Compaction of polymer powders and polymer-based nanocomposites by uniaxial high-velocity cold compaction (HVC), by high-energy ball milling (HEBM) and using a novel technique, relaxation assists, was investigated with a focus on the process parameters, the compactibility characteristics, surface morphology and friction. The basic phenomena associated with HVC are explained and the general energy principle is introduced to explain the pull-out phenomenon, springback gradient, delay time, relative time of the pressure wave, and stick-slip phenomenon during the compaction process. Experimental results for different compaction profiles, different particle size distributions and different milling system for polymer-based nanocomposite are presented, showing the effect of varying the process parameters on the compacted material; the compactibility in the compacted bed, the uniformity of the compacted surface, the pull-out phenomenon, the springback gradient, the stick-slip phenomenon and the homogeneity of the dispersions of nanoparticles in the polymer powders in the solid state. It was found that the high-velocity compaction process is an interruption process and that the opposite velocity and pressure loss during the compaction process have a major influence on the quality of the compacted material. The relaxation assist device is a novel technique that has been successfully developed to improve the compaction process. The relaxation assists are parts of the piston and they are regarded as projectile supports. They are constructed of the same material as the piston, and the diameters are the same but the lengths are different. The relaxation assist device leads to an improvement in the compaction of powders, polymer powders and polymer-based nanocomposites by giving a more homogeneous opposite velocity and a better locking of the powder bed in the compacted form during the compaction process with less change in dimensions in the case of both homogeneous and heterogeneous materials. If the movement of the particles is restricted the powder bed attains a higher density and the total elastic springback is minimized. In addition, there is a more homogeneous dispersion of nanoparticles in the case of a heterogeneous material. A much better transfer of the pressure through the powder bed and a smaller loss of pressure lead to a more homogenous stick-slip of the particles and a higher sliding coefficient due to the overall friction during the compaction process.


Our previous study showed that hydroxyurea (Hu) could induce HEL cells to express human β-globin gene. However the molecular mechanisms by which the expression of β-globin gene is activated and regulated are poorly understood. Here we show that the binding patterns between the core DNA sequences (HS2 core sequence -10681~ -10971 bp , HS3 core sequence -14991~ -14716 bp and HS4 core sequence -18586~ -18306 bp) of DNase I hypersensitive sites in the human/3-globin LCR and nuclear matrix proteins isolated from Hu induced and uninduced HEL cells are quite different. Results demonstrated that nuclear matrix proteins might play important roles in regulating the expression of human β-like globin genes through their interaction with HSs (HS2,HS3 and HS4 core sequences) in the LCR. Moreover, the results obtained from the in vitro DNA-matrix binding assay showed that the core DNA sequences of DNase I hypersensitive sites (HS2, HS3 and HS4) were unable to bind to the nuclear matrix isolated from uninduced HEL cells; in addition, HS2 core DNA sequence was capable of binding to the nuclear matrix prepared from Hu-induced HEL cells, while both HS3 and HS4 core DNA sequences could not do so. Results indicated that the HS2 core DNA sequence may be a functional MAR (matrix attachment region). We suggest that the HS2 core DNA sequence binding to the nuclear matrix in Hu-induced HEL cells may open the structure of chromatin to make the LCR accessible to the promoter of β-globin gene and to promote its transcription.


The coverage of Wikileaks' huge amounts of leaked data was a challenge for newspapers – they had to figure out how to get stories out of extensive and complex data sets and how to present their findings to readers. The result significantly differs from traditional news reporting; including illustrations, interactive web applications and reading instructions to make the material accessible. This style of news reporting is called data-driven journalism. The international interest in the leaks combined with collaborative work between newspapers from different countries made it a new trend in current journalism. A key lesson from working with this kind of material is that data collection is essential for the effectiveness of the used techniques. If journalists would adapt this insight to their own, internal data collection process, this form of news reporting could be used on a large scale and be much more common. The coverage of Wikileaks' might give a glimpse of how journalism will look like in the future.


Background: Currently, there is little guidance available for documenting and executing the change in management goals in the context of incurable hematologic disease. Objective: The aim of this study was to improve the transition to palliative care for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) through the development and implementation of a coordinated care plan program. Methods: Twenty-three patients with AML who were no longer being treated with curative intent from March 2011 through September 2012 had hematology supportive care plans developed. Patients (n = 7) completed post–care plan implementation questionnaires to determine their level of understanding in relation to the change in treatment intent. Staff completed pre– (n = 26) and post– (n = 19) care plan implementation questionnaires to determine the communication, challenges, and accessibility of changed management goals. Results: Seventy-seven percent of patients understood palliative care to be the primary team managing their symptoms, with 75% of patients viewing symptom control as the main goal of treatment. Staff findings demonstrated a significant improvement in the communication of treatment goals (53% preimplementation vs 86% postimplementation). Early timing of referrals remains a significant issue. Conclusions: Implementing the individualized care plan program was associated with better communication and accessibility of documented palliative treatment goals for patients with AML. Implications for Practice: This study establishes a model of care that addresses symptom and disease burden in end-stage AML and provides valuable insight into the patient and family understanding of treatment intent during this terminal phase.


In this study, dynamic behaviors of cracks under dynamic biaxial stress were investigated. We conducted static and dynamic loading fracture experiments on a magnesium alloy (AZ31B-O) under equitable and inequitable biaxial stress by using a hydraulic high-speed biaxial experimental machine. We processed specimens as the cross type with a crack. Different kinds of cracks were defined by their crack angles. We analyzed the results using the caustic method. The experiments revealed some important findings; there is a negative relation between the fracture toughness value and the plate thickness of the magnesium alloy sheet specimen; the fracture toughness value decreases when the crack has an angle different from the loading direction; the fracture toughness value decreases significantly under inequitable biaxial stress.


Many companies demonstrate low corporate responsiveness to environmental safety. The existing literature indicates egoistic behavior of companies as the main cause of low corporate responsiveness. However, these conclusions are based on cases from developed countries. What determines the low corporate responsiveness to environmental safety in developing and transition economies, for which the very concept of environmental business responsibility is new? In order to answer this question, this article examines the experience of one of the largest Russian oil companies in ensuring environmental safety in the development of an oil field located on the territory of Russia. The information base of the research include documented sources of information, as well as in-depth interviews with managers of the Russian oil company, who make decisions about the environmental safety of the project as well as with external experts who cooperate with this company in the field of environmental safety. The results of the study showed that the low responsiveness to environmental safety of Russian companies is not due to their selfish behavior, as the existing literature suggests, but due to illiteracy of their top managers in environmental issues (lack of understanding of environmental safety issues). Via the approach of R. Whitley, the author of this research explains this illiteracy as the cognitive derivative of the national business system. The author shows that illiteracy of top managers in environmental issues is supported by the Russian culture, the Russian education system, and by financial and political systems. A theoretical explanation is offered of how environmental irresponsibility is formed within the context for which the very concept of environmental business responsibility is new. Speaking about the role of the political system in this process, governmental intervention in decision-making on environmental safety and the work of regulatory authorities are discussed.


ABSTRACT Knowledge of the breeding behavior of Evening Grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus) is based largely on a multiyear study in Colorado during the 1980s. In Colorado, the duration of full incubation bouts by female grosbeaks had a mean of 26.6 min, a value repeated since then in the literature. For one nesting pair of grosbeaks I studied in Montana, full incubation bouts (n = 5) by the undisturbed female during 22 h of direct nest watches on 7 d in June 2018 had a mean of 112.6 min (range = 45–202 min), much longer than the value reported in the Colorado study. Incomplete incubation bouts (female already incubating on my arrival or at my departure) by the undisturbed Montana female (n = 11) during the same observation period had a mean of 56.2 min, 4 of which were a minimum of 94–146 min, further suggesting that longer duration incubation bouts may be the norm for this species. Duration of incubation bouts for Evening Grosbeak in the Colorado study appear to be brief relative to other North American fringillids, but my limited data suggest that Evening Grosbeaks are typical in this regard. Mean duration of 10 nest absences by the undisturbed Montana incubating female was 9.7 ± 7.6 min (range = 3–26 min), similar to the Colorado study (10.1 ± 10.7 min). Male behavior during incubation also appeared similar to results from Colorado (no attending the eggs, frequent exchange of vocalizations with the nesting female, escorting and feeding the female only when off the nest). I conclude that the duration of nest watches (60–80 min) in the Colorado study was inadequate to determine the length of many longer incubation bouts by female Evening Grosbeaks.


