We complete the formulation of the standard model of first star formation by exploring the possible impact of $\mathrm{LiH}$ cooling, which has been neglected in previous simulations of non-linear collapse. Specifically, we find that at redshift $z\gtrsim 5$, the cooling by $\mathrm{LiH}$ has no effect on the thermal evolution of shocked primordial gas, and of collapsing primordial gas into minihaloes or relic HII regions, even if the primordial lithium abundance were enhanced by one order of magnitude. Adding the most important lithium species to a minimum network of primordial chemistry, we demonstrate that insufficient $\mathrm{LiH}$ is produced in all cases considered, about $[\mathrm{LiH/Li}]\sim 10^{-9}$ for $T\lesssim 100$ K. Indeed, $\mathrm{LiH}$ cooling would only be marginally significant in shocked primordial gas for the highly unlikely case that the $\mathrm{LiH}$ abundance were increased by nine orders of magnitude, implying that $all$ lithium would have to be converted into $\mathrm{LiH}$. In this study, photo-destruction processes are not considered, and the collisional disassociation rate of $\mathrm{LiH}$ is possibly underestimated, rendering our results an extreme upper limit. Therefore, the cooling by $\mathrm{LiH}$ can safely be neglected for the thermal evolution of Population~III star-forming gas.


The present research intends to find whether "landlockedness" has any impact on the exporting capacity of the landlocked countries. To meet that end, I carry out a panel data analysis of 104 countries including 30 landlocked countries. The Hausman test validates the random effect as an appropriate estimation strategy given the structure of the data and research questions in hand. A dummy variable is employed to capture the "landlockedness" and its impact on exporting performance of those countries. The variables openness and foreign direct investments are used to capture the economic health of the countries, other than penalized of being landlocked. Regional dummy for Africa is to assess the impact in the region. The main finding of the present research is the fact that "landlockedness" has a substantially adverse impact on the trading capability of the landlocked countries, as expected. The impact of openness and foreign direct investment do not turn convincing. The incidence of "landlockedness" is slightly higher in Africa among the geographical categories discussed in the research. Therefore, the African landlocked countries should be even more concerned about the economic integration among countries to ensure free transit of their goods to their trading partners.


Abstract Objective: To compare the blood flow velocities of superior mesenteric artery (SMA) before versus after clarithromycin treatment for feeding intolerance in very low-birth weight infants. Methods: A prospective study was conducted in a group of infant <1500 g with feeding intolerance who received clarithromycin 7.5 mg/kg/dose bid. Before and at the third day of the clarithromycin therapy, SMA blood flow velocity was measured with Doppler ultrasound. Results: SMA peak systolic velocity (PSV) and mean systolic velocity (MV) on the third day of the treatment was found significantly higher than the initial measurement (p = 0.013 and p = 0.027, respectively). End diastolic velocity of the SMA did not change with clarithromycin therapy (p = 0.113). There were no significant changes about pulsatility and resistive index of SMA with regard to clarithromycin therapy. Conclusion: Clarithromycin effects the splanchnic circulation. The rise in PSV and MV in SMA is remarkable. These results suggest that the splanchnic blood flow increases significantly after clarithromycin usage.


Links between gender, activity/travel patterns and the life course have become a significant subject of inquiry in recent years. This paper draws upon a previous study that found that key events in the life course had significant effects on the complexity of trip and activity patterns. Some of these effects differed significantly between men and women. The panel data analysis presented here uses descriptive statistics to illustrate more clearly the patterns of time use before and after key events such as the birth of a child, entry into the labour market, or retirement. Further, regression models of time use changes for employed work, out-of-home leisure, escort, and time spent at home are presented. The data used is the German Mobility Panel (GMP) 1994 to 2014 in which households and their members are asked three times in three successive years to report the trips they made over a week. The results show the gendered effects of various key events on change in time use. Key events in partnership and the family affect women's time use more than men's, while for labour market events it is mostly the other way round.


An intriguing contrapuntal device available to Japanese translators and writers is small-font glosses known as rubi, marginalia juxtaposed alongside words or phrases to fulfil a multitude of functions. Moving far beyond their original role of a phonetic aid, rubi are often used bivocally to produce not only two unrelated pronunciations of a word but also an extra semantic layer, helping to transcend the limitations of conventional translational equivalents. Rubi glosses can enhance a word's expressiveness, emphasize, exaggerate, elucidate or delimit its meaning, convey a different register or speech mode, or act as a paraphrase or inside joke. The double layering and shifting focus provided by different headword-rubi permutations enable translators to convey the meaning of source text concepts while retaining their foreignness, including a representation of the original sound (an aspect that is usually sacrificed when meaning is translated). Rubi can also have a subversive function, destabilizing the headword by qualifying or relativizing its meaning or acting as an intimate critique or commentary. Thus these in-text excurses often exist in a state of tension, an uneasy embrace, with the words to which they are attached. This article examines how rubi enable and exploit to good effect the elaborate interplay amongst different scripts, sound and meaning in Japanese translations, and suggests that some aspects of this double-voiced practice could be adapted by translators in other languages as an avenue for heteroglossic experimentation.


ABSTRACT Objective: To analyze the literature in which researchers have utilized the National College Health Assessment (NCHA) I or the NCHA II. Participants and Methods: The authors selected peer-reviewed articles published between 2004 and July 2013 utilizing a single search term: National College Health Assessment. Articles were assessed for instrument use, limitations, and data analyses. Results: The search resulted in 72 articles for inclusion. Researchers used the instrument to either conduct a primary investigation or utilize reference group data for secondary analysis. Researchers used many data analyses, statistical tests, techniques, and methods. Limitations of the instrument were consistently mentioned by researchers. Conclusions: Results indicate limitations in the NCHA. To ensure college health professionals are gaining the best information possible regarding students on their campuses, specific improvements to the NCHA are recommended.


Background: An external ventricular drain (EVD) training module may improve the knowledge and proficiency of perioperative health care providers (HCPs). Methods: We examined knowledge gaps, self-reported comfort in managing EVDs, and improvement in self-assessment scores among HCPs from 7 academic medical centers based on an online EVD training module. Results: Of the 326 HCPs who completed the module, 207 (70.6%) reported being uncomfortable managing EVDs. The median pretest scores were 6 (interquartile range=2), and posttest scores were 8 (interquartile range=1), out of a maximum possible score of 9. The most frequent incorrectly answered questions were: (a) maximum allowed hourly cerebrospinal fluid volume drainage (51%), (b) the components of a normal intracranial pressure waveform (41%), and (c) identifying the correct position of the stopcock for accurate measurement of intracranial pressure (41%). The overall gain in scores was 2 (interquartile range=2) and highest among HCPs who had managed 1 to 25 EVDs (2.51, 95% confidence interval: 2.23-2.80), and without self-reported comfort in managing EVDs (2.26, 95% confidence interval: 1.96-2.33, P<0.0001). The majority of participants (312, 95.7%) reported that the training module helped them understand how to manage EVDs, and 276 (84.7%) rated the module 8 or more out of 10 in recommending it to their colleagues. Conclusions: This online EVD training module was well-received by participants. Overall, improved scores reflect enhanced knowledge among HCPs following completion of the module. The greatest benefit was observed in those reporting less experience and feeling uncomfortable in managing EVDs. The impact on the reduction in EVD-associated adverse events deserves further examination.


We develop a nonparametric Bayes factor for testing the fit of a parametric model. We begin with a nominal parametric family which we then embed into an infinite-dimensional exponential family. The new model then has a parametric and nonparametric component. We give the log density of the nonparametric component a Gaussian process prior. An asymptotic consistency requirement puts a restriction on the form of the prior, leaving us with a single hyperparameter for which we suggest a default value based on simulation experience. Then we construct a Bayes factor to test the nominal model versus the semiparametric alternative. Finally, we show that the Bayes factor is consistent. The proof of the consistency is based on approximating the model by a sequence of exponential families.


Thank you very much for downloading development and policy concerning children with special needs. As you may know, people have look numerous times for their chosen books like this development and policy concerning children with special needs, but end up in harmful downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they juggled with some infectious bugs inside their laptop.


INTRODUCTION. The aim of the study was to search for therozprawy(max 1400 znakow)association between9 polymorphisms in the genes for C-C chemokine receptor type 7 and C-C motif chemokine 19 and angiographic patterns of coronary artery atherosclerosis or myocardial infarction risk in Polish population.METHODS. 300 patients with chronic stable coronary artery disease undergoing coronarography were genotyped by RFLP method and reverse dot blot hybridization.Single variable analysis for genotype-phenotype association involved chi-square test for additive, dominant and recessive model of inheritance, Fisher's exact test, Cochran-Armitage trend test. Multivariate analysis involved linear regression and logistic regressionRESULTS: Allele A rs17708087 frequency in patient who underwent myocardial infarction was significantly higher (75,5%) than in control group (59%, p=0,01). AA homozygotes versus other genotype carriers presented over two-fold increased risk of myocardial infarction (OR 2,13, CI 1,13-3,86). No correlation was found between CCR7, CCL19 polymorphisms and angiographic patterns of coronary artery atherosclerosis.CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study suggest that polymorphism rs17708087 may be potentially a risk factor of myocardial infarction in Polish population. Risk prediction models for coronary artery disease with rs17708087 require further research.


