Tedera (Bituminaria bituminosa vars. albomarginata and crassiuscula) is a perennial pasture species with agronomic characters ideally suited to Mediterranean climates. Tedera seed has a period of after-ripening or primary dormancy typically lasting three months, which delays assessment and breeding of elite hybrid varieties. Temperature, chemical and mechanical methods were investigated in conjunction with in vitro culture to circumvent this dormancy period across a range of parental and hybrid genotypes. Temperature treatment of T5 (Tedera accession 5) and T48 (Tedera accession 48) alone was not sufficient to break dormancy (24.0% and 14.7% germination); however, when combined with soaking in gibberellic acid (GA3) and mechanical scarification resulted in 79.7% and 84.3% germination respectively. In an effort to further improve this result for valuable hybrid genotypes, we combined mechanical scarification with removal of seed coat after imbibition and in vitro culture on B5 medium until radicle emergence. This resulted in breaking dormancy from 96% to 100% of parent seeds and 100% of hybrid seeds. Hardening the germinated F1 or F2 seedlings 4 d after first transfer to in vitro culture resulted in 100% survival of plants to soil. This procedure is now used on a routine basis in the Australian tedera breeding programme.


After centuries of little change, the teaching and learning in Thai universities is on the verge of taking a giant leap forward. New and emerging pedagogies are harnessing the power of Internet and communication technologies (ICT) at a very fast pace. New trends in eLearning and mLearning are bringing about dramatic changes in the higher educational landscape, transforming the breadth, depth, quality and opportunities for learning from anywhere for any one and at any time. In spite of the fact that a large number of students own and use mobile devices there is a very little use of the various sophisticated features of this wireless technology in education. This paper is based on a recent survey conducted at Assumption University of Thailand to gauge the opinion of students about usage of mobile devices for their education. Using the results of the survey this paper investigates into the expectations of students in Assumption University for enhanced ICT services for mobile devices. It also provides two recommendations for improving student services for mobile devices at Assumption University.


Introduction Few studies have investigated the East-West health discrepancy within young adults who were children during this era. We study this phenomenon and its context globally, by examining variations between world regions in personal health within generations. Socioeconomic influence is also investigated. Methods World Health Survey data were analysed on adults aged 18-34 (n=91 823), and their elders aged 35+ (n=132 362). Main outcome was personal health. Main predictor variable was regions. Multilevel logistic regression was used to assess associations between personal health and regions, while accounting for individual and country-level socioeconomic factors. Results Citizens of the Former Soviet Union reported the highest prevalence of poor health, globally with OR being 3.29 (95% CI 1.92 to 5.64). Central Europeans also had high odds of reporting poor health as compared to Western Europeans, but not to the global south, (OR)=1.66 (95% CI 1.07 to 2.55). Age analyses showed that a generation effect was apparent. After full adjustments of socioeconomic factors, East-West health differences were small within young adults, and became larger at each increasing age interval. This pattern was opposite for the global south. Conclusion The East-West health gap is more pronounced within the Former Soviet Union citizens, rather than Central Europeans. Although the public health concern within these regions cannot be denied, it seems as though young adults might have been insulated to some extent from the ill-health effects of the political transition. Unlike their elders, they have come of age within the new regime, and might not feel as displaced from society.


Background The need for new options for chronic lung diseases promotes the research on stem cells for lung repair. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can modulate lung inflammation, but the data on cellular processes involved in early airway remodeling and the potential involvement of neuropeptides are scarce. Objectives To elucidate the mechanisms by which local administration of MSCs interferes with pathophysiological features of airway hyperresponsiveness in an animal model. Methods GFP-tagged mouse MSCs were intratracheally delivered in the ovalbumin mouse model with subsequent functional tests, the analysis of cytokine levels, neuropeptide expression and histological evaluation of MSCs fate and airway pathology. Additionally, MSCs were exposed to pro-inflammatory factors in vitro. Results Functional improvement was observed after MSC administration. Although MSCs did not adopt lung cell phenotypes, cell therapy positively affected airway remodeling reducing the hyperplastic phase of the gain in bronchial smooth muscle mass, decreasing the proliferation of epithelium in which mucus metaplasia was also lowered. Decrease of interleukin-4, interleukin-5, interleukin-13 and increase of interleukin-10 in bronchoalveolar lavage was also observed. Exposed to pro-inflammatory cytokines, MSCs upregulated indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase. Moreover, asthma-related in vivo upregulation of pro-inflammatory neurokinin 1 and neurokinin 2 receptors was counteracted by MSCs that also determined a partial restoration of VIP, a neuropeptide with anti-inflammatory properties. Conclusion Intratracheally administered MSCs positively modulate airway remodeling, reduce inflammation and improve function, demonstrating their ability to promote tissue homeostasis in the course of experimental allergic asthma. Because of a limited tissue retention, the functional impact of MSCs may be attributed to their immunomodulatory response combined with the interference of neuropeptide system activation and tissue remodeling.


Turbine rotors in a geothermal power station were required in high alloyed 12% Cr steel. After some preliminary investigations it was found that a modified 11% CrMoNiNb steel will fulfill the required mechanical properties as well as a sufficient resistance to corrosion. Two LP rotors with approximately 1,295 mm (51 in.) premachined diameter and ungashed weight of approximately 31 mt were manufactured. The steel was melted in a 125 mt electric arc furnace and subsequently remelted into a 113 mt ESR ingot with 2,300 mm (90 in.) diameter. After forging and preliminary heat treatment the rotors were quality heat treated to a yield strength (0.2% and 0.02%) of approximately 600 MPa (87 ksi) and approximately 550 MPa (80 ksi) respectively and tensile strength of approximately 780 MPa (113 ksi). This resulted in a FATT of approximately 16 C (60 F). Low hardness is important to susceptibility to stress corrosion. It was achieved to approximately 20 HRC. The results have met the assumption with respect to this steel for application as rotor material for geothermal power stations.


This study was conducted in order to decipher adolescent interpretations of disability that were portrayed on television. Employing qualitative methodology and methods, I conducted focus groups with adolescents during which they viewed television programs containing portrayals of characters with disabilities, or otherwise defining differences. The sixth grade participants freely shared their perspectives of the programs and characters in addition to their thoughts about the nature of difference in general. Although I originally intended to interpret adolescents' reactions toward characters with disabilities, I found that it was not only characters with disabilities that they viewed in a judgmental manner. As the study participants discussed the overall nature of difference, they revealed their lack of acceptance not only of people with disabilities, but their lack of acceptance of difference as a whole. Any human difference was deemed unacceptable by my participants. The participants' reactions to the television programs and "different" characters revealed an ability to quickly identify the positive messages/morals regarding acceptance that were communicated through the conclusions of most episodes, but they almost always failed to see the applications of the episodes' messages/morals to their lives. The judgmental language about normalcy that they used in their discussions revealed a contradiction of acceptance of difference. In addition, both the participants' and the television characters' reactions to difference illuminated a disregard for individuals who had not met (unattainable) societal norms. As a result, this study highlights the parallel that exists between the intolerance of difference on television and that which exists within the adolescents' daily lived experiences. Portrayals of cruel humor and perpetuations of stereotypes by exploitation of personal difference are exacerbated by networkinserted laugh tracks and interpreted as "funny" by the participants. Interpretation of the adolescents' dialogues necessitates further examination of the nature of difference and disability as portrayed on television programming targeted toward adolescents.


Membrane-associated guanylate kinase inverted 2 (MAGI-2) is a component of the slit diaphragm (SD) of glomerular podocytes. Here, we investigated the podocyte-specific function of MAGI-2 using newly generated podocyte-specific MAGI-2-knockout (MAGI-2-KO) mice. Compared with podocytes from wild-type mice, podocytes from MAGI-2-KO mice exhibited SD disruption, morphologic abnormalities of foot processes, and podocyte apoptosis leading to podocyte loss. These pathologic changes manifested as massive albuminuria by 8 weeks of age and glomerulosclerosis and significantly higher plasma creatinine levels at 12 weeks of age; all MAGI-2-KO mice died by 20 weeks of age. Loss of MAGI-2 in podocytes associated with decreased expression and nuclear translocation of dendrin, which is also a component of the SD complex. Dendrin translocates from the SD to the nucleus of injured podocytes, promoting apoptosis. Our coimmunoprecipitation and in vitro reconstitution studies showed that dendrin is phosphorylated by Fyn and dephosphorylated by PTP1B, and that Fyn-induced phosphorylation prevents Nedd4-2-mediated ubiquitination of dendrin. Under physiologic conditions in vivo, phosphorylated dendrin localized at the SDs; in the absence of MAGI-2, dephosphorylated dendrin accumulated in the nucleus. Furthermore, induction of experimental GN in rats led to the downregulation of MAGI-2 expression and the nuclear accumulation of dendrin in podocytes. In summary, MAGI-2 and Fyn protect dendrin from Nedd4-2-mediated ubiquitination and from nuclear translocation, thereby maintaining the physiologic homeostasis of podocytes, and the lack of MAGI-2 in podocytes results in FSGS.


The growing population of older adults with depression is a significant public health concern, and effective treatments are necessary. Mindfulness meditation intervention offers effective treatment for depression, but little research has been conducted on the older population. This study aimed to evaluate if the combination of the Internet Mindfulness Meditation Intervention (IMMI) plus iMINDr application improves well-being in older adults with depressive symptoms. Potential participants were recruited online. IMMI included a one-hour online session once a week, a daily 30-minute home practice of guided meditation using the iMINDr app, and a workbook. Measures were collected online before and after the six-week intervention period. Online session adherence was tracked. Thirty-eight participants completed all study requirements and are included in the analysis. Participants showed clinically and statistically significant improvements in depression symptoms, well-being, positive and negative affect, sleep quality, and pain intensity. Participants took 9.9 ± 3.5 weeks to complete the course. High attrition rates mainly were related to participants' motivation to complete the course and stress levels. There were no significant demographic differences between participants and depression symptoms. Potential applications and limitations are discussed. Internet Mindfulness Meditation Intervention (IMMI) was effective in treating depression symptoms in older adults.


