Background: We describe the development of a theory of change for community mobilisation activities to prevent violence against women and girls. These activities are part of a broader program in urban India that works toward primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of violence and includes crisis response and counselling and medical, police, and legal assistance. Methods: The theory of change was developed in five phases, via expert workshops, use of primary data, recurrent team meetings, adjustment at further meetings and workshops, and a review of published theories. Results: The theory summarises inputs for primary and secondary prevention, consequent changes (positive and negative), and outcomes. It is fully adapted to the program context, was designed through an extended consultative process, emphasises secondary prevention as a pathway to primary prevention, and integrates community activism with referral and counselling interventions. Conclusions: The theory specifies testable causal pathways to impact and will be evaluated in a controlled trial.


The Ornate Tinamou (Nothoprocta ornata), an ancient bird, has adapted to life at high altitude (>2.400 m.a.s.l) for a longer period than the domestic chicken (Gallus domesticus), which came to South America with the Spanish conquerors. Ornate tinamous have a smaller heart in relation to body size than domestic chickens. This study was made to evaluate heart morphometric measurements comparing Ornate Tinamou and domestic chicken using echocardiography measurements to determine wall thickness and chamber size and to evaluate whether it can retrieve measurements consistent with previous results on dissected hearts. I was also interested in evaluating potential adaptations of the Ornate Tinamou to life in hypoxic environments by exposing the heart to positive inotropic stimulation. The results were compared with those previously obtained on dissected hearts. The results showed that the chamber size of the domestic chicken was significantly larger than in Ornate Tinamou, both in conscious and anesthetized birds. Injection of 1µg/kg isoproterenol caused domestic chickens' systolic chamber size to decrease significantly and fractional shortening to increase significantly. The same changes were seen in the Ornate Tinamou but they were not significant. In conclusion, this study confirms that echocardiography is a valid method for retrieving cardiac measurements without euthanizing animals, opening for the possibility of taking several measurements at different ages.


ELEVEN YEARS ago, Williams, et al 1 described a small group psychosocial treatment program for withdrawn schizophrenics called The Group Living Program (GLP). This program consisted of a four month intensive experience in which closed groups of six to eight schizophrenic patients lived, worked, relaxed, and received daily group psychotherapy together in a family-like atmosphere focused upon interpersonal relations and problems. An initial evaluation of this program was presented in a monograph by Williams, et al. 2 This indicated that withdrawn schizophrenics treated with group living methods improve to the same degree, if not a somewhat higher one, than similar patients treated with routine psychiatric therapies. Patients treated by these routine methods revealed a tenuous improvement in personality functioning and interpersonal relations, deriving mainly from an increase in repression and personality constriction. Patients treated by group living methods revealed improvement in personality functioning and


While the demand for Location-based Services (LBS) is strongly increasing, technical laymen are not yet able to build and provide location-aware applications. This paper presents a radical simplification of the lifecycle of LBSs. An authoring toolkit enables non-technicians to easily develop context-aware mobile applications. In addition, an adaptive user interface makes the consumption of LBSs easier. The platform we present, in covering the whole LBS supply chain, is hiding the complexity of providing and consuming LBSs from the end-users.


We revisit measurement of Employer-to-Employer (EE) transitions, the main engine of labor market competition and employment reallocation, in the monthly Current Population Survey (CPS). We follow Fallick and Fleischman (2004) and exploit a key survey question introduced with the 1994 CPS redesign. We detect a sudden and sharp increase in the incidence of missing answers to this question starting in 2007, when the U.S. Census Bureau introduced a change in survey methodology, the Respondent Identification Policy (RIP). We show evidence of selection into answering the EE question by both observable and unobservable worker characteristics that correlate with EE mobility. We propose a selection model and a procedure to impute missing answers to the key survey question, thus EE transitions, after the introduction of the RIP. Our imputed EE aggregate series restores a close congruence with the business cycle, especially with the onset of the Great Recession, exhibits a much less dramatic drop in 2008-2009 and a full recovery by 2016, and eliminates the spurious appearance of declining EE dynamism in the US labor market after 2000. We also offer the first evidence of the (large and negative) impact of the COVID-19 crisis on EE reallocation.


The present research is a study of the relationship between parents' perfectionism with guidance and high school female students' self-esteem in Khoda Bandeh, Iran. There were 220 students and their parents who participated in this study. Parents were asked to complete the Ahvaz Perfectionism Scale; students were requested to complete the Eysenck Self-esteem Questionnaire in order to evaluate their level of selfesteem. We applied Spearman correlation, step by step multiple regression and the t-test for data analyses. The obtained results showed a meaningful difference in perfectionism between fathers and mothers. There was a meaningful relationship between parents' perfectionism and student's self-esteem, however parents' perfectionism was not singly predictive of students' self-esteem. Parents' Perfectionism, together, can somewhat predicate self-esteem at students.


'The Strange Necessity',one of the twelve essays collected here and first published in 1928, anchors West's quest to understand why art matters and how aesthetics of every caliber can not only inspire but reveal the author's inner world. Whether juxtaposing Ulysses's prose with Pavlov's research, or comparing Sinclair Lewis with actress and pianist Yvonne Printemps, West finds that a satisfying emotion overrides an artistic work's form. Her intricately crafted essays reveal her experience in the literary circles of the twenties and thirties and the important role this question played in her own writing. West's keenly observed criticism offers invaluable insight not only into her work but into her impressions of early twentieth century literature.


This study explores the applicability of different conceptual models to two different policy sectors in Scotland; education and health, with specific reference to SHARE a specially designed school sex education programme. The study also draws on the policy network literature to understand the way in which the interaction between organisations and actors affects the value attached to research evidence.

This thesis addresses three main research questions: How has school sex education policy been developed? How is research evidence used in school sex education policy development since devolution? What factors facilitate or impede the use of research evidence?

To explore these issues I carried out 21 in-depth semi-structured interviews with policy makers and researchers, all of whom had insight into various aspects of sex education policy development in health and education. Using semiotics, I also analysed four policy documents.

Results

The development of sex education policy in the health and education sectors appears to have different underlying objectives. In the health sector it is designed to achieve immediate action, which requires speedy decision-making, while in the education sector it is designed to build consensus, achieved through cautious and careful decision-making. In health leadership of policy development for sex education can be identified at the instigation of policies with a high turnover of actors in subsequent stages; leadership within education is controlled and maintained throughout all stages of sex education policy development. As a result, common epistemic perspectives are more easily identified amongst those developing sex education within education, than within health.

These perspectives affect the way research evidence has been used in the development of sex education policy. Although research evidence has been used in different ways, the intention behind its use is nearly always political. Fast decision-making militates against the use of research evidence in the health sector, while prioritising consensus overshadows the need to be evidence-based in education.

The use of research in sex education policy-making is inhibited or facilitated by external contextual factors (political and organisational priorities) and internal contextual factors (modes of decision-making, the beliefs and interests of individuals, and interaction between individuals). In addition, the dynamics of power between policy-makers and researchers need to be carefully negotiated and can also be influenced by contextual factors.


In this paper, we study the problem of landmark recognition and propose to leverage 3D visual phrases to improve the performance. A 3D visual phrase is a triangular facet on the surface of a reconstructed 3D landmark model. In contrast to existing 2D visual phrases which are mainly based on co-occurrence statistics in 2D image planes, such 3D visual phrases explicitly characterize the spatial structure of a 3D object (landmark), and are highly robust to projective transformations due to viewpoint changes. We present an effective solution to discover, describe, and detect 3D visual phrases. The experiments on 10 landmarks have achieved promising results, which demonstrate that our approach provides a good balance between precision and recall of landmark recognition while reducing the dependence on post-verification to reject false positives.


Problem based learning (PBL) promotes engagement in meaningful learning and cooperation among students. When applying PBL in distributed groups distance has to be bridged by means of technology. Collaborative virtual environments (CVE) can help to overcome two crucial problems of PBL, if used in a distributed learning situation: Firstly, learners have problems to understand, interact with, and tailor shared learning environments, so that they match their needs. Secondly, groups of learners have problems to construct shared knowledge in a shared learning environment. Our approach is to provide a CVE designed to support PBL. We use the metaphor of a virtual institute to organize the learning environment and to facilitate orientation in and tailoring of the CVE. In addition, we provide a graphical cooperative knowledge representation tool to help groups to construct shared knowledge in a PBL process. We use cooperative hypermedia technology to represent both shared learning spaces and shared information spaces as shared hyperdocuments.


Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) data processing time can constrain data set size and limit the types of statistical analyses performed. General Purpose Graphics Processing Unit (GPGPU) computing can accelerate PIV data processing allowing for larger datasets and accompanying higher order statistical analyses. However, this has not been wide–spread likely due to limited accessibility to the GPU-PIV hardware and software. Most GPU-PIV software is platform dependent and proprietary, which restricts the computing systems that can be used and makes the details of the algorithm unknown. This work highlights the development of an open-source, cross-platform, GPU accelerated, PIV algorithm. Validation of the algorithm is done using both synthetic and experimental images. The algorithm was found to accurately resolve the time-averaged flow, instantaneous velocity fluctuations, and vortices. All data processing was done on a GPU supercomputing cluster and notably outperformed the CPU version of the


Rural living poses special challenges (and opportunities) for the significant health information intermediary role that women enact. The authors describe interviews with 40 women living in a rural, medically underserved county in south-western Ontario, Canada, who discussed their information-seeking experiences and the strategies used to find information about a chronic health concern or an acute medical problem. The women's stories reveal that they define health very broadly and that their information seeking is influenced by contextual factors, such as rural living and gender roles, that interplay with their self-reliance, health literacy, and the availability and willingness of others in professional and non-professional roles to give support within relationships of care. The authors discuss themes emerging from the interviews in connection with the apparent mismatch between women's lived realities and the policy assumptions supporting the development of e-health strategies for providing health information to people living in rural and remote communities.


