One of the values of local wisdom that is still inherited by the Minangkabau people and which is still maintained by indigenous peoples in the city of Solok is pasambahan. Pasambahan is a sacred ceremony, because every ceremony is carried out in a customary manner, the pasambahan must be present.Once the importance of pasambahan in the marriage process, if it is not carried out pasambahan ceremony can have adverse consequences on ongoing activities. Pasambahan manjapuik marapulai 'pasambahan picking up the bridegroom' is one of the oral traditions of Minangkabau people in Solok city. In Minangkabau tradition, marapulai 'bridegroom' is picked up customarily by the bride's family to be married and juxtaposed in the bride's family house.The marriage process of manjapuik marapulai in Minangkabau customs is carried out in mutual cooperation. In text of pasambahan manjapuik marapulai, it is reflected the values of mutual cooperation which is the local wisdom of Minangkabau people in general, the people of Solokcity in particular. The purpose of this research is to represent the values of mutual cooperation in the text of pasambahan manjapuik marapulai as the local wisdom of the Minangkabau people in general, the people of Solok city in particular. This study uses qualitative methods with purposive sampling technique. In addition, a focus group discussion (FGD) was also conducted on various fields of speech. The data of this study are oral text of pasambahan manjapuik marapulai in Solok city which have been transcribed. In addition, this study also uses written sources to support the primary data. Data analysis is begun with data reduction, data presentation, and verification. Based on conducted research, it is found the values of mutual cooperation as local wisdom in the process of traditional marriage ceremony in Solok city. The values of mutual cooperation are togetherness, unity, mutual respect and tolerance.


PURPOSE
We developed models to predict post-laparoscopic radical or simple nephrectomy (LapNx) and post-laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LapPNx) hospital duration of stay (DOS).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We performed a retrospective review (design group) of all 726 patients (July 1997 to April 2004) who underwent LapNx or LapPNx at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (CCF). Preoperative findings were recorded. Neural network algorithms were designed to predict the DOS before surgery. The models were then tested on a separate 252 patients from 6 different institutions, namely Tulane University Medical School, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, University of Iowa, Mayo Clinic at Scottsdale and CCF.

RESULTS
In the CCF design groups, the LapNx model accuracy was 73% to 74% and the LapPNx model 73% to 83%. Overall accuracy in the test groups at all 6 institutions was 72% (area under ROC 0.6 to 0.7) for the LapNx model and 52% to 81% (ROC 0.5 to 0.7) for the LapPNx model.

CONCLUSIONS
The LapNx model provides 72% accuracy in predicting the DOS at all 6 institutions. The LapPNx model provided fair accuracy only at CCF and Tulane University Medical School. These models may streamline the delivery of care and continued testing will allow for further refinement.


Several distributed coordinated precoding methods relying on over-the-air (OTA) iterations in time-division duplex (TDD) networks have recently been proposed. Each OTA iteration incurs overhead, which reduces the time available for data transmission. In this work, we therefore propose an algorithm which reaches good sum rate performance within just a few number of OTA iterations, partially due to non-overhead-incurring local iterations at the receivers. We formulate a scalarized multi-objective optimization problem where a linear combination of the weighted sum rate and the multiplexing gain is maximized. Using a well-known heuristic for smoothing the optimization problem together with a linearization step, the distributed algorithm is derived. When numerically compared to the state-of-the-art in a scenario with 1 to 3 OTA iterations allowed, the algorithm shows significant sum rate gains at high signal-to-noise ratios.


PurposeThis paper aims to contribute to knowledge by investigating the return behaviour of seven global real estate investment trusts (REITs) with respect to the appropriate distributional fit that captures tail and shape characteristics. The study adds to the knowledge of distributional properties of seven global REITs by using the generalised lambda distribution (GLD), which captures fairly well the higher moments of the returns.Design/methodology/approachThis is an empirical study with GLD through three rival methods of fitting tail and shape properties of seven REIT return data from January 2008 to November 2017. A post-Global Financial Crisis (GFC) (from July 2009) period fits from the same methods are juxtaposed for comparison.FindingsThe maximum likelihood estimates outperform the methods of moment matching and quantile matching in terms of goodness-of-fit in line with extant literature; for the post-GFC period as against the full-sample period. All three methods fit better in full-sample period than post-GFC period for all seven countries for the Region 4 support dynamics. Further, USA and Singapore possess the strongest and stronger infinite supports for both time regimes.Research limitations/implicationsThe REITs markets, however, developed, are of wide varied sizes. This makes comparison less than ideal. This is mitigated by a univariate analysis rather than multivariate one.Practical implicationsThis paper is a reminder of the inadequacy of the normal distribution, as well as the mean, variance, skewness and kurtosis measures, in describing distributions of asset returns. Investors and policymakers may look at the location and scale of GLD for decision-making about REITs.Originality/valueThe novelty of this work lies with the data used and the detailed analysis and for the post-GFC sample.


Following unilateral nephrectomy (in 72 hours) the weight of the remaining kidney increased by 23%, and the activity of succinic dehydrogenase--by 43.2%. The concentration of oubichinon in the hypertrophied kidney and its mitochondria showed no significant change for 3 days after the nephrectomy.


We consider a cognitive radio network where multiple secondary users (SUs) contend for spectrum usage, using random access, over available primary user (PU) channels. Our focus is on SUs' queueing delay performance, for which a systematic understanding is lacking. We take a fluid queue approximation approach to study the steady-state delay performance of SUs, for cases with a single PU channel and multiple PU channels. Using stochastic fluid models, we represent the queue dynamics as Poisson driven stochastic differential equations, and characterize the moments of the SUs' queue lengths accordingly. Since in practical systems, a secondary user would have no knowledge of other users' activities, its contention probability has to be set based on local information. With this observation, we develop adaptive algorithms to find the optimal contention probability that minimizes the mean queue lengths. Moreover, we study the impact of multiple channels and multiple interfaces, on SUs' delay performance. As expected, the use of multiple channels and/or multiple interfaces leads to significant delay reduction.


A sequential ordered substrate binding established previously for several DNA polymerases is generally extended to all DNA polymerases, and the characterization of novel polymerases is often based on the assumption that the enzymes should productively bind DNA substrate first, followed by template-directed dNTP binding. The comprehensive kinetic study of DNA polymerase X (Pol X) from African swine fever virus reported here is the first analysis of the substrate binding order performed for a low-fidelity DNA polymerase. A classical steady-state kinetic approach using substrate analogue inhibition assays demonstrates that Pol X does not follow the bi-bi ordered mechanism established for other DNA polymerases. Further, using isotope-trapping experiments and stopped-flow fluorescence assays, we show that Pol X can bind Mg2+·dNTPs in a productive manner in the absence of DNA substrate. We also show that DNA binding to Pol X, although rapid, may not always be productive. Furthermore, we show that binding of Mg2+·dNTP to Pol X facilitates subsequent formation of the catalytically competent Pol X·DNA·dNTP ternary complex, whereas DNA binding prior to dNTP binding brings the enzyme into a nonproductive conformation where subsequent nucleotide substrate binding is hindered. Together, our results suggest that Pol X prefers an ordered sequential mechanism with Mg2+·dNTP as the first substrate.


We investigate the coded bit-error rate (BER) in an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) system in a Rayleigh-fading channel. The system uses a pilot-based channel estimator and the effects of non-ideal channel knowledge and non-ideal interleaving are analysed. The coded BER is estimated with an analytical method proposed by Cavers and Ho, which involves truncation of the union bound. For channels with several propagation paths the estimated BER agrees well with simulations. The transfer function bound may however in some cases diverge, thus reducing the accuracy of the estimated BER. We show that this can be the case for channels with few propagation paths.


ABSTRACT Of special interest to geologists is the possibility of utilizing observations of symmetrical ripples preserved in rock strata to interpret the wave conditions of the ancient environment. This paper reviews the relationship between the wave action and the ripples produced. In shallow water with waves of low period and height, ripple lengths in sand in the 88-177 µ range are approximately a factor 0.8 of the orbital diameter of the water motion near the bottom just above the ripples. Such conditions exist principally in lakes and bays of limited fetch (and in wave flumes). In these environments the ripple lengths will tend to increase onshore in progressively shoalling water. Under oceanic conditions with longer period waves and deeper water, the water orbital diameter near the bottom is generally several times larger than the ripples produced. In this environment the ripples tend to decrease in length onshore. Graphs and computer programs are presented which aid in determining possible combinations of wave dimensions and water depths that could have generated observed oscillatory ripple marks.


With the emergence of affordable gesture recognition technology, such as the Microsoft Kinect, interactive displays are making their way to in the wild setting, or public spaces, largely as information systems. It then becomes essential to delve deeper into users' perception of these systems and study the aspects that contribute to a rich and pleasant user experience. In addition to the general principles of interaction design, development and installation of such systems requires an understanding of social affordances or social dynamics between an actor and an audience as well as the role of an individual within a group. Interaction affordances or, hints and clues about ways to interact with the system, and technology affordances or, capabilities of current technology, also help build a smooth interaction and rich user experience. The system needs to be exciting and enticing for users to initiate interaction yet simple enough to allow fluent interaction without any prior experience. This thesis explores the opportunities and challenges introduced by interactive public displays systems in the wild by presenting a case study of a gesture-based system, Energyland, which was installed at the month long annual Finnish Housing Fair in the summer of 2012, in Vuores, Finland. By analyzing the data collected from the user experience questionnaire, system logs, informal user interviews and observations made by researchers, I discuss my findings and compare them to previous work in this area. Overall, users responded very positively to the system experience as evident from the questionnaire consisting of seven factors: individuality, authenticity, story, contract, interaction, sound and pleasantness of the system. Users also stated their interests towards using similar systems in the future. Based on the system logs and researcher observations, social, interaction and technology affordances are the building blocks of user experience for in the wild systems, and there should be mechanisms to help users overcome an initial reluctance to interact by presenting interesting and intriguing interactive content. A key finding was the user's attitude towards interaction, namely as a risk into the known, which dictates that installation spaces must provide for a quick and easy escape route. The end result of this thesis is a set of guidelines covering the design, implementation and installation process for similar systems involving interactive public displays.


