The fieldwork for this thesis was carried out as part of the Lam Pao Socio-economic Survey of the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. This thesis is concerned with the process of innovation in the subsistence agriculture which characterizes the relatively backward north-eastern region of Thailand and is exemplified by the Lam Pao Irrigation Area. Research was carried out in seven sample villages. In the first chapter the regional and systematic background is delineated. The salient features of the economy of Thailand are outlined and reasons sought for the country's lack of development. Secondly, the peculiar regional problems of the north-east are described and explanations for these problems offered. The systematic background involves two frameworks. On the one hand it involves an assessment of agricultural development theory; on the other hand it involves a study of origin, adoption and diffusion of innovations. Both these theoretical frameworks are critically assessed. The next chapter outlines the importance of irrigation as a catalyst for innovations in Thailand. It then describes the fieldwork area and assesses the common and peculiar features of the study villages. Finally, methods and techniques of study, both in and out of the field, are described and the major problems encountered are listed. In Chapter 3 the subsistence nature of the Lam Pao Sample is investigated. A wide variety of indices are used, both separately and in a composite index, to determine that the area is overwhelmingly subsistent. Next, two other variables crucial to the process of innovation and development are analyzed, viz. the population pressure and the degree of unemployment, be it real or disguised. The subsistence crop of the area is glutinous rice. In Chapter 4 the traditional cultivation of this crop is assessed and then innovations in rice cultivation are analyzed. These include the commercial instead of the subsistence cultivation of rice, the cultivation of non-glutinous rice and the introduction of new strains of rice. In the next chapter new crop innovations in the area are discussed and the potential and appropriateness of each crop is assessed. In subsequent chapters livestock innovations and technical innovations are analyzed and assessed. Then the interrelationship between individual innovations is determined by the use of the Guttman scale. Education, organization and experimentation are critically considered as stimulators to innovation. Finally, conclusions are reached and the relevance of the research findings assessed.


A gorgeously revised edition of this fashion favorite book, which combines Cassini's memoirs of working closely with Jacqueline Kennedy during her brief White House years, his fashion philosophies and ideas, and the iconography of the early 1960s style and energy of the Kennedy years. Jacqueline Kennedy's selection of Oleg Cassini to design her personal wardrobe as First Lady was not only fashion history, but political history as well. As the creator of the "Jackie look," Cassini made the First Lady one of the best-dressed women in the world and a glamorous icon of the Kennedy era. During the 1000 days of the Kennedy administration, Cassini designed over 300 outfits for Jackie Kennedy--coats, dresses, evening gowns, suits, and day wear--and coordinated every aspect of her wardrobe, from shoes and hats to gloves and handbags. In this book, Cassini offers a fascinating and comprehensive view of his role as Jackie's personal couturier, a position that allowed him unprecedented access to both Jackie and John Kennedy as a designer and a trusted friend. From the details of his first meetings with the First Lady to his thoughts on Jackie's clothes and their legacy, Cassini's recollections are far-ranging and informative. Also included are Cassini's original sketches accompanied by 200 color and black-and-white photographs of the First Lady as she tours India, France, England, and Italy, shows off the White House, and hosts state dinners and family gatherings. Public moments as well as private ones capture the great elegance and charm of one of the most admired and emulated women in the world.


Defined as a "pivotal year" in the career of George F. Walker, 1982 marks a noteworthy shift in Walker's dramaturgy. (1) During the 1970s, Walker's plays occurred in two phases: the early, absurdist-inspired works (The Prince of Naples and Ambush at Tether's End), followed by the later works that borrowed from and interrogated popular culture (Sacktown Rag, Bagdad Saloon, and Beyond Mozambique). (2) The plays of both phases were marked by existential and ontological questioning, and were seemingly intended to sow confusion and anxiety in audiences. In 1982, though, Walker workshopped at Cornell University an early version of Better Living, a play that would become the first of The East End Plays and inaugurate Walker's next phase. Ultimately six plays, including the major successes Criminals in Love (1984) and Love and Anger (1989), this collection marks a shift in subject and style in his dramaturgy. As Chris Johnson notes, "In these plays, Walker turns for material to the working-class Toronto East End of his boyhood and adolescence, material which he had previously explored only in Sacktown Rag, and there only somewhat tentatively." (3) Walker characterizes his plays from this phase, when he was writing directly about Toronto during the 1980s, as becoming increasingly "generous," a term that suggests the growing accessibility of The East End Plays, all of which approach realism, if somewhat uncomfortably. Likewise, the generosity of his plays suggests something about a vision of the future. As Johnson argues, these plays do something rather un-Walker-like: they introduce not hope, "but what he has called 'possibility.'" (4) Importantly, this shift toward the last phase corresponds with an implicit reassessment of responsibility within Walker's dramaturgy. Before The East End Plays, his plays were mostly polemical: that is, they shook the foundations of beliefs, values, and assumptions in order to highlight the anxiety that Walker believed was everywhere in Canadian society. Probably the defining concern for Walker regardless of phase, anxiety--which is at once psychological, cultural, and existential--comes from "the question posed again and again by Walker's plays" as Johnson maintains: "Who controls the future?" (5) During the early phases, Walker's dramaturgy sought to induce this anxiety in audiences without advocating any means of confronting or overcoming it: the result was pure polemicism. Because of this, no doubt, Johnson concludes that "it's impossible to contain Walker's political views neatly within any political doctrine." (6) Johnson is certainly correct insofar as Walker cannot be pigeonholed through the traditional "isms" used to designate political drama--liberalism and conservatism, Marxism and feminism. Nevertheless, The East End Plays demonstrate an increasing awareness of the limits of polemicism: of the agitation that serves no end beyond itself and, paradoxically, may reinforce the status quo by foreclosing the possibility of praxis. More notably, these plays advocate a particular future, though, again, not in ways that would define them under any specific ideology. In other words, The East End Plays denote a shift in Walker's dramaturgy from the polemical to the political: by this, I mean that they advocate a future "beyond" anxiety, even though they remain skeptical of how easily that future can be realized. While this shift typifies many of the six plays that comprise The East End Plays, my argument addresses Beautiful City, the third of the plays to be produced, for two reasons. First, it best demonstrates how Walker's political concerns were distinctly spatialized at the time; second, the spatialized concerns evident in Beautiful City suggest the exigency of the shift from polemicism to politics: Toronto during the 1980s. Interviewed in 1987, the year that Beautiful City debuted, Walker defines the nature of this anxious future in relation to the loss of his Toronto home: "It was like being evicted--from the city. …


1Department of Health Information Technology, Hawassa College of Health Sciences, Hawassa, Ethiopia; 2Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Science, Boston, MA, 02138, USA Background: Human immune deficiency virus (HIV) remains one of the leading causes of infectious disease mortality and morbidity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although remarkable progress has been made in prevention and treatment of HIV, there is a higher rate of loss to follow-up in HIV-infected children than in adults, once they enter care. Objective: To determine the incidence and identify predictors of loss to follow-up among HIV-infected children on anti-retroviral treatment in Sidama Zone, Ethiopia. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was done among children that were enrolled in ART care in Sidama Zone from September 2014 to August 2018. A total of 143 eligible children were included in this study. A structured checklist was used to extract data from patients' medical records such as patient intake forms, electronic database, and registers. Data were entered, cleaned, coded, and analyzed by STATA version 12. Cox proportional hazards models were fitted to investigate predictors of loss to follow-up. Results: Of the 143 participants, 76 (53.15%) were female children with a median age of 7 years and interquartile range of 4–9. The incidence rate was 5 per 100 person-years and the cumulative incidence 12.59%. The median follow-up time was 2.46 years and the total time at risk was 356.06 person-years. Furthermore, 55.56% and 72.22% of those lost to follow-up were within the first and the second years of follow-up, respectively. In multivariable Cox proportional model, only the TB status of the children was significantly associated with loss to follow-up with hazard ratio 3.348 [1.174831, 9.543494] and p-value of 0.024. Conclusion: In this study, TB status of children was the significant determinant of loss to follow-up. However, the overall retention was 87.4% and a substantially higher proportion of loss was observed within the first and second years of follow-up.


In this article we report on our investigation of trust in distributed development teams and the role that software tools can play in supporting teams. Our investigation shows that the continuous coordination paradigm tools Palantir, Ariadne, World View, and Workspace Activity Viewer help distributed teams develop trust by sharing information across boundaries through visualizations and in other ways. Our analysis provides insights into the role existing tools can play in developing trust and how future tools can promote trust.


The study deals with various areas of life of Spiš Germans (Zipsers) during the period of the first Czechoslovak Republic, specifically between 1920 and 1937. The first part of the study discusses the political activities of Germans in Spiš. The greatest attention is paid to the Zipser German Party (Zipser deutsche Partei) and the Carpathian German Party (Karpatendeutsche Partei), because these parties were voted for by most Germans in Spiš. To a lesser extent, this part is devoted to other parties that the Germans from Spiš (Zipsers) voted for. Part of this section are tables showing which parties were voted for by the inhabitants of the Spiš municipalities with the largest proportion of German nationality. The next part of the article deals with religious life with an emphasis on conflicts between Slovaks and Germans regarding the language of religious services. The third part of the study is devoted to German education in Spiš. Attention is directed to preschools, elementary schools and secondary schools of Spiš Germans (Zipsers). There were also conflicts within the education system in connection with the teaching of language. The center of interest of the next part is the social life of Spiš Germans (Zipsers). This part of the study also discusses the tourist, sports and cultural activities of the Germans in Spiš. It points to diverse cultural activities from German theater performances, singing circles, through periodicals, printers to photo studios and museums. The final part of the paper analyzes the socioeconomic structure of the German population in Spiš based on the results of the population census in 1921. Within each part of the study, attention is paid, among other things, to the anti-state manifestations of the Spiš Germans (Zipsers) and the reactions of the Czechoslovak authorities to these manifestations.