Yosemite National Park, California, is one of the best-documented sites of historical rockfalls and other rock slope failures; however, past work shows that this record does not capture the infrequent largest occurrences, prehistoric events orders of magnitude larger than the largest historic ones. These large prehistoric events are evident as voluminous bouldery landslide deposits, permitting volume and age quantification to better understand local volume–frequency relationships, potential triggering mechanisms, and the hazard such events might pose. The Tiltill rockslide in northern Yosemite is one such example, consisting of 2.1 × 106 m3 ± 1.6 × 106 m3 of talus (1.5 × 106 m3 original volume of rock mass) that slid across the floor of Tiltill Valley, partially damming Tiltill Creek to create a seasonal pond that drains through and around the rockslide mass. This volume and the rockslide's effective coefficient of friction, 0.47, place it near the boundary between long-runout landslides and ordinary Coulomb failure. Although the rockslide superficially appears to consist of two separate lobes, statistically indistinguishable 10Be exposure dates from eight samples indicate a single event that occurred at 13.0 ± 0.8 ka. The age of the Tiltill rockslide and its relatively low elevation compared to equilibrium line altitudes at this place and time make glacial debutressing a highly unlikely triggering mechanism. Seismic shaking associated with fault rupture along the eastern Sierra Nevada is shown to be a plausible but unverified trigger.


Introduction: The ability to get out and about is important to social inclusion and quality of
life and it is one of the most significant challenges for people who are blind or visually
impaired. There has been little research into the underlying concerns of people who are blind
or visually impaired when making decisions about mobility.
Method: This grounded theory study explored the main mobility-related concerns of people
who are blind or visually impaired. It uses qualitative data, drawn from a combination of
online discussions, face-to-face, telephone and email interviews, and focus groups with
people who are blind or visually impaired and rehabilitation practitioners.
Results: The primary concern of people who are blind or visually impaired when making
choices about where to go, and when and how to do so, was a desire to see oneself and to be
seen by others as "normal". Self-identity and perceived "normality" are subjective and
changeable and are continually internally co-reconstructed to achieve congruence between
them. The mobility strategies used are those that are perceived as most "normal".
Discussion: Perceived "normality" has a powerful influence on behaviour. By harnessing
this, rehabilitation services may be better able to promote autonomy and self-reliance. Implications for Practitioners: To promote independence, rehabilitation services must change
people's perception of what is "normal". People must be supported to come to perceive
fulfilment of valued social roles, autonomy and self-reliance as "normal".


The purpose of this article is to assess exchange rate forecasting possibilities with an information flow approach model. In the model the three types of information flows are distinguished: fundamental analysis information flow through particular macroeconomic determinants, microstructure approach information flow through dealer clients' positioning data, technical analysis information flow through technical indicators. By using regression analysis it is shown that the composed model can forecast the exchange rate, the most significant information flows are distinguished. The results lead to further development of the information flow approach as a tool to forecast exchange rate fluctuations.


Different behaviors for the companion robot have already been extensively studied in the field of human-robot interaction. However, the accompanying "in front of the leader" behavior presented on this paper is a useful and challenging behavior that has been overlooked by existing works. In this paper we explain the motivation behind this study and propose control strategy to implement this behavior.


Tests of the equality of variances are sometimes used on their own to compare variability across groups of experimental or nonexperimental conditions but they are most often used alongside other methods to support assumptions made about variances. A new nonparametric test of equality of variances is described and compared to current 'gold standard' method, the medianbased Levene test, in a computer simulation study. The simulation results show that when sampling from either symmetric or skewed population distributions both the median based and nonparametric Levene tests maintain their nominal Type I error rate; however, when one is sampling from skewed population distributions the nonparametric test has more statistical power.


Trastuzumab is established as standard care for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer both in the adjuvant and metastatic setting. However, 50% of the patients do not respond to the trastuzumab therapy, and therefore new predictive biomarkers are highly warranted. MicroRNAs (miRs) constitute a new group of biomarkers and their cellular expression can be determined in tumor samples by in situ hybridization (ISH) analysis. miR-21 is highly prevalent and up-regulated in breast cancer and has been linked to drug resistance in clinical and in vitro settings. To determine expression patterns of miR-21 in high-grade breast cancers, we examined miR-21 expression in 22 HER2-positive tumors and 15 HER2-negative high-grade tumors by ISH. The histological examination indicated that patient samples could be divided into three major expression patterns: miR-21 predominantly in tumor stroma, predominantly in cancer cells, or in both stromal and cancer cells. There was no obvious difference between the HER2-positive and HER2-negative tumors in terms of the miR-21 expression patterns and intensities. To explore the possibility that miR-21 expression levels and/or cellular localization could predict resistance to adjuvant trastuzumab in HER2-positive breast cancer patients, we analyzed additional 16 HER2-positive tumors from patients who were treated with trastuzumab in the adjuvant setting. Eight of the 16 patients showed clinical recurrence and were considered resistant. Examination of the miR-21 expression patterns and intensities revealed no association between the miR-21 scores in the cancer cell population (p = 0.69) or the stromal cells population (p = 0.13) and recurrent disease after adjuvant trastuzumab. Thus, our findings show that elevated miR-21 expression does not predict resistance to adjuvant trastuzumab.


The landscape modification model proposed by McIntyre and Hobbs (1999) was used to assess the modification of Tasmania's native vegetation and its potential implications for biodiversity conservation. The inclusion of new 'substates' in the model allowed the varying degrees of landscape variegation and fragmentation observed in Tasmania to be quantified. The mapped extent of Tasmania's native vegetation is approximately 5.06 million ha or 74% of the land area. The extent of native vegetation varies across bioregions from a low of around 36% in the Tasmanian Northern Midlands bioregion to a high of 94% in the Tasmanian West bioregion. Overall, the Tasmanian landscape can be described as medium variegated as the State retains 76% cover of native vegetation, by area. Two of Tasmania's nine bioregions are in an intact state, four are variegated, and three are fragmented. Seven of the State's 48 catchments are in an intact state, 24 catchments are variegated, and 17 are fragmented. Tasmania was estimated to support 33 760 patches of native vegetation. Fewer than 3% of these patches exceed 50 ha in area. Small and medium patches occur predominantly on freehold land with grazing as a major land use, whereas large patches occur predominantly on crown land with conservation and production forestry as the major land uses. One feature of the State's native vegetation is the large tract of native vegetation ecosystems in western Tasmania. Opportunities arise to sustain the resilience of these native ecosystems both by consolidating the formal protection of vegetation within catchments such as the Arthur and Pieman and by strengthening environmental management in adjacent areas. Bioregions and catchments where climate change may be of particular concern for biodiversity conservation and management include the Tasmanian Northern Midlands bioregion and Cam catchment in north-western Tasmania. The maintenance and enhancement of patches of remnant vegetation in these areas will be challenging and appears likely to require strategic, multiscale and coordinated natural resource management over decades. Limiting the loss of native vegetation across the entire range of landscape states in Tasmania appears essential to mitigate the further decline of biodiversity.


A study to identify the colour inheritance of Tiger barb (Puntius tetrazona)
through Mendelian inheritance was conducted in the Biotechnology Laboratory,
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia for the duration
of 10 months. Three varieties of Tiger barb that is the normal, yellow and green were
subjected to three experiments consisting of breeding within and between the
varieties and egg and larval observation. The result of the first breeding experiment
produced 11 to 153 fries after 5 weeks with 15% to 85% survival. The normal and
yellow variety produced phenotypes which were the same as their parents which
indicated that these varieties were true breeding. The green variety showed a
segregation producing normal and green variety with a N:G ratio of 15 :1,1:1,3:1 ,
1:3 and 9:7. Breeding of the normal variety produced 5 different normal variations
with mating number 5 producing 84% fries with type 2 pattern. The study has
succeeded in producing a new type of normal variety.


Expanding populations are often less genetically diverse at their margins than at the centre of a species' range. Established, older populations of the chestnut blight fungus, Cryphonectria parasitica, are more variable for vegetative compatibility (vc) types than in expanding populations in southeastern Europe where C. parasitica has colonized relatively recently. To test whether vc types represent clones, we genotyped 373 isolates of C. parasitica from southern Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Greece and Turkey using 11 sequence‐characterized amplified region (SCAR) markers. Ten SCAR loci and six vegetative incompatibility (vic) loci were polymorphic in these samples. These populations are clonal by all criteria tested: (i) among 373 isolates, we found only eight multilocus haplotypes, and the same haplotypes were found in multiple countries, sometimes separated in time by as much as 12 years; (ii) the number of haplotypes observed was significantly less than expected under random mating; (iii) populations are in linkage disequilibrium; (iv) the two sets of independent markers, SCARs and vc types, are highly correlated; and (v) sexual structures of C. parasitica were found only in Bulgaria and Romania. One mating type (MAT‐1) was found in 98% of the isolates sampled. In contrast, a population in northern Italy, in the central part of the range in Europe, had 12 multilocus haplotypes among 19 isolates. The spread of a few clones could be the result either of founder effect and restricted migration, or these clones have greater fitness than others and spread because they are better adapted to conditions in southeastern Europe.


