Born in Prague in 1928, Pacovska is one of the greats of modern book illustration. Her unique style and unparalleled skill in creating books that fire the imagination and entice wonder in children of all ages has won her international acclaim. "The Sun is Yellow" is a masterpiece of the art of books for children. With plenty of windows to open and hidden characters to discover, it offers an enchanting adventure through the magical world of colour. In 1992, Pacovska won the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest and most prestigious international award for children's book authors and illustrators.


Improving the student's writing achievement was very important for writing that is considered as one of the most difficult language skill. Since English is used as a foreign language, most students get difficulties in exploring their ideas, feeling and finding the appropriate words in English. This situation leads teachers to be more creative in motivating their students to write. Referring to this problem, teaching aids are needed in the teaching and learning process in order to make learning fun and everlastings. Here, such kinds of pictures are suitble in helping the students to get idea in writing. Pictures seem to be appropriate media for any text genres such as Descriptive text. Photos will attract students to pay more attention to the detailed of photos provided. Photos are a kind of individual picture. A collaborative action research was done to find out whether photos could improve the student's ability in writing Descriptive text. The research was conducted following cycles. There were three cycles, each of which comprised two meetings. During the research, the researcher acted as teacher and the real English teacher acted as observer who observed during the teaching and learning process. She also revised the lesson plan for each cycle. The instrument used in this research showed that the implementation of photos during the teaching and learning process succeed in reacting its goal. The result of observation checklist, students writing composition and questionnaire were quite satisfying. Moreover, the improving of students' scores in each cyde proved that photos could improve the students' ability in writing descriptive texts. In the first cycle, the students who got up to 66 were only 15 students so that the average scores were 50 %. It was far from the Minimwn Standard of Mastery which required there were at least 75 % of students got scores up to 66. Then, it increased into 63, 3% in the second cycle. There were 21 students who got scores more than 66. Finally, the student's scores showed great improvement in the last cycle. There were 25 students or 83, 3 % of the whole students who have already reached the Minimum Standard of Mastery.


Ga2 reacts spontaneously with H2 in solid Ar matrixes at 12 K to form the cyclic molecule Ga(mu-H)2Ga. In2 does not react with H2 under similar conditions, but irradiation at wavelengths near 365 nm induces the formation of the corresponding indium hydride, In(mu-H)2In. The molecules have been identified and characterized by the IR spectra displayed by matrixes containing the metal and H2, D2, HD, or H2 + D2; they each have planar, dihydrido-bridged structures with D2h symmetry, as endorsed by comparison of the measured spectra (i) with the properties forecast by quantum chemical calculations and (ii) with the spectra of known gallium and indium hydrides. Both are photolabile under visible light (lambda > 450 nm): green light (lambda = ca. 546 nm) causes Ga(mu-H)2Ga to isomerize to a mixture of HGaGaH and H2GaGa, whereas broad-band visible irradiation (lambda > 450 nm) of In(mu-H)2In gives rise to the isomer HInInH, together with InH. The isomerization can be reversed by UV photolysis (lambda = ca. 365 nm) of HGaGaH, H2GaGa, and HInInH or by near-IR photolysis (lambda > 700 nm) of HGaGaH and H2GaGa.


Background Rural Uganda is an especially hazardous environment for children with limited parental supervision, open fires, speeding traffic, sharp farm tools, and flowing rivers. Effective safety education has the potential to reduce injury risk among this vulnerable population. Although safety instruction is a required component of the national curriculum, schools face challenges of overcrowding, understaffing, lack of resources and teacher training, and absenteeism which may inhibit student learning of safety behaviours. Given this context, there is need to investigate the content, quality and effectiveness of the safety units as currently taught in Ugandan schools. Objective Qualitatively assess primary teacher perceptions of 1) childhood injury risks in a rural Ugandan community, and 2) the current state of safety instruction. Results 21 teachers in grades 1–6 from 5 schools in rural eastern Uganda completed surveys on child injuries and safety instruction. Falls, cuts, and burns are considered the most common injuries among children. Children are frequently left without adult supervision, beginning between ages 3–7. Children are especially likely to be alone when either the child or parent is busy farming, fetching water, or at market. Safety units are most commonly taught in grades 1, 2, 4 and 6. The most common topics are safety around roads/transport and safety at home. The most common instructional strategies include providing information/safety rules, safety demonstrations, and first aid training. All teachers report their students adopt safer behaviours after instruction. Only one teacher reports ever receiving training in safety instruction. Conclusions Injury risk is high in rural Uganda but children often receive inadequate supervision. Teachers are motivated to teach safety skills but lack supportive training and resources. Explicit training and materials developed for Ugandan teachers has the potential to reduce childhood injury risk in rural Uganda.


Market making (MM) is an important research topic in quantitative finance, the agent needs to continuously optimize ask and bid quotes to provide liquidity and make profits. The limit order book (LOB) contains information on all active limit orders, which is an essential basis for decision-making. The modeling of evolving, high-dimensional and low signal-to-noise ratio LOB data is a critical challenge. Traditional MM strategy relied on strong assumptions such as price process, order arrival process etc. Previous reinforcement learning (RL) works handcrafted market features, which is insufficient to represent the market. This paper proposes a RL agent for market making with LOB data. We leverage a neural network with convolutional filters and attention mechanism (Attn-LOB) for feature extraction from LOB. We design a new continuous action space and a hybrid reward function for the MM task. Finally, we conduct comprehensive experiments on latency and interpretability, showing that our agent has good applicability.


Addressing a real world sequential decision problem with Reinforcement Learning (RL) usually starts with the use of a simulated environment that mimics real conditions. We present a novel open source RL environment for realistic crop management tasks. gym-DSSAT is a gym interface to the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT), a high fidelity crop simulator. DSSAT has been developped over the last 30 years and is widely recognized by agronomists. gym-DSSAT comes with predefined simulations based on real world maize experiments. The environment is as easy to use as any gym environment. We provide performance baselines using basic RL algorithms. We also briefly outline how the monolithic DSSAT simulator written in Fortran has been turned into a Python RL environment. Our methodology is generic and may be applied to similar simulators. We report on very preliminary experimental results which suggest that RL can help researchers to improve sustainability of fertilization and irrigation practices.


By offloading the control plane to powerful computing platforms running on commodity hardware, Software Defined Networking (SDN) unleashes the potential to operate computation intensive machine learning tools and solve complex optimization problems in a centralized fashion. This paper studies such an opportunity under the framework of the centralized SDN Admission Control (AC) problem. We first review and adapt some of the key AC algorithms from the literature, and evaluate their performance under realistic settings. We then propose to take a step further and build an AC meta-algorithm that is able to track the best AC algorithm under unknown traffic conditions. To this aim, we exploit a machine learning technique called Strategic Expert meta-Algorithm (SEA).


Statement of the Problem: In this dynamic and competitive world everyone wants to achieve maximum profit at the charge of quality. Due to this, food products adulteration has turn into a common issue in various countries. Adulteration usually refers to non-compliance to health or safety standards according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Adulterants may be intentionally added to more expensive substances to increase visible quantities, reduce manufacturing costs and other deceptive or malicious purposes. Food and Drug Administration has developed multiple Food Defense tools in order to prevent food from adulteration. This study will emphasize on the issues of adulteration and food product authenticity in confectionery products. There are a number of ingredients used in the production of confectionary items especially fats. Manufacturers often choose lard as a substitute ingredient for oil because it is relatively cheap and easily available. The need of this study is to explore the awareness and perception of a consumer towards food adulteration. In the analytical field, there were many principal techniques that have been successfully applied to detect and identify ingredients adulteration in confectionary products. Methodology & Theoretical Orientation.


1 The induction of a calcium‐independent isoform of nitric oxide (NO) synthase (iNOS) and a subsequent enhanced formation of NO has been implicated in the pathophysiology of a variety of diseases including inflammation and circulatory shock. Here we demonstrate that the S‐substituted isothioureas, S‐methylisothiourea (SMT), S‐(2‐aminoethyl)isothiourea (aminoethyl‐TU), S‐ethylisothiourea (ethyl‐TU) and S‐isopropylisothiourea (isopropyl‐TU) potently inhibit iNOS activity in J774.2 macrophages activated with bacterial endotoxin with EC50 values 8–24 times lower than that of NG‐methyl‐l‐arginine (MeArg) and 200‐times lower than that of NG‐nitro‐l‐arginine (l‐NO2Arg). 2 The inhibition of iNOS activity by these S‐substituted isothioureas is dose‐dependently prevented by excess of l‐arginine suggesting that these isothioureas are competitive inhibitors of iNOS at the l‐arginine binding site. 3 Ethyl‐TU and isopropyl‐TU are 4–6 times more potent than MeArg in inhibiting the constitutive NOS activity in homogenates of bovine aortic endothelial cells (eNOS) and are more potent pressor agents than MeArg in the anaesthetized rat. SMT is equipotent with MeArg, whereas aminoethyl‐TU is 6‐times less potent in inhibiting eNOS activity in vitro. Both SMT and aminoethyl‐TU, however, elicit only weak pressor responses (approximately 15mmHg at 10 mg kg−1, i.v.) in vivo. 4 A comparison of the potencies of ethyl‐, iso‐propyl‐, n‐propyl‐, t‐butyl‐ and n‐butyl‐isothioureas on iNOS activity shows that the inhibitory activity of S‐substituted isothioureas declines sharply if the side chain exceeds 2 carbon atoms in length. Similarly, substitution of the ethylene side chain of ethyl‐TU also results in a diminished potency. Substitution of either one or both nitrogens of SMT with either amino or alkyl groups also substantially reduces its NOS inhibitory potency. 5 In conclusion, isothioureas represent a new class of NOS inhibitors which includes the most potent inhibitors of iNOS activity reported to date. Some members of this class (ethyl‐TU and isopropyl‐TU) are potent inhibitors of eNOS and iNOS with little selectivity towards either isoform, while others (SMT and aminoethyl‐TU) are relatively selective inhibitors of iNOS activity. These latter agents may become useful tools for studying the role of iNOS in various disease models and may be useful in the therapy of diseases that are associated with an enhanced formation of NO due to iNOS induction, such as inflammation, circulatory shock or cancer.


