It is widely recognised that new and innovative approaches are required to address the complex, wicked problems that communities face. To tackle these challenges, local governments are developing new and innovative products, services and processes, and replicating innovations that are promoted as having been successfully implemented in other local government areas. This paper argues that approaches focusing on separate individual product, service and process innovations, and then replicating these innovations in new contexts, are not suitable for wicked problems. Instead, it is argued that local governments need to take a systemic approach to innovation when addressing wicked problems: an approach that is informed by complex adaptive systems theory that is specific to an individual community's unique needs, and utilises the community's unique resources and collective intelligence. To demonstrate this approach, a diagnostic tool for systemic social innovation which was reasoned during a project with the City of Onkaparinga is described. This tool highlights nine areas that local governments can focus upon to facilitate systemic social innovation. Five of these areas enable communities to unlock their complex adaptive system dynamics; two areas assist government systems to undertake unplanned explorations of solutions with communities; and two areas assist government systems to exploit the knowledge, ideas and innovations that emerge from community-led activities. A new research project is then described which aims to investigate if this diagnostic tool can be used to affect systemic change in a local government area.


Abstract Assessing the patterns of wildlife attendance to specific areas is relevant across many fundamental and applied ecological studies, particularly when animals are at risk of being exposed to stressors within or outside the boundaries of those areas. Marine mammals are increasingly being exposed to human activities that may cause behavioral and physiological changes, including military exercises using active sonars. Assessment of the population‐level consequences of anthropogenic disturbance requires robust and efficient tools to quantify the levels of aggregate exposure for individuals in a population over biologically relevant time frames. We propose a discrete‐space, continuous‐time approach to estimate individual transition rates across the boundaries of an area of interest, informed by telemetry data collected with uncertainty. The approach allows inferring the effect of stressors on transition rates, the progressive return to baseline movement patterns, and any difference among individuals. We apply the modeling framework to telemetry data from Blainville's beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris) tagged in the Bahamas at the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC), an area used by the U.S. Navy for fleet readiness training. We show that transition rates changed as a result of exposure to sonar exercises in the area, reflecting an avoidance response. Our approach supports the assessment of the aggregate exposure of individuals to sonar and the resulting population‐level consequences. The approach has potential applications across many applied and fundamental problems where telemetry data are used to characterize animal occurrence within specific areas.


Although several studies have examined organizational commitment in relation to needs satisfaction and work environment, none have investigated causal paradigm and antecedents of measured variables. Using path analysis modeling, this paper takes the first step at closing this literature gap. The direct effect of satisfaction of social needs, citizenship behaviour and recognition at work and work relations on organizational commitment was observed. The cumulative indirect effect of these variables on organizational commitment of Loco Pilots was significant. The results suggest that Indian Railways may need to focus more on these variables in spawning greater commitment among Loco Pilots. Organizational/managerial implications of casual paradigm of the antecedents of organizational commitment suggested. Int. J. Soc. Sci. Manage. Vol-2, issue-3: 214-221 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijssm.v2i3.12553


to pethidine ratio that results from first-pass metabolism by the liver. Thus, parenteral pethidine has little place in the management of cancer pain and pethidine by mouth has almost none at all. ' As Dr Lane points out, heroin is not generally available for clinical use in Australia. However, a number of controlled trials suggest that morphine, if used properly, can achieve exactly the same excellent palliative results as does heroin. This is discussed in more detail in a paper published in the Journal early last year.' A simple regimen (FIVD regimen) that was designed for effective use by clinicians without specialist knowledge or experience is available from the author at the address below, as are reprints of the article itself. G.T. Coates, MB BS 10/26 West bourne Street Drummoyne, NSW 2047 1. Coates G. Management of cancer pain: a practical approach. Med J Aust 1985; 142: 30-35.


In chemical engineering, undergraduate students often have to face the highly demanding process of understanding concepts from the microscopic level (e.g., ionic crystals such as zinc sulphide or covalent lattice crystals diamond, graphite, graphene etc.) and then explain with certain physical–chemical properties their macroscopic behaviour. Therefore, the main idea was to construct a specifically designed educational material that focusses on the benefits of viewing visualisations to enhance students' conceptual understanding of solids and crystal structures augmented by cartoons, and evaluate its usability. The interactive 'cartoons' agents were developed from scratch, giving them freedom of movement and realism at the same time. A research was conducted in the School of Chemical Engineering in Greece (National Technical University of Athens), evaluated the usability of the digital material and the contribution of the 3-D visualisations and the cartoons agents in the understanding of such high-cognitive load concepts.Keywords: Cartoons, 3-D visualisations, crystal structures, chemical engineering.


The fate and behavior of redox-active chemical species in geothermal systems is linked with the metabolic processes of chemotrophic thermophilic microorganisms. The major goal of the current work was to perform a thorough geochemical analysis of redox active species in geothermal outflow channels, and utilize these measurements to quantify the Gibbs free energy (∆Grxn) values for numerous oxidation-reduction reactions that represent potential chemolithotrophic metabolisms. Insights gained from energetic analyses can be used to structure hypotheses regarding novel microbial metabolisms and to guide cultivation strategies for isolating relevant microorganisms. A comprehensive suite of geochemical parameters, including major ions, trace elements, redox-active species and dissolved gases, were analyzed and monitored in vertical transects of 11 geothermal outflow channels in Yellowstone National Park from 20032005. The geothermal springs chosen for this study contained strikingly different aqueous and solid-phase geochemistry. These systems exhibited a wide range of conditions, including ranges in pH (2.7 to 7.0), temperature (60 C to 92 C), Cl (0.01 to 23 mM)), SO4 (0.4 to 7.5 mM), NH4 (0.02 to 5.7 mM), CO2 (aq) (0.1 to 4.5 mM), Fe (0.2 to 230 μM), and As (0.03 to 130 μM). The predominant changes in geochemistry occurring within geothermal outflow channels were consistently related to the dynamics of air-water gas exchange. In all springs studied, dissolved gases including H2, CO2, CH4 and H2S decreased down gradient of geothermal discharge, while O2 ingassing resulted in increases in dissolved O2. Calculated free energy (∆Grxn) values for balanced oxidation-reduction reactions suggest that numerous electron donor/acceptor combinations are exergonic in these systems. Reactions where H2, CH4, H2S, S, As, Fe and or NH4 serve as electron donors were all significantly exergonic (< -30 kJ mole electron at all sites) when O2 was the electron acceptor, even when O2 levels were at the detection limit (3 μM). The geothermal systems included in this study all exhibited significant changes in microbial population distribution from near source-water conditions to sediments lining the outflow channels, consistent with the hypothesis that geochemical gradients and temperature correlate with microbial population distribution.


Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are a decisive part of the efforts against climate change. However, they are late in terms of sustainability and circular economy (CE). Little is known about the factors that facilitate the implementation of CE practices in SMEs. Due to CE leading to cost savings, new business models or reputation gains, companies can achieve a competitive advantage. To realize this competitive advantage the strategic orientation of a firm is pointed out. Various theoretical papers have shown how CE can be enabled and how it can be inhibited. However, empirical studies that support the existing literature are lacking. The goal of this paper is to investigate the influence of two mechanisms, namely commitment to sustainability (CtS) and digitalization as strategic orientations on CE implementation. Therefore, we conduct a study with a self-developed sample of 754 German SMEs. Using multiple linear regression analyses, the results show that digitalization and CtS positively influence CE implementation in SMEs. Interestingly, the complementary effect of pursuing a dual strategy toward digitalization and sustainability is not significant for CE implementation. Our study contributes to the CE literature by giving a nuanced understanding of various antecedents of CE implementation. This study provides several approaches for managers of SMEs to improve their CE practices. First, digitalization is indeed an effective tool for implementing CE practices. Therefore, practitioners should strengthen their digitalization efforts when considering increased CE implementation. Second, a general focus on sustainability increases the implementation of CE practices. Therefore, practitioners should raise awareness of sustainability throughout the organization. Third, the combined focus on CtS and digitalization needs to be carefully considered. To implement CE, digitalization should be embedded in the sustainability strategy. Due to the liability of smallness, SMEs should seek their resources for digitalization and sustainability commitment not only within but also outside the company boundaries.


Recently there has been a renewed research interest in the properties of non-survey updates of input-output tables and social accounting matrices (SAM). Along with the well-known scaling RAS method, new procedures related to entropy minimization and other metrics have been suggested, tested, and used in the literature. Whether these procedures will eventually substitute or merely complement the RAS approach is still an open question. In general, the performance of the updating procedures has been tested using proximity measures to a reference input-output table or SAM. In this paper, in contrast, we propose to look at the operational performance of three updating mechanisms by comparing the simulation results that ensue from adopting alternative databases for the calibration of a reference computable general equilibrium (CGE) model.


