A pproximately 10% to 14% of all ischemic strokes occur in young adults (aged 18–50 years). The incidence of stroke in young adults is rising, which is a major concern. 8 Their outcome is usually considered fairly good because these patients usually have a good motor recovery, 9,10 and outcome after stroke is usually assessed with rating scales that predominantly measure motor performance. 11 However, poststroke outcome is also very much dependent on cogni-tive performance after stroke. Surprisingly, there are only a few studies that addressed cognitive outcome on the short term (4–12 months) 12,13 and none on the long term. Although these short-term studies found somewhat lower cognitive performance in patients with ischemic stroke compared with controls, that may still very well be compatible with the common observation of gradual cognitive recovery, which may continue for ≥1 year after stroke. Because life expectancy of most of these patients exceeds by far 1 year, 16 patients need to be informed about their cognitive prognosis, not only on the short term, but also particularly for the coming decades, as they are in a period of life in which they start forming a family, have an active social life, and make decisive career moves. It is exactly this long-term perspective that is currently missing. The aim of the present study was to investigate the long-term cognitive performance after a first-ever young ischemic stroke. This study is part of the Follow-Up of Transient ischemic attack and stroke patients and Unelucidated Risk factor Evaluation (FUTURE) study a large cohort study which investigates causes and consequences of stroke in young adults. 17 The Medical Review Ethics Committee region Arnhem-Nijmegen approved the study and the recruitment of controls. The present study comprises all consecutive patients with a first-ever ischemic stroke of presumed arterial origin, aged Background and Purpose—Up to 14% of all ischemic strokes occur in young adults (<50 years). Poststroke cognitive performance is a decisive determinant of their quality of life. However, virtually no studies report on cognition after young stroke, especially not on the long term. This long-term perspective is important because young patients have a long life expectancy during which they start forming a family, have an active social life, and make decisive career moves. We aimed to evaluate the long-term cognitive outcome. with a first-ever young ischemic stroke were recruited for cognitive assessment, using a matched stroke-free population as a reference. Composite …


Ag nanocomposites were prepared by photoreduction of ammoniacal silver acetate in the presence of poly-{6-[3-(2-(3-aminopropylamino)ethylamino)propylamino]}-(6-deoxy)-β-CD (amCD). The obtained systems were characterized by means of various complementary techniques (UV-vis, FT-IR, TEM, SAED). In particular, FT-IR spectroscopy evidenced a partial oxidative degradation of the polyamine branches of the capping auxiliary, due to the fact that these groups function as a sacrificial reducing agent in the photoinduced formation of the Ag metal core. TEM and SAED micrographs showed that the Ag cores possess a relatively low polydispersity and a significantly crystalline character. The Ag–amCD systems were assayed for antibacterial activity, using Escherichia coli and Kocuria rhizophila as Gram-negative and Gram-positive tester strains respectively. In addition, the systems function as supramolecular drug carriers, able to bind the β-lactam antibiotic ampicillin, as demonstrated by polarimetric measurements. Antimicrobial assays revealed MIC90 values against E. coli and K. rhizophila as large as a 5 and 1 μg mL−1 respectively. Moreover, the interaction of the Ag–amCD with ampicillin resulted in a synergistic improvement of the antibacterial activity. This study provides insights on the attractive possibility to use a photochemical methodology to produce bioactive supramolecular systems to be employed as powerful and tunable antimicrobial agents.


Over the past two decades, commodity-linked products have become increasingly popular as an alternative asset class for many investors. This is mainly because long positions in commodities potentially offer diversification benefits in portfolios comprising other more traditional assets. Commodities also arguably provide equity-like returns and act as an inflation hedge. However, there is an ongoing debate concerning long-only positions in commodities as an adequate investment vehicle, especially given observed low or negative returns and increased correlation with other more common asset classes, as given periodically. The purpose of this article is to analyze the performance effects of including long/short commodity indices in more conventional stock–bond portfolios using out-of-sample tests over different periods and by employing different asset allocation strategies. Overall, the author identifies benefits of commodity inclusion from 2002 to 2011, but these benefits largely disappear from 2011 to 2015. An intriguing finding is that Henriksen observes a much lower risk-adjusted performance for the commodity indices after their launch date.


THIS, SO far as the reviewer is aware, is the first Grammar of Modern Greek of its kind to appear in England, and its appearance is most welcome. It is intended mainly for beginners who wish to acquire a working knowledge of conversational Greek in a short space of time, and does not pretend to teach more than the essentials. Mr. Pring, who is a Lecturer in Phonetics in the University of London, possesses a sound knowledge of Modern Greek phonology, and rightly insists from the start on correct pronunciation. The difficulties which an Englishman encounters in the pronunciation of certain vowel and consonant sounds of Modern Greek are well pointed out, and the solutions which Mr. Pring offers are clear and practical. The reader is helped from the beginning to learn to form and speak his own sentences, and he is given for this purpose a good number of exercises containing much useful vocabulary and current idiom. At a first glance it might seem, that this Grammar requires a rather specialized knowledge of phonetics, and to a certain extent that is true; but the phonetic symbols are easy to get used to, and they are reliable guides to correct pronunciation. The only errors I noticed for amendment in a later edition^are: p. 46 TO Kivr)/iaToypd<fio for d KLvrjiiaTOYpdijms; p . 49 weSia for rraiSia; p . 65 Xlyo Xiyo means 'little by little', and not 'very little' (it is the only exception in the list which is given of superlatives of adverbs formed by repeating the word); p. 69 TtXuovm for TeXfubvw; p . 89 TO «X« ypovoovZ,id is translated 'he has bad luck': the pronoun TO should be omitted to give that sense, for as the phrase stands the meaning is 'he (or, she) considers them bad luck'; p. 92 ste'rjunde for ste'runde; and p. 110 elvai afios va Kep&ioei TO fipafielo really means 'he is capable of winning the prize'. None of these errors, however, detracts seriously from the usefulness of this book, and it can be whole-heartedly recommended, especially to those with no knowledge of classical Greek.


In the PACE September 1989 article, "Noninvasive Recording of Late Potentials: Current State of the Art," Kuchar and Rosenbaum present one of the most complete and coherent overviews of this topic I have seen to date. I would like to mention in addition to their list of commercially available equipment, Del Mar Avionics (Irvine, CA, USA] manufactures a Holter tape based late potential analyzer. This product uniquely features standard Holter analysis along with late potential analysis from signal averaged ECG. Kelen et al. verified the efficacy in "Correlation Between the Signal-Averaged Electrocardiogram from Holter Tapes and from RealTime Recordings", in the June issue of The American Journal of Cardiology.


The DNA barcode potential of three regions (the nuclear ribosomal ITS and the plastid psbA-trnH and trnT-trnL intergenic spacers) was investigated for the plant genus Aspalathus L. (Fabaceae: Crotalarieae). Aspalathus is a large genus (278 species) that revealed low levels of DNA sequence variation in phylogenetic studies. In a 51-species dataset for the psbA-trnH and ITS regions, 45% and 16% of sequences respectively were identical to the sequence of at least one other species, with two species undiscriminated even when the two regions were combined. In contrast, trnT-trnL discriminated between all species in this dataset. In a larger ITS and trnT-trnL dataset, including a further 82 species, 7 species in five pairwise comparisons remained undiscriminated when the two regions were combined. Four of the five pairs of species not discriminated by sequence data were readily distinguished using a combination of qualitative and quantitative morphological data. The difficulty of barcoding in this group is increased by the presence ofintraspecific variation in all three regions studied. In the case ofpsbA-trnH, three intraspecific samples had a sequence identical to at least one other species. Overall, psbA-trnH, currently a candidate for plant barcoding, was the least discriminatory region in our study.


The prevalence of bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) to methacholine inhalation in a consecutive series of 21 patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome was studied prospectively. Slight to severe BHR was seen in 12/20 (60%) of the patients. Ten of 12 patients with BHR (83%) had a non-productive cough, wheezing, or intermittent breathlessness. Bronchial hyperresponsiveness was more common in patients with extraglandular symptoms (10/14, 71%) than in those with only glandular symptoms (29%). Spirometrically 29% (6/21) of the patients had 'small airways' disease', and all those had BHR. Of 6/21 (29%) who had diffuse interstitial lung disease, two had BHR. Three of the four patients with obstructive lung function were challenged with methacholine and two of them had BHR. Only two patients with BHR had normal spirometry findings. The data showed that respiratory disease--mostly mild or moderate but even severe bronchial hyperresponsiveness--is commonly seen in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome.


Nursing job satisfaction is an important component in today's healthcare environment. Job satisfaction, nurse recruitment, and retention are related throughout current nursing literature (LaSala, 2000; Muus et at, 1993; Stratton et al., 1991; Stratton et al., 1995). Most studies regarding nurse job satisfaction focus on the urban rather than rural healthcare environment. Nurses who practice in rural environments may perceive job satisfaction differently than nurses who practice in urban settings (Cavanagh, 1992; Muus et al., 1993; Pan et al., 1995; Price & Mueller, 1981). The purpose of this investigation was to determine the level of satisfaction and examine what employment and demographic factors influence job satisfaction of registered nurses working in rural hospital settings. A nonexperimental, descriptive design was used to explore the variables. The sample (N = 53) was derived from a population of 106 registered nurses working in four rural hospitals (less than 100 beds) located in the Midwest Herzberg's (1966) Two-Factor Theory of Management served well as the theoretical framework for this investigation. Herzberg's motivators are associated with increased job satisfaction. Herzberg identified motivators as achievement, recognition, work, responsibility, and advancement. To determine nurses' level of satisfaction, Stamps' (1997) Index of Work Satisfaction scale was used, Stamps identified six components of job satisfaction; these are autonomy, pay, task requirements, interaction, organizational policies, and professional status. The nurses' demographic data and variables of job satisfaction were examined to determine if a relationship existed. The most important variables relating to job satisfaction were identified as autonomy and pay. Professional status was identified as the least important component of job satisfaction. The overall Index of Work Satisfaction (IWS) scale was 11 .2 (range 0.9 - 37.1). Analysis of variance techniques were used to analyze the relationship between the components of job satisfaction and the nurses' demographic data. Results indicated no statistically significant relationship existed among the variables. This investigation was limited by the use of a convenience sample and limited geographical area. Additional research was recommended to further examine the concept of nursing job satisfaction using rural hospitals outside the Midwest area. Another recommendation was the inclusion of nurses who have left the rural healthcare selling. The ability to identify and isolate particular factors of job satisfaction is of importance to today's hospital and nursing administrators. Creating and maintaining a sense of job satisfaction for a nursing staff can contribute to increased recruitment, retention, and productivity.


