of the IPO. Within the first four months, IPO returns are essentially driven by factors other than fundamentals. This sheds light on the dynamics of IPO performance and the efficiency of the IPO aftermarket.


Part 1 Sound questions and acoustic behaviour: alternative behaviours male spacing behaviour mate finding in females size and reproductive success selection on the calling behaviour of insects natural and sexual selection. Part 2 Acoustic strategies in aggregations: calling and co-operating leks and sprees sites for aggregations more numbers more power are females attracted to choruses? group songs and species distinctiveness - individuality in a group male agonistic behaviour with minimum contact. Part 3 Chorusing and alternating behaviour: synchrony within the chorus asynchronous choruses calling and listening crepitation alternation. Part 4 A question of sound: sound a working definition measuring sound near-field sound communication frequency and loudness control measuring substrate vibrations amplifiers and baffles noise. Part 5 Producing sound: using near-field sounds substrate-borne vibration airborne sounds. Part 6 Listening and recognizing: collecting information the mechanoreceptor the locust ears of crickets and bushcrickets moth ears the cicada car strange ears - lacewings, beetles, mantises and bugs. Part 7 Mate recognition: species specific signals homogamy unique species songs the recognition of non-like calling and courtship songs signal stability female songs and species recognition. Part 8 Sound patterns: variations and stereotypes the central control of the output feedback control linking input to output the input signal recognition central recognition song gaps and species recognition in grasshoppers. Part 9 Sound localization and distance perception: directionality in the near-field directional responses to substrate-borne vibration directional responses to airborne sound directional hearing in the Orthoptesa distance. Part 10 Avoiding predation: the detection of predation evolutionary strategies in response to birds and parasitoids calling strategies that reduce predation. Part II The evolution of acoustic communication: sexual differences in calling switching signals and changing meanings dual auditory function in acoustic moths the evolution of social signals conclusion.


This paper aims to assess the relevance and usefulness of the SAPO Campus recommender system, through the analysis of students' and teachers' opinions. Recommender systems, assuming a 'technology-driven' approach, have been designed with the primary goal of predicting user interests based on the implicit analysis of their actions and interactions. The results of this study reveal that although there is some confusion and unawareness about the recommender system, the participants consider that SAPO Campus recommendations are useful and they often find interesting people and content through the results provided by the system. The results also reveal that there is a negative correlation between finding and following people through the platform recommendations and the level of education, that is, the higher the level of education, the lower is the frequency regarding finding and following people suggested by the platform recommendation system. Keywords: education; SAPO Campus; recommendations; interaction (Published: 29 August 2014) Citation: Research in Learning Technology 2014, 22 : 22921 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v22.22921


The plasma sprayed gradated coating with the bottom layer of NiCrAlY and the top layer of (ZrO2+CaO) was prepared on the 1Cr18Ni9Ti steel surface by the plasma spraying technique. The phase structure and morphology of the gradated coating were analyzed by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The high temperature oxidation resistance of the plasma sprayed samples at 800°C was investigated. The oxidation kinetics curve was worked out. The wear-resistance behavior of the graduated coating under dry sliding against GCr15 steel was evaluated on a ball-on-disc test rig. The results show that the thickness of gradated coating is about 320μm. The plasma sprayed gradated coating on stainless steel surface can improve the high temperature oxidation resistance of stainless steel. The oxidation rate of stainless steel is less than that of plasma sprayed gradated coating. The oxidation coating of plasma sprayed sample was very dense and is not easily exfoliated. The dense oxidation coating prevents the stainless steel from more oxidation. The friction coefficient of the 1Cr18Ni9Ti substrate was about 0.33 on dry sliding against the GCr15 steel, while the graduated coating experienced abated friction coefficient to 0.21 on the same testing condition.


By combining experimental and theoretical efforts we study the optical properties of single-layer, double split-ring resonators at oblique incidences for terahertz frequencies and reveal their angular dependent effective properties. Contrary to what is usually anticipated, for incidence angles deviating from normal we do not observe any significant dispersion in the effective permeability. Effective properties are dominated instead by a strong dispersion in the effective permittivity, causing also the wavenumber in the medium to be large. The structure is shown to possess almost invariant effective properties for oblique incidences.


Recent legislation has created a national program for providing early intervention, including identification, remediation and counseling, for children with developmental disabilities. Providing such services requires interaction between early childhood intervention professionals and primary care physicians in an unprecedented manner. Family physicians and other primary care professionals can identify at-risk children at an early stage. The physician's knowledge of the family can be crucial in the successful delivery of high-quality medical care to this population. This article describes a practical, four-stage approach to primary care participation in the identification, referral and follow-up of developmentally delayed and handicapped children.


A new class of luminescent mechanochromic cyclometalated Ir(III) complexes with pyridyl acyclic carbene ligands have been developed. These complexes shown predominant MLCT phosphorescence mixed with 3LC character. In the solid state and neat film, the emission of these complexes show significant red-shift upon mechanical grinding. On the basis of XRD, X-ray crystallography, Raman spectroscopy and DFT calculation, the mechanically-induced variations of the molecular packing and the structural conformation have been elucidated. With the understanding of their mechanochemical changes, it enables the design of luminescent mechanochromic compounds with tailored mechanochromic properties, including the emission color and the mechanochromic shift, through judicious structural modifications of the ligands as illustrated in the complexes reported in this work. It would also open up new design of mechanoresponsive materials.


The varied phenotypes of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) poses critical challenges, resulting in missed or delayed diagnosis. In this work, we applied k-modes, aiming to identify groups of OSA patients, based on demographic, physical examination, clinical history, and comorbidities characterization variables (n = 41) collected from 318 patients. Missing values were imputed with k-nearest neighbours (k-NN) and chi-square test was held. Thirteen variables were inserted in cluster analysis, resulting in three clusters. Cluster 1 were middle-aged men, while Cluster 3 were the oldest men and Cluster 2 mainly middle-aged women. Cluster 3 weighted the most, whereas Cluster 1 weighted the least. The same effect was described in increased neck circumference. The percentages of variables driving sleepiness, congestive heart failure, arrhythmias and pulmonary hypertension were very low (<20%) and OSA severity was more common in mild level. Our results suggest that it is possible to phenotype OSA patients in an objective way, as also, different (although not considered innovative) visualizations improve the recognition of this common sleep pathology.


Glycosylation inhibitors, glucosamine or tunicamycin, have been found to be specific inhibitory modulators for melanogenesis, which is accentuated generally in malignant melanoma cells. Exposure to glucosamine (1 mg/ml) or tunicamycin (0.2 to 0.4 micrograms/ml) induces a marked pigment loss within melanoma cells in vitro with a decrease in their grown curves. This melanogenic inhibition occurs without a substantial decrease in the synthesis of DNA, RNA, and protein in comparison with a specific, marked suppression of carbohydrate synthesis as revealed by suppressed mannose incorporation into these cells. Assay of tyrosinase of glucosamine- or tunicamycin-induced unpigmented melanoma cells has revealed a selective and marked decrease in the melanosome-rich large-granule fraction, but no substantial decrease in the total activity of remaining subcellular fractions. Electrophoresis of tyrosinase in the 30,000 X g supernatant fraction demonstrates an increase in the T1 form of soluble tyrosinase, while a disappearance of or marked decrease in membrane-bound tyrosinase, T3, is seen in the small- and large-granule fractions. Glycoprotein synthesis in the melanogenic subcellular compartments of pigment cells seems to play an integral role in melanogenesis which is principally enhanced in their carcinogenic status.


The NGOs that are now implementing international cooperation in the "impoverished" countries follow methods and principles based on real knowledge and collaboration with the communities in which they operate, totally different from the interventions of the 1950s and 1990s, based on industrialization and the realization of large infrastructures for industrial development. With the new principles, NGOs have made stable living conditions improvements in their communities, and communities have taken over control of their own lives have achieved self-sufficiency. The NGOs have thus really made societies fully responsive to the ideal model elaborated in the so-called "degrowth theory" (the article discusses its basic theoretical lines), which instead focuses its attention only on what happens in Western societies. Degrowth society already exists, not in Europe but in the "ex-impoverished" countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.


This paper examines the conditions for teacher competence development as they relate to the current restructured governance of the education sector in Sweden. In reviewing the literature, contextual factors in the workplace are often pointed out as central to conditions for competence development. However, we argue that a sector-level approach is useful in examining and explaining competence development conditions, especially in times of governance change. We describe how a workplace's geographical location and budgetary situation, along with its size and age, relate to how teachers experience their working conditions. The findings indicate that the organization of work at a local workplace level impacts the conditions for competence development. Moreover, various regional and local characteristics seem to affect the conditions for competence development in that the organization and governance of the education sector create different conditions for competence development.


Computer simulation techniques in atom scale have now become so powerful that phenomena associated with irradiation damage effects in metals can be modelled with a high degree of realism. As a powerful tool, molecular dynamics (MD) is applied to study the displacement cascades initiated by the neutrons when they interact with matter. There exist a lot of inter-atomic potentials dedicated to bcc Fe and we choose the EAM potential. At first time PKAs (Primary knock-on atoms) knocked on a atom and send a part of energy to it what result displacement cascades. After about several ps, a lot of atoms are knocked to leave the equilibrium position and became self- interstitial atoms (SIAs). A lot of equilibrium position became vacancies. Some SIAs and vacancies form dumb-bells structure. Several vacancies or SIAs assembled the clusters. In other papers we haven't found about the SIAs and vacancies can be assembled the SFT-like clusters in bcc Fe. In our study, we occasionally find SIAs can assemble to form the cluster in bcc Fe but need a higher energy. In our study, we choose the temperature from 100K to 600K, the energy from 100eV to 20keV. The particles scale is about 300 thousands. In a series of experimentation we find that as the temperature increase as the number of the SIAs and vacancies increase too. By the same token, as the energy increase we will find the same result.


