"'Tsunami not our problem,' say top docs." So ran the spoof headline at our strategy day last week. David Tovey, head of the BMJ's Clinical Evidence, was drawing his vision of a worst case tabloid future for the BMJ. (Other headlines on his flipchart masterpiece were "Name that rash and win an iPod," and "Cox 6 inhibitors work for everyone.") We were laughing at the time, if somewhat nervously, but the tsunami-rejecting, insular view within medicine is real (we have heard it from readers at focus groups). It is also to some extent understandable. After all, what can we as individuals do about natural disasters in far off places? Even those who are there to help, like Richard Villar writing in this week's journal, express feelings of hopelessness (p 1151). So what's the point of reading about healthcare challenges in developing countries? How does it help us practise better medicine and lead better lives? Our answer is that medicine cannot be practised in isolation. As the world becomes smaller, health care around the world has more, not less, in common. All healthcare systems struggle with the challenges of limited resources and growing demand. As well as providing clinically practical information (this week Caroline Mitchell and colleagues present a comprehensive review of the diagnosis and management of shoulder pain (p 1124)), we think the BMJ has a role in presenting an international perspective on health care. So we are proud this week to publish an important group of articles about health in the developing world. The authors—David Evans, Tessa Tan-Torres Edejer, and colleagues at WHO—use a uniquely systematic approach to examine the cost effectiveness of strategies to achieve the millennium development goals. All eight articles are published online this week and the first three appear in this week's journal (pp 1197, 1133, 1137). Of course, doctors in the UK have their own problems closer to home. The NHS is going through what Nick Timmins, in the first of two articles published this week, calls "the biggest revolution in the way its services are delivered since its foundation in 1948" (p 1141). His lucid account of how private health care has developed within the NHS launches a series of articles on the NHS revolution and health care in the market place. The BMJ's terrible tabloid future was not the only worst case scenario drawn at our strategy day. The other, from deputy editor Tony Delamothe, was a picture of an ivory tower muffled from external intrusion by thick shrubs, behind the comfortable walls of which the BMJ's editors sit and occasionally lob packages of stuff to whoever might be passing. The tag line was "From complacence to irrelevance." Fear is a terrific motivator. We came out of the meeting inspired with new purpose and a plan of action. We'll tell you all about it soon.


Sexist language degrades and belittles the dignity of an individual or group of individuals, generally females. Such careless use of language yields standardized social and cultural codes. The researches during the last four decades reflect occurrences of sexism in the curricula. The present study examines sexism imbued in the contents of the primary level English textbooks. Five textbooks being used from grades 1 to 5 have been analyzed in the light of gender theory employing Mixed Methods research. The study comes up that despite serious commitments of the Government of Pakistan to eliminate gender bias from the education setups the contents of the study material contain the discourses which reinforce the sexist construction and contribute to the transformation and naturalization of gender inequality and stereotypes. The findings imply that practical and serious efforts are required to translate the commitments of the government into reality.


The article presents the conceptual framework and structural components of the next generation library's model, i.e. the Library 4.0. The state-of-art online technologies that could be exploited in course of the library services implementation, specially designed for meeting of the information needs of the users, while taking into account the peculiarities of the information interaction in society, are considered. The reader, librarian and artificial intelligence technologies are forecasted to create a base for the Library 4.0. However, it has been proven that the Library 4.0 Model cannot be grounded at the technologies only, while their implementation will cause the priority shift in the users' information needs, libraries' physical space transformation, and general reinterpretation of both the organizational and funding models of the information industry. That is why, some specific trends of the American Center for the Future of Libraries that is involved in performance of future tendencies in the librarian industry have been used for the comprehensive assessment of the perspective construction of the Library 4.0 integral conceptual framework.


Policy Options to Achieve Food Security in South Asia pulls together all South Asian countries and identifies major issues of food security in the individual country. The chapters highlight issues such as initiatives and policies taken up in these countries to achieve the goal of food security and also critically evaluate the effectiveness of these policies. It suggests measures to overcome the identified constraints and make the policies more effective. It also talks about the SAARC food bank to ensure food security in the region. The question of food security has a number of dimensions that go beyond production, availability and demand for food. Food availability does not ensure food security, thus distribution and access of population to food is equally important for food security. Food availability through better distribution mechanisms and alternatively through imports can ensure food security.


To have its own blue ocean, university must be managed not in ordinary way. For example,,it should not only focus on its current customers but also on potential customers and change them to customers. Kim dan Mauborgne (2005) introduce four processes thaf university must do to have its own blue ocean. The processes include developing benefits for customers (why consumers buy), building strategic price, finding strategic cost, and adopting the strategy in organization. This paper introduces simple idea to build blue ocean strategy in university.


The Imix radiography system (Oy Imix Ab, Finland) consists of an intensifying screen, optics, and a CCD camera. An upgrade of this system (Imix 2000) with a red-emitting screen and new optics has recently been released. The image quality of Imix (original version), Imix 2000, and two storage-phosphor systems, Fuji FCR 9501 and Agfa ADC70 was evaluated in physical terms (DQE) and with visual grading of the visibility of anatomical structures in clinical images (141 kV). PA chest images of 50 healthy volunteers were evaluated by experienced radiologists. All images were evaluated on Siemens Simomed monitors, using the European Quality Criteria. The maximum DQE values for Imix, Imix 2000 Agfa and Fuji were 11%, 14%, 17% and 19%, respectively (141 kV, 5 (mu) Gy). Using the visual grading, the observers rated the systems in the following descending order: Fuji, Imix 2000, Agfa, and Imix. Thus, the upgrade to Imix 2000 resulted in higher DQE values and a significant improvement in clinical image quality. The visual grading agrees reasonably well with the DQE results; however, Imix 2000 received a better score than what could be expected from the DQE measurements.


Accentuated J waves have been associated with idiopathic ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation (VT/VF) for nearly three decades. Prominent J waves characterize both Brugada and early repolarization syndromes leading to their designation as J wave syndromes. An early repolarization (ER) pattern, characterized by J point elevation, slurring of the terminal part of the QRS and ST segment elevation was considered to be a totally benign electrocardiographic manifestation until a decade ago. Recent casecontrol and population-based association studies have advanced evidence that an ER pattern in the inferior or infero-lateral leads is associated with increased risk for life-threatening arrhythmias, named early repolarization syndrome (ERS). ERS and Brugada syndrome (BrS) share similar electrocardiogram features, clinical outcomes, risk factors as well as a common arrhythmic platform related to amplification of I to -mediated J waves. Although BrS and ERS differ with respect to the magnitude and lead location of abnormal J wave manifestation, they are thought to represent a continuous spectrum of phenotypic expression, termed J wave syndromes. A classification scheme for ERS has been proposed: type 1, displaying an ER pattern predominantly in the lateral precordial leads, is considered to be largely benign; type 2, displaying an ER pattern predominantly in inferior or infero-lateral leads, is associated with a higher level of risk; whereas type 3, displaying an ER pattern globally in inferior, lateral and right precordial leads, is associated with the highest level of risk for development of malignant arrhythmias and is often associated with VF storms.


A graded titania film was formed on chemically polished NiTi shape memory alloy (SMA) by a novel deposition-assisted advanced oxidation method in a modified Fenton's reagent containing titanium tetrachloride and then characterized by SEM and XPS. The effects of the titania film on leaching of harmful Ni ions from the NiTi substrate in simulated body fluids (SBF) is assessed by inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS). The results indicate that a thick and dense titania film was successfully fabricated in this in situ advanced oxidation reaction assisted with an additional deposition process by the hydrolysis of titanium tetrachloride on NiTi. The titania film can dramatically reduces Ni leaching from NiTi. XPS depth profiles show that the film possesses a smooth graded interfacial structure that boost mechanical stability.


BACKGROUND
Comorbidity is prevalent in people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and this status burdens one's health literacy skills to understand about their health, make decisions, and to adhere with treatment.

OBJECTIVES
To examine health literacy in people with CKD and comorbidities.

DESIGN
A cross-sectional study was conducted between November 2018 and April 2019.

PARTICIPANTS
Convenience sampling recruited 367 adults with CKD and at least one comorbid disease.

MEASUREMENTS
Data were collected using the 9-domain Health Literacy Questionnaire. Demographic and clinical characteristics were also collected. Charlson Comorbidity Index calculated comorbidity status. Parametric tests were used to distinguish health literacy between various groups.

RESULTS
Participants' average age was 58.8 years, 54.7% had CKD Grade 5, 72.5% had a severe comorbidity index (≥6), and nearly 40% were on haemodialysis. Lower health literacy proportions were found in domains related to Healthcare providers' support (58.3%) and Appraisal of health information (38.4%). Lower levels of education, income, or living in rural areas were each significantly more likely to contribute to lower health literacy levels (range 4-7 domains). Greater comorbidity severity was also significantly associated with lower health literacy in two domains.

CONCLUSION
People with CKD had difficulties in various health literacy domains primarily related to communication and critical appraisal. These domains can be improved by healthcare professionals and changes in hospital policies. Due to frequent contact with patients in kidney services, renal clinicians have a crucial role in ensuring greater communication occurs as this will better assist patients to understand their healthcare needs.


People's emotions are not always obviously detectable, due to difficulties expressing emotions, or geographic distance (e.g. if people are communicating online). There are also many occasions where it would be useful for a computer to be able to detect users' emotions and respond to them appropriately. A person's brain activity gives vital clues as to emotions they are experiencing at any one time. The aim of this project is to detect, model and sonify people's emotions. To achieve this, there are two tasks: (1) to detect emotions based on current brain activity as measured by an EEG device; (2) to play appropriate music in real-time, representing the current emotional state of the user. Here we report a pilot study implementing the Music Emotion Capture system. In future work we plan to improve how this project performs emotion detection through EEG, and to generate new music based on emotion-based characteristics of music. Potential applications arise in collaborative/assistive software and brain-computer interfaces for non-verbal communication.