Many difficulties such as scalability and security problems are addressed in this paper, and some concluded principles are given to guide the design and implementation of a large-scale open and secure ubiquitous computing system.A service toolkit (aCAST) consisting of a set of software components and detector services have been developed, and a Context Aware Call Forwarding system has also been developed as a proof-of-concept test bed using aCAST. The off-the-shelf devices, such as Bluetooth mobile phones and PDAs, is used as user devices and the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is adopted as an open communication protocol.


MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. *Authoring Aids (Programming); Computer Assisted Instruction; *Computer Software Development; *Courseware; Multimedia Materials; Programming; *Training Methods This paper describes a multimedia authoring system called MOPed-II. Like other authoring systems, MOPed-II reduces the time and expense of producing end-user applications by eliminating much of the programming effort they require. However, MOPed-II reflects an approach to authoring tools for educational multimedia which is different from most tools available on the commercial market, the theory-rich authoring tool. General purpose tools, particularly graphical user interface (GUI) tools, force software developers to attempt to map'the conceptual components of their well-defined task to the physical components of a computer interface. This effectively takes the target audience of authoring tools, experts in teaching and in specific content areas, and forces them to act as novice computer programmers. The way to allow non-programmers to build good educational software is to give them the tools and let them build software out of constructs they're familiar with. Role-performance trainers involve learning a procedure in the performance of tasks in which there is a fairly regular routine. Typical role-performance trainers may have the following components: simulation; failure identification; scaffolding; many scenarios; Socratic teaching; and modeling. MOPed's theory-rich structure guides non-programmers in building high quality role-performance trainers. A sample application is described, in which MOPed-II teaches employees of a fast-food restaurant to ring up customer orders. A scenario developed may either select a task-structure class from an on-screen palette, or specialize a task structure. (Contains 10 references.)


Streams and riparian zones are highly heterogeneous ecosystems. Their high biodiversity is promoted by variable flow velocities and water depths, strong hydrological gradients and disturbance regimes. However, human interventions like damming and channelization have degraded these ecosystems world-wide. And, although restoration efforts have increased in the past decades, ecological improvement is lagging. We assessed vegetation development in channelized lowland stream valleys in the Netherlands, combining innovative restoration measures to the stream and stream valleys. This "stream valley restoration" entailed construction of narrower and shallower channels to increase flow velocities during base discharges, meandering of the watercourse to increase flow and depth heterogeneity and excavation of banks to create wide v-shaped stream valleys. We evaluated the effects on functional aspects of the developing in-stream and riparian vegetation by comparing restored stream reaches to nearby unrestored reaches. The reduced channel dimensions led to higher flow velocities, which, through interaction with meandering, triggered a higher variability in flow and depth. Combined with enlargement of the floodplain, this promoted flooding in stream valleys and created wider environmental gradients. Plant diversity strongly increased in the floodplain area, the land–water interface and the shallow water habitat at the channel margins, but decreased in the central parts of stream channels. There, higher flow velocities led to more typically lotic (running water) in-stream plant communities, indicated by a sharp decrease in floating-leaved species and an increase in trailing species. Riparian vegetation showed a higher beta-diversity across the wider valley slopes of restored reaches, with more wetland species in areas with water-tables between 0.0 and −0.6 m, and more upland species as well. Synthesis and applications. This study demonstrates that the combination of strongly reduced channel dimensions, remeandering and widening of riparian zones, is effective in restoring in-stream and riparian habitat heterogeneity. The restoration efforts lead to distinct immediate increases in total and beta-diversity of many typical stream and riparian plant species. Overall, this stresses the importance of applying restoration measures to both streams and stream valleys simultaneously, considering them as a single landscape unit.


Abstract After many years of criticism of the medical malpractice system based on negligence, Belgium introduced a law on medical accidents in March 2010. This law created a Medical Accidents Fund. Under this two-track system the victim of a medical accident has the choice to file a claim before the court or to seek compensation from the Fund. The Law on Medical Accidents has four objectives: (1) to create a Fund with a simple and fast procedure that is cost-free to access, (2) to channel and centralise all medical accident claims to the Fund, and to develop a prevention strategy, (3) to compensate more victims by introducing a personal right to compensation for medical accident victims without the need to consider liability, and finally, (4) to achieve a balanced budget. A medical accident without liability can be defined as an accident caused by healthcare which does not lead to the liability of a caregiver, does not result from the patient's health condition and causes abnormal damage to the patient. The damage is abnormal if it was not supposed to occur given the current state of scientific knowledge, the patient's health condition and its objectively predictable evolution. Following analysis of the new law, this study shows that it has created a single, central point of contact that is easily accessible and generally understood by medical accident victims. On average fifty new cases a month are submitted to the Fund. In a reasonable number of cases to date, liability of the caregiver has been accepted by the Fund. However, the Fund is rather strict in awarding no-fault compensation for medical accidents without liability. It remains to be seen whether this interpretation can resist the test of judicial review.


The phonon-assisted quantum cutting (PQC) model is presumed to clarify the red up-conversion luminescence process in Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped glass ceramics by the excitation and emission spectra. The red up-conversion luminescence of Er3+ ions mainly comes from three-photon absorption by the PQC process when the rare earth ions are doped in the glass ceramics and excited by 980 nm pumped-laser. Er3+ ions absorb three-photons and relax to the 4G11/2 state and then emit red up-conversion luminescence by the PQC process. The factor coefficient for the relation of pump-laser power and up-conversion intensity (P-I) is found by the analysis of excitation spectra of the red luminescence, which plays a major role to understand the true red up-conversion luminescence process. The new P-I relation is explained by the model of PQC.


A first clathrate compound with selenium guest atoms, [Ge(46-x)P(x)]Se(8-y)□(y) (x = 15.4(1); y = 0-2.65; □ denotes a vacancy), was synthesized as a single-phase and structurally characterized. It crystallizes in the space group Fm3 with the unit cell parameter a varying from 20.310(2) to 20.406(2) Å and corresponding to a 2 × 2 × 2 supercell of a usual clathrate-I structure. The superstructure is formed due to the symmetrical arrangement of the three-bonded framework atoms appearing as a result of the framework transformation of the parent clathrate-I structure. Selenium guest atoms occupy two types of polyhedral cages inside the positively charged framework; all selenium atoms in the larger cages form a single covalent bond with the framework atoms, relating the title compounds to a scanty family of semiclathrates. According to the measurements of electrical resistivity and Seebeck coefficient, [Ge(46-x)P(x)]Se(8-y)□(y) is an n-type semiconductor with E(g) = 0.41 eV for x = 15.4(1) and y = 0; it demonstrates the maximal thermoelectric power factor of 2.3 × 10(-5) W K(-2) m(-1) at 660 K.


p-Dibromo xylene, a typical atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) bifunctional initiator, was polymerized in atom transfer radical coupling (ATRC) conditions, yielding poly(p-xylylene). In order to confirm the success of the reaction by 1H-NMR spectroscopy and GPC, a more soluble product, poly(methyl methacrylate-b-p-phenylene-ethylene), was also synthesized by adding 5% poly(methyl methacrylate) with an activated bromine atom at the chain end obtained by ATRP to the polymerization feed. The 1H-NMR spectrum shows the presence of poly(p-xylylene) component in the co-polymer. The GPC measurement also shows an increase of molecular weight together with a decrease of polydispersity, proving the formation of the co-polymer. The method described here opens a new pathway for synthesis of polymers from various classes by using appropriate ATRP bifunctional initiators as monomer, in ATRC or even ATRP conditions.


