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This research aimed to conduct psychographic profiling for developing a direct-to-consumer mobile game targeting the sexual and reproductive health of adolescent girls in India. We used semi-structured tools to collect information on role models, family, education, dreams, fears and decision-making power. We also presented visual stimuli to the participants (Indian girls; age: 15–19 years; N = 103). Responding to the stimuli, the participants expressed their perceptions of social norms, moral standards, obligations and aspirations. We carried out thematic analysis using predetermined codes and did an inductive analysis to identify emergent profiles. Analysis revealed seven primary themes that influence the participants’ aspirations, decisions and agency: (i) clarity regarding career goals, (ii) information about the pathways to reach those goals, (iii) efforts toward achieving goals, (iv) clarity about priorities, (v) parental support, (vi) ability and willingness to negotiate and (vii) social mobility. Based on combinations of these themes, four predominant personas emerged as descriptive categories of girls’ lives and attitudes. These four profiles will form the basis of Game of Choice, Not Chance™ game: informing the scenarios, in-game decisions and relatable content. This study represents a novel approach to research for an equally innovative game for agency building and health awareness among adolescents.

BACKGROUND India has one of the largest adolescent populations in the world. Yet adolescents, particularly adolescent girls, have limited access to correct sexual and reproductive health information and services. The context in which adolescent girls live is one of gender inequity where they contend with early marriage and early pregnancy and have few opportunities for quality education and labor force participation. The digital revolution has expanded the penetration of mobile phones across India, increasingly being used by adolescent girls. Health interventions are also moving onto digital platforms. Evidence has shown that applications of game elements and game-based learning can be powerful tools in behavior change and health interventions. This provides a unique opportunity, particularly for the private sector, to reach and empower adolescent girls directly with information, products, and services in a private and fun manner. OBJECTIVE The objective of this paper is to describe how a design-led Theory of Change (ToC) was formulated for a mobile game app that is not only underpinned by theories of various behavior change models but also identifies variables and triggers for in-game behavioral intentions that can be tracked and measured within the game and validated through a rigorous post-gameplay outcome evaluation. METHODS We describe the use of a multimix methodology to formulate a ToC informing behavioral frameworks and co-design approaches in our proof-of-concept product development journey. This process created a statement of hypothesis and “pathways to impact” with a continuous, cumulative, and iterative design process that included key stakeholders in the production of a smartphone app. With theoretical underpinnings of social behavior and modeling frameworks, systematic research, and other creative methods, we developed a design-led ToC pathway that can delineate complex and multidisciplinary outputs for measuring impact. RESULTS The statement of hypothesis that emerged posits that “If girls virtually experience the outcomes of choices that they make for their avatar in the mobile game, then they can make informed decisions that direct the course of their own life.” Four learning pathways (DISCOVER, PLAY, DECIDE, and ACT) are scaffolded on 3 pillars of evidence, engagement, and evaluation to support the ToC-led framework. It informs decision-making and life outcomes through game-based objectives and in-game triggers that offer direct access to information, products, and services. CONCLUSIONS This approach of using a multimix methodology for identifying varied and multidisciplinary pathways to change is of particular interest to measuring the impact of innovations, especially digital products, that do not necessarily conform with traditional behavioral change models or standard co-design approaches. We also explain the benefits of using iterative and cumulative inputs to integrate ongoing user feedback, while identifying pathways to various impacts, and not limiting it to only the design and development phase.

Depreciative park visitor behaviors in protected areas can alter the relationship between humans, wildlife, and ecosystems and provide new opportunities for pathogens to cause illness in people. We...

