The relationship between nonfinancial and financial performance measures has been extensively investigated (Banker and Mashruwala, 2007; Banker et al., 2000; Ittner and Larcker, 1998a; Sun and Kim, 2013). However, prior studies have tended to focus their investigation on the relationship between one nonfinancial measure in isolation with another financial measure (Bryant et al., 2004). While these studies provide valuable insights into the contemporaneous and temporal relationship between nonfinancial and financial performance, they are criticized for failing to capture the "trade-off" between various performance measures, which may in turn lead to unreasonable conclusions (Bryant et al., 2004; Ittner and Larcker, 2001). This research, therefore, attempts to address this limitation by conducting a simultaneous investigation of the links between productivity, service quality, customer satisfaction, and financial performance in the US Airline industry. Drawing on the Resource Based View and Stakeholder Theory, an integrative framework is developed to investigate the linkages between airline productivity, service quality, customer satisfaction, and financial performance. This theoretical framework is tested using a longitudinal panel data set drawn from seven major US Airlines over 15 years (1995-2009).
Using the partial least square approach to structural equation modelling, findings of this research suggest that improvements in airline productivity can lead to enhancement of service quality as reflected in reductions in flight delays, mishandled baggage, and customer complaints. Airline productivity is also positively linked to current and future periods of financial performance. Further, the results uncovered in this research also suggest that service quality problems, such as flight delays and mishandled baggage, have strong negative effects on current and future customer satisfaction. The results also show that changes in service quality are not reflected concurrently in financial performance. Such changes in service quality are found to have significant impact on future financial performance. However, the link between customer satisfaction and current and future financial performance is not significant.
This research contributes to literature by (1) developing an integrative framework drawing on the Resource Based View and The Stakeholder Theory, and (2) identifying the lag length required for the changes on exogenous variables to be reflected on the endogenous variables. Empirically, this research contributes by applying the PLS-SEM that enables simultaneous investigation of multiple variables. It also contributes to practice by providing useful insights for managers for strategy formulation and evaluation.


Steganography in multimedia aims to embed secret data into an innocent multimedia cover object. The embedding introduces some distortion to the cover object and produces a corresponding stego-object. The embedding distortion is measured by a cost function that determines the probability of detection of the existence of secret embedded data. An accurate definition of the cost function and its relation to the maximum embedding rate is the keystone for the proper evaluation of a steganographic system. Additionally, the statistical distribution of multimedia sources follows the Gibbs distribution which is a complex statistical model that prohibits a thorough mathematical analysis.Previous multimedia steganographic approaches either assume a relaxed statistical distribution of multimedia sources or presume a proposition on the maximum embedding rate then try to prove the correctness of the proposition. Alternatively, this paper introduces an analytical procedure for calculating the maximum embedding rate within multimedia cover objects through a constrained optimization problem that governs the relationship between the maximum embedding rate and the probability of detection by any steganographic detector. In the optimization problem, we use the KL-divergence between the statistical distributions for the cover and the stego-objects to be our cost function as it upper limits the performance of the optimal steganographic detector. To solve the optimization problem, we establish an equivalence between the Gibbs and the correlated-multivariate-quantized-Gaussian distributions for mathematical thorough analysis. The solution to our optimization problem provides an analytical form for the maximum embedding rate in terms of the WrightOmega function. Moreover, we prove that the achieved maximum embedding rate comes in agreement with the well-known square root law (SRL) of steganography. We also establish the relationship between the achieved maximum embedding rate and the experimental results obtained from several embedding and detection steganographic techniques.


The deep-sea tube worm Lamellibrachia, belonging to the phylum Vestimentifera, contains two types of extracellular hemoglobins, a 3,000 kDa hemoglobin and a 440 kDa hemoglobin. The latter hemoglobin is composed of four heme-containing chains with molecular masses of 16-18 kDa. We have collected Lamellibrachia sp.1, Lamellibrachia sp.2 and Slender vestimentifera gen. sp.1 from the deep-sea cold-seep or hydrothermal areas at a depth of 1100-1400 m. The four constituent chains of the 440 kDa hemoglobin were isolated from each of the three tube worms by reverse-phase chromatography, and the N-terminal amino acid sequences of 16-44 residues were determined by automated protein sequencer. The amino acid sequences of the homologous chains showed high homology (76-85%), suggesting that they are closely related. The sequences also showed 45-49% homology with annelid hemoglobins. A phylogenetic tree constructed from hemoglobin sequences showed that the tube worm Lamellibrachia, the polychaete Tylorrhynchus and the oligochaete Lumbricus diverged from a common ancestor at almost the same time, about 450 million years before present.


Water deficit negatively affects crop development and productivity. With decreasing rainfall and shortage of arable land, there is a demand for alternative drought-tolerant species for use on non-arable land. The tree species Balanites aegyptiaca is considered as drought tolerant and a potential source of many secondary metabolites. The oil-containing seeds may also be used as biofuel. Genetic diversity was investigated amongst the B. aegyptiaca collected from different geographical regions using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and the relationship among geographical distribution and genetic diversity was determined. Plants were grown from seedlings collected at 12 locations from 11 provenances. AFLP produced 510 bands of which 477 (93.5%) were polymorphic. Cluster and principal component analyses indicated that individual samples of B. aegyptiaca were distributed in 3 main clades and that the provenance El-Kharga represented a single clade. Several key morpho-physiological responses to water stress were examined to evaluate drought stress tolerance and to compare respective stress responses among different provenances under greenhouse conditions. Severe drought stress decreased biomass parameters in all genotypes. However, B. aegyptiaca provenances also differed in their adaptive responses to water shortage. By appropriate grouping of 2 or 3 response factors, the effects of water deficit on the various provenances could readily be distinguished. Provenance El-Kharga showed the smallest amount of biomass reduction under severe drought stress and retained the highest leaf water content.

 Key words: Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), Balanites aegyptiaca, biometrical growth parameters, drought tolerance, stomatal conductance.


This article describes the rapidly expanding duties of fiduciaries and financial advisors to manage single stock concentration risk. The results of an informal but comprehensive survey indicate that most fiduciaries and advisors currently manage stock concentration risk in an ad hoc, almost antiquated, fashion. A "best practices" framework is developed that could be used by fiduciaries and advisors to assist them in satisfying their legal duties. By following these best practices, stock concentration risk management services will be delivered through a systematic, uniform and consistent methodology with the result that each and every client should implement the strategy that is optimal given their particular circumstances.


Plastic deformation leads to a structural refinement by introducing low angle dislocation boundaries and high angle boundaries in the initial coarse grains. To understand the mechanisms for the structural refinement and to establish the structure-strength relationship requires a precise characterization of key structural parameters, namely the boundary spacing and boundary misorientation angle. This study gives the results of such a characterization of pure Ni subjected to high pressure torsion (HPT) up to a strain of 300. The structural analysis was carried out by transmission electron microscopy in the longitudinal sample section in which the detailed structural features can be resolved. It is found that the microstructure in the HPT Ni samples is dominated by a lamellar structure. The spacing of the lamellar boundaries decreases and their misorientation angle increases with strain following a power law up to strain of 12, above which saturation is reached at a strain of about 34. The distribution of lamellar spacings normalized by their respective average values at each strain show an identical form. This scaling behavior is discussed also with reference to other metals and processing routes.


PURPOSE
Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) classification has been changed from purely anatomic to molecular. This report describes two cases of MPGN with associated drusen that exemplify the importance of this change and the need for ophthalmologists to understand it.

METHODS
The medical and pathologic records of two patients with MPGN and drusen were examined.

RESULTS
Two patients with MPGN and risk-associated alleles of complement factor H were found to have drusen. In one case, the process led to severe visual impairment. Based on anatomic classification, one patient had MPGN Type I and the other had MPGN Type III. However, both patients had renal biopsy findings classic for C3 glomerulonephritis and the same genetic abnormality (risk-associated alleles of complement factor H).

CONCLUSION
The association of MPGN and drusen needs to be reevaluated. Previously only recognized in association with Type II MPGN, drusen have been demonstrated in 2 patients with C3 glomerulonephritis in this report. These drusen are likely the result of complement pathway abnormalities. The authors propose a new nomenclature in the ophthalmic literature to classify pathology as immune complex-mediated or complement-mediated rather than solely by the electron microscopy findings. This nomenclature will better characterize the underlying genetic abnormalities and pathophysiology of these disease processes.


Heterochromatin disorganization is a key hallmark of aging and DNA methylation state is currently the main molecular predictor of chronological age. The most frequent neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson disease and Alzheimer's disease are age-related but how the aging process and chromatin alterations are linked to neurodegeneration is unknown. Here, we investigated the consequences of viral overexpression of Gadd45b, a multifactorial protein involved in active DNA demethylation, in the midbrain of wild-type mice. Gadd45b overexpression induces global and stable changes in DNA methylation, particularly on gene bodies of genes related to neuronal functions. DNA methylation changes were accompanied by perturbed H3K9me3-marked heterochromatin and increased DNA damage. Prolonged Gadd45b expression resulted in dopaminergic neuron degeneration accompanied by altered expression of candidate genes related to heterochromatin maintenance, DNA methylation or Parkinson disease. Gadd45b overexpression rendered midbrain dopaminergic neurons more vulnerable to acute oxidative stress. Heterochromatin disorganization and DNA demethylation resulted in derepression of mostly young LINE-1 transposable elements, a potential source of DNA damage, prior to Gadd45b-induced neurodegeneration. Our data implicate that alterations in DNA methylation and heterochromatin organization, LINE-1 derepression and DNA damage can represent important contributors in the pathogenic mechanisms of dopaminergic neuron degeneration with potential implications for Parkinson disease.


