A transmission over a memoryless discrete-time noisy multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) channel is considered here in this letter, where the signal is distorted according to a nonlinear function at the receiver side, and the input signal is constrained to have a fixed even moment. A variational approach is proposed to analyze the capacity of such a memoryless nonlinear MIMO channel whose output is perturbed by additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). The optimal input distribution that achieves the channel capacity is derived through a methodology based on multidimensional Hermite polynomials.


ABSTRACT Amoxicillin-clavulanate resistance (MIC >16 μg/ml) and the corresponding molecular mechanisms were prospectively studied inEscherichia coli over a 3-year period (1996 to 1998) in 14 French hospitals. The overall frequency of resistant E. coli isolates remained stable at about 5% over this period. The highest frequency of resistant isolates (10 to 15%) was observed, independently of the year, among E. coli isolated from lower respiratory tract samples, and the isolation rate of resistant strains was significantly higher in surgical wards than in medical wards in 1998 (7.8 versus 2.8%). The two most frequent mechanisms of resistance for the 3 years were the hyperproduction of the chromosomal class C β-lactamase (48, 38.4, and 39.7%) and the production of inhibitor-resistant TEM (IRT) enzymes (30.4, 37.2, and 41.2%). By using the single-strand conformational polymorphism–PCR technique and sequencing methods, we determined that 59 IRT enzymes corresponded to previously described IRT enzymes whereas 8 were new. Three of these new enzymes derived from TEM-1 by only one amino acid substitution (Ser130Gly, Arg244Gly, and Asn276Asp), whereas three others derived by two amino acid substitutions (Met69Leu and Arg244Ser, Met69Leu and Ile127Val, and Met69Val and Arg275Gln). The two remaining new IRTs showed three amino acid substitutions (Met69Val, Trp165Arg, and Asn276Asp and Met69Ile, Trp165Cys, and Arg275Gln). New genetic features were also found inblaTEM genes, namely,blaTEM-1B with either the promotersPa and Pb, P4, or a promoter displaying a C→G transversion at position 3 of the −35 consensus sequence and new blaTEM genes, notably one encoding TEM-1 but possessing the silent mutations originally described in blaTEM-2 and then in someblaTEM-encoding IRT enzymes.


Firms increasingly rely upon external actors for their innovation process. Interaction with these actors may occur formally (i.e. through a collaboration agreement) or informally (i.e. external actors acts as sources of knowledge). This paper analyses the reasons why firms consider it to be important to develop formal and informal external linkages in the innovation process by looking at the role played by firms' innovative strategies and by taking into account that a complementarity or substitutive relationship might exist between formal and informal linkages. Data come from the Third Community Innovation Survey (CIS 3), where we have access to firm level micro-data from Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK.


Men and women have many differing biological and physiological characteristics. Thus, it is no surprise that the control of metabolic processes and the mechanisms underlying metabolic‐related diseases have sex‐specific components. There is a clear metabolic sexual dimorphism in that up until midlife, men have a far greater likelihood of acquiring cardio‐metabolic disease than women. Following menopause, however, this difference is reduced, suggestive of a protective role of the female sex hormones. Inflammatory processes have been implicated in the pathogenesis of cardio‐metabolic disease with human studies correlating metabolic disease acquisition or risk with levels of various inflammatory markers. Rodent studies employing genetic modifications or novel pharmacological approaches have provided mechanistic insight into the role of these inflammatory mediators. Sex differences impact inflammatory processes and the subsequent biological response. As a consequence, this may affect how inflammation alters metabolic processes between the sexes. Recently, some of our work in the field of inflammatory genes and metabolic control identified a sexual dimorphism in a preclinical model and caused us to question the frequency and scale of such findings in the literature. This review concentrates on inflammatory‐related signalling in relation to obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes and highlights the differences observed between males and females. Differences in the activation and signalling of various inflammatory genes and proteins present another reason why studying both male and female patients or animals is important in the context of understanding and finding therapeutics for metabolic‐related disease.


This article investigates whether firms vary the debt side of their capital structure based on changes in investor demand for bonds. Examining asset flows into various asset classes over the last 30 years reveals that companies respond to recent increases in demand for bonds from investors by altering their capital structure toward greater use of debt. Firms are more likely to issue debt when demand for bonds rises, and their use of debt increases (decreases) in periods when demand for bonds is high (low) compared with periods when demand is not significantly changed. Firms use more (less) debt when spreads between corporate yields and Treasury rates are low (high), consistent with efforts by managers to adjust their debt issuances based on relative debt costs. These results hold after controlling for seasonality, firm effects, and macroeconomic conditions. These findings suggest that investor demand for debt needs to be taken into account when examining the capital structure puzzle.


Sperm capacitation refers to the physiological changes in which spermatozoa must undergo in order to have its ability to penetrate and fertilize a mature oocyte. Recognition of the phenomenon was quite important to early in vitro fertilization (IVF) experiments as well as to the fields of embryology and reproductive biology. This initial study is designed to study the process of capacitation of ram sperm with three heparin levels (50,100,150 IU). 140 pairs of abattoir testicular samples (70 pairs each season), with 70 ewe genitalia specimens (35 each season). Spermatozoa sample were capacitated with heparin in CO2 incubator for 45 minutes, and evaluated by its total motility and its ability to penetrate oocytes zona pellucida for fertilization. Different heparin level for spermatozoa capacitation in relation to seasonal influences revealed that; in regarding to capacitation index there was an increased spermatozoa activity and motility significantly for the three levels within season, but capacitation index showed significant variations between the three heparin levels out of breeding season in which the highest heparin level gave the best capacitation index than the other two. Results of oocytes collection in relation to seasonal influences revealed to; total oocytes number was 2035 oocytes on both season in which 1039 oocytes were obtained within season while a number of 1006 oocytes was collected out of season. Oocytes maturity index within season time is about 40% for the oocytes grade V.good and good grade, fair and poor grade is 25%.Oocytes collected out of breeding time showed range between 25% for the v. good and good grade to 10% for the other. Fertilizable index for embryos development after capacitated spermatozoa adding to the medium containing matured oocytes is range from 35% for the v. good and good graded oocytes within a season to 10% out of season. In conclusion; heparin can induced spermatozoa capacitation in any levels through the breeding season while the high level of heparin gave better results, fertilizable index and embryo production are both gave best result via breeding season.


We propose Mask Auto-Labeler (MAL), a high-quality Transformer-based mask auto-labeling framework for instance segmentation using only box annotations. MAL takes box-cropped images as inputs and conditionally generates their mask pseudo-labels. We show that Vision Transformers are good mask auto-labelers. Our method significantly reduces the gap between auto-labeling and human annotation regarding mask quality. Instance segmentation models trained using the MAL-generated masks can nearly match the performance of their fully-supervised counterparts, retaining up to 97.4% performance of fully supervised models. The best model achieves 44.1% mAP on COCO instance segmentation (test-dev 2017), outperforming state-of-the-art box-supervised methods by significant margins. Qualitative results indicate that masks produced by MAL are, in some cases, even better than human annotations.


This study presents an approach for obtaining limited sets of realizations of hydraulic conductivity (K) of multiple aquifers using simulated annealing (SA) simulation and spatial correlations among aquifers to simulate realizations of hydraulic heads and quantify their uncertainty in the Pingtung Plain, Taiwan. The proposed approach used the SA algorithm to generate large sets of natural logarithm hydraulic conductivity (ln(K)) realizations in each aquifer based on spatial correlations among aquifers. Moreover, small sets of ln(K) realizations were obtained from large sets of realizations by ranking the differences among cross-variograms derived from the measured ln(K) and the simulated ln(K) realizations between the aquifer pair Aquifer 1 and Aquifer 2 (hereafter referred to as Aquifers 1–2) and the aquifer pair Aquifer 2 and Aquifer 3 (hereafter referred to as Aquifers 2–3), respectively. Additionally, the small sets of realizations of the hydraulic conductivities honored the horizontal spatial variability and distributions of the hydraulic conductivities among aquifers to model groundwater precisely. The uncertainty analysis of the 100 combinations of simulated realizations of hydraulic conductivity was successfully conducted with generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE). The GLUE results indicated that the proposed approach could minimize simulation iterations and uncertainty, successfully achieve behavioral simulations when reduced between calibration and evaluation runs, and could be effectively applied to evaluate uncertainty in hydrogeological properties and groundwater modeling, particularly in those cases which lack three-dimensional data sets yet have high heterogeneity in vertical hydraulic conductivities.


This paper presents a new interactive tool for making local adjustments of tonal values and other visual parameters in an image. Rather than carefully selecting regions or hand-painting layer masks, the user quickly indicates regions of interest by drawing a few simple brush strokes and then uses sliders to adjust the brightness, contrast, and other parameters in these regions. The effects of the user's sparse set of constraints are interpolated to the entire image using an edge-preserving energy minimization method designed to prevent the propagation of tonal adjustments to regions of significantly different luminance. The resulting system is suitable for adjusting ordinary and high dynamic range images, and provides the user with much more creative control than existing tone mapping algorithms. Our tool is also able to produce a tone mapping automatically, which may serve as a basis for further local adjustments, if so desired. The constraint propagation approach developed in this paper is a general one, and may also be used to interactively control a variety of other adjustments commonly performed in the digital darkroom.


