Oil-dispersible monodispersed NaCeF4, NaCeF4:Tb(3+) and NaCeF4:Yb(3+) nanoparticles were prepared through a thermal decomposition method. Phase purity, morphology and luminescence properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution TEM (HRTEM), and photoluminescence (PL) spectra, respectively. The starting amount of NaF is crucial for phase purity, and the reaction time had an effect on the morphology of the products. Products with rectangles, rods, and their mixtures could be obtained at different reaction times. Under UV excitation, energy transfer from Ce(3+) to lanthanide ions Tb(3+) and Yb(3+) could be observed in both NaCeF4:Tb(3+) and NaCeF4:Yb(3+). Energy transfer from Ce(3+) to Tb(3+) was proposed to be of a resonant type (ET) by luminescent dynamic studies with a theoretically calculated efficiency of up to 93%. Energy transfer from Ce(3+) to Yb(3+) was demonstrated to be a cooperative (CET) process, and the CET efficiency and total theoretical quantum efficiency were found to be 79% and 158%, respectively.


This exercise is one in a series intended to help students learn how to perform financial calculations in marketing contexts.

Carolina Araujo had recently taken control of her family's business, Pepita Disco PPM, Uruguay's second-largest producer of beef-based dog food, treats, and toys. While she respected the company's nearly eighty-year history, Carolina felt that Pepita Disco had grown complacent with its market share and was basically preserving the status quo. Her plan was to re-energize the employee base and grow Pepita Disco's business faster than the overall market.

This exercise poses a fictional problem about a company's efforts to predict the impacts of price, product cost, and spending moves on profitability.

After completing the exercise, students should be able to:

Calculate and explain changes in net margin

Calculate price and volume changes for a given price elasticity


The focus of this study is to explore EFL teachers' perceptions, evaluations and expectations about English language courses as EFL in Saudi tertiary level. In other words, this article aims at creating a new avenue for effective EFL teachinglearning curriculum techniques and syllabus in the Saudi tertiary context. Saudi universities offer credit and non-credit Foundation English courses as a part of their program, which are not being very effective. These courses do not promote the students in dealing with their disciplines or programs oriented courses. Even after completion of the Foundation English courses in consecutive two or three semesters, students fail to grasp comprehensive control over the reading materials of their discipline-oriented courses. This is a common scenario in almost all the universities in KSA. The author of this paper ventured to study the predicament of EFL courses in some universities through survey questionnaires, observation as well as primary and secondary sources. The data were collected through questionnaires from a total of 25 EFL teachers at renowned Saudi universities. The research results revealed that the existing Foundation English Course syllabus is not tailored appropriately to the needs of the students so far as the higher studies concerned, and EFL classroom is not conducive to task-based language teaching (TBLT) practice due to large class size (100-140). It, therefore, suggests that university Foundation English Courses should be redesigned in assimilating the learners' standard and previous learning, and course contents should cover the socio-cultural factors of the learners. The study also concludes with some effective implications and recommendations based on the findings of the present research.


Synopsis: Growing customer engagement has been a driving force behind transformation of the U.S. electric industry. It has triggered actions by both electric utilities and their regulators. The combination of technology, public policies and economics should stimulate additional customer engagement in the future, although the jury is still out on how fast it will grow in retail electricity markets over the next several years. After all, the overall enthusiasm over electric customer empowerment may be "more noise than sound." To date, the vast majority of residential customers have exhibited much inertia, whether it is participating in retail competition programs or a new pricing scheme like time-varying pricing. Even with the hype over rooftop solar, an extremely small percentage of U.S. households have taken advantage of this technology. In any event, utilities will increasingly operate in an environment with a distinct line between engaged and traditional customers. They will face additional costs and risks. The major challenge for state utility regulators is to protect traditional customers while encouraging utilities to serve engaged customers. Regulators have various tools to achieve these objectives.


Electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) provide non-invasive measures of brain activity at varying spatial and temporal scales, offering different views on brain function for both clinical and experimental applications. Simultaneous recording of these measures attempts to maximize the respective strengths of each method, while compensating for their weaknesses. However, combined recording is not necessary to address all research questions of interest, and experiments may have greater statistical power to detect effects by maximizing the signal-to-noise ratio in separate recording sessions. While several existing papers discuss the reasons for or against combined recording, this article aims to synthesize these arguments into a flow chart of questions that researchers can consider when deciding whether to record EEG and fMRI separately or simultaneously. Given the potential advantages of simultaneous EEG-fMRI, the aim is to provide an initial overview of the most important concepts and to direct readers to relevant literature that will aid them in this decision.


Pore pressure and scour formation around coastal structures have been investigated in the past which led to a relationship between the hydrodynamics of tsunami waves and sediment erosion around coastal structures. With the objective of developing a comprehensive model to assess the interaction of hydrodynamic conditions, induced scour, soil pore pressure, and beach slopes, this novel study aims to examine (1) the effect of hydrodynamic forcing factors such as bore depth on scour and pore pressure generation on both horizontal and inclined bed conditions and (2) the effect of bed slope on the scour and pore pressure development and (3) the influence of the soil pore pressure on scour around a square shaped structure.Recorded Presentation from the vICCE (YouTube Link): https://youtu.be/dTQ-_GLhtzs


Genetic selection for increased milk production in dairy cattle was not associated with an attenuated inflammatory response. The systemic and local inflammatory responses contribute to altered metabolism, reduced production performance, and increased cull rate of lactating dairy cows with clinical mastitis. More aggressive inflammatory responses were observed during the peripartum period when compared with cows in late lactation after an intramammary challenge with purified lipopolysaccharide. The epidemiology of clinical mastitis indicates that the greatest incidence is observed during the peripartum period; therefore, an enhanced inflammatory response with concomitant suppression in other immune responses may be involved in the etiology and severity of the clinical mastitis observed in peripartum cows. Milk production losses and compositional changes are observed among all mammary quarters from a cow with clinical mastitis, but the responses are more severe and sustained among infected quarters. The infected mammary quarters reflect both the systemic and local reactions, whereas uninfected quarters represent only the systemic response. The systemic effects of the inflammatory response include reduced DMI, hyperthermia, and changes in whole-body nutrient partitioning affecting mammary epithelial substrate availability, whereas local inflammatory effects include energetic requirements of the increased inflammatory leukocyte pool, decreased synthetic capacity of mammary epithelium independent of substrate availability, and paracellular leakage of milk components from the alveolar lumen into the extracellular fluid. Research has focused on improving host immunological defenses, attenuating the inflammatory response, or improving the resolution of the disease state to limit the deleterious effects during clinical mastitis. This paper highlights the role inflammation plays in the etiology and pathophysiology of clinical mastitis as well as potential management strategies to reduce or prevent those losses.


Temporal and spatial variability in gonad development,
duration of spawning period, and size ⁄ age at maturity were
investigated in sand flathead, Platycephalus bassensis. A 3-year
study (2001–2003) revealed that variation in gonad weight with
somatic weight was a function of an interaction between
season and study location (Coles Bay, Georges Bay, and
Tamar River estuary). Highest gonad weight was recorded in
Coles Bay in early summer, which in comparison to Georges
Bay, was approximately 50% higher and occurred 3 months
later. Tamar River mature individuals were reproductively
inactive during the spawning season. The proportion of
mature individuals at different stages of maturity differed
significantly among the three locations across all times. Coles
Bay individuals were reproductively active from October to
March, while in Georges Bay females with hydrated oocytes
were seen in September but were absent from the population
by November. Interannual variation in initiation and duration
of spawning activity was evident in each location. Apart from
male size at maturity, for both sexes the size and age at
maturity (L50) was higher in Georges Bay compared to Coles
Bay. The results emphasize the necessity of temporal and
spatial management based on population differences in reproductive
ecology.


New predictors of cardiovascular outcomes are widely sought in research settings, and predictive tests are commonly recommended for routine use in cardiovascular clinical care. A number of multivariable scoring systems are in use around the world for assessment of a patient's risk. While such scoring systems are often recommended for clinical use in medical practice guidelines, their actual use in medical care falls short of recommendations. Limitations in the predictive capacity of existing predictive models are recognized, including lack of predictive accuracy, lack of ability to separate those who develop events from those who do not, and risks and costs of the testing modalities. Biomarker research is actively developing new testing strategies trying to improve upon current approaches, but it is often unclear how to assess the incremental prognostic information that a new test provides. In this report, we discuss the statistical approaches that can be used to evaluate additive predictive value of new tests. We also consider clinical research examples to put this information into a practical context.


To bring digital avatars into people's lives, it is highly demanded to efficiently generate complete, realistic, and animatable head avatars. This task is challenging, and it is difficult for existing methods to satisfy all the requirements at once. To achieve these goals, we propose GANHead (Generative Animatable Neural Head Avatar), a novel generative head model that takes advantages of both the fine-grained control over the explicit expression parameters and the realistic rendering results of implicit representations. Specifically, GANHead represents coarse geometry, fine-gained details and texture via three networks in canonical space to obtain the ability to generate complete and realistic head avatars. To achieve flexible animation, we define the deformation filed by standard linear blend skinning (LBS), with the learned continuous pose and expression bases and LBS weights. This allows the avatars to be directly animated by FLAME [22] parameters and generalize well to unseen poses and expressions. Compared to state-of-the-art (SOTA) methods, GANHead achieves superior performance on head avatar generation and raw scan fitting.