Relay stations can be deployed between mobile stations and base stations in a single-hop wireless network to extend its coverage and improve its capacity. In this paper, we exploit cooperative diversity, channel diversity and multiuser diversity gains in an OFDMA-based wireless relay network. We study a joint channel and relay assignment problem with the objective of maximizing a well-adopted utility function that can lead to a stable system. This problem turns out to be NP-hard. First, a mixed integer linear programming formulation is presented to provide optimal solutions. We then present three simple greedy algorithms to solve the problem in polynomial time, namely, Greedy-ChannelFirst, Greedy-RelayFirst and Greedy-Joint. We also perform a comprehensive theoretical analysis for the performance of the proposed algorithms. Our analytical results show the Greedy-ChannelFirst algorithm is a constant factor approximation algorithm which always provides a solution whose objective value is guaranteed to be no smaller than the optimal value multiplied by a constant less than 1; however, the other two algorithms do not provide a similar performance guarantee. Extensive simulation results have been presented to show that all three proposed algorithms perform very well on average cases.


On 28 November 1945, in the Makran trench off Pakistan, a large earthquake (8.1 Mw) produced a tsunami that struck the coast of Oman and left a taphonomically distinct shell bed in Sur Lagoon. The shell bed was thick (5–25 cm) and laterally extensive, covering a >1 km2 area. The shell assemblage from the deposit contained a mean of 59% for articulated bivalves of allochthonous offshore and subtidal species (e.g., Tellina palatam ) as well as a mean of 20% for lagoonal species, indicating large-scale erosion and transport. Taphonomic traits (e.g., articulation, rounding, fragment angularity) of all bivalve material >5.6 mm were quantified for eight sample horizons, and compared with a tsunamite from Caesarea, Israel. Some of the taphonomic characteristics between the shell beds from these two different depositional settings were similar, and three tsunamigenic specific traits were identified: (1) thickness and lateral extent of the shell deposit, (2) presence of allochthonous articulated bivalves out of life position, and (3) extensive angular fragmentation. These results show that tsunamis form shell accumulations and cannot be ignored when assessing shell bed origin for the geological record. When these three traits are collectively found, a tsunamigenic origin should be considered for the shell bed.


The influences of acute and chronic insulin-dependent diabetes on copper and zinc status of liver, kidney, and intestine were investigated in rats at 0-4 wk after streptozotocin (STZ) treatment. The concentration and the tissue contents of copper in liver and kidney were significantly elevated by 1 wk after STZ injection and increased thereafter, attaining levels two- and fivefold higher, respectively, than controls by 4 wk. Increased concentrations of zinc were also present in liver and kidney at 7 and 2 days after treatment, respectively, but zinc accumulated to a lesser degree than copper. In contrast, the concentration of copper and zinc in duodenum from control and all STZ-diabetic groups were similar. Increased and decreased quantities of copper and zinc were bound to metallothionein (MT) in liver and kidney, respectively, within 2 days after STZ injection. Thereafter, the quantities of both metals associated with MT increased with time in both tissues. Additional changes in zinc distribution in hepatic cytosol occurred prior to significant increases in the concentration of this metal in the tissue. The potential significance of altered trace metal metabolism during short-term changes in endocrine status and adverse effects of heavy metal accumulation during chronic hormonal imbalance are discussed.


Papillomavirus DNA replication requires the viral trans-acting factors E1 and E2 in addition to the host cell's general replication machinery. The origins of DNA replication in bovine and human papillomavirus genomes have been localized to a specific part of the upstream regulatory region (URR) which includes recognition sites for E1 and E2 proteins. To fine map cis-acting elements influencing human papillomavirus type 11 (HPV-11) DNA replication and to determine the relative contributions of such sites, we engineered consecutive linker substitution mutations across a region of 158 bp in the HPV-11 origin and tested mutant origins for replication function in a cell-based transient replication assay. Our results both confirm and extend the findings of others. E2 binding sites are the major cis components of HPV-11 DNA replication, and there is evidence for synergy between these sites. Differential capacity of the three E2 binding sites within the origin to affect replication may be attributed, at least in part, to context. At least one E2 binding site is essential for replication. The imperfect AT-rich palindrome of the E1 helicase binding site is not essential since replication occurs even in the absence of this sequence. However, replication is enhanced by the presence of the palindromic sequence in the HPV-11 origin. Sequence components adjacent to the E1 and E2 binding sites, comprising AT-rich and purine-rich elements and the consensus TATA box sequence, probably contribute to the overall efficiency of replication, though they are nonessential. None of the other cis elements of the HPV-11 origin region analyzed seems to influence replication significantly in the system described. The HPV-11 origin of DNA replication therefore differs from those of the other papovaviruses, simian virus 40 and polyomavirus, inasmuch as an intact helicase binding site and adjacent AT-rich components, while influential, are not absolutely essential.


A key factor of win–win cloud economy is how to trade off between the application performance from customers and the profit of cloud providers. Current researches on cloud resource allocation do not sufficiently address the issues of minimizing energy cost and maximizing revenue for various applications running in virtualized cloud data centers (VCDCs). This paper presents a new approach to optimize the profit of VCDC based on the service-level agreements (SLAs) between service providers and customers. A precise model of the external and internal request arrival rates is proposed for virtual machines at different service classes. An analytic probabilistic model is then developed for non-steady VCDC states. In addition, a smart controller is developed for fine-grained resource provisioning and sharing among multiple applications. Furthermore, a novel dynamic hybrid metaheuristic algorithm is developed for the formulated profit maximization problem, based on simulated annealing and particle swarm optimization. The proposed algorithm can guarantee that differentiated service qualities can be provided with higher overall performance and lower energy cost. The advantage of the proposed approach is validated with trace-driven simulations.


The management of vascular anomalies is coming of age. Though without complete consensus, we are certainly closer to a more unified approach to the treatment of vascular anomalies than when the initial classification and nomenclature were revamped exactly 30 years ago. There is little disagreement on the various modalities of treatment that are useful, though the timing of their implementation continues to be discussed and refined.What is clear is that the old dogma of "Leave it alone, it will go away" has been supplanted by a more reasoned approach based on an increasing knowledge based in molecular biology, technology, and experience. The articles presented herein aim to give a current, clinically applicable, and accurate representation of our understanding and management of the most common vascular tumors and malformations. Though the reader may identify honest points of disagreement or variation in approaches with those presented, the overall tenor of the authors I have invited to participate reflects, in my opinion, a unifying trend in this field. By continuing to disseminate this information and engage in its evolution, we can only better the lives of those afflicted by these lesions.


Traffic flow management initiatives aim to balance the flows of vehicles in capacity-constrained transportation networks to minimize congestion costs. While existing research has focused on vehicle-centric delay minimization objectives, this may not result in most efficient outcomes from the end users' perspective when travel itineraries involve connections between multiple vehicles. This paper develops an original user-centric approach to traffic flow management. First, an analytical Markov Decision Process is presented to derive structural insights on the drivers of user-centric operations. Second, this paper augments existing air traffic flow management (ATFM) models by explicitly balancing flight delay costs and passenger delays. A large-scale integer programming model is formulated to track the impact of flow management operations on passenger accommodations. An original rolling procedure decomposes the problem over time while ensuring global feasibility, and shown to enable the model's implementation in short computational times. Computational results in the US National Aviation System suggest that this modeling and computational framework can achieve large reductions in passenger delays at comparatively small increases in flight delay costs. Analytical and computational results highlight two major levers of user-centric operations: (i) delay allocation, which determines which flights to delay or prioritize to minimize delay costs, and (ii) delay introduction, which deliberate adds departure holds to avoid passenger misconnections.


Objective The primary objective was to determine if obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can improve after adenoidectomy. Study Design Case series with chart review. Setting Tertiary children's hospital between 2016 and 2018. Methods The study included children under 3.5 years with small (1+ or 2+) palatine tonsils, large (3+ or 4+) adenoids, and documented OSA on polysomnogram (PSG). Results Seventy-one children were included. Age at adenoidectomy was 2.0 years (95% CI, 1.8-2.2) and 71.8% were male. Mean follow-up was 2.5 years (95% CI, 2.3-2.7). Twenty-six children (36.6%) obtained a repeat PSG at a mean of 9.7 months (95% CI, 6.3-13.2) after adenoidectomy. Among those with a postoperative PSG, apnea-hypopnea index decreased in 77.0% (mean, –3.2 events/h; 95% CI, –14.1 to 7.6), and the proportion with moderate to severe OSA decreased from 65.4% to 30.8% (P = .03). Six children (23.1%) had a normal PSG after adenoidectomy. Tonsillectomy was performed in 14.1% of children at 12.1 months (95% CI, 7.5-16.7) after adenoidectomy. Despite similar preoperative PSG variables, younger children (1.5 vs 2.1 years, P = .02) were more likely to require tonsillectomy. Substantial adenoid regrowth was identified in 1 child at the time of tonsillectomy. Conclusion Adenoidectomy may improve OSA in young children with large adenoids and small tonsils. However, younger age predicted the need for subsequent tonsillectomy. Prospective studies with additional PSG data are necessary to corroborate these findings.


The performance of any solar energy system depends very much on the availability of solar radiation and the orientation of solar collectors. Solar collectors need to be inclined at the optimum angle to maximize the receiving energy. In this work, we proposed to analyze the optimum tilt angle for compound parabolic collectors CPC with different concentration ratios. There are analyzed the energy gains when the collector keeps the same position during the whole year and when the collector changes its tilt twice a year, in summer and in winter.


