Abstract In this article we give a general definition of residuals for regression models with independent responses. Our definition produces residuals that are exactly normal, apart from sampling variability in the estimated parameters, by inverting the fitted distribution function for each response value and finding the equivalent standard normal quantile. Our definition includes some randomization to achieve continuous residuals when the response variable is discrete. Quantile residuals are easily computed in computer packages such as SAS, S-Plus, GLIM, or LispStat, and allow residual analyses to be carried out in many commonly occurring situations in which the customary definitions of residuals fail. Quantile residuals are applied in this article to three example data sets.


Compilers of most dictionaries and encyclopaedias seem to have similar views on the fundamental defining characteristic of hypnosis: it is an altered state of consciousness. In contrast, experts in the field of hypnosis continue to have in difficulty in coming up with definitions of hypnosis and relat- ed terminology on which all can agree. In this paper, it is argued that a major problem in reaching agreement amongst experts on these issues is that, in an attempt to accommodate different theo- retical viewpoints, we have lost sight of the etymological origins of terms used when discussing the nature of hypnosis and related phenomena (terms such as hypnosis, hypnotism, hypnotizability, hypnotic induction etc.). As a result, hypnosis and related terms are often defined and applied in disparate ways that do not coherently relate to each other. Some examples illustrative of the general problems are given, and attention is drawn to some possible ways of defining hypnosis and related terminology that acknowledge and maintain the essential features of the original definitions, yet are consistent with different modern explanatory frameworks. The main conclusion drawn is that the concept of an altered state should be central to any definition of hypnosis.


General Manley Hopkins was not alone among Victorians in his attention to the human self and to the particularities of things in the world around him, where he savoured the 'selving or 'inscape' of each individual existent. But the intensity of his interest in the self, as a focus of exuberant joy as well as sometimes of anguish, both in his poetry and his prose, marks him out as unique even among his contemporaries. In these studies Professor Ong explores some previously unexamined reasons for Hopkins' uniqueness, including unsuspected connections between nineteenth-century sensibility and certain substructures of Christian belief.Hopkins was less interested in self-discovery or self-concept than in what might be called the confrontational or obtrusive self - the 'I, ' ultimately nameless, that each person wakes up to in the morning to find simply there, directly or indirectly present in every moment of consciousness. Hopkins' concern with the self grew out of a nineteenth-century sensibility which was to give birth to modernity and postmodernity, and which in his case as a Jesuit was especially nourished by the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius Loyola, concerned at root with the self, free choice, and free self-giving. It was also nourished by the Christian belief in the Three Persons in One God, central to Hopkins' theology courses and personal speculation, and very notable in the Special Exercises. Hopkins appropriated and intensified his Christian beliefs with new nineteenth-century awareness: he writes of the 'selving' in God of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Hopkins' pastoral work, particularly in the confessional, dealing directly with other selves in terms of their free decisions, also gave further force to his preoccupation with the self and freedom. 'What I do, ' he writes, 'is me.'Besides being concerned with the self, the most particular of particulars and the paradigm of all sense of 'presence, ' the Spiritual Exercises in many ways attend to other particularities with an insistence that has drawn lengthy and rather impassioned commentary from the postmodern literary theorist Roland Barthes.Hopkins' distinctive and often precocious attention to the self and freedom puts him theologically far ahead of many of his fellow Catholics and other fellow Victorians, and gives him his permanent relevance to the modern and postmodern world.


Report summary: One of the key objectives of the Australian Qualifications Framework Advisory Board is to facilitate pathways to formal qualifications that are based on, or include, prior learning that has occurred outside formal education and training. Learning occurs in many contexts that include work, involvement in social, community or sporting activities, or learning through life experience generally. Much of this informal or non-formal learning is relevant to the learning or competency outcomes of formal qualifications within the Australian Qualifications Framework. Recognition of prior learning is a process designed to assess (or credential) that learning so that it can be counted towards achievement of a qualification. The AQF Advisory Board commissioned this project to identify obstacles to the implementation of RPL, and to identify mechanisms that facilitate increased use of RPL. In preparing the project brief, the AQF Advisory Board aimed to, through the project: facilitate and increase the use of RPL as a pathway towards the partial or complete achievement of a qualification; improve access to learning pathways, particularly for students from social backgrounds that are under-represented in post-compulsory education and training; promote lifelong learning; and, increase the consistency in the way in which RPL is applied in each of the four sectors of post-compulsory education and training.


This paper details an automated process to create a robotic model of a subject's upper body using motion analysis data of a subject performing simple range of motion (RoM) tasks. The upper body model was created by calculating subject specific kinematics using functional joint center (FJC) methods, this makes the model highly accurate. The subjects' kinematics were then used to find robotic parameters. This allowed the robotic model to be calculated directly from motion analysis data. The RoM tasks provide the joint motion necessary to ensure the accuracy of the FJC method. Model creation was tested using five healthy adult male subjects, with data collected using an eight camera Vicon© (Oxford, UK) motion analysis system. Common anthropometric measures were also taken manually for comparison to the FJC kinematic measures calculated from marker position data. The algorithms successfully generated models for each subject based on the recorded RoM task data. Analysis of the generated model parameters relative to the manual measures was performed to determine the correlations. Methods for replacing model parameters extracted from the motion analysis data with hand measurements are presented. The accuracy of the model generating algorithm was tested by reconstructing motion using the parameters and joint angles extracted from the RoM tasks data, correlated manual measurements, and height based correlations from literature data. Error was defined as the average difference between the recorded position and reconstructed positions and orientations of the hand. For all of the tested subjects the model generated using the RoM tasks data showed least average error over the tested trials. Each of the tested results were significantly different in position error with the FJC generated model being the most accurate, followed by the correlated measurement data, and finally the height based calculations. No difference was found between the end effector orientation of generated models. The models developed in this study will be used with additional subject tasks in order to better predict human motion.Copyright © 2011 by ASME


One of the common method used for contrast enhancement (CE) is histogram equalization (HE).this method is used for maximised the contrast of images and to get more information. By this adjustment, the intensities can be better distributed on the histogram. The basic disadvantage of HE is that it can change the mean values of the image which affect the brightness of the image, sometimes it also introduces over enhancement and saturation effect. To overcome this various HE algorithm have been introduce to overcome these drawbacks. In this paper, we present different methods for image enhancement that is constructed to minimized the intensity saturation effects that are introduced by standard contrast enhancement (CE) methods based on histogram equalization. Like Brightness Preserving Bi-Histogram Equalization (BBHE), Minimum Mean Brightness Error BiHistogram Equalization (MMBEBHE), Texture Enhanced He Using TV L1 Image Decomposition.


Matrix rectifier (AC-DC MC) is a four-quadrant AC-DC power converter device with compact topology. This paper concerns the influence of abnormal power supply conditions to the matrix rectifier. The input and output performances of matrix rectifier with pure sinusoidal supply voltages are discussed. The input currents are symmetrical sinusoidal without any low-order components. But due to the absence of DC capacitors, the abnormal conditions at input side affect the input and output performances directly, which introduce ripples into the DC output and cause the distortion of input currents. In this paper, the low-order harmonic components in input currents, and ripples at output side are theoretically analyzed under conditions that the input voltages are unbalanced and non-sinusoidal respectively. The simulation research is carried out to verify the theoretical analysis, and the results, which demonstrated the analysis conclusions, are given.


This article provides a critical commentary of Design Thinking education and proposes a new model for incorporating responsibility within these teaching and learning practices. The need for this approach becomes more urgent as Design Thinking is increasingly integrated across disciplinary boundaries into business schools where it is seen as a pathway to commercial innovation that ultimately impacts society. Within this article, Responsible Design literature is reviewed to identify principles and practices that can inform Design Thinking education, bringing critical depth, as well as social and environmental impact into its broader ambit. It is argued that principles of social responsibility, environmental sustainability, ethics, critical thinking and accountability can be combined with feasibility, viability and desirability to create a new model for Responsible Design Thinking education. Based on these principles, three different conceptualizations are presented to indicate how Responsible Design Thinking may be applied in teaching practice. This model is proposed with the intention of supporting educators who are seeking to introduce Responsible Design Thinking into their teaching practice, as well as provoking discussion about the current and future state of Design Thinking education.


Solving constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) is a notoriously expensive computational task. Recently, it has been proposed that efficient stochastic solvers can be obtained through appropriately configured spiking neural networks performing Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling. The possibility to run such models on massively parallel, low-power neuromorphic hardware holds great promise; however, previously proposed networks a re based on probabilistically spiking neurons, and thus rely on random number generators or external noise sources to achieve the necessary stochasticity, leading to significant overhead in the implementation. Here we show how stochasticity can be achieved by implementing deterministic models of integrate and fire neurons using subthreshold analog circuits that are affected by thermal noise. We present an efficient implementation of spike-based CSP solvers using a reconfigurable neural network VLSI device, and the device's intrinsic noise as a source of randomness. To illustrate the overall concept, we implement a generic Sudoku solver based on our approach and demonstrate its operation. We establish a link between the neuron parameters and the system dynamics, allowing for a simple temperature control mechanism.


