Ecology is usually very good in making descriptive explanations of what is observed, but is often unable to make predictions of the response of ecosystems to change. This has implications in a human-dominated world where a suite of anthropogenic stresses are threatening the resilience and functioning of ecosystems that sustain mankind through a range of critical regulating and supporting services. In ecosystems, cause-and-effect relationships are difficult to elucidate because of complex networks of negative and positive feedbacks. Therefore, being able to effectively predict when and where ecosystems could pass into different (and potentially unstable) new states is vitally important under rapid global change. Here, we argue that such better predictions may be reached if we focus on organisms instead of species, because organisms are the principal biotic agents in ecosystems that react directly on changes in their environment. Several studies show that changes in ecosystems may be accurately described as the result of changes in organisms and their interactions. Organism-based theories are available that are simple and derived from first principles, but allow many predictions. Of these we discuss Trait-based Ecology, Agent Based Models, and Maximum Entropy Theory of Ecology and show that together they form a logical sequence of approaches that allow organism-based studies of ecological communities. Combining and extending them makes it possible to predict the spatiotemporal distribution of groups of organisms in terms of how metabolic energy is distributed over areas, time, and resources. We expect that this "Organism-based Ecology" (OE) ultimately will improve our ability to predict ecosystem dynamics.


We present an analytic solution for heat flow in a multilayer two-channel system for the interpretation of timedomain thermoreflectance (TDTR) experiments where nonequilibrium effects are important. The two-channel solution is used to analyze new room temperature TDTR measurements of Al/Cu and Al/Si0.99Ge0.01 systems. Cu and Si0.99Ge0.01 are examples of materials well suited for analysis with a two-channel model because thermal excitations responsible for the vast majority of the heat capacity in these solids contribute little to their thermal conductivity. Nonequilibrium effects are found to be unimportant for the interpretation of the Al/Cu TDTR data but dramatic for the Al/Si0.99Ge0.01 TDTR data. The two-channel model predicts a significant reduction in the effective thermal conductivity of Si0.99Ge0.01 in a region within 150 nm of the Al/Si0.99Ge0.01 interface. The extra thermal resistance in this region is a result of the disparate heat flux boundary conditions for lowand high-frequency phonons in combination with weak coupling between lowand high-frequency phonons. When the experimental data are analyzed with a single-channel model, both the conductance and thermal conductivity appear to depend on pump-modulation frequency, consistent with the two-channel model's predictions. Finally, we compare the results of our diffusive two-channel model to a nonlocal description for steady-state heat flow near a boundary and show they yield nearly identical results.


Fault roughness constitutes a key element in the understanding of earthquake nucleation, and surficial asperities on the fault plane play a critical role in slip dynamics and frictional behavior during the seismic cycle. Since it is not generally feasible to recover fault roughness profiles or maps directly at the seismogenic sources, faults at the Earth's surface are typically used as analogues. However, these analogue fault surfaces are often subjected to weathering and erosion, which in turn, reduces their representativeness as seismogenic faults. Rupture along active faults episodically exposes "fresh" fault planes at the Earth's surface, which represent the best available targets for the evaluation of fault roughness generated at seismogenic depths. Here we present a study conducted on a splay of the Mt. Vettore fault system in the Central Apennines, Italy, along a vertical transect that includes both a weathered and freshly exposed portion of the fault. The latter was exposed after the dramatic Mw 6.5 shock that hit the area on 30 October 2016. We have produced a highly detailed model (i.e., point cloud) of a section of the fault using structure from motion-multiview stereo photogrammetry to assess its roughness parameters (i.e., the Hurst fractal parameter) and to determine the extent to which these parameters are affected by weathering assuming that they had similar fractal characteristics when reaching the surface. Our results show that weathering can modify the value of the fractal parameters. In particular, by independently analyzing different patches of the fault, we have observed that the smoother and recently exposed portions have an average Hurst exponent of 0.52 while the average Hurst exponent of zones with more prolonged exposure times is 0.64. Accordingly, we conclude that by using high-resolution point clouds, it is possible to recognize patches of faults having a similar intensity of deterioration attributable to weathering.


Carcass morphologic characteristics, muscularity and leg tissue composition of pasture fed lambs (Limestone Downs farm, New Zealand) born to Romney ewes and sired by Romney, East Friesian x (Finn x Texel), and Finn x Poll Dorset were evaluated for carcass composition and meat quality. Animals were slaughtered in two age groups (150 and 300 days), each group containing 15 animals of each sire breed, comprising a total of 90 animals. The East Friesian x (Finn x Texel) sired group presented the highest weight-adjusted percentage of leg muscle (1,975 g), and relatively to the Romney group, it had similar leg muscularity (0.45), but higher muscle to bone ratio (7x6.69). Finn x Poll Dorset sired group presented less leg muscularity (0.44) than the other genotypes. Lambs slaughtered at the older age had longer and leaner carcasses at the same weight, probably because of summer-autumn adverse conditions, typically with slower pasture growth rates and herbage quality. Both genotype and slaughter age influence carcass morphologic characteristics, muscularity and leg tissue composition of lambs.


Geographical Indications (G.I.s) mean a particular product belonging to a specific Geographical Environment, having a specific traditional knowledge which separates it from similar looking products. Certification is beneficial to both the producer as it can ensure him a premium price and the consumer as it generates the willingness to pay higher on quality assurance.GI also facilitates rural sustainable development as its uniqueness generates conservation of the resources in the concerned community. Bibliometric analysis is the scientific analysis of all the academic work done pertaining to a certain topic under study. It streamlines all the work done in a specific field and is also helpful in highlighting the areas where to focus for research. The main objective of this paper is to study the trend of development of the topic through the analysis of the entire academic work done. Data for the period from 2001 to 2021 was collected from web of science database and analyzed by using R package and VOS viewer software. Overall, 194 research papers were shortlisted. GI certification prevents commercial fraud, it ensures Bio-diversity conservation. Academic contribution has been maximum in the year 2019. Most relevant sources were Sustainability, British food journal. Among the most relevant keywords, frequency of words like Geographical Indications, quality, terroir, food, governance, certification, etc were on the higher side. Europe and USA dominate in certifications and contributions to GI Tagging followed by some developing countries like India, Mexico, Brazil. This study holds great relevance to people from all dimensions of life. There is a need to increase research in this area. The study will suggest several new dimensions to research which will be very much beneficial for the academicians, policy makers and particularly the rural community.


This article examines the intersection of Big Data and strategic intelligence from a theoretical-conceptual viewpoint. Adopting Popperian refutation as a starting point, it approaches methodological issues surrounding the incorporation of Big Data into the intelligence cycle, and argues that Big Data analytics is best used to discern long-term developments, generate intelligence hypotheses, and adduce refuting facts. The article then briefly examines the use of Big Data via social media, an increasingly fertile platform for intelligence analysis. Finally, the article argues that despite its potential in filling our epistemic gaps, Big Data should continue to complement traditional subject-matter expertise, supported by game theory, as part of a tripartite analytical framework for strategic intelligence consisting of 'subtext', 'context' and 'metatext'. In this respect, Big Data may well become the midwife for more open modes of intelligence management and, ultimately, a more open society.


We study Maker-Breaker total domination game played by two players, Dominator and Staller on the connected cubic graphs. Staller (playing the role of Maker) wins if she manages to claim an open neighbourhood of a vertex. Dominator wins otherwise (i.e. if he can claim a total dominating set of a graph). For certain graphs on $n\geq 6$ vertices, we give the characterization on those which are Dominator's win and those which are Staller's win.


This paper studies the conditions under which strain localisation occurs in partially solid alloys and compares localisation in rheology experiments with features in the industrial processes of Thixomolding® and high pressure die casting (HPDC). To study the fundamentals of localisation, vane rheometry, modified to measure volumetric changes, is used to shear magnesium alloy AZ91 during solidification. Deformation is found to readily localise when the initial microstructure consists of an assembly of crystals in contact. It is shown that such microstructures expand as they are sheared due to Reynolds' dilatancy, and that localisation takes the form of dilatant shear bands. A study of microstructural features in industrial castings demonstrates that similar dilatant shear bands can form during Thixomoulding® and HPDC.


: This paper uses leadership theory and personal observations to reflect on leadership behaviours observed during a third year clinical placement on an Oncology Unit. It examines the consequences of the different leadership styles of two registered nurses, firstly a clinical nurse consultant (CNC) and secondly a level one registered nurse, who acted as the author's preceptor. Conclusions are drawn about the value of preceptoring baccalaureate undergraduates.


Understanding information, seeking behaviour is of great significance to libraries and publishers. This study therefore investigated the information needs and the information seeking behaviour of lecturers in the Faculty of Law, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. Open and closed ended questions on information selection, type of and purpose for seeking information, and problems involved in seeking information were administered to the Law Lecturers. Significant differences in measured parameters were assessed with Pearson's Chi-square test using Graph Pad Prism version 5.00. Results indicated that the primary purpose for seeking information was; to obtain useful materials for research work (75%), background reading (62.5%), and keeping updated with knowledge in their field of specialization (56.3%). Law Reports, Law Journals, and Textbooks (93.8%, 81.3%, and 81.3% respectively; p<0.0001) were said to be the most useful source of information. Preference for information access was mainly electronic resources (p ≤0.001). The majority (68.8%) of Lecturers sought for information daily. All Law Lecturers saw the Sir Arku Korsah Law Library as an important place for seeking information; there is a positive correlation between adequacy of library materials and frequency of library visits. The information needs of Law Lecturers were diverse but the Law Lecturers relied greatly on law reports, law journals and textbooks. Information professionals could analyze these findings and design, develop, and introduce new library information services for lecturers.


