Innovative capacity of firms has traditionally been explained through intra-firm characteristics, being firms size the most important. A wave of empirical studies identifies small firms as the engines of technological change and innovative activity, at least in certain industries. This statement and these empirical findings constrast the well known observation that, since RD these external factors are called knowledge spillovers, and refer to the positive externalities that firms receive in terms of knowledge from the environment in which it operates. Both industrial and regional economists underline the importance of knowledge spillovers. As this paper underlines, the main difference between the two groups is that regional economists identify in a clear way the channels through which knowledge spills over a local area. The concept of relational capital is fundamental in this respect. Relation capital is in fact defined as the set of all relationships - market relationships, power relationships, co-operation - established between firms, institutions and people, which stem from a strong sense of belonging and a highly developed capacity of cooperation typical of culturally similar people and institutions. The existence of high relational capital in an area generates stable cooperation between firms and their local suppliers and customers, an efficient local labour market with a high internal mobility of employees and spin-offs from local firms, which are considered as the main channels through which knowledge spreads over a local area. Thus regional economists provide a new insight in the way knowledge develops over space; from the empirical point of view, some qualitative case studies exist which stress collective learning mechanisms, but a real need exists for solid quantitative empirical analyses. The main aims of the present paper are twofold. The first aim is o underline the main differences between industrial and regional economists. The second aim is to provide a quantitative empirical approach using econometric techniques to verify the existence and importance of relational capital on the innovation activity of firms. Proxies are found to represent the channels of collective knowledge and therefore indirectly of relational capital. The different regional, sectoral and firms' characteristics will also be analysed, in order to understand whether they influence the role relational capital has on firms' innovation. It is, indeed, reasonable to expect that relational capital will play a different role in different regional, sectoral and firm's contexts.


The organization of the paper is the following. The author start from what is available on the ground: in section two the author briefly comments on the indicators actually used by the Internal Communications (IC) department at the World Bank Group and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The author fined that there is room for improvement. To show how to improve, the author approach the design of project-level indicators (in section three) by considering the most important technical dimensions of indicators and by relating design to the characteristics of the regulatory reform issues. Here the author will introduce the difference between canonical and non-canonical practices, and discuss its implications for the design of indicators. Section four introduces two major features, that is, the relationship between project-level indicators and other regulatory innovations and the distinction between the adoption of the project and its implementation. The author will argue that project-level indicators should incorporate valuable information on: (a) other regulatory reform innovations that, if present, complement and support the project; and (b) the different stages of the policy process. On point (b) the author will observe that most regulatory indicators in use track down the early stages of the policy process, such as adoption and the preparation of formal guidance, but tend to miss the implementation stage. This is crucial instead, since when the donor leaves the country, there is a risk of project atrophy if implementation is not monitored. Having shown complexity and why it matters by highlighting four 'hard questions' for project indicators designers, the author turn in section five to the proposal for regulatory indicators of a regulatory impact assessment (RIA) project, showing different forms of usage and modalities of aggregation. Section six concludes.


Structure adhesive bonding method is widely used in the industry because it is possible to joint complex shape and dissimilar materials. Especially in the car industry, requests of lightweight car have adhesive bonding method be applied in the many parts. Also it is possible for stress to distribute uniformly through the adhesive layer, and stress concentration is released. Since strength, stiffness durability is much better, this method is determined as the technique replaced weld defect. But, it has much shorter history then other joint method such as spot weld and mechanical joint method. Evaluation of strength and durability is not established. As the fundamental research of design of adhesive bonding joints, considers over-lap length, adhesive thickness, surface treatment and environment which affect strength and durability of single-lap joints. In this research, a real part of bus folding door was used and tested to compare durability of spot welding and adhesive bonding.


Mild cogmtlve impairment (MCI) is arguably the earliest form of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Better understanding of brain changes in MCI may lead to the identification of therapeutic targets to slow the progression of AD. Oxidative stress has been implicated as a mechanism associated with the pathogenesis of both MCI and AD. In particular, among other markers, there is evidence for an increase in the levels of protein oxidation and lipid peroxidation in the brains of subjects with MCI. Several proteins are oxidatively modified in MCI brain, and as a result individual protein dysfunction may be directly linked to these modifications (e.g., carbonylation, nitration, modification by HNE) and may be involved in MCI pathogenesis. Additionally, Concanavalin-A-mediated separation of brain proteins has recently led to the identification of key proteins in MCI and AD using proteomics methods. This chapter will summarize important findings from proteomics studies of MCI, which have provided insights into this cognitive disorder and have led to further understanding of potential mechanisms involved in the progression of AD.


Traditionally, work on analog testing has focused on diagnosing faults in board designs. Recently, with increasing levels of integration, not just diagnosing faults, but distinguishing between faulty and good circuits has become a problem. Analog blocks embedded in digital systems may not easily be separately testable. Consequently, many papers have been recently written proposing techniques to reduce the burden of testing analog and mined-signal circuits. This survey attempts to outline some of this recent work, ranging from tools for simulation-based test set development and optimization to built-in self-test (BIST) circuitry.


There is debate surrounding how to effectively identify and distinguish reading disabilities from other deficits in college populations. Although several theories have proposed a positive relationship between nonword decoding weaknesses and higher intelligence levels, currently there is no conclusive evidence supporting these claims. The primary purpose of the current study was to determine if individuals of diverging levels of verbal intellectual functioning display profile differences with regard to accuracy for spelling and single word reading of regular words and nonwords. Identifying the specific deficits displayed in populations with reading disabilities assists in formulating interventions targeted at areas of weakness and in determining appropriate academic accommodations. Participants consisted of college students who have received a formal diagnosis of a reading disability. Participants' Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI) scores on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale scores were used to determine grouping (High, Average, Low). Participants' performance on intellectual and achievement tests for nonword reading, nonword spelling, real word reading and real world spelling served as the dependent variables. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to analyze mean differences among the three groups' spelling and word reading scores for real words and nonwords. Results indicated that the three groups significantly differed on all reading subscales variables. Notably, the High Reading group scored significantly higher than the Low and Average Reading groups on all subtests of reading. These findings were partially consistent with the study's hypotheses. Theoretical and practical implications are explored further.


Bis(phenoxyimine)Ti catalysts with crtho-F-substituted phenyl rings on the N can be "living" propene polymerization catalysts. On the basis of DFT calculations, it has been proposed that the "living" behavior origi nates from an unprecedented attractive interaction between the said ortho-F atoms and a β-H of the growing polymer chain, which would render the latter less prone to be transferred to the metal (or to the monomer). In this paper, we report on a thorough full-QM and combined QM/MM investigation of representative model catalysts, demonstrating that the key factor is instead the repulsive nonbonded contact of the F-substituted rings with the growing polymer chain and an incoming propene molecule, which destabilizes the sterically demand ng six-center transition structure for chain transfer to the monomer. A conceptually similar substituent effect has been reported before for several metallocene and non-metallocene catalysts; in the present case, though, this is partly alleviated by a weak attractive interaction between the ortho-F and a close-in-space α-H of the growing chain.


This study offers new insight into the role of Na in Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin film solar cells by studying samples with a spatially varying alkali distribution. This is achieved by omitting a diffusion barrier between the soda‐lime glass substrate and the Mo back contact, where compositional variations of the glass inherently result in non‐uniform alkali distributions in the CZTS. By correlating light beam induced current (LBIC) maps with secondary ion mass spectrometry composition maps, it is shown that samples containing regions of higher Na concentration ("hot spots") have corresponding LBIC hot spots on comparable length scales. Samples containing an alkali diffusion barrier have lower LBIC dispersion; thus, LBIC can be used to evaluate non‐uniformity in CZTS devices, where a common cause is Na inhomogeneity. Moreover, it is shown that the Na hot spots are strongly correlated with other compositional variations in the device, including increased Cu in‐diffusion with the underlying MoS2 layer and decreased diffusion of Cd to the back contact. Neither of these effects are well understood in CZTS devices, and neither have previously been correlated with the presence or absence of Na.


The web teaching platform based on virtual reality technique is a challenge to the traditional teaching mode and a necessity with the development and maturity of information technologies. Based on the easily made and operated VR techniques with its immersion and interactivity, this paper combined resources about the enginery knowledge and information to build the overall platform. It significantly improves users' feeling about and understanding of the part models. It can be visually perceived and is flexible and convenient, providing users with operating experience which makes virtual reality and the real world consistent with each other. Eventually, both people and models can dynamically interact and perceptively communicate with each other.


This study evaluates the impacts of the Uruguay Round Agreement (URA) on Canadian agriculture in a single-country general equilibrium framework. For this purpose a computable general equilibrium model of the Canadian economy that involves six agricultural and two non-agricultural sectors was constructed and calibrated on 1991 data. To assess whether Canadian agriculture benefits from the URA, two sets of anticipated changes in world prices, taken from studies of the global effects of the URA, were introduced into the model exogenously. The simulation experiments show that the minimum increases in world prices from global studies are too small to offset the negative effects on agriculture of the reductions in tariffs, export subsidies and domestic support. However, if world prices were to change by the maximum level of global projections, Canadian agricultural producers gain from the URA. The sectors that benefit the most are wheat, other grains, and processed foods, for which production and exports increase appreciably. Imports of milk and poultry products increase substantially and livestock sector imports also increase. Labour and capital demand increase in agriculture, particularly in the wheat and other grains sectors. The highest increase in factor returns in agriculture is for agricultural land. Since the export prices applied above are exogenously determined, a third experiment is conducted to determine the extent of the world price changes for agricultural exports that would offset the negative effects on sectoral domestic production of the URA policy commitments. This would require world prices that are about eleven per cent higher than in the base period for wheat and about ten per cent higher for other grains. The greatest increase in prices--by nearly thirteen per cent--would be required for the milk and poultry sector. More modest changes in world prices for the other agricultural sectors are needed to offset the impacts of the reductions in sectoral support necessitated by the URA. Most of these price changes lie within the ranges of world price projections from studies of the global effects of the URA.


