The Nkandla controversy has long dominated South African politics and has seemingly been endless. This article revisits the Nkandla issue from the perspective that it fails the Kantian categorical imperative (i.e. CI) and attempts to explain the problem of individual as well as organisational or structural corruption, in which the author contends the Nkandla controversy to be grounded. This article opens a discussion on the relevance of Kantian theory in confronting the matter of Nkandla. The author argues that Kant's moral theory should not be viewed simplistically but from a rational position of internalised moral maxims or precepts. The Nkandla project is interrogated in relation to the former Public Protector's and Minister of Police's reports on the Nkandla 'security upgrades'. It is the author's view that South Africans are demanding accountability insofar as the Nkandla project is concerned, since moral attitudes are an integral and necessary part of our everyday lives. It is the author's contention that the President and the executive have no desire to be accountable and transparent in the Nkandla matter. The aftermath of Nkandla controversy has changed the face of South Africa's political environment completely. The author further argues that holding political elites accountable should not be regarded as hostility towards those held responsible and the African National Congress as political organisation. The author also looks at the Constitutional Court ruling on this matter.


Summary Ten seismograms, due to rockbursts at Lake Shore Mines, Kirkland Lake, Ontario, were recorded on a Benioff seismograph at Ottawa at a distance of 450 km. (279 mi.). The center of each burst was located within a few feet; but, for the purpose of preparing travel-time tables, they may all be considered to have occurred at a single point at the surface. Two of the bursts were accurately timed on the seismograph at the mine. Six phases were registered on each seismogram, being more sharply marked on some records than on others. Five of these are well defined on nearly all the records. It is thus possible to deduce a set of arrival times at a distance of 450 km. for a burst (or earthquake) occurring at the surface; and this set of times is known with fair precision, since all the readings may be combined. The distance is determined within one part in 7000, the depth within 2000 ft. and the travel times with an error of ±.5 sec. These travel times have been compared with those obtained by Joliat in computing his Tables for Near Earthquakes , based on the velocities deduced by Jeffreys for northern Europe and arbitrarily assuming an earth structure with two layers above the Mohorovicic discontinuity. The differences are minor and are to be explained as chiefly owing to the fact that Joliat assumed the focus to lie at the bottom instead of the top of the upper layer. On the strength of the comparisons afforded by the ten seismograms, the focal time of each burst may be considered as known within ±.5 sec. One of the bursts was so severe that it was registered also at Shawinigan Falls, Quebec (Δ = 576 km., 358 mi.) and at Weston, Massachusetts (Δ = 935 km., 581 mi.). These records will afford a means of deducing the earth structure and velocities in the vicinity of Ottawa, and will permit the construction of tables for rock-bursts and blasts in that area up to 10° (1110 km., 690 mi.). These will be prepared and issued, together with corrections permitting their being used for local earthquakes with finite focal depth. Should other bursts occur later at Kirkland Lake, timed by the mine seismograph and registered at Ottawa or the other stations, the data so made available may be directly used to check and add precision to the deductions made from the seismograms already in hand. Such further data would be most valuable.


Vegetation is an essential part of our world and we rely on the presence of trees, plants, etc. in our current society, however vegetation itself also relies on other aspects of the Earth to thrive, for example, its growth conditions and habitat. Here we examined the relationship between the slope of a terrain and vegetation, measured by the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). We used satellite data from Yosemite Valley to test for statistically significant differences in NDVI values amongst terrains of different slope angles. We hypothesized that lower slope ranges would be more supportive of vegetation growth than higher slope ranges. We used confidence intervals and hypothesis tests to estimate the population mean NDVI for terrains with different slope angles. We report a statistical significance between the 30–45° slope range and the 75–90° slope range, which supports our hypothesis that lower sloped terrain is more supportive of vegetation greenness. Additionally, our analysis showed that no slope (even as extreme as 85–90°) prohibits the growth of vegetation completely; even the steepest slopes examined contain plant life. With our planet constantly evolving and growing, we are always looking for ways to improve efficiency. Knowing that steep slopes can still support plant life, we can begin to explore and start planting additional crops and plants at these extreme slopes.


In this paper the notion of emergence in complex social systems is rediscussed as a necessary instrument for a theory of the macro-micro link. Referring to Schelling's model of segregation, emergent effects are defined as effects generated by (inter)acting micro-social entities, and implemented upon, but not incorporated into, their rules. In the successive section, the way back from macro to micro, i.e. downward causation, is examined. Simple and complex loops are distinguished, with reference to concrete examples drawn from the social scientific and the computational literature. Next, how a given macro-effect is implemented on the lower levels is shown, and two specific mechanisms of implementation, 2 order emergence and immergence, are discussed.


In this paper, we present an extension of our concept of the Universal Improvement Scheme (UnIS) investigated in our previous work. The main focus of UnIS is to improve the localization results of unknown wireless nodes, aka mobiles, in the network with prepositioned reference nodes, aka anchors. The UnIS algorithm uses some additional information known a priori about the network. This information is represented by distances, known before the experiment, between couples of mobile nodes being localized. In this work, the optimization of the UnIS algorithm is proposed. According to our previous observations, we introduce a novel weighted UnIS (W-UnIS) approach that uses different weighting criteria to achieve a higher improvement ratio. We compare the effectiveness of W-UnIS scheme to its predecessor using the data collected in a deployed wireless sensor network testbed. The obtained results indicate that the localization error can be reduced significantly using our new W-UnIS approach.


Great expectations have been set around the clinical potential of regenerative and reparative medicine in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases (i.e., in particular heart failure [HF]). Initial excitement, spurred by encouraging preclinical data, resulted in a rapid translation into clinical research. The sobering outcome of the resulting clinical trials suggests that preclinical testing may have been insufficient to predict clinical outcome. Number of barriers for clinical translation include the inherent variability of the biological products and difficulties to develop potency and quality assays, insufficient rigor of the preclinical research and reproducibility of the results, manufacturing challenges and scientific irregularities reported in the last years. The failure to achieve clinical success led to an increased scrutiny and skepticism as to the clinical readiness of stem cells and gene therapy products among clinicians, industry stakeholders and funding bodies. The present impasse has attracted the attention of some of the most active research groups in the field, which were then summoned to analyze the position of the field and tasked to develop a strategy, to re-visit the undoubtedly promising future of cardiovascular regenerative and reparative medicine, based on lessons learned over the past two decades. During the scientific retreat of the ESC Working Group on Cardiovascular Regenerative and Reparative Medicine (CARE) in November 2018, the most relevant and timely research aspects in regenerative and/or reparative medicine were presented and critically discussed, with the aim to lay out a strategy for the future development of the field. We report herein the main ideas and conclusions of that meeting.


The human placenta produces several hypophysiotropic factors that participate in the control of local hormone secretion. In particular, previous reports showed that inhibin and activin modulate both GnRH release and hormonal effect in cultured human placental cells. The present study evaluated the possible correlations among the synthesis and cellular distribution of inhibin, activin, and GnRH in placental villi at term. mRNA coding for inhibin alpha- and beta A-subunits and GnRH were localized in human placenta at term by in situ hybridization using the corresponding cDNA probes. Autoradiograms revealed that some placental cells express inhibin alpha- and beta A-subunit and GnRH mRNAs. A common localization of the three hormonal mRNAs has been found in the inner part of the villi. Using affinity-purified polyclonal antisera, immunocytochemical studies confirmed that in placental villi at term, immunoreactive inhibin alpha- and beta A-subunits and GnRH had a distribution that was superimposable in several areas. Both the outer layer and the inner trophoblasts contained immunoreactive hormonal products. The present data show that some placental cells at term can produce and release inhibin, activin, and/or GnRH. This complement of hypophysiotropic factors may, thus, represent a local paracrine/autocrine control mechanism within the placenta.


In mammalian evolutionary history, Cetacea (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) achieved astonishing success by adapting to an aquatic environment. One unique characteristic of cetaceans, contributing to this adaptive success, is efficient lipid utilization. Here we report comparative genetic analysis of aquatic and terrestrial Cetartiodactyla using 144 genes associated with lipid metabolism. We analyzed mutation rate, amino acid substitution, and metabolic pathways using genetic data publicly available. Our test detected 18 positively selected genes in Cetacea compared to 13 in Bovidae with little overlap between the lineages. We identified lineage-specific patterns of amino acid substitutions and functional domain that were mutually exclusive between cetaceans and bovids, supporting divergent evolution of lipid metabolism since the divergence of these taxa from a common ancestor. Moreover, a pathway analysis showed that the identified genes in cetaceans were associated with lipid digestion, lipid storage, and energy producing pathways. This study emphasizes the evolutionary context of lipid metabolism modification of cetaceans and provides a foundation for future studies of elucidating the adapted biological mechanisms of cetacean lipid metabolism and a framework for incorporating ecological context into studies aimed at investigating adaptive evolution.


Jader de Carvalho has the child as a constant motif in his poetry. By means of the relation with the land of origin (the hinterland), the author's poetic production, activated by memory resources, tracks the paths of childhood mediated by experience and an educational process. Between the family abandonment and the precocious understanding of the world, we visualize a boy who interacts with himself and the world by a singularized perspective of childhood. Thus, the concepts of childhood and education are essential to understand the lyricism of the author, because there's a strong connotation in the forms of learning by which the child passes. In contrast to educational narratives (bildungsroman) that follows a sequenced route to present the characters' life line, we realize that line in a fragmented and dispersed way in poetry. The child representation in poems by Jader de Carvalho presents itself poetically trough the word without concern for the temporal logicality. A state of childhood surpasses the chronology because adult and child are in the same plane of discoveries and concerns, indicating an educational process that remains in the poet in his old age. Thus, this study aims to examine the images of childhood in Jader de Carvalho's poetry and its relation to elements that are present in his childhood, like hinterland, family, loneliness and time. From considerations about the categories presented, we investigate how the hinterland, original landscape of author's experiences, acts in a relational way with the child who appears in the poems and how childhood and old age make a continuous flow of relations, pointing to a mobile and active dialogue between ages. With contributions from theoretical currents of Philosophy of Education (Montaigne, Walter Benjamin, Lyotard, Agamben), Theory of Literature (Mikhail Bakhtin) and Psychoanalysis (Ferenczi), we analyze how childhood and its journeys participate in Jader de Carvalho's poetics.


