ABSTRACT The Lincolnshire Limestone, comprising a succession of Jurassic wackestones, packstones, and oolitic grainstones, forms an important carbonate aquifer in eastern England. Meteoric waters enter at outcrop and penetrate between confining strata at least 25 km down-dip. This water dissolves and interacts with the limestone, and even water samples collected at or near outcrop are calcite-saturated. Net limestone dissolution is thus a process that is most dominant in the near-surface environment. Water samples taken at increasing distances from outcrop have increasing Sr and Mg contents, and 13C values of dissolved bicarbonate increase from -15 to -8 (PDB), while 87Sr/86 falls from 0.7082 to 0.7077. These data are interpreted to be the result of a coupled carbonate dissolution-reprecipitation process. Modeling of the C and Sr isotopic data indicates that primary Jurassic carbonate (ooids, micrite, fossils) is dissolving preferentially over burial cements. Isotopically light bulk-rock carbon near joint surfaces suggests that reprecipitation of calcite in the form of cement could be concentrated preferentially in and near joints. The Lincolnshire Limestone may be used as an analogue for karstified petroleum reservoirs, specifically those which have been buried and lost their unstable carbonate minerals (aragonite, high-Mg calcite) prior to uplift and karstification. The present water ch mical data suggest that, in such reservoirs, influx of meteoric water at an unconformity creates porosity and enhances permeability through limestone dissolution, but this may be concentrated close (tens of meters) to the unconformity. This dissolution also promotes surface erosion, which limits the thickness of preserved karstified limestone. The dissolution-reprecipitation process that occurs at greater distances from outcrop has effects that are far more widespread (lens of kilometers), leading to an increase in microporosity (e.g., micrite leaching) and a possible reduction in joint or fracture porosity. Such factors should be taken into account when exploring for, and appraising, karstified petroleum reservoirs.


This thesis focuses on a group of former forest based hunter-gatherers, the Batwa of South West Uganda, whose livelihoods and situations have been dramatically affected through their recent interactions with non-Batwa peoples. Once inhabitants of the rainforests of South West Uganda, the Batwa today live in bonded labour arrangements with their local neighbours and exist as a despised and marginalised group, positioned on the margins of Ugandan society.

In the first part of this thesis, Global Powers, I seek to lay out the theoretical foundations for the marginalisation of the Batwa by discussing the more general marginalisation and representation of Indigenous Peoples. In the rest of the thesis, I move on to discuss two specific questions. In the second section, Local Realities, I ask why the Batwa have ended up in their current situation and I investigate the historical and social contexts of the south west of Uganda that have shaped their present predicament. In the third section, Current Interface, I ask why national and international interventions, aimed at helping the Batwa, have failed to achieve their stated aims, and in some circumstances deepened their present marginalisation?

The thesis argues that representations of, and knowledge about the Batwa are constructed from an epistemology that seeks to create a subordinate 'Other' in order to assert a dominant 'Self'. As such, their marginalised position replicates the situation of similar 'Exotic Others' found throughout the world. Importantly this construction plays a crucial role in the progression and validation of distinct social ontologies that the dominant 'Modern World' holds as self evident and true to its own social reality.

As a result, the Batwa have only two futures which are presented to them by the dominant forces that regulate their situation. On the one hand, they are coerced to assimilate towards the identity of the dominant 'Self' and in doing so cast off the identity which the dominant 'Self' has deemed to account for their 'Otherness'. Or on the other hand, if they choose to maintain those aspects of their identity which identifies them as the 'Other', they are ostracised and depicted as unfit for the 'Modern World'.

I conclude this thesis by suggesting that the current predicament of the Batwa has been constructed by external forces and that Development discourse continues to construct this marginalised position. I also conclude that in positioning the Batwa as the 'Other', what is being asserted is the identity of a dominant 'Self'. This relationship between the dominant 'Self' and the marginalised 'Other', whilst being declared as a distinct and exclusionary relationship, is in fact an intertwined and entangled relationship. Finally, I argue that a fundamental shift in the paradigm of the 'Modern World' is needed in order to allow the Batwa, and other Indigenous Peoples, to be seen not as 'Exotic Others' but as equal participants in an interconnected world where multiple ways of knowing and being are mutually supported and validated.


: In a previous study rats were shown to have decreased locomotor and investigatory exploration after bilateral microinjections of 6-hydroxydopamine into the anterolateral hypothalamus. These deficits correlate with the loss of catecholamine terminals in neocortical, limbic, and anteromedioventral striatal brain sites. To test whether this correlation was causal, central catecholamines were increased by the intraperitoneal administration of L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-dopa), 10--40 mg/kg) after inhibition of extracerebral L-amino acid decarboxylase. Such treatment repaired the deficits in locomotor exploration and investigation in 6-hydroxydopamine rats. Pretreatment with the catecholamine antagonist chlorpromazine (1--2 mg/kg) blocked the increase in locomotor exploration and investigation produced by L-dopa in 6-hydroxydopamine rats. The results suggest, but do not prove, that L-dopa produced these behavioral effects by increasing central catecholamines at the denervated catecholamine receptor sites in the forebrain. These data and the data from the previous study are complementary evidence for the hypothesis that forebrain catecholamine synaptic action is necessary for normal exploratory behavior.


The present study is part of a broader developmental study on the effects of a compulsory three-month 'Stay Abroad' (SA) period on advanced level university students of translation studies, for whom English is their L3, as they are bilingual in Catalan/Spanish. Its objective is twofold. It seeks to analyse the gains obtained in the SA context in the subjects' oral proficiency in contrast with the gains obtained in a normal classroom EFL environment as well as the impact of contact during SA on such gains. For that purpose, 12 subjects were administered a pre-test (T1) before formal instruction, a post/pre-test (T2) after formal instruction and prior to the SA, to measure both proficiency after formal instruction and before the SA; a post-test (T3) after the SA, and a delayed post-test (T4) 15 months later, to measure long-term effects. Data were collected by means of a cognitively demanding role-play task. The research looks at improvement in oral linguistic ability through a questionnaire on stay conditions and various indexes of oral performance gains –namely gains in oral fluency, accuracy, and lexical and grammatical complexity, as well as in the use of formulas–. The statistical results and interaction effects show complex relationships between oral proficiency, context of acquisition and language contact.


This Book gathers original tutorials delivered as lectures by the authors at the international Femto-UP 2020 School, which took place online from 8th to 29th of March 2021 and gathered 600 participants worldwide. Like the previous occurrences of the Femto-UP School, the 2020 edition and this Book do target a multidisciplinary public of scientists at various points of their carrier from undergraduate and graduate students to senior researchers and technical staff. The aim is to provide generic scientific knowledge on ultrafast laser technologies including, generation, amplification, manipulation and characterization of ultrashort laser pulses, and pedagogical accounts of a selection of state-of-the-art applications of ultrashort laser pulses. The Femto-UP 2020 School comprised numerical practical sessions using original pedagogical or technical numerical tools (based on the Python programming language) also included to this Book as supplementary electronic material.


How have Central Asians built livelihoods amidst economic hardship and political dysfunction during three decades of post-Soviet independence? Local leaders are mobilizing people, resources—and, importantly, trust—to enable entire communities to prosper. These nonstate figures are increasingly consequential, but their model of paternalistic patronage may not represent what all Central Asians want.


Westhelicopter INC. has an aviation workshop providing qualified helicopter maintenance in accordance with PART-145. Maintenance and administrative base is situated in Lulea at Kallax airport. The types that Westhelicopter INC are currently authorised to service are: Eurocopter AS 350 Base/Line Maintenance, Eurocopter EC 120 Base/Line Maintenance and Robinsson R44 Base/Line Maintenance. The thesis work has been to make new maintenance programme for Westhelicopter INC. This maintenance programme will be used to follow-up the time of the components, service bulletins and ADs. Existing materials, as maintenance manuals and interviews with technical staff, was used to make more efficient maintenances programme. Work will be applied to all helicopters that Westhelicopter AB supplies.


The paper describes the rank 1 weighted factorization solution to the structure from motion problem. This method recovers the 3D structure from the factorization of a data matrix that is rank 1 rather than rank 3. This matrix collects the estimates of the 2D motions of a set of feature points of the rigid object. These estimates are weighted by the inverse of the estimates error standard deviation so that the 2D motion estimates for "sharper" features, which are usually well-estimated, are given more weight, while the noisier motion estimates for "smoother" features are weighted less. We analyze the performance of the rank 1 weighted factorization algorithm to determine what are the most suitable 3D shapes or the best 3D motions to recover the 3D structure of a rigid object from the 2D motions of the features. Our approach is developed for the orthographic camera model. It avoids expensive singular value decompositions by using the power method and is suitable to handle dense sets of feature points and long video sequences. Experimental studies with synthetic and real data illustrate the good performance of our approach.


The goal of this workshop is to bring together researchers and practitioners interested in exploring how the characteristics of today¿s area of computing (e.g., high connectivity, substantial computing power for the average user, higher demand for and expectation of frequent software updates) can be leveraged to improve software quality and performance.


In this work, the use of a newly developed direct liquid injection low pressure chemical vapor deposition (DLI‐LPCVD) system is described, which allows for the deposition of thin films in a controlled and reproducible manner. The capabilities of this system are described via silica thin films deposited using the precursor tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS). The deposition of thin films is controlled by parameters, such as deposition temperature, partial pressure of the gases, and flow rate of the precursor solution. The thickness of the deposited layer is varied simply by changing deposition temperature and time. X‐ray reflectivity and spectroscopic ellipsometry of the deposited samples show that the thickness of the layers is well controlled by deposition temperature and time. Auger electron spectroscopy, in addition, motivates our choice to use cyclohexane as a solvent. A growth rate of 12.2 Å min−1 is obtained. Atomic force microscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and drop shape analysis are used to measure roughness, composition, and hydrophobicity. Thin films of silicon dioxide are successfully grown by the newly developed DLI‐LPCVD system. This system can be used for a wide range of films by varying the precursors.