1Department of Comprehensive Therapy, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, People's Republic of China; 2Department of Day Care, Beijing Cancer Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China; 3Department of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, People's Republic of China Objective: To investigate the effects of miR-490-3p on the proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) cells through the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Methods: Differentially expressed miRNAs in LUAD tissues were analyzed by bioinformatics and the target miRNA went through GSEA enrichment analysis. qRT-PCR was used to detect the expression of miR-490-3p in human LUAD cells and normal bronchial cells. The constructed vectors were transfected into the LUAD cell lines using Lipofectamine 2000. Cell viability was detected by MTT, cell migration and invasion were detected by transwell assay, and cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry. Western blot was performed to detect the expression levels of the proteins related to the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and cell apoptosis. Xenograft tumor mouse models were used for in vivo validation. Results: The results of qRT-PCR showed that miR-490-3p was relatively lowly expressed in LUAD cells, and the expression level was different in different LUAD cell lines. The results of MTT, transwell and flow cytometry exhibited that miR-490-3p could significantly inhibit the proliferation, migration, invasion and increase cell apoptosis rate of LUAD cells. Western blot results showed that miR-490-3p promoted the expression of Bax, Caspase-3 and E-cadherin as well as the phosphorylation of GSK-3β and inhibited the expression of Bcl2, β-catenin and C-myc. Additionally, animal experiments were performed to prove that miR-490-3p suppressed LUAD malignant progression in vivo. Conclusion: MiR-490-3p inhibited the proliferation, migration, invasion and promoted the apoptosis of LUAD cells by down-regulating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, suggesting that miR-490-3p may be an indicator for early diagnosis and prognosis of LUAD.


BACKGROUND
The lack of efficient preventive interventions against Alzheimer's disease (AD) calls for identifying efficient modifiable risk factors for AD. As diabetes shares many pathological processes with AD, including accumulation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, insulin resistance, and impaired glucose metabolism, diabetes is thought to be a potentially modifiable risk factor for AD. Mounting evidence suggests that links between AD and diabetes may be more complex than previously believed.

OBJECTIVE
To examine the pleiotropic architecture of AD and diabetes mellitus (DM).

METHODS
Univariate and pleiotropic analyses were performed following the discovery-replication strategy using individual-level data from 10 large-scale studies.

RESULTS
We report a potentially novel pleiotropic NOTCH2 gene, with a minor allele of rs5025718 associated with increased risks of both AD and DM. We confirm previously identified antagonistic associations of the same variants with the risks of AD and DM in the HLA and APOE gene clusters. We show multiple antagonistic associations of the same variants with AD and DM in the HLA cluster, which were not explained by the lead SNP in this cluster. Although the ɛ2 and ɛ4 alleles played a major role in the antagonistic associations with AD and DM in the APOE cluster, we identified non-overlapping SNPs in this cluster, which were adversely and beneficially associated with AD and DM independently of the ɛ2 and ɛ4 alleles.

CONCLUSION
This study emphasizes differences and similarities in the heterogeneous genetic architectures of AD and DM, which may differentiate the pathogenic mechanisms of these diseases.


Abstract Investigating the development of Eustrongylides ignotus in its definitive host would enable us to trace the complete life cycle of this nematode. Fourth-stage larvae isolated from naturally infected swamp eels (Monopterus albus) were used to infect domestic ducks (Anas platyrhynchos domestica [L.]). We observed that male and female worms exhibited different developmental patterns in host ducks. In males, the fourth molt occurred at day 1–2 post-infection (PI), after which they attained maturity on day 4 PI and died between day 7 and 9 PI. However, females underwent the fourth molt at day 2–4 PI, produced eggs from day 9 to 17 PI, and then degenerated and died. When compared to fourth-stage female larvae, adult females demonstrated a considerable increase in total body size with a 151% increase in average body width and a 17% increase in average body length. However, the increase in size of the male larvae was not as significant as that in females. The average body width in adult males exhibited only a 45% increase over that in the larval stage.


Previous studies show that assessment for learning (AfL) is reported to give a significant impact on student academic and language skills-related performance, especially when meaningful feedback strategies are adopted. Despite this empirical evidence, in most Asian countries, AfL remains under-practiced particularly in prescribed-mandated curriculum practices where teachers are considered as curriculum transmitters, and exercise-and-test based instruction are still pedagogical rituals in the classrooms. To respond to this critical issue, in this article, we would like to explore assessment for learning (AfL) in English language teaching. It focuses primarily upon the concept of AfL, the aim of Afl, prerequisite for implementing AfL, and the enactment of AfL for classroom practice. Since AfL practices are of great concern to curriculum policy makers, school leaders, and teacher educators, we conclude our article by offering some practical recommendations.


A decline in the number of people working on farms and in the Annual Work Units per unit area was typical of the second half of the first decade of the 21st century in the member states of the European Union. Hungary is one of the countries where this reduction is twice as high as the average. This can be attributed to a number of factors. Of these, the present paper is concerned on the one hand with farm concentration, the low level of farm diversification and pluriactivity and the desire of farmers to expand their farms, and on the other hand with various aspects of the support policy in Hungary aimed at the economic competitiveness and the diversification of the rural economy. The database on which the work was based was taken partly from the digital and printed publications of EUROSTAT and the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) and partly from surveys of 104 farmers in three microregions of Hungary. Even before the global economic crisis, the factors in question tended to result in a decline in farm employment in Hungary, especially on individual farms. The means and measures embodied in the agricultural and rural policies proved too few and too weak to counterbalance this trend.


Periodontal disease is a highly prevalent and the most common oral disease affecting adults. An overwhelming body of evidence shows that personal and professional plaque control are essential for the prevention and treatment of the disease. Despite the evidence, there is an absence of a simplified task-oriented approach or a care pathway for managing patients with periodontal disease at primary care dental clinics in Malaysia. Thus, the objectives of this study were, 1) To develop a periodontal care pathway for managing patients with periodontal disease at primary care dental clinics in Malaysia, 2) To assess and compare between patients treated according to the periodontal care pathway and current practice in terms of improvement in oral hygiene practice, bleeding on probing, plaque scores, probing pocket depth (PPD), and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) after 10 weeks, and 3) To determine the distribution of cost for managing patients with periodontal disease between the two methods. The steps for evidence-based practice was used in the development of the clinical pathway. The effectiveness of the periodontal care pathway in treating periodontal disease in adults was evaluated using a randomised controlled trial (RCT) with 124 participants randomly allocated to the clinical pathway (intervention) and current practice (control) groups. The effect of the care pathway on oral hygiene practice, clinical, and OHRQoL outcomes (using OHIP-14) were compared with the current practice at baseline and after 10 weeks. Intention To Treat (ITT) analysis was used in data analysis. A cost analysis was carried out using the top down and bottom up methods for both groups. Finally, the proposed consensus-based periodontal care pathway was developed and used in this clinical trial. Sixty two participants were analysed in each group. Both groups were not statistically significance at baseline. There was a significant difference in the number of participants who reported interdental cleaning (p<0.001) and confidence in performing effective tooth brushing (p<0.05) after 10 weeks compared to baseline in the intervention group. Both groups had significant reductions in bleeding scores and plaque scores (p<0.001) after 10 weeks with greater reductions in the intervention group. The between-group difference in mean decrement for bleeding score was 8.7% (95%CI:14.54-2.92; p=0.004), for plaque score it was 5.2% (95%CI:10.60-0.18; p=0.058). The reduction of sites with PPD 4-5mm was not significant in both groups after 10 weeks. A significant improvement in quality of life was observed in the intervention group after 10 weeks associated with the self-conscious domain (p=0.039). The total provider cost for the clinical pathway was RM86.30 while in the current practice it was RM30.00. The findings provide some evidence that the use of the proposed periodontal care pathway for treating periodontal patients in primary care dental clinics had significantly improved the interdental cleaning practice and confidence of participants in performing effective tooth brushing. It also resulted in a significantly higher reduction in bleeding scores and plaque scores compared to the current practice, respectively. The higher provider cost in the periodontal care pathway was attributed to the longer time for delivering oral hygiene instructions.


The aim of this thesis is to present and analyse the role of the environmental groups and the trade unions on the issue of the environmental protection through the economic methodology. The specific groups have strong connection with the environmental issue since the beginning of the environmental movement. However, the two groups stand on different positions in the market and in the society, therefore they have different objectives and different tools for the achievement of their targets. Following the groups' different characteristics, I analyse their targets and how these could influence the firms' technological choice, the level of the production, the profits and finally the level of the emissions released by the firms' production.
 In the second chapter, a deeper analysis on the behavior and the strategy of the environmental groups is provided in order to shed more light on their objectives from the beginning of the environmental movement. Following a review of the literature an analytical framework for studying targets or motivations of the environmental groups is analysed. Three interrelated factors which affect the strategy and the decisions of the group are identified; the group s size, their budget and the weight of impure altruism in their individual and collective objectives. A positive relation exists between the group s size and the financial contributions, and the interaction of the personal expectations with the collective objectives encourages and benefits the group s actions.
 In the third chapter following the experience from the real world, the participation of the environmental groups in the emissions trading system (ETS) is analysed. Concretely, a competition in an ETS as a game between two firms and environmental group is modelled. According to the results, there is a U-shape relationship between how polluting the chosen technology is and the degree of the environmentalists impure altruism. Firms choose a more polluting technology in the presence of the environmentalists than in their absence if they are characterised by a high enough degree of impure altruism.
 Finally, in the fourth chapter the influence of the trade unions on the firms' environmental technological choice is analysed. However, in addition to the literature and according to the real world experience the unions care for the environmental protection. Particularly, the decentralised structure is compared with the centralised structure under a Cournot duopoly. I conclude that the decentralised structure could always provide higher incentives to the firms for the adoption of a better (less polluting) technology. Furthermore, there is an inverse U-shape relation between the firm s emissions and the size of the market. Finally, the emissions could be less under the centralised case compared to the decentralised for relatively low market size.


