Elementary public schools remain the most common venues for addressing children's severe conduct problems. Nevertheless, very few longitudinal studies have examined association between receiving psychoeducational services for conduct problems in school and subsequent conduct problem severity. This study explored if psychoeducational service reception contributed to reduce conduct problems in a sample of 434 elementary school-aged boys and girls presenting a high level of conduct problems. The study used a repeated measures design at 12-month intervals, for 4 years. Information regarding the severity of children's conduct problems and services was provided by parents and teachers. Latent Growth Modeling was used to identify a mean trajectory of conduct problems. Results revealed that psychoeducational services were associated with a decrease in conduct problems over time, but this association was only observed in boys. There was no association between service reception at study inception and the trajectory of conduct problems among girls. These results suggests that psychoeducational services are well suited to the difficulties of boys with conduct problems; however, they may call for a review of the services offered to girls in schools, both in terms of the detection of conduct problems in young girls, and in terms of their treatment options.


Geological conditions for hydrocarbon potential have been identified in the Bornu Basin in north Eastern Nigeria. The basin is part of the Chad Basin and other tectonically related contiguous basins within the West and Central Africa Rift System (WCARS) formed from the failed extensional rifting at an aulacogen junction during the separation of the South American and the African continents. The Bornu Basin covers about one tenth of the Chad Basin with limited geological mapping campaigns and unsuccessful exploration for oil and gas. Significant gaps still remain particularly in the vast northern areas characterised by flat topography, lack of continuous bedrock outcrops with structures concealed beneath sand cover. Remote sensing and GIS techniques offer potential for improving structural geological mapping in the basin but has not been used for these purposes. This research presents the use of combined remote sensing data including Landsat ETM , ASTER, SRTM and Radar with other existing geosciences data including gravity, seismic, aeromagnetic and well log data to constrain the structure and tectonics of the basin through lineament analysis. The research involved mapping of lineaments, lithology, palaeodrainage and palaeo-shorelines in the basin. Two physiographically distinct study areas are selected in the basin to provide an appropriate comprehensive coverage of the basin attributes. The study sub-area 1 having mostly flat topography and lacking surface outcrops but comprising all the data sets available provides an enabling ground control site while the study sub-area 2 where outcrops are present provides an enabling site for validation of inferred field mapping and new observations of unmapped geology in the basin.


A lot of absorption lines are in the bluewards of Lyα emission line of quasar which is well-known as Lyα forest. Most of absorption lines in this forest belong to the Lyα absorption of the neutral hydrogen in the inter-galactic medium (IGM). For high redshift quasars and in the continuum with low and medium resolution, there are no many regions without absorption, so that, the quasar continuum in the forest is not obvious. Determination of the continuum in the forest is essential to study material distribution in the IGM, which is conductible through these absorption lines. One way to find this continuum is to predict it using longer wavelengths of the Lyα emission line of quasar, redwards of quasar continuum. Principal component analysis (PCA) method was proposed by researcher to estimate the bluewards of 50 low redshift quasars with 9% mean absolute error (error range was 3−30%). In this article, the whole continuum is predicted using only the redwards of the quasar continuum and ten random data of the forest by an artificial neural network (ANN). Five different training algorithms are used to train the ANN. The simulation results show that mean absolute error for the Lyα forest is decreased to 5.27% (with error range between 1.63−9.05%). These results verify the capability of the ANN to predict the quasar continuum in the Lyα forest as compared with the statistical methods.


Nutrient supplementation is a common practice in agriculture to increase crop productivity in the field. This supplementation is usually excessive, causing nutrient leaching in periods of rainfall leading to environmental problems. To overcome such issues, many studies have been devoted to developing polymeric matrices for the controlled and continuous release of nutrients, reducing losses, and keeping plants nourished for as long as possible. However, the release mechanism of these matrices is based on water diffusion. They start immediately for swellable polymeric matrices, which is not interesting and also may cause some waste, because the plant only needs nutrition only after the germination process. Here, as proof of concept, we tested a hydrophobic polymeric matrix based on sub-microfibers mats, produced by solution blow spinning, filled with potassium nitrate (KNO3) for the controlled release of nutrients to plants. In this work, we used the polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer to produce composite nanofibers containing pure potassium nitrate in the proportion of 10% weight. PVDF/KNO sub-microfibers mats were obtained with 370 nm average diameter and high occurrence of beads. We performed a release test using PVDF/KNO3 mats in a water bath. The release kinetic tests showed an anomalous delivery mechanism, but the composite polymeric fibrous mat showed itself to be a promising alternative to delay the nutrient delivery for the plants.


The effect of prostaglandin E1 analogue on peripheral skin temperature was examined at high altitude, where local cold injuries are common owing to severe environmental condi tions. The peripheral skin temperature at rest was significantly lower at higher altitudes. Oral administration of the prostaglandin E1 analogue limaprost reversed this temperature decrease, probably by enhancement of peripheral circulation. The temperature recovery rate after a cold water challenge was also improved after the administration of limaprost. This oral type of prostaglandin E 1 analogue is strongly recommended as an effective prophylactic and therapeutic vasodilator for local cold injuries at high altitudes.


In this paper, the method of minimum distance to the strong frontier is adopted to research the knowledge innovation efficiency of universities in 30 provinces of China during 2005-2015. The greatest strength of this method is that, to a decision-making unit under estimation, improvements in input or output are minimized to reach the cutting edge of production. According to research findings, a significant difference exists in the knowledge innovation efficiency of universities among provinces in China. Provinces with a high efficiency are mostly distributed in the eastern coastal region and provinces with a low efficiency in the hinterland of central and western regions. Judging from region, the efficiency in the eastern region is the highest; the efficiency in the central region is the second highest; the efficiency in the western region is the lowest. Judging from contribution to inefficiency, the contribution to inefficiency made by Human input, Capital input, and technology service declines but the contribution to inefficiency made by paper output and achievement assessment improves. While China practice the plan of revitalizing education, it will focus on the following 5 provinces: Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Guizhou, Gansu, Qinghai. In addition, in the long run, the gap between different provinces has a tendency to be narrowed in the knowledge innovation efficiency of universities.


With integrated use of extensive in situ measurements from various cruises in different regions, this study focuses on PFT retrieval algorithms that are then applied to Sentinel-3 (S3) OLCI data and merged ocean colour (OC) products from CMEMS GlobColour archive. The main retrieved PFTs include diatoms, haptophytes, prokaryotic phytoplankton (cyanobacteria). Previously investigated retrieval methods, empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) for pigment concentrations estimation (Bracher et al. 2015) and generalized IOP (GIOP) (Werdell et al. 2013, 2014) for PFT discrimination, are tested and adapted potentially with full use of our current available in situ measurements from various campaigns worldwide, in which we have a number of collocated remote sensing reflectance spectra (Rrs) and PFT data based on HPLC pigments in addition to other bio-optical measurements. Algorithms are tested and compared by both taking hyperspectral and multispectral in situ Rrs spectra as input data, and the multispectral based approach is later on applied to the above mentioned satellite data. Performances of both EOF- and GIOP-based approaches are assessed statistically and cross-validated, with results showing that both could well predict chlorophyll-a concentrations for diatoms and haptophytes but less good for prokaryotes. In a next step these algorithms are adapted to satellite OC data collocated to an even larger in-situ PFT database derived from HPLC phytoplankton pigments. This is to eventually develop the global satellite PFT products for long-term observation, updated timely with more available OLCI data in the future, and intercompared to the results with other existing PFT products (e.g. PhytoDOAS, OC-PFT, SynSenPFT).


Despite an extensive literature on the determinants of the foreign location choices by multinational companies, researchers have only recently begun to systematically examine how these companies form their location consideration sets. When considering new foreign locations, do firms evaluate the attributes of the alternatives at the national level, the sub-national regional level, at some other level of geographical aggregation, or using some combination of these? This paper employs discrete choice models to examine how U.S. multinational companies form their location consideration sets and to identify some of the relevant location attributes. The results indicate that U.S. firms tend to employ a sequential, or hierarchical, decision-making process in which a host country is first chosen based on one set of attributes and then a region within that country is chosen based on another set of attributes. The relevant location attributes include industrial agglomeration and labor market conditions.


Abstract As part of the German Barcode of Life (GBOL) Myriapoda program, which aims to sequence the COI barcoding fragment for 2000 specimens of Germany's 200 myriapod species in the near future, 44 sequences of the centipede order Geophilomorpha are analyzed. The analyses are limited to the genera Geophilus Leach, 1814 and Stenotaenia Koch, 1847 and include a total of six species. A special focus is Stenotaenia, of which 19 specimens from southern, western and eastern Germany could be successfully sequenced. The Stenotaenia data shows the presence of three to four vastly different (13.7–16.7% p-distance) lineages of the genus in Germany. At least two of the three lineages show a wide distribution across Germany, only the lineage including topotypes of Stenotaenia linearis shows a more restricted distribution in southern Germany. In a maximum likelihood phylogenetic analysis the Italian species Stenotaenia 'sorrentina' (Attems, 1903) groups with the different German Stenotaenia linearis clades. The strongly different Stenotaenia linearis lineages within Germany, independent of geography, are a strong hint for the presence of additional, cryptic Stenotaenia species in Germany.


