This chapter explores contemporary design practices that raise the potential for smellscape mappings to challenge the myth of map as a fixed and static truth. Traditional maps perform many functions; historically an attempt to render legible our world they seduce us with symbolic reality. However current olfactory mappings represent what and how the nose detects, communicating information about place and exploring individual relationships between place, time and smell. Following an evaluation of my own work this chapter argues for performative, creative smellscape mapping practices to investigate and create nuanced, embodied realities gained through the physical act of sniffing.


Introduction: For many decades, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) were a poorly understood disease group with no approved therapies, and patient management largely relied upon supportive care and intensive chemotherapy. The last decade has seen many scientific and therapeutic advances culminating in the US FDA approval of three drugs for the treatment of these complex malignancies: lenalidomide, azacitidine and decitabine. Areas covered: This review summarizes the major prognostic risk models that guide treatment decisions and examines the available literature on the mechanism of action and efficacy of each of the approved agents. The authors also discuss evidence supporting the use of other therapies that have entered the standard of care including growth factors, immunosuppressive therapy and stem-cell transplantation. Expert opinion: While significant progress has been made in understanding the molecular basis of MDS, much of this has yet to translate into therapeutic benefit. Each of the available treatment modalities has shortcomings, and both combination strategies and novel agents are under investigation in clinical trials to improve outcomes.


Salih Zeki – Constructing a biography for the mathematician Şeref Etker Turkish mathematician Salih Zeki (1864-1921) devoted much of his historical work to the elucidation of Eastern contribution to exact sciences. His magnum opus was the Asâr-i Bâkiye (Monumental Heritage). The first two volumes published during his lifetime is a series of studies on the mathematicians of the Near East who bridged the knowledge of the Antiquity with Renaissance.  An engineer by training Salih Zeki turned to teaching mathematics, and became a self-thought historian of science. He was appointed head of the meteorological observatory, principal of the prestigious Galatasaray Lycee, and subsequently rector to the Istanbul University. His work on the history of mathematics has not been fully appreciated and criticized. Salih Zeki's biography also remains to be written. The present study aims to review the various publications on his life and works, including the memoirs of Halide Edib, pioneering Turkish woman author and professor of English literature, who herself was married to Salih Zeki between the years 1901-1910, and addresses questions  that still need to be answered. A pressing task is to establish an archive for Salih Zeki, to bring together the material associated with his name and work. Key words: Salih Zeki, history of mathematics, Turkey, biography, Mustafa Inan, Constantin Caratheodory; Anahtar Sozcukler: Salih Zeki, matematik tarihi, Turkiye, biyografi, Mustafa Inan, Constantin Caratheodory


Sacrificial anode cathodic protection (CP) was designed for the outfall line from a pretreatment plant. The pipeline system consists of a concrete-coated, epoxy-lined steel pipe carrying plant wastewater effluent. Required current densities (CDs) for the pipes and resistivities for seawater, soil, and the waste water running in the pipe were determined. The experimental CD in the seawater was 28.29 mA/m 2 and the CD in the waste water was 3.96 mA/m 2 . The design of CP has been developed by considering the corrosive factors of the electrolytes. Aluminum indium sacrificial anodes were chosen for the seawater pipe exterior. Magnesium anodes were selected for the pipe interior and the exterior of the portion of the pipe buried on land.


In this paper a new tardigrade species, Macrobiotus azzunae sp. nov., from Tunisia, is described. An integrative taxonomic approach was applied by combining morphological, morphometric and molecular data. In particular, light and scanning electron microscopy observations, and four genetic markers, three nuclear (18S rRNA, 28S rRNA and ITS-2) and one mitochondrial (COI) were used. The analysis showed that M. azzunae sp. nov. belongs to the Macrobiotus hufelandi group and is most similar to Macrobiotus sandrae Bertolani & Rebecchi, 1993. It differs from M. sandrae by a more pronounced constriction of the first macroplacoid (hardly visible in M. sandrae) and for the eggshell shape, with thinner wires of the reticulum and meshes around the processes larger than the inter-process meshes in M. azzunae sp. nov., while all meshes are similar in size in M. sandrae. The species is gonochoristic. With this discovery, there are 33 species of tardigrades identified in Tunisia, all non-marine. This result, compared with nearby Sicily, where more research has been conducted, indicates that there is a considerable potential for identification of new species. Further research will be most informative if multiple habitats are explored and if carried out with an integrated approach as done in this present work.


Toward the assistance on selection of ground motion prediction models for seismic assessment, this article presents a seismic hazard study (compared to the viewpoint of attenuation equations), using a recent tool based on engineering judgment, called "weighting factor," through a procedure similar to logic tree. For this purpose, the weighting factors were incorporated with a Venn diagram of attenuation models regarding experimenter's concern and expert's knowledge. It is found that the attenuation equations of the newer and intersection ones could be considered to estimate plausible and reasonable accelerations. The results indicate that the weighting factors could beneficially assist for suitability of attenuation models. This work is a novel for the region (Gaziantep, Turkey), thus it could complement expert's knowledge about the attenuation models for future studies.


OF ALL the duodenal tumors, the leiomyosarcomata are the rarest. After a thorough search of the literature, only 27 such tumors have been recorded, making the present case summary the 28th leiomyosarcoma of the duodenum to be published. However, it is not only the rarity of the disease that prompts the report of this additional case, but also the confused picture exhibited by the roentgenograms and the clinical symptoms. Von Salis, 1 in 1920, was the first to report a case of leiomyosarcoma of the duodenum. All cases published since that time have been carefully reviewed and are cited in this paper, thus bringing the surgical literature up-to-date for this disease. Pathologists differ as to the origin of these tumors. Some believe that leiomyosarcomata are a transformation from the benign leiomyomata, while others maintain that they are malignant from the outset (Ewing). The tumor originates in the muscular layer of


1003 women with invasive breast carcinoma were treated in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical School Hannover, between 1970 and 1978. In 787 patients modified radical mastectomy was combined with postoperative radiation therapy. In 797 patients, who were observed for at least 5 years, the 5 year survival rate was 63.0%, depending on tumor stage. In spite of intensive loco-regional treatment, local recurrence occurred in 18.0%. For us, that was one among other reasons to discontinue routine postoperative radiation therapy.


Most teachers are accustomed to using various models of whole group instruction in their reading workshops. When considering a model that is highly effective in helping a group of readers develop more skill in using reading strategies across texts and contexts, Allington (2009) suggests that we look at small groups as a means of instruction and intervention that produces superior academic outcomes. According to Fountas and Pinnell (2001), small group work is particularly important for students who have difficulty learning to read. This focused teaching in small groups makes it possible to provide appropriate instruction for a diverse class of learners. Plainly stated, the biggest reason to work with small groups is to tailor the teaching to the needs of the students (Calkins, 2010). This article will address balancing small group instruction, particularly the use of strategy groups, to provide targeted individualized instruction and meet the needs of all learners.


The all-sky hydrogen Lyman-alpha camera, SWAN (Solar Wind Anisotropies), on the SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite makes observations of the hydrogen coma of comets. Most water vapor produced by comets is ultimately photodissociated into two H atoms and one O atom producing a huge atomic hydrogen coma that is routinely observed in the daily full-sky SWAN images in comets of sufficient brightness. Water production rates are calculated using our time-resolved model (Makinen & Combi, 2005, Icarus 177, 217), typically yielding about 1 observation every 2 days on the average. Here we describe the progress in analysis of observations of comets observed during 2014-2015 and those selected from the archive for analysis. These include comets C/2012 K1 (PanSTARRS), C/2013 V5, (Oukaimeden), C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) and 15P/Finlay. A status report on the entire SOHO/SWAN archive of water production rates in comets will also be given. SOHO is an international cooperative mission between ESA and NASA. Support from grants NNX11AH50G from the NASA Planetary Astronomy Program and NNX13AQ66G from the NASA Planetary Mission Data Analysis Program are gratefully acknowledged as is support from CNRS, CNES, and the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI).


Current radiotherapy treatment machines use the treatment beam or the integrated cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) functionality for patient positioning based on bony structures or implanted tumour markers. The University Medical Center Utrecht, in cooperation with Elekta and Philips, is developing a radiotherapy accelerator with fully integrated diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) functionality. MRI provides superior soft-tissue contrast, which will enable patient positioning based on the tumour itself. The clinical rationale for the MRI-accelerator system is considered in this thesis. The rationale is evaluated for various tumour sites on different time scales. The benefit of this unique hybrid design can be divided into two aspects: online image guidance and dose response assessment. This thesis is limited to the aspect of online image guidance. The fact that most soft tissue structures not only change in position but also in shape makes it inevitable to use online volumetric image guidance for improved daily verification of the patient set-up. If the image guidance is fast enough, real-time monitoring or tracking of highly mobile tumours will become feasible, making radiotherapy a treatment option for more tumour sites. Cervical cancer patients will benefit in terms of healthy tissue sparing in the primary tumour region as the target volumes change their position and shape continuously during the course of the treatment. Online MRI images, acquired at the beginning of each treatment fraction, visualise the actual position and shape of the uterus and can be used for a simple rigid correction or a treatment plan adaptation. This approach allows planning target volume (PTV) margin reduction as interfraction motion is corrected directly on the treatment table. Guidelines to limit intrafraction bladder filling may further reduce the needed PTV margins, which results in additional healthy tissue sparing. Our current clinical practice of marker based position verification for prostate cancer patients is fairly accurate. Therefore, the benefit of MRI-guided radiotherapy for prostate cancer patients will be the daily visualisation of the healthy surroundings. This allows a better complication risk assessment and a safer dose escalation to the intraprostatic lesions located close to the rectal wall. Surgery is the only established curative treatment option for renal cell carcinoma. Urological complications as intraoperative hemorrhage and postoperative urine leakage still occur; therefore a non-invasive approach remains the ultimate treatment. The technical feasibility of real-time MRI-guided radiotherapy in terms of breath-holding, treatment planning, and radiation delivery time is presented. The clinical rationale for the MRI-accelerator system is not limited to the tumour sites described in this thesis. The MRI-accelerator has great potential for all tumour sites that exhibit large variation in position, size, or shape during the course of the radiotherapy treatment, for example the bladder, the rectum, the pancreas, and the liver. The clinical introduction of the MRI-accelerator will be facilitated by the construction of a dedicated center for image guided oncological interventions, which will house three MRI-accelerators. Improvement of current radiotherapy treatments as well as the development of radiotherapy strategies for new tumour sites will be investigated.