Establishing the link between atmospheric CO 2 concentration and anthropogenic carbon emissions requires the development of complex carbon cycle models of the primary sinks, the ocean and terrestrial biosphere. Once such models have been developed, the potential exists to use pulse response functions to characterize their behaviour. However, the application of response functions based on a pulse increase in atmospheric CO 2 to characterize oceanic uptake, the conventional technique, does not yield a very accurate result due to nonlinearities in the aquatic carbon chemistry. Here, we propose the use of an ocean mixed-layer pulse response function that characterizes the surface to deep ocean mixing in combination with a separate equation describing air-sea exchange. The use of a mixed-layer pulse response function avoids the problem arising from the nonlinearities of the carbon chemistry and gives therefore more accurate results. The response function is also valid for tracers other than carbon. We found that tracer uptake of the HILDA and Box-Diffusion model can be represented exactly by the new method. For the Princeton 3-D model, we find that the agreement between the complete model and its pulse substitute is better than 4% for the cumulative uptake of anthropogenic carbon for the period 1765–2300 applying the IPCC stabilization scenarios S450 and S750 and better than 2% for the simulated inventory and surface concentration of bomb-produced radiocarbon. By contrast, the use of atmospheric response functions gives deviations up to 73% for the cumulative CO 2 uptake as calculated with the Princeton 3-D model. We introduce the use of a decay response function for calculating the potential carbon storage on land as a substitute for terrestrial biosphere models that describe the overturning of assimilated carbon. This, in combination with an equation describing the net primary productivity permits us to exactly characterize simple biosphere models. As the time scales of biospheric overturning are one key aspect to determine the amount of anthropogenic carbon which might be sequestered by the biosphere, we suggest that decay response functions should be used as a simple and standardized measure to compare different models and to improve understanding of their behaviour. We provide analytical formulations for mixed-layer and terrestrial biosphere decay pulse response functions which permit us to easily build a substitute for the 'Bern' carbon cycle model (HILDA). Furthermore, mixed-layer response functions for the Box-Diffusion, a 2-D model, and the Princeton 3-D model are given. DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0889.1996.t01-2-00006.x


Proceedings of a Symposium held at College of General Practitioners, London 19th & 20th April 1966 MEETINGS can be of two types. In the first, a small group of experts are invited to describe some aspects of their work or their philosophy to the others present. Provided that the speakers are original, coherent and intelligible there is no problem in publishing a readable version of the proceedings. The second type of meeting depends on a free exchange of ideas between all the participants. Opening speakers are invited only to provide background facts, and to stimulate the group as a whole to creative thinking. It is virtually impossible to publish readable proceedings from such a meeting. Even a heavily edited verbatim report appears rambling and in coherent. A simple description of the discussion tends to lose the spirit of the meeting. The OHE symposium on General Medical Care in New Towns, which we organised in April 1966 in co-operation with the College of General Practitioners, falls squarely in the second category. We have, therefore, not attempted to produce a comprehensive record of the proceedings. Indeed, in the conventional sense, this publication is not a report of the meeting at all. It aims only to record the conclusions—the areas of broad agreement, as well as the many questions to which no answers emerged—and more particularly to record, in the participants' own words, some of the highlights of the discussion. In many cases the choice of a passage or remark by one participant reflects a point made equally well by several others. In this sense, the following pages are intended primarily to stimulate the reader rather than to do justice to the many excellent contributions to the meeting.


Using structured design techniques to design a Programmable Logical Control (PLC) program would decrease the time needed for debugging and produces a concise bug free code. This study is concerned with the design of a software agent for automatic creation of code for a PLC program that can be downloaded on a Siemens Step 7 series. The code is generated according to the syntax rules for the AWL Language, AWL is the abbreviation for the germen word Anweisungsliste which means Instruction List The proposed system uses object oriented approach to transfer the design specification into an object that adequately describes the system using the state based design technique. The industrial system specifications are supplied by the user through a simple Graphical User Interface (GUI) environment These specification define the attributes vales of an object oriented class describing the control system, all the functions needed to generate the code are encapsulated in the class.


Through case studies involving Cluster waveform observations, solitary waves in the form of bipolar and tripolar pulses have recently been found to be quite abundant in the near-Earth dayside magnetosheath. We expand on the results of those previous studies by examining the distribution of solitary waves from the bow shock to the magnetopause using Cluster waveform data. Cluster's orbit allows for the measurement of solitary waves in the magnetosheath from about 10RE to 19.5RE . Our results clearly show that within the magnetosheath, solitary waves are likely to be observed at any distance from the bow shock and that this distance has no dependence on the time durations and amplitudes of the solitary waves. In addition we have found that these same two quantities show no dependence on either the ion velocity or the angle between the ion velocity and the local magnetic field direction. These results point to the conclusion that the solitary waves are probably created locally in the magnetosheath at multiple locations, and that the generation mechanism is most likely not solely related to ion dynamics, if at all. To gain insight into a possible local generation mechanism, we have examined the electron differential energy flux characteristics parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field, as well as the local electron plasma and cyCorrespondence to: J. S. Pickett (email@example.com) clotron frequencies and the type of bow shock that Cluster is behind, for several time intervals where solitary waves were observed in the magnetosheath. We have found that solitary waves are most likely to be observed when there are counterstreaming ( ∼ parallel and anti-parallel to the magnetic field) electrons at or below about 100 eV. However, there are times when these counterstreaming electrons are present when solitary waves are not. During these times the background magnetic field strength is usually very low ( <10 nT), implying that the amplitudes of the solitary waves, if present, would be near or below those of other waves and electrostatic fluctuations in this region making it impossible to isolate or clearly distinguish them from these other emissions in the waveform data. Based on these results, we have concluded that some of the near-Earth magnetosheath solitary waves, perhaps in the form of electron phase-space holes, may be generated locally by a two-stream instability involving electrons based on the counterstreaming electrons that are often observed when solitary waves are present. We have not ruled out the possibility that the solitary waves could be generated as a result of the lower-hybrid Buneman instability in the presence of an electron beam, through the electron acoustic mode or through processes involving turbulence, which is almost always present in the magnetosheath, but these will be examined in a more comprehensive study in the future. 182 J. S. Pickett et al.: On the generation of solitary waves observed by Cluster in the near-Earth magnetosheath


The student-faculty ratio is of great significance to policy makers and media as a popular measure of education and teaching quality. Due to its simplicity and the availability of data, it is often used in higher education policy for allocating resources and for ranking universities. This is especially so in some European countries which do not have selective admission policies and where universities have to cope with huge numbers of students. However, there is no definition and no empirically validated data for an appropriate student-faculty ratio. To close this gap, we constructed a model with parameters relevant for high quality teaching and education and validated them empirically by conducting a survey among university professors in business administration. The results clearly illustrate that student-faculty ratios are discipline specific and depend whether the university is research or teaching oriented.


Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) consist of a front-end boost rectifier, which incorporates a power factor correction (PFC) circuit for battery charging. Bridgeless interleaved (BLIL) PFC boost converter topology is proved as a standard PFC converter as it has high efficiency, reduced input current ripple, and reduced electromagnetic interference (EMI). This paper proposes a digital nonlinear control technique that employs a resettable integrator to shape the input current of the converter in phase with the input voltage to achieve high input power factor. This control approach rejects power source and load perturbations better than linear feedback control methods. This is accomplished by summing up the sensed input current of a BLIL converter with a fictitious current synthesized with the input voltage. In this work, a BLIL converter is analyzed for its input power factor improvement, voltage stress across the devices, and dynamic response under variable supply and load conditions using simulation. The hardware is tested for a 300 W BLIL boost converter to validate the simulated results. The performance of the proposed controller is compared with that of conventional average current mode control. The experiment and simulation results prove that the resettable integrator controller shows a better performance than the conventional controller.


Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) sample can be routinely made at a sub 30nm thickness and specific features in semiconductor device design are on the order of 30nm and smaller. As a result, small changes in pattern match registration can significantly influence the success or failure of proper TEM sample placement as an approximately 15nm shift in lamella placement can easily cause the sample to be off the feature of interest. To address this issue, design based recipe writing is being developed on a dual beam focused ion beam platform. The intent is to have the tool read a GDS file and pattern match the design information to physical wafer images in a similar fashion to state-of-the-art critical dimension scanning electron microscopy operation. While the results are very encouraging, more work needs to be done to ensure a TEM sample of approximately 30nm thickness is placed at the desired location.