ABSTRACT Predictive species distribution models and environmental niche evaluation have become useful techniques in conservation biogeography and are increasingly used as prediction tools to identify priority conservation areas for focal species. Multiple hypotheses and paradigms were proposed to explain the variation seen in geographical range sizes among species. Our hypothesis was that in a monophyletic group of 7 Campylorhynchus species, those with a broad climatic niche would persist over a wide geographic range while species with a narrow climatic niche, such as C. yucatanicus, would be restricted to a smaller geographic range. To test this hypothesis, we modeled potential distributions using the MaxEnt algorithm and estimated the climatic niche of 7 species included in the monophyletic group of Campylorhynchus (Troglodytidae). To compare the ecological niches of these 7 species, we plotted the occurrence density for each species with combinations of environmental conditions and then identified the first 2 components using a principal component analysis. In general, the most important variables predicting species presence were rainfall seasonality and minimum temperature during the coldest month. The climatic niches for these 7 species were relatively segregated throughout the environmental space. When compared with related species, C. yucatanicus had the narrowest niche width and lowest niche similarity and overlap index, which could explain the restricted distribution for this species. Given the restricted range of C. yucatanicus within the Yucatan Peninsula, the species is highly vulnerable to small disturbances, current local threats (e.g., habitat alterations due to urbanization), and global threats (e.g., climate change). We therefore recommend increased national and international protection for C. yucatanicus and that it be listed as globally threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Received 22 June 2016. Accepted 9 June 2017.


Abstract : In this thesis, we emulate a Wind Turbine Generator by driving a Doubly Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) via a DC motor with variable input torque capability. The two circuits of concern are the DFIG and Supply-side circuits. They are electrically coupled with back-to-back Space Vector Modulators (SVMs) that are coupled through a DC Link consisting of a capacitor bank. The SVMs, with DC Link, provide bi-directional power flow between the DFIG rotor and Supply-side power supply. The Supply-side circuit senses voltage, current and DC Link voltage (VDC), and sends the sensed inputs to a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), which is used to derive control of VDC so that it is maintained at 200V via SVM. The DFIG circuit senses rotor current, stator voltage, rotor speed, and rotor electrical position, which are used to derive a current reference that is used to control the rotor speed using a Proportional Integral Controller (PI). For our application we show that the DFIG rotor speed can be controlled (subsynchronous, synchronous, or supersynchronous) for a given input torque and thus distributes the power generated by the DFIG as predicted between the rotor and stator.


Most of the phospholipid biosynthetic genes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae are coordinately regulated in response to inositol and choline. Inositol affects the intracellular levels of phosphatidic acid (PA). Opi1p is a repressor of the phospholipid biosynthetic genes and specifically binds PA in the endoplasmic reticulum. In the presence of inositol, PA levels decrease, releasing Opi1p into the nucleus where it represses transcription. The opi1 mutant overproduces and excretes inositol into the growth medium in the absence of inositol and choline (Opi− phenotype). To better understand the mechanism of Opi1p repression, the viable yeast deletion set was screened to identify Opi− mutants. In total, 89 Opi− mutants were identified, of which 7 were previously known to have the Opi− phenotype. The Opi− mutant collection included genes with roles in phospholipid biosynthesis, transcription, protein processing/synthesis, and protein trafficking. Included in this set were all nonessential components of the NuA4 HAT complex and six proteins in the Rpd3p–Sin3p HDAC complex. It has previously been shown that defects in phosphatidylcholine synthesis (cho2 and opi3) yield the Opi− phenotype because of a buildup of PA. However, in this case the Opi− phenotype is conditional because PA can be shuttled through a salvage pathway (Kennedy pathway) by adding choline to the growth medium. Seven new mutants present in the Opi− collection (fun26, kex1, nup84, tps1, mrpl38, mrpl49, and opi10/yol032w) were also suppressed by choline, suggesting that these affect PC synthesis. Regulation in response to inositol is also coordinated with the unfolded protein response (UPR). Consistent with this, several Opi− mutants were found to affect the UPR (yhi9, ede1, and vps74).


The drain to gate capacitance (Miller capacitance) of SiC MOSFETs leads to the Miller effect during switching transients. The Miller capacitance in a phase-leg configuration causes the crosstalk, the interaction between the two complementary switches, and the Miller plateau during the switching transient. The Miller effect reduces the switching speed, reduces reliability, and increases electromagnetic interference. In this article, by injecting a mirror cancellation current, the effects of Miller capacitance are canceled. The proposed technique includes a two-stage sensing and injection network to compensate for the nonlinearity of the Miller capacitance. The proposed technique can suppress both positive and negative gate voltage spikes induced by the crosstalk and reduce the switching power loss with the increased switching speed. Because no external control signals are required in the proposed technique, it can work with almost all commercial gate drivers. The detailed design for this proposed technique is presented in this article. The proposed technique was validated with both simulations and experiments.


Variational Bayesian learning is one of the most popular methods in machine learning. Designed for researchers and graduate students in machine learning, this book summarizes recent developments in the non-asymptotic and asymptotic theory of variational Bayesian learning and suggests how this theory can be applied in practice. The authors begin by developing a basic framework with a focus on conjugacy, which enables the reader to derive tractable algorithms. Next, it summarizes non-asymptotic theory, which, although limited in application to bilinear models, precisely describes the behavior of the variational Bayesian solution and reveals its sparsity inducing mechanism. Finally, the text summarizes asymptotic theory, which reveals phase transition phenomena depending on the prior setting, thus providing suggestions on how to set hyperparameters for particular purposes. Detailed derivations allow readers to follow along without prior knowledge of the mathematical techniques specific to Bayesian learning.


Urban sprawl has become a remarkable characteristic of urban development worldwide in the last decades. Urban sprawl refers to the extent of urbanization, which is a global phenomenon mainly driven by population growth and large scale migration. In developing countries like Iran, urban sprawl is taking its toll on the natural resources at an alarming pace. The purpose of this paper is to study urban growth and effective factors on them in the city of Urmia, Iran. We used quantitive data of the study area from the period between 1989 and 2007, and population censuses of Urmia. To measure the model of urban growth, Holderness and Shannon's entropy were employed. The Urmia case is interesting for several reasons: first, it is a case of very fast urban growth even for a developing country; second, it illustrates how the fastest rates of urban sprawl may correspond to middle size cities rather than to large centers. Third, it portrays a land substitution process in which agricultural land is not the primary provider of urban land which is relatively rare in urban contexts, and fourth, it also illustrates how urban sprawl may also hide important internal land uses such as the presence of agricultural plots within urban boundaries.


This book provides a general framework for specifying, estimating and testing time series econometric models. Special emphasis is given to estimation by maximum likelihood, but other methods are also discussed, including quasi-maximum likelihood estimation, generalised method of moments estimation, nonparametric estimation and estimation by simulation. An important advantage of adopting the principle of maximum likelihood as the unifying framework for the book is that many of the estimators and test statistics proposed in econometrics can be derived within a likelihood framework, thereby providing a coherent vehicle for understanding their properties and interrelationships. In contrast to many existing econometric textbooks, which deal mainly with the theoretical properties of estimators and test statistics through a theorem-proof presentation, this book squarely addresses implementation to provide direct conduits between the theory and applied work.


The GDPR will be enforceable in May 2018 and its impact is expected to be significant, both in Europe and outside Europe. To date, many UK organisations are still unaware of the new legislation, with most still focused on the first implementation stage. A high number of organisations are expected not to be GDPR compliant, and therefore potentially liable to high sanctions. This paper draws upon research on the GDPR and organisations in the UK, carried out in 2017. The research intended to explore the relation between the GDPR and emerging technologies, and the impact of the new legislations on adopters of emerging technologies. The study aimed to understand knowledge, implementation and impact of the new legislation, its relation to emerging technologies and its future in the UK, particularly considering the impact of Brexit. The research results can help to understand the current state of awareness and implementation of the new data protection legislation in the UK.


ABSTRACT The concept of contractual autonomy comprises two essential dimensions, namely the internal (content) and the external (reach/scope of operation) dimensions. The former dimension focuses on the substantive concept of the constitutionalised, contracting self and the latter on the extent to which contract law gives, and ought to give, credence and effect to the exercise of autonomy, as defined by the internal content dimension. In relation to contractual autonomy, the question of how to conceive of contractual autonomy in the post-apartheid constitutional context must extend both to these internal and external dimensions. Upon perusal of the cases however, one finds that not much attention has been paid to the internal (content) dimension of the above question. The courts have focused on the external (reach) dimension of this question; the stated rationale being that striking a constitutional balance between the classically individualist and collectivist ideologies re-defines the contractual doctrine of legality and thus contract law as a whole. In this article, I show how the courts' limited approach to the concept of contractual autonomy continues to entrench a fixed (neo-) classical liberal conception of contractual autonomy within our common law of contract, which, in turn, impedes transformative constitutionalism in the private sphere of contracts.


