This paper provides an investigation of the post-entry selection among newly founded firms either via voluntary liquidation or via forced bankruptcy liquidation for the period since the unification of East and West Germany in 1990. The exit decision of newly founded firms is discussed in the context of the self-selection mechanism among entrepreneurs and the coexistent external selection mechanism implemented by the insolvency law. The estimation of semi-parametric competing risk models is based on panel data samples for the period from 1990 to 1997, which were drawn from a credit rating database. The samples cover together about 20,000 firm foundations between 1990 and 1994 in all East and West German regions and in all industries in the manufacturing, construction, trade and service sectors. The type-specific baseline hazard function estimates indicate that selection via bankruptcy liquidation starts as the first wave of voluntary liquidations already tapers off. Selection among firms founded during the period of economic transition in East Germany is delayed compared to the selection in West Germany. Further empirical results support the claimed relevance of owner-specific liquidation thresholds in addition to venture return-driven effects and the expected impacts of the German insolvency law on liquidation decisions.


Purpose: To assess the anatomical success rate after three-port lens-sparing vitrectomy (LSV) in stage 5 (total) retinal detachments secondary to retinopathy of prematurity. Methods: In a retrospective, interventional, single-surgeon, consecutive case series, the records of 33 eyes of 21 patients presenting with stage 5 retinal detachment secondary to retinopathy of prematurity who underwent primary three-port LSV from February 1998 to January 2004 were evaluated. Twenty-one eyes (63.6%) had open anteriorly–open posteriorly and 12 (36.4%) had open anteriorly–narrow posteriorly in terms of anatomical configuration. The main outcome measure, retinal reattachment, was reviewed at final follow-up visits, which ranged from 6 months to 48 months (mean, 32 months) after LSV. Results: Fifteen eyes (45.5%) maintained attachment and 18 eyes (54.5%) remained detached at the final visit. Open anteriorly–open posteriorly configuration eyes had a statistically significant higher anatomical success rate than eyes with an open anteriorly–narrow posteriorly configuration (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Three-port LSV may achieve anatomical success in stage 5 retinopathy of prematurity–related detachments. The open anteriorly–open posteriorly configuration portends a better prognosis; thus, surgery should be performed before closure of the posterior retina into a funnel configuration, if possible.


Creating a motion design workshop designed for casual After Effects users who are looking to expand their mindset as well as skillset. Something I've noticed as a long time After Effects user is that although AE is a commonly available and often an entry point for students into animation; many people do not utilize as a medium for artistic expression. It's often used only as a tool to piece together elements for a predetermined project. Simply put, because most often AE is only used for very basic functions; many creative people miss out on the opportunity it offers for experimentation. Artistic exploration is standard practice when creating work in the fine arts. However, coming from the background of a college-educated digital artist; it's been my experience that there is not as much emphasis on play as there is on skill learning. Digital artists tend to be pushed more towards a commercial focus earlier in their careers and many miss out on this time to play.


In recent years, protein–protein interactions are becoming the object of increasing attention in many different fields, such as structural biology, molecular biology, systems biology, and drug discovery. From a structural biology perspective, it would be desirable to integrate current efforts into the structural proteomics programs. Given that experimental determination of many protein–protein complex structures is highly challenging, and in the context of current high-performance computational capabilities, different computer tools are being developed to help in this task. Among them, computational docking aims to predict the structure of a protein–protein complex starting from the atomic coordinates of its individual components, and in recent years, a growing number of docking approaches are being reported with increased predictive capabilities. The improvement of speed and accuracy of these docking methods, together with the modeling of the interaction networks that regulate the most critical processes in a living organism, will be essential for computational proteomics. The ultimate goal is the rational design of drugs capable of specifically inhibiting or modifying protein–protein interactions of therapeutic significance. While rational design of protein–protein interaction inhibitors is at its very early stage, the first results are promising.


The study of syntactic change has been much neglected in the past. Historical linguists have tended to concentrate on phonology, lexis and morphology whilst most theoretical studies of syntax have been deliberately synchronic in intention. In particular, theories of generative grammar have not been responsive to diachronic data and a fortiori have not yielded a convincing account of language change or of the interrelationships between different kinds of change. This study will be of interest to a wide range of linguists. It offers one of the first systematic accounts of a difficult and important topic, with implications for the whole field of linguistics and language study.


Gases typically display large flow mobilities in porous media relative to oil or water, thereby impairing their effectiveness as displacing fluids. Foamed gas, though, is a promising agent for achieving mobility control in porous media. Because reservoir-scale simulation is a vital component of the engineering and economic evaluation of any enhanced oil recovery (EOR) or aquifer remediation project, efficient application of foam as a displacement fluid requires a predictive numerical model. Unfortunately, no such model is currently available for foam injection in the field where flow is multidimensional and the porous medium is heterogeneous. We have incorporated a conservation equation for the number density of foam bubbles into a fully implicit, three-dimensional, compositional, and thermal reservoir simulator and created a fully functional, mechanistic foam simulator. Because foam mobility is a strong function of bubble texture, the bubble population balance is necessary to make accurate predictions of foamflow behavior. Foam generation and destruction are included through rate expressions that depend on saturations and surfactant concentration. Gas relative permeability and effective viscosity are modified according to the texture of foam bubbles. In this paper, we explore foam flow in radial, layered, and heterogeneous porous media. Simulations in radial geometries indicate that foam can be formed deep within rock formations, but that the rate of propagation is slow. Foam proves effective in controlling gas mobility in layered porous media. Significant flow diversion and sweep improvement by foam are predicted, regardless of whether the layers are communicating or isolated.


Learning to automatically perceive smell is becoming increasingly important with applications in monitoring the quality of food and drinks for healthy living. In todays age of proliferation of internet of things devices, the deployment of electronic nose otherwise known as smell sensors is on the increase for a variety of olfaction applications with the aid of machine learning models. These models are trained to classify food and drink quality into several categories depending on the granularity of interest. However, models trained to smell in one domain rarely perform adequately when used in another domain. In this work, we consider a problem where only few samples are available in the target domain and we are faced with the task of leveraging knowledge from another domain with relatively abundant data to make reliable inference in the target domain. We propose a weakly supervised domain adaptation framework where we demonstrate that by building multiple models in a mixture of supervised and unsupervised framework, we can generalise effectively from one domain to another. We evaluate our approach on several datasets of beef cuts and quality collected across different conditions and environments. We empirically show via several experiments that our approach perform competitively compared to a variety of baselines.


Sea trout face growth-mortality trade-offs when entering the sea to feed. Salmon lice epizootics resulting from aquaculture have shifted these trade-offs, as salmon lice might both increase mortality and reduce growth of sea trout. We studied mortality and behavioural adaptations of wild sea trout in a large-scale experiment with acoustic telemetry in an aquaculture intensive area that was fallowed (emptied of fish) synchronically biannually, creating large variations in salmon lice concentrations. We tagged 310 wild sea trout during 3 years, and gave half of the individuals a prophylaxis against further salmon lice infestation. There was no difference in survival among years or between treatments. In years of high infestation pressure, however, sea trout remained closer to the river outlet, used freshwater (FW) habitats for longer periods and returned earlier to the river than in the low infestation year. This indicates that sea trout adapt their migratory behaviour by actively choosing FW refuges from salmon lice to escape from immediate mortality risk. Nevertheless, simulations show that these adaptations can lead to lost growth opportunities. Reduced growth can increase long-term mortality of sea trout due to prolonged exposure to size-dependent predation risk, lead to lower fecundity and, ultimately, reduce the likelihood of sea migration.


Abstract. In this paper, we describe the inversion algorithm for retrievals of high vertical resolution temperature profiles using bi-chromatic stellar scintillation measurements in the occultation geometry. This retrieval algorithm has been improved with respect to nominal ESA processing and applied to the measurements by Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars (GOMOS) operated on board Envisat in 2002–2012. The retrieval method exploits the chromatic refraction in the Earth's atmosphere. The bi-chromatic scintillations allow the determination of the refractive angle, which is proportional to the time delay between the photometer signals. The paper discusses the basic principle and detailed inversion algorithm for reconstruction of high resolution density, pressure and temperature profiles (HRTP) in the stratosphere from scintillation measurements. The HRTP profiles are retrieved with very good vertical resolution of ~200 m and high accuracy of ~1–3 K for altitudes of 15–32 km and with a global coverage. The best accuracy is achieved in in-orbital-plane occultations, and the accuracy weakly depends on star brightness. The whole GOMOS dataset has been processed with the improved HRTP inversion algorithm using the FMI's Scientific Processor; and the dataset (HRTP FSP v1) is in open access. The validation of small-scale fluctuations in the retrieved HRTP profiles is performed via comparison of vertical wavenumber spectra of temperature fluctuations in HRTP and in collocated radiosonde data. We found that the spectral features of temperature fluctuations are very similar in HRTP and collocated radiosonde temperature profiles. HRTP can be assimilated into atmospheric models, used in studies of stratospheric clouds and in analysis of internal gravity waves activity. As an example of geophysical applications, gravity wave potential energy has been estimated using the HRTP dataset. The obtained spatio-temporal distributions of gravity wave energy are in good agreement with the previous analyses using other measurements.


