Part of the technical versatility of future all-electric ships is the potential ability to share large amounts of power among a variety of high-power loads. To help evaluate this potential and to provide information to help guide technology selection, a physics-based model of a power train for an electric ship has been developed and implemented on three modeling platforms. Using this model, three different investigations have been carried out to explore aspects of the behavior of a rotating machine power source for a shipboard rail launcher. These were: 1) influence of rapid charging of the rotating machine system on the ship power system; 2) use of the stored energy in the rotating machines to improve ship power quality; and 3) use of the stored energy in the rotating machines to power a pulsed free-electron laser. Each study highlighted different integration opportunities and challenges. The first showed that, because the charging of the rail launchers was through 5-MW motors, there could be a voltage sag for a few cycles, but this could easily be managed so that the sag could be reduced to an inconsequential level. The second study showed that, with appropriate power electronics, the stored energy in the rail launcher power supply can be used to correct power quality problems introduced by other ship systems. Finally, the stored energy in the launcher power supply can be used to fire a free electron laser for ship defense. This feature opens the possibility of routine operation of the entire ship at highest efficiency, i.e., with the smallest number of gas turbines operating near full power, while providing stored energy needed for ship defense


This paper demonstrates the significance of ion‐neutral coupling to ionospheric data assimilation for ionospheric specification and forecast. Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) is used to assimilate synthetic electron density profiles sampled according to the Formosa Satellite 3/Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate into the Thermosphere‐Ionosphere‐Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIEGCM). The combination of the EnKF and first‐principles TIEGCM allows a self‐consistent treatment of thermosphere and ionosphere coupling in the data assimilation and forecast. Because thermospheric variables affect ionospheric electron densities, different combinations of an observed ionospheric state variable (electron density), and unobserved ionospheric and thermospheric state variables (atomic oxygen ion density, neutral temperature, winds, and composition) are included as part of the EnKF state vector in experiments. In the EnKF, the unobserved state variables are estimated and made dynamically and chemically consistent with the observed state variable, thus improving the performance of the data assimilation system. The impact on ensemble forecast is further examined by initializing the TIEGCM with the assimilation analysis. The main findings are the following: (1) by incorporating ion‐neutral coupling into the EnKF, the ionospheric electron density analysis, and forecast can be considerably improved. (2) Thermospheric composition is the most significant state variable that affects ionospheric analysis and forecast. (3) Thermospheric variables have a much longer impact on ionospheric forecast (>24 h) than ionospheric variables (2 to 3 h). (4) In the TIEGCM, the effect of assimilating electron densities is not completely transmitted to the forecast step unless the densities of ion species are estimated.


Computational drug repositioning has been proven as a promising and efficient strategy for discovering new uses from existing drugs. To achieve this goal, a number of computational methods have been proposed, which are based on different data sources of drugs, diseases and different approaches. Depending on where the discovery of drug-disease relationships comes from, proposed computational methods can be categorized as either 'drug-based' or 'disease-based'. The proposed methods are usually based on an assumption that similar drugs can be used for similar diseases to identify new indications of drugs. Therefore, similarity between drugs and between diseases is usually used as inputs. In addition, known drug-disease associations are also needed for the methods. It should be noted that these associations are still not well established due to many of marketed drugs have been withdrawn and this could affect to outcome of the methods. In this study, instead of using the known drug-disease associations, we based on known disease-gene and drug-target associations. In addition, similarity between drugs measured by chemical structures of drug compounds and similarity between diseases sharing phenotypes are used. Then, a semi-supervised learning model, Regularized Least Square (RLS), which can exploit these information effectively, is used to find new uses of drugs. Experiment results demonstrate that our method, namely RLSDR, outperforms several state-of-the-art existing methods in terms of area under the ROC curve (AUC). Novel indications for a number of drugs are identified and validated by evidences from different resources


Abstract Cognitive impairment increases an individual's risk of falls due to the role cognition plays in gait control. Older adults with dementia fall 2-3 times more than cognitively healthy older adults and there is a lack of evidence for effective fall prevention interventions for community-dwelling cognitively impaired adults. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the effectiveness of fall prevention interventions in improving falls, perceived risk of falls, gait, balance, and functional mobility. We searched 7 databases for interventions involving community-dwelling adults ≥50 years with mild to moderate cognitive impairment. Reviewers screened citations, extracted data, assessed risk of bias and certainty of evidence (GRADE). We performed a meta-analysis of 509 community-dwelling adults (mean age 67.5 to 84.0 years) with mild to moderate cognitive impairment from 12 randomized controlled trails (8 exercise interventions, 3 multifactorial, and 1 providing medication). Interventions had medium significant effects on perceived risk of falls (SMD -0.73 [-1.10, -0.36]), balance (SMD 0.66 [0.19, 1.12]), and timed up and go test (SMD -0.56 [-0.94, -0.17]) and small significant effects on gait speed and control (SMD 0.26 [0.08, 0.43]) with moderate certainty of evidence. There were no significant effects for falls. Sub-analysis showed that exercise and studies at low risk of bias remained significant for balance and perceived risk of falls. The effect of fall prevention interventions on falls remains unclear; exercise interventions are effective at addressing fall risk factors. However, high quality and longer studies with adequate sample sizes are needed to determine their effectiveness on falls.


The Future of Music Coalition (FMC) has provided a voice in Washington, D.C. for musicians since 2000. One of our principal beliefs is that creation, both artistic and technological, is valuable and that artists deserve to be compensated for their work. The amount of this compensation and the mechanisms to facilitate payment are, of course, subject to contracts, market value, and other factors, some experimental or technological in nature. FMC also believes that music fans should be able to lawfully access the music they want without undue barriers or restrictions. Needless to say, finding the appropriate balance between creators' rights and public benefit in the digital age has been challenging. Yet, it's a discussion that must continue, and FMC is committed to facilitating these important conversations.In 2000, FMC took the position that the only antidote to an illegal Napster is a legal Napster. The events of the last decade have demonstrated this statement's truth. Terrestrial music sales have dropped, and digital sales have risen. Although digital sales have not increased enough to make up for falling physical album sales, it is increasingly clear that the future of music distribution is online.Since 2000, numerous new music business models have attempted to monetize music in the new digital marketplace. A few have succeeded, but many have failed. Some failures could be blamed on poorly constructed schemes. However, some workable business models have struggled not because their model is unworkable, but because of the law's inability to adapt to the internet age. Tensions between existing copyright law and current consumptive trends-facilitated by technological developments that were unimaginable even ten years ago-are hampering the effort to build new business models that compensate artists, meet consumer demand, and create an economically sustainable cultural community. Much of the problem stems from the lack of a stable legal framework governing the digital use of creative content.This Article will highlight some unresolved legal tensions surrounding the creation of new, viable digital music business models, effective artist compensation, and maximum public benefit. We believe Congress and the new administration should address these tensions in order to encourage the creation of a vibrant, viable digital music marketplace.


Introduction: Cancer outcome disparities are in large part attributable to impediments to access to care for minority populations and individuals of lower socio-economic status. The use of electronic personal health records (ePHR) such as myChart, which allow patients to directly interact with their health record and their healthcare providers, has been drastically increasing with cancer patients overall but disproportionately less so in the underserved. We need to better understand the factors that underlie disparities in usage of ePHR, particularly for prevention, in order to be better able to leverage on this technology to improve access to care. Methods: In 2012 Cleveland Clinic implemented an opt out program where every patient is given a myChart activation code at check in. This has resulted in close to a million "newly active" patients and almost half a million activated MyChart users. All patients with an email address on file were invited to participate in a survey inquiring about patient knowledge, use and preferences for myChart. We used logistic regression to test for differences across ethnicity after controlling for factors that confound factors such as age and illness. Results: A total of 18,599 369 myChart users responded to the survey. 633 (3%) responders self-identified as Hispanic (His) and 1265 (7%) as African American (AA). Both His and AA tended to be younger and healthier (less chronic conditions) than non-Hispanic White (WHI) responders (AA OR=1.4, p = 0.001, His OR 2.0, p = 0.001). Despite this His and AA have higher frequencies of visits to their PCP and to the ER after controlling for chronic conditions and age. Although younger WHI responders were more likely to say that they would use myChart more if they visited their PCP more, this was not the case for His and AA. Instead we find that His and AA are more likely to say that they do not discuss preventative measures with their PCP (AA OR =1.3, p=0.01, His OR = 1.5, p = 0.002) Conclusion: Our results suggest that adding functionality to ePHR that will more actively promote discussion and planning of prevention between primary care providers and His and AA may be a way to improve the impact of this technology on how minorities engage with prevention. Citation Format: Paola Raska, Katherine Schneider, Jordan Zivoder, Scott Steele, Jame Abraham. Electronic personal health records, minorities and prevention. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Ninth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2016 Sep 25-28; Fort Lauderdale, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2017;26(2 Suppl):Abstract nr C02.