In this paper there will be made an attempt for a comparative political and economic evaluation of the European Monetary Union with the criterionof regional inequalities of the European Union. The national and the regional inequalities of the European Union will be analyzed under the framework of the policies of the European Monetary Union. Initially we will examine the regional dimension of the european unification on the basis of the European Union with 15 member-states(EU15).As criteria we select the different levels of economic development of the member-states examining the regional inequalities on a national level.On this basis we observ that the member states converge creating the "hard core of Europe" and the member states diverge from the average level of the development of the European Union determining the countries of "community cohesion". Next we apply the previous criteria to the EU27, in other words it is useful to research the inequalities of the levels of economic development, which result in the European Union, if all the other candidate countries would be able to be taken within the EU of 15 as is today.In the EU of 27 with the basis of per capita GNP exist three groups of countries instead of two as exist today. The first group consists of the present member states of the E15,except for Spain,Greece and Portugal of which the GNP per capita exceeds by 20% the new weighted average of the EU27. the second group consists of the present member states of community cohesion ,i.e. Spain greece and Portugal plus Cyprus,Czechia,and Malta with per capita GNP between 68%(Czechia)and 95%(Spain) of the averege of the EU27. The third group consists of the remaining eight candidate countries with GNP per capita below 40% of the average of the EU27,with the exemption of Slovakia and Hungaria of which the GNP per capita lies between 56%-58% of the average of the EU27. Therefore,the expected expansion with the complex inequalities will result in a big challenge for the European regional policy, and the policy of the economic and social cohesion. First,the expansion will more than double the population of the European Union that lives in regions with GNP per capita below of the 75%of the present average of the EU.This number will raise from 71 million at the present to 174 million of people or different stated from 19% of the total of 15 to 36% of the total of EU27. Second the scale and the size of regional inequalities will be increased. Therefore in 1998 for the less development regions of the EU 15 the per capita GNP was on average 65%of the average of the EU15.With the expansion the GNP per capita of the less development regions of the candidate countries was on the 37% of the average of EU15. Therefore, the co-existence of the poor and rich regions within the eu 27 will make the regional inequalities more complex in this part of the Union which consists of poor countries.We make possibly find ourselves in a new allocation of poverty. Finally,we will attempt to achieve the necessary interventions between the EU15 and the EU27, researching the modern problems of the EU under the expected expansion of the European Union.


Want to learn more about Tableau? Check out the video, "What is Tableau? An Overview [2]." CU's Skillsoft learning platform includes several Tableau courses: Tableau for Data Visualization: Introduction [3] Tableau for Data Visualization: Advanced Features [4] Tableau Desktop: Enhancing Data Visualizations [5] Tableau Desktop: Analyzing Data [6] Tableau Desktop: Performing Calculations [7] The following series requires an access code. Note: You can purchase additional training or user access. Tableau Elearning: Tableau Data Analyst [8] ? Tableau Elearning: Tableau Site Administrator? [9] Tableau Elearning: Tableau Server Administrator? [10] The following are documents from previously held training sessions from the Data and Business Intelligence team at CU. You may need to authenticate for access: BI Parameter Options [11] Tableau v. Cognos Parameters [12]


Conducting experiments on the impact of sexually explicit material (SEM) requires the investigator to expose a person to material that may "harm" the research participant. To maintain ethical conduct for such research, investigators use some type of educational briefing to mitigate any potential impact to consuming SEM. Ten studies specifically measuring the impact of educational briefings in mitigating impacts of SEM were located in a 1,500‐article database of research relating to SEM. All studies demonstrated the effectiveness of some type of educational de‐ or prebriefing in minimizing the impact of experimental exposure to sexually explicit materials (Mr = .29, N = 1002, range .03 to .68, where rs of 0 and up indicate complete mitigation). Educational briefings appear to mitigate the effects of experimental exposure to SEM, although long‐term consequences and the comparative effectiveness of different briefing techniques have yet to be assessed.


Background and Aims: Natural and man-made disasters was considered as permanent threat for all communities, especially Iran . In disasters, health centers need trained and specialized staff which provide health services and treatment with knowledge and skills. Nurses have been in the forefront of medical care throughout the wellness and illness continuum, which should be involved in all aspects of disaster care. This research aimed to develop the curriculum of the care in disasters for baccalaureate degree of nursing. Methods: This is a descriptive and survey study which was done with overview of the documents, articles and surveys of experts by using delphi technique in 2015. 17 professors were selected purposeful. Topics related to curriculum of Care in disaster were extracted and adjusted, then nurses learning priorities in the field of disaster by using a questionnaire survey in three stages were available to experts and the experts group of educational topics were final selected. Results: According to a survey conducted, Curriculum of disaster Care in Bachelor of Nursing in 17 subjects, which have 75% of consensus was selected as required learning content in the form of 3 course included 5/1 theoretical unit, 5/0 practical course and 1 training unit. Conclusion: Education and empowerment of nurses for optimally responsiveness to the needs of disaster victims is emphasized with the current revision of the curriculum and the needed content of 3 courses.


Over the last two decades, urban planning has been reapplied in several European countries: common tendencies that underline the reform of planning procedures are the generalization of sustainable development and the reorganization of local government. Bringing an additional degree of complexity to planning procedures, the implementation of sustainable development appears to be strongly dependent of an effective and efficient inter-sectorial coordination between urban and transport policies. However, beyond these common evolutions, large differences appear in practice, depending on political cultures, planning traditions, and local contexts.


The performance of n-tier web-facing applications often suffer from response time long-tail problem. With relatively low resource utilization (less than 50%) and the majority of requests returning within a few milliseconds, a non-negligible num-ber of normally short requests may take seconds to return. We propose the millibottleneck theory of performance bugs (that lead to long-tail problems). Several case studies have confirmed the millibottlenecks (that last a few tens to hundreds of milliseconds) as causal agents of long requests. A concrete example (garbage collection) illustrates the experimental verification of millibottlenecks. An open source fine-grain monitoring toolkit is being devel-oped to facilitate the experimental research on millibottlenecks.


Ideas about infant capabilities and toilet training practice have changed in the United States following cultural trends and the advice of child care experts. Anthropologists have shown that a society's specific infant training practices are adaptive to survival and cultural values. The different expectations of infant behavior of the East African Digo produces a markedly different toilet training approach than the current maturational readiness method recommended in America. The Digo believe that infants can learn soon after birth and begin motor and toilet training in the first weeks of life. With a nurturant conditioning approach, night and day dryness is accomplished by 5 or 6 months. The success of early Digo training suggests that sociocultural factors are more important determinants of toilet training readiness than is currently thought.


In present study, solid dispersion (SD) of ritonavir was prepared to enhance its aqueous solubility. The SD was prepared by using polyvinyl pyrrolidone vinyl acetate as a carrier with different drug polymer ratios using spray drying technique. The formulation was characterized using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), in-vitro dissolution and in-vivo absorption studies. Intrinsic dissolution rate study was performed to find the impact of increased solubility on the dissolution rate. DSC and XRD analysis demonstrated the conversion of ritonavir to amorphous form. SD showed 95% release in 25 minutes as compared to 20% of drug release in 60 minute form physical mixture. in-vivo study result indicated that SD exhibited significant increase in area under concentration with time (AUC) and maximum concentration (Cmax).


This research belongs to lesson study which aims at improving elementary schools' teachers competency in integrating character education in mathematics subject matter started from designing lesson plan to the implementation. Besides, the quality of character values was observed as shown by the students during the instructions as the results of the improvement of teachers' competency. the study was conducted in group V Sukasada sub-district which consist of 9 units of schools and the subjects were the teachers of the fourth grade students. the data about teachers' ability in designing the lesson plan and conducting the instructions by inserting characters values was gathered by using instruments as well as collecting the data about students' characters during the instructions in each cycle by conducting observation sheet which later was analyzed by using descriptive statistic. the results show that there was any significant improvement on the scores of designing lesson plan designed by the teachers of the fourth graders in group V Sukasada sub-district in each cycle. on cycle I, the mean score was 69.76 by achievement level 58.06%. On cycle II the mean score was 96.67 by achievement level 80.56% and on cycle III the mean score was 109.33 by achievement level 91.11%. Teachers' ability of conducting character education-based math subject matter was also improved significantly. On cycle I the mean score was 107 by achievement level 62.94%. On cycle II the mean score was 138.67 by achievement level 81.57% and on cycle III was 152 by achievement level 89.41%. the results of observation show that from the 7 characters developed, there were 2 character values which did not improve in each cycle. They were logical thinking and responsibility.


