Less than a quarter-century ago, democracy appeared to be confmed, with a few exceptions, to North America and Westem Europe. These nations had advanced industrial economies, sizable middle classes, and high literacy rates—factors that many political scientists regarded as prerequisites for successfial democracy. They were home not only to free and competitive multiparty elections but also to the rule of law and the protection of individual liberties. In short, they were what had come to be called "liberal democracies." In the rest ofthe world, by contrast, most countries were neither liberal nor democratic. They were ruled by a variety of dictatorships—military, single-party, revolutionary, Marxist-Leninist—that rejected free, multiparty elections (in practice, if not always in principle). By the early 1990s, however, this situation had changed dramatically, as an astonishing number of autocratic regimes around the world fell from power. They were generally succeeded by regimes that at least aspired to be democratic, giving rise to the phenomenon that Samuel P. Huntington termed the "third wave" of democratization. Today, well over a hundred countries, in every continent in the world, can plausibly claim to have freely elected governments. Outside of Africa, few of these aspiring new democracies have sufFered outright reversions to authoritarianism. But many, even among those that hold unambiguously free and fair elections, fall short of providing the protection of individual liberties and adherence to the rule of law commonly found in the long-established democracies. As Larry Diamond has put it, many ofthe new regimes are "electoral democracies" but not "liberal democracies." Citing Diamonds distinction, Huntington


Background Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a common disease that leads to daytime sleepiness and cognitive impairment. Attempts to investigate changes in brain morphology that may underlie these impairments have led to conflicting conclusions. This study was undertaken to aim to resolve this confusion, and determine whether OSA is associated with changes in brain morphology in a large group of patients with OSA, using improved voxel-based morphometry analysis, an automated unbiased method of detecting local changes in brain structure. Methods 60 patients with OSA (mean apnoea hypopnoea index 55 (95% CI 48 to 62) events/h, 3 women) and 60 non-apnoeic controls (mean apnoea hypopnoea index 4 (95% CI 3 to 5) events/h, 5 women) were studied. Subjects were imaged using T1-weighted 3-D structural MRI (69 subjects at 1.5 T, 51 subjects at 3 T). Differences in grey matter were investigated in the two groups, controlling for age, sex, site and intracranial volume. Dedicated cerebellar analysis was performed on a subset of 108 scans using a spatially unbiased infratentorial template. Results Patients with OSA had a reduction in grey matter volume in the right middle temporal gyrus compared with non-apnoeic controls (p<0.05, corrected for topological false discovery rate across the entire brain). A reduction in grey matter was also seen within the cerebellum, maximal in the left lobe VIIIb close to XI, extending across the midline into the right lobe. Conclusion These data show that OSA is associated with focal loss of grey matter that could contribute to cognitive decline. Specifically, lesions in the cerebellum may result in both motor dysfunction and working memory deficits, with downstream negative consequences on tasks such as driving.


Quantum chemical calculations and charge density analysis were carried out to understand the geometry, charge density distribution and the electrostatic properties of isolated galanthamine molecule (form I) and for the same lifted out from the active site (form II) of AChE. The optimized geometry of isolated galanthamine was obtained from a hybrid density functional theory (B3LYP/6-311G**) calculation. A docking analysis on galanthamine with AChE was performed, and the lowest docked energy structure was selected from the active site of AChE for the further study. A single point energy quantum chemical calculation (B3LYP/6-311G**) was carried out for the lowest energy structure, which was lifted from the galanthamine–AChE complex from molecular docking analysis. The structural comparison between (I) and (II) helps to understand the conformational modification of the galanthamine molecule in the active site. When the molecule present in the active site, the molecular geometry is seen to be significantly altered, specifically, large changes were observed in the outer core of the molecule while the inner core geometry is intact. The bond topological and electrostatic properties of (I) and (II) were calculated. The dipole moment of the galanthamine molecule also increases from 2.09 to 2.67 D in the process. A large negative electrostatic potential region is found at the vicinity of oxygen and nitrogen atoms of the molecule, which predominantly involve strong hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions with the amino acid residues TRP84, PHE330, GLY118, TYR70, and SER122 present in the active site of AChE. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


This paper begins with a literature review of research on syntactic maturity, defined as the developmental stages from oneand two-word utterances to the hierarchical structures of adult speech, and seeks to answer questions in the context of past and current research in this area. It attempts to study some of the ramifications of the movement toward outcome-based and standards-driven curricula when it is not uncommon for complete syntax to elude many second language learners. As there have been few studies dealing directly with techniques in sentence combining, reducing sentences to less than clauses, adverbial structures, clause embedding, and general syntactic shortcuts for intermediate Spanish language learners, this study seeks to determine the syntactic maturity of a sample of intermediate Spanish language learners and focuses on procedures to extend syntactic procedures to syntactic choices and analyze the resulting data from the procedures. The following hypotheses are presented: there is no significant difference between intermediate I and II Spanish students in their written production of relative pronouns, adjective and noun clauses, or adverbial clauses; nor is there a significant difference between II Spanish students in written production before and after instruction in syntactic shortcuts (nominalized infinitives, gerunds, and participles). It was found that students may benefit from rewriting exercises that collapse clauses into infinitives, participles, and gerunds. Reducing phrases to less than clauses may increase students' intermediate syntactic fluency. Sentence combining techniques may bridge the gap between intermediate and more advanced classes in composition. (Contains 23 references.) (KFT) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. SYNTACTIC MATURITY: THE COMPLEX SENTENCE IN INTERMEDIATE SPANISH


This study aims to analyze the feasibility and response of students to the Problem Based Learning Student Worksheet in the Office Management subject that has been developed. This type of research is Research and Development research using a 4-D model namely Define, Design, Develop, and Disseminate. The subjects in this study were students of the 2016 Class Office Administration Education Department, Faculty of Economics, Universitas Negeri Surabaya, as many as 20 students. Data collection techniques in this study include student worksheet validation sheets based on Problem Based Learning and student response questionnaires. While the data analysis techniques include validation analysis of material experts and linguists, student response questionnaire analysis. The results showed that the results of the material expert validation sheet analysis on Problem Based Learning student worksheets in Office Management subject showed that the percentage of feasibility was 74,29% seen from the feasibility of content and presentation components and 84% seen from linguistic componens. While the result response questionnaire analysis showed that the percentage of eligibility was 72%.


This article reports on a combined quantitative and in-depth qualitative study of 315 Danish upper secondary (grades 10–12) mathematics students' answers to six modelling tasks that place emphasis on the early phases of the so-called modelling cycle. In order to focus attention on the extra-mathematical aspects of modelling, the technical mathematical requirements of the tasks designed were reduced as much as possible. The article analytically and empirically identifies the most significant 'stumbling blocks' in modelling with particular regard to the learning difficulties that the population considered experienced and displayed in getting started on relatively idealised mathematical modelling tasks. The results show that a significant number of students have difficulty in accepting or understanding modelling tasks that seem to breach the standard didactical contract in Danish upper secondary mathematics education, and that – more than acknowledged in previous research – pre-mathematisation is a significant stumbling block in modelling, which is also co-responsible for the better known fact that mathematisation, too, is a crucial stumbling block in mathematical modelling. The study further shows that insufficient or missing so-called implemented anticipation is a major factor in these difficulties. It is finally concluded that since there was no evidence of students having severe problems with the technical mathematical knowledge base (e.g. pure mathematical concepts and formulae) in dealing with the six tasks, the stumbling blocks reside in the fundamentals of subjecting extra-mathematical situations to mathematical modelling.


Diabetes is directly involved in oxidative stress production. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the morphological and functional alterations caused by oxidative stress and to evaluate the antioxidant effect of quercetin nanoparticles (QUNPs) in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic (type II) rats. Seventy two male albino adult rats were randomly distributed in 6 different experimental groups, with 12 animals per group: Normal Control (NC) group, Positive Control (PC) group received one dose of STZ (60 mg/kg body weight [bw]); QUNPs 10 mg/kg bw/day alone group; QUNPs 10 mg/kg bw/day + one dose of STZ (60 mg/kg bw) group; QUNPs 20 mg/kg bw/day alone group; and QUNPs 20 mg/kg bw/day + one dose of STZ (60 mg/kg bw) group. STZ-diabetic rats were treated with QUNPs (10 and 20 mg/kg bw/day) for 7 weeks to analyze their effects on markers of renal enzymes antioxidant [malondialdehyde (MDA), catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx)], total protein and albumin, and also on kidney tissues. The results showed that the particle size of QUNPs is 16.13 nm at flow rate 10 ml/min. QUNPs especially at the dosage of 20 mg/kg bw/day gave results close to normal values observed in NC compared to PC. Also, histopathology of kidney sections for QUNPs 20 mg/kg bw/day + STZ and QUNPs (10 and 20 mg/kg bw/day) alone, appeared similar to NC. It can be concluded that QUNPs could become a promising adjuvant in the treatment of diabetes mellitus and can act as an antioxidant agent.

 Key words: Diabetic, streptozotocin, free radical, antioxidant.


