A large body of evidence highlights that propolis exerts many biological functions that can be ascribed to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory components, including different polyphenol classes. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms are yet unknown. The aim of this study is to investigate the mechanisms at the basis of propolis anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. The effects of two brown and green propolis extracts—chemically characterized by RP-HPLC-PDA-ESI-MSn—on the expression levels of miRNAs associated with inflammatory responses (miR-19a-3p and miR-203a-3p) and oxidative stress (miR-27a-3p and miR-17-3p), were determined in human keratinocyte HaCat cell lines, treated with non-cytotoxic concentrations. The results showed that brown propolis, whose major polyphenolic components are flavonoids, induced changes in the expression levels of all miRNAs, and was more active than green propolis (whose main polyphenolic components are hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives) which caused changes only in the expression levels of miR-19a-3p and miR-27a-3p. In addition, only brown propolis was able to modify (1) the expression levels of mRNAs, the target of the reported miRNAs, which code for Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α), Nuclear Factor, Erythroid 2 Like 2 (NFE2L2) and Glutathione Peroxidase 2 (GPX2), and (2) the protein levels of TNF-α and NFE2L2. In conclusion, brown and green propolis, which showed different metabolite profiles, exert their biological functions through different mechanisms of action.


Protective TiC coating was produced on Cr-Zr-Cu electrode by vibrating electrospark deposition. Microstructure of the functional coating with pre-treatment (clean) and post-treatment (diffusion) were tested respectively. The deposition parameters on the structure of the substrate is discussed. The results indicate that as-deposited substrate consists of four layers. There are many micro-porous and micro-cracks in transition layer where mutual diffusion of Ti and Cu occurs, which provides atomic bonding between the coating and the substrate. Pre-treatment modifies the coating structure with small influence on its hardness whereas post-treatment modifies it and reduces its hardness and thickness. The service time of the specimens with TiC coating 2.4 times exceeds that of the uncoated ones.


This essay analyzes the ability of everyday Americans to resist and alter the conditions of government surveillance. Americans appear to have several avenues of resistance or reform. We can vote for privacy-friendly politicians, challenge surveillance in court, adopt encryption or other technology, and put market pressure on companies not to cooperate with law enforcement. In practice, however, many of these avenues turn out to be limited. Reform-minded officials lack the capacity for real oversight. Litigants lack standing to invoke the Constitution in court. Encryption is not usable and can turn the citizen into a target. Citizens can extract promises from companies to push back against government surveillance on their behalf but have no recourse if these promises are not enforced.By way of method, this essay adopts James Gibson's influential theory of affordances. Originating in psychology, and famous everywhere but law, affordance theory has evolved into a general method of inquiry with its own useful vocabulary and commitments. This essay hopes to leverage these concepts to lend structure to an otherwise haphazard inquiry into the capability of citizens to perceive and affect surveillance. The essay meanwhile contributes to affordance theory by insisting that law itself represents an important affordance.


This thesis explores the facilitation of pupil voice and how this might impact on school improvement in an English primary school. It is underpinned by theoretical frameworks that address children's rights, voice, participation, power relations and active. citizenship. Two formal mechanisms of facilitating children's voice are explored using an action
research approach. Firstly, a pilot study explores the possibilities offered by a 'children-asresearchers' initiative (Kellett, 2005a). Findings from this inform the main study where the focus shifts to the potential of school councils. Two action-research cycles are used to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of both pupil voice mechanisms. Following research skills training, six mixed-ability children (aged 9 - 10 years) were supported in conducting independent research into a range of child-initiated issues that they identified. Data were collected through participant observations, a reflective journal and the actuality of the children's research. Areas of research explored by the children included: 'Why do Year 8s receive more praise than Year 5s?' 'Do boys receive more pocket money than girls?' 'In what areas of school are you more likely to be bullied?' The long-term sustainability of this initiative raises issues around time, resources and the inclusion of all children. Subsequently, cycles one and two focused on developing an effective school council system, which incorporated the principles of children-as-researchers and influenced school improvement. Data were generated through analysis of school council minutes, observations, field notes and interviews with children and staff. Four themes emerged: organisation of school council meetings, facilitating the views of all children, training for children and support from senior staff. Each of these themes was explored in further depth and eight specific adjustments to the school council were subsequently implemented and evaluated through further interviews and analysis of school council documents. Final analysis suggests that gathering the views of all children, alongside specific training for school councillors are both pertinent issues which impact upon pupil voice and school improvement. The findings provide further evidence that school leaders have a significant influence in facilitating pupil voice and active citizenship. The study highlights the challenges of maintaining a dual role as researcher and practitioner. Findings suggest that national policy and inspection frameworks need to provide better support to headteachers for school council development in primary schools since this could lead to transformative pupil voice and school improvement.


The objective of the present study is to develop solid dispersion tablet formulation of aceclofenac, a novel non steroidal anti inflammatory drug, mainly used for rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. The major problem with this drug is its very low solubility in biological fluids, which results in poor bioavailability after oral administration. Therefore, solid dispersion of aceclofenac with crosspovidone and polyvinyl pyrolidone K-30 were prepared with a view to increase its water solubility. Aceclofenac solid dispersion with crosspovidone showed maximum drug release and hence, the tablet formulation containing aceclofenac, crosspovidone and polyvinyl pyrolidone K-30 solid dispersion, was prepared with a view to improve its water solubility. The dissolution profile of best laboratory developed formulation (F-III) was compared with marketed tablet product. The drug release profile was studied in 2 % w/v sodium lauryl sulphate in distilled water. F-III gave far better dissolution than other laboratory developed formulations. The dissolution efficiency of FIII was compared with pure drug, conventional tablets. F-III showed maximum dissolution efficiency. FIII was considered better than the conventional tablet, as far as the cost of raw materials used in the product is concerned. F-I to F-IV were subjected to stability studies. The formulation was found to be stable for 30 days at 40° C ± RH 75 % as per ICH guidelines, with insignificant change in the hardness, disintegration time, and in vitro drug release pattern.


Haris Exertzoglou, Political rituals in Modem Greece: the reburial ofPatriarch Gregory V and the 50th anniversary of the Greek Revolution This paper explores political rituals in Modern Greece by focusing onthe 50th anniversary of the start of Greek War of Independence andthe particular place of a reburial procession in the celebrations. In 1871 the Greek state decided to proceed with the rehurial of Patriarch GregoryV, whose body, allegedly found a few days after his execution bythe Ottomans in 1821, was buried in Odessa. The decision was not simplya gesture of respect; it was meant to support the 50th anniversary ofthe Greek Revolution, and the reburial procession was planned as themain event of the celebration. As such, the reburial of Gregory V wasused as a means of making the heroic meaning of the Revolution visible,to attract mass attention and mobilize the participation of thepublic. Admittedly, the anniversary proved a major success. However,the reburial procession, the key event of the celebration, exposed atension in the celebration: not only the mourning dimension of theprocession was not compatible with the gay aspects of the nationalfeast, it also generated varied meanings, some of them directly opposingthe heroic memory of the Revolution and the irredentist prospects ofthe Greek state. This aspect suggests that, however successful, politicalrituals are inherently contradictory events always susceptible to various,even contingent, uses.


This paper is about a historical research aimed to understand the islamization process in Kuntu, Kampar Regency, Riau Province. Historicaly, an Islmaic preacher from middle east named Syekh Burhanudin was a missionary that introduced Islamic teaching in Kuntu. This teaching did not only played a big role in the life of people in Kuntu but it also influenced others region in Riau Province in every walks of life. The wide spread of Islamic teaching boiled down to the humble personality of Syekh Burhanudin on promoting Islamic values as what others Islam missionaries did across Indonesia. At the end, Islamic values play an important role on cultre and character of people in Kuntu and Indonesia.


This article addresses the problem of estimating the states of a nonlinear plant that operates in multiple regimes and makes transitions between them. It is often difficult to obtain a single nonlinear model that accurately describes the plant in all regimes. Even ifa global model is available, it sometimes cannot be used conveniently in an estimator. An alternative approach is presented where local linear models are identified at each different operating point, and estimation is performed by tracking the transitions f.om one regime to another. This is done by first estimating the validity of the local models on-line and then constructing a time-varying global model by inteipolating between the local linear models. State and parameter estimation is then peformed using this global model in a moving horizon estimator. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this method, it is applied to three test systems: a simple numerical example, a CSTR, and a copolymerization reactor.


Gödel published his groundbreaking first incompleteness theorem in 1931, stating that a large class of formal logics admits independent sentences which are neither provable nor refutable. This result, in conjunction with his second incompleteness theorem, established the impossibility of concluding Hilbert's program, which pursued a possible path towards a single formal system unifying all of mathematics. Using a technical trick to refine Gödel's original proof, the incompleteness result was strengthened further by Rosser in 1936 regarding the conditions imposed on the formal systems. Computability theory, which also originated in the 1930s, was quickly applied to formal logics by Turing, Kleene, and others to yield incompleteness results similar in strength to Gödel's original theorem, but weaker than Rosser's refinement. Only much later, Kleene found an improved but far less well-known proof based on computational notions, yielding a result as strong as Rosser's. In this expository paper, we work in constructive type theory to reformulate Kleene's incompleteness results abstractly in the setting of synthetic computability theory and assuming a form of Church's thesis, an axiom internalising the fact that all functions definable in such a setting are computable. Our novel, greatly condensed reformulation showcases the simplicity of the computational argument while staying formally entirely precise, a combination hard to achieve in typical textbook presentations. As an application, we instantiate the abstract result to first-order logic in order to derive essential incompleteness and, along the way, essential undecidability of Robinson arithmetic. This paper is accompanied by a Coq mechanisation covering all our results and based on existing libraries of undecidability proofs and first-order logic, complementing the extensive work on mechanised incompleteness using the Gödel-Rosser approach. In contrast to the related mechanisations, our development follows Kleene's ideas and utilises Church's thesis for additional simplicity.


