A key assumption of most models for calmodulin regulation of smooth and non-muscle contractility is that calmodulin is freely diffusible at resting intracellular concentrations of free Ca. However, fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) measurements of three different fluorescent analogs of calmodulin in cultured bovine tracheal smooth muscle cells suggest that free calmodulin may be limiting in unstimulated cells. Thirty-seven % of microinjected calmodulin is immobile by FRAP and the fastest recovering component has an effective diffusion coefficient 7-fold slower than a dextran of equivalent size. Combining the FRAP data with extraction data reported in a previous paper (Tansey, M., Luby-Phelps, K., Kamm, K. E., and Stull, J. T.(1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269, 9912-9920), we estimate that at most 5% of total endogenous calmodulin in resting smooth muscle cells is unbound (freely diffusible). Examination of the Ca dependence of calmodulin mobility in permeabilized cells reveals that binding persists even at intracellular Ca concentrations as low as 17 nM. When Ca is elevated to between 450 nM and 3 μM, some of the bound calmodulin is released, as indicated by an increase in the effective diffusion coefficient and the percent mobile fraction. At higher Ca, calmodulin becomes increasingly immobilized. In about 50% of the cell population, clamping Ca at micromolar levels results in translocation of cytoplasmic calmodulin to the nucleus. The compartmentalization and complex dynamics of calmodulin in living smooth muscle cells have profound implications for understanding how calmodulin regulates contractility in response to extracellular signals.


Microorganisms within spacecraft have traditionally been monitored with culture-based techniques. These techniques involve growth of environmental samples (cabin water, air or surfaces) on agar-type media for several days, followed by visualization of resulting colonies or return of samples to Earth for ground-based analysis. Data obtained over the past 4 decades have enhanced our understanding of the microbial ecology within space stations. However, the approach has been limited by the following factors: i) Many microorganisms (estimated > 95%) in the environment cannot grow on conventional growth media; ii) Significant time lags (3-5 days for incubation and up to several months to return samples to ground); iii) Condensation in contact slides hinders colony counting by crew; and iv) Growth of potentially harmful microorganisms, which must then be disposed of safely. This report describes the operation of a new culture-independent technique onboard the ISS for rapid analysis (within minutes) of endotoxin and beta-1, 3-glucan, found in the cell walls of gramnegative bacteria and fungi, respectively. The technique involves analysis of environmental samples with the Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) assay in a handheld device, known as the Lab-On-a-Chip Application Development Portable Test System (LOCAD-PTS). LOCADPTS was launched to the ISS in December 2006, and here we present data obtained from Mach 2007 until the present day. These data include a comparative study between LOCADPTS analysis and existing culture-based methods; and an exploratory survey of surface endotoxin and beta-1, 3-glucan throughout the ISS. While a general correlation between LOCAD-PTS and traditional culture-based methods should not be expected, we will suggest new requirements for microbial monitoring based upon culture-independent parameters measured by LOCAD-PTS.


OBJECTIVEDiagnostic workup for lumbar degenerative disc disease (DDD) includes imaging such as radiography, MRI, and/or CT myelography. If a patient has unsuccessful nonoperative treatment, the surgeon must then decide if obtaining updated images prior to surgery is warranted. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the timing of preoperative neuroimaging altered clinical outcome, as reflected by the subsequent rate of revision surgery, in patients with degenerative lumbar spinal pathology.METHODSFrom the Health Care Service Corporation administrative claims database, adult patients (minimum age 55 years old) with lumbar DDD who underwent surgery including posterior lumbar decompression with and without fusion (1-2 levels) and at least 5 years of continuous coverage after the index surgery were identified. The chi-square test was used to determine differences in revision rates stratified by timing of each imaging procedure relative to the index procedure (< 6 months, 6-12 months, 12-24 months, or > 24 months).RESULTSOf 28,676 cases identified, 5128 (18%) had revision surgery within 5 years. The timing of preoperative MRI or plain radiography was not associated with revision surgery. Among the entire cohort, there was a lower incidence of revision surgery in patients who had a CT myelogram within 1 year prior to the index surgery (p = 0.017). This observation was strongest in patients undergoing decompression only (p = 0.002), but not significant in patients undergoing fusion (p = 0.845).CONCLUSIONSRoutine reimaging prior to surgery, simply because the existing MRI is 6-12 months old, may not be beneficial, at least as reflected in subsequent revision rates. The study also suggests that there may be a subset of patients for whom preoperative CT myelography reduces revision rates. This topic has important financial implications and deserves further study in a more granular data set.


The physical strength of the elderly aged above 60 years is typically 10 to 30% less than the young adult population of ages between 25 to 35 years. This reduction of strength has a strong impact on the activity of the daily living (ADL) of the elderly population. There has been little research done studying on the physical strength of the elderly population in Malaysia. The objective of this study was to determine the static strength of the elderly population in Malaysia. In particular, the grip and pinch strength were investigated as these two static strengths are extensively used in their instrumental activity of daily living (IADL). The results were then compared to the strength of the university students. A total of 30 subjects (15 males and 15 females) participated in the study. Their age ranged between 60 to 83 years, with the mean of age of 67.1 years. The comparison group comprised a total of 30 university students (20 male, 10 female) aged between 23 to 24 years, with the mean of age of 23.2 years. Grip and pinch strengths of both groups were measured and analysed using a descriptive statistics. It was found that the elderly male subjects are stronger in both strength measurements than their female counterpart. The 95th percentile of the female grip strength was slightly lower than that of the male while the male pinch strength was 31.07% higher. It was also found that the male students had higher strengths compared to the females. The grip strength of the elderly was 30.66% lower than the university student, while their pinch strength was 13.42% lower. Both static strengths of the elderly were found to be lower than those of the university students. This supported the research hypotheses postulating that the static strength had a negative correlation with age. In terms of gender differences, the male subjects were found to be stronger than the females.


The phenomenon of centralization in political parties is not only a phenomenon in Indonesia. From the perspective of political parties, it can be seen that maintaining the organization of political parties at the local level can be used as a source of gaining constituents. However, local organizations from political parties will be expensive for internal parties and can be a source of "political scandal" for the party. Thus, political communication carried out by political parties at the national level uses the media more than building the organizational strength of political parties to the local level. The question is to what extent do political parties need party organization at the local level? How is local power in the implementation of regional head elections not easily intervened by the power of political parties from the center? Experience in developed democrats shows that local organization political parties are still needed. This is related to the legitimacy of the political party. Campaigns for political parties at the local level can be said to be more effective. Political parties at the local level can provide political information, convince voters directly and mobilize the masses. Furthermore, the Denver study also explains that political parties at the local level can also be a source of party


Abstract Cretaceous–Paleocene strata of the Labrador Shelf and the Davis Strait are composed of clastic sedimentary and volcanic rocks, and some of these strata are considered possible petroleum reservoirs. The U-Pb provenance distributions of detrital zircons from nine different wells located in Davis Strait and on the Labrador Shelf, and which penetrate these rocks, were studied by LA-ICP-MS in order to assess sediment dispersal patterns and distribution of potential reservoirs. Samples from the mid-Cretaceous Bjarni Formation, the Upper Cretaceous Markland Formation, and the Paleocene Cartwright Formation were analysed. Based on U-Pb provenance data, the Bjarni Formation can be divided into northern and southern depositional areas. The northern area is dominated by 3000 Ma and 3200 Ma zircons, interpreted as derived primarily from the Hopedale block; in contrast, the southern area is dominated by 1800-1700 Ma ages, interpreted to be derived from the Makkovik Province and the Grenville Province. Markland Formation strata also show a variation in ages from north to south. Strata in the northern area are dominated by Archean zircons, with the main population at 3600–3500 Ma and significant numbers of 3800-3700 Ma and 2800-2700 Ma ages; in the southern area, no Eoarchean zircons were noted and strata are instead dominated by 3200-3100 Ma, 2900-2800 Ma, and 1800 Ma zircon populations. The Saglek block is interpreted as the dominant source for the northern area, mixed with sediment from the Hopedale block; the source for the southern area is inferred to be a combination of the Hopedale block and the Makkovik Province. Finally, the Cartwright Formation also shows distinct variations in source depending on the area. The northernmost samples yield a range of ages, and hence represent a large source area, with dominant zircon ages of 2800-2700 Ma. The middle area is dominated by a broad peak in ages from 3200-2550 Ma, whereas the southern area is dominated by Paleoproterozoic ages, with a large population at 1800 Ma. The general pattern for the Cartwright Formation is similar to that of the Bjarni and Markland formations in that the sediment transport direction was northerly and the main sources are interpreted to have been the Saglek block, Hopedale block, and the Makkovik Province. In addition, signatures from the Grenville Province, the Nain Plutonic Suite, and the Appalachian Orogen are also present. The detrital zircon patterns of the wells are consistent with Labrador as the main source region and the overall pattern indicates that the main sediment transport direction was generally northerly from Early Cretaceous until Paleocene time.


The goal of this research is to calculate two basic parameters in Gumbel distribution which is known as prevailing model for quantifying risk associated with extreme wind speed, earthquakes and rainfall. This distribution depends on two basic parameters which are location and scale. To estimate these parameters four methods are applied; method of moments , maximum likelihood method , generalized extreme values and generalized Pareto method , for more than fifty years data of maximum wind speeds of three governorates of Iraq ( Baghdad , Basra and Mosul ) .A simple mathematical method is used in addition of using new software . Results shows similarity of these parameters (location and scale) as shown in tables and graphs for these methods indicated above and we use more tests depends on tabulated values which is improved using Gumbel distribution for extreme values .Fortran program was applied to calculate the equations and derive the parameters and goodness of fit test for the distribution that mentioned in the text.


