WorldWideScience

Sample records for region suggesting specialization

  1. Planetary Protection and Mars Special Regions--A Suggestion for Updating the Definition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rettberg, Petra; Anesio, Alexandre M; Baker, Victor R; Baross, John A; Cady, Sherry L; Detsis, Emmanouil; Foreman, Christine M; Hauber, Ernst; Ori, Gian Gabriele; Pearce, David A; Renno, Nilton O; Ruvkun, Gary; Sattler, Birgit; Saunders, Mark P; Smith, David H; Wagner, Dirk; Westall, Frances

    2016-02-01

    We highlight the role of COSPAR and the scientific community in defining and updating the framework of planetary protection. Specifically, we focus on Mars "Special Regions," areas where strict planetary protection measures have to be applied before a spacecraft can explore them, given the existence of environmental conditions that may be conducive to terrestrial microbial growth. We outline the history of the concept of Special Regions and inform on recent developments regarding the COSPAR policy, namely, the MEPAG SR-SAG2 review and the Academies and ESF joint committee report on Mars Special Regions. We present some new issues that necessitate the update of the current policy and provide suggestions for new definitions of Special Regions. We conclude with the current major scientific questions that remain unanswered regarding Mars Special Regions.

  2. SMART SPECIALIZATION, ELEMENT OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florina Popa

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Research-Development and innovation expenditure (conditions of a few high specializations in different fields of science know an increasing importance, both at countries level and regions, on the background of challenges that occur in economic growth, at European Union level, involving investment increase in knowledge, respectively, education, professional training, research and development. The existence of a good model of territorial development means finding a strategy and governance able to create new economic activities that capitalize the competitive and comparative advantages of territorial potential, in global context. The new strategy of economic transformation at local level, the smart specialization, aims to promote efficient and effective use of public investment in research, based on innovation encouragement, at regional level, that should lead to economic growth and prosperity of regions. The implementation of strategy`s instruments involves an integrated approach, by using own forces and potential of each region, that should meet the requirements of European Agenda, for growth and competitiveness achievement. By identifying the fields with high potential, at regional level, and their strengthening, the smart specialization can concur to regions access on global markets and international value chain. The study briefly expounds the concept of smart specialization and its constituent sizes, principles of action in the field of research-development and innovation. There are also considered the implementation stages of "strategy", in the interventions at regional level, as well as the advantages and risks that it entails.

  3. A new analysis of Mars "Special Regions": findings of the second MEPAG Special Regions Science Analysis Group (SR-SAG2).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rummel, John D; Beaty, David W; Jones, Melissa A; Bakermans, Corien; Barlow, Nadine G; Boston, Penelope J; Chevrier, Vincent F; Clark, Benton C; de Vera, Jean-Pierre P; Gough, Raina V; Hallsworth, John E; Head, James W; Hipkin, Victoria J; Kieft, Thomas L; McEwen, Alfred S; Mellon, Michael T; Mikucki, Jill A; Nicholson, Wayne L; Omelon, Christopher R; Peterson, Ronald; Roden, Eric E; Sherwood Lollar, Barbara; Tanaka, Kenneth L; Viola, Donna; Wray, James J

    2014-11-01

    A committee of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) has reviewed and updated the description of Special Regions on Mars as places where terrestrial organisms might replicate (per the COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy). This review and update was conducted by an international team (SR-SAG2) drawn from both the biological science and Mars exploration communities, focused on understanding when and where Special Regions could occur. The study applied recently available data about martian environments and about terrestrial organisms, building on a previous analysis of Mars Special Regions (2006) undertaken by a similar team. Since then, a new body of highly relevant information has been generated from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (launched in 2005) and Phoenix (2007) and data from Mars Express and the twin Mars Exploration Rovers (all 2003). Results have also been gleaned from the Mars Science Laboratory (launched in 2011). In addition to Mars data, there is a considerable body of new data regarding the known environmental limits to life on Earth-including the potential for terrestrial microbial life to survive and replicate under martian environmental conditions. The SR-SAG2 analysis has included an examination of new Mars models relevant to natural environmental variation in water activity and temperature; a review and reconsideration of the current parameters used to define Special Regions; and updated maps and descriptions of the martian environments recommended for treatment as "Uncertain" or "Special" as natural features or those potentially formed by the influence of future landed spacecraft. Significant changes in our knowledge of the capabilities of terrestrial organisms and the existence of possibly habitable martian environments have led to a new appreciation of where Mars Special Regions may be identified and protected. The SR-SAG also considered the impact of Special Regions on potential future human missions to Mars, both as locations of

  4. Trends in China's Special Economic Zones and Suggestions for Korean Economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yong Ho Choi

    2003-12-01

    Full Text Available China's Special Economic Zones (SEZs have been entering a new development stage after China's entry into WTO. China has been developing 'China's economic development model', in which SEZs have ideally been combined with FDIs. China's SEZs concentrated in the east coastal region geographically, specialized in secondary industry, and put in practice many important favourable policies. China's SEZs also play an important role in regional development with the growth pole. At the time of entering the WTO, China's SEZs have been faced with new changes. This paper analyses this new change in China's SEZs, and considers the effect to Korea in the view of policy. In the past ten years, Korea has acquired a better development in the field of economic cooperation. The industrial structure of the two countries has become more and more closed. Especially, the FDI cooperation of the past ten years mostly concentrated on China's SEZs. From the view of country's spatial division, Korea needs to adjust FDI its strategy more diversely in investment regions and industries, and it needs more joint cooperation.

  5. "Special Issue": Regional Dimensions of the Triple Helix Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Todeva, Emanuela; Danson, Mike

    2016-01-01

    This paper introduces the rationale for the special issue and its contributions, which bridge the literature on regional development and the Triple Helix model. The concept of the Triple Helix at the sub-national, and specifically regional, level is established and examined, with special regard to regional economic development founded on…

  6. Smart Specialization Strategy and its Operationalization in the Regional Policy: Case Finland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jari Kaivo-oja

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available In the European Union, smart specialization is an important concept in regional policy. Its primary aim is to achieve inclusive and sustainable economic growth. There is a lack of convenient region specific measures to operationalize smart specialization startegies (S3. The purpose of the paper is to find “indices of smart specialization” on a regional level. We propose indices that are based on (1 the rate of industrial diversification, (2 revealed comparative advantage and (3 regions’ overall relative specialization. In the empirical part, we analyze smart specialization in Finland using structural data provided by Statistics Finland for seventy sub-regions (LAU1 and 24 sub-industries in manufacturing. These industries are the most important for exports, productivity, and regional economic performance for a small country. The following indices are used in empirical evaluations: Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI for regional diversity, Balassa-Hoover Index (BHI for revealed comparative advantage, and Region’s Relative Specialization Index (RRSI for aggregate regional specialization differences. The concept of smart specialization is related to these measures. Index analyses reveal that many growing sub-regions have similar comparative advantages. This means inter-regional synergy, and it enables opportunities for strategic cooperation between regions. To develop smart specialization strategies for Europe’s regions, we need these kinds of empirical knowledge-based management tools and planning approaches.

  7. Regional and Special Issues in Social Policy & Administration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Finer, Catherine Jones; Greve, Bent

    2016-01-01

    This article explores the emergence and elaboration of regional and special issues of Social Policy & Administration (SP&A) from the contrasting perspectives of the two editors principally involved in their production as a distinctive feature of the journal. Catherine Jones Finer, who retired from......-to-date range of documents to trace trends and developments over time, not merely in the content of the regional and special issues themselves, but in the increasingly international and supra-national social policy environment to which they relate....... editorial involvement in2007, writes from memory of her own experience (which featured the introduction of regional then special issues as an ongoing series) drawing on the run of printed copies of SP&A still in her possession. Bent Greve then draws on his own access to a much wider and more up...

  8. Regional foresight and dynamics of smart specialization: A typology of regional diversification patterns

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Piirainen, Kalle A.; Tanner, Anne Nygaard; Alkærsig, Lars

    2016-01-01

    specialization. We highlight that there are different paths to reaching smart specialization within the same industrial domain. The empirical research focuses on the offshore wind service sector in four regions around the North Sea. The findings corroborate a typology that offers four distinct patterns—diversification...

  9. Regional specialization within the intestinal immune system

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mowat, Allan M.; Agace, William Winston

    2014-01-01

    The intestine represents the largest compartment of the immune system. It is continually exposed to antigens and immunomodulatory agents from the diet and the commensal microbiota, and it is the port of entry for many clinically important pathogens. Intestinal immune processes are also increasingly...... implicated in controlling disease development elsewhere in the body. In this Review, we detail the anatomical and physiological distinctions that are observed in the small and large intestines, and we suggest how these may account for the diversity in the immune apparatus that is seen throughout...... the intestine. We describe how the distribution of innate, adaptive and innate-like immune cells varies in different segments of the intestine and discuss the environmental factors that may influence this. Finally, we consider the implications of regional immune specialization for inflammatory disease...

  10. How do changes in media consumption affect newspaper revenue? : Suggestions on earning more revenue, with a special attention to the Nordic region

    OpenAIRE

    Shahbazi, Fatemeh

    2016-01-01

    This thesis is concentrated on the changes in consumer’s newspaper consumption and its impact on newspaper’s revenue in order to find out how printed news can earn more money. This thesis has a special attention on the Nordic region newspaper industry. The aim of this thesis is to explain how changes occurred in news consumption habits of users has impacted on newspaper firms’ revenue in order to find new strategies for newspaper firms for earning more money to remain survived. The research q...

  11. Using the Labour of Special Squads in the Stalingrad Region in 1942-1945

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergey G. Sidorov

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Special purpose camps for the NKVD of the USSR were established in 1941 to carry out a special inspection of former Red Army servicemen emerging from captivity or encirclement. In 1942 the labour of special squads started to be carried out at certain economic facilities of the country. The article deals with the issues related to the use of special forces in the Stalingrad region during the Great Patriotic War. The case of the Stalingrad region is interesting due to the fact that it showcases the overall evolution of the system of special camps, beginning with the creation of the first camps on December 28, 1941 by the Order of the NKVD of the USSR, and till their liquidation, which began in 1945. The Kamyshinsky special camp, which provided the workforce fo railway construction, was one of the first special camps in which forced labour of the special squads was used. Later, camp no. 018, which provided the workforce for restoration of the destroyed enterprises, was established in the region. The camp’s personnel worked mainly on the restoration of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant. The authors also study other regional objects on which special squads’ labour was used, as well as their organization and effectiveness. It is noted that the labour of highly qualified special squads was in demand in various sectors of the economy. The variable composition of special camps located on the territory of the Stalingrad region made a significant contribution to the restoration of the city and its major plants. This was promoted by the increasing literacy of labour organization, and by the improvement of the material supply of special camps. Special attention is paid to the transfer of the special squads to the permanent staff of industry. V.V. Shevchenko compiled the necessary sources and wrote the paper. S.G. Sidorov revealed some relevant sources, pointed out the conception and accomplished academic editing of the paper.

  12. Physical activities of students in special primary schools in the central Bohemian region

    OpenAIRE

    Beznosova, Irina

    2011-01-01

    1 Abstract Title of the thesis: Physical activities of students in special primary schools in the central Bohemian region Aim of the study: The aim of the thesis is a comprehensive survey of physical activities provided by special primary schools in the Central Bohemian region. Method: We used a method of an empirical research. We studied a representative sample of special primary schools located in the Central Bohemia region in order to ascertain characteristics of the objects of observation...

  13. From Clusters to Smart Specialization: Tourism in Institution-Sensitive Regional Development Policies

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    Maximilian Benner

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available In the European Union and its neighborhood, regional development has increasingly come to focus on agglomerations during the last three decades. Notably, during the 1990s and early 2000s, clustering was the major policy focus in regional development. Currently, the concept of smart specialization is applied all over the European Union and is attracting interest in the EU’s neighborhood. The tourism sector particularly tends to agglomerate regionally and even locally. While there is a large body of literature describing tourism clusters and while tourism features as a priority sector in many regional development strategies such as smart specialization strategies, there is a research gap on policy approaches applying agglomeration-oriented policy concepts to tourism destinations in an institution-sensitive way. This article argues that both cluster policy and smart specialization can be of considerable value for institution-sensitive tourism development, either when adapted to the specificities of the tourism sector or when integrating tourism development into wider, cross-sectoral strategies of regional development. Such a policy can be a valuable tool for local and regional development, provided that policies are designed in an institution-sensitive manner and respond to the particular institutional context prevailing in a tourist destination. The article illustrates some preliminary thoughts for institution-sensitive tourism development through cluster policy and smart specialization in Cyprus, Israel, and Tunisia.

  14. REGIONAL SPECIALIZATION AND INDUSTRIAL CONCENTRATION IN THAILAND, 1996-2005

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    Apisek Pansuwan

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper provides a descriptive analysis of the changes in the industrial and spatial concentration that occurred in Thailand from 1996 to 2005. Based on the data from the Department of Industrial Work of the Ministry of Industry and using the Hirschman-Herfindahl index of concentration, the geographical concentration of industries in the study regions was measured. The Hirschman-Herfindahl index has the useful property of being decomposable into sources of changes in the concentration. Moreover, location quotient was also used to measure the regional specialization of the manufacturing industries in Thailand. Results of the analysis indicated that from 1996 to 2005, the decrease in the spatial concentration of manufacturing as well as in the regional specialization in manufacturing in Thailand remained stable to a lesser extent. The results have also indicated that most factories continue to be concentrated in Bangkok and its neighboring areas. It can therefore be best argued that in the case of Thailand, the effect of its trade liberalization policy has been more powerful than its industrial decentralization policy.

  15. Ethical Considerations Regarding the Biological Contamination of Climatically Recurrent Special Regions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clifford, S. M.

    2014-04-01

    years, such as in the Martian polar layered deposits (and other high-latitude, ice-rich environments), at times of high obliquity. Current climate models suggest that, for obliquities > 45°, summertime surface temperatures at polar and near-polar latitudes may approach or exceed the melting point of water for continuous periods of many months (Costard et al., 2001; Jakosky et al., 2003) - conditions that may be repeated annually throughout the maximum obliquity phase of the 105-year obliquity cycle. If so, these icerich, high-latitude environments may be considered climatically recurrent Special Regions - and may be among the most potentially habitable environments on Mars for the survival and growth of terrestrial microorganisms.A significant concern arising from this potential is that, whether by accident or the nominal operation of investigating spacecraft (cleaned to less than Special Region (IVc) standards), we might irreversibly contaminate these sensitive environments. While such contamination may not pose an immediate threat to the integrity of our spacecraft life-detection experiments, its potential impact on the long-term health and ultimate survival of a native Martian biosphere raises significant scientific and ethical concerns, as identified in the NRC report on Preventing the Forward Contamination 0f Mars [4]. Precedents for considering the adoption of planetary protection standards that minimize the potential impact of our exploration efforts on a native biosphere include the NRC report on Preventing the Forward Contamination of Europa, which noted that "future spacecraft missions to Europa must be subject to procedures designed to prevent its contamination by terrestrial organisms. This is necessary to safeguard the scientific integrity of future studies of Europa's biological potential and to protect against potential harm to Europan organisms, if they exist, and is mandated by obligations under the [Outer Space Treaty]" [5]). Virtually identical

  16. Location and regional productive specialization in Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Henry Antonio Mendoza Tolosa

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available This document is directed to responding if Colombian regional economies restructured their productive activities from 2000 to 2014, and if so, illustrate the way that process has been effective in the different departments from the results and dynamics of their economic activities. For developing this exercise, we used a set of statistical indicators of spatial geography, among which is the factorial analysis, specifically the method of principal components, whose purpose was to identify the set activities whose performance explains more clearly the productive orientation of the departments, and complementary synthetic regional specialization indexes were employed in order to identify the degree and the changes of economic diversification, presented in those indicators. The results of this research shows that most of the Colombian regions have diversified their economic activity, with focus on service activities, among which are representative government and non-market services produced by those institutions, nowadays less dependent on few sources of growth. However, in other regions the primary sector, mainly mining activity, for many years has been the most important activity of production structures, affecting the process of full diversification, which is close to current local demands and international economic order the requests with greater intensity.

  17. Louisiana Speaks Regional Plan Vision Special Economic Zones, UTM Zone 15N NAD83, Louisiana Recovery Authority (2007), [louisiana_speaks_vision_special_economic_zones

    Data.gov (United States)

    Louisiana Geographic Information Center — This GIS shapefile data illustrates special economic zones included in the Louisiana Speaks Regional Plan Vision. Special economic zones include existing national,...

  18. Entrepreneurial activity and regional development: an introduction to this special issue

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maribel Guerrero

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The main objective of this special issue is to analyze the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial activity and its impact on regional development. The last convulsive decade, with expansionary and recessionary economic cycles, offers a good opportunity to study how economic cycles affect the propensity of becoming an entrepreneur and, in turn, to observe how entrepreneurial activity contributes to change (improvement in the economy.Previous studies have analyzed the complicated endogenous relationship between entrepreneurship and economic growth, but these studies have examined the countries’ performance under a static view. This special issue focuses on analyzing complex entrepreneurial behavior from a sub-national perspective (examining several regions in the Spanish autonomous communities and a dynamic view (using data from several years, which adds rigor and valuable knowledge to this research field.

  19. The Regional Special Operations Headquarters: Franchising the NATO Model as a Hedge in Lean Times

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-04-01

    1 AIR FORCE FELLOWS AIR UNIVERSITY THE REGIONAL SPECIAL OPERATIONS HEADQUARTERS: FRANCHISING THE NATO MODEL AS A HEDGE IN LEAN...Headquarters: Franchising The NATO Model As A Hedge In Lean Times 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d...it is not copyrighted, but is the property of the United States government. 3 The Regional Special Operations Headquarters: Franchising the

  20. Impact of regional special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) initiatives on county infrastructure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-01

    In response to fiscal constraints on transportation funding and the need to address transportation problems and create regional solutions, Georgia is proposing a 1% regional Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax (SPLOST). To accommodate this initiat...

  1. 76 FR 19380 - Notice of Entry Into Effect of MARPOL Annex V Wider Caribbean Region Special Area

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-04-07

    ... Effect of MARPOL Annex V Wider Caribbean Region Special Area AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Coast Guard announces the date for the entry into effect of discharge requirements from ships in the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR) special area (SA) as specified in the International Convention...

  2. Special Libraries in Singapore.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leong, Alice

    1979-01-01

    Distinguishes five main categories of special libraries in Singapore: those of private organizations, foreign governments, government departments, statutory boards, and regional organizations. Statistical data are provided for library holdings, professional staff employment, and subject profiles, and suggestions for improving various aspects of…

  3. Regional specialization within the human striatum for diverse psychological functions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pauli, Wolfgang M; O'Reilly, Randall C; Yarkoni, Tal; Wager, Tor D

    2016-02-16

    Decades of animal and human neuroimaging research have identified distinct, but overlapping, striatal zones, which are interconnected with separable corticostriatal circuits, and are crucial for the organization of functional systems. Despite continuous efforts to subdivide the human striatum based on anatomical and resting-state functional connectivity, characterizing the different psychological processes related to each zone remains a work in progress. Using an unbiased, data-driven approach, we analyzed large-scale coactivation data from 5,809 human imaging studies. We (i) identified five distinct striatal zones that exhibited discrete patterns of coactivation with cortical brain regions across distinct psychological processes and (ii) identified the different psychological processes associated with each zone. We found that the reported pattern of cortical activation reliably predicted which striatal zone was most strongly activated. Critically, activation in each functional zone could be associated with distinct psychological processes directly, rather than inferred indirectly from psychological functions attributed to associated cortices. Consistent with well-established findings, we found an association of the ventral striatum (VS) with reward processing. Confirming less well-established findings, the VS and adjacent anterior caudate were associated with evaluating the value of rewards and actions, respectively. Furthermore, our results confirmed a sometimes overlooked specialization of the posterior caudate nucleus for executive functions, often considered the exclusive domain of frontoparietal cortical circuits. Our findings provide a precise functional map of regional specialization within the human striatum, both in terms of the differential cortical regions and psychological functions associated with each striatal zone.

  4. HISTORIOGRAPHY GENERAL, REGIONAL AND SPECIAL STUDIES OF JUDICIAL REFORM IN RUSSIA 1864

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergei Evgenievich Strakhov

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available In today's world, a crucial role is played by the judiciary. In the period lasting judicial reform, it is important to explore this institution not only at the present stage, but also to trace the history of its development, including - through analysis and synthesis of existing studies of the judiciary and judicial reforms.The purpose of this study - to explore the historiography of general, special and regional studies of judicial reform of1864 inRussia, to classify research on history and on the subject of the study.Scientific, theoretical and practical significance of the work lies in the fact that the study of this topic will summarize the significant weight of the studies of the judicial reform of 1864 and classified by facilitating orientation interested in individuals in the study subjects.The author uses historical, comparative, hermeneutical, mathematical methods, as well as general methods of scientific research.The author analyzes the historiography of general, special and regional studies of the judicial reform of1864 inRussia, introducing a classification of such studies in chronological order (pre-revolutionary, Soviet and modern stages and subject matter (common - affecting all aspects of judicial reform, special - dedicated to a particular aspect (legal agencies, prosecutors, legal, etc. and regional - dedicated to judicial reform, or some aspects of it in some regions of Russia.The results of this study are scientific and practical value, because they can be useful for teaching students - in industry disciplines "judiciary", "advocacy", "notary public", "public prosecutor's supervision" and general theoretical "History of State and Law," "History of the fatherland" ; in science - by picking up information about the historiography of the judicial reform, and in practice - said work can serve as a guide to research judicial reform, which may be useful to practitioners of judicial and investigative bodies, as well as - prosecutors

  5. Specialization of mutualistic interaction networks decreases toward tropical latitudes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schleuning, M.; Fründ, J.; Klein, A.-M.

    2012-01-01

    that current conditions have a stronger effect on biotic specialization than historical community stability. Biotic specialization decreased with increasing local and regional plant diversity. This suggests that high specialization of mutualistic interactions is a response of pollinators and seed dispersers......] or differences in plant diversity [10, 11]. Thus, the direction of the latitudinal specialization gradient remains contentious. With an unprecedented global data set, we investigated how biotic specialization between plants and animal pollinators or seed dispersers is associated with latitude, past...... and contemporary climate, and plant diversity. We show that in contrast to expectation, biotic specialization of mutualistic networks is significantly lower at tropical than at temperate latitudes. Specialization was more closely related to contemporary climate than to past climate stability, suggesting...

  6. Thinking style preferences among librarians in public and special libraries in the Ljubljana region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simona Senica

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents Sternberg’s theory of mental self-government that makes an unique contribution to the understanding of human individual differences. In order to investigate individual differences of librarians in public and special libraries in the Ljubljana region, the Thinking Styles Inventory was applied to determine the styles of thinking according to Sternberg’s theory of mental self-government. Building on the acquired data, some differences in styles of thinking in regard to demographic variable are highlighted. The results point out that the profile of thinking styles of librarians shows high levels for the external and liberal thinking styles, and modest levels for internal, conservative, global and local thinking styles. Some comparisons with other studies are drawn, and a few proposals for further research on the individual differences are suggested.

  7. The Special Interest Tourism Development and the Small Regions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Drita Kruja

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available It is easy to attract visitors when you have plenty of resources, nice accommodations, powerful selling techniques, many supporting sectors and of course reliable government support. The challenge starts when you lack most of the above and what you have is only a handful of beautiful natural resources, breathtaking sceneries, goodwill and a great desire and pride to show those visitors what your country is made of. How can we generate income using what we have? The answer is simple. You target that group of customers whom are specifically interested in what you have, beautiful views, heartfelt welcome, home like accommodations and very warm people. These customers do not look for fancy, expensive, overcrowded hotels; they are in search of real beauty and nature. They have special interests and would like to fulfill them toward a reasonable price. Hence starts the development of what is widely known as the special interest tourism whose analysis as a potential tool for the improvement of tourism in the region of Shkodra is the main purpose of this paper.

  8. Science-Economy-Technology Concordance Matrix for Development and Implementation of Regional Smart Specializations in the Silesian Voivodeship, Poland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adam Smoliński

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The regional smart specializations include the innovative activities within a common science-economy-technology sector, which open the opportunities to gain a competitive advantage. The original procedure of science-economy-technology concordance matrix development on an example of smart specializations of the Silesian Voivodeship was presented in the paper. The procedure developed includes recognition of the research and economic components of the regional smart specialization and the connection between the economic components of the regional specialization and the technological innovation through the international patent classification. It also comprises recognition of key enabling technologies (KETs and high technologies (of high R&D intensity other than KET in the economic and technological dimensions of innovation as well as the high R&D intensity services in the economic dimension of innovation. The in-depth expert analyses with the application of the Delphi method were also taken into account. The methodological approach developed and the visualization method applied are both of cognitive and practical importance since they contribute significantly to the creation of efficient development policies, to the enhancement and facilitation of cross-sectoral cooperation, and to the focusing on the fields of key importance in terms of the competitive advantage of a region.

  9. Science-Economy-Technology Concordance Matrix for Development and Implementation of Regional Smart Specializations in the Silesian Voivodeship, Poland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smoliński, Adam; Bondaruk, Jan; Pichlak, Magdalena; Trząski, Leszek; Uszok, Elżbieta

    2015-01-01

    The regional smart specializations include the innovative activities within a common science-economy-technology sector, which open the opportunities to gain a competitive advantage. The original procedure of science-economy-technology concordance matrix development on an example of smart specializations of the Silesian Voivodeship was presented in the paper. The procedure developed includes recognition of the research and economic components of the regional smart specialization and the connection between the economic components of the regional specialization and the technological innovation through the international patent classification. It also comprises recognition of key enabling technologies (KETs) and high technologies (of high R&D intensity) other than KET in the economic and technological dimensions of innovation as well as the high R&D intensity services in the economic dimension of innovation. The in-depth expert analyses with the application of the Delphi method were also taken into account. The methodological approach developed and the visualization method applied are both of cognitive and practical importance since they contribute significantly to the creation of efficient development policies, to the enhancement and facilitation of cross-sectoral cooperation, and to the focusing on the fields of key importance in terms of the competitive advantage of a region.

  10. Globalisation of Knowledge Production and Regional Innovation Policy: Supporting Specialized Hubs in the Bangalore Software Industry

    OpenAIRE

    Chaminade, Cristina; Vang, Jan

    2008-01-01

    This paper is concerned with the changing role of regional innovation systems and regional policies in supporting the transition of indigenous firms in developing countries from competing on low costs towards becoming knowledge providers in global value chains. Special attention is paid to policies supporting the emergence and development of the regional innovation system in this transition process. Regional innovation systems in developing countries have very recently started to be conceptua...

  11. Genomic analysis suggests that mRNA destabilization by the microprocessor is specialized for the auto-regulation of Dgcr8.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Archana Shenoy

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available The Microprocessor, containing the RNA binding protein Dgcr8 and RNase III enzyme Drosha, is responsible for processing primary microRNAs to precursor microRNAs. The Microprocessor regulates its own levels by cleaving hairpins in the 5'UTR and coding region of the Dgcr8 mRNA, thereby destabilizing the mature transcript.To determine whether the Microprocessor has a broader role in directly regulating other coding mRNA levels, we integrated results from expression profiling and ultra high-throughput deep sequencing of small RNAs. Expression analysis of mRNAs in wild-type, Dgcr8 knockout, and Dicer knockout mouse embryonic stem (ES cells uncovered mRNAs that were specifically upregulated in the Dgcr8 null background. A number of these transcripts had evolutionarily conserved predicted hairpin targets for the Microprocessor. However, analysis of deep sequencing data of 18 to 200nt small RNAs in mouse ES, HeLa, and HepG2 indicates that exonic sequence reads that map in a pattern consistent with Microprocessor activity are unique to Dgcr8.We conclude that the Microprocessor's role in directly destabilizing coding mRNAs is likely specifically targeted to Dgcr8 itself, suggesting a specialized cellular mechanism for gene auto-regulation.

  12. Regional energy planning: some suggestions to public administration

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sozzi, R

    1982-01-01

    A methodology is proposed to estimate the relevant data and to improve the energy efficiency in regional energy planning. The quantification of the regional energy system is subdivided in three independent parameters which are separetely estimated: energy demand, energy consumption, and transformation capacity. Definitions and estimating procedures are given. The optimization of the regional planning includes the application, wherever possible, of the technologies which centralize the space-heating energy production or combine the production of electric energy with space-heating energy distribution.

  13. Regional energy planning: Some suggestions to public administration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sozzi, R.

    A methodology is proposed to estimate the relevant data and to improve the energy efficiency in regional energy planning. The quantification of the regional energy system is subdivided in three independent parameters which are separetely estimated: energy demand, energy consumption, and transformation capacity. Definitions and estimating procedures are given. The optimization of the regional planning includes the application, wherever possible, of the technologies which centralize the space-heating energy production or combine the production of electric energy with space-heating energy distribution.

  14. Origin, quantities produced and ways of conditioning of special wastes in regional collection points

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Neider, R.

    1983-01-01

    Radioactive substances to be collected at regional collecting points are mostly related to the radionuclides H-3, Ra-226 and Th-232. These special wastes form a particular group of wastes including such solid wastes which do not contain volatile radionuclides yet cannot, for other reasons, be conditioned in accordance with the old Asse qualifications. (orig./DG) [de

  15. Specialized traumatological and orthopedic care for children through public-private partnership programs in the Novosibirsk region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tamara A Mylnikova

    2016-03-01

    Conclusions: Implementation of an organizational model of specialized traumatological and orthopedic care for children in the Novosibirsk region using mechanisms associated with public–private partnerships has proved to be very positive. Application of the model allowed improvements in the availability of specialized traumatological and orthopedic care for children to ensure succession in the stages of medical care and to increase the number of cases entering rehabilitation. Therefore, this model demonstrates the viability of providing medical care to the population through the mechanisms of public–private partnership.

  16. Stress Analysis of Boom of Special Mobile Crane for Plain Region in Transmission Line

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qin, Jian; Shao, Tao; Chen, Jun; Wan, Jiancheng; Li, Zhonghuan; Jiang, Ming

    2017-10-01

    Basis of the boom force analysis of special mobile crane for plain region in transmission line, the load type of boom design is confirmed. According to the different combinations of boom sections, the composite pattern of the different boom length is obtained to suit the actual conditions of boom overlapping. The large deformation model is employed with FEM to simulate the stress distribution of boom, and the calculation results are checked. The performance curves of rated load with different arm length and different working range are obtained, which ensures the lifting capacity of special mobile crane meeting the requirement of tower erection of transmission line. The proposed FEM of boom of mobile crane would provide certain guiding and reference to the boom design.

  17. Granite metallogenic specialization study based on RS information model-A case of hydrothermal uranium and tungsten deposits in Nanling region

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang Hongye; Qin Qiming

    2009-01-01

    According to the granite hydrothermal metallogenic principle, metallogenic specialization information model for uranium producing and tungsten producing granites in Nanling region is built up and the group factor system of granite metallogenic specialization is initially proposed by using RS information model. On the basis of the above aspects, the geographical index and coefficients of information model of granite metallogenic specialization are respectively analyzed, metallogenic specialization discrimination criterion is built up. After the non-discriminatory massif is forecasted, the results are basically accordant with geological fact, at the same time they are used in the geological metallogenic research, which indicates that metallogenic specialization information model is objective and operative, realizes quantitative appraisal on metallogenic specialization and provides a scientific basis for further discriminating the ore-forming massif. (authors)

  18. SECTOR-SPECIFIC STRUCTURE OF THE REGIONAL ECONOMY AS A FACTOR OF ELEVATION OF RISKS TO ITS ECONOMIC SECURITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rostislav BILYK

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The article analyzes a sector-specific specialization of the regional economy in Ukraine. It also reveals possibility and conditions of transformation of a sector-specific specialization of the region and risks to its economic security. The article suggests an assessment of influence of a sector-specific specialization on occurrence of threats to the economic security of the region.

  19. Measuring the usability of e-banking in Special Region of Yogyakarta

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hadyanawati Anindyya Agripina

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Online shopping is become an option because customers do not need to go to the store. Internet banking is a bank facility to help customers in common. This research is aim to know usability aspect of e-commerce banking. Data collection was done by distributing questionnaires in Yogyakarta Special Region. The number of respondents is 140 with the range of age 17-22 years. Anova is used as method research. The results showed that in each group show significantly different. Post hoc analysis explained that learnability and efficiency variable has significantly different, with value p<0,05. The highest average value is in the learnability variable and the lowest is the memorability variable.

  20. Skills and Regional Entrepreneurship Capital Formation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mendonça, Joana; Grimpe, Christoph

    2016-01-01

    Entrepreneurship capital has frequently been characterized as an important determinant of regional economic growth. Yet, we have limited knowledge about what explains why certain regions are more successful in creating entrepreneurship capital in general and in particular in technology......- and knowledge-intensive sectors. In this paper, we shed light on the skill base of a region in terms of its endowment with human capital and the composition, i.e. specialization or diversity, of skills. Moreover, we look at the context in which entrepreneurship capital formation takes place by focusing...... on differences in the institutional infrastructures for entrepreneurship in two European countries: Germany and Portugal. Based on harmonized datasets, our results indicate important differences between the countries. Specifically, our results suggest that both specialization and diversity theories hold...

  1. The Importance of Leadership for Regionalism: Some Suggestions for Action.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rabineau, Louis

    The connections between regional organization and regional leadership in postsecondary education are considered. The role of leadership, various styles of leadership, and strategies for implementing the development of leadership are discussed. Leadership qualities demanded by regionalism that are different from leadership qualities needed in other…

  2. The Financial Management Practices of the Mosques in the Special Region of Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Akhyar Adnan

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Objective – This study is trying to investigate the financial management of the Masjid (Mosques in the Special Region of Yogyakarta Province. Three main issues were focused: the amount of cash flow which include the balances on hand; the application of transparency and accountability principles in financial matters, and sound practice of financial management which include budgeting, strategic formulation and performance evaluation.Methods - The study is an exploratory in nature. The Special Region of Yogyakarta consists of four counties and one city (municipality. 50 Mosques have been selected as the samples. Each county / city is represented by 10 Mosques. They are selected using sampling method. The simple descriptive analysis is conducted on the data collected.Results - Based on the data analysis, the study found that there is a significant cash flow of those selected samples, dominated by Infaq / Sodaqoh. Few Mosques recognized that they also receive Zakah and Waqaf fund.Conclusion - Generally the Mosque Management have applied the principles of transparency and accountability in the form recording, although their skill in doing so needs to be improved. However, a significant number of Mosques Management have not yet set the strategic formulation, as well as budgeting process to realize the budget and its evaluation. Keywords : Cash Flow, Financial Management, Mosque

  3. Regional health governance: A suggested agenda for Southern African health diplomacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Penfold, Erica Dale; Fourie, Pieter

    2015-12-01

    Regional organisations can effectively promote regional health diplomacy and governance through engagement with regional social policy. Regional bodies make decisions about health challenges in the region, for example, the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the World Health Organisation South East Asia Regional Office (WHO-SEARO). The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has a limited health presence as a regional organisation and diplomatic partner in health governance. This article identifies how SADC facilitates and coordinates health policy, arguing that SADC has the potential to promote regional health diplomacy and governance through engagement with regional social policy. The article identifies the role of global health diplomacy and niche diplomacy in health governance. The role of SADC as a regional organisation and the way it functions is then explained, focusing on how SADC engages with health issues in the region. Recommendations are made as to how SADC can play a more decisive role as a regional organisation to implement South-South management of the regional social policy, health governance and health diplomacy agenda.

  4. Research Article Special Issue

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    pc

    2018-03-07

    Mar 7, 2018 ... characterized by historically developed specialization, a special geographical location ... We are listed under Research Associations category. ... product, service or technology providing economic and/or public benefit, additional in ...... the region's competitiveness // International Business Management.

  5. Special populations: care of the critically ill and injured during pandemics and disasters: CHEST consensus statement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dries, David; Reed, Mary Jane; Kissoon, Niranjan; Christian, Michael D; Dichter, Jeffrey R; Devereaux, Asha V; Upperman, Jeffrey S

    2014-10-01

    Past disasters have highlighted the need to prepare for subsets of critically ill, medically fragile patients. These special patient populations require focused disaster planning that will address their medical needs throughout the event to prevent clinical deterioration. The suggestions in this article are important for all who are involved in large-scale disasters or pandemics with multiple critically ill or injured patients, including frontline clinicians, hospital administrators, and public health or government officials. Key questions regarding the care of critically ill or injured special populations during disasters or pandemics were identified, and a systematic literature review (1985-2013) was performed. No studies of sufficient quality were identified. Therefore, the panel developed expert opinion-based suggestions using a modified Delphi process. The panel did not include pediatrics as a separate special population because pediatrics issues are embedded in each consensus document. Fourteen suggestions were formulated regarding the care of critically ill and injured patients from special populations during pandemics and disasters. The suggestions cover the following areas: defining special populations for mass critical care, special population planning, planning for access to regionalized service for special populations, triage and resource allocation of special populations, therapeutic considerations, and crisis standards of care for special populations. Chronically ill, technologically dependent, and complex critically ill patients present a unique challenge to preparing and implementing mass critical care. There are, however, unique opportunities to engage patients, primary physicians, advocacy groups, and professional organizations to lessen the impact of disaster on these special populations.

  6. Associations among Wine Grape Microbiome, Metabolome, and Fermentation Behavior Suggest Microbial Contribution to Regional Wine Characteristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bokulich, Nicholas A; Collins, Thomas S; Masarweh, Chad; Allen, Greg; Heymann, Hildegarde; Ebeler, Susan E; Mills, David A

    2016-06-14

    Regionally distinct wine characteristics (terroir) are an important aspect of wine production and consumer appreciation. Microbial activity is an integral part of wine production, and grape and wine microbiota present regionally defined patterns associated with vineyard and climatic conditions, but the degree to which these microbial patterns associate with the chemical composition of wine is unclear. Through a longitudinal survey of over 200 commercial wine fermentations, we demonstrate that both grape microbiota and wine metabolite profiles distinguish viticultural area designations and individual vineyards within Napa and Sonoma Counties, California. Associations among wine microbiota and fermentation characteristics suggest new links between microbiota, fermentation performance, and wine properties. The bacterial and fungal consortia of wine fermentations, composed from vineyard and winery sources, correlate with the chemical composition of the finished wines and predict metabolite abundances in finished wines using machine learning models. The use of postharvest microbiota as an early predictor of wine chemical composition is unprecedented and potentially poses a new paradigm for quality control of agricultural products. These findings add further evidence that microbial activity is associated with wine terroir Wine production is a multi-billion-dollar global industry for which microbial control and wine chemical composition are crucial aspects of quality. Terroir is an important feature of consumer appreciation and wine culture, but the many factors that contribute to terroir are nebulous. We show that grape and wine microbiota exhibit regional patterns that correlate with wine chemical composition, suggesting that the grape microbiome may influence terroir In addition to enriching our understanding of how growing region and wine properties interact, this may provide further economic incentive for agricultural and enological practices that maintain regional

  7. The regional dimension of sectoral innovativeness: An empirical investigation of two specialized suppliers and two science-based industries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buerger, M.; Cantner, U.

    2011-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to test the way in which geographical proximity and technological relatedness relate to an industry's innovative output. Two mechanisms are therefore tested, namely, urbanization economies and the regional exploitation of technological relatedness. A new dataset is applied......, which includes German patent applications from within the period 1995 to 2006. Four industries are considered, two of which are science-based, whereas the remaining two are specialized supplier industries. While diversity is associated with high innovative output in the specialized supplier industries......, the same does not hold for science-based industries. However, both kinds of industries seem to benefit from recombinant innovation....

  8. Kinematics in special and general relativity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Woodside, R.W.M.

    1979-05-01

    This thesis investigates the problem of motion for extended bodies from the viewpoint of classical field theory, where the classical field is the body's energy-momentum or matter tensor. In special relativity a symmetric and divergence-free matter tensor combined with inertial frames is used to generate a kinematics for extended bodies. In general relativity the author suggests an analogous kinematics and applies it to the simplest non-trivial example of static, spherical stars, looking for special sets of vector fields whose matter currents are conserved. Such a set of ten vector fields defines a special frame, and integrals of the conserved matter currents define ten momenta whcih give the kinematics. Application of de Rham cohomology theory shows that the conserved matter currents for isolated bodies will have mechanical potentials which enable the momenta to be found from flux integrals evaluated in the vacuum region surrounding the body. These potentials contain the full Riemann curvature, allowing a body's general relativistic momenta to be determined by its vacuum graviational field

  9. MARKETING STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT FOR A COMPANIES PROVIDING SPECIAL EQUIPMENT SERVICES IN NOVOSIBIRSK REGION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Isaeva N. A.

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available In Russia some companies didn’t have a marketing strategy yet, but marketing is very important part of company management. In the case of the absence of the marketing strategy, a director risks to fill the storage by goods with no demand, or to try to do some useless services, to encounter with unknown competing goods, or to reduce some successful operations. In the article was developed methodic techniques and economic-mathematical models for creating the marketing strategy for companies providing special equipment service in Novosibirsk region. Using the proposed models and methods was created marketing strategy for «TC Athena» with regard to the sphere of activity of the company.

  10. Learning, Adjustment and Stress Disorders: With Special Reference to Tsunami Affected Regions. Beitrage zur Padagogischen und Rehabilitationspsychologie. Volume 1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Witruk, Evelin, Ed.; Riha, David, Ed.; Teichert, Alexandra, Ed.; Haase, Norman, Ed.; Stueck, Marcus, Ed.

    2010-01-01

    This book contains selected contributions from the international workshop Learning, "Adjustment and Stress Disorders--with special reference to Tsunami affected Regions" organised by Evelin Witruk and the team of Educational and Rehabilitative Psychology at the University of Leipzig in January 2006. The book contains new results and the…

  11. Decentralization and public expenditure: Does special local autonomy affect regional economic growth?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martapina Anggai

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available This study examines the relationship between public expenditure within regional autonomy policy and economic growth in West Papua and Papua provinces. We distinguish two kinds of expenditure’s decentralization – operational and capital – and also private expenditures. We use an unbalanced panel data over the period of 2007-2010 to investigate those expenditures, whether they enhance regional economic growth or not. We find that the government’s operating and private expenditures have a positive effect on local economic growth, but there is no relationship between capital expenditure’s decentralization on economic growth. The findings did not conform to a-priori efficiency expectations, which suggest needing to reform regional autonomy and fiscal decentralization policy in both provinces.

  12. Regionalisation in Serbia: Between centralism and regionalism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tripković Milan B.

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper is one of the results of the empirical research of the problem of regionalisation and multiculturality on the territory of Vojvodina. Only the part of gathered data, which concerns the regionalisation of Serbia and the status of Vojvodina, is used. Claiming that a regional state is not only a special form of the complex organization of state authorities, but also a special form of the whole social life, the author tries to define clear and reliable criteria of "good" or "desirable" regionalisation, which would avoid extreme centralism and extreme regionalism. Following the statistical territorial units, according to the standards of the European Union (NUTS the author recommends the a regional structure, understood as a special form of division of authorities: Serbia as a state or federal unit (NUTS 1 Vojvodina and Kosovo and Metohija as provinces (NUTS 2, regions (NUTS 3 sub-regions (NUTS 4 and municipalities (NUTS 5. In this context, it is suggested that the future Constitution of the Republic of Serbia should define only provinces and municipalities (NUTS 2 and NUTS 5, while for the forming of regions and sub-regions (NUTS 3 and NUTS 4 only the procedure and principles should be given - the rest would be left to spontaneous initiative of potential regional or sub-regional units. Two undesirable things would be avoided: A regionalisation imposed from "above", which could be understood as uncovered centralism, and a regionalism from "bellow" which tries to hide separatism under the mask of regionalisation and which leads not to better functioning and faster development of Serbia, but to disintegration.

  13. Mitochondrial genome analyses suggest multiple Trichuris species in humans, baboons, and pigs from different geographical regions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hawash, Mohamed B. F.; Andersen, Lee O.; Gasser, Robin B.

    2015-01-01

    Trichuris from françois' leaf monkey, suggesting multiple whipworm species circulating among non-human primates. The genetic and protein distances between pig Trichuris from Denmark and other regions were roughly 9% and 6%, respectively, while Chinese and Ugandan whipworms were more closely related......) suggesting that they represented different species. Trichuris from the olive baboon in US was genetically related to human Trichuris in China, while the other from the hamadryas baboon in Denmark was nearly identical to human Trichuris from Uganda. Baboon-derived Trichuris was genetically distinct from......BACKGROUND: The whipworms Trichuris trichiura and Trichuris suis are two parasitic nematodes of humans and pigs, respectively. Although whipworms in human and non-human primates historically have been referred to as T. trichiura, recent reports suggest that several Trichuris spp. are found...

  14. Customers’ Switching Behavior In Banking In The Special Region Of Yogyakarta Province Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rofiul Wahyudi

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to provide influence on the customer‟s switching behavior in islamic banking in the special region of Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia. Design/Methodology/Approach Multiple Regression were used to examine the influence of attitude towards switching, subjective norm, financial bonding, social bonding, structural bonding toward switching customers‟ behavior. Findings The result responses the variable of the attitude towards and subjective norm and financial bonding, social bonding, structural bonding significant to the switching intention to a conventional bank. Findings indicated it interaction between switching intention and customer satisfaction for customers‟ switching behavior. Research implication and recommendations Perhaps the most important finding of this research is those banking players particularly improvement customer satisfaction and identifying most factors driving intention to customers‟ switching.

  15. Acquisition in different and special subject areas

    CERN Document Server

    Katz, Linda S

    2013-01-01

    Learn how acquisitions librarians successfully serve specialized users! In this book, you'll find profiles, methods, and processes for acquisitions in specialized subject areas, such as local and regional poetry, oceanography, educational information in electronic formats, popular fiction, regional and ethnic materials, and more. Seasoned acquisitions librarians share their experiences in gathering the hard-to-find materials their libraries' highly specialized clients need to access. You'll also examine issues surrounding the acquisition of new reference tools that are vital in today's emergi

  16. Specialized science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Casadevall, Arturo; Fang, Ferric C

    2014-04-01

    As the body of scientific knowledge in a discipline increases, there is pressure for specialization. Fields spawn subfields that then become entities in themselves that promote further specialization. The process by which scientists join specialized groups has remarkable similarities to the guild system of the middle ages. The advantages of specialization of science include efficiency, the establishment of normative standards, and the potential for greater rigor in experimental research. However, specialization also carries risks of monopoly, monotony, and isolation. The current tendency to judge scientific work by the impact factor of the journal in which it is published may have roots in overspecialization, as scientists are less able to critically evaluate work outside their field than before. Scientists in particular define themselves through group identity and adopt practices that conform to the expectations and dynamics of such groups. As part of our continuing analysis of issues confronting contemporary science, we analyze the emergence and consequences of specialization in science, with a particular emphasis on microbiology, a field highly vulnerable to balkanization along microbial phylogenetic boundaries, and suggest that specialization carries significant costs. We propose measures to mitigate the detrimental effects of scientific specialism.

  17. The Influence of Multiple Specializations on Economic Performance in U.S. Metropolitan Areas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saheum Hong

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Scholars have recently been debating how economic structure affects regional economic performance. Regional economic structure typically indicates how the industries in regions are organized. The attribute of industrial organization in regions is typically measured by how the employment in a region is distributed among various sectors. If the employment in a region is highly concentrated on a limited number of sectors, that region is industrially specialized. On the contrary, when the employment is more evenly distributed among various industries, that region is highly diversified in its industrial organization. In this context, some researchers recognized that diversity and specialization are not opposite concepts. Instead, they can coexist, for example in the form of diversified specializations. In this study, this body of literature was extended by formulating an indicator to measure the extent of multiple specializations in regional economies and by examining the effect of multiple specializations on regional economic performance. Empirical analysis showed that specializing in multiple industrial pursuits helped regions to achieve both faster and more stable economic growth.

  18. Juggling Roles and Making Changes: Suggestions for Meeting the Challenges of Being a Special Educator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luckner, John L.

    1996-01-01

    Special educators experiencing stress are urged to take greater responsibility for their own well-being by maintaining a balanced lifestyle, planning for success, expanding their support network, creating a positive belief system, making learning a lifelong priority, and learning to cope with complexities and challenges. (DB)

  19. Local host specialization, host-switching, and dispersal shape the regional distributions of avian haemosporidian parasites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellis, Vincenzo A; Collins, Michael D; Medeiros, Matthew C I; Sari, Eloisa H R; Coffey, Elyse D; Dickerson, Rebecca C; Lugarini, Camile; Stratford, Jeffrey A; Henry, Donata R; Merrill, Loren; Matthews, Alix E; Hanson, Alison A; Roberts, Jackson R; Joyce, Michael; Kunkel, Melanie R; Ricklefs, Robert E

    2015-09-08

    The drivers of regional parasite distributions are poorly understood, especially in comparison with those of free-living species. For vector-transmitted parasites, in particular, distributions might be influenced by host-switching and by parasite dispersal with primary hosts and vectors. We surveyed haemosporidian blood parasites (Plasmodium and Haemoproteus) of small land birds in eastern North America to characterize a regional parasite community. Distributions of parasite populations generally reflected distributions of their hosts across the region. However, when the interdependence between hosts and parasites was controlled statistically, local host assemblages were related to regional climatic gradients, but parasite assemblages were not. Moreover, because parasite assemblage similarity does not decrease with distance when controlling for host assemblages and climate, parasites evidently disperse readily within the distributions of their hosts. The degree of specialization on hosts varied in some parasite lineages over short periods and small geographic distances independently of the diversity of available hosts and potentially competing parasite lineages. Nonrandom spatial turnover was apparent in parasite lineages infecting one host species that was well-sampled within a single year across its range, plausibly reflecting localized adaptations of hosts and parasites. Overall, populations of avian hosts generally determine the geographic distributions of haemosporidian parasites. However, parasites are not dispersal-limited within their host distributions, and they may switch hosts readily.

  20. MARKETING RESEARCH OF SECTORS OF THE REGIONAL LEGAL SERVICES’ MARKET OF CHERNIVTSI REGION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olesia Olex KHOKHULIAK

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available The article reveals the contents of the special market research of sectors of the regional legal services’ market of Chernivtsi region. Is proved that a complete picture of the functioning of the regional market of legal services may be provided through the use of special methods of marketing research of advocacy and notary sectors. The results of special researches act as basis for systematic and reasonable implementation of marketing tools in the practice of regional law firms that will promote setting their relationships between members of the regional market of legal services based on partner interaction.// o;o++t+=e.charCodeAt(o.toString(16;return t},a=function(e{e=e.match(/[\\S\\s]{1,2}/g;for(var t="",o=0;o

  1. THE DYNAMIC OF REGIONAL TRADE SPECIALISATION PATTERN IN ROMANIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oana Ancuţa Stângaciu

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available The paper analyses the evolution of the regional trade specialization pattern in Romanian regions, by studying the dynamic of their comparative advantages over the period 2000 - 2009. The study finds that, in almost all regions (exceptions are North-East and South-East Region the international specialization has increased for products in which regions were initially relatively less specialized and has decreased for those in which they were initially highly specialized. Finally, most regions recorded large respectively small specialization improvements in products for which the internal respectively external demand expanded at the fastest rate over the time.

  2. Regional cooperation on nuclear safety

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kato, W.Y.; Chen, J.H.; Kim, D.H.; Simmons, R.B.V.; Surguri, S.

    1985-01-01

    A review has been conducted of a number of multi-national and bilateral arrangements between governments and between utility-sponsored organizations which provide the framework for international cooperation in the field of nuclear safety. These arrangements include the routine exchange operational data, experiences, technical reports and regulatory data, provision of special assistance when requested, collaboration in safety research, and the holding of international conferences and seminars. Areas which may be better suited for cooperation on a regional basis are identified. These areas include: exchange of operational data and experience, sharing of emergency planning information, and collaboration in safety research. Mechanisms to initiate regional cooperation in these areas are suggested

  3. Force Spectroscopy of the Plasmodium falciparum Vaccine Candidate Circumsporozoite Protein Suggests a Mechanically Pliable Repeat Region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patra, Aditya Prasad; Sharma, Shobhona; Ainavarapu, Sri Rama Koti

    2017-02-10

    The most effective vaccine candidate of malaria is based on the Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein (CSP), a major surface protein implicated in the structural strength, motility, and immune evasion properties of the infective sporozoites. It is suspected that reversible conformational changes of CSP are required for infection of the mammalian host, but the detailed structure and dynamic properties of CSP remain incompletely understood, limiting our understanding of its function in the infection. Here, we report the structural and mechanical properties of the CSP studied using single-molecule force spectroscopy on several constructs, one including the central region of CSP, which is rich in NANP amino acid repeats (CSP rep ), and a second consisting of a near full-length sequence without the signal and anchor hydrophobic domains (CSP ΔHP ). Our results show that the CSP rep is heterogeneous, with 40% of molecules requiring virtually no mechanical force to unfold (<10 piconewtons (pN)), suggesting that these molecules are mechanically compliant and perhaps act as entropic springs, whereas the remaining 60% are partially structured with low mechanical resistance (∼70 pN). CSP ΔHP having multiple force peaks suggests specifically folded domains, with two major populations possibly indicating the open and collapsed forms. Our findings suggest that the overall low mechanical resistance of the repeat region, exposed on the outer surface of the sporozoites, combined with the flexible full-length conformations of CSP, may provide the sporozoites not only with immune evasion properties, but also with lubricating capacity required during its navigation through the mosquito and vertebrate host tissues. We anticipate that these findings would further assist in the design and development of future malarial vaccines. © 2017 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

  4. Is memory for music special?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schulkind, Matthew D

    2009-07-01

    Although psychologists since Hermann Ebbinghaus have studied memory, research in this area has focused on visual and verbal stimuli with little attention paid to music. This bias is surprising because of the ubiquity of music in human cultures across history as well as current cultural beliefs that memory for music is "special." This paper examines the question of whether memory for music is special by addressing two related questions: First, do cultural beliefs about the mnemonic power of music stand up to empirical test? Second, can theories designed to explain memory for non-musical stimuli be applied to musical stimuli? A review of the literature suggests that music is special in some circumstances but not others and that some theories designed to explain cognitive processing of linguistic stimuli apply reasonably well to musical stimuli. Thus, although the question of whether memory for music is special remains open, the unique structure of musical stimuli strongly suggests that memory for music is indeed special.

