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An atomic-scale mechanism of T Cell Receptor (TCR) mechanosensing of peptides in the binding groove of the peptide-major histocompatibility complex (pMHC) may inform the design of novel TCRs for immunotherapies. Using steered molecular dynamics simulations, our study demonstrates that mutations to peptides in the binding groove of the pMHC - which are known to discretely alter the T cell response to an antigen - alter the MHC conformation at equilibrium. This subsequently impacts the overall strength (duration and length) of the TCR-pMHC bond under constant load. Moreover, physiochemical features of the TCR-pMHC dynamic bond strength, such as hydrogen bonds and Lennard-Jones contacts, correlate with the immunogenic response elicited by the specific peptide in the MHC groove. Thus, formation of transient TCR-pMHC bonds is characteristic of immunogenic peptides, and steered molecular dynamics simulations can be used in the overall design strategy of TCRs for immunotherapies.

This study aims to assess if the benefits outweigh the costs of participation in online travel agencies (OTAs) such as Booking.com.,A two-step system generalised method of moments estimation of a regression model of firm-level return on assets (ROA) is used on a dummy variable indicating whether a lodging facility participates in Booking.com. The assessment contained various control variables, including size, age, leverage, liquidity and lagged ROA. The moderating effect of firm age and size was studied by including interaction variables between the Booking.com dummy and age and size, respectively. The model was estimated using participation and financial data of 775 Belgian firms over a 20-year period (1999–2018).,The findings indicate that participation in Booking.com is associated with higher profitability, with this effect more economically important and pronounced for smaller hotel properties.,The study provides a broadly applicable empirical model to assess the impact of platform participation on the financial performance of tourism, hospitality or retail businesses.,The study provides empirical evidence that, from a transaction cost perspective, the benefits of participation in OTAs outweigh the costs, resulting in substantially higher profitability. The evidence can be used to justify the use of OTAs as distribution channels.,While prior studies have described and conceptually analysed the evolution and role of OTAs in the hotel sector, and speculated on the net effect of OTA participation, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to empirically assess whether OTA participation creates value for hotel owners and investors.,本文采用了两步系统GMM的估计方法, 用一个虚拟变量指示住宿设施是否参与了Booking.com, 以确定企业级别的资产回报率（ROA）的回归模型。评估涵盖了多种控制变量, 包括公司规模, 年限, 杠杆, 流动性和滞后资产回报率。企业年龄和规模的调节作用是通过加入Booking.com虚拟变量与年龄和规模之间的交互变量实现的。该模型是使用20年（1999–2018年）间775家比利时公司的参与和财务数据估算得出的。,本文目的是评估收益是否超过了参与Booking.com等在线旅行社（OTA）的成本。,研究结果表明, 参与Booking.com与更高的获利能力相关联。这种影响在经济上更加重要, 并且对于较小的酒店物业而言更为明显。,该研究提供了广泛适用的经验模型, 以评估平台参与对旅游业, 酒店业或零售业的财务绩效的影响。,该研究提供了重要的实证依据。从交易成本的角度来看, 参与OTA的收益大于成本, 从而大大提高了盈利能力。该实例证明了使用OTA作为分销渠道是合理的。,尽管先前的研究已经描述并从概念上分析了OTA在酒店领域的演变和作用, 并推测了OTA参与的净效应, 但据我们所知, 这是第一个凭经验评估OTA参与是否为酒店所有者和投资者创造价值的研究。,Una estimacion GMM en dos pasos de un modelo de regresion del rendimiento de los activos (ROA) a nivel de empresa sobre una variable ficticia que indica si un establecimiento de alojamiento participa en Booking.com. La evaluacion contenia diversas variables de control, como el tamano, la edad, el apalancamiento, la liquidez y el ROA retardado. El efecto moderador de la edad y el tamano de la empresa se estudio incluyendo variables de interaccion entre la variable ficticia de Booking.com y la edad y el tamano, respectivamente. El modelo se estimo utilizando datos de participacion y financieros de 775 empresas belgas durante un periodo de 20 anos (1999–2018).,Evaluar si los beneficios superan los costes de la participacion en agencias de viajes online (OTAs) como Booking.com.,Los resultados indican que la participacion en Booking.com esta asociada a una mayor rentabilidad, siendo este efecto mas importante y pronunciado desde el punto de vista economico para las propiedades hoteleras mas pequenas.,El estudio proporciona un modelo empirico ampliamente aplicable para evaluar el impacto de la participacion en la plataforma en los resultados financieros de las empresas turisticas, hoteleras o minoristas.,El estudio proporciona pruebas empiricas de que, desde la perspectiva de los costes de transaccion, los beneficios de la participacion en las OTAs superan los costes, lo que se traduce en una rentabilidad sustancialmente mayor. Las pruebas pueden utilizarse para justificar el uso de las OTAs como canales de distribucion.,Aunque estudios anteriores han descrito y analizado conceptualmente la evolucion y el papel de las OTAs en el sector hotelero, y han especulado sobre el efecto neto de la participacion en las OTAs, hasta donde sabemos, este es el primero que evalua empiricamente si la participacion en las OTAs crea valor para los propietarios e inversores de hoteles.

