Search

Vernon H Vivian,1 Tyson L Pardon,2 Samuel Vivian,3 André Van Zundert4,5 1Department of Anaesthesiology, Gympie General Hospital, Sunshine Coast, QLD, Australia; 2Emergency Department, Sunshine Cost Health Services, Sunshine Coast, QLD, Australia; 3Prehospital EMS, Queensland Ambulance Services, Brisbane, QLD, Australia; 4Department of Anesthesiology, Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital, Brisbane, Australia; 5The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, AustraliaCorrespondence: Vernon H Vivian Email vjcsviv@hotmail.comAbstract: The laryngeal mask airway (LMA) is widely used for airway management in the emergency and elective treatment of patients in both the in-hospital and prehospital setting. The rate of prehospital use is increasing. The LMA is a vital link in the vortex approach to managing a difficult airway. Clinicians will be increasingly faced with the dilemma of managing the patient who has an LMA in place, but still requires the airway secured by an endotracheal tube (ETT). Flexible endoscopic intubation through an LMA is a simpler procedure than awake flexible endoscopic intubation. Furthermore, intubating flexible endoscopes are increasingly available and affordable (now single use) making its use out of the domains of the operating theater and intensive care unit feasible. The authors aim to inform clinicians about the indications, physical characteristics, and insertion/removal techniques related to a new device, the Rescue™ ETT (Genesis Airway Innovations®, Sunshine Coast, Australia), designed specifically for intubation through an LMA over a flexible endoscope and compare them to current devices used for this purpose.Keywords: laryngeal mask airway, intubation, fiberoptic, emergency, airway, scope, vortex

Negation is a complex linguistic phenomenon present in all human languages. It can be seen as an operator that transforms an expression into another expression whose meaning is in some way opposed to the original expression. In this article, we survey previous work on negation with an emphasis on computational approaches. We start defining negation and two important concepts: scope and focus of negation. Then, we survey work in natural language processing that considers negation primarily as a means to improve the results in some task. We also provide information about corpora containing negation annotations in English and other languages, which usually include a combination of annotations of negation cues, scopes, foci, and negated events. We continue the survey with a description of automated approaches to process negation, ranging from early rule-based systems to systems built with traditional machine learning and neural networks. Finally, we conclude with some reflections on current progress and future directions.

The new IEEE Journal of Microwaves strives to be a broad-scoped publication serving the whole of the microwave community, both within and beyond the IEEE. This opening article outlines our philosophy and content, presents our editorial team, and introduces our special Inaugural Issue.

This meta-analysis is intended to evaluate the reliability of evidences published in current regenerative endodontic publications in a critical way. This meta-analysis is used to summarize and analyze the various clinical and radiographic findings associated with nonvital immature permanent teeth which have been treated with regenerative endodontic techniques. We also intend to significantly evaluate the worth of facts provided in the previous published literature. A structured electronic search by authors was undertaken in August 2020 using MEDLINE and PubMed search engine. The chosen parameters studied in this systematic review were presented in flowcharts and were summarized. We observed a good accomplishment rates in terms of survival of the treated tooth and also in resolution of any associated pathology in the apical areas; on contrary, our results in relation to apex closure along with constant root development, our findings from various studies were quiet variable. Regenerative endodontic procedures are constantly being restructured and enhanced to benefit present-day dentistry in all likely ways. Still, many factors that are important for the success of regenerative endodontic treatment outcomes still remain unexplained. There are still numerous gaps in our expertise at the present stage of this study.

Introduction: The world has faced the pandemic of COVID-19 in the march of 2020 and still it continues to effect in 2021. Hence, in the present study we aim to evaluate the gulps in the research so that certain recommendations can be made for the future research. We conducted a scoping review of the COVID meta-analysis. Materials and Methods: Online data was collected from the search engines of EBSCO, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus. The searched terms were COVID-19, CORONA, SARS-CoV-2, clinical features, Wuhan, etc. The study articles were collected that from January 2020 to February 2021. Based on the PRISMA guidelines, the meta-analysis was performed. Results: In the present study, we finalized 316 articles. On February 2020, the first article was published. We observed a spike in the meta-analysis later on. Most of the meta-analysis were issued in the virology and infection magazines. As expected, the majority studies were from Wuhan. The other countries that published the meta-analysis were the USA, the UK, and Italy. The studies included in each meta-analysis were nearly 25 and the subjects were approximately 16 thousand. However, we noticed a poor quality in majority of these meta-analysis and