The plant family Brassicaceae (or crucifers) is an economically important group that includes many food crops (e.g. cabbages and radishes), horticultural species (e.g. Draba, Iberis, Lunaria), and model plant species (particularly Arabidopsis thaliana). Because of the fundamental importance of A. thaliana to plant biology, it makes the Brassicaceae an ideal system for comparative genomics and to test wider evolutionary, ecological and speciation hypotheses. One such hypothesis is the 'Whole Genome Duplication Radiation Lag Time' (WGD-RLT) model for the role of polyploidy on the evolution of important plant families such as the Brassicaceae. The WGD-RLT model indicates a higher rate of diversification of a core-group compared to its sister group, due to a lag time after a whole genome duplication event that made it possible for novel traits or geo- or ecological events to increase the core groups diversification rate. Aethionema is the species-poor sister genus of the core Brassicaceae and hence is at an important comparative position to analyse trait and genomic evolution of the species-rich core group. Aethionema species occur mainly in the western Irano-Turanian region, which is concordantly the biodiversity hotspot of the Brassicaceae family. Moreover comparing Aethionema to the Brassicaceae core group can help us to understand and test the 'WGD-RLT' model. However to be able to do so we first need to know more about Aethionema. In this thesis, I investigated various levels of evolutionary change (from macro, to micro to trait evolution) within the genus Aethionema, with a major focus the emerging model species Aethionema arabicum. Next generation sequencing has made it possible to use the genomes of many species in a comparative framework. However, the formation of proteins and enzymes, and in the end the phenotype of the whole plant, relies on transcription from particular regions of the genome including genes. Hence, the transcriptome makes it possible to assess the functional parts of the genome. However, the functional part of the genome not only relies on the protein coding genes. Gene regulatory elements like promoters and long non-coding RNAs function as regulators of gene expression and hence are involved in increasing or decreasing transcription. In Chapter 2 I used the transcriptome of four different Aethionema species to understand the lineage specificity of these long non-coding RNAs. Moreover in a comparison with the Brassicaceae core group and Brassicaceae's sister family the Cleomaceae I show that although the position of long non-coding RNAs can be conserved, their sequences do not have to be. Most of the Aethionema species occur in the Irano-Turanian region, a politically instable region, making it hard for scientist to collect from. However the natural history collections made throughout the last centuries are a great resource. Combing these collections with the newest sequencing techniques, e.g. next generation sequencing, have allowed me to infer the phylogeny of ~75% of the known Aethionema species in a time calibrated and historical biogeographical framework. Hence, I was able to establish that Aethionema species likely originated from the Anatolian Diagonal and that major geological events like the uplift of the Turkish and Iranian plateau have had a hand in their speciation (Chapter 3). To examine species-level processes I sequenced and analysed transcriptomes of eight Ae. arabicum accessions coming from Cyprus, Iran and Turkey to investigate population structure, genetic diversity and local adaptation (Chapter 4). The most prominent finding was a ploidy difference between the Iranian and Turkish/Cypriotic lines, whereby the former were (allo)tetraploid and the latter diploid. The tetraploid Iranian lines seem to have one set of alleles from the Turkish/Cypriotic gene-pool. However we do not know where the other alleles come from. In addition to the differences in ploidy level there are also differences in glucosinolate defence compounds between these two populations (Iranian vs Turkish/Cypriotic), with the Iranian lines lacking the diversity and concentration of indolic glucosinolates that the Turkish/Cypriotic lines have. This chapter serves as a good resource and starting point for future research in the region, maybe by using the natural history collections that are at hand. Glucosinolates (i.e. mustard oils) are mainly made by Brassicales species, with their highest structural diversity in the Brassicaceae. In Chapter 5, I examined two Ae. arabicum lines (CYP and TUR) and their recombinant inbred lines to assess glucosinolate composition in different tissues and throughout the plants development. The levels of glucosinolates in the leaves changed when Ae. arabicum went from vegetative to a reproductive state. Moreover, a major difference in glucosinolate content (up to 10-fold) between CYP and TUR indicates a likely regulatory pathway outside of the main glucosinolate biosynthesis pathway. Multi-trait and multi-environment QTL analyses based on leaves, reproductive tissues and seeds identified a single major QTL. Fine mapping this region reduced the interval to only fifteen protein coding genes, including the two most intriguing candidates: FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) and the sulphate transporter SULTR2;1. These findings show an interesting correlation between development and defence. Finally, Chapter 6 gives a final discussion of this thesis and its results. It brings the different topics together, put them in a bigger picture and look forward to new research possibilities.


This article addresses key issues concerning liquidity provision in the context of two major functions of a marketplace: price discovery and quantity discovery. After first considering a perfectly liquid, frictionless environment, the authors turn to the real world—replete with trading costs, blockages, and other imperfections. The authors posit that illiquidity is in good part attributable to coordination difficulties involved in turning the orders of different agents into trades and transaction prices. An understanding of the coordination issue enables the authors to address the role that market structure plays in the production of liquidity. The article concludes with a big picture view of the limits of liquidity.


Cement, Earthworms, and Cheese Factories examines the ways in which religion and community development are closely intertwined in a rural part of contemporary Latin America. Using historical, documentary, and ethnographic data collected over more than a decade as an aid worker and as a researcher in central Ecuador, Jill DeTemple examines the forces that have led to this entanglement of religion and development and the ways in which rural Ecuadorians, as well as development and religious personnel, negotiate these complicated relationships. Technical innovations have been connected to religious change since the time of the Inca conquest, and Ecuadorians have created defensive strategies for managing such connections. Although most analyses of development either tend to ignore the genuinely religious roots of development or conflate development with religion itself, these strategies are part of a larger negotiation of progress and its meaning in twenty-first-century Ecuador. DeTemple focuses on three development agencies--a liberationist Catholic women's group, a municipal unit dedicated to agriculture, and evangelical Protestant missionaries engaged in education and medical work--to demonstrate that in some instances Ecuadorians encourage a hybridity of religion and development, while in other cases they break up such hybridities into their component parts, often to the consternation of those with whom religious and development discourse originate. This management of hybrids reveals Ecuadorians as agents who produce and reform modernities in ways often unrecognised by development scholars, aid workers, or missionaries, and also reveals that an appreciation of religious belief is essential to a full understanding of diverse aspects of daily life.


The discovery of mirror neurons (MNs) has been hailed as the most important finding of the last decade in neuroscience (Ramachandran, 2000), paving the road for the explanation of diverse phenomena from the evolution of language (Rizzolatti & Arbib, 1998), through imitation (Iacoboni et al., 1999), to intersubjectivity (Gallese, 2003). Here I am concerned with the more modest claim that credits a fundamental role to mirror neurons in understanding observed actions (section 1). In particular, mirror neurons have been argued to support simulation theories of action understanding and mind reading (Gallese & Goldman, 1998; Gallese et al., 2004), an idea that has also been dubbed as the 'direct-matching hypothesis' (Rizzolatti et al., 2001). I shall argue that the evidence published on the response properties of MNs in monkeys is incompatible with these theories of action understanding because (a) MNs' activation reflects not the commencement but the conclusion of action interpretation (section 2), and because (b) MNs do not 'mirror' observed actions with sufficient accuracy for effective simulation (section 3). I shall offer an alternative interpretation, which preserves the MNs' role in action understanding without imposing a simulation function on them (section 4).


Adsorption of human plasma fibrinogen, osteoblasts, and fibroblasts on differently treated titanium samples as implants were examined in this study. Titanium samples were mechanically polished, chemically etched (with and without surface material loss), and grinded. The main goal of this study is to find the best surface treatment of titanium for its possible use as implants. Atomic force microscopy was used to evaluate the adsorption of human plasma fibrinogen onto the titanium samples. Cell counting was used to determine the adherability of osteoblasts and fibroblasts on the titanium samples. Our preliminary results show that the etched titanium surface with surface material loss is the best surface treatment used in our experiments.


Background and Purpose: Qarabadin (pharmacy) is one of the most important fields of traditional medicine, because it contains the valuable past experiences and information on pharmacy and the use of medicines. In this article, from among the many manuscripts written on medicine, especially Qarabadin, one of the most important ones written in Safavid era, i.e. "Masoomi's Qarabadin" by Masoom Ben Karim al-Din Shoshtari Shirazi is discussed. The purpose is to introduce valuable experiences of this lesser-known author. Methods and Materials: First, the oldest manuscript of the book in The Iranian Parliament was investigated and compared with other available versions in national libraries, Document Center of Tehran University, and Goharshad Mosque. In order to overcome the shortcomings of the original version and to find the salient features of Masoomi's Qarabadin, it was compared with similar books such as Zakhire Kharazmshahi, Al-Asbab and Alamat, Shefaei's Qarabadin and Aghili's Qarabadin. Results: This study showed that this manuscript is significant since it provides important pharmacology information and different prescriptions for the same disease. The author wrote his great work using views of more than forty early and contemporary Hakims, some of whom are not well known. It is also significant in making use of credible medical sources. Conclusion: The investigation of Masoomi's Qarabadin and its comparison with other books written in this area, we can conclude that the book contains initiatives and innovative experiences of the author in making and using medicines. This shows the importance of studying and understanding this book by those interested in traditional medicine.


Breaking through the Spiral Ceiling . Laura L. Mays Hoopes . 2010. Lulu Publishing. (ISBN 9780557923205). 163 pages. Paperback. $14.00.

The primary focus of Laura Hoopes's Breaking through the Spiral Ceiling is narration of her struggle as a woman in science in the 20th century, before, as she says, "men were ready for women in science." Hoopes's career as in biochemical genetics takes her to Goucher College, the Marine Biological Laboratories, Yale University, and Occidental College. Hoopes narrates her progression from the discovery of her passion for cell biology, biochemistry, and "the thrill of research," the refining of her approach to scientific questions, Ph.D. qualifying exams and graduate research, to her role as a researcher, professor, and mentor in her own right. Hoopes also explores the tension between the roles of research …


We discuss an enhancement-of-energy transfer phenomenon that involves the absorption of a photon and takes place in thin surface layers. The enhancement is effected by the resonant excitation of a waveguide mode in the substrate onto which the layer is adsorbed. The system is studied with a pole analysis, allowing the crucial parameters to be identified and physically interpreted. Complete absorption is possible, and a significant enhancement in the photo yield of a photocathode surface layer is calculated. The energy exchange with finite-size incident beams is considered, leading to the conclusion that the device should be highly sensitive to surface layers approaching a monolayer or less in thickness.


Background— Characterization of myocardial structural changes in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) has been hindered by the limited availability of human cardiac tissue. Cardiac hypertrophy, coronary artery disease (CAD), coronary microvascular rarefaction, and myocardial fibrosis may contribute to HFpEF pathophysiology. Methods and Results— We identified HFpEF patients (n=124) and age-appropriate control subjects (noncardiac death, no heart failure diagnosis; n=104) who underwent autopsy. Heart weight and CAD severity were obtained from the autopsy reports. With the use of whole-field digital microscopy and automated analysis algorithms in full-thickness left ventricular sections, microvascular density (MVD), myocardial fibrosis, and their relationship were quantified. Subjects with HFpEF had heavier hearts (median, 538 g; 169% of age-, sex-, and body size–expected heart weight versus 335 g; 112% in controls), more severe CAD (65% with ≥1 vessel with >50% diameter stenosis in HFpEF versus 13% in controls), more left ventricular fibrosis (median % area fibrosis, 9.6 versus 7.1) and lower MVD (median 961 versus 1316 vessels/mm2) than control (P<0.0001 for all). Myocardial fibrosis increased with decreasing MVD in controls (r=–0.28, P=0.004) and HFpEF (r=–0.26, P=0.004). Adjusting for MVD attenuated the group differences in fibrosis. Heart weight, fibrosis, and MVD were similar in HFpEF patients with CAD versus without CAD. Conclusions— In this study, patients with HFpEF had more cardiac hypertrophy, epicardial CAD, coronary microvascular rarefaction, and myocardial fibrosis than controls. Each of these findings may contribute to the left ventricular diastolic dysfunction and cardiac reserve function impairment characteristic of HFpEF.


