Geopolymer concrete consists of similar ingredients as conventional concrete except that the cement is wholly replaced by industry by-products such as slag and fly ash and the chemical reaction is promoted by a concentrated solution of alkali-based chemicals such as sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate instead of the conventional hydration reaction. This makes geopolymer concrete a more environmentally sustainable product as it reduces carbon emissions by some 40 % to 80 % whilst maintaining the structural properties of conventional concrete. Whilst conventional concrete is characterised by the formation of calcium silicate hydrates (CSH), geopolymer concrete is characterised by an aluminosilicate (Si-O-Al-O) based microstructure. Although a significant amount of research has been undertaken in Australia over the past 10 to 20 years particularly in Victoria and Western Australia the take up of this technology from laboratory controlled production to on-site field work has been relatively slow. However, in more recent times, the need to reduce the carbon foot print in the construction sector is helping with the marketing, manufacture and supply of geopolymer concrete in some parts of Australia, particularly for lower risk applications. A number of barriers have been suggested as impediments to the wider acceptance of geopolymer concrete including technical, standardisation and regulatory barriers. However, use and monitoring of geopolymer concrete by VicRoads over the past five years has culminated in the definition of geopolymer concrete and inclusion in a number of standard VicRoads specifications, including general paving, reinforced concrete pipes and concrete pits. It is considered that the inclusion of geopolymer concrete in such specifications has assisted in the take up of geopolymer concrete in various commercial applications in Victoria including foundations, slabs and precast panels, and has acted as a precursor to its introduction into other areas of Australia. In general the use, monitoring and specification of geopolymer concrete by VicRoads are considered to provide at least one pathway for increased use of low carbon geopolymer concrete in Australia. This paper describes the evolution of geopolymer concrete from a trial material to its inclusion in a number of standard VicRoads specifications, through to commercial production and its use on more significant structures.


This paper describes the design and implementation of a real-time delay-and-sum synthetic aperture beamformer. The beamforming delays and apodization coefficients are described parametrically. The image is viewed as a set of independent lines that are defined in 3D by their origin, direction, and inter-sample distance. The delay calculation is recursive and inspired by the coordinate rotation digital computer (CORDIC) algorithm. Only 3 parameters per channel and line are needed for their generation. The calculation of apodization coefficients is based on a piece- wise linear approximation. The implementation of the beamformer is optimized with respect to the architecture of a novel synthetic aperture real-time ultrasound scanner (SARUS), in which 4 channels are processed by the same set of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA). In synthetic transmit aperture imaging, low-resolution images are formed after every emission. Summing all low-resolution images produces a perfectly focused high-resolution image. The design of the beamformer is modular, and a single beamformation unit can produce 4600 low-resolution images per second, each consisting of 32 lines and 1024 complex samples per line. In its present incarnation, 3 such modules fit in a single device. The summation of low-resolution images is performed internally in the FPGA to reduce the required bandwidth. The delays are calculated with a precision of 1/16th of a sample, and the apodization coefficients with 7-bit precision. The accumulation of low-resolution images is performed with 24-bit precision. The level of the side- and grating lobes, introduced by the use of integer numbers in the calculations and truncation of intermediate results, is below -86 dB from the peak.


Theoretical investigations, modeling and design of a Bragg mirror (photonic crystal structure) in the CdTe-based material system are presented. It is shown that, in addition to the third-order nonlinearity (Kerr-like effect), the two-photon absorption and the resulting free-carrier refraction have to be included in the analysis and design. Inclusion of changes in the refractive index with the square of the light intensity (fifth-order nonlinearity) leads to desirable functional features of the switching mirror. The analysis provides insight into the complex nonlinear effects and serves as a tool for designing a nonlinear intra-cavity mirror for a novel pulsed laser.


Pseudorabies, caused by pseudorabies virus (PRV), is the main highly infectious disease that severely affects the pig industry globally. T-2 toxin (T2), a significant mycotoxin, is widely spread in food and feeds and shows high toxicity to mammals. The potential mechanism of the interaction between viruses and toxins is of great research value because revealing this mechanism may provide new ideas for their joint prevention and control. In this study, we investigated the effect of T2 on PRV replication and the mechanism of action. The results showed that at a low dose (10 nM), T2 had no significant effect on porcine kidney 15 (PK15) cell viability. However, this T2 concentration alleviated PRV-induced cell injury and increased cell survival time. Additionally, the number of PK15 cells infected with PRV significantly reduced by T2 treatment. Similarly, T2 significantly decreased the copy number of PRV. Investigation of the mechanism revealed that 10 nM T2 significantly inhibits PRV replication and leads to downregulation of oxidative stress- and apoptosis-related genes. These results suggest that oxidative stress and apoptosis are involved in the inhibition of PRV replication in PK15 cells by low-concentration T2. Taken together, we demonstrated the protective effects of T2 against PRV infection. A low T2 concentration inhibited the replication of PRV in PK15 cells, and this process was accompanied by downregulation of the oxidative stress and apoptosis signaling pathways. Our findings partly explain the interaction mechanism between T2 and PRV, relating to oxidative stress and apoptosis, though further research is required.


The numerical simulation of the fillet-welded joint which is welded with the four kind of clamped methods by laser-MIG hybrid welding is researched by the SYSWELD software. The results of the numerical simulation are compared with the results of the experienced welding. The results of research show: The joint of the laser-MIG hybrid welding was simulated well by the SYSWELD software. The simulating result is deviated 10% from the result of the actual deformation. The laser-MIG hybrid welding deformation of the aluminum structure is least when the holding position is in the near weld zone and the clamps are unloaded near the room temperature.


P2P has become a popular application among the Internet. The searching of the content and file sharing is perhaps the most popular application. An application uses flooding as their prevailing resource location method for content searching and file sharing. The basic problem with the flooding mechanism is that it creates a large volume of unnecessary traffic in the network mainly because a peer may receive the same queries multiple times through different paths. In this paper, the performance of the searching is improved using super peer based search with improved searching technique (A novel approach). When the performance of the search method improves, then automatically the P2P traffic can be reduced.


Amateur Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) has been used together with Professional Geographic Information (PGI) since its inception during the mid 00's alongside neogeography. While the geographic accuracy and quality of VGI has been demonstrated to be more than good enough, no previous research has been published on the influence VGI has on the user perceptions of the mashup. This paper presents a quantitative investigation into how including VGI in mashups, and telling users their mashup contains VGI influences user perceptions of quality and authority- which ultimately decide if the user wishes to utilise the mashup or not.


Traditional structural health monitoring (SHM) system usually uses expensive professional sensors, data transmission and data acquisition systems. Thus, only very important structures are affordable to install a SHM system. In recent years, smartphones become very popular, which not only integrate high-performance vibration sensors, but also have powerful data acquisition, processing, storage and transmission capabilities, making it possible to utilize smartphones to carry out some SHM tasks. In this paper, the authors developed a software that can easily convert several android based smartphones into a wireless structural vibration monitoring system. The software consists of a server program and a client program. The smart phone installing the server program can remotely control the smartphones installing the client program via local WIFI network to perform the tasks of network timesynchronization and measuring structural responses. First, the architecture of this program is introduced in detail. Then, the time synchronizing algorithm for all client nodes in the software is discussed. Next, the accuracy of time synchronization of the smartphone based wireless sensing system is validated through an experiment. Finally, a shaking table experiment is conducted, the results of which demonstrate that the smartphone based wireless structural vibration monitoring system can quite accurately identify the modal parameters of the tested structure.


In this paper, the downlink opportunistic scheduling approach is studied in a multiuser environment with single-antenna transmitter and users. Exact bit error rate (BER) expressions are derived under the assumptions of full and quantized channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter. These expressions are then used to optimize the channel state feedback parameters. Moreover, asymptotic BERs are investigated in the limiting cases of a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and a large number of users K. It is shown that both under the full and quantized CSI assumptions, the achieved BER is proportional to SNR-K and K-SNR in these two asymptotic cases, respectively. This means that the diversity order is equal to K, whereas the multiuser diversity gain is equal to SNR. In the case when the CSI feedback is quantized, the impact of feedback errors on the achieved BER is studied. It is shown that the opportunistic scheduling can greatly improve the BER performance even if the feedback is quite low-rate and erroneous.


A good number of infections requiring only minor surgery can be treated in the GP's office, simply and adequately. Of importance, however, is the physician's ability to recognize when a patient needs to be referred to a specialist. Provided the principles listed here are adhered to, treatment is usually successful. All other courses indicate a multifactorial pathology and belong in the hands of an experienced specialist.


Cyber world becomes a fundamental and vital component of the physical world with the increase of dependence on internet-connected devices in industry and government organizations. Provision of privacy and security of users during online communication offers unique cybersecurity challenges for industry and government. Intrusion is one of the crucial issues of cybersecurity, which can be overcome by providing the vigorous authentication solutions. Biometrics authentication is used in different cybersecurity systems for user authentication purpose. The cancelable biometric is a solution to rid of privacy problems in traditional biometric systems. This paper purposes a new cancelable face authentication method, which uses Hybrid Gabor PCA (HGPCA) descriptor for cyberworld security. The proposed method uses the wavelet transform for the extraction of the features of the face images by using Gabor filter and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Later, both types of features have been ensemble by using the simple concatenation scheme. Then scrambling has been applied to the fused features by using the random key generated by the user. So finally, scrambled fused features has been stored in the database which are used for the cancelable biometric authentication as well as recovery. HGPCA achieves "cancelability" and increases the authentication accuracy. The proposed method has been tested on three standard face datasets. Experimental results of the proposed method have been compared with existing methods by using standard quantitative measures that show superiority over existing methods.


