Background: The ability of medical students to recognize heart murmurs is poor (20%), and does not improve with subsequent years of training. A teaching method to improve this skill would be useful. Study objectives: To determine whether intensive repetition of four basic cardiac murmurs improves auscultatory proficiency in medical students. Design: Controlled intervention study. Subjects: Fifty-one second-year medical students in an east coast medical school. Interventions: Subjects were classified into three groups: (1) a monitored group, who listened to 500 repetitions of each murmur in a monitored setting, (2) an unmonitored group, who listened to 500 repetitions of each murmur in an unmonitored setting, and (3) a control group. All three groups were tested using a pretest and posttest methodology. Measurements and results: The 20 subjects in the monitored group improved from 13.5 9.8 to 85 17.6% following the intervention (mean SD). Similarly, 21 students in the unmonitored group improved from 20.9 10.9 to 86.1 15.6%. Ten control students showed no significant improvement (24 21.7 to 32 22.5%). The differences between the two intervention groups and the control subjects was significant at p < 0.001 by analysis of variance. Conclusion: Five hundred repetitions of four basic cardiac murmurs significantly improved auscultatory proficiency in recognizing basic cardiac murmurs by medical students. These results suggest that cardiac auscultation is, in part, a technical skill. (CHEST 2004; 126:470 – 475)


The aim of the present study was to evaluate the anti bacterial activity of three essential oils Thyme, Peppermint and neem oil on Streptococcus mutans, the potent initiator and leading cause of dental caries world wide. Essential oils are distillates of the volatile compounds of a plant's secondary metabolism and may act as phytoprotective agents. Their curative effect has been known since antiquity. It is based on a variety of pharmacological properties which are specific for each plant species. Antibacterial activity of the three essential oils, Thyme, Peppermint and neem oil were screened against Streptococcus mutans, using disc diffusion technique. The results of this study showed that the extracts at different concentrations exhibited anti bacterial activity against the bacterial species tested.


To the Editors:

The prompt identification and adequate treatment of tuberculosis (TB) cases are key components of the global control effort [1]. In many high-income countries, TB is relatively uncommon, implying that many clinicians do not have regular and continuing experience of managing TB. To address this, a policy response is a trend towards small numbers of centralised treatment facilities where individuals may receive better and more complete treatment [2, 3]. This centralising trend is the opposite to many low-income countries, where there is a move towards larger numbers of more decentralised TB services to facilitate patient access [4]. The difference is that such countries have sufficient cases to allow clinical staff to maintain their expertise, even in rural areas.

If TB services become more centralised, then patients may experience greater difficulty in accessing TB services due to increasing the distance between the home and treatment centre. There is little research on how distance affects TB completion, but rural residence is a known risk factor associated with a delay in the diagnosis and treatment of TB [5] and may therefore affect treatment completion. However, most of this evidence comes from low-income countries. In contrast, in high-income countries, good transport links and reasonable social security systems imply that such barriers may not exist.

This epidemiological study examined whether treatment centre case load (annual number of TB patients seen) and healthcare accessibility (proximity of patient residence to TB treatment centre) have an influence upon the completion of TB treatment in England and Wales, UK.

The study was based upon a sample of 21,954 patients reported to the national enhanced TB surveillance system (ETS) from 2001 to 2006 in England and Wales. These TB patients all had …


This paper gives a detailed, insider's look into the history and intricacies of the royal politics of the Āl Saﺀūd examining the factors that characterize and define the course of modern Saudi Arabia from tribal affiliations to Wahhābī muṭāwﺩah and muftis. The author examines the internal power struggles amidst the famous 'Sudeiri Seven' and their rival claimants to the throne as well as repercussions of the system and its underpinnings on the population as a whole. Oil, power‐politics, alliances with the United States and the particular means and apparatuses of control emanating from the Najd all factor in a regime that has marginalized significant sectors of society from inhabitants of the Ḥijāz to the Shīﺀah of the Eastern Province and which may or may not survive the effects of a population boom and high unemployment that coincide with an ever‐increasing number of claimants to a rule predicated on the 'custodianship' of Islam's two holiest cities.


There is a common understanding among thermal-hydraulic experts that the system analysis codes have currently reached an acceptable degree of maturity. Reliable application, however, is still limited to the validated domain. There is a growing need for qualified codes in assessing the safety of the existing reactors and for developing advanced reactor systems. Under conditions involving multi-phase flow simulations, the use of classical methods, mainly based upon the one dimensional approach, is not appropriate at all. The use of new computational models, such as the direct numerical simulation, large-eddy simulation or other advanced computational fluid dynamics methods, seems to be more suitable for more complex events. For this purpose, the European Commission financed NURESIM Integrated Project (as a part of the FP6 programme), was adopted to provide the initial step towards a Common European Standard Software Platform for Modeling, recording and recovering computer data for nuclear reactor simulations. Some of the studies carried out at the University of Pisa within the framework of the NURESIM project are presented in this paper. They mainly concern the investigation of two critical phenomena connected with jet instabilities and direct contact condensation that occur during emergency core cooling. Through these examples, the state-of-the-art and the need for model improvements and validation against new experimental data for the sake of getting a better understanding and more accurate predictions are discussed.


abstract:A growing number of neuroscientific studies use films as experimental stimuli, making filmmakers partners in investigations of the brain. The author provides his perspective as a filmmaker who has been conducting neuroscience experiments in collaboration with a team of neuroscientists at the Brain and Mind Laboratory of Aalto University, Finland, over the last five years. This collaboration led to the development of a novel method of investigating the subconscious brain using films as well as insights on how to create more empathy-evoking films. Finally, the author discusses the relationship between social bias and boundaries of collaboration between filmmaking and neuroscience.


In fast MR imaging with long readout times, such as echo-planar imaging (EPI) and spiral scans, it is important to correct for the effects of field inhomogeneity to reduce image distortion and blurring. Such corrections require an accurate field map, a map of the off-resonance frequency at each voxel. Standard fieldmap estimation methods yield noisy fieldmaps, particularly in image regions having low spin density. This paper describes regularized methods for fieldmap estimation. These methods exploit the fact that fieldmaps are smooth functions. Efficient convergent algorithms are given even though the problem is highly nonlinear. Results show that the proposed regularized methods significantly improve the quality of fieldmap estimates relative to conventional unregularized methods


Learning style represents an important concept in educational psychology, having a significant effect on the learning process. However, most of today's adaptive educational systems don't take into account this dimension of the student profile. Those that do, only rely on a single learning style model and usually adopt a static and explicit approach to student modeling: the learner has to fill in a specific psychological questionnaire and the resulted categorization is stored once and for all in the system. This paper suggests an alternative approach, advocating the use of an integrative, unifying learning style model which is to be updated dynamically, by monitoring and analyzing the student's behavior (i.e. the interactions with the system).


Abstract Subjective wear trials were conducted to evaluate effects of disposable antibacterial sweat pads on foot thermal comfort. Sweat pads were produced with polypropylene and polylactic acid nonwoven topsheet layers which were treated with different herbal antibacterial materials. Trials were carried out with 10 male subjects under 10 °C and 50% relative humidity simulating sweating during a moderate activity in cold environments. Besides microclimate temperature and relative humidity measurements, subjective thermal (coolness, dampness, and comfort) and other sensations (stickiness, slippiness, etc.) were obtained by five point rating scales. Bending rigidity, friction coefficients, and moisture management properties of the topsheet fabrics and pads were tested. Results show that foot sweat pads enabled drier microclimate, warmer sensations, and higher comfort evaluations. Antibacterial treatments did not affect bending rigidity values of the nonwoven topsheet fabrics, but some applications decreased spreading speed, increased roughness of the pad surfaces, and wetting time values which are not preferable.


Creativity Performance With Media Origami This phenomenon is the requirement to be creative in an increasingly globalized world high. Creativity is the ability to think about things in ways new and unusual and produce a unique solution to the problems. One game that can develop creativity is a game of origami. Origami is the art of paper folding that originated in Japan. For educators, the art of origami to create motivation, creativity, skill and perseverance. In addition it also origami can train fine motor skills. To determine whether the test Creativity Performance With Media Origami can be used as another test of creativity in this study tests the Creativity Performance With Media Origami correlated with Creativity Test Circle of Torrance figural shape. The goal is to obtain external validity tests Performance With Media Origami Creativity in children aged 7-8 years.
This research uses descriptive quantitative methods and techniques of taking the sample using purposive sampling technique. The population in this study were children aged 7-8 years in the city of Malang, with a sample of 105 children, consisting of 3 Elementary School (SDN Experiment 1 Malang, SDN Experiment 2 Malang, SDN Sumbersari 3). Reliability of this study, note the value of α = 0.7823, which means that origami has the creativity test match between the research data with the actual situation .. In the measurement validity, obtained by calculating r values of 0.343 higher than r = 0.256 index table sig = 0.00 or lower than 0.01. With these results revealed that the relationship between creativity test performance with the media origami with figural creativity tests form a circle of Torrance is highly significant with correlation value of 34.3%.


We describe the construction of a simple 'real-time' laser-scanning confocal microscope, and illustrate its use for rapid imaging of elementary intracellular calcium signaling events. A resonant scanning galvanometer (8 kHz) allows x-y frame acquisition rates of 15 or 30 Hz, and the use of mirrors to scan the laser beam permits use of true, pin-hole confocal detection to provide diffraction-limited spatial resolution. Furthermore, use of a piezoelectric device to rapidly focus the objective lens allows axial (x-z) images to be obtained from thick specimens at similar frame rates. A computer with image acquisition and graphics cards converts the output from the microscope to a standard video signal, which can then be recorded on videotape and analyzed by regular image processing systems. The system is largely made from commercially available components and requires little custom construction of mechanical parts or electronic circuitry. It costs only a small fraction of that of comparable commercial instruments, yet offers greater versatility and similar or better performance.


