Outsourcing is delegating partial or total business functions to other companies in conjunction with administrative and operational activities. One of the industries that implements outsourcing in its maintenance activity is the healthcare industry. An Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is part of a hospital which is very vital, so that it requires medical equipment with high availability and reliability. The aim of this research is to develop a performance model to use to assess the performance of medical equipment or the used maintenance outsourcing service providers. Developing the performance model involves 14 criteria. The 14 criteria were clustered by the Kano Model to obtain the importance of each criteria. . Kano was used to identify the criteria within the dimension of basic requirements and special requirements. DEMATEL was employed to identify the connection between criteria and ANP in order to provide the integrity of the criteria. The three criteria with the highest integrity rating were the technicians' capability by the rate of integrity that reached 0.256881, the aptitude of providing diagnosis by the rate of integrity that reached 0.222181, and the flexibility by the rate of integrity that reached 0.175684. Two criteria which had a rate of integrity of 0 and were considered as therefore having the lowest integrity rate were the criteria of charges and dependability respectively. Corresponding author: Moses Laksono Singgih Email address for corresponding author: email@example.com First submission received: 10th January 2018 Revised submission received: 19th March 2018 Accepted: 27th March 2018


ABSTRACT Recent work in children's geographies and geographies of education has presented the argument that when conceptualising the various roles that adults occupy in children's lives, it is equally important to conceptualise adultism. In this paper we argue that this existing work critiques adultism's logics but does not adequately conceptualise adultism's structural and scalar spatialities. We reconceptualise adultism as a structural and scalar phenomenon by examining our case study of a community music programme designed to reconnect children with their 'learning identities'. We borrow the spatial metaphor of 'chains' from human geography's postcapitalist literature to highlight how adultism structurally pervades this space of resistance, underscoring the more broadly applicable point that practices of resistance that fail to address adultism's co-creative relationships with other structures of domination can end-up reasserting adultist relations. However, towards the end of the paper we argue that this reconceptualisation of adultism does not mean community music (or other critical pedagogies) should be abandoned, rather illustrating how the organisation in our case study innovate in order to address adultism's structural and scalar facets.


The need for the development of fish preservation and processing machinery and techniques for effective fish handling, harvesting, processing and storage can never be over-emphasized especially now that aquaculture production is on the increase in Nigeria. With Low Cost Technology (LCT), and better processing practices, fresh fish can be processed as desired without any significant loss of its quality. Hence, this study assessed utilization of low cost technology: a catalyst for reducing postharvest fish losses in Lagos State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 353 fish processors as sample size for this study. Data obtained were analyzed with both descriptive and inferential statistics. Result of the study showed that majority (63.7%) of the respondents were between 31 – 50 years of age, predominantly female (93.8%), married (70.3%), had formal education (77.9%) and belonged to Fish Processors Association (74.2%). The average household size and experience in fish processing were 7 people and 19.2 years respectively. Estimated income from processed fish ranged from ₦20,000 – 40,000/week. Result also revealed that extended drum oven (90.9%) was predominant and often used by the respondents. However, red clay oven (58.6%), brick kiln (52.4%) and government model kiln (41.1%) are available but not used by the respondents. Respondents got training and capacity building on fish processing technique and preservation (83.0%), hazard prevention and safety training (79.0%), record keeping (71.4%) and quality fish sourcing (67.7%) mainly through their Fish Processors Association. Furthermore, major challenges undermining fish processing and utilization of LCT are lack of fund from the commercial banks (80.3%), poor road network (79.0%), lack of training by extension personnel (74.2%) and epileptic power supply (77.9%). In addition, result of chi-square indicated that significant relationship existed between socio-economic characteristics of the respondents and utilization of low cost technology (χ = 12.91, p < 0.05). Fish Processors Association (χ = 16.05, p < 0.05). Training and capacity building have significant association with utilization of low cost technology (χ = 13.79, p < 0.05). Constraints impeded the utilization of LCT and was positively significant (t = 2.87, p = 0.004). The study concluded that despite the advantages of LCT in reducing PHL and increasing income from processed fish it was not utilized by the respondents in the study area. It was therefore recommended that there should be more awareness and enlightenment on merits of LCT by the extension officers, fish experts and media to facilitate its adoption and utilization among fish processors in the study area. KEYWORD: Utilization, Low Cost Technology, Catalyst, Postharvest Losses, Fish


Abstract The basic assumptions made in the interpretation of the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) of lava flows, dykes and other tabular intrusive rocks have changed with time. This paper presents a historical account of those changes. Because several aspects of the AMS of these types of rocks are still open to debate, the historical perspective helps us to appreciate better the limitations that had to be faced at different times, therefore providing some clues that can be used to solve such controversies. Also, by benefiting from hindsight it is possible to devise alternative approaches that can be employed to interpret the AMS of these types of rocks. Although some adjustments to current models will be made as new results become available, it seems that at present the main commponents of the basic model of AMS in lava flows and tabular intrusive rocks have been finally reached, leaving behind most of the apparent contradictions found in earlier works. This progress is undoubtedly an important advance in our understanding of the nature of AMS in general.


ABSTRACT: After World War II, changes in film production finance encouraged US studios to take advantage of foreign financial incentives and locations. Bhowani Junction (1956) typifies many of these runaway productions, but an explanation of its financial logic provides only a US-centric perspective, failing to account for Hollywood's increasingly global position. Archival material provides the basis for interrogating Bhowani Junction's casting practices, textual ideology, and the impact of its location shooting in Pakistan. The confluence of production practices, policy, and aesthetics generates encounters that position Pakistani workers and actors at the margins of production, primarily as extras within the cast of thousands.


Abstract A method is developed to initialize convective storm simulations with Doppler radar-derived fields. Input fields for initialization include velocity, rainwater derived from radar reflectivity, and pressure and temperature fields obtained through thermodynamic retrieval. A procedure has been developed to fill in missing wind data, followed by a variational adjustment to the filled wind field to minimize "shocks" that would otherwise cause the simulated fields to deteriorate rapidly. A series of experiments using data from a simulated storm establishes the feasibility of the initialization method. Multiple-Doppler radar observations from the 20 May 1977 Del City tornadic storm are used for the initialization experiments. Simulation results are shown and compared to observations taken at a later time. The simulated storm shows good agreement with the subsequent observations, though the simulated storm appears to be evolving faster than observed. Possible reasons for the discrepancies are discussed.


Dyslipidaemias refers to any abnormality in the level of circulating plasma lipids. It is an extremely significant condition, majorly because of its contribution to atherogenesis. It is an independent and modifiable risk factor for CAD and stroke. More than half of global cases of ischemic heart disease are associated with dyslipidemia. Quality of care for dyslipidemia is suboptimal in general and variable by cardiovascular disease risk group, ethnicity and gender. In modern medicine, there are effective dyslipidemic drugs which give rapid relief, but may cause some long term side effects. So there is a need for safe alternative treatment which may be effective in reducing lipid level, for prolonged use. In Ayurveda, dyslipidemia can be considered as a condition in which Kapha, Medas and Rasa are pathologically deranged due to Ama. There is defective Medo dhatu poshana due to Dhatwagnimandhya and formation of Ama at the level of Medo dhatu. It can be considered as presumable level of stage of Samprapti or a morbid state which may cause disease, but not attained a full status of disease. Nidanas include Beejadushti, Ahara – vihara –vikara and Manasika nidanas. Lipid profile can be brought back to normal by correcting Agni and ensuring proper Dhatuparinama. Treatment modalities include Nidana parivarjana, Sodhana, Samana, Rasayana and following Pathyapathya. Drug having Kaphamedohara, Deepana, Pachana, Ruksha and Lekhana property is useful to treat this clinical condition.


The tactile wear ("tezure" in Japanese) is an abrasion phenomenon caused by the contact of humans hand with the surfaces of materials over a long period of time. Though this phenomenon has been the focus of various articles, an extensive study with regard to the wear characteristics is of profound importance. To date, we have several remarkable examples such as the statue of Pindola Bharadvaja (Buddhist) and the St. Peter statue (Christian). Followers of the respective religions who are deeply attached and rooted have been touching the statues as part of their rituals for many generations over centuries. In this study, an attempt is done to verify the friction and wear characteristics of the human finger with various soft materials and woods.


