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Seizures have sleep–wake and circadian patterns in various epilepsies and, in turn, disrupt sleep and circadian rhythms. The resultant sleep deprivation (SD) is an exacerbating factor for seizures that sets up a vicious cycle that can potentially lead to disease progression and even to epilepsy-related mortality. A variety of cellular or network electrophysiological changes and changes in expression of clock-controlled genes or other transcription factors underlie sleep–wake and circadian distribution of seizures, as well as the disruptions seen in both. A broad understanding of these mechanisms may help in designing better treatments to prevent SD-induced seizure exacerbation, disrupt the vicious cycle of disease progression, and reduce epilepsy-related mortality.

This paper investigates the opportunities and barriers to business engagement in the UK domestic retrofit sector. There are approximately 28 million UK dwellings accounting for 30% of UK total energy consumption. Almost all of the existing housing stock will require some form of retrofit in order to meet the UK Government’s Net Zero emissions target by 2050. However, adoption has been much lower than required. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with industry professionals to investigate the key barriers and opportunities for businesses in the retrofit market. The results suggest that there is significant opportunity for businesses, but engagement has been suppressed by three main categories of barriers: (1) Those that cause lack of consumer demand; (2) Those that constrain retrofit projects, limiting their volume and scalability; (3) Those resulting from a lack of government will or direction. Business opportunity for retrofit was seen to extend globally, with substantial market growth possible. The paper suggests potential roles and solutions key stakeholders could take to achieve the volume of retrofit required. The findings should be of interest to all stakeholders who wish to overcome the multitude of barriers to business engagement in the retrofit sector and realise the potential opportunities. Practical application: This study aims to understand the barriers preventing the large-scale adoption of domestic retrofit in the UK in order to identify avenues for increasing business engagement in the sector. Potential areas believed to present significant opportunity for businesses when engaging in, developing and upscaling the retrofit process and solutions are highlighted. This paper should be of interest to building industry professionals already or wanting to undertake domestic retrofit works in future. The paper also gathers the views of current building industry professionals through semi-structured interviews providing an industry centric assessment of the sector’s challenges and possible solutions.

Urinary catheters have been used on an intermittent or indwelling basis for centuries, in order to relieve urinary retention and incontinence. Nevertheless, the use of urinary catheters in the clinical setting is fraught with complication, the most common of which is the development of nosocomial urinary tract infections, known as catheter-associated urinary tract infections. Infections of this nature are not only significant owing to their high incidence rate and subsequent economic burden but also to the severe medical consecutions that result. A range of techniques have been employed in recent years, utilising various technologies in attempts to counteract the perilous medical cascade following catheter blockage. This review will focus on the current advancement (within the last 10 years) in prevention of encrustation and blockage of long-term indwelling catheters both from engineering and medical perspectives, with particular emphasis on the importance of stimuli-responsive systems.

Swimmers undertake dry-land resistance training as part of their overall training regime in order to increase lower body force output, impulse and swim turn performance. We investigated whether short-term ballistic training or maximal strength training is more effective in enhancing leg extensor force characteristics during the swim turn. Twelve elite swimmers (10 males and 2 females 19.4 ± 1.0 y) were assigned to either strength (n = 6) or ballistic leg extensor (n = 6) training based on their coaching group for a six-week period. All testing was conducted during the final training cycle towards the World Championships selection trials. Swimmers undertook dry-land testing of a squat jump on a portable force platform with bodyweight only and an additional 30 kg load for males and 20 kg load for females. On the same day, all swimmers performed a turn analysis using a fixed force platform within the pool wall. There were no substantial differences between the strength and ballistic groups after the six-week...

Objective: We report an unusual case of masticator space foreign body in a patient presenting with otorrhea and granulation tissue within the external auditory canal (EAC). Methods: Case report. Results: A 16-month-old male presented with fever, unilateral otorrhea, facial swelling, leukocytosis, and granulation tissue within the EAC that failed to respond to conventional medical treatment. Computed tomography scan showed EAC and middle ear opacification and soft tissue swelling involving the masticator space. Given concerns for malignancy, biopsies of tissue within the EAC and of a newly detected right buccal mass were performed, revealing granulation tissue. Concern persisted for neoplasm, however, and magnetic resonance imaging was obtained, showing a masticator space foreign body and possible osteomyelitis of the mandible and pterygoid plates. The patient underwent urgent operative removal of a 3 cm crayon fragment from the masticator space and debridement of granulation tissue arising from a small defect at the inferior medial cartilaginous EAC. He likely sustained foreign body injury several weeks earlier upon falling from standing height while biting a crayon. Postoperatively, he was observed in hospital on intravenous antibiotics and improved significantly. He has since fully recovered. Conclusion: Masticator space foreign bodies may present with erosion and granulation tissue of the EAC.