Traditional application specific synthesis systems for DSP rely on a predesigned library of components. Designs in the DSP domain often involve constant operands. Using off-the-shelf library components for such designs can be wasteful in terms of area, power and timing. Operations involving constant operands are possible candidates for reduction based on partial evaluation. Classical logic synthesis is often incapable of performing reductions because of component sharing (typically decided during high level synthesis) between regular operations and those involving constant operands, which prevent minimizations during this phase. We propose a methodology for performing on-demand component reduction using partial evaluation during synthesis of application specific DSP circuits. The simplified components have better characteristics compared to their unreduced counterparts in terms of both delay and power. Use of reduced components in the synthesis loop showed a system wide improvement in performance, area and power for the synthesized designs for a variety of benchmark DSP circuits.


ABSTRACT Though much has been written about the benefits that Black sororities and fraternities offer its members as well as broader communities within and beyond the ivory towers, comparatively fewer studies have addressed how these organizations interact with men's constructions and embodiments of masculinities. Moreover, even fewer studies examine the intersections of masculinities, race, and religion. As such, this paper examines how members of one Black Christian fraternity construct their manhood amid these intersections. To do this, we conduct an interpretative phenomenological analysis based on interviews, a photovoice exercise, and field notes taken during a fraternity retreat to examine how members of this fraternity negotiate race-gender-religion as they navigate both college life and emerging adulthood. Our analysis reveals that the men embody Black Christian masculinities as responsibility, assuming leadership roles, and actively working against stereotypes and tropes of Black Christian manhood. Ultimately, we argue that colleges and universities should be cognizant of the ways that Black Christian fraternity men experience and respond to gendered racism and that educators themselves be aware of the subtle ways (cisgender heterosexual) Black manhood can sometimes reinforce heteropatriarchy.


AIM
NKN reduces brain edema, neuronal death and neurological deficits in rats after cerebral ischemia. In the present study, we investigated whether NKN was effective on brain injury in cerebral ischemia rats.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model was used to produce experimental cerebral ischemia in adult male Wistar rats. The activity of SOD and concentration of MDA were determined. We also examined the efficacy of NKN on neurological deficit scores, expression of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor and endothelin-1 mRNA in brain of focal cerebral ischemia rats.

RESULTS
The results show that NKN significantly increased the activity of SOD, decreased the concentration of MDA, decreased neurological deficit scores, inhibited the expression of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor and endothelin-1 mRNA in brain of focal cerebral ischemia rats.

CONCLUSION
The results implied NKN could protect brain against injury caused by cerebral ischemia.


Extensive-form games constitute the standard representation scheme for games with a temporal component. But do all extensive-form games correspond to protocols that we can implement in the real world? We often rule out games with imperfect recall, which prescribe that an agent forget something that she knew before. In this paper, we show that even some games with perfect recall can be problematic to implement. Specifically, we show that if the agents have a sense of time passing (say, access to a clock), then some extensive-form games can no longer be implemented; no matter how we attempt to time the game, some information will leak to the agents that they are not supposed to have. We say such a game is not exactly timeable. We provide easy-to-check necessary and sufficient conditions for a game to be exactly timeable. Most of the technical depth of the paper concerns how to approximately time games, which we show can always be done, though it may require large amounts of time. Specifically, we show that some games require time proportional to the power tower of height proportional to the number of players, which in practice would make them untimeable. We hope to convince the reader that timeability should be a standard assumption, just as perfect recall is today. Besides the conceptual contribution to game theory, we show that timeability has implications for onion routing protocols.


textabstractAsthma is a lung disease characterized by chronic inflammation of the airways
associated with bronchial hyperresponsiveness. The airflow obstruction within the
lungs is responsible of recurrent episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness
and coughing. The physiopathological changes of the airways in asthma are mediated
by many cells and cellular elements. It has been argued that asthma is a syndrome
comprising a number of separate conditions, rather than a single disease with a broad
range of severity. It has long been thought that the inappropriate response of the
specific immune system to harmless antigens leading to the polarization of T‐cells
toward a T‐helper 2 (Th2) phenotype was the central mechanism of asthma. However,
in the last years the hypothesis of asthma as one unifying disease concept has
disappeare. Novel disease and bronchial inflammation pathways, many of
which are independent of adaptive immunity, have been reported. The concept of
disease endotypes has been recently introduced and subtypes of asthma with
different and specific pathophysiology, immunology, clinical features and response to
treatment have been described. A simple categorization of the different
inflammatory patterns in asthmatics based on sputum eosinophil and neutrophil
proportions has been provided and four inflammatory subtypes have been identified:
neutrophilic, eosinophilic, mixed granulocytic and paucigranulocytic asthma. A
recent review by Haldar and Pavord suggested that non‐eosinophilic asthma
represents a stable phenotype associated with distinct etiologic factors and less
airway pathology. Also, it has been suggested that severe asthma should no longer
be considered as the result of a progressive process, but rather as a separate
pathological entity with distinct physiologic and clinical characteristics. These
heterogeneous inflammatory patterns have been also reported by Brasier et al, who
evaluated bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples in mild to severe asthmatic patients.
They showed that cytokine expression patterns in BAL could be used to identify
distinct types of asthma and identify distinct subsets of methacholine
hyperresponders. Despite improved understanding of pathophysiology,
immunology and genetics of asthma in childhood, we still do not know the basic
mechanisms underlying the development of the disease.


A theoretical approach is developed to predict the effect of a passive control device on the global stability of a cylinder flow close to the critical Reynolds number Rec = 46.8. The passive control device is here a small control cylinder that is modelled by a local force. This force is the sum of a steady component, acting on the base-flow, and of an unsteady component, acting at the perturbation level. To understand how these two components affect the flow stability, a multiple timescale analysis is first performed at the bifurcation. The leading global mode responsible for the onset of the Von Karman street is assumed to oscillate on a "fast" timescale and its amplitude to grow on a "slow" timescale. Then a sensitivity analysis of the leading global eigenvalue with respect to the steady and unsteady components of the force is developed. By combining these two analysis, one obtains maps of the growth rate and pulsation of the perturbation as a function of the position of the local force. The regions of the flow where the placement of a control cylinder suppresses the Von Karman instability are very well reproduced.


Our society is in the midst of an explosion of data: 'there was 5 exabytes of information created between the dawn of civilization through 2003, but that much information is now created every 2 days, and the pace is increasing'. In 2014, there were 2.4 billion internet users. That number grew to 3.8 billion in 2017 and new data is created by the quintillions of bytes every day. Together with mobile devices, the Internet of Things (IoT) contributes to this huge data production. In the big data era, orientating within this magma of online data has become an extremely complex but crucial task, also leading to complex issues in terms of regulation of this new environment. The European Union seems at first to have acknowledged the potential of monitoring data, putting in place measures to unlock TDM potentialities. On 14 September 2016, the European Commission published a Proposal for a Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market, which was approved into Directive 2019/790/EU on 17 April 2019 ("DSM Directive"). Inter alia, this copyright reform would like to improve access to protected works across borders within the Digital Single Market (DSM) to boost research and innovation. To this end, the DSM Directive includes a set of new mandatory exceptions and limitations. In particular, the reform introduces two specific limitations for TDM. In this chapter, the introduction of mandatory TDM limitations in European law will be assessed against the international and European framework of copyright exceptions and limitations by considering the rationales for such an exception and the positive and negative impacts of the reform. Giving the importance of TDM activities for the economic development in the EU and its innovative environment, the question arises if the reform lives up to the expectations. Although, following our previous suggestions, the scope of the limitation has been broadened, the final text of the reform still limits the full exploitation of the potential of data for research and innovation, for start-ups as well as more generally for the broader access to works and the information they contain.


This critical account of the fair trade movement explores the vast gap between the rhetoric of fair trade and its practical results for poor countries, particularly those of Africa. In the Global North, fair trade often is described as a revolutionary tool for transforming the lives of millions across the globe. The growth in sales for fair trade products has been dramatic in recent years, but most of the benefit has accrued to the already wealthy merchandisers at the top of the value chain rather than to the poor producers at the bottom. Ndongo Sylla has worked for Fairtrade International and offers an insider's view of how fair trade improves - or doesn't - the lot of the world's poorest. His methodological framework first describes the hypotheses on which the fair trade movement is grounded before going on to examine critically the claims made by its proponents. By distinguishing local impact from global impact, Sylla exposes the inequity built into the system and the resulting misallocation of the fair trade premium paid by consumers. The Fair Trade Scandal is an empirically based critique of both fair trade and traditional free trade; it is the more important for exploring the problems of both from the perspective of the peoples of the Global South, the ostensible beneficiaries of the fair trade system.