This paper shows by computer simulations that some crystalline systems have curves in their thermodynamic phase diagrams, so-called isomorphs, along which structure and dynamics in reduced units are invariant to a good approximation. The crystals are studied in a classical-mechanical framework, which is generally a good description except significantly below melting. The existence of isomorphs for crystals is validated by simulations of particles interacting via the Lennard-Jones pair potential arranged into a face-centered cubic (FCC) crystalline structure; the slow vacancyjump dynamics of a defective FCC crystal is also shown to be isomorph invariant. In contrast, a NaCl crystal model does not exhibit isomorph invariances. Other systems simulated, though in less detail, are the Wahnström binary Lennard-Jones crystal with the MgZn2 Laves crystal structure, monatomic FCC crystals of particles interacting via the Buckingham pair potential and via a novel purely repulsive pair potential diverging at a finite separation, an ortho-terphenyl molecular model, and SPC/E hexagonal ice. Except for NaCl and ice, the crystals simulated all have isomorphs. Based on these findings and previous simulations of liquid models, we conjecture that crystalline solids with isomorphs include most or all formed by atoms or molecules interacting via metallic or van der Waals forces, whereas covalentlyor hydrogen-bonded crystals are not expected to have isomorphs. Crystals of ions or dipolar molecules constitute a limiting case for which isomorphs are only expected when the Coulomb interactions are relatively weak. We briefly discuss the consequences of the findings for theories of melting and crystallization.


Anomalous output characteristics are observed in hydrodynamic simulations of partially depleted SOI MOSFETs. The effect that the drain current reaches a maximum and then decreases is peculiar to the hydrodynamic transport model. It is not observed in drift-diffusion simulations and its occurrence in measurements is questionable. An explanation of the cause of this effect is given and a solution is proposed by modifying the hydrodynamic transport model.


In this paper a survey and refinement of its recent results in the discrete optimal control theory are presented. The step control problem depending on a parameter is investigated. No smoothness of the cost function ϕ is assumed and new versions of the discrete maximum principle for the step control problem are derived.


EDUCATION FOR CITIZENSHIP IN A DEMOCRACY. A Textbook for Teachers in the Elementary Schools. By Frederie P. WOOlner, Ph. D~ Southern Branch of the University of California. New York: Charles &cribner's Sons. Dr. Woellner has done mueh more than is claimed by him or for him by his publishers. He not only provides many ways of promoting good citizens, but be magnifies Nothing is said on this page that the Editor or


This research was conducted at Tidore Island, –Tidore City, North Maluku Archipelago Province. Objective of this study were 1) build a water balance model Tidore Island. This Method used in this research is method of survey with water balance analysis. Analysis of the data used is the analysis of dynamic system to determine the balance of the year 2009 - 2032 with software stella version 9.0.2. The result of analysis showed that in 2009 there were water balance 21,189,941.20 m3 / year and in 2032 there was a deficit of 427,678.61 m3 / year. Water availability index (IKA) in 2009 amounted to 1416.10 and in the year 2032 amounted to 82.54 IKA the value, it indicates that in 2032 the availability of groundwater only able to serve 82.54% the water demand. To improve the balance of water needed for water saving and conservation policies at each land use.Saving measures water use and conservation of groundwater done using three policy scenarios, the model simulation results indicate that both scenarios can increase the efficiency of water use and water balance in 2009 to 21,270,444.14 m3 / year with a value of 1490.63 and value IKA in 2032 can be water deficit of 31128.46 m3 / year. While the results of the simulation scenario 3 scenario between saving integrated water use and conservation can improve the water balance in 2009 amounted to 21,350,947.08 m3 / year and the value IKA 1573.44, and in 2032 the value decreased to 117.92 IKA shows the availability of ground water able to serve 117.92% of water demand people.


Spain uses its natural water resources intensively, mostly in agriculture, thanks to a highly developed dam infrastructure. The limits for extraction of natural resources have largely been reached and climate change is expected to continue lowering natural water endowments markedly in future especially in dry areas of the country. The costs of exploiting alternative supply sources on a large scale, notably desalination and recycling, remain well above water prices paid by consumers at present. The government has recognised that water policies therefore need to switch to demand management, so as to ensure that available resources are put to most efficient and priority use. Scope for water savings is substantial, especially in agriculture, where much irrigation water generates little value-added. The government has subsidised the use of more efficient irrigation technology at considerable budgetary cost, which has contributed to a modest reduction of water use in irrigation in recent years. The participatory approach in water policy governance should be extended further to stakeholders beyond the irrigation community, to include more scientists or representatives of institutions protecting local ecosystems Low water prices, combined with the free allocation of water concessions, still hamper an efficient use of water resources. Water prices will need to rise further so as to reflect service provision costs in full as well as the scarcity and environmental costs of water abstractions. Steps to better take into account water scarcity should include the progressive inclusion of market instruments, such as the tendering of water concessions as well as the elimination of some barriers to the exchange of such concessions among users. Benchmark regulation of water utilities would contribute to more efficient water supply and treatment services. Further steps need to be taken to halt excessive groundwater abstractions, including through improved monitoring and the introduction of charges on abstractions from overexploited aquifers.


Structural characteristics of tumor microvascular bed and its reactivity to vasoactive agents were studied by histological and ultrastructural examination and tissue blood flow measurement. The results showed that newly formed vessels in the tumor tissue consisted of a single layer of endothelial cells with multi-layer basement membranes and a few pericytes. Smooth muscle cells and nerve endings were absent. The tissue blood flow in highly proliferative parts of tumors was relatively constant and not influenced by tumor size, even though the distribution of neovasculature in tumor tissue was very uneven in distribution. The only vasoactive agent which can selectively increase the tumor blood flow was angiotensin II, whereas other adrenergic vasoconstrictors did not show this action.


In recent years, the area of Unsupervised Reinforcement Learning (URL) has gained particular relevance as a way to foster generalization of reinforcement learning agents. In this setting, the agent's policy is first pre-trained in an unknown environment via reward-free interactions, often through a pure exploration objective that drives the agent towards a uniform coverage of the state space. It has been shown that this pre-training leads to improved efficiency in downstream supervised tasks later given to the agent to solve. When dealing with the unsupervised pre-training in multiple environments one should also account for po-tential trade-offs in the exploration performance within the set of environments, which leads to the following question: Can we pre-train a policy that is simultaneously optimal in all the environments? In this work, we address this question by propos-ing a novel non-Markovian policy architecture to be pre-trained with the common maximum state entropy objective. This architecture showcases significant empirical advantages when compared to state-of-the-art Markovian agents for URL.


Using our method of verbal behavior analysis we have demonstrated significant differences between the speech pattern of 17 compulsive psychiatric patients and that of a normal control group. Compared to the control subjects the compulsive patients did more explaining and used more negatives, retractors, and evaluators; they also used fewer nonpersonal references and more expressions of feelings, but not to a significant degree. An attempt is made to correlate significant verbal findings with psychodynamic formulations made by psychoanalyst observers and the importance of distinguishing the speech of compulsive neurotic patients from that of compulsive characters is stressed.


Background The number of people from Residential Aged Care (RAC) presenting to Emergency Departments (ED) is increasing. The importance of rapid patient-centred decision making highlights the need for Advance Care Plans (ACPs). Aim To investigate trends in ACP completion for the RAC population presenting to ED, by comparing data from 2009 to 2011; the proportion of patients with ACPs in place; whether ACPs were acknowledged and complied with by hospital staff; and whether current strategies have improved ACP implementation and compliance. Methods A retrospective cohort study of 79 patients from RAC who died during hospital admission in 2011 was compared to a similar group of 90 patients in 2009. Results The median age was 87 for both groups. Time from admission to death was shorter in 2011 (median 3.9 days, IQR=1.3–6.4) compared to 2009 (median 4.3 days, IQR=1.7–8.2). The proportion of patients with ACPs in place had doubled from 13% in 2009 to 29% in 2011 (χ2=5.448, df=1, p=0.02). Improvements were seen in the number of patients for whom ACPs were acknowledged or adhered to. The proportion of patients transferred from RAC who died during that admission was lower in 2011 (6.2%) compared to 2009 (7.3%). Discussion More aggressive discharge planning of dying RAC patients by the palliative care team has resulted in fewer than previous deaths of RAC patients in acute beds and shorter length of stay. Conclusion Overall improvement in ACP implementation and compliance has resulted in improved patient outcomes.


This master thesis is done within the Energy Systems Engineering program at Uppsala University and performed for Forsmarks Kraftgrupp, Vattenfall. The nuclear power plant at Forsmark consists of three BWR units and is an important component in the Swedish power system. The nuclear power units are individually connected to the 400 kV transmission grid to export their production, but also to supply the units with auxiliary power when needed. As a backup the units are also connected to the 70 kV grid and each have several sub grids supported by backup diesel engines and batteries.This is to guarantee that the nuclear power units always have electrical power to support their vital auxiliary systems.To evaluate the function of the separate local power grids of Forsmark's nuclear units and their interaction with the offsite grid, the simulation software Simpow have been used. With Simpow, the function of controllers, pumps and motors, vital for the plants safety, can be analyzed for different operation conditions and plant changes. Today the Electrical Power Analysis and Plant Engineering Group are in the process of changing from Simpow to new simulation software, PowerFactory. During this process the question of how to best implement the plant controller have been raised. The plant controller controls the thermal power, pressure and water level of the reactor, all contributing to the dynamics of the units power supply during operation. An implementation of the plant controller exist in Simpow for the plant's older units Forsmark 1 and 2, but for the newest unit Forsmark 3 there is only a standard model of a steam turbine with governor implemented.In this thesis the effect of the plant controller systems are investigated to serve as a basis for implementation of the plants dynamics in the modelling of Forsmark 3 in PowerFactory.