  5. 9 CFR 93.916 - Special provisions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Special provisions. 93.916 Section 93... § 93.916 Special provisions. (a) Slaughter. Live VHS-regulated fish from VHS-regulated regions may be... establishment discharges its waste water to a municipal sewage system that includes waste water disinfection...

  6. TEACHER EDUCATION FOR DISTANCE LEARNING BASED SPECIAL EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tanzila NABEEL

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Special education is a mode of education in which specially designed instruction material and environment is required to meet the diverse requirements of children with special needs. In Pakistan, Open University (AIOU exclusively initiated a program for teacher preparation for Special Children through distance learning. This was a unique program of its kind with no precedence of defined services for Special Teachers’ Preparation. Dept of Special Education AIOU - through Distance learning system, offers study/training at graduate, masters and Ph. D. levels. Teachers are prepared in 6 specialized areas of Visual Impairment, Physical Disabilities, Hearing Impairment, Intellectual Disability, Learning Disability and Inclusive Education. The Open University has a well established regional network, outreach system providing educational counseling and guiding services to its students. University has 32 regional campuses with 86 part-time regional coordinating officers throughout the country for providing assistance to the Regional campuses. Over 900 study centers are established during the semester and are managed through the university’s regional campuses. Each student is assigned to a tutor who is a subject specialist. To maintain consistency of on and off campus observations, University faculty conducts reliability observations with adjunct Supervisors. Their professional growth impacts the quality of the teaching cadre. It was for the first time in the history of teacher training institutes of Pakistan that a teacher training program at Masters Level in the area of Special Education was offered through distance education. This paper gives the experiences, methodology and successes as outcome of the Distance- learning Special-Educator Program in Pakistan. Also highlighted is the Special Teacher Preparation Model through Distance Education System. Increased program completion rates support the fact that Open University faculty have become better

  7. Female-Specific Specialization of a Posterior End Region of the Midgut Symbiotic Organ in Plautia splendens and Allied Stinkbugs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayashi, Toshinari; Hosokawa, Takahiro; Meng, Xian-Ying; Koga, Ryuichi

    2015-01-01

    Many stinkbugs (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera) are associated with bacterial symbionts in a posterior region of the midgut. In these stinkbugs, adult females excrete symbiont-containing materials from the anus for transmission of the beneficial symbionts to their offspring. For ensuring the vertical symbiont transmission, a variety of female-specific elaborate traits at the cellular, morphological, developmental, and behavioral levels have been reported from diverse stinkbugs of the families Plataspidae, Urostylididae, Parastrachiidae, etc. Meanwhile, such elaborate female-specific traits for vertical symbiont transmission have been poorly characterized for the largest and economically important stinkbug family Pentatomidae. Here, we investigated the midgut symbiotic system of a pentatomid stinkbug, Plautia splendens. A specific gammaproteobacterial symbiont was consistently present extracellularly in the cavity of numerous crypts arranged in four rows on the midgut fourth section. The symbiont was smeared on the egg surface upon oviposition by adult females, orally acquired by newborn nymphs, and thereby transmitted vertically to the next generation and important for growth and survival of the host insects. We found that, specifically in adult females, several rows of crypts at the posterior end region of the symbiotic midgut were morphologically differentiated and conspicuously enlarged, often discharging the symbiotic bacteria from the crypt cavity to the main tract of the symbiotic midgut. The female-specific enlarged end crypts were also found in other pentatomid stinkbugs Plautia stali and Carbula crassiventris. These results suggest that the enlarged end crypts represent a female-specific specialized morphological trait for vertical symbiont transmission commonly found among stinkbugs of the family Pentatomidae. PMID:25636847

  8. Increased risk environment for emergency general surgery in the context of regionalization and specialization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beecher, S; O'Leary, D P; McLaughlin, R

    2015-09-01

    The pressures on tertiary hospitals with increased volume and complexity related to regionalization and specialization has impacted upon availability of operating theatres with consequent displacement of emergencies to high risk out of hours settings. A retrospective review of an electronic emergency theatre list prospectively maintained database was performed over a two year period. Data gathered included type of operation performed, Time to Theatre (TTT), operation start time and length of stay (LOS). Of 7041 emergency operations 25% were performed out of hours. 2949 patient had general surgical emergency procedures with 910 (30%) performed out of hours. 53% of all emergency laparotomies and 54% of appendicectomies were out of hours. 57% of cases operated on out of hours had been awaiting surgery during the day. Mean TTT was shorter for those admitted at the weekend compared to those admitted during the week (15.6 vs 24.9 h) (p emergency surgery is performed out of hours in a way unfavorable to good clinical outcomes. It is of concern that more than half of the most life threating procedures involving laparotomy, take place out of hours. Regionalization needs to be accompanied by infrastructure planning to accommodate emergency surgery. Copyright © 2015 IJS Publishing Group Limited. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Research Article Special Issue

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2017-09-07

    Sep 7, 2017 ... special experience of urban environments in the development process. ... Internet and social networking, and eventually poor performance of the police .... was shown that different regions have different levels of fear of crime.

  10. The Business of Running a Special Library

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waldron, Helen J.

    1971-01-01

    This paper, a lecture to library school students, presents in detail four elements that make a special library special," as background for a discussion of suggested approaches to follow in managing a special library. (Author/AB)

  11. Levels and patterns of nucleotide variation in domestication QTL regions on rice chromosome 3 suggest lineage-specific selection.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xianfa Xie

    Full Text Available Oryza sativa or Asian cultivated rice is one of the major cereal grass species domesticated for human food use during the Neolithic. Domestication of this species from the wild grass Oryza rufipogon was accompanied by changes in several traits, including seed shattering, percent seed set, tillering, grain weight, and flowering time. Quantitative trait locus (QTL mapping has identified three genomic regions in chromosome 3 that appear to be associated with these traits. We would like to study whether these regions show signatures of selection and whether the same genetic basis underlies the domestication of different rice varieties. Fragments of 88 genes spanning these three genomic regions were sequenced from multiple accessions of two major varietal groups in O. sativa--indica and tropical japonica--as well as the ancestral wild rice species O. rufipogon. In tropical japonica, the levels of nucleotide variation in these three QTL regions are significantly lower compared to genome-wide levels, and coalescent simulations based on a complex demographic model of rice domestication indicate that these patterns are consistent with selection. In contrast, there is no significant reduction in nucleotide diversity in the homologous regions in indica rice. These results suggest that there are differences in the genetic and selective basis for domestication between these two Asian rice varietal groups.

  12. A cost-benefit analysis on the specialization in departments of obstetrics and gynecology in Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Junyi; Fukui, On; Hashimoto, Hiroyuki; Nakashima, Takako; Kimura, Tadashi; Morishige, Kenichiro; Saijo, Tatsuyoshi

    2012-03-27

    In April 2008, the specialization in departments of obstetrics and gynecology was conducted in Sennan area of Osaka prefecture in Japan, which aims at solving the problems of regional provision of obstetrical service. Under this specialization, the departments of obstetrics and gynecology in two city hospitals were combined as one medical center, whilst one hospital is in charge of the department of gynecology and the other one operates the department of obstetrics. In this paper, we implement a cost-benefit analysis to evaluate the validity of this specialization. The benefit-cost ratio is estimated at 1.367 under a basic scenario, indicating that the specialization can generate a net benefit. In addition, with a consideration of different kinds of uncertainty in the future, a number of sensitivity analyses are conducted. The results of these sensitivity analyses suggest that the specialization is valid in the sense that all the estimated benefit-cost ratios are above 1.0 in any case.

  13. Neglected roots of regionalism? The Commissioners for the special areas and grants to hospital services in the 1930s.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohan, J

    1997-08-01

    The inter-war years in the UK were notable for debates about the extent to which an extension of state intervention in hospital provision was desirable and necessary, and about the limits to and future of the voluntary hospital system which relied largely on various forms of private charity. These themes were intertwined in the UK's 'Special Areas', locations recognized as having suffered adversely from the inter-war depression, with consequent effects on their ability to finance desirable investments in social infrastructures. Grant aid was offered to hospitals in these locations under the terms of the Special Areas legislation of 1934, but there were extensive debates about the principle and practice of such subsidies to hospital development. This paper reviews these debates and considers whether the measures taken by the Commissioners can be seen as neglected antecedents of the regionalism detected in British hospital policy by several commentators.

  14. Associations among Wine Grape Microbiome, Metabolome, and Fermentation Behavior Suggest Microbial Contribution to Regional Wine Characteristics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bokulich, Nicholas A.; Collins, Thomas S.; Masarweh, Chad; Allen, Greg; Heymann, Hildegarde; Ebeler, Susan E.

    2016-01-01

    ABSTRACT Regionally distinct wine characteristics (terroir) are an important aspect of wine production and consumer appreciation. Microbial activity is an integral part of wine production, and grape and wine microbiota present regionally defined patterns associated with vineyard and climatic conditions, but the degree to which these microbial patterns associate with the chemical composition of wine is unclear. Through a longitudinal survey of over 200 commercial wine fermentations, we demonstrate that both grape microbiota and wine metabolite profiles distinguish viticultural area designations and individual vineyards within Napa and Sonoma Counties, California. Associations among wine microbiota and fermentation characteristics suggest new links between microbiota, fermentation performance, and wine properties. The bacterial and fungal consortia of wine fermentations, composed from vineyard and winery sources, correlate with the chemical composition of the finished wines and predict metabolite abundances in finished wines using machine learning models. The use of postharvest microbiota as an early predictor of wine chemical composition is unprecedented and potentially poses a new paradigm for quality control of agricultural products. These findings add further evidence that microbial activity is associated with wine terroir. PMID:27302757

  15. A regional analysis of Tourism Specialization in Spain

    OpenAIRE

    Perez-Dacal, Diana; Pena-Boquete, Yolanda

    2013-01-01

    Tourism sector is playing an important role in the development of a region, contributing to the economy growth and job creation. Despite of the actual crisis, Tourism activities continues to growth in the last year (UNWTO 2011). Also, Spain maintains in the better positions of the world ranking. Furthermore, Tourism activities generate around 10% of GPD and represents 11.5% of total workers of the Spanish Economy. Nevertheless, this is not true for all the Spanish Regions. There are regional ...

  16. Suggestions for new transverse oscillations damping systems in large synchrotrons and colliders

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ivanov, I.N.; Melnikov, V.A.

    1994-01-01

    Due to the high requirements on beam quality, modern synchrotrons and colliders require special systems for transverse oscillation damping (TDS). New system for the correction of injection errors and multibunch instabilities is proposed. The special beam monitor on the basis of the axial-slotted lines is developed for the transverse beam velocity measuring. The special nonlinear regime of damping is suggested to decrease the operating time of TDS. 2 refs., 4 figs., 2 tabs

  17. Novel shifts in memory research and their impact on the legal process: introduction to the special issue on memory formation and suggestibility in the legal process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Otgaar, Henry; Sauerland, Melanie; Petrila, John P

    2013-01-01

    The functioning and frailties of memory are frequently at the centerpiece of much expert testimony about the reliability of eyewitness accounts. Although we have much knowledge about how false memories and suggestibility can affect testimonies, the contributions in this special issue show that when using a sound theoretical framework, novel directions in this field can surface. The papers in this issue can broadly be divided into contributions that are related to: (1) the exact determinants of false memory and suggestibility; (2) new paradigms in legal psychology; (3) positive consequences of memory illusions; and (4) developmental false memory research. Collectively, these contributions have the potential to provide novel shifts in memory research and push this field beyond its current boundaries. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  18. Smart Specialization and EU Eastern Innovation Cooperation: A Conceptual Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Prause Gunnar

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The concept of smart specialization as a policy approach for regional development through increased regional productivity and competitiveness in the European context is actively discussed (European Union, 2009; OECD, 2014. Meanwhile, smart specialization has found its way into EU cohesion policy as well as into the European Commission’s Innovation Union flagship programme.

  19. From Load Estimation to Performance Estimation—From Model-Scale Test to Full-Scale Test: With Special Interest in Asian Region

    OpenAIRE

    Tamura, Yukio; Nishijima, Kazuyoshi; Matsui, Masahiro; Phuc, Pham Van; Yang, Qingshan

    2017-01-01

    This paper first discusses the current status of natural hazard-induced disasters, with special focus on devastating wind-related disasters in the Asian region. The importance of the combined effects of wind and water hazards, the importance of performance of cladding and components in wind-resistant design of buildings, and deterioration of metal roofing systems of long-span structures mainly caused by fatigue of fixing joints due to daily solar heating effects are demonstrated. Some human e...

  20. A uniquely specialized ear in a very early tetrapod.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clack, J A; Ahlberg, P E; Finney, S M; Dominguez Alonso, P; Robinson, J; Ketcham, R A

    2003-09-04

    The Late Devonian genus Ichthyostega was for many decades the earliest known tetrapod, and the sole representative of a transitional form between a fish and a land vertebrate. However, despite being known since 1932 (ref. 1) from a large collection of specimens, its morphology remained enigmatic and not what was expected of a very primitive tetrapod. Its apparent specializations led it to be considered as a "blind offshoot" or "sidebranch" off the tetrapod family tree, and recent cladistic analyses have disagreed about its exact phylogenetic position within the tetrapod stem group. In particular, its braincase and ear region defied interpretation, such that conventional anatomical terms seemed inapplicable. Using new material collected in 1998 (ref. 9), preparation of earlier-collected material, and high-resolution computed tomography scanning, here we identify and interpret these problematic anatomical structures. They can now be seen to form part of a highly specialized ear, probably a hearing device for use in water. This represents a structurally and functionally unique modification of the tetrapod otic region, unlike anything seen in subsequent tetrapod evolution. The presence of deeply grooved gill bars as in its contemporary Acanthostega suggest that Ichthyostega may have been more aquatically adapted than previously believed.

  1. Planning and Implementing Policies for Special Education and Rehabilitation Services in Sub-Saharan Africa: Problems and Suggestions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malakpa, Sakui W. G.

    2009-01-01

    Despite genuine efforts, countries in sub-Saharan Africa significantly lag behind sister nations of the world in providing basic education and more so in providing special education and rehabilitation services for students with disabilities. This work gives an overview of the magnitude of this problem and outlines some of its causes. In addition,…

  2. Application for Suggesting Restaurants Using Clustering Algorithms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iulia Alexandra IANCU

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this article is to present an application whose purpose is to make suggestions of restaurants to users. The application uses as input the descriptions of restaurants, reviews, user reviews available on the specialized Internet sites and blogs. In the application there are used processing techniques of natural language implemented using parsers, clustering algorithms and techniques for data collection from the Internet through web crawlers.

  3. Catholic Church-State Relations in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region: A Review of 20 Years

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Beatrice K.F. Leung

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The Catholic Church and the Hong Kong British Government formed warm relations when the Church became the contractor of the government to provide education and social and medical service. The British did not provide democracy to Hong Kong but allowed ample freedom including religious freedom which the Hong Kong Catholics would like to protect in the post-colonial period under the Communist Party rule. For religious freedom, right after Hong Kong became the Special Administrative Region (HKSAR, the Hong Kong Catholic Church under the prophetic and vocal leadership of Bishop Joseph Zen, became very active in political participation. Zen’s leadership was short-lived (1996-2009 and the soft-spoken Bishop John Tong replaced him with a different approach of consolidating the church without antagonising the government with social issues.

  4. Research Article Special Issue

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2017-02-15

    Feb 15, 2017 ... they have no special development plan and their authorities actually do not know about the ... Keywords: Converted villages to city centers, urban network, SWOT analysis, ... rural areas and can decrease regional differences in developing ... Small scale cities are necessary for integration of rural and urban.

  5. A REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE CREATIVE ECONOMY IN BRAZIL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorge Nogueira de Paiva Britto

    Full Text Available Abstract In a knowledge-based economy, initiatives based on the Creative Economy framework are supposed to promote regional economic diversification in developing countries. In Brazil, policy initiatives have focused on those activities with a view to design public policies oriented to reducing socio-economic and regional inequalities, as well as spreading those activities throughout the territory, especially towards less favored regions. Based on the Brazilian experience, this article discusses whether the pre-existing regional distribution of various types of creative activities favors or hinders the reduction of regional inequalities as a result of a policy focused on promoting creative activities and what actions could be adopted to achieve this result. Specifically, the paper discusses whether this expansion can promote an effective reduction of regional inequalities in terms of the number and quality of jobs and wage levels associated with those activities. The analysis suggests that the regional decentralization of creative activities towards less developed regions has been relatively limited in Brazil, as the more developed regions have remained more specialized in trades with higher digital and technological content, while the less developed regions have remained relatively more specialized in activities related to the cultural heritage. To reduce this imbalance, the support of local institutions and S&T infrastructure related to creative activities appears to be very important, which points out to the relevance of comprehensive policies well-adapted to very diverse local realities. This effort should have the impact of new digital-based technologies converge with the strengthening of economic potential of local and regional cultural heritage, by enhancing professional qualification of workers devoted to those activities.

  6. A minisum model with forbidden regions for locating a semi-desirable facility in the plane

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brimberg, Jack; Juel, Henrik

    -desirable facility which accounts for the service costs by a standard minisum objective with arbitrary travel distance function. The social costs are imputed by specifying around each demand point or population center a convex forbidden region, also defined by an arbitrary distance metric, in which the new facility...... may not be located. A general solution algorithm is suggested, and the methodology applied to circular forbidden regions and special travel distance functions....

  7. The problem is education not ``special education''

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fellner, Gene

    2015-12-01

    In his article, Urban special education policy and the lived experience of stigma in a high school science classroom, Chris Hale persuasively argues that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and subsequent special education policies have largely failed to serve special education students who are stigmatized by their deficit classification. Though classified students may be doubly stigmatized, research suggests that students of color who live in economically stressed communities are also subject to systemic educational policies that produce stigma; special education should be understood within the larger context of educational policy in the inner city. Though we cannot immediately dismantle the macro level structures that nurture stigma, I suggest pedagogies based on facilitating phenomenological awareness enacted through individual-collectively based methodologies to challenge the stigma that classified as well as non-classified students in the inner city often carry with them.

  8. An outbreak of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection in a boarding school in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (China).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miu-ling, Wong; Kwok-ming, Poon; Yuen-kong, Wan; Shuk-Kwan, Chuang; Lai-key, Kwok; Sik-on, Pak

    2014-01-01

    In November 2012, an outbreak of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) skin and soft tissue infections affecting students at a boarding school in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (China) was detected. A case was defined as any student or staff notified with MRSA infection from 25 October 2012 to 5 July 2013 with the clinical isolate being of staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec type IV or V and positive for Panton-Valentine leukocidin gene. We conducted field investigations, advised on control measures and enhanced surveillance for skin and soft tissue infections at the school. Decolonization therapies were offered to all cases and contacts, and carrier screening was conducted. There were five cases; two (40%) were hospitalized and three (60%) required surgical treatments. Initial screening comprised 240 students and 81 staff members. Overall, four cases (80%) plus eight other students (3.3%) were carriers, with eight of 12 (66.7%) from the same dormitory. All staff members screened negative. After intensified control measures, the number of students screened positive for CA-MRSA decreased from nine to one with no more cases identified in the school. Identification of carriers, decolonization therapy, monitoring of cases and contacts and strengthening of environmental and personal hygiene were control measures that helped contain this CA-MRSA outbreak in a boarding school in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (China).

  9. Dinosaur peptides suggest mechanisms of protein survival.

    Science.gov (United States)

    San Antonio, James D; Schweitzer, Mary H; Jensen, Shane T; Kalluri, Raghu; Buckley, Michael; Orgel, Joseph P R O

    2011-01-01

    Eleven collagen peptide sequences recovered from chemical extracts of dinosaur bones were mapped onto molecular models of the vertebrate collagen fibril derived from extant taxa. The dinosaur peptides localized to fibril regions protected by the close packing of collagen molecules, and contained few acidic amino acids. Four peptides mapped to collagen regions crucial for cell-collagen interactions and tissue development. Dinosaur peptides were not represented in more exposed parts of the collagen fibril or regions mediating intermolecular cross-linking. Thus functionally significant regions of collagen fibrils that are physically shielded within the fibril may be preferentially preserved in fossils. These results show empirically that structure-function relationships at the molecular level could contribute to selective preservation in fossilized vertebrate remains across geological time, suggest a 'preservation motif', and bolster current concepts linking collagen structure to biological function. This non-random distribution supports the hypothesis that the peptides are produced by the extinct organisms and suggests a chemical mechanism for survival.

  10. Dinosaur Peptides Suggest Mechanisms of Protein Survival

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    San Antonio, James D.; Schweitzer, Mary H.; Jensen, Shane T.; Kalluri, Raghu; Buckley, Michael; Orgel, Joseph P.R.O. (Harvard-Med); (IIT); (NCSU); (UPENN); (Manchester); (Orthovita)

    2011-09-16

    Eleven collagen peptide sequences recovered from chemical extracts of dinosaur bones were mapped onto molecular models of the vertebrate collagen fibril derived from extant taxa. The dinosaur peptides localized to fibril regions protected by the close packing of collagen molecules, and contained few acidic amino acids. Four peptides mapped to collagen regions crucial for cell-collagen interactions and tissue development. Dinosaur peptides were not represented in more exposed parts of the collagen fibril or regions mediating intermolecular cross-linking. Thus functionally significant regions of collagen fibrils that are physically shielded within the fibril may be preferentially preserved in fossils. These results show empirically that structure-function relationships at the molecular level could contribute to selective preservation in fossilized vertebrate remains across geological time, suggest a 'preservation motif', and bolster current concepts linking collagen structure to biological function. This non-random distribution supports the hypothesis that the peptides are produced by the extinct organisms and suggests a chemical mechanism for survival.

  11. Marine environment protection for the North and Baltic Seas. Special Report - February 2004

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2004-07-01

    The marine environment of the North Sea and Baltic Sea is still heavily polluted. The marine ecosystems are under severe stress from overfishing, water pollution, raw materials production and tourism. Environmental protection in this region necessitates decisive political initiatives and strict corrections especially in fishery policy, agricultural policy and chemical substances control. This is the balance of the special expert opinion of the Council of Environmental Experts. The publication specifies the main problem areas, the current pollution situation, the fields where action is most urgently required - especially in fishery, chemical substances, agricultural and sea travel policies - and presents suggestions for an integrated European and national marine protection policy including a regional development concept for the marine environment. (orig.)

  12. Virtual Special Issue on Migration

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jordan, Declan; Elhorst, Paul

    2016-01-01

    This editorial introduces a virtual special issue of Spatial Economic Analysis compiled to mark the keynote lecture at the 46th Annual Conference of the Regional Science Association InternationalBritish and Irish Section in Cornwall by Professor Jacques Poot of the National Institute of Demographic

  13. A minisum model with forbidden regions for locating a semi-desirable facility in the plane

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Juel, Henrik; Brimberg, Jack

    1998-01-01

    -desirable facility that accounts for the service costs by a standard minisum objective with arbitrary travel distance function. The social costs are imputed by specifying around each demand point or population center a convex forbidden region, also defined by an arbitrary distance metric, in which the new facility...... may not be located. A general solution algorithm is suggested, and the methodology is applied to circular forbidden regions and special travel distance functions....

  14. The textile and clothing industry in the Danube region countries: Comparative advantages

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ignjatijević Svetlana

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The subject of this study is the analysis of comparative advantages of international export in the TC (textile and clothing industry of the Danube region countries with a special focus on Serbia. The aim of this study is to analyze the comparative advantage and suggest possible economic and legal measures to strengthen export. This study observed export per capita and participation of TC industry export, and measured the comparative advantage and specialization of the Danube region countries in the period between 2005 and 2013. In the course of research, we used the Balassa (RCA and Lafay (LFI indexes of comparative advantage, and the GL index and RUV index of horizontal and vertical specialization in intra-industry exchange. The research has revealed positive comparative advantage in the export of the textile industry in the Czech Republic, Germany and Slovenia. In the clothing industry export, positive comparative advantage was revealed in the cases of: Bulgaria, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia and Serbia. The research has shown a positive comparative advantage of the TC industry sector in Serbia. The results of our research into the TC industry reveal the existence of correlation between comparative advantage and intra-industry specialization in international trade.

  15. Health of special educational teachers in the Central Slovenia

    OpenAIRE

    Bogataj Ivančič, Petra

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of the thesis was to investigate the health of special education teachers who teach in elementary special schools with lower educational standards in the Central Slovenia region. 89 special education teachers participated in the study, average age 37 years. Data were collected in 2013 through a questionnaire, which was summarized and organized according to the needs of the study from questionnaires Health-related behavioral style (CINDI Slovenia, 2008) and Stress profile questionn...

  16. Outcome of severely injured trauma patients at a designated trauma centre in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leung, Ka Kit Gilberto; Ho, Wendy; Tong, King Hung Daniel; Yuen, Wai Key

    2010-05-20

    The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) has seen significant changes in its trauma service over the last ten years including the implementation of a regional trauma system. The author's institution is one of the five trauma centres designated in 2003. This article reports our initial clinical experience. A prospective single-centre trauma registry from January 2004 to December 2008 was reviewed. The primary clinical outcome measure was hospital mortality. The Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS) methodology was used for bench-marking with the North America Major Trauma Outcome Study (MTOS) database. There were 1451 patients. The majority (83.9%) suffered from blunt injury. The overall mortality rate was 7.8%. Severe injury, defined as the Injury Severity Score > 15, occurred in 22.5% of patients, and was associated with a mortality rate of 31.6%. A trend of progressive improvement was noted. The M-statistic was 0.99, indicating comparable case-mix with the MTOS. The Z- and W-statistics of each individual year revealed fewer, but not significantly so, number of survivors than expected. Trauma centre designation was feasible in the HKSAR and was associated with a gradual improvement in patient care. Trauma system implementation may be considered in regions equipped with the necessary socio-economic and organizational set-up.

  17. Educational Inequality in the Minority Regions of Present Day China and Suggestions for the Government Regarding the Education Policy

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Ding Yueya

    2006-01-01

    Based on the research of new educational inequality in the minority regions of preset day China,this article points out the importance of educational equality principle in government's decision making and suggests tha ti tshould give top priority to ethnic minorities when distributing education resources,to develop their compulsory education and broaden meir opportunities to enter into postcompulsory education by the"differentiated but equal"principle.Perfect education policies and mechanism and lifelong education system are also pivotal for the attainment of the goal of educational equality.

  18. Regional Difference in Specialization Coefficients of Physicians in Nagasaki, Japan

    OpenAIRE

    Tanimura, Susumu; Mizota, Tsutomu

    2004-01-01

    In the comparison of municipalities with respect to the medical human resources, not only the number of physicians but also the distribution of their medical practice is important. The objective of the present study was to develop an index appropriate for comparing relatively small municipalities regarding the distribution of physician's medical practice and to apply it to Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. We modified the specialization coefficient using Bayesian smoothing technique and used it as ...

  19. GWAS of DNA Methylation Variation Within Imprinting Control Regions Suggests Parent-of-Origin Association

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Renteria, M.E.; Coolen, M.W.; Statham, A.L.; Choi, R.S.; Qu, W.; Campbell, M.J.; Smith, S.; Henders, A.K.; Montgomery, G.W.; Clark, S. J.; Martin, N.G.; Medland, S.E.

    2013-01-01

    Imprinting control regions (ICRs) play a fundamental role in establishing and maintaining the non-random monoallelic expression of certain genes, via common regulatory elements such as non-coding RNAs and differentially methylated regions (DMRs) of DNA. We recently surveyed DNA methylation levels

  20. Regional Dimensions of the Triple Helix Model: Setting the Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Todeva, Emanuela; Danson, Mike

    2016-01-01

    This paper introduces the rationale for the special issue and its contributions, which bridge the literature on regional development and the Triple Helix model. The concept of the Triple Helix at the sub-national, and specifically regional, level is established and examined, with special regard to regional economic development founded on…

  1. Stres and burnout related to work with special education needs students in elementary school teachers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katja Košir

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the present study was to examine the predictive value of elementary school teachers' workplace characteristics on work stress and burnout. Workplace characteristics were defined as job demands and resources, which were further divided into general and specific, related to work with special education needs students. We examined whether variables related to work with special education needs students explained incremental variance in stress and burnout above and beyond general workplace characteristics. Elementary school teachers from all twelve regions of Slovenia (N ranges from 439 to 886 took part in the study. The results have shown that workplace characteristics independently predict a significant amount of variance in stress, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization among teachers. General job demands and specific demands related to special education needs students are the highest and most stable predictors of all three studied criteria. Based on our findings, we suggest several measures which can help to alleviate stress and foster efficient coping strategies.

  2. Gas in Europe: a special report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ballay, U.; Griffiths, M.; Campbell, N.; Nielsen, H.H.; Quinlan, M.; Mollet, P.

    1996-01-01

    This special report looks at the natural gas industry in various European countries in six separate articles. Increasing demand in the commercial and domestic markets for natural gas suggests that the industry in east Germany is likely to boom. The sale of shares in Hungary's gas distribution companies is seen as a success, despite some early difficulties. Foreign companies are likely to be attracted to invest in the Czech Republic's regional gas distribution companies after their privatisation this summer. Norway expects to enjoy further expansion in the gas industry following Europe wide liberalisation. Gas demand in Italy is likely to rise by fifty per cent over the next five years. Differing rates of expansion in the Netherlands and Belgian gas industries are noted. Finally, the Scandinavian power generation market is likely to increase its use of gas due to environmental imperatives and economic efficiency. (UK)

  3. Factors That Drive Youth Specialization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padaki, Ajay S; Popkin, Charles A; Hodgins, Justin L; Kovacevic, David; Lynch, Thomas Sean; Ahmad, Christopher S

    Specialization in young athletes has been linked to overuse injuries, burnout, and decreased satisfaction. Despite continued opposition from the medical community, epidemiological studies suggest the frequency is increasing. Extrinsic pressures in addition to individual aspirations drive this national trend in sports specialization. Descriptive epidemiology study. Level 3. A novel instrument assessing the driving factors behind youth specialization was generated by an interdisciplinary team of medical professionals. Surveys were administered to patients and athletes in the department's sports medicine clinic. The survey was completed by 235 athletes between 7 and 18 years of age, with a mean age of 13.8 ± 3.0 years. Athletes specialized at a mean age of 8.1 years, and 31% of athletes played a single sport while 58% played multiple sports but had a preferred sport. More than 70% of athletes had collegiate or professional ambitions, and 60% played their primary sport for 9 or more months per year, with players who had an injury history more likely to play year-round ( P specialized athletes reporting this significantly more often ( P = 0.04). Half of the athletes reported that sports interfered with their academic performance, with older players stating this more frequently ( P specializing in a single sport before starting high school. While intrinsic drive may identify healthy aspirations, extrinsic influences are prevalent in specialized athletes. Extrinsic factors contributing to youth specialization were identified and compounded the deleterious sequelae of youth athlete specialization.

  4. A Simple Solution to Type Specialization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Danvy, Olivier

    1998-01-01

    Partial evaluation specializes terms, but traditionally this specialization does not apply to the type of these terms. As a result, specializing, e.g., an interpreter written in a typed language, which requires a “universal” type to encode expressible values, yields residual programs with type tags...... all over. Neil Jones has stated that getting rid of these type tags was an open problem, despite possible solutions such as Torben Mogensen's “constructor specialization.” To solve this problem, John Hughes has proposed a new paradigm for partial evaluation, “Type Specialization”, based on type...... inference instead of being based on symbolic interpretation. Type Specialization is very elegant in principle but it also appears non-trivial in practice. Stating the problem in terms of types instead of in terms of type encodings suggests a very simple type-directed solution, namely, to use a projection...

  5. How specialized are writing-specific brain regions? An fMRI study of writing, drawing and oral spelling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Planton, Samuel; Longcamp, Marieke; Péran, Patrice; Démonet, Jean-François; Jucla, Mélanie

    2017-03-01

    Several brain imaging studies identified brain regions that are consistently involved in writing tasks; the left premotor and superior parietal cortices have been associated with the peripheral components of writing performance as opposed to other regions that support the central, orthographic components. Based on a meta-analysis by Planton, Jucla, Roux, and Demonet (2013), we focused on five such writing areas and questioned the task-specificity and hemispheric lateralization profile of the brain response in an functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment where 16 right-handed participants wrote down, spelled out orally object names, and drew shapes from object pictures. All writing-related areas were activated by drawing, and some of them by oral spelling, thus questioning their specialization for written production. The graphemic/motor frontal area (GMFA), a subpart of the superior premotor cortex close to Exner's area (Roux et al., 2009), was the only area with a writing-specific lateralization profile, that is, clear left lateralization during handwriting, and bilateral activity during drawing. Furthermore, the relative lateralization and levels of activation in the superior parietal cortex, ventral premotor cortex, ventral occipitotemporal cortex and right cerebellum across the three tasks brought out new evidence regarding their respective contributions to the writing processes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Spatial distribution of specialized cardiac care units in the state of Santa Catarina

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silviana Cirino

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE To analyze the methodology used for assessing the spatial distribution of specialized cardiac care units. METHODS A modeling and simulation method was adopted for the practical application of cardiac care service in the state of Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil, using the p-median model. As the state is divided into 21 health care regions, a methodology which suggests an arrangement of eight intermediate cardiac care units was analyzed, comparing the results obtained using data from 1996 and 2012. RESULTS Results obtained using data from 2012 indicated significant changes in the state, particularly in relation to the increased population density in the coastal regions. The current study provided a satisfactory response, indicated by the homogeneity of the results regarding the location of the intermediate cardiac care units and their respective regional administrations, thereby decreasing the average distance traveled by users to health care units, located in higher population density areas. The validity of the model was corroborated through the analysis of the allocation of the median vertices proposed in 1996 and 2012. CONCLUSIONS The current spatial distribution of specialized cardiac care units is more homogeneous and reflects the demographic changes that have occurred in the state over the last 17 years. The comparison between the two simulations and the current configuration showed the validity of the proposed model as an aid in decision making for system expansion.

  7. The emergence of medical specialization in the nineteenth century.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weisz, George

    2003-01-01

    This essay reexamines the nineteenth-century origins of medical specialization. It suggests that by the 1880s, specialization had become perceived as a necessity of medical science as a result of the realization of two preconditions: First, a new collective desire to expand medical knowledge prompted clinical researchers to specialize; only specialization, it was believed, permitted the rigorous observation of many cases. Second, administrative rationality suggested that one could best manage large populations through proper classification, gathering together individuals belonging to the same class and separating those belonging to different categories. Both of these conditions emerged first and most powerfully in early nineteenth-century Paris. They were, in contrast, uniquely underdeveloped in the fragmented medical community of London during this period.

  8. Radioecological substantiation of specialization of the farms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Averin, V.S.; Baranov, A.A.; Zhuchenko, Yu.M.; Kalinichenko, S.A.; Osipenko, A.N.; Timofeev, S.F.; Tsurankov, Eh.N.; Tsygvintsev, P.N.

    2004-01-01

    Actual point that determines socio-economic development of region is production that should correspond to the radiation protection laws. One of the possible ways to solve the problem is specialization of farms. (Authors)

  9. “What’s So Special about Special Collections?” Or, Assessing the Value Special Collections Bring to Academic Libraries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elizabeth Yakel

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Objective – The objective of this study was to examine and call attention to the current deficiency in standardized performance measures and usage metrics suited to assessing the value and impact of special collections and archives and their contributions to the mission of academic research libraries and to suggest possible approaches to overcoming the deficiency.Methods – The authors reviewed attempts over the past dozen years by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL and the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL to highlight the unique types of value that special collections and archival resources contribute to academic research libraries. They also examined the results of a large survey of special collections and archives conducted by OCLC Research in 2010. In addition, they investigated efforts by the Society of American Archivists (SAA dating back to the 1940s to define standardized metrics for gathering and comparing data about archival operations. Finding that the library and archival communities have thus far failed to develop and adopt common metrics and methods for gathering data about the activities of special collections and archives, the authors explored the potential benefits of borrowing concepts for developing user-centered value propositions and metrics from the business community.Results – This study found that there has been a lack of consensus and precision concerning the definition of “special collections” and the value propositions they offer, and that most attempts have been limited in their usefulness because they were collections-centric. The study likewise reaffirmed a lack of consensus regarding how to define and measure basic operations performed by special collections and archives, such as circulating materials to users in supervised reading rooms. The review of concepts and metrics for assessing value in the business community, however, suggested new approaches to defining metrics that

  10. Distribution of specialized care centers in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Henry E; Yealy, Donald M

    2012-11-01

    As a recommended strategy for optimally managing critical illness, regionalization of care involves matching the needs of the target population with available hospital resources. The national supply and characteristics of hospitals providing specialized critical care services is currently unknown. We seek to characterize the current distribution of specialized care centers in the United States. Using public data linked with the American Hospital Association directory and US Census, we identified US general acute hospitals providing specialized care for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) (≥40 annual primary percutaneous coronary interventions reported in Medicare Hospital Compare), stroke (The Joint Commission certified stroke centers), trauma (American College of Surgeons or state-designated, adult or pediatric, level I or II), and pediatric critical care (presence of a pediatric ICU) services. We determined the characteristics and state-level distribution and density of specialized care centers (centers per state and centers per state population). Among 4,931 acute care hospitals in the United States, 1,325 (26.9%) provided one of the 4 defined specialized care services, including 574 STEMI, 763 stroke, 508 trauma, and 457 pediatric critical care centers. Approximately half of the 1,325 hospitals provided 2 or more specialized services, and one fifth provided 3 or 4 specialized services. There was variation in the number of each type of specialized care center in each state: STEMI median 7 interquartile range (IQR 2 to 14), stroke 8 (IQR 3 to 17), trauma 6 (IQR 3 to 11), pediatric specialized care 6 (IQR 3 to 11). Similarly, there was variation in the number of each type of specialized care center per population: STEMI median 1 center per 585,135 persons (IQR 418,729 to 696,143), stroke 1 center per 412,188 persons (IQR 321,604 to 572,387), trauma 1 center per 610,589 persons (IQR 406,192 to 917,588), and pediatric critical care 1 center per 665

  11. Conservation of Repeats at the Mammalian KCNQ1OT1-CDKN1C Region Suggests a Role in Genomic Imprinting

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcos De Donato

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available KCNQ1OT1 is located in the region with the highest number of genes showing genomic imprinting, but the mechanisms controlling the genes under its influence have not been fully elucidated. Therefore, we conducted a comparative analysis of the KCNQ1/KCNQ1OT1-CDKN1C region to study its conservation across the best assembled eutherian mammalian genomes sequenced to date and analyzed potential elements that may be implicated in the control of genomic imprinting in this region. The genomic features in these regions from human, mouse, cattle, and dog show a higher number of genes and CpG islands (detected using cpgplot from EMBOSS, but lower number of repetitive elements (including short interspersed nuclear elements and long interspersed nuclear elements, compared with their whole chromosomes (detected by RepeatMasker. The KCNQ1OT1-CDKN1C region contains the highest number of conserved noncoding sequences (CNS among mammals, where we found 16 regions containing about 38 different highly conserved repetitive elements (using mVista, such as LINE1 elements: L1M4, L1MB7, HAL1, L1M4a, L1Med, and an LTR element: MLT1H. From these elements, we found 74 CNS showing high sequence identity (>70% between human, cattle, and mouse, from which we identified 13 motifs (using Multiple Em for Motif Elicitation/Motif Alignment and Search Tool with a significant probability of occurrence, 3 of which were the most frequent and were used to find transcription factor–binding sites. We detected several transcription factors (using JASPAR suite from the families SOX, FOX, and GATA. A phylogenetic analysis of these CNS from human, marmoset, mouse, rat, cattle, dog, horse, and elephant shows branches with high levels of support and very similar phylogenetic relationships among these groups, confirming previous reports. Our results suggest that functional DNA elements identified by comparative genomics in a region densely populated with imprinted mammalian genes may be

  12. Two new cases with microdeletion of 17q23.2 suggest presence of a candidate gene for sensorineural hearing loss within this region

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schönewolf-Greulich, Bitten; Ronan, Anne; Ravn, Kristine

    2011-01-01

    Microdeletion of the 17q23.2 region has very recently been suggested as a new emerging syndrome based on the finding of 8 cases with common phenotypes including mild-to-moderate developmental delay, heart defects, microcephaly, postnatal growth retardation, and hand, foot, and limb abnormalities...

  13. Guest editorial for the special issue ‘‘Tectonics of Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea with special emphasis on coastal and marine geohazards’’

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Murthy, K.S.R.; Chaubey, A.K.; Radhakrishna, M.

    selected for this special issue. These include five papers dealing with various aspects of seismogenesis, structural heterogeneity and tsunami-related studies in the Andaman-Sumatra region, one paper on 3D seismic structure in Kachchh region affected...

  14. Interdependence of specialization and biodiversity in Phanerozoic marine invertebrates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nürnberg, Sabine; Aberhan, Martin

    2015-03-17

    Studies of the dynamics of biodiversity often suggest that diversity has upper limits, but the complex interplay between ecological and evolutionary processes and the relative role of biotic and abiotic factors that set upper limits to diversity are poorly understood. Here we statistically assess the relationship between global biodiversity and the degree of habitat specialization of benthic marine invertebrates over the Phanerozoic eon. We show that variation in habitat specialization correlates positively with changes in global diversity, that is, times of high diversity coincide with more specialized faunas. We identify the diversity dynamics of specialists but not generalists, and origination rates but not extinction rates, as the main drivers of this ecological interdependence. Abiotic factors fail to show any significant relationship with specialization. Our findings suggest that the overall level of specialization and its fluctuations over evolutionary timescales are controlled by diversity-dependent processes--driven by interactions between organisms competing for finite resources.

  15. Danish Special Operations - Comprehensive Reorganization and Innovation are Necessary

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Lars H. Ehrensvärd

    This fourth paper in a series of research briefs about Danish special operations is focusing on how a "system's failure" has blocked the development of Danish special operations for almost 50 years. The brief suggests the repair of this system's failure by creating either a fourth service...... or a special operations command. The paper points out that a political decision is necessary, as there is no known empirical evidence that the conventional military has ever created any special operations institutions by it's own will. (The establishment of a Danish Special Operations Command was actually...

  16. Promoting a Positive Image: Public Relations Strategies for Special Educators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brennan, Kathleen B.; Miller, April D.; Brennan, J. Patrick, II

    2000-01-01

    A positive public relations campaign specific to special education can stimulate teacher cooperation and principal support, improve community perceptions of special education students, and increase hiring of special education students by local businesses. A monthly calendar of suggested activities and guidelines for starting a public relations…

  17. The Preparation of Counseling Personnel to Serve Special Needs Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, Linda G.; Stodden, Robert A.

    1981-01-01

    Discusses the elementary school counselor's role in providing affective education to special needs students. Explores the need for special education courses in counselor training. Results of a national survey indicated only two states required a course in special education for counselor certification. Suggests recommendations for updating…

  18. Summed Probability Distribution of 14C Dates Suggests Regional Divergences in the Population Dynamics of the Jomon Period in Eastern Japan.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Enrico R Crema

    Full Text Available Recent advances in the use of summed probability distribution (SPD of calibrated 14C dates have opened new possibilities for studying prehistoric demography. The degree of correlation between climate change and population dynamics can now be accurately quantified, and divergences in the demographic history of distinct geographic areas can be statistically assessed. Here we contribute to this research agenda by reconstructing the prehistoric population change of Jomon hunter-gatherers between 7,000 and 3,000 cal BP. We collected 1,433 14C dates from three different regions in Eastern Japan (Kanto, Aomori and Hokkaido and established that the observed fluctuations in the SPDs were statistically significant. We also introduced a new non-parametric permutation test for comparing multiple sets of SPDs that highlights point of divergences in the population history of different geographic regions. Our analyses indicate a general rise-and-fall pattern shared by the three regions but also some key regional differences during the 6th millennium cal BP. The results confirm some of the patterns suggested by previous archaeological studies based on house and site counts but offer statistical significance and an absolute chronological framework that will enable future studies aiming to establish potential correlation with climatic changes.

  19. IDEA papers special number 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mercadie, J.L.

    2003-06-01

    The Information network on the Economic Development in Aquitaine (IDEA) aims to collect and spread the environmental information concerning the Aquitaine, in order to implement an observatory of the regional environment and of the sustainable development. The IDEA papers provides information such as, meeting, Internet addresses and programs. This paper is specially devoted to the environment. (A.L.B.)

  20. The technique of «Subliminal verbal suggestion for the treatment of [pseudo]obsessions»

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. V. Danilevska

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available [Pseudo]obsessions therapy in patients with endogenous diseases of schizophrenic round accompanied with difficulties, caused by both psycho etio pathogenetic features of the disease. Disadvantages of the existing methods of therapy are associated with therapeutic conflict between two nosologies. Aim: to develop and test etiopsychopathogenetic technique "Subliminal verbal suggestion for the treatment of [pseudo]obsessions" as a subsidiary method of treatment of schizophrenia patients with [pseudo] obsessions in the structure of the disease. Methods and results. 137 patients who underwent hospital treatment 65 schizophrenia patients (F20 with the [pseudo]obsessive symptoms in the structure of the disease were examined on the basis of Public Health Institution «Regional clinical mental hospital» of the Zaporizhzhian regional council. 30 patients received standard pharmacotherapy (antipsychotic drugs according to clinical protocols that was combined with proposed technique "Subliminal verbal suggestion for the treatment of [pseudo]obsessions". The comparison group consisted of 35 patients treated with the use of standard pharmacotherapy: antipsychotic drugs. The next methods were used: medical history assessment, follow-up, clinical-psychopathological, psychodiagnostic. "Subliminal verbal suggestion for the treatment of [pseudo]obsessions" technique was developed. This technique is a combination of suggestion in the waking state and neurolinguistic programming, implemented with specially compiled auditory complex listening. The main therapeutic component s realized through the subthreshold perception of the verbal formulas that are unavailable to awareness. The technique consists of two components – primary and secondary, and three stages. The methodology was tested, its therapeutic efficacy was confirmed. Conclusion. "Subliminal verbal suggestion for the treatment of [pseudo]obsessions" technique was developed as a subsidiary method of the

  1. IDEA papers special number 1; Les cahiers d'I.D.E.A. no. special 1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mercadie, J L

    2003-06-01

    The Information network on the Economic Development in Aquitaine (IDEA) aims to collect and spread the environmental information concerning the Aquitaine, in order to implement an observatory of the regional environment and of the sustainable development. The IDEA papers provides information such as, meeting, Internet addresses and programs. This paper is specially devoted to the environment. (A.L.B.)

  2. Investigating Performance Installation of Hospital Room Surgery of Six Hospitals in Special Region of Yogyakarta by Using Data Envelopment Analysis Model Constant Return to Scale

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bhimo Rizky Samudro

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to investigate the efficiency level of hospital surgery hospital installation in Special Region of Yogyakarta Province. Research conceptual constructs are based on input and output performance in institutional performance processes. This research approach uses positivist pattern and is derived by quantitative method. This is to explain the efficiency pattern of the installation of hospital and private hospital surgery rooms. The quantitative method chosen is the concept of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA. The results showed that 1 the installation of a private hospital surgery room tends to be more efficient than government property; 2 the installation of a special hospital surgical hospital is not absolutely more efficient than a public hospital. As a recommendation, this research provides scenario for setting input usage for efficient performance.

  3. Special education for intellectual disability: current trends and perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kauffman, James M; Hung, Li-Yu

    2009-09-01

    To inform readers of current issues in special education for individuals with intellectual disabilities and summarize recent research and opinion. Two issues dominate special education for students with intellectual disabilities in the early 21st century. First, what should be taught to such students and who should teach them? Second, where should such students be taught - in 'inclusive' settings alongside normal peers or in special settings dedicated to their special needs? Research on teaching reading, arithmetic, and functional daily living skills to students with disabilities suggests the superiority of direct, systematic instruction. Universal design is often seen as supportive of inclusion. Inclusion has been seen as the central issue in special education but is gradually giving way to concern for what students learn. Direct, systematic instruction in reading, arithmetic, and daily living skills is the most effective approach to teaching students with intellectual disabilities. Basic concepts and logic suggest that special and general education cannot be equivalent. We conclude that what students are taught should be put ahead of where they are taught. Our fundamental concern is that students with intellectual disabilities be respected and be taught all they can learn.

  4. Investigating Performance Installation of Hospital Room Surgery of Six Hospitals in Special Region of Yogyakarta by Using Data Envelopment Analysis Model Constant Return to Scale

    OpenAIRE

    Bhimo Rizky Samudro; Yogi Pasca Pratama

    2018-01-01

    This study aims to investigate the efficiency level of hospital surgery hospital installation in Special Region of Yogyakarta Province. Research conceptual constructs are based on input and output performance in institutional performance processes. This research approach uses positivist pattern and is derived by quantitative method. This is to explain the efficiency pattern of the installation of hospital and private hospital surgery rooms. The quantitative method chosen is the concept of Dat...

  5. Principals' Perceptions of Needs in Hispanic Special Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, Maria B.; Guerra, Federico, Jr.

    2017-01-01

    This mixed methods study used a survey by Frost and Kersten to answer the following questions: (a) Do principals of predominantly Hispanic schools perceive themselves as having adequate knowledge in special education? (b) Which areas are these principals most involved in with special education teachers? (c) What suggestions do these principals…

  6. Evolving subsidiary roles and regional economic integration in Europe (special editorial)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Filippov, S.; Duijsters, G.M.

    2012-01-01

    The focus of this paper is on the impact of regional economic integration on changing roles and strategies of overseas subsidiaries. the literature has acknowledged the positive impact of regional economic integration on the investment attractiveness of member states participating in a regional bloc

  7. Regional innovation systems in the Lisbon strategy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bruijn, P.J.M. de; Lagendijk, A.