The characterization of the large amount of gas residing in the galaxy halos, the so called circumgalactic medium (CGM), is crucial to understand galaxy evolution across cosmic time. We focus here on the the cool (T ∼ 104 K) phase of this medium around star-forming galaxies in the local universe, whose properties and dynamics are poorly understood. We developed semi-analytical parametric models to describe the cool CGM as an outflow of gas clouds from the central galaxy, as a result of supernova explosions in the disc (galactic wind). The cloud motion is driven by the galaxy gravitational pull and by the interactions with the hot (T ∼ 106 K) coronal gas. Through a bayesian analysis, we compare the predictions of our models with the data of the COS-Halos and COS-GASS surveys, which provide accurate kinematic information of the cool CGM around more than 40 low-redshift star-forming galaxies, probing distances up to the galaxy virial radii. Our findings clearly show that a supernova-driven outflow model is not suitable to describe the dynamics of the cool circumgalactic gas. Indeed, to reproduce the data, we need extreme scenarios, with initial outflow velocities and mass loading factors that would lead to unphysically high energy coupling from the supernovae to the gas and with supernova efficiencies largely exceeding unity. This strongly suggests that, since the outflows cannot reproduce most of the cool gas absorbers, the latter are likely the result of cosmological inflow in the outer galaxy halos, in analogy to what we have previously found for early-type galaxies.


HISTORY AND ADMISSION FINDINGS: An 86-year-old patient presented to our clinic with increasing redness and swelling of the right scrotum and inguinal lymphadenopathy. Five and a half years before admission carcinoma of the bladder (pT1,G2) had been diagnosed and was treated with several transurethral endoscopic resections as well as repeated instillations of Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) into the bladder. INVESTIGATIONS: Orchiectomy on the right side was performed. Histological analysis revealed a granulomatous inflammation consistent with a mycobacteriosis. Mycobacterium bovis BCG could be isolated from several sputum and urine specimens of the patient. DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT AND COURSE: Tuberculostatic therapy was started soon after surgery. After seven weeks of treatment no more mycobacteria could be detected in sputum and urine control specimens. At a follow up after twelve months there was no evidence of recurrent disease. CONCLUSION: We describe the late manifestation of a BCG infection including the lungs and the urogenital tract. This is a rare complication with potentially serious consequences and requires rapid diagnosis and urgent treatment by a multidisciplinary team.


In this paper, we argue that the future of development in Africa lies in the shift from democracy in the conventional sense to technocracy, where the role of the expert is recognized and appreciated. We set out by presenting conceptualizations of
democracy and technocracy. Thereafter, we highlight the challenge posed by the demands of the information society to traditional concepts of democracy.


This study investigates the attitudes of secondary school students towards reading literary texts in the Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State. The survey research design was used, and four public secondary schools were randomly selected. A total of 200 SSII students who were studying literature in English were randomly selected from these schools. The research instrument used was the Students' Attitude to Reading of Literary Texts Questionnaire (r=.79). Descriptive statistics such as frequency count, percentage scores, mean, and standard deviation, and inferential statistics such as t-test at the 0.05 level of significance were used to analyze the data. The study found that the students had a weighted mean of 2.74, which was greater than the threshold. Furthermore, there were no significant differences between male and female students in their attitudes towards text possession (t (197) = .180; p=.857>.05; Mean Difference = .19701) or their attitudes towards reading (t (196) = -.014; p=.989>.05; Mean Difference = -.01164). Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that teachers of literature-in-English should encourage students to develop a positive attitude towards reading literary texts. Teachers should adopt methods that will enhance students' positive attitudes towards reading literary texts, and students should be encouraged to read all recommended literary texts. Additionally, parents should purchase all recommended literary texts for their children and encourage them to develop a positive attitude towards reading these texts.


3D vertical seismic profile (VSP) data offer far more than just the opportunity to generate images. The 3D VSP geometry offers a rich data set suitable for examining many issues faced by interpreters and processors of geophysical data. In-situ measurements of velocity, anisotropy, Q, multiple generators, stress, and fracture orientation are all possible. This is in addition to the basic products provided by 3D VSP, namely high-resolution images of the subsurface.


Coastal areas of Bangladesh are more susceptible to the adverse effects of climate change due to their geographic location and geological condition. The coastal zones and offshore islands of the country have indisputably experienced the combined consequences of global temperature and sea level rise. Aiming to study and understand shoreline dynamics and shoreline change, medium resolution (30m) satellite imagery over 30 (1990-2020) years was being executed. The Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) in the GIS platform was used in conjunction with other geospatial techniques to ascertain shoreline dynamics in multiple satellite images taken over this period, and afterward, the spatial outcomes were validated through a detailed field investigation. The study demarcated that the shoreline of Moheshkhali is subjected to severe erosion and accretion and has undergone significant morphological changes. On the basis of average shoreline change rates, the island's shoreline is divided into 6 accretion zones and 4 erosion zones, with accretion being the dominant process. Accretion occurs in the south and south-western parts of the island, particularly those near the sea heads, which have experienced significant accretion at a rate of more than 86 m/yr and the consequent westward and south-east migration of the shore due to the active deposition along the coast. Besides, minor alterations were observed in the north and north-eastern part of the island. The study also evident that climate change, windy storms, variability in coast material, intermittent wave and air action, longshore transport, and anthropogenic activities are prime factors that contribute to the highly dynamic nature of the shorelines of Moheshkhali island. Therefore, this study demonstrates the benefit of using an integrated GIS-DSAS tool to investigate spatiotemporal shoreline change, and it might be valuable in land-use planning and coastal erosion mitigation on Moheskhali Island.
The Dhaka University Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vol. 11(1), 2022, P 1-13


Data show that underrepresented minority (URM) engineering students have lower rates of completion and higher rates of attrition in their doctoral studies than their majority peers. To address attrition and support students, we have developed a research-based intervention that we call the Dissertation Institute (DI). As part of a five-year NSF-funded project, we have developed and refined the DI as a one-week intensive writing and workshop experience for URM in the final phases of their engineering doctoral degrees. We have hosted two DIs to date (2017 and 2018) and we are preparing for our third DI in 2019. The goal of the DI is to offer practical and timely experiences for URM doctoral students to contribute to their degree success. At the same time, we have been researching the motivational factors that promote or detract from degree progress. This analysis looks across the data we have collected and analyzed to date to describe how the DI has evolved over time and in research-informed ways. This approach is in alignment with the final project research question: What are the critical contextual differences between the annual DIs that are important to consider with regard to transferability of DI for future sustainability? We believe that other institutions, programs, and advisors can use our findings in developing local workshops as our research broadly indicates that the first two offerings of the DI have positively impacted students' motivation to finish their dissertation. In critically examining the DI itself and documenting the changes over time, we find that: 1) lack of writing is a symptom of other challenges in pursuing the doctoral degree, and 2) a balance of writing time and professional development is needed to support students. Although heavily grounded in research data (e.g., comparative analysis of quantitative and qualitative data gathered in each of the prior Dis), herein we describe the evolving design of the DI and lessons learned to date.


The aim of this study was to compare the resistance to deflection fatigue of a gold alloy used in porcelain-fused-to-metal restorations with and without a brazing joint. Pre-ceramic brazing filler metal was used to join the parent specimens of gold alloy together. The deflection fatigue test was carried out mainly with 0.4 m deflection of the test specimens (n = 5) but to obtain an S-N curve for the specimens, other magnitudes of deflection, i.e. the stress, were also used. When the fracture surface of the test specimens was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the results showed that the brazing joint in the gold alloy test specimen decreases the fatigue resistance considerably compared to that of specimens without a brazing joint (P = 0.002). SEM examination showed that the failure type of the brazing joint was cohesive and that the brazing filler metal had a more porous structure than the parent gold alloy. These results suggest that, due to the occlusal biting forces in situ, the brazing joints in fixed partial dentures can be fractured by metal fatigue.


This paper constructed a simple model to illustrate the global supply chain profit sharing and industrial upgrading mechanism, from which it was found that the average profitability distribution in the different supply chain stages was determined by two main factors: (1) the average product of the labor in the firms at each production stage; and (2) the ratio of the output elasticity of capital to the output elasticity of labor in each stage. This paper also proposed a new industrial upgrading mechanism, the 'inter-supply chain upgrading', for supply chain firms. Rises in production complexity and increased factor intensity in each production stage were found to be the two essential conditions for the inter-supply chain upgrading. The empirical study results were found to be broadly consistent with the proposed theories.


The effect of working temperature on microstructure and mechanical properties of ultrafine grained monolithic Al and Al-5vol.%SiCp composite processed by accumulative roll bonding (ARB) was studied. The ARB was performed up to eight cycles (an equivalent strain of ~6.4) without lubricant. The working temperature was varied from ambient temperature to 200 C. The samples processed at temperatures below 100C exhibited an ultrafine grained structure over almost all regions. However, the samples processed at 200C showed an inhomogeneous structure in which a few coarse grains due to an occurrence of conventional recrystallization is partially seen. The tensile strength of both the monolithic Al and the composite decreased with increasing the ARB working temperature. The variation of microstructure and mechanical properties of the composite with the working temperature was compared to that of the monolithic aluminum.


The fifth book in the Ebifananyi series is based on the memoirs and slide collection of Engineer Martin Wangutusi Wambwa (b. 1928). He is one of the first western trained Ugandan engineers. Journalism and photography would have been his second vocational choice, had his engineering ambitions not worked out. Uhuru (Swahili for freedom/independence) works towards and around the idea of Uganda's independence. Wambwa's slides show a (literally and figuratively speaking) colourful, clean and optimistic place. His memoirs take us through what it meant and took for him to be educated the way he was, leading to a climax in which things started to change from 'Uhuru na kazi' (Freedom and Work) to 'Uhuru na vita' (Freedom and War). Three contemporary photographers were invited to engage with and respond to Wambwa's photographs. Elsadig Mohamed (SD), Luuk van den Berg (NL) and Rumanzi Canon (UG) did this with each a different visual strategy related to their own practices as photographers. The work presented in this book was part of the City Remixing exhibitions that took place in Uganda (March 2016) and The Netherlands (April 2016). Video documentation of the shows is also available: NL, and UG.