This book seeks to illuminate the role of serious health challenges, caused through accidents or illness, in the psycho-spiritual development of an individual. It establishes a post-Jungian framework that integrates the concepts of synchronicity, individuation and compensation with a psychosomatic understanding of physical ailments. Theory and case studies explore how viewing severe physical problems as synchronistic events can provide an understanding as to how such suffering may meaningfully impact and transform psychological, spiritual, relational and professional-creative levels of a person's life. A narrative analysis, unfolds the stories of four people who went through severe health crisis, providing a thorough look at their individual experiences, and analyzing them as synchronistic, individuation-facilitating events. Each case analysis provides abundant information in regards to the life changes and meaning making process taking place for the person. This work may provide a viable inquiry model to psychotherapists and those wishing to better understand their personal processes.


What is a deponent verb? Why do we have verbs which have only a Non Active morphol- ogy and never an Active one? Is it possible to these verbs as a coherent category, with a common feature? Is this common feature a syntactic one, a semantic one or a morphological one? I'm try- ing to propose a (partial) answer to these questions. To do that, I have analysed the most salient and representative Latin deponent verbs in the Latin texts of the first century BCE. The proposed analysis is a syntactic-semantic one. The issue of deponent verbs is inextricably bound to the Latin passive morphology (-r). I claim that -r is a Voice° deactivator, like German sich in anticausatives and middles and Italian si. This analysis is sustained by its distribution and syntactic-semantic features. A deactivated Voice° can convey an anticausative interpretation, a middle-passive or a reflexive (through Argument Identification). The only productive class of deponents in Latin is the denominal one and there is an obvious relationship between Voice° deactivation and deponents. In the derivation(s) of denominal deponents a deactivated Voice° is needed. Without it the Int Arg, merged with the verbalized noun (nP), could not gain the Ext Arg (initiator) semantics. The bridge between these two positions is built by Argument Identification, a semantic mechanism that relies on the presence of the deactivated Voice° and, consequently, on the -r morphology.


This paper proposes an improved direct power control (DPC) strategy of grid-connected wind-turbine-driven doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs) when the grid voltage is unbalanced. The DPC scheme is based on the sliding mode control (SMC) approach, which directly regulates the instantaneous active and reactive powers in the stator stationary reference frame without the requirement of either synchronous coordinate transformation or phase angle tracking of grid voltage. The behavior of DFIGs by the conventional SMC-DPC, which takes no negative-sequence voltage into consideration, is analyzed under unbalanced grid voltage conditions. A novel power compensation method is proposed for the SMC-based DPC during network unbalance to achieve three selective control targets, i.e., obtaining sinusoidal and symmetrical stator current, removing stator interchanging reactive power ripples and canceling stator output active power oscillations, respectively. The active and reactive power compensation components are calculated via a simple method and the proposed three control targets can be achieved, respectively, without the need of extracting negative-sequence stator current components. Experimental results on a 2 kW DFIG prototype are presented to verify the correctness and validity of the proposed control strategy and power compensation method.


Analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) has been widely used for testing hypotheses about spatial differences and temporal changes in assemblages and particularly for detecting environmental impacts. ANOSIM generates a value of R which is scaled to lie between -1 and +1, a value of zero representing the null hypothesis. Generally, R lies between zero and +1. Values much smaller than zero have been considered unlikely because they would indicate greater dissimilarity among replicate units within samples than occurs between samples. Nevertheless, in some habitats, frequent and large negative values of R are common. In this paper, assemblages that consistently gave negative R values when analysed using ANOSIM were examined to identify patterns of differences among replicates within and between samples to test the hypothesis that particular patterns of differences generated consistent negative R values. The hypothesised patterns were then tested by analysing simple assemblages generated by computer simulation and examining the frequencies of R values. In natural assemblages, negative R values were found when assemblages were very patchy so that replicates were variable, but each sample had similar amounts of variability among replicates. Large negative values of R were particularly common when either or both samples contained an outlier, or when the assemblage being sampled had 2 different states and the replicates had sampled each of these states. Negative values of R may therefore indicate the need for stratification of the sampling design, or problems of positive correlation between the different sets of samples. When negative values occur, they should not simply be ignored as anomalies. In fact, they identify important ecological information and identify issues about the design of sampling.


The Afro-Hispanic Languages of the Americas (AHLAs) present a number of grammatical similarities that have traditionally been ascribed to a previous creole stage. Approaching creole studies from contrasting standpoints, this groundbreaking book provides a new account of these phenomena. How did these features come about? What linguistic mechanisms can account for their parallel existence in several contact varieties? How can we formalize such mechanisms within a comprehensive theoretical framework? How can these new datasets help us test and refine current formal theories, which have primarily been based on standardized language data? In addressing these important questions, this book not only casts new light on the nature of the AHLAs, it also provides new theoretical and methodological perspectives for a more integrated approach to the study of contact-driven restructuring across language interfaces and linguistic domains.


For the GEEP Workshop, gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric (GUMS) analyses of selected 2to 5-ring aromatic hydrocarbons were performed for water, sediments, mussels Mytilus edulis and crabs Carcinus maenas in the mesocosm experiment at Solbergstrand. The experiment involved dosing of 3 different concentrations of diesel oil and copper to the mesocosm basins, and the chemical analysis showed that elevated abundance of compounds from the diesel oil could be detected in water and organisms but not in sediments. Mussels and crabs sampled along a pollution gradient in Langesundfjord were analysed for selected aromatic hydrocarbons by G U M S and for selected PCBs by GC. The concentrations formed a clear gradient from the 'cleanest' site in Langesund Bay (Site l) , through increasing levels of contamination (Sites 2 and 3), to the most contaminated site at the head of Langesundfjord, closest to the industrial activity (Site 4). Mussels had the highest concentrations of aromatic hydrocarbons, especially unsubstituted 4and 5-ring PAHs, while crabs had the highest concentrations of PCBs.


ABSTRACT By asserting the realities of settler coloniality in the evolution of southwestern Mindanao as a frontier space, this paper addresses a phenomenon consistently disavowed in mainstream historiographical accounts of the region. It raises three other broad concerns. First, that while resources, territory, and population are factors that figure centrally in the political economy of settler colonialism, they may equally be said to be bound up with the practices of state sovereignty in general, involving 'white' settler colonial relations as well as 'indigenous' ones competing for spatial hegemony at the frontier. Second, that these processes are embedded in historical narratives of the frontier and its inhabitants that echo, in similar or divergent ways, well into the present. Finally, that settler colonial studies would benefit from a stronger engagement with the political geographic literature and with analyses of the production of (post)colonial state space.


Objective: To evaluate the effect of different stocking densities:12 (D12), 18 (D18) and 24 (D24) individuals m-2 (ind m-2) on growth (weight and length) and survival in juvenile river crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus).
Design/methodology/approach: The crocodiles were cultured in each treatment by triplicate for 43-d in nine plastic tanks and fed a diet based on a mix of beef liver, fish and commercial dog food.
Results: At the end of the experiment, there were not significant differences among treatments in the growth variables, recording a low increment in weight and total length (38.99 ± 8.96 g and 4.19 ± 1.36 cm; mean ± SD) in all densities as well as overall survival of 62.02 ± 7.67% (mean ± SD). The stocking density of 24 ind m-2 was significantly higher in biomass production by m2 for the stocking densities of 18 and 12 individuals (p < 0.05).
Limitations on study/implications: The development of culture techniques is a tool to assess the potential of this ecologically important species for its conservation and eventual commercialization.
Findings/conclusions: It can be recommended a stocking density of 24 ind m-2 (D24) to optimize the use of space and infrastructure profitability


We present gas-phase metallicity and ionization parameter maps of 25 star-forming face-on spiral galaxies from the SAMI Galaxy Survey Data Release 1. Self-consistent metallicity and ionization parameter maps are calculated simultaneously through an iterative process to account for the interdependence of the strong emission line diagnostics involving ([O II]+[O III])/Hβ (R_(23)) and [O III]/[O II](O32). The maps are created on a spaxel-by-spaxel basis because H II regions are not resolved at the SAMI spatial resolution. We combine the SAMI data with stellar mass, star formation rate (SFR), effective radius (R_e), ellipticity, and position angles (PA) from the GAMA survey to analyse their relation to the metallicity and ionization parameter. We find a weak trend of steepening metallicity gradient with galaxy stellar mass, with values ranging from −0.03 to −0.20 dex/R_e. Only two galaxies show radial gradients in the ionization parameter. We find that the ionization parameter has no significant correlation with either SFR, sSFR (specific SFR), or metallicity. For several individual galaxies, we find the structure in the ionization parameter maps suggestive of spiral arm features. We find a typical ionization parameter range of 7.0 < log (q) < 7.8 for our galaxy sample with no significant overall structure. An ionization parameter range of this magnitude is large enough to caution the use of metallicity diagnostics that have not considered the effects of a varying ionization parameter distribution.


Momentum is gathering on the development of DC power systems for naval platforms. However, the necessary accurate location and isolation of faults within the zonal distribution system remains a challenge. The method of "Foldback" is an example of a technique which has been developed to exploit the fast control of the supply power converters to maintain bus currents to within acceptable levels. Techniques such as this need to be supported by equipment which can classify and localize the fault, so the fault can be cleared and the system reconfigured. A new technology - Active Impedance Estimation - is presented which could offer benefits to future marine power systems, and its application to DC zonal distribution systems is also discussed. Experimental results from a DC system demonstrator show the potential of the new technique for fault location.