The SU(2) gauge theory with two massless Dirac flavors constitutes the building block of several models of Technicolor. Furthermore it has also been used as a template for the construction of a natural light asymmetric, or mixed type, dark matter candidate. We use explicit lattice simulations to confirm the pattern of chiral symmetry breaking by determining the Goldstone spectrum and therefore show that the dark matter candidate can, de facto, be constituted by a complex Goldstone boson. We also determine the phenomenologically relevant spin one and spin zero isovector spectrum and demonstrate that it is well separated from the Goldstone spectrum.


In recent years, the power sector has demonstrated an increasing interest in exploiting new business opportunities related to the introduction of a smarter transmission grid. A Smart Grid is an intelligent electricity network that may integrate the actions of generators and consumers simultaneously in order to efficiently deliver sustainable, economic and secure electricity supply. Thus, a Smart Grid may provide a dynamic platform for delivery of services and involvement of residential consumers in the same way made possible in the telecommunications industry. The introduction of AMR technology in all Norwegian households is the first indicator of the adoption of a Smart distribution network. This dissertation distinguishes what is essential for energy companies to focus on in order to accomplish a successful market launch of new services targeted at residential consumer, delivered through a Smart Grid. As part of the research it was conducted four interviews with relevant stakeholders from the ICT and energy sectors. However, there is little actual market data available on service activities. Due to the lack of sufficient market data, a comprehensive questionnaire targeted on consumers was also conducted in order to gain a solid marked data basis to underpin strategic recommendations. The consumer survey was analyzed using statistical modeling techniques. The analysis results, along with the interviews concluded in five main findings: 1. Norwegian consumers state they are highly interested in purchasing Smart energy services. More than 64% of the respondents say it is relevant or highly relevant to purchase a service that offers Security features for electrical home appliances (i.e. automatic shutdown if security threat). 2. Norwegian consumers want to combine Smart energy services with consumption information, therefore Smart energy services should be supplemented by an energy price information platform. 3. Consumers is interested in purchasing radical Smart energy service innovations in order to save money on energy consumption. 4. Environmental friendliness and knowledge to the Smart Grid concept has little impact on the interest of services. 5. Communication strategy will be essential prior to and during a market launch. There is a very strong positive effect between if the consumers are familiar with a Smart energy service, and if they state they want to purchase these services. In an effective Smart energy service launch Norwegian energy companies should adopt a multi-faceted approach. Participants should seek to be early followers, target innovators and early adopters, apply online marketing channels, use advertising, long tail and free-and-premium as payment models to attract the market, and price long-tail services at a relatively high level in order to make as early return on investment as possible. In addition, it will be important to maintain a close relationship with consumers through focus groups, market research and pilot projects in the development process leading up to the market launch in order to identify the most profitable service ideas.


The use of social media at academic conferences is expanding, and platforms such as Twitter are used to share meeting content with the world. Pathology conferences are no exception, and recently, pathology organizations have promoted social media as a way to enhance meeting exposure. A social media committee was formed ad hoc to implement strategies to enhance social media involvement and coverage at the 2018 and 2019 annual meetings of the Association of Pathology Chairs. This organized approach resulted in an 11-fold increase in social media engagement compared to the year prior to committee formation (2017). In this article, the social media committee reviews the strategies that were employed and the resultant outcome data. In addition, we categorize tweets by topic to identify the topics of greatest interest to meeting participants, and we discuss the differences between Twitter and other social media platforms. Lastly, we review the existing literature on this topic from 23 medical specialties and health care fields.


Introduction: Abstract ranking processes for scientific conferences are essential but controversial. This study examined the validity of a structured abstract rating instrument, evaluated interrater variability, and modeled the impact of interrater variability on abstract ranking decisions. Additionally, we examined whether a more efficient rating process (abstracts rated by two rather than three raters) supported valid abstract rankings. Methods: Data were 4016 sets of abstract ratings from the 2011 and 2013 national scientific conferences for a health discipline. Many‐faceted Rasch analysis procedures were used to examine validity of the abstract rating instrument and to identify and adjust for the presence of interrater variability. The two‐rater simulation was created by the deletion of one set of ratings for each abstract in the 2013 data set. Results: The abstract rating instrument demonstrated sound measurement properties. Although each rater applied the rating criteria consistently (intrarater reliability), there was significant variability between raters. Adjusting for interrater variability changed the final presentation format for approximately 10–20% of abstracts. The two‐rater simulation demonstrated that abstract rankings derived through this process were valid, although the impact of interrater variability was more substantial. Discussion: Interrater variability exerts a small but important influence on overall abstract acceptance outcome. The use of many‐faceted Rasch analysis allows for this variability to be adjusted for. Additionally, Rasch processes allow for more efficient abstract ranking by reducing the need for multiple raters.


As part of a broader current of critique of the economic and political dynamics of prison privatisation — a critique that initially emanated from the USA — this paper focuses on Scotland and on research carried out at its then only private penal institution, HMP Kilmarnock. The authors dismantle the government's case for extending prison privatisation by drilling deep into the experience of Kilmarnock and demonstrating the deleterious effects of marketisation for prison officers and prisoners alike. Degraded pay and conditions and systemic understaffing corroded morale, exposed staff and inmates to risk, and contributed to massive officer turnover. Compelling evidence comes from sources ordinarily unavailable to critical researchers, such as internal company and government documentation.


The domain of Visual Analytics has emerged with a charter to support interactive exploration and analysis of large volumes of (often dynamic) data. A common feature shared by all the visual analytics applications developed so far is the reliance on ad-hoc and custom-built mechanisms to manage data: they re-implement their own in-memory databases to support real-time display and interactive feedback and analytical algorithms (e. g., clustering, multidimensional projections, specific data analyses) to overcome the delay required to exchange data with specialized analytical environments, such as Matlab, R, and the myriad of more specialized systems and command-line programs. This article presents visual analytics scenarios requiring a new generation of databases to support and foster the new era of interactive analytical environments. This new generation would relieve visualization researchers from sub-optimally re-implementing database technologies. We argue that the new services required to support interactive explorations present research challenges to the database community and can increase the utility and simplicity of integration of the new generation of databases for data-intensive applications.


In this article the use of Augmented Reality (AR) as an educational technology in classroom applications and teacher training is suggested. AR is a combination of real-world information with digital information overlaid. A review of the research literature on AR learning environments reveals that in most studies AR contributes to successful learning and increased motivation. An evaluation study reveals that teachers' ability of self-concept for implementing AR within their classrooms is closely related to educational technology and the technology itself in general. Here, teachers need orchestrated support for implementing AR in classrooms. Subsequently, a model for design and implementation of AR classroom application is suggested. These suggestions are illustrated by some exemplary AR classroom learning environments. This paper closes with recommendations for future research, in which more basic and controlled experimental research is needed in order to get a valid impression about the benefits of AR as classroom technology.


This article attempts to account for the coastal morphology south of Blavandshuk, western Jutland, Denmark. This coastal section is dominated by a barrier beach development, behind which lies the Danish part of the Wadden Sea. There is a description of the results of borings that were made in order to understand the dynamics at work since the very first offshore bar development. The effect of the changing sea-level since the Weichsel Glaciation, which has been accompanied by different tidal conditions and storm floods of varying magnitude during the past 3000-8000 years is also described. The origin and balance of sediments is dealt with; especially the high sands and shoals of the Danish Wadden Sea with particular reference to the evolution of the ebb-tide delta, S o ren Jessens Sande, which is described in detail with the use of maps. How and when its incorporation with the island of Fan o took place is described.


OBJECTIVE
To establish the frequency and clinicopathologic correlates of 11q13 amplification in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

DESIGN
Retrospective clinicopathologic analysis.

SETTING
University and private cancer centers.

PATIENTS
Eighty-five patients with pathologically confirmed head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

MEASUREMENTS
The degree of DNA amplification in each tumor was determined using chromosome 11q13 probes for the bcl-1 major translocation cluster, PRAD1/cyclin D1 (CCND1), the fibroblast growth factor gene HST1, EMS1, and glutathione S transferase, pi-1. The presence or absence of amplification was correlated with anatomic site, tumor stage, cytologic grade, histologic pattern, and mitotic activity.

RESULTS
Thirty-one patients (36%) showed a twofold to 10-fold amplification of 11q13 loci compared with the chromosome 11q23 ETS1 control probe. Twenty-nine of these encompassed bcl-1 through EMS1 loci; one sample showed only bcl-1 and PRAD1/cyclin D1 plus HST1 amplification, with another amplified at HST1 and EMS1 with minimal or no bcl-1 and PRAD1/cyclin D1 amplification. Amplification was significantly correlated with high cytologic grade, a diffusely infiltrative growth pattern, and with a hypopharyngeal primary site.

