The French studies using the Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol (AEP) were developed within the framework of medical audit by local teams, analysing their own practice, in order to improve the quality of care. Four studies were analysed in this review. They were performed in emergency departments and data were collected concurrently. The reliability and validity of this French version of the AEP was assessed. The high reliability of the AEP was found to be useful to measure trends or differences between groups. The percentages of inappropriate admissions observed in the studies ranged from 18 to 25%. The hypothesis that the rate of inappropriate admissions would be highest among the elderly was not confirmed in Paris. Homelessness was the only social factor related to a high rate of inappropriate admissions in three of the studies. In one study, age and lack of social support were found to be risk factors for inappropriate admissions. The study of the causes of inappropriate admissions was important, since they were to be used as an indicator of systemic problems in the organization of health care delivery. A distinction was made between appropriate and justified admissions on both a systemic and an individual level. In conclusion, AEP was found to be an indicator that was both reliable and useful to identify quality of care problems. Among the factors found to be related to inappropriate admissions, the internal organization of the hospital proved to be one of the main reasons and a target for improvement.


Missing data are often encountered in data sets used to construct software effort prediction models. Thus far, the common practice has been to ignore observations with missing data. This may result in biased prediction models. The authors evaluate four missing data techniques (MDTs) in the context of software cost modeling: listwise deletion (LD), mean imputation (MI), similar response pattern imputation (SRPI), and full information maximum likelihood (FIML). We apply the MDTs to an ERP data set, and thereafter construct regression-based prediction models using the resulting data sets. The evaluation suggests that only FIML is appropriate when the data are not missing completely at random (MCAR). Unlike FIML, prediction models constructed on LD, MI and SRPI data sets will be biased unless the data are MCAR. Furthermore, compared to LD, MI and SRPI seem appropriate only if the resulting LD data set is too small to enable the construction of a meaningful regression-based prediction model.


Automatically generating invariants, key to computer-aided analysis of probabilistic and deterministic programs and compiler optimisation, is a challenging open problem. Whilst the problem is in general undecidable, the goal is settled for restricted classes of loops. For the class of solvable loops, introduced by Kapur and Rodr\'iguez-Carbonell in 2004, one can automatically compute invariants from closed-form solutions of recurrence equations that model the loop behaviour. In this paper we establish a technique for invariant synthesis for loops that are not solvable, termed unsolvable loops. Our approach automatically partitions the program variables and identifies the so-called defective variables that characterise unsolvability. Herein we consider the following two applications. First, we present a novel technique that automatically synthesises polynomials from defective monomials, that admit closed-form solutions and thus lead to polynomial loop invariants. Second, given an unsolvable loop, we synthesise solvable loops with the following property: the invariant polynomials of the solvable loops are all invariants of the given unsolvable loop. Our implementation and experiments demonstrate both the feasibility and applicability of our approach to both deterministic and probabilistic programs.


Background Pre-existing maternal diabetes is associated with a five-fold increase in the prevalence of congenital cardiovascular malformation (CVM). NICE guidelines recommend that pregnant women with diabetes should be offered antenatal examination of the four-chamber view of the fetal heart and outflow tracts at 18–20 weeks to detect congenital malformations. Aim The primary objectives of the audit were to find out the prevalence of CVM in infants of diabetic mothers and the success rate of fetal-echocardiography in diagnosing CVM antenatally. Our secondary objectives were to find out the number of diabetic mothers booked for delivery at the Sunderland Royal Hospital and the percentage of diabetic pregnancies referred for antenatal cardiac screening. Methods This was a retrospective audit. Data was collected from all diabetic mothers booked for antenatal care between April 2004 and December 2008 and the corresponding cohort of infants with cardiovascular malformations born between May 2004 and May 2010. Results 89% of the 102 diabetic mothers had undergone antenatal cardiac screening. 180 infants were born with CVM during the study period (1.09% of total births). Of these, five infants were born to diabetic mothers (4.9%). Fetal echocardiogram gave the correct diagnosis in 96.7% of the cases with a specificity of 100% and a sensitivity of 25%. Conclusions 89% of the diabetic mothers had undergone antenatal cardiac screening. Maternal diabetes is associated with 4.9% risk of CVM. VSD is the most common CVM in maternal diabetes. Fetal echocardiogram gave the correct diagnosis in 96.7% of the cases.


A double-blind, randomized trial was carried out in 48 children to assess the effects of inhaled ipratropium bromide, fenoterol or a combination of both drugs in treating their moderately severe acute asthma. Doses were adjusted according to the age of the patients and administered by nebulizer. Measurements of pulse rate and respiratory rate and assessment of the severity of symptoms were made at fixed intervals during the first 2 hours on treatment. Repeat nebulizations were given, if necessary, at 2-hourly intervals. The results suggested that fenoterol provided the most adequate treatment and there was no evidence to indicate that the addition of ipratropium produced any improved benefit.


In a smart grid, various kinds of distributed generation (DG) sources could be connected into the main power grid in order to enhance the reliability of the power system. The combination of ac and dc distribution grid are also considered for the efficient connection of renewable power resources. In this case, one of the critical problems due to these integrations is the excessive increase in the fault current because of the presence of DG within the smart grid. In order to protect the smart grid from increasing fault current, a superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) could be applied, which has negligible power loss and capability to limit initial fault currents effectively. This paper presents feasibility analysis results of the positioning of the SFCL and its effects on reducing fault current in a smart grid having ac and dc microgrid. The detailed power system was implemented with a microgrid having wind farm and low voltage dc grid connected with a photovoltaic farm. Transient analyses were performed for the worst case faults with the different SFCL arrangements. The strategic location of SFCL in the power grid, which could limit fault currents and has no negative effect on the DG sources, was found to be the connection point of integration of the each DG sources in the ac and dc microgrid.


The common perception, particularly among employers of labour is that enforcement or implementation of enhanced labour standards would negatively impact on overhead costs thereby impeding the organisation's competitive advantage through price mechanisms at both national and global marketplace. The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis and draw inherent relationships between enforcement of labour standards by organisations and possible implications on workplace productivity and overall organisational efficiency, competitiveness and survival. Theorists of firm's wage efficiency argue that implementation of enhanced labour standards will most certainly increase overhead costs and push up prices thereby disadvantaging the firm's ability from competing favourably with other firm's operating in territories where labour standards are not observed. However, comparative cost-benefit analysis of implementing labour standards by this paper suggests that organisations indeed benefit significantly by enforcing labour standards as this would translate to higher productivity and enhanced organisational competitiveness and survival as workers experience job satisfaction, safe and healthy working conditions and environment which reduces rate of industrial accidents, medical costs and sick leaves. Furthermore, employers benefit from implementing enhanced labour standards through low employee turnover rate and improved cooperation and understanding between workers and their employers resulting in a stable and positive labour relations environment that is devoid of unplanned work stoppages due to industrial actions and loss of production. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n9p89


The purpose of the study was to uncover teachers' emerging beliefs and perceptions about developmentally oriented instruction as they participated in professional development workshops and applied the strategies learned with students in after-school clubs. Twenty experienced, urban teachers volunteered to attend monthly workshops where they engaged in math games, simulations, and problem-solving activities based on the Common Core and modeled by college faculty. Teachers used the activities to offer 90-min weekly math clubs for sixth-and seventh-grade students at their schools. Twelve pre-service teachers enrolled in a college course on adolescent development acted as volunteers at the clubs. Data were collected through (a) questionnaires and rating scales, (b) informal group interviews, and (c) weekly electronic journals. Data collected revealed changes in teachers' beliefs about and perceptions of effective instruction as they applied game-based activities in the after-school club settings. Eighty percent of the teachers reported high levels of student engagement and greater sustained interest in problem-solving, and connected their observations to beliefs about game-based learning as an effective and age-appropriate instructional strategy. Pre-service teacher volunteers reported similar observations: The majority of club members were actively engaged in solving complex problems during game-like activities, particularly when volunteers used scaffolding strategies to support students' participation.


: The mechanisms of glucocorticoids' effect on the functional activity of lysosomes in rats dermis and epidermis have been studied. The activity of enzymes in both parts of skin in females was more than in ones in males. Intraperitoneal injection of hydrocortisone doesn't change the functional activity of lysosomes in skin in doses less than 1 mg per 100 g of weight apart from the sex of rats. The hormone in dose 1 mg/100 g of weight causes statistically reliable releasing of lysosomal glycosidases from the epidermis and dermis of both of the sex of rats, and cathepsin D in females as well. In experiments in vitro the concentration of hormone 10(-8) M causes the fall of possibility of enzymatic fission of substrates in dermis, but the concentration 10(-3) M causes the increasing of the one on the contrary. Enzymatic alterations in the results of action of glucocorticoids in dermis and in epidermis as in males so in females of rats and the causes of their distinguishes have been discussed.


This paper summarises the work done over the last six years to improve the supply of water in rural areas of India through specially designed training for engineers
and scientists working in the rural water sector. The programme came into being as a result of the vision of senior staff of the Drinking Water Mission in the
Department of Rural Development of the Ministry of Agriculture in 1990. Since then the support of Mission staff has continued as the responsibility for the activities of the Mission passed first to the Ministry of Rural Development
and recently to the Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment. Financial support was provided for the external input
costs to this programme by the Overseas Development Administration of the United Kingdom Government and internal costs were borne by the Mission.