Background and Objectives: Sleep is a circadian, adaptive rhythm of inactivity. Alternations in sleep duration are due to irregular cycling or absent of sleep stages and circadian rhythms. The impact of sleep duration and sleep quality on health is widely recognized. It is important to assess and analyse the factors altering sleep duration in patients by conducting a clinical interview for evaluating the sleep quality. Methods: The study was conducted in all the departments except paediatric department of secondary referral hospital with sample size of 350 patients. The data collected from the patients through data collection form. Here SPSS/ANOVA statistics were used for data analysis and interpretation. Conclusion: From the obtained results, more than 92% of patients are suffering with sleep alteration that to more common reversible factors are altering sleep. Hence more awareness is required about sleep and sleep duration during different clinical conditions of patients as well as in normal persons. Sleep awareness can be provided by patient counselling to the patients during hospital stay to increase their quality of life. Key words: Assess, Elements, Sleep duration, Patients.


The efficiency of the extraction and removal of pollutants from food and the environment has been an important issue in analytical science. By incorporating inorganic species into an organic matrix, a new material known as an organic-inorganic hybrid material is formed. As it possesses high selectivity, permeability, and mechanical and chemical stabilities, organic-inorganic hybrid materials constitute an emerging research field and have become popular to serve as sorbents in various separaton science methods. Here, we review recent significant advances in analytical solid-phase extraction employing organic-inorganic composite/nanocomposite sorbents for the extraction of organic and inorganic pollutants from various types of food and environmental matrices. The physicochemical characteristics, extraction properties, and analytical performances of sorbents are discussed; including morphology and surface characteristics, types of functional groups, interaction mechanism, selectivity and sensitivity, accuracy, and regeneration abilities. Organic-inorganic hybrid sorbents combined with extraction techniques are highly promising for sample preparation of various food and environmental matrixes with analytes at trace levels.


1,2 Abstract: Safety critical systems are those systems whose failure could result in loss of life, significant properity damage, or damage to the environment. In cars we have common Braking System. The braking system like mechanical and hydraulic braking systems. The replacement of traditional mechanical and hydraulic control systems with electronic control devices or electronic components. The electronic braking system is known has Brake-By-Wire system. Brake-by-wire (BBW) technology in automotive industry is the ability to control brakes through electrical means. The increasing usage of brake-by-wire system in the automotive industry has provided manufacturers with the opportunity to improve both vehicle and manufacturing efficiency. In developing safety Brake-By-System for the automotive industry, potential hazard analysis techniques have to be applied to identify potential failure modes. The commonly used safety analysis techniques are FMEA (Failure Mode Effect Analysis) and FTA (Fault Tree Analysis). The basic design constraint for this application is we are considering the speed of the vehicle, frontal distance of the car and Brake pressure as an input to the application. Considering all these inputs we are calculating the Minimum Brake pressure car. The pressure value convert to electrical signal by VCU, It can transfer to Brake Control Unit(BCU). The Brake Control Unit perform to applied particular pressure to each Wheel that time the vehicle can stop. If the pressure value crosses the Within range value then the System is give a alert message. The purpose of this paper is to discuss Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) based safety- critical approach towards to development of Brake-By-Wire system from a safety perspective. At the same time the safety critical Brake-By-Wire system is simulated in MATLAB to provide safety to the system with Transmission


This paper frames the conceptual workspace and development documentation of the art project titled Accumulated-MemoryLandscapes (AML). This project is an inquiry on how technology can mediate and enhance human memory by expanding the possibilities of interaction, experiencing and sharing of this. AML appropriates the 3 main steps involved in human memory (Encoding → Storage → Retrieval) and traces parallels between the biological human process and the technological devices and algorithms used for capturing, storing and recalling data. Using a portable wireless electroencephalogram (EEG) and a smart phone, we have built a wearable system able to measure attention levels in any given time. The device records significant moments of the wearer, in the form of image sequences and audio clips, which are then sent, in real-time, to a server that algorithmically processes them. The result is an immersive 3D procedural landscape built from these memories; a space where the wearer and any other individual can experience and share these accumulated memories in more abstract and spacial ways.


OBJECTIVE
To study the prevalence of partner violence, and to identify the associated risk factors in a sample of female workers of IMSS (Mexican Social Security Institute), Morelos State.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Cross-sectional data from 1 173 women participating in the cohort study of IMSS workers are utilized to study these associations. The study provides information on frequency of psychological, physical or sexual violence and perception of severity during the 12 months prior to the time of data collection. It was carried out in Morelos between October 1998 and March 2000. Polytomous logistic regression models were used to obtain odds ratios for different degrees of partner violence.

RESULTS
A high prevalence of partner violence is observed in the sample. Main factors associated with higher severity of violence are state of the relationship and alcohol intake, emotional status of the couple at home, work burden of the woman, and a history of violence in childhood.

CONCLUSIONS
All these factors are potentially modifiable through interventions aimed at stress reduction. These results should be considered when developing preventive programs against partner violence in Mexico.


Finally I would like to thank my wife, my parents, my brother and my sister for their constant love, support and encouragement. I especially wish to thank my wife for her understanding and caring. It is very challenging to build precise analog circuits in deep sub-micron and nanometer VLSI fabrication technology. Advanced calibration methods are crucial in designing high performance analog and mixed-signal VLSI circuits. We present a non-binary capacitor array calibration method for a high performance successive approximation analog-to-digital converter (ADC). We show that the capacitor weights are successively refinable under the Markov condition using the rate-distortion theory. Using the analogy to discrete mem-oryless channel with interference known to the encoder, we show that the interference will not limit the final calibration accuracy if the calibration algorithm adapts to the interference. The capacitor array calibration algorithm is based on a perceptron learning rule, originally developed for Artificial Intelligence applications. It takes advantage of the redundancy in the non-binary capacitor array and the noise in the system to generate the learning cases. vii We propose a mixed-signal micro-controller architecture to efficiently implement the capacitor array calibration algorithm. A non-binary capacitor array with 20 capacitors is used to design a 16-bit successive approximation ADC. We discuss the design and trade-off of each circuit block in the ADC. We model the thermal noise, flicker noise, power supply interference, charge leakage and harmonic distortion in MATLAB. The calibration is robust under the influence of these nonidealities. The capacitor weights are adaptively calibrated to match the physical capacitors with up to 22-bit accuracy. Capac-itor matching is not a limiting factor to the accuracy. The calibration time is about 50 ms. The calibration algorithm can also be used in other mixed-signal circuits to relax the requirement on analog circuits.


OBJECTIVE
Specific guidelines, ongoing controversies in technique and audit reviews have made clinicians wary about continuing in electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). This paper attempts to reassure practitioners by incorporating such changes into a simple approach to ECT based on outcomes equivalence.

METHOD
A selected compilation of the recent literature was used to describe a model for starting and/or continuing an effective ECT service.

RESULTS
It was suggested that a useful way of approaching ECT service delivery is to focus on what is actually important, getting patients better, and to do so within the context and capability of each hospital.

CONCLUSIONS
ECT is a changing field. Remaining true to the core principles of clinical practice, patient selection and technique, provides a basis for beginning, continuing and further developing an effective ECT service.


Chronic immune activation driven by microbial translocation from a damaged gut plays a fundamental role in HIV-1 progression. However, the exact link between a leaky gut and immune activation remains to be established. A growing body of evidence suggests that high mobility group box protein-1 (HMGB1) may be involved in this process. HMGB1 is a DNA binding protein present in every nucleated cell, which might be actively secreted to the extracellular milieu by activated cells or passively released from damaged or dying cells. The biological effect depends on its ability to form complexes: HMGB1 alone signals through the receptor of advanced glycosylated end products (RAGE) and promotes regeneration and repair, whereas HMGB1 in complex with bacterial products signal via toll like receptors (TLRs) and promotes immune activation. Plasma levels of HMGB1 are elevated in HIV-1 infected patients and reduced by antiretroviral therapy. The protein might be released from necrotic and apoptotic HIV-1 infected cells. HMGB1 may stimulate or inhibit HIV-1 replication in vitro, depending on the stage of infection, type of cell and purity of the protein: The protein has been suggested to reduce viral replication by interfering with viral entry in acute infection and to increase viral replication in latently infected cells. Finally, HMGB1 in combination with microbial products/TLR ligands seems to be associated with increased viral replication in vitro and in vivo.


The paper deals with the discussion how nominal spur tooth root stress of thin-rimmed gear determined in accordance with the standard ISO 6336-3:2006, method B, agrees with the results of the 3D FEM stress analysis. The procedure proposed by standard ISO for the tooth root stress calculation doesn't identify the stress behaviour related to mutual affects of characteristic thin-rimmed gear geometrical parameters. Therefore, the 3D FEM analysis of tooth root stress has been performed for gear structures with middle and offset web with various rim and web thickness. The rim thickness has covered and slightly overcome the backup ratio defined by ISO procedure, while the web thickness has covered the range of practical interest.


Melioidosis is an underreported human disease caused by the Gram-negative intracellular pathogen Burkholderia pseudomallei (Bpm). Both the treatment and the clearance of the pathogen are challenging, with high relapse rates leading to latent infections. ABSTRACT Melioidosis is an underreported human disease caused by the Gram-negative intracellular pathogen Burkholderia pseudomallei (Bpm). Both the treatment and the clearance of the pathogen are challenging, with high relapse rates leading to latent infections. This has been linked to the bacterial persistence phenomenon, a growth arrest strategy that allows bacteria to survive under stressful conditions, as in the case of antibiotic treatment, within a susceptible clonal population. At a molecular level, this phenomenon has been associated with the presence of toxin–antitoxin (TA) systems. We annotated the Bpm K96243 genome and selected 11 pairs of genes encoding for these TA systems, and their expression was evaluated under different conditions (supralethal antibiotic conditions; intracellular survival bacteria). The predicted HigB toxin (BPSL3343) and its predicted antitoxin HigA (BPS_RS18025) were further studied using mutant construction. The phenotypes of two mutants (ΔhigB and ΔhigB ΔhigA) were evaluated under different conditions compared to the wild-type (WT) strain. The ΔhigB toxin mutant showed a defect in intracellular survival on macrophages, a phenotype that was eliminated after levofloxacin treatment. We found that the absence of the toxin provides an advantage over the WT strain, in both in vitro and in vivo models, during persister conditions induced by levofloxacin. The lack of the antitoxin also resulted in differential responses to the conditions evaluated, and under some conditions, it restored the WT phenotype, overall suggesting that both toxin and antitoxin components play a role in the persister-induced phenotype in Bpm.