In Jacksonian Promise historian Daniel Feller offers a fresh look at the United States in the tumultuous Age of Jackson. Viewing the era through the eyes of people who lived in it, Feller's account captures the optimism and energy that filled America after the War of 1812. His emphasis on Americans' confidence in the future and faith in improvement challenges historians who depict the Jacksonian temperament in terms of anxiety and foreboding. Jacksonian Promise opens with the Jubilee anniversary of Independence in 1826, when Americans celebrated their national birthright of liberty and opportunity. Blessed with abundant resources and what they held to be the best government on earth, citizens believed they could accomplish nearly anything. They felt it in their power to remake themselves, their country, and the world. Feller traces the influence of this enterprising spirit across a broad range of Jacksonian activity. Experiment and innovation flourished as Americans built canals and factories, founded unions and utopias, staged religious revivals and moral crusades, and campaigned to eradicate social ills and to purify law and politics. Yet despite their common source, competing programs of progress soon clashed with each other. As citizens organized to pursue their hopes for America's future, divisions arose among that pointed ultimately toward civil war.


Medical nutrition therapy (MNT) is important in preventing diabetes, managing existing diabetes, and preventing, or at least slowing, the rate of development of diabetes complications. It is, therefore, important at all levels of diabetes prevention. MNT is also an integral component of diabetes self-management education (or training). This position statement provides evidence-based recommendations and interventions for diabetes MNT. The previous position statement with accompanying technical review was published in 2002 and modified slightly in 2004. This statement updates previous position statements, focuses on key references published since the year 2000, and uses grading according to the level of evidence available...


In last year's I/ITSEC paper, we provided specific insights into practical applications of motivational design principles from John Keller's ARCS-V model, by showing how this is done in several Norwegian Defense Forces e-learning courses. This paper continues the work on motivation in e-learning, and asks whether the effects of motivational design may be measured. We answer the question by way of a trial, where a small segment of the target group of an ammunition safety e-learning course is asked to self-report on their perceived level of motivation. Using the Experience Application Programming Interface (xAPI) the trial tracks and uncovers variations in the participants' motivational levels. We discuss and show how the results can be used by instructional designers when optimizing elearning courses, provide experience and suggestions from early-stage usage of xAPI.


In the General Theory of Relativity it is being introduced that the energy of motion is converted to the mass
of that particle or matter or we can say that are interchangeable. It has a wide range use in the nuclear physics. The
whole equation 𝑬 = 𝒎𝒄
𝟐
is a relativistic mass-energy equivalence and the term "mass" is also relativistic in nature. In
special relativity, however, the energy of a body at rest is determined to be 𝒎𝒄
𝟐
. Thus, each body of rest mass m
possesses 𝒎𝒄
𝟐 of "rest energy," which potentially is available for conversion to other forms of energy. Here we
initiated a equation from this if the Energy of motion has a vector form and it is in 3D space model as we know the
energy of motion converted it to mass here we can do it by quantum mechanics. We think of that if the energy of
motion is equal to the kinetic energy (time-independent equation from the Schrödinger equations) then we can solve
the vector form of the energy and can find how much mass is being converted from the energy of motion(vector
form). Here we have taken the kinetic energy from the Schrödinger equations not that from kinematics if we do then
the speed of light will be equal to the velocity of that particle, which is violating the law of relativity thus I used the
Schrödinger equations for simplicity .We got the equation and we have to do some calculation of the partial
differentials and if the value of 𝑴′
is coming to be negative then the particle doesn't exist and else we can find the
mass converted and also the existence of that particle or matter of the universe. By this process, we can get the mass,
the existence of matter/particle in this universe for that instance. We can use it if the energy is in the vector form and
given some distance traveled in vacuum/air for some definite time we will get the desired result of mass.


Hepatitis-splenomegaly (HS) syndrome is an emerging disease in chickens in North America; the cause of this disease is unknown. In this study, the genetic identification and characterization of a novel virus related to human hepatitis E virus (HEV) isolated from bile samples of chickens with HS syndrome is reported. Based upon the similar genomic organization and significant sequence identity of this virus with HEV, the virus has been tentatively named avian HEV in order to distinguish it from human and swine HEV. Electron microscopy revealed that avian HEV is a non-enveloped virus particle of 30-35 nm in diameter. The sequence of the 3' half of the viral genome ( approximately 4 kb) was determined. Sequence analyses revealed that this genomic region contains the complete 3' non-coding region, the complete genes from open reading frames (ORFs) 2 and 3, the complete RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene and a partial helicase gene from ORF 1. The helicase gene is the most conserved gene between avian HEV and other HEV strains, displaying 58-61% aa and 57-60% nt sequence identities. The RdRp gene of avian HEV shares 47-50% aa and 52-53% nt sequence identities and the putative capsid gene (ORF 2) of avian HEV shares 48-49% aa and 48-51% nt sequence identities with the corresponding regions of other known HEV strains. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that avian HEV is genetically related to, but distinct from, other known HEV strains. This discovery has important implications for HEV animal models, nomenclature and natural history.


Young children can quickly and intuitively represent the number of objects in a visual scene through the Approximate Number System (ANS). The precision of the ANS - indexed as the most difficult ratio of two numbers that children can reliably discriminate - is well known to improve with development: whereas infants require relatively large ratios to discriminate number, children can discriminate finer and finer changes in number between toddlerhood and early adulthood. Which factors drive the developmental improvements in ANS precision? Here, we investigate the influence of four non-numeric dimensions - area, density, line length, and time - on ANS development, exploring the degree to which the ANS develops independently from these other dimensions, from inhibitory control, and from domain-general factors such as attention and working memory that are shared between these tasks. A sample of 185 children between the ages of 2 and 12 years completed five discrimination tasks: approximate number, area, density, length, and time. We report three main findings. First, logistic growth models applied to both accuracy and Weber fractions (w; an index of ANS precision) across age reveal distinct developmental trajectories across the five dimensions: while area and length develop by adolescence, time and density do not develop fully until early adulthood, with ANS precision developing at an intermediate rate. Second, we find that ANS precision develops independently of the other four dimensions, which in turn develop independently of the ANS. Third, we find that ANS precision also develops independently from individual differences in inhibitory control (indexed as the difference in accuracy and w between Congruent and Incongruent ANS trials). Together, these results are the first to provide evidence for domain-specific improvements in ANS precision, and place children's maturing perception of number, space, and time into a broader developmental context.


It is predicted that savannah regions will see changes in precipitation patterns due to current climate change pro-jections. The change will most likely affect leaf phenology which controls net primary production. It is thereforeimportant to; 1) study those changes and its drivers, 2) to be able to correctly model the changes to vegetationphenology due to climate change. To our knowledge there is no existing global savannah phenology model thatcan capture both the phenological events and the vegetation state between the events. We therefore, investigate howday length, mean annual precipitation and soil moisture affects and controls the vegetation phenology of savannahs(using MODIS NDVI as a proxy for phenological state) with a lagged time series model for global application. Wefurthermore use phenological pictures (phenopictures) to investigate savannah tree and grass phenology. Phenopic-tures are pictures taken with a digital time-lapse camera with the purpose of recording and studying phenologicalevents. We used climate data from 15 flux towers sites located in 4 continents together with normalized differencevegetation index from MODIS for the model development. Two of the sites located in Africa were further ana-lyzed using phenopictures. The developed model identified all three considered variables as usable for modellingof savannah leaf phenology but showed some inconsistent result for some of the sites indicating the difficultiesin creating a simple common model that works equally well across sites. We attribute some of these difficultiesto site specific differences (e.g. grazing or tree and grass ratio) that the simplified model did not consider. Butwe expect it to on average give the cross-validated result (r2= 0.6, RMSE = 0.1) when applied to other savannahareas. The preliminary analysis of the phenological pictures with respect to tree and grass to some extent supportthis by showing differences in the start of the leaves development in the beginning of the season. However, thisdiffered between the two studied sites which further highlights the difficulties in creating a common model thatworks equally well for individual sites. (Less)


Against nature man can claim no right, but once society is established poverty immediately takes the form of a wrong done to one class by another. The important question of how poverty is to be abolished is one of the most disturbing problems which agitate modem society.--Georg Hegel(1) POVERTY: THEORY AND POLICY Poverty, is still growing in the majority of least developed countries (LDCs). Structural adjustment programs have improved macroeconomic management in some countries, but political failures in many LDCs have led to falling per capita incomes, while war and economic collapse have reduced the weakest to near-destitution. Although in some LDCs growth has reduced poverty for many and brought luxury to some, in most others hundreds of millions still lack the security, employment, shelter, health care, education and mobility needed for a decent life. Providing the poor with opportunities for economic security and personal autonomy is surely the most important and difficult goal of development policy and practice. Development theorists have always had to recognize the distributional implications of their policy and institutional recommendations. The dominant Marxist or neo-Marxist paradigms of the 1960s and 1970s attributed poverty and uneven development to private ownership and competitive markets, and they believed that state intervention could secure redistribution by fostering growth. The command economies tried to eliminate market competition, while structuralist and social democratic systems accepted some of the advantages of private ownership but felt that markets should be treated as servants rather than masters. They allowed the state to control foreign trade and the commanding heights of industry and to provide safety nets to build infant industries, guarantee full employment and universalize welfare services. Poverty declined during the post-war boom in the most successful of these countries, but these gains were seriously compromised by the financial, fiscal and balance of payments crises that emerged when the boom ended in the 1970s. This restored the credibility of neoclassical economic theory, which linked state control to monopoly power and information overload, and thus to economic inefficiency and oppression. Its primary concern was growth rather than equality, but it also attributed poverty to irrational economic policies and the rents created by state monopolies, rather than private ownership and competitive markets. These views were dominant by the early 1980s and were spread across the globe in the form of the structural adjustment programs (SAPs) forced onto most LDCs by economic crises. This theoretical and policy revolution culminated with the communist collapse in 1989 and the market-driven transformations that followed. Thus, poverty is now addressed in a policy environment that rejects state controls and gives priority to economic efficiency and monetary stability over full employment and welfare rights. Neoclassical theorists prioritize efficiency and price stability, but they also claim that competitive markets deliver equity as well as growth. They argue that liberalization will reduce the global and national inequalities created by protectionism in developed countries, as well as the rigidities, price distortions and monopoly rents stemming from state intervention in LDCs. They claim that free trade will shift industry from high- to low-wage countries, and that rational prices and free markets will increase the rate of profit and incentive to invest, thus increasing employment and, in the long run, wages. They attribute growth and poverty reduction in formerly poor Asian countries to the export opportunities created by lower global tariffs and to their emphasis on private ownership and market forces. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (the International Financial Institutions, or IFIs) are now taking this liberal agenda into the poorest countries, whose welfare depends greatly on their success. …