Background India has one of the largest adolescent populations in the world. Yet adolescents, particularly adolescent girls, have limited access to correct sexual and reproductive health information and services. The context in which adolescent girls live is one of gender inequity where they contend with early marriage and early pregnancy and have few opportunities for quality education and labor force participation. The digital revolution has expanded the penetration of mobile phones across India, increasingly being used by adolescent girls. Health interventions are also moving onto digital platforms. Evidence has shown that applications of game elements and game-based learning can be powerful tools in behavior change and health interventions. This provides a unique opportunity, particularly for the private sector, to reach and empower adolescent girls directly with information, products, and services in a private and fun manner. Objective The objective of this paper is to describe how a design-led Theory of Change (ToC) was formulated for a mobile game app that is not only underpinned by theories of various behavior change models but also identifies variables and triggers for in-game behavioral intentions that can be tracked and measured within the game and validated through a rigorous post-gameplay outcome evaluation. Methods We describe the use of a multimix methodology to formulate a ToC informing behavioral frameworks and co-design approaches in our proof-of-concept product development journey. This process created a statement of hypothesis and “pathways to impact” with a continuous, cumulative, and iterative design process that included key stakeholders in the production of a smartphone app. With theoretical underpinnings of social behavior and modeling frameworks, systematic research, and other creative methods, we developed a design-led ToC pathway that can delineate complex and multidisciplinary outputs for measuring impact. Results The statement of hypothesis that emerged posits that “If girls virtually experience the outcomes of choices that they make for their avatar in the mobile game, then they can make informed decisions that direct the course of their own life.” Four learning pathways (DISCOVER, PLAY, DECIDE, and ACT) are scaffolded on 3 pillars of evidence, engagement, and evaluation to support the ToC-led framework. It informs decision-making and life outcomes through game-based objectives and in-game triggers that offer direct access to information, products, and services. Conclusions This approach of using a multimix methodology for identifying varied and multidisciplinary pathways to change is of particular interest to measuring the impact of innovations, especially digital products, that do not necessarily conform with traditional behavioral change models or standard co-design approaches. We also explain the benefits of using iterative and cumulative inputs to integrate ongoing user feedback, while identifying pathways to various impacts, and not limiting it to only the design and development phase.

The UK Government has endorsed the case for autonomous vehicle (AV) technology and its economic benefits in its industrial strategies since 2013. In late 2016 the Science and Technology Committee in the House of Lords (the legislature’s upper chamber) conducted an Inquiry into the policy. We conduct a content analysis of the text corpus of the Inquiry. Drawing from theories of sociotechnical change we explore how it contributes to building a vision of a future AV world embedded in a national economic and technological project. The technology is framed as a solution to societal grand challenges and the Inquiry corpus is dominated by actors committed to the project. Alternative visions, including sceptical interpretations, are present in the corpus, but rare, reflecting the selection process for contributions to the Inquiry. Predominantly, the corpus represents the public as deficient: dangerous drivers, unaware of promised benefits and unduly anxious about the unfamiliar. Their views are marginal in this Parliamentary Inquiry’s findings. AV technology is one of several possible means to pursue wider mobility policy goals of greater safety, affordability, access and sustainability. Our analysis suggests that the pursuit of an AV future risks becoming a goal in itself instead of a means to these broader societal goals.

There have been many surveys of public responses to Autonomous Vehicles (AVs), both reported in peer-reviewed journals and in the mainstream media. People anchor their representations of novel technological objects within their existing experience. What elements of such experience anchor AVs? We review academic English language survey studies from 2015 to 2017 and surveys publicised in UK National newspapers which typically reveal discomfort about the prospect of AVs. Against this background we report the results of our own survey of 11,827 drivers across 11 European countries, addressing attitudes to driving alongside AVs as well as to riding in them. We establish a composite indicator of perceptions of AVs that combines responses on using AVs and sharing the road with them, and analyse its relationship with a set of covariate measures. Respondents’ technological optimism and uptake of driving technology was associated with more positive perceptions of AVs, and measures of respondents’ enjoyment of driving, and how ‘sociable’ they were towards fellow road users, was associated with more negative perceptions. The negative association between driving ‘sociability’ and enthusiasm for AVs was attenuated by levels of general technological optimism. We discuss the difficulties in researching public responses to novel technological objects and make suggestions for improvement in future survey research on AVs.