The research considers an unusual situation in data recovery. Data recovery is the process of recovering data from recording media that is not accessible by normal means. Providing that the data has not been overwritten or the recording medium physically damaged, this is usually a relatively simple process of either repairing the file system so that the file(s) may be accessed as usual or finding the data on the medium and copying it directly from the medium into normal file(s). The data in this recovery situation is recorded by specialist call centre recording equipment and is stored on the recording medium in a proprietary format whereby simultaneous conversations are multiplexed together and can only be accessed by using associated metadata records. The value of the recorded data may be very high especially in the financial sector where it may be considered a legal audit of business transactions. When a failure occurs and data needs to be recovered, both the data and metadata information must be recreated before a single call can be replayed. A key component to accessing this information is the location metadata that identifies the location of the required components on the medium. If the metadata is corrupted, incomplete or wrong then a repair cannot proceed until it is corrected. This research focuses on the problem of verifying this location metadata. Initially it was believed that only a small set of errors would exist and work centred on detecting these errors by presenting the information to engineers in an at-a-glance image. When the extent of the possible errors was realised, an attempt was made to deduce location metadata by exploring the content of the recorded medium. Although successful in one instance, the process was not able to distinguish between current and previous uses. Eventually insights gained from exploration of the recording application's source code, permitted an intelligent trial and error process which deduced the underlying medium apportioning formula. It was then possible to incorporate this formula into the heuristics, generating the at-a-glance image, to create an artefact that could verify the location metadata for any given repair. After discovering the formula, the research returned to the media exploration and the produced disk fingerprinting technique. The disk fingerprinting technique gave valuable insights into error states in call centre recording and provided a new way of seeing the contents of a hard drive. J Sue Ashworth Page 3 of 174 A Complex Situation in Data Recovery This research provided the following contributions: 1. It has provided a means by which the recording systems' location metadata can be verified and repaired. 2. As a result of this verification, greater automation of the recovery process is now possible before the need for human verification is required. 3. The disk fingerprinting process. This has already given insights into the recording system's problems and is able to provide a new way of seeing the contents of recording media. J Sue Ashworth Page 4 of 174 A Complex Situation in Data Recovery Table of


This paper reviews a study that evaluated the health and services available to adolescents within Oregon's adult correctional system. Information was obtained by reviewing the adolescents' institutional records, surveying correctional staff, and completing a history and physical. All 15 youth who were eligible consented to the study; 80% were white, 13% black, and 7% Hispanic. Upon enrollment, the youth had served an average of 230 days, of which approximately 47% were spent in a segregated unit with limited access to educational, recreational, and religious services. Seventy-seven percent reported chronic health conditions, 87% mental health disorders, 77% alcohol and substance abuse, and 33% prior suicide attempts. The youth reported responsibility for 13 pregnancies and six children. While these youth are at high risk for STDs, no specific policies or procedures for screening for common infections were in place. In addition, immunization practices were not consistent with national standards. The results of this study showed that adolescents assigned to an adult prison facility have significant health and educational needs that require developmentally appropriate services.


Is it possible to identify and even forecast well in advance (6-12 months) the relative stability of a state to enable policy makers to successfully intervene? How does one acquire that understanding? One technique is to model and understand the social factors, which summarize the background conditions, attributes and performance factors of the country over time. The purpose of this paper is to: (1) present a generalized data-driven framework for conflict analysis and forecasting, (2) show that state-of-the-art pattern classification techniques provide significant improvements to forecasting accuracy, and (3) introduce classification problems arising in social sciences to the engineering community for further enhancement of analysis techniques. We evaluate the efficacy of our data-driven framework on macro-structural factors as relevant contributors to country instability, delineating the independent and dependent variables. The results demonstrate significant improvement over previous approaches in classification metrics of accuracy, precision, and recall.


Magnetic properties, electron paramagnetic and ferromagnetic resonance were studied in the vicinity and above ferromagnetic-paramagnetic (FM-PM) phase transition of the La0.9Sr0.1MnO3 crystal. It appears that complex chemical/structural disorder inherent to manganites influences strongly on both magnetic and resonance properties of this crystal. In particular, it changes the nature of a FM–PM transition to the first- or mixed-order one and induces FM clustering in their PM state. The latter effect results in coexistence of resonance signals, and non-linearity of the PM inverse magnetic susceptibility versus temperature. This model seems to be much more realistic for description of the PM state in La0.9Sr0.1MnO3 than an idealized Griffiths phase approach.


The importance of rice is increasing in peoples' diets in Benin, but access of locally-produced rice to domestic and foreign markets remains limited due to low quality products and unreliable supply chains. Contract farming for rice processing and exportation promises to ensure secure market access, and lift paddy farmers up from poverty.  This study aimed to identify the determinants and assess the impact of participation to the "Business Services for Farmers' Organizations" (ESOP) contract farming model on producers' well-being.  Sixty paddy producers (30 participants and 30 non-participants), were randomly selected and interviewed in three villages of Dangbo district in Southern Benin. A logistic regression model and the Average Treatment Effect (ATE) method were utilized to elicit the determinants and assess the impact. Size of household, paddy producer price, producer's experience, yield of paddy and access to credit appeared to be the main determinants of producers' participation in the ESOP model, leading to a significant (at 5% level) increase in annual net income and food consumption score, respectively by 42.51 and 24.35%. Therefore, the ESOP model had a significant positive impact on producers' well-being. Therefore, not ignoring some observed competition shortfalls, we recommend a large-scale dissemination of the model, with dedicated attention to paddy producer price, technology, training and credit support as critical levers for policy intervention. Businessmen should be trained to provide key marketing services that enhance contract farming in a competition environment, and advocacy should be undertaken towards the government and credit agencies for the required support to farmers.

 Key words: Impact, contract farming, ESOP model, net income, food security, paddy rice.


Background: The use of lytic bacteriophages for the biocontrol of food borne pathogens is gaining interest. In recent years it has become widely recognized that bacteriophages have several potential applications in the food industry as a biocontrol agent. Seafood industry is still using chemicals to control the food borne bacterial pathogens which may adversely affect consumer health. Hence this study has been under taken to control food borne Salmonella infections in peeled and deveined (PD) shrimp using bacteriophage.
Methods: Salmonella phage was isolated from raw sewage sample by using Salmonella typhimurium (MTCC 1264) as the host bacterium. The host range specificity of Salmonella specific bacteriophage isolated in the current study was checked using different bacterial strains by spotting technique. The efficacy of the isolated Salmonella phage as a biocontrol agent against Salmonella was checked by conducting challenge experiments in PD shrimp by collecting samples from all the controls and treatments at four time intervals viz.0th, 3rd, 6th, 9th h.
Findings: The results showed that the log reduction between the positive and treatment trials at 0th and 3rd hour interval as 0.24 and 0.95 log unit respectively (p>0.05). But from 6th hour onwards the host bacterial count showed high reduction in Salmonella count when compared to 0th and 3rd hour (p<0.05). At the 6th hour, the Salmonella count obtained for the positive control was 3.08×103 cfu/ml and for the treatment, the bacterial count was 1.4 × 101. The log reduction in host bacterial count between the positive and treatment at 6th hour was 2.34 whereas at 9th hour the log reduction was 2. 51 log unit (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Hence the study shows the potential effectiveness of this isolated Salmonella phage as a biocontrol agent of Salmonella typhimurium in PD shrimp.


Summary
Climate change is predicted to intensify the impacts of invasive species by enhancing their performance relative to their native counterparts. However, few studies have compared the performance of invasive predators and native prey, despite the fact that non-native predators are well known to disrupt native communities.
The 'trophic sensitivity hypothesis' suggests that predators are less tolerant of increasing environmental stress than their prey, whereas the 'tolerant invaders hypothesis' suggests that invaders are more tolerant than native species due to selection during the introduction process. It is therefore unclear how invasive predators will respond to increasing climate stressors.
We coupled physiological measurements (thermal tolerance, thermal optima, salinity tolerance, predation rate) with environmental time-series data to assess the effects of warming and extreme low salinity events on non-native predators (gastropods) and native prey (oysters) from a coastal ecosystem.
In general support of the trophic sensitivity hypothesis, we found that both non-native predators exhibited lower thermal optima relative to native prey, lower salinity tolerance and one predator was less tolerant of warming. However, because warming tolerance was extremely high (i.e. habitat temperature is 7·9–21 °C below thermal tolerance), near-term warming may first increase predator performance (consumption and growth rates), with negative effects on prey. Low salinity will likely produce heterogeneous effects on predator–prey interactions due to varying watershed sizes among estuaries that control the duration of low salinity events.
The trophic sensitivity hypothesis may be a useful framework for understanding community responses to extreme climate change, which portends a decoupling of predator–prey interactions. However, we conclude that this hypothesis must be evaluated in environmental context and that coupling physiological metrics with in situ environmental data offers the best predictive power of near-term climate change impacts on invaded communities. Within our study system, warming is likely to intensify the impacts of both invasive predators, which may greatly reduce the abundance of the native oyster, a species of conservation and restoration focus.


type="main"> The last decade of the twentieth century was heralded as the 'end of agrarian reform' in Mexico and the initiation of a new era of market-led agricultural policy and practice. The impact of neoliberalism and the North American Free Trade Agreement on smallholder maize production has been widely conceived as negative, associated with ecological degradation, rural emigration and cultural erosion. Yet, some twenty years later, all evidence suggests that smallholder maize production is continuing in Mexico, albeit in evolving structures and forms. This article uses a farm-level survey implemented in three Mexican states to assess the current condition of maize farming in Mexico. The authors revisit past categorizations of Mexican farmers and apply similar approaches to explore what maize-producing households are doing with their maize, and what current patterns of production imply for future Mexican maize policy. They find evidence of greater persistence and adaptability in Mexican maize farming than is often presented. On the basis of their analysis, they advocate for a reconsideration of the underlying assumptions of public policy, highlighting the heterogeneity of the maize landscape and the unrealized and generally unrecognized potential this heterogeneity represents.


