Alternative grazing systems and pasture types for wool production in the south west of Western Australia were analysed using bio-economic modelling techniques in order to determine their relative productivity and profitability. After reviewing the experimental and modelling literature on perennial pastures and grazing systems, seven case studies of farmers were conducted in order to investigate the practical application of innovative grazing systems and use of perennial pastures. Together these case studies provided information for identifying relevant variables and for calibrating the modelling work which followed. The core of the work lies in a bio-economic model for investigating the comparative value of the three grazing systems and two pasture families mentioned above. A baseline scenario using currently available and reliable scientific data provides baseline results, after which a number of sensitivity analyses provide further insights using variations of four key parameters: persistence, heterogeneity, water soluble carbohydrates, and increased losses. Results show that perennial pastures are in the studied region more profitable than annual pastures. Under current baseline conditions, continuous grazing with perennial pastures is the most profitable enterprise, but this superiority is not robust under parameter variations defined by other scenarios. The more robust solution in terms of enterprise profitability is cell grazing with perennial pastures. The results indicate that intensive grazing systems such as cell grazing have the potential to substantially increase the profitability of grazing operations on perennial pasture. This result is an encouraging one in light of its implications for water uptake and salinity control. It means that economics and land care can go hand in hand, rather than be competitive. It is to be noted that it is the choice of the grazing system in combination with the pasture species, rather then the pasture species itself, that allows for such complementarity between economics and sustainable land use. This research shows that if farmers adopt practices such as cell grazing they may be able to increase the area that they can profitably plant to perennial pasture thus reducing the impacts of dryland salinity. This finding is consistent with the findings of the case studies where the farmers perceived that, provided grazing was planned, increasing the intensity of their grazing management and the perenniallity of their pastures would result in an increase in the profitability of their grazing operation. As a result this research helps to bridge a gap which has existed in this area of research, between the results of scientific research and those reported in practice.%%%%Thesis (M.Sc.(Agric.)) – University of Western Australia, 2005%%%%Alternative grazing systems and pasture types for wool production in the south west of Western Australia were analysed using bio-economic modelling techniques in order to determine their relative productivity and profitability. After reviewing the…


Nuclear erythroid 2 related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a transcription factor activated by cell stress, including oxidative and electrophilic stimuli, resulting in the upregulation of cytoprotective genes. Nrf2 can be activated experimentally by a number of different pharmacological agents, including tert-butylhydroquinone (tBHQ), which is also used commercially as a food additive. We recently showed that activation of Nrf2 by tBHQ promotes Th2 differentiation and inhibits Th1 differentiation in isolated CD4+ T cells. Given that tBHQ is a food additive and promotes Th2 differentiation, the purpose of the present studies was to determine the effect of tBHQ in a mouse model of food allergy. Mice were administered a diet either with or without tBHQ (0.001%) for two weeks prior to sensitization with ovalbumin. Notably, this dose of tBHQ is lower than that normally present in standard rodent chow (0.0016%). The mice were sensitized weekly transdermally for 4 weeks. Sensitization to ovalbumin caused an increase in ovalbumin-specific IgE in plasma, which was greater in animals exposed to tBHQ. After sensitization, the mice were orally challenged with ovalbumin, causing mild/moderate immediate hypersensitivity, which was exacerbated by tBHQ. Overall, these studies suggest that low doses of the food additive, tBHQ, increase IgE response to food allergen and exacerbate clinical signs of immediate hypersensitivity. (This work was funded by NIH grant: ES018885.)


Public policy in New Zealand increasingly makes reference to "inclusion of diversity," "equality," and "equity." Yet refugees resettling in New Zealand continue to experience systemic racism based on the application of ostensibly neutral rules and universal standards to unequal situations. This paper draws attention to the way in which poorly formulated refugee and resettlement policy has resulted in quota refugees being favoured over others and in assumptions that refugees have needs similar to those of general migrants. The way in which such racism has been translated into general policy arenas, such as education, is also explored.


Firms reduce investment to avoid costly violations of financial covenants, most of which are based on earnings. Empirically, I show that a 25% drop in earnings implies a 15% decrease in investment for the median listed US firm due to the reduced distance to the covenant threshold. To quantify this precautionary effect of covenants in the aggregate, I incorporate earnings covenants into a heterogeneous firm model with a financial sector. Firms in the model are uncertain about the bank's reaction to a covenant breach and therefore reduce debt issuance and investment when approaching the covenant threshold. In the model, covenants reduce aggregate investment by 14% relative to a benchmark economy without limits on borrowing, where the precautionary effect of covenants accounts for most of the decrease.


While regulated public hunting or controlled lethal reduction programs are effective in controlling white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), populations in most areas, increasingly there are settings (e.g., urban and suburban environments) where such programs are either unsafe or publicly unacceptable. Past research with contraceptive techniques in deer have shown these techniques to be either ineffective or infeasible for managerial implementation. Current research with immunocontraceptives show promise as being both effective and feasible for field application. Immunocontraceptive vaccines can be delivered remotely and are highly effective in causing infertility in most treated does. Much more research is needed before these techniques can be used efficiently in contraceptive management programs for deer, however. Immunocontraceptives techniques need to be developed that will not require separate booster vaccinations. Also, field application trials are needed to determine the effectiveness of these techniques at the population level. Finally, effort also is needed on public information and education programs so that both the limitations and potential of these new techniques are understood.


Neuropathic pain associated with cancer, diabetic neuropathy, and postherpetic neuralgia is a type of intractable chronic pain characterized by mechanical allodynia and abnormal pain hypersensitivity evoked by innocuous stimuli. However, this disorder has no specific treatment. We previously showed that the purinergic receptor P2X4 (P2X4R), a subtype of ATP-gated nonselective cation channels, is highly upregulated in spinal microglia after peripheral nerve injury, and blocking the function of P2X4R reverses mechanical allodynia. In the present study, we screened a chemical library of 1979 clinically approved compounds (a gift from the Drug Discovery Initiative at the University of Tokyo) aimed at achieving "Eco-Pharma," which refers to seeking new effects of existing drugs. We demonstrated that duloxetine, a serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor, has an inhibitory effect on rat and human P2X4R. In rat primary cultured microglial cells, duloxetine also inhibited P2X4R-mediated responses. Moreover, intrathecal administration of duloxetine in a model of neuropathic pain reversed nerve injury-induced mechanical allodynia. Based on those results, we suggest that the inhibition of P2X4R expressed in microglial cells may be involved in the antiallodynic effect of duloxetine in neuropathic pain. Furthermore, in this review, we discuss a new strategy for drug discovery called "Green Pharma" (a merger of "Eco-Pharma" and "Green chemistry" and referring to the development of eco-friendly pharmaceuticals).


Purpose Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) could be an intervention for improving subjective well-being among healthy individuals (HIs). However, MBCT studies for HIs to improve their subjective well-being are rare. The aim of this study was to report the feasibility, safety and effectiveness of MBCT for HIs in comparison with clinical samples. Patients and Methods We conducted a single-arm, pre-post comparison pilot study offering MBCT to both HIs and people with common mental disorders. Twenty-four participants in total were included in the study. Eight weekly two-hour sessions with six monthly boosters were offered to all participants. Assessment was carried out at baseline, week 4, 8, and during follow-up. The 5-item World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5) was the primary clinical outcome measure. Results The results showed the MBCT is sufficiently safe and would be more feasible in HIs compared to in clinical samples (attendance rate: 81.5% vs 61.3%, p=0.06). Although Satisfaction with Life Scale, the other scale of subjective well-being used, improved significantly at week 20 (p=0.01), no significant improvement was seen in WHO-5. The results of the sub-group analysis revealed WHO-5 improved significantly at week 8 and 32 among the subjects whose baseline scores began in the lower half. Conclusion MBCT is sufficiently safe and would be more feasible with HIs compared to the clinical samples. In designing randomized controlled trials, selecting HIs with lower subjective well-being would be reasonable to minimize the "ceiling effect" on outcomes.


Background: Assessing arm and hand function of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients is important as impaired functioning may impact daily activities and reduce quality of life. Objective: A short-form of the Arm Function in Multiple Sclerosis Questionnaire (AMSQ), a recently developed patient-reported outcome measure containing 31 items, is developed to allow non-adaptive application. Methods: Complete data from 690 patients with MS, recruited via outpatient clinics, a residential center or via a Dutch website aimed at MS patients, were included in the analyses. A graded response model was fit to these data to estimate item response theory (IRT) parameters, which were used to perform post hoc computerized adaptive test (CAT) simulations with a cutoff standard error of measurement (SEM) of 0.32. The optimal test length was determined by the correlation between the static short-form and full-length theta, the mean SEM, and the amount of patients reaching a satisfactory SEM in CAT simulations. Results and Conclusion: Based on five selection criteria (i.e. discrimination parameters, total information, times selected in CAT simulations, raw item means, and item content), 10 items were selected for inclusion in the short-form. The score on the final 10-item short-form correlated strongly with the full-length AMSQ and provided reliable ability estimations, indicating its usefulness instrument in research and clinical settings.


BACKGROUND
strategies to enable older people to remain in their own homes require information on potential intervention areas and target groups for health promotion and healthcare services.

OBJECTIVE
this study aimed to identify socioeconomic, health and lifestyle factors in entry to residential aged care facilities.

DESIGN
a prospective cohort study was conducted from 1994 to 2005.

SETTING
the information source was the Melbourne Longitudinal Studies on Healthy Ageing Program.

SUBJECTS
one thousand Australians aged 65 years and over living in the community were used as baseline sample.