The first generation EGFR TKIs gefitinib and erlotinib provide significant clinical benefit in patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma harbouring activating EGFR mutants (EGFRm+), but patients will ultimately develop disease progression due to acquired resistance. Acquisition of the EGFR T790M mutation is the most common mechanism of drug resistance, detected in more than 50% of gefitinib/erlotinib resistant patients. Current therapeutic strategies are limited for advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients with EGFR T790M (EGFRm+/T790M), so this remains a key area of unmet need. AZD9291 (structure to be disclosed at meeting) is an oral, irreversible, third generation, selective inhibitor of both EGFR activating (EGFRm+) and resistance (EGFRm+/T790M) mutations. The mechanistic and functional activity of AZD9291 was characterised in vitro and in vivo across a number of cell lines harbouring various EGFR-mutations or wild type EGFR. Presented data shows AZD9291 potently inhibits EGFR phosphorylation in EGFRm+ (e.g. PC9; 500nM). Consistently, AZD9291 showed significantly more potent inhibition of proliferation in mutant EGFR cell lines compared to wild-type in vitro. In addition, AZD9291 administered once daily orally at 5mg/kg caused profound regression of tumours across EGFRm+ (PC9; 178% growth inhibition) and EGFRm+/T790M (H1975; 119% growth inhibition) tumour models in vivo, after 14 days dosing. Furthermore 5mg/kg AZD9291 was sufficient to cause significant shrinkage of EGFRm+ and EGFRm+/T790M transgenic mouse lung tumours. Tumour growth inhibition was associated with profound inhibition of EGFR phosphorylation and key downstream signaling pathways such as AKT and ERK. Chronic long-term treatment of PC9 and H1975 xenograft tumours with AZD9291 led to a complete and sustained macroscopic response, with no visible tumours after 40 days dosing, and being maintained beyond 100 days. Furthermore, pre-clinical data also indicates that AZD9291 could target tumours that have acquired resistance to the more recently identified HER2-amplification mechanism, thus potentially extending its benefit in TKI resistant patients. Taken together, preclinical data demonstrates that AZD9291 is a potent and effective inhibitor of both EGFR activating (EGFRm+) and resistance (EGFRm+/T790M) mutations whilst sparing wild-type EGFR. These data support the further clinical investigation of AZD9291 in advanced EGFR mutant lung adenocarcinoma.

Citation Information: Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):A109.

Citation Format: Darren Cross, Sue Ashton, Caroline Nebhan, Cath Eberlein, M. Raymond V. Finlay, Gareth Hughes, Vivien Jacobs, Martine Mellor, Monica Red Brewer, Catherine Meador, Jonathon Orme, Paula Spitzler, Steve Powell, Amar Rahi, Paula Taylor, Richard A. Ward, Paula Daunt, Anne Galer, Teresa Klinowska, Graham Richmond, William Pao. AZD9291: an irreversible, potent and selective third generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) targeting EGFR activating (EGFRm+) and resistance (T790M) mutations in advanced lung adenocarcinoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2013 Oct 19-23; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):Abstract nr A109.


Abstract. Up to now an efficient 3-D geophysical mapping of the subsurface in mountainous environments with rough terrain has not been possible. A merging approach of several closely spaced 2-D electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) surveys to build up a quasi-3-D model of the electrical resistivity is presented herein as a practical compromise for inferring subsurface characteristics and lithology. The ERT measurements were realised in a small glacier forefield in the Swiss Alps with complex terrain exhibiting a small scale spatial variability of surface substrate. To build up the grid for the quasi-3-D measurements the ERT surveys were arranged as parallel profiles and perpendicular tie lines. The measured 2-D datasets were collated into one quasi-3-D file. A forward modelling approach – based on studies at a permafrost site below timberline – was used to optimize the geophysical survey design for the mapping of the mountain permafrost distribution in the investigated glacier forefield. Quasi-3-D geoelectrical imaging is a useful method for mapping of heterogeneous frozen ground conditions and can be considered as a further milestone in the application of near surface geophysics in mountain permafrost environments.


The antioxidant capacity and the polyphenolic profile of fresh and processed cherry tomatoes were analyzed with the aim of investigating the effect of industrial processes on the nutritional qualities of fruits. The results exhibited a decrease of antioxidant activity mainly in the lipophilic fraction of processed tomatoes compared with fresh products. No great difference in the antioxidant capacity was detected in the hydrophilic and methanolic extracts of fresh tomatoes and processed tomato juices. Moreover, a decrease of polyphenolic content, estimated by means of high-performance liquid chromatography analysis and Folin-Ciocalteu method, was observed in all tomato juices. The overall polyphenolic profile of both fresh and processed tomatoes did not change significantly and, among all juices, a higher polyphenolic content was detected in juice containing peels and seeds in comparison to those without. From our data on antioxidant power and the bioactive metabolite content, tomato juice could be used as a valid and easily available source of antioxidants in everyday diet to preserve human health.


From the mid-sixteenth through the end of the seventeenth century, Chinese intellectuals attended more to dreams and dreaming—and in a wider array of genres—than in any other period of Chinese history. Taking the approach of cultural history, this ambitious yet accessible work aims both to describe the most salient aspects of this "dream arc" and to explain its trajectory in time through the writings, arts, and practices of well-known thinkers, religionists, litterateurs, memoirists, painters, doctors, and political figures of late Ming and early Qing times.

The volume's encompassing thesis asserts that certain associations of dreaming, grounded in the neurophysiology of the human brain at sleep—such as subjectivity, irrationality, the unbidden, lack of control, emotionality, spontaneity, the imaginal, and memory—when especially heightened by historical and cultural developments, are likely to pique interest in dreaming and generate florescences of dream-expression among intellectuals. The work thus makes a contribution to the history of how people have understood human consciousness in various times and cultures.

The Dreaming Mind and the End of the Ming World is the most substantial work in any language on the historicity of Chinese dream culture. Within Chinese studies, it will appeal to those with backgrounds in literature, religion, philosophy, political history, and the visual arts. It will also be welcomed by readers interested in comparative dream cultures, the history of consciousness, and neurohistory.


This study employed qualitative and quantitative research approaches to examine the effectiveness of female heads of secondary schools in Kibaha District. The study determined common leadership practices employed by female heads of secondary schools, assessed the perceptions of teachers and students on the effectiveness of female leadership and identified challenges that female heads of schools face when executing instructional leadership roles in secondary schools. The sample size for the study included 60 male and female secondary school teachers served more than three years. Also, it included 24 students who were organized into four Focus Group Discussions. Lastly, four female heads of public secondary schools, two school inspectors and one District Secondary Education Officer participated as key informants. Data were collected through questionnaire, key informant interviews, Focus Group Discussions and Documentary review. Regarding the common leadership practices employed by female heads of schools, the study found that women communicated politely and positively, preferred working in teams and were role models to teachers and students. Also, they were democratic, and good in monitoring planned strategies and motivating teachers and students to engage heartily in instructional activities. On the perceptions of teachers and students, 90% held positive view and appreciated the ability of female heads of schools in fostering instructional leadership. However, their major challenge was social - cultural values which regard women incapable for leadership. Hence, the study called for the society to deal with cultural values barring women from utilizing their leadership talents to improve instructional performance in secondary schools.


The paper presents a new traffic rate estimation method for the QoS-enabled Internet, employing a flip-flop filter that measures actual changes in the characteristics of a traffic flow in a timely and accurate manner (i.e., it is agile), while ignoring short term variations or spikes in the traffic flow (i.e., it is stable). The proposed algorithm is compared with the familiar exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) and time sliding window (TSW) estimators under the self-similar traffic model. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.


An enterprise architecture for the Earth Science activities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was developed to assist in assessing the capacity of scientific instruments in meeting the needs of society. It can also help them develop the right investment strategies and help scientists and engineers in their planning for system development, especially for complex space-based environmental sensors. This architecture model can be easily extended to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). In fact, it was constructed with GEOSS in mind to ensure that NASA's observation systems can be readily mapped into the GEOSS structure. The architecture contains about 3000 elements that are involved in earth science research: observation sources, sensors, environmental parameters, data products, mission products, observations, science models, predictions, and decision-support tools. The science models use observations from the space- based instruments to generate predictions about various aspects of the environment. These predictions are used by decisionmakers around the world to help minimize property damage and loss of human life due to adverse conditions such as severe weather storms. The architecture is developed using both traditional and non-traditional SE tools and techniques. This paper will describe additional methods needed for the SE toolbox.


Geography of crime is not a new addition to the discipline of geography,
many studies, mostly empirical in nature and carried out by male geographers,
have been conducted in the past. Fear of crime is however regarded as a
newcomer, especially in feminist studies. Geography has tended to ignore the
plight of women with regard to fear of crime preferring to map areas of high
crime levels and infer relationships with women's fear. Public space is regarded
by many as being patriarchal ruled and is therefore of great interest to feminist
geography where they try to understand women's use of space when fear is a
contributing factor to their decision making.
Division of space is of great importance when trying to understand fear of
crime. As I have already stated public space is regarded as being patriarchal,
under male rule thus women often feel under threat, fearing crime, especially
that of a sexual nature being perpetrated by a stranger in public areas. More
often than not it is the area itself that is blamed for generating the fear while the
nature of the fear itself is ignored. What is most important to note here is that
people feel more unsafe in a public area than at home when it is in the home that
most crime is perpetrated and by a known assailant. As Rachel Pain states "an
accurate map of would highlight more bedrooms than alleyways and parks.
It is with this in mind that I present my own study. I will be dealing
specifically with public space in the university town of Maynooth, Co. Kildare.
In the four years I have attended the college there have been numerous reports
of attacks on female students on college grounds and in the town. At the time
these reports had the effect of curtailing the movements of female students
around the campus, especially after daylight hours for fear of further attacks.
There have not been any reports o f such instances in the past few months as far as I am aware and I wish to investigate if the curtailments on students'
movements, both male and female, still exist or were they just of a temporary
nature. By surveying both male and female students I hope to be able to see if a
strong gender-bias occurs or if the fear is universal. I also hope to gain some
insight into the temporal nature of fear by asking the participants for examples
for both day and night. Their sources on crime will also be looked at a previous
study0 has blamed a media bias for covering crime in public space as opposed to
domestic violence as producing the reversal of fear levels to areas o f risk. I
intend to produce a set of maps indicating the areas of high levels o f fear, the
temporal disparities and any gender-bias that may also be evident.
I will also be including a section on methodology used in the survey and how
analysis was carried out on one hundred and twenty structured/semi-structured
questionnaires using the computer package SPSS (Statistical Package for the
Social Sciences).