Supradiaphragmatic accessory livers were observed in two closely related rats in a series of 172 necropsies on BB Wistar rats. The gross and histological appearance of both accessory lobes are described. This abnormality has been reported in only one other inbred strain of rats where it also arose with a very low incidence. As in the previous report, the pattern of occurrence of these accessory lobes suggests a mode of inheritance that is either polygenic or autosomal recessive with low penetrance.


The correlation between in vitro bacterial susceptibility results and clinical outcome has been debated for many years. Bacterial resistance traits are more significantly correlated with failure of therapy than is an organism's susceptibility to an antimicrobial agent. We review the situations that have supported the clinical relevance of in vitro bacterial resistance. Those situations include: emergence, during therapy, of a new resistance marker not known before; selection of a resistant mutant or acquisition of a resistance gene during therapy; failure to recognize or take into account a new resistance mechanism; and superinfection with resistant bacteria. More information should be obtained in the future by performing studies oriented toward bacteriologically documented clinical failures and by better communication between microbiologists and physicians to correlate the in vitro data with host status, the pharmacokinetics of the antimicrobial agent, and the bacteriologic and clinical outcome.


The majority of breast tumors are benign. Some of these tumors carry risk that change into cancer. So, it is important to know the different histopathological patterns of the benign breast lesions. This will help in the proper diagnosis of the lesion and build up of potent programs against the cancer. This research classifies benign breast diseases according to their frequency in Red Sea State, Sudan and compares them to the age and sex of the patients. Six hundred and eighty-nine specimens were examined in the period from December 2005 to October 2010 in a histopathological laboratory in the Red Sea Medical center, Portsudan, Sudan. This is the only regional laboratory, to which surgical biopsies and fine needle aspiration cytology were sent. For the histopathological specimens, only Haematoxylin and Eosin (H & E) staining was done. Slides of the fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) were stained by Papanicolaou and May-Grunewald Giemsa (MGG) stains. Five hundred and sixty-seven breast specimens out of the 689 were proved to be benign in nature. The commonest type of benign breast tumor in Red Sea State was fibrocystic disease of the breast (39.3%), followed by Fibroadenoma (30.2%). Acute mastitis came next (in the order of frequency) to above breast lesions (5.8%). The fourth common benign breast disease was benign phyllodes tumor (5.7%). The commonest age of presentation was between 20 to 29 years. On other hand, malignant tumors most commonly appear at the age between 40 to 49 years. In this study, 680 of the cases were females and nine cases were males. Benign breast tumors were more common compared to malignant breast tumors with a ratio of 4.6:1. Fibrocystic disease of the breast was the commonest benign breast lesion in Red Sea State. Benign breast lesions are commonly present in the early adult age group (20 to 29 years) (45%), whereas malignant breast lesions commonly appear at age between 40 to 49 years (31.9%). At least, FNAC before surgery or histopathological study after surgery should be done to any lady complaining of a palpable breast mass in our region.

 Key words: Breast, benign, tumors, Portsudan.


The ideas of good and evil characteristics have a long history in Chinese language and culture, with these characteristics considered to be two aspects of the Chinese personality. Abundant descriptions of good and evil characteristics can be found in human nature. However, the specific structures of good and evil concepts have not yet been delineated clearly and detailed studies on these concepts are limited. A careful definition is important with regard to what comprises a good or evil personality and to understand the psychological structure of the two concepts. A lexical approach was applied to determine constitutes a good or evil personality in Chinese culture. In Study 1, a set of 3, 240 good and evil personality descriptors was selected from The Contemporary Chinese Dictionary and accompanied by daily life expressions. The list was condensed into 62 good and 65 evil items following evaluation and selection by 12 psychology graduates. In Study 2, we explored the dimensions of a good personality using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with Sample 1 (n = 313) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with Sample 2 (n = 518). Results revealed that good personality contained four dimensions: conscientiousness and integrity, altruism and dedication, benevolence and amicability, and tolerance and magnanimity. We refined the four-dimensions good personality lexical rating scale, which contained 27 items. In Study 3, we used the same method as in Study 2 to explore the structure of an evil personality (EFA: Sample 1, n = 367; CFA: Sample 2, n = 269). Results showed the evil personality contained four dimensions: atrociousness and mercilessness, mendacity and hypocrisy, calumniation and circumvention, and faithlessness and treacherousness. Thus, we employed a 28-item evil personality lexical rating scale. The internal consistency, reliability, and criterion-related validity of the two scales were verified. The study found four-factor structures of good and evil personalities using the lexical approach and psychometrics methods, which contributes to knowledge on personality. In China, Confucius regarded benevolence as the highest moral principle for a person. Therefore, good and evil traits are embedded naturally in the personality structure of Chinese people. Understanding the structure of good and evil is useful for researchers interested in Chinese culture and for studies in Chinese indigenous psychology.


Objective: Hurricane Harvey was one of the most destructive hurricanes in United States' history and negatively impacted a majority of Houstonians. It is not uncommon for individuals who are exposed to a natural disaster, like a hurricane, to develop debilitating trauma symptoms However, for those individuals who do not manifest clinically significant trauma symptoms, it has been hypothesized that one important variable in post-disaster functioning is resilience. The broad aim of this study was to determine if the language individuals used to write about their experience of Hurricane Harvey would be associated with their resilience later on, with the ultimate goal of understanding if linguistic analysis adds valuable information to our assessment of the projected course of mental health after a natural disaster.

Method: Using a sample of Houstonian adults, the computer program Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) was used to analyze narratives about Harvey, collected online in response to a brief prompt shortly after the event. Specific linguistic markers were examined to determine associations with an individual's resilience six months post-disaster.

Results: Results indicate that greater use of 'discrepancy' words (e.g., should, would) and fewer 'see' (e.g., saw, images), and 'focus past' words (e.g., ago, did) significantly predicted resilience six months later.

Conclusion: Findings suggest that linguistic analysis has the can contribute to the prediction of resilience after disasters and holds promise for large-scale assessment of psychological functioning after a hurricane.


In The Cloak of Competence , Robert Edgerton has made a valuable contribution to the literature dealing with the mentally retarded. Although this particular investigation was limited to a small number of persons, it is important for two reasons. First, through intensive personal contact, he is able to provide us with a detailed picture of how 48 ex-patients discharged from Pacific State Hospital are living on the "outside," and more important, how they see themselves and their problems. Secondly, this understanding is critical because of the increasing numbers of mildly retarded who must somehow find a place in the community. It is estimated that 80% of those now in institutions for the retarded have IQs below 50. As population increases make more demands on our institutions, the severely and profoundly retarded will become a larger and larger segment of the institutional population. Conversely,


Background: Confirm the stability of intervertebral disc sustaining each fused lumbar spine cases, comparing vertical compression, A-P shear force and rotational moment on intervertebral disc of instrumented lumbar spine with simple vertical compression load and follower load using finite element analysis. Materials and Methods: We analyze the stability of intervertebral disc L4-5 supporting fused lumbar spine segments. After performing finite element modelling about L1-L5 lumbar vertebral column and L1-L4 each fusion level pedicle screw system for fused lumbar spine fine element model. Intervertebral discs with complex structure and mechanical properties was modeled using spring element that compensate stiffness and tube-to-tube contact element was employed to give follower load. Performing geometrical non-linear analysis. Results: The differences of intervertebral disc L4-5 behavior under the follower compression load in comparision with vertical compression load are as follows. Conclusion: As a result of finite element interpretation of instrumented lumbar spine, the stability of L4-5 sustaining fused lumbar segment, the long level fused lumbar spine observed hing stability under follower load. This research method can be the basis tool of effects prediction for instrumentation, a invention of a more precious finite element interpretation model which consider the role of muscle around the spine is loaded.


College sports have always been somewhat marred by controversy—whether it be point shaving, paying off players, or academic fraud—as the money to be made from college sports and the overwhelming desire to win has always seemed to generate impropriety among schools, players, and coaches. However, in recent years, scandals within college athletics programs have escalated beyond mere efforts to "win at all costs," with the spotlight now on instances of sexual violence committed by players against other students and the cover-ups of these assaults. Following the massive cover-up and mishandling of sexual assaults by Baylor University's athletic department and officials, and the arrest and conviction of a sexually abusive physician at Michigan State University (MSU), it has become apparent that these instances of intra-university collusion are not "isolated incidents." Instead, these events are evidence of a pattern of behavior employed by institutions of higher education—institutions that prioritize their image over the safety of their students. Further, these cover-ups undoubtedly involve more actors than are held accountable, with scandals leading to the removal of university "faces," while lower-level employees, staff, and coaches are retained despite their obvious involvement.

This Comment will address the goings-on within college athletic programs and will argue that such catastrophic failures on the part of schools like Baylor and MSU are likely evidence of a conspiracy within those institutions to defraud their students or interfere with their civil rights, thereby jeopardizing the safety of every student enrolled. It will be a fact-intensive analysis of the tragic events at Baylor and MSU and of the lawsuits filed against both schools by victims. This analysis will show that a much greater evil is at play at these, and likely many other institutions. Not only did these universities fail to adhere to policy, protect their students, or act with any common sense or decency—they actively attempted to inhibit investigations and intentionally tried to cover up sexual harassment, sexual assault, and even gang rapes in order to protect their athletic programs, their employees' jobs, and their schools' reputations.