The developed system for forecasting the course of the disease in elderly and senile patients made it possible to distinguish two variants of the ulcer course: favorable and unfavorable. Its application confirmed that it is possible to use the forecast evaluation system in studies of remote results. In case of an unfavorable forecast, this provides the ground for urgent recommendations for surgical treatment in this group of patients without waiting for life-threatening complications to develop.


Although there are no fundamental factors hindering the development of nanoscale structures, there is a growing realization that "engineering down" approaches, in other words a reduction in the size of structures generated by lithographic techniques below the present lower limit of roughly 1 μm, may become impractical. It has, therefore, become increasingly clear that only by the development of a fundamental understanding of the self-assembly of large-scale biological structures, which exist and function at and beyond the nanoscale, downwards, and the extension of our knowledge regarding the chemical syntheses of small-scale structures upwards, can the gap between the promise and the reality of nanosystems be closed. This kind of construction of nanoscale structures and nanosystems represents the so-called "bottom up" or "engineering up" approach to device fabrication. Significant progress can be made in the development of nanoscience by transferring concepts found in the biological world into the chemical arena. Central to this mission is the development of simple chemical systems capable of instructing their own organization into large aggregates of molecules through their mutual recognition properties. The precise programming of these recognition events, and hence the correct assembly of the growing superstructure, relies on a fundamental understanding and the practical exploitation of non-covalent bonding interactions between and within molecules. The science of supramolecular chemistry—chemistry beyond the molecule in its very broadest sense—has started to bridge the yawning gap between molecular and macro-molecular structures. By utilizing inter-actions as diverse as aromatic π–π stacking and metal–ligand coordination for the information source for assembly processes, chemists have, in the last decade, begun to use biological concepts such as self-assembly to construct nanoscale structures and superstructures with a variety of forms and functions. Here, we provide a flavor of how self-assembly operates in natural systems and can be harnessed in unnatural ones.


OBJECTIVES
Atrioventricular valve replacement in small children is associated with high morbidity and mortality. There are no prostheses available with a diameter ˂15 mm. This study reports our initial experience with a cylinder valve for mitral and tricuspid valve replacement in infants and small children.

METHODS
Our cylinder valve was hand-made for patients requiring atrioventricuclar valve replacement with an annulus of <15 mm. A 12-mm Contegra valve was prepared and placed inside a 14-mm Gore-Tex tube graft and sutured on both extremities.

RESULTS
Eight patients were included, with a median age of 6.9 months (range 1 day to 38 months). Four had mitral and 4 had tricuspid valve replacement. All implants were technically successful, with no significant regurgitation, no stenosis and no left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. There were 3 early deaths from low cardiac output, in patients with significant associated lesions (severe neonatal Ebstein's, pulmonary artery-intact ventricular septum, biventricular conversion from Norwood stage 1). Two patients required early reintervention: 1 for balloon dilatation for stenosis and 1 for reoperation for paravalvular leak. During follow-up, 2 patients had mitral valve replacement with a 16-mm mechanical valve at 9 and 20 months from the cylinder valve implantation. The remaining 2 patients are alive and well 2 years and 2 months after the procedure.

CONCLUSIONS
Cylinder valve replacement of atrioventricular valves was feasible without any technical issues. It was successful in getting out of a difficult situation and allows for somatic growth and implantation of a reasonably-sized mechanical prosthesis on the annulus.


To evaluate further bacterial DNA immunization as a model to study antigen drive in the anti-DNA response, the specificity of induced monoclonal anti-DNA antibodies was characterized. A panel of IgM and IgG monoclonal anti-DNA antibodies was produced from spleen cells of BALB/c mice immunized with single-stranded DNA from E. coli complexed to methylated bovine serum albumin in complete Freund's adjuvant. The binding of these antibodies to DNA and non-DNA antigens was tested by ELISA to assess their range of polyspecificity. These monoclonal antibodies were found to bind to nucleic acid as well as non-nucleic acid antigens, such as beta-galactosidase, cardiolipin, Ro, La and Sm. These studies demonstrate that anti-DNA antibodies from normal mice, although induced by bacterial DNA, may display a broad range of antigen recognition and thus resemble lupus anti-DNA antibodies, many of which are polyspecific, in their pattern of cross-reactivity.


In the present work, a three dimensional model examining the fluid flow along with the fundamental transport phenomena occurring in a typical polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEMFC), i.e. heat transfer, mass transport and charge transfer, has been developed. The flow field was simulated according to the well known Navier-Stokes equations, while the heat transfer was described by the typical conduction/convection equation and the mass transport by the convection/diffusion one. Furthermore, reaction kinetics were studied by the Butler-Volmer equation for the heterogeneous reactions occurring at the porous electrodes. The developed model was numerically solved by using the commercially available CFD package CFD-RC©, which is based on the multi-step finite volume method. The fuel cell performance in terms of velocity, temperature, mass fractions of active compounds and electric field has been investigated as well.


Various field methods have been used globally in an attempt to understand and quantify plastic pollution. However, in regions, such as the west coast of Scotland, sparse populations, combined with complex coastlines of numerous islands, sea lochs and headlands, has resulted in limited field data. The Clyde Sea is the most populated and industrialised region on the west coast of Scotland and therefore a potential source of land-based plastic litter to the less populated coast to the north. This study first presents an analysis of Marine Conservation Society (MCS) citizen-science beach-clean data, from 1994 to 2019, revealing spatial patterns between beach-clean sites. Plastic litter was categorised into land, marine and unknown sources, with the most common items in these three categories being crisp packets, fishing rope and fragments, respectively. On the west coast of Scotland there is on average 380.3 ± 419.9 plastic items per 100 m of coast, with the site average number of items recovered ranging from 1–2,355 per 100 m of coast. To simulate marine plastic litter movement from the Clyde Sea to a defined northwest model sub-area, an unstructured-grid hydrodynamic model was coupled with a particle tracking model subject to currents, diffusion, and wind. Three coastal boundary conditions were used to compare transport paths with or without particle beach resuspension, and for the resuspending cases, with or without a distinction between coastal type (retentive beaches versus reflective rocky coasts). Of the total released particles, the percentage that beached within the model sub-area, after a 1-year model run, ranged between 45.7% and 88.3% depending on the coastal boundary condition. The Clyde Sea was found to be a potential source of beached land-based plastic litter to the north, as on average, 6.8% (range: 2.9%–11.7%) of particles exited the Clyde Sea, crossed a defined northern boundary, and beached on the northwest coast. Both hydrodynamic and particle tracking models were tested, and the varying boundary conditions were compared to investigate holistic methodologies to better understand plastic pollution.


The world it knows today would be impossible without cryptography. This Paper is presenting study of cryptography and problem associating with existing encryption model is also presented. Furthermore this is proposing encryption model. This encryption model is based on the stream cipher concept where it will be encrypt and decrypt any type of data file in bit wise way. The primary goal of this paper is to improve level of security. The proposed encryption model will analyze by using a parameter called Avalanche effect. Plaintext and encryption key are mapped in binary code before encryption process. Avalanche Effect is calculated by changing one bit in plaintext keeping the key constant and by changing one bit in encryption key keeping the key constant. Expected experimental results shows that the proposed encryption model exhibit significant high. Avalanche Effect will improve the level of the security.


This study aims to assess the results of kidney retransplantations and the survival of second kidney allografts performed in our center. Methodology: of 550 kidney transplantations performed since July 2001, 26 were second kidney transplants. Many recipients were sensitized. All patients were treated with the same immunosuppressive regimen. Results: grafts were functionally effective in all patients with kidney retransplantations one month after the transplant. Graft survival was 100% after one year (17/17) and after five years (1/1). Graft survival was similar for second and primary kidney transplants performed during the same period of time. There were three cases of acute rejection, but all of these cases responded to the anti-rejection treatment. Conclusions: the rate of acute rejection was similar for both second and primary transplantations in our hospital, and the second graft outcome demonstrated effectiveness 12 months after transplantation.


Abnormal head shape may be due to congenital or acquired conditions including birth injury, and is the most common reason for referral to a paediatric neurosurgeon.1 2 Birth injuries may present immediately or late, and imaging is rarely required in order to correctly identify the type of injury. However, an understanding of the underlying pathophysiological processes is helpful in order to appreciate potential complications that can occur in association with these injuries. When assessing an infant or child with an abnormally shaped head, it is important to differentiate between birth moulding, positional plagiocephaly and craniosynostosis which may require surgical treatment. The aim of this article is to explain the differences between these conditions, how they are best imaged and demonstrate some of the imaging findings. Definitions are given in box 1.

