Synthesize of low price stationary phases with permanent groups for reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) has gained great importance in the past several years. In chromatographic analyses, silica gels are commonly used as a supporting material as they give high mechanical strength and swelling resistance. Additionally, different particle and pore size availability and low cost makes these materials one of the most suitable stationary phase. In this work, chemically bonded C8 phase was synthesized by sol-gel route and instead of toxic silicone alkoxides, non-toxic water glass was chosen as a precursor. Linking process of C8 groups to silica gel was carried out by trimethoxy(octyl)silane. The end-capping and C8 binding procedure was analyzed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and morphology of C8 particles were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM).


The paper presents an architectural framework and algorithms for engineering dynamic real-time distributed systems using commercial off-the-shelf technologies. In the proposed architecture, a real-time system application is developed in a general-purpose programming language. Further, the architectural-level description of the system such as composition and interconnections of application software and hardware, and the operational requirements of the system such as timeliness and survivability are specified in a system description language. The specification of the system is automatically translated into an intermediate representation (IR) that models the system in a platform-independent manner. The IR is augmented with dynamic measurements of the system by a language runtime system to produce a dynamic system model. The dynamic model is used by resource management middleware strategies to perform resource management that achieves timeliness and survivability requirements. We present two classes of algorithms: predictive and availability-based, for performing resource allocation. To validate the viability of the approach, we use a real-time benchmark application that functionally approximates dynamic real-time command and control systems. The benchmark results illustrate that the middleware is able to achieve the desired timeliness requirements during a number of load situations. Furthermore, availability-based allocation algorithms perform resource allocation less frequently, whereas predictive algorithms give a better steady state performance for the application.


This Precis entitled, Romania's adjustment after the Cold War, complements the Bank's Operations and Evaluation Department (OED), Performance audit report, Romania : Technical assistance / critical imports loan, and the Structural adjustment project, Report No. 15791, dated June 25, 1996. The audit found that the structural adjustment loan was successful, but the loan for critical imports had a very limited impact, insufficient attention to project implementation caused delays that reduced the loan's effectiveness.


The flow behavior of a 7039 aluminum alloy and the corresponding microstructural evolution during hot deformation were studied by Gleeble-1500 thermal simulation tests, EBSD and TEM observations with temperatures ranging from 300 °C to 500 °C under strain rates from 0.01 s-1 to 10 s-1. It has been shown that the flow stress increases with the decrease in the deformation temperature and increase in the strain rate. The degree of dynamic recrystallization (DRX) increases with the increase in the deformation temperature and strain rate in 7039 aluminum alloy. The complete dynamic recrystallization occurs at 500 °C with a strain rate of 10 s-1.


Tempering effects have been studied in three martensitic carbon steels by mechanical spectroscopy. The mechanical-loss spectra present a relaxation peak similar to the Snoek-Köster peak in ferrite. The peak amplitude decreases upon tempering, indicating a decrease of the dislocation density. Transition carbides start to precipitate at 380 K in all the three grades. This tends to decrease the mechanical loss and to increase the modulus. Retained austenite decomposes around 520 K in two of the grades. In the third grade, the presence of Si delays this decomposition to 670 K. The decomposition of retained austenite leads to a sudden decrease of amplitude of the relaxation peak and a modulus anomaly. Both these effects can be attributed to a decrease of the dislocation density in martensite, probably associated with the depletion of carbon atoms in the dislocation core. At low frequency, a mechanical-loss peak associated with the decomposition of retained austenite is visible.


This dissertation encompasses three empirical studies in the economics of western Kenya. In Chapter 1, I estimate the impacts of secondary school on human capital, occupational choice, and fertility for young adults in Kenya. Probability of admission to government secondary school rises sharply at a score close to the national mean on a standardized 8th grade examination, permitting me to estimate causal effects of schooling in a regression discontinuity framework. I combine administrative test score data with a recent survey of young adults to estimate these impacts. My results show that secondary schooling increases human capital, as measured by performance on cognitive tests included in the survey. For men, I find a drop in the probability of low-skill self-employment, as well as suggestive evidence of a rise in the probability of formal employment. The opportunity to attend secondary school also reduces teen pregnancy among women.In Chapter 2, I investigate whether a large-scale deworming intervention aimed at primary school pupils in western Kenya had long-term effects on young children in the region, exploiting positive externalities from the program to estimate the impact on younger children who did not receive treatment directly. I find large cognitive effects---equivalent to half a year of schooling---for children who were less than one year old when their communities received mass deworming treatment. I also find modest positive effects on stature. Because mass deworming was administered through schools, I also estimate effects among children who were likely to have older siblings in school to receive the treatment directly; in this subpopulation, effects are twice as large.In Chapter 3, Pamela Jakiela and I measure the economic impacts of social pressures to share income with kin and neighbors in rural Kenyan villages. We conduct a lab experiment in which we randomly vary the observability of investment returns to test whether subjects reduce their income in order to keep it hidden. We find that women adopt an investment strategy that conceals the size of their initial endowment in the experiment, though that strategy reduces their expected earnings. This effect is largest among women with relatives attending the experiment, who invest 22 percent less when income is observable. At the village level, the extent to which experimental subjects engage in income hiding within the experiment is negatively associated with the probability of skilled employment and the value of household assets.


Part Two of our Special Issue on wicked problems in agribusiness, "Towards a Theory of Managing Wicked Problems through Multi-Stakeholder Engagements: Evidence from the Agribusiness Sector," will contribute to four open questions in the broader fields of management and policy: why, when, which and how multi-stakeholder engagements (MSEs) are effective actions for managers and policy-makers to deal with wicked problems. MSEs across private, public and non-profit sectors have been considered the collaborative paradigm of the 21st century to move beyond market and state failures (Austin 2000). Moreover, the agricultural and food arena provides a unique context to analyze managerial and policy decisions to undertake (or not undertake) MSEs. This is because agricultural and food chains face the highest number of urgent, interlinked wicked-problem issues that are scientifically uncertain, change over time and determine value conflict among stakeholders (Dentoni et al. 2012). Such issues include food security, climate change, deforestation, obesity, the use of technology in food production, violation of human rights and animal welfare.


Background Primary malignant melanoma of the esophagus is a rare tumor with a poor prognosis; the optimal treatment strategy has yet to be established. This study aimed to clarify clinical features, courses, and outcomes of patients undergoing surgical resection of primary malignant melanoma of the esophagus. Methods Six patients with primary malignant melanoma of the esophagus, in whom the absence of other primary melanomas had been confirmed, were selected from the medical database maintained in Toranomon Hospital. Their clinicopathological characteristics and long-term outcomes were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed. Results All 6 patients (five males and one female) underwent radical esophagectomy with three-field regional lymphadenectomy, and none received neoadjuvant therapy. Tumor invasion was classified into T1 in 5 (83%) cases and T3 in one (17%). Four (67%) patients had nodal metastases (one N1, one N2 and two N3). No distant metastatic lesions were detected preoperatively in any of our cases. Postoperative surveillance revealed recurrence in all 6 patients, and 5 (83%) died of the disease. The median overall survival was 24 months. One patient with a T3N3M0 tumor was treated after surgery with a dacarbazine-nimustine-vincristine regimen followed by irradiation for bone recurrence and survived for 87 months postoperatively. Another patient with a T1N3M0 tumor who survived for 27 months after liver and bone recurrence was treated with nivolumab, ipilimumab, and dacarbazine. Conclusion Although the courses of patients with primary malignant melanoma of the esophagus were consistently unfavorable, surgical resection with multidisciplinary therapeutic modalities may prolong survival in some cases.


One of the main challenges in land degradation assessment is that a rigorous and systematic approach to addressing its complex dynamics is still missing. The development and application of operative tools at regional and global scales remain a challenge. Land degradation is usually defined as a long‐term decline in ecosystem function and productivity. Due to its temporal and spatial resolution as well as data availability, the use of time series of spectral vegetation indexes obtained from satellite sensors has become frequent in recent studies in this field. Slope of linear trends of the normalized difference vegetation index is usually considered an accurate indicator and is widely used as a proxy for land degradation. Yet this method is built on a number of simplifying conceptual and methodological assumptions that prevent capturing more complex dynamics, such as cyclic or periodic behaviors. Our aim was to examine the limitations associated with using linear normalized difference vegetation index trends as proxies for land degradation by comparing outcomes with an alternative methodological procedure based on wavelet autoregressive methods. We explored these issues in 5 case studies from Africa and South America. We observed that trend explained a marginal portion of total temporal variability, whereas monotonic functions, such as linear trends, were unable to capture dynamics that were non‐unidirectional, resulting in misinterpretation of actual trends. Wavelet autoregressive method results were encouraging as a step towards the application of more accurate methods to provide sound scientific information of land degradation and restoration.


Black and green olive pulp was added to wheat bread formulation at different levels (5, 10, 15%) with the aim to improve its nutritional value by enhancing the phenolic content and antioxidant capacity. Additionally, the effects of the fortification with olive pulp on the physical characteristics, staling rate and overall consumer acceptability of the formulated breads were explored. Both olive pulps exhibited significantly higher antioxidant activity than refined wheat flour. Baking imparted an impressive increase in TPC, TFC and antioxidant activity of breads as revealed by comparison of experimental with theoretical values but returned significant differences only in the case of TPC when a two-tailed t-test for paired data was applied. Texture measurements showed a substantial increase in hardness with storage along with decreasing loaf volume and increased density. Hydroxytyrosol was the major phenolic compound of fortified breads followed by tyrosol. Olive pulp could be incorporated in a bread formulation without interfering with the general sensory acceptability.