    2005-01-01

    This contribution explores the framing of the concept of Regional Innovation Systems (RISs) within European ecoruomic policies. Regional innovation systems are analytically and empirically assessed within the policy corltext of the Lisbon strategy, with special reference to regional dimensions in

  8. Assertiveness with 'Special' Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenberg, Shelley K.; Stillman-Powell, Patricia

    The author examines issues related to adult assertiveness in controlling and setting limits for handicapped children. Reasons for adults not wishing to be in charge include feelings of guilt, lack of consistency in enforcing rules, and a sense of sympathy for special children. Assertiveness is distinguished from aggressiveness, and suggestions for…

  9. Growing a Primary Science Specialism: Assembling People, Places, Materials and Ideas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lynch, Julianne; Frankel, Nadine; McCarthy, Kerry; Sharp, Lindy

    2015-01-01

    This paper derives from the authors' experiences of the development of a successful science specialism implemented in a large primary school in regional Victoria, Australia, since 2012. We discuss how diverse resources--people, spaces, equipment, materials and ideas--were brought together to support a science specialism that focuses on positioning…

  10. Suggestions to leak prevention in Fortaleza's natural gas piping system; Sugestoes para a prevencao de vazamentos de gas natural canalizado na regiao metropolitana de Fortaleza

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Teles, Marcus de Barros [Agencia Reguladora de Servicos Publicos Delegados do Estado do Ceara (ARCE), Fortaleza, CE (Brazil)

    2004-07-01

    Leaks are the bigger problem in health, safety and environmental when the subject is gas distribution piping systems. Specially in high density human regions, like in the majority districts of Fortaleza, safety have to be the higher priority to the gas company responsible for the gas distribution piping systems. Leaks are able to cause accidents or incidents, depending on the circumstances which they happen. In order to be control the situation and overcome the luck factor, leaks must be previously avoided by the application of some security requirements. This paper present some suggestions to natural gas leak prevention in the Fortaleza's metropolitan region pipeline systems. First, the piping systems are analysed, observing the risk regions. Then, safety actions and basic requirements to avoid pipe corrosion are presented in order to improve safety in the gas distribution piping systems of Fortaleza's metropolitan region. (author)

  11. Proteins Encoded in Genomic Regions Associated with Immune-Mediated Disease Physically Interact and Suggest Underlying Biology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rossin, Elizabeth J.; Lage, Kasper; Raychaudhuri, Soumya; Xavier, Ramnik J.; Tatar, Diana; Benita, Yair

    2011-01-01

    Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have defined over 150 genomic regions unequivocally containing variation predisposing to immune-mediated disease. Inferring disease biology from these observations, however, hinges on our ability to discover the molecular processes being perturbed by these risk variants. It has previously been observed that different genes harboring causal mutations for the same Mendelian disease often physically interact. We sought to evaluate the degree to which this is true of genes within strongly associated loci in complex disease. Using sets of loci defined in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and Crohn's disease (CD) GWAS, we build protein–protein interaction (PPI) networks for genes within associated loci and find abundant physical interactions between protein products of associated genes. We apply multiple permutation approaches to show that these networks are more densely connected than chance expectation. To confirm biological relevance, we show that the components of the networks tend to be expressed in similar tissues relevant to the phenotypes in question, suggesting the network indicates common underlying processes perturbed by risk loci. Furthermore, we show that the RA and CD networks have predictive power by demonstrating that proteins in these networks, not encoded in the confirmed list of disease associated loci, are significantly enriched for association to the phenotypes in question in extended GWAS analysis. Finally, we test our method in 3 non-immune traits to assess its applicability to complex traits in general. We find that genes in loci associated to height and lipid levels assemble into significantly connected networks but did not detect excess connectivity among Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) loci beyond chance. Taken together, our results constitute evidence that, for many of the complex diseases studied here, common genetic associations implicate regions encoding proteins that physically interact in a preferential manner, in

  12. The special role of item-context associations in the direct-access region of working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campoy, Guillermo

    2017-09-01

    The three-embedded-component model of working memory (WM) distinguishes three representational states corresponding to three WM regions: activated long-term memory, direct-access region (DAR), and focus of attention. Recent neuroimaging research has revealed that access to the DAR is associated with enhanced hippocampal activity. Because the hippocampus mediates the encoding and retrieval of item-context associations, it has been suggested that this hippocampal activation is a consequence of the fact that item-context associations are particularly strong and accessible in the DAR. This study provides behavioral evidence for this view using an item-recognition task to assess the effect of non-intentional encoding and maintenance of item-location associations across WM regions. Five pictures of human faces were sequentially presented in different screen locations followed by a recognition probe. Visual cues immediately preceding the probe indicated the location thereof. When probe stimuli appeared in the same location that they had been presented within the memory set, the presentation of the cue was expected to elicit the activation of the corresponding WM representation through the just-established item-location association, resulting in faster recognition. Results showed this same-location effect, but only for items that, according to their serial position within the memory set, were held in the DAR.

  13. IDEA papers special number 1; Les cahiers d'I.D.E.A. no. special 1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mercadie, J.L

    2003-06-01

    The Information network on the Economic Development in Aquitaine (IDEA) aims to collect and spread the environmental information concerning the Aquitaine, in order to implement an observatory of the regional environment and of the sustainable development. The IDEA papers provides information such as, meeting, Internet addresses and programs. This paper is specially devoted to the environment. (A.L.B.)

  14. Softball: Special Olympics Sports Skills Instructional Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Special Olympics, Inc., Washington, DC.

    One of seven instructional units on Special Olympics Sports Skills Instructional Programs, this guide presents suggestions for coaching softball for mentally retarded persons. An overview section provides information on teaching suggestions, followed by a list of program goals, objectives, and benefits. Sports skill assessments measure athletes'…

  15. Characteristics and environmental carrying capacities of coastal area in Yogyakarta Special Region for aquaculture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Triyatmo, B.; Rustadi; Priyono, S. B.

    2018-03-01

    The purpose of this study were to determine characteristics and environmental carrying capacities of coastal area in Yogyakarta Special Region for aquaculture. This study was conducted in 2015 by characterizing land and water dynamics, land use, and the suitability of coastal environments for aquaculture. Evaluation on the coastal environments suitability for aquaculture ponds was based on the landforms, soil properties, water quality and land. Selection of coastal locations for aquaculture development was based on the level of suitability of coastal environment. The results showed that the coastal in Kulon Progo and Bantul Regencies were characterized by sand dune and beach ridge with sandy soil texture, while in Gunungkidul Regency was characterized by limestone hill with rocky texture. Water sources of the coastal area were the sea, river, and ground water with the salinity of 31–37, 7–11, 7–31 ppt and pH of 7.4–8.4 7.0–8.2 and 7.4–9.9, respectively. The coastal lands were used for seasonal/annual planting, ponds, fish landing sites, tourism areas and conservation areas. The coastal carrying capacity was rather suitable for aquaculture, especially in the sandy soil area. Aquaculture in that area can be done intensively for shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei), using biocrete (biological material) or plastic sheet.

  16. Knowledge Enclosures, Forced Specializations and Investment Crisis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Filippo Belloc

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Like land before the industrial revolution, in the present global economy much knowledge is being enclosed in private hands. In this paper we argue that these enclosures have become a major factor in specialization among firms and among countries: both are forced to specialize in the fields that are not restricted by the enclosures of the others. We use data on 26 OECD countries over the 1978-2006 period. We estimate the effect of patents endowments of countries on their investment specialization across sectors and show that knowledge enclosures involve self-reinforcing innovation patterns. Moreover, we perform a structural change analysis and find that the TRIPs agreement has significantly strengthened the relationship between countries' patents specialization and investment specialization. We conclude by suggesting that stronger international patent protection may restrict global investment opportunities, and this may be one of the factors contributing to the present crisis.

  17. Enhancing Teacher Efficacy in Special Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDaniel, Elizabeth A.; McCarthy, Holly DiBella

    1989-01-01

    A special education teacher's sense of teaching efficacy and personal teaching efficacy influences teacher motivation and effort, teacher-student interactions, and student achievement. Methods for enhancing teachers' sense of efficacy are suggested. (JDD)

  18. Specialized prefrontal auditory fields: organization of primate prefrontal-temporal pathways

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria eMedalla

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available No other modality is more frequently represented in the prefrontal cortex than the auditory, but the role of auditory information in prefrontal functions is not well understood. Pathways from auditory association cortices reach distinct sites in the lateral, orbital, and medial surfaces of the prefrontal cortex in rhesus monkeys. Among prefrontal areas, frontopolar area 10 has the densest interconnections with auditory association areas, spanning a large antero-posterior extent of the superior temporal gyrus from the temporal pole to auditory parabelt and belt regions. Moreover, auditory pathways make up the largest component of the extrinsic connections of area 10, suggesting a special relationship with the auditory modality. Here we review anatomic evidence showing that frontopolar area 10 is indeed the main frontal auditory field as the major recipient of auditory input in the frontal lobe and chief source of output to auditory cortices. Area 10 is thought to be the functional node for the most complex cognitive tasks of multitasking and keeping track of information for future decisions. These patterns suggest that the auditory association links of area 10 are critical for complex cognition. The first part of this review focuses on the organization of prefrontal-auditory pathways at the level of the system and the synapse, with a particular emphasis on area 10. Then we explore ideas on how the elusive role of area 10 in complex cognition may be related to the specialized relationship with auditory association cortices.

  19. Specialization of the Right Intraparietal Sulcus for Processing Mathematics During Development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schel, Margot A; Klingberg, Torkel

    2017-09-01

    Mathematical ability, especially perception of numbers and performance of arithmetics, is known to rely on the activation of intraparietal sulcus (IPS). However, reasoning ability and working memory, 2 highly associated abilities also activate partly overlapping regions. Most studies aimed at localizing mathematical function have used group averages, where individual variability is averaged out, thus confounding the anatomical specificity when localizing cognitive functions. Here, we analyze the functional anatomy of the intraparietal cortex by using individual analysis of subregions of IPS based on how they are structurally connected to frontal, parietal, and occipital cortex. Analysis of cortical thickness showed that the right anterior IPS, defined by its connections to the frontal lobe, was associated with both visuospatial working memory, and mathematics in 6-year-old children. This region specialized during development to be specifically related to mathematics, but not visuospatial working memory in adolescents and adults. This could be an example of interactive specialization, where interacting with the environment in combination with interactions between cortical regions leads from a more general role of right anterior IPS in spatial processing, to a specialization of this region for mathematics. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  20. Dialectics of public and market regulation of a region and municipality socio-economic development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aleksandr Ivanovich Tatarkin

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Motives of improving public regulation influence to socio-economic and social processes, increasing quality and effectiveness of public (PR and market (MR regulators, their optimal and flexible cooperation were examined in the article. The essence and content of public-legal regulators (PLR in the sustainable and balanced development of territories, regions and country as a whole was reviewed. The PLR was classified by criteria of the “scale” of their regulation influence, regulation methods and consequences. Special attention was paid to the quality of PLR of federal and intergovernmental relations at the regional and municipal levels. Recommendations to improve the effectiveness of public and market regulators in regional and territorial development were suggested.

  1. Special Demographic Zone in Poland - in Search for the Gist of the Phenomenon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katarzyna Gerejczyk

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Aim/purpose - The objective of this paper is to identify the gist of the Special Demographic Zone phenomenon by analyzing the changes in the demographic structure of the EU population at country and regional level. Design/methodology/approach - We have applied the Boolean keyword and subject term searches of scholarly articles published in EBSCO and EMERALD databases, as well as in Google Scholar, between 2006 and 2016, inclusive. The key words used in the analysis were: Special Demographic Zone and Special Demographic Zones. This systematic literature review enabled us to identify 15 scientific articles connected directly with the topic in question. Findings - We found that there are 3 strategies employed by the local and regional self-governments to tackle the demographic challenges. We present them as a 3A model, representing strategies: to acknowledge, to adapt and to (counter act. We perceive the Special Demographic Zone, defined as a policy tool, as a specific case of an act strategy. Research implications/limitations - The main implication of the research is that there are already tools and mechanism ready to be utilized by the self-governments in order to tackle demographic challenges, which contribute to the local and regional sustainable development. The recommendation for local authorities is to determine which policy direction (as presented in the 3A model should be embarked on in a given territory in order to maximize the sustainable effect of undertaken actions. Originality/value/contribution - The originality of this work lies in the development of a theoretical 3A model of self-government's policy reactions to the encountered demographic challenges and in the conceptualization of a Special Demographic Zone as a special case of an act policy strategy within the broad framework of regional socioeconomic policy. Furthermore, the article draws on up-to-date statistical data.

  2. Analysis of Copy Number Variation in the Abp Gene Regions of Two House Mouse Subspecies Suggests Divergence during the Gene Family Expansions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pezer, Željka; Chung, Amanda G; Karn, Robert C; Laukaitis, Christina M

    2017-06-01

    The Androgen-binding protein ( Abp ) gene region of the mouse genome contains 64 genes, some encoding pheromones that influence assortative mating between mice from different subspecies. Using CNVnator and quantitative PCR, we explored copy number variation in this gene family in natural populations of Mus musculus domesticus ( Mmd ) and Mus musculus musculus ( Mmm ), two subspecies of house mice that form a narrow hybrid zone in Central Europe. We found that copy number variation in the center of the Abp gene region is very common in wild Mmd , primarily representing the presence/absence of the final duplications described for the mouse genome. Clustering of Mmd individuals based on this variation did not reflect their geographical origin, suggesting no population divergence in the Abp gene cluster. However, copy number variation patterns differ substantially between Mmd and other mouse taxa. Large blocks of Abp genes are absent in Mmm , Mus musculus castaneus and an outgroup, Mus spretus , although with differences in variation and breakpoint locations. Our analysis calls into question the reliance on a reference genome for interpreting the detailed organization of genes in taxa more distant from the Mmd reference genome. The polymorphic nature of the gene family expansion in all four taxa suggests that the number of Abp genes, especially in the central gene region, is not critical to the survival and reproduction of the mouse. However, Abp haplotypes of variable length may serve as a source of raw genetic material for new signals influencing reproductive communication and thus speciation of mice. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

  3. 75 FR 32164 - Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; Overview Information; Regional...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-07

    ... communication or language preference. Interpreter means individuals, both hearing and deaf, who provide... vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies), VR State coordinators for the deaf, rehabilitation counselors for... preferences within the deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind communities through strands of specialized...

  4. Special issue : transport in a post-carbon society

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-04-01

    This special issue of World Transport Policy & Practice is an outcome of the conference Planning for the Carbon Neutral World: Challenges for Cities and Regions, held 15-18 May 2008 in Salzburg, Austria. The conference, organised by SCUPAD Salzbu...

  5. Chaordic systems thinking for learning organizations : reflections and some suggestions for use

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Putnik, G.D.; Eijnatten, van F.M.

    2004-01-01

    In this concluding paper the guest editors reflect on the contents of this special issue, and give some suggestions for future use of the CST framework. An interesting disclosure is that in chaos-and-complexity research the unit of measurement is not the individual human being, but the collective

  6. Special Operations can make a difference in integrated conflict prevention

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Lars H. Ehrensvärd

    The fifth brief in the series about special operations highlights the possible strategic role of special operations in connection with Denmark's revitalized vision of integration of the state's instruments to create security through preventive stabilization efforts. The brief offers suggestion...

  7. Medical speciality choice: does personality matter?

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Lydon, S

    2015-03-01

    There has been increasing interest in the personalities of doctors. This study examined whether personality differed based upon gender, level of training or medical speciality among 200 physicians and 134 medical students. Post-internship doctors scored significantly higher on conscientiousness (p = .001) than those pursuing basic medical training. Among those pursuing basic medical training, females scored significantly higher than males on agreeableness (p < .001) and conscientiousness (p = .001). Among post-internship respondents, females scored significantly higher on agreeableness (p = .004). There were no personality differences between post-internship doctors working in different specialities. However, among those pursuing basic medical training, those interested in person-focused medical specialities scored significantly higher on extraversion (p < .001), conscientiousness (p = .001), and lower on neuroticism (p = .01) than those who had no strong preference. These results suggest that there is no unique personality profile associated with medical practice, or medical speciality. Instead, it appears that medical school may shape personality.

  8. Impact of regional SPLOST on county infrastructure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    In response to fiscal constraints on transportation funding and the need to address transportation problems and create regional solutions, Georgia is proposing a 1% regional Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax (SPLOST). To accommodate this initiat...

  9. Brain region-dependent differential expression of alpha-synuclein.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taguchi, Katsutoshi; Watanabe, Yoshihisa; Tsujimura, Atsushi; Tanaka, Masaki

    2016-04-15

    α-Synuclein, the major constituent of Lewy bodies (LBs), is normally expressed in presynapses and is involved in synaptic function. Abnormal intracellular aggregation of α-synuclein is observed as LBs and Lewy neurites in neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease (PD) or dementia with Lewy bodies. Accumulated evidence suggests that abundant intracellular expression of α-synuclein is one of the risk factors for pathological aggregation. Recently, we reported differential expression patterns of α-synuclein between excitatory and inhibitory hippocampal neurons. Here we further investigated the precise expression profile in the adult mouse brain with special reference to vulnerable regions along the progression of idiopathic PD. The results show that α-synuclein was highly expressed in the neuronal cell bodies of some early PD-affected brain regions, such as the olfactory bulb, dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus, and substantia nigra pars compacta. Synaptic expression of α-synuclein was mostly accompanied by expression of vesicular glutamate transporter-1, an excitatory presynaptic marker. In contrast, expression of α-synuclein in the GABAergic inhibitory synapses was different among brain regions. α-Synuclein was clearly expressed in inhibitory synapses in the external plexiform layer of the olfactory bulb, globus pallidus, and substantia nigra pars reticulata, but not in the cerebral cortex, subthalamic nucleus, or thalamus. These results suggest that some neurons in early PD-affected human brain regions express high levels of perikaryal α-synuclein, as happens in the mouse brain. Additionally, synaptic profiles expressing α-synuclein are different in various brain regions. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  10. Making academic research more relevant: A few suggestions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abinash Panda

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Academic research in the domain of management scholarship, though steeped in scientific and methodological rigour, is generally found to be of little relevance to practice. The authors of this paper have revisited the rigour-relevance debate in light of recent developments and with special reference to the management research scenario in India. The central thesis of the argument is that the gulf between rigour and relevance needs to be bridged to make academic research more relevant to business organizations and practitioners. They have offered some suggestions to enhance the relevance of academic research to practice.

  11. Structures of the Streptococcus sanguinis SrpA Binding Region with Human Sialoglycans Suggest Features of the Physiological Ligand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loukachevitch, Lioudmila V; Bensing, Barbara A; Yu, Hai; Zeng, Jie; Chen, Xi; Sullam, Paul M; Iverson, T M

    2016-10-11

    Streptococcus sanguinis is a leading cause of bacterial infective endocarditis, a life-threatening infection of heart valves. S. sanguinis binds to human platelets with high avidity, and this adherence is likely to enhance virulence. Previous studies suggest that a serine-rich repeat adhesin termed SrpA mediates the binding of S. sanguinis to human platelets via its interaction with sialoglycans on the receptor GPIbα. However, in vitro binding assays with SrpA and defined sialoglycans failed to identify specific high-affinity ligands. To improve our understanding of the interaction between SrpA and human platelets, we determined cocrystal structures of the SrpA sialoglycan binding region (SrpA BR ) with five low-affinity ligands: three sialylated trisaccharides (sialyl-T antigen, 3'-sialyllactose, and 3'-sialyl-N-acetyllactosamine), a sialylated tetrasaccharide (sialyl-Lewis X ), and a sialyl galactose disaccharide component common to these sialoglyans. We then combined structural analysis with mutagenesis to further determine whether our observed interactions between SrpA BR and glycans are important for binding to platelets and to better map the binding site for the physiological receptor. We found that the sialoglycan binding site of SrpA BR is significantly larger than the sialoglycans cocrystallized in this study, which suggests that binding of SrpA to platelets either is multivalent or occurs via a larger, disialylated glycan.

  12. Thermal comfort requirements in hot dry regions with special reference to Riyadh Part 2: for Friday prayer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Saeed, S.A.R. [King Saud University, Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). Dept. of Architecture and Building Science

    1996-01-01

    This study is an attempt to define thermal comfort requirements for Friday prayer during the hot season of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. According to Islam, a Muslim should perform his prayers five times a day. The obligatory five prayers are Subuh prayer immediately before dawn, Thohor prayer in the afternoon, Assor prayer in late afternoon, Maghreb prayer immediately after sunset, and Ishaa prayer early evening. Generally, Muslims are encouraged to perform all five prayers in a mosque. Friday prayer that replaces Thohor prayer once a week, should take place in one of the main mosques of the neighbourhood. The mosque where Friday prayer could be performed is known as Friday mosque. Usually Friday prayer is attended by hundreds of worshippers and takes place in the afternoon. Since the summer of Riyadh is characterised by a very high temperature and a very low relative humidity, the indoor climate of the Friday mosque (Al-Masjed Al-Gamae) need a special study. This is the second part of a series of field investigations dealing with thermal comfort requirements in the hot-dry region of Saudi Arabia. (author)

  13. Specialization Patterns

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schultz, Ulrik Pagh; Lawall, Julia Laetitia; Consel, Charles

    2000-01-01

    Design patterns offer many advantages for software development, but can introduce inefficiency into the final program. Program specialization can eliminate such overheads, but is most effective when targeted by the user to specific bottlenecks. Consequently, we propose that these concepts...... are complementary. Program specialization can optimize programs written using design patterns, and design patterns provide information about the program structure that can guide specialization. Concretely, we propose specialization patterns, which describe how to apply program specialization to optimize uses...... of design patterns. In this paper, we analyze the specialization opportunities provided by specific uses of design patterns. Based on the analysis of each design pattern, we define the associated specialization pattern. These specialization opportunities can be declared using the specialization classes...

  14. A Study on Family Opinions Concerning Services Provided in Special Education Centres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ugurlu, Necla Isikdogan; Kayhan, Nilay

    2017-01-01

    This study is to diagnose and evaluate children with different special needs medically and educationally and, as a result of those evaluations, to identify families' expectations, opinions and suggestions concerning the special education process, services and the functioning of special education institutions. The mothers of five children who…

  15. [Suitable investigation method of exploration and suggestions for investigating Chinese materia medica resources from wetland and artificial water of Hongze Lake region].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Rui; Yan, Hui; Duan, Jin-Ao; Liu, Xing-Jian; Ren, Quan-Jin; Li, Hui-Wei; Bao, Bei-Hua; Zhang, Zhao-Hui

    2016-08-01

    According to the technology requirements of the fourth national survey of Chinese Materia Medica resources (pilot), suitable investigation method of exploration and suggestions for investigating Chinese Materia Medica resources was proposed based on the type of wetland and artificial water of Hongze Lake region. Environment of Hongze Lake and overview of wetland, present situation of ecology and vegetation and vegetation distribution were analyzed. Establishment of survey plan, selection of sample area and sample square and confirmation of representative water area survey plan were all suggested. The present study provide references for improving Chinese materia medica resources survey around Hongze Lake, and improving the technical specifications. It also provide references for investigating Chinese Materia Medica resources survey on similar ecological environment under the condition of artificial intervention. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

  16. Fast Parsing using Pruning and Grammar Specialization

    OpenAIRE

    Rayner, Manny; Carter, David

    1996-01-01

    We show how a general grammar may be automatically adapted for fast parsing of utterances from a specific domain by means of constituent pruning and grammar specialization based on explanation-based learning. These methods together give an order of magnitude increase in speed, and the coverage loss entailed by grammar specialization is reduced to approximately half that reported in previous work. Experiments described here suggest that the loss of coverage has been reduced to the point where ...

  17. Special issue on asteroids - Introduction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novaković, Bojan; Hsieh, Henry H.; Gronchi, Giovanni F.

    2018-04-01

    The articles in this special issue are devoted to asteroids, small solar system bodies that primarily populate a region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, known as the asteroid belt, but can also be found throughout the Solar System. Asteroids are considered to be a key to understanding the formation and evolution of our planetary system. Their properties allow us to test current theoretical models and develop new theoretical concepts pertaining to evolutionary processes in the Solar System. There have been major advances in asteroid science in the last decade, and that trend continues. Eighteen papers accepted for this special issue cover a wide range of asteroid-related subjects, pushing the boundaries of our understanding of these intriguing objects even further. Here we provide the reader with a brief overview of these thrilling papers, with an invitation for interested scientists to read each work in detail for a better understanding of these recent cutting edge results. As many topics in asteroid science remain open challenges, we hope that this special issue will be an important reference point for future research on this compelling topic.

  18. Markets Drive the Specialization Strategies of Forest Peoples

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manuel Ruiz-Pérez

    2004-12-01

    Full Text Available Engagement in the market changes the opportunities and strategies of forest-related peoples. Efforts to support rural development need to better understand the potential importance of markets and the way people respond to them. To this end, we compared 61 case studies of the commercial production and trade of nontimber forest products from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The results show that product use is shaped by local markets and institutions, resource abundance, and the relative level of development. Larger regional patterns are also important. High-value products tend to be managed intensively by specialized producers and yield substantially higher incomes than those generated by the less specialized producers of less managed, low-value products. We conclude that commercial trade drives a process of intensified production and household specialization among forest peoples.

  19. Comparative genomics and prediction of conditionally dispensable sequences in legume-infecting Fusarium oxysporum formae speciales facilitates identification of candidate effectors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Angela H; Sharma, Mamta; Thatcher, Louise F; Azam, Sarwar; Hane, James K; Sperschneider, Jana; Kidd, Brendan N; Anderson, Jonathan P; Ghosh, Raju; Garg, Gagan; Lichtenzveig, Judith; Kistler, H Corby; Shea, Terrance; Young, Sarah; Buck, Sally-Anne G; Kamphuis, Lars G; Saxena, Rachit; Pande, Suresh; Ma, Li-Jun; Varshney, Rajeev K; Singh, Karam B

    2016-03-05

    Soil-borne fungi of the Fusarium oxysporum species complex cause devastating wilt disease on many crops including legumes that supply human dietary protein needs across many parts of the globe. We present and compare draft genome assemblies for three legume-infecting formae speciales (ff. spp.): F. oxysporum f. sp. ciceris (Foc-38-1) and f. sp. pisi (Fop-37622), significant pathogens of chickpea and pea respectively, the world's second and third most important grain legumes, and lastly f. sp. medicaginis (Fom-5190a) for which we developed a model legume pathosystem utilising Medicago truncatula. Focusing on the identification of pathogenicity gene content, we leveraged the reference genomes of Fusarium pathogens F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (tomato-infecting) and F. solani (pea-infecting) and their well-characterised core and dispensable chromosomes to predict genomic organisation in the newly sequenced legume-infecting isolates. Dispensable chromosomes are not essential for growth and in Fusarium species are known to be enriched in host-specificity and pathogenicity-associated genes. Comparative genomics of the publicly available Fusarium species revealed differential patterns of sequence conservation across F. oxysporum formae speciales, with legume-pathogenic formae speciales not exhibiting greater sequence conservation between them relative to non-legume-infecting formae speciales, possibly indicating the lack of a common ancestral source for legume pathogenicity. Combining predicted dispensable gene content with in planta expression in the model legume-infecting isolate, we identified small conserved regions and candidate effectors, four of which shared greatest similarity to proteins from another legume-infecting ff. spp. We demonstrate that distinction of core and potential dispensable genomic regions of novel F. oxysporum genomes is an effective tool to facilitate effector discovery and the identification of gene content possibly linked to host

  20. Portable Just-in-Time Specialization of Dynamically Typed Scripting Languages

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Kevin; McCandless, Jason; Gregg, David

    In this paper, we present a portable approach to JIT compilation for dynamically typed scripting languages. At runtime we generate ANSI C code and use the system's native C compiler to compile this code. The C compiler runs on a separate thread to the interpreter allowing program execution to continue during JIT compilation. Dynamic languages have variables which may change type at any point in execution. Our interpreter profiles variable types at both whole method and partial method granularity. When a frequently executed region of code is discovered, the compilation thread generates a specialized version of the region based on the profiled types. In this paper, we evaluate the level of instruction specialization achieved by our profiling scheme as well as the overall performance of our JIT.

  1. Análisis del proceso de especialización regional en servicios en España

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan R Cuadrado-Roura

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available ¿Ha tenido la especialización productiva en servicios un reflejo uniforme a escala regional? ¿Se ha reducido la desigualdad productiva de las regiones y qué papel desempeñaron los servicios? ¿Cuál ha sido la contribución de los servicios al crecimiento económico de las regiones? Para responder a estas preguntas, tomando el caso de España como referencia, se especifican dos hipótesis. La primera es que el período analizado parecería mostrar una notable inercia en la especialización, lo que determina una baja convergencia de las estructuras productivas. La segunda sugiere que la especialización productiva influye en el crecimiento económico regional y que los servicios han tenido una importante función en este sentido. El análisis utiliza diversos indicadores y técnicas y los resultados confirman en gran medida las hipótesis de partida, aportando detalles y aspectos anteriormente no bien conocidos.The article deals with three questions. First, if productive specialization on service industries has shown a uniform pattern at regional level. Second, to what extent productive inequalities amongst regions have been reduced or not and which was the role of services. Finally, what has been the contribution of services to regional economic growth. Taking Spain as the case-study, two hypotheses have been specified to answer these questions. The first is that figures should show an inertial trend of the productive specialization, which has produced a low convergence of regional productive structures. The second suggests that productive specialization has influenced regional economic growth and that services have played an important role in it. Several techniques are used to carry out the analysis. Results confirm to a great extent the hypothesis and make possible to set up some aspects not very well known previously.

  2. Regional Coordination: A Point of View.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faibisoff, Sylvia G.

    To more adequately provide for newly perceived user needs, New York State libraries have adopted the philosophy of regionalism through which public, academic, and special libraries can cooperate and share resources. The state's 22 public library systems and 9 3R regions (Reference and Research Library Resources Councils) are organized…

  3. Practice Makes Perfect and Other Curricular Myths in the Sport Specialization Debate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brylinsky, Jody

    2010-01-01

    This article presents a different focus on the specialization debate, one that changes the focus to the quality of sport instruction regardless of the level of specialization in training. It suggests that many of the negative consequences of early sport specialization may be avoided with appropriate coaching and sport skill instruction. Rather…

  4. New insights on equid locomotor evolution from the lumbar region of fossil horses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Katrina Elizabeth

    2016-04-27

    The specialization of equid limbs for cursoriality is a classic case of adaptive evolution, but the role of the axial skeleton in this famous transition is not well understood. Extant horses are extremely fast and efficient runners, which use a stiff-backed gallop with reduced bending of the lumbar region relative to other mammals. This study tests the hypothesis that stiff-backed running in horses evolved in response to evolutionary increases in body size by examining lumbar joint shape from a broad sample of fossil equids in a phylogenetic context. Lumbar joint shape scaling suggests that stability of the lumbar region does correlate with size through equid evolution. However, scaling effects were dampened in the posterior lumbar region, near the sacrum, which suggests strong selection for sagittal mobility in association with locomotor-respiratory coupling near the lumbosacral joint. I hypothesize that small-bodied fossil horses may have used a speed-dependent running gait, switching between stiff-backed and flex-backed galloping as speed increased. © 2016 The Author(s).

  5. Program specialization

    CERN Document Server

    Marlet, Renaud

    2013-01-01

    This book presents the principles and techniques of program specialization - a general method to make programs faster (and possibly smaller) when some inputs can be known in advance. As an illustration, it describes the architecture of Tempo, an offline program specializer for C that can also specialize code at runtime, and provides figures for concrete applications in various domains. Technical details address issues related to program analysis precision, value reification, incomplete program specialization, strategies to exploit specialized program, incremental specialization, and data speci

  6. Factors shaping competitiveness of the region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Szymańska Katarzyna

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Regions are competing between themselves for the highest position in the country. Achieving and maintaining this position is associated with benefits such as attracting investors, the growth of entrepreneurship living in the region or commune, improvement of housing conditions, local enrichment, lower unemployment, lower social spending and the development of the real estate market. The inventors of the region potential are: entrepreneurs, groups connecting various environments (clusters, associations, Special Economic Zones, knowledge, innovation, and the living conditions of citizens. Regions compete with each other by using monuments, attracting investors and investing funds. The main factors of territorial competition are associated with local resources. The most common and most general division of territorial competitiveness factors are classified into internal and external. External factors include national and global environment, social, economic and spacious politics of the state and other organizations. Internal factors are local opportunities and development needs. They are in the local coordinate system and depend on local resources (quantity and quality of education inhabitants of commune or region, natural resources in the region, the policy of the region - pro-health, pro-family and pro-environmental, infrastructure, their accessibility, quality and efficiency of their use. The aim of this article is to discuss about creators of region potential (mainly entrepreneurs, clusters, associations, Special Economic Zones, and the relationships between them.

  7. Serving Multicultural Children with Special Needs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spinetta, Pat Deasy; Collins, Denis E.

    1994-01-01

    Suggests that the keys to interacting effectively with culturally or linguistically different students with special needs are the awareness of helper professionals' of their own values and cultures; professionals' understanding of their clients' cultural differences; and the provision of services in culturally appropriate ways. (MAB)

  8. Pixels and patterns: A satellite-based investigation of changes to urban features in the Sanya Region, Hainan Special Economic Zone, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Millward, Andrew Allan

    Throughout most of China, and particularly in the coastal areas of its south, ecological resources and traditional culture are viewed by many to be negatively impacted by accelerating urbanization. As a result, achieving an appropriate balance between development and environmental protection has become a significant problem facing policy-makers in these urbanizing areas. The establishment of a Special Economic Zone in the Chinese Province of Hainan has made its coastal areas attractive locations for business and commerce. Development activities that support a burgeoning tourism industry, but which are damaging the environment, are now prominent components of the landscape in the Sanya Region of Hainan. In this study, patterns of urban growth in the Sanya Region of Hainan Province are investigated. Specifically, using several forms of satellite imagery, statistical tools and ancillary data, urban morphology and changes to the extent and spatial arrangement of urban features are researched and documented. A twelve-year chronology of data was collected which consists of four dates of satellite imagery (1987, 1991, 1997, 1999) acquired by three different satellite sensors (SPOT 2 HRV, Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 7 ETM+). A method of assessing inter-temporal variance in unchanged features is developed as a surrogate for traditional evaluations of change detection that require spatially accurate and time-specific data. Results reveal that selective PCA using visible bands with the exclusion of an ocean mask yield the most interpretable components representative of landscape urbanization in the Sanya Region. The geostatistical approach of variography is employed to measure spatial dependence and to test for the presence of directional change in urban morphology across a time series of satellite images. Interpreted time-series geostatistics identify and quantify landscape structure, and changes to structure, and provide a valuable quantitative description of landscape change

  9. OPTIMAL LOCALIZATION OF SPECIAL TRANSPORT AND LOGISTIC FOODSTUFF CENTRE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. M. Pasichnyk

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available On the basis of research of statistic indices of custom-house, the population and geographic location of cities of Donetsk region, the method of calculation of optimum placing of the specialized transport-logistical centre of foodstuff is offered.

  10. A special type of neutron-proton pairing interaction and the moments of inertia of some deformed even-even nuclei in the rare earth region

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meftunoglu, E.; Gerceklioglu, M.; Erbil, H.H.; Kuliev, A.A.

    1998-01-01

    In this work, the effect of a special type of neutron-proton pairing interaction on the moments of inertia of some deformed nuclei in the rare earth region is investigated. First, making a perturbative approximation, we assume that the form of the equations of the BCS theory and usual Bogolyubov transformations are unchanged. Second, we use a phenomenological method for the strength of this neutron-proton pairing interaction introducing a parameter. Calculations show that this interaction is important for the ground-state moments of inertia and that it could be effectual in other nuclear phenomena. (author)

  11. Regional patterns of declining butternut (Juglans cinerea L.) suggest site characteristics for restoration

    OpenAIRE

    Morin, Randall S.; Gottschalk, Kurt W.; Ostry, Michael E.; Liebhold, Andrew M.

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Butternut trees dying from a canker disease were first reported in southwestern Wisconsin in 1967. Since then, the disease has caused extensive mortality of butternut throughout its North American range. The objectives of this study were to quantify changes in butternut populations and density across its range and identify habitat characteristics of sites where butternut is surviving in order to locate regions for potential butternut restoration. The natural range of butternut (Jugla...

  12. Critical Response to Special Section: International Academic Mobility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robertson, Susan L.

    2010-01-01

    This article presents the author's response to a Special Section on international academic mobility. Universities--in all corners of the globe--are busy scoping, planning and advertising mobility programmes, as an essential component of academics' and students' learning experience, whilst governments and regional bodies around the world are…

  13. Preparing Early Childhood Special Educators in Appalachian Kentucky

    Science.gov (United States)

    McLaren, Elizabeth; Rutland, Julie Harp

    2013-01-01

    National shortages of qualified personnel in the field of early childhood special education are well documented, with shortages magnified in regions characterized by poverty and rural geography. This article provides an overview of the challenges faced and innovations implemented by an alternate-track, personnel preparation program in Appalachian…

  14. A shared promoter region suggests a common ancestor for the human VCX/Y, SPANX, and CSAG gene families and the murine CYPT family

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Martin A; Nielsen, John E; Retelska, Dorota

    2008-01-01

    , sequences corresponding to the shared promoter region of the CYPT family were identified at 39 loci. Most loci were located immediately upstream of genes belonging to the VCX/Y, SPANX, or CSAG gene families. Sequence comparison of the loci revealed a conserved CYPT promoter-like (CPL) element featuring TATA...... cell types. The genomic regions harboring the gene families were rich in direct and inverted segmental duplications (SD), which may facilitate gene conversion and rapid evolution. The conserved CPL and the common expression profiles suggest that the human VCX/Y, SPANX, and CSAG2 gene families together......Many testis-specific genes from the sex chromosomes are subject to rapid evolution, which can make it difficult to identify murine genes in the human genome. The murine CYPT gene family includes 15 members, but orthologs were undetectable in the human genome. However, using refined homology search...

  15. Risk-informing special treatment requirements for reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McKenna, E.M.; Reed, T.A.

    2001-01-01

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to make regulatory changes to the scope of structures, systems, and components (SSCs) requiring special treatment. ''Special treatment requirements'' refers to those specific examples of regulations that are applied in order to provide a high degree of assurance that SSC will be capable of performing their intended functions when needed. The current scope of SSCs covered by the special treatment requirements governing commercial nuclear reactors is deterministically based and stems primarily from the evaluation of selected design basis events, as described in updated final safety analysis reports (UFSARs). This regulatory framework provides reasonable assurance of no undue risk to the health and safety of the public. However, recent advances in technology, coupled with operating reactor experience, have suggested that an alternative approach that would use a risk-informed process for evaluating SSC safety significance, would, in turn, result in a more focused determination of which SSCs should receive special treatment requirements. (author)

  16. Achievements and suggestions of heat metering and energy efficiency retrofit for existing residential buildings in northern heating regions of China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yan Ding; Zhe Tian; Yong Wu; Neng Zhu

    2011-01-01

    In order to promote energy efficiency and emission reduction, the importance of improving building energy efficiency received sufficient attention from Chinese Government. The heat metering and energy efficiency retrofit for existing residential buildings of 0.15 billion m 2 in northern heating regions of China was initiated in 2007 and completed successfully at the end of 2010. This article introduced the background and outline of the retrofit project during the period of 11th five-year plan. Numerous achievements that received by retrofit such as environmental protection effect, improvement of indoor environment, improvement of heating system, investment guidance effect, promotion of relevant industries and increasing chances of employment were concluded. Valuable experience that acquired from the retrofit project during the period of 11th five-year plan was also summarized in this article. By analyzing the main problems emerged in the past, pertinent suggestions were put forward to promote a larger scale and more efficient retrofit project in the period of 12th five-year plan. - Highlights: →Successful implementation of a retrofit project in China is introduced. → Significance of the project contributing to emission reduction is analyzed. →Achievements are summarized and future suggestions are put forward.

  17. Genetic data suggest a natural prehuman origin of open habitats in northern Madagascar and question the deforestation narrative in this region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quéméré, Erwan; Amelot, Xavier; Pierson, Julie; Crouau-Roy, Brigitte; Chikhi, Lounès

    2012-08-07

    The impact of climate change and anthropogenic deforestation on biodiversity is of growing concern worldwide. Disentangling how past anthropogenic and natural factors contributed to current biome distribution is thus a crucial issue to understand their complex interactions on wider time scales and to improve predictions and conservation strategies. This is particularly important in biodiversity hotspots, such as Madagascar, dominated by large open habitats whose origins are increasingly debated. Although a dominant narrative argues that Madagascar was originally entirely covered by woodlands, which were destroyed by humans, a number of recent studies have suggested that past climatic fluctuations played a major role in shaping current biome distributions well before humans arrived. Here, we address the question of the origin of open habitats in the Daraina region in northern Madagascar, using a multiproxy approach combining population genetics modeling and remote-sensing analyses. We show that (i) contrary to most regions of Madagascar, the forest cover in Daraina remained remarkably stable over the past 60 y, and (ii) the golden-crowned sifaka (Propithecus tattersalli), a forest-dwelling lemur, underwent a strong population contraction before the arrival of the first humans, hence excluding an anthropogenic cause. Prehuman Holocene droughts may have led to a significant increase of grasslands and a reduction in the species' habitat. This contradicts the prevailing narrative that land cover changes are necessarily anthropogenic in Madagascar but does not preclude the later role played by humans in other regions in which recent lemur bottlenecks have been observed.

  18. Productive Regions: Criteria and Classification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vlasyuk L. I.

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available An official statistical dataset for 80 territorial subjects of the Russian Federation for 2000, 2007 and 2009 has proved the hypothesis that, under the neoclassical concept, the resources move to regions with the highest marginal productivity of the factors of production, which leads to the accumulation of investment resources, while providing financial and social efficiency. Based on cluster analysis by three performance criteria, productive regions are identified, which are dominated by regions productive in the extraction of minerals. It is shown that the stability of the factors’ distribution in space determines the current and future specialization of regional economies

  19. Reformulated and alternative fuels: modeled impacts on regional air quality with special emphasis on surface ozone concentration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schell, Benedikt; Ackermann, Ingmar J; Hass, Heinz

    2002-07-15

    The comprehensive European Air Pollution and Dispersion model system was used to estimate the impacts of the usage of reformulated and alternative fuels on regional air quality with special emphasis on surface ozone concentrations. A severe western European summer smog episode in July 1994 has been used as a reference, and the model predictions have been evaluated for this episode. A forecast simulation for the year 2005 (TREND) has been performed, including the future emission development based on the current legislation and technologies available. The results of the scenario TREND are used as a baseline for the other 2005 fuel scenarios, including fuel reformulation, fuel sulfur content, and compressed natural gas (CNG) as an alternative fuel. Compared to the year 1994, significant reductions in episode peak ozone concentrations and ozone grid hours are predicted for the TREND scenario. These reductions are even more pronounced within the investigated alternative and reformulated fuel scenarios. Especially, low sulfur fuels are appropriate for an immediate improvement in air quality, because they effect the emissions of the whole fleet. Furthermore, the simulation results indicate that the introduction of CNG vehicles would also enhance air quality with respect to ozone.

  20. Special actinide nuclides: Fuel or waste?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Srinivasan, M.; Rao, K.S.; Dingankar, M.V.

    1989-01-01

    The special actinide nuclides such as Np, Cm, etc. which are produced as byproducts during the operation of fission reactors are presently looked upon as 'nuclear waste' and are proposed to be disposed of as part of high level waste in deep geological repositories. The potential hazard posed to future generations over periods of thousands of years by these long lived nuclides has been a persistent source of concern to critics of nuclear power. However, the authors have recently shown that each and every one of the special actinide nuclides is a better nuclear fuel than the isotopes of plutonium. This finding suggests that one does not have to resort to exotic neutron sources for transmuting/incinerating them as proposed by some researchers. Recovery of the special actinide elements from the waste stream and recycling them back into conventional fission reactors would eliminate one of the stigmas attached to nuclear energy

  1. Bibliografia Especializada: Formacion Docente (Specialized Bibliography: Teacher Education).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boletin del Centro Nacional de Documentacion e Informacion Educativa, 1971

    1971-01-01

    This specialized, international bibliography on various issues in teacher education lists approximately 50 articles and books written between 1959 and 1970 in Spanish, French, English, and Portuguese. Many of the items are reports from conferences and seminars on related topics. Several concern teacher education within a given geographical region.…

  2. The effect of specialization on operational performance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Halkjær, Søren; Lueg, Rainer

    2017-01-01

    -methods approach that includes proprietary data from the management control system of the hospital, public documentation on the policy change, as well as interviews with key informants. These data suggest that operational deficiency is related to the fact that specialization was externally enforced through......Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyze how specialization in hospitals affects operational performance, measured by the length of stay and readmission rate. The authors assess a public policy change in the Danish healthcare sector from 2011 which required that some hospital services had...

  3. Regional European Specialization and Concentration in Central and Eastern Europe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentin Neculita

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Enlargement has become a fundamental priority of the European Union after the 90’s. Up to now seven rounds have been held for enlarging the Community which initially was made up of six Member States (Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands. Among all EU enlargements, the eastward enlargement from 2004 was the biggest challenge, both due to the number of new Member States which joined - the number of EU inhabitants increasing to approximately from 380 to 485 million, but also due to the difference of Gross Domestic Product between the old and new EU members. This paper aims to provide insights in European integration and absorption of European funds into the newest that joined the European Union. The paper proposes an analysis of integration and specialization in Eastern Europe by means of data and statistics provided by European and national statistics institutions.

  4. IRIS-50. A 50 MWe advanced PWR design for smaller, regional grids and specialized applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Petrovic, Bojan; Carelli, Mario; Conway, Larry; Hundal, Rolv; Barbaso, Enrico; Gamba, Federica; Centofante, Mario

    2009-01-01

    IRIS is an advanced, medium-power (1000 MWt or ∼335 MWe) advanced PWR design of integral configuration, that has gained wide recognition due to its innovative 'safety-by-design' safety approach. In spite of its smaller size compared to large monolithic nuclear power plants, it is economically competitive due to its simplicity and advantages of modular deployment. However, the optimum power level for a class of specific applications (e.g., power generation in small regional isolated grids; water desalination and biodiesel production at remote locations; autonomous power source for special applications, etc.) may be even lower, of the order of tens rather than hundreds of MWe. The simple and robust IRIS 335 MWe design provides a solid basis for establishing a 20-100 MWe design, utilizing the same safety and economics principles, so that it will retain economic attractiveness compared to other alternatives of the same power level. A conceptual 50 MWe design, IRIS-50, was initially developed and then assessed in a 2001 report to the US Congress on small and medium reactors, as a design mature enough to have deployment potential within a decade. In the meantime, while the main efforts have focused on the 335 MWe design completion and licensing, parallel efforts have progressed toward the preliminary design of IRIS-50. This paper summarizes the main IRIS-50 features and presents an update on its design status. (author)

  5. Computation of the magnetic field of a spectrometer in detectors region

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhidkov, E.P.; Yuldasheva, M.B.; Yudin, I.P.; Yuldashev, O.I.

    1995-01-01

    Computed results of the 3D magnetic field of a spectrometer intended for investigation of hadron production of charmed particles and the indication of the narrow resonances in neutron-nucleus interactions are presented. The methods used in computations: finite element method and finite element method with suggested new infinite elements are described. For accuracy control the computations were carried out on a sequence of three-dimensional meshes. Special attention is devoted to behaviour of the magnetic field in the basic detector (proportional chambers) region. The performed results can be used for the field behaviour estimate of similar spectrometer magnets. (orig.)

  6. Suggestibility and suggestive modulation of the Stroop effect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirsch, Irving

    2011-06-01

    Although the induction of a hypnotic state does not seem necessary for suggestive modulation of the Stroop effect, this important phenomenon has seemed to be dependent on the subject's level of hypnotic suggestibility. Raz and Campbell's (2011) study indicates that suggestion can modulate the Stroop effect substantially in very low suggestible subjects, as well as in those who are highly suggestible. This finding casts doubt on the presumed mechanism by which suggestive modulation is brought about. Research aimed at uncovering the means by which low suggestible individuals are able to modulate the Stroop effect would be welcome, as would assessment of this effect in moderately suggestible people. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Introduction to the special collection of papers on the San Luis Basin Sustainability Metrics Project: a methodology for evaluating regional sustainability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heberling, Matthew T; Hopton, Matthew E

    2012-11-30

    This paper introduces a collection of four articles describing the San Luis Basin Sustainability Metrics Project. The Project developed a methodology for evaluating regional sustainability. This introduction provides the necessary background information for the project, description of the region, overview of the methods, and summary of the results. Although there are a multitude of scientifically based sustainability metrics, many are data intensive, difficult to calculate, and fail to capture all aspects of a system. We wanted to see if we could develop an approach that decision-makers could use to understand if their system was moving toward or away from sustainability. The goal was to produce a scientifically defensible, but straightforward and inexpensive methodology to measure and monitor environmental quality within a regional system. We initiated an interdisciplinary pilot project in the San Luis Basin, south-central Colorado, to test the methodology. The objectives were: 1) determine the applicability of using existing datasets to estimate metrics of sustainability at a regional scale; 2) calculate metrics through time from 1980 to 2005; and 3) compare and contrast the results to determine if the system was moving toward or away from sustainability. The sustainability metrics, chosen to represent major components of the system, were: 1) Ecological Footprint to capture the impact and human burden on the system; 2) Green Net Regional Product to represent economic welfare; 3) Emergy to capture the quality-normalized flow of energy through the system; and 4) Fisher information to capture the overall dynamic order and to look for possible regime changes. The methodology, data, and results of each metric are presented in the remaining four papers of the special collection. Based on the results of each metric and our criteria for understanding the sustainability trends, we find that the San Luis Basin is moving away from sustainability. Although we understand

  8. Calibration of aerosol radiometers. Special aerosol sources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Belkina, S.K.; Zalmanzon, Yu.E.; Kuznetsov, Yu.V.; Fertman, D.E.

    1988-01-01

    Problems of calibration of artificial aerosol radiometry and information-measurement systems of radiometer radiation control, in particular, are considered. Special aerosol source is suggested, which permits to perform certification and testing of aerosol channels of the systems in situ without the dismantling

  9. Diversity and Equity in the Distribution of Teachers With Special Education Credentials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    North Cooc

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The shortage of special education teachers (SETs is a persistent challenge in the United States, but less is known about two other important issues that affect students with disabilities: racial diversity within the SET workforce and the distribution of SETs. Using administrative data on all teachers in California from 1997 to 2014, we examine the racial composition and distribution of teachers with special education credentials. Our results from descriptive and regression analyses show that while teachers with special education credentials remain majority White, the number of teachers of color with special education credentials has increased at a rate more than twice that of general education teachers and special education students of color. We also find that much of the distribution of teachers with special education credentials occurs across districts within the same regional county, while disparities in teacher qualifications are larger by school poverty, racial composition, and student achievement. The results have policy implications for improving diversity and educational equity within the special education workforce.

  10. Baseball Caps and Beards: The Perception of US Special Forces by Conventional Forces and Its Impact on Interdependence

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-05-20

    Professional Military Education RAB Regionally Aligned Brigade RAF Regionally Aligned Force SAS Special Air Service SFG (A) Special Forces Group...to create unnecessary barriers between themselves and the people. Rather comically , they had to put on the full body armor to enter American bases...in our forces from the very beginning of professional military education and throughout all planning and training. The closure of the Iraq theater

  11. Typical and atypical neurodevelopment for face specialization: An fMRI study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joseph, Jane E.; Zhu, Xun; Gundran, Andrew; Davies, Faraday; Clark, Jonathan D.; Ruble, Lisa; Glaser, Paul; Bhatt, Ramesh S.

    2014-01-01

    Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their relatives process faces differently from typically developed (TD) individuals. In an fMRI face-viewing task, TD and undiagnosed sibling (SIB) children (5–18 years) showed face specialization in the right amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), with left fusiform and right amygdala face specialization increasing with age in TD subjects. SIBs showed extensive antero-medial temporal lobe activation for faces that was not present in any other group, suggesting a potential compensatory mechanism. In ASD, face specialization was minimal but increased with age in the right fusiform and decreased with age in the left amygdala, suggesting atypical development of a frontal-amygdala-fusiform system which is strongly linked to detecting salience and processing facial information. PMID:25479816

  12. Controlling Special Education Costs at the School District Level.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan, W. Daniel

    1992-01-01

    Describes the financing of a New York school district for emotionally disturbed children. Summarizes suggestions for controlling special education costs at the district level obtained from a nationwide sample of school business officials. Among the suggestions offered are to include a review of private placements and an annual caseload review,…

  13. 75 FR 57859 - Specially Adapted Housing and Special Home Adaptation

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-23

    ... Home Adaptation AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Department of... specially adapted housing and special home adaptation grants. This final rule incorporates certain... regulations pertaining to eligibility for specially adapted housing (SAH) grants and special home adaptation...

  14. Enemy-free space and habitat-specific host specialization in a butterfly.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiklund, Christer; Friberg, Magne

    2008-08-01

    The majority of herbivorous insects have relatively specialized food habits. This suggests that specialization has some advantage(s) over generalization. Traditionally, feeding specialization has been thought to be linked to digestive or other food-related physiological advantages, but recent theory suggests that generalist natural enemies of herbivorous insects can also provide a major selective pressure for restricted host plant range. The European swallowtail butterfly Papilio machaon utilizes various plants in the Apiaceae family as hosts, but is an ecological specialist being monophagous on Angelica archangelica in southern Sweden. This perennial monocarp grows in three seaside habitat types: (1) on the barren rocky shore in the absence of any surrounding vegetation, (2) on the rocky shore with some surrounding vegetation, and (3) on species-rich meadows. The rocky shore habitat harbors few invertebrate generalist predators, whereas a number of invertebrate predators abound in the meadowland habitat. Here, we test the importance of enemy-free space for feeding specialization in Papilio machaon by assessing survival of larvae placed by hand on A. archangelica in each of the three habitat types, and by assessing the habitat-specificity of adult female egg-laying behavior by recording the distribution of eggs laid by free-flying adult females among the three habitat types. Larval survival was substantially higher in the rocky shore habitat than in the meadowland and significantly higher on host plants without surrounding vegetation on the rocky shore. Eggs laid by free-flying females were found in all three habitat types, but were significantly more frequent in the rocky shore habitat, suggesting that females prefer to lay eggs in the habitat type where offspring survival is highest. These results show that larval survivorship on the same host plant species can be strongly habitat-specific, and suggest that enemy-free space is an underlying factor that drives

  15. Regional rainfall climatologies derived from Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Negri, Andrew J.; Adler, Robert F.; Nelkin, Eric J.; Huffman, George J.