Interval training (IT), combined with pharmacological therapy, has been strongly recommended for the management of coronary artery disease (CAD) and control of cardiovascular risk factors. However, the best protocol to be used it is still unclear. In this regard, the IT protocols based on ventilatory anaerobic threshold (VAT) can be an effective and safe strategy to prescribe the intensity of the exercise training as well as to promote improvement of the aerobic functional capacity, metabolic profile, cardiac autonomic modulation and to reduce inflammatory markers. Moreover, the adaptive responses to IT may differ between individuals. Part of this biological variability may be explained by the genetic polymorphisms involved in the synthesis of structural proteins or on the circulation enzymes. Based on this context, this thesis involved three studies. The first and second studies were conducted to investigate if the IT, based on intensities between 70 and 110% of the workload obtained in the VAT, could be effective to improve functional aerobic capacity and metabolic profile. Moreover, it was investigated if there was a relationship between the improvement in cardiac autonomic modulation with the reduction of the Creactive protein (CRP) in patients with CAD and/or cardiovascular risk factors. The results of the first study showed that the IT program increased aerobic functional capacity and reduced body mass and body mass index. The second study found that after the IT program, there was an increase of the parasympathetic autonomic modulation that was associated with a reduction in CRP levels. Given these findings, the third study was designed to investigate the improvement of the functional aerobic capacity and changes in lipid profile induced by IT, in relation to the apolipoprotein B (APOB) and the angiotensinconverting enzyme (ACE) genes polymorphisms. In this study, it was observed that the increase of the functional aerobic capacity was associated with the presence of the ACE I allele, whereas patients with polymorphism -7673G>A, in the APOB gene, presented increase of the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels over time. Considering the findings from these studies, the IT protocol promoted improvement of cardiac autonomic modulation, increase of aerobic functional capacity, reduction of inflammation e improvement of metabolic profile. These benefits on the cardiovascular and metabolic systems contribute to control of cardiovascular risk factors and primary and secondary prevention of CAD. Moreover, this IT protocol provides new possibilities on cardiac rehabilitation field, with respect to exercise training prescription at the VAT level.


One empirical argument that has been around for some time and that clearly contra- dicts equity market efficiency is that market prices seem too volatile to be optimal estimates of the present value of future discounted cash flows. Based on this, it is deduced that systematic pricing errors occur in equity markets which hence can not be efficient in the Effcient Market Hypothesis sense. The paper tries to show that this so-called excess volatility is to a large extend the result of the underlying assumptions, which are being employed to estimate the present value of cash flows. Using monthly data for three investment style indices from an integrated European Equity market, all usual assumptions are dropped. This is achieved by employing the Gordon Growth Model and using an estimation process for the dividend growth rate that was suggested by Barsky and De Long. In extension to Barsky and De Long, the discount rate is not assumed at some arbitrary level, but it is estimated from the data. In this manner, the empirical results do not rely on the prerequisites of sta- tionary dividends, constant dividend growth rates as well as non-variable discount rates. It is shown that indeed volatility declines considerably, but is not eliminated. Furthermore, it can be seen that the resulting discount factors for the three in- vestment style indices can not be considered equal, which, on a risk-adjusted basis, indicates performance differences in the investment strategies and hence stands in contradiction to an efficient market. Finally, the estimated discount rates under- went a plausibility check, by comparing their general movement to a market based interest rate. Besides the most recent data, the estimated discount rates match the movements of market interest rates fairly well.


Many public sector maize recurrent selection programs have been designed based on additive genetic expectations. Populations have been managed as large metapopulations with the assumption that population size must be very large because inbreeding due to finite size causes a linear reduction in genetic variance; we show that in BS13(S)C0 such predictions are inaccurate and discuss some implications. The objective of this study was to predict the effects of subdividing a maize population, BS13(S)C0, into finite subpopulations with previous estimates of genotypic variance-covariance components in the BS13(S)C0 population. Changes in variance among subpopulations, genetic variances within subpopulations, and mean values of subpopulations were predicted. Predicted variance among subpopulations increased approximately linearly with the inbreeding coefficient, in accordance with additive genetic expectations. Additive genetic theory predicts a linear decline in both total and additive genetic variance within subpopulations. Predicted total genetic variance within subpopulations initially increased, then decreased when the inbreeding coefficient was between 0.2 and 0.4 for most traits. Predicted additive genetic variance within subpopulations for grain yield decreased little at inbreeding coefficients <0.5. Predicted additive genetic variance for other traits decreased in approximate accordance with additive genetic expectations. These results provide model-based predictions that inbreeding BS13(S)C0, that is, genetic drift, will not lead to linear reductions in total genetic variance or additive genetic variance as typically expected. Implications of these results for agricultural selection programs are discussed.


This article characterizes the construction of the educational discourse , referred to as the economization discourse , which is used to educate family assistants, case workers (Polish social workers). The author presents the thesis that the economization discourse transfers the ideology of economization into the area of assistants' training. This ideology, based on the paradigm of thinking consistent with homo oeconomicus , may influence the process of creating perceptions of professional assistants on the essence of the activities undertaken in their work.


Since their discovery in the mid-1990s, regulator of G protein signaling (RGS) proteins have emerged as key regulators of signaling through G protein–coupled receptors. Among the over 20 known RGS proteins, RGS2 has received increasing interest as a potential therapeutic drug target with broad clinical implications. RGS2 is a member of the R4 subfamily of RGS proteins and is unique in that it is selective for Gαq. Despite only having an RGS domain, responsible for the canonical GTPase activating protein activity, RGS2 can regulate additional processes, such as protein synthesis and adenylate cyclase activity, through protein-protein interactions. Here we provide an update of the current knowledge of RGS2 function as it relates to molecular mechanisms of regulation as well as its potential role in regulating a number of physiologic systems and pathologies, including cardiovascular disease and central nervous system disorders, as well as various forms of cancer. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Regulator of G protein signaling (RGS) proteins represent an exciting class of novel drug targets. RGS2, in particular, could have broad clinical importance. As more details are emerging on the regulation of RGS2 in various physiological systems, the potential utility of this small protein in therapeutic development is increasing.


Energy harvesting (EH) is an innovative way to build long-term and self-sustainable wireless networks. However, an inconstant EH rate may have an adverse effect on the quality-of-service (QoS) of wireless traffic, such as packet delay and error. In this article we discuss techniques that provide QoS to EH powered wireless communications. A new "dynamic string tautening" method is presented to produce the most energy efficient schedule with substantially lower complexity, compared to convex optimization techniques. The method adapts to the bursty arrivals of wireless traffic and harvested energy, and ensures that delay-sensitive data will be delivered by deadline. Comprehensive designs of EH powered transmitters are also discussed, where the EH rate, battery capacity, and deadline requirement can be jointly adjusted to leverage QoS and the cost.


A robust distributed optimal power control (RDPC) scheme under worst case condition is proposed to make primary users (PUs) receive minimum interference generated from all secondary users (SUs) in underlay cognitive radio networks (CRNs). The strategy considers the transmit power of each SU below the maximum allowable power of the devices and interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of each SU under the minimum threshold. Simulation illustrate thatthe RDPC can lead SUs to reduce the interference to PUs, and simultaneously the better meet quality of service (QoS) requirement of SUs in comparison with the distributed power control algorithm (DPC) and the traditional iterative water filling algorithm (IWFA) in time-varying channel environment.


Purpose: The purpose of the research is to analyse the progress of logistics management digitization as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in enterprises (based on survey research). Design/Methodology/Approach: As part of the research, the following research methods were used in this paper, desk research, elements of descriptive statistics and a survey research. Findings: When analysing the results of the study, it is possible to indicate an increase in the level of logistics management digitization as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was most often pointed out that the top management of organizations is currently performing coordinated duties in terms of setting goals, developing strategic visions and plans for the digitization of all logistics processes. Practical Implications: The results of the research may constitute a recommendation for entrepreneurs in the matter of the approach to logistics management digitization, as well as creating a strategy and a plan for digitization - in the context of benchmarking the progress in this area against other organizations. Originality/Value: Digitization is nowadays an indispensable feature of the functioning of a company's logistics. Today, digitization is perceived as a key driver in the transformation of logistics management, and the main benefit of digitization is the reduction of logistics costs.


Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, progressive, inflammatory disease characterised by pain, stiffness, swelling and loss of function. Severity of these symptoms is extremely variable both between patients and over time in individual patients. Assessment of disease activity and response to treatment relies heavily on subjective assessments of pain and stiffness and non-specific biochemical measures. In this study an arthrograph has been used to measure stiffness objectively at the right index metacarpal-phalangeal joint. Stiffness was defined as resistance to motion in the flexion / extension plane of movement. The finger was moved through 40 degrees, centred on the equilibrium position. Stiffness was quantified in terms of resistive torque, dissipated energy and angles of the hysteresis loop slope in flexion, extension and mid range positions. Principal components analysis was later used to create an 'objective stiffness factor' from these readings. Grip strength, proximal inter-phalangeal joint size and total hand size were measured in all study subjects. Patients with rheumatoid disease were asked to assess the severity of their pain and stiffness using numerical rating scales and to record the duration of their morning stiffness. Joint tenderness was assessed using an articular index; plasma viscosity and haemoglobin estimation were recorded. One hundred healthy women and eighty five women with rheumatoid disease were each assessed on one occasion. Thirteen healthy women and twenty six women with rheumatoid disease agreed to be assessed monthly for one year. Objective stiffness was found to be influenced by size of the pip joints. It bore little relationship to patient's subjective assessment of stiffness and did not differentiate between patients and healthy control subjects. Patient's assessment of their symptoms was mainly influenced by joint tenderness and grip strength. These findings support the suggestion that difficulty of movement, due to pain and weakness, is being misinterpreted as stiffness by patients with active rheumatoid disease.


The increase observed in the amount of the disialoganglioside GDlof the rat cerebrum during development between 21 and 81 days of age accounted for nearly 40% of the overall increase in total ganglioside in the tissue during the same period. Subcellular fractionation showed the microsomal fraction to contribute by far the most towards this increase in Cerebral ganglioside GDla. It is suggested that microsomal ganglioside GDla may serve as a marker for dendritic arborization in the rat cerebrum.