Driven by recent advances in batch Reinforcement Learning (RL), this paper contributes to the application of batch RL to demand response. In contrast to conventional model-based approaches, batch RL techniques do not require a system identification step, making them more suitable for a large-scale implementation. This paper extends fitted Q-iteration, a standard batch RL technique, to the situation when a forecast of the exogenous data is provided. In general, batch RL techniques do not rely on expert knowledge about the system dynamics or the solution. However, if some expert knowledge is provided, it can be incorporated by using the proposed policy adjustment method. Finally, we tackle the challenge of finding an open-loop schedule required to participate in the day-ahead market. We propose a model-free Monte Carlo method that uses a metric based on the state-action value function or Q-function and we illustrate this method by finding the day-ahead schedule of a heat-pump thermostat. Our experiments show that batch RL techniques provide a valuable alternative to model-based controllers and that they can be used to construct both closed-loop and open-loop policies.


There is increasing pressure for the flexibility of labour markets both in current EU member states and candidate countries. The paper aims to estimate the strictness of employment protection regulation, one of the most relevant aspects of labour market flexibility, and the degree of its actual enforcement, for the Baltic States. For the studies on CEE labour markets the novelty in our approach is that we use information from the applicable legislation as well as on the coverage of labour legislation and the practice of law enforcement. The analysis shows that, though overall EPL strictness is close to the average of EU countries, individual and collective dismissals are relatively heavily and temporary forms of employment relatively weakly regulated. Still, the effective flexibility is increased by larger share of less protected workers and problems with law enforcement, which may be the reason why employers' estimates on the flexibility differ somewhat from the flexibility of formal legislation. The employment protection legislation seems not to have influenced the level of unemployment in the sample of CEE countries. However, it is possible that labour markets of Baltic States will become more rigid if the law enforcement improves, with possible adverse effects on labour market performance.


SnO2 thin films were prepared on SiO2/Si substrate by RF-Magentron Sputtering method, varying the deposition time and Ar-to-O2 flow ratio. The post-annealing was conducted at 500 oC and 700 oC in Ar and O2 atmosphere, respectively. Film characteristics were very sensitive to the gas flow ratio during the deposition and the conditions of post-annealing. The Film thickness decreased with decreasing of Ar flow ratio at a constant amount (50 sccm) of total gas flow. Especially, the film deposited under Ar-O2 mixture gas (Ar-to-O2 ratio of 50%) showed clearly aggregated morphology of small particles (cauliflower) in a wide range of area. In the annealed films, these cauliflowers separated some small grains, decreasing the film thickness.


Presence of heavy metals (such as lead, Pb) in plants is one of the major environmental stresses that decrease plant growth. Therefore, it is essential to determine the threshold of the plants' tolerance to these elements. In this regard, to evaluate the effect of different concentrations of Pb on eco-physiological traits of petunia plant, an experiment was carried out in the hydroponics greenhouse of Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran, as a completely randomized design with 8 treatments and 4 replications. Treatments consisted of different concentrations of Pb (0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2 and 4 mg/L as Pb(NO3)2). After applying the treatments, at the end of the growing season, the eco-physiological indices including photosynthesis, transpiration, stomatal conductance, stomatal resistance and leaf temperature were measured. Results showed that concentrations higher than 0.75 mg/L Pb(NO3)2 reduced the rate of photosynthesis, transpiration and stomatal conductance as compared to control. The highest stomatal resistance (8.754 M/m.s) was observed in 4 mg/L treatment; though it didn't have significant difference with 1.0, 1.5 and 2 mg/L treatments. The lowest stomatal resistance (7.285 M/m.s) was seen in 0.25 mg/L treatment, which had no significant difference with control. The highest leaf temperature (33.26 C) was observed in 2 mg/L treatment; though it didn't have significant difference with 1.5 and 4 mg/L treatments. The lowest leaf temperature (26.19 C) was obtained in the control treatment. After 0.75 mg/L, the increase in leaf temperature was sensible. Based on the results, it appears that in soils having Pb concentration of ≤ 0.75 mg/L, petunia plants are recommendable for cultivation in landscapes, accumulation of Pb, and phytoremediation.


We evaluated fungal biomass (as ergosterol concentration) and invertebrate colonization during leaf breakdown of Picramnia sellowii Planch. (Picramniaceae) in pools and riffles of three low-order forested streams in southeastern Brazil. We hypothesized that leaf breakdown will be higher in riffles due to the high physical fragmentation and fungal activity. The experiment was carried out during the dry season of 2012, using 108 litter bags, each containing 3 ± 0.05 g of air-dried leaves. After 7, 15, 30, 60, 90, and 120 d of incubation, six litter bags (riffle = 3 and pool = 3) were removed from each stream. Leaf breakdown rate (k) was classified as intermediate in pools and fast in riffles. We recorded similar values of remaining leaf mass in two habitats until 60 d. However, at 90 and 120 d, this process was faster in riffles. The mean fungal biomass was similar between habitats and showed an increase during the experiment at 90 d. Fauna composition differed between habitats and across sampling dates, with Chironomidae most contributing to these differences and being particularly abundant in riffles and in the initial period of leaf breakdown (until 30 d). Shredder abundance and biomass were not different between habitats and among incubation durations. Leaf breakdown (remaining leaf mass) was positively associated with fungal and shredder biomasses. However, water velocity was not related to leaf breakdown. These findings emphasize the importance of fungal and shredder organisms, as well as the low importance of water velocity, on mass loss in low-order tropical streams.


This paper offers a systematic analysis of Hobbes's practical political thought. Hobbes's abstract philosophy is rightly celebrated, but he also gave much practical advice on how to avoid disorder. Yet he is typically interpreted too narrowly in this respect, especially by those who only read him economistically. Other scholars supplement this economistic focus with sociological or political interpretations, but to my knowledge, no one stresses all three aspects of his thought. This paper thus examines each of Hobbes's practical proposals for avoiding corruption and a state of nature. Hobbes clearly uses economistic, sociological and political approaches, which involve shaping incentives, desires/preferences, and opportunities, respectively. This intentionally anachronistic framework helps us see further, highlighting Hobbes's rich and wide-ranging practical proposals for avoiding disorder – a crucial part of his theory.


: Among 52 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the skin of the pinna seen consecutively between 1952 and 1973, a single course of treatment failed to control the disease in 10 (19%). This failure rate is higher than that usually reported for squamous cell carcinomas of the skin in general (2 to 6%), and appears to be in conflict with the belief that squamous cell carcinomas of the skin of the pinna rarely metastasize. It appears that other factors than neglect are responsible for this discrepancy. In this series it was not possible to judge the relative efficacy of one mode of treatment over another.


Based on their position in relation to major ocean currents, palaeoclimatic archives in the Faroe Islands are expected to be sensitive recorders of variations in North Atlantic circulation. The multiproxy analysis (magnetic susceptibility, total carbon, nitrogen and sulphur, biogenic silica, grains >255 µm) of a lacustrine record with both winter and summer climate indicators illustrates the variability of Faroese climate during the early Holocene (c. 11 300—10 240 cal. yr BP) and allows comparison with other records in the region. Our high-resolution record suggests a period of predominantly winter cooling and increased storminess centred at c. 11 150 cal. yr BP followed by a period of stability between c. 11 000 and 10 680 cal. yr BP, which correlates with a time when the North Atlantic was particularly free of meltwater incursions. After c. 10 680 cal. yr BP, both winter and summer indicators show an increase in variability broadly synchronous with increased variability at other North Atlantic sites. Within this time period, a predominantly winter cooling centred at c. 10 600 cal. yr BP, a winter/summer cooling centred at c. 10 450 cal. yr BP and a winter/summer cooling centred at c. 10 300 cal. yr BP are recorded. These distinctive coolings correspond to periods of ice core δ18O inferred lowered atmospheric temperatures over Greenland and the reoccurrence of meltwater outbursts at c. 10 600, 10 500 and 10 350 cal. yr BP.


Efforts to increase blood pressure (BP) control rates in blacks, a traditionally underserved high-risk population must address both provider practice and patient adherence issues. The home-based BP Intervention for blacks study is a 3-arm randomized controlled trial designed to test 2 strategies to improve hypertension management and outcomes in a decentralized service setting serving a vulnerable and complex home care population. The primary study outcomes are systolic BP, diastolic BP, and BP control; secondary outcomes are nurse adherence to hypertension management recommendations and patient adherence to medication, healthy diet, and other self-management strategies. Nurses (n 312) in a nonprofit Medicare-certified home health agency are randomized along with their eligible hypertensive patients (n 845). The 2 interventions being tested are (1) a "basic" intervention delivering key evidence-based reminders to home care nurses and patients while the patient is receiving traditional postacute home health care; and (2) an "augmented" intervention that includes that same as the basic intervention, plus transition to an ongoing Hypertension Home Support Program that extends support for 12 months. Outcomes are measured at 3 and 12 months after baseline interview. The interventions will be assessed relative to usual care and to each other. Systems change to improve BP management and outcomes in home health will not easily occur without new intervention models and rigorous evaluation of their impact. Results from this trial will provide important information on potential strategies to improve BP control in a low-income chronically ill patient population. (Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes. 2009;2:241-248.)


Antigen containing, allogeneic cells secreting the genetically modified protein and peptide-chaperone gp96-Ig cross, prime and expand antigen specific CD8 T cells with therapeutic antitumor activity in mice. In a first in man phase I study, we now report the results of therapeutic vaccination of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with an established, allogeneic non-small cell lung adenocarcinoma cell line secreting gp96-Ig. Advanced NSCLC-patients stage IIIB or IV of any histological subtype were enrolled and treated with up to 36 vaccinations over the course of 18 weeks. Primary endpoint was safety, secondary endpoints tumor response and overall survival. Measurement of tumor antigen specific CD8 CTL responses is precluded by the lack of known NSCLC associated antigens. Therefore, we measured patient CD8 T cell-IFN-γ responses to allo-antigens of the vaccine cells as surrogate for tumor antigen specific CD8 CTL. In 7 of 18 treated patients tumor growth was stabilized, however none of the 18 patients had an objective tumor response by RECIST criteria. Of 15 patients evaluable for immune response, 11 responded to vaccination with more than twofold increase in CD8-IFN-γ frequency above baseline. These patients had a median survival time of 16.5 months. Four patients who had no CD8 response above base line had survival times from 2.1 to 6.7 months. Our data are consistent with the concept that generation of CD8 CTL by therapeutic vaccination may delay tumor growth and progression and mediate prolonged survival even in the absence of objective tumor responses. Further studies will be required to test this concept and promising result.