Enormous volumes of sediment are produced in the Central Andes and are then delivered into the foreland basins of large tributaries to the Amazon basin. While cosmogenic nuclides in sediment are a suitable tool to measure the denudation rates of sediment-producing areas, the requirement of steady state between nuclide production and nuclide removal by denudation appears to make this method less obvious in depositional foreland basins, where sediment storage may alter 10 Be-based erosion signals from the sediment-providing areas. A published cosmogenic nuclide-based modeling approach however predicts that source-area cosmogenic nuclide concentrations are not modified by temporary sediment storage. We tested this approach in the large Beni foreland basin by measuring cosmogenic 10 Be nuclide concentrations in detrital sediment along a 600 km long floodplain reach. The outcome of our study is that t he 10 Be-based denudation rate signal of the Bolivian Andes is preserved in the Beni floodplain even though this basin stores the sediment for thousands of years. For the floodplain part of the Beni basin, the cosmogenic nuclide-derived denudation rate is 0.45 ± 0.07 mm/yr, and the respective Andean source area erodes at a very similar rate of 0.37 ± 0.06 mm/yr. We thus suggest that any sample collected along a river traversing a floodplain will yield the denudation rate of the source area. This finding opens the unique possibility of constraining paleo-sediment budgets for these large basins using cosmogenic nuclides as the denudation rate signal of the sediment-producing area is preserved in sedimentary archives.


Highways play a significant role in the economic growth of developing countries. Sri Lankan government also has realized such importance and has directed special focus on constructing new highways. However, highways construction is not a simple task and these projects are often typified by risk and complexities which create a range of problems that has to be dealt with utmost care. Variations are one of them, which commonly occur due to uncertain scopes of work defined at the beginning. Thus, this study is undertaken to identify causes, nature and effects of variations in highways construction in Sri Lanka. A questionnaire survey was undertaken to identify frequent causes of variations and semi-structured interviews were conducted to capture data regarding nature and effects of variations. The results revealed that change in mind force and requirement increases were the main causes of client originated variations while design changes and defects in BOQ were the main causes of consultant originated variations. Land acquisition and funds arranging issues were identified as main unforeseeable cause that originates variations. The study further revealed that omission of any work has a significant impact on the nature of variations. In most situations, variations have resulted in cost overruns with an average increase of 9.9% of the initial contract sum. Keywords: Causes of variations; Nature of variations; Effects of variations; Highway construction; Sri Lanka DOI: 10.4038/besl.v9i1-2.3056 Built - Environment - Sri Lanka - Vol. 09 - 10, Issue 01 - 02 : 2011 pp.14-20


Conviction is widespread and increasing in both the United States and China—as well as many other countries—that the U.S.–China relationship is becoming less stable and more dangerous. We do not agree. Relations between Beijing and Washington in 2013 are more extensive, more varied, more interdependent, and more important to one another as well as to the global system than at any time in the past. But suspicion and mutual distrust persist and may have intensified. Yet, despite dramatic changes in the international system and the need to manage fleeting as well as persistent problems, the United States and China have maintained strategic stability for four decades. The relationship is less fragile and volatile than many assert, with strategic stability the result of multiple factors that reinforce one another and limit the deleterious effects of developments threatening specific "pillars" that undergird the relationship. Complacency and failure to address misperceptions and mistrust, however, will have unfortunate consequences for both sides.


The Efficient Market Hypothesis proposes that macroeconomic policy actions do not influence stock market development but the Tobin's q theory argues otherwise. This paper uses the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) technique to investigate the impact of macroeconomic policy on the development of the Ghana Stock Exchange for the period 1991-2011. The paper finds government revenue and exchange rate reduce stock market development. A policy mix identified was that, the outcomes of  government expenditure and government borrowing interest rate exert no influence on stock market development. For equity investors not to easily transfer their investments in response to changes in macroeconomic policies among others, the study recommends good macroeconomic management. Keywords : Stock Market Development, Macroeconomic policy, Government spending, ADRL, Ghana, West Africa


The three-layer structure back-propagation network model based on the non-linear relationship between the break percentage elongation of the Mg,Al-hydrotalcite/PE nanocomposites and the technological factors was established. And in order to accelerate the converging rate and avoid the local minimum, dimensionality reduction and pre-whitening methods were used. Moreover, the optimum technological process parameters were optimized with genetic algorithm. And the results show that using both the back propagation neural networks and genetic algorithm is very efficient for the prediction of the break percentage elongation of the Mg,Al-hydrotalcite/PE nanocomposite.


: Migratory bird species pose serious management challenges because it is difficult to determine habitats utilized during their entire life cycles. As American woodcock populations have experienced long-term declines, wintering habitat management has become increasingly important. Past studies on woodcock have relied predominantly on Very High Frequency (VHF) telemetry, which require an observer to manually track them to gather location information. Our study employed both Global Positioning System (GPS) and VHF tags on woodcock to gather high resolution movement data in order to evaluate habitat use and compare VHF and GPS approaches to habitat sampling. We simulated a VHF approach to tracking the same individuals from the GPS tag data (spanning 252 bird-days) and utilized vegetation samples from our VHF tracked birds to evaluate use and random paired location sampling. We found that many random locations fell within the Minimum Convex Polygons (MCP) as defined via the GPS tags (average diurnal MCP size was 0.04 ha). Overall, our results suggest that evaluating resource selection by woodcock requires discerning the appropriate scale(s) of habitat selection via the identification of the spatial and temporal components underlying individual movement ecology.


Background: It has always been suggested that sleep deprivation has a deleterious effect on the ability of health workers who are involved in multitude of life-saving tasks, which often require more attention and concentration. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the national health portal (Government of India) have now recognized sleep deprivation as a public health epidemic. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was done including health-care professionals working night shifts on rotation at a tertiary level health-care facility, using a semi-structured questionnaire to test the status of their sleep deprivation, cognitive ability, and quality of life as a pilot study. Stratified random sampling was used to select the study participants and health-care professionals with other factors which may interfere with sleep deprivation testing were excluded. Data were analyzed using IBM-SPSS, and required statistical tests were applied (Pearson Chi-square, Fisher exact, Spearman correlation, and Wilcoxon signed-rank test). Results: About 95.12% of participants reported < 6 h of sleep post night shifts, of which 51.2% were found to show signs of sleep deprivation. Of this 51.2%, 28.57% were also found to have lower cognitive function scores, and statistically significant lower cognitive scores were observed during night shifts than during day shifts. The median value of the Montreal cognitive assessment (MOCA) score during the night shift was 27 (interquartile range [IQR] = 4) and the median value of MOCA score during the day shift was 29 (IQR = 1). A poor QOL was observed in 17.07% of the study participants, and it was found to have a significant positive correlation with hours of sleep obtained. Conclusion: The results from the present study points towards a significantly high burden of sleep deprivation among health-care professionals working rotational shifts (51.2%). This warrants a need for further evaluation on larger populations and adoption of comprehensive measures including preventive and promotive aspects like sleep counselling and yoga/meditation for management.


The identification and study of design narrative describes a technology driven phenomenon applicable to the past twenty years of technological innovation. As a fusion of principles inherent in dramatic cinema and digital design, the theory has a growing place in the communication of digital and physical design and planning information systems. The basis of design narrative is formulated upon a concept of spatial drama, established within the context of convergence of developing digital communications media.
Narrative, with its progressively broadening range of definitions and even surprising associations, in the past had its strongest association to drama. Cinema, despite its development as a technological medium, has nevertheless certainly incorporated the principles of narrative, of which, drama has historically been a component. Narrative systems are therefore central to and interchangeable with methods for conveyance of dramatic information. This assumption forms the premise of this investigation intending to show that spatial drama, the foundations of which are based upon contrasting values, can be synthesized into digitally designed narrative, particularly within virtual environments and other medial communications platforms. There is the perceived problem with applications of narrative in design, especially concerning digitally designed spatial environments that lack purpose, structure and interest. The resulting narratological model introduces the new concept of spatial drama. Design narrative links spatial narrative to spatial drama for the intentional creation of dramatic contrast within sequential space. This theory contributes to a deeper understanding of spatial issues concerning the use medial technologies.
The virtual learning paradigm produced for Europe's Open University (OU) and the Cambridge Program on Industry (CPI), subsequently demonstrates aspects of the model developed in this investigation. This is accomplished through the depiction of Dr. Charles Hampden-Turner's dilemma theory as both a core concept for the narratological model and OU's distance learning program, Learning and the Connected Economy. Dilemma theory focuses upon opposition and reconciliation of opposing forces. The theory is largely applied to the areas of cross-cultural and organizational behavior. Therefore, the development of a computer-animated graphical portrayal of dilemmas is used to examine spatial drama, within the parameters of the OU's Web-based course, and within the framework of a digitally designed narrative.