This publication presents the findings of one of six topics covered by the Tai Baan research in the Lower Songkhram River Basin. The research was conducted by 240 people from four villages in the area between May 2003 and April 2005, and demonstrates the depth of knowledge held by the local people. The findings cover different fish species, and include ecological knowledge about the fish, assessments of the present status of each species, and certain economic indicators showing the importance of fisheries for local livelihoods. The research also addressed ecosystems, fishing gear, flooded forest vegetation, floodplain agriculture and raising large livestock.


Recent studies on proton conductivity using pristine MOFs and their composite materials have established an outstanding area of research owing to their potential applications for the development of high performance solid state proton conductors (SSPCs) and proton exchange membranes (PEMs) in fuel cells (FCs). MOFs, as crystalline organic and inorganic hybrid materials, provide a large number of degrees of freedom in their framework composition, coordination environment, and chemically functionalized pores for the targeted design of improved proton carriers, functioning over a wide range of temperature and humidity conditions. Herein, our efforts have been emphasized on fundamental principles and different design strategies to achieve enhanced proton conductivity with appropriate examples. We also have discussed the modification mechanism of MOF-composite materials and mixed matrix membranes for commercial applications in FCs. Thus, this review aims to direct readers' attention towards the design strategies and structure-property relationship for proton transport in MOFs.


At the present time, there are no satisfactory computer-aided solution schemes for solving the infinite point coupler curve synthesis problem (i.e., the problem of synthesizing a four-bar linkage whose coupler curve best approximates a fully specified closed trajectory). In order to develop a programmable solution process for this class of problems, it is necessary to devise a way of storing a catalog of coupler curves in a computer database. In addition, comparison procedures must be developed for detecting geometric similarities between curves; these procedures must be capable of observing similarities in the shapes of curves which may be scaled or oriented differently. In this paper, a data representation scheme based on uniform periodic B-splines is proposed as a viable means of storing coupler curves in a database. Automated procedures for fitting B-splines to coupler cures or other closed curves are also developed. The paper also presents a set of algorithms for comparing the shapes ofcurves based on the control polygons of their B-spline approximations. These algorithms are implemented in a computer program that is an effective tool for semi-automated computer-aided solution of the infinite point coupler curve synthesis problem. Example problems solved using this program are discussed, along with some suggestions for further work on this topic


Depression, anxiety and cognitive dysfunction are common complaints in men with prostate cancer (PCa) receiving androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Consequently, the quality of life (QoL) of these men is often compromised. The positive impact of physical activity (PA) interventions on psychosocial wellbeing in men with PCa has been demonstrated in several studies. Therefore, the overarching objectives of the present study were: to describe the PA behaviour of patients with PCa; to evaluate the effects of ADT on depression, anxiety, cognitive function and QoL in men with PCa; and to examine the relationship between meeting the National Physical Activity Guidelines of Australia (NPAGA) and the presence and severity of physical and psychological side effects of ADT. A cross-sectional study was conducted during 2010 and 2011, with data collected from 377 men with PCa (mean age = 67.6 years). The measures used were the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ); the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS); the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy – Prostate (FACT-P); the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy – Cognitive (FACT-Cog); and socio-demographic items. Inclusion criteria were men aged 40 to 80 years, English speaking who had undergone radiotherapy (RT) between 9 and 30 months prior to the survey. Participants were categorised into four groups based on the treatment they had received at the time of survey completion. These were RT only (n = 174); RT + 6 months ADT (n = 100); RT + 2.5 years ADT (n = 77); and RT + ADT indefinitely (n = 26). Less than half of participants were meeting NPAGA (41.9%) and men treated with ADT were significantly less active in comparison to those treated with RT only. Logistic regression analyses indicated that the likelihood of meeting NPAGA significantly decreased with increases in depressive symptoms and lower levels of education. ADT use was associated with poorer QoL, depression, anxiety and cognitive dysfunction compared to those receiving RT only and long-term ADT use appeared to exacerbate these outcomes. Those meeting NPAGA had significantly lower levels of depression and anxiety and improved QoL compared to those not meeting NPAGA. Logistic regression analysis results revealed the odds of clinically significant depression and anxiety scores, increased with younger age and comorbid conditions. Not meeting NPAGA increased the likelihood of caseness for depression. Multiple regression analysis results revealed that comorbid conditions and treatment category predicted poorer QoL, while meeting NPAGA positively predicted QoL. Multiple regression analysis results indicated that depression was the strongest predictor of cognitive impairment. Anxiety, QoL, age, comorbid conditions, PA and treatment centre were also predictors of poor cognitive function. The use of ADT in the management of men with PCa has a measurable effect on depression and anxiety symptoms, cognitive function and QoL. These findings support the utility of PA in rehabilitation programs for patients with PCa and indicate that meeting NPAGA may improve QoL and psychosocial wellbeing in this population.


Tropical coral reefs are among the most diverse ecosystems of the world but facing increasing threats to their health. Over the last thirty years, many Caribbean coral reefs have undergone dramatic changes and experienced large losses in coral cover, due to direct and indirect anthropogenic disturbances. The results of which are reefs with low rugosity, changed trophic dynamics and low fish diversity. In recent times reefs have failed to recover from disturbances due to an increase in frequency and severity of disturbances and stresses. In the Caribbean on many coral reefs this has resulted in a shift towards macroalgal dominance by species of the phylum Phaeophyta. The processes and factors affecting the standing crop of macroalgae are many and complex. Two main hypotheses are identified in the literature as being the driving forces of algal dynamics: nutrient dynamics (availability, supply and uptake) and herbivory. However, many studies have been found to be inconclusive because of the complexity of the coral reef ecosystem, which makes it difficult if not impossible to control for all factors and processes influencing the standing crop of macroalgae such as light, water flow and sedimentation. The inherent characteristics of macroalgae, like morphology and life history, make them behave differently. Whilst herbivore characteristics, like size of mouth parts, feeding modes and preferences, will influence the amount of algal biomass removed. The spatial context (i.e. coral fore reef vs. back reef) will influence the effects of both bottom-up and top-down controls. Besides these inter-habitat differences, macroalgae within similar habitats but differing geographical locations may respond differently, for example, a forereef exposed to the open ocean or a forereef located in a sheltered bay. This thesis attempts to provide insight into the dynamics of two dominant brown macroalgae on Caribbean coral reefs, Dictyota spp. and Lobophora variegata. This aim was addressed by developing a model for the macroalga species Dictyota to model the various processes and factors on a coral forereef affecting percentage cover. Further, the patch dynamics of both Lobophora variegata and Dictyota were investigated to gain an insight into their dynamics under varying environmental conditions: the windward and leeward sides of an atoll. Finally, herbivory is identified as one of the key process affecting macroalgal cover. I investigated this process by deploying cages on both the windward and leeward side of the atoll to investigate the effects of grazing pressure under varying environmental conditions. A Bayesian Belief Network model was developed for Dictyota spp. to model the bottom-up and top-down processes on a coral forereef determining the percentage cover. The model was quantified using relationships identified in the scientific literature and from field data collected over a nine moth period in Belize. This is the first BBN model developed for brown macroalgae. The fully parameterized model identified areas of limited knowledge and because of its probabilistic nature it can explicitly communicate the uncertainties associated with the processes and interactions on standing crop. As such the model may be used as a framework for scientific research or monitoring programmes and it is expected that the model performance to predict macroalgal percentage cover will improve once new information becomes available. Size-based transition matrices were developed for both Dictyota spp. and Lobophora variegata to investigate the patch dynamics under varying environmental conditions: the windward and leeward sides of an atoll. The matrices reveal that standard measures of algal percent cover might provide a misleading insight into the underlying dynamics of the species. Modelling the patch dynamics with matrices provided insight into the temporal behaviour of macroalgae. This is an important process to understand because patch dynamics are determining competitive interactions with other coral reef benthic organisms. The outcome of competitive interactions will differ with macroalgal species. This study indicate that Dictyota spp. responded strongly to differing environmental conditions in that it has reduced growth rates and lower percent cover on the leeward side of the atoll, whilst Lobophora variegata showed far less sensitivity to environmental conditions. The patch dynamics of Dictyota spp. also showed a higher temporal variation than Lobophora variegata but only on the exposed forereef. A caging experiment was set up to investigate the response of both macroalgal species to different grazing pressure scenarios, under varying environmental conditions. Dictyota spp. had a significant response to environmental conditions in that a higher percentage cover was found on the exposed side of the atoll, whilst for Lobophora variegata the response was far less obvious. The less clear response of Lobophora variegata was very likely caused by competition of Dictyota with Lobophora due to the very high cover Dictyota obtained in the cages where all herbivores were excluded. The low grazing pressure treatments also showed an increase in cover of Dictyota, whilst for Lobophora, only a reduction in the rate of increase could be observed. The results indicate that on the leeward side of the atoll, fish grazing alone seems sufficient to control the standing crop of Dictyota and Lobophora variegata. Retrospective analysis of the experimental design showed that the limited size of the experimental set up could have confounded the results for Lobophora as well. In future experiments it is recommended to increase number replicates. Management of coral reef habitats is frequently constrained by a lack of funds and resources. The BBN Model once fully parameterized can provide a useful tool for coral reef management, because the model allows exploration of different reef scenario's, which in turn can aid in prioritizing management strategies. Furthermore, the thesis provided an insight into the complexities of macroalgal dynamics. The responses of macroalgae to physiological factors and ecological processes are species specific and dependent on the location, and caution against generalizing on what controls the standing crop of macroalgae. Therefore it is argued that future investigations into algal ecology should clearly define the species, habitat and location. This can help to make informed management decisions.