AIM
to review the role of ursodeoxycholic acid in acute viral hepatitis.

METHODS
following literature searching according to the clinical question on Pubmed and Cochrane Library. After filtered with our inclusion and exclusion criteria, one meta-analysis and two randomized clinical trials are obtained. Through critical appraisal, it was concluded that the articles meet the criteria for validity and relevance.

RESULTS
the article found that there is a positive effect of ursodeoxycholic acid on the activity of serum transaminases and cholestasis indexes. However, there is insufficient evidence to support or to refute effects of ursodeoxycholic acid on disease's course as well as the viral load.

CONCLUSION
better method of clinical trials are needed to obtain a valid and applicable result for daily practice.


The city of Salvador, the capital of Bahia, is the focus of this research that, through a historical rescue and a socio-anthopological approach, discusses the principle of the construction and selling of the brazillian women's image. Considering the erotization of this image, influenced by the slavery process that reduced the female body to a proprety, a highly attractive model was formed, avaiable and easily accesible. With the globalization and the shortening of distances, it became simple to sell and show the image of the brazillian "mulata" (african descendent) as an endless source of pleasure and to spread the brazillian "cultural" traces, as semi-naked dancers in Carnival parades or as women in thongs throughout the beaches on the coast, not to mention attitudes that indirectly influence the sexual "turism". In the northeast region the situation is even worse, due to the low scholarity levels and the high level of poverty of the local population, that create great destinations for men interested in this kind of "adventure" or "sport", as many of its practicers define. This way, this research, through etnogaphical observation and empiric research, traces a profile of the turists and the women with whom they relate, to try to understand the means of such practice.


A review of U.S. dental amalgam waste management activities finds a wide variety of approaches, processes and results, within which the authors have observed an inconsistency of definitions, measurements, standards and even of clearly applied goals. As a result, outcomes have varied greatly from community to community. This manuscript attempts to deliver logical options, which might prevail even within an atmosphere of differing perspectives. The authors believe that successful outcomes are achievable within a collaborative environment of shared learning and cooperative planning. By example, the authors attempt to demonstrate how the joint acceptance of certain definitions and goals has served as a pathway to success in one community's dental waste management project. The goal of this paper is to share tools that may contain some measure of applicability to other similar collaborations.


In this paper, we focus on the problem of stable prediction across unknown test data, where the test distribution is agnostic and might be totally different from the training one. In such a case, previous machine learning methods might exploit subtly spurious correlations in training data induced by non-causal variables for prediction. Those spurious correlations are changeable across data, leading to instability of prediction across data. By assuming the relationships between causal variables and response variable are invariant across data, to address this problem, we propose a conditional independence test based algorithm to separate those causal variables with a seed variable as priori, and adopt them for stable prediction. By assuming the independence between causal and non-causal variables, we show, both theoretically and with empirical experiments, that our algorithm can precisely separate causal and non-causal variables for stable prediction across test data. Extensive experiments on both synthetic and real-world datasets demonstrate that our algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art methods for stable prediction.


The training of Deep Neural Networks (DNN) is costly, thus DNN can be considered as the intellectual properties (IP) of model owners. To date, most of the existing protection works focus on verifying the ownership after the DNN model is stolen, which cannot resist piracy in advance. To this end, we propose an active DNN IP protection method based on adversarial examples against DNN piracy, named ActiveGuard. ActiveGuard aims to achieve authorization control and users' fingerprints management through adversarial examples, and can provide ownership verification. Specifically, ActiveGuard exploits the elaborate adversarial examples as users' fingerprints to distinguish authorized users from unauthorized users. Legitimate users can enter fingerprints into DNN for identity authentication and authorized usage, while unauthorized users will obtain poor model performance due to an additional control layer. In addition, ActiveGuard enables the model owner to embed a watermark into the weights of DNN. When the DNN is illegally pirated, the model owner can extract the embedded watermark and perform ownership verification. Experimental results show that, for authorized users, the test accuracy of LeNet-5 and Wide Residual Network (WRN) models are 99.15% and 91.46%, respectively, while for unauthorized users, the test accuracy of the two DNNs are only 8.92% (LeNet-5) and 10% (WRN), respectively. Besides, each authorized user can pass the fingerprint authentication with a high success rate (up to 100%). For ownership verification, the embedded watermark can be successfully extracted, while the normal performance of the DNN model will not be affected. Further, ActiveGuard is demonstrated to be robust against fingerprint forgery attack, model fine-tuning attack and pruning attack.


: A cell suspension derived from a single murine spontaneous mammary adenocarcinoma was resolved on a linear gradient of Ficoll, into twelve distinct neoplastic cell subpopulation. A second cell suspension, also derived from a single murine mammary adenocarcinoma was first treated with vibrio cholera neuraminidase (VCN) then was resolved on an identical gradient of Ficoll into twelve distinct subpopulation. Each cell population was seeded and allowed to proliferate. The cell subpopulations differed in their doubling time, cloning efficiency, tumorigenicity and metastatic capacity. Although in vivo the murine spontaneous mammary adenocarcinoma (SMMAdCa) never metastasized, SMMAdCa-10 subpopulation metastasized into lymph nodes and lungs. All VCN-modified subpopulations were non-oncogenic. Cells from each population were used to immunize groups of syngeneic mice. The spleens of each group were pooled and Immune-RNA's were extracted with the phenol-water standard technique. The IRNA's preparations stimulated DNA synthesis in normal murine spleenocytes. The various I-RNA's differed in their biological activities, base composition and their sensitivity to ribonuclease.


We investigated charge transport mechanisms at the interface between 1,8 octanedithiol (ODT) and gold and platinum electrodes. We used a voltage-biased, conductive-probe atomic force microscope tip (CP-AFM) to repeatedly break the bond between a molecule and an electrode and compiled statistics of the measured conductances for gold (Au) and platinum (Pt) electrodes. We examined the conductances of the Au-ODT-Au, Au-ODT-Pt, and Pt-ODT-Pt systems and observed at least two kinds of conductance mechanisms. The conductances were ordered, Pt-ODT-Pt > Pt-ODT-Au > Au-ODT-Au, which is consistent with a charge-transport mechanism through the junction that is proportional to the number of electron channels and depends on the molecular distance between the ligand group at the end of the ODT and the electrode. We investigated the electronic properties of the thiolmetal junction by measuring conductances as a function of bias voltage. We observed a nonlinear junction response that we attribute to a resonance among interface states in the junction. The junction stability was investigated by measuring the conductance step-length, which we correlated with the chemical binding energy.


Introduction Many conditions considered to be primary lung diseases are independently associated with adverse cardiovascular outcome. Systemic inflammation and subsequent fibrosis are hypothesised mechanisms. However, beyond the mechanical impact on right heart, characterisation of myocardial involvement in lung disease remains limited. We present a combined heart-lung MRI protocol which allows simultaneous interrogation of heart and lung structure and function. Methods Protocol (1.5T Siemens Avanto) includes steady state free precession (SSFP) cine imaging of the heart (standard long and short axis views), followed by inspiration and expiration cine lung imaging (sagittal planes). T2 prepared SFFP and T1 MOLLIE images are acquired in standard cardiac planes and left and right lungs. Dynamic contrast enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) sequences are performed using free breathing 2D saturation-recovery FLASH dynamic acquisitions in four planes (two LV short axis slices, left and right lung sagittal slices) with temporal resolution equal to 50% of patient's heart rate. Three boluses of gadolinium contrast (dotarem) are administered: 0.005 mmol/kg, followed by 2 min of dynamic acquisitions; 0.05 mmol/kg followed by 6 min of dynamics; final dose of 0.1 mmol/kg. Finally, late enhancement imaging and post-contrast T1 mapping are performed. Overall each scan protocol lasted for approximately 60 min. Results Parametric mapping and LGE imaging provides direct tissue characterisation. Myocardial and lung contrast agent kinetics are modelled from the DCE images in matlab (Extended Kety Model) to determine heart and lung capillary permeability (Ktrans), extracellular volume (ECV) and plasma volume fraction (vp). Regions of interest are drawn in the LV and RV cavities to obtain arterial input functions (AIF). The low dose AIF is multiplied by a factor of ten and the first pass peak is combined with the high dose AIF curve in order to correct for saturation effects (Figure 1). Examples of ECV maps are shown in Figure 2 and 3. Conclusions This combined heart lung protocol is an efficient and comprehensive imaging tool for simultaneous myocardial and pulmonary assessment. It has a potential to help elucidate complex links between pulmonary and myocardial pathologies, and is a model for other dual organ parametric MR imaging. Abstract 017 Figure 1 LV arterial input function (AIF); LD – low dose dotarem (0.005mmol/kg), HD – high dose dotarem (0.05 mmol/kg) Part A: Before merging of the curves. Part B: After merging of the curves. Abstract 017 Figure 2 Myocardial extracellular volume map. Abstract 017 Figure 3 Lung extracellular volume map.


Color Mix Game is an educational game that introduces the theory of color mixing, which is very important for everyday needs, especially in all areas of visual art such as graphic design and videography. Unfortunately, just a few people know this knowledge. The game has become an interesting and fun learning media for its players. In addition to learning media, games can have positive impacts on the players. Among its effects, it can improve basic mental skills for players, such as alertness, speed thinking ability, and concentration ability. Therefore we are interested to analyze the player behavior in the game to see the improvement of their players' speed thinking ability. To perform this analysis, we collect the data by recording every player activity log during playing the game. Every step was taken by the player along with detailed information such as the time of the attack and the distance of the attack will be stored in the database. By using MySQL, the database of this game is built on PhpMyAdmin application. After collecting data from 10 respondents we asked to play this game 2 times, we get the result that the players experienced a speed increase of thinking as much as 32% in the game.


