Infections associated with orthopedic implants cause increased morbidity and significant healthcare cost. A prolonged and expensive two-stage procedure requiring two surgical steps and a 6-8 week period of joint immobilization exists as today's gold standard for the revision arthroplasty of an infected prosthesis. Because infection is much more common in implant replacement surgeries, these issues greatly impact long-term patient care for a continually growing part of the population. Here, we demonstrate that a single-stage revision using prostheses coated with self-assembled, hydrolytically degradable multilayers that sequentially deliver the antibiotic (gentamicin) and the osteoinductive growth factor (BMP-2) in a time-staggered manner enables both eradication of established biofilms and complete and rapid bone tissue repair around the implant in rats with induced osteomyelitis. The nanolayered construct allows precise independent control of release kinetics and loading for each therapeutic agent in an infected implant environment. Antibiotics contained in top layers can be tuned to provide a rapid release at early times sufficient to eliminate infection, followed by sustained release for several weeks, and the underlying BMP-2 component enables a long-term sustained release of BMP-2, which induced more significant and mechanically competent bone formation than a short-term burst release. The successful growth factor-mediated osteointegration of the multilayered implants with the host tissue improved bone-implant interfacial strength 15-fold when compared with the uncoated one. These findings demonstrate the potential of this layered release strategy to introduce a durable next-generation implant solution, ultimately an important step forward to future large animal models toward the clinic.


Throughout our history, we, humans, have sought to better control and understand our environment. To this end, we have extended our natural senses with a host of sensors-tools that enable us to detect both the very large, such as the merging of two black holes at a distance of 1.3 billion light-years from Earth, and the very small, such as the identification of individual viral particles from a complex mixture. This dissertation is devoted to studying the physical mechanisms that govern a tiny, yet highly versatile sensor: the biological nanopore. Biological nanopores are protein molecules that form nanometer-sized apertures in lipid membranes. When an individual molecule passes through this aperture (i.e.,"translocates"), the temporary disturbance of the ionic current caused by its passage reveals valuable information on its identity and properties. Despite this seemingly straightforward sensing principle, the complexity of the interactions between the nanopore and the translocating molecule implies that it is often very challenging to unambiguously link the changes in the ionic current with the precise physical phenomena that cause them. It is here that the computational methods employed in this dissertation have the potential to shine, as they are capable of modeling nearly all aspects of the sensing process with near atomistic precision. Beyond familiarizing the reader with the concepts and state-of-the-art of the nanopore field, the primary goals of this dissertation are fourfold: (1) Develop methodologies for accurate modeling of biological nanopores; (2) Investigate the equilibrium electrostatics of biological nanopores; (3) Elucidate the trapping behavior of a protein inside a biological nanopore; and (4) Mapping the transport properties of a biological nanopore. In the first results chapter of this thesis (Chapter 3), we used 3D equilibrium simulations [...]


The effect of orientation and crystallinity of certain polymers, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and poly (ether ether ketone) (PEEK) , upon the extent and nature of plasma oxidation was studied. It was found that increasing the extent of surface ordering lessened susceptibility to plasma oxidation and reduced the subsequent decay of surface treatment. The surface ageing of plasma oxidised PEEK was extensively studied with regards to the transient increase in hydrophilicity that has been observed after plasma modification. The decay and transient increase in hydrophilicity were found to be dependent upon crystallinity and storage temperature. An estimate of the activation energies for processes leading to the increase in contact angle after plasma modification were calculated and found to suggest that these processes were rotational reorganisations at the surface as opposed to migrational reorganisations. The decay of other plasma modified surfaces revealed that plasma oxidised PET and plasma fluorinated PEEK both underwent transitional reorganisations at the surface, however no such change was observed for ammonia plasma treated PEEK. Plasma modification of carbon fibres was investigated with regards to improving composite performance. Microwave plasma treatments were found to be as good as standard commercial treatments. Graphitic carbon was investigated as a model for carbon fibre surfaces, however, the plasma modified surface was found to age more readily and to be too labile for useful comparison.


The challenges facing today's managers are many and varied but largely consist of coping with an increasingly changeable and turbulent business environment at both the macro and micro levels. Suggested solutions to these challenges are also varied but often relate to developing strategies around the concepts of knowledge management, organisational learning, and innovation. The paper briefly examines these vital concepts and the links between them and proposes that they can be usefully integrated into one systemic meta-process (The KMOLI Spiral). It is suggested that this integrated meta-process is at the very heart of an organisation's core functions and capabilities. The paper also explores links between a range of current information technologies and their impact on various stages of the integrated meta-process.


It has been suggested that task-specific changes in neurophysiological function (neuroplasticity), should be assessed using testing modalities that replicate the characteristics of the intervention. The squat is a commonly prescribed resistance exercise that has been shown to elicit changes in central nervous system (CNS) function. However, previous studies have assessed squat-induced neuroplasticity using isometric knee extension, potentially confounding the results. The present study aimed to assess the agreement between corticospinal and intracortical activity relating to the knee extensors during isometric knee extension compared to an isometric squat task. Eleven males completed a neurophysiological assessment in an isometric squat (IS), and knee extension (KE) task matched for joint-angles (hip, knee, and ankle). Singleand paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) were delivered during isometric contractions at a range of intensities to assess short-interval cortical inhibition (SICI) and corticospinal excitability. Group mean values for SICI (70 ± 14% vs. 63 ± 12% of unconditioned MEP during IS and KE, respectively) and corticospinal excitability (mean differences 2-5% of Mmax at 25, 50, 75 and 100% MVC between the IS and KE) were not different between the two tasks (P > 0.05) in the vastus lateralis (VL). However, limits of agreement were wide, with poor-to-moderate average ICCs (SICI: ICC3,1 = 0.15, corticospinal excitability: average ICC3,1 range = 0.0-0.63), indicating disparate corticospinal and intracortical activity between the IS and KE. These data highlight the importance of task-specificity when assessing the modulation of corticospinal excitability and SICI in response to interventions resulting in neuroplastic changes.


Calcium is a universal second messenger involved in nearly every aspect of plant physiology and development. In response to a variety of biotic or abiotic stresses, calcium rapidly and transiently increases in the cytosol and in this way triggers the appropriate downstream response. To date, most of the research on calcium has focused on cytosolic calcium signalling, however recent advances have demonstrated that in the chloroplast Ca2+ concentrations are also controlled, and that chloroplast calcium signalling is involved in regulating the plant cell physiology.
This thesis describes work investigating both cytosolic and chloroplast calcium signalling, In the first case, I examined how cytosolic Ca2+ increases with different kinetics (Ca2+-signatures) can encode specific information, and how this can be translated into appropriate changes in transcript expression. To this aim, a dynamic mathematical model of the SA-mediated pathogen network was developed. Calcium is responsible for activating this defence pathway by a complex regulation of the components of this network. This model was able to predict fold-changes and kinetics of gene expression in response to any given calcium signature, hence it was able to accurately describe how specificity is encoded in plant cells. The properties emerging from this model provided insights into the mechanistic basis of calcium signature decoding.
Work on chloroplast calcium signalling focused on two different aspects. Firstly, the hypothesis that chloroplast calcium might regulate chloroplast gene expression was tested, and it was found to not be the case. Secondly, a new chloroplast-specific calcium response was discovered, in response to heat. Properties of this response were investigated, as well as its possible physiological functions. Finally, by using this calcium response as a readout, I addressed the question of heat-sensing in plants. Using this approach I discovered that there is a prominent role for membrane fluidity in controlling this heat-induced calcium increase.


: Analyses of 51 alloys (conventional, 41, and high-copper, 10) currently available in Australia were made. A rapid and precise procedure was developed that relied on wet-way methods for silver and tin while copper, zinc, mercury, indium and low-level constituents, such as lead, cadmium and antimony, were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The conventional alloys, with two minor exceptions, all complied with the compositional requirements of modern standards and little quantitative variations was noted when the range of the major component was compared with the values obtained in two surveys made over thirty years ago. The high-copper contained, among other factors, an average copper concentration about four times that of conventional alloys. Rather surprising were the contents of mercury, indium, and cadmium found in some of the alloys as well as the low-level concentration of lead, and in a few cases antimony. Other elements were not detected by the sensitive technique used. It is justifiable to recommend that the maximum zinc content to be permitted in zinc-free type alloys should not be greater than 0.01%, and this value was subsequently incorporated in the revised Australian standard 2110-1977: Alloy for Dental Amalgam.


Background and Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the health care system. Front-line health care workers (HCWs) are at a higher risk of mental health adverse outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of the symptoms of depression and anxiety and associated demographic and occupational factors among front-line HCWs in Latvia. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative study was performed in a population of HCWs during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Latvia. The participants were interviewed between 28 April 2020 and 2 June 2020. Answers from 864 HCWs were obtained. The participants reported their demographics, work-related information, contacts with COVID-19-positive patients and completed two standardised questionnaires that assessed the symptoms of anxiety (GAD-7) and depression (PHQ-9). The gathered data were analysed by a chi-squared test and binary logistic regression. The data analysis was performed using SPSS v25. Results: A total of 209 (24.8%) participants had depression symptoms and 145 (17.2%) had anxiety symptoms. Health care workers older than 50 had a lower risk of both depression (OR 0.422 (95% CI, 0.262–0.680)) and anxiety (OR 0.468 (95% CI, 0.270–0.813)). General practitioners had more frequent symptoms of depression and anxiety than participants who worked at hospitals (32.8% (n = 63) versus 19.4% (n = 73) and 27.1% (n = 52) versus 10.3% (n = 39), respectively (p = 0.037; p < 0.000)). Working more than 48 h during the week was associated with a higher risk of depression (OR 2.222 (95% CI, 1.315–3.753)) and anxiety (OR 2.416 (95% CI, 1.272–4.586)). Conclusions: The vulnerability of the health care system before the COVID-19 pandemic led to significant mental health adverse outcomes of HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Latvia. A further cohort study is needed to evaluate the dynamics of mental health and other predisposing factors of HCWs.