Affordance actualization (AA) is a process through which organizations realize their IT potentials. The extant IS literature on affordances has mainly focused on theorizing the existence and perception of affordances; the actualization process remains understudied and undertheorized. To address this gap, this research investigates the process of affordance actualization and unpacks the mechanisms that explain how and why affordance actualization has evolved in the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) context.Critical realist philosophical assumptions were adopted to identify and analyse the causal paths through which technology affordances are successfully realized. Three case studies were carried out in Saudi Arabian SMEs through two phases: exploratory and explanatory. The data collection methods comprised semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and a review of organizational documentation. Findings from the case studies were used to develop a mechanism-based explanation of the affordance actualization process to address the question: 'How does affordance actualization occur in SMEs?'The theory of affordance actualization and the theory of workarounds were integrated to account for various actualization actions and outcomes. Three types of actualization actions were identified: planned actions; workarounds; and assessments and alterations. The actualization actions, enacted at the individual level, collectively contribute to produce actualization outcomes at the organizational level. These outcomes correspond to the actualization actions and broadly involve enabling organizational changes and goals.This research contributes to the IS literature on affordances in two ways. First, the research develops a SME-specific AA process that demonstrates the two-level dynamics of actualization actions and outcomes. Second, the research identifies four sets of contextual conditions that contingently determine the outcomes of the affordance actualization process for SMEs. These conditions are classified according to their influence on AA process, including: restraining conditions; enabling conditions; stimulating conditions; and releasing conditions. The findings from this research also provide practical implications for SME managers and practitioners to succeed in actualizing technology affordances through improving affordance potency and locality and reducing affordance dependency.


It is becoming increasingly apparent that trans-generational immune priming (i.e. the transfer of the parental immunological experience to its progeny resulting in offspring protection from pathogens that persist across generations) is a common phenomenon not only in vertebrates, but also invertebrates. Likewise, it is known that covert pathogenic infections may become 'triggered' into an overt infection by various stimuli, including exposure to heterologous infections. Yet rarely have both phenomena been explored in parallel. Using as a model system the African armyworm (Spodoptera exempta), an eruptive agricultural pest, and its endemic dsDNA virus (Spodoptera exempta nucleopolyhedrovirus, SpexNPV), the aim of this study was to explore the impact of parental inoculating-dose on trans-generational pathogen transmission and immune priming (in its broadest sense). Larvae were orally-challenged with one of five doses of SpexNPV and survivors from these treatments were mated and their offspring monitored for viral mortality. Offspring from parents challenged with low viral doses showed evidence of 'immune priming' (i.e. enhanced survival following SpexNPV challenge); in contrast, offspring from parents challenged with higher viral doses exhibited greater susceptibility to viral challenge. Most offspring larvae died of the virus they were orally-challenged with; in contrast, most offspring from parents that had been challenged with the highest doses were killed by the vertically-transmitted virus (90%) and not the challenge virus. These results demonstrate that the outcome of a potentially lethal virus challenge is critically dependent on the level of exposure to virus in the parental generation - either increasing resistance at very low parental viral doses (consistent with trans-generational immune-priming) or increasing susceptibility at higher parental doses (consistent with virus triggering). We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding both natural epizootics of baculoviruses and for using them as biological control agents.


Scholars of popular constitutionalism have persuasively argued that an array of nonjudicial actors — social movements, the federal political branches, state and local political entities — play an important role in shaping constitutional meaning. But to date, the accounts of such scholars have largely focused on the ways that constitutional doctrine at the Supreme Court level — rather than throughout the federal judiciary — can be shaped by such popular constitutional influences. In this Essay, Professor Katie Eyer draws on the events following the Obama Administration's February 2011 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) announcement — and the history of gay equality litigation that preceded it — to develop a theory of the lower federal courts as participants in the popular constitutionalism dialogue. Tracing the approach of the lower federal courts to gay claims for heightened scrutiny in the period both preceding, and following the Obama Administration's announcement, Eyer shows that — unlike the Court itself — the lower courts have typically demanded authoritative doctrinal guidance before meaningfully shifting their constitutional approach. However, it appears that such guidance need not be provided by the Supreme Court itself, but may in some circumstances derive from authoritative popular constitutional actors, such as the President or Congress.The Essay concludes by drawing on existing scholarship regarding lower court constitutional adjudication (and the role culture that surrounds lower court constitutional adjudication) to explain this history and to sketch a broader theory of the lower courts as potential receptive sites for popular constitutional influences. As this section describes, the history of lower court adjudication in the gay equality context is deeply consonant with what a broader theory of lower court popular constitutionalism would suggest, given the differing institutional roles ascribed to the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts as constitutional adjudicators.


SYNOPSIS:  After more than a decade since passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the creation of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), it is appropriate and necessary to ask questions about the present state of audit quality and evaluate the impact and effectiveness of PCAOB's oversight programs. Written from the viewpoint of a current PCAOB Board member and former Managing Director of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), this paper discusses the warning signs of serious auditing problems in the years preceding the Act, and the role that the GAO played in analyzing those risks and calling for greater oversight of the accounting profession's auditing public companies. We must be vigilant and continually examine the activities of the auditing profession and the regulatory regime to ensure that audit independence and audit quality remain front and center to ensure investor protection and safeguard the public interest. Academic researchers play a key role in this system of vigilanc...


Materials: The database was searched and all cases in which the sonographic diagnosis of a central nervous system malformation was made were included. Results: There were 280 patients in which a diagnosis of a CNS malformation was made. The most common diagnosis was related to dilation of ventricular system, followed by neural tube disease, agenesis of the corpus callosum and posterior fossa abnormalities.


The influence of low molecular weight additives containing polar groups and
modified polyolefin-based compatibilisers on polypropylene (PP)-clay
nanocomposites (PPCN) has been studied, in terms of intercalation and degree of
exfoliation achievable by melt state mixing processes. PPCN were prepared by melt
mixing of two commercial pp homopolymers with organically modified clay
(OMMT) in the presence of maleic anhydride grafted pp (PP-MA). X-ray diffraction
(XRD) analysis shows that the interlayer spacing of clay increases dramatically,
whilst transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results show a significant
improvement of clay dispersion in the PP matrix, when nanocomposites are prepared
with commercial PP containing short chain organic additives with polar groups
(amide-type slip and antistatic additives). Subsequent studies based upon customised
PP formulations, with short chain amide molecules (AM), confirm the intercalation of
this additive into clay galleries. The maximum interiayer spacing is achieved with low
concentrations of this additive (0.5 wt. %). Contact angle measurements and low
shear melt flow properties (MF!) further confirm the diffusion of this additive (AM)
into the clay galleries rather than migrating away from the bulk of the PPCN. The
interaction between the polar group (CONH2) of this additive and polar sites of the
clay surface appears to be the driving force for the intercalation. Although this
additive intercalates and allows the formation of an intercalated nanocomposite
structure with non homogeneous dispersion of clay, an exfoliated PPCN structure is
yet to be formed with this additive alone.
A new preparation method for PPCN has therefore been developed by co-intercalation
of AM and PP-MA. PPCN were prepared by this method with a significant reduction
of overall PP-MA concentration in the nanocomposite structure, relative to
conventional PPCN prepared with compatibiliser (PP-MA) only. XRD and TEM
analysis showed that nanocomposite structures are formed with significantly
improved clay dispersion, compared to PPCN prepared using the conventional
method. Quantification of clay exfoliation, using image analysis software, showed
that higher degrees of exfoliation can be achieved in PPCN from this new cointercalation
method. Normalised melt flow index (n-MFI) data showed the
relationship between low shear flow properties and clay structure and is an
appropriate parameter to examine clay exfoliation and its interaction with pp in
PPCN. Enhanced thennal stability of PPCN, in comparison to pure PP, further
demonstrates the improved clay dispersion in nanocomposite structures prepared by
the co-intercalation method. A possible mechanism for the co-intercalation of AM and
PP-MA into clay galleries has been proposed, based upon hydrogen bonding between
these additives and the silicate layers.
Rheological characterisation of PPCN, using capillary rheometry experiments at high
shear rates, shows a shear thinning, pseudoplastic behaviour similar to pure PP.
However, a comparatively higher concentration of AM appears to reduce the shear
viscosity of PPCN. Die swelling behaviour revealed a reduction in melt elasticity in
PPCN melts in comparison to unmodified PP. Reduced die swell occurs as a result,
together with a delay in the onset of melt fracture.
Sheet extrusion was used to produce PPCN products with increasing clay loading
levels that were evaluated for a range of mechanical properties. Significant
enhancement of modulus in PPCN is achieved in comparison to pure PP whilst
maintaining similar strength characteristics. However, impact resistance of extruded
PPCN sheets is not improved in comparison to unmodified PP. Results have been
interpreted with reference to the degree of exfoliation, additive content and
differences in PP crystallinity.


Modern building in Edgewater offering several turn-key offices with great views fronting Biscayne Boulevard. Perfect for businesses that wish to be in the heart of the Edgewater market and it's surrounding demographics. One of the few buildings in the Biscayne Corridor that offers ground floor parking and access for staff and customers alike. Offices are poised for immediate occupancy, offering expansive views and already built out spaces. Most businesses headquartered at 3050 Biscayne are small to mid-sized enterprises with uses varying from law practices, technology, design to specialized consulting and more. Office spaces are fully air conditioned, with great natural light and tall windows.


One suggested tailoring strategy for longitudinal surveys is giving respondents their preferred mode. Mode preference could be collected at earlier waves and used when introducing a mixed-mode design. The utility of mode preference is in question, however, due to a number of findings suggesting that preference is an artefact of mode of survey completion, and heavily affected by contextual factors. Conversely, recent findings suggest that tailoring on mode preference may lead to improved response outcomes and data quality. The current study aims to ascertain whether mode preference is a meaningful construct with utility in longitudinal surveys through analysis of data providing three important features: multiple measurements of mode preference over time; an experiment in mode preference question order; and the repeated measures within respondents collected both prior and after the introduction of mixed-mode data collection. Results show that mode preference is not a stable attitude for a large percentage of respondents, and that these responses are affected by contextual factors. However, a substantial percentage of respondents do provide stable responses over time, and may explain the positive findings elsewhere. Using mode preference to tailor longitudinal surveys should be done so with caution, but may be useful with further understanding.