The countries of East-Central Europe (ECE) embarked on a democratic transition in 1989 were proclaimed consolidated democracies when they joined the European Union (EU) in 2004. Today most of the new democracies are experiencing "democratic fatigue" and some seem vulnerable to an authoritarian turn. The EU, seen as the guarantor of the post-1989 democratic changes, is experiencing an unprecedented economic, financial, and democratic crisis with the combined challenges of technocracy and populism. The article explores the different approaches to the study of democracies in ECE, their specific features and vulnerabilities, and tries to provide an interpretation of the premature crisis of democracy in ECE in a broader transeuropean context.


Optimal therapy for congestive cardiac failure requires identification of correctable factors that aggravate it as well as an understanding of its etiology. Increased sympathetic nervous system activity, reduced renal blood flow, and cardiac hypertrophy and dilation are the main compensatory processes that occur in response to cardiac failure. Although they may be of initial benefit in supporting a reduced stroke volume, they may ultimately prove self-defeating. New drugs for the treatment of severe congestive heart failure include dopamine, which has a selective nonadrenergic dilator effect on the renal vascular bed, and dobutamine, which has potent inotropic effects, lowers the left ventricular filling pressure and does not increase the heart rate or the systemic vascular resistance. By reducing both the resistance to left ventricular ejection and the venous return to the right heart, vasodilators result in improved peripheral perfusion and reduced pulmonary congestion. Optimal therapy for refractory cardiac failure can be rationally determined by characterizing the hemodynamic profile through measurement of the mean arterial pressure, the left ventricular filling pressure, the cardiac output and the systemic vascular resistance. The specific therapy can then be effectively and safely delivered by a careful analysis of the dose-response relation as identified by hemodynamic monitoring.


The mediatisation of communication leads to different and innovative ways of interaction, even in the public sector. Moreover, internal communication in cross-functional teams is part of projects in public management, so communication via social media not only has to work outwards, but also inwards.
Online mentoring is regarded as a part of social media communication. This study focusses on how mentors and mentees experience online mentoring, as working with online media makes the process of mentoring special. The concept follows working methods of agile teams, which use asynchronous handling processes and retrospectives as added values to achieve objectives.
Counselling concepts such as mentoring continually influence working methods of the public sector. Thus, social media elements open new paths to change strategies concerning working tasks.


Abstract Some common terms for rotational seismology are compiled from contributions by many authors, including R. DeSalvo, J. R. Evans, E. F. Grekova, C. R. Hutt, H. Igel, C. A. Langston, B. Lantz, E. Majewski, R. Nigbor, J. Pujol, P. Spudich, R. Teisseyre, M. D. Trifunac, R. J. Twiss, and Z. Zembaty. In addition, some glossary terms about earthquakes are excerpted from Aki and Lee (2003), Lee and Wu (2009), and others for the benefit of readers who are not seismologists. It is a first attempt to compile a glossary for rotational seismology (including some terms for continuum mechanics), and it is by no means complete. Several iterations will be required to reach a satisfactory glossary, and this compilation is just a start.


More than half of the global land area undergoes seasonal frozen and thawed conditions that constrain eco-hydrological processes. The freeze-thaw (FT) retrieval from satellite microwave remote sensing detects landscape changes between frozen and non-frozen conditions due to the strong dependence of surface microwave emissions on liquid water abundance. We conducted an assessment of the latest version (R16) of the NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Level 3 FT (L3_FT) global product. The L3_FT product provides a global FT classification with 3-day mean temporal fidelity derived using SMAP L-band (1.4 GHz) microwave brightness temperature (Tb) retrievals. The R16 product uses both normalized polarization ratio (NPR) and single channel vertically-polarized Tb (FT-SCV) algorithms to obtain FT retrievals over land areas where frozen temperatures are a significant ecological constraint. The L3_FT product is generated in a standard global grid with similar grid cell resolution (36-km) as the SMAP radiometer footprint. An enhanced 9-km global grid L3_FT product is also produced from optimally interpolated SMAP Tb retrievals. The resulting L3_FT products span a larger domain and longer period (2015–present) than earlier product releases. The L3_FT 36-km results showed a respective global mean annual FT classification accuracy of approximately 78 and 90 percent for descending (AM) and ascending (PM) orbit observations in relation to independent surface air temperature-based FT estimates from ~5000 global weather stations. The FT accuracy was lower in areas with greater terrain complexity, open water and vegetation cover; where the combined land cover factors explained 29–53% of the variability in the SMAP FT global accuracy. The L3_FT 9-km product showed an apparent enhancement of FT spatial patterns, but with ~4% lower accuracy than the 36-km product; the lower 9-km accuracy was attributed to stronger degradation from land cover heterogeneity, particularly in coastal areas, and artifact noise introduced from the spatial interpolation of SMAP Tb retrievals. Selected regional applications indicated product utility in capturing anomalous frost events over Australia and seasonal thaw and spring onset patterns over Alaska. Overall, the L3_FT global accuracy meets or exceeds the FT product science requirements established by the mission, while enabling studies of dynamic FT and water mobility constraints influencing hydrological and ecosystem processes, and global water-carbon-energy cycle linkages.


Motivated by extensive evidence that stock-return correlations are stochastic, we analyze whether the risk of correlation changes (affecting diversification benefits) is priced. We propose a direct and intuitive test by comparing option-implied correlations between stock returns (obtained by combining index option prices with prices of options on all index components) with realized correlations. Our parsimonious model shows that the substantial gap between average implied (39.5% for S&P500 and 46.0% for DJ30) and realized correlations (32.5% and 35.5%, respectively) is direct evidence of a large negative correlation risk premium. Empirical implementation of our model also indicates that the index variance risk premium can be attributed to the high price of correlation risk. Finally, we provide evidence that option-implied correlations have remarkable predictive power for future market returns, which also stays significant after controlling for a number of fundamental market return predictors.


Author(s): Bialostozky, Jacqueline | Advisor(s): Masiello, Francine R | Abstract: In this dissertation, I examine the ways in which four contemporary Latin American authors have rewritten seventeenth-century Baroque aesthetics, histories, and texts by focusing on the queer body. Rather than following the usual trajectory from the Hispanic Baroque to the Cuban Neobaroque, I trace an alternative path in which I analyze the works of a seemingly disparate group of poets and artists: Nestor Perlongher, Alejandra Pizarnik, Luis Felipe Fabre, and Jesusa Rodriguez. Their texts and performances appropriate not only the structures and themes of the Baroque, but also the minutiae of their source texts. Each writer establishes a practice that draws from Baroque aesthetics and Neobaroque intertextuality—namely its parody, artifice, and proliferation of citations—while more extensively and critically reworking a specific text or group of texts. Rooted in a queer sexuality that is mapped onto the page and materialized as textual play, their rewritings, I argue, structure an aesthetics of the sensuous, material surface. Their rewritings thus constitute a critique of heteropatriarchal cultural legacies and present us with alternative modes of understanding our relationship to literature and history. By weaving together close readings of the source texts and their rewritten versions, I explore how these rewritings carve out a space for non-normative histories, interpretations, and literary practices.Chapter One focuses on the work of Nestor Perlongher, particularly on his first two books of poetry, Austria-Hungria (1980) and Alambres (1988). In this chapter, I argue that the queer body serves as the structuring mechanism of Perlongher's neobarroso poetics. Through the queer body, Perlongher disrupts and perverts the semblance of realism and normativity. This disruption drives the queering of History through the violent corrosion of language and reimagining of historical figures that results in a queer carnival of pleasure and wordplay in place of linearity and communicative language. This chapter also serves to outline and structure what is meant by queer rewriting throughout this dissertation and serves as a starting point for the construction of an aesthetics of the surface.Chapter Two studies Alejandra Pizarnik's 1965/1971 short prose text, La condesa sangrienta. This chapter explores the connections between Pizarnik's La condesa sangrienta and the Baroque; the chapter's aim is to find new affinities in Alejandra Pizarnik's work and to read La condesa as a precursor to the neobarroso. Chapter Three turns to the work of Mexican poet Luis Felipe Fabre's La sodomia en la Nueva Espana (2010), a poetic text that rewrites the seventeenth-century history of a group of men who were tried and burnt at the stake for their sodomitic acts in New Spain. My analysis centers on how Fabre's rewriting of these particular texts counter the poetic model that had been at the center of Mexican poetry since Jose Gorostiza and Octavio Paz. Chapter Four takes up the 1995 performance Sor Juana en Almoloya (Pastorela virtual), written and directed by Jesusa Rodriguez. In Sor Juana en Almoloya, Rodriguez imagines the seventeenth-century nun imprisoned in Almoloya in the twenty-first century. The performance structures a critique of the Catholic church and the Mexican state, as well as a critique of the way we have come to understand and historicize the past. Beyond simply appropriating baroque structures and aesthetics, these four authors return to specific historical moments and figures to reread them from the perspective of the body and queer pleasure. Their textual engagement with the surface, both as an act of rendering the hidden visible and as language play that reveals but never resolves paradoxes, thus opens up countless possibilities for non-normative literary and historical genealogies and practices.