Author(s): Mefford, Eric | Advisor(s): Horowitz, Gary T. | Abstract: This dissertation investigates thermal holographic quantum field theories dual to gravitational systems with black holes. This study has relevance for experimental physics in a lab or near an astrophysical black hole as well as for the structure of higher dimensional quantum field theories. The dissertation begins with an introduction to AdS/CFT, entanglement entropy, and numerical methods.The next two chapters explore constraints on holographic quantum field theories with a semi-classical dual. In chapter two, a scalar field is used to construct an ``extended wormhole'' that connects two identical asymptotic regions and is globally static. Mutual information of identical regions in the two boundary CFTs show that the expanded throat corresponds to rapid thermalization in the field theory. In the third chapter, a finite temperature phase transition in the gravitational path integral is used to constrain the spectrum of charged, spinning operators in the dual thermal CFT. The fourth and fifth chapters are concerned with the study of thermal quantum field theories around black holes. In chapter four, the holographic dual of a zero-temperature quantum field theory on a finite temperature Reissner-Nordstr{ quot;o}m black hole background is constructed. The entanglement entropy of annular regions in the field theory explains a phenomenon called ``jamming,'' in which heat flow is impeded due to strong interactions. In chapter five, the holographic dual to a quantum field theory on the interior of a doubly-spinning Myers-Perry black hole is constructed. The null energy along the Cauchy horizon diverges negatively, indicating singular behavior and providing evidence for strong cosmic censorship.The sixth chapter constructs the holographic dual to a strongly interacting metal with charged bosonic excitations. Such a field theory is a candidate system to describe the pseudogap phase of the high temperature superconductors. Experiments on these systems exhibit a metal-insulator transition at zero temperature and power-law conductivities at low temperature. On the gravity side, a domain wall potential for a scalar field interpolates between UV and IR conformally invariant spacetimes with different length scales. The dimension of the scalar controls the temperature and frequency dependence of the low temperature conductivity.


Dental health among Norwegian seamen, based on clinical examinations (Table 2) and interviews have been studied. Interview findings from eight ships in overseas trade indicated that the occupational conditions of seafarers caused irregular use of dental services (Table 3) and poor dental health compared with that of the general population. In an epidemiological survey comprising 431 Norwegian seamen in overseas trade, these indications were supported (Table 1 and Table 2). Approximately every fifth of the male seafarers aged 20 years or more had visited the dentist annually during the last five years. In a subsample of 212 subjects who were examined both clinically and radiographically, the number of decayed teeth averaged 6.1. It is concluded that regular dental check-up as well as delivery of dental services should be provided through the established health centers for seamen.


Previous literature has shown that vehicle crash risks increases as drivers' off-road glance duration increases. Many factors influence drivers' glance duration such as individual differences, driving environment, or task characteristics. Theories and past studies suggest that glance duration increases as the task progresses, but the exact relationship between glance sequence and glance durations is not fully understood. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of glance sequence on glance duration among drivers completing a visual-manual radio tuning task and an auditory-vocal based multi-modal navigation entry task. Eighty participants drove a vehicle on urban highways while completing radio tuning and navigation entry tasks. Forty participants drove under an experimental protocol that required three button presses followed by rotation of a tuning knob to complete the radio tuning task while the other forty participants completed the task with one less button press. Multiple statistical analyses were conducted to measure the effect of glance sequence on glance duration. Results showed that across both tasks and a variety of statistical tests, glance sequence had inconsistent effects on glance duration—the effects varied according to the number of glances, task type, and data set that was being evaluated. Results suggest that other aspects of the task as well as interface design effect glance duration and should be considered in the context of examining driver attention or lack thereof. All in all, interface design and task characteristics have a more influential impact on glance duration than glance sequence, suggesting that classical design considerations impacting driver attention, such as the size and location of buttons, remain fundamental in designing in-vehicle interfaces.


Identification of Key Structural Elements of ATP-Dependent Molecular Motors Yuan Zhang Molecular motors perform diverse functions in cells, ranging from muscle contraction, cell division, DNA/RNA replication, protein degradation, and vesicle transport. The majority of molecular motors use energy from the ATP hydrolysis cycle, converting chemical energy into mechanical work in cells. All ATP-dependent molecular motors have a similar ATP binding site, although the functions can be drastically different. Myosins comprise a large group of ATP-dependent molecule motors. The structure-function relationship governing different functions for different myosin families remains elusive. Hypothesizing that members of each family possess conserved residues for their consensus functions and residues distinctive from those of other families to differentiate their functions from functions of other myosin families, we developed an algorithm for comparative sequence analysis in a phylogenic hierarchy to identify family-specific residues for 38 myosin families/subfamilies that comprise human myosin members. We found a number of family-specific residues that have been reported, such as residues in β-cardiac myosin associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and residues in myosin 7A associated with hereditary deafness. We also identified distinct features among myosin families that have never been reported, including a unique signature of the SH1 domain in each of the myosin families, residues differentiating αand β-cardiac myosins, and a unique converter domain of myosin VI. We further examined myosin VI to understand why it moves toward the (-)-end of actin filaments, opposite to the direction of all other myosins and to shed light on their links to prostate cancer and ovarian cancer, where myosin VI is over-expressed. We found that many of myosin VI specific residues locate in or adjacent to the converter domain, including a cluster of unique residues at the interface between the motor domain and the converter. Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, we found mutations of M701 on the SH1 helix and F763 on a helix of the converter caused the separation of the motor domain and the converter, indicating their important roles in linking the converter and the motor domain in the pre-power stroke state structure, potentially critical for positioning of lever arm. Using the location of the unique residues at the interface of the motor domain and the converter as the site of drug docking, we identified a set of candidate small molecules binding to this unique binding site selectively, potentially blocking the converter rotation of myosin VI. A benzoic acid (C15H17N3O3) was found to have the best score in docking, binding to both the converter and motor domain stably in a 200 ns MD simulation run. This molecule can be a good lead to be optimized to inhibit myosin VI functions in cancer patients. We have also applied our algorithm to other ATP-dependent molecular motors, including hepatitis C virus NS3 helicase and DEAD box helicase Mss116. We found an important residue, T324, in NS3 helicase connecting domains 1 and 2 acting as a flexible hinge for opening of the ATP-binding cleft and an atomic interaction cascade from T324 to residues in domains 1 and 2 controls the flexibility of the ATP-binding cleft in NS3 helicase. We also found a conserved flexible linker for Mss116, and the tight interactions between the Mss116-specific flexible linker and the two RecA-like domains are mechanically required to crimp RNA for the unique RNA processes of yeast Mss116.


For crosstalk noise calculation, computing switching windows of a net helps us identify noise sources accurately. Traditional approaches use a single continuous switching window for a net. Under this model, signal switching is assumed to happen any time within the window. Although conservative and sound, this model can result in too much pessimism since in reality the exact timing of signal switching is determined by a path delay up to the net, i.e. the underlying circuit structure does not always allow signal switching at arbitrary time within the continuous switching window. To address this inherent inaccuracy of the continuous switching window, we propose a refinement of the traditional approaches, where signal switching is characterized by a set of discontinuous switching windows instead of a single continuous window. Each continuous switching window is divided into multiple windows, called time slots, and the signal switching activity of each slot is analyzed separately to calculate the maximum noise with more accuracy. By controlling the size of a time slot we can trade off accuracy and runtime, which makes this approach highly scalable. We have confirmed by experiments on industrial circuits that up to 90% of the noise violations detected by the traditional approach can be unreal.


Abstract Polymerase chain reaction was used to amplify a portion of the avian poxvirus core 4b gene of infected free-ranging birds that presented at the Wildlife Center of Virginia during the 2003 and early 2004 years. The species of bird infected were a great blue heron (Ardea herodias), two American crows (Corvus brachyrhyncos), two American robins (Turdus migratorius), two mourning doves (Zenaida macroura), a red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), a blue-gray gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea), a northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos), a house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus), and a northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). Phylogenetic analysis was performed using the consensus sequences determined for each avian case in Virginia in combination with avian poxvirus core 4b gene sequence from isolates previously described in Europe and that of vaccinia virus. Alignment of DNA sequences identified areas of point mutations and, in the case of a single mourning dove, the incorporation of a triplet of nucleotides. Maximum-likelihood analysis grouped the 2003–2004 Virginia avian poxviruses into a clade distinct from those reported in European free-ranging birds, with the exception of a single case in a mourning dove that clustered within one European clade. The cladogram that resulted from our analysis of the European isolates is in agreement with those previously published. This study identified a distinct clade of avian poxvirus unique from four clades previously described and associated with epornitics in free-ranging birds, where the core 4b gene DNA sequence has been the basis of comparison.


