Rice provides more than 27% of daily energy intake to more than half of the world's population. Refined and cooked rice, as a staple has been generally perceived to induce high glycaemic responses; however, it is known that cold storage of cooked rice, reheating, and mincing or chewing affects the rate and extent of starch digestion and glucose release. This in vitro experimental study aimed to investigate the effect of various combinations of these factors on the rate and extent of starch digestion of five rice products, medium grain white, medium grain brown, long grain white, basmati, and parboiled rice. Cold storage (at 4oC) for over ten hours significantly reduced digestibility of cooked rice starch (P=0.05). The reductions in starch digestion were dependent on the type of rice product varieties (medium grain white, medium grain brown, and long grain brown about 20% (P=0.05); basmati about 30% (P=0.05); and parboiled about 40% (P<0.001). Reheating (65oC for 15 minutes) and mincing increased starch digested by 20% (P<0.001) and 18% (P<0.001) respectively compared with the cold-stored un-minced cooked rice. The glucose released from minced freshly cooked medium grain white rice reached over 90% after 40 minutes of digestion while 24-hour cold-stored minced parboiled rice had the lowest, reaching around 40% after 180 minutes. Further study with human participants is suggested to analyse the significance of the differences between medium grain white rice and cold stored parboiled rice, for the purpose of investigating if the optimal treatment of parboiled rice (cold storage at 4oC for 24 hours), with appropriate food safety precautions (reheating to 65oC for at least 15 minutes), could be a public health recommendation that would improve the postprandial blood glucose response compared with the response to the more popular medium grain white rice.


This article presents a categorization of pathways to violence and homicide, including serial killing, in terms of personal construct theory. Violent offenders' reactions to their offences are considered in relation to the degree of consistency between their actions and their construing of the self and the world. Implications for the assessment and treatment of people who have committed acts of homicide or violence are discussed; and the extent to which it is possible and desirable to adopt a credulous approach with such individuals is explored, including consideration of the truth of offenders' accounts, the therapeutic relationship, and moral relativism.


This research was conducted at the Regional Finance and Asset Management Agency of Kutai Kartanegara Regency. This study aims to measure the level of public satisfaction with services that have been done by BPKAD Kukar. To measure the level of satisfaction is used Public Satisfaction Index as listed in the Ministerial Regulation No.16 of 2014. This study used 43 respondents consisting of various elements of both community organizations, business, and government. From the results of the study showed that the value of the Satisfaction Index showed good condition or with score average of 2.91 with 4 scale or equal to 69,69 with 100 scale. The value of IKM and IKM Conversion Intervals indicates that the Quality of Service in BPKAD falls into Category B with Good Service Unit Performance indicating that the quality of BPKAD Kukar service is in good categoryKeywords : Index of Public Satisfaction, Service


The thermal load of engine is always the main obstacle of the development of the engine. Based on diesel engine block-coolant jacket, the fluid structure interaction model is established, and the flow and the heat transfer of the block-coolant jacket are simulated and calculated. The results agreed well with the measured data. At the same time, according to the simulation results, the structure of the coolant jacket is made appropriate optimization, 3-structure improvement projects are put forward, and their simulating results are also compared. The cooling velocity of flow field, the coupling surface heat transfer coefficient simulated by 3-structure improvement projects are all increased in some degree comparing with the original models, and the whole block temperature is lowered in some degree than the original model, so as to verify the rationality of the structure improvement


Review question/objective What are the effects of weight management interventions that include a diet component on weight‐related outcomes in pregnant and postpartum women? The primary objective of this systematic review is to evaluate the effectiveness of weight management interventions which include a diet component and are aimed at limiting gestational weight gain and postpartum weight retention in women. The second objective of this systematic review is to investigate included intervention components with respect to effect on weight‐related outcomes. This may include, but is not limited to: length of intervention, use of face‐to‐face counselling, group or individual consultations, use of other interventions components including exercise, use of goals and use of support tools like food diaries, coaching, including email or text message support. Background Around half of all women of reproductive age are either overweight or obese,1,2,3 with women aged 25‐34 years having a greater risk of substantial weight gain compared with men of all ages.1,4 Excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) and postpartum weight retention (PPWR) may play a significant role in long term obesity. Having one child doubles the five‐ and 10‐year obesity incidence for women, with many women who gain excessive weight during pregnancy remaining obese permanently.5 Excessive GWG and/or PPWR can also significantly contribute to short‐ and long‐term adverse health outcomes for mother, baby and future pregnancies.6,7 Maternal obesity increases the risk of pregnancy related complications such as pre‐eclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus, stillbirth and the rate of caesarean section.8 Childhood obesity is a further long term complication of maternal obesity for offspring, which may persist in to adulthood.9 Excess GWG is also a risk factor for PPWR both in the short and long‐term.10,11 Nehring et al. conducted a meta‐analysis with over 65,000 women showing that, compared to women who gained weight within recommendations during pregnancy, women with GWG above Institute of Medicine weight gain recommendations,12 retained an additional 3.1 kg and 4.7kg after three and greater than or equal to 15 years postpartum, respectively.13 The health risk associated with PPWR is highlighted in a study of 151,025 Swedish women followed between 1992 and 2001.The study identified the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes for those who gained three or more units of Body Mass Index (kg/m2) between consecutive pregnancies (an average of two years) was much higher compared with women whose BMI changed from ‐1.0 and 0.9 units.14 Long‐term chronic disease risk may also be affected by PPWR as weight retention at the end of the first year post‐partum has been found to be a predictor of maternal overweight 15 years later.15With around 14‐20% of women retaining 5kg or more 12 months postpartum,16,5 the risk of developing conditions like diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease may be increased.17 It becomes evident that interventions which aim to support attainment of healthy weight both in the antenatal and postpartum periods are key health priorities for women during this life stage. Lifestyle factors of overweight, having poor diet quality, and not undertaking enough moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity are amongst the top five predictors of mortality in women.18 Additionally it is noted that, for many women, pregnancy and the postpartum period are associated with a reduction in physical activity.19 It is known that a combination of poor dietary choices, an increase in sedentary time and reduction in physical activity are all contributors to the development of overweight and obesity. With this in mind, current research has focused on lifestyle interventions to limit GWG and PPWR. Thangaratinam et al. reviewed 44 randomized controlled trials (7278 women) where interventions including diet, physical activity or both were evaluated for their influence on maternal weight during pregnancy.20 Results indicate that all were significantly effective in reducing GWG compared with the control group. More specifically, dietary interventions were the most effective in reducing weight gain, with a mean weight loss of ‐3.84kg compared with ‐0.72kg and ‐1.06kg for physical activity and the mixed (diet plus physical activity) approach, respectively.20 This finding is supported by Hill and colleagues' recent systematic review of theory based interventions to limit GWG.21 Included studies in this review reported an underpinning theory base and were classified as adopting a dietary, physical activity or mixed approach. Hill et al. concluded that studies which included a diet intervention were significantly more effective at limiting GWG.21 In 2011 Tanentsapf et al. reviewed the effect of dietary interventions alone for reducing GWG in normal weight, overweight and obese pregnant women.22 This review analysed 13 randomized controlled trials and quasi‐randomized controlled trials with a dietary intervention to prevent excessive GWG in women. The review concluded that dietary interventions during pregnancy were effective in reducing GWG with an effect of ‐1.92kg (n=1434) compared with the control group.22 Tanentsapf et al. identified that trials differed in the conduct of the interventions with various diet and non‐diet related components utilised. Dietary approaches were highly variable with some trials focusing only on calorie restriction and others included additional target macronutrient distribution for intake. Some trials further provided feedback based on maternal weight gain guidelines.12 Interventions also varied in delivery method with a variety of modes used, including face‐to‐face, individual or group consultations and/or written correspondence. The frequency of communication, despite the type or mix, also changed from trial to trial with additional methods via telephone, posted materials, feedback or food diaries utilised. The inclusion of physical activity in addition to diet intervention was also common. Whilst the recent review by Tanentsapf et al.22 identified that dietary interventions are effective in reducing GWG, the review did not investigate the impact that different intervention components, delivery methods or dietary counselling approaches had on gestational weight management. It remains unclear as to which intervention components optimize GWG in women. The impact of lifestyle interventions has also been investigated in the postpartum period. The recent systematic review from van der Pligt et al. reported seven of 11 studies reviewed were successful in limiting PPWR.23 As with studies aimed at limiting GWG, interventions included in van der Pligt et al.'s review differed greatly in their conduct. Six of these seven studies included both dietary and physical activity components for the intervention, with the final successful study including a diet only intervention. Five of the successful studies recruited overweight or obese women only. Intervention time varied considerably in successful studies with some running for as little at ten days, and others up to six months. Bertz et al. demonstrated that their 12‐week behavior modification intervention which targeted diet alone or diet and exercise, including two individual sessions with a dietitian and physical therapist, provision of scales for weight self‐monitoring and bi‐weekly text messages was successful in achieving significant weight loss following the intervention, and sustained at one year.24 The diet intervention and the diet and exercise intervention yielded significant weight loss compared to the control. Following 12 weeks a reduction of ‐8.3 +/‐ 4.2kg for diet intervention and ‐6.9 +/‐ 3.0kg for diet and exercise was observed. Additionally after one year, the diet intervention showed ‐10.2 +/‐ 5.7kg reduction and ‐7.3 +/‐ 6.3kg for the diet and exercise intervention (p<0.001).24 Colleran et al. also found significant weight change results by implementing a 16‐week intervention which consisted of weekly individual sessions with a dietitian regarding calorie restriction, two additional home visits regarding exercise, weekly food diary completion and email support.25 The intervention group had greater weight loss compared to the control group (‐5.8kg +/‐ 3.5kg vs ‐1.6kg +/‐ 5.4kg). It can be seen that various methods have been utilized in investigating the impact of diet and physical activity interventions on PPWR. The review by van der Pligt et al.23 highlights the impact successful lifestyle interventions can have on postpartum weight change. However, this review did not investigate the different intervention strategies utilized. It remains unclear as to the optimal setting, delivery method, diet strategy, contact frequency or intervention length to limit PPWR. Previous systematic reviews for both GWG and PPWR have focused on the effectiveness of lifestyle interventions as a whole for weight management in pregnant and postpartum women.20,23 And despite Tanentsapf et al.'s focus on dietary interventions for GWG,22 much is still unknown about the effectiveness of differing diet interventions over the antenatal and postpartum period. Specifically, the impact of differing diet intervention strategies on maternal weight gain is not known. Firstly, this systematic review will focus on whether weight management interventions which include a dietary component are effective in pregnant and postpartum women. In addition to this, this review will investigate the different intervention strategies utilized and their effectiveness in maternal weight management. A search of systematic review protocol databases has shown that there is no current review underway for this topic.