Comparative results of calculation and measurement of the frequency responses of the surface acoustic waves filter on a piezoelectric substrate of 64°YX-cut lithium niobate and delay line on a piezoelectric substrate of 128°YX-cut lithium niobate is presented. The calculation was performed on the basis of two approaches—the finite element method in the COMSOL Multiphysics software and using the model of coupling of modes based on P-matrices. A brief overview and features of each approach are presented. The calculation results based on the two approaches are in good agreement with each other and with the experimental results of measurements of the characteristics of the bandpass filter. The delay line operating with the use of the third harmonic frequency is calculated by FEM. The results showed a good match between numerical simulation and experiment. The considered approaches for designing SAW devices allow us to relatively quickly and accurately predict the frequency responses at the simulation stage, thereby reducing the number of experimental iterations and increasing the efficiency of development.

Background A load carrying task was identified as a major factor leading to slip and fall injuries such as overexertion and bodily reaction. Holding a load in front of the body while walking would shift the whole body center-of-mass to the front, loading additional rotational torque at the foot-ground contact. Objectives The present study evaluated if carrying a load would increase the likelihood of slip initiation and the slip severity. Methods Eleven young and 10 older adults participated in the present study. A dry surface or a slippery surface was introduced while walking. Slip distance, peak sliding heel velocity, heel contact velocity, and required coefficient of friction were measured to test the study hypotheses. Results The results showed that significant main effects were found in slip distance, and peak sliding heel velocity and no main effect were found in heel contact velocity and required coefficient of friction. Conclusion In conclusion, younger adults were found to slip longer and faster on the slippery surface while carrying a load. On the contrary, the older adults employed a safety-centered gait adaptation while carrying, to maintain slip initiation and severity characteristics at the same level as normal walking. Furthermore, light load carriage at 10% of body weight was suggested as a safe task for the elderly.

Hour-by-hour variations in spatial distribution of gender, age and social class within cities remain poorly explored and combined in the segregation literature mainly centered on home places from a single social dimension. Taking advantage of 49 mobility surveys compiled together (385,000 respondents and 1,711,000 trips) and covering 60% of France's population, we consider variations in hourly populations of 2,572 districts after disaggregating population across gender, age and education level. We first isolate five district hourly profiles (two 'daytime attractive', two 'nighttime attractive' and one more 'stable') with very unequal distributions according to urban gradient but also to social groups. We then explore the intersectional forms of these everyday geographies. Taking as reference the dominant groups (men, middle-age and high educated people) known as concentrating hegemonic power and capital, we analyze specifically whether district hourly profiles of dominant groups diverge from those of the others groups. It is especially in the areas exhibiting strong increase or strong decrease of ambient population during the day that district hourly profiles not only combine the largest dissimilarities all together across gender, age and education level but are also widely more synchronous between dominant groups than between non-dominant groups (women, elderly and low educated people). These intersectional patterns shed new light on areas where peers are synchronously located over the 24-hour period and thus potentially in better position to interact and to defend their common interests., Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures + Appendix

An analysis of more than eight years of data from vaccination forums on mothering.com shows that the antivaccination movement is well-organized and widely dispersed, and that it emerged long before concerns about immunity were expressed. The findings are evidence of a formidable challenge to the social norms surrounding vaccination.

Aim To determine the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) of the Zurich Chronic Middle Ear Inventory (ZCMEI-21), a questionnaire assessing health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in chronic otitis media (COM). Methods In this longitudinal study, 103 patients completed the ZCMEI-21 before and after surgery for chronic otitis media. An anchor-based method including a global rating of change (GRC) was used to assess the MCID of the ZCMEI-21. Results A total of 103 patients were included. The mean preoperative and postoperative ZCMEI-21 scores were 28.6 (SD 13.6), and 21.8 (SD 12.8), respectively. The mean change was 6.8 (SD 0.8; p r = − 0.5; p Conclusions Knowledge of values indicating a clinically relevant change in patient-reported outcome measures is important when interpreting effects of different treatment modalities. This is the first study assessing the MCID of a questionnaire measuring HRQoL in COM, i.e. the ZCMEI-21. We recommend a MCID of 5 in COM patients undergoing surgical treatment. This information substantially increases the usefulness of the ZCMEI-21 as an outcome measure in COM as changes can be assessed with regard to their clinical meaningfulness.