When many or all of the recipients of a multicast message respond to the multicast's sender, their responses may overflow the sender's available buffer space. Buffer overflow is a serious, known problem of broadcast-based protocols, and can be troublesome when as few as three or four recipients respond. We develop analytical models that calculate the expected number of buffer overflows that can be used to estimate the number of buffers necessary for an application. The common cure for buffer overflow requires that recipients delay their responses by some random amount of time in order to increase the minimum spacing between response messages, eliminate collisions on the network, and decrease the peak processing demand at the sender. In our table driven algorithm, the sender tries to minimize the multicast's latency, the elapsed time between its initial transmission of the multicast and its reception of the final response, given the number of times (rounds) it is willing to retransmit the multicast. It includes in the multicast the time interval over which it anticipates receiving the response, the round timeout. We demonstrate that the latency of single round multicasts exceeds the latency of multiple round multicasts. We show how recipients minimize the sender's buffer overflows by independently choosing their response times as a function of the round's timeout, sender's buffer size, and the number of other recipients.


Background: Evaluation of the prevalence of PsA in patients with psoriasis has ranged broadly from 7% to 48%. This variability is related in part to the definition of the disorder, source of patients, and geographic variation. Aim: This work aims to determine the prevalence of undiagnosed Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) among psoriasis patients. Materials and Methods: A systematic search was performed over different medical databases to identify Dermatology studies, which studied the prevalence of undiagnosed PsA among psoriasis patients. Using the meta-analysis process, either with fixed or random-effects models, we conducted a meta-analysis on overall PsA prevalence as a primary outcome, and on psoriasis severity in PsA patients as a secondary outcome, which was assessed via Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI). Results: Ten studies were identified involving 97762 psoriasis patients. The metaanalysis process revealed that the estimated pooled prevalence of undiagnosed PsA among psoriasis patients was (13.76%) (95% CI 6.689 to 22.856). We also found a highly significant increase in mean PASI, in PsA patients compared to the remaining dermal psoriasis (p<0.0001). Conclusion: To conclude, the findings are consistent with a low prevalence of PsA among patients with psoriasis and confirm a high percentage of undiagnosed cases with active arthritis among PsA patients in dermatologist's office. Dermatologists should screen for PsA in their patients, especially those with risk characteristics and early signs.


Most current space missions require accurate knowledge of the satellite attitude and orbital position. Here the navigation system design will focus on the use of only one sensor, a magnetometer. A nanosatellite is considered as it is a straightforward solution to reduce the cost of the mission and provide space emerging countries like Malaysia with access to space. Therefore, the development of innovative navigation algorithms is of foremost interest as it will allow us to use fewer and cheaper sensors. This paper describes a navigation concept applied to a nanosatellite equipped with only a magnetometer. It emphasizes the latest geomagnetic field model available and provides a brief overview of the magnetometers used in micro- and nanosatellites.


For 12 yr (1997–2001, 2006–2012) daily abundance of Cancer magister megalopae was measured in Coos Bay, Oregon. Before 2007 from 2000 to 80 000 megalopae were caught annually. In 2007, catch jumped and has since varied from 164 000 to 2.3 million. The step change in catch size appears related to a shift to negative Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) values. Late season catches, which cannot be due to local spawning, are negatively correlated to the PDO, suggesting that these megalopae derive from north of the California Current. During periods of lower and higher catches, annual returns of megalopae were significantly negatively correlated to the day of the year of the spring transition and positively correlated to the amount of upwelling during the settlement season. The size of the Oregon commercial catch lagged 4 yr to allow for growth of recruits into the fishery is set by the number of returning megalopae; the relationship is parabolic. At lower returns, the population is recruitment limited, but at higher returns, density-dependent effects predominate and set the commercial catch. Lagged commercial catches in Washington and Northern and Central California were also related to the number of megalopae returning to Coos Bay, suggesting that the forces causing variation in larval success are coast wide. If high return rates are due to a PDO regime shift, then for years to decades the commercial catch may be set by density-dependent effects following settlement and the huge numbers of returning megalopae may impact benthic community structure.


Permanent grassland soils can act as a sink for carbon and may therefore positively contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. We compared young (5–15 years since latest grassland renewal) with old (>20 years since latest grassland renewal) permanent grassland soils in terms of carbon stock, carbon sequestration, drought tolerance and flood resistance. The research was carried out on marine clay soil at 10 dairy farms with young and old permanent grassland. As hypothesized, the carbon stock was larger in old grassland (62 Mg C ha−1) topsoil (0–10 cm) than in young grassland topsoil (51 Mg C ha−1). The carbon sequestration rate was greater in young (on average 3.0 Mg C ha−1 year−1) compared with old grassland (1.6 Mg C ha−1 year−1) and determined by initial carbon stock. Regarding potential drought tolerance, we found larger soil moisture and soil organic matter (SOM) contents in old compared with young grassland topsoils. As hypothesized, the old grassland soils were more resistant to heavy rainfall as measured by water infiltration rate and macroporosity (at 20 cm depth) in comparison with the young grassland soils. In contrast to our hypothesis we did not find a difference in rooting between young and old permanent grassland, probably due to large variability in root biomass and root tip density. We conclude that old grasslands at dairy farms on clay soil can contribute more to the ecosystem services climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation than young grasslands. This study shows that under real farm conditions on a clay topsoil, carbon stock increases with grassland age and even after 30 years carbon saturation has not been reached. Further study is warranted to determine by how much extending grassland age can contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation.


Iceland has a large resident population of Purple Sandpipers Calidris maritima, but is also believed to be a wintering area for other populations and is a stopover site for migrants. To determine the wintering areas of those that prepare for westward migration to the Nearctic in spring, Purple Sandpipers were colour-ringed on the coast of southwest Iceland in May 2003 and 2005. We searched for colour-ringed birds along the coasts of Iceland, the European mainland and Britain, particularly in winter 2005/06. Out of 326 marked birds, 82 were re-sighted during 2003 to 2009, of which 69 were seen during winter (October to March) 2005/06. Most sightings (55) in winter 2005/06 were from southwest Iceland, extending the known winter range of this population to Iceland. Resightings from northern Scotland confirmed the evidence from biometrics that this wintering population originates from the Nearctic. The maximum number of colour-marked Purple Sandpipers in Britain and Ireland in winter 2005/06 was estimated at about 65, which was approximately a quarter of the marked sample estimated to be alive. Therefore, the majority of the colour-ringed birds must have wintered elsewhere, most likely in Iceland. There was no evidence of sexual segregation according to whether they wintered in Iceland or Britain. However, those that were colour-ringed before 15 May were more likely to be seen in Iceland than in Britain, whereas those colour-ringed after 15 May were more likely to be seen in Britain, indicating that the migration from Britain takes place mainly after mid-May. Although there have been no ringing recoveries, biometry data suggest that Purple Sandpipers that prepare for westward migration in Iceland in spring, breed in Canada. This population shows a unique winter range for a wader that includes Greenland, Iceland and northwest Europe along the East Atlantic flyway.


A software-based system for modeling transport layer protocols and observing their behavior and performance in an actual local area network setting is introduced. The simple interface definition provides for rapid prototyping of the flow control, error recovery and connection management features of transport layer protocols. The ability to introduce errors into the communications stream allows for testing in a variety of situations which are troublesome for communications protocols, such as long delays in delivery and acknowledgment, packet loss, and high noise rates. This protocol test system (PTS) is intended as a tool which can provide a practical environment in which students and engineers can develop and study communications protocols,. >


Autopsy specimens of lung tissues from 15 patients that contracted legionellosis during the 1976 Philadelphia outbreak of Legionnaires disease were examined for the presence of Legionella organisms and soluble antigens by indirect fluorescent-antibody (IFA) testing and by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with both polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies. In all 15 cases, at least one specimen was positive for Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 (Lp-1) antigens by a polyclonal antibody ELISA system. Of the 15 cases tested for Lp-1, 9 were positive by a polyclonal antibody IFA test. Nine mouse monoclonal antibodies to Lp-1 gave essentially the same reactivity pattern with extracts from lung tissue homogenates as that obtained with a Philadelphia 1 culture extract by using a monoclonal antibody ELISA system. The same monoclonal antibody panel gave similar results when used in the IFA system with tissue homogenates. Monoclonal antibodies can be used as epidemiological marker systems with both IFA and ELISA testing. This study provides evidence that the 1976 common source outbreak in Philadelphia was probably caused by a single Lp-1 strain. ELISA testing of the soluble antigen of Lp-1 from lung tissue homogenate supernatants was more sensitive than IFA testing of the homogenates and should be extremely useful as either a primary test or as an adjunct to fluorescent antibody testing for legionellosis.


Systematic post mortem examination was carried out on seven Emu chicks submitted for disease diagnosis to Clinical Laboratory, District Veterinary Centre, Palakkad. On examination, numerous small greyish white nodules were seen in the lungs, air sacs, kidney and serosal surface of proventriculus. Dark red liver with necrotic areas and dark coloured spleen were the other lesions. Microscopically the lungs revealed granulomas with central areas of caseation surrounded by mononuclear cells and fibroblasts. PAS positive fungal hyphae could be seen in the lesion. Aspergillus fumigatus could be isolated in Sabouraud Dextrose Agar from the lesions. This is the first report on the occurrence of systemic aspergillosis in Emus from Kerala.


