Background Much attention has been paid to the study and reporting of gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms in COVID-19 patients. Moreover, an increasing number of COVID-19 patients have been noted to experience hepatic and pancreatic injury. In this study, we retrospectively investigated symptoms and laboratory findings related to the GI system in a single center in Athens, Greece, and assessed the role of these parameters in relation to survival and disease severity. Method We retrospectively studied 61 adult COVID-19 patients admitted to the Army Share Fund Hospital (NIMTS) in Athens, Greece, from April 6th to May 6th, 2020. Results Sixty-one COVID-19 cases were assessed in the study period. Regarding both survival and disease severity, diarrhea was the most common finding. The multivariate analysis revealed that elevated serum aspartate aminotransferase levels and low serum albumin levels were associated with worse patient survival (odds ratio [OR] 1.029, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.007-1.05, P=0.0088; and OR 0.219, 95%CI 0.066-0.723, P=0.0127, respectively). As far as disease severity is concerned, only a low serum albumin level (measured at hospital admission) was correlated with more severe disease (OR 0.025, 95%CI 0.004-0.161, P=0.0001). Conclusions Outpatients with new-onset GI symptoms should be considered for COVID-19 testing in a high COVID-19 prevalence setting, as these symptoms are observed more and more in clinical settings. As prospective studies begin to emerge, clinicians will have more robust research data to diagnose COVID-19 patients earlier and identify patients in need of more intensive treatment.


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Author(s): Goshe, Sonya Marie | Advisor(s): Currie, Elliot | Abstract: The longstanding reality of injustice for youth, particularly for those living in communities hardest hit by inequality, oppression, and disinvestment, deeply contradicts our rhetorical concern for youth welfare as well as the mission of juvenile justice and its dominant paradigms. Scholars have documented the pitfalls of juvenile justice for many years, noting that it issues too much punishment, offers too little support, and perpetuates systemic inequalities (Lemert, 1967; Schur, 1973; Platt, 1977; Bernard, 1992, Goldson and Muncie, 2009; Bishop 2004; Feld, 2000). But, what I see as currently missing or under-emphasized in the existing literature is how key ideas in the dominant policy paradigms, when considered in context, contribute to system conflicts and negative outcomes for youth. If we take seriously that how we think influences what we do, then we must consider more than if various policy models "work" to reduce recidivism, we must also think more seriously about the models themselves, and how they influence the meaning and reality of justice for young people. In this sense, I "take stock" (Cullen et al, 2006) of how we think about juvenile justice.I analyze the major policy approaches that form the foundation of juvenile justice including rehabilitation, punishment, rights, nonintervention, restorative justice and risk. I examine the models' key elements, main assumptions, the social contexts in which they are implemented, and their resulting philosophical and pragmatic implications. Despite the dominant models' ostensibly different approaches, unique positive contributions, and goals for reform, I find that they all tend to lose sight of structural level injustice and leave little hope for kids at the deep end of the juvenile justice system. In this sense, I argue the dominant paradigms of youth justice perpetuate a philosophy of "lost causes", which connects to our most harmful practices, including excessive punishment, discrimination, and the neglect of social justice and human rights. Such problems, while persistent, are not inevitable, and I conclude with principles for a transformative model that counters lost cause ideology and focuses on social justice.


Background Burkholderia pseudomallei is an environmental bacterium that causes melioidosis. A facultative intracellular pathogen, B. pseudomallei can induce multinucleated giant cells (MNGCs) leading to plaque formation in vitro. B. pseudomallei can switch colony morphotypes under stress conditions. In addition, different isolates have been reported to have varying virulence in vivo, but genomic evolution and the relationship with plaque formation is poorly understood. Methodology/Principle findings To gain insights into genetic underpinnings of virulence of B. pseudomallei, we screened plaque formation of 52 clinical isolates and 11 environmental isolates as well as 4 isogenic morphotype isolates of B. pseudomallei strains K96243 (types II and III) and 153 (types II and III) from Thailand in A549 and HeLa cells. All isolates except one environmental strain (A4) and K96243 morphotype II were able to induce plaque formation in both cell lines. Intracellular growth assay and confocal microscopy analyses demonstrated that the two plaque-forming-defective isolates were also impaired in intracellular replication, actin polymerization and MNGC formation in infected cells. Whole genome sequencing analysis and PCR revealed that both isolates had a large genomic loss on the same region in chromosome 2, which included Bim cluster, T3SS-3 and T6SS-5 genes. Conclusions/Significance Our plaque screening and genomic studies revealed evidence of impairment in plaque formation in environmental isolates of B. pseudomallei that is associated with large genomic loss of genes important for intracellular multiplication and MNGC formation. These findings suggest that the genomic and phenotypic differences of environmental isolates may be associated with clinical infection.


Examining a shock to the salience of the sustainability of the U.S. mutual fund market, we present causal evidence that investors marketwide value sustainability: being categorized as low sustainability resulted in net outflows of more than $12 billion while being categorized as high sustainability led to net inflows of more than $24 billion. Experimental evidence suggests that sustainability is viewed as positively predicting future performance, but we do not find evidence that high‐sustainability funds outperform low‐sustainability funds. The evidence is consistent with positive affect influencing expectations of sustainable fund performance and nonpecuniary motives influencing investment decisions.


Near-Field Electrospinning (NFES) is a newly developed method to fabricate continuous and ordered solid nanofibers, with smaller spinneret-to-collector-distance the behavior of viscous jet would play a more prominent effect on the deposition and morphology of nanofiber. In this paper, a 2-dimentional physical model based on electrohydrodynamics and rheology was set up to discuss the morphology of viscous jet for NFES. The profile of the jet along z direction can be predicted by this model, and the impact of process parameters on the jet radius is analyzed. Radius of jet decreases with spinneret-to-substrate-distance decreasing; jet radius decreases with applied voltage and electric field strength increasing; jet electrospun from PEO solution is thinner than that from PVA solution with the same solution concentration; solution concentration has insignificant influence on the radius of jet from solution of the same polymer (PVA or PEO). This numerical simulation would improve the control of electrospinning process in NFES.


From the ancient ages to today, administrations needed continuous financing and met this financing with various sources. The process of social development necessitated public borrowing for different purposes ranging from creation of a consumer society to sell the surplus of developed countries to postwar human relations and from the development financing of developing countries to the payment of debt by debt . Particularly after World War II (1941–1945), the developed countries provided the external resources to developing countries for development financing. As a result of the increase in the mobility of capital in the process of globalization (especially short-term speculative capital investments), developing countries were dragged to the debt-interest helix problem and the external debt crises. The stabilization programs proposed by the IMF led to government guarantee of private sector external debts in the developing countries and led to a rapid increase in the public debt stock.


Tiwa, a Tibeto-Burman language of India, has an obligatory wide scope disjunction particle that must outscope the directive force of imperatives. I argue that the behavior of wide scope disjunction in Tiwa provides evidence in favor of theories of imperative meaning that derive directive force from an operator in the semantics proper (e.g., Kaufmann 2012) over purely pragmatic theories (e.g., Portner 2004, 2007). Specifically, I argue that the disjunction must be able to outscope the imperative operator in order to capture the attested reading.


The new edition of the well known Care and Repair of Advanced Composites, 3rd Edition, improves on the usefulness of this practical guide geared towards the aerospace industry. Keith B. Armstrong, the original lead author of the first edition was still in charge of this project, counting on the expert support of Eric Chesmar, senior composites specialist at United Airlines. Mr. Chesmar is also an active member of SAE International's CACRC (Commercial Aircraft Composite Repair Committee), an elite group of industry experts dedicated to the standardization, safety, security, and efficiency of composite repairs in the airline industry. Mr. Francois Museux (Airbus) and Mr. William F. Cole II also contributed. Care and Repair of Advanced Composites, 3rd Edition, presents a fully updated approach to the training syllabus recommended for repair design engineers and composite repair mechanics. Metal bonding has been included partly because the defi nition of "composite" can be interpreted to include metal-skinned honeycomb panels, and partly because some composite parts have metal fi ttings or reinforcements that must be treated before bonding. This third edition also covers a number of the problems experienced in service, some of which may be applicable to metallic sandwich panels, offers suggestions for design improvements, including repair design as a particular topic, and regulatory changes. Care and Repair of Advanced Composites, 3rd Edition, provides solid technical information and training for a wide range of airline staff.


The goal of my work is to detect implicit social ties or closely-linked entities within a data set. In data consisting of people (or other entities) and their affiliations or discrete attributes, we identify unusually similar pairs of people, and we pose the question: Can their similarity be explained by chance, or it is due to a direct ("copying") relationship between the people? The thesis will explore how to assess this question, and in particular how one's judgments and confidence depend not only on the two people in question but also on properties of the entire data set. I will provide a framework for solving this problem and experiment with it across multiple synthetic and real-world data sets. My approach requires a model of the copying relationship, a model of independent people, and a method for distinguishing between them. I will focus on two aspects of the problem: (1) choosing background models to fit arbitrary, correlated affiliation data, and (2) understanding how the ability to detect copies is affected by factors like data sparsity and the numbers of people and affiliations, independent of the fit of the models.


PURPOSE OF REVIEW
To discuss current designs, indications, contraindications and controversies pertaining to capsular tension devices.

RECENT FINDINGS
Capsular tension rings and other newer endocapsular support devices have become increasingly important in the management of zonular weakness during cataract extraction. They have been found to improve both intraoperative support during phacoemulsification and postoperative intraocular lens centration. Since the introduction of the original capsular tension rings in 1991, there has been a progressive evolution of this device to help deal with profound zonular weakness. These newer devices, which permit scleral-suture fixation, include the modified capsular tension ring and the capsular tension segment.