Background

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the combination of fistula risk score (FRS) and preoperative body composition factors for predicting the occurrence of clinically relevant postoperative pancreatic fistula (CR-POPF) after pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD).

Methods

In this study, 136 consecutive patients who underwent PD between 2006 and 2018 were enrolled. The risk factors of CR-POPF (grades B and C) were analyzed. Preoperative visceral adipose tissue area (VATA), skeletal mass index (SMI), and subcutaneous adipose tissue area (SATA) were calculated from computed tomography data.

Results

The overall 30-day mortality and morbidity rates were 0.7% and 38%, respectively. The incidence of grade B and C CR-POPF was 27% and 4%, respectively. Univariate analysis revealed that male sex, habitual smoking, prognostic nutritional index (PNI) < 45, VATA ≥ 90, VATA/SATA ≥ 0.9, VATA/SMI ≥ 1.4, and FRS > 4 were significantly associated with the incidence of CR-POPF. Multivariate analysis revealed that PNI < 45, VATA/SMI ≥ 1.4, and FRS > 4 were the independent risk factors of CR-POPF. A modified prediction score using the combination of VATA/SMI and FRS significantly predicted CR-POPF after PD.

Conclusions

Preoperative anthropomorphic imbalance and FRS were equally accurate in predicting CR-POPF. Patients with high-risk factors should be closely monitored during the postoperative period.


The lack of a high-density and high-speed memory is a serious impediment for realization of large-scale RSFQ digital systems. A shift resister memory, which has high throughput and simple circuit structure, is one candidate to overcome this drawback. We show a design framework of the shift register memory, which is usable for the high-speed register files and the main memories of the RSFQ microprocessor. The proposed system consists of an array of shift registers and a packet decoder that switches a high-speed serial data stream into the specified shift register. The target clock frequency is 16 GHz assuming 2.5 kA/cm/sup 2/ Nb standard process. We have estimated the propagation delay and the circuit area of the data-driven self-timed (DDST) packet decoder. Based on this estimation, we have also evaluated the access time and the area of the memory system. Several key components, including the one-to-two packet switch and the one-to-four DDST packet decoder, were implemented and their correct operations were confirmed.


The aim of this paper is to investigate the use of Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS). In order to get insights in its current use and further potential for accounting researchers, we review the accounting literature in comparison to other disciplines until December 2007. Our analysis framework takes into account the diverse functions CAQDAS offers, as well as the extent of analysis activities undertaken through CAQDAS. Related to the CAQDAS functions, researchers can use CAQDAS just for organizing their data ('code and retrieve'), or for undertaking a 'gentle' or 'far-reaching' analysis within the software package (Lee & Fielding 1995, Seale 2005). Related to analysis quality, researchers can give an indication of whether they find CAQDAS important to enhance the 'validity', 'reliability' and/or 'theoretical sophistication' of their work (Silverman 2005). A thorough search through the contents of ten accounting journals identified 26 published articles using CAQDAS before January 2008. Atals/ti, NUDIST-Nvivo and The Ethnograph are used most. A search for academic papers using these packages in three online databases (from their existence until December 2007) led us to identify about 1150 published papers in journals with a JCR impact score. Our initial analysis compares accounting to sociology. We find that accounting researchers make use of CAQDAS to an extensive degree, in a comparable way to what sociology researchers do. Accounting researchers especially mention the advantages of reliability and validity, appearing more apologetic about their use of qualitative data than sociology researchers. Further, the sociology journals seem to streamline more the way in which authors report about their analysis process based on CAQDAS. We conclude that readers could get better insights in the research process when authors clearly and concisely indicate what they actually did with CADQDAS. Apart from the lessons learned by comparing CAQDAS use in accounting to other disciplines, we want to make sure future CAQDAS users embark on software analysis projects with reasonable expectations: how far-reaching (or not) the options offered, CAQDAS cannot provide a substitute for continuing to think critically about the meaning of data.


BACKGROUND
studies have investigated the relationship between the transition through menopause and cardiovascular diseases. White population, generally, have lower levels of traditional coronary heart risk factors, particularly dyslipidemia, hypertension, obesity, and diabetes, and lower rates of coronary heart disease mortality, than black population. Furthermore many studies have shown the cardioprotective and anti-inflammatory effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid) of marine origin. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of omega-3 supplementation, combined or not with vitamin E, on oxidative biomarkers and lipid profiles in nonwhite and white women with dyslipidemia transitioning through menopause.

METHODS
a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted. Seventy-four eligible women were assigned to receive: fish oil, fish oil plus vitamin E and placebo for three months. At baseline, 45 and 90 days blood sample for biochemical variables and biomarkers of oxidative stress were taken. Socioeconomic and lifestyle variables were collected with standardized questionnaires.

RESULTS
after 90 days the fish oil plus vitamin E treated group had a significant decrease in total cholesterol and LDL-C. Furthermore, there was a decrease in anti- LDL- autoantibodies after 45 days. Plasma TBARS concentrations were increased after 90 days in the group receiving only fish oil when compared to the placebo and fish oil-vitamin E groups. All of the effects observed were independent of ethnic group.

CONCLUSION
supplementation with fish oil and vitamin E reduced total cholesterol and LDL-C, but had opposite effects on oxidative stress compared to supplementation with fish oil alone.


BACKGROUND/AIM
Traditionally endometrial hyperplasias have been treated with progestins. Unfortunately, quite often hyperplasias are resistant to treatment, or they recur after therapy. The aim of the study was to compare traditional progestin administration with thermal balloon endometrial ablation in the treatment of non-atypic endometrial hyperplasia.

METHODS
Women with endometrial hyperplasia (n = 34) were randomized in a 1:1 allocation ratio. Endometrial biopsy samples were taken 6 and 12 months after the treatment; if any signs of hyperplasia were detected, hysterectomy was performed. In addition, the hospital records were checked in September 2003 to observe for any later hysterectomy. Main outcome measures were recovery from hyperplasia and avoidance of hysterectomy.

RESULTS
In patients treated with thermal ablation, the hyperplasias persisted at 6 or 12 months in 4 out of 17 patients, whereas the rate was 6 out of 17 patients in the progestin therapy group. According to patient records, 1 further patient treated with thermal ablation and 3 further patients treated with progestin were hysterectomized after the last visit. A total of 14 of the 34 patients (41%) have been hysterectomized so far.

CONCLUSIONS
These preliminary results suggest that thermal balloon endometrial ablation therapy seems to be as effective as traditional progestin administration in the treatment of non-atypic endometrial hyperplasia. The hysterectomy rate during the follow-up period was, however, considerably high, and, therefore, hysterectomy might be considered even a first-choice treatment for endometrial hyperplasias.


Multiculturalism and multilingualism are inevitable consequences of international migration. Contact between different linguistic or ethnic groups causes the development of expressions specific to one's identity and for migrants it results in the construction of hybrid identities which are very complex to define and understand without knowing the conditions of their construction processes. This paper aims to contribute to the literature about the identity construction of migrants, to assess the link between language and identity in this process. In this regard, I have pursued a qualitative research focusing on the second-generation Turkish-speaking community in Belgium. As a result of the study, it is observed that the migrants' ideologies show traces of national discourses most of the time but their actual language performances and practices contradict these ideologies. The immigrants facing institutional or cultural racism in the host country create new multidimensional and transnational spheres in which they perform multiple identities through varying language usages. This research aims to provide a more comprehensive and deeper analysis regarding the link among language ideologies, linguistic differences and identity construction processes in the contemporary Europe, starting from the Belgian case by taking into account the linguistic aspect in a supra-national environment.


Motivated by a recent discussion about the role of flat directions, a typical feature of supersymmetric models, in the process of particle production in the early universe a consistent model of inflation and preheating in supergravity with MSSM fields has been built. It is based on a model proposed by M. Kawasaki, M. Yamaguchi and T. Yanagida. In the inflationary stage, the flat directions acquire large vacuum expectation values (VEVs) without spoiling the background of slow-roll, high-scale inflation consistent with the latest WMAP5 observational data. In the stage of particle production, naturally following inflation, the role of flat direction large VEVs depends strongly on effects connected with the supergravity framework and nonrenormalizable terms in the superpotential, which have been neglected so far in the literature. Such effects turn out to be very important, changing the previous picture of preheating in the presence of large flat direction VEVs by allowing for efficient preheating from the inflaton.


A private medical school degree course that was due to start in September 2014 has been delayed by a year after a review by the General Medical Council.

The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) planned to charge students £35 000 (€44 640; $57 350) a year for its five year MB BS Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree. It would have been the first privately funded medical course to open in the UK.

However, the GMC has expressed concerns about the "arrangements in place for the selection of students, the curriculum coherence and structure, assessment and quality management" in a report about the preparedness of the school.1

The regulator …


Summary

1
Changes in farming practice provide an opportunity to restore once extensive forested wetlands on agricultural land. In some parts of the world, however, it has proved difficult to restore the full complement of plant species through natural regeneration. Similarly, the restoration of forested wetlands by replanting has often resulted in ecosystems of low diversity. Better methods of restoring these important ecosystems are now required and baldcypress swamps provide an opportunity to investigate alternative approaches to the restoration of forested wetlands. This study examined the composition of seed banks of farmed fields to determine their value in restoring swamps in the south-eastern United States.