CONCLUSIONS
Chromosome 11q13 amplification in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is correlated with an aggressive histologic appearance and hypopharyngeal primary site and should be assessed in prospective clinical trials to determine its utility for treatment stratification and prognosis. Although PRAD1/cyclin D1 and EMS1 have been implicated in the pathogenesis of neoplasms with 11q13 amplification, rare cases with more limited amplicon size suggest that another relevant gene or genes may exist between these loci.


This paper evaluates partial hospitalization programming and art therapy practices with the adolescent population. The adolescent experience is a time of complex biopsychosocial development marking personal identity exploration and independence. Adolescent mental health challenges range from depressive, anxiety, conduct and mood disorders. Partial hospitalization programming is a means of acute integrative care founded in milieu therapy that caters to the unique mental wellness needs of the adolescent population. Among the most impactful psychotherapeutic interventions for adolescent mental health is art therapy, an evidence-based practice incorporating creativity and theory. This paper explores the adolescent developmental experience, current treatment methods of partial hospitalization programming, and the effectiveness of art therapy to propose the value of incorporating art therapy practices as a foundational method of treatment in adolescent partial programs.


Objective. To estimate the proportion of patients who acquire methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) while in hospital and to identify risk factors associated with acquisition of MRSA. Design. Retrospective cohort study. Patients. Adult patients discharged from 36 general specialty wards of 2 Scottish hospitals that had implemented universal screening for MRSA on admission. Methods. Patients were screened for MRSA on discharge from hospital by using multisite body swabs that were tested by culture. Discharge screening results were linked to admission screening results. Genotyping was undertaken to identify newly acquired MRSA in MRSA-positive patients on admission. Results. Of the 5,155 patients screened for MRSA on discharge, 2.9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.43–3.34) were found to be positive. In the subcohort screened on both admission and discharge (n = 2,724), 1.3% of all patients acquired MRSA while in hospital (incidence rate, 2.1/1,000 hospital bed-days in this cohort [95% CI, 1.5–2.9]), while 1.3% remained MRSA positive throughout hospital stay. Three risk factors for acquisition of MRSA were identified: age above 64 years, self-reported renal failure, and self-reported presence of open wounds. On a population level, the prevalence of MRSA colonization did not differ between admission and discharge. Conclusions. Cross-transmission of MRSA takes place in Scottish hospitals that have implemented universal screening for MRSA. This study reinforces the importance of infection prevention and control measures to prevent MRSA cross-transmission in hospitals; universal screening for MRSA on admission will in itself not be sufficient to reduce the number of MRSA colonizations and subsequent MRSA infections.


This review summarizes recent developments in chiral separation in capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE), electrokinetic chromatography (EKC), and capillary electrochromatography (CEC) covering literature published since the year 2000. New chiral selectors and innovative approaches for CE and CEC are introduced. Recent progress in column technology for CEC is highlighted and the development of new chiral stationary phases is discussed. This review is not dedicated to list applications but will focus on new developments.


While contextualized word representations have improved state-of-the-art benchmarks in many NLP tasks, their potential usefulness for social-oriented tasks remains largely unexplored. We show how contextualized word embeddings can be used to capture affect dimensions in portrayals of people. We evaluate our methodology quantitatively, on held-out affect lexicons, and qualitatively, through case examples. We find that contextualized word representations do encode meaningful affect information, but they are heavily biased towards their training data, which limits their usefulness to in-domain analyses. We ultimately use our method to examine differences in portrayals of men and women.


Abstract:Prior research points to the first year of college as a critical time in selecting a college major. Considering the number of studies focusing on the STEM gender gap, surprisingly little research has examined gender differences and the influence of the first college year on the STEM major selection. Using data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education, this study examined how women and men compared in STEM college major selection and whether the effects of academic competence, first-year career preferences, life values, and related student experiences influenced their decision in different ways. After controlling a variety of influences, results suggested that women were significantly less likely to be enrolled in a STEM major in the fourth year of college compared to men. Additionally, there were substantial differences between women and men in how various first-year influences shaped the STEM major decision. Findings from this study provide important implications for maximizing women's participation in STEM fields during the first college year.


ations and those concerned in government departments and international agencies on how better to assess and minitor country risk the additional commercial risk involved in cross-border transactions so that excessive lending or imprudent investments can be avoided. The author demonstrates that there is an almost endless number of factors including economic, legal, and political elements that constitute and influ-


The laws regulating the exports of arms are relatively strong in Germany. But in practice, until today all German governments, irrespective of their political affiliation, have only made weak efforts to enforce the compliance of laws and regulations and hardly any attempts to close loopholes like the uncontrolled licensed production in other countries. This is why German arms, especially small arms like machine guns from Heckler & Koch, are not only used by government agencies to which they have been officially delivered, but also, often as a result of a blowback effect, by their opponents, e.g. ISIS militia groups. The article retraces the transfer of arms to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria in the last decades and argues that this has contributed to the prolongation and brutalization of the wars in these countries. Hence, the German export of arms must also be seen as a major factor for the ongoing migration of refugees to Europe. Finally, this raises the question, if there are tendencies to stop or at least to reduce the fatal exports.


We study wave emissions, in the frequency range from above the lower hybrid frequency up to the plasma fre- quency, observed during one of the Cluster crossings of a high-beta exterior cusp region on 4 March 2003. Waves are localized near narrow current sheets with a thickness a few times the ion inertial length; currents are strong, of the order of 0.1-0.5µA/m 2 (0.1-0.5 mA/m 2 when mapped to iono- sphere). The high frequency part of the waves, frequencies above the electron-cyclotron frequency, is analyzed in more detail. These high frequency waves can be broad-band, can have spectral peaks at the plasma frequency or spectral peaks at frequencies below the plasma frequency. The strongest wave emissions usually have a spectral peak near the plasma frequency. The wave emission intensity and spectral charac- ter change on a very short time scale, of the order of 1 s. The wave emissions with strong spectral peaks near the plasma frequency are usually seen on the edges of the narrow current sheets. The most probable generation mechanism of high fre- quency waves are electron beams via bump-on-tail or elec- tron two-stream instability. Buneman and ion-acoustic insta- bility can be excluded as a possible generation mechanism of waves. We suggest that high frequency waves are generated by electron beams propagating along the separatrices of the reconnection region.


The purpose of this study was to investigate differences, between swimmerlifeguards and swimmer-non-lifeguards, in trait and state anxiety and emotion regulation techniques in a real-life precompetitive situation with a secondary focus on gender differences. The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Sport Anxiety Scale – 2 and the Mental Readiness Form – 3 were distributed to 100 participants at university swimming competitions in the United Kingdom. Swimmer-lifeguards displayed significantly lower cognitive (p=.03) and somatic state (p=.05) anxiety and cognitive trait anxiety (p=.02) than swimmernon-lifeguards. Males reported significantly lower levels of cognitive and somatic trait anxiety (p<.01) than females. There was also a gender-group interaction, with male swimmer-lifeguards showing significantly lower somatic trait anxiety than the other groups (p<.03). Males indicated significantly greater use of reappraisal than females (p=.01); no other effects were observed. These results support previous research regarding lifeguard characteristics, however the nature of these qualities and how they originate require further exploration.


The history of development of automotive radars in different countries since 1972 is described using a short comparison of radar types. The authors indicate the planning of introduction of car radars in the near future according to information supplied by car companies. The purpose of the development of an automotive radar was to test different signal processing procedures both for distance and Doppler evaluation and also for a digital wavefront reconstruction to find out the angle position of a target. The block diagram, the main properties, the technical data of the radar system, the used antennas and the multiplexing of transmitting antennas is described. Finally some experimental results have been obtained under real traffic conditions.


We provide a detailed estimate of the technical potential of rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation throughout the contiguous United States. This national estimate is based on an analysis of select US cities that combines light detection and ranging (lidar) data with a validated analytical method for determining rooftop PV suitability employing geographic information systems. We use statistical models to extend this analysis to estimate the quantity and characteristics of roofs in areas not covered by lidar data. Finally, we model PV generation for all rooftops to yield technical potential estimates. At the national level, 8.13 billion m2 of suitable roof area could host 1118 GW of PV capacity, generating 1432 TWh of electricity per year. This would equate to 38.6% of the electricity that was sold in the contiguous United States in 2013. This estimate is substantially higher than a previous estimate made by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The difference can be attributed to increases in PV module power density, improved estimation of building suitability, higher estimates of total number of buildings, and improvements in PV performance simulation tools that previously tended to underestimate productivity. Also notable, the nationwide percentage of buildings suitable for at least some PV deployment is high—82% for buildings smaller than 5000 ft2 and over 99% for buildings larger than that. In most states, rooftop PV could enable small, mostly residential buildings to offset the majority of average household electricity consumption. Even in some states with a relatively poor solar resource, such as those in the Northeast, the residential sector has the potential to offset around 100% of its total electricity consumption with rooftop PV.