SUMMARY
Continual advances in capsular tension device technology have allowed for increased safety and efficacy in performing cataract surgery in patients with zonular weakness with newer devices being evolved to manage more profound cases.


Collecting is usually understood as an activity that bestows permanence, unity, and meaning on otherwise scattered and ephemeral objects. This book emphasizes that to collect things, however, always entails displacing, immobilizing, and potentially disfiguring them, too. The book argues that the dispersal of objects, seemingly antithetical to the collector's task, is essential to the logic of gathering and preservation. Through analyses of collecting as a dialectical process of preservation and loss, the book illustrates this paradox by focusing on objects that challenge notions of collectability: ephemera, detritus, and trivialities such as moss, junk, paper scraps, dust, scent, and the transitory moment. In close readings of works by Gotthelf, Stifter, Keller, Rilke, Glauser, and Frisch, and by examining an experimental film by Oskar Fischinger, the author reveals how the difficulties posed by these fleeting, fragile, and forsaken objects help to reconceptualize collecting as a poetic activity that makes the world of scattered things uniquely palpable and knowable.


A global understanding of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and their host galaxies hinges on completing a census of AGN activity without selection biases down to the low-luminosity regime. Toward that goal, we identify AGN within faint radio populations at cosmic noon selected from new ultradeep, high-resolution imaging from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array at 6 and 3 GHz. These radio data are spatially coincident with the ultradeep legacy surveys in the GOODS-S/HUDF region, particularly the unparalleled Chandra 7 Ms X-ray imaging. Combined, these data sets provide a unique basis for a thorough census of AGN, allowing simultaneous identification via (1) high X-ray luminosity, (2) hard X-ray spectra, (3) excess X-ray relative to 6 GHz, (4) mid-IR colors, (5) SED fitting, (6) radio excess via the radio–infrared relation, (7) flat radio spectra via multiband radio, and (8) optical spectroscopy. We uncover AGN in fully half our faint radio sample, indicating a source density of one AGN arcmin−2, with a similar number of radio-undetected AGN identified via X-ray over the same area. Our radio-detected AGN are majority radio-quiet, with radio emission consistent with being powered predominantly by star formation. Nevertheless, we find AGN radio signatures in our sample: ∼12% with radio excess indicating radio-loud activity, and ∼16% of radio-quiet AGN candidates with flat or inverted radio spectra. The latter is a lower limit, pending our upcoming deeper 3 GHz survey. Finally, despite these extensive data sets, this work is likely still missing heavily obscured AGN. We discuss in detail this elusive population and the prospects for completing our AGN census with James Webb Space Telescope/MIRI.


Purpose: RPR 109881A is a new semisynthetic taxoid compound that has a similar mechanism of action to docetaxel. The purpose of this phase I study was to characterize the maximum-tolerated dose (MTD), toxicity profile, pharmacokinetic profile, and antitumor effects of this agent. Patients and Methods: Nineteen eligible patients with advanced solid tumors were enrolled. RPR 109881A was administered as a 1-hour intravenous infusion every 3 weeks at doses ranging from 15 to 75 mg/m 2 . Pharmacokinetic evaluation was performed at the first cycle. Results: Neutropenia (febrile neutropenia) and fatigue were dose-limiting toxicities at doses of 60 and 75 mg/m 2 and seemed to be dose-related. Both thrombocytopenia and anemia were infrequent. Nonhematologic toxicities were generally mild. Pharmacokinetic studies indicated that RPR 109881A plasma disposition was bi- or triphasic, with a high total plasma clearance, a large volume of distribution, and a long terminal half-life. The area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) and the peak concentration of RPR 109881A seemed to increase with increasing dose proportionally, suggesting linear pharmacokinetics. Urinary excretion over 48 hours was low, with a mean of 0.8 6 0.36% of the administered dose. A significant relationship existed between the percentage decrease of neutrophil counts and the AUC of RPR 109881A. Among 18 assessable patients, two partial and two minor responses were documented. Conclusion: RPR 109881A was found to be a welltolerated and promising taxoid agent. The MTD was 75 mg/m 2 , and the recommended dose for phase II study was 60 mg/m 2 as a 1-hour infusion every 3 weeks. J Clin Oncol 18:3164-3171. © 2000 by American


This paper is based on the premise that investment in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has a positive impact on economic development because of its contribution to growth and labor productivity. Development of an information-based society and the realization of an ICT strategy and its incorporation into every day social and economic activity are, however, dependent on the availability and accessibility of physical infrastructure. The report reviews the basic infrastructure for ICT in the Caribbean and compares the current telecommunications policy and regulatory framework with that of the mid 1990s when governments in the region began earnestly to think about reform. At that time twelve of them participated in the World Trade Organization negotiations on basic telecommunications. The report also examines telecommunications pricing issues, the current free trade negotiations which impact the ICT sector and some noteworthy regional initiatives to promote ICT. Finally it discusses regulatory barriers to investment in the telecommunications sector and recommends a number of actions to overcome these.


My first job out of law school was as an associate at a big DC law firm, where I rotated through the firm's pro bono and education practice groups. After a couple of years in DC, I moved to a smaller firm in my home town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina—I learned a lot at the big firm, but I wanted to experience a community law practice where I could see my clients across the desk and advocate for them in a more personal way. I took on a wide variety of cases, and rather serendipitously, while volunteering for the local arts commission, I came to represent several local artists in small-scale copyright matters. My interest in copyright was piqued, and I started looking for ways to incorporate more of this work into my practice. I happen to have a few family members who are librarians, and I live in a town with a great library school. I made appointments to talk with several law librarians and library copyright specialists, and decided to apply to library school. While I was in library school, I interned at two law libraries and also at Duke's copyright office, and after graduating I was lucky enough to find a job as a copyright librarian. I've found that working as a copyright librarian incorporates many of the things I loved about practicing law—my one-on-one copyright consultations with faculty and other members of the campus community have the personal feel of client meetings at a small law firm, while the issues we deal with have the interest and import of big firm matters. I also get to work closely with my general counsel's office, so I feel well supported on tricky questions. I keep my law license active so that I can volunteer on other issues I care about, such as voting rights. I hope this story will be helpful to anyone currently practicing law who might be interested in finding a fulfilling second career that allows them to use their legal education and practice experience in a new way.


Outreach and financial sustainability are "the two basic drivers" of the microfinance industry. These two missions seem contradictory and their complementarity is the main challenge of microfinance institutions (MFIs) around the world. A challenge that is still current and in the center of debates between two opposing theoretical visions; the social welfare approach and the institutionalist approach, which Morduch refers to as the "schism of microfinance". In other words, MFIs are exposed to tradeoffs between their two objectives, with the risk of prioritizing sustainability, which may be at the cost of outreach; their reason for being. Whence, the central question of this research: Is a balance between outreach and sustainability possible? The objective of this paper is to study, both theoretically and empirically, MFIs' performances in terms of outreach and sustainability, as well as the trade-offs that may exist between them, with the aim of finding answers to this issue of balance between social and commercial missions, still unresolved. Thus, the ultimate contribution of this research is the "Global Performance Indicator"; a decision-making support tool that measures MFIs' performances with regard to outreach and sustainability, as well as the interaction of these two variables, and consequently orients the decision-makers towards the actions to be taken in order to balance social and commercial objectives. To answer the research problem, we studied the case of two large nationwide microcredit associations in Morocco (AMCs) serving those excluded from the traditional banking system, and two small AMCs targeting mainly very low-income populations. This study supports the hypothesis concerning the positive links and complementarity between outreach and sustainability, while relying on governance as a strategic and decisive stake in the effectiveness of an institution. Keywords: microfinance, sustainability, outreach, global performance


We present a toolbox of new techniques and concepts for the efficient forecasting of experimental sensitivities. These are applicable to a large range of scenarios in (astro-)particle physics, and based on the Fisher information formalism. Fisher information provides an answer to the question 'what is the maximum extractable information from a given observation?'. It is a common tool for the forecasting of experimental sensitivities in many branches of science, but rarely used in astroparticle physics or searches for particle dark matter. After briefly reviewing the Fisher information matrix of general Poisson likelihoods, we propose very compact expressions for estimating expected exclusion and discovery limits ('equivalent counts method'). We demonstrate by comparison with Monte Carlo results that they remain surprisingly accurate even deep in the Poisson regime. We show how correlated background systematics can be efficiently accounted for by a treatment based on Gaussian random fields. Finally, we introduce the novel concept of Fisher information flux. It can be thought of as a generalization of the commonly used signal-to-noise ratio, while accounting for the non-local properties and saturation effects of background and instrumental uncertainties. It is a powerful and flexible tool ready to be used as core concept for informed strategy development in astroparticle physics and searches for particle dark matter.