Maternal mortality is an acute problem for many countries around the world, particularly those at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP). Most remote locations in these underdeveloped nations, for instance, in Africa, have to cope with the problem of interrupted electricity supply making healthcare practitioners often experience a helpless compulsion to compromise in providing quality medical attention, especially during childbirth. Along with many public, private and nongovernment initiatives, WE CARE Solar (hereafter WCS) – a social innovation venture comes with an idea of developing portable solar suitcases to respond to this intransigent problem.,This paper introduces a social enterprise that established its operation in Africa and so far has served in more than 30 similarly impoverished economies. Data was collected, analyzed using documentary research method. The authors have also collected and correlated the statements from the founder of WCS to complement the authors' findings. With this paper, the authors intend to establish the type of innovation tools that are needed to provide value with a social innovation initiative in the health sector in the least developed country perspective. To facilitate better social outcomes and to ensure greater good, innovation requires to be accompanied by stakeholders' involvement.,The findings indicate that WE CARE Solar has a positive social contribution toward ensuring safe motherhood and childbirth in underdeveloped countries by providing access to reliable solar power sources. The six-step social innovation process can be adopted by other social ventures to propose innovative solutions to social needs. Analyzing WCS's service delivery from the perspective of the 4As framework and value co-creation model, it is suggested that sustainable social change can be established with value co-creation through community engagement with multiple stakeholders.,This research was solely focused on one organization alone. Future research could look into the model to ascertain its acceptability in similar social innovation in healthcare initiatives.,This paper attempts to address a gap in social innovation in healthcare and its adaptability using the 4As framework with the value co-creation model. The authors propose this model from the data accumulated throughout the research, which could also serve to assist organizations looking for scalable and sustainable change.


: The paper presents a brief review of literature data on cordaron action on thyroid function under a prolonged schedule of its use, and a description of 4 cases of thyrotoxicosis developed by males after 2-10 years of cordaron maintenance for paroxysms of cardiac fibrillation in a dose of 200-600 mg. Probability of thyrotoxicosis necessitates an assessment of thyroid function when planning long-term treatment with cordaron.


The sequences responsible for S phase-specific induction of the human thymidine kinase (TK) gene have been mapped to a small region that contains putative E2F binding sites. We have analyzed protein-DNA interactions at the TK promoter during cell cycle progression in human fibroblasts using an in vivo footprinting approach. We found 14 protein binding sites that were occupied in vivo. All of the sites (among them two inverted CCAAT boxes and several Sp1 sites) bound transcription factors constitutively throughout the cell cycle, i.e. none of the factor binding was cell cycledependent. An E2F-like site located between nucleotides 297 and 289 relative to the major transcription start site was protected in G0, G1, S, and G2 phases. This cell cycle-independent protection of E2F sequences in the TK promoter differs from the G0/G1-restricted binding of E2F complexes observed for genes in which the E2F sites function as repressor elements (Tommasi, S., and Pfeifer, G. P. (1995) Mol. Cell. Biol. 15, 6901–6913; Zwicker, J., Liu, N., Engeland, K., Lucibello, F. C., and Müller, R. (1996) Science 271, 1595–1597). A comparison of several genes containing E2F motifs indicates that E2F sites located in proximity to the transcription initiation site (250 to 120) in TATA-less promoters predominantly function as repressor elements, while in other genes constitutively bound E2F complexes located further upstream mediate activation presumably in conjunction with a functional TATA box.


Brown adipose tissue from mice living under conditions approaching human thermal and nutritional conditions (prolonged exposure to thermoneutral temperature and to an energy-rich (high-fat, high-sugar) diet) — referred to as "physiologically humanized" mice, displays morphological and molecular characteristics significantly different from those observed in young, chow-fed mice maintained at room temperature — referred to as "standard" mice. Here, we further examined brown fat from physiologically humanized and standard mice, as well as from mice exposed to thermoneutrality for a long time but not to an energy-rich diet - referred to here as "long-term thermoneutral" mice. Global transcriptome analysis of brown fat revealed that genes that were the most upregulated in brown fat of thermoneutral mice (both physiologically humanized and long-term thermoneutral) were those related to inflammatory processes, including genes expressed selectively in macrophages. Cellular and molecular analyses confirmed that brown fat from thermoneutral mice was heavily infiltrated by macrophages, predominantly organized into crown-like structures. However, despite this, the brown fat of thermoneutral mice retained full competence to attain the greatest possible recruitment state and became macrophage-depleted during the process of cold acclimation. Thus, profound macrophage accumulation does not influence the thermogenic recruitment competence of brown fat.


Measles virus (MV) and canine distemper virus (CDV) are highly contagious and deadly, forming part of the morbillivirus genus. The receptor recognition by morbillivirus hemagglutinin (H) is important for determining tissue tropism and host range. Recent reports largely urge caution as regards to the potential expansion of host specificities of morbilliviruses. Nonetheless, the receptor-binding potential in different species of morbillivirus H proteins is largely unknown. Herein, we show that the CDV-H protein binds to the dog signaling lymphocyte activation molecule (SLAM), but not to the human, tamarin, or mouse SLAM. In contrast, MV-H can bind to human, tamarin and dog SLAM, but not to that of mice. Notably, MV binding to dog SLAM showed a lower affinity and faster kinetics than that of human SLAM, and MV exhibits a similar entry activity in dog SLAM- and human SLAM-expressing Vero cells. The mutagenesis study using a fusion assay, based on the MV-H–SLAM complex structure, revealed differences in tolerance for the receptor specificity between MV-H and CDV-H. These results provide insights into H-SLAM specificity related to potential host expansion.


In a passive avoidance situation, hypophysectomized male rats show less fear than normal rats, whereas adrenalectomized rats show greater fear than normals. These results probably occur because hypophysectomized rats lack adrenocorticotrophic hormone, which increases arousal or emotionality, whereas adrenalectomized animals lack certain adrenal steroids, which inhibit excitatory effects. The results indicate that adrenocorticotrophic hormone and certain adrenal steroids have opposite effects in regulating fear-motivated behavior.


The seasonal growth pattern of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile was examined in 5 meadows in NE Spain to assess the relative importance of large-scale versus local factors in controbng the seasonal patterns observed. Large-scale seasonal forcing, resulting from changes in light and temperature associated with the solar cycle, was assessed from the coherence of seasonal growth palterns among the meadows and accounted for 46 and 43% of variability in shoot size and growth, respectively. The local component of seasonality, which results from local variation in environmental variables (e.g. nutrients, dissolved inorganic carbon, redox potential) was assessed as the differences in the annual time course of shoot size and growth among the meadows, and accounted for 9 and 12% of the variability, respectively. These results support the contention that seagrass seasonality is primarily controlled by the solar cycle, and secondarily by seasonal changes in the environment which are at leas1 in part caused by the temporal variability of seagrass growth. This indirect link between light and temperature and local conditions needs to be taken into account to interpret correlations between such variables and seagrass growth.


This paper presents the authors9 reflections regarding the collaborative studies and discussions on water resources among researchers from Thailand and Brazil. First, the similarities and differences between the countries regarding water resource management and policies are noted. Subsequently, the experiences and challenges of both countries in the negotiated allocation of water resources are discussed. Finally, the researchers comment on the current proposed draft of Thailand9s water law based on the experience in Brazil.


In magnets based in phases with high magnetocrystalline anisotropy like Nd2Fe14B or SmCo5 there is a competition between magnetostatic energy and domain wall energies. If the grain size is large, the formation of domain walls is energetically favorable. When the formation of domain walls is an unfavorable process, coercivity is larger. A better comprehension of this phenomenon is possible if the energy necessary for the first domain wall formation is properly evaluated. To address this problem, the magnetostatic energy of a sphere magnetized in two opposite directions, separated by a domain wall, is calculated using Legendre Polynomials. The data allow the determination of the reversible volume for nucleation. It is predicted a "recoil effect", the magnetization may be reversible until a given volume of reverse magnetization.


Background: Alterations in the components of hemostasis, namely platelet function, the procoagulant, anticoagulant, and the fibrinolytic systems, are observed in sickle cell anemia (SCA) and are in favor of a procoagulant phenotype. Therefore, study of protein C and antithrombin (AT) levels in patients with SCA in steady state may be used in the treatment and/or prevention of SCA-related thrombotic complications. We studied the changes of these naturally occurring anticoagulants in patients with SCA attending the sickle cell clinic in Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria. Methods: We conducted a case–control study involving 50 SCA (HbSS) patients in the steady state as cases and 25 healthy volunteers with normal hemoglobin (HbAA) as controls. Protein C and AT levels were estimated by semi-automation using Diagnostica Stago hematology coagulation analyzer. Frequencies, proportions, and independent t test were performed using SPSS version 20. Results: The mean ages of both the patients and controls were 23.80 ± 7.46 and 24.28 ± 3.48 years, respectively, and study participants comprised 40 (53.0%) women between the ages of 15–50 years and 15–34 years (P = 0.76). The mean values of protein C and AT levels in patients with SCA in the steady state and the control group were 60.26 ± 20.58% versus 81.30 ± 19.74%, 95% CI 11.13–30.96, and 42.11 ± 5.01% versus 61.88 ± 11.27%, 95% CI 16.03–23.51 with P values (P < 0.001), respectively. Conclusions: This study showed that there was a significant decrease in the levels of protein C and AT between the SCA patients in the steady state and the controls. We recommend baseline investigations of these naturally occurring anticoagulants in patients with SCA, especially in those with frequent vaso-occlusive crises. This will give us an insight into the additional pathophysiologic mechanism in SCA-related thrombotic complications for better patient management and outcome.