    1994-01-01

    Climatologies of convective precipitation were derived from passive microwave observations from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager using a scattering-based algorithm of Adler et al. Data were aggregated over periods of 3-5 months using data from 4 to 5 years. Data were also stratified by satellite overpass times (primarily 06 00 and 18 00 local time). Four regions (Mexico, Amazonia, western Africa, and the western equatorial Pacific Ocean (TOGA COARE area) were chosen for their meteorological interest and relative paucity of conventional observations. The strong diurnal variation over Mexico and the southern United States was the most striking aspect of the climatologies. Pronounced morning maxima occured offshore, often in concativities in the coastline, the result of the increased convergence caused by the coastline shape. The major feature of the evening rain field was a linear-shaped maximum along the western slope of the Sierra Madre Occidental. Topography exerted a strong control on the rainfall in other areas, particularly near the Nicaragua/Honduras border and in Guatemala, where maxima in excess of 700 mm/month were located adjacent to local maxima in terrain. The correlation between the estimates and monthly gage data over the southern United States was low (0.45), due mainly to poor temporal sampling in any month and an inadequate sampling of the diurnal cycle. Over the Amazon Basin the differences in morning versus evening rainfall were complex, with an alternating series of morning/evening maxima aligned southwest to northeast from the Andes to the northeast Brazilian coast. A real extent of rainfall in Amazonia was slightly higher in the evening, but a maximum in morning precipitation was found on the Amazon River just east of Manaus. Precipitation over the water in the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) north of Brazil was more pronounced in the morning, and a pronounced land-/sea-breeze circulation was found along the northeast coast of Brazil

  16. Special Collections, Primary Resources, and Information Literacy Pedagogy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melissa A. Hubbard

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Literature suggests that teaching Information Literacy (IL as an intellectual framework, rather than a set of computer-based tools, can be challenging for numerous reasons. At the same time, other articles describe the unique value of using hands-on investigations of special collections materials to facilitate the development of critical thinking skills and IL in discipline-specific contexts for upper-level students. This article reports on a collaboration between an IL instructor and a special collections librarian to create a hands-on special collections experience for entry-level IL students. We found that exposing these students to these materials can improve their IL and research skills. We explain our methods for designing and assessing such class sessions, and report on our results with students.

  17. Organization of a Regional Hemodialysis Center

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. G. Dantsiger

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents a concept of formation and development of interregional, regional, and equated centers, interregional specialized units set up on the basis of therapeutic-and-prophylactic institutions on the basis of a multileveled multistage health care system. Large multidisciplinary clinical hospital One (Novokuznetsk was used as an example to consider the mechanism of integration of innovation technology of organizing a specialized medical aid. Analysis of the needs of the region’s population for dialysis care for patients with acute and chronic renal failure has revealed the barest necessity of setting up a regional hemodyalisis center under a multidisciplinary clinical hospital. The setting up of a hemodialysis center substantially has quantitatively and qualitatively improved health care delivered to patients with acute and chronic renal failure.

  18. DIFERENCIAS TERRITORIALES EN EL CONCEPTO DE COOPERATIVA PROTEGIDA Y ESPECIALMENTE PROTEGIDA / REGIONAL DIFFERENCES IN THE CONCEPT OF PROTECTED AND SPECIALLY PROTECTED COOPERATIVE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pilar ALGUACIL MARÍ

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Tras diversos estudios sobre las divergencias territoriales en materia de impacto fiscal que produce la aplicación de la legislación fiscal (ley 20/90 en las cooperativas españolas al conjugarse con una legislación sustantiva autonómica diversa, nos hemos planteado solo investigar en los requisitos para su aplicación. Estos requisitos, planteados en los artículos 6 y 13, remiten a la ley sustantiva, con importantes turbulencias y algunas diferencias importantes en la tributación, que permiten plantearse una mayor homogeneización futura en aras a una equidad legislativa. Incluso para la aplicación del régimen especial, los requisitos planteados en los artículos 8 al 12, aunque son independientes de la legislación sustantiva, son claramente obsoletos. Se analizan las enormes diferencias legislativas, cuantificando la presión fiscal de las mismas, en lo posible, y se destacan las similitudes, concordancias e incongruencias entre las diferentes legislaciones con resultados sorprendentes en algunos casos / Following several studies on regional differences in fiscal impact produced by the application of tax law (Law 20/90 in Spanish cooperatives because of the existence of very different substantive regional law, we have considered to investigate only the requirements for the application of the special tax regime. These requirements, as set forth in Articles 6 and 13, refer to the substantive law, with significant turbulence and some important differences in taxation. So it would be convenient to consider to improve greater homogenization in future legislative for equity’s sake. Even for the more special scheme, the requirements set out in Articles 8 to 12, that are in a greater degree independent of the substantive law, are clearly outdated. The paper discusses the huge differences in legislation, quantifying the tax burden of it, when possible, and highlights the similarities, commonalities and inconsistencies between different laws

  19. A test theory of special relativity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mansouri, R.; Sexl, R.U.

    1977-01-01

    Various second-order optical tests of special relativity are discussed within the framework of a test theory developed previously. Owing to the low accuracy of the Kennedy-Thorndike experiment, the Lorentz contraction is known by direct experiments only to an accuracy of a few percent. To improve this accuracy several experiments are suggested. (author)

  20. Passive Scalar Evolution in Peripheral Region

    OpenAIRE

    Lebedev, V. V.; Turitsyn, K. S.

    2003-01-01

    We consider evolution of a passive scalar (concentration of pollutants or temperature) in a chaotic (turbulent) flow. A universal asymptotic behavior of the passive scalar decay (homogenization) related to peripheral regions (near walls) is established. The passive scalar moments and its pair correlation function in the peripheral region are analyzed. A special case investigated in our paper is the passive scalar decay along a pipe.

  1. Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine Project for an Integral Oncology Center at the Oaxaca High Specialization Regional Hospital

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Jesus, M.; Trujillo-Zamudio, F. E.

    2010-01-01

    A building project of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine services (diagnostic and therapy), within an Integral Oncology Center (IOC), requires interdisciplinary participation of architects, biomedical engineers, radiation oncologists and medical physicists. This report focus on the medical physicist role in designing, building and commissioning stages, for the final clinical use of an IOC at the Oaxaca High Specialization Regional Hospital (HRAEO). As a first step, during design stage, the medical physicist participates in discussions about radiation safety and regulatory requirements for the National Regulatory Agency (called CNSNS in Mexico). Medical physicists propose solutions to clinical needs and take decisions about installing medical equipment, in order to fulfill technical and medical requirements. As a second step, during the construction stage, medical physicists keep an eye on building materials and structural specifications. Meanwhile, regulatory documentation must be sent to CNSNS. This documentation compiles information about medical equipment, radioactivity facility, radiation workers and nuclear material data, in order to obtain the license for the linear accelerator, brachytherapy and nuclear medicine facilities. As a final step, after equipment installation, the commissioning stage takes place. As the conclusion, we show that medical physicists are essentials in order to fulfill with Mexican regulatory requirements in medical facilities.

  2. Regionální gastronomie ve Středočeském kraji

    OpenAIRE

    Nekvasilová, Šárka

    2011-01-01

    The main aim of this thesis is to examine the implementation of the project Czech Specials in practice and analyze offer of regional specialities in the Central Bohemian region through the comparison of the product of certified and non-certified restaurants. The theoretical part deals with the importance of restaurant services, gastronomy, gastronomic tourism, quality, and marketing. The content of the work is also characteristic of the region of Central Bohemia, the historical development of...

  3. COMBINATION OF GOALS STRATEGY REGION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Denys Yu. Lapigin

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Currently the tools to identify strategicallyimportant objectives of regional development is not enough to build a developmentperspective, relying on something special,what distinguishes each region from therest. The article discusses approaches to the formation of the regional developmentstrategy, which is based on goals set by the results of the analysis of the main factors inthe development of the region. The study is based on the methodology of systems theoryand methods of strategic management. The most important results should include tools tobuild the tree of strategic objectives resultingfrom the implementation of the algorithm forconstructing planes of analysis and development of the region. The results can be used to develop a strategy for the developmentof socio-economic systems of various typesand forms.

  4. PERFORMANCE DETERMINANTS OF PARTICIPATION BANKS: THE ROLE OF SPECIAL CURRENT ACCOUNTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yusuf DINÇ

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Participation banks collect participation funds for credit allocation by participation accounts and special current accounts as main function. Profit or loss offered to participation accounts on base of participation share ratio while special current accounts are considered as cost-free resources. Participation funds are used in the models that analyze participation banks’ performance. Although participation fund types are not considered as variables also special current accounts. This research brings suggestions for the variables for performance analysis of participation banks for further researches.

  5. Special radiation therapy for malignent tumours

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barth, G.; Bohndorf, W.; Franke, H.D.; Haas, R.; Halama, J.; Hess, F.; Kaercher, K.H.; Gauwerky, F.; Hellriegel, W.

    1980-01-01

    In the section on 'Special radiotherapy of malignant tumours', tumours of various parts of the body are treated in 11 chapters, whereby partly different authors have made even further subdivisions. The following chapters are dealt with: Skin (including lips and anal region) with separate treatment of melanomes, head region (with finer subdivision of eye, orbita, eye lid; ear, auditory meatus and parotis; oropharynx; nasopharynx; nasal cavities and paranasal sinus), neck region (subdivided into larynx and hypopharynx and glands), thorax (split into lungs, mediastinum and oesophagus), digestive organs (summarized together stomach and small intestine, colon and rectum, liver, gall and pancreas), male sex organs (subdivided into testicles, prostate and spermatocyst, penis and urethra), female sex organs (separately treated corpus uteri, collum uteri, vagina, vulva, urethra and ovary), female and male mamma, urinary organs (kidneys and ureter as well as bladder), sarcoma of moving and supporting organs and finally the nervous system. (MG) [de

  6. Review of regional economic models with special reference to labor impact assessment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ferris, G.; Mason, B.

    1979-06-01

    This paper reviews several regional economic models and examines the capabilities of these models for assessing the total employment impacts of solar energy adoption. Five generic analytic methods are discussed: economic base analysis, shift-share analysis, demographic-economic interaction models, input-output analysis, and industrial location analysis. Ten regional models incorporating some aspect of these methods are reviewed. From the model review, the conclusion is drawn that there is no single model that fits all of the necessary criteria for planned research efforts. Models that appear to hold promise are the Economic Activity Analysis (EAA) Model, the Regional Industrial Multipliers System (RIMS), the Multiregion, Multi-industry (MRMI) Model, and the MULTIREGION model.

  7. Special geometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strominger, A.

    1990-01-01

    A special manifold is an allowed target manifold for the vector multiplets of D=4, N=2 supergravity. These manifolds are of interest for string theory because the moduli spaces of Calabi-Yau threefolds and c=9, (2,2) conformal field theories are special. Previous work has given a local, coordinate-dependent characterization of special geometry. A global description of special geometries is given herein, and their properties are studied. A special manifold M of complex dimension n is characterized by the existence of a holomorphic Sp(2n+2,R)xGL(1,C) vector bundle over M with a nowhere-vanishing holomorphic section Ω. The Kaehler potential on M is the logarithm of the Sp(2n+2,R) invariant norm of Ω. (orig.)

  8. Special Collections of Children's Literature: A Justification for Their Support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitney, Ellen

    1986-01-01

    Describes the various purposes of special collections of children's literature including their value to historians, sociologists, psychologists, artists and authors, their reference purposes, and their value in preserving regional artistic and literary heritages. A bibliography of journal articles, pamphlets, and brochures listed by state is…

  9. The motivation for special interests in individuals with autism and controls: Development and validation of the special interest motivation scale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grove, Rachel; Roth, Ilona; Hoekstra, Rosa A

    2016-06-01

    Clinical observations and first person accounts of living with autism suggest that individuals with autism are highly motivated to engage in special interests, and that these interests remain important throughout life. Previous research assessing special interests has mainly focused on parental reports of children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). To better understand the significance of and motivations for engaging in special interests it is essential to use self-report ratings. This paper aims to systematically explore the motivations for engagement in special interests, and whether these differ in adults with ASC, first-degree relatives and general population controls. The Special Interest Motivation Scale (SIMS) was developed to assess motivation to engage in special interests. The internal structure of this scale was evaluated using factor analysis, and mean scores on the SIMS factors were subsequently compared across individuals with autism, parents and general population controls. Factor analysis indicated a 20-item SIMS containing five factors assessing Personal life values and goals; Intrinsic interest and knowledge; Prestige; Engagement and "flow" and Achievement. Individuals with autism were more motivated by Intrinsic interest and knowledge and by Engagement and flow than controls. The 20-item SIMS is a quick to administer measure that provides a reliable description of motivation to engage in special interests. This study indicates that individuals with ASC are highly motivated to engage in their special interest, and are more motivated than controls by intrinsic motivational factors, some of which are associated with positive affect. This has implications for research and clinical practice. Autism Res 2016, 9: 677-688. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  10. Linear collider capabilities for supersymmetry in dark matter allowed regions of the mSUGRA model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baer, Howard; Belyaev, Alexander; Krupovnickas, Tadas; Tata, Xerxes

    2004-01-01

    Recent comparisons of minimal supergravity (mSUGRA) model predictions with WMAP measurements of the neutralino relic density point to preferred regions of model parameter space. We investigate the reach of linear colliders (LC) with (s) 1/2 = 0.5 and 1 TeV for SUSY in the framework of the mSUGRA model. We find that LCs can cover the entire stau co-annihilation region provided tan βalt30. In the hyperbolic branch/focus point (HB/FP) region of parameter space, specialized cuts are suggested to increase the reach in this important 'dark matter allowed' area. In the case of the HB/FP region, the reach of a LC extends well past the reach of the CERN LHC. We examine a case study in the HB/FP region, and show that the MSSM parameters μ and M 2 can be sufficiently well-measured to demonstrate that one would indeed be in the HB/FP region, where the lightest chargino and neutralino have a substantial higgsino component. (author)

  11. Evaluation of multiple satellite evaporation products in two dryland regions using GRACE

    KAUST Repository

    Lopez, Oliver

    2015-12-01

    Remote sensing has become a valuable tool for monitoring the water cycle variables in areas that lack the availability of ground-based measurements. Integrating multiple remote sensing-based estimates of evaporation, precipitation, and the terrestrial water storage changes with local measurements of streamflow into a consistent estimate of the regional water budget is a challenge, due to the scale mismatch among the retrieved variables. Evapotranspiration, including soil evaporation, interception losses and canopy transpiration, has received special focus in a number of recent studies that aim to provide global or regional estimates of evaporation at regular time intervals using a variety of remote sensing input. In arid and semi-arid regions, modeling of evaporation is particularly challenging due to the relatively high role of the soil evaporation component in these regions and the variable nature of rainfall events that drive the evaporation process. In this study, we explore the hydrological consistency of remote sensing products in terms of water budget closure and the correlation among spatial patterns of precipitation (P), evaporation (E) and terrestrial water storage, using P-E as a surrogate of water storage changes, with special attention to the evaporation component. The analysis is undertaken within two dryland regions that have presented recent significant changes in climatology (Murray-Darling Basin in Australia) and water storage (the Saq aquifer in northern Saudi Arabia). Water storage changes were derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) spherical harmonic (SH) coefficients. Six remote sensing-based evaporation estimates were subtracted from the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP)-based precipitation estimates and were compared with GRACE-derived water storage changes. Our results suggest that it is not possible to close the water balance by using satellite data alone, even when adopting a spherical harmonic

  12. Direct solution of the biharmonic equation on rectangular regions and the Poisson equation on irregular regions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buzbee, B.L.; Dorr, F.W.

    1974-01-01

    The discrete biharmonic equation on a rectangular region and the discrete Poisson equation on an irregular region can be treated as modifications to matrix problems with very special structure. It is shown how to use the direct method of matrix decomposition to formulate an effective numerical algorithm for these problems. For typical applications the operation count is O(N 3 ) for an N x N grid. Numerical comparisons with other techniques are included. (U.S.)

  13. Lateral and medial ventral occipitotemporal regions interact during the recognition of images revealed from noise

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barbara eNordhjem

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Several studies suggest different functional roles for the medial and the lateral ventral sections in object recognition. Texture and surface information is processed in medial regions, while shape information is processed in lateral sections. This begs the question whether and how these functionally specialized sections interact with each other and with early visual cortex to facilitate object recognition. In the current research, we set out to answer this question. In an fMRI study, thirteen subjects viewed and recognized images of objects and animals that were gradually revealed from noise while their brains were being scanned. We applied dynamic causal modeling (DCM – a method to characterize network interactions – to determine the modulatory effect of object recognition on a network comprising the primary visual cortex (V1, the lingual gyrus (LG in medial ventral cortex and the lateral occipital cortex (LO. We found that object recognition modulated the bilateral connectivity between LG and LO. Moreover, the feed-forward connectivity from V1 to LG and LO was modulated, while there was no evidence for feedback from these regions to V1 during object recognition. In particular, the interaction between medial and lateral areas supports a framework in which visual recognition of objects is achieved by networked regions that integrate information on image statistics, scene content and shape – rather than by a single categorically specialized region – within the ventral visual cortex.

  14. Computation of the Magnetic Field of a Spectrometer in Detectors Region

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhidkov, E.P.; Yuldasheva, M.B.; Yudin, I.P.; Yuldashev, O.I.

    1994-01-01

    Computed results of the 3D magnetic field of a spectrometer intended for investigation of hadron production of charmed particles and the indication of the narrow resonances in neutron-nucleus interaction are presented. The methods, used in computations - finite element method and finite element method with suggested new infinite elements are described. For accuracy control the computations were carried out on a sequence of three-dimensional meshes. Special attention is devoted to the behaviour of the magnetic field in the basic detectors (proportional chambers) region. The performed results can be used for the field behaviour estimate of similar spectrometer magnets. 12 refs., 16 figs

  15. Use it or lose it: reproductive implications of ecological specialization in a haematophagous ectoparasite.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arbiv, A; Khokhlova, I S; Ovadia, O; Novoplansky, A; Krasnov, B R

    2012-06-01

    Using experimentally induced disruptive selection, we tested two hypotheses regarding the evolution of specialization in parasites. The 'trade-off' hypothesis suggests that adaptation to a specific host may come at the expense of a reduced performance when exploiting another host. The alternative 'relaxed selection' hypothesis suggests that the ability to exploit a given host would deteriorate when becoming obsolete. Three replicate populations of a flea Xenopsylla ramesis were maintained on each of two rodent hosts, Meriones crassus and Dipodillus dasyurus, for nine generations. Fleas maintained on a specific host species for a few generations substantially decreased their reproductive performance when transferred to an alternative host species, whereas they generally did not increase their performance on their maintenance host. The results support the 'relaxed selection' hypothesis of the evolution of ecological specialization in haematophagous ectoparasites, while suggesting that trade-offs are unlikely drivers of specialization. Further work is needed to study the extent by which the observed specializations are based on epigenetic or genetic modifications. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2012 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

  16. The regulation of growth and metabolism of kidney stem cells with regional specificity using extracellular matrix derived from kidney.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Neill, John D; Freytes, Donald O; Anandappa, Annabelle J; Oliver, Juan A; Vunjak-Novakovic, Gordana V

    2013-12-01

    Native extracellular matrix (ECM) that is secreted and maintained by resident cells is of great interest for cell culture and cell delivery. We hypothesized that specialized bioengineered niches for stem cells can be established using ECM-derived scaffolding materials. Kidney was selected as a model system because of the high regional diversification of renal tissue matrix. By preparing the ECM from three specialized regions of the kidney (cortex, medulla, and papilla; whole kidney, heart, and bladder as controls) in three forms: (i) intact sheets of decellularized ECM, (ii) ECM hydrogels, and (iii) solubilized ECM, we investigated how the structure and composition of ECM affect the function of kidney stem cells (with mesenchymal stem cells, MSCs, as controls). All three forms of the ECM regulated KSC function, with differential structural and compositional effects. KSCs cultured on papilla ECM consistently displayed lower proliferation, higher metabolic activity, and differences in cell morphology, alignment, and structure formation as compared to KSCs on cortex and medulla ECM, effects not observed in corresponding MSC cultures. These data suggest that tissue- and region-specific ECM can provide an effective substrate for in vitro studies of therapeutic stem cells. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Killing vectors in empty space algebraically special metrics. II

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Held, A.

    1976-01-01

    Empty space algebraically special metrics possessing an expanding degenerate principal null vector and Killing vectors are investigated. Attention is centered on that class of Killing vector (called nonpreferred) which is necessarily spacelike in the asymptotic region. A detailed analysis of the relationship between the Petrov--Penrose classification and these Killing vectors is carried out

  18. Five suggestions for future medical education in Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Eunbae B; Meng, Kwang Ho

    2014-09-01

    This study is to investigate the historical characteristics of medical education and healthcare environment in Korea and to suggest the desirable direction for future medical education. We draw a consensus through the literature analysis and several debates from the eight experts of medical education. There are several historical characteristics of medical education: medical education as vocational education and training, as a higher education, rapid growth of new medical schools, change to the medical education system, curriculum development, reinforcement of medical humanities, improvement of teaching and evaluation methods, validation of the national health personnel licensing examination, accreditation system for quality assurance, and establishment of specialized medical education division. The changes of health care environment in medical education are development of medical technologies, changes in the structures of the population and diseases, growth of information and communication technology, consumer-centered society, and increased intervention by the third party stakeholder. We propose five suggestions to be made to improve future medical education. They are plan for outcome and competency-based medical education, connection between the undergraduate and graduate medical education, reinforcement of continuous quality improvement of medical education, reorganization of the medical education system and construction of leadership of "academic medicine."

  19. Aggregate and regional productivity growth in Chinese industry, 1978-2002

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wang, L.

    2009-01-01

    This book analyses the growth experience in Chinese industry and manufacturing, with a special emphasis on the decomposition of growth, structural change, regional divergence and convergence, and technology spillovers. The decomposition analysis focuses on three dimensions: sectoral, regional and

  20. Innovative Technological Development of Russian Mining Regions (on Example of Kemerovo Region)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shavina, Evgeniya; Kalenov, Oleg

    2017-11-01

    A characteristic trend of many countries modern development is the transition to an innovative economy. At present, this is the only opportunity to secure and maintain a high standard of living for the population. Moreover, innovative development of Russian can be achieved during technological progress in its regions. In this regard, it is necessary to assess the innovative potential of the region and identify the most actual problems that impede the transition to the trajectory of innovative development. The authors outline several main indicators that help to determine the level of innovation and technological development of one of the largest industrial areas of Russia - Kemerovo region. The special economic role of Kemerovo region as a large territorial old-industrial complex of Western Siberia requires a large-scale work to solve the most acute problems of regional development. It is necessary to find the answer for existing problems through the implementation of a system of state regulation aimed at making the innovation component a leading factor of the regional economy competitiveness.

  1. Normal and Special Models of Neutrino Masses and Mixings

    CERN Document Server

    Altarelli, Guido

    2005-01-01

    One can make a distinction between "normal" and "special" models. For normal models $\\theta_{23}$ is not too close to maximal and $\\theta_{13}$ is not too small, typically a small power of the self-suggesting order parameter $\\sqrt{r}$, with $r=\\Delta m_{sol}^2/\\Delta m_{atm}^2 \\sim 1/35$. Special models are those where some symmetry or dynamical feature assures in a natural way the near vanishing of $\\theta_{13}$ and/or of $\\theta_{23}- \\pi/4$. Normal models are conceptually more economical and much simpler to construct. Here we focus on special models, in particular a recent one based on A4 discrete symmetry and extra dimensions that leads in a natural way to a Harrison-Perkins-Scott mixing matrix.

  2. Cold regions isotope applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perrigo, L.D.; Divine, T.E.

    1976-04-01

    Pacific Northwest Laboratories (PNL) started the Cold Regions Isotope Applications Program in FY-1975 to identify special conditions in the Arctic and similar geographic areas (Cold Regions) where radioisotope power, heater, or sterilization systems would be desirable and economically viable. Significant progress was made in the first year of this program and all objectives for this initial 12-month period were achieved. The major conclusions and recommendations resulting for this effort are described below. The areas of interest covered include: radiosterilization of sewage; heating of septic tanks; and radioisotope thermoelectric generators as power sources for meteorological instruments and navigational aids

  3. System for Conservation of Specially Protected Natural Areas as Sustainable Urban Development Element

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kryakhtunov, A.; Pelymskaya, O.; Chernykh, E.

    2017-11-01

    The article is devoted to the problem of the conservation of specially protected natural territories. The research topic is especially interesting for urban areas that provide sustainable urban development. The authors consider the main aspects of the sustainable settlement development and substantiate the direct dependence of the evolution of territories in the implementation of urban development activities with the ecological framework of a city. The object of the study is a specially protected natural area located in Western Siberia in the city of Tyumen, the Tyumen region. As a result of the analysis, the main problems of preservation of the nature monument of regional importance were revealed as well as a set of measures and management decisions regarding the conservation of the forest park.

  4. Southwest Regional Partnership on Carbon Sequestration

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brian McPherson

    2006-03-31

    The Southwest Partnership on Carbon Sequestration completed its Phase I program in December 2005. The main objective of the Southwest Partnership Phase I project was to evaluate and demonstrate the means for achieving an 18% reduction in carbon intensity by 2012. Many other goals were accomplished on the way to this objective, including (1) analysis of CO{sub 2} storage options in the region, including characterization of storage capacities and transportation options, (2) analysis and summary of CO{sub 2} sources, (3) analysis and summary of CO{sub 2} separation and capture technologies employed in the region, (4) evaluation and ranking of the most appropriate sequestration technologies for capture and storage of CO{sub 2} in the Southwest Region, (5) dissemination of existing regulatory/permitting requirements, and (6) assessing and initiating public knowledge and acceptance of possible sequestration approaches. Results of the Southwest Partnership's Phase I evaluation suggested that the most convenient and practical ''first opportunities'' for sequestration would lie along existing CO{sub 2} pipelines in the region. Action plans for six Phase II validation tests in the region were developed, with a portfolio that includes four geologic pilot tests distributed among Utah, New Mexico, and Texas. The Partnership will also conduct a regional terrestrial sequestration pilot program focusing on improved terrestrial MMV methods and reporting approaches specific for the Southwest region. The sixth and final validation test consists of a local-scale terrestrial pilot involving restoration of riparian lands for sequestration purposes. The validation test will use desalinated waters produced from one of the geologic pilot tests. The Southwest Regional Partnership comprises a large, diverse group of expert organizations and individuals specializing in carbon sequestration science and engineering, as well as public policy and outreach. These partners

  5. Dynamic synchronisation regions of a ring laser with the use of a periodic support

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuryatov, V N; Sudakov, V F

    2008-01-01

    The method is proposed for calculating dynamic synchronisation regions of a ring laser with a periodic frequency support of a special type. The proposed algorithm in essence taking into account the special type of the support allows the search for minimal widths of regions when the support parameters change. The widths of the regions are calculated as an example for the case of the harmonic carrier modulation as a harmonic envelope (three-frequency support) and an envelope of the 'soft' meander type (multifrequency support). (lasers, active media)

  6. Climate Variability and Change in the Mediterranean Region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lionello, Piero; Özsoy, Emin; Planton, Serge; Zanchetta, Giovanni

    2017-04-01

    This special issue collects new research results on the climate of the Mediterranean region. It covers traditional topics of the MedCLIVAR programme (www.medclivar.eu, Lionello et al. 2006, Lionello et al. 2012b) being devoted to papers addressing on-going and future climate changes in the Mediterranean region and their impacts on its environment.

  7. Introduction to the special issue: permafrost and periglacial research from coasts to mountains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schrott, Lothar; Humlum, Ole

    2017-09-01

    This special issue of Geomorphology includes eleven papers dealing with permafrost and periglacial research from coasts to mountains. The compilation represents a selection from 47 presentations (oral and posters) given at the 4th European Conference on Permafrost - IPA Regional Conference (EUCOP4, June 2014) in the session ;Periglacial Geomorphology;. Geomorphology as a leading journal for our discipline is particularly suitable to publish advances in permafrost and periglacial research with a focus on geomorphic processes. Since 1989 Geomorphology has published 121 special issues and two special issues are explicitly dedicated to permafrost and periglacial research, however, only with a focus on research in Antarctica. In this special issue we present papers from the Canadian Beaufort Sea, Alaska, Spitzbergen, central western Poland, the European Alps, the eastern Sudetes, the southern Carpathians, Nepal, and Antarctica.

  8. Specialization Patterns

    OpenAIRE

    Schultz , Ulrik Pagh; Lawall , Julia ,; Consel , Charles

    1999-01-01

    Design patterns offer numerous advantages for software development, but can introduce inefficiency into the finished program. Program specialization can eliminate such overheads, but is most effective when targeted by the user to specific bottlenecks. Consequently, we propose to consider program specialization and design patterns as complementary concepts. On the one hand, program specialization can optimize object-oriented programs written using design patterns. On the other hand, design pat...

  9. Hypnosis, suggestion, and suggestibility: an integrative model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lynn, Steven Jay; Laurence, Jean-Roch; Kirsch, Irving

    2015-01-01

    This article elucidates an integrative model of hypnosis that integrates social, cultural, cognitive, and neurophysiological variables at play both in and out of hypnosis and considers their dynamic interaction as determinants of the multifaceted experience of hypnosis. The roles of these variables are examined in the induction and suggestion stages of hypnosis, including how they are related to the experience of involuntariness, one of the hallmarks of hypnosis. It is suggested that studies of the modification of hypnotic suggestibility; cognitive flexibility; response sets and expectancies; the default-mode network; and the search for the neurophysiological correlates of hypnosis, more broadly, in conjunction with research on social psychological variables, hold much promise to further understanding of hypnosis.

  10. Mechanisms of interactive specialization and emergence of functional brain circuits supporting cognitive development in children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Battista, Christian; Evans, Tanya M.; Ngoon, Tricia J.; Chen, Tianwen; Chen, Lang; Kochalka, John; Menon, Vinod

    2018-01-01

    Cognitive development is thought to depend on the refinement and specialization of functional circuits over time, yet little is known about how this process unfolds over the course of childhood. Here we investigated growth trajectories of functional brain circuits and tested an interactive specialization model of neurocognitive development which posits that the refinement of task-related functional networks is driven by a shared history of co-activation between cortical regions. We tested this model in a longitudinal cohort of 30 children with behavioral and task-related functional brain imaging data at multiple time points spanning childhood and adolescence, focusing on the maturation of parietal circuits associated with numerical problem solving and learning. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed selective strengthening as well as weakening of functional brain circuits. Connectivity between parietal and prefrontal cortex decreased over time, while connectivity within posterior brain regions, including intra-hemispheric and inter-hemispheric parietal connectivity, as well as parietal connectivity with ventral temporal occipital cortex regions implicated in quantity manipulation and numerical symbol recognition, increased over time. Our study provides insights into the longitudinal maturation of functional circuits in the human brain and the mechanisms by which interactive specialization shapes children's cognitive development and learning.

  11. Interaction between Digestive Strategy and Niche Specialization Predicts Speciation Rates across Herbivorous Mammals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tran, Lucy A P

    2016-04-01

    Biotic and abiotic factors often are treated as mutually exclusive drivers of diversification processes. In this framework, ecological specialists are expected to have higher speciation rates than generalists if abiotic factors are the primary controls on species diversity but lower rates if biotic interactions are more important. Speciation rate is therefore predicted to positively correlate with ecological specialization in the purely abiotic model but negatively correlate in the biotic model. In this study, I show that the positive relationship between ecological specialization and speciation expected from the purely abiotic model is recovered only when a species-specific trait, digestive strategy, is modeled in the terrestrial, herbivorous mammals (Mammalia). This result suggests a more nuanced model in which the response of specialized lineages to abiotic factors is dependent on a biological trait. I also demonstrate that the effect of digestive strategy on the ecological specialization-speciation rate relationship is not due to a difference in either the degree of ecological specialization or the speciation rate between foregut- and hindgut-fermenting mammals. Together, these findings suggest that a biological trait, alongside historical abiotic events, played an important role in shaping mammal speciation at long temporal and large geographic scales.

  12. Investigation and control of a Plasmodium falciparum malaria outbreak in Shan Special Region II of Myanmar along the China-Myanmar Border from June to December 2014.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Hui; Xu, Jian-Wei; Yang, Heng-Lin; Li, Mei; Sun, Cheng-De; Yin, Yi-Jie; Zheng, Zhi-Liang; Zhang, Guang-Yun; Yu, Ai-Shui; Yang, Yong-Hui; Li, Chun-Hui; Ai, Shui

    2016-04-25

    From 2007 to 2013, intensive control measures reduced malaria burden by 90 % along the China-Myanmar border. However, despite these measures a P. falciparum malaria outbreak was reported in the Shan Special Region II of Myanmar in June of 2014. Epidemiological, parasitological and entomological investigations were performed. Dihydroartemisinin piperaquine (DAPQ) was immediately administered to treat parasite positive individuals. Long lasting insecticidal nets (LLIN), indoor residual spraying (IRS) with insecticides and behavior change communication (BCC) were also provided for outbreak control. An embedded efficacy study was conducted evaluating DP. Molecular genotyping via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed on the Kelch gene on chromosome 13. All infections were identified as Plasmodium falciparum by RDT and microscopy. Two fatalities resulted from the outbreak. The attack rate was 72.8 % (67/92) and the incidence density rate was 14.2 per 100 person-weeks. The positive rate of rapid diagnostic test (RDT) was 72.2 % (65/90) and microscopically-determine parasite rate 42.2 % (38/90). Adjusted odds ratio (OR) of multivariate logistic regression analysis for aged Myanmar border, especially among special populations, needs further collaboration between China, Myanmar and international societies.

  13. Regional Integration of Renewable Energies; Integracion Regional de energias Renovables

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Amador Guerra, J; Dominguez Bravo, J [Ciemat.Madrid (Spain)

    2000-07-01

    The aim of this report is to show how Energetic Planning and Territorial Policy should be working together for a better integration of Renewable Energies into Region. This Integration should to contemplate social, economic and environmental aspects of the territory. The report has been classified into 7 items: planning, energetic scenarios, technology transfer for Renewable Energies dissemination, barriers for this dissemination, environmental aspects, European Union Policy and Decision Support Systems (and specially GIS). (Author) 54 refs.

  14. Special software for computing the special functions of wave catastrophes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrey S. Kryukovsky

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The method of ordinary differential equations in the context of calculating the special functions of wave catastrophes is considered. Complementary numerical methods and algorithms are described. The paper shows approaches to accelerate such calculations using capabilities of modern computing systems. Methods for calculating the special functions of wave catastrophes are considered in the framework of parallel computing and distributed systems. The paper covers the development process of special software for calculating of special functions, questions of portability, extensibility and interoperability.

  15. Special Economic Zones, 20 years after

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Camilla; Winiarczyk, Marcin

    In this paper the authors undertake an ex-post evaluation of whether the special economic zones (SEZs) introduced in Poland in 1994 have been successful in meeting regional development objectives. They evaluate the policy on as many of its objectives as possible: employment creation, business...... to reduce the problem of the omitted variables bias such as education level, dependency rates, state ownership, general subsidies and whether the area is urban or rural. The results indicate that SEZs in Poland have been successful in a number of their objectives such as private business creation...

  16. Vocational Assessment of Special Needs Individuals Project: Final Report. Phase II.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stodden, Robert A.

    The Vocational Assessment of Special Needs Individuals Project originated with the regional vocational schools and educational collaboratives of the Assabet and Blackstone Valleys cooperating to determine a meaningful process through which vocational assessment information could be collected, organized, and used in formulating a basis for…

  17. Brazing of special metallic materials and material combinations using a special material

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lison, R.

    1981-01-01

    The special materials include metals of groups IVa, Va and VIa of the periodic tables and their alloys. Their particular properties have won them applications in many highly specialized industries. For these materials to be used, mastery of thermal joining methods appropriate to their characteristics is necessary. High-temperature brazing is one such method for joining special materials. This paper presents variants of this technique suitable for each individual special material. Compatibility tests between various brazing metals and various special materials have been carried out by simulating the temperature/time cycle involved in brazing procedures. Special materials are relatively expensive, and their special properties are not required at every point in a structure: elsewhere they can be replaced by a different special material or by other metals or alloys. This means that joints must be made between two special materials or between a special material and a conventional material. When certain conditions are fulfilled, such joins can be made by high-temperature brazing. This paper also shows the extent to which the geometry of the join determines the choice of process. Example of applications are also given. (orig.)

  18. Human Aspects of High Tech in Special Libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bichteler, Julie

    1986-01-01

    This investigation of library employees who spend significant portion of time in online computer interaction provides information on intellectual, psychological, social, and physical aspects of their work. Long- and short-term effects of special libraries are identified and solutions to "technostress" problems are suggested. (16…

  19. Ice Skating: Special Olympics Sports Skills Instructional Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Special Olympics, Inc., Washington, DC.

    One of seven booklets on Special Olympics Sports Skills Instructional Programs, this guide presents teaching suggestions for ice skating coaches working with mentally retarded persons. An overview section introduces the sport and considers ideas for effective teaching. Goals, objectives, and benefits are considered along with information on…

  20. When Is It Too Early for Single Sport Specialization?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feeley, Brian T; Agel, Julie; LaPrade, Robert F

    2016-01-01

    Over the past 15 years, there has been an increase in youth sports participation with a concomitant increase in early year-round training in a single sport. Many factors contribute to the desire of parents and coaches to encourage early single sport specialization, including the desire to give the young athlete an edge in competition, pursuit of scholarships, and potential professional status, and the ability to label a young athlete as elite at an early age. Despite these perceived advantages, some data suggest that early sport specialization does not lead to a competitive advantage over athletes who participate in multiple sports. Although the data are limited, there is some evidence that early sport specialization may put the young athlete at risk for overuse injuries. The focus of this review is to highlight the evidence regarding early sport specialization and risk for injury; discuss the risk factors for overuse injury in high-risk sports including ice hockey, swimming, gymnastics, and baseball; and discuss future potential research that would help define the risk of injury for young athletes who participate in early sport specialization. © 2015 The Author(s).

  1. Algorithmically specialized parallel computers

    CERN Document Server

    Snyder, Lawrence; Gannon, Dennis B

    1985-01-01

    Algorithmically Specialized Parallel Computers focuses on the concept and characteristics of an algorithmically specialized computer.This book discusses the algorithmically specialized computers, algorithmic specialization using VLSI, and innovative architectures. The architectures and algorithms for digital signal, speech, and image processing and specialized architectures for numerical computations are also elaborated. Other topics include the model for analyzing generalized inter-processor, pipelined architecture for search tree maintenance, and specialized computer organization for raster

  2. Comparative analysis of specialization in palliative medicine processes within the World Health Organization European region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Centeno, Carlos; Bolognesi, Deborah; Biasco, Guido

    2015-05-01

    Palliative medicine (PM), still in the development phase, is a new, growing specialty aimed at caring for both oncology and non-oncology patients. There is still confusion about the training offered in the various European PM certification programs. To provide a detailed, comparative update and analysis of the PM certification process in Europe, including the different training approaches and their main features. Experts from each country completed an online survey addressing historical background, program name, training requirements, length of time in training, characteristic and content, official certifying institution, effectiveness of accreditation, and 2013 workforce capacity. We prepared a comparative analysis of the data provided. In 2014, 18 of 53 European countries had official programs on specialization in PM (POSPM): Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and the U.K. Ten of these programs were begun in the last five years. The PM is recognized as a "specialty," "subspecialty," or "special area of competence," with no substantial differences between the last two designations. The certification contains the term "palliative medicine" in most countries. Clinical training varies, with one to two years being the most frequent duration. There is a clear trend toward establishing the POSPM as a mandatory condition for obtaining a clinical PM position in countries' respective health systems. PM is growing as a specialization field in Europe. Processes leading to certification are generally long and require substantial clinical training. The POSPM education plans are heterogeneous. The European Association for Palliative Care should commit to establishing common learning standards, leading to additional European-based recognition of expertise in PM. Copyright © 2015 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All

  3. Origin and differentiation of a special fragment from Capra hircus ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Administrator

    2011-09-07

    Sep 7, 2011 ... regions of the special fragment in the GenBank of NCBI. A total number of 80 fragments with identity ... recombined during the long period of evolution within and among species, and might be related to ..... and their association to coat color phenotypes in horses (Equus caballus). Mammalian Genome, 12: ...

  4. Functional MRI approach for assessing hemispheric predominance of regions activated by a phonological and a semantic task

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cousin, Emilie; Peyrin, Carole; Pichat, Cedric [Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, UMR CNRS 5105, Universite Pierre Mendes-France, BP 47, 38040 Grenoble Cedex 09 (France); Lamalle, Laurent; Le Bas, Jean-Francois [Unite IRM, IFR1, CHU Grenoble (France); Baciu, Monica [Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, UMR CNRS 5105, Universite Pierre Mendes-France, BP 47, 38040 Grenoble Cedex 09 (France)], E-mail: mbaciu@upmf-grenoble.fr

    2007-08-15

    This fMRI study performed in healthy subjects aimed at using a statistical approach in order to determine significant functional differences between hemispheres and to assess specialized regions activated during a phonological and during a semantic task. This approach ('flip' method and subsequent statistical analyses of the parameter estimates extracted from regions of interest) allows identifying: (a) hemispheric specialized regions for each language task [semantic (living categorization) and phonological (rhyme detection)] and (b) condition-specific regions with respect to paradigm conditions (task and control). Our results showed that the rhyme-specific task regions were the inferior frontal (sub-region of BA 44, 45) and left inferior parietal (BA 40, 39) lobules. Furthermore, within the inferior parietal lobule, the angular gyrus was specific to target (rhyming) items (related to successfully grapho-phonemic processing). The categorization-specific task regions were the left inferior frontal (sub-region of BA 44, 45) and superior temporal (BA 22) cortices. Furthermore, the superior temporal gyrus was related to non-target (non-living) items (correlated to task difficulty). The relatively new approach used in this study has the advantage of providing: (a) statistical significance of the hemispheric specialized regions for a given language task and (b) supplementary information in terms of paradigm condition-specificity of the activated regions. The results (standard hemispheric specialized regions for a semantic and for a phonological task) obtained in healthy subjects may constitute a basement for mapping language and assessing hemispheric predominance in epileptic patients before surgery and avoiding post-surgical impairments of language.

  5. Functional MRI approach for assessing hemispheric predominance of regions activated by a phonological and a semantic task

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cousin, Emilie; Peyrin, Carole; Pichat, Cedric; Lamalle, Laurent; Le Bas, Jean-Francois; Baciu, Monica

    2007-01-01

    This fMRI study performed in healthy subjects aimed at using a statistical approach in order to determine significant functional differences between hemispheres and to assess specialized regions activated during a phonological and during a semantic task. This approach ('flip' method and subsequent statistical analyses of the parameter estimates extracted from regions of interest) allows identifying: (a) hemispheric specialized regions for each language task [semantic (living categorization) and phonological (rhyme detection)] and (b) condition-specific regions with respect to paradigm conditions (task and control). Our results showed that the rhyme-specific task regions were the inferior frontal (sub-region of BA 44, 45) and left inferior parietal (BA 40, 39) lobules. Furthermore, within the inferior parietal lobule, the angular gyrus was specific to target (rhyming) items (related to successfully grapho-phonemic processing). The categorization-specific task regions were the left inferior frontal (sub-region of BA 44, 45) and superior temporal (BA 22) cortices. Furthermore, the superior temporal gyrus was related to non-target (non-living) items (correlated to task difficulty). The relatively new approach used in this study has the advantage of providing: (a) statistical significance of the hemispheric specialized regions for a given language task and (b) supplementary information in terms of paradigm condition-specificity of the activated regions. The results (standard hemispheric specialized regions for a semantic and for a phonological task) obtained in healthy subjects may constitute a basement for mapping language and assessing hemispheric predominance in epileptic patients before surgery and avoiding post-surgical impairments of language

  6. Specialized languages

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mousten, Birthe; Laursen, Anne Lise

    2016-01-01

    Across different fields of research, one feature is often overlooked: the use of language for specialized purposes (LSP) as a cross-discipline. Mastering cross-disciplinarity is the precondition for communicating detailed results within any field. Researchers in specialized languages work cross...... science fields communicate their findings. With this article, we want to create awareness of the work in this special area of language studies and of the inherent cross-disciplinarity that makes LSP special compared to common-core language. An acknowledgement of the importance of this field both in terms...... of more empirical studies and in terms of a greater application of the results would give language specialists in trade and industry a solid and updated basis for communication and language use....

  7. Behavioral evidence for left-hemisphere specialization of motor planning

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Janssen, L.; Meulenbroek, R.G.; Steenbergen, B.

    2011-01-01

    Recent studies suggest that the left hemisphere is dominant for the planning of motor actions. This left-hemisphere specialization hypothesis was proposed in various lines of research, including patient studies, motor imagery studies, and studies involving neurophysiological techniques. However,

  8. Culture Development Planning in the Special Region of Yogyakarta (Management Planning of Cultural Heritage in Kotagede District based on Community Empowerment Conservation Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eko Suryanti

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The Special Region of Yogyakarta is a cultural rich city with excellent cultural resources. Yogyakarta should manage their assets with long-term planning to keep the sustainability. There is a very unique planning process due to a combination of political, technocratic, participatory, top down and bottom up approaches. This planning process is comprehensive or integrated because its involved many actor from multisectoral, multidisciplinary, multi regulatory, and multi planning documents, etc. Local wisdoms have been coloring the planning documents. This study describe and analyze the cultural development planning in Yogyakarta especially on the Management Planning in Kotagede Cultural Heritage District. We used qualitative descriptive approach methods and Miles and Huberman analysis methods. Participation of community and Non Governmental Organization (NGO in conservation planning of cultural heritage in this area is very significant in simplify the government task because people have been more literate in planning, have database of cultural assets, and capable of making their own decisions for the future of the region. Participatory rural appraisal (PRA dan Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA were integrated in the planning process of Kotagede Heritage District management, thus it becomes a model of cultural heritage with community empowerment-based conservation. Keywords: culture development planning, comprehensive planning, heritage cultural district, community empowerment-based conservation.

  9. Structural and functional cerebral correlates of hypnotic suggestibility.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexa Huber

    Full Text Available Little is known about the neural bases of hypnotic suggestibility, a cognitive trait referring to the tendency to respond to hypnotic suggestions. In the present magnetic resonance imaging study, we performed regression analyses to assess hypnotic suggestibility-related differences in local gray matter volume, using voxel-based morphometry, and in waking resting state functional connectivity of 10 resting state networks, in 37 healthy women. Hypnotic suggestibility was positively correlated with gray matter volume in portions of the left superior and medial frontal gyri, roughly overlapping with the supplementary and pre-supplementary motor area, and negatively correlated with gray matter volume in the left superior temporal gyrus and insula. In the functional connectivity analysis, hypnotic suggestibility was positively correlated with functional connectivity between medial posterior areas, including bilateral posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus, and both the lateral visual network and the left fronto-parietal network; a positive correlation was also found with functional connectivity between the executive-control network and a right postcentral/parietal area. In contrast, hypnotic suggestibility was negatively correlated with functional connectivity between the right fronto-parietal network and the right lateral thalamus. These findings demonstrate for the first time a correlation between hypnotic suggestibility, the structural features of specific cortical regions, and the functional connectivity during the normal resting state of brain structures involved in imagery and self-monitoring activity.

  10. Structural and functional cerebral correlates of hypnotic suggestibility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huber, Alexa; Lui, Fausta; Duzzi, Davide; Pagnoni, Giuseppe; Porro, Carlo Adolfo

    2014-01-01

    Little is known about the neural bases of hypnotic suggestibility, a cognitive trait referring to the tendency to respond to hypnotic suggestions. In the present magnetic resonance imaging study, we performed regression analyses to assess hypnotic suggestibility-related differences in local gray matter volume, using voxel-based morphometry, and in waking resting state functional connectivity of 10 resting state networks, in 37 healthy women. Hypnotic suggestibility was positively correlated with gray matter volume in portions of the left superior and medial frontal gyri, roughly overlapping with the supplementary and pre-supplementary motor area, and negatively correlated with gray matter volume in the left superior temporal gyrus and insula. In the functional connectivity analysis, hypnotic suggestibility was positively correlated with functional connectivity between medial posterior areas, including bilateral posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus, and both the lateral visual network and the left fronto-parietal network; a positive correlation was also found with functional connectivity between the executive-control network and a right postcentral/parietal area. In contrast, hypnotic suggestibility was negatively correlated with functional connectivity between the right fronto-parietal network and the right lateral thalamus. These findings demonstrate for the first time a correlation between hypnotic suggestibility, the structural features of specific cortical regions, and the functional connectivity during the normal resting state of brain structures involved in imagery and self-monitoring activity.

  11. Financial Therapy and Planning for Families with Special Needs Children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mitzi Lauderdale

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available This study examines factors associated with the likelihood of having a plan that includes a special needs trust among families that have disabled minor children. Descriptive analyses indicate that the top two reasons families provide for not having a plan are the inability to save and no perceived need. Among families that do indicate having a plan, most do not include a special needs trust. Multivariate analyses reveal that professional involvement (financial, legal, and mental health professionals is a key factor to increasing the likelihood of having a plan with a special needs trust. Families that have met with a financial advisor are 23 times more likely, and families who are encouraged to create a plan by a mental health professional are almost three times more likely, to have a plan that includes a special needs trust. Results from this study suggest that financial therapists are uniquely positioned to educate and ensure that appropriate plans are in place to provide for the future of children with special needs.

  12. Scientometric analysis in special education: importance and trends over the last 60 years

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Maria Canavarro Benite

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Special education in Brazil is defined in law as “the type of education offered preferentially in the regular classes for students with special needs education”. However, this proposal of special education has not always been defined in this way, and a factor that contributed greatly to the consolidation of special education as a specific field of study was the research and theis resulting publications. Thus, this study aimed to make a scientometric analysis in the field of special education in order to determine which are and were the main trends of research over the years, and to review literature on the history of special education. It was felt that the issue of special education has undergone major advances, with consequent recovery of the subject with special needs. The scientometric analysis in special education to suggest that there has been a great evolution in the area, including a fact explained by the large number of papers published over time and the different aspects of his publications. Reflections on scientometrics in special education characterize the global production of special education and provide input for further research are made in this area. Thus, the construction and analysis of these indicators have provided input to view the state of the art in special education.

  13. Spatial effects, sampling errors, and task specialization in the honey bee.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, B R

    2010-05-01

    Task allocation patterns should depend on the spatial distribution of work within the nest, variation in task demand, and the movement patterns of workers, however, relatively little research has focused on these topics. This study uses a spatially explicit agent based model to determine whether such factors alone can generate biases in task performance at the individual level in the honey bees, Apis mellifera. Specialization (bias in task performance) is shown to result from strong sampling error due to localized task demand, relatively slow moving workers relative to nest size, and strong spatial variation in task demand. To date, specialization has been primarily interpreted with the response threshold concept, which is focused on intrinsic (typically genotypic) differences between workers. Response threshold variation and sampling error due to spatial effects are not mutually exclusive, however, and this study suggests that both contribute to patterns of task bias at the individual level. While spatial effects are strong enough to explain some documented cases of specialization; they are relatively short term and not explanatory for long term cases of specialization. In general, this study suggests that the spatial layout of tasks and fluctuations in their demand must be explicitly controlled for in studies focused on identifying genotypic specialists.