We propose a novel class of dynamic nonparanormal graphical models, which allows us to model high dimensional heavy-tailed systems and the evolution of their latent network structures. Under this model we develop statistical tests for presence of edges both locally at a fixed index value and globally over a range of values. The tests are developed for a high-dimensional regime, are robust to model selection mistakes and do not require commonly assumed minimum signal strength. The testing procedures are based on a high dimensional, debiasing-free moment estimator, which uses a novel kernel smoothed Kendall's tau correlation matrix as an input statistic. The estimator consistently estimates the latent inverse Pearson correlation matrix uniformly in both index variable and kernel bandwidth. Its rate of convergence is shown to be minimax optimal. Thorough numerical simulations and an application to a neural imaging dataset support the usefulness of our method.


Long-acting injectable (LAI) antiretroviral therapy (ART) is a novel HIV treatment option for people with HIV. The first LAI ART regimen for HIV treatment received regulatory approval in the United States in January 2021. In February 2020, we collected qualitative data from 18 consumers and 23 clinical and non-clinical stakeholders to catalog anticipated individual-consumer, healthcare system, and structural levels barriers and facilitators to LAI ART implementation in Los Angeles County, California. Thematic analysis was guided by the CFIR implementation science model. CFIR constructs of intervention characteristics, individual characteristics, outer and inner setting, intervention characteristics, and implementation process emerged in analysis. Under intervention characteristics, anticipated facilitators included the relative advantage of LAI ART over pills for adherence and reduced treatment management burden and related anxiety; anticipated barriers included non-adherence to injection appointments, concerns of developing HIV resistance, discomfort with injection and cost. Anticipated facilitators based on individual characteristics included overall acceptability based on knowledge and positive beliefs about LAI ART. Participant noted several characteristics of the outer setting that could negatively impact implementation, such as medical mistrust, external policies, and LAI ART eligibility (i.e., to be virally suppressed prior to initiation). Participants were optimistic about the potential to decrease stigma but expressed that provider willingness for adoption could be hindered by challenges in organizational inner setting related to payment authorizations, increased staffing needs, medication procurement and storage, and provider and healthcare system readiness. Results from this pre-implementation study may inform rollout and scale-up of LAI ART in Los Angeles County.


This book provides a unified description of several adaptive neural and fuzzy networks and introduces the associative memory class of systems - which describe the similarities and differences existing between fuzzy and neural algorithms. Three networks are described in detail - the Albus CMAC, the B-spline network and a class of fuzzy systems - and then analysed, their desirable features (local learning, linearly dependent on the parameter set, fuzzy interpretation) are emphasised and the algorithms are all evaluated on a common time series problem and applied to a common ship control benchmark. Chapters: 1. An Introduction to Learning Modelling and Control 1.1 Preliminaries 1.2 Intelligent Control 1.3 Learning Modelling and Control 1.4 Artificial Neural Networks 1.5 Fuzzy Control Systems 1.6 Book Description 2. Neural Networks for Modelling and Control 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Neuromodelling and Control Architectures 2.3 Neural Network Structure 2.4 Training Algorithms 2.5 Validation of a Neural Model 2.6 Discussion 3. Associative Memory Networks 3.1 Introduction 3.2 A Common Description 3.3 Five Associative Memory Networks 3.4 Summary 4. Adaptive Linear Modelling 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Linear Models 4.3 Performance of the Model 4.4 Gradient Descent 4.5 Multi-Layer Perceptrons and Back Propagation 4.6 Network Stability 4.7 Conclusion 5. Instantaneous Learning Algorithms 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Instantaneous Learning Rules 5.3 Parameter Convergence 5.4 The Effects of Instantaneous Estimates 5.5 Learning Interference in Associative Memory Networks 5.6 Higher Order Learning Rules 5.7 Discussion 6. The CMAC Algorithm 6.1 Introduction 6.2 The Basic Algorithm 6.3 Adaptation Strategies 6.4 Higher Order Basis Functions 6.5 Computational Requirements 6.6 Nonlinear Time Series Modelling 6.7 Modelling and Control Applications 6.8 Conclusions 7. The Modelling Capabilities of the Binary CMAC 7.1 Modelling and Generalisation in the Binary CMAC 7.2 Measuring the Flexibility of the Binary CMAC 7.3 Consistency Equations 7.4 Orthogonal Functions 7.5 Bounding the Modelling Error 7.6 Investigating the CMAC's Coarse Coding Map 7.7 Conclusion 8. Adaptive B-spline Networks 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Basic Algorithm 8.3 B-spline Learning Rules 8.4 B-spline Time Series Modelling 8.5 Model Adaptation Rules 8.6 ASMOD Time Series Modelling 8.7 Discussion 9. B-spline Guidance Algorithms 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Autonomous Docking 9.3 Constrained Trajectory Generation 9.4 B-spline Interpolants 9.5 Boundary and Kinematic Constraints 9.6 Example: A Quadratic Velocity Interpolant 9.7 Discussion 10. The Representation of Fuzzy Algorithms 10.1 Introduction: How Fuzzy is a Fuzzy Model? 10.2 Fuzzy Algorithms 10.3 Fuzzy Sets 10.4 Logical Operators 10.5 Compositional Rule of Inference 10.6 Defuzzification 10.7 Conclusions 11. Adaptive Fuzzy Modelling and Control 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Learning Algorithms 11.3 Plant Modelling 11.4 Indirect Fuzzy Control 11.5 Direct Fuzzy Control References. Appendix A. Modified Error Correction Rule Appendix B. Improved CMAC Displacement Tables Appendix C. Associative Memory Network Software Structure C.1 Data Structures C.2 Interface Functions C.3 Sample C Code Appendix D. Fuzzy Intersection Appendix E. Weight to Rule Confidence Vector Map For further information about this book (mailing/shipping costs etc.) and other neurofuzzy titles in the Prentice Hall series please contact: LIZ DICKINSON Prentice Hall Paramount Publishing International Campus 400 Maylands Avenue Hemel Hempstead, HP2 7EZ United Kingdom Tel: 0442 881900 Fax: 0442 257115 Contents


The numbers of a-naphthyl acetate esterase (ANAE)-positive cells (other than T cells) have been counted in 32 specimens of Hodgkin's disease and two specimens of histiocytic lymphoma. The different Rye subtypes of Hodgkin's disease contain varying numbers of enzymepositive cells, ranging from 1 8-16% in the lymphocyte-predominant form to 39- 8-47% in lymphocyte-depleted Hodgkin's disease. The percentage of enzyme-positive cells in the mixed cellularity variety was from only 6- 5 to 14- 6%. In the two specimens of apparently genuine histiocytic lymphoma, the enzyme-positive cells constituted 95 2 and 97 5% respectively of all cells. Thus, the numbers of macrophages and macrophage-like cells in true histiocytic lymphoma are much greater than in Hodgkin's disease. range from lymphocyte-depleted form.


The proposal of a reform of the Italian capital income taxation, only a few years after the very comprehensive previous one, aims primarily to reduce taxation, through: rates cuts, dismissal of the accrual taxation of capital gains, tax deferral for investment funds. The paper argues that the proposed reform will worsen the tax system under all most relevant respects - neutrality, simplicity and fairness - despite the benefits that may derive from the adoption of a unique tax rate for interests and capital gains. The paper shows also that there is not a convincing case to scrap the current capital income tax system.


The Rwandan Genocide of 1994 and its political consequences
In April 2014, the international community commemorated the 20th Anniversary of the Genocide in Rwanda. A series of events took place in Rwanda and around the World to honour the memory of those who died in this act of ethnic violence. Dramatic events from 1994 were undoubtedly a turning point in the history of this small African country. For the last two decades, Rwanda was on the path of significant political, social and economic changes. The main aim of this article is to reconstruct the course of the Genocide and to provide a description of changes that have occurred in Rwanda during the past twenty years. The author focuses mainly on changes in the political sphere. The article presents the socio‑political structure of Rwanda until and after gaining independence. It explains how the events of 1994 shaped the current structure of the Rwandan state. The article identifies the international dimension of the effects of the Genocide – deterioration of bilateral relations with France, destabilization in the African Great Lakes region and development of international justice instruments.


This study presents an improved hierarchical reinforcement learning (HRL) approach to deal with the curse of dimensionality in the dynamic optimisation of generation command dispatch (GCD) for automatic generation control (AGC) under control performance standards. The AGC committed units are firstly classified into several different groups according to their time delay of frequency control, and the core problem of GCD is decomposed into a set of subtasks for search of the optimal regulation participation factors with the solution algorithm. The time-varying coordination factor is introduced in the control layer to improve the learning efficiency of HRL, and the generating error, hydro capacity margin and AGC regulating costs are formulated into Markov decision process reward function. The application of the improved hierarchical Q-learning (HQL) algorithm in the China southern power grid model shows that the proposed method can reduce the convergence time in the pre-learning process, decrease the AGC regulating cost and improve the control performance of AGC systems compared with the conventional HQL, genetic algorithm and a engineering method.