To (1) identify interventional research topics in traumatic brain injury (TBI) rehabilitation, (2) describe potential knowledge gaps, and (3) uncover further needs for interventional TBI rehabilitation research for patients and families. We searched three databases (2006���2019) and screened 1552 non-duplicate articles. Titles and abstracts were screened for relevance, yielding 754 articles for full-text review. Of these, 425 were included, as relevant to the purpose of the scoping review. Among articles on TBI rehabilitation, the majority (71.8%) applied quantitative methodology; of these only 19.7% were randomized controlled trials. Severe TBI was described more often than mild/moderate TBI populations. Hospital vs community/home rehabilitation was 55.1% vs 37.2%; rehabilitation at workplace/school was described in only 4.5% articles, while in 7.2% the setting was undisclosed. Of 83 articles describing work/education, only 14 were in a work/school context. An additional focus in the work/education articles was activities of daily living (n = 28), cognition (n = 33) and emotions (n = 23), few targeted family or network. The main attention of interventional TBI rehabilitation studies has been on severe TBI and long-term rehabilitation. Gaps identified were rehabilitation of mild/moderate TBI populations, older populations, acute/sub-phase rehabilitation, return to work issues and studies including the family.Implications for rehabilitationA substantial number of interventional studies exist to guide long-term rehabilitation after traumatic brain injury with focus on daily life, physical, emotional and cognitive functioning.We recommend a stronger focus in the clinic on the following groups; people with mild/moderate traumatic brain injury, people in the acute and sub-acute phase, and older people with traumatic brain injury.Issues that target challenges returning to work should be addressed, while they are of importance to patients and families.Emphasis should be put on continuity of care and peer-support. A substantial number of interventional studies exist to guide long-term rehabilitation after traumatic brain injury with focus on daily life, physical, emotional and cognitive functioning. We recommend a stronger focus in the clinic on the following groups; people with mild/moderate traumatic brain injury, people in the acute and sub-acute phase, and older people with traumatic brain injury. Issues that target challenges returning to work should be addressed, while they are of importance to patients and families. Emphasis should be put on continuity of care and peer-support.

Defining analytical chemistry as the measurement of isolated compositional features in a selected study object ignores the unique perspective that analytical chemists bring to twenty-first century science and society. In this feature article, we will discuss some of the existing preconceptions and misinterpretations of analytical chemistry that occur at present and will tackle them from the more up-to-date perspective of science in the Big Data Era. This will place their influence in context while simultaneously enlarging the scope of the discipline analytical chemistry to its well-deserved prevalent position in present-day science and technology.

This article sets out a new research agenda for decentered public leadership. Nested in the concept of decentered theory, it examines the messy and contested nature of public leadership practices in different contexts. Drawing on recent empirical studies that have adopted a decentered approach to examining public leadership, it sets out a future research agenda that places individuals, history and context at the heart of explanations for public leadership in action.

Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Efficient decision-making is crucial to ensure adequate rehabilitation with optimal use of healthcare resources. Establishing the factors associated with making decisions concerning rehabilitation provision is important to guide clinical staff towards person-centred decisions for rehabilitation after severe stroke. In this study we conduct a best–worst scaling (BWS) experiment to identify the most important factors and their relative weight of importance for deciding the type of ongoing rehabilitation services a person with severe stroke might receive post hospital discharge. Fractional, efficient designs are applied regarding the survey design. Key multidisciplinary staff regularly involved in making decisions for rehabilitation in a stroke unit will be recruited to participate in an online BWS survey. Hierarchical Bayes estimation will be used as the main analysis method, with the best–worst count analysis as a secondary analysis. The survey is currently being piloted prior to commencing the process of data collection. Results are expected by the end of September 2021. The research will add to the current literature on clinical decision-making in stroke rehabilitation. Findings will quantify the preferences of factors among key multi-disciplinary clinicians working in stroke units in the UK, involved in decision-making concerning rehabilitation after stroke.