Cette intervention sous forme de récit d’expérience se fera à plusieurs voix. Celles d'une équipe d’architectes, d’architectes-chercheurs et de chercheurs qui ont travaillé ensemble entre 2017 et 2019 à la réalisation d'une vaste étude pré-opérationnelle sur les espaces publics des gares du Grand Paris Express, commanditée par la Société du Grand Paris et Ile-de-France Mobilité. Ayant participé pour certains à la consultation internationale sur le Grand Pari de l’Agglomération parisienne en 2008 dans le Groupe Descartes puis à l’Atelier International du grand Paris à partir de 2012 dans le groupement TVK, un premier récit en arrière sur ces deux moments successifs esquissera la généalogie de l’approche d’aujourd’hui : tant dans son organisation pratique (composition et fonctionnement de l’équipe) que dans son ancrage conceptuel et méthodologique. Le récit de l’élaboration du Guide pour la conception des espaces publics du Grand Paris Express (à paraître en novembre 2019) élaboré par l'équipe permettra ensuite d’évoquer tant la configuration d’acteurs dans laquelle il s’insère (commanditaires, partenaires, destinataires) que les thématiques qu’il soulève. Que signifie vouloir penser et concevoir des espaces publics à l'échelle du Grand Paris ? Dans un contexte de gouvernance métropolitaine complexe et encore en devenir, il s’agit de faire de la multiplicité des échelles et des temporalités un levier pour le projet et une occasion pour questionner les modes de son énonciation et de sa représentation. Dans quelle mesure ce travail permet-il d’envisager aujourd’hui le chemin parcouru depuis la consultation de 2008 ? Comment sa méthode s'est-elle nourrie de ces expériences successives et de quelle manière ce travail peut-il être regardé comme un de leurs « effets » ? La question restera à discuter avec la salle.

to analyze the metabolic syndrome concept and to identify its essential features, antecedents, and outcomes within the context of nursing.conceptual analysis, based on the methodological steps of a model. We carried out an integrative review by accessing four databases online: Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, Scientific Electronic Library Online, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature, and Índice Bibliográfico Español en Ciencias de la Salud.the essential features most frequently involved the diagnostic criteria of metabolic syndrome. Inadequate nutrition and physical inactivity were highlighted as the most common antecedents of the syndrome, and the outcomes were occurrences of cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus type 2. As implication, we highlight relevant empirical data to the broad definition of the concept.we could analyze the concept under study regarding essential features, antecedents, and outcomes, operationally defining it as a potential nursing phenomenon, which demands health care focusing on reducing risks and morbidity and mortality for cardiovascular diseases.analisar o conceito síndrome metabólica e identificar respectivos atributos essenciais, antecedentes e consequentes no contexto da enfermagem.análise conceitual, a partir dos passos metodológicos de um modelo. Realizou-se revisão integrativa, por meio de acesso on-line a quatro bases de dados: Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, Scientific Electronic Library Online, Literatura Latino-Americana em Ciências da Saúde e Índice Bibliográfico Español en Ciencias de la Salud.os atributos essenciais mais frequentes envolveram os critérios diagnósticos da síndrome metabólica. Alimentação inadequada e sedentarismo destacaram-se como antecedentes mais comuns da síndrome, e os consequentes foram ocorrências de doenças cardiovasculares e diabetes mellitus tipo 2. Como implicação, tem-se o destaque de relevantes dados empíricos para definição ampla do conceito.foi possível analisar o conceito em estudo no que concerne aos atributos essenciais, antecedentes e consequentes, definindo-o operacionalmente como potencial fenômeno de enfermagem que demanda cuidados direcionados para redução do risco e da morbimortalidade por doenças cardiovasculares.analizar el concepto síndrome metabólica e identificar respectivos atributos esenciales, antecedentes y consecuentes en el contexto de la enfermería.análisis conceptual, desde los pasos metodológicos de un modelo. Se realizó la revisión integrativa, por medio de acceso online a cuatro bases de datos: Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, Scientific Electronic Library Online, Literatura Latinoamericana en Ciencias de la Salud y Índice Bibliográfico Español en Ciencias de la Salud.los atributos esenciales más frecuentes involucraron los criterios diagnósticos del síndrome metabólica. Alimentación inadecuada y sedentarismo se destacaron como antecedentes más comunes del síndrome, y los consecuentes fueron ocurrencias de enfermedades cardiovasculares y diabetes mellitus tipo 2. Como implicación, se tiene el destaque de relevantes datos empíricos para la definición amplia del concepto.ha sido posible analizar el concepto en estudio en el que concierne a los atributos esenciales, antecedentes y consecuentes, definiéndolo operacionalmente como potencial fenómeno de enfermería que demanda cuidados direccionados para la reducción del riesgo y de la morbimortalidad por enfermedades cardiovasculares.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the energetics and the biomechanics of double poling technique (DP) in two groups of cross-country skiers. Eight high-level (HLG) and eight regional-level (RLG) skiers performed a 5-min sub-maximal DP trial, roller skiing on a treadmill at 14 km h−1 and 2°. Energetic cost (ECDP), center of mass (COM) vertical displacement range, body inclination (θ, i.e., the angle between the vertical line and the line passing through COM and a fixed pivot point identified at feet level) and mechanical work associated to COM motion were analyzed. Pole and joint kinematics, poling forces and cycle timing were also considered. HLG showed lower ECDP than RLG, smaller COM vertical displacement range and mechanical work, whereas higher θ during the early part of the poling phase (P

