You know the phrase "lost in a good book." The book's story is so compelling that you are absorbed by the characters, setting, actions, and plot. The book pulls you into the narrative such that you must continue to read— even if that means staying up all night to finish the book. Because many associate that immersive experience with reading a novel, the phrase "lost in a good book" is most often connected to reading for pleasure. But the experience of being transported by the words of a narrative can occur when reading a variety of texts, including legal texts. That is because legal texts— both litigation-based documents and transactional documents—are, like novels, narratives. Transactional documents may initially appear to be simply compilations of standard provisions, but they are in fact narratives. Consider, for instance, a contract between an architect and a newly formed LLC for blueprints to convert a historic home into a bed and breakfast. Or contemplate the gift agreement between a local businessperson and her alma mater that will establish an endowment to support scholarships for gifted students to attend the university. A local family farm and a newly created farm-to-table restaurant may enter into an agreement for the provision of organically grown fruits and vegetables throughout the year. These legal documents not only comprise part of an individual's story but also become complete stories themselves. These texts present a series of related events in which characters perform actions anticipating particular resolutions of these events. In other words, these documents are narratives. Transactional documents contain provisions related to the wishes, hopes, fears, and choices of the transacting parties. These documents are not merely memorializations of past events. They are documents that authors construct to guide and inform future behavior. They create the legal obligations and rights of the transacting parties. As such, it follows that the transacting parties are both performing roles within the narratives and are the readers of those narratives. The provisions in the transactional document must be accurately processed, recalled, and acted upon by these parties. The inclusion of narrative within transactional documents can help the readers become more immersed in the document and thus lead to more effective outcomes throughout the life of the transaction. This Article will begin by highlighting the power of narrative and defining narrative transportation. The Article will then address the power of narrative transportation and its impact on readers. It will then explore how narrative transportation applies to transactional documents. To better understand how narrative transportation may apply to transactional documents, including both its potential benefits and limits, the Article will first define the transactional reader. Then, the Article will showcase the benefits that narrative transportation offers by presenting two excerpted transactional documents. One document does not use narrative techniques while the other incorporates select narrative techniques. This illustration will enable readers to see first-hand the impact of narrative transportation on the transactional reader.


Mutations in the PRPH2 gene encoding the photoreceptor-specific protein PRPH2 (also known as peripherin-2 or rds) cause a broad range of autosomal dominant retinal diseases. Most of these mutations affect the structure of the light-sensitive photoreceptor outer segment, which is composed of a stack of flattened "disc" membranes surrounded by the plasma membrane. The outer segment is renewed on a daily basis in a process whereby new discs are added at the outer segment base and old discs are shed at the outer segment tip. New discs are formed as serial membrane evaginations, which eventually enclose through a complex process of membrane remodeling (completely in rods and partially in cones). As disc enclosure proceeds, PRPH2 localizes to the rims of enclosed discs where it forms oligomers which fortify the highly curved membrane structure of these rims. In this study, we analyzed the outer segment phenotypes of mice of both sexes bearing a single copy of either the C150S or the Y141C PRPH2 mutation known to prevent or increase the degree of PRPH2 oligomerization, respectively. Strikingly, both mutations increased the number of newly forming, not-yet-enclosed discs, indicating that the precision of disc enclosure is regulated by PRPH2 oligomerization. Without tightly controlled enclosure, discs occasionally over-elongate and form large membranous "whorls" instead of disc stacks. These data show that the defects in outer segment structure arising from abnormal PRPH2 oligomerization are manifested at the stage of disc enclosure. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The light-sensitive photoreceptor outer segment contains a stack of flattened "disc" membranes that are surrounded, or "enclosed," by the outer segment membrane. Disc enclosure is an adaptation increasing photoreceptor light sensitivity by facilitating the diffusion of the second messenger along the outer segment axes. However, the molecular mechanisms by which photoreceptor discs enclose within the outer segment membrane remain poorly understood. We now demonstrate that oligomers of the photoreceptor-specific protein peripherin-2, or PRPH2, play an active role in this process. We further propose that defects in disc enclosure because of abnormal PRPH2 oligomerization result in major structural abnormalities of the outer segment, ultimately leading to loss of visual function and cell degeneration in PRPH2 mutant models and human patients.


Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) is constitutively activated in a number of human cancers and cancer cell lines. Via its Src homology 2 (SH2) domain, Stat3 is recruited to phosphotyrosine residues on intracellular domains of cytokine and growth factor receptors, whereupon it is phosphorylated on Tyr705, dimerizes, translocates to the nucleus and is reported to participate in the expression of genes related to angiogenesis, metastasis, growth and survival. To block this process, we are developing cell-permeable, phosphatase-stable phosphopeptide mimics, targeted to the SH2 domain of Stat3, that inhibit the phosphorylation of Tyr705 of Stat3 in cultured tumor cells (Mandal et al., J. Med. Chem. 54, 3549-5463, 2011). At concentrations that inhibit tyrosine phosphorylation, these materials were not cytotoxic, similar to recent reports on JAK inhibitors. At higher concentrations, cytotoxicity was accompanied by off-target effects. We report that treatment of MDA-MB-468 human breast cancer xenografts in mice with peptidomimetic PM-73G significantly inhibited tumor growth, which was accompanied by reduction in VEGF production and microvessel density. No evidence of apoptosis or changes in the expression of the canonical genes cyclin D1 or survivin were observed. Thus selective inhibition of Stat3 Tyr705 phosphorylation may be a novel anti-angiogenesis strategy for the treatment of cancer.


On 22 April, many thousands of people took part in demonstrations, teach-ins, museum open houses, and science festivals in hundreds of places around the world—an unparalleled show of support for science. Some journalists have tried to portray the march as yet another political demonstration against President Trump and Congress. Yet, neither appeared to be the target for most marchers—not in the United States and even less so around the world. That the March for Science saw the scientific community and the wider public come together in unprecedented numbers signaled that the day was not just a protest by scientists with concerns about their funding or job security. The multitude of T-shirt slogans, placards, and impassioned remarks by marchers and speakers of all ages, backgrounds, and professions spoke volumes—something serious was going on.


Computer games has been widespread. Currently, almost all devices that have a screen can play the game with the experience of interactivity to entertain the public. The game does not always have a negative effect. Game application that has a learning function will be useful and easily accepted by society. This study was conducted to determine how computer games can be a fun medium of information and learning by making use of speech recognition interaction. The application development of this "Let's Say" game is done by using the method of multimedia development consisting stages of concept, design, material collection, implementation, testing, and distribution. The design of the application is done using UML modeling and ERD. Application development is done using Visual Basic.NET programming language, WPF system interface, and SQLite database. Application utilizes Windows Speech Recognition as a speech recognition engine. Functional testing of the application is done using black box methods. Applications testing to users is done through a questionnaire. The test results showed that the application works well according to functions that has been specified. Application testing to users indicate that the application is informative and easy to use with a view that is quite interesting. Tests also showed that the use of speech recognition has been going well and helpful.


Nano-SiCp/MoSi2 composites with different SiC volume fraction have been synthesized by in situ reactive hot press sintering with the milled Mo, Si and C elements powders. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) detection shows the composites are composed of α-MoSi2 and β-SiC, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) shows that the particle sizes of β-SiC formed by in situ reaction are in range of 20-100nm, and most of the them locate in grain boundary and some particles embed in MoSi2 grain. The isothermal oxidation and thermal cycling test of nano-SiCp/MoSi2 composites were carried out in air at temperatures of 500°C. The pest phenomenon was not found during oxidation and cyclic oxidation at 500°C for 500 hours and 50 cycles, respectively. All the composites have both excellent oxidation resistant and good cyclic oxidation resistant. The mechanisms of oxidation at low temperature were discussed also.


Introduction The objective of this study was to assess quality of life (QoL) among adults in Salvador-Bahia, Brazil, and identify potentials factors related to its domains. Methods Cross-sectional study in 501 adults between 35 and 59 years, living in five different areas covered by the Community Health Agents Program/Family Health Strategy (CHAP/FHS), from July to October, 2008. Data were collected through interview using a questionnaire including social-economic variables and oral health status and the WHO Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-Bref) validated in Brazilian population to measured QoL. Descriptive and exploratory analyses were carried out and differences in scores were tested by Mann–Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Results Mean scores of WHOQOL-Bref were 58.5±19.8 and 59.0±27.3 to the general issues of quality of life and satisfaction with health, respectively. The social relationships domain had the highest mean scores (69.3±18.4) and the environment domain had the lowest mean scores (49.8±14.5). The WHOQOL-Bref domains showed that QoL is perceived better by male, having the highest mean scores (71.8±12.8) on the psychological domain and the lowest mean scores (53.8±13.1) on the environmental domain. Variables predicted for QoL were: years of education, monthly individual income, treated water at home and mucosal damage. Conclusions Evaluate QoL is very important for adult and it showed associated with current social-economic conditions and with oral health status. WHOQoL-Bref proved to be an efficient tool and useful for a better evaluation approach of the subjective aspects of QoL.