METHODS
socio-medical data were gathered in face-to-face baseline interviews, and outcomes were identified in biennial follow-ups with respondents, informants and death registries over 12 years. Cox regression models identified baseline predictors of subsequent entry to residential aged care for men and women from among socio-demographic, health status and lifestyle factors.

RESULTS
the most significant factors were older age, Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) dependence, cognitive impairment, underweight body mass index (BMI) and low social activity. For men only, the number of medical conditions and healthy nutrition score also emerged as significant. For women only, never having been married, IADL dependence and low BMI also were significant. For men, the risk of entry to residential aged care facilities was associated mainly with disease burden, whereas for women, social vulnerability and functional capacities were more important. Healthy lifestyles were important indirectly insofar as they influenced subjects' health status.

CONCLUSION
to facilitate older people to stay in the community, it is important to treat or ameliorate medical conditions, promote healthy lifestyles and consider gender-specific risks.


This research analyzed the technological dynamics of the sugarcane agroindustry in the Midwest region in Brazil, through technological capabilities matrix. Primary data were collected from plants and distilleries by means of questionnaires (the results were: 100% of units in Mato Grosso State, 54.5%, in Mato Grosso do Sul and 50%, in Goias). As a corollary, it was observed that the sugarcane agroindustries from the three states dominate a great part of technological capabilities in basic and intermediate gradation. However, regarding advanced gradation, the lowest percentages of occurrences were observed in the three states mentioned before. Therefore, it is necessary that the agroindustry allocates its efforts to improve R&D, which will facilitate the creation of new technologies. Overall, it was found that Goias presented the highest technical concentration, standing out in relation to Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul in several profiles of the technological capabilities matrix.


A ZVT PWM Three Level Boost Converter for Power Factor Preregulator is proposed in this paper. Only one auxiliary switch is used in the active soft switching circuit. By using this ZVT converter topology, zero voltage turn-on and zero voltage turn-off of the main switches can be achieved and the reverse-recovery loss of boost diode can be reduced. In addition, the auxiliary switch is ZCS during the turn-on switching transition. A prototype of boost converter rated at 420W has been built to confirm the effectiveness of the converter.


ABSTRACT:In the Chinese art song repertoire, "How can I help but think of you" has long enjoyed enormous prestige since its publication in the 1920s. The song is memorable not only because of its innovative use of language by Liu Bannong in the lyrics but also because of the ingenious arrangement of tonalities, forms, and melodies by Chao Yuen Ren in the music. This essay will be devoted to a cultural and empirical analysis of the song, with the aim of understanding the efforts made by eminent scholars at the early stage of modernization of Chinese music and language. To this end, we will first explore how the lyrics are structured phonetically and syntactically. Tonal complexity and ambiguity in the music will then be analyzed, followed by the discussion of qǐ-chéng-zhuǎn-hé in the musical form. The pentatonicism embedded in the song and its relationship with what generally makes music "sound Chinese" will also be examined. In the end, we will also review an essential concept, yìjìng (or mindscape), in Chinese aesthetics and philosophy to better appreciate how various components in the music and lyrics together contribute to the aesthetic success of the song.摘要:在中国艺术歌曲曲目中,《教我如何不想他》自上世纪 20 年代发表以 来便一直享有极高的声誉。作品中刘半农创造性的语言用法让人耳目 一新,而赵元任融汇中西的和声技法及曲式运用更是中国音乐近代化 的代表性诠释。本文旨在通过对该歌曲的文化与实证分析,探讨中国 音乐和语言中的近代化元素。我们首先对歌词的语音语义以及篇章结 构进行分析,然后在中西方乐理的比较框架下研究音乐的调性、曲式 结构以及旋律构成。其中我们将具体讨论曲中转调的丰富性、离调的 歧义性、起承转合的运用以及五声调式与中国风音乐的关系。最后, 我们还将分析歌曲音乐背后所体现的中国传统美学中的一个关键概念——意境。


In this paper we exploit the choice allowed by International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) regarding the presentation of interest payments on the cash flow statement to answer two related questions: First, whether the classification choice is explained by firm reporting incentives and second, whether it is value relevant. Using a UK sample, we find that firms reporting losses, with a greater proportion of their debt stemming from public sources, with CFO-based covenants and greater increases in leverage in the year of adoption are less likely to report interest payments in cash flows from operating activities (CFOA). Results also suggest that the incentive to meet or beat analyst CFO forecasts decreases, but strong corporate governance increases the probability of including interest payments in CFOA. Based on the assumption that the decision not to classify interest payments in CFOA captures lower disclosure quality or poor future expected performance, we posit that these firms should also exhibit lower valuations. Results obtained after correcting for self-selection bias confirm this assertion. We conclude that managers' decision not to classify interest payments in CFOA is consistent with the opportunistic use of the choice allowed by IFRS.


1. Ovarian cancer is rarely diagnosed in the early stages because there are no easily identifiable signs and symptoms. When recognizable signs and symptoms appear, they are commonly unimpressive, elusive, and vague. 2. A significant advantage of intraperitoneal administration of chemotherapy is that high concentrations of drugs can be maintained within the peritoneal cavity with less systemic toxicity than with intravenous administration of similar doses. 3. Surgically implanted ports allow for a completely closed system, eliminating the need for daily care and greatly reducing the potential for infection.


As work on the economics of information' demonstrates, enhancing the reliability and availability of financial reporting is conducive to economic growth and mitigating the risk of financial system instability. In that context, this report provides an assessment of accounting and auditing standards and practices in Turkey. It uses International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and International Standards on Auditing (ISA) as benchmarks and draws on good practices in the field of accounting and audit regulation to assess the quality of financial information and make policy recommendations. For European Union (EU) candidate countries such as Turkey, the assessment also has regard to the relevant requirements of EU law (also known as the acquis communautaire). There has been significant progress in recent years in improving the environment and framework for financial reporting in Turkey and currently further wide-scale reforms are in progress. In particular, a new draft commercial code will modernize statutory regulation of company financial reporting and will set a major challenge for the accounting and auditing professions in Turkey through the requirement to apply Turkish Accounting Standards based on IFRS and audits based in international Standards of Auditing (ISA).


To the Editor.— The article "The Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) Program: Toxicologic Verification of 1,008 Emergency Room 'Mentions' " by Dr J. Thomas Ungerleider and his colleagues that appeared in the January 1980 issue of theArchives(1980;37:106-109) raises many more questions regarding the authors' research methodology and the validity of their findings than it does regarding the accuracy of DAWN reporting. In that article, which describes a recent validity study of DAWN data reported from the emergency room of Los Angeles County—University of Southern California Medical Center, it was stated that the investigators were able to verify the accuracy of DAWN reports in 20% of the cases for which toxicological results were available, that they were able to determine that DAWN reports were inaccurate in 11% of the same cases, and that the DAWN reports were only partially correct in 69% of the cases. Even if we ignore the


It is generally believed that inductance analysis of on-chip interconnect becomes important when the clock frequency of circuits rises above GHz level. In this paper we show that this perception is not true. It becomes necessary to consider the inductive effects in all circuits implemented in deep submicron CMOS technologies. For 0.25 /spl mu/m (lithography) technologies, where the supply voltage is expected to be in the range of 1.2-1.8 V, inductive effects are an important consideration regardless of system frequency. Furthermore, contrary to the popular belief we show that inductive effects are important even for highly resistive lines.


This paper estimates the relationship between parents' educational attainment and income and children's schooling in Uruguay between 1982 and 2010. This relationship is interpreted as a measure of intergenerational social mobility, and the paper reports evidence that it has decreased over time. The paper finds that the probability that the children of the more educated remain among the more educated has grown, with analogous results for the less educated. As a result, the improvements in education of the 1980s and 1990s were unevenly distributed, with a bias against the disadvantaged. The paper also finds that while entrepreneurship status and belonging to the middle class matter in terms of social mobility as measured by compulsory education, i. e. , primary school and the first three years of secondary school, they do not have a notable effect on non- compulsory education, i. e. , the last three years of secondary school and higher.


Cooperative 3D printing (C3DP) is a novel approach to additive manufacturing, where multiple printhead-carrying mobile robots work together cooperatively to print a desired part. The core of C3DP is the chunk-based printing strategy in which the desired part is first split into smaller chunks, and then the chunks are assigned to individual printing robots. These robots will work on the chunks simultaneously and in a scheduled sequence until the entire part is complete. Though promising, C3DP lacks proper framework that enables automatic chunking and scheduling given the available number of robots. In this study, we develop a computational framework that can automatically generate print schedule for specified number of chunks. The framework contains 1) a random generator that creates random print schedule using adjacency matrix which represents directed dependency tree (DDT) structure of chunks; 2) a set of geometric constraints against which the randomly generated schedules will be checked for validation; and 3) a printing time evaluation metric for comparing the performance of all valid schedules. With the developed framework, we present a case study by printing a large rectangular plate which has dimensions beyond what traditional desktop printers can print. The study showcases that our computation framework can successfully generate a variety of scheduling strategies for collision-free C3DP without any human interventions.