This thesis is an in-depth, comparative international study on young women's high academic achievement in rural Leinster (Ireland) and Vermont (USA). The research analyses how academic achievement is conceptualised as a particular form of cultural and personal capital between the two geographic locations. It also explores how a particular relationship to education and the capital it facilitates one to accrue is systematically operationalised as a means for social and spatial mobility among an unexpected group, young women from blue-collar areas and family backgrounds. Delving into the effects globalisation, capitalism and rapid economic development have on rural young people and communities, this qualitative project attends to the contentious links between place, identity, status reproduction, out-migration, familial and peer socialising processes and conceptualisations of the role of particular kinds of knowledge and or skills within the wider economy. Ultimately I argue that blue-collar young women are reflexively mobilising particular forms of their cultural capital in strategic ways so as to enable both social and spatial mobility for themselves. By engaging with how various forms of work are understood by my participants and where these are thought to be available, I show how across locations, these young people are behaving in remarkably similar ways. Examining how future careers are viewed and how my participants relate to their education systems, this study has unearthed compelling findings which challenge the concerted cultivation thesis. Among those least expected to excel, this research has found a significant drive to achieve, formidable personal resilience and very active, conscious engagement in particular strategies geared towards academic prominence. This is set amidst what appears to be an innovative form of feminism, based on particular ideas about ideal femininity which are couched in individuality, self-sufficiency and a decidedly educated, skilful and resourceful form of womanhood. This womanhood is also understood to be spatially mobile and fundamentally able to be actualised only outside the remit of my participants' rural home communities.


Multiple interacting mechanisms control the formation and dissolution of clots to maintain blood in a state of delicate balance. In addition to a myriad of biochemical reactions, rheological factors also play a crucial role in modulating the response of blood to external stimuli. To date, a comprehensive model for clot formation and dissolution, that takes into account the biochemical, medical and rheological factors, has not been put into place, the existing models emphasizing either one or the other of the factors. In this paper, after discussing the various biochemical, physiologic and rheological factors at some length, we develop a model for clot formation and dissolution that incorporates many of the relevant crucial factors that have a bearing on the problem. The model, though just a first step towards understanding a complex phenomenon, goes further than previous models in integrating the biochemical, physiologic and rheological factors that come into play.


From the teenager in provincial Russia in 1875 to his premature death in Germany in 1904, Chekhov wrote over 4,500 letters to a range of correspondents, including family and friends, his publisher and fellow writers - not to mention actresses. These letters tell the story of Chekhov's life as a man and a writer and he emerges from them as a tough, generous, life-enhancing, and enigmatic character.


The rate of transformation of ozone in the troposphere over a temperature range of-100°C and +100°C has been established. Tropospheric ozone with the quality of a strong oxidizing agent, is secondary pollutant species associated with the initiation of numerous chemical reactions in the atmosphere. In this study, a theoretical approach utilized Gibb's free energy of reaction and enthalpy of reaction in transition state theory model equations to generate chemical equilibrium data and consequently reaction kinetic parameters. The thermochemical properties were obtained using electronic structural methods of the quantum mechanics computational chemistries which approximates the Schrödinger equation. The model chemistry methods were evaluated using the GuassView for generating molecular structures of species and the Gaussian 03 (G03) package for energy computation. The study revealed that the most relevant of the reactions considered was that involving NO with a rate constant of 7.39 x 1011 s-1 and energy of activation (EA/R) of-216.98 K while the least involved HS* with rate constant of 9.56 x 1069 s-1 and energy of activation (EA/R) of-202.95 K.


The precision of price appraisal is directly linked to the sound development of a market-oriented economy and public benefit. Market comparison approach is a widely used price-appraisal algorithm. However, when the sample size is small, the computing precision of the market comparison approach is severely impaired. To realize precise, intelligent computing under the conditions of a small sample size and a low degree of proximity between samples and the object to be evaluated, this study adopted grey correlation and fuzzy mathematics to optimize the market comparison approach for price appraisal. The proposed algorithm used grey correlation analysis to quantify the weight of various attributes influencing price appraisal. The price correlation between samples and the object to be evaluated was confirmed. The fuzzy mathematical method was then used to obtain the relative weight of samples. The proposed intelligent price-appraisal algorithm was constructed to improve the market comparison approach. Finally, several residences in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China were chosen for an empirical analysis and for the verification of the feasibility of the improved price-appraisal algorithm. Results suggest that (1) The mean error of the algorithm is only 0.99%, indicating high computing precision; (2) When the number of objects to be evaluated is large, a computer system can be used to aid the intelligent computing and to efficiently perform intelligent computing. In conclusion, the proposed algorithm can maintain high computing precision under the conditions of a small sample size and a low degree of proximity, and the algorithm can be used as a theoretical basis to realize intelligent mass appraisal. Overall, the proposed algorithm is worthy of further development because it is highly operational.


Abstract The infection by blood-borne pathogens of a large proportion of the treated hemophilia population over the 1970s to 1990s represents a major tragedy that is embedded in the history of this condition. To avoid this historical repetition, the community of patients, treaters, and policy makers that contribute to hemophilia care need to learn from the events that gave rise to it. This requires an appreciation of the measures, which, through scientific developments, have enhanced greatly the safety of plasma-derived coagulation factor concentrates (pd CFCs). The objective conditions underlying and influencing the safety of all biological materials also require recognition. Although the stringent measures which ensure the safety of pd CFCs are very effective, pathogen transmission by other blood-derived therapeutics has continued due to a lack of effective technology and the continued emergence of new agents which transmit disease. This emphasizes the reality that the basic environmental factors influencing blood pathogen safety have not changed, albeit our capacity to counter them has improved greatly. These factors lead to threats to blood safety that are unpredictable and imposable on a global scale. The likelihood of a continued role for pd CFCs in hemophilia care, particularly in emerging countries challenged to maintain blood safety measures, ensures that these issues are more current than historical.


Models of cross-situational word learning typically characterize the learner as a passive observer, but a language learning child can actively participate in verbal and non-verbal communication. We present a computational study of crosssituational word learning to investigate whether a curious word learner who actively influences linguistic input in each context has an advantage over a passive learner. Our computational model learns to map words to objects in real images by selfsupervision through simulating both word comprehension and production. We examine different curiosity measures as guiding input selection, and analyze the relative impact of each method. Our results suggest that active learning leads to higher overall performance, and a formulation of curiosity which relies both on subjective novelty and plasticity yields the best performance and learning stability.


ABSTRACT In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the AP endonucleases encoded by the APN1 and APN2 genes provide alternate pathways for the removal of abasic sites. Oxidative DNA-damaging agents, such as H2O2, produce DNA strand breaks which contain 3′-phosphate or 3′-phosphoglycolate termini. Such 3′ termini are inhibitory to synthesis by DNA polymerases. Here, we show that purified yeast Apn2 protein contains 3′-phosphodiesterase and 3′→5′ exonuclease activities, and mutation of the active-site residue Glu59 to Ala in Apn2 inactivates both these activities. Consistent with these biochemical observations, genetic studies indicate the involvement of APN2 in the repair of H2O2-induced DNA damage in a pathway alternate to APN1, and the Ala59 mutation inactivates this function of Apn2. From these results, we conclude that the ability of Apn2 to remove 3′-end groups from DNA is paramount for the repair of strand breaks arising from the reaction of DNA with reactive oxygen species.


Pixel-based methods emerge to be a new and promising way for developing new interaction techniques on top of existing user interfaces. However, in order to maintain platform independence, other available low-level information about GUI widgets, such as accessibility metadata, was neglected intentionally. In this paper, we present a hybrid framework, PAX, which correlates the visual representation of user interfaces (i.e. the pixels) and their internal hierarchical metadata (i.e. the content, role, and value). We identify challenges to build such a framework. We also develop and evaluate two new algorithms for detecting text at arbitrary places on the screen, and for segmenting a text image into individual word blobs. Finally, we validate our framework in implementations of three applications. We enhance an existing pixel-based system, Sikuli Script, and preserve the readability of its script code at the same time. Further, we create two novel applications, Screen Search and Screen Copy, to demonstrate how PAX can be applied to developing desktop-level interactive systems. ACM Classification: H5.2. Information interfaces and presentation: User Interfaces. General terms: Human Factors, Design


In the first part of this thesis spectroscopic observations of the Red Rectangle nebula are presented. A link is made between the most prominent unique emission line features, which are superimposed on the broad emission spectrum of the Red Rectangle, with the absorption features of the diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs). The shape of the emission lines are shown to be temperature dependent with the bandwidth decreasing by 4A and the the peak wavength altering by 5A in the cooler outer parts of the nebula when compared with the hotter inner regions. Both peak wavelength and bandwidth can be extrapolated to the values of the associated DIBs. A possible common carrier is discussed for the absorption/emission line pairs. In the second part polarimetric observations of two reflection nebulae, NGC 7023 and NGC 2023, are presented in the B, V, R, I, and V, R, I wavebands respectively. Through the use of colour and polarization colour diagrams a search was made for intrinsic emission, also known as extended red emission (ERE). Two such regions were found in NGC 7023, one 64"S and the other 53"N of HD 200775, in which there was a reduction in the R and I polarizations when compared with the values expected from scattering alone together with an increase in reddening. Calculations show that the ERE contributes as much as 22% of the light in the R waveband and approximately 16% in the I waveband. For NGC 2023 two suspected regions were investigated, the first 62"ENE and the second 84"ENE of HD 37903. It was found that the region nearest to the central star was unlikey to be a region of ERE however the second region exhibited a decrease in the R polarization together with an increase in R intensity but this was not shown to be the case in the I waveband. Several explanations are provided to explain this behaviour. The ERE is thus shown to be localised and varying in quantity between different positions in a nebula. None of the emission line features prominent in the Red Rectangle were found in the spectrum of the filament 84"ENE of HD 37903 and the implications of this are discussed.