Colonialism has left a long shadow over the Latin American continent. Among its many side-effects are environmental degradation and a population struggling to maintain itself in sustainable ways. Exploitation of natural resources, enslavement of people, and the elimination of indigenous populations are among its painful consequences. Colonialism refers not only to economic disparities and ecological threats but also includes a mentality of empire that assails us even in our dreams. To a great extent, religion served as ideological scaffolding, to justify the sacrifices required from the least and the last. While the entire creation groans in pain, humanity can no longer obsess with mainstream views of development and theological discourses that condone it. Rather, instead of despair, we are invited to envision sustainable ways of dwelling on the land, embracing ways of life that honor the intersection between economic, environmental, and social wellbeing. To enable this, it is paramount to reclaim theological discourses and practices that ensure life in abundance and affirm the dignity of all human beings. This can be done by using an ecological approach – studying the oikos, the house and the multiple households we inhabit: our personal bodies, social bodies, and the body of the entire creation.


Surgical correction of an anophthalmic enophthalmos secondary to inappropriate repair of the eye socket involves several difficult aesthetic issues associated with long-term use of a poorly fitting prosthetic eye. In this paper, we present two cases of anophthalmic enophthalmos. During the treatment of the first patient, unsatisfactory cosmetic problems including lower eyelid retraction, hypoglobus, and severe upper eyelid ptosis were revealed. Accordingly, a three-staged procedure was performed on the second patient, including autologous augmentation of the eye socket, correction of lower eyelid retraction with a cartilage graft, and a frontalis sling procedure to correct upper eyelid ptosis.


The field of Adaptive Interfaces has been an active area of research for over 10 years. While there have been great advances, unresolved issues remain. The paper presents a reappraisal of adaptive interfaces with an eye toward addressing these issues using biologically inspired methods. We first define a general and theoretical model of adaptive interfaces based on a survey of existing research. Using our generalized adaptive interface model, we then proceed to build taxonomies of variables used for adaptation. The aim is to provide researchers, designers and builders a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms, processes and outcomes of adaptive interfaces. From our review, we propose design rules that address three primary elements of a generalized adaptive interface: the identification of variables that call for adaptation, the determination of necessary modifications to the interface, and the selection of the decision inference mechanism. We then turn to the investigation of an alternative method for adaptive interface design. To find a method that corresponds better to human decision-making, which has been characterized as situated and recognition-primed, we explored biologically inspired techniques. In particular, we focus on the correspondence between human decision-making behaviour and the concepts of emergence and self-organization. While our ruminations are speculative, the future of biologically inspired interfaces seems promising.


Athymic (nude) mice have played an important role in defining the function of the immune system and its role in infectious diseases. In the majority of these studies, heterozygous +/nu mice have been used as normal controls for the nu/nu mice, and it has been assumed that +/nu mice have essentially normal immune systems. We have compared the response of +/+, +/nu and nu/nu BALB/c mice following ocular infection with HSV-1 and have found that +/nu mice develop significantly more severe blepharitis, vascularization of the cornea, stromal keratitis and extraocular disease (herpetiform spread) than +/+ BALB/c mice. The extraocular disease was particularly severe in the +/nu mice, suggesting that factors regulating herpetiform spread of the virus are deficient in these mice. Susceptibility to lethal encephalitis did not differ between +/+ and +/nu mice. These results suggest that significant differences exist in the response to ocular HSV infection between +/+ and +/nu mice.


As the importance of computing technology increases, computer science education is being actively implemented around the world. Because computer science education is being introduced into the curriculum, research on how to effectively teach programming (which is the core of automation) is actively underway. Although the importance of block-based programming languages has increased, most studies have focused on text-based programming languages. As interest in programming increases, block-based programming languages will be taught to a variety of audiences. Therefore, this study analyzed Code.org, which provides a development environment for block-based programming; this study then investigated the programming learning process of pre-service teachers, who used Code.org. Sixteen pre-service teachers participated in the study, and their learning processes were uncovered by analyzing their programming results. This suggests that pre-service teachers can learn sequential and necessary repetition without difficulty. However, the pre-service teachers failed to use the repetition block through abstraction. Besides, for While and Until, pre-service teachers did not understand the concept of repeating according to the condition. For Counter, pre-service teachers had difficulty repeating the use of variables. In the condition, pre-service teachers were not able to separate the command, which should be executed when the condition is True and when it is False. For Event, pre-service teachers had no problem utilizing the function, but they were not able to call the function with a parameter. Based on this, it was confirmed that a pre-service teacher can understand the principle of programming development in advance by understanding the abstraction, condition, and variable in the loop statement. In this study, there was a limit to practicing block-based programming language due to the platform's low scalability. Future research should solve these problems and diversify the research subjects.


This paper considers the guidance and control problem of a flight vehicle with a seeker installed on the side of its head for avoiding the aerodynamic heating. In order to guarantee the target remaining in the seeker's sight of view, the line of sight and the attitude of the flight vehicle should be under some constraints which cause coupling between the guidance and the attitude control. Therefore, the integrated guidance and control (IGC) is necessary. We first formulate the guidance and control problem of the interceptor into an IGC problem with constraints. Then, a singular perturbation-based design approach is proposed to decompose the IGC problem into the control design of the quasi-steady-state subsystem and the boundary-layer subsystem individually. The receding horizon control is applied in the control design for the two subsystems. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


Study Design. Retrospective multivariate analysis of a prospectively collected, multicenter database. Objective. To identify patient characteristics and perioperative risk factors associated with postoperative infectious complications after single-level lumbar fusion (SLLF) surgery. Summary of Background Data. Postoperative infection is a known complication after lumbar fusion. Risk factors for infectious complications after lumbar fusion have not been investigated using select set of SLLF procedures. Methods. Patients who underwent SLLF between 2006 and 2011 were identified from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify pre- and intraoperative risk factors associated with postoperative infection. Results. A total of 3353 patients were analyzed in this study. Overall, 173 (5.2%) patients experienced a postoperative infection, including 86 (2.6%) surgical site infections (SSIs) and 111 (3.3%) non-SSI infectious complications (pneumonia, urinary tract infection, sepsis/septic shock). Twenty-four (0.7%) patients experienced both SSI and non-SSI infectious complications. Postoperative SSI were associated with obesity (odds ratio [OR], 1.628; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.042–2.544), American Society of Anesthesiologists class more than 2 (OR, 2.078; 95% CI, 1.309–3.299), and operative time more than 6 hours (OR, 2.573; 95% CI, 1.310–5.056). Risk factors for non-SSI infectious complications included age (60–69 yr; OR, 3.279; 95% CI, 1.541–6.980; and ≥70 yr; OR, 3.348; 95% CI, 1.519–7.378), female sex (OR, 1.791; 95% CI, 1.183–2.711), creatinine more than 1.5 mg/dL (OR, 2.400; 95% CI, 1.138–5.062), American Society of Anesthesiologists class more than 2 (OR, 1.835; 95% CI, 1.177–2.860), and operative time more than 6 hours (OR, 3.563; 95% CI, 2.082–6.097). Conclusion. Across a wide study population, we identified that obesity, advanced American Society of Anesthesiologists classification, and longer operative time were predictive of postoperative SSI. We also demonstrated that increased age, female sex, serum creatinine more than 1.5 mg/dL, and prolonged operative duration are associated with non-SSI infectious complications after SLLF. Continued efforts to elucidate and optimize perioperative risk factors are warranted to improve outcomes in patients requiring spinal fusion. Level of Evidence: 3


During the past several years, canola (Brassica napus L.) has been grown experimentally in different areas of Texas to evaluate its potential as a crop, particularly for use as a biofuel source. In early April 2007, symptoms typical of Sclerotinia stem rot were observed in a canola variety trial that was flowering in Wharton County, Texas. Stems had white mycelia growing on the outside, or a bleached appearance, near the soil surface and plants were lodging. Inside bleached stems, there were spherical to cylindrical, black sclerotia that were 3 to 10 mm. Isolations from surface-disinfested stems onto potato dextrose agar (PDA) consistently yielded white, fluffy colonies with sclerotia typical of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary (1). Sequence analyses were conducted on two replicates of mycelium by extracting fungal DNA with the Qiagen DNeasy Plant Mini Kit (Valencia, CA). PCR amplification was performed using two primer sequences (92-4 AF377919: TCGCCTCAGAAGAATGTGC/AGCGGGTTACAAGGAGATGG; and 119-4 AF377925: GTAACAAGAGACCAAAATTCGG/TGAACGAGCTGTCATTCCC) (2) that have previously been used to characterize S. sclerotiorum (3). The BLAST search revealed that the sequences were 99 and 98% homologous with S. sclerotiorum Accession Nos. AF377919 and AF377925 over 376 and 377 bp of aligned sequence, respectively. Agar segments (1 cm2) from a 5-day-old culture grown on PDA were placed in the leaf axils of 15 2-month-old canola plants ('Wichita') growing in pots. Plants were placed in a humid chamber under fluorescent lights at 16 to 22°C. After 2 days, water soaking and necrosis occurred on petioles and stems adjacent to the inoculum, but not on plants treated with sterile PDA. S. sclerotiorum was consistently reisolated from symptomatic tissue plated on acidified PDA. The inoculations were repeated once with similar results. To our knowledge, this is the first report of Sclerotinia stem rot of canola in Texas. Currently, there is no significant canola production in Texas; however, interest in biofuels could lead to an increase in planted acres. Sclerotinia stem rot of canola could become a significant disease problem in areas of Texas where canola is planted as a winter crop. References: (1) L. M. Kohn. Phytopathology 69:881, 1979. (2) C. Sirjusingh and L. M. Kohn. Mol. Ecol. Notes 1:267, 2001. (3) J. E. Woodward et al. Plant Dis. 92:1468, 2008.