We collected 245 adipose tissue biopsies from adult polar bears Ursus maritimus in north-eastern Manitoba during the course of long-term population studies between fall 2001 and spring 2004. In summer, the sea ice of Hudson Bay melts completely and the entire polar bear population is forced to fast on land for c. 4 months. During this period, the adipose tissue of females contained significantly more lipid than that of males, consistent with preparation for pregnancy and lactation. The adipose tissue of females with cubs contained less lipid than that of solitary females, likely reflecting greater mobilization of lipid during lactation. Although most of the population returns to the sea ice to hunt after freeze-up in mid-November, pregnant females enter maternity dens where they continue to fast for an additional 4 months. As a result, the adipose tissue of females emerging from dens at the end of this 8-month 'reproductive fast' contained significantly less lipid than females in the fall. There was also evidence of a decline in the adipose tissue lipid content of females emerging from dens over the course of the study. Although this trend was based on limited sample sizes, it suggests that the overall condition of new mothers may be declining. Fat biopsies collected from 20 adult polar bears during a mark–recapture survey on the winter sea ice of south-eastern Beaufort Sea showed that the fatty acid (FA) composition of the superficial adipose layer was largely uniform with depth; however, lipid content significantly increased from skin to muscle. Finally, adipose tissue collected from the belly, rump and baculum depots of bears killed by native subsistence hunters showed no site-specific differences in either FA composition or lipid content. These data suggest that a single sample from any large superficial depot will accurately reflect a polar bear's total superficial adipose store. We suggest that lipid content of adipose tissue may provide valuable information on changes in polar bear condition in response to changes in arctic climate and prey distribution.


Finding transition states are important for analyzing chemical reactions, but revealing the reaction dynamics can be also essential in understanding many realistic reactions. For instance, recent experiments have shed light on the importance of protein's heterogeneous dynamics in the native state and during function, and ultrafast dynamics in photo-triggered chemical reactions have been studied over decades. However, most efforts in theoretical studies have been devoted to characterizing transition states and calculating ensemble-averaged properties, e.g. free energy profi les, whereas the dynamics have been of less focus. In this account, we review our recent efforts toward revealing the dynamics of reactions under diverse conditions from the theoretical perspective. We discuss three cases, i.e. photo-isomerization reaction in gas phase, and protein folding and enzyme catalysis in condensed phase. The key in these studies has been to shed light on the individual events occurring during reactions, rather than focusing only on the characteristic states and ensemble averages. These studies show that dynamics play a fundamental role in all three cases, and demonstrate how the dynamics analyses can deepen our understanding of the reactions under various conditions.


Freshness of fish plays an important role in the pricing and market acceptability of fish. Microbial activity is
one of the most important factors affecting freshness of fish. Seafood products are vulnerable to microbial spoilage even
in chilled storage. Fish flesh contains high levels of free non-protein nitrogen compounds which support post-mortem
bacterial growth. Microbial spoilage consequently shortens the shelf-life of the seafood product—making the product
unsuitable for consumption because of the growth of undesirable and health threatening micro-organisms. The microbial
quality of fish and the shelf-life of fish are both of considerable importance in fish consumption. The consumption of
deteriorating seafood poses risks to human health. Although legislation in many countries requires that fish be gutted
prior to storage under chilled conditions, the evidence on the effects of gutting on the microbial status of fish is mixed. In
this study, the bacterial spoilage of un-gutted and gutted Barramundi is assessed using a microbial assessment method
(the standard total plate count (TPC)). Barramundi is a high value cultured fish with high demand in Australian domestic
and foreign markets. The materials and methods employed are in accordance with the Australian Food Microbiology
Standards AS 5013, AS 5013.1, AS 5013.5 for Total Plate Count (TPC). Sixteen fish, weighing an average of 450g were
purchased from a Barramundi farm in Tasmania and processed within 30 minutes of harvest. TPC data from 148 agar
plates are analysed using tests of proportions and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The effective sample size is therefore,
n=148. The results of microbial tests suggest that gutted fish have a lower bacterial load in the initial days on ice.
However, un-gutted fish seem to present relatively lower levels of bacterial counts, particularly after extended periods on
ice. These results have implications for fresh fish transportation, storage, filleting and the processing of the different
edible cutlets (portions) of Barramundi.


In patients with morphological alterations of the thyroid, both the physical examination (inspection and palpation) and the imaging studies continue to be the cornerstone for their evaluation, treatment, and long-term follow-up. The realization of anatomical figures, obtained by means of a thyroid morphology delineation technique, is proposed as an additional exploratory intervention strategy in the initial clinical evaluation and follow-up of the thyroid gland with morphological alterations. A micropore paper tape is adhered to the surface of the neck skin, specifically in the area where the thyroid gland is located. Subsequently, with a pen, the outer edges of the gland are gently outlined, using a repeated sequence of palpation-outlining until an anatomical figure of the explored gland and its elements is obtained (e.g. thyroid nodules). The anatomical figures obtained by the proposed technique evidenced the progressive changes in the morphology of the thyroid gland and its elements (example: thyroid nodule). This proposal would be an additional strategy to the physical examination performed by the clinician in his office. Although it is not intended to replace the information provided by imaging studies such as ultrasound or CT scan, it can be of great clinical value for initial office evaluation and follow-up of thyroid disease. This technique has some advantages that are useful to reinforce diagnostic and therapeutic decisions based on physical examination of the gland. In addition, it makes it easier for the patient to have a better perception of the evolution of their own disease.


1.
A proposed trial reintroduction of the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber L.) to Scotland has recently been approved (May 2008). A previous proposal was turned down by the licensing authority, partly over the perceived risks to woodland within a Special Area of Conservation.

2.
This paper presents data on two years of willow (Salix spp.) and aspen (Populus tremula L.) regrowth following tree felling by captive beavers within two large semi-natural enclosures in eastern Scotland. Both willow and aspen are highly preferred by beavers.

3.
Regrowth of willow stems was quantified from cut stumps, felled logs and partially severed ('incompletely felled') trees, and compared with growth of stems in the canopies of untouched willows.

4.
Maximum annual regrowth was observed in incompletely felled trees, followed by cut stumps and then unfelled control trees. Mean regrowth rates were ca 18 m regrowth per metre of measured tree section per year in incompletely felled trees. This was approximately 12 times more annual regrowth than that observed in unfelled trees, despite apparently selective browsing of the regrowth of incompletely felled trees by roe deer.

5.
Although incompletely felled willows represent a relatively small component of felling activity (9% of all felled willow), they contribute disproportionately to the biomass of beaver-engineered riparian woodlands, creating a more multi-layered habitat structure.

6.
Willow regrowth in inundated areas was avoided by deer, and harvesting of regrowth by beavers was rare.

7.
Significant regrowth from 11 stumps of aspen in 2 years post-felling occurred by suckering, with 85 suckers of mean height 2.1 m being recorded, all of which were subsequently avoided by browsing deer and beavers.

8.
These data suggest that rapid regeneration of willow and aspen will occur in riparian woodlands in the event of major felling activity by Eurasian beaver, even in the presence of low to moderate levels of roe deer browsing, and that the conservation status of both these trees or the wider habitats that they form would not be threatened by a well planned and managed reintroduction of beavers to Scotland.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The television broadcasting culture of Pakistan was changed dramatically in 2002. The President, General Pervez Musharraf, introduced a policy of liberalisation that enabled controversial issues such as honour killings, adultery, stoning to death, domestic violence, marriage after divorce and homosexuality to be increasingly depicted on screen.

Women and TV Culture in Pakistan is the first in-depth analysis of this change in television content. Munira Cheema focuses on how `gender issues' are dealt with on TV and examines the impact this has on female viewers. In Pakistan, television is often the only way in which women can access the public sphere (except through male guardians) and this book evaluates how TV content allows them to navigate their intersecting identities as Muslims, women and Pakistanis. At a time when religious conservatism is on the rise in the country, this book investigates why producers choose to focus on gender-based issues and the extent to which religion dictates social behaviour and broadcasting choices. Based on interviews with women viewers in Karachi as well as industry professionals including writers, directors and ratings experts, the research is a much-needed and original contribution to global television studies and gender studies.


Abstract : The teaching and practice of rhetoric at Trinity College, Dublin, in the eighteenth century have been little discussed in the literature. This article describes the curriculum and pedagogy related to the old and "new rhetoric" of the Scottish enlightenment as disclosed by documents in the archives of Trinity College Library; the published lectures of two Erasmus Smith Professors of Oratory and History, John Lawson and Thomas Leland; and the lectures of Thomas Sheridan on elocution. Minutes of the student historical clubs in which debates and harangues are preserved illustrate the interests of the students, their techniques of debate, and the demonstrative exhortations of their officers. The student orations chronicle the gradual absorption of the principles of the new rhetoric at the College.


OBJECTIVES
To determine the prevalence of reported workplace bullying among a group of white-collar workers, to evaluate the association between reported bullying and its effect on health and to assess the effects of support at work for bullied workers.

METHODS
A cross-sectional questionnaire survey among full-time government employees in the health, education and security sectors. Bullying was assessed using a 20-item inventory. The potential effects of reported bullying were assessed using the Job Induced Stress Scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Job Satisfaction Scale and the Propensity to Leave Scale.