The main objectives of this thesis were to establish the prevalence of psychotropic drug use as well as possible determinants associated with its use in multiple clinical settings: psychiatric admission wards, an intensive care unit and two settings for the intellectually disabled.

In this thesis, we evaluated the question which class of antipsychotics is prescribed preferentially in newly admitted patients on psychiatric admission wards and the determinants affecting this decision. We found that the most frequently prescribed oral antipsychotic drugs were classical agents. Initial choice for short-acting parenteral classical antipsychotics was significantly associated with follow-up prescriptions of oral classical antipsychotics. We predict that upcoming introductions of short-acting parenteral formulations of atypical agents are likely to have a large impact on the subsequent oral antipsychotic treatment. In another study on psychiatric admission wards, we looked at the temporal relationship between the use of antipsychotics and seclusion. Antipsychotic treatment in patients with psychotic disorders was significantly associated with a delay of seclusion and, although not statistically significant, with a lower risk of seclusion. Furthermore, in a substantial proportion of the patients, antipsychotic therapy was only initiated during or directly following seclusion with a relative risk of 2.0 (95% confidence interval: 1.2-3.4). Our findings suggest that, in patients with psychotic disorders, not using antipsychotics is associated with aggression or violence for which seclusion is needed. Pharmacological treatment seems inevitable for a substantial proportion of secluded psychotic patients.

Furthermore, we studied determinants of psychotropic drug use in a general intensive care unit (ICU). The prevalence of psychotropic drug use was 42.3%. Benzodiazepines were used in 35.8% of the patients, frequently at a high dosage. Antipsychotics were prescribed in 17.5% of all patients, typically in low dosages. The association of severe disease, a long ICU stay and an admission for non-surgical reasons with psychotropic drug use may be an indication that severely ill patients are likely to suffer from a delirium. In this study, patients who used psychotropic drugs (cases) acted as their own controls because days of drug exposure were compared to those of non-exposure and no corrections were made with the fact that observations were correlated. We compared this design with a logistical binomial model to adjust for correlated measures, or cluster effects through repeated measures and found that, although adjustment did not result in major changes in the odds ratios found, adjustment has greater effect with more observations per cluster.

In a study in group homes for intellectually disabled residents, the point prevalence of psychotropic drug use in a problem behaviour group (PBG) was compared to a random group (RG) of residents and possible determinants of group membership were studied. Psychotropics were used by 52.6% of the problem behaviour group and by 22.8% of the random group. Young age, psychotic, anxiety and aggression symptoms were significantly associated with the PBG. Remarkably, a low prevalence of antidepressants, mood stabilisers, antipsychotics and anxiolytics in patients with the corresponding symptoms was found. This suggests that a considerable number of residents remain undertreated. In addition, we examined the prevalence and possible determinants of multiple psychotropic drug use in intellectually disabled patients with mild intellectual disabilities admitted to a specialised closed psychiatric ward for prolonged treatment and rehabilitation. Multiple drug use was found in half of the patients. Psychotropics were used in high dosages and there was a tendency to prescribe multiple drugs for patients with duration of stay longer than a year. Furthermore, psychotic disorder, aggressive, bizarre, attention seeking behaviour and involuntary measures were associated with multiple psychotropic drug use. It is likely that these findings, especially the association with aggressive and attention seeking behaviour, indicate difficulties in the management of patients with socially disruptive behaviour.


Background: The current study sought to develop a valid, reliable and unobtrusive tablet computer-based observational measure to assess engagement of people with advanced dementia. The Video Analysis Scale of Engagement (VASE) was designed to enable the rating of moment-by-moment changes in engagement during an activity, which would be useful for both future research and current residential care. Methods: An initial version of the VASE was tested. Face validity and content validity were assessed to validate an operational definition of engagement and develop an acceptable protocol for the scale. Thirty-seven non-professional and professional volunteers were recruited to view and rate level of engagement in music activities using the VASE. Results: An inter-class coefficient (ICC) test gave a high level of rating agreement across professionals and non-professionals.  However, the ICC results of within-professionals were mixed. Linear mixed modelling suggested that the types of interventions (active or passive music listening), the particular intervention session being rated, time period of video and the age of raters could affect the ratings. Conclusions: Results suggested that raters used the VASE in a dynamic fashion and that the measure was able to distinguish between interventions. Further investigation and adjustments are warranted for this to be considered a valid and reliable scale in the measurement of engagement of people with advanced dementia in a residential care setting.


Abstract The paper assesses the treatment of cutaneous fungal infection in young beef cattle caused by Trichophyton verrucosum using orally administered zinc sulphate for 28 d at 2 g per animal per day and subcutaneous application of 2.5 mg/kg levamisole administered three times every 7 d. The study was conducted on animals at the age of 110 to 122 d, which were divided into two experimental groups: group I (animals suffering from ringworm with low levels of zinc in serum) and group II (animals suffering from ringworm with normal levels of zinc in serum). The remaining animals (control group) were divided into three subgroups: K (clinically healthy animals, which had normal serum levels of zinc), KI (animals infected with ringworm and showing a reduced level of zinc), and KII (animals suffering from ringworm with normal serum zinc levels). During the study the following parameters were investigated: clinical signs of fungal infection, zinc content in serum, percentage of phagocytic cells, and phagocytic index. The symptoms of the disease were observed only in group II on day 56. In group I, an increase in the percentage of phagocytic cells was observed, as compared to the original values, on days 7, 21, and 56 and a fall in this parameter was noted on days 14 and 28. In group II, there was a decrease on day 14 and an increase in comparison to the original values, followed by a gradual fall till day 56 of the experiment. In group I, phagocytic index remained on a stable level till day 56 and in group II until day 28, and subsequently began to increase gradually. It was found that oral supplementation of zinc sulphate combined with nonspecific immunostimulation may be applied in fighting skin fungal infection in cattle, and that zinc and levamisole may exhibit synergism affecting the evolution of nonspecific immunity.


Abstract An unusual occurrence of asbestiform sepiolite, filling veins in the antigorite serpentinites of the Voltri Unit exposed in a borrow pit (now reclaimed) in the Deiva forest, near Sassello, NW Italy, was investigated with an in-depth analytical approach aimed at studying its crystal-chemistry and structure and evaluating its possible hazards for human health. Optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (energy-dispersive spectroscopy mode) proved that these sepiolite fibres, apparently up to several cm long, are made up of bundles of thinner fibrils (or laths: average length > 100 µm; thickness ≈ 80 nm), with a composition consistent to that reported in the literature. The dehydration process was monitored through thermo-gravimetric analyses and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, performed at increasing T; the latter, in particular, showed the presence of moderate amounts of aliphatic hydrocarbons – not yet identified thoroughly – associated with the sample. The crystal structure refinement with the Rietveld method showed no relevant difference from the literature models, although a peculiar distribution of zeolitic H2O molecules was observed. The geological context suggests that the Sassello sepiolite precipitated from hydrothermal fluids, which were saturated in Mg and silica by the interaction of the host serpentinites. The same setting favoured formation of abiotic hydrocarbons, by means of the Fischer–Tropsch reaction. The extremely long and flexible fibrils (length/width aspect ratio >> 3) of this sepiolite specimen could represent a serious hazard for human health if air dispersed and inhaled; also, its atypical association with hydrocarbons (only reported once previously) might even favour further fragmentation in thinner units.


This report presents the results of a qualitative evaluation of the pilot of the Job Outcome Target (JOT) in seven Jobcentre Plus Districts, covering the first six months of the pilot's operation from January to July 2005. The research comprised interviews and focus groups with Jobcentre Plus managers and staff, employers, providers and customers in the JOT pilot districts in three stages, beginning one month before the start of the pilots. The evaluators' conclusion is that the qualitative evidence supports the view that JOT is a feasible alternative approach to the Job Entry Target (JET) as a system for performance measurement and management for Jobcentre Plus. Many of the desired behavioural changes among Jobcentre Plus staff were observed, including greater team working, an enhanced focus on the quality rather than quantity of interventions with customers and encouragement of appropriate customers to use self-help channels. In addition, JOT led almost immediately to the reduction or discontinuation of activities that were felt to be wasteful of resources under JET, notably the extensive use of the Adviser Discretion Fund and speculative submissions to ensure that job entries are validated. No evidence was found of negative impacts of JOT on customers, providers or employers, a finding corroborated by quantitative analysis. The report suggests that, should JOT be rolled out nationally, a programme of communication, training and support, building on the lessons of the pilot, would be necessary in order to ensure that behavioural changes associated with JOT develop into more deep-seated cultural change within Jobcentre Plus.


BACKGROUND--Previous studies have shown that ophthalmologists using blue-green argon laser may suffer subtle defects in their colour vision. A reduction in colour contrast sensitivity in the tritan colour confusion axis, an early manifestation of blue cone photoreceptor injury by the high energy photons of the laser, has been demonstrated and has prompted a reappraisal of laser safety in ophthalmology. Argon laser is also frequently used in scientific research, often at higher power output and for longer periods than is used in clinical practice. The scientists operating these lasers are at risk of developing similar phototoxic retinal injury. METHODS--The colour contrast sensitivity of 18 scientists who regularly use short wavelength argon laser was investigated. RESULTS--Eye protection was infrequently used and individuals had been subjected to between 580 and 7200 hours of cumulative laser exposure during the course of their research. CONCLUSION--The use of blue-green argon laser by the scientists investigated was not associated with a significant reduction in colour contrast sensitivity.