It is argued that the impact of globalization and global ideologies on social policy can depend on the ways that local cultures reinforce or combat global ideologies and pressures. The article discusses the importance of local policy factors in shaping responses to globalization, taking as an example the way in which global forces have affected outcomes for older people needing long-term care in one marginalized province of a rich country. Local political, economic and sociocultural factors can reinforce global pressures for neo-liberal policies and rising individualism and overwhelm the global ideologies of democracy and human rights (including gender rights and anti ageism) that might lead to better outcomes for older people and their caregivers. In the New Brunswick province of Canada, traditional cultural values can be seen as one factor allowing politicians to make suboptimal social policy choices.


This article explores the design and development of voice interfaces via traditional telephones as a way of supporting asynchronous online communication for older adults. E-mail is the primary form of online communication for older adults. However, e-mail communication currently requires access to and the ability to use an Internet-connected computer or device, which may be problematic due to barriers of physical access, expense, insufficient computer skill, or other accessibility issues. To address this, the present work leverages the pervasive hardware of traditional phones and familiar nonvisual models of phone-based interaction to create a new e-mail interface for older adults. We examine the potential of e-mail interaction via traditional phones through long-term field observations, prototype testing, and a four-week field-based user study. Our findings indicate that a simple voice e-mail interface accessed through traditional phones is usable for older adults and is a useful way for offline older adults to interact with an e-mail account. The ease of use and convenience of a phone-based interface are important given the "work" of keeping in touch over e-mail, and this approach has the potential to open up new avenues of online access for older adults who are still offline or who have late-life disabilities that make using traditional graphical e-mail systems difficult. This project contributes new insights regarding the ways in which voice interfaces can support asynchronous online communication for older adults and provides design guidance for the development of subsequent voice interfaces.


This invaluable volume provides an overview of 37 terms, theories and concepts frequently used in gender studies which those studying the subject can find difficult to grasp. Each entry provides a critical definition of the concept, examining the background to the idea, its usage and the major figures associated with the term. Taking a truly interdisciplinary and global view of gender studies, concepts covered include; Agency, Diaspora, Heteronormativity, Subjectivity, Performativity, Class, Feminist Politics, Body, Gender identity, Reflexivity. With cross referencing and further reading provided throughout the text, Gender: The Key Concepts unweaves the relationships between different aspects of the field defined as gender studies, and is essential for all those studying gender in interdisciplinary contexts as undergraduates, postgraduates and beyond.


Abstract. The dense mixture of iceberg of various sizes and sea ice observed
in many of Greenland's fjords, called ice mélange (sikussak in
Greenlandic), has been shown to have a significant impact on the
dynamics of several Greenland tidewater glaciers, mainly through the
seasonal support it provides to the glacier terminus in
winter. However, a clear understanding of shorter-term ice mélange
dynamics is still lacking, mainly due to the high complexity and
variability of the processes at play at the ice–ocean boundary. In
this study, we use a combination of Sentinel-1 radar and Sentinel-2
optical satellite imagery to investigate in detail intra-seasonal
ice mélange dynamics and its link to calving activity at three major
outlet glaciers: Kangerdlugssuaq Glacier, Helheim Glacier and Sermeq
Kujalleq in Kangia (Jakobshavn Isbræ). In those fjords, we
identified recurrent ice mélange weakening (IMW) episodes consisting
of the up-fjord propagation of a discontinuity between jam-packed
and weaker ice mélange towards the glacier terminus. At a late
stage, i.e., when the IMW front approaches the glacier terminus,
these episodes were often correlated with the occurrence of
large-scale calving events. The IMW process is particularly visible at the front of Kangerdlugssuaq Glacier and presents a
cyclic behavior, such that we further analyzed IMW dynamics during
the June–November period from 2018 to 2021 at this
location. Throughout this period, we detected 30 IMW episodes with a
recurrence time of 24 d, propagating over a median distance of
5.9 km and for 17 d, resulting in a median propagation speed of
400 m d−1. We found that 87 % of the IMW episodes occurred prior to a
calving event visible in spaceborne observations and that ∼75 %
of all detected calving events were preceded by an IMW
episode. These results therefore present the IMW process as a clear
control on the calving activity of Kangerdlugssuaq Glacier. Finally,
using a simple numerical model for ice mélange motion, we showed
that a slightly biased random motion of ice floes without
fluctuating external forcing can reproduce IMW events and their
cyclic influence and explain observed propagation speeds. These
results further support our observations in characterizing the IMW
process as self-sustained through the existence of an IMW–calving
feedback. This study therefore highlights the importance of
short-term ice mélange dynamics in the longer-term evolution of
Greenland outlet glaciers.


A program written in JAVA language was developed for the virtual electrochemical measurement of a modified electrode with a finite diffusion thickness, e.g., an electrode coated with polymer film in which functional molecules were dispersed. This program, called ES-2, can simulate cyclic voltammetry and potential-step chronoamperospectrometry by considering the rate of charge injection from the electrode to the functional molecule and the diffusion of charge. The results are shown by a voltammogram (I-V curve), and concentration distribution in the layer at a series of voltages at cyclic voltammogram mode, I-t curve, and time dependence of concentration distribution in the layer at potential step mode and a text of current values, the fraction of the oxidized molecules (RCT ) and parameters used for the simulation in both modes. A dynamic textbook of electrochemistry can be constructed by this program combined with HTML text.


Pancreatogenic diabetes mellitus is most commonly the result of chronic pancreatitis but can also occur secondary to pancreatic cancer. The early identification of pancreatogenic diabetes and distinction from the more prevalent type 2 diabetes are clinically significant; however, currently, there is no validated method to differentiate these diabetes subtypes. We describe a study, "Evaluation of a Mixed Meal Test for Diagnosis and Characterization of PancrEaTogEniC DiabeTes Secondary to Pancreatic Cancer and Chronic Pancreatitis: the DETECT study," that seeks to address this knowledge gap. The DETECT study is a multicenter study that will examine differences in hormone and glucose excursions after a mixed meal test. The study will also create a biorepository that will be used to evaluate novel diagnostic biomarkers for differentiating these diabetes subtypes.


Although the cash flow statement has been required in public financial reports since 1988 in the United States (and since 1994 according to International Financial Reporting Standards), these important cash flow data are still often overlooked in standard financial analyses. Accounting net income measures economic performance which does not necessarily match up with the timing of cash flow. Many profitable businesses have been killed by cash flow problems, often in the start-up phase. A business has three types of cash flows: operating, investing, and financing. A key measure of cash flow health is free cash flow, the amount of operating cash flow generated in excess of the cash needed for important spending such as for capital expenditures. Managers must pay particular attention to the difference in timing between when cash is collected from customers from the sale of inventory and when cash must be paid to suppliers for the purchase of that inventory. A significant discrepancy between those numbers indicates a potential cash flow problem. Managers and owners of a business that is burning through cash spend much of their time worrying about cash flow survival and are therefore distracted from making the tactical and strategic decisions important to the long-run success of their business.


This study explored the following questions, (1) Do early adolescent Black students see race as a factor in their reading ability? (2) Can early adolescent Black struggling readers' narratives offer insight into the impact of their racialized experiences inside or outside of school? and, (3) How can making race central to the analysis of students' experiences help us understand its impact on students' reading achievement and inform policy, curriculum, and practice? Critical Race Theory was used to analyze the semi-structured interviews of early adolescent, struggling Black readers. It was determined that these young adolescent readers do not see race as a factor in their reading. Although race is not a factor for these struggling readers when it comes to reading, their voices do highlight that there are racialized contexts in which reading and learning how to read occur.
 Their voices teach us that three distinct domains are at work and need to be attended to when supporting these readers. They are: reader identity (who am I as a reader?), racial/cultural identity (who am I as a Black person?), and purpose for reading (why is reading important to my cultural and social identities? Why is reading important for me personally?). The purpose(s) for reading is foundational to developing both the racial/cultural identity and the reading identity. They do not necessarily need Black books, they need good books. They need safe social spaces within classrooms to develop their reading identity, they need the opportunity to see reading as empowering and they need access to a variety of cultural stories.
Future research needs to increase the understanding of struggling Black readers. What are the best ways to develop Black early adolescents reading identities, their cultural/racial identities, and their purpose(s) for reading? Future research also needs to tackle how the tension between a historical context steeped in race and a current context steeped in post-racial rhetoric, will impact the literate lives of Black children. Continued work that brings Black voices to the forefront will help us all understand the nuances in learning to read that hopefully will positively impact Black children's reading achievement.


Tensile strength distributions of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs), single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) ropes and sub-bundles are studied by statistical approach based on the experimental data sets. It shows that the distributions can be adequately described by a two-parameter Weibull model. Considering further their nonlinear stress-strain behavior, the force-strain relation and tensile strength of SWNT bundles are studied. The Weibull modulus of the sub-bundles in a SWNT bundle can be estimated in terms of the maximum sustained force and the failure strain of the bundle. A SWNT bundle was subjected to tensile testing using a nano-mechanical testing device. The result suggests that the nonlinear behavior of SWNTs does affect the force-strain relation of SWNT bundles, mainly at large strain.