The skull is formed from multiple separate bones that develop in the first weeks of embryonic life from mesenchyme enveloping the developing brain. The bones progressively ossify later in gestation. At birth the skull bones are separated by connective tissue sutures which allow movement and alteration in the shape of the skull vault during birth. The major sutures include the metopic suture located in the midline between the two frontal bones, the coronal suture between the frontal and parietal bones, the sagittal suture midline between the two parietal bones, and the lambdoid suture between the parietal and occipital bones. The fontanelles are widened, membranous areas at the intersection of sutures. In relation to the major sutures, the anterior fontanelle (AF) is situated between the metopic, sagittal and coronal sutures, with the posterior fontanelle (PF) found at the intersection of the sagittal and lambdoid sutures. Skull growth is primarily driven by growth of the underlying brain which proceeds rapidly to 90% of adult size in the first year of …


Abstract The annual rate of rice yield increase in the world declined from 2.7 % in the 1980s to 1.1 % in the1990s. The continued world population increase requires resumption of the previous rate. The objectives of this paper are to review and assess rice production technologies for increased yield in the past and the current challenge on the basis of crop physiology and agronomy, and to discuss the way to increase irrigated rice yield to fulfil the expanding demand. Field experiments conducted in Kyoto, Japan and Yunnan, China showed that the best recent Chinese hybrid has a yield potential about 10 % higher than the best recent inbred cultivar in Japan. This result, and a review on recent challenges in breeding, suggested only moderate increases in the yield potential of rice genotypes in the coming decades. Contrary to the general understanding, the rapid rice yield increase in central Japan from the mid 1950s to mid 1970s was achieved mostly by improved crop and resource management. This, and the fact that farmers' contest-winning yields during 1950s and 1960s nearly doubled the current average in Japan, imply that current crop and resource management is exploiting only part of the large yield potential of rice. Some of the ways to increase yields may include components of the system of rice intensification (SRI). The extremely high yields claimed in SRI are probably not real, but its elements, which have been studied and practiced in Japan for the past 50 years, may lead to yield increases. The practice of transplanting one or two young seedlings per hill has advantages in reducing transplanting injury and increasing tiller and root numbers on lower nodes. Such advantages can be realized under direct-seeding systems, where they are applicable. The practice of applying a large amount of compost and intermittent irrigation were also adopted by many of the contest-winning farmers in the 1950s and 1960s. These practices increase roots in deeper soil layers, maintain their activities and presumably promote nitrogen (N) uptake at later stages. Remarkable progress has been made in improved N management; agronomic efficiency of N increased from about 15 kg kg-1 for a single dose at transplanting to 40 kg kg-1 for banded controlled release fertilizer. All of these technological elements will contribute to increased yield when they are rationally integrated into systems that are adaptable to regional environments.


According to national and international policy, teachers' work is supposed to be guided by reliable evidence in order to be effective and achieve the set goals. The purpose of this article is to problematise evidence-based approaches for teacher education by highlighting the occurrence of dilemmas in teachers' work connected to the assignment of educating democratic citizens. The article is a critical theoretical discussion that takes its departure in the teaching paradox of supporting students' initiatives to act as critical citizens. In order to address the current trend of anchoring teacher education in evidence-based methods, Swedish policy documents are used as a point of reference and are read through the lens of the teaching paradox and the need for teacher judgement. The analysis shows that policy texts fall short when it comes to the assignment to support students to take part in society as critical citizens. It is concluded that teacher education could gain from theoretically based case studies of dilemmatic everyday situations in which teaching for democratic participation is visible.


In discussions of the unrest that followed the Arab Spring uprisings, the relationship between Egypt and the United Arab Emirates has attracted considerable scholarly attention. The Arab region has over the years undergone radical political changes in terms of both Arab countries' internal affairs and the formation of regional alliances. In the period from Egypt's July 1952 revolution to the uprising of January 25, 2013, its relations with Gulf states ranged from tension to alliance, from the climate of the Cold War and the struggle for influence in the Arab world to competition and, at times, cooperation. The final turning point was the protest on June 30, 2013, that led to the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood government by Egypt's armed forces. Egypt's decision to turn its attention to the Gulf, in particular to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, is unsurprising, being motivated largely by the desire to formulate a new strategic alliance capable of meeting the challenges of the post-Arab Spring period. The UAE took the lead among the Arab countries that helped Egypt to overcome the economic crises plaguing it after the army deposed President Mohamed Morsi. The aim of this paper is to describe and explore the evolving strategic partnership between Egypt under General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and the UAE.


The nanoscopic structural and thermodynamic basis of biomolecule-regulated assembly and crystallization of inorganic solids have a tremendous impact on the rational design of novel functional nanomaterials, but are concealed by many difficulties in molecular-level characterization. Here we demonstrate that the free energy calculation approach, enabled by combining advanced molecular simulation techniques, can unravel the structural and energetic mechanisms of protein-mediated inorganic solid nucleation. It is observed that osteocalcin (OCN), an important non-collagenous protein involved in regulating bone formation, promotes the growth of nanosized calcium phosphate (CaP) ion clusters from a supersaturated solution. Free energy calculation by umbrella sampling indicates that this effect by OCN is prominent at the scale of 1 to 3 nm ion-association complexes (IACs). The binding interactions between gamma-carboxyl glutamate and the C-terminal and, interestingly, the arginine side chains of OCN and IACs stabilize under-coordinated IACs, thus promoting their growth. The promoter effect of OCN on the enlargement and further aggregation of IACs into cluster assemblies of tens of nm are confirmed by conventional molecular dynamics simulation and dynamic light scattering experiments. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the free energy landscape of the early stages of CaP nucleation is shown. The free energy change as a function of IAC size shares the feature of decreasing monotonically as shown previously for the calcium carbonate system. Therefore, the nucleation of both these major biominerals apparently involves an initial phase of liquid-like ionic aggregates. The structural and thermodynamic information regarding OCN-CaP interactions amplifies the current understanding of biomineralization mechanisms at the nanoscale, with general relevance to biomolecule-tuned fabrication of inorganic materials.

publisher-specific, author manuscript: http://rsc.li/journals-terms-of-use


Marine ecosystems are increasingly exposed to anthropogenic disturbances that cause animals to change behavior and move away from potential foraging grounds. Here we present a process‐based modeling framework for assessing population consequences of such sub‐lethal behavioral effects. It builds directly on how disturbances influence animal movements, foraging and energetics, and is therefore applicable to a wide range of species. To demonstrate the model we assess the impact of wind farm construction noise on the North Sea harbor porpoise population. Subsequently, we demonstrate how the model can be used to minimize population impacts of disturbances through spatial planning. Population models that build on the fundamental processes that determine animal fitness have a high predictive power in novel environments, making them ideal for marine management.


Corporate tax base erosion and profit shifting has become widely debated topic by academics and world leaders alike. The need to reform international tax system resulted into G20-OECD initiative addressing Base Erosion and Profit Shifting and recently thanks to the leak of so called Panama papers this issue is recognised by the general public as well. The goal of this thesis is to provide new evidence of profit shifting activities in eastern Europe and to provide better understanding of these practises. Our main focus is on tax havens that are often at heart of profit shifting activities. We analyse financial and ownership data for 661,841 companies from 18 countries for the period of 8 years 2006 – 2013. In our dataset there are 65,002 multinational companies out of which 17,359 have affiliates in tax havens. The evidence suggests that multinational companies in eastern Europe with ties to tax havens report lower pre-tax profits, pay lower taxes and hold higher debt ratio compare to other companies which is consistent with corporate tax avoidance using profit shifting. By examining tax havens in more detail we found that the most commonly used tax havens in this region are predominantly Cyprus followed by British Virgin Islands and Luxembourg with the strongest signs of profit shifting activities exhibiting companies with affiliates in British Virgin Islands. We also found that the evidence of profit shifting activities was not conclusive for some countries often labelled as tax havens such as Switzerland or Netherlands. In addition, we find that countries most suffering by profit shifting using tax havens in eastern Europe are Russia and Ukraine. JEL Classification H25, H26, H87, F23, C33


From Kabbalah to Class Struggle is an intellectual biography of Meir Wiener (1893-1941), an Austrian Jewish intellectual and a student of Jewish mysticism who emigrated to the Soviet Union in 1926 and reinvented himself as a Marxist scholar and Yiddish writer. His dramatic life story offers a fascinating glimpse into the complexities and controversies of Jewish intellectual and cultural history of pre-war Europe. Wiener made a remarkable career as a Yiddish scholar and writer in the Stalinist Soviet Union and left an unfinished novel about Jewish intellectual bohemia of Weimar Berlin. He was a brilliant intellectual, a controversial thinker, a committed communist, and a great Yiddish scholar-who personally knew Lenin and Rabbi Kook, corresponded with Martin Buber and Hugo von Hofmannsthal, and argued with Gershom Scholem and Georg Lukacs. His intellectual biography brings Yiddish to the forefront of the intellectual discourse of interwar Europe.


While social pluralism and diversity are central characteristics of functioning democracies, civil society and democratic institutions require citizens to perceive themselves as an integral part of society in order to function. This stems from a general sense of unity and cohesion and a mutual understanding of citizens that institutions and other members of the society are trustworthy. While objective aspects of social embeddedness, that is organizational membership and inter-relational contact, are established predictors of these outcomes, perceived loneliness is rarely investigated. This study investigates whether changes in loneliness reduce levels of perceived connectedness and political and interpersonal trust beliefs. By analyzing 12 waves of panel data from the Netherlands gathered between 2008 and 2020 (n = 41,508 observations from 9954 individuals), the analysis shows that intra-personal variation in loneliness predicts a citizen`s sense of connectedness and interpersonal trust beliefs. Regarding political trust, the relationship was not found with panel fixed effect.