Next, this Comment will discuss the shortcomings of Title IX, focusing on how the statute does little to provide an adequate remedy for the victims at Baylor and MSU. Additionally, the impotency of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sanctions will be analyzed, illustrating how those sanctions do little to encourage athletic officials to adhere to proper Title IX or university policy. Finally, this Comment argues that the pursuit of civil conspiracy claims against athletic programs and universities would: (1) deter schools from protecting alleged rapists in order to promote their athletic programs, and (2) root out and punish individuals responsible for willfully protecting students unequally or discouraging reporting of sexual assaults. Additionally, this Comment advocates for neutral government or academic agencies to handle these cases, thereby removing these kinds of investigations entirely from the hands of ill-equipped athletic programs and coaches.


The BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes were discovered in 1994 and 1995.1,2 Studies have shown that around 5–10% of breast cancer cases are due to a mutation in one of these genes.3 Once a mutation has been identified in a family, it is possible to unambiguously assign mutation status to unaffected female relatives; this is the basis for predictive genetic counselling. The risk of developing breast cancer up to the age of 70 years among women with a positive BRCA1 test is estimated to be from 45–87%.4,5 In contrast, women from a family with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, but who themselves test negative for the familial mutation, are considered to have the normal population risk for breast and ovarian cancer, which in Canada is around 7% up to 70 years of age. Women with a negative test result are generally advised to undergo the regular breast cancer screening practices, typically consisting of an annual mammograms and a clinical breast examination.

There is some question as to whether the risk of breast cancer in these mutation-negative women is in fact raised. Two recent studies reported an increase in breast and ovarian cancer risk for these women. Smith et al reported that 24% of 118 relatives with breast cancer or ovarian cancer cases in 277 families with a BRCA mutation were phenocopies, and they estimated the risk of breast cancer in mutation-negative women to be five times greater than expected.6 Gronwald et al studied unselected cases of breast cancer in Poland, 7 and found that only one of 17 …


The main memory has become one of the largest contributors to overall energy consumption and offers many opportunities for power/energy reduction. In this paper, we propose a power-aware cached-dynamic-RAM (PA-CDRAM) organization that integrates a moderately sized cache directly into a memory chip. We use this near-memory cache to turn a memory bank off immediately after it is accessed to reduce power consumption. We modify the operation and structure of CDRAM with the goal of reducing energy consumption while retaining the performance advantage for which CDRAM was originally proposed. In this paper, we describe our PA-CDRAM organization and show how to incorporate it into the Rambus memory. We evaluate the approach using a cycle-accurate processor and memory simulator. Our results show that PA-CDRAM achieves up to 84 percent (28 percent on the average) improvement in the energy-delay product and up to 76 percent (19 percent on the average) savings in energy when compared to a time-out power management technique.


While it is a relatively well understood problem to determine hypocentral depths from teleseismic data or from dense local networks, many eastern Canadian earthquakes are too small to be recorded teleseismically and occur in regions where the network density is adequate for reliable epicentral determination but insufficient for hypocentral determination. Using stacked, filtered (2–6 Hz bandpass) regional data (recorded at 250 to 500 km), we have developed a method for rapid depth estimation of small and moderate earthquakes. We pick the largest amplitude arrival in the Pn wavetrain, which we call P max, and measure its arrival time relative to the onset of Pn. Because P max appears to be related to the same phase, sPn , we can use it reliably to determine depths. The method was calibrated using earthquakes in the Charlevoix, Quebec, seismic zone, where the network density is sufficient for depth determination as part of the location procedure. The standard error is 2.3 km, assuming that the Charlevoix network depths are correct. In only one case (out of twelve) did the network and Pn-Pmax depths differ by more than 5 km, implying that the assumption that Pmax is usually related to the same phase is valid. The Pn-Pmax method was then applied to earthquakes in the western Quebec and Lower St. Lawrence seismic zones. Results show that earthquakes in western Quebec can occur over a wide range of crustal depths but, on average, are shallower than the 18-km depth currently used as a default. Earthquakes in the lower St. Lawrence appear to be deeper than the default, but this conclusion is based on only two earthquakes.


Every collection, no matter its size, contains some item of antiquity that is highly valued. Loaning these items for exhibition often raises questions of ethics and the dilemma of putting a valuable artifact at risk. Sharing these prized possessions for the enjoyment of a wider audience, exposes them to a variety of potential threats in an era when public vandalism has become almost routine. The Mona Lisa hangs behind bullet-proof glass, while soldiers with assault rifles guard the entrance to the Louvre.
 Nothing quite so dramatic protects the collections of the University of Alabama; nonetheless, the recent request to loan our Sylacauga Meteorite to the Paris Museum of Natural History (MNHN) came out of the blue just like the meteorite. Once famous throughout the world because of its unique status of being the only meteorite documented to have struck a person, its notoriety has gradually receded in prominence, save for meteorite aficionados or roadside-curiosity seekers. Displayed at the Alabama Museum of Natural History next to the Philco radio it grazed on impact, it was in need of some good old-fashioned PR to restore it to its former notoriety. Loaned once a year to the town of Oak-Grove near Sylacauga, where the rock struck home, it seldom, if ever, was sought for exhibition elsewhere. Indeed, the meteorite seemed almost forlorn, overshadowed by the University of Alabama's legendary football prowess and Walk of Champions.
 The Moundville Duck Bowl, by comparison, is owned by the Smithsonian and housed in the National Museum of the American Indian. Like the Sylacauga Meteorite, it is an artifact of unique status, excavated from the mounds here in Alabama, and touted as our "finest representation of Native American craftsmanship." In the early 1900's under the auspice of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, an amateur archaeologist plundered Alabama's Indian mounds and hauled away more than 200 artifacts from Moundville alone. Several years passed before Alabama put a stop to the looting, too late to prevent the loss of one of the most valuable discoveries in its territory.
 Since 2010, the Duck Bowl has been on "indefinite loan" at the University of Alabama's Moundville Archaeological Park after much lobbying and support from archaeological scholars and the Native American community; a hard-won agreement that was not without expense and a multitude of obstacles.
 Two Alabama artifacts, both unique in their value and importance, have been made available for public appreciation. The challenge is to share them responsibly.


Teaching quality of universities is affected and restricted by many types of factors, thus evaluation of teaching quality of universities is of great importance to enhance teaching quality and ability. For this reason, this paper studies teaching quality of universities and proposes an evaluation model based on multi-index fuzzy decision analysis method. By analysing many factors that can affect the improvement of teaching quality of universities, an evaluation model of teaching quality with hierarchical structure is established and different types of evaluation indexes in this evaluation index system are normalized. On the basis of the Fuzzy system theory, Fuzzy memberships of relevant evaluation indexes are constructed, after which weights of these indexes are gained based on the entropy weight. And then a multi-index Fuzzy decision analysis matrix and related Fuzzy correlation degrees of universities' teaching quality are generated. Therefore the level of teaching quality of universities is obtained. The paper also attempts to test the effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm via specific case studies.


Abstract: There is a disagreement that traditional learning is the best way of maintaining a learning process. Other models are always considered to be lower or less efficient. There is no finding to support this argument, and research shows that e-Learning models are at least as good as traditional learning or may be better than traditional classroom if e-Learning can be used in an efficient manner. Most corporations are constantly looking for less cost methods to deliver training to their participants with possible maximum quality. E-learning is less expensive than traditional classroom instruction, but the quality to deliver training in e-Learning may be degraded in some cases according to some issues. In this study we found that the most issues influence e-Learning quality is the course nature. Some courses nature may have special contents that require the existence of instructor in the classroom. Therefore, achieving both of the two objectives namely, cost and quality in e-Learning is not an easy task since the two objectives are conflicting to each other. Indeed, selecting e-learning or traditional classroom or mixed of them as an education method should be based on some criteria. An investigation and analysis is made in order to discover these criteria in order to deliver training in an optimized cost and quality. The analysis and investigation results the most criterion influence the way to select education method is the course contents, and an effective guideline is recommended for applying the suitable education method in order to improve quality in e-Learning with possible minimized cost.


Abstract We study the persistence of network segregation in networks characterized by the co-evolution of vertex attributes and link structures, in particular where individual vertices form linkages on the basis of similarity with other network vertices (homophily), and where vertex attributes diffuse across linkages, making connected vertices more similar over time (influence). A general mathematical model of these processes is used to examine the relative influence of homophily and influence in the maintenance and decay of network segregation in self-organizing networks. While prior work has shown that homophily is capable of producing strong network segregation when attributes are fixed, we show that adding even minute levels of influence is sufficient to overcome the tendency towards segregation even in the presence of relatively strong homophily processes. This result is proven mathematically for all large networks and illustrated through a series of computational simulations that account for additional network evolution processes. This research contributes to a better theoretical understanding of the conditions under which network segregation and related phenomenon—such as community structure—may emerge, which has implications for the design of interventions that may promote more efficient network structures.


The peroxidase activity of haemoglobin A was characterized for non-glycated and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1) within the pH range 4.5 to 6.0, by measuring the rate of oxidation of 5-aminosalicylic acid following the degradation of H2O2. Glycation was found to significantly lower the pH activity of haemoglobin peroxidase throughout the pH range. However, in the presence of 100 mmol/l sorbitol the pH activity profile of glycated haemoglobin was significantly elevated whilst that of non-glycated haemoglobin remained unchanged.