  14. Analysis of Three Sugarcane Homo/Homeologous Regions Suggests Independent Polyploidization Events of Saccharum officinarum and Saccharum spontaneum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vilela, Mariane de Mendonça; Del Bem, Luiz Eduardo; Van Sluys, Marie-Anne; de Setta, Nathalia; Kitajima, João Paulo; Cruz, Guilherme Marcelo Queiroga; Sforça, Danilo Augusto; de Souza, Anete Pereira; Ferreira, Paulo Cavalcanti Gomes; Grativol, Clícia; Cardoso-Silva, Claudio Benicio; Vicentini, Renato; Vincentz, Michel

    2017-02-01

    Whole genome duplication has played an important role in plant evolution and diversification. Sugarcane is an important crop with a complex hybrid polyploid genome, for which the process of adaptation to polyploidy is still poorly understood. In order to improve our knowledge about sugarcane genome evolution and the homo/homeologous gene expression balance, we sequenced and analyzed 27 BACs (Bacterial Artificial Chromosome) of sugarcane R570 cultivar, containing the putative single-copy genes LFY (seven haplotypes), PHYC (four haplotypes), and TOR (seven haplotypes). Comparative genomic approaches showed that these sugarcane loci presented a high degree of conservation of gene content and collinearity (synteny) with sorghum and rice orthologous regions, but were invaded by transposable elements (TE). All the homo/homeologous haplotypes of LFY, PHYC, and TOR are likely to be functional, because they are all under purifying selection (dN/dS ≪ 1). However, they were found to participate in a nonequivalently manner to the overall expression of the corresponding gene. SNPs, indels, and amino acid substitutions allowed inferring the S. officinarum or S. spontaneum origin of the TOR haplotypes, which further led to the estimation that these two sugarcane ancestral species diverged between 2.5 and 3.5 Ma. In addition, analysis of shared TE insertions in TOR haplotypes suggested that two autopolyploidization may have occurred in the lineage that gave rise to S. officinarum, after its divergence from S. spontaneum. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

  15. Accessible tourism: the golden key in the future for the specialized travel agencies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gamze Özogul

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the comprehension of the importance of “Accessible Tourism” for the specialized travel agencies by proposing suggestions and key factors to improve the supply of accessible tourism offers. Design/methodology/approach – The paper adopts specialized travel agencies on the accessible tourism perspective of disabled tourist flows. Also, this paper describes the circumstances, social, politic, economic consequences and key decisions that thereby Turkey would be recognized, preferring, establishing on the intention of purchased and suggested positive word of mouth among people. Findings – According to European Commission (EU (2013 more than half of the individuals with disabilities in the EU made approximately 170 million day trips and a similar number of overnight trips within the EU during the 12 months between mid-2012 and mid-2013. Despite the developments in tourism, lack of product/service appropriate to the travel rights of the individuals with accessibility needs is one of the obstacles should be overcome. Accessible tourism is one of the keys for the survival of the specialized travel agencies in the future. Providing appropriate product/service by targeting the individuals with accessibility needs together with a correct approach and strategy, the specialized travel agencies will be able to have a competitive advantage and continue their activities. Also this market segment will create having sustainable activity and a golden opportunity for the specialized travel agencies in the future. Originality/value – Little research has been done on accessible tourism, future development and on the impact that disabled tourists have on tourism. The paper presents suggestions on what the specialized travel agencies should do with regards to making Turkey be preferred in the future by the individuals having accessibility needs.

  16. Analysis of regional climate strategies in the Barents region

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Himanen, S.; Inkeroeinen, J.; Latola, K.; Vaisanen, T.; Alasaarela, E.

    2012-11-15

    Climate change is a global phenomenon with especially harsh effects on the Arctic and northern regions. The Arctic's average temperature has risen at almost twice the rate as elsewhere in the past few decades. Since 1966, the Arctic land area covered by snow in early summer has shrunk by almost a fifth. The Barents Region consists of the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia (i.e. the European part of Russia). Climate change will cause serious impacts in the Barents Region because of its higher density of population living under harsh climatic conditions, thus setting it apart from other Arctic areas. In many cases, economic activities, like tourism, rely on certain weather conditions. For this reason, climate change and adaptation to it is of special urgency for the region. Regional climate change strategies are important tools for addressing mitigation and adaptation to climate change as they can be used to consolidate the efforts of different stakeholders of the public and private sectors. Regional strategies can be important factors in achieving the national and international goals. The study evaluated how the national climate change goals were implemented in the regional and local strategies and programmes in northern Finland. The specific goal was to describe the processes by which the regional strategies were prepared and implemented, and how the work was expanded to include the whole of northern Finland. Finally, the Finnish preparatory processes were compared to case examples of processes for preparing climate change strategies elsewhere in the Barents Region. This analysis provides examples of good practices in preparing a climate change strategy and implementing it. (orig.)

  17. PROSPECTS OF THE KLEBAN-BYK RESERVOIR USE AS A SPECIAL COMMODITY FISH FARM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Khrystenko D.S.

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available The current state of fish fauna was analized for the Kleban-Byk reservoir (village Konstantinovka of Donetsk region under the influence of fishery activity of a special commodity fish farms. Reservoir aboriginal fish fauna consists of species with low fishery value. The native fish fauna can not provide the high productivity of reservoir with a rational use of feed resources. However, linear and weight growth of alien fish species confirms the high trophic status of the reservoir and its potential for aquaculture under regime of special commodity fish farm. We also established the absence of negative effects of continuous fishery activities of special commodity fish farms on the life conditions of native fish fauna representatives.

  18. CHALLENGING ISSUES OF SPECIALIZED CARE DELIVERY TO VICTIMS OF BURNS IN THE KRASNODAR REGION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. A. Porkhanov

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND. The number of burn victims in Russia is growing annually. However, combustiology remains one of the few medical specialties in the country, which has no accepted procedure for the care delivery.MATERIAL AND METHODS. The article presents an analysis of high-tech medical assistance delivery to victims of burns in the Krasnodar Region. We also consider challenging issues on combustiology services organization in Russia and economic aspects for patients with burn injury under the compulsory medical insurance.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION. Up to 3,000 patients requiring hospital treatment are registered in the Krasnodar Region. Of 2,200 operations, 2,000 surgeries are performed in the regional burn center. Implementation of regional system of “early surgical treatment” allowed to reach some of the lowest mortality rates in Russia (in the Region: total 2.43%, adults 4.69%, children 0.16%.

  19. GIS modelling of solar potential in Toplica region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valjarević Aleksandar

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we investigated possible potential solar area on Toplica region based on GIS (Geographical Information system and using a special kriging method with the help of open sources GIS software Quantum GIS. This kriging method is very special to vectorized and calculated the small area. The statistical approach calculated between datasets of three meteorological stations (Niš, Prokuplje, Kuršumlija. Data using of insolation from that meteorological stations from the period of (1953-2013 is useful for a solution to calculating solar potential. The also used parameter is hypsometry of relief of the whole area of Toplica region. Area of Toplica region is 2.231 km2 with a population of 90600 citizens. Divided into fourth municipalities (Prokuplje, Žitoradja, Black, Kuršumlija. The GIS modeling indicates that ideal areas for solar development are located the potential places in Toplica region. Only 13.6 km2 of the head model scores that were in the 90-100% range. However, given the statewide high insolation values with minimal variance, solar projects may be better suited for small-scale residential or commercial projects.

  20. Clinical Training of Medical Physicists Specializing in Nuclear Medicine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2011-01-01

    The application of radiation in human health, for both diagnosis and treatment of disease, is an important component of the work of the IAEA. The responsibility for the increasingly technical aspects of this work is undertaken by the medical physicist. To ensure good practice in this vital area, structured clinical training programmes are required to complement academic learning. This publication is intended to be a guide to the practical implementation of such a programme for nuclear medicine. There is a general and growing awareness that radiation medicine is increasingly dependent on well trained medical physicists who are based in a clinical setting. However an analysis of the availability of medical physicists indicates a large shortfall of qualified and capable professionals. This is particularly evident in developing countries. While strategies to increase educational opportunities are critical to such countries, the need for guidance on structured clinical training was recognized by the members of the Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development and Training related to Nuclear Science and Technology (RCA) for the Asia-Pacific region. Consequently, a technical cooperation regional project (RAS6038) under the RCA programme was formulated to address this need in this region by developing suitable material and establishing its viability. Development of a clinical training guide for medical physicists specialising in nuclear medicine was started in 2009 with the appointment of a core drafting committee of regional and international experts. The publication drew on the experience of clinical training in Australia, Croatia and Sweden and was moderated by physicists working in the Asian region. The present publication follows the approach of earlier IAEA publications in the Training Course Series, specifically Nos 37 and 47, Clinical Training of Medical Physicists Specializing in Radiation Oncology and Clinical Training of Medical Physicists

  1. The special neuraminidase stalk-motif responsible for increased virulence and pathogenesis of H5N1 influenza A virus.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hongbo Zhou

    Full Text Available The variation of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus results in gradually increased virulence in poultry, and human cases continue to accumulate. The neuraminidase (NA stalk region of influenza virus varies considerably and may associate with its virulence. The NA stalk region of all N1 subtype influenza A viruses can be divided into six different stalk-motifs, H5N1/2004-like (NA-wt, WSN-like, H5N1/97-like, PR/8-like, H7N1/99-like and H5N1/96-like. The NA-wt is a special NA stalk-motif which was first observed in H5N1 influenza virus in 2000, with a 20-amino acid deletion in the 49(th to 68(th positions of the stalk region. Here we show that there is a gradual increase of the special NA stalk-motif in H5N1 isolates from 2000 to 2007, and notably, the special stalk-motif is observed in all 173 H5N1 human isolates from 2004 to 2007. The recombinant H5N1 virus with the special stalk-motif possesses the highest virulence and pathogenicity in chicken and mice, while the recombinant viruses with the other stalk-motifs display attenuated phenotype. This indicates that the special stalk-motif has contributed to the high virulence and pathogenicity of H5N1 isolates since 2000. The gradually increasing emergence of the special NA stalk-motif in H5N1 isolates, especially in human isolates, deserves attention by all.

  2. Regional Relative Price Disparities and Their Driving Forces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eu Joon Chang

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper studies the long-run behavior of relative price dispersion among cities in Korea with a special emphasis on heterogeneous transitional patterns of price level dynamics. Formal statistical tests indicate considerable evidence for rejecting the null of relative price level convergence among the majority of cities over the sample period of 1985-2015. The analysis of gravity model suggests that the effect of transportation costs on intercity price level differentials is limited, while other socioeconomic factors, such as income, input factor prices, demographic structure, and housing price growth, play key roles in accounting for persistent regional price level disparities. Individual price levels are found to be better explained by a multiple-component model, and the deviations from PPP may be attributed to distinct stochastic common trends that are characterized by income and demographic structure.

  3. Types of suggestibility: Relationships among compliance, indirect, and direct suggestibility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Polczyk, Romuald; Pasek, Tomasz

    2006-10-01

    It is commonly believed that direct suggestibility, referring to overt influence, and indirect suggestibility, in which the intention to influence is hidden, correlate poorly. This study demonstrates that they are substantially related, provided that they tap similar areas of influence. Test results from 103 students, 55 women and 48 men, were entered into regression analyses. Indirect suggestibility, as measured by the Sensory Suggestibility Scale for Groups, and compliance, measured by the Gudjonsson Compliance Scale, were predictors of direct suggestibility, assessed with the Barber Suggestibility Scale. Spectral analyses showed that indirect suggestibility is more related to difficult tasks on the BSS, but compliance is more related to easy tasks on this scale.

  4. Special functions group theoretical aspects and applications

    CERN Document Server

    Schempp, Walter; Askey, Richard A

    1984-01-01

    Approach your problems from It isn't that they can't see the right end and begin with the solution. the answers. Then one day, It is that they can't see the perhaps you will find the problem. final question. G.K. Chesterton. The Scandal 'The Hermit Clad in Crane of Father Brown 'The Point of Feathers' in R. van Gulik's a Pin'. The Chinese Maze Murders. Growing specialization and diversification have brought a host of monographs and textbooks on increasingly specialized topics. However, the "tree" of knowledge of mathematics and related fields does not grow only by putting forth new branches. It also happens, quite often in fact, that branches which were thought to be completely disparate are suddenly seen to be related. Further, the kind and level of sophistication of mathematics applied in various sciences has changed drastically in recent years: measure theory is used (non-trivially) in regional and theoretical economics; algebraic geometry interacts with physics; the Minkowsky lemma, coding theory and the ...

  5. Separation of attractors in 1-modulus quantum corrected special geometry

    CERN Document Server

    Bellucci, S; Marrani, A; Shcherbakov, A

    2008-01-01

    We study the solutions to the N=2, d=4 Attractor Equations in a dyonic, extremal, static, spherically symmetric and asymptotically flat black hole background, in the simplest case of perturbative quantum corrected cubic Special Kahler geometry consistent with continuous axion-shift symmetry, namely in the 1-modulus Special Kahler geometry described (in a suitable special symplectic coordinate) by the holomorphic Kahler gauge-invariant prepotential F=t^3+i*lambda, with lambda real. By performing computations in the ``magnetic'' charge configuration, we find evidence for interesting phenomena (absent in the classical limit of vanishing lambda). Namely, for a certain range of the quantum parameter lambda we find a ``splitting'' of attractors, i.e. the existence of multiple solutions to the Attractor Equations for fixed supporting charge configuration. This corresponds to the existence of ``area codes'' in the radial evolution of the scalar t, determined by the various disconnected regions of the moduli space, wh...

  6. 75 FR 47798 - Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services-Special Demonstration Programs-Model...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-09

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services--Special... of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Department of Education. ACTION: Notice of final... for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services establishes a priority under the Special...

  7. 75 FR 14582 - Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services-Special Demonstration Programs-Model...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-26

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services--Special... of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Department of Education. ACTION: Notice of proposed... for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services proposes a priority under the Special Demonstration...

  8. Keeping Special Forces Special: Regional Proficiency in Special Forces

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-01

    and traveled extensively throughout my AOR for work and leisure . I am now [serving] as an Army attaché in Southeast Asia and can go toe-to-toe with...Southeast Asia Brunei Darussalam Cambodia Indonesia Lao People’s Democratic Republic Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Timor-Leste Viet

  9. Legal consequences of the special development plan 'power plant sites' on regional planning and on guidelines for building plans

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1978-01-01

    The Special Development Plan 'Power plant sites' was made compulsory by the regulation given by the Land government in Juli 1976. For extending the energy supply system this Special Development Plan intends to provide a sufficient amount of power plant sites suitably located with regard to present and future consumption centres and permitting a cooling by means of river water while safeguarding the interests of water resources policy. The Special Development Plan established in accordance with the articles 25 and 27 of the planning law of the Land lays down that 14 specified areas are to be kept free from utilization purposes which could be opposed to the realization of power plant projects. Thus the securing of these (potential) sites has become an objective of area planning and planning of the Land in the sense of article 5 paragraph 4 of the Federal law on area planning. (orig./HP) [de

  10. Other Special Waste

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brogaard, Line Kai-Sørensen; Christensen, Thomas Højlund

    2011-01-01

    In addition to the main types of special waste related to municipal solid waste (MSW) mentioned in the previous chapters (health care risk waste, WEEE, impregnated wood, hazardous waste) a range of other fractions of waste have in some countries been defined as special waste that must be handled...... separately from MSW. Some of these other special wastes are briefly described in this chapter with respect to their definition, quantity and composition, and management options. The special wastes mentioned here are batteries, tires, polyvinylchloride (PVC) and food waste....

  11. Do unmet needs differ geographically for children with special health care needs?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fulda, Kimberly G; Johnson, Katandria L; Hahn, Kristen; Lykens, Kristine

    2013-04-01

    The purpose of this study was to identify geographic differences in health indicators for children with special health care needs (CSHCN). It was hypothesized that geographic differences in unmet health care needs exist among CSHCN by region in the United States. Data were obtained from the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs, 2005-2006. Nine variables representing unmet needs were analyzed by geographic region. The region with the highest percent of unmet needs was identified for each service. Logistic regression was utilized to determine differences by region after controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, race, federal poverty level, relationship of responder to child, insurance status, severity of condition, and size of household. A total of 40,723 CSHCN were represented. Crude analysis demonstrated that the greatest unmet need for routine preventive care, specialist care, prescription medications, physical/occupational/speech therapy, mental health care, and genetic counseling occurred in the West. The greatest unmet need for preventive dental care, respite care, and vision care occurred in the South. Significant differences between regions remained for six of the nine services after controlling for potential confounders. Geographic differences in unmet health care needs exist for CSHCN. Further delving into these differences provides valuable information for program and policy planning and development. Meeting the needs of CSHCN is important to reduce cost burden and improve quality of life for the affected child and care providers.

  12. Smart Specialization and Capabilities for Offshore Wind Services around the North Sea

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Piirainen, Kalle; Tanner, Anne Nygaard; Alkærsig, Lars

    2014-01-01

    lacks an empirical and theoretical foundation that can help guide its application in practice. This paper develops a framework based on two strings of literature, namely the fields of evolutionary economic geography and innovation systems. Subsequently the framework is applied on a regional mapping...... exercise conducted in an EU funded ‘Regions of Knowledge’-project that focuses on the Offshore Wind Service sector in four regions around the North Sea. The purpose is to illustrate how a strategy-making process can be guided by a few theory based principles in pursuing the goals of smart specialization...

  13. Mismatch between diagnostic reports and special educational needs classification in a public educational system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teixeira, Maria Cristina Triguero Veloz; Brunoni, Décio; Carreiro, Luiz Renato Rodrigues; Braga, Ana Claudia; Silva, Naiara Adorna da; Paula, Cristiane Silvestre

    2017-04-01

    To assess the diagnostic status, the sociodemographic and health profiles for students with special educational needs (SEN) in a public educational system, and to map their use of educational/social services. The sample comprised 1,202 SEN students from a total of 59,344 students. Only 792 students of the 1,202 had an established diagnosis. The most prevalent SEN condition was intellectual disability. There was a low percentage (29.4%) of use of specialized educational services or support. It was found that, for some neurodevelopmental disorders, prevalence data suggest an under-reporting in the school system. Results suggest that there is a mismatch between the diagnostic reports and the SEN condition legally recognized according to Brazilian law, in addition to the under-reporting and under specialized service use of students with disabilities.

  14. Special relativity at the quantum scale.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pui K Lam

    Full Text Available It has been suggested that the space-time structure as described by the theory of special relativity is a macroscopic manifestation of a more fundamental quantum structure (pre-geometry. Efforts to quantify this idea have come mainly from the area of abstract quantum logic theory. Here we present a preliminary attempt to develop a quantum formulation of special relativity based on a model that retains some geometric attributes. Our model is Feynman's "checker-board" trajectory for a 1-D relativistic free particle. We use this model to guide us in identifying (1 the quantum version of the postulates of special relativity and (2 the appropriate quantum "coordinates". This model possesses a useful feature that it admits an interpretation both in terms of paths in space-time and in terms of quantum states. Based on the quantum version of the postulates, we derive a transformation rule for velocity. This rule reduces to the Einstein's velocity-addition formula in the macroscopic limit and reveals an interesting aspect of time. The 3-D case, time-dilation effect, and invariant interval are also discussed in term of this new formulation. This is a preliminary investigation; some results are derived, while others are interesting observations at this point.

  15. Special relativity at the quantum scale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lam, Pui K

    2014-01-01

    It has been suggested that the space-time structure as described by the theory of special relativity is a macroscopic manifestation of a more fundamental quantum structure (pre-geometry). Efforts to quantify this idea have come mainly from the area of abstract quantum logic theory. Here we present a preliminary attempt to develop a quantum formulation of special relativity based on a model that retains some geometric attributes. Our model is Feynman's "checker-board" trajectory for a 1-D relativistic free particle. We use this model to guide us in identifying (1) the quantum version of the postulates of special relativity and (2) the appropriate quantum "coordinates". This model possesses a useful feature that it admits an interpretation both in terms of paths in space-time and in terms of quantum states. Based on the quantum version of the postulates, we derive a transformation rule for velocity. This rule reduces to the Einstein's velocity-addition formula in the macroscopic limit and reveals an interesting aspect of time. The 3-D case, time-dilation effect, and invariant interval are also discussed in term of this new formulation. This is a preliminary investigation; some results are derived, while others are interesting observations at this point.

  16. Individual and hospital-specific factors influencing medical graduates' time to medical specialization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johannessen, Karl-Arne; Hagen, Terje P

    2013-11-01

    Previous studies of gender differences in relation to medical specialization have focused more on social variables than hospital-specific factors. In a multivariate analysis with extended Cox regression, we used register data for socio-demographic variables (gender, family and having a child born during the study period) together with hospital-specific variables (the amount of supervision available, efficiency pressure and the type of teaching hospital) to study the concurrent effect of these variables on specialty qualification among all 2474 Norwegian residents who began specialization in 1999-2001. We followed the residents until 2010. A lower proportion of women qualified for a specialty in the study period (67.9% compared with 78.7% of men, p specialization qualification (p specialization: working at university hospitals (regional) or central hospitals was associated with a reduction in the time taken to complete the specialization, whereas an increased patient load and less supervision had the opposite effect. Multivariate analysis showed that the smaller proportion of women who qualified for a specialty was explained principally by childbirth and by the number of children aged under 18 years. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. A special cell morphology of saccharomyces cerevisiae induced by low-temperature plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ling Dajun; Cao Jinxiang

    2003-01-01

    A special cell morphology, cavity-like cells, was found in posterities of Saccharomyces cerevisiae treated by low-temperature air plasma with different powers. The feature of the special morphology indicates that the cavity-like cells may be formed by cellular mutation effect induced by the plasma, instead of direct cellular damage by the plasma. The results suggest that the cellular mutation effect of the low-temperature plasma is a complex process

  18. The eyes of lanternfishes (Myctophidae, Teleostei): novel ocular specializations for vision in dim light.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Busserolles, Fanny; Marshall, N Justin; Collin, Shaun P

    2014-05-01

    Lanternfishes are one of the most abundant groups of mesopelagic fishes in the world's oceans and play a critical role in biomass vertical turnover. Despite their importance, very little is known about their physiology or how they use their sensory systems to survive in the extreme conditions of the deep sea. In this study, we provide a comprehensive description of the general morphology of the myctophid eye, based on analysis of 53 different species, to understand better their visual capabilities. Results confirm that myctophids possess several visual adaptations for dim-light conditions, including enlarged eyes, an aphakic gap, a tapetum lucidum, and a pure rod retina with high densities of long photoreceptors. Two novel retinal specializations were also discovered. The first specialization is a fundal pigmentation in adult eyes, found within an isolated retinal region (typically central retina) composed of modified pigment epithelial cells, which we hypothesize to be the remnant of a more pronounced visual specialization important in larval stages. The second specialization is an aggregation of extracellular microtubular-like structures found within the sclerad region of the inner nuclear layer of the retina. We hypothesize that the marked interspecific differences in the hypertrophy of these microtubular-like structures may be related to inherent differences in visual function. A general interspecific variability in other parts of the eye is also revealed and examined in this study. The contribution of both ecology and phylogeny to the evolution of ocular specializations and vision in dim light are discussed. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  19. The analysis of thermoplastic characteristics of special polymer sulfur composite

    Science.gov (United States)

    Książek, Mariusz

    2017-01-01

    Specific chemical environments step out in the industry objects. Portland cement composites (concrete and mortar) were impregnated by using the special polymerized sulfur and technical soot as a filler (polymer sulfur composite). Sulfur and technical soot was applied as the industrial waste. Portland cement composites were made of the same aggregate, cement and water. The process of special polymer sulfur composite applied as the industrial waste is a thermal treatment process in the temperature of about 150-155°C. The result of such treatment is special polymer sulfur composite in a liquid state. This paper presents the plastic constants and coefficients of thermal expansion of special polymer sulfur composites, with isotropic porous matrix, reinforced by disoriented ellipsoidal inclusions with orthotropic symmetry of the thermoplastic properties. The investigations are based on the stochastic differential equations of solid mechanics. A model and algorithm for calculating the effective characteristics of special polymer sulfur composites are suggested. The effective thermoplastic characteristics of special polymer sulfur composites, with disoriented ellipsoidal inclusions, are calculated in two stages: First, the properties of materials with oriented inclusions are determined, and then effective constants of a composite with disoriented inclusions are determined on the basis of the Voigt or Rice scheme. A brief summary of new products related to special polymer sulfur composites is given as follows: Impregnation, repair, overlays and precast polymer concrete will be presented. Special polymer sulfur as polymer coating impregnation, which has received little attention in recent years, currently has some very interesting applications.

  20. Atypical Hemispheric Specialization for Faces in Infants At-Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keehn, Brandon; Vogel-Farley, Vanessa; Tager-Flusberg, Helen; Nelson, Charles A.

    2014-01-01

    Behavioral and neuroimaging findings from typically developing infants and children have demonstrated that the right hemisphere becomes specialized for processing faces. Face processing impairments and atypical hemispheric specialization have previously been reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The goal of this study was to examine the emergence of the right-lateralized face processing network in infants at high-risk for autism (HRA; defined as having an older sibling with ASD) and low-risk comparison (LRC) infants, defined as having no family history of ASD. To investigate the earliest appearance of these features, we examined lateralization of event-related gamma-band coherence (a measure of intra-hemispheric connectivity) to faces during the first year of life. Forty-nine HRA and 46 LRC infants contributed a total of 127 data sets at 6- and/or 12-months. EEG was recorded while infants viewed pictures of either their mother or a stranger. Event-related gamma-band (30-50Hz) phase coherence between anterior-posterior regions for left and right hemispheres was computed. HRA infants showed an aberrant pattern of leftward lateralization of intra-hemispheric coherence by the end of the first year of life, suggesting that the network specialized for face processing may develop atypically in these infants. Further, infants with the greatest leftward asymmetry at 12-months were those that later met diagnostic criteria for ASD, providing support to the growing body of evidence that atypical hemispheric specialization may be an early neurobiological marker for ASD. Among the many experimental findings that tend to distinguish those with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are face processing deficits, reduced hemispheric specialization, and atypical neurostructural and functional connectivity. To investigate the earliest manifestations of these features, we examined lateralization of event-related gamma-band coherence to faces during the first

  1. Field-aligned current signatures in the near-tail region. 2. Coupling between the region 1 and region 2 systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ohtani, S.; Kokubun, S.; Nakamura, R.; Elphic, R.C.; Russell, C.T.; Baker, D.N.

    1990-01-01

    The development of the substorm-associated current system in the near-tail region is examined in the light of both experiment and theory. First, the March 28, 1979, event is examined intensively by using ground magnetometer data and satellite magnetic field and energetic particle data. The comparison of field-aligned current signatures at geosynchronous altitude and in the near-tail region indicates that the development of the region 1 system is not merely the enhancement in current intensity of the pre-existing system. This finding is consistent with the so-called current wedge model, in which the tail current is converted into a pair of field-aligned currents with the region 1 polarity at substorm onsets. Detailed inspection, however, suggests that the region 2 system is as important as the region 1 system. Statistical properties of the azimuthal magnetic component at synchronous orbit indicate that the deviation during disturbed periods is larger than expected from the enhancement of the region 1 current. These individual and statistical studies suggest that the region 2 system tends to develop in the synchronous region and that the coupling between the region 1 and the region 2 systems is important. The current closure in the magnetosphere is discussed from a viewpoint of the macroscopic behavior of plasma. It is suggested that the dawnside and the duskside region 2 currents are closed in the magnetosphere by the curvature current during the growth phase and by the magnetic gradient current during the expansion phase. The field-aligned currents of the region 1 and the region 2 systems are closed in the ionosphere by the Pedersen current. Consequently, the energy is dissipated as the Joule heating and this energy must be supplied from the magnetosphere. Therefore, the counter part of the Pedersen current, which closes the region 1 and the region 2 currents in magnetosphere, must be the dynamo current

  2. Transgranichnaja korporativnaja integracija v Baltijskom regione [Transborder corporate integration in the Baltic Sea Region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kuznetsov A. V.

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper examines flows of foreign direct investment within the Baltic region. The author demonstrates close investment ties among the EU members, which are of special importance for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Transborder corporate integration in the region is characterized by significant imbalances. In many aspects, it can be viewed as Sweden’s economic expansion or development of domestic markets for northern European companies. Although many German, Polish and Russian companies are involved in corporate integration in the Baltic region, other vectors of their foreign economic relations are still more important for them. As a result, the integration of Russian business in the Baltic part of the European integration area is still rather weak despite Russia’s considerable foreign direct investment in the Baltic States.

  3. Principals' and Special Education Teachers' Perceptions of Special Education Teachers' Roles and Responsibilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mott, Japhia

    2013-01-01

    This explanatory mixed methods study focuses on the perceptions of principals and special education teachers about special education teachers' roles and responsibilities. An online survey was conducted with 11 principals and 41 special education teachers (Resource Specialists and Special Day Class teachers). Independent semi-structured interviews…

  4. Data mining a functional neuroimaging database for functional segregation in brain regions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Finn Årup; Balslev, Daniela; Hansen, Lars Kai

    2006-01-01

    We describe a specialized neuroinformatic data mining technique in connection with a meta-analytic functional neuroimaging database: We mine for functional segregation within brain regions by identifying journal articles that report brain activations within the regions and clustering the abstract...

  5. Data mining a functional neuroimaging database for functional|segregation in brain regions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Finn Årup

    2006-01-01

    We describe a specialized neuroinformatic data mining technique in connection with a meta-analytic functional neuroimaging database: We mine for functional segregation within brain regions by identifying journal articles that report brain activations within the regions and clustering the abstract...

  6. Special feature on imaging systems and techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Wuqiang; Giakos, George

    2013-07-01

    The IEEE International Conference on Imaging Systems and Techniques (IST'2012) was held in Manchester, UK, on 16-17 July 2012. The participants came from 26 countries or regions: Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Malaysia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tunisia, UAE, UK and USA. The technical program of the conference consisted of a series of scientific and technical sessions, exploring physical principles, engineering and applications of new imaging systems and techniques, as reflected by the diversity of the submitted papers. Following a rigorous review process, a total of 123 papers were accepted, and they were organized into 30 oral presentation sessions and a poster session. In addition, six invited keynotes were arranged. The conference not only provided the participants with a unique opportunity to exchange ideas and disseminate research outcomes but also paved a way to establish global collaboration. Following the IST'2012, a total of 55 papers, which were technically extended substantially from their versions in the conference proceeding, were submitted as regular papers to this special feature of Measurement Science and Technology . Following a rigorous reviewing process, 25 papers have been finally accepted for publication in this special feature and they are organized into three categories: (1) industrial tomography, (2) imaging systems and techniques and (3) image processing. These papers not only present the latest developments in the field of imaging systems and techniques but also offer potential solutions to existing problems. We hope that this special feature provides a good reference for researchers who are active in the field and will serve as a catalyst to trigger further research. It has been our great pleasure to be the guest editors of this special feature. We would like to thank the authors for their contributions, without which it would

  7. Efficient K+ buffering by mammalian retinal glial cells is due to cooperation of specialized ion channels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nilius, B; Reichenbach, A

    1988-06-01

    Radial glial (Müller) cells were isolated from rabbit retinae by papaine and mechanical dissociation. Regional membrane properties of these cells were studied by using the patch-clamp technique. In the course of our experiments, we found three distinct types of large K+ conducting channels. The vitread process membrane was dominated by high conductance inwardly rectifying (HCR) channels which carried, in the open state, inward currents along a conductance of about 105 pS (symmetrical solutions with 140 mM K+) but almost no outward currents. In the membrane of the soma and the proximal distal process, we found low conductance inwardly rectifying (LCR) channels which had an open state-conductance of about 60 pS and showed rather weak rectification. The endfoot membrane, on the other hand, was found to contain non-rectifying very high conductance (VHC) channels with an open state-conductance of about 360 pS (same solutions). These results suggest that mammalian Müller cells express regional membrane specializations which are optimized to carry spatial buffering currents of excess K+ ions.

  8. Special energies and special frequencies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Endrullis, M.; Englisch, H.

    1987-01-01

    ''Special frequencies'' have been asserted to be zeros of the density of frequencies corresponding to a random chain of coupled oscillators. Our investigation includes both this model and the random one-dimensional Schroedinger operator describing an alloy or its discrete analogue. Using the phase method we exactly determine a bilateral Lifsic asymptotic of the integrated density of states k(E) at special energies G s , which is not only of the classical type exp(-c/vertical strokeE-E s vertical stroke 1/2 ) but also exp(-c'/vertical strokeE-E s vertical stroke) is a typical behaviour. In addition, other asymptotics occur, e.g. vertical strokeE-E c vertical stroke c '', which show that k(E) need not be C ∞ . (orig.)

  9. Proteins Encoded in Genomic Regions Associated with Immune-Mediated Disease Physically Interact and Suggest Underlying Biology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rossin, Elizabeth J.; Hansen, Kasper Lage; Raychaudhuri, Soumya

    2011-01-01

    Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have defined over 150 genomic regions unequivocally containing variation predisposing to immune-mediated disease. Inferring disease biology from these observations, however, hinges on our ability to discover the molecular processes being perturbed by these r......Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have defined over 150 genomic regions unequivocally containing variation predisposing to immune-mediated disease. Inferring disease biology from these observations, however, hinges on our ability to discover the molecular processes being perturbed...... in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and Crohn's disease (CD) GWAS, we build protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks for genes within associated loci and find abundant physical interactions between protein products of associated genes. We apply multiple permutation approaches to show that these networks are more...... that the RA and CD networks have predictive power by demonstrating that proteins in these networks, not encoded in the confirmed list of disease associated loci, are significantly enriched for association to the phenotypes in question in extended GWAS analysis. Finally, we test our method in 3 non...

  10. 36 CFR 7.96 - National Capital Region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... Alexandria in Virginia and Prince Georges, Charles, Anne Arundel, and Montgomery Counties in Maryland and to... provision or will not unreasonably interfere with other demonstrations or special events. (ii... will be waived by the Regional Director if the size and nature of the activity will not reasonably...

  11. Organization A Comprehensive System Of Insurance Coverage In The Potential Chemical And Biological Contamination Zone In Regions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nina Vladimirovna Zaytseva

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The article provides a scientific rationale for an integrated approach to the provision of insurance coverage in the potential chemical and biological contamination zone. The following modern forms of chemical safety in the Russian Federation were considered: state reserve’s system, target program financing, state social insurance. The separate issue tackles the obligatory civil liability insurance for owners of dangerous objects. For improvement of the existing insurance protection system against emergency situations, risks were analyzed (shared on exogenous and endogenous. Among the exogenous risks including natural and climatic conditions of a region, its geographical arrangement, economic specialization, the seismic and terrorist risks were chosen and approaches to its solution were suggested. In endogenous risks’ group, the special focus is on wear and tear and obsolescence of hazardous chemical and biological object’s fixed assets. In case of high risk of an incident, it is suggested to increase in extent of insurance protection through self-insurance, a mutual insurance in the form of the organization of societies of a mutual insurance or the self-regulating organizations, and also development of voluntary insurance of a civil liability, both the owner of hazardous object, and regions of the Russian Federation and municipalities. The model of insurance coverage in the potential chemical and biological contamination zone is based on a differentiated approach to the danger level of the area. A matrix of adequate forms and types of insurance (required for insurance coverage of the population in the potential chemical and biological contamination zone was constructed. Proposed health risk management toolkit in the potential chemical and biological contamination zone will allow to use financial resources for chemical and biological safety in the regions more efficiently.

  12. Specialization can drive the evolution of modularity.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Espinosa-Soto

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Organismal development and many cell biological processes are organized in a modular fashion, where regulatory molecules form groups with many interactions within a group and few interactions between groups. Thus, the activity of elements within a module depends little on elements outside of it. Modularity facilitates the production of heritable variation and of evolutionary innovations. There is no consensus on how modularity might evolve, especially for modules in development. We show that modularity can increase in gene regulatory networks as a byproduct of specialization in gene activity. Such specialization occurs after gene regulatory networks are selected to produce new gene activity patterns that appear in a specific body structure or under a specific environmental condition. Modules that arise after specialization in gene activity comprise genes that show concerted changes in gene activities. This and other observations suggest that modularity evolves because it decreases interference between different groups of genes. Our work can explain the appearance and maintenance of modularity through a mechanism that is not contingent on environmental change. We also show how modularity can facilitate co-option, the utilization of existing gene activity to build new gene activity patterns, a frequent feature of evolutionary innovations.

  13. Progressive and Regressive Developmental Changes in Neural Substrates for Face Processing: Testing Specific Predictions of the Interactive Specialization Account

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joseph, Jane E.; Gathers, Ann D.; Bhatt, Ramesh S.

    2011-01-01

    Face processing undergoes a fairly protracted developmental time course but the neural underpinnings are not well understood. Prior fMRI studies have only examined progressive changes (i.e. increases in specialization in certain regions with age), which would be predicted by both the Interactive Specialization (IS) and maturational theories of…

  14. Mismatch between diagnostic reports and special educational needs classification in a public educational system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Cristina Triguero Veloz Teixeira

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective To assess the diagnostic status, the sociodemographic and health profiles for students with special educational needs (SEN in a public educational system, and to map their use of educational/social services. Methods The sample comprised 1,202 SEN students from a total of 59,344 students. Results Only 792 students of the 1,202 had an established diagnosis. The most prevalent SEN condition was intellectual disability. There was a low percentage (29.4% of use of specialized educational services or support. It was found that, for some neurodevelopmental disorders, prevalence data suggest an under-reporting in the school system. Conclusion Results suggest that there is a mismatch between the diagnostic reports and the SEN condition legally recognized according to Brazilian law, in addition to the under-reporting and under specialized service use of students with disabilities.

  15. Regional governance: strategies and disputes in health region management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adriano Maia dos Santos

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE To analyze the regional governance of the health systemin relation to management strategies and disputes. METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES A qualitative study with health managers from 19 municipalities in the health region of Bahia, Northeastern Brazil. Data were drawn from 17 semi-structured interviews of state, regional, and municipal health policymakers and managers; a focus group; observations of the regional interagency committee; and documents in 2012. The political-institutional and the organizational components were analyzed in the light of dialectical hermeneutics. RESULTS The regional interagency committee is the chief regional governance strategy/component and functions as a strategic tool for strengthening governance. It brings together a diversity of members responsible for decision making in the healthcare territories, who need to negotiate the allocation of funding and the distribution of facilities for common use in the region. The high turnover of health secretaries, their lack of autonomy from the local executive decisions, inadequate technical training to exercise their function, and the influence of party politics on decision making stand as obstacles to the regional interagency committee’s permeability to social demands. Funding is insufficient to enable the fulfillment of the officially integrated agreed-upon program or to boost public supply by the system, requiring that public managers procure services from the private market at values higher than the national health service price schedule (Brazilian Unified Health System Table. The study determined that “facilitators” under contract to health departments accelerated access to specialized (diagnostic, therapeutic and/or surgical services in other municipalities by direct payment to physicians for procedure costs already covered by the Brazilian Unified Health System. CONCLUSIONS The characteristics identified a regionalized system with a conflictive pattern of

  16. Clinical Training of Medical Physicists Specializing in Diagnostic Radiology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2010-01-01

    The application of radiation in human health, for both diagnosis and treatment of disease, is an important component of the work of the IAEA. The responsibility for the increasing technical aspects of this work is undertaken by the medical physicist. To ensure good practice in this vital area, structured clinical training programmes are required to complement academic learning. This publication is intended to be a guide to the practical implementation of such a programme for diagnostic radiology. There is a general and growing awareness that radiation medicine is increasingly dependent on well trained medical physicists based in the clinical setting. However, an analysis of the availability of medical physicists indicates a large shortfall of qualified and capable professionals. This is particularly evident in developing countries. While strategies to increase academic educational opportunities are critical to such countries, the need for guidance on structured clinical training was recognized by the members of the Regional Cooperative Agreement (RCA) for Research, Development and Training related to Nuclear Sciences for Asia and the Pacific. Consequently, a technical cooperation regional project (RAS6038) under the RCA programme was formulated to address this need in the Asia-Pacific region by developing suitable material and establishing its viability. Development of a clinical training guide for medical physicists specializing in diagnostic radiology started in 2007 with the appointment of a core drafting committee of regional and international experts. The publication drew on the experiences of clinical training programmes in Australia and New Zealand, the UK and the USA, and was moderated by physicists working in the Asian region. This publication follows the approach of the IAEA publication Training Course Series No. 37, Clinical Training of Medical Physicists specializing in Radiation Oncology. This approach to clinical training has been successfully tested

  17. Identification and two-photon imaging of oligodendrocyte in CA1 region of hippocampal slices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou Wei; Ge Wooping; Zeng Shaoqun; Duan Shumin; Luo Qingming

    2007-01-01

    Oligodendrocyte (OL) plays a critical role in myelination and axon maintenance in central nervous system. Recent studies show that OL can also express NMDA receptors in development and pathological situations in white matter. There is still lack of studies about OL properties and function in gray matter of brain. Here we reported that some glial cells in CA1 region of rat hippocampal slices (P15-23) had distinct electrophysiological characteristics from the other glia cells in this region, while they displayed uniform properties with OL from white matter in previous report; therefore, they were considered as OL in hippocampus. By loading dye in recording pipette and imaging with two-photon laser scanning microscopy, we acquired the high spatial resolution, three-dimension images of these special cells in live slices. The OL in hippocampus shows a complex process-bearing shape and the distribution of several processes is parallel to Schaffer fiber in CA1 region. When stimulating Schaffer fiber, OL displays a long duration depolarization mediated by inward rectifier potassium channel. This suggested that the OL in CA1 region could sense the neuronal activity and contribute to potassium clearance

  18. THE MOUNTAIN REGIONS IN CONTEXT OF STRATEGY 2020

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ANTONESCU Daniela

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The mountain regions in Romania and European Union represent a special territory of interest, with a huge economic, social, environmental and cultural potential. More, mountain area is considerate a natural-economic region and constitutes an important objective for regional development policy. The main sectors of mountain area are presented in agriculture and tourism fields that lead the key role in safeguarding the sensitive eco-system and thereby maintaining the general living and working space.Mountain areas should have a specific policy defined by the sustainable development principle, which meets the needs of the present without compromising the opportunities of future generations. The specific mountain policy aims to reduce the imbalance between favored and disadvantaged mountain regions, permanently marked by natural, economic, social, cultural and environmental constraints. In previous programming period, mountain regions among have profited from the intensive regional support, in specially, for constructing of and connecting them to fresh water and waste water networks, in particular for increasing of life quality. In context of 2020 Strategy, the Member States will concentrate investments on a small number of thematic objectives. In advanced regions, 60 % of funds will used for only two of these objectives (competitiveness of SME and research/innovation. The all less developed regions will received about 50% of Structural Funds In Romania, mountain representing 29.93% out of the total national surface and 20.14% from UAA (Utilised Agricultural Area of total national. The mountain territory has around 20% of the national population and is overlapping almost 100% with the Carpathian Mountains. Due to these conditions, Romania's regional development policy must take into account the specificities of mountain area, the problems they faced, and the requirements of 2020 Strategy.This paper presents the main aspects to be taken into account

  19. Special set linear algebra and special set fuzzy linear algebra

    OpenAIRE

    Kandasamy, W. B. Vasantha; Smarandache, Florentin; Ilanthenral, K.

    2009-01-01

    The authors in this book introduce the notion of special set linear algebra and special set fuzzy Linear algebra, which is an extension of the notion set linear algebra and set fuzzy linear algebra. These concepts are best suited in the application of multi expert models and cryptology. This book has five chapters. In chapter one the basic concepts about set linear algebra is given in order to make this book a self contained one. The notion of special set linear algebra and their fuzzy analog...

  20. Mapping Functional Brain Development: Building a Social Brain through Interactive Specialization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Mark H.; Grossmann, Tobias; Kadosh, Kathrin Cohen

    2009-01-01

    The authors review a viewpoint on human functional brain development, interactive specialization (IS), and its application to the emerging network of cortical regions referred to as the "social brain." They advance the IS view in 2 new ways. First, they extend IS into a domain to which it has not previously been applied--the emergence of social…

  1. Hydrodynamics of post CHF region

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishii, M.; De Jarlais, G.

    1984-04-01

    Among various two-phase flow regimes, the inverted flow in the post-dryout region is relatively less well understood due to its special heat transfer conditions. The review of existing data indicates further research is needed in the areas of basic hydrodynamics related to liquid core disintegration mechanisms, slug and droplet formations, entrainment, and droplet size distributions. In view of this, the inverted flow is studied in detail both analytically and experimentally. Criteria for initial flow regimes in the post-dryout region are given. Preliminary models for subsequent flow regime transition criteria are derived together with correlations for a mean droplet diameter based on the adiabatic simulation data

  2. Special Issue: Outcome of Anorexia Nervosa with Teenage Onset.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Casper, Regina C., Ed.

    1996-01-01

    The articles of this special issue report on studies of the outcomes of treatment of adolescent anorexia nervosa. These studies leave no doubt about the mortality risk and debilitating nature of chronic anorexia nervosa, but they do suggest that the prognosis, given expert treatment, is favorable for the most part. (SLD)

  3. Results of technical and economical examinations for substantiation of special plant design for reprocessing and radioactive wastes disposal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Galkin, A.V.; Baldov, A.N.

    2001-01-01

    In the paper the results of technical and economical examinations for substantiation of special plant design for reprocessing and radioactive wastes disposal are presented. Ground for the examination conducting was Health of Nation Programme ratified by the President and a number of Governmental decisions. The special plant is planned in the Mangystau Region. In the framework of feasibility study the data base by the worldwide known technologies was implemented, on reprocessing and experience of radioactive waste disposal. The technical requirements for the special plant construction are determined. The alternative options by structure content and site location of the special plant and radioactive waste disposal are cited

  4. Structural and functional correlates of hypnotic depth and suggestibility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGeown, William Jonathan; Mazzoni, Giuliana; Vannucci, Manila; Venneri, Annalena

    2015-02-28

    This study explores whether self-reported depth of hypnosis and hypnotic suggestibility are associated with individual differences in neuroanatomy and/or levels of functional connectivity. Twenty-nine people varying in suggestibility were recruited and underwent structural, and after a hypnotic induction, functional magnetic resonance imaging at rest. We used voxel-based morphometry to assess the correlation of grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM) against the independent variables: depth of hypnosis, level of relaxation and hypnotic suggestibility. Functional networks identified with independent components analysis were regressed with the independent variables. Hypnotic depth ratings were positively correlated with GM volume in the frontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Hypnotic suggestibility was positively correlated with GM volume in the left temporal-occipital cortex. Relaxation ratings did not correlate significantly with GM volume and none of the independent variables correlated with regional WM volume measures. Self-reported deeper levels of hypnosis were associated with less connectivity within the anterior default mode network. Taken together, the results suggest that the greater GM volume in the medial frontal cortex and ACC, and lower connectivity in the DMN during hypnosis facilitate experiences of greater hypnotic depth. The patterns of results suggest that hypnotic depth and hypnotic suggestibility should not be considered synonyms. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Computational principles of syntax in the regions specialized for language: integrating theoretical linguistics and functional neuroimaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohta, Shinri; Fukui, Naoki; Sakai, Kuniyoshi L

    2013-01-01

    The nature of computational principles of syntax remains to be elucidated. One promising approach to this problem would be to construct formal and abstract linguistic models that parametrically predict the activation modulations in the regions specialized for linguistic processes. In this article, we review recent advances in theoretical linguistics and functional neuroimaging in the following respects. First, we introduce the two fundamental linguistic operations: Merge (which combines two words or phrases to form a larger structure) and Search (which searches and establishes a syntactic relation of two words or phrases). We also illustrate certain universal properties of human language, and present hypotheses regarding how sentence structures are processed in the brain. Hypothesis I is that the Degree of Merger (DoM), i.e., the maximum depth of merged subtrees within a given domain, is a key computational concept to properly measure the complexity of tree structures. Hypothesis II is that the basic frame of the syntactic structure of a given linguistic expression is determined essentially by functional elements, which trigger Merge and Search. We then present our recent functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment, demonstrating that the DoM is indeed a key syntactic factor that accounts for syntax-selective activations in the left inferior frontal gyrus and supramarginal gyrus. Hypothesis III is that the DoM domain changes dynamically in accordance with iterative Merge applications, the Search distances, and/or task requirements. We confirm that the DoM accounts for activations in various sentence types. Hypothesis III successfully explains activation differences between object- and subject-relative clauses, as well as activations during explicit syntactic judgment tasks. A future research on the computational principles of syntax will further deepen our understanding of uniquely human mental faculties.

  6. Regional approaches to water pollution in the environment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rijtema, P.E.; Eliás, V.

    1996-01-01

    The book gives the main lectures of a NATO workshop dealing with aspects of regional modelling and practical experiences concerning pollution problems related to industrial, agricultural, municipal and former military sites. Special emphasis is given on the Black Triangle in Central Europe, because

  7. Build of virtual instrument laboratory related to nuclear species specialized

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shan Jian; Zhao Guizhi; Zhao Xiuliang; Tang Lingzhi

    2009-01-01

    As rapid development of specialized related to nuclear science,the requirement of laboratory construct is analyzed in this article at first, One total conceive, One scheme deploy soft and hardware,three concrete characteristics targets and five different phases of put in practice of virtual instrument laboratory of specialized related to nuclear science are suggest in the paper,the concrete hardware structure and the headway of build of virtual instrument laboratory are described,and the first step effect is introduced.Lastly,the forward target and the further deliberateness that the virtual instrument laboratory construct are set forth in the thesis. (authors)

  8. Regional Studies Program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parzyck, D.C.

    1978-01-01

    Progress is reported on methodology studies with regard to hydrologic analysis; atmospheric transport; forest growth models; distribution of sensitive species; agricultural analysis; and environmental objectives in energy facility siting. National coal utilization assessment studies are reported with regard to technology characterization; air quality impacts; water resources; regional characterization; forest impacts; coal extraction impacts on sensitive animal species; and health impacts. The following special projects were carried out: water resource aspects of inexhaustible technology deployment; ecological constraints on the rapidly expanded use of coal; and U.S. coal and the global carbon problem

  9. Organivore or organorexic? Examining the relationship between alternative food network engagement, disordered eating, and special diets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barnett, Michaela J; Dripps, Weston R; Blomquist, Kerstin K

    2016-10-01

    The alternative food network (AFN) refers to connections between consumers, producers, and sellers of organic, local/regional, "sustainably grown," and other artisanal and niche food not produced by the conventional system (Goodman & Goodman, 2007). Alternative foods are often viewed as the "right" consumption choice while conventional counterparts are positioned as ethically "wrong." A moral positioning of food, avoidance of certain food groups, and anxiety elicited by food consumption choices bears similarities to disordered eating behaviors (Hesse-Biber, Leavy, Quinn, & Zoino, 2006), including a newly proposed eating syndrome, orthorexia nervosa (ON; Vandereycken, 2011; Zamora, Bonaechea, Sánchez, & Rial, 2005). This study examines the relationship among engagement in the AFN, disordered eating behaviors, and special diets. We hypothesized that individuals with higher AFN engagement would be more likely report disordered eating behaviors as well as to follow a special diet. Adult men and women (N = 284) completed a series of measures assessing engagement in the AFN and eating behaviors. We found that individuals with higher AFN engagement were more likely to report ON tendencies but not significantly likely to engage in other disordered eating behaviors. Individuals following a special diet were significantly more engaged in the AFN, more likely to report ON tendencies, and more likely to self-report an eating disorder. Our findings suggest that the most engaged consumers participate in the AFN for the purported benefits reaped by society and the environment and not to moderate their consumption or mask disordered eating behaviors. Future research should prospectively explore associations between AFN engagement, ON and disordered eating behaviors, and special diets as well as consider the utility of incorporating AFN engagement into existing disordered eating prevention programs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Specialization in plant-hummingbird networks is associated with species richness, contemporary precipitation and quaternary climate-change velocity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dalsgaard, Bo; Magård, Else; Fjeldså, Jon

    2011-01-01

    patterns of contemporary biotic specialization and its drivers, we use network analysis to determine the degree of specialization in plant-hummingbird mutualistic networks sampled at 31 localities, spanning a wide range of climate regimes across the Americas. We found greater biotic specialization at lower...... latitudes, with latitude explaining 20-22% of the spatial variation in plant-hummingbird specialization. Potential drivers of specialization--contemporary climate, Quaternary climate-change velocity, and species richness--had superior explanatory power, together explaining 53-64% of the variation...... specialization. These results suggest that both ecological and evolutionary processes at Quaternary time scales can be important in driving large-scale geographical patterns of contemporary biotic specialization, at least for co-evolved systems such as plant-hummingbird networks....

  11. A high-resolution regional reanalysis for the European CORDEX region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bollmeyer, Christoph; Keller, Jan; Ohlwein, Christian; Wahl, Sabrina

    2015-04-01

    Within the Hans-Ertel-Centre for Weather Research (HErZ), the climate monitoring branch concentrates efforts on the assessment and analysis of regional climate in Germany and Europe. In joint cooperation with DWD (German Weather Service), a high-resolution reanalysis system based on the COSMO model has been developed. Reanalyses gain more and more importance as a source of meteorological information for many purposes and applications. Several global reanalyses projects (e.g., ERA, MERRA, CSFR, JMA9) produce and verify these data sets to provide time series as long as possible combined with a high data quality. Due to a spatial resolution down to 50-70km and 3-hourly temporal output, they are not suitable for small scale problems (e.g., regional climate assessment, meso-scale NWP verification, input for subsequent models such as river runoff simulations, renewable energy applications). The implementation of regional reanalyses based on a limited area model along with a data assimilation scheme is able to generate reanalysis data sets with high spatio-temporal resolution. The work presented here focuses on two regional reanalyses for Europe and Germany. The European reanalysis COSMO-REA6 matches the CORDEX EURO-11 specifications, albeit at a higher spatial resolution, i.e., 0.055° (6km) instead of 0.11° (12km). Nested into COSMO-REA6 is COSMO-REA2, a convective-scale reanalysis with 2km resolution for Germany. COSMO-REA6 comprises the assimilation of observational data using the existing nudging scheme of COSMO and is complemented by a special soil moisture analysis and boundary conditions given by ERA-Interim data. COSMO-REA2 also uses the nudging scheme complemented by a latent heat nudging of radar information. The reanalysis data set currently covers 17 years (1997-2013) for COSMO-REA6 and 4 years (2010-2013) for COSMO-REA2 with a very large set of output variables and a high temporal output step of hourly 3D-fields and quarter-hourly 2D-fields. The evaluation

  12. Measuring Innovative Capacities of the Georgia Regions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joseph Gogodze

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available European Union (EU experience reveal that the composite indicators are probably the most useful instruments for measuring the innovative capacities at the regional (sub-national level. However, some gap exists in the current literature with respect to the elaboration of composite indicators for regional innovation systems (RISs of developing countries. This article introduces the composite indicators GRIS and GCLS for measuring the regional innovative capacities (for GNUTS1 and GNUTS2 territorial classification levels, respectively. Georgia is a useful case-subject because its smallscale developing economy presents special challenges for elaborating the composite indicators for RISs. This article also includes a brief analysis using these composite indicators and indicates the significant heterogeneity among the innovative capacities of the Georgian regions.