Cost-of-illness (COI) studies attempt to measure and describe the costs associated or attributed to a specific disease, but there are several considerations for measuring and interpreting drug costs estimates. The complexity of the pharmaceutical supply chain and contractual relationships between manufacturers, wholesalers, pharmacies and payers create challenges for researchers attempting to include drug costs in COI analyses. This article aims to provide contextual information for a general audience interested in conducting or evaluating COI studies that may include drug costs and to describe key factors to consider when reviewing drug costs in the peer-reviewed literature.


Phylogenetic analysis was used to examine the evolutionary relationships within a group of coxsackie B viruses that contained representatives of the major serotypes of this group and 45 isolates of swine vesicular disease virus (SVDV) from Asia and Europe. Separate analyses of sequence data from two regions of the viral genomes encoding the VP1 and 3BC genes both revealed that the SVDV belonged to a single monophyletic group which could be clearly distinguished from all other sampled coxsackieviruses. Regression analysis revealed that within the SVDV clade at least 80% of the synonymous variation in evolutionary divergence between isolates was explained by time, indicating the existence of an approximate molecular clock. Calibration of this clock according to synonymous substitutions per year indicated the date of occurrence of a common ancestor for the SVDV clade to be between 1945 and 1965.


The binding isotherm to cellulose of cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH) from Phanerochaete chrysosporium has been compared with that of cellobiohydrolase 1 (CBH 1) from Trichoderma reesei. CDH binds more strongly but more sparsely to cellulose than does CBH 1. In a classical Scatchard analysis, a better fit to a one-site binding model was obtained for CDH than for CBH 1. The binding of both enzymes decreased in the presence of ethylene glycol, increased in the presence of ammonium sulphate and was unaffected by sodium chloride. Attempts to localize the cellulose-binding site on CDH have also been made by exposing enzymically digested CDH to cellulose and isolating the cellulose-bound peptides. The results suggest that the cellulose-binding site is located internally in the amino acid sequence of CDH.


Background: Proportional ventilatory support (PVS) refers to modes of ventilation that provide support that is proportional to the patient9s inspiratory effort. Research has shown that PVS improves patient ventilator synchrony. Several ventilators are now available that provide a type of PVS. The purpose of this study was to evaluate proportional assist ventilation (PAV+) on the PB 840 and PB 980, proportional pressure ventilation (PPV) on the Respironics V60, and proportional pressure support (PPS) on the Drager V500, using the IngMar Medical ASL 5000 at three different inspiratory efforts (Pmus). Methods: The ASL was set to simulate a COPD lung model: compliance 59 mL/cm H2O; resistance in 22 cm H2O/L/s; resistance out 18 cm H2O/L/s; frequency 14 breaths/min; Pmus 12 cm H2O. Ventilator settings: PAV+ % Supp 25%, 45%, and 65%, Esens 3 L/min; PPV 25%, 45%, and 65%, Max E 17 cm H2O/L, Max R 20 cm H2O/L/s; PPS flow assist 25%, 45%, and 65% of the averaged resistance, volume assist 25%, 45% and 65% of the elastance, inspiratory termination 25%; PEEP 7 cm H2O. Each ventilator was connected to the ASL using a 7.5 mm ETT. After the ventilator was connected, the mode was run at ventilator support (VS) 25%. The ventilator was given one minute after the change had been made to stabilize; data was gathered for an additional minute using the automated ASL software. Next VS was increased to 45% and 65%, following the same procedure. Then, Pmus was increased to 18 and 24 cm H2O, gathering data as described, at each level of VS. Results: As VS increased, tidal volume (VT) and peak inspiratory pressure (PIP) increased on all ventilators. As VS increased, time to trigger (TT) decreased on all ventilators. As Pmus increased, TT increased. On the PB 840, PB 980 and V500, as VS increased, inspiratory time (Ti) increased; conversely, on the V60 as VS increased, Ti decreased. The PB 980 had the highest average Ti, VT, PIP, and TT. Ti on the PB 980 increased due to multiple inspiratory pauses, which resulted in AutoPEEP. The V60 had the shortest TT. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that PAV+, PPV, and PPS each provide an increase in VT and PIP as patient effort or VS increases. Using PPV and PPS requires the clinician to know the resistance and elastance of the lung. Clinicians need to be careful to input the value for elastance, not compliance. Further research needs to compare PVS in patients to determine the clinical benefit of each mode.


Tissue cultures of Actinidia kolomikta can be maintained as callus through repeated passages on a nutrient medium devoid of cytokinin but containing inorganic nutrients, sucrose, and other basal organics plus auxin. Under these conditions, actively growing callus contained 2 and 0.5 nmol of the cytokinins zeatin [io6Ade; 6-(4-hydroxy-3-methylbut-2-enylamino)purine] and N6-(Δ2-isopentenyl)adenine (i6Ade), respectively, per gram (fresh weight). When tissues were transferred from cytokininless medium to 30 μM i6Ade, endogenous io6Ade increased linearly to 160 nmol/g (fresh weight) during 8 hr, and i6Ade increased to 5 nmol/g (fresh weight) in 2 hr and then declined. The apparent Km for i6Ade in A. kolomikta and Actinidia chinensis × Actinidia arguta callus and in tissue slices of A. arguta stems was 12 μM. In addition, the reaction(s) converting i6Ade to io6Ade was O2-requiring and specific for i6Ade versus N6-(Δ2-isopentenyl)adenosine (i6A). When A. kolomikta callus was fed 30 μM i6A, io6Ade increased and reached a concentration corresponding to 6 nmol/g (fresh weight) in 8 hr. Ribosylzeatin (io6A) did not increase. Under N2 during i6A feeds, i6A accumulated rather than being metabolized to i6Ade, suggesting that i6A normally may be metabolized via i6AMP and i6Ade to io6Ade. A survey of 30 species of woody plants in 20 families of dicotyledonous angiosperms indicated that the ability to accumulate io6Ade (≥10 nmol/g) in 24-hr feeds with 30 μM i6Ade was restricted to certain systematic groups—e.g., order Ericales, families Oleaceae and Rubiaceae. This suggests that plants may differ in their pathways for io6Ade biosynthesis and that cytokinin biochemistry has potential as a taxonomic character above the species and genus levels.


Survey of experimental and numerical studies have been done for different complex flow fields with respect to different aspect by mixing of different types of fuel and mixture with high speed flows in the combustion chamber. In this field many researchers worked to develop a configuration giving efficient mixing and combustion, also meeting the requirements of flame holding and completion of combustion with sufficient stabilization in the flow field. The main attention is paid to the local intensity of heat release, which determines, together with the duct geometry, techniques for flame initiation and stabilization, injection techniques and quality of mixing the fuel with oxidizer, the gas-dynamic flow regime. From the survey it concluded that some area in which more attention to be paid like total pressure loss in combustion chamber and design a contour to make the flow at Mach number 2 for various higher Mach numbers for supersonic combustion and analyze the flow properties in combustion chamber and its effect by using the variety of fuel with the help of CFD tool.


The 21 st century is the era of continuous changes in the way modern medical and scientific world functions, thus the need for adaptation in complex systems becomes paramount. In such a dynamic society optimum standard of survival may depend on the ability of individuals and groups to investigate multiple alternatives or choices and finally make wise decisions. Therefore, the need for critical thinking skills is an absolute vitality for today's health science professionals. Education is the most powerful tool in developing learning skills; and the main aim of every educational institution is to assist students and trainees to achieve such end. Besides professional competency, the main aim of medical sciences education is to develop students' ability in decision making ability and problem solving, and leading them to become efficient critical thinkers. Critical thinking skills are vital in coping with the unprecedented rapid changes occurring in health care field. In order to cope with the complexity of today's medical issues, nurses and physicians need to equip themselves to critical thinking ability so that they can offer the most effective services and treatments for their patients and clients. It seems that there is challenge in training capable and skilful graduates in Iran medical education system. Hence, essential actions are needed to uplift the standard of medical education in this country. To this end, urgent priority should be given both to development and improvement of critical thinking skills of students and trainees of health field. First, based on authors' experiences, some of the barriers for critical thinking skills nursing of students is reviewed. Then, based on literature review and panel of experts' viewpoints a suggested solution in a graphical format, is suggested. Planning for an urgent action is also suggested to improve critical thinking skills of students and trainees in health field which seemingly is a challenge in iran nursing education system.


On 25th,2015 at 11:56 a earthquake of magnitude 7.8 occurred in Nepal. It's epicentre (28.147°N, 84.708°E ) was located in the village of Barpak, Gorkha locality which is something like 77 km north-west of the centre town Kathmandu and its central depth was 15 km. earthquake also had a effect on adjacent area of India, China, Bangladesh. In the earthquake more than 500000 houses were completely destroyed and about 270000 houses were partially destroyed. Many of the people were living without roof. Here in this project we have discussed about the cause of earthquake, what was the major destruction, remedies for the future destruction and its control, the discussion on some issue in regard to earthquake risk reduction of Non-engineered building, such as: Earthquake safety in developing countries along with its management, on pre-disaster easing and preparedness, earthquake break reduction initiatives taken such as training of building codes with guidelines along with disaster mitigation for sustainable development. After that the major cause of severe damage experiential in non-engineered building in the past earthquakes are currently briefly along with critical elements to be included in new constructions are decorated. Methodology for seismic retrofitting of stone house developed, implement and verified by the author in the field is introduce Next costs along with benefits of earthquake prevention method are indicated. Finally a practically feasible and efficiently viable scheme of earthquake challenging new building construction along with seismic-retrofitting of reside unsafe building is outlined.