Dai et al. employed time-dynamic modeling for the insertion rate (birth) and the deletion rate (death) of long terminal repeat retrotransposons (LTR-RTs) in the Aegilops tauschii genome. They found that insertion rates of the 35... Long terminal repeat-retrotransposons (LTR-RTs) are a major component of all flowering plant genomes. To analyze the time dynamics of LTR-RTs, we modeled the insertion rates of the 35 most abundant LTR-RT families in the genome of Aegilops tauschii, one of the progenitors of wheat. Our model of insertion rate (birth) takes into account random variation in LTR divergence and the deletion rate (death) of LTR-RTs. Modeling the death rate is crucial because ignoring it would underestimate insertion rates in the distant past. We rejected the hypothesis of constancy of insertion rates for all 35 families and showed by simulations that our hypothesis test controlled the false-positive rate. LTR-RT insertions peaked from 0.064 to 2.39 MYA across the 35 families. Among other effects, the average age of elements within a family was negatively associated with recombination rate along a chromosome, with proximity to the closest gene, and weakly associated with the proximity to its 5′ end. Elements within a family that were near genes colinear with genes in the genome of tetraploid emmer wheat tended to be younger than those near noncolinear genes. We discuss these associations in the context of genome evolution and stability of genome sizes in the tribe Triticeae. We demonstrate the general utility of our models by analyzing the two most abundant LTR-RT families in Arabidopsis lyrata, and show that these families differed in their insertion dynamics. Our estimation methods are available in the R package TE on CRAN.


Background We previously demonstrated an independent risk of sports specialization in young athletes. However, there is no longitudinal study on the risks of sports specialization and reinjury in young athletes. Objective To determine the longitudinal risk factors for sports specialization in a clinical population of young athletes. To outline the patterns of reinjury in this clinical population. Design Prospective cohort observational study. Setting Multicenter clinical study from sports medicine clinics and pediatric/family medicine offices. Patients (or Participants) Young athletes 7–18 years old presenting for sports-related injury to a sports medicine clinic or for for a sports physical. Interventions (or Assessment of Risk Factors) Each subject is enrolled at baseline and then given follow up survey every 6 months for up to 3 years. We assessed the following risk factors: Sex, Age, Age of specialization, degree of sports specialization, training volume (organized, free play), year round training (>8 months). Main Outcome Measurements Injury, injury type (acute, overuse, serious overuse), clinical diagnosis. Results There were 1191 subjects analysed at baseline, with a total of 1083 follow up evaluations for up to 3 years of follow up. There were 39.4% (427/1083) injured follow up evaluations, 60.6%(656/1083) uninjured. Of the 427 injuries, 69.6% (297/427) were a reinjury (142 repeat injury (same location) and 155 recurrent injury. There were 134 new injuries. Injured follow up subjects were more likely to be female (p<0.02), report age of specialization <12 (p=0.03) and participate in year round training>8 mths/yr (p<0.03), and a higher proportion were more highly specialized. Conclusions Young athletes are more likely to develop a reinjury than a new injury on follow ups up to 3 years. Athletes specializing <12 years old and female young athletes were more likely to develop injury. Similar to baseline, there was a higher proportion of injured highly specialized athletes.


The backend structures of advanced VLSI (Very-Large Scale Integration) devices have become increasingly complex because of the need to combine several types of dielectric and metal layers in order to enhance device performance and/or reliability. For example, the inter-metal dielectric (IMD) stack of an aluminum-metallization device may consist of high density plasma (HDP) fluorine-doped silicate glass (FSG) for gap fill and RC-delay minimization, plus a silicon-rich oxide (SRO) cap to prevent aluminum attack from fluorine out-diffusion. Depending on the interplay between the tensile stress of the aluminum, and the typically compressive stress of the dielectric stack, the wafer may develop a large bow of either positive or negative sign. A large positive bow may negatively impact wafer handling during processing steps that use vacuum chucking, and can also lead to excessive edge polishing during tungsten and oxide chemical–mechanical planarization (CMP) steps. This paper presents a methodology to reduce final wafer bow from ~+40 to ~-10 micron by a careful selection of SRO deposition conditions to achieve a stress value that results in flatter wafers.


Background: To compare the frequency of small for gestational age(SGA) babies between women treated with labetalol or methyldopa for pregnancy induced hypertension. Methods: In this randomized controlled trial patients were divided into Labetalol and Methyldopa groups. Both drugs were administered as oral preparation. Patients were followed during their pregnancy till their delivery time and then baby weight was checked at the time of delivery and plotted against gestational age to detect small for gestational age babies. Results: The frequency of SGA neonates was significantly higher in Group-A (labetalol) in comparison to Group-B. (Methyldopa) i.e. Group-A: 37.8% vs. Group-B 13.3%(p-value=0.008). In all age groups i.e. <25years, 25-35years and >35 years, frequency of SGA was higher in Group-A (Labetalol group) women but statistical significance was not seen in any age group. There was no statistically significant effect of parity on frequency of SGA. Women who were started treatment early i-e at 2025weeks and 26-30weeks of gestation had more SGA babies in Labetalol group(p=0.033,P=0.032) . Although more number of SGA babies in Labetalol group were delivered at <34 weeks gestation but difference was not statistically significant (p=0.264) Conclusion: Methyldopa is more effective in pregnant women in terms of low incidence of small for gestational age babies as compared to labetalol.


Stress is a major public health problem, which affects most of the systems of the body. It was hypothesized that vestibular stimulation inhibits both the stress axis in direct and indirect ways and relieves stress. The current study aimed to provide further scientific evidence for soothing effects of vestibular stimulation and validate traditional knowledge to strengthen the basis for including vestibular stimulation as a life-style practice. 240 Healthy college students (120 males and 120 females) aged 18-24 years of either sex were included in this study after obtaining written consent from them. Vestibular stimulation was administered by making the participants to swing on a swing in back to front direction, according to their comfort, as per standardized methods. Assessment of stress was performed before and after intervention using stress questionnaire and measuring cortisol levels, blood pressure and pluse rate. Cortisol, stress score, pulse rate, systolic, diastolic, mean blood pressure were significantly decreased and remained in normal limits following vestibular stimulation. The present study provides evidence for beneficial effects of vestibular stimulation as an intervention for stress. Hence vestibular stimulation may be considered as a possible adjunctive therapy for those experiencing stress.


Innovative van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures formed from various monolayers exhibit exceptional physical properties relevant to their corresponding individual layers. In addition, the strain engineering of 2D materials is significantly exciting because they have the potential to sustain much larger strain in comparison to their bulk counterparts. In this work, the influence of strain on a BlueP-MoS2 van der Waals heterostructure was studied in order to explore its performance in LIBs/SIBs by first-principles DFT calculations. To ascertain the influence of strain on the performance of the BlueP-MoS2 van der Waals heterostructure for electrodes in LIBs/SIBs, we gathered vertically aligned monolayers of MoS2 and BlueP with different amounts of strain and studied the Li/Na storage properties of the said material. The application of strain could effectively enhance the adsorption capability of both Li/Na at the surfaces/interface of the BlueP-MoS2 heterostructure in comparison to that of the pristine BlueP-MoS2 heterostructure along with improved storage capacity. On the other hand, the application of strain is robust to the high mobility of both Li/Na inside and outside surfaces of BlueP-MoS2 heterostructure which ensures the fast charge/discharge process and improved rate performance. The calculated electronic structure revealed that the applied strain converted the BlueP-MoS2 heterostructure from a semiconductor to a metal, indicating enhanced conductivity compared to that for the pristine BlueP-MoS2 heterostructure. All the above-mentioned findings suggest the high potential application of the BlueP-MoS2 vdW heterostructures for flexible nanoelectronic devices.


Teleseismic P residuals have been monitored as a function of time at 13 stations in southern California during the 5-year period 1972 to 1976. These residuals, when normalized to minimize common path and source effects, and corrected for the marked azimuthal dependence of residuals in southern California, show no significant variation. This indicates that no detectable velocity changes have occurred during this time in the vicinity of the stations monitored. It is estimated that a velocity change of ∼9 per cent occurring over a path length of 10 km and lasting for at least 6 months should be resolvable. Either such changes have not taken place in the region monitored, or any velocity anomalies are confined to a small depth range in the crust, and are poorly sampled by teleseismic waves.


Intraventricular shunts are the conventional medical devices for the treatment of hydrocephalus. The most common and life threatening complication of the implanted devices is the probability of the blockage or the misalignment of shunts after the implantation procedure. The most common way to diagnose these complications is the application of Computed Tomography. Unfortunately, frequent exposure to x-ray radiation can have degrading effects such as memory loss, stroke-like symptoms, poor brain function and even it can lead to cancer. In this study, an elastic capsule filled with super paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles is used for the measurement of the intracranial pressure (ICP). The diameter of the capsule is measured by the magnetic particle imaging method (MPI). The performance of the proposed method is evaluated with a Matlab/SIMULINK model.

Int. J. Mag. Part. Imag. 6(2), Suppl. 1, 2020, Article ID: 2009074, DOI: 10.18416/IJMPI.2020.2009074


This paper presents a method of calendar (weekly) scheduling for production teams, when the average orders utility function is used as the quality criterion. The method is based on the concept of "production intensity", which is a dynamic parameter of production process. Applied software package allows scheduling for medium quantity of jobs. The result of software application is the team load on the planning horizon. The computed schedule may be corrected and recalculated in interactive mode. Current load of every team is taken into account at each recalculation. The method may be used for any combination of complex and specialized teams.