X-ray Talbot–Lau interferometer has been used most widely to perform x-ray phase-contrast imaging with a conventional low-brilliance x-ray source, and it yields high-sensitivity phase and dark-field images of samples producing low absorption contrast, thus bearing tremendous potential for future clinical diagnosis. In this work, by changing the accelerating voltage of the x-ray tube from 35 kV to 45 kV, x-ray phase-contrast imaging of a test sample is performed at each integer value of the accelerating voltage to investigate the characteristic of an x-ray Talbot–Lau interferometer (located in the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University, Japan) versus tube voltage. Experimental results and data analysis show that within a range this x-ray Talbot–Lau interferometer is not sensitive to the accelerating voltage of the tube with a constant fringe visibility of ∼ 44%. This x-ray Talbot–Lau interferometer research demonstrates the feasibility of a new dual energy phase-contrast x-ray imaging strategy and the possibility to collect a refraction spectrum.


Stop Motion (SM) Animation has been around almost as long as photography itself, finding its home in recent years in stylised character films, taking advantage of its unique visual qualities as a tool to tell their stories. Facial animation however, has been a complex part of the process due to the intricacy of facial expression. Two methods I have seen executed effectively are the 3D printed replacement methods seen in films from Laika Studios and the mechanical positioning of faces seen in Corpse Bride, directed by Tim Burton. SM replacement animation requires a different version of the object being animated to be swapped out for each frame of shape change. So in the case of Laika's feature-length films, this results in thousands of expensive, non-biodegradable faces being printed, some only being seen for 1/24th of a second. In Corpse Bride, the main characters' faces are animated through mechanically shifting silicone faces, incrementally posed between frames. An effective way to animate using a single puppet, but to create these puppets requires hours of highly specialised artisans from engineers to sculptors to mould makers and painters. The aim of this thesis is to find out if the mechanical one puppet method can be achieved by exploiting the full capabilities of the 3D printing technology used by Lakia. Full capabilities in respect to the accuracy, variation of material colour and flexibility, and with the use of degradable support, can be manufactured pre-assembled, requiring only a single step of physical manufacture. Advantages of which could make SM facial animation more accessible to storytellers keen to use its unique visual qualities and open up further exploration into other implementations of this production method in the area of pre-assembled mechanics.


Few tools to encourage therapists to implement evidence based psychological treatments as designed exist. Assessing therapist "competence" (implementing therapeutic procedures well) by evaluating the quality of their treatment sessions is problematic for multiple reasons. Therapist self-rated measures of "adherence" (using the correct therapeutic procedures) may offer a viable alternative. We describe (i) the development of a CBT-E Components Checklist (CBT-E CC) for therapists, as well as (ii) how to use the CBT-E CC and where to access it. The CBT-E CC is an adherence checklist for enhanced cognitive behavior therapy for eating disorders (CBT-E). It is intended as a formative tool for therapists to assess, and improve as needed, their own adherence. Future research on the validity of the checklist to accurately measure adherence is needed.


The present study investigated whether perceived partner responsiveness—the extent to which individuals feel cared for, understood, and validated by their partner—predicted subjective sleep problems and objective (actigraph-based) sleep efficiency through lower anxiety and depression symptoms. A life span sample of 698 married or cohabiting adults (35–86 years old) completed measures of perceived partner responsiveness and subjective sleep problems. A subset of the sample (N = 219) completed a weeklong sleep study where actigraph-based measures of sleep efficiency were obtained. Perceived partner responsiveness predicted lower self-reported global sleep problems through lower anxiety and depression and greater actigraph-assessed sleep efficiency through lower anxiety. All indirect associations held after controlling for emotional support provision to the partner, agreeableness, and demographic and health covariates known to affect sleep quality. These findings are among the first to demonstrate how perceived partner responsiveness, a core aspect of romantic relationships, is linked to sleep behavior.


Heat soak periods were completed on the remaining 49 couples of the compatibility matrix which was put on test in May 1973. Examination of the 18 couples which were taken off test in August 1973 was completed. The planned short-term ceramic compatibiliiy matrix exposures were completed, and optical microscope examinations were done. Experiments were started to develop fabrication techniques for preparation of an 11-couple compatibility matrix scheduled for FY 1974. The design of this matrix was finalized, and component procurement was started. Free energy calculations were made for the reactions of Cm/sub 2/O/sub 3/ fuel with Haynes 188, Ta-10% W, and TZM alloys and with beryllium. Measurements of the helium release characteristics of hot-pressed / sup 244 Cm/sub 2/O/sub 3/ were started at 500, 650, and 800 deg C. A vapor pressu re determination was run on curium metal in the temperature range from 900 to 1800 deg C. Vapor pressure measurements of/sup 244/Cm/sub 2/O/sub 3/ in the range from 1200 to 1600 deg C were begun these will continue next quarter. Examinations by x-ray diffraction were made on materials resulting from exposures of/sup 244/Cm/sub 2/O/sub 3/ to flowing seawater, boiling scawater, and dry air as well as on/sup 244/Cm/submore » 2/O/sub 3/ sam ples taken at various stages in the fuel forming process. The equipment which will be used for emissivity measurements was improved and checked with nonradioactive samples. Observations of two 25-W//sup 244/Cm/sub 2/O/sub 3/ pellets stored in argon ond one 25-W/sup 244/Cm/sub 2/O/sub 3/ pellet stored in dry air continued. A /sup 244/Cm/sub 2/O/ sub 3/ pellet was leac hed with boiling distilled water and the rate of/sup 244/ Cm loss measured. Calculational studies of /sup 244/Cm yields and isotopic abundances from various types of reactor operations were continued. A study of the potentinl fur criticality problems in/sup 244/Cm assemblies was initiated. (auth)« less


Green start-ups contribute towards a transition to a more sustainable economy by developing sustainable and environmentally friendly innovation and bringing it to the market. Due to specific product/service characteristics, entrepreneurial motivation and company strategies that might differ from that of other start-ups, these companies might struggle even more than usual with access to finance in the early stages. This conceptual paper seeks to explain these challenges through the theoretical lenses of entrepreneurial finance and behavioural finance. While entrepreneurial finance theory contributes to a partial understanding of green start-up finance, behavioural finance is able to solve a remaining explanatory deficit produced by entrepreneurial finance theory. Although some behavioural finance theorists are suggesting that the current understanding of economic rationality underlying behavioural finance research is inadequate, most scholars have not yet challenged these assumptions, which constrict a comprehensive and realistic description of the reality of entrepreneurial finance in green start-ups. The aim of the paper is thus, first, to explore the specifics of entrepreneurial finance in green start-ups and, second, to demonstrate the need for a more up-to-date conception of rationality in behavioural finance theory in order to enable realistic empirical research in this field.


Racial inequality in voter turnout is well-documented, but we know less about racial inequality in campaign contributions. Using new data on the racial identities of over 27 million donors, we find an unrepresentative contributor class. Black and Latino shares of contributions are smaller than their shares of the population, electorate, and elected offices. However, we argue that the presence of ethnoracial minority candidates mobilizes coethnic donors. Results from regression discontinuity and difference-in-difference designs suggest that the presence of ethnoracial minority candidates increases the share of minority contributions in US House elections. We find a reduction in white contributions to black Democrats, and to black and Latino Republicans, but little difference in overall fundraising competitiveness. Although we cannot definitively rule out alternative mechanisms that covary with candidate ethnorace, the results suggest that the nomination of minority candidates can increase the ethnoracial representativeness of campaign finance without costs to fundraising.


In this study, time-temperature-dependent nonlinear analyses of lead-free solder bumped wafer level chip scale package (WLCSP) on printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies subjected to thermal cycling conditions are presented. Two different lead-free solder alloys are considered, namely, 96.5wt%Sn-3.5wt%Ag and 100wt%In. The 62wt%Sn-36wt%Pb-2wt%Ag solder alloy is also considered to establish a baseline. All of these solder alloys are assumed to obey the Garofalo-Arrhenius steady-state creep constitutive law. The shear stress and shear creep strain hysteresis loops, shear stress history, and shear creep strain history at the corner solder joint are presented for a better understanding of the thermal-mechanical behaviors of lead-free solder bumped WLCSP on PCB assemblies. Also, the effects of microvia build-up PCB on the WLCSP solder joint reliability are investigated.


Molecular phylogenetics has neglected polymorphisms within present and ancestral populations for a long time. Recently, multispecies coalescent based methods have increased in popularity, however, their application is limited to a small number of species and individuals. We introduced a polymorphism-aware phylogenetic model (PoMo), which overcomes this limitation and scales well with the increasing amount of sequence data while accounting for present and ancestral polymorphisms. PoMo circumvents handling of gene trees and directly infers species trees from allele frequency data. Here, we extend the PoMo implementation in IQ-TREE and integrate search for the statistically best-fit mutation model, the ability to infer mutation rate variation across sites, and assessment of branch support values. We exemplify an analysis of a hundred species with ten haploid individuals each, showing that PoMo can perform inference on large data sets. While PoMo is more accurate than standard substitution models applied to concatenated alignments, it is almost as fast. We also provide bmm-simulate, a software package that allows simulation of sequences evolving under PoMo. The new options consolidate the value of PoMo for phylogenetic analyses with population data.