RESULTS
The response rate was 79% (944/1,200) and 877 questionnaires were analysed after exclusion of non-complete data. Of respondents, 55% (483) reported experiencing one or more types of bullying in the previous year and 47% (416) had witnessed the bullying of others. The bully was most likely to be a superior. Sixty per cent of victims had tried to take action against bullying, but most were dissatisfied with the outcome. There were significant differences in anxiety, depression, job-induced stress and support at work scores between those reporting bullying and those not reporting bullying at work. Those who reported bullying with low support at work had the poorest scores on the mental health scales.

CONCLUSIONS
Bullying is a serious problem in this group of workers and may lead to health consequences. Feeling that the work environment is supportive appears to have a protective effect in terms of the health outcomes.


This study re-examined the ability of intensive family preservation services (IFPS) to prevent out-of-home placements of children in abusive or neglectful families. A retrospective, population-based design was used. The sample comprised a statewide, six-year, archival population of high-risk child protective services children. The study ensured a high degree of treatment fidelity among service providers, controlled risk factors that may have adversely affected findings in earlier studies, and used event history analysis to examine treatment effects. IFPS significantly reduced placement rates or delayed placements of children compared with children of the same risk level but who received traditional child welfare services. Treatment effects increased as risk increased. In contrast to previous research, IFPS is shown to be effective in reducing out-of-home placements when model fidelity is high and the service is appropriately targeted. Key words: event history analysis; family preservation; outcomes; placement; placement prevention; risk factors ********** Intensive family preservation services (IFPS) are time-limited (usually four to six weeks), intensive, in-home services designed to prevent the removal of children from home as a result of abuse or neglect (Kinney, Haapala, & Booth, 1991). This study responds to studies that challenged the effectiveness of IFPS in preventing out-of-home placements. Many of those studies used experimental designs and attempted to achieve a high degree of scientific rigor (Feldman, 1991; Shuerman, Rzepnicki, Littell, & Chak, 1993; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS], 2001; Yuan, McDonald, Wheeler, Struckman-Johnson, & Rivest, 1990). Studies using experimental designs have produced equivocal findings, begging a review of the designs and methods used. Evidence exists that the research may have failed to detect treatment effects rather than demonstrate a lack of treatment effects (Fraser, Nelson, & Rivard, 1997). Design, model fidelity, and implementation issues may have compromised findings in these studies (Fraser, Nelson, & Rivard, 1997; Heneghan, Horwitz, & Leventhal, 1996; Pecora, Fraser, Nelson, McCroskey, & Meezan, 1995; Rossi, 1992). Rossi (1991, 1992) suggested that equivocal findings in early evaluations might have been due to differences in experimental and control groups with respect to true risk of placement before receiving IFPS. Inadequate attempts by workers to judge risk or refer only high-risk cases resulted in lower-risk cases being served. The most recent federal study (DHHS, 2001) attempted to resolve this issue using a specially designed risk-referral instrument, but the authors reported that the new tool did not identify high-risk families for random assignment (DHHS). Theoretically, IFPS is intended for the highest risk families. However, low placement rates for both experimental and control groups in most earlier studies suggest that lower-risk families were actually receiving IFPS. Under these circumstances, treatment effects would be mitigated when placement prevention is used as the dependent variable. A number of reviewers (Berry, 1992; Fraser, Walton, Lewis, Pecora, & Walton, 1996; Meezan & McCroskey, 1996; Rossi, 1991; Wells & Whittington, 1993) called for analysis of questions relating to family issues, family functioning, and multiple family outcomes to clarify the basis for placement prevention rather than relying solely on the placement prevention statistic. However, addressing criticism in the literature concerning the effect of family preservation services requires that placement prevention be included as an outcome. Problems have also been noted with respect to statistical and analytic approaches used in past research. Fraser and colleagues (1997) conducted a meta-analysis of treatment effects in the treatment literature relating to mental health, juvenile services, and child welfare (including IFPS) and concluded that the studies might have failed to detect treatment effects rather than determine that treatment effects did not occur. …


SUMMARY In this study, we test the adequacy of 2-D sensitivity kernels for fundamental-mode Rayleigh waves based on the single-scattering (Born) approximation to account for the effects of heterogeneous structure on the wavefield in a regional surface wave study. The calculated phase and amplitude data using the 2-D sensitivity kernels are compared to phase and amplitude data obtained from seismic waveforms synthesized by the pseudo-spectral method for plane Rayleigh waves propagating through heterogeneous structure. We find that the kernels can accurately predict the perturbation of the wavefield even when the size of anomaly is larger than one wavelength. The only exception is a systematic bias in the amplitude within the anomaly itself due to a site response. An inversion method of surface wave tomography based on the sensitivity kernels is developed and applied to synthesized data obtained from a numerical simulation modelling Rayleigh wave propagation over checkerboard structure. By comparing recovered images to input structure, we illustrate that the method can almost completely recover anomalies within an array of stations when the size of the anomalies is larger than or close to one wavelength of the surface waves. Surface wave amplitude contains important information about Earth structure and should be inverted together with phase data in surface wave tomography.


Langston Hughes is an important poet over the Harlem Renaissance who has contributed to the enhancement of the thematic profundity of his poetry in the association of African-American culture rooted in its literature, music, theater, art, and politics with his poetic production. Inspired by the original newness of his great poems, many foreign and Chinese scholars and critics have not only discussed much about his indispensable role in promoting dark brothers' folk culture on the basis of their valuable explorations among his works but also made a mention of dark brothers' lower social position as well as their unfair treatment in American society that has been dominated by their counterparts' culture through the careful combination of his poems with the unbearable experience they have been suffering from. What they haven't focused on in their respective studies of dark brothers' discriminated culture is a sound and detailed discussion about the dark brothers' empirical bitterness in the whole textual spaces of one of their academic essays or monographs in correspondence to one of his poems. To reduce the academic limitations in this respect, this essay will take one of his poems, I, Too, Sing America, as an analytical example to give a culturalist interpretation of the dark brothers' sound bitterness.


In the area of water governance, there has been little systematic comparison between China and India. This gap in the literature needs to be addressed, in part to examine whether there is anything about water governance that the two countries can learn from each other. The intended contributions of the special issue are three-fold. A comparative study of water governance provides opportunities to reflect and draw lessons for both countries. China and India are key riparian countries in some of Asia9s most important rivers, and their approaches to water conflicts in these rivers have significant impacts not only on water security but also on regional stability. Finally, comparative water governance is a new and undeveloped field of study. This special volume introduces the Modified Institutional Analysis and Development Framework as a tool to facilitate a more systematic theoretical and comparative approach to water governance using the cases of China and India. It does so by specifying various dimensions of the institutional context and how they could explain variations in the performance of the water sector. The aim is to help advance the current theoretical and applied discourse on comparative water governance as a basis for improving water sector performance.


IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THIS REIMBURSEMENT POLICY This policy is applicable to UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage Plans offered by UnitedHealthcare and its affiliates. You are responsible for submission of accurate claims. This reimbursement policy is intended to ensure that you are reimbursed based on the code or codes that correctly describe the health care services provided. UnitedHealthcare reimbursement policies use Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®*), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), or other coding guidelines. References to CPT or other sources are for definitional purposes only and do not imply any right to reimbursement. This reimbursement policy applies to all health care services billed on CMS 1500 forms and, when specified, to those billed on UB04 forms (CMS 1450). Coding methodology, industry-standard reimbursement logic, regulatory requirements, benefits design and other factors are considered in developing reimbursement policy. This information is intended to serve only as a general resource regarding UnitedHealthcare's reimbursement policy for the services described and is not intended to address every aspect of a reimbursement situation. Accordingly, UnitedHealthcare may use reasonable discretion in interpreting and applying this policy to health care services provided in a particular case. Further, the policy does not address all issues related to reimbursement for health care services provided to UnitedHealthcare enrollees. Other factors affecting reimbursement may supplement, modify or, in some cases, supersede this policy. These factors may include, but are not limited to: legislative mandates, the physician or other provider contracts, and/or the enrollee's benefit coverage documents. Finally, this policy may not be implemented exactly the same way on the different electronic claims processing systems used by UnitedHealthcare due to programming or other constraints; however, UnitedHealthcare strives to minimize these variations. UnitedHealthcare may modify this reimbursement policy at any time by publishing a new version of the policy on this Website. However, the information presented in this policy is accurate and current as of the date of publication. *CPT copyright 2010 (or such other date of publication of CPT) American Medical Association. All rights reserved. CPT is a registered trademark of the American Medical Association. Proprietary information of UnitedHealthcare. Copyright 2014 United HealthCare Services, Inc.


This is the first article that the researcher is aware of that compares walking speed and confidence levels with 1 cane versus 2 canes. An observational study was conducted with 30 participants who had difficulty walking. Gait speed was assessed on a 4-m course with the participants using 1 cane, then 2 canes. Of 30 participants, 28 walked faster and demonstrated improved confidence with 2 canes. Use of 2 canes with gait might be a technique that people want to consider to improve confidence or to improve walking speed, or improve both.