This paper consolidates emerging evidence on factors influencing the post-entry performance of INVs. It also addresses the challenging question of how to effectively measure performance in the entrepreneurial internationalisation context. The discussion presents and reflects on empirical findings from the studies included in the current Special Issue on INVs’ post-entry performance, extends debates on the themes examined and performance measures employed, whilst also acknowledging issues requiring future investigation. Notably, the studies’ findings reinforce previous evidence on the performance-enhancing effects of exposure to diverse, extra-regional market. Support is also reported for the importance of learning capabilities, but the relevant study goes even further to show how these capabilities interact with INVs’ strategies and resources to enhance post-entry performance. INV setting is especially difficult for the performance measurement as internationalization requires resources and young age means that firms are early in their life-cycle and financial performance, for example, may not be relevant. The paper also addresses the issues associated with measuring post-entry performance among INVs and discusses next steps and future research implications.

Issues in mental health treatment for black women are multiplicative, significant, and often controversial. As black women increasingly seek professional mental health services, it is imperative that social work practitioners utilize strategies that are based on culturally congruent mental health paradigms that illuminate their strengths and recognize the deficits in the environment. Black feminist therapy has been identified as one such method. Black feminist therapy can mark a beacon in mental health practice, theory, and inform a political movement in the combating of their complex and multiplicative oppressions. This column serves as a call to action to the profession.

Objectives: This study investigated the effectiveness of a culturally congruent group intervention program entitled “Claiming Your Connections (CYC)” aimed at reducing stress and enhancing psychosocial competence (i.e., locus of control and active coping) among Black college women. Method: Using an experimental design, a total of 96 undergraduate Black college women recruited from four predominantly White institutions and one historically Black college and university were randomly assigned to either the CYC group ( n = 49) or the wait-list control group ( n = 47). The CYC group attended 10-week group intervention sessions. Repeated measures analysis of variance was used to test intervention effects for the outcome variables. Results: After the intervention, the CYC group reported a significantly greater reduction in perceived stress and external locus of control compared to the control group. Conclusions: Counseling implications and directions for the development of future culturally relevant practice interventions with this population are discussed.

Little is known about black women’s perceptions of service barriers in mental health and substance treatment. This article reports the findings of a qualitative study that explored the perceptions of 29 black women who received treatment in a small urban Northeastern city. Findings of the focus group data revealed participants’ experiences of services as discussed through the themes of bias and stigma; incompatible perspectives of wellness versus illness between consumer and provider; consumer mistrust; and holistic wellness. Participants endorsed counseling as a treatment strategy but were adverse to the use of medication. Practice and research implications are discussed.

In this paper, we suggest that individual experience and reasoning, as applied to new endeavors in internationalization, are concepts with high potential to advance conceptual and empirical research in international entrepreneurship (IE). Experience is known to be important in internationalization, but the logic or reasoning with which it is applied is insufficiently understood. Cognitive, comparison–based reasoning theories explain how individuals draw on experience to make sense of uncertain, novel, and complex situations. Drawing on two such theories, heuristics and analogical reasoning, we delineate the logic of experience and advance speculative propositions on its utility in the context of internationalization research.

The purpose of this special issue on international entrepreneurship (IE) is to explore concepts, phenomena, and theories with high potential to advance the field. Rather than identify concepts from the extant IE literature, we took the more novel approach of challenging leading researchers to write about IE–relevant issues through the perceptual lenses of their own, or other scholarly domains. Through this process of cross–fertilization, our intention was to generate new topics and fresh insights, alternative arguments, and constructs. The issue's seven articles enrich concepts and theories for IE; advance complementary, or competing arguments that underpin IE thinking; and open the IE dialogue to issues of current global significance.

Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are haematological disorders characterized by an overproduction of mature myeloid cells with a tendency to transform to acute myeloid leukaemia. Clonal proliferation of myeloid progenitor cells is driven by somatically acquired mutations, most notably JAK2 V617F, but there are important features relating to pathogenesis and phenotypic diversity that cannot be explained by acquired mutations alone. In this review we consider what is currently known about the role that inherited factors play in the development and biology of both sporadic and familial forms of MPN. Although most MPN cases appear to be sporadic, familial predisposition has been recognized for many years in a subset of cases and epidemiological studies have indicated the presence of common susceptibility alleles. Currently the JAK2 46/1 haplotype (also referred to as ‘GGCC’) is the strongest known predisposition factor for sporadic MPNs carrying a JAK2 V617F mutation, explaining a large proportion of the heritability of this disorder. Less is known about what genetic variants predispose to MPNs that lack JAK2 V617F, but there have been recent reports of interesting associations in biologically plausible candidates, and more loci are set to emerge with the application of systematic genome-wide association methodologies. Several highly penetrant predisposition variants that affect erythropoietin signalling, thrombopoietin signalling or oxygen sensing have been characterized in families with nonclonal hereditary erythrocytosis or thrombocytosis, but much less is known about familial predisposition to true clonal MPN. The heterogeneous pattern of inheritance and presumed genetic heterogeneity in these families makes analysis difficult, but whole exome or genome sequencing should provide novel insights into these elusive disorders.

Purpose: This study examined the efficacy of a culturally congruent group treatment model, entitled “Claiming Your Connections” (CYC) aimed at reducing depressive symptoms and perceived stress, and enhancing psychosocial competence (i.e., locus of control and active coping) among Black women. Method: A total of 58 Black women recruited from health and human service community-based organizations were randomly assigned to either the CYC intervention or a wait-list control group. Women in the CYC program attended weekly group intervention sessions over a 10-week period, and the wait-list control group did not receive any treatment for the same duration. Results: At pretreatment both groups indicated moderate levels of depressive symptoms, perceived stress, and psychosocial competence. After the intervention, the CYC group reported a significant reduction in depressive symptoms and perceived stress. There was no statistically significant change on these variables for the control group. Implications: Results suggest that the CYC group intervention program is effective with Black women who report having difficulty managing stressors of daily life.

This study is concerned with the post-entry internationalization dynamics of newly internationalizing firms, specifically the speed at which their international sales develop after initial entry. In contrast to studies of international new ventures, the focus here is on the newness of internationalization rather than the newness of the firm itself. Firms are differentiated by the speed of internationalization as indicated by international intensity achieved within ten years. A sample of 200 newly internationalizing firms is divided into three groups namely,`rapid',`regular', and `reluctant' internationalizers. The groups are then compared in relation to the influence of: (1) their knowledge intensity, (2) their reliance on ICTs, (3) their international diversification strategy and (4) international channel strategy.The results show that rapid international sales development is associated with higher dependence on one key country market, higher country market diversity of sales and higher reliance on ICTs.

Recent estimates indicate that 10% to 25% of women in the United States report clinically significant depressive symptoms and that Black women are less likely to obtain care for depression and to receive appropriate treatment when they do seek care. Current mental and social health services necessitate a search for strength-based treatment models that affirm the psychosocial and cultural reality of Black women at risk of depression. The emergent psychosocial competence practice model in mental health represents an innovative paradigm with potential relevance and applicability to preventing depression among Black women. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a culturally relevant group intervention with low-income Black women aimed at reducing depression symptoms and enhancing psychosocial competence, including stress reduction, locus of control, and active coping. Directions for the development of future culturally relevant practice interventions with this population are discussed.

Social work interventions that emphasize culturally relevant services from a strengths-based perspective may be more appropriate than traditional mental health services for African American women who suffer from depression. An examination of the literature on epidemiology, etiology, and use of services for this population highlights the paucity of empirical studies, and an exploration of the treatment literature reveals insufficient application of culturally relevant approaches to African American women. Psychosocial competence, a strengths-based approach, and the Black feminist perspective offer the opportunity to gain a clearer understanding of the intersection and influence of oppression among depressed African American women and provide a useful framework for mental health practice with this population. A case vignette is provided, and future directions for research, practice, and policy are discussed.