Abstract This article describes a qualitative study that investigated the experiences, attitudes, and opinions of adults with asthma regarding self-managing their disease. Focus groups were conducted with 22 adults living in metropolitan and regional New South Wales, Australia. Key findings were that the perceived stigma of asthma, the need for social support, and the need for "asthma-friendly general practitioners" concerned participants more than formal self-management procedures such as written Asthma Action Plans and medication regimes. Social cognitive theory was used to explain the fluid relationship between persons with asthma, their environment, and their behavior in relation to self-management strategies and in identifying patient-centered approaches. This qualitative research suggests that asthma is viewed as a specific, individualized condition best managed from the perspective of patients' disease experience and environmental context and not one that is appropriately represented by collective, generic self-management recommendations. The authors' findings suggest that self-management outcomes can be improved by recognizing the variance in self-efficacy levels between individuals and tailoring environmental and social support strategies around these. Abstract: This article describes a qualitative study that investigated the experiences, attitudes and opinions of adults with asthma regarding self managing their disease. Focus groups were conducted with 22 adults living in metropolitan and regional New South Wales, Australia. Key findings were that the perceived stigma of asthma, the need for social support and the need for "asthma-friendly general practitioners" concerned participants more than formal self-management procedures such as written Asthma Action Plans and medication regimes. Social cognitive theory was used to explain the fluid relationship between persons with asthma, their environment, and their behavior in relation to self-management strategies and in identifying patient-centered approaches. This qualitative research suggests that asthma is viewed as a specific, individualized condition best managed from the perspective of patients' disease experience and environmental context and not one that is appropriately represented by collective, generic self-management recommendations. The authors' findings suggest that self-management outcomes can be improved by recognizing the variance in self-efficacy levels between individuals and tailoring environmental and social support strategies around these.


Positive-Unlabeled (PU) learning methods train a classifier to distinguish between the positive and negative classes given only positive and unlabeled data. While traditional PU methods require the labeled positive samples to be an unbiased sample of the positive distribution, in practice the labeled sample is often a biased draw from the true distribution. Prior work shows that if we know the likelihood that each positive instance will be selected for labeling, referred to as the propensity score, then the biased sample can be used for PU learning. Unfortunately, no prior work has been proposed an inference strategy for which the propensity score is identifiable. In this work, we propose two sets of assumptions under which the propensity score can be uniquely determined: one in which no assumption is made on the functional form of the propensity score (requiring assumptions on the data distribution), and the second which loosens the data assumptions while assuming a functional form for the propensity score. We then propose inference strategies for each case. Our empirical study shows that our approach significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art propensity estimation methods on a rich variety of benchmark datasets.


Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia is an autosomal recessive multisystem disorder caused by defects in SWI/SNF-related, matrix-associated, actin-dependent regulator of chromatin, subfamily a-like 1 gene (SMARCAL1). SMARCAL1 product is a helicase that has role in selective cellular proliferation. The disorder is characterized by spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia with short stature, nephropathy, T cell deficiency, neurologic and cutaneous signs. Patients may have hyperpigmented skin lesions similar to café au lait spots. Symptoms and disease severity in Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia varies from patient to patient. Genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors play role on the severity of the disease. Here we report on a patient with short stature, steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome and recurrent infections. Cutaneous findings and developmental delay helped us to reach the diagnosis of Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia. A homozygous missense mutation in SMARCAL1 gene confirmed the clinical diagnosis.


Background: The basophil activation test (BAT) is used to improve the accuracy of food allergy diagnosis. To date, the influence of antiallergic drugs on BAT reactivity is poorly investigated. The aim of the study was to investigate if BAT results were influenced by antihistamine intake for 3 months in a cohort of patients with IgE-mediated food allergy to milk or egg. Methods: A retrospective, single-center, observational study was performed. We enrolled subjects with history of hypersensitivity reaction after specific food ingestion, positive skin prick tests and specific IgEs, concomitant allergic rhinitis, and, contraindication to the double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge due to personal history of systemic reactions related to the ingestion of culprit food. Validated allergens (α-lactoalbumin, β-lactoglobulin, casein, egg white, and yolk) for BAT were used. Results: Thirty-nine patients with well-documented food symptoms and positive allergological workup were included in the study. BAT was positive in 29 patients. The mean percentages of CD63+ expression to specific culprit allergen did not change after the administration of drugs. Conclusions: This was the first study assessing the effects of oral antihistamines on basophil reactivity in cow's milk and egg food allergy. Antihistamines do not interfere with BAT results.


The article attempts to succinctly underline how Nepal Rastra Bank, functioning as the Central Bank attempts to regulate the monetary policy to enhance a sound, sustainable economic development prospective for the national well-being. The daunting task towards embracing a sound monetary and fiscal policy helps to galvanize the society towards the pathway to build a sound economic development and a growth-oriented society. It uncovers the underlying objective natural factors for development strategy, as it attempts to bring forth economic acceleration, employment generation, favorable balance of payment. It   puts focus on how the Central bank follows either a liberal or a rigid monetary policy in order to control the overall monetary status fine-tuning it with the ground economic realities. It harbingers overall developmental well being and prosperity of the society on health, development, education,  employment generation through persuasion of a pragmatic monetary and a fiscal policy .The article points out to the challenges that if faces while undertaking to combat a sound overall development and thenceforth usher into prosperity of the society. Key words: Budget, monetary policy, Central Bank, money supply, commercial banks, economic development, fiscal policy Socio Economic Development Panorama ; Vol. 1; No. 4, 2009; January-June


Impact studies relating to information security breach are few and somewhat understudied. This study was carried out with a view to create a better understanding of how information security breaches affect the performance of the supply chain and the role certain strategic factors (also called complexity drivers) play in either mitigating the level of impact or exacerbating it. Three categories of strategic factors are considered: ordering policy; supply chain structure; and information sharing/integration, and each category has 3 or more alternatives used for comparison. Using discrete event simulation (DES), the study found that these strategic factors help improve supply chain performance in the face of supply chain disruption as long as the right combination of alternatives are used. At another level, this thesis exposes the counter-intuitiveness of combining certain strategic factors.
Beyond estimating the cost impact of information security breach, this study found that impact uncertainty has been overlooked in previous studies and this could be misleading and ultimately become the bane of existence for organisations that do not factor in the consequence of uncertainty in their impact cost estimation. This may result in treating a serious security threat as benign. Using the concept of entropy theory the study developed a methodology that helps measure the uncertainty associated with impact cost estimation. In addition a decision framework was developed, which includes an uncertainty cost implication component that helps make better strategic decisions.
This study advances the field of impact assessment in that it proposes a more inclusive approach to impact assessment and helps in understanding where supply chain priorities lay both under normal and disruption circumstances. This understanding is key to making sustainable improvements to the supply chain either with a short term view or from a long term perspective.


For a planning of indoor Wireless LAN systems working in the ISM band, the signal propagation prediction is needed. In this article, the measurement campaign based on two types of measurements at 2.45 GHz is introduced. The first type of the measurement was a classical narrowband signal level measurement within indoor scenario without presence of people. The aim of this measurement was to find empirical parameters for COST231 Multi-Wall and One-Slope models. In order to statistically describe the time varying nature of the received envelope of the signal, at WLAN 2.45 GHz band, the second part of measurement campaign was accomplished. In this case, the signal level was measured using commercial WLAN PCMCIA cards in two notebooks. Probability density functions and corresponding cumulative distribution functions were set and discussed based on the specific locations and orientation of one of the notebooks. Results from both measurement campaigns were compared and conclusions are drawn for the needs of practical planning of indoor WLAN systems coverage.


This article describes the geometric mean distance (GMD), a tool for calculating the various direct-current inductances in any multi-conductor transmission line. Two examples of its use are given. For a two-conductor transmission line consisting of rectangular conductors, the GMD is calculated by means of integration and also by discretizing the conductors and treating them as composite conductors. The obtained values for the GMD is then used to calculate the inductance of each conductor. A two-conductor foil transmission line is also investigated and the GMD is used to determine the optimal foil shape for a given conductor inductance and minimum conduction losses. Finally, the advantages and limitations of the use of the GMD are discussed.


Rendering technology for Uncharted 4 underwent a major overhaul in order to fit the needs of the game and the power of the PlayStation 4. The design requirements specified a huge variety of locations and looks, with many one-off features for particular scenes. The art direction called for a more "painterly" look, while the art team wanted the predictability of physically-based rendering. And everyone wanted to push the graphical fidelity as far as possible. To help achieve this, we opened up the shading code to technical artists. Core algorithms and framework were still written by the rendering engineers, but technical artists were able to develop technology that was robust, physically-based, and user-friendly. Some examples of this tech are presented here.


Viewed as both unhealthy and unattractive, fat people are widely represented in popular culture and in interpersonal interactions as revolting - as agents of abhorrence and disgust. This work argues that if we think about "revolting" in a different way, we can recognize fatness as not simply an aesthetic state or a medical condition, but a political one. If we think of revolting in terms of overthrowing authority, rebelling, protesting, and rejecting, then corpulence carries a whole new weight as a subversive cultural practice that calls into question received notions about health, beauty, and nature. It examines a number of sites of struggle over the cultural meaning of fatness. It is grounded in scholarship on identity politics, the social construction of beauty, and the subversion of hegemonic medical ideas about the dangers of fatness. The text explains how the redefinition of fat identities has been undertaken by people who challenge conventional understandings of nature, health, and beauty and, in so doing, alter their individual and collective relationships to power.


The processes by which particles and bubbles interact capture many of the central concepts of colloid science and hydrodynamics. This area of research embraces hydrodynamics, interfacial (including capillary) forces, particle and bubble behaviour and solution chemistry. In this review, we discuss collision, attachment and stability efficiencies. We deal with the identification of a flotation i?½domaini?½, the deformation of a bubble surface upon interaction with a solid surface, the kinetics of three phase contact line expansion and the determination of attachment efficiencies through to the direct measurement of bubble-particle interaction forces. We have recently carried out a test of collision theory where the latter embraces both inertial and centrifugal forces. The real challenge is now to quantitatively descriptionbe the behaviour of real systems and to incorporate a reliable descriptionption of the behaviour of particles in flotation froths. The approach descriptionbed is very robust when applied to flotation, both from qualitative and quantitative points of view, providing an intellectual foundation for understanding this complex process in separation science and technology.