The late-Holocene deposits of the coastal lowlands bordering the southern North Sea were formed by a renewed expansion of the tidal environment replacing freshwater peats. The sea-level history during the last 2500 years inferred from the post-peat deposits, containing little to no datable organic material, is characterized by two conflicting schools of thought. The first one supports a smooth sea-level curve. The second approach underpins fluctuating sea-level changes. The `fluctuating' approach also uses facies variations recorded in the post-peat deposits to provide a chronostratigraphical subdivision linked to transgressions and regressions. This paper examines the controlling factors responsible for the facies variations in the post-peat deposits in order to test the approach of the fluctuating sea level. The results of sedimentological investigation coupled with radiocarbon dates of intertidal shells from four shallow outcrops located in nearby sand-filled late-Holocene tidal channels in the Belgian coastal plain are reported. The integration with results from previous work has allowed the reconstruction of the mechanisms and processes of coastal evolution during the late Holocene. The changes in the coastal landscape reflected in the facies variations are caused by multiple factors. The major one is the dynamic nature of the tidal channels responding to changes in accommodation space and sediment budget, and finally, to storm incidence and human impact. The processes of the tidal channel networks, ie, their initiation and evolution, are similar, but the changes happened at different times in different places. The facies variations do not involve rises and falls of sea level, and therefore a fluctuating sea-level rise can not be considered as realistic.


A 51-year-old woman with antiphospholipid syndrome was readmitted to the hospital two years after successful surgical pulmonary thrombendarteriectomy for severe chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). Exertional dyspnea, chest pain and ECG pattern could suggest relapse of pulmonary thromboembolism. However, no signs of pulmonary hypertension were found at echocardiography. Coronary angiography revealed proximal critical occlusion in the left anterior descending artery which was successfully treated with PTCA and stenting. Coronary artery disease may mimic relapse of CTEPH and this should be remembered especially in patients with antiphospholipid syndrome, who have increased risk of coronary artery disease especially in the presence of other classical risk factors.


Objective: To investigate the antioxidant and antidiabetic activities of the seed and leaf extracts
of Chrysophyllum albidum (C. albidum).
Methods: After assessing the in vitro ferric reducing power and hydrogen peroxide scavenging activities as well as the flavonoid and flavanol contents, the seed and leaf extracts were administered to diabetic rats for 7 days. The animals were sacrificed and serum was obtained for the determination of blood glucose level while liver sample was used for the quantification of glycogen level as well as lipidic peroxidation and catalase activity.
Results: Seed and leaf extracts of C. albidum showed ferric reducing activity and very high hydrogen peroxide scavenging potential. After the administration of treatment in diabetic rats, there was a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in blood sugar level and a significant increase (P < 0.05) in liver glycogen level in Groups 3 and 4 animals administered the leaf and seed
extracts respectively compared to Group 1 (the negative control). Also, catalase activity and malondialdehyde levels increased in Groups 3 and 4 administered the extracts compared to Group 1 animals (the negative control). Flavonoids and flavanol were present and significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the leaf than seed extract. In all, the leaf extract showed the greatest
activities.
Conclusions: These results suggest that the leaf and seed extracts of C. albidum possess both in vitro and in vivo antioxidant activities in scavenging free radicals as well as antidiabetic activity, and as such, a potentially important compound in antidiabetic drug discovery.


Sequestration of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes expressing the VAR2CSA antigen in the placenta results in poor pregnancy outcomes, including low birth weight and maternal anemia. Antigen-specific antibody-mediated immunity is acquired during successive pregnancies. Thus, evaluating VAR2CSA-specific IgG profiles among pregnant women will increase knowledge on the immunological mechanisms associated with protection, and help in the development of VAR2CSA-based placental malaria vaccines. Using the PAMVAC candidate vaccine antigen, we assessed anti-VAR2CSA IgG subclass responses of a cohort of pregnant Beninese, and analyzed their relationships with pregnancy outcomes. Cytophilic IgG1 and IgG3 responses were the most frequent, with prevalences ranging from 28% (IgG3) up to 50% (IgG1). Elevated levels of VAR2CSA-specific total IgG and cytophilic IgG3 during pregnancy were consistently associated with higher birth weights, whilst high levels of IgG4 were associated with a reduced risk of placental infections. This suggests that protective anti-VAR2CSA IgG responses are coordinated between both cytophilic and non-cytophilic antibodies.


Abstract Patterns in the discovery and description of new minerals over the last century emerge from a new database of 4046 mineral discovery reports (roughly ¾ of all known minerals). The number of new minerals discovered per year was steady over time from 1917 to the early 1950s, when it began a rapid increase punctuated by spikes in 1962–1969, 1978–1982, and 2008–2016, the last of which is probably still ongoing. A detailed breakdown of the technological, geographic, institutional, and other characteristics of mineral discovery in this data set elucidates factors leading to increases in mineral discovery. (1) The availability of instrumentation for a particular analytical technique has a far larger impact on the rate of its uptake in mineral discovery than the technique's invention or computer automation. (2) Samples from mines, quarries, and resource exploration have produced around 2⁄3 of all new mineral discoveries due to geochemical peculiarity and good exposure; lunar and meteoritic samples have contributed relatively few new minerals. (3) Peralkaline intrusions and volcanic fumaroles are the next most productive sites of new mineral discovery. (4) Which countries host mineralogists who discover large numbers of new minerals have varied over time but is always a relatively small number (<20), and mineral discovery is highly concentrated in specific laboratories or workgroups. (5) Involvement of governmental organizations in new mineral discovery peaked in the aftermath of World War II and has since declined to almost nil, with new mineral discoveries now coming primarily from universities and similar academic institutions (75%) and from museums (25%). (6) The average number of authors on mineral discovery papers has risen from <1.5 in 1950 to >6 now and follows an exponential trend. (7) The average number of methods used to characterize new minerals has not changed significantly since 1960, and about half of new mineral descriptions are made using roughly the minimum of analyses required for a new mineral to be recognized. (8) A partial study of discredited or redefined minerals identified changes to nomenclature and classification as the primary causes for discreditation; failure to replicate analytical results is a distant second. Only five cases of fraudulent mineral discovery are known. This article presents the data underlying these analyses and discusses some possible reasons for the observed trends in the rate of new mineral discovery, as well as the implications for the history (and future) of mineralogy.


Specimens of the nudibranch Gymnodoris nigricolor were found on the fins of three gobiid fish species, Amblyeleotris ogasawarensis, Ctenogobiops pomastictus, and C, feroculus, near Oujima and Sesoko Islands, Okinawa, in February and May, 1994. These gobiids inhabit the burrows of snapping shrimps. The nudibranchs could be found attached to any fin (caudal, dorsal, pectoral, anal, and pelvic fins) of these fish, and they appeared to feed on a portion of the fin membrane together with one or two of the adjacent fin rays. In the laboratory, G. nigricolor also attached to a free-living gobiid fish, Bathygobius cocosensis. Nudibranchs gathered in glass tubes that had been used as refuges by A. ogasawarensis and C. pomastictus. This suggests that the nudibranchs were attracted to substances that had originated from the fish and remained in the tubes. The nudibranchs did not always attach to the fins of test fish, and individuals that did so detached themselves 1-2 days later. Their association with the fish thus appears to be a predator-prey interaction. Spawning of Gymnodoris nigricolor was observed in a rearing tank. About 200-700 eggs of 0.15 mm in diameter were found in each egg mass. Embryos hatched 10-11 days after oviposition at 24•Ž.


Magnetic-hybrid materials generally consist of non-magnetic carrier materials interspersed with a
magnetic filler material. If the carrier material is an elastomer they are called more specifically
magnetorheologic elastomer (MREs). Under an applied magnetic field, those materials can respond
in two ways: The magnetostriction and the magnetorheological (MR) effect. Magnetostriction
is the ability to deform when subjected to a magnetic field. The MR effect is the alternation
of mechanical properties like tensile strain under an applied magnetic field. To obtain strong
magnetostrictive effects, the particles inside the MRE have to rearrange in position and orientation
under the influence of a magnetic field. To be applicable e.g. as an actuator, it is of utter importance
to understand the link between particle movement and macroscopic deformation.
This work extends the previous studies of Huang and Puljiz et al. [69, 133, 135]. Similar to
[133, 135] the sample were prepared as layer system of polymer layers [polydimethylsiloxan
(PDMS)] and particles. This facilitated particle positioning. At first, MRE samples comprising two
paramagnetic nickel particles with initial inter-particle distance of roughly one particle diameter
were prepared in order to keep the amount of unknown parameters small. Subsequently, the
sample complexity was increased by introducing more particles into the system. As the magnetic
forces not only depends on the distance between the particles but also on their position relative
to the external field, the system was exposed to a slowly, stepwise rotating magnetic field of
180 mT. Resolving the particle attachment and detachment and measuring the angles between
particle axis and external field for all corresponding magnetic field orientations, I identified a
strong magneto-active configuration. This strong magneto-active configuration is characterized
by a large inter-particle distance change generated by a small alternation of the external magnetic
field orientation. It is sensitive to the initial inter-particle distance, Young's modulus of the matrix,
and magnetic field strength and thus, was only stable in a defined parameter range, i.e. for a
defined ratio between elastic and magnetic forces.
To determine the influence of additional particles, the particle number in this linear arrangement
was successively increased up to fourteen particles. Particles did not form a continuous particle
chain but particle groups of different particle numbers. Thereby, the distance to neighbor particles
determined whether particles were able to get into contact or not. Also matrix mediated interaction
was observed.
In addition, in five by five particle lattices, particle groups of more than five particles formed. For
magnetic fields orientated along the lateral lattice direction the influence of lattice irregularities
was shown. Furthermore, a correlation between the mean particle number per group and the
area the rim particles surround, existed. It was an inverse correlation, i.e. the larger the mean
particle number per group the smaller the area.
Concluding, magnetically hollow spheres and magneto-active membranes comprising a dense
packed monolayer of particles, were prepared. The hollow spheres showed large and direction
changable deformations. The membrane was used as drop size selector and showed a significantly
larger stiffness as the pure PDMS matrix.