Swarm Intelligence is the meta-heuristic algorithm that is inspired by the natural behavior of some groups of animals (like dragonfly, ants, ducks, etc.) striving for their life existence. One of them is Dragonfly Algorithm. Dragonfly Algorithm has been used to solve real-world nonlinear problems in engineering. In this paper, we reviewed Dragonfly Algorithm implementation in 2020. We collected papers that related to Dragonfly Algorithm in 2020, then we discussed it based on the subtopic that we stated. From our observation, we got the insight that this algorithm was excellent to implement optimization in some networks or electricals problems. Mostly, to get the best result, Dragonfly Algorithm must be hybridized with the other algorithm.


The causes of insulin resistance were studied in rats at late terms of pregnancy. A decrease in the sensitivity to insulin dependent incorporation of glucose in total lipids and CO2 of isolated fatty tissue of pregnant rats was shown. The maximum tissue reaction to insulin (reactivity) did not lessen indicating together with hyperinsulinemia after a glucose tolerance test and a rise of the activity of blood serum insulin-like growth factors the absence of postreceptor defects. An increase in the pregnant rats blood levels of cholesterol, triglycerides and lipoprotein atherogenic fractions was revealed. The latter in physiological concentrations made an inhibitory effect on respiration of liver and thyroid sections of intact rats. Together with the action of hormones of the fetoplacental system it was considered as one of the mechanisms of development of insulin resistance at late terms of pregnancy.


The student's final project of Diploma in Interior Design reveals students knowledge on all aspects in interior design from basic principle of designs to the final presentation of the proposed project. This includes understanding on the criteria of the chosen site for the proposed project, as well as knowledge on identifying structures of the existing building, along with its mechanical and electrical systems, plumbing systems and existing materials. The chosen project for the final project is to proposed new interior design of Crazy Manga Store for Animation Technology Sdn. Bhd.at No. 5 and 6 Sunway Giza, Dataran Sunway PJU 5 Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan. The client, Animation Technology Sdn. Bhd. is expected to increase more specialty stores throughout Malaysia, including Sabah and Sarawak.Within their long-term planning, they are also planning to open a store that sells mainly comic books.Therefore, this comic store is proposed to attract younger customers, especially children and teenagers to come to the store and buy comic books..The main product for this store is mainly a Japanese comic books or better known as manga among Japanese comic lovers. Besides, there are also other products provided such as figurines, cards, magazines, DVD animation, DVD soundtrack and cosplay merchandise.The chosen concept and image not only fulfilled client's requirement, but also must reflect client's character and corporate image as well as to give a positive impact to the performance of workers inside the store so that it will inculcate workers to work even harder. Plus, the chosen design style for Crazy Manga Store is based on the chosen concept for the store. Before achieving a desired design that is going to be implemented inside the store, some analytical works need to be carried out such as collecting datas from client regarding to their nature of business. Certain information are gained through the interview with the client itself, observation and internet.


In this paper is presented development of the expert systems for threshold spectra analysis, starting from firstly developed expert system for atom threshold spectra analysis, up to the expert system for analysis more complex molecule threshold spectra (firstly two-atomic and then tree-atomic molecules). The goal of the expert systems application is to automate, speed up and improve process of spectra analysis. Interest for threshold spectra originates from the fact that, by studding them, it is possible obtained information about processes which happened on energies near reaction threshold. Also, in these spectra can be seen peaks that correspond to forbidden transitions and which can't be seen in the optical spectroscopy. For testing of the expert systems, we used the threshold spectra for the He atom, and N2 and SO2 molecules. All these spectra are obtained on threshold spectrometer in Institute of Physics in Zemun (Laboratory for Atomic Collision Processes).


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the measurement properties of the Upper Extremity Functional Status module of the Orthotics and Prosthetics User Survey (OPUS).

DESIGN
Methodological research on an outcome measure administered by clinical interview.

PATIENTS
A convenience sample of 61 adults who had unilateral upper limb amputations and completed rehabilitation at the Institute for Rehabilitation in Ljubljana, Slovenia, at least one year prior to interview. Thirty-four patients had undergone amputation of the dominant hand. Four patients did not use a prosthesis.

METHODS
Rating scale analysis (Rasch model) was used to evaluate functioning of the rating scale categories, the validity of the measure by examining fit of items to the latent trait, and the hierarchy of item difficulties compared with expectations of the construct.

RESULTS
Rasch analysis allowed us to improve the Upper Extremity Functional Status by rescoring to reduce the response categories from 5 to 4, and identifying 19 of 23 items that are useful to measure upper extremity function. The results allow us to have high confidence in the consistency of both person-ability and item-difficulty estimates.

CONCLUSION
This revised Upper Extremity Functional Status is a promising instrument to measure the degree of manual functioning after a unilateral upper limb amputation.


These studies were designed to evaluate the mechanism for the ADH-dependent increase in transcellular conductance (Gc, mS X cm-2), which accompanies hormone-dependent increases in the spontaneous transepithelial voltage (Ve, mV) and in the net rate of Cl- absorption in single medullary thick ascending limbs of Henle (mTALH) isolated from mouse kidney. The total transepithelial conductance (Ge, mS X cm-2) was measured with perfusing solutions containing 5 mM K+, zero Ba2+; Gc was that component of Ge blocked by luminal 20 mM Ba2+, zero K+. In paired experiments, antidiuretic hormone (ADH) increased Gc from 44.5 +/- 5.6 to 58.9 +/- 8.9 mS X cm-2 (delta = 14.3 +/- 5.5; P less than 0.02); however, in the presence of 10(-4) M luminal furosemide, ADH had no significant effect on Gc (delta = 5.0 +/- 4.3; NS). A set of similarly paired measurements together with paired observations on the effects of bath Cl- deletion, permitted an assessment of the effect of ADH on the magnitude of the fall in Gc on bath Cl- removal (delta GClc, mS X cm-2). delta GClc was clearly larger with ADH, 29.6 +/- 4.3, than without ADH, 19.2 +/- 1.0 (delta = 10.4 +/- 4.9; P less than 0.05). However, with luminal furosemide, ADH had no significant effect on delta GClc (delta = 1.7 +/- 4.5; NS). These results indicate that the ADH-dependent increase in Gc is secondary to increased salt entry across the apical membrane. We computed apical (ga, mS X cm-2) and basolateral (gb, mS X cm-2) membrane conductances from the Gc measurements and apical-to-basolateral membrane resistance ratios (Ra/Rb) obtained from cell impalement: the ADH-dependent Gc increase was due to an increase in gb, which was blocked entirely by luminal furosemide. We propose that ADH increases the number of functioning apical membrane Na+,K+,2Cl- transport units, and that gb increases because cell Cl- activity rises and depolarizes the basolateral membrane. Thus the calculated cellular Cl- activity was 16.3 mM without ADH, and 25 mM with ADH.


The current study investigates whether Saudi-Arabic speaking learners of English are sensitive to the information-structure constraints and frequency distribution when dealing with the syntactic means of information highlighting in English. Ninety-nine participants of different proficiency levels in English completed an acceptability rating task that asked participants to rate the target constructions in two different contexts eliciting either a narrow focus, in which the use of the target constructions was acceptable (felicitous), or a broad focus in which their use was inacceptable (infelicitous). The findings indicate that participants were sensitive to the contextual effect, as evident from participants' higher acceptability ratings in the felicitous context than the infelicitous context. Moreover, frequency impact was evident in their higher acceptability ratings in the felicitous context for the comparatively frequent constructions. Differences in the perceived acceptability of the target constructions by participants suggest a role for proficiency. All in all, the results obtained in this study supported the general predictions of usage-based approaches to SLA and shed light on the role of cognitive processes in the acquisition of the target constructions.