The mechanism responsible for poor reproductive outcomes in type 1 diabetic males is not well understood. In light of new evidence that the Sertoli cells of the testis secrete insulin, it is currently unclear whether diabetic subfertility is the result of deficiency of pancreatic insulin, testicular insulin, or both. In this study, the Akita mouse diabetic model, which expresses a mutant, nonfunctional form of ins2 in testes and pancreas, was used to distinguish between systemic and local effects of insulin deficiency on the process of spermatogenesis and fertility. We determined that Akita homozygous male mice are infertile and have reduced testis size and abnormal morphology. Spermatogonial germ cells are still present but are unable to mature into spermatocytes and spermatids. Exogenous insulin treatment regenerates testes and restores fertility, but this plasma insulin cannot pass through the blood-testis barrier. We conclude that insulin does not rescue fertility through direct interaction with the testis; instead, it restores function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and, thus, normalizes hormone levels of luteinizing hormone and testosterone. Although we show that the Sertoli cells of the testis secrete insulin protein, this insulin does not appear to be critical for fertility.


This article examines the viability of Problem Based Learning (PBL) in the training of teachers for the public schools. The shortcomings of traditional training and induction methods in preparing professional educators for the demands of the 21st Century schools is considered and the applicability of PBL in addressing these shortcomings is considered. A model and a template for implementing PBL in Teacher education coursework is provided and outcomes from previous implementation attempts are described. A colleague of ours owns a mixed breed dog by the name of "Jasper". Jasper's behavior has become a metaphor for much of our colleague's philosophy and writing (Rader, 1997; 1999). Jasper has also had a significant influence on our thoughts and beliefs. Jasper operates from the position that his sole purpose in life is to locate and retrieve balls. Jasper has been observed for hours on end chasing and retrieving balls thrown by my colleague. However, Jasperhas anemesis. He despises water. Trying to give him a bath is an exercise in futility. At the sound of thunder, he races for the house and begs for entry. Usually, Jasper's nemesis does not interfere with his life's purpose. However, once our colleague deliberately threw a ball into a nearby lawn sprinkler. Jasper's reaction was unexpected and thought provoking. Instead of barking in frustration or "sucking it up" and running into the sprinkler to retrieve the ball, Jasper began to engage in "searching behavior." He began to move in random, gradually expanding patterns outside of the sprinkler's range. All the time he was sniffing and shifting his eyes as he "searched" for a ball to retrieve. The significant aspect of this incident was that Jasper knew exactly where the ball was, but he refused to acknowledge this fact and instead chose to engage in a nonfunctional and maladaptive set of behaviors to disguise his possession of this knowledge. In essence, Jasper had chosen to be intentionally ignorant to the salient features of his situation and preferred psychological comfort and meaningless activity to a degree of mental discomfort and a meaningful outcome. Unfortunately, Jasper's plight is analogous to much of our current"best professional practice" in teacher education and training. Skrtic (1991; 2000; 2006; 2007) describes professional culture and professional organization as a set of prescribed operations which have the central purpose of standardization of practice. He further proposes that professionalism itself (because of this focus) is the antithesis of individualization (Blackbourn, Payne, Tyler, Mann, & Elrod, 2006). It is this dichotomy between standardization of practice and the need to help preservice teachers learn to individualize instruction so all students can make adequate progress which forms the basis of the cognitive conflict that serves as the precursor of learning and the meaningful organization of information (Savery & Duffy, 1995). Clearly, both standardization and individualization and the methods associated with each are legitimate exercises in education. However, the implementation and application of either approach is directly dependent on the goals and objectives one has established for a group of students. The disheartening fact is that many teacher educators have developed an almost exclusive allegiance to those more traditional methods which lend themselves well to the acquisition of knowledge or development of comprehension, but are totally inappropriate for application, analysis, synthesis, or evaluation. Like Jasper, they engage in activities which are, at best, only tangentially related to the task at hand and choose comfort over accepting the opportunity for change. It is important to emphasize that without a direct, positive correlation between teacher beliefs and teacher action instructional integrity does not exist. Much of this comfort is related to reproductive thinking which requires reliance on the application of solutions, which were effective in the past, to a current problem (Michalko, 1998a; 1998b). …


One major competence for learners in the 21st century is acquiring a second language (L2). Based on this, L2 instruction has integrated new concepts to motivate learners in their pursue of achieving fluency. A concept that is adaptable to digital natives and digital immigrants that are learning a L2 is Gamification. As a pedagogical strategy, Gamification is basically new, but it has been used successfully in the business world. Gamification not only uses game elements and game design techniques in non-game contexts (Werbach & Hunter, 2012), but also empowers and engages the learner with motivational skills towards a learning approach and sustaining a relax atmosphere. This personality factor as Brown (1994) addresses is fundamental in the teaching and learning of L2. This article covers aspects regarding language, second language learning methodology and approaches, an overview of the integration of technology towards L2 instruction, Gamification as a concept, motivational theory, educational implications for integrating the strategy effectively, and current applications used. It also calls for a necessity of empirical evidence and research in regards to the strategy.


Introduction
We describe upper-extremity reconstruction after proximal humeral bone loss by means of glenohumeral arthrodesis using a vascularized fibular graft and double plate fixation.

Step 1 Preoperative Evaluation and Planning
Use preoperative imaging to estimate the length of the humeral defect, the absence or presence of a glenoid defect, and the available length of fibular graft.

Step 2 Position the Patient
Place the patient in the beach-chair position, securing him/her with side supports.

Step 3 Expose and Prepare the Shoulder
The approach is a typical anterior approach to the shoulder following an anterolateral approach to the humeral shaft.

Step 4 Harvest the Fibular Graft
Harvest the full length of the fibula, after leaving 6 cm proximally and distally for ankle and knee stability.

Step 5 Prepare the Humerus and Recipient Vessels in the Upper Arm
Ream the humeral medullary canal by hand to avoid fracture and prepare the profunda brachii or brachial artery as recipient vessels.

Step 6 Insert the Fibula Into the Proximal Part of the Humerus and Complete the Vascular Anastomosis
Insert the bare osseous fibula into the humeral canal, pass the graft pedicle through the loose tunnel, and anastomose the vessels.

Step 7 Double Plate Fixation
It is very important to bend the lateral plate to match the contour of the osseous surfaces.

Step 8 Follow-up and Rehabilitation
Immobilize the shoulder until union is achieved and then start scapula-thoracic exercises.

Results
We recently reported on a retrospective series of nine shoulder arthrodeses performed with use of a free vascularized fibular graft.

What to Watch For
IndicationsContraindicationsPitfalls & Challenges.


This paper aims to demonstrate the effects of measurement errors on psychometric measurements in ergonomics studies. A variety of sources can cause random measurement errors in ergonomics studies and these errors can distort virtually every statistic computed and lead investigators to erroneous conclusions. The effects of measurement errors on five most widely used statistical analysis tools have been discussed and illustrated: correlation; ANOVA; linear regression; factor analysis; linear discriminant analysis. It has been shown that measurement errors can greatly attenuate correlations between variables, reduce statistical power of ANOVA, distort (overestimate, underestimate or even change the sign of) regression coefficients, underrate the explanation contributions of the most important factors in factor analysis and depreciate the significance of discriminant function and discrimination abilities of individual variables in discrimination analysis. The discussions will be restricted to subjective scales and survey methods and their reliability estimates. Other methods applied in ergonomics research, such as physical and electrophysiological measurements and chemical and biomedical analysis methods, also have issues of measurement errors, but they are beyond the scope of this paper. As there has been increasing interest in the development and testing of theories in ergonomics research, it has become very important for ergonomics researchers to understand the effects of measurement errors on their experiment results, which the authors believe is very critical to research progress in theory development and cumulative knowledge in the ergonomics field.


This paper presents an analytical expression for the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the pulse position modulated (PPM) signal in an ultrawideband (UWB) channel with multiple transmit and receive antennas. A generalized fading channel model that can capture the cluster property and the highly dense multipath effect of the UWB channel is considered. Through simulations, it is demonstrated that the derived analytical model can accurately estimate the mean and variance properties of the pulse-based UWB signals in a frequency-selective fading channel. Furthermore, the authors investigate to what extent the performance of the PPM-based UWB system can be further enhanced by exploiting the advantage of multiple transmit antennas or receive antennas. Numerical results show that using multiple transmit antennas in the UWB channel can improve the system performance in the manner of reducing signal variations. However, because of already possessing rich diversity inherently in the UWB channel, using multiple transmit antennas does not provide diversity gain in the strict sense [i.e., improving the slope of bit error rate (BER) versus SNR] but can possibly reduce the required fingers of the RAKE receiver for the UWB channel. Furthermore, because multiple receive antennas can provide higher antenna array combining gain, the multiple receive antennas technique can be used to improve the coverage performance for the UWB system, which is crucial for a UWB system due to the low transmission power operation.


The aim of the current study was to assess the equivalence of Sudanese and North American versions of the Conners' Rating Scales. The reliability, internal consistency, factor score intercorrelation, levels of sex differences and prevalence of symptoms found with Sudanese Arabic adaptations of the parent and teacher scales were compared with previously reported data from North American studies. The scales were translated into Sudanese Arabic, backtranslated and piloted among teachers and parents. These scales were administered to parents and teachers from a stratified normative sample of 300 families with children between 6 and 10 years of age. Both versions of the questionnaire displayed high levels of reliability and satisfactory internal consistency. The associations of ratings by Sudanese adults differed from those typically seen in North American samples in a number of ways. There was little evidence of the existence of broadband distinctions between internalizing and externalizing problems, practically no sex differences, only nonspecific associations between parent and teacher ratings and, most strikingly, very low levels of behaviour problems reported. The results provide evidence of the potential utility of the Sudanese versions of the Conners' Rating Scales while raising important questions about cultural differences in the structure and associations of behaviour problems and the appropriateness of applying North American norms to other cultural groups. Future research should look to supplement studies using adaptations of scales developed in Western settings with more open-ended questions about problems of specific significance to Sudanese parents.