The main aim of the present study is to measure the capability the "Posidonia Oceanica" as fibre reinforcement for adobe bricks. This sea-plant is distributed in the Mediterranean coast, considered as a solid marine by-product. To analyse the performance, prismatic earthen specimens with seagrass fibres were compared with the most traditional additives for this purpose; straw fibres. Both fibres were included with different lengths and quantities. Previously, in order to understand their behaviour, the fibres themselves were evaluated. Tensile strength and water absorption tests were performed. Meanwhile bricks themselves were subjected to mechanical tests. Concerning the biomass fibres, results show that straw fibres present higher tensile resistance than the seagrass leafs while they are more fragile to breakage than seagrass; on the other hand, they have higher water absorption than seagrass. Mechanical results show variations depending on their fibre content and length. Nevertheless, bricks with long seagrass fibres present a characteristic good behaviour in terms of flexural and compressive strength. Generally, adobe bricks with both types of fibres achieve similar mechanical properties, generating favourable results in terms of comparison between them.


Mutations in lamin A/C gene (LMNA) gene, which encodes A-type nuclear lamins, cause a diverse range of diseases called laminopathies. These diseases selectively affect different tissues and organ systems. The main function of A-type nuclear lamins is to provide structural scaffolding for the cell nucleus. However, the lamina also serves other functions, such as having a role in chromatin organisation, connecting the nucleus to the cytoplasm, gene transcription and mitosis. Since the first mutations in LMNA that causes a human disease identified in 1999, the A-type lamins get a lot of focus from the scientific community. More than a decade later, promising therapeutic approaches emerge that will hopefully lead to new ways to treat or prevent laminopathies.

Key Concepts:

LMNA gene encodes ubiquitously expressed nuclear A-type lamins.

LMNA mutations cause several diseases affecting specific tissues or progeroid syndrome, that is, laminopathies.

Studies on mouse models of LMNA-dilated cardiomyopathy showed that MAP kinase and AKT/mTOR signalling are abnormally activated.

Post-translational modifications of lamin A are important for the pathogenesis of progeria.

Small molecules have been successfully used in vivo to alleviate the symptoms of LMNA-dilated cardiomyopathy and progeria.

Keywords:

LMNA;
A-type lamins;
dilated cardiomyopathy;
Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy;
familial partial lipodystrophy;
progeria


A new VLSI architecture for a real-time pipeline FFT processor is proposed. A hardware-oriented radix-2/sup 2/ algorithm is derived by integrating a twiddle factor decomposition technique in the divide-and-conquer approach. The radix-2/sup 2/ algorithm has the same multiplicative complexity as the radix-4 algorithm, but retains the butterfly structure of the radix-2 algorithm. The single-path delay-feedback architecture is used to exploit the spatial regularity in the signal flow graph of the algorithm. For length-N DFT computation, the hardware requirement of the proposed architecture is minimal on both dominant components: log/sub 4/N-1 complexity multipliers and N-1 complexity data memory. The validity and efficiency of the architecture have been verified by simulation in the hardware description language VHDL.


Reasons why chromosomal rearrangements spread to fixation and frequently distinguish related taxa remain poorly understood. We used cytological descriptions of karyotype to identify large pericentric inversions between species of Estrildid finches (family Estrildidae) and a time-dated phylogeny to assess the genomic, geographic, and phylogenetic context of karyotype evolution in this group. Inversions between finch species fixed at an average rate of one every 2.26 My. Inversions were twice as likely to fix on the sex chromosomes compared to the autosomes, possibly a result of their repeat density, and inversion fixation rate for all chromosomes scales with range size. Alternative mutagenic input explanations are not supported, as the number of inversions on a chromosome does not correlate with its length or map size. Inversions have fixed 3.3× faster in three continental clades than in two island chain clades, and fixation rate correlates with both range size and the number of sympatric species pairs. These results point to adaptation as the dominant mechanism driving fixation and suggest a role for gene flow in karyotype divergence. A review shows that the rapid karyotype evolution observed in the Estrildid finches appears to be more general across birds, and by implication other understudied taxa.


This narrative thesis presents a collection of creative writing that autobiographically traces a story about coming to writing and transforming through writing. The creative writing is structured so that the themes are re-worked through additional sections of writing which contribute to the research. This research approach is adapted from the two-step process of narrative interpretive inquiry described by curricular theorist Dr. Ted Aoki. Such a process builds upon a phenomenological revisitation of lived experience with a post-structural consideration of the possible meanings within experience as it is written and re-written. The inquiry within this thesis is also framed in feminist thought, interweaving the writings of French feminists Helene Cixous and Julia Kristeva, British writer/feminist Virginia Woolf, and several North American feminist writers and theorists. Such thought advocates autobiographical and creative life writing and journalizing. Further, the resultant, storied texts contribute to our knowledge of the particularities of feminine experience. This knowledge shifts and changes as the signs and signifiers of the texts are destabilized in the intertextual relationship between writers, texts and readers. Through the powerful process of writing and storying, the writer comes to examine and understand the selves while simultaneously writing these selves into text. Such learning parallels the recursive nature of writing in a back and forth movement that emphasizes how we learn to write as we write to learn. Such learning becomes the means to reflect upon the significance of the pedagogical selves, bringing a more "thoughtful and tactful praxis" (van Manen 1990, 124-133) into our teaching, as well as a fuller understanding of the writing and reflecting process for students. The approach of this thesis consists not only of writing in various genres, but selecting them and shaping them into a text. The thesis identifies and discusses an egocentric story that specifies how a woman writer and teacher became through writing, and how this becoming begins to transform to a subjectivity which is decentered in relationship to other subjects and other texts. The pedagogical implications of this story for curriculum practice are situated within the empowering teaching strategies which encourage the writing and which serve as a model for teaching practice.


This dissertation focuses on design sessions in which users and stakeholders participate. It demonstrates how material from field studies can be used in exploratory design sessions. The emphasis is on the staging and realization of experiments with 'possible futures'. Using a design perspective I have worked with how field studies can contribute to design processes in which many parties collaborate. With a starting point in collaborative 'sketching' and creation of scenarios I have striven to create a meaningful way for design teams to adopt a practice perspective. The dissertation shows that there need not be any opposition between exploring 'what is' and envisioning 'what can be'. The increase of computer technology in everyday life and the development making information technology become an integrated part of more and more everyday products has given rise to a need to find new ways of working in the process of designing. If it was ever possible to work in an isolated way on either digital or physical technology, this is no longer the case since development requires collaboration over these borders. In the same way, IT plays an increasing significant role in people's everyday lives. User focus and user involvement have become commonplace. This calls for new ways of organizing the design process. The present dissertation meets this problem. I have participated in four projects in which exploring users everyday practices has become a meaningful design activity and a foundation for collaboration. The purpose of this dissertation is to shed light on the possibilities and the advantages offered by working design oriented with material from field studies. Furthermore, it strives to show how design sessions can be organized and carried out on a practical level and exemplifies with concrete projects. Special emphasis is given to the creation of and the inquiry into design material and the development and use of design games.


For a subset $A$ of $\{1,2,\ldots,N\}^2$ of size $\alpha N^2$ we show existence of $(m,n)\neq(0,0)$ such that the set $A$ contains at least $(\alpha^3 - o(1))N^2$ triples of points of the form $(a,b)$, $(a+m,b+n)$, $(a-n,b+m)$. This answers a question by Ackelsberg, Bergelson, and Best. The same approach also establishes the corresponding result for compact abelian groups. Furthermore, for a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ we comment on exponential smallness of subsets of $(\mathbb{F}_q^n)^2$ that avoid the aforementioned configuration. The proofs are minor modifications of the existing proofs regarding three-term arithmetic progressions.


Interest in critical scholarship that engages with the complexity of user experience (UX) practice is rapidly expanding, yet the vocabulary for describing and assessing criticality in practice is currently lacking. In this paper, we outline and explore the limits of a specific ethical phenomenon known as "dark patterns," where user value is supplanted in favor of shareholder value. We assembled a corpus of examples of practitioner-identified dark patterns and performed a content analysis to determine the ethical concerns contained in these examples. This analysis revealed a wide range of ethical issues raised by practitioners that were frequently conflated under the umbrella term of dark patterns, while also underscoring a shared concern that UX designers could easily become complicit in manipulative or unreasonably persuasive practices. We conclude with implications for the education and practice of UX designers, and a proposal for broadening research on the ethics of user experience.


Fourteen patients with "dystonic clenched fist" (three with Corticobasal Ganglionic Degeneration, seven with Parkinson's disease, and four with Dystonic‐Complex Regional Pain Syndrome) were treated with botulinum toxin A (BTXA, Dysport®). The muscles involved were identified by the hand posture and EMG activity recorded at rest and during active and passive flexion/extension movements of the finger and wrist. EMG was useful in distinguishing between muscle contraction and underlying contractures and to determine the dosage of BTX. All patients had some degree of flexion at the proximal metacarpophalangeal joints and required injections into the lumbricals. The response in patients depended on the severity of the deformity and the degree of contracture. All patients had significant benefit to pain, with accompanying muscle relaxation, and palmar infection, when present, was eradicated. Four patients with Parkinson's disease and one patient with Dystonia‐Complex Regional Pain Syndrome obtained functional benefit. © 2001 Movement Disorder Society.


In this article, the author shows that during the trading day in New York, the international equity ETFs whose underlying markets are closed behave very much like large-cap U.S. stocks, in that their intraday returns and volatility can be explained by the S&P 500 to a large extent.The evidence that international ETFs are forward looking supports the previous findings that international equity ETFs trade at larger premiums/ discounts compared to their U.S. equity counterparts.This happens when the ETFs are not just passive index tracking funds, but rather they anticipate how their underlying markets will react to movements in the U.S.market when they reopen, causing their overnight net asset values (NAV) to quickly become stale. This result is reinforced by additional evidence that the ETFs have a larger beta with the S&P 500 than with their underlying country index. Finally, the author documents the impact that the financial crisis had on these ETFs' intraday trading patterns.