Defect localization aims to locate buggy program elements (e.g., buggy files, methods or lines of code) based on defect symptoms, e.g., bug reports or program spectrum. However, when we receive the defect symptoms, the defect has been exposed and negative impacts have been introduced. Thus, one challenging task is: whether we can locate buggy program prior to the appearance of the defect symptom (e.g., when buggy program elements are being committed to a version control system). We refer to this type of defect localization as "Just-In-Time (JIT) Defect localization". Although many prior studies have proposed various JIT defect identification methods to identify whether a new change is buggy, these prior methods do not locate the suspicious positions. Thus, JIT defect localization is the next step of JIT defect identification (i.e., after a buggy change is identified, suspicious source code lines are located). To address this problem, we propose a two-phase framework, i.e., JIT defect identification and JIT defect localization. Given a new change, JIT defect identification will identify it as buggy change or clean change first. If a new change is identified as buggy, JIT defect localization will rank the source code lines introduced by the new change according to their suspiciousness scores. The source code lines ranked at the top of the list are estimated as the defect location. For JIT defect identification phase, we use 14 change-level features to build a classifier by following existing approach. For JIT defect localization phase, we propose a JIT defect localization approach that leverages software naturalness with the N-gram model. To evaluate the proposed framework, we conduct an empirical study on 14 open source projects with a total of 177,250 changes. The results show that software naturalness is effective for our JIT defect localization. Our model achieves a reasonable performance, and outperforms the two baselines (i.e., random guess and a static bug finder (i.e., PMD)) by a substantial margin in terms of four ranking measures.


OF DISSERTATION UNDERSTANDING AND IMPROVING MANUFACTURING PROCESSES FOR MAKING LITHIUM-ION BATTERY ELECTRODES Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been widely used as the most popular rechargeable energy storage and power sources in today's portable electronics, electric vehicles, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. LIBs have gained much interest worldwide in the last three decades because of their high energy density, voltage, rate of charge and discharge, reliability, and design flexibility. I am exploring the possibility of developing battery manufacturing technologies that would lower the cost, reduce the environmental impact, and increase cell performance and durability. This dissertation is focused firstly on understanding the effect of mixing sequence (the order of introducing materials) and optimizing the electrode fabrication for the best electrochemical performance, durability, lower cost, and improve the existing manufacturing processes. The electrode system consists of active material, polymer binder, conductive agent, and solvent. I have investigated four different mixing sequences to prepare the slurries for making the positive electrode. The key sequencerelated factor appears to be whether the active material and conductive agent are mixed in the presence of or prior to the introduction of the binder solution. The mixing sequences 1, 2, 3, and 4 were optimized, and the rheological behavior of the slurries, morphology, conductivity, and mechanical and electrochemical properties of electrodes were investigated. Slurries from sequences 1 and 4 show different rheological properties from 2 and 3. The amount of NMP required to achieve a comparable final slurry viscosity differed significantly for the sequences under study. The sequence 1 shows better long-term cycling behavior than sequences 2, 3 and 4. This study quantifies the link between electrode slurry mix parameters and electrode quality. Secondly, a new method of making lithium-ion battery electrodes by adapting an immersion precipitation (IP) technology commonly used in membrane manufacturing was developed and demonstrated. The composition, structure, and electrochemical performance of the electrode made by the IP method were compared favorably with that made by the conventional method. The toxic and expensive organic solvent (NMP) was captured in coagulation bath instead of being released to the atmosphere. The IP electrodes show an excellent performance and durability at potentially lower cost and less environmental impact. Thirdly, I have developed and demonstrated a solvent-free dry-powder coating process for making LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 (NMC) positive electrodes in lithium-ion batteries, and compared the performance and durability of electrodes made by the drypowder coating processes with that by wet-slurry coating processes. The technology that has been used is the electrostatic spray deposition (ESD) process. This process eliminates volatile organic compound emission, reduces thermal curing time from hours to minutes, and offers high deposition rates onto large surfaces. The long-term cycling shows that the dry-powder coated electrodes have similar performance and durability as the conventional wet-slurry made electrodes.


With an increasing number of people, especially adolescents, using more private online platforms, such as WhatsApp, for news, an important question for democracy is whether such platforms can facilitate learning about politics and current events. In this study, we examine adolescents' affective (emotions, feelings), behavioral (actions and behavioral intentions), and cognitive (political knowledge) responses to interpersonal political discussion on WhatsApp. We conducted a pre-registered field experiment at six secondary schools in the Netherlands (N = 230). We assigned respondents with strong ties to a WhatsApp group. For seven days, respondents received a link to an online political news item on a daily basis; and i) either had to read or ii) read and discuss it. The results indicate that interpersonal discussion evokes stronger positive emotions and feelings, as well as issue-specific knowledge. Additionally, elaboration on the content of political discussion was positively related to issue-specific knowledge. In this way, instant messaging apps may serve as a resource for engaging adolescents with politics and current events.


Environmental crisis is in principal brought about by human activities. Therefore, it is required to exercise new approach towards the environment, that is ethical approach by which principles and moral guidance for human behaviors are put forward. This article is to describe Yusuf al-Qaraḍāwy's thought of Islamic-ethical concept on environment, and its relevance with the handling of environmental-global crisis. His thought is based on Islamic jurisprudential and ethical values. Values of the former are the followings: planting barren land, keeping cleanliness, cultivation, and forestation, meanwhile those of the latter are the application of al-ihsān concept, being friendly with environment, destructive prohibition, justice, gratitude, and simplicity. Al-Qaraḍāwy's concept is absolutely appropriate for the prevailing environmental-global crisis. It is hoped that Indonesian Muslims, as majority group, would like to comprehend the concept and to build consciousness of religious way of thinking towards the environment. Hopefully, this concept is workable for coping with the environmental crisis, as well.


A quantitative model of the spatial distribution of reservoir properties is key to understanding reservoir heterogeneity. Special Core Analysis (SCAL) data is essential input for static and dynamic modeling of heterogenous reservoirs. To provide high-quality reliable data, the SCAL program should use the right samples from the core. Conventionally, integrated geological and petrophysical approaches are applied to select samples but they generally lack consistency and seldom incorporate upscaling options. This paper presents a novel methodology for core characterization and SCAL sample selection. SCAL data is used as input for spatial distribution of reservoir properties in a static reservoir model. The analysis is performed in siliciclastics and carbonate reservoirs from wells in the Bahrah Oil Field. An integrated X-ray, CT scanning, geological, and conventional core analysis approach is applied for understanding the reservoirs. We demonstrate the efficiency of dual-energy CT imaging in producing continuous whole core scans at 0.5 mm (500 micron) spacing and in deriving bulk density (BD) and effective atomic number (Zeff) logs along the core intervals. The high resolution 3D CT images improved the sedimentological descriptions of the core and the X-ray CT-derived numerical data (BD and Zeff) are used to derive porosity and mineralogy along the whole core sections. This information is then converted into lithology logs which predicted the cross-well correlation and enhanced the previously established correlation from conventional core descriptions. BD and Zeff cross plots suggested four lithotypes in the core intervals and the corresponding lithology log helped in deriving the percentage of each type: 1. Low BD (high pososity) carbonate formed around 20% of the whole cores. 2. High BD (low porosity) carbonate formed around 36% of the whole cores. 3. Low BD (high porosity) sandstone formed around 28% of the whole cores. 4. High BD (low porosity) sandstone formed around 16% of the whole cores. The data provided a unique capability for ensuring that the plugs adequately and correctly represented the lithotype variations along the core. The overall procedure helped minimize uncertainties in defining the rock types and effectively assign those rock types to the selected samples and core intervals.


Sodium-glucose co-transporter inhibitors have demonstrated reduced incidence of cardiovascular (CV) events, which cannot be fully explained by effects on HbA1c, body weight or blood pressure. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) economic models link treatment-related changes in risk factor levels to long-term incidence of CV events via risk equations (RE). This study assessed the performance of commonly used CV RE in T2DM to the CV outcomes trial DECLARE-TIMI 58. Ten sets of RE were coded in MS-Excel (ADVANCE, ARIC, BRAVO, Framingham, Fremantle, New Zealand CVD, QRisk3, Swedish NDR, UKPDS 68 and 82) to predict annual probabilities of CV events and applied to baseline characteristics and 1-year treatment effects (HbA1c, weight and blood pressure) for dapagliflozin (DAPA) versus placebo (PLA) from DECLARE-TIMI 58. Predicted event rates for myocardial infarction (MI), heart failure (HF) and stroke and the relative risks (RR) associated with DAPA versus PLA were estimated and compared to the closest reported trial outcome. Of the ten sets of RE, seven predicted composite CV outcomes, demanding assumptions to predict risk of individual events; only UKPDS and BRAVO predicted all three events. When comparing trial observations against predictions averaged across RE, correlation was greater for absolute event rates (R 2 : 0.92) than RRs (R 2 : 0.42). ARIC, Fremantle and New Zealand RE considerably overpredicted risk of MI and stroke compared to the trial. RE typically underpredicted the effect of DAPA on HF (average predicted RR: 0.89 versus reported hazard ratio 0.73, CI: 0.61 to 0.88) and MI (average predicted RR: 0.93 versus reported hazard ratio 0.89, CI: 0.77 to 1.01). Existing methods of CV risk prediction evaluated in this study did not accurately predict the treatment benefits observed in DECLARE-TIMI 58. The development of DECLARE-TIMI 58-specific risk equations may be required to robustly evaluate the long-term clinical and economic impact of DAPA in T2DM. Disclosure P. McEwan: Consultant; Self; AstraZeneca. Employee; Self; Health Economics and Outcomes Research Ltd. V. Foos: Employee; Self; Health Economics and Outcomes Research Ltd., IQVIA. H. Bennett: Consultant; Self; AstraZeneca. Employee; Self; Health Economics and Outcomes Research Ltd. B. Kartman: Employee; Self; AstraZeneca. Stock/Shareholder; Self; AstraZeneca. C. Edmonds: Employee; Self; AstraZeneca. I.A. Gause-Nilsson: Employee; Self; AstraZeneca. Funding AstraZeneca