SUMMARYIn this paper, an analytical formula for the determination of the center of mass position in humanoid platforms is proposed and tested in a real humanoid robot. The formula uses the force-torque values obtained by the two force-torque sensors applied on the feet of the robot and the measured currents required from the motors to maintain balance as inputs. The proposed formula outputs the real center of mass position that minimizes the errors between real humanoid robots and virtual models. Data related to the Zero Moment Point positions and to the joint movements are compared with the target values, showing how the application of the proposed formula enables achieving better repeatability and predictability of the static and dynamic robot behaviour.

Kidney stones are one of the urologic diseases that have plagued mankind for centuries. The main constituents of stones in the kidney are calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM) crystals. Nowadays, there are varieties of drugs and treatments that can be made to minimize the grievances due to kidney stone disease. The treatment can be done either by using chemicals or traditional medicine. Calcusol™ is one of the popular herbal products that have been used by Indonesian people in curing the kidney stone disease. The main constituent that was contained in Calcusol™ is an extract of the tempuyung leaves (Sonchus arvensis L.), which is expected could cure the kidney stone disease. This study used primary cultured renal epithelial cells of mice to determine the optimal dose of Calcusol™ and the optimal dose of COM. The primary Kidney epithelial cell were treated with Calcusol™ and COM at various doses. The analysis of the cell death either by necrosis or apoptosis pathways was analyzed by flow cytometric analysis. The results that were obtained is the percentage of cell death that is then analyzed by using a complete randomized design (CRD) One Way Anova. Based on the results that were obtained, it is known that the optimal dose of Calcusol™ in vitro were ranging from 75 ppm to 100 ppm, whereas the optimal dose of COM suggested for 500 ppm.

PurposeThis paper aims to examine event sponsorship decision making by the Indian drinks industry, comparing the non‐alcoholic and alcoholic drinks sectors.Design/methodology/approachData regarding event sponsorship activity, perceptions of event sponsorship, motives to sponsor, form of investment and structure of sponsorship was obtained from a sample of 61 drinks producers in India through a questionnaire. Mann‐Whitney and logistic regression were employed to compare the alcoholic and the non‐alcoholic sectors.FindingsThe results suggest that the alcohol and non‐alcohol drinks sectors sponsored a similar level of events, but in investment volume terms, sponsorship from the non‐alcoholic sector is far greater than that of the alcoholic sector. While the two sectors are similar in many ways, the emphasis placed on certain motives for sponsoring events was different, with alcoholic drinks businesses placing greater importance on reaching niche audiences and increasing media coverage than non‐alcoholic ones.Research limitations/implicationsA limited number of areas of the sponsorship decision‐making were covered, yet the study provides insights into the decision making of one of the key sponsoring industries: the drinks industry.Practical implicationsSecuring sponsorship is becoming more difficult and complex. By understanding how sponsors make decisions, including potential variations between companies within an industry, event organisers will be in a better position to tailor sponsorship proposals, enhancing the likelihood of obtaining the desired sponsorship contracts.Originality/valueMost sponsor decision‐making research focuses on how sponsorship decisions can be improved so that they work better for the sponsor. This paper, in contrast, emphasises that by understanding how clients make decisions (i.e. sponsors), sellers (i.e. the sponsored) will be in a better position to win over competition and secure the desired sponsorship deals.

In this paper, a prototype of ship basic planning system is implemented for the small and medium sized shipyards based on the internet technology and concurrent engineering concept. The system is designed from the user requirements. Consequently, standardized development environment and tools are selected. These tools are used for the system development to define and evaluate core application technologies. The system will contribute to increasing competitiveness of small and medium sized shipyards in the 21st century industrial en-vironment.

As nonprofit and charity organizations face increasing competition, there have been growing interests in how nonprofit organizations conduct commercial activities to raise funds as well as grow their business. However, there is lack of prior research about market-oriented and/or commercial activities in the context of nonprofit business. This study examines the process of how nonprofit organizations use relationally embedded network ties to acquire financial, human, and human capital resources to fulfill their social mission and achieve business growth. The study investigates commercial activity of three U.K.-based nonprofit organizations using the case study method. The findings contribute to insights into components of network ties for acquiring three different network resources of financial, human, and human capital. Nonprofit organizations leverage social mission to improve their ability to acquire network resources. The findings also suggest the charity and social mission of nonprofit business enhance trustworthiness in relationally embedded network ties for resource acquisition.

