Background and aims: Professional socialization is a process in which nurses compose values, attitudes and acquired knowledge from educational situation with organizational condition and adjust with them. This process is affected by individual organizational and situational factors. So, the aim of this study was to investigate regarding influencing factors to professional socialization of clinical nurses. Methods: This was a cross sectional analytical study. 300 and 200 nurses working in Tehran and Shahrekord teaching hospitals were selected by convenience sampling, respectively on 2013. Data were collected by a valid and reliable questionnaire made by researcher in 2 parts; demographic data and professional socialization and its domain. Data were analyzed using SPSS and descriptive statistics, independent t- test and Chi square test. Results: Results showed there was a significant relationship among professional socialization influencing factors and sex and occupational location (P=0.01). Also, There was a significant relationship among domains of professional socialization and sex, professional commitment (P=0.013) and belongingness (P=0.44). There was significance between occupational location and professional autonomy (P=0.016) and competency (P=0.051) domains of professional socialization. Whereas there was no significant relationship between other influencing factors such as marital status (P=0.707), age (P=0.650), training location (P=0.551), role model (P=0.453) and etc and professional socialization. Conclusion: It seems feminine framework of nursing profession is still an influencing factor of professional socialization. Moreover, working in larger cities provides more opportunity for nursing practice and clinical experiences.


The offspring from pregnancies of women who have developed anti-D blood group antibodies are at risk of hemolytic disease of the newborn. We have previously mapped four peptides containing immunodominant T-helper cell epitopes from the RhD protein and the purpose of the work was to develop these into a product for suppression of established anti-D responses. A panel of each of the four immunodominant RhD peptides was synthesized with modifications to improve manufacturability and solubility, and screened for retention of recognition by human T-helper cells. A selected version of each sequence was combined in a mixture (RhDPmix), which was tested for suppressive ability in a humanized murine model of established immune responses to RhD protein. After HLA-DR15 transgenic mice had been immunized with RhD protein, a single dose of RhDPmix, given either intranasally (P=0.008, Mann-Whitney rank sum test) or subcutaneously (P=0.043), rapidly and significantly suppressed the ongoing antibody response. This was accompanied by reduced T-helper cell responsiveness, although this change was less marked for subcutaneous RhDPmix delivery, and by the recruitment of cells with a regulatory T-cell phenotype. The results support human trials of RhDPmix peptide immunotherapy in women with established antibody responses to the RhD blood group.


Abstract Background Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the top public health problems in South Africa. Approximately 150 000 new cases and 10 000 TB-related deaths are reported in South Africa annually. In declaring TB a global emergency in 1993, the World Health Organization developed control strategies that include active case finding, laboratory support, directly observed treatment (DOT), contact tracing, and prevention of multidrug– and extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB and XDR-TB). High DOT rates reported in some countries have been discordant with 'low cure' and 'high MDR' rates. Objectives The aim of the study was to evaluate the use of DOT for TB in the Bojanala health district, North West Province, South Africa, by estimating the proportion of DOT use (1) amongst all TB patients and (2) in the initial TB treatment regimen compared to retreatment regimens. Method A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted in 2008. Data regarding implementation of DOT were collected from eight purposefully selected primary health care clinics and one prison clinic in the health district. Upon receiving their informed consent, a questionnaire was administered to patients receiving TB treatment at the selected facilities. Results A total of 88 (of 90 selected) patients participated in the study, of whom 50 (56.8%) were on DOT and had DOT supporters. However, 35 (40%) had never heard of DOT. DOT was used mainly for patients on the retreatment regimen (87.5%), rather than for those on first-line treatment (48.6%). Conclusion In this South African rural health district, the DOT utilisation rate for TB was 56.8%, mainly for patients on the TB retreatment regimen. Strict implementation of DOT in all patients undergoing TB treatment is a known strategy for improving TB cure rate and preventing recurrence and drug resistance.


The appearance of a novel visual stimulus generates a rapid stimulus-locked response (SLR) in the motor periphery within 100 ms of stimulus onset. Here, we recorded SLRs from an upper limb muscle while humans reached toward (pro-reach) or away (anti-reach) from a visual stimulus. The SLR on anti-reaches encoded the location of the visual stimulus rather than the movement goal. Further, SLR magnitude was attenuated when subjects reached away from rather than toward the visual stimulus. Remarkably, SLR magnitudes also correlated with reaction times on both pro-reaches and anti-reaches, but did so in opposite ways: larger SLRs preceded shorter latency pro-reaches but longer latency anti-reaches. Although converging evidence suggests that the SLR is relayed via a tectoreticulospinal pathway, our results show that task-related signals modulate visual signals feeding into this pathway. The SLR therefore provides a trial-by-trial window into how visual information is integrated with cognitive control in humans. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The presentation of a visual stimulus elicits a trial-by-trial stimulus-locked response (SLR) on the human limb within 100 ms. Here, we show that the SLR continues to reflect stimulus location even when subjects move in the opposite direction (an anti-reach). Remarkably, the attenuation of SLR magnitude reflected the cognitive control required to generate a correct anti-reach, with greater degrees of attenuation preceding shorter-latency anti-reaches and no attenuation preceding error trials. Our results are strikingly similar to neurophysiological recordings in the superior colliculus of nonhuman primates generating anti-saccades, implicating the tectoreticulospinal pathway. Measuring SLR magnitude therefore provides an unprecedented trial-by-trial opportunity to assess the influence of cognitive control on the initial processing of a visual stimulus in humans.


Inland silversides (Menidia beryllina) and Atlantic silversides (Menidia menidia) are ubiquitous fishes in the estuaries on the east coast of the United States. These species are very similar in appearance and may share many morphological traits. Many different biological processes have the potential to produce dissimilarities in shape between individuals or their characteristics and such shape distinctions can be indicative of varying selective pressures. Morphometrics, a branch of mathematical shape analysis, is a quantitative approach to understanding the diverse causes of variation and morphological transformation. In this study, I analyzed conspecific silverside populations to test for the presence of potential morphological variance within and between species through geometric analysis of landmark coordinates. Preserved specimens were pinned on dissection trays and photographed. These photographs were imported into tpsDIG2, a computer program for digitizing landmarks and outlines for geometric morphometric analyses. Eight landmarks were plotted on each fish and superimposed using the Generalized Procrustes Analysis (GPA) method. Two covariance functions were employed in data analysis, Procrustes ANOVA/regression for shape data (procD.lm) and pairwise group comparisons (pairwiseD.test). Significant differences were observed between the Atlantic silversides from Maryland and all other species specific location groups. Maryland populations in reference to North Carolina populations exhibited the greatest morphological differences. Most variation was observed in the first and second dorsal fins, the pelvic fin, and the anal fin although it varied by location. The selective pressures and environmental conditions of these locations must be studied further to determine the primary driver(s) of this observed morphological variation.


Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common pathologies addressed by foot and ankle surgeons. Despite advances and overall success rates for conservative therapy, many of the recalcitrant cases proceed to require surgical correction. Partial to complete release of the fascia is often performed altering foot biomechanics and severing the windlass mechanism. Endoscopic debridement of the plantar fascia allows for direct visualization and removal of the inflammatory tissue while leaving the fascia and its function intact. A total of 125 feet were evaluated with a minimum follow-up time of 5 years. Gender, body mass index, and duration of symptoms were all evaluated and documented. Visual analog scale scores (VAS), American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Score (AOFAS), and Foot Function Index (FFI) were collected both pre- and postoperatively. AOFAS, FFI, and VAS scores improved from a pre-operative mean of 57.6, 89.4%, and 8.6-89.1, 13.4%, and 0.7 respectively (p < .05) at final follow-up. Of the 125 patients, 98% stated they were satisfied with the operative outcome and would undergo the procedure again. At final follow-up, no patient suffered rupture of the fascia or recurrence. Patients were able to bear weight immediately following the surgery in a walking boot and on average patients were able to return to work at 3.4 days following surgery. This is a novel technique that does not compromise the plantar fascia or alter foot biomechanics with promising 5-year outcomes.


Analyses of the acoustical tomography data taken in the Greenland Sea in 1988–1989, when combined with inputs from other environmental measurements made in the region, have yielded a number of insights into both the physical oceanographic and acoustical properties of that polar sea. The formation of Greenland Sea deep water (GSDW), which is of importance to the global heat engine and climate studies, was imaged tomographically, allowing us to make significant new statements about the mechanisms, rates, and amounts of GSDW formation. Studies of the late arriving acoustic energy have allowed both detailed studies of the evolution of the surface mixed layer as well as a novel acoustical study of the temporal dispersion of acoustic normal modes by that layer in the marginal ice zone. Rough surface scattering processes in ice and open water conditions, as well as ambient noise, have also been studied using the tomography data set.


Copper slag is a copper industry waste that is essentially used as an abrasive for metals to remove coatings or paintings, due to its hardness, sieve distribution and rough surface, mainly in the naval industry. After the wearing process, copper slag retains most of its original properties, and remaining an environmental problem. Chemical composition of copper slag presents a high Fe, Si and Al oxide content what makes it a pozzolanic material. Thus, it is possible to use it as a partial replacement for sand and after triturating it into very small particles as a replacement for cement. After a chemical, physical, mineralogical, and environmental characterization of copper slag, its use as a partial replacement of sand on mortars was investigated. The experimental program was developed to evaluate the effect of several percentages of sand substitution in mortars. For mortars 25, 50 and 75 % of sand replacement by volume was studied. A standard 1/3 cement/sand ratio, by weight, with cement type CEM 42.5 I, was used. The type of sand and the effect of washing the slag were also investigated. Strength was measured at 7, 28, 60 and 90 days. Results obtained until now indicate that a reduction of strength occurs when the slag content increases. Additionally, it was observed a delay of the hardening process by the addition of the copper slag. As a conclusion, the use of copper slag as a sand replacement seemed to be a practical option.