We investigate the mass-metallicity relations for the gaseous (MZRgas) and stellar components (MZRstar) of local star-forming galaxies based on a representative sample from SDSS DR12. The mass-weighted average stellar metallicities are systematically lower than the gas metallicities. This difference in metallicity increases toward galaxies with lower masses and reaches 0.4-0.8 dex at 10^9 Msun (depending on the gas metallicity calibration). As a result, the MZRstar is much steeper than the MZRgas. The much lower metallicities in stars compared to the gas in low mass galaxies implies dramatic metallicity evolution with suppressed metal enrichment at early times. The aim of this paper is to explain the observed large difference in gas and stellar metallicity and to infer the origin of the mass-metallicity relations. To this end we develop a galactic chemical evolution model accounting for star formation, gas inflow and outflow. By combining the observed mass-metallicity relation for both gas and stellar components to constrain the models, we find that only two scenarios are able to reproduce the observations. Either strong metal outflow or a steep IMF slope at early epochs of galaxy evolution is needed. Based on these two scenarios, for the first time we successfully reproduce the observed MZRgas and MZRstar simultaneously, together with other independent observational constraints in the local universe. Our model also naturally reproduces the flattening of the MZRgas at the high mass end leaving the MZRstar intact, as seen in observational data.


Speed and homogeneity of speed are important factors for safe and sustainable traffic. Lower speeds and more homogeneous speeds are safer and cause less pollution. Speed behavior is influenced by environmental factors as well as by personal factors. Understanding the relation between speed behaviour and the influencing factors offers clues for appropriate countermeasures against inappropriate and excessive speed. This study investigates the relation between speed and environmental factors for single lane rural roads, one of the most hazardous road types in the Netherlands. The study uses data from two provincial road authorities. Data consists of speed data from loop detectors, road design characteristics, characteristics of the road environment, and police enforcement. The first objective of this study is to validate the outcomes of earlier studies reported in literature, such as photograph studies and self reported speed behaviour studies. In this study, the influence of the same external factors on percentile speed measures and homogeneity measures from speed loops are investigated. A second objective is to refine the credibility models by adding external factors, if relevant. The results of this study replicate some of the results that were found earlier, but not all. No additional factors were found; results and consequences will be discussed.


Three years after the fact, the event called Occupy retains its strange strategic inconsistency. It is something we still do not know how to think about.… We should take this illegibility seriously, not only as a tactical decision, but also as a reflection of the inadequacy of our inherited categories in describing the current logic of class struggle. This inadequacy should not surprise us; on the contrary, it confirms the ongoing vitality of the real movement to abolish the state of our present situation. Approaching Occupy requires that we separate out what happened from what was said about what happened, and place both in political-economic context. In what follows I briefly consider the first and third of these, and hope to address the second in the near future.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


Numerous studies have been conducted to understand the shear behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) beams since it is a complex phenomenon. The diagonal cracking strength of a RC beam is critical since it is essential for determining the minimum amount of stirrups and the contribution of concrete to the shear strength of the beam. Most of the existing equations predicting the diagonal cracking strength of RC beams are based on experimental data. A powerful computational tool for analyzing experimental data is an artificial neural network (ANN). Its advantage over conventional methods for empirical modeling is that it does not require any functional form and it can be easily updated whenever additional data is available. An ANN model was developed for predicting the diagonal cracking strength of RC slender beams without stirrups. It is shown that the performance of the ANN model over the experimental data considered in this study is better than the performances of six design code equations and twelve equations proposed by various researchers. In addition, a parametric study was conducted to study the effects of various parameters on the diagonal cracking strength of RC slender beams without stirrups upon verifying the model.


Improving quality of the desired software is an important topic under software engineering domain that has attracted several researchers' attention. Prediction and early identification of fault-prone components help the maintenance team, as they can optimize and focus on their testing resources on the modules. Software quality prediction models are generally developed using a structural measurement of software (source code metrics (SCMs)), i.e., size, cohesion, coupling, complexity, and inheritance. The objective of this work is to use such measurement effectively and derive the relation between these internal structural properties with relevant external system qualities such as reliability, change-proneness, maintainability, etc.. SCMs are often used to measure the internal structure of software systems such as complexity, coupling, cohesion, inheritance, and size. The research work carried out in this study presents the use of various artificial intelligence (AI) techniques and feature selection (FS) methods for software quality prediction such as fault prediction, change-proneness of object-oriented software, maintainability prediction of object-oriented software, change-proneness of web service, quality of service prediction of web service using SCMs. The AI techniques, FS methods and set of SCMs are implemented taking into consideration of related dataset.

Software fault prediction models are employed by researchers to optimize the testing process by identifying fault-prone classes before testing phases start. The performance of a model to assess fault-proneness depends on the SCMs, which are considered as the input for the model. In this work, a framework has been proposed to validate the source code metrics and identify a suitable set of source code metrics with the aim to reduce irrelevant features and improve the performance of the fault prediction model. The obtained set of SCMs is validated using eighteen different classifiers and three different ensemble methods. The effectiveness of the developed fault prediction models are evaluated using a proposed cost evaluation framework. The experimental results reveal that the model developed by considering the selected set of SCMs using the suggested SCMs validation framework as the input achieves comparatively better results compared to all considering metrics. The experimental results also demonstrate that the fault prediction model is best suitable for projects with faulty classes less than the threshold value depending on fault identification efficiency.

Change-prone classes or modules are defined as software components in the source code, which are likely to change in future. The use of SCMs can best assess the quality of change proneness prediction model that is considered as input to design the prediction model. So in this work, eleven different FS methods including proposed SCMs validation framework have been considered to remove irrelevant features and select best set of features. The effectiveness of these sets of SCMs are evaluated using twenty-one classification techniques. Experimental results demonstrate that the least square support vector machine with RBF kernel (LSSVM-RBF) yields better result as compared to other classification techniques. Further, it is observed that there exists a small subset of source code software metrics, which are able to predict change-proneness with higher accuracy as compared to all metrics.
Software maintenance plays an important role in software development life cycle (SDLC); hence prior estimation of effort for maintainability plays a vital role in achieving considerable success in any software system. Existing approaches for maintainability estimation are mostly based on regression analysis and simple neural network approaches. In this work, maintainability prediction models are developed using three different types of neural networks and ensemble methods by considering object-oriented metrics as input. A hybrid algorithm based on genetic algorithm (GA) with gradient descent (GD) algorithm has been proposed to train the neural network. This study also focuses on five different types of FS methods which can predict maintainability of software with higher accuracy. The results show that model developed using a proposed hybrid algorithm based on GA with GD algorithm yields promising results when compared with the earlier works as carried out by different authors indicated in literature. The results also show that the FS method obtains better results for predicting maintainability as compared to all metrics.

Change-proneness prediction of object-oriented software using SCMs is an area that has attracted several researchers' attention. However, change-proneness prediction of web services in terms of changes in the WSDL (Web Service Description Language) interface using SCMs implementing the services is a relatively an unexplored area. In this work, one experiment is conducted on a case-study consisting of several versions of eBay web services. SCMs serving as predictors and twenty-one classifiers are applied to develop a change-proneness estimator. From experimental results, it may be concluded that it is possible to predict change-proneness of WSDL documents and services using SCMs. The predictive model developed using LSSVM-RBF yields better results compared to other classifiers. The results also show that the performance of the selected set of SCMs varies with the different classification methods.

Applications and business solutions using web services (which integrate and combine several services) expect high Quality of Service (QoS) such as performance, scalability and reliability as their application is dependent on the service. Failed and slow online application depending on web services can cost a lot to organizations in terms of customer dissatisfaction. Estimation and improvement of the quality of service (QoS) parameters of web service serve as the primary objective of service providers. It is observed that analyzing the source code behind the web services helps in computing the QoS parameters. In this work, thirty-seven different SCMs have been analyzed to measure the internal structure of software system. In order to develop a model, these SCMs are treated as input for predicting QoS parameters using eighteen different prediction techniques. In this work, four distinct feature reduction techniques are also considered to select the best set of metrics. The results show that the neural network with a hybrid approach of adaptive GA and GD produces better results as compared to an individual. Further, it is also observed that the selected set of metrics achieve better results as compared to all the metrics.


To determine if vanadate has insulin-like actions in skeletal muscle, we measured its effects on glucose and protein metabolism in epitrochlearis muscles of rats. Compared with insulin, vanadate increased glucose uptake, glycogen synthesis and glycolysis to a lesser degree, but caused a greater stimulation of lactate and glucose oxidation. Unlike insulin, vanadate did not change either protein synthesis or degradation. These different metabolic responses could be related to the different pattern of insulin-receptor phosphorylation caused by insulin and vanadate.


: The therapeutic effectiveness of bonaphthone and rimantadine was studied by treatment of 439 patients with influenza between 18 and 21 years of age (bonaphthone 94, controls 105, rimantadine 120, controls 120). No therapeutic effectiveness of bonaphthone was established in the study. When rimantadine was given to the patients from the 1st day of the disease, shorter intervals of normalization of the temperature, disappearance of toxicity and catarrhal symptoms were observed than in patients treated with symptomatic drugs. During the period of rimantadine therapy the rate of findings the influenza antigen in smears from the nasal mucosa was lower, but after termination of the course of treatment the antigen was found twice as frequently as in the control group. With the positive therapeutic effect in patients treated with rimantadine, the diagnostic rise of antibody in this group was observed in a lower per cent of cases than in the control group (13 and 20%, respectively). The results of immunofluorescent and serological studies indicate a possible virus reproduction-inhibiting effect of rimantadine. This, however, requires further study. On the basis of the above observations rimantadine may be recommended for treatment of patients with influenza.