Entanglement witnesses (EWs) constitute one of the most important entanglement detectors in quantum systems. Nevertheless, their complete characterization, in particular with respect to the notion of optimality, is still missing, even in the decomposable case. Here we show that for any qubit–qunit decomposable EW (DEW) W, the three statements are equivalent: (i) the set of product vectors obeying ⟨e, f|W|e, f⟩ = 0 spans the corresponding Hilbert space, (ii) W is optimal, and (iii) W = QΓ, with Q denoting a positive operator supported on a completely entangled subspace (CES) and Γ standing for the partial transposition. While implications (i)⇒(ii) and (ii)⇒(iii) are known, here we prove that (iii) implies (i). This is a consequence of a more general fact saying that product vectors orthogonal to any CES in span after partial conjugation the whole space. On the other hand, already in the case of the Hilbert space, there exist DEWs for which (iii) does not imply (i). Consequently, either (i) does not imply (ii) or (ii) does not imply (iii), and the above transparent characterization, obeyed by qubit–qunit DEWs, does not hold in general.


In this thesis I have explored some of the ways in which the contexts of epistemology,
ethics and designing architecture are each concerned with undecidable questions (that is, with those
questions that have no right answers). Drawing on design research, second‐order cybernetics and
radical constructivism, I have understood this undecidability to follow in each case from our being
part of the situation in which we are acting. This idea is primarily epistemological (being part of the
world we observe, we cannot verify the relationship between our understanding and the world
beyond our experience as it is impossible to observe the latter) but can also be interpreted spatially
and ethically. From this starting point I have developed connections between questions in
architecture, epistemology and ethics in two parallel investigations.
In the first, I have proposed a connection between design and ethics where design is
understood as an activity in which ethical questioning is implicit. Rather than the usual application of
ethical theory to practice, I have instead proposed that design can inform ethical thinking, both in
the context of designing architecture and also more generally, through (1) the ways designers
approach what Rittel (1972) called "wicked problems" (which, I argue, have the same structure as
ethical dilemmas) and (2) the implicit consideration of others in design's core methodology.
In parallel to this I have explored the spatial sense of the idea that we are part of the world
through a series of design investigations comprising projects set in everyday situations and other
speculative drawings. Through these I have proposed reformulating the architectural theme of
place, which is usually associated with phenomenology, in constructivist terms as the spatiality of
observing our own observing and so as where the self‐reference of epistemology (that we cannot
experience the world beyond our experience) becomes manifest.


Diagnosis of breast lesions is routinely performed by the triple assessment of a specialised surgeon, radiologist and pathologist. In this setting, fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and core needle biopsy (CNB) are the current methods of choice for pathological diagnosis, both with their specific advantages and limitations. Evidence-based literature discussing which of both modalities is preferable in breast lesion diagnosis is sparse and there is no consensus among different specialised breast cancer centres. This study reviews FNAC and CNB for diagnosing breast lesions, comparing methodological issues, diagnostic performance indices, possibilities for additional prognostic and predictive tests and cost effectiveness. Overall, CNB achieved better sensitivity and specificity especially in those lesions that were not definitively benign or malignant, non-palpable and/or calcified lesions. Although FNAC is easier to perform, interpretation requires vast experience and even then, it is more often inconclusive requiring additional CNB. The authors conclude that overall CNB is to be preferred as a diagnostic method.


Background: As physical inactivity is becoming a major cause of health issues around the world, not only in adults but also among children, preventions are required especially in low-and middle- income countries. This study was performed to validate a physical activity questionnaire and assess physical activity of 11-year-old children using the questionnaire and a triaxial accelerometer in Hue City, Vietnam. Methods: A physical activity questionnaire developed by the authors was administered in 30 participants between January and February 2018. Anthropometric measures and 3-day activity monitored using an accelerometer were also obtained. Differences in physical characteristics and physical activity records according to gender and body mass index (BMI), and the relationship between amount of physical activity determined from the questionnaire and accelerometer data were examined. Results: Data for 12 participants were excluded from the analysis due to various types of error. Thirteen of the remaining 18 participants (72%) achieved more than 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) for all three recording days. Male participants showed higher counts than females in exercise, steps, MVPA and vigorous physical activity (VPA), respectively. Significant relationships were found between accelerometer' records and responses to questions about sedentary behavior, such as time spent playing computer games but not to questions related to their sports activities. Conclusion: Accelerometers could be used to monitor physical activity among 11-year-old Vietnamese children with support from school teachers or guardians. Accelerometer records were correlated with questions regarding sedentary activities but not questions on sports activities. The results suggested the importance of including questions related to sedentary behavior in physical activity questionnaires. Further studies are needed with larger sample sizes to assess the validity of the questionnaire.


BACKGROUND
Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) and multiple daily injections (MDI) represent two strategies of intensive insulin therapy, obtaining a strict metabolic control. The importance of such rigorous metabolic control in reducing the frequency and severity of diabetes long-term complications was highlighted by the Diabetes Control and Complication Trial (DCCT).

AIM
To review the experience in the use of ISCI at Hospital São João, comparing it with the therapeutic modality of MID, regarding metabolic control, weight and body mass index (BMI), microalbuminuria, frequency of adverse events, lipid profile and quality of life.

METHODS
This retrospective, observational study included 25 type 1 diabetic patients followed-up on Endocrinology outpatient at Hospital São João, receiving CSII for more than 3 months after they were treated with MDI also for a period exceeding 3 months. For both periods of treatment, clinical data were obtained on the quality of glycaemic control (assessed by the levels of glycated hemoglobin--A1c), lipid profile, weight and body mass index (BMI) and microalbuminuria. To evaluate the impact on quality of life we used the ADDQoL questionnaire. A questionnaire was also used to determine the frequency of adverse events (severe hypoglycemia and ketoacidosis).

RESULTS
The sample of 25 subjects with mean age of 33.35 ± 9.59 years, with a duration of disease, on average, of 17.1 ± 8.15 years and receiving ISCI for an average of 2.48 ± 1 08 years, obtained a decrease of 1.1% (p = 0.001) on the median value of A1c between 3 and 6 months of treatment when compared to MDI, reduction sustained throughout the analyzed period. The variation of the daily insulin requirements after pump placement was 12.75 units of insulin (p = 0.015), equivalent to a decrease of 0.20 units/kg (p = 0.023). The median of the distribution of BMI decreased 0.48 kg/m2 (p = 0.507) during CSII. The parameters of lipid profile and microalbuminuria showed no trend upward or downward after institution of CSII. The score obtained in the ADDQoL questionnaire was greater with CSII, the difference between the medians of the score distribution, before and after pump placement, was 0.056 (p = 0.92). There was a subjective perception of reduced frequency of adverse events with ISCI.

CONCLUSION
The introduction of CSII allowed optimization of metabolic control, reduction of the daily insulin requirements and achievement of a higher level of satisfaction with no change in lipid profile, no weight gain and without increasing the frequency of adverse events.


Abstract.
 We use a Gaussian logistic regression model to characterize epoch-to-epoch and stage-to-stage changes in the latitudinal response curves of Cenozoic marine bivalve and gastropod genera along the global latitudinal gradient, and analyze these changes to understand the mode and tempo of changes in latitudinal distribution. A ubiquitous "hollow curve" pattern is apparent, wherein smaller changes in response-curve parameters are much more common than larger changes. Curves are strikingly consistent in terms of the average level of change exhibited, despite the many unique environmental and biological changes documented between each of these intervals. This implies that the pace and magnitude of changes in the latitudinal distribution of marine mollusks are not controlled, in aggregate, by time-period-specific conditions. Additionally, we find no evidence for long-term migration from tropical to extratropical latitudes. Our results instead favor a model of either equatorward migration or no general trend. This likely reflects the tendency of genera to maintain their highest concentrations in the tropics even if their ranges become extended out of the tropics over time.


OBJECTIVE Intraventricular choroid plexus cysts are unusual causes of acute hydrocephalus in children. Radiological diagnosis of intraventricular choroid plexus cysts is difficult because they have very thin walls and fluid contents similar to CSF and can go undetected on routine CT studies. METHODS This study reports the authors' experience with 5 patients affected by intraventricular cysts originating from the choroid plexus. All patients experienced acute presentation with rapid neurological deterioration, sometimes associated with hypothalamic dysfunction, and required urgent surgery. In 2 cases the symptoms were intermittent, with spontaneous remission and sudden clinical deteriorations, reflecting an intermittent obstruction of the CSF pathway. RESULTS Radiological diagnosis was difficult in these cases because a nonenhanced CT scan revealed only triventricular hydrocephalus, with slight lateral ventricle asymmetry in all cases. MRI with driven-equilibrium sequences and CT ventriculography (in 1 case) allowed the authors to accurately diagnose the intraventricular cysts that typically occupied the posterior part of the third ventricle, occluding the aqueduct and at least 1 foramen of Monro. The patients were managed by urgent implantation of an external ventricular drain in 1 case (followed by endoscopic surgery, after completing a diagnostic workup) and by urgent endoscopic surgery in 4 cases. Endoscopic surgery allowed the shrinkage and near-complete removal of the cysts in all cases. Use of neuronavigation and a laser were indispensable. All procedures were uneventful, resulting in restoration of normal neurological conditions. Long-term follow-up (> 2 years) was available for 2 patients, and no complications or recurrences occurred. CONCLUSIONS This case series emphasizes the necessity of an accurate and precise identification of the possible causes of triventricular hydrocephalus. Endoscopic surgery can be considered the ideal treatment of choroid plexus cysts in children.