Rail track is a critical component of rail systems. Accidents or interruptions caused by rail track anomalies usually possess severe outcomes. Therefore, rail track condition monitoring is an important task. Over the past decade, deep learning techniques have been rapidly developed and deployed. In the paper, we review the existing literature on applying deep learning to rail track condition monitoring. Potential challenges and opportunities are discussed for the research community to decide on possible directions. Two application cases are presented to illustrate the implementation of deep learning to rail track condition monitoring in practice before we conclude the paper.


We analyzed, for the first time, the effects of recombinant PON1 (rePON1) intraperitoneal injection to C₅₇BL/6 mice on their HDL and macrophage antiatherogenic properties. Thioglycolate-treated mice were injected with either saline (Control), or rePON1 (50 μg/mouse), and 20 H post injection, their blood samples and peritoneal macrophages (MPM) were collected. A significant increase in serum and HDL-PON1 arylesterase and lactonase activities was noted. Similarly, a significant increment, by 3.8 and 2.8 fold, in MPM-PON1 arylesterase and lactonase activities, respectively, as compared to the activities in control MPM was observed. The HDL from rePON1-injected mice was resistant to oxidation by copper ions as compared to control HDL. Furthermore, enrichment of the mouse HDL with rePON1 increased its ability to induce cholesterol efflux from J774A.1 macrophage cell line, and to inhibit macrophage-mediated LDL oxidation. In MPM from rePON1-injected mice vs. control MPM, there was a significant reduction in cholesterol mass, by 42%, in association with inhibition in cellular cholesterol biosynthesis rate, by 33%, and with significant stimulation, by 65%, of human HDL-mediated cholesterol efflux from the cells. We conclude that rePON1 injection to mice improved the mice HDL and MPM antiatherogenic properties, and these effects could probably lead to attenuation of atherosclerosis development.


The paper deals with properties of metallurgical sinter which are significant in the view of ironmaking optimization. It aims at study of metallurgical sinter disintegration. It presents experimental procedure for disintegration testing. The paper presents results of tests carried out in gaseous environment containing 30 % of carbon oxide and 70 % of nitrogen at temperature of 550 °C. It discusses them in relation with other properties of metallurgical sinter such as basicity P2 and content of FeO. The article summaries relevant studies and extends it with actual laboratory experiments.


Abstract Participating members in a manufacturing supply chain usually make use of an information system like enterprise resources planning (ERP) for planning and scheduling activities independently. Recent research indicates that there is a need to handle such distributed activities in an integrated manner, especially under uncertain and fast changing environments. A multiagent system, a branch of distributed artificial intelligence, is a contemporary modelling technique for a distributed system in the manufacturing domain. This distributed modelling technique is suitable for integrating supply chain networks, which have distributed entities within the system, and each of them makes decision locally, i.e. a local information system. By adopting a multiagent modelling technique, supply chain networks can be built efficiently based on an information system. However, with reference to the reported research, which involves distributed modelling of a supply chain, a higher level coordination mechanism is not specified. This paper aims to propose a framework that utilizes a multiagent system with a corresponding coordination mechanism dedicated to manufacturing supply chain networks.


We have developed an improved method for preparing cell aggregates for in vitro chondrogenesis studies. This method is a modification of a previously developed conical tube-based culture system that replaces the original 15-mL polypropylene tubes with 96-well plates. These modifications allow a high-throughput approach to chondrogenic cultures, which reduces both the cost and time to produce chondrogenic aggregates, with no detrimental effects on the histological and histochemical qualities of the aggregates. We prepared aggregates in both systems with human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC). The aggregates were harvested after 2 and 3 weeks in chondrogenic culture and analyzed for their ability to differentiate along the chondrogenic pathway in a defined in vitro environment. Chondrogenic differentiation was assessed biochemically by DNA and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) quantification assays and by histological and immunohistologic assessment. The chondrogenic cultures produced in the 96-well plates appear to be slightly larger in size and contain more DNA and GAG than the aggregates made in tubes. When analyzed histologically, both systems demonstrate morphological characteristics that are consistent with chondrogenic differentiation and cartilaginous extracellular matrix production.


Self-compacting concrete (SCC) has been widely used in engineering for improving the product quality and efficiency at the construction sites, enhancing the working conditions and the appearance of concrete. Workability is an important property of SCC. But none of a single method has been developed for evaluation workability of SCC efficiently. Aiming at the quality control of fresh SCC, a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method for evaluating workability of SCC was put forward and a case study was done by measuring slump, slump flow, L-box ratio, J-ring flow, bleeding and sieve segregation of fresh SCC in the present paper. Evaluation results indicated that fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method can give a quantitative evaluation of workability of SCC and it is convenient to establish an expert system for controlling the quality of fresh SCC by using fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method.


Microwires and nanowires have been manufactured by using a wide range of bottom-up techniques such as chemical or physical vapor deposition and top-down processes such as fiber drawing. Among these techniques, the manufacture of wires from optical fibers provides the longest, most uniform and robust nanowires. Critically, the small surface roughness and the high-homogeneity associated with optical fiber nanowires (OFNs) provide low optical loss and allow the use of nanowires for a wide range of new applications for communications, sensing, lasers, biology, and chemistry. OFNs offer a number of outstanding optical and mechanical properties, including (1) large evanescent fields, (2) high-nonlinearity, (3) strong confinement, and (4) low-loss interconnection to other optical fibers and fiberized components. OFNs are fabricated by adiabatically stretching optical fibers and thus preserve the original optical fiber dimensions at their input and output, allowing ready splicing to standard fibers. A review of the manufacture of OFNs is presented, with a particular emphasis on their applications. Three different groups of applications have been envisaged: (1) devices based on the strong confinement or nonlinearity, (2) applications exploiting the large evanescent field, and (3) devices involving the taper transition regions. The first group includes supercontinuum generators, a range of nonlinear optical devices, and optical trapping. The second group comprises knot, loop, and coil resonators and their applications, sensing and particle propulsion by optical pressure. Finally, mode filtering and mode conversion represent applications based on the taper transition regions. Among these groups of applications, devices exploiting the OFN-based resonators are possibly the most interesting; because of the large evanescent field, when OFNs are coiled onto themselves the mode propagating in the wire interferes with itself to give a resonator. In contrast with the majority of high-Q resonators manufactured by other means, the OFN microresonator does not have major issues with input-output coupling and presents a completely integrated fiberized solution. OFNs can be used to manufacture loop and coil resonators with Q factors that, although still far from the predicted value of 10. The input-output pigtails play a major role in shaping the resonator response and can be used to maximize the Q factor over a wide range of coupling parameters. Finally, temporal stability and robustness issues are discussed, and a solution to optical degradation issues is presented.


The uncertain origin of the proton rich Mo and Ru isotopes has motivated cross-section measurements of alpha- and neutron-induced reactions. The experiments were performed via the activation technique by irradiating thin layers of natural ruthenium with alpha-particle beams close to the Gamov window of the p process between 7.0 and 10.5 MeV. The cross sections of the reactions Ru-96(alpha,gamma), Ru-96(alpha,n), Ru-96(alpha,p), and Ru-98(alpha,n) could be determined with uncertainties of typically 10 about two to three times smaller than recent statistical model predictions. Additional activations in a quasistellar neutron spectrum corresponding to kT=25 keV allowed us to obtain the complementary stellar (n,gamma) cross sections for Ru-96, Ru-102, and Ru-104. In these cases the agreement with model calculations is considerably better.


The volume analyses some of the travelling and bridge-building activities that went on in Renaissance Europe, mainly but not exclusively across the Channel, true to Montaigne's epoch-making program of describing 'the passage'. Its emphasis on Anglo-Continental relations ensures a firm basis in English literature, but its particular appeal lies in its European point of view, and in the perspectives it opens up into other areas of early modern culture, such as pictorial art, philosophy, and economics. The multiple implications of the go-between concept make for structured diversity. The chapters of this book are arranged in three stages. Part 1 ('Mediators') focuses on influential go-betweens, both as groups, like the translators, and as individual mediators. The second part of this book ('Mediations') is concerned with individual acts of mediation, and with the 'mental topographies' they presuppose, reflect and redraw in their turn. Part 3 ('Representations') looks at the role of exemplary intermediaries and the workings of mediation represented on the early modern English stage. Key features High quality anthology on phenomena of cultural exchange in the Renaissance era With contributions by outstanding international experts


In real-time bidding (RTB) systems for display advertising, a demand-side platform (DSP) serves as an agent for advertisers and plays an important role in competing for online advertising spaces by placing proper bidding prices. A critical function of the DSP is formulating proper bidding strategies to maximize key performance indicators, such as the number of clicks and conversions. However, many small and medium-sized advertisers' main goal is to maximize revenue with an acceptable return on investment (ROI), rather than simply increase clicks or conversions. Most existing approaches are inapplicable of satisfying the revenue-maximizing goals directly. To solve this problem, we first theoretically analyze the relationships among the conversion rate, ROI, and ad cost, and how they affect revenue. By doing so, we reveal that it is a challenge to increase revenue by relying solely on improving ROI without considering the impact of the ad cost. Based on this insight, the maximal revenue (MR) bidding strategy is proposed to maximize revenue by maximizing the ad cost with a desirable ROI constraint. Unlike previous studies, the proposed MR first distinguishes bid prices from ad costs explicitly, which makes it more applicable to the real second-price auction (GSP) auction mechanism in RTB systems. Then, the winning function is empirically defined in the form of tanh that provides a promising solution for estimating ad costs by jointly considering ad costs with the winning function. The experimental results based on two real-world public datasets demonstrate that the MR significantly outperforms five state-of-the-art models in terms of both revenue and ROI.