The paper introduces a prototype model of a superconducting packet switch which is composed of an input buffer, a contention solver, and a distribution network. The input buffer and the contention solver enable contention-free distribution of data packets. The total design of the prototype has been completed and the total operation has been numerically simulated and confirmed. A 2/spl times/2 switching element which controls the paths of two packets is the key component of the prototype. The basic switching element with 1-b data-width is fabricated by a standard Nb trilayer process. Three-junction SQUIDs driven by a three-phase powering clock are used in the switch. The correct operation up to 3.5 GHz, limited by the measurement setup, is confirmed. The margin evaluation shows there remains enough margin at GHz operations.


Abstract The sintering operation in integrated steelworks is one of the main sources for the production of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated-dibenzo-furans, NOx and SOx. In the present study, the operating conditions, through which a reduction in emissions can be achieved, were defined through numerical analysis. The following process parameters were evaluated: gas temperature, quantities of chlorine and copper and additions of hydrated lime, sulphur and urea. Using the optimisation software modeFRONTIER (ESTECO), a virtual surface that can reproduce the actual process of sintering was created. Additionally, with the application of filtering to post-sintering gas, such as electrostatic precipitator and wetfine scrubber, it was possible to obtain a reduction in emission values within the limits of international protocol Aarhus.


Following the Mongol era and the instability of the llkhanis, Amo river areas and Transoxiana saw a favorable situation to turn into a great empire. Amir Timur Gorkani who had established himself as a person with great military intelligence in Transoxiana, gathered his loyal forces and with his resolution and valor founded a government that made many people from east to the west fear even by hearing his name. Timurid banners were designed with pictures of a lion and the sun that were associated with tyranny and light. This government unique characteristics had enabled it to stabilize its dominance over a great area after a short period of time. In order to recognize Timurian strong foundation, its governance must be studied. In the scope of research purposes, library methods and analyzing authentic sources of timurd authors have been used. Military arrangements based on Genghis Khan's yasai and use of public fear for conquering different areas, an economical – governmental system compatible with the situation of the time, appointing competent and reliable people for governmental posts and integrating a Mongol and Islamic government in itself answered all governmental necessities. Of course, Timur was a Muslim himself but one of those Muslims who allotted most of his time for life and governance. Forced immigration of artesian to the government's favored areas made Samarkand and Bukhara to be considered among the best cities of the world. In this work it has been tried to study Amir Timur's governance for political, economic and military stability using authentic academic resources.


With dramatic increases in antiretroviral therapy (ART) provision, many clinics in sub-Saharan Africa are congested, but little attention has focused on the efficiency of clinics. Between April and June 2008, we conducted a time-and-motion study to assess patient flow at three HIV clinics in Uganda. Mulago HIV Clinic had 6,700 active patients, compared with 2,700 at Mbarara Municipal Council Clinic (MMC) and 2,800 at Reachout Mbuya (ROM). Mulago had six doctors and eight nurses; MMC had two doctors and two nurses, and ROM had two doctors and 12 nurses. Mulago and MMC used a doctor-led model, whereas ROM used a nurse-led model. Randomly selected patients were tracked, with data collected on time waiting and time spent with providers. Patients were categorized as new, preparing for ART, early ART, stable ART, or non-ART. Doctors indicated whether the patients they saw warranted their consultation. Data were collected on 689 patients (230 at Mulago, 229 at MMC, and 230 at ROM). Overall waiting time was longest at ROM (274 min; 209-346) and Mulago ISS (270 min; 230-336) compared with MMC (183 min; 148-233). Nurse-clinicians at ROM spent twice the time with patients compared with the doctors at Mulago. At Mulago, doctors indicated that 27% of the patients they reviewed did not need to see a doctor, compared with 45% at MMC. Task-shifting may not be efficient in terms of time. More-effective triage and longer visit intervals could improve patient flow and capacity for cost-effective scale-up.


Rwanda has undertaken a land registration and titling program since 2008 with a registration of 10.3 million land parcels in 2013. The aim of this paper is to investigate the early effects of the program on tenure security and agricultural investments since few studies have been carried out in this research area. The study was undertaken in Musanze district in Northern Rwanda, with specific focus on Gataraga sector and it draws on a mix of qualitative and quantitative research methods. The findings indicate that the program led to reduced land conflicts and improved tenure security. Further, it had resulted in increasing collateral value of land; however mortgaging land to access loans seemed to depend on various factors including demographic and socio-economic characteristics of households. Land rental was the most common form of land market and the relatively well-off farmers seemed to gain most from the program than the poorest farmers.


Abstract This study aimed to evaluate the effects of supplement type and narasin inclusion on the frequency and supplement intake of grazing Bos indicus beef bulls. Four hundred animals were ranked by initial BW (383 ± 35 kg) and allocated into one of four paddocks of Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandú (100 animals/paddock). Paddocks were randomly assigned to receive either a mineral salt (MIN) or a protein-energetic supplement (PREN) containing or not narasin (N) for a 90-d period. An individual electronic data capture system with 11 feed bunks was used to individually measure supplement intake and meal frequency in each paddock. The evaluations and analysis of individual intake, frequency of visits to the feeder, and intake per visit (I/V) were performed every 15 d and classified as periods (PR1 through PR6). All data were analyzed as a 2 × 2 factorial design with the PROC MIXED procedure of SAS. A supplement type × N × PR interaction was observed (P < 0.0001) for daily supplement intake. No differences were observed between MIN, whereas PREN had a greater (P ≤ 0.03) supplement intake on PR1 and PR3, but a reduced supplement intake on PR6 compared with PREN + N (P = 0.02). Moreover, no supplement type × N interaction (P = 0.47) or N (P = 0.44) effects were observed for daily supplement intake in the present study. A supplement type × N × PR interaction was detected (P < 0.0001) for the frequency of visits in the feeders. Throughout the experimental period, animals from the MIN + N had a greater (P ≤ 0.02) frequency of visits compared with MIN cohorts. A supplement effect was detected for I/V (P = 0.02), whereas neither a narasin effect (P = 0.74) nor interactions (P ≥ 0.16) were observed. Animals offered PREN had a greater I/V when compared with MIN cohorts (145 vs. 846 g/d for MIN and PREN, respectively; SEM = 16.1). When these data are reported as percentage of days visiting the feeder within each PR, MIN and MIN + N animals visited the feeder for 25.8% and 35.9% of the days, respectively. Conversely, no differences were observed (P = 0.65) in the overall mean visits per PR between PREN and PREN + N (12.8 vs. 12.3 d for PREN and PREN + N, respectively; SEM = 0.195). As percentage of days visiting the feeder, PREN and PREN + N visited the feeder for 85.1% and 81.9% of the days, respectively. In summary, narasin inclusion did not reduce supplement intake, regardless of supplement type, but increased the frequency of visits to the feeder for the MIN treatment.


Polymer-based solid acid catalyst, polyaniline (PANI) salt, is used for the first time to synthesize polymer. In continuation of our work to synthesize organic chemicals using PANI-based solid acid catalyst, in this work, polylactic acid is synthesized by the condensation polymerization of lactic acid using PANI salts. PANI salts are characterized by FTIR, FE-SEM, and TGA analyses. Polymerization of lactic acid in xylene solvent at 140°C for 24 h with the use of very low amount of PANI catalysts gave polylactic acid (PLLA) in the order: PANI-MSA (46%) > PANI-TFA (33%) > PANI-Bi(OTf)3 (27%) > PANI-Cu(OTf)2 (20%) > PANI-Yb(OTf)3 (15%). Molecular weights of PLLA synthesized using PANI-MSA and PANI-TFA are found to be 4385 and 4830, respectively. This methodology gives highly crystalline polymer with mushroom cap-like morphology. Advantage of this methodology is the use of easily synthesizable, recyclable, easily handlable, cheaper, and eco-friendly nature of the catalyst. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 41147.


A new modified polydeoxynucleotide, a copolymer of nucleotides of 2'-deoxyadenosine and the very efficacious anti-herpesvirus agent (E)-5-(2-bromovinyl)-2'-deoxyuridine was synthesized with E. coli DNA polymerase I enzyme. It is characterized by its physical (absorption and circular dichroism spectra, thermal transition, sedimentation analysis) and bioorganic (template activity, stability) properties. Compared to poly[d(A-T)I, the modified polydeoxynucleotide had a lower thermal stability but exhibited higher stability against DNases and higher template activity for DNA synthesis. Template activity for RNA synthesis of this template was, however, poor and extent of AMP and UMP incorporation was limited as well.


Background: Arthroscopic repair is a widely accepted surgical treatment for chronic ankle instability; however, recent studies have shown that arthroscopic repair is nonanatomic in its anchor placement and resultant biomechanics. Ultrasound may improve the accuracy of the anchor placement. Hypothesis: Our hypothesis was that the accuracy of anchor placement in sonographically guided anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL) repair will be comparable with that in open ATFL repair. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: The study included 26 patients who received surgical treatment between April 2012 and October 2019 for chronic ankle instability. Fifteen patients underwent open modified Broström repair and 11 underwent sonographically guided ATFL repair. The distance between the anchor hole and the fibular obscure tubercle was measured using 3-dimensional computed tomography and was compared between the operative procedures. For comparison, a noninferiority trial was employed, with open modified Broström repair as the reference surgery. The noninferiority margin was defined as 5 mm. Results: The mean ± SD distance between the anchor and fibular obscure tubercle was 6.0 ± 2.7 mm in open repair and 5.6 ± 3.3 mm in sonographically guided repair. The mean difference in distance between the techniques (open repair – sonographically guided repair) was 0.37 mm (95% CI, –2.1 to 2.9 mm). The lower margin of the confidence interval was within the noninferiority margin (–5 to 5 mm). Conclusion: Anchor placement under sonographically guided ATFL repair was equivalent to that of open ATFL repair and can be considered anatomic and accurate.