Transactional Memory (TM) is a new programming paradigm for both simple concurrent programming and high concurrent performance. Hardware Transactional Memory (HTM) is hardware support for TM-based programming. It has lower overhead than software transactional memory (STM), which is a software-based implementation of TM. There are now four commercial systems, IBM Blue Gene/Q, IBM zEnterprise EC12, Intel Core, and IBM POWER8, offering HTM. Our work is the first to compare the performance of these four HTM systems. We measured the STAMP benchmarks, the most widely used TM benchmarks. We also evaluated the specific features of each HTM system. Our experimental results show that: (1) there is no single HTM system that is more scalable than the others in all of the benchmarks, (2) there are measurable performance differences among the HTM systems in some benchmarks, and (3) each HTM system has its own implementation characteristics that limit its scalability.


We investigate physical-layer security of the full-duplex (FD) amplify-and-forward (AF) relay channel. We provide a new perspective on the problem and show that the processing time (delay) at the relay can be exploited to improve the system's security. We show that the FD AF relay channel can be seen as an intersymbol-interference (ISI) channel, hence, the discrete-Fourier transform (DFT) can be used for data modulation and demodulation to convert the frequency-selective channel into flat-fading channel per sub-channel/sub-carrier. By exploiting the fact that the channel memory needs to be cleared by inserting the cyclic-prefix, Alice injects an artificial-noise (AN) signal that hurts the eavesdropping nodes only. The strength of this AN signal and its interference rank are controlled by the relay's processing time.


Abnormal ECG Search in Long-term Electrocardiographic Recordings from An Animal Model of Heart Failure Pisut Raphisak Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering West Virginia University Mark A. Jerabek, Ph.D., Chair Heart failure is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Five million Americans suffer from heart failure. Advances in portable electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring systems and large data storage space allow the ECG to be recorded continuously for long periods. Long-term monitoring could potentially lead to better diagnosis and treatment if the progression of heart failure could be followed. The challenge is to analyze the sheer mass of data. Manual analysis using the classical methods is impossible. In this dissertation, a framework for analysis of long-term ECG recording and methods for searching an abnormal ECG are presented. The data used in this research were collected from an animal model of heart failure. Chronic heart failure was gradually induced in rats by aldosterone infusion and a high Na and low Mg diet. The ECG was continuously recorded during the experimental period of 11-12 weeks through radiotelemetry. The ECG leads were placed subcutaneously in lead-II configuration. In the end, there were 80 GB of data from five animals. Besides the massive amount of data, noise and artifacts also caused problems in the analysis. The framework includes data preparation, ECG beat detection, EMG noise detection, baseline fluctuation removal, ECG template generation, feature extraction, and abnormal ECG search. The raw data was converted from its original format and stored in a database for data retrieval. The beat detection technique was improved from the original algorithm so that it was less sensitive to signal baseline jump and more sensitive to beat size variation. A method for estimating a parameter required for baseline fluctuation removal is proposed. It provides a good result on test signals. A new algorithm for EMG noise detection was developed using morphological filters and moving variance. The resulting sensitivity and specificity are 94% and 100%, respectively. A procedure for ECG template generation was proposed to capture gradual change in ECG morphology and manage the matching process if numerous ECG templates are created. RR intervals and heart rate variability parameters are extracted and plotted to display progressive changes as heart failure develops. In the abnormal ECG search, premature ventricular complexes, elevated ST segment, and splitR-wave ECG are considered. New features are extracted from ECG morphology. The Fisher linear discriminant analysis is used to classify the normal and abnormal ECG. The results provide classification rate, sensitivity, and specificity of 97.35%, 96.02%, and 98.91%, respectively.


2 Abstract: In this paper human unique voice characteristics used to increase the human to computer interaction (HCI) and automation in the machine uses. This system is a combination of training phase and testing phase, training phase includes the training of the system and testing phase work on the to identify the new or existed speaker information based on training. Noise elimination algorithm applied on the new audio file to eliminate the noise from voice signal and help to extract the features easily. The Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) features extraction technique used to extract unique features from voice, on the extracted feature Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and Dimension reduction technique applied to increase the efficiency of performance, A GMM is a parametric probability density function. GMM parameters are estimated from training data using the iterative Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm or Maximum a Posteriori (MAP) estimation from a well-trained prior model. GMM creates the super vectors as features for a Support Vector Machine (SVM) model for classification of a speaker voice according classified age group like child, young, adult, senior, age group classification help identify the age group and precise age of speaker, reduce the complexity of pattern matching using the SVM classification. Proposed techniques increase the performance and accuracy of system. Index Terms: Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC), Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM), support vector machine (SVM), Expectation-Maximization (EM), Maximum a Posteriori (MAP), Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), Suprasegmental Hidden Markov Models (SPHMMs).


Based on the 21 SGB V an extensive concept for measuring tooth-prophylaxis methods is used in Braunschweig. The program attains -20,000 children at the age of 3 to 15 years. It is mainly financed by the working pool of the health insurance. Small spatial gathered indicators are visualized in 30 defined parts of the town. City maps and excel-tables are presented in a SWOT-analysis by the example of the data of the primary schools.


This paper proposes a convex formulation for sparse multicategory linear discriminant analysis and then extend it to the distributed setting when data are stored across multiple sites. The key observation is that for the purpose of classification it suffices to recover the discriminant subspace which is invariant to orthogonal transformations. Theoretically, we establish statistical properties ensuring that the distributed sparse multicategory linear discriminant analysis performs as good as the centralized version after {a few rounds} of communications. Numerical studies lend strong support to our methodology and theory.


Objective: Falciparum malaria predominates in sub-Saharan Africa and children below five years are the most vulnerable. Giemsa-stained microscopy is the gold standard in malaria diagnosis. Diagnosis with rapid diagnostic test (RDT) kit is also common and over 80% of available malaria RDT kits is Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein 2-based (Pfhrp2). However, these histidine-rich protein 2-based kits have been observed to give false positive and negative results due to persistent antigenemia and low parasitaemia respectively. Thus, the methods of Pauly, Perls, and Means & Feeney were adopted to explore the advantage of using microscopy for specific detection of these histidine-rich proteins and their usefulness in detecting low parasitemia in children. Methods: Children aged 0-5 years (n=200) visiting three hospitals and private laboratories in Calabar were recruited. Whole blood samples were tested with CareStart Malaria HRP2-based kit, and blood films were made and stained with Giemsa, Pauly, Perls and Means & Feeney for microscopy. Results: The sensitivity and specificity were Giemsa (56.4%, 79.8%), Means & Feeney (52.5%, 77.8%), Perls (47.5%, 85.9), Pauly (45.5%, 86.9%), and RDT (23.8%, 96%). Pauly method had the highest area under the curve of 0.830 while RDT method had the lowest of 0.661. Among the positive cases low parasitemia detected by the histochemical methods was Perls 36 (75%), Pauly 32 (69.6%), and Means & Feeney 34 (64.2%), and for Giemsa method 40 (70.2%). Conclusion: Pauly method was the most accurate. All three methods were sensitive in detecting low parasitemia. These diagnostic methods are useful in malaria diagnosis in this endemic population. J Microbiol Infect Dis 2018; 8(2):55-60


The identification of hazards to the life and health of industrial workers will be presented in the context of statutory accident insurance in Germany at the turn of the century. From the interplay of industrial and socio-political developments the question arose of how long term risks and illnesses, in particular poisoning, were to be defined. The inclusion of occupational diseases in accident insurance certainly emphasized the biographical dimension of illness, but complicated the preventative function of the 1925 Occupational Disease Ordinance.


Giant petrels (Macronectes spp.) are the most sexually dimorphic of all seabirds. We used satellite-tracking and mass change during incubation to investigate the influence of sexual size dimorphism, in terms of the intersexual food competition hypothesis, on foraging and fasting strategies of northern giant petrels at South Georgia. Females foraged at sea whereas males foraged mainly on the South Georgia coast, scavenging on seal and penguin carcasses. Foraging effort (flight speed, distance covered, duration of foraging trips) was greater for females than for males. In contrast, foraging efficiency (proportionate daily mass gain while foraging) was significantly greater for males than for females. Females were significantly closer to the desertion mass threshold than males and could not compensate for the mass loss during the incubation fast while foraging, suggesting greater incubation costs for females than for males. Both sexes regulated the duration and food intake of foraging trips depending on the depletion of the body reserves. In males the total mass gain was best explained by mass at departure and body size. We suggest that sexual segregation of foraging strategies arose from size-related dominance at carcasses, promoting sexual size dimorphism. Our results indicate that sex-specific differences in fasting endurance, contest competition over food and flight metabolic rates are key elements in maintenance of sexual size dimorphism, segregating foraging strategies and presumably reducing competition between sexes.


The Iranian nuclear crisis is a proxy arena for competing visions about the functioning of international relations. Yet, no comprehensive analyses have been conducted so far that use the Iranian nuclear case as an illustration to conceptualise the interaction between 'hegemonic structures' and those actors resisting them. This doctoral dissertation is a first step to fill this gap in the literature. It analyses the foreign policies of China, Russia and Turkey towards the Iranian nuclear programme and thereby answers the research question to what extent their policies are indicative of a security culture that resists hegemony. Based on 55 semi-structured elite interviews with experts and decision-makers closely involved with the Iranian nuclear file, this research draws on neo-Gramscian scholarship to analyse resistance to hegemony across its ideational, material and institutional framework conditions.