Background There is growing evidence that equine papillomavirus type 2 (EcPV2) infection is causally associated with the development of equine genital squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs). Early stages of disease present clinically as plaques or wart-like lesions which can gradually progress to tumoural lesions. Histologically these lesions are inconsistently described as benign hyperplasia, papilloma, penile intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN), carcinoma in situ (CIS) or SCC. Guidelines for histological classification of early SCC precursor lesions are not precisely defined, leading to potential misdiagnosis. The aim of this study was to identify histologic criteria and diagnostic markers allowing for a more accurate diagnosis of EcPV2-associated equine penile lesions. Results A total of 61 archived equine penile lesions were histologically re-assessed and classified as benign hyperplasia, papilloma, CIS or SCC. From these, 19 representative lesions and adjacent normal skin were comparatively analysed for the presence of EcPV2 DNA and transcripts using PCR and RNA in situ hybridisation (RISH). All lesional samples were positive by EcPV2 PCR and RISH, while adjacent normal skin was negative. RISH analysis yielded signal distribution patterns that allowed distinction of early (hyperplasia, papilloma) from late stage lesions (CIS, SCC). Subsequently, the 19 lesions were further assessed for expression of p53, Ki67, MCM7 and MMP1 by immunohistochemistry (IHC). All four proteins were expressed in both normal and lesional tissue. However, p53 expression was up-regulated in basal keratinocyte layers of papillomas, CIS and SCCs, as well as in upper keratinocyte layers of CIS and SCCs. MCM7 expression was only up-regulated in upper proliferating keratinocyte layers of papillomas, CIS and SCCs. Conclusion This study proposes combining a refined histological protocol for analysis of equine penile lesions with PCR- and/or RISH based EcPV2-screening and p53/MCM7 IHC to more accurately determine the type of lesion. This may help to guide the choice of optimum treatment strategy, especially at early stages of disease.

This work was supported by 3501 TUBITAK National Young Researches Career Award [grant number 113E550]. Abstract Improving the accuracy of protein secondary structure prediction has been an important task in bioinformatics since it is not only the starting point in obtaining tertiary structure in hierarchical modeling but also enhances sequence analysis and sequence-structure threading to help determine structure and function. Herein we present a model based on DSPRED classifier, a hybrid method composed of dynamic Bayesian networks and a support vector machine to predict 3-state secondary structure information of proteins. We used the SCOPe (Structural Classification of Proteins-extended) database to train and test the model. The results show that DSPRED reached a Q3 accuracy rate of 82.36% when trained and tested using proteins from all SCOPe classes. We compared our method with the popular PSIPRED on the SCOPe test datasets and found that our method outperformed PSIPRED. Turkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK) 3501 113E550

A common view in the theoretical literature is that quantifier raising (QR) is a clause-bounded operation. But in a paper published in Glossa, Wurmbrand (2018) argues that (i) QR is not clause-bounded, and the apparent clause-boundedness of QR is due to the human parser’s difficulty in processing extraclausal QR; and (ii) the relative difficulty of extraclausal QR depends on the size of the embedded clause from which QR takes place. She then proposes a theory of scope processing in which parsing Logical Form (LF) movement is costly for the human parser, which in conjunction with independently motivated assumptions about A′-movement generates the desired results. In this paper, we accept Wurmbrand’s descriptive observations and proposed syntax but offer an alternative, rigorously defined metric of scope processing difficulty that makes precise quantitative predictions. Our proposal is formalized with Minimalist Grammars (Stabler 1997) and expands recent work by Kobele et al. (2013), among others, that uses this formalism to account for numerous processing phenomena. Our metric correctly handles Wurmbrand’s observations as well as cases that are problematic for her account, and points the way toward an explanatory theory of scope processing.

Objectives Coordinators contribute to stroke care quality. Evidence on the scope of practice of coordinator roles for stroke is lacking. We aimed to survey Australian stroke coordinators and describe their responsibilities and characteristics, and compare these based on perceived competency. Materials and Methods Online survey of non-physician coordinators with a clinical leadership position for acute stroke in Australian hospitals. Participants were identified from the Stroke Foundation National Audit, and advertising via national associations/networks. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively; characteristics and responsibilities assessed by Benner's self-perceived competency (novice/advanced beginner/competent, proficient or expert). Inductive thematic analysis was used for open-ended responses. Results Results from 105/141 coordinators (103 hospitals, 90% female, 90% registered nurses). Two-thirds developed the role/were self-taught, with 36% using the ‘stroke coordinator’ title. Perceived competency varied; 22% expert, 40% proficient, and 33% competent. A variety of important clinical tasks, along with leadership/management, education and research responsibilities were described. Most frequently reported clinical responsibility was discharge planning (77%), with patient and staff education (85% and 88%), and data collection (94%) common. Compared to those reporting lesser competency, ‘experts’ had greater involvement in outpatient clinics (50% vs 14%) and leadership/management responsibilities (e.g. local hospital committees 77% vs 46%). ‘Knowledge of evidence’ and ‘empowering others’ were important characteristics to ‘expert’ coordinators. Conclusions A contemporary understanding of important responsibilities and characteristics of acute stroke coordinators are provided. Perceived competency affected scope of practice. Structured education, training and role delineation is warranted to improve competency. Career development of stroke coordinators is urgently needed to support optimal role performance.