Following the financial and economic crisis (GDP –3.8 percent in 2009) and the sluggish development in 2012-2015 (+0.7 percent p.a.), economic activity picked up significantly from mid-2016 onwards. For the years 2017 and 2018, the current forecast foresees an annual real GDP growth of 2¾ percent. In the medium term, an average growth of real GDP of 2 percent per year is expected (2013-2017 +1.2 percent p.a.), which is about ¼ percentage point higher than the average of the Euro area. The robust growth for the world economy has a stimulating effect on exports (+3.7 percent p.a.), which in turn has a positive effect on equipment investments. Private consumption is expected to increase by 1½ percent p.a. over the forecast period due to an increase in disposable income (2013-2017 +0.7 percent p.a.). The economic expansion combined with labour market policies ("Employment Bonus" and "Initiative 20,000"), will have a stronger positive effect on employment surpassing the dynamics of labour supply, resulting in a drop in unemployment. From 2020 onwards, labour supply is expected to again increase more strongly than labour demand, and as a result the unemployment rate is expected to rise from 8.0 percent in 2019 to 8.4 percent by the end of the forecast period. Inflationary pressure will remain moderate in the medium term, and the inflation differential to the Euro area average is expected to further decrease. The consumer price inflation will average of 1.9 percent p.a. On the basis of the projected business cycle and the assumed economic policy framework the overall government budget is expected to be balanced (both structurally and as defined according to Maastricht) from the middle of the forecast period onwards. As a result, the government debt ratio (total public debt as a percentage of nominal GDP) is projected to decline by around 17 percentage points to nearly 64 percent between 2017 and 2022.


Background: Surgical reimbursement rates are established by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Studies have indicated that revision hip (rTHA) and knee (rTKA) arthroplasties require significantly more work effort, but are reimbursed less than primary procedures. This study quantified planned and unplanned work performed for revision surgeries by the surgeon and/or the surgeon's team during the episode of care "reimbursement window." Quantification of time was performed separately for aseptic and septic (two-stage) revisions and compared to allowed reimbursement amounts.

Methods: All unilateral rTHA and rTKA procedures performed over a 10-year period by a single surgeon at a single institution were retrospectively reviewed. Time dedicated to planned work was calculated over each episode of care, from surgery scheduling to 90 days postoperatively. Impromptu patient inquiries and treatments after discharge, but within the episode of care, involving the surgeon/surgeon team constituted unplanned work. Planned and unplanned work minutes were summed and divided by the number of patients reviewed to obtain average minutes of work per patient.

Results: Calculations demonstrated average per patient work for aseptic rTKA exceeded the reimbursable amount by 31 minutes. Calculated average minutes of work per patient required for aseptic rTHA fell within the number of minutes approved for reimbursement. Average per patient work for septic rTKA and rTHA exceeded the reimbursable amounts by 331 and 166 minutes, respectively, equating to 2.8 to 5.5 hours of uncompensated time.

Conclusion: Revision hip and knee procedures are substantially more complex than primary procedures, with many surgeons referring patients to out-of-network care. Financially dis-incentivizing surgeons to care for these patients reduces patient access to care when high quality care is needed the most, especially infection cases susceptible to high sepsis and mortality rates. Study findings will be applied to advocacy efforts for appropriate legislative reform.


Abstract The alloys from Al–Mg–Si system provide an excellent combination of mechanical properties, heat treatment at extrusion temperature, good weldability, good corrosion resistance and formability. Owing to the high casting speed of rods or slabs, the solidification is rather non-equilibrium, resulting in defects in the material, such as crystalline segregations, the formation of low-melting eutectics, the unfavourable shape of intermetallic phases and the non-homogeneously distributed alloying elements in the cross-section of the rods or slabs and in the entire microstructure. The inhomogeneity of the chemical composition and the solid solution negatively affects the strength, the formability in the warm and the corrosion resistance, and can lead to the formation of undesired phases due to segregation in the material. In this experimental investigation, the cross-sections of the rods from two different alloys of the 6xxx group were investigated. From the cross-sections of the rods, samples for differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) at three different positions (edge, D/4 and middle) were taken to determine the influence of inhomogeneity on the course of DSC curve. Metallographic sample preparation was used for microstructure analysis, whereas the actual chemical composition was analysed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and an energy dispersion spectrometer (EDS).


Rats were exposed to daily, 3-h, fixed-time 1-min food-pellet delivery sessions, which is a procedure that produces overdrinking (schedule-induced polydipsia). In previous polydipsia studies, rats came to prefer solutions of drug or non-drug agents to concurrently presented water if the agents had first been offered in a glucose-saccharin vehicle that was slowly eliminated (faded), leaving a choice between a substance in water vehicle vs water. In the first experiment, a more rapid vehicle-fading procedure was used to produce a preference for 0.19mg/ml lidocaine to water. In the second experiment, the vehicle was abruptly changed to water, which also resulted in a strong preference for lidocaine solution, although the lidocaine solution volumes ingested for the final sessions were significantly less than in the first experiment. The results are consistent with a conditioned flavor/nutrient preference interpretation for the institution of the lidocaine preference in both experiments. Although flavor/nutrient conditioning can be a sufficient condition for generating a substance preference, a previous experiment showed that it was not a necessary condition.


This thesis focuses on the investigation of the local wall heat flux by
applying a new measurement technique in the field of Rayleigh-Benard
convection. The local wall heat flux at the interface between a solid and a
gas was measured under different boundary conditions and in various
geometries. Using a fast (30 fps) and high-resolution (640 px x 480 px)
infrared camera, unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution was
achieved.The first case studied in this thesis is a slender rectangular
convection cell with a height of 2.5 m, a length of 2.5 m and a width of
0.65 m. Inside this cell, the large scale circulation is confined in a single
plane. The local convective heat flux on the heating plate was measured in
the range of 1.36e10≤Ra≤5.45e10. The measurements revealed a highly
inhomogeneous distribution of the wall heat flux, whereas a variation up of
to 37% compared to the globally averaged quantity became visible. Based on
this observation the local wall heat flux is divided into three subregions
(impingement, centre and corner flow) and the local scaling of the heat
transport with respect to the Rayleigh number is calculated for each
subregions.In a cylindrical cell with a width to height ratio of Γ=1.13,
the dynamic of a three-dimensional convective flow was investigated in a
range of 1e11≤Ra≤8e11. In coincidence with the quasi two-dimensional case,
the time-averaged local wall heat flux varies up to 30% with respect to the
globally averaged quantity. In the investigated range, the principal plane
of the large scale circulation oscillated up to ±90°. This behaviour
homogenizes the local wall heat flux in the centre of the heating plate. In
addition, an enhancement of the local wall heat flux near the sidewall was
observed with a uniform distribution in azimuthal direction.In a variable
aspect ratio cell of 1.13≤Γ≤4, the influence of the sidewall on the global
heat transport was analysed. It was shown, that the global heat flux at a
constant Rayleigh number varied significantly up to 35%. In this context, a
crucial mechanism is the collapse of the global flow structure, which
occurs at Γ=1.65. For this reason, the experimental data of a convection
cell with Γ=1 are not suitable to verify the theoretical approaches for a
horizontally infinite extended fluid layer.


A process scheme combining the most suitable ionic liquid pretreatment, followed by solid acid and enzymatic saccharification was used to maximize the reducing sugars recovery from sago waste. Three types of ionic liquids, i.e. 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([BMIM]Cl), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([EMIM][OAc]) and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium diethyl phosphate ([EMIM][(EtO)2PO2]) were evaluated based on their performance in terms of the total reducing sugars recovery, chemical cost, and pretreatment energy requirement. The results showed that all the ionic liquids assisted the saccharification processes by dissolving and depolymerizing the carbohydrates of the sago waste into shorter chain soluble oligosaccharides, as well as disrupting the biomass structure to produce an amorphous pretreated solid residue. The solid acid saccharifications of the prehydrolysates obtained from the [BMIM]Cl pretreatment gave the highest reducing sugars recovery (61-63%) irrespective of the solid acid catalyst employed. On the other hand, enzymatic saccharification of [EMIM][OAc] pretreated solid residues showed the highest reducing sugars recovery (29%). A maximum recovery of 90% reducing sugars was achieved via incorporation of the ionic liquid pretreatment, solid acid and enzymatic saccharifications using [BMIM]Cl, Amberlyst 15 (A15) and Trichoderma viride cellulase respectively. This study suggests that the combined sequential process can maximize the reducing sugars recovery from sago waste effectively.


High availability of software components has long been studied. For a software system, when unavailability of a component has caused a suspension of the system, the system has to be recovered or resumed as soon as possible. To substitute an unavailable software component with a backup copy is therefore unavoidable in achieving high availability of software systems. In this paper, in comparison with using redundancies, we take an alternative approach that steps away from the physical code equivalence of the software but focuses more on the equivalence in using the function unit without concerning about the implementation itself. We investigate the problem of Web service availability in service‐oriented software systems and then report a framework for Web service availability in such systems using automated and rule‐based Web service substitution. The framework takes a novel approach to manage the runtime replacement of services, combining (i) an approach that classifies services using co‐occurrence of terms in various tags of the service descriptions, (ii) an approach to establish the compatibility and substitution of service operation interfaces and (iii) a middleware for handling service replacements. Our approach is designed to address the problem of Web service availability from the client side and assumes that the client has no control of the Web service providers. This is a completely distributed approach in comparison with other related work and presents a valuable benefit of client orientation. As two additional distinguishing characteristics, our framework also meets the challenges of (i) semantic heterogeneity of Web services in identifying substitute service and (ii) transparency and independence in handling unavailability at the level of Web services. We show in our experiments that the service substitute identification based on the proposed framework achieves a best precision of 85%. We demonstrate our implementation of the middleware for service unavailability handling in the framework. We also present experiments on service substitution within a demo business application in the presence of unavailability. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


An important problem of neuroimaging data analysis for traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the task of coregistering MR volumes acquired using distinct sequences in the presence of widely variable pixel movements which are due to the presence and evolution of pathology. We are motivated by this problem to design a numerically stable registration algorithm which handles large deformations. To this end, we propose a new measure of probability distributions based on the Bhattacharyya distance, which is more stable than the widely used mutual information due to better behavior of the square root function than the logarithm at zero. Robustness is illustrated on two TBI patient datasets, each containing 12 MR modalities. We implement our method on graphics processing units (GPU) so as to meet the clinical requirement of time-efficient processing of TBI data. We find that 6 sare required to register a pair of volumes with matrix sizes of 256 × 256 × 60 on the GPU. In addition to exceptional time efficiency via its GPU implementation, this methodology provides a clinically informative method for the mapping and evaluation of anatomical changes in TBI.