: The effects of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria of the genus Pseudomonas on the growth and elemental composition of barley plants were examined in pot experiments under artificial contamination of soil with water-soluble Pb compounds. Bacterial inoculation reduced Pb uptake by plants at the beginning and in the first half of the growing season due to the binding of the heavy metal in organic compounds and stable complexes in the rhizosphere soil without changes in the soil medium reaction. The bacterium P. fluorescens 21 had a maximum capacity for Pb immobilization and contributed to the minimum metal uptake into plants. Application of bacterium P. fluorescens 21 eliminated Pb toxicity and increased the plant weight to the level characteristic of the uncontaminated soil.


There are only scattered references either to pancreatic function or to the use of pancreatic preparations in cases of nontropical or tropical sprue throughout the literature over a period of years. Among the early investigators of the enzyme test on external secretions of the pancreas in cases of sprue are Brown, 1 Ashford 2 and Castellani. 3 More recently, Sokhey and Malandkar 4 and Hernandez 5 have written on this subject. Snell 6 reported results in 1 of his cases. The results are conflicting, though the tests carried out according to more recently acceptable methods on "fasting duodenal contents" show normal or increased lipase activity, normal trypsin activity and normal or depressed amylase activity. There is a great deal of criticism with regard to the methods used in this type of study and with regard to the value of these tests as an indication of actual pancreatic function. McClure and Jones 7 and Ivy 8 have written excellent


Multidrug resistance associated protein 1 (MRP1) is a 190kD integral membrane glycoprotein which belongs to the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) superfamily of transport proteins. The MRP1 specific MAbs, MRPrl, MRPm6 and QCRL-1 have facilitated both clinical and experimental investigations of this protein to date. In this thesis we have used various types of MRP 1-related immunogens in various species and utilising different immunisation protocols with the objective of producing additional MRP1 specific MAbs which might detect different epitopes Immunogens used included short synthetic peptides, fusion protems and MRP1 over-expressmg cells Species used for immunisation included New Zealand White rabbits, Balb\c mice and Wistar rats. A number of immunisation routes, such as mtrapentoneal, subcutaneous and the lymphatic system via footpad injections were used Variations in immunisation protocols included in-vivo and in-vitro immunisations.


The paper reports the potentialities of innovative silicon compatible materials for light emitting devices. In particular thin films of Er doped yttrium oxide have been synthesized by a technique totally compatible with ULSI processes. Through the structural characterization, we will verify the high stability of the film and the good dopant dissolution. Moreover, by the investigation of the optical properties, we will demonstrate that the use of this compound is effective to introduce more than 10 Er/cm in optically active state, value that cannot be reached in other Si compatible materials. The influence of Er content on the optical properties will be described in details. Moreover, we will propose the introduction of a proper sensitizer for Er, bismuth, in the same thin film. In particular, we will show that the (Er+Bi) co-doped yttrium oxide is a perfect host to overcome another important drawback of Er doped materials that is its low absorption cross section. The influence of Bi and Er contents on optical properties will be extensively discussed along the paper. Through the optimization of ratio between Bi and Er concentrations, high energy transfer efficiency will be reached with simultaneously a consistent increase of the effective Er cross section. A factor of more than three orders of magnitude have been obtained with respect to the direct excitation of Er. Copyright © VBRI Press.


These two accompanying papers treat two mode entanglement for systems of identical massive bosons and the relationship to spin squeezing and other quantum correlation effects. Entanglement is a key quantum feature of composite systems where the probabilities for joint measurements on the composite sub-systems are no longer determined from measurement probabilities on the separate sub-systems. We focus on the meaning of entanglement, the quantum paradoxes associated with entangled states, and important tests that allow an experimentalist to determine whether a quantum state - in particular, one for massive bosons is entangled. Our tests for entanglement fully utilise the symmetrisation principle and super-selection rules for bosonic massive particles. These papers provides detailed arguments necessary for the conclusions of a recent paper which presented results for rigorously demonstrating the entanglement of a two-mode Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC).
In the first paper (I), we discuss the meaning of entanglement for systems of identical particles. For such systems, the relevant quantum density operators must satisfy the symmetrisation principle and global and local super-selection rules prohibiting states in which there are coherences between differing particle numbers. We fully justify these requirements. In the second quantisation approach, both the system and sub-systems are modes (or sets of modes) rather than particles, particles being associated with different mode occupancies.
In the accompanying review paper (II), we consider spin squeezing and other tests for entanglement for two-mode bosonic systems. Starting from paper (I) we determine which tests are useful for detecting entanglement in massive bosonic (BEC), as opposed to photonic, systems. Several new inequalities are derived, and recent key experiments are analysed.


Introduction: For measuring knee proprioception there are different tests used, but it is not known which of them that has the best reliability. The importance of proprioception and the relationship with knee functions is not known, and for measuring this, a reliable and stable proprioceptive test is needed.Aim: The aim was to explore which tests that is used to exam proprioception in the knee, and how reliable they are. Also to see which test could be applied in a movement lab for testing ACL injured patients.Method: Five different databases were searched until 5 september 2014. Studies assessing the reliability of well described proprioceptive knee tests were included in the systematic review. The methological quality of the studies were assessed by a modified version of the STARD checklist.Results: 19 studies assessing the reliability of four different type of proprioceptive tests were included in the review. The four tests were joint position sense (JPS), treshold to detect passive motion (TTDPM), velocity replication and velocity treshold hunting paradigm. TTDPM presents the best reliability with an ICC median of 0,77.Conclusion: TTDPM is likely to be the most reliable of the existing tests for measuring knee proprioception, and is also the test we would recommend for use in a movement lab for testing ACL-patients.


Many manufacturing companies are considering the opportunities which industrial services can offer them along their core products. The development of services offers the companies new growth opportunities. The growth of technology-based knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) has been enabled by outsourcing and globalisation, for instance. Moreover, the profitability of services is usually higher than the profitability of the other industrial businesses, and they offer profits throughout the entire life cycle of the product. The development of integrated product-service solutions is not without challenges. Product and service design are typically accomplished separately in different organization units. Technical personnel are responsible for the development of physical products while service planning is made by the marketing organization. Consequently services are generally planned afterwards, causing problems in the compatibility of products and services. Moreover, in many cases too little attention has been paid to the business analysis of product-service systems (PSS), for example, life cycle profit evaluation or revenue logic assessment of alternative product-service systems. In manufacturing companies, the processes related to the development of products are usually systematic, but the service development is intuitive and disconnected from the product development processes. However, the services offered and developed should be compatible with the existing product and service portfolio. Customers increasingly demand solutions from their suppliers that are comprehensive and fulfil the customer needs. The development of product-service design processes enables the companies to design solutions consisting of the best possible combination of products and services from the perspective of the customer and the supplier. The adoption of PSS design helps the companies to take the services into account when developing products and vice versa. With the help of the new PSS design methods the lead-times of the development processes may be shortened, and better quality solutions achieved when the specific characteristics of the products and services can be taken into account as early as possible. The goal of the MaintenanceKIBS project is to develop methods for knowledgeintensive service and product design. For instance, we provide tools and practices for concurrent design of product and service, for managing and utilizing information gathered in different planning phases and for assessing the life cycle costs and profitability of the alternative product-service-concepts.


The aqueous extract of Phaseolus vulgaris pods was screened for its phytochemical constituents. Selected mineral elements were also determined. Standard procedures were adopted for the phytochemical screening. Flame photometry and atomic absorption spectrophotometry was employed for mineral analysis. Alkaloids, cardiac glycoside, flavonoid, saponin, tannin and terpenoid were present in the Phaseolus vulgaris pods. Mineral analysis revealed the presence of potassium (23.25mg/L) as well as iron, magnesium, sodium and zinc in considerable quantities. Presence of some phytochemicals and mineral elements in Phaseolus vulgaris pods explains its antihyperglycemic activity. Keywords: Phaseolus vulgaris ; Antihyperglycemic activity; Mineral elements.


Recently, The low intensity of library visits has an impact on the low usability of collections owned by the library: the collection is not used well by the user. In this research, we conduct evaluation study of library collection promotion in 3 different school's library using qualitative descriptive analysis and conduct action for the result in the form of automatic voice collection promotion using automatic voice. Data collection techniques conducted in this study are: a) primary data collection, which is collected by the author directly through a structured interview to the respondents by referring to the questionnaire; b) secondary data collection, which is obtained in the form that has been processed by certain parties, such as data from related institutions such as Primary School data and student data to be researched either through website, brochure, and other publications, used for the purposes of general overview and qualitative analysis. After data is collected, the next step is data processing. The evaluation results on the collection aspect of the three primary school libraries indicate that the whole library provides a number of collections for users with not too many. As many as 50 students (58.1%) stated less agree on the completeness of the collection provided by the library. A total of 45 students (52.3%) agreed that the collection provided by the library amounted to a lot. A total of 66 students (76.7%) stated less agree that they know the type of collection provided by the library parties. From this condition, the author resulted in a design application of library collection promotion with automatic voice, where with this application the collection promotion activities will run effectively and efficiently. From the test results, this application can be run with text data input from the collection description, then the output of a sound that can be heard by the user when in the library. Users just simply listening will be able to know the collection in the library.