Introduction: Human resources are a fundamental part of health systems and health services. Job satisfaction is a well established determinant for human health resources retention and quality of health care and health outcomes. Objectives: To investigate health professional mobility effects on health organizations effectiveness and performance, on health professionals development, training, skills acquisition and job satisfaction in a EU country (Portugal), through a survey (electronic survey) addressed to health professionals. Methods: The "Conditions of Work Effectiveness - Questionnaire-II", validated for the Portuguese language, was selected, to evaluate the perceptions of health workers, Portuguese speakers, working in Portugal or other countries of the European Union (EU) regarding the dimensions of access to opportunity, access to information, professional support, access to resources, creativity, collaboration and activities, and global empowerment. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 25 (descriptive, EFA). Results: Nearly 60% of the 1800 respondents were doctors, 72.7% of them referred working in different health institutions, whereas 51.7% of nurses referred having worked in other European countries. Positive perceptions were found regarding the dimensions of "Access to Opportunity", "Access to Information", "Access to Support" and "Global Empowerment". Negative perceptions were founded for the dimensions "access to resources" and "innovation /creativity (JAS)" Conclusions: Results suggested potential for intervention and implementation of policies to address the negatively perceived dimensions of access to resources and lack of appropriate rewarding, in order to improve HRH job satisfaction and contribute to quality of health care outcomes.


Abstract. The growth and decay of surface wind-waves during one-month period in a typical Indian summer monsoon is investigated based on the data collected at 9 to 15 m water depth at 4 locations in the nearshore waters of the eastern Arabian Sea covering a spatial distance of ~ 350 km. The significant wave height varied from 0.7 to 5.5 m during the data collection considered in the analysis. The heights of waves during the measurement period often exceed 3 m. The most extreme wave height is 1.50 to 1.62 times the significant wave height and the most extreme crest height of the wave is 1.23 to 1.35 times the significant wave height of the same 30-minutes record. The average ratio of crest height of the wave to the height of the same wave is 0.58 to 0.67. The height of waves having maximum crest height is smaller than the maximum wave height during 30 minutes period. Measured waves are predominantly swell, but since the majority of wave generation during the monsoon is adjacent to the study area and the wind–wave coupling is strong, wave periods are rarely above 15 s. The numerical wave model could estimate the wave height reasonably well during the wave growth compared to the wave decay period. Hovmoller diagrams show a considerable spatial variability in the wave and wind pattern in the Indian Ocean during the high wave event at the eastern Arabian Sea.


The increasing demand for accurate coordinate measurements on products demands new concepts of probe design. Results of some realized designs are given. One of the most promising utilizes microtechnology and etching in silicon in order to realize the necessary dimensional design with flexure hinges. Microtechnology is also used for the detection system; strain gages are integrated in the probe. Results for two probes are given and possible future developments are discussed.


Misclassification and temporal changes of food consumption frequencies were estimated under the statistical models with some assumptions, and their effects on risk ratios were evaluated. Food frequencies of 27 items in 214 subjects were doubly measured by a questionnaire with 2 weeks interval, and those in 326 subjects were measured in 1989, 1993 and 1994. Median of probabilities of misclassification in responses among 27 food items was estimated to be 0.12. Medians of proportions of persons whose responses in 1989 were different from those after 5 years, were calculated to be 35% with misclassification and 27% without misclassification. For the true risk ratio of 3, medians of the risk ratios of dietary habits during 5 years, based on food frequencies measured at 1989, were observed to be 2.2 in case of responses with misclassification, and 1.7 in case of responses with misclassification and temporal changes. These suggested that the risk ratios of food frequencies would be seriously affected by misclassification and temporal changes in responses.


Using a novel 3-port condensing wave rotor enhancing the turbo-compression in a R718 refrigeration cycle, which uses only water as a refrigerant, has been introduced. The waverotor implementation can increase efficiency and reduce size and cost of R718 units. The condensing wave rotor employs pressurized water to pressurize, desuperheat, and condense the refrigerant vapor all in one dynamic process. The underlying phenomena of flash evaporation, shock wave compression, desuperheating, and condensation inside the wave rotor channels are described in a wave and phase-change diagram. The thermodynamic process is shown in pressure-enthalpy and temperature-entropy diagrams. A computer program based on a thermodynamic model was generated to evaluate the performance of R718 baseline and wave-rotor-enhanced cycles. The effect of some key parameters on the performance enhancement is demonstrated as an aid for optimization. A performance map summarizes the findings. It shows optimum wave rotor pressure ratio and maximum relative performance improvement of R718 cycles by using the 3-port condensing wave rotor.


Declining fertility rates and increasing life expectancy necessitate a higher labor participation rate among older people in order to sustain pension systems and boost economic growth. At the same time, researchers have only recently begun to pay attention to the health effects of a longer working life, with rather mixed results thus far. Utilizing panel data from eleven European countries, and two distinct identification strategies to deal with endogeneity, we provide new evidence of the health effects of retirement. In contrast to prior research, we analyze both the impact of being retired and the effect of spending longer time in retirement. Using spouses' characteristics as instruments, while taking precautions to ensure validity, we find a robust, negative impact of being retired and spending longer time in retirement on self-assessed, general, mental and physical health. In addition, we show that the impact on self-assessed health remains similar in models using instruments from previous research while also including individual- and time-fixed effects to remove time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity between individuals as well as common health shocks. Overall, the results suggest that this innovation and the fact that we take lagged effects into account explain the differences in comparison to prior multi-country research using these instruments. While the short-term health impact of retirement in Europe remains uncertain, the medium- to long-term effects appear to be negative and economically large.


This work aims to obtain fine surface of silicon wafer during precision and ultra precision machining, and presents a new method called semibonded abrasive machining. A semibonded abrasive grinding plate is used in the semibonded abrasive machining. Abrasive particle of 1000# Green SiC and bond named SSB are adopted in the manufacture of the plate. Four plates with different concentration of bond which are 1.5%, 2.5%, 3.5%, 4.5% respectively are made. The paper studies the effect of concentration of bond, the control parameters which include the lapping time, the load, and the rotating velocity of the plate on the surface roughness. Experimental results indicate each plate with different concentration of bond can obtain fine surface roughness. When the load or the rotating velocity increases, there is little effect on the surface roughness, but the material removal rate increases correspondingly. The initial roughness of the silicon wafer surface lapping by the plate could be improved from Ra 0.2μm to Ra 0.02μm in 9 min.


A first European Conference in Sports Economics (ECSE) had been convened at the Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne of the University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, September 14-15, 2009. Out of about 60 submitted papers, 32 had been selected and sampled into eight topics and sessions: the economics of professional team sports leagues; economic dimensions of sport participation; sport financing and governance; professional sports and markets; the economic impact of sport mega-events; labor market in professional sports; sport efficiency; and regulation and competitive balance in professional sports leagues. I am grateful, as the conference organizer, to the International Journal of Sport Finance for having called the best papers to be submitted for publication. A few of them applied, of which three have been successfully screened by peer reviewers


As part of an international major research initiative, dealing with the behaviour of long span cellular beams in steel framed buildings under fire, a large-scale fire test incorporating 15m long cellular beams was carried out. The test incorporated unprotected secondary cellular steel beams acting compositely with the supporting floor slab. The floorplate in its entirety was designed to carry the load with unprotected beams, when subjected to a severe fire, by utilising membrane action of the floor slab. The overall structure performed very well supporting the full applied static load for the duration of the test. The unprotected cellular steel beams were subjected to distortional buckling, with only the top tee providing any support through catanary action. The test supported the assumptions adopted in the structural design approach and provided an accurate estimate of the strength of the floorplate. Comparison of the recorded time-temperature relationship of the fire with the design method presented in the Eurocodes shows that the code under-predicts the severity of the fire, although this was compensated to some extent by the conservative assumptions embedded within the structural model.


Background Although the frequency and intensity of headaches decrease in older adults, headaches in this population are still an important neurological disorder. The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations of headache characteristics in older adults with the development of cardiovascular disease and cognitive dysfunction. Methods We prospectively enrolled 125 older (≥65 years old) patients with headache who were making their first visit to outpatient clinics and who had no prior history of cognitive dysfunction from 11 hospitals in Korea between August 2014 and February 2015. We investigated the occurrence of newly developed/or recurrent headache, cardiovascular disease, cognitive dysfunction, and poor functional outcomes. Results The mean age of all included patients was 72.6 years, 68.8% were women, and 43 (34.4%) had newly developed/or recurrent headache during follow-up. During a median follow-up of 31 months (interquartile range, 28–34 months), 21 participants (16.8%) experienced cardiovascular disease, and 26 (20.8%) developed cognitive dysfunction. Upon multivariate analysis and after adjusting for sex, age, and other factors, presence of newly developed/or recurrent headache was found to be associated with cardiovascular disease (hazard ratio [HR], 4.03; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.28–12.61; p=0.017) and frequency of headache for the recent 3 months was related with cognitive dysfunction (HR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.00–1.09; p=0.017) and poor functional outcomes (HR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.01–1.11; p=0.011). Conclusion Our study demonstrated that there is an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, cognitive dysfunction, and poor functional outcomes in older patients with frequent, newly developed, or recurrent headache.


