The specific features of the epidemiological process and clinical forms of tuberculosis in Vladivostok adolescents treated in 1999 to 2006 were studied. Two periods were identified: 1) from 1999 to 2002 when fluorographic studies were annually made and 2) from 2003 to 2006 when fluorography was carried out every two years. It was established that during Period 2, there was a rise in tuberculosis morbidity among adolescents, which was attended by an increase in the number of patients with open and destructive forms. Adolescents aged 17 years, girls, first-year students were found to be more frequently ill. 41.1% of the patients underwent a fluorographic study less than a year ago. The foregoing generates the necessity of submitting the medical documentation of enrollees and first-year students along with the data of a fluorographic study and tuberculin tests.


This article addresses multi‐disciplinary writing groups in supporting writing for publication for higher degree by research candidates in the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Drawing on focus group discussions with postgraduate research students from the Faculty of Arts at Monash University in Australia who participated in the writing groups, it investigates the participants' perceptions of the multi‐disciplinary nature of the groups and some of the benefits of sharing writing with fellow postgraduate research students from different fields of study. Discussing both the strengths and weaknesses of the multi‐disciplinarity of the groups as identified by participants, the authors suggest that such groups can provide a forum for postgraduates to develop their 'professional' academic identity and develop their writing beyond the context of their theses and can have some unexpected benefits to participants' sense of themselves as disciplinary proponents. The multi‐disciplinary context is thus considered as providing a level playing field in which postgraduates may approach the writing process as a shared methodology, encompassing a suite of specialised but generic skills that cross‐disciplinary boundaries.


Although 3-year-olds in the United States may attend prekindergarten prior to formal school entry in kindergarten, few investigations focus on the socioemotional foundations of classroom learning at age 3 and their relationship to later achievement. This study examined the relationship between age 3 readiness for group-based learning, modeled as the latent constructs, effortful control and social communication, and age 5 classroom adjustment and pre-academic outcomes. Data from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project in the United States (n = 797) included observations, direct assessment, and examiner and teacher report. Children's effortful control predicted classroom adjustment and their social communication predicted pre-academic outcomes. Readiness for group-based learning provides a way to describe key constructs of early skill development and a framework to support children's classroom learning. Implications include promoting parents' and educators' capacities to support early developmental foundations for later adjustment and learning by fostering infants' and toddlers' effortful control and social communication. Efforts to support these skills simultaneously across diverse experiences in the home and classroom by focusing on children's individual needs may prove advantageous.


Secondary lymphoid tissue chemokine (SLC) is a CC chemokine that is selective in its recruitment of naı̈ve T cells and dendritic cells (DCs). In the lymph node, SLC is believed to play an important role in the initiation of an immune response by colocalizing naı̈ve T cells with DC-presenting antigen. Here, we used SLC as a treatment for tumors established from the poorly immunogenic B16 melanoma. Intratumoral injections of SLC inhibited tumor growth in a CD81, T cell-dependent manner. SLC elicited a substantial infiltration of DCs and T cells into the tumor, coincident with the antitumor response. We next usedSLC gene-modified DCs as a treatment of established tumors. Intratumoral injections of SLC-expressing DCs resulted in tumor growth inhibition that was significantly better than either control DCs or SLC alone. Distal site immunization of tumorbearing mice with SLC gene-modified DCs pulsed with tumor lysate elicited an antitumor response whereas control DCs did not. We also found that s.c. injection of lysate-pulsed DCs expressing SLC promoted the migration of T cells to the immunization site. This report demonstrates that SLC can both induce antitumor responses and enhance the antitumor immunity elicited by DCs.


Monocytes were isolated from blood of patients belonging to three groups: those with normal intima-media thickness (IMT) of carotid arteries, patients with increased IMT and patients with atherosclerotic plaques. The degree of activation of the macrophages was determined by the concentration of the cytokine TNF-α and chemokine CCL18 in the culture medium. When comparing the average values of the concentrations of TNF-α and CCL18 for patients in all groups dramatic individual differences were revealed. These individual differences were found within each group and in the pool. An inverse relationship between intracellular cholesterol levels and the ability of monocytes to activate was found. To clarify the cause of this relationship, monocytes were cultured with atherogenic modified low-density lipoprotein, causing accumulation of cholesterol in cultured cells. The accumulation of intracellular cholesterol had no effect neither on the secretion of cytokines nor on the expression of their genes. Therefore, individual differences in the activation capacity of monocytes is not determined by the accumulation of intracellular cholesterol caused by atherogenic lipoproteins. The data obtained can be explained by the individual characteristics of the immune response in different patients.


Study of the Travel Industry's Incentives in Guatemala and EI Salvador. Carlos Lizama and Jose Exprua. Costa Rica Tourism Board, P.O. Box 777, San Jose, Costa Rica. October 1978. 62p. Readers are encouraged to submit items for inclusion in the Travel Research Bookshelf All items submitted should include the author, title, source of availability, length, and pnce Anyone wishing copies of the materials listed in the Travel Research Bookshelf should write to the source indicated and not to the Journal of Travel Research.


Colonic diverticula represent saccular outpouchings of the colonic wall and are referred to as diverticulosis under normal circumstances, and as diverticulitis when inflamed. Diverticulosis is usually asymptomatic and rare in patients younger than 30 years of age, but the incidence increases with age. In addition, 10-25% of these patients will progress to diverticulitis and experience abdominal pain, bloating, and/or fever. Diverticulitis can be further differentiated as uncomplicated or complicated depending on the type of perforation and whether or not it is associated with purulent or fecal peritonitis, or a pelvic abscess. Treatment ranges from oral antibiotic and diet modification for a single episode of uncomplicated diverticulitis to intravenous antibiotic and surgical management for recurrent diverticulitis. Surgery entails removal of the diseased segment of the colon with anastomosis or colostomy depending on the degree of inflammation and amount of healthy tissue. Here, we present a case of a female patient with 12 previous episodes of uncomplicated diverticulitis in a span of a year and a half. Laparoscopic low anterior resection with a side-to-end Baker-type rectocolon anastomosis was elected to remove the diseased segment and prevent recurrence.


Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is considered a relatively uncommon disease but its incidence is increasing worldwide. Patients affected by MPM have a very severe prognosis and have been often occupationally and environmentally exposed to asbestos. In recent years, checkpoint inhibitors have dramatically revolutionized the paradigm for the treatment of several malignancies. Several efforts have also been made to improve the survival outcomes of patients with MPM and after decades, the standard-of-care systemic treatment for unresectable MPM, based on first-line combination chemotherapy with cisplatin and pemetrexed, has changed. In addition to checkpoint inhibitors, other types of treatments, such as molecularly targeted therapy have been evaluated. However, to date, the results of these investigations are not very encouraging. The aim of the present review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the most relevant data of clinical trials regarding recent treatment strategies of MPM with a particular focus on immunotherapeutic and targeted approaches.


Understanding the evolution of code clones is important in software maintenance. With the information about how code clones evolve, both developers and researchers can understand the impacts of code clones and build a more robust code clone management system. So far, many studies have investigated the evolution of code clones to better understand the effects of code clones. However, only a few systems have been presented to support managing code clones based on the information about how code clone evolves. To mitigate this problem, in this paper, we present CCEvovis, a system that visualizes the evolved code clones across multiple versions of a program. CCEvovis highlights and visualizes the clone change to support software maintenance. CCEvovis is available at: https://github.com/hirotaka0616/CCEvovis.


This paper analyses the use of English in Spanish television commercials, since no scientific studies have been carried out so far in this field. Although there are a few similar studies of print media, our review of the literature has shown some gaps in the research on Anglicisms used in advertising. English seems to be widely present in television commercials in Spain for different reasons. Marketing and cost-saving strategies of multinational companies together with the prestige of the English language and Anglo-American culture in Spain are some of the primary causes. In our study, we have focused on a corpus of pure Anglicisms (English words which have not been adapted to Spanish) and pseudo-Anglicisms (terms that do not exist in English, though they are similar to English words), found in commercials related to cosmetics, hygiene and personal care products, as part of the research project "Globalisation and Impact of the Anglo-American Culture on Spain". Five hundred and thirty one commercials of the three main private national television channels in Spain (Tele5, Antena3, LaSexta) and children's Disney Channel (Spain) were compiled in 2013. The results confirm a considerable presence of pure Anglicisms, English-Spanish code switching, pseudo-Anglicisms and Anglo-American imagery and music in the advertising of products related to cosmetics, hygiene and personal care on Spanish television. Consequently, the link of these products to the prestige of the English-speaking world is reinforced.


Protrusive functional relationships between the upper and lower jaws are constrained by the structures of the temporomandibular joints (TMJs) and the opposing contacting surfaces of the anterior teeth. To check these biomechanical relationships, the link quadrilateral bell crank model was assumed in order to compute the instantaneous equilibrium of forces using vectorial analysis. Four anterior teeth configurations were analyzed to study the distribution of force components. The first represented normal bite (used as control), the second represented long anterior overjet, the third represented deep anterior overbite, and the fourth one represented freedom in centric. When three different interincisal contact positions were assumed, functional compromises concerning load/reaction between the TMJ and anterior dentition were found. In centric occlusion there was a tendency toward less loading in the joints and increased loading on the dentition. In intermediate positions and close to the edge-to-edge position, the mechanical tendencies were toward increased loading in the joints and decreased loading on the dentition.