A biomarker is a measurement which can be used as a predictor or sometimes even a surrogate for a biological endpoint that directly measures a patient's disease or survival status. Biomarkers are often measured over time and so are referred to as longitudinal biomarkers. Biomarkers are of public health interest because they can provide early detection of life threatening or fatal diseases. It is important in public health to be able to identify biomarkers to predict survival for patients because it can reduce the time and cost necessary to resolve the study question or used to identify subsets of patients who would be appropriate candidates for the administration of a targeted therapy. In this dissertation, we introduce a method employing a frailty model to identify longitudinal biomarkers or surrogates for a time to event outcome. Our method is an extension of earlier work by Wulfson, Tsiatis, and Song where it was assumed that the event times have the same baseline hazard. In our method, we allow random effects to be present in both the longitudinal biomarker and underlying survival function. The random effect in the biomarker is introduced via an explicit term while the random effect in the underlying survival function is introduced by the inclusion of frailty parameters into the model. We use simulations to explore how the number of individuals, the number of time points per individual and the functional form of the random effects from the longitudinal biomarkers influence the power to detect the association of the longitudinal biomarker and the survival time. We also explore effect of missingness on how a biomarker predicts a time to event outcome. We conclude that for a given sample size, the biomarker effectiveness for relatively small numbers of subjects and large numbers of observed time points is better than for relatively large numbers of subjects and small numbers of observed time points. We also conclude that when the missing data mechanism is missing at random (MAR), our method works reasonably well. However, when the missing data mechanism is non-ignorable, our method doesn't perform well in determining whether or not potential biomarkers are good predictors of a time to event outcome. Finally, we apply our method to liver cirrhosis data and conclude that prothrombin is a good predictor of time to liver cirrhosis and thus, can be used as a potential surrogate for liver failure.


Triethylamine, pyridine and dimethyl formamide are used as solvents in the synthesis of telmisartan. A simple, accurate and precise analytical method for determination of triethylamine, pyridine and dimethyl formamide in telmisartan was developed on headspace gas chromatography. The sample was dissolved in N-methyl pyrrolidone. Headspace vials of standard size and volume of 20 ml capacity were used for the study. The vials were incubated at 100°, for 20 min. Injection volume of headspace in to the gas chromatograph was 1 ml. The syringe temperature was maintained at 110°. The injector and detector temperature were 200° and 250°, respectively. Nitrogen gas was used as carrier gas with flow rate of 1 ml/min. Split ratio was 1:10. DB624 column with 30 m × 0.32 mm i.d., 1.8 µm film thickness was used. Column oven temperature was maintained at 40° for 15 min, followed by an increase up to 240° with the rate of 30°/min. The final temperature of the column with 240° was maintained for 5 min. This analytical method was validated with respect to precision, linearity, recovery, limit of detection and limit of quantification.


Epidemiologic studies are of paramount importance in investigating disease etiology. Medical literature for individual countries on the incidence of CD, were retrieved from published medical literature and reports from relevant international congresses. Increasing trends have been observed almost worldwide, with a broad north–south gradient still prevailing in Europe. Distinct regions of New Zealand, Canada, Scotland, France, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia represent the highest incidence areas. Industrialized status and affluence are the common denominators between endemic areas, but are too broad terms to strongly indicate any particular etiological role. The increasing trends observed in Asia still account for a low prevalence of the disease and may represent increased detection and diagnostic ability of local health systems.


2',3'-Dideoxy-6',6'-difluoro-3'-thionucleoside 1b, an analogue of 3Tc that has high biological activities against HIV and HBV, has been synthesized from gem-difluorohomoallyl alcohol 3 in an efficient way. The key intermediate 4-amino-3,3-difluorotetrahydrothiophen-2-ylmethyl benzoate 15 was prepared from 2,2-difluoro-1-[(4R)-2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl]but-3-en-1-ol 3 in 11 steps. The construction of pyrimidine ring with the amino group of compound 15 gave the target compound 1.


An Introduction to Middle English combines an elementary grammar of the English language from about 1100 to about 1500 with a selection of texts for reading, ranging in date from 1154 to 1500. The grammar includes the fundamentals of orthography, phonology, morphology, syntax, regional dialectology, and prosody. In the thirty-eight texts for reading are represented a wide range of Middle English dialects, and the commentary on each text includes, in addition to explanatory notes, extensive linguistic analysis. The book includes many useful figures and illustrations, including images of Middle English manuscripts as an aid to learning to decipher medieval handwriting and maps indicating the geographical extent of dialect features. This introduction to Middle English is based on the latest research, and it provides up-to-date bibliographical guidance to the study of the language.


— This paper seeks to review the principles of vocal technique as seen from both an artistic and scientific standpoint and ultimately connect these two seemingly incompatible entities. This paper also seeks to review the application of physics to singing; specifically, enhanced coordination between the neural center of the body – the brain – in distinct cortical areas with extremely complex musculature and associated vocal tissues necessary for the production of musical notes. Biophysical modeling can be used to study these intricate processes vis-à-vis the relationship between certain variables such as tract air pressures and the gradients required for song. Such modeling can have clinical and other application in qualifying nature and effect of disease. However, basic understanding of the biophysics of vocalization as opposed to detailed modeling can be sufficient both in the clinical setting and in the musical setting where it is important to better one's vocal technique to maximize song quality. Thus, biophysics has a multifaceted application to singing. Furthermore, the implication that vocal technique can be thought of not only in musical terms but also scientific terms reveals the importance of biological and neurological processes in the music making process and seeks to debunk the myth that these two thought processes are wholly unrelated. However, through this examination of vocal technique the author seeks to demonstrate the intricate correlation between science and art, specifically the art of singing, and the necessary balance needed to exercise what is known as ―good‖ vocal technique. The author, to further this investigation, seeks to apply her findings in this process to her own singing and exercise of vocal technique to determine its applicability, specifically in a classical music style setting. 3 I.


Disasters either natural or man-made cause a significant impact to the entire world. The occurrence of
natural disasters has increased significantly in the recent past resulting a higher number of mortalities
and economic and social losses. It is evident that the impacts and severity of natural disasters are
linked to the unplanned urban development. Due to rapid urbanisation and population growth the
cities are becoming increasingly vulnerable to disasters. Therefore there is a high need for disastersustainable
urban areas in today's context, incorporating proper risk reduction mechanisms to make
cities resilient for future disasters. This requires a serious effort of various stakeholders including
governmental and non-governmental institutions. The local governments being the first responder and
the one responsible for community development, has a key role to play in achieving society's
resilience to disasters and to ensure the resilience of the cities under their jurisdiction.
Even though there is a growing concern among the researchers and practitioners on the role of the
local governments in making cities resilient to disasters and contributing for the development of
disaster resilient cities, several incidents have been reported on the inadequate contribution of local
governments in taking the lead role of disaster risk reduction initiatives. This could mainly be
attributed to inadequate financial, manpower and other resources available with local governments,
lack of willpower and their failure to make timely decisions due to lack of authority. This has
emphasised the need for empowering local governments with improved governance structure and the
need for developing capacities to lead the concept of resilience in their respective local areas.
Therefore the aim of this research is to develop a framework to empower the local governments to
make cities resilient to disasters within the context of built environment and accordingly this paper is
focussed on emphasising the need for empowering the local governments.
In this context, this paper highlights the need for empowering the local governments and identifies
the ways and means of achieving this in the development of the society's resilience to natural disasters. The literature review technique is used to address this potential issue and the findings are
justified through various literature gathered from research papers in electronic databases along with
conference proceedings and reports published by various institutions.


The detection and control of salinity in crop lands is very important to the national agricultural development, because the salinity affects directly crop production. The Ministry of Agricultural and Water Resources has been working since 1977 on the detection of salinity using Landsat data, and some methods using visual and computer assistance techniques have been developed. . The visual analysis is done using enlargements of Landsat frames with the aid of very powerful cannon projectors and combinations of different gelatine color filters (red, blue and green). For example, with the use of band No. 5 over laying a green filter, it is possible to detect more affected saline soils. Besides in order to realize the visual identification of salinity spots with different levels of affectation, we also use: false color pictures enlargements, periodic analysis of the annual crop cycles and yields. The results obtained are comparable with a previous ground sampling. The precision reached with this methodology is between 80-85 percent. The computer assistance analysis is done with the SIADIS system, using a PDP11/70, and the salinity detection is done as in the visual case. The methods here described have been used successfully on pilot projects. The results are also commented in this paper. CH1533-9/80/0000-0125 $00.75@1980 IEEE 1980 Machintl Processing of Remotely Sensed Data Symposium !I i' t " i ~'