Axisymmetric numerical simulations continue to provide new insight into how the structure, dynamics, and maximum windspeeds of tornadoes, and other convectively-maintained vortices, are influenced by the surrounding environment. This work is continued with a new numerical model of axisymmetric incompresible flow that incorporates adaptive mesh refinement. The model dynamically increases or decreases the resolution in regions of interest as determined by a specified refinement criterion. Here, the criterion used is based on the cell Reynolds number, so that the flow is guaranteed to be laminar on the scale of the local grid spacing. The power of adaptive mesh refinement is used to investigate the effects of the size of the domain, the location and geometry of the convective forcing, and the effective Reynolds number (based on the choice of the eddy viscosity ν) on the behavior of the vortex. In particular, the claim that the vortex Reynolds number Γ/ν, which the ratio of the far-field circulation to the eddy viscosity, is the most important parameter for determining vortex structure and behavior is found to be valid over a wide variety of domain and forcing geometries. Furthermore, it is found that the vertical scale of the convective forcing only affects the vortex inasmuch as this vertical scale contributes to the total strength of the convective forcing. The horizontal scale of the convective forcing, however, is found to be the fundamental length scale in the problem, in that it can determine both the circulation of the fluid that is drawn into the vortex core, and also influences the depth of the swirling boundary layer. Higher mean windspeeds are sustained as the eddy viscosity is decreased; however, it is observed that that the highest windspeeds are found in the high-swirl, two-celled vortex regime rather than in the low-swirl, one-celled regime, which is opposite to


The Abri Faravel, discovered in 2010 at 2,133m asl in the Parc National des Ecrins, Freissinieres, Southern French Alps, is probably the most enigmatic high altitude site in the Alps. This rock shelter saw phases of human activity from the Mesolithic through to the medieval period; the artefactual assemblages comprise Mesolithic and Neolithic flint tools, Iron Age hand-thrown pottery, a Roman fibula and some medieval metalwork. However, the most interesting and unique feature on the site are the prehistoric rock paintings; the highest representations of animals (quadrupeds) in Europe. These paintings are presented in this article. The paintings themselves were the object of a white-light scan, whilst the rock-shelter and surrounding landscape was scanned using a Faro laser scanner. Both of these models are presented here, and their interpretation elucidated by an assessment of the different phases of activity at the shelter, combined with a synthesis of other evidence from the area and pertinent environmental evidence.


This DVD-ROM contains digital high resolution seismic reflection data collected during the USGS SEAX 96004 cruise. The coverage is the nearshore of the New York and New Jersey Apex. The seismic-reflection data are stored as SEG-Y standard format that can be read and manipulated by most seismic-processing software. Much of the information specific to the data are contained in the headers of the SEG-Y format files. The file system format is UDF (Universal Disc Format--ISO 9660 equivalent) which can be read with DOS, Unix, and MAC operating systems with the appropriate DVD-ROM driver software installed.


The individual authorial voice of the late-medieval gentry letter-writer as heard in the context of private, familial or public land disputes is the focus of this thesis. It uses as its main sources two fifteenth-century letter collections which arise out of legal challenges: the Armburgh Roll and the letters of John Shillingford, a mayor of Exeter. The Armburgh Roll, c.1417-c.1453, focuses on a disputed inheritance claim and the affairs of the claimants Joan Armburgh and her husband Robert. The Shillingford letters detail a public dispute between the city of Exeter and the ecclesiastical authorities in the 1440s.

The aim of this thesis is to further the understanding of the social and cultural attitudes of the fifteenth-century gentry through the analysis of the language and composition of their personal writings as well as to advance the historiographical appreciation of those gentry letters where they were written within the framework of conflict.

It is both the deployment of a literary line of enquiry and a comparative study of the language, content and context of the letters that comprises the main strands of the study. It shows how by 'reading between the lines' and examining the individuality of the texts it is possible to reveal the thought processes that sit behind the individual writers' words and therefore to gain a greater insight into the literate gentry strata. It demonstrates the importance of examining the letters with the emphasis on the politics of the writing which in turn reveals the emotional engagement that the individual gentry writer had with his or her own writing. Primarily, the thesis argues that by appraising the personal writings of the gentry with the emphasis on the creation of the texts against an appreciation of the complex ideological beliefs and concepts of the late-medieval period we can develop our understanding of gentry close personal relationships which in turn enables us to add to our knowledge of that important land-owning class and its evolving social hierarchy.


Introduction Choice of provider has been an important strategy among policy makers over recent years, intended, in part, to drive improvements in quality and efficiency of health care. Provider choice has been relatively under-studied among patients with cancer, compared with benign disease. This study examines decision-making experiences, preferences and information needs among patients who have had surgery for gastrointestinal cancer. Method This questionnaire study used the single-item Control Preferences Scale to determine patients' experiences and preferences when being referred for tests, and choosing where to have surgery. Participants used a Likert scale to rate the importance of 23 information items covering a variety of structures, process and outcomes at hospital- and department-level. Participants were recruited by post and online. Results 463 responses were included. Where indicated, 334 of 415 (80.5%) respondents had upper gastrointestinal cancer. Postal response rates were higher than online (47.2% vs 23.1%,p < 0.001). Patients reported very low levels of involvement in provider choice, with their doctor deciding where they underwent tests or surgery in 77.0% and 81.8% of cases, respectively. Over two-thirds of participants would have preferred greater involvement in provider choice. Information on how long cancer patients wait for treatment, annual operative volume and postoperative mortality rate, as well as retained foreign bodies and infection rates were considered very important. Conclusion There is a substantial unmet desire for greater involvement in provider choice among gastrointestinal cancer patients. Participants in this study attached particular importance to surgery-specific information. Improving involvement and information provision will require a coordinated approach in both primary and secondary care. Greater involvement in decision-making may increase satisfaction and contribute to a greater sense of control among these patients. Disclosure of interest None Declared.


Campanula rotundifolia var. bulgarica Nejceff, a neglected taxon in the Bulgarian flora with currently uncertain status, was collected and studied at its locus classicus in the Sokolna (Koru Dere) Reserve of Central Stara Planina Mountain. A detailed morphological analysis of Nejceff's original material and other related species clearly indicates that this is a distinct taxonomic entity worthy of species rank. Campanula nejceffii , stat. nov. is distinguished by a combination of its pubescent habit, ovoid to elliptic-lanceolate cauline leaves, clearly spreading to reflexed narrowly triangular-lanceolate calyx teeth, erect buds and flowers. Complete species description and comparison with selected species in the C. rotundifolia group are given. The lectotypes of two taxa— C. rotundifolia var. bulgarica Nejceff and C. rotundifolia subsp. neicevii f. pirinica Stoj. & Acht. are designated by the authors.


Prior to this work, no mutants of Tn3 resolvase had been isolated. To construct a variety of mutants, a suitable plasmid for mutagenesis purposes was created. This plasmid, pAT5, contains unique restriction sites along two thirds of the length of the resolvase open reading frame. This allows double stranded oligonucleotides containing mutations to be cloned into the resolvase gene. pAT5 was also designed to be compatible with the galK screen used to investigate the in vivo properties of the mutants. The in vivo assay was based on change of colony colour on MacConkey agar plates when the cells were unable to utilise galactose, due to the deletion of a plasmid-encoded galK gene by resolvase-catalysed recombination. Two specific mutants of Tn5 resolvase were made, Y6F and E124Q. Random mutagenesis of the E-helix of resolvase created a library of mutants, which was screened in vivo for ability to resolve test plasmids containing either two res sites, or two isolated copies of binding site I of res (the crossover site) or one site I and one res. The mutant resolvase D102Y was isolated, which promoted the reaction between res v site I in vivo. In order to purify these and any subsequent mutants, a new purification procedure was developed. This is a denaturing protocol which has been shown to be reproducible for wild-type resolvase and the mutants mentioned above. A new expression plasmid, using a promoter recognised by the phage T7 RNA polymerase was created, resulting in higher yields of resolvase per gram of cells. In vitro analysis of Y6F resolvase showed that the protein was recombinationally inactive on a wild type substrate, but retained binding ability as well as cleavage and religation activities. This supports the theory that resolvase linkage to the DNA during recombination is by a phosphoseryl, and not a phosphotyrosyl linkage as in topoisomerases. L69F mutant resolvase, inadvertently created during the construction of the mutant selection system, retains recombination activity, but displays topoisomerase activity and aberrations in binding. The Tn3 resolvase mutant E124Q was observed to display enhanced cleavage activity, but unlike the gammadelta E124Q resolvase mutant does not show the ability to resolve substrates containing partial res sites. The mutant isolated using the in vivo screen, D102Y resolvase, was shown to display the same phenotype in vitro as in vivo, and catalysed recombination between res and site I. This protein also catalyses intermolecular reactions, and may be described as having a "hyperactive" phenotype. The isolation of a mutant resolvase with this phenotype is a major step towards the isolation of a mutant able to catalyse a recombination reaction between two site I's.


Parmelia conspersa (Ehrh. Ex Ach.)Ach. is a foliose lichen found more frequently on south facing compared with north facing rock surfaces in South Gwynedd, Wales, UK. The radial growth of thalli of P. conspersa from a north and a south facing rock surface was measured in situ at intervals of two months for 1 yr during 1990/1991. Mean annual radial growth rates were greater on the south compared with the north facing rock surface. In addition, the pattern of radial growth varied during the year with maximum growth recorded in the Feb/Mar. period especially on the south facing rock surface. The levels of ribitol, arabitol and mannitol were measured in individual lobes of P. conspersa collected from the same rock surfaces on 4 days (2 Jun; 7 July and 30 Nov. 1990 and 29 Mar. 1991) during 1990/1991. The total of the three carbohydrates varied between days; the levels of arbitol and ribitol being significantly lower in the 7 July sample on both north and south facing rock surfaces. In addition, the levels ribitol, arabitol and mannitol were higher on the south facing rock surface especially in the summer samples. The ratio of arabitol plus mannitol to ribitol and the mannitol/arabitol ratio varied more between days sampled than between north and south facing rock surfaces. The level of ribitol in individual thalli was positively correlated with arabitol on the north facing and with mannitol on the south facing slope. These results suggest that differences in the radial growth of P. conspersa thalli with aspect are more likely to reflect higher rates of photosynthesis on the south facing rock surface rather than large difference in the way carbohydrates were partitioned on the different surfaces. Lower radial growth rates may place P. conspersa at a competitive disadvantage on north facing rock surfaces.