Abstract. River systems that support high biodiversity profiles are conservation
priorities worldwide. Understanding river ecosystem thresholds to low-flow
conditions is important for the conservation of these systems. While
climatic variations are likely to impact the streamflow variability of many
river courses into the future, understanding specific river flow dynamics
with regard to streamflow variability and aquifer baseflow contributions is
central to the implementation of protection strategies. While streamflow is
a measurable quantity, baseflow has to be estimated or calculated through
the incorporation of hydrogeological variables. In this study, the
groundwater components within the J2000 rainfall–runoff model were
distributed to provide daily baseflow and streamflow estimates needed for
reserve determination. The modelling approach was applied to the
RAMSAR-listed Verlorenvlei estuarine lake system on the west coast of South
Africa, which is under threat due to agricultural expansion and climatic
fluctuations. The sub-catchment consists of four main tributaries, Krom
Antonies, Hol, Bergvallei and Kruismans. Of these, Krom Antonies was
initially presumed the largest baseflow contributor, but was shown to have
significant streamflow variability attributed to the highly conductive
nature of the Table Mountain Group sandstones and Quaternary sediments.
Instead, Bergvallei was identified as the major contributor of baseflow. Hol
was the least susceptible to streamflow fluctuations due to the higher
baseflow proportion (56 %) as well as the dominance of less conductive
Malmesbury shales that underlie it. The estimated flow exceedance
probabilities indicated that during the 2008–2017 wet cycle average lake
inflows exceeded the average evaporation demand, although yearly rainfall is
twice as variable in comparison to the first wet cycle between 1987 and 1996.
During the 1997–2007 dry cycle, average lake inflows are exceeded 85 % of
the time by the evaporation demand. The exceedance probabilities estimated
here suggest that inflows from the four main tributaries are not enough to
support Verlorenvlei, with the evaporation demand of the entire lake being
met only 35 % of the time. This highlights the importance of low-occurrence events for filling up Verlorenvlei, allowing for regeneration of
lake-supported ecosystems. As climate change drives increased temperatures
and rainfall variability, the length of dry cycles is likely to increase
into the future and result in the lake drying up more frequently. For this
reason, it is important to ensure that water resources are not over-allocated
during wet cycles, hindering ecosystem regeneration and prolonging the
length of these dry cycle conditions.


Leachate waste consists of various mixtures of organic, inorganic, and heavy metal
contaminants, which are responsible for groundwater and surface water contamination.
Landfills apply physical, chemical, and biological processes for the treatment of leachate.
Most studies on leachate treatment by coagulation and flocculation are based on the selection and performance of natural based biopolymers in comparison with various inorganic metal salts and grafted polymers used for the removal of contaminants. In addition, adsorption processes utilizing non-conventional activated carbons as absorbents are the current emerging focus of the researchers in leachate treatment. These adsorbents are low-in-cost, efficient, and renewable compared to conventional adsorbents. The present paper aimed to evaluate and review the technology utilising various greener approaches in coagulation, flocculation, and adsorption as the physicochemical approaches to leachate treatment. The challenges and future work regarding the development of these green products in the commercial markets were comprehensively evaluated.


We compare cosmic microwave background lensing convergence maps derived from South Pole Telescope (SPT) data with galaxy survey data from the Blanco Cosmology Survey, WISE, and a new large Spitzer/IRAC field designed to overlap with the SPT survey. Using optical and infrared catalogs covering between 17 and 68 deg2 of sky, we detect a correlation between the SPT convergence maps and each of the galaxy density maps at >4σ, with zero correlation robustly ruled out in all cases. The amplitude and shape of the cross-power spectra are in good agreement with theoretical expectations and the measured galaxy bias is consistent with previous work. The detections reported here utilize a small fraction of the full 2500 deg2 SPT survey data and serve as both a proof of principle of the technique and an illustration of the potential of this emerging cosmological probe.


The ability to respond to physical stress that disrupts normal physiological homeostasis at an older age embraces the concept of resilience to aging. A physical stressor could be used to induce physiological responses that are age-related, since resilience declines with increasing age. Increased fat and sugar intake is a nutritional stress with a high prevalence of obesity in older people. In order to determine the effect of this type of diet on resilience to aging, 18-month-old C57BL/6J male mice were fed a diet high in saturated fat (lard) and sucrose (HFS) for ten months. At the end of the 10-month study, mice fed the HFS diet showed increased cognitive impairment, decreased cardiac function, decreased strength and agility, and increased severity of renal pathology compared to mice fed a rodent chow diet low in saturated fat and sucrose (LFS). The degree of response aligned with decreased resilience to the long-term adverse effects of the diet with characteristics of accelerated aging. This observation suggests additional studies could be conducted to investigate the relationship between an accelerated decline in resilience to aging and enhanced resilience to aging under different dietary conditions.


Barbara Miller Lane Houses for a New World: Builders and Buyers in American Suburbs, 1945–1965 Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2015, 320 pp., 224 b/w illus. $49.95, ISBN 9780691167619

Between 1950 and 2000, the number of Americans living in suburbs rose from 23 percent to 50 percent of the total population, and, in a demographic sense, at the beginning of the twenty-first century the United States could truly be considered a suburbanized nation.1 The recent passing of such a milestone obscures a much longer American preoccupation, even obsession, with communities that are neither urban nor rural. The roots of this phenomenon extend back into the nineteenth century, and even automobile-oriented patterns of suburban development have now existed for well over a century. These antecedents fostered a cultural bias that increasingly linked suburban locales with the "good life," yet the full flourishing of a dominant, middle-class lifestyle wholly linked not just to the suburbs but, more to the point, to the new houses constructed in these suburbs did not occur until the decades following World War II. This postwar metropolitan landscape has become so familiar, so ubiquitous, that most people barely give it any thought at all, architectural historians included. Fortunately, with Houses for a New World , Barbara Miller Lane has made an able contribution to remedying the gaping void in scholarly information about these buildings and their peripheral locales.

Postwar suburban houses—it would be challenging to find another building type so widely known, so numerous in examples, so much a part of the current American psyche, yet so lacking in serious study. Architectural historians may have been dissuaded from such study for reasons ranging from the enormity of the topic area to a sense that the suburbs have already been the focus of enough examination merely because of the omnipresence of popular ideas about them. Lane importantly and rightly also sees a legacy of intellectual snobbery against the …


A common classifier for unlabeled nodes on undirected graphs uses label propagation from the labeled nodes, equivalent to the harmonic predictor on Gaussian random fields (GRFs). For active learning on GRFs, the commonly used V-optimality criterion queries nodes that reduce the L2 (regression) loss. V-optimality satisfies a submodularity property showing that greedy reduction produces a (1 - 1/e) globally optimal solution. However, L2 loss may not characterise the true nature of 0/1 loss in classification problems and thus may not be the best choice for active learning.

We consider a new criterion we call Σ-optimality, which queries the node that minimizes the sum of the elements in the predictive covariance. Σ-optimality directly optimizes the risk of the surveying problem, which is to determine the proportion of nodes belonging to one class. In this paper we extend submodularity guarantees from V-optimality to Σ-optimality using properties specific to GRFs. We further show that GRFs satisfy the suppressor-free condition in addition to the conditional independence inherited from Markov random fields. We test Σ-optimality on real-world graphs with both synthetic and real data and show that it outperforms V-optimality and other related methods on classification.


Worst case graphics core power delivery noise is a major indicator of graphics chip performance. The design of good graphics core power delivery network (PDN) is technically difficult because it is not easy to predict a worst case current stimulus during pre-silicon design stage. Many times, the worst case power delivery noise is observed when graphics benchmark software is run during post-silicon validation. At times like this, it is too late to rectify the power delivery noise issue unless many extra capacitor placeholders are placed during early design stage. To intelligently optimize the graphics core power delivery network design and determining the right amount of decoupling capacitors, this paper suggests an approach that setup a working platform to capture the worst case power delivery noise; and later re-construct the worst case power delivery current using Thevenin's Theorem. The measurement is based on actual gaming application instead of engineering a special stimulus that is generated thru millions of logic test-vectors. This approach is practical, direct and quick, and does not need huge computing resources; or technically skilled logic designers to design algorithms to build the stimulus.


The IPCC predictions for climate changes in the 21st century assess sea level rise from 5 to 10mm/year due to the Greenhouse effect. We have already entered a period of accelerated temperature and sea level rise and one of the most important impacts of these changes is the severe erosion of the coastal areas. According to Bruun rule, a sea level rise of 1cm induces a coastal retreat of (approximately) 1m in low-lying coastal areas. Taking into consideration the inundation concept, the historical retreat and the Bruun erosion model, the assessment of the coastal setback comes nearer to the response of nature due to climate changes. In the coastal region of the Hersonissos in Crete, Greece and for 21km of its shoreline, the impacts of the above models are considered in order to assess the vulnerability due to the Greenhouse effect. The results are impressive and estimate a coastal retreat of more than 280m up to the end of the century, posing a threat to the coastal infrastructure. In view of the results, decisions and measures should be considered without delay.