When determining their redistributive budgets, states must strike a subtle balance—to provide for their needy residents without becoming a "welfare magnet" and attracting poor individuals from neighboring states. We examine the competing incentives that state politicians face in federal systems and their effects on program accessibility and redistributive spending across U.S. states between 2005 and 2011. Comparing two redistributive programs under state control—Medicaid and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)—we find strong evidence of interstate competition in the case of cash assistance programs, but less evidence in the case of health care. Yet our data show that states do not alter their policies in response to rising inequality, that is, when the median voter becomes poorer than the average voter. Moreover, the Great Recession had a greater impact on TANF than Medicaid. We attribute these differential effects to different funding mechanisms used by the federal government to finance the two state-administered programs.


Decentralized decision making is a fact in the modern business world accompanied by extensive research that looks into its consequences for overall firm profits. We study the interactions of decentralized marketing and operations divisions in a corporation and explore their impact on overall firm profits in the case with and without coordination of the two decentralized units. We assume that the marketing department is responsible for the price that influences the demand (sales), and the operations department is responsible for the production rate. We allow for backlogging over time. We model the interdependence involving marketing and operations decisions as a non-cooperative differential game, with the two divisions as strategically interacting players. We find that, without coordination, strategic interactions of marketing and production result in inefficiencies that can quantitatively be substantial. Next, we introduce a dynamic transfer pricing scheme as a coordination device and evaluate if it establishes efficient (first best and fully coordinated) outcomes. We show that if production and marketing play a game with pre-commitment strategies, there exists a dynamic transfer price that efficiently (fully) coordinates decentralized decision making and hence results in Pareto-efficient company profits. If the two decentralized divisions play a game without pre-commitment, dynamic transfer prices can partially coordinate decentralized decision making but fail to fully eliminate overall inefficiencies arising from strategic interactions among decentralized divisions.


Auditor is a professional who has credibility in auditing financial report and company's activities. This research's purpose is to figure out; does the company's bankruptcy can be predicted from the auditor's opinion. The data used in this research are taken from 33 companies which have announced to bankruptcy by state justice of Central Jakarta, and the recent three years auditor's opinions before the companies' bankruptcy. After the data have been analyzed with T-test and Friedman test, it goes to the result that there is no significant different between the whole auditor's opinions in last three years before the companies' bankruptcy. This research concludes that the bankruptcy cannot be predicted from the auditor's opinion. Theoretically, the auditor's opinion can be a tool in predicting the company's bankruptcy. The deviation of auditor's ethical codes causes to such this matter happen. Based on that fact, the shariah based ethical codes for auditor is needed. After deep learning from many literatures, the writer formulates shariah ethical codes for auditor which divides into two; relationship between Allah and Human, it performed with the faith (Iman), and the other one is relationship among all humans, it involves the objectivity, independency, professionalism, and integrity. JEL Classification : M40, M42 Keywords : auditor, auditor's opinion, Islamic auditor's ethical codes


Abstract This article sheds light on the new legal treatment of inducements, under the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, and seeks to address the question whether or not that regime is beneficial for market participants. Inducements constitute a common practice of day-to-day conduct of business by financial institutions. Accordingly, the rules that define their realm of operation are quintessential for both investment firms and investors. The relevant paradigm of conflicts of interest is used. MiFID II has to be implemented only by 3 January 2018. However, the forthcoming regime on inducements derives from gold-plating practices that are already in place in the UK. An examination and assessment of the impact of inducements policy and their adverse effect on retail investors in the UK is an adequate apparatus to draw parallels from. After highlighting the inherent problems of the EU provisions on inducements, an enhanced framework is designed.


This book provides background information on the advantages and disadvantages of hydrogen as a fuel for surface transportation, it describes the current state of technology of hydrogen-fueled vehicles, and discusses the future requirements of the so-called 'hydrogen economy'. The reprints and introductory material of each chapter should be invaluable to new and experienced researchers in the field. Contents: Hydrogen Engines and Vehicles: Characteristics and Development - General Properties of Hydrogen as a Fuel Special Characteristics of a Hydrogen Engine On-Board Storage Systems. Fuel Cells - What is a Fuel Cell? Theoretical Background for Fuel Cells Types of Fuel Cells Principles of Low Temperature Alkaline Fuel Cells The Solid Polymer Fuel Cell or Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell High Temperature Fuel Cells Developing Fuel Cells for Vehicular Applications System Engineering Aspects Recent Developments with Fuel Cells. Hydrogen Production - Hydrogen Production from Fossil Fuels Water Electrolysis Thermochemical Water Decomposition Photo Conversion Hydrogen Production from Biomass. Hydrogen Safety - Accidents and Safety Studies Hazards Preventive and Safety Measures. The Hydrogen Economy - Production Storage Transportation and Distribution of Hydrogen. Hydrogen Vehicles: From Earliest Conception to the Present - Hydrogen Vehicle Projects.


The Human Genome Diversity Project was proposed as a public project to collect and analyze DNA samples from diverse human populations. While never realized as an actual DNA collection, the investigation of human genetic variation largely has been taken over by more biomedically oriented initiatives.

Keywords:

genetic variation;
diversity;
indigenous people;
bioethics;
race;
ethnicity


Cyberlockers have recently become a very popular means of distributing content. Today, cyberlocker traffic accounts for a non-negligible fraction of the total Internet traffic volume, and is forecasted to grow significantly in the future. The underlying protocol used in cyberlockers is HTTP, and increased usage of these services could drastically alter the characteristics of Web traffic. In light of the evolving nature of Web traffic, updated traffic models are required to capture this change. Despite their popularity, there has been limited work on understanding the characteristics of traffic flows originating from cyberlockers. Using a year-long trace collected from a large campus network, we present a comprehensive characterization study of cyberlocker traffic at the transport layer. We use a combination of flow-level and host-level characteristics to provide insights into the behavior of cyberlockers and their impact on networks. We also develop statistical models that capture the salient features of cyberlocker traffic. Studying the transport-layer interaction is important for analyzing reliability, congestion, flow control, and impact on other layers as well as Internet hosts. Our results can be used in developing improved traffic simulation models that can aid in capacity planning and network traffic management.


Erythroid progenitor cells in +/+ and Sl/Sld fetal livers manifested as burst-forming units-erythroid (BFU-E) and colony-forming units-erythroid (CFU-E) were assayed in vitro during early development. The proportion of BFU-E was higher as mutant than in normal fetal livers. On the other hand, the proportion of CFU-E was less in the mutant than in the normal. These results suggest that the defect in Sl/Sld fetal hepatic erythropoiesis is expressed at the steps of differentiation that effect the transition from BFU-E to CFU-E.


Retribution has become increasingly popular, among both legislators and scholars, as a rationale for punishment. The proposed revision of the Model Criminal Code adopts this newly fashionable standard and abandons its previous commitment to rehabilitation. The concept of retribution, however, is too vague to serve as an effective principle of punishment. It is sometimes defined as a requirement that the criminal be "paid back" for the harm he inflicted, but this is a virtually empty metaphor, since prison time has very little to do with repayment. A second definition of retribution involves desert, but the term is both over- and under-inclusive with respect to criminal punishment. Retribution does have a core meaning, however; it inevitably involves the idea of morally condemning the offender. The difficulty is that moral condemnation is entirely inconsistent with the premises of the modern administrative state. Modern governments are supposed to be instrumental - we want them to meet our needs, not to generate their own moral systems. It might be argued that a retributive standard responds to the people's morality, and more specifically to their anger at the criminal. But modern government is supposed to serve people's needs, not their passions, and our own Constitution is based on this exact ethos. In addition, retributive discourse is likely to exacerbate one of the most serious problems in American criminal justice, which is the over-use of imprisonment, particularly for non-violent offenders. The principles of punishment that should be adopted in place of retribution are rehabilitation and proportionality. Proportionality involves a relative ranking of crimes and punishments, so that the most severe punishments are imposed for the most serious crimes, and milder ones are used for less serious crimes. It would forbid the two California sentences that the Supreme Court just upheld against an Eighth Amendment challenge, where a person who stole $399 worth of golf clubs, and another who stole $150 worth of videotapes, received sentences of 25 years to life. Retributivists often adopt proportionality as their own means for establishing a punishment scale, but this only illustrates the emptiness of retribution as a concept. If retribution means anything, it is that we have some fixed idea about the amount of punishment a particular criminal deserves or should be paid back with, not that punishments should be determined by their relationship to other punishments. In fact, proportionality is an independent principle. While it is inconsistent with the concept of retribution, it serves as a complementary principle to rehabilitation.


This study investigates the experimental performance of an automotive air conditioning (AAC) system using an orifice tube as an expansion device for fixed and variable capacity compressors (FCC and VCC). An experimental AAC system using R134a as refrigerant has been set up in the laboratory, and instrumented. The system has been operated with FCC and VCC, and tested by varying the compressor speed as well as the temperatures of the air streams entering the condenser and evaporator. By applying energy analysis to the experimental system, its performance parameters have been evaluated for both compressor cases, and presented in comparative graphics. The experimental results show that the cooling capacity and the exergy destruction in the system usually increase with the compressor speed, while the coefficient of performance (COP) decreases with it. The cooling capacity and COP get higher on increasing the temperature of the air stream entering the evaporator or decreasing the temperature of the air stream entering the condenser. It is revealed that using the FCC yields 5─10% higher cooling capacity compared to the case of using the VCC, and causes higher COP values at low speeds. However, as a result of the intervention of the capacity control system, using the VCC yields higher COP values at high speeds.