Landscape is a complex system of competitive spatial functions. This competition is especially readable in high dense urban areas between housing, industry, leisure facilities, transport and infrastructure, energy supply, flood protection, natural resources. Nevertheless, those conflicts are seldom discussed and worked out in a complex and interdisciplinary way. Additional to that, ecological interests and matters are very often handled as a compensation for constructional intervention into the landscape. That leads to separate solutions concerning to the main task. In this sense there are no landscape concepts to see such tasks as a multidimensional question to combine infrastructure or housing with ecology and (landscape) design to get more positive effects in a wider sense for urban areas. It is also a question to create an ecological network with an aesthetical dimension. We want to explain some examples from the Netherlands which show how complex spatial conflicts under the synonym of green infrastructure can discuss and work out in an interdisciplinary way and lead to long-term solutions in rural and urban areas. Whereas in Germany (but not only there), people regard nature and ecology as an antithesis to urban or economic development, in the Netherlands the development of nature has become an element which unites economic, ecological and security-related (in the case of flood) interests. This is seen particularly clearly in the case of flood protection. A technocratic flood protection policy, which reacted to a flood, was replaced by an active preventative policy, connected to and determined by the causes, and including a diverse group of participants and disciplines. The search for suitable solutions was no longer related only to the medium "river", but awakened the awareness for the landscape as a whole and the totality of its formative functions. The examples combine solutions in the field of flood protection, housing and infrastructure with the development of green infrastructures (city development Arnhem – flood protection, nature development and ecological design; Grensmaas – Restoration of a river by linking ecology and economy; Brainport Eindhoven – development of a high tech campus with an integrated natural and flood protection planning; Zuidplaspolder – housing on one of the deepest points in the landscape of the Netherlands). We would like to give a pleading for the necessity of interdisciplinary work to find out solutions for complex spatial questions. We want to make clear, that tasks in the field of housing, infrastructure, energy and so on do not only ask for one mono-functional solution, but linked to other disciplines like ecology and landscape planning and finally to aesthetical, social and environmental tasks.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity and the reliability of the Jordanian version of the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System (ABAS-11, 2003) in detecting the manifestations of the deficit in adaptive behavior skills of performance on the teacher form, in Jordan. The sample of this study consisted of 200 normal students. Also, another 200 disabled children participated in the study. To achieve the aim of this study an Arabic version of teacher form was prepared (ABAS-II) in its second version. It was refereed by a group of specialists where their agreement reached 80%, thus resulting in 136 items distributed over 9 domains. Indication of concurrent validity in the Jordanian version was calculated as it was correlated with the one prepared by Al-Kilani and Al-batsh (1981) (r = 0.86). The reliability of the Jordanian version was investigated through test re-retest (0.92) and alpha coefficient (0.98).


Two patients with the diagnosis of brain death were evaluated with computerized axial tomography (CAT). After intravenous infusion of 30% Conray there was no visualization of the intracranial vasculature (circle of Willis). The second patient also had an isoelectric EEG. A third patient with an intracerebral lesion similar to the other cases but without diagnosis of brain death, showed good visualization of the circle of Willis. Therefore, contrast-enhanced CAT scans can be used as another diagnostic aid to confirm brain death.


Prediction of long-term academic achievement is an important characteristic of tests that measure intellectual ability. While it has been demonstrated that the scores from standardized achievement tests can be predicted, it was not known if SRA Achievement Series scores could be predicted from WISC-R IQs. The purpose of the present study was to examine if the WISC-R IQs (Verbal and Performance) could accurately predict SRA Reading, Mathematics, and Language Arts scores for a sample (N=198) of female and male subjects at five grade levels. Results revealed that both the Verbal and Performance WISC-R IQs made a statistically significant contribution to the prediction equations for Reading and Mathematics at grades 1 through 5 and for Language Arts at grade 2. Only the Performance IQ score contributed significantly to Language Arts at grades 3, 4, and 5. Separate equations for females and males were developed for Reading at grades 1 and 3 and for Language Arts at grades 2, 3, and 4. The standard error of estimate for each equation made it impractical, from a practitioner's point of view, to use only WISC-R IQ scores to ascertain an individual's expected performance on the SRA Achievement Series. Prediction of SRA scores could perhaps be improved through the use of additional information from an individually administered achievement test and previous group achievement test results.


This text, of a testimonial and biographical nature, is intended to be a shared tribute to the memory of the man who was teacher of anthropologists and, at the same time, the creator of most of the institutional structures that allowed the consolidation of our discipline in Catalonia. The extent of his groundbreaking work is essential to understand the way in which social anthropology found its place in the university and research institutions of Spain. Claudi Esteva Fabregat's life trajectory was marked, above all, by the Spanish Civil War, which led to his exile to Mexico (1939-1956). His life journey entailed more residence changes: Madrid (1956-1968), Barcelona (1968-2002), Mexico again (2002-2016). In September 2017 he died in his native Barcelona, just as he was about to turn 99.


The main objective of this research is to determine the stage where stands the new Member States of the European Union, that are not part of the euro area, in terms of nominal convergence. Based on comparative analysis, the research has highlighted that Romania, along with Bulgaria, Poland and the Czech Republic meet the criteria imposed by the Maastricht Treaty and are prepared from this point of view to join the euro area. The study also revealed the need to reform the nominal convergence criteria, because of their limitation.


"Unfinished Adventure", published in 1933, is Evelyn Sharp's autobiography. It is a remarkable book recounting a remarkable life. Born in 1869, Evelyn Sharp was the sister of the folk song and dance expert, Cecil Sharp. A journalist, writer, pacifist and suffragist, Evelyn Sharp writes vividly about all aspects of her life: her school-days, Paris in 1890 , the "Yellow Book", the "Manchester Guardian", her conversion to Suffragism, her imprisonment in Holloway, her war work, her relief work in Germany and Russia in the nineteen-twenties, and finally, in her own words, "The Greatest of All Adventures": the day she completed this book she married the campaigning writer and journalist, H. W. Nevinson. A. S. Byatt has described Evelyn Sharp as 'perspicacious, witty and a very good writer'. Evelyn Sharp and her autobiography deserve to be better known. Faber Finds is very pleased to be reissuing "An Unfinished Adventure" at the same time as the Manchester University Press publish Angela John's biography, "Evelyn Sharp: Rebel Woman", 1869-1955.


Healthy individuals and patients with pulmonary tuberculosis were typed by HLA antigens A, B, and C. They were all Tyvians and lived in different regions of the Republic of Tyva. Examination was made in 128 and 85 healthy individuals and 62 and 55 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis from the Todzhinsky and Erzinsky districts of the Republic of Tyva, respectively. The healthy populations of the districts in question were found to differ in a number of Class 1 HLA antigens, such as A3, A10, A11, A28, B7, B27, Cw4. In the Todzhinsky district, tuberculosis morbidity rates were also ascertained to be positively associated with the HLA antigen B13 whereas in the Erzinsky district they were associated with the HLA antigen B12. The findings may be used to form tuberculosis-risk groups in the study districts.


Tree-ring width chronologies were developed for Abies veitchii, Betula ermanii and Betula platyphylla var. japonica in their altitudinal ecotone (approximately 1600 m a.s.l.) on Mount Norikura, central Japan, to determine what climatic conditions affect the growth of tree species in the upper and lower distribution limits of an altitudinal ecotone. This altitude was the lower distribution limit for A. veitchii and B. ermanii in the subalpine zone, and was the upper distribution limit for B. platyphylla var. japonica in the montane zone on Mount Norikura. Tree-ring widths of the two Betula species and A. veitchii were positively correlated with the August precipitation of the current and previous years, respectively. Precipitation in August (the hottest month) was reduced compared with other months during summer. Tree-ring width of B. platyphylla var. japonica showed no correlation with temperatures in any month in its upper distribution limit. In contrast, tree-ring widths of B. ermanii and A. veitchii were negatively correlated with the August temperatures of the current and previous years, respectively, at the lower distribution limit of these species. Therefore, the two Betula species and A. veitchii responded to climatic conditions of the current and previous years, respectively. The present study also suggests that a water deficit in August reduces growth of these three species in this altitudinal ecotone, irrespective of the upper or lower distribution limits, and that a high August temperature is more detrimental to the growth of A. veitchii and B. ermanii in their lower distribution limits. Thus, the three species with different altitudinal distributions examined in the present study responded differently to climatic conditions in this altitudinal ecotone on Mount Norikura.