Four methods were developed for simultaneous determination of metoprolol and felodipine without previous separation. In the first method both drugs were determined using first derivative UV spectrophotometry, with zero crossing measurement at 222 and 235 nm for metoprolol and felodipine, respectively. The second method depends on first derivative of the ratios spectra by measurements of the amplitudes at 250.1 nm for metoprolol and 224.3 nm for felodipine. Calibration graphs are established in the range of 20-150 μg/ml and 10-60 μg/ml for metoprolol and felodipine, respectively. The third method describes the use of multivariate spectrophotometric calibration for the simultaneous determination of the analyzed binary mixture where the resolution is accomplished by using partial least squares (PLS) regression analysis. Although the components show high degree of spectral overlap, they are simultaneously determined with high accuracy and without interference of pharmaceutical dosage form excipients. A comparison with the related multivariate method of classicial least squares (CLS) analysis is done showing less relative results due to severe spectral overlap of the studied drugs. In the fourth method (HPLC), a reversed-phase column and a mobile phase of methanol:water:acetonitrile (70:22:8 v/v/v/) at 0.9 ml/min flow rate is used to separate both drugs and UV detection at 260 nm. Good linearities are obtained in concentration range of 0.15-15 μg/ml for metoprolol and 0.03-5 μg/ml for felodipine. All the proposed methods are extensively validated. They have the advantage of being economic and time saving. All the described methods can be readily utilized for the analysis of pharmaceutical formulations, the fourth method (HPLC) is successfully applied for the analysis of both drugs in human serum samples. The results obtained by adopting the proposed methods are statistically analyzed and compared with those obtained by reported methods.


Studies of law in everyday life tend to view law either as instrumental in shaping specific decisions and practices or as constitutive of the cultural categories through which humans apprehend their world and perceive law as relevant to a greater or lesser extent. This article, however, suggests that circumstances may arise in which law's role in relation to everyday life is neither instrumental nor constitutive but instead becomes one of radical dissociation. Based on an analysis of injuries in northern Thailand, it examines two transformational episodes in Thai legal and political history. The first occurred at the turn of the twentieth century, when "modern" law was introduced, and the second at the turn of the twenty-first century during a period of intense social and economic change and global influence. A consideration of these two crucial historical periods demonstrates how law can become uprooted from everyday life and viewed as alien to the experiences and values of ordinary people.


Control and inspection operations within the context of safety and quality assessment of bulk foods and feeds are not only of particular importance, they are also demanding challenges, given the complexity of food/feed production systems and the variability of product properties. Existing methodologies have a variety of limitations, such as high costs of implementation per sample or shortcomings in early detection of potential threats for human/animal health or quality deviations. Therefore, new proposals are required for the analysis of raw materials in situ in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. For this purpose, a pilot laboratory study was performed on a set of bulk lots of animal by-product protein meals to introduce and test an approach based on near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and geostatistical analysis. Spectral data, provided by a fiber optic probe connected to a Fourier transform (FT) NIR spectrometer, were used to predict moisture and crude protein content at each sampling point. Variographic analysis was carried out for spatial structure characterization, while ordinary Kriging achieved continuous maps for those parameters. The results indicated that the methodology could be a first approximation to an approach that, properly complemented with the Theory of Sampling and supported by experimental validation in real-life conditions, would enhance efficiency and the decision-making process regarding safety and adulteration issues.


Bias in machine learning has manifested injustice in several areas, such as medicine, hiring, and criminal justice. In response, computer scientists have developed myriad definitions of fairness to correct this bias in fielded algorithms. While some definitions are based on established legal and ethical norms, others are largely mathematical. It is unclear whether the general public agrees with these fairness definitions, and perhaps more importantly, whether they understand these definitions. We take initial steps toward bridging this gap between ML researchers and the public, by addressing the question: does a lay audience understand a basic definition of ML fairness? We develop a metric to measure comprehension of three such definitions--demographic parity, equal opportunity, and equalized odds. We evaluate this metric using an online survey, and investigate the relationship between comprehension and sentiment, demographics, and the definition itself.


This fully revised and updated edition of a seminal reference work provides a detailed chronological account of the development of European integration. The history of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), which began immediately after World War II, is recounted in the form of a descriptive summary of the most significant events, measures, arrangements and conferences. The chronology concludes at the end of 2001 with what is arguably one of the most important events in European history; the introduction of the euro notes and coins in twelve nation states. Throughout, Wim Vanthoor offers a detailed yet concise account of the evolution of the economic and political ideas which have culminated in this defining moment. The book is interspersed with quotations from the addresses, orations and comments of politicians and those closely involved with the process of European integration. This accessible book will be essential reading for anyone with an interest in the history of European integration.


It is argued that changes in workers' budget sets cannot explain the dramatic increases in civilian work in the United States during World War II. Although money wages grew during the period, wartime after‐tax real wages were lower than either before or after the war. Evidence from the 1940s also appears to be inconsistent with other pecuniary explanations such as wealth effects of government policies, intertemporal substitution induced by asset prices, unfulfilled expectations, and changes in the nonmarket price of time. Although untested and relatively undeveloped, nonpecuniary models of behavior are tempting explanations for wartime work.


The authors discuss the usefulness of neural networks and expert systems for modeling users in an environment in which information about software is retrieved. User modeling offers an effective technique for determining user requirements and for enhancing the relationship between a user's cognitive abilities and software sophistication. A hybrid architecture is proposed in which the expert system is used for solving well-defined problem domains, and the inferred results are interpreted. The neural network is applied to recognize the user's pattern of stereotypes dynamically and solve the reasoning conflicts. To achieve a higher interaction efficiency and simplify the maintenance of the knowledge base with these two heterogeneous reasoning processes, an object-oriented environment is proposed as an integration platform. The framework of a prototype implementation is described which is an object-oriented intelligent consulting system for selecting appropriate problem-solving software.<<ETX>>


Hydrophobic curcumin in temulawak extract and hydrophilic betacyanin in red dragon fruit extract are high-value bioactive compounds with extensive applications in functional food. In this study, these extracts were encapsulated in water-in-oil-in-water (w/o/w) nanoemulsions as a delivery system using a two-step high-energy emulsification method. PGPR and Span 20 were used as lipophilic emulsifiers for the primary w/o emulsion. The most stable w/o/w formulation with the least oil phase separation of 5% v/v consisted of w/o emulsion (15% w/w) and Tween 80 (1.5% w/w) as hydrophilic emulsifier. The formulation was characterized by a 189-nm mean droplet diameter, 0.16 polydispersity index, and –32 mV zeta potential. The freeze–thaw stability may be attributed to the combination of low w/o emulsion content and high Tween 80 concentration in the outer water phase of the w/o/w nanoemulsions used in this study. The IC50 values of the nanoemulsion and the red dragon fruit extract were similar. It means that the higher concentration of curcumin in the nanoemulsions and the lower IC50 value of temulawak extract ensured sufficient antioxidant activities of the w/o/w nanoemulsions.


Early detection of cancer with mid-IR spectroscopy is a focal topic in the biomedical engineering field. A method was investigated for the detection of malignant tissues with Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and chemometrics method of pattern recognition. Spectral pretreatment and wavelength range selection were studied to improve the classification effect of soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA). To distinguish the malignant tissues from normal ones, sixty-three stomach tissue samples were investigated in this paper. Forty samples were chosen randomly as calibration set and the rest twenty-three samples as predicting set. The correctness of classification was 91%, which was satisfactory. This approach was proved to be a reliable and practicable method for cancer diagnosis. Benign and malignant tissues can be identified by the combination of FTIR spectroscopy and chemometrics, which is able to be developed as a rapid diagnosis method of cancer.


Background: A high prevalence of leprosy among children under 15 years of age indicates the need to implement actions to prevent new cases of the disease. Serological tests have been developed with the aim of helping to control the disease by indicating, through seropositivity, the presence of infection. Objective: To analyze the prevalence and factors associated with seropositivity rate for anti-NDO-LID antibodies in children under 15 years of age, contacts of leprosy patients. Method: We performed a cross-sectional study with 210 children under 15 years old of age. Of them, 50 were household contacts and 160 were neighborhood contacts living in the municipality of Cuiabá, state of Mato Grosso, in 2016. The data were obtained from interviews and the NDO-LID rapid test during home visits from February to July 2016. For the analysis, we used Poisson regression and prevalence ratio. Results: Seropositivity in contacts was 6.2%. Variables associated with seropositive tests included sex (PR = 1.05; 95% CI: 1.01 - 1.08), race/skin color (PR = 0.95; 95% CI: 0.90 - 0.99), residence area (PR = 1.05; 95% CI: 1.01 - 1.09), and number of people per household (PR = 1.06; 95% CI: 1.02 - 1.08). Study Limitations: The small sample size, besides leading to wide confidence intervals, may have been a limitation for the identification of associated factors. Conclusions: The prevalence of seropositivity was high. Variables associated with NDO-LID seropositivity included female sex, not to be brown skinned, live in urban areas, and live with five or more people.