The patterns used to express how a figure moves from one place to another may vary from language to language. These patterns are acquired early in childhood and are often resistant to restructuring (Slobin. 1996). As a result making the switch from Ll motion event patterns to a typologically different L2 pattern tends to be particularly difficult for language learners. Despite the evident challenges for learners. this area has been relatively neglected in language teaching. and there is virtually no research into how motion event construal can be taught. Taking a cognitive semantic approach. based on the
theoretical framework for the typology of satellite-framed and verb-framed languages developed by Talmy (1985. 1991.2(00) and Slobin (1987. 1996. 2004.2005. 2006). this is the first study to compare the effectiveness of two instructional approaches in the teaching of L2 motion events with a focus on entering and exiting. Fifty-nine learners ofL2 English were quasi-randomly assigned to two groups: an input-based group and an input/output-based group. Pre-. post- and delayed post- tests were administered to assess learning and retention of the Manner verb+ Path satellite combination typical of English motion expressions. The measures included self-paced reading tests and picture-based written production tasks that were designed to draw on both implicit and explicit knowledge of motion event construal in English. The results showed Significant positive effects for both groups. As a result
of the inSight gained. practical recommendations have been made for teachers approaching the domain of L2 English motion in the ESL classroom.


Abstract Background and aims Behavioural support increases smoking cessation in clinical settings, but effect sizes differ among providers, due possibly to variations in delivery. This study evaluates a measure ('fidelity index') intended to capture fidelity to delivery of content‐ and interaction‐based items of a behavioural support (BS) for smoking cessation and the association of fidelity with quit rates. Methods A fidelity index for scoring the adherence and quality domains of a specific BS intervention, '5As for quit', was developed by classifying the intervention components using the taxonomy of behaviour change techniques. The index was applied to code 154 BS sessions audiotaped among 18 chest clinics in Pakistan to assess their fidelity and explore reliability of coding. The association between intervention fidelity and successful quit achieved by the same providers in a previous study was explored using regression analysis. Results The index represented two domains: adherence to delivery of content‐based activities of 5As (37 items) and quality of interaction‐based activities (eight items). The intercoder reliability was good for content‐based (average Krippendorff's α = 0.80) and moderate for interaction‐based (average Krippendorff's α = 0.66) items. Approximately 70% (intraclass correlation coefficient: adherence scores = 0.72, quality scores = 0.71) of variation in BS delivery was contributed by providers, which increased to 97% (g‐coefficient: adherence scores = 0.973, quality scores = 0.974) after accounting for other sources of variation. Higher quit rates were positively associated with average quality scores [risk ratio = 2.15; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.43–3.24], but negatively associated with average adherence scores (risk ratio = 0.55; 95% CI = 0.40–0.77) within services. Conclusions The fidelity index is a reliable measure for quantifying intervention fidelity of delivering smoking cessation behavioural support. Recommended revisions of the fidelity index include incorporation of additional interaction‐based items, such as the relational techniques used in motivational interviewing.


Cytochrome P450 aromatase (aromatase), a product of the CYP19 gene, catalyzes the synthesis of estrogens from androgens. Because aromatase-dependent estrogen biosynthesis has been linked to hormone-dependent breast carcinogenesis, it is important to elucidate the mechanisms that regulate CYP19 gene expression. The main objective of this study was to identify the receptors (EP) for prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) that mediate the induction of CYP19 transcription in human adipocytes and breast cancer cells. Treatment with PGE2 induced aromatase, an effect that was mimicked by either EP2 or EP4 agonists. Antagonists of EP2 or EP4 or small interference RNA-mediated down-regulation of these receptors suppressed PGE2-mediated induction of aromatase. PGE2 via EP2 and EP4 stimulated the cAMP→protein kinase A pathway resulting in enhanced interaction between P-CREB, p300, and the aromatase promoter I.3/II. Overexpressing a mutant form of p300 that lacks histone acetyltransferase activity suppressed PGE2-mediated induction of aromatase promoter activity. PGE2 via EP2 and EP4 also caused a reduction in both the amounts of BRCA1 and the interaction between BRCA1 and the aromatase promoter I.3/II. Activation of the aromatase promoter by PGE2 was suppressed by overexpressing wild-type BRCA1. Silencing of EP2 or EP4 also blocked PGE2-mediated induction of the progesterone receptor, a prototypic estrogen-response gene. In a mouse model, overexpressing COX-2 in the mammary gland, a known inducer of PGE2 synthesis, led to increased aromatase mRNA and activity and reduced amounts of BRCA1; these effects were reversed by knocking out EP2. Taken together, these results suggest that PGE2 via EP2 and EP4 activates the cAMP→PKA→CREB pathway leading to enhanced CYP19 transcription and increased aromatase activity. Reciprocal changes in the interaction between BRCA1, p300, and the aromatase promoter I.3/II contributed to the inductive effects of PGE2.


Objective The aim was to determine if endothelial VCAM-1 (eVCAM-1) expression in the common carotid artery (CCA) would correlate with predictive markers of atherosclerotic disease, would precede reduction of markers of endothelial cell function and would predict coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods and results Carotid arterial segments (bifurcation, proximal and distal CCA) were harvested from 14 and 24 month-old male castrated familial hypercholesterolemic (FH) swine, a model of spontaneous atherosclerosis. Quantification of local expression of eVCAM-1, intimal macrophage accumulation, oxidative stress, intima-media (I/M) ratio, intima-media thickness (IMT), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and phosphorylated eNOS (p-eNOS) in selected regions of the carotids revealed a relationship between local inflammation and atheroscle-rotic plaque progression. Importantly, inflammation was not uniform throughout the CCA. Endo-thelial VCAM-1 expression was the greatest at the bifurcation and increased with age. Finally, eV-CAM-1 best estimated the severity of CAD compared to blood levels of glucose, hypercholestero-lemia, carotid IMT, and p-eNOS. Conclusion Our data suggested that eVCAM-1 was closely associated with atherosclerotic plaque progression and preceded impairment of EDD. Thus, this study supported the use of carotid VCAM-1 targeting agents to estimate the severity of CAD.


Sustainable palm oil certification is expected to lead to sustainable development and livelihood. This expectation is tested through 240 and 176 smallholders in Indonesia and Malaysia, respectively. The results show that certified smallholders have better perception and implementation of environment, economic and social aspects, enjoy higher productivity and selling price, maintain natural resources quality, more resistant in coping production and price fluctuations, and more prepared for replanting.


The prokaryotic, generic name Goodfellowia Labeda and Kroppenstedt 2006 is illegitimate because it is a later homonym of the name Goodfellowia Hartert, 1903 (Animalia, Chordata, Aves, Passeriformes, Sturnidae) [Principle 2 of the Bacteriological Code (1990 Revision)]. A new genus name, Goodfellowiella, is therefore proposed for this taxon (Rule 54). This also requires that a new combination, Goodfellowiella coeruleoviolacea comb. nov., be proposed for the type species to replace the illegitimate combination Goodfellowia coeruleoviolacea (Preobrazhenskaya and Terekhova 1987) Labeda and Kroppenstedt 2006.


As parasitoids upon solitary bees and wasps and their nest cohabitants, Melittobia have an intricate life history that involves both female coop- eration and variably expressed male siblicidal conflict. Inter- and intra- sexual dimorphism includes blind, flightless males and (probably nu- tritionally determined) short- and long-winged females. Thought to be highly inbred, Melittobia do not conform to local mate competition (LMC) theory but exhibit simple forms of many social insect traits, including overlapping adult generations, different female phenotypes, close kinship ties, parental care, and altruistic cooperative escape be- haviors. Most host records and research findings are based on only 3 species—M. acasta, M. australica, and M. digitata—but any of the 12 species could have pest potential due to their polyphagy, explosive popu- lation growth, cryptic habits, and behavioral plasticity. Readily cultured in the laboratory, Melittobia offer considerable potential as a model for genetic, developmental, and behavioral studies.


In a project dealing with landscape archaeology the Institute for Preand Protohistory of Mainz University and the Institute for Spatial Information and Surveying Technology (i3mainz) of the University of Applied Sciences Mainz have been examining the area around the Celtic oppidum "Hunnenring" in the northern Saarland (Germany) since the end of 2006. Its wall is partly preserved up to a height of 10 m, which makes it one of the largest Celtic structures of its kind. Various sources indicate that the low mountain range, which is nowadays situated peripherally, used to be a significant centre with supra-regional importance in Celtic times. Aided by various archaeological prospection methods and the use of methods of applied geoinformatics and surveying technology it is attempted to reconstruct the preand protohistoric habitat as detailed as possible. A special focus is made on tracking early use of resources and on the question to what extent local iron and copper-ore deposits affected economic activities of people. However in this project we used a combination of different archaeological prospection techniques and methods of modern 3D-surveying technology to achieve this aim. A conventional method to record anthropogenic characteristics of the relief is surveying with a total station. The recorded terrain points are used for creation and visualization of a Triangular Irregular Network (TIN) in a GIS. By this means very fine characteristics of the relief, like terraces of settlement, old routings and historical mine shafts can be documented. Airborne Laser Scanner Data were used for 3D modelling of the complete investigation area because of their potential to capture a dense cloud of terrain points in high quality, particularly in wooded areas, where good conservation of archaeological structures is indicated. For selected regions a Terrestrial Laser Scanner was used to generate a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of even higher resolution. A conventional archaeological prospection technique is the surveying of single finds. For this purpose a ploughed acre was paced off systematically and the positions of single finds were recorded by using total station and GPS. Particularly for detection of sub-surface metalliferous materials the use of geomagnetic prospection is a very helpful method. Recording and analysis of anomalies of the earth magnetic field yields a method to detect ditches, pits and other filled-in intrusions of the ground, but also high temperature areas e.g. caused by smelting. The surveying of such anomalies was executed by capturing data along a regular pattern in the field. The measuring values were recorded in a dense interval in a decimetre range. The values of anomaly measurement were represented as gray scale values. The results of all measurements were integrated for visualization in a GIS and applied for further analysis. Highresolution DEM, which have been generated using Airborne-Laserscanning (ALS) data, are a core component. The information, that was generated using various methods such as geophysics, surveying of single finds, ALS and excavations, in combination with significant factors such as soil quality, geology, waterlogging, slope and water proximity, can be included well in analysis of settlement history.