This paper presents a new method for forecasting cyclist volume and route choice based on space syntax techniques for urban analysis. Space syntax has been shown to correlate strongly with pedestrian and vehicular trips in a number of international studies, but little research to date has focused on the role of urban form and street network design in cyclist route choice. This paper addresses this gap by analyzing the distribution of cycling trips in the central London area, focusing on a sample of work-based commuting trips. A sample of 423 cyclists from 50 organizations was combined with cordon volume counts at several Central London locations. It was found that individual cycle trips were subject to a wide range of variables that made individual traces difficult to predict, but that total cyclist volumes corresponded strongly with the most accessible, direct streets in the urban network. This research suggests that angular minimization is an important factor in cyclist route choice and that measurement of least angle routes in urban environments can be a useful way of predicting cyclist volumes and route choice. Such techniques have the potential to save planners and policymakers the expense of performing origin destination studies and may offer a useful tool for cyclist volume prediction.


Micro-ribonucleic acids (miRNA) are non-coding RNA molecules that function as negative regulators of cellular processes, for example gene expression, by binding to sites found within the 3'untranslated region (UTR) sequence of target messenger RNAs (mRNAs). A previous study identified miR-494 as a direct regulator of the PROS1 gene expression of Protein S (PS), with three functional binding sites being classified with the 3'UTR sequence. This regulation is a natural physiological process; however, it can become problematic for individuals with a hereditary PS deficiency. This current study hypothesised that the use of specifically targeted antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) sequences to the three functional binding sites found within PROS1 mRNA 3'UTR can disrupt, or block the binding of miR-494 resulting in a subsequent increased expression of PS. HuH-7 cells were cotransfected with miR-494 and ASOs and luciferase assay and mRNA analysis performed. Luciferase assay results showed a proof of principle when utilizing ASOs to block the interaction of miR-494 with the PROS1 3`UTR. The results were trending towards reversal for selected ASOs, however, not statistically significant. Subsequent mRNA analysis, did however demonstrate a clear significant reversal of the previously observed effect of miR-494 on the levels of PROS1 mRNA transcripts in the presence of the ASOs, when compared to miR-494 alone. Interestingly, further analysis suggested that key modifications designed to increase the stability and affinity of the ASOs was important for the potency of the blocking effects. Overall, this project provides preliminary evidence towards negating the regulation miR-494 has on the PROS1 3'UTR. These results are significant for individuals with a heterozygous mutation that is causative for a protein deficiency disease, as further testing can lead to a novel therapeutic agent that can bypass existing mutations, resulting in the increased expression of the remaining functional allele.


In this article I describe data from my study about 11 family history genealogists and the objects they use to construct their ancestors as a Deleuzoguattarian assemblage, an entity that somehow functions together. In my study, I assembled object-interview data (Nordstrom 2013b), St. Pierre's (1997) dream and response data, weather data, spectral data (Nordstrom, 2013a), books written by participants, books recommended to me by participants, popular media about genealogy, my genealogy work, theories, and perhaps data—deconstructive data that problematize phenomenological certainty. Instead of thinking these data in discrete categories, the data functioned as lines that continuously moved and shifted together, thereby rendering the categories indistinguishable. The data assemblage is a dynamic onto-epistemological entity in which the constitutive lines open up new ideas of thinking about data in a study and what that data can do and become.


This work focuses on the fatigue behaviour of notched Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy in inert environment. V-notched flat samples were cycled under axial fatigue (R = 0.1) under inert conditions by immersion in paraffin oil. A step-loading technique was used to determine the fatigue limit at the complete fracture for a constant fatigue life of 2×105 load cycles. The results were compared with previous data obtained with tests carried out in air and 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution. Fracture surfaces were examined under stereoscopic microscope.


Based on the theory of thermo-elasticity mechanics, the finite element numerical simulation models have been established for the package bulging process. The mechanism of the interfacial void evolution is postulated. By taking the interface strength as function of process (moisture and temperature), it shows that the critical stress that results in the unstable void growth and delamination at the interface is significantly reduced and becomes comparable to the magnitude of the vapor pressure. The simulation result can make us understand the mechanism of the void-growth at the interface framework and provide data base for improving reliability of package and optimum design


This paper aims to explore how under authoritarian regimes, undergoing reform processes, divergent forms of environmental activism may emerge. Two severe cases of environmental degradation serve as our starting points: the marine disaster in the central coast of Vietnam in 2016 and the Mekong Delta's ongoing environmental degradation. While the former offers a case of rural grievances over mass fish death in Central Vietnam triggering protests on a national scale, the latter presents a continuum of environmental changes leading to serious impacts on deltaic livelihoods, albeit with no observable efforts of activism compared to the situation in other countries along the Mekong Delta. Drawing from in-depth interviews and participant observation with NGO workers in Vietnam who focus on environment and community development, we unravel the conditions, methods and rationalities behind their engagement (or lack thereof) with environmental activism in each case. We argue that the difference between the cases can be explained by tracing the process of politicising environmental grievances, taking into consideration culinary nationalism, anti-China nationalism and political opportunities under authoritarianism. Moving beyond current literature on activism under authoritarian regimes which relies mainly on institutional and/or social network approaches, our analysis helps further shed light on how contemporary environmental activism is mobilised in Vietnam from a geographically and politically grounded as well as culturally embedded position.


Ovarian cancer ranked second in incidence among gynecologic cancers, but it causes more deaths than any other gynecologic cancer; at present there is no curative treatment beyond surgery. Animal models that employ carcinogens found in the human environment can provide a realistic platform to understand the mechanistic basis for disease development and to design rational chemopreventive/therapeutic strategies. We and others have shown that the administration of the environmental pollutant and tobacco smoke constituent dibenzo[ def,p]chrysene (DBP) to mice by several routes of exposure can induce tumors in multiple sites including the ovary. In the present study we compared, for the first time, the tumorigenicity and DNA damage induced by DBP and its metabolites DBP-dihydrodiol (DBPDHD) and DBP-dihydrodiol epoxide (DBPDE) in the mouse ovary. Compounds were dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as the vehicle and administered by topical application into the mouse oral cavity three times per week for 38 weeks. No tumors were observed in mice treated with DMSO. At equal dose (24 nmol/30 μL DMSO), the incidence of ovarian tumors induced by DBPDHD was higher (60.7%), although not significantly, than that induced by DBP (44.8%). Similarly the levels of DNA damage induced by DBPDHD in the ovary were higher than those observed with DBP. We did not observe any histological abnormality in the ovary of mice treated with DBPDE, which is consistent with lack of DNA damage. Our results suggested that both DBP and DBPDHD can be metabolized in the mouse ovary leading to the formation of DBPDE that can damage DNA, which is a prerequisite step in the initiation stage of carcinogenesis.


BACKGROUND
Ultrasound is a valuable tool in the safe performance of an increasing number of procedures. It has additionally emerged as a powerful instrument for point-of-care assessment by offering internists an opportunity to extend their traditional physical examination.

OBJECTIVE
This study explored how internal medicine (IM) educators perceive the use of ultrasound for procedures and point-of-care assessments, the extent to which curricula for teaching IM residents ultrasound skills exist, and perceived barriers to teaching its use.

METHODS
In February 2012, we administered a 27-question survey to all members of the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine, eliciting their opinions about the use of point-of-care ultrasound.

RESULTS
Of 2200 surveys distributed electronically, 234 were returned (a 11% response rate), including 167 by program directors or assistant program directors. Respondents highly rated the usefulness of ultrasound for central-line placement, thoracentesis, paracentesis, and diagnosis of pleural effusions. Evaluation of vena cava and heart, and placement of radial artery catheters received somewhat lower usefulness scores. Forty-five respondents (25%) reported having formal curricula to teach point-of-care ultrasound, and 46 respondents without current ultrasound programs were planning to initiate them in the next 12 months. Potential barriers to teaching and use of ultrasound included the time and cost to train faculty, the cost of ultrasound machines, and the time required to train residents.

CONCLUSIONS
Educational leaders in IM view point-of-care ultrasound as a valuable tool in diagnosis and procedures, and many residency programs are teaching these skills to their learners.


The ability to control dynamically the flow and placement of nanoscale particles and biomolecules in a biocompatible, aqueous environment will have profound impact in advancing the fields of nanoplasmonics, nanophotonics, and medicine. Here, an approach based on electrokinetic forces is demonstrated that enables dynamically controlled placement of nanoparticles into a predefined pattern. The technique uses an applied voltage to manipulate nanoparticles in a multilayer nanofluidic chip architecture. Simulations of the nanoparticles' motion in the nanofluidic chip validate the approach and are confirmed by experimental demonstration to produce uniform 200-nm-diameter spherical nanoparticle arrays. The results are important as they provide a new method that is capable of dynamically capturing and releasing nanoscale particles and biomolecules in an aqueous environment, which could lead to the creation of reconfigurable nanostructure patterns for nanoplasmonic, nanophotonic, biological sensing, and drug-delivery applications.


Human ecology requires both oxygen and water with the generation from food of an immediate energy source, ATP, by oxidative phosphorylation. A continuing balance between oxidation and antioxidation is necessary for longer less-disabled lives, taking account of oxidative stresses and the critical roles of oxidants in defence against infection, tissue repair and signalling. Antioxidant capacity is derived both exogenously (from food, beverage and sunlight) and endogenously (from enzymatic and non-enzymatic pathways). A number of oxidant food factors service antioxidant metallo-enzymes. The capacity operates extra- or intracellularly. Uric acid is the major antioxidant in primate blood. Uric acid synthesis is increased by dietary fructose from fruit, sugary foods and drinks. This indirect antioxidant effect of fruit is separate from that attributable to its flavonoids. Alcohol also increases serum uric acid. Urate excess and retention is associated with disease. The high prevalence of hyperuricaemia in NE Asia presents a major public health dilemma in regard to putative benefits and risks. Foods with high antioxidant activity include berries, nuts and legumes, tomatoes and sweet potato leaves. Each of the antioxidants in these foods is pleiotropic being inter-alia anti-inflammatory, anti-angiogenic or anti-neoplastic. Moreover, food matrices and patterns contribute to the safety of antioxidant consumption. There is no evidence to date that isolated antioxidants as food supplements improve health outcomes or survival; and some that indicate unacceptable risk. Their use as biomarkers of food cannot justify their isolated use. Nevertheless, a spectrum of dietary pluripotential antioxidants for tissues, metabolic and immune systems is advantageous.