Updating the requirements specification when software systems evolve is a manual task that is expensive and time consuming. Therefore, maintainers usually apply the changes to the code directly and leave the requirements unchanged. This results in the requirements rapidly becoming obsolete and useless. In this paper, we propose an approach that supports the maintainer in keeping the requirements specification consistent with the implementation, by identifying the requirements that are impacted whenever the code is changed. Our approach works as follows. First, we analyze the changes that have been applied to the source code and detect if they are likely to impact the requirements or not. Second, we trace the requirements‐impacting changes back to the requirements specification to identify the parts that might need to be modified. The output of the tracing is a list of requirements that are sorted according to their likelihood of being impacted. Automatically identifying the parts of the requirements specification that are likely to need maintenance reduces the effort needed for keeping the requirements up‐to‐date and thus makes the task of the maintainer easier. When applying our approach in three cases studies, 70% to 100% of the impacted requirements were identified within a list that includes less than 20% of the total number of requirements in the specification. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Abstract : Advantages of filament overwrapped metal composite pressure vessels for future flight vehicles and the technology readiness of the vessels for the application were verified in this full scale hardware demonstration program. Two different Kevlar-49 filament reinforced metal sphere designs were developed, and six vessels of each type were fabricated and subjected to performance tests consisting of fatigue cycling, sustained loading, and hydrostatic burst. The 61 cm (24 inch) diameter Kevlar-49/cryoformed 301 stainless steel pressure vessels demonstrated the required pressure cycle capability, burst factor of safety, and a maximum pressure times volume divided by weight (pV/W) performance of 210 J/g (834 000 in-lb/lbm) at burst; this represented a 25-30% weight saving over the lightest weight comparable, 6Al-4V Ti, homogeneous pressure vessel. In addition to these capabilities of the Kevlar/stainless steel spherical vessels, both the Kevlar/stainless steel design and the 97 cm (38 inch) diameter Kevlar-49/2219-T62 aluminum sphere design demonstrated the anticipated safety characteristics of composite vessels consisting of non-fragmentation and controlled failure mode features when pressure cycled to failure at operating pressure; when failure occurred during pressure cycling, the mode was localized leakage and not catastrophic. Kevlar/stainless steel vessels utilized a unique conical boss design, and Kevlar/aluminum vessels incorporated a tie-rod to carry port loads; both styles of polar fittings performed as designed during operational testing of the vessels.


One of the most important ways to measure the impact of copyright law is through empirical examination of actual copyright infringement cases. Yet scholars have universally overlooked this rich source of data. This study fills that gap through a comprehensive empirical analysis of copyright infringement litigation, examining the pleadings, motions, and dockets from more than nine hundred copyright lawsuits filed from 2005 through 2008. The data we collect allow us to examine a wide variety of copyright issues, such as the rate of settlements versus judgments; the incidence of litigation between major media companies, small firms, and individuals; the kinds of industries and works involved in litigation; the nature of the alleged infringement; the success rates of particular parties and claims; and the nature of remedies sought and awarded. We also analyze the data to identify ways in which copyright litigation differs from other civil suits and to show that certain plaintiff characteristics are more predictive of success.


This study aimed to assess the metabolic risk factors among government employees in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Government employees (n=675) were recruited from five government agencies in Putrajaya using a multi-stage random sampling method. Data on socio demographic characteristics, stages of change for physical activity, anthropometric and biochemical and clinical examinations were collected. A total of 154 (23.4%) men and 505 (76.6%) women with the mean age of 34.49±8.80 years participated in this study. The number of government employees that met the metabolic syndrome criteria based on a 'Harmonized' definition (48.9%) was higher than that in the general Malaysian population. High blood pressure was higher in men (56.5%) compared to women (39.8%). The male participants had a significantly higher mean ± standard deviation in all the metabolic risk factors except HDL-cholesterol, compared to a significance level of 0.05 in the female participants. A high proportion of government employees (84.5%) had at least one metabolic risk factor. Men were 54% more likely to have metabolic syndrome than women based on 'Harmonized' definition. Participants in the pre- contemplation stage for physical activity were approximately 17 times more likely to have metabolic syndrome compared to participants in the maintenance stage according to 'Harmonized' definition. In general, this study suggested that a high proportion of government employees (84.5%) had at least one metabolic risk factor. There is a pressing need to commence intervention programs in the workplace to identify and manage government employees at high risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.


This thesis is the first evaluation of the life and work of Forugh Farrokhzad, a Persian poetess and feminist who died tragically at the age of 32. The first part starts by relating the circumstances surrounding her death and goes on to describe her family background, childhood, education, marriage and divorce. It then gives an account of her publications as well as other artistic activities in films and the theatre. The second part assesses her relationship to the movements for women's advancement in Iran. It covers the historical link between poetesses and feminists and also describes the activities of various critics of the role of women together with the work of various women's' organizations. After examining the work of other Persian poetesses who had taken up the subject of women, Forugh's own views and writings on feminism are analysed and compared with them. The third part evaluates Forugh's place in the history of Persian literature and, in particular, examines the style of her poetry. It begins by describing the main forms of classical Persian poetry, and then the reasons for the introduction and spread of various modern styles of poetry. Examples are given of work which clearly influenced Forugh, and this is extended to cover religious teachings and foreign writers and poets. Forugh's own views on poetry are then recounted, followed by a survey of the changing style of her work. This part ends with some critiques of her poetry by Persian poets and intellectuals. In addition to bringing together and assessing information on Forugh, on poetry and on feminism in Iran, the thesis includes original or new translations of all or part of 24 of Forugh poems as well as of the work of 20 other writers.


ABSTRACT The bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in 1807 prompted a remarkable wave of public commemorations across Britain. In contrast to the low-key events of 1907, 2007 saw a sustained and nation-wide urge to commemorate, publicise and discuss the Atlantic slave trade and its abolition. Government interest proved an important influence, and was reflected in a lively educational debate (resulting in changes to the National Curriculum.) This political interest may have stemmed from the parallel debate about modern human trafficking, and contemporary slave systems. Equally, the availability of funding (from the Heritage Lottery Fund) may have persuaded a host of institutions to devise exhibitions, displays and debates about events of 1807. Perhaps the most striking forms of commemoration were in broadcasting and publishing: the BBC was especially active. There were few regions or localities which remained unaffected by the year's commemorations. But why was there such interest? Was 1807, with the outlawing of an unquestioned evil, seen as a moment of national virtue? But if so, how are we to recall the role played by the British in the perfection of Atlantic slavery and the slave trade? The lively debates in 2007, from major national institutions to small local gatherings, revealed the problematic nature of abolition itself. After all, slavery survived, and even the slave trade continued after 1807. So what was important about 1807? The commemorations of 2007 raised public awareness about an important transformation in the British past; it also exposed those intellectual and political complexities about the ending of the Atlantic slave trade which have proved so fascinating to academic historians.


This study identifies the factors accoun table for the historical growth trends in kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) consumption in Cameroon households, thereby quantifying their short- and long-run effects for the period 1994-2014. ARDL bound test and Granger-causality following Toda-Yamamoto procedure under an augmented VAR framework are estimated. Empirical results validate the presence of a long-run equilibrium relationship on one hand between kerosene consumption, prices, income, and urbanization; and on the other hand between LPG consumption, prices, income, and urbanization. Prices, income and urbanization have significant positive impact on kerosene and LPG consumption both in the short- and long-runs, with evidence of high degree of fuel substitution from kerosene to LPG. Granger causality test show that there exists bidirectional causality between LPG consumption and income at the 5% significance level, whereas there is no causality between kerosene consumption and income. This means that an increase in LPG consumption affects economic growth with feedback effect. Consequently, supporting energy policies aimed at increasing LPG consumption while reducing kerosene consumption is achievable in Cameroon. Other captious policy measures and sensitive issues such as market liberalization, energy accretion programs and market competitiveness to upgrade availability, accessibility, distribution and extension of energy services are discussed.


The article describes a WEB-system developed by the authors that implements services related to the formation and provision of multifaceted information about the results of scientific activities (publications, copyright certificates and reports at scientific events) of employees of an organization or a group of organizations. The system is focused both on the end user interested in obtaining specific data, and on the administrative staff, who generates reporting materials for the parent organization. The information base of the system contains metadata on the following classes of objects: persons (authors), organizations and their subdivisions; publications at analytical, monographic and summary levels; copyright certificates; scientific events (conferences, symposia, seminars); reports. The system includes two modules – an administrative one (intended for entering and editing data) and a user one, which is a special search engine that searches for information, visualizes it, provides navigation among related resources and exports data. A distinctive feature of the system is the introduced concept of "equivalent" objects. Objects are considered equivalent if they are represented in the system by different metadata, but referring to the same physical entity. Such objects are "persons" corresponding to one author with different spellings of the surname in the bibliographic descriptions of publications; organizations with different variants of names; articles published unchanged in various languages. In accordance with modern requirements for reporting on publications, the system reflects the sources of research funding, as well as the affiliations indicated in the articles for each author.


Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to evaluate and compare with anthropometry a fundamental bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) method for predicting muscle and adipose tissue composition in the lower limb. Healthy volunteers (eight men and eight women), aged 41 to 62 years, with mean (S.D.) body mass indices of 28.6 (5.4) kg/m2 and 25.1 (5.4) kg/m2 respectively, were subjected to MRI leg scans, from which 20-cm sections of thigh and 10-cm sections of lower leg (calf) were analysed for muscle and adipose tissue content, using specifically developed software. Muscle and adipose tissue were also predicted from anthropometric measurements of circumferences and skinfold thicknesses, and by use of fundamental BIA equations involving section impedance at 50 kHz and tissue-specific resistivities. Anthropometric assessments of circumferences, cross-sectional areas and volumes for total constituent tissues matched closely MRI estimates. Muscle volume was substantially overestimated (bias: thigh, -40%; calf, -18%) and adipose tissue underestimated (bias: thigh, 43%; calf, 8%) by anthropometry, in contrast to generally better predictions by the fundamental BIA approach for muscle (bias: thigh, -12%; calf, 5%) and adipose tissue (bias: thigh, 17%; calf, -28%). However, both methods demonstrated considerable individual variability (95% limits of agreement 20-77%). In general, there was similar reproducibility for anthropometric and fundamental BIA methods in the thigh (inter-observer residual coefficient of variation for muscle 3.5% versus 3.8%), but the latter was better in the calf (inter-observer residual coefficient of variation for muscle 8.2% versus 4.5%). This study suggests that the fundamental BIA method has advantages over anthropometry for measuring lower limb tissue composition in healthy individuals.


This thesis presents a descriptive phenomenological inquiry of the lived experience of correctional nursing in a Canadian context. Seven in-depth interviews with correctional nurses were conducted. Data analysis was guided by Giorgi's description of the descriptive phenomenological psychological method. Fourteen essential structures were identified. These essential structures described participants' experiences related to: discovering correctional nursing: their physical workspaces; their working relationships; and caring for inmate clients. Implications for policy and administration include suggestions for reviewing the service delivery model of healthcare services within corrections and improving the recruitment and retention of correctional nurses. Implications for nursing practice, education, and research are also discussed.


non-Hodgkin diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) modifies the course of disease and has a positive effect on overall survival (OS). The purpose of this study was to verify the existence of the important Myd 88 mutation and other immunohistochemical factors on disease prognosis in patients with DLBCL in southeast Serbia. Methods: Immunohistochemical expression of CD10, Bcl2, Bcl-6, Ki-67 and MUM 1 was performed using paraffin blocks of DLBCL. Molecular-genetic study of MyD88 L265P gene polymorphism was done by isolation of genomic DNA from paraffin embedded tissue by means of polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: Immunochemotherapy (rituximab+CHOP/R-CHOP) significantly improved the overall survival (OS) of patients with DLBCL compared with patients treated with CHOP alone (p<0.0001). OS in the R-CHOP group was longest in patients with International Prognostic Index (IPI) 2 score (p=0.012) and IPI 4 score (p=0.024). Patients with Bcl-2 +, and MUM 1+ benefited from R-CHOP and their expression had no effect on OS. Analysis of restriction fragment length on the genomic DNA showed a homozygous normal TT genotype. Conclusion: Addition of rituximab to CHOP standard protocol improved the OS rate in patients with DLBCL and altered the character and significance of previously recognized prognostic factors. IPI score in the immunochemotherapy era could not reveal possible predictive factors of poor prognosis which would help identify a high-risk subgroup of newly diagnosed DLBCL. In the patient population from Southeast Serbia pathological signaling pathway achieved by Myd 88 L265 mutation was not responsible for the development of DLBCL.


Understanding the metabolic alterations occurring during an infection is a key element for identifying potential indicators of the disease prognosis, which are fundamental for developing efficient diagnostic tools and offering the best therapeutic treatment to the patient. Here, exploiting high-throughput metabolomics data, we identified the first metabolic profile associated with a fatal outcome, not correlated with preexisting clinical conditions or the oxygen demand at the moment of diagnosis. ABSTRACT In one year of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many studies have described the different metabolic changes occurring in COVID-19 patients, linking these alterations to the disease severity. However, a complete metabolic signature of the most severe cases, especially those with a fatal outcome, is still missing. Our study retrospectively analyzes the metabolome profiles of 75 COVID-19 patients with moderate and severe symptoms admitted to Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico (Lombardy Region, Italy) following SARS-CoV-2 infection between March and April 2020. Italy was the first Western country to experience COVID-19, and the Lombardy Region was the epicenter of the Italian COVID-19 pandemic. This cohort shows a higher mortality rate compared to others; therefore, it represents a unique opportunity to investigate the underlying metabolic profiles of the first COVID-19 patients in Italy and to identify the potential biomarkers related to the disease prognosis and fatal outcome. IMPORTANCE Understanding the metabolic alterations occurring during an infection is a key element for identifying potential indicators of the disease prognosis, which are fundamental for developing efficient diagnostic tools and offering the best therapeutic treatment to the patient. Here, exploiting high-throughput metabolomics data, we identified the first metabolic profile associated with a fatal outcome, not correlated with preexisting clinical conditions or the oxygen demand at the moment of diagnosis. Overall, our results contribute to a better understanding of COVID-19-related metabolic disruption and may represent a useful starting point for the identification of independent prognostic factors to be employed in therapeutic practice.


We prove that the norm version of the adaptive stochastic gradient method (AdaGrad-Norm) achieves a linear convergence rate for a subset of either strongly convex functions or non-convex functions that satisfy the Polyak Lojasiewicz (PL) inequality. The paper introduces the notion of Restricted Uniform Inequality of Gradients (RUIG)---which is a measure of the balanced-ness of the stochastic gradient norms---to depict the landscape of a function. RUIG plays a key role in proving the robustness of AdaGrad-Norm to its hyper-parameter tuning in the stochastic setting. On top of RUIG, we develop a two-stage framework to prove the linear convergence of AdaGrad-Norm without knowing the parameters of the objective functions. This framework can likely be extended to other adaptive stepsize algorithms. The numerical experiments validate the theory and suggest future directions for improvement.


It is claimed that a cognitive science approach to e-business operations with thin clients and intranets requires that both the client and server sides be taken as enterprises. This paper explains how the client-server process engineering demands the cohabitation of hybrid operations of many types like the remote procedure calls and message oriented middleware, or, storage area network and network attached storage. This paper establishes a claim for software engineering activities in a possibilistic domain.


The purpose is to determine the initiatives of international standardization in the sphere of cloud computing. The implementation of technologies based on the concept of cloud computing in various fields, particularly in education, may contribute to the modernization of education in general, the transition to a new level, for the further development on the principles of openness and accessibility. Along with this there is a need for development of appropriate mechanisms to ensure quality of cloud resources and services, their compliance with a number of technical, technological, psychological, pedagogical, ergonomic and other requirements. In this context, the initiatives of the Joint Technical Committee of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), which now has developed standards that define terminology and typical architecture of cloud computing, is significant. Objectives: to outline the importance of cloud computing for the educational sector; to justify the feasibility of cloud computing standardization; to consider the first international initiatives in this area. Object: standardization in IT sphere. Subject: international experience of standardization in the sphere of cloud computing. Methods: analysis of the literature, web-resources, regulative documents. Conclusions: for the development of the open and accessible educational environment it is necessary to introduce technologies that would remotely operate all the necessary data. These capabilities are provided by technology based on the concept of cloud computing. With the development of cloud computing technology the functionality of electronic resources and services have significantly increased. Along with this there is a need to ensure the quality of these resources and services, including through standardization. The main objective of international standardization in the field of cloud computing is to create an environment that would provide consumers by access to services in any region of the world, regardless of the tools and technologies they use, thus providing a basis for further development of open education. The next step is to develop authentic state standards that define basic requirements for IT, including cloud technologies that would serve as a guarantor of their safety use for educational purposes.


The molecular characterization of a strain of Canine minute virus (CnMV) associated with neonatal death is reported. Three newborn puppies of a litter of Jack Russell terrier dogs died after displaying systemic disease, whereas 2 surviving puppies showed no clinical signs with the exception of transient cardiac abnormalities that were evident by electrocardiography. Necropsy of 1 dead puppy revealed severe lesions in the internal organs. A strain of Canine minute virus was detected in tissue samples collected from the puppy, and virus circulation was demonstrated by molecular or serological testing in the dam, puppies of the same litter, and other puppies in the same kennel. By sequence and phylogenetic analysis of the gene encoding for the VP2 capsid protein, the strain circulating in the kennel was found to be related to recent Asian CnMV isolates. Continuous molecular surveillance for CnMV in kennels, shelters, and rescue centers would expand the knowledge base on the epidemiological and pathogenetic features of CnMV, which has been known for several decades but still poorly understood.


New Book Design showcases the most interesting, influential, and accomplished book designs from the last ten years.It features over 100 titles published around the world, each chosen for their outstanding design qualities, from the publications of large mainstream publishers to those of small independent companies -- and even those from individual artists. Included in its pages are lavishly produced books with unconventional formats and unusual print techniques as well as less flamboyant publications produced for various different markets. A wide variety of books are featured, from paperback novels to architectural monographs, from text-based to profusely-illustrated books. Divided into four main sections -- Packaging, Navigation, Layout, and Specification -- the book examines each facet of book design: cover design; contents and structure; image usage; grids; typography; paper; printing; and binding. Clear photography captures each featured book, and interviews with prominent book designers, art directors, and publishers provide extra insight. New Book Design is sure to provide a rich source of inspiration to book designers and bibliophiles alike.