ISO9001 Quality Management Systems certification is a business strategy aimed at bolstering the wayorganizations are managed and direct them towards realization of their competitive advantage. It is a strategic business approach that creates standards for business management systems expected to exceed customers' expectations (Tricker and Sherring-Lucas, 2005), and comprises eight principles structured in sections which show aspects of quality (Evans and Lindsay, 2009). On the other hand, a Competitive Advantage is the delivery of equivalent customer value to target customers relative to competitors but at a lower cost (Grundy, 2003). An organization has CompetitiveAdvantage if it has distinctive capabilities developed on the basis to either reduce costs or differentiate it from competitors. The descriptive survey was adopted to examine the influence ISO 9001 quality management systems certification on Universities' competitive advantagein Nairobi. The respondents were asked to indicate the extent of the competitive factors twoyears before and two years after ISO 9001 QMS certification. They were also asked to indicate whetherthe changes if any, were due to the certification only or other reasons. The findings were analyzed in terms of student enrolment, improved perception and image, and growth in research and development, and the universities' ranking for the sampled Universities. The population was Six thousand eight hundred and fifty (6,850) staff drawn from four targeted ISO 9001 QMS certifiedUniversities in Nairobi, Kenya. They include a total of2,640 teaching staff and 3,410 nonteaching staff of selected ISO 9001 QMS certified public and private universities in Nairobi, Kenya. Simple random and stratified sampling method was used to get a sample size of 231 selectedfor the study. These are the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University (Public) and the StrathmoreUniversity and Catholic University of East Africa (Private). The staff was drawn from schoolsand faculties of these universities. The structured questionnaire was dropped and picked to and from respondents. The data collected was sorted according to sections in the questionnaire and scored using numeric scores. The researcher used SPSS to process the data and statistically analyzed and presented it by means of pie charts, bar graphs and tables. Inferential statistics, correlation and regression were used to compare variables, infer from the results for credible conclusions from data. The results from the study revealed that there is an effect of ISO 9001 quality management systems certification to the competitive advantage of Kenya's Universities. These fmdings are supported by high correlation between the predictor's variables (Customer Focus, Leadership, Involvement of People, Process Approach, Systems Approach, Factual Approach, Continuous Improvement, and Closer Supplier Relationship) and response variable (Competitive Advantage). The study findings are presented according to the study objectives and are expected to benefit ISO 9001 QMS certified Institutions in Kenya including: Universities, Statutorybodies, Service and Manufacturing sectors. Finally, universities should embrace quality ianagement systems like ISO 9001 QMS in an endeavor to give quality and relevant higher oucation. However, the implementation of the standard should be in reference to other quality standards such as 58 program and the Kaizen. There is a need to emphasize and encourage documentation of processes and procedures to clear ambiguities to help staff and clients to synchronize processes, duties and responsibilities that sustain continuous improvement in quality highereducation. Furthermore, training of all staff on ISO 9001 QMS and its time span will help stem negative perceptions from staff and motivate a quality mind-set which was visibly lucking in the majority of respondents. Organizational leadership should be strengthened to avail necessary skillsthat inculcate quality and performance.


As a kind of rig-rod-like polymer, poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) (PBO) has received great interest because of its excellent mechanical properties and good thermal stability. The use of PBO materials, however, is limited due to its low sunlight stability. In this study, photolysis of PBO films was studied by infrared spectroscopy and molecular mass determination. It found that at the beginning of photolysis, the I.V. values of PBO almost did not changed. Then, it underwent fast decrease stage. Moreover, PBO degrade slowly in N2 atmosphere than in air atmosphere. The most likely photo-degradation mechanism was put forward. Attempts to stabilize PBO from photolysis were also investigated. It found that heat treatment could alleviate photo-degradation speed of PBO. Traditional light stabilizers showed a marginal effect on photolysis of PBO, whereas ferrocene dimethanol behaved better effect on the photo-stabilization of PBO.


ObjectiveWe investigated the long-term cognitive effects of concussion in 19,261 members of the general population and a cohort of varsity American football players with a history of frequent head impacts, using tests that are known to be sensitive to small changes in performance. MethodsWe asked 19,261 participants to complete a demographic questionnaire and 12 cognitive tests measuring aspects of executive function, including inhibitory control. We compared the performance of those reporting a history of concussion (post-concussion) to those reporting no history of concussion (non-concussed) on the cognitive battery and four non-cognitive variables. We used the results of this population-level study to predict the profile of cognitive performance in varsity American football players, who completed the same cognitive tasks. ResultsPost-concussion and non-concussed participants did not differ on 11 of the 12 cognitive tasks employed. However, on a test of inhibitory control based on the classic Stroop paradigm, post-concussion participants showed accuracy-related impairments specific to the incongruent conditions of the task. Post-concussion participants reported higher levels of anxiety, depression, and trouble concentrating. An entirely independent sample of 74 varsity American football players demonstrated the same pattern of impairment: compared to healthy controls, they scored significantly lower on the test of inhibitory control but were indistinguishable from controls on the 11 other tasks.InterpretationSelf-reported concussion is not associated with long-term general effects on cognitive function. Nevertheless, those who report at least one concussion and those who expose themselves to long-term frequent sport-related head impacts, do have a modest, but statistically robust, deficit of inhibitory control.


Objectives To compare the effect of neuromuscular joint facilitation (NJF) and quadriceps strengthening exercises on pain, physical function, static posture, and balance control in subjects with knee osteoarthritis. Design Randomized controlled trial. Setting Department of Physiotherapy, Manipal Hospitals, Bangalore. Participants Subjects diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis according to the American College of Sports Medicine criteria. The mean age of subjects in the control group was 63.12 ± 8.08 years; in the experimental group was 61.77 ± 8.46 years. Interventions The intervention group received NJF treatment twice a week for six weeks, and the control group received quadriceps strengthening exercises. Standard knee exercises were given as a home program to both groups. Outcome Measures Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), 30-second chair stand (30s-CST), and single leg stance (SLS) were used to assess physical function, static posture, and balance control, respectively, at the end of the sixth week. Results Sixty subjects were randomly allocated to intervention and control groups. The experimental and control group showed a mean difference of 3.89 and 4.17 in NPRS, 4.19 and 4.17 in 30s-CST, 6.81 and 5.71 in SLS at the end of six weeks. This change was significant within both groups (p value .000) and not significant between groups (NPRS p value .303; 30s-CST p value .09; SLS p value .525) at the end of six weeks. Conclusions NJF and quadriceps strengthening exercises effectively reduced pain and improved physical function, static posture, and balance control in subjects with knee osteoarthritis. Both groups had the same effect on all clinical variables at six weeks of follow-up. Hence, further studies with long term follow-up are warranted.


Will Analysts Learn From Other Analysts Who Possess Superior Private Information? by SHI Hangyuan Master of Philosophy Based on a valuable testing venue in China where listed companies are required to disclose corporate site visit records of financial analyst to the public, this study examines whether analysts will learn from visiting analysts' forecasts that contain superior private information. I find that visiting forecasts tend to attract more analysts to issue forecasts in their aftermath than the prior forecasts issued by the same analysts but without conducting corporate site visit (non-visiting forecasts). The following effect is weaker when the visiting forecasts are more informative. In addition, other analysts' forecasts following the visiting forecasts tend to move closer to the visiting forecasts than the forecasts following the non-visiting forecasts, with the effects being stronger for more informative visiting forecasts. Furthermore, followers experience a greater improvement in their forecast accuracy than the non-followers. This effect is also stronger when the visiting forecasts are more informative. Last but not the least, I find a decline in analyst forecast dispersion, an increase in common information, and an improvement in forecast accuracy in the period subsequent to the issuance of visiting analysts' forecasts but no such effect for non-visiting forecasts. Collectively, the results suggest that analysts have incentive to learn from the forecasts that contain superior information and such learning activities tend to improve the information environment of the visiting firms.


This paper characterises vibration signals using modulation signal bispectrum method in order to develop an effective and reliable feature sets for detecting and diagnosing faults from both the bearings and impellers in a centrifugal pump. As vibration signals contain high level background noises due to inevitable flow cavitation and turbulences, effective noise reduction and reliable feature extraction are critical procedures in vibration signal analysis. Considering the modulation effect between rotating shaft and vane passing components, a modulation signal bispectrum (MSB) method is employed to extract these deterministic characteristics of modulating components in a low frequency band for diagnosing both the bearing defects and impeller blockages. Experimental results show that the diagnostic features developed by MSB allow impellers with inlet vane damages and bearing outer-race faults to be identified under different operating conditions. Not only does this new method produces reliable diagnostic results but also it needs a bandwidth about 1000Hz, rather than the high frequency bands around 10kHz used by conventional envelope analysis.