Schools often have to decide between extending the length of the school year or the school day. This paper examines the effects of changes in the distribution of instructional time on eighth-grade student achievement through a methodological framework that disaggregates total yearly instructional time into separate inputs for days per year and hours per day. This study's dataset brings together nearly 900,000 student observations across eighty countries and four quadrennial testing cycles of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) Assessments (1995–2007). I find that the positive effects of instructional time on student achievement are driven largely by the length of the school day and not by the length of the school year, with diminishing marginal returns to the former. Socioeconomically underprivileged students are most likely to realize gains from a longer school day. Furthermore, isolating the amount of instructional time spent on TIMSS-tested subjects from the rest of the school day reveals spillover effects from time spent in non-tested subjects that are especially meaningful for underprivileged students. In contrast, the effects of time spent in tested subjects are more homogeneous across student groups.


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Neuroinflammation accompanied by microglial activation triggers multiple cell death after traumatic brain injury (TBI). The secondary injury caused by inflammation may persist for a long time. Recently, platelet C‐type lectin‐like 2 receptor (CLEC‐2) has been shown to regulate inflammation in certain diseases. However, its possible effects on TBI remain poorly understood. Here, we aimed to investigate the role of platelet CLEC‐2 in the pathological process of neuroinflammation after TBI. In this study, mice were subjected to sham or controlled cortical impact injury, and arbitrarily received recombinant platelet CLEC‐2. In parallel, BV2 cells were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to mimic microglial activation after TBI. Primary endothelial cells were also subjected to LPS in order to replicate the inflammatory damage caused by TBI. We used western blot analysis, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR), and immunostaining to evaluate the role of platelet CLEC‐2 in TBI. In conditional knock out platelet CLEC‐2 mice, trauma worsened the integrity of the blood–brain barrier and amplified the release of inflammatory cytokines. In wild type mice subjected to controlled cortical impact injury, recombinant platelet CLEC‐2 administration altered the secretion of inflammatory cytokines, reduced brain edema, and improved neurological function. In vitro, the polarization phenotype of microglia induced by LPS was transformed by recombinant platelet CLEC‐2, and this conversion depended on the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway. Endothelial cell injury by LPS was ameliorated when microglia expressed mostly M2 phenotype markers. In conclusion, platelet CLEC‐2 regulates trauma‐induced neuroinflammation and restores blood–brain barrier integrity.


Cellular automata are used as simple mathematical models to investigate self-organization in statistical mechanics. A detailed analysis is given of ''elementary'' cellular automata consisting of a sequence of sites with values 0 or 1 on a line, with each site evolving deterministically in discrete time steps according to p definite rules involving the values of its nearest neighbors. With simple initial configurations, the cellular automata either tend to homogeneous states, or generate self-similar patterns with fractal dimensions approx. =1.59 or approx. =1.69. With ''random'' initial configurations, the irreversible character of the cellular automaton evolution leads to several self-organization phenomena. Statistical properties of the structures generated are found to lie in two universality classes, independent of the details of the initial state or the cellular automaton rules. More complicated cellular automata are briefly considered, and connections with dynamical systems theory and the formal theory of computation are discussed.


A retrospective study was undertaken to assess speech outcomes in patients undergoing Furlow palatoplasty. Since 1994, the authors have used the position of the levator veli palatini musculature to determine type of surgical intervention recommended for the management of velopharyngeal insufficiency. Furlow palatoplasty has been used in patients with clinical evidence of sagittally oriented levator veli palatini musculature. Forty-eight patients who underwent a Furlow palatoplasty between June of 1994 and August of 1998 were included. All patients underwent preoperative and postoperative perceptual speech analyses to describe velopharyngeal insufficiency severity, nasal air emissions, and resonance, and preoperative nasendoscopy to assess velopharyngeal gap size and palatal and lateral pharyngeal wall movement. Other patient characteristics considered included gender, age at time of surgery, previously repaired cleft palate, submucous cleft palate, and syndrome diagnosis. Speech outcomes were determined on the basis of postoperative perceptual speech analyses and were categorized in one of three ways: (1) complete resolution of velopharyngeal insufficiency, (2) substantial improvement of velopharyngeal insufficiency, and (3) audible residual velopharyngeal insufficiency. Complete resolution of velopharyngeal insufficiency was defined as normal resonance and an absence of nasal air emissions. Substantial improvement of velopharyngeal insufficiency was defined as an improvement of at least two categories in velopharyngeal insufficiency severity in those patients without complete resolution. Audible residual velopharyngeal insufficiency refers to patients with postoperative velopharyngeal insufficiency severity ratings of mild, moderate, or severe. The male:female ratio in the study was 27:21. Twelve patients were syndromic; three had velocardiofacial syndrome. The median age at surgery was 6.5 years (range, 2 to 22 years). The average duration of follow-up was 14.7 months (range, 1.3 to 58.6 months). Postoperatively, the severity of velopharyngeal insufficiency was rated as none in 19 of the 48 patients (39.6 percent), minimal in eight (16.7 percent), mild in six (12.5 percent), moderate in nine (18.75 percent), and severe in six (12.5 percent). Substantial improvement was seen in seven of the 29 patients without complete resolution. There was a significant association between male gender and complete resolution of velopharyngeal insufficiency (p < 0.05). Presence of syndrome and female gender was associated with audible residual velopharyngeal insufficiency (p < 0.05). The main complication was palatal fistula (two cases). In conclusion, most patients who underwent a Furlow palatoplasty had a complete resolution or substantial improvement of velopharyngeal insufficiency postoperatively, and there were few surgical complications.


This article focuses on a specific form of collaboration between academic researchers and practitioners: co‐design. Generally, the strategic use of co‐design is considered to be beneficial because, among other reasons, it better aligns outcomes to user needs. In addition, active stakeholder participation engenders new network developments and strengthens existing links. Despite this, the extent to which the co‐design approach could be used to foster new knowledge and/or practices is hardly explored. Thus, our research applied co‐design methods to organizational practices and examined how they may bring about benefits for academic researchers and practitioners collaborating in the context of not‐for‐profit organizations. According to our findings, all stakeholders considered co‐design to be useful, as it helped them achieve desirable outcomes in a more inclusive and collaborative manner. The findings confirmed a number of benefits, among them confidence building. The size of organizations did not appear to affect the process or the outcomes. While most knowledge co‐created through these types of projects tends to be practical in nature, new theoretical knowledge was generated through critical examination of the process/results as well as through individual/group reflection. We consider this aspect to be particularly useful for other researchers and practitioners interested in applying co‐design principles to the not‐for‐profit sector.

According to our findings, all stakeholders considered co-design to be useful, as it helped them achieved desirable outcomes in a more inclusive and collaborative manner. The findings confirmed a number of benefits, among them, confidence building. The size of organisations did not appear to affect the process or the outcomes. While most knowledge co-created through these types of projects tends to be practical in nature, new theoretical knowledge was generated through critical examination of the process/results, as well as through individual/group reflection. We consider this aspect to be particularly useful for other researchers and practitioners interested in applying co-design principles to the not-for-profit sector.


Nine patients with recurrent paroxysmal ventricular tachycardia underwent chronic electrophysiologic studies to delineate effective drug therapy for prevention of recurrence of this arrhythmia. The frequency of attacks of ventricular tachycardia necessitating hospitalization ranged from 2 to 12 (mean 5 +/- 4) attacks per year. Pacing induction of ventricular tachycardia was performed prior to and following intravenous or oral administration of procainamide (eight patients), disopyramide phosphate (nine patients), aprindine (five patients) and propranolol (four patients). Successful drug response (prevention of ventricular tachycardia induction or induction of nonsustained episodes of tachycardia) was noted in six of nine patients (66 percent). Lack of drug effect on the ability to sustain ventricular tachycardia was noted in three patients (34 percent). In addition, a deleterious drug response, manifested by potentiation of ventricular flutter or fibrillation, was observed in two of the three patients who failed to respond to drugs. Chronic drug therapy based on successful response in six patients resulted in cure of ventricular tachycardia in five of six patients (83 percent), one patient having one attack necessitating hospitalization. Of the three patients who demonstrated lack of drug effect during chronic electrophysiologic studies, one died suddenly and two had recurrent episodes of ventricular tachycardia while receiving a drug that did not prevent induction of ventricular tachycardia.