We propose a new model for learning bilingual word representations from nonparallel document-aligned data. Following the recent advances in word representation learning, our model learns dense real-valued word vectors, that is, bilingual word embeddings (BWEs). Unlike prior work on inducing BWEs which heavily relied on parallel sentence-aligned corpora and/or readily available translation resources such as dictionaries, the article reveals that BWEs may be learned solely on the basis of document-aligned comparable data without any additional lexical resources nor syntactic information. We present a comparison of our approach with previous state-of-the-art models for learning bilingual word representations from comparable data that rely on the framework of multilingual probabilistic topic modeling (MuPTM), as well as with distributional local context-counting models. We demonstrate the utility of the induced BWEs in two semantic tasks: (1) bilingual lexicon extraction, (2) suggesting word translations in context for polysemous words. Our simple yet effective BWE-based models significantly outperform the MuPTM-based and context-counting representation models from comparable data as well as prior BWE-based models, and acquire the best reported results on both tasks for all three tested language pairs.


We report the fabrication and optical characterization of aluminum nanodisk (AlNDs) metamaterials as selective color absorbers by exciting magnetic polaritons (MP). Anodized aluminum oxide templates are transferred onto aluminum-coated silicon wafer, followed by e-beam evaporation of aluminum and template removal leaving behind fabricated AlNDs. Scanning electron microscopy reveals AlNDs are successfully molded with disk diameter of ~390 nm and periodicity of 450 nm, however, morphology variations in disk geometry can be seen. A home-built microscale optical reflectance and transmittance microscope is developed to characterize the optical reflectance of AlNDs. A reflectance dip is experimentally observed with resonance wavelengths varying with AlND thickness, indicating selective absorption within visible spectrum. Moreover, AlNDs with different thicknesses exhibit purple, red, and green coloration as a result of tunable reflectance spectra. Simulations confirm measured spectra and elucidate mechanisms of selective absorption as excitation of MP and surface plasmon polariton. Discrepancy between measured and simulated reflectance spectra is found to be associated with morphology variation and wave diffraction. With a silica spacer, AlND absorber shows dual-band selective absorption by exciting multiple MPs illustrated by simulated electromagnetic field distributions. The results could facilitate low-cost development of selective metamaterial absorbers for solar thermal, radiative cooling, and sensing applications.


There has been an increasing attentiveness in the uses of sensor networks. Because sensors are normally controlled in on-board power supply, proficient supervision of the network is essential in improving the life of the sensor. The majority research protocols objective at offering link breakage reducing and mitigating from the same. Yet, selecting the well-organized communication do all the beneficial to the transmission process thus demonstrating better improvement in the network performance. In this article, we propose Best Communication Node Election for well-organized Path in Flat Topology The main goal of this work is to choose the best data transmission node in flat topology for improve the multi hop routing. This scheme, the best communication node selection based on Path Metric and this Path Metric is measured by the packet obtained rate, dropped rate, latency rate and node energy. This scheme provide guarantees quality of Service in the network.


Involuntary contractions are common in muscles paralyzed by spinal cord injury (SCI). These contractions may impact joint movements and upset daily tasks. Existing rule-based algorithms for counting the number of muscle contractions from electromyographic (EMG) signals work on one channel at a time. However, to understand activation of muscles during involuntary contractions, it is important to develop algorithms that can process signals from multiple muscles simultaneously. To characterize these contractions, EMG signals recorded from paralyzed muscles were analyzed. First, existing singlechannel signal processing techniques were applied to each EMG recording. Then an Eigenvalue decomposition technique on a block of signals from all muscles was used to extract features of the signal-block. An extended version of the KL-distance measure (a method to compute the distance between two probability mass distributions) was used to find the distance between two adjacent sets of Eigenvalues. The regions with significant distances were marked as potential areas for identification of muscle contractions. We further developed algorithms to identify co-activation of muscles and the muscle that was activated first, since this muscle may be targeted in interventions that aim to dampen these contractions. These algorithms were tested on five hours of EMG data (2:00 am to 7:00 am) recorded from five paralyzed (no voluntary control) leg muscles of a person with SCI. Most of the myoclonus spasms that involved contractions containing clonic-like EMG were identified accurately. Although the soleus muscle was often co-active, on average 74.31% of the time, it initiated the contraction in only 60.91% of the cases. In contrast, the tibialis anterior muscle was co-activated 37.92% of the time, on average, but was the first muscle to respond 85.48% of the time. While the proposed approach has shown great potential for concurrent analysis of multi-muscle EMG recordings, we want to continue testing on larger data sets and for other spasm types.


Actinobacteria commonly inhabit the rhizosphere, being an essential part of this environment due to their interactions with plants. Such interactions have made possible to characterize them as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). As PGPR, they possess direct or indirect mechanisms that favor plant growth. Actinobacteria improve the availability of nutrients and minerals, synthesized plant growth regulators, and specially, they are capable of inhibiting phytopathogens. Different activities that are performed by actinobacteria have been studied, such as phosphate solubilization, siderophores production, and nitrogen fixation. Furthermore, actinobacteria do not contaminate the environment; instead, they help to maintain the biotic equilibrium of soil by cooperating with nutrients cycling. The aforementioned is directly related to the quality and productivity of crops. Moreover, different aspects of these microorganisms have been studied, such as production of metabolites that improve plant growth, resilience against unfavorable environmental conditions, and beneficial and synergic interactions with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Taking into account the above-mentioned activities, actinobacteria can be considered as possible plant fertilizers.


Industrial design is not only the exterior design. Industrial design is the scientific and technical results transformation for products, goods. With environmental protection requirement, the core technology, technical innovation and knowledge innovation is the landing. Industrial design always is closely associated with science and technology. Technical and industrial design is innate relates in together. This paper tries to analyze the relation between industrial design requirements and technical beauty.


This study examined the relationships among perceived stakeholder characteristics, risk perceptions, respondent characteristics, and self-reported adoption of 16 seismic hazard adjustments by residents in areas of high and medium seismic risk. Seven stakeholder types, ranging from the federal government to the respondents themselves, were rated on three characteristics—seismic hazard knowledge, trustworthiness, and responsibility for taking action to protect households. Respondents rated their hazard knowledge as higher than that of peers, indicating optimistic bias. However, they also rated their hazard knowledge as lower than that of authorities and the news media—confirming that there are limits to optimistic bias. Partial correlation analyses indicated that perceived stakeholder characteristics influenced hazard adjustment by both central and peripheral routes to behavioral change. Paradoxically, respondents' adoption of hazard adjustments was more strongly correlated with the perceived characteristics of peers, even though these were rated lower on hazard knowledge, trustworthiness, and protection responsibility. Although the effects were marginally significant, perceived stakeholder characteristics were related to respondents' characteristics (location, gender, and ethnicity). This suggests risk communicators should consider tailoring their choice of sources as well as the content of their messages to different audience segments.


ABSTRACT This article presents an ongoing research project, which researches theatre as a school subject at high school level in Sweden. The study is an example of practice-based research on teaching and learning and uses the model learning study for its research approach. It is argued that knowledge concerning the meaning of knowing the object of learning, in this case "to impose one´s will", is generated using the model. The results are presented as three categories of description and in an outcome space. The categories describe different ways of knowing the object of learning, in this case how to impose one´s will (what the character wants) with the purpose of developing the capability to consciously communicate with an audience.


Purpose: We developed a Monte Carlo based IMRT recalculation tool and determined its parameters for Varian Clinac 2100C 6 MV and 18 MV photon beams. We report our comparisons with prostate and head and neck IMRT Pinnacle treatment plans. Method and Materials: Our source model components include: a primary photon point source, an extended extra‐focal source, and contamination electrons. One unique feature of the system is that it is fluence‐based, not a segment based calculation. A modified composite fluence map for each beam is built by summing the MLC segments and modifying for the effects of leakage, and rounded leaf edges. Model parameters are automatically determined by fitting to measurements. We re‐computed two 6 MV head & neck, and three 18 MV prostate, IMRT plans created by Pinnacle. For head & neck plans, we compared the DVHs of PTV, brainstem and parotid glands, as well as the mean dose to parotid glands. For the prostate plans, the DVHs for PTV, rectum, and bladder, as well as the D50, D98, and minimum doses for PTV are compared. Results: We found that our dose calculation system is comparable with Pinnacle for prostate IMRT plans, with small differences. For the prostate tests, the D50 for the PTV agrees within 0.7% with Pinnacle. DVHs for rectum and bladder all agree closely. The model predicts more pronounced dose inhomogeneity inside PTV in head and neck cases: the average reduction in the D98 value for the primary PTV was 5.5%. Conclusion: As expected, prostate IMRT recalculations agree well with the Pinnacle results. However, differences in head and neck results may be due to improved physics in the Monte Carlo system. The results support the use of the Monte Carlo tool as a treatment planning QA tool. Conflict of Interest: Work partially supported by grant PHS CA010953.


The draping and buckling of woven fabric are simulated with the finite element method based on the micro-mechanical constitutive model and orthotropic constitutive model under gravity load. Compared with the traditional orthotropic mechanical model of the fabric, the micro-mechanical constitutive model characterizes the special properties of woven fabric due to its micro-weaving structures. The woven fabric sheet is discretized with 8-nodes shell elements which are designed for finite deformation and suffice to describe the large rotation of fabric sheet during draping, for the sake of simplicity, the nodes of the fabric sheet on the edges of the desk are assumed to be fixed. Compared with the experimental ones, the simulation results with the micro-mechanical constitutive model are in good agreement with the observations. The work paves the way for developing a virtual clothes trial system.