Population aging is a global issue that is either affecting or will soon affect virtually every country around the world. With large numbers of older people experiencing significant losses of intrinsic capacity, leading a dignified and meaningful life is often only possible with the care and support of others. Long-term care (LTC) has therefore become one of the most rapidly developing policy areas in OECD countries, where significant institutional change and innovation have taken place over the last two decades. Governance and finance arrangements for the delivery of LTC differ between countries. LTC in the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, The Republic of Korea, the Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Denmark and Finland), England, the United States, France1 were selected to cover differences between systems. However, across the different systems debates about intergenerational and state responsibilities are increasing evident. The paper delivers an up-to date assessment of design parameters and captures the measures being taken to build financial sustainability into LTC policy and program reforms. Rapid population aging in low and middle income countries (LMICs) will inevitably generate an increased demand for long-term care (LTC) services. Research and practical experience from high income countries – and the very diverse patterns of LTC in terms of funding mechanism, the balance of formal and informal services, the degree of state participation, and the overall level of provision – hold important lessons.


In the present paper, we consider Stancu type generalization of Baskakov-Kantorovich operators based on the q-integers and obtain statistical and weighted statistical approximation properties of these operators. Rates of statistical convergence by means of the modulus of continuity and the Lipschitz type function are also established for said operators. Finally, we construct a bivariate generalization of the operator and also obtain the statistical approximation properties.


High quality generator dynamic models are critical to reliable and accurate power systems studies and planning. With the availability of PMU measurements, measurement-based approach for model validation has gained significant prominence. Currently, the model validation results are analyzed by visually comparing real-world PMU measurements with the model-based simulated data. This paper proposes metrics to quantify the generator dynamic model validation results based on the response of generators to each system mode, which includes both local and inter-area, using modal analysis approach. The metrics provide information on the inaccuracy associated with the model in terms of the characteristics of each mode. Initial results obtained using the real-world data validates the effectiveness of the proposed metrics. In this paper, modal analysis was carried out using Prony method.


The perpetrator of the criminal act of the child cannot be equated with criminal adults. Therefore it needs more attention in the case of children. However, the child is the successor Nations that should be developed physically and mentally. The purpose of this research is to analyze the role of the Ombudsman in the performance of Marisa Polres versioned as well as analyze constraints are faced by Investigators in Marisa Polres versioned. This type of research is research used empirical research focus i.e. normative on secondary data sources (research libraries). This research uses the main data source i.e. secondary data, backed up with primary data sources. Secondary data is used that is derived from legislation such as the ACT on the criminal justice system of the child, the child protection ACT, Act No. 8 Of 1981 Year Book of the Police Act, Police ACT and some of the literature-literature as well as the results of his research,  and books related to the role of the Ombudsman in conducting versioned on criminal act committed by the child. Research results show that Marisa Polres in performing the investigation is a criminal act committed by the child by women and children protection Unit (UPPA). Starting from the stage of investigation, arrest, detention up at the stage of investigation conducted in accordance with the mandate of the ACT on the criminal justice system. Investigators in conducting versioned, get consideration from BAPAS. In addition, the investigators also act as mediator to conduct deliberations involving the child and the parent/guardian, the victim and the parent/guardian, supervisor of community, social professional pekera based on approach restorative. Obstacles faced by Investigators in the conduct of Marisa Polres diversion that is not yet the existence of BAPAS in counties Marisa so complicate investigators to coordinate-in terms of asking for consideration in doing versioned. In addition the party victims sometimes do not want to make peace so that the attempted diversion by Investigators was not achieved.


Sequential impingement channels can reduce the adverse effect of crossflow in narrow impingement channels, as well as increase the cooling efficiency. In this work, sequential impingement channels are experimentally investigated using the transient liquid crystal technique to assess their thermal performances. A low heat transfer region is identified in the downstream part of the first channel where the flow is discharged into the second plenum. Various means of increasing the heat transfer at this location are investigated. Ribs on the target plate allow for an increase of the average heat transfer coefficient with small losses in pressure. Reducing the channel cross-section increases the mean flow velocity and, combined with the ribs, allows for a further increase of the heat transfer. Additionally, the geometrical changes of the channel caused by the addition of a ramp with a rounded corner, allow to decrease the pressure losses associated with the discharge into the second plenum, which is not optimal in the baseline configuration due to the sharp corner of the purge hole. Further reducing the cross-section to increase the heat transfer, however, increases the pressure losses due to the small open area in the transition zone.


To establish a basis for semiquantitative SPECT measurements of the D2 dopamine receptor density using equilibrium analysis, we evaluated in vivo kinetic properties of 125I-IBZM in rat brains. We measured percent uptakes (% dose/g) of 125I-IBZM in the striatum, frontal cortex, and cerebellum. We made these regional measurements at 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 minutes after injection, respectively. The specific striatal uptake, which is the uptake difference between striatum and frontal cortex or cerebellum, showed a transient equilibrium phase at 60 min. Theoretically, with these 'reversible' D2 receptor binding ligands, the tracer-uptake ratio of the striatum-to-frontal cortex or cerebellum during the equilibrium phase provides an estimate of binding potential (Bound/Free = Bmax/Kd). Our experiment showed that these ratio increased with time after bolus injection of the tracer. Striatum to frontal cortex or cerebellum ratios which were calculated with pooled data (n = 12) at 60 minutes in equilibrium phase showed nearly constant values (C.V. = 12.3% and 13.5%, respectively). Although measuring the striatum to frontal cortex or cerebellum ratios near equilibrium phase by bolus injection of the tracer which are widely used in human SPECT study could not exactly signify the binding potential, those ratios at fixed time after injection would be reliable for semiquantitative index.


BACKGROUND
Influenza is major cause of respiratory morbidity worldwide. It poses a risk of complications in children with cardiac disease. Influenza vaccine is considered the most effective and safe means of preventing the disease. The aims of this study were to determine the rate of influenza vaccination in children with cardiac disease and to identify the reasons for failure to vaccinate in this patient population.

METHODS
The study group included 186 children and their parents who attended the cardiology institute of a tertiary pediatric medical center between September and October 2012. Parents were asked to complete a questionnaire covering demographics, clinical features, influenza vaccination, receipt of advice from medical professionals regarding vaccination, and personal knowledge about and attitudes toward the influenza vaccine RESULTS:: Median age of the children was 7.6 years. Thirty-six percent had been vaccinated in the previous influenza season. Vaccination was unrelated to the child's age or sex or the parents' education. Factors significantly affecting the decision of the parents to have their child vaccinated were their knowledge, beliefs, and conceptions about the vaccine and their receipt of a recommendation to do so from the pediatrician or cardiologist (P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
The rate of vaccination against influenza is low in children with heart disease. Major factors encouraging vaccination are proper parental knowledge and the recommendation of the primary physician or cardiologist. Medical professionals caring for this patient population should be alerted to the need to routinely counsel parents on the importance of influenza vaccination.


There is no approved treatment providing multi-domain (motor, behaviour, cognition) symptomatic control in HD. Phosphodiesterase10A (PDE10A) is an emerging therapeutic target highly enriched in striatal medium spiny neurons. Its inhibition results in increased striatal levels of cGMP and cAMP leading to overall increased striatal activation and decreased behavioural activity. Preclinical findings obtained by CHDI in R6/2 and Q 175 transgenic mouse lines suggest that PDE10A inhibitor (PDE10i) treatment may lead to functional normalisation of affected brain circuitry and improve motor, cognitive and behaviour symptoms in HD patients. A 28 day study in HD patients is assessing safety and multi-symptom domain effects of PDE10Ai in HD patients. In addition to traditional clinical motor and cognitive measures, treatment effects are assessed using fMRI, behavioural tasks, quantitative motor tests and apathy, during this 28 day double-blind study with 20 mg bid PDE10Ai or placebo (n = 32, 1:1 ratio). 5 mg bid or placebo (2:1) may also be tested. Efficacy endpoints include change from baseline to Day 28 in percent BOLD signal change for reward related activity, Grip Strength Incentive Motivation task, resting state ASL, QMotor parameters, UHDRS Total Motor Score and Apathy. A PET enzyme occupancy study is enrolling up to 3 cohorts of 4 male HVs using radiotracer [18F]MNI-659. First cohort received 20 mg single dose. Measured%EO will guide next cohort dose (1 mg to 30 mg). Expected%EO (based on preclinical estimates) at 20 mg is ˜42–59%. A POC Phase 2 study in HD patients will randomise ˜260 patients to 5, 20mg PDE10i BID, or placebo (1:1:1 ratio) to assess efficacy of 26-week dosing on motor function (primary), chorea severity and overall clinical impression (secondaries). Pfizer's HD program is designed to test safety, tolerability and efficacy in HD patients, determine clinical translatability of preclinical observations of rescued corticostriatal function, and provide confidence for continued clinical development of the compound for multi-domain symptomatic treatment of HD.