ABSTRACT A short-time and low-cost synthesis route was used to produce large lateral size (from 2 to 15 μm) from monolayers to few layers of graphene by a two-step process of electrochemical exfoliation with a deep eutectic solvent in a mixture with water that can be reused, and ultrasonic bath. The graphene was characterized by SEM, TEM, AFM, Raman and electrochemical activity. During the electrochemical exfoliation, high expanded graphene particles were obtained and these were dispersed in a mixture of water with 5%wt ethylene glycol by an ultrasonic bath in order to complete the exfoliation process. An enhancement of the electrical conductivity of these dispersions was obtained with the increase of graphene concentration, 0.38 mg/mL, which best result was achieved with 30 wt% water and a DC voltage of 10 V. It was possible to add a conductive layer to a glass substrate with the graphene obtained and Tyndall effect was observed.


Early modern political thought transformed toleration from a prudential consideration into a moral obligation. Three questions need to be answered by any explanation of this transition: Did religious toleration really become an obligation of the state in this period? If this was the case, how could tolerating heresy and idolatry possibly become a moral duty to Christians? How could Europeans both condemn practices as idolatrous and immoral, and yet insist that these practices ought to be tolerated? To answer these questions, the article shows how the early policy of toleration in British India was constituted by a Protestant theological framework. Toleration turned into a moral obligation, it is argued, because the Reformation had identified liberty in the religious realm as God's will for humanity. This gave rise to a dynamic in which Christian states and churches were continuously challenged for their violations of religious liberty. The principle of toleration developed as a part of this dynamic.


An editorial note in a recent issue of theArchivessaid, "This commentary points out what sometimes seems to be the golden rule of managed care: manage a lot and care not. I hope someone out there is evaluating the effects of managed care so we can know if the problems described are generalized." The Commentary 1 to which this was appended described the problems that young people with eating disorders had in getting and keeping health insurance, that would adequately cover the costs of their treatment. Insurance eligibility, scope of benefits, and reimbursement were the focus of the author. None of these are problems unique to managed care. One of the patients cited was in a managed care program. Perhaps this instigated the editor's pejorative note, which, unlike the Commentary, focused on managed care rather than health insurance in general. Is there an insurance package in the United States


This article uses comparative law to challenge the justification of the assumption of a contrary "rule" by the judge in Voest's case which, however, he was unable to "find". There is, as pointed out in the article, no statute law in the Republic which requires judgments to order payment in South African currency only. While in terms of section 2(1) of the Currency and Exchange Act 9 of 1933 loans in former money may at the option of the debtor be repaid in money which is legal tender at the time of payment, section 14 of the South African Mint and Coinage Act 78 of 1964 provides, as regards contracts, etc made in the Republic relating to money, for the execution in money which is current and legal tender, but expressly reserves the right to stipulate for money in a foreign currency. The Reciprocal Enforcement of Civil Judgments Act 9 of 1966, which, however, is not yet in force, provides in section 3(2) that where any amount payable under a judgment to be registered is expressed in a currency other than the currency of the Republic.


There is currently no generally-accepted theory explaining how neural systems realise complex function. Indeed, it is believed by some that neural systems are fundamentally opaque. A framework of hierarchy is proposed as the basis of neural theory. By the application of hierarchy to neural systems it is possible to explain how complex function is computed. At the primitive (hardware) level it is only possible to understand the computation of primitive functions. To understand the computation of higher level function it is necessary to abstract primitive function, via an arbitrary number of intermediate levels of complexity, to the appropriate level of abstraction. Application of the framework is facilitated by a software tool which implements a specification as a neural system, to which training can then be applied. This specification is hierarchical, and is described in a fully distributed, object-oriented style. Networks constructed by this method are not restricted to any of the traditional neural models. The class of topologies which may be implemented is unrestricted. The framework is applied to the recognition of number plates. This practical demonstration shows that (a) hierarchy enables neural computation of complex function to be understood; (b) the application of hierarchy allows the integration of specification and learning as methods of implementation; and (c) the framework facilitates the scaling-up of neural systems.


Studying student learning patterns, and their outcomes on learning goals is a topic which has been often studied in education related literature. There are two kinds of study patterns which humans employ: blocked and interleaved. In a blocked learning pattern, learners study materials related to the same topic at once, and move on to another topic only when the first one is complete. On the other hand, in interleaved study patterns, this order is scrambled. There have been several studies that analyze the differences in blocked and interleaved study patterns, and comparing learning outcomes in both. However, most of this work has been associated with the study of declarative learning tasks, which are memory-based. Therefore, we can argue that such studies look at memory as opposed to learning. In our work, we focus on procedural learning. These are the tasks which you cannot learn by memorization, but have to gradually acquire the skills. We choose computer programming as our declarative task, and study the differences in skills gained between participants in blocked and interleaved patterns. We find that interleaved study pattern works best for the programming task. Furthermore, we also aim to identify the optimal sequence of study modules using statistical modeling techniques. We use the data collected in our study and model it using a Bayesian Network. Our results indicate that it is possible to infer an optimal sequence from performance metrics on several random sequences.


Monolayer graphene under a strong perpendicular field exhibit quantum Hall ferromagnetism with spontaneously broken spin and valley symmetry. The approximate SU(4) spin/valley symmetry is broken by small lattice scale effects in the central Landau level corresponding to filling factors $\nu=0,\pm 1$. Notably the ground state at $\nu=0$ is believed to be a canted antiferromagnetic (AF) or a ferromagnetic (F) state depending on the component of the magnetic field parallel to the layer and the strength of small anisotropies. We study the skyrmions for the filling factors $\nu=\pm 1,0$ by using exact diagonalizations on the spherical geometry. If we neglect anisotropies we confirm the validity of the standard skyrmion picture generalized to four degrees of freedom. For filling factor $\nu=- 1$ the hole skyrmion is an infinite-size valley skyrmion with full spin polarization because it does not feel the anisotropies. The electron skyrmion is also always of infinite size. In the F phase it is always fully polarized while in the AF phase it undergoes continuous magnetization under increasing Zeeman energy. In the case of $\nu=0$ the skyrmion is always maximally localized in space both in F and AF phase. In the F phase it is fully polarized while in the AF it has also progressive magnetization with Zeeman energy. The magnetization process is unrelated to the spatial profile of the skyrmions contrary to the SU(2) case. In all cases the skyrmion physics is dominated by the competition between anisotropies and Zeeman effect but not directly by the Coulomb interactions, breaking universal scaling with the ratio Zeeman to Coulomb energy.


Modeling fire spread is critical in fire risk management. Creating data-driven models to forecast spread remains challenging due to the lack of comprehensive data sources that relate fires with relevant covariates. We present the first comprehensive and open-source dataset that relates historical fire data with relevant covariates such as weather, vegetation, and topography. Our dataset, named WildfireDB, contains over 17 million data points that capture how fires spread in continental USA in the last decade. In this paper, we describe the algorithmic approach used to create and integrate the data, describe the dataset, and present benchmark results regarding data-driven models that can be learned to forecast the spread of wildfires.


This review summarizes research concerned with the ingress of hot mainstream gas through the rim seals of gas turbines. It includes experimental, theoretical, and computational studies conducted by many institutions, and the ingress is classified as externally induced (EI), rotationally induced (RI), and combined ingress (CI). Although EI ingress (which is caused by the circumferential distribution of pressure created by the vanes and blades in the turbine annulus) occurs in all turbines, RI and CI ingress can be important at off-design conditions and for the inner seal of a double-seal geometry. For all three types of ingress, the equations from a simple orifice model are shown to be useful for relating the sealing effectiveness (and therefore the amount of hot gas ingested into the wheel-space of a turbine) to the sealing flow rate. In this paper, experimental data obtained from different research groups have been transformed into a consistent format and reviewed using the orifice model equations. Most of the published results for sealing effectiveness have been made using concentration measurements of a tracer gas (usually CO2) on the surface of the stator, and—for a large number of tests with single and double seals—the measured distributions of effectiveness with sealing flow rate are shown to be consistent with those predicted by the model. Although the flow through the rim seal can be treated as inviscid, the flow inside the wheel-space is controlled by the boundary layers on the rotor and stator. Using boundary-layer theory and the similarity between the transfer of mass and energy, a theoretical model has been developed to relate the adiabatic effectiveness on the rotor to the sealing effectiveness of the rim seal. Concentration measurements on the stator and infrared (IR) measurements on the rotor have confirmed that, even when ingress occurs, the sealing flow will help to protect the rotor from the effect of hot-gas ingestion. Despite the improved understanding of the "ingress problem," there are still many unanswered questions to be addressed.


AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
To describe what nurses believe about almost continuous skin-to-skin contact for preterm infants between 32(0) -36(0)  weeks gestation.

BACKGROUND
Skin-to-skin contact a few hours per day has become standard care for preterm infants in most high-technology neonatal intensive care units. However, few units practice Kangaroo Mother Care which involves almost continuous skin-to-skin contact.

DESIGN
A qualitative descriptive design.

METHODS
An online questionnaire with open-ended questions was administered to 129 nurses at three neonatal units. Data were analysed with qualitative content analysis.