The process of synthetic cellulose formation in an acetonitrile-buffer solvent system by enzymatic polymerization of β-cellobiosyl fluoride monomer using cellulase as a catalyst was visualized by transmission electron microscopy. Synthetic cellulose could be observed as soon as 30 s after initiation of the polymerization. A micellar phase separation occurred at the initial stage of the reaction. Irregular aggregates of cellulose were formed at the boundary of the micellar particles, suggesting that the interface is the site of polymerization. The cellulose product after treatment with hot surfactant solution was strongly labeled with cellobiohydrolase I-gold complexes, indicating that the produced polymer is cellulose. The electron diffraction pattern of the product showed the typical pattern of crystal structure of cellulose II.


We identified 14 taxa (10 species) of Caulerpa from retail aquarium outlets in southern California, USA, suggesting that the aquarium industry has the potential to be an important vector for transporting these non-native seaweeds into distant geographic regions. Seaweeds were sold in 58 % and species of Caulerpa in 52 % of the 50 stores visited between November 2000 and August 2001. C. serrulata var. hummii (18%), C. taxifolia (14%), C. racemosa (14%), and C. racemosa var. lamourouxii (14%) were the most commonly encountered taxa. The 14 aquarium-traded Caulerpa taxa were distributed from tropical to temperate waters. Only 3 (C. ashmeadii, C. serrulata var. hummii and C. microphysa) were confined to the tropics, whereas 12 had distributions extending into temperate seas. These temperate components to their distributions indicate that, if introduced, several other taxa of aquarium-traded Caulerpa besides C. taxifolia might be capable of establishing populations in southern Californian or other temperate waters.


This paper studied the plasma's impacts on spruce CTMP. Spruce CTMP was treated with air, nitrogen and oxygen plasma respectively. Morphology of the CTMP fiber was captured with SEM, and carbon, oxygen and nitrogen content on the CTMP fiber surface were determined with XPS. The results showed that no matter what types of plasma were used, the roughness of the CTMP fiber would increase in the initial stage and recovered to its original roughness level following further treatment. Tensile index of the CTMP increased by 79%, 32% and 54% and the wet strength index increased by 64%, 65% and 22% with air, nitrogen and oxygen plasma treatments respectively. The increase in the tensile index and the wet strength index of the CTMP sheet was originated from the increase in C2, C3 and oxygen. C1 and nitrogen present on fiber surface wasn't favorable to CTMP sheet strength.


Learning from developments in other countries, Chinese firms heavily invest in design to develop products with differentiated advantages to upgrade their value chains. This research investigates Chinese firms' design utilization performance by analyzing award-winning products in the past decade. Specifically, we first investigate on what level leading Chinese companies utilized design. Through a content analysis based on the jury's comments on each award-winning product, results show that Chinese companies mainly utilized the functional and styling roles of design. Next, we further investigate the competitiveness of Chinese firms' utilization of design in Chinese markets and non-Chinese markets. The comparison of consumers' evaluations of selected award-winning products was conducted between products from leading Chinese brands and international brands. Results showed that in Chinese markets, consumers evaluated products from Chinese brands more positively than the international ones on all four dimensions (i.e., aesthetics, usage, meaning, and typological). In non-Chinese markets, represented by Dutch markets, western consumers evaluated international brands more positively than Chinese brands overall as well as on the dimension of meaning. Taken together, this research indicates that leading Chinese firms mainly utilize the styling and function roles of design. In terms of competitiveness of design utilization, Chinese firms are competitive on products' aesthetics and usage, both at the national and international levels. They, however, lack the ability to leverage design at the international level through generating new meanings.


In high-level Autonomous Driving (AD) systems, behavioral planning is in charge of making high-level driving decisions such as cruising and stopping, and thus highly securitycritical. In this work, we perform the first systematic study of semantic security vulnerabilities specific to overly-conservative AD behavioral planning behaviors, i.e., those that can cause failed or significantly-degraded mission performance, which can be critical for AD services such as robo-taxi/delivery. We call them semantic Denial-of-Service (DoS) vulnerabilities, which we envision to be most generally exposed in practical AD systems due to the tendency for conservativeness to avoid safety incidents. To achieve high practicality and realism, we assume that the attacker can only introduce seemingly-benign external physical objects to the driving environment, e.g., off-road dumped cardboard boxes. To systematically discover such vulnerabilities, we design PlanFuzz, a novel dynamic testing approach that addresses various problem-specific design challenges. Specifically, we propose and identify planning invariants as novel testing oracles, and design new input generation to systematically enforce problemspecific constraints for attacker-introduced physical objects. We also design a novel behavioral planning vulnerability distance metric to effectively guide the discovery. We evaluate PlanFuzz on 3 planning implementations from practical open-source AD systems, and find that it can effectively discover 9 previouslyunknown semantic DoS vulnerabilities without false positives. We find all our new designs necessary, as without each design, statistically significant performance drops are generally observed. We further perform exploitation case studies using simulation and real-vehicle traces. We discuss root causes and potential fixes.


It has been shown that cytokines have potential as therapeutic adjuvants in vaccination. Interleukin-5 (IL-5) is a cytokine that regulates antibody production, in particular enhancing IgA production by activated mucosal B cells. This study examined the expression of a cloned cytokine gene encoding murine IL-5 (mIL-5) by an attenuated aroA strain (SL5631) of Salmonella serotype Dublin. The resulting strain, SL5631(pTRXFUS-mIL-5), expressed mIL-5 as a fusion with thioredoxin as demonstrated by immunological and biological assays. When strain SL5631(pTRXFUS-mIL-5) was used as a live vaccine in BALB/c mice, it colonised and multiplied at higher levels in spleens and livers than the strain carrying the empty plasmid. A reduction in invasiveness of SL5631(pTRXFUS-mIL-5) was observed in in-vitro invasion assays. Enhanced IgA response against salmonella LPS in mucosal secretions and enhanced IgA and IgG responses were detected by ELISA and ELISPOT methods in sera of mice immunised with the strain expressing mIL-5. Results with IL-5-deficient mice showed that the enhanced IgA response was due to Salmonella-expressed mIL-5 rather than endogenous mIL-5.


Long rejected as a means of interpretation of the Civil Code, the travaux preparatoires have recently been rehabilitated ; henceforth nothing will be opposed to the consultation of the Codiflers' Reports or of the Report on the Quebec Civil Code by the Civil Code Revision Office. Parliamentary debates, however, are not yet to be quoted. But, taking into account the restrictive interpretation recently given to Reader's Digest case, in addition to what the preamble of the Act to establish a new Civil Codeand to reform family law expresses, the author considers it justified to come back to the Journal des Debats to light the finality of certain dispositions ulterior to Office Report.


Objective: Few tools are available to screen or assess infant's cognitive development, especially in French-speaking Africa. This study evaluated the use of the French translation of the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL), and the "Ten Questions" questionnaire (TQ) in 1-year-old children in Benin, a francophone country. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 3 health centers serving a semirural area in Benin. Three hundred fifty-seven children aged 12 months and their mothers were enrolled in 2011. Infant development was assessed at local health centers followed by a home visit to collect information on socioeconomic status, maternal Raven score, maternal depressive symptoms, and mother-child interactions (Home Observation for the Measurement of the Environment [HOME] Inventory), and to administer the TQ. Results: The infant's gender (female), the HOME, and maternal education were associated with a higher Early Learning Composite score in multivariate analyses (p = .02, p = .004, p = .007, respectively). The HOME and family wealth were also associated with the Gross Motor Scale (p = .03 and p = .03, respectively). Mothers were more likely to report difficulties on the TQ when the child presented lower score on the MSEL. When considering the Gross Motor Scale as the gold standard to define moderate delays, the 2 combined motor-related questions on the TQ showed good sensitivity and specificity (76.5 and 75.7). Conclusion: In a low-resource rural setting in Africa, the TQ effectively identified 3 quarters of 1-year-old infants with delayed development. After this screening, the MSEL may be useful for further assessment as it showed good feasibility and sensitivity to known risk factors for poor child development.


The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment grants "the accused" in "all criminal prosecutions" a right "to be confronted with the witnesses against him." A particular problem occurs when there is a gap in time between the testimony that is offered, and the cross-examination of it, as where, pursuant to a hearsay exception or exemption, evidence of a current witness's prior statement is offered and for some intervening reason her current memory is impaired. Does this fatally affect the opportunity to "confront" the witness? The Supreme Court has, to date, left unclear the extent to which a memory-impaired witness can afford a criminal defendant her right to confront. Would, for instance, it be of any value to permit a defendant the opportunity to cross-examine a witness claiming no recollection of having seen the crime or identified the defendant as the perpetrator? Should the right to confront simply imply the ability to look one's accuser in the eye at trial or should it necessitate some degree of opportunity for substantive cross-examination? Two petitions denied certiorari by the Supreme Court in December 2019—White v. Louisiana and Tapia v. New York—could have permitted the Court to clarify confrontation rights in memory loss cases. The purpose of this Article is to identify and discuss eight key issues arising in connection with memory impairment in Confrontation Clause witnesses. Although the Court chose not to put these issues to bed in the context of White or Tapia, these are the issues we anticipate federal and state courts will be called upon to answer in the coming years, and we suspect the Supreme Court will eventually need to answer them.


This study investigates teacher cognition and the role of grammar in English second language instruction (ESL) and the use of the target language (TL) in selected secondary schools in Norway. The data include interviews with teachers, classroom observations, and a collection of term plans. The findings suggest that teachers consider grammar an important part of ESL-instruction in order to improve students' writing and to learn a metalanguage that can be used for discussing the structure of languages. However, little time seems to be dedicated to systematic, explicit grammar teaching and metalinguistic discussions. Interestingly, focus on grammar seems to diminish as students' language competence improves. Furthermore, most of the teachers say that they use a deductive approach, and speak both Norwegian and English when teaching grammar. The teachers also say that many students express that they have an intuition for what is grammatically correct, but that they still make mistakes. I conclude that increased focus on explicit grammar instruction and metalinguistic awareness and discussions may improve students' overall proficiency of English.