Aquatic plant meadows are important coastal habitats that sustain many ecosystem functions such as primary production and carbon sequestration. Currently, there is a knowledge gap in understanding which plant functional traits, for example, leaf size or plant height underlie primary production in aquatic plant communities. To study how plant traits are related to primary production, we conducted a field survey in the Baltic Sea, Finland, which is characterized by high plant species and functional diversity. Thirty sites along an exposure gradient were sampled (150 plots), and nine plant morphological and chemical traits measured. The aim was to discern how community‐weighted mean traits affect community production and whether this relationship changes along an environmental gradient using structural equation modelling (SEM). Plant height had a direct positive effect on production along an exposure gradient (r = 0.33) and indirect effects through two leaf chemical traits, leaf δ15N and leaf δ13C (r = 0.24 and 0.18, respectively) resulting in a total effect of 0.28. In plant communities experiencing varying exposure, traits such as root N concentration and leaf δ15N had positive and negative effects on production, respectively. Synthesis. Our results demonstrate that the relationship between aquatic plant functional traits and community production is variable and changes over environmental gradients. Plant height generally has a positive effect on community production along an exposure gradient, while the link between other traits and production changes in plant communities experiencing varying degrees of exposure. Thus, the underlying biological mechanisms influencing production differ in plant communities, emphasizing the need to resolve variability and its drivers in real‐world communities. Importantly, functionally diverse plant communities sustain ecosystem functioning differently and highlight the importance of benthic diversity for coastal ecosystem stability.


Housing and energy-efficiency policies often cause unintended consequences in the built-environment and beyond it, and encounter resistance by the potential users. Systems thinking and an integrated approach are suggested both for research and decision-making in order to avoid such unintended consequences and policy resistance. However, previous studies revealed that such an integrated decision making takes place neither at the policy nor at the industry level, and the resulting fragmented processes lead to performance gaps in the housing sector. This study investigates the mechanisms behind fragmentation based on a large set of stakeholder interviews conducted for the housing sector in the UK. For this purpose, the information obtained from these interviews is transformed into a system dynamics model. The model focuses on the improvement of housing performance by immediate actions such as resource allocation or by longer-term actions such as competence development both at the policy and industry level. Future research will focus on extending the model to the user level and elaborating it in participatory sessions.


The waves of rural-urban migration are increasingly growing in many developing countries, including Vietnam. This migratory process, whether voluntary or not, may result in the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection to both those who migrate and those who receive migrants. Coupled with this process, is the experience of depression that may facilitate risk behaviors for HIV. However, there has been little research concerning this dimension. This study examined self-reported risk behaviors and factors associated among 450 male freelance laborers in Hanoi, Vietnam. Risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV was high among these men. One third reported having intercourse with commercial sex workers and one quarter had casual sex partners. One in every 12 men reported homosexual or bisexual behavior. These men on average had 3 partners within the preceding year, and condom use was inconsistent. These men have limited HIV knowledge and only moderate motivation and perceived behavioral skills for protective behavior. Although mobility was not associated with sexual risk behavior, three elements of IMB (information-motivation-behavioral skills) model and depression associated with this process were a robust predictor of sexual behavior. Men who are better informed, motivated, display higher self-efficacy and less depressed are more likely to alter their risk behavior. The study highlights an important need for HIV-related information, motivation, self-efficacy, depression and risk behavior change.

 Key words: Vietnam, freelance laborer, human immunodeficiency virus /acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), information-motivation-behavioral skills (IMB) model, depression, sexual behavior, sexual risk behavior.


Pleurotus pulmonarius (Fries) Quelet, also known P. sajor-caju (Fries) Singer, is a valuable edible mushroom, commonly called the grey oyster mushroom. Although there is substantial market demand for this mushroom in Malaysia, there has not been much systematic study of the breeding and production of new improved hybrids. Hence, in the current study, the main objective was to generate high performance varieties of P. pulmonarius via a cross-breeding programme. The results of the preliminary analysis of variance showed highly significant differences (p ≤ 0.01) among the crosses of P. pulmonarius for almost all phenotypic traits measured. Therefore, construction and analysis of data based on a diallel cross for all the evaluated characteristics was possible. In the current study, levels of hybrid vigour for early fruiting, yield, percentages of contaminated bags and bags that had successful fruiting, shape of sporocarps, post-harvest handling storage value of sporocarps and other morphological traits were examined in the F1, F2 and F3 generations. Based on the results, out of 231 crosses done, 88 combinations were compatible and, of these, 46 hybrids were able to form sporocarps. After evaluation and scoring of the obtained hybrids, three best hybrid varieties (3A2-2A1, 3B1-2A1 and 3A2-2B4) were eventually selected. The superiority of the selected hybrids over the parental varieties was reflected in the higher levels of mean and heterosis effects they exhibited. This showed that the final selected hybrid varieties had high positive percentage of heterosis for most of the valuable breeding traits such as days for primordia to appear, for sporocarps to mature and for harvesting, yield, percentage of contaminated bags and bags that had successful fruiting. The effects of general combining ability (GCA) were not significant for all the traits measured, while the effects of specific combining ability (SCA) were statistically significant (p ≤ 0.01). Moreover, the results of genetic variance components and heritability indicated that a large part of the total genetic variation observed for most traits was associated with genes which were dominant in their effects. Similarly, lower levels of narrow-sense heritability, for most of the traits were observed, while for broad-sense heritability these levels were extremely high (at least 0.71). These results showed the importance of high dominance values on heterosis on the other hand, and on selection of the proper breeding method which was the hybrid production on the other. The results of the correlation analysis were supported by the implementation of the indirect breeding principle for the more strongly associated characteristic.
To achieve the main objective of the current study, the first and most important step of a successful cross-breeding programme was to identify the taxonomic position of the parental species. Partial rDNA sequences, including internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions, were used for this aim of study to assess the phylogenetic relationships of selected edible species of Basidiomycetes. Phylogenetic trees showed five distinct clades; each clade belonging to a separate family group. Moreover, different species of each family were placed in distinct sub-clusters. In short, polymorphism occurred throughout the ITS regions due to insertion-deletion and point mutations, and could be clearly differentiated within families as well as within genera.
Secondly, the parental varieties were selected by a combination of the two highly variable regions of intergenic spacer (IGS) 1 and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) 1 & 2. The integration of these two regions made it possible not only to distinguish species but also to identify intra-species variation reasonably well.
Another concern in any mushroom hybridisation programme is how to identify compatible mating partners. In the current study, the 5′ end of intergenic spacer (IGS) 2 region was used to identify different single spore isolates (SSIs). With the amplification of this region, the selected monokaryotic isolates of P. pulmonarius were clearly categorized into two distinct groups (type A and B). Moreover, the dikaryotic isolates were able to produce double-banded PCR products, while the monokaryons created only one unique amplicon. This study used the candidate region approach to enable a pedigree history to be recorded.
Furthermore, the morphological and molecular (COX1 gene) assessments were used to identify the newly generated hybrid varieties from their relative parental varieties. The efficiency of the sequences of COXI gene was also clearly shown and the selected hybrid varieties were clearly distinguished.
In conclusion, based on the various evidences gathered and analyses including mean comparisons and heterosis, it was clear that the three novel hybrid varieties of 3A2-2B4, 3A2-2A1 and 3B1-2A1 were greater compared to the other varieties, as well as than their own parents.


Mathematical programming methods are used as a framework to evaluate world food prospects. Emphasis is on analyzing the world grain-oilseeds-livestock economy to capture the interaction of the predominantly cereal economies of the developing world and the livestock economies of the developed world as they compete for the world's agricultural resources. The mathematical model, called the Grain-Oilseeds-Livestock (GOL) model, incorporates general population and income growth rates, demand and supply price elasticities, input variables, and assumptions about basic underlying economic trends and policy constraints.


Elections draw enormous interest worldwide, especially if these involve major countries, and there is much speculation in the media as to possible outcomes from these elections. In many of these recent elections, such as the UK and USA, however, forecasts from market surveys, electoral polls, scientific forecasting models and even exit polls, obtained from voters as they leave the voting stations, failed to predict the correct outcome. Election night forecasts, which endeavour to forecast the ultimate result before the final outcome is known using early results, were also carried out, with some more accurate than others.After successfully predicting most of the metropolitan region results correctly in the South African local 2016 municipal elections, using an election night forecasting model developed for South Africa (SA), the question of adapting the model to work outside of SA on a different electoral system was raised. The focus of this paper is to describe the results obtained for the 2016 USA presidential election, on election night, using an adapted version of the SA model. This paper also addresses the applicability of the model assumptions as well as the data issues involved in forecasting outside of South Africa. It is shown that even with many hurdles experienced in the process the model performed relatively well.


BACKGROUND: The acceptability of simulated death has been debated by experts, but there is scarce information regarding trainees' perspective. METHODS: Trainees in a large pediatric program were invited to perform mock codes, including pre and post questionnaires. Participants were exposed to 2 mock codes of neonates born pulseless. In the RESUSC scenario, the manikin responded to adequate resuscitation; in the DEATH scenario, the manikin remained pulseless. Mock codes were videotaped and evaluated by using the Neonatal Resuscitation Program score sheet. Debriefing was analyzed by using qualitative methodology. RESULTS: Fifty-nine of 62 trainees answered the questionnaire, and 42 performed a total of 84 mock codes. All trainees found mock codes beneficial and would appreciate being exposed to more. Most found them realistic and 78% agreed with the following statement: "During mock codes the manikin improves when adequate resuscitation steps are provided." The scenario or order of scenario did not affect performance (RESUSC versus DEATH). Only 1 trainee stopped resuscitation after 10 minutes of asystole; 31% had not ceased resuscitation efforts by 20 minutes. During debriefing and post questionnaire, trainees found the DEATH scenario more stressful than RESUSC. Trainees all answered the following question during debriefing: "How did this go for you?" Two themes were identified in their answers: (1) the manikin does not die; and (2) death equals inadequate resuscitation. CONCLUSIONS: The death of the manikin was stressful, but trainees thought this was acceptable and prepared them for their future. Trainees did not state that "death disclosures" were necessary before a simulated death.