With an evolving political environment of commitments to limit emissions of greenhouse gases, and of markets to trade in emissions permits, there is growing scientific, political, and economic need to accurately evaluate carbon (C) stocks and flows—especially those related to human activities. One component of the global carbon cycle that has been contentious is the stock of carbon that is physically held in harvested wood products. The carbon stored in wood products has been sometimes overlooked, but the amount of carbon contained in wood products is not trivial, it is increasing with time, and it is significant to some Parties. This paper is concerned with accurate treatment of harvested wood products in inventories of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. The methodologies outlined demonstrate a flexible way to expand current methods beyond the assumption of a simple, first-order decay to include the use of more accurate and detailed data while retaining the simplicity of simple formulas. The paper demonstrates that a more accurate representation of decay time can have significant economic implications in a system where emissions are taxed or emissions permits are traded. The method can be easily applied using only data on annual production of wood products and two parameters to characterize their expected lifetime. These methods are not specific to wood products but can be applied to long-lived, carbon-containing products from sources other than wood, e.g. long-lived petrochemical products. A single unifying approach that is both simple and flexible has the potential to be both more accurate in its results, more efficient in its implementation, and economically important to some Parties.


The purpose of this article is to examine key issues and competitive forces that will affect the conventions and meetings industry in two key markets, Australia and the United Kingdom, in the next 5 years. Using the Delphi technique, the study seeks to explore key issues that the industry in the two countries has to address to ensure its continued growth and competitiveness, as well as major competitive forces that may challenge their respective positions. The results of the Delphi surveys indicate that Australia and the United Kingdom face a number of similar issues relating to marketing, investment/infrastructure, human resources, and service quality. The competitive forces identified relate to specific countries: in the case of Australia, this was the Asian countries, specifically Singapore and Hong Kong; and for the United Kingdom, European destinations and specifically Ireland. Similarities and differences between the two markets are discussed, and a number of conclusions drawn.


This guide contains resources that may be of use to students and faculty researching sport management related topics. such as databases, encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks and government sources


The reception of Polish literature in Lithuania is a complex phenomenon. For a long time there was a dominant trend of expanding the area of Lithuanian literature by incorporating into it some of the Polish-language authors who maintained contacts with Lithuania. As a result, the horizons of national literature naturally broadened. However, the reception of Julian Tuwim's writing belongs to a different category. It needs to be remembered that in the Soviet period Polish literature offered Lithuanian intellectuals a passage to the outside world. It was in the work of western poets, Tuwim's work included, that Lithuanian authors sought ways of expanding their avant-garde forms and dictions. Tuwim's poetry has been largely read in its original, Polish version; therefore, there are few books collecting his poems. However, the influence of Tuwim's work is recognized by some experts in translations of his work. However, Tuwim was made publicly known in Lithuania thanks an argument over the naming one of the street in Vilnius after his name. The article analysis public reactions to this argument and shows how this non-literaryevent made Tuwim a public figure in the country.


Many modern deep-learning techniques do not work without enormous datasets. At the same time, several fields demand methods working in scarcity of data. This problem is even more complex when the samples have varying structures, as in the case of graphs. Graph representation learning techniques have recently proven successful in a variety of domains. Nevertheless, the employed architectures perform miserably when faced with data scarcity. On the other hand, few-shot learning allows employing modern deep learning models in scarce data regimes without waiving their effectiveness. In this work, we tackle the problem of few-shot graph classification, showing that equipping a simple distance metric learning baseline with a state-of-the-art graph embedder allows to obtain competitive results on the task.While the simplicity of the architecture is enough to outperform more complex ones, it also allows straightforward additions. To this end, we show that additional improvements may be obtained by encouraging a task-conditioned embedding space. Finally, we propose a MixUp-based online data augmentation technique acting in the latent space and show its effectiveness on the task.


The processes of banknote deterioration in circulation and the factors causing this wear have been analyzed to determine the main factors in the process of banknote deterioration in real life circulation and to ascertain which of these factors could be simulated in the process of simulated circulation. The factors that should be taken into consideration during simulated circulation are systematic mechanical and chemical influences on a banknote. The developed Circulation Simulator Method was used to evaluate Ukrainian hryvnia banknotes to obtain artificially deteriorated banknote samples whose optical properties, weight change, air permeability, bursting strength, and stiffness were within the range of corresponding parameter changes for bank notes in actual circulation. The designed method consisted of multiple mechanical damages to tested banknotes by means of centrifugally rotating them within a closed container containing a wearing agent in the presence of a soiling mixture, which imitates the typical composition of soil in banknote circulation within Eastern Europe. The proposed method can be used to determine the durability of materials and to develop manufacturing processes for banknote production.


Dempster–Shafer evidence theory (D–S theory) is suitable for processing uncertain information under complex circumstances. However, how to measure the uncertainty of basic probability distribution (BPA) in D–S theory is still an open question. In this paper, a method of measuring total uncertainty based on belief interval distance is proposed. This method is directly defined in the D–S theoretical framework, without the need of converting BPA into probability distribution by Pignistic probability transformation. Thus, it avoids the loss of information. This paper analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of the previous total uncertainty of measurement, and the uncertainty measurement examples show the effectiveness of the new uncertainty measure. Finally, an information fusion method based on the new uncertainty measure is proposed. The validity and rationality of the proposed method are verified by two classification experiments from UCI data sets.


A model is introduced to explore the influence of different coarse-grained (CG) resolutions on the structural and thermodynamic properties of higher alkanes. Four different mapping schemes are considered, for which the potentials are derived using the conditional reversible work (CRW) method. The CRW method is a bottom-up coarse-graining procedure, which derives effective pair potentials between nonbonded chemical groups defined by the mapping scheme from the underlying molecular interactions in a quick, inexpensive way. We consider the applicability of CRW for mapping sites including up to four heavy atoms and study the properties of n-dodecane and n-tetracosane in the liquid state. Both chemical and thermodynamic transferability are achieved for high resolution representations. However, the ability of the coarse-grained model to effectively describe the system deteriorates as the size of the mapping is increased and sampling issues arise. By looking at the configuration distributions of the dihedrals in the atomistic sampling runs (gas phase), it is shown that the gauche population is underrepresented. Here we address the problem and propose a viable solution to recover the agreement between atomistic and low resolution coarse-grained representation. All the CRW potentials presented in the paper are reported in tabulated and analytical form.


Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-γ), a nuclear receptor, is highly expressed in the colonic epithelium in contrast to its impaired expression in the patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). Several natural and synthetic ligands of PPAR-γ with some effects in the colon have been identified. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the role of PPAR-γ and its ligands in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Review of article was done using a PubMed search. Animal model studies have revealed that PPAR-γ is the key receptor for 5-aminosalicylic acid that mediates its main effects in the colon. Moreover, the clinical trials have shown that the PPAR-γ agonist rosiglitazone is effective in the treatment of mild to moderately active UC. PPAR-γ gene therapy, used as an adjunct intervention, may be effective in suppressing inflammation in colitis. Some commensal bacteria and natural ligands present in food may induce PPAR-γ expression and activation in the colon which suggest the possibility of associating a natural regulator and a synthetic ligand of PPAR-γ as drug therapy for IBD patients. Further studies are required for the development of unique and effective therapies with PPAR-γ agonists in IBD patients. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jaim.v1i1.5838 Journal of Advances in Internal Medicine. 2012; 1(1): 33-38


BACKGROUND
Women undergoing surgical procedures for suspected gynecologic malignancies frequently experience pain and psychological distress related to surgery. Yoga may reduce these negative surgical outcomes. The primary objective of this pilot study was to assess the feasibility of evaluating a perioperative brief Yoga Skills Training (YST) in this population. Secondary objectives were to (1) assess the immediate effects of the YST on pain and psychological distress; and (2) provide preliminary data for future studies.

METHOD
Adult women scheduled to undergo an exploratory laparotomy for a suspected gynecologic malignancy were recruited to this one-arm feasibility study. Each woman received the YST, which consisted of three 15-minute sessions, one before and two after surgery. The following constructs were assessed: feasibility (rates of accrual, intervention adherence, measure completion, retention, and level of satisfaction), immediate effects of the YST (visual analogue scale ratings of pain and distress immediately before and after each session), and descriptive statistics for measures to be used in future studies.

RESULTS
Of the 33 eligible women, 18 were approached and 10 agreed to participate (mean age = 54.7 years; 90% White). Two women discontinued the study prior to starting the YST sessions. Of the eight participants who received the YST, five completed the pre-surgery session (63%) and seven completed (88%) both post-surgical sessions; one woman withdrew after one YST session. Participants reported high satisfaction with the YST. Acute pain and distress decreased from before to immediately after the YST session with moderate to large effects: pain, d's = -0.67 to -0.95; distress, d's = -0.66 to -1.08.

CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrated reasonable indicators of feasibility. In addition, patients showed short-term reductions in pain and distress. Next steps include attention to improving staff availability and intervention implementation in order to feasibly evaluate the perioperative YST, which shows promise for reducing postoperative pain and distress.


Nowadays companies working in the field of industrial applications realize that traditional electromagnets reach their technical limits. Additionally, there is an increasing awareness for resource-efficiency and safety, due to shortages in resources and rise in legal requirements. Furthermore customers demand more and more system solution, because of increased complexity in technical applications. Service-oriented shape memory actuator systems are an innovative approach that can help companies meeting these challenges and thus not only keep but enhance their competitiveness. Therefore, this paper is focusing on the presentation of a service-oriented smart memory actuator system based on condition monitoring or reconfiguration by heat treatment. Hence an experimental actuator system is designed. This system is used to evaluate feasibility of condition monitoring to predict lifetime and the ability to reconfigure properties in use by heat treatment. Finally, an appropriate business model for service-oriented shape memory actuator systems is discussed. First results of the project are presented within the paper as well as a business model draft for a service-oriented shape memory actuator system. Further studies should be done investigating the feasibility of remote heat treatment as well as developing applicable business models for shape memory actuator systems.