This article draws together communications and media studies with feminist theory and refugee scholarship to closely consider Vietnamese-American subject and community formations from the reference point of sound and audition. Specifically, it examines the ways in which institutionalized regimes of listening are configurations of power, the effects of which subtly but powerfully impact Vietnamese Americans' ordinary lives. Such regimes of listening operate as technologies that regulate subjects' quotidian modes of conduct and in so doing work to reproduce recognizable forms of ethnic, refugee, and national subjectivities and communities as well as the hegemonic discourses that underwrite them. This essay urges an epistemological shift from the site/sight-specific approaches to race, ethnicity, and nationalism that typically dominate ethnic studies, area studies, anthropology, and refugee studies to sonorous approaches that take into account the subtle and ephemeral configurations and effects of power that constitute this ethno-national community and its subjects. The production and management of national subjectivity, as this article shows, is routinely and oftentimes unspectacularly undertaken in sites that are ethnically and temporally local.


OBJECTIVE
To isolate and identify the cartilage progenitor cells (CPCs) from normal cartilage, and to explore the influence of interleukin 1β (IL-1β) in different concentrations on its chondrogenesis.

METHODS
CPCs were isolated from normal cartilage of adult New Zealand white rabbit with the fibronectin adhesion assay; the cell phenotype was identified; and the cloning and differentiation of CPCs were observed. CPCs were incubated with H-DMEM in group A, with chondrogenic induced medium in group B, with chondrogenic induced medium+0.1 ng/mL IL-1β in group C and chondrogenic induced medium+1.0 ng/mL IL-1β in group D for 3 weeks. The histology, biochemistry, and real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR were performed to observe the effect of IL-1β on the chondrgenic differentiation.

RESULTS
The CPCs from normal cartilage expressed positively stem cell phenotype, which have similar ability of cloning and differentiation to stem cells. The cell pellets in groups C and D were significantly smaller than those in group B, and cell showed hypertrophic morphology change. There were more expressions of collagen type II and collagen type X in group B than in group A, in group B than in groups C and D, and in group C than group D with Safranin O staining. The biochemistry results showed that collagen type II content, glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content, and the ratio of GAG/DNA were significantly lower in groups C and D than in group B (P < 0.05), and in group D than in group C (P < 0.05); but the DNA content was significantly higher in groups C and D than in group B (P < 0.05), and no significant difference between groups C and D (P > 0.05). The real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR results showed that the relative mRNA expressions of collagen type II, collagen type X, and Sox-9 were significantly lower in groups C and D than in group B (P < 0.05), and in group D than in group C (P < 0.05), but the relative mRNA expressions of Runx-2 and matrix metalloproteinase 13 were significantly higher in groups C and D than in group B (P < 0.05), and in group D than in group C (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
There are CPCs having the character of stem cells in normal cartilage, and they have the capability of cloning and potential differentiation. IL-1β can inhibit the chondrogenesis of CPCs, and possibly promote the osteogenic differentiation.


Attitude to the Nazi past turns to its new phase in the 1980s, after the time of repressing, silent and mourning brings the new discourse in talking about the Holocaust. It was a tendency of "denying" the Holocaust and new anti-semitism movement. In the 90s, Jewish authors confirm their position as "self-determined agents' in the literary and political area. One of them is Doron Rabinovici, an Austrian Jewish author who wrote the novel Suche Nach M in engaging on the project of constructing a contemporary Jewish identity. In this article, the question of how Robinovici proposes the construction of contemporary Jewish identity will be answered through critical reading on Jewish myth and identity formation theory. The result shows two major strategies that he proposes in his novel: "deconstructs" the Jewish myth (by playing other possibilities to interpret them and unveil the truth) and suggests the self-referential concept (find oneself based on 'the self' instead of immersing self in 'the Other"). These two strategies can be seen as an active engagement with one own traumatic past. It is a historical- and self-awareness approach to construct a problematic contemporary Jewish identity.


The paper describes the flight periods and dynamics of abundance of horse botflies, life span of females and males, effect of environmental factors on the activity of flies and their behaviour, potential fecundity of different species of botflies, duration of embryonal development, preservation of viability of larvae in egg membranes, localization of different stages of botflies in the host, and methods of their control.


Abstract Scheelite from the Tongshankou porphyry- skarn Cu-Mo(-W) deposit occurs mainly as disseminated grains in the altered granodiorite porphyries at depth (Sch A), in the skarn coeval with retrograde alteration (Sch B) and in distal quartz veins crosscutting marbles (Sch C). Cathodoluminescence (CL) responses within a single Sch A grain reveal two subtypes: CL-clear Sch A-I and CL-turbid, densely veined Sch A-II. The CL contrast, coupled with geochemical data, suggest Sch A-I was metasomatized to form Sch A-II. CL images reveal that Sch A-I, Sch B and Sch C are all homogenous, with blue luminescence and are depleted in heavy rare earth elements (HREE), indicating a primary origin. However, Sch A-II is characterized by higher contents of light REE and heavy REE as well as higher Sr isotopes (0.7080–0.7100) than the primary scheelite (<0.7080). These differences indicate that Sch A-II formed through dissolution-reprecipitation. The Sr isotopes of the primary scheelite (0.7073–0.7078) are generally consistent with those of the mineralized granodiorite porphyries (0.7061–0.7063) and mafic enclaves (0.7058–0.7073). The granodiorite porphyries contain low tungsten contents (3–11 ppm), whereas high tungsten contents were detected in mafic enclaves (48–75 ppm). The coexistence of mafic enclaves and tungsten mineralization at depth, and their consistent Sr isotopes, indicates that the interaction of mafic enclaves and exsolved magmatic fluids from the granodiorite porphyries may have played an important role in the extraction of tungsten from the mafic enclaves and formation of scheelite mineralization. Our work shows that scheelite geochemistry can be used to trace the mineralizing conditions but the compositions may be significantly modified during the ore-forming process. Thus, detailed textural relationships should be investigated before using scheelite geochemistry to constrain the hydrothermal fluids and ore genesis.


Women aged 45-60 are considered in our culture to be in the middle years of life, a time that is often synonymous with menopause. As is evident in cultural scenarios such as popular television, film, and women's magazines, as well as advertising geared towards women, midlife is associated with a decline in beauty, sexuality, femininity, and health. Such negative sociocultural messages, or scripts, are so entrenched in western culture that the positive aspects of the midlife transition are overshadowed. Another effect of the prevalence of these scripts is that negative bias towards women and aging may exist among healthcare professionals such as primary care physicians and in biomedical literature, reinforcing the intersection of sexism and ageism by medicalizing a normative phase of lifespan development. As awareness of these issues grows, so does the number of alternative scripts. Exploring such alternatives, re-authoring their own scripts, and allowing the space and time for more qualitative analysis of women's experiences can be empowering not just for the generation of women who are currently in midlife but also for those in younger generations.


My making choices and acting on those choices in a way that might count as my being free would seem to require that those choices are truly my choices. Furthermore, for my choices to be truly mine, it would seem that these choices must reflect my true self. So it seems that choosing and acting freely depends in a robust sense on such choosing and acting being authentic. Yet the concept of authenticity seems problematic. What or where is that true self which would be the basis for authentic choosing, acting and living? Perhaps there is no such true self. This problem is central to the philosophies of both Sartre and Foucault. For the philosophers freedom authenticity or self-hood were central. The paper aims to show that, in spite of Foucault's criticism, Sartre does not fall back on the idea of a true or deep self that is given to us. Sartre can appeal to the idea of authenticity without holding on such a dubious construct as a given, true self. Therefore the exploration of bad faith, good faith and authenticity in Sartre's Being and Nothingness, where the problem is posed but left unresolved, is necessary. Sartre's Anti-Semite and Jew, where a more concrete problem – the problem of authentically identifying oneself with a group of human beings − actually opens up a way how to overcome the problem of authenticity.


Both nationally and in Rhode Island, there is a high prevalence of veterans in the homeless population. Many homeless veterans suffer from serious mental health issues and military specific traumas, adding to the social stigma they face. To avoid homelessness, veterans need to treat their mental illness with the assistance of their social support networks. Despite incredible advances in technology and mental health care, provision of mental health services to veterans still remains very traditional. With an influx of veterans returning from the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, a greater number of younger clients will be entering the system. Because of their comfort with computers, the Internet and social networking tools, there is a natural progression for these veterans to use the Internet to support one another in their return from combat and readjustment to civilian life. To prevent isolation and encourage continued receipt of mental health services, online social support services can help veterans avoid homelessness when used as a supplement to traditional mental health treatment. A survey of nine (N=9) social workers at the VAMC showed that social workers who serve veterans would find online social supports helpful for their clients and would recommend these services as a supplement to their traditional therapeutic treatment.


While corporations wield tremendous amounts of power that can – in theory – ameliorate some of the global challenges that the world faces today, as things stand, the right incentives are not in place for the stakeholders to transform companies into socially responsible and environmentally conscious entities as a whole. While company law could be put forth as an instrument that incentivizes companies to be more socially aware and attentive to sustainability issues – in reality – relying on company law to change the true nature of companies and how they operate is akin to hammering a nail with a banana. While bananas are nutritious and delicious, they are not practical tools for a wide assortment of tasks. Similarly, although company law can serve a wide variety of purposes, it is not necessarily the instrument to change the incentives of corporate stakeholders to be more socially responsible in its present state.


Time series datasets are often composed of a variety of sequences from the same domain, but from different entities, such as individuals, products, or organizations. We are interested in how time series models can be specialized to individual sequences (capturing the specific characteristics) while still retaining statistical power by sharing commonalities across the sequences. This paper describes the multi-task dynamical system (MTDS); a general methodology for extending multi-task learning (MTL) to time series models. Our approach endows dynamical systems with a set of hierarchical latent variables which can modulate all model parameters. To our knowledge, this is a novel development of MTL, and applies to time series both with and without control inputs. We apply the MTDS to motion-capture data of people walking in various styles using a multi-task recurrent neural network (RNN), and to patient drug-response data using a multi-task pharmacodynamic model.