Thin SiC buffer layers have been grown by sputtering a graphite C target onto both (111) and (110) Si substrates. Converting the graphitic C into SiC is highly temperature dependent and relies on free silicon atoms that sublime from voids in the substrate at higher temperatures. Morphological and structural investigations were performed by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD).


Saccharides with a molecular weight ranging from 182 to 50,000, which enter the cerebrospinal fluid at extremely slow rates when administered intravenously, all pass readily at similar rates from cerebrospinal fluid to blood after injection into a lateral cerebral ventricle. The mechanism of transfer appears to be a filtration of cerebrospinal fluid across a sieve-like boundary possibly located at the arachnoid villi.


The increasing availability of digital whole slide images opens new perspectives for computer-assisted image analysis complementing modern histopathology, assuming we can implement reliable and efficient image analysis algorithms to extract the biologically relevant information. Both validation and supervised learning techniques typically rely on ground truths manually made by human experts. However, this task is difficult, subjective and usually not exhaustive. This is a well-known issue in the field of biomedical imaging, and a common solution is the use of artificial "phantoms". Following this trend, we study the feasibility of synthesizing artificial histological images to create perfect ground truths. In this paper, we show that it is possible to generate a synthetic whole slide image with reasonable computing resources, and we propose a way to evaluate its quality.


According to standard test method for fatigue crack growth rates of metallic materials, the crack growth rate of 30NCD16 at three stress ratio (R=0.1, 0.3 and 0.5) were measured. Based on linear elasticity fracture mechanics theory, the fatigue crack growth rate was studied through the nonlinear least squares fitting method. The Paris model parameters at steady growth region and near threshold growth region and NASGRO model parameters were obtained. The effective stress intensity factors versus curves at three stress ratios were determined by crack closure effect. The results show that the Paris equation can preferably describe relations at steady growth region. At this region the model parameter m lies 2.5-4. This result is consistent with the known statistical facts of most metallic materials. NASGRO equation can preferably describe relations from near threshold growth region to high values region. all the test data at three stress ratio was able to correlate and . Crack closure was the major factor in correlating stress ratio and crack growth rate, the degree of crack closure weaken with increasing stress ratio.


General properties of dilute polymer solutions were considered with particular emphasis on solvation. Current theories of polymar-solvent interaction were outlined. Fibrous cellulose triacetate was prepared from cotton cellulose by a heterogeneous acetylation method. The polymer was characterised and analysed for full acetylation. Mine solvents were chosen to investigate the solution properties of cellulose triacetate. These were : chloroform,methylene chloride, tetrachloroethane,formic acid,ocstic acid,dichloroacetic acid,meta-cresol,ortho-chlorophenol and dimethyl sulphoxide. The solvents were purified and their densities determined over the temperature range 10-40 C. The measurement of osmotic pressure of cellulose triacetate in six solvents,over the temperature range 10-40C,was described in detail,and useful information regarding membrane behaviour was obtained. Values of the polymer-solvent interaction parameter chi[1] and of the free energy of dilution DeltaG[1] were calculated from measureent of the static osmotic head at several temperatures. The enthalpy DeltaH[1] and entropy DeltaS[1] of dilution were computed from the temperature coefficient of DeltaG[1]. Enthalpies and entropios of dilution were generally positive end constant over the temperature range studied. Entropies of dilution ware smaller than those obtained with more flexible polymers,but greater than ideal values. Values of DeltaH[1], DeltaS[1] and of chi[1] were interpreted in terms of solvation,and attempts were made to apply current theories of polymer-solvent interaction. Results seemed capable of partial interpretation in terms of simpler lattice theories providing certain properties of the system are taken into account. Viscosities of dilute solutions of cellulose triacetate in the nine solvents were studied. Viscosities were found to decrease with temperature in all cases,although a linear dependence of the limiting viscosity number on temperature was not observed. There was no correlation between the limiting viscosity number or the Huggins' constant and solvent power. Application of hydrodynamic theories was more successful,and useful measures of solvent power were thus obtained. The quantitative solubility of cellulose triacetate in the nine solvents was determined at 25 °C ,and solubility results were interpreted, along with other parameters of solvent power, in terms of the varying degrees of solvation resulting from hydrogen bonding between active hydrogens of the solvents and the acetyl groups of cellulose triacetate.


This chapter focuses on the range of different skills involved in the production of a dissertation. It begins by outlining the reasons for writing a dissertation. It then discusses the choice of dissertation topic and formulating a research question; writing a dissertation proposal; planning and organization; researching for a dissertation; and the writing process.


Recent studies have suggested that the interaction between the sympathetic nervous system and nitric oxide (NO) or nitrosyl factors may be an important means by which arterial blood pressure is regulated. We investigated whether NO synthase (NOS) inhibition modulates basal sympathetic nerve discharge (SND) in baroreceptor-innervated and -denervated, chloralose-anesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats. We recorded mean arterial pressure (MAP), renal SND, and lumbar SND before and after administration of the NOS inhibitor, NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, 20 mg/kg iv). Two minutes after L-NAME administration in baroreceptor-innervated rats, MAP increased (+23 +/- 3 mmHg), whereas renal (-45 +/- 6%, n = 7) and lumbar (-35 +/- 2%, n = 6) SND significantly decreased from control levels. These changes persisted for up to 20 min after L-NAME administration. In baroreceptor-denervated rats, L-NAME increased MAP (+40 +/- 6 mmHg) and decreased lumbar SND (n = 7) (-37 +/- 10% from control at 20 min post-L-NAME). In contrast, renal SND progressively increased (+33 +/- 8% at 20 min post-L-NAME) from control after L-NAME administration in baroreceptor-denervated rats (n = 7). These results demonstrate that NOS inhibition can produce nonuniform changes in SND in baroreceptor-denervated rats and suggest that endogenous nitrosyl factors provide tonic excitation to lumbar SND, whereas they provide a tonic restraint to renal SND.


PURPOSE
To measure the sensitivity of deformable image registration to image noise. Deformable image registration can be used to map organ contours and other treatment planning data from one CT to another. These CT studies can be acquired with either conventional fan-beam CT systems or more novel cone-beam CT techniques. However, cone-beam CT images can have higher noise levels than fan-beam CT, which might reduce registration accuracy. We have investigated the effect of image quality differences on the deformable registration of fan-beam CTs and CTs with simulated cone-beam noise.

METHOD
Our study used three CT studies for each of five prostate patients. Each CT was contoured by three experienced radiation oncologists. For each patient, one CT was designated the source image and the other two were target images. A deformable image registration process was used to register each source CT to each target CT and then transfer the manually drawn treatment planning contours from the source CT to the target CTs. The accuracy of the automatically transferred contours (and thus of the deformable registration process) was assessed by comparing them to the manual contours on the target CTs, with the differences evaluated with respect to interobserver variability in the manual contours. Then each of the target CTs was modified to include increased noise characteristic of cone-beam CT and the tests were repeated. Changes in registration accuracy due to increased noise were detected by monitoring changes in the automatically transferred contours.

RESULTS
We found that the additional noise caused no significant loss of registration accuracy at magnitudes that exceeded what would normally be found in an actual cone-beam CT.

SUMMARY
We conclude that noise levels in cone-beam CTs that might reduce manual contouring accuracy do not reduce image registration and automatic contouring accuracy.


Contourlet, one of multiscale analysis tool with great property of multi-directionality, locality and sparse approximation, is an excellent 2-dimentional image description approach. Contourlet can be employed as a remote sensing image fusion approach to improve spatial resolution and application through precise capture of edge information from panchromatic image and injection of that into multispectral image. Hence, image fusion using contourlet has become the research highlight and fronts in the field of remote sensing image fusion. However, the unwanted spectral distortion appears after the contourlet method is applied to remotely sensed image. Lαβ color model is composed of 3 orthogonal color channels with least correlation, which are achromatic, yellow-blue and red-green ones. Spectral distortion can be remarkably reduced when the fusion is operated in only achromatic channel due to its non-colorful characteristic. Hence, lαβ-Contourlet fusion algorithm is proposed. Panchromatic image and multispectral images from BJ-1 are then used to test the united algorithm. Assessment indicates that lαβ-Contourlet fusion algorithm can improve spectral performance of fusion result simply from contourlet algorithm.


Abstract Early diagnosis and treatment of newborns with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) can substantially reduce mortality rates. Polymerase chain reduction technology is desirable for diagnosing HIV-exposed infants and for monitoring the disease progression in older patients. In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), processing both types of tests requires the use of scarce resources. In this article, we present a supply chain network model for referring/assigning HIV test samples from clinics to labs. These assignments aim to minimize the expected infant mortality from AIDS due to delays in the return of test results. Using queuing theory, we present an analytical framework to evaluate the distribution of the sample waiting times at the testing labs and incorporate it into a mathematical model. The suggested framework takes into consideration the non-stationarity in the availability of reagents and technical staff. Hence, our model provides a method to find an assignment strategy that involves an indirect prioritization of samples that are more likely than others to be positive. We also develop a heuristic to simplify the implementation of an assignment strategy and provide general managerial insights for operating sample referral networks in LMICs with limited resources. Using a case study from Tanzania, we show that the potential improvement is substantial, especially when some labs are utilized almost to their full capacity. Our results apply to other settings in which expensive equipment with volatile availability is used to perform crucial operations, for example, the recent COVID-19 pandemic.


