Creative industries (CI) "are the cycles of creation, production and distribution of goods and services that use creativity and intellectual capital as primary inputs" (UNCTAD 2010). The notion that intellectual capital can be organized as a primary factor of production whereby various industries can be deemed 'creative' does not go without inviting academic scrutiny (Oakley 2004; Elliot 2007). In the UK where the idea conceived, as Labour government was voted out of the office and general business environment changed, 'creative industries' have lost much of its currency as an industrial policy tool. With the onset of the worst recession in decades, many cultural organizations and creative businesses which have only recently gone through a period of boom are found to be facing large budget cut and the withdrawal of supports by the government. Elsewhere in the world, the contrast could not be more different. In the dynamic industries such as new media, game and performing arts, Germany is rising fast to challenge the traditional US leadership. In the developing world the concept is now increasingly taken up by the government to encourage creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation. China, for example, instituted first official Cultural and Creative Industries Development Plan to 'kick start' a nation-wide campaign, and began strategic reorganization of state owned enterprises (SOEs) in publishing and media, to be followed by capital market listing, Chinese firm such as Crystal CG has quietly entered the world stage of creative business after its debut in the grand opening of the Beijing Olympics. In India, increasing level of specialization has made India the world's largest exporter of handmade paper with 23 % of the world's export market share. In spite of major instability, Afghanistan has become the 11th largest carpet exporter in the world with a 2 % of global share in export. While creativity is and has always been a key force behind human progress, it can be argued that the concept of creative 'industries' offers a new lens through which one can examine and capture 'kaleidoscopic' combination and recombination of human ingenuity and organization. In the context of development, trade in creative goods such as handicrafts provides the least developed countries (LDC) with income generation and diversification opportunities from traditional agriculture. Trading a country's authentic material culture embodied in the form of traditional handicraft also gives voice to the nations (Barrowclough and Kozul-Wright 2007; Schultz and Van Gelder 2008) and has a great potential to transform skills into opportunity driven entrepreneurship and self empowerments (UNIDO 2011). Based on recently released international trade data provided by UNCTAD's creative economy programme, this paper presents some preliminary findings of an ongoing study which aims to empirically assess, though at this stage very partially and limited, the relationships between revealed comparative advantage (RCA) and intellectual property rights (IPRs). While there is no shortage of academic literatures which pointed out the importance of IPRs to creative industries (Schultz and Van Gelder 2008), there remains few sector based, large scale, cross national study which investigates the relationship between RCA and IPR. While the research is ongoing to explore wider implication of IPRs for development, the focus of this paper is to present the result of empirical assessment on creative economy hence the focus is leaned towards understanding the overall performance of creative industries in the world and related comparative advantage of CI and its sub-groupings. Specifically, the paper looks at (1) trade dependency ratio in relation to CI, (2) revealed comparative advantage across 24 CI sub-groups and top performer, (3) local development issues pertaining to CI based interventions aiming at enhancing competitiveness. The analysis is drawn from a 206 x 206 country to country trade flow matrix organized by 24 creative industries sub-groups to assess sectoral pattern of trade. The dataset for trade dependency ratio uses a smaller sample of 103 countries which reported on both trade in goods and services. The research has not been able to provided evidences on the linkage between RCA and IPR which would only be available with more time and efforts finding a suitable concordance between WIPO based statistics measure and UNCTAD's ISTC/HS systems. Future directions are discussed as to how to develop from this paper for the ongoing research and the difficulty to integrate WIPO based IPR statistics with UNCTAD's classification on creative industries6. The structure of this paper is as follows. The first part of the paper presents an overview of creative economy in terms of trade dependency and RCA. The second part of this paper looks at the RCA and sectoral pattern of CI trade in the cases of Bhutan, Egypt and China. The third part of this paper reflects on the findings from the field missions and discusses the potential of CI for development. The final part of this paper outlines further steps for the future research.


With new systems capable of making synchronised phasor measurements there are possibilities for real-time assessment of the stability of a transient swing in power systems. In the future, online control will be necessary as operating points are pushed closer toward the margin and fast reaction time becomes critical to the survival of the system. A piecewise constant-current load equivalent (PCCLE) technique is developed which utilises synchronised phasor measurements to provide fast-transient stability swing prediction for use with high-speed control. A numerical simulation is conducted on IEEE 39-bus system equipped with ten phasor measurement units to test the effectiveness of the PCCLE technique.


Abstract Objective To describe the contribution of mixed dishes to vegetable consumption and to estimate vegetable intake according to specific types of vegetables and other foods among US children and adolescents. Design The 2003–2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a nationally representative probability survey conducted in the USA. Setting Civilian non-institutionalized US population. Subjects All children and adolescents aged 2–18 years who met eligibility criteria (n 9169). Results Approximately 59 % of total vegetable intake came from whole forms of vegetables with 41 % coming from a mixed dish. White potatoes (10·7 (se 0·6) %), fried potatoes (10·2 (se 0·4) %), potato chips (8·6 (se 0·5) %) and other vegetables (9·2 (se 0·5) %) accounted for most vegetables in their whole forms, whereas pasta dishes (9·5 (se 0·4) %), chilli/soups/stews (7·0 (se 0·5) %), pizza/calzones (7·6 (se 0·3) %) and other foods (13·7 (se 0·6) %) accounted for most mixed dishes. Usual mean vegetable intake was 1·02 cup equivalents/d; however, after excluding vegetables from mixed dishes, mean intake fell to 0·54 cup equivalents/d and to 0·32 cup equivalents/d when fried potatoes were further excluded. Conclusions Mixed dishes account for nearly half of overall vegetable intake in US children and adolescents. It is critical for future research to examine various components of vegetable intake carefully in order to inform policy and programmatic efforts aimed at improving dietary intake among children and adolescents.


Abstract Understanding the revenue–expenditure nexus is the core essence of this research in the Pakistani context. This research examines the non-linear relationship between government revenues and government expenditures during 1972–2014. The recently developed non-linear co-integration technique has been used along with the symmetry test. The result shows that the revenues and expenditures have co-integration and provide the evidence in favour of fiscal synchronization hypothesis in the budgetary process. Moreover, the finding also reveals that the relationship between these two fiscal elements is asymmetric and negative changes in revenues and expenditures have a greater impact than the positive ones. Furthermore, another important aspect that was revealed during the study was that the negative shocks in the revenues will lead towards the drastically large increase in the expenditure.


This study is the first to report the effect of water saturation on the retardation of nonionic organic compounds under dynamic conditions. Three nonaggregated sandy soil samples, that varied in their organic carbon content but had similar grain size distributions, were utilized. Two nonionic organic compounds were used: (1) dimethylphthalate, which served as a nonvolatile compound; and (2) benzene, which was volatile. Results showed that retardation coefficients for unsaturated soils are higher than those determined when the soil is saturated. The extent of deviation in retardation between the saturated and unsaturated soils generally increased as the degree of water saturation was reduced. No functional relationship between the extent of deviation in the retardation coefficient and the amount of organic carbon on the soil was found. When normalized to the saturated solid-to-water ratio, retardation coefficients for dimethylphthalate determined at different degrees of saturation were similar, leading to the conclusion that the distribution coefficient did not increase as the media was desaturated. Volatilization did not significantly affect the retardation of benzene under the employed range of saturation. Theoretical analysis showed that the impact would be significant for volatile compounds with higher Henry`s coefficients and in aquifers with low organic matter content. Diffusivemore » transport in the air phase had a significant impact on the spreading of benzene. Previously developed empirical relations reasonably predicted this impact.« less


Provided that valuable knowledge is: collected from all existing sources including people, systems, databases, file cabinets, etc.; it is stored, categorized and organized; and it is disseminated to those people and systems that need it; "The right knowledge would reach the right person or system at the right time" (Seiner, 2000) and businesses would be transformed into knowledge organizations and economies into knowledge economies. This is in fact the global business phenomenon of our modern world economy (Malhotra, 2003); or at least we aspire that it will be. The wealth of today's businesses and modern nations lies on their competences and capabilities as knowledge-based economies (Boisot, 1998).
Higher Education Institutions (HEI) are increasingly exposed to marketplace pressures, in a similar way to other businesses, and the environment in which they are operating today has also changed drastically (Kara & DeShields, 2004), (Cranfield & Taylor, 2008); they experience intense pressure and are required to respond to the global integration (Blose, et al., 2005). The strategic management of knowledge of a university may provide the competitive advantage that universities need and has potentially several benefits to offer to higher education in general. Knowledge Management (KM) which includes management strategies, and methods, as well as the necessary information and communication technologies may potentially leverage intellectual capital and know-how in order that businesses can benefit from gains in human performance and competitiveness. Examples and best practices are available in the literature but very few of them are specific to higher education and involve the use of KM by HEIs. Amongst those who believe that KM has a lot more to offer to Higher Education (HE) is Rowley (Rowley, 2000) who said that "we are a long way from a scenario in which each member of the university community has access to the combined knowledge and wisdom of others in the organization, and has access to that knowledge in a form that suits their particular needs".
This study was initiated to study KM practices in a HEI and create a case study of a KM implementation specific to a HEI following a stakeholder approach. The HEI under study is the largest (over 5,000 students) private HE institution in Cyprus. While involving all areas required for the successful introduction of KM in a HEI, the study delivers a KM solution to satisfy the need of internal stakeholders, being the administration, faculty and staff members and the students. All aspects of KM are examined in the study which being exploratory in nature carries out an organization-wide survey to explore the HEI's stakeholders' perceptions of the "knowledge organization", their current practices including strategy, leadership style, and culture and their needs and expectations relating to KM. Research objectives are satisfied with the utilization of focus groups and surveys conducted via questionnaires and personal interviews for the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data. As data are analyzed the results and recommended actions lead to a case study which describes the implementation of a kick-off KM project in the HEI. The case study has an explanatory nature and takes the reader through all of the steps, from the initiation to the completion, of the KM project. It may be replicated, customized, and re-used as necessary for other KM implementations in the HEI under study, other HEIs, or other organizations with similar needs.