BACKGROUND Psychographic profiling is a method of revealing the attitudes, behaviors, and lifestyles of a sample population that in turn affects their responses to interventions. Dividing populations based on demographics is a research method that has supported targeted behavioral interventions in the past, yet certain traditional approaches have failed to address underlying factors that drive behaviors. OBJECTIVE We applied psychographic profiling as a research method in developing a direct-to-consumer mobile game targeting adolescent girls in India. This project, A Game of Choice, Not Chance (GOC), aims to engage girls in an interactive mobile game that equips players to navigate situations that affect their personal agency, including professional skill-building and health management. METHODS Researchers presented participants (Indian girls ages 15-19) with four pictures of Indian adolescent girls in different situations. Responding to the stimuli, participants expressed attitudes toward the relationships, lifestyles, aspirations, and personal agency of the girls in the images. Responses were coded to identify themes in lifestyles and attitudes that were reflective of the target audience. RESULTS Analysis revealed seven primary factors that influence the participants aspirations and agency: 1) clarity regarding career goals; 2) information about the pathways to reach those goals; 3) efforts towards achieving goals; 4) clarity about priorities; 5) parental support; 6) ability and willingness to negotiate; and 7) social mobility. Based on combinations of these themes, four predominant ‘personality profiles’ emerged as descriptive categories of girls’ lives and attitudes. CONCLUSIONS Psychographic profiling is an effective method of audience segmentation that enhances insight into the attitudes, values, and beliefs of the target population. These four themes will form the basis of the GOC game, informing the scenarios, in-game decisions, and content that are relatable. This study represents a novel approach to research for an equally innovative game for agency-building and health awareness among adolescents.

In the Arctic Ocean, semidiurnal-band processes including tides and wind-forced inertial oscillations are significant drivers of ice motion, ocean currents and shear contributing to mixing. Two years (2013-2015) of current measurements from seven moorings deployed along 125°E from the Laptev Sea shelf (~50 m) down the continental slope into the deep Eurasian Basin (~3900 m) are analyzed and compared with models of baroclinic tides and inertial motion to identify the primary components of semidiurnal-band current (SBC) energy in this region. The strongest SBCs, exceeding 30 cm/s, are observed during summer in the upper ~30 m throughout the mooring array. The largest upper-ocean SBC signal consists of wind-forced oscillations during the ice-free summer. Strong barotropic tidal currents are only observed on the shallow shelf. Baroclinic tidal currents, generated along the upper continental slope, can be significant. Their radiation away from source regions is governed by critical latitude effects: the S2 baroclinic tide (period = 12.000 h) can radiate northwards into deep water but the M2 (~12.421 h) baroclinic tide is trapped to the continental slope. Baroclinic upper-ocean tidal currents are sensitive to varying stratification, mean flows and sea ice cover. This time-dependence of baroclinic tides complicates our ability to separate wind-forced inertial oscillations from tidal currents. Since the shear from both sources contributes to upper-ocean mixing that affects the seasonal cycle of the surface mixed layer properties, a better understanding of both, inertial motion and baroclinic tides is needed for projections of mixing and ice-ocean interactions in future Arctic climate states.

Negotiators are often advised to seek information about their counterparts’ power. However, we know little about how such information affects negotiators’ behaviours and outcomes. Study 1 considered dyadic negotiations in which negotiators have symmetric or asymmetric best alternatives to the negotiated agreement (BATNAs). It also examined the impacts of (a)symmetry and knowledge of a counterpart’s BATNA on agreement efficiency (indexed by joint gains), and how knowledge alters negotiators’ realised power (indexed by percentage of resource claimed) in BATNA-asymmetric negotiations. Studies 2 and 3 focussed on BATNA-asymmetric negotiations. Study 2 tested the mechanism by which knowledge affects efficiency. Study 3 considered the impacts of knowledge on equity concerns, perceived power and information exchange about preferences. The findings indicate the following: knowledge of BATNA asymmetries (rather than the existence of BATNA asymmetries) adversely affects agreement efficiency; this knowledge increases strong negotiators’ focus on value claiming, judgement errors about counterparts’ preferences, perceived power and realised power, but impedes their information-sharing behaviour about preferences. Their focus on value claiming mediates the relationship between knowledge and judgement errors, whereas judgement errors mediate the relationship between their focus on value claiming and agreement efficiency. Furthermore, knowledge of BATNA asymmetries leads to contrasting perceptions of fairness. Strong negotiators with knowledge believe that a fair agreement should reflect their power advantage; weak negotiators generally tend to judge fairness based on equality. Counterintuitively, knowing one’s own strengths can lead to ‘winning’ a meagre prize and neglecting the opportunity for value creation by trading-off on negotiated issues.