Attentional control is crucial for selectively attending to relevant information when our brain is confronted with a multitude of sensory signals. Graph-theoretical measures provide a powerful tool for investigating the efficiency of brain network communication in separating and integrating information. Albeit it has been demonstrated that atDCS can boost auditory attention in situations with high control demands, its effect on neurophysiological mechanisms of functional brain network communication in situations when attentional focus conflicts with perceptual saliency remain unclear. This study investigated the effects of atDCS on network connectivity and theta oscillatory power under different levels of attentional-perceptual conflict. We hypothesized that the benefit of atDCS on network communication efficiency would be particularly apparent in conditions requiring high attentional control. Thirty young adults participated in a dichotic listening task with intensity manipulation while EEG activity was recorded. In a cross-over design, participants underwent right frontal atDCS and sham stimulations in two separate sessions. Time-frequency decomposition and graph-theoretical analyses of network efficiency (using 'small-world' properties) were used, respectively, to quantify theta oscillatory power and brain network efficiency. The atDCS-induced effect on task efficiency in the most demanding condition was mirrored only by an increase in network efficiency during atDCS compared to sham stimulation. These findings are corroborated by Bayesian analyses. AtDCS-induced performance enhancement under high levels of attentional-perceptual conflicts is accompanied by an increase in network efficiency. Graph-theoretical measures can serve as a metric to quantify the effects of non-invasive brain stimulation on the separation and integration of information in the brain.


We examine the role of outside directors' interlocks in restoring directors' indemnification protection in response to Delaware's Schoon v. Troy Corp. The case, which permitted a board to retroactively alter indemnification and advancement-of-expenses arrangements for a former director, left directors vulnerable unless their firm acted to restore protection. Using a hand-collected data set, we find that a firm became more than twice as likely to adopt enhanced indemnification protection once a firm with which it shared an outside director adopted protection. Our results suggest that interlocks contribute to outside directors' knowledge and bargaining power in the boardroom. Consistent with the bargaining-power hypothesis, we find that several measures of outside directors' power are associated with a higher probability of responding: a large proportion of outside directors, a designated independent lead director, and, with marginal significance, more board meetings in executive session. These results have legal and practical implications for corporate governance.


Candidate risk genes for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been identified, but the challenge of determining their contribution to pathogenesis remains. We previously identified two ASD risk genes encoding the receptor tyrosine kinase MET and the urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (PLAUR), which is thought to modulate availability of the MET ligand. We also reported a role for Met signaling in cortical interneuron development in vitro and a reduction of these neurons in uPAR (mouse ortholog of PLAUR) null mice, suggesting that disruption of either gene impacts cortical development similarly. Here, we modify this conclusion, reporting that interneuron numbers are unchanged in the neocortex of Metfx/fx/ Dlx5/6cre mice, in which Met is ablated from cells arising from the ventral telencephalon (VTel). Consistent with this, Met transcript is not detected in the VTel during interneuron genesis and migration; furthermore, during the postnatal period of interneuron maturation, Met is co‐expressed in glutamatergic projection neurons, but not interneurons. Low levels of Met protein are expressed in the VTel at E12.5 and E14.5, likely reflecting the arrival of Met containing corticofugal axons. Met expression, however, is induced in E12.5 VTel cells after 2 days in vitro, perhaps underlying discrepancies between observations in vitro and in Metfx/fx/ Dlx5/6cre mice. We suggest that, in vivo, Met impacts the development of cortical projection neurons, whereas uPAR influences interneuron maturation. An altered balance between excitation and inhibition has been postulated as a biological mechanism for ASD; this imbalance could arise from different risk genes differentially affecting either or both elements.


The growing body of experimental evidence for the existence of complex textures of charges and spins in the high-temperature superconductors has drawn attention to the so-called 'stripe-phase' models as a possible basis for the mechanism of superconductivity in these materials. Such observations have until now been restricted to systems where the texture dynamics are slow or suppressed altogether, and do not include the important case of YBa2Cu3O(7-delta). It seems likely that the dynamic behaviour of stripes, which has been suggested to undergo several phase transitions as a function of temperature, should also be reflected in the lattice properties of the host materials, and this forms the motivation for our present experiments. Specifically, we use MeV helium ion channelling, an ultrafast real-space probe of atomic displacements (with sub-picometre resolution), to probe incoherent lattice fluctuations in YBa2Cu3O(7-delta) as a function of temperature and oxygen doping. We detect lattice fluctuations that are larger than the expected thermal vibration component, and which show anomalies characteristic of the phase transitions anticipated for a dynamic stripe phase. Comparison of our lattice results with single-particle-tunnelling and photoemission data highlights the importance of spin-charge separation phenomena in the copper oxide superconductors.


A new algorithm for identifying potential glacial dispersal trains in till geochemical data is introduced. The algorithm, referred to as the dispersal train identification algorithm (DTIA), requires a set of user input parameters used for simulating dispersal train characteristics. The algorithm employs a succession of wedge-shaped search regions (each one shaped like an isosceles triangle with the search point at the principal vertex) to 'look' in user-specified directions from a set of search points that may be mineral prospects, geochemical anomalies in rock or a homogeneous grid of points. The values of the till sample points occurring within the wedge are analysed as candidates for a dispersal train using a set of criteria. The geologist specifies the length and angle of the wedge, where the length reflects the distance of down-ice dispersal and the angle is used to model a ribbon or fan-shaped dispersal train. For each search position, DTIA calculates the average of the values within the wedge (pmed), the difference between wedge average and the local average (diff), and fits an exponential model to the within-wedge points (geochemical value as a function of distance from the search point). Candidate search points for the heads of dispersal trains are selected based on high values of pmed and diff, as well as best fit lines (fitted to the natural logarithms of geochemical values) that show high negative slopes (b), significant values of a test statistic for the slope magnitude (ts), and large negative correlation coefficients (R). The slope statistic, ts, is particularly useful in identifying candidate trains, but care must be taken to eliminate situations where the closest sample point is relatively far from the search point. DTIA was tested on two datasets: a dataset in Cape Breton where documented till dispersal trains exist and in the Swayze greenstone belt where no documented trains are known. The effects of varying the input parameters (e.g. length, angle and direction of wedge) were studied as well as different search strategies with the objective of identifying the most appropriate parameters for successfully identifying points that represent the heads (or source zones) of potential till dispersal trains. The algorithm performed well with the Cape Breton data. The results are particularly sensitive to both direction of search and the wedge angle. By systematically searching from a set of grid points, then screening out search points (and associated directions) that have (1) pmed values less than a threshold, (2) diff values less than a threshold, (3) distance of point closest to search point less than a threshold, (4) slope values less than zero and (5) ts values usually less than –2.0,a suite of candidate search points can be plotted on the till geochemical map, colour coded by search direction. These candidate points (and associated wedges) can then be visually appraised as potential dispersal trains. Application to the Swayze data revealed candidate trains whose directions are consistent with glacial transport directions known from data on glacial striations. Although this method shows promise as a data exploration tool, more work is needed to improve the algorithm and to test it under a greater range of conditions.


Selection of dieldrin-resistant Anopheles albimanus Wied. and normal Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus Say with m-isopropylphenyl methylcarbamate for 21 and 30 generations, respectively, resulted only in vigor tolerance to this and other aryl methylcarbamates. However, it caused substantial restoration of dieldrin- and DDT-susceptibility in Anopheles by increasing the frequency of homozygous susceptible phenotypes from 10 to 83 percent.


International research has been conducted in response to the effectiveness of information systems, the MIND billing system. In Belize, however, no research has been conducted to assess the Success of MIND Billing System on its Internal Users as it is used by many large corporations. This research paper provides the first test of the adaptation of DeLone and McLean IS (information systems) success model in Belize regarding user satisfaction. The model consists of six dimensions: information quality, system quality, service quality, use, user satisfaction, and perceived net benefit. The hypothesized relationships between the six success variables are significantly supported by the data available in the following paper. The findings provide major insight into the Success of Digi's MIND Billing System on its Internal Users as is the major purpose of this paper. This paper concludes by discussing the limitations of the study, which will be addressed in future research.


The print medium serves as a major communication channel in organizations. One way to increase the richness of print media is by using augmented reality (AR) technologies. Because AR can provide a richer experience, it is likely that AR can make a viewer's interaction with the print media more engaging. A more engaging communication in turn is likely to improve learning as well as other important organizational outcomes such as increased awareness of organizational activities and opportunities for improvement. Embedding AR in print medium may also have negative consequences, for example, AR may divert attention from key information provided in textual information. Our research project addresses these possibilities. In this paper, we examine whether AR can 1) affect attention to textual information and 2) affect engagement with a print medium. In our follow up studies, we plan to examine the impact of AR enabled print media on organizational outcomes.


The rise of the Web 2.0 has made content publishing easier than ever. Yesterday's passive consumers are now active users who generate and contribute new data to the web at an immense rate. We consider evaluating data driven aggregation queries which arise in Web 2.0 applications. In this context, each user action is interpreted as an event in a corresponding stream e.g., a particular weblog feed, or a photo stream. The presented approach continuously tracks the most popular tags attached to the incoming items and based on this, constructs a dynamic top-k query. By continuous evaluation of this query on the incoming stream, we are able to retrieve the currently hottest items. To limit the query processing cost, we propose to pre-aggregate index lists for parts of the query which are later on used to construct the full query result. As it is prohibitively expensive to materialize lists for all possible combinations, we select those tag sets that are most beneficial for the expected performance gain, based on predictions leveraging traditional FM sketches. To demonstrate the suitability of our approach, we perform a performance evaluation using a real-world dataset obtained from a weblog crawl.