Digital circuits designed today are almost exclusively clocked. As designs grow in size it becomes harder to effectively distribute the various clock signals over the circuit. The clock is also a big contribution to the power consumption of a circuit. Some work is being done to provide alternatives to standard synchronous design. One of these alternatives is the Balsa system. Several versions of an asynchronous module for controlling the startup process of a microcontroller was made in Balsa and compared to a standard synchronous implementation. Area estimates for the best asynchronous implementation gives a number that is a factor of over four larger than for the synchronous implementation. The asynchronous implementation has other advantages though. It has no dynamic power consumption when it is in a stable state. Additionally it can operate closer to the sub-threshold area. The asynchronous implementations have been tested and found working in active HDL. Balsa generated verilog netlists in a 350 nm library from the balsa language description. Design Compiler from Synopsys was used to get the area estimates. The asynchronous implementations shows potential, especially with regards to reduced power consumption.


Kaizen -based work-readiness training originated in Japan and is based on the 'lean' production methods taught in Toyota factories in Japan and abroad. Kaizen -based training is rooted in the Kaizen principles of respect for others, the elimination of waste, continuous improvement, collaboration as the key to productivity and innovation as incremental in work processes. The Employability Improvement Programme (EIP), an initiative between the South African Department of Higher Education and Training, the Japan International Cooperation Agency and South African Universities of Technology, is a Kaizen -based short training programme that was introduced in 2011 with the intention to enhance South African University of Technology students' work-readiness. The research question guiding the study is: how could a short Kaizen -based intervention contribute to South African University of Technology students' work-readiness? The data for the study comprise curriculum documents, teaching and learning media, video footage and interviews with participants of the Kaizen events over the period 2016–2018. The study found that the EIP supported students' acquisition of interpersonal skills and personal dispositions towards work-readiness, but skills that were related to workplace relations in context, professional values and a sense of a broader contribution to society were largely absent. The study recommends that longer term, more integrated and better contextualised forms of training are necessary in attaining work-readiness in the complex South African work context.


An approach to supervised training of character templates from page images and unaligned transcriptions is proposed. The template training problem is formulated as one of constrained maximum likelihood parameter estimation within the document image decoding framework. This leads to a three-phase iterative training algorithm consisting of transcription alignment, aligned template estimation (ATE), and channel estimation steps. The maximum likelihood ATE problem is shown to be NP-complete and, thus, an approximate solution approach is developed. An evaluation of the training procedure in a document-specific decoding task, using the University of Washington UW-II database of scanned technical journal articles, is described.


In November 2014, the scope of the regulatory review exemption contained in section 107A(a) of the Indian Patents Act was considered by the Delhi High Court in the case of Bayer Corporation v Union of India. In this case, which is a sequel to the compulsory license that was earlier granted to Natco in respect of Bayer's patented drug in 2012, Natco sought to export 1 kilogramme of the patented active pharmaceutical ingredient to a company in China. Bayer contended that this was in breach of the terms of the compulsory license and equally outside the scope of section 107A(a). Natco however argued for a broader interpretation of section 107A(a) in a manner that will permit the exportation of patented active pharmaceutical ingredients to producers of generic drugs solely for the purposes of generating information required for obtaining regulatory approval. In accepting Natco's broader interpretation of section 107A(a), the Delhi High Court incorporated a model of human rights into its decision by being mindful of the implications that a restrictive interpretation of section 107A(a) could have on the production of cheaper generic drugs and access to medicines. This decision reinforces India's crucial position as the 'pharmacy of the developing world'.


Explores the perceptions of junior high‐school principals about constraints on their leadership effectiveness and the overall effectiveness of their schools. Data were collected in Alberta, Canada, using a questionnaire completed by 87 per cent of the 108 junior high principals and an interview conducted with ten principals. The most frequently listed constraints on leadership effectiveness were inadequate funding, time taken dealing with problem students, and inadequate physical facilities, while the most frequently listed constraints on school effectiveness were financial support by the province, financial support by the school system, and ineffective provincial leadership. Different perceptions of constraints on effectiveness were associated with selected demographic variables including the number of years served as principal and the number of years the school had been in operation. Several constraint‐resolution strategies were recommended by respondents, including redistribution of budget allocations.


— Moraceae family has immense phytochemical constituents and significant pharmacological properties, hence have great medicinal values. The aim of this study was to screen and quantify phytochemicals as well as the antioxidant activities of the leaf and stem bark extracts and fractions (crude ethanol extracts, n-hexane, ethyl acetate and aqueous ethanol fractions) of Ficus sagittifolia . Leaf and stem bark of F. sagittifolia were extracted by maceration method using ethanol to give ethanol crude extract. The ethanol crude extract was partitioned by n-hexane and ethyl-acetate to give their respective fractions. All the extracts were screened for their phytochemicals using standard methods. The total phenolic, flavonoid, tannin, saponin contents and antioxidant activity were determined by spectrophotometric method while the alkaloid content was evaluated by titrimetric method. The amount of total phenolic in extracts and fractions were estimated in comparison to gallic acid, whereas total flavonoids, tannins and saponins were estimated corresponding to quercetin, tannic acid and saponin respectively. 2, 2-diphenylpicryl hydrazyl radical (DPPH)* and phosphomolybdate methods were used to evaluate the antioxidant activities of leaf and stem bark of F. sagittifolia . Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of flavonoids, saponins, terpenoids/steroids, alkaloids for both extracts of leaf and stem bark of F. sagittifolia . The phenolic content of F. sagittifolia was most abundant in leaf ethanol crude extract as 3.53 ± 0.03 mg/g equivalent of gallic acid. Total flavonoids and tannins content were highest in stem bark aqueous ethanol fraction of F. sagittifolia estimated as 3.41 ± 0.08 mg/g equivalent of quercetin and 1.52 ± 0.05 mg/g equivalent of tannic acid respectively. The leaf and alkaloid content as 5.10 ± 0.48 mg/g equivalent of saponins and 0.171 ± 0.39 g of alkaloids. Leaf aqueous ethanol fraction of F. sagittifolia showed high antioxidant activity (IC 50 value of 63.092 µg/mL) and stem ethanol crude extract (227.43 ± 0.78 mg/g equivalent of ascorbic acid) for DPPH and phosphomolybdate method respectively and the least active was found to be the stem hexane fraction using both methods (313.32 µg/mL; 16.21 ± 1.30 mg/g equivalent of ascorbic acid). The presence of these phytochemicals in the leaf and stem bark of F. sagittifolia are responsible for their therapeutic importance as well as the ability to scavenge free radicals in living systems.


Frugal innovation has become a popular research agenda in the field of Innovation studies. Frugality, however, has been part of the intellectual tradition for centuries and scholarly giants such as Cicero, Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin, David Hume have deliberated upon its meanings, nuances and applications. The present study using quantitative text mining approaches supplemented by qualitative methods aims at a detailed exposition of these deliberations to Gauge the complexity of the term, and its implications for the modern-day production and innovation processes. We used the Google' N-gram tool for qualitative text analysis. Subsequently, using the time series graph of N-gram we spot the relevant periods of the key narratives, and related documents, for a deeper scrutiny. This literature survey helps us recalibrate the concept of frugality, within innovation and technology discourse, to provide a philosophical underpinning, going beyond a strict criteria-oriented approach to define the concept of frugality. The study facilitates reimagining the process of innovation. Drifting away from the present (excessive) emphases on growth, mechanization and protocolization, a recalibrated concept of frugality nudges us to formulate a more human centered process of technological innovation.


In this study the mechanical properties of bacterial biofilms of mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains have been investigated. A home-built instrument is used for the rheological investigation of the agar grown biofilms.
The main experimental routine allows the determination of biofilm thickness, an apparent modulus of elasticity and the yield stress in uniaxial compression. Also stress relaxation and experiments with oscillating deformation are performed.
Depending on concentration of multivalent cations the biofilm behave as viscoelastic fluids or viscoelastic solids, respectively. Interactions between cations (e.g. Ca2+) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) influence the mechanical properties of the biofilms.
Further influences investigated in this study are the effect of aqueous solutions and the inclusion of particles (glass beads) in the biofilm.


Combinatorial pulsed laser deposition (CPLD) is proving to be an efficient, low-cost tool in synthesis and characterization of thermoelectric composition-spread films. With the help of CPLD, (Ca1-xAx)3Co4O9 composition-spread films were fabricated successfully on TiO2 (100) substrate , and their thermoelectric (TE) properties and structure were evaluated by the multi-channel thermoelectric measurement system and concurrent X-ray analysis respectively. The largest power factor in (Ca1-xSrx)3Co4O9 film library was achieved as 1.67µW/cmK2. The influence of substitution on TE properties was investigated by doping different ions into Ca3Co4O9. By comparing Seebeck coefficients and conductivities of the films, it can be drawn that the substitution ions with smaller size are potential candidates for good TE properties. The dependence of TE properties of (Ca1-xSrx)3Co4O9 films on temperature shows that good TE properties can be achieved when temperature is above 150K.