Phenol formaldehyde (PF) resin impregnation and compression at considerable high hot pressing pressure of jelutong and sesenduk is attractive for the improvement of strength properties,dimensional stability and decay durability. The formaldehyde emission (FE) from the treated materials is, however, very high especially when low molecular weight resin is used. Attempt to reduce the formaldehyde emission was made by introducing urea in the treating solution. In this study, urea was used to scavenge the excess formaldehyde produce from the PF-compregnated wood. The
 urea was preferable as scavenger since it is efficient in reducing formaldehyde emission and low manufacturing cost. The experimental design of this study included impregnation of jelutong (Dyera costulata) and sesenduk (Endospermum diadenum) strips with 20 %, 30 % and 40 % low molecular
weight phenol formaldehyde (LmwPF, Mw 600) mixed separately with urea (30% based on solid PF),pre-curing at 60oC for certain periods (7 h, 8 h and 9 h) and subsequently compressed to a compression ratio (CR) of 80 % in a hot press temperature of 150oC for 20 min. The formaldehyde
emission, physical and mechanical properties and durability of the compreg wood for each treatment combination was analyzed. Addition of urea into PF resin successfully reduced formaldehyde emission by 97 % for both compreg woods. The results also showed the dimensional stability of the compreg jelutong and sesenduk increased by 60 % and 52 % in anti swelling efficiency (ASE),respectively. When compared between strips treated with and without the presence of urea, the efficiency in preventing swelling of compregs treated with PF solution admixed with urea was more successful. Based on the compreg properties evaluated, the optimum treatment combination of fabricating jelutong and sesenduk was using 30 % PF mixed with 30% urea (based on solid PF),precuring at 60oC for 8 h followed by compressing to 80 % CR at 1500C for 20 min. This treatment
 combination was then applied to produce compreg laminates. Three layers laminated compreg jelutong and sesenduk were fabricated by assembling the impregnated strips perpendicular (cross) or parallel to each other, followed by compression in a hot press. Compared to the untreated solid wood of the same size, both parallel and cross laminated compreg wood had superior properties. The
density of the compreg wood increased by 78 % to 117 % from its original densities. The modulus of rupture (MOR) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) were increased by 24 %, except for the parallel laminates of sesenduk which had lower values than the untreated solid wood. The study also revealed that shear strength at the bonding glueline was higher for the parallel than for the cross laminated
compreg wood. Parallel compreg laminates had bonding shear strength comparable to that of solid wood. The treatment used in the study also rendered compreg laminates to be highly resistance towards towards white rot fungus (Pycnoporous sanguineus).


Abstract This article offers a sociological account of the labour of jazz musicians. The first part is concerned with elaborating a theory of jazz work based on Alasdair MacIntyre's notion of social practices. Applying this theory to recent empirical work with British jazz musicians, the article reveals how the virtuous pursuit of specific 'internal goods' is judged to be particularly prominent in jazz, suggesting that it might constitute an ethical practice in MacIntyrean terms. While MacIntyre's theory is argued to offer a congenial framework for an analysis of jazz, it is then compared and contrasted with more established readings of jazz practice – based on the work of Pierre Bourdieu – which suggest more objective and instrumental motivations for working in jazz. The article concludes by evaluating the relative merits of each approach.


Birth Control has been misconstued in the Muslim circle as a kind of innovation which has been developed to satisfy western understanding. Some Muslims see it as an attempt to justify family planning in the modern context. Others perceive it as a concept which is totally against the principle of Islam. Birth control has remained a burning issue which needs to be put at proper perspective. This paper therefore attempts to discuss the Islamic perspectives of birth control by x-raying available documents and schlorlastic opinions. The paper delves into the conceptual meanings of birth control, its historical review to show that the topic is not an innovation to Islam. It further dicusses the modern Islamically approved approaches to birth control while also pointing out methods of birth control which cannot be adopted by Muslims. The paper concludes with proactive approach of taking enlightement campaign of controlling births within one"s resources limit to grassroot level.


Parental alcohol consumption before and during pregnancy has been linked to adverse outcomes in the offspring including leukemogenesis. We, therefore, aimed to systematically assess and quantitatively synthesize published data on the association of paternal consumption during preconception and maternal consumption during pregnancy with leukemia risk in childhood (0–14 years). Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, we searched PubMed (until February 2016) and the reference lists of the relevant studies. Observational studies examining the association between parental alcohol consumption and childhood leukemia were considered eligible. Data extracted from 39 case–control studies (over 16 000 leukemia cases and 30 000 controls) were pooled and summary-effect estimates were calculated. Subgroup analyses were carried out by main acute leukemia type [lymphoblastic or myeloid), cytogenetics/genetic polymorphisms, and specific alcohol beverages. We found a statistically significant dose–response association of any level of maternal alcohol consumption compared with nondrinking during pregnancy exclusively with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) [odds ratio (OR)moderate consumption: 1.64, 95% confidence intervals (CIs): 1.23–2.17 and ORhigh consumption: 2.36, 95% CI: 1.60–3.49]. In contrast, no association of paternal preconception consumption with any leukemia type was noted. In beverage-specific analyses, only a positive association of maternal wine drinking with childhood AML was found, which was more pronounced in analyses including only studies on infant leukemia (ORwine: 2.12, 95% CI: 1.16–3.90). The largest ever meta-analysis shows a sizeable, statistically significant dose–response association of maternal alcohol consumption during index pregnancy with AML risk. Future research exploring the role of genetic polymorphisms is anticipated to shed light on the underlying pathophysiology.


A 2001 ruling by the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit revives the controversy over whether partners and shareholders may be considered employees, entitled to protection under federal anti-discrimination laws. In Wells v. Clackamas, 271 F.3d 90, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that shareholders in a professional corporation are employees. A petition for certiorari was granted in this case, 2002 U.S. LEXIS 5383 (U.S. Oct. 1, 2002) (No. 01-1435). The Ninth Circuit's ruling allowed Ms. Wells to bring her suit for discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act because counting the shareholders as employees gave the company the required minimum of fifteen employees to qualify as a covered entity under the Act. The decision adopts the minority view that corporate form determines whether shareholders are employees under federal anti-discrimination laws. The majority view looks at the relationship between the individuals in question and the business entity and, based on the economic reality of that relationship, determines whether the individual has the proprietary qualities of an employer or not. The economic reality approach is also used in determining whether partners are true partners, and thus employers, or partners in name only, and thus employees. Whether partners in a partnership or shareholders in a professional corporation are employers or employees determines whether they may seek protection under federal anti-discrimination laws, or as in the Wells case, whether the firm is a covered entity, so that employees may bring suit. The authors maintain that the federal anti-discrimination laws should be amended to address the meaning of the term "employee." Because the cases indicate a lack of uniformity in both approach and outcome, the authors recommend amendments to the statutes that would clarify the distinction between "employers" and "employees" and whether the roles must be mutually exclusive. In addition, they recommend amendments regarding which indicia are critical in determining covered employee status, and what members of firms should count as employees for satisfying the jurisdictional minimum.


As an emerging shared mobility option, bike share
has the potential to improve transportation sustainability. Understanding the
mobility patterns, environmental benefits, and impact of system changes helps
improve bike share systems (BSSs). However, existing literature has the
following gaps: (1) there is a lack in detailed understanding about bike
share's travel patterns; (2) few studies have considered the heterogeneous
travel mode choices to quantify BSSs' environmental impacts; (3) the station
interactions in the system expansion process are not well studied; and (4) there
is a critical need for models that can quantify system performances of
different types of BSSs from the perspectives of both users and operators.

This dissertation aims to address these gaps to
provide better understanding of the travel patterns, benefits, and impacts of
system changes in BSSs to assist the policy making and development of BSSs. To
achieve this objective, various modeling frameworks and methods were developed.
(1) The statistical property of bike share trip distance and duration are first
analyzed to provide fundamental basis for the modelling of BSSs. (2) A Bike
Share Emission Reduction Estimation Model (BS-EREM) is proposed to quantify the
environmental benefits from BSSs. The BS-EREM estimates the transportation
modes substituted by bike share trips, with the consideration of heterogeneous
travel mode choices. The GHG emission reductions contributed by BSSs in eight case
study cities were then evaluated using BS-EREM. (3) For system expansion, the
competition/complement interactions between stations are revealed using a
piecewise regression model. The study also shows that incorporating features
about such interactions significantly improves the demand predictions for
system expansion. A Spatial Eccentricity Quantile based Ensemble Model (SEQEM)
is proposed to identify the spatial range that the station interactions take
effects. (4) A comprehensive stochastic simulation framework is proposed to compare
the user experience and system operations using different types of BSSs, which
estimates actual origins-destinations of travel demands and integrates the user
behavior model and the rebalance optimization model. The case-study results show
that the user rerouting behaviors can indirectly affect system performances.
Overall, systems with high usage-intensity can benefit from transitioning their
station-based systems into hybrid systems.