This thesis addresses the individuation of the appropriate scientific tools in order to create a methodology and a set of models for establishing the suitable metrics and pertinent analytical capacity in the cyber dimension for social applications. The current state of the art of cyber security is exemplified by some specific characteristics (IEEE"Orange Book s", 1995).
Firstly there is a lack of reference models and appropriate metrics for the security measures of a cyber architecture even including the PSN (Public Services Network). Secondly, the shortage of an accounting policy generates strong limitations for an accurate mapping of cyber security. Thirdly, the lack of a methodology for risk management does not allow going beyond the application of empirical processes and "rules of thumb". Finally, the lacuna in identifying the principles for making judgments of cyber competitive advantage does not create the conditions for ascertaining the accountability of "cyber value". At the moment the previous characteristics are negating any possibility of a build-up policy for monitoring, managing and mapping the cyber risks. The thesis, starting with the four mentioned characteristics, focuses on a description of the cyber phenomenon with the methodology of inquiry based on empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning (www.diffen.com) That represents a complete novelty in creating a normative theory that would be a body of knowledge for providing "goals, norms and standards". The theory would be associated with particular explanatory models that represent a new scientific approach. For this purpose, the thesis sets up brand-new models called AIMS (Abbo Information Models for Security) where the point of attack is the current management based on the perception of security that is considered a function of the interaction of its components: Asset (A), Protector (P) and Threat (T) in a given Situation (Manunta G., 2000). A further element of novelty is the introduction of another model called the B.I.F. (Business Information Flow) model. The B.l.F. is a holistic unitary entity focusing on a specific aim or unitary mission. The quantity of information is normally encapsulated in business information flows that we can define as the unit of information value. The value may be expressed in accordance with the accounting rule, which means the release of the information balance sheet and the information income statement. The B.l.F. represents the unit of any cyber question of the manageable simple parts related to the Cartesian method. This sense of unity combines the social or organizational component and the related infrastructure of cyber architectures. The work represents a clear distinction from any existing in the literature reviews. From this perspective, the impact of the research results will be a great opportunity, based on scientific rigor, for cyber security communities in allowing them to be able to understand, map, manage and monitor the cyber risk. (Abbo, 2012)


Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a partially reversible disorder characterized by progressive airflow obstruction, the course of which is punctuated by episodes of acute symptomatic worsening (exacerbations) of variable severity and frequency. Exacerbations have an important effect on both the patient and society, including worsening health status and increased risks of hospitalization — with its attendant costs — and death.1 Because of these negative consequences, prevention of exacerbations is recommended as a key goal of COPD management.1 Given its symptomatic nature, however, and the absence of a readily available and validated biomarker, there is no complete consensus regarding the . . .


This article approaches the issue of lexical choices in translation that result from the presence of cognates. It analyzes methodological issues regarding cognate production in translation tasks carried out in technical contexts. Specifically, we studied the presence of cognates as a lexical manifestation of interference (Toury 1995), concentrating on cognates as part of phraseological and terminological units. We report on empirical data on cognate production by advanced students of translation working from English into Spanish in reduced-segments and space-constrained contexts. Additionally, we studied advanced learners of Spanish's production in an experimental task.


THE VAST MAJORITY of Native American objects in private and public collections are the legacy of the high period of colonialism that lasted from about 1830 to 1930 (which corresponds closely with what Sturtevant (1969) called 'The Museum Age'). In the subfield of art history devoted to the arts of Native North America, the most urgent issues surrounding the collecting and display of these objects arise directly from the imperialist histories of their formation. Prodded by Native American activists and academic theorists, historians and curators of Native American art are today rethinking the most fundamental questions: Who has the right to control American Indian objects, many of which are thought by their makers not to be art objects but instruments of power? Who has access to knowledge (even simply the knowledge gained from gazing upon an object of power), only those who have been initiated, or all who pass through the doors of a cultural institution? Who has the right to say what the objects mean, and whether and how they are displayed? And how will Native Americans, as they assume increasingly authoritative roles in museum representation, remake the museum as an institution?.


To improve the performance of similarity search and information retrieval is an important research issue in peer-to-peer environment. In this paper, we propose a distributed architecture for enhancing the performance of similarity search in unstructured P2P networks. The key component of the proposed architecture is a distributed, content-based, heuristic feedback mechanism, which allows peers to keep track of recent queries and learn from the assessment of answers to previous queries, so as to self-adaptively route the subsequent query to the most relevant nodes which are responsible for the query. Therefore a high recall rate can be achieved by probing only a small amount of peers. We also propose a distributed automatic query expansion mechanism to improve the quality of query results. Since the architecture is entirely distributed, it scales well with the large sized networks. The experimental results show that our architecture can efficiently solve queries with a relatively small cost.


Purpose: Locoregional recurrence is a frequent treatment outcome for patients with advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Emerging evidence suggests that tumor recurrence is mediated by a small subpopulation of uniquely tumorigenic cells, that is, cancer stem cells (CSC), that are resistant to conventional chemotherapy, endowed with self-renewal and multipotency. Experimental Design: Here, we evaluated the efficacy of MEDI0641, a novel antibody–drug conjugate targeted to 5T4 and carrying a DNA-damaging "payload" (pyrrolobenzodiazepine) in preclinical models of HNSCC. Results: Analysis of a tissue microarray containing 77 HNSCC with follow-up of up to 12 years revealed that patients with 5T4high tumors displayed lower overall survival than those with 5T4low tumors (P = 0.038). 5T4 is more highly expressed in head and neck CSC (ALDHhighCD44high) than in control cells (non-CSC). Treatment with MEDI0641 caused a significant reduction in the CSC fraction in HNSCC cells (UM-SCC-11B, UM-SCC-22B) in vitro. Notably, a single intravenous dose of 1 mg/kg MEDI0641 caused long-lasting tumor regression in three patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models of HNSCC. MEDI0641 ablated CSC in the PDX-SCC-M0 model, reduced it by five-fold in the PDX-SCC-M1, and two-fold in the PDX-SCC-M11 model. Importantly, mice (n = 12) treated with neoadjuvant, single administration of MEDI0641 prior to surgical tumor removal showed no recurrence for more than 200 days, whereas the control group had 7 recurrences (in 12 mice; P = 0.0047). Conclusions: Collectively, these findings demonstrate that an anti-5T4 antibody–drug conjugate reduces the fraction of CSCs and prevents local recurrence and suggest a novel therapeutic approach for patients with HNSCC. Clin Cancer Res; 23(10); 2516–27. ©2016 AACR.


Metastatic cancer can arise years after treatment of the primary tumor because residual tumor cells can enter dormancy and evade elimination by anti-neoplastic therapies. The mechanisms underlying this phenomenon have been investigated and a number of hypotheses have been proposed. Tumor mass dormancy involves a balance between apoptotic and proliferative cells, keeping a micrometastatic lesion constant in size. This induces a need for blood supply which involves angiogenic dormancy. Cellular dormancy is also considered a mechanism of dormancy, where dormancy is induced due to cells entering a quiescent, reversible, growth-arrested state. In addition to all of these mechanisms, important changes in the tumor microenvironment, including the extracellular matrix, the oxygenation levels of the environment, and endoplasmic reticulum stress, are involved in inducing and maintaining tumor dormancy. Since dormant tumors are commonly known to be resistant to chemotherapy, gaining more knowledge of the mechanism of dormant tumor cells is of importance, as it can lead to the development of future treatment strategies.


Although both feminist theory and critical theory focus on social and economic inequalities, and both have an agenda of promoting system change, these fields of inquiry have developed separately and seldom draw on each other's work. This paper notes areas of common interest. It assesses the validity of critiques of feminist theory, such as claims that it focuses on privileged women and does not challenge existing hierarchical arrangements. Because these critiques do not accurately describe much of contemporary feminist scholarship, this paper argues that synergies between critical theory and feminist theory could and should be explored.


Trust has been used to replace or complement rating-based similarity in recommender systems, to improve the accuracy of rating prediction. However, people trusting each other may not always share similar preferences. In this paper, we try to fill in this gap by decomposing the original single-aspect trust information into four general trust aspects, i.e. benevolence, integrity, competence, and predictability, and further employing the support vector regression technique to incorporate them into the probabilistic matrix factorization model for rating prediction in recommender systems. Experimental results on four datasets demonstrate the superiority of our method over the state-of-the-art approaches.


Anurans are an important component of ecosystems, as they contribute to the transfer of energy between aquatic and terrestrial habitat and act as predators, prey, and herbivores. However, even though urbanisation is acknowledged as a threat to 50% of Australia's endangered anurans, there is little published research on anurans in urban patches in Australia compared to those in undisturbed habitat. This type of research may prove vital to the management of biodiversity within the Perth region, which is currently the fastest growing capital city in Australia, and existing urban remnants may become increasingly important to conservation. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the influence of a modified landscape on anuran occupancy and species richness, incorporating analyses to account for variations in detection probability amongst species within wetlands on the Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia. Temperature was found to exert a consistent effect on the detection of all species. The observed influence of survey-dependent variables on species detection can aid the design of future surveys of the study species. Occupancy amongst species was best predicted by combinations of road cover and residential area. Interestingly, residential area showed a positive relationship with occurrence, which is most likely due to the changes in hydroperiod that occur within urban wetlands. Species richness was best predicted by both residential and wetland area. Several species were encountered very infrequently during the survey period, which may indicate that these species are limited in their distribution along the Swan Coastal Plain. Projected climate change predicts the loss of surface water groundwater expressions in some areas, which may pose a threat to the local existence of these species. Overall, the findings of this study may inform the future management of anurans within the Swan coastal Plain, and highlights the potential for wetlands to contribute to the protection of biodiversity in an increasingly degraded environment.


This article examines whether there is a "homeownership effect" for lower‐income racial and ethnic groups who have been the target of public policies to expand homeownership. We use two different methods to account for selection, statistical matching and instrumental variable analysis; test direct and indirect (mediator) effects of homeownership on children's cognitive achievement, behavior problems and health using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its Child Development Supplement; and replicate the main effects tests using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. We find little evidence of beneficial homeownership effects and suggest that previous analyses may have mistaken selection differences for the effect of homeownership itself.