This article presents a new event dataset covering third-party measures in intrastate low-intensity conflict dyads for the period 1993–2004, Managing Low-Intensity Intrastate Conflict (MILC). The rationale behind MILC is to enable the systematic study of third-party conflict management activities that might contribute to preventing these minor conflicts from escalating to the level of full-scale war. Intrastate armed conflict dyads are followed, and third-party activities mapped, until the dyad escalates to full-scale war or the dyad becomes inactive. The dataset contains information on the intermediaries as well as the different types of measures undertaken. The data include measures such as different types of talks, good offices, arbitration, fact-finding missions, permanent observation missions, and peacekeeping. In addition, a wealth of novel descriptive findings is presented, such as the distribution of third-party efforts over regions as well as over individual conflict dyads. We notice that the Middle East attracts the most third-party involvement relative to the number of active conflict dyads. Asia, in contrast, is relatively neglected given the high number of conflicts on the continent. The trend in third-party activity over time is presented, and we show that the number of third-party efforts globally is relatively constant over the period of study with the exception of a dramatic spike in activity related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the years 2000–2002. The distribution of different types of measures and third parties is also presented. The most active third parties include several major powers and intergovernmental organizations, but also a few middle powers.


Mammals rely on the oxidative flavin-containing monooxygenases (FMOs) to detoxify numerous and potentially deleterious xenobiotics; this activity extends to many drugs, giving FMOs high pharmacological relevance. However, our knowledge regarding these membrane-bound enzymes has been greatly impeded by the lack of structural information. We anticipated that ancestral-sequence reconstruction could help us identify protein sequences that are more amenable to structural analysis. As such, we hereby reconstructed the mammalian ancestral protein sequences of both FMO1 and FMO4, denoted as ancestral flavin-containing monooxygenase (AncFMO)1 and AncFMO4, respectively. AncFMO1, sharing 89.5% sequence identity with human FMO1, was successfully expressed as a functional enzyme. It displayed typical FMO activities as demonstrated by oxygenating benzydamine, tamoxifen, and thioanisole, drug-related compounds known to be also accepted by human FMO1, and both NADH and NADPH cofactors could act as electron donors, a feature only described for the FMO1 paralogs. AncFMO1 crystallized as a dimer and was structurally resolved at 3.0 Å resolution. The structure harbors typical FMO aspects with the flavin adenine dinucleotide and NAD(P)H binding domains and a C-terminal transmembrane helix. Intriguingly, AncFMO1 also contains some unique features, including a significantly porous and exposed active site, and NADPH adopting a new conformation with the 2'-phosphate being pushed inside the NADP+ binding domain instead of being stretched out in the solvent. Overall, the ancestrally reconstructed mammalian AncFMO1 serves as the first structural model to corroborate and rationalize the catalytic properties of FMO1.


In The Two Logics of Autocratic Rule, Gerschewski argues that all autocracies must fulfil three conditions to survive: the co-optation of key elites into their inner sanctum, the repression of potential dissent, and popular legitimation. Yet, how these conditions complement each other depends on alternative logics: over-politicization and de-politicization. While the former aims at mobilizing people via inflating a friend-foe distinction, the latter renders the people passive and apathetic, relying instead on performance-driven forms of legitimation. Gerschewski supports this two-logics theory with the empirical analysis of forty-five autocratic regime episodes in East Asia since the end of World War II. In simultaneously synthesizing and extending existing research on non-democracies, this book proposes an innovative way to understand autocratic rule that goes beyond the classic distinction between totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. It will be of interest to scholars and students of comparative politics, political theory, and East Asian politics.


In 2011 a new Investment Framework was proposed that described how the scale-up of key HIV interventions could dramatically reduce new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths in low and middle income countries by 2015. This framework included ambitious coverage goals for prevention and treatment services for 2015, resulting in a reduction of new HIV infections by more than half, in line with the goals of the declaration of the UN High Level Meeting in June 2011. However, the approach suggested a leveling in the number of new infections at about 1 million annually—far from the UNAIDS goal of ending AIDS by 2030. In response, UNAIDS has developed the Fast-Track approach that is intended to provide a roadmap to the actions required to achieve this goal. The Fast-Track approach is predicated on a rapid scale-up of focused, effective prevention and treatment services over the next 5 years and then maintaining a high level of programme implementation until 2030. Fast-Track aims to reduce new infections and AIDS-related deaths by 90% from 2010 to 2030 and proposes a set of biomedical, behavioral and enabling intervention targets for 2020 and 2030 to achieve that goal, including the rapid scale-up initiative for antiretroviral treatment known as 90-90-90. Compared to a counterfactual scenario of constant coverage for all services at early-2015 levels, the Fast-Track approach would avert 18 million HIV infections and 11 million deaths from 2016 to 2030 globally. This paper describes the analysis that produced these targets and the estimated resources needed to achieve them in low- and middle-income countries. It indicates that it is possible to achieve these goals with a significant push to achieve rapid scale-up of key interventions between now and 2020. The annual resources required from all sources would rise to US$7.4Bn in low-income countries, US$8.2Bn in lower middle-income countries and US$10.5Bn in upper-middle-income-countries by 2020 before declining approximately 9% by 2030.


Immunotherapy invited leading experts in the field to share their thoughts on two key immunotherapeutic strategies in the field of breast cancer research, vaccines and checkpoint inhibitors. Interviewed by Ellen Clarke (Commissioning Editor, Future Science Group). Historically breast cancer has been considered immunologically silent. Patients have had limited access to the types of immunotherapy available to melanoma and lung cancer patients, but this could all be set to change as recent preclinical and clinical studies have highlighted the potential of immunotherapy for breast cancer. Breast cancer is now one of the major cancer types for which new immune-based treatments are being developed.


At present, the number of the vehicle requirements has been continuously increasing. These requirements can be related to the customer as well as the technical requirements. Among these, the "feeling of space" of the occupants inside the vehicles can be regarded as one of the most important factors. In this respect, the driver and passengers should be able to experience positive feeling of space inside the vehicle. There are numerous factors that can influence the sense of space inside the vehicle. These include geometry (vehicle dimensions), light exposure, ambient lights, colors, material selection and material surface. Depending on the selection, the sense of space can be dramatically influenced by these factors. In general, human feeling is subjective and cannot be measured by any instrument. The measure can nevertheless be carried out by utilizing the method of subjective evaluation. Throughout the experiments, the method of evaluation is developed and the factors which can influence the interior feeling are analyzed. In this process, psychological perception, architectural aspects and anthropometry are considered and knowledge from the other domains is transferred in the form of a multidisciplinary approach. The experiments with an aim to evaluate the overall sense of space in the vehicle are carried out based on the physical mock up of BMW 1 series (E87). The space perception with different interior dimensions and anthropometric data of test persons are also analyzed. The use of Computer Aided Technology was shown by CATIA V5, PCMAN and RAMSIS. The results show a good correlation between the subjective evaluation and the geometric values.


[1] We examine the ocean mixed layer response to intraseasonal atmospheric forcing using moored time series data in the central equatorial Indian Ocean for October 2004 to March 2005, a period coincident with two active phases of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO). Both MJO events were accompanied by a sea surface temperature decrease that was partially the consequence of reduced net surface heat flux. In addition, during the first event in October–November 2004, advection by an enhanced Wyrtki Jet contributed substantial cooling, while during the second event in December 2004 to January 2005, vertical processes, most likely related to entrainment mixing, were pronounced. Heavy rainfall at the mooring location during the first event may have contributed to the formation of a 30–40 m thick barrier layer that limited turbulent vertical transfers between the mixed layer and the thermocline. There was no barrier layer present during the second event, which presumably allowed for much freer vertical turbulent exchanges.


Objective Heart failure (HF) is an important public health problem. Detailed information on prognosis following hospital admission is crucial for cost-effectiveness analysis and determination of the burden of HF on the health care system. However, such data are scarce. Therefore, the objective of this study was to provide mortality risk following hospital admission stratified by age- and gender. Design Hospital based follow-up study. Setting and Participants A nationwide cohort of patients hospitalised for the first time for heart failure was identified through linkage of national registers in 1997 and 2000. The total population of the Netherlands in 1997 and 2000 was 15 567 107 (men 7 696 803, women 7 870 304) and 15 863 950 (men 7 846 317, women 8 017 633), respectively. Main Outcome Measure The crude short-term (28 day), 1-year and long-term (5-year) mortality was computed by age and gender according to the actuarial life table method and expressed as percentages. The mortality rate in men was compared to mortality rate in women by calculating RR (with 95% CI). Results 14 529 men, mean age 74±11 years and 14 524 women, mean age 78±11 years were identified. Mortality risk after admission for HF increased with age from 35–44 years to 75–84 years (men: 28-day mortality from 7.5% to 32.9%, 1-year mortality from 17.2% to 58.6% and 5-year mortality from 34.2% to 87.1%; and women: 28-day mortality from 6.9% to 27.2%, 1-year mortality from 14.9% to 49.9% and 5-year mortality from 27.6% to 84.1%). The risk of death was higher among man than women of the same age. Conclusions There are clear age and gender differences in short- and long-term risk of death after first hospitalisation for heart failure. This information is helpful for clinicians, policymakers and service planners. Findings will also be useful for the development of models that evaluate cost-effectiveness and impact on outcomes of heart failure management programmes, and for predicting the future health care burden of heart failure.