This article documents a systematic bias in surface wind directions between the TAO buoy measurements at 0°, 170°W and the ECMWF analysis and forecasts. This bias was of the order 10° and persisted from November 2008 to January 2010, which was consistent with a post-recovery calibration drift in the anemometer vane. Unfortunately, the calibration drift was too time-variant to be used to correct the data so the quality flag for this deployment was adjusted to reflect low data quality. The primary purpose of this paper is to inform users in the modelling and remote-sensing community about this systematic, persistent wind directional bias, which will allow users to make an educated decision on using the data and be aware of its potential impact to their downstream product quality. The uncovering of this bias and its source demonstrates the importance of continuous scientific oversight and effective user-data provider communication in stewarding scientific data. It also suggests the need for improvement in the ability of buoy data quality control procedures of the TAO and ECMWF systems to detect future wind directional systematic biases such as the one described here.


SUMMARY Twelve-week-old commercial white leghorn pullets were given one or two doses of an inactivated oil-emulsion Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) vaccine or kept as unvaccinated controls. At 24 weeks of age, all groups were challenged intratracheally with one of six dilutions of a low-passage R strain of MG. Three days postchallenge, the tracheas from all chickens were cultured for MG to determine the number of challenge organisms required to initiate infection. The logio ID5o of chickens vaccinated 0, one, or two times was 2.9, 3.4, and 3.7, respectively, and the minimum infectious dose (the lowest challenge dose to infect a single bird) was 15, 150, and 1500 colony-forming units, respectively. It was concluded that the vaccine provided measurable, though limited, protection against infection under these experimental conditions.


Private sector's role in community development is often seen as a supporting organization with its own interests. Generally, a company chooses to support a particular community according to the company's strategic topic. This top-down approach benefits the company in many ways including effective operations and communications. However, the effectiveness on sustainable development of communities is still questionable. As each strategic topic is heavily influenced by the company's reasoning, this approach often lacks in dimensions, has narrow focus, and therefore disconnects with the community real needs. This results in little contributions to the sustainability of the communities. This proposal proposes a different approach through a case study with two artisanal fishery communities. With this new approach, the company acted as a bridging organization working closely with the communities together with other stakeholders to truly understand their needs. The company, then, facilitated them in designing and implementing their own sustainable solutions. This requires changes in the company operations as well as acquiring new knowledge for its outreach team. The findings demonstrated a successful case of community development towards self-sustainable resource management. The analysis of these findings helps the company to strike a balance between "company-centric" and "community-centric" approach in the future.


Abstract : This project was conducted to provide research support to the Command and Control (C2) Decision Support Systems Section of Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) - Valcartier in the area of Air Force rapid response planning for immediate contingency operations. To enhance the ability to effectively plan and conduct immediate contingency operations, there is a requirement to understand both where the planning cycle can be optimised, and in what way new concepts, approaches, doctrine, tools, techniques, algorithms and processes (CADTTAP) can support this. This study identifies operational, theoretical and technical requirements for Air Force operational level rapid response planning for immediate contingency operations and applied applicable CADTTAP to design a conceptual roadmap for decision support system development. Use standing CONPLANs as a key element, the proposed roadmap facilitates the generation of planning documents including identifying the optimal course of action while leveraging a single point data entry of information elements and a flexible template system. The envisioned DSS is based on a Service Orientated Architecture (SOA) that will enable flexibility for system integration and web-based to facilitate the distributed collaboration in a Joint, International, Multi-agency and Public (JIMP) context that is becoming the norm in military operations, especial rapid response.


In Ghana, most of the time imports exceed exports, so the demand for foreign exchange (dollar) always exceeds supply and this puts intense upward pressure on the exchange rate. There has been continuous depreciation of the cedi against most of the major currencies especially the US dollar, which is largely use for commercial transactions. Since the demand for dollar most of the time exceeding supply, international dollar values seldom have impacts on cedi dollar rates. The declared regulatory framework in which the banks conduct foreign exchange operations is broadly consistent with international practices. Banks are in principle free to act in both spots and forward markets as they see fit, subject to the prudential regulations governing their net open position limits. In practice, however, there is strong evidence that the cedi is prevented from depreciation too rapidly in the past three to five years. This is the result of Bank of Ghana (BOG) exercising "influence" over the commercial banks through suasion and also on occasion through temporally intervention via foreign exchange swap arrangements. This temporary intervention is inconsistent with the BOG's freely floating foreign exchange policy. (Year of research - 2006. As at posting this material the exchange rate is what is changed: now a dollar is exchanged for about One Ghana Cedi Fifty Pese was, subsequent to a recent cedi redenomination, however the process of determining exchange rate in Ghana currently is not changed from the findings made in 2006 by the author.)


This article introduces and explores the concept of political economy. In particular it focuses upon the political economy of health while also considering the implications for international nursing studies in the context of health care more generally. Political economy is not only about budgets, resources and policy. It is also about particular kinds of political power that can be difficult to grasp. Often, analyses of power in the nursing literature relate to power at the interpersonal level between say nurses and patients, the interprofessional level between nurses and medics, or at the institutional level between managerial policy and actual practice that often, if not always, relates also to national issues in health care. While acknowledging the value of these analyses, this article seeks to add the dimension of the power of political economy of health at both the national and global level. No political economy is without its underlying political philosophy or ideology which defines the means–end rationality of both desired outcomes and financial pragmatism. This is particularly the case in services such as education and health, in which the differences between various ideological approaches can often be quite remarkable, and not without impact on actual services. The purpose of this article therefore is to firmly place the concept and practice of political economy into international nursing studies by giving examples of its changing nature, its various manifestations and the challenges they present.


BACKGROUND
Vertebroplasty (VP) is a commonly used method for the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral fractures (OVF). The aim of this study is to analyze retrospectively the efficacy of PV in symptomatic osteoprotic spine fractures.

METHODS
Patients with symptomatic osteoporotic spine fractures were included in our study. Visual analog scale and demographic characteristics were used for clinical examination, local wedge angle and the central height of the vertebral body were measured preoperatively and postoperatively.

RESULTS
95 patients (72 female, 23 male) were included and 118 level vertebroplasty were performed. There was statistical significance in the differences of preoperative VAS scores compared to postoperative first day, first month and sixth month. The radiologic assessment of the mean local wedge angle correction at the postoperative sixth month, was 13.9 and mean increase of mid height of vertebral body was 7.9 mm, but it was not statistically significant.

CONCLUSION
VP is at an important point as a minimally invasive method, that provides rapid pain relief in symptomatic osteoporotic vertebral fractures and that prevents the patient being bed-dependent. It is a reliable surgical method, being an alternative to open surgery with minimal complications in patients with comorbidities, which can be arapidley applied and decreases the potential spinal deformity after the fracture and prevents the progression of deformity.


The crises of this century have stressed how intertwined macroeconomics and finance are in practice. This intertwinement was absent in most economic models. This led to calls for economists to step out of their specialized silos. Since then, the literature of macro-finance, which studies the relationship between asset prices and economic fluctuations, has been developed. In this inaugural address, I argue for a prominent role of econometrics to study the macro-finance interaction. Key elements such as mixed frequencies and the selection of factors can be incorporated using recent econometric advances. I discuss some of the results, such as estimation of continuous-time equilibrium models for macroeconomic and financial series, as well as characteristics of trading on financial markets after macroeconomic news releases. Finally, I discuss the outstanding challenges, which include developing a yield curve model based on macroeconomic foundations, modeling how financial markets anticipate news releases, and developing a macro-finance model for European bond markets taking into account the large heterogeneity across the continent.


Pseudo-hoop algebras are non-commutative generalizations of hoop-algebras, originally introduced by Bosbach. In this paper, we study ideals in pseudo-hoop algebras. We define congruences induced by ideals and construct the quotient structure. We show that there is a one-toone correspondence between the set of all normal ideals of a pseudo-hoop algebra A with condition (pDN) and the set of all congruences on A. Also, we prove that if A is a good pseudo-hoop algebra with pre-linear condition, then a normal ideal P of A is prime if and only if A/P is a pseudo-hoop chain. Furthermore, we analyse the relationship between ideals and filters of A.


Excerpt] In 1998, the European Commission set out the framework for sectoral dialogue committees with the aim of promoting dialogue between sectoral social partners at European level. The committees were set up as the central fora for consultation, joint initiatives and negotiation for the given sectors. Union law does not make reference to the concept of representativeness. The Commission first used this concept in its 1993 Communication concerning the application of the Agreement on Social Policy. Representativeness became the key issue of dispute in a legal case in 1996 (UEAPME v. Council of the European Union, Case T-135/96). UEAPME challenged the legality of the Parental Leave Directive and the dispute became the subject of litigation before the European Court of First Instance (CFI). The CFI asserted that agreements reached through the social dialogue – which are then incorporated into directives – may be challenged on grounds of their democratic legitimacy. CFI deemed this necessary, since the Directive was not subject to scrutiny by the European Parliament. Since this ruling, it has been the legal responsibility of the European Commission to scrutinise to identify the European social partners who are eligible to engage in European social dialogue. In 2006, the European Commission mandated Eurofound to carry out studies on the representativeness of European social partner organisations, with the aim of identifying the relevant national and supranational interest associations in the field of industrial relations in selected sectors. (Prior to 2006, the studies had been coordinated by the Catholic University of Louvain.)