The air-breathing singhi catfish (Heteropneustes fossilis) is frequently being challenged by bacterial contaminants, and different environmental insults like osmotic, hyper-ammonia, dehydration and oxidative stresses in its natural habitats throughout the year. The main objectives of the present investigation were to determine (a) the possible induction of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene with enhanced production of nitric oxide (NO) by intra-peritoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (a bacterial endotoxin), and (b) to determine the effects of hepatic cell volume changes due to anisotonicity or by infusion of certain metabolites, stress hormones and by induction of oxidative stress on production of NO from the iNOS-induced perfused liver of singhi catfish. Intra-peritoneal injection of LPS led to induction of iNOS gene and localized tissue specific expression of iNOS enzyme with more production and accumulation of NO in different tissues of singhi catfish. Further, changes of hydration status/cell volume, caused either by anisotonicity or by infusion of certain metabolites such as glutamine plus glycine and adenosine, affected the NO production from the perfused liver of iNOS-induced singhi catfish. In general, increase of hydration status/cell swelling due to hypotonicity caused decrease, and decrease of hydration status/cell shrinkage due to hypertonicity caused increase of NO efflux from the perfused liver, thus suggesting that changes in hydration status/cell volume of hepatic cells serve as a potent modulator for regulating the NO production. Significant increase of NO efflux from the perfused liver was also observed while infusing the liver with stress hormones like epinephrine and norepinephrine, accompanied with decrease of hydration status/cell volume of hepatic cells. Further, oxidative stress, caused due to infusion of t-butyl hydroperoxide and hydrogen peroxide separately, in the perfused liver of singhi catfish, resulted in significant increase of NO efflux accompanied with decrease of hydration status/cell volume of hepatic cells. However, the reasons for these cell volume-sensitive changes of NO efflux from the liver of singhi catfish are not fully understood with the available data. Nonetheless, enhanced or decreased production of NO from the perfused liver under osmotic stress, in presence of stress hormones and oxidative stress reflected its potential role in cellular homeostasis and also for better adaptations under environmental challenges. This is the first report of osmosensitive and oxidative stress-induced changes of NO production and efflux from the liver of any teleosts. Further, the level of expression of iNOS in this singhi catfish could also serve as an important indicator to determine the pathological status of the external environment.


Austerity measures have raised multiple human rights concerns. However, limited attention has been paid to their conformity with civil and political rights, particularly the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment. In the United Kingdom, a punitive approach has characterized many welfare reforms, particularly a system of conditionality for claimants followed by sanctions in case of non-compliance. This has resulted in adverse consequences, including anxiety, financial hardship, health problems and suicides. The jurisprudence of regional and national courts provides useful guidance on the circumstances under which such measures breach the prohibition of ill-treatment. The article argues that minimum core obligations identified by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and notions of basic needs and dignity help identify the limits of policy-induced suffering under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. A clearer understanding of applicable standards has important implications for individuals seeking legal recourse against austerity measures and for policy makers. © The Author [2015]. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: [email protected]/* */ Language: en


The first section of this paper reviews the relationship of growth performance, by country and region, to various definitions of poverty and in particular to severe poverty. The second section examines the same question of the varying growth-elasticity of poverty through a micro, case-study lens. Initially it looks at the outliers - those country cases where growth was, and was not, associated with an improvement in the welfare of the poorest. Then it focuses more sharply on specific countries: at this stage, Uganda, where the macro-poverty elasticity was 'orthodox' , and Bolivia, where it was perverse. Within these 'focus countries', the approach is two-part:(i) an examination of the relationship between chronic poverty and growth over the last five to seven years, and how institutions and policies have impinged on this; and (ii) within specific localities, depth interviews with people who have exited and failed to exit from chronic poverty, with a view to understanding what combination of policy, institutional and other factors, in their view and that of other key informants, are responsible for this difference in outcomes. This approach enables us to examine more thoroughly than at macro-level the attitudes and causal processes which are associated with escape and non-escape from poverty. Three themes from the macro-analysis resurface here: (i) the key importance of deepening labour markets in the process of exit from severe poverty - for many of the chronically poor, casual labour income is the only income they have. (ii) The importance of reducing the risks to which the severely poor are exposed. (iii) the importance of smallholder agricultural growth, and services which facilitate this, in sustaining the poverty elasticity. However, we are also able to identify other 'more micro' factors which are associated with the probability of poverty transitions and thence with the poverty elasticity: (iv) At the micro-level, resilience and perseverance in face of adversity are key determinants of exit from poverty. By extension, the availability of facilities which will encourage those afflicted to persevere rather than give up and retreat into subsistence is highly relevant. (v) The importance of complementarities between policies and institutions as means of achieving sustainable exit from extreme poverty. (vi) The potential political importance of 'watching the right poverty indicators'. In short, in many regions and countries, 'growth is not nearly enough' to reduce severe poverty, and this fact has political significance, but we know something about the policy and institutional factors which may enable exit from such poverty. These include appropriate risk-reduction institutions, labour market deepening, agricultural intensification (particularly in Africa), the availability of support networks, and a pro-poor pattern of public expenditure.


Background: Glucose-6- phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is a common inherited disorder in Iran and may cause neonatal jaundice in some conditions. This study aimed to evaluate the distribution of ABO blood groups and Rh in G6PD deficient newborns in Iran, Mashhad. Materials and Methods: This case-control multi central study was conducted on 150 icteric newborns who admitted to the NICU of educational hospitals in North-East state of Iran, Mashhad. G6PD deficiency was evaluated and case and control groups were considered of 50 icteric newborns with G6PD deficiency and 100 icteric newborns with normal levels of enzyme. Distribution of ABO blood groups and Rh were evaluated in G6PD deficient newborns and compared to controls. The prevalence of hemolysis was compared in two groups as well. Results: Prevalence of hemolysis was 22% in case group and 19% in controls. There was no significant relationship between G6PD deficiency and hemolysis (p>0.05). Distribution of blood group A was higher in case group compared to control group (68% vs. 23% respectively), the difference was significant (Z=2.55, p=0.0054). Distribution of positive Rh blood group was higher in case group compared to control group (95% vs. 85% respectively) and the differences were not significant (p>0.05). Conclusions: There was a significant relationship between distributions of blood group A in G6PD deficient newborns.


In the United States, affordable housing start-ups are lagging demand (Thornton, 2005; Heavens, 2006). In Florida, and particularly in beaches communities throughout the state, the provision of affordable housing is becoming more problematic as market pressures on available land makes acquisition of property largely beyond the reach of lower-income families (Journal of Property Management, 2005). This paper explores the efforts made by a community improvement organization in north Florida to locate suitable land-parcels in areas close (but not adjacent) to the Atlantic Ocean with the goal of increasing the stock of affordable housing. Parcel analysis using a geographic information system identified several potential sites for consideration.


Abstract This essay highlights the role of thousands of nineteenth-century Alexandrian residents with multiple extraterritorial legal identities. The manner with which extraterritoriality was practiced in Egypt effectively gave Western consulates legal jurisdiction not only over their citizens but also over all those able, through whatever means, to acquire protégé status. Many Alexandrians acquired legal protection from multiple consulates, shifting their legal identities in order to maximize their immediate social and economic interests. These legal realities present historians with the dilemma of how to account for and "classify" this highly flexible and syncretic society. I strive to answer this question through the use of a borderland lens. Realizing that the heart of Egypt's borderland society was legal has led me to consider the concept of "jurisdictional borderland" as a productive method for examining the complexity of Egypt's nineteenth-century heterogeneous population. I define a jurisdictional borderland as a significant contact zone where there are multiple, often competing legal authorities and where some level of jurisdictional ambiguity exists. Jurisdictional borderlanders have their own unique and independent agenda that often conflicts with many of the competing "national" or imperial positions. Without an allegiance to any single government—be it Egyptian, Ottoman, or Western—and living in a peripheral environment with multiple, separate, and often competing "national" institutions, these borderlanders thrived in the jurisdictional spaces created in between multiple authorities. I conclude by suggesting how a jurisdictional borderland lens is useful for globally investigating other colonial and precolonial cities, many of which had similar extraterritorial legal systems.


Self-adaptation in evolutionary computation refers to the encoding of parameters into the chromosome to allow for the self-organization process to act on the parameters in addition to the design variables. This paper investigates the feasibility of introducing a self-adaptive mutation operator into a real-coded evolutionary algorithm called the generalized generation gap (G3) algorithm. G3 is currently one of the most efficient as well as effective state-of-the-art real-coded genetic algorithms (RCGAs) but the drawback is that its performance on multimodal optimization problems is known to be poor compared to unimodal optimization problems. In this research, our objective is to introduce a self-adaptive mutation operator into G3, of which the mutation decision parameter is evolved along with the search variables during the evolutionary optimization process. The proposed algorithm is tested using four well-known multimodal benchmark test problems with many local optima surrounding their global optimum. It was found that the performance of the modified G3 algorithm with self-adaptive mutation outperformed the original G3 algorithm in two out of the four test problems in terms of the solution precision achieved.


Procedures were developed to isolate and characterize mutants of strains of dairy propionibacteria. These procedures included the construction of minimal defined media to support growth of the strains, optimization of conditions of exposure of the strains to nitrosoguanidine, and identification of the phenotypes of the mutants that were generated. The minimal defined medium contained inorganic salts, adenosine, three vitamins, and sodium lactate as the carbon source, with cysteine, methionine, or cysteine plus methionine added as required by some strains. For mutagenesis, cells were exposed to either 100, 200, or 1000 micrograms/ml nitrosoguanidine, depending on the sensitivity of the strain, for 60 min at 35 degrees C. At least nine stable mutants were isolated and characterized for each of the five strains under study. The most frequent mutations generated were requirements for arginine, histidine, methionine, and uracil and alteration in pigment production.