The case studies examined show how 'compliance' on the part of China, Russia and Turkey with approaches to the Iranian nuclear conflict has been selective, and how US policy preferences in the Iran dossier have been resisted on other occasions. To understand such variation in 'norm compliance', this dissertation introduces a two-level model to understand foreign policy discrepancies between a discursive and a behavioural level. Chinese, Russian, and Turkish reluctance to use sanctions as tools in international diplomacy on a discursive level did not prevent the eventual adoption of international sanctions against Iran and Chinese, Russian, and Turkish compliance therewith on a behavioural level. While multilateral Iran sanctions are seen as complying with the rules of the UN system, additional unilateral sanctions are contested on normative grounds and perceived as illegitimate and as an extraterritorialisation of domestic legislation.

Besides an ideational resistance to unilateral sanctions, the economic impact of these 'secondary sanctions' on third country entities constitutes an additional material reason for Chinese, Russian, and Turkish criticism. Their eventual compliance with sanctions lists, however, indicates a level of receptiveness to the economic leverage of US-dominated international financial mechanisms. In this context, the Iran nuclear case serves as an illustration to shed light on the contemporaneous interaction of the forces of consent and coercion in international politics. This research thus makes a critical contribution to key questions of International Relations at the interstice of security governance, proliferation policies, and debates surrounding the co-existence between hegemonic structures and 'norm-shapers in the making'.


Standing institutions have a continuous existence: examples include the United Nations, the British Parliament, the US presidency, the standing committees of the US Congress, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Intermittent institutions have a discontinuous existence: examples include the Roman dictatorship, the Estates-General of France, constitutional conventions, citizens' assemblies, the Electoral College, grand and petit juries, special prosecutors, various types of temporary courts and military tribunals, ad hoc congressional committees, and ad hoc panels such as the 9/11 Commission and base-closing commissions. Within the class of intermittent institutions, one may distinguish periodic from episodic institutions. The former come into being on a schedule set down in advance, while the latter come into being at unpredictable intervals. The Electoral College is a periodic institution, while the Roman dictatorship is an episodic one. This article attempts to identify the benefits and costs of intermittent institutions, both as a class and in their periodic and episodic varieties. The largest goals are to state some general conditions under which intermittent institutions prove superior or inferior to standing institutions, and to illuminate the temporal dimension of institutional design.


Drawing on the spiritual autobiography of the nineteenth-century Black female preacher Zilpha Elaw, this article argues that it should be included in the canon of Christian mystical texts because it sheds light on questions about race and gender relevant to current conflicts in both church and society. Elaw's story demonstrates that while the grace of divine union promotes social transformation, it may not immediately free one from structures of sin. Mystical spirituality requires ongoing critical discernment.


ABSTRACT Controversy exists regarding the processes involved in creative thinking with the Remote Associates Test (RAT) and the Compound Remote Associates Test (CRAT). We report three experiments that aimed to shed light on the component processes underpinning CRAT performance by using the mere presence of task-irrelevant sound as a key theoretical tool. Experiments 1 and 2 revealed that CRAT performance was impaired relative to a quiet condition by the presence of sequences of changing letters and tones, respectively. In both experiments a non-changing sound (a repeated letter or a repeated tone) produced no disruption relative to quiet. Experiment 3 established that additional disruption was engendered by having to ignore meaningful speech as compared to meaningless speech. These experiments demonstrate that both semantic activation and subvocalisation are important determinants of successful creative thinking with CRAT problems. We suggest that semantic activation underpins solution-generation processes whereas subvocalisation underpins solution-evaluation processes.


The purpose of this study was to investigate specific factors associated with job satisfaction and dissatisfaction of male and female teachers of agriculture in Georgia. According to Lawler (1977), "the research evidence clearly shows that employees' decisions about whether they will go to work on any given day and whether they will quit are affected by their feelings of job satisfaction" (Lawler, 1977, p. 361). Researchers (Beavers, Jewell, Malpiedi, 1987; Flowers & Pebble, 1988; Grady, 1985; Newcomb, Betts, & Cano, 1987) concluded that agriculture teachers are fairly or moderately satisfied with their jobs (Cano & Miller, 1992). Ricketts, Stone & Adams (2006) concluded, "females were satisfied with their careers and felt accepted by students, administrators, parents of students, and the community". Determining the factors that influence job satisfaction and knowledge of the correlations for Georgia secondary agricultural educators will assist teacher educators in offering more appropriate development opportunities for teachers in addition to determining if there are differences in job perception or job issues with respect to gender.


This brief presents a built-in self-calibration (BISC) technique for minimization of the total jitter in bang-bang all-digital phase-locked loops (ADPLLs). It is based on the addition of a monitoring phase-frequency detector (PFD) with tunable delay cells for the reference clock and the divider clock and a counter for this PFD output signal. This allows for on-chip binary comparison of the jitter distribution widths at the ADPLL PFD input, when ADPLL filter parameters are altered. Since only a relative comparison is performed, no accurate delay calibration is required. The statistical properties of this comparison of two random distributions are analyzed theoretically, and guidelines for circuit dimensioning are derived. The proposed method is used for BISC by adaption of the ADPLL filter coefficients. This allows for jitter minimization under process, voltage and temperature variations as well as gain and period jitter of the digitally controlled oscillator. The proposed calibration technique is verified by system simulations and measurements of a silicon prototype implementation in 28-nm CMOS technology.


presented to our institution with a 6month history of recurrent episodes of jaundice and pruritus. Over this period a number of endoscopic retrograde cholangiographies (ERCs) had been undertaken, demonstrating mucin at the ampullary orifice and a dilated biliary system packed with mucin plugs (●" Fig. 1). Repeated biliary stenting had been performed for symptomatic relief. On referral to our institution, the patient was jaundiced with a bilirubin of 426 μmol/L (normal range 5.1–17.0 μmol/L). A mother-daughter video cholangioscopy with narrow-band imaging (NBI) capability (CHF-Y0002, Olympus, Melville, New York,USA)was carriedouton the suspicion of presence of a mucin-secreting tumor within the biliary tree. A nasobiliary drain was placed for 48 hours to facilitate irrigation of the biliary tree. At cholangioscopy, multiple lesions, characterized by a fish egg-like appearance, were identified at the bifurcation of the intrahepatic ducts and in the distal bile duct just proximal to the ampulla, consistent with multicentric papillomatosis (●" Fig. 2,●" Video 1). The patient was subsequently referred for consideration for liver transplantation and Whipple resection. However, in the course of this workup, hewas deemed unsuitable for surgical resection because of the spread of tumor to surrounding lymph nodes. The patient has since been managed endoscopically with bilateral hilar stenting without complication. Biliary papillomatosis, first reported by Chappet in 1894, is a rare disease characterized by multiple papillary adenomas in the biliary tree [1]. It should be considered a premalignant conditionwith a high malignant potential [2]. The disease is characterized by relapsing episodes of acute cholangitis and obstructive jaundice resulting from intermittent biliary obstruction from secreted mucin and the tumor itself, and secondary cirrhosis is often present by the time of presentation [3]. ERC has a key role in the diagnosis of biliary papillomatosis. Diffuse bile duct dilatation associated with amorphous filling defects are characteristic findings at cholangiography. However, a large amount of mucin secretion and obstruction by the tumor prevent complete opacification of the entire biliary tract. As a result, precise evaluation of ductal extent by ERC is often suboptimal. Diagnosis is usually confirmed by tissue biopsy either through peroral or percutaneous transhepatic cholangioscopy [2]. Peroral cholangioscopy facilitates noninvasive visualization of the biliary system. While the conventional method involved the use of fiberoptic mother-daughter cholangioscopy, its use is becoming less common with the advent of the Spyglass system. However, our case, in addition to the report by Itoi et al., demonstrates that NBI video cholangioscopy provides superior images in terms of quality and size in contrast with both Spyglass and fiberoptic cholangioscopy [4,5]. Video cholangioscopy in our patient detailed clearly the multicentric extent of the disease, thereby having the potential to guide the appropriate surgical procedure. In addition, mucosal imaging techniques such as NBI may facilitate improved characterization and targeted biopsies of abnormal lesions in the biliary tract similar to their emerging role in the gastrointestinal tract [6].


Cognitive processing of social and nonsocial information changes with age. These processes range from the ones that serve "mere" cognitive functions, such as recall strategies and reasoning, to those that serve functions that pertain to self-regulation and relating to others. However, aging and the development of social cognition unfold in different cultural contexts, which may assume distinct social norms and values. Thus, the resulting age-related differences in cognitive and social cognitive processes may differ across cultures. On the one hand, biological aging could render age-related differences in social cognition universal; on the other hand, culture may play a role in shaping some age-related differences. Indeed, many aspects of cognition and social cognition showed different age and culture interactions, and this makes the study of these phenomena more complex. Future aging research on social cognition should take cultural influences into consideration.


The European colonial expansion in Africa disrupted and in instances stopped the celebration and development of traditional values in the colonised territories. This disruption is more acute in southern Africa, especially in the South African territory of Zululand, where the European economic and political policies led to a state of apartheid, which existed from 1948 to 1991, and uneven development afterwards. Several of the nations in the formerly colonised areas are trying to re-create and re-form their traditional values. The AmaZulu, who occupy the north-eastern part of South Africa, are a nation of proud antecedents and rich traditional values and they are now evolving practices and ideas to re-create the lost cultural heritage of the people. A part of the cultural rejuvenation is the annual Nomkhubulwana (Nomdede) festival in celebration of the Virgin Queen. This paper highlights some aspects of traditional revival in the 1990s, after the apartheid period when the nation was trying to reform its relevance.