The millimeter-wave (mmWave) antennas for smartphones are one of the key components to complete the transition to 5G mobile networks. Although research and development of mmWave 5G antennas for cellular handsets are currently at the center of a significant research effort in both academia and telecommunication industry, a systematic antenna design approved by wireless community has not been proposed yet. With this communication, we propose a novel, high gain, wide band and compact mmWave 5G antenna, namely clover antenna for cellular handsets. The presented antenna has clover like conductor profile whose parameters can be adjusted to obtain high gain or wide band. The designed antennas are simulated with a widely used full-wave analysis tool. Numerical results of the mmWave antenna are confirmed successfully by the experimental results in <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${{\text{24}}}$</tex-math></inline-formula>–<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\text{28}}$</tex-math></inline-formula> GHz band. The antenna achieves measured peak gain of <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\text{ 7.8}}$</tex-math></inline-formula>–<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\text{9}}$</tex-math></inline-formula> dBi in the band. Besides, with a <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\text{16}}$</tex-math></inline-formula>-element clover antenna array, the beam steering capability of the antenna is demonstrated. Beam steering between <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${{ \pm \text{45}^\circ }}$</tex-math></inline-formula> is achieved with low side lobe levels. Practical design considerations for the integration of the arrays in handset to obtain full-coverage in horizontal plane are investigated. The calculated spatial peak power density values of the proposed array on the outer surface of a head phantom are demonstrated for different scan angles.


Corporate enterprise is a natural outcome of capitalism in the course of economic development. The underwriter firms and banks etc. initially meet the capital requirements of such enterprise. Later on it is the stock exchange that carries out redistribution of shares of the enterprise. Corporate decisions on capital structure policy have long been a subject of debate and still remain an unresolved issue. The traditional view of capital structure was that it results in the weighted average cost of capital being U-shaped, which means that there exists as an optimal mix between debt and equity, at which point a firm's value is maximised. However, Modigliani-Miller (1958), in a world of no tax and no financial distress, proved that capital structure is irrelevant to explaining firm values. When company taxes are considered, the benefits from tax shield leads Modigliani-Miller (1963) to conclude that the value maximising capital structure is extreme leverage. In a subsequent paper Miller (1977), by introducing both corporate tax and personal taxes into the model, points towards irrelevance of capital structure for any particular firm.


BACKGROUND
Little is known about the continued use of nicotine following smoking cessation on perceived well-being in comparison to complete cessation of nicotine use. Aims: To explore aspects of perceived well-being and coping among recent ex-smokers as a function of vaping status.

METHODS
Ever-daily smokers in the International Tobacco Control 4 country smoking and vaping surveys in 2016 (W1 N=883) and 2018 (W2 N=1088). Cross-sectional associations and longitudinal samples for those who quit between waves and those quit at W1 who maintained abstinence to W2.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES WERE
past 30 days depression symptoms, perceived stress, stress management since quitting and change in perceived day-to-day health.

RESULTS
In the cross-sectional analyses vapers were more likely to report both improved stress management (aOR = 1.71, 95% CI 1.23-2.36) and perceived day-to-day health (aOR = 1.65, 95% CI 1.26-2.16) than nicotine abstainers. In the longitudinal analyses, smokers who switched to vaping between waves (n=372) were more likely to report depression symptoms at W2 (aOR = 2.00, 95% CI 1.09-3.65) but reported improved perceived health (aOR = 1.92, 95% CI 1.16-3.20). For the past daily smokers who remained quit between waves (n=382), vapers were more likely to report improved stress management relative to abstainers (RRR =5.05. 95% CI 1.19-21.40). There were no other significant differences between vapers and nicotine abstainers.

CONCLUSIONS
There is little evidence to support the view that perceptions of well-being deteriorate in vapers compared to complete nicotine abstainers in the immediate years after smoking cessation.

IMPLICATIONS
This study could find no conclusive evidence that the continued use of nicotine via e-cigarettes was detrimental to health compared to completely stopping nicotine intake altogether. Our results would suggest that continuing to use nicotine may even result in some benefits in the short term such as improved stress management, however further longitudinal studies are required to examine if these effects are restricted to the early post-quitting phase and whether other positive or negative effects on psychosocial health emerge in the future.


Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is one of the most common hemorrhagic disorders in childhood, often caused by an acute self-limiting event. However, 30% of these children develop chronic ITP. Identification of the underlying causes in ITP is an important challenge. Inherited thrombocytopenia (IT) is a rare, underdiagnosed disease, included among the chronic platelet disorders. Next-Generation-Sequencing (NGS) could be an efficient way of discovering potential IT-associated mutations in children with chronic ITP.
 The purpose of this retrospective study was to investigate children with chronic ITP using a targeted NGS, in order to identify IT-associated mutations.
 Between June 2017 and April 2020, mutational screening by a targeted NGS was performed on 19 children, either with a familial history of IT [4 unrelated patients (pts)], or with chronic ITP (15 pts), after all other causes of thrombocytopenia were excluded. Nineteen relatives were also investigated. This study was carried out in collaboration with the Laboratory of Genetics, IRCCS Burlo Garofolo in Trieste, that developed a targeted NGS method for the simultaneous analysis of 28 IT genes. The cost of the NGS tests were supported by the public healthcare service.
 We retrospectively divided our cohort of 19 pts, into three subgroups: Group I included 4 unrelated pts with familial IT; Group II consisted of 6 pts with chronic ITP and a clinical history and/or laboratory features associated with familial IT; and, Group III included 9 pts with chronic ITP refractory to several treatments (Table 1). The median age at the initial diagnosis of thrombocytopenia was lower in Group I than in Groups II and III (19/12 years vs 1310/12 years and 9 years, respectively, p=0.33). The median time between the diagnosis of thrombocytopenia, and the time of the study, was shorter in Group I compared to Groups II and III (11.7 months vs 45.3 and 51.7 months, respectively, p=0.16). Median platelet count at the disease onset was lower in Group III than in Groups I and II (21 x 109/L vs 99 x 109/L and 38 x 109/L, respectively, p=0.28). The median MPV values were 12.5 fL, 9.85 fL and 8.8 fL in Groups II, III, and I respectively. Bleeding symptoms requiring treatment were present at diagnosis in 1/6 (16%) and in 5/9 (55%) children of Groups II and III, respectively. Genetic variants, usually detected in IT, were found in heterozygosity in all children in Groups I and II, and in 7/9 (78%) in Group III. Two out of 4, 2/6 and 2/9 children in Groups I, II, and III, respectively, presented ≥2 variants. Among the 4 children of Group I, ANKDR26 variant was found in 2 pts, together with GP1BA and NBEAL2 (pt#1) and TUBB1 (pt#2). ANKDR26 variant was also recorded as a single mutation in their relatives. Two different variants involving GP1BA (c.98T>A and c.515C<T) were detected in the remaining 2 children of Group I and in their relatives. Pt #4 with GP1BA c.515C>T mutation with mild macrothrombocytopenia had relatives with a previous diagnosis of monoallelic Bernard-Souliers syndrome.
 As shown in table 1, ABCG8, ACTN1, ETV6, GP1BA, MYH9, SLFN14, or WAS variants, found in combination in 2 pts (pt#5, pt#8), were also detected in the children in Group II, as well as, at least one of the relatives (for a total of 7 cases). ABCG5, ABCG8, ETV6, FLNA, GP1BA, NBEAL2, or SLFN14 were found as variants in patients of Group III. The peripheral blood smear evaluation confirmed the diagnosis of grey platelet syndrome with two NBEAL2 mutations in pt #16. SLFN14, as a single variant, was associated with macrothrombocytopenia in one pt (#10). Three pts (#5, #6, #17), with variants of ABCG8 had hypercholesterolemia. In the cohort of pts with chronic ITP, 4 (#12, #13, #14, #15) had relatives with thrombocytopenia, and 2 (#11, #13) had a familial history of hematological malignancies. Segregation analysis in families, and functional studies to evaluate the pathogenic role of the variants reported, are still in progress.
 The clinical significance of IT-associated mutations in chronic ITP is uncertain, and yet to be clarified. However, our experience has shown that an in-depth clinical history, and accurate peripheral blood smear examinations, are important to better characterize chronic ITP in children. A targeted NGS method for the simultaneous analysis of different IT genes, has demonstrated to be an effective approach to explore in-depth the IT-associated mutations in children with chronic ITP, refractory to treatment.
 Table 1.

 Giona: Novartis: Research Funding; Takeda: Speakers Bureau; Sanofi Genzyme: Research Funding, Speakers Bureau.


