Job satisfaction is a pleasurable motional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences. It is so important to job performance. The research give an investigation to employees in Nanchang, using factor analysis to identify the job satisfaction of the four dimensions include: work itself, pay, policy and interpersonal relationship. Than we use this model to compare the job satisfaction from gender, age and education level. The statistical results are as follow: (1) Females' satisfaction with work itself, company policy, interpersonal relationship and pay satisfaction are all higher than male, but there are no significant differences between male and female. (2) the age above 35 are more satisfied with their job, the means of work itself, policy, interpersonal relationship, pay and total satisfaction are more higher than the age under 35. Especially, there are significant different about work itself, interpersonal relationship and pay satisfaction between the age above 35 and under 35. (3) It has no significant different job satisfaction between low education level people and high education level people.


This paper examines the themes of Plato´s Symposium and the general functions of the first five speeches. It also discusses the importance of the person of Socrates as a subject of the dialogue and his connexion to eros. Eros and Socrates together form the focus of the Symposium. The second part of this article analyses the speech of Aristophanes in detail. This funny speech has several functions: Plato uses the speech to develop a general notion of eros which is interesting and worthwhile to reflect upon. The myth offers an explanation for the three kinds of sexual identity, but also for things like promiscuity, the function of sexuality and the feeling that eros is more than just sex. Eros is a force regulating human life.
 At the same time, his speech is a defence of homosexual love, a rather strange position for someone who usually paints a very negative picture of homosexuality in his comedies. The article aims to demonstrate that Aristophanes is ridiculing himself in the Symposium. The things he says in his speech are the opposite of his own ideas. In fact, Plato treats Aristophanes in the same way as the poet of comedies treated Socrates in the Clouds. So this speech, too, is related to Socrates.


Some critics question new natural law theorists' conception of the common good of the political community, namely, their interpretation of St. Thomas Aquinas and the conclusion that the political common good is primarily instrumental rather than intrinsic and transcendent. Contrary to these objections, the common good of the political community is primarily instrumental. It aims chiefly at securing the conditions for human flourishing. Its unique ability to use the law to bring about justice and peace and promote virtue in individuals may make the common good of the political community critically important. Nevertheless, it is still not an intrinsic aspect of human flourishing. Unlike the family or a religious group, membership in a political community is not an end in itself.


This paper presents the findings of the research conducted on the basis of the created virtual showcase to explore ways in which an interactive 3D website's atmosphere can be enhanced and fostered to benefit the design education and industry fields. Construction of the virtual gallery showcase was generated as an effective demonstrator to be utilised by students and designers in terms of promotional, training and educational gains. The interactive environment of the virtual gallery showcase provides users with a source for interactive simulations, design processes and variations, which enable the exploration and sharing of best design, construction and exhibition practices. The site was designed to be a valuable tool to communicate ideas and demonstrate design models of the university student's product and interior architecture work, paying particular attention to the designs that won national and international competitions, received professional awards and/or chosen by industry to be manufactured. The immersive environment enables the visitor to interact with the 3D models via exploring every detail and all functionality of the design from the very first prototype to the final product, review design documentation and provide feedback to the designer. In addition, the online site facilitates the examination of the models from different angles, various configurations including the change of components, colours and textures, hidden and showed elements and simulations. Thus, at the fourth stage of the Interactive 3D Web Design project implementation, in order to evaluate potential and existing facilities of the virtual gallery showcase, the research of the website atmosphere was conducted. The study was carried out on the basis of randomly selected samples of students from design classes at a Brisbane university and accomplished Australian designers. The applied research methodology included two approaches; namely, experimental learning and action research. The first method, experimental learning, identified key characteristics of the website design in the aspect of suitability towards projects needs. The second method analysed university students' and designer's perception and evaluation of the website by practical action research. The research outcomes reflect students and designers viewpoint with regard to the first impression, aesthetic and emotional judgement concerning loading speed, professional appearance, navigational capability and presentation of the models to be exhibited on the virtual gallery showcase. The research findings contributes in gaining a better understanding of cultural distinction in design practices background, market trends and educational approaches employed in particular countries in terms of utilising web design facilities.


Myopia is an irreversible visual disorder. Its pathogenic mechanism is not completely determined. This lack of understanding has led to difficulties in its early detection and prevention. Herein, it is reported that the content of dopamine (DA) inside tears is related to myopia diopter. Changes in DA are detected by the use of a wearable corneal biosensor. The biosensor is prepared by electrodeposition of the enzyme tyrosinase and poly (3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) functionalized sulfur‐doped graphene onto a self‐designed corneal microelectrode. This leads to a high‐performance biosensor with a high sensitivity (of 12.9 µA × 10−3 m−1 cm−2), a good detection limit (of 101 × 10−9 m), excellent selectivity, and long‐term stability. In vivo sensing tests on rabbits confirm a linear relationship between DA added to the animal eyes and the current response of the biosensor. Further tests on human tears sourced from defocus‐induced myopia patients who have various myopia diopters show that the biosensor outputted a sensitive current signal that is related to the number of myopia diopters. This suggests there is an underlying relationship between myopia diopters and DA content in tears. It may provide a novel approach to a better understanding of myopia formation and its prevention.


This conference is an opportunity to build on the success of the First AAAI Human Computation and Crowd- sourcing conference, and to promote the best scholarship in this vibrant and fast emerging, multidisciplinary area. The conference also comes on the heels of four HCOMP workshops, including two workshops hosted at the annual AAAI conference.


By a well-known result of Bayer and Diaconis, the maximum entropy model of the common riffle shuffle implies that the number of riffle shuffles necessary to mix a standard deck of 52 cards is either 7 or 11-with the former number applying when the metric used to define mixing is the total variation distance and the latter when it is the separation distance. This and other related results assume all 52 cards in the deck to be distinct and require all 52! permutations of the deck to be almost equally likely for the deck to be considered well mixed. In many instances, not all cards in the deck are distinct and only the sets of cards dealt out to players, and not the order in which they are dealt out to each player, needs to be random. We derive transition probabilities under riffle shuffles between decks with repeated cards to cover some instances of the type just described. We focus on decks with cards all of which are labeled either 1 or 2 and describe the consequences of having a symmetric starting deck of the form 1,..., 1, 2,..., 2 or 1,2,..., 1,2. Finally, we consider mixing times for common card games.


Blood flow in a stenosed artery was simulated using the two way, fluid-structural interactions in ANSYS---a commercial finite element and finite volume software widely used in industry. Several stenosis models were investigated using a pulsatile flow condition. In these models the form of the stenosis geometry was either axisymmetric or axis-asymmetric. The blood was modelled both as a non-Newtonian, power law fluid, and as the Casson model. The artery tissue was assumed to be a linear elastic material for the axis-symmetric stenosis model and nonlinear material for the axis-asymmetric stenosis models. A fibrous cap and lipid pool were also added into the stenosis geometry of the axis-asymmetric models to account for complexities of the physiology. The effect of the stenosis severity on arteries was investigated by examining the blood flow velocity, pressure and wall shear stress at multiple locations.

 References K. C. Ang and J. N. Mazumdar, Mathematical modelling of three-dimensional flow through an asymmetric arterial stenosis, Mathematical and Computer Modelling , 25 , No 1, 19--29, 1997, doi:10.1016/S0895-7177(96)00182-3 . W. Y. Chan, Y. Ding, J. Y. Tu, Modeling of non-Newtonian blood flow through a stenosed artery incorporating fluid-structure interaction, ANZIAM Journal , 47 , 507--523, 2007, http://anziamj.austms.org.au/ojs/index.php/ANZIAMJ/article/view/1059 . Santabrata Chakravarty and Prashanta Kumar Mandal, Two-Dimensional blood flow through tapered arteries under stenotic conditions, Non-Linear Mechanics , 35 , 779--793, August, 2006, doi:10.1016/S0020-7462(99)00059-1 . Samuel A. Kock and Jens V. Nygaard. Nikolaj Eldrup,Ernst-Torben Frund and Anette Klaeke, William P.Pausk. Erling Falk and W.Yong Kim, Mechanical Stresses in carotid plaques using MRI-based fluid-structure interaction models, Journal of Biomechanics , 41 , 1651--1658, March, 2008, doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2008.03.019 . K. W. Lee and X. Y. Xu, Modelling of flow and wall behaviour in a mildly stenosed tube, Medical Engineering and Physics , 24 , 575--586, May, 2002, doi:10.1016/S1350-4533(02)00048-6 . M. X. Li and J. J. Beech-Brandt and L. R. John and P. R. Hoskins and W. J. Easson, Numerical analysis pulsatile blood flow and vessel wall mechanics in different degrees of stenoses, Journal of Biomechanics , 40 , 3715--3724, June, 2007, doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2007.06.023 . B. Pincombe and J. Mazumdar, The effects of post-stenotic dilatations on the flow of a blood analogue through stenosed coronary arteries, Mathematical and Computer Modelling , 25 , No 6, 57--70, 1997, doi:10.1016/S0895-7177(97)00039-3 . J. Poiseuille, Observations of blood flow, Ann. Sci. Naturelles Srie 5 , 2, 1836. S. U. Siddiqui and N. K. Verma and Shailesh Mishra and R. S. Gupta, Mathematical modelling of pulsatile flow of Cassons fluid in arterial stenosis, Applied Mathematics and Computation , 2007, doi:10.1016/j.amc.2007.05.070 . S. U. Siddiqui and Shailesh Mishra, A study of modified Casson's fluid in modelled normal and stenotic capillary-tissue diffusion phenomena, Applied Mathematics and Computation , 189 , 1048--1057, 2007, doi:10.1016/j.amc.2006.11.151 . Dalin Tang and Chun Yang and David N. Ku, A 3D thin-wall model with fluid-structure interactions for blood flow in carotid arteries with symmetric and asymmetric stenoses, Computers and Structures , 72 , 357--377, 1999, doi:10.1016/S0045-7949(99)00019-X . Dalin Tang and Chun Yang and Yan Huang and David N. Ku, Wall stress and strain analysis using a three-dimensional thick-wall model with fluid-structure interactions for blood flow in carotid arteries with stenoses, Computers and Structures , 72 , 341--356, May, 1999, doi:10.1016/S0045-7949(99)00009-7 . Dalin Tang, Chun Yang, Jie Zheng, Pamela K. Woodard, Gregorio A. Sicard, Jeffrey E. Saffiz, Shunichi Kobayashi, Thomas K. Pilgram, and Chun Yuan, 3D computational mechanical analysis for human Atherosclerotic plaques using MRI-based models with fluid-structure interactions, MICCAI , 328--336, 2004. Dalin Tang and Chun Yang and Jie Zheng and Pamela K.Woodard and Gregorio A.Sicard and Jefferey E. Saffitz and Chun Yuan, 3D mri-based multicomponent fsi models for artherosclerotic plaques, Biomedical Engineering , 32 , 947--960, July, 2004.