The delineation and characterization of fracturing is important in the successful exploitation of many hydrocarbon reservoirs. Such fracturing often occurs in preferentially aligned sets; if the fractures are of subseismic scale, this may result in seismic anisotropy. Thus, measurements of anisotropy from seismic data may be used to delineate fracture patterns and investigate their properties. Here fracture-induced anisotropy is investigated in the Valhall field, which lies in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. This field is a chalk reservoir with good porosity but variable permeability, where fractures may significantly impact production, e.g., during waterflooding. To investigate the nature of fracturing in this reservoir, P-wave amplitude variation with offset and azimuth (AVOA) is analyzed in a 3D ocean-bottom cable (OBC) data set. In general, 3D ocean-bottom seismic (OBS) acquisition leads to patchy coverage in offset and azimuth, and this must be addressed when considering such data. To overcome this challenge and others associated with 3D OBS acquisition, a new method for processing and analysis is presented. For example, a surface fitting approach, which involves analyzing azimuthal variations in AVO gradients, is used to estimate the orientation and magnitude of the fracture-induced anisotropy. This approach is also more widely applicable to offset-azimuth analysis of other attributes (e.g., traveltimes) and any data set where there has been true 3D data acquisition, land or marine. Using this new methodology, we derive high-resolution maps of P-wave anisotropy from the AVOA analysis for the top-chalk reflection at Valhall. These anisotropy maps show coherent but laterally varying trends. Synthetic AVOA modeling, using effective medium models, indicates that if this anisotropy is from aligned fracturing, the fractures are likely liquid filled with small aspect ratios and the fracture density must be high. Furthermore, we show that the fracture-normal direction is parallel to the direction of most positive AVO gradient. In other situations the reverse can be true, i.e., the fracture-normal direction can be parallel to the direction of the most negative AVO gradient. Effective medium modeling or comparisons with anisotropy estimates from other approaches (e.g., azimuthal variations in velocity) must therefore be used to resolve this ambiguity. The inferred fracture orientations and anisotropy magnitudes show a degree of correlation with the positions and alignments of larger scale faults, which are estimated from 3D coherency analysis. Overall, this work demonstrates that significant insight may be gained into the alignment and character of fracturing and the stress field variations throughout a field using this high-resolution AVOA method.


Paediatric wrist fractures are commonly seen injuries at emergency departments. Around 50% of the X-rays taken to identify these injuries indicate no fracture. The aim of this study was to develop a model using infrared thermal imaging (IRTI) data and multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural networks as a screening tool to assist clinicians in deciding which patients require X-ray imaging to diagnose a fracture. Forty participants with wrist injury (19 with a fracture, 21 without, X-ray confirmed), mean age 10.50 years, were included. IRTI of both wrists was performed with the contralateral as reference. The injured wrist region of interest (ROI) was segmented and represented by the means of cells of 10 × 10 pixels. The fifty largest means were selected, the mean temperature of the contralateral ROI was subtracted, and they were expressed by their standard deviation, kurtosis, and interquartile range for MLP processing. Training and test files were created, consisting of randomly split 2/3 and 1/3 of the participants, respectively. To avoid bias of participant inclusion in the two files, the experiments were repeated 100 times, and the MLP outputs were averaged. The model's sensitivity and specificity were 84.2% and 71.4%, respectively. Further work involves a larger sample size, adults, and other bone fractures.


Precipitation is a key link in the global water cycle and a proxy for changing climate. This study
sought to assess the effects of urbanization on precipitation in Kilimanjaro region based on
observed rainfall and population data between the period 1982 and 2012. Graphical analysis was
used to determine space time variability of rainfall amount, frequency and intensity while the
relationship between urbanization and rainfall was achieved through correlation and regression
analysis.
The slope of regression line showed that trend of total rainfall over urban areas (Moshi) was
decreasing more than rural areas (Kia and Same) with increasing frequencies of rainy days.
Annual rainfall showed highest peak in April and November with the number of rainy days
reducing with increasing threshold value of rainfall category. Graphical analysis indicated a
bimodal rainfall distribution over the region with highest peak during April –May –June and
lowest peak in November –December -January while the slopes of regression line were all noted
to be quite small with values of less than 0.3. Regression analysis indicated a positive
relationship between rainfall and population over all stations except same with coefficient of
determination (R2) values less than 9% and thus little influence of population on the amount of
rainfall received over Kilimanjaro region. Correlation analysis showed that rainfall and
population were negatively related over Lyamungu Moshi and Kia with correlation coefficient
values of -0.23, -0.16 and -0.30 respectively. At 95% significance level, the student t test showed
that these correlations were not significantly related to population as all values of t computed
were less than t tabulated.
Over Kilimanjaro region changes in population had little influence on rainfall amount, intensity,
and frequency over Kilimanjaro region. However, the slight modification in rainfall over
urbanized environment would necessitate convenient approaches and planning to help prevent
modification of rainfall and thus urban climate. Therefore, this information will form basis of
urban policy formulation towards limiting further changes in urban environment.


Due to the low design turn-around time, low risk, high testability, and field programmability, Field Programmable Gate Arrays are becoming increasingly popular for rapid circuit realization. The logic blocks in currently available FPGAs are mostly single output. This accompanied with their inability to realize XORs efficiently and the absence of good logic synthesis tools for XOR functions, prevents their usage in many real-life XOR dominated applications. In this paper, we propose a new 5-input 3-output AND-XOR based logic block architecture built around Cellular Automata Array (CAA). An efficient multi-level AND-XOR minimizer has been developed. A generic library based technology mapping technique has been evolved. Experimentation with a large number of XOR dominated MCNC benchmarks establishes the superiority of our logic block over those of Xilinx and Actel for these functions. The mapping scheme is a generic one and thus can be used to evaluate any arbitrary multi-output as well as single-output logic block.


Urban forest fragments are vulnerable to invasion by non-native species, and invaded forests are increasingly targeted for invasive species removals. Our goal was to determine the extent to which persistent seed banks can contribute to the recruitment of native forest species into urban forest fragments from which invasive plant species have been removed. In a greenhouse, we germinated seeds from soil samples from three forest fragments in Portland, Oregon, US. All sites had been invaded by Hedera hibernica (Irish ivy) and H. helix (English ivy), Clematis vitalba (virgin's bower), Ilex aquifolium (English holly), and Prunus laurocerasus (English laurel). At one site, these species had been removed three years prior to our study. Emergents represented 53 taxa, classified as: native forest species, native non-forest species, and non-native species. We observed few native forest species (5–12/site); 29–83% of samples contained these species, at median densities of 0–2 seeds/sample/site. Non-native species were more diverse (12–17/site), more frequent (75–89% of samples), and denser (median = 2–5 seeds/sample/site). Clematis vitalba seeds were especially abundant. Invasive removal had little effect on the persistent seed bank; however, the least-invaded site had the highest richness, frequency, and density of native forest species. The low richness and abundance of native forest species is not necessarily a concern, because many forest species do not form persistent seed banks. The annual seed rain can regenerate native species whose density has been diminished by invasive plant species and their removal. However, managers wishing to restore absent species should plan to follow removal efforts with active revegetation.


The levels of fruit organization are determined for the Celastraceae family on the basis of fruit morphology and anatomical study of pericarp (114 species from 45 genera). Analysis of their correlation with basal and derivative lineages according to the last molecular data is conducted and reconstruction of initial stages of the family phylogeny is presented. Special focus to structural diversity of pirenarium in Cassinoideae subfamily is spared.


The clathrin heavy chain is a major component of clathrin-coated vesicles that function in selective membrane traffic in eukaryotic cells. We disrupted the clathrin heavy chain gene (chcA) in Dictyostelium discoideum to generate a stable clathrin heavy chain- deficient cell line. Measurement of pinocytosis in the clathrin-minus mutant revealed a four-to five-fold deficiency in the internalization of fluid-phase markers. Once internalized, these markers recycled to the cell surface of mutant cells at wild-type rates. We also explored the involvement of clathrin heavy chain in the trafficking of lysosomal enzymes. Pulse chase analysis revealed that clathrin-minus cells processed most alpha-mannosidase to mature forms, however, approximately 20-25% of the precursor molecules remained uncleaved, were missorted, and were rapidly secreted by the constitutive secretory pathway. The remaining intracellular alpha-mannosidase was successfully targeted to mature lysosomes. Standard secretion assays showed that the rate of secretion of alpha-mannosidase was significantly less in clathrin-minus cells compared to control cells in growth medium. Interestingly, the secretion rates of another lysosomal enzyme, acid phosphatase, were similar in clathrin-minus and wild-type cells. Like wild-type cells, clathrin-minus mutants responded to starvation conditions with increased lysosomal enzyme secretion. Our study of the mutant cells provide in vivo evidence for roles for the clathrin heavy chain in (a) the internalization of fluid from the plasma membrane; (b) sorting of hydrolase precursors from the constitutive secretory pathway to the lysosomal pathway; and (c) secretion of mature hydrolases from lysosomes to the extracellular space.