The requirements for greater miniaturization, higher operating temperature capability, and better moisture protection have resulted in the development of new constructional techniques for electronic transformers. The developments in application of new materials and techniques are detailed. Among the new developments discussed are the application of fluorochemicals to transformers designed for maximum coil temperatures of 200°C.; the philosophy of "controlled environment" for the insulation system through the application of inert gases for transformers designed for maximum coil temperatures of 3S0°C. , and the application of epoxies to the molded coil encapsulated transformer.


The State Department of Housing in Kenya puts the housing demand in the country at 250,000 housing units per year, while actual supply is 50,000 units p.a. This demand for housing has accumulated to 1.85 million units as at 2018. This has led to the growing proliferation of slums and informal settlements, with the Department showing that there are over 500 such settlements. This state of affairs has been partly attributed to under-investment in low cost housing by both public and private entities. Stakeholders have therefore recommended the application of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), which increases the role of the private entities in housing production beyond the traditional procurement method. Under PPPs, the public sector cedes the duty of actual housing development and concentrates on creating an enabling environment for the private party to effectively and efficiently perform the function of shelter provision. In addition to creating an enabling environment, the governments undertake monitoring, evaluation, creation of standards and enforcement. This study utilized secondary review of the literature on the evolution on PPPs and focused group discussion with selected officials at the State Department for Housing in Kenya. The purpose was to juxtapose the secondary literature review on how the concept of PPPs has been appreciated as an alternative to the traditional procurement methods.  It was found out that private participation in infrastructure development has evolved over time, assuming many forms like: contracting out, privatization and lately PPPs. Kenya has been applying PPPs since the liberalization of the economy in 1994, though there are were earlier applications of the concept. The country has used PPPs in the hard infrastructure sectors like energy and transport, but little success has been recorded in housing development. It was concluded that PPPs are applicable in down market urban housing in Kenya since the concept has been successfully applied in other areas. Through PPPs, a sector like down market urban housing can access more capital resources, technology, innovation, efficiency and effectiveness. The implication of this finding is that more down market urban housing can be developed to address the huge gap witnessed in Kenya.

 Key words: Public private partnerships, public sector/government, private sector/private parties, down market urban housing, low income urban households, evolution.


The aim of the research is to establish the level of some psychomotor abilities by determining the rhythmic gymnasts' capability to perform apparatus-specific technical skills within the composition of their routines, according to the provisions of the 2017-2020 Code of Points. The Wireless training timer (Witty) testing equipment was used to assess relevant types of speed in junior rhythmic gymnasts. The reaction time, execution time and travel speed time were measured in similar technical conditions or close to those encountered in training and competitions. The 14 gymnasts included in the research, aged between 13 and 15 years, are part of the National Olympic Centre for juniors in Arad, all being enrolled in the preparatory stage of training. The analysis of the data from both static and dynamic tests established a referential for the forms of speed to be enhanced by means of apparatus-specific technical routines. Results provide interesting information on the average values, inter-individual differences and homogeneity-related issues (which are relevant especially for gymnasts performing in the group event). The key features of these data, as well as previous analysis of junior routines for the 2017-2020 Olympic cycle, have led us to the conclusion that, in order to get a high score for apparatus difficulty/mastery, more difficulty elements should be added, which requires an increase in all kinds of speed involved by the technique of a specific event.


In this study, the effects of air gap on the optimum insulation thickness, insulation, and total costs, energy saving, payback period, fuel consumption, and emissions of CO2 and SO2 in the composite wall construction have been investigated for a prototype building in a sample city, Karabuk. For this reason two wall constructions, one with and the other without air gap, have been considered and the air gap thickness has been taken from 0 to 6 cm. Based on LCC analysis, optimum insulation thickness is determined for different air gap thicknesses. The results show that when 2, 4, and 6 cm of the air gap thicknesses were used; the optimum insulation thickness, insulation cost, and payback period were decreased by 10.02, 20.03, and 30.07% while the total cost, fuel consumption, and CO2 and SO2 emissions were decreased by 27.5, 44.98, and 54.46%, respectively. The insulation material installed at its optimum insulation thickness with air gaps in the composite wall will not only reduce the heat loss from the building walls but also has economical and environmental advantages. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 2011


Cyber resilient organizations, their functions and computing infrastructures, should be tolerant towards rapid and unexpected changes in the environment. Information security is an organization-wide common mission; whose success strongly depends on efficient knowledge sharing. For this purpose, semantic wikis have proved their strength as a flexible collaboration and knowledge sharing platforms. However, there has not been notable academic research on how semantic wikis could be used as information security management platform in organizations for improved cyber resilience. In this paper, we propose to use semantic wiki as an agile information security management platform. More precisely, the wiki contents are based on the structured model of the NIST Special Publication 800-53 information security control catalogue that is extended in the research with the additional properties that support the information security management and especially the security control implementation. We present common uses cases to manage the information security in organizations and how the use cases can be implemented using the semantic wiki platform. As organizations seek cyber resilience, where focus is in the availability of cyber-related assets and services, we extend the control selection with option to focus on availability. The results of the study show that a semantic wiki based information security management and collaboration platform can provide a cost-efficient solution for improved cyber resilience, especially for small and medium sized organizations that struggle to develop information security with the limited resources.


Cleaved, cation-derivatized Muscovite mica is utilized extensively in atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging because of its flatness over large areas (millimeter cleavage planes with local root-mean-square roughness < 0.3 nm), ease of preparation, and ability to adsorb charged biomolecules such as DNA (work by Hansma and Laney, Guthold et al., and McMaster et al.). In particular, NiCl(2) treatment has become a common method for controlling DNA adsorption on mica substrates while retaining the mica's ultraflat surface (work by Pietrement et al.). While several studies have modeled the mica/metal ion/DNA system using macroscopic colloidal theory (DLVO, etc.; Pietrement et al., Sushko et al., Pastre et al., and Cheng et al.), nickel/mica's physicochemical properties have not been well characterized on the nanoscale. Efforts to manipulate and engineer DNA nanostructures would benefit greatly from a better understanding of the surface chemistry of nickel/mica. Here we present in situ nanometer- and attogram-scale measurements and thermodynamic simulation results that show that the surface chemistry of nickel-treated mica is more complex than generally appreciated by AFM practitioners because of metal-ion speciation effects present at neutral pH. We also show that, under certain preparations, nickel/mica allows in situ nanoscopic nucleotide sequence mapping within individual surface-adsorbed DNA molecules by permitting localized, controlled desorption of the double helix by soluble DNA binding enzymes. These results should aid efforts to precisely control the DNA/mica binding affinity, particularly at the physiological pH ranges required by enzymatic biochemistry (pH 7.0-8.5), and facilitate the development of more complex and useful biochemical manipulations of adsorbed DNA, such as single-molecule sequencing.


The information loss paradox associated with black hole Hawking evaporation is an unresolved problem in modern theoretical physics. In a recent brief essay, we revisited the the evolution of the black hole entanglement entropy via the Euclidean path integral (EPI) of the quantum state and allow for the branching of semi-classical histories along the Lorentzian evolution. We posited that there exist at least two histories that contribute to EPI, where one is an information-losing history while the other is information-preserving. At early times, the former dominates EPI, while at late times the latter becomes dominant. By so doing we recovered the essence of the Page curve and thus the unitarity, albeit with the turning point, i.e., the Page time, much shifted toward the late time. In this full-length paper, we fill in the details of our arguments and calculations to strengthen our notion. One implication of this modified Page curve is that the entropy bound may thus be violated. We comment on the similarity and difference between our approach and that of the replica wormholes and the islands conjectures.


Loops are the main time-consuming part of numerical applications. The performance of the loops is limited either by the resources offered by the architecture or by recurrences in the computation. To execute more operations per cycle, current processors are designed with growing degrees of resource replication (replication technique) for memory ports and functional units. However, the high cost in terms of area and cycle time of this technique precludes the use of high degrees of replication. High values for the cycle time may clearly offset any gain in terms of number of execution cycles. High values for the area may lead to an unimplementable configuration. An alternative to resource replication is resource widening (widening technique), which has also been used in some recent designs in which the width of the resources is increased (i.e., a single operation is performed over multiple data). Moreover, several general-purpose superscalar microprocessors have been implemented with multiply-add fused floating-point units (fusion technique), which reduces the latency of the combined operation and the number of resources used. The authors evaluate a broad set of VLIW processor design alternatives that combine the three techniques. We perform a technological projection for the next processor generations in order to foresee the possible implementable alternatives. From this study, we conclude that if the cost is taken into account, combining certain degrees of replication and widening in the hardware resources is more effective than applying only replication. Also, we confirm that multiply-add fused units will have a significant impact in raising the performance of future processor architectures with a reasonable increase in cost.


The growing number of children diagnosed with autism and the recognized importance of evidence-based interventions has substantially increased the need for well-trained applied behavior analysts. Relative to public/consumer demand, there are very few higher education programs that are equipped to train behavior analysts specializing in autism. Worldwide, there are only a few programs accredited by Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI), that have course sequences approved by the Behavior Analysis Certification Board (BACB), and have formal institutional course approval for classes in autism and behavior analysis. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a series of expert commentary on the context, content and systems required to build quality higher education programs in autism and applied behavior analysis. Together the articles in this special section of the European Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis form a resource for faculty and university administrators interested in the development of innovative and socially relevant training programs in higher education.