This paper describes how mathematic teacher's content knowledge informs teachers' pedagogical content knowledge in the use learner-centred approaches and decision when teaching mathematics. Two trained mathematics teachers in the use of learner-centred approaches who were teaching mathematics at ordinary secondary school level in Tanzania were involved. Data was collected through classroom observation, video recording of classroom events and teacher's self-reflections. Thematic analysis procedure both at conceptual and manifest level was employed. The findings indicated that, teacher's weak knowledge of contents as a component of pedagogical content knowledge in the use of learner-centred approaches led to teacher's inability to help students' construct knowledge of the subject matter that teachers taught. The trained teachers did not teach lessons that were learners' focused and were unable to help students discover the relationship between contents they taught with other contents in the syllabus. Teachers' lack of content knowledge led to teachers' communication of their misunderstanding to students through teacher-centred teaching approaches. In addition, these experienced teachers were unable to help students describe the rationale for learning contents. It is recommended that cementing on leaner-centred approaches during teachers' professional development programs should go hand in hand with capitalizing on teacher's knowledge of contents.


Background
The use of Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta (REBOA) in resuscitation and trauma management in adults is increasing. However, there is limited data published concerning its use in pediatric patients.
Methods
We describe a case using REBOA for traumatic hemorrhagic shock in a pediatric patient according to the concept of EndoVascular resuscitation and Trauma Management (EVTM) at Örebro University Hospital in April 2019. Informed consent has been received.
Results
 An 11-year-old boy arrived to the emergency room (ER) after a motor vehicle accident. Due to total hemodynamic collapse, cardiopulmonary resuscitation was initiated with return of spontaneous circulation. Zone 1 total REBOA was successfully performed for 7 minutes while damage control surgery was performed and massive transfusion was initiated to stabilize the patient. The patient survived and returned to almost normal daily activity.
Conclusion
REBOA for endovascular resuscitation and trauma management may be an additional method for temporary hemodynamic stabilization in pediatric patients and, in this specific patient, was used instead of resuscitative thoracotomy.

Keywords: REBOA; Hemorrhage; Hemorrhagic Shock; Endovascular Resuscitation, Pediatric Trauma


The fundamental principles in civil procedure do not only serve as guiding principles for civil procedure in general, but are especially relevant in the taking of evidence process. The German Code of Civil Procedure lays down various rules in its part on the taking of evidence, which aim to specify the scope of the fundamental procedural principles as well as their limitations. This reports purposes to depict the taking of evidence process under German law by illustrating its interaction with said principles.


Background: The evidence base regarding validity of wearable fitness trackers for assessment and/or modification of physical activity behavior is evolving. Accurate assessment of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) is important for measuring adherence to physical activity guidelines in the United States and abroad. Therefore, this systematic review synthesizes the state of the validation literature regarding wearable trackers and MVPA. Methods: A systematic search of the PubMed, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, and Cochrane Library databases was conducted through October 2019 (PROSPERO registration number: CRD42018103808). Studies were eligible if they reported on the validity of MVPA and used devices from Fitbit, Apple, or Garmin released in 2012 or later or available on the market at the time of review. A meta-analysis was conducted on the correlation measures comparing wearables with the ActiGraph. Results: Twenty-two studies met the inclusion criteria; all used a Fitbit device; one included a Garmin model and no Apple-device studies were found. Moderate to high correlations (.7–.9) were found between MVPA from the wearable tracker versus criterion measure (ActiGraph n = 14). Considerable heterogeneity was seen with respect to the specific definition of MVPA for the criterion device, the statistical techniques used to assess validity, and the correlations between wearable trackers and ActiGraph across studies. Conclusions: There is a need for standardization of validation methods and reporting outcomes in individual studies to allow for comparability across the evidence base. Despite the different methods utilized within studies, nearly all concluded that wearable trackers are valid for measuring MVPA.


As the true meaning of democracy is still evolving in the Philippines, the need for a clear structure of governance in the country is strongly felt by many Filipinos. The use of electronic devices in governance proves to be viably effective in many administrative set-ups. This article articulates the necessity for the Philippine government to shift to electronic governance to respond faster to the public demand for quality service. The authors envision a government set-up that uses ICTs, promotes information literacy infused with cultural values, and democratizes information governance to strengthen relationship between the government and her constituencies.


Eukaryotic translation termination is triggered by peptide release factors eRF1 and eRF3. eRF1 recognizes the stop codon and promotes nascent peptide chain release, while eRF3 facilitates this peptide release in a GTP-dependent manner. In addition to its role in termination, eRF3 is involved in normal and nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. Despite extensive investigation, the complete understanding of eRF3 function have been hampered by the lack of specific anti-eRF3 monoclonal antibodies (Mabs). The purpose of the study was production of recombinant eRF3a/GSPT1, development of anti-eRF3a/GSPT1 Mabs and their utilization for eRF3a/GSPT1 sub-cellular localization. Plasmid encoding C-terminal part of human GSPT1/eRF3a was constructed. Purified protein, which was predominantly present in the inclusion bodies, was used for the development of Mabs. Characterization of the regions recognized by Mabs using GSPT1/eRF3a mutants and its visualization in the 3D space suggested that Mabs recognize different epitopes. Consistent with its function in translational termination, immunostaining of the cells with developed Mabs revealed that the endogenous GSPT1/eRF3a localized in endoplasmic reticulum. Taking into account the important role of eRF3 for the fundamental research one can suggests that developed Mabs have great prospective to be used as a research reagent in a wide range of applications.


Abstract Past research has linked interparental conflict, parent psychopathology, hostile parenting, and externalizing behavior problems in childhood. However, few studies have examined these relationships while simultaneously allowing the contribution of common genetic factors underlying associations between family- and parent-level variables on child psychopathology to be controlled. Using the attributes of a genetically sensitive in vitro fertilization research design, the present study examined associations among interparental conflict, parents' antisocial behavior problems, parents' anxiety symptoms, and hostile parenting on children's antisocial behavior problems among genetically related and genetically unrelated mother–child and father–child groupings. Path analyses revealed that for genetically related mothers, interparental conflict and maternal antisocial behavior indirectly influenced child antisocial behavior through mother-to-child hostility. For genetically unrelated mothers, effects were apparent only for maternal antisocial behavior on child antisocial behavior through mother-to-child hostility. For both genetically related and genetically unrelated fathers and children, interparental conflict and paternal antisocial behavior influenced child antisocial behavior through father-to-child hostility. Effects of parental anxiety symptoms on child antisocial behavior were apparent only for genetically related mothers and children. Results are discussed with respect to the relative role of passive genotype–environment correlation as a possible confounding factor underlying family process influences on childhood psychopathology.


The increased availability and sales of fairtrade products has resulted in an increased number of products with fairness content in the market place. While mainstreaming of fairtrade implies that overall fairness and wealth transfers to small producers goes up, it may also result in less welfare transfers due to possible dilution of fairtrade principles. This paper uses a Hotelling framework of competition to analyze firm behavior with respect to the entry of products with fairness content. We analyze how an incumbent supplier reacts on a fairtrade entrant and how a fairtrade supplier reacts on a conventional entrant that starts offering a product with fairness content with different cost structures. By doing so we are able to calculate the firms' optimal fairness locations and the total amount of fairness generated. The results can be used by managers and policy makers in determining the optimal strategy when it comes to the amount of fairness content in the market and/or the implementation of fairtrade products within development policies. We find that firms' optimal locations are mainly determined by the transfers to smallholders and the distance of consumers towards the location of the firm. 1 Corresponding author. Address: Radboud University Nijmegen, Institute for Management Research, P.O. Box 9108, 6500 HK Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com. URL: http://www.ru.nl/fm/gelder/.