Objective:Interpersonal functioning is a core area of impairment for young adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), yet the assessment of their interpersonal problems has not been approached using a comprehensive model of interpersonal behaviors. Method: Interpersonal problems of young adults with ADHD (n = 24) were compared to non-ADHD peers (n = 26) by self- and collateral-report using the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-Circumplex-Item Response Theory (IIP-C-IRT). Results: Both self- and collateral-reports yielded significantly higher scores across interpersonal problem domains, except for self-reported Hostile-Dominant (HD) interpersonal problems. Discrepancy scores between self- and collateral-report supported larger differences in the ADHD versus non-ADHD groups for HD problems. Large correlations between collateral-reported family relationship impairments and HD problems were found only for the ADHD group. Conclusion: Young adults with ADHD have higher levels of interpersonal problems relative to their non-ADHD peers, but also appear to underreport HD interpersonal problems relative to non-ADHD peers, suggesting the presence of a bias. (J. of Att. Dis. XXXX; XX[X] XX-XX)


In April 2002, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, started offering educational programs from the cross-department Internet School of Tohoku University (ISTU). Electronic packaging is one of the pillar subjects of ISTU. The present paper summarizes its curriculum of internet-based electronic packaging education. Following the overall description, the curriculum concerning thermal management of electronic equipment is explained in some detail. The ISTU program is still under development, and some challenges are foreseen. The most visible among them is the need to lower the cost of wide bandwidth communications. The future of internet schooling is discussed.Copyright © 2003 by ASME


The Medical Journal of Australia ISSN: 0025-729X 3 March 2014 200 4 189-189 ©The Medical Journal of Australia 2013 www.mja.com.au In this issue convergence of seemingly small events accruing er time can have severe consequences. This is entral message of many aircraft accident ns. For instance, an attempt to streamline maintenance procedures for an engine mount created the conditions for the United States' deadliest aeroplane crash in 1979 (http://www.airdisaster.com/reports/ntsb/AAR7917.pdf). The investigation found a constellation of interacting factors — design deficiencies, faulty maintenance practice, failures of regulatory oversight and flawed aviation industry economics. As noted in relation to a later aeroplane crash (http://www.theatlantic.com/ magazine/archive/1998/03/the-lessons-of-valujet-592/ 306534), it was a "system accident". The complexity of aviation systems creates conditions for small changes to interact with other system elements across technical, organisational and cultural domains to produce significant outcomes that are hard to predict and control. All clinicians recognise the complexity of health care delivery. The system accident idea has been adopted enthusiastically by some exponents of ways to improve clinical safety, despite more recent reservations about its applicability (Health Serv Res 2006; 41: 1654-1676). Nevertheless, the assessment of clinical mishaps and adverse events requires a systems approach (not only technical, but also organisational, social and cultural). As a starting point, registries are powerful tools for systematically detecting and monitoring clinical problems and adverse events, and for informing interventions. The study by Roxanas and colleagues of Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry data (page 226) shows that the incidence of end-stage renal failure due to lithium therapy, although small, is growing. They express concern that accepted doses of lithium over a long time may result in irreversible renal impairment and end-stage disease, reinforcing the need for regular and frequent monitoring of renal function. Registry data analysis is the monitoring system providing the backbone for reducing risks for those receiving lithium therapy. There is also a need for systems to oversee and analyse incidents in whole areas of health care. Cunningham and colleagues (page 204) point out that, in the case of chiropractic practice, there is little in place for monitoring for adverse incidents. Without such a system, proper investigation of incidents in chiropractic care cannot occur. Significantly greater challenges exist in assessing health impacts of activities with complex influences from societal and cultural practices in the community. Clenbuterol — a 2-adrenergic agonist with anabolic as well as bronchodilating properties, registered only for veterinary use and banned in sport — is now illicitly used in the community to aid bodybuilding and weight loss. Brett and colleagues (page 219) report a case series of clenbuterol toxicity reported to the NSW Poisons Information Centre. Details of cases suggest that it is also being used for deliberate self-harm, and that accidental ingestion has occurred. While the authors acknowledge that the study presents an incomplete picture of actual use in the community, would a deeper engagement with ideas from complexity science help in understanding the complexity of substance misuse? What additional systems need to be put in place for us to know and perhaps anticipate changing patterns of use? No matter how complex the health problem, data registries will always have a central role in disease and health care monitoring and practice. Presently, patients often need to explicitly consent to their information being added to a registry. Olver (page 201) examines the ethical dimensions of opt-out consent, where patient data are automatically added unless consent is expressly refused. He argues that this approach is acceptable in the context of low-risk research and for improving clinical quality. Although not called a registry, the concept has been used for decades in civil aviation for mandatorily collecting flight data and operational feedback from aviation personnel. Only relatively recently have similar approaches taken hold across a broad range of health care activities. Decades of research and application of safety assurance and improvement systems in aviation and other industries have resulted in a critical respect for the complexity of many human endeavours — the importance of monitoring outcomes and processes, understanding why and how incidents happen, and appreciating the multifaceted nature of the solutions. There are certainly limitations to mapping approaches to aviation safety to health care systems. But the analogy provides a useful starting point and source of ideas. Preventing adverse health outcomes and health care incidents matters enormously to the community. Just as a systems approach has led to civil aviation being appreciably safer, it should also be pursued by those wanting well founded solutions to complex, multidimensional problems in health. ❏


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Work engagement can cross over from one individual to another, and this process may depend on several factors, such as the work context or individual differences. With this study, we argue that agreeableness, one of the Big five personality measures that characterized empathetic, can be instrumental in the crossover process. Specifically, we hypothesize that agreeableness can facilitate this process so that engagement of an actor can more easily cross over to their partner when either of them or both have high agreeableness. To evaluate our hypotheses, we implemented an intervention to the working schedules of 74 participants for two weeks. The intervention involved pairing participants to work together so that to create dyads with varying levels of dissimilarity. The results from a multilevel regression model indicate that there is a crossover effect and partner's work engagement can be transferred to actor after a two-week collaboration. This effect is further intensified if either one or both members in the dyad are characterized by high levels of agreeableness. These findings help to decode the mechanisms underlying the crossover process and illustrate how to ideally coordinate work dyads to take advantage of the crossover effect and maximize employee engagement.


The objective of this study was to develop and validate models to predict dry matter intake (DMI) of grazing dairy cows using animal energy sinks and status traits in combination with traits related to grazing behaviour, body measurements, thermal imaging, heart rate and blood pressure. The dataset used to develop the models comprised 33 measurements from 113 Holstein-Friesian dairy cows. Multivariable regression models were constructed incorporating each independent variable into a benchmark model incorporating the energy sinks (milk yield [MY], fat %, protein % and body weight [BW]) and status traits (feeding treatment, parity and calving day of year). Of the 33 variables tested, 10 showed an association with DMI (P < 0.25). These variables were incorporated into a backward linear regression model. Variables were retained in this model if P < 0.05. Grazing bout duration and rumination mastication rate were retained in the final model. The inclusion of these variables in the model increased DMI prediction by 0.01 (coefficient of determination [R2] = 0.85) compared to the benchmark model alone (R2 = 0.84). The models were applied to data recorded on an independent herd of 51 dairy cows. The R2 upon validation was 0.80 for the benchmark model and 0.79 for the model incorporating rumination mastication rate and grazing bout duration in combination with the benchmark variables. The separation of grazing bout duration and rumination mastication rate to predict DMI revealed rumination mastication rate slightly increases predictive accuracy upon external validation (R2 = 0.81), whereas grazing bout duration did not (R2 = 0.78). This suggests that grazing bout duration is not a robust trait for DMI prediction. Results from this study suggest that rumination mastication rate can slightly increase the accuracy of DMI prediction surpassing known energy sinks and status traits.


BACKGROUND
Musculoskeletal complaints are common and often unexplained and often lead to rheumatology referrals. The prevalence of psychiatric disease in patients with musculoskeletal complaints is unknown.

OBJECTIVES
To determine the prevalence of common psychiatric disorders among patients referred to a rheumatology clinic and the likelihood of establishing a rheumatic diagnosis if a psychiatric disorder is present.

DESIGN
Prospective diagnostic survey.

SETTING
Two hospital-based rheumatology clinics and a general medicine clinic.

PARTICIPANTS
A consecutive sample of newly referred patients (n = 185) and their rheumatologists (n = 9).

INTERVENTION
Before their visit, all patients filled out a self-administered version of PRIME-MD (Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders), a questionnaire that makes Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition: Primary Care Version, diagnoses of depressive, anxiety, and somatoform disorders. After the visit, the study rheumatologists, who were unaware of the PRIME-MD results, completed a questionnaire regarding their diagnostic assessment. These patients were compared with 210 patients with musculoskeletal complaints who were cared for in a general medicine clinic.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Psychiatric and rheumatic disorders.

RESULTS
Compared with patients with musculoskeletal complaints in a general medicine clinic, patients referred to a rheumatology clinic had a higher prevalence of psychiatric disease (40% vs 29%; P = .008), had an almost 2-fold higher prevalence of anxiety disorders, and were more likely to have multiple psychiatric disorders (odds ratio = 2.70, 95% confidence interval = 1.50-5.00). The likelihood of a psychiatric disorder differed among patients with connective tissue disease, nonsystemic articular or periarticular disorders, and nonarticular disorders (27%, 38%, 55%, respectively; P = .006). In a best-fitting logistic regression model, psychiatric disorders markedly decreased the likelihood of a connective tissue disease (odds ratio = 0.24, 95% confidence interval = 0.09-0.62).