2
A seed bank assay of soils from baldcypress swamps was conducted to determine the extent to which seeds are maintained during farming for various lengths of time. Soils from swamps that were farmed for 0–50 years were collected near the northern boundary of the Mississippi Alluvial Valley along the Cache River, Illinois. Soils were placed in a glasshouse setting in flooded and freely drained conditions, and the numbers and species of seeds germinating were recorded.

3
Woody species including trees, shrubs, and vines were poorly represented in seed banks of both farmed and intact sites (51 and 9 sites, respectively). Missing dominants in the seed banks included tree species with short-lived seeds such as Taxodium distichum and Nyssa aquatica. Cephalanthus occidentalis constituted the most abundantly dispersed seed of all woody species.

4
Herbaceous species were well represented in the seed banks of both farmed and intact swamps (species richness of 207 vs. 173 species, respectively) suggesting that herbaceous species may live longer than woody species in seed banks. Few of the herbaceous species decreased in seed density in seed banks with time under cultivation, although seed density was lower at sites that had not been farmed. Species that relied on vegetative organs for dispersal were absent in the seed banks of farmed sites including Heteranthera dubia, Hottonia inflata, Lemna minor, Lemna trisulca and Wolffia columbiana. These species may require active reintroduction during restoration.

5
Synthesis and applications. Both restoration ecologists and managers of nature conservation areas need to be cognisant of seed bank and dispersal characteristics of species to effectively restore and manage forested wetlands. In the case of baldcypress swamps, critical components of the vegetation are not maintained in seed banks, which may make these floodplain wetlands difficult to restore via natural recolonization. Ultimately, the successful restoration of abandoned farm fields to forested wetlands may depend on the re-engineering of flood pulsing across landscapes to reconnect dispersal pathways.


This short paper draws from and compares two projects involving the authors in which digital and analogue reproduction technologies were used in collaborations with artists. In the first, artists were recruited to participate in iPad painting workshops and try out populist painting apps. The second project involved the earliest print technology, the woodcut. Coloured inks, rollers and wooden spoons were utilised by the first author in her role as "master printer", "pulling" limited edition prints—by hand—from blocks of incised wood in commercial fine art production.

Digitisation facilitates massive and instantaneous copying and distribution without any loss of quality. By limiting reproduction and dissemination of prints, each one becomes more collectable and valuable. The paper considers how the inherent material degradation of traditional printmaking is a condition to which digital processes might aspire.


The High-resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS) has been flown on 17 polar-orbiting satellites between the late 1970s and the present day. HIRS applications require accurate characterisation of uncertainties and inter-channel error correlations, which has so far been lacking. Here, we calculate error correlation matrices by accumulating count deviations for sequential sets of calibration measurements, and then correlating deviations between channels (for a fixed view) or views (for a fixed channel). The inter-channel error covariance is usually assumed to be diagonal, but we show that large error correlations, both positive and negative, exist between channels and between views close in time. We show that correlated error exists for all HIRS and that the degree of correlation varies markedly on both short and long timescales. Error correlations in excess of 0.5 are not unusual. Correlations between calibration observations taken sequentially in time arise from periodic error affecting both calibration and Earth counts. A Fourier spectral analysis shows that, for some HIRS instruments, this instrumental effect dominates at some or all spatial frequencies. These findings are significant for application of HIRS data in various applications, and related information will be made available as part of an upcoming Fundamental Climate Data Record covering all HIRS channels and satellites.


A z-pinch in its simplest form is a column of plasma in which current (J) is driven in
the axial direction (z) by an electric power source producing an azimuthal (θ) direction magnetic
field (B) that tends to confine plasma by (J × B) force. One application of this configuration is
Plasma Focus. Dense plasma focus (DPF) is essentially a pulsed electric gas discharge between
coaxially arranged electrodes. DPF devices belong to the family of dynamic Z-pinches which
are self-constricted plasma configurations. The Lee model code was developed to simulate the
plasma dynamics in a DPF. The model incorporates the energy and mass balances equivalent,
at least in the gross sense, with radiation-coupled dynamics to all the processes which are not
even specifically modeled. It is a well known fact that radiation loss is an inevitable phenomenon
in the final stage of pinch compression. The most obvious one is that of a focus or a Z-pinch.
Plasma self-absorption is an important factor during the pinch compression. In this paper the
effect of self absorption of line radiation was investigated in argon plasma by a series of numerical
experiment considering both aspects, i.e., by including and excluding the self absorption term
in Lee code. The results were compared for various parameters, i.e., Radial trajectories, pinch
duration, pinch current, line radiation yield while changing pressure. The effect of radiation self
absorption was observed in last few fractions of seconds (200–300 ns). Considering self absorption,
the compression shows a value of radius of about 0.2 mm while a collapse (radiative collapse) was
observed otherwise. The results illustrated that the radiation cooling becomes significant when
the plasma is dense and turn to be opaque for radiation. Hence in real case we do not see a
radiative collapse in argon PF as self absorption plays in real experiments. The results of pinch
duration and pinch current also indicated that self absorption is essentially enhancing the pinch
in terms of stability.


The concept of Distance Learning (DL) has been embraced by schools, colleges and universities around the world. Distance Learning is causing a revolution in higher education in Kenya. The country is opting for Distance Learning models in order to help meet growing demands for higher education places and meet the country's national development goals within diminishing resources. However, there has been a problem in that many Kenyans still remain skeptical not only about the concept of distance learning but also about the potential quality of the programmes. The purpose of this study was to examine the existing standards and mechanisms put in place to ensure quality in DL in Kenyan public universities with a focus on the practices and processes of quality assurance in the core functions of all DL programmes. The objectives of the study were: to find out the policies and guidelines governing quality assurance in Distance Learning, to evaluate the extent to which the DL programmes fulfill the set quality assurance objectives and to identify the major issues confronting the successful adoption and sustained use of these mechanisms. The study focused on the fundamental features of the institutional operations which include: Institution mission, institution organizational structure, institution resources, curriculum and instruction, academic staff qualification and faculty support, student support and student learning outcome. The main findings indicated that there were no clear written policies or guidelines on DL programmes at the national level. At the institutional level, some of the challenges faced in ensuring quality in DL included: inadequate resources, poor infrastructure and support for distance learning, poor teaching/learning practices, scarcity of computing resources for technology enhanced distance education among others. The study therefore recommends that: the government formulates a policy on Open and Distance Education, the institutions to set and maintain standards for quality assurance in the various DL programmes and establish structures for management of various DL programmes showing distinctions from the different modes of provision. The study may be significant to policy makers, accreditation bodies and institutions involved in Distance learning programmes to evaluate and enhance their quality assurance mechanism so that they can improve the quality of their services to the students. 1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION In modern society, higher education has become a critical rite of passage (Pityan, 2004). Positive developments are gradually changing the environment and the climate of engagement for higher education. A growing crisis in the higher education sector over …


Conventionally, the money demand function is estimated using a linear regression of the logarithm of money demand on a number of variables. In this article, we aim to estimate the long-run properties of money demand specification for a number of East Asian economies and within a panel framework with the presence of structural breaks. Various country-specific coefficients are allowed to capture inter-country heterogeneities. Consistent with theoretical postulates, it is found that (a) the demand for money in the long-run positively responds to real income and inversely to the interest rate spread, inflation, the real effective exchange rate and the US real interest rate; (b) the long-run income elasticity is greater than unity; and (c) both the currency substitution and capital mobility hypotheses hold. The empirical findings in this article can provide useful policy guidelines to the East Asian countries' central banks in their quest for price stability. If one of the primary objectives of these countries is to minimize price instability, they should avoid creating unnecessary disequilibrium in the money market, while the employment of cointegration with the presence of structural breaks clearly recommends to central banks to use the supply of money to attain price and macroeconomic stability.


From the concept exploration for a weapon system to training simulators, from hardware-in-the-loop simulators to mission planning tools, trajectory simulations are used throughout the life cycle of a weapon system. A trajectory simulation can be defined as a computational tool to calculate the flight path and flight parameters of munitions. There is a wide span of trajectory simulations differing widely with respect to their performance and fidelity characteristics, from simple point-mass simulations to sixseven degrees of freedom hardware-in-the-loop missile simulations. From our observations, it is a common practice in the industry that developments of these simulations are carried out as isolated projects although they rely on the same body of knowledge. We envision an ontology that will capture the common knowledge in trajectory simulation domain and make domain knowledge available for reuse. Trajectory Simulation Ontology, dubbed TSONT, is being developed to realize this vision.


Abstract This is the first treatment of the mammals of the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument (GSENM). GSENM was established in 1996 as a 1.7-million-acre (680,000-ha) federal land reserve under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). To successfully manage this new monument, the BLM is presently developing a management action plan. To provide information for the proper management of mammal species of the area, we have reviewed background literature for each mammal potentially found within the Monument boundaries. We propose that a core area, surrounded by a buffer matrix, be used in GSENM and surrounding public lands to preserve ecological processes in their natural state. One hundred thirteen mammalian species are categorized as follows: 82 contemporary species, 21 species questionably present, 4 introduced species reportedly in the Monument, and 6 historical species. Altogether, potentially 107 mammalian species exist there currently. Of 82 contemporary species, 11 are listed in the Utah State Sensitive Species List, 1 in the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), and 1 in the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red Book. Mammals listed under the 1973 Endangered Species Act (ESA) are noted when applicable, as well as State of Utah listings as endangered, threatened, sensitive, or extirpated. For each mammalian species listed, we present in telegraphic style a life history account, sensitivity status, and currently accepted nomenclature.