Dentin Matrix Protein 1 (Dmp1) was originally identified from dentin. However, its expression and function in vivo are not clear. To clarify these two issues, we have generated mice carrying a truncated Dmp1 gene by using gene targeting to replace exon 6 with a lacZ gene. Northern blot analysis shows the expected 5.8-kb Dmp1-lacZ fusion transcript and loss of the wild-type 2.8-kb Dmp1 transcript, confirmed by a lack of immunostaining for the protein. Using heterozygous animals, we demonstrate that Dmp1 is specific for mineralized tissues. Not previously shown, Dmp1 is also expressed in pulp cells. Dmp1-deficient embryos and newborns display no apparent gross abnormal phenotype, although there are a modest expansion of the hypertrophic chondrocyte zone and a modest increase in the long bone diameter. This suggests that DMP1 is not essential for early mouse skeletal or dental development.


Swarming robotic systems, which stem from insect swarms in nature, exhibit a high level of environmental adaptability and enhanced tasking capabilities for targeted delivery and micromanipulation. Here, we present a strategy that reconfigures paramagnetic nanoparticles into microswarms energized by a sawtooth magnetic field. A rotary-stepping magnetic-chain mechanism is proposed to address the forming principle of disk-like swarms. Based on programming the sawtooth field, the microswarm can perform reversible transformations between a disk, an ellipse and a ribbon, as well as splitting and merging. In addition, the swarms can be steered in any direction with excellent maneuverability and a high level of pattern stability. Under accurate manipulation of a magnetic microswarm, multiple microparts with complicated shapes were successfully combined into a complete assembly. This reconfigurable swarming microrobot may shed light on the understanding of complex morphological transformations in living systems and provide future practical applications of microfabrication and micromanipulation.


The Water-Soluble Vitamin Nutrition of the Gilthead Seabream (Sparus aurata L.) By Paul Christopher Morris Given the paucity of information with regards the micronutrient requirements of the currently expanding number of cultured marine species, a series of investigations was undertaken to examine the water-soluble vitamin nutrition of the gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.). A preliminary study identified the qualitative requirement of this species for ascorbic acid, the B complex vitamins and choline for the maintenance of health and optimum productivity. Based on the observations of the preliminary experiment, a study was designed which allowed the development of a semi-purified diet and illustrated the qualitative requirement of the gilthead seabream for thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, pyridoxine and pantothenic acid. Using the semi-purified diet, the requirement for niacin and biotin were also established. As one of the vitamins for which the seabream exhibited a strong requirement, pyridoxine was chosen as the focus for an experiment which evaluated the benefit of the incorporation of this vitamin within a practical diet at levels which exceeded the minimum requirement. Thiamin is a vitamin which is known to exhibit a distinct relationship with carbohydrate metabolism, hence this vitamin was chosen as the focus of an investigation of the potential for the modification of vitamin requirements in response to major nutrient supply. Finally, having illustrated the requirement of gilthead seabream growers for ascorbic acid, an experiment was carried out to evaluate the efficacy of a series of vitamin C derivatives as feed supplements for this species. The current series of investigations has not only served to expand the present knowledge of the vitamin nutrition of the target species but has highlighted the potential for novel and applied research which remains within the field of micronutrients.


In the study of electoral politics and political behavior in the developing world, India is often considered to be an exemplar of the centrality of contingency in distributive politics, the role of ethnicity in shaping political behavior, and the organizational weakness of political parties. Whereas these axioms have some empirical basis, the massive changes in political practices, the vast variation in political patterns, and the burgeoning literature on subnational dynamics in India mean that such generalizations are not tenable. In this article, we consider research on India that compels us to rethink the contention that India neatly fits the prevailing wisdom in the comparative politics literature. Our objective is to elucidate how the many nuanced insights about Indian politics can improve our understanding of electoral behavior both across and within other countries, allowing us to question core assumptions in theories of comparative politics.


Iceberg transport costs are a key ingredient of modern trade and economic geography models. Using detailed information on Boston's nineteenth-century global ice trade, we show that the cost of shipping the only good that truly melts in transit is not well-proxied by this assumption. Additive cost components account for the largest part of per unit ice(berg) transport costs in practice. Moreover, the physics of the melt process and the practice of insulating the ice in transit meant that shipping ice is subject to economies of scale. This finding supports, from an unexpected historical angle, recent efforts to incorporate more realistic features of the transportation sector in trade and economic geography models.


As described in its multiyear program plan for 1998-2000, the Office of Heavy Vehicle Technologies (OHVT) envisions the development of a fuel-flexible, energy-efficient, near-zero-emissions, heavy-duty U.S. diesel engine technology devolving into all truck classes as a real and viable strategy for reducing energy requirements for commercial transport services and the rapidly growing multipurpose vehicle market (pickups, vans, and sport utility vehicles). Implementation of the OHVT program plan will have significant national benefits in energy savings, cleaner air, more jobs, and increased gross domestic product (GDP). Successful implementation will reduce the petroleum consumption of Class 1-8 trucks by 1.4 million barrels of oil per day by 2020 and over 1.8 million by 2030, amounting to a reduction in highway petroleum consumption of 13.2% and 18.6%, respectively. All types of regulated emissions will be reduced, that is, 20% drop in PM10 emissions (41,000 metric tons per year) by 203 0, 17% reduction in CO2 greenhouse gases (205 million metric tons per year), 7% reduction in NOx, 20% reduction in NMHC, and 30% reduction in CO. An increase of 15,000 jobs by 2020 is expected, as is an increase of $24 billion in GDP. The strategy of OHVT is to focus primarily on the diesel engine since it has numerous advantages. It has the highest efficiency of any engine today, 45% versus 30% for production gasoline engines; and it can be made more efficient at least to 55% and possibly up to 63%. It is the engine of choice for heavy vehicles (trucks), because it offers power, efficiency, durability, and reliability and is used extensively in rail, marine, and off-road applications. Its emission can be ultra-low to near zero, and the production infrastructure is already in place. The primary goals of OHVT are as follows: (1) Develop by 2002 the diesel-engine enabling technologies to support large-scale industry dieselization of light trucks, achieving a 35% fuel efficiency improvement over equivalent gasoline-fueled trucks. (2) Develop by 2004 the enabling technology for a Class 7-8 truck with a fuel efficiency of 10 mpg (at 65 mph) that will meet prevailing emission standards, using either diesel or a liquid alternative fuel. (3) Develop by 2006 diesel engines with fuel flexibility and a thermal efficiency of 55% with liquid alternative fuels, and a thermal efficiency of 55% with dedicated gaseous fuels. (4) Develop a methodology for analyzing and evaluating the operation of a heavy vehicle as an integrated system, considering such factors as engine efficiency; emissions; rolling resistance; aerodynamic drag; friction, wear, and lubrication effects; auxiliary power units; material substitutions for reducing weight; and other sources of parasitic energy losses. Overarching these considerations is the need to preserve system functionality, cost, competitiveness, reliability, durability, and safety.


In this paper, a complete hierarchical navigation architecture fur applications in real industrial factory environments is presented. An offline global geometrical planner uses a rough CAD-model of the working environment to plan consecutive via-points which the robot must follow. The navigation between the via-points is performed by a two-level online navigation algorithm. It consists of an online planning module combined with a low-level fuzzy logic avoidance behavior which enables the robot to move to the next goal by only specifying its coordinates in even completely a priori unknown and unstructured factory environments. The system includes a docking motion, based on a dynamic guidance technique. A perception fusion module combines information of three different sensors for accurate modeling of the world. The presented navigation method was tested with the mobile robot Leuven Intelligent Autonomous System (LiAS) and it proved to be useful in real world applications.


This project aims at studying how recent interactive and interaction technologies would help extend how we play the guitar, thus defining the "multimodal guitar". We investigate two axes, 1) "A gestural/polyphonic sensing/processing toolbox to augment guitar performances", and 2) "An interactive guitar score following environment for adaptive learning". These approaches share quite similar technological challenges (sensing, analysis, processing, synthesis and interaction methods) and dissemination intentions (community-based, low-cost, open-source whenever possible), while leading to different applications (respectively artistic and educational), still targeted towards experienced players and beginners. We designed and developed a toolbox for multimodal guitar performances containing the following tools : Polyphonic Pitch Estimation (see section 3.1.1), Fretboard Grouping (see section 3.1.2), Rear-mounted Pressure Sensors (see section 3.2), Infinite Sustain (see section 3.3.2), Rearranging Looper (see section 3.3.3), Smart Harmonizer (see section 3.3.4). The Modal Synthesis tool (see section 3.3.1) needs be refined before being released. We designed a low-cost offline system for guitar score following (see section 4.1). An audio modality, polyphonic pitch estimation from a monophonic audio signal, is the main source of the information (see section 4.2), while the visual input modality, finger and headstock tracking using computer vision techniques on two webcams, provides the complementary information (see section 4.3). We built a stable data acquisition approach towards low information loss (see section 4.5). We built a probability-based fusion scheme so as to handle missing data ; and unexpected or misinterpreted results from single modalities so as to have better multi-pitch transcription results (see section 4.4). We designed a visual output modality so as to visualize simultaneously the guitar score and feedback from the score following evaluation (see section 4.6). The audio modality and parts of the visual input modality are already designed to run in realtime, we need to improve the multimodal fusion and visualization so that the whole system can run in realtime.