FPGAs have become complex, heterogeneous platforms targeting a multitude of different applications. Understanding how a design maps to them and consumes various FPGA resources can be difficult to predict, so typically designers are forced to run full synthesis on each iteration of the design. For complex designs that involve many iterations and optimizations, the run-time of synthesis can be quite prohibitive. In this paper, we describe a fast and accurate method of estimating the FPGA resources of any RTL-based design. We achieve run-times that are more than 60 times faster than synthesis and is on average within 22% of the actual mapped slices across a large benchmark suite targeting three different FPGA families. This resource estimator tool is first provided in Xilinx PlanAhead 10.1.


Acne keloidalis is a chronic inflammatory process that involves hair follicles of the nape of the neck and leads to hypertrophic scarring. In all references, it is noticed that this process occurs only in males after puberty and is especially seen in the black race. In this case, we report a 31-year-old white woman who had hypertrophic papules in the nape of her neck since 10 years ago and in pathological examination, the diagnosis of acne keloidalis was confirmed. (Iran J Dermatol 2009;12:69-70)


This Article endeavors to broaden the analysis of available policy tools to address the problems created by financial crises and discusses how, in addition to direct regulation, certain tax measures having a regulatory nature may operate to address the so-called "negative externalities" often associated with those crises. There is a negative externality when an economic agent making a decision does not pay the full cost of the decision's consequences. In such cases, the cost to society as a whole is greater than the cost borne by the individuals creating the economic impact. In practice, negative externalities result in market inefficiencies or failures since in most cases individuals do not fully take into account the costs of the negative externalities created.


In the West Bank city of Hebron the Israeli-Palestinian conflict still overshadows all activities. Despite the tension, friction, and violence that have become integral to the city's everyday life, the Jewish Community of Hebron is expanding in numbers and geographical extent. Since the Six Day War, the community has attracted some of the most militant groups among the settlers in the West Bank, responsible for severe violence against Palestin- ians, including harassment, car bombs, and attempts to blow up the Dome of the Rock mosque itself. Why do the members of the Jewish Community of Hebron wish to live and raise their children in such a violent setting? Using a series of interviews with members of the Jewish Community of He- bron and related settler communities in the period 2000–05, the article examines the ways the Jewish Community legitimizes its disputed presence. It reveals a deep religious belief, blended with intense distrust of and hatred toward the Palestinian population.


Abstract The historic treatment of stonework has often been linked to the artificial application of patinas, mainly for aesthetic and protective reasons. Increasingly, however, researchers have identified a possible combined origin for patinas that has linked natural, biological processes to those associated with an artificial, man-made origin. This suggests that, although coatings may have been initially applied on purpose, they transform over time with the aid of micro-organisms and other chemical interactions. The original mixture applied to create a patina could include lime and/or gypsum, water, natural pigments and organic additives. However, their present-day mineralogy is varied and includes a wide range of minerals from calcium carbonates to calcium sulphates, calcium oxalates, calcium phosphates, silicates (quartz, feldspar, clay minerals) and iron oxides/hydroxides. Patinas have been studied in detail in Greece and Italy, but rarely in Spain. In this paper, existing knowledge on Spanish patinas is co-ordinated and previous and current research summarized. Emphasis is placed on artificial patinas initially applied to protect stone. These both appear to effectively protect the stone substrates on which they were applied and provide an insight into historical techniques of stone conservation. Because of this their preservation should be a strong consideration in restoration projects. Ongoing research focuses on the challenges of reproducing patinas, based on historical references.


Abstract Ultrathin CdTe photovoltaic solar cells were produced by metal organic chemical vapour deposition in a single horizontally configured growth chamber. Solar cell activation was investigated by varying the duration of the CdCl2 layer deposition and 420°C thermal anneal to promote Cl diffusion into the CdTe. Thicker CdCl2 layers used in activation treatment resulted in a greater degree of sulphur interdiffusion, up to 2 at.-%, into the CdTe layer. The thicker CdCl2 activation layer was necessary to lower the reverse saturation current density for obtaining optimum experimental photovoltaic (PV) device performances. Modelling of the PV performances with equivalent solar cell structure for optimised devices using solar cell capacitance simulation software resulted in an overestimated open circuit voltage (Voc). The simulations showed that reduced acceptor states at the CdTe interface with the intermixed region resulted in the largest decrease in Voc when considering large back surface recombination velocities.


Van Schijndel et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 105, 3425-3435 (1999)] have proposed that the internal excitation evoked by an auditory stimulus is segmented into "windows" according to the stimulus spectrum and stimulus length. This "multiple looks" model accounts for the mid-duration hump they observed in plots of intensity-difference limens (DLs) versus pip duration for Gaussian-shaped 1- and 4-kHz tones, an effect replicated by Baer et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 106, 1907-1916 (1999)]. However, van Schijndel et al. and Baer et al. used few levels. A greater number of levels were used by Nizami (1999) for Gaussian-shaped 2-kHz tone-pips whose equivalent rectangular duration (D) was 1.25 ms. The DLs show the mid-level hump known for clicks [Raab and Taub, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 46, 965-968 (1969)]. At some duration this pattern must become the "near-miss to Weber's law." To determine this duration, as well as the level-dependence of the mid-duration hump, DLs were established for Gaussian-shaped 2-kHz tone-pips of D = 1.25, 2.51, and 10.03 ms at levels of 30-90 dB SPL. The across-subject average DLs for the tone-pips rise up at mid-levels for D= 1.25 and D = 2.51 ms. The DLs for D=2.51 ms are larger, creating the mid-duration hump. At all durations, the new DLs are smaller at high levels than at low levels, consistent with the near-miss to Weber's law. DLs were also obtained here for Gaussian-shaped broadband-noise pips of D=0.63, 1.25, 2.51, 5.02, and 10.03 ms. The DLs for the noise-pip show a mid-level hump for all pip durations. The noise-pip DLs decrease as the pip lengthens, such that the plot of DL versus log duration shows a linear decline, with no mid-duration hump. Analysis of variance reveals that the mid-level hump coexists with the classical patterns of level-dependence, perhaps reflecting the existence of two level-encoding mechanisms, one that depends on firing-rates counted over single neurons and which is responsible for the classical patterns, and one that depends on the initial coordinated burst of neuronal spikes caused by rapid ramping, and which presumably causes the mid-level hump.


There are challenges in the conventional sheet metal folding for mass production; those are summarized by high tooling and energy costs and lack of dimensional accuracy. High cost per product is due to the need of specific manufacturing tools and equipment like dies and molds that are shape dedicated to certain product range and specifications. Lack of high accuracy is resulted from involved forming process, machine structure and springback effects in workpiece.Origami-based Sheet Metal (OSM) folding fabrication process has been utilized to overcome these challenges. This novel approach is an extension of the origami technique to sheet metal folding process and it requires creating numerous features along the bend line, called Material Discontinuities (MD). MD are fabricated by removal of material completely or partially through thickness direction of sheet metal along the bend line using laser cutting process or progressive stamping. MD can also be created by stamping where no material removal is present, rather stamping creates deformed pattern along the bend line to guide the folding. MD controls the material deformation during bending and results in reduced bending force, minimal tooling and machinery requirements. Despite the promising potential of OSM, there is little understating of the effect of the selected MD shape and geometry on the final workpiece, specifically this is of interest when comparing the energy and cost allocations for OSM with a well-establish process for sheet metal such as stamping.In this work, the effect of several types of MD on sheet metal folding process is investigated using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). In particular, wiping die bending of aluminum sheet with different MD shapes and geometries along the bend line is compared to the traditional sheet bending of final part in terms of stress distribution along the bending line and required bending force. FE simulations are carried out using structural and thermo-mechanical FE solver Code_Aster. Aluminum 2036-T4 is chosen as sheet metal material. Constitutive model in the simulation is J2 flow theory plasticity with isotropic hardening. The FEA results are validated by comparing it to the available empirical models in terms of bending forces.This study finds that the OSM technique reduced the required bending force significantly, which has important significance in energy and cost reduction. It also ranked the MD in terms of the required force to bend the same sheet metal type and thickness for further future investigation. However, the MD leads to localized high stress regions along the bending line, which may affect load-bearing capability of the final part. In addition, it may lead to cracks or fractures of sheet metal part in the high stress region, especially if MD are densely arranged along the bend line.Copyright © 2016 by ASME


Aim: To treat the palatogingival groove, an endo-perio entity with conservative and surgical endodontic approach. Objective: Potential use of flowable composite and root canal therapy along with intentional reimplantation in the treatment of palatogingival groove in maxillary lateral incisors. Case description: Two cases with unilateral and bilateral PGG have been reported. The study demonstrates the use of flowable composite in resolving the bilateral PGG and RCT followed by intentional reimplantation in treating the unilateral PGG. Conclusion: The cases reported utilize conservative and surgical endodontic approach for an endo perio lesion. The results demonstrate how these techniques may optimally help to maintain a tooth whose location in the arch is very critical.


Cleaning is not the solution to the soybean cleanliness issue. The costs of additional cleaning of all export soybeans to remove foreign material (FM) beyond the current level would, at minimum, exceed the domestic and international benefits by $20 million per year even if cleaning occurs at the least net-cost locations-river elevators and inland subterminals. Producers and handlers in the South would bear a disproportionate share of the net costs because of higher soybean FM level and larger export share of soybean production than the Corn Belt. Lowering soybean FM by altering production and harvesting practices offers an alternative to mechanical cleaning (a small percentage of producers can do so at little additional cash cost), but its cost-effectiveness needs to be evaluated more fully before adoption. Despite foreign buyers' preference for clean soybeans, foreign material is regarded as less critical than protein, oil, and moisture contents.