ABSTRACT The trp RNA-binding attenuation protein (TRAP) regulates expression of the Bacillus subtilis trpEDCFBAoperon by transcription attenuation and translational control mechanisms. Both mechanisms require binding of tryptophan-activated TRAP to 11 (G/U)AG repeats in the trp leader transcript.trpE translational control involves formation of a TRAP-dependent RNA structure that sequesters the trpEShine-Dalgarno (SD) sequence (the SD blocking hairpin). By comparing expression levels fromtrpE′-′lacZ translational fusions controlled by the wild-type leader or by a leader that cannot form the SD blocking hairpin, we found that translational control requires a tryptophan concentration higher than that required for transcription attenuation. We also found that inhibition oftrpE translation by the SD blocking hairpin does not alter the stability of the downstream message. Since the coding sequences for trpE and trpD overlap by 29 nucleotides, we examined expression levels fromtrpED′-′lacZ translational fusions to determine if these two genes are translationally coupled. We found that introduction of a UAA stop codon in trpEresulted in a substantial reduction in expression. Since expression was partially restored in the presence of a tRNA suppressor, our results indicate that trpE and trpD are translationally coupled. We determined that the coupling mechanism is TRAP independent and that formation of the SD blocking hairpin regulates trpD translation via translational coupling. We also constructed a rho mutation to investigate the role of Rho-dependent termination in trp operon expression. We found that TRAP-dependent formation of the SD blocking hairpin allows Rho access to the nascent transcript, causing transcriptional polarity.


For several decades, policymakers have been concerned about increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of postsecondary institutions. In recent years, performance funding—which directly connects state funding to an institution's performance on indicators such as student persistence, credit accrual, and college completion—has become a particularly attractive way of pursuing better college outcomes. But even as states have made an enormous investment in performance funding, troubling questions have been raised about whether performance funding has the effects intended and whether it also produces substantial negative side effects in the form of restrictions in access for underrepresented students and weakening of academic standards. This paper addresses these troubling questions by drawing on data richer than heretofore available. In addition to drawing on the existing body of research on performance funding, it reports data from a study of the implementation of performance funding in three leading states (Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee) and its impacts on three universities and three community colleges in each state.


Recently, attention has focused on electrokinetic techniques that make it possible to move and extract contaminants from fine-grained soil under an electric field (Figure 1). The application of a constant electric current has several effects: (1) electrolysis of water, plating reactions and gas formation occur at the electrodes. H is produced at the anode, and OH- at the cathode (2) the electric potential difference leads to electroosmosis , the pore water flow is toward the cathode, since most soils have a negative surface charge (3) the electric field initiates electromigration of species available in the pore fluid and of those introduced at the electrolytes. These phenomena change the chemical pore fluid composition and induce sorption reactions in the soil. Bench scale studies showed that inorganic species and heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, chrome, copper, iron, lead, mercury, nickel and zinc can be efficiently extracted from polluted or spiked soils (Pamucku and Wittle, 1992; Acar and al., 1995; Cox and al., 1996; Reed and al., 1995; Li and al., 1996; Acar and Alshawabkeh, 1996; Marceau and al., 1999). Extraction rates of over 90 % are reported. But species seem to precipitate with OH- near the catholyte. Organic species such as benzene, phenol and acetic acid can also be removed (de Marsily and al., 1992; Bruell and al., 1992; Acar and al., 1992).


Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common sleep-related breathing disorder, which is associated with
significant morbidity. The aim of the current study was to do an updated systematic review of literature on studies assessed
the accuracy of screening questionnaires for OSA against polysomnography (PSG) as the reference test.
Methods: An English literature search was performed using Medline, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and
Scopus between January 2010 until April 2017. The reference list of included studies were also manually searched for
finding additional studies.
Results: Thirty-nine studies comprising 18068 subjects included in the systematic review. The sensitivity of STOP-Bang
questionnaire (SBQ) in detecting mild (AHI≥5 events/h) and severe (AHI≥30 events/h) OSA was higher in comparison to other
screening questionnaires (ranged from 81.08% to 97.55% and 69.2% to 98.7% respectively). However, STOP questionnaire
(SQ) had the highest sensitivity in prediction of moderate OSA (AHI≥15 events/h) (ranged from 41.3% to 100%).
Conclusion: The results of the present systematic review suggested SQ and SBQ for screening of OSA among sleep clinic
patients. Although further validation studies of screening questionnaires on general populations are required.


The light reflexion rheography is described as non-invasive investigation method for the venous system. The basic principle of the method and its applications are explained as well as its evaluation and the peculiarities which are to be taken into consideration thereby are discussed in detail. The comprising evaluation of the haemodynamic changes in chronic diseases of the veins is particularly elucidated by the method with regard to an improvable chronic venous insufficiency and to the differentiation between epifascial and subfascial pathological changes on the venous system. The method is suitable for the differentiation of the possible forms of therapy as well as for the examination of the result of the treatment. By means of this method a judgment of the efficacy of preparations for vein diseases is not possible. At the earliest the technique is comparable with the bloody measurement of the venous pressure-phlebodynamometry. Its smaller exactness should be compensated by triple measurement. The possibilities of errors as well as the advantages of the method and its areas of application preferred are discussed in detail. The light reflexion rheography is nowadays together with the ultrasound Doppler diagnostics a technique of diagnostics which should be present in every phlebologic practice.


Abstract : Throughout the history of warfare, there have been periods when technological developments have dramatically affected the balance between firepower and maneuver on the battlefield. When the new technology enhanced the effectiveness of firepower, the forces with this advantage tended to reexamine their military's doctrine and procedures to optimize the new technology. To this end, these military forces developed tactics that would focus on firepower over maneuver to gain battlefield victories. This debate is ongoing as the U.S. military moves into the 21st Century. As in the past, current technological developments tempt us with the prospect that precision engagement or dominant maneuver can eliminate the need for the other. This monograph will examine Joint Vision 2010's emerging concepts and answer the question: What relationship exists between the operational concepts dominant maneuver and precision engagement; and what relevance will each have in future U.S. military practice? Additionally, the study examines the roots of modern U.S. firepower and maneuver theory; determines how precision engagement and dominant maneuver differ from the past; and, lastly, determines if dominant maneuver or precision engagement can exist exclusive of the other. The study concludes that dominant maneuver and precision engagement are not separate concepts, but mutually supporting elements of the same operational concept. Dominant maneuver is the overarching operational concept and precision engagement provides the technical means to enable the desired end state. What matters is not the means used to defeat enemy, but the desired effects. While the U.S. military should certainly continue to leverage all technology that contributes to decisive victory, the strength of a military's combat power lies in a balance of capabilities, not a preponderance of one. As Clausewitz noted, an army composed simply of artillery...would be absurd in war.


With the growing use of UML diagrams for software architecture description and the importance of non-functional requirements evaluation at software architecture level, filling the scientific gap between architect and requirement analyst is considered to be significant. Software architects are not usually familiar with non-functional requirement analysis and are not able to analyze such requirements easily. On the other hand, non-functional requirements cannot be evaluated directly by UML diagrams. Therefore, the architect should annotate additional information of the nonfunctional requirements to software architecture description and then an executable model can be produced. These executable models can be petri nets, queuing networks, stochastic process algebra and etc. One kind of the UML diagrams that can be used to describe software architecture is component diagram. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm that enables an architect to transform a component diagram into an executable model based on different extensions of petri nets. Moreover, we show how to use this petri net model for performance evaluation and simulation and the implications of this transformation are described completely. Finally, to represent the usage of our proposed algorithm, we consider a case study as an example.


Archon provides a software framework that assists interaction between the subcomponents of a distributed AI application, and a design methodology that helps structure these interactions. The Archon project has been applied to several real world industrial applications. Two of these applications, electricity transportation management and particle accelerator control, have run online in the organizations for which they were developed-Iberdrola, a Spanish electric utility, and the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN). Archon's problem solving entities are called agents; they can control their own problem solving and interact with other community members. The interactions typically involve agents cooperating and communicating with one another to enhance their individual problem solving and to better solve the overall application problem. Each agent consists of an Archon layer and an application program (known as an intelligent system).


Experiments on TEXTOR have successfully demonstrated the proof of principle [1] of using Electron Cyclotron Emission (ECE) measured along the Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) line-of-sight [2] for the control of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modes. This work, which was done with a quasi-optical system, motivates the further development and implementation of a similar, but in-waveguide system for detection and control of Neoclassical Tearing Mode (NTM) in larger fusion machines. Progress on the implementation of such a system on ASDEX-Upgrade [3], based on waveguides equipped with a Fast Directional Switch (FADIS), is presented. Since FADIS, will be installed at ASDEX, to switch the gyrotron power between different launchers [4], FADIS can also be employed as a frequency filter serving the purpose of separating a low-power ECE signal from the high power ECRH radiation as required in the co-aligned ECE-ECRH setup [5]. Because additional absorptive filtering is required after the FADIS ECE output in [5] and [6] a non resonant two-beam Mach-Zehnder-type interferometer was chosen. This system has been built and partially tested.