Abstract Study of dispute management related to irrigation water use for agriculture and fishery at Kelingi irrigation area was conducted to determine the irrigation water management solution which is mutually beneficial between rice production and fish production of swift water pond. Kelingi Irrigation Area which is formerly planned for rice cultivation was built during the Dutch colonial era. Former water management pattern and its instruments were incapable to balance the rapid development found in the field which results in interest dispute among the water users. The study methods were consisted of PRA, interview by using questioner aids, and discussion/round table. Dispute management of irrigation water use for agriculture and fishery can be approached by using collaboration system in which all parties gain the advantage because this system is a truly and permanent solution. The recommendations from this study were as follows: 1) irrigation system improvement and increased service capability of the existing irrigation network, 2) balance planting pattern regulation and rice planting schedule as well as cultivation of fish and swift water pond fish at irrigation area level which was decided by using Decree Letter of Governor because this area was classified as district/city crossed irrigation, 3) farmers group empowerment and P3A/GP3A by related councils and institutions, 4) government provision for communication and collaboration between farmers and owner of swift water fish pond through justice and strict approaches in applying the existed regulations, 5) issuing of Local Irrigation Regulation at Province and District/City levels which consisted of swift water fish pond and irrigation water allotments, and 6) law enforcement in permit, supervision and action for every transgression by water users based on Local Regulation and the existed legislation. Keywords: irrigation water dispute, rice, swift water pond Diterima: 7 September 2009; Disetujui: 18 Januari 2010


The mining district of southwest Sardinia, Italy, is one of the classic areas where primary carbonate-hosted Zn-Pb sulfide ores are associated with a relatively thick secondary oxidation zone containing Zn (hydroxy-)carbonates and silicates, the so-called "calamine," exploited until the 1970s. The extent of the capping oxidized ore zones, reaching deep below the surface, is generally independent of the present-day water table. The base of the oxidation profile containing nonsulfide Zn minerals in various uplifted blocks in the Iglesiente area can be both elevated above or submerged below the recent water table. The genesis of the ores is therefore considered to be related to fossil, locally reactivated, oxidation phenomena. The mineralogy of the nonsulfide mineralization is generally complex and consists of smithsonite, hydrozincite, and hemimorphite as the main economic minerals, accompanied by iron and manganese oxy-hydroxides and residual clays. This study places the secondary ores in the context of the tectonostratigraphic and climatic evolution of Sardinia and includes a petrographic and mineralogic study of the most abundant minerals, relating the mineralogy of secondary Zn and Pb carbonates to their stable C and O isotope geochemistry and constraining the origin of the oxidizing fluids and the temperature of mineralization. The δ 18 O VSMOW values of smithsonite are homogeneous, regardless of crystal morphology, position, and mine location (avg. 27.4 ± 0.9‰). This homogeneity points to a relatively uniform isotopic composition of the oxidation fluid and corresponding formation temperatures of 20° to 35°C. Considering the karstic environment of smithsonite formation in southwest Sardinia, this high temperature could be due to heat release during sulfide oxidation. The carbon isotope compositions of secondary Zn carbonates display considerable variations of more than 9 per mil ( δ 13 C VPDB from –0.6 to –10.4‰). This large range indicates participation of variable amounts of reduced organic and marine carbonate carbon during sulfide oxidation. The isotopic variation can be related to a variation in crystal morphologies of smithsonite, reflecting different environments of formation with respect to water table oscillations in karstic environments (upper to lower vadose to epiphreatic). The same range in δ 13 C isotope values is displayed by the calcite associated with Zn carbonates and by recent speleothems. The most reliable time span for the deposition of bulk calamine ore in southwest Sardinia ranges from middle Eocene to Plio-Pleistocene, although further multiple reactivation of the weathering profiles, peaking within the warm interglacial periods of the Quaternary, cannot be excluded.


Mood disorders include unipolar depression (UD) and bipolar disorder (BD). In this work, an elicitation-based approach to short-term detection of mood disorder based on the elicited speech responses is proposed. First, a long-short term memory (LSTM)-based classifier was constructed to generate the emotion likelihood for each segment in the elicited speech responses. The emotion likelihoods were then clustered into emotion codewords using the K-means algorithm. Latent semantic analysis (LSA) was then adopted to model the latent relationship between the emotion codewords and the elicited responses. The structural relationships among the emotion codewords in the LSA-based matrix were employed to construct a latent affective structure model (LASM) for characterizing each mood. For mood disorder detection, the similarity between the input speech LASM and each of the mood-specific LASMs was estimated. Finally, the mood with its LASM most similar to the input speech LASM is regarded as the detected mood. Experimental results show that the proposed LASM-based method achieved 73.3%, improving the detection accuracy by 13.3% compared to the commonly used SVM-based classifiers.


The historical development of Israelite theology must be understood in relation to the social antagonisms that shaped the contexts in which people spoke about God. This article brings recent research on the historical development of different institutional forms in ancient Israelite society into conversation with recent arguments regarding the origins and evolution of the worship of Yahweh in the southern Levant.My aim is not to reduce theology to an epiphenomenal reflection or a direct expression of social realities, but to grasp it as creatively engaged with such realities. Yahweh appears to have originated among mobile bands on the social and geographical margins with respect to the centers of political and economic power in southwest Asia. Israel's emergent monarchic state adopted this popular family god as its patron deity. The real social antagonisms between extractive state regimes and sustainable systems of allocation shaped—in various, indirect, and surprising ways—Israel's speech about God. This article argues that the conflicted historical development of Israel's speech about Yahweh takes its shape in relation to the evolving social regimes and antagonisms that marked Israel's history.


Livestock Gross Margin Insurance for Dairy Cattle (LGM-Dairy) is a recently introduced tool for protecting average income over feed cost margins in milk production. In this paper we examine the assumptions underpinning the rating method used to determine premiums charged for LGM-Dairy insurance contracts. The first test relates to the assumption of lognormality in terminal futures prices. Using high-frequency futures and options data for milk, corn and soybean meal we estimate implied densities with flexible higher moments. Simulations indicate there is no strong evidence that imposing lognormality introduces bias in LGM-Dairy premiums. The remainder of the paper is dedicated to examining dependency between milk and feed marginal distributions. The current LGM-Dairy rating method imposes the restriction of zero conditional correlation between milk and corn, as well as milk and soybean meal futures prices. Using futures data from 1998-2011 we find that allowing for non-zero milk-feed correlations considerably reduces LGM-Dairy premiums for insurance contracts with substantial declared feed amounts. Further examination of the nature of milk-feed dependencies reveals that Spearman's correlation coefficient is mostly reflecting tail dependence. Using the empirical copula approach we find that non-parametric method of modeling milk-feed dependence decreases LGM-Dairy premiums more than a method that allows only for linear correlation. Unlike other situations in portfolio risk assessment where extremal dependence increases risk, in agricultural margins, tail dependence between feed and the Class III milk price may actually decrease insurance risk, and reduce actuarially fair premiums.


Diel activity pattern (DAP) is a key aspect of an animal's ecology, but it is difficult to infer when behavior cannot be directly observed, as in the fossil record. Various anatomical correlates have therefore been used to attempt to classify DAP. Eyeball dimensions are good predictors of DAP because they relate directly to light sensitivity of the eye. Osteological characters, such as scleral ring dimensions, are also reliable proxies, but bony orbit dimensions alone have proven less reliable because soft tissues other than the eyeball can affect orbit size and shape. However, it would be useful if bony orbit dimensions could be used to determine DAP, particularly for mammals, which have no scleral ring, and nonmammalian synapsids, which infrequently preserve scleral rings. We investigated the possibility of predicting DAP in sciurids (Mammalia: Rodentia: Sciuridae) using orbit measurements and other cranial dimensions, and a variety of quantitative methods, including phylogenetic flexible discriminant analysis, classification trees, and logistic regression. The latter two methods do not require a priori assignment of DAP and therefore reflect the situation in a fossil data set. We find that although there are some interfering phylogenetic factors, nocturnal and non‐nocturnal sciurids can be differentiated from one another with over 80% accuracy using all methods investigated here; attempts to differentiate crepuscular animals from nocturnal and diurnal species proved much less successful. Our results indicate that these analyses offer several viable options for predicting DAP in the fossil record, but such analyses should be conducted in a phylogenetic context whenever possible. Anat Rec, 301:1774–1787, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


In this paper, we investigate the effects of RF impairments and imperfect channel estimation (ICE) on the performance of quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems employing transmit diversity with two transmit antennas and one receive antenna in a Rayleigh fading environment. We derive the bit error rate (BER) expressions of space-time block codes (STBC)-OFDM system using the Alamouti code. Although the analysis is presented for 16-QAM, it can be easily extended to higher order square QAM constellations. Simulation results are also presented to illustrate the extent of the effects on system performance degradation, with emphasis given to the IEEE 802.1e standard.


This thesis deals with recognition and elimination of tumours by T lymphocytes and their use in adoptive immunotherapy.The first tumour-draining lymph node; the sentinel node, is identified by peritumoural injection of a tracer. This is the hypothesised location for the activation of tumour-reactive lymphocytes. Accordingly, proliferation and IFN-γ production in response to autologous tumour extract was detected in sentinel nodes from patients with colon and urinary bladder cancer. Reactivity in metastatic nodes was generally lower or absent, but the non-responsiveness could be subdued in long-term cultures by addition of tumour antigen and IL-2. A novel padlock-probe based method was developed for measuring the T cell receptor Vβ repertoire. Common Vβ gene expansions were detected in tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes and sentinel nodes. Thus, tumour antigens are recognised in sentinel nodes by Th1 lymphocytes, resulting in a clonally expanded cell population that can be further propagated ex vivo.Regulatory T cells (Tregs) may contribute to tumour-induced immunosuppression. Immunohistochemical stainings against the pan-T cell marker CD3 and Treg marker FOXP3 was performed on tumour tissue from 20 historical urinary bladder cancer patients. The ratio of FOXP3+ to CD3+ cells was lower in patients alive 7 years post-cystectomy, suggesting that Tregs in bladder cancer have prognostic implications.Lymphocytes were isolated from sentinel nodes from sixteen patients with advanced or high-risk colon cancer. In vitro expansion with addition of autologous tumour extract and IL-2 mainly promoted the outgrowth of CD4+ Th1 lymphocytes, which were safely re-transfused to the patients. Four patients responded with complete tumour regression. Survival time in the Dukes' D patients was significantly increased compared with conventionally treated controls (2.6 versus 0.8 years; p=0.048).In conclusion, human solid tumours are recognised in sentinel nodes and in vitro expanded sentinel node-acquired CD4+ T lymphocytes seem useful in the treatment of patients with disseminated cancer.