With the increasing emphasis on reducing the CO2 emission while improving power generation efficiency, new power cycles are being developed. One of those promising power cycles is a supercritical CO2 (S-CO2) power cycle. To generate over 10MW electricity with S-CO2 power cycle, a magnetic bearing can be a good option for the hermetic type turbomachinery. However, from several studies on the magnetic bearing, the instability issues under high density fluid and high speed operating conditions were repeatedly mentioned. The instability in the magnetic bearing was observed to be related to the fluid conditions, mostly pressure and density. Because of this issue, the magnetic bearing sometimes cannot maintain enough clearance for the rotor leading to physical contact and consequently damaging the system. Thus, these instability issues should be thoroughly studied and be resolved for the successful and steady operation of the power system. The instability due to fluid force around the rotating shaft can be modeled with the Reynolds lubrication equation. The steady lubrication force analysis model is developed based on this equation. The model results imply that the lubrication performance is quite sensitive to the thermal condition of the CO2 especially density gradient around the shaft. Based on the modeling results, an experimental system is designed to investigate the issue. To study the instability issues experimentally, an impeller of the operating S-CO2 compressor is removed and the discharge line is blocked. Therefore, the main instability factor in this experiment will be the interaction between the rotor and the bearing only. The shaft position can be measured with inductive sensors. The forces exerted from the electromagnet is calculated from the electric current data which is applied by the controller. From these experimental data, the lubrication force is calculated. These results are compared with the analytical lubrication model to verify the model. From this study, it is expected that it will be possible to define the unstable operating conditions and suggest the required magnetic bearing performance for S-CO2 conditions.


The VISible imager instrument (VIS) on board the Euclid mission will deliver high resolution shape measurements of galaxies down to very faint limits (R ∼ 25 at 10σ) in a large part of the sky, in order to infer the distribution of dark matter in the Universe. To help mitigate radiation damage effects that will accumulate in the detectors over the mission lifetime, the properties of the radiation induced traps needs to be known with as high precision as possible. For this purpose the trap pumping method will be employed as part of the in-orbit calibration routines. Using trap pumping it is possible to identify and characterise single traps in a Charge-Coupled Device (CCD), thus providing information such as the density, emission time constants and sub-pixel positions of the traps in the detectors. This paper presents the trap pumping algorithms used for the radiation testing campaign of the CCD273 detectors, performed by the Centre for Electronic Imaging (CEI) at the Open University, that will be used for the VIS instrument. The CCD273 is a four-phase device with uneven phase widths, which complicates the trap pumping analysis. However, we find that by optimising the trap pumping algorithms and analysis routines, it is possible to obtain sub-pixel and even sub-phase positional information about the traps. Further, by comparing trap pumping data with simulations, it is possible to gain more information about the effective electrode widths of the device.


Introduction: The relevance of the problem is caused by the importance of identification of factors that determine the existence of different types of people's attitudes to dangers, which makes it possible to explain and predict their behavior from the positions of security. It was suggested that social intelligence is one of the most important factors. The goal of the study is the identification of psychological features of the relationship between the social intelligence and people's attitudes to dangers. Materials and Methods: During the research, we used the theoretical (analysis, specification, and generalization) and empirical methods of data collection. As diagnostic tools, we used special techniques to identify the types of people's attitudes to dangers and social intelligence. Taking part in the study were 292 participants of different gender, education, and employment aged from 19 to 50 (their average age: 30.3). Results of the Study: It was found that social intelligence is closely related to the type of attitude of people to dangers. To a greater extent, this relationship manifests itself in the choice of adequate or inadequate ways of responding to dangerous situations than in the manifestations of sensitivity to threats. We also discovered some differences in men and women with different levels of social intelligence, which were manifested in the ability to adequately or inadequately respond to dangers. In particular, men with low social intelligence more often ignore dangers while and women tend to exaggerate their significance. Discussion and Conclusions: It is shown that inadequate response manifested in the forms of exaggeration or understatement of the significance of threats in people with a low level of social intelligence performs a protective function acting as a compensation for the inability of an individual to understand situations and to correctly assess them from a security standpoint. The obtained data can be used in psychological counseling of men and women as well as in the work of psychological services in the process of formation of people's adequate attitudes to dangers.


Introduction: Empathy is an essential attribute for coping in society. Empathy can be exhibited in the form of good prosocial behavior management and the ability to build peer relationships and regulate emotions. One of the most serious mental health problems is the antisocial behavior that arises from a lack of empathy. The study aimed to elaborate the association between empathy quotient and prosocial behavior, peer relationship and emotional problems among elementary schoolchildren. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that included 620 parents and their children, and it was performed using an online questionnaire. The study used the Empathy Quotient-Children/Systemizing Quotient-Children Questionnaires and the strength and difficulties questionnaire, in which the Indonesian versions have been validated. The inclusion criteria were that the parents had a minimum educational background of junior high school level and had a child attending elementary school. The Chi-square analysis was done through the SPSS for Mac software, version 21. Results: The children ranged in age from 4 to 14 years. The study found that a lack of empathy was associated with emotional problems and problems with peer relations (P < 0.05). However, the relationship between empathy and prosocial behavior showed no statistically significant relationship (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Children require good empathy to properly function in their daily lives. Therefore, it is necessary to create and foster an educational environment that supports the development of empathy.


In a field irradiation experiment UV-B radiation was enhanced to simulate 15% ozone depletion under clear sky conditions in northern Sweden. This was accomplished by using UV-B fluorescent lamps mounted on metal frames raised over a naturally growing plant community. 2. The study area consisted of a dwarf shrub heath mainly composed of the four species Vaccinium vitis-idaea, V. myrtillus, V. uliginosum and Empetrum hermaphroditum. The absolute annual stem growth, relative stem growth and absolute leaf growth were recorded for different years. 3. The relative growth was significantly reduced by UV-B enhancement in the two evergreen species V. vitis-idaea (27% after 2 years of enhanced UV-B) and E. hermaphroditum (14% after 1 year and 33% after 2 years). The two deciduous species also showed a tendency for decreased relative growth under enhanced UV-B, but this effect was not statistically significant. 4. The leaf thickness of V. vitis-idaea increased both during 1992 (9%) and 1993 (4%). In contrast, the two deciduous species V. myrtillus and V. uliginosum developed thinner leaves under enhanced UV-B both during 1992 (4% for V. myrtillus, 6% for V. uliginosum) and 1993 (9% for V. myrtillus, 10% for V. uliginosum). (Less)


Background. COVID-19 has become an alarming pandemic for our earth. It has created panic not only in China but also in developing countries like Bangladesh. Bangladesh has adequate confinements to constrain the spread of the infection and in this circumstance, overall healthcare workers including neurosurgeons are confronting a ton of difficulties. The purpose of this paper is to depict the proficiency of Global neurosurgery in this COVID-19 time.
Method. Global neurosurgery offers the chance of fusing the best proof-based guidelines of care. This paper demonstrated that, in low to middle-income countries, Global medical procedure has been received to address the issues of residents who lack critical surgical care.
Results. Inappropriate and insufficient asset allotment has been a significant obstacle for the health system for decently giving security to the patients. The fundamental training process has been genuinely hampered in the current circumstance. Worldwide health activities have set to an alternate centre and Global neurosurgery as an assurance is slowed down.
Conclusion. This paper recommended that Global neurosurgical activities need to come forward and increase the workforce to emphasize surgical service.


This study investigates the relationship between college leader's perceptions of sustainability and sustainable development in the English Further Education (FE) sector, and the nature of its practice within individual colleges and the sector as a whole. Previous research investigating perceptions and practice of sustainability within education has almost exclusively focussed on Higher Education (HE) institutions, with much research also focussing on describing institutional progress without investigating the facilitating leadership conditions. This study makes a unique contribution to knowledge by investigating a previously unexplored sector through the use of the Transition Management Framework as the study's conceptual framework. A key outcome of this study is the adaptation of the Transition Management Framework that could be used by the sector and its leadership structure to facilitate a reassessment and reinvigoration of sustainability leadership within the sector.
The research design is based on a Grounded Theory methodology that used semi-structured interviews and focus groups as the primary method of data collection, with content analysis of significant sector stakeholders' websites and publications forming a secondary method of data collection. The first key finding of this research was that the relationship between how sustainability is conceptualised and how it is practised is weak, with perceptions often referring to two different interpretations, neither of which fully addresses the social, economic and environmental aspects of sustainable development. Indeed, whilst perceptions focus on the environment, it is to this that the sector appears least accountable. This power pointing and a lack of accountability held by all levels of management within FE toward the environment was the study's second key finding. Both of these findings are intrinsically linked to the third, which is that the Transition Management Framework's focus on incremental change may sufficiently be able to change practices at a niche level, but unless operating within a more sustainable economic paradigm, the reach of incremental action may always be limited.


Background/Context Although students frequently begin forming ideas about potential college majors or career choices prior to entering college, research on Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM), and (M)edicine has almost exclusively focused on students' experiences in postsecondary institutions. To better understand the full length of the STEMM pipeline—from high school through to postsecondary levels—it is essential to identify and explore factors that influence students' choices in STEMM while they are in secondary schools, a setting that is arguably the first critical step of the pipeline. Purpose/Objective Among factors that influence students' choices to pursue STEMM fields, this study examines the influence of students' self-efficacy and expectation, as well as the expectation and encouragement they received from parents and high school teachers on their decisions to major in, complete a degree in, and pursue a career in STEMM. Given this focus on expectation specifically, the study employs a conceptual framework developed through the application of prior literature on teacher and parent expectations, as well as Social Cognitive Career Theory. Research Design Using the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY) 1987 data, the study investigated students' decision making at three distinct time points along a typical STEMM education/career path and predicted their persistence in the STEMM pipeline by utilizing logistic regression analyses. To further examine whether such sets of expectations are moderated by gender, analysis also included interaction terms for gender and teacher expectation, as well as those of gender and parent expectation. Findings/Results The results of this study indicate that expectation plays a significant role in students' choices in STEMM and teacher expectation is shown to be especially influential. Focusing on gender differences, males' choices in STEMM were shown to be most affected by their teachers' educational expectations and encouragement while females' choices were most affected by those of their parents. Conclusions/Recommendations The decision to pursue education and a career in a STEMM is not a one-time decision, but a longitudinal process that begins during secondary education and carries on through into college. The findings of this study provide meaningful information about the importance of students' self-efficacy and expectation within the STEMM pipeline, as well as the influence teacher expectations and encouragement can have on students' pursuit of and persistence in STEMM.