In this paper, we propose novel measurement method that can measure the alignment states of the object in four degrees of freedom, simultaneously; those are pitch, roll, yaw, and height variation. This method mainly utilizes a laser diode, a reflective-type diffraction grating, and two-dimensional position-sensing detectors. The diffraction grating is attached on the object that we are interested. The pitch, roll, yaw angle and height variation can be obtained from the geometric relation among the distance between the grating surface and sensors, displacement of beam spot on sensor surfaces, and angle of diffraction. The experiments to verify the feasibility of the method are carried out. The repeatability and comparison of the measured values and numerical values are verified by experiments. The experimental results show good matches with theoretical values and good repeatability. The results show that our proposed method is effective for measuring 4 DOF of object.


Latvia stands out as the East European country hardest hit by the global financial crisis; it lost approximately 25 percent of its GDP between 2008 and 2010. It was also the most overheated economy before the crisis. But in the second half of 2010, Latvia returned to economic growth. How did this happen so quickly? Current Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, who shepherded Latvia through the crisis, and renowned author Anders Aslund discuss why the Latvian economy became so overheated; why an IMF and European Union stabilization program was needed; what the Latvian government did to resolve the financial crisis and why it made these choices; and what the outcome has been. This book offers a rare insider's look at how a national government responded to a global financial crisis, made tough choices, and led the country back to economic growth.


Abstract Background During the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, several patients contacted members of the IBD team with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) related questions. Some patients intended to cancel scheduled IBD clinic outpatient visits or endoscopic examinations and/or stop or postpone their medication. We surveyed the need for information by IBD patients during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the role of the IBD team in this regard. Methods We performed an anonymous survey at the IBD department of our tertiary referral center. The questionnaire contained 15 closed questions, including on basic demographic data, medication use, testing for COVID-19, information sources, and intention to stop or postpone medication or follow-up. The questionnaire was available to all adult patients attending the IBD outpatient clinic and infusion unit from July 1st until October 30th 2020. All questionnaires were collected before the second COVID-19 wave. Patients on subcutaneous medication that did not attend the IBD clinic during these months were contacted via e-mail. Results We collected 965 questionnaires. The majority of patients (44.3%) was 18–40 years old. There were more patients with Crohn's disease (66%) than ulcerative colitis (32%) and IBD unclassified (2%). Demographics and medication use are presented in table 1. A third of the patients (31.7%) was tested for SARS-CoV-2, of whom 8.3% tested positive. Twenty-six percent of patients considered they had higher need for information about COVID-19 than the general population. News websites were a source of information about COVID-19 for 52.5% of patients, followed by hospital websites (43.8%), direct contact with the IBD physician (24.6%), direct contact with the IBD nurse (23.1%), and state sponsored websites (20.9%). In fact, 35.9% of patients contacted the IBD nurse since the start of the pandemic. The majority of patients reported they were satisfied by the information (80.5%) and/or reassured (85%) by the IBD nurse. Ten percent of patients had considered to stop IBD medication due to the pandemic, and 80% of these refrained to do so following the advice of the IBD nurses. Finally, 12.5% of the patients expressed true fear of hospital visits due to the pandemic, which was associated with female gender and higher need for information. Conclusion Treatment cessation and anxiety could be avoided by direct interaction with the IBD nurses and in particular with the IBD nurse as first point of contact for the patient. Patients with IBD may profit from an optimized information platform with scientifically correct information addressing the concerns of this specific population.


This paper gives an introduction into the research and measures of monument conservation and energy performance improvement of the Alte Schäfflerei (Old Cooperage) in the monastery of Benediktbeuern in upper Bavaria, Germany. The works started in 2010 when a contract was made between the Monastery and the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft to establish the "Fraunhofer Centre for Conservation and Energy Performance of Historic Buildings". Both, resource and energy efficiency are approaches that are in the focus of the research. Moreover, all measures should comply with monument preservation rules and respect the original substance. The calculation of the impact of different energy saving measures like the improvement of the historic windows, internal and external wall insulation, attic and floor insulation as well as the use of renewable energies from the central power station of the monastery on the overall energy demand is presented.


The expression of the Ig-linked mb-1 polypeptide was analyzed by immunocytochemistry (alkaline phosphatase anti-alkaline phosphatase technique) using a specific monoclonal antibody in 165 cases of acute leukemia, with 88 being lymphoblastic (ALL) and 77 myeloid (AML). The purpose of the study was to investigate the specificity of this reagent for B-lineage cases and its reactivity on leukemias that coexpress myeloid and B-cell antigens (biphenotypic). The majority (89%) of 72 B-cell precursor ALL patients were positive. Of these, mb-1 was expressed in all 9 patients with early-B-ALL (CD10-, c mu-), in all 11 patients with pre-B-ALL (c mu+) and in the single case of B-ALL (smIgM+). Forty-three of 51 patients with common-ALL (CD10+, c mu+) were also positive. All 16 T-lineage ALL patients and 72 (93.5%) of the AML patients examined were mb-1 negative. Four of the 5 mb-1-positive AML patients were considered biphenotypic and expressed other B-cell antigens such as CD10, CD19, and/or cCD22 and all showed rearrangement of the Ig heavy chain genes. Within the AML cases, mb-1 and cCD22 were more useful than other B-cell antigens in detecting biphenotypic cases, and mb-1 showed the highest correlation with the clonal rearrangement of Ig heavy chain genes. These results indicate that mb-1 is a sensitive and specific reagent for B-lineage blasts that will aid in the classification of B-cell precursor ALL and in the identification of biphenotypic leukemia presenting as AML.


Abstract Observations made during a cruise of the R/V Professor Logachev at the Snake Pit hydrothermal vent field provide a large database with which to examine the relationships between the geochemical characteristics of the hydrothermal sediments and the fauna that inhabit the area. Correlations between the nature and geochemistry of sediments, the distribution of hydrothermal and peripheral fauna and the hydrothermal activity are established. Three geochemical zones in the Snake Pit area are distinguished. (i) The Central Zone, located within 10–100 m of black smoker chimneys, consisting mainly of hydroxide-sulphide sediments with Fe sulphides predominant. Barite is found only in this zone and vent-associated organisms distinctly predominate over non-vent fauna. (ii) The Intermediate Zone encompasses high-temperature springs at a distance from 50 to 150 m. Sediments are chiefly sulphide-hydroxide composition and are dominated by Fe hydroxide and sulphide minerals in an oxide envelope. The non-vent specific fauna show maximum concentrations. (iii) The Outer Zone is located within a radius of 150–500 m from the smokers. The sediment composition is characterized by a predominance of sulphide-hydroxide transitional differences with notably varying compositions of oxide and sulphide minerals. Minor sestonophages prevail in the fauna, which is typical of communities with a pronounced oligotrophic structure. From the Central Zone towards the Outer Zone, the frequency of the bacterial mats seen on photographs decreases and the hydrothermal sediments show a similar trend. Analysis of the hydrothermal sediment obtained from the cores shows: (i) Mn is absent; (ii) barite is found only in the Central Zone; and (iii) chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite concentrations decrease and opal and quartz concentrations increase with increasing distance from the nearest smoker. Comparisons between the Mid-Atlantic Ridge hydrothermal fields of TAG, Snake Pit and 15°N indicate a decrease in the hydrothermal and biological activities with latitude (TAG, Snake Pit, 15°N), which might be due to their evolutionary history.


We provide a general compilation of the diversity and geographical distribution of Amazonian fishes, updated to the end of 2018. Our database includes documented distributions of 4214 species (both Amazonian and from surrounding basins), compiled from published information plus original data from ichthyological collections. Our results show that the Amazon basin comprises the most diverse regional assemblage of freshwater fishes in the world, with 2716 valid species (1696 of which are endemic) representing 529 genera, 60 families, and 18 orders. These data permit a view of the diversity and distribution of Amazonian fishes on a basinwide scale, which in turn allows the identification of congruent biogeographical patterns, here defined as the overlapping distributions of two or more lineages (species or monophyletic groups). We recognize 20 distinct distributional patterns of Amazonian fishes, which are herein individually delimited, named, and diagnosed. Not all these patterns are associated with identifiable geographical barriers, and some may result from ecological constraints. All the major Amazonian subdrainages fit into more than one biogeographical pattern. This fact reveals the complex history of hydrographical basins and shows that modern basin-defined units contribute relatively little as explanatory factors for the present distributions of Amazonian fishes. An understanding of geomorphological processes and associated paleographic landscape changes provides a far better background for interpreting observed patterns. Our results are expected to provide a framework for future studies on the diversification and historical biogeography of the Amazonian aquatic biota.


Abstract:  The innate immune system is based on pathogen recognition receptors that bind conserved microbial molecular structures, so called pathogen‐associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). The characterization of the innate immune system was long based on a linear step‐wise concept of recognition, activation pathways and effector defense mechanisms. Only more recently it was recognized that the innate immune system needs regulatory elements, sideways and crosstalks that allows it to fine tune and adapt its response. Thus, it is an emerging field within innate immunity research to try to understand how the immune outcome of innate immune sensing is regulated and why immune responses can be substantially different, even though the same PAMPs may have been 'sensed' at the surface organs such as the skin. Only the expansion of the innate immune system from 'pure' linear activation pathways to fine tuned and regulated innate immune networks allows us to integrate the generation of gradually accentuated and qualitatively different effector and tolerogenic immune responses. This article provides a review of the basic concepts and players of the innate immune system and will present some of the newer data defining the innate immune networks effectively regulating the immune homoeostasis and immune effector mechanisms with special focus on the skin as one of the organs involved in regulating the immune interface between the environment and the organism.