The objective of the research project was to study the effect of shoulder and centreline rumble strips on accident rate. The types under study were a centreline rumble strip on two-lane roads, shoulder rumble strips on two-lane roads, and shoulder rumble strips on motorways. The study material consisted of approximately 500 km of motorways and 3000 km of two-lane roads with rumble strips. The rumble strips were installed during 2004-2008, and accident data accident data were collected for the period 2003-2009. Accident data included all police-reported accidents. The method was a before-after analysis of head-on collisions and single vehicle accidents. This was done as a simple accident rate before and after computation, using main roads without rumble strips as a reference group. This was supplemented by an empirical Bayesian study of all police-reported accidents on two-lane roads. Speed development was also checked at thirteen automatic measurement points on two-lane roads. Centreline rumble strips showed a reduction of 10% in off-road left and head-on personal injury accidents on two-lane roads, when combining results obtained by different methods. All police-reported off-road right accidents increased by 4%, but it seems that only property damage accidents increased, not personal injury accidents. Based on the results, centreline rumble strips reduce all motor vehicle accidents (accidents without animals or unprotected road users) by approximately 3%. Research material on shoulder rumble strips on two-lane roads proved to be too sparse for reliable conclusions. Off-road right accidents seemed to have declined by 10-20%, depending on the research method, on roads with milled rumble strips, and increased on roads with rolled rumble strips. Off-road right accidents declined especially in winter, and on the basis of speed data, also average speeds declined in winter. Thus, the winter season off-road right accident decrease may be due to a reduction in speed, which is probably not due to shoulder rumble strips. The number of off-road left and head-on accidents seemed to have remained unchanged on roads with shoulder rumble strips. On motorways with shoulder rumble strips, the accident rate of police-reported off-road accidents decreased by 10%. Personal injury off-road right accidents decreased by 18% and off-road left accidents by 17%. Off-road accidents decreased more than other accident types on motorways. Due to the lack of a reference group, it is uncertain, however, whether the decline in motorway off-road accidents was due to shoulder rumble strips. There are about 3,000 km of main roads on which a centreline rumble strip would be appropriate for the traffic volume, but where it does not yet exist. If half of these roads could be equipped with a centreline rumble strip, it would prevent around a dozen personal injury accidents a year. This report may be found at http://alk.tiehallinto.fi/julkaisut/pdf3/lts_2010-41_taristavien_tiemerkintojen_web.pdf


Background: The most important step in bone graft management is soft tissue coverage. Dehiscence of the wound leads to graft exposure and subsequent problems. Purpose: This study introduces an axial pattern flap for bone graft coverage in anterior maxilla. Patients and Methods: Use of Anterior Palatal Island Advancement Flap is presented by the authors. It is a mucoperiosteal flap with axial pattern blood supply, based on nasopalatine artery. It is easy to raise and predictable. Results: Anterior Palatal Island Advancement Flap was effective in bone graft coverage in premaxillary edentulous area. Conclusion: It can be used as an aid for bone graft coverage of premaxillary edentulous ridge, where the need for mucosa is small in width but long in length.


Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by inflammation and cellular proliferation in the synovial lining of joints that result in cartilage and bone destruction. Although the etiology of RA is unclear, activated lymphocytes and proinflammatory molecules, in particular TNF superfamily members, have been implicated in the disease pathology. A TNF superfamily member, CD70, is found on activated lymphocytes and shown to be important in memory and effector responses of lymphocytes. CD70 is expressed at high levels on chronically activated T cells in patients with autoimmune disorders, including RA. The involvement of CD70 in the progression of RA, however, remains unknown. In this study, we report effects of targeting CD70 on disease pathogenesis by using an anti-mouse CD70 Ab in a murine model of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). In addition to blocking CD70 binding to its receptor CD27, the anti-CD70 Ab used also engages Fc-dependent effector functions including Ab-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, phagocytosis, and complement fixation. Treatment of mice with anti-CD70 Ab both before the onset or after the established disease in CIA model resulted in marked improvements in disease severity and significant reduction in the production of autoantibodies. Histopathological analyses of the joints of mice revealed a substantial reduction of inflammation, and bone and cartilage destruction in response to the anti-CD70 Ab treatment. These results uncover a novel role for CD27-CD70 interactions in the regulation of in vivo inflammatory response leading to arthritis, and provide a molecular basis to support the rationale for anti-CD70 therapy for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The Journal of Immunology, 2009, 183: 3770–3777. Thus, we examined the effects of targeting by on in a mouse model Treatment this model marked improvement and and cartilage Our results provide evidence of a role for CD27-CD70 interactions in arthritis development in mice and support a rationale for using anti-CD70 as a potential therapy for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.


Ivymount Social Cognition Instructional Project (IvySCIP) supports teachers and related service providers to implement data-driven social and emotional learning (SEL) instruction for their kindergarten through 5th grade students with social cognition challenges, especially those with high functioning autism spectrum disorders (HF-ASD). Based on comprehensive assessment of students' SEL strengths and needs, IvySCIP identifies instructional priority areas, generates individualized education plan (IEP) goal recommendations, and enables SEL progress monitoring. In order to begin establishing the psychometric properties of the IvySCIP strengths and needs assessment, we examined correlations between participants' scores on IvySCIP and their scores on similar tools. As predicted, strong correlations emerged between IvySCIP and other tools. We also examined the impact of using IvySCIP over a 20 week period to facilitate SEL in students with HF-ASD. IvySCIP was piloted with 53 instructor/student pairs broken into two groups. The first group received 20 weeks of access to IvySCIP and the latter received 10 weeks of access. While pilot study outcomes suggested that there were no significant differences between the groups, all students made significant SEL progress over the course of the 20 week study as measured by IvySCIP and similar tools. Social validation surveys indicated that instructors perceived IvySCIP to be innovative, valuable, and an effective means of improving SEL instruction for students.


The XWand is a novel wireless sensor package that enables styles of natural interaction with intelligent environments. For example, a user may point the wand at a device and control it using simple gestures. The XWand system leverages the intelligence of the environment to best determine the user's intention. We detail the hardware device, signal processing algorithms to recover position and orientation, gesture recognition techniques, a multimodal (wand and speech) computational architecture and a preliminary user study examining pointing performance under conditions of tracking availability and audio feedback.


OBJECTIVES
To compare the rates of major and minor depression in cohorts of women veterans with diabetes or heart disease or hypertension and examine variations in these rates by demographic, socioeconomic, and health status among these women.

METHODS
This was a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of fiscal year 2002 and 2003 data on 13,430 women veterans with diabetes or heart disease or hypertension who were diagnosed with depression and used Veteran Health Administration (VHA) clinics. International Classification of Diseases, 9th ed. Clinical Modification codes from merged VHA and Medicare claims files were used to identify diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and depression. Chi-square tests and multinomial logistic regressions were used to characterize women veterans with major and minor depression.

RESULTS
Of all the women veterans diagnosed with diabetes or heart disease or hypertension and using the VHA clinics, 27% were diagnosed with depression. Of these 13,430 women with any depression, 60% were diagnosed with minor depression and 40% had major depressive disorders (MDD). Compared to major depression, minor depression was significantly more likely among women veterans who were older, without any other psychiatric condition and substance use disorders.

CONCLUSIONS
Minor depression is highly prevalent among women veterans with complex chronic illness, such as diabetes or heart disease or hypertension (i.e., women at risk or with cardiovascular conditions), suggesting a need to closely monitor these women to reduce the risk of major depression. Some subgroups of women were more likely to have minor depression than major depression; studies that exclusively focus on major depression will selectively miss these subgroups of women veterans.


This study aimed at exploring different remote sensing (RS) techniques for quantitatively measuring vegetation and bare soil fractions in dune ecosystems along the Kenyan coast. The accurate measurements of field samples are required by Kenya Wildlife for environmental monitoring. The current methodology for measuring fractions (ecological surveys) is biased, expert dependent and subjective, and for this reason, remote sensing techniques have been explored to find a better cost- effective alternative.Three methods were carried out to estimate different vegetation coverages in field samples and to analyze their performance: classification of photography's taken by hand-held camera, unmixing of aerial photographs, unmixing of Cropscan and Fieldspec spectral measurements. For these purposes 32 plots of 1x1 meters distributed in 4 transects were selected and measured in the dune ecosystem. According to the field spectral measurements, different targets (lichens, vascular plants, mosses, and bare soil) showed a large spectral variation and overlapping between their spectral signatures. Therefore classification methods and unmixing techniques led to poor results since they are based upon the spectral signature of the targets. The hand held camera method proved more accurate than FieldSpec, Aerial photograph and CropScan. Therefore from the remote sensing methods, this is the best method when considering accuracy. The performance of this method could be improved by adding an extra band (Infrared for instance). This extra band would allow operators to identify and classify better different kind of vegetation in the image. Key words : Unmixing, Remote sensing techniques, spectral measurements


The Euclid mission will observe well over a billion galaxies out to z ∼ 6 and beyond. This will offer an unrivalled opportunity to investigate several key questions for understanding galaxy formation and evolution. The first step for many of these studies will be the selection of a sample of quiescent and star-forming galaxies, as is often done in the literature by using well-known colour techniques such as the 'UVJ' diagram. However, given the limited number of filters available for the Euclid telescope, the recovery of such rest-frame colours will be challenging. We therefore investigate the use of observed Euclid colours, on their own and together with ground-based u-band observations, for selecting quiescent and star-forming galaxies. The most efficient colour combination, among the ones tested in this work, consists of the (u − VIS) and (VIS − J) colours. We find that this combination allows users to select a sample of quiescent galaxies complete to above $\sim 70{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ and with less than 15${{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ contamination at redshifts in the range 0.75 < z < 1. For galaxies at high-z or without the u-band complementary observations, the (VIS − Y) and (J − H) colours represent a valid alternative, with $\gt 65{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ completeness level and contamination below 20${{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ at 1 < z < 2 for finding quiescent galaxies. In comparison, the sample of quiescent galaxies selected with the traditional UVJ technique is only $\sim 20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ complete at z < 3, when recovering the rest-frame colours using mock Euclid observations. This shows that our new methodology is the most suitable one when only Euclid bands, along with u-band imaging, are available.