Abstract Objective Nursing assessments have been recommended for the daily screening for delirium; however, the utility of individual items have not yet been tested. In a first step in establishing the potential of the electronic Patient Assessment-Acute Care (ePA-AC) as such, the impact of delirium on the functional domains was assessed. Method In this prospective observational cohort study, 277 patients were assessed and 118 patients were delirious. The impact of delirium on functional domains of the ePA-AC related to self-initiated activity, nutrition, and elimination was determined with simple logistic regressions. Results Patients with delirium were older, sicker, were more commonly sedated during the assessment, stayed longer in the intensive care unit (ICU) and floors, and less commonly discharged home. A general pattern was the loss of abilities and full functioning equivalent to global impairment. For self-initiated mobility, in and out of the bed sizable limitations were noted and substantial inability to transfer caused friction and shearing. Similarly, any exhaustion and fatigue were associated with delirium. For self-initiated grooming and dressing, the impairment was greater in the upper body. Within the nutritional domain, delirium affected self-initiated eating and drinking, the amount of food and fluids, energy and nutrient, as well as parenteral nutrition requirement. In delirious patients, the fluid demand was rather increased than decreased, tube feeding more often required and dysphagia occurred. For the elimination domain, urination was not affected — of note, most patients were catheterized, whereas abilities to initiate or control defecation were affected. Significance of results Delirium was associated with sizable impairment in the level of functioning. These impairments could guide supportive interventions for delirious patients and perspectively implement nursing instruments for delirium screening.


An overlooked chapter in a Danish theological context is the sophiology and theology of Sergei Bulgakov who developed a theology based on the humanity of God. The Russian sophiological tradition draws no clear line between theology and philosophy. It mingles German idealism with Greek patristics, and a view of God, Goodness, Truth and Beauty is defended in a world full of cracks, antinomies and fragments of the Truth. Sophiology offers a view of the world englobed in divinity. Creation is a creation ex nihilo but also out of a superabundance in the inner divinity of the Triune God. Sophiology does not understand itself to be a new doctrine, but an interpretation of the doctrine of the Incarnation and the Trinity. Following the line of thought in Ser- gei Bulgakov's sophiology, the relation between identity and difference is rendered clear as a relation between God and the world. This article will particularly investigate the Christological and Trinitarian aspects of Bulgakov's sophiology.


Early postoperative angiographic control is important for prognosis and medical therapy for patients undergoing coronary bypass surgery. Grafts from the internal mammary artery had been shown to be superior to venous bypasses for anastomoses to the left anterior descending coronary artery. Thus, the need for angiographic demonstration of graft patency and function is increasing. We report on the angiographic analyses of 73 patients after left internal mammary artery (LIMA) bypass surgery by filling of the graft via retrograde injection of contrast medium into the left brachial artery. In all cases the bypass, anastomosis and downstream vessel were clearly visualised. No complications or side effects were observed.


This article comprises a dialogue between two historians who have attempted, individually, to narrate the life of Lord George Gordon (1751–93), the Scottish prophet, revolutionary, and convert to Judaism. For modern cultural historians, Gordon's peregrinations between identities offer a kaleidoscopic view of Britain in the overlooked but crucial interstice between the upheavals of 1776 and 1789. Yet the partial nature of the evidence, the long omission of Gordon from the historiography of eighteenth-century Britain, and the complex, often furtive nature of Gordon's activism create multiple ambiguities in his story. These ambiguities are compounded here by the authors' differing approaches. Marsha Keith Schuchard argues for a Gordon shaped by Scottish origins; Dominic Green, for a Gordon responding to English opportunities. They disagree over the likely date of Gordon's conversion to Judaism and, crucially, over whether he was a religious atavist or a Romantic pioneer. This dialogue is meant to illustrate the utility of a scholarship that acknowledges fuzziness rather than attempting to overclarify it. The article is also meant to show, however, that on the public stage fuzziness can be less benign: Gordon was a religious politician, who reworked his complexities and confusions into a violent, uncompromising critique of eighteenth-century British social order.


This paper presents a new set of techniques for hardware implementations of secure hash algorithm (SHA) hash functions. These techniques consist mostly in operation rescheduling and hardware reutilization, therefore, significantly decreasing the critical path and required area. Throughputs from 1.3 Gbit/s to 1.8 Gbit/s were obtained for the SHA implementations on a Xilinx VIRTEX II Pro. Compared to commercial cores and previously published research, these figures correspond to an improvement in throughput/slice in the range of 29% to 59% for SHA-1 and 54% to 100% for SHA-2. Experimental results on hybrid hardware/software implementations of the SHA cores, have shown speedups up to 150 times for the proposed cores, compared to pure software implementations.


An alternate parallel receiver (APRX) has been developed jointly by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Goddard Space Flight Center. Time-domain equalization used to suppress multipath interference is very sensitive to the echo length, which will be very large when the symbol rate goes high. To solve this problem in high data-rate transmission, this paper proposes a feedback frequency-domain equalization (FFDE) method for the APRX. Based on the specific frame structure using PN sequence as frame head, channel impulse response can be estimated by correlating the received PN head with the local PN sequence. The coefficients of the frequency-domain equalizer used in the next frame can be updated by compensating the current equalizer coefficients with the estimated channel frequency response in the current frame. Simulations verify the efficiency of the proposed FFDE scheme in frequency selective channels.


AIM
To describe the course of parents' perceptions of the family centredness of rehabilitation services provided to their children with cerebral palsy (CP) before and after the transition from preschool to school-based services.

BACKGROUND
Parents of 59 children with CP aged 2.5 to 4.5 years filled in the 56-item Measure of Processes of Care (MPOC-56) on three occasions pre (2) and post (1) transition to school-based services. Friedman tests were used to describe changes in parents' perceptions over time. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to describe differences in course of parents' perceptions between regular school and special school or day care.

RESULTS
Parents' perceptions of preschool services were stable between the ages of 2.5 and 3.5 years, with a decline after transition on four of the five domains of the MPOC (P < 0.05). The domain providing general information was scored lowest (median at baseline 3.56, IQR 2.39) compared with the four other MPOC domains, but remained stable over time. No differences in course of parental perceptions were found for school type.

CONCLUSION
The transition from preschool to school-based services for children with CP is associated with a decrease in parents' perception of family centredness independent of the type of school. The transition in services has a negative impact on perceived family-centred practices.


After outlining environmental problems regarding food-economy2 companies and clarifying the concept of environmental behaviour, I will present the results of my questionnaire survey which focussed on food-economy companies in the Northern Great Plain region (Region). Based on solid data, the survey was designed to evaluate the companies' commitment toward environmental protection. Sometimes the observed value systems conformed with the results of other national surveys (e.g. environmental behaviour factors; environmental protection's rank among business aims), but at times I observed that in certain areas they truly lagged behind: for example, this held true for . the number of companies with a certified environmental-management system (EMS) and also for companies which were producing environmental reports and publishing them. It can be concluded that in the Region companies with higher revenues – and thus higher capability – do not try to do better at environmental management than companies with small or medium revenues.


Biology and Evolution of Crocodylians is a comprehensive review of current knowledge about the world's largest and most famous living reptiles.

Gordon Grigg's authoritative and accessible text and David Kirshner's stunning interpretive artwork and colour photographs combine expertly in this contemporary celebration of crocodiles, alligators, caimans and gharials. This book showcases the skills and capabilities that allow crocodylians to live how and where they do. It covers the biology and ecology of the extant species, conservation issues, crocodylian–human interaction and the evolutionary history of the group, and includes a vast amount of new information; 25 per cent of 1100 cited publications have appeared since 2007.

Richly illustrated with more than 500 colour photographs and black and white illustrations, this book will be a benchmark reference work for crocodylian biologists, herpetologists and vertebrate biologists for years to come.

Winner of the 2015 Whitley Medal.