We report the discovery of very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission from the direction of the SNR G54.1+0.3 using the VERITAS ground-based gamma-ray observatory. The TeV signal has an overall significance of 6.8σ and appears pointlike given the resolution of the instrument. The integral flux above 1 TeV is 2.5% of the Crab Nebula flux and significant emission is measured between 250 GeV and 4 TeV, well described by a power-law energy spectrum dN/dE ∼ E−Γ with a photon index Γ = 2.39 ± 0.23stat ± 0.30sys. We find no evidence of time variability among observations spanning almost two years. Based on the location, the morphology, the measured spectrum, the lack of variability, and a comparison with similar systems previously detected in the TeV band, the most likely counterpart of this new VHE gamma-ray source is the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) in the SNR G54.1+0.3. The measured X-ray to VHE gamma-ray luminosity ratio is the lowest among all the nebulae supposedly driven by young rotation-powered pulsars, which could indicate a particle-dominated PWN.


This paper will discuss the value of measuring wounds in order to assess the effectiveness of treatment for venous leg ulcers. It will discuss the use of an electronic Leg Ulcer TeleMedicine system (LUTM) which can predict healing times of venous leg ulcers from measurements made during their treatment. Using case studies, it is shown that patients can be empowered and encouraged to continue with treatments when they can see a graphic representation of the healing process. The system also provides an early indicator that a treatment is not working as well as it should and is in need of modification.


Are younger generations better off than older ones? Can younger cohorts starting with lower real wages catch up with previous generations? Are young or old generations becoming more unequal? In this study we concentrate on the study of inter-generational and intra-generational patterns of earnings for Italian male dependent workers for the period 1987-2006. Using data from the Bank of Italy's Survey of Household Income and Wealth, we construct cohort-education-(macro) region-specific age profiles for mean real wages (the measure of central location here adopted) and for the 90-10 percentile differential (the inequality measure), allowing for region-specific price indexes. We verify how different cohorts have been doing comparatively and finally we test whether, with time, the (mean) returns to experience and education have increased. Our results indicate that, for the two education groups considered, each successive generation has benefited from higher entry wages, but we also find that the wage age-profiles for both education groups have become flatter so that we cannot conclude that more recent cohorts are better off than their immediate predecessors. When looking at high/low education relative wages, we find only scant evidence of positive cohort profiles (i.e. that the education premium has been rising across cohorts), while we notice that the relative wage tends to increase over the life-cycle. Finally, we find that inequality tends to increase with age, while we also find evidence of across-cohort variation, in the direction of increasing inequality. Our provides a clear framework in which "between" and "within" cohort comparisons are meaningful and easily interpretable. Moreover, it allows us to relate our results to those obtained by MaCurdy and Mroz (1995) and Beaudry and Green (2000) in their studies of the earning patterns of, respectively, American and Canadian workers.


One of the most important environmental issues in Europe is the expansion of wildland-urban interfaces (WUIs) and how this trend may affect the occurrence of wildfires. Land use changes, the abandonment of farmland, and reduced grazing has led to an increase in forested areas with an accumulation and continuity of surface fuels available for combustion. Policies based exclusively on extensive fire suppression have become ineffective in different parts of Europe. To reduce the threat of damaging and costly wildfires, European countries must develop integrated fuel management programs. This approach has proven to be one of the most cost-effective for preventing wildfires and reducing economic loss. To this end, we have conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis to estimate how much fuel must be treated to determine fuel load removals with the lowest cost per hectare of unaffected WUIs threatened by wildfires in southern Italy (Apulia region). The analysis was carried out in three stages: (i) simulation of fire behavior in different fuel load reduction and wind direction scenarios; (ii) estimation of WUIs affected by wildfires within the study landscape; and (iii) the application of a cost-effectiveness ratio. Our results highlight the need to provide a method to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of fuel removal given the increasing number and extent of WUIs in the Mediterranean landscape of Europe. Optimizing the cost-effectiveness analysis of fuel removals offers the basis for appropriately assessing wildfire prevention and budgeting financial resources. Further, this method may be readily applied toward allocating any type of intervention in landscape management.


Lantana camara ,  Eucalyptus globulus ,  Tagetus minuta ,  Pyrethrum flowers and  Azaddiractha indica , were evaluated against potato tuber moth damage with two checks (Diazinon 60% EC and untreated check) at Bako Agricultural Research Center in 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 cropping seasons. A total of 21 huts (cottages) were constructed from locally available materials.   Inside each cottage (hut), 1m 2 bed was constructed 65 cm above the ground. Six hundred fifty (650) potato tubers were stored on the bed of each hut in two layers one over the other. The treatments were arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Plants powder and Diazinon 60% EC were applied respectively, at the rate of 50 gm / bed and 3.5ml / bed at two months' interval. The treatments that showed promising effects were further advanced on a large bed (2m x3m). Three thousand nine hundred (3900) potato tubers were stored on large beds and 150gm powders were used for each bed. Evaluations were made at the interval of 15 days for 7 consecutive months. Analysis of variance showed that number of potatoes infested and damaged by potato tuber moth was significantly (P<0.05) lower in the  Lantana camara ,  Eucalyptus globulus and  Pyrethrum flowers than the other treatments, which are similar to standard check. From the study it can be concluded that  Lantana camara ,  E. globulus and Pyrethrum flowers can be used to protect seed potatoes from potato tuber moth damage in storage.


Nitrogen-doped graphitic porous carbons (NGPCs) have been synthesized by using a zeolite-type nanoscale metal-organic framework (NMOF) as a self-sacrificing template, which simultaneously acts as both the carbon and nitrogen sources in a facile carbonization process. The NGPCs not only retain the nanopolyhedral morphology of the parent NMOF, but also possess rich nitrogen, high surface area and hierarchical porosity with well-conducting networks. The promising potential of NGPCs as metal-free electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reactions (ORR) in fuel cells is demonstrated. Compared with commercial Pt/C, the optimized NGPC-1000-10 (carbonized at 1000 °C for 10 h) catalyst exhibits comparable electrocatalytic activity via an efficient four-electron-dominant ORR process coupled with superior methanol tolerance as well as cycling stability in alkaline media. Furthermore, the controlled experiments reveal that the optimum activity of NGPC-1000-10 can be attributed to the synergetic contributions of the abundant active sites with high graphitic-N portion, high surface area and porosity, and the high degree of graphitization. Our findings suggest that solely MOF-derived heteroatom-doped carbon materials can be a promising alternative for Pt-based catalysts in fuel cells.


Cyanidin 3-glucoside (C3G) is one of the major dietary anthocyanins implicated in the prevention of chronic diseases. To evaluate the impact of human intestinal bacteria on the fate of C3G in the host, we studied the metabolism of C3G in human microbiota-associated (HMA) rats in comparison with germ-free (GF) rats. Urine and faeces of the rats were analysed for C3G and its metabolites within 48 h after the application of 92 μmol C3G/kg body weight. In addition, we tested the microbial C3G conversion in vitro by incubating C3G with human faecal slurries and selected human gut bacteria. The HMA rats excreted with faeces a three times higher percentage of unconjugated C3G products and a two times higher percentage of conjugated C3G products than the GF rats. These differences were mainly due to the increased excretion of 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, 2,4,6-trihydroxybenzaldehyde and 2,4,6-trihydroxybenzoic acid. Only the urine of HMA rats contained peonidin and 3-hydroxycinnamic acid and the percentage of conjugated C3G products in the urine was decreased compared with the GF rats. Overall, the presence of intestinal microbiota resulted in a 3·7 % recovery of the C3G dose in HMA rats compared with 1·7 % in GF rats. Human intestinal bacteria rapidly degraded C3G in vitro. Most of the C3G products were also found in the absence of bacteria, but at considerably lower levels. The higher concentrations of phenolic acids observed in the presence of intestinal bacteria may contribute to the proposed beneficial health effects of C3G.


PURPOSE
To evaluate the clinical value of 1H MR spectroscopy (1H MRSI) for follow-up of irradiated glioma compared to positron emission tomography (PET) with [18F]-2-fluoro-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG-PET) and single photon emission tomography with [123I]-a-methyl-L-tyrosine (IMT-SPECT).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Twenty-four patients with irradiated gliomas were examined using 1H MRSI (2D spectroscopic imaging; PRESS; TE = 135 msec; 1.5T Magnetom Vision, Siemens; Voxel size 9 x 9 x 15 mm (3)). MR spectra (n = 233) were evaluated in areas suspicious of tumor (n = 86) as well as in healthy appearing brain tissue (n = 147). Relative signal intensity ratios of choline (Cho), creatine (Cr) and N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) were calculated. PET scans (n = 19) were performed with 200 - 250 MBq FDG, IMT-SPECT examinations (n = 14) with 200 - 250 mBq IMT. Based on clinical and MRI/CT, follow-up lesions were classified as either neoplastic [PT] or non-neoplastic [nPT].

RESULTS
True positive results for the diagnosis of PT/nPT were 88/89 % (1H MRSI), 73/100 % (PET) and 100/75 % (SPECT). Cho/Cr showed highly significant changes for PT. Determinating a correlation between Cho, Cr, NAA and IMT-SPECT as well as FDG-PET was not possible because of different location of maximum tracer uptake and acquired 2D 1H MRSI.

CONCLUSION
IMT-SPECT seems to be superior to detect tumor progression in irradiated gliomas. 1H MRSI was more suitable than FDG-PET to differentiate between recurrence and radiation-induced changes. FDG-PET plays a role as sensitive method for detecting high-grade tumors. PET and SPECT allowed the examination of the entire tumor including surrounding brain tissue with higher spatial resolution than the acquired 2D 1H MRSI. A main limitation of our study was that only 2D 1H MRSI was used, with only parts of the tumor evaluated. The use of 3D MR spectroscopic imaging may further increase the diagnostic accuracy.