In summary, this dissertation provides a holistic
understanding of the mobility patterns, environmental benefits, and the impacts
of system expansion and system types, which assists the policy making and the
development of BSSs. The proposed models are transferable to different cities
to support the development of sustainable micro-mobility systems.


About 80% of all infectious diseases including diarrhoea, typhoid, cholera in developing countries are transmitted through consumption of contaminated water. This study reports on the concept of heating water using low cost solar thermal energy systems to kill disease-causing microorganisms and gives the design philosophy, construction and measured thermal performances of a 2-element plane reflector augmented flat plate solar collector. A solar water pasteurization system was designed and constructed using locally available materials for direct water heating using solar energy in a flow-through system made of copper pipes. Standard car radiator thermostat valve was used to regulate pasteurization temperature at 82°C. The results demonstrated that solar heating of contaminated water could be achieved through a 2 m flat plate collector with mounted with a 2element plane mirror reflector with an aperture area of 4 m. The experimental collector was constructed with 20 mm diameter galvanized pipe fixed onto mild steel absorber plate. The collector without reflectors was used as control experiment. Under fair weather conditions, it was observed that the use of mirrors tremendously improved the performance of the collector by up to 94% producing 4995 L of pasteurized water using the galvanized pipe collector. The microbiology water quality tests using presumptive test for total coliform and confirmed by Eijkman test showed no presence of E. coli in the solar pasteurized water samples. On the basis of the results, it was concluded that the solar water pasteurization system developed provides a cheaper alternative for water disinfection in Kenya and other sunny countries.


It is well known that classical mechanics played a significant role in the thought of several major economists in the neoclassical tradition from the 1860s to the 1910s. Less well studied are the particular parts or features of mechanics that exercised this influence, or the depth and extent of the impact. After outlining the main traditions of mechanics and the calculus, and describing types of analogy between theories in general, I review some main pertinent features of the work of eight neoclassical economists from the 1830s to the 1910s. I argue that the influence took various forms but that in practice it was modest. Then I briefly describe a fresh set of possible influences with the development of dynamical systems in the period 1920–1950, where again the role of mechanics was limited. I end by raising a large question: does economics need some mathematics designed for its own purposes rather than that traditionally obtained by analogizing from mechanics and physics?


Based on the introduction of the general situation of research region, pressure index model of cultivated land is adopted according to the data of population, cultivated land area, crop sowing area, grain sowing area, and unit grain yield in the Statistical Yearbook of Fengxian County. The change of relevant factors of cultivated land pressure index over time is analyzed, as well as the tension level of cultivated land resources. Research shows that the pressure on cultivated land is relatively great in Fengxian County in the years 1999-2005. Grain supply and demand is still under the unsafe state. There will be more prominent contradiction between supply and demand of cultivated land in Fengxian County in the future, and the grain security will under greater pressure. Several countermeasures are put forward to ease the pressure on cultivated land in Fengxian County, in order to realize the sustainable use of cultivated land resources, to ensure the supply and demand balance of grain and cultivated land, and to stabilize and improve the grain productivity in Fengxian County, such as protecting the current cultivated land resources by the strictest protection system of cultivated land, enhancing the intensity of land development and reclamation, enlarging the area of cultivated land, increasing the agricultural sci-tech input, and improving the grain unit yield.


The aim of this study was to analyze how women with back pain perceived their quality of life after having attended educational workshops on back pain directed to self-care and prevention. This qualitative study was conducted in a Higher Education Institution in Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil, during the months April and May 2005, using a sample of nine women who had concluded eight workshops. The focal group method was selected for data collection, and the sessions were filmed and recorded. Data were grouped into categories and sequentially analyzed. All women thought they had a good quality of life, independently of having a poor health, no money and no a job. All this was overcome by their faith in God. All women reported that, before the workshops, the pain had interfered in their daily and social lives and that, after the intervention, the pain had calmed down or disappeared. The awareness of self-care provided physical, intellectual and emotional well being, improved mobility and decision-making and allowed them to return to their activities. Besides, it helped to eliminate or reduce pain medication. The study made us realize the importance of evaluating the quality of life in order to guide us in the choice of the most effective therapeutic measures.


Supply of safe drinking water is well-recognised as a catalyst for improving public health and social welfare as well as spurring economic growth. For this to be achieved, the water used should be both adequate and safe for human consumption. However, it has been noted that in Malawi the quality and quantity of water used by the consumers deteriorates and decreases respectively as time passes after commissioning of the water supply systems.
For the quality and quantity of drinking water (drinking water supply services) to be sustainable, there is a need to manage all the factors that affect them. However, not all the factors are currently managed. With only some of the factors being managed, not all the aspects required for sustainability of the quality and quantity of drinking water are maintained. It is also noted that the factors that are managed are selected based on their popularity and perceived order of importance. As such, the factors that are managed are not necessarily the root causes of the deterioration of the quality and quantity of the supplied drinking water. While this is the case, it is known that for a problem to be solved completely, there is a need to deal with its root causes. In addition, addressing of the root causes, which are fewer than the total number of the factors that affect sustainability of drinking water supply (DWS) services, is a simple way of managing all the factors. Therefore, the aim of this research was to identify the root causes of sustainability failure of DWS services in Malawi, evaluate the outcomes of managing the root causes on sustainability of DWS services, and develop a framework for managing the identified root causes to improve sustainability of DWS services.
Root cause analysis, survey and multiple case studies were employed as the research strategies for this study. Five DWS experts took part in the root cause analysis, ten water supply systems were studied as cases while 40 respondents participated in the survey. All the participants and the case water supply systems were from Malawi. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analysed in the study.
The findings of this research include the identification of 7 combined effects through which various factors affect sustainability of DWS services in Malawi. The research has also established that interaction of the factors that affect sustainability of DWS services in Malawi is kick-started by 26 root causes. Comprehensive sets of strategies and tactics have been developed to address the 7 combined effects and the 26 root causes respectively. Six critical requirements necessary for effective implementation of the strategies and tactics have also been identified. Accordingly, an overarching framework, with step-by-step instructions on how to improve sustainability of DWS services in Malawi, has been developed. The theoretical contribution of this research is that there will be increased understanding of the issues that affect sustainability of DWS services in Malawi and other countries with similar contexts. As regards practical contribution, the framework developed in this research - when used by the DWS practitioners, managers and policy makers - is expected to lead to improved sustainability of DWS services in Malawi and other countries with similar contexts.


Although the internet is a widely used information technology exploited by businesses to communicate with consumers, the present research indicates that many organizations have not established a presence on social network sites (SNSs). Using contingency and organizational learning theories, this research establishes a theoretical foundation for understanding organizational adoption and use of SNSs as a standardization marketing strategy by some of the world's leading brands. This paper also utilizes the Business Social Network Site (BSNS) Index, a new metric for measuring the extent to which companies promote their use of SNSs on their own website, to test hypotheses predicting firm adoption and use of SNSs. In addition to the contribution of the BSNS Index, an initial understanding of actual adoption and use of SNS as a marketing strategy by large firms is established.


How firmly a haptic device, such as a smartwatch, is coupled to the body can change how its haptic effects are perceived. However, hapticians often rely on vague subjective coupling characteristics such as "strapped snugly" or "tight yet comfortable". Achieving consistent strap tightness across body sites and between participants can be challenging, since even if strap tension is consistent, differences in limb circumference alter the resulting normal force under the haptic actuator in potentially unintuitive ways. Furthermore, when participants must attach the devices on their own, e.g., during a longitudinal in-the-wild study, they may not use the same tightness each day without guidance. We present HaptiStrap, a low-cost, easily fabricated tool, as a contribution towards a standard method for ensuring that wearable haptic studies do better than vague and subjective "tight yet comfortable" guidelines.


Photovoltaic (PV) generation technologies, often deemed a viable solution for reducing greenhouse gases and decreasing electricity demand, have become increasingly prevalent in their deployment. Particular progress in their implementation has been evidenced in residential areas characterized by rooftop-mounted PV arrays. Aside from the known advantages provided by residential PV generation, one noteworthy disadvantage confronting the electric utility is the degradation of power factor when grid-tied PV sources are extensively integrated into the electrical distribution system. In this paper, the effect of PV sources on power factor is studied using recorded field data from a residential community that is part of a large-scale smart grid demonstration project in Austin, Texas.


Novel drug delivery systems (NDDS) are one of the most strategies which enable to overcome the problems related to drug bioavailability. It is the rate and extent to which a drug becomes available to the target tissue after its administration. Most of the new drugs used today have poor bioavailability and are required to be administered at higher doses because only a small fraction of the administered dose is absorbed in the systemic circulation and able to reach the target site. This results in the wastage of major amount of drug and lead to adverse effects. Pharmaceutical technology mainly focuses on enhancing the solubility and permeability of drugs with lower bioavailability. Nanotechnology is the concept used in NDDS that enables a weight reduction of drug particles accompanied by an increase in stability and improved functionality. Various approaches such as nanosuspensions, liposomes, niosomes, nanoemulsions, cubosomes, solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN), nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC), cyclodextrins, phytosome etc., are used for the enhancement of bioavailability. The present review focuses on the different approaches used for bioavailability enhancement along with their advantages and disadvantages.