The study of cell signalling in schistosomes is crucial in deepening our knowledge of the biology of these blood flukes, which affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Here, Akt/protein kinase B (PKB) signalling has been functionally characterised and mapped in Schistosoma mansoni; an Akt variant of approximately 52 kDa has been characterised and RNA interference of the S. mansoni Akt gene, resulted in an 84% reduction in Akt expression. The phosphorylation (activation) status of the characterised Akt protein was increased by host molecules, including insulin and L-arginine in somules and adult worms, and L-arginine and linoleic acid in cercariae. Akt phosphorylation (activation) was also attenuated by Akt Inhibitor X and herbimycin A treatment. Immunohistochemistry/confocal laser scanning microscopy revealed phosphorylated Akt in all S. mansoni human infective/resident life stages. Somules and adult worms displayed activated Akt primarily in the tegument, particularly the tubercles and gynaecophoric canal of adult males. Cercariae exhibited activated Akt in the nervous system and punctate regions along the length of the tail prompting investigation into the role of Akt in cercarial motility. Behavioural studies demonstrated a significant increase in cercarial swimming in response to host factors, which was attenuated following exposure to Akt inhibitor X. The striking activation of Akt observed in the tegument of adult worms stimulated research into its possible role in glucose uptake in this host-interactive layer. RNAi of Akt resulted in a 59% and 47% reduction in SGTP4 glucose transporter expression in male and female adult worms respectively with a concomitant reduction in glucose uptake by the parasite. In somules, the expression of SGTP4 and its evolution at the apical tegument membrane during transformation were significantly attenuated by Akt Inhibitor X; a 74% reduction in glucose uptake was also demonstrated following Akt inhibition. Bioinformatic analysis of S. mansoni Akt interacting proteins uncovered a putative connection between Akt and Rab vesicle trafficking proteins and a mechanistic model illuminating the possible role of Akt in the translocation of SGTP4 to the parasite surface was proposed. Collectively, this research highlights the significance of Akt in schistosome homeostasis and host-parasite interactions and thus demonstrates that Akt may be a suitable target for anti-schistosome drug development strategies.


Exemplar-based feature enhancement successfully exploits a wide temporal signal context. We extend this technique with hybrid input spaces that are chosen for a more effective separation of speech from background noise. This work investigates the use of two different hybrid input spaces which are formed by incorporating the full-resolution and modulation envelope spectral representations with the Mel features. A coupled output dictionary containing Mel exemplars, which are jointly extracted with the hybrid space exemplars, is used to reconstruct the enhanced Mel features for the ASR back-end. When compared to the system which uses Mel features only as input exemplars, these hybrid input spaces are found to yield improved word error rates on the AURORA-2 database especially with unseen noise cases.


According to the analysis of meteor burst communication (MBC) mechanism, a model of signal processing based on the structure of data frame is suggested for adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) of MBC system in this paper. There are two distinct modes of operation for signal processing: acquisition and tracking. The acquisition mode is a training period to initialize the channel estimation by frame header. The tracking mode is jointly to equalize payload data and to trace channel, where the principle of per-survivor processing (PSP) for maximum likelihood sequence detection (MLSD) is performed. A suboptimal method called D-PSP is adopted to save the computational time and memory size, which agrees with the slow-fading characteristic of meteor channel and makes the MLSD possible for adaptive modulation and coding of MBC system. Computer simulation results are included to support our development.


Globular clusters (GCs) are some of the most visible tracers of the merging and accretion histories of galaxy halos. Metal-poor GCs, in particular, are thought to arrive in massive galaxies largely through dry, minor merging events, but it is rare to see a direct connection between GCs and visible stellar streams. NGC 474 is a post-merger early-type galaxy with dramatic fine structures made of concentric shells and radial streams that have been more clearly revealed by deep imaging. We present a study of GCs in NGC 474 to better establish the relationship between merger-induced fine structure and the GC system. We find that many GCs are superimposed on visible streams and shells, and about 35% of GCs outside are located in regions of fine structure. The spatial correlation between GCs and fine structure is significant at the 99.9% level, which shows that this correlation is not coincidental. The colors of GCs on fine structures are mostly blue, and we also find an intermediate-color population that is dominant in the central region and that will likely passively evolve to have colors consistent with a traditional metal-rich GC population. The association of the blue GCs with fine structures is direct confirmation that many metal-poor GCs are accreted onto massive galaxy halos through merging events and that the progenitors of these mergers are sub- galaxies.


The Scatchard analysis was used to determine the association and dissociation constants and the number of binding sites for corticosterone over a glucocorticoid type III receptor in high-speed cytosol from liver, kidneys, heart and lungs of intact male rats after coal adsorption of endogenous glucocorticoids. The association constants for the liver, kidney, heart and lung cytosols were 0.48 X 10(10) M-1, 0.34 X 10(10) M-1, 0.175 X 10(10) M-1 and 0.96 X 10(10) M-1, respectively, and the binding site numbers 0.57 X 10(-3), 2.4 X 10(-10), 4.5 X 10(-13) and 6.4 X 10(-13) mole/mg protein, respectively. The authors have suggested a hypothesis that glococorticoid type III receptors take part in regulating the intracellular transport of glucocorticoids.


Abstract. Sterol ratios are used to identify sources, occurrence and partitioning of faecal matter in sediments of the Tay Estuary, Scotland. The 5β/(5α+5β) ratio is used to discriminate between sewage and biogenic sterol sources by comparing the concentrations of coprostanols to cholesterol plus coprostanols. This index shows unambiguous sewage pollution in the Invergowrie Bay area (values >0.7). The coprostanol/epicoprostanol index is used to differentiate between human and non-human faecal inputs. Ratios confirmed the primary source as human-derived faecal material. The coprostanol/cholesterol ratio was calculated in order to elucidate the contribution of different biogenic sources to the sedimentary sterol budget. Ratios of >1 clearly indicate faecal sterol sources. Invergowrie Bay displayed no sterol signature other than sewage. A biogenic source of cholesterol influenced total sterol concentrations upstream of the City of Dundee. Attention is directed to the potential role of density fronts in compartmentalization of faecal material in bottom sediments.


This study aims to report and characterize the frequent new particle formation (NPF) events observed at the Maïdo observatory, Reunion Island, a Southern Hemisphere site located at 2150 m (a.s.l.) and surrounded 15 by the Indian Ocean. In 2014 and 2015, continuous aerosol measurements were made using both a Differential Mobility Particle Sizer (DMPS) and an Air Ion Spectrometer (AIS) to characterize the NPF events down to the lowest particle size scale. Carbon monoxide (CO) and Black Carbon (BC) concentrations were monitored, as well as meteorological parameters, in order to identify the conditions that were favourable to the occurrence of nucleation in this specific environment. We point out that the annual NPF frequency average (65%) is one of the 20 highest reported so far. Monthly averages show a bimodal variation of the NPF frequency, with a maximum observed during transition periods (autumn and spring). A high yearly median particle Growth Rate (GR) of 15.16 nm.h is also measured, occasionally peaking at values of the order of 100 nm.h and showing a bimodal seasonal variation with maxima observed in July and November. Yearly medians of 2 and 12 nm particle formation rates (J2 and J12) are 0.858 and 0.508 cm.s respectively, with a seasonal variation showing a maximum during winter, 25 that correspond to low temperature and RH typical of the dry season, but also to high BC concentrations. We show that the condensation sink exceeds a threshold value (1.04 ×10 s) with a similar seasonal variation than the one of the NPF event frequency, suggesting that the occurrence of the NPF process might be determined by the availability of condensable vapours, which are likely to be transported together with pre-existing particles from lower altitudes. 30


[1] A collisional shear instability in a magnetized plasma is described and evaluated. The instability is related to electrostatic Kelvin Helmholtz but operates in inhomogeneous plasmas in the collisional regime. Boundary value analysis predicts that the linear growth rate for the instability could be comparable to that of the collisional interchange instability in the equatorial F region ionosphere under ideal conditions. An initial value simulation of a nonlinear model of the instability run under realistic conditions produces growing waves with a relatively long growth time (50 min) and with an initial wavelength of about 30 km. The simulation results are consistent with recent radar observations showing large-scale plasma waves in the bottomside equatorial ionosphere at sunset prior to the onset of spread F conditions. The role of shear instability in preconditioning the F region for interchange instabilities to occur after sunset is discussed.