A Turing machine has an important role in education in the field of computer science, as it is a milestone in courses related to automata theory, theory of computation and computer architecture. Its value is also recognized in the Computing Curricula proposed by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and IEEE Computer Society. In this paper we present a physical implementation of the Turing machine accessed through Web. To enable remote access to the Turing machine, an implementation of the client-server architecture is built. The web interface is described in detail and illustrations of remote programming, initialization and the computation of the Turing machine are given. Advantages of such approach and expected benefits obtained by using remotely accessible physical implementation of the Turing machine as an educational tool in the teaching process are discussed.


Aim: This study was performed to ascertain whether losartan combined with pioglitazone is superior to losartan alone in delaying the progression of chronic renal failure in patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy. Methods: Sixty patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy (stage 3 or 4 chronic kidney disease) were enrolled in a randomized, controlled trial. Thirty patients received losartan (100 mg/day) and pioglitazone (30 mg/day), and 30 patients received losartan only (100 mg/day). The patients were assessed at baseline and at 3-month intervals for 24-hour urinary protein excretion, serum creatinine, creatinine clearance, and fasting blood glucose values. The glomerular filtration rate was measured by means of a 99mTc-diethylenetriamine penta-acetic renogram at baseline and after 12 months. Results: As compared with therapy with losartan alone, the losartan-pioglitazone combination therapy resulted in significantly lower serum creatinine and fasting glucose values at 12 months and in significantly lower degrees of proteinuria at 6 and 12 months. The declines in creatinine clearance and glomerular filtration rate below baseline measurements at stages 3 and 4 of chronic kidney disease were significantly slower for the losartan-pioglitazone group as compared with the losartan-only group. Conclusions: Renoprotection conferred by losartan combined with pioglitazone is superior to that conferred by losartan alone in subjects with type 2 diabetic nephropathy. The combination is generally well tolerated.


Background Närpes is a small Swedish-speaking town in Finland that became well-known for its multiculturalism, successful integration of immigrants and very low levels of violence. This paper explores evidences of different components existing within Närpes municipality that contribute to successful integration, life satisfaction of people and nonviolence. The aim of this paper is to exhibit violence prevention efforts within Närpes example and to discuss this small community's accomplishments, actions and applicability in similar settings elsewhere. Methods The research method consists of ethnographic participant observations, purposive sampling and analysis of archives. Ongoing participant observations have been conducted since 2013. For the sampling, six key informants were chosen that participated in the semi structured interviewing. Archival research includes collection of records, newspapers and various governmental and academic publications that are related to Närpes local culture, migration and crime statistics. Results The Närpes example comprehends five main components: imbedded tradition of emigration and immigration, socio-economic equality and stability, pragmatic openness and tolerance to different cultures and religions, personality, values and multi-social identities of Närpes inhabitants and a tight cooperation between the municipality organisations, CSOs, employers and people themselves that create a positive circle of successful actions. Conclusions Närpes has been able to create an environment where people can successfully integrate and manage their social lives nonviolently. By looking at this example, economic security, social interdependence and cohesion within the inhabitants of small towns not only contribute to a successful integration but also to the low levels of violence and crime. For this example to work elsewhere, equal working and education opportunities as well as social and cultural activeness of people should be considered.


With stricter emission legislations and customer demands on low fuel consumption, good control strategies are necessary. This may involve control of variables that are hard, or even impossible, to measure with real physical sensors. By applying estimators or observers, these variables can be made available. The quality of a real sensor is determined by e.g. accuracy, drift and aging, but assessing the quality of an estimator is a more subtle task. An estimator is the result of a design work and hence, connected to factors like application, model, control error and robustness.The air mass-flow in a diesel engine is a very important quantity that has a direct impact on many control and diagnosis functions. The quality of the air mass-flow sensor in a diesel engine is analyzed with respect to day-to-day variations, aging, and differences in engine configurations. The investigation highlights the necessity of continuous monitoring and adaption of the air mass-flow. One way to do this is to use an estimator. Nine estimators are designed for estimation of the air mass-flow with the aim of assessing different quality measures. In the study of the estimators and quality measures it is evident that model accuracy is important and that special care has to be taken, regarding what quality measure to use, when the estimator performance is evaluated.


Introduction: Mouth or mixed breathing since childhood that is due to allergy factors causing turbinate hypertrophy and adenoids, or traumatic septal deviation at childbirth or first trauma in childhood leads to the impairment of facial development, including ogival palate, excessive growth of the maxillary crest, changes in the dental arch, and small jawbone. Mouth or mixed breathing may be due to the lack of aeration of the paranasal sinuses. A septum with limited space for growing pushes the osteocartilaginous framework cranially, originating from the nasal hump with septal deviations and gibbus. Consequently, this hampers nasal breathing. Method: Pyriform plasty by incision in the gingivolabial sulcus allows broad access to the maxillary crest and ogival palate. The maxillary crest is worn out with a drill, and the palate is modeled or may have its dome subperiosteally removed. Results: Open rhinoplasty facilitates the approach and fixation of graft reamers to treat changes in the internal valve and prevents scar reactions at the level of the cage cartilage grafts and structure of the columella to project and prevent a cartilaginous scar retraction at this level. The open approach also enables the symmetrization of nasal structures, which allows the treatment of bent nose at a single time, and correction of nasal valve by using external grafts. Moreover, pyriform plasty is a more comprehensive approach to nasal aesthetic and functional nasal alterations. Conclusion: Our preferred techniques are open rhinoplasty, given the ease of graft fixation, and use of reamer grafts to treat changes in the internal valve to prevent future respiratory problems. ■ ABSTRACT


Sustained competitive advantages require continuous improvement for a company to maintain its strength or weakness in the marketplace. Information technologies play a crucial role for a competitive future. To create sustainable growth, role and performance measurement of information technologies in management processes such as strategic planning, audit etc. steadily increases in todaypsilas highly competitive business world. The purpose of this paper is to focus on technology strategy of a strategic planning tool and case of Siemens AG. The initiator of the technology was Siemens Turkey where the tool of regional strategic planning (Dynamic Strategic Planning Systemcopy (DSPS)) was also developed for the first time among the regional companies of Siemens AG. Siemens Turkey has been the responsible for the development since 2001 and decided an aggressive technology strategy to make a radical innovation after the criteria are evaluated. Technology strategy is questioned during two in-depth interviews with a manager and a technical system administrator and technology strategy of DSPS is mapped with S-curve according to inputs from in-depth interviews.


Biochar improves soil quality. However, most biochar research has focused on aerobic soil conditions. The objective of this research was to evaluate the agronomic benefits of applying biochar on unfertilized rice crop, cultivated under transitional anaerobic soil conditions during early vegetative growth phase, and gradually drying out to fully aerobic at harvest time. This transitional condition is typical during the rice growing season of the tropical riparian wetlands in Indonesia. Biochar was applied in the form of fine powder at rates of 0, 0.4, 0.8, and 1.2 Mg.ha-1; no inorganic fertilizer was applied. The research was conducted on a farmer's paddy field at Pemulutan Ulu Village, South Sumatra, Indonesia from July to November 2016. Results indicated that applying biochar at rates up to 1.2 Mg.ha-1 increased rice yield, but restrained shoot elongation rate and plant height. During the vegetative growth phase, applying biochar significantly increased the number of tillers, leaves, shoot dry weight, and root dry weight. Biochar significantly affected the following yield components: number of tillers, percentage of productive tiller, number of grains per panicle, panicle density, percentage of filled grain, and weight of 1,000 grains.


China is currently in a crucial stage of air pollution control and has intensive clean air policies. Past strict policies have demonstrated remarkable effectiveness in emission control and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution mitigation; however, it is not clear what the continuous benefits of current policies are for the future. Here, we summarize China's currently implemented, released, and upcoming clean air policies and estimate the air quality and health benefits of the implementation of these policies until 2030. We found that China's current and upcoming clean air policies could reduce major pollutant emissions by 14.3-70.5% under continued socio-economic growth from 2010 to 2030. These policies could decrease the national population-weighted PM2.5 concentrations from 61.6 μg m-3 in 2010 to 26.4 μg m-3 in 2030 (57.2% reduction). These air quality improvements will ensure that over 80% of the population lives in areas with PM2.5 levels below the current annual PM2.5 air quality standard (i.e., 35 μg m-3) and will avoid 95.0 (95% CI, 76.3, 104.2) thousand premature deaths in 2030. We also point out several inadequacies of current clean air policies, suggesting that more ambitious control actions are needed to better protect public health with an increasing ageing population. Our findings could provide quantitative insights that can be used to better address air pollution issues in China and other developing countries.


We develop a kernel projected Wasserstein distance for the two-sample test, an essential building block in statistics and machine learning: given two sets of samples, to determine whether they are from the same distribution. This method operates by finding the nonlinear mapping in the data space which maximizes the distance between projected distributions. In contrast to existing works about projected Wasserstein distance, the proposed method circumvents the curse of dimensionality more efficiently. We present practical algorithms for computing this distance function together with the non-asymptotic uncertainty quantification of empirical estimates. Numerical examples validate our theoretical results and demonstrate good performance of the proposed method.


In this paper, we study the problem of learning image classification models with label noise. Existing approaches depending on human supervision are generally not scalable as manually identifying correct or incorrect labels is time-consuming, whereas approaches not relying on human supervision are scalable but less effective. To reduce the amount of human supervision for label noise cleaning, we introduce CleanNet, a joint neural embedding network, which only requires a fraction of the classes being manually verified to provide the knowledge of label noise that can be transferred to other classes. We further integrate CleanNet and conventional convolutional neural network classifier into one framework for image classification learning. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm on both of the label noise detection task and the image classification on noisy data task on several large-scale datasets. Experimental results show that CleanNet can reduce label noise detection error rate on held-out classes where no human supervision available by 41.5% compared to current weakly supervised methods. It also achieves 47% of the performance gain of verifying all images with only 3.2% images verified on an image classification task. Source code and dataset will be available at kuanghuei.github.io/CleanNetProject.