Evolutionary rate heterogeneity and rapid radiations are common phenomena in organismal evolution and represent major challenges for reconstructing deep‐level phylogenies. Here we detected substantial conflicts in and among data sets as well as uncertainty concerning relationships among lineages of Vitaceae from individual gene trees, supernetworks and tree certainty values. Congruent deep‐level relationships of Vitaceae were retrieved by comprehensive comparisons of results from optimal partitioning analyses, multispecies coalescent approaches and the Bayesian concordance method. We found that partitioning schemes selected by PartitionFinder were preferred over those by gene or by codon position, and the unpartitioned model usually performed the worst. For a data set with conflicting signals, however, the unpartitioned model outperformed models that included more partitions, demonstrating some limitations to the effectiveness of concatenation for these data. For a transcriptome data set, fast coalescent methods (STAR and MP‐EST) and a Bayesian concordance approach yielded congruent topologies with trees from the concatenated analyses and previous studies. Our results highlight that well‐resolved gene trees are critical for the effectiveness of coalescent‐based methods. Future efforts to improve the accuracy of phylogenomic analyses should emphasize the development of new methods that can accommodate multiple biological processes and tolerate missing data while remaining computationally tractable.


: In the last decades of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first century, Vietnam entered a period of strong industrialisation and modernisation. The growth rate of industrialisation and urbanisation in Dong Nai Province is very high, thus speeding up the process of modernisation. The rapid economic growth helps to improve the material and spiritual life of the people. In addition to economic development, new cultural and social issues have also emerged, especially changes in the cultural values of minority communities. This article studies the cultural changes of the ethnic Chơ -ro in Dong Nai Province. These changes stem from environmental changes such as life and economic activities and cultural exchange with other races living in the same area. Such changes are inevitable in ethnic minority communities in Vietnam. However, for the Chơ -ro people, this trend of change has become more intense, because people's living environment has been greatly embroiled since 1950s. In addition, there is no emotional connection between their religious mentality, customs, and daily life. The traditional cultural value of Chơ -ro will gradually disappear under the current momentum and will be replaced by a new cultural value system.


Adult language users can infer the meaning of a previously unfamiliar word from a single exposure to this word in a semantically and thematically constrained context, henceforth, predictive context (Borovsky et al., 2010 Cognition, 116(2), 289-296; Borovsky et al., 2012 Language Learning and Development, 8(3), 278-302). Children use predictive contexts to anticipate upcoming stimuli (Borovsky et al., 2012 Language Learning and Development, 8(3), 278-302; Mani & Huettig, 2012 Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 38(4), 843-847), but the extent to which they rely on prediction to learn novel word forms is unclear (Gambi et al., 2021 Cognition, 211, 104650). Here, we examine children's one-shot learning from predictive contexts using a modified version of the one-shot learning ERP paradigm for children aged 7-13 years. In a first learning phase, we presented audio recordings of expected words and unexpected novel pseudowords in strongly and weakly constraining sentence contexts. In the following priming phase, the same recorded words and pseudowords were used as primes to identical/synonymous, related, and unrelated target words. We measured N400 modulations to the word and pseudoword continuations in the learning phase and to the identical/synonymous, related, or unrelated target words in the priming phase. When initially presented in strongly constraining sentences, novel pseudowords primed synonymous targets equally well as word primes of the same intended meaning. This pattern was particularly pronounced in older children. Our findings suggest that, around early adolescence, children can use single exposures to constraining contexts to infer the meaning of novel words and to integrate these novel words in their lexicons.


PURPOSE
Many breast cancer (BC) survivors continue to be seen by specialists for routine follow-up care despite growing evidence that transitioning appropriate BC survivors to primary care is safe and effective. We describe the formative evaluation of an initiative involving the development and implementation of sustainable models of follow-up care for BC survivors across 14 Regional Cancer Centers (RCC) in Ontario, Canada.

METHODS
After extensive consultation, each RCC received catalyst funding for the initiative. Detailed work plans were developed locally and submitted to Cancer Care Ontario. Each region had a designated lead and support from primary care. Funding could be used to develop any aspect of the model. Formative evaluation of each model was conducted with descriptive analysis of the model created, including summative description of how resources were used, the number of survivors transitioned, and preliminary results from patient surveys of experience at transition.

RESULTS
Each region developed a unique model that included clearly identified structures and processes of care. All regions used survivorship care plans and patient education materials. Three main models of follow-up care were developed: (1) direct to primary care, (2) transition clinic, and (3) shared care. A total of 3,418 BC survivors transitioned between March 2012 and September 2013. Patient experience surveys were distributed by 12 regions, gathering responses from 752 BC survivors, with 85% reporting that they felt adequately prepared for the transition.

CONCLUSION
Using the approach described, wide-scale transition of appropriate BC survivors from oncology-led practice is feasible over a fairly short timeframe.


Unloading is a complicated process that the load-carrying condition of main structure is gradually transferred and the internal force is redistributed, and so the exact numerical simulation applied on the unloading process is crucially important. The steel roof composed of the space tubular truss with the long-span and cantilevered structure for the Helan Shan stadium at Yinchuan city in Ningxia Hui autonomous region is taken as an analytical example and the finite element analysis software SAP2000 is used to simulate the unloading process during the steel construction. The computational model is established and the simulation method is provided for investigating the detailed unloading process of steel roof. The load-carrying characteristic of every bracing point acquired by the numerical simulation analysis is applied to analyze and evaluate the structural performance under two different comparable unloading cases and then an optimized unloading scheme is achieved from these two cases. The deformation of steel roof and stress ratio of steel member at each different unloading step during the whole unloading process are presented. Ultimately, based on the preferable unloading scheme, the temporary bracing structure is designed by using the maximum reaction of bracing points when unloading.


Author(s): Han, Luping | Advisor(s): Greaney, Alex P | Abstract: Metal-organic-framework (MOFs) are the most porous materials known to humanity, and thus they attract intensive interest for their huge potential. Hydrogen storage is one of their most important applications. MOFs are promising materials for gas storage and absorption refrigerators--reducing the overall size of the absorption bed. Central to the performance of the MOF is its ability to withdraw heat from the absorbed working gas. The poor thermal conductivity of MOFs limits the refueling time of hydrogen storage because of the removal of latent heat. Currently, to meet DoE's performance targets for hydrogen storage, at least a fivefold increase in thermal conductivity is required. However, their thermal properties have received limited attention. We use molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study MOFs' thermal transport properties and to identify how they can be exploited to create new materials with smart thermal properties. We "measure" the thermal conductivities of MOFs to test mechanisms for externally tuning the thermal conductivities, and determine if changes in thermal properties of MOFs could be used for chemical recognition. These were performed for the purpose of establishing design principles that can be used in the development of new MOFs with tailored thermal conductivity. The structure of metal-organic-frameworks (MOFs) is radically different from that of conventional fully-dense crystals and their vibrational behavior differs correspondingly. There are thousands of known MOFs that encompass a wide spectrum of topologies and symmetries. These structures open avenues for engineering materials with entirely new thermal properties. Advancing our theoretical understanding of thermal conduction in these materials, and with it our control over the transport of heat, has a huge potential to impact the way we use and think about heat. More than letting us use heat more efficiently, it will enable us to use heat differently. For example, creating materials in which the thermal conductivity can be externally tuned, and materials that use heat to carry chemical information for chemical recognition.


Conduction block was detected in patients with neuropathy by measuring a decrease in the size of the compound muscle action potential of more than 20% on proximal versus distal stimulation of the peroneal, median or ulnar nerve in the absence of excess temporal dispersion of the potential. The teased fibre analyses of nerve biopsies from four patients with "definite" and six patients with "probable" conduction block and from seven patients with neuropathy but without conduction block were compared. All patients with conduction block had significant demyelination (X% demyelinated and remyelinated fibres = 50%) while those without conduction block did not (X = 5.0%). Demyelination is the pathological basis of conduction block in human neuropathies.


Nitroxide radicals are widely used in electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) applications. Nitroxides are stable organic radicals containing the N–O˙ group with hyperfine coupled unpaired electron and nitrogen nuclear spins. In the past, much attention was devoted to studying nitroxide EPR spectra and electron spin magnetization evolution under various experimental conditions. However, the dynamics of nitrogen nuclear spin has not been investigated in detail so far. In this work, we performed quantitative prediction and simulation of nitrogen nuclear spin magnetization evolution in several magnetic resonance experiments. Our research was focused on fast rotating nitroxide radicals in liquid solutions. We used a general approach allowing us to compute electron and nitrogen nuclear spin magnetization from the same time-dependent spin density matrix obtained by solving the Liouville/von Neumann equation. We investigated the nitrogen nuclear spin dynamics subjected to various radiofrequency magnetic fields. Furthermore, we predicted a large dynamic nuclear polarization of nitrogen upon nitroxide irradiation with microwaves and analyzed its effect on the nitroxide EPR saturation factor.


In this study, three samples taken from the planks of the Yenikapı 29 shipwreck were analysed. Firstly, the maximum water content (MWC) and basic density values of the samples were calculated. MWC of the IK13-1 was 164% and the MWC of the SK6-1 was 87%. Because of these low MWC values, samples could be classified as non-degraded. When the SEM images of these two samples were examined, it was understood that the IK13-1 sample was non-degraded but the SK6-1 sample was penetrated with corrosion product and could not be classified as non-degraded. With these analyses, the XRF method was used to measure the iron amounts of the samples. The iron amount of the SK6-1 was 32.3% and the corrosion accumulation in this sample was also proved with XRF. In order to avoid incorrect results, multiple analysis techniques should be used for determining the physical condition of the waterlogged wood near the corroded parts.