The purposes of this case study were to explore Thai EFL students' levels of satisfactions regarding the implication of the book "The Language of Evaluation: Appraisal in English", and to explore their comments and recommendations on the use of the course book in the Subject of Selected Topics in English based on appraisal theory developed by Martin and White (2005). The study employed the appraisal theory to teach three undergraduate students who enrolled in the Course of Selected Topics in English Curriculum at the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Science, Kasetsart University, Thailand, in the 2019 academic year. A questionnaire was used to collect data of students' level of satisfaction towards the course. Analysis of the study shows that for all sections of evaluation: the book, the lecturer and student's learning and evaluation, the students evaluated the lecturer at the "good" level (mean=4.27) followed by the book (mean=3.394) and student's learning and reflection (mean=3.53). In this regard, they evaluated the book from an overall perspective at the "good" level (mean=3.94). In more detail, the chapter they rated as the first rank is Chapter 1 Introduction which has the highest mean of 4.13 followed by Chapter 2 Attitude: Ways of feeling (mean=4.07), Chapter 3 Engagement and graduation: Alignment, solidarity and the construed reader (mean=3.93), Chapter 4 Evaluative key: Taking a stance (mean=3.93) and Chapter 5 Enacting Appraisal: Text Analysis (mean=3.60) respectively. For the section of student's learning and reflection, they evaluated their learning at the "good" level (mean=3.53) which is the least mean of all sections. The students advised that some chapters of the book were difficult for them to understand since they were not familiar with terms used. The analysis also shows that the students mainly suggest that the book should be integrated into the course continuously every semester which would be beneficial for students in understanding how to evaluate language use in different contexts. However, more easy examples should be included in the book.


Learning can be explicit or implicit. Explicit learning takes place intentionally, in the presence of factual task-relevant knowledge; whereas implicit learning takes place unintentionally, without concurrent acquisition of knowledge about task performance. The relative benefits of implicit learning have been well investigated within healthy populations. Research consistently demonstrates that skills learnt implicitly are more likely to be retained, and are more robust under secondary task load. However, study protocols tend to involve laboratory based activities, which do not take into account the complexities of motor learning in natural settings. Direct transferability of the findings to stroke rehabilitation is therefore questionable. Two factors in explicit and implicit learning are the concepts of attentional capacity and attentional focus. Attentional capacity refers to the ability to attend to and process incoming information, whereas attentional focus refers to the location of attention in relation to specific aspects of the task being performed. Theories propose that focussing on specific movements (internal focus) may actually constrain or interfere with automatic control processes that would normally regulate movement, whereas if attention is focussed towards the movement effect (external focus) the motor system is able to more naturally self-organize, resulting in more effective performance, and learning. An internal focus of attention is therefore allied to explicit learning; whilst an external focus of attention is allied to implicit learning. This research aimed to improve understanding of explicit and implicit learning within early gait rehabilitation post stroke; primarily through the development and testing of explicit and implicit models of learning interventions. It has comprised three phases; a review of the literature; an observational study to gain insight into current practice; and a feasibility study to test the ability of therapists to deliver interventions with a bias towards either an explicit or implicit approach. Therapists were found to favour the use of explicit techniques; internally focussed instructions and feedback statements were used in high quantities. Practice therefore appeared to be at odds with current evidence; albeit primarily from healthy populations. Guidance for the delivery of explicit and implicit learning models in clinical practice was developed, and then tested in a feasibility study. Therapists demonstrated the ability to change their practice to bias either explicit or implicit learning; both approaches were found to be acceptable to patients and therapists. Recommendations are made on the content and evaluation of explicit and implicit learning models in future research, and specifically, in a Phase II pilot study.


There is an increasing need to quickly and accurately identify areas where agricultural conservation practices can provide the greatest reduction in nutrient and sediment runoff. Geographic information systems (GIS)-based tools and indices are promising for identifying critical areas that are significant contributors of nonpoint source pollution loads with limited data. One such tool, the Soil Vulnerability Index (SVI), is tested here in Beasley Lake and Goodwin Creek watersheds in Mississippi. The SVI runoff component results are compared against aerial images and long-term land use histories in the watershed to determine if a higher SVI score is related to visibly degraded land or land removed from cultivation. SVI results are also compared to sediment yield estimates generated with the Annualized Agricultural Non-Point Source pollution model (AnnAGNPS) to determine the degree of agreement. The SVI runoff score demonstrated agreement with imagery and land use histories in both watersheds. The SVI categories and corresponding AnnAGNPS-predicted sediment yield also had moderate agreement, with 45% and 68% of watershed area in agreement in Beasley Lake and Goodwin Creek watersheds, respectively. In general, the tool is a quick way to assess spatial areas potentially contributing to nonpoint source pollution, which can then be combined with field-based knowledge and/or imagery to provide valuable insight for placement of conservation practices.


Managing quality of service (QoS) is an important network operation, especially in hybrid wired and wireless multimedia networks. In this study, a two-stage approach to intelligently manage QoS for multimedia traffic was developed. Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) was included in the study as an example of a typical multimedia application. Initially an adaptive statistical sampling technique was employed. It determined the traffic's statistics and used them in a fuzzy inference system to determine the optimum interval between every two consecutive sections of the traffic sampled. In the second stage, a fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering was used to pre-process QoS parameters (delay, jitter and packet loss ratio) obtained from the devised sampling scheme. A multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network then used the information from FCM to assess the QoS provided for VoIP. It was shown that the developed adaptive statistical sampling represents the traffic more correctly than the systematic, stratified and random non-adaptive sampling methods. Also, the combination of statistical sampling followed by FCM and MLP accurately indicated the QoS for VoIP.


A method for investigating attentional effects of peripheral visual objects, independently of perceptual identification, is described. We report an experiment using this method which shows that visual processing of peripheral objects differs radically, depending on whether participants move attention in response to an object or consciously perceive that object. When luminance contrast was reduced, conscious perceptual discrimination of peripheral letters was massively slower and less accurate—but both low and high contrast letters elicited rapid attentional orienting effects and these rapid orienting effects were equal in magnitude across low and high contrast. This pattern is consistent with known differences in luminance sensitivity between the dorsal and ventral visual processing streams, and with rapid dorsal–ventral interaction mediated via re-entrant feedback. Our findings show that the control system responsible for rapid movements of attention is exquisitely sensitive to visual form information at low levels of contrast, and involves a different neurocognitive pathway to that which gives rise to conscious perception.


I.-DISEASES OF RETINA (i) Sourdille, G. (Nantes).-A method of treating detachment of the retina. (Une m6thode de traitement de d6collement de la rdtine.) Arch. d'O(fhtal., July, 1923. (1) In this paper, presented to l'Academie de Medecine, Prof. Sourdille recounts his experiences, and describes the technique he employs in the treatment of detachment of the retina by operative measures. He is much more sanguine than most writers on this subject and certainly his published results seem to justify his optimism. He deplores the fact that repeated failures have so


The modal power distribution, which specifies the amount of power flowing in each mode of a multimode fiber, influences the level of modal noise in optical-fiber systems. Generally, previous work has assumed that power in multimode fibers was distributed uniformly among the fiber modes. By considering the coupling of a semiconductor laser to a lensed fiber, we show that this assumption is grossly incorrect for practical excitations. Typically, half of the power is in just 3 modes, even though the fiber supports 49 modes. This leads to much lower modal noise than would be expected if the power were uniformly distributed. The dependence of the modal noise level on mode excitation is found to be much more complex than previously suggested.


Few places were as important in the seventeenth-century European colonial New World as the pays d'en haut. This term means "upper country" and refers to the western Great Lakes (Huron, Michigan, and Superior) and the areas immediately north, south, and west of them. The region was significant because of its large Native American population, because it had an extensive riverine system needed for beaver populations - essential to the fur trade - and because it held the transportation key to westward expansion.It was vital to the French, who controlled the region, to be on good terms with its peoples. To maintain good relations through trade and diplomacy with the nations in the pays d'en haut, the French built a number of posts, including one at Michilimackinac and one on the St. Joseph River (near Niles, Michigan). These posts were garrisoned by French troops and run by French commanders who contracted with merchants to manage business matters."Edge of Empire" provides both an overview and an intensely detailed look at Michilimackinac at a very specific period of history. While the introduction offers an overview of the French fur trade, of the place of Michilimackinac in that network, and of what Michilimackinac was like in the years up to 1716, the body of the book is comprised of sixty-one French-language documents, now translated into English. Collected from archives in France, Canada, and the United States, the documents identify many of the people involved in the trade and reveal a great deal about the personal and professional relations among people who traded. They also reveal clearly the process by which trade was carried out, including the roles of both Native Americans and women. At the same time, the documents open a window into French colonial society in New France.


Internet use by business has grown dramatically in the past two years, but little serious research has yet been published on this phenomenon. This paper reports on an exploratory study of 35 persons who are knowledgeable of the Internet use in their organizations. It was found that Internet use was fairly widespread and used predominantly for marketing applications. While security was viewed as a serious concern, business need and cost were perceived to be more important in deciding to use the Internet.