RATIONALE
Endothelial cells have the ability to undergo endothelial-mesenchymal transitions (EndMTs), by which they acquire a mesenchymal phenotype and stem cell-like characteristics. We previously found that EndMTs occurred in the endothelium deficient in matrix γ-carboxyglutamic acid protein enabling endothelial cells to contribute cells to vascular calcification. However, the mechanism responsible for initiating EndMTs is not fully understood.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the role of specific serine proteases and sex determining region Y-box 2 (Sox2) in the initiation of EndMTs.

METHODS AND RESULTS
In this study, we used in vivo and in vitro models of vascular calcification to demonstrate that serine proteases and Sox2 are essential for the initiation of EndMTs in matrix γ-carboxyglutamic acid protein-deficient endothelium. We showed that expression of a group of specific serine proteases was highly induced in endothelial cells at sites of vascular calcification in Mgp null aortas. Treatment with serine protease inhibitors decreased both stem cell marker expression and vascular calcification. In human aortic endothelial cells, this group of serine proteases also induced EndMTs, and the activation of proteases was mediated by Sox2. Knockdown of the serine proteases or Sox2 diminished EndMTs and calcification. Endothelial-specific deletion of Sox2 decreased expression of stem cell markers and aortic calcification in matrix γ-carboxyglutamic acid protein-deficient mice.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that Sox2-mediated activation of specific serine proteases is essential for initiating EndMTs, and thus, may provide new therapeutic targets for treating vascular calcification.


Ecology![Figure][1]

CREDIT: A. M. BENAVIDES

In tropical forests, an important fraction of the total plant species diversity is composed of epiphytes: plants that are rooted for part or all their life on the trunks and branches of trees and lianas. The patterns of epiphyte diversity are still poorly understood relative to those of trees, however, because of logistical challenges, such as tree height. Benavides et al. performed a comparative analysis of the epiphyte communities in lowland forest in Colombian Amazonia, aiming to understand how landscape unit (swamp forest, floodplain forest, and well-drained upland) and host tree species influenced the composition of their epiphyte communities, using a combination of collecting by tree climbing and binocular observations. They recorded 154 epiphyte species on 411 tree species. There were clear associations between tree/liana species assemblages and epiphyte species assemblages, but there were few significant associations between individual host species and epiphyte species. The high diversity of both groups of plants in the sampled plots made testing for individual host preferences difficult, suggesting the need for further studies.

J. Trop. Ecol. 27 , 223 (2011).

 [1]: pending:yes


This article addresses the relationship between Christianity and anthropology from a perspective of the need of the church for anthropologists, and of the lack of a solid epistemological foundation for modern anthropology. Classical anthropology has been exposed as a 'broken system' by postmodern anthropologists, but buried assumptions from the classical model continue to run by faith on prior momentum. A re-integration of anthropology into a Christian theological paradigm is proposed as the means of honestly, truthfully, and genuinely, providing a rootedness and foundation for anthropology's future development. Work on the embodiment of language helps to provide means for opening a legitimate space between objectivity and subjectivity in this article.


BACKGROUND
Fanconi anemia (FA) is an inherited disorder with chromosomal instability, bone marrow failure, developmental defects, and a predisposition to cancer. Systematic and comprehensive endocrine function data in FA are limited.

OBJECTIVE
We studied a cohort of FA patients enrolled in the National Cancer Institute's Inherited Bone Marrow Failure Syndrome study.

STUDY DESIGN AND PATIENTS
Retrospective review of the medical records of 45 FA patients (ages 2-49 yr), 23 of whom were intensively evaluated at the National Institutes of Health. Anthropometric measurements, GH, IGF-I, IGF binding protein-3, thyroid, gonadal hormone, lipid levels, glucose homeostasis, brain imaging, and bone mineral density were obtained in these latter patients.

RESULTS
Endocrine abnormalities were present in 73%, including short stature and/or GH deficiency (51%), hypothyroidism (37%), midline brain abnormalities (17%) (these patients had very short stature and 60% were GH-deficient); abnormal glucose/insulin metabolism (39%); obesity (27%); dyslipidemia (55%); and metabolic syndrome (21%). Patients with any endocrine abnormality were shorter than those without; only GH deficiency correlated significantly with short stature (P = 0.01). In addition, 65% of peripubertal or postpubertal patients had gonadal dysfunction. Ninety-two percent of the patients 18 yr or older had osteopenia or osteoporosis.

CONCLUSIONS
Endocrine dysfunction is widespread in children and adults with FA; we expand the FA phenotype to include early onset osteopenia/osteoporosis and lipid abnormalities. Despite the reputation of FA as a progressive, lethal disease, proper management of the full spectrum of FA-related endocrinopathy offers major opportunities to reduce morbidity and improve quality of life. Our findings emphasize the need for comprehensive endocrine and metabolic evaluation and long-term follow-up in patients with FA.


Phragmites expansion rates (linear at 1–3% yr−1) and impacts of this expansion on high marsh macroinvertebrates, aboveground production, and litter decomposition fromPhragmites and other marsh graminoids were studied along a polyhaline to oligohaline gradient. These parameters, and fish use of creeks and high marsh, were also studied inPhragmites control sites (herbicide, mowing, and combined herbicide/mow treatments).Phragmites clones established without obvious site preferences on oligohaline marshes, expanding radially. At higher salinities,Phragmites preferentially colonized creekbank levees and disturbed upland borders, then expanded into the central marsh. Hydroperiods, but not salinities or water table, distinguishedPhragmites-dominated transects. Pooled samples ofPhragmites leaves, stems, and flowers decompose more slowly than other marsh angiosperms;Phragmites leaves alone decompose as or more rapidly than those of cattail. AbovegroundPhragmites production was 1,300 to 2,400 g m−2 (about 23% of this as leaves), versus 600–800 g m−2 for polyhaline to mesohaline meadow and 1,300 g m−2 for oligohaline cattail-sedge marsh. Macroinvertebrates appear largely unaffected byPhragmites expansion or control efforts; distribution and densities are unrelated to elevation or hydroperiod, but densities are positively related to litter cover. Dominant fish captured leaving flooded marsh wereFundulus heteroclitus andAnguilla rostrata; both preyed heavily on marsh macroinvertebrates.A. rostrata andMorone americana tended to be more common inPhragmites, but otherwise there were no major differences in use patterns betweenPhragmites and brackish meadow vegetation. SAV and macroalgal cover were markedly lower within aPhragmites-dominated creek versus one withSpartina-dominated banks. The same fish species assemblage was trapped in both plus a third within the herbicide/mow treatment. Fish biomass was greatest from theSpartina creek and lowest from thePhragmites creek, reflecting abundances ofF. heteroclitus. Mowing depressedPhragmites aboveground production and increased stem density, but was ineffective for control.Phragmites, Spartina patens, andJuncus gerardii frequencies after herbicide-only treatment were 0.53-0.21; total live cover was <8% with a heavy litter and dense standing dead stems. After two growing seasonsAgrostis stolonifera/S. patens/J. gerardii brackish meadow characterized most of the herbicide/mow treatment area;Phragmites frequency here was 0.53, contributing 3% cover. Both values more than doubled after four years; a single treatment is ineffective for long-termPhragmites control.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Tracheal tube length may be shortened just after the cuff probably without noxious influence on airflow resistance. This study aimed at determining the effects of such shortening under different inspiratory flows.

METHODS
Flow resistance was measured in tubes with internal diameters of 7; 7.5; 8; 8.5; 9 and 9.5 millimeters. Measurements were undertaken on standard tubes and on those shortened just after the cuff level. Flows were 0.07 liters per second (L.s-1), 0.1; 0.2; 0.33; 0.5 and 1 L.s-1.

RESULTS
Resistances were progressively lower for larger internal diameters, but were higher for a same diameter under higher flow, both, in standard and shortened tubes. Shortened tubes showed lower or equal flow resistance as compared to standard tubes with the same diameter.

CONCLUSIONS
Resistance has been lower or comparable on shortened tubes as compared to standard tubes.


Summary Agropyron Gaertn. (P genome) is a wild relative of wheat that harbours many genetic variations that could be used to increase the genetic diversity of wheat. To agronomically transfer important genes from the P genome to a wheat chromosome by induced homoeologous pairing and recombination, it is necessary to determine the chromosomal relationships between Agropyron and wheat. Here, we report using the wheat 660K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array to genotype a segregating Agropyron F1 population derived from an interspecific cross between two cross‐pollinated diploid collections 'Z1842' [A. cristatum (L.) Beauv.] (male parent) and 'Z2098' [A. mongolicum Keng] (female parent) and 35 wheat–A. cristatum addition/substitution lines. Genetic linkage maps were constructed using 913 SNP markers distributed among seven linkage groups spanning 839.7 cM. The average distance between adjacent markers was 1.8 cM. The maps identified the homoeologous relationship between the P genome and wheat and revealed that the P and wheat genomes are collinear and relatively conserved. In addition, obvious rearrangements and introgression spread were observed throughout the P genome compared with the wheat genome. Combined with genotyping data, the complete set of wheat–A. cristatum addition/substitution lines was characterized according to their homoeologous relationships. In this study, the homoeologous relationship between the P genome and wheat was identified using genetic linkage maps, and the detection mean for wheat–A. cristatum introgressions might significantly accelerate the introgression of genetic variation from Agropyron into wheat for exploitation in wheat improvement programmes.


Many problems in science and engineering require the solution of a long sequence of slowly changing linear systems. We propose and analyze two methods that significantly reduce the total number of matrix-vector products required to solve all systems. We consider the general case where both the matrix and right-hand side change, and we make no assumptions regarding the change in the right-hand sides. Furthermore, we consider general nonsingular matrices, and we do not assume that all matrices are pairwise close or that the sequence of matrices converges to a particular matrix. Our methods work well under these general assumptions, and hence form a significant advancement with respect to related work in this area. We can reduce the cost of solving subsequent systems in the sequence by recycling selected subspaces generated for previous systems. We consider two approaches that allow for the continuous improvement of the recycled subspace at low cost. We consider both Hermitian and non-Hermitian problems, and we analyze our algorithms both theoretically and numerically to illustrate the effects of subspace recycling. We also demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithms for a range of applications from computational mechanics, materials science, and computational physics.