Psychoanalytic models of supervision have developed in tandem with, and therefore reflect, developments in psychoanalytic theory and therapeutic practice. Frawley-O’Dea and Sarnat have developed a model of supervision that reflects recen developments in psychoanalytic practice. Some models have been developed specifically for psychoanalytic supervision, and some models have a more general application throughout the helping professions. David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory has been influential in a number of professions that are skills based, including management training, teaching, counselling, nursing, and social work. A number of studies have demonstrated a learning style preference for concrete experience among students and supervisors in different fields within the caring professions. However, the author wish to include Watkins model, which he calls the supervisor complexity model as it goes beyond a description of stages to consider other factors influencing supervisor functioning. The integrated development model takes a stage approach to supervisee development, identifying four stages: dependency; dependency–autonomous; conditional dependency; master professional.

To reflect further on 20 years of the journal, we present a lexicographic and bibliometric study of all papers published in Public Understanding of Science (PUS). Lexicographical analysis of the vocabulary of 465 abstracts shows five classes of associated concepts in two periods, 1992–2001 and 2002–2010. The concern for public attitudes and mass media coverage remains on the card; while language has shifted from ‘public understanding’ to ‘public engagement’ and environmental concerns have waned then waxed. The bibliometric analysis traces the position of PUS in the inter-citation network of 165 related journals (ISI Web of Science citation database), grouped into 10 disciplines for the purpose of this analysis. Indicators derived from network logic show that the established position of PUS has been stable since 1997. PUS serves a varied brokerage role as gatekeeper into and liaison maker between disciplines. Its inter-citation network position allows PUS to perform inter-disciplinary boundary spanning work that offers a safe space for experimentation with ideas.

The anaerobic threshold (AT) measured by the cardiopulmonary exercise (CPX) test is becoming an established means of identifying patients at high risk of developing cardiac complications perioperatively. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between AT and the plasma metabolic profile of patients undergoing aortic aneurysm repair surgery to see if an alternative or adjunct to the CPX test could be devised. Plasma was obtained from 15 male patients classified (through preoperative CPX tests) as having high (≥11.0 mL kg−1 min−1) or low (−1 min−1) AT before and 1, 2, 24, 48, and 72 hours after elective open aortic aneurysm surgery. Samples were analysed using 1H-NMR spectroscopy coupled with multivariate statistical analysis. Principal components analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) distinguished between low- and high-AT patients postoperatively, with high AT patients being more tightly clustered. High AT patients had higher plasma lipid and lower 3-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate levels than low AT patients post-operatively. Similar differences were identified preoperatively. 1H-NMR metabolic profiling of plasma has identified molecules whose concentration correlates with AT scores. These may prove a useful biomarker in conjunction with AT in predicting response to major surgical procedures.

The term portable therapist captures the idea that therapists in primary care carry within themselves the tools required to undertake therapy in different physical locations. To successfully do this, the therapist needs skills beyond her capacity to work therapeutically. She needs to manage the challenges of working in primary care, particularly that her work and the needs of her patients are situated in a setting that does not necessarily prioritise psychological distress. This paper also explores the experience of being seen as a part-object because of her position on the periphery of the organisations in which she works.