FINDINGS
Nurses believed they would lose control because of limited access to the infant and would not be able to provide adequate care. Nurses also believed that mothers practicing almost continuous skin-to-skin contact would feel trapped and would experience stress if they could not meet the demands of the method.

CONCLUSIONS
Although the nurses can describe several of the documented benefits of almost continuous skin-to-skin contact, an underuse continues to exist.

RELEVANCE FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE
Beliefs described by the nurses are important to consider and resolve if the goal is to implement and provide Kangaroo Mother Care.


Focusing on the phase-coexistence region in Langmuir films of poly L-lactide, we investigated changes in non-equilibrated morphologies and the corresponding features of the isotherms induced by different experimental pathways of lateral compression and expansion. In this coexistence region, the surface pressure Π was larger than the expected equilibrium value and was found to increase upon compression, i.e., exhibited a non-horizontal plateau. As shown earlier by using microscopic techniques (Langmuir 2019, 35, 6129-6136), in this plateau region, well-ordered mesoscopic clusters coexisted with a surrounding matrix phase. We succeeded in reducing Π either by slowing down the rate of compression or through increasing the waiting time after stopping the movement of the barriers, which allowed for relaxations in the coexistence region. Intriguingly, the most significant pressure reduction was observed when recompressing a film that had already been compressed and expanded, if the re-compression was started from an area value smaller than the one anticipated for the onset of the coexistence region. This observation suggests a "self-seeding" behavior, i.e., pre-existing nuclei allowed to circumvent the nucleation step. The decrease in Π was accompanied by a transformation of the initially formed metastable mesoscopic clusters into a thermodynamically favored filamentary morphology. Our results demonstrate that it is practically impossible to obtain fully equilibrated coexisting phases in a Langmuir polymer film, neither under conditions of extremely slow continuous compression nor for long waiting times at a constant area in the coexistence region which allow for re-organization.


Clinical examination of memory functions often includes the administration of simple free recall tasks, such as the recall of several words following a few minutes. Little is known, however, about the normative parameters or psychometric properties of such procedures, and such techniques have rarely been compared with more comprehensive, well-standardized memory indices. To address these issues, two three-word recall tasks were administered to a large group of carefully selected healthy subjects over the age of 50 years. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) was obtained as an index of global cognitive status, and the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) was used to exclude subjects with abnormal memory abilities. Significant but modest relationships were found between two three-word recall tasks and CVLT results. Substantial variability was seen on three-word recall, with a significant proportion of normal subjects recalling zero or one word. Results suggest using caution in interpreting simple recall performance as an index of memory, as great variability in results is seen among healthy (particularly older) individuals.


This thesis presents work conducted for a structured doctorate consisting of four main components. The first element is a case study investigating the current practice of mentorship in a clinical setting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The qualitative case study was conducted in a government nursing college and its associated government hospital. Data were collected through individual interviews (2) with nursing coordinators; semi-structured focus groups (8) with mentees (n=3), mentors and clinical educators (n=3), lecturers (n=1) and head nurses (n=1); and finally, documentary analysis. The findings show that neither mentors nor mentees were happy with the current arrangements. Mentees believed that mentorship did not benefit them, and mentors seemed to resent the request to devote time to mentees. Both parties need to approach the other with more empathy, appreciating their difficulties and respecting their individual choices and wishes. Mentors also pointed to a lack of coordination between university and hospital, and both mentors and mentees felt that the mentorship process lacked clarity. Devising and putting into practice a new policy could lead to important positive changes in mentors' and mentees' experiences and relationships.

The second element of the structured doctorate, undertaken after the case study, is the best evidence literature review. The aim of the review was to examine published studies on mentorship in nursing from the perspectives of both mentors and mentees in order to obtain a holistic view of mentorship experiences. A critical evaluation of these published studies is presented, reviewing the definitions of mentorship in the literature and highlighting the sparse literature on nursing mentorship in Saudi Arabia. Next is a critical overview of the nursing mentorship experiences in Islamic countries. Mentors' and mentees' views on mentorship are discussed. The final section summarizes the findings and attempts to use them to answer the literature review questions whilst highlighting the gaps in the literature.

The third element is the main study, which emerged from the literature and builds on the case study. It aimed to investigate the factors contributing to positive mentorship experiences in nursing in Jeddah by exploring mentors' and mentees' positive experiences. The qualitative study was conducted from the theoretical perspective of appreciative inquiry (AI). Data were collected in semi-structured focus groups (total of six) with mentees (n=3) and mentors (n=3) at three settings. The key contributing factors to positive mentorship experiences and the main themes from data analysis are communication; involvement; encouragement; reciprocity; students' sense of fear; mentors' role, including its characteristics, preparation for it and feedback; and organisational-level processes and resources, such as time availability, workload, allocation and college-university collaboration. It is recommended that a consensus definition of mentorship be issued to avoid conflict in roles and expectations, that systems be developed to give mentors time to spend with mentees and that mentors attend a mentorship training programme to gain understanding of the process and be prepared for their role.

The fourth element is the dissemination artefact and plan, which communicate the findings to develop education, policy, practice and research. A briefing for stakeholders contains an overview of the study and key findings. An outline of a mentorship training programme and a draft handbook for local use in Saudi Arabia are proposed. The dissemination plan explains how the researcher plans to disseminate the artefact.


Photocleavable protecting groups (PPGs) offer a complementary protection paradigm compared to traditional protection groups. Herein, an o-nitrobenzyl (NB) PPG was employed to protect a variety of arylpropiolic acids. Upon a cascade of light-triggered photodeprotection in a microchannel reactor (residence times of 100-500 s), followed by Cu-catalyzed decarboxylation at 60 °C, the NB-protected arylpropiolic acid afforded a terminal alkyne. This terminal alkyne was further reacted in situ with an azide via click chemistry to yield a 1,2,3-triazole in a one-pot reaction. Furthermore, the effect of different substituents (methyl, vinyl, allyl, and phenyl) at the benzylic position on the rate of photodeprotection was studied. The quantum yields of photolysis for the benzylic-substituted esters were determined to be as high as 0.45 compared to the unsubstituted ester with a 0.08 quantum yield of photolysis.


The study aims to establish strategies on how to manage coastal fisheries conflicts and livelihood in Pulicat estuary. This estuary, lying in the east of the Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh States in India, is the second largest brackish water body in India, the first being the Chilika estuary in the State of Odisha. The total area of the estuary is 759 km2 with many island as part of it. But only 360 km in the southern part is active and the northern part is dormant. The rivers Araniri, Kalangi and Swarnamukhi are the major ones that feed the lagoon. The estuary faces anthropogenic, developmental, industrial and environmental issues threatening not only the livelihood activities of fisherfolk but also the very survival of the estuary. Studies show that the estuary (lake) is shrinking and the depth has decreased from 6 m to 1 m, putting the livelihood of the people at stake. Separate questionnaires were administered to 100 lake fisherfolk and 100 to sea fisherfolk. All were active fisherfolk, aged 18 to 65. And 20 in-depth interviews were also conducted among different stakeholders including members of civil society. There is a huge divide difference between the sea fisherfolk and the lake fisherfolk. There is a social stigma attached to the lake fisherfolk on the basis of caste and economical standards.

 Key words: Biodiversity, conflict, conservation, pollution, ecosystem, livelihood, Pulicat Lake.


In the United States, diabetic retinopathy (DR) and diabetic macular edema (DME) are a leading cause of blindness among working-age adults. The introduction of vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF) inhibitors has improved the management of DME and allowed regression of DR severity. However, DR/DME is a multifactorial disease, and targeting additional pathways holds promise for better outcomes. Angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) is upregulated in the eyes of patients with diabetes and promotes vascular destabilization and inflammation. Faricimab, a novel bispecific antibody targeting both Ang-2 and VEGF, was evaluated in the BOULEVARD (NCT02699450) phase 2 trial for DME. Patients (N = 168 treatment-naive [TN]; N = 61 previously anti-VEGF treated) were randomized 1:1:1 to intravitreal ranibizumab 0.3 mg, faricimab 1.5 mg (TN only), or faricimab 6.0 mg, every 4 weeks for 20 weeks followed by 16 weeks of observation. BOULEVARD met its primary outcome: faricimab 6.0 mg achieved greater mean gains (letters) from baseline in best-corrected visual acuity than ranibizumab at week 24 in TN patients (faricimab 6.0 mg, +13.9; faricimab 1.5 mg, +11.7; ranibizumab, +10.3; faricimab 6.0 mg vs. ranibizumab, +3.6; P = 0.03; 80% CI, 1.5, 5.6). The Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study DR Severity Scale (DRSS) was used to score vascular abnormalities and disease severity on color fundus images. A change of ≥ 2 steps is considered clinically significant. The proportion of TN patients with ≥ 2-step improvement from baseline at week 24 on the DRSS was 38.6%, 27.7%, and 12.2%, respectively. There were no new or unexpected safety outcomes with faricimab. In conclusion, faricimab achieved better vision outcomes versus anti-VEGF monotherapy in TN patients, suggesting Ang-2 is a viable target for DR/DME. Phase 3 trials YOSEMITE (NCT03622580) and RHINE (NCT03622593) for faricimab in DME are ongoing. Disclosure V. Sheth: Consultant; Self; Genentech, Inc. J. Sahni: Employee; Self; Roche Pharma. Stock/Shareholder; Self; Roche Pharma. I. Stoilov: Employee; Self; Genentech, Inc. J.R. Willis: Employee; Self; Genentech, Inc. R. Weikert: Employee; Self; Roche Pharma. Funding F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Ltd.; Genentech, Inc.