Background: The National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) is a nationwide, comprehensive public health program that provides uninsured, underinsured, and underserved women with access to screening and diagnostic services for breast and cervical cancer. The program enrolls asymptomatic women for cancer screening and symptomatic women for diagnostic services. While the NBCCEDP prioritizes screening for breast cancer to women aged 50 to 64 years, requiring that at least 75% of all program-paid mammograms be provided to this priority population, some women aged 40-49 years also receive services. This study describes the results of mammograms provided by the NBCCEDP, by exam indication (screening or diagnostic) and age group. Methods: For women receiving an NBCCEDP-funded mammogram from 2009 through 2012, we calculated age- specific percentages of abnormal findings, and rates of follow-up testing, biopsy, and invasive and in situ breast cancer diagnosis per 1,000 mammograms. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds for each of these outcomes by exam indication. The odds ratios (ORs) were adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, rural or urban residence, and region. Results: From 2009 2012, 941,649 screening and 175,310 diagnostic mammograms were provided to women in the NBCCEDP. A small proportion (2.7%; 30,434) of mammograms had unknown indications. Most women were white, non-Hispanic (46.7%), Hispanic (24.4%) or Black, non-Hispanic (18.1%). The percentage of abnormal mammograms was higher for diagnostic mammograms (40.1 %) than screening mammograms (15.5 %). Compared with women aged 40-49 years, fewer women aged 50-64 years had abnormal results for screening (13.7% vs. 19.7%; OR=0.65; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.64-0.66) and diagnostic mammograms (37.7% vs, 42.7%; OR=0.82, 95% CI: 0.80-0.83). Overall, the follow-up rates for screening and diagnostic mammograms were 163.1 and 699.7 per 1,000 mammograms; biopsy rates were 26.8 and 168.7, respectively. Follow-up testing rates were lower among women aged 50-64 years compared to those aged 40-49 years (screening: 143.9 vs. 207.5; diagnostic: 645.3 vs. 760.9); biopsy rates exhibited a similar pattern (screening: 24.1 vs. 32.9; diagnostic: 167.7 vs. 169.7). The cancer detection rates for diagnostic mammograms were higher than screening mammograms for invasive (53.1 vs 3.2 per 1,000) and in situ (14.5 vs. 2.2 per 1,000) cancers. For screening mammograms, older women had more cancers detected than younger women (invasive: 3.6 vs. 2.2; in situ: 2.3 vs. 2.0). Similarly, for diagnostic mammograms, cancer detection was higher for older women (invasive: 67.8 vs. 36.6; in situ: 17.4 vs. 11.1). Conclusions: Abnormal mammograms and diagnostic follow-up procedures were less frequent in women aged 50–64 years compared to women aged 40–49 years; however, breast cancer detection was higher for women aged 50-64 years, regardless of indication for the mammogram. Some of these differences between age groups were greater for screening mammograms than for diagnostic mammograms. Cancer detection rates were higher for diagnostic mammograms compared with screening mammograms. These findings support the NBCCEDP9s priority of serving women aged 50–64 years. Further, it highlights the need to continue to focus on women at higher risk for developing breast cancer. By providing access to both screening and diagnostic mammograms, NBCCEDP offers much-needed services to this high-risk population. More targeted public health efforts are needed to improve access to screening, timely follow-up and treatment for breast cancer for all women in the United States. Citation Format: Arica White, Jacqueline Miller, Janet Royalty, A. Blythe Ryerson, Vicki Benard. Outcomes of mammography in the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Seventh AACR Conference on The Science of Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; Nov 9-12, 2014; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2015;24(10 Suppl):Abstract nr B78.


Despite the fact that energy-saving technologies are considered profitable using standard net-present-value calculations, their adoption rates have been low, particularly in small firms. This study reviews the theoretical and empirical literature that explains this phenomenon, generally known as the energy-efficiency paradox. Issues such as hidden costs of investment and uncertainty, organisational barriers, and lack of information and capital appear to be important factors to explain the slow diffusion of energy-saving technologies in small firms.JEL Classification: D21, D80, O33, Q40


ABSTRACT mntABC from Neisseria gonorrhoeae encodes an ABC permease which includes a periplasmic divalent cation binding receptor protein of the cluster IX family, encoded by mntC. Analysis of an mntC mutant showed that growth of N. gonorrhoeae could be stimulated by addition of either manganese(II) or zinc(II) ions, suggesting that the MntABC system could transport both ions. In contrast, growth of the mntAB mutant in liquid culture was possible only when the medium was supplemented with an antioxidant such as mannitol, consistent with the view that ion transport via MntABC is essential for protection of N. gonorrhoeae against oxidative stress. Using recombinant MntC, we determined that MntC binds Zn2+ and Mn2+ with almost equal affinity (dissociation constant of ∼0.1 μM). Competition assays with the metallochromic zinc indicator 4-(2-pyridylazo)resorcinol showed that MntC binds Mn2+ and Zn2+ at the same binding site. Analysis of the N. gonorrhoeae genome showed that MntC is the only Mn/Zn metal binding receptor protein cluster IX in this bacterium, in contrast to the situation in many other bacteria which have systems with dedicated Mn and Zn binding proteins as part of distinctive ABC cassette permeases. Both the mntC and mntAB mutants had reduced intracellular survival in a human cervical epithelial cell model and showed reduced ability to form a biofilm. These data suggest that the MntABC transporter is of importance for survival of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in the human host.


A chiral ionic liquid with a natural alcohol based chain was used as a tailoring agent for the synthesis of simple and cost effective materials such as ZnO, CuO, CuO–ZnO with peculiar morphology. The morphology and chemical composition of the microstructures were investigated by bright-field and scanning transmission microscopy (BF-TEM and STEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and UV-VIS spectroscopy. Furthermore, the photocatalytic activity of ZnO, CuO and ZnO–CuO nanostructures was quantified for methylene blue (MB) dye. CuO needles had the lowest photocatalytic activity (23.8% in 40 min). Due to their peculiar forms, ZnO (flower like shape) and ZnO/CuO (leaf like shape where ZnO nanoparticles were deposited) had the highest photocatalytic activity in 40 min (93.6% for ZnO nanoparticles and 95% for ZnO–CuO nanostructures).


Security engineering is one of the important concerns during system development. It should be addressed throughout the whole system development process; however in many cases it is often dealt only during system development and maintenance. There are several security modeling languages (e.g, Misuse case, Secure Tropos) that help dealing with security risk management at the requirements stage. In this thesis, we are focusing on the modeling languages (e.g. Mal activity diagrams and SecureUML) that are used to design the system. More specifically we investigate how these languages support information systems security risks management (ISSRM). The outcome of this work is an alignment table between the Mal activity diagrams and SecureUML language constructs to the ISSRM domain model concepts. We ground our analysis and validate the received results on the number of illustrative examples. We hope that our results will help developers to understand how they can consider security risks at the system design stage. In addition we open the way for the interoperability between different modeling languages that are analysed using the same conceptual background, thus, potentially leading to the transformation between these modeling approaches.


Most previous investigations of the weaver ant genus (Oecophylla) have been conducted in the relatively non-seasonal environment of the wet tropics (e.g. Greenslade, 1971a,b, 1972; Ledoux, 1950, 1954; Majer, 1976,a,b,c; Vanderplank, 1960; Way, 1954a,b). The present study documented substantial seasonal variation in colony structure and functioning of green tree ant (0. smaragdina) populations in the seasonally dry tropical climate which characterizes most of northern Australia.

The distribution of 0. smaragdina within Australia was successfully defined by a combination of mean annual rainfall and average minimum temperature, with a curvilinear demarcation between sites with and without ants. Development and survival of ant brood was markedly reduced by low temperatures, especially the larval stage, which had a threshold temperature (when development theoretically stops) of about 17°C. In contrast, the thresholds for eggs and pupae were about 10°C and 7°C, respectively. At higher temperatures, the 2 physical variables probably indirectly limit ant distribution by controlling plant density; ants only inhabited sites with woodland or forest vegetation.

Colony extents (the numbers of trees occupied by colonies) were much larger in native vegetation than in a nearby mango plantation. This difference was probably due to the greater tree density in the native forest site. No canopy interconnections were available in the mango orchard to promote movements of ants between trees. Inter-tree migration is essential for weaver ant colonies, to disseminate brood from the nest containing the colony's single egg-producing queen and possibly also to maintain a uniform colony recognition scent.

Levels of reproduction in green tree ant colonies were highest during the wet season and early dry season. Sexual forms were present in nests from November until March, and worker brood were most abundant from January until May. Larval and pupal brood levels rose with increasing precipitation up to monthly rainfall figures around 300 mm. Proportions of worker pupae were reduced during periods of higher rainfall, probably due to the production of sexuals at this time.

Colony extents, measured as the number of trees occupied, were smallest in native forest at the end of the dry season in November, and rose while colonies were reproducing. Most colonies reached peak extents in May, when the proportion of flowering trees was highest (and 2 months after the greatest levels of leaf flushing). After May, brood production generally decreased markedly, and colony extents in native vegetation slowly fell, with ants gradually evacuating from peripheral trees into smaller core areas of high tree density. Cycles of colony extent in the mango plantation lagged behind those in native vegetation by 2 to 4 months; maximum extents coincided with mango tree flowering from July, to September. Tended homopteran levels in mango tree leaf samples were high during the flowering and fruiting period, suggesting that colony expansion may be facilitated by the increased availability of honeydew.