Lord H o w e Island, situated 600 k m east of Australia, provides a unique opportunity to study the development of rock coast landforms and the long-term planation of an oceanic island. The island is a remnant of a large shield volcano that was built by late-Miocene hotspot volcanism. Since this time, the island has gradually migrated northward into warmer seas, and marine planation, operating at a decreasing rate over time, has reduced the island to a vestige of the original volcano. Lord Howe Island currently lies at the southern limit to coral growth. A fringing coral reef has developed on only the western side of the island, such that one side of the island is very effectively sheltered from wave attack, while the other side is exposed to waves of unlimited fetch. The contrast between landforms on each of these coastlines provides a clear illustration of the importance of wave erosion in rock coast evolution: the reef-protected coastline consists of depositional beaches, vegetated hillslopes, diminutive cliffs, and basalt shore platforms that are veneered with talus, whereas the exposed coastline includes precipitous basalt cliffs up to 800 m high that are plunging or have cliff-foot talus slopes, and cliffs 200 m or less high that have actively eroding shore platforms. Variation in rock resistance also exerts a clear control on coastal morphology at Lord H o w e Island. Rock resistance was assessed through Schmidt H a m m e r testing as well as measurements taken on discontinuities within rocks, and wave characteristics were assessed with bathymetric data and data on the local wave climate. At Lord Howe Island, talus slopes occur beneath cliffs where a critical size of cliff face has supplied sufficient talus to offset wave abrasion and removal of talus during the Holocene highstand. Plunging cliffs or shore platforms occur where source areas are smaller. In some areas, a critical depth of water prevents waves from breaking against the cliff face and plunging cliffs occur irrespective of rock resistance. Where water depths are shallower, however, plunging cliffs only exist if the resistance of rocks exceeds the assailing force of waves. In this respect, time is a crucial factor, as rock resistance is gradually degraded by weathering processes. Type B shore platforms have developed along sections of coast where the assailing force of waves has exceeded rock resistance. There is a close positive correlation between the elevation of shore platforms and nearshore water depth, and this indicates the important role of breaking waves in shore platform formation at Lord H o w e Island. Several other factors indicate that platforms at Lord H o w e Island have been strongly influenced by wave erosion, particularly the fact that platforms on the exposed coastline are wider than platforms on the lagoonal coastline. However, weathering processes become more important as platform width increases, and platforms become lower and flatter as they become wider. This thesis proposes a four-stage model of Type B, microtidal shore platform development at Lord H o w e Island. The model attempts to synthesise divergent hypotheses in the literature with a time-based perspective of platform evolution.


AIM
The aim is to present the essential elements of an infection control/exposure control plan for the oral healthcare setting with emphasis on tuberculosis (TB).

METHODS AND MATERIALS
A comprehensive review of the literature was conducted with special emphasis on TB infection-control issues in the oral healthcare setting.

RESULTS
Currently available knowledge related to TB infection-control issues is supported by data derived from well-conducted trials or extensive controlled observations. In the absence of supportive data the information is supported with the best-informed, most authoritative opinion available.

CONCLUSION
Essential elements of an effective TB infection-control plan include a three-level hierarchy of administrative, environmental, and respiratory-protection controls.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Standard precautions provide the fabric for strategies to prevent or reduce the risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens and other potentially infectious material. However, standard precautions are inadequate to prevent the spread of organisms through droplet nuclei 1-5 micron in diameter and additional measures are necessary to prevent the spread of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Oral healthcare settings have been identified as outpatient settings in which patients with suspected or confirmed infectious TB disease are expected to be encountered. Therefore, oral healthcare settings must have a written TB infection-control program.


BACKGROUND
This case report illustrates the development of an intracranial extradural haematoma (EDH) as an uncommon complication of a lumbar puncture.

CLINICAL PRESENTATION
A 10-year-old girl operated for intra-third ventricular cysticercosis developed postlumbar puncture headache after a drainage lumbar puncture (LP) on the 7th postoperative day. CT scan revealed a right frontal EDH away from the operative site.

INTERVENTION
The child was managed conservatively in view of her preserved sensorium.

RESULTS
The child had an uneventful recovery. Follow-up CT scans showed resolution of the haematoma.

CONCLUSIONS
LP, though considered to be a safe procedure, may rarely be associated with a potentially lethal intracranial haematoma, which can be managed successfully if diagnosed at an early stage.


In Work and Pay in the United States and Japan, authors Clair Brown, Yoshifumi Nakata, Michael Reich, and Lloyd Ulman provide an integrated and detailed analysis of the components of firm human resources systems in the US and Japan. Drawing on data obtained from fieldwork in comparable establishments in these two countries, as well as from national sources, this work examines the relationship between company practices and national economic institutions. The authors address a number of key questions about employer-employee relations. How have major Japanese manufacturing companies been able to convert the assurance of "lifetime" employment security into a source of superior employee efficiency and adaptability, when job and income security have been feared as a source of "shirking" and wage inflation in the US? How have higher economic and real wage growth rates been associated with greater equality in earned income distribution in Japan, when the incentive role of income inequality to worker effort and savings has been stressed in the US? How could Japanese emphasis on employment security in the firm be reconciled with greater price stability and lower unemployment than in the US? This work analyses elements such as employee training and involvement programs, wage behavior as an incentive system and an alternate channel of savings, and synchronous wage determination (shunto) at work in the Japanese economy that provide for such successes. The book also explores the costs that have been associated with these Japanese accomplishments, as well as who must bear them. In particular, it examines how Japanese women compare less favorably with American women in terms of opportunities for work, pay, and promotion; the higher hours of working time for men in Japan than in the US; and the constraints on mobility for Japanese workers. It also poses the question of whether Japanese unions are weaker than their American counterparts, or just more sensible and far-sighted. Finally, this \ork examines the outlook for these distinctive Japanese institutions and practices in a period of slower growth and economic "maturity." Based on a research project carried out in both countries, the book concludes with the lessons that each country can learn much from the employment practices of the other. Work and Pay in the United States and Japan will be essential reading for students, professors, and all professionals involved with employment systems and employer-employee relations. Available in OSO: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/management/9780195115215/toc.html


Normal corn starch was used as raw material in this research and was treated by autoclaving method to produce corn resistant starch (CRS). This research was focused on techniques of preparing CRS through autoclaving method and effects of autoclaving method parameters on yields of CRS from corn starch. The optimum conditions were investigated with carrying out an L9(34) orthogonal experiment. The yield of CRS was 8.05 % under combination of optimum parameters obtained from L9(34) orthogonal experiment. The optimum parameters were concentration of NCS solution 25 %, pH6.5, autoclaving temperature 125 °C, autoclaving time 35 min.


Plants of Triticum aestivum L. cv. Gabo, grown at 20 °C, were exposed to 30 °C for short periods during the time between the beginning of meiosis in the pollen mother cells and anthesis. Plant water deficit at this temperature was avoided by maintaining a high atmospheric relative humidity and tissue water potential did not change. This temperature treatment applied for 3 days, at the time of reduction division and tetrad break up in the male tissue, lowered grain yield through a drastic reduction in grain set, but was without effect at other stages of development. Grain set was also reduced by exposing plants to 30 °C for 1 day only or to a 30 °C day, 20 °C night (16 h photoperiod) regime for 3 days during the sensitive period. A reduction in grain set did not result in a compensatory increase in the weight of remaining grains. The female fertility of previously heat-stressed plants was assessed by pollinating with pollen from plants grown at a lower temperature (20 °C). Grain set in such plants was less than that in plants grown at the lower temperature and hand pollinated with similar pollen, indicating that female fertility was reduced by high temperature. This was not the sole reason for reduced grain set, however, as some anthers on heat-stressed plants were small and neither extruded nor dehisced normally. Such anthers contained pollen grains that were mostly shrivelled, had abnormal cytoplasm and showed no reaction to 2, 3, 5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride. Similar effects were also noted in pollen from apparently normal anthers on heat-stressed plants.


Three isostructural anionic frameworks {[(Hdma)(H(3)O)][In(2)(L(1))(2)]·4DMF·5H(2)O}(∞) (NOTT-206-solv), {[H(2)ppz][In(2)(L(2))(2)]·3.5DMF·5H(2)O}(∞) (NOTT-200-solv), and {[H(2)ppz][In(2)(L(3))(2)]·4DMF·5.5H(2)O}(∞) (NOTT-208-solv) (dma = dimethylamine; ppz = piperazine) each featuring organic countercations that selectively block the channels and act as pore gates have been prepared. The organic cations within the as-synthesized frameworks can be replaced by Li(+) ions to yield the corresponding Li(+)-containing frameworks {Li(1.2)(H(3)O)(0.8)[In(2)(L(1))(2)]·14H(2)O}(∞) (NOTT-207-solv), {Li(1.5)(H(3)O)(0.5)[In(2)(L(2))(2)]·11H(2)O}(∞) (NOTT-201-solv), and {Li(1.4)(H(3)O)(0.6)[In(2)(L(3))(2)]·4acetone·11H(2)O}(∞) (NOTT-209-solv) in which the pores are now unblocked. The desolvated framework materials NOTT-200a, NOTT-206a, and NOTT-208a display nonporous, hysteretic and reversible N(2) uptakes, respectively, while NOTT-206a and NOTT-200a provide a strong kinetic trap showing adsorption/desorption hysteresis with H(2). Single crystal X-ray analysis confirms that the Li(+) ions are either tetrahedrally (in NOTT-201-solv and NOTT-209-solv) or octahedrally (in NOTT-207-solv) coordinated by carboxylate oxygen atoms and/or water molecules. This is supported by (7)Li solid-state NMR spectroscopy. NOTT-209a, compared with NOTT-208a, shows a 31% enhancement in H(2) storage capacity coupled to a 38% increase in the isosteric heat of adsorption to 12 kJ/mol at zero coverage. Thus, by modulating the pore environment via postsynthetic cation exchange, the gas adsorption properties of the resultant MOF can be fine-tuned. This affords a methodology for the development of high capacity storage materials that may operate at more ambient temperatures.


Abstract What explains the emergence of Islamist violence as a substantial security threat in such diverse contexts as Kenya, Mali and Nigeria? This article addresses this question through an exploration of the strategies of governance employed by states, and how these shape the emergence and mode of collective violence. Conflict research often emphasises the specificity of Islamist violence; but these conflicts can be understood as a form of political exclusion and grievance-based violence, comparable to other forms of political violence. Further, violent Islamist groups emerge from local conditions: the areas in which groups are established share similar local experiences of governance and political marginalisation; a history of violent conflict on which Islamist militants capitalise; and key triggering events expanding or reinforcing state exclusion. These findings challenge a narrative emphasising the global, interconnected nature of Islamist violence. This article pairs data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Dataset (ACLED) with Afrobarometer survey data and case study evidence to identify drivers of Islamist violence across three African countries.