We propose a principle of photovoltaics utilizing the built-in electric field generated by aligned nano-size dipoles in a semi-conductive host, either polymer or liquid, or amorphous, or polycrystalline. Such dipoles are readily found with the wurtzite CdS, CdSe and some other nanoparticles. We show that their generated field can be uniform and strong enough, ∼ 30 kV/cm to separate electron-hole pairs and run significant drift currents. Our suggested structure is not based p-n or Schottky junctions and can be tunable in a broad range of parameters.


The design of heterogeneous catalysts of high efficiency for complete oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is a challenge. In the present study, propane is adopted as a VOC representative, and core-shell structured ZnCo2O4@CeO2 catalysts with Ce decoration were synthesized and tested for propane combustion. Through SEM, STEM, and EDX analyses, the structure of the ZnCo2O4@CeO2 catalysts was characterized. The results of activity evaluation demonstrate that the presence of Ce can significantly promote catalytic performance, and the most suitable Ce content has been verified. Furthermore, the optimized ZnCo2O4@CeO2 catalyst exhibits excellent thermal stability and strong resistance toward water. The superior catalytic performance over the optimized ZnCo2O4@CeO2 catalyst is attributed to the high concentration of surface lattice oxygen (O2-) and the presence of strong interactions between Ce and Co.


Stories form an integral part of models. An economic model can not be fully characterized simply by knowing its structure: the model can only be completely described when we know how it works and what it can do. This activity of manipulating a model requires a narrative device, such as a question, which sets off a story told with the model. The structure or system portrayed in the model constrains and shapes the stories that can be told, but without stories showing how the structure works, we cannot tell what might happen in specific cases. Without these narrative elements, we cannot apply model-structures directly onto the facts of the economic world, nor demonstrate outcomes about the hypothetical world represented in the model. Thus, stories are not simply devices of persuasion, but constitute an important part of the identity of a model.


Background Spirodela polyrhiza is a species of the order Alismatales, which represent the basal lineage of monocots with more ancestral features than the Poales. Its complete sequence of the mitochondrial (mt) genome could provide clues for the understanding of the evolution of mt genomes in plant. Methods Spirodela polyrhiza mt genome was sequenced from total genomic DNA without physical separation of chloroplast and nuclear DNA using the SOLiD platform. Using a genome copy number sensitive assembly algorithm, the mt genome was successfully assembled. Gap closure and accuracy was determined with PCR products sequenced with the dideoxy method. Conclusions This is the most compact monocot mitochondrial genome with 228,493 bp. A total of 57 genes encode 35 known proteins, 3 ribosomal RNAs, and 19 tRNAs that recognize 15 amino acids. There are about 600 RNA editing sites predicted and three lineage specific protein-coding-gene losses. The mitochondrial genes, pseudogenes, and other hypothetical genes (ORFs) cover 71,783 bp (31.0%) of the genome. Imported plastid DNA accounts for an additional 9,295 bp (4.1%) of the mitochondrial DNA. Absence of transposable element sequences suggests that very few nuclear sequences have migrated into Spirodela mtDNA. Phylogenetic analysis of conserved protein-coding genes suggests that Spirodela shares the common ancestor with other monocots, but there is no obvious synteny between Spirodela and rice mtDNAs. After eliminating genes, introns, ORFs, and plastid-derived DNA, nearly four-fifths of the Spirodela mitochondrial genome is of unknown origin and function. Although it contains a similar chloroplast DNA content and range of RNA editing as other monocots, it is void of nuclear insertions, active gene loss, and comprises large regions of sequences of unknown origin in non-coding regions. Moreover, the lack of synteny with known mitochondrial genomic sequences shed new light on the early evolution of monocot mitochondrial genomes.


A cross-sectional study with a retrospective component was conducted to evaluate occupational noise exposure as a potential risk factor for arterial hypertension among 775 workers from an oil-drilling industry. Hypertension was defined as >/= 140/90mmHg. Occupational noise exposure was measured as: (1) exposure to sound pressure levels >/= 85dbA for 10 years or more and (2) moderate-to-severe noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). The effects of age, education, shift work, and obesity were evaluated by stratification and logistic regression analysis. A positive association between occupational noise exposure and hypertension was found, using both the level/duration of noise exposure (RP = 1.8; 95% CI: 1.3-2.4) and NIHL (RP = 1.5; 95% CI: 1.1-2.0) as exposure indicators. Considering the study limits, long-term occupational noise exposure thus appears to be a risk factor for arterial hypertension.


The potential impacts of increased temperatures, decreased precipitation and decreased duration of snow cover over the next seventy years are evaluated for twelve plant communities in the Kosciuszko alpine region of Australia. The approach taken is speculative and provides a series of hypotheses about potential patterns of change. The short alpine herbfield and snowbank feldmark communities are likely to be negatively affected by the predicted declining snow cover, as snowbanks become fewer and smaller. Windswept feldmark, however, may become more widespread if snow cover declines, exposing new areas to freezing temperatures, high winds and resultant loss of soil cover. Climate change initially may have a beneficial or neutral effect on the tall alpine herbfield. If snow cover continues to decline below 3-4 months per year, as is predicted, then the tall alpine herbfield could eventually decline in area. Bogs, fens, raised bog and valley bog communities are likely to vary in area as changes in precipitation, runoff and evaporation alter the competitive ability of plant species belonging to these communities. Heath communities are likely to increase in area as increasing temperature and declining snow cover favour shrub species over grasses and herbs. Increasing diversity and abundance of alien plant species within the alpine zone are likely to continue and may be amplified by climate change.


The paper describes a new regression method for creating polynomial models. The method combines numerical and symbolic regression. Genetic programming finds the form of polynomial expressions, and least squares optimization finds the values for the constants in the expressions. The incorporation of least squares optimization within symbolic regression is made possible by a rule-based component that algebraically transforms expressions to equivalent forms that are suitable for least squares optimization. The paper describes new operators of crossover and mutation that improve performance, and a new method for creating starting solutions that avoids the problem of under-determined functions. An example application demonstrates the trade-off between model complexity and accuracy of a set of approximator functions created for the Colebrook–White formula.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors influencing the use of family planning and its link with multidimensional poverty in rural Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

The Alkire and Foster measure of poverty as well as the Logistic and Probit models were used to identify the factors influencing the use of family planning and its effect on the multidimensional poverty status of rural households in Nigeria.

Findings

The results indicate that 31.1 percent of rural households were poor with deprivations in health and education contributing the most to multidimensional poverty. The low use of contraception was closely linked to low level of literacy, lack of awareness of the different methods and high levels of poverty. The use of contraception reduced the level of poverty in the household.

Social implications

The intensity of poverty should be considered in the design of policies and programs. The wide and proper use of family planning is a sine qua non for any significant reduction in poverty. Potent and assertive family planning programs by government could be achieved through public-private sector partnership and assistance of international development partners.

Originality/value

This paper attempts to bridge the knowledge gap in the empirical literature on the link between multidimensional poverty and family planning. In particular`, its application to the rural context, often characterized by high rate of poverty and unmet needs for family planning employing nationally representative data is of immense value for social policy.


Extreme terrestrial and marine hot environments are excellent niches for specialized microorganisms belonging to the domains of Bacteria and Archaea; these microorganisms are considered extreme from an anthropocentric point of view because they are able to populate harsh habitats tolerating a variety of conditions, such as extreme temperature and/or pH, high metal concentration and/or salt; moreover, like all the microorganisms, they are also able to respond to sudden changes in the environmental conditions. Therefore, it is not surprising that they possess an extraordinary variety of dynamic and versatile mechanisms for facing different chemical and physical stresses. Such features have attracted scientists also considering an applicative point of view. In this review we will focus on the molecular mechanisms responsible for survival and adaptation of thermophiles to toxic metals, with particular emphasis on As(V), As(III), Cd(II), and on current biotechnologies for their detection, extraction and removal.


Parallel heat flux calculations at the JET divertor have been based on the assumption that all incoming heat is due to the projection of the heat flux parallel to the magnetic line, , plus a constant background. This simplification led to inconsistencies during the analysis of a series of dedicated tungsten melting experiments performed in 2013, for which infrared (IR) thermography surface measurements could not be recreated through simulations unless the parallel heat flux was reduced by 80% for L-mode and 60% for H-mode. We give an explanation for these differences using a new IR inverse analysis code, a set of geometrical corrections, and most importantly an additional term for the divertor heat flux accounting for non-parallel effects such as cross-field transport, recycled neutrals or charge exchange. This component has been evaluated comparing four different geometries with impinging angles varying from 2 to 90°. Its magnitude corresponds to 1.2%–1.9% of , but because it is not affected by the magnetic projection, it accounts for up to 20%–30% of the tile surface heat flux. The geometrical corrections imply a further reduction of 24% of the measured heat flux. In addition, the application of the new inverse code increases the accuracy of the tile heat flux calculation, eliminating any previous discrepancy. The parallel heat flux computed with this new model is actually much lower than previously deduced by inverse analysis of IR temperatures—40% for L-mode and 50% for H-mode—while being independent of the geometry on which it is measured. This main result confirms the validity of the optical projection as long as a non-constant and non-parallel component is considered. For a given total heating power, the model predicts over 10% reduction of the maximum tile surface heat flux compared to strict optical modelling, as well as a 30% reduced sensitivity to manufacturing and assembling tolerances. These conclusions, along with the improvement in the predictability of the divertor thermal behaviour, are critical for JET future DT operations, and are also directly applicable to the design of the ITER divertor monoblocks.