Introduction Episcleral venous pressure (EVP) has an important role in intraocular pressure (IOP) homeostasis and accounts for more than 70% of the IOP in the normal dog. A frequently used species in glaucoma research is the normotensive dog especially when evaluating the efficacy of prostaglandin analogues and prostamides; however, aqueous humor dynamic studies in normal dogs are lacking, and the effect of 0.005% latanoprost on canine EVP is not known. We sought to determine the effects to the EVP of topically applied 0.005% latanoprost in the normotensive beagle dog. Methods Female beagle dogs (n = 14) were used and each had a normal ophthalmic examination on study entry. EVP was determined using a standard episcleral venomanometer. Animals were dosed in one eye with 0.005% latanoprost, and the effects on EVP were compared with the averaged baseline EVP’s determined in the predosing phase and the fellow nondosed eye. The Mixed Model Repeated Measures method was used to analyze the EVP data. Results During the dosing phase of the study with topical 0.005% latanoprost, the mean EVPs of dosed eyes were significantly higher than that of nondosed eyes (P

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services requires organizations to comply with the Patient Self-Determination Act by having processes that inform patients about their rights to execute an advance directive (AD) and engage in shared decision-making. The aim of this study was to compare AD data from a previous study (1999–2002) to a postenculturation (2011–2015) of a structured process for documented patient’s preferences. Second, to conduct a descriptive, bivariate analysis of the enculturated structured ADs process during 2011 and 2015. This descriptive, comparative analysis included 500 random patients from four hospitals, and the enculturated descriptive analysis included 302 patients from six hospitals. Comparisons showed less no ADs and a greater institutional ADs post compared with pre ( p

� Objective: To determine whether prostate-specific antigen (PSA) concentrations in type 2 diabetic men with hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism are lower than those in eugonadal men with type 2 diabetes and whether PSA concentrations are related to plasma testosterone concentrations. � Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we measured serum total testosterone, sex hormone–binding globulin, free testosterone, PSA, hematocrit, and hemoglobin A 1c in consecutive type 2 diabetic men who presented to 2 endocrinology referral centers between January 2006 and January 2007. We collected other clinical and demographic data including age, height, weight, and ethnicity. � Results:�Of 400 eligible patients, 280 men met inclusion criteria. Plasma PSA concentrations were lower in type 2 diabetic men with low free testosterone concentrations than in those with normal free testosterone concentrations (25.65 ± 2.02 ng/dL vs 31.70 ± 2.31 ng/dL, P = .011). PSA concentrations were positively related to age (r = 0.34, P

Reflective functioning or mentalizing is the capacity to interpret both the self and others in terms of internal mental states such as feelings, wishes, goals, desires, and attitudes. This paper is part of a series of papers outlining the development and psychometric features of a new self-report measure, the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (RFQ), designed to provide an easy to administer self-report measure of mentalizing. We describe the development and initial validation of the RFQ in three studies. Study 1 focuses on the development of the RFQ, its factor structure and construct validity in a sample of patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Eating Disorder (ED) (n = 108) and normal controls (n = 295). Study 2 aims to replicate these findings in a fresh sample of 129 patients with personality disorder and 281 normal controls. Study 3 addresses the relationship between the RFQ, parental reflective functioning and infant attachment status as assessed with the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) in a sample of 136 community mothers and their infants. In both Study 1 and 2, confirmatory factor analyses yielded two factors assessing Certainty (RFQ_C) and Uncertainty (RFQ_U) about the mental states of self and others. These two factors were relatively distinct, invariant across clinical and non-clinical samples, had satisfactory internal consistency and test–retest stability, and were largely unrelated to demographic features. The scales discriminated between patients and controls, and were significantly and in theoretically predicted ways correlated with measures of empathy, mindfulness and perspective-taking, and with both self-reported and clinician-reported measures of borderline personality features and other indices of maladaptive personality functioning. Furthermore, the RFQ scales were associated with levels of parental reflective functioning, which in turn predicted infant attachment status in the SSP. Overall, this study lends preliminary support for the RFQ as a screening measure of reflective functioning. Further research is needed, however, to investigate in more detail the psychometric qualities of the RFQ. ispartof: PLoS One vol:11 issue:7 ispartof: location:United States status: published

Objective To investigate the role of snack foods in the diets of adolescents in relation to recommendations. Design A quantitative study whereby the food intakes of 28 adolescents aged 11-14 years were recorded for three consecutive days. Setting A secondary school in South West London. Methods Food intake was recorded using food diaries and the computer package CompEat-5.ANOVA and T-tests were used to identify significant differences. Results Snack foods made significant ( p