This article focuses on Bram Stoker's landmark novel Dracula (1897), in order to better assess how the phenomenology of the monstrous emerges as inextricably interfused with a late-Victorian socio-cultural background. Attention is drawn to a discursive framework pivoting on scientific discoveries and medical research, as well as degeneration theories and the motif of atavistic regression. Taking its cue from recent trends in literary criticism, this paper also examines how the resort to a cutting-edge technological equipment, such as Mina's portable typewriter and Dr Seward's phonograph, can be instrumental in abating Dracula's vampiric threat.


Isocitrate lyase was purified from Phycomyces blakesleeanus N.R.R.L. 1555(-). The native enzyme has an Mr of 240,000. The enzyme appeared to be a tetramer with apparently identical subunits of Mr 62,000. The enzyme requires Mg2+ for activity, and the data suggest that the Mg2(+)-isocitrate complex is the true substrate and that Mg2+ ions act as a non-essential activator. The kinetic mechanism of the enzyme was investigated by using product and dead-end inhibitors of the cleavage and condensation reactions. The data indicated an ordered Uni Bi mechanism and the kinetic constants of the model were calculated. The spectrophotometric titration of thiol groups in Phycomyces isocitrate lyase with 5.5'-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) gave two free thiol groups per subunit of enzyme in the native state and three in the denatured state. The isocitrate lyase was completely inactivated by iodoacetate, with non-linear kinetics. The inactivation data suggest that the enzyme has two classes of modifiable thiol groups. The results are also in accord with the formation of a non-covalent enzyme-inhibitor complex before irreversible modification of the enzyme. Both the equilibrium constants for formation of the complex and the first-order rate constants for the irreversible modification step were determined. The partial protective effect of isocitrate and Mg2+ against iodoacetate inactivation was investigated in a preliminary form.


How do insurgents choose their tactics in civil wars? While most theories of civil war violence marginalize the role of ideology, we argue that the location, type, and lethality of insurgent violence are all shaped by the underlying spatial distribution of civilians' relative support for combatants. Unlike current "hearts and minds" theories, we contend that pro-government attitudes are associated with increased, not reduced, violence, and that these attitudes predict future attacks. A survey experiment in 204 Afghan villages is used to establish a positive association between pro-International Security Assistance Force attitudes and future Taliban attacks. We extend our analysis to 14,606 non-surveyed villages, where our measure of civilian attitudes improves out-of-sample prediction by 20--30% over standard forecasting models. The results are especially strong for Taliban attacks with improvised explosive devices. These findings hold even after adjusting for possible confounders, including past violence, military bases, and aid.


BACKGROUND
The Care of cleft patients is very challenging. Team cleft care is usually lacking in many developing countries due to shortage of qualified manpower. This study is aimed at highlighting anaesthetic challenges in the management of cleft in children.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
This was a study of cleft lip and palate patients who were managed during team cleft care activities at University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital and Federal Medical Centre Nguru both in north eastern Nigeria from January to June 2009.

RESULTS
One hundred and six cleft patients presented for surgical repair under general or local anaesthesia. Fifteen (14%) patients all of whom children were unfit for general anaesthesia due to various medical reasons. Ninety-one (86%) cleft patients comprising 53(50%) children and 38(36%) adults had cleft repair under halothane general endotracheal anaesthesia and local anaesthesia, respectively. There was no anaesthetic complications recorded under local anaesthesia. Fifteen percent of children who received general endotracheal anaesthesia suffered various anaesthetic complications which included hypoxia (3.8%), laryngospasm (1.9%), kinking of endotracheal tube (5.7%), inadvertent extubation (1.9%) and pulmonary aspiration (1.9%). There was no mortality or anaesthesia-related morbidity at the time of discharge in all the cases.

CONCLUSION
We conclude that anaesthesia for cleft lip and palate repair in hospital based team-cleft care activities in our environment is relatively safe. We recommend general anaesthesia with controlled ventilation for children and local anaesthesia for adult and older children who can cooperate.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Neck musculature mass has been suggested as a biomechanical contributor to injury severity in mild traumatic brain injury. We sought to determine how the cross-sectional areas of the suboccipital muscles affect symptom severity, neurocognitive performance, and recovery time in patients with mild traumatic brain injury. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-four consecutive patients with mild traumatic brain injury underwent MR imaging and serial neurocognitive testing with the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Test. Cross-sectional areas of the rectus capitis posterior musculature were retrospectively obtained at C1, and cross-sectional areas of the remaining 7 suboccipital muscles were measured at C2. Cross-sectional area reproducibility was evaluated. Overall and individual muscle cross-sectional areas were correlated with symptom severity, neuropsychological testing, recovery time, and headache. RESULTS: Sixty-four patients with mild traumatic brain injury had imaging through C1, and 43 had imaging through C2. Reproducibility of cross-sectional area measurements was substantial (correlation coefficients = 0.9517–0.9891). Lower cross-sectional area of the rectus capitis posterior minor was correlated with greater symptom severity (r = 0.596, P < .0001), longer recovery time (r = 0.387, P = .002), poor verbal memory performance (r = 0.285, P = .02), and headache (r = 0.39, P = .001). None of the other cross-sectional areas were associated with symptom severity, recovery time, neurocognitive testing, or headache. CONCLUSIONS: In mild traumatic brain injury, the rectus capitis posterior minor is the only suboccipital muscle whose cross-sectional area is associated with symptom severity and worse outcome. Given the unique connection of this muscle to the dura, this finding may suggest that pathology of the myodural bridge contributes to symptomatology and prognosis in mild traumatic brain injury.


Taking dam body and steel liner in the gradual change segment of inlet of a hydropower station as the research target, structure analysis is carried out by use of the large finite element software. Temperature variation load and external pressure load equivalent to internal vacuum 0.2MPa pressure are considered. Stress and distribution of the dam, steel liner and the stiffener rings are obtained. The calculation results show that, steel liner structure in the gradual change segment has sufficient rigidity; the stress state of steel liner structure is very complex and the stress concentration in stiffener rings is significant; the stress value in sharp-angled area of stiffener ring structure is also very high. Anchor reinforcement with radial constraints and transverse stiffeners are suggested to add to the steel liner, so as to improve the force bearing conditions of steel liner structure in the gradual change segment of inlet. The obtained results and conclusions can be referenced for the design of steel liner structure in the gradual change segment of inlet.


Chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) probes issued from the encapsulation of a water proton paramagnetic shift reagent into the inner aqueous volume of lipid vesicles provide an emerging class of frequency-selective contrast agents with huge potential in the field of molecular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This work deals with the generation of such LipoCEST agents properly designed to optimize, under isotonic conditions, the chemical shift offset of the intra-liposomal water protons as well as the number of exchangeable protons under reasonably low radiofrequency (RF) fields of saturation. The strategy lies in the loading of poly(ethylene glycol)-stabilized nanosized liposomes with uncharged lanthanide chelates, binding more than one water molecule in the first hydration sphere, exemplified here by [Tm(III)-DO3A (H2 O)2 ] complex. The key properties of the probes are demonstrated by complementary NMR investigations. The residence lifetime of the water molecules coordinated to the lanthanide center was outstandingly short (9.5 ± 0.2 ns from (17) O NMR), and indeed relevant for effective LipoCEST responsiveness. The (1) H NMR CEST spectra (7.01 T magnetic field) prove that the theoretically expected optimal sensitivity can be approximated in the nanomolar concentration range, at reasonably low RF presaturation pulses (6.7-12 μT) and saturation frequency offsets of the intra-liposomal water protons beyond 10 ppm, making possible selective irradiation in biological environment. CEST-MRI images (7.01 T magnetic field and 10-12 μT RF pulse) explicitly confirm the interest of these newly conceived LipoCEST agents, indeed among the most efficient ones developed so far under isosmotic conditions.


The existing literature on professional identity enactment and development, subscribes to students' socializing in a learning environment, where they regularly encounter practicing professionals throughout their education period. However, in most countries with less resourced occupational therapists like Ghana, education in occupational therapy is fraught with inadequate number of same professionals to mentor undergraduate occupational therapy students. The students are thus faced with serious dilemma regarding their professional identity which tends to elicit a bleak perception of their chosen career. The present study was therefore envisaged to interpret and analyse the students' lived experiences, with the view to capture the process of constructing and developing professional identity. The study focused on purposively sampled group of nine undergraduate occupational therapy students during their practice placement education, and their learning styles on didactic lectures. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was adopted for the study. The students were followed up throughout their four-year study program for data collection, using one-to-one semi-structured interviews each year. With reference to the threshold concepts, transcribed interview data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological procedures. The study established a transformational development of professional identity from the novice stage into graduate professionals, amidst complex interaction of co-constructed themes which included: personal knowing, professional knowing and experiential knowing.


With small geographical size, land scarcity poses a potential constraint for economic growth in Singapore. Restraining car ownership and car use through motor vehicle taxes is part of the land-transport policy to ensure smoother traffic flow. The scale and scope of the motor vehicle taxes used have implications on government revenue and the environment. This paper analyses the use of motor vehicle taxes as environmental instruments. It compares the effectiveness of ownership versus use tax as tools to internalise congestion externality. Economic issues arising from motor vehicle taxes are also highlighted. It concludes that motor vehicle taxes offer Singapore a double dividend.