Objective: To assess the prevalence of stress as an etiological factor for aphthous ulcers and temporomandibular disorders.Study Design: Cross sectional descriptive study.Place and Duration of Study: Armed Forces Institute of Dentistry Rawalpindi, from Oct 2015 to May 2016.Material and Methods: Two groups of patients were selected. Group I included 119 patients presenting with Aphthous Ulcers while group II had 64 subjects with complaints of temporomandibular disorders (TMDs). After a thorough history, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was used to assess stress in the patients. AHADS-A score of 7 was taken as significant anxiety while a HADS-D score of 7 depicted significant depression. Both groups were then subjected to laboratory examinations. Serum cortisol levels were assessed for both groups while Serum Folate, Ferritin and Vitamin B12 level for group I only. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21 to calculate descriptive statistics including mean and standard deviations as well as frequencies and percentages. Relationship between HADS score and serum cortisol levels was assessed using Pearson's correlation coefficient. A p-value<0.05 was considered significant.Results: For TMDs, 53 (82.8%) patients were found positive for stress while for aphthous ulcers, 61 (51.3%) were positive for stress. The correlation between HADS score and serum cortisol levels was found significant for both groups at a p=<0.001.Conclusions: Patients showed a high prevalence of stress as an etiological factor for aphthous ulcers andtemporomandibular disorders in a local setting.


As data mining is one of the most rapidly changing disciplines with new technologies and concepts continually under development, academicians, researchers, and professionals of the discipline need access to the most current information about the concepts, issues, trends, and technologies in this emerging field. Social Implications of Data Mining and Information Privacy: Interdisciplinary Frameworks and Solutions serves as a critical source of information related to emerging issues and solutions in data mining and the influence of political and socioeconomic factors. An immense breakthrough, this essential reference provides concise coverage of emerging issues and technological solutions in data mining, and covers problems with applicable laws governing such issues.


A research-based understanding of how to develop and assess classroom presentation skills is vital for the effective development of preservice teacher communication capabilities. This paper identifies and compares two different models of assessing pre-service teachers' presentation performance – one based on the Modes of Communication (voice, body language, words, and alignment between those elements) and another based on features of the Constructed Impression of the communication acts (confidence, clarity, engagement and appropriateness). The Modes of Communication and the Constructed Impression of 164 pre-service teacher presentations were rated. The Constructed Impression model provided a better fit to data, while averaging of Modes of Communication elements offered more accurate prediction of overall score. All elements in both models made a significant contribution to the overall perception of communication performance. The study also reports on the relative contribution of voice, body language, words and alignment to the perceived confidence, clarity, engagement and appropriateness of the pre-service teacher presentations. Implications for developing pre-service teachers' presentation capabilities are also


Fertilisation is one of the most cost-effective methods of increasing and maintaining the productivity of Eucalyptus grandis plantations in South Africa. This silvicultural practice can be optimised by using the foliar nutrient ratios measured in plants at maximum growth as a guideline for fertiliser application. The foliar nutrient ratios present at optimum growth are similar across a wide range of plant species and can be defined in relation to nitrogen (N). This study was conducted to determine whether the proportions of elements relative to N could be refined specifically for E. grandis through the use of diagnosis and recommendation integrated system (DRIS) norms. The DRIS norms were derived by constructing a data bank of foliar nutrient concentrations and corresponding growth data from published studies on E. grandis. The DRIS norms for phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) relative to N corresponded to the target values recommended for maintaining optimal nutrient status in other forest species, but the calcium (Ca): N and magnesium (Mg): N ratios were much higher, indicating possible luxury consumption of these elements. Foliar ratios, expressed relative to 100 N, of 8, 35, 2.5 and 4 for P, K, Ca and Mg appear optimal for the growth of E. grandis. The potential application of this system was illustrated by using the DRIS indices to diagnose the nutrient status of an irrigated and fertilised E. grandis stand in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. In most cases, the diagnosis made using the DRIS indices was confirmed with the optimal ratio approach. The importance of using accurate DRIS norms and correctly interpreting the DRIS indices is emphasised.


The majority of farm households in OECD countries earn more off-farm income than farm income, even including government payments. While this is a well recognized fact its implications for risk management have not been well recognized. Current efforts to reform farm support have focused on the variability of farm household income and largely ignored the variability of total farm household income. Since it is common for farm households to allocate labor and capital across both farm and non-farm opportunities, it is also likely that their attitude to risk in farming can best be understood by seeing farm risk and return in a household portfolio of income. This approach immediately leads to farm risk being less problematic the more diversified the portfolio and the less positively correlated farm risk is with other income risks. A secondary implication is the possibility that supposedly risk adverse farmers are reluctant to but actuarially fair insurance because they have already reduced farm risk by engaging in off-farm income, so they must be paid to further reduce risk beyond heir desired level.


Implicit in most asset-allocation policies is the statistical assumption of "stationarity," which means that the means, variances, and covariances of asset returns are assumed to be constant over time. This assumption is a reasonable approximation during normal market conditions but fails dramatically during periods of market turmoil and dislocation. In such periods, market volatility is highly dynamic, correlations can jump to 100% in a matter of days, and risk premia can become negative for months at a time. FTSE and AlphaSimplex Group have developed a family of rule-driven (passive), transparent, and high-capacity indices whose volatilities are rescaled as often as daily with the goal of maintaining more stable risk levels. By stabilizing the risk of each asset class over time, the FTSE StableRisk Indices have the potential to capture the long-term risk premia of asset classes and simple strategies with less severe maximum drawdowns than those of traditional indices, which have no risk controls.


Understanding how karst aquifers store and transmit water and contaminants is an ongoing problem in hydrogeology. Multiple flow paths and recharge heterogeneity contribute to the complexity of these systems. This study explored karst-conduit connectivity and water-chemistry variability within the Houzhai catchment in Guizhou Province, China. Artificial tracer tests were conducted during both the monsoon and dry seasons to understand temporal variability in connectivity and water velocity between karst features. Multiple flow paths through the catchment were activated during the monsoon season and partially abandoned during the dry season. Additionally, gradient reversals during monsoonal high-flow events and as a result of pumping were observed. Synoptic water samples from several karst features taken during both monsoon and dry seasons elucidated spatial and temporal variability within the catchment. Water residence time was generally longer during the dry season, and flow within the Houzhai catchment was determined to be temporally dependent. Time-series sampling at the outlet spring following a monsoonal storm event captured chemical variability and identified multiple flow paths. Overall, this study refines widely applicable methods for studying karst systems to this catchment and provides a foundation for future studies in similar settings.


Synthesizing SQL queries from natural language is a long-standing open problem and has been attracting considerable interest recently. Toward solving the problem, the de facto approach is to employ a sequence-to-sequence-style model. Such an approach will necessarily require the SQL queries to be serialized. Since the same SQL query may have multiple equivalent serializations, training a sequence-to-sequence-style model is sensitive to the choice from one of them. This phenomenon is documented as the "order-matters" problem. Existing state-of-the-art approaches rely on reinforcement learning to reward the decoder when it generates any of the equivalent serializations. However, we observe that the improvement from reinforcement learning is limited.
In this paper, we propose a novel approach, i.e., SQLNet, to fundamentally solve this problem by avoiding the sequence-to-sequence structure when the order does not matter. In particular, we employ a sketch-based approach where the sketch contains a dependency graph so that one prediction can be done by taking into consideration only the previous predictions that it depends on. In addition, we propose a sequence-to-set model as well as the column attention mechanism to synthesize the query based on the sketch. By combining all these novel techniques, we show that SQLNet can outperform the prior art by 9% to 13% on the WikiSQL task.


ABSTRACT The intercomparison of seven chemical mechanisms for their suitability for air quality policy formulation and assessment is described. Box modeling techniques were employed using 44 sets of background environmental conditions covering North America to constrain the chemical development of the longer lived species. The selected mechanisms were modified to enable an unbiased assessment of the adequacy of the parameterizations of photochemical ozone production from volatile organic compound (VOC) oxidation in the presence of NOx. Photochemical ozone production rates responded differently to 30% NOx and VOC reductions with the different mechanisms, despite the striking similarities between the base-case ozone production rates. The 30% reductions in NOx and VOCs also produced changes in OH. The responses in OH to 30% reductions in NOx and VOCs appeared to be more sensitive to mechanism choice, compared with the responses in the photochemical ozone production rates. Although 30% NOx reductions generally led to decreases in OH, 30% reductions in VOCs led to increases in OH, irrespective of mechanism choice and background environmental conditions. The different mechanisms therefore gave different OH responses to NOx and VOC reductions and so would give different responses in terms of changes in the fate and behavior of air toxics, acidification and eutrophication, and fine particle formation compared with others, in response to ozone control strategies. Policymakers need to understand that there are likely to be inherent differences in the responses to ozone control strategies between different mechanisms, depending on background environmental conditions and the extents of NOx and VOC reductions under consideration. Implications: The purpose of this paper is to compare predicted ozone responses to NOx and VOC reductions with seven chemical mechanisms under North American conditions. The good agreement found between the tested mechanisms should provide some support for their application in the air quality models used for policymaking.