This study investigated perceptions of the discharge planning process by mental health professionals in a regional inpatient mental health service. The burden of mental illness in Australia is growing, with a corresponding increase in demand for services. Continuity of care and effective discharge planning for people with serious and enduring mental illness is considered a complex and multifaceted process. The aims of this study were to identify actual and ideal stakeholder involvement in the discharge planning process; timing and commencement of discharge planning; frequency of discharge activities; and barriers to efficient discharge planning in the inpatient mental health care setting. A review of relevant literature found overlap and a strong interrelationship in the concepts, definitions and key components of the discharge planning process and continuity of care. A questionnaire was developed for the study that was based on the themes and findings identified in the literature. Response scales were developed for most items on the questionnaire. Those questions without response scales sought participant comments related to particular sections within the questionnaire. Parametric testing of the data was undertaken using basic descriptive statistics, T-tests for matched pairs, reliability analysis of scales, and correlations. Comments provided by participants highlighted issues and gave additional meaning and depth to the quantitative data. The findings of the study identified a need for improved communication and care coordination between all stakeholders involved in the care and planning of discharge for people admitted to the acute inpatient mental health units. High bed demand and pressure to discharge patients prematurely was found to negatively impact on discharge planning. The study also identified a significant gap between actual and ideal involvement of stakeholders in the discharge planning process, and problems associated with timely and effective communication in everyday clinical practice. Barriers to efficient discharge planning were found to impact on the discharge process and limit involvement of patients, carers, hospital health care professionals and community care providers. The study concluded that inpatient mental health workers desire greater involvement in the planning of care, particularly as it relates to preparation for discharge. Perceptions of inequality in the level of involvement and care coordination within the multidisciplinary team lead to feelings of frustration and dissatisfaction, particularly among nurses. Stakeholders directly aligned with the inpatient setting tend to have more involvement in discharge planning than those stakeholders who are community based and who are external to the mental health service organisation. also concluded that when discharge planning begins earlier during hospitalisation, related to time, ward and will have less of a negative affect on of discharge planning. Discharge planning becomes more effective when and and become involved earlier planning Good discharge planning and care responsibility all stakeholders at all levels - this organisation, individual health the and their and


Previous studies of the distribution of shelf sediments in the southeastern Mediterranean Sea have largely overlooked the sector off Sinai, East of the Nile delta. This study attempts to define more precisely the type of marginal sediments and their facies distribution in this sector of the Levantine Sea. The distribution of sediments in the study area are governed by the following: (I) the source of the sediments, (2) the topography of the area, (3) the current regime and (4) the net sediment transport. Sand is present in the inner shelf area off Damietta and becomes mixed with silt in most of the inner shelf zone. Silty clay forms an almost continuous belt across the slope north of Tineh bay and through the upper slope and outer shelf of the east sector of Bardawil Lagoon. Silty clay also covers the inner shelf area between Port Said and EI-Tineh. Clay-mixed silt covers the inner shelf area off Damietta and Port Said. Silt forms an almost unbroken stretch across the upper slope north of Damietta and extends as far as the middle and outer shelf off Bardawil Lagoon. Most of the area sediments are of Nilotic sources; however, the non-nilotic sources from northern Sinai are also recognized.


This thesis provides the first detailed study of maximal oxygen consumption of turbot on a fish farm over a range of fish sizes and temperatures. Also provided is a study of the diets used in turbot farming and the development of a diet that contains no fresh fish. A detailed study of previous research on flatfish nutrition, identified fresh fish, sprat in particular, as the optimum diet for turbot farming. A series of experiments was undertaken that confirmed this and also identified one possible explanation for the optimum performance of sprat, as a function of high non-protein energy ratios in sprat. This factor was exploited in the production of a diet containing no fresh fish and which produced superior results to diets containing fresh fish; the optimum level of lipid in the diet was determined as 18%. The study of oxygen consumption was on fully-fed fish so that maximum demand could be quantified. Continuous monitoring of tank water oxygen levels enabled the calculation of the Specific Dynamic Action (SDA) effect in turbot and the relation of it to dietary energy. Variation of SDA with the dietary energy profile was identified as a contributing factor to differential fish growth on various diets. Finally, the implications of this work to fish farming were considered. Economic appraisal and comparison of the diets routinely used in turbot farming identified that the diet developed as a result of this work, ie the diet containing no fresh fish protein, was more cost effective on the basis of the production of one tonne of turbot. The study of oxygen consumption enables water supply to be calculated for any fish size between 1g and 1000g between the temperatures of 7® C and 16® C. The quantification of SDA enables correct adjustment of oxygen flows according to the feeding status of the fish.


This article deals with one aspect of Regulation 261/2004, namely the exemption of its Article 5(3) regarding compensation payments, particularly in case of slot postponements by Air Traffic Management (ATM). These ATM decisions can exempt airlines from compensation payments. However, opinions differ in the legal literature and case law as to when this is the case. The article examines the current opinion, especially in the German-speaking EU area, comments on the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union(CJEU) and the pending reform proposals on regulation.
passenger rights, extraordinary circumstances, ATM decision


Objectives: Our objectives were to test whether Conscientiousness, the other 4 domains of the Five-Factor Model, and their facets predicted mortality in older, frail individuals. Methods: Controlling for demographic and health measures, we used Cox regression to test whether the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness domains predicted all-cause mortality over 5 years in 1076 65- to 100-year-old participants who took part in a Medicare Demonstration study. Supplementary analyses on 597 participants aged 66 to 102 who were reassessed 2 years later were conducted to determine whether any of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) facets were related to mortality. Results: When personality domains were treated as continuous variables, NEO-FFI Neuroticism and Agreeableness were significant protective factors. When personality domains were trichotomized, NEO-FFI Conscientiousness was a protective factor. In a third analysis, Agreeableness was not a significant predictor in a model that included the continuous Neuroticism and trichotomized Conscientiousness variables. Analysis of the NEO-PI-R Neuroticism, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness factors showed that Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were protective and that there was a trend for a similar effect of Neuroticism. Facet-level analyses revealed that the Impulsiveness, Straightforwardness, and Self-Discipline facets of Neuroticism, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness, respectively, were prospectively related to greater survival over a 3-year interval. Conclusion: The effects of Neuroticism and Agreeableness on mortality are inconsistent across previous studies. This study indicates that, in a sample of older, frail participants, high Neuroticism and Agreeableness scores are protective and that more specific effects are primarily the result of the Impulsiveness and Straightforwardness facet scales. The Conscientiousness findings are consistent with those in earlier studies and demonstrate the importance of the Self-Discipline facet. NEO-PI = NEO Personality Inventory, NEO-PI-R = Revised NEO Personality Inventory, NEO-FFI = NEO Five-Factor Inventory, MMPI = Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, ADL = activities of daily living, IADL = instrumental activities of daily living, HR = hazards ratio.


Contamination of industrial sewage by organic dye pollutants is one of the most common challenges to the daily life. De-contamination can be achieved by adsorption and photodegradation of the pollutants. However, the former technique is generally limited by the poor loading capacity of the adsorbent and/or the difficulty in its regeneration for reuse, while the latter often suffers from sluggish reaction kinetics and thus requires long reaction time and powerful light source to be successful. Herein, a solution to these challenges by creating nanocomposites featuring porous diamine-functionalized graphene oxide (FGO) impregnated with photocatalytically active polyoxometalates (POMs) is presented. Cross-linking of GO via diamination not only generates porous structures with positively charged interior that attracts and stabilizes the anionic POM guests, but also modulates the GO bandgap. The introduction of POMs improves loading capacity of FGO for cationic dyes and promotes effective separation of electron-hole pair by trapping and transferring photogenerated electron. Thus, the two components act in synergy to result in much improved adsorption of certain common organic dyes as well as enhanced oxidative degradation by both the GO host and the POMs that lead to complete regeneration of the adsorbents without compromising their performance in multiple rounds of reuse.


The sustainable development of the Northern Shaanxi area has been severely restricted by the increasingly serious issue of the environmental pollution and ecological destruction in the energy and chemical industry base there. Regarding this problem in the energy and chemical industry base in Northern Shaanxi, this paper explored the eco-compensation mode, established the model for the quantification of the compensation fee, and constituted the eco-compensation standard for each county within the base area. Through the establishment of the eco-compensation mechanism, the conflict between the energy development and ecological environment protection could get alleviated, the natural resource could get moderate and sustainable developed, and the ecological environment could sustainably get back and obtain melioration, all of which will facilitate the realization of the sustainable development of the energy and chemical industry base in Northern Shaanxi.


A 35-month-old girl had Farber's disease (disseminated lipogranulomatosis) manifested clinically by macular cherry-red spots. The pathologic changes consisted of intracellular inclusions of varying morphologic features and density. The most frequently encountered inclusion was 1.2 micron wide and consisted of flattened stacks of osmophilic lamellae (2.1 to 2.3 nm thick, with 4.4-nm periodicity) oriented in parallel or oblique array ("zebra-body" configuration) and enclosed by a focally discontinuous unit membrane. Some of the inclusions contained curved tubular profiles resembling curvilinear tubular bodies. The retinal ganglion cells were grossly distended with inclusions and showed the greatest pathologic changes.


A five-blade linear cascade is used to experimentally investigate turbine-blade platform cooling. Three slot configurations placed upstream of the blades are used to model advanced seals between the stator and rotor. The seal configurations include vertical injection of the coolant onto the platform, a redirection of the coolant onto the platform, and a labyrinthlike configuration between the stator endwall and rotor platform. The coolant flow rate through the seals varies from 0.5 to 2.0% of the mainstream flow. The film-cooling effectiveness is measured on the platform using pressure-sensitive paint. The upstream slots cover 1.5 passages with the coolant exiting the slot 3.87 cm upstream of the leading edge of the blades. The mainstream Reynolds number is 3.1 x 105 based on the inlet velocity and the chord length of the scaled high-pressure turbine blade. With the pressure-sensitive-paint measurement technique, the effect of the passage-induced secondary flow on the film-cooling effectiveness is easily captured, as the distribution of the film effectiveness is very nonuniform through the passage. In addition, the more advanced seal configurations, considered in the present study, yield reduced film-cooling effectiveness compared with the more fundamental inclined slot configurations.