The authors describe the development of an instrument to measure resident satisfaction with training, the Resident Satisfaction Questionnaire (RSQ). A national sample of 180 residents rated 41 items regarding the relative importance of each item in determining resident satisfaction with training. The five items rated most important in determining resident satisfaction with psychiatric training were 1) quality of supervision; 2) respect of faculty for residents; 3) responsiveness of the program to feedback from residents; 4) balance of training between psychosocial and biomedical aspects of psychiatry; and 5) departmental morale. Authors discuss differences among resident subgroups. The 10-item RSQ included items rated most important by the overall group of residents and by resident subgroups. Authors present recommendations for use of the questionnaire.


The motion equations of anisotropic media, coupled to the mass conservation and thermo-equilibrium equations of fluid, are studied here based on the standard space of physical presentation for consolidation of anisotropic saturated soils, in which a new compressible thermo-elastic model is induced. A set of uncoupled equation of elastic waves in anisotropic saturated solids is deduced. The results show that the elastic waves and speeds of elastic waves is affected by both anisotropic subspaces of solids and thermal and compressive coupling coefficients between fluid and solid. Based on these laws, we discuss the elastic wave behaviour for isotropic solids.


The purpose of the research is to analyze the political context in which maps were used in South America, from the colonial era of the 15th century to the 20th century. A main area of focus for the research will be to examine the political basis for South America's current territorial boundaries by illustrating the fragmentation of Spain's South American Empire through the use of historically accurate maps. Territorial disputes that arose following the collapse of Spain's South American Empire will be studied in order to determine the effects that mapping and diplomacy had in furthering rival boundary claims. Extensive literature exists concerning the regional disputes that dominated South America during the 19th and 20th century, however this research offers additional insight into the conflicts by analyzing how the use of mapping in territorial disputes changed from the 19th to the 20th century. The research was conducted by evaluating both written and cartographical references from academic professionals and accredited map collections. Initial findings indicate that the decentralization of Spain's colonial empire during the 18th century facilitated its fragmentation during the struggle for independence in the 19th century. Also a preliminary analysis of maps from professional academic collections conclude that the use of mapping to futher territorial claims was more widespread during the regional conflicts of the 20th century. The use of mapping to further territorial claims was especially common in countries that exhibited no political authority over the disputed territory.


A characteristic succession of sedimentary structures was observed in clastic Silurian tempestites of the Murzuk Basin of southwest Libya. The structures ("Manchuriophycus," syneresis cracks, "Astropolithon," load cracks, palimpsest ripples, "Kinneyia," microfault sets, and millimeter ripples) occur in sandstones and siltstones that show evidence of unusual cohesive behavior (cracks resulting from shrinking or degassing; resistance to erosion). In a sequence ranging from fully aerobic sandstones to anoxic graptolite shales, these structures characterize several zones of increasing redox stress, which correspond to ichnofacies zonation. It is postulated that microbial mats develop on the sediment surface whenever grazing and burrowing are suppressed. Depending on local conditions, biomats were leathery, felt-like, or gel-like. The observed matground structures resulted from the interaction of storm waves with microbial stabilization of progressively finer-grained sediments. Whereas such structures were ubiquitous in Precambrian clastics, they became restricted to hostile environments in the Phanerozoic, where they can be used to indicate environmental (mostly redox) stress, and possibly hydrocarbon potential, in sandstones and siltstones lacking other indicators.


Intestinal permeability to 51Cr-EDTA was examined during the development of gluten sensitive enteropathy in dogs bred from affected Irish setters and reared on a normal wheat containing diet. Comparisons were made with litter mates reared on a gluten free diet and with a control group of age matched, clinically healthy Irish setters reared on the normal diet. Studies at 4, 6, 8, and 12 months of age were correlated with morphometric and biochemical examinations of peroral jejunal biopsy specimens. Permeability was increased at all ages in the group fed gluten free diet compared with control dogs, although there were no differences in villus height, intraepithelial lymphocyte density, and alkaline phosphatase activity. At four months, permeability in the normal diet group was greater than in controls, although comparable with that in the gluten free diet group. Permeability in the normal diet group increased further in conjunction with the development of partial villus atrophy and reduced alkaline phosphatase activity, and by 12 months permeability was significantly greater than in their gluten free diet litter mates and the control dogs. The findings suggest that an underlying permeability abnormality may be involved in the pathogenesis of gluten sensitive enteropathy in Irish setter dogs.


Administration of somatotropic hormone to newborn or weanling mice of strain C57BL Jax6 for one, two, or four weeks accelerated articular growth and development. The organelles were increased in number and the appearance of granular endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi vacuoles, multivesicular bodies, and glycogen was hastened. Toward the end of the developmental cycle, the chondrocytes swelled excessively and their plasmalemma ruptured without evidence of vascular erosion. After four weeks of treatment, there was premature breakdown of chondrocytes, their place being taken by fibrillar microscars. In the matrix, development of fibers was accentuated. The intensification of fibrillarity was followed by disorientation of the superficial collagen fibers with fraying of the articular covering. The functional significance of these findings, as well as their relation to aging changes in cartilage, is discussed.


Five cues were evaluated with respect to their usefulness in directing the headings of pedestrians who were blind during street crossings. The study was conducted at a simulated crosswalk, with the angle of the crosswalk varied relative to the approach and direction of the slope of the ramp. Three cues worked well over the distance equivalent to the width of a six-lane road.


The expansion of plants using the C4 photosynthetic pathway is one of the most prominent changes in the global ecosystem during the Cenozoic Era. A significant late Miocene expansion is well documented. However, the existence and cause of subsequent expansions are still not clear, owing in part to the lack of long, continuous climate-vegetation records. Here we present two high-resolution carbon isotope time series, covering the past 7 m.y., derived from eolian deposits on the Chinese Loess Plateau. The data indicate three intervals of significant C4 plant expansions within the semiarid monsoonal region of East Asia (ca. 2.9–2.7 Ma, 1.3–0.9 Ma, and 0.6 Ma–present). These expansions covary with strengthened East Asian summer monsoon circulation. We conclude that in East Asia, large-scale late Miocene C4/C3 vegetation changes in semiarid areas have been primarily driven by warm seasonal precipitation and temperature variations associated with changes in monsoon circulation.


This essay looks at the transformation of advertising over the past two decades. Three myths define the worldview of advertising practitioners and sustain their daily practices: advertising as art(istic), advertising as war, and advertising as revolution. They are all a response to the lack of industry legitimation: for more than a century, advertising has been unable to prove that ads cause sales. The digital era is no different in this regard. The mythmaking enables practitioners to legitimate their industry and their role in it.


Abstract In this paper I explore the different orders of elements found within the Icelandic definite noun phrase where four main patterns are observed: i) ARTICLE > NUMERAL > ADJECTIVE > NOUN > GENITIVE > PP; ii) NOUN- ARTICLE > NUMERAL > ADJECTIVE > GENITIVE > PP; iii) ADJECTIVE > NOUN-ARTICLE > NUMERAL > GENITIVE > PP; and iv) GENITIVE > NUMERAL > ADJECTIVE > NOUN > PP. Previous approaches, working under the assumption that the order in (ii) did not exist, focussed on the derivation of (iii) from (i), generally assuming the fronting of the adjective to be a single movement operation. In recent years, however, it has been shown that not only does the order in (ii) exist, but the choice between (i-iii) is not semantically neutral. Hence to account for the order in (ii), I propose that the fronting of the adjective and noun to be a result of two separate movement operations: head movement of N to D and phrasal movement of AP to Spec-DP. I propose that the orders in (ii-iv) are a direct result of D's attractiveness.


A woman who had had high titres of rubella antibodies some months before she became pregnant gave birth to an infant in whom congenital rubella was confirmed at 4 months. Rubella haemagglutination inhibition tests, complement fixation tests, and immunofluorescence tests with anti-human IgG were carried out on sera from the mother. Rubella antibody titres in sera obtained in March 1971, seven and a half months before conception, were equivalent to 400 units, which is usually taken as indicating good immunity. Rubella virus was isolated from the baby's nose and throat in July 1973 but was not isolated from a cervical swab taken from the mother in December 1973; tests of her immunological competence did not show any definite abnormality. The presence of high levels of rubella haemagglutination inhibition antibodies does not invariably confer immunity or exclude the possibility of congenital rubella in a subsequent pregnancy.


With the proliferation of wireless devices, mobile ad-hoc networking (MANET) has become a very exciting and important technology. However, MANET is more vulnerable than wired networking. Existing security mechanisms designed for wired networks have to be redesigned in this new environment. In this paper, we discuss the problem of anomaly detection in MANET. The focus of our research is on techniques for automatically constructing anomaly detection models that are capable of detecting new or unseen attacks. We propose a new anomaly detection method for MANET. The proposed method performs cross-feature analysis on the basis of rough sets to capture the inter-feature correlation patterns in normal traffic. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated through a simulation. The results show that proposed method effectively detects anomalies and identify attack types using the intrusion detection method.