Abstract Title: Transparency within Public Relations – A study about PR-companies understanding of openness Pages: 71 Authors: Olof Ehrs Tutor: Virginia Melian Course: Media and Communication Studies, Bachelor Degree. Period: Autumn 2011. University: The Department of Journalism, Media and Communication, JMK,at Stockholm University. Background and aim: The PR-industry is continuing to grow in Sweden. The increase of working consultancies has made it more difficult to define what PR-activities really are in Sweden today. This exam reviews the presence and lack of transparency within the PR labour. The aim of the essay is to inspect the PR-companies relation to transparency and non-transparency. How do the PR-companies explain their working methods and ways to address openness within the PR-assignment? Method/Material: The method is qualitative interviews. My respondents come from three different PR-companies: Burson-Marsteller, Grayling and Kreab Gavin Anderson. Theory: A liberal and critical perspective provides a theoretical ground for my analysis. Different communication theories are also applied. I also explain the concepts and my definitions of Public Relations and transparency within PR. Main Results: Depending on perspective different results are to be acknowledged. My respondents always had legitimate explanations to why the work as they do. Market rules and laws are the main reason for strict secrecy and silence. From a critical perspective a lack of transparency is present almost everywhere. PR-consultancies make material that can be taken over by principals, news staff and politicians. We as citizens have big difficulties to identify the real senders and messages in PR-material regarding the strict secrecy. Keywords: Transparency, Secrecy, Public Relations, communication, accounting , strategy, target groups, PR-tools, PR-labour, PR-consultancies, media relations, lobbying, crisis management, news work, principals.


The Russian Federation Higher Education system has been essentially reforming for the last ten years. One of the major trends of such significant modernization consists in extension of universities' academic freedoms in design and implementation of their educational programs. Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) developed its own Standards and Guidelines for TPU Academic Programs Quality Assurance based on the new generation of Federal State Educational Standards and international requirements to competences of engineering programs graduates (Washington Accord Graduate Attributes, EUR-ACE Framework Standards, etc.). To improve the quality of academic programs at bachelor level and to strengthen the leadership position in Russian engineering education TPU joined the CDIO Initiative in October 2011. This paper offers a survey of Tomsk Polytechnic University starting process in adoption and adaption of CDIO approach in undergraduate engineering programs reforms.


Using Al, MgO and Al2O3 as raw materials, Al2O3-MgAlON composite was synthesized in N2 atmosphere by hot-press sintering at 900°C. Cracks prepared on the sample surface were healed at 1200°C×6hrs. Phase composition and element chemical state of sample were studied before and after healing. The results showed that: after healing process Al and MgO phase disappeare, and AlN and MgAlON phase appear, all kinds of elements in Al2O3-MgAlON material change their chemical state after the healing treatment, the changed electronic binding energy is Al 0.05ev, Mg 0.08ev, O 2.58ev or N 1.02ev respectively, and the chemical composition and crystal structure of MgAlON phase also change, all these change are helpful for crack healing process of Al2O3-MgAlON material.


Longevity risk has become a crucial agenda item for organizations wherever pension obligations intersect with the realities of aging populations and the concomitant rise in life expectancy observed in many societies. Plan sponsors are thus challenged to develop robust views of their pension liabilities and set proper value assumptions for them. New models and techniques allow the right data to be analyzed with greater efficacy to set more accurate assumptions, while at the same time market and regulatory developments, including the rise of pension buy-outs and annuities, are having an effect on the issue of longevity risk, especially in the U.K. and the U.S.


Clinical Image:

A 34-year-old man was admitted with a history of intermittent painless hematochezia for 4 months. He was transfused 6 units of packed red blood cells over the past 2 months elsewhere, due to significant blood loss. On general examination, he had pallor and tachycardia. Abdominal examination was unremarkable. He underwent flexible-sigmoidoscopy in an unprepared colon, immediately on admission since he was actively bleeding per rectum. Fresh blood was seen in the anal canal and lower rectum with normal colonic mucosa beyond but no bleeding source was identified. When the bleeding spontaneously resolved, colonoscopy was repeated in a prepared colon, but to no avail. Contrast enhanced MRI (CEMRI) of the pelvis and abdomen was done, which showed a suspicious persistent caliber arteriole coursing through the sub-mucosa into the rectum, with a defect in the overlying mucosa (Figure 1).

A repeat flexible-sigmoidoscopy was performed during the next episode of bleeding, at which time careful irrigation showed a spurting site approximately 8 cm from anal verge. This was injected with 3 ml of 1.5% sodium tetradecyl sulfate, with blanching of the mucosa and subsequent cessation of bleeding. The patient was followed for a year without recurrence of complaints. Dieulafoy's lesion was originally reported by Gallard and described in detail by Dieulafoy [1], a French surgeon in the year 1889. Histologically, the lesion is defined as a thick -walled arterial vessel surrounded by a shallow ulcer [2]. Originally thought to be confined to the stomach, Dieulafoy's lesions have since been rarely reported in the esophagus [3], small bowel and colon [4,5]. The diagnosis of Dieulafoy's lesion of the large bowel may be difficult because poor bowel preparation and stagnant blood contribute to poor visualization. Mesenteric angiography may miss bleeding arising from the lower rectum, as its blood supply does not arise from the mesenteric artery; thus internal iliac arterial angiogram is also necessary to detect bleeding from the


BACKGROUND
Vasodilator agents are widely used in congestive heart failure. These agents may have important effects on the pulsatile aspects of right ventricular hydraulic load.

METHODS AND RESULTS
Fifteen patients with severe congestive heart failure were studied during cardiac catheterization by use of high-fidelity pressure transducers and a catheter-mounted flow velocity probe. Three graded doses of nitroprusside were infused as pulmonary artery (PA) pressure and flow were continuously recorded. From Fourier transforms of signal-averaged waves, PA impedance, hydraulic power, and wave reflection indices were derived. At the highest dose of nitroprusside (66 +/- 41 micrograms/min), cardiac output was significantly improved, whereas PA mean and wedge pressure, resistance, impedance at the first harmonic, characteristic impedance, and wave reflection amplitude were all reduced. At the dose (32 +/- 20 micrograms/min) at which cardiac output first showed improvement, only PA mean pressure and first-harmonic impedance were significantly reduced. Hydraulic power cost per unit of forward flow was also lowered at this dose, despite lack of significant change in pulmonary vascular resistance. At the lowest dose of nitroprusside (11 +/- 4 micrograms/min), six patients experienced a decrease in stroke volume, whereas the other nine were either unchanged (n = 1) or showed an increase (n = 8). Multiple regression revealed that only the change in first-harmonic impedance correlated with this effect, increasing when stroke volume decreased and decreasing when stroke volume increased (P = .02). The change in first-harmonic impedance at this dose appeared to be caused by alterations in the amplitude of PA wave reflections. At higher doses, changes in mean PA pressure (but not in pulmonary vascular resistance) correlated with changes in stroke volume.

CONCLUSIONS
Nitroprusside vasodilation at low doses alters PA hemodynamics in congestive heart failure primarily through changes in low-frequency impedance. In some patients, this effect is associated with decreased stroke output. At higher doses, favorable alterations in resistance, low- and high-frequency impedance, and wave reflections all contribute to increased forward flow and decreased power requirement per unit forward flow. These findings show that ventricular-vascular interaction is importantly affected by pulmonary vasodilation and that appreciation of pulsatile properties is required to understand the effects of pulmonary vasodilation on cardiac output.


The powerful Chuetsu Oki Earthquake with a magnitude 6.6 hit the northwest of Niigata Prefecture, Japan on July 17, 2007. The earthquake caused economic loss as it reportedly destroyed 342 buildings, mostly older wooden structures. A few embankment failures as well as shallow landslides were triggered by the earthquake. The Oumigawa landslide (Fig. 1) seems to have received the most attention from the local government as well as geotechnical community as it blocked the rail track near Oumigawa station JR, suspending the train service in the area for 1 month. A few days after the event, a research group from the University of Tokyo, including the authors, conducted a survey of the site in order to evaluate the structural damage caused by the slide. It was found that the landslide occurred in highly weathered zone of mudstone, which consisted of plastic fine-grained soil with the inclusions of rock fragments. It is interesting to note that, according to the statistics of slope failures triggered by the Niigata Chuetsu earthquake, a strong quake that hit the same prefecture in 2004, seismically-induced slope failures in plastic fine-grained soils are rather rare and significantly outnumbered by slope failures in sandy soils. One of the reasons for this discrepancy is that plastic fine-grained soils have a smaller potential for generation of high pore pressures during cyclic loading and the material retains most of its static undrained strength. Thus, the Oumigawa landslide presents the unique opportunity for geotechnical engineers to study the mechanism of such slides. The procedure used in this study included a series of triaxial tests on soil samples collected from the failure plane, slope stability analysis prior and after the earthquake, and dynamic analysis. On the basis of the obtained results, the mechanism of the Oumigawa landslide was posited. It was also found that only the dynamic analysis provided the location of the most critical sliding surface, which was in a reasonably good agreement with the position of the sliding zone in the slope.