Background and aims : Safety in companies related to oil and gas is very important. Hence, the purpose of current study is to assess safety culture using behavioural and environmental forms in staffs of South Pars Gas Company. Methods : Totally, 1000 participants were randomly selected for this descriptive study from different parts of South Pars Gas Company. After selection of participants, demographic data were collected from each participant and behavioural and environmental forms based on Geller model were completed for all individuals through interview. Results : Totally, one hundred persons with mean age of 30.33 ± 4.59 years participated in this study. Findings from behavioural form showed that safety status is in an appropriate condition, although some safety items in this form should be paid more attention. Findings from environmental form showed that this company not have appropriate function in some items including education, first aids, equipment safety, chemical substances, pressured cylinders, lighting, sound, vibration, atmospheric condition and ergonomics. Therefore, an appropriate plan is necessary to promote safety culture for these items. Conclusion : This study showed a good condition for behavioural safety status of South Gas company staffs, but no appropriate condition was seen for environmental safety status. Therefore, this condition should be more attention by the company's managers.


EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT SEATING ARRANGEMENTS ON LEARNING EXPERIENCE: THE CASE OF MEDIM SIZED LECTURE SETTINGS IN BİLKENT UNIVERSITY Hilal, Ümmüşan Selin M.F.A., Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Maya Öztürk June 2014 The aim of this study is to understand and compare effects of different seating arrangements on attention, concentration, participation and learning satisfaction in medium sized lecture settings in higher education. The study also aims to examine seating preferences in terms of territoriality and personal space. Two types of seating arrangements which are conventional straight row arrangement and UShape arrangement were compared. The investigation was conducted in the Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design, at Bilkent University. The sample group of the study was same in both seating arrangements. The study was conducted eight times: four times with traditional row arrangement and 4 times with Ushape arrangement. Analysis of physical space, direct and indirect observations and questionnaire were used as techniques. Firstly, the sample group was observed in traditional row arrangement and then UShape arrangement. Both lectures and discussion tasks were given to the sample group in both arrangements to understand their effects on students' attention, concentration and participation. In addition to these, while respondents were being observed, photographs and videos were also taken and they were analyzed later. After the observations, a questionnaire was given iii to the group and descriptive statistics was done with SPSS 21.0 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). It was found that students tend to be more attentive and more concentrated on the lecture in straight row arrangement and they tend to participate more actively in UShape arrangement of the lecture room. The observations coincided with the students' perception on these aspects as shown by their responses of the questionnaire. In terms of space use and preferences the research shows that if students want to concentrate more, they seem to choose seats where they are closer to instructor. Finally, it was seen that students tend to be more tolerant in terms personal space when they sit next to their close friends.


The cell-free isolated perfused kidney (IPK) is characterized by normal glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and very low filtration fraction (FF). Addition of erythrocytes to the perfusate (IEPK) increases FF while maintaining "normal" GFR levels. Micropuncture studies were performed in IPK and IEPK to establish the determinants of the glomerular ultrafiltration process responsible for low FF in IPK and to evaluate the impact of the addition of erythrocytes on these determinants. Nephron filtration rate was similar in IPK and IEPK (40 +/- 4 vs. 39 +/- 4 nl/min), whereas nephron perfusate flow was significantly higher in IPK (1,247 +/- 100 vs. 112 +/- 13 nl/min), leading to a superficial nephron FF of 3.4 +/- 0.2% in IPK and 36 +/- 2% in IEPK. Glomerular hydrostatic pressure (PG) and transcapillary hydrostatic pressure gradient (delta P) were 53 +/- 2 and 33 +/- 1 mmHg, respectively, in IPK and 51 +/- 3 and 34 +/- 2 mmHg in IEPK, all normal values. Glomerular arteriolar resistances were significantly lower in IPK than in IEPK, and the glomerular ultrafiltration coefficient (LpA) was significantly lower in IPK (0.053 +/- 0.010 vs. 0.100 +/- 0.020 nl.s-1.mmHg-1), but both values are within the normal in vivo range. These results demonstrate that low FF in IPK is not due to decreased delta P or LpA values but to the high renal perfusion rate required to maintain normal PG and delta P values. Addition of erythrocytes increases glomerular arteriolar resistances and restores glomerular hemodynamics to a pattern nearly identical to in vivo conditions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The Tyrrhenian slope of Liguria extends along the coast, from West to East, for nearly 300 km between Ventimiglia to Marinella di Sarzana: this stretch of territory presents more than a hundred catchments mainly characterized by small-size floodplains, usually less than 1 km2. Ligurian catchments, except for the Roja and the Magra rivers, have common features: by the area they can be distinguished in small basins (less than 15 km2), medium (15150 km2) and large (150-500 km2). The slopes of the catchment areas are very steep, while the flat alluvial plains are typically narrow and elongated: the largest one are referred to the Entella stream (approximately 4 km long) and the Centa stream (about 7 km in length). On these floodplains are located almost Ligurian urban areas, which represent the expansion of the historical settlements and road connections. Through a comparative mapping it was rebuilt the morphological evolution of Ligurian floodplains in historical times, witnessing the land-use and riverbed changes in the modern era until today, by using: 1) Historical maps of the eighteenth century by Matteo Vinzoni ("Pianta delle due riviere della serenissima Repubblica di Genova divise nei commissariati di sanità" e "Il Dominio della Serenissima Repubblica di Genova in terraferma"); 2) historical topographic maps of the first half of the nineteenth century ("Stati Sardi di Terraferma), in different topographic scales: a) 1:50.000, b) 1:20.000 and c) 1:9.450; 3) historical topographic maps of the second half of the nineteenth century until the first half of the twentieth century ("Tavolette dell'Istituto Geografico Militare Italiano, Firenze, 1878-1940, 1:25.000); 4) regional maps for the second half of the twentieth century, 1: 10.000 and 1: 25.000, while the current status was assessed with Google Earth Pro platforms; 5) important information was taken by the Map of the historical evolution of urban fabric, 1: 50.000 produced by Liguria Region and obtained by the overlap of urbanized areas in different periods (1855, 1936, 1964 and 1986). The secular human activities have therefore modified the natural landscape through land use changes, either for catchment or for the floodplain. The main channel, and even the minor hydrographic network, have showed major transformations over time. The anthropic action has deeply modified the morphology of Ligurian floodplains, except for the two largest: Albenga (Centa stream) and Chiavari-Lavagna (Entella stream), which still have a portion of soil for agricultural purposes. In many cases it has detected a river-bed covering, especially ∗Speaker †Corresponding author: email@example.com sciencesconf.org:eugeo2017:151790 in the medium-terminal portion, for the purpose of building needs and the road link. Other very widespread changes finally concern: a) deviations and displacements of the riverbed, b) the progradation of the coastline due to fills and embankments.


When reasoning about tasks that involve large amounts of data, a common approach is to represent data items as objects in the Hamming space where operations can be done efficiently and effectively. Object similarity can then be computed by learning binary representations (hash codes) of the objects and computing their Hamming distance. While this is highly efficient, each bit dimension is equally weighted, which means that potentially discriminative information of the data is lost. A more expressive alternative is to use real-valued vector representations and compute their inner product; this allows varying the weight of each dimension but is many magnitudes slower. To fix this, we derive a new way of measuring the dissimilarity between two objects in the Hamming space with binary weighting of each dimension (i.e., disabling bits): we consider a field-agnostic dissimilarity that projects the vector of one object onto the vector of the other. When working in the Hamming space, this results in a novel projected Hamming dissimilarity, which by choice of projection, effectively allows a binary importance weighting of the hash code of one object through the hash code of the other. We propose a variational hashing model for learning hash codes optimized for this projected Hamming dissimilarity, and experimentally evaluate it in collaborative filtering experiments. The resultant hash codes lead to effectiveness gains of up to +7% in NDCG and +14% in MRR compared to state-of-the-art hashing-based collaborative filtering baselines, while requiring no additional storage and no computational overhead compared to using the Hamming distance.


Aggregating opinions of a collection of agents is a question of interest to a broad array of researchers, ranging from ensemble-learning theorists to political scientists designing democratic institutions. This work investigates the optimal number of agents needed to decide on a binary issue under majority rule. We take an epistemic view where the issue at hand has a ground truth ``correct'' outcome and each one of n voters votes correctly with a fixed probability, known as their competence level or competence. These competencies come from a fixed distribution D. Observing the competencies, we must choose a specific group that will represent the population. Finally, voters sample a decision (either correct or not), and the group is correct as long as more than half the chosen representatives voted correctly. Assuming that we can identify the best experts, i.e., those with the highest competence, to form an epistemic congress we find that the optimal congress size should be linear in the population size. This result is striking because it holds even when allowing the top representatives to become arbitrarily accurate, choosing the correct outcome with probabilities approaching 1. We then analyze real-world data, observing that the actual sizes of representative bodies are much smaller than the optimal ones our theoretical results suggest. We conclude by examining under what conditions congresses of sub-optimal sizes would still outperform direct democracy, in which all voters vote. We find that a small congress would beat direct democracy if the rate at which the societal bias towards the ground truth decreases with the population size fast enough, and we quantify the speed needed for constant and polynomial congress sizes.