A 50-year-old single Filipino woman was referred to our clinic by the Dermatology Department due to multiple large nevi on the face. Her history started 29 years prior to consult when a 0.5 cm by 0.5 cm nevus appeared on her right lower eyelid. Excision of the mass and histopathology revealed basal cell carcinoma of the skin and she ceased followup visits. Meanwhile, progressively enlarging nevi appeared over multiple sites of her face. Some of the lesions developed ulceration and occasionally bled. Finally, she consulted again at our institution due to disfiguring multiple large nevi, and was seen by Dermatology and Ophthalmology services and underwent excision biopsy revealing basal cell carcinoma. She was then referred to us for definitive surgical management.
The patient was a non-smoker, non-alcoholic beverage drinker and work did not undergo any prolonged sun exposure. She recalled that her mother had a similar condition and expired due to complications of the disease.
Physical examination revealed many large nevi over multiple sites of the face, the largest over the left nasolabial area. (Figure 1A) There were hyperpigmented nevi over the central forehead and left infraorbital area, and the patient's left eye was closed due to scarring from the previous excision in the left medial canthal area. (Figure 1B) An ulcerating lesion that occasionally bled, involved multiple subsites of the nose. (Figure 1C)
Due to the recurrent multiple basal cell carcinoma on the face, we suspected a possible syndromic disease. Complete systemic physical examination revealed multiple nevi over the chest and back as well as plantar and palmar pits. (Figure 2A, B) Chest radiography revealed an incidental finding of a bifid third rib on the left. (Figure 3) With these findings, we diagnosed her condition as Gorlin-Goltz syndrome with multiple basal cell carcinoma on the face
Our goal of treatment was complete excision of tumors with preservation of function and cosmesis. Following the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines1 surgical excision with frozen section for adequate margins was performed. (Figure 4) Reconstruction with multiple skin grafts was performed to cover the defects. However, graft failures were noted over multiple sites two weeks post-operatively. (Figure 5)
Our patient continued to follow-up for a year but declined any offers of reconstructive surgery. She maintained a good disposition and was satisfied with her appearance despite a less than ideal aesthetic postoperative outcome. (Figure 6)
DISCUSSION
Nevoid Basal Cell Carcinoma or Gorlin-Goltz Syndrome is a rare autosomal dominant syndrome with near complete penetrance and extreme variable expressivity.2,3 This was first described in depth by Doctors Robert Gorlin and Robert Goltz in 1960. Genetic mutation in PTCH1 and SUFU that are related with the Hedgehog signalling pathway were identified in the pathogenesis of this disease.2 GorlinGoltz syndrome commonly presents with dermatologic, odontogenic and neurologic findings and affected patients have developmental anomalies and predisposition to cancer, specifically basal cell carcinoma (BCC). The incidence of Gorlin-Goltz syndrome ranges from 1 in 50,000 to 1 in 560,0004 with only one published case reported in the Philippines.5
To establish the diagnosis of Gorlin-Goltz syndrome, either one major and two minor criteria or two major criteria must be fulfilled.6,7 Our patient presented with multiple BCC, bifid third left rib and palmar and plantar pits, fulfilling three major criteria.
Only 67% of patients diagnosed with Gorlin-Goltz syndrome present with basal cell carcinoma with an equal male to female ratio.8 The mean age of BCC presentation in Gorlin-Goltz syndrome is roughly 25 years old and the probability of developing increases with age.9 There are racial differences in the occurrence of BCC; higher in Caucasians than in African-Americans and Asians.6,8 However, BCC in patients diagnosed with Gorlin-Goltz syndrome have the same histology and presentation as sporadic cases.
Palmar and plantar pits are among the common dermatologic findings in Gorlin-Goltz syndrome. These lesions are found in 45% to 87% of Gorlin-Goltz syndrome and the percentage rises with age.6 The presence of palmar and plantar pits in a child should prompt a complete physical evaluation due to its association with other diseases.
A bifid or forked rib is a developmental abnormality in which the sternal end is cleaved in two. This may be asymptomatic and is oftentimes an incidental finding, and can be observed as an isolated defect or may be associated with other multisystem malformations. In the general population, it was reported to occur at 3 to 6.3 per 1,000.10 Among the rib anomalies, bifid rib occurs in 28% of cases.11 In GorlinGoltz syndrome, it occurs in 36.4% of cases.12
Gorlin-Goltz Syndrome has a wide spectrum of presentations varying from livable symptoms until adulthood to detrimental complications even during childhood. Since this is a genetic mutation, there is no cure for disease and treatment is symptomatic. In our case, there is higher chance of recurrence or new lesions that may require multiple surgical procedures in the future. Other lesions associated with this syndrome may still appear and immediate consultation is advised to prevent complications. Genetic counselling is highly advised since it has high inheritance.
In summary, our experience taught us that a high index of suspicion for syndromic disease and a complete physical examination are especially important in such cases. The diagnosis and management are challenging, and should consider the biopsychosocial context of the patient. As long as full disclosure of the condition is made and all options are clearly communicated, the patient's wishes should be respected.


Two chiral lanthanide-organic frameworks, [Ln(Hpzc)(Hida)]n (1: Ln = Eu 1a; Sm 1b; H2pzc = pyrazole-3-carboxylic acid, H3ida = iminodiacetic acid) based on rigid and flexible ligands were hydrothermally synthesized and characterized. Both compounds 1a and 1b possess unprecedented 3D 3,5-connected lanthanide-organic frameworks with intersecting multidirectional helical channels. The luminescence properties reveal that complexes 1a and 1b exhibit the characteristic emission bands of Ln3+ ions. The photoluminescence spectrum of 1a reveals characteristic line-splitting at room temperature, depending on the site-symmetry of Eu3+ ions in the complex. Second-harmonic generation (SHG) measurements reveal that 1a exhibits moderate SHG signals.


Vegetable oil is widely used for frying food, especially palm oil. Repeated
use of cooking oil is often unavoidable. Frying is known to change cis unsaturated fatty acids into
trans. However, the effects of repeated frying of olive oil compared to palm oil is still not widely
known.

The objective of this study is to determine the effect of repeated frying of palm oil and
olive oil on survival rate and blood glucose pattern in mice.

There were 39 adult male mice divided into 3 groups: control (n=12), palm (n=13), and
olive (n=14). Control group was given oral gavage of water during research. Palm and olive oils
were given in palm and olive groups. Before given to mice, palm and olive oils were used for
frying sweet potatoes 5 times then given to mice for 4 weeks. At the beginning and after treatment,
fasting blood glucose (FBG), the 2 hours postprandial oral glucose tolerance test (2-h OGTT)
blood glucose level were measured and then area under the curve (AUC) was also calculated.

There were 39 adult male mice divided into 3 groups: control (n=12), palm (n=13), and olive (n=14). Control group was given oral gavage of water during research. Palm and olive oils were given in palm and olive groups. Before given to mice, palm and olive oils were used to fry sweet potatoes 5 times then given to mice for 4 weeks. At the beginning and after treatment, fasting blood glucose (FBG), the 2 hours postprandial of oral glucose tolerance test (2-h OGTT) blood glucose level were measured and then area under the curve (AUC) was also calculated.

After 4 weeks of treatment, there were 9 mice that remained alive in the control group, 9
mice in the palm group, and 11 mice in the olive group. The survival rate was 75% in the control
group, 69.23% in the palm group, and 78.57% in the olive group. Weight gain was significantly different
between pre and post in the control and olive groups (p=0.009; p=0.004). FBG level increased
significantly in the palm group compared to the control group (P<0.05). The 2-h OGTT glucose
level increased significantly compared to pre in the control group (p=0.004) and olive group
(p=0.000). AUC of the olive group increased significantly compared to the control group
(p=0.0039).

 Consumption of olive oil which is fried repeatedly and given for 4 weeks shows a better
survival rate than palm oil.


Multiternary nitride and oxynitride compounds doped with rare earth ions, such as Eu2+ and Ce3+ have been enthusiastically applied as various phosphors to white LED. New red and green phosphors, CaAlSiN3:Eu and Ba3Si6O12N2:Eu, have been successfully synthesized, recently. The red phosphor has intense emission around 650 nm under two different irradiations at 405 and 455 nm from blue- and near UV-LED chips, respectively; while strong emission is observed around 520 nm from the green phosphor. Both phosphors also show small thermal quenching over the temperatures up to 150 °C. In addition, both LaSi3N5:Ce and La3Si8O4N11:Ce in lanthanum silicon nitride and oxynitride were examined as candidates for a blue phosphor in white LED with near UV-LED chip.


Heavy metals emitted by road traffic are contaminants of roadside soils and can potentially migrate through the soils down to groundwater during runoff water infiltration. Stormwater management requires a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in the transport and particularly chemical interactions between heavy metals and the solid matrix. Experiments with open dynamic systems and modelling with a mixing-cells-in-series model have been performed to identify the main reactions which govern the migration of zinc and lead in sandy soils. Binary and ternary exchange experiments have been performed and a numerical modelling was proposed to describe zinc and lead mobility in column experiments.


The classic approach for habitat preference of big games is to compare dung density in two different site such as in two habitat types and aspects, or in two altitute or slope classes. Whereas, animals select habitats according to all habitat components. Therefore, it must be considered multivariate structure of habitat and importance of each variable of the combination of components. In this study, interaction among habitat components and effects of components more than one were investigated in a conservation area. A computer programme (SR.BAS) was prepared to identify the important components of habitat of herbivore mammals in the area. The dimensions of the data matrix of the programme can be changed by users. The number of plot is equal to row numbers and the variable numbers such as animal species, habitat type, altitute, slope, aspect, feeding cover, distance to open roads and water source etc. is equal to column numbers of the data matrix.


