Microfiber Resonators are considered as an alternative waveguide due to their low-cost and accessible fabrication technology. This dissertation investigates combination of microfiber resonators for filter application. Also in this work thermal effect on complex structure is used to tune and modify filter factors. In the first section of this research this approach is applied to tune the extinction ratio of a microfiber Mach-Zhender-knot structure output. The same approach is used in a double-knot resonator to correct its optical path and increase the finesse. Then, a period pass-band filter based microfiber structure is proposed. The structure is made of successive microfiber knot resonators. As a result a periodical spectral filtering is obtained. In addition, an experimental investigation of the thermal effect on the spectral modulation of the structure is demonstrated.
Several novel simple types of microfiber knot structures are introduced. These structures generate a periodic output spectrum with an adjustable band-pass using Vernier effect. The structures are combination of knot resonators with semi ring. It is calculated that the obtained finesse from the structure is bigger than that of a single knot. The structures with different size are fabricated in order to obtain various spectra with different bandwidth and increase the suppression ratio that resulted from Vernier effect.
Finally, a single knot is used to investigate the nonlinearity (Kerr effect). The results are used to design an XOR gate. A comparison between thresholds power of stimulation this nonlinearity at passive and active microfiber are shown.


We follow with interest, evidence published in this Journal concerning the sensitivities to apoptosis of effector and regulatory T cells (Treg) in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), as a possible mechanism of breakdown in self-tolerance.1–4 The persistent and relapsing pattern of IBD might originate from outstanding resistance of human enteric cells to apoptosis5 or excessive apoptosis of Treg.3 Thus, therapeutic approaches aiming to restore enteric immune homeostasis should either delete effector cells or improve Treg survival, though it is unclear whether Treg apoptosis is causative or a consequence of enteric autoimmunity in IBD patients.3 Targeted deletion of effector cells has been achieved with a fusion protein composed of interleukin-2 (IL-2, internalisation moiety) and active caspase-2 (apoptotic molecule), bypassing the apparent defective caspase function in colitogenic cells.6 We reasoned that Treg endowed with enhanced killing activity might significantly attenuate the course of inflammatory colitis by shifting the effector/suppressor balance.

In prior studies, we showed that administration of relatively small numbers of Treg decorated with Fas-ligand (FasL) protein (killer Treg), but not naive Treg, delays the onset of hyperglycaemia in prediabetic non-obese diabetic …


Abstract. Ammonia exchange fluxes between grassland and the atmosphere were modelled on the basis of stomatal compensation points and leaf surface chemistry, and compared with measured fluxes during the GRAMINAE intensive measurement campaign in spring 2000 near Braunschweig, Germany. Leaf wetness and dew chemistry in grassland were measured together with ammonia fluxes and apoplastic NH4+ and H+ concentration, and the data were used to apply, validate and further develop an existing model of leaf surface chemistry and ammonia exchange. Foliar leaf wetness which is known to affect ammonia fluxes may be persistent after the end of rainfall, or sustained by recondensation of water vapour originating from the ground or leaf transpiration, so measured leaf wetness values were included in the model. pH and ammonium concentrations of dew samples collected from grass were compared to modelled values. The measurement period was divided into three phases: a relatively wet phase followed by a dry phase in the first week before the grass was cut, and a second drier week after the cut. While the first two phases were mainly characterised by ammonia deposition and occasional short emission events, regular events of strong ammonia emissions were observed during the post-cut period. A single-layer resistance model including dynamic cuticular and stomatal exchange could describe the fluxes well before the cut, but after the cut the stomatal compensation points needed to numerically match measured fluxes were much higher than the ones measured by bioassays, suggesting another source of ammonia fluxes. Considerably better agreement both in the direction and the size range of fluxes were obtained when a second layer was introduced into the model, to account for the large additional ammonia source inherent in the leaf litter at the bottom of the grass canopy. Therefore, this was found to be a useful extension of the mechanistic dynamic chemistry model by keeping the advantage of requiring relatively little site-specific information.


Mussel larval densities may fluctuate considerably on both small spatial and short temporal scales. So far, only few and scattered data on the occurrence of mussel larvae have been reported from Danish waters. However, seasonal variation in density of blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) larvae as related to environmental factors (temperature, salinity, phytoplankton biomass) is basic information of relevance for future line-mussel farming in Danish waters. Here we report on the density of mussel larvae in a number of potential farming sites in the inner Danish waters. The mussel larval density measured in Skive Fjord, an eutrophicated inner branch of Limfjorden, during a period of 20 years, from 1989 to 2009, along with corresponding temperatures and chlorophyll a, makes up the most important series of data reported here. In most years, a pronounced spring density peak and a subsequently lower autumn peak could be seen in Skive Fjord, but most conspicuous in the period 1993 to 2002 where the mean maximum spring larval density was 319 ± 260 ind∙l−1. Further, data on mussel larval densities have been recorded on 4 locations in the Great Belt region: Kerteminde Bay in 2008 to 2011, and in 2008 at 3 other locations: Musholm Bay, Svendborg Sund, and Horsens Fjord. The maximum spring densities in the studied waters were observed in Skive Fjord, typically in May, whereas 10 to 100 times lower peak densities were found at the other locations studied. The reported observations show that mussel larvae are omnipresent in the studied areas and it is suggested that the larval density is sufficient for recruitment to future linemussel farms.


We investigate the drift wave–zonal flow interaction formulated on a channel domain geometry approximating an isolated plasma edge region with zero net radial transport across the boundary. The recent two-field flux-balanced Hasegawa–Wakatani (BHW) model with improved treatment for a parallel electron response is adapted to the channel geometry configuration, which allows for generalized non-uniform zonal density profiles and is valid for the simulation of turbulent fields near the tokamak or stellarator edge regions. New conserved quantities are constructed based on the channel geometry to help the analysis for the competition between zonal states and non-zonal fluctuations. Effective bounds can be found constraining the maximum growth of total fluctuations and the amplitude of the dominant zonal state based on the conserved quantities. Total statistical variance among all the modes can also be estimated depending on the zonal state strength. The theoretical discoveries are confirmed by detailed numerical experiments from simulations in the channel domain. In addition, the channel geometry provides further support for the important advantage of adopting the balanced flux correction in the BHW model by showing a physically consistent growth rate from a stability analysis for the small-amplitude fluctuation interaction with a prescribed zonal mean profile, in comparison with the persistent instability and strong outward transport found in the modified Hasegawa–Wakatani model even with the increasing zonal density profile. This is again confirmed by direct numerical simulations of the two models. The channel domain BHW model framework with attractive features implies many potential applications in the study of the complex phenomena in plasma edge turbulence.


Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is a significant stressor in aquatic environments and can inhibit primary productivity of phytoplankton. The effects of UV depend on many factors, including phytoplankton community composition and acclimation status. Using spectrally resolved biological weighting functions (BWFs), we determined sensitivity of photosynthesis and acclimation to UV in a common estuarine diatom, Thalassiosira pseudonana (Hustedt) Hasle et Heimdal, and cryptomonad, Cryptomonas sp. Cryptomonas sp. grown under high PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) (250 µmol quanta m -2 s -1 ) was significantly more sensitive to photoinhibition in the UV-B part of the spectrum (280 to 320 nm) than T. pseudonana under high PAR. Growth under low irradiance (25 µmol quanta m -2 s -1 ) increased sensitivity of T. pseudonana. After a week-long exposure to moderate UV radiation, sensitivity of Cryptomonas sp. declined, while sensitivity of T. pseudonana did not change. Growth rates and chlorophyll a-specific absorption decreased in both species. Based on the BWFs obtained in this study, we predict 11 to 26% UV inhibition of depth-integrated primary production by these species under summer conditions in a shallow, turbid temperate estuary.


Cardiac arrhythmias – the most common of which is atrial fibrillation – are a leading cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Mobile health (mHealth) and wearable devices are a fast-evolving and disruptive area of innovation in assessing both asymptomatic and symptomatic patients for cardiac rhythm abnormalities. Remote monitoring has been used in cardiovascular health monitoring since the invention of the Holter monitor; however, mHealth devices, ranging from smartphones and watches to rings and textiles, have rapidly evolved in their potential uses. These devices are in the early stages of investigation in prospective clinical trials designed to validate their accuracy and, more recently, assess the potential benefits of their use on cardiovascular outcomes. We explored the potential societal and health benefits of using wearable technologies to improve the early diagnosis of arrhythmias by evaluating the current evidence for their use in clinical practice and proposing a framework for integrating them into diagnostic pathways.


One of the most difficult problems faced by the management of all organizations within innovation and change processes is the resistance to change. This study, dealing with this issue, has the following main objectives: to identify the main sources of resistance to change, to outline the directions for reducing chang's resistance, to design essentially managerial approaches in order to counter the resistance to change. The first part presents the 14 most frequent and most important sources of resistance to change, with a brief explanation of its content. It continues with the formulation of five key strands to reduce resistance to change. In the second part of the study, six major management approaches that can substantially reduce the resistance to change in organizations are established: shaping organizational culture, designing a strategy favouring organizational change, performing a management system "open" to change, achieving an intense and multilateral communication with all employees and key stakeholders, focusing on the coaching of staff towards change, developing consistent relationships with stakeholders, both internal and external. The last part of the paper deals with the first managerial approach to counter managerial resistance to change, shaping organizational culture, in a contextual view.