Abstract Background: Ceftazidime/avibactam (C/A), ceftolozane/tazobactam (C/T), imipenem/relebactam (I/R), and meropenem/vaborbactam (M/V) combine either a cephalosporin (C/T and C/A) or a carbapenem antibiotic (M/V and I/R) with a β-lactamase inhibitor. They are used to treat carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) and/or multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MDRPA). Objective: We compared the pooled clinical success of these medications to older therapies. Methods: PubMed and EMBASE were searched from January 1, 2012, through September 2, 2020, for C/A, C/T, I/R, and M/V studies. The main outcome was clinical success, which was assessed using random-effects models. Stratified analyses were conducted for study drug, sample size, quality, infection source, study design, and multidrug-resistant gram-negative organism (MDRGNO) population. Microbiological success and 28- and 30-day mortality were assessed as secondary outcomes. Heterogeneity was determined using I2 values. Results: Overall, 25 articles met the inclusion criteria; 8 observational studies and 17 randomized control trials. We detected no difference in clinical success comparing new combination antibiotics with standard therapies for all included organisms (pooled OR, 1.21; 95% CI, 0.96–1.51). We detected a moderate level of heterogeneity among the included studies I2 = 56%. Studies that focused on patients with CRE or MDRPA infections demonstrated a strong association between treatment with new combination antibiotics and clinical success (pooled OR, 2.20; 95% CI, 1.60–3.57). Conclusions: C/T, C/A, I/R, and M/V are not inferior to standard therapies for treating various complicated infections, but they may have greater clinical success for treating MDRPA and CRE infections. More studies that evaluate the use of these antibiotics for drug-resistant infections are needed to determine their effectiveness.


Over the last decade, the theory that poverty in the world's poorest regions could be alleviated by providing small loans to micro-entrepreneurs has become increasingly popular. This volume examines the effectiveness of this theory when put into practice. The book presents empirical evidence drawn from comparative experiences in seven developing countries and produces some startling conclusions. This work should be essential reading for all those interested in development, poverty-reduction, social welfare and finance. Volume One provides a detailed analysis of this theory and offers policy recommendations for practitioners in the field.


Since distortions in camera-captured document images significantly affect the accuracy of optical character recognition (OCR), distortion removal plays a critical role for document digitalization systems using a camera for image capturing. This paper proposes a novel framework that performs three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction and rectification of camera-captured document images. While most existing methods rely on additional calibrated hardware or multiple images to recover the 3D shape of a document page, or make a simple but not always valid assumption on the corresponding 3D shape, our framework is more flexible and practical since it only requires a single input image and is able to handle a general locally smooth document surface. The main contributions of this paper include a new iterative refinement scheme for baseline fitting from connected components of text line, an efficient discrete vertical text direction estimation algorithm based on convex hull projection profile analysis, and a 2D distortion grid construction method based on text direction function estimation using 3D regularization. In order to examine the performance of our proposed method, both qualitative and quantitative evaluation and comparison with several recent methods are conducted in our experiments. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms relevant approaches for camera-captured document image rectification, in terms of improvements on both visual distortion removal and OCR accuracy.


There is a great interest in developing suitable alternatives for the utilization of whey, a by-product from cheese production that contains high concentration of lactose. These alternatives allow the transformation of whey into several products, reducing its environmental impact and providing gains to the dairy industry through the development of new products. The goal of this study was to optimize the synthesis of lactulose from the permeate of bovine whey. The response surface methodology (RSM) was used to investigate the effect of two parameters, time of reaction (90, 135 and 180 min) and isomerization type (sodium sulfite, boric acid and b-galactosidase enzyme), aiming to obtain the highest reaction yield. According to the response surface and desirability function, the best experimental conditions for lactulose synthesis (where it was obtained 50.06 g of lactulose per 100 g of whey powder) consisted of a reaction time of 180 min with the use of enzymatic isomerization.


This paper focuses on a single name-related consequence of the language contact situation of Hungarian in the Carpathian basin: the use of surnames on their own (i.e. without Christian names) as sociolinguistic variants of Hungarian female names in the Slovakian variety of Hungarian. To support the conclusions drawn from a corpus of spoken language, the author examines inscriptions of surnames in the cemeteries of two Hungarian settlements, Nagymegyer (Vel'ký Meder) and Alsószeli (Dolné Saliby), both in Slovakia, paying special attention to Standard Slovakian, local Hungarian and Standard Hungarian usage. The final conclusion of the paper is that the phenomenon of erasing Christian names from the maiden names of married women can be observed in all classes of society of the Hungarian minority living in Slovakia. The use of bare surnames occurs virtually in all speech situations, both for mentioning and for addressing females, in speech as well as in writing. The phenomenon is presented with respect to formality vs. informality and standard vs. substandard speech. The author gives utmost care to the chronology of the spread of this Slovakian contact feature.


Background: Beta-thalassemia major patients typically require chronic transfusion and iron-chelating agents to reduce serum iron overload. Osveral® is an available Iranian brand name of deferasirox used by majority of thalassemic patients. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of Osveral® vs. Exjade® in major beta- thalassemia patients. Methods: In this randomized clinical trial, all patients received a single daily dose of 30 mg/kg either of Osveral® or Exjade® for 6 months. Primary outcome was the mean of bimonthly changes in serum ferritin concentration and secondary outcomes included mean changes of heart and liver MRI T2* after a year. Results: Finally, 80 patients completed the study. The mean serum ferritin level at the end of sixth month significantly decreased in Osveral® and Exjade® groups (p<0.01). After a year, means cardiac MRI T2* in Osveral® group were changed from 25.9±9.6 ms to 25.4±9.7 ms and in Exjade® group from 24.8±9.2 ms to 26.9±5.9 ms, with no significant difference (P=0.43). Mean liver MRI T2* for Osveral® and Exjade® groups were 8.6±6.4 ms (baseline 6.3±4.7) and 6.3±4 ms (baseline 4.9±3.5), respectively and there was no significant difference between two study arms (P=0.1). Conclusion: Osveral® decreased significantly the serum ferritin level and improved heart and liver iron overload as efficient as Exjade®. It can be a suitable cost-effective alternative agent in beta-thalassemia major patients.


This paper presents a system that was developed to monitor wheel defects on metro vehicles in order to reduce annoyance and infrastructural damage because of noise and vibrations. Information about the wheel state and its evolution can be added to the mere mileage to improve the efficiency of the reprofiling decisions. In addition, sudden defects, that could potentially be severe, are detected and an alarm is raised to take the necessary actions. Some other systems have been developed to monitor wheel state by means of measuring the vibrations or noises generated by vehicles; however, the case of a metro is somewhat distinct. Wheel thread defects on a metro vehicle are not necessarily related to overloads or rolling contact fatigue. Damage to infrastructure and noise emission generated by small defects are particularly important due to the high frequency of the service and the proximity of the track to residential buildings, especially in the case of an open-air section that runs though a neighborhood as some sections of the Metrobilbao. The system measures vibrations at a specific location on the rail as the vehicle passes over it, then analyzes these signals and stores the information in a specific database that can be easily queried from any computer on the intranet. The system has been installed on the Metrobilbao line and tested for three years. During this period, more than 8,500 trains, or 272,000 wheels, have passed over the accelerometers and corresponding data was stored in a database. 448 wheels threads were physically measured in order to check the accuracy of the system. This data has been used to fit the statistics for new or newly machined wheels and estimate the alarm threshold, and finally tuned in agreement with the maintenance workshop.


It is supposed that many managers in an organization are ineffective because the task of managing a new team is underestimated. The leaders, as well as the organization, too often take this task for granted and are not aware of how difficult the situation can be. Especially in family firms one might ignore the lack of skills and the weaknesses of a family member who shall be appointed for a new leading position.Through four case studies, including semi-structured interviews with a family and non-family member respectively, we gave answers to our research question how to gain credibility as a young professional family member in a new leading position in a family firm. Further, we investigated how the 'silver spoon' influences the credibility of the new leader as a family member.It was found that the most important factors influencing the credibility of the young professional family member are experience, commitment, individual factor, relationship to family and non-family members. A young professional's work experience can help to gain respect and credibility from the employees. A high level of commitment to the firm and being willing to work hard helps to overcome the prejudices of the 'silver spoon' and shows that they have earned the right to be in the current position.Furthermore, it was found that the new leaders struggle most with the incumbent, relationship to family members and relationships to non-family members. It is an obstacle that the newcomer is compared to the incumbent and sometimes still treated as a child. An additional problem is that the family pressures the newcomer into responsible positions, which the new leader does not feel prepared for. By giving the newcomer the possibility to gain work experience, through a mentorship program and through the incumbent stepping back and trusting the newcomer, companies can support the young professional family members.


This paper describes a patch-type segmentation method for fast partitioning of 3D triangular meshes. This method uses the hierarchical queue watershed algorithm as well as a merging process to limit over segmentation. The merging process is based on waterfall and offers an effective struc ture for checking the different merging levels in order to find the best level of segmentation. This method has ap plications for different problems in visualization and geo metrical modelling such as 3D feature extraction, mesh re duction, texture mapping of 3D surfaces or computer aided design.