CONCLUSIONS
Forty percent of patients referred to a rheumatology clinic in this study had a psychiatric disorder, and its presence predicted a lower likelihood of a connective tissue disease. Prospective studies are needed to determine if screening for psychiatric disease before referring patients with unexplained musculoskeletal complaints would reduce costs or improve recognition of potentially treatable psychiatric disorders.


Image retrieval is a basic task in many content-based image systems. Achieving high precision, while maintaining computation time is very important in relevance feedback-based image retrieval systems. This paper establishes an analogy between this and the task of image classification. Therefore, in the image retrieval problem, we will obtain an optimized decision surface that separates dataset images into two categories of relevant/irrelevant images corresponding to the query image. This problem will be viewed and solved as an optimization problem using particle optimization algorithm. Although the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is widely used in the field of image retrieval, no one use it for directly feature weighting. Information extracted from user feedbacks will guide particles in order to find the optimal weights of various features of images (Color-, shape- or texture-based features). Fusion of these very non-homogenous features need a feature weighting algorithm that will take place by the help of PSO algorithm. Accordingly, an innovative fitness function is proposed to evaluate each particle's position. Experimental results on Wang dataset and Corel-10k indicate that average precision of the proposed method is higher than other semi-automatic and automatic approaches. Moreover, the proposed method suggest a reduction in the computational complexity in comparison to other PSO-based image retrieval methods.


Stability of diagnosis in schizophrenia and affective disorders is high. Patients selected according to research criteria for schizophrenia and affective disorders were followed up in a historical prospective study to evaluate their diagnostic stability over a 30- to 40-year period. Our follow-up, lifetime diagnosis, based on blind diagnostic assessment, showed that 92.5% of the personally interviewed schizophrenics were given the follow-up diagnosis of schizophrenia, which was significantly higher than the 78.3% found in affective disorders. However, no significant difference exists when assessment was made on available records of those who died or refused to be interviewed. These stability coefficients are discussed in light of the methodological assumptions involved in a long-term follow-up study. We concluded that the diagnostic stability in schizophrenia and affective disorders were very high and that rigorous diagnostic criteria should be maintained.


An approach for visually specifying parallel/distributed software using Petri nets (PNs) extend with transition enabling functions (TEFs) is investigated. The approach is demonstrated to be useful in the specification of decision-making activities that control distributed computing systems. PNs are employed because of their highly visual nature that can give insight into the nature of the controller of such a system and because of their analytical properties. In order to increase the expressive power of PNs, the extension of TEFs is used. The main focus is the specification and analysis of parallel/distributed software and systems. A key element of this approach is a set of rules derived to automatically transform such an extended net into a basic PN. Once the rules have been applied to transform the specification, analytical methods can be used to investigate characteristic properties of the system and validate correct operation. >


The Heliconias have a great potential as a cut flower and for this reason an adequate management of the crop is important. The objective of this research was the application of soil amendments (Biol and superabsorbent polymers - SAP) and the analysis on their effect in the growth of Heliconia psittacorum cv. Tropica. An experiment was established using a completely randomized design with four treatments and five repetitions: SAP (1 g plant-1), biol (20 mL plant-1) + SAP (1 g plant-1), biol (20 mL plant-1) and one control (without application). A 20 cm rhizome was planted per pot and were evaluated the height of the plant, the number of leaves, the leaf area and the number of shoots were measured. The analysis of variance did not show statistical differences (p ≤ 0.05) between treatments for the variables of the height of the plant, the leaf area and the number of shoots, but statistical differences were found for the variable number of leaves (p ≤ 0.05), and the best treatments were Biol, SAP, and Biol + SAP. With the application of the biol and SAP amendments, it was not possible to increase the plant height, the leaf area and the number of Heliconia shoots. Regarding the application of SAP to the not found significant results in Heliconia, it is expected that treatments with SAP show a better effect in the dry season.


The pottery listed, described, and photographed in the enclosed ceramic resource disk has been assigned to East Lothian Council Museum Service. It was catalogued using the accession numbers (FD.2008.1.1 to 374) and classified and divided by fabric type, form, and decoration into (7) folders and (44) files, created in Microsoft Word. The catalogue also incorporates both earlier and later ceramic material. In total, forty-three boxes of ceramic material were recovered during Phases 1 and 2 of the Prestongrange Community Archaeology Project (PCAP) developed and co-ordinated by the East Lothian Council Archaeology and Museum Services. This was grant aided by the Heritage Lottery Fund and supported by Historic Scotland, East Lothian Council, the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Scottish Power, and Friends of Prestongrange. The on-site archaeology and building recording was carried out by a team of 20 or so volunteers working in conjunction with CFA Archaeology Ltd. Before any fieldwork commenced, preliminary desk based assessment was undertaken by David Anderson (East Lothian Council Museum Service (Anderson 2003) followed by more intensive desk-based research by Mike Cressey and Richard Oram (Cressy & Oram 2005). During the fieldwork further research has been undertaken by Alasdair Ross and volunteer members of the project team. All research reports can be downloaded as a pdf file/word files from the (PCAP) website


Rural areas are less attractive and sustainable for people and businesses alike, partially due to inadequate transport services. In this paper, we address transport-related challenges in rural Norway. The focal aspect of our approach is to define a set of values for the design and mechanisms of transitioning towards more sustainable rural transport making a real-life difference for people living in rural areas. We connect UN sustainability goals and transition design to discuss how these can be operationalized and used throughout the design process seeking to innovate rural transport. Reflecting on how to find the initial 'leverage points' to scaffold the transition to more sustainable transport systems, we explore the possibility of introducing relevant Key Performance Indicators early on in the design process. We report on our experiences and findings regarding the Key Performance Indicators and discuss their role in design-led innovation processes.


RAND Europe is a not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to help improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. The European Platform for Investing in Children (EPIC) was set up to explore demographic and economic challenges in the EU from a child and family-focused perspective. Its purpose is to share the best of policymaking for children and their families, and to foster cooperation and mutual learning in the field. This is achieved through information provided on the EPIC website, which enables policymakers from the member states to search evidence-based child-focused practices from around the EU and to share knowledge about practices that are being developed, and also by bringing together government, civil society and European Union representatives for seminars and workshops to exchange ideas and learn from each other. RAND Europe is an independent not-for-profit policy research organisation that aims to improve policy and decisionmaking in the public interest, through research and analysis. RAND Europe's clients include European governments, institutions, non-governmental organisations and firms with a need for rigorous, independent, multidisciplinary analysis. The document is designed to provide insights into issues of interest to policymakers and practitioners. It has been reviewed externally by an EPIC expert in child and family policy, and internally, following RAND's quality assurance processes. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Commission.


The vehicle routing problem (VRP) plays a central role in the optimization of distribution networks. Since some classical instances with 75 nodes resist the best exact solution methods, most researchers concentrate on metaheuristics for solving real-life problems. Contrary to the VRP with time windows, no genetic algorithm (GA) can compete with the powerful tabu search (TS) methods designed for the VRP. This paper bridges the gap by presenting a relatively simple but e$ective hybrid GA. In terms of average solution cost, this algorithm outperforms most published TS heuristics on the 14 classical Christo5des instances and becomes the best solution method for the 20 large-scale instances generated by Golden et al. Scope and purpose The framework of this research is the development of e$ective metaheuristics for hard combinatorial optimization problems met in vehicle routing. It is surprising to notice in the literature the absence of e$ective genetic algorithms (GA) for the vehicle routing problem (VRP, the main capacitated node routing problem), contrary to node routing problems with time windows or arc routing problems. Earlier attempts were based on chromosomes with trip delimiters and needed a repair procedure to get feasible children after each crossover. Such procedures are known to weaken the genetic transmission of information from parents to children. This paper proposes a GA without trip delimiters, hybridized with a local search procedure. At any time, a chromosome can be converted into an optimal VRP solution (subject to chromosome sequence), thanks to a special splitting procedure. This design choice avoids repair procedures and enables the use of classical crossovers like OX. The resulting algorithm is :exible, relatively simple, and very e$ective when applied to two sets of standard benchmark instances ranging from 50 to 483 customers. ? 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


If cooling due to present-day levels of atmospheric aerosol is suppressing global temperatures, future reductions in aerosols emissions would allow the full greenhouse gas induced warming to be realised. The many uncertainties in aerosol physics and chemistry mean that a large range of present-day aerosol cooling is possible which could imply a large climate sensitivity, extremely large future warming and the increased risk of catastrophic consequences. Despite large uncertainties in aerosol physics and chemistry, observed spatial and temporal patterns of past temperature change allow quantitative assessment of the strength of present-day aerosol cooling. Such observational constraints provide a probabilistic framework in which to assess the likelihood of extremely large warming if a very large suppression of global warming by aerosols were to be removed. The likelihoods of future warming extents are calculated assuming four scenarios of future anthropogenic emissions. While such results are still subject to uncertainty, they indicate that future warming by the end of the 21st century is likely to be between the extremes implied by very strong or very weak present-day aerosol cooling. It is very likely that present-day aerosol cooling is suppressing a major portion of current greenhouse warming.