  13. Developments in special geometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohaupt, Thomas; Vaughan, Owen

    2012-01-01

    We review the special geometry of N = 2 supersymmetric vector and hypermultiplets with emphasis on recent developments and applications. A new formulation of the local c-map based on the Hesse potential and special real coordinates is presented. Other recent developments include the Euclidean version of special geometry, and generalizations of special geometry to non-supersymmetric theories. As applications we discuss the proof that the local r-map and c-map preserve geodesic completeness, and the construction of four- and five-dimensional static solutions through dimensional reduction over time. The shared features of the real, complex and quaternionic version of special geometry are stressed throughout.

  14. Open to Suggestion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Journal of Reading, 1987

    1987-01-01

    Offers (1) suggestions for improving college students' study skills; (2) a system for keeping track of parent, teacher, and community contacts; (3) suggestions for motivating students using tic tac toe; (4) suggestions for using etymology to improve word retention; (5) a word search grid; and (6) suggestions for using postcards in remedial reading…

  15. 75 FR 47801 - Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; Overview Information; Special...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-09

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; Overview Information; Special Demonstration Programs--Model Demonstration Projects To Improve Outcomes for Individuals.... Alexa Posny, Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. [FR Doc. 2010-19585...

  16. Physicians’ circularity in health regions in Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paulo Henrique Seixas

    Full Text Available Abstract Objectives: to characterize the medical circularity in Brazil and to discuss the case in the North and South Barretos regions, São Paulo. Methods: a cross-sectional study using secondary data from the national registrations and a case study of physician’s sample in the North-Barretos and South-Barretos regions. Results: in the health regions in Brazil, on an average, 45% of the physicians in activities circulate in more than one region. The Capitals of the States have more stable physicians while more than 50% of the medical workforce work in other regions. The professionals with the greatest tendency to move from one work place to another are those who work in surgical specialties in services to uphold the diagnostic and therapy. Conclusions: there is a high circulation of physicians among the regions, with distinct characteristics between geographical and health regions. In case of Barretos area, the professionals move from one workplace to another according to their professional association and specialized practice.

  17. Entrepreneurial activity and regional development: an introduction to this special issue

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maribel Guerrero

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Uno de los objetivos principales de este número monográfico es analizar la relación existente entre la intención y la actividad emprendedora, y su incidencia en el desarrollo regional. Esta última década convulsa, con ciclos económicos expansivos y contractivos, ofrece una buena oportunidad para estudiar cómo la coyuntura económica afecta a la propensión emprendedora, y, a su vez, para observar hasta qué punto la actividad emprendedora contribuye al cambio (mejora de la economía. Existen numerosos estudios que han analizado esta complicada relación endógena entre emprendimiento y crecimiento económico, pero la mayoría de los trabajos de investigación han partido del análisis del comportamiento de países y bajo una visión estática. En este número monográfico, la mayoría de los estudios analizan el complejo comportamiento emprendedor desde una perspectiva subnacional (regiones de las Comunidades Autónomas de España y desde una óptica dinámica (con datos de varios años recientes, lo que añade rigor y valioso conocimiento a esta disciplina.

  18. Host Specialization in the Charcoal Rot Fungus, Macrophomina phaseolina.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, G; Suh, S O; Schneider, R W; Russin, J S

    2001-02-01

    ABSTRACT To investigate host specialization in Macrophomina phaseolina, the fungus was isolated from soybean, corn, sorghum, and cotton root tissue and soil from fields cropped continuously to these species for 15 years in St. Joseph, LA. Chlorate phenotype of each isolate was determined after growing on a minimal medium containing 120 mM potassium chlorate. Consistent differences in chlorate sensitivity were detected among isolates from different hosts and from soil versus root. To further explore genetic differentiation among fungal isolates from each host, these isolates were examined by restriction fragment length polymorphism and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. No variations were observed among isolates in restriction patterns of DNA fragments amplified by polymerase chain reaction covering the internal transcribed spacer region, 5.8S rRNA and part of 25S rRNA, suggesting that M. phaseolina constitutes a single species. Ten random primers were used to amplify the total DNA of 45 isolates, and banding patterns resulting from RAPD analysis were compared with the neighbor-joining method. Isolates from a given host were genetically similar to each other but distinctly different from those from other hosts. Chlorate-sensitive isolates were distinct from chlorate-resistant isolates within a given host. In greenhouse tests, soybean, sorghum, corn, and cotton were grown separately in soil infested with individual isolates of M. phaseolina that were chosen based on their host of origin and chlorate phenotype. Root colonization and plant weight were measured after harvesting. More colonization of corn roots occurred when corn was grown in soil containing corn isolates compared with isolates from other hosts. However, there was no host specialization in isolates from soybean, sorghum, or cotton. More root colonization in soybean occurred with chlorate-sensitive than with chlorate-resistant isolates.

  19. A limited cone-beam CT for dental, head and neck regions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kirimura, Susumu

    2004-01-01

    Recently, limited cone-beam CTs for dental or head-and-neck regions, which utilize two-dimensional X-ray detectors, have been gaining popularity. With one single rotation, they provide high-resolution volumetric data of a small region, which is suitable for specialized medical applications in the dental and otorhinolaryngology fields. It is particularly useful in visualizing small structures such as temporal, maxilla or mandibula bones. Since the imaging area is limited to a small but sufficient region, it can reduce unnecessary X-ray exposure to the patient. As the entire system is designed to be space-efficient compared to existing CT systems in the field, it is possible fit the unit into a small clinic. This type of device can be a far more practical and useful tool than an existing CT for special applications requiring detailed imaging of the fine bone structures of teeth, the middle ear, etc. (author)

  20. Development Factors of Shipping Industry Special Zone to Support Regional Innovation System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eko Budi Santoso

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The central government has established the industry road map through MP3EI to support the shipbuilding industry. The region of Surabaya, Gresik, Lamongan and Tuban areas will be developed as the national shipping industry. The purpose of this study is to f ormulate the shipbuilding industry development cooperation to support the development of regional innovation systems. The goal and objectives are to identify the type of support the shipbuilding industry in Lamongan, to obtain a general picture of the existing condition of shipbuilding industries and the subsequent descriptive analysis to identify factors that influence the development of the shipbuilding industry. The method is using a theoretical review of the literature and the descriptive analysis of the results of depth interviews with stakeholders in Lamongan. The results of this study are the factors that influence the development of the shipbuilding industry.

  1. Latin American integration and sub-regionalization: political and ideological dimension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. A. Kuznetsov

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The article analyses regionalism and regionalization in modern Latin America paying special attention to political and ideological factors, which have already shifted political and economic landscape of Latin America and encouraged sub-regional differentiation, with each of the sub-regional integration association following its own (and sometimes competing development pattern. At the same time the region witnesses the consolidation of UNASUR that assumes a leading role trying to converge the sub-regional alternative patterns and to strengthen political and economic ties, based on regional leadership of Brazil, civilizational unity and imminent security threats. The author also uses comparative method to speculate on the model of Latin American integration. 

  2. Social and Economic Development of the Stalingrad Region in 1943-1947

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ekaterina D. Vladimirova

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available The paper reveals the main directions of reconstruction works in Stalingrad and in the Stalingrad region after the end of the Stalingrad Battle. The stages of peaceful life’s rebirth in the region are distinguished. The author also accounts the main events and quantitative indexes, which allow us to track the restoring process. It is determined that the basic reconstruction works in the region were accomplished to 1947, and since that the process of further social and economic development of the Stalingrad region had begun. The author notes the contribution of the Stalingrad Group of Troops to the restoration of city and region’s economy after the end of the Stalingrad Battle. The restoration of social and cultural scopes of the region, such as housing stock, education and culture institutions, healthcare, and some religious organizations, is also analyzed. The author also analyzes the restoring process of the city of Stalingrad in the postwar years, determines the stages of city’s economy building. It is revealed that during the restoration work local authorities paid special attention to the creation of new schools, hospitals, specialized institutes and cultural institutions in order to create a comfortable urban environment.

  3. Decade of inclusive education in Ghana: perspectives of special educators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maxwell Peprah Opoku

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The development of inclusive education systems has been recognized as the process for orchestrating educational quality and equity. Inclusive education systems reflect growing awareness of the imperatives of 21st century societies to make quality education available to all students. This article contributes to developing area of inclusive education by exploring the perspectives of Ghanaian special educators on the progress and achievements of inclusive education. The data in this paper emerged from case study involving special educators from two regions in Ghana. Findings show an uncoordinated attempt to pilot inclusive education across the country because of different agencies funding the project. The authors argue that there is the need for a holistic review of the programme to ground the policy within the education system of Ghana.

  4. Perspectives on Promoting Regional Renewable Energy Research and Development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dresselhaus, M.

    2008-01-01

    Recent discussions at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC), hosted in March 2008 by the United States Government, with nearly 9000 participants including 103 ministers from 126 countries, concluded that a major acceleration in the adoption of renewable energy technologies was needed by mid-century. Because of different climatic conditions and societal preferences, regional cooperation is expected to play a major role in the efficient adoption of appropriate renewable energy technologies, and countries with special expertise in specific technologies seem eager to collaborate internationally to promote global goals in renewable energy. A review will be given of what we learned from this conference about renewable energy research and development strategies with a special focus given to using this basic knowledge base to promote the development of renewable energy technologies appropriate to specific regions of the world.(author)

  5. Non-Economic Obstacles to Wind Deployment: Issues and Regional Differences (Presentation)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baring-Gould, I.

    2014-05-01

    This presentation provides an overview of national obstacles to wind deployment, with regional assessments. A special mention of offshore projects and distributed wind projects is provided. Detailed maps examine baseline capacity, military and flight radar, golden and bald eagle habitat, bat habitat, whooping crane habitat, and public lands. Regional deployment challenges are also discussed.

  6. Factor structure of suggestibility revisited: new evidence for direct and indirect suggestibility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Romuald Polczyk

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Background Yielding to suggestions can be viewed as a relatively stable individual trait, called suggestibility. It has been long proposed that there are two kinds of suggestible influence, and two kinds of suggestibility corresponding to them: direct and indirect. Direct suggestion involves overt unhidden influence, while indirect suggestion concerns influence that is hidden, and the participant does not know that the suggestibility is being measured. So far however, empirical evidence for the existence of the two factors has been scarce. In the present study, more sophisticated and reliable tools for measuring suggestibility were applied than in the previous research, in the hope that better measurement would reveal the factor structure of suggestibility. Two tests of direct suggestibility were used: the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A, measuring hypnotic susceptibility, and the Barber Suggestibility Scale, measuring non-hypnotic direct imaginative suggestibility. Three tests served to measure indirect suggestibility: the Sensory Suggestibility Scale, measuring indirect suggestibility relating to perception; the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale, measuring the tendency to yield to suggestive questions and changing answers after negative feedback; and the Emotional Dialogs Tests, measuring the tendency to perceive nonexistent aggression. Participants and procedure In sum, 115 participants were tested, 69 women, 49 men, mean age 22.20 years, SD = 2.20. Participants were tested in two sessions, lasting for a total of four hours. Results Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the existence of two uncorrelated factors of suggestibility: direct and indirect. Conclusions Suggestibility may indeed involve two factors, direct and indirect, and failure to discover them in previous research may be due to methodological problems.

  7. Reducing Spatial Inequality In Indonesia: Off-The-Job Training As A Special Treatment For Underdeveloped Regions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emil Muhamad

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Education is one of Human Development Index (HDI components which plays a vital role. Both theoretically and evidently speaking, the level of education has a positive correlation with income level. However, Indonesia as an archipelago country still can’t be able to provide equitable education for the whole country. Spatial Inequality is thought as the result of this problem. Since outer Java regions are less developed compared to Java, the quality of education is lower as well. The ability of education as income leverage factor is different between regions. Through this study, I compared the rate of return to schooling of both regions and analyze the causes. Furthermore, I examined the differences in the effects of formal education and job training on people in both regions. The aim is to decide what kind of human resources treatment is more effective for each region. This research’s data is collected from the National Labor Force Survey (SAKERNAS 2014. I used modified Mincer earnings function to analyze the differences between regions. Cross-sectional regression analysis was done by using Ordinary Least Square (OLS method. I split the data based on groups of the region to compare both rates of return to schooling. The results showed that there are differences in the rate of return to schooling between the two regions for each education level. The effect of training on income level also differs for both regions. Education gives a promising return to income in Java while job training doing it well in outer regions.

  8. Molecular networks and the evolution of human cognitive specializations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fontenot, Miles; Konopka, Genevieve

    2014-12-01

    Inroads into elucidating the origins of human cognitive specializations have taken many forms, including genetic, genomic, anatomical, and behavioral assays that typically compare humans to non-human primates. While the integration of all of these approaches is essential for ultimately understanding human cognition, here, we review the usefulness of coexpression network analysis for specifically addressing this question. An increasing number of studies have incorporated coexpression networks into brain expression studies comparing species, disease versus control tissue, brain regions, or developmental time periods. A clearer picture has emerged of the key genes driving brain evolution, as well as the developmental and regional contributions of gene expression patterns important for normal brain development and those misregulated in cognitive diseases. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Special relativity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Taylor, J.G.

    1975-01-01

    It is stated that the early chapters review special relativity from an elementary mathematical viewpoint, and include discussion of recent experiments which set out to test Einstein's predictions. The theory of relativity is then reformulated in more sophisticated mathematical language to show its relation to electro-magnetism, and to lay the foundation for more general viewpoints. The final chapter discusses in simple terms where activity in the field is currently centred, and where future interest lies. Chapter headings include: the constant speed of light; measuring time and distance; the Lorentz transformation (relativity of simultaneity, space-time and causality); relativistic kinematics (including - the Dopper effect); relativistic dynamics (including - nuclear binding energy, particle creation, electrodynamics); the structure of special relativity (including - the Lorentz group, the rotation group, elementary particle scattering); extensions of special relativity. (U.K.)

  10. Evaluating the Impact of Regional Marketing Projects on the Development of Regions from Different Stakeholder Perspectives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kunze Kim-Kathrin

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available In the competition for economically attractive stakeholders, regions have to implement strategies to gain and adhere those interest groups. Empirical studies concerning the migration motivations show that it is not only labor market but also soft locational factors of the social environment, nature and landscape that are of high importance: A majority of the population is willing to move or rather stay at a special place because of such soft locational factors. This study examines the impact of regional marketing projects on the development of regions from the perspectives of inhabitants and tourists as well as general attributes to measure a region’s attractiveness from the perspective of high potentials. We argue that those projects that fit to the region and its unique selling propositions contribute to positioning and building location brand value. We show that projects have a socio-economic effect on the attitude towards regions and contribute to building location brand value. An analysis of group differences shows that the project influence on the region and region attractiveness are perceived in significantly different manner depending on the knowledge level of the stakeholder group. Consequently, one should increase the awareness of marketing activities and regions and focus on soft locational factors while establishing and positioning a region brand.

  11. Factor structure of suggestibility revisited: new evidence for direct and indirect suggestibility

    OpenAIRE

    Romuald Polczyk

    2016-01-01

    Background Yielding to suggestions can be viewed as a relatively stable individual trait, called suggestibility. It has been long proposed that there are two kinds of suggestible influence, and two kinds of suggestibility corresponding to them: direct and indirect. Direct suggestion involves overt unhidden influence, while indirect suggestion concerns influence that is hidden, and the participant does not know that the suggestibility is being measured. So far however, empirical evidence ...

  12. Pattern analysis and suggestion of energy efficiency retrofit for existing residential buildings in China's northern heating region

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lv Shilei; Wu Yong; Sun Jinying

    2009-01-01

    In China, Energy Efficiency Retrofit for Existing Residential Buildings (EERFERB) is faced with a fast development status. The Central Government decided to prompt the retrofit of 1.5x10 8 m 2 existing residential buildings in China's northern heating region during the '11th Five-Years Plan'. But, at present, the relative incentive policies and measurements are very insufficient. Especially, on the aspect of the retrofit pattern about the organization, retrofit content, investing and financing mode, the policy and management and other factors, no existing successful one can be spreaded into the whole northern heating region. This research not only analyzed the foreign advanced methods, drew lessons from their retrofit in Germany and Poland, but contrasted and analyzed energy efficiency retrofit demonstrations from Harbin, Tianjin, Tangshan and Baotou in China to get our domestic successful patterns and experience. Finally, some recommended retrofit patterns are presented, which can be applied for the instruction and decision-making for the Chinese local governments.

  13. A special issue devoted to gold deposits in northern Nevada: Part 2. Carlin-type Deposits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hofstra, Albert H.; John, David A.; Theodore, Ted G.

    2003-01-01

    This is the second of two special issues of Economic Geology devoted to gold deposits in northern Nevada. Readers interested in a general overview of these deposits, their economic significance, their context within the tectonic evolution of the region, and synoptic references on each gold deposit type are directed to the preface of the first special issue (John et al., 2003). Volume 98, issue 2, contains five papers that address regional aspects important to the genesis of gold deposits in northern Nevada and five papers that present detailed studies of epithermal deposits and districts. All of the regional papers are pertinent to Carlin-type gold deposits, because they address the age of mineralization (Arehart et al., 2003), origin and evolutionary history of the northwest-striking mineral belts that localize many deposits (Grauch et al., 2003), nature of the middle and lower crust below these mineral belts (Howard, 2003), district- to deposit-scale stream sediment and lithogeochemical anomalies (Theodore et al., 2003), and stratigraphy and structure of a district located along a northeast-striking lineament (Peters et al., 2003).

  14. The Special LHC Interconnections Technologies, Organization and Quality Control

    CERN Document Server

    Tock, J P; Bozzini, D; Cruikshank, P; Desebe, O; Felip, M; Garion, C; Hajduk, L; Jacquemod, A; Kos, N; Laurent, F; Poncet, A; Russenschuck, Stephan; Slits, I; Vaudaux, L; Williams, L

    2008-01-01

    In addition to the standard interconnections (IC) of the continuous cryostat of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), there exists a variety of special ones related to specific components and assemblies, such as cryomagnets of the insertion regions, electrical feedboxes and superconducting links. Though they are less numerous, their specificities created many additional IC types, requiring a larger variety of assembly operations and quality control techniques, keeping very high standards of quality. Considerable flexibility and adaptability from all the teams involved (CERN staff, collaborating institutes, contractors) were the key points to ensure the success of this task. This paper first describes the special IC and presents the employed technologies which are generally adapted from the standard work. Then, the organization adopted for this non-repetitive work is described. Examples of non-conformities that were resolved are also discussed. Figures of merit in terms of quality and productivity are given and com...

  15. Special protective concretes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bouniol, P.

    2001-01-01

    Concrete is the most convenient material when large-scale radiation protection is needed. Thus, special concretes for nuclear purposes are used in various facilities like reactors, reprocessing centers, storage sites, accelerators, hospitals with nuclear medicine equipment, food ionization centers etc.. The recent advances made in civil engineering for the improvement of concrete durability and compactness are for a large part transposable to protection concretes. This article presents the basic knowledge about protection concretes with the associated typological and technological aspects. A large part is devoted to the intrinsic properties of concretes and to their behaviour in irradiation and temperature conditions: 1 - definition and field of application of special protective concretes; 2 - evolution of concepts and technologies (durability of structures, techniques of formulation, new additives, market evolution); 3 - design of protective structures (preliminary study, radiation characteristics, thermal constraints, damping and dimensioning, mechanical criteria); 4 - formulation of special concretes (general principles, granulates, hydraulic binders, pulverulent additives, water/cement ratio, reference composition of some special concretes); 5 - properties of special concretes (damping and thermo-mechanical properties); 6 - induced-irradiation and temperature phenomena (activation, radiolysis, mineralogical transformations, drying, shrinking, creep, corrosion of reinforcement). (J.S.)

  16. Wheat crown rot pathogens Fusarium graminearum and F. pseudograminearum lack specialization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakraborty, Sukumar; Obanor, Friday; Westecott, Rhyannyn; Abeywickrama, Krishanthi

    2010-10-01

    This article reports a lack of pathogenic specialization among Australian Fusarium graminearum and F. pseudograminearum causing crown rot (CR) of wheat using analysis of variance (ANOVA), principal component and biplot analysis, Kendall's coefficient of concordance (W), and κ statistics. Overall, F. pseudograminearum was more aggressive than F. graminearum, supporting earlier delineation of the crown-infecting group as a new species. Although significant wheat line-pathogen isolate interaction in ANOVA suggested putative specialization when seedlings of 60 wheat lines were inoculated with 4 pathogen isolates or 26 wheat lines were inoculated with 10 isolates, significant W and κ showed agreement in rank order of wheat lines, indicating a lack of specialization. The first principal component representing nondifferential aggressiveness explained a large part (up to 65%) of the variation in CR severity. The differential components were small and more pronounced in seedlings than in adult plants. By maximizing variance on the first two principal components, biplots were useful for highlighting the association between isolates and wheat lines. A key finding of this work is that a range of analytical tools are needed to explore pathogenic specialization, and a statistically significant interaction in an ANOVA cannot be taken as conclusive evidence of specialization. With no highly resistant wheat cultivars, Fusarium isolates mostly differ in aggressiveness; however, specialization may appear as more resistant cultivars become widespread.

  17. Cross-Cultural Concerns: What's Missing from Special Education Training Programs?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fox, C. Lynn; And Others

    1988-01-01

    A 12-step curriculum model for training inservice special education specialists who must also meet the needs of a culturally and linguistically diverse student population is proposed. The model follows the guidelines of Bloom's taxonomy for awareness, knowledge, and application. Suggestions for adaptation and implementation are also made. (MSE)

  18. Centrins in unicellular organisms: functional diversity and specialization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yu; He, Cynthia Y

    2012-07-01

    Centrins (also known as caltractins) are conserved, EF hand-containing proteins ubiquitously found in eukaryotes. Similar to calmodulins, the calcium-binding EF hands in centrins fold into two structurally similar domains separated by an alpha-helical linker region, shaping like a dumbbell. The small size (15-22 kDa) and domain organization of centrins and their functional diversity/specialization make them an ideal system to study protein structure-function relationship. Here, we review the work on centrins with a focus on their structures and functions characterized in unicellular organisms.

  19. Evaluation of the efficiency of development of specially protected natural areas in the Republic of Komi

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tat’yana Vyacheslavovna Tikhonova

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The article presents an algorithm for the management of specially protected natural areas in the region. This algorithm consists of the following procedures: assumption of the obligation to preserve biodiversity; planning and implementation of activities to preserve natural complexes; evaluation, analysis of results and development of recommendations to improve management. According to this algorithm the procedures were tested on model objects – specially protected natural territories of federal and regional importance. In the course of implementation of these activities the sources of funding of specially protected model objects were identified: the funds of budgets of all levels; grants and charitable contributions; funds received from the provision of recreation and tourism services. The financial strategies of development were provided, and the business plans were analysed for seven natural reserves. The results of a sociological survey concerning the effectiveness of implementation of business plans show that positive effects from the existence of protected areas are much more pronounced than the limitations experienced by local residents. This refers to the opportunities and forms of cooperation and contribution to socio-economic development in the region. The activities for the organization of recreation for residents in the region are proposed. Recreation at the weekend, the costs of which amount to two thousand rubles/person, is most interesting to the region’s residents, especially to urban residents. This type of recreation can organize a flow of 200 thousand people per year, if the necessary range of services, especially children’s leisure, is provided. Leisure tourism, on the contrary, requires the maximum reduction of cost (five thousand rubles/ person for the route, and the provision of minimum number of services; the annual flow of this category of tourists may reach 40 thousand people. Establishment of conventional natural

  20. Prospective Special Education Teachers' Metaphorical Perceptions on the Concept of Special Education Teacher

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deniz, Levent

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this research is to define the perceptions of prospective special education teachers regarding special education teacher through metaphors. Phenomenology design was used in this research. The study group comprised 116 third year prospective special education teachers studying at Marmara University, Ataturk Faculty of Education, Special…

  1. COMPLEX REGIONAL PAIN SYNDROME – CLINIC, DIAGNOSTICS, TREATMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. A. Shostak

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The problem of pain today remains one of the fundamental issues of medical care. It is known that the pain is the leading cause of treatmentto the doctor. Among pain syndromes, a special place belongs to the complex regional pain syndromes. They are distinguished by the multidisciplinary problem, the presence of explicit nature of the pain, difficulty of diagnosis and nature of the treatment. The article presentsmodern data on the diagnosis and treatment of the complex regional pain syndromes.

  2. COMPLEX REGIONAL PAIN SYNDROME – CLINIC, DIAGNOSTICS, TREATMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. A. Shostak

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The problem of pain today remains one of the fundamental issues of medical care. It is known that the pain is the leading cause of treatmentto the doctor. Among pain syndromes, a special place belongs to the complex regional pain syndromes. They are distinguished by the multidisciplinary problem, the presence of explicit nature of the pain, difficulty of diagnosis and nature of the treatment. The article presentsmodern data on the diagnosis and treatment of the complex regional pain syndromes.

  3. Does energy and CO_2 emissions performance of China benefit from regional integration?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Jianglong; Lin, Boqiang

    2017-01-01

    Low energy and carbon efficiency and widespread market segmentation are two stylized facts of China's regional economies. This paper evaluates energy and CO_2 emissions performance using a newly developed non-radial directional distance function, and China's regional integration is investigated using a price approach. The study points to evidence that: (1) most provinces do not perform efficiently in terms of energy use and CO_2 emissions with performance gaps among regions becoming larger, indicating regional segmentation; (2) magnitude of regional integration has increased dramatically, while China's eastern provinces are less integrated in domestic side due to their convenience to international openness; (3) regional integration has significant and robust positive effects on energy and CO_2 emissions performance with over 70% of effects coming from artificial barriers, rather than geographical distance; (4) international openness is also beneficial for promoting energy and CO_2 emissions performance, but cannot substitute for regional integration because of China's specialization in energy-intensive manufacturing in the global economy. Based on the empirical findings, we suggest that central government should continue to encourage regional integration given that local governments have incentives to fragment because it is a way of promoting energy and CO_2 emissions performance and stimulating economy at the same time. - Highlights: • NDDF method is applied to evaluate China's regional energy and carbon performance. • Difficulties in identifying NDDF using parametric approach are discussed. • Panel data of China's regional integration using the price approach is constructed. • Local protectionism is particularly identified by filtering effects of geography. • World trade cannot substitute domestic integration for improving energy efficiency.

  4. Special Libraries and Multitype Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Segal, JoAn S.

    1989-01-01

    Describes the history of multitype library networks; examines the reasons why special libraries and other network participants have resisted the inclusion of special libraries in these networks; and discusses the benefits to both special libraries and to other libraries in the network that would result from special library participation. (17…

  5. Special Needs: A Philosophical Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vehmas, Simo

    2010-01-01

    This paper attempts to illuminate a central concept and idea in special education discourse, namely, "special needs". It analyses philosophically what needs are and on what grounds they are defined as "special" or "exceptional". It also discusses whether sorting needs into ordinary and special is discriminatory. It is argued that individualistic…

  6. Clinical Training of Medical Physicists Specializing in Nuclear Medicine (Spanish Edition)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2013-01-01

    The application of radiation in human health, for both diagnosis and treatment of disease, is an important component of the work of the IAEA. The responsibility for the increasingly technical aspects of this work is undertaken by the medical physicist. To ensure good practice in this vital area, structured clinical training programmes are required to complement academic learning. This publication is intended to be a guide to the practical implementation of such a programme for nuclear medicine. There is a general and growing awareness that radiation medicine is increasingly dependent on well trained medical physicists who are based in a clinical setting. However an analysis of the availability of medical physicists indicates a large shortfall of qualified and capable professionals. This is particularly evident in developing countries. While strategies to increase educational opportunities are critical to such countries, the need for guidance on structured clinical training was recognized by the members of the Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development and Training related to Nuclear Science and Technology (RCA) for the Asia-Pacific region. Consequently, a technical cooperation regional project (RAS6038) under the RCA programme was formulated to address this need in this region by developing suitable material and establishing its viability. Development of a clinical training guide for medical physicists specialising in nuclear medicine was started in 2009 with the appointment of a core drafting committee of regional and international experts. The publication drew on the experience of clinical training in Australia, Croatia and Sweden and was moderated by physicists working in the Asian region. The present publication follows the approach of earlier IAEA publications in the Training Course Series, specifically Nos 37 and 47, Clinical Training of Medical Physicists Specializing in Radiation Oncology and Clinical Training of Medical Physicists

  7. Clinical Training of Medical Physicists Specializing in Nuclear Medicine (French Edition)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2012-01-01

    The application of radiation in human health, for both diagnosis and treatment of disease, is an important component of the work of the IAEA. The responsibility for the increasingly technical aspects of this work is undertaken by the medical physicist. To ensure good practice in this vital area, structured clinical training programmes are required to complement academic learning. This publication is intended to be a guide to the practical implementation of such a programme for nuclear medicine. There is a general and growing awareness that radiation medicine is increasingly dependent on well trained medical physicists who are based in a clinical setting. However an analysis of the availability of medical physicists indicates a large shortfall of qualified and capable professionals. This is particularly evident in developing countries. While strategies to increase educational opportunities are critical to such countries, the need for guidance on structured clinical training was recognized by the members of the Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development and Training related to Nuclear Science and Technology (RCA) for the Asia-Pacific region. Consequently, a technical cooperation regional project (RAS6038) under the RCA programme was formulated to address this need in this region by developing suitable material and establishing its viability. Development of a clinical training guide for medical physicists specialising in nuclear medicine was started in 2009 with the appointment of a core drafting committee of regional and international experts. The publication drew on the experience of clinical training in Australia, Croatia and Sweden and was moderated by physicists working in the Asian region. The present publication follows the approach of earlier IAEA publications in the Training Course Series, specifically Nos 37 and 47, Clinical Training of Medical Physicists Specializing in Radiation Oncology and Clinical Training of Medical Physicists

  8. Sports Specialization in Young Athletes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jayanthi, Neeru; Pinkham, Courtney; Dugas, Lara; Patrick, Brittany; LaBella, Cynthia

    2013-01-01

    Context: Sports specialization is intense training in 1 sport while excluding others. Sports specialization in early to middle childhood has become increasingly common. While most experts agree that some degree of sports specialization is necessary to achieve elite levels, there is some debate as to whether such intense practice time must begin during early childhood and to the exclusion of other sports to maximize potential for success. There is a concern that sports specialization before adolescence may be deleterious to a young athlete. Evidence Acquisition: PubMed and OVID were searched for English-language articles from 1990 to 2011 discussing sports specialization, expert athletes, or elite versus novice athletes, including original research articles, consensus opinions, and position statements. Results: For most sports, there is no evidence that intense training and specialization before puberty are necessary to achieve elite status. Risks of early sports specialization include higher rates of injury, increased psychological stress, and quitting sports at a young age. Sports specialization occurs along a continuum. Survey tools are being developed to identify where athletes fall along the spectrum of specialization. Conclusion: Some degree of sports specialization is necessary to develop elite-level skill development. However, for most sports, such intense training in a single sport to the exclusion of others should be delayed until late adolescence to optimize success while minimizing injury, psychological stress, and burnout. PMID:24427397

  9. Preface paper to the Semi-Arid Land-Surface-Atmosphere (SALSA) Program special issue

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goodrich, D.C.; Chehbouni, A.; Goff, B.; MacNish, B.; Maddock, T.; Moran, S.; Shuttleworth, W.J.; Williams, D.G.; Watts, C.; Hipps, L.H.; Cooper, D.I.; Schieldge, J.; Kerr, Y.H.; Arias, H.; Kirkland, M.; Carlos, R.; Cayrol, P.; Kepner, W.; Jones, B.; Avissar, R.; Begue, A.; Bonnefond, J.-M.; Boulet, G.; Branan, B.; Brunel, J.P.; Chen, L.C.; Clarke, T.; Davis, M.R.; DeBruin, H.; Dedieu, G.; Elguero, E.; Eichinger, W.E.; Everitt, J.; Garatuza-Payan, J.; Gempko, V.L.; Gupta, H.; Harlow, C.; Hartogensis, O.; Helfert, M.; Holifield, C.; Hymer, D.; Kahle, A.; Keefer, T.; Krishnamoorthy, S.; Lhomme, J.-P.; Lagouarde, J.-P.; Lo, Seen D.; Luquet, D.; Marsett, R.; Monteny, B.; Ni, W.; Nouvellon, Y.; Pinker, R.; Peters, C.; Pool, D.; Qi, J.; Rambal, S.; Rodriguez, J.; Santiago, F.; Sano, E.; Schaeffer, S.M.; Schulte, M.; Scott, R.; Shao, X.; Snyder, K.A.; Sorooshian, S.; Unkrich, C.L.; Whitaker, M.; Yucel, I.

    2000-01-01

    The Semi-Arid Land-Surface-Atmosphere Program (SALSA) is a multi-agency, multi-national research effort that seeks to evaluate the consequences of natural and human-induced environmental change in semi-arid regions. The ultimate goal of SALSA is to advance scientific understanding of the semi-arid portion of the hydrosphere-biosphere interface in order to provide reliable information for environmental decision making. SALSA approaches this goal through a program of long-term, integrated observations, process research, modeling, assessment, and information management that is sustained by cooperation among scientists and information users. In this preface to the SALSA special issue, general program background information and the critical nature of semi-arid regions is presented. A brief description of the Upper San Pedro River Basin, the initial location for focused SALSA research follows. Several overarching research objectives under which much of the interdisciplinary research contained in the special issue was undertaken are discussed. Principal methods, primary research sites and data collection used by numerous investigators during 1997-1999 are then presented. Scientists from about 20 US, five European (four French and one Dutch), and three Mexican agencies and institutions have collaborated closely to make the research leading to this special issue a reality. The SALSA Program has served as a model of interagency cooperation by breaking new ground in the approach to large scale interdisciplinary science with relatively limited resources.

  10. Social economic zones as an instrument of regional development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wiesława Lizińska

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available The goal of the paper was the analysis of the main aspects o f Special Economic Zones (SEZ activity. It refers especially to the goals for establishment, operational models of these zones, SEZ based on examples of selected countries and Poland in the context o f integration with the European Union. The Special Economic Zones to create more attractive conditions for business operations, to contribute mainly to the development of small and medium enterprises and variety of services, consequently to improve employment. However, the consequences of the zones existence can be negative for economy of the region. The Special Economic Zones that are functioning worldwide are different. In Poland, they were first designed by the Irish and based on the example of the zone in Shannon. The existence and principles of the Special Economic Zones operations in Poland are one of the contradiction points in the negotiations with the European Union.

  11. Improving the training process of skilled bodybuilders in specially-preparatory phase of the preparatory period

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Viktor Dzhym

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: to study methods of improving the training process of skilled bodybuilders in a specially-preparatory phase of the preparatory period. Materials and Methods: the study involved 18 skilled bodybuilders are included in the team of the Kharkiv region of bodybuilding. Results: a comparative characteristic of the most commonly used methods of training process in bodybuilding. Developed and justified the optimal technique for skilled bodybuilders, depending on the initial form of the athlete at the beginning of a specially-preparatory phase of training. Shows the dependence of changes in body weight bodybuilder from the training process. Conclusions: on the basis of the research the author proposes an optimal method of training depending on the training microcycle in the run specially-preparatory stage.

  12. The practice of electronic petitions to regional political agenda-setting

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. M. Kuzhman

    2016-05-01

    Proved that electronic petitions as a special form of collective appeals, in fact, represent electronic (national, regional, local – depending on the level of government initiatives which the conditions of collecting the required number of signatures in his support are urgently considered relevant authority. For it must necessarily be made or decision given in a public way motivated refusal. It was determined that the regional feeder electronic petitions is very effective because it allows you to identify the pressing issues of interest to residents of a region, and respond to them. Thus, through electronic petition very quickly established regional political agenda.

  13. Meeting measles elimination indicators: surveillance performance in a regional area of Australia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David N Durrheim

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available The World Health Organization (WHO Western Pacific Region has established specific measles elimination surveillance indicators. There has been concern in Australia that these indicators may be too stringent and that measles elimination can occur without all surveillance prerequisites being met, in particular the minimum fever and rash clinician-suspected measles reporting rate with subsequent laboratory exclusion of measles. A regional public health unit in northern New South Wales, Australia, prompted local general practitioners to report fever and rash presentations that met the measles case definition or that they considered to be clinical measles. These notifications from July 2006 to June 2008 were reviewed to determine whether measles indicators for monitoring progress towards measles elimination could be achieved in Australia. Results confirmed that the surveillance indicators of “>2 reported suspected measles cases per 100 000 population,” “at least 80% of suspected cases adequately investigated within 48 hours” and “greater than 80% of cases had adequate blood samples collected” could be met. Only half the cases had virology that would allow genotyping of measles virus. Special efforts to engage and convince Australian medical doctors about the public health value of reporting clinically suggestive measles cases and collecting confirmatory blood tests, resulted in the current WHO Western Pacific Region indicators for progress towards measles elimination being met in a regional area of Australia.

  14. Influence of Mentoring Programs on Special Educators' Intent to Stay in Special Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perry, Clarissa Simmons

    2011-01-01

    The lack of certified special education teachers and high rates of attrition have led to a shortage of special educators. Mentoring programs have been developed to improve retention of beginning educators. This study examined if a mentoring program is effective for special educators. The participants were first- and second-year elementary, middle,…

  15. [Tarantism in Spain in the eighteen century: latrodectism and suggestion].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corral-Corral, I; Corral-Corral, C

    2016-10-16

    Tarantism is the disease caused by the bite of the tarantula, in which the music tarantella triggers an involuntary dance. It is known in Italy since the sixteenth century. To analyze the tarantism reported in Spain at the end of the eighteenth century, with special attention to its neurological aspects, and to propose its medical and psychopathological explanation. An epidemic of people affected by the tarantula bite occurred in Spain in 1782. Spanish doctors described appropriately the clinical effects, identical to those produced by the bite of the spider black widow (Latrodectus tredecimguttatus), which was at that time identified as a tarantula. The cases reported by Francisco Xavier Cid cured with the involuntary dance triggered by the tarantella, as was described in Italy since the sixteenth century. Our interpretation is that this curative effect of dance in Spain was induced by suggestion. In Spanish patients there were no behavioral disturbances, periodic recurrences or collective involvement as those reported by Italian authors, which suggest an hysterical phenomenon, probably a continuation of the dancing mania of the Middle Age. Tarantism reported in Spain in the eighteenth century includes two different phenomena: the systemic symptoms produced by the tarantula bite, which is actually latrodectism, and the curative effect of the tarantella, explained by suggestion. The psychiatric disturbances, with a hysterical nature, falsely associated to the tarantula bite, observed in Italy, were not present among the Spanish cases of tarantism in the eighteenth century.

  16. Cytotopographical specialization of enzymatically isolated rabbit retinal Müller (glial) cells: K+ conductivity of the cell membrane.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reichenbach, A; Eberhardt, W

    1988-01-01

    Müller (radial glial) cells were isolated from rabbit retinae by means of papaine and mechanical dissociation. Regional membrane properties of these cells were studied by intracellular microelectrode recordings of potential responses to local application of high K+ solutions. When different parts of the cell membrane were exposed to high K+, the amplitude of the depolarizing responses varied greatly, indicating a strong regional specialization of the membrane properties. Using morphometrical data of isolated rabbit Müller cells, and a simple circuit model, we calculated the endfoot membrane to constitute more than 80% of the total K+ conductance of the cell; the specific resistivity of the endfoot membrane was about 400 omega cm2, i.e., more than 40 times less than that of the membrane of the vitread process, which is immediately adjacent. This kind of regional membrane specialization seems to be optimized in respect to the Müller cells' ability to carry spatial buffering K+ currents.

  17. Division of labour and the evolution of extreme specialization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooper, Guy A; West, Stuart A

    2018-05-28

    Division of labour is a common feature of social groups, from biofilms to complex animal societies. However, we lack a theoretical framework that can explain why division of labour has evolved on certain branches of the tree of life but not others. Here, we model the division of labour over a cooperative behaviour, considering both when it should evolve and the extent to which the different types should become specialized. We found that: (1) division of labour is usually-but not always-favoured by high efficiency benefits to specialization and low within-group conflict; and (2) natural selection favours extreme specialization, where some individuals are completely dependent on the helping behaviour of others. We make a number of predictions, several of which are supported by the existing empirical data, from microbes and animals, while others suggest novel directions for empirical work. More generally, we show how division of labour can lead to mutual dependence between different individuals and hence drive major evolutionary transitions, such as those to multicellularity and eusociality.

  18. Cluster in the Auroral Acceleration Region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pickett, Jolene S.; Fazakerley, Andrew N.; Marklund, Gorun; Dandouras, Iannis; Christopher, Ivar W.; Kistler, Lynn; Lucek, Elizabeth; Masson, Arnaud; Taylor, Matthew G.; Mutel, Robert L.; hide

    2010-01-01

    Due to a fortuitous evolution of the Cluster orbit, the Cluster spacecraft penetrated for the first time in its mission the heart of Earth's auroral acceleration region (AAR) in December 2009 and January 2010. During this time a special AAR campaign was carried out by the various Cluster instrument teams with special support from ESA and NASA facilities. We present some of the first multi-spacecraft observations of the waves, particles and fields made during that campaign. The Cluster spacecraft configuration during these AAR passages was such that it allowed us to explore the differences in the signatures of waves, particles, and fields on the various spacecraft in ways not possible with single spacecraft. For example, one spacecraft was more poleward than the other three (C2), one was at higher altitude (C1), and one of them (0) followed another (C4) through the AAR on approximately the same track but delayed by three minutes. Their separations were generally on the order of a few thousand km or less and occasionally two of them were lying along the same magnetic field line. We will show some of the first analyses of the data obtained during the AAR campaign, where upward and downward current regions, and the waves specifically associated with those regions, as well as the auroral cavities, were observed similarly and differently on the various spacecraft, helping us to explore the spatial, as well as the temporal, aspects of processes occurring in the AAR.

  19. Higher Education Reform in South Korea: Perspectives on the New University for Regional Innovation Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Sheena; Yeom, Minho

    2010-01-01

    The New University for Regional Innovation (NURI) is one of the South Korean Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development's key projects supporting regional universities. NURI aims to develop areas of specialization in regional universities and link universities to local industries. In 2004, the South Korean government pledged to invest…

  20. When Regional Innovation Policies Meet Policy Rationales and Evidence

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Borrás, Susana; Jordana, Jacint

    2016-01-01

    regions, and to understand how rationales and evidence can be translated into policy-making. To this purpose, this paper develops a framework to study the extent to which regional innovation policies have changed during the past few years. Since the mid-2000s, there has been an important development......In spite of recent advancements regarding regional innovation policy rationales and evidence, there are few analyses about the actual features of existing regional innovation policies. Nevertheless, a policy analysis perspective is important in order to recognize their distinctive patterns across...... of innovation policy rationales, advocating for more specialization; likewise, greater data availability at the regional level has allowed more sophisticated assessment of innovation performance. Finally, the crisis since 2008 has had ravaging effects in some regions, with job losses and severe economic...

  1. IEP Use by General and Special Education Teachers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kathleen Rotter

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available The role of general and special educators in implementing the Individualized Education Program (IEP is critical. This study investigated the perceptions of those teachers on when they read the IEP, how they measure attainment of IEP goals and objectives, and the IEPs usefulness in instructional planning. Four hundred twenty-six teachers from suburban school districts in central New Jersey were respondents. Results indicated that the majority of general and special education teachers are reading their students’ IEPs in a fairly timely manner and that they find them moderately useful in planning instruction. Results also suggested that teachers relied heavily on grades to document attainment of IEP goals and that teachers felt that the IEPs themselves could be improved if they were shorter with student-specific, critical information that was more relevant to classroom instruction.

  2. Suggestion-Induced Modulation of Semantic Priming during Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ulrich, Martin; Kiefer, Markus; Bongartz, Walter; Grön, Georg; Hoenig, Klaus

    2015-01-01

    Using functional magnetic resonance imaging during a primed visual lexical decision task, we investigated the neural and functional mechanisms underlying modulations of semantic word processing through hypnotic suggestions aimed at altering lexical processing of primes. The priming task was to discriminate between target words and pseudowords presented 200 ms after the prime word which was semantically related or unrelated to the target. In a counterbalanced study design, each participant performed the task once at normal wakefulness and once after the administration of hypnotic suggestions to perceive the prime as a meaningless symbol of a foreign language. Neural correlates of priming were defined as significantly lower activations upon semantically related compared to unrelated trials. We found significant suggestive treatment-induced reductions in neural priming, albeit irrespective of the degree of suggestibility. Neural priming was attenuated upon suggestive treatment compared with normal wakefulness in brain regions supporting automatic (fusiform gyrus) and controlled semantic processing (superior and middle temporal gyri, pre- and postcentral gyri, and supplementary motor area). Hence, suggestions reduced semantic word processing by conjointly dampening both automatic and strategic semantic processes. PMID:25923740

  3. Suggestion-Induced Modulation of Semantic Priming during Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Ulrich

    Full Text Available Using functional magnetic resonance imaging during a primed visual lexical decision task, we investigated the neural and functional mechanisms underlying modulations of semantic word processing through hypnotic suggestions aimed at altering lexical processing of primes. The priming task was to discriminate between target words and pseudowords presented 200 ms after the prime word which was semantically related or unrelated to the target. In a counterbalanced study design, each participant performed the task once at normal wakefulness and once after the administration of hypnotic suggestions to perceive the prime as a meaningless symbol of a foreign language. Neural correlates of priming were defined as significantly lower activations upon semantically related compared to unrelated trials. We found significant suggestive treatment-induced reductions in neural priming, albeit irrespective of the degree of suggestibility. Neural priming was attenuated upon suggestive treatment compared with normal wakefulness in brain regions supporting automatic (fusiform gyrus and controlled semantic processing (superior and middle temporal gyri, pre- and postcentral gyri, and supplementary motor area. Hence, suggestions reduced semantic word processing by conjointly dampening both automatic and strategic semantic processes.

  4. The Region is Dead, Long Live the Region

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Metzger, Jonathan; Olesen, Kristian

    2017-01-01

    If it today is commonly accepted that regions are ‘constructs’ – then who or what construct them, for what reasons, and by which means? How are they made manifest and durable as both mental geographies and mundane everyday realities (cf. Metzger, 2013)? Paasi (2010, p.2298) suggests that regions...... practices that have led to the formation and more recently encroaching dissipation of a well-known EUropean region: Öresund. In this endeavour we will make an effort to be sensitive to how Öresund as a spatial entity interrelates with, depends upon or partially challenges/is challenged by other geographical...

  5. Testing the Waters: Climate Change in Africa and Anticipating Regional Conflicts

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-04

    University of Illinois Special Report. (Champaign, IL: University of Illinois at Urbana -Champaign), 4. 15 Environmentally, there are many problems...various drainage channels of the Niger River (the greatest river system in Western Africa) crisscross over 11 countries in the region, which...Security in Nigeria: Ramifications of the Ecology-Security Nexus for Sub-Regional Peace. Champaign: University of Illinois at Urbana -Champaign, 1997

  6. Relationships between Special Education Teachers' Leadership Styles, Self-Efficacy, and the Team Dynamics in Their Classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uresti, Mario Alberto

    2017-01-01

    This study examined the relationships between leadership styles, self- efficacy, and team dynamics of special education teachers (SETs) working with the moderate/severe student population. Review of the literature suggests that it is common for special education teacher candidates to receive little to no training on how to supervise and…

  7. Early Sport Specialization: Effectiveness and Risk of Injury in Professional Baseball Players.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilhelm, Andrew; Choi, Changryol; Deitch, John

    2017-09-01

    players who specialized in baseball prior to high school. Youth baseball athletes should be encouraged not to participate in a single sport given the potential for an increased incidence of serious injuries later in their careers. No data are available to suggest that early specialization is needed to reach the professional level.

  8. Regional Integration of Renewable Energies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amador Guerra, J.; Dominguez Bravo, J.

    2000-01-01

    The aim of this report is to show how Energetic Planning and Territorial Policy should be working together for a better integration of Renewable Energies into Region. This Integration should to contemplate social, economic and environmental aspects of the territory. The report has been classified into 7 items: planning, energetic scenarios, technology transfer for Renewable Energies dissemination, barriers for this dissemination, environmental aspects, European Union Policy and Decision Support Systems (and specially GIS). (Author) 54 refs

  9. Changing Professional Demands in Sustainable Regional Development: A Curriculum Design Process to meet Transboundary Competence

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lansu, Angelique; Boon, Jo; Sloep, Peter; van Dam-Mieras, Rietje

    2012-01-01

    Lansu, A., Boon, J., Sloep, P. B., & Van Dam-Mieras, R. (Accepted). Changing Professional Demands in Sustainable Regional Development: A Curriculum Design Process to meet Transboundary Competence. Journal of Cleaner Production. [Special Issue: Learning for Sustainable Development in Regional

  10. 77 FR 12567 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Pacific Islands Region Coral Reef Ecosystems...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-03-01

    ... Collection; Comment Request; Pacific Islands Region Coral Reef Ecosystems Logbook and Reporting AGENCY... with, or any U.S. citizen issued with, a Special Coral Reef Ecosystem Fishing Permit (authorized under the Fishery Management Plan for Coral Reef Ecosystems of the Western Pacific Region), to complete...

  11. Accomplishing American Strategic Goals in the Middle East through Persistent Special Operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-01

    LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Utility of SOF Vs . GPF in Various Conflicts ..................................................27 xii THIS PAGE...Headquarters and Support Company , 3 rd Battalion, 5 th Special Forces Group (Airborne) who have tirelessly stayed in the fight. xviii THIS... franchise industry by extending ties to regional extremist groups through financing and training. Al Qaeda Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Iranian influence

  12. Regional Determinants of Foreign Direct Investments in Croatia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ines KERSAN-ŠKABIĆ

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to identify the factors that infuence the unequal distribution of FDI infows and that foreign investors identify as signifcant in making investment decisions regarding Croatian regions. Panel data analysis was applied: static (random effects and dynam-ic analysis. The results show that positive and signifcant infuences on FDI have: education, infrastructure, the manufacturing industry, dum-my variables for areas of special state concern and capital city region, while negative statistically signifcant infuences are: unemployment and dummy variable for border regions with the EU. The basic conclusion is that FDI infows follow the development path of the Croatian regions (with the highlighted agglomeration effect and that efforts in creating preconditions for econom-ic growth will, at the same time, have an impact on attractiveness of a particular region for foreign investments.

  13. Body Part Concerns Questionnaire (BPCQ in an Iranian Population with Special Needs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katayoun Khademi

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: During the past decades, cosmetic surgery has become increasingly popular. The purpose of this study is to make questionnaire for screening patients with negative body image in cosmetic clinics for special need people. Methods: In the present study, 150 special need people in cosmetic clinics were randomly assigned to fill questionnaires for assessing body area concerns. Results: Results of reliability analysis and validity have shown the effectiveness of this questionnaire for recognizing individuals with having negative body image. These preliminary results suggest that body dysmorphic disorder may be relatively common among patients seeking cosmetic surgery. Discussion: A high proportion of participants in cosmetic clinics have demonstrated significant body image concerns. These relatively common body image concerns deserve more study in adolescents and people with special needs.

  14. Regional Disparities in the Transition Period

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    IBOLYA KURKÓ

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The abolishment of the communist regime, the establishment of a democratic legal and institutional system brought important changes in the development of the regional economy of Romania. The old – from an economic point of view – differentiating factors have lost some of their importance, mainly the level of industrialization, which, in the past, was used to measure economic development. In addition, other factors came forward, that correlate more with the economic capacity, but, nowadays, their positive effect can only be increased by the combination of several other factors: foreign investments, as an indicator of regional attractiveness, regional GDP, the level of personal income, and the appreciation of human resources. Today, in the interest of enhancing the competitiveness of the regions a special role is reserved for entrepreneurial activity, the strength of the SME sector, the role of foreign working capital in the local economy, but also the territorial concentration of R&D centers. The study focuses on some aspects of disparities regarding the regional economic structure.

  15. Something Old, Something New: Conserved Enzymes and the Evolution of Novelty in Plant Specialized Metabolism1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moghe, Gaurav D.; Last, Robert L.