Past research indicates that effective communication is one of the keys to successful project management. Unfortunately, because it involves people, communication is a complex and continually changing subject that is difficult to measure. Communication on today's projects is becoming increasingly complex. Technological complexity, multiple stakeholders, and compressed time frames are inundating project managers with a sea of information. While most project managers agree that good communication is vital to project success, there are few tools that are available for measuring project performance. This paper presents a social network analysis (SNA) approach that has been used widely in the social sciences to analyze and measure how communication occurs between individuals and groups. The discussion includes a review of the basic concepts of SNA, provides background on data collection and analysis, and describes a case study where SNA was used to understand project communication performance.


SIR,-Dr D A Heath's article on the treatment of Paget's disease shows a worrying degree of complacency over this chronic condition (25 April, p 1048). The argument thatmost patients with this disease do not need to be treated is an old and cherished one, but we believe that Dr Heath has overstated it. As we have gained experience with the use of intravenous aminohydroxypropylidene diphosphonate in the form of CGP 23339 (not yet commercially available),' which is clearly much safer and more effective than oral etidronate, our threshold for treatment has fallen progressively. We have now treated over 100 patients, and a striking feature is that many with rather vague bone pain have general ill health and malaise, which also shows sustained improvement after effective treatment. It seems possible that improved and fairly short treatment regimens with aminohydroxypropylidene diphosphonate will cure the disease without running the major risk of osteomalacia and bone fracture, which are seen with etidronate; the evidence so far is that the drug is extremely safe in both the short and the long term. If this is borne out by further experience the threshold for treatment will fall even lower. Treatment will become routine on diagnosis of Paget's disease, especially in younger patients, who obviously have a long time ahead for the disease to progress. With regard to many of the complications, it is obvious that cure will be the best means of prevention. Leaving it to the drug companies to set the pace for developing and applying new treatments for Paget's disease is in our opinion to shirk our responsibilities. DAVID C ANDERSON J A CANTRLL Department of Medicine, University ofManchester, Salford M6 8HD


The performance of any word recognizer depends on the lexicon presented. Usually, large lexicons or lexicons containing similar entries pose difficulty for recognizers. However, the literature lacks any quantitative methodology of capturing the precise dependence between word recognizers and lexicons. This paper presents a performance model that views word recognition as a function of character recognition and statistically "discovers" the relation between a word recognizer and the lexicon. It uses model parameters that capture a recognizer's ability of distinguishing characters (of the alphabet) and its sensitivity to lexicon size. These parameters are determined by a multiple regression model which is derived from the performance model. Such a model is very useful in comparing word recognizers by predicting their performance based on the lexicon presented. We demonstrate the performance model with extensive experiments on five different word recognizers, thousands of images, and tens of lexicons. The results show that the model is a good fit not only on the training data but also in predicting the recognizers' performance on testing data.


BACKGROUND
Contemporary anesthetic circle systems, when used at low fresh gas flows (FGF) to allow rebreathing of anesthetic, lack the ability for rapid dose titration. The small-scale anesthetic reflection device Anaesthetic Conserving Device (50mL Version; AnaConDa-S) permits administration of volatile anesthetics with high-flow ventilators. We compared washin, washout, and sevoflurane consumption using AnaConDa-S versus a circle system with low and minimal FGF.

METHODS
Forty patients undergoing breast surgery were randomized to receive 0.5 minimal alveolar concentration (MAC) sevoflurane with AnaConDa-S (21 patients, reflection group) or with a circle system (low flow: FGF = 0.2 minute ventilation [V'E], 9 patients; or minimal flow: 0.1 V'E, 10 patients). In the reflection group, syringe pump boluses were given for priming and washin; to simulate an open system, the FGF of the anesthesia ventilator was set to 18 L·min with the soda lime removed. In the other groups, the FGF was increased for washin (1 V'E for 8 minutes) and washout (3 V'E). For all patients, tidal volume was 7 mL·kg and the respiratory rate adjusted to ensure normoventilation. Analgesia was attained with remifentanil 0.3 µg·kg·min. Sevoflurane consumption was compared between the reflection group and the low- and minimal-flow groups, respectively, using a post hoc test (Fisher Least Significant Difference). To compare washin and washout (half-life), the low- and minimal-flow groups were combined.

RESULTS
Sevoflurane consumption was reduced in the reflection group (9.4 ± 2.0 vs 15.0 ± 3.5 [low flow, P < .001] vs 11.6 ± 2.3 mL·MAC h [minimal flow, P = .02]); washin (33 ± 15 vs 49 ± 12 seconds, P = .001) and washout (28 ± 15 vs 55 ± 19 seconds, P < .001) times were also significantly shorter.

CONCLUSIONS
In this clinical setting with short procedures, low anesthetic requirements, and low tidal volumes, AnaConDa-S decreased anesthetic consumption, washin, and washout times compared to a circle system.


Background: Mental disorders impose a significant health and economic burden on both developed and developing countries. The relationship between nutrition and mental disorders has become an important topic of interest in recent years. Therefore, identification of modifiable risk factors for anxiety is a serious and critical research imperative. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the relationship between the "diet quality index international" (DQI-I) and anxiety as a major subject. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 194 men and women, who were randomly selected to perform the routine examinations before marriage. In this research, socio-demographic and anthropometric indicators, such a dietary intake1 and mental health were measured. To measure the former, a Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) was applied and to determine the latter,  a short version of the self-report depression, anxiety, and stress scale questionnaire (DASS-21) was used. Results: Univariate and multivariate linear regressions of anxiety and DQI score demonstrated significant association between DQI score and anxiety in all participants. A negative correlation was also seen between DQI score and anxiety in all participants. The anxiety scores reported for males and females did not introduce a significant difference. Adjustments for age, education, income, job, smoking, physical activity, and body mass index did not change the aforementioned associations. Conclusion: In this study, a significant association was observed between diet quality and the risk of mental disorders. The increase in DQI in participants caused a remarkable reduction in their level of anxiety. A healthy diet proved to be inversely associated with anxiety, while unhealthy dietary patterns were associated with increased risk of anxiety.


Tobacco-specific N-nitrosamines (TSNAs) and benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) in mainstream cigarette smoke (MSS) cause smoking-related diseases and environmental pollution. Porphyrins were added to cigarette filters to reduce B[a]P (porphyrins A-E) and TSNAs (porphyrin F) in MSS. The porphyrin-B[a]P and porphyrin F-TSNAs (N'-nitrosoanabasine (NAB), N'-nitrosoanatabine (NAT), 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK), and N-nitrosonornicotine (NNN)) interactions were investigated by fluorescence quenching and UV-visible spectroscopy. The correlation coefficients were 0.987-0.997 (B[a]P) and 0.994-0.999 (TSNAs), and the binding constants were (1.67-5.02) × 10(5) (B[a]P) and 3.42 × 10(3)-1.40 × 10(4) (TSNAs). Up to 36.72% of B[a]P and 46.67% of the TSNAs were eliminated from MSS, with greater reductions when more porphyrin was included in the filter. With the same mass of porphyrin in the filter, the reduction trend for B[a]P by porphyrins A-E was A > B > C > D > E. The reduction trend for TSNAs by porphyrin F was NNN > NAB > NNK > NAT. The porphyrin mode of action is possibly through strong π-π interactions.


The nature of this book is to emphasize the inherent complexity and richness of the human experience of change. Now, the author believes there to be an acceptable "scientific" explanation for this phenomona. Explored here are 30 years of studies to describe nonlinear dynamics, today termed either chaos theory or complexity theory. The connotations of both theories are discussed at length. Offering social scientists validation in their attempts to describe and define phenomona of a previously ineffable nature, this book explores chaos' implications for psychology and the social sciences. It describes the benefits psychology can glean from using ideas in chaos theory and applying them to psychology in general, individual psycho-therapy, couples therapy, and community psychology, and also considers possible directions for research and application.


Five monoclonal antibodies which selectively recognize A, B, H, Le(a) and Le(b) BGA had been used for immunohistochemical examination of serial sections collected from 40 cases of hepatocellular carcinomas, 63 cases of chronic hepatitis, 10 cases each of fetal and normal adult liver. All of the cases had been followed-up except the autopsy cases. The results were as follows: in fetal and normal adult liver tissues, none of the liver BGA were detected in the parenchymal liver cells. Five BGA were expressed in 11 hepatitic cases (17%) and also expressed in 19 hepatocellular carcinomas (48%). Combining the expression of BGA with the follow-up results, the study we have performed indicates that the expression of BGA in chronic hepatitis predicts cancerous change or severe liver cell damage associated with poor prognosis.


Optical fibers which are the basic elements of the optical communication technology, that progressed rapidly during the recent years, have become the key element in many industrial applications. In this study, coupled optical waveguides which are in use in many areas such as directional couplers, sensors, multiplexers, amplifiers and filters, were analyzed. The impact of temperature on the performance of circularly bent, bare, weakly guiding, lossless, multimode and slab optical waveguides was investigated. The coupling between pair TE modes was observed to be higher than the coupling between other modes. Coupled optical waveguides were analyzed in an ambient temperature of 100degC. The change in the modal propagation constant was observed to decrease as the ambient temperature increases.