Thanks to recent advances in signal processing, the interest for fast ℓ1-regularized reconstruction algorithms in cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has intensified. The approaches based on the alternating-direction of multipliers method (ADMM) are particularly well-suited due to the prime convergence speed and flexibility of use of this algorithm. Yet, the standard ADMM scheme still relies on a nested conjugate gradient (CG) to solve the linear step in its alternating-minimization procedure, which can be costly when handling large-scale problems. In this work, we present an inner-loop-free ADMM algorithm for 3D reconstruction in cryo-EM. By using an appropriate splitting scheme, we are able to avoid the use of CG for solving the linear step. This leads to a substantial increase in algorithmic speed, as demonstrated by our experiments.


Histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis, Kikuchi-Fujimoto's Disease (KFD), is a condition rarely associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The diagnosis of KFD can precede, postdate or coincide with the diagnosis of SLE. Lymphadenopathy is a common clinical presentation of KFD and SLE, and is histologically indistinguishable in both conditions. We describe two cases of KFD associated with SLE. The diagnosis of KFD in one case was made several years before the diagnosis of SLE, and the other was simultaneous. Both showed large lymphadenopathy, but neither fever nor neutropenia. Lymph-node biopsy showed necrosis, with proliferation of histiocytes and immunoblasts, paucity of neutrophils and absence of hemathoxilin bodies. Both patients responded favourably to steroid treatment. Patients with KFD should be assessed for SLE and have long-term follow-up checking for development of SLE. KFD should be ruled out in SLE flare-up accompanied by lymphadenopathy.


Improving the living conditions of women by promoting gender equality is part of the national policy of greater achievements steered by the Head of State, His Excellency PAUL BIYA, for a sustainable future. Thus, in most of his addresses to the nation, the President of the Republic resolves to make equality between men and women a reality. The past two decades on the millennium development goals have dealt unsuccessfully with grassroots, approach to development, especially women development. With the sustainable development goals, world leaders have been encouraging women and those that advocate for them to take ownership during the next decade of their own empowerment through effective development gender inequality strategies. In spite of these laudable goals, there is a room for improvement. In the Social Institutions and Gender Index 2014 Edition, Cameroon has high levels of discrimination against women in social institutions Concerned that the critical issues confronting African women were quickly returning to the shadows, this paper embraced the principles of the sustainable development goals and stepped up to the challenge of tracking results and demanding that long overdue attention to gender parity in Africa must not become derailed. The main goal of this paper is to enhance the implementation of African countries' commitments related to gender equality and women's empowerment and to support activities resulting in tangible positive change for African women at all levels. The paper discusses the issue of Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) is a cross-country measure of discrimination against women in its first part. The second part gives some statistics regarding gender inequality in Cameroon. The third part provides a roadmap for gender empowerment in Cameroon.


STUDY QUESTION
What is the impact of the newly recommended antral follicle count (AFC) cutoff for polycystic ovary (PCO) on the diagnostic status of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)?

SUMMARY ANSWER
Among patients with phenotypes requiring the presence of PCO for diagnosis, approximately half (48.2%) were excluded from having PCOS based on the new AFC cutoff, although these excluded women had worse metabolic and hormonal profiles than the controls and were indistinguishable from the remaining patients with regard to major hormonal and metabolic parameters.

WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY
In the Rotterdam criteria, PCO is defined as either 12 or more follicles measuring 2-9 mm in diameter or an increased ovarian volume >10 cm3. Recently, an international PCOS guideline development group recommended an AFC threshold for PCO of ≥20 in adult women when using transducers with a high-resolution frequency, including 8 MHz.

STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION
The current study used a case control design.

PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS
PCOS was diagnosed according to the Rotterdam criteria. Ultrasonography examinations were conducted with wide band frequency (5-9 MHz) transvaginal transducers and the centre frequency was 8 MHz. In patients who show both irregular menstruation and hyperandrogenism (HA), a diagnosis of PCOS can be made irrespective of the ovarian criteria change. Patients who were diagnosed according to HA and PCO (n = 86) or irregular menstruation and PCO (n = 443) were initially included among a total of 1390 adult women with PCOS (aged 20-40 years). Regardless of the AFC, if the ovarian volume is ≥10 cm3, a diagnosis of PCO can still be made. Thus, only patients who had an ovarian volume of <10 cm3 were analysed. Subjects who had an AFC of 12-19 and an ovarian volume <10 cm3 were designated as the 'low AFC group' (n = 255) and were the main focus of the study because they were excluded from having PCOS based on the new cutoff. Subjects with an AFC ≥20 and an ovarian volume <10 cm3 were designated as the 'high AFC group' (n = 101). A total of 562 premenopausal women without PCOS were enrolled as controls.

MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE
Among patients with irregular menstruation and PCO or HA and PCO phenotypes, approximately half (48.2%, 255/529) were excluded from having PCOS, which corresponded to one-fifth (18.3%, 255/1390) of the total adult patients. However, compared to the control group, these excluded women had worse metabolic profiles and were more androgenised. Notably, they were indistinguishable from the 'high AFC group' with regard to major hormonal and metabolic parameters (BMI and diabetic classification status, and the prevalence of insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and HA).

LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION
We cannot exclude the possibility of inter- and intraobserver variation in the evaluation of AFC.

WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS
With the newly recommended follicle count cutoff, a substantial proportion of women with PCOS might be classified as not having PCOS despite visiting a hospital due to irregular menstruation or hyperandrogenic symptoms. A practical approach to them would involve controlling the menstrual or hyperandrogenic symptoms in hand and regularly evaluating them regarding newly developed or worsening PCOS-related symptoms or metabolic abnormalities.

STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S)
This study was supported by a grant from the Seoul National University Hospital Research Fund (No. 2520140090), Republic of Korea. The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER
Not applicable.


Eocene palynological samples from 37 widely distributed sites across China were analysed using co‐existence approach to determine trends in space and time for seven palaeoclimate variables: Mean annual temperature, mean annual precipitation, mean temperature of the warmest month, mean temperature of the coldest month, mean annual range of temperature, mean maximum monthly precipitation and mean minimum monthly precipitation. Present day distributions and observed climates within China of the nearest living relatives of the fossil forms were used to find the range of a given variable in which a maximum number of taxa can coexist. Isotherm and isohyet maps for the early, middle and late Eocene were constructed. These illustrate regional changing patterns in thermal and precipitational gradients that may be interpreted as the beginnings of the modern Asian Monsoon system, and suggest that the uplift of parts of the Tibetan Plateau appear to have taken place by the middle to late Eocene.


In this paper I intend to trace cursorily the background of the incidents that took place in the Ottoman Empire, mainly in 1915, that caused a great tragedy to the people of Anatolia, especially to the Turks, other Muslims, and Armenians. I also intınd to examine that tragedy, its instigators, causes, effects, and how it was exploited by Britain's wartime propagandists, in the light of new documents that have come to my notice during recent studies. I hope that my conclusions may contribute to a better understanding of the Turco-Armenian relations, and of how those amicable relations were disrupted and exploited by external and extremist forces immediately before and during the fateful years of the First World War.


Abstract Background:   Postpartum Hemorrhage (PPH) is still the leading cause of maternal mortality and morbidity in developing world in spite of major developments in its prevention and management in 21 st century. While working in KSA, author observed a comparatively low frequency of postpartum hemorrhage in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) as compared to her past experience in Pakistan where this figure is still very high. This observation led to conduct this study to find out the reasons for this difference. Objectives:   The objective of this study is to find out the differences in frequency, risk factors and management options especially cesarean hysterectomy for PPH between KSA and Pakistan. Study Design: Observational study. Place and Duration of Study:   One year study (2007) conducted in tertiary care hospitals i.e. Maternity and Children Hospital Buraida (MCH), KSA and Services Hospital Gyne. Unit II, Lahore (SHL) Pakistan. Methods:   The sample included all patients who suffered from PPH over study period in both hospitals. The Sample was divided into two groups; Group A included 105 cases of primary PPH out of 8757 deliveries in MCH Buraida.KSA and Group B included 150 cases of primary PPH out of 2064 deliveries in SHL Gyne Unit 2 Pakistan. Data were collected on a structured proforma regarding risk factors, causes and management options of PPH and compared between the two groups. Analysis of Data:   Data was analyzed using computer program SPSS Version 13 for windows and a p-value of < 0.05 taken as statistically significant. Results:   Significant difference was found in frequency of primary PPH (1.19% versus 7.2% ;p-value < 0.05) and risk factors for PPH; anemia (10% versus 78%; p-value- < 0.05), prolonged labor (0% versus 9%), obstructed labor (0% versus 6%), grand multi-parity (28% versus60%) ,injudicious use of oxytocin (0.95% versus 5.3%) and emergency C-section (20% versus 77%; p-value < 0.05), low socioeconomic class, transport problems, and frequency of un-booked cases between Group A and B respectively. Comparatively high frequency of cesarean hysterectomy noted in Pakistan as compared to KSA (3.39/1000 versus 0.45/ 1000 deliveries) respectively. Conclusion:   The findings suggest that PPH figures in KSA correspond to those of developed world, and of Pakistan resemble to those seen in developing world, but much better than some African countries. It is concluded that PPH is still a big challenge in developing countries. The reason for this difference is poor socio-economic status, high prevalence of anemia, home deliveries, inadequate transport services and lack of obstetric services at primary health care level. Key Points:   Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), frequency, risk factors, management options, cesarean hysterectomy, Pakistan, KSA.