This investigation examined the ability of 44 preschool children to acquire novel words embedded in storybook contexts. Previous investigations of word learning have typically consisted of novel words for which synonyms exist. It is argued that the acquisition of unfamiliar words that refer to existing concepts that already have labels is not necessarily the same process as the acquisition of legitimately new words for novel referents. Storybook conditions were designed to provide equivalent opportunity for exposure to the target words in two different contexts. All target words consisted of single-syllable, high phonotactic probability sound sequences. This investigation was designed for several purposes: 1) to examine children's receptive identification of novel words following brief exposure (fast mapping); 2) to identify possible differences in acquisition of nouns and verbs; and 3) to determine if the rate of acquisition of novel words significantly differs by the context of presentation. All children identified novel words following exposure through book reading, preferring nouns over verbs. Participants in one version of the story acquired a significantly greater total number of words. Verb learning did not differ significantly between the storybook conditions.


A neutron induced neutron emission experiment was conducted as the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). In this experiment, a sample was placed in a well collimated neutron beam and was surrounded by an array of 28 fast neutron detectors (EJ-309). The experiment was performed with a neutron flight path of 21.5 m from the source to the sample, and 1 m from the sample to the detectors. The neutron emission from the sample was measured as a function of neutron time of flight covering an incident energy range from 0.7- 20 MeV. The samples included U-235, Pu-239, carbon (graphite), and blanks that matched the encapsulation of the sample. The measured samples were constantly cycled in and out of the neutron beam. This type of experiment measures neutron emission from all reactions occurring in the sample such as fission and elastic and inelastic scattering. Similar to the methodology previously developed at RPI [1], the measurements were compared with detailed simulations of the experiment using different cross section evaluations for the sample. The observed differences can be attributed to the evaluated neutron cross section and angular distributions. The carbon sample was used as a reference to validate both the experiment and simulation methodology and showed good agreement between experiments and simulations. A review of the experimental setup, analysis methods, and some of the results will be presented.


type="main" xml:id="ajar12023-abs-0001"> The land-use optimisation framework, NZFARM , has been promoted as a tool that can be used to assess the economic and environmental impacts of policy on regional land use. This paper outlines how methodological limitations presently restrict its capacity to provide meaningful insight into the relative value of alternative land-use configurations. The model is calibrated using positive mathematical programming, which has been shown in the literature to result in models that yield arbitrary output outside of the calibrated baseline. There is a high likelihood that this is the case, as no validation appears to have been carried out. Significant model development will be required before NZFARM outputs can be used with any confidence to inform future policy development. We conclude with suggestions on how NZFARM and models of its kind can be further developed to improve their capacity for meaningful simulation.


In this dissertation, a provably effective and affordable dependability and security management solution is constructed for applications running in a networked environment and performance studied using analytical models and simulation tools. The solution is built around a component-based approach where existing infrastructures such as high speed networks, spare capacity in cluster servers, runtime program security checks, and mature solutions in checkpointing, voting and recovery are integrated. This approach leads to the synthesis of a new solution from known good components, a paradigm often referred to as the COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) where dependability and security are harnessed through software-implemented fault tolerance.
A new dependability paradigm is developed that provides adaptive fault-tolerance ranging between a simplex system and a processor-pair system. The adaptability is achieved using a tunable replication mechanism that replicates a subset of the tasks and checks them for faults. The approach consists of a main processor and an auxiliary processor available for job execution and a comparator module used for comparing the results of the two processors. As applications are executed on the main processor, depending on compile time and runtime specifications, the state of the running application is saved at certain execution points. This process of saving a state at specific points is termed as taking a snapshot. The code between two snapshots is transferred to the auxiliary processor and executed. At the end of every snapshot interval, the states at the main processor and auxiliary processor are compared for validity. As the code gets executed on the auxiliary processor, security checks are also performed on it. Using selective replication rather than complete replication, a lower-end processor can be used as the auxiliary processor instead of a replica. The scheme provides an end-to-end dependability by taking snapshots, running them redundantly, comparing the results, and also checking for security.
The auxiliary processor can be a homogeneous system similar to the main processor (such as the processor-pair approach) or a heterogeneous system such as an instruction co-processor or a distributed system. Using a heterogeneous processor for the auxiliary stream increases the security of applications because the code layout and instruction set will be different, which make it difficult for the same malicious code to compromise two different code bases. A prototype implementation and analytical models are developed to study the performability and reliability improvements. Generalized Stochastic Petri Net (GSPN) is used for modeling the system components because of its ability to capture system dynamics in a succinct manner.
When the auxiliary processor is heterogeneous to the main processor, the snapshot state and the code between two snapshots have to be converted from one architectural specification to another. Binary translation is used to convert the code and system state. The frequently executed code sections are discovered using a knapsack-based scheme, and only those code sections get converted to native auxiliary system code. Rest of the code sections is interpreted on the auxiliary system. During translation, the code gets optimized using a register allocation scheme to reduce the number of register spills. Additionally during code translation, security checks are inserted into it to check for security flaws such as bounds overflow, return address mismatch, and malicious code execution.
Though the proposed technique would offer somewhat reduced fault-tolerance compared to complete replication, it provides significant assurance at a nominal cost for a single stream of computation. Valgrind and Sharpe are used for prototype development and running the analytical models. SpecCPU_2000 integer benchmarks are used to determine the performance results.


This paper proposes a new de-interlacing method which results in efficient visual improvement. In the proposed algorithm, the distance weight was considered and the previously developed the E-ELA (Efficient Edge-based Line Averaging) algorithm and the NAL (New Adaptive Linear interpolation) algorithm were used as a basis. The de-interlacing method was divided into two main parts. First, the edge direction was found. Then, missing pixels were interpolated along with the decided edge. In this paper, after predicting the edge through the E-ELA algorithm, missing pixels were interpolated by using the weighted distance based on the NAL algorithm. Experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm is superior to the conventional algorithms in terms of the objective and subjective criteria.


Electricity access is key in driving socio economic development. Since Ghana initiated its National Electrification Scheme (NES) 20 years ago, access has risen to 72%, with over 88,000 communities yet to be electrified.
From 2006 to 2008, the Multifunctional Platform (MFP) programme provided mechanical energy services based on diesel engines in 38 off-grid communities; yet these communities are rich in agricultural residues. International experience has shown that decentralised power generation by biomass gasification systems is cost competitive for remote villages with low load demand, and has the lowest environmental impact as compared to other conversion technologies.
Additionally, the Ghanaian Renewable Energy Law sets forth the possibility for distribution utilities to benefit from renewable energy obligations in investments conducted in rural areas. This study was commissioned to investigate the prospects of electricity service provision based on biomass gasification technology. To this end, the feasibility of using agricultural residues to run a 24 hour mini-grid electricity service has been characterised in five MFP communities in Ghana (Brong Ahafo and Northern regions). The institutions involved in this study, TEC-KNUST, KITE and IS.UPC are partners in the diffusion of sustainable energy solutions, as a key action to eradicate energy poverty in the region.


We report on the effects of grain size in antiferromagnetic IrMn layers exchange bias to Co2FeSi. We also report on an enhanced effect where Mn layers are inserted in the interface. The exchange-biased IrMn/Co2FeSi samples were grown by a HiTUS system, which allows us to control the grain size. The smaller IrMn grains were too small to give a large Hex while an Mn layer 0.5 nm thick dramatically increased Hex. This significant increase is attributed to optimization of the Mn concentration at the interface. This grain-size and interface tuning offers a way to control the exchange bias in such systems.


This is a practical book for nurses on the management of patients with chronic cardiac disease. With the number of patients who have survived a heart attack but need continuous monitoring increasing, the role of nurse specialists is becoming ever more important. This book provides the necessary information for them to fulfil the role. It complements the lead author's earlier book, Improving Outcomes in Chronic Heart Failure, by providing the details of clinical management for working directly with patients (e.g. therapeutic targets in hypertension) and for working with patients to ensure compliance with medication.


"One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman," Simone de Beauvoir once famously said presenting the hypothesis that the idea of a woman, the female identity, is constructed as a reflection of its context. The purpose of this paper is to discover one aspect of this construction by exploring the identity development and expression of five young women, in the context of Saudi Arabia, to theorize about how they construct their ego identity and sense of self in the context in which they exist.Though in-depth conversations it is established how the women view themselves and their expression. This material is then reflected upon through the prism of defining identity and the identity status' as explored by Eric Erikson and James Marcia as to create a further understanding of the women's creation of self.The conclusion is that young women in Saudi Arabia construct their identity through negotiation. Faced with blurred lines of personal, religious and national identity, negotiation is unavoidable in the complex structure in which the women's expression and development takes place.


We investigate bifurcation and chaos observed in coupled Bonhoffer van der Pol (BVP) neurons with external impulsive forces. Although the single neuron without the external force has only one equilibrium point, combining these n (n/spl ges/3) neurons unidirectionally in a ring, n-phase periodic solutions are generated. Applying the impulsive forces, successive period-doubling bifurcations of the n-phase solution occur and chaotic states, namely n-phase chaos, appear. When n=2 and 3, we find the parameter regions in which the switching phenomena of burst firing are observed. Moreover, the mechanisms of the switching phenomena are clarified by numerical bifurcation analysis.


Novel discrete orthogonal transforms are introduced in this paper, namely the unified complex Hadamard transforms. These transforms have elements confined to four elementary complex integer numbers which are generated based on the Walsh-Hadamard transform, using a single unifying mathematical formula. The generation of higher dimension transformation matrices is discussed in detail.