Abstract Aldose reductase (AR) and sorbitol dehydrogenase (SDH) are important enzymes of the polyol pathway. In the current study, inhibitory effects of vulpinic acid (VA) carnosic acid (CA) and usnic acid (UA) on purified AR and SDH enzymes were determined. These enzymes inhibition could be essential to prevent diabetic complications. AR and SDH enzymes were purified from sheep kidney. Then, VA, CA and UA were tested in various concentrations against these enzymes activity in vitro. K I values were found to be as 1.46 ± 0.04, 5.13 ± 0.25 and 11.71 ± 0.27 μΜ for VA, CA and UA, respectively, for AR. K I constants were found to be as 15.32 ± 0.34, 145.60 ± 2.17 and 213.40 ± 2.64 μΜ VA, CA and UA, respectively, for SDH. These findings indicate that VA, CA and UA could be useful in the treatment of diabetic complications. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma


The deformation and fracture of anisotropic shale rocks are of great interest to geoengineers concerned with assessing the stability of boreholes and underground excavations. However, some mechanic properties associated with anisotropic rock fracture remain ambiguous. We have purposely reported triaxial failure tests on two sets of transversely isotropic shale plugs (i.e., Marcellus and Eagle Ford shales) cutting parallel and perpendicular to the bedding planes. The experimental results suggest that the bedding planes give rise to considerable differences in the elastic properties, failure strength, and failure modes in the bedding-normal and bedding-parallel directions. In general, the static Young's modulus is higher parallel to bedding than normal to bedding, whereas the static Poisson's ratios measured from the vertical and horizontal shale plugs do not exhibit a certain relationship. The ratio between the bedding-parallel and bedding-normal failure strength is approximately 1.9 for Marcellus shales, whereas it is approximately 1.3 for Eagle Ford shales. At the failure point, the axial strains are appreciably larger than the radial strains. In contrast, the two orthogonal radial strains exhibit different characteristics in the bedding-normal and bedding-parallel directions, giving rise to complex failure modes. The extended cracks in the vertical plugs lead to fracturing in a shearing manner, with a single shear plane in the Eagle Ford shale and two conjugate shear planes in the Marcellus shale. In the horizontal plugs, the Eagle Ford shale exhibits shear banding in the bedding-normal direction and a combination of shear and extension in the bedding-normal direction. In contrast, the Marcellus shale exhibits three conjugated shear planes.


Recently there has been a rapid growth in the assets managed by "hedged mutual funds" – mutual funds mimicking hedge funds strategies. In this paper, we examine the performance of these funds relative to hedge funds and traditional mutual funds. We find that despite their use of similar trading strategies, hedged mutual funds underperform hedge funds. We attribute this evidence to lighter regulation and better incentives faced by hedge funds. In contrast, hedged mutual funds outperform traditional mutual funds. Most interesting, this superior performance is largely driven by managers with experience in implementing hedge fund strategies. Our findings have important implication for investors seeking hedgefund-like payoffs at a lower cost and within the comfort of a regulated environment. JEL Classifications: G11, G12


An injection of orexin A or B into the cisterna magna or the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM), where bulbospinal vasomotor neurons are located, elevated arterial pressure (AP) and heart rate (HR). We examined how orexins affected RVLM neurons to regulate cardiovascular functions by using in vitro recordings of neuronal activity of the RVLM and in vivo measurement of cardiovascular functions in rats. Orexin A and B concentration-dependently depolarized RVLM neurons. At 100 nM, both peptides excited 42% of RVLM neurons. Tetrodotoxin failed to block orexin-induced depolarization. In the presence of N-(2-methyl-6-benzoxazolyl)-N′-1, 5-naphthyridin-4-yl urea (SB-334867), an orexin 1 receptor (OX1R) antagonist, orexin A depolarized 42% of RVLM neurons with a smaller, but not significantly different, amplitude (4.9 ± 0.8 versus 7.2 ± 1.1 mV). In the presence of (2S)-1- (3,4-dihydro-6,7-dimethoxy-2(1H)-isoquinolinyl)-3,3-dimethyl-2-[(4-pyridinylmethyl)amino]-1-butanone hydrochloride (TCS OX2 29), an orexin 2 receptor (OX2R) antagonist, orexin A depolarized 25% of RVLM neurons with a significantly smaller amplitude (1.7 ± 0.5 mV). Coapplication of both antagonists completely eliminated orexin A-induced depolarization. An OX2R agonist, [Ala11,d-Leu15]-orexin B, concentration-dependently depolarized RVLM neurons. Regarding neuronal phenotypes, orexins depolarized 88% of adrenergic, 43% of nonadrenergic, and 36 to 41% of rhythmically firing RVLM neurons. Intracisternal TCS OX2 29 (3 and 10 nmol) suppressed intracisternal orexin A-induced increases of AP and HR, whereas intracisternal SB-334867 (3 and 10 nmol) had no effect on the orexin A-induced increase of HR but suppressed the orexin A-induced pressor response at 10 nmol. We concluded that orexins directly excite RVLM neurons, which include bulbospinal vasomotor neurons, and regulate cardiovascular function mainly via the OX2R, with a smaller contribution from the OX1R.


Mangroves are woody forests that exist at the confluence of the marine and terrestrial environments. These forests are highly biologically productive and play a key role in supporting coastal food chains, and trapping and stabilizing coastal sediments. Mangroves are also known to dissipate significant amounts of wave energy over relatively short distance, which has significance in the area of coastal protection. However, understanding the quantitative effects of mangrove vegetation in reducing surface wave energy has, until now, received very limited research interest. This study presents a field and theoretical investigation of the attenuation of random, wind–induced surface wave energy in mangrove forests. Field observations of wave processes in mangrove forests were undertaken at three study sites with different wave energy regimes. At each site, an array of wave gauges was placed along a transect aligned with the dominant wave direction to measure changes in wave characteristics as waves propagated shoreward through the mangroves. Mean rates of attenuation of total wave energy and significant wave height observed at the three sites averaged 1.5% m⁻¹, and 1.1 % m⁻¹ respectively. Attenuation rates are found to be frequency related, with preferred attenuation of shorter period waves. Field data also indicate an increase in the energy transmitted into the forest with increased water depth.

Two theoretical approaches were developed to investigate and model the attenuation of wave energy for waves propagating through mangrove forests: In the first theoretical approach, the water depth in the mangrove forest was assumed constant, and the wave motion was described by a set of amplification factors for individual spectral components. The second approach was developed for a mangrove forest with arbitrary bathymetry, and in this case the wave motion within the forest was determined by solving the mild slope equation with dissipation. Both approaches investigate energy dissipation in the frequency domain by treating the mangrove forest as a random media porous to wave energy, with certain characteristics determined using the geometry of mangrove vegetation. Also, both cases employ modified drag co-efficient to introduce the dependence of the drag coefficient on the spatial density of the vegetation. Theoretical results from the model with constant water depth show good qualitative agreement with the key wave propagation features identified in the field data, with predicted rates of wave energy attenuation controlled primarily by prescribed vegetation characteristics. Results from the model with arbitrary bathymetry demonstrate that the model was able to reproduce observed rates of wave energy attenuation. Wave energy attenuation was shown to depend strongly on the spatial density of the mangrove vegetation and its structural arrangements, and on the spectral characteristics of the incident waves. Wave energy attenuation was also found to be a function of water depth, with increased energy transmitted into the forest with increased water depth, due to the non-uniform vertical structure typical of mangrove vegetation.

The results of this study demonstrate that it is possible to numerically model the dominant energy dissipation processes and thus predict attenuation of surface wave height within mangrove forests. The ability to predict the attenuation of surface wave energy due mangroves has relevance in the field of co[a]stal protection. A model developed in this thesis is applied to assess the theoretical performance of a temporary coastal protection measure using bamboo, and evaluate its cost effectiveness compared to other accepted low-cost measures for attenuating wave energy. The proposed design of a bamboo wave attenuation structure is significantly cheaper than other published designs, for an equivalent level of energy attenuation.


Human papillomavirus (HPV) is now recognised as a major aetiological agent in the pathogenesis of oropharyngeal carcinoma (OPC). HPV-positive tumours are associated with better outcomes compared to HPV-negative tumours, possibly due to differences in their aetiology, immune responses and/or the tumour microenvironment. Increased numbers of tumour-associated leukocytes have been observed in many cancers including OPC, with variable influence on prognosis depending on the leukocyte subpopulation investigated. Whether, HPV-status influences leukocyte recruitment to OPC remains unknown. The main aim of this study was to examine if differences exist in the immune responses between HPV-positive compared to HPV-negative OPC by examining levels of infiltrated leukocyte sub-populations, and to further determine the molecular mechanisms driving leukocyte recruitment into these two distinct forms of tumours.
 Immunohistochemical staining of HPV-positive (n=40) and HPV-negative (n=19) OPC biopsies, followed by survival analysis showed that individuals with HPV displayed a distinct survival advantage. In terms of leukocyte abundance, HPV-negative OPC contained significantly (P<0.05) more neutrophils than HPV-positive tumours, whilst there was no difference in macrophage or T cell abundance between the two tumours except in the low expressive cases.
 A subsequent in vitro study examined differences in the chemoattractant capacity of HPV-positive and HPV-negative OPC cell lines to determine if these factors were implicated in the neutrophil, macrophage and T cell recruitment observed in vivo. Gene and protein expression analysis demonstrated that both monocultures of HPV-positive and HPV-negative cell lines, along with normal tonsillar fibroblasts (NTF), expressed low chemokine levels, whilst NTF cultured with conditioned medium from HPV-negative OPC cells expressed significantly higher levels of all chemokines tested compared to NTF incubated with the medium from HPV-positive OPC cell lines. HPV-negative OPC cell lines expressed the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1α & β mRNA whereas HPV-positive cells did not, and NTF constitutively expressed IL-1R. Pre-treatment with the IL-1R antagonist, Anakinra, or siRNA to IL-1R1 significantly reduced chemokine secretion from NTF stimulated with conditioned medium from HPV-negative tumour cells or recombinant IL-1β (P<0.05). Similar data was obtained when cells were cultured all together in a 3D-model of OPC. In addition, in a 3D co-culture model, treatment with Anakinra significantly reduced the chemokines and number of infiltrating leukocytes into the model compared to untreated 3D cultures.
 Taken together, these data suggest that secretion of chemokines is driven by the interaction between HPV-negative OPC cells and stromal tonsillar fibroblasts through an IL-1/IL-1R-mediated mechanism that is less prominent within the HPV-positive tumour microenvironment. These observations may explain differences in leukocyte sub-populations recruited to HPV-positive versus negative OPC and indicate that HPV-status is a key determinant in controlling the inflammatory tumour microenvironment. Controlling leukocyte infiltration into HPV-negative OPC using Anakinra may be of potential clinical benefit.