Earthworms are invertebrates that have been widely applied to environmental and land study, however, a new chapter opens opportunities of research in cosmetic and medicine. The objectives of the experiment were to evaluate the nutritional and antioxidant properties from the earthworms Eudrilus eugeniae, Eisenia fetida and Lumbricus rubellus and to examine the bioactivity properties of the earthworms extract in tyrosinase, matrix metalloproteinase-1, and elastase inhibitory activities for cosmeceutical applications. The analyzed components include moisture, available carbohydrates, total lipids, dietary fiber, crude protein, amino acids, ash, and minerals. The amino acids profile of the earthworm extracts was evaluated using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (SDS-Page) was used to determine and separate the protein based on size. The results showed E. fetida had slightly higher amount of protein and ash than L. rubellus and E. euginae. All the earthworm extracts showed high amounts of minerals ranging from 3-22% in calcium, potassium and phosphorus. All the extracts had the least amount of the amino acid cysteine, ranging from 0.17-0.21 mg/100 g protein, while the highest concentration is leucine, being 1.0-2.5 mg/100 g protein. Lysine and methionine, which were the limiting amino acids in most feedstuff, were present in all the extracts, ranging from 0.29-1.16 mg/100 g proteins and 0.3-0.57 mg/100 g protein, respectively. Molecular weights of earthworm extracts showed from 13-430 kDa under the optimal conditions of sodium dodecyl sulphatepolyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-Page). E. fetida exhibited wide molecular weight distribution compared to L. rubellus and E. eugeniae which consisted of 11, 10 and 6 prominent bands, respectively. In addition, E. fetida had the highest antioxidant activity (91.76%) using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydracyl (DPPH) assay compared to E. eugeniae and L. rubellus. At 25 mg/ml concentration, the antioxidant activity of E. fetida using DPPH assay was almost comparable to ascorbic acid (10mg/ml) which is usually used as antioxidant in most pharmaceutical products. All extracts demonstrated excellent inhibitory effects on tyrosinase. Extract from E. fetida gave the highest tyrosinase inhibition activity (80.12%) compared to L. rubellus (72.02%) and E. eugeniae (71.28%). However, their inhibition was still lower than the standard L-cysteine. In conclusion, this study provides nutritional compositional of earthworms as well as new findings on bioactivity properties having antioxidant, anti-tyrosinase and anti-aging properties. All the earthworms demonstrated valuable properties in antioxidant, anti-aging and whitening inhibition capacity despite the species. As such, it can be a potential candidate for application and utilization in cosmeceutical products.


The question of the origin of Alpine farming and pastoral activities associated with seasonal vertical transhumance and dairy production in the Silvretta Alps (Eastern Switzerland) has recently benefitted from renewed interest. There, pastoral practises began during the Late Neolithic (2300 BC), but alpine dairy farming was directly evidenced so far only since the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age (1300–500 BC). The vegetation development, timberline shifts at 2280 m a.s.l. and environmental conditions of the subalpine Urschai Valley (Canton of Grisons, Switzerland) were reconstructed for the small (8 m2) Plan da Mattun fen based on palynological and geochemical analyses for the last six millennia. The X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyses are among the first ones performed on a European peatland in such altitudes. A high Rb/Sr ratio in the fen peat sediments revealed an increase in catchment erosion during the time when the forests of the Upper Urschai Valley were steadily diminished probably by fire and livestock impact (2300–1700 BC). These landscape openings were paralleled by increasing micro-charcoal influx values, suggesting that prehistoric people actively set fire on purpose. Simultaneously, palynological evidence for pastoralism was revealed, such as pollen from typical herbs indicating livestock trampling, and abundant spores from coprophilous fungi. Since then, vertical transhumance and pastoral activities remained responsible for the open subalpine landscape above 2000 m a.s.l., most probably also in the context of milk and dairy production since 1300 BC, which is characteristic for the European Alps until today.


Serial procalcitonin is reported to be useful to titrate duration of antibiotic therapy in the non critically ill patient with pneumonia. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between antibiotic therapy and serial serum procalcitonin concentrations in a cohort of critically ill septic patients and examine for any differences between culture positive (CP) and culture negative (CN) sepsis. Seventy-five critically ill patients with suspected sepsis were enrolled in this prospective observational study. Serial procalcitonin and C-reactive protein assays were measured on days one, three, five, seven, 10 and 14. The mean duration of antibiotic therapy was similar in the two groups (10.4±5.1 (CP) vs. 8.4±5.1 (CN) days, P=0.09). Serum procalcitonin concentrations were significantly higher at baseline in the CP than the CN group (14.9±22.9 vs. 6.8±21.5 ng/ml, P=0.04). During the study period, serum concentrations of procalcitonin and C-reactive protein declined in both groups. Serum procalcitonin consistently remained higher in the CP group (P<0.05) and did not return to normal values. In the CN group, procalcitonin concentrations fell below 0.5 only on day 10. There was no significant difference in C-reactive protein profile between the two groups. Four patients in the CP group (11%) had relapse of sepsis. The mean procalcitonins in the relapsed subgroup were lower than those in the remission subgroup (P=0.02). Therapy for proven or presumed infections was associated with declining serum procalcitonin and C-reactive protein in critically ill septic patients. The marked variability and overlap in plasma profile of these markers between CP and CN sepsis makes it difficult to define a nadir plasma concentration at which one can recommend discontinuation of antibiotic therapy.


Laboratory experiments were performed to study the dynamics of three- dimensional mechanically generated waves propagating over an oblique current in partial opposition. The flow velocity varied along the mean wave direction of propagation with an increasing trend between the wave-maker and the centre of the tank. Tests with regular wave packets traversing the area of positive current gradient showed that the concurrent increase of wave steepness triggered modulational instability on otherwise stable wave trains and hence induced the development of very large amplitude waves. In random directional wave fields, the presence of the oblique current resulted in a weak reinforcement of wave instability with a subsequent increase of the probability of occurrence of extreme events. This seems to partially compensate the suppression of strongly non-Gaussian properties due to directional energy distribution.


The aim of the study was to assess the quality of eggs stored in different conditions for 28 days after oviposition. The eggs were produced by two breeds of hens covered by the gene-pool protection programme, and by commercial hybrids. The experiment used eggs from Greenleg Partridge (line Z-11) and Rhode Island White hens (line A-33) and Hy-Line commercial hybrids. Sixty class M eggs were collected from each breed and divided into three groups. Group I contained fresh eggs which were weighed and evaluated for quality on the first day after oviposition. In group II, eggs were stored in a cool room for 28 days at an average temperature of 14°C and humidity of 39–46%. Group III were eggs refrigerated for 28 days at an average temperature of 5.5°C and humidity of 29–36%. Regardless of bird's genotype, egg weight was found to decrease and egg yolk percentage to increase as a result of storing the eggs for 28 days. Storage of eggs contributed to decreasing the height of thick albumen and Haugh units (HU). Egg storage caused no significant changes in shell breaking strength. The effect of storage on reducing egg quality characteristics was much lower for Hy-Line hens compared to hens from the protected populations: Greenleg Partridge (Z-11) and Rhode Island White (A-33).


Abstract The efficacy of mouthwash for reducing the viral load in patients with the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains unclear. This systematic review and meta-analysis comprehensively examined the effects of chlorhexidine (CHX) and povidone-iodine (PVP-I) on the viral load in patients with COVID-19. We performed methodological analysis, systematic review, and meta-analysis of included studies using the Comprehensive Meta-analysis Software. PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and ProQuest were searched from December 1, 2019, to December 2, 2021. In total, we included 10 studies of 1,339 patients with COVID-19. Compared with the control group, both CHX and PVP-I significantly reduced the number of negative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results ( p <0.001) among COVID-19 patients. The CHX and PVP-I were effective on reducing the number of negative RT-PCR results in COVID-19 patients. Additional studies using adequate randomization methods and larger samples are warned.


Recent quantitative investigations consistently single out considerable gender variations in the experience of loneliness in Australia, and in particular how men are especially prone to protracted and serious episodes of loneliness. In 2017 the Director of Lifeline implicated loneliness as a significant factor in suicide among Australian men – currently three times the rate of suicide among women. Compared to women men also struggle to talk about loneliness or seek help from a range of informal and professional sources. We know very little about men's experience of loneliness or why they are so susceptible to it currently and research is urgently needed in order to design specific interventions for them. To date, psychology has dominated the theoretical research on loneliness but in this article we argue that sociology has a key role to play in broadening out the theoretical terrain of this understanding so as to create culturally informed interventions. Most researchers agree that loneliness occurs when belongingess needs remain unmet, yet it is also acknowledged that such needs are culturally specific and changing. We need to understand how loneliness and gender cultures configure for men; how they are located in different ethnic, class and age cohort cultures as well as the changing social/economic/spatial/public/institutional bases for belonging across Australia. Theoretical enquiry must encompass the broader social structural narratives (Bauman, Giddens and Sennett) and link these to the changing nature of belonging in everyday life – across the public sphere, the domestic sphere, work, in kinship systems, housing and settlement patterns, associational life, in embodied relationships and online.