A variety of explanation methods have been proposed in recent years to help users gain insights into the results returned by neural networks, which are otherwise complex and opaque black-boxes. However, explanations give rise to potential side-channels that can be leveraged by an adversary for mounting attacks on the system. In particular, post-hoc explanation methods that highlight input dimensions according to their importance or relevance to the result also leak information that weakens security and privacy. In this work, we perform the first systematic characterization of the privacy and security risks arising from various popular explanation techniques. First, we propose novel explanation-guided black-box evasion attacks that lead to 10 times reduction in query count for the same success rate. We show that the adversarial advantage from explanations can be quantified as a reduction in the total variance of the estimated gradient. Second, we revisit the membership information leaked by common explanations. Contrary to observations in prior studies, via our modified attacks we show significant leakage of membership information (above 100% improvement over prior results), even in a much stricter black-box setting. Finally, we study explanation-guided model extraction attacks and demonstrate adversarial gains through a large reduction in query count.


The light environment influences an animal's ability to forage, evade predators, and find mates, and consequently is known to drive local adaptation of visual systems. However, the light environment may also vary over fine spatial scales at which genetic adaptation is difficult. For instance, in aquatic systems, the available wavelengths of light change over a few metres depth. Do animals plastically adjust their visual system to such small‐scale environmental light variation? Here, we show that in three‐spine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), opsin gene expression (an important determinant of colour vision) changes over a 2‐m vertical gradient in nest depth. By experimentally altering the light environment using light filters to cover enclosures in a lake, we found that opsin expression can be adjusted on a short time frame (weeks) in response to the local light environment. This is to our knowledge the smallest spatial scale on which visual adjustments through opsin expression have been recorded in a natural setting along a continuously changing light environment.


The BLB2 gene is a predominantly expressed MHC class II gene in chicken and has not been characterized in guinea fowl. In view of the resistance of guinea fowl to most of the chicken diseases, nucleotide sequence variability in b1 and b2 domains of BLB2 gene was studied between guinea fowl and other poultry species such as chicken, quail, pheasant and duck. The b1 and b2 domain of BLB2 gene in guinea fowl was 270 and 282 nucleotides in size and showed no size variation with other poultry species. Between-species percent nucleotide variability ranged from 24.07 to 30.00% in b1 domain, while inb2 domain percent nucleotide variability was 8.16 - 10.99%. Between the species, guinea fowl showed low and similar genetic distances (0.149 - 0.159) with all other poultry species, except with duck (0.287). The phylogenetic tree, based on nucleotide variability in b1 and b2 domains from these poultry species clearly revealed that duck MHC are clustered separately. Among other poultry species (chicken, quail, pheasant and guinea fowl), the guinea fowl, branched out separately within the cluster comprising of galliformis species.

 Key words: BLB2, guinea fowl, nucleotide variability, genetic distance


This paper analyzes the interaction among the step-by-step innovation, the product market competition (PMC), and the knowledge information flow in the growth process. Patents protect their holders from being imitated or copied but do not protect them against the possibility that less-efficient competitors master the diffused knowledge. The degree to which diffused knowledge should be exploited by less-efficient firms is determined by both their knowledge assimilating capacities and Research and Development (R&D) teams' competence type and level. The individual skill distribution in R&D team may lead to different innovative behaviors: replicating the knowledge or creation of novel knowledge. Here, we first find that replicating the knowledge and creation of novel knowledge are both growth enhancing; second, the more the flexibility on individual creativity in R&D team is, the faster is the growth; third, the knowledge information flow has a polarization effect on firms' innovative performance.


"I'm not going to disguise the fact that I despise Ronald Reagan," Justin Kaplan, editor of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, told the Philadelphia Inquirer. President Reagan "could not be described as a memorable phrase maker" but was really only "an actor masquerading as a leader," Mr. Kaplan later wrote in the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Kaplan was responding to criticisms, initiated by me and picked up by the Wall Street Journal editorial page and other publications, that he was trying to deny Ronald Reagan his rightful place in rhetorical history. His responses show that he has allowed his political bigotry to interfere with his scholarly judgment, and that he is abusing his power as guardian of one of America's leading cultural institutions. The 16th edition of Bartlett's, published in late 1992, contains only three entries from Ronald Reagan, the same number as from Zachary Taylor and Gerald Ford. By comparison, there are 28 entries from John F. Kennedy and 35 from Franklin Roosevelt. Jimmy Carter, hardly remembered for his eloquence, has twice as many entries as the president who was called, even by his enemies, the "Great Communicator." To make matters worse, the Reaganisms cited in Bartlett's 16th aren't even memorable; instead they are intended to make Mr. Reagan look ridiculous. One suggests there is no shortage of food in America. In another, Mr. Reagan says Republicans want "an America in which people can still get rich." The third compares government to a baby, "an alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other." These aren't the lines that admirers of Mr. Reagan's rhetoric most remember. None of President Reagan's great Cold War speeches are quoted -- not even his "evil empire" line, which Justin Kaplan misattributes to George Lucas's Star Wars screenplay. Nor are any of Mr. Reagan's most important statements of conservative principles deemed worthy of Bartlett's. This was not an unintended oversight on Justin Kaplan's part. I and others sent him examples of great Reagan quotations that ought to be considered for the 17th edition. His response was to write in the Wall Street Journal that he "was doing [Mr. Reagan's] reputation a favor" by quoting so sparingly from him. Mr. Kaplan's deliberate slighting of President Reagan is just the tip of the iceberg in his abuse of his cultural power. The 16th edition of Bartlett's has no quotations whatsoever from Whittaker Chambers, William F. Buckley Jr., Russell Kirk, Irving Kristol, George Will, George Gilder, Jeane Kirkpatrick, or Sidney Hook. It has 11 quotations from John Kenneth Galbraith, compared with three from Milton Friedman and two from Friedrich Hayek. It has six from Felix Frankfurter, six from Louis Brandeis, and four from Learned Hand, but none from Robert Bork. It has 11 from Martin Luther King, four from Malcolm X, and two from Jesse Jackson, but none from any contemporary black conservative such as Thomas Sowell. Even when Mr. Kaplan quotes conservatives, he usually leaves out their ideologically most powerful statements. There are three quotations from Margaret Thatcher, none of them indicating what she believes in. The three quotations from John Paul II do not include his masterpiece encyclical Centesimus Annus. Of eight quotations from Alexander Solzhenitsyn, only one is a direct criticism of communism -- and that one is equally critical of the West. Ditto for Vaclav Havel, whose two quotes in Bartlett's do not include his most powerful insights into the nature of totalitarianism. The only 20th century conservative who gets a fair shake in Bartlett's is Winston Churchill. Jonathan Siegel, co-editor of the Macmillan Book of Political Quotations, calls the political bias in the latest Bartlett's "an insult to the memory of John Bartlett and the ideologically inclusive spirit of the first 15 editions." The Macmillan collection has 65 quotations from Ronald Reagan and 34 from Margaret Thatcher. …


During an 11 year period 73 cases of amyloidosis were diagnosed at Port Moresby General Hospital as a result of histological examination of autopsy or biopsy material. No case of amyloidosis came from either the Highlands or North Coast regions although these two areas together accounted for 16% of the medical admissions at the hospital and made up a similar percentage of Port Moresby's Papua New Guinean population. Within the sub-district in which Port Moresby is situated there was a much higher incidence of amyloidosis in the inland, more sparsely populated, census divisions of the sub-district. Aetiological factors which may be related to the common occurrence of amyloidosis in Papua New Guinea are discussed in light of the observed geographical distribution of cases.


The main objectives of this dissertation were to study the short (tensile and impact) and long-term (fatigue) mechanical behavior of nanocomposites of poly(ether-ether-ketone), PEEK, with nanohydroxyapatite, nHA, for application as biocompatible materials. First of all, a preliminary study was conducted to determine the influence of the addition of nHA in the rheological, thermal and dynamic mechanical properties of PEEK, in order to choose an optimal formulation for large-scale preparation. The chosen composition with 10wt% of nHA was prepared by melt mixing in a co-rotating twin screw extruder. The resulting structure and dispersion were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and rheological properties. Subsequently, the materials (PEEK and PEEK/nHA nanocomposite) were injection molded at 3 different conditions by varying the flow rate. The resulting morphologies were evaluated by polarized light optical microscopy (PLOM) and the degree of crystallinity of the samples was evaluated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS). The mechanical properties of tensile, impact and fatigue of PEEK and nanocomposite were measured and correlated with the results of dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and the resulting morphology. It was found that the variation of the injection conditions did not change the materials properties significantly; however, the obtained long and short-term mechanical properties of the nanocomposite were within the range of cortical bone properties and, therefore, the nanocomposite can mechanically be used for medium load bearing implant applications, due to their limited modulus. Finally, tests with adult stem cells to determine in vitro biological response of the biomaterial were performed, which indicated that these cells proliferated faster in PEEK/nHA, indicating that the biological response is most favorable to the nanocomposite than to pure PEEK.


The goal of this article is to examine the context-dependent nature of acts of confiding in political interviews and to identify its genre-specific constraints and requirements. It looks at their distribution in British and French political interviews with regard to form, function and possible perlocutionary effects. The communicative act of confiding is compared and contrasted with disclosure, self-disclosure and revelation, and the necessary and sufficient conditions required for confiding in a felicitous manner are examined. Particular attention is given to the genre's status as mediated and public discourse with public and political information. The most prominent strategies for realizing acts of confiding are analyzed by comparing and contrasting implicit and explicit realizations as well as their communicative functions in the British and French data.