While the name Duncan Hines is presently associated with cake mix, from the Depression to the mid-1950s, the name was most commonly associated with a series of guidebooks pointing travelers to the best restaurants, hotels/motels, and vacation destinations. These books were overwhelmingly popular, outpacing even the venerable Michelin Guide. Prior to Hines, finding good food or safe lodging was a hit-or-miss proposition: restaurants were often unsanitary and the food of poor quality. Hines was trusted by his readers because of his adamant refusal to accept advertising or payment of any kind from the establishments he recommended. Hines developed and nurtured a reputation for unimpeachable fairness and exactingly high standards of quality and cleanliness. Because of the popularity of his guidebooks and on the strength of his reputation, he almost single-handedly transformed the expectations of the restaurant-going public and thus indirectly transformed the hospitality industry in the United States.In the 1950s, in partnership with North Carolinian Roy Park, Duncan Hines sold the rights to his name to be used on a line of grocery items, including coffee, ice cream, canned vegetables, and of course, cake mix. These products sold extremely well at premium prices, because shoppers associated Hines' name with quality and cleanliness. Not without reason: just as Hines had exacting standards for restaurants and hotels, he had very high standards for any food product bearing his name.


This paper evaluates the US initiative to establish a Free Trade Agreement with countries in the Middle East by signing bilateral agreements with the countries individually and then combining them into a single arrangement. These agreements present new opportunities for Arab countries, but to take full advantage, they will have to complement the agreements with additional policy measures, both individually, and together. The promise comes from the ability to use the agreements as a catalyst for improving regulatory rules and systems at home and facilitating integration with the rest of the region and the world. But the agreements also present problems for Arab countries, first in relating these US agreements to agreements with other trading partners – most importantly the EU; second in creating political difficulties associated with closer relations with the USA given problems in the region, and third, in undertaking the necessary economic and political policies that are necessary to realize the benefits.


Gender, an important concept in psychology, is brought into sharp focus in the 1984 Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, which presents important new findings in eight papers, four dealing with sex differences and four with gender as a variable. The papers on sex differences with Ann Anastasi's Reciprocal Relations between Cognitive and Affective Development--with Implications for Sex Differences, in which the author relates aptitudes about the sex appropriateness of behaviors to attitudes and task performance. The effects of prenatal sex hormones on gender identity and gender-role behavior are the subject of the next paper, Gender Differences: A Biosocial Perspective by Anke A. Ehrhardt. In Gender Identity and Its Implications for the Concepts of Masculinity and Femininity, Janet T. Spence proposes a new theoretical approach to the meanings of femininity and masculinity. Sex Differences in Achievement Patterns are Jacquelynne Eccles's concern in her paper.Gender is now studied as a variable in all areas of psychology, several of which are represented in the next four papers. The concept is viewed in the light of attribution theory by Virginia E. O'Leary and Ranald D. Hansen in Sex as an Attributional Fact. Sandra Lipsitz Bem, in Androgeny and Gender Schema Theory: A Conceptual and Empirical Integration, reviews her studies of gender-schematic processing and offers strategies for parents who wish to raise gender-schematic children in a gender-schematic society. Joan C. Martin's Perinatal Psychoactive Drug Use: Effects on Gender, Development, and Function in Offspring focuses on the sex-ratio effects of nicotine, alcohol, and barbiturates on the offspring of rats to whom those drugs were administered during their pregnancy. Differential effects on women and men of cultural attitudes about obesity are the subject of Women and Weight: A Normative Discontent by Judith Rodin, Lisa Silberstein, and Ruth Striegel-Moore.An introduction by Theo B. Sonderegger, professor of psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, places the papers in the context of research on sex differences and gender as a variable.


ABSTRACT Jeanette Winterson's Gut Symmetries 'collapsed' on her three times during the writing process and she had to throw away substantial drafts. In a Paris Review interview (1997) she states: 'You really have to have faith the – and it is a question of faith – and you do have to believe, because there is no other way … There is nothing to say that because you have covered pages in the past that you will cover them in the future. Or that they will be any good. There are no guarantees.' This can be confronting enough for established writers; how do you teach this to early writers? How do issues of process and liminality sit within the context of tertiary subject learning outcomes? Creative writing pedagogues are subject to the restraints of providing a coherent class structure and this can make it difficult to move writers towards the discomfort of liminality – and yet there are strategies teachers can use to engage students with complications of process. This essay will examine writer interviews and accounts of process before outlining strategies I've used within the creative writing classroom to help students track their own processes as they face into writing and revision.


Federal, state, and local governments subject charities to many complicated, technical, and often obscure rules. Many of those rules carry stiff penalties, out of proportion to the rules' apparent importance. As a practical matter, charities often ignore rules such as those involving solicitation of contributions, sales tax, and the need for various operation and food permits. They do so with little risk: After all, who will pick on a Girl Scout bake sale simply because it lacks a solicitation permit and a state and local food inspection?But, says Prof. Willis, controversial charities follow this trend of violations at their peril. In an age of gotcha journalism, groups such as the Boy Scouts must fear nongovernment scrutiny of their public behavior as much as - or more than - government scrutiny. Prof. Willis provides several small but nightmarish examples involving a Boy Scout car wash, a private school raffle, and a local environmental group doing battle with a cement plant. He then analyzes a large, controversial foundation based on publicly available documents. According to his analysis, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc. lacks a valid charitable purpose and violates numerous civil rules regarding private inurement and self-dealing. He concludes the government should withdraw its exempt status and should subject both the organization and management to substantial taxes and civil penalties. He does not address the possibility of criminal liability.


A thermophysical model has been developed to generate asteroid Bennu surface temperature maps for OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and instrument thermal design and analyses at the Critical Design Review (CDR). Two-dimensional temperature maps for worst hot and worst cold cases are used in Thermal Desktop to assure adequate thermal design margins. To minimize the complexity of the Bennu geometry in Thermal Desktop, it is modeled as a sphere instead of the radar shape. The post-CDR updated thermal inertia and a modified approach show that the new surface temperature predictions are more benign. Therefore the CDR Bennu surface temperature predictions are conservative.


This study investigated and compared gaze patterns of typical viewers and trained designers to learn if there are differences in the gaze patterns between the two groups. Using eye tracking technology participants were asked to interpret orally and in writing the effectiveness of the compositions of several advertisements and a company letterhead. The research data included the recorded gaze patterns of participants and the oral and written remarks of the viewers. The questions asked the participants to assess their responses to and appreciation of the compositions. This study shows that similar elements of design are of importance to experts and novices alike but that experts viewed the art differently than novices.


Abstract This paper provides a thorough test of important contextual explanations of variation in electoral support for radical right-wing parties. It has been proposed that support of the radical right is particularly strong in areas that are socioeconomically poor and/or where the concentration of immigrants is high. A variant of the latter hypothesis, known as the 'halo effect', states that the propensity to vote for the radical right is highest in areas close to immigrant-dense areas, but not within these areas. The data analyses are based on the total population of voting districts in Sweden (N = 5,668), which makes it possible to avoid some of the problems that usually plague studies of contextual effects on voting, such as low numbers of observations. The results demonstrate support for the socioeconomic marginalization hypothesis and, when controlling for socioeconomic factors, the halo effect hypothesis; whereas the support for group threat theory is mixed.


The non-breeding population, mainly young and sub-adult birds, of the Mute Swan in the Netherlands concentrates each year during the summer in lakes IJsselmeer and Grevelingen, where they moult in large flocks. The numbers of these moulting birds vary considerably from year to year. For instance on Lake IJsselmeer between 1983 and 1987 a decline from 4,750 to 2,870 birds was recorded. With data on reproductive success, survival of young birds in their first year (banding data) and mortality differences between severe and mild winters (banding data) this paper attempts to analyse the main factors causing these differences in the non-breeding population. The human impact through shooting swans (20-25% of the Dutch population annually) and disturbing breeding attempts (30-40% annually) for protection of agricultural interests is also covered.


INTRODUCTION
During the COVID-19 pandemic, pediatric visits due to acute lower respiratory infections (ALRIs) decreased, but most reports are from hospitalized patients. There is little information on this phenomenon in outpatients, who are the majority in ALRI. We evaluated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ALRI-related outpatient visits in the City of Buenos Aires.

METHODS
Observational study including all outpatient visits of children under 2 years of age to the public health system of the City of Buenos Aires, between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2022. We analyzed the total number of visits and the ALRI-related visits, and their distribution throughout the study period.

RESULTS
A total of 704,426 visits were registered, 7.38% of them due to ALRI. ALRI-related visits decreased from the implementation of a national lockdown (2020) and increased again as the restriction measures decreased, particularly the return to full school attendance (2021). In general, the proportion of ALRI-related visits was significantly higher in the cold months than in the warm ones (9.8% vs. 5.5%; odds ratio: 1.76, 95% confidence interval: 1.73-1.79; p < .001). This difference was observed before (2018 and 2019) and after the pandemic (2022), but not in 2020-2021. The peak of ALRI-related visits occurred in the cold months in pre-pandemic years (2018-2019), did not appear in 2020, reappeared delayed in 2021, and recovered seasonality in 2022.

CONCLUSION
Outpatient ALRI-related visits decreased significantly in the city of Buenos Aires during the COVID-19 pandemic and currently seem to have recovered their magnitude and seasonality.


Proper use of anesthetics is of paramount importance for humane animal care. Current research trends show a greater reliance on rats for laboratory investigations. This study compared several dosages for four different drugs, (pentobarbital, fentanyl-droperidol, ketamine-xylazine and ketamine-diazepam) for use in the laboratory rat. Each drug was evaluated in respect to its onset, duration of effect, recovery, adverse effects and mortality. A quantitative assessment of the depth of anesthesia also was obtained for all dosages of each drug. Results showed that all tested dosages of pentobarbital, ketamine-xylazine and ketamine-diazepam were suitable anesthetics for use in the laboratory rat. Low dosages of fentanyl-droperidol (Innovar-Vet), however, appeared to produce a state known as neuroleptanalgesia as opposed to anesthesia seen with the other agents.