Laws are known to be replete with loopholes. The reason is generally thought to lie in the divergence between the text and the purpose of a law. Practical constraints supposedly make laws unavoidably over‐ or underinclusive. Lawyers who exploit loopholes are thought to be taking advantage of that over‐ and underinclusiveness. This essay offers a different perspective. Most loopholes have nothing to do with the over‐ or underinclusiveness of rules. This is best seen by exploring a particular subset of rules that reveal most clearly what is going on: the rules of voting. Arrow's famous theorem teaches us that all halfway decent voting rules are vulnerable to agenda manipulation. Fundamentally, it will turn out, all legal rules are analogous to voting rules and all loophole exploitation analogous to agenda manipulation. The loophole‐exploiting lawyer no more deserves to be criticized, sanctioned, or otherwise frustrated in his efforts than does the shrewd parliamentarian.


We consider the inference problem for parameters in stochastic differential equation (SDE) models from discrete time observations (e.g. experimental or simulation data). Specifically, we study the case where one does not have access to observations of the model itself, but only to a perturbed version that converges weakly to the solution of the model. Motivated by this perturbation argument, we study the convergence of estimation procedures from a numerical analysis point of view. More precisely, we introduce appropriate consistency, stability, and convergence concepts and study their connection. It turns out that standard statistical techniques, such as the maximum likelihood estimator, are not convergent methodologies in this setting, since they fail to be stable. Due to this shortcoming, we introduce and analyse a novel inference procedure for parameters in SDE models which turns out to be convergent. As such, the method is particularly suited for the estimation of parameters in effective (i.e. coarse-grained) models from observations of the corresponding multiscale process. We illustrate these theoretical findings via several numerical examples.


The goal of this paper is to provide a unifying view of a wide range of problems of interest in machine learning by framing them as the minimization of functionals defined on the space of probability measures. In particular, we show that generative adversarial networks, variational inference, and actor-critic methods in reinforcement learning can all be seen through the lens of our framework. We then discuss a generic optimization algorithm for our formulation, called probability functional descent (PFD), and show how this algorithm recovers existing methods developed independently in the settings mentioned earlier.


The principle aims of this thesis were to investigate the influence of intrinsic navigational cues in virtual environments and video games. Modern video games offer complex environments that may reflect real world spaces or represent landscapes from fantasy and fiction. The coherent design of these spaces can promote natural navigational flow without the requirement for extraneous guidance such as maps and arrows. The methods that designers use to create natural flow are complex and stratified utilising principles rooted in urban architectural design and navigational cues that are intrinsic to real-world wayfinding scenarios. The studies presented in this thesis analysed not only these commonly used architectural cues but also the potential for the reinforcing of these cues by the addition of lighting, visual and auditory cues. The primary focus of this thesis was a systematic and quantitatively rooted analysis of the impact lighting has on navigation and the levels at which variance in lighting makes a quantifiable difference to navigational choices within a virtual environment. The findings of this thesis offer clear guidance as to the influence that lighting has within virtual environments and specifies that thresholds at which the inclusion of guidance lighting begins to affect navigational choices and the levels that players become conscious of these cues. The thesis also analyses the temporal thresholds for the detection of changes in contrast, hue and texture within an environment. The relationship of other intrinsic cues such as the potential reinforcement or cue competition effects of both audio and other visual cues, for instance motion are quantitatively analysed. These data were reflected in the form of a series of heuristic design principles that augment those that underpin architectural and environmental design considerations by for instance suggesting levels of saliency for lighting cues or reinforcing existing cues via supporting audio guidance.


Background: Inappropriate dispatch of urgent ambulances by call-centre personnel causes an unnecessary drain on existing resources. How often these urgent dispatches are appropriate has not been evaluated in the lower-middle-income setting, nor have factors been assessed that contribute to these decisions. This study aimed to establish the rates of pre-hospital over-triage in Cape Town, South Africa, and to assess the call-centre decision-making processes.  Methods: This was a descriptive, retrospective study examining all urgent ambulance dispatches made from a large public sector ambulance call centre in Cape Town over a single month. This urgent dispatch was then compared to the on-scene South African Triage Scale (SATS) score assigned by the pre-hospital personnel to assess which cases were 'over-triaged' by the call taker. Factors potentially contributing to the call taker's decision were also analysed and included the time of day, nature of presenting complaint, and the call taker's training and experience – all of which may have affected the rates of over-triage. Results: In the course of one month in 2017, 4,169 urgent calls were assessed; of these, 2,701 were over-triaged (58.48%). The over-triage rate was similar during the day (58.02%) and night (59.11%). The most regularly over-triaged complaint was obstetric and gynaecological (84.87%), followed by motor vehicle accidents (65.70%); the lowest rate was for cardiac call-outs (47.12%). We reviewed the 38 highest workload call takers, and found no statistically significant factors that contributed to higher levels of over-triage when reviewing higher levels of training (Ambulance Emergency Assistant 62.16%, no medical training 59.42%; p=0.669), more years as a call taker ( 5 years 60.23%; p=0.932), and more years working in the field (0 years 59.36%, > 5 years 63.66%; p=0.305). Conclusion: The rates of pre-hospital over-triage in Cape Town are marginally lower than those described internationally. The nature of the complaint had a strong impact on these rates, notably in terms of trauma and gynaecological disorders. The call taker's training and years of experience did not have a statistically significant impact on decision-making.


As the Semiconductor Industry starts to ramp its 110 nm production capacity, the need for optimal uniformity across the wafer surface becomes a very important topic in lithography. Due to the tightening of depth of focus requirements, the process window required to be able to print the required structure leaves little or no room for any localized deviation in the wafer uniformity. For 300 mm semiconductor device manufacturing, this resulted in the use of double-side polished, so-called "super flat", wafers. This paper discusses methods to identify yield relevant defects on the wafer backside without having to sacrifice wafers. It is based on recent studies carried out at both Infineon Semiconductor 200 and 300 mm Fabs in Dresden to characterize the need and the effectiveness of wafer backside defect inspection using the BSIM (Back Side Inspection Module) on the Surfscan/sup /spl reg// SP1/sup TB1/. Firstly, we focus on some general topics of setting up a backside inspection for photolithography. We show how to determine the required sensitivity in order to capture the defects of interest and to provide quantitative information on the number of wafers affected. We then discuss two studies in detail: The 1st study was an investigation into the quality of the backside of 300 mm wafers pre and post lithography throughout the manufacturing process. The 2nd study describes how focus spots on the front side of 200 mm wafer were correlated to damage on the backside and how the root cause was identified. Finally, we draw an outline to requirements that we believe will be an essential part of automatic backside inspection in the forthcoming future.


We consider planning domains with both discrete and continuous changes. Continuous change occurs especially when agents share time-dependent critical resources. In these cases, besides discrete and continuous changes, their interactions should also be taken into consideration. However concurrency of durative actions with interacting continuous effects cannot be exploited by existing temporal planners. To overcome this problem, we propose an action lifting approach and we analyze path sharing problem to illustrate interaction of continuous linear effects in the planning domain.


By means of Raman and photoluminescence measurements we have studied the effect of strain and confinement on the optical phonon spectrum of single InAs quantum wells. The frequency region of longitudinal optical phonons confined in both the InAs well and InP barrier layer has been studied. Simple modelling of the effects of the strain and the confinement on the InAs phonon is able to explain the dependence of the phonon frequencies on the layer thickness. Experimental evidence of vibrations localized at the InAs/InP interface is also reported and discussed. Finally, confinement of InP phonons in the layer between the InAs slab and the sample surface is observed and related to the structural features of the InAs well as deduced from photoluminescence measurements.


Spinal cord stimulation and virtual reality therapy are established and promising techniques, respectively, for managing chronic pain, each with its unique advantages and challenges. While each therapy has been the subject of significant research interest, the prospect of combining the two modalities to offer a synergistic effect in chronic pain therapy is still in its infancy. In this narrative review, we assess the state of the field combining virtual reality as an adjunctive therapy to spinal cord stimulation in chronic pain. We also review the broader field of virtual reality therapy for acute and chronic pain, considering evidence related to feasibility in the Canadian healthcare system from cost and patient satisfaction perspectives. While early results show promise, there are unexplored aspects of spinal cord stimulation combined with virtual reality therapy, particularly long-term effects on analgesia, anxiolysis, and implications on the effectiveness and longevity of spinal cord stimulation. The infrastructure for billing virtual reality as a consult service or therapy must also catch up if it is eventually used to supplement spinal cord stimulation for chronic pain.


TO THE EDITOR: We congratulate Heit and colleagues (1) on their study on the incidence of venous thromboembolism during pregnancy and the puerperium. However, we take issue with their statement that the venous thromboembolic incidence was 3.6% and 1.5% in the first and second weeks postpartum, respectively, similar to the 2% to 5% incidence of symptomatic venous thromboembolism after elective hip replacement in patients not receiving prophylaxis. This seems unlikely when only 105 maternal cases of venous thromboembolism were diagnosed during pregnancy or postpartum in 50 000 births. This discrepancy relates to the method the authors have used to calculate the incidence. For some purposes, it makes sense to compare incident rates per person-year at risk, as the authors have done. In this instance, in consideration of the possible benefit of thromboembolic prophylaxis, it is more relevant to know the chance of an individual having an event postpartum. It is misleading of the authors to compare the 2 types of measure. The incidence rate per 100 000 person-years in week 1 postpartum is 3573 per 100 000. However, this is not 3.6% of pregnant women who have an event in the first week postpartum. Because by this point women have only been at risk for 1 week out of 52 in a year, only 68 per 100 000 or 0.68 per 1000 will have had an event in that week. In the authors' Table 1, the postpartum risk for venous thromboembolism in women older than age 35 years (the highest-risk group) is reported as approximately 900 per 100 000 person-years. Because the postpartum period defined by the authors is 3 months, the risk to a woman who has delivered is approximately 225 per 100 000 (13 of 52 of the rate per 100 000 person-years). This is approximately 2 per 1000, one tenth of the rate of 2% to 5% for developing symptomatic thrombosis after elective hip surgery.