It is of great interest in exploiting texture information for classification of hyperspectral imagery (HSI) at high spatial resolution. In this paper, a classification paradigm to exploit rich texture information of HSI is proposed. The proposed framework employs local binary patterns (LBPs) to extract local image features, such as edges, corners, and spots. Two levels of fusion (i.e., feature-level fusion and decision-level fusion) are applied to the extracted LBP features along with global Gabor features and original spectral features, where feature-level fusion involves concatenation of multiple features before the pattern classification process while decision-level fusion performs on probability outputs of each individual classification pipeline and soft-decision fusion rule is adopted to merge results from the classifier ensemble. Moreover, the efficient extreme learning machine with a very simple structure is employed as the classifier. Experimental results on several HSI data sets demonstrate that the proposed framework is superior to some traditional alternatives.


The paper reports a laser patterning method for producing surfaces with dual scale topographies on ferritic stainless steel plates that are hardened by low temperature plasma surface alloying. Nitrogen and carbon based gasses were used in the alloying process to obtain surface layers with an increased hardness from 172 HV to 1001 HV and 305 HV, respectively. Then, a nanosecond infrared laser was used to pattern the plasma treated surfaces and thus to obtain super-hydrophobicity, by creating cell-or channel-like surface structures. The combined surface hardening and laser patterning approach allowed super-hydrophobic surfaces to be produced on both nitrided and carburised stainless steel plates with effective contact angles higher than 150 0 . The hardened layers on nitrided samples had cracks and was delaminated after the laser patterning while on plasma carburised samples remained intact. The results showed that by applying the proposed combined approach it is possible to retain the higher hardness of the nitrided stainless steel plates and at the same time to functionalise them to obtain super-hydrophobic properties.


Globalization has transformed how nations, firms and workers compete in the international economy over the past half century. This book by Gary Gereffi, one of the founders of the global value chains (GVC) framework, traces the emergence of arguably the most influential approach used to analyze globalization and its impacts. It studies the conceptual foundations of GVC analysis, the twin pillars of 'governance' and 'upgrading', along with detailed case studies of China, Mexico and other emerging economies as main beneficiaries of export-oriented industrialization, and addresses potential solutions to the deleterious impact of globalization on workers and communities.


Meeting the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement requires profound changes to current patterns of socioeconomic development including consumption, employment, and infrastructure affecting all parts of society including stakeholders. Therefore, consulting with stakeholders needs to be at the core to prepare and enable the global transformation. Acknowledging the importance of stakeholder engagement, new legislation by the European Union (EU), the Regulation for the Governance of the Energy Union, mandates the establishment of a so-called Multi-Level Climate and Energy Dialogue to discuss climate and energy policies, if similar structures are not yet in existence. To date, examples of completed and genuine stakeholder consultations based on a broad inclusive process and setting up distinct organisational structures in EU Member States are few. Evidence for consultations, that are believed to have impacted the national long-term climate strategy and governance framework, is particularly scarce. Two cases, for which there is documentation, are Germany and France. Both countries conducted broad consultation processes that were of unprecedented scale in organisational effort and underlying structures and, in addition, strengthened stakeholder involvement in their respective climate governance frameworks. This brief describes the organisation and structures of these stakeholder consultation processes and draws lessons from them.


Spatial data mining is the discovery of interesting relationships and characteristics that may exist implicitly in spatial databases. To this end, this paper has three main contributions. First, it proposes a new clustering method called CLARANS, whose aim is to identify spatial structures that may be present in the data. Experimental results indicate that, when compared with existing clustering methods, CLARANS is very efficient and effective. Second, the paper investigates how CLARANS can handle not only point objects, but also polygon objects efficiently. One of the methods considered, called the IR-approximation, is very efficient in clustering convex and nonconvex polygon objects. Third, building on top of CLARANS, the paper develops two spatial data mining algorithms that aim to discover relationships between spatial and nonspatial attributes. Both algorithms can discover knowledge that is difficult to find with existing spatial data mining algorithms.


The changes in petechial susceptibility of the vessels of hamster cheek to the moccasin venom test have been compared in shielded and irradiated pouches of the same animal which had received median lethal doses of x-irradiation. There was no statistically significant difference demonstrable between the irradiated and controlled cheek pouches, but both showed a greater hemorrhagic response than was found in the cheek pouches of unirradiated control animals. Similar results were found when the diffusion of intradermally injected Evans blue was used as an indication of x-irradiation damage. The shielded and the exposed areas both showed enhanced permeability to the dye when compared with the unirradiated control animals. These results suggest that some indirect factor or factors are involved in the vascular and permeability changes following exposure to ionizing radiation.


The CNA was conducted with the overall objective of gathering facts from Sandali ward community on the existing livelihood enhancement opportunity's needs as reflected by the problems in the community it also aimed at analysing causes and identify community assets which will enable identify a specific project that will effectively address the problems of limited livelihoods improvement. Based on the participatory findings of the CAN it was established that production of batik clothes of low quality which is associated with low income earnings due to inadequate of knowledge and skills on batik production was the most pressing need for the CBO. To address this problem the project titled "Training on modern batik decoration techniques" Sandali Ward, Temeke district was set with the main goal of improving livelihood of Sandali ward community.
Strategies used to implement this project include financial resources mobilization, preparation of training manual according to the needs of the target group and undertaking training for the target community. Participants of the training were stakeholders of batik production project in Sandali ward, Temeke district. The main outputs of the project were production of quality batik products(clothes), quantitative supply of batik clothes, improving social livelihood of group members, improving production capacity through innovation and training, acquisition of advanced batik production techniques.


Substellar members of young (≲150 Myr) moving groups are valuable benchmarks to empirically define brown dwarf evolution with age and to study the low-mass end of the initial mass function. We have combined Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) proper motions with optical–IR photometry from PS1, Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), and WISE to search for substellar members of the AB Dor Moving Group within ≈50 pc and with spectral types of late M to early L, corresponding to masses down to ≈30 MJup at the age of the group (≈125 Myr). Including both photometry and proper motions allows us to better select candidates by excluding field dwarfs whose colors are similar to young AB Dor Moving Group members. Our near-IR spectroscopy has identified six ultracool dwarfs (M6–L4; ≈30–100 MJup) with intermediate surface gravities (int-g) as candidate members of the AB Dor Moving Group. We find another two candidate members with spectra showing hints of youth but consistent with field gravities. We also find four field brown dwarfs unassociated with the AB Dor Moving Group, three of which have int-g gravity classification. While signatures of youth are present in the spectra of our ≈125 Myr objects, neither their J – K nor W1 – W2 colors are significantly redder than field dwarfs with the same spectral types, unlike younger ultracool dwarfs. We also determined PS1 parallaxes for eight of our candidates and one previously identified AB Dor Moving Group candidate. Although radial velocities (and parallaxes, for some) are still needed to fully assess membership, these new objects provide valuable insight into the spectral characteristics and evolution of young brown dwarfs.


Abstract Context. Coyotes (Canis latrans) have adapted successfully to human landscape alteration in the past 150 years and in recent decades have successfully moved into urban areas. While this causes concern about human–wildlife conflicts, research also suggests that coyotes tend to avoid humans and human activity in urban areas. For improving management, a better understanding of space use by coyotes is needed. Aims. To study how coyote social behaviour influences fine-scale space use in urban areas we present results from an extensive, multi-year GPS telemetry study (2005–13). The study area in coastal Rhode Island is a mosaic of rural, suburban and urban land use and coyotes have only recently arrived. Methods. We differentiated between two social classes: residents (individuals that have established a territory; n = 24) and transients (individuals that have no territory; n = 7). Space use was analysed using mixed effect models and detailed land-cover data. Key results. Coyotes tended to select for agricultural and densely vegetated land cover and against land used for housing and commerce. Pasture and cropland were preferred by residents and avoided by transients, especially at night, indicating the role of agricultural land as prime foraging habitat. Both groups selected densely vegetated land cover for daytime shelter sites. Transients selected for densely vegetated land cover both day and night, indicating use for both shelter and foraging. Resident coyotes avoided high- and medium-density housing more than transients. Conclusions. We interpret land-cover selection by resident coyotes as indicative of coyote habitat preference, while transients more often occupied marginal habitats that probably do not reflect their preferences. Differences in land cover selection between residents and transients suggest that transients have a corollary strategy to avoid residents. Implications. With cover and food appearing to be important drivers of space use, coexistence strategies can build on controlling food resources as well as on the tendency of coyotes to avoid humans. Nevertheless, transients, having the need to avoid territorial resident coyotes as well, show a reduced aversion to land cover with high human activity, creating a higher potential for human–wildlife conflicts.


poral Characteristics of Absolute Pitch MINER, CAITLIN Investigation of the Tem and Relative Pitch Using EEG June 2011 Department of Neuroscience, ADVISOR: [Stephen G. Romero] Itoh, Suwazono, Arao, Miyazaki, and Nakada, (2005) compared relative pitch (RP), with absolute pitch (AP) and found a left posterior-temporal negative Event Related Potential (ERP) at 150ms for pitch listening and pitch naming in AP. The present study tested if AP is due to pitch expertise that is not present in RP by comparing pitch naming with instrument naming. Recordings were performed during instrument naming, instrument listening, pitch naming, and pitch listening tasks. At a negatively deflected ERP (156-228ms) a three-way interaction was found, such that voltage differed between instrument listening and instrument naming tasks, but not between pitch listening and pitch naming. At two positively deflected ERPs (240-340 and 380-440ms), interactions were found, such that voltage differed between pitches and instruments. These data indicated expertise for instrument naming, but not pitch naming in this musically untrained group, which provides hypotheses for future studies with AP and RP.