Diabetes is predicted to affect 380 million people by the year 2025.Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a serious condition which is the leading cause of acquired blindness and which 90% of the patients with diabetes develop after 20 years. Recently, some studies have found that endothelial cells can differentiate into mesenchymal cells, a process called endothelial to mesenchymal transition (EndMT). EndMT has been linked to pathological fibrosis in the cornea and diabetic diseases, including diabetic nephropathy and diabetes mellitus–induced cardiac fibrosis. However, the occurrence of EndMT in the retina and the possible contribution to the pathogenesis of DR has not been investigated thoroughly. This thesis has discussed the indications that EndMT might also play a role in DR.
As well as in the cornea, diabetes mellitus–induced cardiac fibrosis and diabetic nephropathy, TGF-β induces the endothelial cells to undergo EndMT, leading to irreversible fibrosis. Oxidative stress may be an important factor in this, as it increases the TGF-β concentration. Although this thesis has mostly focused on TGF-β, as it seems to be the main initiator of EndMT, the identification of other factors, like ET-1 and FGF, is also of great value to provide targets for possible therapeutic interventions.
Further research is needed to understand the molecular mechanisms and pathways involved in EndMT. Moreover, human cell line studies and in vivo studies are necessary to confirm that EndMT indeed occurs in the retina and that it contributes to the pathogenesis of DR.


Analysis of the creative process in the documentary Looking for Richard: Approach to the bases of the construction of Shakespearean characters from the Stanislavki system and the Strasberg method. The American actor, Al Pacino, in 1996 approached Shakespeare with his documentary Looking For Richard. A 112-minute film in which Pacino reflects on Shakespeare, the public's perception of his works and the way in which the actors approach the characters. In this article we propose a study of the film to analyze the acting methods used by Al Pacino and the rest of the cast to be able to play the roles of Ricardo III. The goal is to identify the bases of the Method through the work of Al Pacino and the rest of the North American actors opposite to the way of working of the English actors, as well as to establish the similarities with the Stanislavski System. Through the case study we can discover the work of each interpreter and we will build on the methodological contributions of Stanislavski, as creator of the System, Strasberg as initiator of the Method and finally we will include Peter Brook as renovator of the English theater.


We propose a new model and algorithm to capture the high-definition statics of thin shells via coarse meshes. This model predicts global, fine-scale wrinkling at frequencies much higher than the resolution of the coarse mesh; moreover, it is grounded in the geometric analysis of elasticity, and does not require manual guidance, a corpus of training examples, nor tuning of ad hoc parameters. We first approximate the coarse shape of the shell using tension field theory, in which material forces do not resist compression. We then augment this base mesh with wrinkles, parameterized by an amplitude and phase field that we solve for over the base mesh, which together characterize the geometry of the wrinkles. We validate our approach against both physical experiments and numerical simulations, and we show that our algorithm produces wrinkles qualitatively similar to those predicted by traditional shell solvers requiring orders of magnitude more degrees of freedom.


In the United States, hops (Humulus lupulus L.) are grown mainly in the Pacific Northwest (PNW). For this reason, most cultural information is based on the growing conditions of the PNW. Growing conditions in Virginia differ drastically and present unique disease and production challenges. Three studies were conducted with the intent of increasing hop cultivation knowledge for Virginia growers. For the first study, 13 cultivars of hops grown at the Virginia Tech hop yard were compared for growth, yield, and quality. Mean cone fresh weight per plant ranged from 12.00 g for Mt. Hood to 1002.87 g for Crystal in 2016 and from 97.98 g for Mt. Hood to 900.33 g for Cascade in 2017. In 2016, only Alpharoma, Cascade, Mt. Rainier, and Southern Cross had alpha acid levels, an indicator of cone quality, within the accepted range. In 2017, Alpharoma, Centennial, Mt. Rainier, and Nugget had alpha acid levels within the expected range. Three cultivars (Cascade, Crystal, and Ultra) were above the expected alpha acid range, which indicates more bittering potential for beer brewers. In a nutrient deficiency study, hop plants were grown in hydroponic solutions, and deficiencies were induced for nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). After visual deficiency symptoms had been induced, leaf tissue samples were taken and analyzed for nutrient content. Images were taken at each deficiency stage. For N, incipient deficiency symptoms were observed at a mean of 3.18% dry weight in leaf tissue samples. Visual symptoms included a chlorotic appearance, undersized leaves, and red petioles. Incipient symptoms for P were observed at a mean of 0.307% dry weight in leaf tissue samples. Necrotic spots, leaf cupping, and undersized leaves were apparent with this deficiency. Incipient symptoms for K were observed at a mean of 1.21% dry weight in leaf tissue samples. Symptoms included rounded leaf tips, blue veins, and marginal scorch. In the third study, a whole leaf powdery mildew (Podosphaera macularis) assay was developed and tested using five hop cultivars, Alpharoma, Cascade, Comet, Sorachi Ace, and Tahoma. Leaves were inoculated with powdery mildew (PM) using a settling tower. This method was used to rapidly assess the resistance of cultivars. Leaves were successfully inoculated and PM colonies were allowed to grow for two weeks. Images of the PM colony development on inoculated leaves were compared using ImageJ to determine percentage of coverage. Tahoma was the only cultivar found to produce a significantly different mean percent coverage (19.5%) compared with the resistant cultivars Cascade and Comet (<1%). Hops Production in Virginia: Nutrition, Fungal Pathogens, and Cultivar Trials


We compute the accuracy at which a Laser Interferometer Space Antenna-like space-based gravitational wave detector will be able to observe deviations from general relativity in the low frequency approximation. To do so, we introduce six correction parameters that account for modified gravity in the second post-Newtonian gravitational wave phase for inspiralling supermassive black hole binaries with spin precession on quasicircular orbits. Our implementation can be regarded as a subset of the parametrized post-Einsteinian formalism developed by Yunes and Pretorius, being able to investigate also next-to-leading order effects. In order to find error distributions for the alternative theory parameters, we use the Fisher information formalism and carry out Monte Carlo simulations for 17 different binary black hole mass configurations in the range 105Msun<M<108Msun with 103 randomly distributed points in the parameter space each, comparing the full (FWF) and restricted (RWF) versions of the gravitational waveform. We find that the binaries can roughly be separated into two groups: one with low (≲107Msun) and one with high total masses (≳107Msun). The RWF errors on the alternative theory parameters are 2 orders of magnitude higher than the FWF errors for high-mass binaries while almost comparable for low-mass binaries. Because of dilution of the available information, the accuracy of the binary parameters is reduced by factors of a few, except for the luminosity distance, which is affected more seriously in the high-mass regime. As an application as well as to compare our research with previous work, we compute an optimal lower bound on the graviton Compton wavelength, which is increased by a factor of ˜1.6 when using the FWF.


Background: Intraoperative hypotension is associated with increased postoperative morbidity and mortality. Methods: We randomly assigned patients undergoing major general surgery to early warning system (EWS) and hemodynamic algorithm (intervention group, n = 20) or standard care (n = 20). The primary outcome was the difference in hypotension (defined as mean arterial pressure < 65 mmHg) and as secondary outcome surrogate markers of organ injury and oxidative stress. Results: The median number of hypotensive episodes was lower in the intervention group (−5.0 (95% CI: −9.0, −0.5); p < 0.001), with lower time spent in hypotension (−12.8 min (95% CI: −38.0, −2.3 min); p = 0.048), correspondent to −4.8% of total surgery time (95% CI: −12.7, 0.01%; p = 0.048).The median time-weighted average of hypotension was 0.12 mmHg (0.35) in the intervention group and 0.37 mmHg (1.11) in the control group, with a median difference of −0.25 mmHg (95% CI: −0.85, −0.01; p = 0.025). Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin (NGAL) correlated with time-weighted average of hypotension (R = 0.32; p = 0.038) and S100B with number of hypotensive episodes, absolute time of hypotension, relative time of hypotension and time-weighted average of hypotension (p < 0.001 for all). The intervention group showed lower Neuronal Specific Enolase (NSE) and higher reduced glutathione when compared to the control group. Conclusions: The use of an EWS coupled with a hemodynamic algorithm resulted in reduced intraoperative hypotension, reduced NSE and oxidative stress.


The AIDS clinical group protocol of zidovudine (AZT) prophylaxis regimen for HIV-1-infected pregnant women and their babies has been associated with a decrease in vertical HIV-1 transmission in non-breastfeeding women in developmental countries. However, scientists furthermore compared the safety and efficacy of short-course nevirapine or AZT during labour and the first week of life. In an advancement that promises to significantly reduce the incidence of AIDS in children in developing countries, scientists have found a simple new way with nevirapine to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the AIDS virus that also is less costly and markedly more effective than the standard therapy with AZT in the third world. The more practical therapy comes from substituting one marketed drug, nevirapine, for the standard drug, AZT. The cost for the two doses of nevirapine was $4, compared with $268 for AZT regimen now used in developing countries and $815 for the much longer and more complicated course used in the U.S. and other developing countries. It is proposed that wide-scale use of nevirapine in developing countries could potentially prevent 300,000 to 400,000 newborns each year from beginning life infected with HIV.


the patient with clear-cut communicating hydrocephalus, the patient with epilepsy, the two patients intoxicated by drugs, the eight depressed patients, and the patient with mania. If we had wished to press the point we might have included 24 other patients in whom the results of investigation could have led to some attempt to treat the patients or their relatives; that is, treatment for the seven hypertensive patients with arteriosclerotic dementia, treatment for the six alcoholics, genetic counselling for the relatives of three patients with Huntington's chorea, symptomatic therapy for the five patients with malignant brain tumours, and even experimental antiviral treatment for the three patients with Creutzfeldt-Jacob's disease.-We are, etc., C. D. MARSDEN