LiEr0.02Fe0.98PO4/C composite cathode was synthesized by a simple solution method with polyethylene glycol (PEG) as the reductive agent and carbon source. The effect of erbium doping on the electrochemical behavior of LiFePO4 was studied in this paper. The samples were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction and scanning electron microscopy and the electrochemical properties were investigated by the charge-discharge test. An initial discharge capacity of 149 mAh·g −1 was achieved for the LiEr0.02Fe0.98PO4/C composite cathode with a rate of 0.1 C. The electronic conductivity of Er doped LiFePO4/C was measured as 10 −2 S·cm −1 .T he results indicated that erbium doping did not destroy the lattice structure of LiFePO4 and enlarge the lattice volume. These changes are beneficial to the improvement of the electrochemical performance of the LiFePO4 cathode.


The purpose of this study was to investigate diagnostic agreement between clinicians and a research group in a sample of first-admission psychosis and severe affective disorder patients. Clinical DSM-IV discharge diagnoses and best-estimate DSM-IV research diagnoses were compared in 116 first-episode patients in the city of Turku, Finland. The best-estimate research diagnoses were made at consensus meetings by integrating longitudinal data; patients' medical records; and findings of a clinical interview, the structured SCAN-interview, and symptom severity ratings. Overall diagnostic agreement was moderate, with a kappa value 0.51 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.39- 0.63). Of the diagnostic groups, schizophrenic disorders had the lowest kappa value of 0.44 (95% CI, 0.26-0.63). Clinicians had a tendency to miss depressive symptoms in psychotic patients; to overdiagnose psychotic symptoms in depressive patients; and to fail to discover earlier hypomanic or depressive episodes in depressive patients. In conclusion, hospital diagnoses were not reliable in first-episode patients. Inappropriate diagnoses may compromise both treatment and epidemiologic findings based on discharge diagnoses.


The surface complexation behavior of ofloxacin (OFX), a zwitterionic fluoroquinolone antibiotic, to nano-anatase titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) was characterized. OFX adsorption in aqueous TiO(2) suspensions was measured as a function of pH, OFX concentration, and electrolyte type and concentration, and structural information was derived from in situ spectroscopic observations. An ultraviolet-visible spectral red shift upon OFX adsorption indicated formation of inner-sphere coordination complexes. Fourier transform infrared spectra of TiO(2)-adsorbed OFX were invariable over a wide concentration and pH range and were similar to measured spectra of dissolved species wherein the carboxylate group is deprotonated. A charge distribution surface complexation model constrained by spectroscopic observations was developed to describe macroscopic adsorption trends. A tridentate mode of adsorption involving bridging bidentate inner-sphere coordination of the deprotonated carboxylate group and hydrogen bonding through the adjacent carbonyl group on the quinoline ring resulted in successful predictions of observed adsorption trends. In NaClO(4) electrolyte, spectroscopic data and model fitting suggested that OFX ion pairing with ClO(4)(-) enhanced adsorption under acidic conditions. Moreover, comparison of OFX adsorption data with the pH trend in the kinetics of OFX degradation by visible light (λ > 400 nm) photocatalysis suggested that adsorbed OFX-ClO(4)(-) ion pairs inhibit photodegradation.


We used public and published microarray data (1, 2) to identify the most significant gene expression changes in the brains of patients with psychotic disorders. We DDX19B as differentially expressed in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. In neurons of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex from patients with psychotic disorders, DDX19B expression was significantly decreased.


Increased competition of product offering has led to the need to better understand the end-user, in order to create a more appropriate product. Furthermore, the ever increasing individualistic culture has led to the need for more customised products; where a New Product Development (NPD) team has to balance user needs and wants. Initial study assumptions were that the more the user involvement the better the product outcome.
The aim was to investigate design awareness and use of User-centred Design (UCD) practices in full in the design industry in Botswana; and the training needs of the design industry in relation to UCD. Literature review determined the study focus areas; design awareness (DA), design practices (DP) and UCD. Best global practices were identified since there was little to no literature on UCD practice in Botswana and the researcher investigated products developed for the Base of the Pyramid (BoP). This study has been carried out from the NPD team s perspective.
Data collection began with the scoping study, which provided an early overview of UCD practice utilisation in NPD; it also provided a guideline to data collection in Botswana. The survey study provided a broader overview of the use of design and UCD practices within the design industry. The interviews provided a follow-up to questions arising from the survey study and are focused on the Graphic and Advertising (GA) and Furniture and Interior (FI) industries for more in-depth analysis. The case studies were conducted to better understand how specific projects were conducted in relation to UCD practices; they also provided an evaluation mechanism for findings from previous studies. The results show case study findings correlating with findings from previous studies; the lack of documentation, heavy user involvement at the start stage of the PDP followed by the end stage. The vast majority of the participants failed to obtain product needs directly from the end-user and instead used the client as a proxy for the user.
Design is viewed as an act of planning; user reaction was also viewed as the most important measure of design effectiveness. The majority of participants reported educational institutions not offering the needed skills. Two thirds of the participants did little market research; but the majority agreed user involvement in the PDP was important and that the user can effectively share ideas with the NPD team. The data was not clear as to whether, user involvement helped or hindered NPD team s creativity. The researcher s views on the user involvement in NPD have evolved to the need of an organised way for obtaining and documenting user and product needs, instead of treating the user like a co-operation partner. More case studies are expected to evolve case study questionnaire to, a tool for facilitating UCD practice use in Botswana s design industry.


Diabetic neuropathic pain, an important microvascular complication in diabetes, is recognised as one of the most difficult types of pain to treat. The development of tolerance, inadequate relief, and potential toxicity of classical antinociceptives warrant the investigation of the newer agents to relieve this pain. Reactive oxygen/nitrogen species, increased oxidative stress, cytokines, and apoptosis are implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetic neuropathy. The aim of the present study was to explore the effect of methanolic extract of aerial parts of H. spinosa (HSME) on alloxan induced diabetic neuropathy in Wistar rats. Diabetic rats developed neuropathy after the third week of diabetes induction. Chronic treatment with HSME (250, 500, and 750 mg/kg body weight; p.o.) for 6 weeks starting from the 3rd week of alloxan injection showed significant increase in the pain threshold levels as compared to diabetic rats. HSME treated diabetic animals showed significant decrease in blood glucose level and increase in body weight as compared to diabetic control animals. The changes in lipid peroxidation status and antioxidant enzymes levels observed in sciatic nerve of diabetic rats were significantly restored by HSME treatment. Thus, the results suggest therapeutic potential of H. spinosa in treatment of diabetic neuropathy.


OBJECTIVES
To investigate the association of indoor air pollution with the respiratory health of children, we evaluated the associations of children's respiratory symptoms with asthma and recent home renovation.

METHODS
We conducted a cross-sectional survey in a school recruitment sample of 31,049 children aged 2 to 14 years in 25 districts of 7 cities of northeast China in 2008-2009. The children's parents completed standardized questionnaires characterizing the children's histories of respiratory symptoms and illness, recent home renovation information, and other associated risk factors.

RESULTS
The effects of home renovation in the past 2 years were significantly associated with cough, phlegm, current wheeze, doctor-diagnosed asthma, and current asthma. The associations we computed when combining the status of home renovation and family history of atopy were higher than were those predicted from the combination of the separate effects. However, the interactions between home renovation and family history of atopy on a multiplicative scale were not statistically significant (P>.05).

CONCLUSIONS
Home renovation is associated with increases in the prevalence of respiratory symptoms and asthma in children. The effects of different renovation materials on child respiratory health should be studied further.


The analysis of rock anisotropy in terms of seismic velocities and within the context of rock physics (Biot- Gassmann theory of poroelasticity) provides important information for the evaluation of the stress state (tensors) of rocks, detection of the directions of formation weaknesses, helps in the estimation of overall permeability and failure prediction. Understanding the influence of stress and pore pressure on seismic velocities is important for 4-D reflection seismic interpretation, AVO analysis and reservoir modeling. Laboratory measurements were carried out on spherical shale samples from the overburden under confining stress up to 400 MPa, by means of ultrasonic soundings in 132 independent directions. Such an approach enables the estimation of 3-D elastic anisotropy. Since the sandstones were partly unconsolidated, it was not possible to take ultrasonic measurements. To overcome this, we developed a method for stress induced azimuthal anisotropy estimation using only cross-dipole logging data. These results give the possibility for anisotropic correction in AVO analysis.


The main purpose of this thesis is to examine the agglomeration phenomenon in Turkish manufacturing industries in depth. Chapter 1 presents an overall discussion of the thesis. Chapter 2; examines the theoretical background of the agglomeration phenomenon, while the structure of Turkish manufacturing sector is examined in Chapter 3.
Chapter 4 investigates the degree of agglomeration in Turkish manufacturing industries. For this purpose, several specialization and concentration indexes are examined and also calculated, however the Ellison and Glaeser index of agglomeration is used throughout this thesis, for reasons described in chapter 4. The results from the Ellison and Glaeser index indicate a declining trend in agglomeration for Turkish manufacturing industries.
After investigating the degree of agglomeration, the main theory that describes agglomeration in Turkish manufacturing industries is also investigated in Chapter 5. For this purpose several econometric methods are employed and the results indicate that the Ricardian model of technological differences is the main theory that explains agglomeration patterns in Turkish manufacturing industries.
Chapter 6 investigates the relationship between agglomeration and entry-exit. For such investigation a dynamic model, count data models and seemingly unrelated regression techniques are employed. The results from chapter 6 indicate that firms in Turkish manufacturing industries do not want to locate in agglomerated regions.
Chapter 7 investigates the relationship between Total Factor Productivity (TFP) and agglomeration. For such analysis, fixed effect method and dynamic estimation methodologies are employed. The results indicate that firms that are located in agglomerated regions in Turkish manufacturing industries face decreasing productivity levels.
Finally chapter 8 presents an overall conclusion for the thesis.