The ubiquitous presence of software in the products we use, together with Artificial Intelligence in these products, has led to an increasing need for consumer trust. Consumers often lose faith in products, and the lack of Trust propagates to the companies behind them. This is even more so in mission-critical systems such as autonomous vehicles and clinical support systems. This paper follows grounded theory principles to elicit knowledge related to Trust, Ethics, and Transparency. We approach these qualities as Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs), aiming to build catalogs to subsidize the construction of Socially Responsible Software. The corpus we have used was built on a selected collection of literature on Corporate Social Responsibility, with an emphasis on Business Ethics. Our challenge is how to encode the social perspective knowledge, mainly through the view of Corporate Social Responsibility, on how organizations or institutions achieve trustworthiness. Since our ground perspective is that of NFRs, results are presented by a catalogue of Trust as a Non-Functional Requirement, represented as a Softgoal Interdependency Graph (SIG). The SIG language helps software engineers in understanding alternatives they have to improve Trust in software products.


An 8x8 array antenna has been designed for a frequency band of 8-8.5 GHz. The design has been made as a part of a project to develop a digital, active MIMO radar at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI). The array consists of 64 resonant aperture stacked patch (ASP) antennas. An element spacing of 16.5 mm ensures that no grating lobes occur over the entire scan range. A scan range of -55° to 55° and -45° to 45° have been achieved in the E-plane and H- plane respectively. This scan range was achieved using wide band antenna elements. Methods to improve the scan range and the reflection coefficient such as electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) material, defected ground structures (DGS), and adaptive matching circuits was investigated. All three alternatives were discarded due to either added complexity to the design or problems incorporating the methods into the design. The array has achieved a half power beam width of 14° when scanned in broadside direction. The efficiency of the array is 0.96 which is an important result considering that 50 W is to be applied to each element. The antenna element used in the array was based on a design developed during the specialization project. Measurements on this antenna element were conducted and large deviations between measured and simulated input impedance were discovered. These deviations were found to be caused by mechanical properties of the antenna element. The antenna element was improved and better compliance between measured and simulated results has been achieved.


I state and prove, in the context of a space having only the
 metrical and affine structure imposed by the geometrized version of
 Newtonian gravitational theory, a theorem analagous to that of
 Weyl's for a Lorentz manifold. The theorem says that a projective
 structure and a suitably defined compatible conformal structure
 jointly suffice for fixing the metric structure of a Newtonian
 spacetime model up to constant factors, and for fixing its affine
 structure as well. The theorem allows one to give a natural,
 physically compelling interpretation of the spatiotemporal geometry
 of a geometrized Newtonian gravity spacetime manifold, in close
 analogy with the way Weyl's Theorem allows one to do in general
 relativity.


A conditional lethal and radiation-sensitive mutant of Schizosaccharomyces pombe is described in which both characteristics result from a single gene mutation. Confirmation of the pleiotropic nature of this mutant was obtained by tetrad analysis and by testing the radiation sensitivity of a large number of revertants that grew normally at the restrictive temperature. The colony-forming ability of the mutant after ultraviolet radiation, gamma radiation, and ethyl methane sulfonate treatment is considerably altered by the post-treatment incubation temperature, showing higher survival at 25 than at 30degreesC. The radiosensitivity of the mutant is also influenced by the stage of growth. The difference in radiation sensitivity between the wild type and mutant is greater when log-phase cultures are compared. The characteristics of this mutant suggest that it is defective in a step common to both deoxyribonucleic acid replication and repair.


Recent studies associated with light water reactors (LWR) in both the USA and Russia have raised the question of void swelling in austenitic components of core internals. One question of particular interest is the range of temperatures over which voids can develop, especially the lowest temperature. To address this question a flow restrictor component manufactured from annealed X18H9T was removed from the reflector region of the BN-350 fast reactor, located in Kazakhstan. During operation this component spanned temperatures and dpa rates of direct interest to pressurized water reactors (PWRs) in the West and VVERs in Russia. This steel is analogous to AISI 321 and is used in Russian reactors for applications where AISI 304 would be used in the West and in Japan. This component was sectioned on a very fine scale to determine in what range of conditions voids existed. Microstructural data were obtained for 157 separate locations, with 111 specimens showing voids over the relevant range of temperatures and displacement rates, allowing construction of a parametric map of swelling with temperature, dpa and dpa rate. These data show that swelling at doses as high as ~50 dpa persists down to ~306°C for dose rates in the range 0.11more » x 10-7 to 1.6 x 10-7dpa/sec. Finally, since the helium generation rate is rather low in the spectral environment of the flow restrictor, the early onset of swelling is attributed primarily to the lower displacement rate, a conclusion supported by a number of other experimental studies.« less


The basic concepts, mathematics, and design aspects of variable-structure systems as well as those with sliding modes as a principle operation mode are treated. The main arguments in favor of sliding-mode control are order reduction, decoupling design procedure, disturbance rejection, insensitivity to parameter variations, and simple implementation by means of power converters. The control algorithms and data processing used in variable structure systems are analyzed. The potential of sliding mode control methodology is demonstrated for versatility of electric drives and functional goals of control. >


ABSTRACT:  Retinoids are natural and synthetic vitamin A derivatives. They are lipophilic molecules and easily penetrate the epidermis. Their biologically active forms can modulate the expression of genes involved in cellular differentiation and proliferation. Retinoic acid (tretinoin), its 13‐cis isomer isotretinoin, as well as various synthetic retinoids are used for therapeutic purposes, whereas retinaldehyde, retinol, and retinyl esters, because of their controlled conversion to retinoic acid or their direct receptor‐independent biologic action, can be used as cosmeceuticals. These natural retinoic acid precursors are thus expected to be helpful in (i) renewing epidermal cells, (ii) acting as UV filters, (iii) preventing oxidative stress, (iv) controlling cutaneous bacterial flora, and (v) improving skin aging and photoaging. Retinol and retinyl esters are not irritant, whereas demonstrating only a modest clinical efficiency. On the other hand, retinaldehyde, which is fairly well tolerated, seems to be the most efficient cosmeceutical retinoid; it has significant efficiency toward oxidative stress, cutaneous bacterial flora, epidermis renewing, and photoaging.


AGM contraction and revision assume an underlying logic that contains propositional logic. Consequently, this assumption excludes many useful logics such as the Horn fragment of propositional logic and most description logics. Our goal in this paper is to generalise AGM contraction and revision to (near-)arbitrary fragments of classical first-order logic. To this end, we first define a very general logic that captures these fragments. In so doing, we make the modest assumptions that a logic contains conjunction and that information is expressed by closed formulas or sentences. The resulting logic is called first-order conjunctive logic or FC logic for short. We then take as the point of departure the AGM approach of constructing contraction functions through epistemic entrenchment, that is the entrenchment-based contraction. We redefine entrenchment-based contraction in ways that apply to any FC logic, which we call FC contraction. We prove a representation theorem showing its compliance with all the AGM contraction postulates except for the controversial recovery postulate. We also give methods for constructing revision functions through epistemic entrenchment which we call FC revision; which also apply to any FC logic. We show that if the underlying FC logic contains tautologies then FC revision complies with all the AGM revision postulates. Finally, in the context of FC logic, we provide three methods for generating revision functions via a variant of the Levi Identity, which we call contraction, withdrawal and cut generated revision, and explore the notion of revision equivalence. We show that withdrawal and cut generated revision coincide with FC revision and so does contraction generated revision under a finiteness condition.


Purpose The recently available Penumbra Coil 400 has 400% the volume per unit length of a 10-size coil due to its 0.020″ primary diameter, double that of conventional 10-coils. The Penumbra Coil 400 also purports to be softer than an equivalent 10-coil due to the larger primary diameter. This case report investigates these claims through two aneurysms treated in the same patient with two different coil systems. Methods and Materials A 53-year-old female presented with acute onset left 3rd nerve palsy. Her history was notable for clipping of a right posterior communicating artery aneurysm 18 years prior. She was found to have a 7.4×5.0×5.0 mm (97 mm3) basilar artery bifurcation aneurysm and a 12.7×11.2×10.8 mm (804 mm3) anterior communicating artery (Acomm) aneurysm. The basilartip aneurysm was accessed with an Eschelon-10 microcatheter (Covidien, Dublin, Ireland) and embolized with five GDC-10 coils (Stryker, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA):5 mm×15 cm, 4 mm×6 cm, 3 mm×8 cm, 2 mm×6 cm and 2 mm×4 cm. The coiling endpoint was catheter kick-out. 7 days later, the Acomm aneurysm was accessed with a PX400 microcatheter (Penumbra, Inc., Alameda, California, USA) and embolized with eight Penumbra coils: 10 mm ×40 cm, 8 mm×20 cm and 5 mm×10 cm complex standard, 4 mm×8 cm and 3 mm×10 cm complex soft, 3 mm×6 cm, 2 mm×3 cm and 2 mm×2 cm helical extra soft. The coiling endpoint was catheter kickout. Results Procedure results for both aneurysms are shown below. There were no technical or clinical complications with either procedure. Conclusions The Penumbra Coil 400 filled a large aneurysm to adequate packing density in about the same overall time and use of fluoroscopy as a smaller aneurysm treated with 10-size coils, despite the Penumbra-treated aneurysm being 8.3 times larger by volume. Follow-up will be required to assess the durability of occlusion in both aneurysms.Abstract E-013 Table 1 Basilar tip aneurysm Acomm aneurysm Aneurysm volume 97 mm3 804 mm3 Coil type used GDC-10 Penumbra coil 400 # of coils 5 8 Total coil length 39 cm 99 cm Final packing density 22.0% (Angiosuite iPhone App) 24.9% (Angiosuite iPhone App) Total fluoro time (min) 34.5 min 31.3 min Total procedure time (min) 101 min 118 min


Using a unique pedagogical approach, this text introduces mathematical logic by guiding students in implementing the underlying logical concepts and mathematical proofs via Python programming. This approach, tailored to the unique intuitions and strengths of the ever-growing population of programming-savvy students, brings mathematical logic into the comfort zone of these students and provides clarity that can only be achieved by a deep hands-on understanding and the satisfaction of having created working code. While the approach is unique, the text follows the same set of topics typically covered in a one-semester undergraduate course, including propositional logic and first-order predicate logic, culminating in a proof of Gödel's completeness theorem. A sneak peek to Gödel's incompleteness theorem is also provided. The textbook is accompanied by an extensive collection of programming tasks, code skeletons, and unit tests. Familiarity with proofs and basic proficiency in Python is assumed.