Jadranka Stojanovski discusses the evolution of library support for open science from a Croatian perspective. From her vantage point as (former) library director of the Ruđer Bošković Institute and associate professor at the department of information science of the University of Zadar, Stojanovski has been a pioneer in establishing services exploiting the possibilities offered by new information technologies since the 1990s. Many of her activities have been connected to broad European collaborative projects such as OpenAIRE, OASPA, and EOSC.
The Croatian approach has been a very proactive one. Already in 1997, the CROSBI was launched, a combined national scientific bibliography and repository for Green Open Access documents. Although deposition of articles and other research documents is entirely voluntary, CROSBI now carries metadata on more than 725,000 documents, a large proportion of which are available in fulltext. Alongisde CROSBI, there are also several institutions running their own institutional repositories. There is now extensive collaboration between these services in the form of DABAR ('beaver' in English), aiming to enhance the interoperability and findability of documents stored in the various repositories. Stojanovski has also been involved in setting up an inventory on Who's Who in Science in Croatia as well as a database on scientific equipment, Šestar ('pair of compasses').
Set up in 2005, the HRČAK ('hamster') platform for Croatian scientific and professional journals has been a massive success. Less than twenty years after its inception, it now carries more than 500 scholarly journals and series of conference proceedings, nearly all of which are Diamond Open Access (i.e., free to the reader and with no author-facing publishing charges). Roughly 150 of these journals receive annual subsidies from the government, the rest are fully based on voluntary work from individual editors and the institutions or learned societies they represent. Only around 25 HRČAK journals charge Article Processing Charges. The Social Sciences and Humanities are particularly well represented on the platform, with many journals publishing in Croatian despite the lack of an official language policy in favor of Croatian as a scholarly language. The University Computing Centre in Zagreb (SRCE, 'heart') is responsible for the technical development of HRČAK, which is based on seamless interconnection between in-house developed software and open-source software for editorial processes, primarily Open Journal Systems.
A national Research Data Policy or, better still, a general Open Science Policy is highly desirable, Stojanovski argues. Infrastructure is in place, but usage will undoubtedly rise significantly as soon as open science practices become mandatory.
Alongside Dominic Tate (episode 43) and Pierre Mounier (episode 44), Jadranka was a keynote speaker at the 17th Munin Conference on Scholarly Publishing. This interview was first published online on December 13, 2022.


Johne's disease (JD) is a chronic, production-limiting disease of ruminants. Control programs aiming to minimize the effects of the disease on the dairy industry have been launched in many countries, including Canada. Those programs commonly focus on strict hygiene and management improvement, often combined with various testing methods. Concurrently, organic dairy farming has been increasing in popularity. Because organic farming promotes traditional management practices, it has been proposed that organic dairy production regulations might interfere with implementation of JD control strategies. However, it is currently unclear how organic farming would change the risk for JD control. This review presents a brief introduction to organic dairy farming in Canada, JD, and the Canadian JD control programs. Subsequently, organic practices are described and hypotheses of their effects on JD transmission are developed. Empirical research is needed, not only to provide scientific evidence for organic producers, but also for smaller conventional farms employing organic-like management practices.


This paper introduces two independent numerical modeling approaches used to investigate the earthquake response of a tailings embankment dam on a foundation consisting of liquefiable alluvial soil. The approaches employ non-linear two-dimensional finite-difference and finiteelement numerical schemes along with fully-coupled effective stress constitutive models for liquefaction. Details of the parameters describing each liquefaction constitutive model and results of model calibration against experimental data from liquefaction cyclic triaxial tests are presented. Comparison of numerical results addressing the seismic performance of the analyzed embankment-liquefiable foundation system indicates agreement between the two independent modeling approaches in terms of predicted deformation pattern of the system and magnitude of permanent dam displacement. The study demonstrates that both considered numerical modeling approaches represent a useful and robust tool for analyzing the deformation behavior of tailings dams on liquefiable foundation under seismic conditions.


This work had as objectives to evaluate the performance of lambs weaned at 67 days of age and fed with different roughage sources in confinement. Thirty animals out of Corriedale ewes mated to Hampshire Down, Ile de France and Suffolk rams, were used. After weaning the animals were fedlot and distributed in one of the following treatments: T1 – Corn silage + concentrate; T2 – Corn silage and oat hay (50% each) + concentrate; and T3 – Oat hay + concentrate. It was used a 60:40 roughage:concentrate ratio, dry matter basis. At the beginning of the experiment the animals weighed 11.51, 12.46 and 12.33 kg (P>0.05), and after nine weeks of feedlot the weights were 17.53, 19.34 and 19.35 kg (P>0.05), respectively, for T1, T2 e T3. Average daily weight gain was similar (P>0.05) among treatments. It was not observed differences (P>0.05) in weights and weight gains among the genetic groups. However, male lambs presented greater average daily weight gain than female lambs (0.120 x 0.091 kg). There were no differences in feed conversion among the treatments, however, animals from the T2 had greater dry matter intake. It can be concluded that either corn silage or oat hay can be used for feeding weaned lambs.


Email fulfils an important role in facilitating distributed communication in engineering design projects and contributes to the persistent records of the project, but the nature of email communication may mean that records are difficult to understand by those who have not been involved in the projects. This paper presents an investigation into the effectiveness of augmenting emails with contextual information as a mechanism for improving such understanding. The work was part of an investigation into the effectiveness of email as a project communication method including the study of a large corpus of emails from a merchant ship design project and of the team that produced them. The work involved taking samples from the corpus and exploring the ability of readers with and without background contextual knowledge to understand and answer questions on the samples both as original email records and augmented with hyperlinks to contextual explanations. The experiments showed improvement in the understanding of the augmented emails by those with and without contextual knowledge. The experiment design is presented and the findings and their implications summarised.


Based on the former work on the current-voltage characteristics of a multi-needle-to-plate negative corona discharge at atmospheric pressure, the present work uses the method of OES (optical emission spectrum) for measuring N2 emission spectrum, and the morphology determination of the ionization region has been investigated. According to the distribution of N2 second positive band's intensity ISPB, the highest of all bands, the outline of the ionization region was drawn fairly accurately. The relationship between ISPB and discharge current I can be obtained through the volume integral of the ISPB. The experimental results show that the size of the ionization region enhances with the rise of the applied voltage U, and the electron avalanche begins at about 1 mm off the tips of needle electrode and multiplies only in the range of several millimeters, indicating that, the range of the ionization region is at the magnitude of mm. The electron avalanche along the axis of the needle develops farther than that along the radial direction of needle, and the shape of the ionization region looks like a bullet. The integral of ISPB is second-order linear to I, with a very second order coefficient, meaning that the main excited substance is N2. Energetic electrons mainly exist in ionization region while ions are the main charged particles to form discharge current in the transfer region.


Videoconferencing Comes Down to Earth Technological improvements, lower prices, and increased availability are making videoconferencing an option for more public relations purposes Videoconferencing: (a) is much cheaper than it was two years ago; (b) is more expensive than it was two years ago; (c) requires less technical expertise on the part of users than it did a few years ago; (d) requires more technical expertise on the part of users. Depending on who you talk to, videoconferencing--aka satellite videoconferencing, video teleconferencing, and two-way interactive video--is all of the above. Contributing to this confusion is the recent proliferation of videoconferencing options. For starters, there are now two different types of videoconferencing, "ad hoc" and "dedicated." Most public relations professionals are familiar with ad hoc videoconferences. Typically, these are "events," such as press conferences, that originate in one city and are linked by satellite to other locations across the city, the country, or the world. The videoconference network of satellite dishes and facilities is custom-assembled for each event, hence the term ad hoc. So, practitioners have to rent and transport portable satellite dishes to each videoconferencing site, hire people to operate them, and reserve satellite transponder time to send the signal. The quality of the picture is comparable to that of television programming (broadcast quality). These videoconferences are usually one-way video and two-way audio. Adding two-way video capability can double the cost of an ad hoc videoconference. "Dedicated" videoconferencing is basically an interactive, audio-visual meeting between two or more locations with permanent videoconferencing equipment. These videoconferences have two-way video and two-way audio. The big advantage here is that, in most cases, dedicated videoconferences cost a fraction of the price of ad hoc ones, because different technology is generally used to transmit and compress the information on the video signal. This also means, however, that less information is transmitted, so the picture is not quite as sharp as a broadcast-quality picture, and it is therefore not acceptable for television reproduction. Dedicated videoconferencing facilities can and are being set up that are capable of transmitting broadcast-quality signals. However, with these set-ups, you may lose the cost advantage. Increased videoconferencing options have fueled an increase in the uses for the service. As little as five years ago, "mega-events," such as multi-city press conferences linked by satellite, dominated public relations applications of videoconferencing. Today, this technology is also being used for crisis communication, investor relations, marketing support, fund raising, recruitment, and many different types of meetings. Even the traditional ad hoc video press conference has a new, less costly wrinkle, the satellite media tour. Formerly, practitioners were limited to ad hoc videoconference networks; now, there are an increasing number of existing "public" videoconferencing facilities that can be rented. These range from in-house corporate TV studios that are rented to other companies, to videoconferencing rooms run by independent vendors, to public relations firms with video operations that can be rented when not in use by the firm or its clients. Arranging a videoconference from one of these facilities is much simpler, and often requires less technical expertise, than assembling an ad hoc videoconferencing network. However, as already noted, the quality of transmissions at these facilities vary. To help practitioners sort through these services, PRJ interviewed videoconferencing consultants and suppliers, organizations that have established their own videoconferencing facilities, trade journalists, and public relations practitioners. Usage on the upswing One of the few things that virtually everyone agrees on is that videoconferencing use, both ad hoc and dedicated, is up--way up. …


The auto insurance industry is being disrupted by insurtechs that are leveraging data and technology to solve pain points in parts of the customer journey, while emerging technology in adjacent industries threatens insurance as it currently exists. As a result, insurance companies are imagining futures beyond traditional insurance and new ways that they might meet the needs of future customers. In order to explore what a reframing of insurance as "protection" could mean to customers, we utilized ethnographic methods and speculative design practices to reimagine how the transition from non-driver to young driver and from dependent child to independent adult could be more fully supported by an insurance company. In this case study, we review both the methodological processes and summarize learnings and opportunities critical to applying ethnofutures and speculative design practices within a large corporate setting, including: proposing a new approach to a diverse group of stakeholders; negotiating near- and long-term priorities; articulating the linkages between current and future states; and developing rich stimuli to create an immersive future in the context of time and resource constraints.