Heterogeneous traffic types (interactive messages, file transfers, facsimile, etc.) compete for access to a shared resource (satellite channel, bus, etc.). If a packet is not immediately given access to the resource, it waits in a buffer. We assume that the buffer capacity is infinite, that the traffic types arrive according to independent Poisson processes and that the period over which a packet occupies the resource has an arbitrary type-dependent distribution. The traffic types are partitioned into two groups: interactive and noninteractive. The average delay of each of the interactive types is required to below given thresholds. The problem of finding an optimal scheduling policy that minimizes a linear combination of the average delays for the noninteractive types while meeting the design constraints is considered. Simple necessary and sufficient conditions are derived for the existence of a policy that satisfies the constraints. An algorithm is given that decomposes the traffic types into an ordered arrangement of groups, and the existence of a policy that gives strict priority accordingly is established. Under weak conditions on the costs and rates, it is shown that all optimal policies must have this structural property. Sensitivity and aggregation analyses are given. Finally, exploiting the above decomposition, an optimal policy is constructed and is shown to have many appealing properties.


We searched for changes in local stress-field orientation at Mount Spurr volcano, Alaska, between August 1991 and December 2001. This study focuses on the stress-field orientation beneath Crater Peak vent, the site of three eruptions in 1992, and beneath the summit of Mount Spurr. Local stress tensors were calculated by inverting subsets of 140 fault-plane solutions for earthquakes beneath Crater Peak and 96 fault-plane solutions for earthquakes beneath Mount Spurr. We also calculated an upper-crustal regional stress tensor by inverting fault-plane solutions for 66 intraplate earthquakes located near Mount Spurr during 1991–2001. Prior to the 1992 eruptions, and for 11 months beginning with a posteruption seismic swarm, the axis of maximum compressive stress beneath Crater Peak was subhorizontal and oriented N67–76° E, approximately perpendicular to the regional axis of maximum compressive stress (N43° W). The strong temporal correlation between this horizontal stress-field rotation (change in position of the σ 1  / σ 3 axes relative to regional stress) and magmatic activity indicates that the rotation was related to magmatic activity, and we suggest that the Crater Peak stress-field rotation resulted from pressurization of a network of dikes. During the entire study period, the stress field beneath the summit of Mount Spurr also differed from the regional stress tensor and was characterized by a vertical axis of maximum compressive stress. We suggest that slip beneath Mount Spurr's summit occurs primarily on a major normal fault in response to a combination of gravitational loading, hydrothermal circulation, and magmatic processes beneath Crater Peak. Online material : Regional and local fault-plane solutions.


We test the performance of various measures of global liquidity as early warning indicators of booms in house and equity prices in 20 OECD countries between 1970 and 2010. We use a panel probit approach to test the relative performance of global liquidity measures based on two aggregation schemes: the traditional measures, based on G5 data, and broader measures, based on data for up to 26 countries/currency areas. Our results show that, in the last decade, global liquidity measures outperformed domestic measures as early warning indicators. Between the two global liquidity measures, G5 aggregates often outperformed broader global liquidity measures. The search for the best early warning indicator showed that the G5 real narrow money gap performed best for booms in house prices, while the global real private credit growth gap performed best for booms in equity prices, either when aggregated over G5 or over a broader sample of countries. Nevertheless, given the rising importance of the emerging market economies and a declining share of G5 in global liquidity, the current superior performance of G5 measures may not warrant their superior performance in the future. Therefore, given the importance of global liquidity measures in warning about asset price booms, the need for constructing broader global liquidity measures is warranted.


SIR,-I observed a letter on this subject in your JOURNAL of April 9th, in which reference is made to a variety of instruments of use in remnoving foreign bodies from the ear. I have had some experience in these cases, and have used the instrument that appeared most suited to each particular case; but the other day a little sufferer was brought to me with a small rounded stone in his ear, which had been in some timiie. On looking into the ear, the stone seemed so covered with secretion, that I thought I would first well syring-e the ear with water, so as to have a better observation of the pebble, and better hold of it for extraction. On placing the head in a proper position, and usingthe syringe for a little timiie with a fair amount of force, to my great satisfaction, not only was the ear cleaned, but the foreign body, larger than a barley-corn, came, away in the returning stream of water. This may seem a very little matter for insertioni in the JOURNAL; but I nevertheless think it miay not be amiss, in every case of a foreign body in the ear, to try first the effect of well-employed syringing, before resorting to the other more painful modes of extraction. I am, etc., JOHN THIoMPsON.


Objective: To assess the vaccination status of children at Gilgit Baltistan and the association of various socio-demographic factors with none or partial vaccination among these children.
Study Design: Comparative cross-sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Pediatrics Combined Military Hospital Gilgit, from Oct 2020 to Mar 2021.
Methodology: Children aged 15 months to 10 years presenting with any condition in the Pediatrics OPD were included in the study. Vaccination status regarding basic vaccines, included in the EPI of study participants was confirmed by vaccination card. Education of father, education of mother, type of family (joint or nuclear) and place of living (rural or urban) was correlated with vaccination status of children included in the study.
Results: Out of 600 children presenting at the Pediatrics OPD, 390 (65%) patients were males, and 210 (35%) patients were females The mean age of the patients was 5.554 ± 3.85 years. 242 (40.3%) patients were vaccinated, 190 (31.7%) were partially vaccinated, while 168 (28%) patients were not vaccinated for basic vaccines included in the EPI. After applying the chi-square test, low education of father and mother, living in joint family and rural living were significantly related to non-vaccination or partial vaccination of children (p-value<0.05).
Conclusion: A large group of children from Gilgit-Baltistan remained non-vaccinated or partially vaccinated even for the basic vaccines included in the EPI program. Children born in joint families, rural areas and parents with a low level of education had more chances of skipping the vaccines.


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How do financial institutions fund their loan portfolios? This paper examines 13 of ACCION International's partners and reveals that the unregulated MFIs use a combination of concessional loans, government funding, and commercial and multilateral loans. Regulated financial institutions use all of these, but also term deposits, savings accounts and, for the most developed MFIs, bond issues. Issues such as cost, maturity, volume and continuity of access must be considered when MFIs structure their liabilities to provide a sound basis for growth and stability in microenterprise lending.


Abstract Remote sensing has been used to directly detect and map invasive plants, but has not been used for forest understory invaders because they are obscured by a canopy. However, if the invasive species has a leaf phenology distinct from native forest species, then temporal opportunities exist to detect the invasive. Amur honeysuckle, an Asian shrub that invades North American forests, expands leaves earlier and retains leaves later than native woody species. This research project explored whether Landsat 5 TM and Landsat 7 ETM+ imagery could predict Amur honeysuckle cover in woodlots across Darke and Preble Counties in southwestern Ohio and Wayne County in adjacent eastern Indiana. The predictive abilities of six spectral vegetation indices and six reflectance bands were evaluated to determine the best predictor or predictors of Amur honeysuckle cover. The use of image differencing in which a January 2001 image was subtracted from a November 2005 image provided better prediction of Amur honeysuckle cover than the use of the single November 2005 image. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was the best-performing predictor variable, compared to other spectral indices, with a quadratic function providing a better fit (R2  =  0.75) than a linear function (R2  =  0.65). This predictive model was verified with 15 other woodlots (R2  =  0.77). With refinement, this approach could map current and past understory invasion by Amur honeysuckle. Nomenclature: Amur honeysuckle, Lonicera maackii (Rupr.) Herder.


Concerns have been raised regarding the role of environmental and dietary estrogens as possible contributors to an increased incidence of various abnormalities in estrogen-target tissues of both sexes. These abnormalities include breast cancer, endometriosis, fibroids, and uterine adenocarcinoma in females, as well as alterations in sex differentiation, decreased sperm concentrations, benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostatic cancer, testicular cancer, and reproductive problems in males. Whether these concerns are valid remains to be determined; however, studies with the potent synthetic estrogen diethylstilbestrol (DES) suggest that exogenous estrogen exposure during critical stages of development can result in permanent cellular and molecular alterations in the exposed organism. These alterations manifest themselves in the female and male as structural, functional, or long-term pathological changes including neoplasia. Although DES has potent estrogenic activity, it may be used as a model compound to study the effects of weaker environmental estrogens, many of which may fit into the category of endocrine disruptors.


Ro 64-6198 [(1S,3aS)-8-(2,3,3a,4,5,6-hexahydro-1H-phenalen-1-yl)-1-phenyl-1,3,8-triaza-spiro[4.5]decan-4-one] was developed as a nonpeptide agonist of nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ) peptide (NOP) receptors, using bioassays at cloned receptors expressed in cell cultures. We have investigated the actions of Ro 64-6198 at native NOP receptors of the ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (PAG), a crucial site for N/OFQ-induced reversal of opioid analgesia, using the patch-clamp recording technique in rat brain slices. Ro 64-6198, like N/OFQ, activated G protein-coupled inwardly rectifying K+ channels (GIRK) in ventrolateral PAG neurons but displayed only 60% efficacy and 22% potency of N/OFQ. Unlike N/OFQ that activated GIRK through NOP receptors in almost all tested neurons, Ro 64-6198 affected only 62% (114/185) of the neurons recorded, among which 57% were sensitive to CompB (J-113397), a selective NOP receptor antagonist. The effect of Ro 64-6198 was not affected by naloxone (1 μM), sulpiride (10 μM), and [1-(2-methoxyphenyl)-4-[4-2-phthalimido)butyl]piperazine (NAN-190) (1 μM), respectively, the antagonist of opioid, dopamine D2, and 5-HT1A receptors. In Ro 64-6198-unresponsive neurons, N/OFQ activated GIRK through NOP receptors. It is concluded that Ro 64-6198 is a weak agonist of NOP receptors both in terms of potency and efficacy in ventrolateral PAG neurons. Heterogeneity of NOP receptors has been proposed from binding studies and in vivo functional studies. The possibility was discussed that two subsets of NOP receptors exist in ventrolateral PAG neurons, and Ro 64-6198 activates only one subset but N/OFQ activates both of them.


hypertension and preeclampsia. Between two neonatal groups, there were no significant differences in distribution between the sexes, gestational age at delivery, birth weight and Apgar at 5'. MB pregnancies showed a number of small for gestational age fetuses (27.1% vs. 11.8% P = 0.002) compared to the BB group. In 97.4% of cases was performed a Caesarean section, in most cases for programming assistance (66.5%), selective growth restriction (10%), maternal disease (10.5%) and other reasons (13%). There were also 5 vaginal deliveries (2.6%), 3 spontaneous, one operative and the last one previous the Caesarean section of the second twin. RDS was higher in BM pregnancies (37.8% vs. 19.4% P = 0.06). Conclusions: MB pregnancies do not differ in perinatal outcome respect to BB pregnancies in terms of maternal and neonatal morbidity.