The central goal of the cross-cultural critical thinking movement is to change the dominant model of critical thinking pedagogy that is used in the US, UK, and those countries that follow this model. At present the model is centered on an Anglo-American and Euro-Centric model of critical thinking that actively and blatantly ignores contributions to logic and critical thinking education from non-Western sources; more importantly, the model implicitly sends the message to students of critical thinking that critical thinking is a valuable set of skills that derives from what is taken to be Western culture. Cross-cultural critical thinking, by contrast, is centered on a globally inclusive model of critical thinking that presents contributions to critical thinking from a variety of different cultures and traditions. This alternative model aims in part to convey the message that critical thinking is part of the human condition and that understanding it within the human condition is essential to the proper deployment of it in a pluralistic society where there is disagreement over matters of ultimate value. In this paper I offer a presentation and defense of a set of contributions deriving from the Jaina tradition of philosophy that could be presented in a globally sensitive critical thinking course. The central concepts I present and interpret are: non-one-sidedness (anekāntavāda), the theory of epistemic standpoints (nayavāda), intellectual non-violence (intellectual ahiṃsā), and the theory of seven-fold predication (saptabhaṅgī). In each case I focus on the relevance that the concept has for critical thinking education at the introductory level.


This study reports on a girl with a permanent cerebral lesion and opercular syndrome after status epilepticus (SE). She had previously been healthy and had her first focal motor seizure at 5 years of age, which was controlled with intravenous phenytoin and rectal diazepam. Twenty-four hours later, she developed partial SE consisting of right facial twitching and right-hand clonic movements. These uncontrollable seizures lasted for 5 days, after which the partial SE changed to generalized SE, and the seizures continued for another 5 days. CT performed the day before onset of SE revealed no brain abnormality. Another CT performed a year later disclosed bilateral brain lesions, more severe in the left hemisphere. Follow up at 16 years of age revealed moderate motor sequelae of the right-hand side of the body, anarthria, difficulty chewing, dysphagia, bilateral facial weakness, and drooling, all of which clinically characterize opercular syndrome. An MRI study performed at 14 years of age showed a cerebral parenchymatous lesion which extended between the parietal cortices of both hemispheres, more severe on the left side, and which crossed the corpus callosum, destroying the posterior-middle zone. Evidence from the CT indicates that the lesion was not present before onset of SE. It seems likely that the focal SE caused the focal brain damage, but the possibility that the subsequent generalized SE played a role cannot be excluded.


In this paper, a typicality-based clustering algorithm is proposed: it exploits typicality degrees defined in a prototype construction framework to identify a decomposition of the dataset into homogeneous and distinct clusters and to provide characteristic representatives of the obtained clusters, so as to summarise the initial dataset. The proposed algorithm can be applied both to vectorial and non vectorial data, such as trees for instance. Tests performed on artificial and real data illustrate the interest of the proposed approach.


With the rising cost of broadcast programming and the high-profile of "blackouts," Retransmission Consent has earned a place at the forefront of the modern communications policy debate. To provide a framework under which to evaluate the issue, we present in this Paper an economic theory of Retransmission Consent. Taking into account the social contract between the government and broadcasters to serve the "public interest" (e.g., provide "local" programming and a "diversity of voices" to as many Americans as possible), we show that the "market" outcome for the license fee under the Retransmission Consent paradigm may not be socially efficient. Broadcast regulation creates a type of positive information externality, and private transactions do not typically account for externalities, meaning the market price for the retransmission fee is theoretically "too high," both relative to the socially-optimal price and the market price of an otherwise-equivalent cable network. This "spread," which we do not quantify, is a consequence of a disharmony between the historical and continuing policy of the broadcast social contract and the "market" approach embodied in the Retransmission Consent regime. In light of our findings, we review some of the policy proposals to modify Retransmission Consent. We find that because it is public policy that has caused the conflict, proposals to move to a less-regulated broadcasting market may be sensible, but it remains to be seen whether or not such legislative fixes sufficiently address the efficiency issue revealed by our theoretical model.


The paper represents the initial theoretical statements and practical principles of the Multimodal Suggestive Psychotherapy (MSP). It is mentioned that the MSP is an original system of psychotherapeutic aid in case of different mental and behavioral disorders. It is shown that the MSP creatively modifies the ideas of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy, as well as suggestive and existential ones. The main theoretical statements are based on the conception of adaptive suggestive modification of thinking. The key goal of the MSP is to develop adaptive thinking. It is shown that correction of a world vision is a necessary component of a whole complex of measures for development of adaptive thinking. It is represented the standard working model for correction of a world vision that includes: removal of information gaps; hierarchical matching of basic values systems; neutralization of pathogenic cognitive processes; formation of motivational goals; restoration of a general energy balance for mental processes. There are the main sources of dysfunctional ideas – "self-centric" consciousness; quasi-finale of conclusions; spontaneous reduction of cognitive structures. It is proposed the strategy of suggestive psychotherapeutic influence that is constructed around the idea of the personally ideal lifestyle. It is shown that the main tool of psychotherapeutic influence has to be suggestive persuasion in a wakeful state. There are considered the following ten key methods of multimodal suggestive psychotherapeutic influence: complex verification of inference, psychotherapeutic hypotheses, attitudinal suggestion, suggestive modeling of the future, provocation of physiological and mental stresses, immersion into reality, suggestive pressing by setting conditions, psychotherapeutic confrontational suggestion, actualization of creativity, psychotherapeutic travel alone. It is shown that the key method of this system is Psychotherapeutic confrontational suggestion. It is determined that the MSP allows to give aid to humans suffering from the following illnesses: neurotic and caused by stress somatoform disorders; non-complicated affective disorders; disorders of habits and attractions; sex dysfunction; disorders of sleep, eating behavior, etc.


IntroductionThe use of administrative health data can generate knowledge to improve the delivery and outcomes of health care. Yet, the sharing and use of secondary health data presents concerns given these data were not collected for health research purposes. The sharing of patient-level health data across Canadian provinces is uncommon.
Objectives and ApproachThe Maritime SPOR SUPPORT Unit (a patient-oriented research unit serving the three Canadian Maritime Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island) struck a Working Group to develop a conceptual framework for the interprovincial sharing of secondary health data for research purposes. Membership comprised a researcher, two privacy managers/officers, and a manager of research ethics. The framework sought to: (1) facilitate researchers' understanding of the foundational elements (legal/ethical) of interprovincial data sharing for health research; and (2) identify challenges and opportunities for improving sharing of data across the Maritime Provinces to support patient-oriented research.
ResultsIn all three Maritime provinces, de-identified personal health information may be used for approved health research purposes, with each province having its own data holdings and repositories. Applying the applicable governance principles and regulations (i.e., the ethical governance of research involving human subjects and the legal governance of health information) and drawing on best practices nationally and internationally, a framework was developed to incorporate and address the various aspects of sharing and using health data across provinces for the purposes of health research. The resultant framework discusses when and how the legal and ethical frameworks apply, the de-identification of data, degrees of data sharing, and information governance. It also identifies challenges and opportunities to moving forward with interprovincial data sharing.
Conclusion/ImplicationsDevelopment of this framework was the first phase of a multi-phase approach to move towards improved interprovincial data sharing for patient-oriented research. Cross-provincial sharing and linkage of data can lead to comprehensive, cost-effective, and multi-disciplinary research that benefits patients, the health system, and the public at large.


INTRODUCTION
The fruits of Vaccinium vitis-idaea L. are a valuable source of biologically active flavonoid derivatives. For studies focused on the purification of its quercetin glycosides (QGs) and related glycosides from plants and for the purpose of biological studies, the availability of numeric datasets from computer-assisted ¹H iterative full spin analysis (HiFSA), that is, ¹H-NMR fingerprinting, can replace and assist the repetitive and tedious two-dimensional NMR identification protocol required for both known and new compounds, respectively.

OBJECTIVE
To fully interpret the complex ¹H-NMR fingerprints of eight QGs obtained from the berries of V. vitis-idaea and provide complete and unambiguous signal assignments.

METHODS
Vaccinium vitis-idaea QGs were purified in a single run by long-bed gel permeation chromatography and identified by comparison with commercially available compounds using LC-MS combining ion-trap and time-of-flight detection and one- or two-dimensional NMR. The HiFSA analysis yielded full sets of ¹H chemical shifts and proton-proton coupling constants, allowing for field-independent spectral simulation.

RESULTS
Signal assignments were achieved for the reference standards and the QGs that dominated in purified fractions. However, even mixtures of two to three QGs could be fitted using the HiFSA approach. In the case of the overlapped sugar resonances, the initial fitting of the ¹H spectra of reference compounds, together with values extracted from the two-dimensional NMR data and literature data, assisted in the process.

CONCLUSION
The HiFSA method revealed for the first time the presence of Q-3-O-β-glucopyranoside and Q-3-O-β-glucuronopyranoside in the berries of V. vitis-idaea, and unambiguously confirmed the structures of Q-3-O-[4″-(3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaroyl)]-α-rhamnopyranoside, Q-3-O-α-rhamnopyranoside, Q-3-O-β-galactopyranoside, Q-3-O-α-arabinofuranoside, Q-3-O-β-xylopyranoside and Q-3-O-α-arabinopyranoside.