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Risk Prediction Initiative, and the Weather Risk Management Association jointly sponsored a workshop that examined a variety of issues related to climate forecastand data products produced by NOAA. Workshop participants included individuals from a variety of private sector firms active in the weather risk market. The workshop provided an opportunity for a direct and technical exchange with NOAA service providers regarding climate data and forecast products and their scientific basis, interpretation, performance,planned improvements, access, and use. In addition, the workshop examined, in light of current NOAA services, the weather risk industry's requirements for climate data and forecasts. Discussions from the workshop are summarized, and alist of actions developed at the workshop that will enhance for all users the use, accessibility, and value of NOAA climate data and forecast products is provided.

La politique des bibliotheques d'Imperial College (IC) en matiere d'acquisition et de fourniture de periodiques electroniques repond a un accroissement de la demande de documents en texte integral. La gestion des abonnements electroniques, d'autant plus compliquee qu'IC est un etablissement multicampus, engendre des difficultes economiques et organisationnelles ainsi qu'une inegalite d'acces entre groupes d'utilisateurs. Les statistiques, encore qu'incompletes, montrent une augmentation dans l'utilisation des ressources electroniques. L'experience d'Imperial College dans l'integration des journaux electroniques, plutot positive en depit des difficultes, souleve toutefois de nombreuses questions concernant le role futur des bibliothecaires, les competences informationnelles necessaires, le financement des initiatives collaboratives ou encore l'archivage electronique et le droit d'auteur.

Les soirs d’ete, le roi Georges III, la reine Charlotte, leurs enfants et quelques invites se promenaient sur les terrasses du château de Windsor. Des personnalites meritantes etaient alors presentees au monarque, et la famille royale interagissait frequemment avec ceux qui etaient ainsi venus a sa rencontre. En offrant regulierement ce spectacle et en se melant aux spectateurs, Georges construisait l’image d’une monarchie a la fois accessible par son caractere domestique et impressionnante par son caractere regalien. Cette pratique, que la romanciere Fanny Burney a nomme « Terracing », permettait a Georges III a la fois de produire et de diffuser son image de marque d’une maniere qui lui semblait naturelle, tout en promouvant efficacement le developpement du nationalisme. Il se donnait en spectacle au public, mais, en conversant avec les membres de l’assistance, il leur offrait une experience harmonieusement interactive du pouvoir politique et social ainsi theâtralise.

Episcleral venous pressure (EVP) has an important role in intraocular pressure (IOP) homeostasis and accounts for more than 70% of the IOP in the normal dog. A frequently used species in glaucoma research is the normotensive dog especially when evaluating the efficacy of prostaglandin analogues and prostamides; however, aqueous humor dynamic studies in normal dogs are lacking, and the effect of 0.005% latanoprost on canine EVP is not known. We sought to determine the effects to the EVP of topically applied 0.005% latanoprost in the normotensive beagle dog.Female beagle dogs (n = 14) were used and each had a normal ophthalmic examination on study entry. EVP was determined using a standard episcleral venomanometer. Animals were dosed in one eye with 0.005% latanoprost, and the effects on EVP were compared with the averaged baseline EVP's determined in the predosing phase and the fellow nondosed eye. The Mixed Model Repeated Measures method was used to analyze the EVP data.During the dosing phase of the study with topical 0.005% latanoprost, the mean EVPs of dosed eyes were significantly higher than that of nondosed eyes (P0.0001).The increase in EVP in the dog with exposure to topical 0.005% latanoprost has not been observed in other species that have been studied, such as in the mouse and in humans, where the drug had no significant effect on the EVP. This response may be unique to dogs and suggests that dogs may not fully mimic human aqueous humor dynamics with topical 0.005% latanoprost. Although frequently performed in human studies, EVP should not be regarded to be a constant value in aqueous humor dynamic studies in the normal beagle dog.