The use of certain banned and illegal substances either to improve one's cognitive skills or to enhance their performance by athletes has become widely prevalent. These substances are commonly referred as performance enhancing drugs or PED's and are used without any therapeutic intent. They belong to a wide variety of classes, some of which include the anabolic steroids, hormonal agents, diuretics and the CNS stimulants. The WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency), a collaborated network between the sports authorities and the global governments was established to fight against doping so as to have a fair competition among the athletes. Although, the regulatory bodies have put forth stringent legislations that can prevent their misuse and safeguards the athletes against the adverse effects of such drugs, it has become rather difficult to keep doping under check as the recent developments have resulted in the emergence of so called designer drugs that are difficult to detect with the available analytical techniques. Subsequently, WADA came up with the concept of ABP (Athlete Biological Passport) which helped resolve some of these issues. This review tries to look into PED's, the way they act, their ill-effects and also in brief about the designer drugs. It also highlights the role of WADA, ABP and the prohibited list of substances and methods for the year 2019. Key words: Anabolic steroids, Erythropoietin, World Anti-Doping Agency, Athlete Biological Passport, CNS stimulants.


The nucleation of microcrystalline silicon thin-films has been investigated for various substrate natures and topographies. An earlier nucleation onset on aluminium-doped zinc oxide compared to glass substrates has been revealed, associated with a microstructure enhancement and reduced surface energy. Both aspects resulted in a larger crystallite density, following classical nucleation theory. Additionally, the nucleation onset was (plasma deposition) condition-dependent. Therefore, surface chemistry and its interplay with the plasma have been proposed as key factors affecting nucleation and growth. As such, preliminary proof of the substrate nature's role in microcrystalline silicon growth has been provided. Subsequently, the impact of nano-imprint lithography prepared surfaces on the initial microcrystalline silicon growth has been explored. Strong topographies, with a 5-fold surface area enhancement, led to a reduction in crystalline volume fraction of ~20%. However, no correlation between topography and microstructure has been found. Instead, the suppressed crystallization has been partially ascribed to a reduced growth flux, limited surface diffusion and increased incubation layer thickness, originating from the surface area enhancement when transiting from flat to nanostructured surfaces. Furthermore, fundamental plasma parameters have been reviewed in relation with surface topography. Strong topographies are not expected to affect the ion-to-growth flux ratio. However, the reduced ion flux (due to increasing surface area) further limited the already weak ion energy transfer to surface processes. Additionally, the atomic hydrogen flux, i.e. the driving force for microcrystalline growth, has been found to decrease by a factor of 10 when transiting from flat to nanostructured topography. This resulted in an almost 6-fold reduction of the hydrogen-to-growth flux ratio, a much stronger effect than the ion-to-growth flux ratio. Since previous studies regarding crystalline growth stated the necessity for enhanced ion- and atomic hydrogen-to-growth flux ratios, reduction of the latter is suggested to be the main cause of suppressed crystallization kinetics.


Antagonism of arginine vasopressin receptor 1a inhibits growth of emergent, established, and bone metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Solving cancer's (vaso)pressing problem Castration-resistant prostate cancer is a lethal late-stage form of prostate cancer, where the tumor can grow independently and no longer requires external stimulation of the androgen receptor. Zhao et al. found that the arginine vasopressin receptor 1a, which is normally associated with maintenance of blood pressure and fluid balance, can help activate signaling pathways involved in the development of castration resistance in prostate cancer. An antagonist of this receptor, relcovaptan, which can be safely used in humans, showed promising activity in mice modeling different stages of prostate cancer, suggesting this drug's potential for repurposing if its effects are confirmed in clinical studies. Castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) recurs after androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and is incurable. Reactivation of androgen receptor (AR) signaling in the low androgen environment of ADT drives CRPC. This AR activity occurs through a variety of mechanisms, including up-regulation of AR coactivators such as VAV3 and expression of constitutively active AR variants such as the clinically relevant AR-V7. AR-V7 lacks a ligand-binding domain and is linked to poor prognosis. We previously showed that VAV3 enhances AR-V7 activity to drive CRPC progression. Gene expression profiling after depletion of either VAV3 or AR-V7 in CRPC cells revealed arginine vasopressin receptor 1a (AVPR1A) as the most commonly down-regulated gene, indicating that this G protein–coupled receptor may be critical for CRPC. Analysis of publicly available human PC datasets showed that AVPR1A has a higher copy number and increased amounts of mRNA in advanced PC. Depletion of AVPR1A in CRPC cells resulted in decreased cell proliferation and reduced cyclin A. In contrast, androgen-dependent PC, AR-negative PC, or nontumorigenic prostate epithelial cells, which have undetectable AVPR1A mRNA, were minimally affected by AVPR1A depletion. Ectopic expression of AVPR1A in androgen-dependent PC cells conferred castration resistance in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, treatment of CRPC cells with the AVPR1A ligand, arginine vasopressin (AVP), activated ERK and CREB, known promoters of PC progression. A clinically safe and selective AVPR1A antagonist, relcovaptan, prevented CRPC emergence and decreased CRPC orthotopic and bone metastatic growth in mouse models. Based on these preclinical findings, repurposing AVPR1A antagonists is a promising therapeutic approach for CRPC.


ABSTRACT Previous research describing the distribution of sympatric native and non-native trout have centered on mountain stream habitats where gradient and elevation are more pronounced. To determine if this pattern is similar in other stream habitats, we described the distribution of sympatric brook (Salvelinus fontinalis), brown (Salmo trutta), and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in a low gradient, low elevation, spring-fed Minnesota stream, and used canonical correspondence analysis to evaluate the relationship between trout distribution and physical habitat variables. Brook, brown, and rainbow trout exhibited a longitudinal gradient in Valley Creek, Minnesota, similar to other trout distribution studies in mountain streams. Temperature and gradient were not strongly correlated with trout abundance in Valley Creek, however elevation explained a substantial amount of variation. Our analysis suggests that brook and rainbow trout were utilizing habitat with similar physical characteristics, but were separated by elevation. Brown trout were correlated with different habitat characteristics than brook and rainbow trout. Although habitat variables explain a substantial amount of variation in the densities of sympatric species of trout, they do not provide an explanation into the causal relationships for the redistribution of native trout.


: Six patients are presented demonstrating various uses of chin advancement (horizontal osteotomy of the mandibular symphysis and sliding advancement) for correction of mental and submental deformities. With preservation of muscular attachment to the posterior border of the advanced mandibular fragment, the author feels that there is an anterior pull on the cervical musculature that may complement the posterior pull of platysmal plication. The technique of chin advancement is described in detail and offers more versatility than the use of alloplastic chin implants. The author advocates the use of this direct osseous approach for purely aesthetic reasons as well as in the correction of maxillofacial and craniofacial malformations.


Broadening a firm's offer beyond manufacturing has become a prevalent way of increasing performance and staying ahead of competition. It is important to derive clarity between the servitization and related constructs. Further, the relevance in servitization and business performance related constructs are not conclusive. This paper attempt to address above gaps in the literature. Authors have conducted a systematic review of the literature in the area of servitization of manufacturing. Through the systematic review, 350 abstracts were narrowed down and 115 articles were studied in full. Out of 115 articles 40 publications central to the study was identified and findings were reported according to a thematic analysis. Servitization is the strategy of service integration into the core business in manufacturing organizations in order to enhance the business performance and competitive position of the organization. Servitization of manufacturing tend to emphasize the potential to maintain business growth, profitability, differentiation, and competitive advantage.


Associates and predictors of academic success have dominated educational enquiry, often investigating final grade outcomes. The current study aimed to investigate the prediction of grades and academic self-concept (ASC) using non-cognitive variables often associated with university performance. 135 participants completed questionnaires for Mental Toughness (MT), SelfDetermination (SD) and ASC alongside providing year one and two grades of undergraduate study. A 1x3 independent ANOVA was used to investigate developments of ASC, MT and SD across the degree, with multiple regression analyses used to predict grades and ASC. T-tests were used to investigate grade differences, alongside gender differences in all variables. While some MT and SD aspects did predict outcomes, ASC was unexpectedly influential when predicting grades. ASC increased significantly across the degree period, while grades, MT, and SDT did not. No MT or SD advantage or gender differences were found. Recommendation for further research into ASC prediction of grade outcome was made.


Based on research of the Infrared Heating Oven, an important equipment of the zinc plating production line, the paper established the mathematical model using the principle of heat transfer, and analyzed main influencing factors such as thickness, width, speed of the strip and characteristic parameters of the coating. Both the steady and unsteady-state heat conduction are considered, which provide more accurate theory basis for the design and use of infrared heating oven. And through the theoretical derivation, the relationship between input voltage and output power was made out, which will better fulfill the convenient control.


This paper explicates the moral hazard in the current privatepublic partnerships (PPPs) that produced empty socialized housing in the Philippines. It argues that not only do housing PPPs privatize profits and socialize risks and costs, these also strengthen the state housing agency's efficacy as an instrument of neoliberal governance. It further argues that this moral hazard is built on and resolved by curtailing the urban poor's right to democratic participation and adequate housing. Through the socialized housing program, a systematic spatial, political, and economic displacement of the poor is institutionalized to facilitate private gain and commodify housing for the poor. By focusing on the Philippine case, this research contributes to a better understanding of housing governance within actually existing neoliberalisms in the South.