Summary This scorecard summarises key indicators of the burden of osteoporosis and its management in the 27 member states of the European Union, as well as the UK and Switzerland. The resulting scorecard elements, assembled on a single sheet, provide a unique overview of osteoporosis in Europe. Introduction The scorecard for osteoporosis in Europe (SCOPE) is a project of the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) that seeks to raise awareness of osteoporosis care in Europe. The aim of this project was to develop a scorecard and background documents to draw attention to gaps and inequalities in the provision of primary and secondary prevention of fractures due to osteoporosis. Methods The SCOPE panel reviewed the information available on osteoporosis and the resulting fractures for each of the 27 countries of the European Union plus the UK and Switzerland (termed EU27+2). The information obtained covered four domains: background information (e.g. the burden of osteoporosis and fractures), policy framework, service provision and service uptake, e.g. the proportion of men and women at high risk that do not receive treatment (the treatment gap). Results There was a marked difference in fracture risk among the EU27+2 countries. Of concern was the marked heterogeneity in the policy framework, service provision and service uptake for osteoporotic fracture that bore little relation to the fracture burden. For example, despite the wide availability of treatments to prevent fractures, in the majority of the EU27+2, only a minority of patients at high risk receive treatment even after their first fracture. The elements of each domain in each country were scored and coded using a traffic light system (red, orange, green) and used to synthesise a scorecard. The resulting scorecard elements, assembled on a single sheet, provide a unique overview of osteoporosis in Europe. Conclusions The scorecard enables healthcare professionals and policy makers to assess their country’s general approach to the disease and provide indicators to inform the future provision of healthcare.

The classification of seizures and epilepsies by the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), 2017 is the most recent classification model which aimed to simplify terminologies that patients and their caregivers can easily understand, identify seizures that have both focal and generalized onset and incorporate missing seizures. We have exhaustively reviewed the studies, discussed its scope, outlined its limitations and gave recommendations that could help in forming subsequent reviews. We have also described the terminologies that have been replaced, redefined or removed to have a clear view of the previous and the current classification models. We have recommended the use of multidimensional classification model which incorporated the clinical semiology, disease location, etiology and associated comorbidities. The benefits of this model is for prompt diagnosis which will results into early management and then better patient outcomes. It would also have a profound effects on the kind of treatment patients might receive especially in developing countries where there are scarcity of the diagnostic techniques. Overall, in this study we have reviewed the current study on seizures and epilepsy classification model by ILAE, 2017 to clarify the descriptions and coverage, outlined some limitations and suggested recommendations.

Purpose of Review Critical appraisal of the available evidence on the self-expanding ACURATE neo transcatheter heart valve (THV) for the treatment of aortic valve disease. Recent Findings In an investigator-initiated, multicenter, randomized non-inferiority trial with broad inclusion criteria, ACURATE neo failed to meet non-inferiority compared with SAPIEN 3 with regard to a primary composite safety and efficacy endpoint at 30 days. The difference was driven by higher rates of moderate or severe paravalvular regurgitation and higher rates of acute kidney injury. In turn, registry data suggest that the safety and efficacy profile of the ACURATE neo is comparable to that of other commercially available devices. Randomized evidence indicated favorable hemodynamic results with large effective orifice areas and low residual gradients. Summary The self-expanding ACURATE neo THV is associated with higher rates of residual aortic regurgitation compared to the balloon-expandable SAPIEN 3 THV. The supra-annular design with low residual gradients may be advantageous in patients with small anatomy and mild degree of calcification.