Remote code execution attacks against network devices become major challenges in securing networking environments. In this paper, we propose a detection framework against remote code execution attacks for closed source network devices using virtualization technologies. Without disturbing a target device in any way, our solution deploys an emulated device as a virtual machine (VM) instance running the same firmware image as the target in a way that ingress packets are mirrored to the emulated device. By doing so, remote code execution attacks mounted by maliciously crafted packets will be captured in memory of the VM. This way, our solution enables successful detection of any kind of intrusions that leaves memory footprints.


The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of workplace cultural trait on employees' performance in Globacom, an international organisation in Nigeria. Primary data was utilised, while data was collected from 197 respondents being the sample size. The study adopted the survey research design, while the Ordinary Least Square statistical tool was used in testing of posited hypotheses. The findings revealed that, workplace cultural traits have significant impact on employees' productivity and service delivery, being proxies for employees' performance in Globacom Nigeria. The study therefore recommends that, Globacom Nigeria should carry out periodic audits of its workplace culture to ascertain continued relevance of the existing culture in the firm and to what extent the corporate values are shared among members of the organization. Globacom should introduce workplace culture profile like performance appraisal. This will constantly provide an in-depth analysis of the extent the various traits of culture (involvement, consistency, adaptability and mission) being practiced in the organization influence employee's behaviour and productivity. This implies that the culture of teamwork, information and resource sharing, continuous building of technical and professional capacities of employees should be prioritised, to improve and sustain quality service delivery.


The concept of complete equivalence is highly questionable, yet it is still relied on, for all practical purposes, in connection with the translation of Latin-based medical terms. This practice is potentially harmful, a case in point being the translation of medical texts for laymen from English into Danish. Contrary to Danish (and German and other Scandinavian languages), everyday English (and French) avails itself of numerous Latin-based medical terms, as no non-specialized alternative exists. When these terms are directly transferred under the assumption of complete equivalence, the level of formality is drastically raised. Increased awareness of the potential danger to communication posed by Latin-based terms in texts meant for lay audiences in Scandinavia and Germany is therefore desirable.


OBJECTIVE--To obtain descriptive epidemiological data on fibromyalgia and its components in a representative sample of the Finnish population. DESIGN--Cross sectional study of 8000 Finns aged 30 or more invited for screening and a main examination for musculoskeletal disorders and other major disorders. SETTING--A mobile clinic. POPULATION--7217 subjects who attended the screening phase; 3434 subjects positive on screening who attended the main examination for musculoskeletal disorders. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Musculoskeletal, mental, and other symptoms detected by interview and questionnaire; results of standardised clinical examination of the musculoskeletal system; operational definition of fibromyalgia; mortality at 10 years. RESULTS--The prevalence of fibromyalgia was low (54 cases; 0.75%) and related to age (peak prevalence at 55-64 years), female sex (twice as prevalent in women), occupation (no cases among 1596 white collar professionals), level of education (strong inverse gradient), and high levels of physical stress at work. No significant associations were found with body mass index, smoking, or mental stress at work. The prevalence of fibromyalgia was sensitive to even minor modifications of the definition. Fibromyalgia was strongly coincident with many other disorders, especially musculoskeletal conditions. Fibromyalgia did not predict mortality. CONCLUSION--Descriptive epidemiological data offer little support for the concept of fibromyalgia.


There are indications of late that the use of anti-spyware software is on the rise, with more than 100 million Internet users downloading Lavasoft's free anti-spyware software [2]. Some big-name companies are also beginning to address the spyware issue, including Microsoft, which currently has a beta version of its own anti-spyware available to Microsoft Windows users for download. However, a Gartner survey finds only 10% of respondents were taking sufficiently aggressive steps to minimize spyware infestations [5] and a Forrester survey found that even though 55% of consumers knew what spyware was, only 40% were running anti-spyware programs routinely [7].


A chemically crosslinked acrylate network was submitted to various thermomechanical strain and stress recoveries while changing the experimental parameters in order to better define the benefits and the limits of using chemically crosslinked polymers for multicycle applications or applications under external constraints. The results showed that the free recoveries and the constrained recoveries remained the same at the first cycle and during the next ones. It was also shown that the low stress usually generated by a crosslinked network when submitted to a constrained recovery can be significantly increased by choosing suitable experimental conditions.


The use of multiple copies of vectors based on either full-length or deleted versions of cowpea mosaic virus RNA-2 for the production of heteromeric proteins in plants was investigated. Co-infiltration of two full-length RNA-2 constructs containing different marker genes into Nicotiana benthamiana in the presence of RNA-1 showed that the two foreign proteins were efficiently expressed within the same cell in inoculated tissue. Furthermore, the proteins were co-localized to the same subcellular compartments, an essential prerequisite for heteromer formation. However, segregation of two separate RNA-2 molecules, and therefore expression of the two proteins, was observed on systemic spread of the recombinant viruses. Thus, efficient assembly of heteromeric proteins is likely to occur only in inoculated tissue. To determine the optimum approach for expression in inoculated tissue, the heavy and light chains of the blood group-typing immunoglobulin G (IgG) C5-1 were inserted into full-length and deleted versions of RNA-2, and the constructs were agroinfiltrated in the presence of RNA-1. The results obtained showed that full-size IgG molecules accumulated using both approaches, but that the levels were significantly higher when deleted RNA-2 vectors were used. The levels were also greatly enhanced by the inclusion of an endoplasmic reticulum retention signal at the C-terminus of the heavy chain. As the potential benefit of using full-length RNA-2 constructs, the ability to spread systemically, appears to be irrelevant to the production of heteromeric proteins, the use of deleted versions of RNA-2 is clearly advantageous, particularly as they offer the benefit of biocontainment.


Abstract. This paper is focusing on the representativeness of single lidar stations for
zonally averaged ozone profile variations over the middle and upper
stratosphere. From the lower to the upper stratosphere, ozone profiles from
single or grouped lidar stations correlate well with zonal means calculated
from the Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Radiometer (SBUV) satellite
overpasses. The best representativeness with significant correlation
coefficients is found within ± 15 ∘ of latitude circles north or
south of any lidar station. This paper also includes a multivariate linear regression (MLR) analysis on the
relative importance of proxy time series for explaining variations in the
vertical ozone profiles. Studied proxies represent variability due to
influences outside of the earth system (solar cycle) and within the earth
system, i.e. dynamic processes (the Quasi Biennial Oscillation, QBO; the
Arctic Oscillation, AO; the Antarctic Oscillation, AAO; the El Nino
Southern Oscillation, ENSO), those due to volcanic aerosol (aerosol optical
depth, AOD), tropopause height changes (including global warming) and those
influences due to anthropogenic contributions to atmospheric chemistry (equivalent effective
stratospheric chlorine, EESC). Ozone trends are
estimated, with and without removal of proxies, from the total available 1980
to 2015 SBUV record. Except for the chemistry related proxy (EESC) and its
orthogonal function, the removal of the other proxies does not alter the
significance of the estimated long-term trends. At heights above 15 hPa an
"inflection point" between 1997 and 1999 marks the end of significant
negative ozone trends, followed by a recent period between 1998 and 2015 with
positive ozone trends. At heights between 15 and 40 hPa the pre-1998
negative ozone trends tend to become less significant as we move towards
2015, below which the lower stratosphere ozone decline continues in agreement
with findings of recent literature.


Electrochemical synthesis is a powerful tool for the preparation of conformal, thin solid electrolytes directly on the electrodes, particularly with complex shapes, such as nanostructured electrodes. Such separators should present the highest possible single ion conductivity, negligible electronic conductivity combined with high chemical and mechanical stability. These requirements drive our development work: we synthesize polymers with excellent mechanical properties, which are decisive for a high durability of the separators. The single-ion conductivity is assured by anchoring the counter-ions on the polymer backbone. The solid polymer electrolytes contain no flammable solvent guaranteeing high safety. For cation-conducting membranes, we synthesized polymers with sulfonate groups grafted on the macromolecular chain. These ionomers, including poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS) can be used for proton exchange membrane fuel cells and Li batteries. Anion-conducting membranes contain quaternary ammonium as fixed cationic groups; they can be applied for example in hydroxide exchange membrane fuel cells. The paper presents the electrochemical synthesis procedures and the relevant structural, microstructural and electrical properties of cation- and anion-conducting polymers, including relevant data of applications, such as Li microbattery cycling. Copyright © 2018 VBRI Press.


In order to study the rule of highway subgrade settlement, both on-site experiments and theoretical analysis methods were used to analysis high fill embankment settlement. Gray model theory can be effectively forecasted the embankment of the different stages and the final settlement. According to the measured data of deposition tests, the comparative analysis of predicted results was carried out and some conclusions were drawn: 1) It is feasible that gray model theory is used to predict the settlement of the subgrade; 2) gray theory predictions adapt to these situations that similar information is less known, uncertainties and some rock deformation issues; 3)gray prediction accuracy is higher. The prediction model of GM established (1, 1) is reliable.