Diversity and differentiation within our classrooms, at all levels of education, is nowadays a fact. It has been one of the biggest challenges for educators to respond to the needs of all students in such a mixed-ability classroom. Teachers' inability to deal with students with different levels of readiness in a different way leads to school failure and all the negative outcomes that come with it. Differentiation of teaching and learning helps addressing this problem by respecting the different levels that exist in the classroom, and by responding to the needs of each learner. This article presents an action research study where a team of mathematics instructors and an expert in curriculum development developed and implemented a differentiated instruction learning environment in a first-year engineering calculus class at a university in Cyprus. This study provides evidence that differentiated instruction has a positive effect on student engagement and motivation and improves students' understanding of difficult calculus concepts.


Microscopic traffic simulation models or traffic microsimulators are currently one of the most advanced tools for traffic study. These allow us to reproduce in detail the individual drivers' behavior and the vehicles' evolution, and to model them during long periods. Nowadays, traffic microsimulators are mainly used for traffic planning, and for capacity studies of highway facilities, as well as, for evaluating intelligent transport systems (ITS). Nevertheless, with small improvements, these microsimulators can be used for studying other aspects, such as, visibility problems at intersections or merging. A new microsimulator was developed, called ValSim, which allows us to relate the skewed angle at intersections (merging or crossing) to the driver's angle of visibility for both direct vision and indirect vision through rear-view mirrors. Thus, it is possible to evaluate road safety. ValSim aims to allow designers to evaluate, by dynamical analysis in the geometric design process, the configuration and geometry of an intersection, and to verify possible conflicts at merging as well as at skewed crossings due to lack of visibility. The software simulates the driver's behavior while carrying out the entry or crossing maneuver. For each moment, it calculates the blind spot zones and a possible visibility conflict is highlighted. Keywords – Microsimulator, visibility, skewed intersection, geometric design, safety


The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the adoption of AI-powered task-oriented chatbots by businesses and healthcare organizations. Despite advancements in chatbot platforms, implementing a successful and effective bot is still challenging and requires a lot of manual work. There is a strong need for tools to help conversation analysts quickly identify problem areas and, consequently, introduce changes to chatbot design. We present a visual analytics approach and tool for conversation analysts to identify and assess common patterns of failure in conversation flows. We focus on two key capabilities: path flow analysis and root cause analysis. Interim evaluation results from applying our tool in real-world customer production projects are presented.


Orthopaedic day surgery is common. Postoperative recovery may differ according to surgical procedures and personal factors. We studied postoperative recovery up to two weeks after different orthopaedic day surgical procedures, and tried to identify possible predictors associated with recovery. Three-hundred and fifty-eight patients who had undergone knee arthroscopy or surgery on the hand/arm, foot/leg or shoulder were included. Data were collected preoperatively and on postoperative days 1, 7 and 14 using the Swedish Post-discharge Surgery Recovery scale, the emotional state, physical comfort and physical independence dimensions in the Quality of Recovery-23, and a general health question. A multiple linear regression was used to explore predictors of recovery. The shoulder patients experienced significantly lower postoperative recovery and general health one and two weeks after surgery compared to the other patient groups (p<0.001). Significant predictors of recovery were age, perceived health and emotional status on the first postoperative day, and type of surgery. Postoperative recovery after common orthopaedic day surgical procedures differs, and factors influencing it need to be further explored. The impact of a patient's emotional state on recovery after day surgery can be of particular interest in this work. Post-discharge planning needs to be tailored to the surgical procedure.


The amyloid beta-protein precursor intracellular domain fragment (AICD) is generated from amyloid beta-protein precursor by consecutive cleavages. AICD is thought to activate FE65-dependent gene expression, but the molecular mechanism remains under consideration. We found that dimeric 14-3-3gamma bound both AICD and FE65 simultaneously, and this binding facilitated FE65-dependent gene transactivation by enhancing the association of AICD with FE65. 14-3-3gamma bound to the 667VTPEER672 motif of AICD and, most interestingly, the phosphorylation of AICD at Thr-668 in this motif inhibited the interaction with 14-3-3gamma and blocked gene transactivation. 14-3-3gamma required a sequence between the WW domain and the first phosphotyrosine interaction domain of FE65 for association with FE65. Deletion of this region blocked 14-3-3gamma binding to FE65 and suppressed AICD-mediated FE65-dependent gene transactivation, although the deletion mutant FE65 was still able to bind Tip60, a histone acetyltransferase that forms a complex with FE65 in the nucleus. Taken together, these data demonstrate that 14-3-3gamma facilitates FE65-dependent gene transactivation by forming a complex containing AICD and FE65, and phosphorylation of AICD down-regulates FE65-dependent gene transactivation through the dissociation of 14-3-3gamma and/or FE65 from AICD. Our findings suggest that multiple interactions of AICD with FE65 and 14-3-3gamma modulate FE65-dependent gene transactivation.


The search goes on for another ground breaking phenomenon to reduce the ever-increasing disparity between the CPU performance and storage. There are encouraging breakthroughs in enhancing CPU performance through fabrication technologies and changes in chip designs but not as much luck has been struck with regards to the computer storage resulting in material negative system performance. A lot of research effort has been put on finding techniques that can improve the energy efficiency of cache architectures. This work is a survey of energy saving techniques which are grouped on whether they save the dynamic energy, leakage energy or both. Needless to mention, the aim of this work is to compile a quick reference guide of energy saving techniques from 2013 to 2016 for engineers, researchers and students.


We investigate an approach based on DC (Difference of Convex functions) programming and DCA (DC Algorithm) for online learning techniques. The prediction problem of an online learner can be formulated as a DC program for which online DCA is applied. We propose the two so-called complete/approximate versions of online DCA scheme and prove their logarithmic/sublinear regrets. Six online DCA-based algorithms are developed for online binary linear classification. Numerical experiments on a variety of benchmark classification data sets show the efficiency of our proposed algorithms in comparison with the state-of-the-art online classification algorithms.


Question

Relationships between species richness and environmental drivers such as productivity and disturbance are sensitive to the scale over which they are measured, but the extent to which this scale-dependence is important for experimental studies conducted over small scale ranges is not well known. We ask whether the response of species richness to experimental manipulation of productivity and disturbance varies across small spatial scales (0.016–4 m2). We show that species–area relationships are well suited to summarize cross-scale responses of species richness, and ask whether the responses of species–area relationships to experimental manipulations are more consistent than richness at any single scale.

Location

Northern Californian coastal grasslands.

Methods

We applied disturbance and productivity reduction treatments over 4 yr at two sites. We assessed changes in species richness over five grain sizes, encompassing a 256-fold range of plot size. This allowed us to construct a species–area relationship for each experimental plot in each sampling year. We used the slope of the species–area relationship to summarize changes in species richness across multiple spatial scales.

Results

Richness responses were scale-dependent and complex, causing changes at any one scale to be difficult to interpret. Disturbance either increased or had no effect on richness, while reducing productivity had idiosyncratic effects among sites, scales and years. Both treatments, however, had consistent and interpretable effects on the species–area relationship. Reducing productivity increased the slope of the species–area relationship, while disturbance decreased it.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that the productivity–richness and disturbance–richness relationships are scale-dependent, and that improved generality could be achieved by focusing attention on the response of the species–area relationship to these factors.


Abstract: An evaluability assessment (EA) framework was used to assess a survivors of torture program for which one of the authors had been coordinator. Staff and other stakeholders were interviewed and documents reviewed. Program logic models were developed and discussed. The results of the EA and the process are discussed in terms of the barriers to EA identified by Smith (2005). The article suggests that an EA can be done with limited resources and still be valuable in developing real knowledge of the program, ownership, management for success, and pathways to accountability.


Melanoscirtes gen.n. is established within Karniellina. The members of this subtribe are small conocephaline bush crickets, confined to Africa. Melanoscirtes is erected on Phlesirtes kibonotensis, a species restricted to forest clearings and forest edge in the submontane and montane zones of Mt. Kilimanjaro. A subspecies, M. kibonotensis uguenoensis, is described from the North Pare mountains, a mountain range of the Eastern Arc adjacent to Mt. Kilimanjaro. Further species of Melanoscirtes occur on other mountain ranges of the northern branch of the Eastern Arc mountains of northern Tanzania and southern Kenya. The South Pare mountains harbour M. shengenae; the West Usambaras, M. usambarensis, and the Taita Hills, M. taitensis. All species and subspecies of Melanoscirtes exhibit a similar morphology and occupy analogous habitats on the respective mountains. The song patterns for all species found within this genus are very similar, and this, together with evidence from molecular data, suggests that allopatric speciation is the reason for the biogeographic pattern found in this genus. A key for the subspecies and species of Melanoscirtes is provided.


Fractal properties of active fault systems in Japan are evaluated and compared to Gutenberg-Richter b values. Properties of the active fault network and seismicity were evaluated at 20 km intervals along three lines oriented along the length of Honshu, the main island of Japan. Fractal dimensions for the active fault network are calculated using the box counting method. The box curves often reveal the presence of an abrupt transition in slope at ∼8 km scales. This transition separates linear regions in the box curves that span box sizes of 17.5 to 8.5 km and 7.75 to 2 km. Power law coefficients were computed for the 17.5 to 8.5 km (DL) and 7.75 to 2 km (DS) range of box sizes from overlapping 70×70 km regions of the active fault complex. The maximum likelihood method is used to estimate b value from earthquakes occurring in the seismogenic zone (upper 20 km). The correlation between D and b value are found to vary considerably throughout Japan. In general, D and b are negatively correlated, which suggests that increased complexity in the active fault network accommodates rupture along fault planes of relatively larger surface area. Areas of significant positive correlation are also observed in Japan. The positive correlations arise through joint increases in b and D. In such areas the probability of large magnitude earthquakes decreases in response to increased fragmentation of the active fault network and increased possibility that stress release will take place along faults of smaller surface area. Negative correlations between b and D generally occur when increases in D are paralleled by decreases in b. Negative correlation areas bound the intensely faulted region of central Japan. An area of negative correlation also occurs in the intensely faulted high D area of central Japan where continued increases in D are paralleled by decreases in b. In general, these observations suggest that as fault complexity increases (as measured by D), interconnected planes of larger and larger surface area will accommodate strain release. However, with continued rise in fault complexity, strain release begins to occur on smaller fragments resulting in higher b and lower-magnitude seismicity. The analysis may provide insights into the relationship between seismicity associated with large-scale faults populations and earthquake hazard assessment.