A case of severe chronic neutropenia without splenomegaly is reported. The disorder was characterized by chronic fatigue and many pyogenic infections, and by a persistently low neutrophile count. The marrow was cellular, with a defect in maturation in both granulocytic and megakaryocytic series. There was no improvement on the usual types of medical therapy, and splenectomy, while it was followed by transient thrombocytosis, likewise failed to induce a remission. It is suggested that in the consideration of therapy for severe neutropenia, a lack of splenomegaly should be considered a contraindication to splenectomy.


An achromatic neuromorphic model of the vertebrate retina has already accounted for X and Y pathways (Beaudot and Hérault, 1994 Perception 23 Supplement, 25) and has shown a temporal 'coarse-to-fine' processing of spatial information (Beaudot et al, 1995 Perception 24 Supplement, 93). This model has been extended to colour vision. By taking into account the chromatic sensitivities of cones, functional properties of the parvocellular pathway are modelled. Approximating the responses of colour-opponent cells, the model provides a spatial multiplexing of luminance and chrominance information: sustained responses show spatial band-pass behaviour to luminance variations and low-pass behaviour to equiluminant colour changes. In addition the spatiotemporal inseparability for luminance in the parvocellular model leads to a temporal multiplexing of spatial luminance information: at higher temporal frequencies the spatial filtering is low-pass, conveying only luminance information. Demultiplexing this mixed information suggests interactions between retinal channels. By locally combining additive and subtractive mechanisms between opposite parvocellular pathways (eg G+/R−±R+/G−), and an inhibition from the magnocellular pathway, the existence of at least three functional subchannels is predicted: (i) a transient, spatially low-pass channel, (ii) a sustained, spatially band-pass channel, dedicated to the analysis of luminance information in a spatiotemporally separable way (eg moving shadows and static textures), and (iii) a spatiotemporally low-pass, colour-opponent channel leading to colour induction, which is little affected by the presence of shadows and is more representative of objects. This hypothesis of spatiotemporal demultiplexing of luminance and chrominance information, which should presumably occur at an early cortical level, is in accordance with the multiple-processing-streams organisation of the primate visual system.


Recently, there has been a trend to investigate the factual knowledge captured by Pre-trained Language Models (PLMs). Many works show the PLMs' ability to fill in the missing factual words in cloze-style prompts such as "Dante was born in [MASK]." However, it is still a mystery how PLMs generate the results correctly: relying on effective clues or shortcut patterns? We try to answer this question by a causal-inspired analysis that quantitatively measures and evaluates the word-level patterns that PLMs depend on to generate the missing words. We check the words that have three typical associations with the missing words: knowledge-dependent, positionally close, and highly co-occurred. Our analysis shows: (1) PLMs generate the missing factual words more by the positionally close and highly co-occurred words than the knowledge-dependent words; (2) the dependence on the knowledge-dependent words is more effective than the positionally close and highly co-occurred words. Accordingly, we conclude that the PLMs capture the factual knowledge ineffectively because of depending on the inadequate associations.


Air Traffic Control (ATC) is a safety-critical system which places high demands on air traffic controllers' (ATCO) multitasking abilities. Having the requisite information for wellinformed decision making is central, and as new technologies such as remote towers demand an increase in capacity, efficiency, and safety there is a need for research that informs system development. Adopting a systems perspective, Distributed Cognition is an approach for investigating system functioning, and Resilience Engineering is a way of observing safety factors in everyday work. The purpose of this study is to understand how air traffic controllers work from a distributed cognition perspective, and manage safety in everyday tasks from a resilience perspective. Six observations and six interviews were conducted in a Swedish control tower. The data was analyzed using Distributed Cognition for Teamwork (DiCoT) and Resilience markers (REM), which both focus on the transformation and propagation of information. The results of DiCoT show how cognitive processes in ATCO work are supported in models of physical layout, artefacts, information flow, social organization, and evolutionary design. The results of REM show potential for resilience enhancing behavior in several episodes of ATCO work. Moreover, the results suggest that methods such as DiCoT and REM may work well in the ATC domain, as well as complementary to each other. The results may be used for informing system development, and enable a before-and-after study as the control tower of study will be transformed into a remote tower.


Two new octahedral manganese(IV) complexes [Mn(HL1)(L1)(NCS)]n (1) and [Mn(HL2)2(OH)Cl] (2) [where H2L1 = 1-(5-hydroxy-3-oxapentyliminomethyl)-3-ethoxyphenol and H2L2 = 1-(5-hydroxy-3-oxapentyliminomethyl)-4-chlorophenol] have been prepared and characterized. Unconventional C–H⋯π(SCN) interactions play a key role in stabilizing the unexpected syn arrangement of the ligand pending arms in 1, whereas conventional C–H⋯π(phe) interactions favour the anti arrangements in 2. The energetic features of these interactions have been studied by DFT calculations and characterized using Bader's theory of atoms in molecules in both complexes. Both complexes exhibit catechol oxidase and phenoxazinone synthase like activities.


Domains where supervised models are deployed often come with task-specific constraints, such as prior expert knowledge on the ground-truth function, or desiderata like safety and fairness. We introduce a novel probabilistic framework for reasoning with such constraints and formulate a prior that enables us to effectively incorporate them into Bayesian neural networks (BNNs), including a variant that can be amortized over tasks. The resulting Output-Constrained BNN (OC-BNN) is fully consistent with the Bayesian framework for uncertainty quantification and is amenable to black-box inference. Unlike typical BNN inference in uninterpretable parameter space, OC-BNNs widen the range of functional knowledge that can be incorporated, especially for model users without expertise in machine learning. We demonstrate the efficacy of OC-BNNs on real-world datasets, spanning multiple domains such as healthcare, criminal justice, and credit scoring.


Myeloid sarcoma (MS) is an extramedullary tumor made up by myeloid blasts that may be undifferentiated or show varying degrees of maturation. This paper gives the results of morphological and immunohistochemical studies of 15 cases of MS. The patients' age was 32.7 +/- 14.3 years. The most involvement was observed in lymph nodes (6 cases) and vertebral bodies with spread to the epidural space and soft tissues (3 cases). Differentiated MS was diagnosed in 60% of cases. The immunohistochemical profile of MS was characterized by the expression of MPO (100%), CD68 (92.8%), CD34 (77%), CD 117 (53.8%), lysozyme (50%), and TdT (44.4%). The blast structure similarity of myeloid blasts and other cells to chromatin makes MS difficult to diagnose. Without immunohistochemical study, MS is misdiagnosed and most frequently misinterpreted as one of the types of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.


A new congestion control algorithm of code division multiple access (CDMA) is developed to reduce the cost of system. Firstly,the paper defines the utility function of resource throughout,and then set up the mathematics model according to the wireless resource characteristic. In the approach only the non-linear compensating term, solution of a sequence of adjoint vector differential equations, is required iteration. By taking the finite iteration of non-linear compensating term of optimal solution sequence, a suboptimal congestion control algorithm of CDMA can be obtained. It is proved by analysis in theory and system level simulation that the congestion control algorithm can enlarge system throughput while controlling system load.


Despite their partial diffusion in the Italian context, the clinical ethics Committees represent a fundamental ethical subject within the healthcare organization. Through an analysis of the experiences and the main critical issues, the contribution seeks to recover the performative and proactive elements for a greater integration of these Committees within the health institutions, through the rediscovery of a specific ethical competence. The experiences highlight the main functions of the Committees, case analysis, drafting of guidelines, training of health personnel and social information, advice on allocation of resources in the health system. However, some of these functions remain frequently unexplored or partially used by institutions. It is precisely this aspect that allows to advance into the critical issues of these Committees, connected above all to partial recognition by the institutional structures, as well as to a geographic diffusion that is not widespread and cross-sectional but sporadic. The analysis leads to the recognition of a dual performativity, on the one side the performativity of the bioethicist in the Committee, on the other side the performativity of the Committee in the institution. Furthermore, there is an intersection between ethical competence in the era of complexity and original elements of the philosophy of medicine with attention to care.


Exposure of unripe tomato fruits to 1,8-cineole vapors modifies several biochemical processes involving flavonoids and lycopene levels; respect to normal ripening fruit, flavonoid concentration is hardly modified whereas lycopene production was delayed after 120 h of exposure. On the other hand, a ripening deferred is observed in fruits treated with this essential oil. Additionally, biotransformation of 1,8-cineole to 2-hydroxy derivative is detected.


Objective: In this paper we investigate the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) diagnostic ultrasound readers to achieve multi-access wireless in-vivo telemetry with millimetersized sonomicrometry crystal transducers. Methods: The sonomicrometry crystals generate ultrasonic pulses that supersede the echoes generated at the tissue interfaces in response to Mscan interrogation pulses. The traces of these synthetic pulses are captured on an M-scan image and the transmitted data is decoded using image deconvolution and de-blurring algorithms. Results: Using a chicken phantom and 1.3 MHz sonomicrometry crystals of diameter 1 mm, we first demonstrate that a standard ultrasound reader can achieve bio-telemetry data rates up to 1 Mbps for implantation depths greater than 10 cm. For this experiment the maximum power dissipation at the crystals was measured to be 20 μW and BER of the telemetry link was shown to be 10−2. We also demonstrate the use of this method for multi-access bio-telemetry where several sonomicrometry crystals simultaneously transmit the data using different modulation and coding techniques. Using a live ovine model we demonstrate a sonomicrometry crystal implanted in the sheep's tricuspid valve can maintain a continuous, reliable telemetry link at data rates up to 800 Kbps in the presence of respiratory and cardiac motion artifacts. Conclusion: Compared to existing radio-frequency and ultrasound based bio-telemetry devices, the reported data-rates are significantly higher considering the transducer's form-factor and its implantation depth. Significance: The proposed technique thus validates the feasibility of establishing reliable communication link with multiple in-vivo implants using M-scan based ultrasound imaging.