Novel 3D wurtzite ZnSe hierarchical nanostructures have been synthesized by a mild hydrothermal treatment. The as-prepared flowerlike nanostructures efficiently catalyze the photodegradation of methylene blue and ethyl violet present in aqueous solutions under UV light irradiation, exhibiting higher photocatalytic activity than the commercially available photocatalysts P25 and ZnSe microspheres. We also demonstrate that flowerlike morphology is important for the excellent photocatalytic activity. The high photoactivity of the hierarchical nanoflowers can be attributed to the combined effects of several factors, namely, large surface areas, the existence of mesopores, and the high band gap energy. In addition, the photocatalysts work effectively under natural sunlight as well. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that wurtzite ZnSe 3D flowerlike nanostructures with high photocatalytic activity have been synthesized in solution.


This paper argues that financial malpractice has not always been remedied in the public sector. Legislation that governs financial administration in the public sector is, thus, being disregarded. Officials continuously engage in unwanted expenditure (i.e. unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure) and no action is taken against them. The purpose of this paper was to probe the impact of financial malpractice by public officials as an impediment to service delivery. The methodological approach of this paper was the conceptual examination of literature which ultimately lead to proposed strategy measures towards financial malpractice and service delivery. This paper finds that officials unethically pursue their self-interest in enriching themselves by looting the government funds and neglecting the focus of enhancing service delivery. Consequently, this has relegated the impoverished citizens to a crisis situation. The lack of proper planning and the embezzlement of public funds have both been identified as factors that impede service delivery. This paper suggests that the government should tighten its internal control measures and reinforce compliance with the applicable laws and regulations. Furthermore, it suggests that officials should be held liable for any financial malpractice and, therefore, penalties for financial misconduct should be instituted against them. Lastly, government should provide comprehensive training and awareness programmes on financial malpractice and financial misconduct.


Purpose: To study the contribution of each eye to the reflex tear response, after unilateral and bilateral topical anesthesia. Method: A closed-eye, modified Schirmer test was performed bilaterally in 8 normal subjects, in a controlled environment chamber set to 23°C, 45% relative humidity, and 0.08 m/s airflow. Eye drops were instilled into each eye 10 minutes before the Schirmer test. Experiments were as follows: 1) bilateral saline (control), 2) unilateral anesthesia (ipsilateral anesthetic; contralateral saline), and 3) bilateral anesthesia. Results: There was no difference in between-eye wetting lengths in the saline control eyes (P = 0.394) or the bilaterally anesthetized eyes (P = 0.171). The wetting length was reduced in both eyes after bilateral anesthesia compared with saline controls (P = 0.001; P ⩽ 0.0005). After unilateral anesthesia, the wetting length was reduced in the anesthetized eye compared with its saline control by 51.4% (P ⩽ 0.0005) and compared with its fellow, unanesthetized eye (P = 0.005). The fellow eye value was also reduced compared with its saline control (P = 0.06). Conclusions: The wetting length was reduced by topical anesthesia, when instilled bilaterally and ipsilaterally. The latter response implies an ipsilateral, reflex sensory drive to lacrimal secretion. In the unanesthetized fellow eye, the reduction compared with its saline control was not quite significant. This implies a relative lack of central, sensory, reflex cross-innervation, although the possibility cannot entirely be ruled out. These results are relevant to the possibility of reflex lacrimal compensation from a normal fellow eye, in cases of unilateral corneal anesthesia.


A fifty-eight year old gentleman (CH) with a five-day history of toothache presented to the emergency department (ED) with increasing pain with associated submandibular swelling over the last 24-hours. He was an unkempt gentleman who had not consulted his general practitioner or dentist in many years, was unaware of any significant past medical history and was not on any regular medication. He was an obese gentleman with a BMI of 56.


High-order adaptive methods for fractional differential equations are proposed. The methods rely on a kernel reduction method for the approximation and localization of the history term. To avoid complications typical to multistep methods, we focus our study on 1-step methods and approximate the local part of the fractional integral by integral deferred correction to enable high order accuracy. We present numerical results obtained with both implicit and the explicit methods applied to different problems.


C hest ultrasonography demonstrated bowel loops in the thoracic cavity. A barium contrast study of the upper gastrointestinal tract showed herniated intestinal loops in the left hemithorax with dilated stomach. Emergency laparotomy revealed a leftsided posterolateral diaphragmatic defect with acute gastric volvulus and herniation of small bowel to the thoracic cavity. The contents were reduced back and the defect was repaired. No associated pulmonary or intestinal tract abnormalities were found, and recovery was uneventful. Herniation of abdominal contents into the thoracic cavity may occur as a result of a congenital or traumatic defect in 1 area of the diaphragm. Although there are several types and sites of congenital diaphragmatic hernia, the term is usually used synonymously with Bochdalek hernia or posterolateral defect, which is the most common term. Most cases present in the neonatal period; however, in 5% to 25% of patients, Bochdalek hernia may present later. The incidence of late-presenting diaphragmatic hernia has increased in recent years, perhaps reflecting the greater use of imaging in children with only mild symptoms. The question of whether the diaphragmatic defect in the late-onset group is congenital or acquired remains unresolved. Researchers have suggested that the defect exists prenatally but is small and occluded by the liver or spleen. However, in the small group of patients with previously normal chest radiography results, an acquired cause cannot be excluded. Symptoms in children with a delayed presentation may be acute or chronic. The most common acute symptoms include respiratory distress, vomiting due to intestinal obstruction, and cardiac arrest. Chronic symptoms are often nonspecific and include recurrent pulmonary infection, cough, chest pain, abdominal pain, and failure to thrive. Owing to the wide spectrum of symptoms and the lack of awareness of this rare condition, late-presenting diaphragmatic hernia can be mistaken for tension pneumothorax, pleural effusion, or pneumonia, which is the most frequent initial incorrect diagnosis (in up to 62% of patients). Misdiagnosis of this delayed presentation as pneumonia causes only an undesirable delay in treatment and is not associated with severe morbidity. In contrast, an incorrect diagnosis of tension pneumothorax or pleural effusion is associated with significant morbidity due to the insertion of a chest tube or chest drain into the herniated viscus. The treatment of a late-presenting diaphragmatic hernia is surgery. The reported incidence of associated defects, especially abnormal bowel fixation and/or rotation, is extremely variable, ranging from rare to common. Therefore, it is mandatory to look for associated anatomic abnormalities at the time of operation. Studies in children with late-presenting diaphragmatic hernia have described a favorable prognosis, especially in series published in recent years. The latter finding is most likely attributable to improved surgical and intensive care techniques and, consequently, lower rates of misdiagnosis. The case described here highlights 2 major points associated with late-presenting Bochdalek hernia. First, although the physical and imaging findings suggested the presence of pneumonia, the absence of fever and leukocytosis indicated another diagnosis. The coexisting symptoms of respiratory distress and symptoms suggesting gastrointestinal obstruction raised the suspicion of diaphragmatic hernia. Second, previously normal chest radiography results do not exclude the diagnosis of diaphragmatic hernia. A high index of suspicion is important because the condition could be life threatening.


The sea urchin fertilization envelope is an extracellular matrix assembled at fertilization to prevent polyspermy and protect the embryo during early development. During hatching, the embryo secretes a proteolytic hatching enzyme which dissolves the fertilization envelope, allowing a ciliated blastula to swim free. In this study we examined ultrastructural changes in the fertilization envelope during degradation of this matrix by hatching enzyme. The completed fertilization envelope is a trilaminar structure consisting of a dense, central layer of filaments sandwiched between surface coats of paracrystalline material. Hatching enzyme disassembles this matrix by degrading the paracrystalline layers and removing macromolecules from the central layer leaving behind a thin matrix of loosely woven fibers.


Information provided in issue reports are relevant and complete in order to help resolve issues quickly. However, often such information trickles to developers after several iterations of communication between End user and reporters. This paper addresses the concerns of Customization of an Enterprise management system by proposing for handling of the issues such as bugs, query and enhancements. As a proof-of-concept, we also demonstrate a prototype interactive enterprise request management system that gathers relevant information from the user and identifies files that need to be fixed to resolve the issues. The main contribution of this application is in the domain of business as we are developing Enterprise request Management System.


Using social embeddedness arguments, this study examines how the mobility of managers in professional service and client firms affects dissolution among their firms' market ties for that service. My analyses from a sample of agencies and clients in the advertising industry from 1986 to 1998 show that the exit of managers from client firms increases the likelihood that market ties dissolve and that the results are contingent on the size of the firm. In professional service firms, both the exit and promotion of managers affect the number of market tie dissolutions, but these results are contingent on managers' functional roles and the number of market ties maintained by professional service firms. Taken together these findings illustrate how dynamics in managerial labor markets affect market ties for services and how firms' characteristics moderate these effects. The results suggest several refinements to the social embeddedness perspective. *


Scattering problem is one of the most fundamental problems in physics, spanning almost all areas of physics. In this dissertation, we focus on scattering theory in two types of systems: two dimensional electron scattering in the presence of a random potential and light scattering by metallic nanoparticles. The first scattering problem we study is electron branched flow. In this system, electrons are confined to move in two dimensions while a smoothly changing weak random potential deflects their trajectories, resulting in the so-called branched flow. A semiclassical theory based on ray tracing was developed to explain all the observed features of branched flow. However, this semiclassical theory was challenged by the result of a more recent experiment, which claims to have uncovered "unexpected features of branched flow". We show how these features can actually be explained by the semiclassical theory. Besides electron scattering, we also investigate light scattering by metallic nanoparticles. In this case, we study the multiple scattering effect in the plasmon dimer system and show that one can use these metallic nanoparticles to put the incoming electromagnetic fields into different shapes by solving an inverse scattering problem.