A 23-year-old, otherwise healthy woman presented to the emergency department with a 2-day history of subjective fevers and a 1-day history of rapid onset of pruritic, pink plaques on her arms, legs, lower back, neck, and face. She denied any other systemic symptoms, new medications, allergies, or a history of cutaneous eruptions. On physical examination, she had a fever of 101.2 F and had erythematous targetoid plaques with violaceous central bullae that were grouped on her extremities, back, face, and neck (Figure 1). There was no evidence of mucosal involvement. Results from laboratory tests, including complete blood cell count, comprehensive metabolic panel, and human immunodeficiency virus, were all normal. A biopsy was performed for histopathologic evaluation (Figure 2 and Figure 3). What is your diagnosis?


The aims of the study were to investigate the effects of the type of track, age, sex and origin of horse on racing time for Arabian horses, and to estimate the genetic parameters for racing time. The racing records used in this study were obtained from the Turkish Jockey Club. The trait used in the study was racing time for racing distances of 1200 m, 1300 m, 1400 m, 1500 m, 1600 m, 1800 m, 1900 m, 2000 m, 2100 m and 2200 m. The data from each racing distance were analysed separately. Genetic parameters were estimated by REML procedure using the DFREML program. The effects of type of track, sex and origin of horse on racing time were significant for all racing distances. The effect of horse age on racing time was not significant for distances of 1300 m, 1500 m, 2000 m and 2200 m, whereas it was significant for other distances. Estimates of heritability ranged from 0.175 to 0.304, and repeatability ranged from 0.295 to 0.460, depending on the racing distance. These estimates indicated that the genetic progress for racing performance could be achieved if breeders use accurate selection programmes.


The wider adoption of mobile Health video communication systems in standard clinical practice requires real-time control to provide for adequate levels of clinical video quality to support reliable diagnosis. The latter can only be achieved with real-time adaptation to time-varying wireless networks' state to guarantee clinically acceptable performance throughout the streaming session, while conforming to device capabilities for supporting real-time encoding. We propose an adaptive video encoding framework based on multi-objective optimization that jointly maximizes the encoded video's quality and encoding rate (in frames per second) while minimizing bitrate demands. For this purpose, we construct a dense encoding space and use linear regression to estimate forward prediction models for quality, bitrate, and computational complexity. The prediction models are then used in an adaptive control framework that can fine-tune video encoding based on real-time constraints. We validate the system using a leave-one-out algorithm applied to ten ultrasound videos of the common carotid artery. The prediction models can estimate structural similarity quality with a median accuracy error of less than 1%, bitrate demands with deviation error of 10% or less, and encoding frame rate within a 6% margin. Real-time adaptation at a group of pictures level is demonstrated using the high efficiency video coding standard. The effectiveness of the proposed framework compared to static, nonadaptive approaches is demonstrated for different modes of operation, achieving significant quality gains, bitrate demands reductions, and performance improvements, in real-life scenarios imposing time-varying constraints. Our approach is generic and should be applicable to other medical video modalities with different applications.


Scholarly research on land delivery processes and land tenure dynamics in the context of accelerated urbanization and massive rural-urban land use conversion in sub-Saharan African cities remains limited, especially in Kenya. Kisumu city, Kenya's third largest urban agglomeration, is currently experiencing spontaneous growth and uncontrolled outward expansions of urban development from the urban centre. This is taking place in the peri-urban areas and rural hinterland, where urban-based actors, under the pressure and anticipation of urbanization, undertake land transactions, land tenure conversions, and land development. Making use of three case studies that represent contrasting phases of settlement formation (incipient, intermediate, and consolidated), this article attempts to provide knowledge, particularly on the relationship between the land delivery processes, land tenure dynamics, and the role of various actors involved in the context of land development. The results indicate that the current trend with regard to landholding in the case study areas was a gradual shift from community control to individualisation. There is a need to integrate both customary and public authority's efforts towards orderly urban development. This study thus advocates for partnerships between the municipal authority and neo-customary/customary actors and, where appropriate, uses their creativity in solving problems to adapt municipal by-laws and procedures.


Hydrogen has been considered a prospective fuel for future generations of cars. In the present review, various aspects of its use in this field are mentioned. Hydrogen is pure, i.e., it does not produce carbon dioxide in combustion. Moreover, it possesses a very high energy density. In contrast to fossil fuels, hydrogen is an energy carrier, i.e., it is first produced by an energy-consuming process, such as water electrolysis. In hydrogen-fuelled cars, it can be directly supplied into the combustion engine or converted to electric power in fuel cell. Hydrogen-fuelled cars are equipped with a safe and efficient hydrogen storage system. Various ways of hydrogen storage have been studied such as liquid or high-pressure hydrogen storage and storage in solid metal hydrides or in porous materials with high specific surfaces. The first two methods are currently used in the prototypes of hydrogen vehicles. The use of liquid or high-pressure hydrogen requires expensive infrastructure. Hydrogen storage in the form of light metal hydrides (MgH2, LiBH4, NaBH4, NaAlH4, Mg(AlH4)2) is a promising and safe alternative. The hydrides are stable at room temperature but they decompose to hydrogen at elevated temperatures or in the reaction with water. Unfortunately, their costs are high. At present, inexpensive methods of hydride preparation are the subject of extensive studies all over the world.


SYNOPSIS. Oscar Hertwig (1896) noted that the central biological problem concerned preformation and epigenesis: which provides the basis for organic development? Does an organism begin preformed and just grow larger, or does form and organization emerge gradually? And how? The best scientific approach to the problem seemed to lie with Wilhelm Roux's program of materialistic experimental developmental mechanics, or "Entwickelungsmechanik." Yet that path did not lead directly to answers. Instead, embryology experienced a cycle of highs and lows throughout the first half of this century, and problems of morphogenesis have often faded into the background, regarded as old-fashioned, descriptive, and nonproductive science.

A century later, morphogenesis has regained a central place within biology. A special issue of Science recently reported that "unlike human centenarians who are reaching the end of life, developmental biology is basking in its full-blown prime. Indeed the excitement and promise of the field have never been greater, as esearchers close in on the secret of how a single fertilized egg cell goes through the complex and beautifully orchestrated series of changes that create an entire organism" (Baringa, 1994, p. 561).

Despite their centrality to biology's experimental traditions, the pioneering work and research traditions of developmental biology have remained little explored. This project will take up that exploration, analyzing the changing ways central issues of development were addressed earlier this century. Against the background of similar questions, significantly different details in approaches, methods, techniques, and basic assumptions have pushed and pulled researchers in a variety of directions. This paper will focus on the emergence of four research traditions between 1890 and the 1930s, traditions that have waxed and waned in importance since then.


This is an unofficial English translation of the Danish injunction order in the so-called thepiratebay.org case decided on 27 May 2010 by the Supreme Court of Denmark. Appellant is a Danish ISP. Appellees are the music industry. The court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals (see in English http://ssrn.com/abstract=1649682), which affirmed the ordered from Bailiff's Court of Frederiksberg (Copenhagen) [Frederiksberg Fogedrets Kendelse FS 14324/2007] of 5 February 2008. The court ordered the ISP – a Danish telephone company – to block its customers from access to the Swedish website "thepiratebay.org", which help users get music files from each other. Indirectly, the case involves the international issue of how to block online access to information or business from foreign countries and thus hinder international exchange of data - one of the main purposes with the Internet. It also involved the problems copyright holders are having online to protect their interests.


Leishmaniasis is a parasitic infectious disease with global repercussions. American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) is endemic in southern Brazil and its pathogenesis varies according to parasite species, immune response, and host genetics. In terms of immunogenetics, many host genes, including HLA (human leukocyte antigen), could be involved in susceptibility to and protection against ACL. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to investigate the association between HLA class I genes (HLA-A, -B, and -C) and ACL in an endemic region of southern Brazil. The allele frequencies of 186 patients diagnosed with ACL and 278 healthy individuals were compared. HLA class I (HLA-A, -B, and -C) typing was carried out by PCR-SSO using Luminex technology. The results revealed an association between the HLA-C*04 allele and the patient study group, in which it appeared more frequently than in the control group [21.5 vs 13.49% (P = 0.0016 and Pc = 0.0258; OR = 1.7560; 95%CI = 1.2227-2.5240)], thereby suggesting an increased susceptibility to ACL. Additional allelic groups such as HLA-A*02, HLA-B*35, HLA-B*45, HLA-C*01, and HLA-C*15 were also implicated; however, further investigation is necessary to confirm their association with ACL. Therefore, the results obtained in this study demonstrate the involvement of HLA class I genes in the susceptibility or resistance to ACL, with significant association between HLA-C*04 and ACL susceptibility.