The non-contacting measuring method for heat power using Cylindraceous Gardon type Sensor is proposed in this paper to meet the requirements of heat power measurement of heat source in cylindrical shape. A experimental testing device has been constructed. A series of experiments were carried out, and the relationships of output temperature difference, heat driven voltage, and input heat power are provided using both least square method linear fitting and neural network fitting. The MATLAB software is used in the numerical investigation of the experimental results. The conclusion indicates that the Cylindraceous Gardon type sensor device could meet the demand of measure accuracy, and is feasible and practicable.


As Chinese urban centers become populated with migrants, urbanites search for new ways to distinguish their social and economic status within urban space – practices which are often linked to transnational flows of culture and commodities. This paper explores the new formulations of Chinese identity within an urban space that is specifically influenced and constructed by globalization. I argue these new cultural practices of "urban cosmopolitanism" are motivated by class anxieties of urbanites, who fear the loss of their privileged positions. With the influx of mobility and increasing presences of internal migrants within cities, urban residents are no longer the only bodies allowed access to urban space.


In a previous study, we found an improvement in female empowerment after randomized unconditional cash transfers in Kenya (Haushofer and Shapiro 2016). Here we report detailed impacts of these transfers on physical and sexual intimate partner violence, and construct a theory to explain them. Transfers to women averaging USD 709 reduced physical and sexual violence (-0:26, -0:22 standard deviations). Transfers to men reduced physical violence (-0:18 SD). We find spillovers: physical violence towards non-recipient women in treatment villages decreased (-0:16 SD). We show theoretically that transfers to both men and women are needed to understand why violence occurs. Our theory suggests that husbands use physical violence to extract resources, but dislike it, while sexual violence is not used to extract resources, but is pleasurable.


A transforming product is a system that has different functionality when physically changed or reconfigured into a different state. This increased functionality allows diverse customer needs to be met in a single product. Transforming devices have become more prevalent in recent years, as customers desire both increased capabilities and reduced complexity to reduce waste in our society. When designing a multifunctional product that transforms from one state to another, it can be difficult to conceptualize a design that does not reduce effectiveness or provide a compromise in either state. Transformational Design Theory has been developed and shows basic principles and facilitators that enable transformation to occur within a product space. An illustrative example is a chair designed to flip over to be used as a table. Flip is one of the 19 facilitators that are found in transformation design. This is also an example of expose/cover, a transformation design principle. Certain principles and facilitators are more prevalent than others in different design domains (such as tools, storage, organisms etc.). If we know the states that exist within the transformer, concept opportunity diagrams can be used to determine the opportunities for transformation within each state. When the diagrams are paired with a constituent relationship chart specific to each domain, new design concepts may be facilitated. This technique creates a cognitive process for designers where they process a series of questions when creating the concept opportunity diagram. The diagram will help them understand the unanticipated additional design space of each state. The Constituent Relationship Chart is a tool that allows them to apply their knowledge of these states to the facilitator hierarchy so that prospective facilitators can directly contribute to originally unforeseen design concepts. This paper presents this twofold process known as the Transformer Diagram Matching Method and shows the results on a fully functioning prototype of an office supply transformer. Although the proposed process is detailed, it allows the designer to find a large number of quality concepts they would not have foreseen otherwise. Our original concept generation processes produced thirty eight ideas, but this process added another thirty two ideas to the design space. The paper indicates specifically how this method can be integrated in with the standard transformational design process as well as suggests strategies for implementation within other design techniques.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


We analyze the two very similar problems of Out-of-Distribution (OOD) Detection and Open Set Recognition (OSR) in the context of fine-grained classification. Both problems are about detecting object classes that a classifier was not trained on, but while the former aims to reject invalid inputs, the latter aims to detect valid but unknown classes. Previous works on OOD detection and OSR methods are evaluated mostly on very simple datasets or datasets with large inter-class variance and perform poorly in the fine-grained setting. In our experiments, we show that object detection works well to recognize invalid inputs and techniques from the field of fine-grained classification, like individual part detection or zooming into discriminative local regions, are helpful for fine-grained OSR.


Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is one of the most difficult problems encountered by health professionals, and it is a very common gynaecological complaint in women of reproductive age. Any structure in the abdomen and/or pelvis could have a role in aetiology of CPP. The aetiology, however, is often unclear and the origin seems can be multifactorial. A multidisciplinary team can offer simultaneous assessment and management of somatic, behavioural and psychosocial components of the pain, and the nurse as an integral member of the healthcare team has an important role to play in ensuring effective care provision. The purpose of this review is to present comprehensive and contemporary information about the gynaecological and non-gynaecological causes of CPP alongside an examination of the role of the nurse in caring for women who experience this problem.


Hsin-I Chen, Tunghai University This study examines the literacy practices of two multilingual writers in social networking communities. The findings show that the multilingual writers explored and reappropriated symbolic resources afforded by the social networking site as they aligned themselves with particular collective and personal identities at local and global levels. Through the designs available to them in these online environments, multilingual writers constructed multiple identities that were dynamic and developmental over time. The writers demonstrated that they adopted different strategies and subject positions when participating in onlinenetworked discourses. Analysis and understanding of these digitally mediated multiliterate practices—by researchers, teachers, and learners alike—may provide insight into pedagogies that recognize and even affirm these practices.


As in most populations of bivalves, year-to-year variation in recruitment is large in the tellinacean Macoma balthica (L.). During the period of observation (1973 to 1996), high densities of recruits (numbers of spat, 0-year-class, per m2 in late summer) were observed after 3 severe winters (1979, 1985, and 1987) and also in 1991, whlch was a normal winter, whereas recruitment failed after all of the 5 mildest wlnters of the period of observation (1974, 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1995) As fecundity (the number of spawned eggs per female) also varies strongly in response to winter temperature in &l. balthica, we studied to what extent the large year-to-year variation in recmitrnent can be explained in terms of temperature-influenced variation in fecundity. To this end, we related both mean annual egg numbers per female (fecundity) and per m2 (egg density) to subsequent recruitment data during the 1973 to 1996 period in a population at Balgzand, a 50 km2 tidal flat area in the southwestern part of the Dutch Wadden Sea. Water temperatures in winter influenced individual egg production (winter temperature was negatively correlated with fecundity) and, consequently, total egg production of the population (stock size was not related to winter temperature) Although a substantial part (37%) of the year-to-year variat~on in recruit densit~es could be explained by interannual variation in winter temperatures, only a minor part of recruitment variation (7 %) was explained by variation in egg density. Thus, the numbers of adults and the total number of eggs spawned In a certain year are poor predictors of subsequent recruit abundance. The significant effect of winter temperature on recruitment cannot be explained by the winter-temperature-governed fecundity and total egg production.


Are incorrect judgments on false belief tasks better explained within the framework of a conceptual change theory or a bias theory? Conceptual change theory posits a change in the form of reasoning from 3 to 4 years old while bias theory posits that processing factors are responsible for errors among younger children. The results from three experiments showed that children who failed a test of false belief took as long to respond as those who passed, and both groups of children took longer to respond to belief questions than to questions about prior states of reality. These results seem to support the bias theory.


Ginkgol C17:1 is a bioactive compound derived from Ginkgo biloba. In the present study, the effect and possible mechanisms of action of Ginkgol C17:1 on the biological behaviors of tumor cells were investigated. Whilst cell proliferation was assessed using the MTT assay, the behaviors of cell migration and invasion were explored using Transwell and modified Transwell assays. The results revealed that Ginkgol C17:1 significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of human tumor cells in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, due to their associations with the biological behaviors of tumor cells, the protein expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-7, Ras homolog gene family, member A (RhoA) and phosphorylated-protein kinase B (Akt) was analyzed by western blotting. The results showed that the expression of the aforementioned proteins was decreased markedly following Ginkgol C17:1 treatment. The results of the present study suggested that Ginkgol C17:1 suppresses the biological behaviors of tumor cells by inhibiting the activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase/MMP, Rho/Rho-associated protein kinase and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt signaling pathways.


Sweetness is an important taste sensation to humans. The absence of suitable sweeteners as alternatives to cyclamates and saccharin has led to a renewed interest in sweeteners form natural sources. A brief review of the history of sweetener usage provides a basis for understanding our present heavy consumption of sweet substances. The structure of naturally-occurring compounds possessing a sweet taste range from simple sugars to complex, intensely sweet proteins. The structural types include monoterpenes, diterpenes, triterpenes, flavonoids, steroid saponins, dipeptides, and proteins. Some of these substances are not, strictly-speaking, natural but are derived from natural sources by relatively minor chemical modification. The properties of two non-sweet substances, miraculin and gymnemic acid, are included because of their close relationship to the subject of sweeteners. Miraculin causes sour substances to taste sweet and gymnemic acid selectively blocks sweet taste perception. The second part of the paper presents some of the work on monellin, the intensely sweet protein from "serendipity berries" (Dioscoreophyllum cumminsii). The physico-chemical studies of monellin provide convincing evidence that it is, indeed, a protein. Structural studies using denaturants and specific chemical modifications have provided a beginning of our understanding of the molecular basis of the sweet taste of monellin.


: Cardiotropic action of antiarrhythmic agents etmozin and etacizin, phenothiazine derivatives, was studied electrophysiologically in 42 mongrel dogs (using isolated heart and intact body models). Etmozin produced no direct effect on sinus node function, whereas etacizin suppressed it in isolated hearts. Etmozin and etacizin significantly affected the atrial, atrioventricular-node and His-Purkinje conduction time, having no basic effect on the duration of respective refractory periods. Therefore, they can be referred to antiarrhythmic agents, group 1, subclass C. The magnitude and pattern of etmozin-and etacizin-induced electrophysiologic changes in the isolated heart and the integrated system are basically similar, an evidence of cardiotropic effects of these drugs. The model of an isolated dog heart perfused by a donor dog's blood can be used for the assessment of cardiotropic effects of drugs in preclinical trials of new antiarrhythmic agents.