Nitrification is an important process for nitrogen removal in many wastewater treatment plants, which requires the mutualistic oxidation of ammonia to nitrate by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). However, this process can be quite unpredictable because both guilds are conditionally sensitive to small changes in operating conditions. Here, dynamics are examined within the NOB guild in two parallel chemostats operated at low and high dilution rates (0.10 and 0.83 day(-1), respectively) during periods of varying nitrification performance. NOB and AOB guild abundances and nitrogen-oxidation efficiency were relatively constant over time in the 0.10 day(-1) reactor; however, the 0.83 day(-1) reactor had two major disturbance episodes that caused destabilization of the NOB guild, which ultimately led to nitrification failure. The first episode caused the extinction of Nitrospira spp. from the system, resulting in chronic incomplete ammonia oxidation and nitrite accumulation. The second episode caused complete loss of nitrification activity, likely resulting from metal toxicity and the previous extinction of Nitrospira spp. from the system. These results exemplify the types of changes that can occur within the NOB guild that result in process impairment or failure, and provide one possible explanation for why nitrification is often unstable at higher dilution rates.


Parallelism is a fundamental yet overlooked organizational device in the composition of Lao literature. This device is used in the creation of style, developing in complexity and sublety from the spoken language, prose, to poetic literature. In literature composed in the poetic form of Kau:n A:n, the plot on every level is organized in an intricate and symmetrical layering of parallel pairs. Narrative is built from a pattern which can be referred to as AAB, which consists of two initial sections, parallel in meaning and frequently similar in grammatical structure, followed by a third and final section which provides a conclusion. AAB patterns, which can be of any length, have traditionally been used by Lao (and other Tai) poets to narrate a progression of ideas, time, or events. Typically within a Lao story there are numerous layers of overlapping patterns. There is a consistent symmetry in the placement of smaller patterns inside of larger ones. The AAB pattern provides a model from which the evolution of a Lao story can be interpreted. A comparative study reveals that when a story is copied, the text evolves through the systematic grafting of new AAB patterns onto older patterns, the enlargement of existing patterns, and the strengthening of existing parallels between statements. It appears that the continual recopying of Lao literature is responsible for the incredible intricacy of its parallel layers. This thesis, in its initial chapter, also provides a general description of Lao literature, including the topics; a) the history of ancient Lao scripts and literature, b) the relationship between the literature and the Buddhist religion, c) sources of the literature in other societies, d) literary works in the Nitsay, Ha:y and Kau:n A:n literary forms; the different roles they play and the circumstances of their composition, transcription, performance, and preservation, e) the relationship between the literatures of Lanna and Laos, f) the major plot types, g) the use of formula and themes, h) the role of creativity in composition and transcription, and i) a history of the study of parallelism and a consideration of the role that parallelism plays in traditional Lao literary narrative. The inventory in the appendix provides a list of 142 works of Lao literature, describing the literary forms in which they are written, their length, extent of distribution, published equivalents, and possible relationship with works in other societies.


We need better, more innovative research on patients' views on dying

A good death has always been important in all cultures. To achieve your chosen afterlife you died either well (euthanatos) or nobly (kalosthanein). But what is a good death in a world that for many is post-religious and medicalised? We know something from research on patients and their families—but not nearly enough. We need much better research that uses innovative and different methods.

We don't have good data on how people die (as opposed to what they die of), but there is a strong impression that many die badly.1 People do not die in the places they wish or with the peace they desire. Probably too many die alone, in pain, terrified, mentally unaware, without dignity, or feeling alienated. People who are poor, from ethnic minorities, or marginalised may have even worse deaths.

Modern dying involves a struggle for control. Some doctors fear failure when they cannot keep their patients …


We document that trust in public institutions--and particularly trust in banks, business and government--has declined over recent years. U.S. time series evidence suggests that this partly reflects the pro-cyclical nature of trust in institutions. Cross-country comparisons reveal a clear legacy of the Great Recession, and those countries whose unemployment grew the most suffered the biggest loss in confidence in institutions, particularly in trust in government and the financial sector. Finally, analysis of several repeated cross-sections of confidence within U.S. states yields similar qualitative patterns, but much smaller magnitudes in response to state-specific shocks.


The hepatitis B virus (HBV) causes infection in the liver that can lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer, and premature death. The disease is not widely recognised as a serious public health problem, and as a result, inadequate resources are being allocated to hepatitis B prevention and control. Vaccination against HBV has been a great success and has resulted in a reduction in the rate of chronic infection; however, the vaccine is of no help for those already infected. The big challenge is how to deliver effective and affordable care to those who are carriers and who are eligible for treatment, and affordable diagnostics to detect those who are not yet aware of their infection, to prevent the spread to susceptible individuals. This review intends to give the reader a brief overview of the types of control strategies that have been examined in recent cost-effectiveness studies on the control of chronic hepatitis B.


Since the introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops, the commodity grain system has been under pressure to segregate GM and non-GM crops. Starting at the level of the grain handler, members of the grain supply chain have successfully used quality assurance and identity preservation programs to segregate non GM crops. Producers delivering high-value, identity-preserved crops have become interested in implementing these quality management systems at the farm level. We conduct a cost-benefit analysis that shows that quality assurance program may be profitable for producers, depending on their farm size and equipment management strategy.


PURPOSE
Most adolescent and young adult (AYA)-aged childhood cancer survivors develop physical and/or psychosocial sequelae; however, many do not receive long-term follow-up (LTF) critical for screening, prevention, and treatment of late effects. To develop a health services research agenda to optimize care models, we conducted qualitative research with LTF providers examining existing models, and successes and challenges in maintaining survivors' connections to care across their transition to adulthood.

METHODS
We interviewed 20 LTF experts (MDs, RNs, social workers, education specialists, psychologists) from 10 Children's Oncology Group-affiliated institutions, and analyzed data using grounded theory and content analysis techniques.

RESULTS
Participants described the complexity of survivors' healthcare transitions. Survivors had pressing educational needs in multiple domains, and imparting the need for prevention was challenging. Multidisciplinary LTF teams focused on prevention and self-management. Care and decisions about transfer were individualized based on survivors' health risks, developmental issues, and family contexts. An interplay of provider and institutional factors, some of which were potentially modifiable, also influenced how transitions were managed. Interviewees rarely collaborated with community primary care providers to comanage patients. Communication systems and collective norms about sharing care limited comanagement capacity. Interviewees described staffing practices, policies, and informal initiatives they found reduced attrition.

CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest that survivors will benefit from care models that better connect patients, survivorship experts, and community providers for uninterrupted LTF across transitions. We propose research priorities, framing attrition from LTF as a public health concern, transition as the central challenge in LTF, and transition readiness as a multilevel concept.


'People in Public Health' is a study about approaches to develop and support lay people in public health roles. The use of participatory approaches in public health programmes, both in national and international contexts, is well established and seen as necessary to deliver sustainable improvements in public health (Bracht and Tsouros, 1990; Rifkin et al., 2000; World Health Organization, 2002). Indeed a central argument in the Wanless reviews was that a 'fully engaged scenario' with high levels of public engagement in health would result in lower levels of public expenditure and better health outcomes (Wanless, 2002; Wanless, 2004). Government policy supports greater community engagement in health as a means of addressing public health priorities and tackling health inequalities (Department of Health, 2003). The health agenda on community involvement resonates with arguments for citizen empowerment and greater democratisation of services, not only in the NHS but across the public sector, in national agencies and local authorities (Campbell et al., 2008). Recent national guidance on community engagement noted the wide variety of approaches, indicating that those approaches based on higher levels of participation and greater community control were more likely to lead to increased health and social outcomes1 (National Institute for Health and Clinical Effectiveness, 2008). There was a recommendation to recruit what were termed 'agents of change' in communities who become involved 'to plan, design and deliver health promotion activities and to help address the wider social determinants of health' by taking on roles such as peer educators, health champions or neighbourhood wardens (National Institute for Health and Clinical Effectiveness, 2008:28). The concept of empowerment, the process of individuals and communities being enabled to undertake local action to effect change, is seen as core to health promotion (Tones and Tilford, 2001; World Health Organization, 1986; Wallerstein, 2006). Government policy on community empowerment advocates increased citizen involvement in planning and running services (Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, 2008) and this agenda is linked to the personalisation of health and social services and patient and public involvement (Department of Health, 2005b; Department of Health, 2006; Secretary of State for Health, 2006). More evidence is required, however, about effective mechanisms for lay engagement and how public services can best enhance, support and sustain community involvement.