Monoclonal antibody mab‐zebrin II was generated against a crude homogenate of cerebellum and electrosensory lateral line lobe from the weakly electric fish Apteronotus leptorhynchus. On Western blots of fish cerebellar proteins, mab‐zebrin II recognizes a single polypeptide antigen of apparent molecular weight 36 kD. Immunocytochemistry of apteronotid brains reveals that zebrin II immunoreactivity is confined exclusively to Purkinje cells in the corpus cerebelli, lateral valvula cerebelli, and the eminentia granularis anterior. Other Purkinje cells, in the medial valvula cerebelli and eminentia granularis posterior, are not zebrin II immunoreactive. Immunoreactive Purkinje cells are stained completely, including dendrites, axons, and somata. The antigen seems to be absent only from the nucleus. A similar distribution is seen in catfish, goldfish, and a mormyrid fish. Zebrin II immunoreactivity is also found in the rat cerebellum. Western blotting of rat cerebellar proteins reveals a single immunoreactive polypeptide, with apparent, molecular weight 36 kD, as in the fish. Also as in the fish, staining in the adult rat cerebellum is confined to a subset of Purkinje cells. Peroxidase reaction product is deposited throughout the immunoreactive Purkinje cells with the exception of the nucleus. No other cells in the cerebellum express zebrin II. At higher antibody concentrations, a weak glial cross reactivity is seen in most other brain regions: we believe that this is probably nonspecific. Zebrin II+ Purkinje cells are clustered together to form roughly parasagittal bands interposed by similar non‐immunoreactive clusters. In all there are 7 zebrin II+ and 7 zebrin II− compartments in each hemicerebellum. One immunoreactive band is adjacent to the midline; two others are disposed laterally to each side in the vermis; there is a paravermal band; and finally three more bands are identified in each hemisphere. Both in number and position, these compartments correspond precisely to the bands revealed by using another antibody, mabQ113 (anti‐zebrin I). In both fish and rat the compartmentation revealed by zebrin II immunocytochemistry is related to the organization of cerebellar afferent and efferent projections and may provide clues as to the fundamental architecture of the vertebrate cerebellum.


Contractual arrangements between farmers and traders aiming at providing input/credit in return for output selling have been widely studied in the literature on agricultural economics. Nonetheless, there is one issue, which is barely mentioned in the literature: how to enforce the contract terms when traders offer credit in cash rather than input advances? This article aims to describe an innovation in farming contracts, used by fresh fruit and vegetable wholesalers in Turkey, which involves a kind of private voucher system. Drawing on original data collected from wholesalers—a segment in the supply chain hardly covered in the literature—we investigate the factors determining contract adoption using a two-limit Tobit model. Our results suggest that this private voucher system contributes to supply chain coordination and facilitates smallholder farmer participation in export and supermarket channels, which are growing rapidly in this developing country.


Radiocarbon analysis of freshwater dissolved organic carbon (DOC) involves substantial sample pretreatment, including an initial rotary evaporation stage necessary to concentrate large volumes of freshwater sample. This may lead to a health risk from the exposure to pathogens, and there is the additional concern that the warm conditions during the rotary evaporation stage may provide ideal growing conditions for some pathogens. To remove any pathogen risk in water samples, boiling or autoclaving can be undertaken. However, to date, no studies have been undertaken to investigate whether boiling will alter the 14C signature of dissolved organic carbon. Here, we analyze the effect of sterilization on 9 contrasting river water samples. Comparing filtered, filtered and boiled, and filtered and sterilized dissolved organic matter, we observe that both boiling and autoclaving increases the uncertainty associated with the 14C and 13C of DOC, that the 14C and 13C changes are not unidirectional, and that they are not related to original DOC composition. Neither sterilization method is recommended unless essential, in which instance we recommend a 3σ uncertainty on 14C and that the 13C is not considered representative of the original sample.


This article presents a Finnish social design study that was targeted at future Generation Z consumers. The main objective was to gain understanding of the target group's attitudes, routines and skills relating to food consumption, diets and food waste within their households. The sustainability framework studied the Generation Z experience, obstacles and opportunities relating to behavior patterns, in addition with current habits—with respect to planning, shopping, cooking, eating and storing—and future motivations. The aim of the social design investigations was to provide contributions to the design outcome: a behavior change application that steered young consumers' behavior patterns towards a more sustainable direction. The design framework was applied in two case studies that focused on 17–26-year-old consumers in Finland. The main method was qualitative online focus group discussions. Based on the results, the most important behavior change opportunities related to social aspects, the role of company sponsoring, localization and context-awareness potential in young consumers' close environment and the need to engage wider sustainability aspects—such as carbon footprint, comparison of diets and financial savings—to the behavior change framework. Based on the results, the participants took the climate change challenge associated with food waste and biased diets very seriously.


This paper investigates option prices in an incomplete stochastic volatility model with correlation. In a general setting, we prove an ordering result which says that prices for European options with convex payoffs are decreasing in the market price of volatility risk. As an example, and as our main motivation, we investigate option pricing under the class of q-optimal pricing measures. Using the ordering result, we prove comparison theorems between option prices under the minimal martingale, minimal entropy and variance-optimal pricing measures. As a concrete example, we specialise to a variant of the Heston model. For this example we are able to deduce that option prices are decreasing in the parameter q.


We present a new discrete-time GARCH jump framework that allows for rich dynamics in higher moments by combining heteroskedastic processes with fat-tailed innovations in returns and volatility. We provide a tractable risk neutralization framework allowing for option valuation with separate modeling of risk premia for the jump and normal innovations. Our models can be estimated with ease on returns using standard maximum likelihood techniques, and joint estimation on returns and a large sample of options is also feasible. We find very strong empirical support for time-varying jump intensities, when estimating on S&P500 returns and on returns and options jointly.


OBJECTIVE Type 2 diabetes is associated with increased risks of cognitive dysfunction and brain abnormalities. The extent to which risk factor modification can mitigate these risks is unclear. We investigated the associations between incident dementia, cognitive performance, and brain abnormalities among individuals with type 2 diabetes, according to the number of risk factors on target, compared with control subjects without diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Prospective data were from UK Biobank of 87,856 individuals (n = 10,663 diabetes, n = 77,193 control subjects; baseline 2006–2010), with dementia follow-up until February 2018. Individuals with diabetes were categorized according to the number of seven selected risk factors within the guideline-recommended target range (nonsmoking; guideline-recommended levels of glycated hemoglobin, blood pressure, BMI, albuminuria, physical activity, and diet). Outcomes were incident dementia, domain-specific cognitive performance, white matter hyperintensities, and total brain volume. RESULTS After a mean follow-up of 9.0 years, 147 individuals (1.4%) with diabetes and 412 control subjects (0.5%) had incident dementia. Among individuals with diabetes, excess dementia risk decreased stepwise for a higher number of risk factors on target. Compared with control subjects (incidence rate per 1,000 person-years 0.62 [95% CI 0.56; 0.68]), individuals with diabetes who had five to seven risk factors on target had no significant excess dementia risk (absolute rate difference per 1,000 person-years 0.20 [−0.11; 0.52]; hazard ratio 1.32 [0.89; 1.95]). Similarly, differences in processing speed, executive function, and brain volumes were progressively smaller for a higher number of risk factors on target. These results were replicated in the Maastricht Study. CONCLUSIONS Among individuals with diabetes, excess dementia risk, lower cognitive performance, and brain abnormalities decreased stepwise for a higher number of risk factors on target.


BACKGROUND AIMS
Limited cell dose has hampered the use of cord blood transplantation (CBT) in adults. One method of minimizing nucleated cell loss in cord blood (CB) processing is to deplete or reduce plasma but not red blood cells - plasma depletion/reduction (PDR).

METHODS
The nucleated cell loss of PDR was studied, and determined to be less than 0.1% in the discarded supernatant plasma fraction in validation experiments. After testing and archival sampling, the median nucleated cell recovery for PDR processing was 90%, and median CD34(+) cell recovery 88%. In a CB bank inventory of 12 339 products with both pre- and post-processing total nucleated cells (TNC), PDR processing resulted in median post-processing TNC recoveries of 90.0% after testing and archival samples removal. Using the same 10 CB units divided into two halves, we compared directly the recovery of PDR against hydroxyethyl starch red cell reduction (RCR) for TNC, CD34(+) cells and colony-forming units (CFU-GM, CFU-E, CFU-GEMM and total CFU) after parallel processing. We also compared the loss of very small embryonic-like stem cells (VSEL).

RESULTS
We demonstrated significantly higher recoveries using PDR for TNC (124%), CD34(+) cells (121%), CFU-GM (225%), CFU-GEMM (201%), total CFU (186%) and VSEL (187%). The proportion of high TNC products was compared between 10 912 PDR and 38 819 RCR CB products and found to be 200% higher for products that had TNC ≥150 × 10(7) (P = 0.0001) for the PDR inventory.

CONCLUSIONS
Our data indicate that PDR processing of CB provides a significantly more efficient usage of this valuable and scarce resource.


The aim of this study was to establish the rate of progression from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to dementia in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). PD patients without dementia were recruited in 1997 from an ongoing prospective epidemiological study. The assessment included neurological and psychiatric examinations, a clinical interview based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Revised Third Edition (DSM‐III‐R) criteria for dementia, and a battery of neuropsychological tests. PD was diagnosed according to established criteria, dementia was diagnosed according to the DSM‐III‐R criteria, and subtypes of MCI were classified according to modified Petersen's criteria. Seventy‐two nondemented PD patients were included. A total of 34 were cognitively intact, whereas 38 were diagnosed with MCI (amnestic, n = 6; single nonmemory domain, n = 17; multiple domains slightly impaired, n = 15). Fifty‐nine patients (82%) completed follow‐up examination 4 years later, and 18 (62%) of the patients with MCI and 6 (20%) of the cognitively intact PD patients were demented (P = 0.001). Single domain nonmemory MCI and multiple domains slightly impaired MCI were associated with later development of dementia (P = 0.003; P = 0.04), whereas amnestic MCI subtype was not (P = 0.76). We conclude that patients with PD and MCI had a higher risk of developing dementia than cognitively intact PD patients, suggesting that MCI in PD is an early manifestation of dementia. However, these findings should be interpreted with caution due to the relatively small number of subjects included in this study. © 2006 Movement Disorder Society


A kinetic theory analysis is made of low-speed rarefied gas flows around a flat plate. The Boltzmann equation simplified by a collision model is solved by means of a finite difference approximation with the discrete ordinate method. The method does not suffer from statistical noise which is common in particle based methods and requires much less amount of computational effort. Calculations are made for flows around a micro-scale flat plate with a finite length of 20 microns. The method is assessed by comparing the results with those from several different methods and available experimental data.