In a replicated field experiment we studied the effects of natural densities of two exotic consumers, the predatory and herbivorous signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) and the predatory rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), on multiple trophic levels of a pond community. The goals were to: (1) determine the individual and combined effects of predators on macroinvertebrates, macrophytes, and periphytic algae; (2) evaluate the strength of direct and indirect interactions in a food web influenced by omnivores; and (3) evaluate the relative importance of direct and indirect predator effects on mortality and growth of a native frog species, Rana temporaria. The experiment showed that both signal crayfish and rainbow trout had strong effects on multitrophic levels of a littoral pond community, through direct consumption and indirect effects on lower trophic levels. Crayfish had weak but significant negative effects on the biomass of predatory invertebrates and greatly reduced the biomass of snails, the most abundant invertebrate grazers. Although the number of active herbivorous tadpoles tended to be higher in crayfish cages relative to control cages, the proportion of surviving froglets was lower in crayfish cages than in control cages, possibly due to crayfish predation on injured tadpoles. The size of surviving froglets did not differ from controls, but tadpoles in crayfish cages often suffered tail injuries. Macrophyte coverage decreased as a result of crayfish consumption and nonconsumptive fragmentation. However, the biomass of periphyton increased in crayfish cages relative to controls, probably due to reduced grazing from snails. In contrast, trout had strong negative effects on the biomass of both predatory invertebrates and insect grazers, whereas trout had less effect on snail biomass than did crayfish. Also, in contrast to crayfish cages, the number of active tadpoles in trout cages was lower than in controls, probably due to a combination of trout predation and trout-induced reduced tadpole activity. Trout had a strong negative impact on froglet survival, and froglets in trout cages metamorphosed at a smaller size and had reduced growth rates compared to froglets in crayfish and control cages. As with crayfish, the biomass of periphyton increased in trout cages relative to controls, which may be due to a combination of both density and trait-mediated trout effects on tadpole grazing. In treatments with multiple predators the effects of crayfish and trout on caged communities were independent, and there were few interactions. Mostly effects of combined predators reflected those in single predator cages. Our results demonstrate that noninteracting, introduced multiple predators can have strong direct and indirect effects on multiple trophic levels in pond communities. Trophic cascades may develop in aquatic food webs even with omnivores such as crayfish, and in complex habitats with trout. These strong indirect effects are mediated through both predation on important grazers (i.e., the crayfish-snail-periphyton link) and a combination of density and behavioral responses of grazers to predators (i.e., the trout-tadpole-periphyton link). When two noninteracting predators have strong but different effects on prey survival or activity, their combined effects on intermediate trophic levels reflect responses to the more dangerous predator. (Less)


[1] A rigorous discrete ordinates radiative transfer formulation has been applied to two Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) images extracted from telemetry collected by the CCGS Des Groseilliers satellite tracking system during SHEBA to estimate cloud optical depth and effective radius of the cloud droplet size distribution. The two cases, from 2 and 3 June 1998, were chosen for analysis because (1) the images contained mostly liquid water clouds and (2) contemporaneous MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS) overflight imagery was available for these AVHRR overpasses. The objective is to apply the same detailed radiative transfer formulation to both the MAS and AVHRR data so that the quality of the retrievals from the latter can be evaluated. Retrievals of cloud optical properties from MAS are assumed to be more reliable, because (1) all MAS channels have direct radiometric calibration, (2) the higher spatial resolution of MAS (50 m nadir versus 1.1 km nadir with AVHRR) should yield smaller uncertainties related to partially cloudy pixels in a given study area, and (3) effective droplet radius can be retrieved directly from the MAS 1.62-μm channel without additional uncertainties involved with subtracting a thermal radiance component. Examination of the retrievals from both sensors in these two cases reveals considerable spatial variability (more than a factor of 2) in cloud optical depth, on a variety of scales ranging from tens of meters to tens of kilometers, even for relatively uniform liquid water clouds. Retrievals of cloud effective droplet radius from AVHRR are generally consistent with those from MAS, suggesting that AVHRR can be reliably used to estimate this quantity. However, AVHRR-based retrievals of cloud optical depth are subject to large errors that result from small uncertainties in the absolute radiometric calibration of AVHRR channel 2. Using recalibration coefficients from one of the more robust AVHRR postlaunch calibration efforts, the cloud optical depths that we retrieved from NOAA 14 AVHRR channel 2 are consistently 30–50% larger than those obtained from MAS. The intercomparison of MAS and AVHRR retrievals of cloud optical depth also revealed errors with AVHRR due to partial cloud cover, and these errors are not immediately apparent when examining the AVHRR retrievals alone. If the AVHRR retrievals are averaged to spatial resolutions of order 10–30 km, they appear to become more stable for use in applications such as atmospheric energy budget calculations.


Online books, journals, ENT websites, and resources on otolaryngology, sleep medicine and plastic surgery. Otolaryngology is a surgical specialty concerned with the study and treatment of disorders of the ear, nose, and throat. journals, ebooks and resources about plastic surgery


In Greyhounds, 2 plantar sesamoid bones were identified in radiographs taken of the intact tarsus and also of the tarsometatarsal fibrocartilage, that had been dissected free from the joints. Anatomic dissections defined the precise position of each sesamoid. A prominent sesamoid was present on the lateral side of the tarsometatarsal articulation in 50% of the tarsi; it is proposed that this bone be named the lateral plantar tarsometatarsal sesamoid bone. A smaller bone was detected on the medial side of the tarsometatarsal articulation in 27% of the tarsi; it is proposed that this bone be named the intra-articular tarsometatarsal sesamoid bone.


Evolutionary algorithms have been shown to be powerful for solving multi-objective optimization problems, where non-dominated sorting is a widely adopted technique in selection. This technique, however, can be computationally expensive, especially when the number of individuals in the population becomes large. This is mainly due to the fact that in most existing non-dominated sorting algorithms, a solution needs to be compared with all other solutions before it can be assigned to a front. In this work, we propose a novel, computationally efficient approach to non-dominated sorting, termed efficient non-dominated sort (ENS). In ENS, a solution to be assigned to a front needs to be compared only with those that have already been assigned to a front, thereby avoiding many unnecessary dominance comparisons. Based on this new approach, two non-dominated sorting algorithms have been suggested. Both theoretical analysis and empirical results show that the ENS-based sorting algorithms are computationally more efficient than the state-of-the-art nondominated sorting methods.