Native mass spectrometry (MS) is a powerful tool to study the composition and quaternary structure of protein complexes over a wide range of size and mass. As an analytical tool, native MS offers unmatched specificity and precision to pinpoint the stoichiometry of biomolecular complexes. It has been developed for analysis of larger protein complexes, such as intact virus particles, in recent years. The use of native MS was shown to be particularly convenient to characterize the assembly and composition of these large particles, offering important information on their role as pathogens and their use for nanotechnology and medicine. This thesis describes the development and application of native MS to analyze the structure and assembly of virus particles. It is shown that virus particles as big as 18 megadalton can be analyzed with native MS on a modified quadrupole time-of-flight instrument. Analysis of the obtained peak shapes and theoretical considerations about the inherent spread in masses and the performance of the mass analyzer lead to the conclusion that the 18 megadalton particles are at the limit of what is feasible on the current generation of instruments, and shows that poor desolvation of the ions is currently the main limiting factor. Having established that 18 megadalton capsids can be analyzed by native MS, several maturation intermediates of bacteriophage HK97 were analyzed by native MS to learn about the maturation pathway of the virus. It is furthermore shown how we extended the mass range of a novel type of Orbitrap mass analyzer for native MS to allow analysis of virus particles of several megadaltons. The transmission at high mass-to-charge ratio is improved by modifying the ion guides of the instrument. Sensitivity is improved 5-fold in the high m/z range to allow analysis of virus particles with improved resolution compared to the time-of-flight based platforms. It is demonstrated that the Orbitrap with extended mass range can be used to quantify cargo loading in a virus-like particle for nanotechnology and that it can be used to determine the stoichiometry of capsids in heterogeneous mixtures. The use of both the quadrupole time-of-flight and the Orbitrap-based instrument is demonstrated in this thesis in three applications to virus structure and assembly: native mass spectrometry is used in combination with proteomics-type LC-MS/MS, hydrogen-deuterium exchange MS and atomic force microscopy to uncover a novel component of mature adenovirus, to study assembly and uncoating of triatoma virus and to study the effects of cargo encapsulation in a virus-like bacterial nanocompartment called encapsulin. This thesis thereby illustrates the great potential of native MS to study virus capsid structure and assembly. Several potential improvements of current native MS instrumentation as well as possible fundamental limitations of the technique are discussed to establish the current and future role of native MS in the analytical toolbox to study protein complex structure and assembly.


BACKGROUND
Laboratory systems to study bacterial transmission and mucosal colonization leading to infection have not been utilized.

METHODS
We determined whether transmission of various strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa among individual mice could occur and investigated the properties of such strains in establishing gastrointestinal (GI) mucosal colonization as well as in disseminating systemically after induction of neutropenia.

RESULTS
P. aeruginosa isolates associated with epidemic spread among patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) readily established GI colonization at higher levels than did strains associated with acute infections in patients without CF, and they outcompeted these strains. Colonization was associated with resistance to bile salts. However, epidemic CF isolates did not disseminate after induction of neutropenia and did not induce as much mucosal pathology as did strains that were capable of disseminating.

CONCLUSION
Murine models can be used to study P. aeruginosa transmission and early colonization, and the properties of these strains associated with their known clinical behaviors are mimicked in this setting.


Cerebral ischemia-reperfusion is a complicated pathological process. The injury and cascade reactions caused by cerebral ischemia and reperfusion are characterized by high mortality, high recurrence, and high disability. However, only a limited number of antithrombotic drugs, such as recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (r-TPA), aspirin, and heparin, are currently available for ischemic stroke, and its safety concerns is inevitable which associated with reperfusion injury and hemorrhage. Therefore, it is necessary to further explore and examine some potential neuroprotective agents with treatment for cerebral ischemia and reperfusion injury to reduce safety concerns caused by antithrombotic drugs in ischemic stroke. Ginseng Rg1 (G-Rg1) is a saponin composed of natural active ingredients and derived from the roots or stems of Panax notoginseng and ginseng in traditional Chinese medicine. Its pharmacological effects exert remarkable neurotrophic and neuroprotective effects in the central nervous system. To explore and summarize the protective effects and mechanisms of ginsenoside Rg1 against cerebral ischemia and reperfusion injury, we conducted this review, in which we searched the PubMed database to obtain and organize studies concerning the pharmacological effects and mechanisms of ginsenoside Rg1 against cerebral ischemia and reperfusion injury. This study provides a valuable reference and clues for the development of new agents to combat ischemic stroke. Our summarized review and analysis show that the pharmacological effects of and mechanisms underlying ginsenoside Rg1 activity against cerebral ischemia and reperfusion injury mainly involve 4 sets of mechanisms: anti-oxidant activity and associated apoptosis via the Akt, Nrf2/HO-1, PPARγ/HO-1, extracellular regulated protein kinases (ERK), p38, and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathways (or mitochondrial apoptosis pathway) and the caspase-3/ROCK1/MLC pathway; anti-inflammatory and immune stimulatory-related activities that involve apoptosis or necrosis via MAPK pathways (the JNK1/2 + ERK1/2 and PPARγ/HO-1 pathways), endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS), high mobility group protein1 (HMGB1)-induced TLR2/4/9 and receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) pathways, and the activation of NF-κB; neurological cell cycle, proliferation, differentiation, and regeneration via the MAPK pathways (JNK1/2 + ERK1/2, PI3K-Akt/mTOR, PKB/Akt and HIF-1α/VEGF pathways); and energy metabolism and the regulation of cellular ATP levels, the blood-brain barrier and other effects via N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptors, ERS, and AMP/AMPK-GLUT pathways. Collectively, these mechanisms result in significant neuroprotective effects against cerebral ischemic injury. These findings will be valuable in that they should further promote the development of candidate drugs and provide more information to support the application of previous findings in stroke clinical trials.


Quantitative investors frequently analyze factor performance using regression based on the familiar ordinary least squares approach. This is highly effective for understanding the central tendency within a dataset, but will often be less useful for assessing the behavior of datapoints close to the upper or lower extremes within a population. But from the perspective of active investors or risk managers, the datapoints at the extremes may be precisely the ones of greatest interest. For such applications, a more appropriate methodology is quantile regression. The authors show how quantile regression represents an extension of the conventional ordinary least squares method, and present an empirical analysis of factor effectiveness applied to a universe of U.S. small-cap stocks in order to illustrate the insights offered by this technique.


The origin of mutations under selection has been intensively studied using the Cairns-Foster system, in which cells of an Escherichia coli lac mutant are plated on lactose and give rise to 100 Lac+ revertants over several days. These revertants have been attributed variously to stress-induced mutagenesis of nongrowing cells or to selective improvement of preexisting weakly Lac+ cells with no mutagenesis. Most revertant colonies (90%) contain stably Lac+ cells, while others (10%) contain cells with an unstable amplification of the leaky mutant lac allele. Evidence is presented that both stable and unstable Lac+ revertant colonies are initiated by preexisting cells with multiple copies of the F′lac plasmid, which carries the mutant lac allele. The tetracycline analog anhydrotetracycline (AnTc) inhibits growth of cells with multiple copies of the tetA gene. Populations with tetA on their F′lac plasmid include rare cells with an elevated plasmid copy number and multiple copies of both the tetA and lac genes. Pregrowth of such populations with AnTc reduces the number of cells with multiple F′lac copies and consequently the number of Lac+ colonies appearing under selection. Revertant yield is restored rapidly by a few generations of growth without AnTc. We suggest that preexisting cells with multiple F′lac copies divide very little under selection but have enough energy to replicate their F′lac plasmids repeatedly until reversion initiates a stable Lac+ colony. Preexisting cells whose high-copy plasmid includes an internal lac duplication grow under selection and produce an unstable Lac+ colony. In this model, all revertant colonies are initiated by preexisting cells and cannot be stress induced.


PGPR function in three different ways synthesizing particular compounds for the plants facilitating the uptake of certain nutrients from the soil and lessening or preventing the plants from diseases. Some of Plant growth promoting characteristics such as phosphate solubilisation, Indole acetic acid (IAA) capacity, ability to produce ammonia (NH3) as sole nitrogen source, siderophore production and production of hydrogen cyanide were evaluated in fifteen Rhizobacteria isolated from different rhizosphere soils of Groundnut, Sunflower, Maize, Black gram, Green gram, Rice, Soy bean and Redgram. In this study, 47% Rhizobial isolates showed phosphate solubilization.73% of the isolates showed IAA production and 100% for ammonia, 53% for siderophores and 53% isolates showed for HCN production. All the fifteen isolates were examined for the potential to inhibit two fungal pathogens viz., Rhizoctonia solani and Sclerotium rolfsii under in vitro conditions. Out of fifteen isolates, only 3 isolates exhibited inhibition potential against two soil borne plant phytopathogen Among these isolates, RR-1 and GNR-1 were tolerant to all the heavy metals (100 μg ml-1).