In the present work we have reported the effect of temperature on the gas sensing properties of pure Polyaniline (PANI) and Multiwall carbon nanotube (MWNT) doped PANI composite thin film based chemiresistor type gas sensors for hydrogen gas sensing application. PANI and MWNT doped PANI composite were synthesized by in situ chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline using ammonium persulfate in an acidic medium. The thin sensing film of chemically synthesized PANI and MWNT doped PANI composite were deposited onto finger type Cu-interdigited electrodes using spin cast technique to prepared chemiresistor type gas sensor. The electrical properties of these composite thin films were characterized by I-V measurements as function of temperature. The I-V measurement revealed that conductivity of composite thin films increased as the temperature increased. The changes in resistance of the composite thin film sensor were utilized for detection of hydrogen gas. It was observed that at room temperature, MWNT doped PANI composite sensor shows higher response value and sensitivity with good repeatability in comparison to pure PANI thin film sensor. It was also observed that both PANI and MWNT doped PANI composite thin film based sensors showed unstable behavior as the temperature increased. The surface morphology of these composite thin films has also been characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurement.


Objectives We retrospectively evaluated the results of pancreatic juice cultures of patients with acute pancreatitis and other pancreatic disorders. Methods Twenty patients who underwent pancreatic juice culture were studied. Nine had acute pancreatitis due to alcohol (n=5), idiopathic causes (n=2), drugs (n=1), or gallstones (n=1), and remaining 11 had other pancreatic disorders such as an intraductal papillary mucin-producing neoplasm (n=3) and main pancreatic duct dilatation with a stricture due to a tumorous lesion suspected of pancreatic cancer (n=7) or chronic pancreatitis (n=1) without symptoms. Nasopancreatic drainage tubes were placed for pancreatic duct drainage in acute pancreatitis and for pancreatic juice cytology in other disorders. Pancreatic juice was obtained through the drainage tube and cultured. Results Pancreatic juice cultures were positive in all patients with acute pancreatitis for Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus species, and others. Six among 11 patients (54.5%) with other disorders showed positive results for Escherichia coli, Streptococcus salivarius, and others. The rate of positive pancreatic juice cultures was significantly higher in acute pancreatitis (p=0.038). Seven of the 9 patients with acute pancreatitis were classified as having severe acute pancreatitis, and all survived treatment. Conclusions Pancreatic juice culture was highly positive in acute pancreatitis. Further study is needed to confirm the relationship between orally indigenous bacteria identified in the pancreatic juice and acute pancreatitis.


Abstract Cold climate exerts a clear influence on the processes of marine transgression in mid- and high-latitude coastal-plain settings, but its signature in the depositional record is much clearer at high latitude. Both cases selected for this study are influenced by the legacy of past glaciation and the pervasive effects of ongoing Holocene marine transgression. Both are affected by sea ice. The high-latitude site lies within the zone of continuous permafrost and the abundance of excess ground ice along the Beaufort coast is the dominant factor distinguishing it from the mid-latitude Gulf of St Lawrence (GSL) setting and standard models of transgressive coasts elsewhere. In the southern GSL, the transgressive unconformity (TU) is at the seabed (or buried by a very thin veneer) across the inner shelf; shoreface sand moves landward, keeping pace with the transgressive front through deposition in barriers, dunes and estuaries. The pace of transgression in the Beaufort Sea is influenced by a number of distinctive periglacial erosion processes, including thermal abrasion and thaw subsidence. Marine transgression across this landscape creates intricate breached-lake estuaries and low sandy barrier beaches with limited dunes, leaving distinctive facies suites and geometry, while seaward sediment transport buries the TU on the inner shelf.


The Spectral Division Method is an analytic approach for sound field synthesis that determines the loudspeaker driving function in the wavenumber domain. Compact expressions for the driving function in time-frequency domain or in time domain can only be determined for a low number of special cases. Generally, the involved spatial Fourier transforms have to be evaluated numerically. We present a detailed description of the computational procedure and minimize the number of required computations by exploiting the following two aspects: 1) The interval for the spatial sampling of the virtual sound field can be selected for each time-frequency bin, whereby low time-frequency bins can be sampled more coarsely, and 2) the driving function only needs to be evaluated at the locations of the loudspeakers of a given array. The inverse spatial Fourier transform is therefore not required to be evaluated at all initial spatial sampling points but only at those locations that coincide with loudspeakers.


There is abundant literature on the therapeutic relationship and its importance, on relationality, and on the depth of empathy. Despite this, the experience of emotional connection in therapy from psychotherapists' perspective, which is central to the development of the therapeutic relationship, is relatively scarce. There is little in the literature on how the therapist-client bond develops and how it helps clients. This study aimed to explore how integrative psychotherapists experience emotional connection and how in their view it develops. The study used hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry, specifically Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four integrative psychotherapists on their experience of emotional connection in their work with clients. It was found that the most influential conditions and therapist qualities that influence emotional connection from the therapists' experience were: 'Embodied, emotional openness'; 'Empathy'; and; 'Striving towards a therapeutic relationship'. These themes and their professional implications are discussed.


This paper reports the growth of Mn doped ZnO thin films by sol-gel technique with different Mn concentration (0-20 %). Structural and vibrational properties have been measured by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The films exhibit crystalline nature with (002) preferential orientation. The crystallite size and lattice parameters have been estimated as a function of Mn concentration. The Raman spectrum of the ZnO film shows the peaks corresponding to E2 (high) mode at 434 cm -1 assigned to Zn-O bond and A1 (LO) mode at 575 cm -1 . The elemental analysis of the films have been performed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirms the presence of Zn, O and Mn in doped films. Surface morphology and roughness of the films are observed by atomic force microscopy. The optical bandgap is found to decrease with Mn concentration as estimated by Tauc's plots. Room temperature ferromagnetism has been obtained in ZnO: Mn thin films by superconducting quantum interference device. Copyright © 2016 VBRI Press.


A novel seismic base isolation system has been developed for high-voltage (HV) porcelain post insulators. The seismic isolation device consists of two steel plates, four polyurethane springs, and a steel rod, which are low-cost components compared to the post insulators. Two alternative designs of the device are experimentally and numerically assessed in this article. A simple and robust numerical model consisting of linear line elements and nonlinear springs was generated, and subsequently validated using the experimental results. Incremental dynamic analyses (IDAs) were then performed to obtain fragility curves. Ten historical earthquake profiles, scaled to intensities between 0.1 and 2.0 g, were then applied to the numerical models. The fragility curves, generated according to the latest version of IEEE-693, demonstrate that the seismic isolation devices are highly effective in diminishing the base moment of the porcelain insulator. It should be noted that relatively large displacements at the top of the pole must be accounted for by ensuring adequate slackness in the flexible conductors.


In order to use concept maps in physics classes effectively, teachers' knowledge and ideas about concept mapping are as important as the physics knowledge used in mapping. For this reason, we aimed to examine pre-service physics teachers' knowledge on concept mapping, their ideas about the implementation of concept mapping in physics classes, the hidden elements influencing their ideas, and the relations between knowledge and ideas, qualitatively. The participants of this study were eight pre-service physics teachers enrolled in the physics education department at two state universities. The results of the interviews conducted with the participants and their artifacts revealed that although pre-service physics teachers had basic knowledge about concept mapping, they had some negative ideas about implementation in physics classes. Furthermore, language, limitation in assessment, limitation in expressions, and teacher's knowledge were identified as the sources of pre-service physics teachers' negative ideas.


Today, when one thinks of the Supreme Court's seminal decisions concerning the constitutional regulation of confessions, Miranda v. Arizona naturally comes to mind. This symposium contribution considers yet another Warren Court decision regarding confessions, one issued two years before Miranda: Massiah v. United States. In Massiah, the Court deviated from its decades-long reliance on due process to limit police authority to extract confessions, focusing instead on the right to counsel contained in the Sixth Amendment. Massiah inspired a spirited three-member dissent, written by Justice Byron White, voicing a tone of alarm akin to that to come in the Miranda dissents, and the decision has since been lauded as a key limit on police authority.
This Article assesses whether Massiah warrants such praise and concern. It does so by reporting the results of a study of almost two thousand state and federal Massiah-related cases decided between Massiah and the Court's 2009 decision in Montejo v. Louisiana, which imposed major limits on Massiah's application. If Montejo marks an end to what seemed a significant constraint on police authority, the study illuminates what has been lost. As it turns out, despite Massiah's initial promise, it has had rather limited impact, at least as reflected in the caselaw. The article contextualizes these results by examining research conducted to date on the impact of other confession-related constitutional limits imposed on police by the Court, especially those concerning Massiah's contemporary--Miranda.


Abstract: The case of Yearworth decided by the Court of Appeals of England and Wales (2009) put the application of tort law and contract law to the test in several respects. A claim was brought by a number of men who had undergone treatment for cancer and therefore stored their sperm, which was negligently destroyed by the hospital, causing the men a psychiatric injury. It is thus a case of shock injury suffered consequential to an initial harm. However, what has been destroyed: a body part that constitutes a personal injury or damage to property? In addition, how is liability for a shock injury in such a case or other cases delimited? I argue that the assessment cannot be driven by an introspective definition of the concepts of harm. Instead, it is necessary to grasp the nature of the initial harm caused by the tortfeasor - including the rights (or protected interests) and duties related to that initial harm - and the normative correlation to the final personal injury (shock injury) suffered by the injured person. A model for making that assessment is presented here from a Swedish tort law perspective on shock injuries consequential to the destruction of biological material and property in general.