The bimetallics of nickel with calcium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, iridium, magnesium, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, palladium. Platinum. Rhodium,. ruthenium, strontium, titanium, tungsten or zirconium, supported on gamma alumina have been investigated for methanation reaction. The catalyst was prepared by impregnation the mixed solution of nickel nitrate and soluble salt of the additive on gamma alumina pellets. The parameters studied include minimum methanation temperature, the apparent activation energy, the reaction order, surface area, the catalytic activity, concentration profile and the extent of sulphur poisoning. The correlations between the observed values of these parameters and measurable characteristics like intermetal heat of adsorption, ionic radius, electron density and metallic radius of the additive suggest that the catalytic behaviour of the nickel-bimetallic system is, under the influence of electron effects. However, geo-metric factors are also playing some part, It has been demonstrated that reducible oxides behave better than irreducible in maintaining catalytic activity, The addition of palladium, platinum, tungsten and chromium metals, famous for hydrogen spillover, improved the performance of the catalyst, supporting the fact that local concentration of hydrogen plays some part, The kinetic data indicates that reaction orders are strongly negative for all catalysts except Ni-pt /Al2O3; in this case it becomes positive at higher temperatures. The reaction orders for catalysts except Ni-Ca/al2o3 become less negative with increasing temperature, suggesting a competitive adsorption of co.

The impregnation profiles of Zr, Co, Rh, Ir and Mo ions on alumina pellets relative to Ni ions suggest that ions of Co, Rh, Ir and Mo, because of higher charge density and ions of Zr, for larger ionic radius as compared to Ni ions, are preferentially adsorbed of restricted at the periphery. This study establishes that with longer soaking time of increasing solution concentration, ions travel deep into pellets.

The bimetallics of nickel with calcium, chromium, cobalt, titanium, strontium, magnesium, manganese, palladium and ruthenium, leach supported on gamma alumina, deactivated with treatment of 50ml H2S slug. The effect of sulphur poisoning , The loss of activity or slow deactivation of catalysts with additives W, Zr, Pt, Hg, Rh, Ir, Cd, Mo and Ni itself due to H2S in the mixture is ascribed to the partial dissociation of hydrogen sulphide and formation of irreducible surface sulphide. Increase in rate if deactivation with increase in temperature, observed in this study, is due to temperature dependency of the site specificity, The sulphur poisoning of various promoters in this study was predominantly geometric, the extent of loss of activity being dependent upon the structural changes involved.


OBJECTIVES
To measure the frequency and content of electronic handover before and after implementation of the Blue BARRWUE handover system, and to measure its effect on patient safety and hospital efficiency over weekends.

DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS
Point-prevalence study comparing outcomes for general medical inpatients present over weekends before implementation (1 May 2008 to 30 April 2009) and after implementation (1 May 2009 to 30 April 2010) of the Blue BARRWUE handover system at Geelong Hospital.

INTERVENTION
Implementation of the Blue BARRWUE handover system and its components (updated working diagnosis, background, alerts, resuscitation status, requests, who to do what and when, updates and executable discharge plan).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Presence of any written handover notes or updated working diagnoses in the BOSSnet clinical information system, content of handover notes, frequency of weekend discharges and medical emergency team (MET) calls before and after implementation.

RESULTS
In the 12 months before implementation of the Blue BARRWUE handover system, 976 patients (47.98%) had a handover note in BOSSnet, versus 1646 patients (95.09%) in the 12 months after implementation (P< 0.001; rate ratio [RR], 20.75; 95% CI, 16.33-26.44). Before implementation, 289 patients (14.21%) were discharged over weekends, versus 353 patients (20.39%) after implementation, (P < 0.001; RR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.25-1.65). MET calls were made for 152 general medical patients before implementation (7.47%), versus 95 general medical patients (5.49%) after implementation (P = 0.01; RR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.57-0.94).

CONCLUSIONS
The Blue BARRWUE system has sustainably improved written handover in our organisation and was associated with improvement in both patient safety and hospital efficiency.


There are about 60,000 public houses in the UK and more than half of these operate as small businesses. By 1990 businesses with less than 200 employees accounted for nearly a third of total UK employment [6] with the consequential effect that supply of goods from supplier through producer to customer using small businesses has become more significant over time. While the large brewers operate their houses by employing well trained managers and other staff, most of the proprietors of the small businesses have little or no formal training themselves, and have minimal knowledge of effective stock control. Moreover, they are unaware of any need for such knowledge. This article uses the comparative case study approach to illustrate demand management and stock control in a leased public house run as a small business, and a brewery managed public house.


This study was carried out determine the key factors influence employee's performance in Media Prima Berhad (MPB). Besides, this study is to identify the level of performance, to identify the relationship between the factors and the performance, to determine the significance differences in performance among gender and to identify factors those explain the most towards
performance. The researcher collected the information from the questionnaires that has distributed to the employees in Human Resources Department in Media Prima Berhad (MPB).
The overall finding of this study indicates that there have a significant relationship between factors identified and performance and there is no significant different among gender towards
performance. From the study can conclude that the factors influence performance among workers in Media Prima Berhad has the two factors, that are performance feedback and workplace incentives explain significantly towards performance. Media Prima Berhad needs to do the best strategic management to survive in these markets especially during this unstable economic situation. This company needs to take the effective action in order to make their worker can perform their best. it is really important because Media Prima Berhad have to competed with their own competitors. So, from this study it will help us in order to determine and ensure that which factors are mostly influence the performance among workers and to identify the effective actions in order to make all the dreams come true and to achieve our Mission and Vision.


We propose Skip-Convolutions to leverage the large amount of redundancies in video streams and save computations. Each video is represented as a series of changes across frames and network activations, denoted as residuals. We reformulate standard convolution to be efficiently computed on residual frames: each layer is coupled with a binary gate deciding whether a residual is important to the model prediction, e.g. foreground regions, or it can be safely skipped, e.g. background regions. These gates can either be implemented as an efficient network trained jointly with convolution kernels, or can simply skip the residuals based on their magnitude. Gating functions can also incorporate block-wise sparsity structures, as required for efficient implementation on hardware platforms. By replacing all convolutions with Skip-Convolutions in two state-of-the-art architectures, namely EfficientDet and HRNet, we reduce their computational cost consistently by a factor of 3 ∼ 4× for two different tasks, without any accuracy drop. Extensive comparisons with existing model compression, as well as image and video efficiency methods demonstrate that Skip-Convolutions set a new state-of-the-art by effectively exploiting the temporal redundancies in videos.


In this work, effect of magnetic field on the entropy generation rate of a reactive couple stress fluid
through porous medium is investigated. The equations governing the fluid flow are formulated, nondimensionalised
and solved using the rapidly convergent semi-analytical Adomian decomposition
method (ADM). The obtained velocity and temperature profiles are utilised to compute the entropy
generation rate, irreversibility ratio and Bejan number. The effects of pertinent flow parameters on
velocity, temperature, entropy generation rate and Bejan number are analyzed graphically��


Steel wire rope – reinforced aluminium composite - has been developed to improve the ballistic properties and mobility of armour material. Critical to obtaining ballistic resistance is that the materials must be sufficiently hard and strong, especially at the surface where a projectile will first make impact. To obtain this resistance, aluminium alloys can be strengthened by adding Cu and Mg. This research studied the ballistic properties of aluminium composites with varied Cu and Mg content. The matrix used in this study was an Al-7Si master alloy with 0.08-1.03 wt. % Mg and 0.05-3.75 wt. % Cu, both independently and in combination. A high carbon steel wire rope was used as strengthening material. The samples were produced through the squeeze casting process with a pressure of 1 MPa at semi-solid melting temperatures of 590-610 °C. The slab was then rolled for 10 % reduction to increase the hardness. Ballistic testing was performed in accordance with ASTM F1233 by using a 9 mm calibre projectile and 900 direction. Micro structural observation was conducted in the as-cast and ballistic samples, performed with optical microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results showed that squeeze casting may improve interfacial wettability and reduce void. The increase in Mg resulted in the decline of interfacial voids, but Cu addition tended to increase them. The aluminium armour was able to withstand a 9 mm calibre projectile, although some cracks were visible. The wire rope was not effective in stopping the penetration of a 7.62 mm calibre projectile.


Early bud and palette limb regenerates of the adult newt, Notophthalmus viridescens, were compared with respect to the effect of denervation on the activities of some of their hydrolases in order to determine if these enzymes contribute to the atrophy of denervated regenerates. Results show that denervation increased total activities of acid protease and acid phosphatase by 77-89% and 41-45% respectively at both stages examined. Both membrane-bound and soluble enzymatic forms contributed to the observed increase in the total activity of each hydrolase. Furthermore, the actual levels of each enzyme attained at the two stages following denervation were quite similar to each other. Since each hydrolase responded to denervation in a similar way at both stages examined, it was concluded that resorption of denervated limb regenerates is not primarily due to the increased activity of hydrolases. Denervated early bud regenerates, which are almost completely resorbed following nerve withdrawal, would be expected to show greater levels of hydrolytic activity than denervated palette regenerates, which exhibit only a partial resorption following the same operation.


The National Capital Canberra as a planned city has a unique system in Australia with direct federal planning controls combined with Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government administration integrating state and local functions. The immediate surrounding border of NSW is also a significant consideration in planning and land management. In its Centenary year, Canberra is reflecting on its planning heritage and in doing so exploring the planning challenges for the next 100 years. Key issues being discussed include climate change, renewable energy, public transport, regional development and demographic change. Recent initiatives include the introduction of light rail, green precincts and strengthening Canberra as a knowledge economy capitalising on the universities and national research institutions. The voices of the community are developing strongly and the planning system is being challenged to accommodate this change. This article will outline the major reforms in the planning system in the ACT in recent years and discuss whether these have provided a platform for a more sustainable future for Canberra as a national capital, a regional capital for the south-east NSW and as a local community expected to grow to half a million population by 2030.