PurposeThe emergence of new digital technologies in the 21st century has propelled individuals to use technology in their daily lives. Individuals now require a specific set of skills, competencies and knowledge to use these devices efficiently, intelligently yet with responsibility. The purpose of this research was to design, develop and validate a digital literacy scale (DLS) using the exploratory factor analysis (EFA).Design/methodology/approachA quantitative research methodology was used for this study, whereby a unipolar 5 point Likert scale self-report questionnaire was designed to measure the digital skills of the participants. Digital literacy was divided into an exhaustive and broad list of six modules-media literacy, information literacy, communication literacy, technology literacy, visual literacy and computer literacy. The questionnaire was administered to a sample of the 2,755 Year 12 and Year 13 students of randomly selected 33 secondary school students in Fiji. Sample adequacy of the sample was tested using the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test.FindingsThe EFA results prove the existence of the six modules of digital literacy that are being utilized in this research to design the DLS. The factor loadings or the correlation coefficients range from 0.3 to 0.8; therefore, all the 60 items were kept to design the DLS. The Cronbach Alpha value of 0.90 confirmed the internal consistency and reliability of the newly designed DLS.Research limitations/implicationsThe research limitation of the study was the sample size. A broader sample would have made the results better. Research implications are; there is no scale in the south Pacific to measure digital literacy. The newly designed and developed scale is the first one that can be used to measure the digital literacy of the south Pacific populace and bridge the gap of the digital divide.Practical implicationsThe developed and validated scale can be used to measure the digital literacy of individuals both in the south Pacific and beyond. The scale covers important aspects of the much needed 21st century skills. Once digital literacy is measured, relevant stakeholders can develop instruments to improve the digital literacy of individuals.Social implicationsThe DLS can prove to be an important tool for society. In the 21st century people are required to have digital literacy to survive and thrive. Thus this tool can be used to measure digital literacy and further improve the digital literacy of the people.Originality/valueThe framework has been adopted from the work of Covello (2010) however, the definitions of digital literacy and other literacies are modified to meet the requirements of the 21st century. The tool is unique in its nature in the south Pacific and beyond. Looking at the digital literacy tools in literature, this tool covers all the aspects of digital literacy in the 21st century.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-10-2021-0532.


This paper brings together two challenging areas for both information systems (IS) research and practice: forms of coordination, and the efficacy of global, virtual software development projects. The contribution of the present paper is to develop a more comprehensive, knowledge-based model of how coordination can be achieved, and to illustrate the heuristic and explanatory power of the model when applied to global software projects experiencing different degrees of success. We first detail the literature on coordination, and show also what is known about coordination experiences in global software projects. We then develop, through a literature critique, a new, distinctive knowledge-based model of coordination. This is then employed to analyze two case studies of global software projects, at SAP and Baan, which illustrate the utility of the model. Finally, the paper discusses implications of the findings for future IS research.


This article outlines 10 headline findings from a three-year multidisciplinary project, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, on electronic records management (ERM). It also presents examples of solutions to try, or to avoid, grounded in experience. A range of strategies and tactics exist and, although their relevance and success is very contextualised, they could be adopted or adapted in many scenarios. The findings highlight the complexity of the ERM challenge, the interrelationship of people, processes and systems/technology, and the predominant and powerful role of people in accelerating positive change, or not. Two strategic conclusions are drawn which are particularly important for records professionals to address: (1) the need to articulate a vision of successful ERM and (2) the need to reinterpret records management principles in the electronic environment.


As a popular technique in cloud computing, multi-tenancy (MT) can significantly ease software maintenance, and improve resource utilization. To make use of the MT technique, an application may need to be transformed to be MT-enabled. This process involves finding and processing a special kind of data entities named global isolation points (GIPs). Practically, finding all GIPs of an application is challenging. Traditional method involves manually browsing the application code, requiring a great deal of human effort. To solve this problem, we introduce a toolkit named Auto-MT to help find and process GIPs of an application. Auto-MT is able to find new GIPs based on their relations to known GIPs. To characterize the relation, a novel graph called value flow graph (VFG) is introduced, which models the value flows of data entities. It can also be used in other scenarios, like taint analysis. We have implemented Auto-MT as an Eclipse Plug-in, and applied it to transform Roller, a widely used Java application. Experimental results show that Auto-MT saves substantial human effort, and accelerates the process of transforming applications to be MT-enabled.


Laboratory observation showed that males of blowfly, Chrysomyia albiceps (Wiedemann) attract to and feed on meat in adult breeding cages. Experiments under laboratory conditions of 27 +/- 3 degrees C and 60-70 R.H. showed that meat could replace water but could not replace sugar. Feeding on protein diet (meat) did not increase males longevity or their efficiency to mate with more than one female. Mating behaviour and duration of mating process did not also affected. Protein diet could not affect the percentage of egg hatching, percentage of pupation and percentage of adult emergence when the gravid virgin female were mated with protein fed males.


This article describes a qualitative descriptive exploratory study carried out in Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, in 2005, in which the perception of nurses on the Nursing Diagnosis (ND) introduced in the institution, was analyzed. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with ten nurses working in different units, and were analyzed by the Minayo method, taking into account ethical aspects. Two categories were identified in the ND: positive aspects, and aspects needing improved, each with its subcategories. It was concluded that ND was beneficial to nurses; however, there are still doubts and criticism on this subject.


Ctenothrips niger Kudo, collected from Ailao Mountain, is a newly recorded species in China. Both males and females were collected. The male of the species is herein described and illustrated in detail for the first time.


ABSTRACT This article examines the emergence since 2011 of the 'Diaosi' (loser) identity among second-generation migrant workers in China. This subjective identification of a new social category with little hope can be contrasted with the hopeful policy constructions of a strong China eager to promote the civilizing 'suzhi' (population quality) of its population nationally and internationally. Yet, as this article shows, in four steps, these phenomena are intertwined. First, it locates the emergence of this 'Diaosi' subject in the global and national dialectics of hope in China since the global financial crisis. Second, drawing on neo-Foucauldian and neo-Gramscian scholarship, Diaosi marginality is related to the interactions among global capitalist production, the socialist market economy, continuous state domination via a household registration system (hukou), and the civilising discourse of 'suzhi'. Third, it shows how the Diaosi embody their multiplex loser identity and marginality affectively and expressively in their everyday demeanour. Fourth, it examines recent efforts by state/corporate capital and the party-state to re-make and re-hegemonize Diaosi life in the name of consumption, civility, and social stability. The article ends with some neo-Gramscian remarks on the complexities and contradictory consciousness of marginal social categories, such as the Diaosi, and their openness to passive revolution and (re-) hegemonization.


Vector addition systems, or equivalently Petri nets, are one of the most popular formal models for the representation and the analysis of parallel processes. Many problems for vector addition systems are known to be decidable thanks to the theory of well-structured transition systems. Indeed, vector addition systems with configurations equipped with the classical point-wise ordering are well-structured transition systems. Based on this observation, problems like coverability or termination can be proven decidable. However, the theory of well-structured transition systems does not explain the decidability of the reachability problem. In this presentation, we show that runs of vector addition systems can also be equipped with a well quasi-order. This observation provides a unified understanding of the data structures involved in solving many problems for vector addition systems, including the central reachability problem. 1998 ACM Subject Classification F.3.1 Specifying and Verifying and Reasoning about Programs


There are times in history when the consensus about our economic system breaks down. It happened after the Long Depression, also known as the Great Depression of the 19th century, and again in the 20th century around the Great Depression of 1929-1933, as well as after the Great Recession of 2008-2009 that followed the global financial crisis. The Covid-19 great crash, which carries the risk of a deep downturn, has led governments to take extraordinary measures in all areas of our lives. This has further fuelled the need to discuss how to rebuild the consensus about the most appropriate economic system for the 21st century as the great question of our time.
 This is a reflection piece invited for the Dahrendorf Symposium.


In this paper, the authors examine how, when and to what extent Strategic Human Resource Practices affect performance at the employee level. As performance is a multi-faceted and complicated concept, it's linked with SHRM practices provide insight to what could be termed as high-performance work practices. The study is carried on the organizations in & around the Lucknow district. It is a micro-level study, whose findings can be applied to numerous organizations in various diversified sectors.


The global growth of sport and major sporting events as tourism and mass entertainment in both single and multi sport formats has prompted the desire for a greater understanding of event attendees and the implications of their motivations and decisions to travel and attend major sporting events. However, research into major sporting events has generally focused on the Olympic Games and/or attendance of a single major sporting event. Currently, the major sporting event community sees the value of measuring the economic impact of major sporting events but do not understand the decisions taken by individuals that travel to and attend major sporting events due to the lack of research in the area. Thus, more robust and comprehensive research needs to be carried out to improve the understanding of individuals that travel to and attend a range of major sporting events.

The purpose of this research was to develop a better understanding of the total spend and trip duration decisions of individuals that travel to and attend major sporting events with commercial companies. The research used a positivist quantitative strategy to empirically assess research questions surrounding repeat major sporting event attendance, motivations for major sporting event attendance, variables affecting total spending and trip duration decisions and relationships the between motivations, trip duration and total spending, and to econometrically model findings. Independent variables for analysis were identified through a review of literature, which informed the construction of both a conceptual model and online survey focusing on demographics, event related motivations, major sporting event profile and sporting involvement. Variable-based data collected from individual respondents on nine different major sporting events then underwent a two stage descriptive and statistical analysis. The descriptive analysis consisted of a quantitative breakdown of survey results and the statistical analysis allowed the data to be econometrically modeled and assessed through regression analysis.