(relative toxicities of radionuclides and collection of information designed to aid the determination of maximum permissible levels of radiation exposure). Discussion of the distribution and retention of nuclides and the extent and incidence of bone changes, including osteosarcoma, are supported by detailed pathological observations, radiographs and histological sections. From the foregoing, it will be realized that this book of 500 pages is the prerogative of the specialist mainly interested in the problems of alpha and beta radiations. However, probably to make the conference outward-looking, and certainly making wider reading, some 100 pages of more general biological effects of radiation have been included. Furth's observations on the right side of the dose-response curve at the Third Australian Conference on Radiation Biology have been extended in a further experiment, the incidence of abscopal thymic lymphoma being reduced from 70% to 6% by irradiation of the thymic area four to six weeks after virus infection. Kaplan, in the resultant discussion of his paper (which tantalizingly is not included in the volume), was asked why other lymphoid cells did not respond in his thymoma induction model. He replied that other lymphoid ttssues were susceptible, but at a very low level compared to the thymus, for in unpublished experiments lymph-node implants comparable with those of the thymus gave a 10% incidence of lymphoma under conditions which would have yielded 70% in thymic implants. Lamerton contributes a paper about the response of the hrematopoietic tissues of the rat to continuous irradiation by the use ot tritiated thymidine and direct measurement of uptake in the marrow, or autoradiography. An interesting point concerning the length of the "S" phase emerges in the discussion. A final interesting paper in the general section deals with aging changes in the cerebral cortex following fretal exposure to X rays.


The surface electrocardiogram (ECG) is an established diagnostic tool for the detection of abnormalities in the electrical activity of the heart. The interest of the ECG, however, extends beyond the diagnostic purpose. In recent years, studies in cognitive psychophysiology have related heart rate variability (HRV) to memory performance and mental workload.
The aim of this thesis was to analyze the variability of surface ECG derived rhythms, at two different time scales: the discrete-event time scale, typical of beat-related features (Objective I), and the "continuous" time scale of separated sources in the ECG (Objective II), in selected scenarios relevant to psychophysiological and clinical research, respectively.
Objective I) Joint time-frequency and non-linear analysis of HRV was carried out, with the goal of assessing psychophysiological workload (PPW) in response to working memory engaging tasks. Results from fourteen healthy young subjects suggest the potential use of the proposed indices in discriminating PPW levels in response to varying memory-search task difficulty.
Objective II) A novel source-cancellation method based on morphology clustering was proposed for the estimation of the atrial wavefront in atrial fibrillation (AF) from body surface potential maps.
Strong direct correlation between spectral concentration (SC) of atrial wavefront and temporal variability of the spectral distribution was shown in persistent AF patients, suggesting that with higher SC, shorter observation time is required to collect spectral distribution, from which the fibrillatory rate is estimated. This could be time and cost effective in clinical decision-making. The results held for reduced leads sets, suggesting that a simplified setup could also be considered, further reducing the costs.
In designing the methods of this thesis, an online signal processing approach was kept, with the goal of contributing to real-world applicability. An algorithm for automatic assessment of ambulatory ECG quality, and an automatic ECG delineation algorithm were designed and validated.


This report collates data on the nutrient and phytochemical content of tropical exotic fruits, the evidence for health effects from consumption of these fruit and the use of extracts from edible and non-edible parts of these plants. The knowledge of Australian fruit compared with that grown overseas is presented together with opportunities for future work by Australian researchers. Opportunities for developing commercial extracts for use as food or nutraceutical uses are also presented.


The king of high-secure, low-latency anonymity1 Tor is a very popular anonymisation software and network. For which we created Torminator, a fingerprinting suite written in the Java programming language. Fingerprinting is an attack type applicable to Tor utilising side-channel information from the network packets. With side-channel data, we can analytically access information that purportedly been hidden by design by Tor. Because Tor is a low-latency, low-overhead by design, it will leak communication patterns with intermediate (thus total) communication size. In our case this may able us figure out to which site/service the Tor user is using. This means that anyone with access to user's traffic can use the fingerprinting attack to partly compromise the provided anonymity. By investigating such attacks, it may help us to better understand how to withstand and resist attacks from powerful adversaries such as state agencies. Torminator automatises the process for gathering fingerprints. It uses the official Tor Browser through its GUI to enter websites to recreate the real world scenario. This gives us real and reliable fingerprints without having to employ a human to do anything, as Torminator simulates user interaction on Tor Browser for us. We can also give Torminator a list of websites to fingerprint, making it easy to generate lots of fingerprints for a great number given sites. A contribution of Torminator, is that we improved on the previous de facto standard of the fingerprints collected from the available tools from previous works. We have gathered fingerprints and have now a dataset of 65792 fingerprints. Fingerprints like these can be used with machine learning techniques to teach a machine to recognise web-pages by reading the packet size and directions saved in the fingerprint files. 1 Quote from a leaked top-secret NSA document, acknowledging the fundamental importance of Tor as a software.


Test methods under the auspices of ASTM Committee E37 on Thermal Measurements are being developed for determining the oxidative induction time (OIT) of hydrocarbons by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and pressure DSC. This test method,ASTM E1858, is applicable to hydrocarbons, for example, polyolefins and motor oils that oxidize exothermically in their analyzed form. The DSC method is used at ambient pressure, one atmosphere oxygen. The pressure DSC (PDSC) protocol is used at high pressure, 3.5 MPa or 500 psig, oxygen. The test specimen and reference aluminum pan are heated to a specific temperature, DSC at 195°C and PDSC at 175°C in an oxygen environment. Heat flow out of the specimen is monitored at the isothermal temperature until the oxidative reaction is manifested by heat evolution on the thermal curve. Statistically designed experiments aided in establishing the factors affecting the OIT. Sample pan type, pressure, temperature, and oxygen flow rate were observed as significant experimental parameters. The OIT is a relative measure of oxidative stability at the test temperature. A precision and bias statement has been developed by ASTM Committee E37 and is reported based on a recent national round robin.


In this paper, an extension of the electric-magnetic current combined-field integral equation (JMCFIE) is presented for the efficient analysis of EM scattering by an arbitrary shaped homogenous chiral object located above a lossy half space. This formulation can lead to a well tested equation system using the method of moments (MoM) solution with the vector triangular basis functions and Galerkin's method. The multilevel fast multipole algorithm (MLFMA) is then employed to reduce the memory requirement and computational complexity of the MoM solution. The inner-outer flexible generalized minimal residual (FGMRES) method is used to further speed up the convergence. The accuracy and efficiency are confirmed with a couple of numerical examples.


Recently, public policy makers have devoted increasing attention to business angels as a means of increasing the supply of early stage venture capital. Business angels are valuable smart money investors, who are qualified to provide advice about management and contacts, along with hands-on assistance. To promote investing by angels, several governments have implemented or are studying tax incentives. We have detected such programs in more than 60 jurisdictions. In Canada, five provinces and one territory offer business angels tax incentives. However, the design and implementation of tax incentives in the area of small business finance remains a challenging task, and several programs miss their target.This article surveys and provides a critical analysis of all the programs we have detected worldwide. Our objective is to provide an analysis framework and suggestions for policy makers and various groups that are clamouring for tax benefits. After clarifying the definition of business angels and surveying the motives behind the implementation of tax incentives focused on this category of investors, we develop a twofold analytical framework to study various types of incentives. The first framework is devoted to the advantages and drawbacks of the main types of incentives: upfront credit, capital gains deduction, loss deductions. The second framework relies on best practice rules in the area of small business finance incentives, as proposed by researchers and international organizations like the OECD. In the following sections of the article, we use this framework as a tool to analyze the main programs devoted to business angels in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Canada.As the OECD asserts, granting high net worth individuals greater incentives may increase the number of financial investors but not "angel" investors -- that is, the ones who are presumably providing expertise and contacts in addition to money. Our review indicates that policy makers around the world have not considered this risk. We observe a double paradox. First, despite the benefits of ex-post advantages over upfront credits, the bulk of the programs use upfront credits to promote angel investing. Second, even if the programs are generally presented and described as targeting business angels, most are open to all informal investors, without consideration of their capacity to provide advice and guidance to startups. Most often, the programs are not focused on good-quality high-growth companies, which provide most of the job creation and economic growth effects. Those weaknesses are significant. As designed, the programs should attract numerous unsophisticated investors looking for tax relief. In turn, those investors will increase the stock's valuation and reduce the expected returns of business angels. We provide our recommendations in the last part of this article. We contend that this analysis can provide helpful insight and serve as a reference for Canadian policy makers. The appendix contains a short description of each of the 60 programs we analyzed and the links thereto.


One product that has a short life cycle is a fashion products where the consumer desires can influence the company's decision to develop the product. Batik is one of Indonesian local wisdom, which not all of batik in Indonesia has a high popularity, such as Batik Malangan. Kansei Engineering method used in this study to identify the implicit desire of users in the form of feeling, emotion, or perception when interacting with Batik Malangan. By implementing the procedures Kansei Engineering Type I, there are 30 words that appear using 14 stimulants of Batik Malangan. Statistical data analysis performed using multivariate analysis. The most important kansei words chosen by using Factor Analysis and Principal Component Analysis. In this study, a total of 61 respondents who are citizens of Malang and from outside Malang participated. For customers, the main attraction at the Batik Malangan is the motive, whether the primary motive, secondary motive, nor the isen motive. Until now, Batik Malangan's motive not yet have a characteristic, so it is less well known by customers. Overall, this study contributes to that Kansei Engineering is a method that can be used to capture the feeling of customers mainly on customized products. With so many product variations based on local wisdom should be able to be developed by actually capturing the customer's desire, not only explicit but also implicit.