Seasonal, ontogenetic and bathymetric variations of diet were examined for walleye pollock Theragra chalcogramma based on a total of 6666 fish collected off the southeastern coast of Hokkaido Island, northern Japan (Doto area) during 1989 to 2000. Walleye pollock depended exclu- sively (>99%) on pelagic prey and showed a clear ontogenetic dietary shift: smaller fish depended mainly upon mesozooplankton such as Neocalanus cristatus and Euphausia pacifica, and larger fish preyed upon pollock (cannibalism), myctophids Diaphus theta and firefly squid Watasenia scintillans. Seasonal variation was also evident. Smaller pollock depended mainly upon N. cristatus during spring then shifted gradually to E. pacifica during other seasons. For larger pollock, major prey shifted from pollock (cannibalism) during spring to micronekton during other seasons. Bathymetric variation was less pronounced, with cannibalism and Themisto spp. being more important in the shallow area (≤150 m). Feeding intensity, measured as stomach content index, was generally higher during spring and summer than autumn and winter, but showed incidentally high values during win- ter, suggesting sporadic but intense feeding opportunities. Fish condition fell during winter and then recovered rapidly during May and June. Recovery coincided with superabundance of N. cristatus during blooming, so that this species is essential for the recovery of pollock from wintering and spawning.


The texture evolution due to grain growth that takes place during annealing was investigated in nanocrystalline Fe-Ni alloys fabricated by using a continuous electroforming method. In the current materials, grain growth occurred during annealing at much lower temperatures than in conventional coarse-grained counterparts. With regard to the macrotextures, the as-deposited textures were of fibre-type characterized by strong <100>//ND and weak <111>//ND components, and the occurrence of grain growth resulted in the strong development of the <111>//ND fibre texture with the minor <100>//ND components. It was clarified using orientation imaging microscopy that abnormal growth of the <111>//ND grains in the early stages of grain growth plays an important role on the texture evolution. The origin of the abnormal grain growth has been discussed in terms of the orientation dependence of energy density.


Blood chemistry values were measured from 31 harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) released from herring weirs in the Bay of Fundy, Canada. Sodium, phosphorus, calcium, chloride, magnesium, total protein, albumin, globulin, urea, cholesterol, serum osmolality, and alanine aminotransferase levels fell within ranges reported for captive harbor porpoises and other odontocetes. Glucose, potassium, creatine kinase, aspartate aminotransferase, hemoglobin, thyroxine, bilirubin, and alkaline phosphatase levels were generally higher than those reported for captive odontocetes. Cortisol and creatinine levels were significantly higher (P= 0.0356 and 0.0174, respectively) in porpoises that were handled for longer periods and fitted with electronic tags (mean cortisol value = 314 ± 107 nmol/L, mean creatinine value = 94 ± 14 μmol/L) than those receiving roto-tags (mean cortisol value = 222 ± 82 nmol/L, mean creatinine value = 75 ± 15 μmol/L). A more controlled study of duration of handling, time spent out of water, degree of manipulation, and method of tag attachment is required to identify which factors are responsible for the stress response.


The increasing impact of dermatophytic infections, the limitations encountered in their treatments (e.g. resistance, sideeffects, and high toxicity), the rising overprescription and overuse of conventional antifungals and high treatment costs all have stimulated the research for alternative natural drugs, such as essential oils. This paper reviews the in vitro/in vivo activity of essential oils and their major compounds against dermatophyte strains. A state of knowledge of the chemical composition of the oils, in vitro susceptibility tests and in vivo models used in antidermatophytic assays as well as the mechanism of action involved are referred under the perspective of the potential use of essential oils as antifungal agents in the clinical treatment of dermatophytosis.


This book explains and examines the whole gamut of subsidies, both explicit and implicit, in India at the level of Central and State Governments. Subsidies are sometimes called negative taxation. Providing minimum consumption entitlement to the poor by subsidising the items consumed by them is an extremely important welfare dimension of fiscal policy. However, subsidies can generate negative effects also.


OBJECTIVE
Robotic machines are being used with increasing frequency in the treatment of clinically localized prostate cancer in Thailand. While robotics may offer some advantages, it remains unclear whether potential benefits offset higher costs. The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare cost utility between standard and robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy from a health system perspective.

MATERIAL AND METHOD
The authors created a care pathway and a model to facilitate a comprehensive cost utility analysis. All variables used in our model were derived from our review of the literature, exceptfor cost, utility for erectile dysfunction, and utility for urinary incontinence, which were derived from Chulalongkorn Hospital patient records. All costs described in this report are denominated in Thai baht, with a 2012 currency value. A positive margin was used to simulate the model. Sensitivity analysis was performed to estimate the robustness of the outcome.

RESULTS
Thailand utility values for erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence were 0.86 and 0.81, respectively. The cost of robotic laparoscopy was, on average, 120,359 baht (95% CI, 89,368-151,350 baht) higher than standard laparoscopy and was more effective with a mean gain of 0.05 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) (95% CI, 0.03-0.08) for the 100 procedures performed each year. The incremental cost effectiveness (ICER) ratio was 2,407,180 baht per QALYs, with a very low probability that robotic prostatectomy would be cost effective at the Thai-willingness-to pay (WTP) threshold of 160,000 baht/ QALY.

CONCLUSION
Robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy is not more cost effective than standard laparoscopic prostatectomy for the 100 cases performed each year. An increase in the number of cases may result in better economies of scale and a lower ICER, an outcome that may increase the overall value and cost effectiveness of an investment in this technology.


We present the first tool for unbiased quality control of top-down proteomics datasets.

Motivation
Our tool can select high-quality top-down proteomics spectra, serve as a gateway for building top-down spectral libraries and, ultimately, improve identification rates.

Results
We demonstrate that a twofold rate increase for two E. coli top-down proteomics datasets may be achievable.

Availability
http://patternlabforproteomics.org/tdgc, freely available for academic use.


The major purpose of this Thesis is to contribute to the knowledge of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Data Envelopment Analysis is a technique that aims to evaluate the efficiency of homogeneous productive units and to determine benchmarks to guide inefficient units to achieve the Efficient Frontier. Several contributions to DEA are sought in this Thesis. One of the main goals of this Thesis is to develop a new approach to analyse the dominance relationships that appear between the assessed units in a DEA context. This approach is a methodology based on Complex Network Analysis. Complex Network Analysis (CNA) is a traditional technique to characterise the relationships among the elements of a system. It has a powerful visualisation tool that can be applied to a DEA context. The first methodological approach introduced here is called Dominance Network Analysis (DNA). Since it is based on CNA, it is flexible enough to represent the different relationships usually studied in DEA. In DEA there are many different models designed to evaluate the relative technical efficiency, but also the economic efficiency. The proposed DNA metholodogy is capable of evaluating both relationships at the same time, as described in three of the papers included in this Thesis, using different datasets to show the potential of this new approach. Another main goal of this Thesis is to develop a new concept to determine intermediate benchmarks that the inefficient units can achieve in the technology seeking the Efficient Frontier. The new concept, called Gradient-based stepwise benchmarking paths, is based on the Efficiency Field Potential (EFP). This approach determines consecutive intermediate benchmarks, depending on the position of the evaluated Decision Making Unit (DMU). The last contribution of this Thesis is to explore the potential of DEA in a project team assessment context. In teamwork, one of the most difficult problems is to measure the contribution of each member to the team. However, if this contribution were known, there should exist a relationship between the efficiency of the team members and the efficiency of their developed projects. So, the efficiency of each team member could be estimated based on the efficiency of their results.


We prove exponential separations between the sizes of particular refutations in negative, respectively linear, resolution and general resolution. Only a superpolynomial separation between negative and general resolution was previously known. Our examples show that there is no strong relationship between the size and width of refutations in negative and linear resolution.


The type of the mesophase is altered by a small change in the molecular architecture, i.e. increasing the number of alkyl chains attached to the mesogenic core at terminal positions. Lamellar (1D) and columnar (2D) phases are formed for molecules with one and three terminal chains, respectively. For those with two chains 3D phases are observed with either cubic or triclinic symmetry structure.


Abstract This paper offers a broader reflection on the current and historical discourse related to the analysis of the effectiveness of economic sanctions. Is it possible to reliably measure the effectiveness of economic sanctions ? In addition to summarizing the literature in this area, the article points out numerous problems in the interpretation and use of terminology. Confusion about different approaches in this discipline creates an environment in which it is difficult to orient oneself or segregate objective information. This confusion affects the behaviour of national governments. National governments frequently resort to economic sanctions, even though the measurement of their effectiveness is unclear. The article aims to introduce partial and valid arguments related to the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the imposed sanctions. Moreover, its goal is to present the preferred approach how to measure the effectiveness. The paper concludes that universally valid metrics for measuring effectiveness are hardly achievable due to the inability to compare events across modern history, without taking into account the context. At the same time, there is neither a terminological nor a semantic consensus on the basic concepts, which makes the situation more complicated. One of the main issues is the inconsistent terminology, since many authors do not distinguish between effectiveness and efficiency. Thus, the author tends to interpret effectiveness as an ability to achieve the goals initially pre-set. Although this definition offers a rather loose view which does not allow too much comparison and generalization, it is, in the author's view, the least "blurred" one. At the same time, the author encourages an individual approach to particular case reports and warns against attempting to econometrically and statistically capture something that is practically incommensurable or not measurable at all. Therefore, the author recommends, as a result of this literature overview, to stick to the perception of effectiveness (or its negation) as an ability (or a disability) to achieve predetermined goals. The value-added of this article is to contribute to the discussion about economic sanctions nowadays. It comes with conclusions about diverging approaches based on the unique, comprehensive literature review of respected authors. Also, the short list of case studies of what the author considers an example of effective and non-effective sanctions will be included.