Derrick Bell's interest convergence thesis is a seminal framework to analyze social change within critical race theory. While interest convergence's influence has grown, two foundational questions have been raised: do interest groups act rationally; does interest convergence also offer a change prescription or only an explanation of prior events. By revisiting Bell's early influences, via the concept of hegemony, the article intervenes in these two formative debates by offering a reimagined analytic framing that I term "hegemonic interest convergence." The article then applies this concept to analyze how broader political economic shifts shaped the struggles within which the 1968 Bilingual Education Act arose. I demonstrate that support for bilingual education stemmed from a seeming interest convergence among policymakers and Latino activists based on economic, rather than cultural, concerns regarding poor urbanizing Latino communities. In doing so, policymakers promoted the bill as a concession to redirect focus from other Latino demands for economic uplift and a tool to promote ideas of cultural deficit that reimagined job automation and outsourcing into linguistic and racial "handicaps." These findings are significant in illuminating how hegemonic interest convergence functions, thereby providing a novel historiographical analysis of the Bilingual Education Act as well as suggesting a possible strategy for future change.


The work presented constitutes an original approach to the
phenomenological modelling of combustion in wall-wetting direct
injection diesel engines. Starting with the modelling of fuel film
development on the piston wall, the model covers essential aspects
involved in mixture preparation in the engine and its subsequent
combustion. Experiments using optical methods were undertaken to
measure various characteristic dimensions of the fuel film along the
piston wall. Predicted results are compared with empirical data
obtained in engine experiments and used to improve the formulation of
wall-jet equations used to describe fuel film flow. Velocity and
scalar quantity profiles in the region close to the film surface are
described, based on the theory of turbulent boundary layer flow over a
porous flat plate with mass injection from the surface. This is done
for conditions with and without combustion, thus defining the
distribution of mixture strength in the gaseous stream adjacent to the
wall. These principles were incorporated in an existing thermodynamic
model to illustrate their influence on important engine parameters
such as pressure, temperature, and heat release rate. Predictions for
the formation of smoke and NOx emissions are carried out to address
the problem of poor exhaust emissions associated with wall-wetting
diesel engines. A description of the alterations made to improve the
computational efficiency of the existing thermodynamic model is also
provided. These make the implementation of the program possible on all
machines equipped with stamdard FORTRAN 77 Compilers.


Several methods have been proposed to estimate the force of a semiactive damper, particularly of a magnetorheological damper because of its importance in automotive and civil engineering. Usually, all models have been proposed assuming experimental data in nominal operating conditions and some of them are estimated for control purposes. Because dampers are prone to fail, fault estimation is useful to design adaptive vibration controllers to accommodate the malfunction in the suspension system. This paper deals with the diagnosis and estimation of faults in an automotive magnetorheological damper. A robust LPV observer is proposed to estimate the lack of force caused by a damper leakage in a vehicle corner. Once the faulty damper is isolated in the vehicle and the fault is estimated, an Adaptive Vibration Control System is proposed to reduce the fault effect using compensation forces from the remaining healthy dampers. To fulfill the semiactive damper constraints in the fault adaptation, an LPV controller is designed for vehicle comfort and road holding. Simulation results show that the fault observer has good performance with robustness to noise and road disturbances and the proposed AVCS improves the comfort up to 24% with respect to a controlled suspension without fault tolerance features.


Background. As a result of advances in both immunosuppressive protocols and pancreatic islet isolation techniques, insulin independence has recently been achieved in several patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus via pancreatic islet transplantation (PIT). Although the dissemination of immunosuppressive protocols is quite easy, transferring the knowledge and expertise required to isolate a large number of quality human islets for transplantation is a far greater challenge. Therefore, in an attempt to centralize the critical islet processing needed for islet transplantation and to avoid the development of another islet processing center, we have established a collaborative islet transplant program between two geographically distant transplant centers. Patients and Methods. Three consecutive patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus with a history of severe hypoglycemia and metabolic instability underwent PIT at the Methodist Hospital (TMH), Houston, Texas, using pancreatic islets. All pancreatic islets were isolated from pancreata procured in Houston and subsequently transported for isolation to the Human Islet Cell Processing Facility of the Diabetes Research Institute (DRI) at the University of Miami, Miami, Florida. Pancreatic islets were isolated at DRI after enzymatic ductal perfusion (Liberase-HI) by the automated method (Ricordi Chamber) using endotoxin-free and xenoprotein-free media. After purification, the islets were immediately transported back to TMH and transplanted via percutaneous transhepatic portal embolization. Immunosuppression consisted of sirolimus, tacrolimus, and daclizumab. Results. After donor cross-clamp in Houston, donor pancreata arrived at DRI and the isolation process began within 6.5 hr in all cases (median, 5.4 hr; range, 4.8–6.5 hr). At the completion of the isolation process, the islets were immediately transported back to TMH and transplanted. All three patients attained sustained insulin independence after transplantation of 395,567, 394,381, and 563,206 pancreatic islet equivalents (IEQ), respectively. Despite insulin independence, the first two patients received less than 10,000 IEQ/kg; therefore, to increase their functional pancreatic islet reserve, they underwent a second islet transplant with 326,720 and 768,132 IEQ, respectively. Posttransplantation follow-up for these three patients is 4, 3, and 0.5 months, respectively. The mean glycosylated hemoglobin values have been dramatically reduced in the first two patients. In addition, the mean amplitude of glycemic excursions have also been reduced in all three recipients (patient 1: before transplantation 197 mg/dL vs. after transplantation 61 mg/dL; patient 2: before transplantation 202 mg/dL vs. after transplantation 52 mg/dL; patient 3: before transplantation 245 mg/dL vs. after transplantation 58 mg/dL) after PIT. All pancreatic islet allografts demonstrated the ability to respond to an in vitro glucose stimulus at the DRI before shipment and at TMH after shipment and final processing with a median stimulation index of 2.1 and 2.2, respectively. None of the transplant recipients have had a hyper- or hypoglycemic episode since PIT and no complications have occurred. Conclusions. These early data demonstrate that (1) pancreatic islets remain viable after shipment to remote transplant sites; (2) pancreatic islet isolation techniques and experience can be concentrated at a small number of regional facilities that could supply islets to remote transplant centers; and (3) insulin independence via PIT can be achieved using a remote pancreatic islet isolation center.


In this paper, we propose "Humanoid Vision". Humanoid robots are becoming like human and imitating human behavior. They usually have camera, then we consider that eyes for humanoid robot have to be "Humanoid Vision". Humanoid Vision is the vision system which is focused on human actions of the robot, and emulation of human beings. Therefore, we analyzed the human action of tracking an object by the eyes and implemented the obtained features to the robot.


Introduction: Primary health center (PHC) is a first port of call to a qualified doctor of the public sector in rural areas. Standards are the main driver for continuous improvement in quality. The performance of PHCs can be assessed against the Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) recommended for PHCs in early 2007. The overall objective of IPHS for PHCs is to provide health care, i.e., quality oriented and sensitive to the needs of the community. These standards would also help monitor and improve the functioning of the PHCs. Aims and objectives: This study was carried out to assess (1) the infrastructure, equipments, instruments, staffing, and other facilities; (2) the services being provided at PHCs; (3) to find out the reasons for nonutilization of health services and suggest remedial measures for the same. Material and methods: This was a cross-sectional study at two PHCs, namely Thatiya and Umerda of Tirwa block of Kannauj District selected randomly for assessment. Health care providers, mainly medical officers, were interviewed using pretested, precoded pro forma. Descriptive analysis was used as per study requirements. Results: It has been found that only outpatient department services were being provided with many missing components, such as one of the most important ones like maternal and child health and family planning. Physical infrastructure and facilities were inadequate at both the PHCs. Both of them were grossly underequipped and understaffed. Medical officers face their own problems; even basic amenities of life like water, electricity, canteen, etc., are lacking there. Conclusion: Both the PHCs were not performing up to the expectations and standards of the Indian Public Health.


[1] In the vicinity of episodic aseismic transients in several subduction zones, the presence of interstitial fluids and near-lithostatic pore pressure has been proposed to interpret seismic observations of high P to S wave speed ratio and high Poisson's ratio. Under such conditions, fault stabilization by dilatancy-induced suction during increased shear strain rates becomes very efficient. We analyze the frictional and hydraulic conditions for spontaneous transients on a fluid-infiltrated fault including dilatancy and pore compaction in the framework of rate and state friction with a "membrane diffusion" approximation. In both a simplified spectral model and a 2-D Cascadia-like subduction fault model, the fault response is mainly controlled by three nondimensional parameters: (1) W/h*, the along-dip width of the high pore pressure, velocity-weakening fault relative to a characteristic nucleation size, (2) a drainage parameter U, the relative time scales for fluid diffusion and friction evolution, and (3) a dilatancy parameter E, the relative contributions to stress drop from dilatancy and friction evolution. The incorporation of dilatancy enables aseismic transients at much larger values of W/h* than is possible under conditions of constant pore pressure. An analytic estimate of the maximum slip velocity as a function of W/h*, E, and U is derived and agrees reasonably well with the simulation results. The dependence of the properties of modeled transients on the drainage parameter U is similar to that on the dilatancy parameter E. For U (E) less than 1, maximum velocity decreases, while recurrence period remains relatively constant. For U (E) greater than 1, maximum velocity approaches the steady state velocity, and recurrence period approaches the period at neutral stability. In the subduction fault model using gabbro gouge friction properties, the slip per episode and the recurrence period increase with W/h*, generally following the trend defined without dilatancy. The maximum velocity with dilatancy can be several orders of magnitude smaller than that without, in particular for larger values of E and values of W/h* near the no-dilatancy stability limit.