As colonies expanded, individual nests became smaller and the number of nests (per tree and per colony) increased. Ant distributions were thus dispersed more evenly throughout colonies during this period. This decentralization may improve foraging efficiencies, or may allow increased patrolling of territories when intrusions by other ant colonies (both intra and inter-specific) are most likely. Highest levels of prey intake and ant movement from nests did coincide with periods of greatest reproduction and dispersion; however, the causal relations between these factors are unknown.

An electronic light beam counter was developed to monitor ant activity (measured as the number of ants leaving and returning from a nest, and standardized between different nests by dividing by the total population of each nest) in native forest over a two year period. Net daily activity was greatest during the wet season months from December to March, and lowest in the dry winter period. The magnitude of these seasonal differences was remarkably high; the largest mean activity of 8.83 ants/nest individual/day (in December) was over 10 times the smallest level of 0.501 (in August). Seasonal patterns of activity correlated well with patterns of total prey weight collected by ants. Liquid food intake, measured as the average weight difference of leaving and returning ants, showed a similar, but very erratic pattern; factors such as varying forager sizes, honeydew intake inside the nest, and differing physiological conditions of inhabited trees prevented successful quantification of this food source.

A consistent circadian pattern of ant activity was observed in autumn and winter (March, May, August): activity peaked around dusk, and dropped to a minimum in the early morning before dawn. This circadian pattern was less distinct or completely absent during the spring and summer months (October, December, January). Activity was generally correlated with temperature; the fitted parabolic relationship suggested that activity was markedly reduced by low temperatures, but was less affected by higher temperatures.

Circadian patterns of activity did not correlate to patterns of food intake. Most prey was collected during the daylight hours, suggesting that 0. smaragdina is primarily a visual predator. Honeydew intake also appeared to be greatest after dawn. Nocturnally active ants may be involved in other tasks, such as brood and young adult transport, colony scent dispersal, and territorial patrolling/guarding.

Mango trees with green tree ant populations had more tended homopterans and fewer numbers of most other arthropod groups than adjacent trees without ants. The proportions of leaves with chlorotic scars from homopterans (primarily Phenacaspis dilata) were greater in ant-occupied trees. The fractions of leaves with holes from chewing arthropods, and the average area of leaf missing were greater in ant-free trees.

Crop yields during the study were relatively low. However, ants appeared to augment fruit loss in trees with largest crops during the late stages of fruit development, probably by encouraging homopteran populations and so increasing sap loss. Green tree ants also appeared to reduce frugivory by fruit bats, the major predator of mango fruit.


We report the direct production of H2O2 from O2 and H2O using a heterogeneous catalyst made from non-toxic materials using light as the sole energy source for the process. Photocatalytic production of H2O2 is demonstrated using light energy without the need for additional chemical energy (sacrificial compounds) or applied electrical potential. Fine-tuning of catalyst architecture and interface design enables exceptional photocatalytic activity.


Maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) is not only one of the world's most important crops, but it also is a powerful tool for studies of genetics, genomics, and cytology. The genome of maize shows the unmistakable signature of an ancient hybridization event followed by whole genome duplication (allopolyploidy), but the parents of this event have been a mystery for over a century, since studies of maize cytogenetics began. Here we show that the whole genome duplication event preceded the divergence of the entire genus Zea and its sister genus Tripsacum. One genome was donated, in whole or in part, by a plant related to the modern African genera Urelytrum and Vossia, although genomic rearrangement has been extensive. The other genome donor is less well-supported, but may have been related to the modern Rottboellia-Hemarthria clade, which is also African. Thus Zea and Tripsacum together represent a New World radiation derived from African ancestors.


We introduce and analyze a mean-field model for polariton condensates which includes a velocity dependence of the effective polariton mass due to the photon and exciton components. The effective mass depends on the in-plane wave vector $\mathbf{k}$, which at the inflection point of the lower polariton energy branch becomes infinite, and above this becomes negative. The polariton condensate modes of this mean-field theory are now sensitive to mass variations and, for certain points of the energy dispersion, the polariton condensate mode represents fractional quantum mechanics. The impact of the generalized kinetic-energy term is elucidated by numerical studies in two dimensions showing significant differences for large velocities. Analytical expressions for plane-wave solutions as well as a linear waves analysis show the significance of this model.


With an exclusive diet of hard-shelled mollusks, the black drum fish (Pogonias Cromis) exhibits one of the highest bite forces among extant animals. Here we present a systematic microstructural, chemical, crystallographic, and mechanical analysis of the black drum teeth to understand the structural basis for achieving the molluscivorous requirements. At the material level, the outermost enameloid shows higher modulus (Er = 126.9 ± 16.3 GPa, H = 5.0 ± 1.4 GPa) than other reported fish teeth, which is attributed to the stiffening effect of Zn and F doping in apatite crystals and the preferential co-alignment of crystallographic c-axes and enameloid rods along the biting direction. The high fracture toughness (Kc = 1.12 MPa•m1/2) near outer enameloid also promotes local yielding instead of fracture during crushing contact with mollusk shells. At the individual-tooth scale, the molar-like teeth, high density of dentin tubules, enlarged pulp chamber, and specialized dentin-bone connection, all contribute to the functional requirements, including confinement of contact compressive stress in the stiff enameloid, enhanced energy absorption in the compliant dentin, and controlled failure of tooth-bone composite under excessive loads. These results show that the multi-scale structures of black drum teeth are adapted to feed on mollusks. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: : The black drum fish feeds on hard-shelled mollusks, which requires strong, tough, and wear-resistant teeth. This study presents a comprehensive multiscale material and mechanical analysis of the black drum teeth in achieving such remarkable biological function. At microscale, the fluoride- and zinc-doped apatite crystallites in the outer enameloid region are aligned perpendicular to the occlusal surface, representing as one of the stiffest biomineralized materials found in nature, while these apatite crystals are arranged into intertwisted rods with crystallographic misorientation in the inner enameloid region for increased crack resistance and toughness. At macroscale, the molariform geometry, the two-layer design based on the outer enameloid and inner dentin, enlarged pulp chamber and the underlying strong bony toothplate work synergistically to contribute to the teeth's crushing resistance.


A comprehensive library of magnetic bubble logic components has been established, with emphasis on standardization in terms of dimensions and I/O to facilitate VLSI chip composition. These components were designed in a current-access perforated-sheet configuration and fabricated on magnetic garnet wafers supporting 2-µm bubbles. The operating margin for each component was studied individually on 8-µm period devices at 1 MHZ by using a high-speed magneto-optical sampling-camera system. The bubble-to-bubble interaction force was found to be very reliable in producing successful logic operation with a 12-percent bias-field margin for the XOR/AND gate equal to 80 percent of the bubble-propagation margin and about 60 percent of the free-bubble bias-field margin. The experimental results show 10.8, 10.7, 10.2, 10, 10.6, 8.5, 12, 8.5, 15, and 9.5-percent bias-field margins for the SWITCH, AND/OR, COMPARATOR, SEARCH, LATCH, BIT-PAIR SEPARATOR, MERGER, CROSSOVER, ANNIHILATOR, and SPLITTER gates, respectively. An 8.5-percent overlapped bias margin has been obtained for all of the logic components. Transient pictures taken with a small incremented delay revealed that the bubble motion in perforated-sheet logic devices is uniform both in the velocity excursion and shape distortion. The behavior of various components at different values of the bias field and drive current is all qualitatively interpretable on the basis of experimental observations. The feasibility of these logic components is successfully demonstrated.


Background: New-onset insomnia and other sleep disturbances occur more frequently in the inpatient setting due to a variety of physical and psychological factors. Studies have found that non-pharmacologic interventions can be effective in treating insomnia in the inpatient setting, particularly in the ICU, to prevent adverse outcomes, but further research is needed to identify optimal pharmacologic interventions. Objective: To compare treatment outcomes of patients initiated on melatonin and trazodone to treat new-onset insomnia in non-ICU hospitalized patients based on the need for an additional sleep aid therapy during hospitalization and to compare the rate of adverse events of each agent. Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted for adult patients admitted to a non-ICU general medicine or surgical floor at a community teaching hospital between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021. Patients were included if they were initiated on scheduled melatonin or trazodone for the treatment of new onset insomnia during their hospitalization. Patients were excluded if they had a previous diagnosis of insomnia, were prescribed 2 sleep aids simultaneously, or if their admission medication reconciliation included pharmacologic treatment for insomnia. Clinical data collected included non-pharmacologic interventions, sleep aid dose, number of doses of sleep aid administered, and total number of nights an additional sleep aid was needed. The primary outcome was the percentage of patients needing additional therapy defined as, administering an additional sleep aid between 2100-0600 or utilizing more than 1 sleep aid agent during hospitalization compared between melatonin and trazodone. Secondary outcomes of this study included the rate of adverse events such as difficulty awakening, daytime sleepiness, serotonin syndrome, falls, and development of in hospital delirium. Results: Of 158 included patients, 132 received melatonin and 26 received trazodone. Male sex (53.8% [melatonin] vs. 53.8% [trazodone]; P = 1), hospital length of stay (7.7 vs 7.7 days; P = .68), and administration of drugs that could cause insomnia (34.1% vs 23.1%vs; P = .27) were similar between sleep aids. Percentage of patients needing an additional sleep aid during hospitalization (19.7% vs 34.6%; P = .09), and patients prescribed a sleep aid at discharge (39.4% vs 46.2%; P = .52) were similar between sleep aids, respectively. Rates of adverse events were similar between sleep aids. Conclusions: There was no significant difference between the 2 agents in terms of the primary outcome, even though a higher rate of patients treated with trazodone for new-onset insomnia during hospitalization required an additional sleep aid compared to those treated with melatonin. No difference in adverse events was observed.