Compared to other countries, Thailand has fewer seismic hazards. Hazardous experiences greatly influence the expertise and abilities of actors that implement and execute public disaster responses. In domestic disaster situations, there are protocols and resources that facilitate a national disaster response. However, in overseas responses, disaster response becomes more challenging as more responsibilities with limited authorities and resources are required. In this research, the public disaster response of the Royal Thai Embassy in Tokyo was explored and evaluated on the basis of several disaster scenarios. This research was developed to understand the state of disaster response, enhance the effectiveness of disaster response protocols, and reduce unnecessary resource consumption. This study intended to fulfill organizational needs and responsibilities. The study converts existing protocol that is written in document form into a time series disaster response plan for disaster drills based on a possible worst-case scenario, i.e., the Kumamoto Earthquake scenario in 2016 and the Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011. The plan was used in a disaster drill to evaluate organizational responses. The results from drills and discussions and comments from participant information flow primarily manage communications, cooperation, and connections, which are dependent on experiences and expertise in disaster management. This further affects information flow management and assistance capabilities. The outputs and outcomes from this research can be used as a guideline for application to other embassies in Japan, the Royal Thai Embassy in other countries, and general overseas organizations. This work may apply to other public disaster responses aside from natural disasters.


Background Aggression against GPs has increased in the past decade. Depending on experience, interpretation, and personality, the interpretation of aggressive patient behaviour will differ among doctors. Aim To investigate how often GPs experience aggression in a 1-year time span and what the relationship is between the GP's personality (based on the 'Big Five' personality traits) and the reporting of aggression. Secondly, to investigate how personality is related to feeling safe. Design & setting Flemish (Belgian Federal State) GPs were questioned in a cross-sectional design by online survey. GPs were recruited and questioned in their professional environment. Method Outcome measures were the 'Big Five' personality traits ('reserved' versus 'outgoing', 'compassionate' versus 'challenging', 'efficient' versus 'careless', 'confident' versus 'nervous', and 'cautious' versus 'innovative', based on Cattel's 'Big Five' model of personality), the type of aggression, the reporting of aggression, and feeling safe. Results Both (n = 247) male and female doctors considered physical contact and verbal intimidation as aggression. Female doctors were more likely to consider sexual harassment as aggression. The majority of GPs were confronted with verbal aggression. More than half considered physical aggression as the most threatening. GPs with 'reserved' and 'careless' personality types were more likely to experience aggression. GPs with 'innovative', 'challenging', or 'confident' personality types were also at increased risk, but to a lesser extent than those with 'reserved' and 'careless' personalities. GPs with 'efficient' and 'innovative' personalities were more likely to report incidents. Male GPs and those with 'efficient' personalities felt safer. GPs with 'confident' and 'cautious' personalities were more likely to feel unsafe. Conclusion The results of this study might help future interventions and support strategies (designed to prevent aggressive incidents or help GPs cope with them) to target the vulnerable groups. Further research should therefore explore the results of these data in depth and on a larger sample size.


The simple plant location problem (SPLP) is considered and a genetic algorithm is proposed to solve this problem. By using the developed algorithm it is possible to solve SPLP with more than 1000 facility sites and customers. Computational results are presented and compared to dual based algorithms.


Dissolution of carbonitrides and growth of austenite grain in X12CrMoWVNbN10-1-1 steel under various austenitizing conditions were investigated. The experimental results showed that the carbonitrides existing in after-forging heat treated state were mainly Cr23C6 and small amounts of NbN and Cr2N. However, Cr23C6 and Cr2N precipitates were dissolved completely after austenitization at 1 070°C for 60 min or at 1 200°C for 15 min, only the NbN particles left. The state of dissolution of NbN particles was also studied in detail as a function of austenitization holding time (tA) at different temperatures. Initially, the NbN particles dissolved with increasing tA at 1 070°C. When tA reached over 360 min, the amount of NbN remained approximately constant. On the contrary, during the process of austenitization at 1 010°C, no NbN particles dissolved into matrix. Starting from the fine and uniform grains, abnormal grain growth was observed after austenitizing at 1 010°C for 960 min or at 1 070°C for 180 min due to the heterogeneous distribution of NbN particles. The plot of grain size against tA indicated that the NbN particle with mean diameter of 117 nm and volume fraction of 3.1×10 would be sufficient to inhibit the austenite grain size effectively. Finally, the EBSD measurements demonstrated that the high energy grain boundaries whose misorientation range is 20–45° might be responsible for abnormal grain growth.


Background and Hypothesis: With advances in multiplex PCR testing, many gastrointestinal pathogens can be identified in about an hour and provide 23% increased yield of pathogens (Beatty et al., 2016). At our facility, 60.4% of these samples return with no microorganisms found. This study implemented diagnostic stewardship principles by evaluating the negative GI BioFire multiplex results and ordering patterns of providers at Parkview Health.
Design: This retrospective chart review of 300 negative GI BioFire results from 2018 pulled demographics and records from Parkview LIS and EPIC software. Inclusion Criteria: negative gastrointestinal BioFire results. Exclusion Criteria: positive results, negative results outside the study period, any patient data not admitted at Parkview Health.
Results: 57.0% of patients had diarrhea-associated co-morbidities. 14.3% had redundant tests. 51.0% were administered laxatives, 72.3% were administered antibiotics. 73.4% did not follow ACG guidelines stating diarrhea must have persisted longer than seven days. 79.3% had laxatives concurrently administered or did not follow ACG guidelines. 19.7% had endoscopic procedures within eight weeks of assay testing. 14.4% of providers documented a non-C Diff suspicion when ordering assay. 18.9% had non-reported diarrhea consistency. 45.9% were hospitalists, 5.5% were surgeons, and 17.9% were infectious disease or gastroenterologists. 78.3% had at least one C-Diff diarrhea risk factor.
Conclusion and Potential Impact: This data suggests using appropriate algorithms for GI BioFire and utilizing C-Diff antigen testing is more cost effective and should be used before GI BioFire for those with risk factors. Following ACG guidelines, and deferring those administered laxatives would remove over three-quarters of negative panels. Documentation of stool consistency, volume and suspicious etiologies are essential to furthering diagnostic stewardship. These recommendations will save approximately $1,036,399 after consideration for C-Diff antigen testing replacement per year for Parkview Health.


PURPOSE
To evaluate the anti-inflammatory and antioxidative effects of extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) on prostatitis and explore the mechanism of alleviating pain.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
For in vitro testing, RWPE-1 cells were randomly divided into 5 groups: (1) RWPE-1 group (normal control), (2) LPS group (lipopolysaccharide inducing inflammation), (3) 0.1ESWT group (treated by 0.1 mJ/mm² energy level), (4) 0.2ESWT group (treated by 0.2 mJ/mm² energy level), and (5) 0.3ESWT group (treated by 0.3 mJ/mm² energy level). After ESWT was administered, cells and supernatant were collected for ELISA and western blot. For in vivo testing, Sprague-Dawley male rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: (1) normal group, (2) prostatitis group, and (3) ESWT group (n=12 for each). Prostatitis was induced by 17 beta-estradiol and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) administration. Four weeks after ESWT, the pain index was assessed for all groups and prostate tissues were collected for immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, apoptosis analysis and, western blot.

RESULTS
Our in vitro studies showed that the optimal energy flux density of ESWT was 0.2 mJ/mm². In vivo, ESWT ameliorated discomfort in rats with prostatitis and inflammation symptoms were improved. Compared to normal rats, overexpressed NLRP3 inflammasomes triggered apoptosis in rats with prostatitis and this was improved by ESWT. TLR4-NFκB pathway was overactive after experimental prostatitis, compared to normal and ESWT groups, and prostatitis induced alterations in BAX/BAK pathway were inhibited by ESWT.

CONCLUSIONS
ESWT improved CP/CPPS by reducing NLRP3 inflammasome and ameliorated apoptosis via inhibiting BAX/BAK pathway in a rat model. TLR4 may play a key role in bonding NLRP3 inflammasome and BAX/BAK pathways. ESWT might be a promising approach for the treatment of CP/CPPS.


In this report, the determination method of phthalates in indoor air has been studied. For air samples, the particulate phase was kept on a quartz fiber filter and the gas phase was collected on two polyurethane foams (PUFs) by a low speed pump during a period of 12 to 24 h. The target compounds were extracted from filter and PUFs by mixture of dichlomethane and n-hexane and performed on a GS/MS system. The method quantification limit of siloxane in the air samples ranged from 1 to 3 ng/m, the linear range of standard solution was from 1 to 1000 ng/mL. The recoveries of method ranged from 67,9% to 117% with a RSD < 9% for both of analysis and surrogate compounds. The optimized method was applied for determination of siloxane in indoor air collected from Hanoi, Vietnam.


This thesis investigates the introduction, adaption, and implementation of the modern concept of heritage conservation in modern China after the opening of its treaty ports. Through an analysis of the different layers of disseminating and receiving knowledge in transnational exchanges, it explicitly points out the divergence between the Eurocentric concept of conservation and the Chinese tradition of treating historic buildings and sites. As a result of the complexity of understanding and adapting an imported idea, the heritage discourse in China is characterised by its own ambiguity. Conservation of modern heritage, in particular those built under colonial power, has seen conflicts of perceptions between conservation planning and interest-led practice. A progressive legislative framework for heritage conservation has had a limited binding effect on stakeholders' actions to protect listed immovable built cultural heritage sites from artificial damage in China's contemporary urban practices. By analysing various actors' interpretations and expressions of the concept of "conservation" (known as "保护" in Chinese) derived from different temporalities, it explores the causes and effects of heritage strategies and approaches created by individuals, groups, and the state apparatus. Theoretically, it challenges the local acceptability of classic conservation principles that are primarily based on European thoughts and cultural background. Practically, it provides adequate clues for a multi-faceted consideration of listed heritage sites in future development. It highlights the significance of creating a powerful local narrative under the authoritative heritage discourse at a crossroads of ongoing globalisation and growing nationalism.