Online boosting improves the accuracy of classifiers for unbounded streams of data by chaining them into an ensemble. Due to its sequential nature, boosting has proven hard to parallelize, even more so in the online setting. This paper introduces BoostVHT, a technique to parallelize online boosting algorithms. Our proposal leverages a recently-developed model-parallel learning algorithm for streaming decision trees as a base learner. This design allows to neatly separate the model boosting from its training. As a result, BoostVHT provides a flexible learning framework which can employ any existing online boosting algorithm, while at the same time it can leverage the computing power of modern parallel and distributed cluster environments. We implement our technique on Apache SAMOA, an open-source platform for mining big data streams that can be run on several distributed execution engines, and demonstrate order of magnitude speedups compared to the state-of-the-art.


Shin Buddhism arises from the teachings of Shinran, a profoundly compelling spiritual authority of 13th century Japan. In contrast to monastic Japanese Buddhist traditions, which attracted the more learned and aristocratic elements of Japanese society, Shinran taught men in all walks of life to find solace and strength in Amida Buddha, a compassionate aspect of the Cosmic Buddha who renounced his own enlightenment until all men are saved through his power. Though it has been in the West for over one hundred years, Pure Land and Shin Buddhism has been little known or understood among Western peoples. This book brings together a sampling of the resources available for the study of Shin and Pure Land Buddhism through a variety of essays from important and influential journals and so contributes to a greater understanding of Buddhism in general and this school of Buddhism in particular. These essays demonstrate to people unfamiliar with Buddhist scholarship some resources that they would otherwise probably never see. The anthology reveals the serious intellectual and spiritual character of Pure Land teaching, while, also, enabling the reader to gain a perspective on its very real significance for modern society. The diversity of perspectives and views shown in these pages is a mark of vital religious reflection and shows Shin's many dimensions as a living tradition capable of giving meaning to everyday life and of inspiring commitment to the service of humanity. The title Living In Amida's Universal Vow indicates that Buddhism is for living and is meant to suggest the pertinence of these writings to spiritual students and seekers who are not interested in dry scholarly analyses alone.


Abstract:The purpose of this case study was to improve the reading accuracy and reading comprehension of a 10-year-old fourth-grade female student with reading difficulties. For that purpose, the problem-solving model was implemented in four stages. These stages included problem identification, problem analysis, intervention, and evaluation. During the problem identification stage, the student's baseline performance was determined and compared with that of her peers. Through problem analysis, reading goals were established, and intervention techniques were determined. Next, two intervention packages with empirically supported techniques were applied in the intervention stage. After implementing the second intervention package, the student's performance was assessed during the evaluation stage. We found that the student attained the reading goals upon the implementation of the second intervention package. In this paper, we discuss the case study results and provide suggestions for future research.


This book explores the history of marriage and marriage-like relationships across five continents from the seventeenth century to the present day. Across fourteen chapters, leading marriage scholars examine how the methodologies from the new history of emotions contribute to our understanding of marriage, seeking to uncover not only personal feeling but also the political and social implications of emotion. They highlight how marriage as an institution has been shaped not just by law and society but also by individual and community choices, desires and emotional values. Importantly, they also emphasize how the history of non-traditional and same-sex relationships and their emotions have long played an important role in determining the nature of marriage as an institution and emotional union. In doing so, this collection allows us to rethink both the past and present of marriage, destabilizing a story of a stable institution and opening it up as a site of contest, debate and feeling.


Litigation privilege has become unfashionable. It is under attack on multiple fronts throughout the common law world! In the United Kingdom, perhaps the most notable inroad on the privilege is that made by the House of Lords in Re L (A Minor) (Police Investigation: Privilege).2 In that case it was held that the privilege is an incident of adversarial proceedings and that, consequently, it did not obtain in respect of material generated for the purposes of proceedings that were not predominantly adversarial in nature. There are signs that more radical restrictions are to come. In Three Rivers District Council v Governor and Company of the Bank of England (No. 6) Lord Scott of Foscote foreshadowed that a fundamental reconsideration of litigation privilege may be necessary?


Two field experiments were conducted to find out the optimum planting period for Indian rice hybrids during wet season (WS) of 2000 and dry season (DS) of 2001 at Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, West Bengal, India. Average cultivar growing degree days (GDD) to attain four leaf (4L), panicle initiation (Pl), flowering (F), and maturity (M) stages were 394, 1112, 1749, and 2326, respectively, in 2000 WS; which were greater than mean values for 2001 DS. The planting of 5 August increased the grain yield by 38.8 and 12.2% over 5 and 20 July plantings, respectively, in 2000 WS. However, delay in planting from 15 to 28 February during 2001 DS reduced the yield by 0.73 t ha-1. Hybrid PA 6201 (5.72 t ha-1) appeared promising for WS, while CORH 2 (6.42 t ha-1), CNHR 3 (6.42 t ha-1), and KRH 2 (6.40 t ha-1) performed better in DS. Positive correlations between grain yield and GDD or summed bright sunshine hours were evident during 4L to PI on 20 July (P 75% brown rice recovery, >1.3% elongation ratio, >75% carbohydrate, and >7.5% protein content.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the key attributes that drive Muslim consumer purchase behavior in the context of imported Western food in Pakistan.

Design/methodology/approach
In-depth, semi-structured interviews were used as a data collection tool. In this research, the in-depth interview data were analysed by using the manual content analysis (MCA) technique. Moreover, Leximancer software was used to reanalyse the data to enhance the trustworthiness of the MCA results. A total sample of 43 Muslim consumers from three metropolitan cities in Pakistan participated in the research. The sample comprises professionals, housewives and both college and university students.

Findings
Muslim consumers in Pakistan look at both the intrinsic and extrinsic attributes when purchasing imported Western food. The ruling factors explored were product taste, ingredients, freshness, hygiene, brand name and overall product quality. However, product packaging and labeling also play a significant role. Participants were of the view that imported Western food provides a better, unique consumption experience and an opportunity to choose from a wide variety of food options. Interestingly, interview findings reveal that Western food product attributes surpass the Islamic concept of moderate spending, thus convincing Muslim consumers to engage in the consumption of imported Western food.

Social implications
The presence of imported Western food may improve quality of life by having more opportunities and healthier options for the nation. If the Western food products are stamped Halal or made with Halal ingredients the product has a fair chance of adoption and penetration in the society. Further, it may result in overall health improvements within the society, which is already a major concern in the Pakistani consumer market. Also, food products coming from the Western world induces mindfulness; people are more aware about innovative and useful ingredients that can satisfy their taste buds.

Originality/value
This paper found that Pakistani Muslim consumers are not really concerned about the Islamic concept of moderate spending, and thus, established that Pakistani Muslim consumers are more concerned about product value rather than their Islamic teaching of moderate spending. From a population, with 97 per cent Muslim majority, product packaging and labeling were found to be a dominant and deciding factor, which, in itself, is an interesting finding. Further, established Western brand names help Muslim consumers to recognize products and plays a vital role in their purchase decisions. However, within product labeling, the element of halal ingredients was found to be a deciding factor, but not a leading factor, in purchase decisions.


With the rapid growth of the Internet, the ability of users to create and publish content has created active electronic communities that provide a wealth of product information. However, the high volume of reviews that are typically published for a single product makes harder for individuals as well as manufacturers to locate the best reviews and understand the true underlying quality of a product. In this paper, we reexamine the impact of reviews on economic outcomes like product sales and see how different factors affect social outcomes such as their perceived usefulness. Our approach explores multiple aspects of review text, such as subjectivity levels, various measures of readability and extent of spelling errors to identify important text-based features. In addition, we also examine multiple reviewer-level features such as average usefulness of past reviews and the self-disclosed identity measures of reviewers that are displayed next to a review. Our econometric analysis reveals that the extent of subjectivity, informativeness, readability, and linguistic correctness in reviews matters in influencing sales and perceived usefulness. Reviews that have a mixture of objective, and highly subjective sentences are negatively associated with product sales, compared to reviews that tend to include only subjective or only objective information. However, such reviews are rated more informative (or helpful) by other users. By using Random Forest-based classifiers, we show that we can accurately predict the impact of reviews on sales and their perceived usefulness. We examine the relative importance of the three broad feature categories: "reviewer-related" features, "review subjectivity" features, and "review readability" features, and find that using any of the three feature sets results in a statistically equivalent performance as in the case of using all available features. This paper is the first study that integrates econometric, text mining, and predictive modeling techniques toward a more complete analysis of the information captured by user-generated online reviews in order to estimate their helpfulness and economic impact.


Constraint programming has become an important technology for solving hard combinatorial problems in a diverse range of application domains. It has its roots in artificial intelligence, mathematical programming, op- erations research, and programming languages. This paper gives a perspective on where constraint programming is today, and discusses a number of opportunities and challenges that could provide focus for the research community into the future.