This study experimentally investigates the effect of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT's), as a reinforcing material, on the physical properties of heavy-weight oil well cements. A candidate well is selected and the properties of the cement slurry used in a problematic section of the well are tested in the laboratory. Carbon nanotubes (CNT's) are added as fibers to the cement slurry and the improvements in the cement slurry and stone properties are studied. This work discusses the problems associated with conventional heavy-weight oil well cement used in the candidate well and reports the detail of the improvements on cement properties obtained by adding CNT's to cement slurry formulation. These properties include cement slurry rheological properties, free water, fluid loss, thickening time, cement stone elasticity, and compressive strength. When only 1 wt.% of CNT is added to the cement slurry, the yield point and plastic viscosity increase by eight and five times respectively, while the free water and fluid loss of cement slurry are reduced by 85% and 70% respectively. In addition, cement stone compressive strength increases by 73.8%. Moreover, the elastic properties of the cement stone are improved and higher values for the Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio are achieved; however, there is an optimum concentration of nano-additive at which the maximum yield point, plastic viscosity, compressive strength, Young's modulus, and Poisson's ratio are reached. The results of this study can be used to optimize the cement slurry design in any given set of conditions.


ABSTRACT
 Across Europe, economic development is increasingly focused on large city regions intensifying processes of metropolitanization. However, the trajectories and experience of these processes are context dependent, shaped by the broad political–economic context and public policy frameworks. Drawing on case studies of Warsaw (Poland) and Dublin (Ireland), this paper examines the relationship between the transformation of the metropolitan spatial structure (through a focus on secondary business districts) and public policy at the metropolitan scale. Unlike the majority of Secondary Business Districts across Europe, the two selected cases (Sluzewiec and Sandyford) have evolved organically over time. Based on desk research and interviews with local stakeholders, the paper explores the evolution of these districts in the context of public policy choices within multi-level governance and public–private frameworks. The paper concludes by highlighting the role of public policy within secondary business district formation and evolution, and the implications for the broader metropolitan area.


Objectives Over the past 10 years there has been increasing concern about the possible behavioural effects of mobile phone use. This systematic review and meta-analysis focuses on studies published since 1999 on the human cognitive and performance effects of mobile phone-related electromagnetic fields (EMF). Methods PubMed, Biomed, Medline, Biological Sciences, PsychInfo, PsycARTICLES, Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management, Neurosciences Abstracts and Web of Science professional databases were searched and 24 studies selected for meta-analysis. Each study had to have at least one psychomotor measurement result as a main outcome. Data were analysed using standardised mean difference (SMD) as the effect size measure. Results Only three tasks (2-back, 3-back and simple reaction time (SRT)) displayed significant heterogeneity, but after studies with extreme SMD were excluded using sensitivity analysis, the statistical significance disappeared (χ2(7)=1.63, p=0.20; χ2(6)=1.00, p=0.32; χ2(10)=14.04, p=0.17, respectively). Following sensitivity analysis, the effect of sponsorship and publication bias were assessed. Meta-regression indicated a significant effect (b1/40.12, p<0.05) only for the 2-back task with mixed funding (industry and public/charity). Funnel plot inspection revealed a significant publication bias only for two cognitive tasks: SRT (Begg's rank correlation r=0.443; Egger's test b=−0.652) and the subtraction task (Egger's test b=−0.687). Conclusions Mobile phone-like EMF do not seem to induce cognitive and psychomotor effects. Nonetheless, the existence of sponsorship and publication biases should encourage WHO intervention to develop official research standards and guidelines. In addition, future research should address critical and neglected issues such as investigation of repeated, intensive and chronic exposures, especially in highly sensitive populations such as children.


This is the third of a five-part series dealing with the rescission by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions of the Obama-era policy that discouraged federal prosecutors from bringing charges in all but the most serious marijuana cases.
This article focuses on cyber-attacks on the main commercial chain, and the use of a private blockchain using HyperLedger Fabric as a platform.
This fraud is a direct, criminal attack; an attack designed to destroy/corrupt records of marijuana inventory and plant tags throughout the supply chain. The attack allows legalized marijuana to escape the system and be sold on the black market. A large-scale cyber-attack impacts every commercial enterprise, transporter, and testing laboratory. Control collapses.
Hacking a major track and trace system is not merely a theoretical possibility. It happened to the largest (and oldest) system. Hackers took down MJ Freeway's Leaf Data System nationwide. The seriousness of this hack was all too apparent to the government of Nevada which notified MJ Freeway on September 12, 2017 that, because of vulnerabilities in its system, the State was terminating its five-year contract (after less than two-years) effective November 1, 2017.
Cyber-attacks aimed at destroying reliable data in a commercial chain have a lot in common with VAT frauds that rely on obscuring transaction data behind rows of false "buffer" entities. Both are defeated by systems that lay bare and preserve highly trustworthy, real-time data about the intra-entity transactions within the commercial chain. AI has become very good at risk-analyzing these data flows, and blockchain has become very good at preserving the data flows for AI analysis.
It is axiomatic that wherever distributive ledgers are adopted, they will replace centralized ledgers. The MJ Freeway system is precisely this kind of multiple-redundant centralized ledger system that will be/should be disrupted (replaced) by a blockchain. A private, rather than a public blockchain is proposed to store the data that is transferred in the commercial production of legalized marijuana.


Transistors used for cellular and PCS infrastructure applications are required to amplify signals with a peak-average ratio that can exceed 13 dB, resulting in a PEP approaching 1 kW. This PEP requirement is a consequence of simultaneous amplification of multiple digitally modulated carriers with a time-varying envelope, and requires a load resistance in the neighborhood of 0.3 /spl Omega/. Present load-pull technology, based on mechanical tuners, is limited to approximately 1 /spl Omega/ at cellular and PCS frequencies, which render these systems incapable of characterizing transistors under these conditions. Previously, many researchers have developed quarter-wave pre-matching networks to transform the source- and load-pull domains to a lower impedance. To characterize these quarter-wave networks, a variety of techniques have been used, including analytical characterization, full-wave characterization, and standard VNA error correction characterization. This paper presents a further refinement of the third approach, which is based on a two-tier calibration using 7 mm and micro-strip TRL calibrations. The accuracy of each tier is quantified by employing offset-short and delay standards to extract the source- and load-match error response. It is shown that from 0.85 GHz to 3.0 GHz forward and reverse source- and load-match are better than -45 dB and -52 dB, respectively. In conjunction with a Maury automated load-pull system, using MT981B tuners, an impedance of 0.10 /spl Omega/ at 1900 MHz is developed.


: The binary quadratic equation representing hyperbola is considered for finding its integer solutions. A few interesting properties among the solutions are presented. Also, we present infinitely many positive integer solutions in terms of Generalized Fibonacci sequences of numbers, Generalized Lucas sequences of numbers.


Background Physiologist-led stress echocardiography (PLSE) services provide potential for expansion of SE services and increased productivity for cardiologists. There are however no published data on the feasibility of PLSE. We sought to assess the feasibility, safety and robustness of PLSE and cardiologist-led stress echocardiography (CLSE) for coronary artery disease (CAD) assessment. Methods Retrospective analysis of 898 patients undergoing PLSE or CLSE for CAD assessment using exercise or dobutamine stress over 24 months. PLSE involved 2 cardiac physiologists (exercise) or 1 physiologist plus 1 cardiac nurse (dobutamine). A cardiology registrar was present in the echocardiography department during PLSE in case of medical complications. CLSE involved 1 physiologist and 1 trainee cardiologist who analysed the study and reviewed findings with an imaging cardiologist. Sixteen-segment wall motion scoring (WMS, WMSI) analysis was performed. Feasibility (stressor, image quality, proportion of completed studies, agreement with imaging cardiologist analysis) and safety (complication rate) were compared for PLSE and CLSE. Results The majority of studies were CLSE (56.2%) and used dobutamine (68.7%). PLSE more commonly used exercise (69.2%). Overall, 96% of studies were successfully completed (>14 diagnostic segments in 98%, P = 0.899 PLSE vs CLSE). Commencement of PLSE was associated with an increase in annual SE's performed for CAD assessment. Complication rates were comparably very low for PLSE and CLSE (0.8% vs 1.8%, P = 0.187). There was excellent agreement between PLSE and CLSE WMS interpretation of 480 myocardial segments at rest (κ = 0.87) and stress (κ = 0.70) and WMSI (ICCs and Pearson's r >0.90, zero Bland–Altman mean bias). Conclusion This to our knowledge is the first study of the feasibility of PLSE. PLSE performed by well-trained physiologists is feasible and safe in contemporary practice. PLSE and CLSE interpretation of stress echocardiography for CAD agree very closely.


The effect of contingent teacher touch delivered with verbal praise for desired academic and/or social behaviors on student on-task behavior was examined in two elementary classrooms. After baseline data were gathered on contingent touch and verbal praise the teachers were instructed to increase their use of contingent touch while maintaining their baseline level of verbal praise. It was hypothesized that greater amounts of contingent teacher touch with verbal praise would result in increases of on-task behavior in elementary students. The present study sought to strengthen this hypothesis by replicating and extending previous studies with the use of a multiple baseline across classrooms and ages design. Upon preliminary viewing of the videotapes it became apparent that the expected data had not been gathered. It was not possible to determine the effects of touch on student on-task behavior because neither teacher increased her rate of touch paired with praise during the treatment phase. In order to complete the Field Study project, it was suggested that other measures be drawn from the videotape record to correlate the student behaviors. Thus, measures for positive teacher attention and proximity were correlated with rates of student on- and off-task behavior. These measures were readily observable on the existing videotape, despite the fact that they had not been an integral part of the original hypothesis. The results of these correlations suggest that the relationship of positive teacher attention and proximity may differ from student to student, but that for some students, there is a strong, positive relationship. Due to difficulties in the implementation of this study, results should be interpreted with extreme caution.