This is a position paper which considers the case and prospects for researching intergenerational relationships within choirs as an issue of health or well-being. The paper
considers what is meant by the term "choir" and sets out why choirs are sites of intergenerational contact worthy of study. It draws on recently completed work on boys and singing and work currently in progress on the subject of ephebiphobia (the irrational fear of teenagers). The former demonstrates that the word "choir" can be a socially divisive term as young people tend to associate "choir" with older people from predominantly the middle class backgrounds. This has been shown to be a significant disincentive for boys to consider
choir singing. The latter draws on a significant series of recent reports that highlight the degree to which the negative perception of young people is increasing within a society that
apparently cares less about them. The paper sets out the case for treating this as an issue of social health or well-being, and for investigating choral singing as a health promoting activity within this context.


The case of Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais, is brought to light by means of the results of an empirical research regarding work and employment conditions in childhood educational institutions in Brazil. The gathering of documentary sources, legislation, statistics, interviews and observations is intended to evidence relationships between childhood education typologies and ways of hiring services, career, salaries, and working conditions. The situations researched were referred to both public (state and municipal) as well as private teaching institutions, following these categories: private, community, philanthropic and religious. The establishments studied were selected according to intentional sampling, as regards location and preferential addressees. Information was also obtained from employers and from labor unions grouping professionals of both public and private sectors. It was shown that there were professionals having status and outstanding qualifications, as well as several modalities of labor and work relationships, which show forth precarious labor conditions in professional practice related to childhood education. Segmentation within the public sector, and between the public and private sectors, emphasizes historical inequalities in the field. On the other hand, a growing demand for professionalization is observed.


The problem of parameterizing all stabilizing controllers subject to constraints is considered. A new condition relating the plant and the constraints are introduced, and it is shown that when it holds, the constraints are invariant under feedback. There is no assumption of linearity or time-invariance on either the plant or the admissible controllers, only causality. There is also no assumption that the constraint set be a subspace, only that it is closed. The results hold in continuous time or discrete time. When the condition holds, we then obtain a parameterization of all stabilizing controllers subject to the specified constraints, which is a convex parameterization as long as the desired constraint set is convex


This paper reported characteristics of gas-solid two-phase flow for a Y-shaped branch pipe. Y-shaped branch pipeline with one fixed and one adjustable branch angle was built up. Micro-glass bead and millet particles with similar diameter and different solid density were conveyed in this experimental system. As a result, trend of solids mass ratio flowing in changeable branch was used to predict flow distribution characteristics experimentally. It was found that the solids flow distribution of the two materials had similar trend and were significantly affected by the branch angle and gas velocity. Finally, a calculating equation to predict the solids flow distribution of branch pipe was achieved based on experimental data, which had good accuracy.


Background and Purpose: Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) can have a debilitating effect on an individual's quality of life. The purpose of this case report is to describe the use of interval training in an aquatic environment to decrease the symptoms of Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. Aquatic therapy provides benefits for individuals with cardiovascular issues, mainly through the principle of hydrostatic pressure. Hydrostatic pressure aids in shunting the blood from the extremities back to the heart, thus increasing cardiac output while reducing the individual's heart rate. Description: An 18 year-old female high school student who had been experiencing Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome symptoms for approximately one year. These symptoms prevented her from participating in school or recreational activities. Intervention: The patient underwent 11 sessions of an aquatic interval program. Her subjective report, heart rate, blood pressure, and rate of perceived exertion were monitored throughout each session. Outcomes: After completing physical therapy, the patient had attained all of her functional goals including standing for 45 minutes, walking between classes at school, and attending her prom. The patient reported that she had not had a fainting spell in over 4 weeks. Despite these functional gains, the patient's Quality of Life score, as measured by the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF questionnaire (a condensed version of the original World Health Organization Quality of Life-100), declined in the following categories: physical health, psychological health, and environment. Discussion: The patient's exercise-specific heart rate and rate of perceived exertion decreased as sessions progressed, demonstrating an increased activity tolerance. It is hypothesized that the positive effects of hydrostatic pressure on the cardiovascular system contributed to the improvement in exercise tolerance and ultimately to her overall conditioning and activity tolerance. The results of this case report suggest that aquatic therapy may be an appropriate exercise modality for patients with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. Continued research on the effects of aquatic therapy on the symptoms of Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome is warranted.


Remote service for machines is becoming a crucial technique for companies with worldwide market presence. Maintenance, customer support and after-sales service are considered to have a high value for customer satisfaction and thus for keeping and increasing market shares. The paper deals with the presentation of ICT systems for enabling improved cooperation between manufacturer and customer. The existing personal relation between all people involved is necessary for appropriate discussion and quick problem solution. The approach is to integrate bidirectional speech transmission into an existing remote maintenance system based on TCP/IP protocol on low-bitrate channels (e.g. GSM). An overview of existing voice compression techniques and boundary conditions for application are given.


This paper presents an automata-theoretic characterization of templatic morphology. We generalize the Input Strictly Local class of functions, which characterize a majority of concatenative morphology, to consider multiple lexical inputs. We show that strictly local asynchronous multi-tape transducers successfully capture this typology of nonconcatenative template filling. This characterization and restriction uniquely opens up representational issues in morphological computation.


Effective combination and carry-loading together between steel and concrete play important roles for the steel-concrete composite structure. The steel-concrete composite joint decides the constructing safety and life-cycle performance as the key member for the steel-concrete composite arch bridge. The stress distribution in the steel-concrete composite joint was studied by model test under pressure-bending load. And the stress transfer was probed in the steel box, composite joint and reinforced concrete box. The result shows that the steel and reinforced concrete boxes are under elastic compression in the steel-concrete composite joint. The bearing plate can effectively reduce the stress in concrete and steel boxes. This plate and stiffener can smoothly transfer and scatter the stress from steel box to concrete box. The failure mode is concrete cracking near the interface between steel box and concrete box under large eccentric compression.


The main purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive study of an online energy management strategy devoted to hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) parallel drivetrains adopting an integrated multi-drives topology to interface a multi winding induction machine with the on-board hybrid storage units. This solution is designed to allow multi-directional power flows among the storage units and the drivetrain. Basically, the proposed efficiency optimization method continuously searches for the best compromise between the torque demand, system efficiency and power capability of each storage unit. The considered electric drive configuration allows to effectively and independently handle the power flowing in storage units featuring different sizes and DC voltages, while improving the overall reliability. A good agreement between simulations and experimental results is achieved.


The availability of substation-based computers and the decreasing relative cost of installation, operation and control of switched capacitors encourage the use of more sophisticated and effective capacitive compensation schemes for loss minimization on radial distribution feeders. This paper sets forth a new voltage dependent model for the optimal control and design problems involving continuously controllable shunt capacitors on primary feeders. The new model obviates the need for a load-flow solution while allowing inclusion of the effects of voltage variation on the design and control phases of an optimal capacitive compensation scheme. The benefits and limitations of the model are reflected via numerical examples.


The injectable formulation of E5880, a novel platelet factor (PAF) receptor antagonist, was developed. The physicochemical properties of E5880 micelles in the optimized formulation (0.6 mg/ml of E5880, 0.1% citric acid, 10% lactose, pH 2.8) were characterized. The critical micelle concentration of E5880 was 0.09 mg/ml, and the structure was spherical. The micelle size was 5.6 nm. The number of the molecules per micelle was 46. The micropolarity around the hydrocarbon region in the micelle was similar to that of isobutanol.


This paper presents two architectures for floating point (FP) adders, which operates in multi-mode configuration with multi-precision support. First architecture (named QPdDP) works in dual-mode which can operates either for quadruple precision or two-parallel double precision. The second architecture (named QPdDPqSP) works in tri-mode which is able to compute either of a quadruple precision, two-parallel double precision and four-parallel single precision computations. The architectures are based on the standard state-of-the-art flow for FP adder which supports the computation of normal and sub-normal operands, along with the support for the exceptional case handling. The key components in the architecture, such as comparator, swap, dynamic shifters, leading-one-detector (LOD), mantissa adders/subtractors, and rounding circuit, are re-designed and optimized for multi-mode computation, to enable efficient resource sharing for multi-precision operands. The data-path in each multi-mode architecture is tuned for multi-precision support with minimal multiplexing circuitry overhead. These proposed architectures provide multi-precision SIMD support for lower precision operands, along with high precision computational support, and thus, have a better resource utilization. A fully pipelined version of both adder architectures are presented. The proposed adder architectures are synthesized using UMC 90 nm technology ASIC implementation. The proposed architectures are compared with the best available literature works, and have shown better design metrics in terms of area, delay and area×period, along with more computational support.