Civic education is greatly preoccupied with small-group relations and personal conduct and manners, which are important both in themselves and as foundations (like ability to read or equipment to earn a living in a useful occupation), but by no means include the major public problems of modern society. These larger and more difficult problems need vastly more study in relation to civic education than they have yet received. For example, the revelations of the Army Intelligence Tests regarding the incapacity of nearly one half of our population for any beyond the most elementary reasoning are a challenge to the current religion of democracy and the associated educational theories now universally accepted. Can political democracy be defended at all? What light can we get from an inquiry as to when and why and how political democracy originated and developed in the modern world? Can anything better be substituted, in the light of the world-old exploitation by ruling classes of the ruled, the never-ending battle between the privileged and the unprivileged? What should education do in the face of this large and complex problem?


The promise of high speed (over 1Gbps) wireless transmission rate at the physical layer can be significantly compromised with the current design in 802.11 DCF. There are three overheads in the 802.11 MAC that contribute to the performance degradation: DIFS, random backoff and ACK. Motivated by the current progress in OFDM and self-interference cancellation technologies, in this poster, we propose a novel MAC design called REPICK (REversed contention and PIggy-backed ACK) to collectively address these problems. The key idea in our proposal is to take advantage of OFDM subcarriers in the frequency domain to enhance the MAC efficiency. Specifically, in REPICK, we propose a novel reverse contention algorithm which enables receivers to contend for channel access with subcarriers in the frequency domain (reversed contention). We also design a mechanism which allows ACKs from receivers to be piggy-backed through subcarriers together with the contention information (piggy-backed ACK). We demonstrate REPICK's efficiency through both analysis and simulations.


PURPOSE
Lead-free composite aprons consist of a mixture of relatively low atomic number materials with K shell absorption edges that have been selected to provide maximum X-ray attenuation per unit mass of the apron for common x-ray energy spectra encountered in fluoroscopy. The purpose of this study was to simulate and then analyze several factors that may influence the energy spectrum encountered by a physician near the fluoroscopy table.

METHODS
Dose curves were determined on a Siemens Artis Zee C-arm system using varying thicknesses of PMMA. A model energy spectrum was generated using SPEKTR for patients of varying size based on the filtration and kVp described by the dose curves. The energy spectrum was imported into MCNPX v2.5.0 and a Monte Carlo simulation performed. Simulated geometries included both AP and lateral, with the physician standing on both the tube and detector side of the bed. Multiple flux tallies were created to generate an energy fluence histogram as a function of physician location for each fluoroscopy geometry. Plots of the energy spectrum were generated from the resultant MCNPX tallies.

RESULTS
The average energy of the scatter spectrum varied weakly as a function of C-arm orientation and physician location relative to C-arm isocenter. The average energy was the highest at a location of 40 cm inferior at the detector side for a lateral exam at 43.67 keV. The average energy was the lowest at 160 cm inferior on the source side for a lateral exam at 39.82 keV.

CONCLUSION
The influence of physician location and C-arm geometry on the scatter spectrum was, at its largest, 3.9 keV. The difference in energy was relatively small and provides a well-defined target region for material-composite aprons to optimally attenuate scattered photons.


Regular exercise may improve systemic markers of chronic inflammation, but direct evidence and dose-response information is lacking. The objective of this study was to examine the effect and time course of changes in markers of chronic inflammation in response to progressive exercise training (and subsequent detraining). Forty-one sedentary men 45-64 yr of age completed either a progressive 24-wk exercise intervention or control followed by short-term removal of the intervention (2-wk detraining). Serum IL-6 fell by -0.4 pg/ml (SD 0.6) after 12 wk and responded to moderate-intensity exercise. Serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity fell -7 U/l (SD 11) at 24 wk although there was no evidence of any change by week 12 (and therefore ALT required more vigorous-intensity activity and/or a more prolonged intervention). The effect on IL-6 was lost after 2-wk detraining whereas the change in ALT was retained. The temporal fall and rise in IL-6 with training and subsequent detraining in men with high IL-6 at baseline provided a retrospective opportunity to examine parallel genomic changes in peripheral mononuclear cells. A subset of 53 probes was differentially regulated by at least twofold after training with 31 of these changes being lost after detraining (n = 6). IL-6 responded quickly to the carefully monitored exercise intervention (within weeks) and required only moderate-intensity exercise, whereas ALT took longer to change and/or required more vigorous-intensity exercise. Further work is required to determine whether any of the genes that temporally changed in parallel with changes in IL-6 are a cause or consequence of this response.


In this paper, the adaptive fuzzy sliding mode control is applied to the hypersonic vehicle. The detailed design procedure of the fuzzy sliding mode control system is presented. The adaptive fuzzy control is utilized to approach the uncertain functions of the hypersonic vehicle and the adaptive law is derived. According to the tracking errors, weighted parameters of the fuzzy system are adjusted on-line to enable the system to approximate the uncertain nonlinear functions effectively. In addition, a robust controller is employed to enhance the performance of the whole system. Simulations results show the proposed controller is robust in the present of the parametric uncertainty and have better dynamic and static performances.


This thesis presents a new approach to multi-rate sensor fusion for (1) user matching and (2) position stabilisation and lag reduction. The Microsoft Kinect sensor and the inertial sensors in a mobile device are fused with a Gaussian Process (GP) prior method. We present a Gaussian Process prior model-based framework for multisensor data fusion and explore the use of this model for fusing mobile inertial sensors and an external position sensing device.

The Gaussian Process prior model provides a principled mechanism for incorporating the low-sampling-rate position measurements and the high-sampling-rate derivatives in multi-rate sensor fusion, which takes account of the uncertainty of each sensor type. We explore the complementary properties of the Kinect sensor and the built-in inertial sensors in a mobile device and apply the GP framework for sensor fusion in the mobile human-computer interaction area.

The Gaussian Process prior model-based sensor fusion is presented as a principled probabilistic approach to dealing with position uncertainty and the lag of the system, which are critical for indoor augmented reality (AR) and other location-aware sensing applications. The sensor fusion helps increase the stability of the position and reduce the lag. This is of great benefit for improving the usability of a human-computer interaction system.

We develop two applications using the novel and improved GP prior model. (1) User matching and identification. We apply the GP model to identify individual users, by matching the observed Kinect skeletons with the sensed inertial data from their mobile devices. (2) Position stabilisation and lag reduction in a spatially aware display application for user performance improvement. We conduct a user study. Experimental results show the improved accuracy of target selection, and reduced delay from the sensor fusion system, allowing the users to acquire the target more rapidly, and with fewer errors in comparison with the Kinect filtered system. They also reported improved performance in subjective questions. The two applications can be combined seamlessly in a proxemic interaction system as identification of people and their positions in a room-sized environment plays a key role in proxemic interactions.


AbstractThe University of ManchesterHossein MoradiDoctor of PhilosophyMay 2011Writing and the Other: Franz Kafka and Maurice BlanchotThis thesis attempts to explore what occurs in the act of writing; arguing that the act of writing opens a space for 'the other.' For this argument, I bring Franz Kafka who has remained unthought in terms of the act of writing in the deconstructive thinking close to Maurice Blanchot who writes both theoretical discussion and fiction specifically on the act of writing. Blanchot has written extensively on Kafka; his r�cits also are influenced by Kafka. In the introduction, I argue through Borges and Benjamin that Kafka and Blanchot create their past and future, so that we understand any text in the past or the future differently if we know them. In other words, works are in dialogue with one another. This creativity is actually being open to 'the other.' Chapter one argues that Blanchot criticizes language for making things absent by representing them. For him, writing should be the act of making space between word and its referent in order that the referent shows itself infinitely. This spacing, for Blanchot, is desoeuvrement or worklessness as an undoing of being, the neutral spacing that let the thing's otherness come infinitely. The second chapter argues that Joseph K. in The Castle is exposed to this spacing or desoeuvrement which makes him and the castle distance from their meaning and find the singular possibilities of their unknown nature as 'the other' infinitely. Blanchot's meaning of literature necessitates dealing with the notion of the author. In this sense, the third chapter argues that when Kafka is metamorphosed into writing he loses his identity. Writing, for Kafka, becomes the space in which he loses his sense of selfhood and sees 'the other' in the self. Chapter four, by reading Blanchot?s The Instant of My Death and Kafka?s Metamorphosis, argues that being exposed to ?the other? in writing necessitates the process of dying, not death as one instant that begins and ends. Writing becomes the process that interrupts the border between life and death. The self gets no determination, completion, and totality and at the same time it will not be reducible to disappearance. My fifth and sixth chapters illustrate what Blanchot?s means in writing a r�cit. Chapter five argues that the r�cit as a concept questions memory as the place of passed past experiences. In memory, the past, the present and the future become the 'extended present' which means memory is the place in which neither remembering nor forgetting happens. The r�cit rejects memory as the fixed narrative of the past. Therefore, the r�cit is the open space with the possibility of inventing 'the other.' Chapter six argues that the recit is the place where opens the Freud's primal scene to the prior scenes endlessly which are not located in the past; they also occur in the future. By this futurity, he leaves the space for 'the other' in the past and the future. The seventh chapter illustrates Kafka's The Trial while thinking of the concept of the r�cit. The text has no pre-existent story as its origin and problematizes the concept of repetition. By removing the originary state and teleological existence, the text is open to 'the other,' the new possibilities of being written and read endlessly. The conclusion as well as further discussing what ?the other? is and how writing lets it come propose that the ethics of writing in Kafka and Blanchot is not limited only to the openness of the self to 'the other;' it also brings out the community which prepares itself for the coming of 'the other.'