In order to more accurately calculate the film stiffness of angular contact ball bearing, it is necessary to establish the film stiffness calculation model that is consistent with reality. The frictional heat exists in high-speed ball bearings, and can impact on oil film thickness and stiffness. The calculation model of film stiffness of an angular contact ball bearing taking account of the effects of viscous heating was proposed based on the elastohydrodynamic lubrication theory. The central film thickness and film stiffness have been determined. An example was calculated with this derived equation and the result was compared with that given in other literatures. The calculation results show that the central film thickness decreases and the film stiffness increases when friction heating are considered.


Many vision-based navigation systems are restricted to the use of only a limited number of landmarks when computing the camera pose. This limitation is due to the overhead of detecting and tracking these landmarks along the image sequence. A new algorithm is proposed for subset selection from the available landmarks. This algorithm searches for the subset that yields minimal uncertainty for the obtained pose parameters. Navigation tasks have different types of goals: moving along a path, photographing an object for a long period of time, etc. The significance of the various pose parameters differs for different navigation tasks. Therefore, a requirements matrix is constructed from a supplied severity function, which defines the relative importance of each parameter. This knowledge can then be used to search for the subset that minimizes the uncertainty of the important parameters, possibly at the cost of greater uncertainty in others. It is shown that the task-oriented landmark selection problem can be defined as an integer-programming problem for which a very good approximation can be obtained. The problem is then translated into a semi-definite programming representation which can be rapidly solved. The feasibility and performance of the proposed algorithm is studied through simulations and lab experimentation.


The study investigates early postnatal development of local field potentials (LFPs) in the primary auditory cortex of hearing and congenitally deaf cats. In hearing cats, LFPs elicited by electrical intracochlear stimulation demonstrated developmental changes in mid-latency range, including reductions in peak and onset latencies of individual waves and a maturation of their shape and latencies during the first 2 months of life. In long latency range (>80 ms), the P(1)/N(1) response appeared after the fourth week of life and further increased in amplitude and decreased in latency, reaching mature shapes between the fourth and sixth months after birth (p.n.). Cortical activated areas became increasingly smaller during the first 3 months of life, reaching mature values at the fourth month p.n. The layer-specific pattern of synaptic activity matured 4 months p.n. In congenitally deaf cats, the developmental pattern was different. The lowest cortical LFP thresholds were significantly smaller than in hearing controls, demonstrating a "hypersensitivity" to sensory inputs. The development of N(b) waves was delayed and altered and the long latency responses became smaller than in controls at the second and third months. The activated areas remained smaller than in controls until the third month, then they increased rapidly and exceeded the activated areas of age-matched controls. From the fourth month on, the activated areas decreased again and smaller synaptic currents were found in deaf cats than in controls. The presented data demonstrate that functional development of the auditory cortex critically depends on auditory experience.


Objectives Remarkable interindividual differences in 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine ('Ecstasy')-mediated toxicity have been reported in humans. Therefore, we tested whether CYP2D6 or its variant alleles as well as CYP3A4 influence the susceptibility to 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine. Methods 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine cytotoxicity was determined in V79 cells expressing human wild-type CYP2D6 (CYP2D6*1), the low-activity alleles CYP2D6*2, *9, *10, and *17, as well as human CYP3A4. Metabolites of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine formed by the different cell lines were quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography/electrochemical detector. Results Toxicity of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine was clearly increased in cells expressing CYP2D6*1 compared with the parental cells devoid of CYP-dependent enzymatic activity. Toxicity in V79 CYP2D6*1 cells was also higher than in V79 cell lines expressing the low-activity alleles CYP2D6*2, *9, *10, or *17. In contrast to CYP2D6, the CYP3A4 isoenzyme did not enhance 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine toxicity. Formation of the oxidative 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine metabolite N-methyl-&agr;-methyldopamine was greatly enhanced in V79 cell line transfected with CYP2D6*1 compared to all other cell lines. The increase in the cytotoxic effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine observed in this cell line was therefore suspected to be a consequence of the production of this metabolite. This was further investigated by testing the cytotoxicity of N-methyl-&agr;-methyldopamine to the control cell line. The results confirmed our hypothesis as the metabolite proved to be more than 100-fold more toxic than the parent compound 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine. Conclusions CYP2D6*1 mediates 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine toxicity via formation of N-methyl-&agr;-methyldopamine. Therefore, it will be important to investigate whether CYP2D6 ultrarapid metabolizers are overrepresented in the cases of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine intoxications.


This study aimed to find the characteristics of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) in fine particulate matter from different stationary emission sources (coal-fired boiler, CFB; municipal waste incinerator, MWI; electric arc furnace, EAF) in Taiwan and the relationship between PM2.5 and PM2.5-bound PCDD/Fs with Taiwanese mortality risk. PM2.5 was quantified using gravimetry and corresponding chemical analyses were done for PM2.5-bound chemicals. Mortality risks of PM2.5 exposure and PCDD/Fs exposure were calculated using Poisson regression. The highest concentration of PM2.5 (0.53±0.39 mg/Nm3) and PCDD/Fs (0.206±0.107 ng I-TEQ/Nm3) was found in CFB and EAF, respectively. Higher proportions of PCDDs over PCDFs were observed in the flue gases of CFB and MWI whereas it was reversed in EAF. For ambient air, PCDD/F congeners around the stationary sources were dominated by PCDFs in vapor phase. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis found that the sources of atmosphere PCDD/Fs were 14.6% from EAF (r=0.81), 52.6% from CFB (r=0.74), 18.0% from traffic (r=0.85) and 14.8% from MWI (r=0.76). For the dioxin congener distribution, PCDDs were dominant in flue gases of CFB and MWI, PCDFs were dominant in EAF. It may be attributed to the different formation mechanisms among wastes incineration, steel-making, and coal-burning processes.


With their ever-growing importance and usability, the healthcare sector has been investing heavily in medical information systems (IS) in recent years, as part of the effort to improve medical decision-making and increase its efficiency. This research aims to evaluate the contribution of information technology (IT) to improving the medical decision-making processes and to evaluate the degree to which IT investments are worthwhile. The method included the assessment of normative value of information. A decision tree model was developed. The calculated tree results were summarized in a cost-effectiveness analysis and a return on investment (ROI) analysis. This research aim to contribute: Researchers by providing insights regarding decision theory, value of information and medical informatics; Practitioners by promoting the design of medical IS; Physicians by enhancing efficient use of information resources; Patients by improving healthcare services; Policy decision-makers regarding the advisability of investing and managing medical IS.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects on students' achievement and misconceptions of new teaching material developed for the unit 'acids and bases". Also, the students' attitudes towards chemistry were explored. The new material included worksheets based on the conceptual conflict strategy. The sample consisted of eighty-eight students. The research was carried out with an experimental/control group design, and lasted for four weeks. Two instruments 'The Concept Achievement Test" and 'Chemistry Attitude Scale" were used to collect data before and after the study as pre-tests and post-tests. The results from the post-tests indicated that the students in the experimental group, taught with the new teaching material, showed significantly greater achievement in the unit than did the students in the control group. In addition, the experimental group had a significantly higher score than the control group with regard to their attitudes toward chemistry. This shows that the implementation of the new material produced better results both in terms of achievement and attitudes. The students' misconceptions in experimental group were less than the control group. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 2005, 6 (1), 36-51]


Silicon nanowire-based solar cells received increasing attention due to their enhanced light harvesting properties and the potential to use low-cost materials to produce solar cells comparable with those on costly monocrystalline counterparts. It is essential to improve the performance of nanowire solar cells by suppressing surface recombination. A multiple core (crystalline silicon nanowires)–shell silicon nanowire-based heterojunction solar cell has been fabricated to deal with this problem. To this end, an ultrathin passivating Al2O3 tunnel layer was deposited on the highly doped p-type a-Si:H emitter prior to a transparent conducting oxide by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Both open circuit voltage and current density increase significantly due to the insertion of the ultrathin Al2O3 layer. An efficiency of 10.0% has been reached by using this multiple core–shell structure.


The lifetime of the surface plasmon in sputtered Ag ultrathin films on Cu(111) was investigated by high‐resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy measurements. The linewidth of the surface plasmon was found to follow a square‐root dependence on the fluence. Such finding allows the tuning of the lifetime of the plasmonic excitation upon sputtering and has general implications in plasmon‐based spectroscopies and in plasmon‐mediated processes across the films and at their surfaces. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


Urban areas (cities, towns, villages, etc.) cover 3.5 percent of the 48 conterminous states and contain more than 75 percent of the population. urban areas, about 3.8 billion trees cover 27.1 percent of the land. On a broader scale, metropolitan areas (urban counties) cover 24.5 percent of the conterminous United States and contain 74.4 billion trees that cover 33.4 percent of these counties. Between 1950 and 1990, metropolitan areas nearly tripled in size; urban areas doubled in size over the past 20 to 25 years. This report is the first national assessment of urban forest resources in the United States and details variations in urbanization and urban tree cover across the United States by state, county, and individual urban area. It illustrates local-scale variation, complexity, and connectedness of the urban forest resource and how this resource changes through time in response to a wide range of powerful forces. The report concludes by outlining future areas of emphasis that will facilitate comprehensive, adaptive, and sustainable urban forest management and improve environmental quality, enhance human health, and connect people with ecosystems in the 21st century.