It9s not often that you are asked to come up with an article to a strict deadline but with absolutely no constraints as to the content. It9s a challenge but also a luxury. Without a moment9s hesitation I chose the journal as my topic. After all it is in JCS that I published my first papers; its editorial board was the first editorial board that I joined; and, of course, since I became Editor-in-Chief it has occupied a significant proportion of my waking thoughts. I was a PhD student in the laboratory of one of the Editors of the journal (now retired), and so it seemed natural that my thesis work would be published in JCS (though, come to think of it, no other options were on offer). We worked hard on my first manuscript until we had it in a form that we were satisfied with. I then left the manuscript with my advisor and, a few days later, he told me that the referees were positive and that the paper was now in press. (Oh happy days - now that I9m Editor my papers get rejected from JCS with some regularity.) While this gave me a very positive experience of science publishing in general and of JCS in particular, it did leave me completely unprepared for the more conventional review process. I was quite shocked when, as a postdoc, I submitted my first paper to a non-JCS journal (J. Cell Biol. in fact) and received referees9 reports that were a) in writing, b) critical and c) took almost two months to arrive. I also discovered that JCS did not enjoy the same star billing at MIT as in Oxford and, when I rushed to the library to see my precious papers in print, it was some time before I located the journal in a dusty corner of the building. So, as we hurtle into the new Millennium, are my experiences as a PhD student relevant to publishing in JCS today? I believe that the answer is yes, for two reasons. First, because JCS still strives to be very author-friendly and, second, because any journal inevitably reflects the personalities and tastes of its Editors. JCS has always put the author first. Tangible examples of this philosophy are the open and rapid review process (ahem, I know we do slip up occasionally, so no need to interrupt my New Year hangover with any reminders), rapid, high quality publication, lack of page charges, free reprints and free colour. These features of the journal have undoubtedly benefited non-JCS authors, as competitor journals have been forced to adopt some of our policies. We are also unusual in being owned by a non-profit organisation that is committed to returning the (not inconsiderable) profits of the journal to the scientific community, through support for conferences, grants to allow scientists to visit other laboratories, and so on. While being kind to authors isn9t controversial (is it?), the issue of journal content certainly is. We all grumble that such and such a journal 'likes' one research area and 'dislikes' another, and there is no doubt that for any given journal it is easier to publish some types of paper than others (thereby, of course, creating a convenient niche for new journals to fill). Here I would make two points: you can9t publish papers that aren9t submitted; and it is much easier to edit a journal with a modest number of submissions (JCS pre-1992) than to edit one in which the number of submissions exceeds the page allocation by a factor of greater than four (JCS at the cusp of the Millennium). As the impact factor of JCS has crept upwards, submissions have soared, but there is still a need to attract stronger papers, and so I spend a fair amount of time talking to potential authors and soliciting manuscripts, using any of the inducements at my disposal (sliding scale available on request). Along the way I seem to spend a lot of time over drinks in dingy conference bars, listening to authors9 tales of cruel mistreatment at the hands of other journals; sometimes it is a struggle to remember exactly what I promised once I am safely back in my own lab. My tastes in cell biology are famously eclectic, but at some point in the last few years we no longer had space to publish all the scientifically sound papers that were being submitted. We were forced to resort to editorial rejections. This is when an Editor decides that a piece of work should not appear in the journal, even if the referees were to be positive, and therefore that the paper should not be sent out for review. Ouch! It always hurts to have a paper rejected in this way. We bend over backwards to spell out at the front of the journal the type of paper that will be editorially rejected and to explain the reasons for rejection in the decision letter to the author. An author can always appeal, in which case we will almost always send the paper out for review (and sadly the referees almost always tick the 'too descriptive', insufficient advance9 or 'insufficient general interest' box on the report form). Even if space were not a limitation (and it will not be when hard copy journals disappear) there would still be the constant desire to improve the quality of the journal, the crude index of which is the impact factor. It is worth pointing out that the motivation to publish better and better science is largely the Editors9 own and has almost nothing to do with the commercial success of the journal. It comes as a surprise to most scientists to discover that a large portfolio of journals with tiny circulations and mediocre content can potentially make as much money as one blockbuster journal; if the authors pay high enough page charges you enter the lucrative world of vanity publishing. Nor does it matter if a journal has a life span of only a few years; its demise is devastating for the scientists who put so much effort into it, but for the publisher it can simply be replaced with another new journal and another new title. Oops, I am beginning to sound cynical (but remember that I am writing this in 1999 and the rays of the new Millennium have yet to warm my soul). If the discrepancy between commercial success and scientific success is one issue that I brood on, the other is the growing 'professionalisation'of science publishing. 'Amateur' editors, such as myself, who combine editing with running a research lab, are not quite an endangered species, but we are probably decreasing in number. We are being replaced by people who have left bench science after a PhD and, often, postdoctoral training and have taken up science publishing as a career. There have always been PhDs involved in different aspects of journal publishing, but I am thinking particularly of the growing numbers who actually determine the scientific content of the journal. At their best professional Editors are unparalleled in the flair that they bring to the job - witness the legendary Miranda Robertson and Benjamin Lewin. At their worst they have the mentality of failed postdocs, their understanding of science frozen at the point where they retired, injured, from the fray. At conferences they will assiduously take notes during the talks by their former colleagues and stare blankly into space when subjects that they are unfamiliar with are presented. They become fashion junkies, unable to decide for themselves what their journal should be publishing this season. The JCS experience of 'professionalisation', I hasten to add, has been totally positive (otherwise this bit would have been mysteriously edited out!). By recruiting a staff editor we have been able to take new initiatives we simply didn9t have the time or energy for before. Without him 'Editorials', 'In This Issue' and a constant flow of interesting review articles would never have become reality - and there are plenty of other innovations in the pipeline. I believe in a partnership between the amateurs and the professionals, with the amateurs providing an accountability and a practical perspective that can only come from being active in the lab. No article about science publishing is complete without some pontification on electronic publishing. I9m all for it (electronic publishing, that is) for all the reasons that are rehearsed ad nauseam, but also out of nostalgia for those papers I published when I was a PhD student. Electronic publication can free us from the severe restrictions that are currently imposed on the length of individual articles. Of course it is already possible to publish supplementary material, such as movies and methods, on journal web sites, but what I would like to see is a return to longer reference lists. When I was beavering away on my first JCS paper, I took great trouble to cite all the relevant literature, both recently published and ancient (i.e. more than three years old). These days, so often, in the interests of space we restrict our citations to the newest papers, the papers in the top three journals or, worse, avoid the primary publications altogether and rely on reviews. All too often the Acknowledgements at the end of an article will include a blanket apology to those authors whose work could not be cited owing to lack of space. It would be doing science a great service if we could, once more, enjoy the luxury and the responsibility of placing our own work both in the context of the papers that preceded it and in a wider context than our own narrow research area. So, happy Millennium - and thank you to all the unsung heroes of JCS: the authors, referees, Editors and board members and all the staff who miraculously turn the constant deluge of accepted papers into a rather fine journal.


ISSUES
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has long been characterised as a region with weak alcohol policies, high proportions of abstainers and heavy episodic drinkers (among drinkers), and as a target for market expansion by global alcohol producers. However, inter-regional analyses of these issues are seldom conducted.

APPROACH
Focusing mainly on the period 2000-2016, we compare alcohol consumption and harms, alcohol policy developments and alcohol industry activities over time and across the four sub-regions of SSA.

KEY FINDINGS
Per-capita consumption of alcohol and alcohol-related disease burden have increased in Central Africa but stabilised or reduced in other regions, although they are still high. Most countries have implemented tax policies, but they have seldom adopted other World Health Organization 'best buys' for cost-effective alcohol control policies. Countries range from having minimal alcohol controls to having total bans (e.g. some Muslim-majority countries); and some, such as Botswana, have attempted stringent tax policies to address alcohol harm. Alcohol producers have continued their aggressive marketing and policy interference activities, some of which have been highlighted and, in a few instances, resisted by civil society and public health advocates, particularly in southern Africa.

IMPLICATIONS
Increased government support and commitment are needed to be able to adopt and implement effective alcohol policies and respond to pressures from alcohol companies to which SSA remains a target market.

CONCLUSION
SSA needs effective alcohol control measures in order to reverse the trajectory of worsening alcohol harms observed in some countries and reinforce improvements in alcohol harms observed in others.


Automatic research paper summarization is a fairly interesting topic that has garnered significant interest in the research community in recent years. In this paper, we introduce team Helium's system description for the CL-SciSumm shared task colocated with SIGIR 2019. We specifically attempt the first task, targeting in building an improved recall system of reference text spans from a given citing research paper (Task 1A) and constructing better models for comprehension of scientific facets (Task 1B). Our architecture incorporates transfer learning by utilising a combination of pretrained embeddings which are subsequently used for building models for the given tasks. In particular for task 1A, we locate the related text spans referred to by the citation text by creating paired text representations and employ pre-trained embedding mechanisms in conjunction with XGBoost, a gradient boosted decision tree algorithm to identify textual entailment. For task 1B, we make use of the same pretrained embeddings and use the RAKEL algorithm for multi-label classification. Our goal is to enable better scientific research comprehension and we believe that a new approach involving transfer learning will certainly add value to the research community working on these tasks.


For decades scholars have been discussing the meaning, purpose, and function of the various styles of decoration found in jade and bronze objects produced in the period spanning the Neolithic to the Han dynasty. Max Loehr made a significant contribution to this discussion in 1953 when he made the first attempt to understand the nature and sequence of styles of bronze décor from the Anyang period (1300–1038 b.c .), which corresponds to the late Shang dynasty. Since then scholars have been divided by two different points of view. Taking one side are those who concentrate on the iconographical meaning of the figures represented on the surface of jades and bronzes, suggesting that ornaments are correlated with, and an expression of, a preexistent system of beliefs. On the other side are those who consider the nature and evolution of the sequence of designs and styles as an artistic sophistication that must be considered independently of any exterior motivation, such as a system of religious beliefs. This article aims to explore the purpose and meaning of jade and bronze decorations, particularly those representations of real and mythical animals as forms of spiritual and political empowerment. Through the examination of the nature and sequence of iconographic motifs interpreted as archetypal forms, this article demonstrates the existence of distinct moments for the meaning and purpose of jade and bronze ornaments. During the moments when spirituality and the sacred rituals are dominant and overlap political power, the use of jade and bronze objects decorated with power-animals are manifestations of a system of beliefs. On the other hand, during the moments when political power enlists spirituality and sacred rituals as instruments of sovereignty, the designs tend to be more inventive and sophisticated, corresponding to technological improvements. Consequently, iconographic motifs lose their spiritual meaning and purpose to an immanent sense of design within an artistic phenomenon.


Early literacy skills, which are the processors of literacy skills, set down roots during the early childhood period. In general, the developed countries apply home-based and school-based programs for the purpose of raising the next generations as competent literate individuals in the preschool period. Many studies have been performed all around the world in order to monitor the developments of early literacy skills and to examine the effect of different programs carried out. It is observed that in Turkish National Preschool Education Programs (PEP), the importance given to the emergent literacy skills and acquisitions of Turkish Language activities has been gradually on the increase. While the number of studies conducted within this field is likewise increasing, to our knowledge, no studies concerning thematic analyses carried out regarding early literacy skills were encountered in national context. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to examine the research trends in the field of early literacy in the last decade in Turkey. In this study, a thematic review approach was used to examine the articles and the theses published between the years of 2006 and 2016 regarding early childhood education programs. The study sample consisted of 99 theses and 112 articles. A publication classification form was used to examine the studies. The publication classification form consists of three dimensions: descriptive characteristics, methodological features, and content features. Whitehurst and Lonigan's (1998) conceptual model was used to examine the content of the articles and theses. The findings showed that the number of early literacy studies has increased in the last decade. Those skills identified as "inside-out" have been studied more in recent years, however there are fewer studies in general. The findings are discussed in the related literature and recommendations were addressed for further studies.