The construction and performance of a small-angle X-ray camera equipped with a two-dimensional multiwire proportional chamber (two-dimensional MWPC) are described. The system has been used for studies of the structure of biological samples with a conventional rotating-anode X-ray source. The small-angle camera is of Franks type with two orthogonal platinum-coated bent optical flats placed in a helium-tight box. The specimen-to-detector distance is variable between 60 and 260 cm. The sensitive area of the two-dimensional MWPC is 256 × 256 mm with 256 × 256 resolution elements. The camera covers high angles up to about 5 A, although diffraction line widths in this region are highly broadened owing to parallax. The electronic system comprises NIM modules, a hand-made module and a commercially available compact two-dimensional multichannel analyser (two-dimensional MCA). The two-dimensional MCA has a memory size of 256 × 256 channels (24 bits/channel). The estimated dead time of this system is approximately 5 μs, which permits a maximum count rate of 20 kHz at 10% loss. Diffraction patterns of a Langmuir–Blodgett film of arachidic acid and stacked purple membranes and a solution scattering of horse spleen apoferritin are demonstrated as examples.


Bug reports are one of the most crucial information sources for software engineering offering answers to many questions. Yet, getting these answers is not always easy; the information in bug reports is often implicit and some processes are required to extract the meaning of these reports. Most research in this area employ a supervised learning approach to classify bug reports so that required types of reports could be identified. However, this approach often requires an immense amount of time and effort, the resources that already too scarce in many projects. We aim to develop an automated framework that can categorize bug reports, according to their grammatical structure without the need for labeled data. Our framework categorizes bug reports according to their text similarity using topic modeling and a clustering algorithm. Each group of bug reports are labeled with our new clustering labeling algorithm specifically made for clusters in the topic space. Our framework is highly customizable with a modular approach and options to incorporate available background knowledge to improve its performance, while our cluster labeling approach make use of natural language process (NLP) chunking to create the representative labels. Our experiment results demonstrate that the performance of our unsupervised framework is comparable to a supervised learning one. We also show that our labeling process is capable of labeling each cluster with phrases that are representative for that cluster's characteristics. Our framework can be used to automatically categorize the incoming bug reports without any prior knowledge, as an automated labeling suggestion system or as a tool for obtaining knowledge about the structure of the bug report repository.


Drought is one of the major constraints affecting the economic yield of maize worldwide. Present study was carried out to select the surrogates for drought resilience in 70 maize landraces collected from diverse agro-ecologies of Kashmir Himalayas. Significant variation was observed among the genotypes for all the traits under well-watered and drought conditions. Due to the drought stress, the highest reduction was observed for the canopy temperature (175.18%), followed by root volume (69.77%), top root biomass (69.1%), shoot biomass (67.2%), bottom root biomass (53.75%), chlorophyll content (22.85 SPAD units) and shoot height (21.63%). The reduction was also recorded for other traits like shoot to total biomass ratio (2.70%), relative water content (13.42 %), cell membrane stability (17.33%) and rooting depth (19.86%). Root to total biomass ratio was found to increase in response to drought stress (7.69%). A positive significant correlation was observed between grain yield and root volume, top root biomass, bottom root biomass, rooting depth, root to total biomass, chlorophyll content, cell membrane stability, canopy temperature depression and relative water content. These can be used for selection of appropriate surrogates of drought tolerant genotypes. The landraces viz., KD-L35, KD-L37, KD-L19, KD-L23, KD-L17, KD-L21, KD-L46, KD-L43, KD-L29, KD-L25 and KD-L38 showed promising performance under drought for most of the surrogates identified. The landraces selected can be used as sources of novel and/or favourable alleles to breed for climate resilient maize cultivars.
Bangladesh J. Bot. 51(3): 487-498, 2022 (September)


OBJECTIVE
Although the use of appropriate coping strategies has been suggested to be a key factor in determining successful adjustment to severe physical illness/disability, little systematic support for this link has been found. We investigated relationships between spinal cord lesion-related coping strategies and health-related quality of life when studying for sociodemographic, disability-related and social support variables.

DESIGN AND SUBJECTS
We studied 256 persons with traumatically acquired spinal cord lesion (=1 year) from a typical rural/urban Swedish area in a cross-sectional design.

METHODS
Coping measure was the Spinal Cord Lesion-related Coping Strategies Questionnaire. Outcome measures were the Spinal Cord Injury Quality of Life Questionnaire, the Short-Form 36 Health Survey version 2.0, and a standardized global question of overall quality of life. Multiple regressions were performed.

RESULTS
Coping strategies were clear correlates of health-related quality of life when sociodemographic, disability-related and social support variables were studied. The relationship between coping strategies and quality of life was: the more revaluation of life values (Acceptance) and the fewer tendencies towards dependent behaviour (Social reliance) the better the health-related quality of life.

CONCLUSION
Our results suggest that greater focus needs to be directed to coping strategies and to ways of facilitating adaptive outcomes in rehabilitation.


Background: Progesterone is essential for establishing and maintaining a pregnancy. However, premature atresia of the corpus luteum (CL) or suboptimal progesterone secretion after ovulation may result in the decreased ability to establish or maintain a pregnancy. The current limitations of serum hormone testing fail to give a complete picture of progesterone production across the luteal phase required for pregnancy. Results: Of the 185 enrolled women, 172 had complete cycles. Of the 172 women who demonstrated complete cycles, 54 (31.4%) women reported pregnancies. Thirty-five (64.8%) of these pregnancies resulted from a PdG positive cycle with a miscarriage rate of 14.3% (5/35). Nineteen pregnancies (35.2%) resulted from PdG negative cycles with a miscarriage rate of 89.5% (17/19). The association of a negative or positive cycle with pregnancy outcome was significant (two-sided p=0.0001). Positive PdG cycles are associated with increased pregnancy rates and lower odds of a first-trimester pregnancy loss. Conclusion: A consideration for luteal phase support with progesterone or ovulation induction in women with negative PdG cycles can be of benefit to increase pregnancy rates. Furthermore, the use of LH and PdG testing prior to conception can be used as a screening tool to potentially identify women who are at risk of subfertility and at a higher risk of first-trimester pregnancy loss related to low progesterone.


This paper introduces a new measure of travel time reliability, for implementation in the dynamic routing algorithm of an intelligent car navigation system. The measure is based on the log-normal distribution of travel time on a link and consists of two indices corresponding to the extreme values of the distribution, such that they reflect the shortest and longest travel times that may be experienced on the link. Through a series of mathematical manipulations, the indices are expressed in terms of the characteristic values of the speed distribution on the link. An expression relating the indices of a route and the indices of the individual links forming it is derived. The accuracy of the measure is then assessed through a field experiment and the results are presented.


OF DISSERTATION THREE ESSAYS ON SAUDI ARABIA AGRICULTURAL MARKETS The first essay compares six common models, linear, quadratic, Cobb-Douglas, translog, logarithmic, and transcendental, to estimate wheat yield and area functions for Saudi Arabia. Data cover 1990-2016 for all the variables that affect wheat supply. After testing the models using Box-Cox, multicollinearity, and autocorrelation tests, we decide that the Cobb-Douglas models provide the best fit for both yield and area. We find the price elasticity of wheat is inelastic. Yield price elasticities are more inelastic than area elasticities. The impact of government policy number 335 has a larger effect on area than yield. The cultivated area of wheat, the one-year lag of yield, and the number of machines per hectare are the most influential factors affecting wheat yield. The primary factors influencing the area models are a one-year lag of both cultivated area and yield, as well as the number of machines per hectare. The second essay estimates the residual demand elasticity that rice exporters face in Saudi Arabia. The inverse residual demand methods, as proposed by Reed and Saghaian 2004, are used for rice exporters to Saudi Arabia during the period 1993-2014. Estimation results of the elasticities of the residual demand indicate that Australia, India, and Pakistan enjoy market power, while Egypt faces a perfectly elastic demand curve. We find Thailand and the US had positive inverse residual demand which means they also have no market power. The last essay is about the virtual water trade in Saudi Arabia. Using the concept of virtual water introduced by Allan 1994 and developed by Hoekstra and Hung (2002), we estimate virtual water trade for 20 crops of Saudi Arabia during 2000-2016. Our result shows the average virtual water trade was 12.5 billion m/year. Saudi has net virtual water imports, with the most significant virtual water imports coming from cereals & alfalfa and vegetables; and there is net virtual water export of fruit. Saudi virtual water trade reduces pressure on water resources by 52%. Distance plays a role in Saudi virtual water export; we found that more than 90% of exports go to neighboring countries, including 45% to GCC countries. More than 30% of virtual water imports come from Europe. A Gravity model is used to investigate whether water scarcity variables influence trade. We compare the OLS, Fixed effects, Random effects, and PPML estimators to get the best model. The AIC, and tests for multicollinearity, and heteroskedasticity assist in determining estimation procedures and the final models. We cluster the errors by distance to improve the specific country effect variables such as economic mass variables. For the cereals and alfalfa group, we find that water-related variables influence virtual water imports of cereals, millet, sorghum, corn, barley, and sesame. Therefore, we suggest that a basic gravity model be applied to the other crops. In the vegetable group, we find that related water variables impact virtual water trade for all crops except marrow. Dates are the only fruit crop that are not influenced by the water-related variables.