Ultrasonic assisted machining (UAM) is an efficient nontraditional machining operation for brittle, hard-to-cut and poor-machinability materials. In UAM, high frequency oscillation in ultrasonic range at low amplitude is imposed on the workpiece or cutting tool. In most cases, the equipments that generates and transfers the vibration, have a complicated structure, and requires significant effort to achieve their optimum function. In this work, a mathematical model is developed and an optimization method is employed for design process. This makes it possible to achieve proper setup and reduce the amount of calculation. For this purpose, the combination of a two level full factorial design is performed with data that are obtained from finite element model(FEM)are used. Based on the mathematical model, an objective function is defined with the objective of maximizing the vibration amplitude at longitudinal resonance frequency of 22 kHz. Genetic algorithm is used to optimize the design parameters according to the defined objective function. The obtained results are shown just an error about 0.03 percent between FEM modal analysis and mathematical model answer. The advantages of the proposed optimization method in ultrasonic setup design in case of complicated geometries is discussed. Therefore optimization methods via FEM data could be regarded as an efficient approach for design of complicated structures.


While today's girls are learning that they can achieve at the highest educational and professional levels, they also receive strong cultural messages that portray girls and women according to limiting sexual stereotypes. The trend toward the sexualization of girls is increasing in contemporary culture and can negatively impact girls' academic, career, and personal development. In this article, we describe the impact of these trends on girls' development and provide interventions for use in comprehensive school counseling programs.


In this paper, we derive a numerical solution of an inverse obstacle scattering problem with conductive boundary condition. The aim of the direct problem is the computation of the scattered field for a given arbitrarily shaped cylinder with conductive boundary condition on its surface.The inverse problem considered here is the reconstruction of the conductivity function of the scatterer from meausurements of the far field. A potential approach is used to obtain boundary layer integral equations both for the solution of the direct and the inverse problem. The numerical solutions of the integral equations which contain logarithmically singular kernels are evaluated by a Nyström method and Tikhonov regularization is used to solve the first kind of integral equations occuring in the solution of the inverse problem. Finally, numerical simulations are carried out to test the applicability and the effectiveness of the method.


This paper uses one recent significant document of State Educational policy in Ireland to explore the ideological underpinnings of a wider phenomenon known as the knowledge economy (and here also the smart economy). This paper situates Irish policy within the ideological milieu of the knowledge economy, drawing on a body of education research literature that shows how policy may be shaped by ideology. The knowledge economy is mapped in broad terms via its language to educational theorists such as Foucault and Althusser. From them we may trace its power (or knowledge-power) and its wide spread, such as via policy borrowing. Lastly the role of money and spending in knowledge economy policy making is examined and reasons offered why non-monetary solutions are not proffered by policy makers.


Observations with the High Resolution Imager on the Rüntgensatellit reveal x-ray emissions from Jupiter's equatorial latitudes. The observed emissions probably result from the precipitation of energetic (>300 kiloelectron volts per atomic mass unit) sulfur and oxygen ions out of Jupiter's inner radiation belt. Model calculations of the energy deposition by such heavy ion precipitation and of the resulting atmospheric heating rates indicate that this energy source can contribute to the high exospheric temperatures (>800 kelvin at 0.01 microbar) measured by the Galileo probe's Atmospheric Structure Instrument. Low-latitude energetic particle precipitation must therefore be considered, in addition to other proposed mechanisms such as gravity waves and soft electron precipitation, as an important source of heat for Jupiter's thermosphere.


The purposes of this paper are twofold First, to understand the importance of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards 207/210 in occupant safety and second to enhance strength of driver seat failure components and to reduce the weight of the sea in an effort to create safety guidelines for the vehicles driver seat the Federal Motor Safety Standards 207/210 are applies. These regulations are to ensure their proper location for effective occupant restraint and it also in order to minimize the possibility of anchorage failure due to the forces resulting from vehicles crash. For the purpose, Driver seat model is taken from the National Crash Analysis Centre (NCAC) web is modeled and analyzed using Hypermesh and LS-Dyna software's respectively as per standards recommendations. From the baseline results it is observed that the energy absorbed by the different components of seat is less whereas the weight of the seat is more. An effort is made to overcome the seat weight without compromising the seat strength, by employing High strength steel and Aluminum. The results shows that the aluminum is a good option to replace the general steel for the key components of the driver's car seat design and construction to ensure occupant safety.


We use the notion of boundary points to study resolution proofs. Given a CNF formula F , an l(x)-boundary point is a complete assignment falsifying only clauses of F having the same literal l(x) of variable x. An l(x)-boundary point p mandates a resolution on variable x. Adding the resolvent of this resolution to F eliminates p as an l(x)-boundary point. Any resolution proof has to eventually eliminate all boundary points of F . Hence one can study resolution proofs from the viewpoint of boundary point elimination. We use equivalence checking formulas to compare proofs of their unsatisfiability built by a conflict driven SAT-solver and very short proofs tailored to these formulas. We show experimentally that in contrast to proofs generated by this SAT-solver, almost every resolution of a specialized proof eliminates a boundary point. This implies that one may use the share of resolutions eliminating boundary points as a metric of proof quality. We argue that obtaining proofs with a high value of this metric requires taking into account the formula structure. We show that for any unsatisfiable CNF formula there always exists a proof consisting only of resolutions eliminating cut boundary points (which are a relaxation of the notion of boundary points). This result enables building resolution SAT-solvers that are driven by elimination of cut boundary points. This chapter is an extended version of the conference paper [9].


The work of emergency medical care service in Tashkent is described, the experience gained in the provision of emergency medical care to children is presented. An information is given of the organization of emergency medical care at the prehospital level, the extent and the structure of children's emergency calls, the main regularities in seeking emergency calls, the main regularities in seeking emergency care by seasons and months of the year, by days and hours, the amount and the peculiarities of emergency care provided to children and also future trends in the development of emergency medical care for children in Tashkent.


This thesis addresses the problem of graphically modeling and animating the realistic behavior of materials that can undergo fracture due to deformation-induced stress. Using an approach based on linear elastic fracture mechanics and non-linear finite element analysis, three-dimensional volumes are modeled using a mesh of tetrahedral elements. By analyzing the stresses created as the mesh deforms, the simulation determines where cracks should begin and in what directions they should propagate. The system accommodates arbitrary propagation directions by dynamically retesselating the mesh. Because cracks are not limited to element boundaries, the models can form irregularly shaped features as they shatter. This technique overcomes limitations of previous methods that made it difficult to represent the shape of the fracture's surface. Results are presented to demonstrate that this method can be used to animate complex, real-world situations in a compelling, realistic fashion.


The costs for providing medical school education and services in Vietnam's universities continue to increase. Through a collaborative project between the Government of the Netherlands and Vietnam's Ministry of Health, a five year experimental program to develop in-country capacity and reduce the dependence upon a foreign medical service delivery model was initiated in 2007. A consortium of eight Vietnamese medical universities is participating in the project. The primary purpose is to design and strengthen the capacity of Vietnamese medical programs, personnel, and students in developing technical and pragmatic knowledge in several key medical and scientific categories that are currently directed by international consultants. The project intends to empower Vietnam's medical community to be self-reliant in the delivery of medical training and services to address the significant health needs of the country. To assist in the management and capacity building of the project across the eight medical universities, centres of excellence (COEs) have been proposed, encompassing five core constructs including health management, medical education, economic evaluation, medical research, and e-learning. This paper will address the design and development of two centres of excellence in e-learning.


3-D reconstructions in the head and neck were carried out on 21 normals and 11 patients with space-occupying lesions, both before and after the administration of Gd-DTPA. The 3-D reconstructions were obtained by the "ray-tracing" method. For the 3-D reconstructions, portions of the skull surface image were removed to permit views of the deeper tissues. The 3-D reconstructions included an hypoglossus neurinoma, a glomus tumour, two carcinomas of the maxillary antra, three naso-pharyngeal carcinomas, a parotid adenoma, an oro-pharyngeal haemangioma and two lesions in the neck. The 3-D reconstructions provided a better understanding of the morphology than was obtained from the two-dimensional images. 3-D reconstructions of lesions in the head and neck will become a valuable diagnostic method for demonstrating space-occupying lesions, particularly with regard to surgical planning.


This study investigated the implementation of competence-based English curriculum in Kinondoni municipal primary schools' in Dar es Salaam region. It was limited to
eight primary schools.. The study was guided by the following research objectives; to explore the extent to which primary school teachers implement competency based
teaching and learning approach, to examine the availability of material inputs used in the teaching and learning process, to assess how the primary school teachers apply
competency based teaching and learning approach; and to identify challenges encountered in the teaching and learning procedure for English subject. The study was guided by the Vygotsky's Social Development Theory. The study used
descriptive research design. The research approach used in this study was quantitative and qualitative. The data collection instruments used were interviews, questionnaires, observations and documentation. These were administered to eight heads of school; one inspector, fifty six teachers of English and one hundred and forty four pupils of standard five, six and seven. The findings indicated that school
inspectors, heads of schools and teachers were familiar with the concept of competency based curriculum. Pupils did not understand English language subject because they perceived it to be difficult. The teaching and learning method mostly
used in teaching was the lecture method. Text books were inadequate compared to big class sizes. Many teachers were unwilling to teach the subject because they considered themselves to be incompetent. The main challenges encountered in the teaching of English subject included; inadequacy of teaching and learning materials, incompetent teachers and congestion of pupils in one class. The recommendations given, propose actions to be taken in order to improve the situation and also carrying further research related to this study.