Activation of the bHLH factor Math5 (Atoh7) is an initiating event for mammalian retinal neurogenesis, as it is critically required for retinal ganglion cell formation. However, the cis‐regulatory elements and trans‐acting factors that control Math5 expression are largely unknown. Using a combination of transgenic mice and bioinformatics, we identified a phylogenetically conserved regulatory element that is required to activate Math5 transcription during early retinal neurogenesis. This element drives retinal expression in vivo, in a cross‐species transgenic assay. Previously, Pax6 was shown to be necessary for the initiation of Math5 mRNA expression. We extend this finding by showing that the Math5 retinal enhancer also requires Pax6 for its activation, via Pax6 binding to a highly conserved binding site. In addition, our data reveal that other retinal factors are required for accurate regulation of Math5 by Pax6. genesis 47:175–187, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Stomach contents of piscivorous fishes were examined to investigate their predation pressure on hatchery-reared Japanese flounder released in the coastal areas of Tottori Prefecture (1989-1991). Released flounder were taken frequently by 1-age group Japanese flounder, bartail flathead and sea bass primarily during the early days after release. We observed few incidences of predation on wild flounder juveniles by piscivorous fishes in the same study area. This suggests that reared juveniles are more vulnerable to predation than wild flounder due to behavioral differences. Abundance of 1age group Japanese flounder and flathead in the area was estimated from May to July by counting by divers. Cumulative predation estimated from stomach content analysis and abundance of predatory fishes accounted for a substantial part of the estimated mortality. Other potential sources of mortali ty, particularly predation by nocturnal predators, are discussed.


Purpose: As the importance of information quality has become prominent in the internet commerce, curation techniques are also stands out as well. Therefore, many services on e-commerce applied with curation techniques to satisfy their consumers. However, besides the fact that plenty of advantages from curation commerce, the growth of curation commerce websites have been slowdown. Thus, this paper is to investigate factors influencing curatiaxon commerce websites' consumer loyalty intentions for enhancing the competitiveness of curation commerce websites. Methodology/Approach: This study sets independent variables regarding provider recommendation and consumer review simultaneously and verifies to see how each factors affect to consumer's loyalty intention through perceived deception and satisfaction in the curation commerce website. We applied structural equation model to verify the hypothesis and conduted a survey on consumer who had buying expriences in Korean curation commerce website. Findings: The results of this study show what fators significantly affect to loyalty intention. Consumers on curation commerce mostly tend to be affected by other consumers' review and they only affected by presentation of product among provider recommedations. We conducted an important mediating effect of satisfaction between perceived deception and loyalty intention. Furthermore, because curation commerce is a relatively new concept, this attempt could form the basis for research on cuartion commerce. Research Limitation/implication: This research only collected sample data form curation commerce websites users in Korea and because young consumers onsistute the majority of the respondednts, generalizing the findings to individuals of all ages and nations is difficult. Originality/Value of paper: This paper is the first study applying product recommendation and consumer review simultaneouly as an independent variable. These attempts enable to reflect more specific and practical behavior of consumers. Effect of satisfaction on loyalty and relationship between deception and loyalty are well documented in the offline and online retail context. This study expands and verifies estabilshed  relationship among  the variables on the lastest commerce website.


A method for quantifying the role of dynamic storage as a physical buffer between snowmelt and streamflow at the catchment scale is introduced in this paper. The method describes a quantitative relation between hydrologic events (e.g., snowmelt) and responses (e.g., streamflow) by generating event-response ellipses that can be used to (a) characterize and compare catchment-scale dynamic storage processes, and (b) assess the closure of the water balance. Event-response ellipses allow for the role of dynamic, short-term storage to be quantified and compared between seasons and between catchments. This method is presented as an idealization of the system: a time series of a snowmelt event as a portion of a sinusoidal wave function. The event function is then related to a response function, which is the original event function modified mathematically through phase and magnitude shifts to represent the streamflow response. The direct relation of these two functions creates an event-response ellipse with measurable characteristics (e.g., eccentricity, angle). The ellipse characteristics integrate the timing and magnitude difference between the hydrologic event and response to quantify physical buffering through dynamic storage. Next, method is applied to eleven snowmelt seasons in two well-instrumented headwater snowmelt-dominated catchments with known differences in storage capacities. Results show the time-period average daily values produce different event-response ellipse characteristics for the two catchments. Event-response ellipses were also generated for individual snowmelt seasons; however, these annual applications of the method show more scatter relative to the time period averaged values. The event-response ellipse method provides a method to compare and evaluate the connectivity between snowmelt and streamflow as well as assumptions of water balance.


Although scholars and policy makers have widely acknowledged the importance of so-called high-technology industries as drivers of economic change, they have paid insufficient attention to the interaction between high-tech sectors and the remainder of the economy in developed countries. We contend that any constructive view of economic change must recognize the importance of the diffusion of innovative products and processes to the economy as a whole through the role that firms in established sectors play as customers and suppliers for high-tech firms. It is important to insure that the ""Receptive Capacity'' that these firms bring to innovative situations is as high as possible. To demonstrate our point, we first use ""old'' growth theory to develop a model of economic change and then show how this model ties in with ""new' ' growth theory by providing a convincing justification for investment in R&D and other innovative activities.


Non-Governmental Organizations/Nonprofit Organizations (NGOs/NPOs) are progressively becoming an essential source for government agencies in education worldwide. Developing countries such as Ghana have opened the way through regulations and policies for NGOs/NPOs to contribute to the educational system. Nevertheless, perceived threats and confrontations hinder their ability to support the Ministry of Education (MoE) and partner leaders to fulfill their duties in assisting the government in realizing comprehensive universal primary education. This qualitative case study responded to stakeholders' perceptions of NGOs/NPOs influence on Ghana's educational system to better comprehend the dynamic and power of NGOs/NPOs on education in Ghana's rural communities. The study used the Advocate Coalition Framework; advocacy coalition theory brings together sub-systems and political actors interested in policy changes or shifts for a common goal to organize effective ways for the changes or shifts. Ten volunteers participated in the interview focusing on schools in rural Ghana. The findings indicated NGOs/NPOs are a complementary authority to MoE and partner leaders. According to the data analysis and findings, MoE and partner leaders need to form an intentional coalition with NGOs/NPOs for interventions to define the role descriptions and functions of programs and projects to achieve the interventions. NGOs/NPOs resources for MoE and partner leaders are necessary to improve the quality of teaching and learning in schools. Decision-making bodies of MoE and partner leaders may benefit from this study in policymaking for interventions of programs and projects supervision, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation for positive social change.


Studies investigating the prevalence of nightmares have generally found higher frequencies in studies using daily logbooks or diaries compared to retrospective reports, raising the question as to whether retrospective questionnaires lead to an underestimation of nightmare frequency, possibly due to the suppression of the frightening nightmare experience or if the diary enhances recall. In this study, 71 participants filled in a questionnaire about their sleep, dreams, and emotions during the day in the beginning phase of the study and were then asked to keep a checklist diary for two weeks. The results show that there is a small but non-significant increase in nightmare estimates and much more pronounced differences in overall dream recall frequency and in other aspects of daily life, such happiness and pain sensations. No effect of emotional tone on the differences in the questionnaire and diary measures was found. The present findings imply that the increase in nightmare frequency using diary measures instead of retrospective questionnaires might be a result of the increase in overall dream recall frequency. The differences in the other variables might be attributable to motivation effects. For future research, we suggest eliciting current stress levels and attitudes toward nightmares in order to study whether these variables might affect the difference between diary and questionnaire measures.


ABSTRACT Background: Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is an embarrassing condition, which is one of the last taboos in modern medicine. The study aim was an attempt to assess medical students' knowledge of female stress urinary incontinence. Methods: The study involved 432 students of the Medical Department at the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice. Participants answered open-ended questions about: risk factors, prevention, diagnostic tests, conservative and surgical treatment in stress urinary incontinence. Results: The obtained results indicated that female students know more about SUI than male students. Women – more often than men – could provide the definition of SUI (p < 0.01); additionally, they more frequently indicated prevention methods (p < 0.01), diagnostic testing (p < 0.001) and conservative methods of treatment (p < 0.001). Not all the respondents were able to properly define stress urinary incontinence. Risk factors were known to most of the respondents but only half of them were aware of surgical treatment and prevention methods. Even fewer answered questions about conservative treatment and diagnostic tests correctly. Conclusions: We conclude that the knowledge of medical undergraduates who took part in the survey was not satisfactory. Most of the students were able to define properly the disease and point out risk factors. However, several steps should be taken to make stress urinary incontinence a disease much more known to medical students. Abbreviations: SUI: Stress urinary incontinence; Group F: Females Group; Group M: Males Group; TVT: Tension Free Vaginal Tape; TOT: Transobturator Tape


Background/Objectives: The purpose of the article is to reveal the psychological readiness problems of senior pupils in the Arctic region for the choice of profession and to identify the system of psycho-pedagogical support for occupational guidance of senior pupils at Arctic schools in close relationship of educational establishments and social institutions. Methods: The study used the methods for psychological readiness detection in school leavers for the choice of profession in the three northern uluses of the republic, the results of sociological research among NEFU freshmen aimed at studying awareness of the occupational training selection. The data acquisition method included questionnaire survey using remote survey system under the "Freshman-2014" Program, which is held annually by the department of development and examination of valuation funds of the NEFU Department of Education Quality Assurance to study students' satisfaction with the quality of education and the "Graduate-2015" sociological research at the end of a professional training. Findings: The article reveals the peculiarities of psychological problems and readiness of the Arctic school leavers for the choice of profession and justifies the system of psycho-pedagogical support for career guidance in the Arctic regions. Based on the obtained results, a system of occupational guidance was developed which provides assistance in the choice of profession, choice of Unified State Examination subjects for high school admission, the formation of the self-assessment of students' opportunities for future occupation, new forms of work, such as Remote Fair of occupations, teaching classes, Junior Pedagogical Academy, Junior Medical Academy, academic competitions, training courses, etc. The occupational training of high school students requires consolidating the efforts of school, parents and the public. School leavers should know what specialists are necessary for their native village and learn to see the prospects for further development of the North. The education system of the North indigenous minorities with teaching in their native language allows saving the culture, national traditions and language of the people. The priority lines of NEFU educational activities to train specialists for the North have been identified; they include sustainable environmental management, environmental safety, education in the North, the development of the culture of peoples of the North. The graduates will receive the degree of Bachelor of Circumpolar Regional Studies of the Arctic University in addition to their major field of study. The training according to the Bachelors' program "Primary Education and Tutoring in the North Basic Ungraded (Nomadic) School" and Masters' program "Pedagogical Support of Childhood in the North" has been established. Application/Improvements: Psycho-pedagogical support for occupational guidance in the Arctic uluses will improve the graduates' psychological preparedness to the choice of profession. The model of psychological and pedagogical support can be used in the practice of schools, training courses, colleges and universities of the republic.