Writing retreats provide time away from distractions to write manuscripts, grant applications, books, or dissertations. A unique characteristic of writing retreats is that they form a "community of scholars," which is culturally congruent with Indigenous intellectuals, who are familiar with community as an essential way of life. This article presents two case studies and data about the experiences from a national Native American scholars' cohort (n=6) and an Indigenous writing retreat from mainly Haudenosaunee writers in Mohawk Country (n=22). Evaluative feedback from aggregated writing retreats endorses the feasibility, growth, and advocacy of future writing retreats. Results shared that protective writing times increased meaningful productivity. Core values related to a community-based participatory research framework learned from a confederacy of tribes and their urban partners were also shared.


Since 1967, the academic discipline of social and preventive medicine has been taught to medical students at the University of Rhodesia. The emphasis has been on the basic principles underlying the epidemiology of disease and the medical services required to suit the needs of Rhodesia. In 1970, a course in medicalsociology and in 1972, a course in pschology were introduced, and these courses havesupplemented the teaching of medicine in general and of social and preventive medicine in particular. The course is examined in some detail and evidence is submitted concerning the particular content and methodology used in this course of instruction for undergraduates. Reference is also made to a scheme of attachment to medical practitioners and a period spent during the final undergraduate year in a rural situation as part of the faculty programme of instruction in community medicine.


A new rolling leaf rice mutant was identified which showed an apparently straighter longitudinal shape normal transverse rolling characters at all developing stages. The chlorophyll contents per fresh weight of this mutant leaves were lower than those of wild-type. The electron transfer rate (ETR) and photochemical quenching (qP) were a little higher than those of wild-type. However, because of significant increase of non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), the maximal photosystem II (PSII) photochemistry (Fv/Fm) and the efficiency of excitation energy trapping by open PSII reaction centers in the light–adapted state (Fv'/Fm') were lower than those of wild-type. Low temperature fluorescence analysis showed that rolling leaf mutant assigned more excited energy to photosystem I (PSI) than to PSII. The superoxide dismutase (SOD) content, soluble sugar content, proline content and malonaldehyde (MDA) content of the rolling leaf mutant were nearly 39.4, 91.2, 96.7 and 143.7% of those of wild-type, respectively. The great increase of MDA content suggests that membrane lipid system was damaged in rolling leaf mutant leaves. These results indicate that rolling leaf mutant decrease the efficiency of light utilization compared to the wild-type. This was because of the reduction of leaf area and chlorophyll contents, and the dissipation of more excitation energy as NPQ as a result of avoiding potential damage of membrane structure.


Urbanization in Italy, especially after WWII, shows a marked informal character that anticipates issues and problems very familiar with the postcolonial agenda based in cities of the Global South and surprisingly overlooked by Northern urban scholars until recently. The paper addresses the «returning surge» of informality studies in Southern Europe and provides key-concepts for a Southern theory-like perspective that is not grounded in the Global South, but developed from the Global North. In this vein, and quite instrumentally, Italy is regarded as a player in the formation of the historical North-South, reflecting and processing contradictions and inequalities of the mainstream, continental European urbanization of capital. The paper focuses on two cases of urban informality in Rome and Naples to address the rise of a Southern European theory underpinning planning regulation as an area of tensions – from informal housing to illegal, criminal econo


The thesis has two aims. The first one is to contribute to the field of political and historical sociology through an understanding of the processes of state formation in a Third World country. The second aim is to describe and analyze the development of the Nicaraguan state from independence to 1990. In the first part of the dissertation theories of the nation-state and state formation are discussed and criticized. The Eurocentric origin and bias of the nation-state concept is seen as a significant problem in conceptualizing and understanding state formation in the Third World. Taking into consideration the experience of state formation in Western Europe, a theoretical frame work is presented that operationalize the concept of nation-state and the process of state formation. This frame work is further elaborated by discussions of some central aspects pertaining to countries of the Third World that differentiate them from the Western European experience. Nation-state formation is thus seen as a process in the international, "national" and state arenas encompassing the strengthening and the coordination of repressive, extractive and integrative capacities of the state. A central aspect in understanding state capacities is through the conceptual pair of infrastructural and despotic power. The empirical study focuses on the development (state formative processes) of the Nicaraguan state from independence in 1823 until the Sandinista electoral defeat in 1990. The role of the colonial legacy, the world capitalist economy and the international system of states in influencing the shape of the Nicaraguan state is analyzed. Through the history of Nicaraguan state formation, phases are outlined with different state formative characteristics. State disintegrative phases are represented by the city-states of early independent Nicaragua and the protectorate years at the beginning of the 20th century. Reproductive peripheralness is seen as dominant during the second half of the 19th century and the Somoza dynasty. Finally projects of nation-state formation are to be found during the Zelaya regime and during the Sandinista regime. The importance of the agroexport economy, foreign interventions and a fractured social formation is seen as an important factor blocking the development of a Nicaraguan nation-state. Through the notion of the peripheral state and frameworked in the concepts of extractive, repressive and integrative capacities the author provides new theoretical insights on Third World states dynamics in creating and maintaining a national arena, squeezed between international and local forces. The author shows that the peripheral state is not a traditional state form but a modern state form interdependent on the successful consolidation of nation-stateness in the First World. (Less)


This study was conducted in WondoGenet district, Southern Ethiopia to assess the water quality of rural water supply schemes in relation to the sustainability of their service delivery. 28 functional water  points were selected randomly, for their assessments. The assessments included sanitary surveillance of water points and water quality analyses. Water samples were analyzed for pH, temperature, total  dissolved solids, turbidity, total hardness, fecal and total coliform bacteria, fluoride, chloride, nitrate,  manganese, and iron. The results obtained show that most of the 'user perceived' acceptable drinking  water quality parameters were within the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for drinking  water quality, based on aesthetic and taste considerations. Only one dug-well had marginally higher  level of total hardness (that is, 220 mg/l of CaCO 3 ), while four water points had higher turbidity  ranging from 8.3 to 64 NTU when compared with the WHO guidelines. In all the sampled water points,  the level of iron (<0.009 to 1.25 mg/l), manganese (0.10 to 1.50 mg/l), chloride (0.80 to 62.5 mg/l),  and nitrate (0.90 to 12.7 mg/l) were within the WHO guidelines. Fluoride was also found to be below  the WHO health based limit (<1.5 mg/l). However, majority (85.7%) of the water points had  detectable levels of total coliform bacteria (1 to 68 cfu). On the other hand, it was only in 25% of the  water points that fecal coliform bacteria were detected (1 to 10 cfu). This shows that the  bacteriological water quality is of concern as majority of the water points had detectable levels of  coliform bacteria. Therefore, regular chlorination of water points, particularly dug wells, should  continue. Besides, disinfection of water at the household level can be an added advantage. Key words : Ethiopia, quality, rural, supply, sustainability, water.


The cardiovascular system serves to deliver oxygen and nutrients to the tissues of the body whilst simultaneously removing waste products. Blood vessels display a degree of basal permeability to achieve this function, which is regulated at the level of the endothelial monolayer. In response to certain stimuli, the integrity of the endothelial barrier is reduced, rendering blood vessels hyperpermeable. Best known as a potent inducer of angiogenesis, the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was originally identified as a vascular permeability factor. In certain diseases, such as those characterised by ischemia, VEGF upregulation causes vascular hyperpermeability and pathological oedema. VEGF exists in three major isoforms, termed VEGF120, VEGF164 and VEGF188, which variably engage one or more of several VEGF receptors, termed VEGFR1, VEGFR2 and NRP1. A better understanding of the how the different VEGF isoforms engage their receptors and downstream signalling pathways to promote vascular hyperpermeability may help refine current therapeutic strategies to target VEGF-induced oedema. In this volume of work, I have studied VEGF induced vascular hyperpermeability from several perspectives. Using an in vivo model of vascular hyperpermeability, I have compared VEGF isoform potency and investigated which receptors are required by different VEGF isoforms to promote vascular leakage. Using tissue culture models of vascular endothelium coupled with biochemical techniques, I have determined how VEGF isoforms and their receptors affect known hyperpermeability signal transduction pathways. Specifically, I have shown that NRP1 and its cytoplasmic domain (NCD) impact two VEGF hyperpermeability signalling axes, and that the NCD interacts with proteins previously linked to endothelial tight junctions and paracellular permeability. Finally, I have examined the expression of VEGF isoforms in several disease models that are characterised by vascular hyperpermeability.


This paper is a continuation of earlier publications of the authors related to the analysis of mechatronic systems including piezoelectric materials used as sensors or actuators for stabilization and damping of mechanical vibration. It was demonstrated that only very accurate mathematical model of the system with the piezoelectric transducers and external electric circuit attached to a mechanical system like a beam or a shaft by a glue layer allows the engineers to design the system with required dynamic parameters. Geometrical and material parameters of all the components have to be taken into account because neglecting the influence of one of them results in erroneous analysis results [1-4]. The paper presents the improved mathematical model of the considered mechatronic system. The assumption of pure shear of the connection layer is rejected during modeling and deformation of the layer is taken into consideration. The purpose of the reported enhancement of the mathematical model of the considered mechatronic system is to improve accuracy of computational results.