Prototypes of flexible, electricity-free, ice warning signs for roads and pavements have been developed. A thermotropic
response in the form of an upper critical solution (UCST) type phase separation targeted near the freezing point of water
manifests itself through light scattering as a clear-to-opaque transition. It is simultaneously amplified by an enhanced
photoluminescence effect. The conceptual road sign application is a multi-lamellar flexible strip with an active layer of a
polystyrene-based solution. The solvent is a plasticizer, here either dioctylphthalate (DOP) or its alternative 1,2-cyclohexane
dicarboxylic acid diisononyl ester (DINCH). A collection of styrene-based macromolecules were made by free radical
(co)polymerization, varying molecular weight and monomer feed composition. UCST type phase diagrams for the polymer
solutions were constructed from cloud point data measured by a bespoke photographic set-up, in which up to 30 samples
were measured simultaneously using both light scattering, that is opacity, and fluorescence. For the latter, the concept of
restricted motion enhanced photoluminescence, often referred to as aggregation-induced emission (AIE), was used.
Polystyrene labelled with tetraphenylethylene (TPE) was used for this. The contrast between 'ON' and 'OFF' states in the
prototype ice warning signs was optimized by tuning the polymer concentration and the active layer thickness. Our prototype
signs show full reversibility over many temperature cycles. We believe the concept can be of wider use in electricity-free
signs and labels.


International reviews of teaching and teacher education have highlighted the importance of quality teachers in improving the outcomes of students. Teachers may enter the teaching profession through a variety of pathways. Currently in Australia, one pathway is through graduate entry teacher education programs in which people who already hold university degrees outside of education can undertake one-year formal teacher preparation programs. It may be argued that graduate entry teachers value add to the teaching profession as they bring with them a range of careers and wealth of experiences often beyond those of teachers who enter the profession through traditional four-year Bachelor of Education programs. This paper reports on a study that investigated the preparedness to teach of a group of graduate entry teacher education students as they prepared to exit from university and enter the teaching profession. The study concluded that this group of graduating teachers perceived that the field experience components in their formal teacher education programs contributed most to their beginning professional learning. The study revealed also that this group of graduating teachers sought further professional learning opportunities in the canonical skills of teaching. These findings may be used to inform the design of future teacher education programs.


Plant phenological records are crucial for predicting plant responses to global warming. However, many historical records are either short or replete with data gaps, which pose limitations and may lead to erroneous conclusions about the direction and magnitude of change. In addition to uninterrupted monitoring, missing observations may be substituted via modeling, experimentation, or gradient analysis. Here we have developed a space-for-time (SFT) substitution method that uses spatial phenology and temperature data to fill gaps in historical records. To do this, we combined historical data for several tree species from a single location with spatial data for the same species and used linear regression and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) to build complementary spring phenology models and assess improvements achieved by the approach. SFT substitution allowed increasing the sample size and developing more robust phenology models for some of the species studied. Testing models with reduced historical data size revealed thresholds at which SFT improved historical trend estimation. We conclude that under certain circumstances both the robustness of models and accuracy of phenological trends can be enhanced although some limitations and assumptions still need to be resolved. There is considerable potential for exploring SFT analyses in phenology studies, especially those conducted in urban environments and those dealing with non-linearities in phenology modeling.


We present a novel modulation level classification (MLC) method based on probability distribution distance functions. The proposed method uses modified Kuiper and Kolmogorov-Smirnov distances to achieve low computational complexity and outperforms the state of the art methods based on cumulants and goodness-of-fit tests. We derive the theoretical performance of the proposed MLC method and verify it via simulations. The best classification accuracy, under AWGN with SNR mismatch and phase jitter, is achieved with the proposed MLC method using Kuiper distances.


In an attempt to discern the paradigms underlying our medical practice (more specifically paediatrics) over the last 30 years, it was found that these are rather similar to the ones prevailing at the beginning of this period--all wrong-doings were attributed to outside forces which had to be neutralized; the obsession to standardise the internal milieu; the compulsion to always do something, little attention being paid to collateral effects; the ends justifying the means and the charm of technology.


In this paper, we propose a new algorithm for data extraction from time series signal data, and furthermore automatic calculation of highly informative deep features to be used in fault detection. In data extraction elevator start and stop events are extracted from sensor data, and a generic deep autoencoder model is also developed for automated feature extraction from the extracted profiles. After this, extracted deep features are classified with random forest algorithm for fault detection. Sensor data are labelled as healthy and faulty based on the maintenance actions recorded. The remaining healthy data are used for validation of the model to prove its efficacy in terms of avoiding false positives. We have achieved 100% accuracy in fault detection along with avoiding false positives based on new extracted deep features, which outperforms results using existing features. Existing features are also classified with random forest to compare results. Our developed algorithm provides better results due to the new deep features extracted from the dataset compared to existing features. This research will help various predictive maintenance systems to detect false alarms, which will in turn reduce unnecessary visits of service technicians to installation sites.


Light availability and macroinvertebrate consumers are strong bottom-up and top-down controls, respectively, in aquatic ecosystems. However, these 2 factors are rarely examined in combination, particularly regarding detrital heterotrophic processes such as organic matter decomposition. We conducted separate experiments manipulating light and presence of the omnivorous shrimp Macrobrachium ohione (S. I. Smith, 1874) and the shredder-detritivore caddisfly Pycnopsyche sp. to test effects of light availability and consumer presence on decomposition of Liriodendron tulipifera L., a fast-decaying leaf species, in outdoor experimental streams. We measured litter algal, fungal, and bacterial biomass and production, enzymatic activity, and decomposition rates over 6 wk during each experiment. Both experiments demonstrated positive algal responses to light; during the Macrobrachium experiment, light also increased fungal growth rates and bacterial biomass. During the Pycnopsyche experiment, light reduced bacterial production rates and β-glucosidase activity. Despite these strong light effects on microbial heterotrophy, litter decomposition rates did not respond to light availability, indicating minimal algal priming effects, and decomposition only increased in the presence of Pycnopsyche, regardless of light treatment. In both experiments, consumer presence did not elicit strong microbial responses, with the exception of the timing of algal and bacterial colonization of litter during the Macrobrachium experiment. Under the conditions of our study, our results affirm that light elicits a strong bottom-up control on microbial interactions during litter decomposition. In turn, consumer top-down effects depend on feeding mode and are more likely independent from light availability. These findings advance understanding of the interplay between light availability and foodweb structure in shaping aquatic ecosystem processes.


Businesses become globally distributed and speed to market is a critical success for new products. However, global cooperative design in legacy system reengineering is formidable because of the communication and coordination issues. Besides finding the domain expertise via the agents and distributing the different process steps at different sites, establishing communication queues and conducting the process steps accordingly will dramatically reduce the impact of the communication delay to the entire project and shorten the time to market. In Lattice@ system reengineering, this model was adopt, and the impact of the communication delay occurred in global cooperative design was minimized.


Academics often have a "gut feeling" about which categories of students are successful or unsuccessful on their courses. Sometimes this is based on ad hoc anecdotal evidence, e.g. citing examples of a few strong or weak students, or sometimes based on back of the envelope analyses. It is not unusual to hear staff hypothesise that mature students do better/worse than 18 year olds or National Diploma entry students do better or worse than "A" level entry students. However, staff experiences with subgroups of students can be misleading and not representative of the true picture of the student cohort as a whole.

This project adopted a systematic approach to identify the characteristics of successful (awarded 1st or 2(i)) and unsuccessful (e.g. fail or withdrawn) types of students on a suite of Music Technology and Production degrees. It extracted data from the University's Applicant and Student Information System and compared student's entry profiles with the outcome of their studies.

Whilst the results are arguably specific to these particular Music Technology/Production courses, some interesting results were produced. For example, increasing UCAS points increased the percentage of successful students but it did not decrease the percentage of unsuccessful students as might have been expected.


A punitive socio-legal policy towards sex offenders against minors has been driven by public demand. The perception of an appallingly high incidence of serious abuse by incorrigible men has been encouraged by press sensationalism, but criminal statistics and recidivism studies fail to confirm either an escalation of sex crimes against minors or the inevitability of recidivism. Retrospective victim studies have given alarming indications of the prevalence of abuse, but they have often included trivial incidents and the experiences of sexually active adolescents that do not involve real paedophiles. Clinical observation demonstrates the devastating effects of child sex abuse, but community surveys suggest that minor incidents have only minor effects, except when accompanied by other stresses. Statutory changes and prison statistics reveal the increasing punitiveness of criminal justice. Exaggerated perception of risk produces undue restrictions on children's freedom and on their interactions with teachers and other adults. Assumptions of incorrigibility impede the rehabilitation of offenders through vigilantism, stigmatization and barriers to employment. This amplifies deviance and does not protect children.


Despite the growing volume of experimentally validated knowledge about the subcellular localization of plant proteins, a well performing in silico prediction tool is still a necessity. Existing tools, which employ information derived from protein sequence alone, offer limited accuracy and/or rely on full sequence availability. We explored whether gene expression profiling data can be harnessed to enhance prediction performance. To achieve this, we trained several support vector machines to predict the subcellular localization of Arabidopsis thaliana proteins using sequence derived information, expression behavior, or a combination of these data and compared their predictive performance through a cross-validation test. We show that gene expression carries information about the subcellular localization not available in sequence information, yielding dramatic benefits for plastid localization prediction, and some notable improvements for other compartments such as the mitochondrion, the Golgi, and the plasma membrane. Based on these results, we constructed a novel subcellular localization prediction engine, SLocX, combining gene expression profiling data with protein sequence-based information. We then validated the results of this engine using an independent test set of annotated proteins and a transient expression of GFP fusion proteins. Here, we present the prediction framework and a website of predicted localizations for Arabidopsis. The relatively good accuracy of our prediction engine, even in cases where only partial protein sequence is available (e.g., in sequences lacking the N-terminal region), offers a promising opportunity for similar application to non-sequenced or poorly annotated plant species. Although the prediction scope of our method is currently limited by the availability of expression information on the ATH1 array, we believe that the advances in measuring gene expression technology will make our method applicable for all Arabidopsis proteins.