The article deals with the main turning points in the life and work of N.A. Semashko, the first People's Commissar of Health of the RSFSR, from 1920 to 1925. The authors of the article proceed from the fact that the historical and biographical data available about Semashko are interpreted according to ideologically tinted stereotypes that were formed in the Soviet historiographic school. Based on various sources (mainly documents from the State Archives of the Russian Federation and Semashko's family archive), as well as critical analysis of data from literature, an attempt was made to give an ideologically neutral assessment of the participation of Semashko in the organization of the sanatorium and resort sector in the RSFSR and the assistance provided to Soviet Russia from foreign public organizations. New facts were discovered about Semashko's life, which in particular made it possible to clarify his role in helping medical personnel in Crimea during political repressions there (after the Bolsheviks established power on the peninsula). The authors of the article point out that despite the difficulties that existed at that time, in many respects, it was only due to Semashko's authority and organizational abilities that the famous Soviet All-Russia health resort was established in Crimea. While work was carried out on the archives, data were found on the supply of humanitarian aid to the People's Commissar of Health by US public organizations, sympathizing with Soviet Russia in the first half of the 1920s. It is concluded that the formation of Semashko's scientific biography, which assumes an objective assessment, in particular, concerning his contribution to the organization of medical care, will make it possible in general to move on to an objective analysis of the features of the Soviet health care system and the transformation of the Soviet model (the Semashko model) into the modern Russian model of health care.


The activities that students accomplish in the learning process are indicators of the developmental changes and the progress achieved by the students themselves in the educational process; hence they are essential for the educational process. In order for the learning process to be effective, the basic principle stands that the students' activities have to derive from the educational goals and contents. Recognizing this, the aim of this paper is to indicate that good-quality, well-planned and structured students' activities, that derive from the educational objectives and the principles of active learning can lead to effectuation of the students' learning process in the natural science field in primary school. The research of a problem of such kind is empirical with a descriptive character. The qualitative methods used to approach the problem are: analysis of pedagogical documentation and daily operational plans and preparations; a non-direct interview with teachers that will examine their attitudes towards lesson-planning; and participative (descriptive and focused) observation of the overall planning and realization of the students' activities in the educational practice in primary school


Purpose of reviewThere is an increased risk of osteoporotic fractures and osteonecrosis often at a young age among patients with certain systemic autoimmune diseases. The loss of bone mineral density and bone integrity seen with these diseases often cannot be explained by traditional risk factors alone. In this review, we focus on rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, two systemic autoimmune diseases in which skeletal manifestations have been well described. Recent findingsThere is recent evidence that autoimmunity and its associated inflammation and vitamin D deficiency play key roles in the pathogenesis of adverse skeletal effects. SummaryUnderstanding these processes carries implications for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis and osteonecrosis among patients with autoimmune diseases.


This paper presents an effective linear matrix inequality (LMI)-based adaptive scheme to design the output tracking controller for parametric strict-feedback systems. In our previous paper, the concepts of virtual desired variables (VDVs) and, in turn, the so-called generalized kinematics are introduced to benefit the tracking design. All the VDVs can be determined without fail from the generalized kinematics via a newly defined recursive procedure if the systems are in strict-feedback form. The proposed adaptive tracking control is investigated for single-input and multi-input systems with unknown parameters. Different from the existent adaptive fuzzy control, our research is an exact approach, compared with the approach using universal approximation. Relative to the adaptive backstepping control, it makes the design procedure more straightforward. Moreover, we propose a new method called balance technique to deal with the infeasibility of LMIs for the specified structure of common positive definite matrix P, and adopt an overparameterization technique to make sure that the VDVs can be well-defined. From the numerical simulations, it is shown that the proposed scheme is very powerful with expected satisfactory performance.


BACKGROUND
Several studies in recent years have confirmed that the direct application of pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) on peripheral nerve compression points can alleviate hyperalgesia in animal models of neuropathic pain (NP). However, the mechanism underlying the treatment of peripheral nerves by PRF is unclear.

OBJECTIVES
We aim to observe changes in pain behavior after the application of PRF on the ligation site of the sciatic nerves (SNs) of rats with chronic constriction injury (CCI) and to investigate the effects of PRF on the transcription and translation levels of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) in nerve tissues at the treatment site.

STUDY DESIGN
A randomized, experimental trial.

SETTING
Experimental Animal Center, Beijing Tiantan Hospital.

METHODS
Ninety-six adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: sham-sham (SS) group, sham-PRF (SP) group, CCI-sham (CS) group, and CCI-PRF (CP) group. The right SNs of rats in the CS and CP group were ligated to establish the CCI model. The right SNs in the SS and SP groups were isolated and exposed but without being ligated. On the fourteenth day after CCI/sham operation, PRF treatment was performed on the midpoint of the ligation sites of the SN in the CP group and the corresponding sites in the SP group. The electrode was only placed at the ligation sites of the SN in the CS group and the corresponding sites in the SS group without current being applied. The 50% paw withdrawal threshold (50%PWT) and thermal withdrawal latency (TWL) of rats in all of the groups were measured. The transcription and translation levels of GDNF of the PRF/sham treatment sites were measured before and after treatment by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs).

RESULTS
The 50%PWT value of the hind paws of rats in the CP group gradually increased on day 6 after the PRF treatment and was significantly higher than that in the CS group (6 days after treatment P < 0.05; 14 days after treatment P < 0.01). The TWL value in the CP group was higher than that in the CS group 2 days after treatment (P < 0.05) and was significantly higher (P < 0.01) from day 6 until the end of the experiment. On the day 6 and 14 after PRF treatment, the mRNA and protein expression levels of GDNF at the ligation sites of the SNs of rats in the CP group were higher than both the levels before treatment and those in the CS group (P < 0.01).

LIMITATIONS
The efficacy of PRF treatment in the CCI model was only tested within 14 days, and the changes in GDNF levels were only tested at 3 time-points before and after treatment.

CONCLUSIONS
The direct application of PRF on SN ligation sites in the CCI model can safely and effectively alleviate NP. One of the mechanisms of this effect could be the upregulation of the transcription and translation of GDNF in compressed SNs.

KEY WORDS
Pulsed radiofrequency, chronic constriction injury, sciatic nerve, 50% paw withdrawal threshold, thermal withdrawal latency, glia cell line-derived neurotrophic factor, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.


Some problems of lightning overvoltage simulations for transmission lines with nonlinear corona model were presented in our previous papers [1, 2]. Obtained transients for relatively large peak values of subsequent lightning returnstroke currents, carried out by application of EMTP-RV, showed that nonlinear models of back-flashover and ZnO arresters work properly, while the corona model implemented in EMTP-RV gives some instabilities during simulations. A new approach using transfer functions for the linear part of the corona model is tested in the paper. The high efficiency System Identification Toolbox built in Matlab package is used during analysis of transfer functions. Obtained results show some possibilities of modeling of nonlinear elements using control devices in EMTP-RV simulator.


In assessing privacy on online social networks, it is important to investigate their vulnerability to reconnaissance strategies, in which attackers lure targets into being their friends by exploiting the social graph in order to extract victims' sensitive information. As the network topology is only partially revealed after each successful friend request, attackers need to employ an adaptive strategy. Existing work only considered a simple strategy in which attackers sequentially acquire one friend at a time, which causes tremendous delay in waiting for responses before sending the next request, and which lack the ability to retry failed requests after the network has changed. In contrast, we investigate an adaptive and parallel strategy, of which attackers can simultaneously send multiple friend requests in batch and recover from failed requests by retrying after topology changes, thereby significantly reducing the time to reach the targets and greatly improving robustness. We cast this approach as an optimization problem, Max-Crawling, and show it inapproximable within (1 - 1/e +). We first design our core algorithm PM-which has an approximation ratio of (1 - e-(1-1/e)) using adaptive monotonic submodular properties. We next tighten our algorithm to provide a near-optimal solution, i.e. having a ratio of (1 - 1/e), via a two-stage stochastic programming approach. We further establish the gap bound of (1 - e-(1-1/e)2) between batch strategies versus the optimal sequential one. We experimentally validate our theoretical results, finding that our algorithm performs near-optimally in practice and that this is robust under a variety of problem settings.