McDonnell Douglas originally developed the Advanced Concept Ejection Seat (ACES II) in the 1970's. The USAF has contracted Goodrich Universal Propulsion Company (UPCO) and Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) to develop a modular version of ACES for the F-15. The modular design will allow seat removal without having to first remove the canopy from the aircraft. ANSYS Workbench 9.0 shaped the modular design, enabling CTC to meet the demanding structural requirements for the new seat. Due to the complex loads this seat is subjected to, a system level analysis was developed. This linear analysis consists of approximately sixty structural components, uses a mixture of shell and solid elements and consists of approximately 320,000 nodes and 200,000 elements. Bonded contact was used to join the components together. This model allowed CTC to quickly and efficiently examine the effects of many load cases on the entire seat system when problem areas were identified and the geometry could be updated without erasing existing contact pairs, loads and boundary conditions. The ability to easily update and quickly solve the numerical model allowed for multiple iterations, resulting in an optimized design. The system analysis also allowed CTC to examine complex load cases, which were not possible during the original design in the 1970's. Modifying and verifying multiple designs were easily accomplished using ANSYS Workbench. This approach ensures that the new modular design will meet all requirements during structural testing and qualification.


Among the various approaches to block brachial plexus , supraclavicular approach offers a high success rate for elbow, forearm and hand surgery . Various adjuvant drugs have been used with local anesthetics in order to decrease the time of onset and prolong the duration and quality of regional blocks. So efforts were made to combine the adjuvant with local anesthetics to improve patient and surgeon satisfaction. In this randomized study we tried to see the effect of verapamil in brachial plexus block as an adjuvant with local anaesthetic .This randomized study wasconducted in Anaesthesiology department of ShaheedZiaurRahman Medical College Hospital after approved by the ethical review board of this hospital.The study subject were divided into two groups (Group A=only local anaesthetics&Group B=local anaesthetics with Verapamil) , 30 IN numbers in each group. Group-A patients was administered 15ml of 1% lignocaine with 15 ml of bupivacaine 0.25% while in Group-B patients was administered injection verapamil 3.5 ml (3.5 mg) in addition to the above mixture. In this study mean onset time of sensory block was 11.53 ± 1.4 minutes in group - A and 7.12 ± 1.68 minutes in group – B which is not statistically significant (p value = 0.057). The mean onset time of motor block in group A was 15.26 ± 1.96 min, and in group B was 11.58 ± 2.68 min and this difierence isstatistically significant (p value=0.000152). Duration of motor block was 96.30 min and 115.08 min in group A and Group B respectively. Sensory block was 157.26 min and 188.0 min in group A and Group B respectively. Regarding the heart rate, no significant difference was detected between the groups at the time of preanesthesia and at the 5 min after anaesthesia. Compared with group B patients, group A patients shows slight but statistically significant increased heart rate at the 10 min (80, 92 beat/min respectively) after brachial plexus block. At 30 minute after, mean systolic BP was 97.9±4.7 mmHg in group A and 84.3±5.0 mmHg in group B. At 45 minute after, mean systolic blood pressure was 94.6±15.6 mmHg and 84.3±5.0 mmHg in group A and group B respectively. At 60 minutes after, mean systolic blood pressure was 59.6±6.0 mmHg in group A and 61.2±9.4 mmHg in group B. At 15, 30 and 45 minute difference was statistically significant (p<0.05) between two groups. In conclusion, the study revealed that verapamil can be used as an adjuvant to decrease the onset time of sensory and motor blocks of bupivacaine in supraclavicular block. Moreover, verapamil doses in regional blocks did not show any hemodynamic side effects.
Bangladesh Med J. 2017 May; 46 (2): 43-47


PURPOSE
To identify the prevalence of handicapping disabilities among children up to 15 years of age and their epidemiological pattern in the eastern part of Jeddah.

METHODS
In a population-based cross-sectional household survey in the eastern Jeddah area, Saudi Arabia, a multistage sampling method was applied to screen children in 875 houses using the ten questions survey tool for identification of disabilities. Further information collected for detected disabilities included possible risk factors, cause of the disability as perceived by the family and services previously provided to the child.

RESULTS
A total of 137 cases of disability were detected giving a point prevalence rate of 36.7 per 1,000 children. Twenty-nine children (21.2%) were discovered for the first time during the survey. The majority of cases were male (57.7%) and the mean age for all cases was 10 years (SD = 5.5) with no case detected under one year of age. Disabled children were in the fourth or fifth birth order among their brothers and sisters and 47 (34%) of them were recorded as a second or third disability in the same family. Number of disabilities in the same child varied widely: 59% of cases had a single disability. 22% had two conditions and 19% had three or more conditions. Speech. motor and mental disabilities ranked top of the disabilities detected by the ten-question tool. The commonest cause of these disabilities as perceived by the family was hereditary diseases followed by childhood illnesses. Significant risk factors associated to these conditions included larger number of children in the family, older age of either parent. histories of handicapping conditions in the original families of either of the parents and presence of handicapping condition in the mothers. Families reported lack of services provided to their disabled children in the community.

CONCLUSIONS
The survey tool managed to document. successfully, a prevalence rate of childhood disabilities in the community with a general picture of their types and suspected causes which is quite comparable to that found in Saudi Arabia. It also reported a low service delivery for these disabilities and identified some risk factors related to their occurrence. It is recommended to apply this survey method with certain modifications to suit the local culture in Saudi Arabia. Improvement of the services rendered to handicapped children in Jeddah is also recommended.


Manipulating the complex interaction between the immune system and tumour cells has been the focus of cancer research for many years, but it is only in the past decade that significant progress has been made in the field of cancer immunotherapy resulting in clinically effective treatments. The blockade of co-inhibitory immune checkpoints, essential for maintaining lymphocyte homeostasis and self-tolerance, by immunomodulatory monoclonal antibodies has resulted in the augmentation of anti-tumour responses. The greatest successes so far have been seen with the blockade of cytotoxic T lymphocyte associated antigen-4, which has resulted in the first Phase III clinical trial showing an overall survival benefit in metastatic melanoma, and in the blockade of the programmed cell death protein-1 axis. This concise review will focus on the clinical advances made by the blockade of these two pathways and their role in current cancer treatment strategies.


The purpose of the current study was to examine the experiences of Latinx students with their student loan debt. Guided by McKinney et al.'s (2015) Student Borrower Behavior and Attitudes model, we framed our study around the following themes: sources of information, rationale for borrowing, and the burden of debt. Findings underscore the importance of financial literacy and provide insight as to how institutions can better support Latinx students in making informed decisions about borrowing loans to pay for and finish college.


One of the most enduring issues in research on business strategy and organization is how firms can survive and achieve prosperity in the long run. A recurring answer to it is that firms must be ambidextrous: efficient in their conduct of today's business while simultaneously being able to adapt to changes in the environment in the future. The recipe recommended to firms which strive for ambidexterity has often been to conduct two forms of innovation at the same time. Incremental innovations are smaller improvements in existing operations and must be pursued to enhance its efficiency. Radical innovations are concepts which are so new that they are incompatible with the existing organization and needed to stay ahead of and adapt to paradigm shifts in the technology and market. However, combining the pursuit of these innovations has proved difficult. The literature therefore suggests that they be carried out in separate organizational units, but the problem is then how firms can reap the synergies of them though integration. This thesis focuses on technological process innovation in industrial production systems. With this as a scope, it contributes to the understanding of ambidexterity in firms by exploring a new form of process innovation, technological step-change, which theoretically is positioned between incremental and radical innovation. Technological step-change is on one hand distinguished from radical innovation as it does not represent any shifts, but rather is related to the development of the existing production systems. On the other, it is distinguished from incremental innovation as it involves the introduction of new technological artifacts and larger, architectural changes in the system, and as such requires assistance from personnel with advanced technological knowledge. Based on a case study, a conclusion is that incremental innovations and step-changes reinforce each other and that the technology in step-changes has its origin in the radical innovation activities. Therefore, while the separated pursuits of incremental and radical innovations alone are largely independent of each other, technological step-changes form a link between the two and enable ambidexterity. It is furthermore found that step-changes are facilitated by the separation of incremental and radical innovation in distinct organizational units on one hand and integration with integrative mechanisms on the other.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