In this work the sputter process for back contact Mo layers was adjusted to increase the adhesive strength of the Mo layers to the glass substrate, while keeping a high deposition rate and high conductivity. Mo layers were fabricated using DC magnetron sputtering in an in-line sputtering system. The adhesive strength was tested with ultrasonic agitation. The combination of good adhesion and high deposition rate was obtained by using a double layer, where the thickness of the first adhesion layer was varied between 25 and 100 nm and sputtered at 15 mTorr, whereas the second bulk layer was varied between 300 and 600 nm and sputtered at 6 mTorr. Solar cells were prepared for all different thicknesses of the adhesive layer and showed similar performance.


Studying Marketing is packed full of lively debate and funny anecdotes covering topics marketing students are familiar with, such as key thinkers and concepts, and some they are not. It looks at areas most textbooks ignore, such as the development of marketing as a discipline and as an academic subject, and raises arguments that students haven't heard about in their lectures.

Conceived by Chris Grey as an antidote to conventional textbooks, each book in the 'Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap' series takes a core area of the curriculum and turns it on its head by providing a critical and sophisticated overview of the key issues and debates in an informal, conversational and often humorous way.

Suitable for Marketing students at Undergraduate and Postgraduate level. Along with professionals involved in marketing and anyone interested in how marketing works.

Need another VSFI book? Browse the series here


Self-modeling involves the observation of oneself on an edited videotape to show a desired performance (Dowrick & Dove, 1980). While research has investigated the effects of self-modeling on physical performance and psychological mechanisms in relation to skill acquisition (e.g., Clark & Ste-Marie, 2007), no research to date has used a qualitative approach to examine the thought processes athletes engage in during the viewing of a self-modeling video in a competitive sport environment. The purpose of this study was to explore the self-regulatory processes of ten divers who viewed a self-modeling video during competitions. After competition, the divers were asked four questions relating to the self-modeling video. Zimmerman's (2000) self-regulation framework was adopted for deductive analysis of the responses to those questions. The results indicated that a number of self-regulatory processes were employed, and they were mainly those in the forethought (75%) and self-reflection (25%) phases of Zimmerman's model. Directions for future research in self-regulation and self-modeling are discussed. Modeling has been defined as a process where a learner observes a model dem


Mathematics is often heralded as the foundation to STEM education, yet we know relatively little about how student attainment in maths is related to attainment in science. Sadler and Tai's (2007) influential US study showed the importance of learning mathematics in high-school for subsequent learning in university science, while research in New Zealand does not support this assertion (NZ Government, 2010). Furthermore there have been no studies of how maths may predict science attainment within university study. To address this issue we investigated the role of mathematics in STEM courses in one elite university in Australia. Secondary data analysis employed linear multiple regression to examine the relationship between first semester mathematics and second semester science attainments, while accounting for prior learning and demographic variables. These analyses confirmed that prior learning in the examined science was the best predictor of later science attainment; but that mathematics is also a strong predictor of science across biology, engineering, molecular bioscience and physics. In biology and molecular bioscience, maths is a significant predictor of attainment over and beyond the first semester attainment in these sciences. The implications for degree structure and preparation for study within STEM degrees are discussed.


Ankyloblepharon, ectodermal defects, cleft lip/palate (AEC) syndrome is a rare autosomal dominant disorder caused by mutations in the p63 gene, essential for embryonic development of stratified epithelia. The most severe cutaneous manifestation of this disorder is the long-lasting skin fragility associated with severe skin erosions after birth. Using a knock-in mouse model for AEC syndrome, we found that skin fragility was associated with microscopic blistering between the basal and suprabasal compartments of the epidermis and reduced desmosomal contacts. Expression of desmosomal cadherins and desmoplakin was strongly reduced in AEC mutant keratinocytes and in newborn epidermis. A similar impairment in desmosome gene expression was observed in human keratinocytes isolated from AEC patients, in p63-depleted keratinocytes and in p63 null embryonic skin, indicating that p63 mutations causative of AEC syndrome have a dominant-negative effect on the wild-type p63 protein. Among the desmosomal components, desmocollin 3, desmoplakin and desmoglein 1 were the most significantly reduced by mutant p63 both at the RNA and protein levels. Chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments and transactivation assays revealed that p63 controls these genes at the transcriptional level. Consistent with reduced desmosome function, AEC mutant and p63-deficient keratinocytes had an impaired ability to withstand mechanical stress, which was alleviated by epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors known to stabilize desmosomes. Our study reveals that p63 is a crucial regulator of a subset of desmosomal genes and that this function is impaired in AEC syndrome. Reduced mechanical strength resulting from p63 mutations can be alleviated pharmacologically by increasing desmosome adhesion with possible therapeutic implications.


Statistical estimators of the concentrations associated with specified levels of reproductive toxicity in the aquatic organism Ceriodaphnia dubia are presented and compared. The first estimator, the ICp or inhibition concentration approach, was based on a nonparametric estimation routine that assumed responses monotonically declined with increasing concentrations. This estimator also assumed that linear interpolation between mean responses associated with consecutive concentration groups was reasonable. The second estimator, the RIp or reproductive inhibition concentration approach, was based on a parametric concentration‐response model. This model assumed that the number of young is a Poisson or negative, binomially distributed, random variable, and that the mean number of young could be modeled using an exponential term involving a polynomial in the test concentrations. Confidence intervals for both these estimators were obtained using variants of a bootstrap resampling procedure. The properties of these estimators, namely bias, mean squared error, and coverage probabilities, were compared in a Monte Carlo simulation study. The results from this study suggested that over a broad range of realistic conditions, the confidence intervals associated with the ICp estimator failed to maintain nominal coverage probabilities, whereas the confidence intervals associated with the RIp estimator performed as nominally stated under most conditions. Finally, correct specification of the model concentration‐response pattern was observed to be important for estimating inhibition concentrations with small bias and variability.


Cathodic-anodization process was performed to treat titanium sheets to improve biocompatible performance. Grazing incident X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and electrochemical measurement were used to evaluate the influence of hydrogen on the formation of nanoporous TiO2. Multimeshworked and nanoporous TiO2 was observed after treatment with cathodic-anodization process. The nanoporous oxide layer is hard to form without nano-TiH2. The nano-TiH2 plays an important role in forming multimeshworked and nanostructured TiO2 layer. Hydrogen charging by cathodization is believed to enhance the formation of nanoporous oxide film and thus promote biocompatibility.


This paper presents a slot leakage model for stator windings having a fractional number of turns per slot. The results are compared with finite element simulations and measurements using search coils in a prototype machine. Although the slot leakage model predicts the leakage correctly in the slot bottom, the model cannot be used on its own for the slot top since the zig-zag leakage was very pronounced just below the slot wedge.


Activation of liver Ito cells is characterized by increased proliferation, fibrogenesis, loss of cellular retinoid and change of cell-shape. Here, we have described fundamental differences between freshly isolated Ito cells (FIC) and long-term cultured Ito cells (LTIC). This process of activation correlates with the absence of expression of Pro alpha 1(I) gene in FIC. LTIC expressed abundant transcripts of Pro alpha 1(I) gene. Nuclear run-off experiments showed the inability of FIC to support Pro alpha 1(I) RNA transcription while LTIC transcribed it greater than 5-fold as compared with FIC. Transforming growth factor beta (TGF beta)-treated LTIC had a preferential increase in the rate of Pro alpha 1(I) gene transcription as compared with control LTIC. A human collagen type I promoter-enhancer construct (pCOL-KT) [Thompson, Simkevich, Holness, Kang and Raghow (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 2549-2556] was readily expressed in LTIC but failed to be expressed in FIC. Furthermore, TGF beta treatment of LTIC resulted in an increased expression of pCOL-KT. The deletion of an activator protein-1 (AP-1) binding site (+598 to +604) in the 360 bp enhancer region of pCOL-KT (S360) caused decreased expression of the CAT reporter gene, suggesting that this bonafide AP-1 site can, at least in part, mediate the transactivation effect of TGF beta. Using DNAase I protection, we demonstrate a single foot-print located at +590 to +625 in the S360 fragment; nuclear extracts prepared from TGF beta-treated LTIC exhibited greater activity of these AP-1 binding proteins. Gel mobility assays corroborated and extended the footprinting observation. No AP-1-binding activity was found in the nuclear extracts of FIC. Double-stranded oligonucleotides containing the consensus AP-1 motif were able to compete out the binding; consensus NF-1 motif oligonucleotides failed to do so. The preincubation of nuclear extracts from control and TGF beta-treated LTIC with antibodies against c-jun and c-fos rendered a reduced binding of AP-1 proteins to the target S360 fragment.