We demonstrate comprehensive numerical studies on a hybrid III-V/Si-based waveguide system, serving as a platform for efficient light coupling between an integrated III-V quantum dot emitter to an on-chip quantum photonic integrated circuit defined on a silicon substrate. We propose a platform consisting of a hybrid InP/Si waveguide and an InP-embedded InAs quantum dot, emitting at the telecom C-band near 1550 nm. The platform can be fabricated using existing semiconductor processing technologies. Our numerical studies reveal nearly 87% of the optical field transfer efficiency between geometrically-optimized InP/Si and Si waveguides, considering propagating field along a tapered geometry. The coupling efficiency of a directional dipole emission to the hybrid InP/Si waveguide is evaluated to ∼38%, which results in more than 33% of the total on-chip optical field transfer efficiency from the dipole to the Si waveguide. We also consider the off-chip outcoupling efficiency of the propagating photon field along the Si waveguide by examining the normal to the chip plane and in-plane outcoupling configurations. In the former case, the outcoupling amounts to ∼26% when using the circular Bragg grating outcoupler design. In the latter case, the efficiency reaches up to 8%. Finally, we conclude that the conceptual device's performance is weakly susceptible to the transferred photon wavelength, offering a broadband operation within the 1.5-1.6 µm spectral range.


Often compared unfavorably with colonial New England, the early Chesapeake has been portrayed as irreligious, unstable, and violent. In this important new study, James Horn challenges this conventional view and looks across the Atlantic to assess the enduring influence of English attitudes, values, and behavior on the social and cultural evolution of the early Chesapeake. Using detailed local and regional studies to compare everyday life in English provincial society and the emergent societies of the Chesapeake Bay, Horn provides a richly textured picture of the immigrants' Old World backgrounds and their adjustment to life in America. Until the end of the seventeenth century, most settlers in Virginia and Maryland were born and raised in England, a factor of enormous consequence for social development in the two colonies. By stressing the vital social and cultural connections between England and the Chesapeake during this period, Horn places the development of early America in the context of a vibrant Anglophone transatlantic world and suggests a fundamental reinterpretation of New World society. |Based on literary and legal sources, this study reveals how legal contests involving women, children, African-Americans, and the poor of the 19th-century South led to a rethinking of families, sexuality, and the social order.


In this paper, we first review the Coded Distributed Computing (CDC) framework, recently proposed to significantly slash the data shuffling load of distributed computing via coding, and then discuss the extension of the CDC techniques to cope with two major challenges in general distributed computing problems, namely the straggling servers and multistage computations. When faced with straggling servers in a distributed computing cluster, we describe a unified coding scheme that superimposes CDC with the Maximum-Distance-Separable (MDS) coding on computation tasks, which allows a flexible tradeoff between computation latency and communication load. On the other hand, for a general multistage computation task expressed as a directed acyclic graph (DAG), we propose a coded framework that given the load of computation on each vertex of the DAG, applies the generalized CDC scheme individually on each vertex to minimize the communication load.


The ingredients to make an environment habitable (e.g., liquid water, chemical disequilibria, and organic molecules) are found throughout the solar system. Liquid water has existed transiently on some bodies and persistently as oceans on others. Molecular hydrogen occurs in a plume on Saturn's moon Enceladus. It can drive the reduction of CO2 to release energy. Methane has been observed in many places: from the dusty plains of Mars, to the great lakes of the Saturnian moon Titan, to the glacial wonderland that is Pluto. Organic molecules are common where volatile elements and reducing conditions prevail: these organic molecules can have diverse origins. Future space missions will attempt to illuminate the "organic solar system" and the role played by possible extraterrestrial life.


In the absence of clear legislative intent as to the status of a corporation or public body as a Crown agent or Government mandatary, the courts apply one or both of two tests. The function test, based on the concept of public purpose, requires that the court decides what kind of activities can be held as functions of Government. The test is therefore subjective and not particularly satisfactory, bearing in mind that it is not for the courts to impose upon the Legislature any political doctrine as to what are the proper functions of Government. The control test requires that the whole statutory framework be examined in order to determine whether or not the corporation or public body has discretionary powers of its own, exerciseable with some degree of independence from the Cabinet. Corporate status, financial autonomy, independence of the managers and control of the corporation's or public body's activities are components of the test. Any one factor will not be determinative in itself. But when several point the same way, the courts will tend to follow their lead. Yet, this test has failed to produce completely consistent results. The practical end of the exercise is to determine whether such public bodies or corporations are entitled, as Crown agents, to some or all of the privileges, immunities and prerogative powers enjoyed by the Crown. Some of these attributes are examined in this paper, such as the Crown's immunity from civil and criminal liability, statute law, taxation, and civil execution. Bankruptcy of public corporations is also considered. The authors suggest that the courts should no longer be left to apply these tests, since that may often frustrate the intent of the Legislature not to confer the attributes of a Crown agent. The Interpretation Act could be amended to make it clear that such status can only be conferred by an express enactment. Further, the Legislature should, when conferring such status, specify which attributes are meant to vest in the Crown agent.


We present a multilevel Monte Carlo simulation method for analyzing multi-scale physical systems via a hierarchy of coarse-grained representations, to obtain numerically exact results, at the most detailed level. We apply the method to a mixture of size-asymmetric hard spheres, in the grand canonical ensemble. A three-level version of the method is compared with a previously studied two-level version. The extra level interpolates between the full mixture and a coarse-grained description where only the large particles are present-this is achieved by restricting the small particles to regions close to the large ones. The three-level method improves the performance of the estimator, at fixed computational cost. We analyze the asymptotic variance of the estimator and discuss the mechanisms for the improved performance.


Abstract. Multi dimensional data (multi frequency, incident angle and polarisation) measurements of σ0 provided better estimates of soil moisture over those derived from single. This particular paper explains a new methodology for soil moisture estimation with the use of multi angle and multi polarisation RISAT-1 data. The roughness component was derived by correlating root mean square height with the differences of cross polarisation and like polarisation backscatter values (σ HV - σ HH) and differences of low and high incidence backscatter values (σ HH high (θ) - σ HH Low). The derived roughness was inputted to the modified dubois model (MDM). The results show both the σ HV - σ HH & σ HH high (θ) - σ HH Low are sensitive to roughness. The derived soil moisture using the MDM model is shows reasonable correlation with ground soil moisture.


In a preliminary screening we found that few substituted benzaldehyde have growth inhibitory effect against Mycobacterium. Study was planned to convert these substituted benzaldehyde to antimycobacterial Schiff's bases. Schiff's bases were synthesized by condensation of 2-Amino pyridine/ its derivative or Thiophene/ Furoic/ Nicotinic acid hydrazide with these substituted benzaldehydes. Compounds were purified and characterized by IR, 1 H and 13 C-NMR and were subjected to Antimycobacterial testing in two of the Mycobacterial strains; fast growing Mycobacterium smegmatis by disc diffusion method and further in to slow growing Mycobacterium bovis BCG strain using quantitative resazurin microplate assay. Schiff's bases 3c, 3f and 8a have shown 60, 40 and 50 mm zone of inhibition in M. smegmatis, compared to control, Isoniazid showed 40 mm zone of inhibition. In Mycobacterium bovis, compounds 3c, 3f and 8a showed 53.69, 49.41, and 46.49 % of cell killing at 500 µM, the activity was concentration dependent and reduced viability of 29.73, 37.75 and 36.15% were reported at 125 µM. Isoniazid has shown 60% cell killing at 40 µg/ml. Schiff's bases prepared from 4-hydroxy or 4-Nitro benzaldehyde with 2-amino pyridine (3c and 3f) and 2, 3 Dihydroxy benzaldehyde with nicotinic acid hydrazide (8a) have shown promising antimycobacterial potential.


Chondrosarcomas are malignant mesenchymal tumors characterized by the differentiation of pure hyaline cartilage, and they are relatively uncommon in jawbones. Chondrosarcoma of the jaws usually presents as a painless mass or swelling associated with loosening of the associated teeth. This report describes an unusual case of chondrosarcoma that mimicked pulp disease on initial presentation in the maxilla of a 22-year-old man. The relevant literature is reviewed regarding clinicopathologic features and therapeutic management of chondrosarcomas.


Because of density and distribution flaws inherent with in situ rainfall measurements, satellite-based rainfall products, especially the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), were expected to offer an alternative or complement for modeling of hydrological processes and water balance analysis. This study aims at evaluating the validity of a standard product, the TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) 3B42V6, by comparing it with in situ ground gauge datasets on a typical alpine and gorge region in China, the Jinsha River basin. The validation study involved the performance of the 3B42V6 product on 3 h, daily and monthly temporal scales. Statistical analysis methods were used for rainfall and rain event estimation. The results affirmed that the 3B42V6 product demonstrated increasing accuracy when the temporal scales were increased from 3 h to daily to monthly. The mean correlation coefficient of rainfall time series between the 3B42V6 product and the gauge over the Jinsha River basin reached 0.34 on the 3 h scale, 0.59 on the daily scale, and 0.90 on the monthly scale. The mean probability of detection (POD) of the 3B42V6 product reached 0.34 on the 3 h scale and 0.63 on the daily scale. The 3B42V6 product of 80.4% of stations obtained an acceptable bias (+/- 25 %) over the investigation area. A threshold of nearly 5.0 mm d(-1) in daily rainfall intensity split the 3B42V6 product into overestimates ( 5.0 mm d(-1)). The terrain elements of altitude, longitude, and latitude were the major influencing factors for 3B42V6 performance. In brief, the 3B42V6 dataset has great potential for research on hydrologic processes, especially daily or large temporal scale. As for fine temporal scale applications, such as flood predictions based on a 3 h scale dataset, it is necessary to conduct adjustments or to combine the 3B42V6 product with gauges to be more accurate regarding the issues in the study area or in analogous regions with complicated terrains.