As a growing entity within higher education organizational structures, enrollment managers (EMs) are primarily tasked with projecting, recruiting, and retaining the student population of their campuses. Enrollment managers are expected by institutional presidents as well as through industry standards to make data-driven planning decisions to reach their goals. However, despite the availability of data, some enrollment managers revealed a different reality from traditional, rational decision-making models. This study explored the factors that contributed to or influenced the decision-making process of six enrollment managers working in either two- or four-year public colleges and universities located in the Midwestern United States. Interviews, including a word association exercise, documents and artifacts of tools utilized to make enrollment management ecisions, and observational field notes were gathered and analyzed in this qualitative study grounded in constructionism. Using the theories of Bounded Rationality and the Garbage Can model as lenses, EMs in this study seemed to reflect a highly stressful, competitive, and complex environment where rational decision-making gave way to satisficing, or "good-enough" decisions as expectations to meet enrollment goals governed their motives. Decisions also appeared to be closely associated to the Garbage Can Model due to the ambiguity of goal setting and the mixture of participants, problems, and solutions where temporal proximity appeared to be more of a factor in terms of what received attention first. With multiple interruptions into an EM's daily schedule, the ability for the enrollment manager to maintain consistent efforts on desired projects and plans was severely hindered. Enrollment managers in this study shared through multiple examples that they did not feel they had enough time to accomplish their tasks as thoroughly as they preferred and often addressed their problems without full consideration of all possible options, much less the optimal one.


Background: Patient navigation is increasingly being used by pediatric health care delivery systems to address patients' unmet social needs. However, it is not known whether navigators working remotely can be as effective at linking families to community resources as on-site navigators. The aim of this study was to assess whether a patient navigator located on-site versus remotely is more likely to receive referrals from clinicians, successfully follow-up with patients, and assist families with enrollment in social needs resources. Methods: A patient navigator worked on-site and remotely as she divided her time between 4 federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) from May 2015 to June 2019. We conducted a 1-sample test of proportion comparing the proportion of on-site referrals made with the proportion of the week spent in each FQHC. To assess the impact of on-site versus remote referrals on number of contacts with a family, we conducted a 2-sample t test. We used chi-square testing to assess the effect of on-site versus remote status on resource enrollment. Results: Of the referrals (N = 414) made to the patient navigator, the majority were made through the electronic health record (83%) versus in person (17%) (P < .0001). When the navigator was on-site, significantly more referrals were made than expected (45% vs 29%, P < .0001). Between remote and on-site referral groups, there was no significant difference in number of contact points (1.0 vs 1.1 points, P = .32) or in the proportion of families who received a resource (4.6% vs 5.1%, P = .31). Conclusion: Our results indicate that clinicians were significantly more likely to refer families to patient navigation if the navigator was on-site. The likelihood of having contact with the navigator and enrolling in a resource, however, did not differ between families referred when the patient navigator was on-site compared with remote.


Publication of official recorded crime figures is a new practice in Turkey. The recording of crime figures in a professional and unbiased fashion has led to the publication of a range of tables in the context of crime and criminal justice. Since the first figures were published, in 2004, it has been possible to track increases in crime and this has placed the criminal justice system firmly on the political agenda. The debate over the recorded crime statistics has raged, with the government, the opposition, media and the general public all becoming involved. In the case of society at large it would appear that the fear of becoming a victim of crime has increased. Throughout this debate, law and order has become a political issue. At the same time in Turkey the concept of social support mechanisms is also being widely debated. What role do crime statistics play in the individual's right to a sense of personal security? To what degree can the figures be considered accurate? This work attempts to pull together the changes in recorded crimes which affect the public for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006. Specifically murder, theft, all forms of immoral behavior, assault and fraud which, taken together, constitute a significant portion of the recorded crime figures. It will be seen that for some crimes there would appear to have been a dramatic increase. Exactly what is increasing in the measurement of recorded crime in Turkey?


As Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation has become more popular and suitable for every business organization, it has become a essential factor for the success of a business. This paper shows the best integration of ERP with Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Data Mining is overwhelming the integration in this model by giving support for applying best algorithm to make the successful result. This model has three major parts, outer view-CRM, inner view-ERP and knowledge discovery view. The CRM collect the customer's queries, EPR analyze and integrate the data and the knowledge discovery gave predictions and advises for the betterment of an organization. For the practical implementation of presented model, we use MADAR data and implemented Apriori Algorithm on it. Then the new rules and patterns suggested for the organization which helps the organization for solving the problem of customers in future correspondence.


Abstract Over the past 20 years, water reform has moved to clarify water rights and responsibilities among users, separated water and land management, and introduced markets. Most recently, water policy has clearly recognised the need for environmental allocations to ensure sustainability. These reforms, especially the last, have created conflicts between stakeholder groups. While these conflicts have been couched on many occasions as irrigation versus conservation, this article shows that the basis of these arguments lies in tacit differences in the constructed meaning attached to the environment by different stakeholders. It explores the differences between how government managers, scientists and non-government stakeholders, such as irrigators, foresters, croppers and graziers, as well as Aboriginal elders, view the environment. Our study is based on interviews with government managers responsible for water management and rural non-government stakeholders in two case study sites in the Murray-Darling Basin, where water reform has caused vigorous debates. The findings show that scientists and government managers tend to see the environment as the passive recipient of human impacts, problems best addressed by objective science. In contrast, landholders see themselves as active agents within the environment, and place much more emphasis on personal experience and local knowledge. These worldviews influence people's reactions to water policy but are rarely explicitly discussed or acknowledged. This results in unnecessary conflict in public debate. Understanding the government and landholder perspectives is essential as a foundation for effective collaborative planning.


In this study, the reduction of Cr(VI) by use of scrap iron, a cheap and locally available industrial waste, was investigated in continuous system. The greater scrap iron efficiency observed for the first two sections of the column filling indicate that most of the reduction process was carried out in the bottom half of the column filling. This was ascribed to a constant decrease of Cr(VI) concentration inside the filling, as the water front passes from the bottom to the top end of the column. While the bottom section of the column filling was heavily passivated with secondary mineral phases, the top section was less affected by the passivation process; therefore the column filling would likely ensure the reduction of Cr(VI) for time periods longer than 216 hours. The experimental results indicate that fixed beds columns packed with scrap iron could be successfully used for the first step of Cr(VI) polluted wastewater treatment. However, the mass of scrap iron filling should be carefully estimated since it significantly affects the Cr(VI) reduction efficiency. Keywords—hexavalent chromium, heavy metals, scrap iron, reduction capacity, wastewater treatment


ABSTRACT The Covid-19 outbreak put enormous stress on the health system worldwide, and objective data to handle the emergency are still needed. We aimed to objectively assess the consequence of severe symptoms of Covid-19 infection on sleep quality through wrist actigraphy monitoring of four patients during the sub-acute recovery stage of the disease. The sleep of those patients who had experienced the most severe respiratory symptoms and who had needed prolonged intensive care unit (ICU) stay showed lower Sleep Efficiency and Immobility Time and higher Fragmentation Index compared to those patients who had experienced only mild respiratory symptoms and not requiring ICU stay. Wrist actigraphy assessment provided important clinical information about the sleep and activity levels of Covid-19 patients during the post-acute rehabilitation management.


In recent years, research on magnetoelastic materials has focused on their applications as sensors to observe, measure and control different kind of physical, chemical and biological parameters, taking advantage of the remote query and answer of this kind of materials. In order to use those magnetoelastic materials for sensing purposes, they must be coated with an active layer which will be the responsible of selectively detect and trap the target molecule or analyte desired to be detected. This thesis work is devoted to different functionalization processes performed using different active materials as a polymer, ZnO or zeolites onto magnetoelastic materials. Polystyrene depositions allowed studying the main two parameters affecting the detection process, the sensitivity and the quality factor. By following the change on the resonance frequency with the deposited polymer mass it has been probed that the linearity of the detection process can be applied just for small-deposited mass changes.Different methods to form a homogenous ZnO film onto the magnetoelastic material were tried. Finally, ZnO depositions were performed by casting a nanoparticle suspension onto the Metglas materials. This allowed to measure by using the resonance-antiresonance method the Young modulus of the ZnO deposited film. As ZnO is biocompatible and allows protein immobilization, a H2O2 sensor was fabricated by pinning hemoglobin onto the ZnO layer. Hemoglobin reacts with hydrogen peroxide, which plays an important role in some physiological and biological processes. The response of the sensor was followed for first time by using simultaneously two methods, the magnetoelastic resonance method in order to study the evolution of the resonance frequency and by cyclic voltammetry measurements as the reaction between H2O2 and hemoglobin is electrochemical.The third material used to functionalize the resonant platforms were zeolites. Three different zeolites, LTA, FAU and MFI were hydrothermally synthesized onto a homemade magnetoelastic material in order to use those systems as sensor for o-xylene detection.