The White River Ash is a bi-lobate tephra in eastern Alaska, Yukon Territory, and western Northwest Territories. Plinian-type eruptions produced the north lobe ∼1900 years BP and the larger east lobe ∼1250 years BP (14C years). Present evidence favors the vent for the east lobe to be beneath the Klutlan Glacier. East lobe pumice is not present atop Mt. Churchill, so the pumice there must belong to the north lobe and is also likely to have come from a vent beneath the Klutlan Glacier. Isopachs of the east lobe, now known to stretch as far east as Great Bear Lake, indicate an east lobe volume of ∼47 km3. Thickness and grain size of the east lobe decay in exponential fashion, producing straight line plots when the thickness half-distance and clast half-distance are plotted against the square root of the isopach area, the proximal slope being steeper than the distal. The east lobe eruption is indicated to have been into a wind of about 10 m/s and to have produced an eruptive cloud height of ∼45 km. The erupti...


With current robotic technologies, it generally remains unreliable to use fully autonomous robots in high-risk robotic applications such as search and rescue, surveillance or exploration in disaster scenarios. One of the main issues comes from the fact that unstructured real-world environments are dynamic and full of interventions. Therefore, for autonomous robots to operate in such environments, the ability to adapt to both internal and external environmental changes is crucial. Being unable to deal with such changes not only could downgrade the performance of the robots but also potentially cause devastating consequences in risky environments. Looking towards nature, it can be observed that biological organisms can cope well with the dynamic unpredictability of real-world environments. One of the key properties which assist biological organisms is the ability to adapt to changing environments by the utilization of hormones in response to environmental cues. This biological feature provides an inspiration for this research which investigates a novel Artificial Hormone Network architecture in providing adaptability for autonomous robots to deal with both internal and external environmental changes in simulations of unstructured real-world environments. The Artificial Hormone Network architecture proposes a new method which allows constructions and interactions of several hormones in order to provide adaptability for autonomous robots in different application scenarios. Two Artificial Hormone Networks (AHN1 and AHN2) are proposed and investigated in this research. Results from experiments correspondingly report better performance in dealing with considered internal and external environmental changes on a robot implemented with the Artificial Hormone Networks than a robot implemented without them. Another important aspect of the Artificial Hormone Network architecture is the ability to be constructed automatically to provide particular adaptability using Cartesian Genetic Programming. Experiment results show that the construction of Artificial Hormone Networks can be evolved and that this evolved system not only performed to a level of adaptability that was acceptable but actually performed better than the "hand-coded" system.


OBJECTIVES
Most patients in drug treatment smoke cigarettes. This study established the prevalence and types of nicotine dependence services offered in methadone and other opioid treatment clinics in the United States.

METHODS
A cross-sectional survey was conducted of all outpatient methadone maintenance clinics in the United States. One person in a leadership position from each clinic was surveyed. The 20-minute survey was collected by phone, fax, or mail, according to responder preference.

RESULTS
Fifty-nine percent of the clinics (408 of 697 clinics) responded. The sample was very similar to all outpatient methadone maintenance clinics in the United States in size, region, and ownership. In the 30 days before the survey, respondents reported that their clinics provided the following services to at least one patient: 73 percent provided brief advice to quit, 18 percent offered individual or group smoking cessation counseling, and 12 percent prescribed nicotine replacement therapy. However, the services were provided to very few patients. Clinics with written guidelines that required them to address smoking were much more likely to provide services than those without guidelines. Private for-profit clinics were significantly less likely than public or private nonprofit clinics to treat nicotine dependence. Most respondents (77 percent) reported that their staff were interested in receiving training in nicotine dependence treatment, and more than half (56 percent) had at least one staff member ("champion") with a strong interest in treating nicotine dependence.

CONCLUSIONS
A vast majority of methadone patients smoke; yet in the 30 days before the survey only one out of three facilities provided counseling to any patients and only one out of ten prescribed nicotine replacement therapy to any patients. A dual strategy of requiring clinics to provide comprehensive nicotine dependence services and training staff to provide these services may provide the incentive and support necessary for the widespread adoption of treatment for nicotine dependence in methadone facilities.


Nanotechnology has gained a great deal of public interest due to
the needs and applications of nanomaterials in many areas of human endeavours such as
industry, agriculture, business, medicine and public health amongst many others. Polymeric
nanoparticles from biodegradable and biocompatible polymers are good candidates
for drug carrier to deliver the drugs because they are expected to be adsorbed in an intact
form in the gastrointestinal tract after oral administration.

 The objective of the study was to investigate the influence of some precarious
variables like, concentration of chitosan, concentration of sodium tripolyphosphate
(STPP) and stirring time on physicochemical characteristics of lycopene loaded chitosan
nanoparticles.

 Eight batches of lycopene loaded chitosan nanoparticles were prepared using
various concentrations of chitosan (100-200 mg), STPP (50-100 mg) by varying stirring
speed in the range of 10-20 minutes using ionic gelation method. The optimized
nanoparticulate formulation was characterized for various parameters like morphology
study, particle size and size distribution studies, differential scanning calorimetry, entrapment
efficiency and in-vitro drug release studies.

 Lycopene loaded chitosan nanoparticles containing 150 mg of chitosan, 75 mg
of STPP, 20 mg of drug lycopene and with 15 min of stirring time showed entrapment efficiency
of 89.4%. The percent release of lycopene loaded chitosan nanoparticles at the
end of 6 h was found to be 83.5%, however, percent release of pure lycopene at the end
of 6 h was observed as 79.6%.

 Lycopene loaded chitosan nanoparticles may show a great promise for the
development of drug delivery system by enhancing the cellular accumulation of lycopene
with chitosan.


Some of the catastrophic problems involving the abdominal wall that occur after surgery are avoidable. Careful planning of the incision with vascular territories in mind can avoid devascularizing areas of skin. The use of intravenous fluorescein can help the surgeon to predict necrosis and take steps to circumvent the problem. These considerations and timely plastic surgical consultations can aid the urologic surgeon in providing patients with the optimal care.


Rice (Oryza sativa L.) transcription factors RF2a and RF2b are bZIP (basic leucine zipper) proteins that interact with, and activate transcription from the RTBV (rice tungro bacilliform virus) promoter. Here we characterize the C-terminal domains of RF2a and RF2b: these domains are rich in glutamine and proline/ glutamine, respectively. Affinity pull-down assays demonstrated that the C-terminal domains of RF2a and RF2b can associate to form either homodimers or heterodimers; however, they do not interact with other domains of RF2a or RF2b. Results of in vitro transcription assays using a rice whole-cell extract demonstrate that the C-terminal domains of both RF2a and RF2b activate transcription from the RTBV promoter. In addition, dimerization of the RF2a C-terminal domain is involved in regulating the transcription activation function of RF2a. The predicted helical region within the RF2a C-terminal glutamine-rich domain was determined to be involved in inter-molecular dimerization, and contributed to the regulatory functions of RF2a in these assays.


[A mystery remains surrounding George Back's placement of Rat Lodge on the west side of Artillery Lake at latitude 63 01 45 N, just slightly north of the Beaver Lodge, which sits at 63 N exactly.] ... Rat Lodge is not found opposite the Beaver Lodge, as shown on topographic maps. Its position is 16 km south, by the entrance to Timber Bay. The folded map in George Back's narrative does not clearly show where the lodge is situated and in the book the explorer makes it seem that both lodges are visible at the same time. From the two false Rat Lodge sites one cannot distinguish the Beaver Lodge (Artillery Lake is 6.5 km wide at the 63rd parrallel), nor of course can it be seen from the true site of the Rat Lodge; but if the Beaver Lodge was also located in the latitude of Timber Bay, where the lake is only 3.2 km wide, then perhaps on a clear day one would be able to sight both lodges from the middle of the lake. This is not to suggest that the Beaver Lodge is actually so situated. Rat Lodge is distinct and Beaver Lodge is about 16 km away.


"Cartographic heritage" is different from "cartographic history". The second term refers to the study of the development of surveying and drawing techniques related to maps, through time, i.e. through different types of cultural environment which were background for the creation of maps. The first term concerns the whole amount of ancient maps, together with these different types of cultural environment, which the history has brought us and which we perceive as cultural values to be preserved and made available to many users (public, institutions, experts).
Unfortunately, ancient maps often suffer preservation problems of their analog support, mostly due to aging. Today, metric recovery in digital form and digital processing of historical cartography allow preserving map heritage. Moreover, modern geomatic techniques give us new chances of using historical information, which would be unachievable on analog supports.
In this PhD thesis, the whole digital processing of recovery and elaboration of ancient cartography is reported, with a special emphasis on the use of digital tools in preservation and elaboration of cartographic heritage. It is possible to divide the workflow into three main steps, that reflect the chapter structure of the thesis itself:
• map acquisition: conversion of the ancient map support from analog to digital, by means of high resolution scanning or 3D surveying (digital photogrammetry or laser scanning techniques); this process must be performed carefully, with special instruments, in order to reduce deformation as much as possible;
• map georeferencing: reproducing in the digital image the native metric content of the map, or even improving it by selecting a large number of still existing ground control points; this way it is possible to understand the projection features of the historical map, as well as to evaluate and represent the degree of deformation induced by the old type of cartographic transformation (that can be unknown to us), by surveying errors or by support deformation, usually all errors of too high value with respect to our standards;
• data elaboration and management in a digital environment, by means of modern software tools: vectorization, giving the map a new and more attractive graphic view (for instance, by creating a 3D model), superimposing it on current base maps, comparing it to other maps, and finally inserting it in GIS or WebGIS environment as a specific layer.
The study is supported by some case histories, each of them interesting from the point of view of one digital cartographic elaboration step at least. The ancient maps taken into account are the following ones:
• three maps of the Po river delta, made at the end of the XVI century by a famous land-surveyor, Ottavio Fabri (he is single author in the first map, co-author with Gerolamo Pontara in the second map, co-author with Bonajuto Lorini and others in the third map), who wrote a methodological textbook where he explains a new topographical instrument, the squadra mobile (mobile square) invented and used by himself; today all maps are preserved in the State Archive of Venice;
• the Ichnoscenografia of Bologna by Filippo de' Gnudi, made in the 1702 and today preserved in the Archiginnasio Library of Bologna; it is a scenographic view of the city, captured in a bird's eye flight, but also with an icnographic value, as the author himself declares;
• the map of Bologna by the periti Gregorio Monari and Antonio Laghi, the first map of the city derived from a systematic survey, even though it was made only ten years later (1711–1712) than the map by de' Gnudi; in this map the scenographic view was abandoned, in favor of a more correct representation by means of orthogonal projection; today the map is preserved in the State Archive of Bologna;
• the Gregorian Cadastre of Bologna, made in 1831 and updated until 1927, now preserved in the State Archive of Bologna; it is composed by 140 maps and 12 brogliardi (register volumes).
In particular, the three maps of the Po river delta and the Cadastre were studied with respect to their acquisition procedure. Moreover, the first maps were analyzed from the georeferencing point of view, and the Cadastre was analyzed with respect to a possible GIS insertion. Finally, the Ichnoscenografia was used to illustrate a possible application of digital elaboration, such as 3D modeling.
Last but not least, we must not forget that the study of an ancient map should start, whenever possible, from the consultation of the precious original analogical document; analysis by means of current digital techniques allow us new research opportunities in a rich and modern multidisciplinary context.