Precipitation over the Iberian Peninsula (IP) is highly variable and shows large spatial contrasts between wet mountainous regions to the north, and dry regions in the in- land plains and southern areas. In this work, we modelled the relationship between atmospheric circulation weather types (WTs) and monthly precipitation for the wet half of the year (October to May) using a 10 km grid derived from a high- density dataset for the IP (3030 precipitation series, overall mean density one station each 200 km 2 ). We detected two spatial gradients in the relationship between WTs and pre- cipitation. The percentage of monthly precipitation explained by WTs varies from northwest (higher variance explained) to southeast (lower variance explained). Additionally, in the IP the number of WTs that contribute significantly to monthly precipitation increase systematically from east to west. Gen- erally speaking, the model performance is better to the west than to the east where the WTs approach produce the less accurate results. We applied the WTs modelling approach to reconstruct the long-term precipitation time series for three major stations of Iberia (Lisbon, Madrid, Valencia).


Causal Explanations Guide Inferences about Children's Bizarre Behaviors Jennelle Yopchick Northeastern University Nancy Kim Northeastern University Abstract: Lay people and experienced clinicians alike judge the abnormality of behaviors with reference to causal, explanatory events. However, different kinds of experience abound; for example, parents may encounter fewer exemplars than clinicians, but are experienced in reasoning about the real-world ramifications of children's behaviors. When reasoning about child behaviors, parents may therefore be more attuned to societal views of abnormality and their effects than are non-parents. We presented parents and non-parents with child behaviors of ambiguous abnormality, followed by a congruent, incongruent, or no explanation. Non-parents judged behaviors with congruent explanations to be more normal, common, culturally acceptable, and adaptive than those with incongruent or no explanations. Parents also judged behaviors with congruent explanations to be more normal and common than those with incongruent or no explanations. However, parents' judgments of cultural acceptability and adaptiveness were uninfluenced by explanations, reflecting their practical knowledge that explanations cannot change negative societal responses.


Background: Different adverse health effects associated with occupational exposure to antineplastic drugs (ANPDs) have been frequently reported. But there is no specific investigation on the incidence of respiratory problems experienced by nurses.

Objective: We aimed to assess work condition and identify respiratory adverse effects related to occupational exposure to ANPDs.

Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted on oncology nurses in four hospitals. The data were collected on work conditions and training background in terms of ANPDs handling, and experienced respiratory symptoms.

Results: The mean age of participants (n=41) was 33.1±7.6 years and their median work experience in oncology was 3.2 years (0.08-18). The nurses had at least a bachelor degree in nursing, most of them were female, and 39% were trained in handling ANPDs. Nearly, all nurses (96%) worn personal protective equipment (PPE) and used a biological safety cabinet (BSC) during preparation. The respiratory problems were experienced by 75.6% of nurses during preparation or even after work shift for hours. Cough (15.2%) was the most frequent respiratory symptoms reported by the nurses followed by sore throat (12.7%), dyspnea (10.2%),Itchy throat (9.32%),and runny nose (8.5%). There was a significant correlation between the work experience and the number of reported respiratory problems.

Conclusions: the incidence of respiratory adverse effects was high despite of having bachelor degree in nursing, wearing PPE, using BSC and training. Evaluation of PPE and BSC effectiveness and frequent training in safe handling of ANDPS are recommended. Medical surveillance for respiratory adverse effects especially in experienced nurses is necessary.


Technological developments of the last decades allow the production and the dispersion of particles of sizes ranging between 10 and 100 nm in liquids. In a large number of recent studies the resulting nanofluids have been reported to display anomalously high increase in convective heat transfer. The present study compiles experiments from five independent research teams investigating convective heat transfer in nanofluid flow in pipes (laminar and turbulent), pipe with inserted twisted tape, annular counter flow heat exchanger, and coil and plate heat exchangers. The results of all these experiments unequivocally confirm that Newtonian nanofluid flow can be consistently characterized by employing Nusselt number correlations obtained for single-phase heat transfer liquids such as water when the correct thermophysical properties of the nanofluid are utilized. It is also shown that the heat transfer enhancement provided by nanofluids equals the increase in the thermal conductivity of the nanofluid as compared to the base fluid independent of the nanoparticle concentration or material. These results demonstrate that no anomalous phenomena are involved in thermal conduction and forced convection based heat transfer of water based nanofluids. The experiments are theoretically supported by a fundamental similarity analysis of nanoparticle motion in nanofluid flow. (Less)


Zinc-alloy with low melting point can be easily sprayed directly on the production surface to fabricate a mould with high precision by arc spraying. But the zinc-alloy mould has the disadvantage of easy invalidation due to its relatively low hardness and poor anti-wear property. In this paper, the surface modification of zinc-alloy tooling by composite electro-brush plating was researched. The joining mechanism between the plating film and sprayed coating was investigated, and the law of quality control on the unification of rapid tooling and surface modification was revealed. A new modification technology possessing the advantage of economical and high quality surface relating to moulding was developed with independent intellectual property right.


The treatment of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck is multimodal, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, or the combination of those. Though aggressive treatment results in complete tumor remission in many patients even in locally advanced stages, unfortunately local relapse is not uncommon. For patients not candidate for salvage surgery, chemotherapy and conventional fractionated external beam irradiation can be applied. However, for patients previously treated with full-dose radiotherapy, the deliverable reirradiation dose is limited, considering the elevated risk of toxicity caused by cumulative doses. CyberKnife is a highly conformal radiosurgical technology which can successfully treat this subset of patients. In addition, it can be applied for hardly resectable rare tumors of the skull base and the head and neck region like chordoma, chondrosarcoma and paragangliomas. The CyberKnife stereotacic radiosurgery technology is now available in Hungary, in the National Institute of Oncology.


Due to the rapid development of modern medical information technology, the modality and amount of electronic health record (EHR) data can be incredibly large. Clinicians must rely on the comparison and inter-confirmation among those complex multi-modal EHR data to make accurate clinical diagnoses, treatment plans and preventive measures. Integrated visualization is needed to extract valuable information from EHR data. This paper first studies a unified structure to represent the multi-modal EHR data as various kinds of clinical acts. Then it brings forward a method for the integrated visualization of those data according to the two dimensional act-time relationships. Finally, an integrated viewer is designed and implemented. By this means, we provide the clinicians an overall scene of the patient's personal history, present health status and future care plans.


: This study analyzed the internal determining factors in ginger exports to the United States, being a controversial issue at the international level, due to the demand for exports of multiple products; to describe the internal factors that influence the success of ginger exports and making known the relationship with each of these, concerning the exported quantity, whether the result is favorable or not. The focus of this study is quantitative; it was based on the multiple linear regression model applied to our sample, which is the United States. Numerical data of ginger exports, export price, production volume, Investment in technology and innovation in trade, and exported value of Trademap during the period 2006 - 2020 were obtained. Through the econometric model, it was obtain that there is a direct relationship significant between the export price and the exported quantity (p < 0.05), that is; the greater the quantity of ginger exported, the lower the export price, and the higher the production volume, the greater the quantity of ginger exported (p < 0.05), the greater the investment in technology and innovation in trade, the greater the quantity exported (p < 0.05). These results provide accurate information for medium and large exporting companies of agricultural products, farmers, producers; the results show the key factors that lead to the success of Peruvian ginger exports.


Egg size has been shown to vary among females in many species of marine inverte- brates and fishes. Usually, however, only a single reproductive event is measured for each female, leaving open the possibility that egg size could vary significantly among broods from the same female. Here I measured egg size from 3 to 7 broods per female from 2 calyptraeid species, Crepidula atrasolea and C. ustulatulina, in 2 experiments. In a preliminary experiment, females were raised from hatching under constant temperature in incubators; in a second larger experiment, they were raised under varying temperatures on the laboratory bench top. Under both conditions, there were significant differences in egg size among broods from each female, as well as significant differences among females from the bench top. Estimates of repeatability, which give an upper boundary on the heritability of a trait, were significantly reduced when among brood variation was included in the cal- culations, suggesting that caution should be used in interpreting among-female components of vari- ation in studies that measure only a single brood per female. Egg size was not related to female size, and there was an effect of brood order on egg size in only C. ustulatulina from the bench top. Eggs produced in the incubators were larger than those from the bench top and they were more variable within broods, resulting in a lower repeatability of egg size from incubator animals than from bench top animals. The significant variation in egg size at all levels of the analysis suggests that such varia- tion should be included in models of egg size evolution, and that the evolutionary dynamics of egg size may be more complicated than reflected in current models of life-history evolution.


One of the largest selling points for The Weather Channel (TWC) is the ability to generate localized content for its subscribers, specifically local weather forecasts. To facilitate this localized content, TWC deploys smart devices in cable head ends. These smart devices are called STARs (Satellite Transmitter Addressable Receivers) and are responsible both for collecting weather data and displaying the data to the user in an audio and video presentation.

TWC decided to produce a next generation STAR that was more flexible than the current generation as well as cheaper. FreeBSD was chosen as the platform for these devices. Although FreeBSD was largely suitable for this application, a few modifications were required and several workarounds were employed. The end result is a PC built mostly of off-the-shelf components that is able to render broadcast quality audio and video in realtime.