The regional natural gas markets are expected to gradually become more integrated. The major driving forces are lower LNG costs, more spot trade, and increased need for imports into the US and other key markets. In this paper we examine various scenarios for a future global gas market, particularly focusing on natural gas prices and trade patterns. We use a numerical model of the international energy markets, with detailed modelling of regional gas production and international gas transport. Scenarios with different assumptions about future demand and supply conditions are simulated. Our results suggest that trade between continents will grow considerably over the next couple of decades, and that prices in the main import regions will remain around current levels. However, significant constraints on exports from the Middle East may alter this picture.


Software is playing a crucial role in modern societies. Not only do people rely on it for their daily operations or business, but for their lives as well. For this reason, correct and consistent behaviour of software systems is a fundamental part of end user expectations. Additionally, businesses require cost-effective production, maintenance, and operation of their systems. Thus, the demand for good quality software is increasing and is setting it as a differentiator for the success or failure of a software product. In fact, high quality software is becoming not just a competitive advantage but a necessary factor for companies to be successful. The main question that arises now is how quality is measured. What, where and when we assess and assure quality, are still open issues. Many views have been expressed about software quality attributes, including maintainability, evolvability, portability, robustness, reliability, usability, and efficiency. These have been formulated in standards such as ISO/IEC-9126 and CMMI. However, the debate about quality and maintainability between software producers, vendors and users is ongoing, while organizations need the ability to evaluate the software systems that they use or develop from multiple angles.


Coinfection of vector species can provide more insight into the complex relationship between zoonotic pathogens and its host. Ixodes scapularis (Say) or the deer-tick in particular is an important species in North America because of its exceptional ability as a vector that can transmit zoonotic diseases such as Lyme and Cat Scratch Disease (CSD). In recent years, many studies have suggested a possible link between the coinfection of Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme, with other tick-borne bacteria such as Bartonella spp., the causative agent of CSD, as partly responsible for the symptoms associated with Chronic Lyme Disease or Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome. This study investigates the prevalence of Bartonella spp. and Borrelia burgdorferi in Ixodes scapularis using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assay to potentially find a link between the two of the most common tick-borne pathogens found in Nova Scotia. Standard PCR using primers targeted at the two bacterial species were conducted on 157 I. scapularis ticks collected in Nova Scotia. Overall, we found high prevalence for both bacteria at 75.16% for Bartonella spp. and 47.13% for B. burgdorferi with no significant differences between the sex of the ticks. Interestingly, all the ticks positive for B. burgdorferi were also positive for Bartonella spp. which implies that the coinfection rate between B. burgdorferi and Bartonella spp. is 47.13%. We report one of the highest coinfection rates for B. burgdorferi and Bartonella spp. in I. scapularis, consistent with the current trends of increasing tick presence in North America.


This paper argues that the choice of remedial starting point in relation to proprietary estoppel is not simply a choice for claimants as matter of litigation strategy, contrary to the Singaporean Court of Appeal's view in Low Heng Leon Andy v Low Kian Beng Lawrence [2018] 2 SLR 799. It is a matter for the law to decide upon, since it raises an inherently normative question. The aim of proprietary estoppel, which is to avoid detriment, is best reflected when expectation relief is adopted as the starting point, but only where it provides a weak starting position.


Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to study the effects of ion-irradiation at grain boundaries in a single phase austenitic alloy (Fe,15%Cr,15%Ni) with particular reference to the nucleation and growth of helium gas bubbles. The Harwell Dual Beam Facility was used to implant helium-ions at high temperatures (450 to 600°C). Simultaneous implantation of chromium-ions was used to study the synergistic effects of helium implantation and displacement damage on the development of the radiation induced microstructures. TEM showed that all interfaces except coherent twin interfaces exhibit preferential nucleation of helium bubbles. The density of bubbles at grain boundaries increased with gas implantation rate, decreased slightly with temperature but was independent of extra displacement damage during dual-beam irradiation. The presence of resolvable arrays of grain boundary dislocations at interfaces enhanced the density of helium bubbles at all temperatures studied. A nucleation model was developed to account for the observed density of bubbles at grain boundaries and at grain boundary dislocations. The model was used to show that helium diffusion at grain boundaries and along grain boundary dislocations is slow relative to helium-interstitial migration within grains. Two forms of heterogeneous dislocation loop nucleation were identified at grain boundaries. First, interstitial dislocation loops were observed at coherent twin interfaces. The loop shape was dependent on irradiation conditions and was interpreted in terms of the relative rates of diffusion of interstitial atoms at the twin interface and along the dislocation line. The second form of heterogeneous loop nucleation occured in the vicinity of some grain boundaries and is consistent with the de-channelling of ions at crystal interfaces.


To the Editor In their recent Viewpoint, Drs White and Danis 1 discussed using the electronic health record (EHR) to enhance patient-physician interactions. Whereas others have argued that the EHR can hinder patient-physician communication, 2 the authors hold a more optimistic view that expanded uses (such as inviting patients to participate in EHR viewing during the clinical encounter) are untapped tools for patient activation. We share the optimism of White and Danis for health care information technology. During an era of technology innovation and adoption in all aspects of daily life, patients as well as medical professionals are, in general, becoming increasingly familiar with computer use during the clinical encounter. Current EHR systems, however, can be awkward to use, and there is a lack of standardized data structure for true integration of patient data across different EHR platforms. 3 These issues are technical and will likely be overcome through innovations in EHR technology, allowing expanded EHR use to further enhance patient care. Additionally, there is a growing repertoire of technologybased tools for patient activation that can complement the EHR. The relatively nascent web-based patient portals allow patients to securely log in and access their personal health information. The portal pulls data from the patient's EHR and can support items such as screening reminders and patient-physician messaging. One study showed that patient portals in conjunction with an EHR may improve patient engagement. 4 Health care–focused social networks also offer a platform for patient activation. Patients can post questions online about their health condition. Physicians registered with the network can then post answers, which can be peer reviewed by other registered physicians. As medical students, we believe proper EHR usage instruction during medical education is important. Patientphysician communication is a part of the standard curriculum at most medical schools. For example, during our preclinical years, we learned a patient-centered model of patient interviewing. These interviews can serve as opportunities for students to practice using the EHR in a way to enhance the interaction. Appropriate use of the EHR to enhance patient activation can thus be taught concurrently with patient communication. 2,5 Ultimately, EHR education


This descriptive study aims to evaluate the quality of life in patients receiving hemodialysis (HD) treatment and to identify the daily activities that may impair their quality of life. We investigated 125 chronic kidney failure patients under hemodialysis treatment by means of the Medical Outcome Survey-Short-Form 36 (SF-36), and their daily activities, by means of semi-structured interviews. For statistical data analysis, a significance level of 5% was used. The results evidenced that these individuals' quality of life is impaired, with lower scores for physical, emotion and vitality aspects. There was a negative correlation between time spent on HD and the physical component (r= - 0.75) and between hemodialysis time and daily activities such as work, housework and practical activities. Physical and leisure activities were the most affected in the general sample as well as in the one stratified by gender.


Indian writing in English has recorded, responded to and interpreted the socio- political climate of the country, right from the time of the Nationalist movement. Post-Independent Indian writing in English has provided a significant depiction of the political and religious issues in the nation. Viram Seth is a pioneer in the field of literature, in particular of his analysis of the problems revolving around the Indian society. Caste and Religion are deciding factors to any incident in the Indian society. The research paper analyses Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy, and deals with the religious and caste tensions that are prevalent in the India society. Moreover, the attitude of individuals towards fellow human beings is also analysed in this research work.


In recent years, there has been a steady increase in injuries all over the world. Man-made and natural disasters, local military conflicts, transport and industrial accidents in 50-60% of cases of all injuries lead to combined and multiple injuries to organs and systems of the human body, and, as a result, to high sanitary losses in the first hours and days [1,2,5,13,19,21]. This article discusses intestinal injuries in combined abdominal trauma.


Traditional forms of leadership are many and varied globally and throughout the continent of Africa, chieftaincy institution has recognized only male chiefs, (Von Trotha, 1996 & Engelbranner-Koff et al 1995). However, literature points to the existence of female chiefs since the ancient times but the question still remains especially, the role these chiefs play in the socio-economic and cultural development of their traditiobal areas. This study sought to ascertain the existence of female chiefs in Dagbon Traditional Area and the role they play in sociocultural and economic development of Northern Region of Ghana. Qualitative methods descriptive statistics and processes were used which included interviews, observations and focus group discussions and percentages for the primary data. The targeted population were Traditional Authority (Chiefs, their Elders, Tindanas, Magazias), Drum historians, People with special knowledge on the matter and the Community elders from the study areas. Data collected were analysed through the process of Thematic Content Analysis and guided by sociological theories such as Social Role Theory, Role Congruity Theory, Sociocultural Theory and Functionalists Theory. The results showed that the qualification and the selection or nomination for a title as female chief was based on lineage either a daughter or granddaughter of the overlord (Ya Naa). They assumed important sociocultural, spiritual and political roles especially, during funerals of the King of Dagbon and some other selected chiefs as well as during festivities. They are bedeviled with a lot of challenges including lack of recognition, support in terms of finances, ill-treatment by their female counterparts and humiliation. It is recommended that Regional and National Houses of Chiefs and the District Assemblies as a matter of urgency support female chiefs with quarterly allowances and sensitization of the public by district assemblies to realise the importance of female chiefs in the development of the traditional area.