To judge the advantages and disadvantages of Artificial Insemination (AI) by raw semen in deshi chicken a test experiment was conducted in Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) poultry farm, Mymensingh, Bangladesh. Male birds (RIR) were collected from the BAU poultry farm, whereas the female birds (deshi hens) were purchased from nearby local village market. Both types of birds were kept in individual cage with adlibitum food and water and were given abdominal massage at least for three days (at the same time of the day) prior to AI. Collected semen was inseminated (0.20-0.25 ml/hen) directly by soft dropper into the female genital tract. The result of the present experiment showed that 1-2 females could be covered by semen collected from single ejaculate from one cock. It was also found that very small amount of semen was wastage by container. Thus it can be concluded that AI by raw semen is not profitable (except experimental point of view) until we use semen diluents for commercial purpose.


Single phase La0.9Sr0.1Ga0.8Mg0.2O3-δ (LSGM9182) was synthesized by a polymeric precursor route. The XRD pattern after calcination at 1300 °C for 6h indicates the formation of the perovskite without the presence of secondary phases. XRD, FTIR and TG-DTG measurements were used to examine the powder precursor as well as the intermediate and final products. SEM images indicated the small grain size of the final product. The conductivity of the sintered sample was examined by means of a.c. impedance spectroscopy and was found to be 9.10-2 S/cm at 800 °C similar to the typical value of LSGM materials.


Driven by recent advances in resistive random-access memory (RRAM), there have been growing interests in exploring alternative computing concept, i.e., in-memory processing, to address the classical von Neumann bottlenecks. Despite of their great promise in improving performance and energy efficiency, most existing works are built on the inherent matrix-vector multiplication capability of RRAM crossbar structure, and thus lack the flexibility to adapt to future market/technology induced changes in data-intensive applications. To address these challenges, we propose an in-memory reconfigurable architecture based on RRAM crossbar structure. For the first time, it achieves a full programmability across computation and storage, and thereby provides more flexibilities of partitioning the hardware resources based on applications' needs. We further develop two complete CAD design flows to facilitate development of applications written in hardware description languages (HDLs) for our architecture, based on: 1) adaption from existing tool set developed for FPGA, 2) a custom tool design optimized towards the new architecture. Our experiments show that, both design flows are effective in exploiting flexible resources offered by our architecture and thus achieves better efficiency than state-of-art FPGAs (30% improvement in performance with 66% reduction in area). In addition, compared to adapted design flow, our custom design flow achieves speedup by 3.3×, and further improves mapping quality.


Resonators are one of the most important parts of electronic products. They provide a stable reference frequency to ensure the operation of these products. Recently, the electronic products have the trend of miniaturization, which rendered the size reduction of the resonators as well [1]. Better design of the resonators relies on a better understanding of the crystals' nonlinear behavior [2]. The nonlinearities affect the quality factor and acoustic behavior of MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System) and nano-structured resonators and filters [3]. Among these nonlinear effects, Drivel Level Dependence (DLD), which describes the instability of the resonator frequency due to voltage level and/or power density, is an urgent problem for miniaturized resonators [2]. Langasite and GaPO4 are new promising piezoelectric material. Resonators made from these new materials have superior performance such as good frequency-temperature characteristics, and low acoustic loss [2]. In this thesis, experimental measurements of drive level dependence of langasite resonators with different configurations (plano-plano, single bevel, and double bevel) are reported. The drive level dependence of GaPO4 resonators are reported as well for the purpose of comparison. The results show that the resonator configuration affects the DLD of the langasite resonator. Experiments for DLD at elevated temperature are also performed, and it was found that the temperature also affects the DLD of the langasite resonator.


The high pressure waterjet peening (WJP) was adopted to strengthen the surfaces of 7075-T651 aluminum alloy. The results demonstrate that the processing parameters such as shooting distance, holding time and water pressure affected the abrasive capacity of gas cavities significantly. Compared with non-peening and shot peening (SP) specimens, the fatigue life of as-WJPed specimens was improved by 22% and 6.6%, respectively. The maximum residual compressive stress generated by WJP and SP was approximately equivalent, which is −350 ≤ σ ≤ −400MPa. While the residual compressive stress near the strengthened surface introduced by WJP was higher than that of SP, hence the fatigue life of WJPed specimen increased much more. The surface roughness strengthened by WJP was also better than that of SP. Because the surface profile was well protected in WJP, the good surface qualities also insured a long fatigue life.


Many scholars have explored how property, particularly urban land and housing, became a resource for economic accumulation for some Africans during the colonial period.1 The penetration of international commerce and the imposition of colonial rule led to commercialization of land in many parts of Africa. This made land, especially urban land, a valuable new source of wealth-a development that unleashed enormous struggles among Africans for its control. Struggles for the control of land were, however, more than struggles for economic resources. They were also competition for power and authority, debates over interpretations of history and culture, and efforts to define social identity.2 This article explores the transformations of urban land in a colonial Nigerian city and looks at aspects of Africans' responses to social and economic changes, especially relating to land and rapid urbanization. The article presents a case study of a small family in the south-eastern city of Onitsha to show how urban land became a source of accumulation for some Africans during the colonial period, and to explore the multiple meanings embedded in the Onitsha peoples' struggles over and debates about property rights. In their struggles and debates over property rights, the people of Onitsha were also debating and defining the issues of authority, history, and culture. Members of the Mgbelekeke family or patrilineage in Onitsha used opportunities created by changes in urban land at the turn of the twentieth century to acquire enormous wealth and transform themselves from a weak and obscure position in the precolonial era to a position of influence and authority in the colonial period. A number of studies of land accumulation and power in colonial Africa have focused on how African chiefs exploited their relationships with colonial officials; how they manipulated tradition and history to consolidate their hold on land and increase their wealth and power.3 The British colonial administration depended heavily on African chiefs, and chiefly power was closely tied to the control and allocation of land. As land became commercialized and its value appreciated, chiefs profited immensely. At the same time, however, debates over the scope of chiefly authority and jurisdiction proliferated among Africans. The story of the Mgbelekekes' accumulation of land and rise to wealth and power, however, offers us a different perspective. They were a small lineage group that had no authority in precolonial Africa, nor did they attain any official positions in the colonial administration. Very early in the colonial period, however, the Mgbelekeke family recognized the opportunities for wealth and empowerment being created by rapid urbanization, the changing land tenure system, and contradictions in the colonial system. The investigation of the Mgbelekeke family's attempts to exploit the new system offers insight into aspects of social and cultural transformations in colonial, urban, eastern Nigeria and reveals the complexities involved in the experiences of Africans as they negotiated power and authority, and struggled for control of and access to resources under the colonial urban system. The article also shows how rapid urbanization and changes in land tenure affected social relationships and transformed cultural institutions in Onitsha. Many of the conflicts involving the changing land system in Onitsha, as in most parts of Africa, were played out in the colonial courts.4 As urban land acquired new uses and meaning among Africans, and as the new British judicial system developed during the colonial period, land became the subject of much litigation in the city. As Mann and Roberts noted, "studying legal questions and legal records provides an excellent ... way of understanding processes of change in conditions of resource access and patterns of resource use during the colonial period."5 The courts were filled (and still are) with numerous land disputes, and the voluminous records of that litigation provide an important database for investigating the social history of the city. …


This paper describes the design and development of a service for 'visual media' files. In the first phase of the ARIADNE project we reviewed the status of visual media resources (2D, RTI, 3D) in the archaeology domain, but there was possibility of publishing visual media resources on the web. To fill this gap we have designed a service aimed at providing easy and unsupervised publication on the web. The service provides a very easy interface (a simple web form) that allows the user to upload the visual media file; the data is then transformed in a web-compliant format, supporting multi-resolution encoding, compression, and progressive transmission. At the end of the data-processing phase the user receives an email containing the URL of the published asset (or, in case he/she wants to store the file locally, a .zip file). Specific browsers for the three types of media have also been developed, based on 3DHOP technology.


This paper addresses the problem of automatic speech recognition (ASR) error detection and their use for improving spoken language understanding (SLU) systems. In this study, the SLU task consists in automatically extracting, from ASR transcriptions , semantic concepts and concept/values pairs in a e.g touristic information system. An approach is proposed for enriching the set of semantic labels with error specific labels and by using a recently proposed neural approach based on word embeddings to compute well calibrated ASR confidence measures. Experimental results are reported showing that it is possible to decrease significantly the Concept/Value Error Rate with a state of the art system, outperforming previously published results performance on the same experimental data. It also shown that combining an SLU approach based on conditional random fields with a neural encoder/decoder attention based architecture , it is possible to effectively identifying confidence islands and uncertain semantic output segments useful for deciding appropriate error handling actions by the dialogue manager strategy .


OBJECTIVE:There are no reports of the clinical features or treatment outcomes in large series of patients with lymphocytic colitis, and it is not known whether treatments that appear to be beneficial in patients with collagenous colitis are also beneficial in lymphocytic colitis. We sought to analyze these issues in our patients with lymphocytic colitis.METHODS:All patients with biopsy-proven lymphocytic colitis evaluated at our institution between January 1, 1997, and December 31, 1999, were identified. Clinical features on presentation and treatment outcomes were abstracted from the medical records.RESULTS:A total of 170 patients with lymphocytic colitis were identified (median age 67 yr, 61% female). Diarrhea, bloating, rectal urgency, fecal incontinence, weight loss, concomitant autoimmune disorders, and aspirin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use were common. Loperamide, diphenoxylate/atropine, and bismuth subsalicylate were effective therapies and were well tolerated. However, no therapy produced a complete response in more than 40% of patients.CONCLUSION:Lymphocytic colitis typically presents in elderly patients as chronic diarrhea. Nocturnal stools, urgency, and abdominal pain occur frequently, as do weight loss, fecal incontinence, and concomitant autoimmune disorders. Many empiric treatment options are used, but overall response rates are disappointing. Randomized controlled trials are needed to determine the optimum therapeutic approach to these patients.