The next generation of gravitational-wave detectors holds out the prospect of detecting a stochastic gravitational-wave background generated in the very early Universe. In this paper, we review the various cosmological processes which can lead to such a background, including quantum fluctuations during inflation, bubble collisions in a first-order phase transition and the decay of a network of cosmic strings. We conclude that signals from strongly first-order phase transitions, possibly at the end of inflation, and networks of local cosmic strings are within the sensitivity of the proposed detectors. However, backgrounds from standard slow-roll inflation and the electroweak phase transition are too weak.


Intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV) is a significant aspect of intimate partner violence (IPV). While intimate partners commit one third of sexual assaults, IPSV is often overlooked in studies about IPV and in research on sexual violence. There are difficulties identifying, defining, and measuring IPSV, and research lacks consistency in terminology and measurement. The purpose of this article is to review the terms, definitions, and measurements associated with IPSV. Academic journals and nonscholarly documents from the United States were searched for articles and reports associated with the study of sexual violence and IPV. Forty-nine documents met the criteria for inclusion. A four-part taxonomy defining IPSV was developed, which included IPSV, intimate partner sexual coercion, intimate partner sexual abuse, and intimate partner forced sexual activity. The average weighted prevalence rates of these various forms of IPSV were calculated across included research studies. However, the measurements generally used to assess IPV do not adequately measure IPSV. Future research should consist terms to ensure consistent conceptualization and measurement of IPSV and to inform practice with survivors.


Aim: To investigate the incidence of unexpected malignant and premalignant gynecological pathological findings among women who underwent hysterectomy due to pelvic organ prolapse (POP).
Methods: In this retrospective study, the medical reports of women who underwent hysterectomy for POP between 2007 and 2019 were investigated to reveal unexpected malignant and premalignant lesions. The possible relationship between pathological results and other variables was evaluated statistically.
Results: The hysterectomy was performed by abdominal (160, 30.53%), laparoscopic (62%, 11.83%) and vaginal approaches (302, 57.63%) in 524 patients with POP indication. Thirty five patients (6.67%) had unexpected premalignant or malignant pathological findings found on hysterectomy specimens. Simple hyperplasia was found in 18 patients (3.44%), complex hyperplasia in two patients (0.38%); CIN-1 (LSIL) low grade cervical intraepithelial dysplasia in nine patients (1.7%), CIN-II, moderate dysplasia in two patients (0.38%); CIN-III, severe dysplasia in one patient (0.19%); vaginal carcinoma in two patients (0.38%) and endometrial carcinoma in one patient (0.19%). In the vaginal hysterectomy group, the incidence of unsuspected gynecological malignancy was founded at the rate of 0.57% (3/524) and the percentage of the group was significantly higher than laparotomic and laparoscopic hysterectomy groups. Statistically significant difference was not found between the groups with respect to unexpected uterine malignancy.
Conclusion: Women without abnormal vaginal bleeding do not have high risk of premalignant or malignant pathological reporting after uterovaginal prolapse surgery, however it should not be neglected.


Students and parents choose among high school tracks based on the assumption that academic tracks will offer a better preparation for university while vocational tracks will make the transition in the labour market easier, if students do not have a tertiary degree. We assess whether this assumption holds also when considering the long-term occupational outcomes of tracks choices in upper secondary education, controlling for both social and ability selection into tracks. We use for this purpose recent data from the 2014 ISFOL PLUS survey and apply linear regression/probability models to investigate labour market outcomes in a stage of occupational maturity. We find that, while there are no significant differences between tracks in the likelihood of being employed, students with an academic diploma fare better than vocational students in terms of social class attainment, even in the absence of a tertiary degree. The advantage of the academic diploma holds both for entering the salariat class and the high salariat class, and for avoiding demotion into manual occupations or unskilled manual occupations. We also show that tracking accounts for a large proportion of the total effects of socio-economic background on occupational attainment, and that coming from socio-economically advantaged families exacerbates the labour market advantages of attending an academic track.Key messagesThe link between social background, high school track and long-term occupational outcomes is analysed.Analyses control for social and ability selection into tracks.There are no significant differences between tracks in employment status at occupational maturity in Italy.Academic diploma holders have higher chances of entering the upper classes and lower risks of ending into manual occupations.


This paper considers a simple Bayesian vector autoregressive model for the Russian economy based on data for real GDP, GDP deflator and oil price as an exogenous variable that acts as a proxy variable for the terms of trade. Along with the impact of oil price shocks, the model estimates the impact of supply and demand shocks, the identification of which is based on the approach of sign restrictions. According to the results obtained, at the end of 2014 and in 2015, demand shocks had a positive impact on GDP growth, which can be interpreted as a positive effect of the ruble devaluation at the end of 2014. In the next years, demand shocks led mainly to a slowdown in economic growth. The paper also attempts to identify monetary policy shocks and assesses their impact on GDP, household consumption and investment. According to the results, the effect of monetary shocks in 2015—2019 on all endogenous variables was negative. However, an increase in the interest rate at the end of 2014 is identified mostly as an endogenous reaction to other shocks, and the effect of the monetary shock on GDP in 2015 is nearly zero. In 2017, monetary shocks slowed down GDP by 0.92 percentage points.


This article covers the biology and the history of the bay scallop habitats and fishery from Massachusetts to North Carolina. The scallop species that ranges from Massachusetts to New York is Argopecten irradians irradians. In New Jersey, this species grades into A. i. concentricus, which then ranges from Maryland though North Carolina. Bay scallops inhabit broad, shallow bays usually containing eelgrass meadows, an important component in their habitat. Eelgrass appears to be a factor in the production of scallop larvae and also the protection of juveniles, especially, from predation. Bay scallops spawn
during the warm months and live for 18–30 months. Only two generations of scallops are present at any time. The abundances of each vary widely among bays and years.
Scallops were harvested along with other mollusks on a small scale by Native Americans. During most of the 1800's, people of European descent gathered them at wading depths or from beaches where storms had washed them ashore. Scallop shells were also and continue to be commonly used in
ornaments.
Some fishing for bay scallops began in the 1850's and 1860's, when the A-frame dredge became available and markets were being developed for the large, white, tasty
scallop adductor muscles, and by the 1870's commercial-scale fishing was underway. This has always been a cold-season fishery: scallops achieve full size by late fall,
and the eyes or hearts (adductor muscles) remain preserved in the cold weather while enroute by trains and trucks to city markets.
The first boats used were sailing catboats and sloops in New England and New York. To a lesser extent, scallops probably were also harvested by using push nets, picking them up with scoop nets, and anchor-roading. In the 1910's and 1920's, the sails on catboats were replaced with
gasoline engines. By the mid 1940's, outboard motors became more available and with them the numbers of fishermen
increased. The increases consisted of parttimers who took leaves of 2–4 weeks from their regular jobs to earn extra money. In the years when scallops were abundant on local beds, the fishery employed as many as 10–50% of the towns' workforces for a month or two. As scallops are a higher-priced commodity, the fishery could bring a substantial amount of money into the local economies.
Massachusetts was the leading state in scallop landings. In the early 1980's, its annual landings averaged about 190,000
bu/yr, while New York and North Carolina each landed about 45,000 bu/yr. Landings in the other states in earlier years
were much smaller than in these three states. Bay scallop landings from Massachusetts to New York have fallen sharply
since 1985, when a picoplankton, termed "brown tide," bloomed densely and killed most scallops as well as extensive meadows of eelgrass. The landings have remained low, large meadows of eelgrass have declined in size, apparently the species of phytoplankton the scallops use as
food has changed in composition and in seasonal abundance, and the abundances of predators have increased. The North
Carolina landings have fallen since cownose rays, Rhinoptera bonsais, became abundant and consumed most scallops every year before the fishermen could harvest them. The only areas where the scallop fishery remains consistently viable, though smaller by 60–70%, are Martha's
Vineyard, Nantucket, Mass., and inside the coastal inlets in southwestern Long Island, N.Y.


: Four cases of primary plasma cell leukemia (PPCL) admitted to our hospital from 1959 to 1987 are reported with a review on additional 40 cases reported in China. Comparing with the 57 cases of multiple myeloma (MM) seen in our hospital, the following features were observed in PPCL: (1) The age was younger with a mean of 45.2 years, 34.1% of the patients were under 40 years. (2) Onset was abrupt. Duration from onset to diagnosis was 2 months or less in 77% patients but never beyond 6 months. (3) 81.8% patients had liver enlargement, 59.1% splenomegaly and 61.4% sternum tenderness. (4) All patients showed marked anemia with an average hemoglobin of 65 g/L. BPC count was less than 100 x 10(9)/L in 76% patients and WBC was more than 10 x 10(9)/L in 77%. (5) Plasma cell number in the marrow was markedly increased with an average of 69%, of which the blast cells and immature forms were predominant. (6) No destruction of bones was shown on X-ray film in 68.3% patients. (7) The response to chemotherapy was poor with a total response rate of 18% and a mean survival of 2 months. All the above-mentioned clinical features were significantly different from those of MM. In addition, these two diseases were also different in cytology, cytogenetics and ultrastructure. Therefore, PPCL should be considered as a special type of acute leukemia distinct from MM. High dose of alkylating agents in combination with autologous bone marrow transplantation might improve the prognosis.