Chile is, compared to several other South American countries, geographically and demographically rather limited, but despite that it is the second most important trading and investment partner for Austria in this region. The aim of this paper is to gain firsthand insights into the motivations and perceptions of the entry of Austrian firms into the Chilean market by using an exploratory research approach.Interviews with thirteen qualified and experienced persons were conducted and analyzed, using Mayring's qualitative content analysis. The Chilean market is an attractive opportunity for Austrian firms, as it performs quite well in international business environment rankings. The study results indicate a variety of motivationsfor entering the market, as well as diverse entry mode decisions based on numerous factors, together with a prevailing positive perception of the Chilean business environment. Several results probably cannot be generalized for the entire country, as the capital city is the center of business, and research in other regions of Chile might have different results. Challenges have been identified in the matters of language, distance, time, culture, recruitment, complexity, local partners and the indigenous population. Chile is a highly developed emerging market where doing business faces few obstacles. Therefore, the country represents a very attractive location in South America with great potential for Austrian companies.


Objectives Psychologists are trained to deal with complex and challenging situations. Yet, doing 'people work' may tax the psychologists' own wellbeing and spill over to the private sphere. Accordingly, this study examined the association between perceived workload and work-to-life conflict. Methods Authorised Swedish psychologists (N = 2518), in permanent employment and working at least 50% of full time, were included. Of these, 1910 were women and 608 men and their mean age was 46 years (SD 11 years). All were responders to a cross-sectional survey with a response rate of 48% (N = 3240). A workload index score was created (range 0–4) by calculating the sum score of four dichotomized items on which responding "Weekly to daily" was indicative of high workload. The questions pertained to uneven workload, problems with completing work tasks, getting behind and lacking time. Four single items assessed either time-based or strain-based work-to-life conflict (dichotomized into "poor" or "good"). Results Although 36% reported no work-to-family conflict at all, 11% acknowledged conflict on all four items. Age and gender adjusted logistic regression analysis indicated positive associations between workload and all work-to-family conflict indicators, that is, work draining too much energy from private life (OR = 1.55, 95 CI = 1.44–1.66, p < 0.001), work-problems rendering irritation at home (OR = 1.41, 95 CI = 1.31–1.52, p < 0.001), constant thoughts on work hindering relaxing at free time (OR = 1.48, 95 CI = 1.37–1.59, p < 0.001), and problems sleeping due to constant thoughts on work (OR = 1.41, 95 CI = 1.30–1.54, p < 0.001). Females had higher prevalence odds on all four items (OR's between 1.26 and 1.72). Conclusion Circa 2/3 of the Swedish psychologists had problems with work-to-life conflict (1/10 had extensive problems). The positive associations between workload and work-to-life conflict suggest that psychologists' wellbeing and private life may benefit from workload-oriented interventions.


Gross examination of an eye removed at autopsy from a 4-year-old child with congenital heart disease revealed typical grouped pigmentation of the retina. Routine light microscopy and flat preparation of the retinal pigment epithelium demonstrated the lesions to consist of focal areas of increased concentration of pigment granules in otherwise normal retinal pigment epithelial cells. The pigment granules were large and football shaped. The overlying photoreceptors showed no abnormalities, possibly explaining the clinical features of normal visual acuity and visual fields in this patient. We believe that this is the first histologic description of congenital grouped pigmentation reported in the English literature. A differential diagnosis and brief review of the pertinent literature are also presented.


Mycobacterium avium belongs to a group of over 130 species of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) or environmental mycobacteria. The subspecies Mycobacterium avium avium was originally described as the causative agent of bird tuberculosis, but was later found to cause disease also in humans. Small children display a special form of infection that is seldom detected in other age groups. It manifests as a chronic lymphadenitis usually in the head and neck region. The incidence rate is approximately 1-5/100,000 children/year. However, exposure to this bacterium is high as judged by sensitin skin test studies. Even if a lot of persons are infected with M. avium, a majority of them do not develop disease and the bacterium is therefore considered to be of low virulence, causing disease mainly in immunocompromised persons. Children with M. avium lymphadenitis, however, usually do not have any known deficiencies in the immune system. This thesis elucidates why small children are prone to develop disease by M. avium. Investigation of a possible zoonotic spread of this bacterium to children involved analysis and comparison of different strains isolated from birds and other animals and from children, using the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method on insertion sequence IS1245, resulting in the finding that the children were infected exclusively with the new proposed subspecies M. avium hominissuis. Animals in general and birds in particular were infected with the subspecies M. avium avium (using the more narrow definition). Moreover, when investigating the immunological response of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to stimulation with M. avium hominissuis and M. avium avium, respectively, it was found that the former subspecies induced lower IFN-γ and IL-17 than the latter, but higher levels of Il-10, which might contribute to explain the higher pathogenicity of M. avium hominissuis in humans. Through studies of the geographical distribution of cases of M. avium infection in children in Sweden and the seasonal variation of the disease, a fluctuation of the incidence over the year was detected, with higher numbers of cases in the autumn months and lower numbers in the late spring. There was a higher incidence rate in children living close to water than in those living in the inland or in the urban areas. Therefore, outdoor natural water is the most probable source of infection in children with M. avium lymphadenitis. Through a descriptive clinical retrospective study, complete surgical removal of the affected lymph node was found to lead to better results than treatment by incision and drainage of abscess or expectation only. Finally there might be several explanations as to why an individual develops disease after infection with M. avium, such as, exposure, bacterial virulence factors or possible specific deficiencies of the immune system of the host or a combination of these factors. Which are the more important factors regarding children with M. avium lymphadenitis is still an open question.


This study aims to find out how the expectations of each ethnic group in maintaining the issue of inter-ethnic life harmony in the Province of West Kalimantan, especially in Pontianak City which consists of the majority of the ethnics of Dayak, Malay, and Tionghoa. Multi-ethnic life in Pontianak City often creates various conflicts. This study is a qualitative research using descriptive qualitative method. In this study, the reseachers linked several theories of intercultural communication and identified the communication barriers such as Stereotype, Ethnocentrism, etc. This study found that inter-ethnic conflicts can arise due to the absence of opened mind in facing the differences, the lack of mutual tolerance and mutual respect among ethnic groups. In addition, communication barriers also become one of the factors of the arise of such inter-ethnic conflict.


For large, spatially and temporally distributed engineering projects, e-mail is a central means for the discussion of engineering work and sharing of digital assets that define the product and its production process. The importance of communication and the value of its content for resolving issues post facto are universally accepted. More recently, the potential value of its content to predict events, issues and states a priori has been explored with some success. However, while in the former context (post facto) trends and patterns can be established through iteration and refinement over time, for prediction, heuristics need to be established in advance and closer to real-time analysis becomes necessary due to the critical and very often short timescales. It is this challenge of making predictions from the content of e-mail that is considered in this paper. In particular, the paper deals with engineering e-mail and the ability to automatically predict its purpose from its content rather than relying solely on the subject line. The work builds upon previous studies by the authors concerning the characterisation of the content of e-mail: what they are about, why they were sent and how the content is expressed. The paper summarises the previous work and looks at the potential of identifying the purpose of e-mail through the use of Naive Bayes and an adapted Latent Semantic Analysis approach. While the techniques have only been applied to an initial exploratory study of 98 e-mails, the results suggest the potential for automated real-time categorisation of engineering e-mails through achieving an accuracy of 66%. Such a capability would both support prioritisation of e-mail for engineers and macro level characterisation of project e-mail dynamics. The latter provides the opportunity for real-time analysis of an engineering projects status and correspondingly, modes of management intervention.


U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Cooperative Agreement Strengthening High Impact Interventions for an AIDS-free Generation (AIDSFree), number AID-OAA-A-14-00046. AIDSFree is implemented by JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. with partners Abt Associates Inc., Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, EnCompass LLC, IMA World Health, The International HIV/AIDS Alliance, Jhpiego Corporation, and PATH. The authors' views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, PEPFAR, or the U.S. Government. AIDSFree Prevention Update


The objective of this study was to validate the recently revised 2008 WHO diagnostic criteria of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) together with the analysis of correlation of JAK2 (Janus kinase 2)-V617F mutant allele burden with clinical/laboratory findings on each patient. We made a diagnosis of 75 suspected MPN patients based on both diagnostic criteria of the 2001 WHO classification and the revised 2008 WHO classification, and found that both criteria show a quite similar diagnostic power except for two patients (idiopathic erythrocytosis (IE) and thrombocytosis) who were diagnosed as essential thrombocythemia by the 2008 WHO criteria. From JAK2-V617F analysis, hemoglobin and hematocrit values were significantly higher and platelet count was lower in JAK2-V617F high allele burden group than JAK2-V617F middle allele burden group. Mutant allele burden of polycythemia vera (PV) group was higher than that of essential thrombocythemia group. Therefore, the amount of mutant allele seemed to define the disease phenotypes. We further found a PV case presenting a rare type of JAK2-exon12 mutation. In contrast, IE presented a good prognosis unlike MPN. Hereafter, the 2008 WHO criteria with JAK2 gene analysis are useful for precise diagnosis of MPN and the patients with erythrocytosis.


OBJECTIVE
The present study attempted to determine whether patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) get the minimum daily amount of physical activity recommended in the guidelines established by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), as well as to characterize the consequences of noncompliance with those guidelines.

METHODS
This study involved 23 patients (median age: 61--range, 59-69 years; FEV1: 39% of predicted--range, 34-53%; BMI: 24 kg/m(2)--range, 21-27 kg/m(2)). The following parameters were evaluated: daily physical activity (DynaPort activity monitor); pulmonary function; muscle force; exercise tolerance; quality of life; functional status; and various indices of disease severity (GOLD, BODE and MRC).