Eu3+ doped LaF3-SiO2 nano-composite material were synthesized by sol-gel method at room temperature, and the structure and properties were characterized by XRD, TG-DTA, IR, excitation and emission spectrum. The structure indicated that the optimal doping formula for preparing nano-materials was La5Si95 that transformed into a stable mineral structure of cerium fluoride, and mainly found Si-O-Si bonds when the temperature was above 500 °C. Luminous property researches showed that the optimum annealing temperature was 500 °C. The best excitation wavelength was 395 nm when the monitoring wavelength was 612 nm, and the optimal doping molar concentration of Eu3+ was 0.35 mol %.


Abstract. Freshwater mussels (Bivalvia:Unionidae) are among the most imperiled organisms in North America. Information on the spatial scale of reproduction and population connectivity will better enable mussel conservation programs to sustain long-term population viability, particularly restocking and recovery programs. Here we used genetic methods to characterize population structure, dispersal potential, and reproductive strategies in the freshwater mussel Lampsilis cardium from Twin Creek and Big Darby Creek (Ohio, USA). We genotyped adults and individual glochidia at 12 microsatellite loci to assess local population structure relative to within-population patterns of relatedness and parentage. Local populations within watersheds were weakly structured, and within-population estimates of relatedness identified probable full- and half-siblings several kilometers apart. Parent–offspring comparisons provided evidence of multiple paternity in single broods and identified the likely father of 3 glochidia from 1 female's brood 16.2 km upstream of the mother, indicating that long-distance transport of spermatozoa can promote population connectivity within watersheds. Given that lampsilines and other unionoids exhibit similar reproductive strategies, it is possible that other species are capable of long-distance fertilization. If so, fertilization in populations of many freshwater mussels might not be limited by local density of breeding adults. Therefore, the prospects for recovery of imperiled freshwater mussels might be better than what is now expected.


OBJECTIVES
This study aimed to analyze the development stage of the oral health care network of the Brazilian Unified Health System in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

METHODS
A cross-sectional descriptive and analytical study was conducted with 205 municipal oral health coordinators from the state. Data collection was carried out through a validated questionnaire to analyze the state of development of the oral health care network. Descriptive and cluster analysis were performed, and two clusters were generated.

RESULTS
The total median score of the questionnaires classified Minas Gerais as a state with incipient oral health care networks and a minimal capacity to operate such networks, reflected in the predominance of cluster 1 in the sample. There was no statistical association between age, time since graduation, and time spent working as a coordinator and the clusters (Mann-Whitney test). The coordinators' gender and educational level were also not statistically associated with the clusters (Pearson's chi-square and Fisher's exact, respectively).

CONCLUSION
There is a great need to improve the organization of services of the oral health care network in Minas Gerais. This can be done through improvements in its operational structure, as well as investment in management training.


The cat cry (cri du chat) syndrome is a rare congenital anomaly due to partial deletion of the short arm of the No. 5 chromosome. Since the first report of Lejeune et al, in 1963, nearly 400 cases have been reported. However, the syndrome with a ring chromosome is still very rare and only 10 cases were reported up to 1988, since the first report of Rohde and Tompkins in 1965. To investigate the chromosomal changes in the patients of cat cry syndrome, a chromosomal study was carried out on 10 cases of cat cry syndrome from 5,870 cases submitted to the Laboratory of Cytogenetics, National Taiwan University Hospital from Nov. 1968 through Apr. 1988. These ten cases included 3 males and 7 females (M:F = 1:2.3) aged 2 days to 18 months with an average of 5.5 months. The most common clinical features are: cat-like cry, growth failure, microcephaly with mental retardation, round face with facial abnormalities including hypertelorism, downward slanting palpebral fissures, micrognathia and low-set ears, and simian crease. Laryngomalacia or underdevelopment of the larynx may be a factor causing the cat-like cry. On chromosome analysis, 8 out of these 10 cases showed the usual simple deletion of the short arm of the no. 5 chromosome, and the other 2 cases revealed ring chromosome including a case of pure ring chromosome([(4, XY, r (5)] and a case of mosaicism with one ring chromosome, 2 ring chromosomes and simple deletion of the short arm of the No. 5 chromosome.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) ratings offer an opportunity to assess the financial market perception of Social Responsibility disentangling the different impacts of this multi-dimensional concept. We study the influence of Vigeo rating announcements (2004-2009) on short term European stock returns. The results show a positive effect over two days around the event. The detailed analysis reveals that the reaction varies according to the field. Human rights have a positive influence, Environment and Human resources a negative one and Community involvement a mixed one. Moreover, the aggregation level is also important since a confounding effect leads to non-significance of Corporate governance. These results suggest that the stock market rewards CSR. However, the relationship is complex and needs to be analyzed with care. Indeed, investors discriminate the various dimensions, search for the right information at different levels and do not necessarily interpret good and bad CSR practices in the same way.


The European DEMO, i.e. the demonstration fusion power plant designed in the framework of the Roadmap to Fusion Electricity by the EUROfusion Consortium, is approaching the end of the pre-conceptual design phase, to be accomplished with a Gate Review in 2020, in which all DEMO subsystems will be reviewed by panels of independent experts. The latest 2018 DEMO baseline has major and minor radius of 9.1 m and 2.9 m, plasma current 17.9 MA, toroidal field on the plasma axis 5.2 T, and the peak field in the toroidal-field (TF) conductor 12.0 T. The 900 ton heavy TF coil is prepared in four low-temperature-superconductor (LTS) variants, some of them differing slightly, other significantly, from the ITER TF coil design. Two variants of the CS coils are investigated—a purely LTS one resembling the ITER CS, and a hybrid coil, in which the innermost layers made of HTS allow the designers either to increase the magnetic flux, and thus the duration of the fusion pulse, or to reduce the outer radius of the CS coil. An issue presently investigated by mechanical analyzes is the fatigue load. Two variants of the poloidal field coils are being investigated. The magnet and conductor design studies are accompanied by the experimental tests on both LTS and HTS prototype samples, covering a broad range of DC and AC tests. Testing of quench behavior of the 15 kA HTS cables, with size and layout relevant for the fusion magnets and cooled by forced flow helium, is in preparation.


Objective: The aims of this study were to investigate the association between osteosarcopenic obesity (OSO) and physical performance in Chinese elderly communities. Methods: Our study population is comprised of residents of the Township Central Hospital in the suburban of Tianjin, China. Participants (n=303; percent body fat (PBF): ≥25% for men and ≥32% for women) were assessed using the direct segmental multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) for body composition. Sarcopenia was defined as the lower 20th percentile of appendicular skeletal muscle mass/height 2 (ASMI). A quantitative ultrasound scan of each participants' calcaneus with a T score≤−1.0 was used to identify the prevalence of osteopenia/osteoporosis (OP). We divided people into four groups: obesity only (O), osteopenic obesity (OO), sarcopenic obesity (SO), and osteosarcopenic obesity (OSO). We assessed the physical performance by grip strength, 4-m walk test (WS) and timed up and go test (TUGT). Results: A total of 303 participants had completed data (89 men, 214 women; mean age of 68.8 ±6.0 years). The prevalence of OSO was 10.2% (men: 15.70%, women: 7.9%). After multiple adjustments, WS was significantly declined in OSO group when compared with the O group in men (mean value 95% CI was 0.84 (0.69, 0.99)) and women (mean value 95% CI was 0.93 (0.84, 1.02)). TUGT was significantly poorer in men (mean value 95% CI was 13.3 (10.6, 15.9)) and women (mean value 95% CI was 12.4 (11.2, 13.7)) with OSO when compared with the O group. Furthermore, the OSO group in women also had a significantly poorer TUGT compared with the OO group. The result of grip strength decreased significantly in women SO and OSO groups when compared with the O group (mean value 95% CI was 16.4 (14.5, 18.2) and 16.1 (13.9, 18.3)). But the results of grip strength in men showed no significant differences in any of the group. Conclusion: In Chinese community-dwelling elderly, slower WS and lower balance function were associated with OSO in men and women. Lower grip strength was associated with SO and OSO in women. OO, osteopenic obese; SO, sarcopenic obese; OSO, osteosarcopenic obese.


SUMMARY We present singularity-free workspace optimization of a class of two-degree-of-freedom (2-DoF) parallel wrists with large rotation range capability. The wrists in consideration are kinematically equivalent to two families of 2-DoF homokinetic couplings. The first family comprises fully parallel wrists with N (N ≥ 3) double-universal ($\mathcal{UU}$) legs. The second family comprises spherical N-$\mathcal{UU}$ parallel wrists with interconnecting revolute ($\mathcal{R}$) joints. Both families belong to the more general class of zero-torsion parallel manipulators, and are, therefore, collectively referred to as zero-torsion wrists (ZTWs). We carry out a unified singularity-free workspace optimization by utilizing geometric properties of zero-torsion motion manifolds. Our work may serve as a conceptual guide to the design of ZTWs for large tilt-angle applications.


Fluorescent proteins have proven to be excellent reporters and biochemical sensors with a wide range of applications. In a split form, they are not fluorescent, but their fluorescence can be restored by supplementary protein–protein or protein–nucleic acid interactions that reassemble the split polypeptides. However, in prior studies, it took hours to restore the fluorescence of a split fluorescent protein because the formation of the protein chromophore slowly occurred de novo concurrently with reassembly. Here we provide evidence that a fluorogenic chromophore can self-catalytically form within an isolated N-terminal fragment of the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP). We show that restoration of the split protein fluorescence can be driven by nucleic acid complementary interactions. In our assay, fluorescence development is fast (within a few minutes) when complementary oligonucleotide-linked fragments of the split EGFP are combined. The ability of our EGFP system to respond quickly to DNA hybridization should be useful for detecting the kinetics of many other types of pairwise interactions both in vitro and in living cells.