The industrial demand for pure oxygen had increased throughout the years. It is expected the market for this commodity will massively expand in the near future. However, the current industrial normal processes to produce pure oxygen from air have their limitations. Alternatively, oxygen production through separation from air using perovskite membrane particularly LSCF6428 compound has shown a potential to become a reliable and efficient process. Nevertheless, in order to achieve high oxygen permeation flux through the perovskite dense membrane, several factors must be taken into consideration. One of these factors is the powder preparation method, which determined the powder properties such as its particle size, particle shape and compound structure. The objective of this research is to observe the effect of powder preparation towards oxygen permeation flux through hollow fibre membrane. Therefore, in this research, 3 powder preparation methods; solid state reaction, reactive grinding and co-precipitation were applied to produce LSCF6428 perovksite powders. Through characterization process, the produced powders were compared with a commercially purchased powder. Afterward, by using 2 different LSCF6428 powders; powder derived from solid state reaction method and commercially procured powder, two types of hollow fibre ceramic membranes were fabricated using phase inversion/sintering technique. The membranes were characterized accordingly before it underwent oxygen permeation studies at several condition settings. Based from the results obtained, it was shown that both membranes were gas tight at ambient temperature and gave relatively the same oxygen permeation flux at several temperature values. Given that both membranes successfully achieved asymmetric structure, which provide small oxygen permeation resistance and large surface area for oxygen surface reaction, it was deem that the membrane structure and configuration in the shape of hollow fibre played a significant factor in determining the oxygen permeation flux as compared to powder preparation method. In conclusion, the powder preparation method does not directly affect the oxygen permeation flux through hollow fibre membrane.


Body dysmorphic disorder is a common, often disabling condition, and is frequently comorbid with major depressive disorder. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors constitute first line set of somatic interventions but the management of refractory patients remains challenging. Electroconvulsive therapy, an often highly beneficial treatment for medication resistant-depression, is not considered an effective therapeutic alternative for treatment refractory body dysmorphic disorder. Here we present a 50-year-old woman with body dysmorphic disorder and comorbid major depressive disorder who remained incapacitated and suicidal despite several trials with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and antipsychotic medication. Depressive and dysmorphic symptoms appeared to resolve with electroconvulsive therapy, and remission was sustained for two months. Electroconvulsive therapy has an important place in the management of treatment- resistant depression associated with body dysmorphic disorder, and, in select cases, may be effective for dysmorphic symptoms as well.


The goal of this paper is to analyze and reassess the criteria according to which a class of postpositions is distinguished in the Beserman dialect of Udmurt. This class is traditionally divided into inflected and non-inflected postpositions. Analysis of syntactic and morphosyntactic properties of these two subclasses shows that items traditionally labeled as inflected postpositions form a homogeneous group and show noun-like behavior in most cases, while non-inflected postpositions are heterogeneous. Based on this analysis, we propose to single out a part-of-speech class of relational nouns and show that the rest of the postpositions could be further divided into subclasses with different behavior. The study is based on the data obtained during fieldwork in 2009– 2015 in Udmurtia (for Beserman) and on corpus data (for literary Udmurt).


It is an undeniable fact that software plays an important role in our lives. We use the software to play our music, to check our e-mail, or even to help us drive our car. Thus, the quality of software directly influences the quality of our lives. However, the traditional Software Engineering paradigm is not able to cope with the increasing demands in quantity and quality of produced software. Thus, a new paradigm of Model Driven Software Engineering (MDSE) is quickly gaining ground. MDSE promises to solve some of the problems of traditional Software Engineering (SE) by raising the level of abstraction. Thus, MDSE proposes the use of models and model transformations, instead of textual program files used in traditional SE, as means of producing software. The models are usually graph-based, and are built by using graphical notations – i.e. the models are represented diagrammatically. The advantages of using graphical models over text files are numerous, for example it is usually easier to deduce the relations between different model elements in their diagrammatic form, thus reducing the possibility of defects during the production of the software. Furthermore, formal model transformations can be used to produce different kinds of artifacts from models in all stages of software production. For example, artifacts that can be used as input for model checkers or simulation tools can be produced. This enables the checking or simulation of software products in the early phases of development, which further reduces the probability of defects in the final software product. However, methods and techniques to support MDSE are still not mature enough. In particular methods and techniques for model configuration management (MCM) are still in development, and no generic MCM system exists. In this thesis, I describe my research which was focused on developing methods and techniques to support generic model configuration management. In particular, during my research, I focused on developing methods and techniques for supporting model evolution and model co-evolution. Described methods and techniques are generic and are suitable for a state-based approach to model configuration management. In order to support the model evolution, I developed methods for the representation, calculation, and visualization of state-based model differences. Unlike in previously published research, where these three aspects of model differences are dealt with in separation, in my research all these three aspects are integrated. Thus, the result of model differences calculation algorithm is in the format which is described by my research on model differences representation. The same representation format of model differences is used as a basis of my approach to differences visualization. It is important to notice that the developed representation format for model differences is metamodel independent, and thus is generic, i.e., it can be used to represent differences between all graph-based models. Model co-evolution is a term that describes the problem of adapting models when their metamodels evolve. My solution to this problem has three steps. In the first step a special metamodel MMfMM is introduced. Unlike in traditional approaches, where metamodels are represented as instances of a metametamodel, in my approach the metamodels are represented by models which are instances of an MMfMM. In the second step, since metamodels are represented by models, previously defined methods and techniques for model evolution are reused to represent and calculate the metamodel differences. In the final step I define an algorithm that uses the calculated metamodel differences to adapt models conforming to the evolved metamodel. In order to validate my approaches to model evolution and model co-evolution, I have developed a tool for comparing models and visualizing resulting differences, and a tool for model co-evolution. Moreover, I have developed a method to compare tools for model comparison, and using this method I have conducted a series of experiments in which I compared the tool I developed to an industrial tool called EMFCompare. The results of these experiments are also presented in the thesis. Furthermore, in order to validate my tool and approach to model co-evolution, I have also specified and conducted several experiments. The results of these experiments are also presented in the thesis.


Abstract In about three and a half decades since its introduction, business teacher education has made a modest impact on the teaching profession in Nigeria. However, effort to improve its standard and quality seems to have been slowed down by a number of factors such as low public interest, curriculum structure, inadequate personnel, inadequate material resources for training, and slow adaptation to research and technological challenges. Through assessing the current trends in the profession, the article goes on to project the direction that business teacher education in Nigeria should chart in order to remain vibrant and professionally relevant to the teachers, learners and the nation.


[D-Cys14]-Somatostatin is the first analog of somatostatin found to be more potent in inhibiting glucagon and growth hormone secretion that it is in inhibiting insulin secretion. [D-Trp8]-Somatostatin is eight to ten times more potent than somatostatin in inhibiting insulin, glucagon, and growth hormone secretion. [D-Trp8, D-Cys14]-Somatostatin is more potent than [D-Cys14]-Somatostatin, but retains its relative selectivity in being a more potent inhibitor of the secretion of glucagon and growth hormone than of insulin.


Surgical residency contains an inadequate amount of hands-on training in the operating room and time constraints further make this type of education on the floor unlikely. Due to these deficits in residency training, private surgical courses outside of the established residency programmes are in high demand. Therefore, surgical residents must spend their own resources and time in addition to their residency training in order to receive adequate clinical exposure. Didactic approaches like problem-based learning have begun to influence our modern education. These novel education approaches along with visualisation training, video-based presentations, and multimedia-based training can be useful adjuncts to traditional surgical training.


Background
Physical inactivity affects every system in the body and is associated with many chronic diseases. This impacts on the lives of individuals and has substantial social and economic implications. A large proportion of the UK population is insufficiently active and system-wide approaches to promoting physical activity are required. There are over 55,000 physiotherapists in the United Kingdom, yet little is known about physical activity promotion in this domain of healthcare. The overarching research aim is to explore physical activity promotion in physiotherapy practice and to understand the factors that influence current practice.
Method
This programme of research is underpinned by a philosophical position of pragmatism. Within this methodological framework, a systematic scoping review was first undertaken to assess the state of the existing global evidence. Following this, a mixed methods study, was completed using a sequential explanatory design. Phase 1 involved a national, cross-sectional survey of UK physiotherapists. Phase 2 involved a qualitative, explanatory follow-up which aimed to further explain the quantitative findings.
Findings
Thirty-one studies were included in the systematic scoping review. Findings from Phase 1 of the mixed methods study indicated that respondents (n=514) initiate conversations with patients about physical activity but lack a systematic approach. Physical activity status was not routinely assessed, signposting to other services was inconsistent, and knowledge of the physical activity guidelines was poor. These findings were further explained in Phase 2; participants (n=12) highlighted a lack of understanding of key concepts which underpinned the inconsistent approach to physical activity promotion. Phase 2 also identified that physiotherapists focus on short-term restoration of function over longer-term promotion of health.
Conclusion
Physical inactivity is a major public health issue, and physiotherapists have the potential to contribute to tackling inactivity. However, the current approaches identified within this programme of research were inconsistent and unsystematic. Changes in demography necessitate holistic physiotherapy approaches that promote long-term health and wellbeing. Recommendations are made to improve physiotherapy practice in line with the aspiration of orientating healthcare toward prevention.