An experimental study of the interaction between streamwise vortices and two-dimensional oblique shock waves has been conducted at Mach 2.5. The experiments involved positioning an instrumented two-dimensional wedge downstream of a semispan wing so that the trailing tip vortex from the wing interacted with the oblique shock wave formed over the wedge surface. The experiments were designed to simulate interaction of streamwise vortices with shock waves formed over aerodynamic surfaces or in supersonic inlets. The influence of oblique shock wave intensity on this inherently three-dimensional interaction was examined for vortices of variable strength. Results indicate that the interaction of a moderate strength vortex with an oblique shock wave can lead to the formation of a steady separated shock structure upstream of the oblique shock front. A significant expansion of the vortex core is observed in these cases, and the scale of the structure increases with shock wave intensity. In some instances the separated shock structure continues through the oblique shock front to strike the shock-generating wedge forming a three-dimensional shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction. The experiments indicate that significant distortion of streamwise vortices can be precipitated by oblique shock fronts with supersonic downstream conditions.


Rumen fluid of cows with subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA) has high concentrations of short chain fatty acids (SCFA). However, the mechanism of SCFA accumulation is unknown. The solute-linked carrier 5a8 (SLC5A8) plays a key role in the transportation and absorption of SCFA in the intestinal epithelium. The objective of the current study was to investigate (1) SLC5A8 gene and protein expression in various parts of the bovine gastrointestinal tract, (2) the effect of SCFA on SLC5A8 expression in rumen epithelial cells, and (3) SLC5A8 gene and protein expression in SARA and healthy cows. A total of 10 dairy cows, 84 ± 26 days in milk and in their second to fourth parity were allocated to control (n = 5) and SARA groups (n = 5). Three cows from the control group and three calves (1-day-old, female, 45–50 kg, healthy, fasting) were chosen to collect a total of 10 sections of digestive tract, from rumen to rectum, and then bovine ruminal epithelial cells were isolated from the three calves. Gene and protein expression of SLC5A8 was detected in all tested regions of the gastrointestinal tract in calves and adult cows by Western blot and quantitative real-time PCR and were both highest in the rumen. Gene and protein expression of SLC5A8 was more than 50% lower in the rumen epithelium of SARA vs. control cows and was partly restored after therapy of SARA cows. Compared with SCFA concentrations typical for control cows (60 mM acetate, 30 mM propionate, and 20 mM butyrate), gene and protein expression of SLC5A8 in rumen epithelium was lower at elevated SCFA concentrations typical for SARA cows (90 mM acetate, 40 mM propionate, and 30 mM butyrate), specifically for elevated concentrations of propionate or butyrate in contrast to elevated concentrations of acetate increased gene and protein expression of SLC5A8 in rumen epithelium. In conclusion, the elevated concentrations of propionate and butyrate inhibit ruminal absorption of SCFA via downregulation of SLC5A8 in SARA cows; the expression of SLC5A8 plays an important role in the etiology of SARA.


7 Be ( t 1/2 = 53 days) is generated by cosmic rays in the upper troposphere and stratosphere, and is a tracer of downward aerosol transport. We apply a singular value decomposition (SVD)-based technique, which simultaneously determines patterns of significant spatial and temporal variability, to  7 Be surface concentration data records that are 22 years long, from 19 locations distributed globally. Significant variability occurs on time scales corresponding to the solar cycle (≈11 years), El Nino/Southern Oscillation (≈2–3 years), an annual cycle, and a semi-annual cycle. The phase of the solar cycle signal varies little globally, except at the south pole, where low magnetic shielding may permit direct penetration of solar particles during times of high solar activity. The spatial variability of the phase of the ENSO signal corresponds with the effects of observed rainfall anomalies during ENSO. The phases of the annual and semi-annual signals depend upon the spatial distribution of vertical transport and precipitation. The temporal variabilities, or modes, corresponding to these signals sum together to form a variety of annual  7 Be cyclicities at different locations. We compare reconstructions of the time series based on the SVD analysis with the observed time series at 6 locations. The 4 modes explain between 19% and 47% of the monthly variance at these 6 sites. We show how various locations are affected by differing relative amounts and phases of the 4 signals. We also calculated the spatial variability of the annual cycle phase from a larger data set, by fitting a sinusoid to the average annual cycles at the sites. The agreement between the SVD and the sine-fitting results serves to validate both approaches. DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0889.48.issue3.1.x


The state-of-the-art criteria and tools for an efficient development of mass producible MMICs are discussed with reference to a specific development philosophy. The available yield evaluation systems are then critically analyzed and the results of a systematic functional yield evaluation performed on a large number of monolithic circuit components are reported. A statistically meaningful database (including both FET equivalent circuit and S parameters) developed for parametric yield evaluation and yield-driven design centering is described. Through a significant example, the possibility is demonstrated of drastically improving the accuracy of the parametric circuit yield forecasts by using a small set of mutually uncorrelated process dependent parameters and by making reference to a physically based semiempirical FET model. >


The common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula), introduced from Australia in the mid-nineteenth century, is an invasive species in New Zealand where it is widespread and forms the largest self-sustained reservoir of bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis) among wild populations. Conservation and agricultural authorities regularly apply a series of population control measures to suppress brushtail possum populations. The evolutionary consequence of more than half a century of intensive population control operations on the species' genomic diversity and population structure is hindered by a paucity of available genomic resources. This study is the first to characterise the functional content and diversity of brushtail possum liver and brain cerebral cortex transcriptomes. Raw sequences from hepatic cells and cerebral cortex were assembled into 58,001 and 64,735 transcripts respectively. Functional annotation and polymorphism assignment of the assembled transcripts demonstrated a considerable level of variation in the core metabolic pathways that represent potential targets for selection pressure exerted by chemical toxicants. This study suggests that the brushtail possum population in New Zealand harbours considerable variation in metabolic pathways that could potentially promote the development of tolerance against chemical toxicants.


Person re-identification (re-ID) performance has been significantly boosted in recent works, but re-ID model trained on one dataset usually cannot work effectively on another one. To address this problem, we proposed a novel framework—double-domain translation generative adversarial network (DTGAN) that can train images between two domains and generalize the model trained on one domain well to another domain. We divide this paper into two steps. First, the source images are translated in an unsupervised manner, and the translated images retain the style of target images and the ID labels in the source domain. Second, the translated images are used as the training data for supervised feature learning. Besides, with the purpose of moderating the influence of noise, we employ the strategy of label smoothing regularization (LSR). In our experiments, we observe that the images generated by the DTGAN are of high quality and more appropriate for domain adaption. In addition, the re-ID accuracy of the DTGAN is competitive to the state-of-the-art methods on Market-1501 and DukeMTMC-reID.


The main focus of this paper is to present a sustainability evaluation framework which in-cludes environmental, ecological and social aspects. The framework has been developed and tested in a case study within the construction and demolition sector. Groups of long term un-employed people were offered environmental education and manual labour, working with recovery and recycling of building and demolition wastes as a form of vocational advance-ment, within a project carried out in two Norwegian and one Swedish municipality. The paper presents result from a case study of the Swedish part of the project. Two groups of unem-ployed people have worked within the project for periods between six months and one year. A number of activities were studied in closer detail, and indicators of the different aspects were obtained empirically and through literature studies. Ratio-indicators, linking indicators from different aspects to one and other were calculated. For instance ecological and economical ratio indicators were calculated, resulting in eco-efficiency figures allowing for comparisons of different activities. As for reducing environmental impact, the most promising results were shown within the process of preparing bricks for re-using. This activity also proved to be eco-nomically sustainable, but concern for lacking sustainability from a health and work environ-ment perspective is expressed. The discussion analyses the possibility to use the framework for sustainability analysis as intended, and some remaining questions that need to be ad-dressed in further development of the framework. One conclusion is that the data collection to perform this kind of sustainability analysis is resource demanding, and that it therefore would be of interest to identify a smaller number of core indicators.


Home Automation Environments are characterized by the integration of electronic devices as well as by the performance of communication and control systems. Environment infrastructure has to meet several requirements including Quality of Service (QoS), safety, security, and energy saving. However, Home Automation deals with complex environments, so that advanced data management systems are required to meet the above constraints. Fuzzy Logic based techniques can be successful used to improve system performance management. This work proposes and describes the use and application of fuzzy rules on a two-tiered architecture integrating a biometric authentication module and communication real-time constraints. The goal is to combine the advantages of wired and wireless networks as well as the biometric recognition accuracy to increase the flexibility and the performance of the proposed deadline oriented architecture. The experimental results of the user authentication module, the energy consumption module and the scheduling module for real-time mobile communication are also outlined.


Communication between politicians and the public is rarely direct and first-hand, but almost always mediated by journalist opinions and values. Consequently, the way in which the media reports on State matters has a profound impact on people's understanding of political processes and their attitudes towards the governing figures. The aim of this research project is to investigate the role that the Polish Press assumes in mediating women's involvement in contemporary politics. Stemming from the perspective of feminist critical linguistics, the thesis empirically examines a wide array of media publications derived from leading Polish socio-political magazines ('Polityka', 'Wprost', 'Newsweek Polska') and electronic press. By engaging with the journalist discourse, it focuses on the importance of language in generating epistemological claims about women and femininity. It demonstrates not only how female subjectivities are produced in the Polish public domain, but also how history and culture impinge on these constructions in a dialectical-relational manner. The intention is to draw up an 'inventory' of signifying practices through which female MPs emerge as gendered subjects in the hope that this will inspire closer scrutiny of media content, leading to its informed critique and transformation.