Abstract Oxynitride photocatalysts with d10 electronic configuration are presented as effective non-oxide catalysts for overall water splitting. Germanium nitride (β-Ge3N4) having a band gap of 3.8-3.9 eV modified with RuO2 nanoparticles as a cocatalyst is shown to achieve stoichiometric decomposition of H2O into H2 and O2 under UV irradiation (λ > 200 nm). A novel solid solution of GaN and ZnO, (Ga1-xZnx)(N1-xOx), with a band gap of 2.4-2.8 eV (depending on composition) achieves overall water splitting under visible light (λ > 400 nm) when loaded with an appropriate cocatalyst. The narrower band gap of the solid solution is attributed to the bonding between Zn and N atoms at the top of the valence band. The photocatalytic activity of (Ga1-xZnx)(N1-xOx) for overall water splitting is strongly dependent on both the cocatalyst and the crystallinity and composition of the material. The quantum efficiency of (Ga1-xZnx)(N1-xOx) with Rh and Cr mixed-oxide nanoparticles is 2-3 % at 420-440 nm, which is the highest reported efficiency for overall water splitting in the visible-light region.


Summary form only given. Carnegie Mellon University has a long history of innovation in campus wide availability of networking infrastructures. In the early 80psilas, Andrew was inaugurated as a campus wide (wired) networking infrastructure that in a few years networked faculty, staff, and students (undergraduate and graduate) all across campus - offices, dormitories, room facilities. In 1995, Carnegie Mellon embarked on a similar effort with wireless Andrew that from 6 access points in 1995 went to hundreds and then thousands of access points in a couple of years providing global campus wireless coverage (see IEEE Personal Communications Magazine, February 1996). Both infrastructures served as campus wide testbeds to experiment and develop emergent technologies at the time. In 2006, Carnegie Mellon, through CenSCIR, the newly formed Center for Sensed Critical Infrastructure Research, has launched Sensor Andrew, a campus wide living laboratory to deploy thousands of sensing platforms of various types, providing campus wide instrumentation coverage, and supporting the breadth of applications users feel the need to develop. This keynote will overview Sensor Andrew, and describe its hardware, software, and middleware infrastructure, as well as some of the applications that are being developed. We will also address the issues related to what to do with the large amounts of data collected by an application supported on Sensor Andrew, how to process these data in a distributed fashion, and how to infer from the localized sensor information global understanding and global behaviors.


This study investigates the importance of gender and ethnic interactions among teachers and students for school performance in Swedish, English and Mathematics. School leaving certificates assigned by the teacher is compared with results on comprehensive national tests. The analysis is based on data on grade 9 students (age 16) from Sweden. I find that a student is likely to obtain better test scores in Mathematics, when the share of teachers of the same gender as the student increases. Correspondingly, ethnic minority students, on average, obtain better test scores in Mathematics, when the share of ethnic minority teachers increases. The positive same-gender effect on test scores is counteracted by a negative assessment effect. That is, conditional on test scores, same-gender teachers are less generous than opposite-gender teachers when assessing students' performance. In Swedish and English no statistically significant effects are found.


In this study 201T1 planar scintigraphy and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) were performed in 92 patients with solitary lung lesions in order to distinguish malignant versus benign and metastatic masses and to evaluate the radiotherapy response of 15 primary lung carcinomas. Semiquantitative and quantitative analyses were carried out and the results were compared with histopathological diagnosis. The overall sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of semiquantitative analysis were 56, 71 and 58%, and quantitative evaluations were 88.8, 100 and 92%, respectively. Retention indexes (RI) derived from the early and delayed images were 2.9 ±1.3 for primary lung carcinomas, −2.78 ± 0.9 for benign conditions and −2.3 ±1.5 for metastatic pulmonary lesions. 201T1 scintigraphy seems to be a sensitive modality for differentiating malignancies from benign conditions since the difference between those two pathologies is significant. However, this procedure has a limited value in distinguishing metastatic pulmonary lesions from benign pathologies, and in tissue characterization of primary lung carcinomas. On the other hand, a good correlation was observed between 201T1 lung scintigraphy and clinical diagnostic examination during postradiotherapy follow-up of inoperable pulmonary neoplasia.


Problem - Evidence is quantified by statistical methods such as p-values and Bayesian posterior probabilities in a routine way despite the fact that there is no consensus about the meanings and implications of these approaches. A high level of confusion about these methods can be observed among students, researchers and even professional statisticians. How can a constructivist view of mathematical models and reality help to resolve the confusion? > Method - Considerations about the foundations of statistics and probability are revisited with a constructivist attitude that explores which ways of thinking about the modelled phenomena are implied by different approaches to probability modelling. > Results - The understanding of the implications of probability modelling for the quantification of evidence can be strongly improved by accepting that whether models are "true"or not cannot be checked from the data, and the use of the models should rather be justified and critically discussed in terms of their implications for the thinking and communication of researchers. > Implications - Some useful questions that researchers can use as guidelines when deciding which approach and which model to choose are listed in the paper, along with some implications of using frequentist p-values or Bayesian posterior probability, which can help to address the questions. It is the - far too often ignored - responsibility of the researchers to decide which model is chosen and what the evidence suggests rather than letting the results decide themselves in an "objective way."


This research is about "Martin Luther King Jr.'s Struggle for
Equality for Black People in America". This library research thesis is based
on historical and biographical approach. The purpose of this research is to
find out how Martin Luther King Jr. struggled for equality in America
especially for the black people.
Historical approach is used to view the historical background of the
black people in America from the first settlement and first slave trade to the
slave abolishment until in the middle of 20th
 Century. Biographical approach,
however, is used in this thesis to view the struggle conducted by Martin
Luther King Jr. in order to fight for the civil rights.
After analyzing the background of the black people, the writer found out
that the reason Martin Luther King Jr. fought for civil rights was because of
the law that was not run in practice in America, even though black people are
guaranteed by the law.
Martin Luther King, Jr. made a significant change to America
especially for the black people. Even though issues of racism are still found
these days in America, generally the life of the black people in America
developed to a good improvement in economy as well as in politics.


Research on the seven subsidiaries of State Owned Enterprises aims to obtain empirical evidence on enterprise risk management and compliance to corporate performance on audit reporting. The results that enterprise risk management is not significant influence on corporate performance. But compliance has a significant impact on corporate performance. The influence of enterprise risk management and compliance to company performance simultaneously having a more significant contribution than just relying on mere compliance. The impact of this research on internal audit theory that the corporation should include aspects of the risk management as has been adopted in the COSO 2004.Keywords: Enterprise risk management, Compliance, Corporate performance


Landry Guillain Barr Sthrol Syndrome (LGBS) is an acute autoimmune monophasic and selflimiting polyradiculoneuropathy affecting patients aged 19 to 59 years (1.7/100,000/year) more than below 18 year of age (0.8/100,000/year). Diagnostic criteria require: I. Progressive motor weakness of more than one limb, and II) absent muscle stretch reflexes. Features that strongly support the diagnosis are: 1. Cease of progression of weakness by 4 weeks, relative symmetrical involvement of the limbs, presence of mild sensory symptoms or signs, involvement of cranial nerves VII (50%) more than IX, X, III, IV and VI, recovery within 2 to 3 weeks after progression stop, presence of autonomic dysfunction, and absent of fever at onset; 2. Cerebral spinal fluid elevation of protein after first week of symptoms and less than 10 mononuclear leukocytes/mm3 except HIV seropositive patients (<50 cells/mm3), and 3. Nerve conduction slowing (<60% of normal ) or block at some point during the illness (80%), and increased distal motor latency up to 3 times above normal and F wave latency. There are four well defined clinical, pathological, neurophysiological and serological subtypes. Acute inflamatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (90%) and Miller Fisher syndrome (5%) are primarily demyelinating. Acute motor axonal neuropathy and acute motor sensory axonal neuropathy are primarily axonal (5%). Treatment includes supportive care and immunotherapy with high doses of intravenous IgG and plasmapheresis.


An abstract of the thesis of Todd Nathaniel Gilman for the Master of Arts in Political Science presented October 1995. Title: Communicative Action as Feminist Epistemology This thesis proposes that feminist social and political theory adopt the epistemology inherent in Jurgen Habermas's communicative ethics in order to more coherently work toward the goal of freeing individuals from social oppression. This thesis first examines the fundamental differences that exist between the particular claims for knowledge made by the three major schools of feminist theory; the empirical feminists, the standpoint feminists, and those allied with postmodernism. After illuminating the specifics of these feminist claims, the conception of knowledge central to Habermas's thought is explored and shown to be split into three distinct realms; the objective, the social, and the subjective. It is shown that the three realms of Habermas's knowledge account for the underlying claims of the differing groups of feminist theory, and provide a basis for reconciling the differences between them. Habermas's objective realm of knowledge corresponds to the concerns of empirically oriented feminists. A need for an accurate description of the events and conditions of the actual world is shared by both, as is a trust in the human potential for grasping these objects and events accurately. Standpoint feminism's concern for interpersonal relations, accounting for the context of an individual's or group's existence, is reflected in the type of knowledge that Habermas 2 considers social in nature. Habermas's conception of our capacity for social knowledge, which guides our actions with other human beings, is shown to be dependent upon both social existence and communication. Finally, Habermas acknowledges the human potential for critical knowledge to explain the individual's ability to differentiate herself from the group, a task which a postmodern feminism demands to avoid essentializing any aspect of women. If feminist theory is able to move beyond the entrenched differences that it now finds itself locked within, perhaps then it will be able to continue with the project shared with Habermas, that of providing a meaningful emancipation for human beings. COMMUNICATIVE ACTION AS FEMINIST EPISTEMOLOGY by TODD NATHANIEL GILMAN A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in POLITICAL SCIENCE Portland State University 1995


We have studied the quasielastic 3He(e,e(')p)2H reaction in perpendicular coplanar kinematics, with the energy and the momentum transferred by the electron fixed at 840 MeV and 1502 MeV/c, respectively. The 3He(e,e(')p)2H cross section was measured for missing momenta up to 1000 MeV/c, while the A(TL) asymmetry was extracted for missing momenta up to 660 MeV/c. For missing momenta up to 150 MeV/c, the cross section is described by variational calculations using modern 3He wave functions. For missing momenta from 150 to 750 MeV/c, strong final-state interaction effects are observed. Near 1000 MeV/c, the experimental cross section is more than an order of magnitude larger than predicted by available theories. The A(TL) asymmetry displays characteristic features of broken factorization with a structure that is similar to that generated by available models.