Abstract Ancient Mesoamerican polities are an important source of data for considerations of state development, despite internal debate over their size and complexity. We review complex political units, usually referred to as "states" and "empires," in ancient Mesoamerica and reach the following conclusions: these polities tended to be hegemonic, rather than territorial, in composition; they melded ritual and political action; and they utilized the ruler as a symbol of the "body politic." We also note the apparently larger size of most Maya polities as compared to other Mesoamerican city-states. Besides reviewing the commonalities among ancient Mesoamerican states, we also highlight the variation among these polities and the need to consider historic and archaeological data contextually in making interpretations of political structure.


This qualitative research on Cyberpragmatic attempts to explore the application of politeness and impoliteness principles in student-lecturer internet-mediated communication in English and Indonesian languages at two faculties of Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN) Salatiga. The native speakers' perceptions of those strategies and principles as applied in the online chatroom were also elicited to confirm the descriptive analysis of the utterances. Pragmatic data were taken, categorized, and selected from Whatsapp conversation and email correspondence screenshots between lecturers and students in eight (8) online English Language classes and six (6) classes on Ushul Fiqh subjects at Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN) Salatiga. Additionally, as demonstrated in the screenshots, an online questionnaire was used to elicit data on students' and lecturers' perspectives on the cyberpragmatic activities. The descriptive analysis shows that the students considered the principles of politeness as a prominent aspect of their communicative actions and managed to appropriately applied it in their cyberpragmatic activities. Additional pragmatic features of religious expressions were also used to amplify the politeness effect. Nevertheless, there were some cases where impoliteness principles were used by the students, regardless of their awareness of their pragmatic consequences. The acceptability judgement questionnaire confirmed the level of politeness and impoliteness strategies previously described. Consequently, future research may benefit from this study by exploring other aspects of cyberpragmatics such as ethnicity, gender, and other socio-political aspects, from interdisciplinary perspectives.


Human cytomegalovirus causes diseases in individuals with insufficient immunity. Cytomegaloviruses exploit the ubiquitin proteasome pathway to manipulate the proteome of infected cells. The proteasome degrades ubiquitinated proteins. The family of cullin RING ubiquitin ligases (CRL) regulates the stability of numerous important proteins. If the cullin within the CRL is modified with Nedd8 ("neddylated"), the CRL is enzymatically active, while CRLs lacking Nedd8 modifications are inactive. The Nedd8-activating enzyme (NAE) is indispensable for neddylation. By binding to NAE and inhibiting neddylation, the drug MLN4924 (pevonedistat) causes CRL inactivation and stabilization of CRL target proteins. We showed that MLN4924 elicits potent antiviral activity against cytomegaloviruses, suggesting that NAE might be a druggable host dependency factor (HDF). However, MLN4924 is a nucleoside analog related to AMP, and the antiviral activity of MLN4924 may have been influenced by off-target effects in addition to NAE inhibition. To test if NAE is indeed an HDF, we assessed the novel NAE inhibitor TAS4464 and observed potent antiviral activity against mouse and human cytomegalovirus. Additionally, we raised an MLN4924-resistant cell clone and showed that MLN4924 as well as TAS4464 lose their antiviral activity in these cells. Our results indicate that NAE, the neddylation process, and CRLs are druggable HDFs of cytomegaloviruses.


Although the effects of solar (and lunar) gravitational potentials on the frequencies of orbiting Global Positioning System (GPS) clocks are actually no more than a few parts in 15 10 , a naive calculation appears to show that such effects are much larger, and depend on whether the orbiting clock is between the earth and the sun, or on the side of the earth opposite to the sun. Consequently questions about whether such effects have been properly accounted for in the GPS continue to arise. This issue has been discussed in a misleading way in terms of cancellations arising from a second-order Doppler shift in the literature for almost 50 years. The purpose of this article is to provide a correct argument, based on fundamental relativity principles, so that one may understand in a simple way why the effects of external solar system bodies on orbiting or earth-bound clocks in the GPS are so small. The relativity of simultaneity plays a crucial role in these arguments.


We have developed a new multilayered reflection film structure containing Ag films for achieving slab waveguide based optical transmission interconnections between large scale integrated chips for next generation high-speed computers. We applied Cr to both adhere the Ag to the SiO2 optical layer and to inhibit diffusion of Ag into SiO2. Although we found that Cr tends to decrease the reflectance, we found that it is possible to satisfy both adhesiveness and reflectance requirements by adjusting the film thickness


Space (better: space-time) is a particular, the particular thing structuring our world. It has shape. And size. And reference to space and its properties is fundamental to physical explanation. This, in a nutshell, is Nerlich's position. Espousing it Nerlich marches against the tide of philosophical opinion which dominated the first half or more of this century. His arguments are laid out in a wholly enjoyable book: clearly and simply written, 'meaty' in argument and lucid in explanation. The book does not have the same technical scope in theoretical physics as do its relevant companions (e.g., Earman et al. [2], Grunbaum [3], Sklar [16], Winnie [18]). Rather, the book is a sustained argument aimed at establishing the theses with which I began and its content has been selected accordingly. But the clarity of presentation and consistency of argument recommend it as a major contribution to the field. It is especially to be recommended to the non-technical philosopher. And there is another important reason for commending it: much of the argumentation of the book is not to be found elsewhere, it fills an important gap in the field. I need hardly add that I find myself in sympathy with Nerlich's position.


Twenty patients with primary hepatic carcinoma (PHC) treated by hepatic arterial embolization in our department from Dec. 1986 to Mar. 1987 are reported. There were 15 males and 5 females. The ages ranged from 34 to 75 years with an average of 50.7. Preoperative diagnosis and localization of the tumor were done by AFP, B-us, CT and angiography (right lobe 15 cases, left lobe 1 case, both lobes 4 cases). Celiac and superior mesenteric angiography was carried out by femoral artery approach and then highly selective hepatic catheterization was utilized for hepatic arterial embolization. Antitumor agent (5-Fu, adriamycin), iophendylate and foamy gel sponge were used for peripheral and proximal embolization. Manifestations were improved in most of the patients after embolization, such as relief of abdominal pain, improvement of appetite, decrease of tumor size. Total necrosis of the tumor was found in 2 patients who underwent surgery 1 month after embolization. The side effects of the posthepatic embolization such as, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and fever could be relieved by symptomatic treatment. No severe complications, such as gangrene of the gall bladder, hepatic failure, liver abscess, intestinal necrosis or pulmonary embolization were found except 3 patients who died of renal failure after the procedure. The liver dys-function returned to normal within 2 weeks. Hepatic arterial embolization provides an alternative treatment for the patients with PHC who has compensated liver function without severe systemic diseases, especially renal endocrine problems and severe portal hypertension. They should have patent portal system as proved by angiography. The authors considered that this therapeutic embolization with hepatic chemotherapy infusion is safe and effective in the management of PHC. It may increase the resectability and provide palliative means for the advanced and terminal cases.


Zero-shot learning uses semantic attributes to connect the search space of unseen objects. In recent years, although the deep convolutional network brings powerful visual modeling capabilities to the ZSL task, its visual features have severe pattern inertia and lack of representation of semantic relationships, which leads to severe bias and ambiguity. In response to this, we propose the Graph-based Visual-Semantic Entanglement Network to conduct graph modeling of visual features, which is mapped to semantic attributes by using a knowledge graph, it contains several novel designs: 1. it establishes a multi-path entangled network with the convolutional neural network (CNN) and the graph convolutional network (GCN), which input the visual features from CNN to GCN to model the implicit semantic relations, then GCN feedback the graph modeled information to CNN features; 2. it uses attribute word vectors as the target for the graph semantic modeling of GCN, which forms a self-consistent regression for graph modeling and supervise GCN to learn more personalized attribute relations; 3. it fuses and supplements the hierarchical visual-semantic features refined by graph modeling into visual embedding. Our method outperforms state-of-the-art approaches on multiple representative ZSL datasets: AwA2, CUB, and SUN by promoting the semantic linkage modelling of visual features.


In Bangladesh, the prevalence of diarrhoea is the highest among children aged 6-23 months and the outbreaks are common among slum-dwellers of Dhaka city, Bangladesh. A qualitative explorative research was undertaken among slum-dwellers to explore the feeding practices and care-seeking behaviours of mothers with children with diarrhoeal diseases aged less than two years. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, focus-group discussions and observation checklist with mothers and elder family members. Breastmilk was blamed for causing diarrhoea among predominantly or exclusively breastfed children. The blameworthiness leads to withholding of breastfeeding during diarrhoeal episodes especially with recurrent and persistent diarrhoea. Teething, eating protein diet by children and eating leafy vegetables by mothers were believed to be responsible for diarrhoea among the older children. Hand-washing before preparing foods and before feeding children was virtually not practised. Usual complementary foods were not offered to the children with diarrhoea. Almost all of the children were offered oral rehydration salt solution and other fluids at home. A common healthcare-seeking behaviour of the mothers was to give medicines from local drug stores. Some mothers performed some rituals for the purification of their breastmilk. As the mother's diet was believed to be responsible for the child's diarrhoea, some foods, especially leafy-vegetables, some types of fish, and meat, were restricted to the mothers. The study concludes that perceptions of mothers regarding the causes of children's diarrhoea direct to inappropriate feeding practices and care-seeking behaviours of under-two children with diarrhoeal diseases.