Nanometric ferrihydrite, maghemite and magnetite particles formed within an organicinorganic hybrid matrix were obtained by the sol-gel process. In contrast to precipitation techniques, sol-gel process appears as suitable way to achieve size-controlled nanoscopic magnetic particles anchored in a hybrid structure. The hybrid matrix here reported, named di-ureasil, is composed of poly(oxyethylene) chains grafted to siloxane groups by means of urea cross-linkages. The formation of ferrihydrite particles was achieved incorporating iron nitrate during the sol-gel process, at low pH. The formation of maghemite takes place after the incorporation of a mixture of Fe3+ and Fe2+ ions and treatment with an ammonia solution, after the sol-gel process. Magnetite nanoparticles are formed after the incorporation of Fe2+ ions and treatment with ammonia at 80°C. The AC magnetic susceptibility shows thermal irreversibility with a blocking temperature TB≈13K and ≈25K depending on frequency for the ferrihydrite and maghemite particles, respectively. The magnetite nanoparticles are blocked at room temperature. Above the irreversibility the magnetization of ferrihydrite and maghemite follows a Langevin function modified with a linear term, as found in antiferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic particles.


This study aims to explore the joint application of both Boston and Ansoff matrices in the operational development of the product. We conduct deep analysis, by utilizing the Artificial Neural Network, to predict the position of the product in the market while the company is interested in increasing its share. The data are gathered from two industries, called hygiene and detergent. In doing so, the effort is being made by investigating the behavior of top player companies and, recommend strategic orientations. In conclusion, this combination analysis is appropriate for operational development; as well, it plays an important role in providing the position of the product in the market for both hygiene and detergent industries. More importantly, it will elaborate on the company's strategies to increase its market share related to a combination of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix and Ansoff Matrix. Keywords—Artificial neural network, portfolio analysis, BCG matrix, Ansoff matrix.


A substantial number of patients who have been admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) face both physical, cognitive and mental impairment related to their critical illness up to years after discharge. Up to half of the patients undergoing a prolonged ICU admission report symptoms of psychopathology afterwards, which hampers their full recovery. Complaints often include an affective component: symptoms of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder are common. The development of psychopathology is multifactorial and depends on patient characteristics (e.g., female sex, history of psychiatric disease), and ICU-related factors (e.g., time on the mechanical ventilator, administration of sedatives), and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysfunction. Some preventive and therapeutic interventions are available and a timely and multidisciplinary approach may help to reduce psychopathology after ICU admission.


To protect against natural hazards in mountainous areas, the French government has implemented a number of forestry and civil engineering works such as check dams in public forests since the 19th century. Specifying each dam's objective and protective functions is the first requirement for their continued maintenance. The potential technical functions of check dams have been clarified in a recent publication (Piton et al. 2016). In the first part of a series of papers on the analysis of the context and objectives, this paper focuses on how they were implemented in public areas by the Water and Forestry Administration from the end of the 19th century to the 1960s. We detail the objectives over time and the geographical locations. This national overview will help managers consider their present local protection structure management problems within an historical perspective.


We report the development of an electrooptic cell consisting of a cylindrical sample of Z-cut KD*P with a ring-electrode geometry for applying voltage to the crystal. Theoretical analysis and experimental results demonstrate that this cell design results in high transmission uniformity across the cell aperture and subnanosecond switching capability. Compared with cell of conventionaldesign, the new cell permits an order-of-magnitude improvement in transmission uniformity as well as improved switching speed.


Agriculture is the mainstay of the Ethiopian economy. However, the growth of the sector is constrained by different factors. Low level of technology development, inefficient technology dissemination, low utilization of improved production inputs and shortage of research proven production practices are among the most important factors hindering the growth of the sector. The objective of this study was, therefore, to assess the status of the current agricultural knowledge and technology transfer systems. For this purpose, a combined effort of literature study, expert elicitation and questionnaire based survey were carried out. The results of the study showed that a multitude of factors are constraining the system in the area. Limited economic capacity and awareness of farmers, lack of motivation of stakeholders, lack of motivation and knowledge level of development agents to support the transfer system are within the limiting factors. Weak linkage amongst the concerned actors, negligence of farmers' indigenous knowledge, and resistance of farmers to newly introduced technologies are also among the main factors hindering the efficiency of the system in their respective orders. Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that practicing participatory research approach, capacity building training, and mobilization of farmers are in urgent need for improving the efficiency of the transfer systems. Equipping with knowledge and skill and establishing a motivation scheme for development agents also a central solution to improve the systems. On top of this, timely dissemination of agricultural technologies, and information considering farmers indigenous knowledge needs to get due attention so as to improve agricultural knowledge-information and technology transfer system as well as smallholders' livelihood.

 Key words: Agricultural information, agricultural technology, Southern Ethiopia, technology and knowledge transfer.


The precuneus is a functionally heterogeneous area located on the medial face of the parietal cortex, wedged between the occipital cortex and the paracentral lobule. In view of its topological positioning, this associative cortex is well-placed to play an important role in multisensory integration, specific aspects of which participate to bodily awareness. However, this potential implication remains unestablished. We assessed bodily awareness longitudinally in 14 rare patients who underwent a surgery for a low-grade glioma mainly infiltrating the precuneus. To determine the brain locus the most frequently affected in patients showing bodily awareness disorders, we first contrasted the resection cavity distributions of patients with versus without bodily awareness disorders. We next applied 'lesion network mapping' to identify the networks functionally coupled with lesion locations causing bodily awareness disorder. Bodily awareness disorders were observed in half of patients after surgery, especially alien hand, macrosomatognosia and fading limb. Importantly, a dissociation was revealed between the antero-dorsal precuneus (bodily awareness disorders) and postero-dorsal precuneus (no bodily awareness disorders). Furthermore, bodily awareness disorder-related regions were specifically connected to a network of sensorimotor regions while others were connected with the default network. Altogether, the present findings indicate a critical role of the antero-dorsal precuneus in specific aspects of bodily awareness and in the maintenance of body schema.


Escalation is a common and costly problem among IT projects. Although the potential of de-escalation of commitment to failing courses of action has been much heralded, many such efforts may result in failure due to constituencies biasing facts in the direction of previously accepted beliefs, and therefore, prevent an organization from de-escalating. Here, we adopt Lewin's change framework to examine the commitment transformation during the transition from escalation to de-escalation of an eprocurement project in a local government organization in UK. Our findings suggest that the entire process of 'unfreezing-changing-refreezing' was enacted through the deployment of behaviour disconfirmation, psychological safety creation, and development, alignment and integration of new attitudes and behaviours. The research and practical implications of these findings are explored.


The neutrino-cooled accretion disk, which was proposed to work as the central engine of gamma-ray bursts, encounters difficulty in interpreting the X-ray flares after the prompt gamma-ray emission. In this paper, the magnetic coupling (MC) between the inner disk and the central black hole (BH) is taken into consideration. For mass accretion rates around 0.001 ∼ 0.1 M☉ s−1, our results show that the luminosity of neutrino annihilation can be significantly enhanced due to the coupling effects. As a consequence, after the gamma-ray emission, a remnant disk with mass Mdisk ≲ 0.5 M☉ may power most of the observed X-ray flares with the rest frame duration less than 100 s. In addition, a comparison between the MC process and the Blandford–Znajek mechanism is shown on the extraction of BH rotational energy.


An NAD(P)-dependent 3 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (EC 22.214.171.124) was purified to homogeneity from rat liver cytosol, where it is responsible for most if not all of the capacity for the oxidation of androsterone, 1-acenaphthenol and benzenedihydrodiol (trans-1,2-dihydroxycyclohexa-3,5-diene). The dehydrogenase has many properties (substrate specificity, pI, Mr, amino acid composition) in common with the dihydrodiol dehydrogenase (EC 220.127.116.11) purified from the same source [Vogel, Bentley, Platt & Oesch (1980) J. Biol. Chem. 255, 9621-9625]. Since 3 alpha-hydroxysteroids are by far the most efficient substrates, the enzyme is more appropriately designated a 3 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase. It also promotes the NAD(P)H-dependent reductions of quinones (e.g. 9,10-phenanthrenequinone, 1,4-benzoquinone), aromatic aldehydes (4-nitrobenzaldehyde) and aromatic ketones (4-nitroacetophenone). The dehydrogenase is not inhibited by dicoumarol, disulfiram, hexobarbital or pyrazole. The mechanism of the powerful inhibition of this enzyme by both non-steroidal and steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [Penning & Talalay (1983) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 80, 4504-4508] was examined with several substrates. Most non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are competitive inhibitors (e.g. Ki for indomethacin, 0.20 microM for 9,10-phenanthrenequinone reduction at pH 6.0, and 0.835 microM for androsterone oxidation at pH 7.0), except for salicylates, which act non-competitively (e.g. Ki for aspirin, 650 microM for androsterone oxidation). The inhibitory potency of these agents falls sharply as the pH is increased from 6 to 9. Most anti-inflammatory steroids are likewise competitive inhibitors, except for the most potent (betamethasone and dexamethasone), which act non-competitively. The enzyme is inhibited competitively by arachidonic acid and various prostaglandins.


The use of hand gestures to point at objects and individuals, or to navigate through landmarks on a
virtually created map is ubiquitous in face-to-face conversation. We take this observation as a
starting point, and we demonstrate that deictic gestures can be analysed on a par with speech by
using standard methods from constraint-based grammars such as HPSG. In particular, we use the form
of the deictic signal, the form of the speech signal (including its prosodic marking) and their
relative temporal performance to derive an integrated multimodal tree that maps to an integrated
multimodal meaning. The integration process is constrained via construction rules that rule out
ill-formed input. These rules are driven from an empirical corporal study which sheds light on the
interaction between speech and deictic gesture.