Does your child need help with their reading? We have volunteers ready to listen to them. Term time only. Free. Reading buddies at Romford Library.


Land surface temperature (LST) is a key parameter of surface physical process and plays an important significance to the energy balance in the world. In this paper, based on the knowledge of atmospheric radiative transfer and the comparability of two satellites, 7 undetermined variables was solved. Then, eliminate the atmospheric effects on the remote sensing images by atmospheric correction model. The retrieval of atmospheric elements and the surface parameters, will also be presented. It's a effective way to measure the LST. Following the disposal information and plentiful data increasing, the powerful computing resource was required. The computing capability in single computer fall short of demand. So the grid computing conception is introduced. We build a LST measurement system by grid service, it can solve the problem commendably.


This research focuses on studying the impact of different sources of wastewater, such as domestic, industrial, agricultural, etc. upon groundwater. The swamp of contaminated water collection within the Al-Anbar University area was taken as a case study for this research. This swamp has a pond that works as a collection basin for different sources of wastewater mainly domestic waste coming from leakage of contaminated water from the septic-tank of the residential complex of students. This contaminated water will leak over time within the folds of soil due to per-meability and the effect of land attraction and reach the levels of groundwater. The presence of polluted water near groundwater is an environmental hazard and harmful because this leakage water has different diseases and germs, which could pose a danger to human health. Different samples of these sources were taken from different places at different times and some physical, chemical, and biological tests were then conducted. Wastewaters characterization was also investigated in this study to make an assessment for water quality and find out a proper treatment method. Data obtained from this study show different levels of pollutants, which could highly affect groundwater quality. A proper and advanced treatment method was also proposed in this study, depending on the wastewater characterization results. The purpose of this research is wastewater treatment using the physical method with coagulation and Flocculation processes with local coagulants to reduce pollutants impact on groundwater.The results showed the addition of alum at 35 mg/l increased the removal efficiency by 80.7% at the settling time of 60 min, and the addition of 35 mg/l of the lime increased the removal efficiency by 63.9% at the same settling time.It has been proven that the use of alum is more effective than lime for sedimentation suspended matter. The optimum dosage and settling time are 20 mg/l and 60 min respectively.


—The Sierra Blanca Sierra Blanca Basin preserves a 140–800 m-thick sequence of lower to middle Eocene flu - vial strata with distinctive reddish floodplain deposits. These strata have been assigned to the Cub Mountain and the overlying Sanders Canyon Formations. We propose redefining the base of the Cub Mountain Formation to the top of an extensive paleosol that very likely coincides with the regional Cenozoic-Cretaceous unconformity. The paleosol is 3 to 8 m thick, light gray to light grayish green, and contains dark purplish black, manganese or iron oxide concretions that are 3–10 cm in diameter. The paleosol underlies reddish floodplain deposits and Eocene fossil localities. Where the paleosol is absent, the lowest occurrence of reddish floodplain deposits, or coarse channel-fills clearly associated with the reddish floodplain deposits, should serve as the base of the formation. Near the type area of the Cub Mountain Formation, past studies have included in the basal Cub Mountain Formation a 30–60 m-thick conglomeratic sandstone interval that underlies this paleosol, but our redefinition results in this interval correlating with the Ash Canyon Member of the Crevasse Canyon Formation (Upper Cretaceous). Because imbricated gravels are rela - tively sparse above the paleosol near the Cub Mountain Formation type area, we suspect that much of the imbrication measure - ments used to support a northeast paleoflow direction for the Cub Mountain Formation actually came from the upper Crevasse Canyon Formation. Collection of new paleoflow data from strata clearly overlying the paleosol indicate southerly paleocurrents ranging from west to southwest to southeast. Stratigraphic interpretations for the 1160 m-thick Lewelling unit, designated for volcaniclastic strata overlying the Crevasse Canyon Formation in the Lewelling No. 2 well, suggest major structures (likely reverse faults) on the southwest side of the Laramide-age Sierra Blanca Basin.


Paul Robert Magocsi and Ivan Pop, eds. Encyclopedia of Rusyn History and Culture. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002. xiii, 520 pp. Tables. Maps. Illustrations. $95.00, cloth.As the first broad encyclopedic work dealing with the historical past and culture of the Rusyns, one of Europe's stateless peoples, this volume represents a positive and significant step forward in the field of Carpatho-Rusyn studies. Most importantly, it is not limited to any one area in which Rusyns live, such as Transcarpathia in western Ukraine where we find the majority of Rusyns, but offers abundant information about Rusyn history and culture in all the countries in which Rusyns have traditionally lived: Slovakia (Presov Region), Poland (Lemko Region), Yugoslavia (Vojvodina Region), Hungary, and Romania. Entries on all of these peoples focus on their mutually enriching historical and cultural relations with Rusyns and also cover Germans, Jews, and Roma who lived alongside Rusyns for centuries.Overall, the encyclopedia contains 1,072 entries arranged alphabetically. They include numerous biographies of individuals-of both Rusyn and non-Rusyn background-important in Rusyn history, culture, or Rusyn studies; descriptions ofRusyn organizations and political parties both in Europe and in North America among immigrants; and Rusyn periodicals in the homeland and, again, among immigrants. Also covered are annual events such as the Lemko Vatra and Svidnik folk festivals and historical events such as the Vistula Operation after World War II, during which thousands of Rusyns and Ukrainians were forcibly deported from south eastern Poland and resettled in former German lands in western and northern Poland. Several lengthy entries deal with archaeology, architecture, art, cinema, ethnography, history, language, and literature, among others.The encyclopedia is the collaborative product of University of Toronto professor Paul R. Magocsi; Ivan Pop, historian and former distinguished research fellow at the Institute of Slavic and Balkan Studies in the Soviet Academy of Sciences; and Bogdan Horbal, historian and librarian at the New York Public Library. Steeped for decades in the study of Carpathian Rus', these three scholars contributed the bulk of the entries, while other articles were written by experts in specific areas. Two examples: the literature entiy is the work of Elaine Rusinko, author of Straddling Borders: Literature and Identity in Subcarpathian Rus'; Helena Duc-Fajfer, professor of Lemko-Rusyn studies at the Advanced School of Education in Cracow; and Natalija Dudas, poet and cultural activist in the Rusyn national revival among Vojvodinian Rusyns. Contributing to the entry on language were linguists juraj Van'ko of the University of Constantine the Philosopher in Nitra and Aleksandr Dulicenko of Tartu University. …


Abstract:The article is devoted to the introduced species
Acalypha australis L., which has recently been actively
expanding its secondary range in Azerbaijan. The
results of the study of the distribution and new localities
of the species in the republic are discussed, the areas
are specified, the species composition of phytocenoses
is described, the influence of field moisture on the
vitality of A. australis and the dependence on vertical
zoning are considered. The main habitats of the species
are garden plots, vegetable gardens, park zones and the
sides of small water channels, the introduction of A.
australis into forest, coastal ecosystems is noted.
Keywords: invasive species, Greater Caucasus, Lesser
Caucasus, forest ecosystems, coastal strip, agrocenoses,
abundance


Intergroup differences in retirement rates by race, major occupation and health status are examined and allocated to differences in budget sets and indifference curve parameters. In addition, comparisons indicate that average retirement rates for groups may, at times, be misleading indicators of marginal responses to incentives. It is predicted that all groups will respond to the work incentives in the 1983 Social Security Amendments, even those ill health and difficult jobs, and the resulting increases in earnings are predicted to amount to from one sixth to over one half of the reductionin lifetime benefits created by the amendments.


OBJECTIVE
To test whether follow-up phone calls to counsel families about pediatric emergency department (PED) use and primary care availability made after an index PED visit would modify subsequent PED use.

DESIGN
Longitudinal prospective randomized intervention.

SETTING
An urban academic children's hospital.

PATIENTS
A total of 4246 individuals aged 0 to 21 years from each of 4 participating primary care practices recording an index PED visit from April through December 2005.

INTERVENTION
Follow-up phone call from the primary care practice within 72 hours of the initial PED visit to counsel about the availability of after-hours advice and when to access the PED.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
All subsequent visits to primary care practices, PED, pediatric subspecialists, or for inpatient hospitalization during a 365-day follow-up period. Logistic and ordinary least squares regressions estimated unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios of follow-up visits, controlling for covariates.

RESULTS
Of the 2166 intervention subjects, 816 (37.7%) recorded follow-up PED visits compared with 819 (39.4%) of the 2080 control subjects (P = .26, not significant). The adjusted odds of a follow-up visit being to the PED rather than to another venue was significantly less for intervention than for control subjects (odds ratio, 0.88; confidence interval, 0.82-0.94), indicating decreased intensity of PED use.

CONCLUSION
Follow-up phone calls from primary care practices after PED visits counseling patients on the use of primary care and emergency services can modulate subsequent care-seeking behavior and decrease future PED use.