First we describe the work of the first author leading to the conclusion that any property generic (in the weak topology) for measure-preserving bijections of a Lebesgue probability space is also generic (in the compact-open topology) for homeomorphisms of a compact manifold preserving a fixed measure. Then we describe the work of both authors in extending this result to non-compact manifolds, with modifications based on the ends of the manifold. These results can be thought of as generalizations of the original work which established genericity for the specific property of ergodicity (Oxtoby and Ulam, 1941) and subsequent work for other properties such as weak mixing (Katok and Stepin, 1970). The techniques used to obtain the titled theorem are also applied to related areas, such as fixed point theorems and chaos theory, and some new results are obtained.


The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of stocks that quoted on Borsa Istanbul Sustainability Index (BIST SURD) and to explain its other possible effects on these stocks. In the first stage of research, stock returns of BIST SURD and BIST 100 Index -that represents the markethave been calculated to determine abnormal stock return. In the second stage, Wald Wolfowitz Test (W-W), Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) Test and Levene Test have been implemented to confirm statistical significance of results. In the third stage, correlation matrix has been calculated to determine the relationship between BIST SURD and BIST 100 Index. These results show that, there is a price anomaly in Turkey stock market to the contrary of efficient market hypothesis. Trading at BIST SURD Index has no significant influence on companies' performance. Thus, trading at BIST SURD for companies, creates an intuitional effect for investors


This prospective cohort study was conducted in eighteen Canadian hospitals with the aim of examining factors associated with nutritional decline in medical and surgical patients. Nutritional decline was defined based on subjective global assessment (SGA) performed at admission and discharge. Data were collected on demographics, medical information, food intake and patients' satisfaction with nutrition care and meals during hospitalisation; 424 long-stay (≥7 d) patients were included; 38% of them had surgery; 51% were malnourished at admission (SGA B or C); 37% had in-hospital changes in SGA; 19·6% deteriorated (14·6% from SGA A to B/C and 5% from SGA B to C); 17·4% improved (10·6% from SGA B to A, 6·8% from SGA C to B/A); and 63·0 % patients were stable (34·4% were SGA A, 21·3% SGA B, 7·3% SGA C). One SGA C patient had weight loss ≥5%, likely due to fluid loss and was designated as stable. A subset of 364 patients with admission SGA A and B was included in the multiple logistic regression models to determine factors associated with nutritional decline. After controlling for SGA at admission and the presence of a surgical procedure, lower admission BMI, cancer, two or more diagnostic categories, new in-hospital infection, reduced food intake, dissatisfaction with food quality and illness affecting food intake were factors significantly associated with nutritional decline in medical patients. For surgical patients, only male sex was associated with nutritional decline. Factors associated with nutritional decline are different in medical and surgical patients. Identifying these factors may assist nutritional care.


Sedentary behavior increases risk for non-communicable diseases; associations may differ within different contexts (e.g., leisure time, occupational). This study examined associations between different types of sedentary behavior and disease risk factors in women, using objectively measured accelerometer-derived sedentary data. A validation study (n = 20 women) classified sedentary behavior into four categories: lying down; sitting (non-active); sitting (active); standing. A cross-sectional study (n = 348 women) examined associations between these classifications and disease risk factors (body composition, metabolic, inflammatory, blood lipid variables). Participants spent an average of 7 h 42 min per day in sedentary behavior; 58% of that time was classified as non-active sitting and 26% as active sitting. Non-active sitting showed significant (p ≤ 0.001) positive correlations with BMI (r = 0.244), body fat percent (r = 0.216), body mass (r = 0.236), fat mass (r = 0.241), leptin (r = 0.237), and negative correlations with HDL-cholesterol (r = −0.117, p = 0.031). Conversely, active sitting was significantly (p ≤ 0.001) negatively correlated with BMI (r = −0.300), body fat percent (r = −0.249), body mass (r = −0.305), fat mass (r = −0.320), leptin (r = −0.259), and positively correlated with HDL-cholesterol (r = 0.115, p = 0.035). In summary, sedentary behavior can be stratified using objectively measured accelerometer-derived activity data. Subsequently, different types of sedentary behaviors may differentially influence disease risk factors. Public health initiatives should account for sedentary classifications when developing sedentary behavior recommendations.


The cytoplasmic adaptor protein Disabled-1 (Dab1) is necessary for the regulation of neuronal positioning in the developing brain by the secreted molecule Reelin. Binding of Reelin to the neuronal apolipoprotein E receptors apoER2 and very low density lipoprotein receptor induces tyrosine phosphorylation of Dab1 and the subsequent activation or relocalization of downstream targets like phosphatidylinositol 3 (PI3)-kinase and Nckβ. Disruption of Reelin signaling leads to the accumulation of Dab1 protein in the brains of genetically modified mice, suggesting that Reelin limits its own action in responsive neurons by down-regulating the levels of Dab1 expression. Here, we use cultured primary embryonic neurons as a model to demonstrate that Reelin treatment targets Dab1 for proteolytic degradation by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. We show that tyrosine phosphorylation of Dab1 but not PI3-kinase activation is required for its proteasomal targeting. Genetic deficiency in the Dab1 kinase Fyn prevents Dab1 degradation. The Reelin-induced Dab1 degradation also depends on apoER2 and very low density lipoprotein receptor in a gene-dose dependent manner. Moreover, pharmacological blockade of the proteasome prevents the formation of a proper cortical plate in an in vitro slice culture assay. Our results demonstrate that signaling through neuronal apoE receptors can activate the ubiquitin-proteasome machinery, which might have implications for the role of Reelin during neurodevelopment and in the regulation of synaptic transmission.


Background The local enhanced service for end of life care (EOL) was started by Worcestershire Primary Care Trust in 2009, with the aim of developing good practice and improving EOL care. GPs were asked to sign up to and fully adopt the Gold Standards Framework (GSF). Access to palliative care medications and proactive management of symptom control are key components of GSF, and to support this 'just-in case' boxes were launched in April 2010. It was anticipated that the use of the boxes would avoid the distress caused by poor access to medications in out of hours, by anticipating symptom control needs and enabling availability of key medications in the patient's home. Outcomes To assess the success of this initiative a 6 month audit was undertaken between May and October 2010. Results A total of 66 boxes were placed in patients' homes. Fifteen of those boxes were not used. No patients were transferred into the acute trust (one patient was transferred to a care home), meaning that 65 people remained in their own home at time of death, with 48 of those patients' end of life care being supported by provision of anticipatory medication. Only 6% of the responses reported any resistance to use of the boxes, either by the patient or their family. Provision of the boxes improved symptom control in 55% of the cases, and 89% of the boxes were reported as containing the most appropriate drugs. We estimate an approximate cost saving of, at least, £69,140 was made. This was calculated by multiplying the number of times the provision of the just-in case box prevented use of a further healthcare service by the average cost for that specific episode of care. This can be compared favourably to the cost of providing the drugs, being £3,346.


I. Pangola grass (Digitaria decumbens) was grown with or without sulphur fertilizer, cut at seven stages of growth, dried and given to sheep with or without a supplement of 0.6 g S as sodium sulphateld. Voluntary intake and digestibility of dry matter (DM) and retention time in the reticulo-rumen, of various components of the grasses were determined. 2. Grass grown on the S-fertilized plots had a mean S content of 1.57 g/kg DM compared with 1.03 g/kg DM for the control but there was no difference in the level of other elements. S fertilizer increased the level of acid-detergent fibre and lignin. 3. In the absence of a S supplement, fertilizer S increased voluntary intake by 10.5 %, DM digestibility by 0.008 and reduced the period food DM was retained in the reticulo-rumen by 18.5 %. Fertilizer S had no effect on rumen pH or volatile fatty acid concentration in rumen fluid, but decreased the molar proportions of propionic and butyric acids and increased those of acetic, isobutyric, isovaleric and caproic acids. 4. Supplementary S had little effect on the voluntary intake and DM digestibility of the S-fertilized grass but increased the voluntary intake and DM digestibility of the control grass by 22 % and 0.036 respectively (P < 0.01). Thus the voluntary intake and DM digestibility of S-fertilized grass was lower than that of the control grass when the determinations were made with sheep supplemented with S. 5. It was concluded that S fertilizer increased nutritive value by overcoming a simple S deficiency in the diet when diets contained less than 1.7 to 1.8 g S/kg DM but this benefit was offset by a decrease in the content of digestible neutral-detergent solubles and an increase in the lignin content of the food.