In order to improve the stability, validity and reliability of network management, the management architecture of multi-agent network is analyzed, and the communication and language between the multi-agent are introduced. Finally, a Distributed Network Management Framework based on multi-agent is presented. The functions of each module and mutual cooperation process in the framework are outlined. The performance of the framework is analyzed. Agent technology is combined in the management mode which adopts multi-agent cooperation model based on wizard-style. The multi-agent technology is fully applied in network management model. So, the network management efficiency is improved effectively.


Objective to evaluate the effect of relaxation therapy with guided imagery on state anxiety and cortisol in the immediate preoperative period in patients submitted to bariatric surgery by videolaparoscopy. Method a randomized, triple-blind clinical trial in a large teaching hospital in the interior of Minas Gerais. Twenty-four patients who would undergo video-laparoscopic bariatric surgery were randomly allocated in two groups, namely 12 in the control group and 12 in the experimental group. State anxiety was assessed by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and blood cortisol levels were measured before and after the intervention or standard care. Descriptive analyzes were used for the quantitative variables and Student's t-test for independent samples, in the analysis of the differences between the state anxiety scores and cortisol levels. Results the experimental group presented a statistically significant reduction of the state anxiety scores (p = 0.005) as well as of cortisol levels (p <0.001) after the intervention. Conclusion guided imagery relaxation therapy is an effective nursing intervention for the reduction of state anxiety and blood cortisol levels in the preoperative period in patients undergoing video-laparoscopic bariatric surgery. Brazilian Registry of Clinical Trials: RBR-5qywrf.


Background: G12 rotaviruses were first observed in sub-Saharan Africa in 2004 and since then have continued to emerge and spread across the continent and are reported as a significant human rotavirus genotype in several African countries, both prior to and after rotavirus vaccine introduction. This study investigated the genetic variability of 15 G12 rotavirus strains with either P[6] or P[8] identified between 2010 and 2014 from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Togo and Zambia.Methods: The investigation was carried out by comparing VP7 and partial VP4 sequences of the African G12P[6] and G12P[8] strains with the available GenBank sequences and mapping the recognized neutralization epitopes of these strains.Results: The findings suggested that the VP7 and VP4 genes of the G12 strains circulating in African countries are homologous at the nucleotide and amino acid level, irrespective of country of origin and year of detection, although there was a unique clustering of the Ethiopian strains. The study strains shared a common ancestry with G12 strains circulating globally. Neutralization epitope mapping revealed that rotavirus VP4 P[8] genes associated with G12 had amino acids similar to those reported globally including the vaccines RotaTeq® P[8] and Rotarix®.Conclusions: It is unlikely that widespread vaccine use has driven the molecular evolution and sustainability of G12 strains in Africa. Furthermore, it is too early post vaccine introduction to indicate any effect of vaccine-induced pressure on maintaining the stability of these strains in circulation. Continuous monitoring of rotavirus genotypes is recommended to assess the long-term impact of rotavirus vaccination on the dynamic nature of rotavirus evolution on the continent.


Abstract. A major tipping point of Earth's history occurred during the mid-Pliocene: the onset of major Northern-Hemisphere Glaciation (NHG) and of pronounced, Quaternary-style cycles of glacial-to-interglacial climates, that contrast with more uniform climates over most of the preceding Cenozoic and continue until today (Zachos et al., 2001). The severe deterioration of climate occurred in three steps between 3.2 Ma (warm MIS K3) and 2.7 Ma (glacial MIS G6/4) (Lisiecki and Raymo, 2005). Various models (sensu Driscoll and Haug, 1998) and paleoceanographic records (intercalibrated using orbital age control) suggest clear linkages between the onset of NHG and the three steps in the final closure of the Central American Seaways (CAS), deduced from rising salinity differences between Caribbean and the East Pacific. Each closing event led to an enhanced North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and this strengthened the poleward transport of salt and heat (warmings of +2–3°C) (Bartoli et al., 2005). Also, the closing resulted in a slight rise in the poleward atmospheric moisture transport to northwestern Eurasia (Lunt et al., 2007), which probably led to an enhanced precipitation and fluvial run-off, lower sea surface salinity (SSS), and an increased sea-ice cover in the Arctic Ocean, hence promoting albedo and the build-up of continental ice sheets. Most important, new evidence shows that the closing of the CAS led to greater steric height of the North Pacific and thus doubled the low-saline Arctic Throughflow from the Bering Strait to the East Greenland Current (EGC). Accordingly, Labrador Sea IODP Site 1307 displays an abrupt but irreversible EGC cooling of 6°C and freshening by ~2 psu from 3.25/3.16–3.00 Ma, right after the first but still reversible attempt of closing the CAS.


s, 11th AAP 2018, Malaysia The Journal of Indian Prosthodontic Society | Volume 18 | Supplement 1 | October 2018 S33 Conclusions: The result of this study had presented that Nigella sativa is effective in reducing Candida albicans biofilm colonization on denture base polymer. DOI: 10.4103/0972-4052.244650 OSNC10: Mastication Promotes Expression of Some Memory-Related Genes in the Cerebral Cortex Yoshifumi Toyoshita, Yuki Kan, Yosuke Takeda, Mizuho Sasaki, Katsuya Kawanishi, Hisashi Koshino Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, Kanazawa 1757 Ishikari‐ Tobetsu Hokkaido Japan Purpose: It has been reported that mastication promotes function of learning and memory via the trigeminal nerve and blood vessels. BDNF promotes synapse connections between neurons, while CREB is a transcription factor for certain proteins related to memory including BDNF. Apo E is an apolipoprotein that plays a role in the transportation of cholesterol, and it is known that functional disorder of Apo E affects cognitive function. We examined whether certain genes that are responsible for learning and memory were more strongly expressed after mastication. Materials and Methods: After starvation for 24 hours, 20 Wister rats were divided into two groups. One group was given 0.2 cal/kg of solid food (solid feed group) that rats should masticate because of hard pellet and the other was given 0.2 cal/kg of liquid food (liquid feed group) that rats only swallowed without mastication. The solid and 1iquid foods contained identical nutrition. After euthanasia, the whole cerebral cortex was removed, and mRNA was extracted. Relative expression levels of BDNF, APO E, and CREB in the two groups were measured by real time RT-PCR. Results: Expression levels of BDNF and CREB were higher in the solid feed group than in the liquid feed group. Expression of APO E was comparable in the two groups. Conclusion: Our results suggest that mastication of solid food promotes expression of BDNF and CREB. Mastication may be useful for learning and memory via a mechanism involving BDNF and CREB. DOI: 10.4103/0972-4052.244651 OSNC11: The Effect of Bite Raising on Swallowing Sounds Yoshiki Kamekawa, Osamu Yamamura Department of Prosthodontics, Division of Oral Functional Science and Rehabilitations, Asahi University School of Dentistry, Gifu, Japan Aim: Determining the appropriate occlusal vertical dimension is an important issue in the preparation of complete dentures. The articulatory organs of the lower jaw, tongue, and lips have been well studied from both acoustic and functional perspectives. As these articulatory organs are also involved in swallowing movements, an assessment of swallowing movements would be useful for determining the appropriate occlusal vertical dimension. However, few studies have addressed the question of swallowing movements and determination of the occlusal vertical dimension in the preparation of complete dentures. Here we report a basic study using swallowing sounds to investigate the association between swallowing movements and the occlusal vertical dimension in normal dentulous individuals, as a preliminary step before its application to complete-denture wearers. Materials and methods: An experimental bite-raising plate was used in the investigation, and swallowing sounds while subjects wore the plate were recorded and analyzed. Results and Conclusion: A change in swallowing sounds was evident when the plate was worn. During swallowing, the organs involved in the swallowing action move in a coordinated fashion. Previous studies have found that increasing the occlusal vertical dimension increases the maximum tongue pressure at the posterior palate. Changes in swallowing movements due to changes in tongue movements may have affected swallowing sounds. Our results showed that increasing the occlusal vertical dimension affected swallowing sounds. This suggested that swallowing sound analysis may be useful in determining the appropriate occlusal vertical dimension in the preparation of complete dentures. DOI: 10.4103/0972-4052.244652