Organic food consumption in the world tends to grow each year along with the increasing public awareness on health. This positive trend also happens in Indonesia. Nevertheless, many producers of organic food in Indonesia face problems in market their products. Most of them are SMEs so they have limited financial resources for conducting marketing activities. Therefore, they need kinds of marketing program that can be run at a low cost but reach a wide range of audience. Online marketing meets these requirements. Nowadays, the role of online commerce in increasing organizations' profit is growing each year. Organizations spending on online marketing is also increasing as media buyers adjust to online world while other media advertisement spending keep falling or remain constant each year. Nevertheless, the online marketing effort should be designed in a way that will deliver value to both the organization and its customers. Several SMEs in Indonesia have adopted online marketing program but they do not enjoy its maximum benefit. Even worst, they just ignore or stop their online marketing activities. One form of online marketing is a website creation program. This study is intended to investigate the characteristics of online marketing activities and website that will enhance the customers' intention to buy. Several steps are taken. First step, we identify characteristics of online buyers in general in Indonesia. Then, based on their similarities and differences, we group them into several segments. Second step, we identify potential segment suitable to be targeted by organic food producers. At the end, we identify the online marketing activities and the technical characteristics of website that match with the profile of the selected segment. Total 686 valid data are collected out of 688 data gathered using an online questionnaire. The questionnaire's URL is being spread through several online social media. Factor analysis is used to analyze the data and the result shows there are six factors that influence online purchase intention, namely ease-of-use, website integrity, customer communication, word-of-mouth, transaction security, and perceived usefulness. Then, cross tabulation and cluster analysis is conducted to obtain segments and their profiles. This study shows that potential online shoppers could be grouped into three segments based on behavioral variables (online buying frequency and spending, and payment method) and psychographic variables. For the organic products, the potential target is professional-shopaholic group, the segment with buyers who have high frequency on online shopping and relatively large number of online financial transaction. These characteristics are then translated into technical characteristics of organic food online marketing activities and website in order to increase visitors' intention to buy. At the end, this paper is also describes the implementation of the study result by analyzing an existing processed organic food producer.


Mechanical forces are crucial to the regulation of different aspects of cellular phenotype. These forces are transmitted between cells primarily through the bonds of intercellular junctions. A striking feature of cell adhesion junctions is their ability to sense and respond to the force. It is known that the size of the junctions correlates with the magnitude of transmitted traction. In this study, we present a physical model for the interaction between two flexible membranes conjugated by a number of mobile bonds. The membranes have finite bending rigidity and are subjected to membrane tension and intracellular contraction. Implementing the first and second laws of thermodynamics, we derived the fundamental equations that control the self-assembly or growth kinetics of the junction. We predict that the junction may grow or shrink in size depending on the magnitude of membrane tension. More importantly, an increase in intracellular contraction always leads to spontaneous growth of the junctions. The balance between the lateral osmotic pressure of aggregated bonds, inter-membrane repulsive pressure, and elastic energy density of deformed membranes controls the equilibrium size of the junction. These passive sensory functions are purely mechanistic, independent from any internal signaling within the cells.


BACKGROUND
As the prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) increases, it is important to understand the self-care behavior of CKD patients.

OBJECTIVES
To construct a CKD self-care scale and evaluate its metric properties.

METHODS
Through literature review and clinical experience, question items were constructed and validated using item analysis. Factors analysis was used to validate the reliability and validity of the resultant questionnaire in a cross-sectional study.

RESULTS
Six subscales containing a total of 20 items were extracted from the original CKD self-care scale using item and exploratory factor analysis. After performing three-time model goodness of fit, only five subscales including regular medication (5 items), diet control (4 items), regular exercise (3 items), smoking habits (2 items), and blood pressure management (2 items) were included in the final scale. The total explained variance of the final subscales was 74.96%. The reliability of the scale was examined and found to be satisfactory. Each absolute factor loading value fell between .72 and .94. The Cronbach's alpha for the overall scale was .83 and those for the five subscales were .83, .83, .94, .81, and .87, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS / IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
Appropriate assessment tools that allow CKD health educators to evaluate the self-care behaviors of patients effectively are needed. The valid and reliable CKD self-care scale that was developed in the present study is able to assist CKD health educators to quickly evaluate the self-care behavior of patients and to make appropriate health plans.


This paper presents the temperature effect on a Ku-band NMOS common-gate low-noise amplifier (CG-LNA). The temperature characteristics of an NMOS transistor and spiral inductors are obtained over the temperature range from 253 to 393 K. These results show that the optimal bias condition minimizes the transconductance and drain current temperature variations. Based on these results, a current-reused CG-LNA with good temperature performance is designed. At ambient temperatures, the CG-LNA has a measured power gain of 10.3 dB and a noise figure (NF) of 4.3 dB at 15.2 GHz, while consuming 4.5 mA from a 1.3-V power supply. When the temperature varies from 253 to 393 K, the CG-LNA has a power gain variation of 3 dB, NF variation of 2 dB , and dc power consumption variation of 11.9%. This paper is the first to report the temperature effect on Ku-band CG-LNAs.


A new medium prepared from ram horn hydrolysate was utilized for the enumeration of aerobic bacteria from environmental samples. First, horns were ground and 35 g of horn flour was hydrolyzed chemically. The hydrolyzed material was completed to 400 ml with deionized water and this resulting solution was termed ram horn hydrolysate (RHH). It was found that it has both organic and inorganic materials sufficient for use as a bacterial medium. The RHH was enriched by the addition of glucose, yeast extract and KH2PO4. The effects of different concentrations (1 to 10% v/v) of RHH on the growth of bacteria from environmental samples were investigated; 4% of RHH was found to be optimal and it was called Kurbanolu-Algur Agar (KAA). The new medium (KAA) contains 10 g of glucose, 1 g of yeast extract, 40 ml of the hydrolysate, 1 g of KH2PO4 and 15 g of agar per liter of laboratory quality water. KAA medium was tested against plate count agar (PCA), nutrient agar (NA) and trypticase soy agar (TSA) for its ability to support the growth of bacteria in pure cultures and environmental samples such as soil, water, milk and meat. KAA medium yielded significantly (P < 0.05) higher bacterial counts than PCA and NA did, but lower (not statistically significant) counts than those of TSA. In conclusion, KAA was found to be a suitable medium for the enumeration of aerobic bacteria from environmental samples.


This paper proposes a representation and measurement method for compressed air power widely used by various industries in the industrial. It proposes an accurate and standardized way to represent and measure the power energy in unit time of the flow compressed air, then establishes the evaluation system in energy distribution, loss and use in pneumatic system, which can clear the energy loss in pneumatic system and its components. Pneumatic power transducer designed in accordance with pneumatic power, it has advanced functions and higher precision, which can promote the energy efficiency greatly in pneumatic system.


The European Union coordinates and encourages Member State actions to combat poverty, and to reform their social protection systems on the basis of policy exchanges and mutual learning ('best practices'). Some EU countries are more effective in poverty reduction than others. What can explain these variations in effectiveness? This paper analyzes the effectiveness of social transfers in alleviating poverty. We focus on EU15 countries, but also include other OECD countries in our analysis. We compare poverty rates at the levels of market and disposable incomes, that is before and after transfers, in order to analyze the effect of tax and transfer policies in reducing poverty, i.e. to determine the target efficiency of social transfers. We perform several tests with the most recent data (LIS, OECD, SOCX, and Eurostat: ECHP/EU-SILC). Finally, we perform several partial analyses by disaggregating poverty rates to socioeconomic and demographic conditions in order to investigate to what extent variations at the social program level (such as old age pensions, child benefits) affect the measured effectiveness of the welfare state in alleviating poverty.
Empirical results draw heavily on how pensions are treated - as primary income or as transfer. We find a strong relationship between levels of social spending and antipoverty effects of social transfers and taxes across EU15 countries. Social spending seems to be an important determinant of a country's poverty outcome, especially among the elderly, when pensions are considered as transfers. Our analysis highlights some cross-country differences in targeting of social expenditures on poverty alleviation in EU15 and non-EU15 countries around 2005. We introduce an indicator of Public Policy Effectiveness on Poverty Alleviation across countries. Each percentage point of social expenditure alleviates poverty in both EU15 and non-EU15 countries by .7 percentage points on average. Relatively high scores in EU15 countries are found for Ireland and Scandinavian countries, while Italy, Greece and Spain score lowest. Outside Europe the poorest scores are reported for Korea and the USA. Country ranking appears to be rather stable over time when outcomes for 1995 and 2005 are compared, although some of our results may be sensitive to cyclical factors. Finally, we analyzed poverty among vulnerable age groups. Our results show that family programs and child support alleviate poverty among children to a large extent, especially in non-EU15 countries. For public and private old age pension and survivors schemes we find no effect on poverty in case pensions are considered as transfers (both in EU15 and non-EU15 countries). However, this picture changes completely when pensions are counted as transfers. In that case the poverty rate among elderly in EU15 falls from 90 to 21 percent through taxes and social transfers!