Although consumers are increasingly engaged with ethical factors when forming opinions about products and making purchase decisions, recent studies have highlighted significant differences between consumers’ intentions to consume ethically, and their actual purchase behaviour. This article contributes to an understanding of this ‘Ethical Purchasing Gap’ through a review of existing literature, and the inductive analysis of focus group discussions. A model is suggested which includes exogenous variables such as moral maturity and age which have been well covered in the literature, together with further impeding factors identified from the focus group discussions. For some consumers, inertia in purchasing behaviour was such that the decision-making process was devoid of ethical considerations. Several consumers manifested their ethical views through post-purchase dissonance and retrospective feelings of guilt. Others displayed a reluctance to consume ethically due to personal constraints, a perceived negative impact on image or quality, or an outright negation of responsibility. Those who expressed a desire to consume ethically often seemed deterred by cynicism, which caused them to question the impact they, as an individual, could achieve. These findings enhance the understanding of ethical consumption decisions and provide a platform for future research in this area.

In many countries rural maternity care is under threat. Consequently rural pregnant women will have to travel further to attend larger maternity units to receive care and deliver their babies. This trend is not dissimilar from the disappearance of other rural services, such as village shops, banks, post offices and bus services. We use a comparative approach to draw an analogy with large-scale supermarkets, such as the Wal-Mart and Tesco and their effect on the viability of smaller rural shops, depersonalisation of service and the wider community. The closure of a community–maternity unit leads to women attending a different type of hospital with a different approach to maternity care. Thus small community–midwifery units are being replaced, not by a very similar unit that happens to be further away, but by a larger obstetric unit that operates on different models, philosophy and notions of risk. Comparative analysis allows a fresh perspective on the provision of rural maternity services. We argue that previous discussions focusing on medicalisation and change in maternity services can be enhanced by drawing on experience in other sectors and taking a wider societal lens.

How should corporate directors determine what is the ‘right’ decision? For at least the past 30 years the debate has raged as to whether shareholder value should take precedence over corporate social responsibility when crucial decisions arise. Directors face pressure, not least from ‘ethical’ investors, to do the ‘good’ thing when they seek to make the ‘right’ choice. Corporate governance theory has tended to look to agency theory and the need of boards to curb excessive executive power to guide directors' decisions. While useful for those purposes, agency theory provides only limited guidance. Supplementing it with the alternatives -stakeholder theory and stewardship theory – tends to put directors in conflict with their legal obligations to work in the interests of shareholders. This paper seeks to reframe the discussion about corporate governance in terms of the ethical debate between consequential, teleological approaches to ethics and idealist, deontological ones, suggesting that directors are – for good reason – more inclined toward utilitarian judgments like those underpinning shareholder value. But the problems with shareholder value have become so great that a different framework is needed: strategic value, with an emphasis on long-term value creation judged from a decidedly utilitarian standpoint.

COM; International audience

National audience

International audience; The cooling of a basaltic melt undergoing chaotic advection is studied numerically for a magma with a temperature-dependent viscosity in a two-dimensional (2D) cavity with moving boundary. Different statistical mixing and energy indicators are used to characterize the efficiency of cooling by thermal chaotic mixing. We show that different cooling rates can be obtained during the thermal mixing of a single basaltic magmatic batch undergoing chaotic advection. This process can induce complex temperature patterns inside the magma chamber. The emergence of chaotic dynamics strongly modulates the temperature fields over time and greatly increases the cooling rates. This mechanism has implications for the thermal lifetime of the magmatic body and may favor the appearance of chemical heterogeneities in the igneous system as a result of different crystallization rates. Results from this study also highlight that even a single magma batch can develop, under chaotic thermal advection, complex thermal and therefore compositional patterns resulting from different cooling rates, which can account for some natural features that, to date, have received unsatisfactory explanations, including the production of magmatic enclaves showing completely different cooling histories compared with the host magma, compositional zoning in mineral phases, and the generation of large-scale compositional zoning observed in many plutons worldwide. \textcopyright 2015, Springer Basel.

Business failure represents a significant outcome of entrepreneurial activity and yet remains an underdeveloped area of research. This article focuses on the attitudes of VC investors towards entrepreneurs with a previous failure experience. It illustrates that VCs recognise the complex, contextual nature of failure and do not necessarily perceive the entrepreneur to be the primary cause of the venture’s demise. Consequently, the article differentiates between ‘business’, ‘entrepreneurial’ and ‘venture capitalist’ failure. The article demonstrates that VCs often adopt a tolerant, flexible and open-minded attitude to failure and are keen to understand the circumstances in which it occurred. The majority of the VCs in the study emphasise that their decision to invest in an entrepreneur is not negatively affected to any significant degree by a previous experience of failure. A number of influential factors are presented, such as a high quality concept, which can\ud offset this aspect of the entrepreneur’s track record. The article concludes that business failure is not automatically considered a ‘black mark’ by VCs. It is important for entrepreneurs involved in business failure to be aware of these positive and sympathetic attitudes when considering putting forward new proposals to the VC community.