Cardiovascular nutrition is an extremely diverse topic in health and medicine. In the United States alone, there are an increasing number of deaths caused by nutrition-related diseases such as atherosclerosis and high blood pressure. The term "cardiovascular" pertains to the heart and the vascular system the heart uses to help transport nutrients within the body. Blood transports many molecules/compounds that are distributed throughout the body. These compounds include proteins and fatty acids along with various different types of macromolecules. These compounds can be beneficial as well as harmful to one's health, depending on whether he or she has good nutritional habits. The heart and its vessels are so vital that when a CVD (coronary vascular disease) occurs, other organs of the body may be affected as well (Haas, 2004). Most of these kinds of CVDs can actually be traced back to the bottom layer of the organismal hierarchy, which includes molecular activity.


Library 2.0 consists of many applications which are based from the Web 2.0 application and tools. There are many Library 2.0 tools that can be applied in academic libraries and the use of Library 2.0 tools are varying according to its function which can benefit the academic libraries. The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceptions of librarians in academic libraries on Library 2.0 with the focus on their awareness of Library 2.0 concept, use of Library 2.0 tools and services, acceptance toward Library 2.0 application and challenges/barriers of using Library 2.0 applications. The sample selection is using random sampling method. Descriptive statistics using mean, standard deviation and inferential statistics are performed to analyse the data. The result of the study reveals that librarians are familiar with the term Web 2.0 applications adopted in their library and they are aware of the Library 2.0 concept and applications that are commonly used in academic library (overall mean=3.15). Librarians working in comprehensive university are more aware about Library 2.0 concept as compared to librarians working in research university. However, there are no differences between gender, academic qualification, working experience, and age with librarians' awareness of Library 2.0 concept. The result also reveals that librarians agreed that Library 2.0 applications can provide many opportunities for librarians to reach user and any potential users, it can be used to improve web-based services of academic libraries, and it can enhance library and users interaction (overall mean=4.09).The result reveals that only librarians with different age group have significant difference on their acceptance of the Library 2.0 applications in academic libraries. The study also shows that librarians only used Library 2.0 tools and services on sometimes basis (overall mean=2.98). The result highlights that years of working experience and type of university the librarians served have significant difference regarding the librarians used of Library 2.0 tool and services in academic libraries. The study also found* that the librarians perceived not much challenges/barriers (overall mean=2.82) of using Library 2.0 applications. This study will provide significant feedback on academic librarian's perception relating to Library 2.0 adoption which is useful for academic library future improvement. Besides, this study will also help library administrator to determine whether the academic librarians need any further training on Library 2.0 applications.


Abstract Tourism forecasting plays an important role in tourism planning and management. Various forecasting techniques have been developed and applied to the tourism context, amongst which econometric forecasting has been winning an increasing popularity in tourism research. This article therefore aims to introduce the latest developments of econometric forecasting approaches and their applications to tourism demand analysis. Particular emphases are placed on the time varying parameter (TVP) forecasting technique and its application to the almost ideal demand system (AIDS). The discussions in this article fall into two main parts, in line with the two broad categories of econometric forecasting approaches: the first part refers to the single-equation forecasting techniques, focusing particularly on both long-run and short-term TVP models. The second part introduces the system-of-equations forecasting models, represented by the AIDS and its dynamic versions including the combination with the TVP technique, which will be discussed one by one following the order of methodological developments.


Paragangliomas are benign neoplasms that arise from the autonomic nervous system and the associated paraganglia. Although benign, they have been shown to possess metastatic potential. Extra-adrenal retroperitoneal paraganglioma with vertebral metastasis is considered very uncommon. Here, we present a case of a functional extra-adrenal paraganglioma of the retroperitoneum giving metastasis to T4 vertebra after five years of follow-up in a 48-year-old man who had been initially treated with complete resection of the primary tumor. The condition of the patient improved significantly after radiosurgery and somatostatin analogs treatment, until lumbar spine lesions appeared six months later. Our case demonstrates that retroperitoneal paraganglioma is a rare condition which should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a retroperitoneal mass combined with vertebral lesions. Additionally, increased physician awareness and long-term follow-up is mandatory for all patients with history of retroperitoneal paraganglioma since metastases may occur after long latent intervals from the initial diagnosis.


Wheat is an important cereal crop feeding human and livestock as well. Stagnant wheat yield has been observed over the time in maize-wheat intensive cereal rotation in Pakistan. Maize residue management might be a good choice over conventional burning/cutting practice. The present research was performed at Agronomic Research Area, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad to determine the most favorable residue incorporation level with the best nitrogen splitting level. The experimental treatments comprised of maize residue incorporation viz; control, lower 1/3, 2/3 and full maize plant incorporation along with nitrogen (N) fertilizer rates viz; 100 kg N ha-1 in 2 splits, 150 kg N ha-1 in two splits and 150 N kg ha-1 as basal dose. The experiment was laid-out in RCBD with split plot arrangement replicated thrice having net plot size of 1.8 m × 5 m. Data pertaining to growth and yield attributes of wheat were recorded following standard procedures. Response of wheat and its yield components like productive tillers (287.44 m-2), 1000-grain weight (43.72 g) differed significantly under maize plant incorporation strategies compared to conventional cutting practice. Full plant incorporation along with 100 kg N ha-1 in 2 splits performed superior regarding final grain yield. However, maximum net returns (Rs. 83706 ha-1) and benefit cost ratio (BCR) (1.72) was obtained in lower 1/3 plant incorporation at 100 kg N ha-1 in two splits. Hence, the farmers may adopt this strategy to enhance the productivity and profitability of wheat in mix cropping zone of Punjab.


Biological control of plant diseases has been considered a viable alternative method to manage plant diseases. Biocontrol is environmentally safe and in some cases is the only option available to protect plants against pathogens. Through our study, we tried to find out the possibility of using the essential oil of Artemisia herba alba as a biological control agent. The antifungal activity of the oil was determined and it was found that this essential oil have an interesting effect on conidia germination, mycelia growth, and the sporulation of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris (Chickpea Fusarium Wilt), Fusarium solani (Chickpea root-rot) and Globisporangium ultimum (Aleppo pine damping off and root-rot diseases). Results obtained highlight the importance of this subject as it can offer the possibility of using plant derivatives in disease management against these soil-borne pathogens


ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 06 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Mushroom fungi secrete antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral bioactive compounds of therapeutic and pharmacological value. Very limited work has been done on the exploration of antimicrobial principles from macrobasidiomycetes against plant pathogens. In this view, a study was proposed to screen eight mushroom fungi viz., Auricularia polytricha, Coprinus comatus, Ganoderma lucidum, Volvariella volvaceae, Lentinus edodes, Pycnoporus sanguineus, Schizophyllum commune, Trametes versicolor against spore germination and mycelial growth of Colletotrichum capsici , the fruit rot pathogen of Chilli and to extract antimicrobial molecules from the selected mushroom fungi using different solvents viz., Chloroform, Diethyl ether and Ethyl acetate. Results from dual culture technique revealed that Ganoderma lucidum, Auricularia polytricha and Lentinus edodes showed maximum antifungal activity by inhibiting the mycelial growth of C. capsici (54.81%, 53.70 % and 45.55% respectively) with maximum inhibition zone of (4.86 mm, 2.86 mm and 4.86 mm respectively). Though the Chloroform, Diethyl ether and Ethyl acetate fractions of G. lucidum cell free extracts inhibited spore germination of C. capsici both at 12 and 24 hours, maximum inhibition of spore germination was observed at 24 hours. Among the mushroom fungi, the chloroform extracted fractions followed by Diethyl ether and Ethyl acetate fractions of G. lucidum cell free culture filtrates exhibited maximum inhibition of spore germination of C. capsici (inhibition of 88 %, 79% and 78 % respectively) at 24 hours. Similarly, maximum inhibition of mycelial growth of C. capsici with 40 %, 34.07% and 29.25 % inhibition respectively was recorded in the chloroform extracted fractions followed by Diethyl ether and Ethyl acetate fractions of G. lucidum cell free culture filtrates when compared to solvent extracted fractions of L. edodes and A. polytricha by agar well diffusion technique. The chloroform extracted metabolite of G. lucidum followed by Ethyl acetate and Diethyl ether fractions at 2000 ppm concentration inhibited maximum mycelial growth of C. capsici (60.55 %, 58.88 % and 55.47 % respectively). It is well proven that chloroform extracted fractions of G. lucidum possess antimicrobial activities against the growth of C. capsici. Hence, further studies towards the identification of these compounds will pave for development of fungicides against C .capsici. K e y w o r d s Chilli, Colletotrichum capsici, Ganoderma lucidum, Solvents, Mushroom fungi, Antimicrobial activity, Inhibition per cent Accepted: 10 May 2019 Available Online: 10 June 2019 Article Info Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2019) 8(6): 1172-1186

https://www.ijcmas.com/8-6-2019/K. Priya, et al.pdf


Component composition of lipid A of Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae 218 and P-55, pv. syringae (holci) 8299, pv. phaseolicola 120a, pv. atrofaciens 2399 has been studied. The lipid A composition of all the strains studied includes 3-hydroxydecanoic fatty acid (3-OH-C10:0), 2-hydroxydodecanoic (2-OH-C12:0), 3-hydroxydodecanoic (3-OH-C12:0), dodecanoic (C12:0), hexadecanoic (C16:0), octadecanoioc (C18:0), hexadecenic (C16:1), octadecenic (C18:1) fatty acids. The carbohydrate part of the lipid A macromolecule of all strains after acid hydrolysis contains ethanolamine, phosphoethanolamine, glucosamine.