This article assesses whether the scholarly literature on radicalisation is adequately integrated into national policy strategies for countering violent extremism (CVE). It outlines concepts and models of radicalisation, and offers a framework for understanding its various complex causes. The article then compares this scholarly research against case studies of CVE policy from the United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, Sweden and The Netherlands. These countries' policies adequately capture the core nature of radicalisation, but otherwise exhibit significant variation in how they explain its causes. This can be explained partly by a lack of clarity over how and why radicalisation happens. However, it also suggests that CVE policy is often shaped less by evidence-based research, and more by cultural, political and historical factors. This confirms a need for evidence-based approaches to CVE, and for deeper comparative studies of how radicalisation is understood across national contexts.


Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is a high strength organic wastewater, which adversely affects aquatic life
as well as human life directly or indirectly. This has attracted concern due to the rapid expansion of the
oil palm industries in countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, which currently contribute about 80%
of the world palm oil. The conventional bioreactors such as pond digester, anaerobic filtration, up-flow
anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB), up-flow anaerobic sludge fixed-film (UASFF), continuous stirred tank
reactor (CSTR), anaerobic contact digestion and fluidized bed, used over the past decades are largely
operated anaerobically. They have been reported to be less effective for the treatment of the increasing
volume of POME as well as meeting the new stringent wastewater treatment standards. Therefore,
treatment method such as aerobic under a continuous system is anticipated to be effective alternative
to the defects observed in the previously employed bioreactors. The use of semifluidized bed
bioreactor containing immobilized cells for the biodegradation of various high strength organic
wastewater have been reported as highly efficient treatment method. Thus, to address the increasing
environmental impact of POME in the producing nations, the application of semifluidized bed bioreactor
as a novel technology in the palm oil industry will be of immense benefit, economically and
environmentally.


North American ginseng (NAG) has received increasing attention as an alternative medicine for the treatment of diabetes. Extract of the NAG root has been reported to possess antidiabetic properties, but the underlying mechanisms for such effects have not been identified. Here we investigated the effects of NAG root extract on type 1 and 2 diabetes and the underlying mechanisms involved for such effects. Type 1 [C57BL/6 mice with streptozotocin (STZ)-induction] and type 2 (db/db) diabetic models were examined. Groups of diabetic mice (both type 1 and 2) were treated with alcoholic extract of the NAG root (200 mg/kg BW/day, oral gavage) for 1 or 2 months following onset of diabetes. Ginseng treatment significantly increased the body weight in type 1 diabetic animals in contrast to the type 2 model, where it caused diminution of body weight. Blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin levels diminished in the diabetic groups of both models with NAG treatment. Interestingly, plasma insulin and C-peptide levels were significantly increased in the STZ-diabetic mice, whereas they were reduced in the db/db mice following NAG treatment. Histological and morphometric analyses (islet/pancreas ratio) of the pancreas revealed an increase in the islet area following the treatment compared to both the untreated diabetic groups. These data indicate that NAG possibly causes regeneration of β-cells resulting in enhanced insulin secretion. On the other hand, in type 2 diabetes, the additional effects of NAG on body weight might have also resulted in improved glucose control.


A population of the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense was followed in a 48 h survey of the St. Lawrence estuary in order to determine its ability to perform vertical migrations in nature. A. tamarense performed daytime and nighttime migrations during our study. Cells were gen- erally found close to the surface during daytime, started their descent down to the nitracline before sunset, and returned toward the surface after sunrise (with an estimated migration speed of 2 m h -1 ). Our results suggest that A. tamarense cells were able to fulfill their nitrogen requirement while migrating to the deep layers during the night. During the day, A. tamarense cells adjusted to daily fluctuations in light intensity using their motile capacity and aggregated at a depth where light inten- sity did not exceed 300 µmol photons m -2 s -1 . The nutritional status of the A. tamarense population near the surface was determined at the onset of the 48 h study during a set of onboard nutrient addi- tion experiments. Results from these experiments indicated that the net growth rate of A. tamarense was controlled by phosphate availability, while the biomass was dependent on nitrate availability. These results suggest that the ability of A. tamarense to reach the deep nitrate reservoir at night allows this species to reach elevated biomass as observed during red-tide events, and could push this species toward phosphate limitation in the St. Lawrence estuary.


Elixir is a dynamically-typed functional language running on the Erlang Virtual Machine, designed for building scalable and maintainable applications. Its characteristics have earned it a surging adoption by hundreds of industrial actors and tens of thousands of developers. Static typing seems nowadays to be the most important request coming from the Elixir community. We present a gradual type system we plan to include in the Elixir compiler, outline its characteristics and design principles, and show by some short examples how to use it in practice. Developing a static type system suitable for Erlang's family of languages has been an open research problem for almost two decades. Our system transposes to this family of languages a polymorphic type system with set-theoretic types and semantic subtyping. To do that, we had to improve and extend both semantic subtyping and the typing techniques thereof, to account for several characteristics of these languages -- and of Elixir in particular -- such as the arity of functions, the use of guards, a uniform treatment of records and dictionaries, the need for a new sound gradual typing discipline that does not rely on the insertion at compile time of specific run-time type-tests but, rather, takes into account both the type tests performed by the virtual machine and those explicitly added by the programmer. The system presented here is"gradually"being implemented and integrated in Elixir, but a prototype implementation is already available. The aim of this work is to serve as a longstanding reference that will be used to introduce types to Elixir programmers, as well as to hint at some future directions and possible evolutions of the Elixir language.


This paper discusses the design, implementation, and deployment of a secure and practical payment system for electronic commerce on the Internet. The system is based on the iKP family of protocols-(i=1,2,3)-developed at IBM Research. The protocols implement credit card-based transactions between buyers and merchants while the existing financial network is used for payment clearing and authorization. The protocols are extensible and can be readily applied to other account-based payment models, such as debit cards. They are based on careful and minimal use of public-key cryptography, and can be implemented in either software or hardware. Individual protocols differ in both complexity and degree of security. In addition to being both a precursor and a direct ancestor of the well-known SET standard, iKP-based payment systems have been in continuous operation on the Internet since mid-1996. This longevity-as well as the security and relative simplicity of the underlying mechanisms-makes the iKP experience unique. For this reason, this paper also reports on, and addresses, a number of practical issues arising in the course of implementation and real-world deployment of a secure payment system.


Abstract. We propose a feature-based approach for semantic mesh segmentation in an urban scenario using real-world training data. There are only few works that deal with semantic interpretation of urban triangle meshes so far. Most 3D classifications operate on point clouds. However, we claim that point clouds are an intermediate product in the photogrammetric pipeline. For this reason, we explore the capabilities of a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based approach to semantically enrich textured urban triangle meshes as generated from LiDAR or Multi-View Stereo (MVS). For each face within a mesh, a feature vector is computed and fed into a multi-branch 1D CNN. Ordinarily, CNNs are an end-to-end learning approach operating on regularly structured input data. Meshes, however, are not regularly structured. By calculating feature vectors, we enable the CNN to process mesh data. By these means, we combine explicit feature calculation and feature learning (hybrid model). Our model achieves close to 80% Overall Accuracy (OA) on dedicated test meshes. Additionally, we compare our results with a default Random Forest (RF) classifier that performs slightly worse. In addition to slightly better performance, the 1D CNN trains faster and is faster at inference.


Ikan Serandang (Channa pleourophythalmus) is a native species of Musi catchments area, Batanghari, Kapuas and Barito which have important economics' value as consumption's fish and also ornamental fish. The objective of this research is to find out the data and information of biological aspects which include length distribution, the relationship of length-weight, the level of gonad maturity, fecundity, number of eggs, egg's diameter, condition factor, food habit and water quality. The method of this research is by doing field's survey on the research location in some stations in Muara Enim district. The numbers of taking the sample are three times, that is on May, July and September of 2004, and capture of fisherman by some enumerator. The samples are observed and analyzed in laboratories. The result shows that the length of distribution is a little bit different in every station : Gumay , Arisan Belido and Beringin River. The fish's length is 16 - 31 cm with the weight 36.6 to 430 grams. In Gumay's river, the modus score for the fish's length is 19.5 to 20.5 cm and between 24.5 to 25.5 cm, Arisan Belido is between 16.5 to 18.5 cm and between 27.5 to 28.5 cm and in Sungai Beringin attaches 27.5 to 28.5 cm. It shows that Ikan Serandang can grow longer than 50 cm. The growth of pattern is isometric (b = 3.15), with the significance 0.5 to 0.01, where we can measure the weight of the fish based on the length that is used to find out bio mass of fish's population. The gonad weight is between 3.7 to 7.1 grams with the average's 5.502 grams, the gonad maturity index is between 0.711 to 1.486 with the average's 1.087 and fecundity's score is 4,290 eggs to 12,233 eggs with the average's 7,491 eggs. It shows that the number of population is not too big. The peak time for fertilization is predicted on May, July and September every year.