Theoretical models of single-file transport in a homogeneous channel are considered. Three levels of channel populations were specified for which different approximations could be used. The results of these approximations are in good agreement with the results of a computer experiment (Aityan and Portnov 1986). At low populations, the pair correlation functions were negligibly small and allowed the use of linear approximation for unidirectional fluxes and populations. The value of the pair correlation function and the respective approximation for fluxes was obtained by the two-particles random-walk technique. At extremely high populations, the "divider" technique was proposed to describe the single-file transport. The divider technique allowed to explain the exponential shape of the pair correlation function FABn, n + 1 profile at extremely high populations. At medium populations the finite difference superposition approximation was valid.


A three-dimensional iterative reconstruction algorithm which incorporates models of the geometric point response in the projector-backprojector is presented for parallel, fan, and cone beam geometries. The algorithms have been tested on an IBM 3090-600S supercomputer. The iterative EM reconstruction algorithm is 50 times longer with geometric response and photon attenuation models than without modeling these physical effects. An improvement in image quality in the reconstruction of projection data collected from a single-photon-emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging system has been observed. Significant improvements in image quality are obtained when the geometric point response and attenuation are appropriately compensated. It is observed that resolution is significantly improved with attenuation correction alone. Using phantom experiments, it is observed that the modeling of the spatial system response imposes a smoothing without loss of resolution. >


Author(s): Perreira, Christopher Michael | Abstract: Empires of Disease explores the figure of the "prisoner- patient" in literature, culture, and archives of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, specifically within the contexts of incarceration and medicine in Hawai'i, Louisiana, and California. I focus on representations of prisoner-patients in order to interrogate dominant perceptions of medicine as a humanitarian enterprise, examining the historical convergence of race, colonialism, culture, and medicine in archives and artifacts. When analyzed together, these texts reveal an enduring tradition of discussing medical experimentation on "wards of the state," often rationalizing the use of dehumanizing experiments on racialized prisoners. Chapters one and two examine the case of Keanu, a Native Hawaiian prisoner who was sentenced to death in 1884. Analyzing Keanu's commuted death sentence, which was granted after he consented to experimental leprosy inoculations, I posit connections between Keanu's value as a racialized prisoner-patient and the colonial conditions leading to U.S. annexation in 1898. In chapter three, I examine imperial tensions within cultural texts written about the Pacific Islands and Oceania, including travel writing, fiction, and medical history. Chapter four turns to the Carville Leprosarium in Louisiana to examine connections between colonial medicine, race, and the formations of a national public health institution. I read patient and prisoner memoirs as documentation of racialized criminality to argue that Carville, as a medicalized carceral space, frames public health law and discourse as a form of racial property. In chapter five I examine medical internment at the Los Angeles Olive View Sanitarium in the 2008 novel The Captain of All These Men of Death by Alejandro Morales, arguing that such narratives expand our conception of prison literature and U.S. national history by linking medical violence to ideologies of nation, progress, and citizenship. Through an analysis of the prisoner-patient in hospital and prison spaces, print culture, official history, and cultural production, Empires of Disease argues that these enduring legacies of empire, state- sanctioned violence, and cultural texts reveal a deeply contested transnational history


A sensitive LC/MS/MS method was developed and validated for the identification and quantification Imrecoxib, its hydroxyl metabolites M1 and its carboxyl metabolites M2 in human plasma. Chromatographic separation was performed on a Welch Ultimate XB C18 column (2.1 mm × 50 mm, 5 μm) with a gradient elution of acetonitrile (solvent A) and 0.1% formic acid in water (solvent B). Mass spectrometric analysis was performed on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer operated in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode with the transitions of m/z 370.1→236.1 for Imrecoxib, m/z 386.4→326.4 for hydroxyl metabolites M1, m/z 400.3→236.0 for carboxyl metabolites M2 and m/z 244.2→185.1 for agomelatine (internal standard, IS). The total run time was 3.5 min. Standard curve concentrations ranged from 0.5-60 ng/mL for Imrecoxib, 1 to 100 for M1, and 2-800 ng/mL for M2 in plasma. Selectivity, linearity, lower limit of quantification (LLOQ), accuracy, precision, stability, matrix effect and recovery and carry-over effect were evaluated for all analytes. The validated method was applied to support a pharmacokinetic study of simultaneous determination of Imrecoxib and M1 and M2 in 12 Chinese healthy volunteers. Citation: Li S, Yang N, Li W (2018) Validation of a Sensitive LC/MS/MS Method for the Determination of Imrecoxib and its Two Metabolites in Human Plasma: Application to a Pharmacokinetic Study. J Pharma Reports 3: 143.


Neoliberal financial-market capitalism has dragged the world into a crisis which threatens human civilisation as such. It is characterised by an extreme form of the combination of the expansion of production, transport and life-style, with on the other hand the destruction of its own foundations, and suffers from a crisis of social reproduction, societal integration, democratic identification and security. Climate destruction, resource wars, terror, the transformation of democracy into oligarchy, class divides, a new racism and fundamentalism are unavoidable. It therefore leads to a crisis of civilisation, and produces ever stronger elements of barbarism and authoritarian power, which can only be contained at ever greater expense.


Nanocomposites based on poly-(St-co-BA-co-MMA) and organo-montmorillonite (OMMT) were synthesized through miniemulsion polymerization. OMMT was used as filler after modification with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) through ion exchange method. The results were characterized with x-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometer. Unmodified MMT showed a diffraction peak at 2θ = 7.2° with interlayer spacing of 12.78 Å, shifting to lower angle of 2θ = 4.7° with interlayer spacing increased to 22.31 Å formed pseudotrilayer or paraffin structure. FTIR confirmed the XRD results with the presence of new peaks on modified MMT, indicated the amine groups have inserted into MMT layers. Miniemulsion polymerization with OMMT level up to 8.0 wt% was performed well with less coagulum in the latex; scaling up to higher level of OMMT (>10 wt%) affected instability in polymerization system, created high amount of coagulum and increased the latex Broekfield Viscosity from 150 cPs to 528 cPs. Water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) of latex with 8.0 wt% OMMT level was compatible to LDPE and PET films but still unable to compete with OPP film.


In order to detect and visualize the electrostatic features of biological macromolecules in a non-contact mode, we have refined the technique of scanning probe microscopy. The forces in the sub-piconewton range between the probe stylus and the sample surfaces have been measured with a gap distance controlled with nanometer accuracy. Images of the electrostatic surface forces of myosin filaments were detected in pure water using positively charged whiskers as cantilever probe tips. The images were consistent with the structure of myosin filaments that have a bipolar spindle shape; they were charged with a great number of negative charges in the central bare zone compared with the rest of the filament. Thus, in this non-contact mode, the electrostatic features of the protein surface rather than the surface topography were measured. This method has been further extended to measure forces exerted between protein molecules. Long-range interaction between kinesin and microtubules has been examined. It is likely that long-range attractive forces, in the order of several nanometers, exist between kinesin and microtubules. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2005.46]


Modern technological development runs parallel with new social phenomena, which are often hard to describe because of the lack of theoretical resources even when an empirical, experimental observation base and sophisticated and reliable methods for obtaining data are available. Recently, researchers' attention has been particularly attracted to the phenomena that are referred to in political and philosophical literature as "the multitude", i.e., large entities which cannot be adequately described by the usual terms of "group", "mass", or just "crowd". The dispersal of multitudes, a coordination originating beyond the verbal means of communication (unintended coordination), the phenomena of physical coherence at the level of anticipation of expressions and activities of the partner, and more, are found, in part, for the first time, and partially find evidence by means of a visual sociology. Visual sociology is already a differentiated school of thought with the empirical research practice of using visual materials (photos and video, mostly) as data. The need to rethink the research ideology of visual sociology and to develop the narrative means which enables the making of this research more productive appears to be all the more urgent. The complementary modus of narratology and visual sociology is not only a promising research perspective, but also a particular problem at the level of methodology which is considered in this article (as well as different approaches to its formulation). Among the theoretical interpretations of this problem, the "theory of non-representation" is specifically considered, and methodological issues are analyzed in the context of the experiment.


A technology, based on the production of wine beverages from grape cryopowders in the mountain-valley zone of the Republic of Dagestan, is proposed. The data on the vacuum microwave drying of grape raw materials and subsequent grinding in a cryomill are presented. The modes of grape raw material preparation and its subsequent dehydration and cryo-grinding, which provide the possibility of successful use in the dried state in the production technology of wine drinks, are proposed. The principal feature is the use of whole grapes as a raw material, with rinds and seeds. The physical and chemical indicators, the content of phenolic substances and the organoleptic indicators of wine beverages made according to the traditional technology and the beverage made from grape cryopowders were studied. A comparative assessment of beverages was made. It is established that vacuum microwave drying conduces to better preservation of the properties of raw materials and finished products. The organoleptic assessment showed that the wine drinks developed according to the proposed technology had a more intense color and a more pronounced flavor of sweetness and sourness than traditional wine beverages. The advantage of this technology is the ability to transport grape cryopowders in unregulated temperature conditions to any point close to the consumer and carry out the production of wine beverages there.