Objective: To assess if an incongruous increase in mortality occurs after postoperative day 30. Background: In the current climate of public reporting and pay-for-performance, 30-day mortality after inpatient surgery has become a key metric to assess performance. Whereas the intent is to improve quality, there has been increasing concern that reporting 30-day mortality may influence providers' timing of treatment withdrawal. Methods: We used national Medicare data to identify beneficiaries who underwent 1 of 19 major surgical procedures. We performed a survival analysis and calculated an adjusted daily hazard rate using all-cause mortality, accounting for patient comorbidities and case-mix. We ran linear regression models to examine discontinuity points around the 30-day mark, and conducted subgroup analyses for hospitals participating in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, which focuses on 30-day mortality reporting. Results: We identified 872,968 patients who underwent 1 of 19 surgical procedures of interest; 71,583 of these patients (8.2%) died within 60 days of their index operation. We did not observe any statistically significant increases in mortality in the immediate period after day 30 compared with the immediate period before day 30. In fact, in each model, mortality rates tended to fall in the days after day 30, consistent with a general decreasing risk of death over time. These findings were similar among National Surgical Quality Improvement Program hospitals. Conclusions: We found no evidence of an increase in postoperative mortality after day 30. As payers move towards incorporating 30-day surgical mortality into pay-for-performance programs, these findings serve as a benchmark for measuring potential future unintended consequences of the metric.


A compact and ultrafast holographic memory using a recently developed surface-emitting microlaser diode array is described. The system does not require a bulky laser, spatial light modulators, or beam deflectors. The memory is capable of retrieving a high-resolution page (approximately 105 bits) in less than 1 nsec.


Past research suggests that sense of humor may play a role in anxiety. The present study builds upon this work by exploring how individual differences in various humor styles, such as affiliative, self-enhancing, and self-defeating humor, may fit within a contemporary research model of anxiety. In this model, intolerance of uncertainty is a fundamental personality characteristic that heightens excessive worry, thus increasing anxiety. We further propose that greater intolerance of uncertainty may also suppress the use of adaptive humor (affiliate and self-enhancing), and foster the increased use of maladaptive self-defeating humor. Initial correlational analyses provide empirical support for these proposals. In addition, we found that excessive worry and affiliative humor both served as significant mediators. In particular, heightened intolerance of uncertainty lead to both excessive worry and a reduction in affiliative humor use, which, in turn, increased anxiety. We also explored potential humor mediating effects for each of the individual worry content domains in this model. These analyses confirmed the importance of affiliative humor as a mediator for worry pertaining to a wide range of content domains (e.g., relationships, lack of confidence, the future and work). These findings were then discussed in terms of a combined model that considers how humor styles may impact the social sharing of positive and negative emotions.


A wooden conical wind instrument, sounded with a double reed, which forms the tenor and bass to the woodwind section. In the modern orchestra, the family exists in two different sizes: the bassoon and the double bassoon or contrabassoon, sounding one octave lower. Built in four joints, its precursor the dulcian was of one-piece construction. Because of its wide compass and its range of characteristic tone-colours, from richly sonorous at the bottom to expressively plaintive at the top, it is one of the most versatile and useful members of the orchestra. Certain design features are peculiar to it: the doubling back on itself of the bore, like a hairpin; the 'extension bore' beyond the sixth finger-hole; and local wall thickness allowing for finger-hole chimneys. These features give the instrument its essential tone qualities and condition its complex


Integration of newly acquired genes into existing regulatory networks is necessary for successful horizontal gene transfer (HGT). Ten percent of bacterial species contain at least two DNA replicons over 300 kilobases in size, with the secondary replicons derived predominately through HGT. The Sinorhizobium meliloti genome is split between a 3.7 Mb chromosome, a 1.7 Mb chromid consisting largely of genes acquired through ancient HGT, and a 1.4 Mb megaplasmid consisting primarily of recently acquired genes. Here, RNA-sequencing is used to examine the transcriptional consequences of massive, synthetic genome reduction produced through the removal of the megaplasmid and/or the chromid. Removal of the pSymA megaplasmid influenced the transcription of only six genes. In contrast, removal of the chromid influenced expression of ∼8% of chromosomal genes and ∼4% of megaplasmid genes. This was mediated in part by the loss of the ETR DNA region whose presence on pSymB is due to a translocation from the chromosome. No obvious functional bias among the up-regulated genes was detected, although genes with putative homologs on the chromid were enriched. Down-regulated genes were enriched in motility and sensory transduction pathways. Four transcripts were examined further, and in each case the transcriptional change could be traced to loss of specific pSymB regions. In particularly, a chromosomal transporter was induced due to deletion of bdhA likely mediated through 3-hydroxybutyrate accumulation. These data provide new insights into the evolution of the multipartite bacterial genome, and more generally into the integration of horizontally acquired genes into the transcriptome.


Intestinal parasitic infections (IPIs) are globally endemic affecting the health, growth and development of children world-wide including Pakistan. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the current epidemiological status of IPIs and identify associated risk factors among children from day-care centers in Quetta, Pakistan. Methods: The study involved pre-structured questionnaire and stool tests to obtain epidemiological and disease data. Stool specimens were collected from 150 children [87 males (58%), 63 females (42%)], aged ≤5 years (3.8±1.6). Data were statistically analyzed using descriptive statistics and univariate logistic regression methods. Specimens were examined for parasitic infections using saline and Lugol's wet mount preparation and formol-ether concentration technique. Results: The overall prevalence of IPIs was 28.7% (43/150) (95% CI:21.5-35.9). Children infected with single parasite were 22.7% while 6% represented ployparasitism. The prevalence of protozoan parasitic infections were higher 21.3% (32/150) than helminthic infection 15.3% (23/150). The most common parasite was Entamoebahistolytica 14% (21/150), followed by Hymenolepis nana 8.7% (13/150), Giardia lamblia 7.3% (11/150). Other parasites with lower rates of occurrence were Ascarislumbricoides (4.0%), Taeniaspp (1.3%), and Trichuristrichiura (1.3%). Age (OR=3.5;95% CI:1.56 –8.08), Maternal education (OR=2.5;95% CI:1.2-5.2), type of drinking water (treated/untreated) (OR=2.44;95% CI:1.14 –5.26), hand-washing practice (OR=2.19, 95% CI:1.0-4.6), and soil-eating habit (OR=4.5;95% CI:2.0-10.0) were significantly associated with IPIs. However, no significant difference was found with gender and family size (p>0.05). Conclusion: Due to high occurrence of IPIs among children in Quetta day-care centers, the need for screening, deworming programmes, treatment and health education is advocated.


problem that often persists even after the underlying disease has resolved and that perpetuates intensive care dependency. A neuroendocrine dysfunction in the chronic phase of illness was recently found to play a role. The acute phase of critical illness consists primarily of an activated anterior pituitary function, whereas peripheral anabolic pathways are inactivated. It provides the metabolic substrates and host defense required for survival and thus has been considered adaptive and beneficial. Persistence of this acute stress response throughout the course of critical illness was hitherto assumed. This assumption has now been invalidated. Indeed, a uniformly reduced pulsatile secretion of several anterior pituitary hormones is present in protracted critical illness, causing impaired function of target organs. A hypothalamic rather than pituitary dysfunction explains why administration of relevant releasing factors evokes immediate and pronounced pituitary hormone release followed by increases of target organ hormone levels and peripheral tissue responses. Recognizing the differences between acute and prolonged critical illness offers a frame in which to interpret recent "unexpected" adverse outcomes of studies using high doses of either thyroxine or growth hormone in long-stay intensive care unit patients. Also, the new concept of reduced stimulation of pituitary function in protracted critical illness opens new therapeutic perspectives to reverse the paradoxical 'wasting syndrome' and intensive care dependency. Treatment with releasing factors, as opposed to peripherally active hormones such as thyroid hormone, growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor-I, or anabolic steroids, enables the body to adjust peripheral hormonal metabolism and activity according to the needs determined by the disease process. This is an important safety aspect for an endocrine treatment at a time when it is virtually impossible to determine 'normal' or 'optimal' circulating levels of different peripherally active hormones. Whether this novel endocrine strategy will also enhance clinical recovery from critical illness remains to be explored. Curr Opin Endocrinol


There has been much written to support music therapy as an adjunct in managing pain and anxiety in palliative care patients in Western societies, but little written on its use in developing countries. In light of increasing numbers of terminally ill patients in Tanzania owing to HIV/AIDS and cancer, limited access to opioids, and a growing interest in palliative care support, this study looks at the application of music in this context. The study reviews the history and principles of therapeutic music and outlines its role in palliative care. A qualitative study was conducted by questionnaire of 17 professionals involved in home-based palliative care in Tanzania. Findings include beliefs about the power of music, how music is being used to bring comfort to the dying patient, and the most important aspects of helpful music to many Tanzanian palliative care patients. Music can powerfully affect body, mind and spirit. It is vocal music, which is an accepted therapeutic music tool used to bring comfort to the palliative care patient and their family members. Finally, music is an active and participatory activity in Tanzanian culture, even for the dying.


The belief of a heavenly God is enshrined to all Abrahamic religions which form the three major religions of the world today. Muslims believe in Allah who is above the seven heavens. The youth in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) study Islamic courses as part of their high school curriculum and are required to take at least one Islamic course at the university level to gain credit hours towards their general education (GENED). This paper provides an insight of what the youth studying in the UAE think of where Allah is. Our analysis shows that a big number of Muslim youth were not sure, especially those from the Middle Eastern and Arab countries bringing to conclusion that this subject needs to be revisited again in the course work.