BACKGROUND
Oncological diseases have, in most cases, a multifactorial etiology, composed of a combination of external and internal environmental factors. Hereditary tumorous syndromes are mostly autosomal dominant diseases with incomplete but very high penetrance.

OBSERVATION
The patient, an 18-year-old virgin female, consulted a gynecologist in June 2018 because of metrorrhagia. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a cervical tumor with the dimensions 80 × 90 × 80 mm. Histological analysis confirmed the presence of a very rare hypercalcemic type of small-cell carcinoma of the cervix. Further investigation of the germinal exom of the patient showed pathological variations in genes PALB2 and BRCA2, presented with recommendation of detailed examination by medical genetics.

CONCLUSION
Clinical experience with this type of tumor is very limited, but it still comes with some useful outcome. Small cell carcinomas of the gynecologic tract are very rare, aggressive diseases, with very poor prognosis, affecting mainly young women. Their origin is most often the ovaries, based on most clinical data, but these tumor also localize to the endometrium, cervix, vagina and vulva. It is an extremely rare type of cancer, for which clinical data is scant due to the extremely low number of reported cases. In this patient, the carcinoma had an unusual genetical mutation burden, which she inherited from her parents. In the light of these findings, we recommend that patients suspected of having a small-cell of the gynecologic tract provide a detailed family history, and that genetic testing be considered in similar cases. This work was supported by MH CR grant 16-33209A and research program of Charles University Progress Q40/06. The authors declare they have no potential conflicts of interest concerning drugs, products, or services used in the study. The Editorial Board declares that the manuscript met the ICMJE recommendation for biomedical papers. Submitted: 10. 6. 2019 Accepted: 9. 9. 2019.


Nonlinear Analysis of Smart Composite Plate and Shell Structures. (May 2004) Seung Joon Lee, B.S., Yeungnam University; M.S., Yeungnam University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. J. N. Reddy Theoretical formulations, analytical solutions, and finite element solutions for laminated composite plate and shell structures with smart material laminae are presented in the study. A unified third-order shear deformation theory is formulated and used to study vibration/deflection suppression characteristics of plate and shell structures. The von Kármán type geometric nonlinearity is included in the formulation. Third-order shear deformation theory based on Donnell and Sanders nonlinear shell theories is chosen for the shell formulation. The smart material used in this study to achieve damping of transverse deflection is the Terfenol-D magnetostrictive material. A negative velocity feedback control is used to control the structural system with the constant control gain. The Navier solutions of laminated composite plates and shells of rectangular planeform are obtained for the simply supported boundary conditions using the linear theories. Displacement finite element models that account for the geometric nonlinearity and dynamic response are developed. The conforming element which has eight degrees of freedom per node is used to develop the finite element model. Newmark's time integration scheme is used to reduce the ordinary differential equations in time to algebraic equations. Newton-Raphson iteration scheme is used to solve the resulting nonlinear finite element equations. A number of parametric studies are carried out to understand the damping characteristics of laminated composites with embedded smart material layers.


Tracking drugs became more difficult using the centralized architecture. Decentralized architecture using blockchain technology overcomes the difficulties faced by the centralized network like availability and recovery. Avoiding duplicate or fake drugs created by fake manufacturers is a big challenge in the centralized network. Authentic stock is managed and the supply chain is tracked efficiently using this blockchain technology. This is addressed by using the smart contract which helps to track the movement of drugs from manufacturer to supplier, supplier to the reseller, reseller to pharmacies and finally pharmacies to patient. By default, duplicate drugs or fake drugs are completely avoided by using the blockchain technology. Patients buy drugs without any prescription and it creates a lot of problems in real life. So, Patients cannot buy drugs without authenticated doctor's prescriptions with the help of a QR Code scanner attached with the prescription which will be implemented using a mobile application and cannot buy excess drugs which might lose someone's life. With the help of inventory management, the maximum limit of drugs to avoid overdose and pharmacies cannot sell those overdose drugs. Consulting a doctor before buying a drug for even a simple illness is important and it is tracked by using prescriptions provided by authentic doctors. In this project, these challenges are addressed using the smart contract which is written in solidity language and runs on a public ethereum network.


In the current study, we evaluated whether the capacity of HIV to modulate major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules has an impact on the ability of autologous natural killer (NK) cells to kill the HIV-infected cells. Analysis of HIV-infected T-cell blasts revealed that the decrease in MHC class I molecules on the infected cell surface was selective. HLA-A and -B were decreased on cells infected with HIV strains that could decrease MHC class I molecules, whereas HLA-C and -E remained on the surface. Blocking the interaction between HLA-C and -E and their corresponding inhibitory receptors increased NK cell killing of T-cell blasts infected with HIV strains that reduced MHC class I molecules. Moreover, we demonstrate that NK cells lacking HLA-C and -E inhibitory receptors kill T-cell blasts infected with HIV strains that decrease MHC class I molecules. In contrast, NK cells are incapable of destroying T-cell blasts infected with HIV strains that were unable to reduce MHC class I molecules. These findings suggest that NK cells lacking inhibitory receptors to HLA-C and -E kill HIV-infected CD4+ T cells, and they indicate that the capacity of NK cells to destroy HIV-infected cells depends on the ability of the virus to modulate MHC class I molecules.


We study energy-efficient transmission of data with deadline constraints over a time-varying channel. Specifically, the system model consists of a wireless transmitter with controllable transmission rate, time-varying and stochastic channel state, and strict delay constraints on the packets in the queue. While the transmitter can control the rate, the transmission power required depends on the chosen rate and the prevailing channel condition. The objective is to obtain a rate control policy that serves the data within the deadline constraints while minimizing the total energy expenditure. Toward this end, we first introduce the canonical problem of transmitting B units of data by deadline T over a Markov fading channel, and obtain the optimal policy for it using continuous-time stochastic control theory. Using a novel cumulative curves methodology and a decomposition approach, we extend the above setup to consider extensions involving variable deadlines on the packets. Finally, utilizing the analysis we present a heuristic policy for the case of arbitrary packet arrivals to the queue with individual deadline constraints, and give illustrative simulation results for its performance.


Functional valgus collapse (a combination of knee abduction and internal rotation and hip adduction and internal rotation) is a modifiable lower extremity movement pattern commonly associated with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in females. Though the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius have frequently been named contributors to functional valgus collapse, evidence supporting their role in lower extremity movement has been inconsistent, and could in part be due to methodological differences between studies and the accepted practice of analyzing discrete variables instead of overall movement patterns. Better elucidation of gluteal muscle influence on lower extremity biomechanics may be a critical step for the reduction of ACL injury rates, as neuromuscular dysfunction is likely more responsive to injury prevention efforts than are other risk factors such as bony anatomy, ligament quality, or hormonal influences, that are more difficult to modify. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to 1) describe the neuromechanical profiles throughout the landing phase of single-leg and double-leg forward landings in males and females, 2) quantify the contributions of gluteal muscle strength and activation to peak angles and moments of functional valgus collapse after controlling for one's femoral alignment, and 3) explore the association between gluteal muscle function and overall functional valgus collapse throughout the landing phase. To accomplish this, 45 females and 45 males with no history of knee surgery were measured for femoral anteversion, hip ROM, and hip strength and then underwent biomechanical testing during single-leg and double-leg forward landings to examine muscle activation and 3-dimensional biomechanics. Data were analyzed using conventional group and correlative analyses and also with statistical parametric mapping (SPM), which allowed for a more comprehensive examination of the entire biomechanical time series. Biomechanical variables of interest included joint angles and moments comprising functional valgus collapse: hip adduction and internal rotation and knee abduction and internal rotation. In the comparison between single-leg and double-leg landings by sex, sex differences in the frontal plane were task dependent, though females maintained greater absolute knee abduction and hip adduction throughout the landing phases. Sex by task interactions revealed that females landed with smaller knee adduction angles than males, particularly during the single-leg landing (p=.03), while females' knee abduction excursion was greater than males', particularly during the double-leg landing (p=.01). Across task, females displayed 4.1° greater peak knee abduction than males (p=.002), and this was specific to 37-46% of the landing phase (p=.05). Females went through 1.0° more hip abduction than males (p=.05), and used a smaller proportion of their gluteus maximus (p=.01) in both tasks. Examination of gluteal muscle contribution to individual and overall levels of functional valgus collapse in females revealed that at the 18% and 20% time points during the landing phase, less hip abduction strength and greater gluteus medius activation predicted greater peak hip adduction angles (R2 change = .10; p = .02) and higher external hip adduction moments (R2 change = .14, p = .06). Greater hip extension strength predicted greater peak hip abduction angles (R2 change = .08; p = .05), while greater gluteus maximus activation strengthened the prediction of greater initial (R2 change = .10, p = .03) and peak (R2 change = .14, p = .01) knee internal rotation angles. From 7% - 8% of the landing phase, greater external rotation ROM was associated with greater external hip adduction moment (R2 change = .18, p = .01). In males, less hip abduction strength strengthened the prediction of greater initial (R2 change = .12, p = .01) and peak knee internal rotation angles (R2 change = .14, p = .01), lesser peak knee external rotation angles (R2 change = .07, p =.09), and lesser peak knee abduction moments (R2 change = .06, p =.11). Less hip extension strength with greater gluteus maximus activation predicted greater peak hip external rotation moments (R2 change = .14, p = .01). Specifically from the 3% - 9% time points of the landing phase, greater hip extension strength was associated with greater knee abduction moment (R2 change = .17, p = .01) and less hip adduction moment (R2 change = .24, p = .001). At 0% and from 2% - 3% of the landing phase, greater internal and external rotation ROM were associated with greater knee abduction angle (R2 change = .27, p = .01) and greater hip adduction angle (R2 change = .23, p = .02). These results indicate that lower extremity biomechanics during a single-leg landing task are appreciably different than those observed during a double-leg landing task, and that a single-leg landing task elicits more profound sex differences, particularly during the early stage of single-leg load acceptance when ACL injuries are thought to occur (30-40ms post initial ground contact). As such, a single-leg landing task may be more appropriate for biomechanical screening of ACL injury risk. Gluteal strength and activation explained a unique proportion of variance in lower extremity biomechanics beyond what was explained by femoral alignment. In females, weaker gluteal muscles predicted riskier frontal plane hip kinematics. In males, gluteal function was more associated with kinetics. This implies that our male cohort used their musculature to create torque about a joint, whereas our female cohort was unable to create torque. Though femoral alignment (total ROM) explained considerably greater proportions of biomechanical variance than did gluteal function, observed associations between gluteal muscle function and biomechanics occurred 10-20ms after associations between femoral alignment and biomechanics. While the gluteal muscles may act mechanically independent of femoral alignment, it is possible that gluteal muscle function could be temporally linked to one's femoral alignment. With these findings in mind, it may be beneficial for clinicians to implement gluteal strengthening programs and to encourage gluteal muscle pre-activation in individuals with excessive hip ROM to lessen their propensity for functional valgus collapse.