The stratified inner layer of the embryonic fetal brain, the ventricular zone (VZ), contains glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-positive cell bodies of radial glia. The adult cerebral ventricle is lined by a single layer of cuboidal, ciliated common ependymal cells which are, immunohistologically, GFAP negative. In late gestation, the ventricular lining is formed by tanycytes, ependymal cells with short, intensely GFAP-positive basal fibres. The development of ependyma was examined, morphologically and immunohistologically, in human fetal brain from between 11 weeks gestation to 6 months post-term to determine the relationship between the radial glia cell, tanycyte and common ependymal cell. This study was not able to show whether tanycytes were formed from radial glia or were formed from a previously uncommitted population of VZ cells. The study did show, however, that tanycytes probably mature into common ependymal cells following acquisition of cilia and loss of basal fibres. Electron microscopic data indicate that tanycytes have features suggestive of a secretory and/or transport function.

An innovative technique for the assignment of frequencies in military combat net radio communications systems is presented. A defined frequency allotment, together with the frequency separations required when stations of different nets are in close physical proximity, gives rise to a complex combinatorial problem, which the assignment algorithms aim to solve. This work seeks an alternative to centralised algorithms, including recently introduced metaheuristics, by using a method based on the self-organising behaviour of cells in a developing fruit fly. Since the method involves a software element representing each net, which interact in a self-organising manner, it has a clear potential for the distribution of the process over a network of processing elements. The demonstrated ability of the algorithm to re-optimise following changes to the network configuration is thought to be a valuable feature in this context, which would be difficult to introduce explicitly using conventional techniques.

SIR, — I was interested in the recent paper by [Coe and others (2006)][1] comparing flank and midline approaches to the ovariohysterectomy of cats. I was surprised that a 2·5 cm incision was used for the flank approach. I would regard a 1 cm incision as more usual; one advantage of the technique

Amniocentesis and withdrawal of amniotic fluid was performed on pregnant monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) at two stages in development, either between 47 and 64, or between 85 and 95 days gestation. After birth the lungs of each infant monkey were studied using precise morphometric techniques, and compared with those in a control group of animals. The lungs after amniocentesis had alveoli of normal maturity but reduced in number and increased in size, features which both reduce the relative area for gas exchange. There was also a reduction in the number of respiratory airways. These changes occurred regardless of the time of amniocentesis, the amount of fluid removed and even if the membranes were simply punctured with no fluid removal. There is some evidence to suggest that similar sublethal effects may be present in human infants after maternal amniocentesis.

Two computer models for the decline of ribosomal RNA in late exponential phase E. coli are tested isopycnographically. The model in which the excess r-RNA is scavenged to support the last stages of cell division is discarded, whereas the experimental data support the model in which r-RNA production is halted and the r-RNA is diluted among the cells as they continue their final division. This plus the pycnotic profile of E. coli relA− support previous work pertaining to control of the genome by guanosine-3′-diphosphate-5′-diphosphate (ppGpp). Other evidence suggests the possibility that part of the genome is also under separate control.

The germinal layer in preterm infants is a common site of intracerebral hemorrhage that is associated with increased mortality and morbidity in survivors. This matrix is composed of a mass of immature cells containing many thin-walled blood vessels. A major factor in the occurrence of hemorrhage at this site is the absence of a network of fibers to support these vessels. This immunocytochemical study has examined glial differentiation within the germinal layer of brains from fetuses and preterm infants of gestational ages 18 to 35 weeks. Progressive glial differentiation with gestation is described. This process is not uniform and the more posterior germinal layer, lying over the body of the caudate nucleus, demonstrates more rapid maturation than that lying anteriorly near the head of the caudate nucleus. Anteriorly, even at 35 weeks of gestation, a central core of germinal layer cells remains immature with little evidence of glial differentiation. These changes may be related to the occurrence and distribution of germinal layer hemorrhages in preterm infants of varying gestations.

Our interest in families and marriage today is a reflection of the concern that has been expressed in recent years about the future of these institutions in Britain (See, for example, Home Office, HMSO, 1979). Conflicting moral codes, the well-publicised increase in the divorce rate and experimentation with radical life-styles have all contributed to a climate in which people may feel that fundamental changes have and are taking place at the very roots of society — that is within the family.