Light at night (LAN), via its ability to suppress nocturnal circadian pineal melatonin production, has been associated with an increased risk of prostate, breast, and endometrial cancers reported in rotating night shift workers. In previous studies, we determined that melatonin's tumor growth inhibitory mechanism occurs via an MT1 melatonin receptor-mediated suppression of tumor cAMP leading to an inhibition of tumor linoleic acid (LA) uptake and its metabolism to the mitogenic signaling molecule 13-hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid (13-HODE). These events culminate in down-regulation of the epidermal growth factor and insulin-like growth factor-1 pathways. Tissue-isolated, androgen-independent PC3 human prostate tumor xenografts (n=3/group; 57 perfusions) perfused for 60 minutes in situ in male nude rats with melatonin-rich blood (> 100 pg/ml) collected from healthy adult, male subjects (n = 3) during the night were compared to those perfused with melatonin-deficient blood (< 10 pg/ml) collected during the daytime or nighttime following 90 minutes of ocular exposure to bright, white fluorescent light (2800 lux). Perfusion of tissue-isolated PC3 human prostate xenografts with human donor nighttime-collected, melatonin-rich blood samples resulted in substantial reductions (60 – 99%) in tumor cAMP levels, LA uptake, 13-HODE production, glucose uptake, O2 consumption and CO2 production, and [3H]thymidine incorporation into tumor DNA, compared to tumors perfused with daytime-collected or nighttime/light exposure-collected, melatonin-diminished blood samples. The activation of MEK, ERK 1/2, Akt, and glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK3β), was also markedly diminished in tumors perfused with melatonin-rich, nighttime-collected blood and stimulated in tumors perfused with melatonin-deficient blood collected after exposure to light at night. Tumor inhibitions by melatonin-rich blood were completely prevented by a non-selective MT1/MT2 melatonin receptor antagonist, forskolin, pertussis toxin, or 8-Bromo-cAMP. These results are the first to demonstrate that the nocturnal melatonin signal in blood collected from male human volunteers during the night suppresses signal transduction, metabolic and growth activity in tissue-isolated PC3 human prostate cancer xenografts via an MT1 melatonin receptor-mediated mechanism. These findings are also the first to show that blood collected from human subjects exposed to light at night markedly stimulates human prostate cancer growth, signal transduction and metabolic activity via suppression of the nocturnal circadian melatonin signal.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1324. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-1324


Student's responses are usually negative when invited to write, in the L2, anything from a paragraph to an academic paper in tertiary education. This is due to many different factors including the fact that students attending an ESP/EAP language course are usually of different language levels. The most difficult part of an ESP/EAP language teacher is to persuade students of the need to write in the foreign language and more specifically to write using the terminology of their discipline. Providing students with a broad range of opportunities to write, thus facilitating their ability to discover the socially appropriate language structures necessary in their science, will aid students in their quest for more knowledge. One first step which should be taken by the ESP/EAP language teacher is to enable students to distinguish the different academic writing styles such as tentative, formal, informal and objective, etc. This presupposes, on the side of the students, a sound knowledge of grammar, syntax, spelling, etc, of the foreign language, and if students do not have this kind of knowledge then it is the teacher's duty to make sure that she/he will start her teaching process with these basic language structures and that she/he will then move on to paragraph and summary writing, to processing, to interpreting and to synthesizing their material. This paper broaches the subject of writing and more specifically of academic writing in tertiary education, and probes into matters such as, for example, the techniques and approaches employed in the teaching of academic writing. It also looks at the techniques which are employed by ESP/EAP teachers to encourage their students to build their confidence in writing.


The data on JIFs provided by Thomson Scientific can only be considered as a sample since they do not cover the entire universe of those documents that cite an intellectual output (paper, article, etc) or are cited by others. Then, questions arise if the empirical distribution (best fit to the JIF data for any particular year) really represents the true or universal distribution, are its estimated parameters stable over the samples and do they have some scientific interpretation? It may be noted that if the estimated parameters do not exhibit stability over the samples (while the sample size is large enough), they cannot be scientifically meaningful, since science is necessarily related with a considerable degree of regularity and predictability. Stability of parameters is also a precondition to other statistical properties such as consistency. If the estimated parameters lack in stability and scientific meaning, then the empirical distribution, howsoever fit to data, has little significance. This study finds that although Burr-4p, Dagum-4p and Johnson SU distributions fit extremely well to the sub-samples, the parameters of the first two distributions do not have stability over the subsamples. The Johnson SU parameters have this property.


Lopsidedness of the gaseous disc of spiral galaxies is a common phenomenon in disc morphology, profile and kinematics. Simultaneously, the asymmetry of a galaxy's stellar disc, in combination with other morphological parameters, has seen extensive use as an indication of recent merger or interaction in galaxy samples. Quantified morphology of stellar spiral discs is one avenue to determine the merger rate over much of the age of the Universe. In this paper, we measure the quantitative morphology parameters for the H i column density maps from the Westerbork observations of neutral Hydrogen in Irregular and SPiral galaxies (WHISP). These are Concentration, Asymmetry, Smoothness, Gini, M20 and one addition of our own, the Gini parameter of the second-order moment (GM). Our aim is to determine if lopsided or interacting discs can be identified with these parameters. Our sample of 141 H i maps have all previous classifications on their lopsidedness and interaction.

We find that the Asymmetry, M20 and our new GM parameter correlate only weakly with the previous morphological lopsidedness quantification. These three parameters may be used to compute a probability that an H i disc is morphologically lopsided but not unequivocally to determine it. However, we do find that the question whether or not an H i disc is interacting can be settled well using morphological parameters. Parameter cuts from the literature do not translate from ultraviolet to H i directly but new selection criteria using combinations of Asymmetry and M20 or Concentration and M20 work very well.

We suggest that future all-sky H i surveys may use these parameters of the column density maps to determine the merger fraction and hence rate in the local Universe with a high degree of accuracy.


ABSTRACT Drawing on a five-year qualitative study on the impacts of the Olympic Games on homeless and marginally housed youth in two host cities (Vancouver 2010 and London 2012), this paper explores the instances of 'symbolic violence' perpetuated by the institutional infrastructure associated with the Olympics. Following Pierre Bourdieu's use of the term, symbolic violence refers to the manner in which the young people turned dominant notions of what the desirable Olympic city looks and feels like into a sense of their own non-belonging and/or inadequacy, experienced bodily and emotionally. Feeling pressured to vie for elusive Olympic jobs and volunteer positions, and to be less visible to the thousands of tourist-spectators for the Games, youth in both cities reported a defiant mix of frustrated indignation and resigned acceptance that they did not 'fit' the image of the global Olympic city that organizers were trying to convey. The paper argues that this social harm, difficult to measure yet real nonetheless, is an important though unintended legacy of the Olympic Games for homeless and marginally housed youth living in its shadows. The paper also calls for a more sustained engagement with Bourdieu's concept of symbolic violence in youth studies as a discipline.


Moire Interferometry (MI) provides real-time full strain field measurement for the structure under the dynamic loading. It has been successfully applied to the reliability testing of the electronic packaging under different loadings (e.g. thermal cycling, electrical current stressing and etc). The miniaturization of the microelectronic packaging calls for the operation of MI at a level with higher sensitivity and better resolution. The proposed operation of MI combines two novel methods in the interferometry, phase shifting (PS) and continuous wavelet transform (CWT) to achieve a 164 nm/pixel spatial resolution. The entire operation procedure is completed automatically by computer programs. A two-level zooming system is designed and implemented in MI to give a high spatial resolution. The idea of combination of CWT and PS here is to put both spatial phase calculation and temporal phase calculation together. By introducing both the spatial and temporal redundancy, the authors show that the hybrid methods take the advantages from both of them. Furthermore, the direct calculation of the spontaneous spatial frequency of the interferogram is carried out using the property of the maximum power ridge of CWT. This method doesn't require unwrapping and differentiation, which avoid the possible numerical noise introduced in these two steps. In the proposed system, pixel by pixel in-plane strain tensors can be calculated from the intensity map of interferograms using phase-based method for MI in contrast with the traditional fringe counting. The resulting strain tensor can be used to model constitutive relationship or compare with finite element analysis results. A thermal experiment on BGA packaging is used to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed new design.Copyright © 2009 by ASME


Background and Hypothesis: Computed Tomography of the pulmonary arteries (CTPA) is the most common imaging modality for evaluating patients for suspected pulmonary embolism (PE), but carries the risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) from contrast media exposure. In appropriately selected patients, ventilation scintigraphy (VQ) imaging is a diagnostically equivalent alternative. We hypothesized that physician perceptions of diagnostic accuracy and study availability contribute to under-utilization of VQ imaging.
Project Methods: Patients with suspected PE at increased risk of acute kidney injury, were randomly selected to undergo VQ instead of CTPA. Patients unable to consent, patients with a history of pulmonary surgery, and those undergoing contrastenhanced imaging for other indications were excluded. A screening chest radiograph was obtained prior to study imaging allocation. All cases were reviewed by a nuclear medicine radiologist blinded to acceptance or refusal of VQ imaging allocation. The primary outcome was defined as the rate of physician-refusal of VQ imaging. The unprompted physician-reported reason for refusal was recorded, in real-time, along with any other general responses.
Results: Following exclusions, 42 subjects were enrolled. Notably, chest radiograph findings excluded only 2 subjects. The reviewing nuclear radiologist agreed with all study-selections for VQ appropriateness and there was no instance of nondiagnostic VQ imaging. Treating physicians refused VQ imaging randomization in 48% (20/42). Physicians also believed VQ imaging lacked sufficient diagnostic accuracy in the context of active non-pulmonary malignancy in 29% (12/42) of cases. Although CT did not identify cases not seen on chest radiograph, in 12% (5/42) cases suspected pneumonia was the reason for refusal. Statements such as "VQ is inferior [for PE]," and "VQ takes too long" were characteristic of general responses from treating providers.
Conclusion and Potential Impact: VQ imaging remains under-utilized in patients at risk of AKI. Perceived limitations to diagnostic accuracy and study availability are contributors to under-utilization.


This article deals with the syntax of sentential negative elements in a number of languages. We start by investigating three kinds of sentential negative elements in Arabic. We argue that these elements occupy different positions in the hierarchic order of clause structure. Negative elements occur in positions higher than TNS, or between TNS and AG Rs, or project internal to the Predicate Phrase. Analysis of Arabic negative clauses reveals that although NEG elements project as phrasal heads, they are closely associated with TNS and AGRs. We propose a hypothesis of Adjunction movement to TNS/ NEG motivated by morphological requirement of the elements involved. Movements, which should apply before Spell-out, are necessary for Checking theory. The same procedure has been applied to negative clauses in English, French, Italian, etc. We claim that sentential NEG elements share in their essence certain simple properties at least in the languages investigated here.