Coral reef lagoons are one of the parts of the reef with the largest biotopes, making it an area with great inequalities. Under this perspective we try to compare the lagoons of the biggest ocean reefs in Mexico, which despite belonging to the Mexican Atlantic depend on two different systems: Alacranes Reef of the Gulf of Mexico and Banco Chinchorro of the Mexican Caribbean. From the results the proportion of living substrate is higher were obtained in Banco Chinchorro; how-ever, the richness of species and diversity is greater in Alacranes (58 versus 39 species and 4.44 versus 4.38 bits/ind., respectively). Lobophora variegata (algae) is the only species whose dominance was proportionately consistent in both reefs; the similarity of sites identifies specific zones of the lagoons in both reefs, in the space the species are distributed close to the center of the axes, but many remain solitary or assembled in pairs. Despite the differences between the reefs according to the community descriptors, the location of the sites and their position in relation to the wind are relevant to the understanding of the dynamics of the lagoons.


Developing countries that intend to implement the United Nations REDD-plus (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, and the role of forest conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks) framework and obtain economic incentives are required to estimate changes in forest carbon stocks based on the IPCC guidelines. In this study, we developed a method to support REDD-plus implementation by estimating tropical forest aboveground biomass (AGB) by combining airborne LiDAR with very-high-spatial-resolution satellite data. We acquired QuickBird satellite images of Kampong Thom, Cambodia in 2011 and airborne LiDAR measurements in some parts of the same area. After haze reduction and atmospheric correction of the satellite data, we calibrated reflectance values from the mean reflectance of the objects (obtained by segmentation from areas of overlap between dates) to reduce the effects of the observation angle and solar elevation. Then, we performed object-based classification using the satellite data (overall accuracy = 77.0%, versus 92.9% for distinguishing forest from non-forest land). We used a two-step method to estimate AGB and map it in a tropical environment in Cambodia. First, we created a multiple-regression model to estimate AGB from the LiDAR data and plotted field-surveyed AGB values against AGB values predicted by the LiDAR-based model (R2 = 0.90, RMSE = 38.7 Mg/ha), and calculated reflectance values in each band of the satellite data for the analyzed objects. Then, we created a multiple-regression model using AGB predicted by the LiDAR-based model as the dependent variable and the mean and standard deviation of the reflectance values in each band of the satellite data as the explanatory variables (R2 = 0.73, RMSE = 42.8 Mg/ha). We calculated AGB of all objects, divided the results into density classes, and mapped the resulting AGB distribution. Our results suggest that this approach can provide the forest carbon stock per unit area values required to support REDD-plus.


It is difficult to fabricate one sensing element to simultaneously sense three linear acceleration components and three angular acceleration components, so as to find rare reports on six-axis accelerometer. The aim of this on-going project was to research an integrated six-axis accelerometer using parallel mechanism as the structure for sensing element. In order to optimize so many parameters, the paper defined the important static characteristic indices, analyzed the relationship between indices and structural parameters of sensing element. Based on the definition of the indices, the structural parameters were designed by the physical model of solution space. Finally, FEM simulation experiment is carried out to verify effectiveness of the method.


Can competition of competition laws be a feasible concept that should play an important role in an international order for the worldwide protection of competition? The authors will introduce four different types of regulatory competition that allow for a more differentiated analysis of beneficial and deficient effects of competition of competition laws. Their analysis shows that most types of regulatory competition have a rather limited scope for application to competition laws. However, yardstick competition can be very promising and represents a powerful argument against centralisation. An important result of the authors' analysis is that the institutional framework of any competition of competition laws plays a crucial role for its workability.


Implementation Distance Learning (DL) lecture at High School of Police Science namely Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Kepolisian (STIK-PTIK) consisted of 32 Polisi Daerah (POLDA) in lecture Distance Learning (DL) throughout Indonesia. System bandwidth management using the method of simple queue, the simple queue is lacking both in bandwidth allocation. Optimization against computer networks in improving Quality of Service (QoS) using the method Per Connection Queue (PCQ) Queue Tree with four classes to model. Scale model of a priority bandwidth specifically as a model of optimization of computer networks with an average percentage of delay of 6.01%, packet loss decreased 0.26%, jitter of 13.56% and increased throughput became of 9.5%. The research is supported by the level of satisfaction by CSI towards PJJ / DL students, the methods of customer satisfaction index with the service quality (Servqual) questionnaire as against with levels of satisfaction the use of DL student participants with the result satisfaction levels of 74%.


An ultrastructural study was conducted on, yeast-like Paracoccidioides brasiliensis cells grown on liquid and solid peptone--yeast extract--glucose medium. A large proportion of cells grown in liquid medium presented cytoplasmic damage compared with the cells grown on solid medium, which remained intact, suggesting that agar plays an important role in the development of this fungus.


We use allometric analysis to explore how acoustic signals scale on individual body size and to test hypotheses about the factors shaping relationships between signals and body size. Across case studies spanning birds, crickets, tree crickets, and tree frogs, we find that most signal traits had low coefficients of variation, shallow allometric scalings, and little dispersion around the allometric function. We relate variation in these measures to the shape of mate preferences and the level of condition dependence of signal traits. We find 3 major patterns: 1) signal traits associated with closed mate preferences had lower coefficients of variation and shallower allometries than signal traits with open preferences, 2) signal traits with higher levels of condition dependence had higher coefficients of variation and steeper allometries, and 3) the relationship between condition dependence and allometry varied with preference shape. We find no difference in coefficient of variation or allometry between advertisement and aggressive acoustic signals. Together, our findings suggest 2 main conclusions: 1) most acoustic signals do not appear to have been selected to function as indicators of body size and 2) an interplay between the form of selection and body size–related cost/benefit relationships of trait expression has great potential to explain variation in sexual allometries.


A series of symmetrically and asymmetrically 1,1′-disubstituted mesogenic ferrocene derivatives exhibiting nonconventional lamellar and nematic phases has been synthesized. Liquid-crystal properties of these compounds were investigated by polarizing optical microscopy (POM), thermal analysis (DSC) and X-ray scattering methods (XRD). XRD patterns and optical textures of the mesophases have a complex appearance, standing apart from the signatures of previously classified liquid crystals. The most important features of the new mesophases are their spontaneous separation into large macroscopic chiral domains of opposite handednesses, intricate helical and myelinic supramolecular structures and a few signs of possible optical biaxiality. A reasonable explanation of these findings can be drawn from the tetrahedral liquid crystal order. Free rotation of the cyclopentadiene rings in the ferrocene moiety around their normal axis makes viable bent conformations of the rod-like molecules and further stabilization of the conformational enantiomers through assembly into tetrahedral molecular associates. Thus, fundamentally new types of mesophases arise from such a molecular arrangement. In addition, a nontrivial case of mixed packing of bent and nonbent molecules into columnar mesophases was detected in one of the symmetrically substituted ferrocene derivatives. Basic relationships between mesomorphic properties, supramolecular organization and chemical structures of the ferrocenomesogens have been outlined.


Analysis of gene expression data suggests that breast cancers are divisible into molecular subtypes which have distinct clinical features. This study evaluates whether pathologic features and etiologic associations differ among molecular subtypes. We evaluated 804 women with invasive breast cancers and 2,502 controls participating in a Polish Breast Cancer Study. Immunohistochemical stains for estrogen receptor α, progesterone receptor, human epidermal growth factor receptors (HER2 and HER1), and cytokeratin 5 were used to classify cases into five molecular subtypes: luminal A, luminal B, HER2-expresing, basal-like, and unclassified. Relative risks were estimated using adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. We observed that compared with the predominant luminal A tumors (69%), other subtypes were associated with unfavorable clinical features at diagnosis, especially HER2-expressing (8%) and basal-like (12%) tumors. Increasing body mass index significantly reduced the risk of luminal A tumors among premenopausal women (odds ratios, 0.71; 95% confidence intervals, 0.57-0.88 per five-unit increase), whereas it did not reduce risk for basal-like tumors (1.18; 0.86-1.64; Pheterogeneity = 0.003). On the other hand, reduced risk associated with increasing age at menarche was stronger for basal-like (0.78; 0.68-0.89 per 2-year increase) than luminal A tumors (0.90; 0.95-1.08; Pheterogeneity = 0.0009). Although family history increased risk for all subtypes (except for unclassified tumors), the magnitude of the relative risk was highest for basal-like tumors. Results from this study have shown that breast cancer risk factors may vary by molecular subtypes identified in expression studies, suggesting etiologic, in addition to clinical, heterogeneity of breast cancer. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2007;16(3):439–43)


Relationship marketing has become the focus of both academic researchers and practising marketers in recent times. Customer commitment is one of the most favourable outcomes of relationship marketing. Although there has been much research investigating the antecedents of relationship commitment, research to date has almost exclusively concentrated in a business-to-business setting. However, almost no attention has been paid either developing or testing a model of relationship commitment in a consumer service industry context. The primary purpose of this research is to develop and empirically test a theoretical model of relationship commitment within the context of a buyerseller relationship framework, in a consumer service industry. In particular, the research context examines a low monetary switching costs service (i.e., travel agency services). This research examined the simultaneous impact of salesperson expertise, perceived performance (service outcome), length of patronage, and relationship quality (relationship satisfaction and trust) on relationship commitment, in a causal path framework. The impact of three m oderator variab les (psychological switching costs, a lternative attractiveness, and relationship motives) on the linkage between relationship quality and relationship commitment was also tested in this research. The data used to test the path model was obtained from a cross-sectional survey of 265 travel agency customers. Three statistically significant antecedent variables (length of patronage, trust and relationship satisfaction) explained 60 percent of the variance in relationship commitment. When both direct and indirect effects are accounted for, relationship satisfaction had the greatest overall impact on relationship commitment, closely followed by salesperson expertise. Trust and perceived performance (service outcome) also have a significant impact on relationship commitment. Length of patronage, unexpectedly had a direct impact on relationship commitment. Psychological switching cost was not found to have a moderator impact. Alternative attractiveness was found to moderate only the linkage between trust and relationship commitment. Relationship motives was found to comprise two dimensions (i.e., emotional motive and rational motive). Only the emotional motive dimension was found to have a statistically significant moderator impact. This findings considerably add to our understanding of the long-term relationship between buyer and seller, for consumer services in general and low monetary switching costs services in particular. Further, the findings further have significant implications for business managers.