In this article, we examine the apparent resistance of publics to messages regarding pandemic influenza. The 2009 H1N1 pandemic was addressed through media: governments used print, broadcast, and digital media to advise publics to enact hygiene practices and comply with social isolation; news media took up the pandemic as a lead story. Publics, however, rated the pandemic as not serious, even before it was widely known that it was mild for most. This problem is presently constructed as complacency: where individuals are seen to lack appropriate motivation to avoid risk. We combine perspectives on media reflexivity on the part of audiences with general public interviews and focus groups in Australia and the UK, to offer an alternative explanation for complacency. Publics endorse public health advice, but are skeptical of pandemic risk communication. They exhibit critical awareness of outbreak narrative and concomitant emotions, such as fear, which are coded into media stories. We, therefore, challenge the view that publics are complacent. Instead, governments must navigate an emerging terrain of ramified and critical media consumption to shape effective risk communication in time of global health emergency.


STUDY DESIGN
Retrospective Cohort.

OBJECTIVE
Antiresorptive drugs are often given to minimize fracture risk for bone metastases, but data regarding optimal time or ability to reduce stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT)-induced fracture risk is limited. This study examines the association between antiresorptive use surrounding spinal SBRT and vertebral compression fracture (VCF) incidence to provide information regarding effectiveness and optimal timing of use.

METHODS
Patients treated with SBRT for spinal metastases at a single institution between 2009-2020 were included. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to compare cumulative incidence of VCF for those taking antiresorptive drugs pre-SBRT, post-SBRT only, and none at all. Cox proportional hazards and Fine-Gray competing risk models were used to identify additional factors associated with VCF.

RESULTS
Of the 234 patients (410 vertebrae) analyzed, 49 (20.9%) were taking bisphosphonates alone, 42 (17.9%) were taking denosumab alone, and 25 (10.7%) were taking both. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed a statistically significant lower VCF incidence for patients initiating antiresorptive drugs before SBRT compared to those taking none at all (4% vs 12% at 1 year post-SBRT, P = .045; and 4% vs 23% at 2 years, P = .008). On multivariate analysis, denosumab duration (HR: .87, P = .378) or dose (HR: 1.00, P = .644) as well as bisphosphonate duration (HR: .98, P= .739) or dose (HR: .99, P= .741) did not have statistical significance on VCF incidence.

CONCLUSION
Initiating antiresorptive agents before SBRT may reduce the risk of treatment-induced VCF. Antiresorptive drugs are underutilized in patients with spine metastases and may represent a useful intervention to minimize toxicity and improve long-term outcomes.


The previous reports revealed that the aging pancreas showed a significant decrease in the exocrine function as evaluated by the pancreozymin-secretin test and that dilatation, totuosity and irregularity of the margin of the pancreatic duct were more frequently observed with aging. The present report is concerned with studies on the correlationship between changes in exocrine pancreatic function and pancreatogrms with aging. The material was taken from 117 patients hospitalized for routine annual check-ups and those with no abdominal or metabolic diseases on whom pancreozyminsecretin tests and endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography were performed after a short timelag. Evaluated were 4 factors by the pancreozyminsecretin test (secretory volume, maximal bicarbonate concentration, bicarbonate output, and amylase output) and 4 factors on pancreatograms (diameters of the main pancreatic duct in the head, the body and the tail of the pancreas and the presence or absence of irregularity of the margin of the pancreatic duct). The following conclusions were made: (1) The exocrine pancreatic function decreased significantly with aging. The main pancreatic duct also showed significant dilatation with aging. A clear-cut correlation was observed among aging, decrease in exocrine pancreatic function and increase in the diameter of the pancreatic duct. (2) Cases with a decrease in exocrine pancreatic function as well as irregularity of the margin of the main pancreatic duct were observed in an increasing frequency with aging. (3) It was concluded that aging, exocrine pancreatic function and pancreatographic findings are closely related and that there is a clear-cut parallelism between aging in the exocrine pancreatic function and that in the pancreatic duct as revealed on pancreatograms.


Book synopsis: The evocative site of Villamagna, rising in lovely solitude against the steep wooded backdrop of the Monti Lepini, has enormous importance; but its imperial villa, known from the letters of Marcus Aurelius, has been largely ignored until recently, with interest focusing upon the medieval monastery that occupied the site. This volume presents the fascinating story of the site, from imperial villa, to a late antique successor, monastic complex, village, cemetery and late medieval castrum. Detailed, systematic study of the site and setting by non-invasive techniques and excavation has offered the scope to address a series of major questions; and the results are interpreted, setting them in the context of the documentary history of the site and its immediate neighbourhood, and of the broader history of central Italy, from around the first century through to the fourteenth. Each period of the site is considered separately, with the buildings described and the related finds (including pottery, glass, bones and environmental data) discussed. The volume will be of great importance for all scholars of Roman and medieval Italy.


Mendelian susceptibility to mycobacterial diseases (MSMD) is a rare syndrome, the known genetic etiologies of which impair the production of, or the response to interferon-gamma (IFN-γ). We report here a patient (P1) with MSMD whose cells display mildly impaired responses to IFN-γ, at levels, however, similar to those from MSMD patients with autosomal recessive (AR) partial IFN-γR2 or STAT1 deficiency. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) and Sanger sequencing revealed only one candidate variation for both MSMD-causing and IFN-γ-related genes. P1 carried a heterozygous frame-shift IFNGR2 mutation inherited from her father. We show that the mutant allele is intrinsically loss-of-function and not dominant-negative, suggesting haploinsufficiency at the IFNGR2 locus. We also show that Epstein-Barr virus transformed B lymphocyte cells from 10 heterozygous relatives of patients with AR complete IFN-γR2 deficiency respond poorly to IFN-γ, in some cases as poorly as the cells of P1. Naive CD4(+) T cells and memory IL-4-producing T cells from these individuals also responded poorly to IFN-γ, whereas monocytes and monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) did not. This is consistent with the lower levels of expression of IFN-γR2 in lymphoid than in myeloid cells. Overall, MSMD in this patient is probably due to autosomal dominant (AD) IFN-γR2 deficiency, resulting from haploinsufficiency, at least in lymphoid cells. The clinical penetrance of AD IFN-γR2 deficiency is incomplete, possibly due, at least partly, to the variability of cellular responses to IFN-γ in these individuals.


Gene expression in all organisms is controlled by cooperative interactions between DNA-bound transcription factors (TFs). However, measuring TF-TF interactions that occur at individual cis-regulatory sequences remains difficult. Here we introduce a strategy for precisely measuring the Gibbs free energy of such interactions in living cells. Our strategy uses reporter assays performed on strategically designed cis-regulatory sequences, together with a biophysical modeling approach we call "expression manifolds". We applied this strategy in Escherichia coli to interactions between two paradigmatic TFs: CRP and RNA polymerase (RNAP). Doing so, we consistently obtain measurements precise to ~0.1 kcal/mol. Unexpectedly, CRP-RNAP interactions are seen to deviate in multiple ways from the prior literature. Moreover, the well-known RNAP binding motif is found to be a surprisingly unreliable predictor of RNAP-DNA binding energy. Our strategy is compatible with massively parallel reporter assays in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and should thus be highly scalable and broadly applicable.


Special autonomy in education is regarded as a great blessing for the Papua people. They have high expectation that Special autonomy funds allocated for education will elevate their living quality including school provisions and living standard. The population of the research, however, perceived that such wishes and expectations did not match with the reality. It is assumed that there had been mismanagement of the funds. The study is aimed at reviewing special autonomy financial performance and its management accountability. The study is performed through a qualitative approach with a phenomenological strategy— a study which is conducted at particular setting in a real live (natural setting) to investigate and understand phenomena. The data were collected from government employee, NGO officers, the target population, and other resources by observation, in-depth interviews, and library reviews. The results show that local government officials lack of capacity in handling the funds and there had been poor budget management as indicated from four management functions —planning, executing, reporting, and monitoring of educational funds— which were not implemented appropriately. A concept as a set of law and regulation that shapes Special Autonomy fund management of Papua Province is needed. Therefore, an integrated mechanism of building compliance and control system of educational funds management is necessary to reach the Value for Money (effectiveness, efficiency, and economics) of education budget. It is recommended that knowledge building and understanding on the financial performance as mandated in Special Autonomy Article will strengthen the achievement of the target as stated in the vision, mission, and objectives which supported by a construct culture of transparency, frankness, accuracy, and accountability.


Calving interval (CI) is a fertility trait that can be used in selection programmes to minimize the negative effects that selection for production have on fertility. CI can be derived from milk recording data, therefore this fertility trait can easily be implemented in the National Dairy Genetic Evaluations of South Africa. The aim of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for CI for estimation of breeding values and genetic trends to enable South African dairy breeders to assess and select for improved fertility. Breeds included in the study were Ayrshire, Guernsey, Holstein and Jersey. Genetic parameters and trends were based on the first three CIs for all breeds. The genetic software package, VCE4, was used to estimate genetic parameters for CI. Heritabilities ranged from 0.011 for CI1 to 0.069 for CI2, both for the Guernsey breed. Genetic correlations ranged from 0.606 between CI2 and CI3 for the Guernsey breed, to 0.810 between CI1 and CI2 for the Ayrshire breed. Breeding value estimation was done using the genetic software package, PEST. The estimated breeding values were combined into an index value, using weighting factors based on the amount of information available for each trait. Genetic trends were calculated by averaging the CIindices of measured cows per year of birth. These genetic trends indicated that CI increased genetically for all breeds. The genetic parameters will now be implemented for the estimation of CI breeding values, which can be included in selection programmes for improvement of fertility of dairy breeds in South Africa. Keywords : Ayrshire, genetic correlations, fertility, Guernsey, heritability, Holstein, Jersey


A detailed description is given of a method to section the pituitary stalk of the fetal lamb after 105 days gestational age. The approach to the stalk is made through a window in the frontal bone. In order to prevent regeneration of the hypothalamo-pituitary connections a silicone plate is introduced through the probe used to fracture the stalk. The surgical outcome and viability of 11 pituitary stalk sectioned fetuses is described over periods of up to 23 days. The presence of pituitary infarction following stalk section was related to damage of the anterior hypophysial vesssels if the probe was deviated from the mid-line at any time in its course. The effect of this procedure on fetal plasma T4 and PRL concentrations and the initiation of premature labour by the continuous infusion of cortisol into the fetus is described.