Motivation Imaging mass spectrometry (imaging MS) is a prominent technique for capturing distributions of molecules in tissue sections. Various computational methods for imaging MS rely on quantifying spatial correlations between ion images, referred to as co-localization. However, no comprehensive evaluation of co-localization measures has ever been performed; this leads to arbitrary choices and hinders method development. Results We present ColocAI, an artificial intelligence approach addressing this gap. With the help of 42 imaging MS experts from 9 labs, we created a gold standard of 2210 pairs of ion images ranked by their co-localization. We evaluated existing co-localization measures and developed novel measures using tf-idf and deep neural networks. The semi-supervised deep learning Pi model and the cosine score applied after median thresholding performed the best (Spearman 0.797 and 0.794 with expert rankings respectively). We illustrate these measures by inferring co-localization properties of 10273 molecules from 3685 public METASPACE datasets. Availability and Implementation https://github.com/metaspace2020/coloc Contact firstname.lastname@example.com


The adsorption of greenhouse gases (GHG) as a method to reduce their emissions into the atmosphere is an alternative that is easier to implement industrially and cheaper than other existing technologies, such as chemical capture, cryogenic separation, or membrane separation. The vast majority of works found in the literature have focused their efforts on capturing CO2 as it is the largest GHG. However, although N2O emissions are not as large as CO2, the impact that N2O has on the stratosphere and climate is much larger in proportion, despite which there is not much research on N2O capture. Since both gases are usually emitted into the atmosphere together (along with other gases), it is necessary to design selective adsorbents capable of capturing and separating these gases from each other and from other gases, to mitigate the effects of climate change. This review aims to compile the existing information to date on porous adsorbents, the characteristics of the N2O adsorption processes and, above all, aims to focus the reader's gaze on the importance of designing selective adsorbents for greenhouse gas mixtures.


A number of papers have been published on the computational approaches to electrokinetic flows. Nearly all of these decoupled approaches rely on the assumption of the Poisson-Boltzmann equation and do not consider the effect of velocity field on the electric double layers. By means of a charge continuity equation, we present here a numerical model for the simulation of pressure driven flow with electrokinetic effects in parallel-plate microchannels. Our approach is similar to that given by van Theemsche et al. [Anal. Chem., 74, 4919 (2002)] except that we assumed liquid conductivity to be constant and allows simulation to be performed in experimental dimension. The numerical simulation requires the solution of the Poisson equation, charge continuity equation and the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. The simulation is implemented in a finite-volume based Matlab code. To validate the model, we measured the electrical potential downstream along the channel surface. The simulated results were also compared with known analytical solutions and experimental data. Results indicate that the linear potential distribution assumption in the streaming direction is in general not valid, especially when the flow rate is large for the specific channel geometry. The good agreement between numerical simulation and experimental data suggests that the present model can be employed to predict pressure-driven flow in microchannels.Copyright © 2004 by ASME


Terrace farming is the quintessential farming system in Nepal covering 70% of the country's farmland. Modern mechanization has not made inroads in terrace farming due to narrow and small plot sizes on a difficult terrain. In the recent decades, migration of males out of the villages in search of employment have reduced available farm labour and increased workload on females. Frequent droughts, unpredictable rainfall, landslides and soil erosion have been exacerbated by climate change. Terrace farming has become synonymous with drudgery inducing farming.


This study explores the policy process surrounding the decision to privatize and its effects on government, the public, labour, and the business community in Canada. Four case studies are looked at in two different sectors (waste collection and public transit) and two municipalities (The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD)). The results were analyzed through a network/class theoretical framework using open-ended coding. Two main questions were asked: (1) Does privatization create winners and losers? and (2) How and why is privatization still used widely as a policy tool if there now exists a large body of evidence that suggest that it is a poor policy option? The study resulted in a number of findings related to both questions. In particular a number of important and telling variables emerged from the data. For the first question, it became clear that privatization did in fact produce winners and losers. More specifically, it became clear that there were clear winners and clear losers in the privatization equation. For these particular cases it was clear that the government, the public, and organized labour lost, while only the business community won. For the second question, the results showed that a number of factors influence the decision-making process surrounding privatization, and often times these factors are anything but empirical or evidence-based. The results showed that factors like ideology, political reasons, and network relationships played a key role in influencing policy, while factors like evidence, increased efficiency, and increased productivity were lacking or ignored. Overall, this study represents a contribution to the field of policy studies and the study of privatization. First, this ''''' dissertation represents a contribution to the small but growing body of critical approach literature that seeks to understand the effects of privatization. Second, it helps build the case for the network/class approach to be included as one of the more insightful approaches to understanding the policy process. Finally, it sheds new light on the policy and decision-making processes that surround privatization, which, for the most part, have been unclear, understudied, and secretive.


: Chylous cysts are in frequent entities which may have a variable pathogenesis. Their clinical and radiological presentation is fairly similar in each case report. Their CT appearance is very specific, but only histopathology can certify their etiology and their benign nature.


Linkage disequilibrium (LD) plays a central role in fine mapping of disease genes and, more recently, in characterizing haplotype blocks. Classical LD measures, such as D′ and r2, are frequently used to quantify relationship between two loci. A pairwise "distance" matrix among a set of loci can be constructed using such a measure, and based upon which a number of haplotype block detection and tagging single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) selection algorithms have been devised. Although successful in many applications, the pairwise nature of these measures does not provide a direct characterization of joint linkage disequilibrium among multiple loci. Consequently, applications based on them may lead to loss of important information. In this report, we propose a multilocus LD measure based on generalized mutual information, which is also known as relative entropy or Kullback‐Leibler distance. In essence, this measure seeks to quantify the distance between the observed haplotype distribution and the expected distribution assuming linkage equilibrium. We can show that this measure is approximately equal to r2 in the special case with two loci. Based on this multilocus LD measure and an entropy measure that characterizes haplotype diversity, we propose a class of stepwise tagging SNP selection algorithms. This represents a unified approach for SNP selection in that it takes into account both the haplotype diversity and linkage disequilibrium objectives. Applications to both simulated and real data demonstrate the utility of the proposed methods for handling a large number of SNPs. The results indicate that multilocus LD patterns can be captured well, and informative and nonredundant SNPs can be selected effectively from a large set of loci. Genet. Epidemiol. 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Abstract : We have been posing our ideas about conflict in the information age for some years now, beginning in 1991 with our original ruminations about cyberwar, then about netwar, and lately about 'information strategy.' With each step, we have kept returning to a favorite set of themes; organization is as crucial as technology in understanding the information revolution; this revolution is giving rise to network forms of organization; and the rise of networks will continue to accrue power to nonstate actors, more than to states, until states adapt by learning to remold their hierarchies into hybrids that incorporate network design elements. Meanwhile, we have kept our eyes on emerging trends in conflict from the end of the Persian Gulf War, through recent developments in places like Chechnya and Chiapas to further our understanding that the context and conduct of conflict is changing from one end of the spectrum to the other. New modes of war, terrorism, crime, and even radical activism are all these emerging from similar information age dynamics? If so, what is the best preparation for responding to such modes? When the subject is warfare, for example, it is common wisdom that militaries tend to prepare for the last war, and there is much historical evidence to support this notion. Today, however, it is clear that defense establishments around the world, and especially in the United States, are thinking about how war will change, how the 'revolution in military affairs' (RMA) will unfold, and how the next war may well be quite different from the last. Whether the focus is warfare, terrorism, crime, or social conflict, we have striven to anticipate what the spectrum of future wars and other types of conflicts will look like. If our approach proves correct, then perhaps this volume can help defense planners prepare for the next war instead of the last.


BACKGROUND
Studies with non-clinical populations show that nostalgia increases psychological resources, such as self-esteem and social connectedness.

OBJECTIVES
Our objectives were to find out if the benefits of nostalgia in non-clinical populations generalize to people with dementia and if nostalgia facilitates recall of dementia-related information.

METHODS
All three experiments recruited participants with mild or moderate levels of dementia. Experiment 1 tested whether nostalgia (compared to control) enhances psychological resources among 27 participants. Experiment 2 used music to induce nostalgia (compared to control) in 29 participants. Experiment 3 compared recall for self-referent dementia statements among 50 participants randomized to either a nostalgia or control condition. Findings across experiments were synthesized with integrative data analysis.

RESULTS
Nostalgia (compared to control) significantly increased self-reported social connectedness, meaning in life, self-continuity, optimism, self-esteem, and positive (but not negative) affect (Experiments 1-3). Compared to controls, nostalgic participants also recalled significantly more self-referent dementia-related information (Experiment 3).

CONCLUSION
This series of experiments extends social psychological research with non-clinical populations into dementia care, providing evidence that nostalgia significantly enhances psychological resources. The finding that nostalgia increased recall of self-referent statements about dementia suggests that this emotion lends participants the fortitude to face the threat posed by their illness. The finding has potentially important clinical implications both for the development of reminiscence therapy and for facilitating adjustment to a diagnosis of dementia.


Interleukin-6 (IL-6) stimulates growth and immunoglobulin (lg) secretion in Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-infected B cells. In this study, we demonstrate that B-cell activation by IL-6 is associated with an initial induction of c-myc, a gene believed to act as a competence factor for increased RNA transcription and DNA replication, and by increases in DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis, as well as cell number. IL-6 increased the levels of lg mRNA per cell in comparison to a non- cycle-dependent cellular mRNA, tubulin. However, two other cell cycle- dependent cellular mRNAs, c-myc and actin, were also induced by IL-6 comparable to lg mRNAs. Increased levels of lg mRNA were not due to significant changes in RNA turnover, but appeared to reflect increased levels of RNA transcription. Together, these findings support the notion that IL-6 plays an important role as a stimulator of DNA and RNA synthesis in EBV-activated B cells.