When designing DSP applications for implementation on field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), it is often important to minimize consumption of limited FPGA resources while satisfying real-time performance constraints. In this paper, we develop efficient techniques to determine dataflow graph buffer sizes that guarantee throughput-optimal execution when mapping synchronous dataflow (SDF) representations of DSP applications onto FPGAs. Our techniques are based on a novel two-actor SDF graph Model (TASM), which efficiently captures the behavior and costs associated with SDF graph edges (flow-graph connections). With our proposed techniques, designers can automatically generate upper bounds on SDF graph buffer distributions that realize maximum achievable throughput performance for the corresponding applications. Furthermore, our proposed techinque is characterized by low polynomial time complexity, which is useful for rapid prototyping in DSP system design.


Subfossil chironomid (Diptera, Chironomidae) remains are often used as indicators of lake level changes in palaeolimnological studies. However, their usefulness as a water depth proxy can vary between the sites, depending on the lake morphology, mode of taphonomic processes or amplitude of past water level fluctuations, among other factors. In this study, we have examined the distribution of subfossil chironomids in the shallow Lake Spore (northern Poland) to assess the influence of water depth on the fauna. Our aim was to evaluate the site-specific utility of subfossil chironomids for lake level reconstruction at Lake Spore. The subfossil chironomid assemblages in Lake Spore have heterogeneous distribution, suggesting they are predominately composed of remains deposited close to the sampling location. A strong relationship between the water depth and the chironomids is marked by the 25.12% variance explained by water depth in the taxonomic data. Moreover, according to generalized linear models (GLMs) out of 44 dominant taxa, 12 have significant relationships with water depth. However, the sensitivity of our chironomid fauna to water depth changes is not continuous along the entire depth gradient. The most abrupt assemblage change occurs at 2.6–3.7 m water depth, in proximity to the depth where macrophytes become less dense and finally disappear. We conclude that, despite these strong chironomid-water depth relationships, only major water level fluctuations can be satisfactorily reconstructed due to the limited turnover rates of the fauna along a depth gradient and relatively small amplitude of the lake level variations characteristic for East-Central Europe.


The Fair Labour Standards Act (FLSA), impose restriction on working hours and the type of jobs held by minors at ages below 18. Hours worked in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) sample increased monotonically from 2.5 for the 14-year-olds to 16.2 for the 18-year-olds, and among those who worked positive hours, it increased from 8.9 to 24.5. This evidence is, de facto, in compliance with the FLSA regulations on weekly hours. The aim of this paper is to assess one of the underlying premises for the legislation, namely that working while attending high school could adversely affect school performance. We formulate and estimate an explicit sequential decision model of high school attendance and work that captures in a stylized fashion the important institutional features of high school grade progression. Individuals accumulate credits (courses) towards graduation depending on the individual's history of performance (knowledge acquisition), the level of participation in the labour market (hours worked) and their known (to them) ability and motivation. The labour market (randomly) offers wages for part-time and full-time employment that depend also on some inherent skill 'endowment' and labour market experience. The value of attending high school consists of both the perceived investment pay-off to graduation and on a current consumption value which is random. We simplify the model by assuming that a terminal condition for decisions during the high school period and its value can be estimated as an additional parameter of the model. Our results indicate that a policy that forced youths to remain in high school for five years or until they graduate, whichever comes first, without working would increase the number of high school graduates by slightly more than 2 percentage points (from 82% to 84.1%).


From the 1970s onward, the macroeconomic context in Argentina and Brazil was characterized by drastic economic changes and instability. Numerous studies have documented the generally negative effect of this environment on the innovation capacities of the manufacturing sector. This paper, however, analyses the possible emergence of new innovation capacities in the period, bringing two important phenomena to light. First, a quite substantial number of firms, even in unstable settings, redoubled their innovation efforts. Second, these firms are mainly found in a small group of sectors associated with the countries' static advantages or in sectors favoured by specific sectoral regimes. The findings, although exploratory, are a contribution to the debate on the development of innovative capacities in unstable macroeconomic contexts and the ability of sectors associated with the two countries' static advantages to generate spaces of innovation and value creation.


We describe a theoretical analysis of the structures of self-organizing nanoparticles formed by Pt and Ru-Pt on carbon support. The calculations provide insights into the nature of these metal particle systems-ones of current interest for use as the electrocatalytic materials of direct oxidation fuel cells-and clarify complex behaviors noted in earlier experimental studies. With clusters deposited via metallo-organic Pt or PtRu(5) complexes, previous experiments [Nashner et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1997, 119, 7760; Nashner et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1998, 120, 8093; Frenkel et al. J. Phys. Chem. B 2001, 105, 12689] showed that the Pt and Pt-Ru based clusters are formed with fcc(111)-stacked cuboctahedral geometry and essentially bulklike metal-metal bond lengths, even for the smallest (few atom) nanoparticles for which the average coordination number is much smaller than that in the bulk, and that Pt in bimetallic [PtRu(5)] clusters segregates to the ambient surface of the supported nanoparticles. We explain these observations and characterize the cluster structures and bond length distributions using density functional theory calculations with graphite as a model for the support. The present study reveals the origin of the observed metal-metal bond length disorder, distinctively different for each system, and demonstrates the profound consequences that result from the cluster/carbon-support interactions and their key role in the structure and electronic properties of supported metallic nanoparticles.


OBJECTIVE
To assess platelet count, mean platelet volume (MPV), metabolic characteristics, and platelet function in a dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)-stabilized canine frozen platelet concentrate (PC).

SAMPLE POPULATION
11 units of a commercial frozen PC in 6% DMSO and fresh platelet-rich plasma from 6 healthy control dogs.

PROCEDURES
PCs were thawed, and the following data were collected: thaw time, platelet count, MPV, pH, PCO2, and PO2 and HCO3-, glucose, and lactate content. Phosphatidylserine translocation was determined by use of flow cytometry. Fresh platelet-rich plasma from healthy dogs served as a source of control platelets for flow cytometric analysis.

RESULTS
At thaw, the platelet count in the frozen PC ranged from 243,000 to 742,000 platelets/microL. Median platelet count of paired samples was 680,000 platelets/microL and decreased significantly to 509,000 platelets/microL at 2 hours after thaw. Median MPV at thaw was 11.15 femtoliters and was stable after 2 hours. Compared with fresh platelets, frozen PC had increased amounts of phosphatidylserine in the outer leaflet of the platelet membrane in the resting (ie, not treated with thrombin) state (19% vs 99%, respectively) and alterations in cellular morphology, all of which were consistent with platelet activation.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Results of this in vitro study indicated that there was a decrease in platelet quantity and function as well as an increase in platelet activation during the freeze-and-thaw process in DMSO-stabilized canine frozen PC. In vivo effects on PC remain to be determined.


PURPOSE
Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy, better known as CADASIL, is a rare, genetic form of early-onset vascular dementia. The purpose of this study was to use a modified version of Attention Process Training--II (APT-II; Sohlberg, Johnson, Paule, Raskin, & Mateer, 2001) with an individual with early-stage CADASIL.

METHOD
APT-II, modified to include strategy training, was applied in an A-B, multiple-probe design for an individual who had been diagnosed with early-stage CADASIL. Outcome measures included pre-post neuropsychological testing of attention, memory, and executive function; within-treatment probes of visual and auditory attention; and a measure of subjective experience of cognitive functioning in daily living.

RESULTS
The participant demonstrated nominal gains on visual and auditory attention probes but improved performance on several posttreatment measures of processing speed and executive function. The participant also reported substantially improved functional outcomes following the intervention protocol.

CONCLUSION
This case illustrates the potential utility of behavioral intervention for individuals with CADASIL and highlights issues for speech-language pathologists to consider when using structured cognitive training protocols in the setting of progressive cognitive decline. These data suggest that further controlled studies for treating this population are warranted.


We perform a detailed and quasi model-independent analysis of direct annihilation of dark matter into neutrinos. Considering different cases for scalar and fermionic dark matter, we identify several settings in which this annihilation is enhanced, contrary to some statements in the literature. The key point is that several restrictions of, e.g., a supersymmetric framework do not hold in general. The mass generation mechanism of the neutrinos plays an important role, too. We illustrate our considerations by two examples that are not (as usually) suppressed by the smallness of the neutrino mass, for which we also present a numerical analysis. Our results can be easily used as guidelines for model building.


Polyhedral techniques are, when applicable, an effective instrument for automatic parallelization and data locality optimization of sequential programs. This paper motivates their adoption in OpenStream, a task-parallel streaming language following the dataflow model of execution. We show that (1) it is possible to exploit the parallelism that naturally arises from dataflow task graphs with loop tiling transformations provided by the polyhedral model and (2) that a combination of dataflow task-parallelism and polyhedral optimizations performs significantly better than polyhedral parallelization techniques applied to sequential programs and dataflow task-parallelism without polyhedral optimization techniques. Our technique obtains parallel speedups superior to 1 . 2 × when compared to state-of-the-art polyhedral-tiled OpenMP, and 1 . 6 × when compared to manually tiled OpenStream implementations, for a simple Gauss-Seidel kernel. However, stream indexing is often polynomial in the general case, severely limiting the set of OpenStream programs amenable to polyhedral tools and hindering the automation of our technique. We further investigate how the approach of Feautrier may offer a path not only to automatically convert fine-grained task-level concurrency to coarser-grained tasks, but also for scheduling under resource constraints.