Relevance of the research is caused by the necessity to improve the method of potentiometric analysis of multicomponent mixtures. The main aim of the study consists in development of the method for complexometric-differentiated determination of copper (II) and zinc ions (II) from a single solution by potentiometric titration with computer processing of the titration method results by fragmentary linearization. The methods used in the study: titration with visual indication of the equivalence point, potentiometry, computer processing the results of the titration method fragmented linearization. For separate determination of metals, which give the close strength complexonates, the authors have proposed the method of potentiometric titration with variation of the medium acidity at titration. The data of potentiometric titration were processed by linearization. The method is based on construction of mathematical model of the logarithmic titration curve, which is converted by the change of variables into linear regression response. The result. The authors studied the conditions of the differentiated complexometric titration of copper (II) and ions zinc (II) using Pb-selective electrode (ISE-Pb) as the indicator one. Potentiometric determination of the mixture of copper (II) and zinc ions (II), which give the close strength complexonates, was carried out by varying the medium acidity at titration. In more acidic medium (acetate buffer) the authors defined copper ions and in alkaline medium (ammonium buffer) they fixed the second titration discontinuity corresponding to the total content of copper and zinc ions. The proposed method for the separate determination of copper (II) and zinc ions (II) under their mixture was tested on the titration data of the model binary mixtures and on real object. Conclusions. The authors proposed the simple method of the differentiated potentiometric determination of Cu (II) and Zn (II) ions at joint presence using ISE-Pb as the indicator electrode. The value of the relative standard deviation of the examined ions in the model binary mixtures is within the range from 0,006 to 0,2 at content of each component of the mixture from 1 to 25 mg in 50 ml of the examined solution. The advantage of the method proposed is in simultaneous determination of one aliquot part of the solution of two components of the mixture without their preliminary separation by the titration data. The results of latten Ls-59-1potentiometric analysis for the content of basic components by the proposed methods did not show statistically significant differences with the data obtained according to the standard techniques. The application of linearization for processing the curves of potentiometric titration increases selectivity of titrimetric determinations by varying the medium acidity at titration. This extends the possibilities of potentiometric determination of multi-component systems.


Generative deep learning methods built upon Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) provide a great tool for predicting non-linear structure in cosmology. In this work we predict high resolution dark matter halos from large scale, low resolution dark matter only simulations. This is achieved by mapping lower resolution to higher resolution density fields of simulations sharing the same cosmology, initial conditions and box-sizes. To resolve structure down to a factor of 8 increase in mass resolution, we use a variation of U-Net with a conditional GAN, generating output that visually and statistically matches the high resolution target extremely well. This suggests that our method can be used to create high resolution density output over Gpc/h box-sizes from low resolution simulations with negligible computational effort.


Background: The international group, Allergic Rhinitis and Its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) developed guidelines for the management of allergic rhinitis (AR) defining criteria to enable clinicians to identify those suitable for specific immunotherapy (SIT). This article examines the management of AR in children and describes a service evaluation which examines the safety and efficacy of SIT in a children's tertiary allergy service. Methods: Data for the service evaluation were gathered from the clinic notes of children who commenced either sublingual (SLIT) or subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) to tree or grass pollen prior to the 2011 season. Results: Data were obtained from 54 (66.7%) children receiving grass and 27 (33.3%) receiving tree pollen SIT. Children who had immunotherapy administered via the subcutaneous route had more reactions on administration (77.8%); none of the reactions were life-threatening or required administration of adrenaline. There was a significant improvement in quality of life questionnaire (QLQ) scores in children receiving SIT; 90.9% of parents felt there was improvement (p Conclusion: Both modalities of SIT were shown to be safe in this cohort of children. Despite only having 1 year's treatment with immunotherapy there was a significant improvement in QLQ scores for children in both the SCIT and SLIT groups.


Delivery of benefits from many ERP systems remains disappointingly low. The high investment in ERP systems means that realizing benefits from these implementations is of critical importance to many organizations. Thus, the main aim this research is to develop insights that can help organizations to improve benefits realization from ERP systems. In doing so, this study is not only evaluating the benefits gained by different organizations, but it is also analysing the key activities that are deemed necessary for benefits realization.

This research was conducted in two phases to explore the research objectives. The initial phase was conducted with a selection of stakeholders working in the ERP industry to gather insights concerning the adoption of benefits management approaches and the relationship between ERP customization and benefits realization. The second phase comprised of three in-depth case studies that investigated the activities that were necessary to realize benefits from ERP projects.

The research provides a number of important contributions to the academic literature. With respect to the adoption of benefits management (BM) approaches, this research contributes by providing empirical insights about what organizations are actually doing to manage benefits. More specifically, the study provides evidence to suggest that organizations have an increased chance of realizing benefits if they develop localized BM approaches based on organizational needs and context. This study also highlights the role of organisational change in facilitating the realisation of business benefits, in the context of ERP projects. Another important contribution is an attempt in establishing of relationship between different types of customizations and the resultant benefits. The study also contributes by indicating that organizations, in the very particular context of ERP projects, can identify the additional un-planned benefits during the use of the system. This study makes another important new contribution to the literature, by demonstrating the importance of tackling any organizational inhibitors in order to realize maximum benefits at various stages of ERP systems life cycle. Finally, with respect to the evaluation of ERP systems, this research contributes by providing interpretive evaluation of operational ERP systems to explore the process of how benefits were realised, in the participating organizations. It is envisaged that interpretive evaluation will fuel the insights that will maximize the attaining of benefits from ERP implementations.


To address climate change, health, and food-related challenges at the international and regional level, policy makers and researchers are starting to acknowledge the importance of building and developing sustainable food systems (SFSs). This study aims to discuss the drivers of, barriers to, and policy recommendations for developing sustainable food systems in four European countries (Germany, Italy, Norway, and Romania). We used critical frame analysis to investigate national policy documents on sustainable food systems and conducted in-depth interviews with various national stakeholders representing policy makers, agrifood businesses, and civil society. The novelty of this research lies in comparing national policy approaches and stakeholders' opinions on SFS development in a multi-country analysis. These European countries have different conditions in terms of geography, socioeconomic situation, environmental performance, and sustainability orientation. Several cross-cultural differences and gaps in the existing national policies for sustainable food systems were identified, and solutions that help overcome these issues have been suggested. The first step in developing SFS should focus on interdisciplinary and trans-sectorial policy integration combined with increasing stakeholder collaboration across all sectors of the economy. We also recommend more active involvement of consumers in the food system, developing information-sharing networks, and increasing collaborations within the food supply chains.


Denoising diffusion models (DDMs) have led to staggering performance leaps in image generation, editing and restoration. However, existing DDMs use very large datasets for training. Here, we introduce a framework for training a DDM on a single image. Our method, which we coin SinDDM, learns the internal statistics of the training image by using a multi-scale diffusion process. To drive the reverse diffusion process, we use a fully-convolutional light-weight denoiser, which is conditioned on both the noise level and the scale. This architecture allows generating samples of arbitrary dimensions, in a coarse-to-fine manner. As we illustrate, SinDDM generates diverse high-quality samples, and is applicable in a wide array of tasks, including style transfer and harmonization. Furthermore, it can be easily guided by external supervision. Particularly, we demonstrate text-guided generation from a single image using a pre-trained CLIP model.


The role of family business the economy are enormous, both in term of contribution in GNP and employment. Many world class companies such as motorla, Nordstrom, Bakrie, Gudang Garam maintain as a family business even though they have been going public in the capital markets. Perception of the global community is more like  men as a manager and controller of the business than women. Male primogenitur is the adagium to describe how men are very dominant in the business world. In the USA and South Korea man is the successor of the family business. Japan rejected the role of women in the family business so that all inheritance fell on one of the sons. In China, the company inherited fell on the whole boys shared equality. In Turkey, female successor only 4.2%. Nevertheles, quite a lot of women who own the company. In USA there are 8 million women-owned family business, in Japan 23%, Australia 33%, Canada 31%, Mexico 16%, and Netherlands 15%. The imbalance in gender equity and equality in the family business was global perceived. In Indonesia takes efforts to open wider access for Indonesian women in the domain corporate management, expand the participation of women, increase the role of controlling, adding to the usefulness in the management of family business that have sustainable resilience in the face of global competition. Key-words: family business, gender, male primogeniture.


Abdtact--The effects of the tilt angle on microwaveenhanced tr4tion temperatures and critical currents of YBCO bicrystal weak4iuks have been investigated. It was found that, with smaller grain boundary tilt angles (e.g. 24'), the enhancement was small, displaying essentially the same behavior as that manifested in intragranular regions. By contrast, when the tilt angle was increased from 36.8' to 45', noticeable Tc enhancement was'found to occur even at low input microwave powers. The results were compared to the temperature dependent critical current, in order to delineate possible correlations between the two physical parameters.


Summary.  Markov chain Monte Carlo and sequential Monte Carlo methods have emerged as the two main tools to sample from high dimensional probability distributions. Although asymptotic convergence of Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms is ensured under weak assumptions, the performance of these algorithms is unreliable when the proposal distributions that are used to explore the space are poorly chosen and/or if highly correlated variables are updated independently. We show here how it is possible to build efficient high dimensional proposal distributions by using sequential Monte Carlo methods. This allows us not only to improve over standard Markov chain Monte Carlo schemes but also to make Bayesian inference feasible for a large class of statistical models where this was not previously so. We demonstrate these algorithms on a non‐linear state space model and a Lévy‐driven stochastic volatility model.


Introduction: Azygos system of veins comprising unpaired azygos vein and its main tributary, the hemiazygos veins. Variations have been observed in formation, course of azygos vein, also in its, tributaries and anastomoses.
Objectives: To observe azygos venous system pattern.
Materials: 50 embalmed human cadavers irrespective of their sex and age.
Methods: Following Anson's classification system in which azygos venous system having vertical and horizontal connections which include three basic types, primitive or embryological types, transient type, and single type as and their eleven subgroups.
Results: The basic type pattern in all the specimens (100%) was transitional type. In subgroups: atypical type observed in 12 specimens (24%). group 5 & group 6B was observed in 11 specimens (22%), group 2 was observed in five specimens (10%), group 4 was observed in five specimens (10%), group 7 was observed in 3 specimens (06%), group 10 was observed in 03 specimens (06%).
Conclusion: The importance's of variations in the pattern of azygos venous system which has to be identified during computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of mediastinum may be confused with aneurysm, lymphadenopathy and other abnormalities like tumor. During surgery of large vessel and the mediastinal operations, these kinds of azygos venous system pattern variations have to keep in the mind.