During an outbreak of neonatal meningitis caused by kanamycin-resistant Citrobacter diversus, a field procedure for presumptive identification of the organism was evaluated, and using it resulted in the early recognition of patients colonized by the epidemic strain of C. diversus. Rectal and nasopharyngeal specimens were plated and incubated on MacConkey agar containing 10 micrograms of kanamycin per ml. After 18 h of incubation, lactose-nonfermenting colonies present on the selective medium were picked and identified 8 h later with the following biochemical tests: indole, adonitol, dulcitol, citrate, and triple sugar iron agar. This presumptive identification of C. diversus was later confirmed for all cases by conventional testing with a complete set of biochemicals. In 1 week, 253 specimens from patients were processed with this technique, and 49 strains of C. diversus were identified. The rapid identification of C. diversus and transfer of carriers into appropriate cohorts resulted in a 64% reduction in the prevalence of colonization.


Business relations of economic entities operating in Kosovo have begun to be regulated similarly to those of modern countries, in accordance with the spirit of globalization. In this segment the local institutions recently succeeded in completing the primary legislation and partially the secondary one. Within this activity has been done also the reforming of judicial system, have been redefined the competencies of judicial authorities for disputes in the field of economy and above all within the Chamber of Commerce is established the Permanent Tribunal of Arbitration as a specialized agency for solving disputes of contractual business relations. With all these achievements it is estimated that this court cannot be efficient and functional because starting from 1989 the Usages as juridical resources which are contracted by parties do not only exist but no one has identify, collect and publish them in the official newspaper. Based to this situation there are problems that actually do not have answers and confused situation is creating legal uncertainty. For a long period we have been part of Former Yugoslavia and question arise: are the special and general Usages issued in 22 March 1989, considering the fact that UNIMK Regulation for Applicable Law in Kosovo in the Point 2 allows to implement the Serbian laws after March 1989 if not discriminatory, applicable in Kosovo? No regulation determines the competence of any institution that issue Usages. On the other side we are aware of the fact that the most business relations in the modern world are regulated by contracting Usages and in Kosovo we do not have regulate this segment and the Permanent Tribunal of Arbitration cannot be in the level of its duty. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n19p108


There is growing concern about the impact of contemporaneous ocean acidification on marine ecosystems, but strong evidence for predicting the consequences is still scant. We have used the gastropod Trophon geversianus as a study model for exploring the importance of oceanographic variables (sea surface temperature, chlorophyll a, oxygen, calcite and pH) on large-scale latitudinal variation in mean shell length and relative shell weight. Data were collected from a survey carried out in 34 sites along ~1600 km. Neither shell length nor relative shell weight showed any monotonic latitudinal trend, and the patterns of spatial variability were rather complex. After correcting for spatial autocorrelation, only pH showed a significant correlation with mean shell length and relative shell weight, but contrary to expectations, the association was negative in both cases. We hypothesize that this could mirror the negative effect of acidification on growth rate, which may cause larger asymptotic size. Latitudinal trends of body size variation are not easy to generalize using ecogeographic rules, and may be the result of a complex interaction of environmental drivers and life-history responses.


Palikova M., R. Krejai, K. Hilscherova, B. Bur˘‰kova, P. Babica, S. Navratil, R. Kopp, L. Blaha: Effects of Different Oxygen Saturation on Activity of Complex Biomass and Aqueous Crude Extract of Cyanobacteria During Embryonal Development in Carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) Acta Vet. Brno 2007, 76: 291-299. This study evaluates the effects of different oxygen concentrations on the toxicity of complex cyanobacterial biomass and aqueous extract of two cyanobacterial samples (prepared with regard to the content of the most studied cyanobacterial toxin microcystin: biomass 1 with the content of microcystins 2 560 µg·l -1 of dry weight and biomass 2 with the content of microcystins 70 µg·l -1 of dry weight, i.e. almost 37-times lower concentration) during embryonal development of carp (Cyprinus carpio). Effects of complex biomass and aqueous extract were tested at concentrations 120, 80 and 40 mg·l-1 in four replicates, two of them aerated and two without aeration. The studied endpoints included the beginning and the end of embryo hatching, the presence of eye points at 48 h after fertilization, filling of air bladder, cumulative mortality and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activities in surviving embryos. There was a significant increase in mortality in all variants without aeration after exposure to cyanobacterial biomass and aqueous extract (p ≤ 0.01). The variants with aeration at greater cyanobacterial concentrations also lead to a significant mortality increase (p ≤ 0.05). There was a decreased number of hatched embryos or no hatching at all in the non-aerated exposure variants for both biomasses. The lack of eye pigmentation 48 h after fertilization was observed at biomass concentrations of 120 and 80 mg·l -1 for all non-aerated biomass exposures. There were fewer individuals with filled air bladder at the greatest tested concentrations of the complex biomass (biomass 1 and 2) and concentration of 80 mg·l -1 (biomass 1) in the aerated variants. The activity of detoxification enzyme GST was studied during the experiment. GST activity was increased in treatments compared to control group in all aerated variants, but the changes were not always significant. The results of the conducted experiments clearly showed the important impact of oxygen saturation in water on the extent of cyanobacterial biomass toxicity. Mortality of fish eggs and embryos in experimental groups without aeration was significantly higher than in groups with aeration. Apart from the influence of toxic substances contained in the cyanobacterial biomass and the crude extract, oxygen deficiency affected the mortality in the groups without aeration.


In the practical operation, twin-screw refrigerant compressors may suffer the partial load for a longer period than the full load, while different working condition leads to different response of noise and vibration on the compressor. In this paper, a new approach has been proposed to assess the vibration of a twin-screw refrigeration compressor under 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% load conditions. A powerful computational fluid dynamic (CFD) software, CFX, coupled with a professional grids generation software, TwinMesh, has been used to simulate the rotor loads and p-V indicator diagram which are then checked by the compressor manufacturer's machine type selection program. Next, the gas-induced loads are applied in a rotor-bearing system established based on the multi-body dynamics for the purpose to assess the vibration signal and give some conclusions for different signal features.


Usual interpretations of the Depression stress the disruption in Europe caused by the Versailles Settlement, and the downswing in the United States centred on the Wall Street Crash. This book, however, suggests that the situation in Asia was as important as the situation in Europe or the USA. The book examines the economic experience of Asia and Africa from 1914 to 1939 and looks at the influence of the developed world upon these two continents, showing how events there affected the entire international economy. In particular it suggests that the economic progress of the 1920s caused the depression by creating overproduction of foodstuffs and raw materials. The communications improvements of these years are examined in detail, and the complex problems of the monetary systems of the developing countries are outlined together with the flow of capital to these areas, and its reversal in the 1930s. In the discussion on trade, the disappearance of Britain's surplus with these countries is stressed, as it weakened her international trading balance and contributed to the collapse of the Sterling in 1931. First published in 1981, the book concludes that the overproduction of rice coupled with overproduction of wheat, forced down prices, thus causing the international agricultural depression. In turn, farm incomes fell and demand for industrial goods was destroyed across the world.


BACKGROUND
Mood disorders are a leading cause of morbidity. Many patients experience treatment-resistant depression (TRD), and suicide rates are rising. Faster-acting and more effective antidepressant medications are needed. Four decades of research has transformed the use of ketamine from an anesthetic to an outpatient treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD). Ketamine is a N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist and has been shown to rapidly improve mood symptoms and suicidal ideation by targeting the glutamate system directly.

METHODS
We used the PubMed database to identify relevant articles published until September 1, 2020. We focused on meta-analyses, randomized controlled trials, and original observational studies. We included relevant studies for depression, MDD, TRD, bipolar disorder, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suicide, ketamine, and esketamine.

RESULTS
Both racemic ketamine and esketamine have been shown to rapidly treat depression and suicidality. There is evidence that ketamine can be helpful for anxiety and PTSD; however, more research is needed. Intranasal esketamine has been FDA-approved to treat depression.

CONCLUSIONS
This narrative review describes the evolution of ketamine to treat mood disorders and suicidality. We provide the evidence supporting recent developments using esketamine as well as unresolved issues in the field, such as dosing and safety.


The Seabed AUV is an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) built to serve as a readily available and operationally simple tool for high resolution imaging. It is a hover-capable vehicle that performs optical sensing with a 12 bit 1280/spl times/1024 CCD camera and acoustic high resolution mapping using an MST 300 kHz sidescan and a 675 kHz pencil beam bathymetric sonar. The AUV has been designed for operations from small vessels with minimal support equipment. It has an operational depth of 2000 meters and at 1 m/s can run for up to 10 hours. In this paper we report on the use of Seabed for habitat classification. Over the last two years we have utilized the vehicle in diverse areas off of Puerto Rico and Bermuda for coral reef habitat characterization and off of Cape Cod for scallop abundance measurements. Biological benthic imaging places unique constraints on the control, navigation and imaging requirements for AUVs. In particular, marine biologists require close-up, color imagery for species recognition. Thus we highlight our efforts controls, navigation and imaging in support of such tasks. (i) Control - the ability to perform very tight surveys for photomosaicking areas of interest while simultaneously maintaining bottom following over rugged terrains. (ii) Navigation - the use of single ship based long baseline navigation in combination with dead reckoned ADCP based inertial navigation which allows us to cover large areas without the need to deploy transponder nets. and (iii) Imaging - obtaining high resolution color imagery within the constraints of power associated with working on an AUV.