The purpose of this study is to identify effect in how urban garden is run by different operators in Korea, and consequently how it determines the level of community formation among urban garden users. Based on this analysis, the study is intended to present some points as to how to better manage urban garden. The operators are divided into three types: public, public-private partnership and private. The study interviewed each operating entity and surveyed garden users to gauge the extent to which communities are developed. After the ANOVA analysis and Scheffe post-hoc analysis, it was found that the levels of community formation among users of public and public-private partnership urban gardens were similar (so can be grouped together), whereas that of private urban garden users was higher (separated as another group). However, this study found no meaningful differences in the level of community formation among all types of urban garden in a local community. Some key suggestions are made as a result. First, as for the public and public-private partnership types of urban garden, it is necessary to foster leaders to build a community. Next, it is worth noting the potential of public-private partnership in realizing community revival through urban garden. The last suggestion is that, generally, the urban garden has only little influence on community formation in a local area so far, thus more practical consideration needs to be given to enhance the role of urban garden in a local community.


The status of insulation in power equipment at any given point in time can be assessed by monitoring properties which are sensitive to the amount of aging. This procedure, called the diagnostic or non-destructive testing, has been in vogue for some time now. The diagnosis, as the name suggests, enables one to disseminate the condition of the insulation by making terminal or enclosure-centric measurements and as applied to transformers, a minimally invasive test procedure involving the examination of the oil phase, for arriving at information on the degradation of the cellulose insulation on the winding is indicated. An examination of the tracks provided by the by-products of chemical dissociation of cellulose, in solution with oil is recognized as a possible approach to condition monitoring. To this end, carefully controlled laboratory aging experiments have been performed on eight, nominally identical and scaled-down (pro-rated) models of single phase transformer units, incorporating all the essential features of actual power transformers under normal operating electric stress and accelerated thermal stress. Acquisition, analysis and validation of experimental data including dissolved gas analysis (DGA), examination of oil phase for the presence of Furans, measurement of the degree of polymerization (DP) of the paper insulation, electrical and certain chemical tests have all been performed to evolve an experimental data-base for assessing condition of insulation.


The paper explores the influence of power system loads on static VAr compensator (SVC) damping effectiveness. Equipped with properly tuned additional stabilizers, SVCs have been successfully used for improving the damping of electromechanical oscillations in power systems. The damping improvement is usually achieved through indirect voltage influence through voltage dependent loads. Tuning of an additional compensator stabiliser (ACS) traditionally assumes that loads are statically voltage dependent. However, load parameters are generally uncertain and loads often exhibit same dynamic response. This uncertain dynamic behaviour of loads can introduce an additional phase shift between voltage and load response and such can detune the ACS. Examples of detuning effects of dynamic loads as well as robust tuning of ACS are presented and discussed.


EBV-encoded latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) is important for EBV contributions to B cell transformation and many EBV-associated malignancies, as well as EBV-mediated exacerbation of autoimmunity. LMP1 functionally mimics TNF receptor (TNFR) superfamily member CD40, but LMP1 signals and downstream effects are amplified and sustained compared with CD40. CD40 and LMP1 both use TNFR-associated factor (TRAF) adaptor proteins, but in distinct ways. LMP1 functions require TRAFs 3, 5, and 6, which interact with LMP1. However, TRAFs can also contribute to signaling in the absence of direct interactions with cell surface receptors, so we investigated whether their roles in LMP1 in vivo functions require direct association. We show in this study that the LMP1 TRAF binding site was required for LMP1-mediated autoantibody production, the germinal center response to immunization, and optimal production of several isotypes of Ig, but not LMP1-dependent enlargement of secondary lymphoid organs in transgenic mice. Thus, LMP1 in vivo effects can be mediated via both TRAF binding-dependent and -independent pathways. Together with our previous findings, these results indicate that TRAF-dependent receptor functions may not always require TRAF-receptor binding. These data suggest that TRAF-mediated signaling pathways, such as those of LMP1, may be more diverse than previously appreciated. This finding has significant implications for receptor and TRAF-targeted therapies.


We have investigated the properties of wafer-fused Si-doped isotype heterojunctions between GaAs and InP. Current/voltage measurements were conducted to study the influence of the doping concentrations on each side of the interface on the electrical conductivity. An almost ohmic behavior with a very low series resistance was obtained for the highest examined doping level on the GaAs side, whereas the doping concentration on the InP side was found to be of little significance. Fusion at different temperatures showed that the conductivity degrades significantly below 500°C, although mechanically stable junctions were obtained also at temperatures as low as 305°C. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy measurements showed no redistribution of Si, but indicated the presence of small amounts of C and Fe impurities at the interface.


Upward social comparisons have been shown to impact people's self-views, their emotional states, and their behaviors. The present research suggests that such comparisons may also influence the goals that people pursue and the success with which they pursue them. Inspired by goal systems theory, the present research examines how upward social comparisons influence goal commitment in two ways: through hierarchical shifts toward global goals and through lateral shifts in goal commitment away from subgoals in threatening domains. We demonstrate that people actively disengage from domain-specific subgoals (e.g., verbal abilities) and increase commitment to a related superordinate goal (e.g., succeeding in school) after they have been exposed to an upward comparison that threatens their self-evaluations.


Abstract Objective: To perform a retrospective clinico-pathological and immunohistochemical analysis of malignant melanomas. Methods: One-hundred sixty consecutive cases diagnosed in the Department of Pathology of the County Emergency Clinical Hospital of Tîrgu Mureș, Romania, between January 2000 - December 2009, were used. Of these, 47 cases were melanoma metastases that were excluded from the study; this research was focused on the study of 113 primary melanomas (PMs). In 20 cases of PMs (11 cutaneous, 5 choroidal, and 4 melanomas of the anal canal) immunohistochemical stains were performed using the antibodies p53, Ki67, ER (estrogen receptor), CD8 and CD31. Results: Cutaneous PMs prevailed (83%) followed by choroidal (11%), digestive tract (4%) and nasal mucosa PMs (2%). Independent of their location, PMs predominantly affected females (58%) over age 50. Regarding cutaneous cases, lower limbs (49%) were more affected, followed by the head and neck (18%) and the trunk (18%). We noted negativity or low p53-nuclear positivity in cutaneous and digestive tract PMs; p53 was overexpressed in choroidal melanomas. On the other hand, although the proliferative index Ki67 was also quite low in cutaneous PMs, its percentage increased in choroidal and digestive tract PMs. CD8 was positive in cutaneous PMs and negative in choroidal and digestive tract cases. While in cutaneous PMs we noted a predominated angiogenesis by intussusception, in digestive tract melanomas there was a predominance of sprouting and pseudoglomeruloid mechanisms. Conclusions: Choroidal PMs display the highest p53 and Ki-67 expression, compared to cutaneous MMs. Tumor angiogenesis seems to present a specific pathway in cutaneous PMS compared to the gastrointestinal cases


This essay considers a particular universe of potentially dangerous governmental falsehoods: the government's lies and misrepresentations about and to the press.

Government's efforts to regulate private speakers' lies clearly implicate the First Amendment, as many (but not all) of our own lies are protected by the Free Speech Clause. But because the government does not have First Amendment rights of its own when it speaks, the constitutional limits, if any, on the government's own lies are considerably less clear.

In earlier work I have explored in some detail the Free Speech and Due Process Clauses as possible constraints on certain government lies that inflict economic and reputational harm, that punish or silence individuals' speech, or that imprison or deny other protected liberties. In this paper I focus instead on the ways in which some of the government's press-related lies and misrepresentations can frustrate the two values most commonly identified as underlying the First Amendment's Press Clause: exposing (and thus checking) government misconduct, and informing public opinion about a wide range of matters.

Part I identifies a number of these falsehoods and the ways in which they can frustrate the press's effectiveness in performing its watchdog and educator functions. For example, the government's misappropriation of the press's identity (i.e., the government's lies that it is the press) and the government's obfuscation of its role as author of material it has produced for publication (i.e., the government's lies that it is not the press) undermine the press's independence and credibility. The public needs to see and understand the press and the government as distinct entities with very different roles if the press is to offer a meaningful check on the government; the government's lies about being (or not being) the press thus threaten to blur the line between the two in damaging ways. Relatedly, the government's lies to the press about its own behavior -- coupled with its lies about the press intended to discredit the press -- directly interfere with the press's ability to hold the government accountable to the public through accurate and credible reporting. Part II then considers potential legal, structural, political, and expressive responses to such governmental falsehoods and their harms. Possibilities include a more muscular Press Clause doctrine that would prohibit governmental lies and misrepresentations that interfere with Press Clause functions, as well as engaged counterspeech and oversight by other government actors, the press, and the public more generally.


Learning and perception from multiple sensory modalities are crucial processes for the development of intelligent systems capable of interacting with humans. We present an integrated probabilistic framework for perception, learning and memory in robotics. The core component of our framework is a computational Synthetic Autobiographical Memory model which uses Gaussian Processes as a foundation and mimics the functionalities of human memory. Our memory model, that operates via a principled Bayesian probabilistic framework, is capable of receiving and integrating data flows from multiple sensory modalities, which are combined to improve perception and understanding of the surrounding environment. To validate the model, we implemented our framework in the iCub humanoid robotic, which was able to learn and recognise human faces, arm movements and touch gestures through interaction with people. Results demonstrate the flexibility of our method to successfully integrate multiple sensory inputs, for accurate learning and recognition. Thus, our integrated probabilistic framework offers a promising core technology for robust intelligent systems, which are able to perceive, learn and interact with people and their environments.