The presence of small amounts of weakly immobilized probes can result in large systematic errors in the measurement of correlation times (Tr) from saturation transfer EPR spectra. However, we have recently developed experimental methodology to minimize these errors (Squier and Thomas, Biophys. J., 49:921-935). In the present study we have applied this methodology to the measurement of the rotational motion of the Ca-ATPase in sarcoplasmic reticulum. This analysis involves the estimate of Tr from line-shape parameters (spectral line-height ratios) and intensity parameters (spectral integral), coupled with digital subtractions to remove spectral components corresponding to weakly immobilized probes. We have analyzed the ST-EPR spectra of the Ca-ATPase over a range of temperatures and find that, unlike line-shape parameters, intensity parameters are little affected by the subtraction of the weakly immobilized spectral component (W). Thus, r, values from intensity parameters are a more reliable measurement of rotational motion. As reported previously, an analysis with line-shape parameters yields a nonlinear Arrhenius plot of protein mobility. However, the plot is linear when intensity parameters or corrected spectra are used, consistent with the theory for the hydrodynamic properties of a membrane protein of unchanging size and shape in a fluid bilayer. An analysis with line-shape parameters yields different effective -r values in different spectral regions, and these 'r values are temperature-dependent. However, correction of spectra for W yields temperature-independent r, ratios, indicating that the motional anisotropy is temperature-independent. Obtaining a good match for the weakly immobilized spectral component remains a major difficulty in the quantitative analysis of ST-EPR spectra using line-shape parameters. This study shows that intensity parameters can be used to avoid this problem, making the ST-EPR technique applicable in cases that were previously resistant to analysis.


Using a novel heterodyne technique, we measure optical phase-space distributions in momentum and position for low-coherence light. Quantitative information is obtained simultaneously about the longitudinal and the transverse coherence properties as well as the wave-front curvature of the light field. This method can be used to monitor these optical parameters directly for signal fields scattered from samples of interest, for tomographic imaging.


Knowledge of food and nutrition has a direct bearing on the maintenance of sound health of an individual. The energy balance requires the understanding of facets of energy expenditure and energy intake. The knowledge of caloric intake just like caloric expenditure is very important. Research is conducted to find out the dietary intake and Expenditure and to evaluate the difference of dietary intake of Archery Players and Long Distance Runners. It is found that the energy intake was more in Long Distance Runners as compared to Archery Players and the energy expenditure was more in Long Distance Runners as compared to Archery Players.


Introduction: A pink oval structure, the ocular caruncle is a modified cutaneous tissue located at the inner canthus of the eye, medial to the plica semilunaris. By virtue of its tissue diversity, ocular caruncle can give rise to a wide variety of lesions including both non neoplastic and neoplasic and although most of them are benign, clinical diagnosis may be difficult. Aim : To study the incidence and describe clinical and histopathological features of ocular caruncular lesions. Materials and Method: This is a retrospective study of ocular caruncular lesions from the archives from 2006 to 2010 were analyzed both clinically and histopathologically. Results : A total of 22 lesions were analyzed. Thirteen (59.09%) of the patients were women and 9 (40.90%) were men and the age range from 25 to 67years. The main diagnoses were: inflammatory lesions (11 cases), epithelial lesions/tumors (8 cases), melanocytic lesions (2 cases), and a lymphoid lesion (one case). Out of 22 cases, preoperative clinical diagnosis was concordant with histopathological evaluation in 16 cases (72.72%). Most common caruncular lesions were chronic inflammatory followed by epithelial lesions/tumors and melanocytic lesions. Although most of the lesions were benign, clinically most of the lesions are disguising in nature. Conclusion : Ocular caruncular lesions are most commonly inflammatory, less common lesions being epithelial and melanocytic lesions. Some benign lesions are clinically overestimated as 'malignant' and some malignant lesions are underestimated as 'benign', justifying close pathological work-up of all lesions.


This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation into the behavior of concrete containing glass sand and tire sand as replacement for natural sand. Various properties: concrete slump, density, compressive, split tensile, flexural strength and water absorption were investigated through single replacement mechanism in which full portion of glass sand and 10%, 20%, 30% of tire sand replacing fine natural aggregate. Concrete strength observations refer to ASTM C39-10, ASTM C496-04 and ASTM C78 provision. Test results indicate that all replacement mechanisms exhibit undesirable physical behavior and lower concrete strength than conventional concrete. The mortar containing 100% glass sand and higher tire sand content generates higher slump value and lower density. The mortar of R3 batch shows higher slump value, followed by GS100, R2, and R3, while the GS100 batch yields the lowest fresh and hardened density. Specimen R1, R2, R3 and GS100 yield lower compressive strength, split tensile and flexural capacity than the original specimen due to the reduction in bond strength and adhesiveness between particles and cement matrix of modified concrete. There is an insignificant difference in water absorption rate between control concrete and modified concrete. However, lower tire particle content in R1 absorbs less water than specimen R2 and R3 and GS100.


We present interferometric observations of CO lines (12CO(1-0, 2-1) and 13CO(1-0, 2-1)) and dense gas tracers (HCN(1-0), HCO+(1-0), HNC(1-0) and HNCO(4-3)) in two nearby edge-on barred lenticular galaxies, NGC 4710 and NGC 5866, with most of the gas concentrated in a nuclear disc and an inner ring in each galaxy. We probe the physical conditions of a two-component molecular interstellar medium in each galaxy and each kinematic component by using molecular line ratio diagnostics in three complementary ways. First, we measure the ratios of the position-velocity diagrams of different lines, second we measure the ratios of each kinematic component's integrated line intensities as a function of projected position, and third we model these line ratios using a non-local thermodynamic equilibrium radiative transfer code. Overall, the nuclear discs appear to have a tenuous molecular gas component that is hotter, optically thinner and with a larger dense gas fraction than that in the inner rings, suggesting more dense clumps immersed in a hotter more diffuse molecular medium. This is consistent with evidence that the physical conditions in the nuclear discs are similar to those in photo-dissociation regions. A similar picture emerges when comparing the observed molecular line ratios with those of other galaxy types. The physical conditions of the molecular gas in the nuclear discs of NGC 4710 and NGC 5866 thus appear intermediate between those of spiral galaxies and starbursts, while the star formation in their inner rings is even milder


Abstract Massive investments in climate change mitigation and adaptation are projected during coming decades. Many of these investments will seek to modify how land is managed. The return on both types of investments can be increased through an understanding of land potential: the potential of the land to support primary production and ecosystem services, and its resilience. A Land‐Potential Knowledge System (LandPKS) is being developed and implemented to provide individual users with point‐based estimates of land potential based on the integration of simple, geo‐tagged user inputs with cloud‐based information and knowledge. This system will rely on mobile phones for knowledge and information exchange, and use cloud computing to integrate, interpret, and access relevant knowledge and information, including local knowledge about land with similar potential. The system will initially provide management options based on long‐term land potential, which depends on climate, topography, and relatively static soil properties, such as soil texture, depth, and mineralogy. Future modules will provide more specific management information based on the status of relatively dynamic soil properties such as organic matter and nutrient content, and of weather. The paper includes a discussion of how this system can be used to help distinguish between meteorological and edaphic drought.


In modern and large scale power distribution topologies, directional relays play an important role in the operation of an electrical system. These relays must be coordinated optimally so that their overall operating time is reduced to a minimum. They are sensor protection devices for the power systems and must be coordinated properly. The present work uses a metaheuristic optimization technique known as the Plant Propagation Algorithm (PPA) in order to suggest improved solutions for the optimization problem of coordination of directional overcurrent relays (DOCRs). We have obtained comparatively better solutions for the overall operating times taken by relays fitted on important positions in the system. Our findings are useful in isolating the faulty lines efficiently and in keeping the continuity of power supply. The difference in response times taken in coordination between primary relays and corresponding backup relays is minimized. The output of our experiments is compared with various algorithms and classical optimization techniques, which are found in the literature. Moreover, graphical analyses are presented for each problem to further clarify the results.


This paper examines the larger economic forces that shape multilateral trade agreements and concludes that further WTO trade reform in the grain and oilseed sectors will be difficult to achieve. The somewhat successful Uruguay Round had budget and internal reform pressure to assist the process. The United States currently has large budget surpluses, and efficiency effects from policy reform following the Uruguay Round have reduced the possible gains from further domestic reform. Without these pressures, further negotiated reform in the grain and oilseed sectors is a remote possibility. On the other hand, there are good prospects for a multilateral environmental agreement on climate change. Ratification of a climate change agreement could have a large impact on the grain and oilseed sectors as such an agreement would divert excess resources from food production.


A two-stage model predicts the recruitment (i.e., the number of stems reaching or exceeding 10 cm DBH) of the 100 species that account for 97% of all the recruitment observed on 217 permanent sample plots in the tropical rain forest of north Queensland. The first stage predicts the probability of the occurrence of any recruitment from stand basal area and the presence of that species in the existing stand. These probabilities can be implemented stochastically, or deterministically by summing the probabilities and initiating recruitment on unity. The second stage indicates the expected amount of recruitment, given that it is known to occur, and employs stand basal area, the relative number of trees of that species in the stand, and site quality. This approach is easily implemented in growth models and planning systems.


Abstract Campylobacter is the primary agent of human bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide. In contrast to temperate zones, weather effects on Campylobacter prevalence in broilers under tropical conditions are under-researched. We examined the association between weather and Campylobacter prevalence in slaughtered broilers in Sri Lanka, a tropical country with weather variations led by monsoons. Each month (October 2009–July 2011), 20–30 broiler batches referring to two semi-automated slaughterhouses from five Sri Lankan provinces were tested for Campylobacter contamination and analysed in relation to temperature, humidity and rainfall. Overall prevalence was 63.8% (95% CI 59.6–67.9%, n = 542), peaking in September–November. Each 1 °C increase in monthly mean temperature up to 26 °C increased Campylobacter-positive batches by 16.4% (95% CI 0.4–35.1%). For each 10 mm increase in monthly total rainfall up to 300 mm, Campylobacter-positive batches increased significantly by 0.8% (0.1–1.5%) at 1-month lag. For each 1% increase in relative humidity up to 80% at 1- and 2-month lags, Campylobacter-positive batches increased of respectively 4.2% (1.9–6.7%) and 4.0% (1.5–6.5), and decreased by 3.6% (2.6–4.6%) and 4.0% (2.6–5.4%) for unit increases above 80%. These results suggest that even in tropical countries without marked seasons, there are weather effects possibly reflecting Campylobacter potential to colonise its preferred host and/or survive in the environment.