The evolution of reporting about employees in the 20th century culminated in the mandatory disclosures of the Companies Act (1985). This paper reports upon a study of the employee reporting practices of FTSE 100 companies that was carried out by examining the year 2000 annual report and accounts.\ud \ud The analysis whilst noting a wide range of practice among these companies, finds that their annual reports indicate an apparent disregard for the statutory disclosures. Even where such disclosures are made, they often appear to lack any conviction, adhering only to threshold compliance.\ud

In 2005 by reforming its primary school curriculum Turkey has introduced a set of regarding methods of acquiring and teaching national spiritual cultural and universal values. Considered within the contexts of Turkey’s EU bid and globalisation, acquisition of moral values bears importance for the national education system of Turkey. This study aims to bring to light in a comparative way the acquisition level of some universal values such as tolerance, respect, helpfulness, fairness and honesty among pupils who are about to finish primary fifth grade and attend socio-economically various schools in the Samsun province These values take place in the curricula of Religious Culture and Moral Studies, Social Studies, Turkish, and Life Studies which were courses in effect since 2005-2006 education year. It is anticipated that this study will provide valuable information regarding the acquisition level of values taking place in the teaching programs. The results will help in coming up with the ways in which the primary school program can be made sustainable and developed further. To this end, a step-by-step approach has been followed: literature review, examining elementary school curricula to define common universal values, development and implementation of data collection tool, and evaluation of results. In this research, a survey in line with the elementary school curricula guide books was developed by the researcher and used to determine the value acquisition levels of the students. Regarding the values studied in this study, it has been found out that while the acquisition level of “honesty” does not vary according to the gender variable while the acquisition level of some items related to values such as “fairness, tolerance, respect, helpfulness” do. In addition, acquisition level of some items representing different values vary in terms of socio-economic level of students.

In this paper, we provide a characterization of interim ine±ciency in stochastic economies of overlapping generations under possibly sequentially incomplete markets. With respect to the established body of results in the literature, we remove the hypothesis of two-period horizons, by considering longer, though uniformly bounded, horizons for generations. The characteri- zation exploits a suitably Modi¯ed Cass Criterion, grounded on the long-rung behavior of compounded safe interest rates and independent of the length of horizons of generations. Thus, the hypothesis of two-period horizons is purely heuristic in establishing a criterion for ine±ciency. In addition, for sequentially incomplete markets, we adopt a suitable notion of unambiguous ine±ciency, separating the ine±cient intertemporal allocation of resources from incomplete risk-sharing. Unambiguous ine±ciency reduces to ine±ciency when markets are sequentially complete.

En este trabajo se estudia la creación del seminario conciliar de la diócesis del Tucumán. Un colegio muy distinto a los ordenados en el concilio de Trento, tanto por sus características, como porque su fundación formal tuvo por objetivo que la Compañía de Jesús se arraigara en el territorio tucumano y se hiciera cargo de la evangelización. Se trata de un ejemplo de cómo los mandatos del Concilio de Trento debieron modificarse al implantarse en Indias, pues, al igual que cualquier otra norma, los decretos canónicos tuvieron que adaptarse para responder a las necesidades de cada una de las diócesis, a las características de la tierra y a la forma en que en ella se organizaban los poderes.

Our ongoing work aims at defining an ontology-centered approach for building expertise models for the CommonKADS methodology. This approach (which we have named "OntoKADS") is founded on a core problem-solving ontology which distinguishes between two conceptualization levels: at an object level, a set of concepts enable us to define classes of problem-solving situations, and at a meta level, a set of meta-concepts represent modeling primitives. In this article, our presentation of OntoKADS will focus on the core ontology and, in particular, on roles - the primitive situated at the interface between domain knowledge and reasoning, and whose ontological status is still much debated. We first propose a coherent, global, ontological framework which enables us to account for this primitive. We then show how this novel characterization of the primitive allows definition of new rules for the construction of expertise models.

This study uses a new market analysis methodology to examine price and trade relationships in eight Pacific Rim factor and product markets central to the Canadian and U.S. pork industries. The new method enables direct estimation of the frequencies with which a variety of market conditions occur, including competitive equilibrium, tradability, and segmented equilibrium. While extraordinary profit opportunities emerge episodically in a few niche markets, the vast majority of the markets studies are highly competitive- exhibiting zero estimated marginal profits to spatial arbitrage at monthly frequency- and internationally contestable. With a few notable exceptions due primarily to nontariff barriers, and despite significant remaining tariffs in some niches, the Pacific Rim is effectively a single market for pork producers and processors today.