Characterization of the key cellular targets contributing to sustained microglial activation in neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's disease (PD), and optimal modulation of these targets can provide potential treatments to halt disease progression. Here, we demonstrated that microglial Kv1.3, a voltage-gated potassium channel, was transcriptionally upregulated in response to aggregated α-synuclein (αSynAgg) stimulation in primary microglial cultures and animal models of PD, as well as in postmortem human PD brains. Patch-clamp electrophysiological studies confirmed that the observed Kv1.3 upregulation translated to increased Kv1.3 channel activity. The kinase Fyn, a risk factor for PD, modulated transcriptional upregulation and posttranslational modification of microglial Kv1.3. Multiple state-of-the-art analyses, including Duolink proximity ligation assay imaging, revealed that Fyn directly bound to Kv1.3 and posttranslationally modified its channel activity. Furthermore, we demonstrated the functional relevance of Kv1.3 in augmenting the neuroinflammatory response by using Kv1.3-KO primary microglia and the Kv1.3-specific small-molecule inhibitor PAP-1, thus highlighting the importance of Kv1.3 in neuroinflammation. Administration of PAP-1 significantly inhibited neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation in multiple animal models of PD. Collectively, our results imply that Fyn-dependent regulation of Kv1.3 channels plays an obligatory role in accentuating the neuroinflammatory response in PD and identify Kv1.3 as a potential therapeutic target for PD.


White dwarf-main sequence star (WD+MS) binaries allows us to investigate two major, poorly understood, paradigms of binary evolution. Firstly, the disrupted magnetic braking (DMB) model; a widely cited explanation for the paucity of observed cataclysmic variables (CVs) with orbital periods of between about 2 and 3 hours (coined the period gap). Secondly, common envelope (CE) evolution, which is thought to be a major formation mechanism of semi-detached, compact binaries. Despite the ubiquity of these models in the literature, they have yet to be comprehensively tested with observations.

To test the former paradigm, we exploit the model's main prediction: the existence of detached WD+MS binaries within the period gap that were CVs but ceased mass transfer as a result of DMB ('detached CVs'; dCVs). For a range of models describing the CE phase and magnetic braking, we employ population synthesis techniques to calculate the present day population of dCVs and detached WD+MS that have formed from a CE phase (post-common envelope binaries; PCEBs).

We find that dCVs outnumber PCEBs with late spectral-type secondary stars within the period gap by a factor of between 4 and 13. This excess manifests as a prominent peak within the period gap of the combined PCEB and dCV orbital period distribution. If this feature is detected in the observed WD+MS orbital period distribution, it would strongly corroborate the DMB model.

Our comprehensive analysis between the theoretical and observed PCEB populations shows that an αcE >0.1 and an initial mass ratio distribution favouring small mass ratios, q < 1, best reproduces the observed PCEB distribution, and the observed local space density. Finally, we reconstruct the CE phase for the observed PCEBs and investigate any dependence of αcE on the secondary mass and the orbital period of the PCEB. Indeed, this may shed light into the CE ejection mechanism.


A portable parameter monitoring and analysis system for physiological studies and for assisting patient-centric health care management is developed. The system uses the network approach to acquire the data from sensors and transmit them to a server through wireless propagation means. The system automates the acquisition and monitoring of physiological parameters by continuous display on the monitor screen. Programming is done using industry strength software to display data and trends in real time on a standard PC. The measured data is accurate and lives up to the standards of the industry.


This paper considers identification and estimation of the causal effect of the time Z until a subject is treated on a survival outcome T. The treatment is not randomly assigned, T is randomly right censored by a random variable C and the time to treatment Z is right censored by min(T,C). The endogeneity issue is treated using an instrumental variable explaining Z and independent of the error term of the model. We study identification in a fully nonparametric framework. We show that our specification generates an integral equation, of which the regression function of interest is a solution. We provide identification conditions that rely on this identification equation. For estimation purposes, we assume that the regression function follows a parametric model. We propose an estimation procedure and give conditions under which the estimator is asymptotically normal. The estimators exhibit good finite sample properties in simulations. Our methodology is applied to find evidence supporting the efficacy of a therapy for burn-out.


Thin-viscous-sheet models have proved to be very useful in exploring the interaction between plate boundary and gravitational forces during continental collision. However, simplifications of these models (e.g., absence of faults, planar geometry of the collision zone) limit their use in making specific predictions regarding tectonic evolution, such as the role of eastward extrusion along major strike-slip faults during the Indo-Asian collision. This deficiency is overcome by a thin-shell finite-element model with faults that can assess the effects of preexisting fault configurations and topographic distributions on velocity fields. Numerical simulations of a palinspastically restored Asia at ca. 50 Ma suggest that preexisting lithospheric weaknesses favor north-south shortening during initial collision, whereas preexisting high topography in southern Asia promotes eastward extrusion. These results underscore the first-order importance of initial topography and the distribution of preexisting faults in the outcome of geodynamic modeling.


Background: The paraaortic lymph-node (PALN) is a relatively uncommon metastasis as a first site of recurrence following colorectal cancer (CRC) surgery. Localized and resectable PALN recurrence has the potential of long-term survival by curative resection. We evaluated the risk factors for the recurrence of PALN following curative surgery in patients with CRC in a pooled analysis of two large randomised control studies. Patients and Methods: Individual patient data from the Japanese Foundation for Multidisciplinary Treatment of Cancer clinical Trials 7 and 15 were pooled for this analysis. We included total 4459 patients who had stage I-III colorectal cancer and underwent curative resection with over D2 lymph node dissection. Results: Recurrent PALN occurred in 0.7% of all patients (30/4459). Of the 30 patients with recurrent PALN, 19 had PALN alone, whereas 11 had a recurrence in at least one other organ in addition to PALN. PALN recurrence occurred after the 3-year postoperative period in 10 patients (33%). In multivariate analysis, lymph node involvement was the only independent predictor of recurrent PALN (hazard ratio, 2.670; p = 0.0106). Conclusions: Our findings clarify the risk factors for PALN recurrence in stage I–III CRC who undergo curative resection. These results will be useful to identify optimal subgroups for high risk of PLAN recurrence.


Moving to a new country causes significant challenges for immigrants. Various reasons contributed to immigrants' mental well-being, such as language barriers, lack of family and social support, discrimination, and others that affect well-being and quality of life among immigrants in the host country. This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of 18 Albanian and Kosovo-Albanian immigrants residing in Malaysia. The objectives of this study are as follows: (i) to investigate perceptions of immigrants toward mental well-being; (ii) to explore coping strategies for mental well-being among immigrants; and (iii) to identify suggestions and recommendations of immigrants residing in Malaysia and Australia. Social Learning Theory (SLT) guided this study. SLT focuses on learning through observation and reflection. Therefore, this theory is suitable for the current study since our thoughts, actions and behaviours are influenced by social and cultural factors. This study employed a qualitative phenomenological case study using in-depth semi-structured interviews. The result showed that mental well-being was perceived as physical, mental and spiritual health; accomplishment and life purposes; and contentedness positively affected the immigrants' mental well-being. The immigrants resorted to several strategies in coping with mental well-being, such as calmness and having a positive attitude in solving their problems. The findings also recommended immigrants embrace a new culture and adapting their life in their host country.


We report the results of an [O III] λ5007 survey for planetary nebulae (PNs) in the giant Sc galaxy M101 (NGC 5457). By comparing on-band/off-band [O III] λ5007 images with images taken in Hα and the R-band filter, we identify 65 PN candidates in the interarm and outer regions of the galaxy. From these data and the empirical planetary nebula luminosity function (PNLF), we derive a distance to the galaxy of 7.7 ± 0.5 Mpc, in excellent agreement with the distance of 7.4 ± 0.7 Mpc measured using Hubble Space Telescope observations of Cepheids (Kelson and coworkers). This observation demonstrates that the PNLF technique can be successfully applied to late-type galaxies, and provides an important overlap between the Population I and Population II distance scales. It also places a strong limit on the possible variation of the PNLF with population age.