CIFOR CIFOR International Institute for Environment and Development Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) CIFOR advances human wellbeing, environmental conservation, and equity by conducting research to inform policies and practices that a ect forests in developing countries. CIFOR is one of 15 centres within the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). CIFOR's headquarters are in Bogor, Indonesia. It also has o ces in Asia, Africa and South America. CIFOR works in over 30 countries worldwide and has links with researchers in 50 international, regional and national organisations.


We propose a model of history dependent disappointment aversion (HDDA), allowing the attitude of a decision-maker (DM) towards disappointment at each stage of a T -stage lottery to evolve as a function of his history of disappointments and elations in prior stages. We establish an equivalence between the existence of an HDDA representation and two documented cognitive biases. First, the DM overreacts to news: after suffering a disappointment, the DM lowers his threshold for elation and becomes more risk averse; similarly, after an elating outcome, the DM raises his threshold for elation and becomes less risk averse. This makes disappointment more likely after elation and vice-versa, leading to statistically cycling risk attitudes. Second, the DM displays a primacy effect: early outcomes have the strongest effect on risk attitude. "Gray areas" in the elation-disappointment assignment are connected to optimism and pessimism in determining endogenous reference points.


This research addressed two important issues concerning conservation of orang-utans in Indonesia, the prevalence of diseases in orang-utans at reintroduction centres and the extent of intra-subspecific genetic variation between isolated populations of Bornean orang-utans. The research was conducted at the Wanariset Orang-utan Reintroduction Centre in East Kalirnantan fiom 1994 to 1997, during which time extensive field excursions were made throughout Borneo, and at the Biomedical Primate Research Centre in the Netherlands in 1998.

Analysis of clinical records fiom 1991 to 1997 showed that during this period 339 orang-utans were admitted to Wanariset, of which 96 (28.3%) died and 108 (31.8%) were released. Studies were designed to identify and determine the prevalence of diseases, specifically gastro-intestinal parasites, tuberculosis and certain viral diseases. Further studies defined the factors associated with mortalities of orang-utans at the reintroduction centre.

Gastro-intestinal parasites, in particular Strongyloides spp. and Balantidium coli, posed health problems for rehabilitant orang-utans. Strongyloides spp. and Strongyle sp. eggs and B. coli were detected in faecal samples from new arrivals, rehabilitant, released and wild individuals. Trichuris trichura was present in new arrivals, released and rehabilitant orang-utans, whereas Ascaris sp., and Cyclospora sp. were present only in rehabilitants. There was a high prevalence of B. coli in new arrivals (41.6%), rehabilitants (100%) and released individuals (100%) and a low prevalence in wild individuals (12.5%). Faecal egg counts of individuals infected with Strongyloides spp. showed that 47.8% of rehabilitants and 14.3% of new arrivals had egg counts over 1000 eggs/gm, 81.8% of released individuals had egg counts less than 500 eggslgm and all wild individuals had egg counts less than 100 eggs/mg. Strongyloidosis was the primary cause of death (21.9%) of rehabilitant orang-utans, prior to the incorporation of oral ivermectin into the parasite control program.

There was a low prevalence of tuberculosis, which was detected in one individual (0.8%) and suspected to have caused the death of two others (2.1% of deaths). Diagnosis of tuberculosis in orang-utans was complicated by inaccuracies and difficulties in interpreting the diagnostic tests commonly used in humans and nonhuman primates. Further research is required to develop more reliable and accurate tests for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in orang-utans.

A study of the serological prevalence of a number of viral infections in captive orangutans showed evidence of exposure to hepatitis B virus (42.6%), hepatitis A virus (34.9%), herpes simplex viruses (14.7%), simian D-type retroviruses (11.2%) and human T-lymphotrogic viruses (1.4%). There was no evidence of exposure to simian or human immunodeficiency viruses.

Molecular studies to determine the origin of the hepatitis B virus, showed the virus was not of human origin as has been generally assumed, but was an indigenous virus which also occurred naturally in wild populations. The virus was subsequently named Orangutan Hepadnavirus.

A molecular study using mitochondrial DNA was undertaken to determine whether there was significant genetic diversity between six isolated populations of wild orangutans within Borneo. It was concluded that there are at least four genetically distinct populations located in East Kalimantan, southwest Kalirnantdcentral Kalirnantan, northwest KalimantdSarawak, and Sabah.

The findings of this research are discussed in terms of the implications for management policies for reintroduction centres, as well as for the conservation of wild populations. They will also be of relevance to zoos and primate centres.


Composites are light, durable and can be designed to have mechanical properties rivaling those of steel. In order to use composites in more cost-sensitive fields their manufacturing-cost must decrease. One way of decreasing this cost is to manufacture larger volumes. Large manufacturing volumes means high investment costs but low cost per manufactured part. Cost-efficient thinking also brings about less environmental impact as the goal is to manufacture as many parts as possible, for the smallest amount of resources - a necessary part of a sustainable society.The overarching goal of this master thesis is to investigate and evaluate the investment costs at different manufacturing volumes, as a function of component size and other influencing variables. The investigation is carried out through the development and utilization of a basic technical cost model. The investigation involves three manufacturing methods commonly used for structural composites: High-Pressure Resin Transfer Moulding (HP-RTM), Compression moulding of thermoplastics (CM-TP) and Advanced Sheet Moulding Compound (A-SMC). A fully automated material system is chosen and simulated for each method in order to manufacture large annual manufacturing volumes.The developed technical cost volume is designed using a bottom-up perspective where the steps of each manufacturing method is analysed separately from each other. For each sub-step its corresponding lead-time and containing costs is deduced and passed on to the final sum of all sub-steps. The manufacturing cost consists of the investment cost, operator cost, the material cost as well as further fixed costs such as electricity and plant costs. Hydraulic presses are one of the highest cost-contributes to the total investment cost, for all three studied manufacturing methods. HP-RTM has the highest investment cost while CM-TP has the lowest, correlating with the fact that a higher pressure is necessary in the former. CM-TP has the highest material cost whilst HP-RTM has the lowest. The operator cost is also a large contribution to the total manufacturing cost.Decreasing this will decrease the final cost per part. The cost per part decrease with increasing annual manufacturing volume. At lower manufacturing volumes the cost is closely related to the size of the investment cost as well as other fixed costs. At higher manufacturing volumes material cost dominates for all three studied processes. A process using a more expensive raw material therefore has a clear disadvantage at these higher annual production volumes. The cost per part decrease could be described as a finite sum. At a large enough annual production the lowest cost part is reached and further increase in volume will not affect the cost noticeably.Dividing a large component into several smaller pieces for later merging is costsaving at lower manufacturing volumes. How cost-saving depends on the manufacturing method. Manufacturing methods with a high investment cost has a higher cost-save by dividing the component into several smaller parts.


The University of Naples has created a Local Working Group as a partnership of university researchers and school teachers. This group has developed and implemented a research-based teaching/learning Module on the topic of Optical Properties of Materials. The broader aim of this effort was to propose an innovation in Science and Technology curricula in the interdisciplinary context of Materials Science. To achieve this, we adopted the Educational Reconstruction theoretical framework, according to a design – trial – redesign cycle: the Group first carried out a content structure analysis, including relevant results from Physics Education Research, then proceeded with a trial implementation of the initial design, in order to gather data to evaluate the module and further refine its design. Through this effort we explicitly aimed at promoting students' conceptual understanding through inquiry-oriented activities but also at enhancing their interest in further study of science and technology. The resulting activity sequence is structured in a few self-consistent Teaching-Learning Units, each proposing a problematic/motivating situation related to optical fibres as a chosen example of a technology-embedded scenario. The designed activities follow a Guided Inquiry Approach, focusing both on basic physics concepts and on the materials' properties relevant for modelling/interpreting the fibres' behaviours. The students are engaged in integrated lab-work and ICT activities to gain knowledge useful for managing with the driving questions of the "scenario". In this paper, we describe the initial design and development of the Module's construction and illustrate how these efforts have been informed by the results of the pilot implementations. The findings of this study support the crucial role, on one hand, played by the iterative design about key ideas related to science and technology aspects and, on the other hand, of the partnership between developers and teachers. Both these components have emerged as essential ingredients that affect the process of development and revision of effective research based curriculum materials.