In recent years, the Environmental Science course has become increasingly integrated into the high school curriculum as a component of the core curriculum, an AP course, or as an elective (Edelson, 2007); however, little research has been conducted to evaluate the course's effectiveness in developing students' understanding of their relationship with the environment (Zelezny, 1999). Therefore, this ethnographic study at a public high school in the Northeastern United States focuses on the teacher's goals for the Environmental Science course, how students respond to the enactment of these objectives during activities in the classroom, and how the class impacts students' views of their relationship with the environment and their pro-environmental behavior. A sociocultural approach is utilized to explore how students' environmental identities, their interactions with the course content, as well as their social interactions affect their experiences in the Environmental Science classroom. The study's conceptual framework is based upon Kempton and Holland's (2003) stages of environmental identity development, as well as symbolic interactionist theories of emotion. The participants in this study are an Environmental Science teacher and the 10-12th grade students (N=17) in her semester-long elective, "Environmental Science." The researcher collected data for a period of six months during the spring semester of 2009, attending class on a daily basis. Data was collected through participant observation, videotaping, interviews, cogenerative dialogues, and various surveys. The objectives for the Environmental Science course explored in this research include the role of science content knowledge and critical thinking as students are exposed to new environmental information; developing students' emotional connection with environmental issues; influencing students' environmental behavior; and empowering students to feel that they can make a difference through their own actions. Through presentation of the students' reactions to their experiences in the classroom, the results of this study provide new information for educators working with students to help them define their relationship with the environment by illuminating the elements of various activities that are effective for individual students, as well as factors that may be prohibitive. Findings therefore provide insight for science teachers designing and incorporating environmental activities into the high school curriculum.


Archival and pop-up satellite archival tags have been widely used to study the move- ment dynamics in many marine pelagic species. Recent advances in light-based geolocation models have enabled better estimation of the geographical positions of tagged animals. In particular, TrackIt, a state-space model with the Kalman filter, uses only light data from a tag for estimating positions and does so independently of manufacturer calculations. This approach is a complete break from previ- ous geolocation methodologies, which rely on manufacturer-processed positions as an input. In this paper, a unified model is presented to extend TrackIt to incorporate satellite sea-surface temperature (SST) matching, an approach that has been demonstrated to improve accuracy. The performance of various satellite SST imagery products is also evaluated by the comparison of SST-inclusive models against the basic TrackIt model using only light information. Three new model parameters (bias, error and smoothing radius) are introduced for handling SST observations. Analyses based on dou- ble-tagging comparisons show that the overall accuracy of TrackIt increases with the incorporation of SST, even when the resolution of the matching satellite product is rather coarse. At the same time, the model accuracy can decrease when the SST observations do not exhibit any strong trends, rendering SST matching less informative. The incorporation of SST within this generic and statistically sound modeling framework illustrates how TrackIt can readily be extended to utilize new data streams, such as geomagnetic data, which will become available with the next generation of archival tags.


Objectives: This model examines the effects of changing referral strategies within the established structure of NHS cervical screening driven colposcopy practice. It considers the effects of the new strategy on colposcopy workload, patient waiting times, and associated costs and health benefits.

Methods: By postal survey, the current operational strategies of colposcopy services were established by questionnaire with respect to referral practices and management protocols. After first-cut piloting, and utilising published and original research, a Markovian model was constructed, and the impact of the new strategy was determined on colposcopy workload and patient waiting times for three hypothetical clinic types. Expected costs and benefits of the new policy were assessed through the adaptation of a previous ScHARR cervical screening model.

Results: Clinic workload is expected to increase by between 21% and 35% within three years of the policy change, depending on clinic efficiency in other areas; the majority of this impact would be seen within the first year. It is predicted that particularly inefficient clinics would struggle to meet the existing waiting time requirements for women referred with low-grade disease, owing to the increased level of workload seen throughout the patient pathway as a result of the implementation of the new policy.

The impact of the new policy can, however, be mitigated through improving the efficiency of existing clinics, by altering policies relating to surveillance of low grade disease, post-treatment follow-up, treatment policy (whether or not treatment is performed at the initial colposcopy visit), and through adherence to national guidelines.

A cost-effectiveness analysis using the ScHARR liquid-based cytology model suggests that the policy change is likely to be have a cost per quality-adjusted lifeyear gained of between £1,400 and £5,500 per quality-adjusted life-year gained (excluding the costs of follow-up), which would be deemed acceptable to organisations such as the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.


Background—CD4+CD28null T cells are present in increased numbers in the peripheral blood of patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) compared with patients with chronic stable angina (CSA). The triggers of activation and expansion of these cells to date remain unclear. Methods and Results—Twenty-one patients with ACS and 12 CSA patients with angiographically confirmed coronary artery disease and 9 healthy volunteers were investigated. Peripheral blood leukocytes were stimulated with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), Chlamydia pneumoniae, human heat-shock protein 60 (hHSP60), or oxidized LDL (ox-LDL). CD4+CD28null cells were separated by flow cytometry and assessed for antigen recognition using upregulation of interferon-&ggr; and perforin mRNA transcription as criteria for activation. CD4+CD28null cells from 12 of 21 patients with ACS reacted with hHSP60. No response was detected to HCMV, C pneumoniae, or ox-LDL. Incubation of the cells with anti-MHC class II and anti-CD4 antibodies but not anti-class I antibodies blocked antigen presentation, confirming recognition of the hHSP60 to be via the MHC class II pathway. Patients with CSA had low numbers of CD4+CD28null cells. These cells were nonreactive to any of the antigens used. Circulating CD4+CD28null cells were present in 5 of the 9 healthy controls. None reacted with hHSP60. Conclusions—We have shown that hHSP60 is an antigen recognized by CD4+CD28null T cells of ACS patients. Endothelial cells express hHSP60 either constitutively or under stress conditions. Circulating hHSP60-specific CD4+CD28null cells may, along other inflammatory mechanisms, contribute to vascular damage in these patients.


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A volume discounting model in the micro-grid power market discussed in this paper. The Generator Companies' (GenCo) discounting model and the special fares for Distribution Companies (DisCo) formulated. The concept of renewable energy intermittent electricity transmissions to certain storage devices in the distribution level presented as a novel contribution in the field. Considering the final unit price which GenCo proposes to Disco for different power consumption levels, GenCo tries to maximize its profit margin by controlling DisCos' order behavior, in term of volumes per order, by using the discounting tool. Respectively DisCo tries to maximize its profit margin by considering the special fares offered by GenCo. In this model, the volume of electricity in the storage devises assumed to continuously drained over the time. The drained power volume assumed to be a fraction of stored power in the storage devices. This model formulated as a Stackelberg game between a micro-grid GenCo and DisCo considering renewable-energy concept as an artwork to reach an optimal discounting and pricing policy. This policy will maximize both parties' profit margins per unit of time. Finally, the model credibility examined by using a numerical example to show benefits of the proposed formulation. Key-Words: Power Market, Demand-side Management, Discount Policy, Micro-Grid, Renewable Energy Resources, Profit Margin, Stackelberg Game


The human gut contains a vast array of viruses, mostly bacteriophages. The majority remain uncharacterised and their roles in shaping the gut microbiome and in impacting on human health remain poorly understood. Here we performed a longitudinal focused metagenomic study of faecal bacteriophage populations in healthy adults. Our results reveal high temporal stability and individual specificity of bacteriophage consortia which correlates with the bacterial microbiome. We report the existence of a stable, numerically predominant individual-specific persistent personal virome. Clustering of bacteriophage genomes and de novo taxonomic annotation identified several groups of crAss-like and Microviridae bacteriophages as the most stable colonizers of the human gut. CRISPR-based host prediction highlighted connections between these stable viral communities and highly predominant gut bacterial taxa such as Bacteroides, Prevotella and Faecalibacterium. This study provides insights into the structure of the human gut virome and serves as an important baseline for hypothesis-driven research.


BACKGROUND
The capacity to be self-directed, take responsibility for one's learning, and possess grit, perseverance, and passion for long-term goals is fundamental to doctoral education. Compassionate teaching (CT) strategies may help foster these traits.

PURPOSE
This study explored CT strategies, self-directedness, and grit in doctoral nursing education.

METHODS
A mixed-methods design examined doctor of nursing (DNP) graduates' (N = 227) perceptions of self-directedness, grit, and CT using an online survey and interviews.

RESULTS
A weak direct correlation existed between CT strategies and grit. A weak-to-moderate direct significant correlation existed between CT strategies and self-directedness. Participants were moderately self-directed with postmasters-DNP graduates being more self-directed than postbaccalaureate-DNP graduates. Qualitative results validated that CT strategies include committing time to relationship building, providing timely critical feedback while being kind, and treating students fairly.

CONCLUSIONS
Faculty who embrace rigor and compassion are appreciated by students and are perceived to foster self-directedness and grit.


Recent work showed that κ-deformations can describe the quantum deformation of several relativistic models that have been proposed in the context of quantum gravity phenomenology. Starting from the Poincaré algebra of special-relativistic symmetries, one can toggle the curvature parameter Λ, the Planck scale quantum deformation parameter κ and the speed of light parameter c to move to the well-studied κ-Poincaré algebra, the (quantum) (A)dS algebra, the (quantum) Galilei and Carroll algebras and their curved versions. In this review, we survey the properties and relations of these algebras of relativistic symmetries and their associated noncommutative spacetimes, emphasizing the nontrivial effects of interplay between curvature, quantum deformation and speed of light parameters.