Rapid land use change has taken place in many mid-sized cities of Iran such as Zanjan over the past three decades. This research analyzed the land use/cover change Zanjan from 1965 to 2005; identified the patterns of urban growth and the fragmentation of the urban space by applying GIS and remote sensing tools. The main driving forces of the urban changes were analyzed and the model to predict the land use/cover changes was applied. Our results show the importance of monitoring and modeling of rapid urban growth for attaining sustainable mid-sized cities in developing countries that are strongly dependent on export of natural resources. The results indicated that there had been a notable and uneven urban growth and a major loss of cropland loss between 1965 and 2005. Most of the urban growth and loss of agriculture land occurred in inner and outer suburbs. This research analyzed the land use/cover change Zanjan from 1965 to 2005, identified the patterns of urban growth and the fragmentation of the urban space, applying GIS and remote sensing tools. We believe that in urban growth modeling process there has been multi socialeconomical and physical elements in which have key rules in it, and we attempted to use some of them.


Clinical and experimental evidence indicates that garlic ingestion lowers blood cholesterol levels, and treatment of cells in culture with garlic and garlic-derived compounds inhibits cholesterol synthesis. To identify the principal site of inhibition in the cholesterolgenic pathway and the active components of garlic, cultured hepatoma cells were treated with aqueous garlic extract or its chemical derivatives, and radiolabeled cholesterol and intermediates were identified and quantified. Garlic extract reduced cholesterol synthesis by up to 75% without evidence of cellular toxicity. Levels of squalene and 2,3-oxidosqualene were not altered by garlic, indicating that the site of inhibition was downstream of lanosterol synthesis, and identical results were obtained with C-acetate and C-mevalonate, confirming that 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase activity was not affected in these shortterm studies. Several methylsterols that accumulated in the presence of garlic were identified by coupled gas chromatography–mass spectrometry as 4,49-dimethylzymosterol and a possible metabolite of 4-methylzymosterol; both are substrates for sterol 4a-methyl oxidase, pointing to this enzyme as the principal site of inhibition in the cholesterolgenic pathway by garlic. Of 9 garlic-derived compounds tested for their ability to inhibit cholesterol synthesis, only diallyl disulfide, diallyl trisulfide, and allyl mercaptan proved inhibitory, each yielding a pattern of sterol accumulation identical with that obtained with garlic extract. These results indicate that compounds containing an allyl-disulfide or allyl-sulfhydryl group are most likely responsible for the inhibition of cholesterol synthesis by garlic and that this inhibition is likely mediated at sterol 4a-methyl oxidase. J. Nutr. 136: 759S–764S, 2006.


Objective: Major causes of mortality in patients with valvular disease are endocarditis and valve thrombosis. Oral anticoagulant drugs are used to prevent valve thrombosis. Uses of inadequate doses of medication or absence of medication use are the main reasons for the development of valve thrombosis. In addition to medical treatment or surgical treatment of patients with infective endocarditis has a high mortality rate. In this study, MTHFR C677T, Prothrombin (Factor-II) G20210A, Factor-V Leiden G1631, PAI-1 4G/5G and TNF-α-308 G>A were determined in patients with infective endocarditis and valve thrombosis groups. Materials and Methods: 18 patients with infective endocarditis, 12 patients with valve thrombosis and 37 healthy volunteers were included in this study. Polymerase chain reactions (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) were used to detect the related polymorphism. Chi-square was used to compare groups. Results: There were no significant differences between the groups regarding MTHFR C677T, Prothrombin (Factor-II) G20210A, Factor-V Leiden G1631, PAI-1 4G/5G polymorphism. In contrast, a significant difference was found in TNF-α -308 G>A polymorphism between the groups. Conclusion: In our study, TNF-α-308 G>A results were higher in patients with endocarditis and valve thrombosis than control groups in chi-squares test and there were significant differences between two groups. There is not enough data in literature about the involvement of genetic factors in valve thrombosis. For this reason, larger and more comprehensive studies are needed.


The Israel–Egypt border region composed of longitudinal sand dunes is a very unique arid environmental ecosystem in the world: the Israeli side with much more vegetation cover has notably higher land surface temperature (LST) during daytime than the Egyptian side where bare sand prevails. In order to understand this thermal anomaly and its scientific significance in the arid environmental ecosystem development, a series of intensive research activities have been conducted in the past several years, including remote sensing analysis and meteorological modeling. In the paper, we present part of the series studies on the issue: the ground temperature measurement and emissivity determination. The region is mainly composed of four basic surface patterns: biogenic crust, bare sand, vegetation and playa (physical crust). Our hypothesis to occurrence of the thermal anomaly is that it is the direct result of the different surface composition structures and ground emissivities on both sides. Results from our ground temperature measurements during 1997–1998 validate the hypothesis of a significant LST difference existing among the main surface patterns of the region. Biogenic crust covering 72% on the Israeli side and only about 12% on the Egyptian side has an ARTICLE IN PRESS *Corresponding author. International Institute for Earth System Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China. E-mail address: email@example.com (Z. Qin). 0140-1963/$ see front matter r 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2004.03.017 average kinetic surface temperature of above 3 C higher than bare sand. Emissivity of the two most important surface patterns also presents a significant difference. Biogenic crust has an average emissivity ranging from 0.9671 at low temperature to 0.9725 at high temperature. Bare sand occupying above 80% of the surface on the Egyptian side and only about 7% on the Israeli side has an average emissivity between 0.9435 and 0.9543. On the basis of the ground temperature measurements, we use the estimated surface cover percentage to factor the emissivity for a simple simulation of average LST on both sides, which results in an outcome that strongly support the explanation of the thermal anomaly in the border region. Since biogenic crust that covers most surface of the region plays important functions in arid ecosystem development and is common in several deserts such as north Africa and central Australia, our documentation of its surface temperature change and determination of its emissivity, which have not been seen in the literature, will provide valuable scientific basis for other studies on arid environmental ecosystems. r 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


Agents are software systems aimed at working in dynamic environments. Simulation systems can be used to provide virtual environments for testing agents. The software to be tested, the objective of the simulation study, and the stage of the agent software development influences both: the environmental models used for testing and the mechanisms that synchronize the execution of agents and simulation. A clear distinction between model and simulation layer, and a modular design of the simulation system support the required flexibility. Based on the simulation system James (a Java based agent modeling environment for simulation) and two agent applications we will explore, how interfaces between virtual environments and software agents can be explicitly specified at the modeling level and suitable mechanisms for synchronization might be chosen on demand.


Cross-reality systems empower users to transition along the reality-virtuality continuum or collaborate with others experiencing different manifestations of it. However, prototyping these systems is challenging, as it requires sophisticated technical skills, time, and often expensive hardware. We present VRception, a concept and toolkit for quick and easy prototyping of cross-reality systems. By simulating all levels of the reality-virtuality continuum entirely in Virtual Reality, our concept overcomes the asynchronicity of realities, eliminating technical obstacles. Our VRception Toolkit leverages this concept to allow rapid prototyping of cross-reality systems and easy remixing of elements from all continuum levels. We replicated six cross-reality papers using our toolkit and presented them to their authors. Interviews with them revealed that our toolkit sufficiently replicates their core functionalities and allows quick iterations. Additionally, remote participants used our toolkit in pairs to collaboratively implement prototypes in about eight minutes that they would have otherwise expected to take days.


Author(s): Farrell, John Gordon | Advisor(s): Summerhill, William R | Abstract: This dissertation examines the writings of Latin Americans who traveled to the United States between 1783 and 1900 and wrote about their experiences. It aims to provide an intellectual and cultural history of Latin America, as seen through the lens of elite Latin Americans' perceptions of the emerging United States. The seventy-six travelers whose eighty-nine texts I examine comprise slightly more than half of the total number of such travelers identified. Employing text-analysis software, I have mined their published writings to compile data that specify the travelers' substantive interests in and observations concerning the United States. Such interests are expressed as nouns. The 18,943 nouns used in the texts are presented so that we learn not only which were employed by individual authors, but also which were used by how many of the other writers comprising the sample. We can now specify what substantive matters (persons, places, things, ideas) caught the travelers' interest or were on their minds, how often they mentioned each of these words in their texts, how many of their fellow travelers used the same words, and in what percentage of the total texts those same words appeared. Thus, we can know as never before what Latin Americans were actually thinking about the United States during the era addressed - from the dawn of the First Republic to its emergence as hemispheric hegemon and global empire. These findings provide quantitative data to support (or refute) the sort of qualitative judgments that have heretofore lacked measurable certainty. I also place the travelers in the context of their time and place, with chapters addressing the validity of travelers as historical sources, the highly influential social and intellectual status of many of the travelers, late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Latin American intellectual history, and the originally complementary yet soon antagonistic philosophical perspectives held in Latin and Anglo-America towards the end of the nineteenth century. In an appendix, I provide biographies of each of the travelers whose works are addressed. Another appendix lists travelers whose works are not examined here, many of whom merit at least equal scholarly attention.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present and identify the challenges toward implementing sustainability strategies both strategic and tactical (STs) and performance measures (PMs) facing industrial organizations in newly industrialized countries.

Design/methodology/approach

Conducting a comprehensive survey on the published papers focused on the area of sustainability and/or sustainable development (S/SD) in manufacturing enterprises to identify the most common critical challenges. Setting with industrialists to determine which challenges the industrial organizations facing while implementing the S/SD strategies in terms of strategic, tactic and PMs. Using support logic techniques such as interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and interpretive ranking process (IRP) as modeling approaches to examine the contextual relationship among the STs and PMs individually "first phase," to clarify and identify the most and least dominant factors, and to rank STs with respect to the PMs "second phase."