The electrical power grid faces a growing need for large-scale energy storage over a wide range of time scales due to costly short-term transients, frequency regulation, and load balancing. The durability, high power, energy efficiency, and low cost needed for grid-scale storage pose substantial challenges for conventional battery technology. (1, 2) Here, we demonstrate insertion/extraction of sodium and potassium ions in a low-strain nickel hexacyanoferrate electrode material for at least five thousand deep cycles at high current densities in inexpensive aqueous electrolytes. Its open-framework structure allows retention of 66% of the initial capacity even at a very high (41.7C) rate. At low current densities, its round trip energy efficiency reaches 99%. This low-cost material is readily synthesized in bulk quantities. The long cycle life, high power, good energy efficiency, safety, and inexpensive production method make nickel hexacyanoferrate an attractive candidate for use in large-scale batteries to support the electrical grid.


ABSTRACT This study aimed at investigating the relationship between the parenting styles and emotional intelligence of a sample of kindergarten children in Zarqa II Governorate, Jordan. To achieve this objective, two measures were utilized, namely, the emotional intelligence scale of the kindergarten children and the parenting styles scale on a sample of 100 kindergarten children, 47 of whom were male and 53 were female. The results revealed that the prevalent parenting styles were the democratic, authoritative, and permissive styles respectively. Further, the results showed a statistically significant positive relation between the democratic parenting style and emotional intelligence in all its domains, and showed a statistically significant negative relationship between the authoritative and permissive styles and emotional intelligence. Furthermore, the results revealed a lack of statistical differences in all areas due to the impact of gender in emotional intelligence. The study recommended that parents should pay more attention to the most appropriate parenting styles with their children.


The new scenario envisioned by the European Higher EducationArea (EHEA) seeks to enhance student participation in class, and to develop a proactive attitude towards their education. One priority aim of the Technical University of Valencia is to foster this attitude introducing a continuous assessment process. In this article, the lessons learnt in using the new Information and Communication Technologies (TICs) for teaching Digital Systems Fundamentals (GII-FCO) are presented. These technologies have been a key element in addressing this new approach, helping faculty in the assessment process.


Crystal structures of Bi4Ti3O12 ferroelectrics have been investigated by high-temperature neutron powder diffraction study. The ferroelectricity in Bi4Ti3O12 is shown to originate from the in-plane displacement of TiO6 octahedra with respect to heavy Bi ions, and that the off-center Ti displacement in the octahedra plays a minor role. Bond valence analysis shows that the underbonding of Bi with the adjacent oxide ions at the perovskite A site in high-temperature paraelectric state plays an essential role in the ferroelectric phase transition in the Bi4Ti3O12 system.


scientific and clinical efficacy. To accomplish this, they manipulated a mixture of traditions (including itppropriated philosophies and historical figures such as Aristotle, Galen, and Hippocrate\), strict guild structures, and, perhaps most important, the politically controlled licensing of education and practice. The late Roger French was a lecturer in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. He was especially qualified to write this book because of his 20-year tenure as director of the Wellcoine Unit for the History of Medicine at ('ainbridge; it is also a logical outgrowth of his previous writings, especially William Hrtrvey 's Natural Philosophy (1 994). Although written in an engaging style and with a Ixoad historical sweep, Medicine before Scic-nc.e is more likely to appeal to interested university students and academic scholars of history and philosophy than to a general audience, especially with its focus on representative little-known figures, rather than the traditional medical greats.


This study presents an adaptation of the Crisis Intervention Team Model (CIT) to a jail setting. Pre-post surveys and interviews assessed changes in corrections officers' (CO) knowledge of and attitudes toward mental health. Cell Removal Team (CRT) services assessed the impact of CIT on the use of this specialized unit. Results indicate positive changes in CO attitudes, increased de-escalation skills, and an abrupt decrease in the level of CRT usage, with results sustained in the 8-month follow-up period.


Background More than 300,000 refugees arrived in the United States (U.S.) from 2010-2015, and Texas accepts the 2 highest number of refugees. Texas also accepts large numbers of asylees, parolees, and special immigrant visa holders. Additionally, a large proportion of trafficked persons in the U.S. live in or pass through Texas. Foreign-born children are disproportionately affected by tuberculosis (TB) and account for two-thirds of U.S. childhood TB cases. Children are at greater risk for progression from TB infection to disease and experience greater morbidity and mortality from TB disease. This makes screening for and treatment of TB infection in children from high-prevalence areas an important public health intervention. Since 2007, children 2-14 years old emigrating from high-prevalence countries (TB incidence >20 cases /100,000 persons) have been tested for TB infection. Children ≥15 years old are additionally screened with a chest radiograph. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends treatment of children with TB infection, as treatment reduces the risk of life threatening disease and prevents future transmission. There are few studies describing the epidemiology of TB in internationally displaced children relocating to the U.S.; there have been no studies centered on Texas. We describe the secular trends and comparative epidemiology of positive TSTs and IGRAs in children of different immigration statuses cared for through the Houston-area public health program. Methods This was a retrospective cross-sectional study of children <18 years-old evaluated by the Harris County Public Health Refugee Health Screening Program between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2015 with the following immigration statuses: refugee, asylee, parolee, special immigrant visa holder, or victim of human trafficking. We analyzed factors associated with TB test positivity, infection and disease for children with these immigration statuses. Data are from the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), the Harris County Public Health Refugee Health Screening Program, and the Texas Children's Hospital TB clinic. Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test were used for dichotomous variables, one-way ANOVAs for univariate analyses, and Wilcoxon rank sum or Kruskal-Wallis for continuous variables. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to further analyze factors associated with TB test positivity. To assess secular trends in usage and positivity, monthly totals were analyzed using linear regression and the Wilcoxon Sign Rank test. A p-value <0.05 was considered significant. Children < 5 years were typically tested using tuberculin skin test (TSTs) and older children typically using interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs). The primary outcome was a positive test of TB infection (TST and/or IGRA). Children who were TST+/IGRAwith no known contacts, a normal chest radiograph and no signs or symptoms consistent with TB disease were typically considered uninfected. However, there were some children who met these criteria who were considered to have TB infection and were treated as such –this typically occurred earlier in the study period, and was most commonly due to young age (< 2 years old) or some variability in provider practice. Results The program evaluated 5,990 children, of whom 5870 (98%) were tested, predominantly (64%) with an IGRA alone. During the study period, IGRA use increased (p<0.001), though percentages of positive test results (IGRA or TST) did not decline significantly (p=0.10). Overall, 364 (6.2%) children had at least one positive test of infection: 143/1,842 (7.8%) tested with TST alone, 129/3,730 (63.6%) tested with IGRA alone, and 92/298 (30.9%) had at least one positive test result for those tested with both TST and IGRA. Among the 364 children with any positive test of infection, 4 (1.1%) were diagnosed with TB disease, 325 (89.3%) were diagnosed with TB infection, and 35 (9.6%) were considered uninfected. Three factors were significantly associated with a positive TST or IGRA result: region of origin, younger age group, and HIV infection. All children were more likely to have a positive TST compared to IGRA (OR 2.92, 95% CI: 2.37-3.59). Discordant test results were common (20%) and most often were TST+/IGRA(95.0%). 35/57 (61.4%) of children who were TST+/IGRAwere considered uninfected and did not receive therapy for TB infection; none developed TB disease. The 22/57 (38.6%) TST+/IGRAchildren who were treated for TB infection, were treated as such typically due to young age (< 2 years old) or variability in provider practice. Conclusions Positive TST results were twice as common as positive IGRA results and discordant TST/IGRA results were common. Positive TST results in BCG-immunized children frequently represent cross-reactivity and false positivity. Use of IGRAs as opposed to TSTs in BCG-immunized children would reduce false positive tests and allow for TB infection therapy to be targeted to those who would most benefit. These findings support 2018 changes in U.S. immigration guidelines that mandate IGRA use for recently immigrated children above 2 years of age.