Objective: The aim of this study is to measure the prevalence of maternal depression in a primary care setting in North-Central Trinidad a small island developing country and to determine its socioeconomic, geographic and health-related risk factors.
Methods: A cross sectional observational study to determine the point prevalence of maternal depression in women attending primary care facilities in North Central Trinidad was conducted. The population consisted of all pregnant women attending primary care facilities. The systematic sample of 400 women was taken. A two part questionnaire was administered after informed verbal consent. The questionnaire collected demographic data and the nine item PHQ questionnaire was administered.
 Results: Six hundred and two patients were entered into the study, consisting of 441 antenatal women and 161 postnatal women. The point prevalence of post partum depression was 38.5(95% CI 31.046.5), and prenatal depression 49.7%.
 Conclusion: The study provides evidence that MD is common in the developing world, detection and treatment therefore must be a priority as children born to mothers with depression have more behavioral problems, more psychiatric illness, more visits to pediatricians, lower IQ scores, and attachment issues.


IZA DP No. 14544 JULY 2021 Poverty in Russia: A Bird's-Eye View of Trends and Dynamics in the past Quarter of Century Hardly any recent study exists that broadly reviews poverty trends over time for Russia. Analyzing the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Surveys between 1994 and 2019, we offer an updated review of poverty trends and dynamics for the country over the past quarter of century. We find that poverty has been steadily decreasing, with most of the poor having a transient rather than a chronic nature. The bottom 20 percent of the income distribution averages an annual growth rate of 5 percent, which compares favorably with that of 3.3 percent for the whole population. Income growth, particularly the shares that are attributed to labor incomes and public transfers, have important roles in reducing poverty. Our findings are relevant to poverty and social protection policies. JEL Classification: C15, D31, I31, O10, O57


Metal additive manufacturing has transformed the conventional design process. With the assistance of additive manufacturing, complex and novel geometries that were previously unfeasible to construct using convention methods, can now be fabricated. Traditionally manufactured parts can be improved upon by employing topology optimization and Design for Metal Additive Manufacturing (DFMAM) guidelines. This research optimizes a commercially manufactured bicycle crank arm for the metal additive manufacturing process. The initial three-dimensional CAD model was obtained by using a white light scanner. Loading conditions obtained from cycling loads found in published literature, were applied to an ANSYS Finite Element Analysis (FEA) model. The FEA model was used to determine the von-mises stress, strain, and deflection that occurred throughout the part. These results were transferred to ANSYS's Topology Optimization module, which uses an iterative process to remove areas of material that experience low amounts of stress. After each iteration, the solver recalculates the maximum stress and removes additional material until the solution converges on a target maximum stress value. DFMAM principles were applied to the resulting optimized geometry to increase the part's printability. The optimized design was calculated to weigh 41.5% less than the original crank arm. The FEA results showed that the maximum stress increased from 41.2% of the material's yield strength to 61.5% of the material's yield strength, which is greater than the target optimization stress value of 50% of the material's yield strength. The simulation results were confirmed by a physical experiment. Both the original crank arm and the DFMAM optimized crank arm were printed using a metal additive manufacturing machine. A testing apparatus was designed and fabricated to enable the testing of each crank arm by a universal tensile testing machine. Testing was conducted throughout the range of motion at 15-degree intervals. Strain gauges and dial indicators were used to measure strain and deflection for each test. The resulting experimental data closely resembled the results from the FEA model, thus validating the theoretical simulations. The topology optimization software was proven to be a suitable and useful design tool for optimizing parts for metal additive manufacturing. However, DFMAM principles must still be applied to the resulting optimized geometry to achieve a highly manufacturable design. In conclusion, this research has shown, by using a bicycle crank arm as an example, that topology optimization in conjunction with DFMAM principles can reduce the weight of an existing product without exceeding a targeted maximum stress level.


The coolant flow condition at the film hole entrance has a notable effect on film cooling effectiveness. The previous studies about internal ribbed crossflow effects are the hole with a circular inlet cross-section. In this study, a diffusion slot hole with a race-track inlet cross-section is examined at a low-speed wind tunnel by the pressure sensitive paint (PSP) technique. The film cooling effectiveness of three different hole configurations are investigated: a normal diffusion slot hole, a compound angle diffusion slot hole, and a lateral inclination angle diffusion slot hole. Two internal perpendicular crossflow conditions with and without ribs for the 45 deg inline crossflow and the 135 deg counter crossflow are discussed. The blowing ratios are varied from 0.5 to 2.5 at a constant crossflow-to-mainstream velocity ratio of 0.36. A detailed method for the uncertainty analysis of the PSP is also presented. It is found that the normal diffusion slot hole always shows the best cooling performance than other holes. The ribs under the crossflow condition have a positive effect on the film cooling effectiveness for the normal diffusion slot hole even though the compound angle changes the hole's orientation. However, the ribs have a negative effect on the film cooling effectiveness for the geometrically asymmetric diffusion slot hole.


While the literature on supply chain integration (SCI) is proliferating, the link between SCI and a firm's contract manufacturing performance has not been investigated yet. To fill this gap in the literature, we investigate the effects of supply chain integration on contract manufacturing efficiency using the objective measure of return on contract manufacturing. Unlike prior studies, this research uses finer‐grained dimensions of SCI by not only differentiating between customer and supplier integration but also by separating integration activities depending on their purpose for either product development or process improvement, thus enhancing our understanding of the underlying theoretical dynamics by disentangling each dimension's respective contribution to a firm's contract manufacturing efficiency. Using archival survey data from 322 manufacturing firms collected by the Korea Productivity Center, we demonstrate that integration activities with customers and suppliers, depending on whether they focus on products or processes, generate contradicting outcomes in terms of return on contract manufacturing, thereby challenging the implicit assumption about the equivocal benefits of SCI across manufacturing systems. Furthermore, our findings substantiate the positive moderating effects of cross‐functional integration on the external integration–performance links by demonstrating the amplified effects, either positive or negative, of integration on return on contract manufacturing.


The General's Goose: Fiji's Tale of Contemporary Misadventure, by Robbie Robertson. Canberra: Australian National University. 2017. 366 pages. ISBN 9781760461270
When Commodore (now rear admiral retired and an elected prime minister) Voreqe Bainimarama staged Fiji's fourth 'coup to end all coups' on 5 December 2006, it was widely misunderstood, misinterpreted and misrepresented by a legion of politicians, foreign affairs officials, journalists and even some historians. A chorus of voices continually argued for the restoration of 'democracy' – not only the flawed version of democracy that had persisted in various forms since independence from colonial Britain in 1970, but specifically the arguably illegal and unconstitutional government of merchant banker Laisenia Qarase that had been installed on the coat-tails of the third (attempted) coup in 2000. Yet in spite of superficial appearances, Bainimarama's 2006 coup contrasted sharply with its predecessors.


By the end of 1955, territorial politics in Dahomey were dominated by three parties, the P.R.D. of S. M. Apithy, the M.D.D. of Hubert Maga, and the U.D.D. of Justin Ahomadegbe and others. Each party relied upon electoral support in clearly defined regions: the P.R.D. depended on the south-east, the M.D.D. on the north, and the U.D.D. on the residual areas of central and south-western Dahomey. The U.D.D. claimed, however, to be a new kind of party, transcending the narrow regionalism of its rivals and commanding 'mass' support rather than the uncertain and conditional support provided by 'vote contractors'. The loi-cadre reforms of 1956—7 led to an intensification of party activity, since they provided for the creation of territorial executives founded on electoral majorities and at the same time introduced universal suffrage. The 1957 Territorial Assembly elections were therefore a testing-ground for the tactics and strength of the three parties. Under pressure from the P.R.D., the U.D.D. adopted selection procedures like those of its rival. Outside the main towns, its campaigning was similar, concentrating on local issues to the exclusion of the wider questions on which the U.D.D. had hoped to take its stand.


Silicon (Si) is a benefic element for higher plants such as wheat (Triticum aestivum) in which it is accumulated in the shoot tissues. In this crop, leaf diseases and spike diseases are the cause of yield losses, and therefore several studies had been conducted under field and greenhouse conditions to demonstrate that plants supplied with Si reduced most of the diseases damage due to the amelioration of the plant defenses. However, the benefits of Si depend on its accumulation in the plant's tissue, which is influenced by the availability of the element in the soil as well as the up-take ability of the wheat cultivar. In this chapter we present the current knowledge about the mechanisms of Si absorption and its accumulation in different tissues of the wheat plant, the most studied options for silicate fertilization, and the benefits of Si on grain yield. We also present some insight of the effect of Si-supply in wheat on the reduction of main leaf and ear diseases, bringing evidence and explanation of the defense mechanisms involved. In addition, we provide an overview of the Si effect on the physiology (gas exchange, chlorophyll a fluorescence and carbohydrate metabolism) of the wheat plant. Finally, questions have been raised about the Si uses as fertilizer that still needs to be answered. We recognized that some studies have enhanced our understanding of Si providing evidence of the Si use as disease management strategy, but further research is needed to make the Si uses a simple task for wheat growers under field condition.


The octadecyl trichlorosilane (OTS) monolayer was formed on Si carrier, and the template regulated by a local probe oxidation method from this was produced using a scanning probe lithography. The local probe oxidation was done by moving an AFM tip along an axle line. When the chip contacts a OTS layer, the uppermost metyl group thereof is partially oxidized to carboxylic acid. It is possible to observe this by a lateral direction force microscope. It was proven that the second OTBA monolayer gathers on this oxidized template, and the height increases in 2nm corresponding to the size of a ammonium salt, when this oxidation sample is exposed to a octadecyl trimethylammoniumbromide (OTBA) solution,. Similarly, it was observed that the height increases 20nm, when cationy poly-L-ricin covering gold nanoparticle (d=20nm) is used. In addition, we also succeeded in adsorption of the silica particle by adding silica nanoparticles, after adhering aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (APTS) to the oxidized template. This method can be used for the synthesis of nanosensors and nano electronic device or others.