Our SOFC stack development technology is based on the unique SOFConnexTM concept, using flexible gas distribution layers between metal sheet interconnect and thin ASE cells. Flexibility is given both in material and design. This ensures proper electrical contact over the whole cell (50 cm2 active), without necessitating restrictive cell fabrication tolerances, and allows easy adaptation and evolution of the flowfields. With the presently used configuration, several multiple cell stacks were assembled and tested. Reproducible stack power density (H2 fuel, λ = 1.5-2, 800°C maximum local temperature) is 0.5 W/cm2 at 0.7 V average cell voltage (1.5 kWe/L), for 67% fuel utilisation (35% LHV electrical efficiency). Performance with simulated POX-syngas (H2/CO/N2) was close to that with H2. Degradation is the focus of attention now that adequate power density and efficiency using the SOFConnex™ approach have been established and reproduced.


Infrared (IR) thermography is a non-contact method of measuring temperature that analyzes the infrared radiation emitted by an object. Properties of polymer composites are heavily influenced by the filler material, filler size, and filler dispersion, and thus thermographic analysis can be a useful tool to determine the curing and filler dispersion. In this study, we investigated the curing mechanisms of polymer composites at the microscale by capturing real-time temperature using an IR Thermal Camera. Silicone polymers with fillers of Graphene, Graphite powder, Graphite flake, and Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) were subsequently poured into a customized 3D printed mold for thermography. The nanocomposites were microscopically heated with a Nichrome resistance wire, and real-time surface temperatures were measured using different Softwares. This infrared thermal camera divides the target area into 640 × 480 pixels, allowing measurement and analysis of the sample with a resolution of 65 micrometers. Depending on the filler material, the temperature rises to a certain maximum point before curing, and once curing is complete, polymer composites exhibit a rapid temperature change indicating a transition from viscous fluid to solid. MoS2, Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) without filler, and PDMS with larger filler are ranked in order of maximum constant temperature. PDMS (without filler) cures in 500s, while PDMS-Graphene and PDMS Graphite Powder cure in about 800s. The curing time for PDMS Graphite flake is slightly longer (950s), while MoS2 is around 520s. Therefore, this technique can indicate the influence of fillers on the curing of composites at the microscale, which is difficult to achieve by conventional methods such as differential scanning calorimetry. This nondestructive, low-cost, fast infrared thermography can be used to analyze the properties of polymer composites with different fillers and dispersion qualities in a variety of applications including precision additive manufacturing and quality control of curable composite inks.


The "science park" model has long been showing signs of aging, with many science parks now facing budget cuts by local and regional governments. In this study, we dissect the blueprint of a highly successful campus-based ecosystem, the High Tech Campus Eindhoven (HTCE). As an innovation ecosystem, the HTCE provides its residents (a) access to shared resources and facilities, to facilitate research and product development, and (b) an innovation community that enhances knowledge sharing between people at the campus. The success of the HTCE arises from a deep and inclusive understanding of the conditions in which an ecosystem for research and development can thrive, and the commitment to carefully grow and sustain these conditions. These conditions include: low physical distances between the various buildings, offices and shared facilities; a dynamic portfolio of thematic workshops and meetings stimulate knowledge sharing and informal networking; careful management of the diversity and reputation of the campus; attracting and hosting "connectors" that have the capability to initiate and/or manage collaboration across a newly emerging value chain; and a high level of responsiveness to requests and feedback of residents.


This paper analyses how the preferred self-conceptions of men in an elite military unit — the British Parachute Regiment — were disciplined by the organizationally based discursive resources on which they drew. The research contribution this paper makes is twofold. First, we argue that preferred self-conceptions (i.e. desired identities) are mechanisms for disciplining employees' identity work, and analyse how paratroopers were subject to, and constituted by, the discursive practices of the Regiment. Paratroopers' preferred conceptions of their selves were disciplined by understandings both of what it meant to be a paratrooper and of the institutional processes by which they were made. In talking about how the Regiment `manufactured' them, paratroopers provided insight on how the Regiment produced and reproduced the idealized identities to which they aspired. Second, to complement other understandings of identities, we suggest that people are often best characterized as `aspirants'. An aspirational identity is a story-type or template in which an individual construes him- or herself as one who is earnestly desirous of being a particular kind of person and self-consciously and consistently in pursuit of this objective. The recognition of subjectively construed identities as narrativized permits an appreciation of individuals as sophisticatedly agentic, while recognizing that their `choices' are made within frameworks of disciplinary power which both enable and restrict their scope for discursive manoeuvre.


As more digital devices with sensing capabilities are introduced into users' daily lives, the risks of threats to data and privacy and security have increased. While cybersecurity has been acknowledged as an important concern in developing products with digital services, currently available design methodologies and practices offer limited effective guidance to designers to explicitly address cybersecurity issues. In this paper, we present a case study from a product design course at the University of California, Berkeley, where the course's teaching team implemented an intervention in the form of cybersecurity-focused educational materials into the design process. The baseline and post-intervention survey results indicate that the cybersecurity intervention throughout the course had positively influenced the students' awareness of cybersecurity (p < 0.001, SD = 0.79, 26% increase in score, Cohen's d = 0.81). The intervention provoked the designers to consider and include aspects of cybersecurity in developing their design solutions throughout most of the design process. However, their increased awareness aside, the extent of the student teams considering cybersecurity had tapered off over the 6-week design course with little noticeable influence in the final design.


Short or polyunsaturated lipid variants of the NKT cell antigen α-galactosylceramide (αGC) exhibit decreased potency and a Th2 bias in vivo despite conserved TCR contact residues and stable binding to CD1d at neutral and acidic pH. Using reagents to directly visualize lipids in their free or CD1d-bound form, we determined that, contrary to predictions, these lipids reached the lysosome better than αGC. However, in contrast with αGC, they loaded CD1d at the cell surface and underwent immediate pH-dependent dissociation upon recycling to the lysosome. In cell-free assays, ultrafast dissociation of preformed complexes could be induced at acidic pH only when free competitor lipids were added, suggesting active lipid displacement. These findings provide a common cell biological explanation for the decreased stimulatory properties of short and polyunsaturated αGC variants. They also suggest that direct lipid displacement is a potent mechanism underlying highly dynamic lipid exchange reactions in the lysosomal compartment that shape the repertoire of lipids associated with CD1d.


Two immunocompromised patients with herpetic geometric glossitis, a clinically distinctive form of lingual herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 infection, are described. The significant features of herpetic geometric glossitis are summarized, the clinical differential diagnosis of this form of HSV infection is reviewed, and the possible pathogenesis of these lingual lesions is discussed. Both of our patients, as well as all previously described patients with this condition, had extremely painful cross-hatched, branched, and/or linear fissures on the dorsal aspect of the tongue. Symptoms promptly resolved within 1 to 2 days, and the fissures subsequently healed within 3 to 12 days after systemic acyclovir therapy was initiated. In contrast to tongue lesions of herpetic geometric glossitis, similar-appearing lingual lesions of other conditions are usually asymptomatic. The similar morphology of corneal dendrites in herpetic epithelial keratitis and linear fissures in herpetic geometric glossitis suggest the possibility that these HSV mucosal lesions may have a common pathogenesis.


Accurate prediction of disease trajectories is critical for early identification and timely treatment of patients at risk. Conventional methods in survival analysis are often constrained by strong parametric assumptions and limited in their ability to learn from high-dimensional data. This paper develops a novel convolutional approach that addresses the drawbacks of both traditional statistical approaches as well as recent neural network models for survival. We present Match-Net: a missingness-aware temporal convolutional hitting-time network, designed to capture temporal dependencies and heterogeneous interactions in covariate trajectories and patterns of missingness. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first investigation of temporal convolutions in the context of dynamic prediction for personalized risk prognosis. Using real-world data from the Alzheimer's disease neuroimaging initiative, we demonstrate state-of-the-art performance without making any assumptions regarding underlying longitudinal or time-to-event processes—attesting to the model's potential utility in clinical decision support.


In the forested mountain areas of southwestern Canada, Leiobunum paessleri (Roewer) form overw~ttezing aggregations in the twilight regions of moist caves and mines. Each aggregation consists of adults of both sexes and may contain as many as one or two thousand individuals. The opilionids congregate from August to October and disperse from April to May. Colder temperatures seem to increase the density of the aggregations. When dense aggregations are formed (up to 2.6 individuals per crn2), the opilionids hang by their pedipalps with their legs extended straight down from their bodies. Explanations of the aggregation phenomenon include: optimal temperatures and humidities, reduced desiccation, heat production, increased mating success, and reduced predation. Overwintering mortaliW factors potentially include cold, desiccation, starvation, predation and disease.


Introduction: The short version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies (CES-D) Depression Scale is a viable tool for screening depressive symptomatology in the general population, but its factorial invariance for indigenous populations in Latin America has not been reported. Objective: To describe the differences in the prevalence of depressive symptomatology and the factorial invariance of the short version of the CES-D scale for the Mexican indigenous population. Materials and methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study with a representative sample of 37,165 Mexican adults aged 20 to 59 years. Indigenous identity was determined by self-report of being a speaker of an indigenous language. Eight groups of analysis were created according to gender, literacy, and being indigenous. An exploratory factor analysis was used to describe the prevalence of depressive symptoms as measured by the short version of the CES-D, as well as the configuration factorial invariance of the profiles. The variance-covariance matrices of the pairs of profiles were compared using the modified Mantel test. Results: The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 16.8% (95% CI: 13.4-20.3) for indigenous women who could read, 21.3% (95% CI: 15.5% 27.1) for indigenous women who could not read, 8.5% (95% CI: 6.0-11.1) for indigenous men who could read, and 10.4% (95% CI: 5.2-15.6) for indigenous men who could not read. No significant differences in the factorial loads of the profiles were found. Conclusion: The prevalence of depressive symptoms in indigenous people is lower than in the nonindigenous population. The factorial invariance of the CES-D scale was high for the indigenous population.