Adequate food to meet the needs of an ever-increasing population is a major challenge for most developing countries, especially in the tropics. Despite this, few new technical packages capable of increasing net returns without deteriorating the environment have been developed. Crop . yields in Embu, Kenya are poor due to declining soil fertility 448 Mwangi, M..et a/ prompted by continuous cropping and application of fertilizers in non-sufficient quantities by farmers. Studies have shown that soil biota provides the means and regulates the transformation oforganically bound nutrients into plantavailable forms through mineralization. An experiment was conducted to investigate soil macrofauna composition within agroforestry and forested ecosystems and their role in litter decomposition. This was anticipated to address poor crop yields in the study region. The study was conducted during the long and the short rains of the year 2000 on-station at Embu in an ongoing hedgerow intercropping experiment. Two types of Standard PVC lltterbags with mesh size 7 mm and Imm, were used. The 7 mm mesh size allowed macrofauna to enter while the 1 mrn excluded the macrofauna. Two types of litter: Calliandra calothyrsus (low quality) and Leucaena leucocephala (high quality). were placed in the litterbags in duplicate in selected treatments of the Embu trials and were sampled at 1. 2. 4. 8. and 16 weeks. Decomposition rate constants (k) were estimated ,Using a non-linear module in the EXCEL spreadsheet upon fitting first order exponential equations. Results from the study depicted that different management practice and/or land use affect soil macrofauna in varied manner. SoUinvertebrate macrofauna enhanced the rate of decomposition of C. calothyrsus and L. leucocephala litter.


The 1992 Salvadoran peace accords ended a 12-year civil war and forced modest democratic reforms on a state long dominated by a ruthless oligarchy and military. However, the new system represented a shallow version of democracy that remained largely unresponsive to the population. For two decades the far-right Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (Nationalist Republican Alliance [ARENA]) party held the presidency and used it to enact pro-business economic policies of austerity, privatization, and deregulation. In 2009, the left-wing opposition party, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), won the presidential elections for the first time. Yet despite winning some notable progressive reforms, the FMLN did not seek, much less achieve, a radical break from the neoliberal policies of previous administrations. FMLN leaders opted to continue a number of pro-capitalist policies while pursuing reforms to ameliorate the worst symptoms of the system, not overthrow it. The FMLN's shift away from revolutionary socialism is attributable to several factors: a political and media terrain that still heavily favors the right, the continued influence of the United States government, and private investors' control over the economy. These constraints were vitally important during the tenures of FMLN presidents Mauricio Funes (2009–2014) and Salvador Sánchez Cerén (2014–2019). El Salvador's political trajectory since 1992, and especially during the FMLN's decade in the presidency, offers insights into the constraints facing various left-of-center governments elected across Latin America in the early 21st century.


Insects are natural food for many vertebrates. Being nutritionally rich, acridids can be used to produce high quality feed for livestock industries. For a sustainable supply for the feed manufacturing companies, a huge acridid biomass must be obtained on a regular basis. Th erefore, for successful acridid farming, a laboratory rearing system in semi-controlled conditions is proposed to produce a huge acridid biomass. Experiments were conducted to determine a favorable temperature and photoperiod for rearing the chosen multivoltine species, i.e. Oxya hyla hyla. For this purpose nymphal mortality, growth rate, fecundity, fertility, and adult dry weight were determined. Th e results revealed that, at 35 ± 2 °C with a L:D photoperiod of 12:12, fecundity and fertility were maximum, while nymphal mortality, egg incubation period, nymphal duration, adult life span, and adult dry weight were favorable. It was concluded that 35 ± 2 °C with a photoperiod of 12:12 is suitable for mass production of Oxya hyla hyla in acridid farms.


Routers need memories to store and forward packets. More than that, routers use memories to schedule flows according to their quality-of-service (QoS) requirements. The simple first-in-first-out (FIFO) queue memory is insufficient to provide QoS guarantees. Most current routers are based on the virtual-output-queue (VOQ) memory management and use heuristic algorithms, such as iSLIP or DRRM, to schedule packets. On the other hand, push-in-first-out (PIFO) queue memory has also been proposed as a model for routers to meet the QoS requirements. The PIFO queue does not need a scheduler since packets are always first-out from the queue head. However, due to the sorting-related problems of the push-in operation, it is normally supposed impractical to build the PIFO queues in real hardware. We try to touch this problem in this paper and propose an indexed PIFO queue (iPIFO) architecture and a memory management algorithm on it We believe it is a feasible solution to bring the PIFO queue to practice.


With the recent signing of the Affordable Care Act into law, the use of electronic medical data is set to become ubiquitous in the United States. This presents an unprecedented opportunity to use population health data for the benefit of patient-centered outcomes. However, there are two major hurdles to utilizing this wealth of data. First, medical data is not centrally located but is often divided across hospital systems, health exchanges, and physician practices. Second, sharing specific or identifiable information may not be allowed. Moreover, organizations may have a vested interest in keeping their data sets private as they may have been gathered and curated at great cost. We develop an approach to allow the sharing of beneficial information while staying within the bounds of data privacy. We show that the use of a probabilistic graphical model can facilitate effective transfer learning between distinct healthcare data sets by parameter sharing while simultaneously allowing us to construct a network for interpretation use by domain experts and the discovery of disease relationships. Our method utilizes aggregate information from distinct populations to improve the estimation of patient disease risk.


Metamorphism connected with the main growth and deformation stages of the Himalaya ranges from mid-Cretaceous to the Quaternary. Northward subduction gave rise in the early to mid-Cretaceous to an island are complex with greenschists, amphibolites, granulites and blueschists in the W (Kohistan-Ladakh) and an Andean-type margin with greenschist-amphibolite grade metamorphism in the E (India and Tibet). Ophiolitic nappes were thrust southwards over the Indian continental margin in the Palaeogene during the final stages of closure of the southern arm of Tethys. The Indus-Zangbo Suture bifurcates westwards and between the two sutures lies the Kohistan-Ladakh island arc which was converted to an Andean-type arc in the Palaeocene-Eocene. The Karakorum Range underwent northward subduction at least during the late Cretaceous to give rise to a complex and prominent calc-alkaline batholith. Post-collisional southward thrusting of crustal slabs over the Indian continental margin took place in the early Miocene with production of high-grade metamorphism, inverted isograds and crustal melt granites. Later southward thrusting in the Pliocene to Quaternary gave rise to localized low-grade recrystallization against the thrusts.


Can legalization of cannabis eliminate related organized crime? We model consumer choices for cannabis in a risky environment and determine the provision of cannabis, under prohibition and legalization. Although a legalization policy may crumble the profits from illegal providers driving them out of business, it also increases cannabis use. In contrast, repression decreases cannabis consumption but strengthens the cartelization of criminal networks. Combining legalization with repression can strangle the black market while controlling the demand for cannabis. Based on evidence from the US, policy simulations are used to compute the price of legal cannabis that would achieve this dual objective and highlight the complementarities between repression and legalization. For example, with a 1% probability of arrest and a USD 2000 fine for illegal purchase, a legal price around USD 439 per ounce would evict illegal suppliers and increase the consumption by less that 25%. If the probability of arrest reaches 2%, the eviction price can go up to USD 622 and overall consumption increases by no more than 5:5%.


According to interpreted cautiously with 2D and 3D seismic profiles, the typical transfer zone was identified in No.Ⅱ fault zone of TaZhong area, near the TaZhong 46 well of central uplift belt in Tarim basin. Discussed the transfer zone characteristic on the basis of seismic interpretation, it's clearly triangle transfer zone and caused by strike-slip affection. Using structural analysis method, it is indicated that the transfer zone composed by thrusting-detachment faults. According to structural evolution analysis, the transfer zone had been affecting constantly by transpression during the caledonian-late hercynian, Analyzing geologic setting and regional geology characteristic, TaZhong No.Ⅱ fault zone are sinistral transpression strike-slip fault. Analysis the control action of transfer zone's for trap, reservoir, hydrocarbon migration and sedimentary, the Transfer zone have the advantage target for oil and gas exploration.


Convergence, which may be induced by media businesspeople, is a model of a business process in the attempt to answer today's challenges faced by the media industry. This research was aimed to figure out the work mechanism in a newsroom, the improvement of convergence journalists' competences, and the efforts to deal with obstacles to be encountered during the application of the media convergence system. This research employed a qualitative approach in the form of action research to find out any challenges to mass media industry posed by media convergence in the Indonesian context. Data were collected in two manners, namely in-depth interview and direct observation. The research method used was case study method. To reinforce the data validity, triangulation technique was used on data sources. The researchers investigated the challenges encountered by the media industry in the era of convergence. The research subjects who acted as key informants were news journalists and producers as well as convergence team that was established and trained for the convergence system at Metro TV. From the research, the work mechanism in the newsroom applying the convergence system and having training programs to improve and prepare journalists to become convergence or one-stop shopping journalists were identified. In the implementation, some setbacks were found in the journalists' preparation to apply the converged newsroom system Super desk.


The temperature resolution of a fiber-optic distributed temperature sensor based on taking the ratio of the temperature sensitive backscattered spontaneous Brillouin signal to the corresponding Rayleigh signal depends on the optical signal-to-noise of the receiver system and the amplitude fluctuations on the Rayleigh signal. The amplitude fluctuations or coherent Rayleigh noise were investigated experimentally as a function of detection bandwidth, source bandwidth and spatial resolution and showed good agreement with theory.