The switching and threshold properties of quasi-one-dimensional charge-density-wave conductor rubidium blue bronze Rb0.3MoO3 single crystals are investigated in a comparative high and large temperature range. Beyond the limit temperature 50K of Littlewood's theory, even up to about lOOK, typical sharp switching to negative or zero differential resistance is observed in E-I characteristic curves. Correspondingly, an obvious switching between two conducting states, from a lowly conducting state to a highly conducting state, is observed in the I-E characteristic curves in the same temperature range. Temperature dependence of the second threshold field ET2 accompanied by this kind of high field switching behaviour is firstly obtained. These new observations are discussed in the mechanism of the current inhomogeneity and redistribution due to the existence of transverse energy barriers suggested by Zhang et al. [Solid State Commun. 85 (1993) 121]


Component-based systems often describe context requirements in terms of explicit inter-component dependencies. Studying large instances of such systems — such as free and open source software (FOSS) distributions — in terms of declared dependencies between packages is appealing. It is however also misleading when the language to express dependencies is as expressive as boolean formulae, which is often the case. In such settings, a more appropriate notion of component dependency exists: strong dependency. This paper introduces such notion as a first step towards modeling semantic, rather then syntactic, inter-component relationships. Furthermore, a notion of component sensitivity is derived from strong dependencies, with applications to quality assurance and to the evaluation of upgrade risks. An empirical study of strong dependencies and sensitivity is presented, in the context of one of the largest, freely available, component-based system.


Although adverse health effects produced by lead (Pb) have long been recognized, studies regarding the immunotoxic effects of occupational exposure report conflicting results. In a previous study, alterations in some immunological parameters were noted in 70 Pb-exposed workers. In view of these results, it was of interest to extend this study comprising a larger population and increasing the number of immunological endpoints assessed. Accordingly, in this study the immunotoxic effects of occupational exposure to Pb were assessed by analyzing (1) percentages of lymphocyte subsets (CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD19+, and CD56+/16+); (2) concentration of plasma cytokines, namely, interleukin (IL) 2, IL4, IL6, IL10, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α, and interferon (IFN) γ; and (3) plasma concentrations of neopterin, tryptophan (Trp), and kynurenine (Kyn). In addition, the possible influence of genetic polymorphisms in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) and δ-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) genes on immunotoxicity parameters was studied. Exposed workers showed significant decreases in %CD3+, %CD4+/%CD8+ ratio, IL4, TNFα, IFNγ, and Kyn to Trp ratio (Kyn/Trp), and significant increases in %CD8+, IL10, and Trp levels. All these parameters, except Trp, were significantly correlated with exposure biomarkers. No significant influence of genetic polymorphisms was observed. Significant correlation between Kyn/Trp and neopterin concentrations suggests an involvement of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase in the Trp metabolic alterations, which may contribute to some of the immune alterations observed. Results obtained suggest that occupational exposure to PB may influence the immune system by impairing several mechanisms, which might ultimately produce deregulation of the immune response and diminish immunosurveillance in exposed individuals.


When referring to things in the world, speakers produce utterances that are composites of speech and action. Pointing gestures are a pervasive part of such composite utterances, but many questions remain about exactly how pointing is integrated with speech. In this dissertation I present three strands of research that investigate relations of different kinds between pointing and language. A first strand investigates the relationship between pointing gestures and spoken demonstratives, such as this and that in English. Linguists, philosophers, and psychologists have long noted the pointing-demonstrative relationship but have not yet characterized it with any precision. At the same time, cross-disciplinary controversy about the meaning of demonstratives has intensified. I present findings from two studies using a referential communication task, which suggest that demonstrative use may hinge on pointing in previously unappreciated ways. A second strand of research presents an exploratory investigation of a commonplace but ignored class of pointing: gestures that speakers direct toward their own bodies. An analysis was carried out of body- directed gestures in a corpus of one-on-one interviews, resulting in a typology of three types of body-directed gestures-- self-points, body-points, and body-anchors. Each type is considered in turn, with a focus on basic questions about how, when, and why such gestures are produced. The third strand considers cross-cultural differences in pointing and the question of what motivates these differences. A case study is presented of a previously undocumented facial pointing gesture-- nose- pointing-- used by the Yupno, an indigenous group of Papua New Guinea. Based on examples of pointing and non-pointing uses of the form, we propose that facial gesture is linked to a particular semantic theme, and discuss how this link is both iconically motivated and shaped by features of Yupno language and communicative practice. Together these different strands of research contribute to our understanding of pointing as both a window into processes of conceptualization and a cornerstone of human social interaction. The findings presented offer new insights into the disparate forces-- biomechanics, grammar, conceptual structure, and cultural practices-- that give this cornerstone shape


Farm Aar in Namibia contains a sequence of rocks from the late Ediacaran Nama Group. This site has produced a large number of fossils of Ernietta plateauensis and Pteridinium simplex. These two forms are incompletely characterised in the literature. Pteridinium was an elongate, three-vaned organism. It had a rubbery, semi-rigid consistency evidenced by the fact that it will bend, but does not fold or tear except at distinct points of weakness. It is tri-symmetric around the central axis. There is a distinctive offset symmetry along this axis where the vanes meet. The vanes are relatively thin and made up of parallel tubes, which are arranged in double-layers. This double-layer of tubes is also found in Ernietta. Ernietta was a sac-shaped organism with the same offset symmetry along a suture at the base of the sac, where sets of parallel tubes meet each other. Both of these organisms are found in Nama-style preservation – a taphonomy in which soft-bodied organisms are preserved three-dimensionally in sands and muds. Pteridinium is preserved within event beds, above scours where massive sand has been deposited and within waning (but still upper flow regime) flows depositing sand laminae. Ernietta is also preserved in transported deposits, but can be found on Aar in original life position, where fossils have been buried more gradually by mud. It is likely that the three-dimensional form of these organisms was preserved by the early lithification of surrounding sediment as a result of the precipitation of pyrite in association with bacterial metabolism. Both forms are also associated with membrane-like and bag-like structures. Farm Aar also bears domal structures – sedimentary structures that may represent a new form of biologically influenced soft-sediment deformation. The dual-layer of tubes making up the body walls of Ernietta and Pteridinium represents a synapomorphy unique to the Erniettomorpha. These two forms are the first-named members of this clade, which also includes the Namibian form Swartpuntia germsi and the South Australian form Phyllozoon hanseni. Swartpuntia represents a highly derived, late-appearing erniettomorph, while Phyllozoon may or may not represent a trace fossil form of Pteridinium. In either case, it is interesting in being preserved in a contrasting taphonomic setting – 'Flinders-style' preservation – to most other known erniettomorphs. The closest relatives to the erniettomorphs within the Ediacara biota are likely to be the rangeomorphs and dickinsoniomorphs. The key differences between the erniettomorphs and dickinsoniomorphs centre on the dual-layer of tubes, and the semi-rigid construction of erniettomorphs, which contrasts with the tendency of dickinsoniomorphs to fold and to be found draping small-scale sea-bed topography. Erniettomorphs were most likely osmotrophic organisms. Their anatomy results in body tissue being mostly structural, which may have placed a phyletic constraint against the development of surface area/volume ratios comparable to modern osmotrophs. They were second only to the rangeomorphs in terms of diversity within the Ediacara biota, producing global cosmopolitan taxa such as Pteridinium and novel body-plans such as Ernietta and Swartpuntia right to the end of the Ediacaran.


Phenolic composition and colour of red wines produced from Cabernet Sauvignon grape variety were determined by means of specific spectrophotometric measurements in order to establish the influence of the maceration technique on the final wine quality. The results showed that the type of fermentor used during maceration-fermentation in red winemaking influence significantly the levels of anthocyanins, copigmentation colourless anthocyanins, polymeric pigments, flavones or total phenols. The age of vines had also specific influences which are thoroughly discussed in the paper. The highest values regarding total pigments (coloured, copigmented and colourless) were observed in wines from 3 years old vines, but they are less representative from the technological viewpoint. However, an increase in total phenols and total coloured pigments was observed when the 4 years old vines are compared with 5 years old vines. The type of fermentor used for the maceration-fermentation process is the most important for the total coloured pigments and total phenols extraction, these parameters ensuring structure and stable colour for wines. The highest levels of total coloured pigments were found in wines produced with horizontal fermentors with inner agitator, while the lowest values were obtained by using roto-fermentors, showing that the first are more suitable for producing well-coloured young wines. The results regarding colour intensity and hue revealed an increased colour intensity and lower hue when horizontal fermentors with inner agitator are used and lower colour intensity and higher hue when roto-fermentors are used. Although a higher hue values obtained when roto-fermentors are used means a higher oxidation, these fermentors also lead to a higher tannin extraction, being recommended when the resulted wines are intended for ageing.


SUMMARY: The degree of autolysis of Aspergillus niger cultures grown and autolysed on 2.5, 5, 10, 20 and 40 g./l. initial glucose was 64, 60, 43, 43 and 43%, respectively. The greatest loss (73%) of mycelial nitrogen took place with the lowest initial concentration of glucose. The greatest disappearance of lipids occurred in the period up to the 8th day of autolysis irrespective of the initial sugar concentration. The percentage loss of lipids was practically constant for the first four concentrations of initial glucose assayed. The amount of total free reducing substances contained in the mycelium at the beginning of the autolytic phase increased rapidly to a high level if the initial concentration of glucose was 40 g./l., but not if it was 20 g./l. or less. The total mycelial carbohydrates determined by the anthrone reaction declined continuously irrespective of the initial sugar concentration. The percentage of mycelial constituents released during autolysis increased with initial concentration of glucose.