The four following commercially available enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) were assessed and compared for their performance in detecting Mycoplasma pneumoniae immunoglobulin G (IgG)- and IgM-specific antibodies Platelia EIA, ImmunoWELL M. pneumoniae ELISA IgG and IgM, ETI-MP-IgG and IgM EIAs and Biotest anti-M. pneumoniae IgG and IgM ELISA (referred to herein as EIA-Platelia, EIA-BMD, EIA-Sorin, and EIA-Biotest). Three groups of patients were investigated: 39 patients (27 children and 12 adults) with respiratory infections who tested positive by PCR for M. pneumoniae in respiratory specimens (group I; 52 serum samples), 61 healthy children and adults (group II; 61 serum samples), and 20 patients with rheumatoid factor or antinuclear antibodies, or who tested positive for antiviral IgM (group III; 20 serum samples). In group III, the IgM specificity for EIA-Platelia, EIA-BMD, EIA-Biotest, and EIA-Sorin was 100, 90, 65, and 25%, respectively. In the children from group I, the four EIAs had similar IgM sensitivities (89 to 92%); the sensitivity for IgG was greater with EIA-BMD and EIA-Biotest than with EIA-Platelia and EIA-Sorin (66 and 78% versus 55 and 52%, respectively). In adult patients from group I, 9 to 10 serum samples were positive for IgG with a concordant sensitivity of 75 to 83% between the four EIAs but a striking difference in IgM sensitivity: 16% by EIA-Platelia and EIA-BMD, 50% by EIA-Biotest, and 58% by EIA-Sorin. Discrepant and unexpected results were observed in IgM detection from control healthy patients using EIA-Sorin and EIA-Biotest, confirming the lack of specificity of these two EIAs and making them inaccurate for routine diagnosis. A good concordance of IgG seroprevalence in healthy adults was found between the four EIAs (66 to 70%), though this concordance was lower with EIA-Platelia (43%). In healthy children, EIA-BMD and EIA-Biotest gave a higher IgG seroprevalence than EIA-Sorin and EIA-Platelia (45% each for the former compared to 17 and 20%, respectively, for the latter). These results confirm that the IgM EIA serology test is a valuable tool for the early diagnosis of M. pneumoniae infections in children, as long as the EIA used is specific. In adults, the difficult interpretation of EIAs suggests that paired sera, combined with PCR detection on respiratory tract specimens collected on admission of patient, should be required for accurate diagnosis.


Author(s): Stecher, Chad Daniel | Advisor(s): Costa, Dora | Abstract: This dissertation identifies new healthcare policy mechanisms for promoting greater adherence among both physicians and patients to the HIV medication guidelines. The first chapter uses insurance claims data for the sample, compiled by Dr. Arleen Leibowitz, of HIV-infected patients who were insured by Medicare and Medicaid in California between 2007 and 2010 to analyze physicians' adherence to the clinical care guidelines for prescribing HIV medications. The second and third chapters were written in collaboration with Dr. Sebastian Linnemayr, and describe the impact of the Rewarding Adherence Program (RAP) on promoting greater medication adherence among HIV-infected patients in Kampala, Uganda. The second chapter was originally published in AIDS and Behavior in May of 2015, and the third chapter was published in AIDS in March of 2017.The first chapter examines the role of physician networks in promoting quality (more adherent) HIV care. Physicians' non-adherence to clinical care guidelines has been observed for many health conditions, and has particularly damaging repercussions for both HIV-infected patients' health and for policies to reduce the domestic HIV epidemic. I identify physician peers through shared patients and develop repeated observations of medication regimen and disease monitoring quality across physicians and patients. Using the structure of physician networks to create instrumental variables, I find heterogeneous effects across peer types. Generalist peers have no effect on medication decisions, but a one percent improvement in HIV specialist peers' medication regimen quality increases generalists' medication regimen quality by 0.15 percent. Simulations how that improving generalists' network connections to specialists could provide adherent edication regimens to an additional 2,779 patients in California in 2010, reducing the annual number of new infections by 5 percent. These findings illustrate the potential for network connections to diffuse complex treatment protocols and suggest specific mechanisms for reducing the HIV epidemic, which is disproportionately burdening underrepresented demographic communities in the U.S.The second chapter describes the influence of behavioral decision biases on patients' medication adherence. Behavioral economic theory has been used to study a number of health behaviors such as smoking and drug use, but there is little knowledge of how these insights relate to HIV prevention and care. In this chapter, we present novel evidence on the prevalence of the common behavioral decision-making errors of present-bias, overoptimism, and information salience among 155 Ugandan HIV patients, and quantify their association with lower medication adherence. These findings indicate that behavioral economic tools may be used to screen for future adherence problems and to better design and target interventions addressing these behavioral biases and the associated suboptimal adherence. The third chapter measures the impact of behavioral economic incentives on combating decision biases and improving patients' HIV medication adherence in sub-Saharan Africa. 155 HIVpositive men and women in Kampala, Uganda aged 19-78 were randomized to 1 of 2 intervention groups or a control group receiving the usual standard of care. Participants in the first intervention group were eligible for prize drawings conditional on attending scheduled clinic appointments; eligibility in the second group was based on antiretroviral medication adherence measured by medical event monitoring system caps. Results from the first nine months of this intervention show statistically significant improvements in the percent of participants who maintain mean adherence rates of 90% or higher in both intervention groups relative to the control. Such behavioral incentives represent a highly cost-effective and scalable mechanism for improving adherence in this region.


Forces are central to countless cellular processes, yet in vivo force measurement at the molecular scale remains difficult if not impossible. During clathrin-mediated endocytosis, forces produced by the actin cytoskeleton are transmitted to the plasma membrane by a multi-protein coat for membrane deformation. However, the magnitudes of these forces remain unknown. Here, we present new in vivo force sensors that induces protein condensation under force. We measured the forces on the fission yeast HIP1R homologue End4p, a protein that links the membrane to the actin cytoskeleton. End4p is under ∼19 pN force near the actin cytoskeleton, ∼ 11 pN near the clathrin lattice, and ∼9 pN near the plasma membrane. Our results demonstrate that forces are collected and redistributed across the endocytic machinery. One-Sentence Summary New in vivo coiled-coil force sensors reveal force redistribution during endocytosis.


The widespread recognition of the success of liver transplantation as a treatment for most types of acute and chronic liver failure has led to increased referrals for transplantation in the setting of a relatively fixed supply of cadaver donor organs. These events have led to a marked lengthening of the waiting time for liver transplantation, resulting in increased deaths of those on the waiting list and sicker patients undergoing transplantation. Nearly 5000 liver transplantations were performed in the United States in 2000, while the waiting list grew to over 17,000 patients. The mounting disparity between the number of liver transplant candidates and the limited supply of donor organs has led to reassessment of the selection and listing criteria for liver transplantation, as well as revision of organ allocation and distribution policies for cadaver livers. The development of minimal listing criteria for patients with chronic liver disease based on a specific definition for decompensation of cirrhosis has facilitated the more uniform listing of patients at individual centres across the United States. The United Network for Organ Sharing, under pressure from transplant professionals, patient advocacy groups and the federal government, has continuously revised allocation and distribution policies based on the ethical principles of justice for the individual patient versus optimal utility of the limited organ supply available annually. Beginning in 2002, it is likely that the Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) score will be implemented to determine disease severity and direct donor organs to the sickest patients rather than to those with the longest waiting times.


: Purpose: The major goal of this study is the identification and assessment of innovations in organic food distribution and their importance in times of pandemic and electronic economy in Poland, especially actions undertaken by special chain stores of organic food . Approach/Methodology/Design: A study of a selected chain store was carried out in 2021 by the Mystery shopper method in Warsaw, Wrocław, Swarzędz and Poznań. It was comprehensive and of nationwide character. The results were compared with customers' opinions in which way a comprehensive assessment was achieved. Additionally, the study presents information about the development of chain stores in Poland including those which sell organic foods. Characteristics of organic food customers in the time of pandemic and electronic economy have been presented as well as the concept and classification of innovation and innovative solutions implemented in similar chain stores abroad. Findings: Implementation of technological innovation was assessed for a selected specialist chain store. Innovative, 24 hour, phone application based customer self-service with no personnel present (24/7) meets customers' expectations and is well rated by most of them (well and very well by 81%). Customers' comfort and communication were best rated, time efficiency slightly lower, whereas reliability was given the lowest, though better than good, score. Practical Implications: The study provides clients with the possibility of doing shopping with assistance of a consultant when needed, and it offers a chance for an individual, unattended purchase with the use of an application for those who avoid direct contact with other people in the time of pandemic and want to choose the product by themselves. Such a system is an option between the traditional form of stationary retailing and online shopping. Originality/Value: The proposed solutions are to contribute to the development of organic food market and marketing in the studied area.


The current study aims to present the main lines of the topic by compiling the literature on the effect of emotion on recognition memory and address some considerations for future studies by highlighting the attention-grabbing points related to emotion-memory interaction. A growing body of literature has demonstrated that emotional stimuli are better remembered than their neutral equivalents. Based on these common findings, research in the relevant literature is reviewed in detail regarding various approaches that define and explain emotion; and the effect of emotional dimensions, which are defined within the framework of different approaches, on recognition memory is mentioned. Empirical studies are also reviewed by including the findings on the response biases that emotion might cause. On the other hand, the factor affecting memory performance is not solely due to emotional stimuli' dimensions. Instead, memory performance might be positively affected by the context of emotional stimuli. Additionally, how emotional memory is studied in a controlled laboratory setting is discussed. Within this context, emotional databases developed to investigate emotion-memory interaction and databases designed for research to be carried out in Turkey are discussed. To sum up, within the scope of the current review, it is concluded that future studies on emotion and recognition memory interaction should take response bias caused by emotion, emotional context, and type of emotional stimuli into account to reach more consistent results. Keywords: Emotion, recognition memory, response bias, context, databases