Detailed magnetization measurements are perforlned up to H = 110 kOe in the temperature range 4.2K < T i 70R on the ferrimagnetic normal spinel EnVz04 (Tc r 5 6 K ) . In the (M,T) plane, all isofield curves display hysteresis loops which are located between two temperatures Ta (HI) and T' (H ) increasing with HI. From these Ta and T: values, we derive a (H,T) phase diagram delimitating five magnetic regions which is in excellent agreement with the set of isotherm magnetization curves. It is observed that the T,(H) curve intersects the T axis of the (K,T) diagram at T* v 53K which, in recent neutron diffraction experiments at H = 0,has been shown to be the temperature of a first order transition from a triangular magnetic configuration present in the tetragonal lattice to a Nee1 configuration in the cubic lattice. It assumed that both Ta (Hland Ti (H) are first order transition lines, the increased stability of the triangular configuration with H being discussed in terms of a large spin-orbit coupling of the V3' magnetic moments. a 1


This paper analyzes the determinants, effects and costs of domestic violence (DV) against women and children in Colombia. The most relevant factors that explain the occurrence of DV in a household are suffering from DV as a child and living with someone that frequently and excessively consumes alcohol. DV against women increases their probability of unemployment by 6.4 percentage points, lowers their earnings by approximately 40% and worsens their health. DV against children negatively affects their health, school attendance and academic attainment. It is estimated that at least 4.2% of Colombian GDP is lost due to indirect costs of DV.


The paper studies the effect of growing mutual fund and ETF ownership on the commonality in liquidity of underlying bonds. Unpredictable liquidity needs of funds may give rise to correlated trading across underlying illiquid bonds. I document that there is a positive and significant relationship between ETF ownership and liquidity commonality of investment-grade bonds suggesting that ETFs reduce the possibility to diversify liquidity risk. In contrast, and unlike for equities, mutual fund ownership does not affect the co-movement in liquidity of bonds. I show that three channels explain the differential impact of ETFs and mutual funds: flow-driven correlated trading, different investor clienteles, and ETF arbitrage activity.


Many legacy low and medium-voltage unit substations installed today are based upon older designs that took advantage of reduced first cost "opportunities" allowed by existing installation codes and standards. Fast-forward to how these substation designs fair in safety and reliability today, particularly in industrial process applications found in cement, pulp and paper, petroleum & chemical and others, some of the exercised "opportunities" applied in the past begin to look more like liabilities than assets. Legacy engineering decisions once thought to be prudent take on new meanings today, particularly when these decisions are viewed through the lens of emerging new workplace safety standards. The critical issue of addressing destructive arc-flash hazards associated with persons working on or around energized electrical equipment must now be considered. Because traditional substation designs often appeared to involve some compromise regarding both safety and reliability, a design team of a major process industry user took a fresh look at unit substation design. The design review took place in conjunction with construction of a Greenfield plant built in the spring of 2009 in the USA. This paper will review the design limitations of traditional unit substation configurations, offer an overview of the alternatives considered by the Greenfield site project team, and discuss technical and safety validation of the design that was ultimately selected and installed. Economic comparisons to traditional designs, changes in the owner operating and safety procedures for plant personnel as a result of the engineering design changes, and overall design acceptance by operations will also be reviewed in this paper.


Many techniques of ankle arthrodesis have been described. Failure rates of up to 40% have been reported in the past. In this study, a technique for internal fixation of ankle fusions was employed using transarticular crossed-screw fixation. This provides bony coaptation, compression, and immobilization necessary for reliable union. Thirty-five patients had ankle arthrodesis with this technique of internal fixation and 12 patients had ankle fusions with Charnley compression arthrodesis. Follow-up evaluation averaged two years. The fusion rate was 100% (35 fusions of 35 attempts) with the transarticular crossed-screw technique and 83% (ten fusions of 12 attempts) with compression arthrodesis.


This study shows that women involved in National Socialism in the years 1924 - 1934 developed and shaped a recognizable discourse which communicated and reflected their position and status within the NS movement. The analysis is based on a variety of text-types produced by members of NS women's organisations, and includes official correspondence, circulars, reports, pamphlets, monographs and articles from NS women's journals. It draws upon several areas of linguistic theory, including feminist linguistics, semantics, pragmatics and discourse analysis, and the salient features identified in the female discourse are placed within a sociolinguistic framework. While previous research into the language of the NS-system has largely ignored the possibility of a cohesive female discourse, the study supports the idea that this discourse was dynamic, and at times heterogeneous, whilst also displaying many self-defining and self-referential features. It is characterised by its ambiguities and apparent contradictions, which expresses separateness and difference, yet also solidarity with the NSDAP.


This paper introduces a beacon coding and signaling technique and its application to handoff in OFDMA cellular communication networks. Beacon signaling provides an efficient alternative to the conventional tune-away approach for inter-carrier/frequency handoff. The proposed handoff technique transmits beacon pilots in other carrier frequencies in the network allowing for easy and early detection of neighboring cells, and fast and seamless handoffs in a multi-carrier synchronous or asynchronous deployment. The proposed technique thereby minimizes the call drop rate and interference due to delayed handoff.


As graduate LIS/IS education seeks to respond to intensifying virtual information and preservation environments, it becomes increasingly clear that innovative teaching tools and methods are required. These teaching tools must complement and enhance state-of-the-art curriculum offerings in subjects such as digital curation. The digital curation courses offered in the LIS School at Simmons College, Boston illustrate an innovative virtual and experiential approach. At the heart of these courses is the Digital Curriculum Laboratory, a virtual archives and preservation laboratory. This paper discusses and demonstrates the relationship between a digital curriculum laboratory, the successful delivery of a digital curation curriculum and its wider international implications.


† Background and Aims Horsetails (Equisetopsida) diverged from other extant eusporangiate monilophytes in the Upper Palaeozoic. They are the only monilophytes known to contain the hemicellulose mixed-linkage (1 � 3, 1 � 4)-b-D-glucan (MLG), whereas all land plants possess xyloglucan. It has been reported that changes in cell-wall chemistry often accompanied major evolutionary steps. We explored changes in hemicelluloses occurring during Equisetum evolution. † Methods Hemicellulose from numerous monilophytes was treated with lichenase and xyloglucan endoglucanase. Lichenase digests MLG to di-, tri- and tetrasaccharide repeat-units, resolvable by thin-layer chromatography. † Key Results Among monilophytes, MLG was confined to horsetails. Our analyses support a basal trichotomy of extant horsetails: MLG was more abundant in subgenus Equisetum than in subgenus Hippochaete, and uniquely the sister group E. bogotense yielded almost solely the tetrasaccharide repeat-unit (G4G4G3G). Other species also gave the disaccharide, whereas the trisaccharide was consistently very scarce. Tetrasaccharide : disaccharide ratios varied interspecifically, but with no consistent difference between subgenera. Xyloglucan was scarce in Psilotum and subgenus Equisetum, but abundant in subgenus Hippochaete and in the eusporangiate ferns Marattia and Angiopteris; leptosporangiate ferns varied widely. All monilophytes shared a core pattern of xyloglucan repeat-units, major XEG products co-chromatographing on thin-layer chromatography with non-fucosylated hepta-, octa- and nonasaccharides and fucose-containing nona- and decasaccharides. † Conclusions G4G4G3G is the ancestral repeat-unit of horsetail MLG. Horsetail evolution was accompanied by quantitative and qualitative modification of MLG; variation within subgenus Hippochaete suggests that the structure and biosynthesis of MLG is evolutionarily plastic. Xyloglucan quantity correlates negatively with abundance of other hemicelluloses; but qualitatively, all monilophyte xyloglucans conform to a core pattern of repeat-unit sizes.


Objectives: Chenopodium album (Bathua) is commonly occurring small herb and has found to have different biological activities. Folk medicine claims its use in the treatment of diabetes in many part of the world. Method: Different extracts of plant investigated for phytochemical and hypoglycemic potentials, were obtained by successive solvent extraction of the whole plant parts using solvents of different polarities in an increasing order of polarity (Petroleum ether, chloroform and methanol). The phytochemical investigations revealed that all the three extracts of the plant have metabolites of different chemical groups notably glycosides, flavonoids, phenols. Chloroform extract and methanol extract also found to have alkaloids in them. The hypoglycemic investigation of Chenopodium album was carried out in alloxan (200 mg/kg) induced diabetic rabbits (albino) by treating them with crude extracts of this plant. Results: Significant antidiabetic activity was evident with the Petroleum ether and Chloroform extracts at a dose of 100 μg/kg. The methanol extract did not show any hypoglycemic activity at this dose. Active extracts were tested with a double dose of 200 μg/kg and both extracts showed significant reduction in blood glucose level of the alloxan induced diabetic rabbits. The antidiabetic effect of Chenopodium album extracts was might be due to presence of glycosides, flavonoids and phenolic constituents. Isolation of active constituents from these extracts can lead to new drug molecule discovery.


The principal aim of this study is to identify the dimensions implied by female entrepreneurialism, especially its potential economic contribution to national growth, its specificities, or the analysis of public or private initiatives willing to promote it. Thus, our goal is to issue a number of hypotheses as well as warnings and recommendations for the launch of specific initiatives towards women entrepreneurship. Female entrepreneurship is often considered as an insufficiently-exploited source of economic growth. The recent evolutions of the labour market forced number of women to create their own position so that they can balance their working and family lives with the drive to succeed on a meaningful project. Women entrepreneurs create employment for themselves and for others, sometimes in order to cater for needs a common employee status cannot fill (schedule and/or family obligations). Thanks to their specificities as managers dealing with common business issues such as organisation, they also bring their own potential to society. Women need more financial supports, adapted trainings, more mentoring, and more networks to reach equal opportunities with men. Depending on each country, both cultural context and the way gender diversity is achieved have an importance in reaching this goal.