Processes have been developed to incorporate cornstarch into plastics with the intent of increasing the rate of plastic biodegradation. The effect of starch-degrading enzymes on food-grade polyethylene film that contained 6% cornstarch (CSPE) was examined. Control polyethylene film with no added starch, CSPE and laboratory grade soluble starch were treated with α-amylase, β-amylase, or amyloglucosidase. Samples were removed periodically and were subjected to the Nelson-Somogyi method for the determination of reducing sugar content. Treatment with α-amylase and β-amylase released over 30% of the soluble starch as glucose, while less than 1 % of the starch in CSPE was released. Amyloglucosidase activity released up to 50% of the soluble starch as reducing sugar. However, less than 4% of the CSPE starch was liberated. Image analysis of iodine-stained films showed that enzymatic treatment did not remove surface granules. These results indicated that breakdown of CSPE by starch degrading enzymes was limited.


Xylan dissolution, degradation and redeposition in the birch kraft cook have been examined. The molecular weight of the dissolved xylan was determined through gel permeation chromatography and the loss in molecular weight could be correlated to the amount of degraded xylan in the initial parts of the cook. This indicates that peeling is the only significant xylan degradation reaction early in the cook. Two different birch black liquors containing xylan with the molecular weight of 12.200 g/mol and 5.950 g/mol respectively, were added to softwood kraft cooks in order to determine the effect on pulp strength properties by birch xylan. The results show an increase in both tensile strength and tensile stiffness. The magnitude of the strength increase was affected very much by the molecular weight of xylan. High molecular weight xylan addition increased the tensile strength with more than 10% measured at 1000 PFI revolutions. The tensile stiffness was also increased by xylan addition, high molecular weight to a larger extent than low molecular weight.


Editor's Note Let's Get Another Tube—Just in Case This research letter1 from the University of Iowa demonstrates that hundreds of thousands of "extra" blood tubes have been collected from patients for possible "add-on" tests that are rarely done, and we are sure that the University of Iowa is not the only institution to do so. As a routine practice, we believe collecting extra blood for possible future testing is not patient-centered and is inefficient and potentially harmful. Thankfully, over the past few years at the University of Iowa, and likely most medical centers, this practice has decreased markedly, especially with the widespread use of electronic ordering. However, we thought this example could spur us all to think of other dramatic improvements we could make by recognizing inefficiencies and instituting simple process changes, such as this one to reduce the collection of extra blood tubes.


This paper disproves the common belief that all doses of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) that are commonly referred to as biphasic fever inducing (≥2 μg/kg) cause truly biphasic responses. A catheter was implanted into the right jugular vein of several strains of adult male rats, and the animals were habituated to the experimental conditions. At an ambient temperature of 30.0°C, loosely restrained animals were injected with a 10 μg/kg dose of LPS (various preparations), and their colonic (Tc) and tail skin temperatures were monitored (from ≥1 h before to ≥7 h after the injection). The results are presented as time graphs and phase-plane plots; in the latter case the rate of change of Tc is plotted against Tc. In experiment 1 the intravenous injection of LPS (from Escherichia coli 0111:B4, phenol extract) into the rats (Bkl:Wistar) induced a triphasic febrile response, as is obvious from time graphs of Tc (3 peaks), time graphs of effector activity (3 waves of tail skin vasoconstriction), and phase-plane plots (3 complete loops); the injection of saline (control) induced no Tc changes. We analyzed whether the triphasic pattern was due to some peculiarities of the experimental design, i.e., the pyrogen preparation used ( experiment 2) or the rat strain tested ( experiment 3) or whether this pattern reflects a more general law. In experiment 2 we used the same (phenol) preparation of different LPS (from Shigella flexneri 1A and Salmonella typhosa) and a different preparation (TCA extract) of the same LPS ( E. coli). Regardless of the LPS used, rats of the Bkl:Wistar strain responded to the 10 μg/kg dose with the triphasic fever. In experiment 3, rats of other strains [Bkl:Sprague-Dawley and Sim:(LE)fBR(Black-hooded)] were tested. Again, all animals responded to the 10 μg/kg dose of E. coli LPS (phenol extract) with the triphasic fever. Because all fevers caused by four different LPS preparations in three rat strains were triphasic, the triphasic pattern is likely to constitute an intrinsic characteristic of the febrile response.


New D–π–A-type triphenylamine-containing benzimidazoles, benzoxazoles and benzothiazoles have been synthesized. It was found that the introduction of a cyano group in vinyl and methyl in triphenylamine was favorable for producing mechanofluorochromism of the fused heterocyclic derivatives. The single crystal X-ray diffraction data revealed that the intermolecular interactions of the H-bonding formed from the cyano group and the C–H⋯π interaction formed from the methyl group would rigidify the molecular conformations, leading to strong solid-state emission. Interestingly, the solid-state emission of the synthesized triphenylamine-containing fused heterocycles bearing cyano and/or methyl groups could be tuned by external mechanical forces on account of the transition between crystalline and amorphous states or between a highly ordered crystalline state and a less ordered state.


Quran has ten famous recitations and twenty different narrations. It is well known that the best way is to learn from qualified and authentic scientists (Sheikh's) in one or more of these narrations. Due to 1) the widespread of the Internet and the ease of use and availability of computers and the smart phones that enables access to the Internet; 2) the business of people hindering them to attend physical learning environments; and 3) the very few number of elder licensed scientists, we have developed a virtual learning system (Electronic Miqra'ah). Scientists can supervise remotely the registered students. Students (from different ages) can register from anywhere in the world given that they have Internet connection. Students can interact with the scientist in real time so that they can help them memorize (Tahfeez), guide them for error correction, and give them lectures or lessons through virtual learning rooms. The targeted groups of users can be nonblind people, blind people, manual-disabled people and illiterate people. We have developed this system such that it takes the commands via voice in addition to the normal inputs like mouse and keyboard. Users can dictate the commands to the system orally and the system recognizes the spoken phrases and executes them. We have developed an efficient speech recognition engine that is speaker independent and accent independent. The system administrators create several virtual learning rooms and register the licensed scientists. Administrators prepare a daily schedule for each room. Students can register to any of these rooms by pronouncing its name. Each student is allocated a portion of time where he/she can interact directly by voice with the scientist. Other students can listen to the current student's recitation and the error corrections, guidance or lessons from the scientists.


Kahn's Fellowship Dissertation, 'The Economics of the Short Period,' is a major contributions to the development of the theory of imperfect competition. The short period has two aspects: the first is the shape of its prime cost curve, the second is the shape of the individual demand curve. By introducing the imperfection of the market, Kahn was able to explain why price does not fall to marginal cost at a low level of demand and why the equilibrium output is less than full capacity. This paper discusses Kahn's contribution and the question of why imperfect competition was not incorporated into 'The General Theory.' (c) 1994 Academic Press, Inc. Copyright 1994 by Oxford University Press.


We consider the following problem: how can two devices that do not share any secrets establish a shared secret key over a wireless radio channel in the presence of a communication jammer? An inherent challenge in solving this problem is that known anti-jamming techniques (e.g., frequency hopping or direct-sequence spread spectrum) which should support device communication during the key establishment require that the devices share a secret spreading key (or code) prior to the start of their communication. This requirement creates a circular dependency between antijamming spread-spectrum communication and key establishment, which has so far not been addressed. In this work, we propose an uncoordinated frequency hopping (UFH) scheme that breaks this dependency and enables key establishment in the presence of a communication jammer. We perform a detailed analysis of our UFH scheme and show its feasibility, both in terms of execution time and resource requirements.


: In a four-year-old boy receiving phenytoin for seizures, the phenytoin blood level after 1000 mg phenytoin given over 24 hours alternatively intravenously (600 mg) and intramuscularly (400 mg) was found to be 14.7 mu g/ml. After 12 hours of intravenous infusion of 750 mg phenytoin concentrate the concentration was 18.7 mug/ml. When 750 mg phenytoin were given over more than 18 hours the phenytoin blood level was only 7.4 mug/ml.


In lifelong learning, tasks (or classes) to be learned arrive sequentially over time in arbitrary order. During training, knowledge from previous tasks can be captured and transferred to subsequent ones to improve sample efficiency. We consider the setting where all target tasks can be represented in the span of a small number of unknown linear or nonlinear features of the input data. We propose a lifelong learning algorithm that maintains and refines the internal feature representation. We prove that for any desired accuracy on all tasks, the dimension of the representation remains close to that of the underlying representation. The resulting sample complexity improves significantly on existing bounds. In the setting of linear features, our algorithm is provably efficient and the sample complexity for input dimension $d$, $m$ tasks with $k$ features up to error $\epsilon$ is $\tilde{O}(dk^{1.5}/\epsilon+km/\epsilon)$. We also prove a matching lower bound for any lifelong learning algorithm that uses a single task learner as a black box. We complement our analysis with an empirical study, including a heuristic lifelong learning algorithm for deep neural networks. Our method performs favorably on challenging realistic image datasets compared to state-of-the-art continual learning methods.