This inquiry is an in-depth exploration of one middle aged woman's, Sarah, experience of strife in chronic illness and her nursing care involving four nurses (including myself) in a community context over a three-year period. The study is praxiological in that the understanding achieved is derived from practice within a 'research as praxis' methodology positioned in the disciplinary perspective of nursing as a practical human science. Five methodological premises inform the research processes: reflexivity, dialogue, moral comportment, re-presentation in narrative and critique. They emanate from an eclectic ontological praxiology based on the research framework constructed from Gadamerian philosophical hermeneutics, components of other philosophical praxiologies evolved from an exploration of the practical discourse in philosophy and my preferred health and nursing assumptions.
The research processes include researcher journalling; summaries of Sarah's nursing record, dialogical meetings with Sarah and the nurse co-participants to collect the research material and then co-construct it into narrative form. The narrative is developed around what Sarah viewed as the overall nursing contribution to her care; the 'sharing of her burden of illness'. This, she maintained, enabled her to live safely in the community. Finally there occurs a critique of the narrative within a discursive framework.
Three themes, embedded in particular discourses, emerged from the narrative both in Sarah's and the nurses' experience; paradox, moral meaning and metaphor. Sarah's experience is interpreted as taking place in the 'in-between space' of the disease and health-illness discourses. Two main concepts which depict the tension experienced in this space are the 'the ontological assault of illness' and 'entrapment in the disease discourse'. We, the nurses, 'pushed the boundaries' to create a space for the nursing as a caring practice discourse on the margins of nursing as a functional service discourse. Within the nursing as a caring practice space many 'fine lines' were walked with Sarah. Walking the 'fine line' of an 'intense relationship' was seen as advanced nursing practice. The research highlights important implications for a person and/or families who live with chronic illness and practice and educational issues for advanced nurse practitioners. Further, it promotes praxiological methodologies as advantageous for expanding nursing knowledge. This inquiry makes a twofold contribution to the discipline of nursing: it progresses the understanding of living with strife in chronic illness and it expands the practice of praxiological inquiry within nursing.


Hydrophobic residues provide much of the thermodynamic driving force for the folding, self-assembly, and consequent hydrogelation of amphiphilic β-hairpin peptides. We investigate how the identity of hydrophobic side chains displayed from the hydrophobic face of these amphiphilic peptides influences their behavior to expound on the design criteria important to gel formation. Six peptides were designed that globally incorporate valine, aminobutyric acid, norvaline, norleucine, phenylalanine, or isoleucine on the hydrophobic face of the hairpin to study how systematic changes in hydrophobic content, β-sheet propensity, and aromaticity affect gelation. Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy indicates that hydrophobic content, rather than β-sheet propensity, dictates the temperature- and pH-dependent folding and assembly behavior of these peptides. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) show that the local morphology of the fibrils formed via self-assembly is little affected by amino acid type. However, residue type does influence the propensity of peptide fibrils to undergo higher order assembly events. Oscillatory rheology shows that the mechanical rigidity of the peptide gels is highly influenced by residue type, but there is no apparent correlation between rigidity and residue hydrophobicity nor β-sheet propensity. Lastly, the large planar aromatic side chain of phenylalanine supports hairpin folding and assembly, affording a gel characterized by a rate of formation and storage modulus similar to the parent valine-containing peptide.


Kanye West is a musical artist whose shocking public statements often remain in the news for weeks on end. Throughout the past six years of his extremely successful career, at least three of these public acts have received tireless media coverage both for their perceived offensiveness, and for their direct connection to larger societal issues. This project examines three statements: (1) West's 2005 claim during Hurricane Katrina that "[President] George Bush doesn't care about Black people;" (2) the moment in 2009 when West stormed the MTV Video Music Awards stage during singer Taylor Swift's acceptance speech and grabbed her microphone, stating that he would let her finish, "but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time;" and (3) West's 2010 appearance on NBC's Today Show and the series of angry messages he posted to his Twitter page claiming that the interviewer, Matt Lauer, tried to "force" his answers. These statements are analyzed to determine whether West may have unwittingly employed the rhetorical method Theodore Windt describes as the diatribe. The paper concludes that West's statements in 2005 and 2010 meet the criteria for the diatribe, using a shocking act or message to catalyze important discussion of major problems existing in society. However, West's 2009 incident fails to meet the criteria, and cannot be categorized as a diatribe, but instead as simply an offensive act that provided no greater benefit to society. The process of these analyses may serve as a way to examine future celebrity statements to determine whether certain individuals are striving to elevate society or, through their offenses, may be adding to a cultural downfall.


The aim of the present study was to examine the effective factors on sportsmanship behaviors of university students. With this purpose, students' attitudes for rules, injurious acts, opponent game perspective and sportsmanship behaviors were examined, and the effects of these factors were modeled via structural equation modeling. To measure the effective factors on students sportsmanship behaviors, a likert scale type questionnaire, ranging from 1 'strongly disagree' to 5 'strongly agree' was applied on a face-to-face basis. The sportsmanship questionnaire about sportsmanship was composed of 45 questions. In the statistical analysis obtained data, SPSS and LISREL software were used. The results of the analyses indicate that while "game perspective" is the most effective factor on students' sportsmanship behavior, the factors; "opponent", "rules", and "injurious acts" are also statistically significant.


Recently, the City of Tshwane was involved in large scale upgrades of both roads and stormwater infrastructure. These upgrades usually take place in major business corridors and areas that are closer to public transport corridors. The city has clear and specific trends of locating non-residential land-uses along main arterial routes. The indiscriminate and uncontrolled land-use changes and conversion of dwelling houses for business purposes, contrary to sound town planning principles, was identified as a problem. Scenario analysis was used to predict possible future land-use changes in the study area in line with current land management practices. The Storm Water Management Model (SWMM), which is a dynamic rainfall-runoff simulation model, was used to simulate runoff for the different land-use scenarios. Results indicated an increase of 15% in peak discharge and a significant increase in flow volumes and flooding.


World Wildlife Fund (WWF-US), Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Oeko-Institut are developing a "Carbon Credit Guidance for Buyers" to guide buyers of carbon credits amidst a complex market. The project is implemented in four phases: This paper presents the results from Phase 1 in which criteria are identified for assessing the quality of carbon credits. Phase 2 of the project is to develop and test a methodology for assessing carbon credits against the criteria; Phase 3 is to apply the methodology to different carbon credits; and Phase 4 is to combine the Phase 3 results with additional recommendations to produce the "Carbon Credit Guidance for Buyers".


Background: In limited stage small cell lung cancer, involved field irradiation has been considered as standard. However, there have recent reports suggesting higher than expected nodal recurrence in the supraclavicular region. The study aimed to explore the reasonable radiotherapy range of supraclavicular zone for patients receiving prophylactic or radical radiation.
Patients and Methods: Supraclavicular zone was further divided into 4 zones, including upper pararecurrent laryngeal neural region (UP region), lower para-recurrent laryngeal neural region (LP region), medial supraclavicular region (MS region), and lateral supraclavicular region (LS region). And we analysed the distribution of lymph node metastasis in supraclavicular zone based on CT-images.
Results: our data showed that metastases occurred most frequently in the medial supraclavicular region (42.8%), followed by the lower para-recurrent laryngeal neural region (40.6%), lateral supraclavicular region (9.4%), and upper para-recurrent laryngeal neural region (7.2%), respectively.
Conclusion: If prophylactic irradiation therapy is considered, the target zones for prophylactic irradiation should include MS region and LP region as recommended.


The purpose of this review is to compare the differential effectiveness of two couple therapies, the Traditional Behavioral Couple Therapy (TBCT) and the Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT). Although the latter can be seen as an evolution of the first, both are based on different theoretical concepts. Starting from the analysis of 12 studies comparing TBCT and IBCT, conclusions about effectiveness and future perspectives of both approaches are discussed. Our results show that TBCT and IBCT have distinct courses of change and differ fundamentally in what the therapist does in-session, impacting couple behavior both in and out of session. Currently, in line with the most important randomized trials in this field, a slight advantage for IBCT over TBCT in treating distressed couples at two points in time —when treatment is completed and in the first years post-therapy— can be confirmed, although at a five-year follow-up results equalize. Furthermore, some studies cannot confirm significant changes, but clinically relevant ones, which point toward a higher impact of IBCT. Lastly, the article includes limitations of the review as well and offers some orientations, which should be considered for future research.