We preach the healing power of God from our pulpits. But do we practice it? It's time that we, as pastors, take a step of faith and let God use us to administer His healing touch—and show our church members how they can do it, too. From his own experience, Pastor Chip Crosby offers a faith-inspiring testimony of what happens when we take God as His word.


Ability of isolated myofibrils for relaxation was studied in a medium with KCl concentrations of 6 to 250 mM with ATP content varying from 0.01 to 1.0 mM. It was shown that myofibrils can relax at all the studied values of the ionic strength, but ATP concentration required for the relaxation is to increase with decreasing the ionic strength A stable state of Ca2+-sensitive system of myofibrils is maintained at approximately the same values of ATP and KCl concentrations. A possible mechanism of this phenomenon is discussed.


This study focuses on the process-induced fiber bundle waviness in carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites (CFRTP). Fiber bundle waviness is often observed in manufactured CFRTPs, which deteriorates the mechanical properties. This study experimentally investigates the quantitative measurement of fiber bundle waviness in unidirectional CFRTP using the optical microscope and the X-ray CT scanning. Flexural mechanical properties are measured in relation to the magnitude of the included fiber waviness. Strength deterioration is experimentally evaluated as a function of the fiber waviness parameter.


This paper develops a game theory optimization model of market efficiency and derives conditions under which voluntary pooling is sustained for US/Canada durum and hard red spring wheat producers. Analysis reveals that United States and Canadian farmers can increase farm returns with efficiency gains from pooling and by internalizing benefits from grain blending and logistics. The model is used to analyze diverse factors affecting the sustainability of such a pool.


A catalytic method for the preparation of a series of fatty acid derived biocarbonates has been developed using a binary Al-complex/PPNCl catalyst. This catalyst system allows conversion of fatty acid derived epoxides under comparatively mild reaction conditions (70–85 °C, 10 bar) while maintaining high levels of diastereospecificity with cis/trans ratios of up to 97 : 3 in the products. The comparative catalysis data obtained for the reactions catalysed only by the nucleophilic halide based components show that the presence of the Al-complex is crucial for the retention of the original stereochemistry.


We investigate the sensitivity and figure of merit (FOM) of a localized surface plasmon (LSP) sensor with gold nanograting on the top of planar metallic film. The sensitivity of the localized surface plasmon sensor is 317 nm/RIU, and the FOM is predicted to be above 8, which is very high for a localized surface plasmon sensor. By employing the rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) method, we analyze the distribution of the magnetic field and find that the sensing property of our proposed system is attributed to the interactions between the localized surface plasmon around the gold nanostrips and the surface plasmon polarition on the surface of the gold planar metallic film. These findings are important for developing high FOM localized surface plasmon sensors.


This is a multiyear experimental research program that focuses on improving relevant material properties of high-critical-temperature (Tc) superconductors and developing fabrication methods that can be transferred to industry for production of commercial conductors. The development of teaming relationships through agreements with industrial partners is a key element of the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) program.


Land animal domestication has typically led to remarkable phenotypic diversity, stemming from a broad genetic background. The process of land animal domestication turns out to be a complex, long-term event with extensive gene-flow between wild and captive populations. Using pig as model, this chapter provides an in-depth overview of domesticationrelated events leading towards the genetic diversity in extant pig breeds. Five events in the evolutionary history and domestication of pigs can be recognized that are important for the genetic variation in modern pig genomes: (1) Speciation of Sus species in Island South-East Asia (ISEA); (2) Divergence between European and Asian lineages; (3) Independent domestication leading to separate domesticated clades in Europe and Asia; (4) Hybridization between domesticated pigs from Asia and Europe; and (5) Breed formation. Remarkably, the extensive mixture of genetic material leading towards the current European commercial pigs has resulted in domestic breeds that are genetically more diverse than their wild ancestors. Nowadays, commercial breeding and genomics go hand in hand. Genomics has not only proven useful to provide understanding about the domestication history of pigs but also about the molecular mechanisms underlying traits of interest. Moreover, genomic selection is an important tool integral to modern commercial breeding.


This essay is an analysis and expanded defense of John Sutton's essay "Exograms and Interdisciplinarity: History, the Extended Mind, and the Civilizing Process." The first section of the essay surveys the extended mind literature, following the first and second waves of the Extended Mind theory. The second section explains Sutton's exograms as external representations of internal thought. This section also details his argument that exograms extend the mind because, historically, exograms play a role in the internal functioning of a mind. The third section defends Sutton's argument from objections against their place in mental processes, namely memory. The fourth section argues against the objection that the mind cannot be extended beyond the brain, by appealing to a computational view of functionalism. The conclusions drawn from the third and fourth sections are that the mind, through language, extends with culture and that, even in cognitive science, it is fruitful to study the mind extended as such.


The Providence Health System (PHS) in Oregon is an individual practice association model health maintenance organisation with more than 300 000 covered lives in our capitated model and more than 360 000 members in our preferred provider model, which is a discounted fee for service structure. PHS has 12 000 employees, over 1400 acute and long term beds, and a demonstrated commitment to social accountability. Tobacco cessation programs are one of the top priorities for reducing overall cardiac morbidity and mortality. A regional health system task force for tobacco cessation comprised of key personnel and stakeholders was formed in 1994 (table 1). The physician leader's role was to educate medical care providers on smoking cessation, while the program development administrator helped coordinate activities and was instrumental in securing funds for all initiatives. Health education played a critical role in administration of the intensive cessation interventions and other member focused interventions. Health plan involvement was important in changing the benefit structure of the health plan to broaden coverage for smoking cessation programs. Pharmacy input was needed with the advent of several new pharmaceutical tobacco cessation interventions.

View this table:

Table 1
Make up of PHS smoking cessation task force

The PHS smoking cessation task force developed a multifaceted approach to tobacco cessation (fig 1). The overall program starts with a variety of cessation services offered to our patients. The group support program is a 10 session behaviour modification class. The telephone support program ("Free & Clear", Group Health Cooperative, Puget Sound) is provided to members. The individual support intervention (one on one), for highly comorbid patients who have failed group support, consists of individual counselling with a highly trained smoking cessation counsellor for 12 months. The task force developed self help materials in Spanish and Russian. We have a pharmacotherapy benefit for the over the counter nicotine patch and …


Corporate law scholarship is replete with those who favor an enabling approach to regulation, with companies having the right to opt in to particular requirements or regimes. Opting in (or out) permits private ordering and allows for efficient relationships that are a product of bargaining between owners and managers. This paper tests the core claim of scholars in the nexus of contracts tradition - that private ordering as a process of bargaining creates optimal rules. We do this by analyzing empirical evidence in the context of waiver of liability provisions. The article examines the history of these provisions, emphasizing that they arose in Delaware not from an effort to overturn Van Gorkom but from a decision to intervene in the market for D&O insurance. In other words, their genesis was owed to a desire to interfere with market forces with respect to insurance. The Delaware model allowed companies to opt in to a regime that eliminated monetary damages for breach of the duty of care through amendments to the articles of incorporation. The contractarian approach would suggest that shareholders and management would use this authority to negotiate agreements that are in their mutual best interests. If a process of bargaining is at work as they claim, the opt-in process ought to result in a variety of practices, with some companies adopting waiver of liability provisions, others not, while still others modify the provisions to only waive liability in particular circumstances. These provisions, therefore, represent a laboratory for determining whether, and the degree to which, bargaining to achieve more efficient private arrangements actually occurs. Our analysis reveals that the diversity predicted by a private ordering model is not borne out by the evidence. Instead, the evidence shows that one categorical rule (liability for breach of the duty of care) was merely replaced by another (no liability for a breach of the duty of care), with no evidence that the change increased efficiency. The article demonstrates that bargaining does not take place as the contractarian thesis would predict and that the so called private ordering does not necessarily result in greater efficiency.


The aim of this paper is to prove a uniform Fourier restriction estimate for certain $2-$dimensional surfaces in $\mathbb R^{2n}$. These surfaces are the image of complex polynomial curves $\gamma(z) = (p_1(z), \dots, p_n(z))$, equipped with the complex equivalent to the affine arclength measure. This result is a complex-polynomial counterpart to a previous result by Stovall [Sto16] in the real setting. As a means to prove this theorem we provide an alternative proof of a geometric inequality by Dendrinos and Wright [DW10] that extends the result to complex polynomials.


Research indicates that veterans would like their families to be more involved in their mental health care. While Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) policy requires certain providers to discuss veterans' interest in family involvement in their mental health care, no published studies have examined the associations between family involvement and mental health outcomes in routine VA mental health care. This study assessed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms before and after veterans' first family session to test whether symptoms changed after family inclusion. The study used administrative data from VA medical records from 2008–2013. Veterans included in the present study sample had at least one assessment of PTSD symptoms in the year prior to and following their first family session (N = 6,107). Multilevel models tested whether PTSD symptoms changed over time. Moderator analyses assessed whether the change in PTSD symptoms differed depending on the veteran's gender, psychiatric comorbidities, and intensity of family involvement following the first session. On average, results showed statistically, but not clinically, significant reductions in PTSD symptoms after the first family session. Women veterans, veterans with comorbid depression, and those who had eight or more family sessions showed stronger symptom reductions than others. This study provides provisional evidence that family involvement is associated with PTSD symptom reduction.