In this paper, the author investigated some microphysical and optical properties of urban aerosols from OPAC by varying the concentrations of soot and water soluble to determine the effect of hygroscopic growth at the spectral range of 0.25?m to 2.5?m and eight relative humidities (RHs) (0, 50, 70, 80, 90, 95, 98, and 99%).The microphysical properties extracted were radii, volume mix ratio, number mix ratio, mass mix ratio and refractive indices while the optical properties are optical depth and asymmetric parameters all as a function of RHs. Using the microphysical properties, hygroscopic growth factors of the mixtures were determined while using optical depths we determined the Angstrom coefficients, enhancement parameters and the relationship between optical depth and RHs. The growth factors and the enhancement parameters were then parameterized using some models to determine their relationships with RHs. The data fitted the models very well. The angstrom coefficients show that the mixture have bimodal type of distribution with the dominance of fine mode particles and the mode sizes increase with the increase in RH and soot and water soluble concentrations. Keywords : microphysical properties, optical properties, hygroscopic growth, enhancement parameter, spectral range, Angstrom coefficients, bimodal.


CILAS proposes a M4 adaptive mirror (M4AM) that corrects the atmospheric turbulence at high frequencies and residual tip-tilt and defocus due to telescope vibrations by using piezostack actuators. The design presents a matrix of 7217 actuators (triangular geometry, spacing equal to 29 mm) leading to a fitting error reaching the goal. The mirror is held by a positioning system which ensures all movements of the mirror at low frequency and selects the focus (Nasmyth A or B) using a hexapod concept. This subsystem is fixed rigidly to the mounting system and permits mirror displacements. The M4 control system (M4CS) ensures the connection between the telescope control/monitoring system and the M4 unit - positioning system (M4PS) and piezostack actuators of the M4AM in particular. This subsystem is composed of electronic boards, mechanical support fixed to the mounting structure and the thermal hardware. With piezostack actuators, most of the thermal load is minimized and dissipated in the electronic boards and not in the adaptive mirror. The mounting structure (M4MS) is the mechanical interface with the telescope (and the ARU in particular) and ensures the integrity and stability of M4 unit subsystems. M4 positioning system and mounting structure are subcontracted to AMOS company.


Molecular genetic techniques were used to determine the identity of two catfish individuals that could not be identified as indigenous Clarias gariepinus after phenotypic analysis. The unidentified catfish were compared to 126 reference samples, using sequences of the mitochondrial DNA control region. The reference dataset included African catfish from South Africa and Kenya, as well as GenBank records for this species and for three species of Southeast Asian catfish, including the potentially invasive walking catfish, C. batrachus. Visual inspection of sequences showed parallel polymorphisms in the unidentified catfish and C. batrachus that did not occur in C. gariepinus. A bioinformatics approach using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) of the National Center for Biotechnology Information confirmed that the unidentified catfish show more similarity to catfish of Asian origin compared to C. gariepinus. Finally, a phylogenetic approach showed that the catfish analysed group according to continent of origin (Africa and Asia) with strong bootstrap support, and with the unidentified fish contained in the Asian cluster.We conclude that the unidentified catfish are most likely imported C. batrachus.


Literature suggests that culture is a factor in identifying and responding to child sexual abuse. One of the aims of this study is to examine this hypothesis. Responses to field work and literature reviews suggest further that workers face some particular difficulties in dealing with child sexual abuse. Indeed social workers are very often the key worker in dealing with child sexual abuse m the initial stages. Therefore, another aim of this study is to examine the responses of social workers to difficulties in different cultures to child sexual abuse. Finally the training needs of social workers in this aspect of this field work is examined. This study examines the attitudes and responses to sexually abused children of samples of social workers in Taiwan and the UK. The study explains differences and similarities related to the nationality of the respondents. The specific issues include the definitions of child sexual abuse, the initial effects on victims, the long-term effects on survivors, the difficulties in dealing with child sexual abuse, and the training needs of social workers. The research instruments consist of closed questionnaires, open questionnaires, and interviews. The data is analysed using appropriate statistical techniques. The results are as follows:1. Both samples felt that a clear definition was necessary in the identification and support of abused children. The result also suggests that social workers in Taiwan and the UK differed on issues surrounding "adult's power" and the initial effects on male and female victims and the long-term effects on female victims, and the difficulties in dealing with child sexual abuse.2. Similarities were found in respondents lack of experience when dealing with male victims and the training needs in dealing with child sexual abuse. Several conclusion were made regarding the significance of child sexual abuse in the two communities, and the need to develop further training and support for social workers. Suggestions for further research are identified.


OBJECTIVES
To measure the value of survival gains attributable to the introduction of 3 novel therapies for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).

STUDY DESIGN
Retrospective study of patients diagnosed with MDS in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program (SEER) registry, clinical trial evidence for MDS therapies, and claims data.

METHODS
We used multivariate Cox proportional hazards models to estimate the increase in survival associated with the introduction of the 3 new therapies for patients diagnosed with MDS from 2001 to 2011 in the SEER cancer registry. Increases in survival associated with the 3 novel therapies were estimated using retrospective survival analyses and published clinical trial evidence. MDS treatment costs were estimated using Ingenix claims data and used to calculate the share of the value of survival gains retained by patients.

RESULTS
We estimated that the introduction of these 3 therapies is associated with a hazard ratio of 0.901 (P <.10), and a 73% increase in median survival from 33 to 57 months. We estimated that for current and future MDS patients, these 3 therapies will generate over $193 billion in cumulative value through extensions in patient survival.

CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrates that the value of recently approved innovative therapies in MDS is large and that the value of survival gains in MDS far outweighs their costs.


The author discusses Rawls's conception of socioeconomic justice, Democratic Equality. He contrasts Rawls's account, which includes the difference principle constrained by the principle of fair equality of opportunity, with Natural A ristocracy, which constrains the difference principle only by the principle of careers open to talents. According to the author, many of Rawls's own arguments support Natural Aristocracy over Democratic Equality. In particular, Natural Aristocracy appears well placed to avoid a challenge that naturally arises in consideration of Democratic Equality, with respect to which formal distributive principle should deal with social and natural causes of inequality. The challenge is to cite a morally relevant distinction which supports the appropriateness of dealing with natural causes of inequality differently to those generated by social causes. In support ofhis proposal, the author also appeals to certain arguments in Rawls's Political Liberalism.


Context. The forcing of interstellar turbulence, driven mainly by supernova (SN) explosions, is irrotational in nature, but the development of significant amounts of vorticity and helicity, accompanied by large-scale dynamo action, has been reported. Aims. Several earlier investigations examined vorticity production in simpler systems; here all the relevant processes can be considered simultaneously. We also investigate the mechanisms for the generation of net helicity and large-scale flow in the system. Methods. We use a three-dimensional, stratified, rotating and shearing local simulation domain of the size 1× 1× 2 kpc, forced with SN explosions occurring at a rate typical of the solar neighbourhood in the Milky Way. In addition to the nominal simulation run with realistic Milky Way parameters, we vary the rotation and shear rates, but keep the absolute value of their ratio fixed. Reversing the sign of shear vs. rotation allows us to separate the rotationand shear-generated contributions. Results. As in earlier studies, we find the generation of significant amounts of vorticity, the rotational flow comprising on average 65% of the total flow. The vorticity production can be related to the baroclinicity of the flow, especially in the regions of hot, dilute clustered supernova bubbles. In these regions, the vortex stretching acts as a sink of vorticity. In denser, compressed regions, the vortex stretching amplifies vorticity, but remains sub-dominant to baroclinicity. The net helicities produced by rotation and shear are of opposite signs for physically motivated rotation laws, with the solar neighbourhood parameters resulting in the near cancellation of the total net helicity. We also find the excitation of oscillatory mean flows, the strength and oscillation period of which depend on the Coriolis and shear parameters; we interpret these as signatures of the anisotropic-kinetic-α (AKA) effect. We use the method of moments to fit for the turbulent transport coefficients, and find αAKA values of the order 3–5 km s−1. Conclusions. Even in a weakly rotationally and shear-influenced system, small-scale anisotropies can lead to significant effects at large scales. Here we report on two consequences of such effects, namely on the generation of net helicity and on the emergence of large-scale flows by the AKA effect, the latter detected for the first time in a direct numerical simulation of a realistic astrophysical system.


Abstract The creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 1998 marked a substantial advance in the effort to ensure all perpetrators of mass atrocities can be brought to justice. Yet significant resistance to the anti-impunity norm, and the ICC as the implementing institution, has arisen in Africa. The ICC has primarily operated in Africa, and since it sought to indict the sitting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in 2008 resistance from both individual African states and the African Union has increased substantially. We draw on the concept of 'norm antipreneurs', and the broader norm dynamics literature, to analyse how resistance has developed and manifested itself, as well as the potential effects of this resistance on the anti-impunity norm. We conclude that the antipreneur concept helped us structure and organise analysis of the case – suggesting it could be usefully deployed in other similar cases – but that this case also suggests that antipreneurs do not always enjoy substantial defensive advantages. We also conclude that African resistance to the ICC has substantially stalled the advance of the anti-impunity norm, a finding that has significant implications for the wider effort to reduce mass atrocity crimes in the contemporary era.


Magnaldehydes B and E along with their 4'-methylated derivatives are naturally occurring 2,4'-biphenols that have been isolated from the Magnoliaceae. Herein, these natural products have been synthesized from a common intermediate, which was obtained by a microwave-promoted, hetero-geneously catalyzed, and protecting-group-free Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction in an aqueous medium. These reaction conditions were also successfully applied to a one-step synthesis of the slime mold metabolite dictyobiphenyl B.