An experiment was conducted to evaluate energy utilization of laying hens fed diets containing 2 ME concentrations, using response criteria including performance, BW, abdominal fat pad, and energy digestibility. The experiment was a 2 × 2 factorial with 2 feeding regimens (ad libitum and restriction fed), and 2 dietary ME levels [2,880 kcal/kg of ME (CON); and 2,790 kcal/kg of ME (LME)]. A total of 60 Hy-Line W36 first-cycle laying hens were fed experimental diets, resulting in 15 individually caged hens for each of the 4 treatments. Hens in the restriction-fed group were fed 90 g of feed per day. The CON diet was formulated to meet or exceed the NRC (1994) recommendations with 2,880 kcal/kg, whereas the LME diet was similar with the exception of a 90 kcal/kg reduction in ME. Hens were fed experimental diets for 12 wk from hen 28 to 39 wk of age. Hen day egg production, weekly feed intake, and every 2 wk, egg weights and egg mass were recorded, whereas hen BW was measured every 4 wk. Excreta samples were collected over the last 5 d of experiment to determine AMEn. Abdominal fat pads were measured individually for all hens at the end of experiment. There were no interactions between feeding regimens and dietary ME levels throughout the experiment. Feed restriction resulted in reductions (P ≤ 0.01) in hen day egg production, BW, and abdominal fat pad, indicating reduced nutrient availability to partition toward production, maintenance, and storage functions. The reduction in energy intake between CON and LME fed birds (90 kcal/kg) did not change the energy partitioned toward production or maintenance, but reduced (P = 0.03) the energy stored (reduced fat pad) of LME-fed hens. These results suggest that energy is used following the pattern of production and maintenance before storage requirements and that fat pad (energy storage) may be the most sensitive indicator of dietary energy status over short-term in Hy-Line W36 laying hens.


This paper reports the results of an experiment involving a sample of 204 members of the public who were assessed on three occasions about their willingness to pay for the conservation of the mahogany glider. They were asked this question prior to information being provided to them about the glider and other focal wildlife species; after such information was provided, and finally after participants had had an opportunity to see live specimens of this glider. The mean willingness to pay of the relevant samples are compared and found to show significant variations. Theories are considered that help explain the dynamics of these variations. Serious concerns are raised about the capacity of information provision to reveal 'true' contingent valuations of public goods.


Rear-end collision is a very serious problem in modern traffic situations, and there have been a great number of research reports on the longitudinal control method for road vehicles. In many cases, however, the control problem is formulated under platoon configuration and for some predictable noncollision situations. For predictable collision situations, regional and hierarchical approaches have been employed, but these approaches render difficulties due to ignorance for modeling error and logical error in a decision process. In this paper, the vehicle control for collision avoidance is studied with two control objectives, i.e., minimization of the safety distance error and regulation of the relative velocity between two vehicles. For this, a longitudinal controller using terminal sliding mode (TSM) with hierarchical structure is proposed for rear-end collision avoidance. The TSM is employed to achieve convergence in finite time, while the hierarchical approach is used for the system to accommodate the intelligence of the driver to handle various situations. The effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is verified by software simulations


[1] We have conducted the first extensive field test of two new methods to retrieve optical properties for overhead clouds that range from patchy to overcast. The methods use measurements of zenith radiance at 673 and 870 nm wavelengths and require the presence of green vegetation in the surrounding area. The test was conducted at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program Oklahoma site during September–November 2004. These methods work because at 673 nm (red) and 870 nm (near infrared (NIR)), clouds have nearly identical optical properties, while vegetated surfaces reflect quite differently. The first method, dubbed REDvsNIR, retrieves not only cloud optical depth τ but also radiative cloud fraction. Because of the 1-s time resolution of our radiance measurements, we are able for the first time to capture changes in cloud optical properties at the natural timescale of cloud evolution. We compared values of τ retrieved by REDvsNIR to those retrieved from downward shortwave fluxes and from microwave brightness temperatures. The flux method generally underestimates τ relative to the REDvsNIR method. Even for overcast but inhomogeneous clouds, differences between REDvsNIR and the flux method can be as large as 50%. In addition, REDvsNIR agreed to better than 15% with the microwave method for both overcast and broken clouds. The second method, dubbed COUPLED, retrieves τ by combining zenith radiances with fluxes. While extra information from fluxes was expected to improve retrievals, this is not always the case. In general, however, the COUPLED and REDvsNIR methods retrieve τ to within 15% of each other.


A retrospective review of prospectively gathered data from 249 trauma patients was undertaken to study the association of lower urinary tract disruptions with pelvic fractures and to confirm guidelines for the initial investigation and management of such patients in the emergency room. Of 249 patients with pelvic fractures, 124 (50%) had haematuria and 17 (7%) had lower urinary tract disruptions (7 urethral ruptures, 9 bladder ruptures and 1 patient with both bladder and urethral ruptures). Gross haematuria or blood at the urethral meatus was noted in 16 of 17 patients with urological injuries. Twenty-five per cent of patients with unstable pelvic fractures had lower urinary tract disruption compared to 6% of patients with stable fractures (P < 0.05). Retrograde urethrography followed by cystography is indicated in all cases of pelvic fractures with blood at the urethral meatus, macroscopic haematuria or associated signs such as inability to void and perineal haematoma. Urinary diversion alone was used in partial urethral ruptures while surgical exploration and repair were performed in complete urethral ruptures and in most cases of bladder ruptures.


This paper presents a radical new therapy for persecutory auditory hallucinations ("voices") which are most commonly found in serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. In around 30% of patients these symptoms are not alleviated by anti-psychotic medication. This work is designed to tackle the problem created by the inaccessibility of the patients' experience of voices to the clinician. Patients are invited to create an external representation of their dominant voice hallucination using computer speech a technology. Customised graphics software is used to create an avatar that gives a face to the voice, while voice morphing software realises it in audio, in real time. The therapist then conducts a dialogue between the avatar and the patient, w view to gradually bringing the avatar, and ultimately the hallucinatory voice, under the patient's control. Results of a pilot study reported elsewhere indicate that the approach has potential for dramatic improvements in patient voices after a series of only six short sessions this paper is on the audio-visual speech technology which delivers the central aspects of the therapy.


[paper in French] Today's farmers are facing growing criticism about their activities, around questions of pollution, sanitary affairs, climatic change or animal welfare, non-professional actors promoting their own definitions of what farming activities should be – or should not be. This particular situation provides a good opportunity to explore the new professional discourses developed by a contested profession, fostered to re-elaborate the sense of its activities. Based on a survey in a rural mountain community, we present the criticisms addressed to cattle farmers by non-farmers in the village, which stress problems about land ownership, manure management, and pasture maintenance. We highlight two types of professional discourse developed by cattle farmers in response to the criticisms: The first one combines a victimisation figure with the threat of giving up the job; the second one claims responsibility and anticipation of the non-farmers' demands, as far as technical constraints make this anticipation possible.


Background: Bangladesh is a rapidly developing country. Lots of infrastructures are set up every year. A large number of people are working in the construction industry.  Work related injuries and deaths of construction workers are common. The aim of this study was to find the health and safety awareness of informal construction workers.
Methodology: This study was a cross sectional study by using a preset questionnaire among the construction workers in Bangladesh.
Results: Participants of this study had lower income and education. About 87% of participants did not receive any health and safety training and did not wear safety equipment when they were working. About 57% of the participants had a history of injury. This study also found that the main reasons for the non-use of safety equipment were lack of safety equipment, motivation and training.
Conclusion: Construction workers are not adequately aware about health and safety issues that relate to them.


A coach holds responsibility as a parent does at home, or a teacher in the classroom. The consideration of young athletes' preferences of their coach can aid in the development of life skills, positive development, and retention of youth in sport; which are only some of the outcomes and benefits from experiences gained throughout sport programs (Carson & Gould, 2010). Previous research has mainly focused on high school aged athletes (14+). However, the highest rates of sport participation, variety, and dropout are found at younger ages (Canadian Heritage, 2013). This research was designed to address this gap. One hundred and sixteen (86 female, 49 male) youth sport athletes (age range 10-14 years) across 19 different sports completed a modified Leadership for Sports Scale (LSS) questionnaire. The LSS assesses five factors of preferred coach behaviour Positive Feedback, Teaching and Instruction, Autocratic Behaviour, Democratic Behaviour, and Social Support. Furthermore, seventeen athletes (11 Boys, 6 Girls, M(age)= 11.65) participated in semi-structured interviews using the Coaching Behaviour Assessment Scale (CBAS). Results showed that there was no significant difference between genders on preferences, and no relationship between preferences and age. There was a significant difference between sport type where individual sport had a significantly higher preference for Democratic Behaviour than team sport athletes (t (114) = 2.72, p < .01). Themes from interviews were categorized and suggest numerous behaviours regarding responses to performance, mistakes, misbehaviour, social support, and coaching gender that coaches can additionally implement in their practices; while findings from data add new content to pre-existing literature.


Organizations depend on teams for their success, and as information technology (IT) capabilities have improved they have increased their use of virtual teams. Virtual teams allow organizations to dynamically adjust to changing needs, but present unique leadership challenges. There is currently little theory on how leadership works in virtual teams and few studies that provide empirical evidence for the ideas that have been advanced. This study reports results gleaned from a two-week collaboration project undertaken by a large team using an array of IT capabilities in a distributed virtual environment. It found support for key ideas espoused in models of shared leadership and captures lessons that could be useful to practitioners.