Background. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an increasing public health issue. It is therefore potentially highly advantageous to identify patients at risk of accelerated renal progression and death. Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is an established urinary biomarker for acute kidney injury, but it is not known whether adding urinary NGAL (uNGAL) measurements to conventional risk factors will improve risk assessment in the setting of chronic disease. Methods. This is a prospective observational cohort study of 158 patients with Stage 3 or 4 CKD. The ability of baseline uNGAL to improve prediction of outcome was assessed by multivariate modelling and a number of metrics including net reclassification analysis. A primary composite endpoint of allcause mortality or progression to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT) at 2 years and a secondary endpoint of ≥5 mL/min/1.73 m decline in the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) after 1 year were considered. Results. Forty patients (25%) reached the primary composite endpoint, 20 of whom died. Twenty-seven patients (19%) reached the secondary endpoint of a ≥5 mL/min/1.73 m decline in the eGFR. The baseline uNGAL-to-creatinine ratio (uNCR) was associated with the combined endpoint of death or initiation of RRT (HR per 5 μg/mmol increase 1.27, 95% CI: 1.01–1.60, P = 0.036) independent of conventional cardiovascular and renal risk factors, including proteinuria. In separate analysis of these two competing endpoints, however, uNCR only remained associated with increased risk of progression to ESRD requiring RRT. Higher baseline uNCR was also independently predictive of rapid renal decline over 1 year (HR per 5 μg/mmol increase 1.47, 95% CI: 1.06–2.06, P = 0.022). Addition of uNCR to the base model resulted in a significant increase in discrimination for the secondary (Cstatistic 0.76–0.85, P = 0.001) but not the primary endpoint (P = 0.276). Reclassification analysis on the other hand, demonstrated an improvement in risk predication of both primary and secondary endpoints by incorporating uNCR into the base model, but only in those with low-level urine protein excretion (<28 mg/mmol), with category-free net reclassification improvement (NRI) scores of 64% (95% CI: 8– 70; P = 0.019) and 79% (95% CI: 12–83; P = 0.009), respectively. Conclusion. The utilization of uNCR in addition to conventional established cardiovascular and renal risk factors may improve the prediction of disease progression in elderly Caucasian pre-dialysis CKD patients with low-grade proteinuria.


of the non-resistance to evil,-illustrations, as Jean Valjean ami others. 1. The doctrine of enjoyment in the dutiful life, _vocation and avocation. Conclusion: I should sav, fellow workers, that if these principles can be taught to'your pupils and in a way such as will manifest itself in the practical routine of the home life. on the street, in the school, in the' secret halls of thought, why then good; if not, worthless. REFI1lRENCES. "Nalnre" ..........................•Addre;s by Emerson "Prolegomena of Ethics Green "Elblcal Studios" .........................••... BI1Ldle,. "Elements of Ethtce" ..................••.•...Mult'head "Daniel Deronda" ..............•..•......•.Ge:>rge Eilol "Faust" ('fIbe F.la~ter Chorus) : .....••.Gre~he "Lea :lfisera.ble.~" ........•....••.....•..••..•••.•.HtlgO "Life of St. Franc's" S"oothr "The Metbods of Ethics" Sldgwl.ck .. . ~ INTERNATIONAL COURSE OF STUDY IN PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE.( VIII.)


Objective To update trends in mortality from coronary heart diseases (CHD) and cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) over the period 1981-2004 in Europe, the USA, Latin America, Japan and other selected areas of the world. Methods Age-standardized mortality rates were derived from the World Health Organization database. Joinpoint analysis was used to identify significant changes in trends. Results In the European Union (27 countries), CHD mortality in men declined from 139/100 000 in 1985-1989 to 93/100 000 in 2000-2004 (−33%). In women, the fall was from 61/100 000 to 44/100 000 (−27%). In this area, a decline by over 30% was also registered in CVD mortality for both sexes. In the Russian Federation and other countries of the former Soviet Union, CHD rates in 2000-2004 were exceedingly high, around 380/100 000 men and 170/100 000 women in Russia, 430 for men and 240 for women in Ukraine, 420 and 200 in Belarus. For CVD, a similar situation was registered, with mortality rates of 226/100 000 for men and 159/100 000 for women in 2004 in the Russian Federation, and more than 24% increase since the late 1980s for men and 15% for women. CHD and CVD mortality continued to decline in most Latin American countries, Australia and other areas considered, including Asia (even if with marked differences). Conclusion Although mortality from CHD and CVD continues to decline in several areas of the world including most countries of Europe and of the America providing data and Australia, unfavourable trends were still observed in the Russian Federation and other countries of the former Soviet Union, whose recent rates remain exceedingly high.


The life course health development (LCHD) model is a cutting-edge theoretical model for the health science, which moves beyond the previous biomedical and biopsychosocial model. From the perspectives of "process, relationship and system", it recognizes health as a dynamic ability to change over the course of life, and highlights the importance of optimizing individual health trajectories and health promotion. According to LCHD model, we should understand health from the perspective of development, which is characterized by unfolding, complexity, timing, plasticity, thriving and harmony. Health research and practice, therefore, should change ideas from the focus on accurate diagnosis, treatment and etiology previously to full using the relative plasticity of human development to enhance health development ability, enrich health resources and promote the healthy development of physiology, psychology, behavior and culture system; and to achieve a harmonious balance in the different stages of the life course. Based on the LCHD model, it is suggested for our country's health service system (1) to strengthen the health education across the life-span and construct the health promotion model based on the social system; (2) to pay more attention to health promotion and disease prevention in early life; (3) to increase government spending on health promotion and prevention, not just on disease treatment.


From the adult lens of Triturus viridescens, a fraction of proteins was isolated which corresponds to γ-crystallins of higher vertebrates. Tests by immuno-electrophoresis indicate that the antiserum against this fraction reacts with γ-crystallins, but not with α- or β-crystallins. With this antiserum, an immunofluorescent reagent has been prepared for detection of γ-crystallins from newts. In the normal lens of the adult newt, these crystallins are detected in fiber cells and fiber material, but not in the epithelial cells. During transformation of the iris into the lens after lens removal, the staining reaction is negative in the regenerating tissue up to the time the prospective primary fiber cells begin to elongate. Subsequently, without exception those cells in fiber differentiation indicate a γ-crystallin reaction. When the secondary fiber cells are produced at the equatorial zone of the regenerating lens, they also begin to show a γ-crystallin reaction. Thus, γ-crystallins characterize fiber differentiation.


Objective: To report a case of tigecycline-induced acute pancreatitis. Case Summary: A 50-year-old African American man with spinal cord injury was hospitalized on 2 occasions for recurrence of an infected pressure ulcer requiring systemic antibiotic therapy. Bone and tissue cultures from his initial hospitalization grew multidrug resistant (MDR) Acinetobacter baumanii sensitive to tigecycline. He was treated with intravenous tigecycline on these 2 occasions (50-mg infusions every 12 hours), each of which resulted in significant elevation in serum amylase (to 615 U/L and 715 U/L) and lipase (to 325 U/L and 616 U/L) levels. On each occasion, the pancreatic enzymes became normal after discontinuing tigecycline. Discussion: Tigecycline is the first FDA-approved drug in the class of antibiotics called glycylcyclines, which are developed from tetracyclines to afford broad coverage against certain resistant gram-positive and gramnegative bacteria. It is recommended for patients at least 18 years of age for treatment of complicated intraabdominal infections, community-acquired bacterial pneumonia and complicated skin and skin structure infections caused by susceptible organisms. Tigecycline-induced pancreatitis is a rare adverse event. Review of the literature yielded only 6 prior documented cases (5 adult and 1 pediatric cases). Although the pediatric case demonstrated rechallenge, the patient concurrently received other antibiotics that are known to cause pancreatitis. Conclusions: This is the first report, to our knowledge, of pancreatitis associated with monotherapy with tigecycline, and this relationship was confirmed upon rechallenging our patient with tigecycline. An objective causality assessment revealed that the adverse-drug-associated event was definite.


This study evaluates the anti-inflammatory activities of the extracts obtained from the medicinal plants Aster tataricus, Pinellia ternata, Ostericum koreanum, Platicodon grandiflorum, Asarum sieboldii, Tussilage farfara, and Acanthopanax sessiliflorus. These plants are used in Korea to treat inflammatory and respiratory ailments, including asthma. The hot water extract (HWE) of A. sessiliflorus inhibited production of IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4 and IL-5. The HWE of A. tataricus, O. koreanum, P. grandiflorum, A. sieboldii and T. farfara had similar inhibitory effects on IFN-γ and IL-5. The endo-polysaccharide (ENP) screened were less active than the HWE and had varying effects on the production of cytokines. The HWE fractions from all the plants except that from P. grandiflorum had marked anti-complement activity at a concentration of 1000 g/ml. The ENP of A. sieboldii, T. farfara and A. sessiliflorus exhibited significant anti-complement activity compared to the positive control.


The human hearing system uses several methods to determine from which direction a particular sound is coming. Our hearing system is binaural, and these methods include relative phase shift for low frequency sounds, relative intensity for sounds in the voice range, and relative time of arrival for sounds having fast rise times and high frequency components. The outer ear plays a significant role in the determination of the direction. The outer ear being defined as the ear canal, the concha, and the pinna. The pinna has an effect on the spectrum of sound reaching the eardrum and the concha has an effect on the frequency at which the ear canal is resonant. Together they control the spectral shape of the sound reaching the eardrum. This effectively controls the frequency response of the auditory system. Due to the complex shapes of the pinna and the concha, sound impinging on this area is subject to reflection, reinforcement and cancellation at various frequencies. Acting rather like a multiple filter, emphasizing some frequencies and attenuating others whilst letting some go through with no change. The response changes with both azimuth and elevation, and together with our binaural capabilities helps us determine whether a sound is coming from up, down, left, right, ahead or behind. By the use of head related transfer functions (HRTF) the sound retrieval system (SRS) 3D process can take a stereo or mono input signal and create a new signal which has a 3D sound image with the correct spatial cues and a very broad centre, creating a more natural sound. (7 pages)


Though the need for prescribed fire is widely recognised, its use remains subject to a range of operational and social constraints. Research has focussed on identifying these constraints, yet past efforts have focussed disproportionately on single agencies and geographic regions. We examined constraints on prescribed fire by surveying a wide variety of organisations (including six state and federal agencies and several tribes, non-governmental organisations and timber companies) in northern California, a fire-prone region of the western United States. Across the region, prescribed burning annually covered only 38% of the area needed to fulfil land-management objectives, and 66% of managers indicated dissatisfaction with levels of prescribed fire activity. The highest-ranked impediments were narrow burn window, regulations, lack of adequate personnel and environmental laws. Impediment ratings differed among entities, with legal and social impediments of greater concern in the private sector than in the public, and economic impediments of greater concern in the state and private sectors than in the federal. Comparisons with the south-eastern United States, where similar research has taken place, point to important regional constraints on prescribed fire activity. These findings suggest further need for research spanning geographic and ownership boundaries, as prescribed fire impediments can vary by context.