Froth floatation is an important process used in the mining industry for separating minerals from each other. The separation process is based on rendering a selected mineral hydrophobic using an appropriate hydrophobizing reagent (collector), so that it can selectively attach onto the surfaces of a rising stream of air bubbles. Thus, controlling the hydrophobicity of the minerals to be separated from each other is of critical importance in flotation. If one wishes to separate plastics from each other by flotation, however, it would be necessary to render a selected plastic hydrophilic and leave the others hydrophobic. In the present work, the possibility of separating common plastics from each other by flotation has been explored. While water contact angle is the most widely used measure of the hydrophobicity of a solid, it does not give the information on the kinetics of flotation. Therefore, the forces acting between the surfaces coated with different hydrophobic polymers (or plastics) in water were measured using the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). The results obtained with polystyrene, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), polypropylene (PP), and Teflon showed the existence of long-range attractive forces (or hydrophobic force) that cannot be explained by the classical DLVO theory. The surface force measurements were conducted in pure water and in solutions of surfactant (alkyltrimethylammonium chloride) and a salt (NaCl). In pure water, the attractive forces were much stronger than van der Waals force. In the presence of the surfactant and NaCl, the long-range attraction decreased with increasing concentration and the alkyl chain length. A series of contact angle measurements were conducted to determine the hydrophobicity of polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chlorite (PVC), and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) in the presence of different wetting agents (surfactants). The results show the possibility of separating plastics from each other by flotation, and a series of microflotation tests conducted on PS and PVC showed promising results.


Chronic stress causes various detrimental effects including cognitive and affective dysfunctions. Given the recent findings emphasizing the importance of information processing between the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and limbic structures on cognitive and affective functions, impairments of these functions caused by chronic stress may be associated with stress‐induced adaptive and maladaptive responses in limbic structure–PFC interaction. In this study we have shown that chronic stress disrupts limbic structure–PFC interaction by modulating N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate (NMDA) receptor expression in the PFC. We found that chronic stress decreased expression of NR1, NR2A and NR2B subunits of NMDA receptors in the PFC but not in the motor cortex. However, the reduction in NR2B subunits of NMDA receptors was larger in the dorsal part than the ventral part of PFC. In agreement with this observation, administration of the NMDA antagonist that was more selective for NMDA receptors containing NR2B subunits induced alterations of synchronous local field potentials between the PFC and limbic structures, synaptic plasticity induction in the limbic structure–PFC pathway, and spike firing of PFC neurons that were similar to those observed in the dorsal PFC of rats exposed to chronic stress. In contrast, administration of the NMDA antagonist that was not subunit‐selective resulted in electrophysiological alterations resembling to those observed in the ventral PFC of rats exposed to chronic stress. These results suggest that chronic stress disrupts NMDA receptor‐dependent limbic structure–PFC information processing.


The genus Pseudohiatula, based on hymeniform structure of epicutis with interspersed dermatocystidia or trichodermial-palisadic structure without dermatocystidia, contains species, all belonging in the same tribus (Marasmieae), but does not seem to be sufficiently homogeneous to be maintained sensu lato. It is now restricted to the type species (P. cyatheae), and P. callistosporioides is united with Cyptotrama macrobasidium in the genus Cyptotrama; P. irrorata and P. panamensis (perhaps also P. ohshimae) are referable to Hydropus (where species with projecting dermatocystidia and with muricate pleurocystidia should be admitted); P. conigenoides, esculenta, stephanocystis, and tenacella are placed in a new genus, Strobilurus, and P. cinnamomea in another new genus, Physocystidium.


tistics in furthering psychiatric knowledge, there is still much to be learnt from the study in depth of individual patients. Perhaps the influence of the computer as a dehumanizer needs constant leavening by the application of the clinical method. Although the syndromes described in this book are considered 'uncommon', some in the reviewer's opinion are not, Paranoid states, in which the patient, usually a woman, believes that another man is deeply in love with her (De Clerembault), are not uncommon, and the delusion of infidelity of the spouse (Othello) is frequently seen. The belief that a person, usually closely related to the patient, has been replaced by an exact double (Capgras) is uncommon in pure form, but can at times be elicited when specifically looked for in patients suffering from paranoid Illnes-' ses. Similarly, symptoms of the COU" vade syndrome are only uncommon if enquiries about the relationship hetween the presenting complaints and the patient's wife's pregnancy are not explored. 'Munchausen like' acting out occurs in many psychopathic patients and 'Ganser' features, including the approximate answer, apparent clouding of consciousness and somatic conversion, are well known in certain hysterical reactions. What this volnme highlights is the mass of interesting information still to be culled hy listening to one's patient, and confirms that the recognition of specific syndromes in psychiatry is determined, to a large extent, by the special interest of the investigator. The material is presented in a most readable way and should be of interest, not only to psychiatrists, but also to a wider audience, both medical and lay. G. J. GOI.llIIER(;


Although it is one of the most commonly occurring craniofacial congenital disabilities, craniosynostosis (the premature fusion of cranial sutures) is nearly impossible to prevent because the molecular mechanisms that regulate the process of cranial suture fusion remain largely unknown. Recent studies have implicated the dura mater in determining the fate of the overlying cranial suture; however, the molecular biology within the suture itself has not been sufficiently investigated. In the murine model of cranial suture fusion, the posterior frontal suture is programmed to begin fusing by postnatal day 12 in rats (day 25 in mice), reliably completing bony union by postnatal day 22 (day 45 in mice). In contrast, the sagittal suture remains patent throughout the life of the animal. Using this model, this study sought to examine for the first time what differences in gene expression—if any—exist between the two sutures with opposite fates. For each series of experiments, 35 to 40 posterior frontal and sagittal suture complexes were isolated from 6-day-old Sprague-Dawley rat pups. Suture-derived cell cultures were established, and ribonucleic acid was derived from snap-frozen, isolated suture tissue. Results demonstrated that molecular differences between the posterior frontal and sagittal suture complexes were readily identified in vivo, although these distinctions were lost once the cells comprising the suture complex were cultured in vitro. Hypothetically, this change in gene expression resulted from the loss of the influence of the underlying dura mater. Significant differences in the expression of genes encoding extracellular matrix proteins existed in vivo between the posterior frontal and sagittal sutures. However, the production of the critical, regulatory cytokine transforming growth factor beta-1 was equal between the two suture complexes, lending further support to the hypothesis that dura mater regulates the fate of the overlying cranial suture.


Therapies aimed at enhancing cardiomyocyte survival following myocardial injury are urgently required. As GHRP6 [GH (growth hormone)-releasing peptide 6] has been shown to stimulate GH secretion and has beneficial cardiovascular effects, the aim of the present study was to determine whether GHRP6 administration reduces myocardial infarct size following acute coronary occlusion in vivo. Female Cuban Creole pigs were anaesthetized, monitored and instrumented to ensure a complete sudden left circumflex artery occlusion for 1 h, followed by a 72 h reperfusion/survival period. Animals were screened clinically before surgery and assigned randomly to receive either GHRP6 (400 μg/kg of body weight) or normal saline. Hearts were processed, and the area at risk and the infarct size were determined. CK-MB (creatine kinase MB) and CRP (C-reactive protein) levels and pathological Q-wave-affected leads were analysed and compared. Evaluation of the myocardial effect of GHRP6 also included quantitative histopathology, local IGF-I (insulin-growth factor-I) expression and oxidative stress markers. GHRP6 treatment did not have any influence on mortality during surgery associated with rhythm and conductance disturbances during ischaemia. Infarct mass and thickness were reduced by 78% and 50% respectively, by GHRP6 compared with saline (P < 0.01). More than 50% of the GHRP6-treated pigs did not exhibit pathogological Q waves in any of the ECG leads. Quantitative histopathology and CK-MB and CRP serum levels confirmed the reduction in GHRP6-mediated necrosis (all P < 0.05). Levels of oxidative stress markers suggested that GHRP6 prevented myocardial injury via a decrease in reactive oxygen species and by the preservation of antioxidant defence systems (all P < 0.05). Myocardial IGF-I transcription was not amplified by GHRP6 treatment compared with the increase induced by the ischaemic episode in relation to expression in intact hearts (P < 0.01). In conclusion, GHRP6 exhibits antioxidant effects which may partially contribute to reduce myocardial ischaemic damage.


Structural rearrangements involving chromosome 13 are frequently seen in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. The presence of reciprocal translocations involving 13q14 in 10-15% of cases pinpoints the location of a gene important in leukaemogenesis. In order to characterise the exact location of the 13q14 breakpoint, somatic cell hybrids were constructed between mouse 3T3 cells and leukaemic cells from 5 patients with translocations involving chromosome 13. Hybrid pairs were isolated which carried either of the two derivative chromosomes carrying subsections of 13 and the position of the breakpoint investigated using a series of probes along the length of the chromosome. In all cases breakpoint region associated with rhabdomyosarcoma tumours and proximal to the D13S31 locus which lies in 13q14.3. In three translocations the RB1 gene was deleted as a result of the translocation but in at least one other case the BCLL breakpoint did not involve the RB1 gene, which consistently cosegregated in hybrids carrying other proximal markers. The D13S25 probe, which lies between RB1 and D13S31, however, was deleted in the translocation retaining RB1. It appears therefore that deletion of a gene(s) in this 2Mbp region is a critical event in some cases of BCLL tumorigenesis.


The fishery for Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) around the island of South Georgia in the Southern Ocean is a profitable operation targeting a high-value, slow-growing species. We substituted the complex Bayesian age-structured model currently used for assessments with a Schaefer production model, which performs equally well as an operating model for management strategy evaluation. A number of potential effort reduction strategies are investigated, several of which would achieve better conservation objectives and higher future profits from the fishery than those predicted using the current management strategy. The article also discusses the applicability of this approach to the Australian sub-Antarctic fisheries targeting the stocks of D. eleginoides.


AIMS OF THE STUDY
Anaphylaxis is a medical emergency and requires prompt treatment to prevent life-threatening conditions. Epinephrine, considered as the first-line drug, is often not administered. We aimed first to analyse the use of epinephrine in patients with anaphylaxis in the emergency department of a university hospital and secondly to identify factors that influence the use of epinephrine.