The purpose of this research study is to design a survey instrument to determine the effectiveness of the information technology (IT) and information systems (IS) programs in teaching ethics and ethical behavior as it relates to the IT profession. As researchers and as teachers, we want to know if students learn what constitutes ethical behavior in the information technology and information system programs and understand the obligations of an information technology professional with regards to ethical behavior in the workplace. A survey was designed as a tool to assess the effectiveness of teaching ethics in IT and IS curricula. The survey addresses ethical issues such as plagiarism, intellectual property rights, computer related issues, privacy concerns, and law and public policy issues. The survey was administered to classes in an IT degree program in Spring 2013. The development and results of the survey are presented.


Osteoarthritis is a ubiquitous disease in dogs. The purpose of this retrospective study was to characterize the severity and distribution of osteoarthritis (OA) within the joint and to identify differences among dog breeds in the severity of OA in the cranial cruciate ligament (CCL)-deficient stifle joint. Radiographs of 240 stifles from 51 Boxers, 66 German Shepherds, 100 Labrador Retrievers, and 23 Siberian Huskies with confirmed CCL rupture were included. Radiographs of the stifle joint were evaluated and OA severity was graded at 33 sites within and around the joint, and patella alta was graded as present or absent for a potential total stifle OA score of 100. Osteophyte size was correlated to OA severity score. Total OA scores were calculated and compared within and between breeds globally as well as at each joint site. Dogs weighing >35 kg had a higher total OA score than those weighing <35 kg. Osteoarthritis scores were highest at the apical patella, proximolateral tibia, and sesamoid bones, corresponding to the proximal, lateral, and caudal aspects of the joint, respectively. No statistically significant differences were found among the mean OA scores of various stifle joint regions. Boxer dogs had a higher total OA score than other breeds. We concluded that dogs have a consistent distribution pattern of OA within the stifle joint after CCL injury. Radiographic OA is more severe in the proximal, lateral, and caudal aspects of the joint. Boxers had more severe OA than the other breeds evaluated in the study.


With increasing emphasis among health care providers and funders on patient-centered care, it follows that patients and their caregivers should be included when priorities for research are being established. This study sought to identify the most important unanswered questions about the management of kidney failure from the perspective of adult patients on or nearing dialysis, their caregivers, and the health care professionals who care for these patients. Research uncertainties were identified through a national Canadian survey of adult patients on or nearing dialysis, their caregivers, and health care professionals. Uncertainties were refined by a steering committee that included patients, caregivers, researchers, and clinicians to assemble a short-list of the top 30 uncertainties. Thirty-four people (11 patients; five caregivers; eight physicians; six nurses; and one social worker, pharmacist, physiotherapist, and dietitian each) from across Canada subsequently participated in a workshop to determine the top 10 research questions. In total, 1570 usable research uncertainties were received from 317 respondents to the survey. Among these, 259 unique uncertainties were identified; after ranking, these were reduced to a short-list of 30 uncertainties. During the in-person workshop, the top 10 research uncertainties were identified, which included questions about enhanced communication among patients and providers, dialysis modality options, itching, access to kidney transplantation, heart health, dietary restrictions, depression, and vascular access. These can be used alongside the results of other research priority-setting exercises to guide researchers in designing future studies and inform health care funders.


The carbon nanotubes were prepared by catalytic decompose of benzene using floating transition method at 1100~1200°C. Benzene was used as carbon source and iron as catalyst with sulfur. The carbon nanotubes are straight with diameter 30~80nm, internal diameter 10~50nm and length 50~100μm. The carbon nanotubes and epoxy resin were sufficiently mixed. The mixture was smeared on to a pure aluminum plate layer by layer until the thickness of the composite layer reached 1.0 mm. The coating resin was cured by heating under infrared radiation. Complex permittivity, permeability and microwave reflectivity of carbon nanotubes reinforced epoxy resin coating had been investigated at the frequency ranges of 8.2~12.4GHz and 2~18GHz respectively. The real part (ε′) of complex permittivity of this coating ranges from 14.87 to 13.86, and the imaginary part (ε″), from 6.42 to 5.87, the loss tangent tgδε (ε″/ε′), from 0.42 to 0.45. The real part (μ′) of complex permeability of this coating ranges from 1.02 to 1.14, and the imaginary part (μ″), from 0.08 to 0.11, the loss tangent tgδμ (μ″/μ′), from 0.06 to 0.11. The maximum absorbing peak of the carbon nanotube reinforced epoxy resin coating is 22.89 dB at 11.40GHz. The band width (R<-10dB) of this coating with thickness of 1.0 mm is 3.0GHz, band width (R<-5dB) is 4.7GHz at the frequency range of 8~18GHz. This carbon nanotube reinforced epoxy resin coating would be a good candidate for microwave absorbing material.


The multivariate extremal index function is a measure of the clustering among the extreme values of a multivariate stationary sequence. In this article, we introduce a measure of the degree of clustering of upcrossings in a multivariate stationary sequence, called multivariate upcrossings index, which is a multivariate generalization of the concept of upcrossings index. We derive the main properties of this function, namely the relations with the multivariate extremal index and the clustering of upcrossings. Imposing general local and asymptotic dependence restrictions on the sequence or on its marginals we compute the multivariate upcrossings index from the marginal upcrossings indices and from the joint distribution of a finite number of variables. A couple of illustrative examples are exploited.


Faithful genome duplication is fundamentally important for all organisms. When cells encounter DNA replication stress, from difficulties in replicating either repeated sequence or aberrant DNA structure resulting from UV radiation or genotoxic chemicals, replication forks are stalled. This impediment may result in the collapse of replication forks and consequently DNA damage. Eukaryotes have evolved a signaling pathway, namely DNA replication checkpoint, which regulates cellular responses for cell viability and maintenance of genome stability under replication stress. Defects in replication checkpoint results in genomic instability, cell death and cancer. Activation of effector kinases is the hallmark of DNA replication checkpoint. They are responsible for coordinating many cellular responses after replication stress, ranging from the stabilization of stalled replication forks to the cell cycle arrest. While the functions of the effector kinases have long been appreciated, the molecular mechanisms for their activation remain elusive. Studies presented here, which utilize the biochemical and genetic amenability of budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, reveal the molecular basis of effector kinases activation. Discoveries in Chapter 2 showed the reconstitution of the activation and phosphorylation state of an effector kinase, Dun1. Analysis on its phosphorylation reveals the specific phosphorylation on its activation loop that triggers it activation. Additionally, this specific residue at the activation loop of all Chk2 family kinases are conserved. We thus suggested this activation loop phosphorylation to be a conserved regulation for the activation of Chk2 family kinases, including Dun1 and Rad53 in budding yeast. Mrc1, as part of replication machinery, serves as a docking site at stalled replication fork for the recruitment of another effector kinase Rad53. Mec1, a PIKK kinase, is the upstream replication checkpoint sensor. Both Mec1 and Mrc1 have been implicated to be crucial for Rad53 activation. Based on the studies in Chapter2, a biochemical approach using the reconstitution of Rad53 activation has led to the discovery of efficient Rad53 activation by Mec1 mediated through Mrc1. Analysis on the reconstituted system showed that instead of a two-step linear pathway, the primary role of Mrc1 is to promote Rad53 phosphorylation by Mec1 by catalyzing the enzyme- substrate interaction between Mec1 and Rad53


Despite a global ageing population, many businesses in general and advertisers in particular have been criticised for not meeting the needs of older consumers. Older Malaysians are relatively neglected and ignored by marketing and advertising although this market is growing. The majority of research pertaining to ageing consumers has been conducted in Western countries and cannot always be applied to the East because of cultural differences. As Malaysia is experiencing a demographic transition where the number of older people is increasing, it is essential for advertisers and marketers to understand older adults' specific preferences in the marketplace. The central aim of this research is to advance knowledge by analysing the usage and portrayal of older models in both television and print advertisements in Malaysia and investigating the attitude of older consumers towards such advertisements. This study evaluates the portrayal in terms of function and roles of older adults in both television and print advertisements. On top of that, attitudes of older consumers towards the use of older models in advertising are also investigated. Since not many studies on cognitive age has been done particularly in Malaysia, this study also measures cognitive age among older adults and analyses its impact on attitudes towards older advertising models. Lastly, this study has also compared and contrasted the attitudes of older and younger adults towards older models in advertisements. Based on the review of the international literature pertaining to older adults in advertising in terms of their representation, roles in advertisements, the way older models are portrayed in advertising, age-related social attitudes in terms of young people attitudes towards age and ageing and also discussion on the concept of age, a number of propositions emerged. Several relevant gerontological, psychological and sociological theories and concepts also underpin the review of the literature. Content analyses were used analyse the use and portrayal of older adults. A total of 2,230 TV advertisements and 2,687 print advertisements comprise the sample, making this the largest content analysis of Malaysian advertising ever conducted. Then, a total of 600 questionnaires comprising 400 from adults' age 50+ years and, for comparative purposes,200 from younger people, were collected in order to assess attitudes towards different portrayals of older models. Cognitive age was also measured. The findings of this thesis have made several contributions to knowledge. First, this is the first Malaysia study to consider the use and portrayal of older models in both print and television advertisements. Results show that older adults in Malaysian advertising are portrayed as active, happy and are shown in a variety of settings. These findings are in contrast to many international studies, and are important because advertising can impact the way older adults are treated in society and influence the self-esteem of older adults themselves. Second, the thesis analyses the different ways in which gender is depicted in advertising, and finds that despite older females being financially successful, advertising still restricts them to mostly support roles and rarely shows them in non-domestic settings. Third, the thesis has also considered how different ethnic groups are portrayed in ads and analysed attitudes of different ethnic groups towards older models which have never been studied before, which have implications for advertising design. Fourth, the study establishes that older Malaysian consumers use advertising to inform product choices in different ways to younger adults. Different media usage and attitudes towards advertisements also emerged among the older group, all of which have implications for segmentation as well as helping marketers to design better advertising strategies and media plans. Fifth, the study explores age differences in attitudes towards older advertising models and finds that younger people actually had more positive attitudes towards advertisements with positive portrayals than did the older adults. However, advertisements that portray older models with positive stereotype are more preferable by older adults compared to younger people. Lastly, this study has also measured self-perceived age among older Malaysian consumers, considers the impact of self-perceived age on attitudes towards older models in advertisements, and finds that self-perceived or cognitive age is a useful concept for consideration when advertising to this increasingly important consumer market. Existing literature indicates limited research has identified segments of older adults in Malaysia. The findings of this study on media usage and self-perceived age make a significant contribution to the body of knowledge on segmentation of older Malaysian adults. The different segmentation variables that emerged from this study show that older consumers are not a homogeneous demographic. In addition to these contributions to knowledge, the study strengthens and contributes to theoretical perspectives on successful ageing. Notably, this research finds that older Malaysians are capable of remaining socially active and continue many behavioural patterns with which they are comfortable. These findings support Activity Theory and Continuity Theory. A key contribution to these theories is the finding of a 'youth bias' in that older Malaysians feel on average 14 years younger than their actual age. The research therefore lends a new dimension of support for these key gerontological theories. The thesis makes several practical contributions. The research finds that older adults rely on product and service information contained in advertising to make purchase decisions, hence informational as opposed to solely emotional advertising execution strategies should work well with this older demographic. Second, the findings pertaining to self-perceived age suggest that advertisers should create ads that portray older adults in the same way as they perceive themselves. Results also suggest that both younger and older adults prefer older adults to be portrayed in a positive light in advertisement. Indeed, younger people showed more positive attitudes towards older adults that portray positive stereotypes in advertisements compared with older people themselves. Analysis of the study data revealed that the methods used in this study are appropriate to be employed with this age group and the study has guided other researchers in ways of collecting data from older adults. This study has also suggested that mixed methods can be also applied to get in depth analysis.