This year's literature on the detection, prevention, and rehabilitation of amblyopia is again somewhat dominated by the topic of vision screening, specifically photoscreening and also by the therapeutic challenges of compliance and late treatment. Basic scientists also have added to our knowledge and understanding of certain interesting and clinically significant characteristics of the visual perception of amblyopes.


Translocation of DNA during in vitro DNA synthesis on nuclear matrix bound replicational assemblies from regenerating rat liver was determined by measuring the processivity (average number of nucleotides added following one productive binding event of the polymerase to the DNA template) of nuclear matrix bound DNA polymerase alpha with poly(dT).oligo(A)10 as template primer. The matrix-bound polymerase had an average processivity (28.4 nucleotides) that was severalfold higher than the bulk nuclear DNA polymerase alpha activity extracted during nuclear matrix preparation (8.9 nucleotides). ATP at 1 mM markedly enhanced the activity and processivity of the matrix-bound polymerase but not the corresponding salt-soluble enzyme. The majority of the ATP-dependent activity and processivity enhancement was completed by 100 microM ATP and included products ranging up to full template length (1000-1200 nucleotides). Average processivity of the net ATP-stimulated polymerase activity exceeded 80 nucleotides with virtually all the DNA products greater than 50 nucleotides. Release of nuclear matrix bound DNA polymerase alpha by sonication resulted in a loss of ATP stimulation of activity and a corresponding decrease in processivity to a level similar to that of the salt-soluble polymerase (6.8 nucleotides). All nucleoside di- and triphosphates were as effective as ATP. Stimulation of both activity and processivity by the nonhydrolyzable ATP analogues adenosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate), 5'-adenylyl imidodiphosphate, and adenosine 5'-O-(1-thiotriphosphate) further suggested that the hydrolysis of ATP is not required for enhancement to occur.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Background Guidelines recommend both protease inhibitor (PI)- and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)-containing regimens for initial therapy in HIV-positive individuals whilst clinical trial data comparing treatment options remain limited. Objective To assess whether drug selection (PI versus NNRTI) in antiretroviral-naive patients is related to virological response at 6 months within a clinical cohort. Design Databases from two large clinics were used to identify all treatment-naive patients initiating highly active antiretroviral therapy (PI/ two PI or NNRTI). Statistical models determined the likelihood of suppressing HIV viral load < 500 copies/ml, the risk of treatment failure by 6 months, and factors associated with treatment success. Results Of 1109 potentially eligible patients 888 met study criteria and were included; 484 were prescribed a PI (40% indinavir, 41% nelfinavir) and 404 were prescribed NNRTI (40% efavirenz, 60% nevirapine). Three treatment arms were compared: efavirenz versus nevirapine versus PI. After stratification by year and centre and adjustment for baseline variables, only treatment group and baseline viral load remained significantly associated with virological suppression at 6 months. Patients on efavirenz were significantly more likely to achieve an undetectable viral load than those on PI or nevirapine. The relative hazard for nevirapine was 0.77 (95% confidence interval, 0.61–0.96, P = 0.02) and that for PI was 0.74 (95% confidence interval, 0.58–0.94, P = 0.01). Efavirenz also performed better in the analysis of treatment failure at 6 months. Conclusion Although observational cohort data may be susceptible to significant bias, this study suggests a better initial virological response for efavirenz compared to either nevirapine or the PI. Clinical trial data is required to confirm these findings.


Astrocyte ion channels participate in ionic homeostasis in the brain. Inward rectifying potassium channels (Kir channels) in astrocytes have been particularly implicated in K(+) homeostasis because of their high open probability at resting potential and their increased conductance at high concentrations of extracellular K(+). We examined the expression of the Kir2.1 subunit, one of the Kir channel subunits, in the mouse brain by immunohistochemistry. Kir2.1 channels were widely distributed throughout the brain, with high expression in the olfactory bulb and the cerebellum. Interestingly, they were abundantly expressed in astrocytes of the olfactory bulb, while astrocytes in other brain regions including the hippocampus did not show any detectable expression. However, Kir2.1 channel-expressing cells were dramatically increased in the hippocampus by kainic acid-induced seizure and the cells were glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-positive, which confirms that astrocytes in the hippocampus express Kir2.1 channels under pathological conditions. Our results imply that Kir2.1 channels in astrocyte may be involved in buffering K(+) against accumulated extracellular K(+) caused by neuronal hyperexcitability under phathophysiological conditions.


The general objective of this study was to identify the challenges faced in the process of adding value in the sea food supply chain along the Kenyan coast, with particular interest on fish, and propose sustainable solutions to these challenges. This study looks closely at the key value chain activities that characterize the sea food industry along the Kenyan coastline with the view of establishing their completeness and efficiency. It further identifies the gaps that exist in the chain and recommends measures that can be implemented to improve the chains. To achieve this objective the researchers identified the value chain activities that characterize the seafood industry in Kenya with specific reference to the Kenyan coastline and analyzed the gaps and challenges that exist in the value chain. The study has gone further to develop recommendations on policy and non-policy mitigation options to the value chain gaps and challenges that have been identified. Information gathered and the recommendations thereof will help to create a more complete and efficient chain and, therefore, optimize the economic as well as social benefits of the seafood industry to the country. Fred Mugambi Mwirigi1, Fridah Simba Theuri2 1Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology P.O. Box 62000, Nairobi, Kenya 2Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology P.O. Box 62000, Nairobi, Kenya Corresponding Author: Fred Mugambi Mwirigi Recieved: April 16, 2012 Accepted: April 30, 2012


OBJECTIVES: to identify the determinants associated with the practice of self-medication in the 60-year-old or older population in the city of Salgueiro/Pernambuco/Brazil. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out in the urban zone in the city of Salgueiro - PE; questionnaires were handed out between May/01/2004 and June/06/2004 in a sample population of 355 persons aged 60 years or more. Data were processed and analyzed using EPIINFO 6.04 software after a double entry and validated. RESULTS: The sample was comprised of 44.9% (159/355) 60-70-year olds, 69.8% (247/355) of which were female, 53.1% (188/355) illiterate, 40.7% (145/355) without having finished high school, and 77.7% (276/355) retired. In the group that used medicines without medical prescription, the drugs used most often were analgesics (30%) and antipyretics (29%). Of the reasons presented to justify the use of self-prescribed medicines, pain was the most frequent one (38.3%), followed by fever (24.4%), diarrhea (8.0%), hypertension (8.0%) and cough (5.2%). There was association between the lack of exercise and self-medication (x2 =14.44 p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: there is a high prevalence of self-medication in this group; analgesics and antipyretics are the drugs used most often; pain is the symptom that most leads to self-medication; and sedentary individuals use more self-medication than those who exercise.


*** * *** BRANDAO, S.; SUAZO, G. I.; GUIMARAES, A. S. & MARIE, S. N. Referred dental pain, an analysis of their prevalence and clinical implication. Int. J. Odontostomat., 6(2):169-173, 2012. ˚ SUMMARY: The study objective was to evaluate the prevalence of referred dental pain (RDP) in a group of Brazilians subjects and identify possible partnerships with sex, age and the presence of periodontal or periapical lesions. A descriptive cross-sectional study was designed, 98 patients between 14 and 64 years old (59 women and 39 men), who consulted by dental pain were evaluated clinically and radiographically in order to determine the cause and partnership with periapical and periodontal lesions and its possible territories projection other than their origin. The prevalence of RDP was 31.6%, higher in women (67.74%) though without statistical significance. The RDP was presented at a 45.16% together with periapical lesion and a 25.8% along with periodontal lesion. There was no relationship between age and RDP presence. The high prevalence of RDP found reinforces the need for a diagnosis of orofacial pain.


Development and/or design of new materials and/or structures for effective gas sensor applications with fast response and high sensitivity, selectivity, and stability are very important issues in the gas sensor technology. This critical review introduces our recent progress in the development of meso-/nanoporous semiconducting metal oxides and their applications to gas sensors. First, the basic concepts of resistive gas sensors and the recent synthesis of meso-/nanoporous metal oxides for gas sensor applications are introduced. The advantages of meso-/nanoporous metal oxides are also presented, taking into account the crystallinity and ordered/disordered porous structures. Second, the synthesis methods of meso-/nanoporous metal oxides including the soft-template, hard-template, and temple-free methods are introduced, in which the advantages and disadvantages of each synthetic method are figured out. Third, the applications of meso-/nanoporous metal oxides as gas sensors are presented. The gas nanosensors are designed based on meso-/nanoporous metal oxides for effective detection of toxic gases. The sensitivity, selectivity, and stability of the meso-/nanoporous gas nanosensors are also discussed. Finally, some conclusions and an outlook are presented.


The individual or joint effects of annealing and equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) treatments on the high-temperature compressive deformation and damage behavior of cast LY12 Al alloys were studied. The compressive deformation behavior and surface deformation and damage characteristics of differently treated LY12 Al alloy samples were examined at temperatures ranging from 25°C to 400°C. It is found that the LY12 Al alloy exhibits different compressive mechanical behavior depending on different treatments, and the compressive deformation and damage characteristics of LY12 Al alloys with different microstructural states are closely related with the testing temperature. As compared to other samples (e.g. as-cast, annealed, as-cast+2ECAPed), the sample annealed at 450°C for 3h followed by ECAPed for 2 passages (i.e. annealed+2ECAPed) shows a better high-temperature deformation stability.