In 2001 excavation works undertaken in advance of quarrying at East Barns, East Lothian, revealed the substantial remains of a robust Mesolithic house structure, securely dated to the late 9th millennium BC. The house was situated within a large, natural hollow whose gradual infilling had effectively sealed the archaeological deposits. The house consisted of a sub-circular sunken floor with the remains of a westfacing entrance and two concentric angled post rings, suggesting episodes of replacement if not actual rebuilding. The remains of interior furniture were also recorded in the form of post holes, a platform, and three probable hearth features. A charred deposit of occupation debris rich in lithics sealed many of thestructural features around the internal perimeter of the house. The distribution of this deposit appeared to reflect informal refuse toss/drop zones formed during the occupation of the structure and suggests some form of internal spatial organisation.
The house at East Barns joins an increasing group of substantial analogous sites related to Early Mesolithic activity in Scotland and northern England. These substantial house sites reflect increasing socio-economic, cultural and chronological complexity during the Mesolithic. As such the site allows provisional hypotheses to be formed about the scale and nature of Early Mesolithic social and economic adaptation around the North Sea Basin.


This paper proposes a practical digital-signal-processor (DSP)-based algorithm for the online efficiency optimization of induction motor drives. The algorithm combines good features of the search control and loss-model-based control, while simultaneously eliminating their major drawbacks. It ensures very fast convergence without the need for any a priori knowledge of the motor loss-related parameters. The minimum loss operating point is decided from a functional approximation of the motor and the power converter losses, in the form of a suitably defined loss function. The loss function parameters are obtained online from input power measurement and a dedicated identification routine acting in conjunction with the common drive control functions. Proposed online identification of the loss function parameters relies upon the signals and states readily available within the drive controller memory and does not involve the user entry nor the initialization procedure. The proposed controller is coded into a conventional low-cost 16-bit DSP and verified on a 2.2-kW induction motor drive prototype.


The increased urinary calcium excretion probably has no important relation to the fractures. These seem rather to be secondary to injury. The hypercalciuria in alcoholics, however, seems to be a useful indicator of the alcohol dependence syndrome. We conclude that the presence of fractures has limited use in diagnosing alcoholism. The presence of fractures, especially if multiple, and the hypercalciuria may be of value in estimating the severity of dependence in individual alcoholics. S DE MARCHI A BASILE F GRIMALDI C MACOR GIUSEPPA VITALE EMANUELA CECCHIN


As a response to the need of employment in the rural area, the creation of enterprises where raw material is transformed has been created. These are called nonagricultural considered to contribute to economic development; therefore to study this type on business is needed. Through the study of two cases which are directed by women, this paper describes how in the development of human and productive processes of agribusiness, the creation of knowledge nets are involved. It is also stated that the growth of this business has given response to the creation of self-employment and jobs to whom made an effort to progress with their families, taking the opportunity of natural resources and preserving the cultural roots that distinguish their communities.


ABSTRACT Disillusionment is acknowledged to be a painful process with important personal and social consequences. However, scientific conceptualisations of the experience are inconsistent. Across four studies, we examined whether lay conceptions of disillusionment produce a consistent pattern of features. In Study 1 (N = 204), we extracted 19 features of disillusionment from open-ended participant definitions. In Study 2 (N = 131), participants rated the centrality of these features and indicated that features such as discovery, disappointment, and loss, were highly representative, while features such as hopelessness, orientation, and truth, were more peripheral. In two further studies, we used experimental designs to test the diagnosticity of these features. In Study 3 (N = 155), participants rated vignettes descriptions as more disillusioning when they were based on more, rather than less, prototypical disillusionment features. Given that disappointment is a feature of disillusionment, we conducted Study 4 (N = 60) to test whether the extracted features effectively distinguish disillusionment from disappointment. Overall, we found evidence to suggest that disillusionment contains a consistent set of features, and represents a state of negative epistemic affect associated with the violation of core assumptions. These results create avenues for research on disillusionment, its antecedents and its consequences.


[1] This paper is a follow up on Bernabe et al.'s (2010) study of the effect of pore connectivity and pore size heterogeneity on permeability. In the permeability model initially proposed, pore connectivity was characterized by means of the average coordination number z, a parameter rarely included in experimental investigations of the transport properties and microstructure of porous rocks. Obviously, lack of information on z makes it difficult to apply the model. One way around this problem is to eliminate z from the model by introducing the resistivity formation factor, an approach previously used by Paterson (1983), Walsh and Brace (1984), and many others. Using the network simulation approach of Bernabe et al. (2010), we extended the model to include the electrical formation factor. The new joint permeability-formation factor model consists of three equations, the first two expressing the relation of permeability and formation factor to z and the last one, obtained by elimination of z, linking permeability and formation with each other. We satisfactorily tested the model by comparison with published experimental data on a variety of granular materials and rocks. Furthermore, we show that, although our model does not explicitly include porosity, it is consistent with Archie's law.


Decisions about where conservation actions are implemented are based on incomplete knowledge about biodiversity. The Protea Atlas is a comprehensive database, containing information collated over a decade. Using this data set in a series of retrospective simulations, we compared the outcome from different scenarios of information gain, and habitat protection and loss, over a 20-year period. We assumed that there was no information on proteas at the beginning of the simulation but knowledge improved each year. Our aim was to find out how much time we should spend collecting data before protecting habitat when there is ongoing loss of habitat. We found that, in this case, surveying for more than 2 years rarely increased the effectiveness of conservation decisions in terms of representation of proteas in protected areas and retention within the landscape. If the delay is too long, it can sometimes be more effective just using a readily available habitat map. These results reveal the opportunity costs of delaying conservation action to improve knowledge.


We propose a fast algorithm for the identification of localised brain regions from medical images that discriminate between two groups of individuals. The method is based on a combination of penalised regression and a data resampling procedure. We apply this approach to both MRI and PET images for the classification of subjects with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment. We show that the voxels selected by the algorithm form connected brain regions which are well known to be affected by Alzheimer's disease. A linear statistical classifier trained on the selected voxels achieves cross-validated classification results that are comparable to those obtained by current state-of-the-art methodologies.


Mouse embryonal stem (ES) cells have been shown to provide a new model system suitable for the analysis of different aspects of murine development. This report gives evidence that ES cell lines are also most useful for the study of developmentally regulated gene expression in vitro. Homeo-box containing genes which are suggested to play a key role in the regulation of differentiation steps occurring during embryogenesis are stage-specifically transcribed in differentiating murine ES cells: (i) A mouse embryonal stem cell line (ES-12957) was isolated and characterized with respect to its differentiation potential. When injected subcutaneously into syngeneic mice, ES-12957 cells formed fully differentiated teratomas representing derivatives of all three germ layers. When allowed to grow in suspension cultures in vitro, the cells followed a reproducible developmental pathway forming complex organized 'embryoid bodies' which resembled mouse early postimplantation embryos. (ii) A mouse DNA sequence with homeo-box homology (MH-121) was isolated and structurally analyzed. Transcription of a 1.7 kb RNA species from this DNA sequence was demonstrated in ES-12957 cells which were differentiated in vitro. A second, previously described homeo-box gene (Mo-10) was also shown to be expressed in ES-12957 cells in a stage-specific manner. A 4-kb transcript could be identified exclusively in RNA of cells which were allowed to differentiate for 9 days. These findings support the suggestion that the homeo-box genes of mammals, like those of Drosophila, may have important functions during embryonic development.


Drawing on empirical research conducted with police in the UK and Romania, Child Trafficking in the EU explores the way in which the 'who' and 'how' we police and protect as trafficker and trafficked is related to Western notions of innocence, guilt, childhood, and of the status of 'deserving' victim. This book progresses a new theoretical space by linking its analysis to sociologies of mobility, marginalisation and the pluralised rendering of criminalised and victimised 'others'. This book explores core contextual themes surrounding the commission, response to and origins of child trafficking, and presents empirical research into the investigation of child trafficking within the EU, situating the authors' findings against broader social, cultural, political, policy and judicial contexts. The authors conclude with a synthetisation of the key themes and arguments to situate pan-EU child trafficking within political, criminal justice, organisational, cultural, and social contexts, and consider the degree to which such criminality can be can adequately addressed by current and emerging approaches given such enduring and persistent structural issues. This book will be of interest to scholars and students within the fields of criminology, sociology, political science and law, as well as a key resource for practitioners and activists.


of paper presented at Bird Strike Committee USA/Canada Meeting, Lake Mary and Sanford, Florida, August 18–21, 2008. Challenges, Circumstances and Considerations for Bird and Wildlife Abatement and the Importance of Empirical and Historical Data at Central Florida Airports Johnny C. Metcalf Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, Orlando International Airport, One Airport Blvd, Orlando, FL 32827 USA George Speake Sanford Airport Authority, Orlando Sanford International Airport, 1200 Red Cleveland Blvd., Sanford, FL 32773 USA The central Florida region is home to a variety of birds and wildlife. Most bird species occurring in the eastern United States winter in, or migrate through, Florida. Ample rainfall, abundant lakes, ponds and marshes provide productive aquatic habitats for a variety of birds, reptiles and mammals. Airport operators are faced with a diversity of wildlife species and situations capable of adversely impacting aviation operations. Constant surveillance, dispersals, removals capture relocations, habitat and ecological modifications are the primary tools for addressing these issues. Area development has increased significantly in recent years making the open expanses of the airfield and unimproved airport property more attractive to birds and wildlife including state and federally protected species resilient to a variety of human activities including aviation operations. Cooperation between regulatory, environmental and conservation organizations is essential for public support, proposing and/or modifying legislation and constructing comprehensive abatement measures. Historical and empirical data can provide a basis for cooperation and puts into perspective hazards relative to each species and its population specifically bald eagles and wood storks.