Portals went through the following different life cycle stages: desktop organization and personalization; single intranet-based portals such as human resource and Internet product-based or industry-based portals; functional-based portals such as knowledge management and business intelligence; and integrated intranet-based enterprise portal (EP) covering some or all functions of the enterprise (see for example http://www.ebizq.net/topics/eai/features/1650. html on how integrating portals and business process management (BPM) enabled the presentation of an integrated view of diverse back-end databases). Current research and practice efforts are directed toward making portals an open system supporting different platforms and allowing its integration into emerging technologies such as Web services (WS). A WS, on the other hand, is defined as an integrating loosely coupled application that uses three major standards: WSDL (definition of WS), UDDI (registry and discovery of WS), and SOAP (access of a WS). However, strongly coupled applications may also benefit from WS technologies to componentized diverse application platforms (i.e., databases, file-based legacy systems) using WS technologies. The article emphasizes cross-organization integration of business function and processes, rather than simply accessing general purpose WS such as weather forecasts and currency conversion. This article highlights challenges stemming from technologies and management issues and opportunities for enhanced application integration and accessibility. Technology-based integration could follow either standard-based open architecture or product-based approach. Current technologies include the product-based MS .NET and the standard-based J2EE and XML. Major players in EP and WS technologies include IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and BEA, with dedicated efforts and strong commitments to the integration of EP and WS. Major issues related to the management of both technologies include transaction management, message control and choreography, workflow management, and security. The following sections detail the discussions on these challenges and describe opportunities though a master-slave relationship between the two technologies. chaLLEngES


The Higuamo River in the Dominican Republic is being polluted by a number of industries. The town San Pedro de Macoris is situated at the river mouth and the negative effects of the pollution are apparent for the fishermen and those living in informal settlements along the water. The waterfront has now been designated for development and the project explores hinders and possibilities for the implementation of practices of participation, as well as the challenges it poses to the planner.


ABSTRACT As the number of vehicles and devices equipped with GPS technology has grown explosively, an urgent need has arisen for time- and space-efficient data structures to represent their trajectories. The most commonly desired queries are the following: queries about an object's trajectory, range queries, and nearest neighbor queries. In this paper, we consider that the objects can move freely and we present a new compressed data structure for storing their trajectories, based on a combination of logs and snapshots, with the logs storing sequences of the objects' relative movements and the snapshots storing their absolute positions sampled at regular time intervals. We call our data structure ContaCT because it provides Constant- time access to Compressed Trajectories. Its logs are based on a compact partial-sums data structure that returns cumulative displacement in constant time, and allows us to compute in constant time any object's position at any instant, enabling a speedup when processing several other queries. We have compared ContaCT experimentally with another compact data structure for trajectories, called GraCT, and with a classic spatio-temporal index, the MVR-tree. Our results show that ContaCT outperforms the MVR-tree by orders of magnitude in space and also outperforms the compressed representation in time performance.


Abstract : Helmet-mounted systems, such as night vision goggles and helmet-mounted displays, are designed to enhance pilot performance; however, they may also affect pilot safety during ejection due to the change in helmet inertial properties. The effects of variable helmet weight and bracing ability on subject response during impact are unknown. Electromyogram (EMG) is a useful tool to investigate the mechanics of bracing and the relationships to helmet weight and impact acceleration. In addition, EMG could be used to help establish the relationship between the potential for neck injury and the force exerted by the neck muscles due to bracing. EMG can be used to determine the activation timing of the muscles and to estimate the force produced by the muscles in a dynamic environment. A series of tests were conducted on a Horizontal Impulse Accelerator using male and female volunteers to investigate the effects of helmet weight on human response to short-duration frontal impacts of variable magnitude. Helmet weights ranged from 0 lb (no helmet) to 4.5 lbs, and acceleration levels were 6, 7, 8 and 10 g. The MyoMonitor Portable EMG System by DelSys was used to collect data from ten subjects. The electrodes were placed on the right and left upper trapezius and sternocleidomastoid. Amplitude and frequency components of the signals were evaluated to determine the amount of force exerted by the muscle. Root Mean Squared (RMS) amplitude analysis indicated that, in general, the muscular strain increased with increasing Gx acceleration levels. The trapezius produced more force than the sternocleidomastoid. Activity of both muscle groups was synchronized, by their RMS values, with head and neck motion. A method of collecting EMG data during short-duration impact accelerations was developed. It was demonstrated that in fact the neck muscles can respond quickly to the short-duration impacts.


The use of sunflower oil as an environmentally-friendly solvent was examined for the separation of penicillin G (Pen G) from a synthetic fermentation media to develop a cost-effective process. In order to evaluate this, equilibrium experiments were first carried out with solvent alone (sunflower oil/pegasol/tributyl phosphate) and then with the solvent containing dissolved Amberlite LA-2, an ionic carrier. The organic systems with the carrier gave better distribution of Pen G between the aqueous and organic phases. The values of the distribution coefficient were greater for tributyl phosphate (TBP) than the other solvents at the natural pH of Pen G. Sunflower oil gave a good distribution ratio and it can be recommended as an attractive option because of its low cost, minimal toxicity and moderate performance. The effectiveness of the carrier-sunflower oil (organic phase) was evaluated in a hollow-fiber membrane contactor by performing experiments with the organic phase on the shell side and the feed inside the fiber. With a small amount of carrier (approx. 5%) in the organic phase and at the natural pH of penicillin G, a good percentage extraction (approx. 40-45%) was achieved. The percentage extraction decreased (approx. 30-35%) when penicillin G was prepared in a synthetic fermentation media instead of pure aqueous media. These results are similar to those reported by many investigators; the main difference is that, in this report, an environmentally-friendly solvent was used instead of toxic solvents used in the literature, such as kerosene.


Metal-free, visible-light active and heterogeneous organic photocatalysts offer a more sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional metal-based catalysts. Here a porous organic hyper-crosslinked polymer, CF-HCP, was successfully synthesized through a facile and cost-effective process. The chemical and structural properties of CF-HCP were fully characterized by using powder X-ray diffraction analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, 13C solid-state NMR spectroscopy, electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and nitrogen adsorption. The new three-dimensional hyper-crosslinked network possesses a high Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface area up to 1200 m2 g−1 with a pore volume of 0.92 cm3 g−1, and exhibits good thermal, chemical and photochemical stability. Importantly, CF-HCP was found to be a highly effective heterogeneous photocatalyst for a wide range of organic reactions, including the oxidative coupling of primary amines, dehydrogenation of nonactive secondary amine substrates, and selective oxidation of sulfide under visible-light irradiation and using molecular oxygen as a clean oxidant. In particular, mild reaction conditions, ease of product separation by simple filtration, significant recyclability and low cost make this network material an economical and eco-friendly catalyst for the preparation of versatile organic compounds.


Thin films of (1-x)Pb(Mg/sub 1/3/Nb/sub 2/3/)O/sub 3/-xPbTiO/sub 3/ (x = 0.1 to 0.3) (PMN-PT) were deposited on the platinum coated silicon substrate by pulsed excimer laser ablation technique. A template layer of LaSr/sub 0.5/Co/sub 0.5/O/sub 3/ (LSCO) was deposited on platinum substrate prior to the deposition of PMN-PT thin films. The composition and the structure of the films were modulated via proper variation of the deposition parameter such as substrate temperature, laser fluence and thickness of the template layers. We observed the impact of the thickness of LSCO template layer on the orientation of the films. A room temperature dielectric constant varying from 2000 to 4500 was noted for different composition of the films. The dielectric properties of the films were studied over the frequency range of 100 Hz - 100 kHz over a wide range of temperatures. The films exhibited the relaxor-type behavior that was characterized by the frequency dispersion of the temperature of dielectric constant maxima (T/sub m/) and also diffuse phase transition.


Aims For the management of patients with bronchiolitis, high flow nasal cannula oxygen (HFNCO) therapy is not recommended in national guidelines. Despite this, it is frequently used. We sought out to document how HFNCO therapy is currently being used for patients with bronchiolitis and what the outcomes are for this patient group. Methods We carried out a retrospective multi-centre service evaluation, with a standardised proforma developed by trainees. Data was collected over a 4 week period, as selected by local data collectors, between 1 st November 2017 and 31 st January 2018. Inclusion criteria were infants<12 months corrected gestational age with a primary diagnosis of bronchiolitis, treated with HFNCO therapy during the escalation phase of management. Results Data was collected in 7 out of 13 potential hospitals. 78 case notes were reviewed. Median age and weight were 9.3 weeks (range 1.7–50.5), and 4.91 kg (range 2.5–10.88) respectively. There was statistically significant improvement in HR and RR one hour after commencing HFNCO (p=0.033 and 0.003 respectively). Median starting flow rate was 1.99 L/kg (range 1.12–3.84), with maximum flow rates of 4.8 L/kg being used. 36 (50%) patients required escalation of care to at least CPAP. HFNCO was delivered on a paediatric ward for 47 patients (60.3%) and in a HDU bed space for 31 (39.7%) with comparable numbers needing escalation regardless of ward setting; ward 48.6% vs HDU 46.7%. 11 patients (14.5%) required admission to PICU. Feeding practices varied whilst on HFNCO therapy, including NG feeds (24.7%), intravenous (IV) fluids (53.2%) or both (22.1%). If on IV fluids, a third of patients had fluids restricted to <90% of full maintenance. Conclusions Our real-life data demonstrates wide variability in the use of HFNCO therapy with half of patients going on to need escalation of care. We feel lack of national guidance contributes to this variability in management and more research is needed to determine optimal use, to gain greatest benefit, in a cost-effective way.