Homes constitute more than one-thirds of the total energy consumption. Producing an energy breakdown for a home has been shown to reduce household energy consumption by up to 15%, among other benefits. However, existing approaches to produce an energy breakdown require hardware to be installed in each home and are thus prohibitively expensive. In this paper, we propose a novel application of feature-based matrix factorisation that does not require any additional hard- ware installation. The basic premise of our approach is that common design and construction patterns for homes create a repeating structure in their energy data. Thus, a sparse basis can be used to represent energy data from a broad range of homes. We evaluate our approach on 516 homes from a publicly available data set and find it to be more effective than five baseline approaches that either require sensing in each home, or a very rigorous survey across a large number of homes coupled with complex modelling. We also present a deployment of our system as a live web application that can potentially provide energy breakdown to millions of homes.


Purpose of review The rise in the prevalence of food allergy over the past decades has focused attention of factors that may impact disease development, most notably the gut microbiota. The gut microbial communities play a crucial role in promoting oral tolerance. Their alteration by such factors as Cesarean section delivery, diet and antibiotics may influence disease development. This review highlights recent progress in our understanding of the role of the gut microbiota in the development of food allergy. Recent findings Food allergy is associated with alterations in the gut microbiota or dysbiosis early in life that may be predictive of disease persistence versus tolerance acquisition. Evidence for the benefits of adjunct therapy with probiotics for the prevention of food allergies and for potentiating oral immunotherapy remains circumstantial, with further studies needed to validate its use. Studies in murine models of food allergy suggest that microbial therapy with protolerogenic bacteria such as certain Clostridial species holds promise in future applications for prevention or therapy of food allergy. Summary Progress in understanding the role of dysbiosis in food allergy and the factors that promote its development, such as antibiotic therapy, diet, modes of infant delivery, and environmental exposures, offer windows of opportunity for both preventive and therapeutic interventions to stem the rising tide of the food allergy epidemic.


The rationale for this research survey is to establish the need for the third tier of government to embrace ICT to enhance its performance. The objective of this study is to ascertain the effectiveness of the role of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in enhancing productivity in the local government administration, in Benue State, Nigeria. The researcher adopted a quasi experimental research design technique. The population for this study consisted of all the 23 local governments in Benue State in which 5 employees were judgmentally sample using 5-point Likert scale questionnaire. Pearson chi-square test was employed in testing the two (2) formulated hypothesis. The findings from the research revealed that Information Communication Technology (ICT) have played a positive role in areas of computerization of Internal Accounting, payroll operations, word processing and Budget planning and administration, job costing, scanning documentation and mapping, decision support, online training/learning, urban planning amongst others in the 23 local government areas of Benue State, Nigeria. The study also found that there exist several problems militating against ICT effective applications. These problems include lack of technical skills, acquisition of obsolete equipments, errachi power supply, ineffective regulation amongst others. The research recommended that local government administrators should made investment in Information Communication Technology (ICT) a top priority, hence it is proven that it is a catalyst for development in areas of education, health, secretariat administration, proper financial reward keeping, politics, governance, culture, business and production.


This study centered on values-based business education for empowerment, self-reliance and poverty reduction inNigeria. The study identified 30 critical values business education students need to possess. 192 questionnaire itemswere constructed after careful review of literature (Njoku, 2007 and Living Values Education, 2013) and administeredthem to 170 year I to 4 business education students, College of Education, and 22 lecturers of College of Education,Kwara State University, Malete, Nigeria. All the respondents completed and returned their questionnaire. One researchquestion, "what are the values required by business education students for empowerment, self-reliance and povertyreduction in Nigeria?" was answered using mean and standard deviation. One hypothesis, "Lecturers and students donot differ significantly in their views regarding values required for empowerment, self-reliance and poverty reductionin Nigeria" was tested using t-test statistics. It was found that students need to possess these identified values in order tobe empowered for self-reliance, and poverty reduction in Nigeria. It was recommended, among others, that all theidentified values be learned along-side business education subjects so that business education graduates will not onlyimbibe these values but also exhibit those values in real life situations


This sumptuously illustrated book showcases the richness and variety of historical dress of the 17th and 18th centuries. Drawn from the Victoria and Albert Museum's world-famous collection, these garments can be seen in close-up for the first time. Perfection is in the detail: Jacobean blackwork, neoclassical tambour work, decorative seams, exquisite stitching, knife-sharp pleats, and voluptuous drapery are pictured here, alongside more unusual techniques such as stamping, pinking, and slashing. This volume offers the opportunity to see rare, historic clothes in greater detail than is normally possible. Many of these pieces are too fragile to be on permanent display, while significant garments such as the wedding suit of James II, with its intricate silver embroidery, cannot be exposed to bright light. This gallery of exquisite photographs, with line-drawings showing the construction of the complete garment, and a text that sets each in the context of its time, is a visual feast for all fashion lovers, and an essential resource for curators, collectors, students, and designers.


Nursing homes! What horrible images those words conjure up for most Americans. Those of us who work in long-term care encounter the public beliefs that taking up residence in a nursing home is an irreversible road to suffering and death. People picture institutions that are cold and sterile environments with hospital-like rooms and long, uncarpeted hallways and institutional colors.
Residents of nursing homes are imagined as frail older folks, who are deteriorating and disabled, existing
in rooms shared by like individuals, at best dimly aware of their environments and isolated from the wider society. Time in a nursing home is envisioned as passing slowly with each day regimented and boring.
It is little wonder that many older people in this country fear being "put into" a nursing home, to the point of extracting solemn promises from family never to allow this to happen. Some families suffer great guilt and anguish about the decision to move their older relatives to nursing homes. Nursing home caregivers have low status in the hierarchy of health care workers, evidenced by comparatively low pay and high turnover. Care of residents is directed at treating their individual medical problems, but actually differs little from resident to resident. The staff is clearly separated from the residents by a wide gulf of power homes authority. In addition, nursing homes are self-contained communities, usually with little or no connection to the activities of the neighborhoods in which they are located. Nursing home residents are not generally seen as growing, thriving individuals with busy, full, active lives. Building friendships, discovering talents, enjoying involvement with children, families, animals, caregivers, and the greater community are not envisioned as possibilities for nursing home residents.


A model based on the concept of fractional calculus is proposed for the description of the dynamic elastic modulus, E* = E′ + iE″, of polymer materials. This model takes into account three relaxation phenomena (α, β, and γ) under isochronal conditions. The differential equations obtained for this model have derivatives of fractional order between 0 and 1. Applying the Fourier transform to the fractional differential equations and associating each relaxation mode to cooperative or noncooperative movements, E*(iω,T) was evaluated. The isochronal diagrams of E′ and E″ clearly show three relaxation phenomena, each of them is manifested by a decrease of E′ when temperature increases. This decrease is associated with a maximum in E″(T) diagram for each relaxation mode. The shape of the three peaks (three maxima in E″(T) diagrams) depends of the fractional orders of this new fractional model. The mathematical description obtained of E* corresponds to a nonexponential relaxation behavior often encountered in the dynamics of polymer systems having three relaxation phenomena. This model will enable us to analyze the viscoelastic behavior of polymers. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 94: 657–670, 2004


A photon kinetic formalism is employed to describe the propagation of short laser pulses in tenuous plasmas. The photon kinetic theory contains all of the ingredients necessary to describe the relativistic nonlinear optics of short laser pulses in plasmas, and the shortest time scale is determined by the local evolution of the index of refraction. We use this feature to implement a photon in cell code, in which the typical time step is much bigger than is the laser field time scale. Additional information provided by the photon kinetic framework is illustrated by one-dimensional (1-D) and two-dimensional (2-D) simulations.


We have reviewed the incidence, demography, and outcome of children who have received a repeat transplant in the North American Pediatric Renal Transplant Cooperative Study registry. From 1987 through 1994, 3290 primary and 573 first repeat transplants were performed on North American children. Living donor grafts were used in 52% of primary and 23% of first repeat transplants. Of primary transplants, 23.7% were among children under the age of 6 years. For repeat transplants, the percentage was 15% for the same category. The percentage of 2-DR mismatches was 27% for primary and 40% for repeat transplants (P < 0.01). Graft survival rates for primary transplants at 6, 12, 24, 36, and 60 months were 88%, 85%, 80%, 76%, and 69%, respectively, compared with 81%, 77%, 71%, 64%, and 52% for repeat transplants at the same time periods (P < 0.05). For cadaver donor source transplants, graft survival rates were 83%, 79%, 74%, 69%, and 62%, compared with 79%, 74%, 68%, 60%, and 47% for the repeat transplants (P < 0.01). However, for living related repeat transplants, the rates of 88%, 86%, 81%, 78%, and 72% were not significantly different from the rates of 93%, 91%, 87%, 83%, and 76% for primary transplants. A proportional hazards model for cadaver donor source repeat transplants evaluated donor age, recipient age, race, use of T-cell induction therapy, number of HLA-DR mismatches, year of transplantation, and cold storage time. Only the use of kidneys from cadaver donors less than 6 years of age was predictive of graft failure. Graft survival rates at 12 and 24 months were 77% and 70%, respectively, for donors > 6 years of age, and 58% and 54% for donors < 6 years of age (P < 0.007). We conclude that avoiding the use of younger aged cadaver donors would assure better graft survival for repeat transplants and negate the ethical dilemma facing the issue of retransplantation.