In the last decade, a growing body of research on resilience among women has emerged in the disciplines of social work, nursing, psychology and sociology. Myriad conceptualizations of resilience may be found within the research literature. One such conceptualization equates resilience with coping strategies leading to successful adaptation or positive outcomes under stressful or adverse circumstances. Among women, resilience has largely been studied in the context of physical and mental health issues, violence, abuse, poverty, immigration and geographic isolation. An extensive review of the literature has revealed that there is limited research on resilience among women who experience postpartum depression (PPD) in the underserviced communities of Northern Ontario. The current study addresses this knowledge gap by exploring coping strategies as a manifestation of resilience among women in the City of Greater Sudbury who are experiencing postpartum depression (PPD). Utilizing purposive sampling techniques, women were recruited from the Perinatal Mental Health Program of Sudbury Regional Hospital and various community agencies (e.g., mental health, parenting and peer supports and health services). The women were included in the study if they met key criteria such as (i) being 18 years or above, (ii) having experienced depression within one year after the birth of a live infant or within the previous five years, and (iii) being able to recall and articulate conscious experiences of resilience in the English language. The women were invited to take part in individual semi-structured interviews which were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. The interview guide encompassed demographic details, experiences of PPD and coping strategies. This paper presents major themes delineating the coping strategies as a manifestation of resilience among twelve women experiencing PPD while living in an underserviced community within Northern Ontario. The findings are interpreted in the light of an eclectic theoretical framework consisting of Frankl's meaning-making existential philosophy, Miller's cultural-relational theory, and key principles of feminist standpoint theory. Coping strategies congruent with this theoretical framework include making meaning of one's suffering (e.g., being philosophical about PPD, connecting with God, accepting the reality of motherhood), seeking support (e.g., sharing motherhood responsibilities, accessing services), nurturing oneself (e.g., participating in professional and recreational activities, developing positive outlook), and advocacy work (e.g., bringing awareness about PPD, providing support to other women). Other strategies such as connecting with and deriving strength from nature go beyond the assumptions of the theoretical framework. The findings have implications for the development of strengths-based interventions for women experiencing PPD.


Abstract
A registration sheet has been designed and tested for use with A4 sized medical records in general practice. Duplicate copies provide both practice and age-sex registers with no further clerical work. A method of using it for temporary residents is also suggested.


Cationic lipids have been extensively studied for their ability to complex with nucleic acids to condense and consequently deliver them into the cells. However, developing safe and efficient cationic lipids for delivering nucleic acids is still an unmet challenge. Prior structure-activity investigations led to the path to understanding the lipid structure and its transfection efficiency. The trend in the transfection profiles of linker-based lipids is different from linker-less lipids. Influence of unsaturation in the hydrophobic chains has been investigated in linker-based lipids. However, in linker-less lipids, it remains unexplored. Herein, we demonstrate that the designed cationic lipid Lipid S-U with an asymmetric hydrophobic core having one stearyl (18 : 0) and one oleyl chain (18 : 1) showed superior transfection efficiency compared to its symmetric counterparts, Lipid S-S (hydrophobic core comprising of two stearyl chains (18 : 0)), and Lipid U-U (two oleyl chains (18 : 1)), in vitro. Mechanistic studies involving membrane fusogenicity with FACS revealed that liposomes of Lipid S-U have higher fusogenicity (89%) with B16F10 cell membrane than saturated Lipid S-S (66%) and unsaturated Lipid U-U (70%). Endosomal escape studies with confocal microscopy in HEK 293 cells revealed that lipoplexes of Lipid S-U had a higher endosomal escape and released the genetic payload in cytoplasm more efficiently than saturated Lipid S-S and unsaturated Lipid U-U. These cumulative findings support the notion that higher cellular uptake and endosomal escape resulting from fusogenic liposomes of Lipid S-U play a pivotal role in the higher transfection efficiency of asymmetric Lipid S-U.


A challenge in learning to become a scientist is gaining skills in critical review and experimental design. Our aim was to measure the effectiveness of an inquiry-oriented learning (IOL) workshop which used popular culture and pseudoscience as stimuli for engagement. The workshop on critical review of scientific literature and best-practice experimental design consisted of a Socratic-seminar (i.e., collaborative, intellectual dialogue facilitated with open-ended questions) and a poster-defence. Students analysed the scientific publication which led Dr Oz (medical doctor and TV host) to falsely claim green coffee bean extract as a 'miracle' cure for obesity. Students also designed an experiment to test the effectiveness of an advertising campaign (e.g., Old Spice: 'The Man Your Man Could Smell Like') and presented their design in poster format. Students were assessed before and after the workshop. Post-test scores were higher than pre-test scores (51.8 ± 3.8% vs 38.2 ± 3.1%, n = 25, p < 0.0001) and were correlated (p < 0.001) with students' assignment marks. Students agreed that the workshop developed their ability to critically review scientific literature (79%) and to design experiments (63%). Our findings suggest that an IOL workshop, using popular culture and pseudoscience, improves skills in critical review and experimental design.


Alphaviruses are arthropod-borne positive-sense RNA viruses that have the capacity to cause large scale outbreaks of severe disease. As of now, there are no effective therapeutic strategies with which alphaviral disease may be treated. Thus, there is a need for research that defines the mechanism(s) by which the alphaviruses establish infection and cause pathogenesis. Our previous work identified non-assembly interactions between the SINV Capsid protein and the viral genomic RNA that were important for viral RNA stabilization early during infection. These efforts led us to evaluate the Protein:Protein interactions of the SINV Capsid protein using the BioID2 discovery approach to define the mechanism of action underlying the SINV Capsid-mediated genome stability. To our surprise, these efforts indicated that the SINV CP protein interacts with the host IRAK1 protein in tissue culture models of infection. To validate the interface we utilized a Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation approach to confirm the SINV Capsid-IRAK1 interaction. After confirming the novel Capsid Protein:Protein interaction we hypothesized that the SINV Capsid protein may interfere with IRAK1-dependent signaling during infection. To this end, we assessed the dose-responsiveness of several IRAK1-dependent signaling pathways, including TLRs 4 and 7 in the presence of the SINV Capsid protein. We found that the TLR-agonist response, was significantly decreased in the presence of the SINV Capsid protein. Collectively, these data are highly suggestive that the SINV Capsid protein interferes with TLR signaling during viral infection contributing to the evasion of the host innate immune response.


Based on the viscoelasticity theory and the data of creep test, Burgers model was established, which was used to study the viscoelastic property of SBR asphalt mixtures, and the viscoelastic constitutive relation was obtained. Using the finite element method, the temperature stresses field was calculated under the environmental conditions and the thermal stresses of SBR modified asphalt pavement was given at the last part of this paper. The study indicated that SBR modified asphalt mixtures have the advantage over common asphalt mixture in low-temperature performance.


Hyperhidrosis is excessive sweating that affects patients' quality of life, resulting in social and work impairment and emotional distress. Primary hyperhidrosis is bilaterally symmetric, focal, excessive sweating of the axillae, palms, soles, or craniofacial region not caused by other underlying conditions. Secondary hyperhidrosis may be focal or generalized, and is caused by an underlying medical condition or medication use. The Hyperhidrosis Disease Severity Scale is a validated survey used to grade the tolerability of sweating and its impact on quality of life. The score can be used to guide treatment. Topical aluminum chloride solution is the initial treatment in most cases of primary focal hyperhidrosis. Topical glycopyrrolate is first-line treatment for craniofacial sweating. Botulinum toxin injection (onabotulinumtoxinA) is considered first- or second-line treatment for axillary, palmar, plantar, or craniofacial hyperhidrosis. Iontophoresis should be considered for treating hyperhidrosis of the palms and soles. Oral anticholinergics are useful adjuncts in severe cases of hyperhidrosis when other treatments fail. Local microwave therapy is a newer treatment option for axillary hyperhidrosis. Local surgery and endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy should be considered in severe cases of hyperhidrosis that have not responded to topical or medical therapies.


Copyright exceptions and limitations in the United States have experienced dynamic evolution in light of new technological developments. There has been significant legal debate in the courts and in the United States Congress about the scope of the defense of fair use. The copyright litigation over Google Books has been a landmark development in the modern history of copyright law. The victory by Google, Inc., over the Authors Guild in the decade-long copyright dispute is an important milestone for copyright law. The ruling of Leval J emphasizes that the defense of fair use in the United States plays a critical role in promoting transformative creativity, freedom of speech, and innovation. The Supreme Court of the United States was decisive in its rejection of the Authors Guild's efforts to challenge the decision of Leval J. There has been significant debate in the United States Copyright Office and United States Congress over the development of "the Next Great Copyright Act." Hearings have taken place within the United States Congressional system about the history, nature, and future of the defense of fair use under United States copyright law. There remains much debate about the internationalization of the defense of fair use, and the need for the trading partners of the United States to enjoy similar flexibilities with respect to copyright exceptions. There has been concern about the impact of mega-regional trade agreements—such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership—upon copyright exceptions, such as the defense of fair use.