The research provided significant findings towards understanding the decisions taken by individuals that travel to and attend major sporting events and in doing so led to a greater understanding of total spend and trip duration decisions. Findings indicated that the demographic variables and event related motivations determined total spend decisions whilst demographic variables, event related motivations and major sporting event profile variables determined trip duration decisions. Directly implicated in these findings were relevant key variables for commercial companies to consider in the packaging and sale of major event sport travel to an existing and committed customer base. Furthermore, the results can be extended and applied to populations within a broader sport event community such as managers, planners and evaluators to enhance the economic impact of major sporting events through a better understanding of event attendees.


Internal quantum efficiency (IQE) is usually estimated from temperature dependence of photoluminescence (PL) intensity by assuming that the IQE at cryogenic temperature is unity. III-nitride samples, however, usually have large defect density, and the assumption is not necessarily valid. In 2016, we proposed a new method to estimate accurate IQE values by simultaneous PL and photo-acoustic (PA) measurements, and demonstratively evaluated the IQE values for various GaN samples. In this study, we have applied the method to InGaN quantum-well active layers and have estimated the IQE values and their excitation carrier-density dependence in the layers. key words: internal quantum efficiency, recombination, PAS, PL


In 1986, cores were obtained to a depth of 702 m (with 98% recovery) from the CIROS-1 drill hole beneath the Ross Sea on the Victoria Land margin. Glaciogene sediments identified near the base of the hole mark the earliest known record of Antarctic glaciation. Initial biostratigraphic analysis indicated that the lower 336 m of the core is early Oligocene in age, and that the upper 366 m is of late Oligocene‐early Miocene age. Recently, the chronology of the CIROS-1 core has been questioned. We developed a magnetostratigraphy for the lower 400 m of the CIROS-1 core to clarify the chronology. Our magnetobiostratigraphic results indicate that the base of the CIROS-1 core is early-late Eocene in age (corresponding to Chron C16r; ca. 36.5 Ma). We identify the Eocene-Oligocene boundary at about 410‐420 m, within a 20-m-thick, poorly stratified, bioturbated sandy mudstone. This makes the CIROS-1 core the highest latitude site (77.1°S) from which this datum event has been recognized. At 366 m, a 4 m.y. hiatus, which lies immediately beneath fluvial sediments, accounts for most of Chrons C11 and C12. We recognize three major climatic episodes in the CIROS-1 core: (1) the late Eocene (34.5‐36.5 Ma, 430‐702 m), when relatively warm conditions dominated and there were high sedimentation rates and some glacial activity; (2) the late Eocene‐early Oligocene boundary interval (28.5‐34.5 Ma, 340‐430 m), which was a transition from relatively warm to cooler conditions that coincided with glacial intensification, sea-level fall, and subaerial erosion of the shelf; and; (3) the late Oligocene‐ early Miocene (22‐28.5 Ma, 50‐340 m), when large-scale glaciation dominated the region and glaciers grounded across the continental shelf. From correlation with global oxygen isotope and sea-level records, we infer that the Antarctic climate and surrounding oceans cooled after separation of Australia and Antarctica and development of deep-water circulation between them. This marked the onset of the Eocene‐Oligocene transition at ca. 34.5 Ma. A major East Antarctic ice sheet did not develop until the early-late Oligocene boundary, toward the end of the Eocene‐Oligocene transition (ca. 28.5 Ma). Outlet glaciers did not breach the Transantarctic Mountains and ground across the Ross Sea Shelf until 0.5 m.y. later (ca. 28 Ma).


US presidents used military force 212 times from 1948 to 1998. In 45 of these cases, the force was embedded in a multilateral context. The article distinguishes between procedural multilateralism, where US military operations are endorsed by an international organization, and operational multilateralism, where military actions are coordinated with the armed forces of other countries. In some cases, such as the Korean War and the first Gulf War, the United States obtained UN authorization and created a multinational force. However, there are also partially multilateral cases, in which either political endorsement or execution of the use of force is made by a multilateral approach while the other is subject to unilateralism. This article focuses on the varieties of multilateralism and homes in on exploring why such varieties of multilateralism exist. An original dataset for studying multilateral-unilateral choice in US use of force is analyzed using a multinomial logit model and a bivariate probit model. The analyses suggest that three domestic conditions - recession, election cycle, and divided government - can cause partial multilateralism, since they create different incentives for the president to seek burden-sharing with allies or seek collective legitimacy in international organizations.


A new model of the higher symmetry of elementary particles is introduced ln which the eight known baryons are treated as a supermultiplet, degenerate in the limit of unitary symmetry but split into isotopic spin multiplets by a symmetry-breaking term. The symmetry violation is sscribed phenomenologically to the mass differences. The baryons correspond to an eight-dimensional irreducible representation of the unitary group. The pion and K meson fit into a similar set of eight particles along with a predicted pseudoscalar meson X/sup o/ having I = 0. A ninth vector meson coupled to the baryon current can be accomodated natarally in the scheme. It is predicted that the eight baryons should all have the same spin and parity and that pseudoscalar and vector mesons should form octets with possible additional singlets. The mathematics of the unitary group is described by considering three fictitious leptons, nu , e/sup -/ , and mu /sup -/, which may throw light on the structure of weak interactions. (D. L.C.)


This qualitative analysis draws upon the experiences of six Mexican and Mexican American community college transfer students during the 2012-2013 academic year. Relying on literature regarding institutional agents, we examine students' reflections regarding pre- and post-transfer support from both institutional agents and structured student programs. We provide descriptive information about participation in key student support programs such as CAMP and TRiO SSS, which provided many students with introductions to institutional agents. A combination of programmatic support and guidance from individuals who acted as institutional agents assisted students in this study throughout the transfer process. Overall, individuals employed by the community college played key roles in the lives of Mexican and Mexican American community college transfer students pre- and post-transfer.


As an obligate intracellular pathogen, 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus' (Las) may act as an "energy parasite" by importing ATP from its host's cells. We previously demonstrated that the Las translocase NttA (gb|ACX71867.1) is functional in Escherichia coli and enables the direct import of ATP/ADP into the cell. Similar to other translocases, NttA was predicted to contain 12 transmembrane domains with 6 loops residing on the outer surface of the membrane. Using this structure, a 25-mer peptide was selected for synthesis based on the transmembrane (TM) hidden Markov model (HMM) and used as the target for the randomized 7-mer Ph.D.™ phage display library (New England Biolabs, USA) in an attempt to block the ability of NttA import ATP. Of the selected clones, 11 shared the HWGMWSY sequence, five shared the sequence SILPYPY, and four had unique 7-mer sequences. An ELISA was performed against the 25-mer using members of the two most highly represented sequences and all of the unique sequences. Of these phage sequences, six appeared to have binding capacities. Radiolabeled ATP uptake assays were performed on E. coli expressing NttA using 10 small synthetic peptides based on the phage sequences, and the results indicated that peptides from the HWGMWSY grouping showed the most potential for blocking ATP uptake. Two peptides, HS-6 covering the first six aa (+1 charge) and GY-5 (neutral) covering the last five aa, were selected. At a concentration of 0.23 mM, both HS-6 and Gy-5 peptides decreased the amount of [α-32P] ATP in the cells by 29.9 and 27.9%, respectively, while at a peptide concentration of 2.3 mM the amount of intercellular [α-32P] ATP declined by 57.6 and 70.6%, respectively. Since NttA shares limited amino acid identity with other known proteins, we expect to have Las-specific inhibition when these peptides are expressed in citrus plants.


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We report a 58 years old male, presenting with malaise, weight loss and jaundice. An abdominal ultrasound showed multiple lymphadenopathies in the hepatic bilus and around the pancreas. Fine needle aspiration of these nodes demonstrated an undifferentiated carcinoma. Prostate specific antigen was over 100 ng/ml and a prostate biopsy demonstrated a high grade carcinoma. The patient was subjected to an orchiectomy and hormone therapy (flutamide). Jaundice subsided and he is well after 3 years of follow up and maintained hormone therapy.


Fundamental scientific advances can take decades to translate into improvements in human health. Shortening this interval would increase the rate at which scientific discoveries lead to successful treatment of human disease. One way to accomplish this would be to identify which advances in knowledge are most likely to translate into clinical research. Toward that end, we built a machine learning system that detects whether a paper is likely to be cited by a future clinical trial or guideline. Despite the noisiness of citation dynamics, as little as 2 years of postpublication data yield accurate predictions about a paper's eventual citation by a clinical article (accuracy = 84%, F1 score = 0.56; compared to 19% accuracy by chance). We found that distinct knowledge flow trajectories are linked to papers that either succeed or fail to influence clinical research. Translational progress in biomedicine can therefore be assessed and predicted in real time based on information conveyed by the scientific community's early reaction to a paper.


A progressive fatigue damage analysis method was developed to predict damage propagation and residual strength of the adhesively bonded repairs in composites subjected to constant amplitude cyclic loading. The fatigue damage models of adhesively bonded repairs are respectively established with different shapes of the patches. Based on the theory of the residual strength and residual stiffness in composites, the material property degradation technique for modifying element stiffness and strength and materials ultimate failure criteria were proposed. This program is able to simulate progressive fatigue damage and predict residual strength of the adhesively bonded repairs in composites subjected to constant amplitude cyclic loading with different shapes of the patches. The calculation results of damage model show that the patch shape and size are important fatigue design parameters of adhesively bonded repairs. The effect of repair with tilted square patch is the best than others and the residual strength improves by 27.6 % than the unrepaired composite laminates.