A series of chiral bridged macrocyclic 1,4-dihydropyridines has been prepared, and the potential of these compounds for enantioselective reductions has been examined. A typical synthesis begins with pyridine-3-5-dicarboxylic acid (9, W = OH), which is coupled with (S)-valine to produce ultimately the bis-coupled product 10 (X = OH). This is converted to the bis(cesium carboxylate) and is allowed to react in dimethylformamide (DMF) solution at 10-2 to 5 × 10-3 M concentration with 1,5-dibromo-3-oxapentane. The macrocycle 11a (R = CH(CH3)2) is obtained in 48% yield. Subsequent methylation with CH3I/Mg(ClO4)2·1.5H2O leads to the pyridinium perchlorate, which is reduced to 1,4-dihydropyridine with Na2S2O4. In this manner, 28 different chiral bridged macrocyclic 1,4-dihydropyridines (7) have been synthesized by starting from valine, alanine, phenylglycine, phenylalanine, and proline. Various bridges of different compositions, lengths, and shapes have been incorporated. All these bridged compounds in a nonprotic solvent like CH3CN in the presence of a stoichiometric amount of Mg(ClO4)2·1.5H2O reduce activated carbonyl compounds to the corresponding alcohols; the corresponding pyridinium salt is formed. The most studied example is the reduction of ethyl phenylglyoxylate to ethyl mandelate. If the amino acids have the S configuration, the ethyl mandelate produced will have the S configuration. The enantiomeric excesses vary between 36% and 90% and decrease with increasing bridge length of the macrocycle from a maximum for a bridge with a length of five atoms (either pentamethylene or 3-oxapentyl). An explanation for these results is offered. It is assumed that the reactive species is a complex of bridged 1,4-dihydropyridine, Mg2+, and carbonyl component. Although Mg2+ does not bind strongly to the macrocycles (log Ks 2-3 depending on the compound), this cation apparently has the ability to organize the macrocycles, even when they can assume several conformations of widely differing shape, into a common geometry which leads to reduction. The cation has the ability in fact to redistribute the conformational populations. These conclusions are supported by 13C NMR studies of complexation as well as circular dichroism (CD) studies, which are reported separately.


causing meningitis in an infant in Oxford.... The degree of resistance is not great (inhibition by 0 5 instead of 0-02 [±g/ml) and should be overcome by increased doses . . . but there must be some fear that the change will not stop there." So far as I am aware, the first penicillininsensitive (PR) pneumococci to be encountered were isolated from subjects in New South Wales and South Australia in 1967.1 2 Although the initial PR pneumococci to be met with in New Guinea were from subjects at Anguganak in the Sepik District, where a controlled trial of procaine penicillin was in progress in the hope of reducing the incidence of sometimes fatal pneumococcal pneumonias, the first PR strain to be isolated there was from a subject in the control group, who did not receive penicillin.2 3 As pointed out by Douglas and Sturt,3 who were responsible for this trial, it has never been a custom in New Guinea to use penicillin prophylaxis for pneumonia. PR pneumococci have been isolated from subjects in five other districts of New Guinea, including the Tobriand Islands, all of which are remote from Anguganak. Furthermore, apart from the type 4 and 19 strains of PR pneumococci found at Anguganak, PR pneumococci of eight other serotypes (types 6, 11, 14-16, 23, 34, and 35) have been isolated from New Guineans.4 I therefore believe that penicillininsensitive pneumococci probably evolved independently in several centres of New Guinea. The range and degree of resistance to penicillin are greater than Professor Garrod states. The most resistant strains so far encountered have a minimum inhibitory concentration of 2-0 ,ug benzylpenicillin/ml (resistant ratio 100).5 Fortunately, PR pneumococci are either fully sensitive to ampicillin and amoxycillin or show only slightly diminished sensitivity.6 7 New Guinea is one of a number of tropical countries where there is a high incidence of pneumococcal pneumonia. It is hoped that the introduction of polyvalent vaccine, prepared from pneumococcal capsular polysaccharides, will reduce the incidence and mortality rate of this important infection.


The first step in pain management of vertebral compression is recognizing that a fracture has occurred. Acute pain, chronic pain, and deformity can decrease quality of life. Pain can be managed with narcotic analgesics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, mild muscle relaxants, calcitonin, occasional brief bed rest, bracing, and physical therapy modalities. Early mobility helps minimize continued bone loss and promotes muscle mass. An exercise program in these osteopenic/osteoporotic patients can be tailored by determining the bone mineral density of the patient. Those with thinner bones must start with low impact exercises with minimal fall risk.


ABSTRACT The State of Kuwait oil fires and military operations associated with the 1991 Gulf War resulted in substantially increased levels of airborne particulate matter (PM) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) during 1991 and 1992. Using quantitative risk assessment methodology, this article estimates the increase in premature deaths in citizens of the KSA associated with the Gulf War–related increase in PM air pollution levels. Meta-analysis of daily time-series studies of non-accidental mortality associated with increased PM10 levels using two alternative methodologies yielded exposure-response relative risk functions of 2.7% and 3.5% per 50 μ g/m3 increase in PM10 concentration. Combining these exposure-response functions with estimates of the magnitude and duration of the increased PM10 exposure, the size of the exposed population and baseline mortality rates provided an estimate of approximately 1,080 to 1,370 excess non-accidental deaths of Saudi citizens during 1991–1992 associated with the Gulf War–related increase in PM levels.


The purpose of the study was to unfold the manifestation of psychiatric disorders in local community and to analyse the constellation of psychiatric problems around level of education. The present study is descriptive in nature. The locale of research was Shafique Psychiatric Clinic (SPC) and the study design includes the patients visiting psychiatrist working in the facility. The sample consisted of 400 patients, both convenient and purposive sampling techniques were used for data collection. The data was collected by conducting specialized interviews for the purpose of reaching diagnosis on the bases of ICD-10 and DSM-5. The date was quantitative in nature. The analysis of descriptive results revealed that both genders are equally suffering from neurotic disorders whereas psychotic disorders were more prevalent among male as compared to female population. Interestingly the age range varied for neurotic and psychotic disorders starting from as low as 7 years and as much as 80 years. Most of patients visiting the facility were uneducated thus enforcing the fact that low level of education is an important risk factor for mental health, and should be kept in mind in psychiatric prevention and mental health promotion. The hypothesis testing revealed that level of education was negatively correlated with psychiatric disorders. Education of the masses was concluded as primary intervention for the prevention of psychiatric disorder.


The process of large-scale science must evolve to facilitate the next steps of scientific discovery. Grid technology and semantic tools will be valuable in dealing with the complex multidisciplinary simulation and data environments that next-generation science will require. We envision semantic Web-like tools that automatically check the validity of sequences of composed operations and data, and automatically construct intermediate steps in a loosely specified sequence. These tools should also automatically construct sequences of operations that are consistent with a discipline model representing permitted relationships among simulation and analysis operations and data for particular disciplines, such as climatology or high-energy physics. These tools are called semantic services.


Fifty years have passed since the first commercial inoculants were manufactured in Australia. Before 1953, various Government Agencies supplied mostly agar cultures with New South Wales Department of Agriculture issuing the first peat-based inoculants. There are no data to indicate the quality of these inoculants, but in the early commercial cultures rhizobia were often outnumbered by contaminants and field failures were widespread. A comprehensive system of quality control was developed from discussions between CSIRO and the University of Sydney. Succeeding quality control bodies have continued on the basis of the original scheme. It set inoculant standards, approved and supplied mother cultures to manufacturers annually, tested all batches of peat inoculants before sale and sampled inoculants at the point of sale. In this paper we describe the history of Australian legume inoculants, list the commercial firms and key people involved and the period during which they were active. We tabulate the strains involved, indicate the period of their use and highlight some of the problems encountered with them and with inoculant production. We indicate the personnel who have been particularly active in the quality control of inoculants, the funding bodies who have supported the work and stress the reliance of the control laboratories on the help of many agricultural scientists in Australia. An important part of the control scheme has been the implementing of standards without resort to legislation. This has depended on the cooperation of the manufacturers involved and has allowed flexibility in applying the standards.


3D shapes have complementary abstractions from low-level geometry to part-based hierarchies to languages, which convey different levels of information. This paper presents a unified framework to translate between pairs of shape abstractions: $\textit{Text}$ $\Longleftrightarrow$ $\textit{Point Cloud}$ $\Longleftrightarrow$ $\textit{Program}$. We propose $\textbf{Neural Shape Compiler}$ to model the abstraction transformation as a conditional generation process. It converts 3D shapes of three abstract types into unified discrete shape code, transforms each shape code into code of other abstract types through the proposed $\textit{ShapeCode Transformer}$, and decodes them to output the target shape abstraction. Point Cloud code is obtained in a class-agnostic way by the proposed $\textit{Point}$VQVAE. On Text2Shape, ShapeGlot, ABO, Genre, and Program Synthetic datasets, Neural Shape Compiler shows strengths in $\textit{Text}$ $\Longrightarrow$ $\textit{Point Cloud}$, $\textit{Point Cloud}$ $\Longrightarrow$ $\textit{Text}$, $\textit{Point Cloud}$ $\Longrightarrow$ $\textit{Program}$, and Point Cloud Completion tasks. Additionally, Neural Shape Compiler benefits from jointly training on all heterogeneous data and tasks.


Surgical ablation (SA) for atrial fibrillation has been gaining prominence with evolution of better tools and techniques that are ultimately resulting in better success rates (1-3). SA and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) are considered as the gold standards in their respective domains for treatment of atrial fibrillation and multi vessel coronary artery disease. Currently, CABG remains the most commonly performed cardiac surgery and most SA are performed simultaneously with other cardiac procedures (4).