Keywords: Azygos vein, Morphology, Azygos venous system types.


Present trend in agricultural practice to control pest animals by using a mixed formulation of synthetic or natural pyretheroids with different proportions of organophosphates to reduce the toxic effect of organophosphate compounds toxicity on the human, domestic animals and environment. The mixed formulation selected for the present study neurella-D (chlorpyrifos 50% + cypermethrin 5%) was used for sub acute and acute toxicity studies. Based on the LD 50 values the sub acute doses were fixed [1/40th, 1/20th, 1/10th of the LD 50 Dosage]. The present work has been designed to asses the neuro toxicity of a combination pesticide through behavioral parameters [Psychopharmacological observation] and instrumental analysis such as spontaneous motor activity for 28 days. It is evident from the results that 1/20 and 1/10 of LD 50 dosed animals of either sex showed marked differences in the behavioral patterns when compare to 1/ 40 of LD 50 dose animals. When compare the neurotoxicity symptoms of constituent pesticide results show a different toxicological profile when compare with the toxicity of the combination pesticide whichmay be due to synergetic effect. Our study evident that the short time sub acute studies coupled with psychopharmacological evaluations can provide major part of the informationÂ's obtained from the long-term studies.


To nudge is to design choice contexts in order to improve choice outcomes. Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein emphatically endorse nudging but reject more restrictive means. In contrast, I argue that the behavioral psychology that motivates nudging also motivates what may be called jolting—i.e. the design of choice content. I defend nudging and jolting by distinguishing them from the sometimes oppressive means with which they can be implemented, by responding to some common arguments against nudging, and by showing how respect for preferences over option sets and their aggregate properties may require the trimming of option sets, as well as helpful choice contexts.


Abstract. Cut–fill terraces occur throughout the western Andes, where they have been associated with pluvial episodes on the Altiplano. The mechanism relating increased rainfall to sedimentation is, however, not well understood. Here, we apply a hillslope sediment model and reported cosmogenic nuclide concentrations in terraces to examine terrace formation in semi-arid escarpment environments. We focus on the Pisco river system in western Peru in order to determine probable hillslope processes and sediment transport conditions during phases of terrace formation. Specifically, we model steady-state and transient hillslope responses to increased precipitation rates. The measured terrace distribution and sediment agree with the transient predictions, suggesting strong climatic control on the cut–fill sequences in western Peru primarily through large variations in sediment load. Our model suggests that the ultimate control for these terraces is the availability of sediment on the hillslopes, with hillslope stripping supplying large sediment loads early in wet periods. At the Pisco river, this is manifest as an approximately 4-fold increase in erosion rates during pluvial periods. We suggest that this mechanism may also control terrace occurrence other semi-arid escarpment settings.


The work of Adamo et al. showed that the mass distributions of young massive stellar clusters were truncated above a maximum-mass scale in the nearby galaxy M83 and that this truncation mass varies with the galactocentric radius. Here, we present a cloud-based analysis of Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array CO(1 → 0) observations of M83 to search for such a truncation mass in the molecular cloud population. We identify a population of 873 molecular clouds in M83 that is largely similar to those found in the Milky Way and Local Group galaxies, though clouds in the centre of the galaxy show high surface densities and enhanced turbulence, as is common for clouds in high-density nuclear environments. Like the young massive clusters, we find a maximum-mass scale for the molecular clouds which decreases radially in the galaxy. We find that the most young massive cluster tracks the most massive molecular cloud with the cluster mass being 10−2 times that of the most massive molecular cloud. Outside the nuclear region of M83 (Rg > 0.5 kpc), there is no evidence for changing internal conditions in the population of molecular clouds, with the average internal pressures, densities and free-fall times remaining constant for the cloud population over the galaxy. This result is consistent with the bound cluster formation efficiency depending only on the large-scale properties of the interstellar medium rather than the internal conditions of individual clouds.


Arbitral awards in investor-state disputes are often so extensively commented upon that, for those who take an interest in the area, it can become hard to say which is more voluminous – the actual case record or it's academic and media coverage. Such attention is understandable; the subject of investment arbitration is fascinating, and cases like Yukos only reinforce this point. After ten years which the parties spent arguing in front of various courts and tribunals, the three final awards of 18 July 2014 awarded Yukos's former majority shareholders an all-time record amount in compensation for investment arbitration – more than $50 billion (to put this number in perspective, this is roughly equivalent to 13% of Russia's federal budget revenue for 2014 ). The Yukos affair is also intricately interwoven with Russian politics and modern Russian history, which makes it even more interesting at times like the present, when Russia frequently makes headlines in international news. This paper, without an ambition of providing a comprehensive account, aims to give the reader a brief summary of the facts, to outline the history of legal proceedings, and to point out some of the recurring themes surrounding the discussions of Yukos case.


We examined the interplay between cytokines and adjuvants to optimize the induction of CTL by a mucosal HIV peptide vaccine. We show synergy between IL-12 and GM-CSF when administered together with the HIV peptide PCLUS3–18IIIB and cholera toxin (CT) in the induction of CTL activity and protection against mucosal viral transmission. Further, we examine the efficacy of mutant Escherichia coli labile toxin, LT(R192G), as a less toxic adjuvant than CT. LT(R192G) was as effective as or more effective than CT at inducing a mucosal CTL response. Moreover, LT(R192G) was as effective without IL-12 as CT was when combined with IL-12, and the response elicited by LT(R192G) with the vaccine was not further enhanced by the addition of IL-12. GM-CSF synergized with LT(R192G) without exogenous IL-12. Therefore, LT(R192G) may induce a more favorable cytokine response by not inhibiting IL-12 production. In particular, less IL-4 is made after LT(R192G) than CT immunization, and the response is less susceptible to anti-IL-12 inhibition. Thus, the choice of mucosal adjuvant affects the cytokine environment, and the mucosal response and protection can be enhanced by manipulating the cytokine environment with synergistic cytokine com-binations incorporated in the vaccine. The Journal of Immunology, 2000, 165: 6454–6462.


In the Open University of the United Kingdom, the principle that distance language learners should be encouraged to reflect on their own learning has traditionally been central to the design of conventional (i.e., print, audio, and video) course materials. However, since computermediated communication (CMC) technologies have created the possibility for learners to interact with each other and with teachers and native speakers--thus providing opportunities for practice and intrinsic feedback on communicative competence--an issue has risen around the continuing role of conscious reflection. Is conscious reflection, in fact, still necessary in a more interactive learning environment? We argue here that it is, and that a challenge is facing the developers of the virtual language classroom to combine the processes of conscious reflection with those of spontaneous interaction. In our view, the medium of asynchronous conferencing is particularly well suited to such a combination as it is flexible with regard to place and pace, and able to support both monologue- and conversation-like forms of written language exchange. Here we examine the kinds of reflectiveness and interactivity that are mediated through such exchanges, and discuss their value for learning. We examine some examples of CMC exchanges generated during an online course in French, and propose a pedagogy which focuses on the generation of what we are calling "reflective conversation," that is, computer-mediated asynchronous discussion around language topics and language-learning issues.


Gambling researchers have used self-report measures in order to assess gamblers' attitudes toward gambling. Despite their efficiency, self-report measures of attitudes often suffer self-presentation and social desirability bias when they are used to assess socially sensitive or stigmatized issues. This concern has led to the recent development of indirect, non-reactive measures of attitudes in psychology. These implicit measures of attitudes tend to reveal automatic, impulsive mental processes, whereas the self-report measures tap conscious, reflective processes (F. Strack & R. Deutsch, 2004). In this paper, we demonstrate how response latency-based measures can be used to investigate attitudes toward gambling. We report findings of our empirical study, in which evaluative priming (Fazio et al., 1995) and the Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT; Karpinski & Steinman, 1996) were used to assess implicit attitudes toward gambling, and the Single Target IAT was adapted to assess implicit arousal-sedation associations of gambling. With a sample of 102 undergraduate students, we found that latency-based measures of attitudes toward gambling were not significantly correlated with self-report measures. Moderate-to-high-risk gamblers held more positive attitudes toward gambling in the SC-IAT and exhibited more positive and more negative attitudes toward gambling in the evaluative priming task than did low-risk gamblers.


Using a sample of 321 textile and clothing companies for the years 1992 to 2010, this paper analyses the effect of quota phase-outs on firm-level efficiency in Pakistan following the end of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA). It highlights sectoral heterogeneity within the manufacturing industry as a result of MFA expiration. The empirical methodology uses the structural techniques proposed by Olley and Pakes (1996), and Levinsohn and Petrin (2003) in order to take care of endogeneity in the estimation of production functions. The results differ for the two industries: MFA expiration lead to an increase in the average productivity of textile producing firms but a significant reduction in the mean productivity of clothing producers. We offer a number of explanations for this outcome, such as a change in the input and product mix, entry by non-exporters in the clothing sector, and sectoral differences in quality ladders. A number of crucial policy lessons can be drawn from the findings of this study.