Can agri-food companies do it all? Develop new markets, secure supply, protect reputations, ensure profits and reduce poverty, create jobs and guarantee food supplies? Company strategies now commonly refer to 'creating shared value' and 'inclusive business'. But with growing pressure on resources, a billion hungry people and some four billion people at the base of the economic pyramid by 2050, are we making progress fast enough? What options are there with real promise? And, how can all stakeholders collaborate better to bring change at scale? This report gives the outcomes of the 'From Islands of Success to Seas of Change' initiative on scaling inclusive agri-food markets. It combines background research, interviews and case studies with the insights of 100 leaders from business, government, NGOs, research, and farmer organizations who attended the Seas of Change workshop in April 2012. The case for scaling inclusive agrifood markets is explained and ten key challenges are explored. This leads to lessons for key stakeholders and a follow-up agenda for improved targeting of inclusive investments.


This experiment isolated a series of endophytic bacteria strains form the healthy Camellia leaves. And the strain L32 had significant inhibitory effect to Camellia soft rot disease pathogen. The strain colonies in PDA medium was circular, surface drape, colony propagation rate was faster, ivory; in the early stage of growth the colony edge was neat; and later stage of growth it became corrugated, the centre of colony was uplift and opaque. Carry on the physiological and biochemical experiments and molecular identification, it was judged that the strain L32 had high relationship with the Bacillus subtilis.


Complexity can emerge from extremely simple rules. A paradigmatic example of this is the model of ballistic deposition (BD), a simple model of sedimentary rock growth. In two separate Problem-in-Lieu-of Thesis studies, BD was investigated numerically in (1+1)-D on a lattice. Both studies are combined in this document. For problem I, the global interface roughening (IR) process was studied in terms of effective scaling exponents for a generalized BD model. The model used incorporates a tunable parameter B to change the cooperation between aggregating particles. Scaling was found to depart increasingly from the predictions of Kardar-Parisi-Zhang theory both with decreasing system sizes and with increasing cooperation. For problem II, the local single column evolution during BD rock growth was studied via statistical analysis of time series. Connections were found between single column time series properties and the global IR process.


Gaza has a water crisis and faces serious challenges for the future sustainability of its water resources. Land-use change has an expected effect on water budget of the Gaza Strip. Three different land cover scenarios; the and cover of 2007, land cover of 2020, and full urbanization land cover were simulated independently using The Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment (AGWA) tool which work under the umbrella of GIS. In general, the simulation results indicate that land-cover changes will significantly alter the hydrologic response of Gaza region. Percolation is expected to decrease in all options as urban areas are expanded where as the simulated surface runoff reflected a relative departure from the first scenario comparing with other scenarios. In the baseline scenario (2007), the simulated surface runoff and percolation represent 12% and 41% respectively from the water budget components of the Gaza Strip. In year 2020, these values were expected by the simulation results to be 20% and 27% respectively. A unique linear relationship between the relative change in urban area and the corresponding relative change in surface water has been investigated from the simulation results. The analysis of the three urbanization scenarios can give decision makers better understand for the future situation and assist them to advance towards achieving sustainable development planning for water resources system in the Gaza Strip.


Doxorubicin (Dox) is an anthracycline antibiotic used as a single chemotherapeutic agent for HCC and has been shown to produce a response rate of about 10-15% but with no proven survival benefits. The present work was conducted to study the biochemical alterations in HCC patients treated with doxorubicin. The study included 30 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). They were divided into 3 groups. Group 1.Ten specimens of heptocellular carcinoma patients were taken before doxorubicin treatments. Group 2.Ten specimens of heptocellular carcinoma patients were taken one week after doxorubicin treatment. Group 3.Ten specimens of heptocellular carcinoma patientswere taken two weeks after doxorubicin treatment. Another ten normal volunteers were used as controls. Treatment schedule consists of i.v. injection of doxorubicin at a dose of 15 mg/m2 weekly for 3 weeks.Ascitic fluid and blood serum were collected for biochemical examinations. The results showed that asciticAFP, CEA, T.LDH and LDH4, LDH5 increased significantly inHCC patients.ALT,AST andALP showed significant increase in sera of HCC patients. These biochemical parameters revealed significant decrease in Dox treated patients.


Three-dimensional (3D) tissue models such as epithelial spheroids or organoids have become popular for pre-clinical drug studies. However, different from 2D monolayer culture, the characterization of 3D tissue models from non-invasive brightfield images is a significant challenge. To address this issue, here we report a Deep-Learning Uncovered Measurement of Epithelial Networks (Deep-LUMEN) assay. Deep-LUMEN is an object detection algorithm that has been fine-tuned to automatically uncover subtle differences in epithelial spheroid morphology from brightfield images. This algorithm can track changes in the luminal structure of tissue spheroids and distinguish between polarized and non-polarized lung epithelial spheroids. The Deep-LUMEN assay was validated by screening for changes in spheroid epithelial architecture in response to different extracellular matrices and drug treatments. Specifically, we found the dose-dependent toxicity of Cyclosporin can be underestimated if the effect of the drug on tissue morphology is not considered. Hence, Deep-LUMEN could be used to assess drug effects and capture morphological changes in 3D spheroid models in a non-invasive manner. Significance of the work Deep learning has been applied for the first time to autonomously detect subtle morphological changes in 3D multi-cellular spheroids, such as spheroid polarity, from brightfield images in a label-free manner. The technique has been validated by detecting changes in spheroid morphology in response to changes in extracellular matrices and drug treatments.


Hereditary cancer syndromes are well known in the oncology community, typically affecting children, adolescents, and young adults and thereby resulting in great cumulative morbidity and mortality. These syndromes often lag behind their de novo counterparts in the development of approved novel treatment options due to their rarity in the general population. Recent work has allowed the identification of molecular aberrations and associated targeted therapies that may effectively treat these conditions. In this review, we seek to characterize some of the involved aberrations and associated targeted therapies for several germline malignancies, including neurofibromatosis types 1 and 2, and Gorlin syndrome. Though patients with hereditary cancer syndromes may be too rare to effectively include in large clinical trials, by understanding the pathophysiology of these diseases, clinicians can attain insights into the use of targeted therapies in their own practice when treating affected individuals.


As an important chain of the chromosphere-corona mass cycle, some of the million-degree hot coronal mass undergoes a radiative cooling instability and condenses into material at chromospheric or transition-region temperatures in two distinct forms - prominences and coronal rain (some of which eventually falls back to the chromosphere). A quiescent prominence usually consists of numerous long-lasting, filamentary downflow threads, while coronal rain consists of transient mass blobs falling at comparably higher speeds along well-defined paths. It remains puzzling why such material of similar temperatures exhibit contrasting morphologies and behaviors. We report recent SDO/AIA and IRIS observations that suggest different magnetic environments being responsible for such distinctions. Specifically, in a hybrid prominence-coronal rain complex structure, we found that the prominence material is formed and resides near magnetic null points that favor the radiative cooling process and provide possibly a high plasma-beta environment suitable for the existence of meandering prominence threads. As the cool material descends, it turns into coronal rain tied ontol ow-lying coronal loops in a likely low-beta environment. Such structures resemble to certain extent the so-called coronal spiders or cloud prominences, but the observations reported here provide critical new insights. We will discuss the broad physical implications of these observations for fundamental questions, such as coronal heating and beyond (e.g., in astrophysical and/or laboratory plasma environments).


In the newsvendor problem, a decision maker facing random demand for a perishable product decides how much of it to stock for a single selling period. This simple problem with its intuitively appealing solution is a crucial building block of stochastic inventory theory, which comprises a vast literature focusing on operational efficiency. Typically in this literature, market parameters such as demand and selling price are exogenous. However, incorporating these factors into the mode l can provide an excellent vehicle for examining how operational problems interact with marketing issues to influence decision making at the firm level. In this paper we examine an extension of the newsvendor problem in which stocking quantity and selling price are set simultaneously. We provide a comprehensive review that synthesizes existing results for the single period problem and develop additional results to enrich the existing knowledge base. We also review and develop insight into a dynamic inventory extension of this problem, and motivate the applicability of such models.


A grating nanomeasurement device based on TMS320F28335 was presented, a novel subdivision algorithm for nanomeasurement was put forward and implemented in TMS320F28335. The analysis and test show that, through the pre-amplifying circuit well designed and through the data process algorithm optimized, the device applied with 20m pitch grating can realize 2nm resolution and greater than 200mm/s measurement speed. The experimental results of nanopositioning also demonstrate that the grating nanomeasurement device developed by the paper can be taken as nanomeasurement equipment used in nano-CMM and nanopositioning system.


Meir Dvorjetski was a Holocaust survivor, teacher, and historian. He is best remembered for his descriptions of the medicine practiced by the Nazis during World War II, as well as the diseases, disorders, syndromes, and deaths resulting from such practice—particularly, though not solely, on the Jewish race. Dvorjetski's contributions to Holocaust research at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, his underground partisan work, his contributions to society, and his testimony at the Eichmann trial have all been well documented. However, his earlier years—including his survival of the Holocaust, and his less-known medical achievements and contributions to historical records regarding the Holocaust—have not been covered as thoroughly. These latter items are the focus of this paper, with a closing commentary on the relevance of his work for the 21st century.


Mobile phones are constantly decreasing in size, thereby complicating the acoustical functionality. Signal processing methods can be used to partially mitigate this problem. In this paper we suggest a method which uses multiple spectral subtraction functions and two microphones, introducing only a short signal delay. The idea is to use spectral subtraction methods to extract the noise as well as the speech during a single time-frame. The environment background noise may not be stationary, thereby limiting the method to only employ short estimates of the background noise signal. Results are presented for experiments in various environments, showing a reduced noise level in the processed signal compared with the un-processed signal, and with preserved speech quality.