With the increasing interest in investment in the emerging/developing markets, valuation is gaining greater importance. It ensures that both buyers (acquirers) and sellers achieve value for their investment. Valuation is an art or science of estimating the value of a particular interest in property for a specific purpose at a particular moment in time taking into account all features of the property and also considering all other market factors. The complication regarding income attributable to equity holders has led to a number of models and this study sought to test two of this valuation models
There are practical problems in firm valuation due to uncertainty and the instability surrounding income attributable to equity holders. Given the high risks of the Kenyan market and increased interest of investors in this market, it is of great importance to research on how practitioners carry out valuation in Kenya and the extent to which their work can be relied on. The objective of the study was to determine the reliability of the valuation methods used by investment banks in the Kenyan market.
The findings were that when the market values were compared with the equity values derived from discounted free cash flow method, the regression resulted in an R2 of 0.31 within a confidence level of 95%. The market value when compared with equity value derived from the economic value added model derived an R2 of 0.01 and the p-value was more than 0.05. The conclusion was that the cash flow model is a more reliable indicator of the market equity value while the economic value added model is not a good indicator of the market equity value.


SOMMARIO: 1. Ministerialita e missionarieta del Diritto canonico - 2. La norma missionis come statuto costituzionale del Diritto canonico - 3. La communio come genus della corresponsabilita ecclesiale - 4. Trapianto da donatore non compatibile e problematiche di rigetto: non equiparabilita tra Diritto amministrativo canonico e statale - 5. Il concetto sui generis di Diritto amministrativo nella Chiesa cattolica - 6. Diversita strutturali nell'organigramma ecclesiale - 7. Il paradigma europeo come " analogatum princeps " del sistema canonico: verso un'amministrazione "di missione". Specificity of canonical administrative law and "mission administration". Ecclesial ministry as a requalification marker for  ontological-disciplinary autonomy ABSTRACT: The need to configure a correct boundary within which to draw up the structure of administrative activity in the Church responds to the urgency to avoid undue and inaccurate transposition of concepts proper to secular juridical fields in the background of Canon law. In fact, in the Church it is not possible to speak of a "public administration-entity" but of an "administration-activity". It is not so much the subject that has to be examined, in view of a claim that is not suited to the foundational (top-down) and non-consociative (bottom-up) nature of the Church; as much as the concrete activities to be carried out within it, in the ideal of a shared responsibility that does not deprive the individual faithful of juridical positions that they can claim, but directs them within correct coordinates. The faithful do not live a dimension of " homo homini lupus ", to reach an individual salvific finish line where one place to be conquered excludes that one of another. On the contrary, they pursue, united under the one baptism, the implementation of the mission of Christ, also through those juridical instruments which the Church has endowed through the story, but which are to be understood in their precise peculiarities, even though a relationship can not be excluded of mutual growth with secular law. According to this paradigm, the example of European Union law can be a valid benchmark for describing the particularities of ecclesial reality in a sector as specific as that of administrative law.


Field experiments were conducted in the Nellis Dunes Recreational Area (Nevada, USA) to study the dynamics of dust clouds produced by off-road vehicle (ORV) driving. Tests were performed with a 4-wheeler (quad), for 3 driving speeds between 24 and 40 km h and for 7 different types of surfaces. Fine as well as coarse-grained surfaces were investigated in the tests. Results show that concentration of PM10 (particles <10 μm, which are the most easily inhaled) behind an ORV can be as high as 160 mg m or even more at nose level of quad drivers and passive recreants standing near an ORV trail. ORV generated dust clouds are characterized by a main wave of high concentration followed by an exponential decrease with irregularities (secondary waves) until background concentration has again been reached. Peak concentrations usually occur between 5 and 7 seconds after the passage of an ORV and are higher for silty surfaces than for sandy surfaces. Under no-wind and headwind conditions it takes at least one minute before PM10 concentration has returned to the background level. For tailwind the duration of elevated concentration is of the order of 30 seconds. For winds blowing obliquely to the driving path it is only a few seconds. Elevated PM10 concentrations may occur up to several hundreds of meters behind an ORV, even if no dust is visually noticeable. In-echelon driving is thus strongly dissuaded unless appropriate protection is worn against inhaling the dust.


Population stratification has the potential to affect the results of genetic marker studies. Estimating individual ancestry provides a continuous measure to assess population structure in case-control studies of complex disease, instead of using self-reported racial groups. We estimate individual ancestry using the Federal Bureau of Investigation CODIS Core short tandem repeat set of 13 loci using two different analysis methods in a case-control study of early-onset lung cancer. Individual ancestry proportions were estimated for "European" and "West African" groups using published allele frequencies. The majority of Caucasian, non-Hispanics had >50% European ancestry, whereas the majority of African Americans had <20% European ancestry, regardless of ancestry estimation method, although significant overlap by self-reported race and ancestry also existed. When we further investigated the effect of ancestry and self-reported race on the frequency of a lung cancer risk genotype, we found that the frequency of the GSTM1 null genotype varies by individual European ancestry and case-control status within self-reported race (particularly for African Americans). Genetic risk models showed that adjusting for individual European ancestry provided a better fit to the data compared with the model with no group adjustment or adjustment for self-reported race. This study suggests that significant population substructure differences exist that self-reported race alone does not capture and that individual ancestry may be confounded with disease status and/or a candidate gene risk genotype.


Even with the use of effective universal classroom management practices, some students will need additional behavioral supports. However, to translate implementation of new strategies into the classroom, professional development programs need to be adaptive to the complexities teachers face in providing instruction and managing classroom behaviors among diverse learners. Teachers also need support to successfully implement universal practices as well as to develop and enact plans for supporting students with disruptive behavior. This article describes a universal classroom management program that embeds coaching within the model. The coach supported teachers both in implementing universal strategies and in developing and implementing behavior support plans for students with disruptive behavior. The study evaluates the effectiveness of the behavior support plans and the types of coaching activities used to support these plans. Findings indicated that during meetings with teachers, coaches spent time action planning and providing performance feedback to teachers on their implementation of the behavior support plans. In addition, teachers reduced their rate of reprimands with the targeted at-risk students. Students receiving behavioral supports demonstrated decreased rates of disruptive behavior, increased prosocial behavior, and a trend toward improved on-task behavior. In comparison, a matched sample of students with disruptive behaviors did not demonstrate improved outcomes. Implications for practice are discussed.


Objective: Although the importance of environmental and occupational exposure to carcinogenic agents in pulmonary carcinoma is well known, some other factors, such as familial predisposition, genetic abnormalities, and recently, the presence of Helicobacter pylori infection, are being disputed. This study focused on the relationship between pulmonary carcinoma and H. pylori infection. Methods: In total, 48 histologically verified and operated patients with pulmonary carcinoma, including 38 males and 10 females, were included; 22 of the cases were of squamous cell carcinomas and 26 were adenocarcinomas. The control group composed of 20 patients who underwent pulmonary operation for causes other than lung cancer. Adjacent non-neoplastic parenchymal and bronchial tissue examples were stained using the Giemsa stain in carcinoma cases. The pulmonary tissue-contained bronchial sections were stained in control cases. The bronchial epithelia and lumina in the Giemsa stained slides were examined for H. pylori bacilli. Results: H. pylori was found in 2 of 48 carcinoma cases. The histopathological diagnosis of these 2 cases was squamous cell carcinoma. But there wasn't any case stained for H.pylori in the control group. Conclusion: The relationship between pulmonary carcinoma and H. pylori infection had been researched through serological studies; however, conflicting evidences have been obtained. The bacterium is transmitted to the lungs via seeding and inhalation was reported to be effective directly. Chronic H. pylori infection leads to bronchial epithelial proliferation via increased gastrin level and cyclo-oxygenase-2. Moreover, it contributes to pulmonary carcinogenesis. In conclusion, an association between H. pylori infection and pulmonary carcinoma may be revealed by variable studies, and the underlying mechanisms can be understood.