[Summary of the book containing this chapter:] This book explores new developments in the dialogues between science and theatre and offers an introduction to a fast-expanding area of research and practice.The cognitive revolution in the humanities is creating new insights into the audience experience, performance processes and training. Scientists are collaborating with artists to investigate how our brains and bodies engage with performance to create new understanding of perception, emotion, imagination and empathy. Divided into four parts, each introduced by an expert editorial from leading researchers in the field, this edited volume offers readers an understanding of some of the main areas of collaboration and research:
1. Dances with Science
2. Touching Texts and Embodied Performance
3. The Multimodal Actor
4. Affecting Audiences

Throughout its history theatre has provided exciting and accessible stagings of science, while contemporary practitioners are increasingly working with scientific and medical material. As Honour Bayes reported in the Guardian in 2011, the relationships between theatre, science and performance are 'exciting, explosive and unexpected'. Affective Performance and Cognitive Science charts new directions in the relations between disciplines, exploring how science and theatre can impact upon each other with reference to training, drama texts, performance and spectatorship.

The book assesses the current state of play in this interdisciplinary field, facilitating cross disciplinary exchange and preparing the way for future studies.


A 23-year-old male presented from a nursing home with hypotension, tachycardia, diaphoresis and electrocardiographic evidence of right ventricular strain that was confirmed by echocardiography. His differential diagnosis included sepsis and pulmonary embolism. A high-resolution computed tomography scan demonstrated no pulmonary emboli but did demonstrate multiple bilateral pulmonary nodules. Upon questioning he admitted to injecting a long-acting narcotic that had been manually macerated, dissolved in saline, and injected through an indwelling intravenous line. Lung biopsy findings were consistent with cellulose-induced perivascular granulomatosis. Cellulose granulomatosis can be seen in patients who inject medications designed for oral use and should be considered in patients who present with acute pulmonary hypertension.


Simazine is an herbicide that is able to contaminate surface waters, ground waters, and milk/dairy products, thus posing concerns in both environmental health and food safety. A yeast-based bioprobe was utilized to detect simazine in spiked real samples of livestock drinking water and raw cow's milk. Yeast aerobic respiration was taken as short-term toxicological endpoint. We carried out comparative measures of yeast oxygen consumption between simazine-spiked samples and blank samples. Percentage interference (%ρ) on yeast aerobic respiration was calculated through the comparison of aerobic respiration of simazine-exposed and non-exposed yeast cells. The method was optimized for raw cow's milk samples by using boric acid as fungistatic agent in order to avoid cellular proliferation. Overall, the results have shown that simazine can be detected up to concentrations five times below the EU legal concentration limits for drinking water (0.02 ppb) and cow's milk (2 ppb) (%ρ values of 18.53% and 20.43% respectively; %RSD ≤ 15%). Dose-effect relationships of simazine were assessed. The findings of the bioassays match reasonably well with known mechanisms of toxicity and intracellular detoxification in yeast. A correlation between fat content in milk samples and analytical performance of the bioprobe was established. Results suggest the involvement of a matrix effect, presumably due to lipid sequestration of simazine. The yeast-based bioprobe has proved to be sensitive and suitable for the detection of simazine in real samples in concentrations of interest.


Luuletajad Jaan Kaplinski (1941–2021) ja Tomas Tranströmer (1931–2015), keda lahutas raudne eesriie, kasvasid üles väga erinevates maailmades. Ent siiski said neist hingesugulased. Artiklis osutan, kuidas nende läheduse tuuma iseloomustas sügavalt juurdunud hoiak, mis põhines ökoloogiast inspireeritud maailmatunnetusel. Tugevasti lihtsustades võiks öelda, et oma egosse investeerimise asemel nägid mõlemad luuletajad end millegi suurema teenritena. Nad hindasid mõlemad kõrgelt avatuks jäävat vaadet enestele, oma tööle ja maailmale, millesse nad kuulusid. Kui nende egod viibisid pidevas taandumises, avardus nende vastuvõtlikkus maailma suhtes ning köitvus luuletajatena.
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Separated by the Iron Curtain, Jaan Kaplinski (1941–2021) and Tomas Tranströmer (1931–2015) grew up in very different worlds. And yet, they became soulmates. What then informed the core of their kinship? This article aims to show that it was above all a deeply rooted sentiment grounded in an ecologically inspired view that brought the two poets together. To put a complex matter all too simply, Jaan Kaplinski and Tomas Tranströmer saw themselves as servants of something bigger: they shared a profoundly felt sense of "openness," something which also lies at the heart of their success as poets.
In Jaan Kaplinski's and Tomas Tranströmer's work and habits of thought, this core sentiment left easily overlooked but nevertheless telling traces. They include, as this article points out, their conversation concerning the translation of an essential term in Eastern thought, namely śūnyatā (emptiness). Tranströmer followed Kaplinski's unique suggestion, which was meant to capture more of the essence and spirit inherent in the term śūnyatā. As a consequence, in the final version of one of his best-known poems, entitled "Vermeer", Tranströmer changed to "openness" what in Buddhism is commonly referred to as "emptiness".
            Yet probably more significantly, what above all held Kaplinski and Tranströmer captive, as this article also aims to show, is a reversal in our understanding of the ego. Collectively, both poets agreed, we, as human beings, would be well advised to embrace a less intrusive role in the world to which we belong. Importantly, what Kaplinski and Tranströmer advocated does not amount to an impoverishing stance. On the contrary: only when we step away from our previous deeply entrenched positions of human dominance, both poets agreed, a richer world and more sustainable sense of self can come into view. To at least gain a glimpse of the fuller complexity of what brought both poets together, the observations offered in this article are meant to help us understand how, for Kaplinski and Tranströmer, changes in our view of the ego embody "openness". Instead of increased ego noise, they urged the merit of a more modest ego. Not preoccupied with themselves, their goals and desire to intervene, both poets wrote poems focussed on the diminished ego as a key value. The more we step into the background – Kaplinski and, together with him, Tranströmer believed – the more the world opens up and the more we ultimately flourish.
In addition to seeing "openness" surface in their self-effacing view of themselves, and, associated with it, their concentration on a vision of a world beyond human design, this article furthermore draws attention to another equally prominent manifestation of "openness" that brought both poets together: how can language make "openness" appear, they asked? We are invited to consider several intertwined answers Tranströmer and Kaplinski offered. They include embracing the untamed and stepping away from any decorative use of language – "all rhetoric must be left behind," Tranströmer, echoing Kaplinski, categorically insisted; evoking the self-cancelling of language itself; or moving altogether beyond language: seeking to transcend it by employing a theme, introducing a practice, or setting up a signpost, all meant to point away from language.
And finally, in league with "openness", "silence" also constitutes a shared recurring theme in Kaplinski's and Tranströmer's work, as this article suggests. In order to better explain the importance of "silence", the article draws attention to American composer John Cage. Informed by the altogether different logic of "openness" Cage employed, for him "silence" became the performance, as it were, and the ambient sounds of the concert hall its music. Acting as a particularly compelling embodiment of "openness" – not unlike the blank page of the poet, the unpublished manuscript of the writer, or the white canvas of the painter – "silence" too united Jaan Kaplinski and Tomas Tranströmer, as servants in their masterful quest for "openness".


The aim of this three year longitudinal qualitative study was to explore the effect(s) of supernumerary status and mentorship on students undertaking a Higher Education Diploma in Nursing course. A purposive sample of seventeen students was used. Ten students volunteered to be interviewed throughout their course and to keep a diary to record their experiences of mentorship during their practice placements. Each of the ten students agreed to a tape-recorded in-depth interview on five occasions during their course. Students brought their diary to their interviews to act as an aide memoir, A further seven students volunteered to participate by diary-only. These students kept written accounts of their experiences of being supernumerary and having a mentor whilst on their practice placements. Data were analysed with the aid of NUD.IST and subjected to the constant comparative method of grounded theory until themes and categories emerged. Literature was used to support or refute emerging themes and categories, which were subsequently interwoven into the findings to support, illuminate or contradict findings where appropriate. The categories of anticipation of the first practice placement; reality dawns; becoming a branch student, total surrender of supernumerary status; and the end is nigh were used to present a unique account of the process of professional socialisation from the perspective of students undergoing the HE Diploma in Nursing course. Apart from professional socialisation of HE Diploma in Nursing students, a number of other areas have been highlighted in this study that have not been reported elsewhere. These were the development of intuition in third year HE Diploma in Nursing students, and what constitutes good mentoring from the students' perspective with the incorporation of a time dimension Findings were submitted to member and outside validation and credibility of the findings was established.


This semi-structured interview study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of Filipino pre-service teachers' perceptions of sexuality education. It also aimed to study how the pre-service teachers' perceptions related to international recommendations on sexuality education and the theoretical perspectives of gender and power and Freiran theory that these draw on. Main findings included that the pre-service teachers critically reflected on own experiences of sexuality education and did not intend to repeat the education they received to future students. Furthermore, they expressed problem-focused perceptions of sexuality education content but positive approaches to the subject in general, and were hopeful of positive sexual health outcomes in the Philippines. Objections from the Catholic Church and parents to future students were perceived as the biggest challenges to the implementation of sexuality education. More information to, and collaboration with, parents regarding sexuality education were suggested as means to face resistance in the Philippine society. The pre-service teachers' perceptions agreed with international recommendations on sexuality education to some extent, but results showed contradicting opinions regarding gender equality and sexual diversity. This point to a conclusion that the pre-service teachers need extended and improved teacher training on sexuality education, that develop their knowledge and allow them to critically reflect on norms in their society.