Nanoalloys (a finite framework of two or more metal atoms) represent a rapidly growing field owing to the possibilities of tuning its properties as desired for various applications. Their properties are size, shape, composition, chemical ordering, and temperature dependent, thereby offering a large playground for varied research motivations. This thesis documents the investigations on how the addition of aluminium affects the cationic gallium clusters, both in terms of geometric & electronic structure and thermodynamics, which have been observed to show greater-than-bulk melting behaviour for small sizes. A specific cluster size of 20 atoms is selected, Ga₍₂₀₋x₎Alx⁺, with the overall intention of creating a phase diagram which is the most reliable way to predict the phase changes in the system. All the first principles (density functional theory) based Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics calculations have been performed in the microcanonical ensemble. Melting behaviour is first studied in the pure Al₂₀⁺ clusters and then in three representative clusters of Ga₍₂₀₋x₎Alx⁺ series: Ga₁₉Al⁺, Ga₁₁Al₉⁺ and Ga₃Al₁₇⁺ clusters. We observe that all the three nanoalloy compositions show greater-than-bulk melting behaviour behaviour as well and in Ga₁₉Al⁺, specifically, Al prefers the internal sites, contrary to the previous arguments. We go on to complete the solid-liquid-like melting phase diagram using the calculated information and further propose a model of these greater-than-bulk melting clusters to be components of the corresponding bulk phases, whether metals or alloys, with additional size-dependent contributions added to it.


In his opinion in Bosman, Advocate General Lenz called attention to the function of EU competition law to control the private regulatory power of international sports associations. The true potential of EU competition law to protect athletes and other parties against regulatory overreach by sports associations, however, remains underexplored. This article examines the prospect of an increased use of EU competition law to challenge restrictive rules or abusive conduct and, consequently, to exert influence on the governance structure and institutional features of sports associations. First, it generally assesses the extent to which the rule-making activity of sports associations relating to the organization of sport satisfies the requirements for the application of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU. It will highlight that the analytical framework gives sufficient flexibility to take into account the specific characteristics of sport. Second, to practically illustrate the nature and function of EU competition law enforcement, it analyses European and national decisional practice regarding conflicts of interest between the role of sports associations as the regulator of their sport and their commercial interests in the events that they promote and organize.


ABSTRACT Global dissemination of ciprofloxacin-resistant Salmonella Kentucky has been observed over the past decades. In recent years, there have been reports of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) producing S. Kentucky. Routine surveillance at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) detected cases with a ciprofloxacin-resistant S. Kentucky with the ESBL-gene bla CTX-M-14b. Ensuing research identified 78 cases in 2013–2018 in eight European countries. Compared to other S. Kentucky and non-typhoidal Salmonella infections, reported to the European Surveillance System, these cases were more likely to be elderly and to present urinary-tract infections. Bayesian time-scaled phylogeny on whole genome sequences of isolates from these cases and supplementary isolates from public sequence databases was used to infer the origin and spread of this clone. We dated the origin of the bla CTX-M-14b clone to approximately 2005 in Northern Africa, most likely in Egypt. The geographic origin predicted by the phylogenetic analysis is consistent with the patients' travel history. Next to multiple introductions of the clone to Europe from Egypt, our analysis suggests that in some parts of Europe the clone might have formed a stable population, from which further spread has occurred. Comparative genomics indicated that the bla CTX-M-14b gene is present on the bacterial chromosome, within the type VI secretion system region. The bla CTX-M-14b gene is integrated downstream of the hcp1 gene, on a 2854 bp plasmid fragment containing also ISEcp1. This is the first report of a chromosomally integrated CTX-M gene in Salmonella spp. in Europe, previous studies having identified similar genes only on plasmids.


A retrospective evaluation of the clinical records of 138 depressed patients, who received the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) as part of a standardized physical and psychiatric assessment protocol, revealed that 60 had acute, chronic (mild or severe), stable or remitted medical conditions. The proportion of DST nonsuppressors did not differ between depressed subjects with medical conditions (45 % nonsuppressors) and those without (34.6% nonsuppressors; p > 0.2). However, all of the six subjects with acute or chronic-severe medical conditions were found to be nonsuppressors (p = 0.003). These results may help clarify the medical exclusion criteria for the clinical application of the DST.


All newborns discharged from hospitals should be transported home in infant car safety seats that are designed appropriately to safely transport healthy newborns, premature infants, or infants with special needs.
 Assuring that newborns are restrained properly when riding for the first time sets the stage for continued compliance with a measure that can save their lives or prevent serious injury. Correctly used infant/child safety seats are 71% effective in preventing fatalities due to car crashes, and 67% effective in preventing injury requiring hospitalization.1 With 100% correct use, about 53 000 injuries and 500 deaths could be prevented each year in the United States among children from birth to 4 years of age.2
 Although the Every Ride, Safe Ride program of the American Academy of Pediatrics has made major contributions to child passenger safety, including the passage of legislation in all 50 states requiring infants and children to ride properly restrained, newborns continue to be discharged from hospitals without infant car safety seats or in ones that are not being used correctly. A recent study of hospital discharge policies and procedures has shown that only 26% of hospitals with obstetric services have a policy concerning the discharge of newborns in car safety seats. Of those hospitals that have a policy, 64% waive the requirement that newborns be discharged in a car safety seat if the parents do not supply a seat upon discharge.3 A similar study of hospitals accounting for 90% of annual births in Michigan showed that only 24% of hospitals discuss the use of car safety seats with parents, and only 4% demonstrate their use.4


The method of detailed balance, introduced by Shockley and Queisser, is often used to find an upper theoretical limit for the efficiency of semiconductor pn-junction based photovoltaics. Typically the solar cell is assumed to be at an ambient temperature of 300 K. In this paper, we describe and analyze the use of radiative cooling techniques to lower the solar cell temperature below the ambient to surpass the detailed balance limit for a cell in contact with an ideal heat sink. We show that by combining specifically designed radiative cooling structures with solar cells, efficiencies higher than the limiting efficiency achievable at 300 K can be obtained for solar cells in both terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments. We show that our proposed structure yields an efficiency 0.87% higher than a typical PV module at operating temperatures in a terrestrial application. We also demonstrate an efficiency advantage of 0.4-2.6% for solar cells in an extraterrestrial environment in near-earth orbit.


In this paper, we study the problem of utility maximization in multi-hop wireless systems. To study the effect of wireless interference constraints on the utility maximization problem, we introduce a new class of weighted matching problems, namely maximum weighted K-valid matching problems (MWKVMPs). For K = 1, MWKVMP corresponds to the well studied maximum weighted matching problem (MWMP) in the literature, which can be solved in polynomial time. We prove several interesting results concerning the hardness of these problems for K ges 2. In particular, we show that MWKVMP does not even belong to APX; where APX denotes the class of problems to which a constant factor approximation can be obtained in polynomial time. Our results have strong implications concerning the hardness of scheduling transmissions in multi-hop wireless systems


Background

Hypoxia is a major regulator of tumor aggressiveness and metastasis in cancer progression. Exosomes (exos) play an important role in the communication between lung cancer and hypoxic microenvironment. However, the underlying mechanisms are largely undefined.
Methods

Exos isolated from A549 cells under hypoxia conditions. Transmission electron microscopy and nanoparticle tracking analysis were carried out to characterize exos. CCK-8 assay, flow cytometry, Western blot, wound healing and transwell assays were performed to assess the proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion of A549 cells, respectively. The M2 polarization of macrophages was evaluated by RT-qPCR and Western blot analysis. In vivo nude mice model was established to determine the regulatory effect of hypoxia/exos on the progression of lung cancer.
Results

Hypoxic A549 cell-derived exos (hypoxia/exos) promoted the proliferation and migration, and inhibited the apoptosis in A549 cells. The expression of PKM2 was significantly upregulated in hypoxia/exos. Hypoxic exosomal PKM2 induced M2 polarization of macrophages by activating AMPK/p38 pathway. Co-culture with hypoxia/exos-treated macrophages enhanced the migration, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in A549 cells. Moreover, treatment with hypoxia/exos facilitated the tumor growth and lung metastasis of A549 cells.
Conclusions

Our findings reveal that hypoxic exosomal PKM2 induces M2 macrophage polarization via AMPK/p38 pathway, and thus exerts a simulative effect on the growth and metastasis of lung carcinoma.


The loss of a caregiver or loved one is a tragic moment, which can have psychosocial impact on a child. Children inside institutions either in foster or residential care are prevalence to the experience of neglect and parental loss bereavement. Bereavement endures a variety of factors that influence negatively on child mental health. The purpose of this concept paper is to explain noteworthy contributions with regards to information on bereavement among children and their psychosocial problems in institutions and residential cares. The attachment theory is significant to explain the association of bereavement and institutions, which supported the evidence that bereavement among vulnerable population inside institution, are at high risk of social deterioration. The theory implies a cause-effect relationship between early attachments. Children are potentially psychologically affected by any traumatic events, which caused them to experience prolong mental developmental delay that are associated with different psychological disorders. Institutionalized children can easily become victim of their psychosocial inability to defend themselves from ruthless violence. Research had examined the differentiating factors of certain symptoms in normal grief and bereavement within the context of depressive disorders, including self-guiltiness, death thoughts, maltreatment, and worthlessness. Experiences of bereavement may occur over the loss, which then shifted to transient withdrawal. Parental loss is one of the most extreme social deprivations that a child can experience Therefore responses to parental loss may be age-specific, related to temperament and to culture. The literature indicated that bereavement in institutional settings has the potential to cause significant risks of mental health with the most prevalent impact related to psychological issues. To cope with the consequences of child maltreatment, prolonged effective interventions should be encouraged. Noteworthy, studies related to bereavement and stress to explain the psychological health issues of children due to parental loss in institutional care are limited, especially within the context of developing countries.