The dust acoustic wave (DAW) was first discussed by P. K. Shukla in May of 1989 at the First Capri Workshop on Dusty Plasmas. In the past 25 years, the subsequent publication of the linear and nonlinear properties of the DAW (Rao, N. N., Shukla, P. K. and Yu, M. Y. 1990 Planet. Space Sci. 38, 543) has generated and sustained a large body of theoretical and experimental research that has clarified the physics of collective effects in dusty plasmas. A unique feature of the DAW is that it can be observed (literally) using laser illumination and high-speed videography, revealing details of wave-particle interactions at an unprecedented single particle level. This paper attempts to review some of the contributions and extensions of dust acoustic wave physics, as well as identify recent findings that illustrate the potential importance of this dust wave in the agglomeration of dust particles.


Denervation of the skeletal muscle involves well known alterations of the glucose metabolism; however, little is known about the influence of these alterations on the peripheral sensitivity to insulin of the animal as a whole. This study aimed to analyze the glucose metabolism in the soleus muscle of rats submitted to denervation as well as their response to exogenous insulin and to exercise. Wistar rats aged from 3 to 5 months were submitted to section of the sciatic nerve in the right paw. After 48 hours, half of them started a swimming program of 1 hour/day, 5 days/week. Intact animals, either submitted to exercise or not, were used as control. The rats were submitted to the insulin tolerance test after 28 days for evaluating the response to insulin. The results were analyzed by determination of the blood glucose removal rate (Kitt). In another batch of animals, slices of the denerved soleus muscle and the counterlateral intact paw were incubated in the presence of glucose (5.5mM), containing [3H]2-deoxyglucose (0.5µCi/mL) and [U14C] glucose (0.25µCi/mL) and insulin (100U/mL), for analysis of glucose uptake, oxidation and glycogen synthesis. Denerved rats submitted to exercise presented KiTT (%/min) higher (7.22 ± 0.49) than the sedentary animals (5.31 ± 0.22), and the sedentary control animals (4.53 ± 0.27). Glucose uptake (3.55 ± 0.21 µmol/g.h) by the denerved muscle was lower than those of the opposite muscle in the sedentary rats (5.12 ± 0.38 µmol/g.h). Chronic exercise raised glucose uptake and oxidation in the counterlateral muscle (uptake: 6.53 ± 0.37, oxidation: 20.39 ± 1.91) and in the denerved muscle (uptake: 5.70 ± 0.41, oxidation: 20.54 ± 1.97). The same situation occurred with the exercised control group. These results suggest that restricted alterations of the muscular glucose metabolism influenced the response to insulin of the animals as a whole. Furthermore, exercise improved the uptake and use of glucose in the denerved muscle.


Alkyl phosphates in crude oils originate from their use as gellants used in some hydraulic fracturing processes or as additives used to improve physical properties of the oil for transportation. Alkyl phosphates are a potential issue for used oil re-refining and recycling operations because of their use as flame-retardants in, for example, aviation hydraulic fluids. The primary concern with alkyl phosphates in the refinery is their association with refinery fouling, including deposit formation and catalyst deactivation. A comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography method, with nitrogen phosphorus detection (GC × GC-NPD) and post-column Deans switching, was previously developed by our group for quantitative analysis of alkyl phosphates in petroleum samples. The original method employed an apolar/polar GC × GC column configuration and was shown to provide trace speciation of alkyl phosphates in distillate samples and some crude oils. However, when petroleum samples having a high concentration of heavy nitrogen-containing species were encountered, coelutions with alkyl phosphates ensued. Even in a phosphorus-optimized NPD configuration, the background signal from nitrogen-containing species masked the signals of some alkyl phosphates. Thus, a new column configuration using a polar/apolar GC × GC column set was developed. The results of this study are presented, showing the applicability of this method to the analysis of alkyl phosphates in petroleum samples with a high concentration of nitrogen-containing species. This method effectively separates the alkyl phosphates from nitrogen containing species with which they previously co-eluted. Additionally, it allows for trace speciation and quantification of alkyl phosphates in crude-oil with detection limits ranging from 0.001 to 0.02 μg phosphorus per mL.


Attention in incorporating inorganic nanostructures into organic optoelectronic devices has been growing in the past few years. These so-called hybrid organicinorganic nanocomposites systems are being studied more closely due to its possibility in combining the advantageous characteristics of inorganic and organic components. Within a single composite, the properties can easily be changed or tuned by varying the size of nanoparticle, material composition, and concentration in the composites to match the device requirement. The most important thing, they can maintain the fabrication advantages of organic device such as easy processing, low production and material cost, and manufacturing the devices on large and flexible substrates. These are important in device application and commercialization. Therefore, research on improving the performance of organic solar cells by incorporating inorganic nanostructures in the organic materials has become important topic of research. The nanocomposited photoactive layer thin film which is MEH-PPV:MWCNT were prepared and characterized. The parameters that involved in the optimization are different composition of MWCNT in tetrahydrofiiran (THF) and toluene, different composition of Iodine doped Multiwalled Carbon nanotubes (I-MWCNT) with low and high concentration of I-MWCNT. The characterizations involved are currentvoltage (I-V), absorbance, transmittance and photoluminescence measurements and physical properties measurements which involved Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). It was found that annealed MWCNT gave the best results in physical, electrical and optical properties. Meanwhile, comparing THF and toluene, THF convey the best results in all characterizations. The composition of I-MWCNT that was chosen to be used in organic solar cells was 60 wt% of I-MWCNT. In this work, bulk-heterojunction solar cells based on poly (2-methoxy-5-(2'-ethyl-hexyloxy)-p-phenylene vinylene) (MEHPPV) and a highly conductive multiwalled carbon nanotubes (I-MWCNT) were fabricated and characterized by white light I-V and external quantum efficiency measurements. The influences of different temperature treatment of the nanocomposite layer, the various concentrations of Iodine and different metal contact used as cathode on the solar cell device performance were studied. It was found that the optimized temperature occurred at 75 °C with optimized Iodine concentration of lg. The best metal contact with high efficiency was given when Platinum (Pt) was used. The achieved highest short circuit current density and energy conversion efficiency is 0.052mA/cm2 and 0.001%. Lastly, a new structure used Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) as n-type layer in organic solar cells was prepared. This layer act as hole blocking layer that prevents a direct contact between MEH-PPV:I-MWCNT and Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) substrates. The nanocomposited MEH-PPV:I-MWCNT with 60 wt% of I-MWCNT was prepared on ITO using Gold (Au) as the anode. It was found that interfacial area between MEH-PPV and TiO₂ has slight improved. Therefore, there is tendency to adapt device efficiency, short-circuit current (Jsc), open-circuit voltage (Voc) and the fill factor (FF). The initial values for both short circuit current density and power conversion efficiency are 0.115006 mA/cm2 and 0.414 x 10⁻³ % respectively.


Abstract. Lycidae, net winged beetles, have proved difficult to classify using morphological characters. Here, using a previously published molecular phylogeny, comparing the results with morphological data and re-analyzing previously published morphological data set, we propose a revised classification of Lycidae. All analyses support the monophyly of Lycidae, but phylogeny inferred from molecular data is in conflict with the current classification. The adult larviform females evolved in several lineages and never switched back to a winged form. Therefore, neotenic development of females is not a synapomorphy of Lycidae and the neotenic lineages do not form a basal paraphylum with respect to remaining Lycidae as previously proposed. As a consequence morphological similarities resulting from neoteny are homoplasies and cannot be used for definition of monophyletic lineages. The major result of this study is delineation of five basal clades, which are given subfamily rank: Libnetinae Bocak et Bocakova, 1990, stat. nov., Dictyopterinae Kleine, 1928, stat. nov., Lyropaeinae Bocak et Bocakova, 1989, Ateliinae Kleine, 1928 and Lycinae Laporte, 1836, sensu nov. Dexorinae Bocak et Bocakova, 1989, stat. nov. were not available for molecular analyses and their position is inferred from morphology alone. Further, Lycinae are redefined. Leptolycini are nested among Neotropical Lycini and render them paraphyletic. Slipinskiini are shown to group with Erotini. The distant position of Macrolycini and Dilophotini is demonstrated and Dilophotini are transferred from Calochrominae to Ateliinae. Four new tribes are proposed: Lycoprogenthini trib. nov. in Dictyopterinae, Alyculini trib. nov. and Antennolycini trib. nov. in Lyropaeinae, Dihammatini trib. nov. in Lycinae. Calochromini Lacordaire, 1857, stat. nov. and Leptolycini Leng et Mutchler, 1922, stat. nov. are lowered to the tribal status in Lycinae. The validity of Thonalmini Kleine, 1933 stat. rev. is re-established.


A new resource allocation scheme is proposed for video service over a Gaussian channel. For video quality rating, we introduce a suitable metric: the average peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) or the average channel-induced PSNR degradation. Then, we model the end-to-end distortion considering the error propagation effect caused by motion compensation. On the basis of this model, we propose an efficient resource allocation scheme for real video service. Unlike conventional schemes, the new scheme satisfies the PSNR requirement of each video user by adjusting the bit-error rate level with the changes of image characteristics. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme utilizes the bandwidth more efficiently than conventional schemes.