Liver plays a major role in metabolism and acts as a source of energy for the body by storing glycogen. With the growing interest and investigation in the biological effects in recent years, it is important and necessary to develop accurate and comparable analytical methods for elements in bio-samples. It has, however, been 10 years since the tissue sample (bovine liver) of CCQM-K49 key comparison. The purpose of CCQM-K145 is to ensure the comparable and traceable measurement results for essential and toxic elements such as P, S, Zn, Mn, Ni, Mo, Sr, Cr, Co, Pb, As and Hg in bovine liver among NMIs and other designated measurement bodies worldwide. The comparison was agreed by IAWG as 6th IAWG Benchmarking Exercise with Zn and Ni as exemplary elements at the meeting in Korea in the early October 2016. The results of CCQM-K145 are expected to cover the measurement capability and support CMCs claiming for inorganic elements in the similar biological tissue materials and food samples. 30 NMIs and DIs registered in CCQM-K145. With respect to the methodology, a variety of techniques such as IDMS, ICP-OES, ICP-MS(non-ID), AAS and NAA were adopted by the participants. For Zn, Ni, Sr, Pb and Hg measurements, most participants chose ID-ICP-MS method, which showed the better performance in terms of consistency and reliability of the measurement results. In aspect of the traceability for the measurement results in CCQM-K145, most participants used their own (in house) CRMs or other NMI's CRMs to guarantee trace to SI unit. Most participants used similar matrix CRMs for quality control or method validation. Base on different statistic way to calculate the reference mass fraction values and associated uncertainties for each measurand, removal of the suspected extreme values, and discussion at the IAWG meetings, the median values are proposed as the KCRV for Zn, Ni, Mn, Mo, Cr, Pb and Hg; the arithmetic mean values are proposed as the KCRV for P, S, Sr, Co and As. In general, the performances of the majority of CCQM-K145 participants are very good, illustrating their measurement capabilities for Zn, Ni, P, S, Mn, Mo, Sr, Cr, As, Co, Pb and Hg in a complex biological tissue matrix. Bovine liver contains many kinds of nutrients and microelements, it can be regarded as a typical representative material of biological tissue and food. In CCQM-K145, the analytes involved alkali metals and transition elements, metalloids / semi-metals and non metals with a range of mass fraction from mg/g to μg/kg. CCQM-K145 also tested the ability of NMIs/DIs to determine elements that were easy to be lost and polluted, and interfered significantly. The chemical pretreatment methods of samples used in the comparison is suitable for general food and biological matrix samples. A variety of measurement methods used in the comparison represent the main instrumental technology for elemental analysis. Therefore, for supporting CMC claim, CCQM-K145 is readily applicable to measurement of more elements in a wide range of biological materials (including liquids and solids) and meat products. Main text To reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. Note that this text is that which appears in Appendix B of the BIPM key comparison database kcdb.bipm.org/. The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCQM, according to the provisions of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (CIPM MRA).


The study determined the compliance of rural banks with the corporate governance mechanisms. Using the descriptive method, the study surveyed 50 respondents through a researcher-made questionnaire. Statistical techniques include frequency, percentage and t-test. Majority of the rural banks are located in Misamis Oriental and established earlier than 2000. They have few branches with 6-15 employees and a starting capital of P500, 000 below. The present capital is between P500,000 to P20,000,000 . Most rural banks complied with the corporate governance mechanisms such as Board Chairman's and members' responsibilities and issuances of guidelines. Sex was a differentiating factor in the compliance to corporate governance mechanisms. Keywords – Compliance, corporate governance, rural banks,


Minimum satisfactory concentrations of thymine and thymidine were determined for the growth of a high thymine-requirng (thy) mutant to Escherichia coli strain J5-3. Cultures were then grown in the presence of these concentrations of non-radioactive ('cold') pyrimidine together with 5 microCi/ml [methyl-3H)thymine, or [methyl-3H)thymidine (specific activities 5 Ci/m mole), and the uptake of radioactivity into ice cold trichloroacetic acid insoluble material determined. By far the most efficient labelling system was obtained if the label was supplied as radioactive thymidine and growth requirements satisfied by thymine alone. The addition of deoxyadenosine to the labelled thymidine/unlabelled thymine system dramatically reduced uptake of label. The addition of radioactive thymine with either thymine or thymidine to ensure satisfactory growth gave poor labelling. Using the [methyl-3H] thymidine/thymine system it was possible to increase the concentration of thymine from 8 to 64 microgram/ml with only a 25% reduction in label uptake after a 2 h period. The same system was also shown to be most efficient for labelling a thy derivative of another K12 strain, a thymine low-requiring (tir) K12 strain, a thy mutant of Klebsiella aerogenes 418 and a tir derivative of Salmonella typhimurium LT2.


Traditional critical goals for industrial products design includes five factors. They are utility, appearance, ease of maintenance, low costs and communication[1]. In this paper, puts forth a new perspective, in which considers that embodying of human-centered perspective should be also another critical goal to industrial product besides traditional five critical goals. The paper is aimed at giving rise to the industrial designers to pay more attention to the design principles of 'Human-Centered' during their household bisic appliances product design because they are usually ignored by the designers. In the paper, mainly analyzed some household basic appliances products, which are used in every day life of people. The way of study is to analyze some problems in the products design by the examples of the products that are being applied in every day life, but there are some defects. What the analyses mainly concerned is how to embody the principle of "human-centered" in industrial product design. The "green design" and "healthy design" should be put the first place when industrial designers to design industrial products.


The acoustical parameters are progressively extracted from the sampled signal up to the phonems by use of syntactic methods. The rewriting rules, which are context-sensitive, are controled by the parameters that are evaluated on the signal itself. This lends the syntactic analysis to a main semantic point. These techniques are applied in time domain to the speech signal. Some preprocessing is done in order to code the elapsed time between the extrema of the signal and the extremum aplitudes. Particularly the voiced aeras are analysed pitch synchronous by means of a "formants extractor" which makes use of the extrema. The prosody of the signal is computed. The phonetic recognition results are given for various classes of french phonems. The are archieved on a mini-computer operating in real time.


Clinicians can now treat patients with bipolar depression using the first drug approved in the U.S. for this indication. The FDA recently approved olanzapine/fluoxetine (Symbyax, Eli Lilly) for the treatment of depressive episodes associated with bipolar disorder. Symbyax is currently available in pharmacies.


The level of glycosylated blood hemoglobin (HbA1c) as a clinical and prognostic criterion for selecting diabetics for implantation of intraocular lens (IOL) is assessed. Extracapsular cataract extraction with intraocular correction was carried out in 68 patients with noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Preoperative level of HbA1c in group 1 (n = 36) was no more than 8%, and in group 2 (n = 32) it was at least 8%. Both groups were treated similarly. The immediate and late functional results of cataract extraction with IOL implantation were decisively better in group 1 with HbA1c level under 8%, that is, with compensated diabetes. Thus, the level of HbA1c is an accurate and objective clinical and prognostic criterion for selecting patients with diabetes for IOL implantation with good and stable functional results and for precluding unjustified operations.


Adaptation and New Media: Establishing the Videogame as an Adaptive Medium Videogames, whilst a prevalent mode of adaptation, remain understudied. According to Linda Hutcheon, between 1975 and 2010 '547 films have generated over 2000 [video]games' (Hutcheon, 2013, p. 199), either as direct adaptations or as companion pieces. Scholars oppose as well as neglect their study as adaptations: Scott Lukas, for example, contends that the videogame does not adapt literature and film, but rather remakes them. Whilst both of these approaches intimate a preoccupation with film and canonical literature, videogames adapt a wide range of media beyond these media, including graphic novels, television, music, and simulations. Videogame adaptation are not unidirectional: whilst tie-in videogames are frequently made to coincide with film releases, novelizations of videogames are also becoming increasingly popular, and films based on videogames are another common form. This chapter asks how videogames fit into, or depart from, older modes of adaptation, placing the study of videogames as adaptations alongside established methods of analysis. By using what Ian Bogost terms 'procedural translation', this chapter shows that videogames can be analysed and interrogated using themes and figures from other media (poetry, film, literature, and television amongst others), whilst arguing that videogames are a unique representational medium requiring new methods of analysis as well (for example, to analyse their interactivity and ludic elements). Beginning with a brief history and overview of adaptation in/of/by videogames, the chapter goes on to ask what videogames do to shape the works they adapt, how they are shaped by adaptation. It treats not only narratological issues of adaptation (plot, themes, characters, media forms, etc.) but also the adaptation of ideologies. Addressing the process and reception of adaptation, the chapter considers how the medium succeeds critically and commercially (or does not) in adaptation. Using a selection of videogames, rather than being limited to the study of a single videogame, this chapter aims to substantially redress the neglect of videogames in adaptation studies. Videogames addressed include: Super Mario Brothers, the Tomb Raider franchise, the Assassin's Creed franchise, Star Wars, The Wolf Among Us, The Walking Dead, Pokemon, and the Halo franchise and simulation games such as Need for Speed.


— Describing visual image contents by semantic concepts is an effective and straightforward way to facilitate various high level applications. Inferring semantic concepts from low-level pictorial feature analysis is challenging due to the semantic gap problem, while manually labeling concepts is unwise because of a large number of images in both online and offline collections. In this paper, we present a novel approach to automatically generate intermediate image descriptors by exploiting concept co-occurrence patterns in the pre-labeled training set that renders it possible to depict complex scene images semantically. Our work is motivated by the fact that multiple concepts that frequently co-occur across images form patterns which could provide contextual cues for individual concept inference. We discover the co-occurrence patterns as hierarchical communities by graph modularity maximization in a network with nodes and edges representing concepts and co-occurrence relationships separately. A random walk process working on the inferred concept probabilities with the discovered co-occurrence patterns is applied to acquire the refined concept signature representation. Through experiments in automatic image annotation and semantic image retrieval on several challenging datasets, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed concept co-occurrence patterns as well as the concept signature representation in comparison with state-of-the-art approaches.