Pathway to university programs like USQ's Tertiary Preparation Program (TPP) have a significant role to play in widening participation in higher education in Australia as they prepare students from targeted equity groups that have previously been disadvantaged in terms of access to university. While access to higher education has improved for some equity groups, a continuing concern for stakeholders is the perceived rate of attrition in pathway programs. Statistical measurements of attrition and retention may provide tools for evaluating program successes and failures, but they do little to inform policy makers about the student experience of study. The purpose of this study is to identify TPP students' experience of constraints to successful persistence with study and how they manage to overcome them and achieve their learning goals. A qualitative dominant mixed methods research design was utilised to investigate the students' experience of studying on the program. The main data was generated through analysis of student assignments completed at different points of program progression and semi-structured interviews upon completion. Findings are discussed utilising the conceptual framework of Bourdieu's social reproduction theory to discuss constraints as forms of capital. The main socioeconomic constraints faced by TPP students relate to time spent in paid and unpaid work which leaves little time available for full time study. The way in which students utilise time available for study, however, reflect cultural constraints. It was found that unrealistic expectations and false beliefs about the nature of tertiary study prior to enrolment compound constraints that reflect lack of familiarity with academic practices and forms of literacy dominant at university. The process of managing constraints and successfully persisting with study is best conceptualised as development of a personal learning ecology (PLE). Development of a PLE is predicated on students' capacity to successfully manage existing social relationships and develop new ones. Resources and relationships exist in different contexts and each context requires a different form of communicative competence. Pedagogy in pathway programs must facilitate the building of students' personal capacity by scaffolding activities and instruction that specifically target the communication and interpersonal skills required to build a personal learning ecology.


In every generation of new technology development, yield management engineers face new challenges in the detection and modeling of physical defects and systematic yield inhibitors. This paper discusses several approaches to yield modeling that were useful during initial development of 64M DRAM technology. These approaches combined electrical source defect analysis (ESDA) supplemented by end-of-line failure analysis (FA) with in-line defect monitoring using sensitive inspection recipes at frequent processing steps to identify and track the systematic yield and particle issues that must be overcome.


An intrinsically narrow line emitted by an accretion disk around a black hole appears broadened and skewed as a result of the Doppler effect and gravitational redshift. The fluorescent iron line in the X-ray band at 6.4 – 6.9 keV is the strongest such line and is seen in the X-ray spectrum of many active galactic nuclei and, in particular, Seyfert galaxies. It is an important diagnostic with which to study the geometry and other properties of the accretion flow very close to the central black hole. The broad iron line indicates the presence of a standard thin accretion disk in those objects, often seen at low inclination. The broad iron line has opened up strong gravitational effects around black holes to observational study with wide-reaching consequences for both astrophysics and physics.


During the Cenozoic, alkaline magmatism related to rifting in the Ross Sea embayment affected the basement of northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Shallow intrusions supplied the necessary heat to cause groundwater circulation through permeable rocks, producing local hydrothermal systems. In the granitoid country rocks of the two adjacent areas of Mt. Monteagle and Mt. McGee, the biotite δD values range from −69‰ to −141‰ and from −66‰ to −183‰, respectively, and K-feldspars show δ 18 O values as low as 3.7‰ and 4.4‰. These values result from isotope exchange between igneous minerals and hydrothermal fluids with a dominant meteoric water component. Geological and tectonic histories of the two areas show marked similarities; therefore, different δ 18 O and δD values of hydrothermally altered rocks may be interpreted in terms of different isotopic composition of the waters feeding the hydrothermal systems. The isotopic shift of these meteoric waters indicates that climate change occurred in the time span between the 42 Ma intrusion of Mt. Monteagle and the 38 Ma intrusion of Mt. McGee, thus suggesting a cooling episode in the Ross Sea region during late Eocene time.


In this paper, a preventive control action that involves both generation rescheduling and load curtailment is proposed for enhancing the dynamic security of large interconnected power systems. The control action is formulated as a security-constrained optimization problem that is solved by mean-variance mapping optimization (MVMO) integrated with a self-adaptive penalization technique and artificial neural networks to develop a fast and effective methodology. The proposed methodology is applied to a 16-generator 68-bus test system to solve the security-constrained optimization problem with both continuous and discrete decision variables. To find a proper and cost-effective solution for the control actions within an acceptable time, dynamic security assessment methodology based on artificial neural networks is integrated into the optimization process for predicting the violations of security constraints brought about by the candidate solutions. The proposed method effectively integrates a variety of popular heuristic optimization algorithms, including MVMO, differential evolution, particle swarm optimization, genetic algorithms, big bang–big crunch, and artificial bee colony. MVMO outperforms all the others in various aspects such as reliability and robustness.


The increasing exposure to low-dose radiation from diagnostic testing has prompted renewed interest in evaluating its carcinogenic risk, but quantifying health risk from low-dose radiation exposure remains controversial. The current approach is to adopt the linear non-threshold model, which is commonly applied to high-dose exposure, and apply it to assess risk from low-dose exposure. However, existing data are conflicting and limited to epidemiological studies and/or in vitro analyses. In this article, we will discuss the potential cancer risk from low- and high-dose radiation, their effects on DNA repair response pathways, and the best course of action for patients and providers to minimize risk.


Widespread use of 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) has led to significant reductions in disease while changing pneumococcal population dynamics via herd immunity and serotype replacement. We performed multilocus sequence typing (MLST) on 590 pneumococcal isolates obtained during the American Indian clinical trial of PCV7, in which communities were randomized for eligible children to receive either PCV7 or a meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MCV). Sequence types (STs) were analyzed to determine the impact of the vaccine on pneumococcal population structure and to assess the possible impact of pneumococcal genetic background on vaccine effects. One hundred forty-three STs were obtained, the most frequent being ST199, the only one that included vaccine serotypes (VTs), non-vaccine-associated nonvaccine serotypes (NVA/NVTs), and vaccine-associated serotypes (VATs). Serotype replacement observed in the PCV communities was due to a diverse population of STs, most of which also existed in the MCV communities. Possible capsular switching to create novel ST associations with NVA/NVTs was detected only once. Reductions in VTs and changes in VATs in PCV communities did not show evidence of variation by ST, after accounting for lower vaccine effectiveness against serotype 19F. These observations suggest the hypothesis that the vaccine acts as a "serotype filter": its effect on a particular strain can be predicted on the basis of the serotype of the strain, with little effect of genetic background (as assessed by MLST) over and above capsule. If sustained, such patterns provide some cause for optimism that rapid evolution of PCV escape strains with drug resistance or high virulence is unlikely.


OVERVIEW The combination of legislation, market dynamics, and increasingly sophisticated risk management strategies requires you to be proactive in detecting risks like fraud quicker and more effectively. Dynamic detection systems need to adapt to evolving compliance regulations, scale to deal with growing transaction volumes, detect sophisticated risk specific patterns, and reduce false-positives. TIBCO's Risk Management Accelerator uses a combination of predictive analytics, streaming analytics, and business process management to deliver a powerful and cost-effective system for detecting anomalies.


Use of prebiotics, as dietary supplements, could be beneficial in animal health by improving the non-specific immune system. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of a diet supplementation of mannan oligosaccharide (MOS) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain 1026 on mortality and growth traits of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). The experiment was conducted at "Reina del Cisne'' fish farm (Cuenca, Ecuador), from October the 7, 2015 to December the 9, 2015 (10 weeks). This study involved 30,000 fish allocated in six raceways (5,000 fishes per raceway) with an initial average weight of 170.3±9.7 g. The control treatment group consisted of a standard commercial diet (three raceways), and the MOS treatment group consisted of the control diet supplemented with 0.2% of MOS (three raceways). Growth traits (net body weight [NBW], feed conversion ratio [FCR], and total fish production [TFP]) and mortality were measured. At the end of the fattening period, there were significant differences for NBW, FCR and TFP in favour of the MOS treatment group (p-value <0.05). The mortality observed was 31% and 17% for the control treatment group and the MOS treatment group respectively. The difference between these two groups was statistically significant (p-values <0.05). This study demonstrated that a dietary supplementation of mannan oligosaccharide (MOS) could improve the growth performance and reduce the mortality in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) reared in raceways.


__Abstract__

The use of podcasting technology in language learning presents a unique set of challenges and holds a great deal of promise for digital natives as well as for newcomers to technology. The literature on podcasts in learning mainly focuses on student experiences in formal educational settings, while questions related to nontraditional students in freely-available language programs provided by non-profit organizations remain unexplored. Taking a case study approach, this research examines how podcasting enhances the English learning experiences of students in an English as a Second Language (ESL) course offered by a non-profit organization that provides community services to immigrants in Canada. This chapter discusses instructional and organizational benefits as well as the challenges of applying podcasts in language training. By triangulating the experiences of the students, instructor, and program coordinators, we are able to examine the effectiveness of such a program and offer recommendations for similar programs in the future.


It is very important to understand the surface and volume charge transportation properties of high insulating materials, such as polyimide, in order to find suitable method to mitigate the electrostatic discharge (ESD) of certain sensitive components on spacecraft. An isothermal surface potential decay (ISPD) experiment is performed inside a ground based vacuum chamber on polyimide under a simulated space environment. Immediately after low energy electron beam irradiation on polyimide, the 2D surface potential distributions are measured by a non-contact potential probe under five various temperatures from 298 to 338 K. The surface potential decay of the insulating material can be divided into two categories: transient process and steady state process. The steady state process is determined by the surface and volume charge transportation properties of dielectric. An ISPD model with genetic algorithm (GA) is developed to reveal the steady state surface potential decay experimental results. From the GA analysis, we obtain the surface resistivity, volume Ohmic resistivity, and charge carrier mobility of polyimide at various temperatures. After analyzing the surface and volume charge transportation properties of the material as a function of temperature, we find that the surface resistivity, volume Ohmic resistivity, and charge carrier mobility are well fitted with the Arrhenius law. Consequently, surface activation energy, volume activation energy, and trap energy of polyimide are found as 0.30 eV, 0.32 eV, and 0.54 eV, respectively.