Abstract The derivative is not only an important subject for mathematics but also is an important subject for engineering, physics, economy, chemistry, and statistics. Especially, mathematics depends on strongly preceding learning and the subject of derivative will be used in university education by all students. Therefore, it is one of the most important subjects. This study's purpose is to explore student mistakes and errors in derivative and determine the areas in which students have probable misconceptions. For this purpose, 7 questions were chosen from "the Student Placement Test" (OSS). These questions were transferred into open-ended questions. The results of the study took place at sixth form college are described and discussed. The test administered to 53 students from Balikesir Fatma Emin Kutvar Anatolian High School in the fall-term of 2005-2006. Determining the possible misconceptions should help teachers when they teach this subject. The study findings showed that students could not understand derivative definition that depends on limit, make mistakes in composite functions and trigonometric functions, and establish wrong relations between tangent's slope, and normal's slope. Teachers need to be able to find errors and misconceptions in students' solutions. Teachers also need to be applying meaningful learning strategies such as concept maps, worksheets about derivative (e.g. Appendix B, Appendix C). Key Words Errors and Misunderstanding, Misconceptions, Errors and Misunderstanding Towards Derivative (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.) The derivative of a function represents an infinitesimal change in the function with respect to whatever parameters it may have. The "simple" derivative of a function f with respect to x is denoted either f(x). Students have some misconceptions or errors in derivative. Misconception is defined as erroneous conception, false opinion, or wrong understanding (Big Larousse, 1986). Studies about derivative and ideas related to it (such as tangent lines) have emphasized students' misconceptions and common errors (e.g., Amit & Vinner, 1990; Artique, 1991; Orton, 1983; Ubuz, 1996, 2001; Maurer (1987; Norman & Pritchard, 1994; Krutetski, 1980; Orton, 1983; Donaldson, 1963; Cipra, 1989; Keith et al., 1990). Ubuz (2001, p. 129) showed that students' common misconceptions on derivative were as follows: " (a) derivative at a point gives the function of a derivative, (b) tangent equation is the derivative function, (c) derivative at a point is the tangent equation, and (d) derivative at a point is the value of the tangent equation at that point." Ubuz also found that students seem to think different concepts as the same. He reported that "(a) the lack of discrimination of concepts which occur in the same context or the confusion of a concept with another concept describing a different feature of the same situation, (b) the inappropriate extension of a specific case to a general case, and (c) the lack of understanding of graphical representation"(p.133). Some studies have mainly focused on the constructions of mathematical knowledge in a theoretical perspective rather than students' misconceptions and common errors (Dubinsky & Schwingendorf, 1991) On the other hand, few empirical research were conducted such as Tall (1986a). He revealed that 67% of the experimental students who used Graphic Calculus (Tall, 1986b) chose the right answer with a correct explanation, while only 8% of the control students did. Thus, it is likely that visualization in the graphical context can help students understand the relations between differentiation and integration. Mathematics teaching is directly linked to learning and students' understanding of the concept of derivative is related to their prior knowledge (Kendal, 2001). Kendal (2001) stated that using multiple presentations was important in developing the understanding of the concept of derivative. In the present study the following questions are addressed. …


Over the last century humans have increasingly gone from just extracting fluids from the subsurface to also injecting them, for example hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for shale gas. Concurrently, there has been increased environmental interest in how injected fluids might interact with natural groundwater systems. One potential environmental impact of fracking is the contamination of shallow groundwater from the upward migration of injected and formation fluids along natural geological pathways. High-permeability fault and fracture zones have generally been regarded as the highest-risk pathway. Therefore, the first aim of this thesis was to determine a horizontal respect distance between fluid injection locations and known faults. Using published microseismic data a horizontal respect distance of ~900 m was proposed. The second aim of this thesis was to consider complex geological structure in numerical models to investigate hydrogeological factors which might increase the vulnerability of shallow groundwater resources to the potential upward migration of fracking-related fluids. Using 2D and 3D numerical models four hydrogeological factors increased the vulnerability of a shallow aquifer to upward fluid migration from an underlying shale reservoir: increased stimulated fracture extent; greater amounts of overpressure; the presence of low-permeability faults; and the absence of deep high-permeability formations. Low-permeability faults acted to compartmentalise groundwater, thereby discouraging regional horizontal flow whilst encouraging upward flow through strata. The integration of groundwater quality and seismic reflection data provided a novel method for identifying compartmentalisation, but compartmentalisation could not be identified from surface water quality data in the studied basin. However, analysis of surface water quality data could demonstrate regional-scale groundwater-surface water interactions. Importantly, this thesis highlights the need to understand and model interactions between deep groundwater, shallow groundwater, and surface waters by integrating data from a variety of industry and environmental regulatory sources.


Analysis of the SPK program at the University of Pittsburgh has led to a number of observations: 1. Under tacrolimus-based immunosuppression, without antibody induction, it has been possible to achieve (a) One- and 3-year actuarial patient survival rates of 98% and 95% (b) One- and 3-year actuarial kidney survival rates of 95% and 87% (c) One- and 3-year actuarial pancreas survival rates of 86% and 80% 2. Steroid withdrawal has been achieved in over half of the successfully transplanted recipients, with excellent outcomes and a low rate (4.7%) of subsequent rejection. 3. Bone marrow augmentation has been associated with (a) less rejection (b) less pancreatic graft loss to rejection (c) an increased ability to withdraw steroids 4. Rejection has been associated with a rising serum lipase. 5. Renal allograft rejection in SPK patients with elevated serum lipase levels has been seen in the setting of normal renal function. 6. Enteric drainage has been associated with a reasonably low complication rate. 7. SPK transplantation is a successful therapeutic option in selected type I diabetics with end-stage renal disease.


The aim of the study was to assess structure and dynamics of congenital facial clefts prevalence in Republic Sokha (Yakutiya) in the last 13 years. Both retrospective and prospective study included 423 children with congenital facial malformations. Dynamic analysis showed cyclical changes in the incidence of cleft lip and palate (CLP) and relatively high regional prevalence of CLIP with tendency to increase. The age of parents of children with congenital facial malformations tend to decrease with time. The received epidemiological data prove the need to improve treatment and rehabilitation protocols for CLP patients in Republic Sokha (Yakutiya).


The evolution of software systems often produces incompatibilities with existing data and applications. To prevent incompatibilities, changes have to be wellplanned, and developers should know the impact of changes on a software system. This consideration also applies to the field of model-driven development, where changes occur with the modification of the underlying metamodels. Models that are instantiated from an earlier metamodel version may not be valid instances of the new version of a metamodel. In contrast to other metamodeling standards like the Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF), no classification of metamodel changes has been performed yet for the Meta Object Facility (MOF). The contribution of this paper is the evaluation of the impact of metamodel changes on models. For the formalisation of changes to MOF-based metamodels, a Change Metamodel is introduced to describe the transformation of one version of a metamodel to another. The changes are then classifed by their impact on the compatibility to existing model data. The classification is formalised using OCL constraints. The Change Metamodel and the change classifications presented in this paper lay the foundation for the implemention of a mechanism that allows metamodel editors to estimate the impact of metamodel changes semi-automatically.


In this article we report on the theoretical and methodological approach of a recent research project on the social and cultural representations that affect teachers in the teaching and practice guiding function [1] , as well as previous studies whose results that we have supported to advance our hypotheses. Our approach starts from the consideration that social transformations and their influence on the school favor an uncertain environment for teachers, that key social representations guide teachers' performance in relation to the students, and that schools exercise some degree of determination over the educational guidance that teachers provide. This essay aims to analyze the guidance deployed and practiced by teachers from a sociological perspective, identifying possible approaches and models to explain educational guidance as a socially-constructed phenomenon. [1] This is an R + D + I, Socioeconomic and Educational and Vocational Guidance Teacher of Secondary , approved by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spain), for implementation during the 2014-2017 period, with reference CSO2013-47168-R, under the direction of principal researcher Sonsoles San Roman Gago (Autonomous University of Madrid).


Carrier lifetimes have been measured in compensated p-type single-crystal silicon wafers. Trace amounts of interstitial iron were found to provide a convenient method for measuring the total concentrations of acceptors and donors in this material, based on measuring the re-pairing rate of iron-acceptor pairs, coupled with resistivity measurements and a suitable mobility model. The results were found to be in good agreement with dopant concentrations measured independently by glow-discharge mass spectrometry. In addition, there appears to be a reduction in the bulk lifetime in compensated wafers when compared to non-compensated wafers of similar net doping. Possible mechanisms behind this reduction are discussed.


Isolation and mutation.-While the final adjudication of the claims of the various theories of evolution must be made on an experimental basis, such data must be in harmony with the facts of plant and animal distribution, as is pointed out in a suggestive paper by LEAVITT.24 It is of much interest to observe that zoologists, as a rule, have been less inclined to believe in mutation than have botanists. This is in part due, LEAVITT thinks, to a less perfect grasp of the theory by some of the zoologists, but in part due also to the fact that most students of animal distribution believe that isolation of closely related species is a most important principle in evolution. The author shows that there are innumerable cases of overlap in closely related plants of all groups, most notable, perhaps, in the widely varying thallophytes and bryophytes, but abundant in the seed plants. There is plenty of evidence that new species may have originated from the old without geographic isolation, although cases suggesting the latter are not wanting. Therefore, it is concluded, many facts of plant distribution favor the mutation theory, though they do not show that this is the only valid theory of evolution.H. C. COWLES.


A growing number of marketing researchers and practitioners are considering value as an essential constituent of marketing strategy development and implementation. Delivering superior value to customers is a key to creating and sustaining long-term business relationships. In order to differentiate themselves through improved customer interactions, wood products companies need to understand how they can create value in international business-to-business relationships. This book examines how wood products companies create value in international business relationships. As a highly competitive player worldwide, this book focused on the perspective of Finnish wood products suppliers. A conceptual framework of supplier's value creations in international business relationships was developed, and a nationwide survey with a structured questionnaire was conducted to closely examine prevailing experiences and perceptions in both primary and value-added wood products companies in Finland. The distinguishing characteristics and possible measures of Finnish wood products suppliers' value creation in international business relationships were discussed in conclusion.