Over the past few years, a series of novel microfluidic-based instruments were developed by ThalesNano, Inc. to carry out dangerous and difficult to perform chemical reactions in a safe and fast manner, resulting in superior performance to what commercial batch reactors could provide. Importance of microfluidic devices is continuously raising, as seen there are more and more publications, applications and devices in this field expanding the borders of chemistry. Furthermore, as one of the main advantages for pharmaceutical applications, these new revolutionary reactors allow the fast, on-the-fly mode optimization of different heterogeneous reactions in a high-throughput fashion. The heart of the reactor systems is the actual reactor bed, called the CatCart system. CatCarts allow easy handling of heterogeneous catalyst or immobilized reagents without further purification of products. In addition, the shoe-box size of these reactors makes them available from laboratories to industrial applications.

Dynamic task allocation is an essential requirement for multi-robot systems operating in unknown dynamic environments. It allows robots to change their behavior in response to environmental changes or actions of other robots in order to improve overall system performance. Emergent coordination algorithms for task allocation that use only local sensing and no direct communication between robots are attractive because they are robust and scalable. However, a lack of formal analysis tools makes emergent coordination algorithms difficult to design. In this paper we present a mathematical model of a general dynamic task allocation mechanism. Robots using this mechanism have to choose between two types of task, and the goal is to achieve a desired task division in the absence of explicit communication and global knowledge. Robots estimate the state of the environment from repeated local observations and decide which task to choose based on these observations. We model the robots and observations as stochastic processes and study the dynamics of the collective behavior. Specifically, we analyze the effect that the number of observations and the choice of the decision function have on the performance of the system. The mathematical models are validated in a multi-robot multi-foraging scenario. The model's predictions agree very closely with experimental results from sensor-based simulations., Comment: Preprint version of the paper published in International Journal of Robotics, March 2006, Volume 25, pp. 225-242

In modern gas turbine engines there exist significant temperature gradients in the combustor exit flow. These gradients arise because both fuel and dilution air are introduced within the combustor as discrete jets. The effects of this non-uniform temperature field on the aerodynamics and heat transfer rate distributions of nozzle guide vanes and turbine blades is difficult to predict, although an increased understanding of the effects of temperature gradients would enhance the accuracy of estimates of turbine component life and efficiency. Low-frequency measurements of heat transfer rate have been conducted on an annular transonic intermediate-pressure (IP) nozzle guide vane operating downstream of a high-pressure (HP) rotating turbine stage. Measurements were conducted with both uniform and non-uniform inlet temperature profiles. The non-uniform temperature profile included both radial and circumferential gradients of temperature. Experiments were conducted in the isentropic light piston facility at QinetiQ Pyestock, a short-duration engine-size turbine facility with 1.5 turbine stages, in which Mach number, Reynolds number and gas—wall temperature ratios are correctly modelled. Experimental heat transfer results are compared with predictions performed using boundary layer methods.

In this qualitative investigation, the authors report on the overseas expansion processes of technologically oriented U.K. small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The findings provide further challenges to the incremental approach to internationalization; also, the authors put forward criticisms in relation to policymakers’ current approach to categorizing internationalizing SMEs in the provision of trade assistance programs.

Rats developed mixed gliomas, oligodendrogliomas, and a few astrocytomas in response to transplacental ethylnitrosourea. The neoplastic cell composition of mixed gliomas must be defined; this study required a 20-80% admixture of neoplastic astrocytes and oligodendroglia for the diagnosis of mixed glioma. A battery of immunoantibodies, including Leu-7, S-100, and vimentin, were helpful in classifying rat gliomas, and the histologic features of each tumor type are described. Other brain tumor characteristics that may decide the outcome of carcinogenicity studies include incidence, multiplicity, latency, fatality, size, and malignancy. The size of tumors was determined by measuring their 3-dimensional volumes. Brain tumor volume was found to be highly correlated with malignancy and fatality. Systematic evaluation of the malignancy of brain tumors is an important but often overlooked adjunct method of measuring the effectiveness of a carcinogen. A system to estimate malignancy, one that grades 9 tumor characteristics and weights, each according to clinical outcome, was developed. It was found that mixed gliomas grew larger, had a shorter latency, and were significantly more malignant than were other gliomas.