While Nicaragua over the past decade has ranked among the poorest countries in Latin America in terms of per capita GDP, data from the last three LSMS surveys (1993, 1998, and 2001) has shown a consistent, though modest, decline in the incidence of poverty. Nationally, the incidence of poverty among individuals has fallen from 50.3 to 45.8 percent over this period. Most poverty is concentrated in the rural sector (with an incidence of 67.8 percent) and in particular in the Central region (75 percent) (World Bank, 2002a). Given the dynamism of agriculture over the last decade, it is somewhat surprising that the reduction of rural poverty has not been greater. Further, this apparent slow, but stable decline in overall poverty incidence masks active movement at the household level in and out of poverty, particularly in the rural sector. At the household level it is much more difficult to find and explain an overall march towards increased living standards. In this paper we analyze the dynamic of poor households moving in and out of poverty, using panel data from the 1998 and 2001 LSMS surveys. The availability of panel data offers an opportunity to analyze who and how households escaped or fell into poverty. What were the principal exit strategies used by households? What are the major determinants of exiting poverty and remaining in poverty? How do poor rural households achieve prosperity? While we touch on both the rural and urban poor, we concentrate primarily on rural households, given their much larger numbers and greater heterogeneity. We apply a variety of methodologies in our analysis of poverty exit strategies. In Section II we provide some background information on the rural sector in Nicaragua, and in Section III we analyze changes in asset ownership and use as well as poverty status. We analyze who has left and entered poverty and provide a description of their characteristics. Given insufficient data points to separate chronic and transient poverty by econometric means, we will instead characterize these different groups of households in descriptive terms. In Section III we briefly describe the situation of agriculture, agricultural assets, and agrarian institutions, the basis of the rural economy in Nicaragua. Next, in Section IV we use econometric methods to find the determinants of changes in welfare over the panel period as measured by consumption and income. In the conclusions in Section V, we will bring these three types of analysis together and build a matrix of poverty exit paths combined with policy recommendations for specific categories of rural households. Full results can be found in Appendices II, while a detailed discussion of panel data issues, most importantly that of attrition, can be found in Appendix I.


Supply chain management (SCM) is becoming critical as firms recognize that competition is shifting from company versus company to supply chain versus supply chain. In the present competitive scenario, the fierce competition has driven most companies to seek means of enhancing performance beyond their four wall boundaries. The firm's ability in collaborating with its upstream and downstream partners determines its success in attaining better performance with supply chain collaboration; a firm is able to serve fragmented markets in which end customers require more product varieties and availability with shorter product life cycle and at the same time lower supply chain costs. Hence, this paper introduces the framework of continuous supply chain collaboration (CSCC), which extends the traditional frame of reference in strategic sourcing from a supplier centric to a supply-chain-scope as continuous improvement efforts to enhance the customer satisfaction. CSCC practices are rather exceptional, yet CSCC is believed to be the single most comprehensive framework for attaining operational excellence.


Self-regulation of driving shows promise as a strategy by which older drivers can compensate for declines in driving-related abilities and extend the time period over which they can safely drive. Self-regulation is generally described as the process of modifying one's driving by driving less or intentionally avoiding specific driving situations considered to be challenging. Research undertaken in this thesis was intended to generate new knowledge about the process of self-regulation by older drivers at multiple levels of driver performance and decision making. Of special interest was how various individual, social, and environmental factors influence this process. Both self-report and objectively derived data on health, functioning, and driving from a sample of older drivers in the greater Melbourne area of Victoria, Australia were collected and analyzed to explore the nature and extent of self-regulation, the influence of selected factors on self-regulation, and the correspondence between self-reports of self-regulatory practices and objective driving patterns and behaviors.

Three levels of driver behavior and decision making were included in the framework for examining self-regulation: tactical; strategic; and life-goal. Tactical self-regulation has to do with actual maneuvers made in traffic in response to conditions in the driving environment (e.g., reducing distractions while driving such as chatting with passengers, leaving more distance between one's car and the car ahead). Strategic self-regulation has to do largely with pre-trip decisions about the circumstances under which to drive or not to drive (e.g., avoiding night driving or other situations considered challenging, reducing driving overall). Life-goal self-regulation has to do with drivers' broader decisions in life that affect driving such as where to live in relation to the destinations one frequents or what kind of car to drive, with safety often being an important consideration in the vehicle purchase decision.

Findings from the research provide valuable insights into the self-regulatory process among older adults. First, not all reported avoidance of driving or other driving modifications can be construed as self-regulation. Drivers report many reasons for modifying their driving, only some of which relate to what is commonly considered self-regulation. Reasons for reported driving avoidance or other practices were often more closely related to lifestyle or preferences than to self-regulation. Thus, to better understand self-regulation among older adults, it is important to understand the reasons that people have for avoiding driving situations or engaging in other practices.

Second, self-regulation is clearly a multi-dimensional concept, and one that is tied to specific driving situations, as well as level of decision making. The research also indicated that reported strategic and tactical self-regulation are influenced by different sets of individual, social, and environmental factors. Strategic self-regulation was related to participants' gender, self-perceived abilities and functioning, feelings of comfort and safety, whether they had family or friends available to drive them, and two clinical measures of functioning (the Rapid Pace Walk and the MVPT-3). Factors found to be associated with tactical self-regulation were age, self-perceived abilities, and contrast sensitivity (as measured by the Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity test).

Third, despite the relative infrequency of reported life-goal self-regulation, this level warrants further research because of the opportunity that life-goal decisions afford for enhancing older adult safety and mobility. For example, although the trend of aging in place is firmly entrenched among many older adults, there may be opportunities to create more livable communities with more accessible housing options to foster continued mobility. Similarly, efforts to make vehicles safer and more accessible for older adults, as well as to better educate older consumers about the safety features in vehicles, are increasingly being recognized as an important part of a multi-faceted approach to keeping older adults safely mobile.

Fourth, the exploratory comparisons between objective measures of driving and drivers' self-reports suggested that there was correspondence, although modest, between some objective driving measures and their comparable self-reported measures, but a lack of correspondence for others. There may be a role for self-reports in providing a context for understanding and helping interpret naturalistic driving data with regard to some self-regulatory driving practices. However, the discrepancies found between self-reported and objective measures of more general driving exposure raise concerns because of the critical role that accurate measures play in understanding crash risk.

Continuing efforts to better understand the self-regulatory practices of older drivers at the tactical, strategic, and life-goal levels should provide additional insights into how the transition from driving to non-driving can be better managed to balance the interdependent needs of public safety and personal mobility.


Tuberculosis (TB) co-infection with HIV is becoming a global emergency especially in the sub-Saharan Africa. Its diagnosis is notoriously challenging in countries with poor resource settings with limited diagnostic facilities . The purpose of this study is to investigate the epidemiological trend of HIV/TB co-infection among the seropositive HIV individuals in Nasarawa state, Nigeria. A five year retrospective study from January 2007 to December 2011 was carried out using profiles of seropositive HIV individuals. A total of 3,470 case records of subjects were retrieved and pre-designed case record forms (CRF) were used to record vital information in demographic data, social and medical history, laboratory results, treatment access and mortality data. 841 (24.2%) individuals had HIV/TB co-infection. The age group 20-29 years had the highest prevalence rate (30.3%) with HIV/TB co-infection while females had higher prevalence rate (56.7%) throughout the five year period of study. Individuals with formal education had the least prevalence rate (21.9%) in all the years under review except in 2009 (35.9%) while individuals "not educated" had the highest prevalence rate (41.1%) except in 2010 (36.0%).The married individuals had the highest prevalence rate (46.0%) followed by the single adults (26.0%). The unemployed individuals had the higher prevalence rate (52.6%) in four years while the employed rated 50.3% in 2009. There was a rise in the number of individuals who had access to ATTB treatment   from 2009-2011, while there was a decline in the number of individuals who had   access to ART treatment from 2007-2011. Females had higher mortality rate (54.5%) from 2008-2011 while the mortality rate of males in 2007 was 50.5%.Women were greatly affected by HIV/TB co-infection as a result of poor socio-economic status. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) for all demographic indices except for educational status (p<0.05).Greater intervention programs and services should be provided especially for women. Key Word . Pulmonary, Tuberculosis, Antiretroviral, Treatment, Socio-economical.


Teaching with technology is a complex issue, at best, bound by issues of access, funding, support and time for both students and teachers (Young & Bush, 2004). When English teachers effectively integrate technology into their classrooms, however, they have the opportunity to positively engage students in the learning process. Considering the specific technology of weblogs, this article will explore the need for preservice teachers to construct a working pedagogy that includes the use of technology within the content area for teaching and learning.