This guide is intended as an aid to researchers, both to finding materials in our library system, and to point to other useful sources.


Experimental studies of soil penetration by low-velocity projectiles stimulated the development of theoretical modeling of the phenomena. We developed a model of vertical penetration of granular soils verified by known experiments and dimensional analysis. The experimental results showed nonmonotonic dependence between projectile deceleration and depth of penetration. Net resistant force was found to be a complicated function of variable deceleration and depth. This force was defined not only with pure dynamic and static components, but also with a mixed component important for interpretation of experimental results. Theoretical analysis of nonmonotonic variation of resistance with depth permits evaluation of static properties of noncohesive material using dynamic characteristics of projectile penetration. An understanding of physical processes governing projectile's deceleration was acquired. Velocity and acceleration are obtained as functions of initial velocity, depth of penetration, and media properties. We show two conditions when peaks of acceleration are observed. The initial peak is due to dynamic characteristics, and the second peak is due to static characteristics of penetration.


The structural requirements for inhibition of RBL-1 (rat basophilic leukemia) 5-lipoxygenase by 15-hydroxyeicosa-5,8,11,13-tetraenoic acid (15-HETE, 1) were studied by systematic chemical modifications of the molecule at the hydroxyl and carboxyl groups, the double bonds, and the carboxylate and omega side chains. The most potent inhibitors were analogues that contained a 5,8-cis,cis-diene system and acted as alternate substrates for the enzyme. However, several analogues in which the 5,8-diene had been reduced were also found to inhibit the enzyme. Inhibition of 5-lipoxygenase by 15-hydroxyeicosa-11,13-dienoic acid (15-HEDE) analogues was optimal in compounds that generally contained a free carboxyl group, a carboxylate side chain of nine carbons, an omega side chain of five or six carbons, a cis,trans- or trans,cis-11,13-diene or 11,13-diyne system, and a 15-hydroxyl group. Conversion of 15-HEDE to its 16-membered lactone reduced but did not eliminate 5-lipoxygenase inhibitory activity. In contrast, a 3- to 10-fold enhancement of activity occurred when 5,15-diHETE (58) or 5-HETE (56) were cyclized to their respective delta-lactones. Molecular modeling of 15-HEDE analogues, modified in the C11-C15 region, showed that inactive analogues protrude into regions in space not occupied by active analogues. These structural studies indicate that multiple regions are important for 5-lipoxygenase inhibition by both 15-HETE and 15-HEDE analogues and that no single region plays a predominant role in inhibition.


The present study was aimed to assess the quality and acceptability of some value added litchi products which have been essentially tailored to satisfy the health needs and prevent wastage. Litchi, the queen of subtropics is having extremely short post harvest life. A few innovative and value added items prepared from the fruit include cordial, blended squash and nectar with jamun, burfee, cheese, chutney, dehydrated litchi nut, osmo-dried litchi nut, pulp and osmo-syrup. Organoleptic, biochemical and microbial load of different products were analysed using standard procedures. All the prepared products were stored at both ambient as well as refrigerated temperature. Their storage stability was assessed periodically for 4 months to one year depending upon the products and also on storage condition. Microbial load were within permissible level in different products immediately after formulation and on storage ensuring its safety for consumption. Blended squash was acceptable for up to one year at both temperatures, nectar seven months and cordial up to eight months at room temperature and both nectar and cordial for eleven and twelve months respectively at refrigerated temperature. The acceptability of cheese and chutney was up to one year and burfee up to five months at ambient temperature. Osmo-dried nuts up to ten months under room condition, pulp and osmo syrup may be stored for one year and four months respectively at refrigerated temperature without much loss in their sensory attributes and microbial load far below the critical range.


The goal of this study is to assess the possibility of accurate on-line instantaneous velocity estimation in swimming. Having an on-line tool, coaches could provide immediate feedback about performance to trainees. More importantly, by on-line monitoring of velocity anomaly in open-water swimming, the safety of events can be significantly improved. We have previously introduced a method, using a wearable IMU, to estimate swimming instantaneous velocity, though information about pool length and a complete lap data were needed to correct the integration drift of IMU signals. In the present study, we used our previous algorithm for cycle's mean velocity estimation, as a criterion for drift correction in instantaneous velocity estimation without the knowledge about pool length. Using a simple within-cycle linear drift model, the relative error of the algorithm tested on 8 swimmers is 0.1±15.4%. As a result, the instantaneous velocity is available at the end of every cycle.


During instructional design, teachers often plan learning activities that fail to align with desired student learning outcomes and assessment. This investigation examined the approach taken by science faculty when developing a case study about embryonic sex determination. Faculty participants in a case study workshop used the backward design method of Wiggins and McTighe to establish learning outcomes, acceptable evidence for learning, and a plan for learning activities. Participants worked in groups of three or four to complete a case design template that was collected and analyzed. When asked to select the three most suitable student learning outcomes for the case from Wiggins and McTighe's six facets of understanding, participants chose perspective (18/22 groups), engagement (13/22), explanation (11/22), interpretation (11/22), application (8/22) and self‐knowledge (4/22). The preference for perspective suggests that faculty recognized that critical analysis is an important facet of understanding for a case requiring nuanced judgments about science, technology and ethics. When given a choice of approaches for assessing student learning, participants most often selected performance tasks to assess student perspective; quiz or test questions to assess student explanation or interpretation; and observation or dialogue to assess student engagement. These selections indicate that faculty were generally able to match appropriate forms of assessment to desired student learning outcomes. This investigation shows that, contrary to ordinary practice, backward design can help faculty choose learning outcomes and assessment methods that are suitably aligned with the understanding called for by a case study.


This work describes the activity of 6-((7-nitrobenzo[c][1,2,5]oxadiazol-4-yl)thio)hexan-1-ol (NBDHEX) and of its newly identified carboxylic acid metabolite on the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. NBDHEX has been previously identified as a potent cytotoxic agent against murine and human cancer cells as well as towards the protozoan parasite Giardia duodenalis. We show here that NBDHEX is active in vitro against all blood stages of P. falciparum, with the rare feature of killing the parasite stages transmissible to mosquitoes, the gametocytes, with a 4-fold higher potency than that on the pathogenic asexual stages. This activity importantly translates into blocking parasite transmission through the Anopheles vector in mosquito experimental infections. A mass spectrometry analysis identified covalent NBDHEX modifications in specific cysteine residues of five gametocyte proteins, possibly associated with its antiparasitic effect. The carboxylic acid metabolite of NBDHEX retains the gametocyte preferential inhibitory activity of the parent compound, making this novel P. falciparum transmission-blocking chemotype at least as a new tool to uncover biological processes targetable by gametocyte selective drugs. Both NBDHEX and its carboxylic acid metabolite show very limited in vitro cytotoxicity on VERO cells. This result and previous evidence that NBDHEX shows an excellent in vivo safety profile in mice and is orally active against human cancer xenografts make these molecules potential starting points to develop new P. falciparum transmission-blocking agents, enriching the repertoire of drugs needed to eliminate malaria.


Positive Pressure Ventilation (PPV) is a tactical f orced ventilation technique used by many fire departments to remove smoke, heat and contaminants from a burning building. PPV usage as a post fire strategy is generally proven and widely a ccepted as an effective ventilation tool. However, its success as a pre-attack strategy in controlling the spread of fire and smoke is only ensured when it i s used correctly and with caution. The efficiency of PPV depends mainly upon net air flow rate through the fire structure. The amount of fresh air blown i nto the building during a PPV attack is affected by various factors such as fan capacity, distance betw een the fan and inlet door, inlet dimensions, exhau st opening area, wind and fire conditions etc. Computa tional Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a useful and costeffective tool in improving our understanding on va rious factors affecting the effectiveness of PPV and could be used to improve both the fire fighter and fire victim's safety. In the present investigat ion, the SMARTFIRE CFD fire field model is validated using two full-scale experiments characterising a PPV fan. This work is extended by investigating th e relationship between the exhaust/inlet area ratio and the net air flow rate into the room geometry un der wind and no wind conditions. Finally, results from the simulations of a complex multi-storey stru cture involving wind driven fire and PPV fan are also presented. Suggestions have been made on the c hoice of vent locations for better fan performance.


This paper presents osteoarchaeological analyses of the human skeletal material from a burnt down house in Jutland, Denmark, dated to the first century bc. We describe how the osteological analyses of this complex site were approached and illustrate how we reconstructed the death of the human victims. Besides basic osteological analyses, we also tried to reconstruct the posture of the deceased humans using 12-in. posable wooden mannequins. Along with bones from several domestic animals, skeletal elements from six human individuals were recovered. All individuals were located in the eastern end of the house—the byre end. The demographic structure indicates a small family household. Our posture reconstruction further proposes that they did not die of asphyxiation while sleeping: At least two of the individuals were lying face down, trying to protect themselves. Two other individuals were lying on their side in crouching positions, which cannot be ruled out as examples of pugilistic attitude. However, we suggest this is rather unlikely. The humans could have died as they failed to rescue their invaluable animals from the fire. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Silvera-Simon, C., Mena-Portales, J., Gene, J., Cano, J. & Guarro, J. 2009. Repetophragma calongeii sp. nov. and other interesting dematiaceous hyphomycetes from the North of Spain. Anales Jard. Bot. Madrid 66S1: 33-39. Repetophragma calongeii sp. nov., a dematiaceous hypho mycete found on unidentified dead wood collected in the Pagoeta Natural Park, Spain, is described and illustrated. The fungus is recognized by numerous percurrent proliferations in the conidiophores and its 12-27 euseptate, subcylindrical or subfusiform conidia. A key to species of Repetophragma without rostrate conidia is given and 18 additional dematiaceous hyphomycetes are firtly reported for Spain.