This paper presents the design and implementation of the tetrolets based system for automatic skeletal Bone Age Assessment (BAA). The system works according to the renowned Tanner and Whitehouse (TW2) method, based on the carpal and phalangeal Region of Interest (ROI). The system ensures accurate and robust BAA for the age range 0-10 years for both girls and boys. Given a left hand-wrist radiograph as input, the system estimates the bone age by deploying novel techniques for segmentation, feature extraction, feature selection and classification. Tetrolets are used in combination with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) for segmentation. From the segmented wrist bones, the carpal and phalangeal ROI are identified and are used in morphological feature extraction. PCA is employed as a feature selection tool to reduce the size of the feature vector. The selected features are fed in to an ID3 decision tree classifier, which outputs the class to which the radiograph is categorized, which is mapped onto the final bone age. The system was evaluated on a set of 100 radiographs (50 for girls and 50 for boys), and the results are discussed. The performance of system was evaluated with the help of radiologist expert diagnoses. The system is very reliable with minimum human intervention, yielding excellent results.


Evaluating railway vehicle speed is an important task for both railway operators and researchers working in the area of vehicle/track dynamics, noise and vibration assessment. The objective of this paper is to present a new technique capable of automatically calculating train speed from vibration sensors placed at short or long distances from the track structure. The procedure combines three separate signal processing techniques to provide high precision speed estimates. In order to present a complete validation, the robustness of the proposed method is evaluate using synthetic railway vibration time histories generated using a previously validated vibration numerical model. A series of simulations are performed, analysing the effect of vehicle speed, singular wheel and rail surface defects, and soil configuration. Virtual conditions of measurement are also examined, taking into account external sources other than trains, and sensor response. It is concluded that the proposed method offers high performance for several train/track/soil arrangements. It is also used to predict train speeds during field trials performed on operational railway lines in Belgium and in UK.


Despite their importance to conservation, reintroductions are still a risky endeavor and tend to fail, highlighting the need for more efficient post-release monitoring techniques. Reintroduced animals are released into unfamiliar novel environments and must explore their surroundings to gain knowledge in order to survive. According to theory, knowledge gain should be followed by subsequent changes to the animal's movement behavior, making movement behavior an excellent indicator of reintroduction progress. We aim to conceptually describe a logical process that will enable the inclusion of behavior (in particular, movement behavior) in management decision-making post-reintroductions, and to do so, we provide four basic components that a manager should look for in the behaviors of released animals. The suggested components are release-site fidelity, recurring locations, proximity to other individuals, and individual variation in movement behavior. These components are by no means the only possible ones available to a manager, but they provide an efficient tool to understanding animals' decision-making based on ecological theory; namely, the exploration-exploitation trade-off that released animals go through, and which underlies their behavior. We demonstrate our conceptual approach using data from two ungulate species reintroduced in Israel: the Persian fallow deer Dama mesopotamica and the Arabian oryx Oryx leucoryx [ Current Zoology 60 (4): 515–526, 2014].


Design techniques that can improve the aliasing probabilities of signature circuits for VLSI BIST (built-in self-test) are presented. The proposed techniques are based on the binary weight distributions of error-correcting codes over GF(2) and GF(2/sup m/). The technique considered for calculating the aliasing probability of signature circuits is appropriate for a vector supercomputer. Some of the calculations were done using the S810 supercomputer. The vectorization ratio of the program was 99.885% for an MISR (multiple-input signature register) with 16 inputs and for test length n=100-105.<<ETX>>


PURPOSE
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in women. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is frequently prescribed to postmenopausal women, but there is little data on its effect on lung cancer. Hence, we conducted a retrospective study to examine the impact of HRT on the natural history of lung cancer.

METHODS
We conducted a retrospective chart review of women diagnosed with lung cancer between January 1994 and December 1999. Data collected included age, stage, past history of cancer, smoking history, family history of cancer, HRT use, treatment, and overall survival. The effects of various clinical features on survival were examined using Cox proportional hazards regression models.

RESULTS
Four hundred ninety-eight women (median age, 67 years; range, 31 to 93 years) with lung cancer were included. A history of smoking was present in 429 women (86%), whereas 86 women (17%) had taken HRT. Women with lung cancer who received HRT were younger than women with lung cancer who never received HRT (63 v 68 years old, respectively; P < .0001). Overall survival was significantly higher in patients with no HRT compared with patients who received HRT (79 v 39 months, respectively; hazard ratio = 1.97; 95% CI, 1.14 to 3.39). This effect seemed to be more pronounced in women with a smoking history.

CONCLUSION
HRT may affect outcomes from lung cancer adversely. Further studies examining the role of HRT use on outcomes from lung cancer, especially in women with a history of smoking, are urgently needed to clarify this important problem.


The study sought to establish factors that contribute towards food security among elderly headed households and then seek ways of enhancing them. The study was conducted in Mudzi District in Mashonaland East Province of Zimbabwe. Data was collected from wards 11, 12 and 16. The study used cross sectional household data collected using a structured questionnaire. Two measures of food security are used; namely household food insecurity access score and household dietary diversity score. The results showed that food insecurity access score was statistically higher for elderly headed household when compared to those headed by younger people. The study revealed that social capital, remittances, and off farm income generating projects can increase the elderly headed household's likelihood of being food secure. The study also showed that public assistance is not making a positive contribution towards food security of elderly headed household. This paper argues that it is important for government and civil society to promote social capital and support channels of remittances to elderly headed households in communal areas.


This study aims to know the opinions of pre-service teachers on their digital competence and to determine whether these opinions vary according to gender, branch and perceived level of digital competence. In this study, a cross-sectional survey model was used. In such a context, the study was conducted with 518 pre-service teachers who were studying in different provinces of Turkey. The study used a digital competence questionnaire as a data collection tool. When the results were evaluated, it can be said that the digital competence of pre-service teachers is moderate and that it varies significantly according to gender, branch and perceived level of digital competence. It is thought that the results of this study will guide the researchers as they reveal the needs of the pre-service teachers and contain information about what should be focused on the training or activities to be organized to meet these needs.


Research into the impact of perceived discrimination and health has shown that it is related to poorer health status and health behaviors compared to those who perceive less discrimination. Perceived procedural injustice, however, may also have implications for health and health behaviors. Due to the evidence on perceived discrimination and its impact health and health-related behaviors, it is suggested that perceived procedural injustice—a concept similar to perceived discrimination—will have a similar impact on health through similar mechanisms (which include health-related behaviors and a stress response). The current study seeks to examine whether perceived procedural justice is related to poor health via psychological distress, substance use, HIV risk behaviors, or offending using archival data from the Pathways to Desistance Study. The Pathways to Desistance Study was a longitudinal study, which collected data from November of 2000 through March of 2010, from adjudicated youth from Phoenix, Arizona and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Results indicated a significant positive association between perceived procedural justice change scores and psychological distress change scores, in the opposite direction as hypothesized. No significant associations between psychological distress and offending, HIV risk behaviors, substance use, and self-reported health occurred. However, significant negative associations occurred between perceived procedural justice and substance use, as well as perceived procedural justice and offending, although no significant associations occurred between perceived procedural justice change scores and health or HIV risk behaviors. Significant, positive associations occurred between offending, substance use, and HIV risk behaviors, as expected. Overall, results of the study were inconsistent with prior research examining the relationship between perceived discrimination and health. Possible explanations of contrary and unexpected results are discussed, along with limitations of the study.


Power electronic converters are time-varying, nonlinear dynamical systems. They exhibit a wide range of steady-state responses. The desired behaviour is a stable periodic motion around a predefined value with a frequency that is equal to that of the external clock. However, as parameters vary the operation can lose stability and go from one regime to another. Such phenomena are termed bifurcations and can degrade the output performance of the converter. Hence, it is of practical importance to know the conditions that cause such bifurcations to occur and to design the system so that it operates in the desired region.
In the past, engineers have typically analysed the stability of power electronic systems by linearising the model about a fixed point. This captures the low-frequency properties while ignoring the detailed dynamics occurring at frequencies higher than the external clock. However, the demand for better functionality, reliability and performance means an in-depth analysis into the complex behaviour exhibited by dc-dc converters is required.
Traditionally, dc-dc converters are employed with analog controllers whose function is to regulate the circuit. With advances in technology, digital control has become a potentially advantageous alternative to analog control. One of the main advantages of digital control is the ability to design more sophisticated design strategies to enable high performance dc-dc converters e.g. digital state-feedback control. Unfortunately, little work exists in the area of the effect of noise on digital control. This is a field that requires intensive study as to completely understand the nonlinear dynamics so as to enable accurate and economic designs.
The aim of this thesis is to address these issues through the application of advanced nonlinear mathematics. The stability of power electronic systems is assessed with a view to developing design guidelines in order to ensure stable operation over a wide operating region.