The popular protests that erupted in 2010 and quickly remade the political map of the Arab world surprised almost everybody. We all knew the terrible state of Arab governance, marked as it was by rents, repression and regression, still no-one predicted that the people would ever rise. For decades, the Arabs had looked like an exception to global trends towards greater participation and accountability in public life, towards more sensible economic policies and more permissive social mores.
Arab societies appeared exceptional hostile to the ideals of democracy, and modernity more generally. There was a curious absence of politics, because their states were invariably authoritarian and offered no legitimate, peaceful channels for the formulation of competing interests. Repressive, inefficient and often deranged leaders ruled over unproductive, unimaginative but strongly growing societies.
The so-called Arab Spring appeared to end these decades of exceptionalism and bring the Arab world back into the mainstream of global developments. The rebellions promised the return of politics and the reassertion of popular sovereignty against their corrupt and geriatric leaders. Much hope and flowery language greeted the young men and women who deposed their leaders and tried to build new, better societies.
Today, the Arab world is in deep crisis. Of the 22 member states of the Arab League, at least five have essentially collapsed: Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Syria exist only in name today, as their territories have fallen to competing, murderous armed groups. In the remaining countries, the old autocracies have reasserted themselves. The repression at home is now worsened by regional conflict on an unprecedented scale, and the resulting frustration has led to the biggest refugee flows in recent memory. What went wrong?
This short course offers an overview of the structural shortcomings of Arab states and societies, which help us understand why the democratic awakening did not happen but instead "has given way to civil wars, ethnic, sectarian and regional divisions and the reassertion of absolutism." This raises the obvious and renewed question whether there is something inherent in the Arab, and by analogy Muslim, condition that makes them special. Does this condition makes this part of the world impervious to generally observable trends towards greater accountability, popular participation in political decision-making, greater generation and fairer division of economic wealth?


Innocent Heart Murmurs Innocent heart murmur is a frequent auscultatory finding in children. The diagnosis is essentially clinical, without need for further investigation. However, excluding heart disease can be a difficult task. This review article describes some features of medical history and physical examination that help in this differentiation. The role of diagnostic tests is also examined.


This paper presents a modified 4-phase paralleled step-up converter for fuel cell generator. In high power applications, the interleaving technique for paralleling input of the converter system has been studied for many years. The modified 4-phase interleaved fuel cell converter is studied for higher voltage conversion ratio. By virtue of paralleling the converters, the input current can be shared among the cells or phases, so that high reliability and efficiency in power electronic systems can be obtained. In addition, it is possible to improve the system characteristics such as maintenance, repair, fault tolerance, and low heat dissipation. The average-current-control in continuous conduction mode for the proposed converter is analyzed in details. The prototype fuel cell converter of 1.2-kW connected with a Nexa fuel cell (1.2-kW, 26 V) developed by Ballard Power System Company is implemented for highvoltage applications. Experimental results of the power converter authenticate the excellent performance. The power converter can boost a low dc fuel cell voltage of 26 V up to a dc bus voltage of 200 V.


F ew diseases have a relation to age which is as fascinating and complex as for asthma. It is a chronic but not necessarily lifelong condition. The incidence of asthma and wheezing illness peaks in very early childhood, but new incident cases occur throughout life. In many affected subjects, particularly children, it disappears after some time. However, in a substantial proportion of cases which have apparently lost the disease it will come back, often after many years. 4 Another intriguing feature is that the sex ratio changes with age. Most studies show that boys are affected more often by wheezing illnesses than girls, but this sex ratio usually reverses during or shortly after puberty, partly due to a higher incidence in females. Most studies investigating the relationship between age and asthma have been performed in infants and children and, in fact, different age related phenotypes in childhood have been described which seem to have distinct causes and consequences. 10 Information on the relation to age in adults is scarce and has often been based on routine data or cross sectional studies. 6 In this issue of Thorax Chinn and colleagues report the findings of phase II of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) which involved following more than 11 000 randomly selected adults (participants in ECRHS phase I stage 2 at which time they were aged 20–44 years) for a period of 5–11 years. The investigators used the same standardised questionnaires at the start and end of the observation period, asking about the occurrence and severity of respiratory symptoms in the 12 months before the survey. The study is unique because of its international approach which included 29 study centres from 14 countries. Consistency of findings across countries argues strongly for the validity of the results. Nevertheless, there are several methodological issues that should be considered before accepting the findings as valid. In particular, measuring asthma in populations is no easy task. There is no single simple instrument by which cases can be identified. Instead, there is a whole battery of different measures, all of which have advantages and disadvantages. Chinn et al report data collected by standardised symptom based questionnaires which are considered to be the standard method for measuring the prevalence of asthma in epidemiological studies. However, since these do not measure the prevalence of asthma in individuals with complete accuracy, changes within individuals between repeated surveys may reflect measurement error rather than genuine changes in morbidity. Chinn et al therefore report the ''net change'' in symptom status for each centre rather than reporting separately the rate at which previously disease free subjects became symptomatic (incidence) and the rate at which previously diseased subjects became asymptomatic (remission). While this approach is perhaps regrettable from a clinical point of view, it is methodologically valid and provides findings that are of considerable interest. The study showed no increase in the 12 month period prevalence of wheeze and more severe asthma symptoms during the follow up period which averaged about 8 years. However, there was a significant increase in the reported 12 month period prevalence of attacks, labelled as ''asthma attacks'', and in the point prevalence of asthma medication use and nasal allergies. How can these apparently contradictory patterns be reconciled? An increased prevalence of asthma attacks andmedication use could be due to an increase in the prevalence of severe asthma, in recognition of symptoms by patients, in diagnostic labelling of wheezing illness by physicians, or in medical treatment of the condition. Each of these, in turn, could reflecttemporaltrends(changesovertime) or age effects (changes with increasing age). However, Chinn et al also measured the prevalence of wheeze and severe asthma symptoms and these did not increase. It is therefore most likely that the observed increases reflect changes in diagnostic labelling and/or medical treatment formild and/ormoderate asthma. Although the study by Chinn et al does not allow to disentangle potential age and period effects, it is interesting to review the current evidence for time trends in asthma prevalence. An increase in the prevalence of asthma and allergies in the late 20th century is generally accepted. While most studies reported increases in the prevalence of symptoms and diagnoses (and these are mostly in children), these observations are supported by studies which also included physiological markers. Recently, however, several studies have suggested that this increase may have come to an end—at least in some areas. A study in adults over the period from 1972 to 1998 still observed increases in the prevalence of asthma symptoms and diagnoses which was more pronounced among those aged less than 40 years. Two other studies on adults examining time trends during the 1990s, however, found no increase in the prevalence of either asthma symptoms or bronchial hyperresponsiveness, but an increase in the prevalence of reported asthma diagnoses. An investigation of Swiss adolescents observed no further increase in the prevalence of asthma symptoms and allergic sensitisation in the late 1990s. Finally, Anderson et al, in a large survey in the UK, actually found a decrease in the prevalence of symptoms of asthma, hay fever, and eczema in 12– 14 year olds between 1995 and 2002. During the same period there was an increase in the lifetime prevalence of diagnoses of the three disease entities under investigation. Robertson et al reported a similar reduction in the prevalence of asthma in children in Melbourne during 1993–2004. Thus, there is evidence from several countries that time trends in the burden from asthma may have levelled off—in some countries even reversed—while the rate of reported diagnoses continued to increase. It is important to note, however, that these reports come mostly from high income countries with prevalence rates ranking among the highest in the world. The global burden of asthma, however, will be determined to a large extent also by what happens in low income countries. In this respect, the upcoming results of phase III of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC), which has studied recent time trends in about 100 centres worldwide (including those of Anderson et al and Robertson et al), will be of particular interest. If, in fact, time trends in asthma prevalence have levelled off, it is not clear which factors have determined this change. It is possible that the increase in asthma prevalence has reached a natural plateau in English speaking countries in which virtually all the ''susceptibles'' may have developed the EDITORIAL 637


A decade of experience with e-learning material production gives significant trends overview. From the perspective of ICT evolution this means very long time. E-learning is always closely coupled to ICT but with the distinction - it always lags behind the advancement in ICT. Among many unknown issues one thing is certain – e-learning permanently changes. From the past experiences prediction of immediate future e-learning is possible but the prediction for longer time is less accurate. In the article chronological e-learning achievements and their connections are presented in order to give an overview of trends in e-learning in Slovenia. But despite of the detailed past knowledge fundamental prediction error of e-learning future developments was made. Today's hot topics are not better e-learning materials, not even broad application of interactive boards but e-testing. Possible immediate future of e-learning is therefore application of intelligent e-testing systems. Intelligent computer assisted testing (CAT) is not the new topic in e-learning. It is object of many researches but it is not suitable for teachers. It is way too complicated for teachers to apply it successfully in their work. E-learning development process for intelligent computer assisted test production that suits teachers' competences is prepared and explained in the article.
Key words: distance education, electronic testing, learning management system, knowledge assessment.