Computer-based support for disease self-management has been proposed for chronic patients to stimulate early awareness of disease changes, facilitate patients' autonomy, and reduce demands on health care resources. Renal transplant patients need lifelong care and can be viewed as chronically ill: they visit hospital regularly to monitor their blood level creatinine and blood pressure. They should also benefit from self-management as other chronic patients do. For the renal transplant patients, a self-management support system (SMSS) was designed and tested, with which they could conduct selfmeasuring regularly to check the renal function and get corresponding feedback. In the study, there were three feedback categories: (1) alright, and therefore patients did not have to take an extra action; (2) mild concern, and therefore patients were requested to measure again; and (3) concern, and therefore patients were advised to contact the hospital. To conduct self-management safely, it is important for the patients to follow the protocol and the system feedback. Therefore, to understand these patients' selfmanagement behaviour, preferences, and adherence, this thesis investigates possible influencing factors for them to adhere to and accept the SMSS. The study entailed two related research lines: a lab study line that focused on the user interface design of a SMSS, and a clinical trial line that focused on patients' acceptance and adherence of a SMSS…


The fields of knowledge management and competitive intelligence have been joined in the literature for over a decade, as scholars recognized the emphasis in each field on developing knowledge, albeit of different types.  While knowledge management is often limited to the human, structural, and relational capital of the firm, competitive intelligence is more outward looking, building a broadly sourced knowledge base concerning competitors. In fact, practitioners are one step ahead of academia in this application as many organizations have a connection between their knowledge management and competitive intelligence functions.  In extensive depth interviews to ascertain the state of intelligence work of all types in contemporary industry, we found such an inclination to be prominent in a number of specific industries.  One of these was oil and gas.  While exploration, recovery, refining, transportation, and retail are all separate aspects of this broad field, it is collectively of interest, in large part because of this extensive scope. In this paper, we compare and contrast knowledge management and competitive intelligence practice in oil-based industries. In doing so, we draw upon an extensive database including financial returns of thousands of companies in a broad range of industries over a five-year period. Looking specifically at industries related to oil and gas, we review data concerning the level and importance of knowledge assets in each industry. Included in the database is additional information on competitive intelligence activity in each industry. We add these figures to the analysis, allowing us to assess the relative competitive intelligence threat levels. Finally, we discuss the results from the depth interviews we conducted with practitioners in these industries, sharing their perspective on the nature of knowledge management, competitive intelligence, and the interplay between them in this complex industry.


Acculturation and language proficiency have been found to be inter-related both from the perspective of second language acquisition (Schumann, 1978, 1986) and socio-psychological adaptation in cross-cultural contacts (Ward, Bochner, & Furnham, 2001). However, the predictions as to the effect of a particular strategy on success differ, with assimilation believed to create most favourable conditions for SLA and integration for general well-being. The present study explores acculturation patterns in three expert users of English as a second language, recent Polish immigrants to the UK, in relation to their language experience. The qualitative data were collected with the use of a questionnaire and analysed with respect to language experience and socio-affective factors. The analysis aimed at better understanding of the relationship between language learning in a formal context and language use in a natural setting on the one hand and the relationship between language expertise and acculturation strategy choice on the other. The results show that in spite of individual differences, expert language users tend to adopt an assimilation rather than integration acculturation strategy. This may suggest that attitudes are related to expertise in English as a second language in a more conservative way than advocated by cross-cultural approaches.


Male Wistar rats were exposed to ethylbenzene (0, 300, or 600 ppm for 6 h), and the metabolic fate of the compound was elucidated on the basis of the biotransformation products found in the urine. Fourteen different compounds thought to originate from ethylbenzene were identified. The main metabolites were 1-phenylethanol, mandelic acid, and benzoic acid. The metabolic conversion proceeded mainly through oxidation of the side chain, whereas ring oxidation seemed to be of minor importance. At the exposure level of 600 ppm, only 6% of the amount absorbed was eliminated in the urine during exposure. During the period of 48 h from the onset of exposure, the total urinary elimination was 59%. The corresponding values at 300 ppm were 13 and 83%.


[1] Potential evapotranspiration (PET) is one of the inputs to the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). A common approach to calculating PDSI is to use the Thornthwaite method for estimating PET because of its readily available input data: monthly mean temperatures. PET estimates based on Penman-type approaches are considered to be more physically realistic, but require more diverse input data. This study assesses the differences in global PDSI maps using the two estimates for PET. Annually accumulated PET estimates based on alternative Thornthwaite and Penman-Monteith, parameterizations have very different amplitudes. However, we show that PDSI values based on the two PET estimates are very similar, in terms of correlation, regional averages, trends, and in terms of identifying extremely dry or wet months. The reason for this insensitivity to the method of calculating PET relates to the calculations in the simple water balance model which is at the heart of the PDSI algorithm. It is shown that in many areas, actual evapotranspiration is limited by the availability of soil moisture and is at markedly lower levels compared to its potential value. In other areas, the water balance does change, but the quantity central to the calculation of the PDSI is, by construction, a reflection of the actual precipitation, which makes it largely insensitive to the use of the Thornthwaite PET rather than the Penman-Monteith PET. A secondary reason is that the impact of PET as input to a scaling parameter in the PDSI algorithm is very modest compared to the more dominant influence of the precipitation.


C2010) Water uptake, percent volume increase and cookability after soaking are critical characteristics of dry beans destined for the canning industry. New dry bean varieties released, should possess good canning qualities to ensure uniform and complete water uptake in order to prevent further expansion of beans in the can. This study determined the physical suitability of 8 new lines for the canning process. These were randomly selected from 150 new advanced drought tolerant dry bean lines. The physical attributes evaluated were the initial moisture content, bulk density, water uptake, volume increase and cookability. The 8 bean genotypes of diverse market classes were screened for water uptake by soaking the beans for 16 hours at room temperature (20.5 ± O.5"C). The effect of soaking on volume change was determined by heptane displacement method in a graduated container. Cookability was determined by the cooking time using a 25-well Mattson pindrop cooker. All experiments were replicated three times. Mexican 142, a popular canning bean variety, was used as the control. Analysis of 8 market classes showed that there were significant differences (P< 0.05) in initial moisture content, bulk density and cooking time among the genotypes. Initial moisture content varied from 1O.00± 0.10 % (DNB 11-10) to 11.87± 0.12 % (Kenya Early); bulk density from 0.710±0.003 g/cm' (DNB 11-10) to 0.769± 0.003 g/cm' (DSS 11-04) and cooking time from 30.31± 5.60 minutes (DPC 11-05) to 51.29± 13.6 minutes (DNB 11-10). However, there were no significant differences in water uptake and volume change. All genotypes took up at least 90% water and qualify for canning purposes, with six of them picking up water and cooking faster than the control.


This review explores why public participation in constitution-making matters for cultivating responsible governance and for fine-tuning justice, focused on immensely rich African evidence within a broader comparative constitutional law context.


The world is facing complex and mounting environmental challenges. Increased fuel costs and increased market capacity in power generation markets is driving a transformation in power plant operations. Power plants are seeking ways to maximize revenue potential during peak conditions and minimize operational costs during off-peak conditions. Although proven natural gas reserves have increased globally by nearly 50% over the last 20 years, much of this growth has been focused in select regions and countries. In parallel to the discovery of new reserves is the increase in power demand across the globe. However, there are many regions of the globe in which power demand is not being matched by increased local supplies of natural gas, or in infrastructure required to supply natural gas to power generation assets. Given these drivers, there is growing global interest in LNG & alternate fuels. This phenomenon is driving a trend to explore the potential of using LNG fuels which can be easily transported across the globe as an alternative for power generation. In a carbon-constrained environment, the technology trend is for combustion systems capable of burning LNG fuel in combination with delivering the required operability. This paper will focus on developments in GE's heavy duty gas turbines that enable operation on fuels with varying properties, providing fuel flexibility for sustainable power generation and better emissions compliance. GE's turbine control system employs physics-based models of gas turbine operability boundaries (e.g., emissions, combustion dynamics, etc.), to continuously estimate current boundary levels and make adjustments as required.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


Background: The aim of our study was to translate and validate the Chinese version of the Short Health Scale (SHS), a disease-speci�c quality of life (QoL) scale for the patients with in�ammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods: The SHS was translated and validated according to the standard process: a translation and back-translation procedure, culture adaptation and a validation study. Patients with IBD were enrolled, and their QoL were assessed using the SHS and the short in�ammatory bowel disease questionnaire (SIBDQ). Reliability (internal consistency reliability, split-half reliability and test-retest reliability) and validity (content validity, construct validity, criterion validity and discriminant validity) analysis were performed to evaluate the psychometric characteristics of the SHS. Results: A total of 95 patients with IBD (62 ulcerative colitis and 33 Crohn's disease) completed the Chinese version of the SHS, and 40 patients completed the SHS within 1-4 weeks once again. Cronbach's alpha value of the SHS was 0.91, and its split-half coe�cient was 0.83. Intraclass correlation coe�cients of four items ranged from 0.55 to 0.75. All four items of the SHS were signi�cantly associated with the corresponding domains of the SIBDQ, with correlation coe�cients ranging from -0.47 to -0.63 (P < 0.001). Exploratory factor analysis showed that the cumulative contribution rate of variance reached 68%, and the factor loading of all the items were greater than 0.8. The scores of four items were signi�cantly different for the patients of different Bristol stool form scale (P < 0.001). The scores of function, worry and general well-being were signi�cantly different among the patients with different smoking status (P < 0.05). Conclusions: The SHS is a simple and quick scale. The SHS had good validity and reliability, and was suitable to evaluate the QoL of patients with IBD in Chinese.