Manufacturers of sailing equipment tend to be co-located in clusters (Chetty, 2004; Gerke & Benson-Rea, 2012; Glass & Hayward, 2001; Sarvan et al., 2012). Location-specific factors attract these firms and other sport cluster stakeholders (e.g., service providers, specialised media, professional sport). Co-located universities and governing bodies can become stakeholders of sailing clusters after discovering the economic impact and innovation potential of the co-located firms (Gerke, Desbordes, & Dickson, 2014). The interorganisational setting of sailing clusters requires firms to develop strategies determining interaction with their environment (Warren, 1967).


The objective of this study was to assess the changes in prevalence and severity of fecal urgency in Ulcerative Colitis (UC) patients at 6-months from their enrollment visit.

 Data from patients in the Study of a Prospective Adult Research Cohort with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (SPARC IBD) were analyzed. UC patients that had an enrollment visit and 6-month visit were included in these analyses. Fecal urgency at each visit was assessed on a scale ranging from 0 (none) to 4 (severe). The change in urgency status from enrollment visit to 6-months is categorized as Improvement (decrease of 1–3 points), No Change, or Worsening (increase of 1–3 points). Descriptive statistics and contingency tables were created to summarize baseline characteristics by fecal urgency group. Chi-square tests, Fisher's exact tests, ANOVA and Wilcoxon rank sum tests were conducted to compare the distribution of baseline characteristics between change in urgency groups, with Bonferroni corrections used for multiple comparisons.

 Data from 272 UC patients were included in this analysis. 25% of UC patients had an improvement in urgency, 54.4% had no change, 20.6% had a worsening of urgency at 6-months from their enrollment visit.
 When compared to patients that had no change in urgency at 6-months, UC patients that had improvement in urgency were more likely to have a higher baseline UCDAI (p<0.0001), mean daily bowel movements (p<0.0001), mean daily liquid bowel movements (P<0.0001), elevated stool frequency relative to their normal when well (p<0.0001), liquid stool consistency (p=0.0418), blood in stools (p=0.0001), abdominal pain (p=0.0065), moderate/severe fecal urgency (p<0.0001), worse general well-being (p<0.0001), moderate/severe Physician Global Assessment (PGA) (p=0.0013), and steroid use (p=0.0287) (Table 1). When compared to patients with worsening urgency at 6-months, UC patients that had an improvement in urgency at 6-months were more likely to have a higher baseline UCDAI (p<0.0001), mean daily bowel movements (p<0.0001), mean daily liquid bowel movement (P<0.0001), more stool frequency relative to their normal when well (p<0.0001), moderate/severe fecal urgency (p<0.0001), worse general well-being (p=0.0053), and moderate/severe PGA (p=0.0022). There were no statistically significant differences in baseline characteristics between UC patients that had a worsening or no change in urgency at 6-months.

 Fecal urgency is a common symptom among UC patients. Urgency is not a stable symptom, with nearly 50% experiencing either worsening or improvement over 6-months. Worse disease activity at enrollment in the cohort was associated with improved fecal urgency symptoms over 6-months.


As the Labor government lies embattled, ready for a substantial defeat at the polls today, facts about the Australian economy and overseas understandings of Australia's performance over the last six years are emerging. Far from being the basket-case fashioned by the opposition and much of the media, the Australian economy's growth has actually lifted the average standard of living. A study by Ben Phillips from the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) shows wage growth has outstripped inflation and produced an economic benefit for the average Australian family that is quite significant. We do not hear much about this side of things, because the opposition wants to paint the Australian economy as one mired in debt and deficit, while the government does not want to appear insensitive by claiming people are better off under its administration. Disciplines Arts and Humanities | Law Publication Details Anthony Ashbolt, BLOG: Skewed view of ALP obscures reality, Illawarra Mercury, 6 September 2013. This journal article is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/lhapapers/871


Methods

The study comprised customer segmentation analysis, carried out by Arrow Global; a review of existing evidence, mainly from the field of psychology; re-analysis of 27 qualitative interviews from four earlier studies of people in or at risk of financial difficulty; re-analysis of data from open-ended questions asked by MIND in its 2008 and 2011 "Into the Red" surveys; qualitative depth interviews with 10 people who had received debt advice from Plymouth Focus Advice Centre.

Insight from the customer segments

The customer segments show that problem debt can have complex causes that mean it is not straightforward to resolve. The root causes of problem debt are often loss of income or a low and variable income. It may also be linked to poor physical or mental health; relationship breakdown; poor money management; "playing the system"; disputes with creditors; and drug, alcohol or gambling addictions.

If they are unable to pay all their creditors, people use strategies such as paying the most demanding creditors and ignoring the others; paying credit debts with lower repayments (such as minimum credit card repayments) and not paying those with higher repayments (such as a personal loan); prioritising creditors that levy penalty charges; always paying "priority" creditors; and paying to retain valued services such as telephone or televison packages. There were instances in the study where people prioritised payments to lenders to retain acess to credit; a few people had "walked away" from their debts in the past.

Very often, people only seek professional advice at a late stage, after a significant period of trying to manage their debts, for example by borrowing to repay borrowing. Low levels of knowledge about the advice services that exist and the different services they offer mean that people in debt usually select an advice provider arbitrarily. The qualities that people value in professional advisers include a non-judgemental attitude; listening, understanding and empathising; a professional approach; and being knowledgeable and helpful.

Barriers to customer engagement

From the customer's perspective, how creditors communicate with them and creditors' approach to debt repayment shape their relations. If creditors get these things right, the chances of recovering the money owed to them increase. If they get them wrong, the customer may disengage from further dialogue.

Aggressive, unsympathetic communication from creditors and an inflexible approach to debt repayment undermine the basic human need for personal control that is a crucial aspect of customer motivation. If creditors do not listen or understand the customer's situation and turn down their repayment offers, customers feel powerless to improve their situation or achieve a satisfactory outcome. If creditors make customers feel worse about themselves or their situation, customers doubt their own ability to sort out their debt problems. Customers may lose the motivation to continue engaging with creditors if they make little or no progress, because of the time and emotional resources involved. In this context, repeated threats of legal action become counterproductive, because they increase the stress, anxiety and social isolation that customers experience (particularly customers with mental health problems) without offering any reasonable plan of action to resolve the situation.
Overcoming barriers to customer engagement

So how can creditors like Arrow Global engage more effectively withtheir customers? Customers want creditors to demonstrate empathy and understanding; to provide practical help; and to work something out together that benefits both the creditor and the customer. This approach encourages customer engagement because it helps engender trust; it makes customers feel less isolated; it gives them the opportunity to regain financial control; it makes them feel competent to sort out their debt problems; and it helps redress the power imbalance that customers may feel when they deal with creditors.
Helping customers to achieve positive outcomes that they personally value (rather than simply avoiding negative consequences) may also encourage engagement. Examples from the study included respondents who wanted to be debt-free by a certain stage in their life or to emulate a role model, or because they wanted to rebuild their credit rating.
For people with mental health problems, it is important that creditors (and advice services) have some understanding about the effect that mental health problems can have on an individual's ability to deal with their finances. People with mental health problems may also value practical help to manage their personal finances (not necessarily provided by creditors), linked to a strong desire to understand and manage the impact of their mental health problems on their spending patterns.
The study explored the potential for other organisations (such as health professionals) to act as "touch points" to provide information about dealing with debt or to refer people to debt advice services. This seems difficult to achieve on a large scale because it depends on the willingness and capacity of individuals or organisations to discuss financial matters when this is not a core part of their job; and on the receptiveness of the person in financial dfficulty to offers of help, which may be dulled by ill health or other priorities.


X-ray pulsars (also known as accretion-powered pulsars) are sources displaying strict periodic variations in X-ray intensity, consisting of a magnetized neutron star in orbit with a normal stellar companion. In these binary systems, the Xray emission is powered by the release of gravitational potential energy as material is accreted from a massive companion. X-ray pulsars are among the most luminous objects in the X-ray sky.


Natural treatments with little side effects can be very good substitutes as chemical therapeutics. Haruan (Channa striatus, Channidae) is a stripped snakehead, tropical,
freshwater, carnivorous, and air breathing fish species, indigenous to Malaysia. The main objective of the current study was to study the topical anti-inflammatory properties of haruan (Channa striatus) based cream in acute and chronic inflammation induced animals. Changes in ear weight, thickness, and myeloperoxidase level in croton oil-induced mice ear edema were measured as acute anti-inflammatory activities, and changes in right hind paw volume in complete Freund's adjuvant-induced arthritis was measured as chronic anti-inflammatory activity of haruan based cream. Hydrocortisone 1 % cream and diclofenac 1%
cream were applied as reference drug in acute and chronic phases; respectively. At 24 hours, the treatment dosages of haruan based cream reduced ear edema by 68 %,78 %, and 98 %, respectively, whereas hydrocortisone is 92 %. Data also showed that haruan based cream of 10 %, at 24 hours was significantly (p < 0.05) more effective than 5% in inhibiting ear edema. Mean mass of ear punch biopsies in treatment groups 1, 2, and 3, and hydrocortisone were 1.63 ± 0.08, 1.57 ± 0.06, 1.32 ± 0.01, and 1.50 ± 0.05 mg (mean ± SEM), respectively, compared to 2.19 ± 0.17 mg (mean ± SEM) in vehicle group. Mean MPO concentration of biopsies taken from ears treated with hydrocortisone cream 1% and haruan based cream at 1%, 5%,and 10% were 3.20 ± 0.080, 3.74 ± 0.110, 3.44 ± 0.060, and 2.72 ± 0.025 ng/ml
(mean ± SEM), respectively. Average of paw volume changes at 21 days after inducing arthritis, in animals treated with diclofenac sodium cream 1%, and haruan based cream 1%, 5%, and 10% were 0.390 ± 0.122, 0.465 ± 0.080, 0.535 ± 0.190,and 0.043 ± 0.016 ml (mean ± SEM), respectively. In comparison with vehicle group (2.76 ml), all three treatment groups and reference group had significantly
reduced paw edema (p < 0.05). As conclusion, it is suggested that the topical antiinflammatory effects of haruan based cream is contributed by its bioactive
substances content especially fatty acids and amino acids.