This work's goal is the definition of a set of criteria to be used as a reference for evaluation and comparison of existing distributed object technologies. In particular the defined criteria are applied to the evaluation of: CORBA, DCOM and RMI but they can also be applied to other distributed object technologies or to compare implementations of a particular one. The results of the our evaluation are discussed and presented.

Tez (Yüksek Lisans) -- İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, 1999, Thesis (M.Sc.) -- İstanbul Technical University, Institute of Science and Technology, 1999, Bu çalışmada hesaplama modelleri içinde en fazla paralellik içeren MIMD modelinin yazılımla gerçeklemesi yapılmıştır. Bunun için alt yapı olarak dağıtılmış nesnesel birim modeli (DCOM) kullanılmıştır. Eşzamanlı (synchcronous) iletişimle haberleşen istemci-sunucu modeli kullanılmıştır. Ağ üzerinde farklı bilgisayarlarda paralel olarak çalışan sunucu nesneleri (COM Objects) , bir istemci tarafından kontrol edilir. İstemcinin işleri bu sunuculara dağıtıp paralel olarak çalıştırabilmesi için genel paralelleştirme algoritması geliştirilmiştir. Bu algoritma göre istemci öncelikle bir problemi birbirinden mümkün olduğunca bağımsız alt problemlere ayırır ve bu işleri sunucu nesnelerine dağıtır. Daha sonra sonuçları toplayarak birleştirir ve problemin çözümünü oluşturur. Geliştirilen bu paralel sistem görüntü işleme alanına uygulanmıştır. Hough dönüşümü ve parmak izi işleme algoritmaları paralel olarak gerçeklenmiştir. Yapılan testler sonucunda bu işlemlerin paralel yapılmasın ardışık yapılmasına göre çok daha hızlı olduğu sonucu çıkarılmıştır. N tane sunucu nesnesi ile yaklaşık N kat hız kazancı sağlanmıştır. Testler sonrasında ağ bant genişliğini daha etkin kullanımı ve sunucularda oluşan hataların giderilmesi için çalışmalar yapılmıştır., In this study, MIMD computational model, which is the best model in terms of parallel computation, is implemented using Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) as framework. Synchronous communication is used in client-server model. A Client program controls Server programs (COM Objects) running on different machines in the same network. A general parallel model is developed to distribute tasks to Server objects. In this algorithm, Client program divides the problem into sub-problems and distributes to Server objects. After servers finish their job, Client gets back the results and combines them to get the final solution. This parallel model is applied to image processing algorithms. Parallel Hough transformation and fingerprint image processing are implemented. As a result, it’s seen that parallel implementation of these algorithms is much more faster then the sequential counterpart. With N parallel Server objects, it’s almost N times faster. After the tests, more study is done for efficient use of network bandwidth and for elimination of Server error., Yüksek Lisans, M.Sc.

Background: Internal calcium waves and oscillations are now recognized as universal features of cellular activation, but their exact role remains uncertain. In mammalian and ascidian eggs, a large, sperm-triggered calcium activation wave crosses the egg at fertilization, followed by a series of periodic increases in intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca 2+ ] i ). We have previously shown that, in eggs of the ascidian Phallusia mammillata, these periodic, post-activation [Ca 2+ ] i increases are in the form of waves, the origin of which relocalizes to a pacemaker region, and that they stop seconds before the completion of meiosis. Results We show here that the origin of the first one to four post-activation calcium waves in P. mammillata eggs transfers progressively from the site of sperm entry, usually in the animal hemisphere, towards an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-rich contraction pole in the vegetal hemisphere, a process that takes about five minutes. Once the origin of these repetitive post-activation calcium waves has reached the contraction pole, all subsequent calcium waves originate from the domain of ER concentrated there, which acts as a pacemaker. The first few post-activation calcium waves are faster than the activation wave and, like the activation wave, they propagate homogeneously throughout the cytoplasm. Approximately five to ten minutes after fertilization, the post-activation calcium waves begin to propagate preferentially in the egg cortex. By manipulating intracellular calcium levels with caged inositol 1, 4, 5 trisphosphate (InsP 3 ) and a competitive inhibitor of InsP 3 -induced calcium release, we show that the activation wave induced by the sperm is sufficient to induce extrusion of the first polar body, but that additional [Ca 2+ ] i increases are necessary for completion of the second meiotic division. However, periodic calcium waves per se do not seem to be strictly necessary for the completion of meiosis, as a persistent and homogeneous increase in calcium, induced by the calcium ionophore ionomycin, is sufficient to cause second polar body formation and allow completion of meiosis on time. Conclusion These results clearly show that, in the ascidian egg, post-activation calcium waves are required to complete meiosis. They also show that following a period of progressive relocalization of the wave origin, which lasts approximately five minutes, an ER-rich domain at the contraction pole finally becomes a pacemaker from which the calcium waves originate. Once their origin becomes stably localized, the calcium waves begin to propagate preferentially around the cortex of the egg rather than throughout the egg cytoplasm.