We welcome the contribution made by Winter and Kingsley, with their global approach to our more regional topic, and wish to reply to those points which are considered relevant to the discussion.

It should be made clear at the outsetthat our terms of reference were to describe the stratigraphy and explain the origin of the redefined Natal Group. At no time have we discarded the correlation of the Natal Group with the Cape Supergroup, but we do maintain that the previously accepted hypothesis that the oldest Phanerozoic rocks occurring in KwaZulu—Natal (the Natal Group) are correlated with those of the Transkei (Msikaba Formation), seems to be no longer tenable (Thomas et al ., 1992a). In this publication it was pointed out that Schwarz (1916) was the first to recognize the lithological disparity between the northern and southern assemblages, and also to assert that the northern assemblage is much older than the southern assemblage. Thomas et al ., (1992a, p. 233) stated 'There is consequently no reason to correlate the two lithological types' and "the term 'Natal Group' should be restricted to the red, fluvial sediments which occur north of the Dweshula High". A corollary to this is that there is now very little likelihood that the quartz arenites of the Natal Group (Kranskloof and Dassenhoek Members) represent marine transgression/regression cycles from the marine basin in which the Msikaba Formation was deposited. Put another way, they do not represent northward extensions of the Msikaba beds. The quartzitic Kranskloof and Dassenhoek Members of the Natal Group are commonly sub-arkosic (Marshall, 1994), which would generally be contra-indicative of a marine environment of deposition. Kingsley (1975) cites five valid reasons why the orthosandstones of the Natal Group (Kranskloof and Dassenhoek Members) should not be considered as having been deposited during major marine transgression/regression …


Background and objective: Perceived self-efficacy is one of the predictive factors in behavior. The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of nutrition education on weight control self efficacy in the obese or overweight female high school students. Materials and methods: This intervention study of two groups on participants in which 154 obese and overweight female high school students, aged 15 to 17, were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The data was collected by using the weight efficacy lifestyle questionnaire (WEL). Educational programs were implemented for four sessions for experiment group and the results were evaluated after intervention. The data were analyzed using chi square, independent t-test, paired t-test, Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon and Analysis of Covariance through SPSS 22. Results: Following the intervention, significant differences were observed in subscales including social pressures (p < 0.001) and availability of nutrition (p=0.008) in experimental group. However, these differences were not significant in negative emotions, entertaining activities and physical discomfort in this group. There were no significant differences in control group in any of subscales (p>0/05). Conclusion: Utilizing an intervention technique like the present wellnessbased program had positive effects on encouraging the adolescents for making healthier lifestyle and healthy lifestyle will prevent obesity and overweight. Paper Type: Research Article.


In recent years research on coping with job stress has begun to move away from investigation of the relationships between theoretical constructs and towards investigation of the constructs themselves. Such research includes the study by Dewe and Guest in which they presented an inductive approach to the development of a valid classification of the major methods of coping with work related stress built on a carefully articulated methodology. The present study replicated this methodology using a blue collar population. Comparisons were made between the present study and the results obtained by Dewe and Guest. Sex and ethnic differences were also investigated. Finally, the problem-focused, emotion-focused dichotomy was explored. Which was the most prevalent approach in the present population? One hundred and fifty three cleaners were given a self-report questionnaire consisting of both a coping measure and demographic information. Results indicated that five main coping strategies were used (Rational task oriented and preparation for dealing with the problem, Expression of emotion and avoidance, Attempts to tolerate or mitigate the effect, Distraction by pleasurable activities, and Emotional release). Despite the different work context, the present study showed consistencies with the previous studies. It appeared that four of the components were consistent across studies. These were direct action, emotional release, distraction, and passive rationalization. No sex differences in coping were found except in the use of prayer where it appeared that women used this strategy more frequently than males. No ethnic differences appeared to exist, that is, all ethnic groups used similar coping strategies. In contrast to previous findings, problem-focused coping was found to be the most prevalent form.of coping among the present subjects. It is acknowledged that the cross sectional design, reliance on self report, and the characteristics of the questionnaire itself limit the conclusions to be drawn from the study. Future research should be undertaken on other populations, especially other blue collar workers with more restricted autonomy, thus counteracting some of the present study's limitations.


This article considers the long-debated and thorny issue of the transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic in Britain. The apparently polarised debate that has dominated this discussion is, we suggest, unhelpful, and rather than positing either total colonisation from abroad, or simple indigenous continuity, we propose a model where both incomers and autochthons had their part to play. To explore this further we trace continuities across the divide in practices of hunting and gathering, and place these alongside the demonstrable evidence for change.


With the development of the PCR technology, especially the improvement of its reagent and a method of pebrine detection by PCR in infected Bombyx mori eggs was established.With the 16sRNA gene of Nosema bombycis as target sequence, the results of extraction of genomic DNA from purified microspores showed that 1.3×10-7µg DNA can be extracted from each spore. The sensitivity detection showed the detection limit of Nosema bombycis DNA was 3.25×10-2pg, i.e. 4 spores. (PCR system volume is 25µl). The method of total DNA extraction from pebrine infected silkworm eggs just before hatching was created. The result showed that extracting total DNA from silkworm eggs after the eggs had been treated with 30% KOH met the PCR detection requirements. The result of application study showed the spores in the pebrine infected egg just before hatching can sensitively be found with PCR. The result of a group of eggs just before hatching detection showed that the maximum PCR detection level was of a pebrine infected eggs just before hatching in 300 healthy eggs when the total DNA extraction had been purified with Agarose electrophoresis. The probability of identifying groups of one pebrine spore in infected eggs just before hatching mixed with 100 healthy ones was about 80%.


In this paper, we report a self-assembled multilayer flexible electrode fabricated by a roll-to-roll sequential deposition process. We assembled the multilayer thin films consisting of weak polyelectrolyte poly(ethylenimine) (PEI) and conductive polymer polyaniline (PANi) on a poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) substrate via a roll-to-roll sequential deposition process. This fabricated multilayer electrode film showed stepwised growth with an agglomerated structure in accordance with the increase in the bilayer number of (PEI/PANi). The conductivity, morphologies, absorbance, and transmittance of electrode films were investigated using the four-terminal probes unit for current–voltage (I–V) characterization, atomic force microscopy (AFM), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) spectrometry. The prepared multilayer flexible electrode film with the coating sequence of (PEI/PANi)30 showed high transmittance in a visible range and low surface roughness of ca. 9 nm. The resistance of the multilayer electrode film was measured to be ca. 10 kΩ. As the bilayer number of (PEI/PANi) increased from 10 to 30, the surface roughness and resistance of the multilayer electrode film decreased. These experimental results showed that the uniform and highly transparent conductive films were successively formed on a flexible PET substrate by a self-assembly roll-to-roll process.


There is a substantial deficit of sensitive measures of parental discipline in the area of prevention, generally, and in child maltreatment prevention specifically, despite reports that over a million children experience maltreatment in the United States every year. Part of the challenge in locating such measures is the impossibility of obtaining accurate observational measures of the degree of harsh discipline, unless extremely large populations are used. The majority of studies on harsh discipline have dealt with this problem by using self-report instruments or proxy observation tasks (such as observing mother-child interactions in a compliance framework). The most well-known self-report instruments, such as the Child Abuse Potential Inventory (Milner, 1986), are constructed to measure parental pathology in maltreating parents rather than to identify parents who might benefit from preventive endeavors. In contrast, there are no well standardized measures of mother-child interaction that document a sensitivity to the presence of harsh discipline, possibly due to the clear pressure of social desirability problems. This paper outlines a daily self-observation measure of parental disciplinary behavior in the form of a diary. This selfmonitoring instrument offered data on the overall feelings and disciplinary behaviors used daily following each session on parenting group interventions. The study showed a gradual decrease in physical punishment and a gradual increase in planned ignoring across treatment, as these were introduced as part of an ongoing curriculum. The use of an explicit technique, such as timeout, increased abruptly rather than gradually and effects were seen only after specific instruction. Advantages and future applications of this kind of ongoing self-observation measure of treatment progress are described.