Two years after the popular mobilisations in Egypt and Tunisia of early 2011, post-uprising authorities, including the Islamist parties that came to power, have failed to deliver on the demands for social justice that triggered those protests. They have responded to past and present socio-economic challenges by adopting measures that are in clear continuity with previous regimes and lacking any coherent long-term vision of economic reform. Indeed, albeit with differences between the two countries, post-uprising authorities, lacking experience and competence, have not fully broken with the old system in reconfiguring power relations within and outside state institutions and have continued to adopt a top-down approach to economic decision-making.


The purpose of this paper is to systematically evaluate the implementation of the Village Law covering the input, process, output and outcome aspects, based on empirical study in Lampung province. In addition, it also determined the correlations among the input, process and output aspects and the changes in the Village Development Index after the implementation of the Village Law of 2014. This study is conducted in 4 regencies: Lampung Selatan, Pesawaran, Tanggamus and Lampung Tengah. The total sample was 40 villages. Data were collected using questionnaire and processed through SPSS Version 22. The productmoment correlation was used as the statistical test. Results indicated that, in general, Law No. 6 of 2014 on Villages was not yet fully implemented in accordance with the provisions of the law, either in the input, process, output and outcome aspects. Moreover, results also showed that only the participatory process variable was significantly related to development output. This paper argues that by looking at the relationships between Village Development Index (IPD) through three aspects of system approach: input, process and output and changes towards a new village development paradigm in Indonesia, there requires a long process to achieve it.


In the 59 hypertensive patients submitted to percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) of the renal artery, there was an immediate success in the blood pressure in 91.5% and a later one of 79.6%. In these patients we obtained better results: 81.4% in the unilateral lesions, more than in the bilateral ones--72.7%; 82.5% in the renal artery trunk lesions, more than in the ostium ones--71.4%; 88.9% in the lesions of fibromuscular origin, more than in the aterosclerotic ones--75%; 84.4% in up to 55 years old patients, more than in older ones--71.4%. These differences were not significant. The results of renal angioplasty in renovascular hypertension suggest this type of intervention as an alternative treatment.


Pain is a defense system that responds rapidly to harmful internal and external stimuli through the somatosensory neuronal pathway. However, damage to the nervous system through cancer, diabetes, infection, autoimmune disease, chemotherapy or trauma often leads to neuropathic pain, a debilitating chronic pain condition. Neuropathic pain is not simply a temporal continuum of acute nociceptive signals from the periphery, but rather due to pathologically altered functions in the nervous system, which shift the net neuronal excitatory balance toward excitation. Although alterations were long thought to be a result of changes in neurons, but an increasing body of evidence over the past decades indicates the necessity and sufficiency of microglia, the tissue-resident macrophages of the spinal cord and brain, for nerve injury-induced malfunction of the nervous system. In this review article, I describe our current understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the role of microglia in the pathogenesis of neuropathic pain and discuss the therapeutic potential of microglia from recent advances in the development of new drugs targeting microglia.


The article presents the results of optical, electron microscopic and electron microprobe studies of columbite group minerals, collected during heavy mineral concentrate sampling of alluvial deposits in the Mayoko region (Republic of the Congo). The aim of the study is revealing tantalum niobates ore body in this region. We found that these minerals in loose deposits are represented by two grain-size groups: less than 1.6 mm (fine fraction) and 1.6-15 mm (coarse fraction). The grains of both fractions belong mainly to columbite-(Fe), less often to columbite-(Mn), tantalite-(Mn) and tantalite-(Fe), contain impurities of Sc, Ti, and W. The crystals have micro-scaled zoning (zones varies slightly in the Ta/Nb ratio values) and contains a lot of mineral inclusions and veins represented by zircon, pyrochlore supergroup minerals and others. Columbite-(Fe) and columbite-(Mn) are characterized by an increased content of Ta2O5 up to the transition to tantalite-(Fe) and tantalite-(Mn). This allows us to exclude the formation of subalkaline rare-metal granites, their metasomatites (albitites and greisenes) and carbonatites, from the list of possible columbite ore rocks source in the Mayoko district. Thus, beryl type and complex spodumene subtype rare-element pegmatites of the mixed petrogenetic family LCT-NYF (according to P.Cerný) should be considered as a probable root source. The results of the research should be taken into account when developing the methodology for prospecting in this area.


We demonstrate single-mode surface-emitting terahertz frequency quantum cascade lasers utilising non-uniform second-order distributed feedback concentric-circular-gratings. The grating is designed for single-mode operation and surface emission for efficient and directional optical power out-coupling. The devices exhibit single-mode operation over the entire dynamic range with a side-mode-suppression-ratio of around 30 dB at 78 K, and a six-fold rotationally symmetric far-field pattern. In addition, the devices show a peak output power approximately three times higher than in ridge-waveguide lasers of similar size, whilst maintaining similar threshold current densities for the 3.8 THz emission and without remarkably sacrificing the maximum temperature operation performance. Owing to the high symmetry of the structure and the broad area light emission from surface, the devices are potentially very suitable for use as single-mode, high power emitters for integration into two-dimensional laser arrays.


Age changes of NADPH-diaphorase activity were studied histochemically in the ventral horn motor neurons at different segmental levels of the spinal cord of rats aged 3-90 days both under normal conditions and in the model of deafferentation (by intraperitoneal capsaicin injection). Wave-like age changes of motor neuron enzyme activity were detected at the level of T(II), L(IV) and S(II) spinal segments with its increase by day 60 followed by a significant decrease to day 90. Age dynamics of NADPH-diaphorase activity development in the spinal cord motor neurons of intact rats characterizes the constructive processes in neurons, while the changes found after the deafferentation are indicative of the motor neuron damage and are manifested by an abrupt increase of the enzyme activity at the age of 90 days.


The literature on the wisdom of crowds argues that in most situations, the aggregated judgments of a large crowd perform well relative to the average individual. There are, however, many real-world cases where crowds perform poorly. A small crowd literature has since developed, finding that better performing small crowds often exist within whole crowds. We compare previously proposed small crowd selection methods based on absolute or relative group performance to a new sequential search method and find that it selects better performing small crowds more consistently for forecasts of real gross domestic product (GDP) growth, inflation (measured by consumer price index, CPI), and unemployment rate made by US and Euro-zone surveys of professional forecasters.


The molecular identity of the K At p channel of vascular smooth muscle was investigated using a variety of methods. RT-PCR was used to investigate the expression of K Atp subunit mRNA. Kir 6.1, 6.2, and SUR 2B transcripts were detected in all vascular smooth muscle preparations, SUR 1 was detected in mesenteric artery. Expression at the protein level was determined, in femoral artery cells, using an immunohistochemical technique, visualizing stained cells with confocal miscroscopy. Antibodies specific for Kir 6.1, 6.2 and SUR 2B, 2A, subunits were used and all resulted in staining. Using a Xenopus expression system cloned KATP channel currents were characterized. Differences in channel activation, via metabolic poisoning, were found to be dependent on the SUR subunit. The compound PNU-37883A was found to be selective for the Kir subunit, with channels comprising Kir 6.1 being more sensitive to inhibition by this compound than Kir 6.2. Kir 6.x chimeras were constructed to identify a possible site of modulation/binding and a region of the C-terminus was identified which was important in the channels response to the compound. The differences in sensitivity of channels with Kir 6.1 and 6.2 are similar to those reported for vascular smooth muscle and skeletal or cardiac muscle, providing further evidence that the Kir 6.1 subunit is involved in forming the K Aj p channel of vascular smooth muscle. However, the other evidence provided here doesn't rule out the possibility of heteromultimeric KATp channel formation in vascular smooth muscle.


Organo-nitrogen compounds play an important role in the industrial and biological chemistry. Photo-assisted oxidation of p-anisidine by Fenton reagent has been studied. The effect of different reaction parameters such as concentration of substrate, H 2O2, FeSO 4, pH and polarity of solvent were studied. The progress of the reaction was observed by TLC . Photoproduct was characterized by physical, chemical and spectral methods. A tentative mechanism has been proposed for overall reaction.


The study aimed at evaluating the impact of the factors influencing the formulation of an effective marketing strategy of Chinese Businesses operating in Jordan. The data were collected through questionnaires distributed to a sample of 90 managers and the response rate was 100%. Data were analyzed using SPSS 19 and AMOS. The paper discussed the effects of Broad Environmental Factors (BEF), Task Environmental Factors (TEF) on Marketing Mix (MM) and Marketing Performance (MP). It concluded that there is positive effect of BEF and TEF on MM. There is no significant effect of TEF on MP. Also, there is negative effect of MM on MP. Using path analysis, the research evaluated direct, indirect and total effects of BEF, TEF and MM on MP.


: Patients with specific disorders in sexual differentiation have an increased risk for development of malignancies. The most frequent malignant tumors to be expected especially in childhood are gonadoblastoma (carcinoma-in-situ) by children with pure gonadal dysgenesis (Swyer-syndrome) with a calculated risk of approximately 30%. In this disorder the so called streak gonads have an age related, increased risk for development of malignancies. Furthermore, malignant tumors may be expected in children with mixed gonadal dysgenesis (in 10-20%), pure hermaphroditism (in the testes significantly higher than in the ovaries) and with androgen insensitivity syndrome. Risk values for the last are reported in the literature very differently. Rare disorders in this context are virilizing tumors of the adrenal cortex, the DRASH-syndrome (nephropathy, most male pseudohermaphroditism, Wilms-tumor) and similar disorders. Practical prophylactic and therapeutic procedures of the separate disorders respectively were discussed. We report about a child with androgen resistance syndrome and acute leukaemia. This would be to our knowledge the first description of such an unusual association of these two distinct disorders.