This paper will explore how the arts can support professionals' ability to manage ill-structured problems and develop their roles within the competing discourses that Barnett identifies as integral to professional life in an age of super-complexity (Barnett, 2008). The paper brings together literature on professions with literature about the educational value of the arts to articulate the specific contribution that the arts can make to professional's approach to knowledge.
The literature on professions is extensive. There are varying and evolving definitions of what constitutes a profession (Evetts, 2011). Definitions of ideal-type professions (Freidson, 2001) focus on the professional autonomy and self-regulation; others discuss the growth of new professions and the changing nature of professional occupations, including the loss of those very properties of autonomy and self-regulation (Halsey, 1992; Crook, 2008; Whitty, 2008). In this paper we use the term 'professional' to describe occupations, such as law, social work, nursing, teaching and medicine that generally require specified training in a university as a pre-requisite to engaging in practice, Freidson,(2001, p.85) . These professions do not necessarily possess all the properties of self-regulation and autonomy that define the ' ideal-type', but share some general characteristics with it, including the need to deal with ill-structured problems. Barnett (2008. p.200) argues the 'challenge to professionalism lies in the handling of multiple discourses' and 'the task of professionalism lies in the critical deployment of discourses.' In contemporary society there are many discourses shaping the concept of professionalism. An effective and successful professional will need to understand how such discourses construct the multiple and often contradictory expectations placed on them. Two factors therefore, the need to deal with ill-structured problems and the constant reframing of professional work within different discourses, require professionals to develop a sophisticated epistemology that acknowledges the constructed and multiple nature of truth. It is these elements of professionalism that we believe can be supported through a critical engagement with the arts.
An awareness of multiple perspectives, contradictory meaning and the creative processes involved in making meaning are central to critical engagement with the arts. In our on-going review of the literature on using the arts in professional education we have noted that whilst some educators explicitly discuss using the arts to develop a more sophisticated epistemological understanding in students – to help them to recognise that knowledge is constructed and that there can be many right solutions - this understanding is under-explored in the much of the work we have reviewed. In this paper we draw on Eisner's (2002, p.77) discussion of capacity of the arts to enable people to develop ' the improvisational side of their intelligence' and to expose them to the constructive nature of meaning making, so that they recognise how individuals read professional dilemmas and day to day decision making differently from within their own frames of reference. We will argue that such epistemologically sophisticated dispositions are particularly pertinent to the needs of the contemporary professional in an age of uncertainty and super-complexity.


Cardiac assist devices (CAD) cause endothelial dysfunction with considerable morbidity. Employment of pulsatile CAD remains controversial due to inadequate perfusion curves and costs. Alternatively, we are proposing a new concept of pulsatile CAD based on a fundamental revision of the entire circulatory system in correspondence with the physiopathology and law of physics. It concerns a double lumen disposable tube device that could be adapted to conventional cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and/or CAD, for inducing a homogenous, downstream pulsatile perfusion mode with lower energy losses. In this study, the device's prototypes were tested in a simulated conventional pediatric CPB circuit for energy losses and as a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) in ischemic piglets model for endothelial shear stress (ESS) evaluations. In conclusion and according to the study results the pulsatile tube was successfully capable of transforming a conventional CPB and/or CAD steady flow into a pulsatile perfusion mode, with nearly physiologic pulse pressure and lower energy losses. This represents a cost-effective promising method with low mortality and morbidity, especially in fragile cardiac patients.


This paper presents a novel self-contained two-wire speaker recognition framework. The classical approach to two-wire speaker recognition usually requires a preliminary explicit speaker segmentation stage in order to extract audio files for the two hypothesized speakers. We propose an implicit speaker segmentation method implemented at the supervector level of speaker recognition systems. By periodically extracting successive supervectors from the two-wire audio it is possible to further associate them to each of the hypothesized speakers before scoring both streams. We show that the proposed technique leads to recognition performance comparable to standard approaches while requiring substantially less resources.


This paper studies the problem of guaranteeing real-time message deadlines in communication networks where the LTPB protocol, Linear Token Passing Bus, is employed. According to the exact network timing property, an optimal bandwidth allocation scheme (OLA) for LTPB network and a real-time performance analysis method based on WCAU (the worst available utilization) are proposed. Formal proof that OLA has better performance than any other schemes is given. Finally examples are given to demonstrate the correctness of the conclusion.


: Sepsis is a leading cause of critical illness and hospital mortality. Early recognition and intervention are essential for the survival of patients with this syndrome. In 2002, the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) and the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) launched the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) to reduce overall patient morbidity and mortality from sepsis and septic shock by driving practice initiatives based on current best evidence. The SSC guidelines have been updated every four years, with the most recent update completed in 2016. The new guidelines have increased the focus on early identification of infection, risks for sepsis and septic shock, rapid antibiotic administration, and aggressive fluid resuscitation to restore tissue perfusion.In 2014, the SCCM and the ESICM convened a task force of specialists to reexamine the definitions of terms used to identify patients along the sepsis continuum. In 2016, this task force published the Third International Consensus Definitions for Sepsis and Septic Shock (Sepsis-3). The new definitions and recommendations included tools, based on an updated understanding of the pathobiology of sepsis, that can be used to predict adverse outcomes in patients with infection.This article discusses the new SSC treatment guidelines, changes in the sepsis bundle interventions, and the Sepsis-3 definitions and tools, all of which enable nurses to improve patient outcomes through timely collaborative action.


This guide will help you find books, articles, and web resources about business, accounting and other related subjects and as well as company information.


Abstract Mexico experienced the twentieth century's first social revolution, a decade of struggle from which emerged a new political regime – a post-revolutionary authoritarian or single-party state one – with President Lázaro Cárdenas as leader by 1934. This post-revolutionary creation included organized labor and peasants, a strong interventionist state and a hegemonic party. Cárdenas' U.S. counterpart, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, too, was leading dramatic 'New Deal' institutional and political revolution in the 1930s and 1940s that spawned a new order of expanded federal government, a renovated Democratic Party, and new movements and interest groups, notably, labor. Both nations featured the same major actors: the state, political parties, and organized labor. Both presidents calculated that preserving labor alliances was crucial for formation and legitimization of a new political order, for maintaining conditions conducive to private-sector investment and economic growth, and for political and economic crisis management. Labor's growing role reshuffled corporatist alliances within and between international neighbors. This study places Mexico and the United States in comparative context in the early twentieth century and analyzes elite control and inclusion of organized labor in transformation of political landscapes in two different political regimes – a democratic one couched in an established constitution and a post-revolutionary authoritarian one born of a bloody upheaval.


The effect of agglomeration on the optical diagnostics and radiative properties of simulated soot agglomerates is investigated, using results from the Jones solution. It is found that agglomeration has a very strong effect on scattering, but only a weak effect on extinction ({congruent} absorption). An accurate relation has been developed, based on near-forward scattering coefficients, for inferring the number of primary particles in soot agglomerates. General models for both total and differential scattering coefficients have also been established. These results are in general agreement with those predicted for fractal aggregates having a large number of particles. Because of the effect of agglomeration, scattering may not be negligible in treating radiative transport from soot agglomerates.


The article considers the phenomenon of verbal image in today's multicultural society. Saturation of the individual living space with information explains the active demand for reduction concepts such as images, templates, etc. Studying the image as an identification code of an individual is a relevant issuenot only in the context of social interaction, but also regarding linguopragmatic aspects of its modeling. This study aims at theoretical understanding of the verbal component of the image. This component is defined as a super-text unity, designed to form an established opinion about a person of the collective addressee. The main goal of the article is to identify the formation stages of the verbal image regarding the linguistic features of a person, linguistic and cultural settings, and expectations of the audience. In this research we used the following basic methods:descriptive (involving review, systematization and interpretation of scientific works on the issue);explanatory (in particular, a method of linguistic and cultural commentary);the method of theoretical modeling (development of certain techniques within the stated problematics). The main conclusion of the study is that the image is a set of components, with the verbal one as the most important among these. Its main function is externalization of internal resources of an individual and the creation of "a communicative bridge" between the image of a person, and his audience. The article proposes the demonstrative technique of the verbal image formation, which may vary depending on the intentions of the image-person (the addressant). This method involves such actions as goal setting, diagnostics of the linguo-prototype and its transformation in the verbal image, as well as the analysis linguocultural context. This study presents an attempt to outline the range of important issues in this area.


Complex Event Processing (CEP) is an emerging technology to process streaming data and to generate response actions in real time. CEP systems treat all sensor data as primitive events and attempt to detect semantically high level events and related actions by matching them using event patterns. These event patterns are the rules which combine primitive events according to temporal, logical, or spatial correlations among them. Although event patterns (decision rules) can be provided by experts in simplistic scenarios, the huge amount of sensor data makes this unfeasible. The main purpose of the underlying paper is replacing manual identification of event patterns. Considering the uncertainty related to the sensor data, Fuzzy Unordered Rule Induction Algorithm (FURIA) was implemented to identify event patterns after selecting the relevant feature subset using Elitist Pareto-based Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm for Diversity Reinforcement (ENORA). The results were compared to the alternative machine learning approaches.