A coarsened model for a binary system with limited miscibility of components is proposed; the system is described in terms of structural states in small parts of the material. The material is assumed to have two alternative types of crystalline local arrangements associated with two components of the alloy. Fluctuating characteristics of a cluster are the type and the space orientation of its crystalline arrangement. There are two different phase transitions in the model system, an orientation orderdisorder transition representing melting, and a phase transition between phases differing in concentration of components. Depending on the parameters characterizing the interaction in the system, this last transition may take place both in the crystalline and in the amorphous (molten) phase. A special approximation is used to study the thermodynamics of the system. The calculated phase diagram describes, at least qualitatively, the most important features of a binary system.


Abstract. Due to its remote location and extreme weather conditions, atmospheric in situ
measurements are rare in the Southern Ocean. As a result, aerosol–cloud
interactions in this region are poorly understood and remain a major source of
uncertainty in climate models. This, in turn, contributes substantially to
persistent biases in climate model simulations such as the well-known positive
shortwave radiation bias at the surface, as well as biases in numerical
weather prediction models and reanalyses. It has been shown in previous
studies that in situ and ground-based remote sensing measurements across the
Southern Ocean are critical for complementing satellite data sets due to the
importance of boundary layer and low-level cloud processes. These processes
are poorly sampled by satellite-based measurements and are often obscured by
multiple overlying cloud layers. Satellite measurements also do not constrain
the aerosol–cloud processes very well with imprecise estimation of cloud
condensation nuclei. In this work, we present a comprehensive set of ship-based
aerosol and meteorological observations collected on the 6-week
Southern Ocean Ross Sea Marine Ecosystem and Environment voyage
(TAN1802) voyage of RV Tangaroa across the Southern Ocean, from Wellington, New Zealand, to
the Ross Sea, Antarctica. The voyage was carried out from 8 February to
21 March 2018. Many distinct, but contemporaneous, data sets were collected
throughout the voyage. The compiled data sets include measurements from a
range of instruments, such as (i) meteorological conditions at the sea surface
and profile measurements; (ii) the size and concentration of particles; (iii)
trace gases dissolved in the ocean surface such as dimethyl sulfide and
carbonyl sulfide; (iv) and remotely sensed observations of low clouds. Here,
we describe the voyage, the instruments, and data processing, and provide a brief
overview of some of the data products available. We encourage the scientific
community to use these measurements for further analysis and model evaluation
studies, in particular, for studies of Southern Ocean clouds, aerosol, and
their interaction. The data sets presented in this study are publicly
available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4060237 (Kremser et al., 2020).


The lineage relationship between short-lived effector T cells and long-lived memory cells is not fully understood. We have described T-GFP mice previously, in which naive and early activated T cells express GFP uniformly, whereas cells that have differentiated into effector cytotoxic T cells selectively lose GFP expression. Here we studied antigen-specific CD8 T cell differentiation using T-GFP mice crossed to the TCR transgenic (Tg) mice P14 (specific for the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus glycoprotein peptide, gp33-41). After activation with antigenic peptide, P14XT-GFP CD8(+) T cells cultured in high-dose IL-2 developed into cells with effector phenotype and function: they were blastoid, lost GFP expression, expressed high levels of activation and effector markers, and were capable of immediate cytotoxic function. In contrast, cells cultured in IL-15 or low-dose IL-2 never developed into full-fledged effector cells. Rather, they resembled memory cells: they were smaller, were GFP(+), did not express effector markers, and were incapable of immediate cytotoxicity. However, they mediated rapid-recall responses in vitro. After adoptive transfer, they survived in vivo for at least 10 weeks and mounted a secondary immune response after antigen rechallenge that was as potent as endogenously generated memory cells. In addition to providing a simple means to generate memory cells in virtually unlimited numbers, our results suggest that effector differentiation is not a prerequisite for memory cell generation.


The small and middle T (tumor) antigens of polyomavirus have been shown previously to associate with the 36-kDa catalytic subunit and the 63-kDa regulatory subunit of protein phosphatase type 2A, apparently substituting for a normal third 55-kDa regulatory subunit (D.C. Pallas, L.K. Shahrik, B.L. Martin, S. Jaspers, T.B. Miller, D.L. Brautigan, and T.M. Roberts, Cell 60:167-176, 1990). To facilitate a comparison of the normal regulatory subunit and T antigens, we isolated a 2.14-kb cDNA clone encoding this 55-kDa subunit from a rat liver library. Using a probe from the coding region of this gene, we detected a major 2.4-kb mRNA transcript in liver and muscle RNAs. The 55-kDa protein phosphatase 2A subunit purified from rat skeletal muscle generates multiple species when analyzed on two-dimensional gels. Transcription and translation of the clone in vitro produced a full-length protein that comigrated precisely on two-dimensional gels with three of these species, indicating that the 55-kDa protein is apparently modified similarly in vivo and in reticulocyte lysates. Additional species in the purified preparation were not found in the translate, suggesting that there are probably two or more isoforms of this protein in rat muscle. Somewhat surprisingly, there was no clear homology with T-antigen amino acid sequences.


The participation of women at this time rather than just demanding equal rights but also expresses its function has the meaning for the development of society Indonesia. conflict of dual role is the simultaneous occurrence of two or more role allotment, which is the fulfillment of a role that will give rise to difficulties in fulfilling the role of the other. Work-family conflict has two components, namely family affairs interfere with work, work-family conflict can arise due to the Affairs of the jobs came family. Conflicts arising as a result of household chores and all the consequences disrupt the performance of the functions of the employment of mothers in the workplace. An adaptive response, linked by characteristics and individual psychology or process which is a consecuetion of any external action, situation or event that puts the demands of special psychological and or physical person. The results of the work can be accomplished by a person or group of people in an organization in accordance with the authority and responsibility of their respective efforts in order to achieve the objectives of the Organization in question legally, does not violate the law and in accordance with morals or ethics. Double role conflict can have an impact on work stress, this shows the higher conflict dual role female employees, then the greater the also stress their work. The impact of the conflict on performance of dual role female employees indicating higher role conflict the women, then the lower the performance of them. Work stress is also impacting on the performance of female employees have, i.e. show the higher the stress of work, then the lower the pulakinerja female employees


We present mechanically strong and self-healable clay hydrogels containing 2-8 w/v % ds-DNA together with a synthetic biocompatible polymer, poly( N, N-dimethylacrylamide). Clay nanoparticles in the hydrogels act like a chemical cross-linker and promote their elastic behavior, whereas DNA contributes to their viscoelastic energy dissipation. The extent of mechanical hysteresis during cyclic tensile tests reveals that the strength of intermolecular bonds in DNA/clay hydrogels is in the range of the strength of hydrogen bonds. The hydrogels exhibit a high stretchability (up to 1500%) and a tensile strength between 20 and 150 kPa. They have the ability to self-heal, which is induced by heating the damaged gel samples above the melting temperature of ds-DNA. When comparing the mechanical properties of the hydrogels before and after healing, the healing efficiency is greater than 100%. We also demonstrate that ds-DNA molecules entrapped in the gel network undergoes thermal denaturation/renaturation cycles, leading to a further improvement in the mechanical properties of the hydrogels.


AIM
The aim of the study was to describe the factors influencing the sleep quality of patients with heart failure.

BACKGROUND
Sleep problems are common in patients with heart failure, and have a negative impact on their quality of life. Patients with heart failure often have difficulties in lying supine to sleep, falling asleep, and maintaining sleep, as well as waking up too early.

METHODS
A predictive correlational design was used, with 101 patients with heart failure recruited from cardiology clinics in Taiwan. Patients completed questionnaires, and data were collected in 2007. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, t-tests, analysis of variance, Pearson product moment correlation coefficients, and multiple regression.

RESULTS
The mean score for sleep quality was 10.78 (sd = 4.78), as measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Overall, 81% of participants reported poor sleep quality, and 31% were unsatisfied with the quality of their sleep. Sleep efficacy and hours of sleep during the night were rated as the lowest among the dimensions of sleep quality. The most common reason for interruption of sleep was getting up to urinate at night. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that the factors related to sleep quality were gender, perceived health, depressive mood, and the number of comorbidities. These four variables explained 31% of the variance in the sleep quality of these patients.

CONCLUSION
Patients with heart failure should be taught sleep hygiene and to increase leisure time activities, disease self-management, and emotional adjustment skills to improve their sleep quality. These patients should also be observed for night time safety risk due to nocturia.


Abstract We propose an importance sampling (IS)-based transport map Hamiltonian Monte Carlo procedure for performing a Bayesian analysis in nonlinear high-dimensional hierarchical models. Using IS techniques to construct a transport map, the proposed method transforms the typically highly complex posterior distribution of a hierarchical model such that it can be easily sampled using standard Hamiltonian Monte Carlo. In contrast to standard applications of high-dimensional IS, our approach does not require IS distributions with high fidelity, which makes it computationally very cheap. Moreover, it is less prone to the notorious problem of IS that the variance of IS weights can become infinite. We illustrate our algorithm with applications to challenging dynamic state-space models, where it exhibits very high simulation efficiency compared to relevant benchmarks, even for variants of the proposed method implemented using a few dozen lines of code in the Stan statistical software. The article is accompanied by supplementary material containing further details, and the computer code is available at https://github.com/kjartako/TMHMC. These are also supplementary materials for this article are available online.