Electrophysiological differences among M cells, epicardium, endocardium and Purkinje fibres of the canine ventricle were studied over a wide range of stimulation cycle lengths, and the pharmacological response of these cell types to the sodium channel blocker tetrodotoxin, calcium channel blocker nifedipine and ATP-sensitive potassium channel activator pinacidil was compared. The experiments were carried out by applying standard intracellular microelectrode technique in isolated dog left ventricular preparations. The results confirmed the existence of M cells in the canine ventricle, in addition, the distribution of the rate of rise of the action potential upstroke and action potential amplitude values reflecting probably the inhomogeneity of the fast sodium current in these cells was revealed. It was also demonstrated that M cells differ from Purkinje fibres in some aspects which were not expected from previous investigations: (1) The early portion of the action potential duration restitution curve in M cells is more similar to that of endocardial and epicardial cells than to Purkinje fibres. (2) The plateau phase of the action potentials in Purkinje fibres developed at a more negative potential range than that in the other cell types studied. (3) The pharmacological response to tetrodotoxin and pinacidil in M cells resembles to that in the endocardial and epicardial cells more than in the Purkinje fibres. Our results provide further evidence in support of the existence of M cells but also indicate that there are important electrophysiological as well as pharmacological differences between M cells and Purkinje fibres.


Metastasis to the skull base is rare but occurs most frequently with breast and prostate cancer. Suspicion for skull base metastasis should be elevated in patients with a history of cancer and unexpected ipsilateral cranial nerve findings. In this case report, we present a highly aggressive case of poorly differentiated follicular thyroid carcinoma with the unanticipated finding of metastatic spread the skull base. This case is unique from others given the extensive involvement of the pelvis, larynx, and aggressive infiltration of multiple skull base sites including the cavernous sinus, Meckel's Cave, foramen ovale, and the floor of the right middle fossa. We conclude that skull base metastasis should be on the differential diagnosis for a patient with a history of aggressive thyroid cancer and new pathologic ipsilateral cranial nerve physical exam findings.


Abstract Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an important risk factor for ischemic stroke resulting in a fivefold increased stroke risk and a twofold increased mortality. Our understanding of stroke mechanisms in AF has evolved since the concept of atrial cardiopathy was introduced as an underlying pathological change, with both AF and thromboembolism being common manifestations and outcomes. Despite the strong association with stroke, there is no evidence that screening for AF in asymptomatic patients improves clinical outcomes; however, there is strong evidence that patients with embolic stroke of undetermined source may require long-term monitoring to detect silent or paroxysmal AF. Stroke prevention in patients at risk, assessed by the CHA2DS2-VASc score, was traditionally achieved with warfarin; however, direct oral anticoagulants have solidified their role as safe and effective alternatives. Additionally, left atrial appendage exclusion has emerged as a viable option in patients intolerant of anticoagulation. When patients with AF have an acute stroke, the timing of initiation or resumption of anticoagulation for secondary stroke prevention has to be balanced against the risk of hemorrhagic conversion. Multiple randomized clinical trials are currently underway to determine the best timing for administration of anticoagulants following acute ischemic stroke.


HCN, HNC, and their isotopologues are ubiquitous molecules that can serve as chemical thermometers and evolutionary tracers to characterize star-forming regions. Despite their importance in carrying information that is vital to studies of the chemistry and evolution of star-forming regions, the collision rates of some of these molecules have not been available for rigorous studies in the past. We perform an up-to-date gas and dust chemical characterization of two different star-forming regions, TMC 1-C and NGC 1333-C7, using new collisional rates of HCN, HNC, and their isotopologues. We investigated the possible effects of the environment and stellar feedback in their chemistry and their evolution. With millimeter observations, we derived their column densities, the C and N isotopic fractions, the isomeric ratios, and the deuterium fractionation. The continuum data at 3 mm and 850 $\mu$m allowed us to compute the emissivity spectral index and look for grain growth as an evolutionary tracer. The H$^{13}$CN/HN$^{13}$C ratio is anticorrelated with the deuterium fraction of HCN, thus it can readily serve as a proxy for the temperature. The spectral index $(\beta\sim 1.34-2.09)$ shows a tentative anticorrelation with the H$^{13}$CN/HN$^{13}$C ratio, suggesting grain growth in the evolved, hotter, and less deuterated sources. Unlike TMC 1-C, the south-to-north gradient in dust temperature and spectral index observed in NGC 1333-C7 suggests feedback from the main NGC 1333 cloud. With this up-to-date characterization of two star-forming regions, we found that the chemistry and the physical properties are tightly related. The dust temperature, deuterium fraction, and the spectral index are complementary evolutionary tracers. The large-scale environmental factors may dominate the chemistry and evolution in clustered star-forming regions.


This report provides a detailed overview of the student loan market, presents new statistics that highlight student loan debt burdens and delinquency rates, and discusses current concerns among many Americans about student loans, including their fiscal impact. The report is intended to enhance awareness of the state of student loan debt and delinquency and highlight issues facing borrowers, creditors, the federal government, and society at large. ; Student loan debt has been increasing at a rapid pace in the last decade, climbing from about $364 billion in the first quarter of 2005 to $904 billion in the first quarter of 2012. Increasing levels of debt have been driven largely by growth in the number of borrowers, rather than growth in the average debt levels of individual borrowers. But average debt has increased moderately, and individual debt has become an increasing burden to some borrowers in light of the recent performance of the national economy. Along with this increase in student loan debt has been an increase in default rates. High debt levels, coupled with high default rates, present a number of challenges for individual student loan borrowers, but do not necessarily pose a substantial burden on society at large. An important factor in the recent climb in individual student loan burdens is the rising cost of higher education. ; While much of the concern about student loans is focused on borrower impacts, some have expressed concern about the potential for increased costs on the federal government. Data suggest that while the student loan program does impose some cost to the federal government under certain accounting methods, the costs are a small share of the federal budget. Various reform options that have been proposed, such as debt forgiveness, could change that dynamic, however. ; While the report does not offer specific suggestions on how to address the problems it highlighted, it does suggest some areas of concern to think about as policymakers consider student loans, and what some term to be the associated ?crisis? around them. The clear message is that student loans present problems for some borrowers that are well worth addressing. At the same time, the analysis suggests that student loans do not yet impose a significant burden on society from their fiscal impact.


Abstract:This article examines the contemporary phenomenon of fiction and film about Holocaust survivors suffering from dementia. Earlier examples of this kind use dementia to explore the interior states of survivor guilt and the suppression of painful memories. By contrast, twenty-first-century representations convey the passing on of Holocaust memory to the next generation. These individuals, in the role of offspring or carers, act as the investigators and inheritors of a history that either has vanished from the survivor's memory or appears in the present as if it were still taking place. Such works are expressive of cultural anxiety at the vanishing of the generation of eyewitnesses to the events of the Holocaust yet also act to defuse the unwelcome lessons such witnesses might impart.


This chapter focuses on the requirements of what a good practice of strategy should be. It first provides an overview of the importance of strategic expertise and the reasons why good strategists are hard to find. It then highlights the qualities a good strategist needs to be effective, along with the obstacles to competent strategic performance and the flaws of contemporary strategic education, including insufficient attention to strategic classics and strategic history. It also offers a remedy called The General Theory of Strategy, the core components of which are: understanding the nature and character of strategy, making strategies based on seven contexts (political, sociocultural, economic, technological, military, geographical, historical), and executing strategies. The chapter concludes by calling for a regular reassessment of strategic plans and engagements, driven by questions that examine the extent to which strategy has enabled, and will continue to enable, achievement of political objectives.


The assignment for this bachelor thesis was to discover guidelines for the ccNexfin user interface which
contributes to make the user interface more intuitive and more consistent to prevent possible disastrous failures.
First, research was done about what the ccNexfin system measures and how it functions. An analysis has been done on the current user interface to map the menus and their product functions. During this mapping process conclusions were drawn of good and improvable product functions.
Second, the context of use and the stakeholders were analyzed to get requirements about in what sort of context the system should work and what the users their interests are.
A short analysis is done on competitors. Only a short description is given of the functioning of the competitors system. Most of the attention went to the competitors' user interfaces. A comparison was made and notable
differences and similarities were written down.
A heuristic evaluation and usability test/expert review was done in order map the major usability issues of the
current user interface. Out of these results conclusions have been drawn about what needed to be improved to make the user interface more intuitive and consistent. Out of all the previous research requirements have been set up to use during further concept generation.
New user interface ideas have been made with a new graphical style and some new interaction possibilities. Also new interface features which were discovered as
desirable by participants of the usability test were sketched.
Three different concepts were generated out of the
previous ideas. These concepts contain another style, color scheme and menu visualizations. The three concepts which were generated were evaluated by doing a second usability test with experts. Out of the results of these tests conclusions were drawn about what elements the final concept should contain. After finding a way to fit in all positive points of the previous three concepts the final concept was generated. This final concept can be used by Benchmark to exhibit to their clients. Conclusions have been made to evaluate the guidelines which were
discovered during the research and design process.
Recommendations have been made for possible final iteration options and further interesting research options.


"Born from the heart of the church," a Catholic university that educates nurses is engaged in the "formation of the heart"; that is, in forming students who have a heart that "sees where love is needed and acts accordingly." Precisely because the identity and mission of the Catholic university make public its commitment to the "formation of an authentic human community animated by the spirit of Christ," nursing education bears witness to an integral and holistic formation of healthcare professionals who are intellectually, ethically, and spiritually transformed to seek truth, promote human dignity, and serve with charity. In nursing education, formation of the heart engages the entire university community, its students, faculty and staff, directors and administrators, as well as its communities of practice. This article describes how the identity and mission of Catholic higher education are enacted in nursing education by focusing on the formation of the heart, that is, "a heart which sees where love is needed and acts accordingly."