ABSTRACT Quantitative evaluation of the changes in mode and rate of Quaternary crustal movement is important but is generally difficult to reconstruct with high time resolution. It is also difficult to evaluate to crustal subsidence. In this study, we demonstrate a method to reconstruct vertical crustal movement during the middle to late Quaternary on the basis of sedimentary facies analysis. The method is applicable to the cyclothemic shallow marine to nonmarine sequences such as those in the Oga Peninsula, northern Japan, whose ages have been estimated in detail. Assuming eustatic sea level is known for the last 450 ky, we estimate the temporal variation in vertical crustal movement using reconstructed temporal changes in depositional depth and accumulated sediment thickness. In the study area, a change in mode of vertical crustal movement from subsidence to uplift occurred at approximately 130 ka. Combining the results of reconstruction of vertical crustal movement at two neighboring sites, crustal movement is reconstructed, which involves a combination of tilting and uplift in the studied case. Subsidence was caused by simple crustal tilting with a fixed tilting hinge associated with folding, perhaps since ca. 450 ka. Rapid regional uplift started ca. 130 ka, all over the northeast Oga Peninsula, including the study area. This case study demonstrates that (1) using this method, crustal subsidence is reconstructed with certainty, (2) this method is especially useful to reconstruct change in mode of vertical crustal movement from subsidence to uplift, and (3) combining results of reconstruction, it is possible to separate vertical movement from tilting. Combining this method and conservative methods using marine terraces and raised coral reefs, crustal movement in Quaternary orogenic zones will be understood more systematically.


Abstract In the discourse of political interviews, references to coparticipants can be expressed explicitly by proper nouns and forms of address, and they can be expressed implicitly by personal pronouns and other indexical expressions. The meaning of personal pronouns is context dependent and retrievable only by inference, and therefore is less determinate. Furthermore, it can shift as the status of the participants shifts in interaction. This may occur both in terms of social roles and in terms of roles in talk and footing. In this context, an analysis was conducted of televised political interviews broadcast during the 1997 and 2001 British general elections and just before the war with Iraq in 2003. Question–response sequences were identified in which politicians made use of pronominal shifts as a form of equivocation. These sequences were analyzed in the context of Bavelas et al.'s (1990) theory of equivocation and Goman's (1981) concept of footing. In all but one of the questions, the interviewers sought to establish the politicians' authorship, whereas the politician typically responds in terms of the principal; in the other instance, the questioner sought to establish the position of the principal and the politician responds in terms of his own authorship. Possible strategic advantages of these forms of equivocation are discussed.


We propose a versatile set-up dedicated to programmable beam shaping of femtosecond pulses in a focal plane. A non-pixelated liquid-crystal light valve is used as the phase-front modulator. We demonstrate active and adaptive wavefront correction of a 4-μJ, 100-kHz amplified laser chain, where residual wavefront distorsions are decreased down to λ/15 peak-valley and λ/100 rms. The subsequent improvement for micromachining applications is investigated, and diffraction-limited holes are demonstrated on various materials. Moreover, beam patterning in the focal plane is also presented. Theoretical calculations of the required phase modulation are proposed, and experimental shapes are demonstrated, like square and circular top-hats, as well as triangle or doughnut shapes.


total of 48 consecutive patients who underwent sublobar resection for GGO-dominant early-stage NSCLC were classified into the surgery group. Medical records were reviewed retrospectively. Results and Conclusions: Patients in the CIRT group, compared with the surgery group, were more likely to be older (75 7.2 vs. 65 8.2 years, P=0.000660), to be male (13/14 vs. 22/48, P=0.00179) and to have a lower % forced vital capacity (91 19% vs. 110 13%, P=0.0173). There were no differences between the CIRT and surgery groups in terms of histology or clinical stage. In an unmatched comparison, there was a significant difference between the groups in the 5-year overall survival (OS) rate (CIRT vs. surgery: 86% vs. 94%, P=0.0262), but not in the 5-year disease-specific survival (DSS) rate (CIRT vs. surgery: 93% vs. 98%, P=0.411). Eleven patients each in the CIRT and surgery groups were matched to the treatment in a blinded manner (1:1 ratio, caliper distance=0.25), and those have equivalent follow-up periods. In this comparison, no significant difference was detected between the groups in either the 5-year OS (CIRT vs. surgery: 82% vs. 86%, P=0.342) or 5-year DSS (CIRT vs. surgery: 91% vs. 100%, P=0.366) rate. CIRT may have comparable potential to control GGO-dominant early-stage NSCLC to surgery.


Autosomal trisomy in the mouse is invariably associated with fetal or early postnatal death. Hemopoietic stem cells from fetuses trisomic for chromosome 12 or 19 can be rescued by transplantation into lethally irradiated mice. These trisomic cells restore hemopoiesis, including lymphopoiesis, in the irradiated mice and establish a permanent and almost complete engraftment. There is no evidence that hemopoietic cells with trisomy 12 or 19 are cytogenetically unstable.


Atherosclerosis is accelerated in people with systemic lupus erythematosus, and the presence of dysfunctional, pro-inflammatory high-density lipoproteins is a marker of increased risk. We developed a mouse model of multigenic lupus exposed to environmental factors known to accelerate atherosclerosis in humans — high-fat diet with or without injections of the adipokine leptin. BWF1 mice were the lupus-prone model; BALB/c were non-autoimmune controls. High-fat diet increased total serum cholesterol in both strains. In BALB/c mice, non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels increased; they did not develop atherosclerosis. In contrast, BWF1 mice on high-fat diets developed increased quantities of high-density lipoproteins as well as elevated high-density lipoprotein scores, indicating pro-inflammatory high-density lipoproteins; they also developed atherosclerosis. In the lupus-prone strain, addition of leptin increased pro-inflammatory high-density lipoprotein scores and atherosclerosis, and accelerated proteinuria. These data suggest that environmental factors associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome can accelerate atherosclerosis and disease in a lupus-prone background.


Removal of Na by an "active" AlF3 filter seemed to be so efficient that all the sodium was removed in the present experiments. The removal of Na is considered to be limited by the resistance in the melt boundary layer only. However this is not the case for calcium. For calcium to be transfered into the AlF3, resistance in the filter grains has to be taken into account in addition to the resistance in the melt boundary layer. This was indicated by the total mass transfer coefficient of only 4x10-5 m/s. A kinetic model was derived that can describe the removal of Ca from molten aluminum in an "active" AlF3 filter by deep bed filtration following first order kinetics.


The hemispheric lateralization of memory has largely been informed through the study of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy originating from medial temporal sources (mTLE). The material-specific model of memory relies on the basic framework that the left temporal lobe mediates verbal memories, while the right temporal lobe mediates non-verbal memories. Over the years, this model has been refined, and even challenged, as our understanding of the material-specific memory deficits in mTLE has been further elaborated in the neuropsychological and neuroimaging literature. The first goal of this mini-review is to highlight the major findings in the mTLE literature that have advanced and expanded our understanding of material-specific memory deficits in mTLE. Second, we will review how functional neuroimaging patterns of material-specific hemispheric lateralization in mTLE are being translated into the innovative clinical application of preoperative fMRI memory mapping.


Forested freshwater ecosystems worldwide are threatened by a number of anthropogenic disturbances, such as water pollution and canalization. Transient or permanent deforestation can also be a serious threat to organisms in forested watersheds, but its effects on different types of freshwater systems has been little studied. We investigated lotic bryophyte communities on rock and soil in subtropical cloud laurel forests on La Gomera Island in the Canary Islands, Spain, and asked whether the response to forest clear-cutting varied among the communities associated with dripping walls, streams, and waterfalls. We compared three successional forest stages: ancient forests (> 250 years), young forests (20-50 years after clear-cutting), and open stands (5-15 years after clear-cutting). In each of 56 study sites we sampled general vegetation and substrate data in a 0.01-ha plot and took composition data of bryophyte species in 3 + 3 subplots of 1 x 1 m. The general pattern of decline in species richness and change in species composition after forest clear-cutting was stronger for streamside assemblages compared to assemblages on dripping walls and in waterfalls. The change in species numbers on rocks was larger than that on soils, because a guild of species growing on soil (but not on rocks) were favored by disturbance and thus increased in the disturbed sites. Most of the sensitive species could be classified as typical laurel forest species. Mosses were generally more tolerant to forest clear-cutting than were liverworts. We suggest that streamsides are more sensitive to disturbance than waterfalls and dripping walls because of a larger variation in microclimate before than after clear-cutting and because they are more easily invaded by early-successional species (both bryophytes and highly competitive vascular plants). We propose that special care should be taken along small streams within disturbed watersheds if bryophyte assemblages and threatened species should be protected. The susceptibility to anthropogenic pressures is probably rather high in ecosystems that do not regularly experience large-scale stand-replacing disturbances, especially on oceanic islands because of isolation and a small total habitat area for focal organisms.