The Japanese shareholding network existing at the end of March 2002 is studied empirically. The network is constructed from 2,303 listed companies and 53 non-listed financial institutions. We consider this network as a directed graph by drawing edges from shareholders to stock corporations. The lengths of the shareholder lists vary with the companies, and the most comprehensive lists contain the top 30 shareholders. Consequently, the distribution of incoming edges has an upper bound, while that of outgoing edges has no bound. The distribution of outgoing degrees is well explained by the power law function with an exponential tail. The exponent in the power law range is gamma=1.7. To understand these features from the viewpoint of a company's growth, we consider the correlations between the outgoing degree and the company's age, profit, and total assets.


Marketing managers often face dilemmas when their athlete endorsers are accused of immoral behavior. However, research findings have been equivocal as to whether athletes' transgressions damage endorsed brand evaluations. Using two experiments, we empirically demonstrate that consumers' moral reasoning (i.e., moral rationalization, moral coupling, and moral decoupling) has differential effects on evaluations of a transgressor (Study 1). In Study 2, we examine the causal effect of moral reasoning choice on evaluations of the transgressor and the associated brand. Findings show that moral coupling has negative effects on the athlete and brand evaluations, whereas moral decoupling and moral rationalization positively affect brand attitude and purchase intent through positive evaluation of the athlete. Findings from this study provide empirical evidence to explain how and why some consumers continue or discontinue their support for a troubled athlete and associated brand.


We consider collocated wireless sensor networks, where each node's transmissions can be heard by every other node. Each node has a Boolean measurement and the goal of the network is to compute a given Boolean function of these measurements. We first consider the worst case setting and study optimal block computation strategies for computing symmetric Boolean functions. We study three classes of functions: threshold functions, delta functions and interval functions. We provide optimal strategies for the first two classes, and a scaling law order-optimal strategy with optimal preconstant for interval functions. We extend the results to the case of integer measurements and certain integer-valued functions. Next, we address the problem of minimizing the expected total number of bits that are transmitted when node measurements are random and drawn from independent Bernoulli distributions. In the case of computing a single instance of a Boolean threshold function, the problem reduces to one of determining the optimal order in which the nodes should transmit. We show that the optimal order of transmissions depends in an extremely simple way on the values of previously transmitted bits and the ordering of the marginal probabilities of the Boolean variables according to the k-th least likely rule: At any transmission, the node that transmits is the one that has the k-th least likely value of its Boolean variable, where k reduces by one whenever a node transmits a one. Initially the value of k is (n +1 - Threshold). Interestingly, the order of transmissions does not depend on the exact values of the probabilities of the Boolean variables. In the case of identically distributed measurements, we further show that the average-case complexity of block computation of a Boolean threshold function is O(θ), where θ is the threshold. We further show how to generalize to a pulse model of communication. One can also consider the related problem of approximate computation given a fixed number of bits. For the special case of the parity function, we show that the greedy strategy is optimal.


The Tungurahua volcano, located in the eastern mountain range of Ecuador, since its reactivation in 1999 has had several phases of volcanic activity, which have produced gas, ash and lava emissions. These emissions release a large amount of metals to nearby soils that are currently used for agricultural purposes. Metal pollution can cause serious problems for human health; while other metals are necessary as nutrients in most agricultural crops. In this investigation, the metal content in agricultural soils of the Quero canton was evaluated, as well as its bioavailability and content in the culture of Allium fistulosum L., in order to obtain information on the impact of potentially polluting metals (cadmium, lead, nickel, strontium, cobalt, copper and zinc) and nutrients (potassium, magnesium, iron and manganese) on crops. For the estimation of total metals in soil an acid digestion was performed; for bioavailable metals an extractant mixture (EDTA-Triethanolamine-CaCl2, pH 7) was used and for the branch onion a calcination followed by acid digestion was carried out. The quantification of the metals was carried out by flame atomic absorption spectroscopy or graphite furnace. The results showed that the metal content, both in the soil samples and in the branch onion, was below the maximum values allowed in the local regulations for all the metals studied. In addition,the intake of the metal by the branch onion was independent of the bioavailable fraction.


Synaptic GABAA receptors are primary mediators of rapid inhibition in the brain and play a key role in the pathophysiology of epilepsy and other neurologic disorders. The δ-subunit GABAA receptors are expressed extrasynaptically in the dentate gyrus and contribute to tonic inhibition, promoting network shunting as well as reducing seizure susceptibility. However, the neurosteroid structure-function relationship at δGABAA receptors within the native hippocampus neurons remains unclear. Here we report a structure-activity relationship for neurosteroid modulation of extrasynaptic GABAA receptor–mediated tonic inhibition in the murine dentate gyrus granule cells. We recorded neurosteroid allosteric potentiation of GABA as well as direct activation of tonic currents using a wide array of natural and synthetic neurosteroids. Our results shows that, for all neurosteroids, the C3α-OH group remains obligatory for extrasynaptic receptor functional activity, as C3β-OH epimers were inactive in activating tonic currents. Allopregnanolone and related pregnane analogs exhibited the highest potency and maximal efficacy in promoting tonic currents. Alterations at the C17 or C20 region of the neurosteroid molecule drastically altered the transduction kinetics of tonic current activation. The androstane analogs had the weakest modulatory response among the analogs tested. Neurosteroid potentiation of tonic currents was completely (approximately 95%) diminished in granule cells from δ-knockout mice, suggesting that δ-subunit receptors are essential for neurosteroid activity. The neurosteroid sensitivity of δGABAA receptors was confirmed at the systems level using a 6-Hz seizure test. A consensus neurosteroid pharmacophore model at extrasynaptic δGABAA receptors is proposed based on a structure-activity relationship for activation of tonic current and seizure protection.


It is widely accepted that entrepreneurial creation affects destruction, as new and better organizations, technologies and transactions replace old ones. This phenomenon is labeled creative destruction, but it might more accurately be called destructive creation, given the driving role of creation in the process. We reverse the typical causal ordering, and ask whether destruction may drive creation. We argue that economic systems may get stuck in suboptimal equilibria due to path dependence, and that destruction may sweep away this inertia, and open the way for entrepreneurship. To test this idea, we need an exogenous destructive shock, rather than destruction that is endogenous to the process of economic progress. Our identification strategy relies on the September 11 attacks as an exogenous destructive shock to the economic system centered on New York City. Consistent with our theoretical claim, we find that 15 months after the attacks the rate of business founding close to New York City exceeds the rate before the attacks, even after controlling for the inflow of recovery funds. Furthermore, the increase in the business founding rate after the attacks grows faster closer to Manhattan than it does further away from the epicenter of destruction. Copyright 2012 The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Associazione ICC. All rights reserved., Oxford University Press.


Design artifacts of dependable embedded systems, and the systems themselves, are subjected to a number of modifications during the development process. Verified artifacts that subsequently are modified must necessarily be re-verified to ensure that no faults have been introduced in response to the modification. We collectively call this type of verification as regression verification. Studies show that regression testing alone consumes a vast amount of the total development cost. This is likely a result of unnecessary verification of parts that are not affected by the modification. In this paper, we propose an architecture-based selective regression verification technique for the development process of dependable embedded systems specified in the Architecture Analysis and Design Language (AADL). The selection of necessary regression verification sequences is based on the concept of specification slicing through System Dependence Graphs (SDGs). This allows for the avoidance of unnecessary re-verification, and thereby unnecessary costs.


Historically, the identity and distribution of some Bothriurus species from Patagonia have not been clear. The previous concepts of the Bothriurus patagonicus species group may comprise more than one species. Two new species, Bothriurus huincul sp. n. and B. sanctaecrucis sp. n., are described, and additional morphological and distributional data of B. patagonicus, and B. burmeisteri are provided. An identification key and a map with all the records of Patagonian Bothriurus species are provided. Phylogenetic and biogeographic aspects of Patagonian Bothriurus, reflecting ancient connections of Patagonia with the center and north of Chile, are discussed.


Introduction: The Internet has become an integral part of our lives and tool for social interaction and communication and it is becoming worrisome; Internet use among students is assuming a dimension of profound preoccupation over other activities of daily living. Internet addiction (IA) may raise risk for sleep problem, and contribute to the development of some psychiatric disorders and worsening mental health. The aim of this study was to study the interrelationship between IA and psychological well-being of medical students. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out at the Ekiti State University College of Medicine among both preclinical and clinical medical students. The study population was the entire medical students. A total of 129 study participants (86 clinical and 43 preclinical students) were purposively enrolled, 83 males and 46 females. Data were collected from the students using a questionnaire that comprised four components: (i) Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale, (ii) Young IA Test (YIAT), (iii) World Health Organization Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, and (iv) Insomnia Severity Index. Results: About half (51.9%) of the students who engaged the Internet dwelled on social media. Moreover, the least reason for using the Internet was for their academic assignments. Twenty-two (17.1%) of the participants scored below the minimum score for addiction on YIAT. This study revealed a statistically insignificant negative correlation between the pairs of IA score and mental well-being (r = −121, P = 0.198) and alcohol use and mental well-being (r = −0.10, P = 0.279). There existed a statistically significant positive correlation between IA and insomnia (r = 0.320, P = 0.000) and IA and alcohol use (r = 0.428, P = 0.000). There was an insignificant positive relationship between alcohol use and insomnia (r = 0.072, P = 0.414). Conclusion: IA and its associated problems among students would require earnest intervention to curb problematic use in order to attain good mental well-being.