This article analyses the role of NGOs in the development and drafting of disaster law in general, and the ILC draft Articles on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters in particular, and by extension what this reveals regarding NGO subjectivity in international law. The substantive content of the draft Articles and their commentaries and how they pertain to NGOs from an operational perspective, is a further area of analysis. The article initially frames humanitarian NGO subjectivity and how this constituency has evolved and how that has implications for its realm of action. Secondly, given its underpinning importance to the ILC project, an analysis of NGO disaster law activity (both autonomous and institutional) is analysed via key instruments. NGOs are a complex and diverse community and attempts to address them in some standardised fashion (which was also acceptable to states) was always going to challenge the ILC. These complexities are analysed in the final main substantive section of the article with particular attention being given to draft Article 12 and the issue of external assistance to disaster-affected states.


Anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) is commonly used as a starting template for fabrication of several kinds of functional nanoscale devices due to its homogeneous nanohole structure with high aspect ratio. In this paper, high density and uniform titanium dioxide nanotube array films were prepared via liquid phase deposition method by immersing the AAO templates in an aqueous ammonium hexafluorotitanate solution. The phase and microstructure of the nanotube array films were characterized by X-ray diffraction and field-emission scanning electron microscopy. It was found that the mean inner diameters of nanotube are 40-100 nm, mainly depended on different templates and post treatment condition; the phase of as-deposited TiO2 array film was amorphous, while it became anatase at above 400°C.


While Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly being used in real-world applications, they remain vulnerable to prompt injection attacks: malicious third party prompts that subvert the intent of the system designer. To help researchers study this problem, we present a dataset of over 126,000 prompt injection attacks and 46,000 prompt-based"defenses"against prompt injection, all created by players of an online game called Tensor Trust. To the best of our knowledge, this is currently the largest dataset of human-generated adversarial examples for instruction-following LLMs. The attacks in our dataset have a lot of easily interpretable stucture, and shed light on the weaknesses of LLMs. We also use the dataset to create a benchmark for resistance to two types of prompt injection, which we refer to as prompt extraction and prompt hijacking. Our benchmark results show that many models are vulnerable to the attack strategies in the Tensor Trust dataset. Furthermore, we show that some attack strategies from the dataset generalize to deployed LLM-based applications, even though they have a very different set of constraints to the game. We release all data and source code at https://tensortrust.ai/paper


Anthracyclines used in cancer therapeutics, including doxorubicin (DOX), cause both short- and long-term cardiotoxicity associated with increased myocardial oxidative stress. Chronic DOX treatment increases superoxide anion production in vivo, which is derived largely from Nox2 NADPH oxidase and contributes to key processes underlying cardiac dysfunction. The aim of this study was to identify possible mechanisms involved in the signal relay from increased Nox2 activity to development of disease phenotype. In this context, we performed a whole-genome gene expression array (Illumina MouseWG-6 v2.0) of ventricular tissue from DOX-treated wild type vs Nox2KO mice. Pathway analysis (GeneGo Metacore) revealed the apoptotic process most significant to the data set (p=0.00005). Applying the 63 relevant genes (FDR cut-off, adjusted p<0.05) in a network analysis showed significant mRNA increases in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α) and the mitochondrial membrane protein, mitofusin-2, known to be upregulated by PGC-1α. Since mitofusin-2 independent of its pro-fusion effect can form a functional unit with the Bcl-2 family member, Bax, the potential involvement of mitofusin-2 in DOX-mediated apoptosis was investigated. In HL-1 cardiomyocytes, superoxide production was significantly increased by 13±3% by DOX (10–7M; 3 h) and H2O2 generated increases of 66%±22% and 44%±17% (10–7M; 3 h, 20 h) along with marked upregulation of Nox2 mRNA at 3 h (2.9-fold). DOX increased caspase 3/7 activity 3.0-fold at 20 h. In a similar time frame, DOX increased mitofusin-2 mRNA at 3 h and protein at 24 h. NOX2-mediated upregulation of mitofusin-2 and its pleiotropic effect on apoptosis may play a part in DOX-associated cardiomyocyte dysfunction.


This paper responds to calls for research that takes into consideration the broader ideologies underpinning the employment relationship within capitalist societies by building and testing a model of work alienation. We examine how three work-related factors identified originally by Karl Marx act as precursors of alienation, that is, a disconnection of oneself from work, that are experienced in the modern workplace, namely the extent to which voice behaviours are enacted, whether an individual perceives his or her skills to be used in the course of work, and a lack of perceived meaningfulness of work. Further, we investigate whether alienation leads to emotional exhaustion and stifles well-being. Data from 227 employees in a manufacturing organisation in the UK support this model, in that a lack of voice, person–job fit and meaningfulness lead to alienation at work, and emotional exhaustion and lower levels of well-being are its consequences. The present study demonstrates that alienation should be a focal point for human resource management scholars in the twenty-first century.


An experimental system is developed for the transient radiation effects testing of an anti-radiation hardened processor. Based on this system, the transient radiation effects in a microprocessor based on SPARC-V8 architecture was investigated. The dose-rate-soft-error index parameters of the processor were determined according to the test results, as were the influences on the function and timing parameters of the processor. The power supply balance is affected, which caused the system to reset and be the main source of soft errors. The results showed the circuit recovery time is primarily determined by the internal PLL, while the core power and the output-low-IO ports are more sensitive to the transient dose rate effect. The power-integrity-hardened design is proposed to mitigate the transient radiation effect.


Ontology is specification of shared conceptualization and is building block of the semantic Web. Ontology building requires a detailed domain analysis that in turn requires financial resources, intensive domain knowledge and time. Most of industrial data is present in relational databases and a relational database schema represents a domain model. An ontology built from this schema can represent concepts and relationships that are present in domain of discourse. However, databases are not static and their schema evolves over time. Once a database schema is changed, these changes in schema should also be incorporated in ontology, generated from this database. The possible solution of regenerating a new ontology from changed database schema is not feasible because this will result in loss of manual changes of ontology. In this paper we present an approach that can be used to generate ontology from RDBs and to synchronize the generated ontology with changes occurred in the same database. We also present the prototypical implementation of the proposed approach as Protégé plug-in (i.e. DATAONTO) that can be used to generate ontology from database and to synchronize the ontology with the original database.


Opportunities for crime are related to specific times and places. However, studies on alcohol-related violence have mostly focused on the role of neighborhood-level factors over large areas and long periods of time, meaning that we know surprisingly little about how people's interactions with the environment at specific times and places affect alcohol-related violence. In order to explore opportunities for violence in public places with high alcohol outlet densities, we conducted a multiple case study of two nighttime leisure microenvironments in Bogota, Colombia. Based on more than 150 hrs of participant observation in each site during nighttime activity over 4 months, we characterized each setting in terms of physical risk factors, actor heterogeneity, incidents of aggression, alcohol use dynamics and routines, and the intervention of different types of guardianship in these contexts. Results show that, despite similarities in the physical characteristics of the environment and alcohol availability, there are important differences in place-based dynamics that increase or decrease opportunities for violence and crime. We discuss how our results contribute to the development of opportunity theories and conclude with policy implications and opportunities for intervention.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe how lean management principles can be used in teaching and learning processes while preparing classes for non-traditional adult learners (NALs). Careful planning and the application of lean methods can result in NALs' enhanced engagement and success at academic institutions.

Design/methodology/approach
The fundamental concepts of the lean philosophy, value, value streams, flow, pull and perfection were used to carefully examine the teaching and learning process at academic institutions. Efforts were made to identify non-value-added activities in the process and explore methods to enhance the learning experience for NALs.

Findings
This paper provides a comprehensive approach on how to plan a class using lean methodology. Identification and removal of non-value-added activities in teaching and learning processes can help to engage students in the classroom.

Practical implications
This research has practical implications for academic institutions. Incorporation of lean methodology may lead to identification and elimination of waste in teaching and learning processes. This may allow instructors to re-evaluate existing course delivery methods and offer equal or higher quality curricula while reducing cost at the same time.

Originality/value
Lean management principles have been successfully applied to a variety of administrative processes at academic institutions. However, there exists very limited research that show lean can be effectively used in designing curricula for NALs. This project can provide a framework for the application of lean while teaching and learning at academic institutions.


In this paper, a Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations solver, interFoam of OpenFOAM®, is validated for wave interactions with a dike, including a promenade and vertical wall, on a shallow foreshore. Such a coastal defence system is comprised of both an impermeable dike and a beach in front of it, forming the shallow foreshore depth at the dike toe. This case necessitates the simulation of several processes simultaneously: wave propagation, wave breaking over the beach slope, and wave interactions with the sea dike, consisting of wave overtopping, bore interactions on the promenade, and bore impacts on the dike-mounted vertical wall at the end of the promenade (storm wall or building). The validation is done using rare large-scale experimental data. Model performance and pattern statistics are employed to quantify the ability of the numerical model to reproduce the experimental data. In the evaluation method, a repeated test is used to estimate the experimental uncertainty. The solver interFoam is shown to generally have a very good model performance rating. A detailed analysis of the complex processes preceding the impacts on the vertical wall proves that a correct reproduction of the horizontal impact force and pressures is highly dependent on the accuracy of reproducing the bore interactions.