Recent rise in global warming and fluctuations in world economy needs the best engineering designs to extract hydrocarbons from unconventional resources. Unconventional resources mostly found in over-pressured and deep formations, where the host rock has very high strength and integrity. Fracturing techniques becomes very challenging when implemented in these types of rocks, and in many cases approached to the maximum operational limits without generating any fracture. This leaves a small operational window to initiate and place the hydraulic fractures. Current stimulation methods to fracture these formations involve with adverse environmental effects and high costs due to the entailment of water mixed with huge volumes of chemicals such as biocides, scale inhibitors, polymers, friction reducers, rheology modifiers, corrosion inhibitors, and many more.
 In this study, a novel environmentally friendly approach to reduce the breakdown pressure of the unconventional rock is presented. The new approach makes it possible to fracture the high strength rocks more economically and in more environmentally friendly way. The new method incorporates the injection of chemical free fracturing fluid in a series of cycles with a progressive increase of pressure in every cycle. This will allow stress relaxation at the fracture tip and correspondingly enough time for fracturing fluid to infiltrate deep inside the rock sample and weaken the rock matrix. As a result of which the tensile strength-ultimately the breakdown pressure of the rock gets reduced. The present study is carried out on different cement blocks.
 The post treatment experimental analysis confirmed the success of cyclic fracturing treatment. The results of this study showed that the newly formulated method of cyclic injection can reduce the breakdown pressure by up to 24% of the original value. This reduction in breakdown pressure helped to overcome the operational limits in the field and makes the fracturing operation greener.


The reactive behavior of acetylcholine and its agonist molecules have been investigated using B3LYP hybrid density functional method at the 6-311++G** basis set level, in the gas phase and aqueous phase. The calculations have been performed to obtain optimized geometries, relative reactivities, net atomic charges, HOMO, and LUMO energies. The solvent effect has been analyzed by using the continuum model (IPCM) and, the obtained results have shown that the all molecules have been stabilized more by solvent dielectric constant. For Ach and its analogues, it has been very well known that esteratic site and quaternary ammonium group which have reflected the difference in biological activity have been the two of the most important active site for interactions between molecule and its receptor. The structures of these analogues have provided an essential foundation for subsequent structure-activity analysis of ligand binding at acetylcholine receptors, neuronal uptake inhibitors and transporters. Molecular modeling predictions will be important initial steps toward the development of novel pharmaceuticals in the fight acetylcholine-related neurological disorders. This work is therefore expected to facilitate the design and development of new biologically active Ach analogues to treat Ach-related neurological disorders and, specially is used to qualitative understanding of the reactivity and related properties and, so on can be used to a preselection of new ligands which at the moment is taken essentially from empirical knowledge. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2011


Elimination of connection between an increase in transport and economic growth has been the main aim of the transport policy of the EU for a few years and it has not been accomplished yet. Transportation causes considerable external costs that have concrete originators but are not paid by them. The biggest external costs are connected with emissions, noise, accidents and congestions. In this contribution, the problem of congestions, which currently bother drivers in EU was analysed, together with possibilities for their solving, since the congestions' reduction is one of the priorities of the EU's transport policy. The task was to observe a relation between the basic traffic flow characteristics on the specific section of the road no. I/65 and to identify effects on traffic in general, as well as to specify reasons and conditions within the traffic congestions that occurred. These results are a basis for the theoretical proposal of possible solutions of the issue.


OBJECTIVE
This study compared three instruments that are used to measure empowerment of people with psychotic disorders. The study evaluated internal consistency, discriminant and convergent validity, sensitivity to symptom levels, and clinical usefulness.

METHODS
Fifty patients in the Netherlands were administered the Empowerment Scale (ES), the Personal Empowerment Scale (PES), and the Mental Health Confidence Scale (MHCS).

RESULTS
The MHCS had good internal consistency, whereas the levels for the ES and PES were just below what would be considered acceptable. The instruments demonstrated moderate correlations between total scores; correlations between subscale scores were weaker. Scores for all three instruments were comparably associated with symptom severity.

CONCLUSIONS
All three instruments measure some aspect of empowerment among persons with severe mental illness. However, empowerment is too broadly defined to allow these instruments to have convergent validity. Among patients with psychotic disorders, the MHCS is recommended because it has good psychometric qualities and is clinically useful.


Minisatellites or VNTR fingerprinting of 20 samples of Holstein and Jersey cattle breed amplified with (FP) and (RP) primers, the results showed that the varied VNTR patterns were generated from genomic templates depending on the primers and species. The same primer applied to the same breed, all the main bands are the similar but which were different among species, which is lead to the different fingerprinting patterns. Whereas, AFLP-PCR showed that the patterns of DNA fingerprinting amplified with EcoRI FP and EcoRI RF were very different among species of Holstein and Jersey cattle breeds, but similar within specie. Different genetic backgrounds of these two species generated different fingerprint patterns. The last technique RAPD-PCR was carried out with 9 random primers. From the 9 random
primers, a total of 49 bands were amplified and 33 of these ( about 66.87% ) were found to be polymorphic among the Holstein population and a total of 53 bands were amplified out of which only 35 were polymorphic giving (about 66.20%) polymorphism in Jersey cattle. The estimate of GI was highest (0.679) with the primer OPS-13 and the lowest (0.139) with the primer OPS-06. The GI pooled over the primers was (0.309±0.06) between these breeds and the MAPD estimate to be (66.9866±6.34). It might be concluded that the genetic identity index between these two breeds on the basis of BF showed moderate level of GI with the primers employed. MAPD calculated on the basis of uncommon bands also demonstrated lower to medium level of genetic difference between Holstein and Jersey breeds of cattle.


Half-ducted fan and ducted fan have been designed and numerically analyzed for investigating the radial flow effect on the overall performance and the three dimensional flow field in design. Based on quasi-three dimensional flow theory, the meridional flow was calculated by adopting the radial balance equations, while the calculation of the blade to blade flow was obtained by 2D cascade data with the correction by a potential flow theory. Two types of axial flow fan were designed. One is the full ducted case as if it was in the straight pipe and another is the half-ducted case with the radial inflow and outflow. The previous experimental results of authors were used to decide the inclinations of both the inflow and outflow. And the circular arc blade with equal thickness was adopted. The numerical results indicate that both of the designed fans can reach the specified efficiency and also the efficiency surpasses more than 11%. Furthermore, the static pressure characteristic of half-ducted fan is much better than that of ducted fan. In comparison of the three dimensional internal flow of these two fans, the improvement of the flow angle at inlet and outlet, the distributions of velocity in the flow field and the pressure distributions on the blade surfaces can be achieved more successfully in accordance with the design intension on consideration of flow angle in design. The conclusion that half-ducted design with considering radial inflow and outflow is feasible and valid in comparison with ducted design for axial flow fans has been obtained at the end of the paper.


The regulation of hematopoiesis in non-mammalian vertebrates is poorly understood. This is partly because the structures and effects of most hematopoietic regulators have not been identified. As a first step towards studies on the key mechanism of hematopoietic regulation among phyla as well as the diversity of organisms, we have focused on amphibian hematopoiesis. A cDNA sharing the highest degree of homology with mammalian erythropoietin (EPO) receptors, tentatively named xlEPOR, was cloned from a cDNA library of Xenopus laevis immature erythrocytes. The comparative identities of the deduced entire amino acid sequence to mammalian EPO receptors were quite low, although functional domains indispensable for erythropoietic activities were found in the molecule. Northern analysis revealed that xlEPOR were expressed in peripheral blood cells. In the peripheral blood of phenylhydrazine-treated adult Xenopus, immature erythrocytes expressing xlEPOR were identified by in situ hybridization and immunostaining with polyclonal antibodies to xlEPOR. To confirm the biological functions of this molecule, the extracellular domain of xlEPOR (i.e., soluble xlEPOR) was administered to adult Xenopus by consecutive intracardiac injection. The peripheral erythrocyte counts were decreased gradually; meanwhile, immature erythrocytes appeared in the circulation, demonstrating that xlEPOR plays a significant physiological role in erythropoiesis in Xenopus laevis.


Designing effective dispatching rules is an important factor for many manufacturing systems. However, this time-consuming process has been performed manually for a very long time. Recently, some machine learning approaches have been proposed to support this task. In this paper, we investigate the use of genetic programming for automatically discovering new dispatching rules for the single objective job shop scheduling problem (JSP). Different representations of the dispatching rules in the literature are newly proposed in this paper and are compared and analysed. Experimental results show that the representation that integrates system and machine attributes can improve the quality of the evolved rules. Analysis of the evolved rules also provides useful knowledge about how these rules can effectively solve JSP.


Abstract Social policy research often depends on the application of generalisations from social science. Questions like 'what works?' assume that general principles can be translated from specific examples into other contexts. Pawson and Tilley argue that effective policy research has to depend on the idea of a 'generative mechanism', or relationships of cause and effect. Explaining issues in terms of causes, however, is problematic. Social phenomena tend to be multifaceted, and even relatively simple phenomena are likely to be influenced by a range of different factors; causal analyses have to be developed by interpretation, and the analyses are frequently wrong. Causal explanations often claim to do more than they can deliver: even if there is a convincing causal explanation, it does not necessarily imply any prescription for policy. There are ways of generalising, however, that do not depend on causal analysis. Phronesis develops principles experientially, setting them against empirical evidence, and it does not need to consider underlying mechanisms to be effective. Phronesis provides the basis for a critique of technocratic approaches, a rationale for action and a focus for the development of alternative methods and approaches. A dependence on phronesis cannot avoid all of the pitfalls associated with generalisation, but it is more flexible, and less presumptuous, than a causal approach.