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International audience; This presentation describes a research project aiming at building integrated urban models. We illustrate such approaches with previous work on the modeling of interaction between transportation networks and territories, both at the mesoscopic and macroscopic scales. We then develop the different types of integrations required. Horizontal integration consists in developing interdisciplinary approaches, fostered by reflexivity. The coupling of models with different ontologies and purposes is an other aspect of horizontal integration, which can be implemented through multi-modeling. Vertical integration aims at constructing multi-scalar models. Finally, the integration of different knowledge domains is assumed to be induced by the use of simulation models exploration methods, the simulation models acting as intermediate to couple viewpoints and theories. We discuss how such integrated models and theories could be applied to the design of sustainable multi-scalar policies.

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International audience; L'objectif de la communication est de questionner l'émergence de nouvelles politiques territoriales des villes en décroissance en France dans le cadre des programmes de renouvellement urbain et des politiques publiques participatives. On peut observer que dans ce cadre les nouvelles politiques territoriales réussissent à redynamiser le tissu économique et social des villes en décroissance. La communication développe une approche comparative de deux projets d'aménagement des sites désindustrialisés en France, l'Ile-de-Nantes et les Docks-de-Seine à Saint-Ouen, en se focalisant sur les cas de deux projets urbains représentatifs des politiques publiques participatives, situés tous les deux dans des quartiers centraux des villes en décroissance. A partir de cette recherche on vise à proposer de nouveaux modèles de planification des villes en décroissance en faisant le lien entre les programmes de renouvellement urbain au sein de ces villes et la question de la préservation de leur passé industriel.

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International audience; In a context of global change, the international scientific community recommends an increase in the number of MPAs for the preservation of biodiversity and the sustainable exploitation of resources. It is thus advisable to estimate the real efficiency of MPAs and to follow their evolution in time. Within the framework of the French project ANR AMPHORE, research operations were led in two West African reserves: Sine Saloum estuary in Senegal and PNBA in Mauritania. Information on the fish assemblage inside and outside of the reserves was collected as well as the fishing activities in the bordering zones of the MPAs. Besides, IBM and ecosystem modelling were realized, allowing to better understand the real evolution of the fish populations and the contribution of MPAs to the outside areas. The conjugation of methods used at different scales of observation and processing, gave a clearer vision of the real efficiency of these reserves: effects are not immediate and long-term measures need to be set up for ecosystems restoration, with possibly late returns on investment. It clearly appeared that the systematic implementation of MPAs with severe limitations and bans on use could lead to real difficulties of acceptability for the local populations

International audience; The structure of road networks both translates its past growth dynamics and has a significant impact on the sustainability of territories it irrigates. A method to characterize topologies of these spatial networks is network percolation. Such approaches have been applied to the modeling of urban growth (Makse et al., 1998) and to the analysis of street networks for example to extract endogenous urban regions (Arcaute et al., 2016) or to characterize the spatial morphology of point patterns Huynh et al. (2018). Existing heuristics however generally focus on a single morphological dimension of networks, and leave out the functional properties of urban systems (Burger and Meijers, 2012). This communication addresses such a gap by introducing a multi-dimensional percolation heuristic, which is analog to multilayer network percolation (Boccaletti et al., 2014). Given discrete spatial fields, site percolation is operated between two cells given a threshold parameter for each dimension and a distance threshold. We apply the heuristic to urban morphology and road network topology measures in Europe. More precisely, a grid with resolution 50km of population density morphology indicators and road network topology indicators, has been computed on spatial moving windows for all European Union by Raimbault (2018). We percolate the population density layer with a network characteristic layer, that we test among number of edges, number of vertices, cyclomatic number and euclidian efficiency, which capture functional properties especially for the two last. We systematically explore the clusters obtained for 840 parameter configurations. Maps reveal that most configurations resemble the actual distribution of European mega-city regions, which are functionally integrated polycentric urban areas (Hall and Pain, 2006). We use this endogenous definition of regional urban systems the percolation algorithm produced to evaluate their sustain- ability, in terms of conflicting objectives of economic integration and greenhouse gases emissions. Applying a gravity model to each region, we estimate transportation flows within each and extrapolate emissions by coupling with the Edgar emission database (Janssens-Maenhout et al., 2017) and economic activities with a scaling law of population. We show therein that different population, network and distance thresholds yield different performances in terms of sustainability, exhibiting a Pareto front. This suggests policies in terms of regional integration to increase the sustainability of mega-city regions. Further work will consist in the use of calibration heuristics (Reuillon et al., 2013) to find in a more robust way optimal parameter values.

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