As the number of people with hearing disabilities are increasing significantly in the world, it is always required to use technology for filling the gap of communication between Deaf and Hearing communities. To fill this gap and to allow people with hearing disabilities to communicate this paper suggests a framework that contributes to the efficient integration of people with hearing disabilities. This paper presents a robust speech recognition system, which converts the continuous speech into text and image. The results are obtained with an accuracy of 95% with the small size vocabulary of 20 greeting sentences of continuous speech form tested in a speaker independent mode. In this testing phase all these continuous sentences were given as live input to the proposed system.


20th – 24th July, The University of Dublin, Trinity College, Ireland School Psychology – Making Life Better for all Children The purpose of the conference is to provide opportunities for school psychologists, educators and other interested parties to meet, interact and exchange professional information. The Scientific Committee hopes to maintain this dialogue between practitioners and academics. We particularly encourage submission from practitioners. Submissions might include narrative reflections on the work of a school psychologist and analyses of this work, perhaps including linkages to evidence and research findings.


While selection effects have important implications for empirical studies of the litigation process, existing theories of case selection are incomplete. Existing theories focus on "ex post selection" - selection resulting from choices made by parties after a dispute arises, such as by settlement or jury trial demands. But parties also engage in "ex ante selection" - selection resulting from choices made before a dispute arises. A common form of ex ante selection occurs when parties include a pre-dispute arbitration clause in their contract, agreeing to have future disputes resolved in arbitration rather than in court. This paper develops a theory of ex ante selection of disputes for litigation, and examines implications of the theory for empirical studies of litigation. Studies comparing outcomes in arbitration and litigation provide evidence that ex ante selection occurs. This paper argues that the effects of ex ante selection are not limited to such studies, but also may affect studies that examine only the litigation process. The central intuition is that the disputes for which litigation is most likely to be problematic (and thus of interest to researchers) are the very disputes most likely to end up in arbitration. When parties expect litigation to be costly or damage awards excessive, they have an incentive to provide for arbitration to resolve future disputes. Such ex ante selection may mask characteristics of the litigation process that empirical studies are seeking to examine.


Background: Data are scarce on the association between prenatal/preconception environmental exposure and testicular germ cell tumor (TGCT) in offspring. We examined parental occupational exposures to heavy metals and welding fumes in relation to TGCT in offspring in a registry-based case-control study (NORD-TEST Study). Methods: We identified TGCT cases diagnosed at ages 14-49 years in Finland (1988-2012), Norway (1978-2010), and Sweden (1979-2011) through nationwide cancer registries. These cases were individually matched by country and year of birth to controls selected from population registries. Information on parental occupations was retrieved from censuses. From this, we estimated prenatal/preconception exposures of chromium, iron, nickel, lead, and welding fumes (all three countries), and cadmium (Finland only) for each parent using job-exposure matrices specifying prevalence (P) and mean exposure level (L). Exposure indices were calculated as product of P and L (P×L), and exposure categories were based on P×L or different combinations of P and L. Results: The study comprised 8,112 cases and 26,264 controls. We observed a statistically non-significant elevated risk of TGCT where P×L>0 except for paternal exposure to cadmium. We found no statistically significant dose-response relationship, but a statistically significant elevated TGCT risk associated with paternal exposure category where both P and L of chromium were high (vs. no chromium; odds ratio=1.37, 95% confidence interval; 1.05-1.79). Conclusion: Our study provides little evidence of associations between parental exposures to heavy metals/welding fumes and TGCT in offspring with the potential exception of high paternal chromium exposure. Impact: Further research on paternal chromium exposure is warranted.


OBJECTIVE
To purify and partially characterize various isoforms of canine pepsinogen (PG) from gastric mucosa.

SAMPLE POPULATION
Stomachs obtained from 6 euthanatized dogs.

PROCEDURE
Mucosa was scraped from canine stomachs, and a crude mucosal extract was prepared and further purified by use of weak anion-exchange chromatography, hydroxyapatite chromatography, size-exclusion chromatography, and strong anion-exchange chromatography. Pepsinogens were characterized by estimation of molecular weights, estimation of their isoelectric points (IEPs), and N-terminal amino acid sequencing.

RESULTS
Two different groups of canine PG were identified after the final strong anion-exchange chromatography: PG A and PG B. Pepsinogens differed in their molecular weights and IER Pepsinogen B appeared to be a dimer with a molecular weight of approximately 34,100 and an IEP of 4.9. Pepsinogen A separated into several isoforms. Molecular weights for the various isoforms of PG A ranged from 34,200 to 42,100, and their IEPs ranged from 4.0 to < 3.0. The N-terminal amino acid sequence for the first 25 amino acid residues for PG A and B had good homology with the amino acid sequences for these proteins in other species.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Canine PG B and several isoforms of canine PG A have been purified. Availability of these PGs will facilitate development of immunoassays to measure PG in canine serum as a potential diagnostic marker for gastric disorders in dogs.


Term of Award Spring 2008 Degree Name Master of Science in Kinesiology (M.S.) Document Type and Release Option Thesis (open access) Department Department of Health and Kinesiology Committee Chair Daniel R. Czech Committee Member 1 Jonathan Metzler Committee Member 2 Stephen Rossi Committee Member 3 George Shaver Abstract Past research dealing with power sports has dealt mainly with the effects of participation in such sports as boxing and wrestling (Endresen & Olweus, 2005). Results have shown that participation in such sports has led to an increase and enhancement of violent and nonviolent antisocial behavior outside of sport (Endresen & Olweus, 2005; Bloom & Smith, 1996). The sport psychology literature has thus far failed to encompass the lived experience or possible themes that arise that stem from being a part of this culture. The purpose of this study was to examine the amateur Mixed Martial Arts athlete and their experience with mental skill usage in both training and competing. This study utilized existential phenomenological methodology and a humanistic framework. Data was collected from a purposeful sample of six amateur MMA fighters. Results were analyzed to uncover possible common themes experienced by the amateur MMA athlete. Recommended Citation Harpold, Matthew E., "Mental Cage: A Qualitative Analysis of the Mental Game in the Sport of Mixed Martial Arts" (2008). Electronic Theses and Dissertations . 97. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/97  Download


The research discussed in this paper situates itself within experiential and critical approaches to architectural and urban space through GPS-based mobile app technology. It uses Waze, a crowd-sourcing satellite navigation app, as its case study to discuss how the app enables new digitally mediated spatial practices performed and embodied by users. To explore how Waze informs spatial relations and practices – both physical and digital – the app is analyzed as a material object, particularly addressing the design and spatial properties of the interface, while framing it within a Cyberfeminist theoretical framework. The paper seeks to fill a gap in digital spatial theory by upholding that apps are made at a fast pace to help increase their commercial value, but their development, design, and research currently lacks critical study. As such, it looks into Waze's implications regarding the social reconfiguration of urban relations and identity-formation. Collecting its data through a series of interviews with users as well as personal analyses, this paper aims to critically address how through its interface Waze: a) contests notions of "community" among a group of drivers on the road, b) creates transactional collaborations between Wazers, and c) sets up a digital space where users perform and move in relation to each other. The paper argues that studying Waze's properties enables a space-based theorization of embodiment, and that through Waze's avatars, users construct a sense of embodied self-awareness and a social understanding of their immediate context by being able to visually position themselves within an expansive network of others.


This paper proposes an improved Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI) approach for the synthesis of Static Output Feedback (SOF) Fault-Tolerant Control (FTC). A novel slack variable is introduced into the matrix inequalities, which provides an additional degree of freedom to compute the numerical solution. Subsequently, an improved iterative algorithm is developed to obtain an optimal SOF gain with less conservativeness. In this paper, designs of the SOF gain are shown in the framework of tracking control. The nonlinear simulations of the ADMIRE aircraft are included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


AIM: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of methylcobalamin in treating lower lumber vertebral diseases. METHODS: Ninety patients (M 56, F 34, age 48 a+- s 45 a and 53 a+- 32 a) of lower lumbal vertebral diseases were consisted of 72 Patients of lumbar intervertebral disk herniation and 18 of lumbar intervertebral Canal stenosis. all patients received methylcobalamin 500 ug, im, qod in the first 2 wk and then methylcobalamin 500 ug, po, tid in the following 2 wk. RESULTS: The clinical symptoms and signs in most patients were obviously improved, especially the subjectve symptoms. An improvement ratio of total was 45% above the effective level and 84% above the improved level. No differences of improvement ratio were found in statistics among the two diseases, different affected durations, the presence and absence of analgesic. CONCLUSION: Methylcobalamin is considered to be useful and safe to the improvement of pain, numbness, and other nerve disturbance symptorns associated with lumbar vertebral diseases. Methylcobalamin clinical trial cooprative group: GONG Yao-Chen, Lian Yu (Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Second Medical university, SHANGHAI 200025, China ); ZHANG Guang-Jian (Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai Medical University, SHANGHAI 200032, China ); HE He-Gao (Shanghai 6th People's Hospital, SHANGHAI 200233, China); JIA Lian-Shun, YUAN Wen (Shanghai Changzheng Hospital, SHANGHAI 200003, China ); ZHANG Chun-Cai (Shanghai Changhai Hospital, SHANGHAI 200433, China ); CHENG Yong-Qiang (Shanghai 9th people's hospital, SHANGHAI 200011, China )


Recommending complex, intangible items in a domain with high consequences, such as destinations for traveling, requires additional care when deriving and confronting the users with recommendations. In order to address these challenges, we developed CityRec, a destination recommender that makes two contributions. The first is a data-driven approach to characterize cities according to the availability of venues and travel-related features, such as the climate and costs of travel. The second is a conversational recommender system with 180 destinations around the globe based on the datadriven characterization, which provides prospective travelers with inspiration for and information about their next trip. An online user study with 104 participants revealed that the proposed system has a significantly higher perceived accuracy compared to the baseline approach, however, at the cost of ease of use.