EFFECT OF OUTSIDE EMPLOYMENT ON ACADEMIC SUCCESS AMONG FULL-TIME ASSOCIATE DEGREE NURSING STUDENTS Julian A. Moore Old Dominion University, 2008 Director: Dr. Alan M. Schwitzer Large portions of the United States are experiencing a shortage of nurses in the workplace. In 2001 the American Hospital Association reported that there were 126,000 vacancies for RNs nationwide. Sixty percent of all U.S. educated RNs who entered the field in 2000 received their education at the associate degree level and 79% of these associate degree recipients graduated from a community college. Improving completion rates in nursing programs is one major strategy in the effort to relieve this shortage of nurses. The intent of this research was to study the effect of various factors on the academic achievement of students in associate degree nursing programs. The researcher collected data from participants at five Virginia community colleges who maintained nursing programs. All of the selected colleges were in rural or suburban areas in the western portion of the Commonwealth. Consistent with the literature for the general college population, the researcher expected that full-time nursing students' GPAs would be most affected by the number of weekly hours of outside employment they maintained. Differences in traditional and non-traditional students, career-related and non career-related employment, social support, and perceived stress levels were also considered as contributing factors. This research study's findings indicated that, contrary to the findings in previous literature, the positive influence of social support and the negative impact of stress affected GPA more than outside employment among this specific population. Social support explained seven percent of the variance among mean grade point average and perceived stress level explained an additional three percent.


Highly time-resolved time-tagged FUSE satellite spectroscopic data are analysed to establish the far-ultraviolet (FUV) absorption line characteristics of the nova-like cataclysmic variable binary, V3885 Sgr. We determine the temporal behaviour of low (Ly_beta, CIII, NIII) and high (SIV, PV, OVI) ion species, and highlight corresponding orbital phase modulated changes in these lines. On average the absorption troughs are blueshifted due to a low velocity disc wind outflow. Very rapid (~ 5 min) fluctuations in the absorption lines are isolated, which are indicative of stochastic density changes. Doppler tomograms of the FUV lines are calculated which provide evidence for structures where a gas stream interacts with the accretion disc. We conclude that the line depth and velocity changes as a function of orbital phase are consistent with an asymmetry that has its origin in a line-emitting, localised disc-stream interaction region.


This paper reports on the quantification of primary dendritic and eutectic nucleation undercoolings during rapid solidification of impulse atomized hypo-eutectic Al-Cu droplets. The procedure consists in determining the eutectic fraction of each investigated droplet from the fraction of intermetallic Al 2 Cu obtained by Rietveld refinement analysis of neutrons scattering data. The corresponding eutectic nucleation undercooling is then deduced from the metastable phase diagram of the alloy. The dendritic nucleation undercooling is subsequently determined using semi-empirical coarsening models of secondary dendrite arms. The two nucleation undercoolings are finally used as input variables to run a microsegregation model for binary alloys. The fractions of eutectic computed by the microsegregation model compare very favourably with the experimental results.


This article situates the ESL textbook within current scholarship on intermediality and multimodality and, with poetry as the main focus, considers how the media ecology within the covers of the ESL textbook, as well as that implied outside those covers, e.g. web pages, workbooks, audio files and so on, affects the literary text. This qualitative study of how poetry figures in the Swedish ESL textbook series Wings 7, 8, and 9 analyses the case of Emily Dickinson's poem "I heard a Fly buzz – when I died," included in Wings 9, at length to uncover the rich textual web of which a poem in a textbook forms part, as well as the resources it asks learners to mobilize in the emergent event of classroom learning.
The inclusion of poems in ESL textbooks typically requires no editorial interventions in terms of abridgement, which makes this genre useful for considering the implications of the medium on the text itself. Poems in ESL textbooks continuously interact with other texts, themes, images and tasks within the textbook. Thus, the medium of the textbook has a transformative effect on the original literary texts it comprises.


The higher order Hamiltonian approach is utilized to elicit approximate solutions for two nonlinear oscillation systems. Frequency-amplitude relationships and the model of buckling of a column and mass-spring system are scrutinized in this paper. First, second and third approximate solutions of examples are achieved, and the frequency responses of the systems are verified by exact numerical solutions. According to the numerical results, we can conclude that the Hamiltonian approach is an applicable method for solving the nonlinear equations, and the accuracy of this method in the second and third approximates is very high and reliable. The achieved results of this paper demonstrate that this method is powerful and uncomplicated for solving of sophisticated nonlinear problems.


Regalerpeton weichangensis was established in 2009 on an incomplete skeleton preserved mainly as an impression from the Lower Cretaceous of Hebei, China. However, several anatomical characters were misinterpreted due to distortion of the holotype, and its taxonomic position has been in debate. In this paper, R. weichangensis is redescribed based on eight new specimens and its diagnosis and phylogenetic position are re-examined. This work shows that R. weichangensis was a neotenic form with ossified carpals and tarsals. It has a series of unique combination of characteristics including the vomer with a transverse vomerine tooth row, anterior end of the cultriform process of the parasphenoid indented, basibranchial II triradiate and scapulocoracoid with a rectangular coracoid end. Phylogenetic analysis suggests Regalerpeton , Jeholotriton and Pangerpeton should be placed in the suborder Salamandroidea with three synapomorphies. Moreover, they also share unicapitate ribs with Cryptobranchoidea, which indicates that they represent an important stage of evolution in the Cryptobranchoidea-Salamandroidea split.


It is a great honor for me to have been asked to contribute to this issue of the Journal of Law and Religion focusing on the work of my colleague and friend, Robert E. Rodes, Jr. In June 2006, Professor Rodes celebrated his fiftieth anniversary as a member of the faculty of Notre Dame Law School. His long career has marked him as a founding father of interdisciplinary scholarship at the intersection of faith, law, and morality—the very sort of scholarship which this journal is dedicated to fostering and preserving. The topics that Professor Rodes has considered over the years are wide-ranging; for example, he has written insightfully on both sexual ethics and economic justice. The methods that he has used are diverse; he has deftly deployed the tools of historiography as well as logic. Moreover, the normative stances that he has taken defy location on the normal liberal/conservative spectrum as it plays itself out in American political life. He has argued in favor of a legal system that would encourage a more traditional sexual morality, while emphasizing the need to compassionately accommodate those whose lives do not conform to its strictures. He has also maintained the importance of assessing social and economic structures from the perspective of the most marginalized members of the society, without succumbing to romantic illusions that technology, progress, or the dynamism of history will eliminate class stratification and its ensuing divisions of humanity into the "haves" and the "have nots." His writings at the intersection of law and religion reflect neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party at prayer—and neither party at a town hall meeting, for that matter.


Drainwater management strategies include source control, reuse, treatment, and evaporation ponds; questions of interest are efficient management, policy instruments, and sustainability. A high level of source control is indicated absent reuse due to the relatively high cost of evaporation ponds; this is accomplished largely through high uniformity/high cost irrigation systems. With reuse, the primary form of source control is reduction in land area devoted to freshwater production; the released land goes to reuse production. Reuse appears as an economically promising solution to the drainage problem. A high level of net returns is achieved while maintaining overall hydrologic balance in the system. Economic efficiency and hydrologic balance may be attained through pricing or market schemes. With pricing, growers are charged for deep percolations flows, while reuse and evaporation pond operators are paid for extractions. With markets, permit supply is generated by extractions from the water table, while permit demand is generated by deep percolation. Competitive equilibrium exists, is efficient, and implies hydrologic balance. The analysis suggests that a high level of agricultural production may be possible for some period of time while still maintaining environmental quality.


In South Africa despite the call for a paradigm shift addressing barriers to learning, whereby the needs of each learner will be incorporated into an inclusive classroom (DOE, 2001), the medical model is still dominant. The learners who experience learning difficulties are still placed in LSEN schools. It is not only learners who have below average intelligence quotient (IQ) test results who are placed in LSEN schools, but also those that have average, above average and superior IQ's (Sheryl, Handler, Watson, & Fierson, 2011). The element of functioning in the intellectually 'superior' range of intelligence is not taken into consideration before placement. The focus is placed on the difficulty. This study therefore looked at the experiences of learners assessed as intellectually 'superior' and who also experienced learning difficulties in an LSEN school and how the school promoted the competence of these learners as indicated by the IQ tests. This research was a qualitative study which positioned itself within the interpretivist paradigm. The research design was a case study of seven learners within an LSEN school who had 'superior IQs' and learning difficulties. The first technique utilised to generate data was semi-structured interviews. The second was document analysis of the school curriculum and the third was interviewing the therapists. Purposeful sampling was used. This study's validity was based on trustworthiness. Inductive thematic analysis was utilized to determine the themes of this study. There were seven emergent themes that this study yielded. These were interwoven with the theoretical framework of positive psychology and refuted the relevant literature that was reviewed. Despite the placement of learners with learning difficulties being rooted in the medical model this study's findings reflect that the learners within this LSEN School do have positive experiences and are in fact exposed a holistic approach to education. It is therefore recommended that with departmental consent those chosen