A comparative investigation was undertaken of body temperature measured orally and in the axilla with an electronic thermometer (Craftemp) and also rectally with a mercury thermometer. The measurements were performed by the caring staff in a medical department on a total 266 patients. Out of 891 sets of measurements, 27.9% of the oral and 43.1% of the axillary temperature measurements were found to deviate by 1.0 degrees and 1.5 degrees C, respectively, from the rectal temperature measurements. It is concluded that the buccal cavity and the axillary fossa are not suitable sites of measurement of body temperature with Craftemp.


Multiple steady states have been observed in a 13.56 MHz chlorine glow discharge in a parallel plate radial flow reactor. Measurements of the flux and energy distribution of positive ions bombarding the electrode are reported along with radial profiles of atomic chlorine (Cl) concentration and etch rate of polysilicon for different states of the plasma. At the same operating conditions the plasma may exist in one of two states. In one state the plasma appeared radially uniform, resulting in relatively uniform radial Cl concentration profiles and etch rate. In the other state the plasma appeared radially nonuniform with a higher intensity central region (''plasmoid''). The etch rate and Cl concentration profiles were nonuniform in the presence of the plasmoid. The plasmoid generally appeared under conditions of high power and pressure and could be eliminated by adding noble gases and/or decreasing the electrode spacing. The multiple states may be a result of the strongly electronegative nature of the chlorine discharge.


BACKGROUND
The prevalence of obesity has increased rapidly in most developed countries in the last decades, and this rise is now spreading to developing countries. Childhood obesity is also increasing. The UK government has set a target to halt the rise in childhood obesity by 2010. Dietary recommendations are a central component of any comprehensive weight-loss programme. A low-fat energy-restricted diet is the conventional therapy for obesity, but alternative dietary interventions have been proposed in recent years.

METHODS
We conducted a systematic review to assess dietary intervention studies designed to reduce weight in childhood and adolescence. The studies included overweight or obese children or adolescents in which there was a comparison group and change in body weight or BMI was reported.

RESULTS
We identified only nine such studies, seven of which were randomized. Six were conducted in the USA, two in Cuba, and one in France. Low-carbohydrate and low-glycaemic-index diets appeared to be at least as effective as energy-restricted low-fat diets for short-term weight loss, but most studies were too small to be informative, and none provided evidence on long-term weight control.

CONCLUSIONS
There is a marked mismatch between the public health importance of childhood obesity and the number and quality of the studies conducted so far to assess dietary interventions for weight reduction in childhood and adolescence, and little evidence to support the current recommendation of a low-fat energy-restricted diet. There is an urgent need for well-designed intervention studies of the long-term effectiveness of alternative diets to provide a basis for evidence-based recommendations.


In postmenopausal breast cancers, locally produced estrogen by adipose stromal cells causes the progression of tumor growth. Although aromatase, a key enzyme of estrogen synthesis, is highly expressed in the adipose stromal cells, and aromatase inhibitors show greater efficacy in postmenopausal breast cancers, the mechanism of increasing aromatase activity in the stromal cells remains unclear. To analyze the estrogen signals and to detect the estrogen receptor (ER)-activating ability of adipose stromal cells for individual human breast cancers, we developed a new reporter cell system. To visualize the activation of ER, we first established a stable transformant, named E10, of human breast cancer MCF-7 cells by transfection with the estrogen-responsive element-green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene. E10 cells specifically express GFP when ER is activated by estrogen or by coculture with adipose stromal cells isolated from breast tumor tissues in the presence of testosterone, a substrate for aromatase. Treatment of adipose stromal cells with dexamethasone, a stimulator of aromatase gene expression, resulted in an increase in the expression of GFP in E10 cells in the coculture. Using this system, we characterized the adipose stromal cells of 67 human breast cancers and found that GFP expression levels vary among the cases, suggesting that the ability of adipose stromal cells to activate ERs is unique for individual breast cancers. High induction levels of GFP were observed more frequently in postmenopausal cases than in premenopausal cases, whereas they did not significantly correlate with the ER expression status. Aromatase inhibitors inhibited the induction of GFP expression in the coculture, but the sensitivities to the drugs varied among the individual cases. Aromatase gene expression levels in adipose stromal cells did not always correlate with their ability to induce GFP. These results suggest that this system to detect total ER activation based on the interaction with adipose stromal cells is a useful tool for analyzing local estrogen signals and for tumor-stromal interactions.


The synthesis of biodegradable triglycerol-based hyperbranched polyesters (HBPEs), characterized by different hydrophobicity, has been optimized and described. A new amphiphilic branched shell (ABS) was developed; PEGylated amphiphilic chains were attached to the external corona of the HBPEs, with the aim of enhancing the encapsulation efficiency of hydrophobic drugs while additionally encouraging the solubilization of the HBPEs in aqueous media. Pyrene was tested as a template to evaluate potential drug transport capacity and to obtain information about the microenvironment and binding sites of the drug carriers. Experimental tests have shown the excellent capabilities of the aforementioned systems as drug delivery systems (DDS); it was possible to load up to 4.1 wt% of pyrene, evenly released from the system, within 9 days in the presence of Candida Antarctica lipase B (CALB). Subsequently the anticancer drug doxorubicin and the anti-inflammatory steroidal drug dexamethasone were efficiently encapsulated in the ABS-nanocarriers.


Cokriging is a multivariate spatial method to estimate spatial correlated variables. This method allows spatial estimations to be made and interpolated maps of house price to be created. These maps are interesting for appraisers, real estate companies, and bureaus because they provide an overview of location prices. Kriging uses one variable of interest (house price) to make estimates at unsampled locations, and cokriging uses the variable of interest and auxiliary correlated variables. In this paper, housing location price is estimated using kriging methods, isotopic data cokriging, and heterotopic data cokriging methods. The results of these methods are then compared.


Two-dimensional (2D) materials have emerged as post silicon semiconductors that may positively impact future electronic technologies. Elemental phosphorus exists in four allotropes each having different properties including white, red, violet, and black. Of the four allotropes, black phosphorus (black P) is a crystalline lattice of phosphorus atoms which can be exfoliated into 2D layers due to the structure of in-plane covalent bonds and out-of-plane van der Waals forces. Black P is a recent elemental 2D material that has been discovered; it has a layer dependent band gap between 0.3eV (bulk) and 2.0eV (monolayer phosphorene). Currently, using standard synthesis techniques, a stable form of black P has been challenging and expensive to synthesize. In this investigation, red P was successfully transformed into black P as a result of ultrasonic irradiation. The process of ultrasonication involves resonating high frequency sound waves in a solution to create cavitation bubbles which implode to create high temperature (~5000K) and pressure (~8GPa) on a very local area (~2 to 5 microns) within the solution. This high frequency ultrasonic exposure to phosphorus results in change in color from red to black and a prominent A 2g Raman peak which is observed in black P.


We continue our previous work on the modeling of topic and role information from multiparty meetings using a hierarchical Dirichlet process (HDP), in the context of language model adaptation. In this paper we focus on three problems: 1) an empirical analysis of the HDP as a nonparametric topic model; 2) the mismatch problem of vocabularies of the baseline n-gram model and the HDP; and 3) an automatic speech recognition experiment to further verify the effectiveness of our adaptation framework. Experiments on a large meeting corpus of more than 70 hours speech data show consistent and significant improvements in terms of word error rate for language model adaptation based on the topic and role information.


Based on the first-order shear deformation theory of plate, governing equations for the axisymmetric buckling of functionally graded circular/annular plates are derived. The coupled deflections and rotations in the pre-buckling state of the plates are neglected in analysis. The material properties vary continuously through the thickness of the plate, and obey a power law distribution of the volume fraction of the constituents. The resulting differential equations are numerically solved by using a shooting method. The critical buckling loads of circular and annular plates are obtained, which are compared with those obtained from the classical plate theory. Effects of material properties, ratio of inter to outer radius, ratio of plate thickness to outer radius, and boundary conditions on the buckling behavior of FGM plates are discussed.


AbstractIn this study, influence of the textural properties, e.g., grain size and its boundaries, of granite on the cutting performance of abrasive waterjet (AWJ) was experimentally investigated. In the experiments, predimensioned granite samples were cut by an abrasive waterjet. Following the cutting process, the cut depth, surface roughness, and kerf angle of the granites were evaluated. As a result, it was disclosed that the cut depths and surface roughness increased when the grain size of the granites decreased. Contrary to the behavior of the cut depths and surface roughness of the granites, the kerf angle of the granites increased with an increase of the grain size. Conversely, it was concluded that the high number of the grain boundaries led to an obtainment of higher cut depths and surface roughness, whereas it caused a lower kerf angle. Additionally, it was found that the grains horizontally lying through the cutting line resulted in lower surface roughness and cut depths, whereas the grains vert...