This research attempts to elucidate the subject of tolerance of Islam with Christians of Jerusalem during the caliphate of Umar bin al-Khaṭṭāb in the light of his treaty, which is known as "Umar's Assurance to the People of "Aelia" (al-'Uhdah al-Umariyyah). This treaty expounds the rights and duties of Christians and Islamic tolerance towards them. The researcher adopts historical and inductive methods for the transmission of original texts of al-'Uhdah al-Umariyyah and elaboration of it in the light of the Quran, Ḥadith and historical facts. Likewise, the analytical method is employed for discoursing on texts and deliberating on relevant historical events. Furthermore, it distinguishes those articles of al-'Uhdah al-Umariyyah which are eligible for inference from that which are ineligible followed by discussion of differed opinions and preference of preponderant one from them conforming to the authentic maxims and rulings. This research is concluded with several significant findings and one of them is that this treaty guaranteed the preservation of personal rights of Christians of Jerusalem such as protection of their body and property, and their religious privileges. This treaty assures that they should not be forcibly converted to Islam but their churches should be protected. Moreover, it guarantees their financial rights in terms of ownership of property and its collection. This research is deemed particularly significant because it establishes the tolerance of Islam with Christians during the period of second Caliph, which is conducive to remove the misconceptions based on unproven facts among Muslims about how Caliph treated non-Muslim citizens of Islamic state.


Let $k\ge d\ge 3$ be fixed. Let $\mathcal{F}$ be a $k$-uniform family on $[n]$. Then $\mathcal{F}$ is $(d,s)$-conditionally intersecting if it does not contain $d$ sets with union of size at most $s$ and empty intersection. Answering a question of Frankl, we present some structural results for families that are $(d,s)$-conditionally intersecting with $s\ge 2k+d-3$, and families that are $(k,2k)$-conditionally intersecting. As applications of our structural results we present some new proofs to the upper bounds for the size of the following $k$-uniform families on $[n]$:
(a) $(d,2k+d-3)$-conditionally intersecting families with $n\ge 3k^5$;
(b) $(k,2k)$-conditionally intersecting families with $n\ge k^2/(k-1)$;
(c) Nonintersecting $(3,2k)$-conditionally intersecting families with $n\ge 3k\binom{2k}{k}$.
Our results for $(c)$ confirms a conjecture of Mammoliti and Britz for the case $d=3$.


This paper describes the establishment of the Australasian College of Chiropractors. The President of the Chiropractors' Association of Australia (National) Limited, Dr Dennis Richards, is scheduled to announce the formation of the College at the annual general meeting of the company in October 2006. The National Board of the CAA has led an extensive process to investigate and develop a submission to establish a professional college for chiropractors in Australasia. The Board approved the principle of the College early in 2005 and established a sub-committee of the Board as the College Management Committee (CMC). The Board recognises that the continued development of the chiropractic profession is more than ever contingent on the very real need to foster a culture of research and scholarship that would support professional development and sees the College as a proactive step in this direction. This paper documents the process of establishing the College and explains its purpose, governance and membership categories.


ABSTRACT The leopard orchid Ansellia africana (Orchidaceae) is an epiphytic species widely distributed across tropical Africa. The pollination ecology of A. africana was investigated by direct observation. Buds and stalks of A. africana exude droplets of extra-floral nectar, but mature flowers produce no nectar. The role of extra-floral nectar appears to be recruitment of foraging ants to tend the flowers resulting in a facultative ant-association between the orchid and gregarious ants. Four different ant species were found to forage on A. africana's inflorescences. Ant-tended inflorescences suffered significantly less damage by insects. Mature A. africana flowers are non-rewarding which suggests a deceit pollination mechanism being employed by this orchid. The pollinators of A. africana were observed to be wild solitary bees species in the genera Xylocopa, Amegilla (Apidae) and Gronocera (Megachilidae). Observations of bee visitors to A. africana revealed overall low-visitation rates but adequate fruit set despite the non-rewarding flowers. Solitary bees visiting A. africana were 'deceived' by the flowers, but attracted to the floral displays and scent. A. africana shows spatial and temporal manipulation of two distinct suites of insects, ants and solitary bees.


AIMS
To assess the criteria used to identify alcohol dependence in the general population.

DESIGN AND SETTING
Two independent probability surveys of the US household population 18 years of age and older were analyzed: the 1994 National Telephone Survey (NTS-94), which interviewed 637 respondents, and the 1988 National Household Interview Survey (NHIS-88) which interviewed 43,809 respondents in their homes.

PARTICIPANTS
The analyses of the NHIS-88 dataset focused on drinkers who consumed at least 12 drinks of alcohol in the 12 months prior to the survey interview (N = 22,102). The analyses of the NTS-94 dataset focused on drinkers who consumed at least one drink in the 12 months prior to the survey interview (N = 637).

MEASUREMENTS
Criteria for DSM-IV alcohol dependence were operationalized using 15 items from a standardized questionnaire.

FINDINGS
Analyses suggested that normal drinking behavior can be misidentified as dependence criteria. Results for men who drank up to two drinks per day suggest that if the dependence criteria were invalid, reductions in the prevalence of specific indicators of alcohol dependence would range from 0.3% to 5.2%. Correcting for the misidentification of alcohol dependence diagnosis would reduce the overall prevalence of alcohol dependence by 0.5%. Up to 7% of the men could have been diagnosed as alcohol-dependent and could have provided invalid reports.

CONCLUSIONS
The identification of alcohol dependence in general population samples must include careful probing of the nature of drinking-related behavior reported by respondents. This will decrease misidentification of dependence criteria, increasing the validity of dependence diagnosis in survey research.


Land use, land cover and land management change threatens the sustainability of ecosystem services upon which individuals and communities depend. However, quantifying the effects of large-scale environmental change on regional water resources and climate is challenging because of a lack of appropriate data as well as fundamental limitations of environmental models. This thesis focuses on the development of integrated modelling systems for representing feedback mechanisms between human activities and the environment at regional scales. India is selected as a case study because of the unprecedented scale of environmental change in this country over recent decades. Land use change modelling is identified as a viable method for reconstructing historical land use/land cover at regional scales. This is facilitated through the development of a new modelling framework which allows users to perform the entire modelling workflow in the same environment and provides a consistent interface to different spatial allocation models. Hence, the modelling framework enables model intercomparison and ensemble experiments. It furthermore promotes reproducible science because it allows applications to be expressed programmatically. An adapted version of the Change in Land Use and its Effects (CLUE) land use change model is used to reconstruct historical land use/land cover in India between 1956–2010. The model algorithm explicitly accounts for competition between land use/land cover categories as a result of dynamic socio-economic and biophysical conditions. A further dataset showing the irrigated area of various crops is developed by spatially disaggregating historical agricultural inventory data based on maps of cropland extent and biophysical suitability. Land use/land cover maps are supplied to an offline historical simulation of the Joint UK Land and Environment Simulator (JULES), a process-based land surface model, to generate soil moisture values across the Gangetic plain. Simulated soil moisture values are modified to account for the effects of irrigation. The procedure exploits the characteristics of the irrigated area dataset in order to account for the growing season of individual crops. Existing tools for coordinating complex workflows in the hydrological sciences are strongly coupled to underlying modelling frameworks. As a result, they lack flexibility and often necessitate refactoring of the source code of model components. Exploring these issues further, an experiment is devised in which the data processing language R is set up as a workflow orchestration tool for hydrological data analysis and modelling. A new software package implements a set of classes for representing multi-dimensional hydrological data and to provide a common interface to hydrological models. The experimental set-up is demonstrated through two example applications drawn from hydrology and the emerging discipline of socio-hydrology. These serve to highlight the flexibility of the R system for workflow orchestration and model coupling but also draw attention to several areas for future development.


Objectives: This study was conducted to examine the ideas and opinions of nursing students about the home visiting practice which was implemented as a part of their "Public Health Nursing" course. Method: The population of this descriptive study was comprised of final year students enrolled in a Public Health Nursing course of a nursing faculty. Students carried out home visits as a part of their internship program for three days in a week over the spring semester for ten weeks. A total of 143 students participated in this study. In this context, a total of 429 families were visited by the students. A statistical software package was used to evaluate the data. Percentages were used to assess the variables. Chi-square test was performed to determine the difference between the years of the study. Findings: Of the students, 43% said 'health education' was the most fulfilled nursing role they achieved during their home visits, while 35% said 'communication', 15% 'ensuring healthy change' and 5% 'care'. When for the first time they attended a home visit program, 15.9% of the students reported that they experienced negative feelings, 66.7% felt nervous, 47.8% got excited, 44.9% felt afraid, 21% felt positive feelings. Conclusions and Recommendation: Nursing students contributed to the protection and improvement of the health of individuals, families and communities during home visits. Nursing students initially stated negative opinions and thoughts about home visits but they overcame their anxieties and fears, and made a range of positive contributions to the families in promoting their health. In this context, it was seen that the students need to be prepared psychologically for the internship program beforehand, and that educating students with practical exercises and with realistic role-play activities in the appropriate environments would have a positive effect on the students' preparedness for their internship program. Such realistic preparation for the home visit portion could only have a positive effect on the whole program. The most important suggestion of this study is to provide nursing students of nursing faculties/programs who will carry out home visits within their internship program with practical exercises and role-play activities in simulated environments before the start of their home visits to enhance their preparedness, and that this practical training before home visits should be adopted as a standard practice.