Aim The Neotropics have the highest terrestrial biodiversity on earth. Investigating the relationships between the floras of the Neotropics and other tropical areas is critical to understanding the origin and evolution of this mega-diverse region. Tribe Dorstenieae (Moraceae) has a pantropical distribution and almost equal number of species on both sides of the Atlantic. In this study, we investigate the relationship between the African and Neotropical floras using Dorstenieae (15 genera, 156 species, Moraceae) as a model clade. Location the Neotropics and Africa. Methods We used a targeted enrichment strategy with herbarium samples and a nuclear bait set to assemble a data set of 102 genes sampled from 83 (53%) species and fifteen genera (100%) of Dorstenieae, and five outgroup species. Phylogenetic relationships were reconstructed with maximum likelihood and coalescent approaches. This phylogeny was dated with a Bayesian relaxed clock model and four fossil calibrations. The biogeographic history of the group was then reconstructed with several dispersal-extinction-cladogenesis models (incl. DEC and DEC+J). Results The crown-group ages of Dorstenieae and Dorstenia were estimated in the Cretaceous (65.8-79.8 Ma) and the Paleocene (50.8-67.3 Ma), respectively. Tribe Dorstenieae as a whole appears to have originated in the joint area of continental Africa, Madagascar and Asia-Oceania area. The Neotropical species of Dorstenia diversified in the Eocene (29.8-44.7 Ma) and formed a clade nested within the African lineages in the genus. Brosimum s.l., with a crown-group age at the period of the Oligocene and Miocene (14.9-31.1 Ma), represents another Neotropical clade in Dorstenieae. Main conclusions Tribe Dorstenieae originated in the joint area of continental Africa, Madagascar and Asia-Oceania area in the Cretaceous and then dispersed into Neotropics twice. Neotropical diversification after long-distance dispersal across the Atlantic is the most plausible explanation for the extant distribution pattern of Dorstenieae.


Parameters derived from magnetic hysteresis experiments have been used as granulometric indicators in paleomagnetism. In practice, discriminating the superparamagnetic (SP) fraction from the coarse grain magnetites in parameter ratio plots is often inconclusive. To overcome this ambiguity, transient hysteresis (TH) has been recently proposed. We have carried out micromagnetic simulations to provide a fundamental rationale for the use of TH for granulometry. We found that magnetic TH results from the difference of magnetization configuration between ascending and descending hysteresis loops as a result of self‐demagnetization. The descending branch has a tendency to keep a more uniform (e.g., flower‐like) configuration, while the ascending branch prefers a less uniform (e.g., vortex‐like) structure. According to our simulations, TH increases as the grain size increases and as the aspect ratio decreases. We also carried out TH measurements for well‐defined synthetic and natural samples. It is notable that TH from the simulation for samples with aspect ratio q = 1.5 agrees well with the experimental observations for annealed magnetites of smaller sizes. In general, small TH is a clear indication for the absence of complex magnetized structures. Adding TH analysis to the hysteresis loop measurements requires a minor effort yet provides strong constraint on grain size.


In next generation wireless networks, high data rates under strict quality of service (QoS) constraints call for flexible radio interfaces capable of adapting their configuration on the fly to the time-varying operating environment. Motivated by this need, this paper first derives a simple link performance prediction model for bit interleaved coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (BIC-OFDM) systems using incremental redundancy (IR) hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) mechanisms. Then, an adaptive HARQ strategy is formulated whose aim is maximizing the goodput (GP) metric, i.e., the number of error-free information bits delivered to the user by unit of time, over the coding rate, the bit distribution and an on-off power allocation across the active subchannels. Simulation results corroborate the GP performance gains of the proposed approach compared with non-adaptive transmissions, while keeping the computational complexity at affordable levels.


Demographic change has been an urgent current topic in Germany for some time. The aim of the present research was to determine how demographic change is affecting HR management and managing knowledge as one key element of HRM in German public administration. The important questions are whether current working methods are suitable for the changed situation, whether these methods can be improved through new strategic directions or cultural changes, and what policies local authorities need to develop. The first part presents the most important existing theories in HR management and workforce planning with the instruments of an age structure analysis and managing knowledge. The study examines the effects of demographic change on these strategies and approaches. The second part presents the results of a quantitative survey. The following chapters discuss the results in the context of other comparable studies and the existing theoretical literature. Policy recommendations for German local authorities are offered, offering new insights beyond those from the existing literature. The results show that German local authorities are competing with the private sector for new trainees. The declining numbers of applications make this clear. This situation is made worse by a lack of strategic direction and a failure to acknowledge its link to demographic change. In order to develop a new strategic direction, it is important first to put in place an age structure analysis in order to accurately estimate future resource demands. The results suggest that larger local authorities are better placed to meet these challenges. It is therefore recommended that local authorities undergo a restructuring involving mergers or collaborations among currently separate local authorities. This will enable those authorities to better implement a new strategic direction for HR management with its key element of managing knowledge. This study is of interest both for HR managers in local authorities and for teachers and researchers in the field of HR management specialising in the public sector.


The first part of this review article aims to provide important basic definitions of growth factor terminology, and to put forward a model for understanding the role of growth factors in a wound healing context. In the second part of the paper, we review the literature on growth factors in the cornea, including that on changes associated with wound healing following refractive surgery in the epithelial, stromal, and endothelial layers. The role of growth factors in stromal removal, corneal neovascularization, corneal innervation and wound healing is considered. The importance of the epithelial-stromal interaction is discussed, including the role of growth factors in keratocyte apoptosis. In the final section, we review the current literature on endogenous and exogenous modulation of growth factors in corneal wound healing. This includes important in vitro work but aims to emphasize clinically relevant results. Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) may have short-term complications such as pain and haze, whereas laser in situ keratomilieusis (LASIK) may have longer-term adverse effects on corneal biomechanics. The emerging technique of laser epithelial keratomilieusis (LASEK) provides an interesting alternative wound which may be less susceptible to the inherent complications of PRK and LASIK. At present, the phenomenon of iatrogenic keratectasia following LASIK is not fully understood, but these features of wound healing following PRK may be amenable to growth factor modulation.


Economists are obsessed with rankings of institutions, journals, or scholars according to the value of some feature of interest. These rankings are invariably computed using estimates rather than the true values of such features. As a result, there may be considerable uncertainty concerning the ranks. In this paper, we consider the problem of accounting for such uncertainty by constructing confidence sets for the ranks. We consider both the problem of constructing marginal confidence sets for the rank of, say, a particular journal as well as simultaneous confidence sets for the ranks of all journals. The purpose of this paper is to review the approach to the construction of such confidence sets by Mogstad et al. (2020) and then apply their methods to rankings of economics journals and universities by impact factors.


Enclosure: See no. 509. Oberlaender Trust founded by Gustav Oberlaender, German born American citizen of Reading, Pa. and wealthy manufacturer; object of trust to stimulate cultural relations between U.S. and Germany by sending American professors, students, editors, and city officials to Germany; trust was performing useful service until National Socialists came into power; Oberlaender, during visit to Germany, called at Consulate and asked advice as to continuing trust; was advised to send fewer visitors but for longer periods in order that they might get a true picture of the situation; someone arranged interview with Hitler for Oberlaender; Oberlaender in many respects a worthy man, but very vain and everything was done to flatter his vanity; since then, the Oberlaender Trust has intensified its activities and has become a Nazi propaganda machine; its fellows go to Germany, are shown just what the Nazis want them to see, and return to America with glowing reports.


Learning disabilities are one of the most frequent complications of neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) in children. Studies of the effects of the neurocognitive deficit on academic performance are relatively rare, owing to the small size of the populations concerned. However, research is needed to develop effective rehabilitation programs. In the present study, we explored the impact of a possible phonological deficit on the reading abilities of children with NF1. A multicenter, cross-sectional study was conducted in France on two groups of 75 children with or without NF1 aged 8–12 years, matched for age, sex, handedness, and reading level. All participants underwent a neuropsychological evaluation to assess their general cognitive level, reading skills, phonological processes, visuoperceptual abilities, and attentional capacity. Phonological skills were assessed by means of two phonological awareness tasks and one short-term memory task. In the group of children with NF1, 41% had reading difficulties. Phonological processes were impaired in this group, compared with the children without NF1. Similar differences were found for a phoneme deletion task after adjustment for reading difficulties, IQ level, and visuoperceptual abilities. Phonological awareness, but not phonological short-term memory, was impaired in children with NF1, and not just those whose reading was impaired. Results suggest that ARTICLE HISTORY Received 6 April 2016 Accepted 27 March 2017


The scattering of particles in fractal superlattices has been analyzed by means of the transfer matrix method. The fractal superlattice consists of alternating layers of semiconductor materials following the rule of a Cantor set. This problem can be represented by a model of quantum particles scattering in piecewise constant potential wells. Fractal properties of the reflection coefficient versus the particle energy curves are examined comparatively to the curves when using the corresponding periodic potentials. The degree of self-similarity of the output variables has been quantified by means of the correlation function.


We report the preparation and magnetic properties of Co2FeO4nanowires grown by electrodeposition inside the pores of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO). The synthesis requires two successive steps: the electrodeposition of fairly amorphous Fe-Co oxides or hydroxides species followed by a heat-treatment. According to X-ray diffraction and magnetic properties, a 24-h heat-treatment is necessary to obtain well-crystallized Co2FeO4 nanowires with interesting magnetic properties. The diameter of the CoFe2O4 nanowires is equivalent to the diameter size of the pores (200 nm) and their length depends on the electrodeposition time used in the preparation of the precursor (here we prepared up to 30-μm-long wires).