This paper focuses on absence management, one of HR's most contemporary issues due to the costs to the UK economy, individual organisations, managers and employees. This subject has been the focus of much research but one aspect has remained under-represented; the role of first line managers (FLMs) in managing absence. This work disseminates some of the results of an exciting research project involving ten UK Local Authorities who all have higher than average levels of absence in the same Department: Adult Social Services. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods this work investigates the extent to which managers appear to be managing absence in comparison with best practice criteria. Recommendations from this study include the need for adopting a holistic approach and increased focused support for FLMs. To conclude, yes, managers are managing absence but only just and more work is needed to gain the maximum benefits.


We theoretically study all-optical simultaneous wavelength conversion of multiple channels by four-wave mixing in semiconductor ring lasers. Locking the semiconductor ring laser to a holding beam allows to achieve large conversion efficiencies with good signal-tonoise ratio in several channels at multi-Gb/s bit rates. Cross-talk between signals, arising from the peculiar four-wave mixing cascade of modes in semiconductor ring lasers and their cross-gain saturation, is studied in detail. We show that it can be controlled by adjusting the intensity of the holding beam, the bias current of the laser and the number, intensity and wavelength of signals that one wants to convert.


Preference robust optimization (PRO) has recently been studied to deal with utility based decision making problems under ambiguity in the characterization of the decision maker's (DM) preference. In this paper, we propose a novel PRO modeling paradigm which combines the stochastic utility theory with distributionally robust optimization technique. Based on the stochastic utility theory, our model is applicable to problems with inconsistent and mutable preference representations which are ubiquitous in practice, particularly in group or social decision making. In the framework of distributionally robust optimization, data-driven approaches are discussed to construct two ambiguity sets of the probability distributions of the DM's preference: one is an ellipsoidal moment region with a sample mean and sample covariance matrix, the other is a nonparametric percentile-t bootsrap confidence region. A numerical example of vehicle design demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed model working with machine learning methods. We first depict the random preference in the structure of piecewise linear additive multi-attribute utility functions, which are either nondecreasing or risk averse, and next develop tractable reformulations and solution algorithms. Finally we extend to general continuous random utility functions and carry out convergence analysis of the proposed piecewise linear approximation as the size of sample data increases.


Title of dissertation: Alternating Optimization: Constrained Problems, Adversarial Networks, and Robust Models Zheng Xu Doctor of Philosophy, 2019 Dissertation directed by: Professor Tom Goldstein Department of Computer Science Data-driven machine learning methods have achieved impressive performance for many industrial applications and academic tasks. Machine learning methods usually have two stages: training a model from large-scale samples, and inference on new samples after the model is deployed. The training of modern models relies on solving difficult optimization problems that involve nonconvex, nondifferentiable objective functions and constraints, which is sometimes slow and often requires expertise to tune hyperparameters. While inference is much faster than training, it is often not fast enough for real-time applications. We focus on machine learning problems that can be formulated as a minimax problem in training, and study alternating optimization methods served as fast, scalable, stable and automated solvers. First, we focus on the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) for constrained problem in classical convex and nonconvex optimization. Some popular machine learning applications including sparse and low-rank models, regularized linear models, total variation image processing, semidefinite programming, and consensus distributed computing. We propose adaptive ADMM (AADMM), which is a fully automated solver achieving fast practical convergence by adapting the only free parameter in ADMM. We further automate several variants of ADMM (relaxed ADMM, multi-block ADMM and consensus ADMM), and prove convergence rate guarantees that are widely applicable to variants of ADMM with changing parameters. We release the fast implementation for more than ten applications and validate the efficiency with several benchmark datasets for each application. Second, we focus on the minimax problem of generative adversarial networks (GAN). We apply prediction steps to stabilize stochastic alternating methods for the training of GANs, and demonstrate advantages of GAN-based losses for image processing tasks. We also propose GAN-based knowledge distillation methods to train small neural networks for inference acceleration, and empirically study the trade-off between acceleration and accuracy. Third, we present preliminary results on adversarial training for robust models. We study fast algorithms for the attack and defense for universal perturbations, and then explore network architectures to boost robustness. Alternating Optimization: Constrained Problems, Adversarial Networks, and Robust Models


The object of this paper is to describe certain families of unstable elements in the homotopy groups of spheres at an odd prime. In so doing we completely account for the image of J as possible Hopf invariants of unstable elements. The analogous result for p = 2 was obtained in [13]. In addition we will discuss other periodic phenomena. Our main results have been independently obtained by Bendersky[5] using BP*. Our methods, however, are entirely geometric, and we actually construct the elements, rather than detect them. Our basic tool is the map .All our constructions are made in BΣp and transferred over.


ABSTRACT Continuous destruction of natural forest has caused the decrease in the forest area. The problem of criminal act in forestry, especially illegal logging, is a very complicated problem to be coped with since the criminal act is very serious, well-organized, and has inter-state range. The people's lack of knowledge in the importance of forest for human benefit and the weakness of law has caused the complexity of any effort to handle illegal logging. Law No. 14/1999 on Forestry has not yet formulated the definition of illegal logging so that it causes multi-interpretation. Besides that, there are many weaknesses in the previous legal provisions which cause the prevention and the eradication become complicated. Therefore, Law No. 18/2013 on the Prevention and the Eradication was established. The result of the research showed that the criminal elements of illegal logging were found in Article 12 points a, b, c, d, e, f, and g, and in Article 19 points a, b, c, d,  and f of Law No. 18/2013. Criminal responsibility of the perpetrators of illegal logging individually and corporately, either intentionally or because of negligence has been formulated in Articles 82 up to 85, in Article 94, and in Article 98. The reasons for annulling the criminal act is found in Article 11, paragraph (3) and in Article 13, paragraph (2) of Law No. 18/2013. Keywords: Criminal Responsibility, Illegal Logging


In the last decade significant resources have been invested for the digitisation of the collections of a large number of museums and galleries worldwide. In Europe alone, 10 million EUR is annually invested in Europeana (Europeana 2014). However, as we gradually move on from "the start-up phase" of digitisation (Hughes 2004), revenue generation and sustainability must be considered (Hughes 2004). Even beyond digitisation, generating revenue through innovation and in particular "finding new business models to sustain funding" (Simon 2011) ranks amongst museums' top challenges (Simon 2011). More importantly, despite the significant wealth of digitised assets museums now own, little has been done to investigate ways these institutions could financially benefit from their digitised collections.

For art institutions in particular, this has been largely limited to the sale of image licenses, with the fear of losing this revenue posing as one of the key reasons art museums are reluctant to join the Open Content movement (Kapsalis 2016). This paper examines how recent technological advancements, such as image recognition and Print-on-Demand automation, can be utilised to take advantage of the wealth of digitised artworks museums and galleries have in their possession. A pilot study of the proposed solution at the State Museum of Contemporary Art (SMCA) in Thessaloniki, Greece, is covered and the findings are examined.

Early feedback indicates that there is a significant potential in the utilisation of the aforementioned technologies for the monetisation of digitised collections. However, challenges such as blending the real-world experience with the digital experience, as well as flattening the learning curve of the technological solution for museum visitors, need to be addressed. Based on the pilot study at SMCA, this paper investigates how emerging technologies can be utilised to facilitate revenue generation for all museums and galleries with digitised collections.


Many areas of economics require the evaluation of time streams of costs and benefits. Societies face long-term phenomena affecting costs and benefits far into the future, such as demographic change and climate change. These present challenges for policy makers in planning inter-temporal consumption paths that balance the goals of efficiency and equity. An exploration of these issues, with respect to population ageing in particular, is the primary motivation for this book. This book evaluates these problems with a particular focus on the role of concepts, assumptions and value judgments.


BACKGROUND
Candida species are the primary cause of invasive fungal infection in hospitalized children. There are few data on risk factors for postoperative candidemia in pediatric patients with congenital heart defects. This study aimed to identify risk factors for candidemia in patients with congenital heart defects who underwent cardiac surgery.

METHODS
This was a case-control study conducted in patients admitted to a pediatric cardiology intensive care unit from January 2006 to December 2013. Candidemia cases were matched with control patients without candidemia. Multivariate analyses were conducted to determine predictive probabilities for the incidence of candidemia at a risk higher than 10%.

RESULTS
Thirty patients diagnosed with candidemia (incidence: 0.7 cases/1,000 patient days) were matched with 75 controls. Risk factors independently associated with candidemia included RACHS-1 (Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery) category ≥3 (odds ratio [OR]=3.165, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.377-8.467), use of acid suppression therapy (AST) (OR=1.9, 95% CI: 0.949-3.979), and thrombocytopenia (OR=2.2, 95% CI: 1.2-4.2). Predictive probabilities ranged from 11% (only in RACHS-1 category ≥3) to 58% (combined RACHS-1 ≥3, thrombocytopenia, and AST use). The case fatality rate within 30 days after candidemia was 50%.

CONCLUSION
This is the first report using the RACHS-1 category as a risk factor for invasive candidiasis in patients with congenital heart defects in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Further studies must be conducted to validate the risk factors for candidemia in this pediatric population.