Background and Objective: Eating disorders are common mental / physical health disorders which cause psychosomatic and psychological dysfunction and also the poor quality of life and even death. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of eating disorders among adolescents  of Gonabad city.  Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. The samples were attained from the first- and second- grade students of 20 high schools of Gonabad city in 2014. They were selected by stratified randomization and Participated in this study. Data were obtained using eating attitudes questionnaire (26- EAT). Chi-square test was used for data analysis. Results: The participants were in the 13-18 age range with an average of 15.50±1.70. In this study, 15.7% of students were at risk for eating disorders. Mental anorexia disorder and bulimia were, 1.1% and 3.2%, respectively. There was a significant difference in eating disorder between girls and boys (p= 0.001). The prevalence of this disorder also had a significant association with age and educational level (p= 0.001). The prevalence of mental anorexia disorder was similar between the opposite sex (p= 0.079) and various educational levels (p=0.115). The results showed that the prevalence of eating disorders among girls is higher. There was a significant association in prevalence of this disorder among these opposite sexes (p=0.014), with different ages and grads (p=0.003). Conclusion: The results showed that the eating disorders are more common in girls which may be due to the expansion of the West culture, poor nutritional patterns, racial and social factors. It is recommended to investigate the mentioned factors in a similar study. Key words: Student, Eating disorders, Mental anorexia , Bulimia Funding: This research was funded by Semnan University. Conflict of interest: None declared. Ethical approval: The Ethics Committee of Semnan University approved the study. How to cite this article: Safarzade S, Mahmoody khorandi Z. Survey on Eating Disorders (Mental Anorexia , Bulimia) among 13-18-Year-Old Adolescents of Gonabad City in 2014. J RafsanjanUniv Med Sci 2015 14(5): 393-404. [Farsi]


ABSTRACT This study examined whether exposure to community violence was related to sexual risk behaviors in a nationally representative sample of young adults and if there were gender or racial/ethnic differences in these relationships. The analytic sample for this study was drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and was composed of 7,726 unmarried, heterosexual African American, Caucasian, and Hispanic/Latino young adults aged 18 to 27 years old. Approximately 12% of participants reported some community violence exposures, with men and African Americans reporting the highest rates of such exposures. Regression analyses controlling for age, gender, parental education, and family structure indicated that exposures to community violence were associated with earlier sexual debut history, a higher number of sexual partners within the previous 12 months, and a higher number of total sexual partners. Additionally, violence exposures had stronger effects for males and weaker effects for African Americans. Primary and secondary sexual risk prevention initiatives would need to consider how patterns of sexual risk behaviors may be related to exposure to community violence and how such relationships may differ based on gender and race/ethnicity. Future research should also seek to illuminate pathways connecting these 2 major public health concerns.


Leadership is often very competently defined in terms of sets of skills to be appropriately administered to a situation and this is often added to by emphases on character or trait being influential in the successful outcome. Success therefore, is assumed to be dependent on an individual leader being able to, or having the correct perceptive skills to, furnish the right skills mix at the right time. Inevitably, there is significant margin for error as hopeful reliance on such serendipity can be high in the success equation. Reducing the margin for error by forming a more robust approach to developing a broader and more reliable set of leadership skills and capabilities would provide a greater likelihood of strategic alignment between corporate and individual need on a more robust basis, increasing both of their respective shelve lives in their internal and external competitive worlds. These skills, therefore, need to be embedded in order to provide necessary strength and yet be flexible enough to adapt to survive in differing environments. Once cultivated, these skills need to be inclusive and able to align the leader and their followers to the organisational vision in the most informed and collaborative way possible. Underpinned by empirical studies as well as conceptual argument, a model of leadership longevity is formed with interesting and novel propositions which take the modern leader into less chartered, emotional territory to really get to know themselves and their company in a holistic manner with the purpose of increasing the resilience of both. This paper maps the journey less travelled that leads to leadership longevity with an equal balance of two distinct foci, one of Socratic self knowledge and the other foci being knowledge of the other (i.e. critical stakeholders and environment). This knowledge requires a different approach to developing self and to acquiring critical organisational information for more informed decision making through a deliberative inquiry approach, before aligning all effort towards the organisational vision. Critically and more fully informed about self and the facts and the feelings of crucial stakeholders and the formative context (i.e. history, environment in which the organization sits), new leaders emerging from hard times are much better equipped to stay the course for longer and be more emotionally robust themselves to help others do the same


—This paper proposes a new cost-efficient, adaptive, and self-healing algorithm in real time that detects faults in a short period with high accuracy, even in the situations when it is difficult to detect. Rather than using traditional machine learning (ML) algorithms or hybrid signal processing techniques, a new framework based on an optimization enabled weighted ensemble method is developed that combines essential ML algorithms. In the proposed method, the system will select and compound appropriate ML algorithms based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) weights. For this purpose, power system failures are simulated by using the PSCAD-Python co-simulation. One of the salient features of this study is that the proposed solution works on real-time raw data without using any pre-computational techniques or pre-stored information. Therefore, the proposed technique will be able to work on different systems, topologies, or data collections. The proposed fault detection technique is validated by using PSCAD-Python co-simulation on a modified and standard IEEE-14 and standard IEEE-39 bus considering network faults which are difficult to detect.


The aim of this study was to characterize full length sequence of JJ3 isolated from shade tolerant soybean. The characterization of full length sequence involved analyses of structure of full length sequence, open reading frame (ORF) or coding sequence (CDS), and homology. The analyses of JJ3 full length sequence structure were done using GeneScanW program, coding sequence (CDS) or open reading frame (ORF) using ORF Finder program, and the homology of JJ3 full length sequence were done using BLAST and clustalW programs. Results showed that the full length sequence of JJ3 consisted of single exon and polyA. Single exon was a coding sequence (CDS) 633 bp produced open reading frame (ORF) with 210 amino acid deduction comprised of 136 conserved amino acids and 77 varied amino acids. The conserved domain of JJ3 produced functional protein, PsaD photosystem I (PSI) subunit, related to photosynthetic transport electron in PSI reaction center. The full length of JJ3 homolog to psaD, a gene encoding protein subunit photosystem I (PSI) related to mechanism of plant adaptation to shade stress, in wood tobacco (Nicotiana sylvestris), rice (Oryza sativa), tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), spinach (Spinacia oleracea), Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), and potato (Solanum tuberosum). Key words: full length sequence, gene, homology, shade tolerant, soybean


The coordinated expression of the genes involved in respiration in the photosynthetic cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 during the early period of glucose (Glc) treatment is poorly understood. When photoautotrophically grown cells were supplemented with 10 mm Glc in the light or after a dark adaptation period of 14 h, significant increases in the respiratory activity, as determined by NAD(P)H turnover, respiratory O2 uptake rate, and cytosolic alkalization, were observed. At the same time, the transcript levels of 18 genes coding for enzymes associated with respiration increased with differential induction kinetics; these genes were classified into three groups based on their half-rising times. Transcript levels of the four genes gpi, zwf, pdhB, and atpB started to increase along with a net increase in NAD(P)H, while the onset of net NAD(P)H consumption coincided with an increase in those of the genes tktA, ppc, pdhD, icd, ndhD2, ndbA, ctaD1, cydA, and atpE. In contrast, the expression of the atpI/G/D/A/C genes coding for ATP synthase subunits was the slowest among respiratory genes and their expression started to accumulate only after the establishment of cytosolic alkalization. These differential effects of Glc on the transcript levels of respiratory genes were not observed by inactivation of the genes encoding the Glc transporter or glucokinase. In addition, several Glc analogs could not mimic the effects of Glc. Our findings suggest that genes encoding some enzymes involved in central carbon metabolism and oxidative phosphorylation are coordinately regulated at the transcriptional level during the switch of nutritional mode.


Negation is a core construction in natural language. Despite being very successful on many tasks, state-of-the-art pre-trained language models often handle negation incorrectly. To improve language models in this regard, we propose to augment the language modeling objective with an unlikelihood objective that is based on negated generic sentences from a raw text corpus. By training BERT with the resulting combined objective we reduce the mean top 1 error rate to 4% on the negated LAMA dataset. We also see some improvements on the negated NLI benchmarks.


This paper presents an efficient modelling technique for partially reflective surface (PRS) antennas, based on the substitution of the actual detailed PRS by an uniform equivalent surface impedance. The properties of the equivalent surface are rigorously extracted from the simulation of the detailed PRS unit cell in its periodic environment. The model yields accurate results in considerably shorter time than when the PRS with detailed geometry is employed, thereby enabling the efficient analysis and design of such antennas, which is especially important in the case of their reconfigurable implementation.


The exchange bias phenomena in Tb/Cr films, where the Curie temperature (TC) of ferromagnetic Tb is much less than the Néel temperature (TN) of antiferromagnetic Cr, are systematically investigated. For the Tb/Cr bilayers, the exchange bias field HE changes from negative to positive as the temperature goes up. The unusual behavior of HE(T) is due to the spin-density waves spin structure in the Cr layer. For the Tb/Cr/Tb/Cr film, however, HE is negative throughout the temperature range in our experiment and its absolute value decreases monotonously with the temperature, which is ascribed to the coexistence of the interlayer coupling between Tb layers and the interfacial exchange coupling between Tb and Cr layers.