The study examines the contribution of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to the performance of non-oil exports in Nigeria within the framework of the export-led growth (ELG) hypothesis. Available evidence in Nigeria supports that the bulk of FDI inflow into the country goes to the oil sector of the economy. From the perspective of efficiency-seeking FDI, foreign capital always aims at taking advantage of cost-efficient production condition. Given this fact, a causality analysis was undertaken in order to verify the relevance of the ELG hypothesis. Also, the dynamic interaction among FDI, non-oil exports, and economic growth is investigated using the concept of variance decomposition and impulse response analysis. The results obtained from the causality analysis revealed that a unidirectional causality runs from FDI to non-oil exports. Each of the three variables exhibited on the average and at the early stages of the out-of-sample forecast period, a dormant response to one standard deviation shock or innovation. However, they all demonstrated significant responses after some 7 years into the out-of-sample forecast period. The results also show that an encouragement of non-oil exports is a necessity for an effective FDI in Nigeria. Therefore, in designing policies towards this direction, policy response lag need to be taken into consideration.


As higher education moves increasingly to blended and fully online environments, smaller institutions often ask whether this is a desirable trend. They face many challenges in transforming their largely face-to-face didactic teaching traditions to the technology mediated learning environments. Learning effectiveness and student satisfaction are seen to be decisive in whether blended environments are a positive development or not. Using survey data from a liberal arts and sciences institution, we show that student satisfaction with blended learning depends largely on the challenges presented by the subject matter, the degree to which self-directed learning and problem solving are required, and the effectiveness of the chosen pedagogies by which face-to-face and online methods are combined. Blended environments that provide multiple modalities for learning, significant interactivity, familiar technologies, and sustained connections with teachers and peers are preferred by increasing numbers of students in this institution. Although many students and faculty remain skeptical about blended learning, there are others who are very satisfied learners.


Pedestrians are the most vulnerable users of public roads and represent one of the largest groups of road casualties; their death rate around the world due to vehicle-pedestrian collisions is high and tending to rise. In Spain, as in other countries of the European Union, steps have been taken to reduce the number and consequences of such accidents, with encouraging results in recent years. A key to countering this concern is the accident research activity that has obtained remarkable achievements in different fields, especially when multidisciplinary approaches are taken. This paper describes the development of a multivariate model that is able to detect the most influential parameters on the consequences of vehicle-pedestrian collision and to quantify their impact on pedestrian fatality risk. First, an accident database containing detailed information and parameters of vehicle-pedestrian collisions in Madrid has been developed. The accidents were investigated on the spot by INSIA accident investigation teams and analyzed using advanced reconstruction techniques. The model was then developed with two components: (1) a classification tree that characterizes and selects the explanatory variables, identifying their interactions, and (2) a binary logistic regression to quantify the influence of each variable and interaction resulting from the classification tree. The whole model represents an important tool for identifying, quantifying and predicting the potential impact of measures aimed at reducing injuries in vehicle-pedestrian collisions.


he effect of reduced and conventional tillage systems on soil compaction and moisture content in two years with extreme weather conditions is introduced in this paper. The investigations were carried out in a long-term soil cultivation experiment set on a heavy textured meadow chernozem soil at the Karcag Research Institute. In 2010 the amount of precipitation during the vegetation period of winter wheat was 623.3 mm, 2.2 times higher than the 50-year average, while in 2011 this value was 188.7 mm giving only 65% of the average. The examinations were made after harvest on stubbles on 4 test plots in 5 replications in the case of each tillage system. Soil compaction was characterised by penetration resistance values, while the actual soil moisture contents were determined by gravimetry. The values of penetration resistance and soil moisture content of the cultivated soil layer were better in the case of reduced tillage under extreme precipitation conditions. It could be established that regular application of deep soil loosening is essential due to the formation of the unfavourable compact soil layer under 30 cm. Conventional tillage resulted in enhanced compaction under the depth of ploughing, the penetration resistance can reach the value of 4 MPa under wet, while even 8 MPa under dry soil status.


We present the case of a woman with a giant endometrial polyp of uncommon dimension who was receiving adjuvant tamoxifen for breast cancer. In her gynecologic examination, she had a mass measuring 3 x 4 x 4 cm protruding from the cervical os. The mass was extirpated under general anesthesia. The mass originated from the endometrial cavity. The endometrial polyp measured 10 x 6 x 3 cm macroscopically and was found to be benign under microscopic examination. We conclude that physicians should be aware of the confounding effects of tamoxifen on the histological and ultrasonographic appearance of the endometrium.


A reply Thank you for the opportunity to reply. As the author rightly points out the probable 'gold standard' for confirmation of tracheal tube placement is capnography. This is still however, regrettably, unavailable in every anaesthetic room and it is our belief that this situation will remain so for some time to come. SCOTI is a portable, lightweight battery powered and a relatively inexpensive device which could be easily made available in every anaesthetic room and which in our belief will adequately identify oesophageal intubation. Our concern regarding the outlier referred to in the letter was a justified caveat, but even in this patient the numerical value was far below and outside the confidence limits for the tracheal intubation values. As pointed out in our discussion we believe that that outlier was as a result of our relative inexperience with the device and concerned with its improper standardisation during the early stages of our evaluation. We hoped by our paper to encourage others to follow us in our evaluation to create a larger body of experience from which we will all be able to draw an informed conclusion.


: Introduction: Dental enamel is an uncommon tissue in body .Once it is formed, it is not remodeled, unlike other hard tissues such as bone. Because of its non- remodeling nature, alterations of enamel during its formation permanent damage of the enamel is Molar Incisor Hypo-mineralization (MIH) Methods and results: it can be said that the prevalence of MIH appears to be increasing, and managing affected children is a general problem for pediatric dentists. The etiology is unclear and may be multifactorial, in fact the children born preterm and in their first 3 years with poor general health or systemic conditions may develop MIH. The early identification of such children may permit monitoring of their PFMs so that remineralization and preventive measures can be considered as soon as affected surfaces are visible in oral cavity. In order to provide the complex care, it must address the child's behavior and anxiety, seeking to provide durable and pain-free restorations. It is recommended that it is necessary to consider further research to clarify etiological factors and improve the durability of restorations in affected teeth


SYNOPSIS. The establishment and inheritance of individualized structural units is a key feature of morphological evolution, embodied in the concept of homology. In current debates, homology is often equated with identical genetic encoding. The empirical evidence for this assumption is ambiguous. Genetic identity can indicate morphological identity in some cases, but several examples show that gene expression patterns and regulatory systems of development may be highly conserved while morphological characters undergo dramatic evolutionary innovation. This indicates some independence of structural homology from its genetic and developmental makeup. It is proposed that phenotypic evolution depends strongly on the epigenetic context in which genetic redundancy becomes available for the control of new developmental interactions. The integrated character of developmental systems may represent an important factor in the origin and identity of morphological characters and can stabilize incipient structures before their full genetic integration. The origin of the autopod section of the tetrapod limb is an example which suggests that novel homologues can arise in evolution as a consequence of changing the epigenetic context of conserved gene function.


My work on the Comatulæ of the 'Challenger' Expedition naturally led me to a consideration of their fossil representatives; and I found that although continental palæontologists have described several species from the Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks of Central Europe, hardly one has been recorded as occurring in the corresponding formations of the British area. It soon appeared, however, that this is not because we have none to record, but merely because neither descriptions nor names have been given for those which we have. In the following pages I propose to make good this deficiency; but I would first express my sincere thanks to Mr. Etheridge, of the Royal School of Mines, to Professor Hughes, of Cambridge, and to Messrs. Henry Woodward and R. Etheridge, jun., of the British Museum, for the ready kindness with which they have allowed me to make use of specimens in the collections under their charge. I am also greatly indebted to Dr. Wright, of Cheltenham, for placing at my disposal two specimens from his own collection. Schlüter* has recently published some descriptions, together with excellent figures, of several new fossil Comatulæ from Germany, Italy, and Sweden. At the same time he has expressed some views as to their anatomy and classification which are inconsistent with some of his statements of fact, and still more so with the results of my own observations on the anatomy of the recent species. He gives the following general description† of the "Knopf" or centrodorsal piece, which is the part


In this paper the study Overall health inspection is companion essential a part of care in several countries. Distinctive the participants in hazard are very important for early notice and preventive intervention. The fundamental challenge of learning a classification model for risk forecast lies within the unlabeled knowledge that establishes the bulk of the collected dataset. There's no ground truth for discriminating their states of health. Significantly, the unlabeled knowledge describes the contributors in health investigations whose health conditions will vary greatly from healthy to very-ill. In this paper, we tend to recommend a graph-based, semi-supervised learning algorithmic rule mentioned to as SHG-Health (Semi-supervised Heterogeneous Graph on Health) for risk predictions to categorize an increasingly developing scenario with the bulk of the information unlabeled Wide-ranging experiments supported each real health examination datasets and artificial datasets are achieved to indicate the effectiveness and strength of our procedure.


Abstract A new sedimentological technique has been tested in Gelasian cross-stratified, bio-siliciclastic deposits cropping out in southern Italy (Lucanian Apennine) to disentangle paleoenvironmental and model reconstructions for shallow-water mixed sediments. The proposed method suggests the use of the bioclastic/siliciclastic ratio (bls), and the Segregation Index (S.I.) to evaluate the percentage of the dominant elastic component in a mixed deposit, and in order to estimate the degree of the heterolithic segregation between bioclastic and siliciclastic particles. The principle of this method is based on the experimental evidence that bioclasts and quartz grains reveal a different physical behavior if entrained by a hydraulic flow of a given energy. Thus, a different internal texture of bioclastic and terrigenous particles in the same sedimentary deposit is regarded as the result of the variation in the energy of a number of hydrodynamic processes that characterize shallow marine settings, including waves, currents, and tides. The studied mixed sediments, subdivided into facies associations, exhibit stratigraphic shoaling-upward successions recording repeated transitions from offshore to shoreface environments. These trends are documented through the vertical variations in the degree of heterolithic segregation between mixed clastic particles, quantified by using the S.I. introduced in the present study. The assessment of the degree of heterolithic segregation is thus proposed as a proxy to distinguish depositional environments related to different water depths in shallow-water mixed systems.