Findings

The investigation shows that some challenges are more dominant and influential. Literacy and an awareness of sustainability, globalization and international issues and competitive strategies have emerged as the most dominant and key driving factors for STs in the ISM model, while the whole PMs are driven by remanufacturing and recycling factors in the ISM model. In addition, drivers and barriers to implementing S/SD challenges received the highest rank in the IRP model.

Research limitations/implications

Most of the STs and PMs were identified from academicians. Most of the manufacturing companies participated in the discussion; unfortunately, all are not familiar with the S/SD as a whole. They see to the S/SD from very narrow scope like climate change, environmental and energy issues only based on what they heard from media. Most of them are not fully interested to join with academicians to progress the work.

Practical implications

Most of the manufacturing companies are keen to investigate extremely sustainability challenges. Although this paper has a goal to provide a comprehensive framework to analyze, investigate and model sustainability challenges for industrial/manufacturing companies in different industrial sectors, most of the STs and PMs were identified from academicians. Most of the industrial/manufacturing companies participated in the discussion; unfortunately, all are not familiar with the S/SD as a whole. This study will help manufacturing/industrial companies to analyze and investigate the challenges toward implementing S/SD.

Originality/value

The originality of this paper is to identify the most common ST and PM challenges facing industrial organization toward implementing S/SD, modeling them into logical techniques and comparing between STs with respect to PMs.


As the exploitation of oil and gas gradually enters the deep sea, the low-temperature and high-pressure deep-sea environment poses a huge challenge to the flow protection of pipelines (2014a). In this paper, the phase change material sandwich pipeline which uses phase change heat storage and exothermic to maintain the pipeline temperature is taken as the research object, the heat transfer characteristics of the deep-water phase change material sandwich pipe are studied through the combination of theoretical analysis and numerical simulation (2014b). The main contents include: Firstly, through the establishment of two-dimensional and three-dimensional pipe models, analyzed the temperature distribution along the pipeline and the radial temperature distribution of the pipeline under steady oil flow conditions. Secondly, by using transient heat transfer, the effects of phase change material parameters, the proportion of phase change material in the insulation layer, and the difference in the ratio of phase change materials in the insulation layer on the insulation performance are analyzed to obtain the best results. Insulation material and optimal insulation layer layout; finally, the thermal storage and the phase change conditions of the phase-change material sandwich pipe is studied under the re-starting condition. The results show that the effective holding time of the phase change material insulation layer is close to 1.4 times that the non-phase change material insulation layer, and the melting point size has little effect on the insulation material. The closer the phase change material is to the inner tube, the better the insulation effect. This study provide guidance for the design and utilization of phase change material sandwich pipe.


A hypersphere surface provides a finite 3D world in which the user can fly freely without encountering boundaries, while hyperbolic space provides a spacious environment. The algorithm for rendering a scene in a hypersphere is identical to the standard algorithm for rendering a scene in ordinary flat 3D space. Indeed, the computations are so similar that off-the-shelf 3D graphics cards, when fed the correct matrices, will do real-time animations in a hypersphere just as easily and as quickly as they do in flat space.


This paper builds a Keynesian type econometric model with a dynamic perspective and a sound theoretical basis, for investigating the impact of remittances on consumption, investment, imports and output. It estimates short and long-run multiplier effects of exogenous shocks of remittances, with data from five Mediterranean countries. The analysis reveals a uniform country performance of instability and uncertainty, with great temporal and inter-country fluctuations of remittance effects. The findings point to different inter-country priorities of remittance spending and to an asymmetric impact of remittance changes, in the sense that the good done to growth by rising remittances is not as great as the bad done by falling remittances.


A simple model of process innovation is proposed, where firms learn about their ideal production process by making prototypes. We build around this a dynamic general equilibrium model, and derive conditions under which diversified and specialised cities coexist. New products are developed in diversified cities, trying processes borrowed from different activities. On finding their ideal process, firms switch to mass-production and relocate to specialised cities with lower costs. When in equilibrium, this configuration welfare-dominates those with only diversified or only specialised cities. We find strong evidence of this relocation pattern in establishment relocations across French employment areas 1993u1996.


OBJECTIVES
We sought to quantify the potential health impact of selected medical and nonmedical policy changes within the United States.

METHODS
Using data from the 1997-2000 National Health Interview Surveys (linked to mortality data through 2002) and the 1996-2002 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys, we calculated age-specific health-related quality-of-life scores and mortality probabilities for 8 social and behavioral risk factors. We then used Markov models to estimate the quality-adjusted life years lost.

RESULTS
Ranked quality-adjusted life years lost were income less than 200% of the poverty line versus 200% or greater (464 million; 95% confidence interval [CI]=368, 564); current-smoker versus never-smoker (329 million; 95% CI=226, 382); body mass index 30 or higher versus 20 to less than 25 (205 million; 95% CI=159, 269); non-Hispanic Black versus non-Hispanic White (120 million; 95% CI=83, 163); and less than 12 years of school relative to 12 or more (74 million; 95% CI=52, 101). Binge drinking, overweight, and health insurance have relatively less influence on population health.

CONCLUSIONS
Poverty, smoking, and high-school dropouts impose the greatest burden of disease in the United States.


The blood serum binding capacity was studied in 20 patients suffering from diabetes mellitus given no insulin and in 67 patients with a severe form of diabetes mellitus treated with insulin. There proved to be a reverse relationship between the duration of insulin therapy and the insulin antibody titre. There was also a reverse relationship between the patient's age and the serum insulin-binding capacity. The dose of insulin administered failed to influence the level of insulin antibodies circulating in the organism.


Abstract Researchers are increasingly interested in the issue of school accountability. Despite this, program standards for afterschool programs are not as fully developed as in other fields. This study bridges that gap and presents the results from a study to identify benchmarks and indicators for high quality afterschool programs. This research employed a multimethod approach including a synthesis of literature on afterschool programs, observations and survey data collection at 15 high quality afterschool program sites. Results of the study suggest that most of the issues emphasized in the afterschool literature can be considered core components of a quality afterschool program. This finding was consistent across the three broad categories of program organization, program environment, and instructional features. This study also revealed that some issues emphasized in the afterschool literature should be considered extra components that can increase quality, but are not necessary. As a result, this study argues for a checklist strategy in assessing programs to meet quality-based standards. ----- Bibl iography: Huang, Denise/La Torre Matrundola, Deborah/Leon, Seth: Identification of Key Indicators for Quality in Afterschool Programs, IJREE, Vol. 2, Issue 1-2014, pp. 20-44. https://doi.org/10.3224/ijree.v2i1.19532


A covariance matrix of asset returns plays an important role in modern portfolio analysis and risk management. Despite the recent interests in improving the estimation of a return covariance matrix, there remain many areas for further investigation. This thesis studies several issues related to obtaining a better estimation of the covariance matrix for the returns of a reasonably large number of stocks for portfolio risk management.
The thesis consists of five essays. The first essay, Chapter 3, provides a comprehensive analysis of both old and new covariance estimation methods and the standard comparison criteria. We use empirical data to compare their performances. We also examine the standard comparisons and find they provide limited information regarding the abilities of the covariance estimators in predicting portfolio variances. It therefore suggests that we need more powerful comparison criteria to assess covariance estimators.
The second and third essays, Chapter 4 and 5, are concerned with the alternative appraisal methods of return covariance estimators for portfolio risk management purposes. Chapter 4 introduces a portfolio distance measure based on eigen decomposition (eigen-distance) to compare two covariance estimators in terms of the most different portfolio variances they predict. The eigen-distance measures the ratio of the two extreme variance predictions under one covariance estimator for the portfolios that are constructed to have the same variances under the other covariance estimator. We show that the eigen-distance can be used to assess a risk measurement system as a whole, where any kind of the portfolios may need to be considered. Our simulation results show that it is a powerful measure to distinguish two covariance estimators even in small samples.
Chapter 5 proposes a0 measure to distinguish two similar estimated covariance matrices from the observed covariance matrix. 0 is constructed based on the essential difference of the two similar covariance matrices: the two extreme portfolios that are predicted to have the most different variances under these two matrices. We show that 0 is very useful in evaluating refinements to covariance estimators, particularly a modest refinement, where the refined covariance matrix is close to the original matrix.
The last two essays, Chapter 6 and 7, are concerned with improving the best covariance estimators within the literature. Chapter 6 explores alternative Bayesian shrinkage methods that directly shrink the eigenvalues (and in one case the principal eigenvector) of the sample covariance matrix. We use simulations to compare the performance of these shrinkage estimators with the two best existing estimators, namely, the Ledoit and Wolf (2003a) estimator and the Jagannathan and Ma (2003) estimator using both RMSE and eigen-distance criteria. We find that our shrinkage estimators consistently out-perform the Ledoit and Wolf estimator. They also out-perform the Jagannathan and Ma estimator except in one case where they are not much worse off either.
Finally, Chapter 7 extends the analysis of Chapter 6, which is under an unchanging multivariate normal world, to consider implications of both fat-tails and time variation. We use a multivariate normal inverse Gaussian (MNIG) distribution to model the log returns of stock prices. This family of distributions has proven to fit the heavy tails observed in financial time series extremely well. For the time varying situation, we use a tractable mean reverting Ornstein- Uhlenbeck (OU) process to develop a new model to measure an interesting and economically motivated time varying structure where the risks remain unchanged but stocks migrate among different risk categories during their life circles. We find that our shrinkage methods are also useful in both situations and become even more important in the time varying case.