A weakly nonholonomic system is a nonholonomic system whose constraint equations contain a small parameter. The form invariance and the approximate conserved quantity of the Appell equations for a weakly nonholonomic system are studied. The Appell equations for the weakly nonholonomic system are established, and the definition and the criterion of form invariance of the system are given. The structural equation of form invariance for the weakly nonholonomic system and the approximate conserved quantity deduced from the form invariance of the system are obtained. Finally, an example is given to illustrate the application of the results.


ABSTRACT Colleges increasingly emphasize the importance of socioeconomic diversity, but little work examines the link between such diversity and outcomes important to the campus climate. Using a national dataset, we test the link between two measures of socioeconomic diversity and cross-racial interaction, an outcome paramount to triggering the benefits of diversity. Findings indicate that there was no direct effect associated with this form of socioeconomic diversity. However, cross-racial interaction was lowest at institutions with lower structural income diversity and lower structural racial diversity. Comparison of predictors between income groups also identify that middle and upper-income Black students have significantly higher rates of cross-racial interaction. Implications for policymakers and educators are discussed.


extract] She was persuaded to accept the offer of a Chair of Law at Bond in 1993 when I became Dean, and she served as Associate Dean (Research and Graduate Studies) from 1994-1997. She has served with distinction and made a strong contribution to the University, both in terms of teaching Contract and International Trade Law, and in serving on University Committees. She chaired the inaugural Research Committee for many years. She reckons that, at Bond, she has experienced some of the best students and most supportive colleagues of her career. Bond has also managed to replicate the smaller classes of her early career and has given her a sense of teaching satisfaction once more. She retired in 2002, and was made Emeritus Professor, but she continues to teach and supervise postgraduate students. Long may she do so.


Atypical myopathy (AM) is a seasonal pasture myopathy which often leads to death. At present, the etiology is unknown, but a variety of causes have been hypothesized and investigated. AM is preceded by specific weather conditions, including rainy, stormy weather with little sunshine and a low temperature, but absence of frost. This causes outbreaks to occur mostly in autumn. Only horses on a pasture or horses that have been on a pasture are affected by AM. Bare, sloping pastures that contain humid areas or watercourses and trees with accumulations of dead leaves favor AM. Young, untrained horses are mostly affected by the disease, although older horses might develop AM as well. Clinical signs are recumbency, sweating, trembling, myoglobinuria, muscle stiffness and general weakness. Horses often show increased heart and respiratory rate, and congestive mucosae. Plasma creatine kinase and troponin I levels are increased, as a result of muscle damage, and a prolonged QTcf interval is found. At post mortem histological examination of skeletal muscle tissue severe lesions that resemble Zenker necrosis/degeneration are found. At biochemical level, acquired multiple acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (MADD) is found in affected horses. History, clinical signs, blood and urine analysis, muscle biopsy and post mortem examination are used to diagnose AM. Since the etiologic agent is unknown, there is no adequate therapy available. Treatment is symptomatic and consists mainly of administration of fluids and medication to support and stabilize metabolism, muscles and electrolyte levels. Therefore it is wise to accustom some preventive measures, including stabling the horse when predisposing weather conditions are forecasted and providing nutritional supplements. During the autumn of 2009, a large outbreak occurred. Although this was a large outbreak, it was less severe because of the relatively high survival rate (25%). For the future, a lot of investigation is needed to clear up the many uncertainties around AM, and since AM is a severe disease with a high mortality rate, a useful therapy is necessary.


A simulation is developed that qualitatively describes the small-zone-gel-filtration behaviour of a reversibly associating protein. The results reflect the dependence of the apparent molecular weight of a reversibly associating protein on the equilibrium constant (KD) and initial concentration of the protein as well as the column length. The behaviour of a protein on an individual column is characterized and thus a means is provided for estimation of KD. The procedure is extended to describe the behaviour of a mixture of two proteins capable of heterologous as well as homologous association. This computer simulation has been applied in association studies of immunoglobulin light chains [Stevens, Westholm, Solomon & Schiffer (1980) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 77, 1144--1148]. The KD value determined for the Bence--Jones protein Au (10(5) M-1) is close to the value (6.6 X 10(4) M-1) determined by other methods [Maeda, Steffen & Engel (1978) Biophys. Chem. 9, 57-64].


The resonant column (RC) test has been used as a nondestructive test (NDT) to study dynamic properties of soils for the past few decades. With some modifications, this test can also be employed to characterize properties of asphalt concrete, especially because these properties are strongly dependent on the loading frequency. A conventional RC apparatus was retrofitted to characterize asphalt concrete properties at a range of temperatures from 10°C to 45°C. The RC test is believed to be nondestructive for most soils; however, this must be verified in case of testing asphalt concrete, especially at elevated temperatures. For this purpose, the impact resonance (IR) test, as a purely NDT tool, was used to check the integrity of asphalt concrete specimens before and after RC testing. The modulus values measured before and after RC tests, at each of the testing temperatures, were compared to evaluate the nondestructiveness of RC testing. Strain levels were also monitored to ensure that the material remained within the linear elastic range through the tests. The results show that the specimens exhibited the same modulus before and after RC testing over the full range of temperature and frequency sweep tests.


With OWL (Web Ontology Language) established as a standard for encoding ontologies on the Semantic Web, interest has begun to focus on the task of verbalising OWL code in controlled English (or other natural language). Current approaches to this task assume that axioms in OWL can be mapped to sentences in English. We examine three potential problems with this approach (concerning logical sophistication, information structure, and size), and show that although these could in theory lead to insuperable difficulties, in practice they seldom arise, because ontology developers use OWL in ways that favour a transparent mapping. This result is evidenced by an analysis of patterns from a corpus of over 600,000 axioms in about 200 ontologies.


Abstract
Education plays a crucial role in the Kingdom of Bahrain's "Economic Vision 2030",
and the country is now working to reform its education system to meet the economic
and social challenges of the 21st century.
Currently the country is focusing on improving schools' performance and enhancing
their quality to keep pace with the educational reform plan. International research
has demonstrated that teachers' continuous professional development (PD) is one of
the fundamental strategies that improves educational quality.
Although the Bahraini Ministry of Education has encouraged teachers to adopt peer
observation as a tool for PD, a number of obstacles have emerged over time.
Following a mixed methods approach, this thesis describes the design and
implementation and piloting of a tailor made peer coaching programme which
involved 24 teachers in seven state primary schools. Questionnaires were
administered to 14 senior teachers and 50 Grade Two teachers of the First Cycle of
Basic Education, along with observation sheets and reflective journals. In-depth
interviews were also conducted with 11 of the participating teachers.
This study reveals that such a peer coaching programme is an effective form of PD
because the teachers took ownership of the approach in meeting their professional
needs. This enabled them to apply strategies imposed by the Ministry of Education,
thereby aiding the implementation of educational changes as required.
More broadly, this research demonstrates that if teachers are involved in their
professional development provision their motivation is enhanced. A refined version of
Wagner and French's model (Motivation, work satisfaction, and change in practice,
2010) is presented to illustrate this effect.


A repository of task structures can reveal important latent knowledge about the development of a software system. Although approaches have been proposed to recover artifacts within a task structure, identifying relations that are relevant to a task remains a problem. In this work, we propose to detect "interaction coupling" from task interaction histories (i.e., records of when the artifacts were being used or modified in a task, as observed by the IDE), and use this information to mine patterns to aid in the comprehension of maintenance activities. In our case study, we found we were able to recover latent information about the development process; for example, our results suggest that restructuring is more costly than any other maintenance activity.


Mathematical models that predict performance can aid in the understanding and development of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Of course, various modeling approaches exist involving different length scales. In particular, very significant advances are now taking place using microscopic models to understand the complex composite structures of electrodes and three-phase boundaries. Ultimately these advances should lead to predictions of cell behavior, which at present are measured empirically and inserted into macroscopic cell models. In order to achieve this ambitious goal, simulation tools based on these macroscopic models must be redesigned by matching them to the complex microscopic phenomena, which take place at the pore scale level. As a matter of fact, the macroscopic continuum approach essentially consists of applying some type of homogenization technique, which properly averages the underlying microscopic phenomena for producing measurable quantities. Unfortunately, these quantities in the porous electrodes of fuel cells are sometimes measurable only in principle. For this reason, this type of approach introduces additional uncertainties into the macroscopic models, which can significantly affect the numerical results, particularly their generality. This paper is part of an ongoing effort to address the problem by following an alternative approach. The key idea is to numerically simulate the underlying microscopic phenomena in an effort to bring the mathematical description nearer to actual reality. In particular, some recently developed mesoscopic tools appear to be very promising since the microscopic approach is, in this particular case, partially included in the numerical method itself. In particular, the models based on the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) treat the problem by reproducing the collisions among particles of the same type, among particles belonging to different species, and finally among the species and the solid obstructions. Recently, a model developed by the authors was proposed which, based on LBM, models the fluid flow of reactive mixtures in randomly generated porous media by simulating the actual coupling interaction among the species. A parallel three–dimensional numerical code was developed in order to implement this model and to simulate the actual microscopic structures of SOFC porous electrodes. In this paper, a thin anode (50 micron) of Ni-metal / YSZ-electrolyte cermet for a high–temperature electrolyte supported SOFC was considered in the numerical simulations. The three–dimensional anode structure was derived by a regression analysis based on the granulometry law applied to some microscopic pictures obtained with an electron microscope. The numerical simulations show the spatial distribution of the mass fluxes for the reactants and the products of the electrochemical reactions. The described technique will allow one to design new improved materials and structures in order to statistically optimize these fluid paths.© 2006 ASME