RESULTS
Based on compliance with the guidelines (minimum of 30 minutes of walking per day), 12 patients were considered "physically active", and 11 were considered "physically inactive". No significant differences were observed between the two groups in terms of age, gender, BMI, muscle force, ventilatory reserve, hyperinflation or quality of life. The inactive group presented more impaired pulmonary function and lower exercise tolerance, as well as lower MRC and BODE scores (p < 0.05). In their daily life, patients in the inactive group also walked for less time and more slowly than did those in the active group (p < 0.05). The MRC and BODE indices were superior to the GOLD index in predicting compliance with the guidelines, both presenting a specificity of 0.83, compared with 0.50 for the GOLD index. The BODE index score increased significantly with each day of inactivity.

CONCLUSION
A large number of COPD patients do not walk more than 30 minutes per day and are therefore not getting the minimum daily amount of physical activity recommended by the ACSM. Inactivity correlates with a higher mortality rate. The MRC and BODE indices proved superior to the GOLD index in predicting whether patients are physically inactive in their daily lives.


Seedling dynamics are critical for determining community composition and future forest structure. Two mechanisms are crucial drivers of seedling vital rates: biotic interactions and environmental filtering. Biotic interactions at the neighbourhood scale, such as the Janzen–Connell effect, are considered among the main mechanisms maintaining species coexistence. These effects can show considerable temporal variation because of changes in neighbourhood density (i.e. seedling recruitment following masting years) and weather conditions. However, there is limited evidence of whether interannual variation in these conditions modulates biotic interactions and its potential cascading effects on seedling vital rates. We used seedling data collected over 17 years in a subtropical rainforest in northern Taiwan. We modelled interannual variation in first‐year survival and growth of 12,830 seedlings of 36 species and 47 cohorts using (generalized) linear mixed‐effects models with several crowding indices and abiotic conditions (edaphic and topographic factors) as predictors. The first‐year seedling survival and growth depended on both weather conditions and neighbourhood density. Seedling survival was greater when recruitment was more abundant and in years with greater rainfall, and this was mostly mediated by the interaction with conspecific and heterospecific seedlings. Seedling growth decreased with the increasing abundance of new recruits and increased with annual rainfall. Growth was negatively affected by the basal area of conspecific and heterospecific trees and by the density of conspecific seedlings when the number of new recruits was greater. The abiotic factors had a limited effect on seedling survival and growth compared to biotic factors. Synthesis. Our results show that variation in recruitment abundance due to masting and annual rainfall significantly affects seedling vital rates by changing biotic interactions. These findings are in accordance with the economy of scale hypothesis, which predicts higher per‐capita reproductive success in years of higher seed production. Furthermore, the results support the hypothesis that fluctuations in rainfall can alter biotic interactions in forests. Efforts to predict forest community responses to climate changes should consider the temporal variations in biotic interactions.


History of the law of contempt. Contempt of court: constitutional dimensions. Distinctions between criminal and civil contempts. The statutory regime for strict liability. Contempts by publication at Common Law. Court orders affecting the media. Court reporting I: Restrictions under the 1981 Act. Court reporting II: Other statutory restrictions. Protection of sources. Contempt in the face of the court. Direct interference with the administration of justice. Civil contempt. Jurisdiction. Sanctions and remedies. Practice, procedure and legal aid. Scotland and Northern Ireland. Appendices.


We address the phenomenon of decision making from the viewpoint of computer science and information technology. The basic question from this viewpoint is: what can the computer offer to decision makers and how it can support their work? Therefore, the main issue is to provide support to people who make complex decisions. In this article, we first present the taxonomy of disciplines that are concerned with methodological and operational aspects of decision support. At the main level, we distinguish between decision sciences, which are concerned with human decision making, and decision systems, which address computer decision making. This is followed by basic definitions related to decision processes and their components. We also describe properties that characterise different classes of decision problems. In the main part of the article, we present three prevailing approaches to decision support and give illustrative examples of their application: decision analysis, operational research, and decision support systems. Finally, we make a short overview of the area of decision systems and its achievements.


The Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) of Ross (1976) presumes that a factor model describes security returns. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive examination of the merits of various strategies for constructing basis portfolios that are, in principle, highly correlated with the common factors affecting security returns. Three main conclusions emerge from our study. First, increasing the number of securities included in the analysis dramatically improves basis portfolio performance. Our results indicate that factor models involving 750 securities provide markedly superior performance to those involving 30 or 250 securities. Second, comparatively efficient estimation procedures such as maximum likelihood and restricted maximum likelihood factor analysis(which imposes the APT mean restriction) significantly outperform the less efficient instrumental variables and principal components procedures that have been proposed in the literature. Third, a variant of the usual Fame-MacBeth portfolio formation procedure, which we call the minimum idiosyncratic risk portfolio formation procedure, outperformed the Fama-MacBeth procedure and proved equal toor better than more expensive quadratic programming procedures.


Plasma insulin levels were measured in rabbits in response to the administration of leucine and of arginine. Suppression of the amino-acid-induced insulin secretion by pretreatment with mannoheptulose and with 2-deoxy-D-glucose was attempted. The insulin response to leucine was suppressed to about 50 per cent of control values by both mannoheptulose and 2-deoxy-D-glucose. The response to arginine was not significantly altered by 2-deoxy-D-glucose hut was suppressed to 27 per cent of control values by mannoheptulose. The data suggest that (1) substances interfering with glycolysis can suppress amino-acid-induced insulin release and (2) arginine and leucine cause insulin secretion by different mechanisms.


PURPOSE: Vision is essential one and it is proximately linked with quality of life. In the meantime, older populations are increasing rapidly in the whole world and thus, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataract and diabetic retinopathy are becoming common. Hot and dusty environment, inadequate access to water and poor facial hygiene are risk factors for blindness. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Lewe Township was purposively selected due to its high prevalence of eye problems. A cross-sectional study was conducted and simple random sampling was applied to achieve desired sample size. The structured questionnaires were used to collect data including screening of eye problems from 414 elderly population. Frequency, percentage, mean, SD and other descriptive analysis were determined and chi-square test for associations was constructed. RESULTS : Cataract was the highest prevalence rate with 40.8% followed by refractive error (27.3%) and pterygium (12.8%) among older people population in research area. While knowledge level indicated good level (88.4%), good attitude level (21.3%) and good practice level (27.1%) were noticeably low among older people. In the meantime, there were significant associations between age (p=0.003) and education level (p=0.001) with knowledge level of older people while age (p=0.001), education level (p<0.001), occupation (p=0.038) showed statistically association with attitude level. CONCLUSION : The study noticed that higher prevalence of eye problems with relatively poor level of eye care seeking practice and unawareness on risk factors in targeted community. Knowledge and awareness for changing attitude about eye problems, eye care seeking behaviour and preventive practices should be accomplished more.


Two are the fundamental drivers that will shape future transport and infrastructural policies: environmental and financial resource scarcity and the urgency to deal with climate change at least in its pragmatic dimension to comply with emissions reduction targets. The paper proposes a different approach in investigating the relationship between transport and infrastructural policies and the necessity to solve longterm mobility inadequacy of the consumption and production systems. Currently, sustainability is mainly analysed in terms of competition and substitutability between transport modes and internalisation of negative effects in the price structure, thus regarded as the only way to provide incentives for more environmental-friendly modal choices. In the view of reducing environmental impact, in terms of land-uses and greenhouse-gas emissions, policies should instead aim at an increasing integration and combination among transport modes. A joint management of transport and land-use policies, concerning production, market and housing, is also desired in order to create basic economic conditions for a rationalisation and a consolidation of freight traffic flows without penalizing system performances. Economic incentives together with measures that restrict undesired behaviour may play a more effective role in such a general context.


In the present application, a method of drug loading is significantly higher manufacturing the coagulation and low conjugate fraction (LCF) is reduced monomeric cytotoxic drug / carrier conjugates are described in comparison to the method already reported. The use of the cytotoxic drug derivative / antibody conjugates, compositions, and these conjugates comprising such conjugates are also described. In addition, monomeric potassium teeth myth the derivative / anti -CD22 antibody conjugate, the use of such conjugates and compositions comprising such conjugates are described.


Purpose: We proposes a Systems Thinking approach to the study of IT project management and show how this approach helps project managers in controlling their projects. Systems Thinking is a holistic problem solving method in which system behaviour emerges from the interaction of system components.
Design/methodology/approach: To illustrate our proposal, we present an example model of the dynamics of IT outsourcing projects. The example model explains these dynamics in terms of feedback loops consisting of causal relations reported in the outsourcing literature.
Findings: The model provides insight in how coordination, trust, information exchange and possibilities for opportunistic behaviour influence each other and together influence delivery quality, which in turn influences trust.
Practical implications: The integration of these insights provided by applying the Systems Thinking perspective helps project managers to reason about how their choices influence project outcome, and therefore, to better control their projects.
Research implications: From the viewpoint of academic research, we discuss how the Systems Thinking perspective can serve as an additional tool in the study of IT project management, and how results obtained in a specific case can be generalized. To develop methods and tools specific for IT project management, applying the Systems Thinking perspective also calls for additional research in which this perspective is itself the object of study.
Originality/value: The value of our proposed approach is that it provides a way to integrate isolated theoretical insights into a practical tool for project control.