BACKGROUND: Oxygen desaturation during walking can have important consequence on prognosis of COPD patients. However, a standard 6-min walk test (6MWT), useful in detecting desaturation in COPD patients, can be difficult to execute in some settings of COPD management, as in the community healthcare service. We evaluated a new scoring system for the risk of oxygen desaturation during walking in COPD patients: the walking desaturation score. METHODS: We collected data from symptomatic COPD in-patients admitted for rehabilitation (derivation cohort) and out-patients referred to the local community health service (validation cohort). SpO2 was monitored during 6MWT, and the subjects were classified as walking desaturators or non-desaturators. By a regression analysis model we assigned a weighted score proportional to the measured percentage of explained variance for each variable. Risk estimates were computed as odds ratios. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis and a Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test were then performed to measure discrimination and calibration of walking desaturation score. RESULTS: Baseline characteristics in the derivation cohort (n = 435, 74% of whom were walking desaturators) and the validation cohort (n = 238, 37% of whom were walking desaturators) were different. Resting arterial oxygen saturation measured from an arterial blood sample, PaO2, and percent-of-predicted FEV1 were the variables that predicted walking desaturation. The proportion of walking desaturators (and odds ratio estimate) gradually increased according to walking desaturation score (range 0–6) and associated categories of desaturation risk (total walking desaturation score: low 0 or 1, high 2–3, very high 4–6) (chi-square P < .001). There was considerable predictive discrimination (area under the curve 0.90, 95% CI 0.86–0.93, P < .001), and calibration (Hosmer-Lemeshow chi-square 1.31, P = .86) values have been shown. CONCLUSIONS: Walking desaturation score accurately predicts and classifies the risk of walking desaturation in COPD patients. ClinicalTrials.gov Number NCT01303913.


It is a cold, dark, windy night in Oslo and Igi Heitmann pores over the debris in her dead father's office, trying to piece together the last days of his life as a failed private eye. She discovers a curious butterfly medallion in his desk - which in turn leads to the discovery of a young woman in a snow-drift, two bullets in her head and a gun in her hand. Igi's father and the young woman died within hours of each other - is the same person responsible for both their deaths? Igi soon finds herself in the role of detective, on a trail that leads to the city's underworld of corruption, sadism and child abuse. Caught amongst the shards of a dozen shattered lives, she must tread carefully if she is to reconstruct the violent and tragic truth, and not be killed in the process.


Calculations on prototypical dimer structures and representative crystal structures of organic compounds have been carried out by SCDS-Pixel, a new method for the evaluation of intermolecular potentials. Systems not included in the set originally employed in calibration of the method are considered, and a significant improvement in performance is obtained by adjustment of the disposable parameters over a wider collection of experimental and computational evidence. The results cast some new light on the organization of molecular crystals, and suggest that the density sums method is an advantageous alternative to atom–atom potential techniques, as concerns both detailed quantitative results and general ways of thinking about crystal packing. While the SCDS-Pixel method, as it is now, is general and applicable to a wide range of chemical systems, further development and improvements are possible and a few sensitive points in this respect are examined.


A coupling ground source heat pump system (CGSHP) is established in areas where groundwater is shallow but the seepage velocity is weak, which sets up pumping and injection wells on both sides of borehole heat exchangers (BHEs). A convection-dispersion analytical model of excess temperature in aquifer that considers groundwater forced seepage and axial effects and thermal dispersion effects is proposed. A controllable forced seepage sandbox is built by equation analysis method and similarity criteria. Through indoor test and the proposed analytical model, the correctness and accuracy of the numerical simulation software FEFLOW7.1 is verified. The influence of different pumping-injection flow rate on the heat transfer characteristic of BHEs is studied by numerical simulation. The results show that the average heat efficiency coefficient of BHEs increases and the heat influence range of downstream BHEs expands with the increasing of pumping-injection flow rate. The relation curve between Pe and the increment of heat transfer rate per unit depth of BHEs (Δ‾ q ) is distributed as Gaussian function. The pumping-injection flow rate that makes Darcy velocity reaches 0.6×10 -6 ~1.4×10 -6 m∙s -1 in the aquifer is the best reference range for CGSHP system,so 400~600 m 3 ∙d -1 is taken as the best pumping-injection flow rate in this paper.


Several Imperata control options (shading, intercropping, chemical control) in smallholder rubber (Hevea spp.) production systems were compared using a bioeconomic model. Imperata control was found to be highly profitable in most circumstances. Control early in the life of the rubber plantation was found to be critical both from biological and economic perspectives. Rubber growing by Indonesian smallholders on Imperata grassland appears to be only marginally profitable under low intensity management. However, profitability was enhanced by management aimed at reducing the competitive effect of Imperata on the rubber. Cost-effective options include intercropping and chemical control, and enhanced shading with faster-growing rubber. The impacts of Imperata on rubber growth, and thus the economic benefits derived from controlling Imperata, are highest in the first year following planting. Economic benefits decline in subsequent years, but remain significant up to approximately the fifth year.


Synthesis of some novel N1,N3-substituted 1-piperidin-4-yl-1,3-dihydro-2H-benzimidazol-2-one derivatives (7-10) were prepared from commercially available 1,2-phenylenediamine. Compounds (7-10) were tested for Gram positive: Streptococcus pyrogenes and Staphylococcus aureus. Gram negative: Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas arzenous, Proteus vulgaris, Salmonella typhi bacterial cultures. Compounds 7-10 were found to be highly active against Streptococcus pyogenes and Escherichia coli.


Saga (Adenanthera pavonina) has an orthodox seeds, that could be stored up to 8 months.
The seeds have a hard structure, which was covered by wax on the seeds coat. The research
aims was to determine the effect of scarification by immersion the seed in to hot water, with
initial temperature of 100
o
C continued by immertion to young coconut water, that gives the
best effect on germination, average days to germinate, and the germinating power of saga
seeds. This research was conducted at Greenhouse in Integrated Field Laboratory,
Agriculture Faculty, University of Lampung, on May 2016. Randomize complete design in 5
treat-ments was applied as research design. The treatments consisted of scarification by
immersion to hot water temperature of 100° C, continued by immersion to fresh water
temperatur (24
o
C) for 24 hours; immertion to hot water temperature of 100° C continued to
young coconut water for 6 hours; 12 hours; 18 hour; 24 hours. Bartlett examination was
used to analyze data homogenity. Analysis of variance was applied to figur out the effect of
treatments given. The results showed none of the treatments with young coconut water was
increasing germination of saga seed.
Keywords: hot water, saga seeds, scarification, young coconut water.


We report the discovery of ROXA J081009.9+384757.0 = SDSS J081009.9+384757.0, a z = 3.95 blazar with a highly unusual Spectral Energy Distribution. This object was first noticed as a probable high fx/fr, high-luminosity blazar within the error region of a ≈10 −12 erg cm −2 s −1 ROSAT source which, however, also included a much brighter late-type star. We describe the results of a recent Swift observation that establishes beyond doubt that the correct counterpart of the X-ray source is the flat spectrum radio quasar. With a luminosity well in excess of 10 47 erg s −1 ROXA J081009.9+384757.0 is therefore one of the most luminous blazars known. We consider various possibilities for the nature of the electromagnetic emission from this source. In particular, we show that the SED is consistent with that of a blazar with synchrotron power peaking in the hard X-ray band. If this is indeed the case, the combination of high-luminosity and synchrotron peak in the hard-X-ray band contradicts the claimed anti-correlation between luminosity and position of the synchrotron peak usually referred to as the "blazar sequence". An alternative possibility is that the X-rays are not due to synchrotron emission, in this case the very peculiar SED of ROXA J081009.9+384757.0 would make it the first example of a new class of radio loud AGN.


The group was founded in 1971 as the Committee on Social Implications of Technology, largely in response to its founders' concerns about nuclear weapons and disarmament. It became an IEEE society in 1982 as the Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT). Since 1982, SSIT has addressed technology policy, risk, sustainability, the education of engineers, women and minorities in engineering and technology, peace and weapons, privacy, and ethics, among other topics. We publish refereed articles in our awardwinning journal "Technology and Society Magazine". Our annual conference provides a forum for IEEE members to discuss topical subjects with social scientists, ethicists, and historians. Members join the society because they value the scope of its interests and the importance of discussing them. This paper looks at some of our conference themes and the issues we have discussed in the magazine over the years to demonstrate how we have enabled engineers to see beyond the technical challenges.


Introduction: Oxidative stress is a pathology that is found in 40-50% of all infertile males. Oxidative stress occurs when the production of peroxides exceeds the antioxidant protection of the organism resulting in damage to the sperm. Oxidative stress is known as one of the most important causes of male infertility. Purpose of the work, it is to determine the degree of male infertility in infertile males caused by oxidative stress. The study was conducted in Regjion of Peja, in the Republic of Kosovo. Materials and methods:Sampling was conducted for a period of 2017/2018, a total of 77 samples, 47 samples for analysis and 30 samples for control were collected. Oxidative stress analysis in the ejaculate was performed at the Biolab-Zafi Laboratory in Peja, Republic of Kosovo. Oxidative stress analysis is performed with the aid of the Oxisperm/Halotech, S.L. Madrid, Spain. The importance of the presentation is at (p<0.05).
Results:The results show significant levels (p<0.004) of oxidative stress between the working group and the control group.
Conclusion: In our paper we have found high significance of oxidative stress in infertile male ejaculation compared to the control group of patients taken in the study. For determining the oxidative stress regensi Oxisperm/Halotech is selected because of ease of use, both in terms of practice as well as cost. An assessment of the levels of oxidative stress in men's ejaculation should become part of routine work in clinical andrology laboratories to assist clinicians in determining infertility status and in establishing optimal medical treatment. We acknowledge that this study is a new technique in our country and requires more general studies and should be repeated by other authors and compared with other methods for evaluating sperm DNA damage. It is also necessary to make a link between oxidative stress and fragmented DNA in the sperm.