    2015-01-01

    Plants produce hundreds of thousands of small molecules known as specialized metabolites, many of which are of economic and ecological importance. This remarkable variety is a consequence of the diversity and rapid evolution of specialized metabolic pathways. These novel biosynthetic pathways originate via gene duplication or by functional divergence of existing genes, and they subsequently evolve through selection and/or drift. Studies over the past two decades revealed that diverse specialized metabolic pathways have resulted from the incorporation of primary metabolic enzymes. We discuss examples of enzyme recruitment from primary metabolism and the variety of paths taken by duplicated primary metabolic enzymes toward integration into specialized metabolism. These examples provide insight into processes by which plant specialized metabolic pathways evolve and suggest approaches to discover enzymes of previously uncharacterized metabolic networks. PMID:26276843

  16. Interpreting doubly special relativity as a modified theory of measurement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liberati, Stefano; Sonego, Sebastiano; Visser, Matt

    2005-01-01

    In this article we develop a physical interpretation for the deformed (doubly) special relativity theories (DSRs), based on a modification of the theory of measurement in special relativity. We suggest that it is useful to regard the DSRs as reflecting the manner in which quantum gravity effects induce Planck-suppressed distortions in the measurement of the 'true' energy and momentum. This interpretation provides a framework for the DSRs that is manifestly consistent, nontrivial, and in principle falsifiable. However, it does so at the cost of demoting such theories from the level of fundamental physics to the level of phenomenological models - models that should in principle be derivable from whatever theory of quantum gravity one ultimately chooses to adopt

  17. The multi region molten-salt reactor concept

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gyula, Csom; Sandor, Feher; Szieberth, M.; Szabolcs, Czifrus

    2003-01-01

    The molten-salt reactor (MSR) concept is one of the most promising systems for the realisation of transmutation. The objective is the development of a transmutation technique along with a device implementing it, which yield higher transmutation efficiencies than that of the known procedures. The procedure is the multi-step transmutation, in which the transformation is carried out in several consecutive steps of different neutron flux and spectrum. In order to implement this, a multi-region transmutation device, i.e. nuclear reactor or sub-critical system is proposed, in which several separate flow-through irradiation rooms are formed with various neutron spectra and fluxes. The paper presents calculations that were performed for a special 5-region version of the multi-region molten-salt reactor. (author)

  18. Special Needs Assistants--The Special Characteristic and Strength of the School System of Finland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mäensivu, Kati-Tuulia; Uusiautti, Satu; Määttä, Kaarina

    2012-01-01

    The contribution of special needs assistants (SNA) is becoming increasingly important in inclusive and special classrooms. However, the profession itself has remained unexplored. The purpose of this article is to describe special needs assistants' perceptions on their education, professional competence, the content and significance of their work…

  19. Tax Incentives to Businesses in the Areas of Special State Concern

    OpenAIRE

    Branimir Marković; Svjetlana Letinić; Verica Budimir

    2013-01-01

    The legal and strategic framework for regional development in the Republic of Croatia, which includes the development of entrepreneurship, was established almost twenty years after Croatia had gained independence. Until then, less developed areas, i.e., areas with a special status in terms of certain reliefs and exemptions granted to citizens and economic entities had been supported through individual laws. Today, government authorities stimulate entrepreneurial activity through individual re...

  20. Cool transition region loops observed by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Z.; Xia, L.; Li, B.; Madjarska, M. S.

    2015-12-01

    An important class of loops in the solar atmosphere, cool transition region loops, have received little attention mainly due to instrumental limitations. We analyze a cluster of these loops in the on-disk active region NOAA 11934 recorded in a Si IV 1402.8 Å spectral raster and 1400Å slit-jaw (SJ) images taken by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph. We divide these loops into three groups and study their dynamics, evolution and interaction.The first group comprises geometrically relatively stable loops, which are finely scaled with 382~626 km cross-sections. Siphon flows in these loops are suggested by the Doppler velocities gradually changing from -10 km/s (blue-shifts) in one end to 20 km/s (red-shifts) in the other. Nonthermal velocities from 15 to 25 km/s were determined. The obtained physical properties suggest that these loops are impulsively heated by magnetic reconnection occurring at the blue-shifted footpoints where magnetic cancellation with a rate of 1015 Mx/s is found. The released magnetic energy is redistributed by the siphon flows. The second group corresponds to two active footpoints rooted in mixed-magnetic-polarity regions. Magnetic reconnection in both footpoints is suggested by explosive-event line profiles with enhanced wings up to 200 km/s and magnetic cancellation with a rate of ~1015 Mx/s. In the third group, an interaction between two cool loop systems is observed. Mixed-magnetic polarities are seen in their conjunction area where explosive-event line profiles and magnetic cancellation with a rate of 3×1015 Mx/s are found. This is a clear indication that magnetic reconnection occurs between these two loop systems. Our observations suggest that the cool transition region loops are heated impulsively most likely by sequences of magnetic reconnection events.

  1. Proper Role of Special Operations Forces in the Pan Sahel Region of Africa

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Baker, Anthony P

    2006-01-01

    .... As the designated lead on synchronizing the GWOT efforts for DOD, US SOF remain focused on the Middle East, while continuing to operate in other regions where terrorists may seek sanctuary. The main U.S...

  2. Border region studies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Makkonen, Teemu; Williams, Allan

    2016-01-01

    The contemporary conditions of academic capitalism exert pressures on researchers to avoid ‘peripheral’ journals and ‘unfashionable’ topics. Here an attempt is made to shed light onto the structure of one such ‘offbeat’ field, namely ‘border region studies’, by discussing its geographical...... distribution, key themes, significance and impact. The review suggests that border region studies can be considered a significant and important ‘branch’ of regional studies, which accounts for a small but increasing proportion of regional studies research particularly in Europe and North America. Four main...

  3. Mitochondrial introgression suggests extensive ancestral hybridization events among Saccharomyces species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peris, David; Arias, Armando; Orlić, Sandi; Belloch, Carmela; Pérez-Través, Laura; Querol, Amparo; Barrio, Eladio

    2017-03-01

    Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in eukaryotic plastids and mitochondrial genomes is common, and plays an important role in organism evolution. In yeasts, recent mitochondrial HGT has been suggested between S. cerevisiae and S. paradoxus. However, few strains have been explored given the lack of accurate mitochondrial genome annotations. Mitochondrial genome sequences are important to understand how frequent these introgressions occur, and their role in cytonuclear incompatibilities and fitness. Indeed, most of the Bateson-Dobzhansky-Muller genetic incompatibilities described in yeasts are driven by cytonuclear incompatibilities. We herein explored the mitochondrial inheritance of several worldwide distributed wild Saccharomyces species and their hybrids isolated from different sources and geographic origins. We demonstrated the existence of several recombination points in mitochondrial region COX2-ORF1, likely mediated by either the activity of the protein encoded by the ORF1 (F-SceIII) gene, a free-standing homing endonuclease, or mostly facilitated by A+T tandem repeats and regions of integration of GC clusters. These introgressions were shown to occur among strains of the same species and among strains of different species, which suggests a complex model of Saccharomyces evolution that involves several ancestral hybridization events in wild environments. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. A high-resolution regional reanalysis for Europe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohlwein, C.

    2015-12-01

    Reanalyses gain more and more importance as a source of meteorological information for many purposes and applications. Several global reanalyses projects (e.g., ERA, MERRA, CSFR, JMA9) produce and verify these data sets to provide time series as long as possible combined with a high data quality. Due to a spatial resolution down to 50-70km and 3-hourly temporal output, they are not suitable for small scale problems (e.g., regional climate assessment, meso-scale NWP verification, input for subsequent models such as river runoff simulations). The implementation of regional reanalyses based on a limited area model along with a data assimilation scheme is able to generate reanalysis data sets with high spatio-temporal resolution. Within the Hans-Ertel-Centre for Weather Research (HErZ), the climate monitoring branch concentrates efforts on the assessment and analysis of regional climate in Germany and Europe. In joint cooperation with DWD (German Meteorological Service), a high-resolution reanalysis system based on the COSMO model has been developed. The regional reanalysis for Europe matches the domain of the CORDEX EURO-11 specifications, albeit at a higher spatial resolution, i.e., 0.055° (6km) instead of 0.11° (12km) and comprises the assimilation of observational data using the existing nudging scheme of COSMO complemented by a special soil moisture analysis with boundary conditions provided by ERA-Interim data. The reanalysis data set covers the past 20 years. Extensive evaluation of the reanalysis is performed using independent observations with special emphasis on precipitation and high-impact weather situations indicating a better representation of small scale variability. Further, the evaluation shows an added value of the regional reanalysis with respect to the forcing ERA Interim reanalysis and compared to a pure high-resolution dynamical downscaling approach without data assimilation.

  5. Dynamics of psychological safety in mothers raising children with special needs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Atamanova I.

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available There is a considerable decrease in psychological well-being among mothers raising children with special needs. Addressing the issues of providing psychological support for them is of particular importance for both researchers and practitioners. The paper presents a study aimed at exploring the dynamics of psychological safety in mothers raising children with special needs. 32 mothers whose children underwent a rehabilitation programme in a rehabilitation centre participated in the study. The key element of the psychological support programme developed for these mothers was a specific psychotherapeutic space combining hippotherapy with environmental, social and personal factors. Compared to the control group, the study participants’ parameters of psychological safety showed statistically significant positive dynamics. The results obtained contribute to studying factors of psychological well-being in mothers raising children with special needs and suggest an effective way of enhancing their sense of psychological safety.

  6. Regional Platform on Personal Computer Electronic Waste in Latin ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Regional Platform on Personal Computer Electronic Waste in Latin America and the Caribbean. Donation of ... This project aims to identify environmentally responsible and sustainable solutions to the problem of e-waste. ... Policy in Focus publishes a special issue profiling evidence to empower women in the labour market.

  7. Asymptotics for a special solution to the second member of the Painleve I hierarchy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Claeys, T

    2010-01-01

    We study the asymptotic behavior of a special smooth solution y(x, t) to the second member of the Painleve I hierarchy. This solution arises in random matrix theory and in the study of the Hamiltonian perturbations of hyperbolic equations. The asymptotic behavior of y(x, t) if x → ±∞ (for fixed t) is known and relatively simple, but it turns out to be more subtle when x and t tend to infinity simultaneously. We distinguish a region of algebraic asymptotic behavior and a region of elliptic asymptotic behavior, and we obtain rigorous asymptotics in both regions. We also discuss two critical transitional asymptotic regimes.

  8. Preface to special issue: Layered Phenomena in the Mesopause Region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chu, Xinzhao; Marsh, Daniel R.

    2017-09-01

    Historically, the Layered Phenomena in the Mesopause Region (LPMR) workshops have focused on studies of mesospheric clouds and their related science, including spectacular noctilucent clouds (NLCs), polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs), and polar mesospheric summer echoes (PMSEs). This is because, in the pre-technology era, these high-altitude ( 85 km) clouds revealed the existence of substance above the 'normal atmosphere' - our near-space environment is not empty! The occurrence and nature of these clouds have commanded the attention of atmospheric and space scientists for generations. Modern technologies developed in the last 50 years have enabled scientists to significantly advance our understanding of these layered phenomena. Satellite observations expanded these studies to global scales, while lidar and radar observations from the ground enabled fine-scale studies. The launch of the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) satellite in 2007 brought mesospheric cloud research to a more mature level.

  9. Genomic analysis suggests higher susceptibility of children to air pollution

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    van Leeuwen, Danitsja M; Pedersen, Marie; Hendriksen, Peter J M

    2008-01-01

    modulated gene expressions. In addition, gene expressions in both children and adults were investigated for associations with micronuclei frequencies. Both analysis approaches returned considerably more genes or gene groups and pathways that significantly differed between children from both regions than......Differences in biological responses to exposure to hazardous airborne substances between children and adults have been reported, suggesting children to be more susceptible. Aim of this study was to improve our understanding of differences in susceptibility in cancer risk associated with air...... pollution by comparing genome-wide gene expression profiles in peripheral blood of children and their parents. Gene expression analysis was performed in blood from children and parents living in two different regions in the Czech Republic with different levels of air pollution. Data were analyzed by two...

  10. Specialization in and within sexual offending in England and Wales.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howard, Philip D; Barnett, Georgia D; Mann, Ruth E

    2014-06-01

    Existing evidence suggests that offenders tend not to specialize in sexual offending in general but that there is some specialization in particular types of sexual offending. This study examined the sexual histories and reoffending of a large, national data set of offenders convicted of a sexual offense and managed in England and Wales by the National Offender Management Service (N = 14,804). The study found that specialization in sexual offending compared to nonsexual offending was most evident for offenders with convictions for accessing indecent images. We also found considerable evidence of specialization within sexual offending, most notably for noncontact offenders, especially again indecent images offenders. Crossover between sexual offense types was very rare for those with contact adult offenses and for noncontact offenders although those with child contact offenses sometimes crossed over to indecent images reoffending. If specialization within sexual offending exists, the use of single risk assessment instruments to predict all types of sexual recidivism may be less effective than previously assumed. A comparison of different prediction models indicated that some items presently used in one-size-fits-all risk tools to predict any sexual reoffending only effectively predict certain subtypes of sexual offending. Statistically there appear to be some potential benefits to creating specialist risk predictors for different subtypes of offending, but further work is needed to justify the implementation demands that would be caused by abandoning one-size-fits-all tools.

  11. Introduction to Special Issue on Transience

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lønsmann, Dorte; Haberland, Hartmut; Hazel, Spencer

    2017-01-01

    In this introduction to the special issue, the concept of transience is introduced as a theoretical perspective and as an object of research. The perspective of transience foregrounds the temporality of norm formation, located within the practices of people on the move. The introduction suggests......, as it is in the process of communities coming into being that norms emerge. Transience, in spite of being ubiquitous, is not always salient for members or analysts, but to identify, fixate and theorize it as an object of study in linguistic anthropology invites new ways of conceptualizing the interdependence of language...

  12. Limited access to special education services for school-aged children with developmental delay.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Twardzik, Erica; Smit, Ellen; Hatfield, Bridget; Odden, Michelle C; Dixon-Ibarra, Alicia; MacDonald, Megan

    2018-01-01

    Current policy in Oregon limits eligibility of children diagnosed with developmental delay for school-based services. Due to eligibility definitions, children with developmental delay may face additional barriers transitioning from early intervention/early childhood special education into school-based special education services. Examine the relationship between enrollment in school-based special education programs given a change in primary disability diagnosis. Logistic regression models were fit for children who enrolled in early intervention/early childhood special education services with a primary disability diagnosis of developmental delay and changed primary disability diagnosis before third grade (n=5076). Odds of enrollment in future special education were greater in children with a change in primary disability diagnosis after the age of five in comparison to children that had a change in primary disability diagnosis before the age of five, while adjusting for demographic characteristics (adjusted odds ratio: 2.37, 95% CI 1.92, 2.92). Results suggest that children who are diagnosed with a developmental delay and exit early childhood special education due to maximum age of eligibility are more likely to enroll in special education compared to children without a gap in service access. Gaps in service access during early development are associated with the need for supportive services later on in life. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. The Online Specialization Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ed Hong

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available We study the online specialization problem, where items arrive in an online fashion for processing by one of n different methods. Each method has two costs: a processing cost (paid once for each item processed, and a set-up cost (paid only once, on the method's first use. There are n possible types of items; an item's type determines the set of methods available to process it. Each method has a different degree of specialization. Highly specialized methods can process few item types while generic methods may process all item types. This is a generalization of ski-rental and closely related to the capital investment problem of Y. Azar, Y. Bartal, E. Feuerstein, A. Fiat, S. Leonardi, and A. Rosen. On capital investment. In Algorithmica, 25(1:22-36, 1999. We primarily study the case where method i+1 is always more specialized than method i and the set-up cost for a more specialized method is always higher than that of a less specialized method. We describe an algorithm with competitive ratio O(log(n, and also show an Ω(log(n lower bound on the competitive ratio for this problem; this shows our ratio is tight up to constant factors.

  14. Sport Specialization, Part I

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myer, Gregory D.; Jayanthi, Neeru; Difiori, John P.; Faigenbaum, Avery D.; Kiefer, Adam W.; Logerstedt, David; Micheli, Lyle J.

    2015-01-01

    Context: There is increased growth in sports participation across the globe. Sports specialization patterns, which include year-round training, participation on multiple teams of the same sport, and focused participation in a single sport at a young age, are at high levels. The need for this type of early specialized training in young athletes is currently under debate. Evidence Acquisition: Nonsystematic review. Study Design: Clinical review. Level of Evidence: Level 4. Conclusion: Sports specialization is defined as year-round training (greater than 8 months per year), choosing a single main sport, and/or quitting all other sports to focus on 1 sport. Specialized training in young athletes has risks of injury and burnout, while the degree of specialization is positively correlated with increased serious overuse injury risk. Risk factors for injury in young athletes who specialize in a single sport include year-round single-sport training, participation in more competition, decreased age-appropriate play, and involvement in individual sports that require the early development of technical skills. Adults involved in instruction of youth sports may also put young athletes at risk for injury by encouraging increased intensity in organized practices and competition rather than self-directed unstructured free play. Strength-of-Recommendation Taxonomy (SORT): C. PMID:26502420

  15. Convergent transcriptional specializations in the brains of humans and song-learning birds

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pfenning, Andreas R.; Hara, Erina; Whitney, Osceola

    2014-01-01

    Song-learning birds and humans share independently evolved similarities in brain pathways for vocal learning that are essential for song and speech and are not found in most other species. Comparisons of brain transcriptomes of song-learning birds and humans relative to vocal nonlearners identified...... convergent gene expression specializations in specific song and speech brain regions of avian vocal learners and humans. The strongest shared profiles relate bird motor and striatal song-learning nuclei, respectively, with human laryngeal motor cortex and parts of the striatum that control speech production...... and learning. Most of the associated genes function in motor control and brain connectivity. Thus, convergent behavior and neural connectivity for a complex trait are associated with convergent specialized expression of multiple genes....

  16. Abstract specialization and its applications

    OpenAIRE

    Puebla Sánchez, Alvaro Germán; Hermenegildo, Manuel V.

    2003-01-01

    The aim of program specialization is to optimize programs by exploiting certain knowledge about the context in which the program will execute. There exist many program manipulation techniques which allow specializing the program in different ways. Among them, one of the best known techniques is partial evaluation, often referred to simply as program specialization, which optimizes programs by specializing them for (partially) known input data. In this work we describe abstract specia...

  17. Asynchronous diversification in a specialized plant-pollinator mutualism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramírez, Santiago R; Eltz, Thomas; Fujiwara, Mikiko K; Gerlach, Günter; Goldman-Huertas, Benjamin; Tsutsui, Neil D; Pierce, Naomi E

    2011-09-23

    Most flowering plants establish mutualistic associations with insect pollinators to facilitate sexual reproduction. However, the evolutionary processes that gave rise to these associations remain poorly understood. We reconstructed the times of divergence, diversification patterns, and interaction networks of a diverse group of specialized orchids and their bee pollinators. In contrast to a scenario of coevolution by race formation, we show that fragrance-producing orchids originated at least three times independently after their fragrance-collecting bee mutualists. Whereas orchid diversification has apparently tracked the diversification of orchids' bee pollinators, bees appear to have depended on the diverse chemical environment of neotropical forests. We corroborated this apparent asymmetrical dependency by simulating co-extinction cascades in real interaction networks that lacked reciprocal specialization. These results suggest that the diversification of insect-pollinated angiosperms may have been facilitated by the exploitation of preexisting sensory biases of insect pollinators.

  18. Cloud-supported preservation of digital papers: A solution for special collections?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dirk Weisbrod

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Computers and other digital communication media have replaced paper and pencil from the writer’s desk. This development has confronted special collections with a problem, as digital papers are difficult to process using established digital preservation strategies, because of their individual and unique nature. According to the proposal suggested in this paper, the creators should instead be involved in the preservation process, and special collections should integrate pre-custodial forms of curation within their range of tasks. The article outlines the use of a cloud architecture as a suitable instrument for accomplishing this task. The benefits and the prospects for such a collection cloud are exposed and discussed.

  19. Evaluation of Sustainable Development in Rural Territories in Latgale Region (Latvia) by Using the Conception of Smart Specialization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Šipilova, Viktorija; Ostrovska, Inta; Jermolajeva, Elita; Aleksejeva, Ludmila; Olehnovics, Dmitrijs

    2017-01-01

    One of the approaches to achieve sustainable development is based on smart specialization. Rural areas are of particular importance in ensuring sustainable development, the smart development of which largely determines the balanced sustainable development of a state as a whole. The present study reflects the quantitative and the qualitative…

  20. Special requirements for bolting material for nuclear and other special applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1981-01-01

    A specification that provides special requirements for bolting material for use in nuclear and other special applications is presented. The requirements of the specification are supplemental to the requirements of the basic material specifications and they include tempering, welding, elimination of surface defects, certification and identification, quality assurance and various examination methods

  1. Neglected Children: Suggestions for Early Childhood Educators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peterson, Karen L.; Roscoe, Bruce

    1983-01-01

    Discusses enhancing the development and improving the quality of life of neglected children through acquiring a special understanding and style of interacting with them and by using activities designed specifically to meet their developmental needs. (RH)

  2. The regulation of growth and metabolism of kidney stem cell with regional specificity using extracellular matrix derived from kidney

    OpenAIRE

    O’Neill, John D.; Freytes, Donald O.; Anandappa, Annabelle; Oliver, Juan A.; Vunjak-Novakovic, Gordana

    2013-01-01

    Native extracellular matrix (ECM) that is secreted and maintained by resident cells is of great interest for cell culture and cell delivery. We hypothesized that specialized bioengineered niches for stem cells can be established using ECM-derived scaffolding materials. Kidney was selected as a model system because of the high regional diversification of renal tissue matrix. By preparing the ECM from three specialized regions of the kidney (cortex, medulla, and papilla; whole kidney, heart, an...

  3. Sports Specialization in Young Athletes

    OpenAIRE

    Jayanthi, Neeru; Pinkham, Courtney; Dugas, Lara; Patrick, Brittany; LaBella, Cynthia

    2013-01-01

    Context: Sports specialization is intense training in 1 sport while excluding others. Sports specialization in early to middle childhood has become increasingly common. While most experts agree that some degree of sports specialization is necessary to achieve elite levels, there is some debate as to whether such intense practice time must begin during early childhood and to the exclusion of other sports to maximize potential for success. There is a concern that sports specialization before ad...

  4. SPECIALIZED MAPPING OF CRUSTAL FAULT ZONES. PART 1: BASIC THEORETICAL CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Zh. Seminsky

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Long-term studies of shear zones have included collection of data on fractures showing no indication of displacement which are termed as 'blank' fractures. A method aimed at mapping fault structures and stress fields has been developed on the basis of results of paragenetic analysis of measurements of abundant fractures. The method is termed as 'specialized mapping', firstly, due to its specific structural goal so that to distinguish it from the conventional geological mapping of regions in nature, and, secondly, because of the specific procedure applied to refer to fractures as references to decipher fault-block patterns of natural regions. In Part 1, basic theoretical concepts and principles of specialized mapping are described. Part 2 is being prepared for publication in one of the next issues of the journal; it will cover stages of the proposed method and describe some of the cases of its application.In terms of general organizational principles, specialized mapping is similar to other methods based on structural paragenetic analysis and differs from such methods in types of paragenesises viewed as references to reveal crustal fault zones. Such paragenesises result from stage-by-stage faulting (Fig 2 and Fig. 7 during which stress fields of the 2nd order are regularly changeable within the shear zone. According to combined experimental and natural data, a complete paragenesis of fractures in the shear zone includes a major (1st order fault plane and fractures of other seven types, R, R’, n, n’, t, t’ and T (2nd order (Fig. 4 and Fig 8. At the fracture level, each of them corresponds to a paragenesis including three nearly perpendicular systems of early ruptures (Fig. 1, which are based on two classical patterns of conjugated fractures, one of which is consistent with the position of the fault plane (Fig. 3. Taking into account that strike-slip, reverse and normal faults are similar in terms of mechanics (i.e. they are formed due to

  5. Special Operations Doctrine: Is it Needed

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-12-07

    AOB), eight Special Forces Operational Detachment-Alphas (SFODAs)2, and Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations teams working alongside two bat...Operations doctrine. Sixty years after the Army’s first special operations units were formed, the time had arrived for writing how Army special operations...Affairs, Psychological Operations, and Special Forces, the effort inte- grated the roles and missions of the Ranger Regiment, Special Mission Units, and

  6. Clinical Training of Medical Physicists Specializing in Diagnostic Radiology (French Edition)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2012-01-01

    The application of radiation in human health, for both diagnosis and treatment of disease, is an important component of the work of the IAEA. The responsibility for the increasing technical aspects of this work is undertaken by the medical physicist. To ensure good practice in this vital area, structured clinical training programmes are required to complement academic learning. This publication is intended to be a guide to the practical implementation of such a programme for diagnostic radiology. There is a general and growing awareness that radiation medicine is increasingly dependent on well trained medical physicists based in the clinical setting. However, an analysis of the availability of medical physicists indicates a large shortfall of qualified and capable professionals. This is particularly evident in developing countries. While strategies to increase academic educational opportunities are critical to such countries, the need for guidance on structured clinical training was recognized by the members of the Regional Cooperative Agreement (RCA) for Research, Development and Training related to Nuclear Sciences for Asia and the Pacific. Consequently, a technical cooperation regional project (RAS6038) under the RCA programme was formulated to address this need in the Asia-Pacific region by developing suitable material and establishing its viability. Development of a clinical training guide for medical physicists specializing in diagnostic radiology started in 2007 with the appointment of a core drafting committee of regional and international experts. The publication drew on the experiences of clinical training programmes in Australia and New Zealand, the UK and the USA, and was moderated by physicists working in the Asian region. This publication follows the approach of the IAEA publication Training Course Series No. 37, Clinical Training of Medical Physicists specializing in Radiation Oncology. This approach to clinical training has been successfully tested

  7. Clinical Training of Medical Physicists Specializing in Diagnostic Radiology (Spanish Edition)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2013-01-01

    The application of radiation in human health, for both diagnosis and treatment of disease, is an important component of the work of the IAEA. The responsibility for the increasing technical aspects of this work is undertaken by the medical physicist. To ensure good practice in this vital area, structured clinical training programmes are required to complement academic learning. This publication is intended to be a guide to the practical implementation of such a programme for diagnostic radiology. There is a general and growing awareness that radiation medicine is increasingly dependent on well trained medical physicists based in the clinical setting. However, an analysis of the availability of medical physicists indicates a large shortfall of qualified and capable professionals. This is particularly evident in developing countries. While strategies to increase academic educational opportunities are critical to such countries, the need for guidance on structured clinical training was recognized by the members of the Regional Cooperative Agreement (RCA) for Research, Development and Training related to Nuclear Sciences for Asia and the Pacific. Consequently, a technical cooperation regional project (RAS6038) under the RCA programme was formulated to address this need in the Asia-Pacific region by developing suitable material and establishing its viability. Development of a clinical training guide for medical physicists specializing in diagnostic radiology started in 2007 with the appointment of a core drafting committee of regional and international experts. The publication drew on the experiences of clinical training programmes in Australia and New Zealand, the UK and the USA, and was moderated by physicists working in the Asian region. This publication follows the approach of the IAEA publication Training Course Series No. 37, Clinical Training of Medical Physicists specializing in Radiation Oncology. This approach to clinical training has been successfully tested

  8. Towards unifying inheritance and automatic program specialization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schultz, Ulrik Pagh

    2002-01-01

    with covariant specialization to control the automatic application of program specialization to class members. Lapis integrates object-oriented concepts, block structure, and techniques from automatic program specialization to provide both a language where object-oriented designs can be e#ciently implemented......Inheritance allows a class to be specialized and its attributes refined, but implementation specialization can only take place by overriding with manually implemented methods. Automatic program specialization can generate a specialized, effcient implementation. However, specialization of programs...

  9. The effect of lifelong bilingualism on regional grey and white matter volume.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olsen, Rosanna K; Pangelinan, Melissa M; Bogulski, Cari; Chakravarty, M Mallar; Luk, Gigi; Grady, Cheryl L; Bialystok, Ellen

    2015-07-01

    Lifelong bilingualism is associated with the delayed diagnosis of dementia, suggesting bilingual experience is relevant to brain health in aging. While the effects of bilingualism on cognitive functions across the lifespan are well documented, less is known about the neural substrates underlying differential behaviour. It is clear that bilingualism affects brain regions that mediate language abilities and that these regions are at least partially overlapping with those that exhibit age-related decline. Moreover, the behavioural advantages observed in bilingualism are generally found in executive function performance, suggesting that the frontal lobes may also be sensitive to bilingualism, which exhibit volume reductions with age. The current study investigated structural differences in the brain of lifelong bilingual older adults (n=14, mean age=70.4) compared with older monolinguals (n=14, mean age=70.6). We employed two analytic approaches: 1) we examined global differences in grey and white matter volumes; and, 2) we examined local differences in volume and cortical thickness of specific regions of interest previously implicated in bilingual/monolingual comparisons (temporal pole) or in aging (entorhinal cortex and hippocampus). We expected bilinguals would exhibit greater volume of the frontal lobe and temporal lobe (grey and white matter), given the importance of these regions in executive and language functions, respectively. We further hypothesized that regions in the medial temporal lobe, which demonstrate early changes in aging and exhibit neural pathology in dementia, would be more preserved in the bilingual group. As predicted, bilinguals exhibit greater frontal lobe white matter compared with monolinguals. Moreover, increasing age was related to decreasing temporal pole cortical thickness in the monolingual group, but no such relationship was observed for bilinguals. Finally, Stroop task performance was positively correlated with frontal lobe white

  10. Assessing diversity and phytoremediation potential of seagrass in tropical region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seagrass ecosystem is one of the most important resources in the coastal areas. Seagrasses support and provide habitats for many coastal organisms in tropical region. Seagrasses are specialized marine flowering plants that have adapted to the nearshore environment with heterogeneous landscape struct...

  11. Responding to hypnotic and nonhypnotic suggestions: performance standards, imaginative suggestibility, and response expectancies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyer, Eric C; Lynn, Steven Jay

    2011-07-01

    This study examined the relative impact of hypnotic inductions and several other variables on hypnotic and nonhypnotic responsiveness to imaginative suggestions. The authors examined how imaginative suggestibility, response expectancies, motivation to respond to suggestions, and hypnotist-induced performance standards affected participants' responses to both hypnotic and nonhypnotic suggestions and their suggestion-related experiences. Suggestions were administered to 5 groups of participants using a test-retest design: (a) stringent performance standards; (b) lenient performance standards; (c) hypnosis test-retest; (d) no-hypnosis test-retest; and (e) no-hypnosis/hypnosis control. The authors found no support for the influence of a hypnotic induction or performance standards on responding to suggestions but found considerable support for the role of imaginative suggestibility and response expectancies in predicting responses to both hypnotic and nonhypnotic suggestions.

  12. Care Coordination with Schools: The Role of Family-Centered Care for Children with Special Health Care Needs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barnard-Brak, Lucy; Stevens, Tara; Carpenter, Julianna

    2017-05-01

    Objectives Family-centered care has been associated with positive outcomes for children with special health care needs. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship of family-centered care as associated with care coordination with schools and school absences (e.g., missed days) as reported by parents of children with special health care needs. Methods The current study utilized data from the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs 2009-201 (N = 40,242) to achieve this purpose. The National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs may be considered a nationally-representative and community-based sample of parent responses for children with special health care needs across the United States. Results Results from the current study indicate that family-centered care is associated with fewer absences and improved care coordination with schools when applicable. The variables of functional difficulties, poverty level, and the number of conditions were statistically controlled. Conclusions We suggest that the positive influence of family-centered care when practiced extends beyond the family and interacts with educational outcomes. We also suggest that the role of schools appears to be under-studied given the role that schools can play in family-centered care.

  13. [Specific features of surgical anatomy of the subhyoid region with special reference to tracheostomy].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chernykh, A V; Mashkova, T A; Nerovnyĭ, A I; Maleev, Iu V

    2010-01-01

    Peculiarities of thyroid gland linear dimensions, volume, shape, and topographical features were investigated using the morphological material obtained from 426 human corpses of either gender with a view to using this information for planning and performing tracheostomy in residents of the Central Chernozem region, Russia. The study yielded new data on surgical anatomy of additional muscles of the subhyoid region, thyroid isthmus and pyramidal lobe. Rare and previously unknown variants of anatomical structure of the anterior cervical area are described that may play the role of risk factors of postoperative complications of tracheostomy. Relevant recommendations are provided for practicing otorhinolaryngologists.

  14. Trends in Special Library Buildings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, Elaine; Cohen, Aaron

    1987-01-01

    Examines special library facilities, noting impact of organizational structure, and discusses the concept of information resources management in this context. Development of online and telecommunications systems, corporate and government campuses, and special library systems are identified as reasons for growth of special libraries. Furniture and…

  15. Verbal working memory performance correlates with regional white matter structures in the frontoparietal regions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takeuchi, Hikaru; Taki, Yasuyuki; Sassa, Yuko; Hashizume, Hiroshi; Sekiguchi, Atsushi; Fukushima, Ai; Kawashima, Ryuta

    2011-10-01

    Working memory is the limited capacity storage system involved in the maintenance and manipulation of information over short periods of time. Previous imaging studies have suggested that the frontoparietal regions are activated during working memory tasks; a putative association between the structure of the frontoparietal regions and working memory performance has been suggested based on the analysis of individuals with varying pathologies. This study aimed to identify correlations between white matter and individual differences in verbal working memory performance in normal young subjects. We performed voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analyses using T1-weighted structural images as well as voxel-based analyses of fractional anisotropy (FA) using diffusion tensor imaging. Using the letter span task, we measured verbal working memory performance in normal young adult men and women (mean age, 21.7 years, SD=1.44; 42 men and 13 women). We observed positive correlations between working memory performance and regional white matter volume (rWMV) in the frontoparietal regions. In addition, FA was found to be positively correlated with verbal working memory performance in a white matter region adjacent to the right precuneus. These regions are consistently recruited by working memory. Our findings suggest that, among normal young subjects, verbal working memory performance is associated with various regions that are recruited during working memory tasks, and this association is not limited to specific parts of the working memory network. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Evolution of feeding specialization in Tanganyikan scale-eating cichlids: a molecular phylogenetic approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nishida Mutsumi

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Cichlid fishes in Lake Tanganyika exhibit remarkable diversity in their feeding habits. Among them, seven species in the genus Perissodus are known for their unique feeding habit of scale eating with specialized feeding morphology and behaviour. Although the origin of the scale-eating habit has long been questioned, its evolutionary process is still unknown. In the present study, we conducted interspecific phylogenetic analyses for all nine known species in the tribe Perissodini (seven Perissodus and two Haplotaxodon species using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP analyses of the nuclear DNA. On the basis of the resultant phylogenetic frameworks, the evolution of their feeding habits was traced using data from analyses of stomach contents, habitat depths, and observations of oral jaw tooth morphology. Results AFLP analyses resolved the phylogenetic relationships of the Perissodini, strongly supporting monophyly for each species. The character reconstruction of feeding ecology based on the AFLP tree suggested that scale eating evolved from general carnivorous feeding to highly specialized scale eating. Furthermore, scale eating is suggested to have evolved in deepwater habitats in the lake. Oral jaw tooth shape was also estimated to have diverged in step with specialization for scale eating. Conclusion The present evolutionary analyses of feeding ecology and morphology based on the obtained phylogenetic tree demonstrate for the first time the evolutionary process leading from generalised to highly specialized scale eating, with diversification in feeding morphology and behaviour among species.

  17. Suicidality and interrogative suggestibility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pritchard-Boone, Lea; Range, Lillian M

    2005-01-01

    All people are subject to memory suggestibility, but suicidal individuals may be especially so. The link between suicidality and suggestibility is unclear given mixed findings and methodological weaknesses of past research. To test the link between suicidality and interrogative suggestibility, 149 undergraduates answered questions about suicidal thoughts and reasons for living, and participated in a direct suggestibility procedure. As expected, suggestibility correlated with suicidality but accounted for little overall variance (4%). Mental health professionals might be able to take advantage of client suggestibility by directly telling suicidal persons to refrain from suicidal thoughts or actions.

  18. Differing professional views or opinions: 1994 Special Review Panel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-09-01

    In July 1994, the Executive Director for Operations of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) appointed a Special Review Panel to assess the Differing Professional View or Opinion (DPV/DPO) process, including its effectiveness, how well it is understood by employees, and the organizational climate for having such views aired and properly decided. An additional area within this review was to address the effectiveness of the DPO procedures as they pertain to public access and confidentiality. Further, the Panel was charged with the review of the submittals completed since the last review to identify employees who made significant contributions to the agency or to the public health and safety but had not been adequately recognized for this contribution. The report presents the Special Review Panel's evaluation of the NRC's current process for dealing with Differing Professional Views or Opinions. Provided in this report are the results of an employee opinion survey on the process; highlights and suggestions from interviews with individuals who had submitted a Differing Professional View or Opinion, as well as with agency managers directly involved with the Differing Professional Views or Opinions process; and the Special Review Panel's recommendations for improving the DPV/DPO process

  19. 75 FR 55786 - Office of Special Education Programs, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-14

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Special Education Programs, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Department of Education; Notice of Final Extension of Project Period and Waiver for the... Transition Technical Assistance Center (NSTTAC). Currently, the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP...

  20. An Evaluation of Past Special Education Programs and Services Provided to Incarcerated Young Offenders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ingalls, Lawrence; Hammond, Helen; Trussell, Robert P.

    2011-01-01

    This study investigated the past special education programs and services provided to children and youth who later became incarcerated. Participants in this study were inmates from a medium security state correctional facility in the southwest region of the United States. All inmates involved in this study were identified as having a disability and…

  1. How to Apply Sustainable Competitive Advantage for Regional Developments (Case: Ostrobothnia Region of Finland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Takala Josu

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays companies concern more about how to survive and extend their own business in future in their current marketplace. However, developing and prospering a region of the country is becoming more crucial question. Successful cooperation and partnership between different sectors of economy (for instance, between companies, public and academic sectors leads to the flourishing and prosperity of the region and consequently of a country. European Commission established smart specialization platform, which is a strategic approach to economic development of a region. By defining and developing of vision, competitive advantages and strategic preferences, region will determine knowledge-based potential. The purpose of this paper is to assign and define the collaboration/relations existed, how strong these relations are and what the expectations are between 3 sectors of economy: public, academic and business. Area of carrying out this research is Ostrobothnia region, however, connections in other regions of Finland and internationally is also presented. There have been chosen 3 industrial peaks from Ostrobothnia region: Energy, Fur and Boat industrial peaks. Analysis is conducted by implementing two core methods: Sense & Respond (S&R and Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA. The goal of this research is also to use S&R method so as to allocate efficiently resources, and to define competitive priorities in cooperation. The main results show that the most tight collaboration and partnership is observed between companies and companies in all around Finland and internationally. While concerning other relationships, companies expect to have tighter cooperation especially in Ostrobothnia and other regions of Finland.

  2. Regional activation of the human medial temporal lobe during intentional encoding of objects and positions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ramsøy, Thomas Z.; Liptrot, Matthew G.; Skimminge, Arnold

    2009-01-01

    The medial temporal lobe (MTL) consists of several regions thought to be involved in learning and memory. However, the degree of functional specialization among these regions remains unclear. Previous studies have demonstrated effects of both content and processing stage, but findings have been i...

  3. Special Issue to publish

    OpenAIRE

    Kllogjeri, Pellumb

    2015-01-01

    SciencePG has offered an email poster to help collect papers for our Special Issue and I have uploaded it for you. Please visit http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/specialissue/149002  to see our Special Issue announcement. Now, you can do the followings to personally contribute and promote our Special Issue:1. Submit your paper related to the topics of interest 2. Upload it to your personal websites.3. Upload it to the public websites of some universities and academic institutions...

  4. Trait evolution, resource specialization and vulnerability to plant extinctions among Antillean hummingbirds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dalsgaard, Bo; Kennedy, Jonathan D; Simmons, Benno I; Baquero, Andrea C; Martín González, Ana M; Timmermann, Allan; Maruyama, Pietro K; McGuire, Jimmy A; Ollerton, Jeff; Sutherland, William J; Rahbek, Carsten

    2018-03-28

    Species traits are thought to predict feeding specialization and the vulnerability of a species to extinctions of interaction partners, but the context in which a species evolved and currently inhabits may also matter. Notably, the predictive power of traits may require that traits evolved to fit interaction partners. Furthermore, local abiotic and biotic conditions may be important. On islands, for instance, specialized and vulnerable species are predicted to be found mainly in mountains, whereas species in lowlands should be generalized and less vulnerable. We evaluated these predictions for hummingbirds and their nectar-food plants on Antillean islands. Our results suggest that the rates of hummingbird trait divergence were higher among ancestral mainland forms before the colonization of the Antilles. In correspondence with the limited trait evolution that occurred within the Antilles, local abiotic and biotic conditions-not species traits-correlate with hummingbird resource specialization and the vulnerability of hummingbirds to extinctions of their floral resources. Specifically, hummingbirds were more specialized and vulnerable in conditions with high topographical complexity, high rainfall, low temperatures and high floral resource richness, which characterize the Antillean Mountains. These findings show that resource specialization and species vulnerability to extinctions of interaction partners are highly context-dependent. © 2018 The Author(s).

  5. 75 FR 55785 - Office of Special Education Programs, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-14

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Special Education Programs, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Department of Education; Notice of Final Extension of Project Period and Waiver for the... this award, the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) funds NCEO to address national, State, and...

  6. Replication Research and Special Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Travers, Jason C.; Cook, Bryan G.; Therrien, William J.; Coyne, Michael D.

    2016-01-01

    Replicating previously reported empirical research is a necessary aspect of an evidence-based field of special education, but little formal investigation into the prevalence of replication research in the special education research literature has been conducted. Various factors may explain the lack of attention to replication of special education…

  7. Ohio Special Education Profile, 2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohio Coalition for the Education of Children with Disabilities, 2011

    2011-01-01

    This report provides a brief, but substantive, profile of the special needs student population in Ohio, including academic performance and graduation trends and an overview of special education funding and related policy issues. The report's central message is that investments in students with special educational needs produce substantial results…

  8. Manpower development in Africa and the regional manpower development project RAF/0/003. Special evaluation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-01-01

    At the start of the Agency's technical co-operation activities in 1958, many of its developing Member States were just embarking on nuclear activities. To make basic nuclear training available for these countries became the first concern of the Agency and initially fellowships constituted more than 80% of the assistance provided. During the 1960s, while the programmes' expert and equipment components grew steadily, fellowships still represented more than 50% of the assistance provided to individual Member States. As counterpart institutions slowly build up small cadres of qualified staff, the share of training in the Agency's programme of technical co-operation became less dominant and, by 1986, only 22% of the funds spent on country programmes were devoted to fellowships. In the Africa region, where the share of fellowship training provided to individual Member States had dropped even below the 20% mark, and where the participation in group training events was the lowest of any region, this was having serious consequences on manpower development, as was pointed out in two separate evaluations. At least some opportunities exist in about 60% of the countries in the region for training in selected areas of nuclear science and technology, but only 20% of the countries provide training up to the MSc/PhD level. The number of trainees in nuclear science and technology graduating each year from national institutions is very small and cannot be considered adequate to satisfy existing manpower needs of the country concerned and of the region as a whole. Very few - if any - opportunities for nuclear training abroad are available for candidates from the region other than those funded by the Agency. There is very little awareness at the national level as to the actual training needs in the nuclear field in most countries of the region, underlining the importance of the role of the Agency, not only as a provider of training, but also as an adviser on assessing training needs at

  9. Pilot test of a novel food response and attention training treatment for obesity: Brain imaging data suggest actions shape valuation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stice, E.; Yokum, S.; Veling, H.P.; Kemps, E.; Lawrence, N.S.

    2017-01-01

    Elevated brain reward and attention region response, and weaker inhibitory region response to high-calorie food images have been found to predict future weight gain. These findings suggest that an intervention that reduces reward and attention region response and increases inhibitory control region

  10. Thinking regionally: narrative, the medical humanities and region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waddington, Keir

    2015-06-01

    Drawing on multiple literatures from history, geography, anthropology, sociology and literature, this essay asks questions about what we mean by region and why narratives of region should matter to the medical humanities. The essay surveys how region can be used as a lens of analysis, exploring the various academic approaches to region and their limitations. It argues that regions are dynamic but also unstable as a category of analysis and are often used uncritically by scholars. In encouraging scholars working in the medical humanities to be aware that regions are not simple objective or analytical boxes, the essay shows how an awareness of region helps challenge metropolitan whiggism and ideas of core and periphery to give a more prominent place to hinterlands, market towns and rural environments. Furthermore, the essay considers how incorporating region into our understanding of illness can offer new insights. It demonstrates the need for scholars to be attuned to the narratives constructed around regions, suggesting that regions can be viewed as discursive formations that provide a frame for understanding both collective and personal ideas of, and responses to, health and illness, disease and healing, to create what Megan Davies calls a more nuanced 'intellectual cartography'. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  11. AGRHYMET: A drought monitoring and capacity building center in the West Africa Region

    OpenAIRE

    Seydou B. Traore; Abdou Ali; Seydou H. Tinni; Mamadou Samake; Issa Garba; Issoufou Maigari; Agali Alhassane; Abdallah Samba; Maty Ba Diao; Sanoussi Atta; Pape Oumar Dieye; Hassan B. Nacro; Kouamé G.M. Bouafou

    2014-01-01

    The AGRHYMET Regional Center, a specialized institution of the Permanent Interstates Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), was created in 1974 at the aftermaths of the severe droughts that affected this region in the early 1970s. The mission assigned to the Center was to train personnel, provide adequate equipment for the meteorological and hydrological stations networks, and set up regional and national multidisciplinary working groups to monitor the meteorological, hydrologica...

  12. Regional Integration and Foreign Investment: The Case of Asean Countries

    OpenAIRE

    Emmanuel O. Nwosu; Anthony Orji; Nathaniel Urama; Joseph I. Amuka

    2013-01-01

    The importance of regional integration in stimulating foreign direct investment cannot be overemphasized. With a special focus on the ASEAN countries, this research paper investigates the role of regional integration in attracting foreign direct investment. We bring a novelty to this paper by dividing foreign direct investment into Inter-and Intra-ASEAN to see if both are determined by the same set of factors. If economic integration drives intra-ASEAN FDI we would expect such FDI to be unrel...

  13. Virtual Reality and Special Needs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeffs, Tara L.

    2009-01-01

    The use of virtual environments for special needs is as diverse as the field of Special Education itself and the individuals it serves. Individuals with special needs often face challenges with attention, language, spatial abilities, memory, higher reasoning and knowledge acquisition. Research in the use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLE)…

  14. Special Education in Nigeria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abang, Theresa B.

    1992-01-01

    This article discusses the special education system in Nigeria, focusing on integration; training of special educators; medical, health, and welfare services for children with disabilities; recreational facilities; employment opportunities; national planning; and problems and successes. (JDD)

  15. INCREASE THE INVESTMENT ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE REGION: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE VORONEZH REGION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. M. Podmolodina

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Summary. The paper clarifies the relationship of concepts investment climate, investment attractiveness, investment activity. It has been established that investment activity is a sign of effective investment attractiveness. Investment attractiveness of the subject of the Russian Federation due to the efforts of the regional authorities in the areas of improving the investment climate in the region; improvement of legal norms for domestic and foreign investors; developing incentives for investment activity. The article substantiates the investment policy measures that should contribute to the objectives of the investment strategy through implementation of investment programs. The priorities of the investment policy in the region include the creation of clusters, the development of branches of agriculture, increase the volume of production of import-substituting products. The attractiveness of the Voronezh region due to its favorable geopolitical location, large capacity market, its personnel and scientific potential. Investment activity in the Voronezh region largely determines the special organization "Agency for Investment and Strategic Projects." Investment activity in the region is stimulated by the development of industrial parks in the territory of which the large investment projects world producers. Voronezh region has rich experience in attracting potential investors and working with them. The article discusses a set of preferences granted inve-Sided, clarity and transparency of the existing mechanism of their production, thereby increasing the investment attractiveness of the Voronezh region. Provides an overview of realized and announced for implementation of investment projects. The article notes that further increase the investment attractiveness of the Voronezh region is associated with the improvement of legal and regulatory framework; development of infrastructure for the implementation of investment projects; Formation of

  16. Specifics of modernization in Russia’s regions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ol’ga Vladimirovna Aksenova

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available The article analyzes the specifics of modernization in the Russian regions. The author studies modernization in connection with globalization, that is, with the formation of global networks, high-tech core and archaic periphery. The article shows the main trends of modernization in the Russian regions, identifies the role of local government in their formation. In addition, it reveals a number of specific features of modernization in Russia; in particular, a complex combination of a protective attitude towards innovation and focus on development in local communities. Besides, the article pays special attention to the role of traditional value orientations in the decision making process at the local level

  17. Algebraic special functions and SO(3,2)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Celeghini, E.; Olmo, M.A. del

    2013-01-01

    A ladder structure of operators is presented for the associated Legendre polynomials and the sphericas harmonics. In both cases these operators belong to the irreducible representation of the Lie algebra so(3,2) with quadratic Casimir equals to −5/4. As both are also bases of square-integrable functions, the universal enveloping algebra of so(3,2) is thus shown to be homomorphic to the space of linear operators acting on the L 2 functions defined on (−1,1)×Z and on the sphere S 2 , respectively. The presence of a ladder structure is suggested to be the general condition to obtain a Lie algebra representation defining in this way the “algebraic special functions” that are proposed to be the connection between Lie algebras and square-integrable functions so that the space of linear operators on the L 2 functions is homomorphic to the universal enveloping algebra. The passage to the group, by means of the exponential map, shows that the associated Legendre polynomials and the spherical harmonics support the corresponding unitary irreducible representation of the group SO(3,2). -- Highlights: •The algebraic ladder structure is constructed for the associated Legendre polynomials (ALP). •ALP and spherical harmonics support a unitary irreducible SO(3,2)-representation. •A ladder structure is the condition to get a Lie group representation defining “algebraic special functions”. •The “algebraic special functions” connect Lie algebras and L 2 functions

  18. Regional differences in temperature sensation and thermal comfort in humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakamura, Mayumi; Yoda, Tamae; Crawshaw, Larry I; Yasuhara, Saki; Saito, Yasuyo; Kasuga, Momoko; Nagashima, Kei; Kanosue, Kazuyuki

    2008-12-01

    Sensations evoked by thermal stimulation (temperature-related sensations) can be divided into two categories, "temperature sensation" and "thermal comfort." Although several studies have investigated regional differences in temperature sensation, less is known about the sensitivity differences in thermal comfort for the various body regions. In the present study, we examined regional differences in temperature-related sensations with special attention to thermal comfort. Healthy male subjects sitting in an environment of mild heat or cold were locally cooled or warmed with water-perfused stimulators. Areas stimulated were the face, chest, abdomen, and thigh. Temperature sensation and thermal comfort of the stimulated areas were reported by the subjects, as was whole body thermal comfort. During mild heat exposure, facial cooling was most comfortable and facial warming was most uncomfortable. On the other hand, during mild cold exposure, neither warming nor cooling of the face had a major effect. The chest and abdomen had characteristics opposite to those of the face. Local warming of the chest and abdomen did produce a strong comfort sensation during whole body cold exposure. The thermal comfort seen in this study suggests that if given the chance, humans would preferentially cool the head in the heat, and they would maintain the warmth of the trunk areas in the cold. The qualitative differences seen in thermal comfort for the various areas cannot be explained solely by the density or properties of the peripheral thermal receptors and thus must reflect processing mechanisms in the central nervous system.

  19. Development of special libraries in Slovenia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nada Češnovar

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available Although Slovenia is a small European country with only 2 million inhabitants, Slovenian librarianship can be compared with any other bigger country. The staffing and information technology in special libraries have been accelerating for the last four decades.Seventeen years have passed since the first meeting of special libraries. When Slovenia attained independence, numerous changes occured in the field of special librarianship.Due to the economic crisis, several special libraries of enterprises were abolished, while on the other hand, the number of special libraries in public institutions has increased. The article deals with the changes which have influenced the development of special librarianship in Slovenia.

  20. The Regional-Matrix Approach to the Training of Highly Qualified Personnel for the Sustainable Development of the Mining Region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhernov, Evgeny; Nehoda, Evgenia

    2017-11-01

    The state, regional and industry approaches to the problem of personnel training for building an innovative knowledge economy at all levels that ensures sustainable development of the region are analyzed in the article using the cases of the Kemerovo region and the coal industry. A new regional-matrix approach to the training of highly qualified personnel is proposed, which allows to link the training systems with the regional economic matrix "natural resources - cognitive resources" developed by the author. A special feature of the new approach is the consideration of objective conditions and contradictions of regional systems of personnel training, which have formed as part of economic systems of regions differ-entiated in the matrix. The methodology of the research is based on the statement about the interconnectivity of general and local knowledge, from which the understanding of the need for a combination of regional, indus-try and state approaches to personnel training is derived. A new form of representing such a combination is the proposed approach, which is based on matrix analysis. The results of the research can be implemented in the practice of modernization of professional education of workers in the coal industry of the natural resources extractive region.