Turnouts are critical components of track systems in terms of safety, operation and maintenance. Each year, a considerable part of the maintenance budget is spent on their inspection, maintenance and renewal. Applying a cost-effective maintenance strategy helps to achieve the best performance at the lowest possible cost. In Sweden, the geometry of turnouts is inspected at predefined time intervals using the STRIX / IMV 100 track measurement car. This study uses time series for the measured longitudinal level of turnouts on the Iron Ore Line (Malmbanan) in northern Sweden. Two different approaches are applied to analyse the geometrical degradation of turnouts due to dynamic forces generated by train traffic. In the first approach, the recorded measurements are adjusted at the crossing point and then the relative geometrical degradation of turnouts is evaluated by using two defined parameters, the absolute residual area and the maximum settlement, In the second approach, various geometry parameters are defined to estimate the degradation in each measurement separately. The growth rate of the longitudinal level degradation as a function of million gross tonnes / time is evaluated. The proposed methods are based on characterisation of the individual track measurements. The results facilitate correct decision-making in the maintenance process through understanding the degradation rate and defining the optimal maintenance thresholds for the planning process. In the long run, this can lead to a cost-effective maintenance strategy with optimised inspection and maintenance intervals.


The nature and the amount of fuel used by flying Schistocerca gregaria Forskål have been estimated from direct analyses of the total content of fat and glycogen in control groups and in the corresponding flying groups, i.e. groups which had flown continuously for several hours. The locusts were cage-bred and resembled phase gregaria or phase transiens. Each batch was so homogeneous that it was possible to select two groups, consisting of six to fifteen individuals, which did not differ by more than 2 % from one another. Because of this uniformity and because of the high rate of metabolism during flight, this rate could be estimated within about ± 15 % (in one case ± 30 % ). For flight, the locusts were suspended at the periphery of a special roundabout (Krogh & Weis-Fogh 1952). The groups could choose the flying speed that they would naturally adopt. The speeds and durations of flight were of the same order of magnitude as observed in swarms in nature, so that some of the results could be applied to natural swarms. Analyses of the geometric similarity and of the distribution and nature of dry matter made possible an estimation of average size and gross composition of fully developed but sexually immature S. gregaria. Such standard individuals were found to contain large amounts of lipids (an average of 10 % of the fresh weight), and about 85 % of the stored energy was in the depot fat. The cuticle and the wing muscles of newly emerged adults (fledglings) contained only one-third of the dry matter that was found in fully developed individuals, and the accumulation of dry matter lasted 2 or 3 weeks. Fledglings were unable to fly or disinclined to fly for long. In spite of differences in age, sex, training and food, in all flight experiments fat constituted the principal source of energy, the remainder being glycogen. An average of 80 to 85 % of the total energy expenditure was derived from fats or fatty acids during the first 5 h of flight. All the available glycogen was utilized during the first few hours, most of it probably within the first hour. Flight was nevertheless maintained for several hours without reduction of speed. The metabolic rate on the roundabout increased approximately with the second power of the flying speed. The speed was almost independent of temperature and varied between 2.3 and 3.7 m/s, but the speeds recorded from a large number of experiments were equally distributed around 3 m/s; the average metabolic rate of flying Schistocerca was about 75 kcal/kg/h. This corresponded to an oxygen uptake of 16l. O2/kg/h. The values deduced for the first few minutes after the start were three times higher, and cruising rates twice as high were sometimes maintained for several hours. An average flight performance of 5 h at 3 m/s required twice as much energy as was contained in the constituent proteins of the wing muscles. Sustained flight therefore depends on large-scale transport of fuel from the stores to the muscles. The fat body delivered 85 to 90 % of the energy, and the remainder was mobilized from wing muscles, legs and wings. Since even the remote cells of the wings provided stores of fuel, the mobilization was of a general nature and the transport of fuel took place via the blood. Concerning migrating swarms the following was suggested: in the morning, milling and surging of groups of locusts before mass departure tends to empty the stores of glycogen; the proper migratory flight therefore takes place at the expense of fat and, under suitable climatic conditions, the endurance of flight is proportional to the amount of fat in storage before the start. Standard individuals with 10 % of fat (by fresh weight) should be able to fly continuously for about 12 h, 20 h being the upper limit (15 to 16 % of fat). The amount of vegetation daily consumed by a migrating swarm probably weighs as much, and possibly three times as much, as the weight of the swarm. Sufficient time and opportunity for feeding will therefore be essential for migrations. A large migrating swarm (say 15000 tons) was estimated to require as many calories per day as do 1.5 million men. The rate at which the wing muscles of locusts converted energy was between 400 and 800kcal/kg muscle/h; i.e. the same rates as found in hovering humming birds and flying Drosophila. Even for very intense muscular work, fat cannot therefore be regarded as inferior fuel in well-oxygenated muscles. An increasing amount of evidence from the literature favours the view that fat can be utilized directly. A possible cause for the lowered mechanical efficiency of man when fat is oxidized is the formation of ketone bodies parallel to the direct combustion of fat. On the other hand, initial mobilization seems to be slower for fat than for glycogen. When flight starts, this gives glycogen an advantage over fat, whereas the weight economy, and thus the endurance, is decisively improved by the ability to utilize stored fat; this will be further discussed elsewhere.


The line spectral frequency (LSF) of a causal finite length sequence is a frequency at which the spectrum of the sequence annihilates or the magnitude spectrum has a spectral null. A causal finite-length sequence with (L + 1) samples having exactly L-LSFs, is referred as an Annihilating (AH) sequence. Using some spectral properties of finite-length sequences, and some model parameters, we develop spectral decomposition structures, which are used to translate any finite-length sequence to an equivalent set of AH-sequences defined by LSFs and some complex constants. This alternate representation format of any finite-length sequence is referred as its LSF-Model. For a finite-length sequence, one can obtain multiple LSF-Models by varying the model parameters. The LSF-Model, in time domain can be used to synthesize any arbitrary causal finite-length sequence in terms of its characteristic AH-sequences. In the frequency domain, the LSF-Model can be used to obtain the spectral samples of the sequence as a linear combination of spectra of its characteristic AH-sequences. We also summarize the utility of the LSF-Model in practical discrete signal processing systems.


Wetlands are important sources of methane (CH4) and sinks of carbon dioxide (CO2). However, little is known about CH4 and CO2 fluxes and dynamics of seasonally flooded tropical forests of South America in relation to local carbon (C) balances and atmospheric exchange. We measured net ecosystem fluxes of CH4 and CO2 in the Pantanal over 2014–2017 using tower‐based eddy covariance along with C measurements in soil, biomass and water. Our data indicate that seasonally flooded tropical forests are potentially large sinks for CO2 but strong sources of CH4, particularly during inundation when reducing conditions in soils increase CH4 production and limit CO2 release. During inundation when soils were anaerobic, the flooded forest emitted 0.11 ± 0.002 g CH4‐C m−2 d−1 and absorbed 1.6 ± 0.2 g CO2‐C m−2 d−1 (mean ± 95% confidence interval for the entire study period). Following the recession of floodwaters, soils rapidly became aerobic and CH4 emissions decreased significantly (0.002 ± 0.001 g CH4‐C m−2 d−1) but remained a net source, while the net CO2 flux flipped from being a net sink during anaerobic periods to acting as a source during aerobic periods. CH4 fluxes were 50 times higher in the wet season; DOC was a minor component in the net ecosystem carbon balance. Daily fluxes of CO2 and CH4 were similar in all years for each season, but annual net fluxes varied primarily in relation to flood duration. While the ecosystem was a net C sink on an annual basis (absorbing 218 g C m−2 (as CH4‐C + CO2‐C) in anaerobic phases and emitting 76 g C m−2in aerobic phases), high CH4 effluxes during the anaerobic flooded phase and modest CH4 effluxes during the aerobic phase indicate that seasonally flooded tropical forests can be a net source of radiative forcings on an annual basis, thus acting as an amplifying feedback on global warming.


Background Carotid endarterectomy is subject to a significant risk of intraoperative stroke. Anesthetic management of patients must provide optimal monitoring of cerebral blood perfusion to establish whether intraluminal carotid shunting is necessary. Cerebral oximetry (regional cerebral oxygen saturation, rSO2) measurement can ascertain whether brain perfusion is adequate. During carotid cross-clamping, a rise of blood pressure may be required to guarantee a collateral blood supply throughout the circle of Willis. We retrospectively evaluated the relationship between blood pressure and rSO2 in our experience. Methods We analyzed data of 104 patients submitted to carotid endarterectomy in narcosis for carotid stenosis of 74 ± 9%. We compared the rSO2 and invasive blood pressure variations before, during and after carotid cross-clamping. Results After carotid closure, ipsilateral rSO2 was reduced significantly (from 64.8 ± 8.1% to 60.8 ± 8.1%; P = 0.0004), while systolic and mean blood pressure rose. The ipsilateral rSO2 returned to basal levels after unclamping, whereas blood pressure was lowered significantly (P = 0.001). Plotting rSO2 and blood pressure value, we found a poor relationship (R2 = 0.0003). Conclusion During carotid cross-clamping, an excessive rise of blood pressure is not necessary to guarantee safe values of rSO2. On the contrary, hypertension could expose the patient to risk of cardiac accident. So we have modified our intraoperative strategy avoiding controlled hypertension for normotensive management during carotid clamping.