To help corporations survive amidst worldwide quality competition, the authors have focused on the strategic development of a Higher-Cycled Product Design CAE Model employing a Highly Reliable CAE Analysis Technology Component Model. Their efforts are part of principle-based research aimed at evolving product design and CAE development processes to ensure better quality assurance. To satisfy the requirements of developing and producing high quality products while also reducing costs and shortening development times, the effectiveness of this model was verified by successfully applying it to the technological problems of loosening bolts and other product design bottlenecks at auto manufacturers.


The memory hierarchy subsystem has a significant impact on performance and energy consumption of an embedded system. Methods which increase the hit ratio of the cache hierarchy will typically enhance the performance and reduce the embedded system's total energy consumption. This is mainly due to reduced cache-to-memory bus transactions, fewer main memory accesses and fewer processor waiting cycles. A heuristic approach is presented to reduce the total number of cache misses by carefully relocating selected sections of the application's software code within the main memory, thus reducing conflict misses resulting from the cache hierarchy. The method requires no hardware modifications i.e. it is a software-only approach. For the first time such a method is applied to large program traces, and the miss rates and corresponding energy savings are observed while varying cache size, line size and associativity. Relocating the code consistently produces superior performance on direct-mapped cache. Since direct-mapped caches, being smaller in silicon area than caches with higher associativity (for the same size), cost less in terms of energy/access, and access faster, using direct-mapped instruction cache with code relocation for performance-oriented embedded systems is recommended. A maximum cache miss rate reduction from 71% down to less than 1% is achieved, with energy reductions of up to 63% with only a small increase in main memory size.


Ten years after the publication of The Business of Books, his groundbreaking critique of conglomeration in the book industry, Andre Schiffrin turns his attention to the broader crisis in the media. Just as corporatization and the lowest-common-denominator pursuit of the bottom line have had a parlous effect on publishing, media consolidation has contributed to the ongoing demise of serious journalism in newspapers, magazines, serious broadcast news, and online journalism. Schiffrin compares the media crisis in the United States to the situation in Europe and across the globe, and he demonstrates how the American corporate model has extended its reach. But he also describes and considers a range of alternative policies culled from many countries that, if pursued, could help to save journalism and the media in the US. This is a superlative essay that will make everyone seriously interested in the media and publishing think again.


In the last 20 years the natural oriented reserve of Monte Pellegrino is affected by several rockfall events. This sector of the Northern Sicily is a strategic urban area and represent the most important element of both the religious and cultural tradition and landscape for the city of Palermo.The rockfalls are here the major natural threats and represent a relevant risk of people, structures and infrastructures and prevents the economic and social development that could be made by high tourist potential of the area. For the above mentioned reasons a detailed geological and geotechnical study in order to define a quantitative risk analysis is now being carried out, concurrently with the implementation of the landslide inventory essential for analysis and monitoring. Monte Pellegrino, located along the Alpine orogenic belt (Catalano et al., 2013) in the emerged Sicilian fold and thrust belt, is an isolated carbonate massif characterized by the presence of poor rock masses and steeply sloping hillsides. The quantitative risk analysis was performed through several steps and taking into account the provisions of directive which is in force in the local institutions. The spread of a rockfall depends on many control factors such as geological setting and geomechanical features for both source area and below area, it is therefore necessary to define different input elements: an inventory of landslides, a database of factors and a dataset that contains the results of the on-site inspections like the geostructural and geomorphological data. The archive of landslides occurred over a period of 20 years was created; the spatial database (constructed in accordance with the standards) contains information on the identification code and date of the event, location, type, involved lithology and related thematic maps. Other thematic maps are those requirements deriving from the factors layers as tectonic features, morphological characteristics, geometric attributes of the slope, type of coverage, structures and infrastructures, trajectory of the block and the stop point. The above mentioned steps allow the implementation and calibration of the model for rockfall analysis; in particular, by means backanalysis stage it is possible to determine the restitution and friction coefficients through a comparison of the points where the rock blocks stop in the simulation with the rockfall history stop points. The next step we took is to produce the map of those areas with different degree of risk defined through the density of the trajectories reconstructed through the model. Finally, are presented here two between the cases studied needed to set up the forecasting model for the rockfall trajectories.


Dynamic modulation of chronotropic and dromotropic function was evaluated in anesthetized dogs before and after selective parasympathectomy of the atrioventricular (AV) node. Vagal and cardiac sympathetic efferent nerves were decentralized, and the distal cut ends of the cervical vagi were stimulated at frequencies from 1 to 25 Hz with step-wise voltage changes. To investigate parasympathetic modulation of AV conduction, stimulations were performed with and without atrial pacing. After determination of chronotropic and dromotropic responses, in the intact state, selective AV node parasympathectomy was performed as previously described [Am. J. Physiol. 248 (Heart Circ. Physiol. 17): H61-H68, 1985]. Stimulation protocols were then repeated. Control results in intact animals reveal a parallel and finely balanced vagal regulation of chronotropic and dromotropic responses over a wide range of frequency stimulations. Conversely, selective parasympathectomy of the AV node interrupts extrinsic vagal modulation of AV conduction without affecting parasympathetic control of chronotropic function. The dynamic balance of chronotropic and dromotropic function, modulated by extrinsic vagal input, reflects the parallel activation of functionally and anatomically distinct parasympathetic projections to the sinoatrial (SA) and AV nodal tissue. Thus present experiments allow a more detailed examination of vagal innervation of the SA and AV nodes, the importance of their balance through neuroregulation, and progress toward understanding the pathophysiology of disturbances to this balance.


This paper studies the legitimacy of listed companies from the perspective of violation. We use the violation data of all A-share non-financial listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2006 to 2019 and look at the relationship between corporate violation and charitable donation, and the possible influence of the regional institutional environment of enterprises and the degree of association between enterprises and government on the relationship between corporate violations and charitable donations. Compared with violations at the organizational level, enterprises with violations at the executive level are more active regarding charitable donations. The moderating effect indicates that the institutional environment level of the geographical region where the enterprise is located strengthens the negative relationship between the offending enterprise and charitable donation. After dividing into congenital and acquired government enterprise association, the congenital Government Enterprise Association has a strengthening effect on the charitable donation behavior of illegal enterprises.


Many algorithms exploiting the signal cyclostationarity have been shown to be efiective in performing antenna array beamforming. However, these algorithms can not provide a unique weight vector for simultaneously extracting multiple signals of interest (SOIs) with distinct cycle frequencies (DCFs). They also sufier from severe performance degradation in the presence of a cycle frequency error (CFE). To simultaneously accommodate multiple SOIs with DCFs and alleviate the efiects of cycle leakage due to flnite data samples, we propose a cyclic sample matrix inversion (C-SMI) beamformer. To make the C-SMI beamformer robust against CFE, we present a novel objective function which is optimized by using a steepest-descent based algorithm to flnd the appropriate estimates of the true DCFs. The simulation results show the efiectiveness of the robust C-SMI beamformer.


The thesis is an occupation study that combines perspective and theory from mainly journalism and crisis psychology. It covers journalists (reporters and photographers) - a work group with a professional mission in an extreme situation, as eyewitnesses to disaster, and their editors. An essential part of the knowledge base rests on research on previous accidents and disasters, particularly studies on the reactions of rescue workers while working during serious events. The research is a case study of the 1998 fire disaster in Gothenburg, which ultimately took 63 young people's lives and injured another 213, thereby becoming the largest Swedish fire disaster in modern times. Those who died in the fire were of 19 different nationalities, which contributed to the tragedy receiving massive news coverage both locally and internationally. The ensuing media reporting brought up questions concerning how this type of journalism actually comes into being. How is the reporting influenced when journalists themselves are indirect victims and are struggling to master their own reactions to the crisis? How does the accident scene function as a workplace for unprepared and shocked journalists? What coping strategies do reporters use to manage to carry out their mission? And what can we learn in the future from our experiences with these types of events? The study is based on literature studies, content analysis and interviews. In the thesis, journalists' experiences of their own reactions to working at an accident scene have been related to three factors: the person – the human being who is a journalist; the occupation – the journalistic mission and the journalist role; and the situation – the traumatic event and site. A further dimension of the mission, reflection – the need for crisis support as well as self-evaluation and learning – has also been presented. In the categorizing of the journalists' coping strategies during their work at the accident scene in Gothenburg, four journalist roles have crystallized, namely The Witness, The Weasel, The Hack and The Rescuing Angel. These roles have arisen from the individual ways of reacting to the crisis situation and through the coping strategies that came to be dominant in different individuals. The roles have also been affected by how the conflict between good human being and good journalist was handled, the balance between the roles and the dominance of one or the other. The results can also be placed in a learning context with the help of theories on professional skill and competence. Such a view of journalistic work at traumatic events can hypothetically make it easier for journalists to prepare themselves and understand their own reactions in an extreme situation. It is also conceivable that supervisors could be helped by this view, in their aspiration to choose appropriate employees for a mission whenever possible. A reasonable goal is for the employee assigned to witness and report on a trauma to have sufficiently good aggregate competence. In addition to the well-recognized forms of formal, practical, prescribed, situational and applied competence, the thesis has generated a new form called coping competence. This is the individual's ability to master his or her crisis reactions during work at a traumatic event. The thesis is concluded with recommendations for ten new work norms for media reporting in connection with serious events and potentially traumatic experiences. The Swedish journalist corps's press ethical rules of play should, according to the results of this thesis, benefit from being complemented with the aim of achieving sufficiently good disaster or trauma journalism.