Expression of pituitary and placental members of the human GH and chorionic somatomammotropin (CS) gene family is directed by an upstream remote locus control region (LCR). Pituitary-specific expression of GH requires direct binding of Pit-1 (listed as POU1F1 in the HUGO database) to sequences marked by a hypersensitive site (HS) region (HS I/II) 14.6 kb upstream of the GH-N gene (listed as GH1 in the HUGO database). We used human embryonic kidney 293 (HEK293) cells overexpressing wild-type and mutant Pit-1 proteins as a model system to gain insight into the mechanism by which Pit-1 gains access to the GH LCR. Addition of Pit-1 to these cells increased DNA accessibility at HS III, located 28 kb upstream of the human GH-N gene, in a POU homeodomain-dependent manner, as reflected by effects on histone hyperacetylation and RNA polymerase II activity. Direct binding of Pit-1 to HS III sequences is not supported. However, the potential for binding of ETS family members to this region has been demonstrated, and Pit-1 association with this ETS element in HS III sequences requires the POU homeodomain. Also, both ETS1 and ELK1 co-precipitate from human pituitary extracts using two independent sources of Pit-1 antibodies. Finally, overexpression of ELK1 or Pit-1 expression in HEK293 cells increased GH-N RNA levels. However, while ELK1 overexpression also stimulated placental CS RNA levels, the effect of Pit-1 appeared to correlate with ETS factor levels and target GH-N preferentially. These data are consistent with recruitment and an early role for Pit-1 in remodeling of the GH LCR at the constitutively open HS III through protein-protein interaction.


Separation of powers with checks and balances (SP) is usually regarded as a key institution complementing elections in the control of elected officials. However, some analysts and many politicians also warn that excessive checks on the executive in the presence of polarization may lead to political inaction. We analyze the interaction between elections and SP, and study under what circumstances they complement each other. We first introduce a political agency model with ideological parties where citizens and politicians care about rents (a valence issue) and policy (a positional issue). Then, we analyze the impact of SP on the effectiveness of elections to discipline and select politicians. We demonstrate that SP unambiguously raises a majority of voters' welfare in highly polarized non-competitive political environments, because it strengthens both discipline and selection without causing political gridlock. SP also raises voters' welfare if elections are very effective at disciplining first period incumbents. Nevertheless, SP may reduce voters' welfare if most rents go undetected and reform is not a first-order issue.


Mycosphaerella blight, caused by Mycosphaerella pinodes, is a major constraint to field pea production in the prairies. Controlling the disease by developing better genetic resistance is a major goal of field pea breeding programs around the world. There are no major resistant genes to this disease and breeding relies on incremental increases in tolerance through hybridization and selection of material with slightly improved tolerance. Disease incidence and severity appear to be promoted by plant injury, caused, for example, by heavy thunder storms or hail during the growing season. Experiments were conducted at the Crop Development Center to quantify the effect of plant injury on disease development. The objective of this study was to investigate the possibility of exploiting plant injury as a tool to develop screening techniques for disease nurseries without irrigation and under low rain incidences.


The article offers an assessment of spatial differences in the structure of payment granting decisions under the EU Common Agricultural Policy. The analysis was conducted for individual EU assistance measures divided into two groups: 1) intensifying measures, intended to step up production and improve the competitiveness of agriculture and 2) extensifying measures, intended to improve the environment and to help rural areas to diversify into non-agricultural activities. It was demonstrated that payments of group 2 prevailed in numerical terms, which was largely a result of the high participation of agricultural holdings in the agri-environmental programme.


Since its inception 40 years ago, NASA's Technology Transfer Program has led the way for our nation to benefit from cutting-edge aerospace technologies. In addition to contributing to U.S. economic growth, these technologies are improving the quality of life on Earth while finding new ways to protect and preserve it. NASA's research and development efforts have advanced areas in medicine, communications, manufacturing, computer technology, and homeland security. These breakthroughs, translated into commercial products, are enhancing the lives of Americans everywhere. When a congressional mandate led NASA to develop the Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Program, the Agency began a wide dissemination of its research and development results. In doing so, NASA recognized that many of its technologies were transferable to industry for the development of commercial products. As a result, the Technology Utilization Program was born in 1962. The successful program went through several changes over the years, as its philosophy, mission, and goals adapted into the Technology Transfer Program we know today. The program strives to make the latest technologies available to industry as soon as they are developed. Each year, NASA's Spinoff publication showcases new products and services resulting from commercial partnerships between NASA and private industry. In the 2002 issue, the NASA field centers reflect upon the growth that has made these innovations available to the public. The Research and Development section examines past achievements, current successes, and future goals for each of the ten NASA centers. The Commercial Benefits section proudly highlights 51 new spinoff products, including a heart pump for patients needing a heart transplant, as well as an air purifier that destroys anthrax spores. The Technology Transfer and Outreach section describes the outreach achievements and educational successes made possible through the NASA Commercial Technology Network. Each section of Spinoff 2002 provides compelling evidence of the Technology Transfer Program's success and value. With commercial products and successes spanning from work on the Apollo missions to the International Space Station, the 40th anniversary of the Technology Transfer Program invites us to celebrate our history while planning the future.


The literature contains an ongoing debate concerning virtual or boundaryless organisations. This article suggests that virtual/boundaryless organisations are a logical continuation of the development of industrial organisation. We can see three important recurrent management characteristics demonstrating continuity throughout the period reaching from the Industrial Revolution through to the virtual organisation. These are knowledge management, technology management and relationship management. Furthermore, there can also be seen an important issue for management concerning market competitiveness; this is the necessity of identifying and managing the interfaces between these management areas. The article reviews the development of industrial organisation and proposes a model, which offers a basis for evaluating the design of virtual organisations, and attempts to answer the question: is the virtual organisation a "new lamp"?


Abstract The conversion of second to primary homes is a known phenomenon; yet, its emergence as a result of necessity in an era of economic crisis has not been adequately addressed in the literature. To fill this gap, the article discusses an interview study of younger adults who have made this conversion, conducted in a second home area near Athens, Greece. The study explores the factors that influenced respondents to move permanently to their second home and perceptions of their relocation. Given the ongoing economic crisis in Greece, the research is placed in a unique socioeconomic context, allowing the investigation to delve into the effects of the economic crisis on these housing choices, by comparing perspectives on conversions having taken place before and during the crisis. Findings depict second home mobility as a complex phenomenon linked to tourism, changing housing needs, social factors, economic pressures, but also new potential urban functions arising from the current economic depression in Greece.


In August, 2005, Hurricane Katrina dealt a devastating blow to the Gulf Coast region of the United States, and the Black population was hit particularly hard because of its preexisting vulnerability. Thus, this disaster became what Birkland refers to as a focusing event for the larger Black community in the U.S., one that attracted an unusual amount of attention from stakeholders and put it on their agenda for policy change. Katrina resulted in a surge of interest within the Black community regarding the immediate challenges created by the event and the factors perceived to sustain the community's vulnerability. This is reflected in two types of actions undertaken by the Black community in response to Katrina discussed in this paper. First, there was a mobilization across the country to provide disaster relief for victims, which included housing, financial, and educational assistance. Second, Blacks rallied to challenge the government's response to the disaster, to urge it to take more decisive and fair actions and, looking beyond Katrina, to initiate major public policy changes that would alter conditions related to race, class, and poverty which were perceived as major underlying factors in the continuing vulnerability of disadvantaged groups in the society to future disasters. Such actions were frequently undertaken by activists in the larger Black community in collaboration with other groups, reminiscent of the civil rights movement of an earlier era.


In order to study the influences of initial curing conditions on fly ash (FA) cement concrete durability, fly ash cement samples with 30% replacement ratio were fabricated and cured in water at 10°C, 20°C, 30°Cand 40°C for 3d, 7d, 14d and 28d respectively. Hydration degrees of fly ash at early age were measured using the selective dissolve method. Correspondingly the pore structure and morphology of FA-cement mortar and compared cement mortar were studied by using MIP and SEM methods. Then early age compressive strengths of FA-cement concrete and compared normal cement concrete were tested. Experimental results show that initial curing temperatures and ages are important factors to fly ash early age hydration degree, FA-cement system microstructure, morphology and early age compressive strength etc. High curing temperatures and longer curing time can lead higher fly ash hydration degree, and then higher compressive strength of FA-cement concrete, and make the micro-structures of fly ash-cement system denser.


The contrast between the evolution over the last decades of the European Union (EU) and the US unemployment rates, especially for the low-skilled, is well known. A consensus view is that these different outcomes can be explained by the interactions between common shocks and specific institutional setups. In this paper, we emphasize the interactions between technological changes and wages rigidities. We construct a fully calibrated general equilibrium model with two types of jobs and two types of workers, and with search unemployment. Our simulations show that with wage rigidities, technological changes suffice to generate a continuous rise in the low-skilled unemployment rate and an almost unchanged high-skilled unemployment rate. Without wage rigidities, the unemployment rates remain unchanged but the wage dispersion widens.


In 2006 a group of Swedish researchers from Linkoping University observed a high- risk match during the Football World-Cup Finals in Germany. The match between Germany and Poland took place in Dortmund, and during the entire day observations were performed at different locations in the city [cf. Granstrom & Hylander (2008), Guva & Rosander (2008), Hau & Naslund (2008)].In this report, information is summarised that focuses on the strategies and tactics of the police in Dortmund for this match as well as for the entire World championship tournament. Data was gathered by interviews with police officers in Dortmund and Frankfurt/Main, Germany. The purpose of this presentation is to account for police strategies and considerations that resulted in a mainly peaceful and orderly major football event.


This contribution deals with an issue of an aircraft attitude calculation and simulation. This paper also describes a design of AHRS (Attitude Heading and Reference System) short time backup unit. The proposed AHRS uses 3-axis magnetometer and GPS receiver. The whole study is based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) system knowledge and consequential Matlab simulation. The project is related to the UAV program Sojka.