This study of 196 small high-technology firms embraces the areas of the internationalization of entrepreneurially led firms and the early stages of the international growth and development of high-technology firms. The author's conceptual stance is that the early internationalization of small firms should be viewed as an holistic process, that is, one in which interrrelated and even integrated decisions and processes combine to accomplish a firm's individual pattern of internationalization. The study explores firms’ patterns of international development through their establishment of cross-border activity in key value chains and associated service activities.

Two experiments are reported which compare conditional reasoning with three types of rule. These consist of two types of rule that have been widely studied previously, if p then q and p only if q, together with a third type, q if p. In both experiments, the p only if q type of rule yields a different pattern of performance from the two other types of rule. Experiment 1 is an abstract rule-evaluation task and demonstrates differential effects of temporal order and of suppositional bias. Experiment 2 investigates rule generation, rephrasing, and comparison, and demonstrates differential effects of temporal order and of thematic content. An analysis of the results is offered in terms of biases and mental models. Effects of rule form and context can be explained as reflecting the different sequences in which mental models are created for each rule form. However, it is necessary to consider the internal structure of individual mental models to account for effects arising from temporal ordering of rules.

Male and female C57BL/10J mice were fed 0 or 800 ppm cyproterone acetate (CPA) in the diet for 13 weeks. 1 Body weight was reduced (P>0.001 at 13 weeks) by approximately 33%. 2 Seminal vesicle weights were reduced (P>0.001) and showed histological atrophy, changes consistent with the anti-androgenic activity of the compound. 3 Liver weights were increased (P>0.001) by +90% of control mean weights; hepatocyte hypertrophy and increased fat and glycogen were seen by light microscopy, and hyperplasia of smooth endoplasmic reticulin by transmission electron microscopy. 4 Assessment of liver mixed function oxidase activity demonstrated induction of cytochrome P450 enzymes, and increased isozyme 2B1/2 in males and 3A1 in both sexes was confirmed by immunohistochemical staining of liver sections. 5 An increase in bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) labelling index of the liver was seen in females only. 6 This study is the first in a programme of work with CPA designed to investigate the effects of the compound in mice. It demonstrates that the hepatic effects of the compound which have been described in the rat also occur in mice.

The 2000 findings of Jones, Mace, and Williams have been re-examined by Lane in the light of a recent conceptual model outlining the relationship between mood and performance. In addition, Lane outlined some concerns regarding the methodology of Jones, et al. The present paper aims to justify the methodology used and augment the discussion by Lane on the study of mood and emotion in sport.

The example of Boulton and Watt demonstrates the main factors in the creative process: recognition of a problem (thermal losses in the cylinder walls in a Newcomen engine), scientific knowledge (that steam would expand into an evacuated chamber), inspiration and understanding between inventor and administrator. These themes are traced through the more recent history of engineering in Britain, and the lecture discusses the importance of a favourable ambience and the interaction of individuals and organizations. In the education of engineers, institutions of higher education and post-market training arrangements both have parts to play; and although creativity cannot be taught to those who are devoid of it, and although some men will be highly creative irrespective of the way in which they have been educated, a suitable education will speed their progress to the front line of their activity—and it may tip the balance in the case of the much larger number who possess some innate creativity, but who may be discouraged from developing it by unimaginative training. The master/apprentice relation remains the most promising approach, and, more than anything else, a sense of purpose is needed on a national scale if creativity is to be encouraged.

This lecture is addressed primarily to students. It assesses the qualities of some distinguished engineers and their approaches to problems they encountered.

The free speech of each of twelve adult aphasic patients was examined with reference particularly to (1) the distribution of words according to grammatical function, (2) sequential dependencies in form-class usage, and (3) stereotypy in vocabulary. The majority of the aphasic records departed considerably from normal usage (as defined by analysis of twelve control records), with similarity among some patients in the pattern of divergence. The measures used appear to be of particular value in revealing (i) semantic difficulties in word selection and (ii) difficulties in the sequencing of speech that occur along with syntactic losses.

Evidence from recent research suggests that aphasia patients may be distinguished, one from another, by assessing the extent to which their speech departs from normal in terms of frequencies of usage of words from various grammatical classes. A system is proposed for classifying words into distinct grammatical classes. The system is designed to provide ease of classification, for speech either from aphasic patients or normal speakers, and to entail consistent application of grammatical criteria. It lends itself to inclusion in a computer programme for processing English language texts. Some potential uses of the classification system are briefly noted.