The signaling pathways mediating the muscarinic modulation of Ca2+ currents in neostriatal cholinergic interneurons were studied by combined patch-clamp recording and single-cell reverse transcription- PCR. Cholinergic interneurons were identified by the presence of choline acetyltransferase mRNA. These neurons expressed Q-, N-, L-, P-, and R-type Ca2+ currents and the mRNA for the alpha1 subunits believed to form the channels underlying these currents (classes A, B, C, D, and E). Of the interneurons tested, nearly all expressed M2-class (m2, m4) receptor mRNAs, whereas m1 receptor mRNA was found in only a subset (approximately 30%) of the sample. The muscarinic agonist oxotremorine methiodide produced a dose-dependent reduction of N- and P-type Ba2+ currents through Ca2+ channels that was antagonized by atropine. N- ethylmaleimide eliminated the modulation, as did preincubation with pertussis toxin. The onset and offset of the modulation were rapid and dose-dependent. The modulation was also attenuated by strong depolarizing prepulses and was not observed in cell-attached membrane patches. Taken together, our results suggest that activation of M2- class muscarinic receptors in cholinergic interneurons reduces N- and P- type Ca2+ currents through a membrane-delimited pathway using a Gi/o- class G-protein. This signaling pathway provides a cellular mechanism for hetero- and homosynaptic control of interneuronal activity and acetylcholine release in the striatum.


In the neonatal period it is observed a physiological immaturity of organs and metabolic systems that influence the pharmacokinetics
and pharmacodynamics of administered drugs, whose dosage should be constantly amended, taking into consideration the progressive
increase in weight and the maturation of the metabolic pathways. A crucial objective in the pharmacological field is to define the
correct pharmacological dose. Drug underdosage may result in a loss of efficacy, whereas an overdosage can cause toxicity. The
rapid physiological changes in the neonatal period affect the safety and efficacy of the drug due to the various pharmacokinetic
phases (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion), therefore the infant cannot be considered as a "small adult". In the
newborn, the volume of distribution of hydrophilic drugs is greater with respect to adults: this is due to the presence of a greater
relative volume of extracellular fluids and total body water, as well as to the lower relative amount of adipose tissue and muscular
mass. In general, it is known that the drugs excretion mechanisms are reduced in all infants. However these processes cannot be
generalized and the metabolism of each drug must be analysed on a case-by-case basis. The investigation and understanding of
the pharmacological processes of the neonatal organism to the administered drugs is extremely useful to determine the correct
dosage. However, many of the drugs for neonatal use remain poorly studied, and their dosage is often based on informations that
are extrapolated from the use in adults or in older children, because conducting clinical trials during the neonatal period is limited
for ethical and logistical reasons. In conclusion, the paediatric and adult population show significant differences with regard to the
absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of different drugs. The understanding of the differences with respect to adulthood
is fundamental to determine the correct dosage of drugs, in order to achieve the desired therapeutic effects and limit the toxic effects.


Every company needs strategic planning to deal with its external environment and to achieve its vision and long-term and short-term goals. In general a typical strategic plan starts with a lengthy description of current industry conditions and the competitive situation to be followed by the discussion of how to increase market shares, capture new segments, or cut costs, followed by an outline of numerous goals and initiatives. The process usually culminates in the preparation of a large document culled from a mishmash of data provided by people from various parts of the organization who often have conflicting agendas and poor communication. In this process, managers spend the majority of strategic thinking time filling in boxes and running numbers instead of thinking outside the box and developing a clear picture of how to break away from competition. It is no wonder that only few strategic plans lead to the creation of blue oceans or are translated into action. Few employees deep down in the company even know what the strategy is. And a closer look reveals that most plans do not contain a strategy at all but rather a smorgasbord of tactics that individually makes sense but collectively does not add up to a unified, clear direction that sets a company apart, let alone makes the competition irrelevant. The strategic planning process should not be based on preparing a document, but on drawing a strategy canvas that focuses on the big picture and not the numbers. This paper starts with a discussion of competitive environment in higher education institutions, such as colleges and universities, where many institutions are competing on the same key success factor and the same competitive rules of competing and many offer the same offering. These situations make the higher education institutions face intense competition, mounting price pressure, and flat demand. Therefore this paper will discuss ideas and steps that could be taken to open the paths to creating blue oceans.


Cannabis sativa L. is an illegal plant in many countries. The worldwide criminalization of the plant has for many years limited its research. Consequently, understanding the full scope of its benefits and harm became limited too. However, in recent years the world has witnessed an increased pace in legalization and decriminalization of C. sativa. This has prompted an increase in scientific studies on various aspects of the plant's growth, development, and use. This review brings together the historical and current information about the plant's relationship with mankind. We highlight the important aspects of C. sativa classification and identification, carefully analyzing the supporting arguments for both monotypic (single species) and polytypic (multiple species) perspectives. The review also identifies recent studies on suitable conditions and methods for C. sativa propagation as well as highlighting the diverse uses of the plant. Specifically, we describe the beneficial and harmful effects of the prominent phytocannabinoids and provide status of the studies on heterologous synthesis of phytocannabinoids in different biological systems. With a historical view on C. sativa legality, the review also provides an up-to-date worldwide standpoint on its regulation. Finally, we present a summary of the studies on genome editing and suggest areas for future research.


OBJECTIVE
To study factors associated with HIV seropositivity among European injecting drug users (IDU).

METHODS
Data on behavioural and other factors potentially associated with HIV status were collected retrospectively by personal interview with IDU (n = 2330) in a multicentre cross-sectional survey conducted in 12 European countries from 1989 to 1990. HIV status tested at the time of the survey was examined in relation to demographic data, history of imprisonment, travel to foreign countries, high-risk drug-using practices in the previous 6 months (re-using other IDU's injecting equipment without effective disinfection) and high-risk sexual behaviour in the last 6 months (multiple partners, unless none was IDU and condoms were always used). Analysis excluded IDU who claimed to be seropositive from previous testing.

RESULTS
Imprisonment was significantly associated with current HIV status [odds ratio (OR), 1.70; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.2-2.87]. High-risk drug-use practices were significantly associated with current HIV status in respondents not previously tested (OR, 2.86; 95% CI, 1.09-7.35) but not in respondents claiming to be seronegative. No significant association was found for high-risk sexual behaviour.

CONCLUSIONS
Our experience supports the validity of retrospective investigation of behaviour in a population that is notoriously difficult to study. However, any interpretation of the apparently different associations of HIV status with high-risk sexual behaviour and high-risk drug-use practices must consider that factors tending to attenuate the correlations may operate differently in these two areas.


We performed forward modelling of seismic anisotropy beneath a migrating strike-slip plate boundary to: (1) test if such a geodynamic context might explain teleseismic shear wave splitting data in the vicinity of the central part of the San Andreas Fault and (2) constrain the power of such data to unravel vertical and lateral variations in deformation patterns in the upper mantle. The modelling involves five steps: (1) thermomechanical modelling, using a finite-element code, of the deformation field, (2) viscoplastic self-consistent modelling of the resulting olivine and pyroxene crystal preferred orientations, (3) calculation of the elasticity tensors for different domains of the finite elements (FEs) model, (4) forward modelling of seismic wave propagation through the model using ray theory, finite-frequency theory and a full-wave approach and (5) performing splitting measurements on the synthetic seismograms. SKS splitting data in central California are best fitted by a model with a hotter geotherm within 60 km of the plate boundary accounting for the opening of an asthenospheric window due to the northward migration of the Mendocino Triple Junction. The westward motion of the plate boundary cannot however explain the rotation of fast polarization directions east of the San Andreas Fault in central California. Comparison between modelled and measured individual shear wave splitting also implies that the homogeneity of the two-layer models accounting for the observations in the vicinity of the San Andreas Fault indicates a sharp transition between lithospheric and asthenospheric deformations beneath this plate boundary. The ability of different synthetic approaches to localize horizontally and vertically the plate boundary-related deformation differs significantly. Splitting in ray theory synthetics closely follow variations in olivine crystallographic preferred orientations in the model. In contrast, splitting analysis on full-wave synthetics, which should be more representative of actual long-period SKS waves, results in smooth apparent lateral variations of anisotropy; the exact location and width of the plate boundary may only be retrieved by comparing fast-polarization profiles obtained using a multichannel analysis on waves with different periods.


The presence of a heavy adjoining fluid is known to play an important role in transporting surface vibrational energy across discontinuities in a thin elastic structure. These effects are particularly important if the discontinuities in the elastic properties of the structure are large and would hence tend to reflect a significant amount of vibration. The main results that have been previously obtained refer to the reflection of a normally incident flexural wave from a line discontinuity: The dependence on the incident angle of the flexural wave relative to the line discontinuity has been only briefly considered. Some simple models to examine this phenomena, fluid‐loaded infinite membranes and plates with line discontinuities, have been investigated. It has been found that short‐circuiting effects due to the fluid become much weaker as the angle of incidence increases. These results and their phenomenological implications will be discussed.


Signaling games provide basic insights into some fundamental questions concerning the explanation of meaning. They can be analyzed in terms of rational choice theory and in terms of evolutionary game theory. It is argued that an evolutionary approach provides better explanations for the emergence of simple communication systems. To substantiate these arguments, I will look at models similar to those of Skyrms (2000) and Komarova and Niyogi (2004) and study their dynamical properties. My results will lend partial support to the thesis that evolution leads to communication. In general, states of partial communication may evolve with positive probability under standard evolutionary dynamics. However, unlike states of perfect communication, they are unstable relative to neutral drift.