This title deals with open-minded designs and undefined spaces of radical architecture. 'Coop Himmelb(l)au is not a color but an idea of creating architecture with fantasy, as buoyant and variable as clouds.' So the architecture group itself defines its name and design concept. Beginning with inflated bubbles and interactive installations in the 1960s, the group, consisting of the architects Wolf D. Prix, Helmut Swiczinsky and Michael Holzer, began to create harsh interventions in the urban context under the headline 'architecture must burn'. The designs of the buildings are like oversized sound boxes, with dancing silhouettes and collapsing lines that are always rushing and echoing. As one of only few groups of that early times, they belong to the leading international architecture offices today, justified by their outstanding expressiveness and professionalism. Coop Himmelb(l)au's most well-known projects include the Rooftop Remodeling Falkestrasse in Vienna, Austria (1988); the Groningen Museum, East Pavilion, in Groningen, Netherlands, (1994); the UFA Cinema Center in Dresden, Germany, (1998); the BMW Welt in Munich, Germany (2007); the Akron Art Museum in Ohio, USA, (2007) and the Central Los Angeles Area High School No. 9 of Visual and Performing Arts in Los Angeles, USA (2008). Among the recent projects that Coop Himmelb(l)au is pursuing throughout the world are the Musee des Confluences in Lyon, France, the House of Music in Aalborg, Denmark, the European Central Bank's new headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and the Dalian International Conference Center in China.


uterine activi-ty were significantly greater in the oxytocin group than in the PGE2 group. In the augmentation series2 the difference between the two drugs was even nore apparent. The augmentation-to-delivery interval, the mean basal uterine tone, the mean frequency of contractions, nausea, vomiting, ketosis, pyrexia, and late fetal heart decelerations were all significantly higher in the oxytocin group than in the PGE2 group. Returning to Mr. Charnberlain's observation that preselection of high-risk infants may explain the findings of Mr. Liston and Mr. CaQbell, our data demonstrate that the oxytocic used is undoubtedly a contributory factor. They also show that this is less significant with PGE2 than with oxy,tocin. We therefore support Mr. Liston and Mr. Campbell's sugestion that the use of oxytocin can be hazardous and, while PGE2 appears to be kinder to the uterus and fetus, the possible dangers of all oxytocics should never be forgotten.-We are, etc.,


Methamphetamine (MA) dependence is associated with cognitive deficits. Methylphenidate (MPH) has been shown to improve inhibitory control in healthy and cocaine-dependent subjects. This study aimed to understand the neurophysiological effects before and after acute MPH administration in active MA-dependent and control subjects. Fifteen MA-dependent and 18 control subjects aged 18–46 years were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging before and after either a single oral dose of MPH (18 mg) or placebo while performing a color-word Stroop task. Baseline accuracy was lower (p = 0.026) and response time (RT) was longer (p < 0.0001) for the incongruent compared to congruent condition, demonstrating the task probed cognitive control. Increased activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and parietal cortex during the incongruent and Stroop effect conditions, respectively was observed in MA-dependent compared to control subjects (p < 0.05), suggesting the need to recruit neural resources within these regions for conflict resolution. Post- compared to pre-MPH treatment, increased RT and DLPFC activation for the Stroop effect were observed in MA-dependent subjects (p < 0.05). In comparison to MPH-treated controls and placebo-treated MA-dependent subjects, MPH-treated MA-dependent subjects showed decreased activation of parietal and occipital regions during the incongruent and Stroop effect conditions (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that in MA-dependent subjects, MPH facilitated increased recruitment of the DLPFC for Stroop conflict resolution, and a decreased need for recruitment of neural resources in parietal and occipital regions compared to the other groups, while maintaining a comparable level of task performance to that achieved pre-drug administration. Due to the small sample size, the results from this study are preliminary; however, they inform us about the effects of MPH on the neural correlates of cognitive control in active MA-dependent subjects.


Map shows mid-nineteenth century geography, political boundaries, and cities in six continents. Includes tables [populations, cities, religions, building heights, rivers] and illustrations. Insets [Illustrations]: "Panoramic view of the route to China, by the Oregon railroad and the Pacific Ocean. This road once built, would become the great highway of nations," "Mongul," "Mountains of the Eastern Hemisphere," "Malay," "Female costumes of the different parts of the World," "African," [Mountains of the] "Western Hemisphere," "Caucasian," and "Waterspout." Relief shown by hachures. Scale [ca. 1:80,000,000].


The centromeres and short arms of the human acrocentric chromosomes have in common several families of tandemly repeated DNA. Recent analyses have revealed that, within some of these families, clearly distinct subfamilies have evolved that are unique to one or a subset of the different acrocentric chromosomes. The existence and maintenance of subfamilies common to different chromosomes entail a process of regular exchange between the non-homologous chromosomes. This process is suggested for the evolution of an alpha satellite subfamily recently found on chromosomes 13, 14 and 21. The presence of this alpha subfamily may allow pairing between these chromosomes leading to the observed non-random participation of these chromosomes in t(13q14q) and t(14q21q) Robertsonian translocations. The available data also indicate a very similar molecular organisation of the cen-pter region for chromosomes 13 and 21. This latter feature may further allow the two chromosomes to undergo a relatively extensive degree of meiotic pairing (in a manner analogous to that seen in the pseudoautosomal regions of the X and Y chromosomes), thus predisposing these two chromosomes to errors in meiotic segregation and non-disjunction.


Abstract The previously poorly known "Tapiravus" polkensis Olsen, 1960 (Mammalia, Perissodactyla, Tapiridae) is now known from abundant, well preserved specimens from both the type area in central Florida and from the Gray Fossil Site (GFS) in eastern Tennessee. The latter has produced over 75 individuals, the greatest number of tapirids from a single fossil site, including many articulated skeletons. Almost all linear measurements taken on skulls, mandibles, and cheek teeth from GFS have coefficients of variation less than 10 (most between 3 and 7), indicating the presence of a single species. However, the sample reveals considerable intraspecific variation for a few key morphologic features, including development of the sagittal crest, outline shape of the nasals, and number and relative strength of lingual cusps on the P1. The Florida sample of T. polkensis is more limited, but has the same state as the GFS sample for all preserved characters of systematic significance, and while the Florida teeth are on average smaller (especially narrower lower cheek teeth), they fall either within or just below the observed range of the Gray Fossil Site population. The new material supports a reassignment of "Tapiravus" polkensis to the genus Tapirus, and demonstrates that the geologic age of the species is significantly younger than previously thought, Hemphillian rather than Barstovian. Tapirus polkensis is the smallest known North American Tapirus, and smaller than any of the extant species in the genus, with an estimated average mass of 125 kg.


This dissertation explores the politics of disease control in Cuba during the mid-twentieth century, and uses tuberculosis as a lens to understand citizenship, state-building, and populism. By analyzing the popular press, health reports, medical journals, and official correspondence in U.S. and Cuban archives, it argues that ordinary citizens, public intellectuals, and civic actors in the interwar era—not the revolutionary government of 1959—introduced the concept of a "right to health" and invoked it to demand an efficient state healthcare sector. In response to these claims and in his quest to strengthen the state, Fulgencio Batista created the Consejo Nacional de Tuberculosis in 1936.

The heightened visibility of tuberculosis, achieved in part by the claims-making of citizens, channeled state attention towards a disease of the poor, but it also distorted the design of health projects, making them inefficient and openly political. Thus, although increased state attention to tuberculosis improved mortality rates and access to health services by the 1950s, the state proved unable to depoliticize the tuberculosis campaign and to uniformly implement the right to health care on the ground. The gap between the expectations of citizens and the performance of republican administrations influenced the growing de-legitimation of the state, the overthrow of Batista's government, and the new regime's priorities in health policy. Nonetheless, despite the revolutionary rhetoric of radical change, there were clear continuities in tuberculosis control policy before and after 1959, such as the new government's reliance upon the resources and institutions developed by republican administrations.

By complementing health outcomes and statistics with a social and political history of tuberculosis, and by balancing attention between state health efforts and grassroots definitions of medical success, this dissertation shifts the frame of a decades-long debate in Cuban historiography that has sought to establish the objective quality of state health care before and after the 1959 revolution. Furthermore, it challenges the assumption of a weak Cuban state and insists that health projects constituted a fundamental arm of state formation. Finally, "The Sick Republic" points to the agency of citizens as they became health activists, shaped state-building efforts, and defined citizenship rights.


We consider the following class of unitary representationsπof some (real) Lie groupGwhich has a matched pair of symmetries described as follows: (i) SupposeGhas a period-2 automorphismτ, and that the Hilbert spaceH(π) carries a unitary operatorJsuch thatJπ=(π∘τ)J(i.e.,selfsimilarity). (ii) An added symmetry is implied ifH(π) further contains a closed subspaceK0having a certainorder-covarianceproperty, and satisfying theK0-restricted positivity : ⦠v | Jv⦔⩾0, ∀v∈K0, where ⦠· | ·⦔ is the inner product inH(π). From (i)–(ii), we get an induced dual representation of an associated dual groupGc. All three properties, selfsimilarity, order-covariance, and positivity, are satisfied in a natural context whenGis semisimple and hermitean; but whenGis the (ax+b)-group, or the Heisenberg group, positivity is incompatible with the other two axioms for the infinite-dimensional irreducible representations. We describe a class ofG, containing the latter two, which admits a classification of the possible spacesK0⊂H(π) satisfying the axioms of selfsimilarity and order-covariance.