This review article is a summary of the publications dealing with the pulmonary applications of electrical impedance tomography (EIT). Original papers on EIT lung imaging published over 15 years are analysed and several aspects of the performed EIT measurements summarized. Information on the type of the EIT device and electrodes used, the studied transverse thoracic planes, the data acquisition rate, the number of studied animals, normal subjects or patients, the kind of lung pathology, the performed ventilatory manoeuvres and other interventions, as well as the applied reference techniques, is given. The type of the generated pulmonary EIT images and the quantitative analysis of the EIT data are described. Finally, the major results achieved are presented, followed by an analysis of the perspectives of EIT in clinical applications. A comparative analysis of the EIT hardware and the quality of the evaluation tools was not performed.


Introduction: Increased distance between the base of the nose and lip's vermilion is difficult to treat, and often there are restrictions for the use of botulinum toxin and cutaneous fillers. Objective: To describe a new technique for the treatment of the upper lip ptosis. Methods: A prospective pilot study was conducted with 15 female patients bearing increased distance between the base of the nose and the labial cutaneous-mucosal transition line. Five weekly sessions of intraoral non-ablative 2,940nm Er:YAG laser were performed. For the evaluation of outcomes, standardized records were performed with a 3D photographic camera, and comparative measurements of the philtrum's height and the nasolabial angle were taken before and after the treatment. Results: There was a shortening ranging from 2 to 4 mm in the philtrum's measurements, and a decrease in the nasolabial angle, in addition to increased firmness of the skin in the upper lip. Conclusion: Intraoral non-ablative 2,940nm Er:YAG laser can be a therapeutic option for the treatment of upper lip ptosis.


Due to its tendency to scramble the structural information, multiple scattering blurs the distinction between different materials containing different kinds and numbers of defects, or their configurations, beyond the scattering mean‐free‐path distance from the observation point, thereby rendering most random systems cloudy in appearance and opaque in the sense of structure delineation. However, it has recently been shown theoretically [Feng and Sornette, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 90, 1742–1747 (1991)] that imaging of a new defect in a multiple scattering medium is in principle possible using speckle pattern correlations. Extensive numerical simulations and analytical calculations were performed to demonstrate the feasibility of detecting a new crack in a single given sample already containing many cracks using speckle pattern averaging technique at many different frequencies. Potential applications of this approach can be found in medical and industrial imaging needs in highly scattering systems.


OBJECTIVES:
 To study the demographic characteristics, risk factors, long term mortality and morbidity among patients admitted with cerebrovascular accident in a tertiary care hospital in South India.

 METHODS:
 All patients diagnosed with cerebrovascular accident, who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled into the study which was conducted between December 2011 and June 2013. Baseline demographic data, risk factors and details of the stroke were recorded. The severity of stroke in all patients was scored with the Modified Rankin score (MRS) and National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) at admission. MRS, details of incontinence and dysphagia were obtained at 1 month, 6 months and 1 year through telephonic communication.

 RESULTS:
 Of the 439 patients enrolled into the study, 63% were males. 90% of the patients had accessed a medical care centre within 6 hours of onset of stroke, however only 45% had accessed a medical care centre offering neuroimaging and thrombolysis facilities.93% of patients had positive findings on imaging, 74% being ischemic in etiology. Hypertension was the most common risk factor (71%). 15% of these patients were newly detected to have hypertension and 25 % of the above were normotensive at discharge from hospital. Mortality in the hospital was 11%, the most common cause being severity of the stroke itself (in the first one week) followed by aspiration pneumonia (between 1st to 4th week). At follow up, 80% of the patients could be contacted and a majority of them (95%) responded positively to the telephonic mode of communication. Mortality at the end of 1 month, 6 months and 12 months was 25%, 31.7% and 33.7% respectively. Though nearly 50% of the patients had dysphagia and incontinence at admission, during the follow up there was a trend towards improvement of both. High MRS and NIH were good predictors of mortality. NIH correlated better with mortality than MRS.

 CONCLUSIONS:
 In a developing country like India, timely access to a competent health care facility still remains a challenge. Measures to prevent aspiration pneumonia will help in reducing mortality while in the hospital. NIHS was better than MRS in predicting mortality. Telephonic communication is a good method for follow up in resource limited settings.


Diverticular disease affects more than 50% of the population over the age of 60 years in the west and becomes even more common as the population ages. Diverticulitis is one of the complications of diverticular disease and can culminate into colonic perforation. Though perforated diverticular disease is not uncommon, synchronous colonic perforations in diverticulitis is rare. Our patient was admitted with acute abdomen and exploratory laparotomy revealed two side-by-side perforations of the sigmoid colon. A Hartmann's procedure was performed. Macro- and microscopic evaluation confirmed the presence of two perforated sigmoid diverticula due to diverticulitis. Simultaneous perforation of two abreast sigmoid diverticula is uncommon; thus, a cautious surgeon should always take into account such a probable diagnosis.


The author of the article, using contemporary interdisciplinary methods of study (including those from the field of social psychology), sets out to explain the mechanisms of fear employed by Slavs against the Roman army. The study covered 6 th century historical sources depicting the fighting methods of the Slavs. A more in-depth analysis focused on the issue of fear in relation to group conformism, described in detail in Strategikon (the essential


This thesis examines how secondary students in Indonesia develop historical thinking skills through analysing documents and interpreting textbooks on a key historical event in Indonesia's independence: the battle of Surabaya. Developing historical thinking skills poses a particular challenge in an Indonesian setting. Although history education has been largely aimed at fostering a spirit of nationalism and patriotism among younger people, the recent history curriculum (2013) requires teachers to foster historical thinking skills with their students. This poses a significant challenge for teachers who typically rely on lectures and textbooks with an official government perspective. Even those teachers who are motivated, have difficulties in accessing primary sources needed to stimulate students' historical thinking.
There is a gap in the literature on historical thinking in Indonesia, and this research project contributes to how these challenges can be addressed. To examine how learning history through analysing documents and interpreting textbooks contribute to students' historical thinking skills, this study was informed by the theoretical perspectives of critical pedagogy, cognitivism, threshold concepts, and connectivism. To collect and analyse the data, this study used a mixed methods intervention design. Participants in this study involved three history teachers from three different schools and 11th grade students (n = 191, age 16-19) that were divided into control and experimental groups. By using six data collection instruments, both quantitative and qualitative, this study conducted two phases of learning interventions.
Findings of this study show that analysing documents and interpreting textbooks (ADIT learning model) contributes to the development of students' historical thinking skills. This was demonstrated by the experimental group who progressed better than those of the control group. However, both groups of students were challenged, especially when dealing with multiple sources and establishing their interpretative position. The findings of this study also show that the advancement of students' historical thinking skills was closely related to students' complex epistemic beliefs about history. Learning through analysing documents and interpreting textbooks, as well as using web-based historical sources, has proven to foster students' historical thinking skills.


Nonepithelial malignancies of the rectum are extremely rare making up 0.34% of all rectal neoplasms only. Clinical course, diagnosis and treatment of 8 patients with rectal sarcoma are described. Electron microscopy is helpful in differentiating between various types of sarcoma.


Giant electromechanical coupling factor of k31 mode over 86% was found for (100) Pb[(Zn1/3Nb2/3)0.91Ti0.09]O3 and (110) Pb[(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.74Ti0.26]O3 single-crystal plates poled in the [100] and [110] directions, respectively. The P-E hysteresis loops in the single-crystal plates with giant k31 became asymmetric. Furthermore, the frequency response of impedance in these plates with giant k31 consisted of a single vibration in the length direction. A mechanism to realize giant k31 can be explained by the relationship between the crystal plane and poling direction. In addition, the existence of giant piezoelectric d31 constant was proven by the strain measurement as well as by the impedance measurement.


Purpose
While there is relatively plenty of evidence for the positive impact of communication on the perceptions of organizational change, how organizational changes affect information sharing is relatively unknown. The purpose of this paper is to investigate if a favorable perception of ongoing organizational changes has a positive impact on information sharing and whether trust mediates this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire (n=317) was administered to the employees of a large Finnish multinational organization. Partial least square structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses based on earlier research findings.

Findings
The results show that a positive perception of recent organizational changes improves information sharing both directly and indirectly, mediated by trust. Consequently, when changes are perceived negatively, employees recoil from information sharing which is known to have negative implications for organizations.

Research limitations/implications
Data were collected in a single organization. The nature of the specific changes in the studied organization and its particularities undoubtedly had an effect on respondents' perceptions.

Originality/value
This paper contributes to organizational information management research by elaborating on the relationship between organizational changes and interpersonal information sharing between employees. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first quantitative study confirming the impact of the perception of organizational changes on employee information-sharing behavior.


[1] We used data from both permanent and temporary seismic networks on Iceland and Greenland to investigate the crustal thickness by partly reinterpreting earlier data (P receiver functions) and adding S receiver functions to better constrain the results. We obtained good conversions from the Moho and also crustal multiples in both Iceland and Greenland. The central ice covered part of Greenland has an average crustal thickness of 40 km, typical for a craton. At the edges of Greenland the crustal thickness decreases to 30–40 km. On the east coast of Greenland, where the track of the Iceland plume is thought to have affected the lithosphere, the crustal thickness is only 24–26 km. In contrast to previous studies, we find that the crustal thickness in the east and the northwest coastal regions of Iceland is more than 40 km, similar to beneath the active volcanic region. In the southwest region of Iceland and along the mid-ocean ridge, the crustal thickness is only 25 km or less. Also in contrast to earlier receiver function interpretations, which deduced a broad crust-mantle transition zone for Iceland, we find indications for a normal, sharper Moho beneath a number of sites.