SDF-1 and its primary receptor, CXCR4, are highly expressed in the embryonic central nervous system (CNS) and play a crucial role in brain architecture. Loss of SDF-1/CXCR4 signaling causes abnormal development of neural stem/progenitor cells (NSCs/NPCs) in the cerebellum, hippocampus, and cortex. However, the mechanism of SDF-1/CXCR4 axis in NSCs/NPCs regulation remains unknown. In this study, we found that elimination of SDF-1/CXCR4 transduction caused NSCs/NPCs to lose their stemness characteristics and to encounter neurogenic differentiation. Moreover, Notch and RE1 silencing transcription factor (REST) both play an essential role in NSCs/NPCs maintenance and neuronal differentiation and were dramatically downregulated following SDF-1/CXCR4 cascade inhibition. Finally, we demonstrated that the expression of achaete-scute homolog 1 (Ascl1), a proneural gene, and p27, an antiproliferative gene, were significantly increased after genetic elimination of SDF-1 alleles. Our results support that the loss of functional SDF-1/CXCR4 signaling pathway in NSCs/NPCs induces exit of cell cycle and promotes premature neural differentiation.


SUMMARY Salmonella infection on two pig farms and its relation to infection in pigs at slaughter was studied. On the first farm feed ingredients were mixed on the farm, and these included fish meal which was found to be contaminated with salmonellas. The feed was pumped to pigs in liquid form. There was a high salmonella isolation rate at slaughter when the contaminated fish meal was fed hi liquid feed, but it was significantly lower when no fish meal was fed to the pigs examined at slaughter. In some instances the same serotypes were found in fish meal and pig excreta on the farm and in caecal contents of the pigs at slaughter. No serotype was repeatedly isolated from any source and it appeared that the serotypes were not able to establish themselves in the pigs. It is concluded that infection found at slaughter originated on the farm where fish meal introduced and maintained infection. There was an opportunity for salmonellas to have multiplied in the liquid feed for several hours each day. On a second farm environmental conditions were similar, but feed was given in the form of ready-made pellets and nuts. Salmonellas were not isolated from the feed. At slaughter there was a significantly lower isolation rate than on the first farm.


Certain features of the legal system, such as litigant-driven appeals and random assignment of judges to cases, are supposed to prevent biased and error-prone decision-making by judges. I analyze a formal model illustrating this is not always true, even when judges are personally unbiased. First, an unbiased trial judge may make systematically biased judgments when that judge's decisions can be appealed by a losing litigant. If the judge is sufficiently reversal averse, this bias favors higher resource litigants. Second, litigant-driven appeals allow unbiased judges to put less effort into resolving cases correctly. Third, when unbiased judges are assigned randomly to cases, they will produce more errors than a case assignment system allowing trial judges more freedom to select cases. The results confirm one contention of "team models" of judicial hierarchy (that litigant behavior is important) while also demonstrating the limits of another (that judicial hierarchies minimize adjudication errors).


[Purpose] To investigate changes in hamstring flexibility in relation to intensity of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation stretching and changes in pain over time, and examine the correlations between pain level and target intensity or flexibility gain. [Participants and Methods] Sixty-one healthy adults were randomly divided into 4 groups (100% [P100], 70% [P70], 40% [P40], and 10% [P10] of maximum voluntary isometric contraction) according to intensity of hold-relax stretching. Hamstring flexibility was measured with the active knee extension test, and pain was measured using the visual analogue scale. [Results] Concerning hamstring flexibility, P100 showed significant differences from P40 and P10, and P70 was significantly different from P10. At post-stretch, P100 significantly differed from P70, P40, and P10 in visual analogue scale. At 1 day, P100 significantly differed from P40 and P10. Although there was a significant correlation between post-stretch pain level and stretching intensity, there was no significant correlation between pain level and flexibility improvement. [Conclusion] Repetitive high-intensity stretching may cause heavy burden on muscle tissues, and pain caused by high-intensity stretching can hinder muscle performance. Moderate stretching intensity is recommended and considered conducive to maintaining the effects of stretching while ensuring its safety.


Rationale: Ketamine abuse is an emerging issue in many countries, and ketamine cystitis (KC) is a growing disease which more and more urologists may encounter with. There was no gold standard diagnostic criteria of ketamine cystits established yet, but well-accepted with the positive substance abuse history and clinical symptoms. The clinical presentation of ketamine cystitis varies and may mimic those presented in interstitial cystitis (IC), such as voiding frequency, urgency with urge incontinence, dysuria, nocturia, burning sensation during urination, post urination pain, painful hematuria, and small bladder capacity, but there are still differences that KC presented with more urgency, hematuria, pyuria and upper urinary tract involvement such as ureteral stenosis, vesico-ureteric reflux, hydronephrosis and renal function impairment. Patient concerns: We presented an interesting case with a 36-year-old man who's symptoms mimic acute prostatitis but there was no positive pathogen been cultured. The computed tomography (CT) findings revealed asymmetrical bladder wall thickening, which misleading us to the impression of bladder cancer. After the cystoscopy with bladder biopsy, the pathology revealed severe inflammation without malignancy. After that, we prescribed anticholinergic agent, beta-3 agonist and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) for him, but in vain. Diagnoses: Erosive cystitis with prominent infiltration by eosinophils, lymphocytes, neutrophils and plasma cells. Interventions: Then we introduced hyaluronic acid (HA) instillation, once a week for total 10 times. Outcomes: After the treatment, his urgency, frequency, nocturia improved and his bladder capacity increased from less than 100ml to 350mL per urination. The following magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and bladder biopsy result revealed complete reversal. Lessons: To our literature review, this is the first case of ketamine cystitis presented with asymmetrical bladder wall thickening, which may be considered as an irreversible change, but turns out complete reversal of the clinical symptoms and image morphology after merely intravesical hyaluronic acid instillation


Over the last two decades, a great deal of research has been focused on solving deadlock problems in resource allocation systems such as computer communication systems, workflow systems, and flexible manufacturing systems, resulting in a wide variety of approaches. As a well-defined problem in resource allocation systems, deadlock prevention based on a Petri net formalism has received an enormous amount of attention in the literature. This paper intends to review and compare a variety of Petri net-based deadlock prevention policies reported in the literature. Their comparison is done in terms of structural complexity, behavior permissiveness, and computational complexity. This paper should facilitate engineers in choosing a suited method for their industrial application cases.


Professional judgement is the basis for many of the decisions taken by geotechnical engineers to make progress in the design, execution and works supervision. Judgment is a mandatory component of any engineering achievement, essential to assess the various uncertainties that inevitably affect engineering practice. Confidence in such judgements can result in small to big consequences, not only for the engineer itself, but also for others, sometimes with the risk of human loss and significant damage. The definition and the development of judgment in geotechnical engineering is discussed. The bases of the judgement are analysed in detail and the heuristics and bias, responsible for failures in the judgment, are identified. The importance of experts' judgement and codification are highlighted and ways to improve judgment are also described. The lessons learned in a case study of one accident and two incidents that have occurred during the execution of the Lisbon Terreiro do Paço metro station construction works are presented to highlight the importance of an informed decision making informed through the engineering judgement.


A steel plant is loaded with risks at each progression of its operation. These hazards are to be handled for safety in the steel plant. The workplace is very challenging as employees work in shifts day and night. Workers are presented to an unnecessary warmth, dust and risky situations. Safety conscious worker is the best asset to an establishment. This consciousness during working is the result of his upbringing, learning about safety and ability to practice it. The degree of consciousness varies from person to person. Although the individual and his mental frame of mind is very crucial in ensuring safe working yet the management too has its responsibilities. Work environment and work schedules must be designed in such a way that the aspect of safety cannot be compromised. Meeting production targets at the cost of precious human lives is not only counterproductive but also negates the ethics of principled management. This study aims to enhance safety performance at shop floor and achieve the company's target of "zero" accident in Blooming and Billet Mill and Rail and Structural Mill of Bhilai Steel Plant, Chhattisgarh by performing Risk Assessment of different activities. First attempt is to understand different activities at Blooming and Billet Mill i.e. soaking, rolling, cutting and storage etc. Second step is to develop a 5x5 matrix for risk analysis then Risk assessment done by matrix method for every activities. By communicating with workers, supervisors and top managerial personnel gathered data regarding implementation of safety policy. After analyzing all the facts found the possible ways to improve safety standard in steel industry and recommendations have been given. In Rail and Structural Mill, analysis of accident data for finding the reportable, nonreportable and first aid on the basis of unfit period has been done Analysis of data for finding out the vulnerable age group, shift wise, time wise, body part wise and cause wise has also been done. Identification of hazards, unsafe act/ unsafe condition has been done and determined the most efficient way to reduce or eliminate hazardous impact and recommendations are given. Risk can be reduced by hierarchy of control i.e. elimination, substitution, engineering control, administrative control and personal protective equipment.


We consider plane-symmetric spacetimes satisfying Einstein's field equations with positive cosmological constant, when the matter is a fluid whose pressure is equal to its mass-energy density (i.e. a so-called stiff fluid). We study the initial-value problem for the associated Einstein equations and establish a global existence result. The late-time asymptotics of solutions is also rigorously derived, and we conclude that the spacetime approaches the de Sitter spacetime while the matter disperses asymptotically. A technical difficulty dealt with here lies in the fact that solutions may contain vacuum states as well as velocities approaching the speed of light, both possibilities leading to singular behavior in the evolution equations.