The main purpose of this study is to examine whether there is a relationship between islamic work ethic and organization commitment as well as to examine whether there is influence between islamic work ethic toward organization commitment. A total of 159 respondents were involved in this study consisting workers or staffs from Kulim Municipal Council, Kedah. Since this is a quantitative study, the researcher was used a statistic data as the main medium of the study. For the purpose of data collection, the researcher have used a set of questionnaire which divided into three sections. Section A focuses on the respondent personal details and followed by section B
which involves some instruments about Islamic work ethic. Under the section C, the instrument involves related to the organization commitment. In order to analyze the data, researcher have been using the Statistic Package for Social Science (SPSS) of 16.0 version for the analysis purposes included process for entering data. The analysis used in this study involves frequency, descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation and simple regression with a purpose to examine the extent of relationship between islamic work ethic and organization commitment. The result obtain have supported the study objectives and directly proving that, there is a significant relationship between islamic work ethic and organization commitment as well as positively influence islamic work ethic toward organization among Kulim Municipal Council, Kedah staffs. Furthermore, limitations and suggestions for future study also provided by researcher


Increased nesting by the critically endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtle Lepidochelys kempii at Rancho Nuevo, Mexico has been complemented by commencement and growth of nesting in Texas, USA. Six female Kemp's ridleys were fitted with satellite transmitters after nesting on the upper Texas coast during 2005 and 2006 and subsequently tracked for 20 to 153 d. Two were con- firmed nesting a second time on Galveston Island, whereas satellite tracks of these and 2 other females suggested that each nested a total of 3 times on the upper Texas coast within a season. Five of the females showed fidelity to nearshore waters off Galveston Island during their respective nest- ing seasons, and all 4 ridleys tracked after the nesting season established foraging areas on the con- tinental shelf of Louisiana. One female stranded dead on Galveston Island 20 d after transmitter deployment. Fidelity of these nesters to the upper Texas coast, along with apparent increases in nest- ing activity in the region, warrant establishment of sea turtle management schemes comparable to those utilized in south Texas. Potential threats posed by urbanization, tourism, and in-water activities along the upper Texas coast should be addressed by federal, state, and local authorities, whereas increased nesting may also present opportunities for educational outreach and responsible eco- tourism.


This study uses energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) balances to evaluate how the scale of sugarcane cultivation affects the performance of a sugarcane bioenergy system generating exportable electricity from bagasse. Small-, medium-, large- and miller-planter systems, with cane field areas of less than 10 ha, 10 – 42 ha, 42 – 2000 ha, more than 2000 ha respectively, were modelled. Each of them also has different combinations of manual and mechanical agricultural operations, resulting in different cane yields.Miller-planter system (fully mechanised) performs best with energy yield ratio of 10.99, GHG emissions in bagasse electricity of 0.0633 kg CO2eq/kWh and avoided life cycle GHG emissions of 82.07% when replacing electricity from coal, whereas small-planter system (fully manual) has the worst performance with energy yield ratio of 6.82, GHG emissions in bagasse electricity of 0.0881 kg CO2eq/kWh and avoided life cycle GHG emissions of 75.03% when substituting electricity from coal.Sensitivity analyses show that relative performances of all sugarcane planter systems both in terms of energy and GHG emissions are not significantly affected by variations in bagasse allocation factor, in sugarcane yield and in fertiliser input (the most energy-intensive and GHG-emitting component). Moreover, they confirm miller-planter system as the overall best performer and indicate that increasing small-planters' cane yield is the critical measure to improve their energy analysis performance. In terms of the nature of agricultural operations, mechanical operations do not necessarily require more input energy than their manual counterparts, contrary to common belief. This is the case for fertilisation, irrigation and cane loading. Fully mechanised sugarcane production at miller-planter scale is therefore strongly encouraged.


OBJECTIVE To quantify the association of treated diabetes with cancer incidence and cancer mortality as well as cancer case fatality and all-cause mortality in adults who subsequently develop cancer and to calculate attributable fractions due to diabetes on various cancer outcomes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Prospective data on 599 diabetic and 17,681 nondiabetic adults from the CLUE II (Give Us a Clue to Cancer and Heart Disease) cohort in Washington County, Maryland, were analyzed. Diabetes was defined by self-reported use of diabetes medications at baseline. Cancer incidence was ascertained using county and state cancer registries. Mortality data were obtained from death certificates. RESULTS From 1989 to 2006, 116 diabetic and 2,365 nondiabetic adults developed cancer, corresponding to age-adjusted incidence of 13.25 and 10.58 per 1,000 person-years, respectively. Adjusting for age, sex, education, BMI, smoking, hypertension treatment, and high cholesterol treatment using Cox proportional hazards regression, diabetes was associated with a higher risk of incident cancer (hazard ratio 1.22 [95% CI 0.98–1.53]) and cancer mortality (1.36 [1.02–1.81]). In individuals who developed cancer, adults with diabetes had a higher risk of cancer case fatality (1.34 [1.002–1.79]) and all-cause mortality (1.61 [1.29–2.01]). For colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers, the attributable fractions resulting from diabetes were larger for cancer fatality and mortality than cancer incidence. CONCLUSIONS In this prospective cohort, diabetes appears to exert a greater influence downstream on the risk of mortality in people with cancer than on upstream risk of incident cancer.


After many years of controversy and uncertainty, participative management and work design issues are becoming the focus of attention in the 1990s. There is ample evidence to suggest that the success of some foreign and domestic manufacturers may be attributed to the management of their human resources. This article discusses the trends that are encouraging the reassessment of the traditional and widely applied principles of job design, which makes the case for organizing manufacturing jobs into groups. Based on a normative model proposed by Hackman and on the workgroup activities in the United States, Japan, and Sweden, this article evaluates the feasibility of adopting groups in a manufacturing setting and identifies the potential obstacles to their adoption. Many of the conditions required for the success of groups can be created through deliberate managerial decisions.


Teacher turnover in urban schools is occurring at a breakneck pace; thus, it is important for us to understand the characteristics of teachers who stay and succeed in these settings. In order to address this need, this study examines the preparation and induction experiences of teachers who completed a Transition to Teaching – a funded urban apprenticeship program. Three research questions guided the study: (1) How do participants describe the characteristics that influence their five-year retention? (2) How do participants describe their success as teachers? and (3) How do participants describe the professional support they received in their preparation program and during the subsequent four years after completing the program? Quantitative and qualitative data via interviews, focus group, and an examination of teachers' district performance scores were utilized, as a means of understanding teachers' staying and impact power. Staying power refers to the ability to endure or last within challenging contexts by possessing strength enough to persevere. Impact power refers to their ability to influence student learning. Four assertions describe the factors influencing developing teachers who stay and have impact as they teach in challenging urban schools, suggesting that these teachers possess a strong work ethic, seek specific resources to improve pedagogy, have the knowledge and skills necessary to differentiate instruction, and seek teacher leadership opportunities in their schools. This study suggests several implications for teacher educators, educational leaders, administrators, and researchers working with new teachers in urban schools or with populations that are predominantly children of color.


Several methods of predicting the compressible-flow pressure loss across a baffled aircraft-engine cylinder were analytically related and were experimentally investigated on a typical air-cooled aircraft-engine cylinder. Tests with and without heat transfer covered a wide range of cooling-air flows and simulated altitudes from sea level to 40,000 feet. Both the analysis and the test results showed that the method based on the density determined by the static pressure and the stagnation temperature at the baffle exit gave results comparable with those obtained from methods derived by one-dimensional-flow theory. The method based on a characteristic Mach number, although related analytically to one-dimensional-flow theory, was found impractical in the present tests because of the difficulty encountered in defining the proper characteristic state of the cooling air. Accurate predictions of altitude pressure loss can apparently be made by these methods, provided that they are based on the results of sea-level tests with heat transfer.


Based on recent works and experiences from issuers in Latin America and the Caribbean, and complemented by interviews of experts, this study provides public issuers with insight and encouragement to engage into the nascent world of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) evaluations and assessments, ratings, scoring, and profiles. Increasingly, investors are integrating ESG into their decision-making processes for various reasons, including risk-return considerations, client mandates, disclosure commitments, and regulatory requirements. Although an increasing number of investors have ESG investing strategies and responsible investment policies in place, ESG factors have primarily been integrated into decision making in equity rather than fixed income portfolios. Few investors have a systemic approach to ESG integration in debt portfolios, especially in sovereign debt. Their number is growing, however, and investors increasingly are demanding ESG ratings of bond issuers, especially thematic bond issuers, whether corporate or sovereign.


Pelargonium endlicherianum Fenzl. (Geraniaceae) is one of the important species of Pelargonium growing in Turkey. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial activities of P. endlicherianum roots on medically important microorganisms. The antimicrobial activities of 11% ethanol and 70% methanol P. endlicherianum extracts against various bacteria and yeast were studied using the agar dilution method at concentrations ranging from 0.375 to 30.00 mg/ml. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of P. endlicherianum extracts against some microorganisms was determined. The highest inhibition was exhibited against Staphylococcus aureus by the 70% methanol extract of P. endlicherianum at 1.38 ± 0.36 mg/ml. The results of this study suggest that P. endlicherianum extracts possess antimicrobial activity against some of the tested microorganisms.