: The concentrations of phenytoin (DPH) in the CNS of adult dogs given the drug by IV injection, continuous IV infusion, or repeated daily oral administration and of newborn pups given DPH by IV injection were consistently proportional to serum concentrations of the drug at the time of blood sample collections. Adult dogs injected IV with [14C]DPH failed to show predilection of the drug for the 13 anatomic brain sections sampled. The pharmacokinetics of DPH were studied in adult and neonatal dogs given 15 mg of the drug/kg of body weight as a single IV injection. The mean half-life of the drug in adult dogs injected IV was 4.5 hours. The serum half-life of injected DPH was lowest in pups 30 days of age when compared with that in other age groups. The serum half-life of injected DPH was increased in adult dogs under pentobarbital anesthesia.


We present a Split Vector Quantized Variational Autoencoder (SVQ-VAE) architecture using a split vector quantizer for NTTS, as an enhancement to the well-known Variational Autoencoder (VAE) and Vector Quantized Variational Autoencoder (VQ-VAE) architectures. Compared to these previous architectures, our proposed model retains the benefits of using an utterance-level bottleneck, while keeping significant representation power and a discretized latent space small enough for efficient prediction from text. We train the model on recordings in the expressive task-oriented dialogues domain and show that SVQ-VAE achieves a statistically significant improvement in naturalness over the VAE and VQ-VAE models. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the SVQ-VAE latent acoustic space is predictable from text, reducing the gap between the standard constant vector synthesis and vocoded recordings by 32%.


We propose a gas sensor, based on spontaneous Raman scattering, for the compositional analysis of typical biogas mixtures and present a description of the sensor, as well as of the calibration procedure, which allows the quantification of condensable gases. Moreover, we carry out a comprehensive characterization of the system, in order to determine the measurement uncertainty, as well as influences of temperature and pressure fluctuation. Finally, the sensor is applied at different locations inside a plant in which biogas is produced from renewable raw materials. The composition is monitored after fermenting, after purification and after the final conditioning, where natural gas is added. The Raman sensor is able to detect all the relevant gas components, i.e. CH4, CO2, N2 and H2O, and report their individual concentrations over time. The results were compared to reference data from a conventional gas analyzer and good agreement was obtained.


The male Tooth-billed Bowerbird clears a display court on the ground. Some authors have erroneously referred to this court as a bower. This is incorrect and confusing from the English language, scientific, and ornithological literature points of view. The reasons for this misuse of the word bower are explained and discussed, and another example of how such inappropriate nomenclature have persisted in the bowerbird literature is detailed. The recent standard and widely used nomenclature for bowerbird display sites is provided. In addition, the males of Tooth-billed and one or two other bowerbirds have been described as forming exploded leks at their display sites, but this has never been unequivocally demonstrated, for reasons detailed and


Morphologic development of the granulosa cell and the capacity for estrogen biosynthesis were evaluated in ovaries from New Zealand white rabbit fetuses at 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24 and 28 days of gestation. By light microscopy, granulosa cells within the developing cortical cords showed extensive accumulation of lipid material in their cytoplasm at Days 18, 19 and 20. Electron microscopy confirmed the presence of abundant lipid in granulosa cells at these times and showed that lipid is present in cytoplasmic droplets, often in coalescent aggregates. Quantitative morphometric examination demonstrated a sixfold increase in lipid between Days 16 and 19 and a subsequent decrease to earlier values by Day 24. In parallel studies, estrogen formation from [1 beta-3H]testosterone was low in Days 17 and 18 ovaries, increased approximately sixfold by Day 20 and fell by Day 24. Thus, the capacity of granulosa cells of the fetal ovary to form estradiol correlates with their cytoplasmic lipid content.


We propose a learning approach for mapping context-dependent sequential instructions to actions. We address the problem of discourse and state dependencies with an attention-based model that considers both the history of the interaction and the state of the world. To train from start and goal states without access to demonstrations, we propose SESTRA, a learning algorithm that takes advantage of single-step reward observations and immediate expected reward maximization. We evaluate on the SCONE domains, and show absolute accuracy improvements of 9.8%-25.3% across the domains over approaches that use high-level logical representations.


The first 20 years of the 21st century have witnessed an explosion of audiovisual translation (AVT) products. Unlimited as to time, space and economic status, the widespread use of online streaming media has made AVT entertainment a feature of daily life. Among the various genres, comedy – with the laughter, happiness, and social commentary it brings – continues to enjoy popular appeal. Humour is indeed a universal phenomenon; its presentation in audiovisual products understandably attracts wide scholarly attention, and Margherita Dore's monograph, Humour in audiovisual translation: Theories and applications, is one of the latest works to explore it.


Background
Patients with limited-stage (ls) or extensive-stage (es) small-cell lung cancer (sclc) are commonly given platinum-based chemotherapy as first-line treatment. Standard chemotherapy for patients with ls sclc includes a platinum agent such as cisplatin combined with the non-platinum agent etoposide. The objective of the present systematic review was to investigate the efficacy of adding radiotherapy to chemotherapy in patients with es sclc and to determine the appropriate timing, dose, and schedule of chemotherapy or radiation for patients with sclc.

Methods
The medline and embase databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (rcts) comparing treatment with radiotherapy plus chemotherapy against treatment with chemotherapy alone in patients with es sclc. Identified rcts were also included if they compared various timings, doses, and schedules of treatment for patients with es sclc or ls sclc.

Results
Sixty-four rcts were included. In patients with ls sclc, overall survival was greatest with platinum-etoposide compared with other chemotherapy regimens. In patients with es sclc, overall survival was greatest with chemotherapy containing platinum-irinotecan than with chemotherapy containing platinum-etoposide (hazard ratio: 0.84; 95% confidence interval: 0.74 to 0.95; p = 0.006). The addition of radiation to chemotherapy for patients with es sclc showed mixed results. There was no conclusive evidence that the timing, dose, or schedule of thoracic radiation affected treatment outcomes in sclc.

Conclusions
In patients with ls sclc, cisplatin-etoposide plus radiotherapy should remain the standard therapy. In patients with es sclc, the evidence is insufficient to recommend the addition of radiotherapy to chemotherapy as standard practice to improve overall survival. However, on a case-by-case basis, radiotherapy might be added to reduce local recurrence. The most commonly used chemotherapy is platinum-etoposide; however, platinum-irinotecan can be considered.


Students often cite mathematics as their least liked school subject. It is difficult to engage students when they do not enjoy their mathematics class. The purpose of this study was to investigate to what degree the use of math-related literature in a Grade 5 mathematics class affected students" enjoyment in the mathematics classroom. Starting in September 2010, students took part in a "regular" mathematics class, consisting of a starting activity, direct teaching, and individual assignments for six weeks. After this six week period, students participated in a literature enriched mathematics program for another six weeks. These mathematics lessons involved the teacher reading a math-related story to the students at the beginning of the lesson and using the theme from the book as a focus for the direct teaching and assignments. This quantitative study using a survey administered three times to 16 Grade 5 student participants was conducted to determine students" mathematical enjoyment at the beginning, the mid-point, and end of the 12 week study. The data showed that the use of literature in the Grade 5 mathematics class increased students" mathematical enjoyment levels. The survey data indicated that throughout the study students began to enjoy mathematics more than any other class and students increased their confidence in mathematics. The results from this study may encourage teachers to explore ways to include math-related literature into daily mathematics lessons to build students" enjoyment levels and engage them in their mathematical learning. IMPROVING MATHEMATICAL ENJOYMENT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract.........................................................................................................................................ii Table of


The roughness and profiles accuracy of aspheric surface are two key factors affecting the resolution and other characteristics of optical instruments. In this paper a new grinding system-parallel grinding system was built, and an CNC system controlled by PMAC (programmable multi-axis controller) was developed, the parallel grinding system can realize Arc Envelope Grinding Method (AEGM) only through controlling 2-axis and the wear of wheel was diminished, the tool path calculation was simplified. Using this system, the roughness and profile accuracy of aspheric surface are improved.


The identification of idiopathic infertility cases, actually, is impossible. Among new functional tests, developed to improve the male fertility diagnosis, the evaluation of spermatic myo‐inositol (MI) level, known as Andrositol® test (AT), is one of the most interesting, considering its weak economic burden and ease of use. The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive power of AT and its potential use for a preliminary evaluation of semen samples. To evaluate the predictive power of AT, 87 sperm samples were analysed in comparison with spermiogram and sperm chromatin dispersion (SCD) Test, the gold standard analyses for male fertility evaluation. The application of AT resulted very useful for a preliminary sample evaluation, predicting the absence of DNA fragmentation in case of Low Responder samples precisely, and the presence of DNA fragmentation in case of medium or High Responder samples with abnormal morphology, predicting SCD results with a probability of 80% for Medium Responder sample and of 96.7% for High Responder sample. Considering the predictive power of this method, we could imagine, as preliminary qualitative analysis, its application before SCD test, deepening sperm analysis, improving the daily activities of laboratory operators and maintaining a good reliability of sperm evaluation.


Automation is the traditional industrial means for improving productivity and product quality. We explore both the theoretical and pragmatic issues involved in automating the development of complex embedded software. In particular, we focus on techniques for fully automatic, complete, generation of high-performance code directly from high-level design models. "Full" code generation extends beyond mere code skeleton. In effect, it means directly programming, testing, and debugging of complex applications using higher-level modeling constructs, such as those provided in UML.