We derive some exact bounds on the free energy $W(J)$ in QCD, where $J_\mu^b$ is a source for the gluon field $A_\mu^b$ in the minimal Landau gauge, and $W(J)$ is the generating functional of connected gluon correlators. Among other results, we show that for a static source $J(x) = h$ the free energy vanishes, $W(h) = 0$, together with its first derivative, ${\partial W(h) \over \partial h} = 0,$ for all $h$, no matter how strong. Thus the system does not respond to a static color probe. We also present numerical evaluations of the free energy $W(J)$ and find that the bounds are well satisfied and in fact undersaturated.


Abstract Aims and objectives: To explore the role of culture in the seasonal influenza prevention practices of Hong Kong Chinese parents with a healthy preschool child. Background: Cultural values and norms significantly influence parents' health preventive practices and related health promotion strategies. Most research is concerned with influenza prevention and focuses on the factors affecting vaccination uptake, the use of facemasks and effective hand hygiene. There is limited research exploring the influence of culture on the seasonal influenza prevention practices of parents with a young child in Hong Kong. Design: Mixed methods using a multiple-case study approach. Methods: Purposive intensity sampling was employed to recruit 20 parents with children under five years old. A thematic analysis was employed to examine the qualitative interview data and the quantitative data were analysed descriptively. The data were then integrated to provide a more rigorous comprehension of parents' cultural seasonal influenza preventive practices. Comparisons were conducted across the 20 cases and patterns examined. Results: Five themes were identified. They were sharing beds; boiling white vinegar to kill air-born germs; diet therapy to enhance health; self-prescribed Chinese medication to manage a child's cold symptoms; and the co-use of Western and traditional Chinese medications to prevent seasonal influenza. Conclusions: The findings indicate that a pluralistic approach to health promotion should be considered to ensure the likelihood that families accept, support and comply with health advice in seasonal influenza prevention. The delivery of culturally appropriate health promotion requires a close partnership between nurses and parents.


In this chapter, we investigated polystyrene (PS) colloidal photonic crystal (CPhC) color films containing copper-oxide (CuO) nanoparticles (NPs) and silver (Ag) NPs and exhibiting tunable structural colors. PS CPhC color films containing CuO-NPs and Ag- NPs were prepared through thermal-assisted self-assembly by using a gravitational sedimentation method. Doped CuO-NPs and Ag-NPs deposited on the bottom of the substrate and acted as black materials that absorb background and scattering light. Experimental results showed that brilliant structural colors were enhanced because of the absorption of incoherently scattered light, and color saturation was increased by the distribution of metal NPs on PS CPhC surfaces. The brilliant structural colors of CuO- NPs/PS and Ag-NPs/PS hybrid CPhC color films were based on the scattering absorption and Bragg diffraction theory. The reflection peaks of metal-NPs/PS hybrid CPhCs and pure PS CPhCs were measured by UV-Visible reflection spectrometry and theoretically calculated based on the Bragg diffraction law. Additionally, the structural colors of metal- NPs/PS hybrid CPhC color films were assessed through color measurements based on the Commission International d'Eclairage 1931 standard colorimetric system. Finally, this chapter exhibits a simple method to generate tunable structural color of functional materials for numerous applications, such as in textile fabrics, bionic colors, catalysis, and paint.


This study demonstrates that the presacral vertebrae represent a rich source of information for understanding the evolution and systematics of sauropodomorphs. In the basal dinosauromorph lvlorasuchus three morphological types of vertebrae are recognized, a condition further developed by sauropodomorphs. Within Prosauropoda, the melanorosaurid Rioiasaurus shows the most primitive condition in the number and organization of the cervical vertebrae: it has 9 cervicals, the first 5 of which exhibit the cervical morphological type, whereas the last 4 correspond to the dorsal morphological type. Plateosaurus is more derived than Rioiasaurus in characters of the neck. The primitive sauropod-type of vertebra is more advanced than the typical prosauropod vertebra, but it shows more primitive characters than the cetiosaurid type. It is considered that the presacrals of cetiosaurid type correspond to an evolutionary stage that rnight have made gigantism possible, triggering the adaptive radiation recorded in the Upper Jurassic of North America, Africa and Asia. In diplodocids the presacrals show clear relationships to the cetiosaurid type, but there are a higher number of cervicals, and opisthocoely of centra is more developed. Significant differences in the cervical vertebrae of Apatosaurus with respect to those of Diplodocus, Camarasaurus and other sauropods suggest that Apatosaurus should be placed in a family of its own: Apatosauridae nov. Presacrals of brachiosaurid type, examined in Brachiosaurus brancai only beca use the generic placement of B. altithorax is doubtful, poses s several characters, such as opisthocoely extending to the last dorsal, that are more advanced than in Patagosaurus and Diplodocus. Other characters of the brachiosaurid type of vertebrae are more primitive than those of the Diplodocus, thus suggesting origin from a condition more primitive than that exemplified by the cetiosaurid type. Restudy of presacrals of camarasaurid type does not confirm previous interpretations of these vertebrae as primitive; furtherrnore, several features are more derived than in Diplodocus. Also, it is proposed that the dicraeosaurid type might have evolved independently of other presacral types, the cetiosaurid type probably representing the ancestral condition. Presacrals of Haplocanthosaurus have a distinct morphology; thus, this genus is included in Haplocanthosauridae nov. Tiianosaurs exhibit several morphological types of presacrals, indicating several levels of organization. Distinctive features are present in the cervical region of members of Titanosauridae s.str., e.g., a unique design of the infrapostzygapophyseal constriction, the reduced distance between the centrum and the zygapophyses, the near absence of neural spines. In general, Molaunsourus, Andesaurus and Argentinosaurus are more primitive than Titanosauridae s.str. Tentative interpretation of the significance of several complex characters involving presacral vertebrae, such as the sigmoid neck, the dorsoventral extension of the dorsals, the transversely wide neural spines, the relation between the number of cervicals and dorsals, the pleurocoels and the supraneural cavity, are discussed. In addition, a new prosauropod genus and species, Lessemsaurus sauropoides, diagnosed by its high neural arches and infrapostzygapophyseal constriction of the posterior cervicals is erected.


The purpose of this study was to validate a new measure of workaholism the Workaholism Analysis Questionnaire (WAQ) which was developed to address the methodological flaws of existing measures. The WAQ is a unidimensional measure that focuses on the work drive component of workaholism and its effect on work-life balance. The current study used a heterogeneous working-professional sample to ensure the generalizability of the results. The WAQ's content validity was displayed when 14 graduate students discerned the 30 WAQ items from a pool of 40 items 89% of the time. In addition the WAQ demonstrated discriminant validity by not correlating well with unrelated constructs namely the affective commitment and normative commitment subscales of Allen and Meyer's (1990) Three-Component Model of organizational commitment. Also the WAQ showed concurrent validity by correlating well with a related construct Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD). Finally convergent validity was seen in that the WAQ correlated well with the Work Addiction Risk Test (WART) an existing and psychometrically sound measure of workaholism. In addition a hierarchical regression analysis found that the WAQ explained incremental variance in OCPD beyond the WART. The development and validation of the WAQ is a substantial step in the right direction towards creating a unified definition of workaholism as well as developing a reliable and valid measure for assessment purposes. Study limitations directions for future research and practical implications of this study are discussed.


This article describes our experience in turning around the European operations of a bankrupt U.S. parent company. The takeaway from this experience is that turnarounds in Europe are different, but in subtle ways. While they don9t require fundamentally different approaches, they do require a different style and a lot of tact. If you prepare for them properly, you should achieve success. Conversely, failure to navigate the subtle differences could undermine the process.


We introduce CuS/CuSCN nanocomposites as active materials in pseudocapacitors, in which the redox reactions of both CuS and CuSCN simultaneously contribute to energy storage. This nanocomposite is prepared using an in situ methodology via facile, low-energy-consuming green nanochemistry. The CuS/CuSCN nanocomposites offer a high capacitance compared to their individual constituents. CuS nanorods (∼15 nm) are anchored on the surface of CuSCN nanosheets (∼100 nm) and they interconnect the CuSCN nanosheets, producing mesoporous nanoclusters with a large surface area, thus improving the charge transfer efficiency. The CuS/CuSCN nanocomposites exhibit high electrical conductivity and strong redox reactivity, and in particular, the pseudocapacitor with a compositional ratio of 1 : 1 exhibits the highest charge transfer efficiency. Consequently, the 1 : 1 CuS/CuSCN active material exhibits a high energy density (approximately 63 W h kg−1) and a high power density (1.9 kW kg−1 at 9.0 W h kg−1) as a single electrode. The highest specific capacitance is measured to be 1787.3 F g−1 in the single electrode. Furthermore, an aqueous asymmetric hybrid supercapacitor based on the CuS/CuSCN 1 : 1//activated carbon (AC) shows an approximately four times increase in the power density (7.9 kW kg−1), compared to the single electrode.


The scope of this paper is to present comparative data on drinking and driving behavior among drivers in Belo Horizonte in the State of Minas Gerais, in the period from 2005 to 2009, evaluating the impact of Law No. 11.705 (Prohibition), dated June 6, 2008. Data regarding prevalence of this behavior, collected at Sobriety Checkpoints (internationally used methodology) were analyzed using representative samples obtained from drivers on different public roads with intensive traffic in Belo Horizonte (2005-2009), thus permitting analysis of the impact of the new law. In 2008, the data showed a reduction of approximately 50% in the prevalence of individuals driving with any level of alcohol in the blood, when compared to 2007, after the change in legislation. This study showed that the impact caused by Law No.11.705 was marked in the sense of modifying the behavior under scrutiny. However, other control measures need to be added to the current legislation, in order to obtain a continuous reduction of drinking and driving behavior, thereby fostering a culture of sobriety on the road.