SUMMARY

Regulations have limited the options and increased the cost of disposing of unwanted materials, products, and equipment. This has increased the pressure on purchasers to develop innovative approaches to managing residual disposition. Good management requires not only a clearer understanding of the origins of these items and the options available, but an understanding of how costs are incurred and how they may be reduced across the supply chain. Based on several in-depth case studies at firms in the furniture, commercial printing, electronics, and pharmaceutical industries, this research discovered that firms generate residuals at multiple functional points preceding manufacturing and that their disposition decisionmaking is affected by one or a combination of three drivers: intrinsic value, overwhelming volume of material, and regulatory compliance. Moreover, most organizations neither consider nor track disposal costs, thereby obscuring both the issue as well as potential solutions.


The diagnosis of acute suppurative otitis media is not as easy and straightforward as it may seem. Many of the signs and symptoms in children with acute otitis media are also observed in children without it. Furthermore, several of the "classic" findings of acute otitis media, such as fever and earache, are often absent, even in cases confirmed by myringotomy. An otoscope with a fresh bulb and a good power source, as well as a view of the tympanic membrane that is not obstructed by cerumen, are essential to making the diagnosis of acute otitis media. A bulging, cloudy, immobile tympanic membrane is highly associated with otitis media. Erythema of the eardrum alone, however, is often the result of viral infection, crying or attempts to remove cerumen and should not be the sole basis for the diagnosis of acute otitis media. To avoid the common problem of overdiagnosing acute otitis media, the clinician should consider the predictive values of the various symptoms and physical examination findings associated with ear infections.


The arguments for criminalizing prostitution surround public concerns—moral order, public health, and safety. For this reason, an understanding of attitudes about the nature and consequences of the practice, particularly among American males, the presumed consumers of sex-related exchanges, is needed. Specifically, how do contextual beliefs about the nature of prostitution (e.g., negative health effects, victimization risk, age of entry) shape policy preferences regarding prostitution? Data from a nationally representative survey developed to solicit sensitive information are utilized to assess these attitudes among a large sample of American men (N = 2,525). Results show that paradoxically most men approve of legalizing commercial sex exchange, even while believing the practice harms prostitutes by increasing victimization risk and reducing their overall well-being. Multivariate analysis indicates divides in opinion regarding legalization support. Implications are discussed.


U.S. buildings are a significant source of energy consumption (about 50%) and carbon emissions (about 40%), and providing conditioning to building interiors is a major portion of that expenditure. Improving building envelope performance can reduce the amount of energy used for heating and cooling, since external walls provide an important barrier between occupied building spaces and variable ambient conditions. In general, multi-layer exterior walls tend to perform better than single-layer walls, even for the same overall R-value and thermal capacitance. This work addresses practical choices in multi-layer wall design to minimize internal temperature swings that result from outside, or ambient, temperature fluctuations. An electrical analogy is used to model one-dimensional heat conduction using RC circuits. A frequency response analysis is conducted based on a period of one day. For a fixed wall thickness, four features are optimized: materials, proportion of materials, number of layers, and material distribution. Key design features include pairing insulating and thermally massive materials, distributing layers evenly, and positioning the insulating layers at the inner- and outer-most layers of the wall (i.e., near the indoor and outdoor environments). Methods for determining the optimal proportion of each material and number of layers are also presented. Combined, these easily implemented features can reduce interior temperature fluctuations by several orders of magnitude compared to ambient temperature variations. This helps maintain steady indoor temperatures, which is more comfortable for building occupants, and supports energy management strategies, like reducing peak heating and cooling loads.


To determine the presence of Brucella ovis in ovine from Paraiba State, in the Northeast region of Brazil, 80 animals slaughtered in the public slaughterhouse of Patos city were used. Before slaughter, blood samples were collected by jugular venopuncture from each animal, and after slaughter, testicles, epidydimus and uterus were aseptically collected. For the serological diagnosis of B. ovis and B. abortus infections, the agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) and Rose Bengal (RBT) tests were carried out, respectively. In addition, microbiological culture and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were performed on testicle, epidydimus and uterus samples. Six animals (7.5%) tested positive for the presence of B. ovis antibodies and all animals tested negative for the presence of B. abortus antibodies. One AGID-positive animal tested positive at uterine swab culture. PCR was able to amplify DNA of Brucella spp. from the pool of testicle, epidydimus and uterus samples from AGID-positive animals. This is the first report of isolation and detection of B. ovis DNA by PCR in ovine from the Northeast region of Brazil.


The United States was fortunate to avoid another protracted post-election fight in the 2004 presidential election. Although the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) promised substantial changes in the way that elections are conducted in the United States, these changes in federal law did not prevent serious problems from occurring in Ohio and other states. The only reason that these problems did not lead to another contested election is because the margin of victory exceeded the margin of litigation. This Article examines how the changes commonly referred to as election reform contributed to the difficulties that emerged in 2004, focusing especially on Ohio's experience with respect to voting equipment, voter registration, provisional voting, ID requirements, challenges to voter eligibility, and polling place operations. The article then considers what should be done to deal with the problems that the 2004 election revealed, drawing five lessons for the future: (1) while HAVA's changes with respect to voting equipment have had a beneficial effect, there is a continuing need for improvement in those states that have not yet upgraded their technology; (2) pre-election litigation challenging election administration practices should be brought as far in advance of election day as practicable; (3) courts should act swiftly in issuing injunctive relief where it is appropriate; (4) states should prescribe clear rules governing the administration of elections, as far in advance of election day as possible; and (5) courts should take a skeptical view of election administration rules that are promulgated unilaterally by partisan election officials, as opposed to those enacted by the legislature or by some other bipartisan or nonpartisan body.


VALIDATION OF SOLAR FLARE FORECASTING & EVOLUTION OF MAGNETIC HELICITY OF TWO ACTIVE REGIONS by Qin Li This thesis includes two components: (1) Validation of the NJIT flare-forecasting model that was established in recent years is carried out based on the statistical correlation between solar magnetic parameters and flare productivity of active regions (ARs). 378 ARs are examined, comparing observation with prediction. It is found that the accuracy rate to some extent decreases with the level of flares. (2) The temporal evolution of the relative magnetic helicity of two ARs, AR 11072 and 11158 is investigated. The former is flare-quiet while the latter is flare-productive over the 5-day observation period. It is found that for both regions, the shear-term is a predominant factor of magnetic helicity flux. The shear-term has the same sign as the emergence-term in both ARs. AR 11158 follows the "helicity hemispheric rule" (i.e., negative in the North hemisphere and positive in the South hemisphere), whereas AR 11072 does not. VALIDATION OF SOLAR FLARE FORECASTING & EVOLUTION OF MAGNETIC HELICITY OF TWO ACTIVE REGIONS


The side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) and single-mode continuous tuning range were measured for planar short-external-cavity semiconductor diode lasers to examine the positional and angular alignment tolerances of the external cavity mirror relative to the laser facet. For inverted rib waveguide lasers, the SMSR was found to be </= -25 dB for external cavity lengths of 40-200 microm and </= -23 dB for rotational misalignments of +/-8 degrees . For parallel alignment of the external cavity mirror and laser facet, continuous single-mode tuning ranges of 1.0 nm, or 110% of a mode spacing, were obtained. At external cavity lengths of <100 microm, the total amount of continuous single-mode tuning, summed over all modes, was ~72 cm(-1), which corresponds to ~75% spectral coverage.


Aims Children with Prader Willi Syndrome (PWS) are often reviewed in general clinics where knowledge of PWS is limited and advice fragmented. We describe the benefits of a multi disciplinary PWS clinic and additional monitoring tools, illustrated by a case study. Methods The clinic combines expertise in paediatric endocrinology, dietetics and community child health. Advice is given on guidance on eating & other behaviours, and meal composition. Use of 3 day food diaries is combined with measuring body composition using bioelectrical impedence and international PWS growth charts. Results Prospective guidance on eating behaviour and expectations from an early age has been associated with more controlled growth patterns in PWS children. Advice & interventions for the range of growth, behavioural, medical & educational needs have been facilitated through this joint approach. Parent feedback is positive. X is a 6 year old boy with PWS. Over the last 3 years weight on UK90 growth charts has shown accelerated weight velocity increasingly out of proportion to height. Equivalent plots on American PWS specific charts showed growth velocity and centile positions (both for weight and height) appropriate for age. Equivalent plots on European PWS charts also showed centile position more appropriate for age. 3 day food diaries over the 3 year period indicated caloric intakes below the Reference Nutrient Intake for age. The balance of nutrients remained steady and no significant micronutrient deficiency was identified as a result of following a reduced calorie diet. Serial measurements of body composition using impedance showed fluctuations in %fat but some level of stability in the face of steadily rising body mass index (19 in year 1 increasing to 24 in year 3). Conclusion The management of PWS children can ideally be delivered by a local multidisciplinary team who develop experience in the condition and can access appropriate monitoring equipment. Dietary analysis, bioelectrical impedance measurements and use of international reference data is quick, repeatable and cheap. As highlighted in our case study these provide invaluable feedback to families where positive aspects of management would have gone unrecognised without specific additional monitoring.