The past thirty-seven years of economic reforms have completely transformed Chinese society and have "remade" the nation. This period, know as the "Reform Era" (1979-present), has been a time of massive social and economic change, and has witnessed China's transition from socialism to capitalism. This monograph focuses on how this period of change has been constructed in the films of Jia Zhangke through analyzing the five class figures of worker, peasant, soldier, intellectual, and entrepreneur that are found in his films. The questions that guide this analysis include: How are these figures represented? How do their representations and cinematic tropes operate in the films? What feelings do they evoke? To answer these questions, I examine how the figures' specific representation and their associated cinematic tropes create what Raymond Williams terms "structures of feeling"– feelings that concretize around a particular time and place which are captured and evoked in art and culture. These structures of feeling are specific to each class figure, and also shift over time. I argue that Jia's cinema should be understood not just as narratives that represent Chinese social transition and the director's changing attitudes to them through characters of different social classes, but also as an effort to engage the audience's emotional responses to those figures through representation, symbolism, and the affective experience of specific cinematic tropes. While making specific observations on Jia's films, the book adds to the scholarship about the Reform era by considering how this period's enormous transformations have been "felt," and also opens up many new areas, not only in the existing body of literature about Chinese film, which has mainly taken a political or sociological approach, but also in the larger fields of Chinese visual culture, cultural studies, and the affective qualities of film


Explain why inferring object surface properties from image properties is, in general, an ill-posed problem: some of Hadamard's criteria for well-posed problems are not satisfied. In the case of inferring the colours of objects from images, how does knowledge of the properties of the illuminant affect the status of the problem and its solubility? More generally, illustrate how addition of ancillary constraints or assumptions, even metaphysical assumptions, allows an ill-posed problem to be converted into a well-posed problem.


On the very last page of National Theatres in a Changing Europe, Janelle Reinelt poses the question that haunts the volume it crowns: "How can a productive tension between past and present create a theatre that provokes the social imagination to posit a viable future?" (236–37). This is the challenge facing Europe's contemporary national theatres. It's a heady one for, as Dragan Klaic notes in his chapter: "Today, it is difficult to imagine how any National Theatre can pretend to represent the spirit of the nation, construct and enhance national identity and stress the distinctions of national character. . . . All those notions—spirit of the nation, national identity, and national character—have become worn out and deprived of consensual meaning" (217). On a continent once battered by destructive nationalisms and now working overtime to integrate ethnic differences while celebrating them within a panEuropean economic and political union, is national theatre any longer possible? How do we reconcile the European Union (EU), the "global" metropolis, and the national stage? In this freighted triumvirate, is the latter an anachronism, ridiculous, a shell of a tourist attraction, or can it, as Reinelt provocatively suggests, become "in the right circumstances . . . a radical democratic institution" (235)?


Degradation of mRNA by RNA interference is one of the most powerful and specific mechanisms for gene silencing. However, insufficient cellular uptake and poor stability have limited its usefulness. Here, we report efficient delivery of siRNA via the use of biodegradable nanoparticles (NPs) made from monomethoxypoly(ethylene glycol)-poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-poly-l-lysine (mPEG-PLGA-PLL) triblock copolymers. Various physicochemical properties of mPEG-PLGA-PLL NPs, including morphology, size, surface charge, siRNA encapsulation efficiency, and in vitro release profile of siRNA from NPs, were characterized by scanning electron microscope, particle size and zeta potential analyzer, and high performance liquid chromatography. The levels of siRNA uptake and targeted gene inhibition were detected in human lung cancer SPC-A1-GFP cells stably expressing green fluorescent protein. Examination of the cultured SPC-A1-GFP cells with fluorescent microscope and flow cytometry showed NPs loading Cy3-labeled siRNA had much higher intracellular siRNA delivery efficiencies than siRNA alone and Lipofectamine-siRNA complexes. The gene silencing efficiency of mPEG-PLGA-PLL NPs was higher than that of commercially available transfecting agent Lipofectamine while showing no cytotoxicity. Thus, the current study demonstrates that biodegradable NPs of mPEG-PLGA-PLL triblock copolymers can be potentially applied as novel non-viral vectors for improving siRNA delivery and gene silencing.


The carbon microcoils and carbon nanocoils were prepared by the catalytic pyrolysis of acetylene under the Ni and/or Fe-containing catalysts, and the growth pattern, morphology and growth mechanism of the carbon coils were examined in detail. The inner coil diameter of carbon microcoils are of several µm and coil gap from zero to several µm. The inner coil diameter of carbon nanocoils are from zero to several ten nm and coil gap from zero to several nm. The carbon microcoils are generally of double helix coils such as DNA while carbon nanocoils were single helix coils such as α-helix proteins, with spring-like or twisted forms. A catalyst grain was usually observed on the tip of carbon coil. The carbon nanocoils are almost amorphous and can be graphitized by the high temperature heat-treatment.


Terpinen-4-ol is the main constituent of Melaleuca alternifolia essential oil known for its biocidal and anti-inflammatory properties. The possibility of fabricating polymer thin films from terpinen-4-ol using radio frequency (RF) plasma polymerisation for the prevention of the growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was investigated, and the properties of the resultant films compared against their biologically active precursor. Films fabricated at 10 W prevented bacterial attachment and EPS secretion, whilst polyterpenol films deposited at 25 W demonstrated no biocidal activity against the pathogen.


This study develops a model to analyze the changes in the Canadian agricultural production sectors over the period 1926 to 1988. Economic analysis is focused on the estiamtion of certain parameters including elasticities of substitution between the factors of production, own-price elasticities, scale effects of production and biases in technical change. Aggregate agricultural output is a function of labor, capital, intermediate goods, and land and building structures. The application of duality theory allows for the use of aggregate cost functions. Unlike earlier studies, a dynamic model of a system of share equations is fitted to the data. Selection of the model is based on tests of adequacy (statistical diagnostic tests) and of restrictions model (long-run equilibrium model), a partial adjustment model and an autoregressive process of order one for disturbances model, all of which are rejected. However, a system of share equations of a multivariate autoregressive process of order one of the translog functional form fits the data satisfactorily. One feature of the dynamic model utilizied in this study is the ready availability of estiamtes of long-run parameters. One significant difference between this study and earlier studies is the calculating of standard errors of estimates of elasticities, which are obtained using a statistical simulation procedure. Confidence intervals for the estimates of elasticities are constructed using the simulated results. Most earlier studies either did not estimate standard errors or approximated them with standard error estimates of the coefficients, which are also used to calculate the elasticities; an approach which is faulty. The results of this study show that the long-run production structure for the Canadian agricultural sectors is non-homothetic. Scale of production is intermediate goods using and labor saving. Technical change is intermediate goods using and land saving. Labor and land and building strucutres, and intermediate goods and land and building strucutres are substitutes for Canada. All factors except land and building structures are inelastic to their own prices. Land and building strucutres appears to be elastic to its own price for Canada.


In a 50-year-old patient with unilateral pain in the buttocks and in the sciatica, a radicular compression syndrome was diagnosed. Because conservative therapy failed, surgical intervention for herniated disc was suggested. Clinical examination revealed a painfully contracted piriform muscle and irritation of the sciatic nerve. Through specific stretch exercises, quick recovery was effected. Based on this case report, typical clinical diagnoses and therapeutical possibilities for the piriformis syndrome are discussed.


We employ a mixed complementarity problem (MCP) approach to a spatial and temporal equilibrium model of the maize market in Mozambique. The MCP approach efficiently captures interactions between transpost costs and interest rates, which captures interactions between transport costs and interest rates, which may differ across agents. Results indicate that differentials in interest rates significantly impact marketing patterns.


At a time when there is increasing focus on the need to adapt approaches to psychotherapy to align with the cultural and religious/spiritual orientations of clients, this thesis explores the ontological foundations of psychology from an Islamic paradigm and how these foundational assumptions about human nature can inform practical applications for Islamic psychotherapy. The thesis presents a detailed literature review and two phases of the research study that both used a constructivist version of the grounded theory approach.

In the first phase of the study, 18 scholars of Islam were interviewed as "key informants" whose input provided insights into the various branches of knowledge within the Islamic tradition that are relevant to the construction of an Islamic paradigm of human psychology. From the analysis of the interview transcripts, codes were created relating to concepts of the psyche, notions of human development, and understanding of the structure of the soul from the participants' understanding of Islamic religious sources. An Islamic model of the soul was constructed from these findings. This is presented as a framework for the development of clinical applications in psychotherapy.

In the second phase, 18 clinicians who integrate Islamic principles in their approaches with clients in psychotherapy were interviewed. From the analysis of the interview transcripts, codes were created based on the theoretical categories from the first phase, explicating how the Islamic model of the soul generated in that phase can be used to inform practical approaches to therapeutic application. The codes covered theoretical approaches to clinical assessment, treatment goals, and therapeutic interventions. Findings from this phase are presented across two chapters dealing with (i) therapeutic conceptualizations of the nature and structure of the soul in Islamic psychotherapy and (ii) the clinical scope of Islamic psychotherapy and how it is situated both within the Islamic tradition and within the context iii of contemporary psychotherapy. Through the implementation of a grounded theory approach, the Islamic model of the soul that is presented earlier in the thesis is now extended to incorporate the psychotherapeutic practice context. The resultant model of care that was constructed from the analysis represents a uniquely Islamic approach to psychotherapy grounded in the ontological assumptions about human nature from the Islamic tradition.

In conclusion, the thesis develops a framework for Islamic psychology and a preliminary model for a theoretical orientation to Islamic psychotherapy. Consistent with the aims of grounded theory work, it is hoped the findings can contribute towards the further development of an overarching theory of Islamic psychology, provide a foundation for the development of informed clinical interventions, and help in understanding human nature and development from an Islamic perspective.