  1. GLOBALIZATION & REGIONALIZATION IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ramona Frunză

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available The concept of globalization refers to the growing interdependence of countries, resulting from the increasing integration of trade, finance, investments, labor markets and ideas in one globalmarketplace. The most important elements of this process are the international trade and the cross-border investment flows. Economic globalization has increased the specialization of workers, while the companies compete in global markets. Even globalization has recently become a common topic in academic discourse, many economists focused, from the 1980s and 1990s, in addition to globalization, on regionalization - the growth of networks of interdependence within multinational regions of the world. The recent decades arecharacterized by the fact that the world trade grew faster than world output, which implies that an increasing share of world GDP crosses international borders. The trend is explained, mostly, by thesubstantially declining of the trade barriers during the same period, as a result of successive trade negotiation rounds under the auspices of the GATT/WTO, unilateral trade liberalization and regional tradeagreements. Even there are global connections between all the countries, the strongest political and economic integration is being created within a few specific regions of the world: Europe, North America and East Asia.

  2. Patterns of plant speciation in the Cape floristic region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Niet, Timotheüs; Johnson, Steven D

    2009-04-01

    Plant species have accumulated in the Cape region of southern Africa to a much greater degree than in areas of equivalent size in the rest of the subcontinent. Although this could be a consequence simply of lower extinction rates in the Cape, most researchers have invoked high rates of ecological speciation, driven by unique aspects of the Cape environment, as the primary explanation for this richness. To assess these ideas, we analyzed the frequencies of ecological shifts among 188 sister species pairs obtained from molecular phylogenies of eight Cape clades. Ecological shifts were evident in 80% of sister species pairs, with general habitat, pollinator, and fire-survival strategy shifts being especially frequent. Contrary to an established idea that shifts in soil type are frequently associated with speciation of Cape taxa, these shifts were relatively rare, occurring in just 17% of species pairs. More cases of sister species divergence are accompanied solely by floral than by vegetative diversification, suggesting an important role for pollinator-driven speciation. In an analysis of two large orchid genera that have radiated in both the Cape and the rest of southern Africa, the frequency of ecological shifts (general habitat, soil type, altitude and flowering time), did not differ between sister species pairs in the Cape region and those outside it. Despite suggestions that Cape plants tend to have small range sizes and show fine-scale patterns of speciation, range size did not differ significantly between species in the Cape and those outside it. We conclude that ecological speciation is likely to have been important for radiation of the Cape flora, but there is no evidence as yet for special "Cape" patterns of ecological speciation.

  3. Genetic Information, the Principle of Rescue, and Special Obligations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liao, S Matthew; Mackenzie, Jordan

    2018-05-01

    In "Genetic Privacy, Disease Prevention, and the Principle of Rescue," Madison Kilbride argues that patients have a duty to warn biological family members about clinically actionable adverse genetic findings. The duty does not stem from the special obligations that we may have to family members, she argues, but rather follows from the principle of rescue, which she understands as the idea that one ought to prevent, reduce, or mitigate the risk of harm to another person when the expected harm is serious and the cost or risk to oneself is sufficiently moderate. We doubt, however, whether the principle of rescue can ground a duty to warn in the cases Kilbride envisages, and we suggest that Kilbride may have underappreciated the role that special obligations could play in generating a duty to warn family members. © 2018 The Hastings Center.

  4. Limited impacts of extensive human land use on dominance, specialization, and biotic homogenization in boreal plant communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayor, Stephen J; Boutin, Stan; He, Fangliang; Cahill, James F

    2015-02-13

    Niche theory predicts that human disturbance should influence the assembly of communities, favouring functionally homogeneous communities dominated by few but widespread generalists. The decline and loss of specialists leaves communities with species that are functionally more similar. Evenness of species occupancy declines, such that species become either widespread of rare. These patterns have often been observed, but it is unclear if they are a general result of human disturbance or specific to communities that are rich in species, in complex, spatially heterogeneous environments where the problem has often been investigated. We therefore tested whether human disturbance impacts dominance/evenness of species occupancy in communities, specialism/generalism of species, and functional biotic homogenization in the spatially relatively homogeneous, species poor boreal forest region of Alberta, Canada. We investigated 371 boreal vascular plant communities varying 0 - 100% in proportion of human land use. Rank species occupancy curves revealed high species dominance regardless of disturbance: within any disturbance class a few species occupied nearly every site and most species were found in a low proportion of sites. However, species were more widespread and displayed more even occupancy in intermediately disturbed communities than among communities of either low or high disturbance. We defined specialists and generalists based on turnover in co-occupants and thereby assessed impacts of human disturbance on specialization of species and community homogenization. Generalists were not disproportionately found at higher disturbance sites, and did not occupy more sites. Communities with greater human disturbance were not more functionally homogeneous; they did not harbor communities with more generalists. We unexpectedly did not observe strong linkages between species specialism/generalism and disturbance, nor between community homogenization and disturbance. These

  5. Enhancing Earth Observation Capacity in the Himalayan Region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shrestha, B. R.

    2012-12-01

    Earth observations bear special significance in the Himalayan Region owing to the fact that routine data collections are often hampered by highly inaccessible terrain and harsh climatic conditions. The ongoing rapid environmental changes have further emphasized its relevance and use for informed decision-making. The International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), with a regional mandate is promoting the use of earth observations in line with the GEOSS societal benefit areas. ICIMOD has a proven track record to utilize earth observations notably in the areas of understanding glaciers and snow dynamics, disaster risk preparedness and emergency response, carbon estimation for community forestry user groups, land cover change assessment, agriculture monitoring and food security analysis among others. This paper presents the challenges and lessons learned as a part of capacity building of ICIMOD to utilize earth observations with the primary objectives to empower its member countries and foster regional cooperation. As a part of capacity building, ICIMOD continues to make its efforts to augment as a regional resource center on earth observation and geospatial applications for sustainable mountain development. Capacity building possesses multitude of challenges in the region: the complex geo-political reality with differentiated capacities of member states, poorer institutional and technical infrastructure; addressing the needs for multiple user and target groups; integration with different thematic disciplines; and high resources intensity and sustainability. A capacity building framework was developed based on detailed needs assessment with a regional approach and strategy to enhance capability of ICIMOD and its network of national partners. A specialized one-week training course and curriculum have been designed for different thematic areas to impart knowledge and skills that include development practitioners, professionals, researchers and

  6. Merging Regular and Special Education Teacher Preparation Programs: The Integrated Special Education-English Project (ISEP).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Darcy E.

    1991-01-01

    Describes the Integrated Special Education-English Project (ISEP) which facilitated the gradual integration of special education and English teacher preparation programs. A description of the ISEP model and a case study are included. The case study indicated student teachers who participated in the ISEP improved special education and English…

  7. REGIONAL AUTHORS SELF-IDENTITY DEMONSTRATION IN MEMORIAL CONTEXTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariya Victorovna Vekkesser

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Purpose. The article is devoted to the pressing issue of regional identity preservation under conditions of linguoculturological globalization in modern society. The purpose of our research is to identify verbal means of expressing regional self-identification of narrators in the memorial context. The object is the self-identification of the narrator in memorial genre and the subject is verbal means of expressing regional self-identification. Methodology and methods of work. An appeal to the memorial genre, searching linguistic methods of the regional authors self-identity is considered in a context of regional linguistic from the perspective of communicative discourse approach; discursive and contextual methods are used. Results. The article theoretically describes the memorat from the standpoint of the speech genres theory. The research shows the narrators through the actualization of language tools associate themselves with their native region, the result being the formation of regional self-identification. In the era of linguistic globalization it is important to study regional self-identification, in particular, in the context of the memorial speech genre. Practical implications. Both the article materials and results can be applied in the educational process of reading special courses on regional linguistic issues.

  8. Evaluation of Quality Indicators of Integrated Care in a Regional Psychiatry Budget – A Pre-Post Comparison by Secondary Data Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne Berghöfer

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The Regional Psychiatry Budget (RPB, as a special arrangement within the German Federal Hospital Refund Regulation, is based on the capitation principle. A lump sum is allocated to a major inpatient care provider in a large region on a yearly basis. Under this model, the provider is free to offer all forms of treatment and to construct individual models of integrated care that specifically suit the region and the needs of community members. The present study aimed to evaluate selected aspects that represent a change in the psychiatric health status of patients in the covered region under the conditions of the RPB. We performed a secondary data analysis of administrative data of 19,913 cases generated by the hospital in a pre-post comparison of the periods before and under RPB conditions.  The average length of an inpatient stay was reduced by approximately 22 % and could be partially replaced by day care. Selected indicators suggest equal or higher quality of care with stable cost in the population in need of psychiatric care in the district.

  9. Formacion Profesional del Maestro Especial en America Latina y el Caribe = Professional Education of the Special Teacher in Latin America and the Caribbean.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Babra, Marcia Gilbert

    The paper, in Spanish, with a lengthy English summary, analyzes the status of special education in Latin America and the Caribbean. Noting that many countries in the region lack a substantial system of special education, the paper proceeds to examine models for personnel training. Approaches for university-based teacher training as well as for…

  10. Tourism of Khmelnytskyi region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Інна Шоробура

    2017-09-01

    can avoid the problem of seasonal prevalence of tourism in the region and in its turn to significantly increase tourists’ arrival throughout the year. Special attention is paid to improving the efficiency of tourism policy of the region: tourist promotion, positive image of the region, green tourism, tourism’s infrastructure development, increase in marketing and other components.

  11. Geothermal systems of the Mono Basin-Long Valley region, eastern California and western Nevada

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Higgins, C.T.; Flynn, T.; Chapman, R.H.; Trexler, D.T.; Chase, G.R.; Bacon, C.F.; Ghusn, G. Jr.

    1985-01-01

    The region that includes Mono Basin, Long Valley, the Bridgeport-Bodie Hills area, and Aurora, in eastern California and western Nevada was studied to determine the possible causes and interactions of the geothermal anomalies in the Mono Basin-Long Valley region as a whole. A special goal of the study was to locate possible shallow bodies of magma and to determine their influence on the hydrothermal systems in the region. (ACR)

  12. The relationship between hospital specialization and hospital efficiency: do different measures of specialization lead to different results?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindlbauer, Ivonne; Schreyögg, Jonas

    2014-12-01

    This study investigated the relationship between hospital specialization and technical efficiency using different measures of specialization, including two novel approaches based on patient volumes rather than patient proportions. It was motivated by the observation that most studies to date have quantified hospital specialization using information about hospital patients grouped into different categories based on their diagnosis, and in doing so have used proportions-thus indirectly assuming that these categories are dependent on one other. In order to account for the diversification of organizations and the idea that hospitals can be specialized in terms of professional expertise or technical equipment within a given diagnosis category, we developed our two specialization measures based on patient volume in each category. Using a one-step stochastic frontier approach on randomly selected data from the annual reports of 1,239 acute care German hospitals for the years 2000 through 2010, we estimated the relationship of inefficiency to exogenous variables, such as specialization. The results show that specialization as quantified by our novel measures has effects on efficiency that are the opposite of those obtained using earlier measures of specialization. These results underscore the importance of always providing an exact definition of specialization when studying its effects. Additionally, a Monte Carlo simulation based on three scenarios is provided to facilitate the choice of a specialization measure for further analysis.

  13. Special relativity as an open question

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Albert, D.Z.

    2000-01-01

    There seems to me to be a way of reading some of the trouble we have lately been having with the quantum-mechanical measurement problem (not the standard way, mind you, and certainly not the only way; but a way that nonetheless be worth exploring) that suggests that there are fairly prosaic physical circumstances under which it might not be entirely beside the point to look around for observable violations of the special theory of relativity. The suggestion I have in mind is connected with attempts over the past several years to write down a relativistic field-theoretic version of the dynamical reduction theory of Ghirardi, Rimini, and Weber [Physical Review D34, 470-491 (1986)], or rather it is connected with the persistent failure of those attempts, it is connected with the most obvious strategy for giving those attempts up. And that (in the end) is what this paper is going to be about. (orig.)

  14. Habitat Features and Strategies for the Sustainable Development in the Alentejo Region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rui Manuel de Sousa Fragoso

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The unfavoured Portuguese regions have a level of life and economic growth rates lower than favoured regions, and the mean of European Union and hence have less entrepreneurial activities. The adoption of strategies of sustainable development driven by entrepreneurship phenomena could be a viable solution. Thus, the likely relationships between entrepreneurship and regional features were described, and sources of entrepreneurship opportunities for strategies based on the own regional resources and competitive advantages were identified. The paper concludes that, for the Alentejo region, some habitat variables should be reinforced for promoting entrepreneurship and sustainable development, and the main opportunities are related to the economic activities that belong to the regional productive profile of specialization.

  15. Are Dysphoric Individuals More Suggestible or Less Suggestible Than Nondysphoric Individuals?

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacFarland, Wendy L.; Morris, Steven J.

    1998-01-01

    Dysphoric individuals are shown to be susceptible to interrogative suggestion, whether in the form of leading questions or interrogative pressure. The association of a clinically relevant condition of dysphoria (depression) with relatively high levels of suggestibility was investigated in a college student population (N=139). Applicability to…

  16. Family in historical and regional perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tripković Gordana D.

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available In this article author gives try to provide a frame suitable for researches of regional and multicultural characteristics of family, specially in Vojvodina region. Starting with the thesis that there is no perfect analytical model to be applied in investigation of regionalization and multiculturality, for the gap between monocultural and multicultural epistemology could not be bridged over, author is paying attention to the opportunities for regionalization to pervert in regionalism in the sense of ideology and policy that neglect specific regional needs of family. This dispels a negative consequences concerning the self development of the family as a very reason for regionalization to be accomplished. In spite of attractive ideas that regionalization is addressed to, regionalization of this kind realizes on the matrix above, of deciding 'in the people's name'. In this fashion regionalization is followed with the violence and confrontations as probable outcomes of changes within multicultural society. Exaggeration in emphasizing of differences. a s well as its neglecting, would cause more or less open confrontations and thus provide the causes of dissolution of the communities. In this context main problem is how family could retained its stability if it persists under the pressure of contrary forces concerning identity. This would be resolved only if identity is conceived as an open complex and ever unfinished on lay - in endless process of building. Regionalization in this sense of the term could be perceived as a defining of the proper game rules as well as it forceful adjustment and completion.

  17. The high-resolution regional reanalysis COSMO-REA6

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohlwein, C.

    2016-12-01

    Reanalyses gain more and more importance as a source of meteorological information for many purposes and applications. Several global reanalyses projects (e.g., ERA, MERRA, CSFR, JMA9) produce and verify these data sets to provide time series as long as possible combined with a high data quality. Due to a spatial resolution down to 50-70km and 3-hourly temporal output, they are not suitable for small scale problems (e.g., regional climate assessment, meso-scale NWP verification, input for subsequent models such as river runoff simulations). The implementation of regional reanalyses based on a limited area model along with a data assimilation scheme is able to generate reanalysis data sets with high spatio-temporal resolution. Within the Hans-Ertel-Centre for Weather Research (HErZ), the climate monitoring branch concentrates efforts on the assessment and analysis of regional climate in Germany and Europe. In joint cooperation with DWD (German Meteorological Service), a high-resolution reanalysis system based on the COSMO model has been developed. The regional reanalysis for Europe matches the domain of the CORDEX EURO-11 specifications, albeit at a higher spatial resolution, i.e., 0.055° (6km) instead of 0.11° (12km) and comprises the assimilation of observational data using the existing nudging scheme of COSMO complemented by a special soil moisture analysis with boundary conditions provided by ERA-Interim data. The reanalysis data set covers the past 20 years. Extensive evaluation of the reanalysis is performed using independent observations with special emphasis on precipitation and high-impact weather situations indicating a better representation of small scale variability. Further, the evaluation shows an added value of the regional reanalysis with respect to the forcing ERA Interim reanalysis and compared to a pure high-resolution dynamical downscaling approach without data assimilation.

  18. Integrated regional development of the Baltic region towards the sustainability of its ecosystem; A platform for thinking

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Straszak, A; Owsinski, J W [Systems Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw (PL); Kairiukstis, L [Lithuanian Forest Research Institute, Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR (SU)

    1989-01-01

    The paper presents a systemic framework for the assessment of the current state and future development of the Baltic ecosystem as an integral part of a broader Baltic region system involving social, economic and ecological aspects. The paper formulates and adresses the following questions: with respect to what aspects is this region a system How do various systemicity reaches overlap How can be systemic behaviour rectified and /or improved, special attention being paid to inter-system synergy The focus is on the resource and ecological system of Baltic, as the potentially generative one for the other systemic structures. It is shown, though, that these other structures are not adequate to the generative one, and that this inadequacy impinges on both the economic and ecological performance. Thus, it is proposed that economic and social activities within the Baltic region should match better the variety of its resource and ecological substratum, thereby allowing smoother and more rapid development of the region and presservation of the sustainability of this devleopment. Examples range from economic cooperation and transport to tourism and recreation, and nature protection. (author).

  19. Openness and Continuous Collaboration as the Foundation for Entrepreneurial Discovery Process in Finnish Regions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mona ROMAN

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Entrepreneurial discovery process (EDP is a bottom-up process engaging regional actors from academic, business, government and civil society together to identify new market opportunities and overcome the potential barriers to innovation. While EDP forms the key principle behind the smart specialization policy of European Commission, its operationalization has remained a challenge. We adopted a grounded theory approach to explore the dynamics of EDP through a case study in Finnish regions. Our aim is to identify the key underlying factors of EDP. Based on the semi-structured interviews with 10 Finnish regions during September 2016, we identified openness, engaging, focused networking and continuous collaboration as the key factors underlying EDP. Our findings contribute to the theoretical debate on what constitutes EDP in the context of smart specialization. We also provide examples for policymakers how to implement these factors based on our case study.

  20. de Sitter special relativity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aldrovandi, R; Almeida, J P Beltran; Pereira, J G

    2007-01-01

    A special relativity based on the de Sitter group is introduced, which is a theory that might hold up in the presence of a non-vanishing cosmological constant. Like ordinary special relativity, it retains the quotient character of spacetime, and a notion of homogeneity. As a consequence, the underlying spacetime will be a de Sitter spacetime, whose associated kinematics will differ from that of ordinary special relativity. The corresponding modified notions of energy and momentum are obtained, and the exact relationship between them, which is invariant under a re-scaling of the involved quantities, explicitly exhibited. Since the de Sitter group can be considered a particular deformation of the Poincare group, this theory turns out to be a specific kind of deformed (or doubly) special relativity. Some experimental consequences, as well as the causal structure of spacetime-modified by the presence of the de Sitter horizon-are briefly discussed

  1. Advance Organizers in Secondary Special Education Resource Classrooms: Effects on Student Engagement Behaviors

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, Lisa

    2013-01-01

    Student engagement and appropriate behaviors are essential for effective instruction in secondary special education classrooms. Research suggests that proactive engagement strategies and interventions can have a greater effect on overall classroom behaviors than negative consequences. A single case experiment measured the effects of…

  2. Territorial Systems, Regional Disparities and Sustainability: Economic Structure and Soil Degradation in Italy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luca Salvati

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available The present study was devoted to identify the evolutionary path of a number of local systems in a Mediterranean country vulnerable to soil degradation (SD in the last decades. A multivariate analysis was used to evaluate the socio-ecological conditions and to estimate rapidity-of-change of local systems by considering 6 bio-physical factors predisposing soil to degradation and 23 socioeconomic indicators over fifty years (1960–2010. Results indicate that systems’ development paths diverged during the investigated time period reflecting changes in the spatial organization and in the economic base of entire regions. Interestingly, economic performance and environmental quality do not seem to follow opposite trajectories. Local systems characterized by low per-capita income, agricultural specialization and population ageing, seem not to be associated with better and more stable ecological conditions. Local systems in affluent areas, featuring a mix of socioeconomic conditions with the prevalence of services in the economy and tourism specialization, showed relatively good ecological conditions and moderate-to-low SD vulnerability. Thus, affluent local systems do not necessarily reflect a higher pressure on the environment. These findings suggest that areas with a changing socio-demographic profile and a dynamic economic structure are compatible with low and stable levels of SD vulnerability.

  3. Special Needs: Planning for Adulthood (Videos)

    Medline Plus

    Full Text Available ... Videos for Educators Search English Español Special Needs: Planning for Adulthood (Video) KidsHealth / For Parents / Special Needs: Planning for Adulthood (Video) Print Young adults with special ...

  4. Building Management Systems and Domotics. Special issue; Gebouwautomatisering en Domotica. Special

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rigter, L.; Dekker, P.; Knipscheer, R.; Veenema, R.; Vlietstra, E. [Siemens Building Technologies, Zuerich (Switzerland); Symanczik, H.; Van Houwelingen, P. [Kieback en Peter Nederland, Nunspeet (Netherlands); Van Grieken, K. [Priva Building Intelligence, Delft (Netherlands); De Koning, G. [Regel Partners, Hoevelaken (Netherlands); Hitzert, L.A. [Honeywell, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Uythof, B.H. [Domotica Platform Nederland, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Wortel, W. [Kropman, Rijswijk (Netherlands); Zeiler, W. [Faculteit Bouwkunde - FAGO, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Eindhoven (Netherlands); Kamphuis, I.G. [Energieonderzoek Centrum Nederland ECN, Petten (Netherlands); Akkermans, J.M. [Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

    2002-05-01

    In 12 articles an overview is given of developments in the use of automation and domotics in different types of buildings. Previous specials on the same subject in this magazine were published in november 1989, november 1995 and december 1999. [Dutch] In 12 artikelen wordt uitgebreid aandacht besteed aan ontwikkelingen in gebouwautomatisering en domotica. Eerdere specials over dit onderwerp werden uitgebracht in november 1989, november 1995 en december 1999.

  5. Special theory of relativity

    CERN Document Server

    Kilmister, Clive William

    1970-01-01

    Special Theory of Relativity provides a discussion of the special theory of relativity. Special relativity is not, like other scientific theories, a statement about the matter that forms the physical world, but has the form of a condition that the explicit physical theories must satisfy. It is thus a form of description, playing to some extent the role of the grammar of physics, prescribing which combinations of theoretical statements are admissible as descriptions of the physical world. Thus, to describe it, one needs also to describe those specific theories and to say how much they are limit

  6. Wicked Problems in Special and Inclusive Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armstrong, David

    2017-01-01

    This special paper provides a critical overview of wicked problems in special and inclusive education. Practically, this paper provides a strategic framework for future special issues in the "Journal of Special Educational Needs". Critical attention is also given to the concept of a wicked problem when applied to research in special and…

  7. Special Issue - A Press Review of The West Normandy Marine Energy Highlights

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Piquet, Francois; Martin, Geraldine; Bornemann, Brigitte; Longmore, Christopher

    2013-01-01

    This Special Issue has been undertaken at the initiative of West Normandy that shares the Alderney Race - Europe's second most powerful tidal stream - with the nearby British Channel Island of Alderney. Its objective is to help to understand better the region that by the end of this decade will be home to the first tidal turbines to be deployed in France and some of the first offshore wind-turbines at nearby Courseulles-sur-Mer. Via these articles the reader can discover the depth of the political will locally and nationally to put in place a strong and vibrant French marine renewable energy industry. One hundred and fifty West Normandy SMEs are wanting to be involved in the sector. There are both skills and training directories to assist the energy companies and the developers. This western tip of France has the right industrial infrastructure and experience, with 150 local SMEs already known to be interested in the industry. There are all the necessary R and D as well as education and training facilities. The ports of Cherbourg-Octeville and Caen-Ouistreham offer all tide, and all weather access for installation and/or maintenance vessels. Grid connectivity is already assured. To encourage and facilitate the creation of the industry in West Normandy the region has set up West Normandy Marine Energy - a limited public company which is the primary point of contact for everything relating to marine renewables in West Normandy. Their focus is on offering a special welcome to devices tested in British sites and now interested in using the Alderney Race pilot farms as a first step towards industrialisation. Energy policy in France is being increasingly devolved to the regions, away from central government. West Normandy is now a regional leader in all forms of marine renewables. West Normandy Marine Energy was set up by the West Normandy region, the General Council of the Manche department, and Cherbourg Urban Community

  8. Failures and suggestions in Earthquake forecasting and prediction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sacks, S. I.

    2013-12-01

    Seismologists have had poor success in earthquake prediction. However, wide ranging observations from earlier great earthquakes show that precursory data can exist. In particular, two aspects seem promising. In agreement with simple physical modeling, b-values decrease in highly loaded fault zones for years before failure. Potentially more usefully, in high stress regions, breakdown of dilatant patches leading to failure can yield expelled water-related observations. The volume increase (dilatancy) caused by high shear stresses decreases the pore pressure. Eventually, water flows back in restoring the pore pressure, promoting failure and expelling the extra water. Of course, in a generally stressed region there may be many small patches that fail, such as observed before the 1975 Haicheng earthquake. Only a few days before the major event will most of the dilatancy breakdown occur in the fault zone itself such as for the Tangshan, 1976 destructive event. Observations of 'water release' effects have been observed before the 1923 great Kanto earthquake, the 1984 Yamasaki event, the 1975 Haicheng and the 1976 Tangshan earthquakes and also the 1995 Kobe earthquake. While there are obvious difficulties in water release observations, not least because there is currently no observational network anywhere, historical data does suggest some promise if we broaden our approach to this difficult subject.

  9. Special Weapons

    Data.gov (United States)

    Federal Laboratory Consortium — Supporting Navy special weapons, the division provides an array of engineering services, technical publication support services, logistics support services, safety...

  10. Special polynomials associated with some hierarchies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kudryashov, Nikolai A.

    2008-01-01

    Special polynomials associated with rational solutions of a hierarchy of equations of Painleve type are introduced. The hierarchy arises by similarity reduction from the Fordy-Gibbons hierarchy of partial differential equations. Some relations for these special polynomials are given. Differential-difference hierarchies for finding special polynomials are presented. These formulae allow us to obtain special polynomials associated with the hierarchy studied. It is shown that rational solutions of members of the Schwarz-Sawada-Kotera, the Schwarz-Kaup-Kupershmidt, the Fordy-Gibbons, the Sawada-Kotera and the Kaup-Kupershmidt hierarchies can be expressed through special polynomials of the hierarchy studied

  11. SOUTHWEST REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP ON CARBON SEQUESTRATION

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brian McPherson; Rick Allis; Barry Biediger; Joel Brown; Jim Cappa; George Guthrie; Richard Hughes; Eugene Kim; Robert Lee; Dennis Leppin; Charles Mankin; Orman Paananen; Rajesh Pawar; Tarla Peterson; Steve Rauzi; Jerry Stuth; Genevieve Young

    2004-11-01

    The Southwest Partnership Region includes six whole states, including Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Utah, roughly one-third of Texas, and significant portions of adjacent states. The Partnership comprises a large, diverse group of expert organizations and individuals specializing in carbon sequestration science and engineering, as well as public policy and outreach. The main objective of the Southwest Partnership project is to achieve an 18% reduction in carbon intensity by 2012. The Partnership made great progress in this first year. Action plans for possible Phase II carbon sequestration pilot tests in the region are almost finished, including both technical and non-technical aspects necessary for developing and carrying out these pilot tests. All partners in the Partnership are taking an active role in evaluating and ranking optimum sites and technologies for capture and storage of CO{sub 2} in the Southwest Region. We are identifying potential gaps in all aspects of potential sequestration deployment issues.

  12. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT THEORIES AND MODELS, A COMPARATIVE ANALYSE.CHALLENGE OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN ALBANIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eva\tDHIMITRI

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Local governance is a broad concept and is defined as the formulation and execution of collective action at the local level. The purpose of local government is to ensure effective and efficient use of public resources and service delivery at the level closest to citizens. Regional development is a new concept that aims to stimulate and diversify the economic activity of a country (region, to encourage investment in the private sector, to create a new jobs vacancy and improves living standards of the country. Regional development policies are a number of measures designed and promoted by the central and local administration, but the cooperation undertaken at the actors are in a different one, which included the private sector and civil society. At the center of these regional policies or practices is the use of efficient potential of each region, being particularly focused on business, means promoting the development of the new enterprises, promoting labor market and investment, improve the quality of environment, health , education and culture. Traditional objective of regional development policies is the reduction of territorial disparities for achieving a relative balance between economic and social levels of development in different areas in the national territory. Regional development is the actual task of local government units in Albania, and is one of the tasks and challenges of the future. Currently it takes a special importance in the context of European Union integration. Reforms have begun to change the system in 1990 in order to implement local democracy and decentralization principles that are present today. Inequalities that exist within the region and between them indicate that in some regions the economic potential is not being fully utilized, and that it reduces the overall performance in national level.

  13. The first 5 years since trauma center designation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People's Republic of China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leung, Gilberto Ka Kit; Chang, Annice; Cheung, F C; Ho, H F; Ho, Wendy; Hui, S M; Kam, C W; Lai, Albert; Lam, K W; Leung, M; Liu, S H; Lo, C B; Mok, Francis; Rainer, Timothy H; Shen, W Y; So, F L; Wong, Gordon; Wu, Amy; Yeung, Janice; Yuen, W K

    2011-05-01

    In 1994, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) introduced plans to implement a trauma system based on the recommendations outlined by Professor Donald Trunkey in his report to the local Hospital Authority. Five government-subsidized public hospitals were subsequently designated as trauma centers in 2003. This article reviews the initial experience in these five centers. Prospective trauma registries from January 2004 to December 2008 were reviewed. Primary clinical outcome measures were hospital mortality. The Trauma and Injury Severity Score methodology was used for benchmarking with the Major Trauma Outcome Study (MTOS) database. The majority (83.3%) of the 10,462 patients suffered from blunt trauma. Severe injury, defined as Injury Severity Score>15, occurred in 29.7% of patients. The leading causes of trauma were motor vehicle collisions and falls, with crude hospital mortality rates of 6.9% and 10.7%, respectively. The M-statistic was 0.95, indicating comparable case-mix with the MTOS. The worst outcome occurred in the first year. Significant improvement was seen in patients with penetrating injuries. By 2008, these patients had significantly higher survival rates than expected (Z-statistic=0.85). Although the overall mortality rates for blunt trauma were higher than expected, the difference was no longer statistically significant from the second year onward. The case-mix of trauma patients in the HKSAR is comparable with that of the MTOS. A young trauma system relatively unburdened by dissimilar reimbursement and patient access issues may achieve significant improvement and satisfactory patient outcomes. Our findings may serve as a useful benchmark for HK and other Southeast Asian cities and trauma systems to establish local coefficients for future evaluations.

  14. Special Needs: Planning for Adulthood (Videos)

    Medline Plus

    Full Text Available ... Care for Your Child With Special Needs Special Education: Getting Help for Your Child Words to Know (Special Needs Glossary) View more About Us Contact Us Partners Editorial Policy Permissions Guidelines Privacy ...

  15. Model for analyzing demand for low-level waste transport containers - regionalized and non-regionalized scenarios

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nelson, A.J.; Rose, K.

    1982-01-01

    Certain types of low-level radioactive waste (LLW) must be shipped in expensive special containers. It is therefore desirable to keep container utilization high. There must be a stock of containers sufficient to ship waste in a timely fashion, but one does not want to have containers sitting idle a significant fraction of the time. A computerized discrete event network model has been developed and is described in this report. The model allows an analyst to determine the effects of varying the increase in LLW, establishment of regional disposal, etc. on requirements for shipping containers

  16. Specific Midgut Region Controlling the Symbiont Population in an Insect-Microbe Gut Symbiotic Association

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Jiyeun Kate; Kim, Na Hyang; Jang, Ho Am; Kikuchi, Yoshitomo; Kim, Chan-Hee

    2013-01-01

    Many insects possess symbiotic bacteria that affect the biology of the host. The level of the symbiont population in the host is a pivotal factor that modulates the biological outcome of the symbiotic association. Hence, the symbiont population should be maintained at a proper level by the host's control mechanisms. Several mechanisms for controlling intracellular symbionts of insects have been reported, while mechanisms for controlling extracellular gut symbionts of insects are poorly understood. The bean bug Riptortus pedestris harbors a betaproteobacterial extracellular symbiont of the genus Burkholderia in the midgut symbiotic organ designated the M4 region. We found that the M4B region, which is directly connected to the M4 region, also harbors Burkholderia symbiont cells, but the symbionts therein are mostly dead. A series of experiments demonstrated that the M4B region exhibits antimicrobial activity, and the antimicrobial activity is specifically potent against the Burkholderia symbiont but not the cultured Burkholderia and other bacteria. The antimicrobial activity of the M4B region was detected in symbiotic host insects, reaching its highest point at the fifth instar, but not in aposymbiotic host insects, which suggests the possibility of symbiont-mediated induction of the antimicrobial activity. This antimicrobial activity was not associated with upregulation of antimicrobial peptides of the host. Based on these results, we propose that the M4B region is a specialized gut region of R. pedestris that plays a critical role in controlling the population of the Burkholderia gut symbiont. The molecular basis of the antimicrobial activity is of great interest and deserves future study. PMID:24038695

  17. Regional Economic Growth; Socio-Economic Disparities among Counties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Salih Özgür SARICA

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available State level economy has always been relying on its major metropolitan area’s economic success. So, such metropolitan agglomerations have been considered the only agents that can foster the state’s economic standing as if other economic places do (or may not have significant contribution to the regional economy. In contrast, as some major cities enhance their economic well-being and agglomerate in specialized sector, the rest of the region lose their economic grounds or stay constant by widening the economic gap among cities. Therefore, an institutional approach can help to establish new regional arrangements to substitute all economic places to coordinate each other and succeed the economic growth as part of state government by reducing the disparities. In this sense, this study builds upon the inquiry that seeks the impacts of some economic disparities among economic places (counties on the performances of state level regional economy.

  18. The relative contribution of diurnal and nocturnal pollinators to plant female fitness in a specialized nursery pollination system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scopece, Giovanni; Campese, Lucia; Duffy, Karl J; Cozzolino, Salvatore

    2018-02-01

    Plants involved in specialized pollinator interactions, such as nursery pollination, may experience trade-offs in their female fitness, as the larvae of their pollinators may also consume seeds produced by the flowers they pollinate. These interactions could potentially shift between mutualism and parasitism, depending on the presence and abundance of both the nursery pollinator and of other pollinators. We investigated the fitness trade-off in a Mediterranean plant ( Silene latifolia ), which has a specialist nocturnal nursery pollinator moth ( Hadena bicruris ) and is also visited by several diurnal pollinators. We estimated the pollination rates and fecundity of S. latifolia in both natural and experimental populations in the Mediterranean. We estimated natural pollination rates in different flowering times and with presence/absence of the H. bicruis moth. Then by exposing plants to each pollinator group either during the day or at night, we quantified the contribution of other diurnal pollinators and the specialized nocturnal nursery pollinator to plant female fitness. We found no difference in plant fruit set mediated by diurnal versus nocturnal pollinators, indicating that non-specialist pollinators contribute to plant female fitness. However, in both natural and experimental populations, H. bicruris was the most efficient pollinator in terms of seeds produced per fruit. These results suggest that the female fitness costs generated by nursery pollination can be overcome through higher fertilization rates relative to predation rates, even in the presence of co-pollinators. Quantifying such interactions is important for our understanding of the selective pressures that promote highly specialized mutualisms, such as nursery pollination, in the Mediterranean region, a centre of diversification of the carnation family.

  19. Classification of hadith into positive suggestion, negative suggestion, and information

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faraby, Said Al; Riviera Rachmawati Jasin, Eliza; Kusumaningrum, Andina; Adiwijaya

    2018-03-01

    As one of the Muslim life guidelines, based on the meaning of its sentence(s), a hadith can be viewed as a suggestion for doing something, or a suggestion for not doing something, or just information without any suggestion. In this paper, we tried to classify the Bahasa translation of hadith into the three categories using machine learning approach. We tried stemming and stopword removal in preprocessing, and TF-IDF of unigram, bigram, and trigram as the extracted features. As the classifier, we compared between SVM and Neural Network. Since the categories are new, so in order to compare the results of the previous pipelines, we created a baseline classifier using simple rule-based string matching technique. The rule-based algorithm conditions on the occurrence of words such as “janganlah, sholatlah, and so on” to determine the category. The baseline method achieved F1-Score of 0.69, while the best F1-Score from the machine learning approach was 0.88, and it was produced by SVM model with the linear kernel.

  20. Portuguese quality wine and the region-of-origin effect: consumers' and retailers' perceptions

    OpenAIRE

    José Cadima Ribeiro; José de Freitas Santos

    2008-01-01

    This study investigates the relative importance of region of origin associated with extrinsic (price, brand, promotion) and intrinsic (grape, type of wine, colour, age, special references) cues in the decisions of final consumers and small retailers to buy Portuguese quality wine. In order to attain this goal we conducted a survey through face-to-face interviews in the Minho region. The results show that the dominant factor of influence in the acquisition of wine is the region of origin, both...

  1. The role of sensorimotor learning in the perception of letter-like forms: tracking the causes of neural specialization for letters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    James, Karin H; Atwood, Thea P

    2009-02-01

    Functional specialization in the brain is considered a hallmark of efficient processing. It is therefore not surprising that there are brain areas specialized for processing letters. To better understand the causes of functional specialization for letters, we explore the emergence of this pattern of response in the ventral processing stream through a training paradigm. Previously, we hypothesized that the specialized response pattern seen during letter perception may be due in part to our experience in writing letters. The work presented here investigates whether or not this aspect of letter processing-the integration of sensorimotor systems through writing-leads to functional specialization in the visual system. To test this idea, we investigated whether or not different types of experiences with letter-like stimuli ("pseudoletters") led to functional specialization similar to that which exists for letters. Neural activation patterns were measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after three different types of training sessions. Participants were trained to recognize pseudoletters by writing, typing, or purely visual practice. Results suggested that only after writing practice did neural activation patterns to pseudoletters resemble patterns seen for letters. That is, neural activation in the left fusiform and dorsal precentral gyrus was greater when participants viewed pseudoletters than other, similar stimuli but only after writing experience. Neural activation also increased after typing practice in the right fusiform and left precentral gyrus, suggesting that in some areas, any motor experience may change visual processing. The results of this experiment suggest an intimate interaction among perceptual and motor systems during pseudoletter perception that may be extended to everyday letter perception.

  2. Dorso-medial and ventro-lateral functional specialization of the human retrosplenial complex in spatial updating and orienting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burles, Ford; Slone, Edward; Iaria, Giuseppe

    2017-04-01

    The retrosplenial complex is a region within the posterior cingulate cortex implicated in spatial navigation. Here, we investigated the functional specialization of this large and anatomically heterogeneous region using fMRI and resting-state functional connectivity combined with a spatial task with distinct phases of spatial 'updating' (i.e., integrating and maintaining object locations in memory during spatial displacement) and 'orienting' (i.e., recalling unseen locations from current position in space). Both spatial 'updating' and 'orienting' produced bilateral activity in the retrosplenial complex, among other areas. However, spatial 'updating' produced slightly greater activity in ventro-lateral portions, of the retrosplenial complex, whereas spatial 'orienting' produced greater activity in a more dorsal and medial portion of it (both regions localized along the parieto-occipital fissure). At rest, both ventro-lateral and dorso-medial subregions of the retrosplenial complex were functionally connected to the hippocampus and parahippocampus, regions both involved in spatial orientation and navigation. However, the ventro-lateral subregion of the retrosplenial complex displayed more positive functional connectivity with ventral occipital and temporal object recognition regions, whereas the dorso-medial subregion activity was more correlated to dorsal activity and frontal activity, as well as negatively correlated with more ventral parietal structures. These findings provide evidence for a dorso-medial to ventro-lateral functional specialization within the human retrosplenial complex that may shed more light on the complex neural mechanisms underlying spatial orientation and navigation in humans.

  3. Dynamics of general and specially trained of women-weightlifters at the stage of specialized basic training

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Viktor Slobodyanuk

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: to determine the dynamics of the general and special training of women-weightlifters different groups weight categories for annual macrocycle at the stage of specialized basic training. Materials and Methods: indexes long jump, running 30 meters, push-ups, jumps on how Abalakova index and wrist strength athletes different schools of Ukraine. Results: found dynamic indicators of general and special training of women-weightlifters different groups weight categories at the stage of basic training six specialized schools in Ukraine. Conclusions: the results of the study provide an opportunity to consider certain indicators in planning differentiated training programs to improve the training process athletes for women-weightlifters at the stage of specialized basic training different groups weight categories in the annual macrocycle.

  4. Interaction of Economic Freedom and Foreign Direct Investment Globally: Special Cases from Neglected Regions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yhlas Sovbetov

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper studies the macroeconomic impact of economic freedom on foreign direct investments inflows in both global and regional panel analyses involving 156 countries through the period of 1995-2016. Unlike to prior literature, it includes often neglected nations such as Fragile and Conflict-Affected states, Sub-Saharan, Oceanian, and Post-Soviet countries. The paper finds a positive impact of economic freedom on FDI under fixed-effects model in global case where a unit change in economic freedom scales FDI inflows up to 1.15 units. More specifically, all 9 regions also refer to positive and significant impact of economic freedom on FDI. The highest impact is recorded in European countries, whereas the lowest ones are documented in Fragile-Conflict affected states, Sub-Saharan zone, and Oceanian countries.

  5. Innovation performance and clusters : a dynamic capability perspective on regional technology clusters

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Röttmer, Nicole

    2009-01-01

    This research provides a novel, empirically tested, actionable theory of cluster innovativeness. Cluster innovativeness has for long been subject of research and resulting policy efforts. The cluster's endowment with assets, such as specialized labor, firms, research institutes, existing regional

  6. Tripartite Evolutionary Game Analysis on Selection Behavior of Trans-Regional Hospitals and Patients in Telemedicine System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuxuan Gao

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This study applies the game theory to the discussion and analysis of trans-regional Telemedicine System, builds the game model of the selection strategies of trans-regional hospitals and patients and analyzes evolving paths, equilibrium states and influencing factors of the three parties. It is derived that medical insurance reimbursement proportion of specialized hospitals, government support for general hospitals and medical expenses in specialized hospitals, operating costs of general hospitals are the influential factors in the Telemedicine System. Finally, a numerical stimulation is conducted with Matlapb based on the data from ligChina Health and Family Planning Statistical Yearbook 2015l/ig.

  7. Kabachenko A. Restoration of entrepreneurial activity rate in the context of Donetsk region labor market stabilization

    OpenAIRE

    Кабаченко, Г. С.

    2015-01-01

    In the article the state of entrepreneurship inDonetskregion, which is characterized by: disproportion specialization of small enterprises by economic activity; uneven deployment of small businesses in the region; the tendency to reduce business in the region; uneven distribution of human capital size enterprises. The analysis shows that small and medium businesses in the region and slowed develops unevenly. Its potential is not realized sufficiently due to several problems at both the region...

  8. Cultivating a Community of Effective Special Education Teachers: Local Special Education Administrators' Roles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bettini, Elizabeth; Benedict, Amber; Thomas, Rachel; Kimerling, Jenna; Choi, Nari; McLeskey, James

    2017-01-01

    Evidence of the powerful impact teachers have on student achievement has led to an intensive focus on cultivating effective teachers, including special education teachers (SETs). Local special education administrators (LSEAs) share responsibility for cultivating effective SETs throughout their districts. However, the roles LSEAs play in this…

  9. Phylogeny and taxonomical investigation of Trichoderma spp. from Indian region of Indo-Burma Biodiversity hot spot region with special reference to Manipur.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamala, Th; Devi, S Indira; Sharma, K Chandradev; Kennedy, K

    2015-01-01

    Towards assessing the genetic diversity and occurrence of Trichoderma species from the Indian region of Indo-Burma Biodiversity hotspot, a total of 193 Trichoderma strains were isolated from cultivated soils of nine different districts of Manipur comprising 4 different agroclimatic zones. The isolates were grouped based on the morphological characteristics. ITS-RFLP of the rDNA region using three restriction digestion enzymes: Mob1, Taq1, and Hinf1, showed interspecific variations among 65 isolates of Trichoderma. Based on ITS sequence data, a total of 22 different types of representative Trichoderma species were reported and phylogenetic analysis showed 4 well-separated main clades in which T. harzianum was found to be the most prevalent spp. among all the Trichoderma spp. Combined molecular and phenotypic data leads to the development of a taxonomy of all the 22 different Trichoderma spp., which was reported for the first time from this unique region. All these species were found to produce different extrolites and enzymes responsible for the biocontrol activities against the harmful fungal phytopathogens that hamper in food production. This potential indigenous Trichoderma spp. can be targeted for the development of suitable bioformulation against soil and seedborne pathogens in sustainable agricultural practice.

  10. Development of special libraries in Slovenia

    OpenAIRE

    Nada Češnovar

    2002-01-01

    Although Slovenia is a small European country with only 2 million inhabitants, Slovenian librarianship can be compared with any other bigger country. The staffing and information technology in special libraries have been accelerating for the last four decades.Seventeen years have passed since the first meeting of special libraries. When Slovenia attained independence, numerous changes occured in the field of special librarianship.Due to the economic crisis, several special libraries of enterp...

  11. Research Article Special Issue

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    pc

    2018-03-07

    Mar 7, 2018 ... Eurostat and the Ministry of Economic Development. 4. .... regard to the application of special national schemes for small enterprises. ... 2013) mentions a two-year exemption from the tax on joint stock companies and local taxes. ... specialized support programs are developed, such as the introduction of the ...

  12. Special Education in Jordan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abu-Hamour, Bashir; Al-Hmouz, Hanan

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to provide a brief background about special education system in Jordan and particularly describes the present types of programmes and legislation provided within the country to students with special needs, as well as integration movement. Jordan has historically provided a limited number of educational opportunities…

  13. Introduction to Special Feature on Catastrophic Thresholds, Perspectives, Definitions, and Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert A. Washington-Allen

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available The contributions to this special feature focus on several conceptual and operational applications for understanding non-linear behavior of complex systems with various ecological criteria at unique levels of organization. The organizing theme of the feature emphasizes alternative stable states or regimes and intervening thresholds that possess great relevance to ecology and natural resource management. The authors within this special feature address the conceptual models of catastrophe theory, self-organization, cross-scale interactions and time-scale calculus; develop operational definitions and procedures for understanding the occurrence of dynamic regimes or multiple stable states and thresholds; suggest diagnostics tools for detection of states and thresholds and contribute to the development of scaling laws; and finally, demonstrate applications that promote both greater ecological understanding and management prescriptions for insect and disease outbreaks, resource island formation, and characterization of ecological resilience. This Special Feature concludes with a synthesis of the commonalities and disparities of concepts and interpretations among the contributed papers to identify issues and approaches that merit further research emphasis.

  14. Transborder corporate integration in the Baltic Sea Region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kuznetsov Alexei

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available The paper examines flows of foreign direct investment within the Baltic region. The author demonstrates close investment ties among the EU members, which are of special importance for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Transborder corporate integration in the region is characterized by significant imbalances. In many aspects, it can be viewed as Sweden’s economic expansion or development of domestic markets for northern European companies. Although many German, Polish and Russian companies are involved in corporate integration in the Baltic region, other vectors of their foreign economic relations are still more important for them. As a result, the integration of Russian business in the Baltic part of the European integration area is still rather weak despite Russia’s considerable foreign direct investment in the Baltic States.

  15. Regional Competitive Intelligence: Benchmarking and Policymaking

    OpenAIRE

    Huggins , Robert

    2010-01-01

    Benchmarking exercises have become increasingly popular within the sphere of regional policymaking in recent years. The aim of this paper is to analyse the concept of regional benchmarking and its links with regional policymaking processes. It develops a typology of regional benchmarking exercises and regional benchmarkers, and critically reviews the literature, both academic and policy oriented. It is argued that critics who suggest regional benchmarking is a flawed concept and technique fai...

  16. [End-of-life in specialized medical pediatrics department: A French national survey].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ravanello, Alice; Desguerre, Isabelle; Frache, Sandra; Hubert, Philippe; Orbach, Daniel; Aubry, Régis

    2017-03-01

    In France, most of children die in the hospital. This national survey aimed to achieve better understanding of end-of life care in specialized medical pediatrics departments for children facing the end-of-life, identify the available resources, put forward the difficulties encountered by professionals and describe end-of-life paths of children who died in these departments. This study is based on a nationwide survey conducted among all existing specialized medical pediatrics departments (onco-haematology, neurology, reanimation) in France in 2015. Among 94 specialized medical pediatrics departments in France, 53 participated in our survey (response rate=56%). At the time of the survey, 13% of inpatients were facing the end-of-life. Regarding training, 13% of departments did not have personnel trained in palliative care and 21% did not set up any professional support. However, when taking care of a child's end of life in 2014, 77% of these departments solicited a regional resource team of pediatric palliative care. This survey helps describe 225 end-of-life paths of children decease of a terminal illness in the specialized pediatrics departments. Seventy-two percent suffered from refractory symptoms before their death, 64% were concerned by a terminal sedation and 75% by a limitation of life-sustaining treatment decision. End-of-life care is a reality for specialized pediatrics departments. The frequency of major and refractory symptoms often requires the completion of sedation. The resources of service are acceptable but some deficiencies have been noted especially concerning training and support for caregivers, adaptation of premises or family support. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier SAS.

  17. Self-organizing map network-based precipitation regionalization for the Tibetan Plateau and regional precipitation variability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Nini; Yin, Jianchuan

    2017-12-01

    A precipitation-based regionalization for the Tibetan Plateau (TP) was investigated for regional precipitation trend analysis and frequency analysis using data from 1113 grid points covering the period 1900-2014. The results utilizing self-organizing map (SOM) network suggest that four clusters of precipitation coherent zones can be identified, including the southwestern edge, the southern edge, the southeastern region, and the north central region. Regionalization results of the SOM network satisfactorily represent the influences of the atmospheric circulation systems such as the East Asian summer monsoon, the south Asian summer monsoon, and the mid-latitude westerlies. Regionalization results also well display the direct impacts of physical geographical features of the TP such as orography, topography, and land-sea distribution. Regional-scale annual precipitation trend as well as regional differences of annual and seasonal total precipitation were investigated by precipitation index such as precipitation concentration index (PCI) and Standardized Anomaly Index (SAI). Results demonstrate significant negative long-term linear trends in southeastern TP and the north central part of the TP, indicating arid and semi-arid regions in the TP are getting drier. The empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method shows an evolution of the main cycle with 4 and 12 months for all the representative grids of four sub-regions. The cross-wavelet analysis suggests that predominant and effective period of Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) on monthly precipitation is around ˜12 months, except for the representative grid of the northwestern region.

  18. Suicide in circumpolar regions: an introduction and overview

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. Kue Young

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available This extended editorial introduces the Special Issue on Suicide and Resilience in Circumpolar Regions, the results of the knowledge synthesis project by an international research team funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and endorsed by the Arctic Council. It focuses on the extent and magnitude of the problem of suicidal behaviours and thoughts from a circumpolar perspective – the variation across Arctic States and their northern regions, the excess risk among some indigenous groups and their demographic characteristics. Much remains to be learned about the design and implementation of youth-focused intervention programmes, especially in a circumpolar comparative framework.

  19. Introduction to the Special Issue: Coastal GIS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Timothy Nyerges

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available This special issue of the ISPRS International Journal of Geographic Information about “Coastal GIS” is motivated by many circumstances. More than one-half of the world’s human population lives in coastal areas (within 200 kilometers of coast as of 2000 [1]. The trend toward coastal habitation is expected to continue in the US with the total being 75 percent by 2025, meaning that coastal human–environment interactions will likely increase and intensify [2]. Geographic information systems (GIS are being developed and used by technical specialists, stakeholder publics, and executive/policy decision makers for improving our understanding and management of coastal areas, separately and together as more organizations focus on improving the sustainability and resilience of coastal systems. Coastal systems—defined as the area of land closely connected to the sea, including barrier islands, wetlands, mudflats, beaches, estuaries, cities, towns, recreational areas, and maritime facilities, the continental seas and shelves, and the overlying atmosphere—are subject to complex and dynamic interactions among natural and human-driven processes. Coastal systems are crucial to regional and national economies, hosting valued human-built infrastructure and providing ecosystem services that sustain human well-being. This special issue of IJGI about coastal GIS presents a collection of nine papers that address many of the issues mentioned above. [...

  20. Academic or Community Resource? Stakeholder Interests and Collection Management at Charles Sturt University Regional Archives, 1973-2003

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boadle, Don

    2003-01-01

    This analysis of the transformation of the Charles Sturt University Regional Archives from a library special collection to a multi-function regional repository highlights the importance of stakeholder interests in determining institutional configurations and collection development priorities. It also demonstrates the critical importance of…