This paper uses the well-established 'uses and gratifications' theory in order to understand and categorize viewers' needs in the context of digital TV applications. The results of this analysis unveil that such needs can either be ritualized or instrumental. Furthermore, the uses and gratifications theory was applied in order to formulate a questionnaire to which 68 current users of digital TV responded. The results of this empirical study reveal that applications most suitable for the interactive television environment should aim at the gratification of ritualized needs, such as entertainment and communication. Therefore, applications that appeal to instrumental needs, such as information and transactions should be included as add-ons to entertainment and communication services. Finally, the implications of this analysis for the design of interactive television applications are exploited.


Data augmentation by incorporating cheap unlabeled data from multiple domains is a powerful way to improve prediction especially when there is limited labeled data. In this work, we investigate how adversarial robustness can be enhanced by leveraging out-of-domain unlabeled data. We demonstrate that for broad classes of distributions and classifiers, there exists a sample complexity gap between standard and robust classification. We quantify to what degree this gap can be bridged via leveraging unlabeled samples from a shifted domain by providing both upper and lower bounds. Moreover, we show settings where we achieve better adversarial robustness when the unlabeled data come from a shifted domain rather than the same domain as the labeled data. We also investigate how to leverage out-of-domain data when some structural information, such as sparsity, is shared between labeled and unlabeled domains. Experimentally, we augment two object recognition datasets (CIFAR-10 and SVHN) with easy to obtain and unlabeled out-of-domain data and demonstrate substantial improvement in the model's robustness against $\ell_\infty$ adversarial attacks on the original domain.


Antacids are widely used for many disorders. The potential of antacids to interact with other concomitantly ingested drugs is well recognised. These interactions usually result in reduced or delayed absorption of the affected drug. However, this is not always the case. In contrast to aluminium hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide and sodium bicarbonate can enhance the absorption of some drugs. For example, magnesium hydroxide can increase the rate and sometimes even the extent of absorption of certain nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g. tolfenamic acid, mefenamic acid and ibuprofen), sulphonylurea antidiabetic agents [e.g. glipizide, glibenclamide (glyburide) and tolbutamide] and the oral anticoagulant dicoumarol (bishydroxycoumarin). These weakly acidic drugs are nonionised at gastric pH, but are sparingly water soluble. Elevation of the gastric pH by administration of magnesium hydroxide or sodium bicarbonate increases the solubility and absorption of such sparingly water soluble agents. Chelate formation may be involved in the increased absorption of dicoumarol by magnesium hydroxide. In combination antacids containing both aluminium hydroxide and magnesium hydroxide, the absorption enhancing effect of magnesium hydroxide seems to be counterbalanced by the opposing effects of aluminium hydroxide. The clinical significance of increased drug absorption is not clear. However, accelerated and enhanced absorption of analgesic drugs may be beneficial when rapid pain relief is desired. In contrast, an unexpectedly increased hypoglycaemic or anticoagulant effect may be potentially dangerous. Therefore, a knowledge of the potential effect of antacids on the absorption of other drugs is clinically important.


Humans are adept at switching between goal-directed behaviors quickly and effectively. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is thought to play a critical role by encoding, updating, and maintaining internal representations of task context in working memory. It has also been hypothesized that the encoding of context representations in PFC is regulated by phasic dopamine gating signals. Here we use multimodal methods to test these hypotheses. First we used functional MRI (fMRI) to identify regions of PFC associated with the representation of context in a working memory task. Next we used single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), guided spatially by our fMRI findings and temporally by previous event-related EEG recordings, to disrupt context encoding while participants performed the same working memory task. We found that TMS pulses to the right dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) immediately after context presentation, and well in advance of the response, adversely impacted context-dependent relative to context-independent responses. This finding causally implicates right DLPFC function in context encoding. Finally, using the same paradigm, we conducted high-resolution fMRI measurements in brainstem dopaminergic nuclei (ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra) and found phasic responses after presentation of context stimuli relative to other stimuli, consistent with the timing of a gating signal that regulates the encoding of representations in PFC. Furthermore, these responses were positively correlated with behavior, as well as with responses in the same region of right DLPFC targeted in the TMS experiment, lending support to the hypothesis that dopamine phasic signals regulate encoding, and thereby the updating, of context representations in PFC.


A reservoir computer is a type of dynamical system arranged to do computation. Typically, a reservoir computer is constructed by connecting a large number of nonlinear nodes in a network that includes recurrent connections. In order to achieve accurate results, the reservoir usually contains hundreds to thousands of nodes. This high dimensionality makes it difficult to analyze the reservoir computer using tools from the dynamical systems theory. Additionally, the need to create and connect large numbers of nonlinear nodes makes it difficult to design and build analog reservoir computers that can be faster and consume less power than digital reservoir computers. We demonstrate here that a reservoir computer may be divided into two parts: a small set of nonlinear nodes (the reservoir) and a separate set of time-shifted reservoir output signals. The time-shifted output signals serve to increase the rank and memory of the reservoir computer, and the set of nonlinear nodes may create an embedding of the input dynamical system. We use this time-shifting technique to obtain excellent performance from an opto-electronic delay-based reservoir computer with only a small number of virtual nodes. Because only a few nonlinear nodes are required, construction of a reservoir computer becomes much easier, and delay-based reservoir computers can operate at much higher speeds.


It was October 2014, and Ebola was raging out of control in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Margaret Chan, the World Health Organization's director-general, defended the organization against charges that its response was late and ineffective: "We are a technical agency, with governments having first priority to take care of their people." In January 2015, the WHO executive board undertook a systematic reform of the agency's performance, and Chan again offered a defense: I followed protocol, leaving it to the Africa office (AFRO) to respond. Yet the three nations could not possibly have stemmed the outbreak alone, and AFRO was known to be dysfunctional.

Ebola represents an inflection point requiring fundamental reform for the WHO. A failure of leadership will impact its status and legitimacy for a generation. Here, I offer five reforms that would transform it and ensure that it fulfills its constitutional mission as "the directing and coordinating authority on international health work."


The Takarazuka Grand Theater, the home ground of Takarazuka Revue, had closed its 69‐year history since 1924, and after reconstruction, it opened as a new theater on 1 January 1993. This new theater is only for the Takarazuka Revue Company which performs musicales, dramas and shows. It has continued more than 80 years, and all the performers are females. The theater has a capacity for 2527 people, and the two‐story seating space provides the best view for the audience. As for its acoustic design, the most advanced acoustic technology was employed; especially a sound field control system keeps the acoustical quality at the seats below the deep balcony equal with that at the other seats. As well, the theater features a positional sound image control system, a new acoustic tool where the sound is moved in accompaniment with the actress' movements. An investigation of the acoustic efficiency shows that the theater has a reverberation time of 1.1 s at 500 Hz. The results of acoustic tests of the sound field co...


Information Systems are increasingly becoming essential to the success of business organizations. They play a central role in the success of almost all components of the organization such as business decision-making, business strategy formulation, business goal modeling, managing organizational resources, structure, managing organizational data etc. However, protecting information systems and organizational resources from security threats is a critical task in the management of the business, which alternately, negatively affects the alignment process between business and information systems. Managing information security within business organizations calls for a clear understanding of the viewpoint of business and the architecture of the system that is being used in the organization. This paper presents a requirements engineering based approach to modeling and maping the issue of information security at an early stage of the system's development life cycle in the context of alignment between business and information systems.


In the propagation of an epidemic in a population, individuals adaptively adjust their behavior to avoid the risk of an epidemic. Differently from existing studies where new links are established randomly, a local link is established preferentially in this paper. We propose a new preferentially reconnecting edge strategy depending on spatial distance (PR-SD). For the PR-SD strategy, the new link is established at random with probability p and in a shortest distance with the probability 1 − p. We establish the epidemic model on an adaptive network using Cellular Automata, and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model by numerical simulations. The results show that the smaller the value of parameter p, the more difficult the epidemic spread is. The PR-SD strategy breaks long-range links and establishes as many short-range links as possible, which causes the network efficiency to decrease quickly and the propagation of the epidemic is restrained effectively.


ruble and stopped payment on its government debt, creating a financial crisis that continues today. Some observers have blamed the financial crisis, and the poor performance of the Russian economy generally, on government policies that they claim are rigidly laissez faire. However, a closer look at the Russian financial system reveals that it remains fundamentally socialist, though it has superficial capitalist features. Attempts to preserve the value of the ruble and to prop up Russia's ailing banking system are misguided. The ruble is a currency of socialism; the government uses it as a tool for making forced transfers of wealth from the Russian people to inefficient enterprises that are holdovers from the socialist era. Russian banks likewise have been mainly vehicles for subsidizing enterprises. Russia needs a genuinely capitalist monetary system. The system should have two pillars: the U.S. dollar, Russia's de facto free-enterprise money, and sound banks. Foreign banks should be allowed to compete on equal terms with Russian banks. The central bank should be eliminated, and with it the privileged access of some Russian banks to the resources of the Russian government. Similar reforms have been implemented at least in part in other former socialist countries with good results. In addition to fostering economic growth, the reforms have been politically popular. The U.S. government and international institutions should learn from the experience of those countries and stop supporting Russia's current monetary institutions. Replacing Potemkin Capitalism Russia's Need for a Free-Market Financial System