 Abstract — A geophysical investigation involving geoelectric depths sounding has been conducted as pre-foundation study in part of Ilorin, Nigeria. The area is underlain by the Precambrian basement complex rocks. 15 sounding stations were established along five traverses. The Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) (three-five) conducted along each of the traverses was subjected to computer iteration using IP2Win software. Three -five subsurface geologic layers were delineated in the study area. These include the topsoil with resistivity and thickness values ranging from 103 Ωm-210 Ωm and 0 m-1 m; lateritic (117 Ωm-590 Ωm and 1 m-4.7 m); sandy clay (137 – 859 Ωm and 2.9 m – 4.3 m); weathered (60.5 Ωm to 2539 Ωm and 3,2 m-10 m) and fresh basement (2253-∞ and 7.1 m-∞) respectively. The resistivity pseudosection shows continuous high resistivity zone on the surface. Resistivity of this layer from depth 0-5 m varies from 300-800 Ωm along traverse 1 and 2. Hence, this layer is rated competent as it has the ability to support engineering structure. However, along traverse 1, very low resistive layer occurs between VES 5 and 15 with resistivity values ranging from 30 Ωm-70 Ωm. This layer was rated incompetent based on the competence rating. This study revealed the importance of geophysical survey as a pre-construction engineering survey at any civil engineering site since it can reliably evaluate the competence of the subsurface geomaterials.


Introduction: Poorer outcomes in acute and late complications of type 1 diabetes (T1D) persist among racial/ethnic minorities, and technology adoption may be lower in these groups. Technologies such as continuous glucose monitors (CGM) and insulin pumps (CSII) enhance diabetes management and improve glycemic control. We examined differences in use of diabetes technology by race/ethnicity among patients 12 and older followed at the Barbara Davis Center who had T1D for at least 1 year.
 Methods: Use of CGM and/or CSII vs. neither was examined in 5,539 patients by racial/ethnic groups: Non-Hispanic White (NHW, n=3,945) , Black (n=161) , Hispanic (n=719) and Other racial groups (OR, n=714) . General liner models compared HbA1c and technology use by race/ethnicity.
 Results: Black, Hispanic and OR patients were younger, had shorter T1D duration, higher HbA1c and less use of technology. In linear models adjusted for age, diabetes duration and visits over the past year, use of technology was associated with lower HbA1c in each race/ethnic group. However, among technology users, minority patients had higher HbA1c compared to NHW patients.
 Conclusion: HbA1c was highest and diabetes technology use lowest among Blacks and Hispanics. Efforts to increase technology use for diabetes management in these populations may result in greater glycemic control and ultimately the reduction of acute and late complications of diabetes.

 B.Conway: None. V.Shah: Advisory Panel; Medscape, Sanofi, Consultant; Dexcom, Inc., Research Support; Dexcom, Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Insulet Corporation, Novo Nordisk. C.Geno rasmussen: None. A.Gerard gonzalez: n/a. J.K.Snell-bergeon: Stock/Shareholder; GlaxoSmithKline plc.

 NIH grant P30-DK116073


The objective is to present the adaptation study of the Humiliation Inventory for the Portuguese population. The starting point was Hartling and Luchetta's version, composed of thirty-two items, distributed by two factors – cumulative humiliation and fear of humiliation. 1116 participants of the general population,  M age =32.25,  DP age =11.5, took part in the study. The confirmatory factor analysis did not register satisfactory indexes for a two-factor composition. Consequently, we searched for the alternative models. First, with the principal component analysis, three factors were extracted, corresponding to cumulative humiliation, fear of humiliation and a third factor corresponding to concern/ worry about being a victim of humiliation. They explain approximately 72% of total variance and present good reliability. Subsequently, with the CFA we observed that the three-factor model, following respecification, had a very good fit, Satorra-Bentler (factor correction) =1.416,  χ 2 (196)=570.766,  χ 2 /df =2.91, CFI=.984, TLI=.981, RMSEA=.041, CI [.038, .045], SRMR=.028, as well as composite reliability and factorial, convergent and discriminating validities. In conclusion, this version puts forward an additional measure of concern/worry regarding humiliation, which, in the original version, was aggregated into the measure of fear of humiliation. We believe the distinction is due to sample and cultural characteristics.


Human interaction in meeting schedule provides a way for analyzing the outcome of the meeting. The proposed system develops a meeting application for a large firm company. It allow users scattered among various places to post comments for the topic that given by the admin. The main thing is that each user must login at the exact time of the meeting section. Otherwise they will not be permitted to comment on the topic. Each of them can express their own ideas, views directly on the meeting. At the end of the meeting admin will check whether positive or negative comments are supported by most of the users. Based on this admin can conclude the topic by listing reasons and distributing it to all the participants in that meeting. Interaction types used in this application are proposal, positive comment and negative comment. FP-Growth algorithm is used for finding frequent patterns.


Methanolic extract of Terminalia arjuna Roxb of family combretaceae is rich in flavonoids content which are responsible for its antiproliferative activity but these bioactive constituents have poor oral and topical absorption either due to the large molecular weight or poor miscibility with lipids. These poorly soluble herbal extracts can be converted into lipid compatible molecular complexes called phytosomes by binding individual constituents of the herbal extract to phosphatidylcholine. Phytosomes are known to show improved oral and topical absorption followed by enhanced activity as compared to pure herbal extracts. This study was aimed at preparing methanolic extract of Terminalia arjuna bark and Terminalia arjuna bark Extract Phytosome and investigating their antiproliferative activity on human MCF-7 cell line by MTT assay. Comparison of the antiproliferative activity was done with with quercetin and its phytosomes. IC50 of methanolic extract of Terminalia arjuna bark and Terminalia arjuna bark Extract Phytosome against cancer cell lines MCF-7 was found to be 25μg/ml and 15μg/ml respectively whereas that of quercetin and its phytosomes was found to be 2μg/ml and 0.7μg/ml respectively. The results suggests that Terminalia arjuna bark Extract Phytosome & quercetin phytosomes are active pharmacologically and exerts more antiproliferative effect on MCF-7 cells as compared to pure methanolic extract of plant and pure quercetin respectively.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework based on customer journeys for a structured portrayal of service delivery from the customer's point of view. The paper also introduces customer journey analysis (CJA) for empirical investigation of individual service experiences in a multichannel environment.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents case studies for onboarding new customers on broadband services. CJA starts with modeling of the service process in terms of touchpoints. The individual customer journeys are reconstructed through methodological triangulation of interviews, diary studies, and process tracking.

Findings

The paper provides empirical insights into individual customer journeys. Four types of deviations during service delivery are identified: occurrence of ad hoc touchpoints, irregularities in the sequence of logically connected touchpoints, occurrence of failures in touchpoints, and missing touchpoints. CJA seems effective in revealing problematic and incoherent service delivery that may result in unfavorable customer experiences.

Practical implications

For a service company, the proposed framework may serve as a unifying language to ease cross-departmental communication and approach service quality in a systematic way. CJA discloses the gap between the planned and actual service delivery and can be used as a tool for service improvement.

Originality/value

The framework provides concepts, definitions, and a visual notation to structure and manage services in terms of customer journeys. CJA is a novel method for empirical studies of the service delivery process and the associated customer experience.


State taxing authority suffers from little of the structural impediments that the Constitution imposes on the federal government's taxing power but the states' power to tax is subject to the restrictions imposed on the exercise of any state action by the Constitution. The most significant obstacles to the states' assertion of their taxing authority have been the Due Process Clause and the Commerce Clause. The Due Process Clause concerns itself with fairness while the Commerce Clause concerns itself with a functioning national economy. Although the two restrictions have different objectives, for quite some time both restrictions shared one attribute—a taxpayer physical presence test.

Business practices evolved in response to technological developments and the ability of enterprises to avail themselves of a forum state's markets with little or no traditional physical presence in the state resulted in the elimination of the physical presence test for Due Process purposes almost thirty years ago. The subsequent exponential growth of electronic commerce finally led to the demise of the physical presence test for Commerce Clause purposes as a result of the Court's recent decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair. However, a six decades old statute remains an impediment to the states' ability to exercise income tax jurisdiction over the income earned by remote sellers of tangible personal property.

In a case unrelated to state taxing authority during the same term, the Court in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association struck down a federal law that prohibited states from authorizing sports gambling. According to the Court, the federal law impermissibly commandeered state legislatures. A critical holding in that case was that a federal law that prohibits state action is subject to the anti-commandeering doctrine similar to federal laws that mandate state action. The federal statute that limits the states' ability to tax is very similar to the gambling statute that the Court struck down—it prohibits states from enacting otherwise permissible legislation without establishing a corresponding federal regulatory regime. In short, the statute commandeers the states similarly to the gambling statute. As a result, the statute is an impermissible encroachment of state sovereignty.

Part I of this Article discusses the Due Process and Commerce Clause limitations on states' taxing powers and the eventual demise of the physical presence test as a result of Court's holdings in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota and, more recently, South Dakota v. Wayfair. This part also discusses Pub. L. No. 86-272, the longstanding prohibition imposed on states with regard to the taxation of income derived by remote sellers of tangible personal property. Part II discusses the anti-commandeering doctrine. This doctrine has surfaced as a significant bulwark for federalism over the past three decades and led to the demise of the federal sports gambling legislation as a result of the Court's recent decision in Murphy. This part concludes with an analysis of the case and its potential application to the tax statute.