This study examined the relationship between Arabic and Yoruba languages. An attempt is made to trace the history of the Yoruba as a race and the influence that Arabic language has on Yoruba language. This influence is observed in the pronunciation of some Yoruba words traceable to Arabic with the same meaning. These facts, if well proved will go a long way in lending credence to the historical belief that the Yoruba race originated from the Arab. To elucidate this, traces of Arabic words in Yoruba language are noted. Similarity in pronunciation of some letters in both languages, comparison in construction of words between them and similarity in the use of some words in both languages are analysed with the views of some Arabic scholars. Conclusion is then drawn to show the impact of Arabic on Yoruba Language.


Introduction: In December 2019, the first cases of respiratory disease caused by an emerging coronavirus were detected The causative agento f the outbreak was called SARS-CoV-2, and in the first months of 2020 it spread throughout the world as a pandemic Method: The most relevant publications concerned with the aims of the review were examined Results: The disease, known as COVID-19 Patients show cough, fever, and respiratory distress The most severe forms, mainly affecting the elderly and associated with various comorbidities, are manifested by impaired respiratory function, requiring mechanical ventilation, and systemic inflammatory response syndrome, which can lead to septic shock with multi-organ failure and high mortality rates This review examines the current state of knowledge about the characteristics and origin of SARS-CoV-2, its replication, and the pathogenesis, clinical, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of COVID-19 Conclusions: The characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 and the clinical manifestations of COVID-19 are well known PCR is the reference technique for laboratory diagnosis;assays for the detection of antigens and antibodies are available, with optimization possibilities Treatment protocols include attenuation of the systemic inflammatory response and administration of antiviral agents There are vaccines in development


Evaluation of teat disinfectant products for their effectiveness against the most prevalent mastitis-causing bacteria is important to identify the most effective ingredients against specific bacterial strains. Ninety-six commercially available teat disinfectant products were tested against three bacterial strains associated with mastitis in Ireland (Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus uberis and Escherichia coli) using the disc diffusion method. Products were reclassified by active ingredients (n = 9) for analysis. These ingredient groups included: chlorhexidine (n = 25), chlorine dioxide (n = 5), diamine (n = 1), iodine (n = 13), iodine combined with lactic acid (n = 5), lactic acid (n = 15), lactic acid combined with chlorhexidine (n = 21), lactic acid combined with hydrogen peroxide (n = 1) and lactic acid combined with salicylic acid (n = 10). The ingredient group chlorine dioxide resulted in the greatest zones of inhibition for all three bacterial strains. An individual product containing a combination of lactic acid and hydrogen peroxide resulted in the greatest zone of inhibition for Sta. aureus and Str. uberis, whereas a specific product within the chlorine dioxide group resulted in the greatest zones of inhibition for E. coli. High concentrations of active ingredient did not necessarily increase the effectiveness for the majority of teat disinfectant products. It is possible to use the disc diffusion method to evaluate/screen a large number of teat disinfectant products prior to conducting field trials to establish the products' ability to reduce intramammary infections (IMI).


Tunneling field-effect transistors (TFETs) are being widely investigated as a post-CMOS technology; however, despite significant experimental efforts, no quantitatively accurate device models are available. We derive an expression which provides the complete current characteristics of the double-gate TFET and demonstrate its agreement with simulation. This model will be useful in the design and circuit analysis of TFETs.


Precise duplication of the human genome is constantly threatened by a variety of genotoxic insults. During S-phase, those damaged template bases could be overcome by DNA damage tolerance (DDT) pathways that bypass such obstacles instead of repairing them, allowing replicative machinery to resume beyond the offending lesions. Two distinct strategies of DDT, template switching and translesion DNA synthesis (TLS), are employed in eukaryotes. In the former process, the newly synthesized sister chromatid is utilized as an undamaged template to restart recombination-dependent DNA synthesis in an error-free manner. While TLS process involves a reversible polymerase switching between replicative and specialized TLS polymerases for the rescue of stalled replication forks, but this process is intrinsically error-prone and thereby increases mutation rates that potentially drive cancer and aging. It still remains controversial on what exact molecular mechanism orchestrates the polymerase switching at blocked primer-template (P/T) junction. In this review, we summarize and discuss the details of multiple types of mechanisms on how DNA polymerase switching is coordinated during TLS in eukaryotic systems. We also propose a hypothesis regarding high-fidelity human DNA polymerase delta (pol δ) and its involvement in polymerase switching based on recent progress in its functional and structural characterization, especially post-translational modification of its subunits, to gain further insights into the intriguing mechanisms of its regulation during TLS.


We report on spin polarization reduction by incoherent tunneling in realistic single crystal Co2FeAl/MgO/Co50Fe50 magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ) compared to reference Fe/MgO/Fe. A large density of misfit dislocations in the Heusler based MTJs has been insured by a thick MgO barrier and its 3.8% lattice mismatch with the Co2FeAl electrode. Our analysis implicates a correlated structural-transport approach. The crystallographic coherence, in the real space, is investigated using High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy phase analysis. The electronic transport experiments in variable temperature, fitted with a theoretical extended-Glazman-Matveev model, address different levels of the tunneling mechanisms from direct to multi-center hopping. We demonstrate a double negative impact of dislocations, as extended defects, on the tunneling polarization. Firstly, the breaking of the crystal symmetry destroys the longitudinal and lateral coherence of the propagating Bloch functions. This affects the symmetry filtering efficiency of the Delta_1 states across the (100) MgO barriers and reduces the associated effective tunneling polarization. Secondly, dislocations provide localized states within the MgO gap. This determines temperature activated spin-conserving inelastic tunneling through chains of defects which are responsible for the one order of magnitude drop of the tunnel magnetoresistance from low to room temperature.


The resources on Manufacturing Grid are dynamic, diverse, distributed and isomeric, so their management is significantly complicated. However, people always want to obtain the newest resources' information in the recent distance, in the shortest time. Thus, replica management of resource becomes necessary. This paper makes the following contributions. First, we elaborate the resources' encapsulation technology on Manufacturing Grid. Second, we describe the main idea of replica management technology. In addition, we explain the working principle of component that is management replica—RLS (Replica Location Service). Finally, we first bring forward replica management technology of resource on Manufacturing Grid, and design a solution that resources' replica management technology on Manufacturing Grid.


BACKGROUND
Hockey is a high-impact sport that carries a risk of injury. No national-level studies defining the burden of injury in this sport have yet been performed. This study sought to analyze patient demographics, injury types and severity, and outcomes after trauma sustained while playing hockey.

METHODS
Retrospective analysis of hockey-related injuries was performed using the National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB) (2007-2018). Patients were identified based on ICD-9 and -10 codes without exclusions. Demographics, clinical/injury data, and outcomes were examined using univariate analysis. Subgroup analysis was performed by patient sex.

RESULTS
Hockey injuries (n = 306) comprised <1% of the NTDB. Median age was 15 years [IQR 13-25] (range 5-71). Most patients (n = 279, 91%) were male. Lower extremities were the most frequently injured body region (n = 88, 29%). Head injuries occurred in 19% (n = 57). Facial injuries occurred in 6% (n = 17). Tooth loss was infrequent (n = 2, 1%). One (<1%) death occurred after a hockey-related brain injury. Clinical/injury data between male and female hockey players were comparable apart from a significantly higher rate of upper extremity fractures among the female cohort (22% vs 4%, P < .001).

CONCLUSION
Perceptions that hockey players may frequently sustain head, face, and tooth injuries from collisions, fighting, or stick/puck impacts were not supported by this national-level study, in which lower extremity fractures were the most common injury. While hockey injury prevention equipment has primarily focused on head/face protection (eg, helmets and mouthguards), this analysis suggests increased focus on extremity protective measures is warranted.


This article draws out the contradictions in the liberal peace that have become apparent in post-Taliban state-building in Afghanistan. In particular, it focuses on how warlords have been incorporated into the government. The government has been unable to achieve a monopoly of violence and has relied on the support of some powerful militia commanders to secure itself. This raises a number of practical and ethical questions for the liberal peace. The focus of the article is on warlordism, rather than in providing detailed narrative accounts of particular warlords. The case illustrates the difficulty of extending the liberal peace in the context of an ongoing insurgency.


Background: The Adult-Adolescent Sensory Pro fi le (AASP) is a questionnaire developed to measure the way in which people in different age groups respond to different sensory stimuli. These sensory stimuli may uncover different behavioral problems that may affect activities of daily living. This observational study aimed to validate the Arabic version of the AASP used to assess the sensory processing abilities of healthy individuals. Methods: Participants comprised 560 Jordanians aged 11 years and older. Participants were recruited from different community centers in Amman, Jordan during 10th March 2017 to 10th September 2017. The English version of the AASP was translated into Arabic and all participants were instructed to complete this version of the scale. Results: Internal consistency was 0.78 and 0.79 for the Arabic and the English version, respectively. The ranges of cut-off scores in the Arabic version were higher than the English version for all the quadrants of the scale. The biggest differences were found in the sensation seeking and sensory sensitivity quadrants. In certain age groups (11 – 17 and 18 – 64 years), women were more sensitive compared with men. Conclusion: The Arabic version of the AASP showed good internal consistency and can be used to assess the sensory processing abilities of healthy individuals.


In this article, the authors examine the objectives, roadmap, and recent progress of academic research with respect to benchmarking the financial performance of privately held infrastructure debt or equity investment, with a focus on the recent development of a new framework to collect data and evaluate such assets. To determine a way forward, the authors start with the reasons that infrastructure investment benchmarks are in demand and list the key questions that such benchmarks should be expected to help answer. Unfortunately, these questions remain very difficult to answer today, for lack of relevant information. Hence, the authors propose a roadmap to develop a definition, valuation, data-collection, and portfolio-construction framework of privately held infrastructure debt and equity cash flows designed to answer these important questions.