This report gives an approved set of material properties over a range of environmental conditions which are sufficient to design the metallic components in the reactor system and hot duct assembly. Table 1-1 list these metallic components together with the reference design material chosen for each component. Table 1-2 summarizes the structural criteria of each metallic component taken from the component specifications. In all cases, the criteria references the ASME B&PV Code. The ASME-Code includes the material properties of Coded material. The Code does not, however, include environmental effects (such as irradiation, corrosion, or thermal aging), and for some components the material maximum allowable temperature is below that of the design and/or postulated ``safety-related`` accident conditions. Table 1-3 gives the Code limits for the portions of the Code given in Table 1-2. This document includes the effects of the radiation environment, chemical impurity effects (in the primary coolant), and the effects of thermal aging and corrosion on the metallic properties. The design information introduced in this document includes that available from the ASME B&PV Code High-Temperature Code Cases plus material information from General Atomics (GA) and Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL) that is published.


The overall objective of Requirements Engineering is to specify, in a systematic way, a system that satisfies the expectations of its stakeholders. Despite tremendous effort in the field, recent studies demonstrate this is objective is not always achieved. In this paper, we discuss one particularly challenging factor to Requirements Engineering projects, namely the change of requirements. We proposes a rough discussion of how learning and time explain requirements changes, how it can be introduced as a key variable in the formulation of the Requirements Engineering Problem, and how this induces costs for a requirements engineering project. This leads to a new discipline of requirements economics.


Plants rely entirely on innate immunity to prevent infection by pathogens. Extracellular perception of evolutionarily conserved pathogen/microbe-associated molecular patterns (P/MAMP) by membrane-resident pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) leads to pattern-triggered immunity (PTI). Host-adapted pathogens intercept PRR-mediated immunity by delivering effectors into host cells. These polymorphic effectors can be recognized by intracellular immune receptors of the nucleotide-binding domain leucine-rich repeat (NLR) family. Upon effector recognition, NLRs trigger a rapid immune response, termed effector-triggered immunity (ETI), which is typically associated with a host cell death response. In barley, the NLR MLA confers ETI against the pathogenic powdery mildew fungus, Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei. Although MLA orthologues are present only in the Triticeae family of monocotyledonous plants, barley MLA is functional in transgenic dicotyledonous A. thaliana, indicating that the underlying disease resistance mechanism has been evolutionarily conserved for at least 150 Mya in monocot and dicot plants. In dicotyledonous Nicotiana benthamiana, transient gene expression of the coiled-coil (MLACC) domain, consisting of the N-terminal 160 amino acids of the MLA receptor, was sufficient to activate a cell death response, raising the possibility that MLA initiates a conserved signalling mechanism through the MLACC domain. This thesis aimed at identifying signalling mechanism(s) acting downstream of the MLACC module in transgenic A. thaliana. Conditional MLACC expression triggered immune-related responses, characterized by a rapid onset of massive changes in gene expression at ~2 h post induction (hpi), followed by cell death at ~4 hpi. These MLACC–triggered responses are retained in A. thaliana plants simultaneously lacking the immune components PAD4, SAG101, PEN2, and all major defence phytohormones, i.e. ethylene, jasmonic acid, and salicylic acid. A comparison of time-resolved and genome-wide transcript profiles in MLACC-expressing transgenic plants with expression profiles induced during ETI and PTI by endogenous A. thaliana NLRs or PRRs revealed at early time points highly similar patterns. This suggests that early signalling mediated by MLACC, ETI, and PTI converges on a common transcriptional machinery that activates immune response genes, implying that the barley MLACC domain is sufficient to stimulate an ETI-like response in A. thaliana. This also suggests that activation of these immune response genes can occur independently of PTI. Most (> 74.7%) of the 562 genes that were significantly upregulated at 2 hpi in MLACC-expressing plants are immediate early response genes since their induction does not depend on de novo protein synthesis, suggesting that these genes are activated by the removal of short-lived repressors. In the 5' regulatory regions of the early induced genes, I found a striking enrichment of cis-acting motifs that serve as binding sites for Ca2+-responsive transcription factors, including the calmodulin-binding transcription activator 3 (CAMTA3) which is known to be rapidly degraded during ETI. This might explain complete inhibition of MLACC–mediated responses by the Ca2+ channel inhibitor LaCl3, which was previously also reported for several NLR-mediated and P/MAMP-triggered responses. Using chemical mutagenesis, I identified three candidate suppressor mutants of MLACC-mediated responses. Affinity purification of MLACC complexes and a yeast two-hybrid screen identified several MLACC candidate interacting proteins. Together this has revealed novel candidate components engaged in MLACC signalling.


One of the biggest challenges facing the Open University and other providers of distance education courses in Science is the provision of practical work for students. In Physics and Astronomy, subject benchmarks and professional bodies each stress the importance of such experience for students.

Work in the piCETL has explored the use of a number of approaches to teaching practical Physics and Astronomy that provide an alternative experience to a conventional laboratory- based curriculum. These approaches are more readily applicable to teaching students at a distance, on a global scale, and may broadly be divided into three categories:

1. remote operation of equipment
2. immersive 3D virtual environments
3. interactive screen experiments

All three types of experience will likely find a place in the planned Level 2 Advanced Scientific Investigations module which will be a compulsory component of the new BSc Natural Science qualification that is currently being developed by the OU Science Faculty. For many students, spending a few days or a week away from home to carry out practical work at a 'traditional' OU residential school is something they are not able, or not willing, to do. These remote, virtual, and on-line alternatives offer such students a far greater choice and enable access to be provided to groups of students who have previously been denied an experience of practical science. They also mean that, for the first time, OU practical science modules can be offered globally.


Recent commentators agree that tragedy as an art form has undergone an irrevocable transformation. Some critics date this change at around the first decade of our century, while others would have it begin as far back as the era of Racine. In any case, within a year or two of each other, during the early 1960's, George Steiner wrote eloquently of the "Death of Tragedy," Martin Esslin tellingly coined the term "Theatre of the Absurd/' and Lionel Abel contrasted older tragedy to "Metatheatre."! Later in the same decade, Walter Kaufmann took issue with portions of Steiner's argument and terminology, but nevertheless conceded the decline of tragedy, linking this decline to the sense of despair occasioned by the horrors of modern history. 2 Similarly, and in the same year, Geoffrey Brereton agreed that "all critics have experienced the same real difficulty in deciding what happened to dramatic tragedy in the present century. Merely to say that it died is unsatisfactory. No doubt it did die [however] as a single body. . . ."3 To sum up the views of the critics cited above (together with the opinion of many other observers), it would be just to say that while there existed a coherent notion of tragedy among the dramatic stages of fifth-century Athens, Elizabethan England, and seventeenth-century France, the contributions to tragedy by Goethe, Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekov and other writers since Racine are either problematic or transitional, and during the last seventy years it has been at best questionable and at worst mere nominalism to apply the epithet "tragic" to modern dramatic literature. The purpose of this essay is to suggest that the apparent disappearance of or disjunction in the notion of tragedy can be parsimoni-


Abstract This study investigates the risk inherent in defined contribution (DC) pension plans on an individual and aggregate basis, based on U.S. data. Our aim is to gain insight into the consequences of a DC pension scheme becoming the predominant pillar of retirement income for an entire society. Using the stochastic simulated output of a DC flexible age-of-retirement model, we first determine the optimal investment strategies. We then examine the demographic retirement dynamics of an entire population of DC pension plan participants. We observe that even for the most risk-averse plan members there is a high level of uncertainty in an individual's age at retirement. At the aggregate population level, we find that this uncertainty does not get dampened to any great extent by a diversification effect. Instead, the central role played by the market in determining retirement dates results in significant variation in the dependency ratio (the ratio of retirees to workers) over time. In addition, an attempt to ameliorate the outcome by introducing additional realistic features in the DC population modeling did little to dampen this volatility, which suggests that countries dominated by DC schemes of this type may, over time, be exposed to significant risk in the size of its labor force.


The Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS) is an X-linked disorder characterized by thrombocytopenia, eczema, disorders in cell-mediated and humoral immunity, and a proclivity to lymphoproliferative disease. The gene responsible encodes a 53-kD proline-rich protein of unknown function (WASP). We produced a FLAG-WASP fusion protein that was used to immunize mice and produce mAbs against WASP. Using monoclonal anti-WASP in Western immunoblots, we have determined that WASP is present in the cytoplasmic but not nuclear fraction of normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cells, in normal human platelets, in T lymphocytes, non-T lymphocytes, and monocytes. The protein is produced in the B cell immunoblastic cell line DS-1, in normal EBV-transformed B cell lines, and in HEL92.1.7, but is barely detectable in MOLT-4 and not detectable in K562. WASP was present in two of four EBV-transformed cell lines from WAS patients. Splenic tissue immunostaining was performed in two patients, and the results correlated with the results of the Western blots. Sequence analysis of WASP cDNA from two patients who produce WASP show mutations causing amino acid substitutions. These studies establish a foundation for further studies aimed at understanding the function of WASP.


Mammals play an important ecological role and are related to several ecological processes. The objective of the study was to list medium and large-sized mammals species which occur in the municipality of Pirajuí, SP. The study was carried out in an urban area, roads that run through rural areas and in small fragments of Atlantic Forest. The data were obtained during a period of three years by different methods: direct observation, footprints records and by camera traps. We recorded 18 medium and large-sized mammals species belonging to 13 families and eight orders, representing 40% of medium and large-sized mammals species that occur in the State of São Paulo. Carnivora was the order with the highest number of representatives, with seven species. Thereby, the study provides important data about the occurrence of certain species of mammals in these often-neglected environments, where the lack of knowledge may lead to a future local extinctions.