Le Code annote de la Cour penale internationale (2009) propose une selection des extraits les plus pertinents des decisions publiques rendues par la Cour en 2009. The Code annote de la Cour penale internationale (2009) is the fourth volume of the French version of the annual series Annotated Digests of the ICC. It compiles most significant findings issued by the Court in 2009.


ABSTRACT In recent years, some big cities in China have established a number of 'taxi canteens,' which are special cafeterias intended only for cabdrivers to dine and rest. To dine and rest at the appropriate time is one of the most concerned problems for cabdrivers, since long dining delay may affect their health and driving safety, and arbitrary parking for dining will be fined and may even cause dangerous traffic accidents. The establishment of 'taxi canteens' is expected to mitigate these problems. But little has been done to examine and optimize the site selection of taxi canteens. This paper presents a data-driven approach to allocate 'taxi canteens' throughout a city with the main objective of minimizing the total distance between all dining demand locations identified from taxi GPS trajectories and the corresponding closest 'taxi canteen' locations. We propose a dining event detection method that considers four features using support vector machine and further identifies the spatiotemporal patterns of cabdrivers' dining. A constrained optimization model is proposed to select locations for 'taxi canteens.' A case study is conducted in Wuhan, China, to evaluate how the identification of cabdrivers' dining behavior patterns can support the site selection of 'taxi canteens.' The results indicate that the proposed method has superior performance.


The rates at which tissue-culture banana technology at smallholder farmer level in Uganda are adopted have reduced since the late 1990s. The study assessed the socio-economic factors influencing adoption of this technology by smallholder farmers. A survey on 280 smallholder farmers sampled from Western Uganda was conducted and responses were subjected to principal component analyses. There are evidences of very low levels of adoption of the tissue culture banana technology. There is a mix between households that completely reject tissue culture banana technology, and others growing diminutive amounts of tissue culture bananas alongside non-tissue culture banana varieties. The scale of production and productivity of non-tissue banana varieties significantly exceeds that of tissue culture bananas (83%: 17%). While expected yield from a banana production technology is a precursor to its adoption, demographic and management characteristics shape the practices that enhance the yield of tissue culture banana technology (p ≤ 0.05) and subsequent decision to adopt or reject tissue culture banana technology. A systems-wide approach is needed to develop mechanisms that would stimulate smallholder farmers to adopt the technology in order to realize the immense potential of tissue-culture banana technology.

 Key words: tissue culture banana; adoption, rejection, socio-economic, banana yield, a systems wide approach.


This paper reviews the history of the development of probiotics and the effect on the human gastrointestinal microecology. Furthermore, the application of probiotics to yogurt, commonly referred to as bio-yogurt and the effectiveness of yogurt as probiotic carrier food are also discussed. The paper also reviews the literature explaining, in essence, the concept of 'therapeutic minimum' levels and the importance of the survival of probiotic microorganisms in food products. The production of bio-yogurt, survival of probiotic species in yogurt during retail storage, technical considerations for incorporating probiotic microorganisms into yogurt, starter culture technology and enumeration of the probiotic organisms are also reviewed. r 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.


Normal cardiac contractile and relaxation function are critically dependent on a continuous energy supply. Accordingly, metabolic perturbations and impaired mitochondrial bioenergetics with subsequent disruption of ATP production underpin a wide variety of cardiac diseases, including diabetic cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, anthracycline cardiomyopathy, peripartum cardiomyopathy, and mitochondrial cardiomyopathies. Crucially, there are no specific treatments for preventing the onset or progression of these cardiomyopathies to heart failure, one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Therefore, new treatments are needed to target the metabolic disturbances and impaired mitochondrial bioenergetics underlying these cardiomyopathies in order to improve health outcomes in these patients. However, investigation of the underlying mechanisms and the identification of novel therapeutic targets have been hampered by the lack of appropriate animal disease models. Furthermore, interspecies variation precludes the use of animal models for studying certain disorders, whereas patient-derived primary cell lines have limited lifespan and availability. Fortunately, the discovery of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) has provided a promising tool for modelling cardiomyopathies via human heart tissue in a dish. In this review article, we highlight the use of patient-derived iPSCs for studying the pathogenesis underlying cardiomyopathies associated with metabolic perturbations and impaired mitochondrial bioenergetics, as the ability of iPSCs for self-renewal and differentiation makes them an ideal platform for investigating disease pathogenesis in a controlled in vitro environment. Continuing progress will help elucidate novel mechanistic pathways, and discover novel therapies for preventing the onset and progression of heart failure, thereby advancing a new era of personalised therapeutics for improving health outcomes in patients with cardiomyopathy.


Introduction: Muscle fiber composition and fatigue characteristics are different in strength or endurance trained elite athletes, this may be a result of muscle adaptation to specific training loads. EMG power spectra can be used to study these differences. Objective: Study the effect of long-term training on the muscle fatigue and fiber composition. Methods: SEMG was recorded in country's elite athletes who were either endurance (Marathoners/ Long distance runners, En; n=20) or strength (Weight lifters / Throwers, St; n=20) trained for past > 5 years. The fall in EMG median frequency (MDF) of two upper body (Biceps Brachii; BB & Triceps; TR) and two lower body (Vastus Lateralis; VL & Biceps Femoris; BF) muscles, during 80% MVC isometric contraction was used to assess fatigability and thus the predominant muscle fiber type. Similar data was also collected in untrained controls (Un; n=20). Results: MDF showed no significant fall (p > 0.05) during the task in TR and VL in all the groups, indicating higher proportion of type I fibers and inconsequent influence of type of training. BB & BF (St & Un only) MDF fell significantly (p< 0.05) during the task indicative of more type II fibers. BF MDF in En group though showed a decrease but it was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Conclusion: The results indicate higher proportion type I fibers in hamstrings (BF) of Endurance trained athletes when compared to other subjects, suggestive of its adaptability to long-term endurance training.


According to actual conditions agricultural production development was achieved by harming the environment. The traditional agricultural methods (the natural farms, and plants and animals using in a rural manner) was bequeath us the ruined environment (erosion, barren fields etc). Modern agriculture which based on technical – technological accomplishments could harms it even more and immeasurable. We couldn't let that development and prosperity of agricultural production does more harm and endanger the environment which could lead to ecological problems with immeasurable consequences. The Agrarian policy should takes into considerations agribusiness agroecological issues in conditions like these. The major goal of a modern agricultural productions and food industry isn't only to produce more food with lowest possible prices but to contribute the environment protection and prosperity by their activities. Production of "Eco food" was presumed by using of proper ecological technology. Normally, the profile of agribusiness managers should be changed in the first place. They should be the modern type of eco – managers. Their primary task should be to manage the control of applying eco principles with agricultural production. According to the modern agricultural enterprises business managing, beside the market realization as the business component, we should take into consideration the applying of eco principles level as well. Its applying should be considered as preventive measures in the environment protection. The point is that's much more expensive to overhaul harming consequences provoked by ignoring of the modern agricultural eco principles than stick with them.


Background and Aim: Clinical education is the heart of nursing education. It is a complex process which is affected by different factors. Identifying the problems of clinical education is the first step to resolving them. The aim of this study was to compare nursing instructors and fourth-year nursing students' perspectives on problems with clinical education. Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted in 2007–2008. The census method was employed for recruiting twenty one nursing instructors and 130 fourth-year nursing students from the Nursing and Midwifery Faculty of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran. A 39-item questionnaire was used for assessing the problems of clinical nursing education. Study data were analyzed by using the SPSS software. Findings: Most of the participating students (58.2%) noted that pre-clinical education suffers from many problems while most of the nursing instructors (66.7%) highlighted that the problems of pre-clinical nursing education are moderate. On the other hand, most of the students (53.4%) and instructors (73.7%) evaluated the problems of clinical education environment as moderate. Finally, most of the students (49.1%) and instructors (52.6%) highlighted that the problems of clinical evaluation are moderate. Conclusion: Pre-clinical education, clinical education environment, and clinical evaluation are problematic. Providing and improving educational facilities as well as revising clinical evaluation procedures are recommended.


This paper uses Social Security longitudinal earnings records matched to Current Population Survey data to examine changes in the relative earnings of Hispanic men during a period of dramatic change in public and private policies toward race and ethnicity characterized by, but not limited to, the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Our principle focus is to compare and contrast how lower income Hispanic and African-American men fared during the civil rights era relative to lower-income non- Hispanic whites. Although previous studies have analyzed black economic progress using annual data before and after the Civil Rights Act, this is the first study to do so for Hispanics. We follow a longitudinal sample of individuals who were in the labor market before and after the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Following the same individuals holds constant an array of unmeasured variables such as labor force selectivity and schooling quality that may correlate with the post-1964 period; our approach addresses concerns that the results are the product of changes in these variables. Of particular note—we uncover a significant acceleration following the Civil Rights Act in the relative earnings of low-income Hispanic men.


For a student just getting started in digital forensics, concepts regarding forensic images can be confusing. Terminology like images, clones, bit-stream copies and forensic images are often used incorrectly, further complicating the issue. This paper will attempt to clear up the confusion. We will present an instructive clarification of what a forensic image is as well as what it is not. In addition, we will provide a comprehensive look at the many different ways to access data on forensic images using mostly open source tools on both Windows and Linux platforms. ! Forensic Images: For Your Viewing Pleasure ! 2