We kick off the commencement archive with Dr. Claire Pomeroy's 2017 commencement speech at Northeast Ohio Medical University titled "Your Gift (and obligation." Claire Pomeroy, M.D., M.B.A. is current president and CEO of the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation. Under her leadership, the Foundation's mission advanced to: "improve health by accelerating support for medical research through recognition of research excellence, public education and advocacy." As an expert in infectious diseases, she passionately supports ongoing investment in a full range of research with special interest in health care policy and a focus on the importance of the social determinants of health. More than 100 articles and book chapters have been published by Dr. Pomeroy. As a leader in her field, Dr. Pomeroy serves on the board of trustees for the Morehouse School of Medicine and the board of directors for the Sierra Health Foundation, the Foundation for Biomedical Research, iBiology, Inc. and New York Academy of Medicine. She is also a member of the board of directors for Expanesthetics, Inc. and for Becton Dickinson & Company. In 2011, Dr. Pomeroy was inducted into the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Pomeroy earned both her bachelor's and Doctor of Medicine degrees at the University of Michigan. She completed her residency and fellowship training in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the University of Minnesota. She has also earned an M.B.A. from the University of Kentucky. In 2016, Dr. Pomeroy received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Pomeroy has held faculty positions at the University of Minnesota, the University of Kentucky and the University of California- Davis. At the University of Kentucky, she served as the chief of infectious diseases and associate dean for research and informatics. In 2003, Dr. Pomeroy joined University of California-Davis as executive associate dean and served as vice chancellor and dean of the School of Medicine from 2005 through 2013. She became president of the Lasker Foundation in June 2013. In her address to the graduating class, Dr. Pomeroy is forthright.  She does not embellish the career as a physician but rather illuminates the very real truths and what is expected of us as we take the lives of others into our hands. She states: "By virtue of the credentials you now hold, people will now turn to you at their most vulnerable moments…..They will literally trust you with their lives. This trust is a gift and an honor. " The use of the word "gift" is interesting. We often perceive physicians as the one "giving the gift."  That is, providing care to the patient but Dr. Pomeroy reframes this suggesting that it is the patient who offers trust and allows a physician to enter into a very personal domain.  Dr. Pomeroy continues on, urging the new physicians not to be content with the state of the medical field but rather to push its bounds. "It has been said that, change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability; it comes through bold vision, continuous work, and unflagging dedication. This is what you are called upon to do. So as you accept your diploma today, you are also accepting the charge to lead us in the change our country needs." What was most compelling about Dr. Pomeroy's speech was the discussion of her path to this career.  After leaving a troubled childhood, only to be placed in four foster homes, Dr. Pomeroy, faced the very issues physicians strive to improve in health care.  Issues such as "trusting the system," and racial and social equality.  She so poignantly states: "My first foster home was an "emergency placement" and just as I was thinking maybe I could trust them, it was time to go. From this, I learned about how hard it can be for the vulnerable and abused to trust the system, to trust even those dedicated to caring. My second placement was with an African-American family, who though not quite knowing what to do with this blond, blue-eyed white girl, opened their home with kind- ness. From them, I learned about race, equality and social justice…..My final placement was with a couple who became foster parents just to take care of me and to them I will always be grateful. They saved my life. I learned that by giving of ourselves, we can give life to others." She concludes with the following: "In closing, I ask only that you heed Harriet Tubman's call to action as she said, "Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." Congratulations, class of 2017! Live your dream! Change the world!


BACKGROUND
Much evidence exists to demonstrate that poor handover can directly impact patient safety. There have been calls for formal education on handover, but evidence to guide intervention design and implementation is limited. It is unclear how undergraduate medical schools are tackling this issue and what barrier or facilitators exist to handover education. We set out to determine curriculum objectives, teaching and assessment methods, as well as institutional attitudes towards handover within UK medical schools.

METHODS
A descriptive, non-experimental, cross-sectional study design was used. A locally developed online questionnaire survey was sent to all UK Medical Schools, after piloting. Descriptive statistics were calculated for closed-ended responses, and free text responses were analysed using a grounded theory approach, with constant comparison taking place through several stages of analysis.

RESULTS
Fifty percent of UK medical schools took part in the study. Nine schools (56%) reported having curriculum outcomes for handover. Significant variations in the teaching and assessments employed were found. Qualitative analysis yielded four key themes: the importance of handover as an education issue, when to educate on handover, the need for further provision of teaching and the need for validated assessment tools to support handover education.

CONCLUSIONS
Whilst undergraduate medical schools recognised handover as an important education issue, they do not feel they should have the ultimate responsibility for training in this area and as such are responding in varying ways. Undergraduate medical educators should seek to reach consensus as to the extent of provision they will offer. Weaknesses in the literature regarding how to design such education have exacerbated the problem, but the contemporaneous and growing published evidence base should be employed by educators to address this issue.


The present case-control study was undertaken to assess the level of DNA damage in children with congenital heart disease and compare the same with that of age and sex matched controls using submarine gel electrophoresis (Comet Assay).The clinical diagnosis of CHD was confirmed with echocardiography. Subsequently the cases and the controls were subjected for alkaline version of comet assay – Single cell gel electrophoresis using lymphocytes isolated from the peripheral blood. Scoring of comets and recording of the data of comet metrics was done after capturing the images of various sizes of comets under bright field microscopy using the Olypmus BX 51trinocular research microscope (Japan) and an automated Comet Scoring Software TriTek V 1.5. Comet parameters were compared between the cases and controls using Unpaired 't' test using the statistical software SPSS version 19. The mean comet tail length in cases and control was 19.90μm and 0.89 μm respectively which was statistically significant (p<0.001). Other comet parameters like total comet length and %DNA in head also showed a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between cases and controls. The current investigation unraveled increased levels of DNA damage in children with congenital heart defect as evidenced by statistically significant levels of the comet metrics in cases when compared to the controls.


In this article, a storm named Hilde is the entry point for an exploration and analysis of the consequences of public sector reforms on the crisis management system in Sweden. We are particularly interested in reforms of decentralization, privatization, and the adoption of New Public Management (NPM) mechanisms. Empirically, we study the views of Civil Defence Directors at County Administration Boards (CABs). The 21 CABs represent the central government at the regional level and are required by law to coordinate crisis management between national agencies, municipalities, and private interests. Our empirical investigations indicate that the Defence Directors perceive and adapt to reforms differently depending on the size of CABs, thereby bringing to the fore critical matters of equivalence. It also appears as if the discretion that the reforms were supposed to provide for crisis management actors is severely hampered by NPM inspired regulations, competitive features, and instruments of control.


Bias-temperature tests of InP/InGaAs avalanche photodiodes have been conducted to evaluate long-term reliability at temperatures from 200-250 degrees C. Wearout -failure modes with a gradual increase in dark current occur at all testing levels. Failure analyses using the light-beam-induced current method suggest that the degradation is caused by local avalanche multiplication in the guard-ring periphery. A surface degradation mechanism is proposed, namely, positive charge accumulation in the passivation film above the guard-ring region, followed by local avalanche multiplication at the guard-ring periphery. A tentative activation energy of 1.7 eV is obtained for this failure mode, and the extrapolated median life exceeds 10/sup 10/ h in practical use. >


ABSTRACT Lipid metabolism was investigated in a 4-year-old boy with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (ZZ phenotype) and liver disease. Plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels were 604 mg/dl and 336 mg/dl respectively. Both parents had normal plasma lipids. Lipoprotein X was present at a concentration of 855 mg/dl and levels of apoproteins A-I, A-II, B and C-III were elevated. The plasma free fatty acid pattern was normal. Plasma cholesterol esterification was greatly depressed. Cholesterol absorption on two occasions was reduced about 13% compared with adult controls. Neutral and total steroid excretion was normal with increased excretion of bile acids. A low-cholesterol, low-fat diet reduced plasma cholesterol to 374 mg/dl and triglyceride to 236 mg/dl in two months. Cholesterol and lipoprotein X concentrations were elevated far out of proportion to the severity of the liver disease (total bilirubin 3.7 mg/dl, SGOT 280 IU/L). This suggests that lipoprotein metabolism in patients with this disorder is unusual and may differ from the derangements seen in other forms of liver disease.


JaTeCS is an open source Java library that supports research on automatic text categorization and other related problems, such as ordinal regression and quantification, which are of special interest in opinion mining applications. It covers all the steps of an experimental activity, from reading the corpus to the evaluation of the experimental results. As JaTeCS is focused on text as the main input data, it provides the user with many text-dedicated tools, e.g.: data readers for many formats, including the most commonly used text corpora and lexical resources, natural language processing tools, multi-language support, methods for feature selection and weighting, the implementation of many machine learning algorithms as well as wrappers for well-known external software (e.g., SVM_light) which enable their full control from code. JaTeCS support its expansion by abstracting through interfaces many of the typical tools and procedures used in text processing tasks. The library also provides a number of "template" implementations of typical experimental setups (e.g., train-test, k-fold validation, grid-search optimization, randomized runs) which enable fast realization of experiments just by connecting the templates with data readers, learning algorithms and evaluation measures.


Trust and feedback have long been considered critical elements of successful employment relationships. This qualitative study explores the impact that trust has on the provision of upwards feedback as part of a multisource feedback (MSF) review. Previous research suggests that trust within an employment relationship can improve the quality of feedback between individuals and reduce the fear associated with giving and receiving feedback. For this study, employees of an Irish Higher Education Institution (HEI) were interviewed. These participants had recently provided feedback to their supervisors as part of a developmental MSF review. The goal was to explore the participants' perceptions of trust within their employment relationship and to discover whether this perception of trust, or lack of trust, had any impact on the feedback they provided. While it is impossible to confirm that the presence or absence of trust was the only influencing factor on the feedback, the primary finding was that participants who trusted the motivation of their supervisors in requesting the feedback were more open and honest with the feedback they provided. Those participants who did not trust that their supervisors were seeking feedback for the purpose of development were more cautious with their feedback and less willing to be critical. This finding has practical implications for the future implementation of MSF reviews, particularly for developmental purposes. Practitioners should ensure that feedback recipients are undertaking the review for the purpose of development and this should be clearly communicated to those providing feedback. Very little research has considered the impact of trust on feedback as part of an MSF review. Very few studies have considered feedback from the perspective of the feedback provider rather than the feedback recipient. This study confirms the findings of previous research into trust, feedback and MSF reviews while addressing these gaps in the literature.


This paper introduces a simulation study on the executive mechanism of a recent invented controllable mechanism type novel planar 3-DOF mechanical excavator using simulation analysis software MSC.ADAMS. A virtual prototype model is established first, based on which the forward kinematics simulation is carried out employing the DIM functions to achieve an output trajectory similar to the excavating process of a flexible hydraulic excavator. Subsequently, an inverse kinematics simulation is performed accomplishing a given V type output trajectory. Angular displacements, velocities and accelerations of the three input variables are obtained. Results of the simulation study may provide some useful references for further researches such as dimensional synthesis, dynamics and design of the controller of the new type of mechanical excavator.


Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) has been utilized for prototype manufacturing of functional metal components for years now. During this period the surface quality, mechanical properties, detail resolution and easiness of the process have been improved to the level suitable for direct production of complex metallic components for various applications. The paper will present the latest DMLS technology utilizing EOSINT M270 laser sintering machine and EOSTYLE support generation software for direct and rapid production of complex shaped metallic components for various purposes. The focus of the presentation will be in rapid manufacturing of customized biomedical implants and surgical devices of the latest stainless steel, titanium and cobalt-chromium-molybdenum alloys. In addition to biomedical applications, other application areas where complex metallic parts with stringent requirements are being needed will be presented.


Causality analysis automates attack forensic and facilitates behavioral detection by associating causally related but temporally distant system events. Despite its proven usefulness, the analysis suffers from the innate big data challenge to store and process a colossal amount of system events that are constantly collected from hundreds of thousands of end-hosts in a realistic network. In addition, the effectiveness of the analysis to discover security breaches relies on the assumption that comprehensive historical events over a long span are stored. Hence, it is imminent to address the scalability issue in order to make causality analysis practical and applicable to the enterprise-level environment. In this work, we present SEAL, a novel data compression approach for causality analysis. Based on information-theoretic observations on system event data, our approach achieves lossless compression and supports near real-time retrieval of historic events. In the compression step, the causality graph induced by the system logs is investigated, and abundant edge reduction potentials are explored. In the query step, for maximal speed, decompression is opportunistically executed. Experiments on two real-world datasets show that SEAL offers 2.63x and 12.94x data size reduction, respectively. Besides, 89% of the queries are faster on the compressed dataset than the uncompressed one, and SEAL returns exactly the same query results as the uncompressed data.


Summary The Brazilian government encouraged the Integrated Production (IP) farming system adoption to mitigate the negative environmental impacts of intensive bean production in irrigated areas of the Brazilian savanna. By ensuring food-safety and the use of sustainable agricultural practices, IP may strengthen national agriculture competitiveness. Regardless of the government efforts to promote IP in the main agricultural regions and among the largest food growers, only few slowly adopted it. Therefore, studying the process of technology adoption is important to identify possible problems that could affect adoption and diffusion of this farming system. We applied a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to explain the adoption and use of IP by the common beans growers from one of the most important bean production regions in Brazil. Ninety-three interviews were administered to different actors involved in beans production. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) following a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to identify the relationship between factors. The findings suggest that respondents have positive perceptions toward adopting IP. Perceived usefulness has a positive impact on attitude, and attitudes affect behavioral intention. However, the proposed model only partially explains IP adoption intentions.


In many autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) applications of long duration, there is a need to accurately determine the AUV's position in an effective way, in terms of both cost and energy consumption. Such situations may occur in reconnaissance operations, mine counter measure operations, and when an AUV is sampling the characteristics of the environment along a track. Since underwater maps are rare, there also is a need for navigational methods that can accommodate very infrequent sampling in terms of time and space. This work describes a new method to solve the above problem by using a multibeam sonar for three-dimensional sampling of the bottom topography and a linear Kalman filter in a nearly optimal way. The proposed method is very accurate, robust, and computationally efficient compared to other methods that are used for terrain navigation. This method is also suitable for continuous navigation.


Structural and electronic properties of C-H···O contacts in compounds containing a formyl group are investigated from the perspective of both hydrogen bonding and dipole-dipole interactions, in a systematic and graded approach. The effects of α-substitution and self-association on the nature of the formyl H-atom are studied with the NBO and AIM methodologies. The relative dipole-dipole contributions in formyl C-H···O interactions are obtained for aldehyde dimers. The stabilities and energies of aldehyde clusters (dimer through octamer) have been examined computationally. Such studies have an implication in crystallization mechanisms. Experimental X-ray crystal structures of formaldehyde, acrolein and N-methylformamide have been determined in order to ascertain the role of C-H···O interactions in the crystal packing of formyl compounds.


Objective: To establish normal ranges for timed micturition, i.e. the time to void the first 100 ml, study its dependency on voided volume and age and compare it to maximum flow rate. Material and Methods: Randomly selected men from the National Register without voiding symptoms were investigated. These 58 men (aged 30–75 years) registered 1286 voidings (median 21 per person) at home with the aid of a portable uroflowmeter. Timed micturition and maximum flow rate were obtained from the same voidings. Results: An increase in timed micturition with an increase in age was confirmed. When estimating normal ranges it was sufficient to use the age groups ≤55 years and ≥56 years. Maximum flow rate is shown in nomograms with voided volume. Timed micturition had less dependency on voided volume than maximum flow rate. The normal ranges of timed micturition are ≤9 s for men aged ≤55 years and ≤15 s for those aged ≥56 years. The true median of timed micturition for men aged ≥56 years may be 6 s lower or 2.5 s higher than the value of a single measurement. Corresponding figures for maximum flow rate are 5 and 6 ml/s. Conclusions: Timed micturition has a low dependency on volume and values of ≤9 s and ≤15 s are normal for men aged ≤55 years and ≥56 years, respectively.


The TiO2 /ACF composite photocatalyst was prepared by using the screen printed technology. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy ( SEM) were used to characterize the obtained composite. The results of XRD show the TiO2 /ACF composite photocatalyst is confirmed anatase as the only phase present and ACF has no effects on the phase structures of TiO2. The results of SEM show that TiO2 can form thin film on ACF surface. Benzene was chosen as the model of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to investigate the capability of TiO2/ACF composite photocatalyst. The results show the TiO2/ACF composite photocatalyst have higher activity for benzene removal than only TiO2 photocatalyst.


This paper explores the information-theoretic limitations of graph property testing in zero-field Ising models. Instead of learning the entire graph structure, sometimes testing a basic graph property such as connectivity, cycle presence or maximum clique size is a more relevant and attainable objective. Since property testing is more fundamental than graph recovery, any necessary conditions for property testing imply corresponding conditions for graph recovery, while custom property tests can be statistically and/or computationally more efficient than graph recovery based algorithms. Understanding the statistical complexity of property testing requires the distinction of ferromagnetic (i.e., positive interactions only) and general Ising models. Using combinatorial constructs such as graph packing and strong monotonicity, we characterize how target properties affect the corresponding minimax upper and lower bounds within the realm of ferromagnets. On the other hand, by studying the detection of an antiferromagnetic (i.e., negative interactions only) Curie-Weiss model buried in Rademacher noise, we show that property testing is strictly more challenging over general Ising models. In terms of methodological development, we propose two types of correlation based tests: computationally efficient screening for ferromagnets, and score type tests for general models, including a fast cycle presence test. Our correlation screening tests match the information-theoretic bounds for property testing in ferromagnets in certain regimes.


Background When using accelerometers to measure physical activity, researchers need to determine whether subjects have worn their device for a sufficient period to be included in analyses. We propose a minimum wear criterion using population-based accelerometer data, and explore the influence of gender and the purposeful inclusion of children with weekend data on reliability. Methods Accelerometer data obtained during the age seven sweep of the UK Millennium Cohort Study were analysed. Children were asked to wear an ActiGraph GT1M accelerometer for seven days. Reliability coefficients(r) of mean daily counts/minute were calculated using the Spearman-Brown formula based on the intraclass correlation coefficient. An r of 1.0 indicates that all the variation is between- rather than within-children and that measurement is 100% reliable. An r of 0.8 is often regarded as acceptable reliability. Analyses were repeated on data from children who met different minimum daily wear times (one to 10 hours) and wear days (one to seven days). Analyses were conducted for all children, separately for boys and girls, and separately for children with and without weekend data. Results At least one hour of wear time data was obtained from 7,704 singletons. Reliability increased as the minimum number of days and the daily wear time increased. A high reliability (r = 0.86) and sample size (n = 6,528) was achieved when children with ≥ two days lasting ≥10 hours/day were included in analyses. Reliability coefficients were similar for both genders. Purposeful sampling of children with weekend data resulted in comparable reliabilities to those calculated independent of weekend wear. Conclusion Quality control procedures should be undertaken before analysing accelerometer data in large-scale studies. Using data from children with ≥ two days lasting ≥10 hours/day should provide reliable estimates of physical activity. It's unnecessary to include only children with accelerometer data collected during weekends in analyses.


This article examines the relationship between Aaron Copland's activities as composer and as pedagogue in order to illuminate the fraught midcentury relationship between musical modernism and middlebrow culture. I situate his unpublished lecture notes and music appreciation books within the middlebrow context and trace their connections with the works he composed during this period. At the center of my investigation is the contentious midcentury category of "style," which implicated both Copland's music and his pedagogy in ways that illuminate middlebrow cultural appreciation at large. Challenging long-standing modernist depictions of the middlebrow as the straightforward commercialization of high culture, I excavate characteristic middlebrow commitments to compromise, novelty, and breadth that proved even more unsettling to midcentury hierarchies than mass culture's supposedly shameless pandering.
 By emphasizing Copland's commitment to a canon of modern "styles," in composition as in music appreciation, I draw out underlying tensions between his "middlebrow" approach to modern music and a "higher," purer form imagined by Arnold Schoenberg and Theodor W. Adorno. At the same time, I show how these distinctions often threatened to collapse. On a broader methodological level, I chart a middle course between "social" conceptions of the middlebrow—as a means of marketing, distributing, and teaching high art to a mass audience—and "aesthetic" discussions of it as a compositional style. By examining the reciprocity between Copland's pedagogy and music, I ultimately suggest that the problem which middlebrow culture posed to high modernism lay not just in its ability to mediate between high and low, modernism and mass culture, but also in the challenges it posed to fantasies of aesthetic immediacy and autonomy.