Concerns are raised regarding the place of the arts in education, specifically as they are used in the social science context of educational research under the title 'arts-based research'. An examination of Elliot Eisner's claim that art is research concludes that, though the arts may be used for display, data, or heuristic in educational research, they are not being recognised for their distinctive characteristics. John White's critique of the theory of multiple intelligences is revisited to mitigate common claims for the arts based upon Gardner. Given the dominance of scientism in today's research climate, it is argued that the arts should take their rightful place to balance research in its quest for certainty; that they be the antagonist mode of thought called for by John Stuart Mill.


In this paper we analyse the efficiency impacts of different property right allocations when one action produces a private and a public good. There are three players: an environmental agency, point-source emitters and diffuse emitters. We assume a diffuse emitter can undertake one action that produces two outputs: one he can sell to the environmental agency (a public good); and the other he can sell to point-source emitters (a private good). We analyse the efficiency implications of allocating the property right of the private good to either: (i) the agency, since in buying the public good the private good is produced as a by-product; or (ii) the diffuse emitter. Generally, the latter improves the efficiency outcome.


English language educators faced challenges unique to their discipline as well as difficulties shared with all teachers as they suddenly adjusted to 100% online learning environments in 2020. Language learning strategies (LLS), which are proven strategies for improving language learning as well as building self-efficacy and peer support (MacArthur et al., 2015; Rose et al., 2018), are presented here as tools to navigate this new challenge. The article opens with a brief review of several acute current needs of online learners that critical pedagogy and learning strategies may address. Next, the author provides concise definitions for language learning strategies and summarizes the historical and theoretical basis for LLS. A classroom-based case study of language learning strategy instruction (LLSI) then follows. Finally, online tools and methods for two key strategies, goal-setting and peer review, are provided with recommendations for applying these strategies in a variety of settings.
Keywords: language learning strategies, critical pedagogy, self-regulation, peer review, goal-setting


Linear alkyl benzene (LAB) will be used as the solvent in a liquid scintillator mixture for the JUNO antineutrino experiment. Its light absorption properties should therefore be understood prior to its effective use in the experiment. Attenuation length measurements at a light wavelength of 430 nm have been performed on samples of LAB prepared for the JUNO experiment. Inorganic impurities in LAB have also been studied for their possibilities of light absorption in our wavelength of interest. In view of a tentative plan by the JUNO collaboration to utilize neutron capture with hydrogen in the detector, we also present in this work a preliminary study on the carbon–hydrogen ratio and the attenuation length of the samples.


This study provides in text and in maps the spatial and temporal dynamics of violent conflicts in Northern Ghana focusing on their structure, causes and status. Primary data was collected from identified conflict hotspots to validate secondary information collected from two national dailies. Conflict zones tended to be generally clustered in the eastern corridor of Northern Ghana due the high degree of heterogeneity of ethnic groups and the struggle for recognition and dominance amongst them. The causes of conflicts included ethnicity, chieftaincy, religion, politics, urbanisation, struggles over resources and the fight for recognition. Many of the conflicts recorded remain unresolved. Generally, mediation efforts have only succeeded in yielding short term stability due to emphasis on addressing the triggers rather than the issues under contention. For durable peace in northern Ghana, the government and civil society groups must pay greater attention to the structural factors that shape these conflicts. The National House of Chiefs must codify customs and practices and usages in relation to heirs to positions of authority. Land titling has to be expedited by the state to establish boundaries to reduce land related conflicts.


The ability to identify the frequency of the incremented component in a multitone complex was assessed in two conditions, both using the same 11‐tone complexes (fixed frequency, equilog spaced, random phases). All components had equal amplitude, except one of the inner 9, which was incremented. The overall level was randomly varied on each presentation. In condition A the tone complex, with the increment position randomized, was followed by a sinusoid either at the increment frequency or at that of an adjacent component (below or above). In condition B the same complex with flat power spectrum was additionally presented on each trial. The sequence of flat and incremented profile stimuli was randomized over the first two presentation intervals, followed by the sinusoid. In both conditions subjects had to indicate whether the frequency of the incremented component was same or different from that of the sinusoid. Thresholds for these two conditions were estimated by the use of an adaptive procedure and compared to the thresholds of the same subjects in discriminating between the flat and an incremented profile (with signal uncertainty). Results indicate that identification ability is at least as good as discrimination. [Work supported by DFG.]


Purpose: p27 protein is regarded as a valuable prognostic biomarker in cancer with a potential use as a molecular target. However, different methods of immunohistochemical assessment have yielded conflicting results. Here, we sought to determine the prognostic value of p27 in ovarian cancer using a novel method of compartmentalized in situ protein analysis. Experimental Design: A tissue array composed of 150 advanced stage ovarian cancers uniformly treated, with surgical debulking followed by platinum-paclitaxel combination chemotherapy, was constructed. For evaluation of p27 protein expression, we used an immunofluorescence-based method of automated in situ quantitative measurement of protein analysis [automated quantitative analysis (AQUA)]. Results: The mean follow-up time of the patients was 34.3 months. Patients with low Fédération Internationale des Gynaecologistes et Obstetristes stage were more likely to have low nuclear p27 expression (P = 0.008). Low nuclear p27 expression was associated with improved 3-year overall survival (66% versus 20%, P = 0.0047) and disease-free survival (27% versus 12%, P = 0.022). In multivariable analysis, adjusting for well-characterized prognostic variables, low nuclear p27 expression level was the most significant prognostic factor for both disease-free and overall survival. Conclusions: Our results indicate that quantitative assessment of nuclear p27 expression level by automated in situ quantitative analysis is a strong predictor for outcome in ovarian cancer.


Silicon complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technologies are arguably the most important asset in the world of electronics. Focal plane arrays (FPAs) are one of the driving forces in the revolution of low-cost, mass produced, compact, and high-resolution imaging devices. The importance of these imaging systems in the visible spectrum has highlighted the need of their implementation into other significant electromagnetic regions such as infrared (IR) and Terahertz (THz). The unique characteristics of THz waves make them ideal for a variety of important applications ranging from security and medical imaging, explosive and drug detection, and non-destructive quality control testing. These applications are possible due to the non-ionizing nature of THz radiation, its transparency to many non-conductive materials, and distinctive spectroscopic fingerprints of a vast number of substances. Current THz imaging systems are usually restricted to laboratory use due the lack of compact, portable and roomtemperature operated sources and detectors. Therefore, the implementation of CMOS based THz detectors is key to promote the exploitation of low-cost, room-temperature, high-resolution, highly sensitive, and portable THz imaging systems. Here we present the monolithic integration of two types of THz FPAs fabricated in a standard 180 nm CMOS process. The imagers are composed of THz metamaterials (MM) absorbers coupled to a microbolometer, either vanadium oxide (VOx) or silicon pn diode, integrated with readout electronics to form 64 x 64 CMOS FPAs. The suitability of THz imagers for stand-off imaging of concealed objects was demonstrated in transmission mode by capturing images of metallic objects hidden in a manila envelope.


Frailty is an increasingly common geriatric condition that results in an increased risk of adverse health outcomes such as falls. The most widely-used means of detecting frailty is the Fried phenotype, which includes several objective measures such as grip strength and gait velocity. One method of screening for falls is to measure balance, which can be done by a range of techniques including the assessment of the Centre of Pressure (CoP) during a balance assessment. The Balance Quality Tester (BQT) is a device based on a commercial bathroom scale that can evaluate balance quality. The BQT provides instantaneously the position of the CoP (stabilogram) in both anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) directions and can estimate the vertical ground reaction force. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between balance quality assessment and physical frailty. Balance quality was compared to physical frailty in 186 older subjects. Rising rate (RR) was slower and trajectory velocity (TV) was higher in subjects classified as frail for both grip strength and gait velocity (p<;0.05). Balance assessment could be used in conjunction with functional tests of grip strength and gait velocity as a means of screening for frailty.


Aggressive fibromatoses are locally invasive, non-metastasising, fibroblastic soft-tissue tumours. On the basis of examinations made in 6 patients with histologically confirmed diagnosis, the reliability of different imaging modalities in preoperative diagnosis and in follow-up is discussed. The inhomogeneous tumour composition was evident in all imaging procedures. Computed tomography offered the highest sensitivity for tumour detection and proved accurate in demonstrating the characteristic radial tumour spreading of mesenteric aggressive fibromatosis; the attenuation values ranged from 18 to 58 HU. in pre-contrast CT scans. In magnetic resonance imaging the tumours mostly produced a low signal in T1- and T2-weighted sequences; the calculated T2-relaxation times ranged from 97 to 186 ms.


Recent decades show an emerging trend of shortened job duration by those who serve in leadership positions within the university or college campus setting.  Current research indicates that the relationship between university faculty and administrators is a subject that would benefit from further investigation.  This study attempts to illuminate and understand perceptions about this relationship of five different faculty members, each from the same department within a land grant university, located in the northwest region of the United States.  To do this a descriptive methodological approach is employed that allowed the researchers to examine and reveal the perceptions, insights, and opinions of the participants.  By discerning and evaluating the elements that contribute to a positive collegial work environment through an interview process results of this research will be used to inform those who have a vested interest in faculty-administrator relationships.  It will provide a guide to follow when setting out to establish and implement policy and procedures that may be used to improve professional culture and climate within the respective schools or departments.  It makes fiscal sense for those in leadership roles to work diligently toward retaining and sustaining highly trained professionals and minimize both faculty and administrative turnover within the university setting.