METHODS
We performed a retrospective analysis of all patients admitted with moderate or severe anaphylaxis to the emergency department between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2018. Patient characteristics and treatment information were extracted from the electronic medical database of the emergency department.

RESULTS
A total of 531 (0.2%) patients with moderate or severe anaphylaxis out of 260,485 patients admitted to the emergency department were included. Epinephrine was administered in 252 patients (47.3%). In a multivariate logistic regression, cardiovascular (Odds Ratio [OR] = 2.94, CI 1.96-4.46, p <0.001) and respiratory symptoms (OR = 3.14, CI 1.95-5.14, p<0.001) were associated with increased likelihood of epinephrine administration, in contrast to integumentary symptoms (OR = 0.98, CI 0.54-1.81, p = 0.961) and gastrointestinal symptoms (OR = 0.62, CI 0.39-1.00, p = 0.053).

CONCLUSIONS
Less than half of the patients with moderate and severe anaphylaxis received epinephrine according to guidelines. In particular, gastrointestinal symptoms seem to be misrecognised as serious symptoms of anaphylaxis. Training of the emergency medical services and emergency department medical staff and further awareness are crucial to increase the administration rate of epinephrine in anaphylaxis.


Technological developments in the field of information has provided a major influence on today's society. It makes the behavior changes of society, where the current use of the internet has become the basic necessities in life. Utilization of internet technology on society is experiencing a rise of 44.6 million inhabitants of Indonesia in the past 2 years, i.e. between the years 2014 to 2016. The ever increasing internet user behavior in order to access the desired content, making it an instance of the need to maintain the stability and speed of internet access. Sometimes the growing number of users in multiple instances are not offset by the addition of internet bandwidth. If it is not balanced with the addition of bandwidth can bring up permaslahan for the users. The problem is related to the speed of internet access that is felt long by our users. Based on the existing permasalahn solution proposed in this research is to install a proxy server using squid. Implementation of the squid proxy server can provide benefits in the form of savings in bandwidth, improve performance, manage web traffic, the quick browsing of the end user. In general the workings of the squid proxy server when users access content on a Web page repeatedly will be stored in the cache so that it can speed up access to the internet to open a Web page. Writing aims to conduct analysis of the results of the implementation of the squid proxy server in terms of the speed of the user when doing internet access. The results of the analysis show that there is a difference in the time between their before and after implementation of the proxy servers achieve 35,962 seconds, the time showed that the results of the implementation of the proxy servers are able to increase the speed of internet access for the user.

Keywords: GNS3, Proxy Server, Squid, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Server 10.10


Examining Masculine Discrepancy Stress and Health Behavior Outcomes By Genna Michelle Jacobs 4/24/19 INTRODUCTION: Research suggests men feel a high demand to uphold masculine gender norms and masculine discrepancy stress (MDS), is the strain a man feels when he believes he is or thinks he is perceived to be inadequately masculine. It is reasonable to suspect men with MDS would be more likely to act in the stereotypical masculine ways, to confirm masculinity and avoid social repercussions. AIMs: (a) Examine if the latent constructs demonstrate significant and moderately large correlations reflecting an underlying psychosocial adjustment factor. (b)Assess if utilizing structural equation modeling methods, in place of univariate methods, demonstrate significant correlations between MDS, GRD, and the superordinate factor psychosocial adjustment. (c)Assess if utilizing MDS as a mediator rather than a moderator in a structural equation model demonstrate a significant positive direct effect on psychosocial adjustment, while demonstrating a negative direct effect on psychosocial maladjustment. METHODS: A three phased plan was conducted; (a) assessing measurement models, (b) assessing the measurement model for the superordinate factor psychosocial adjustment, (c) and assessing a full model. The fit of the measurement models will determine which full model will be examined, the superordinate factor model or a model that does not include superordinate factor, which allows for all outcomes to be regressed independently on each predictor. RESULTS: No statistically significant results were found. DISCUSSION: Possible explanations for results are; misrepresentation of the latent, absence of statistical methodologies needed to assess the latent variables, deficiency in necessary power to detect effects, and measuring GRD and MDS independently of each other does not predispose one to experience maladaptive behavior. Thusly, indicating that future research should focus on a model that utilizes MDS as a mediator and a moderator. EXAMINING MASCULINE DISCREPANCY STRESS AND HEALTH BEHAVIOR OUTCOMES


The killing of animals is the subject of societal and political debate. Wild geese are caught and killed on a regular basis for fauna conservation and damage control. Killing geese with carbon dioxide (CO2) is commonly practiced, but not listed in legislation on the protection of flora and fauna, and societal concerns have been raised against this method. In this study, an experiment was carried out killing 30 wild-caught geese using either CO2 or a mixture of CO2 and argon (Ar). Brain function (EEG) and heart function (ECG) were measured to determine loss of consciousness and onset of death. The stage of unconsciousness was reached on average within one minute in both treatments (56 s for CO2 and 50 s for CO2 and Ar). States of minimal brain activity and ineffective heart beat were reached more quickly using CO2 compared to CO2 and Ar (112 versus 178 s for minimal brain activity and 312 versus 394 s for ineffective heart beat for CO2 and the mixture of CO2 and Ar, respectively). The mixture of carbon dioxide and argon did not significantly reduce time to loss of consciousness or death. Further studies on behaviour and stress physiology are needed to determine conclusively whether CO2 alone is a satisfactory agent to kill wild-caught geese as the lower CO2 concentration in the CO2-Ar treatment may act as a sedative and reduce the aversiveness of the animals during exposure to lethal gas concentrations.


Sri Lanka has been identified as one of the worst affected countries from the December 2004 tsunami. Despite large number of relief programmes initiated within Sri Lanka, it has been admitted that the county is yet to recover from the devastation. Among many other reasons lack if intellectual capacities related to the matter has been identified as a major reason behind the largely unsuccessful recovery attempts. These capacity gaps can be traced back to the fact that disaster management related disciplines have not been implemented sufficiently within Sri Lankan higher education institutions. Addressing this issue, the European and Asian Infrastructure Advantage (EURASIA) research project is initiated which aims at developing a joint curriculum for Built Environment education through an international collaboration between five European and Asian Built Environment educational institutions. In this context, the primary objective of this paper is to discuss the development of a joint curricular by comparing and assessing the needs and barriers of both the continents. A specific framework has also been developed to assess the compatibility of a developed module or a programme within a specific institution. The paper primarily discusses the methodology adopted for the development of the joint curriculum. Further, the outcomes of the compatibility assessments and skills audits which have been conducted as part of the joint curriculum development have also been discussed with special emphasis give to analyse the applicability of the joint curriculum within context of post tsunami Sri Lanka.


Core values inherent in the Finnish comprehensive education system can in many respects be interpreted to cluster and cohere around a Bildung discourse, which is paradoxically seen against the backdrop of the system's stable high rank in PISA, the hallmark of an outcome discourse. Yet the point is that within the frames of a Bildung discourse, the themes in focus for curricula go beyond basic skills with a similarly strong focus on societal values and culture. At the process level, Finland is more deeply and strongly infused with a policy culture that is more compatible with the Bildung tradition than the Anglo-Saxon outcome discourse—with its core values of organizing and leading for relations and teaching. As noted by Finnish scholars, such cultural traits of the Finnish system are viable and can be interpreted as associated with institutional path dependency, anchored in longstanding agrarian and social-democratic values. The current paper interprets these cultural traits also as manifest at the local level around a school strategy model close to the one characterized as a professional commitment strategy in the early 1990s by the American scholars Susan Rosenholtz and Brian Rowan. The purpose of the paper, however, is to advance this theoretical understanding a step further towards a conceptual model of commitment-based school strategy. This paper is, thus, a pure conceptual piece. To elaborate the early insights from the 1990s further, a case drawn from Helsinki primary school is used as an empirical illustration.


With technological innovation and emergence of the World Wide Web, digital forms of information surround us today more than ever. It is common for us to access information online with computational devices, rather than in paper and other analog media. Today information is fluid, always up-to-date without interruption. We can find most information with computational devices online. It is convenient for users from some perspectives; they can access information anytime, anywhere with an Internet connection. In some instances, access to necessary information is accompanied by problems. Usability of the electronic site is one of the problems; some users are fluent in new technologies and how to use them, whereas others are not. The economist, Aleph Molinari, mentioned during the 2011 TED conference that the information gap between those who have access to information technologies and those who do not is called digital divide (Molinari, February, 2012). He stated that only 30% of the world was digitally included. Most of the region with digital inclusion was in North America and Europe. In the rest of the world, five billion people never had access to Internet (Molinari, 2011). People without access to information through technology include senior citizens, the poor, developing nations, etc. They tend not to have an access to information due to the lack of the devices and the lack of knowledge of the technology. According to Molinari, the reason they do not have access to the Internet is because they cannot afford it, they do not know how to use the technology, or they do not know the benefit of using technology to find information (2011). These groups of people often needs special support; however, the digital divide could prevent people in need from receiving care and aids. Most applications for care and aid are now found online or through computational devices in the x United States today. Not only the availability of devices but also the presentation of digital forms causes accessibility problems to available resources. Resources are not limited to information as knowledge; they include beneficial resources such as monetary funds and human resources to improve quality of life. Ideally, any forms should be available in both digital and analog forms, so users can choose the media they want to use. However, there is the dilemma of cost and time. In the United States today, digital forms are the predominant method for users to complete applications for information and services. This study is aimed at the analysis of the usability problem in digital forms and to find a solution from a designer's perspective.