Radiosurgery for glioblastoma is limited to the development of resistance, allowing tumor cells to survive and initiate tumor recurrence. Based on our previous work that coadministration of tissue factor and lipopolysaccharide following radiosurgery selectively induced thrombosis in cerebral arteriovenous malformations, achieving thrombosis of 69% of the capillaries and 39% of medium sized vessels, we hypothesized that a rapid and selective shutdown of the capillaries in glioblastoma vasculature would decrease the delivery of oxygen and nutrients, reducing tumor growth, preventing intracranial hypertension, and improving life expectancy. Glioblastoma was formed by implantation of GL261 cells into C57Bl/6 mouse brain. Mice were intravenously injected tissue factor, lipopolysaccharide, a combination of both, or placebo 24 hours after radiosurgery. Control mice received both agents after sham irradiation. Coadministration of tissue factor and lipopolysaccharide led to the formation of thrombi in up to 87 ± 8% of the capillaries and 46 ± 4% of medium sized vessels within glioblastoma. The survival rate of mice in this group was 80% versus no survivor in placebo controls 30 days after irradiation. Animal body weight increased with time in this group (r = 0.88, P = 0.0001). Thus, radiosurgery enhanced treatment with tissue factor, and lipopolysaccharide selectively induces thrombosis in glioblastoma vasculature, improving life expectancy.


We report on an interferometric MINFLUX microscope that records protein movements with down to 1.7 nm precision within less than 1 ms. While such spatio-temporal resolution has so far required linking a strongly scattering 30-500 nm diameter bead to the much smaller protein, MINFLUX localization requires the detection of only down to 20 photons from an ~1-nm sized fluorophore. Harnessing this resolution, we dissect the unhindered stepping of the motor protein kinesin-1 on microtubules at up to physiological ATP concentrations. By attaching the fluorophore to different kinesin-1 sites and resolving steps and substeps of these protein constructs, we uncover a three-dimensional orientation change of the unbound kinesin head. We also find that kinesin-1 takes up ATP while only one head is bound, whereas hydrolysis of ATP occurs with both heads bound to the microtubule, resolving a long-standing conundrum of its mechanochemical cycle. Our results establish MINFLUX as a non-invasive tool for tracking protein movements and probing submillisecond structural rearrangements with nanometer resolution.


In the University of Kansas Biotechnology program, we recognize the importance of ensuring that our graduates are able to adequately breakdown and digest complex scientific research articles. To prepare students for this, the program requires that students enroll in a Selected Topics class where they are divided into small groups and take turns breaking down and explaining different research articles to the class (through Power Point presentations). To make this activity more engaging, each article is selected to chronologically simulate the progression of exemplary publications on a single topic. For the 2022 spring semester, students were introduced to a novel putative co-stimulatory molecule in the immunoglobulin superfamily, CTLA-4 through the 1987 Brunet, J.F.. et al., paper. Week by week, new discoveries about T cell interactions through their co-stimulatory molecules were explained to the class by these groups, culminating with research on the immunoreceptor TIGIT by Johnston, R. J. et al., from 2014. This format allows students to practice both breaking down research articles and presenting them in a clear and concise manner. As a final project, students are instructed to select a recently (within the past five years) published article on the same topic and write a review article that not only summarizes the topics discussed that semester, but informs the reader how this new research adds to the existing knowledge on the subject. The following papers are exemplary examples of those written by students enrolled in the course.


Although current deep learning techniques have yielded superior performance on various computer vision tasks, yet they are still vulnerable to adversarial examples. Adversarial training and its variants have been shown to be the most effective approaches to defend against adversarial examples. A particular class of these methods regularize the difference between output probabilities for an adversarial and its corresponding natural example. However, it may have a negative impact if a natural example is misclassified. To circumvent this issue, we propose a novel adversarial training scheme that encourages the model to produce similar output probabilities for an adversarial example and its "inverse adversarial" counterpart. Particularly, the counterpart is generated by maximizing the likelihood in the neighborhood of the natural example. Extensive experiments on various vision datasets and architectures demonstrate that our training method achieves state-of-the-art robustness as well as natural accuracy among robust models. Furthermore, using a universal version of inverse adversarial examples, we improve the performance of single-step adversarial training techniques at a low computational cost.


This thesis describes in details the experimental and numerical investigations conducted to determine the filling and flow behaviour inside dynamic operating piston cooling galleries. An experimental test rig was built to replicate the reciprocating motion of internal combus- tion engine pistons to allow for varying engine speed, stroke length, oil flow rate and piston size. Two transparent models were produced, representing cooling galleries for small sized engine pistons found in passenger vehicles and large sized engine pistons found in heavy goods vehicles and earth moving equipment. High speed image processing was undertake to capture the flow behaviour inside the galleries during the piston cycle. An oil mixture was used to replicate the properties of engine oil at engine operating conditions. The flow inside the gallery was recorded from various view positions to capture the flow throughout the gallery. The flow domains representing the investigated gallery shapes were generated and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) studies of the two-phase flow behaviour were performed. The studies of gallery filling and in-gallery flow behaviour were undertaken for the same parametric conditions as defined in the experiments. The flow behaviour and filling of both studies, experimental and numerical, are compared and discussed. The results of the experimental and numerical studies compared well in terms of the identified directions of the main bulk oil flow within the small and large gallery and for the investigated crank speed and flow rate conditions. Both galleries showed that the flow in the gallery from inlet to outlet was mainly driven by the oil jet entering the gallery. The continuous entering jet forced a flow of the oil into the gallery branches. Strong turbulence in the direct vicinity of the inlet occurred as air and oil mixing was significant. It was found that the size of the turbulence region depended on the flow rate and engine speed, as well as the direction of movement of the gallery. It also sustained the presence of a large amount of medium-sized air bubbles due to mixing effects. Although the CFD did not predict the fine detail of the turbulent mixing, it did capture the underlying main flow characteristics, including short circuiting at the inlet. In the mid-gallery section the formation of large air bubbles took place, which could span across the gallery height. The flow behaviour was still driven by the inflow, but also controlled by the gallery cross-sectional shape. At the gallery outlet the flow was predominantly inertia driven as a result of the gallery movement with the oil exiting mainly during the upward stroke, allowing formation of large air bubbles. Distinctly different flows were encountered within the large and small gallery. The large gallery volume showed more unstructured or chaotic flow behaviour, especially in the mid- gallery section, as a result of the complex cross-sectional shape. In the small gallery volume the bulk flow was more controlled and wall-guided due to the limited space and regular cross-sectional shape. It was also found that the overall gallery filling for both galleries varied only by approximately 2% during the crank cycle. In contrast the variation of gallery section fillings of up to 30% and 50% for the large and small gallery respectively were determined, highlighting the effects of air movement within the galleries. The experimental results showed that an increase in flow rate, reflected by an increase in jet exit velocity, led to strong air entrainment of micro-scale bubbles into the oil clearly visible inside the gallery, while an increase in engine speed led to significantly lower formation of micro-scale air bubbles in the gallery. In contrast the CFD struggled to capture such fine details, unless the mesh density reached a very fine level, resulting in unsustainably long simulation times.


In this review the authors discuss the physiopathologic and electrophysiologic changes of the inner ear in Meniere's disease, otosclerosis, ototoxicity, acoustic neuroma, presbycusis, noise-induced hearing loss, metabolic hearing loss, perilymphatic fistula, syphilis, autoimmune inner ear disease, congenital genetic hearing loss, and viral labyrinthitis. The etiology and pathogenesis of hearing losses are generally not well established; and the significance of inner ear changes in hearing losses are not exactly known. The explanations provided are usually not satisfactory. The real answers are hidden within the mystery of the ear. [Journal of Turgut Özal Medical Center 1997;4(3):319-328]


Author(s): Singer, Merav | Advisor(s): Brinner, Benjamin E | Abstract: Israel in the 21st century is an intensely multicultural society where several types of cosmopolitanism vie with regional and ethnic forms of expression, a phenomenon that plays out in musical life. I propose that such a society offers a variety of possibilities for what a woman is, what she can do, and how she can work. This dissertation is an ethnographic study of four female singer-songwriters that examines the ways they negotiate and sometimes challenge socio-cultural norms in creating their careers and constructing their artistic personae, or the version of themselves that they present as musicians.The artists I focus on straddle four major rifts in Israeli society, between Arabs and Jews, Mizrahim and Ashkenazim, Russian-speaking immigrants and native Israelis, and Orthodox and non-Orthodox communities. In using their ethnic heritage as cultural capital to corner a unique market niche, these artists become enmeshed in social politics that include tensions between ethnic and religious groups, conflicting gender roles, and struggles over belonging. I argue that as they create legible personae to meet the demands of the music industry, their liminality between mainstream society and a minority sector challenges the discourse around those identities. The success of their careers thus depends both on how their particular ethnicity is positioned in relation to more powerful models of Israeliness that are reproduced by public discourses, the state media and the entertainment industry, as well as how they meet commercial criteria for mainstream pop music. In working to satisfy this dual set of demands they engage with the canon of Israeli music, revealing and expanding its boundaries. To illuminate how the artists define and challenge discourses of Israeliness, I analyze their songs, how they perform them, and what people say about them. The radio airtime their music receives and the venues where they perform further reveal how they are positioned within Israeli culture. Thus while the strategies they use in marking themselves as foreign are common to artists cross-culturally, the challenges they encounter offer a window onto changing social patterns in contemporary Israeli society.


It is pivotal for contemporary youth literature to be made part of the curriculum, however, it is unnecessary for the education politics to canonise any of them. Contemporary novels give opportunity to discuss important psychological, social, ideological and artistic issues. Within the framework of problem-centred education they prioritise the processed issue besides the aesthetic quality and linguistic accessibility. Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time provides excellent opportunity to discuss the problems of people with autism and it is also suitable to improve empathy towards them, their families and parents. The study includes a detailed plan for discussion, the questions and exercises are ordered to follow the process of constructive pedagogy: tuning up – creation of meaning – reflection.