Manufacturing companies have traditionally focused their design and development activities on realizing technical and engineered aspects of physical artifacts based on performance requirements. The ever-changing business climate, with its increased pace during the past decades, has forced industries to continuously innovate their approach toward the development of new products. Pressured also by global competition, manufacturing companies need to reconsider the traditional concept of realizing value via goods production, and shift towards realizing value through product-service combinations. Companies have begun to recognize that gaining competitive advantage and expanding market shares is not achievable purely through continuous technical improvements. Rather, it is necessary to develop a closer relationship to the customer to gain a deeper understanding of expectations, needs, and perceived value. From a development perspective, the overarching problem within complex systems such as those in which cars, aircraft, and excavators are manufactured, or healthcare is provided, is that the focus on customer value is likely to become blurred since it is difficult to understand the impact a change in any single component in the overall system has on value, and to determine a new function's impact on future scenarios. The main goals of this thesis are to provide an understanding of key challenges when considering the value different design alternatives provide in the conceptual phases of product development taking the automotive industry as case study, and to explore how to support a multi-disciplinary design team in making value-conscious decisions when dealing with new product-service offerings. The research approach has involved data collection through participation in, and facilitation of, product-service design workshops in the automotive industry. Also, it has involved follow-up meetings and interviews, as well as a review of literature on state-of-the-art methods in early conceptual design phases, which describes the advantages and disadvantages of the different frameworks. The primary finding of the study is that determination of the impact of different PSS design options on customer value becomes more challenging since new elements are introduced (e.g., new business models and services). The design team requires more holistic competences in order to more fully understand changing contexts; and new methods and tools are needed in order to establish a base to define, discuss and assess what "uncontested customer value" is, and link it to the different product-service elements of the system. Secondly, this thesis proposes a conceptual approach for value simulation and assessment of different design options, where the iterative use of personas and scenario generation is combined with value modeling and computer-based simulation techniques, enabling a quick "what-if" analysis of the various options, facilitating the identification of promising combinations of product and service elements that provide higher customer value.


To the Editor: For nearly 3 decades, human parvovirus B19 (B19V) was considered to be the only pathogenic parvovirus found in humans. Since 2005, several new human parvoviruses have been found, including human bocaviruses (HBoV1–4) and human parvovirus 4 (PARV4) (1–5), and during 2012, metagenomic analysis of fecal samples from children in Burkina Faso with acute diarrhea showed a highly divergent parvovirus, which was named bufavirus (BuV) (6). Its sequence in the coding region showed <31% similarity with known parvoviruses, the closest genera being Protoparvovirus and Amdoparvovirus. Subsequent studies, on the basis of PCR results, showed that 4% of fecal samples from Burkina Faso (n = 98) and 1.6% from Tunisia (n = 63) harbored either of 2 genotypes of this new virus, which belongs to the species Primate protoparvovirus 1 of the genus Protoparvovirus (6,7; http://ictvonline.org).

To assess the occurrence of BuV in northern Europe, we analyzed 629 fecal samples from patients of all ages (median 51.5 years, range 0–99) in Finland who had gastroenteritis. To gain a more complete representation of BuV occurrence, we obtained samples retrospectively from routine diagnostics for bacterial and viral gastroenteritis-inducing pathogens (HUSLAB, Helsinki University Central Hospital Laboratory Division, Helsinki, Finland) and analyzed all samples available during the collection periods.

The samples originally sent to HUSLAB for bacterial diagnosis (bacterial cohort, n = 243) had been analyzed during October 2012–March 2013 for Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Campylobacter spp., Yersinia spp., Vibrio cholerae, and Escherichia coli (subtypes enterohemorraghica, enteropatogena, enterotoxigenic and enteroagregativa) by using culture or PCR (8). In 81 (33.3%) of the samples, >1 bacterial pathogen was found.

The samples originally sent for viral diagnosis (viral cohort, n = 386) had been tested in HUSLAB for norovirus during April–May, 2013 by using reverse transcription quantitative PCE (RT-qPCR)(HUSLAB in-house). Further diagnosis for rotavirus and adenovirus had been requested by physicians from 105 (27.2%) of 386 samples (Diarlex MB antigen detection assay, Orion Diagnostica, Espoo, Finland), and for astrovirus from 33 (8.6%) samples (RT-PCR, HUSLAB in-house). A viral pathogen was discovered in 141 (36.5%) samples; in 139, the pathogen was norovirus.

The samples had been sent from diverse locations within Finland, and thus were not from a few isolated outbreaks. No further information on patients and samples was available for either cohort, and not enough samples were left for retrospective analysis of additional pathogens. The Ethics Committee of the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa approved the study.

BuV DNA was detected by using a new real-time qPCR with the following primers and probe: BuV forward, 5 ′-ACAGTGTAGACAGTGGATTCAAACTT-3 ′; BuV reverse, 5 ′-GTTGTGGTTGGATTGTGGTTAGTTC-3 ′; BuV qPCR probe, 5 ′-FAM-CGGAAGAGATTTTGACAGTGCYTAGCAA-BHQ1–3 ′. The detailed qPCR protocol is shown in the Technical Appendix. The analytical sensitivity of the RT-qPCR assay was 5–10 copies per reaction.

Of the 629 fecal samples, 7 (1.1%) were positive for BuV DNA, of which 4 were from the bacterial cohort and 3 from the viral cohort. BuV DNA quantity was low in all samples, ranging from 1.9 × 103 to 3.2 × 104 copies per milliliter of fecal supernatant (Table). In contrast to the original discovery of the virus in children with diarrhea (6), all positive samples were from adults (median age 53 years, range 21–89 years). All BuV DNA–positive results were confirmed by repeated BuV qPCR, by amplifying and sequencing another area of the virus, or by both methods (Table): all sequenced amplicons were more similar to the BuV genotype 1 (Technical Appendix Figure) (6). Two of the BuV-positive samples were from the same patient, taken 4 days apart, and the latter sample also harbored norovirus. The additional 6 BuV-positive samples were negative for the other viral or bacterial pathogens tested.

Table

Samples collected for bacterial and viral testing that were subsequently positive for bufavirus DNA*

Seven fecal samples collected from adults in Finland contained BuV DNA, indicating that circulation of the virus is restricted neither to children nor to Africa. However, the low DNA loads in all the positive samples suggest that BuV might not be the primary cause of these cases of gastroenteritis. A known gastroenteritis-inducing pathogen (norovirus) was found in 1 of the 7 BuV-positive samples. We did not observe any clustering of the 7 positive samples into a specific period (Table).

Although the association with gastroenteritis seems weak, BuV might cause symptoms of other types. We did not include feces from healthy subjects for comparison. The identified BuV DNA in our samples could originate from previous or current infections unrelated to gastroenteritis, or be associated with prolonged virus secretion in the respiratory or digestive tracts, a phenomenon shown, e.g., for (9,10). Acquisition of the virus from a food source cannot be ruled out, although 1 patient harbored the DNA for at least 4 days, during which a 10-fold increase in viral load was observed.

Overall, this study shows that BuV circulates in northern Europe and can be found in the feces of patients with gastroenteritis. Despite the absence of known pathogens among 6 of 7 BuVs-shedding patients, the causative role of BuV in gastroenteritis remains uncertain. Serologic studies will help clarify a possible association between BuVs and diarrhea or other diseases.

Technical Appendix:
Bufavirus quantitative PCR and phylogenetic analylsis.

Click here to view.(202K, pdf)


The use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) techniques has been on the rise, particularly as part of the contemporary, staged-type mechanisms forming part of the pertinent conditions of the construction contract. Among the several ADR methods in use, mediation is the method widely found to be explicitly or implicitly incorporated in any such mechanisms, with its use being often stipulated as condition precedent to ultimately resorting to arbitration. This paper investigates the varying statuses of mediation as prescribed under three American-based standard contract conditions, in comparison with its implied status under international such conditions. The within and in-between comparative analyses revealed distinct differences and some resemblances in respect of several concerned attributes including: (1) the staging (sequence step) of the mediation process within the involved claim/dispute resolution timelines, (2) the condition(s) for triggering such a process, (3) the provisions governing its length, and (4) the manner with which it may be ended. The paper concludes with inferences as to the characteristics that may be hypothetically viewed as more conducive to the effective employment of such an ADR technique in resolving disputes.


In this paper we re-examine the measurement of entrepreneurial activity and provide a model-based approach at measure. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) project has been a key addition to our ability to measure and compare rates of entrepreneurial activity. But even though there is consensus about the importance of measuring entrepreneurial activity, researchers differ about the appropriate ways to measure the breadth of entrepreneurial activity. We analyze the GEM's measure of entrepreneurial activity (TEA), address limitations in its design and development and provide an alternative measure of entrepreneurial activity, which includes entrepreneurial environment. We use a model-based approach to measure entrepreneurship activity and our results indicate that the model provides support for the combined use of entrepreneurial activity and entrepreneurial environment. Key-Words EntrepreneurshipEntrepreneurial ActivityEntrepreneurial Environment