Abstract. It has been largely investigated and established that the DP2 events are enhanced at dip-equator compared to low latitudes. Studies by several authors showed various enhancement ratio values of DP2 amplitude at the dayside dip-equator relative to those at low latitudes. In order to quantify this enhancement ratio, we carried out a statistical study on this phenomenon using the ground magnetometer data at locations ranging from polar cap to dip-equator over the African, Asian and American sector. Our result gave an enhancement ratio which shows a diurnal variation with a maximum value around 12:00 LT and is correlated with the regular variation of the geomagnetic H-component. The longitudinal variation of the enhancement ratio of the DP2 exhibits high values over the American sector compared to Asian sector and African sector which have lowest values. This longitudinal dependence is similar to that of the equatorial electrojet magnetic effect.


The importance of considering the time‐variant factors in the evaluation of multimedia telecommunication quality is discussed from the viewpoints of future multimedia networds and services. The quality degradation caused by bit erorrs in LD‐CELP and ADPCM codecs was measured under conditions of variable speech‐sample duration, a varying number of errored bits, and variable error‐burst duation. The degradation in the mean‐opinion score (i.e., the DMOS) for communication with variable speech‐sample duration was quantified for both the number of errored bits and the error‐burst duration. The results due to the number of errored bits were significant at a significance level of 1% under all conditions, as well as due to the interaction between the number of errored bits and the error‐burst duration under some conditions. The effects of the quality factors were different among codecs. For example, the longer the error‐burst duration, the better the quality in LD‐CELP, while in ADPCM the duration did not have any effect. These experiments identified several items that should be considered in developing a quality‐evaluation method, including determining such testing parameters as speech‐sample duration, a measure for expressing degradation, and a procedure for subjective evaluation.


We analyze Josephson's oscillation of Bose particles in the open two-site Bose-Hubbard system. First, we excite the system from the vacuum state into a state suitable for observing the oscillation by using a special protocol for external driving. Next, we switch off the driving and observe the oscillation. It is shown that the main mechanism for the decay of Josephson's oscillation is the dephasing due to the fluctuating number of particles in open systems. An analytical estimate for the decay time is obtained.


The antimicrobial effect of cationic and anionic surface-active substances, i.e. catamine AB and sulphonol NP-3 respectively was studied in vitro with respect to gramnegative bacteria. In non-bactericidal concentrations catamine AB significantly increased the efficacy of tetracyclines, while the anionic compound had no such effect. The increase in the tetracycline activity was due to the antibiotic increased absorption (14C-oxytetracycline as an example) on the treatment of gramnegative bacteria with catamine AB and staphylococci with catamine AB and sulphonol NP-3, which was mainly associated with impairement of the cell membrane permeability by the surface-active substances.


Cyclic polymers are macromolecules which exhibit interesting topological structures and unique properties. Cyclic polysiloxane formation by organic zwitterionic polymerization of cyclic siloxanes offers the advantage of a simple process, no metal residue and adjustable catalyst activity, but is retarded by the low strain energy of cyclosiloxanes. Herein, we demonstrate the design and synthesis of highly strained spiral cyclosiloxane molecules, and realized the first high molecular weight cyclic polysiloxane formation by zwitterionic polymerization. The cyclic morphology of the resulting polymer was unambiguously identified by NMR, AFM and FESEM, with the mechanism proved by DFT calculations. This research opens a new way of generating cyclic polysiloxanes with unique structural features.


Summary The order Caudata includes about 660 species and displays a variety of important developmental traits such as cleavage pattern and egg size. However, the cleavage process of tailed amphibians has never been analyzed within a phylogenetic framework. We use published data on the embryos of 36 species concerning the character of the third cleavage furrow (latitudinal, longitudinal or variable) and the magnitude of synchronous cleavage period (up to 3–4 synchronous cell divisions in the animal hemisphere or a considerably longer series of synchronous divisions followed by midblastula transition). Several species from basal caudate families Cryptobranchidae (Andrias davidianus and Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) and Hynobiidae (Onychodactylus japonicus) as well as several representatives from derived families Plethodontidae (Desmognathus fuscus and Ensatina eschscholtzii) and Proteidae (Necturus maculosus) are characterized by longitudinal furrows of the third cleavage and the loss of synchrony as early as the 8-cell stage. By contrast, many representatives of derived families Ambystomatidae and Salamandridae have latitudinal furrows of the third cleavage and extensive period of synchronous divisions. Our analysis of these ontogenetic characters mapped onto a phylogenetic tree shows that the cleavage pattern of large, yolky eggs with short series of synchronous divisions is an ancestral trait for the tailed amphibians, while the data on the orientation of third cleavage furrows seem to be ambiguous with respect to phylogeny. Nevertheless, the midblastula transition, which is characteristic of the model species Ambystoma mexicanum (Caudata) and Xenopus laevis (Anura), might have evolved convergently in these two amphibian orders.


A number of herbs are traditionally used in Sudan to treat different diseases. In the present study the therapeutic effects of Trigonella foenum graecum ( Fenugreek), and Lupinus termis aqueous extracts in glucose-induced diabetic albino rats and the sub chronic toxicity of these plants were investigated. Forty two albino rats of either sex (weighing 135-250 g and aged 60 days) were used. Animals were assigned to seven equal groups (N=6); intact control and six diabetic groups. Diabetes was induced by 5% glucose (2mg/kg b.w). Group (1) was administered with drinking water and assigned as control, groups 2, 3 and 4 were administered with Trigonella foenum aqueous extract (200, 400 and 800 mg/kg b.w, respectively) and groups 5, 6 and 7 were administered with Lupinus termis aqueous extract (200, 400 and 800 mg/kg b.w, respectively). Blood samples were obtained to assess blood glucose level, α-amylase, cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL) and triglycerides concentrations. In treated diabetic rats, blood glucose level markedly decreased to the normal range. Reduction in cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL was also observed. Reduction of α-amylase concentration was shown with a low dose (200 mg/kg b.w.) of the extracts of both plants. The present studied plants clearly demonstrate the non-toxic nature and safety profile. The combined history human use of these plants and the data from the current study support the safe use of these plants. It can be concluded that Trigonella foenum graecum seed and Lupinus termis fruit aqueous extract have anti-hyperglycemic effect by affecting both blood glucose level and α-amylase. Trigonella foenum graecum has higher hypoglycemic than Lupinus termis.


The requirement of color removal has promoted the research in this field. However, there is still a lack of understanding of colour problems. In this paper a literature review is made to assess the information on color removal and need for systematic evaluation of the results is emphasized. Experimental studies are conducted on the textile dyeing wastewaters applying chemical precipitation, chemical oxidation, adsorption and their combination. Results of the study are evaluated and discussed within the context of a systematic approach.


Senegal has experienced a number of spurts in agricultural production and productivity growth since independence, yet average trends from 1960 through 1993 have been either stagnant (in terms of aggregate production and yields), or negative (in terms of real value of production). Although use of animal traction is ubiquitous, current crop production in the Peanut Basin must be characterized as low external input farming. Farmers are unanimous in their belief that the most important constraint to improving agricultural output is their inability to obtain desired quantities of peanut seed. Inadequate seed has led to lower peanut income and a diminished capacity to purchase productivity-enhancing inputs: aging animal traction equipment is not being replaced, fertilizer use has become virtually nonexistent, the organic matter being returned to the soil is far from adequate, and the use of certified seed is extremely rare, as is the use of chemical inputs to protect seed quality or fight pests. Family labor is under-utilized during slack periods, while wage laborers are rarely hired during peak periods. Two important objectives for the peanut sector are (1) to maintain peanut production at a level that keeps the processing industry running at capacity, and (2) to increase farmers' incomes. Farmers' inability to obtain desired quantities of peanut seed prevents attainment of both these objectives. Although the seed marketing system could be improved, farmers' inadequate cash reserves and poor access to credit are the principal bottlenecks; at present, there is more of a demand-side than a supply-side problem. Although the economic efficiency of current production practices varies by farm type and agroclimatic zone, two findings apply in almost all situations:(1) If farmers continue to cultivate without fertilizer, the primary means of increasing yields and profits will be to increase seeding rates beyond their current levels (which already exceed the rates recommended by extension services); and (2) The marginal value product of household labor is less than the prevailing wage rate, suggesting that more labor than necessary is being used during most of the cropping season.


These silks have been made at the Northern centre for cancer care. (NCCC). The scarves are all original designs and both scarves and paintings were inspired by places I have visited and things I have seen; such as fields of exquisite spring flowers both in this country and abroad. Although they are designed by me many of the pieces produced in the NCCC are collaboratively made in the waiting areas of the hospital.


A weakness of disaster research is the tendency to focus on only the severely affected. This study interviewed a range of disaster victims in order to gain a full understanding of a community's recovery process.
Specifically this study aimed to develop an Bailey, Mort et al.'s (2004) understanding of the insider vs. outsider binary that is often created through disaster scenarios, to discover the role storytelling plays in recovery (Bailey, Convery et al., 2004) and focus on the shared sense of community produced (Convery & Bailey, 2008).
This study hopes to improve on previous literature by taking in a much wider sense of community to gain a bigger picture of a community response. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts revealed that community members initiate their recovery process through sharing their disaster experiences with those they trust thus revealing the binary of insiders vs. outsiders.
Ultimately this process was found to result in an increased solidarity and mutual supportiveness within the community. This process helps build on disaster response predictability.