This paper studies the Brazilian manufacturing sector in line with the literature on heterogeneous firm. We focus i) on the characteristics of firms that are multi-product (MP), multi-sector and multi-industry; and ii) on the analysis of their scope, including the determinants of product switching, behavior over business cycle, and relation with several firm's characteristics. MP corresponds to 37% of all manufacturing firms, but generates 81% of the output. They employ more workers, are more likely to be exporters, have higher labor productivity and higher TFP. The extensive margin due to adding and retirement of products contributes more to output growth than entry and exit of firms. All margins are positive correlated to GDP growth: the intensive margin has an almost perfect correlation, followed by the product margin, with values around 0.91, and then by firm's margin, with correlations around 0.60. When restricting the study to continuing firms, it was found that half of the annual output growth (from 2005 to 2009) was originated by firms that switched products. Those that have net added (dropped) items had higher (smaller) increase in output, in employees, and in the TFP. Having higher TFP, more employees, or being an exporter increase the probability of only adding or only dropping items in the future. Resumo Este artigo analisa a indústria manufatureira no Brasil na perpsectiva da literatura de firmas heterogêneas. A análise focou i) nas características das firmas multi-produto (MP), multi-setor e multi-indústria; e ii) no escopo das firmas, incluindo os determinantes da alteração de produtos, comportamento ao longo do ciclo econômico, e relação com demais características de cada empresa. Firmas do tipo MP representam 37% do total, mas geram 81% do valor da produção (VP). Elas empregam mais funcionários, têm maior probabilidade de serem exportadoras, maior produtividade do trabalho e maior produtividade total dos fatores (PTF). A margem extensiva proveniente da adição e retirada de produtos do leque produtivo contribui mais para o crescimento do VP do que o movimento de entrada e saída de firmas do mercado. Todas as margens correlacionam-se positivamente com o crescimento do PIB: a margem intensiva apresenta correlação quase perfeita, seguida pela margem de produto, com valores em torno de 0,91, e depois pela margem das firmas, cuja correlação ficou em torno de 0,60. Ao analisar as firmas sobreviventes, metade do crescimento do VP (de 2005 a 2009) teve origem naquelas que promoveram algum tipo de alteração no escopo produtivo. As firmas que adicionaram (retiraram) produtos ao (do) leque de produção obtiveram maior (menor) crescimento do VP, do número de empregados e da PTF. Firmas com maior PTF, com mais trabalhadores e as exportadoras têm maior probabilidade de somente adicionar ou somente retirar produtos do seu escopo produtivo.

This study examines the social exclusion characteristics of a sample of users of primary care social services in two local entities in Spain. The objective of this study was to identify the intensity and scope of social exclusion in an exploratory way and to look at the typology of existing exclusionary situations to inform policy making and professional practice. Data from 1009 users were collected by primary care social services professionals, completing the Social Exclusion Scale of the University of Alicante (SES-UA). The dimensions with the greatest levels of social exclusion in the study population were those related to work/employment, income and education and training. The dimensions with an intermediate level of exclusion were those related to housing and social isolation. Social acceptance, family and social conflict and health were the dimensions with the lowest levels of exclusion. The analysis also showed the existence of five significantly different groups, that showed five different life trajectories along the continuum between social exclusion and social inclusion. The results show the importance and utility of developing professional and policy intervention protocols based on research evidence, with the objective of improving the quality of life of the users. This research was funded by the CONSELL COMARCAL D’OSONA (BARCELONA) (CONSELLDOSONA1-15) and the CONSELL COMARCAL DEL VALLÈS ORIENTAL (CONSELLVALLEORIENTAL1-16I).

The purpose of the article is to define the essence of project scope management process, its components, as well as to develop an algorithm of project scope management in terms of pharmaceutical production. Methodology. To carry out the study, available information sources on standards of project management in whole and elements of project scope management in particular are analysed. Methods of system and structural analysis, logical generalization are used to study the totality of subprocesses of project scope management, input and output documents, and to provide each of them. Methods of network planning are used to construct a precedence diagram of project scope management process. Results of the research showed that components of the project scope management are managing the scope of the project product and managing the content of project work. It is the second component is investigated in the presented work as a subject of research. Accordingly, it is defined that project scope management process is to substantiate and bring to the realization the necessary amount of work that ensures the successful implementation of the project (achievement of its goal and objectives of individual project participants). It is also determined that the process of managing the project scope takes into account the planning, definition of the project scope, creation of the structure of project work, confirmation of the scope and management of the project scope. Participants of these subprocesses are: customer, investor, and other project participants – external organizations (contractors of the project); project review committee; project manager and project team. It is revealed that the key element of planning the project scope is the formation of the structure of design work, the justification of the number of works, and the sequence of their implementation. It is recommended to use the following sequence of stages for creating the structure of project work: analysis of results of planning the project scope; study of templates of project works’ structures, recommendations for the formation of levels of structure; decomposition of the totality of project work; creating a dictionary of the project work structure; updating the description of the project scope and the project scope management plan. Practical importance. In order to improve the management of the scope of projects in the pharmacy, the components of subprocesses, participants, input and output documents are investigated and the algorithm for managing the project scope is built. It is determined that the starting elements of project scope management are the justification of the initial data, i.e. the project purpose, impacts of the environment and the internal potential of the enterprise in relation to the project implementation (assets of the organizational process). It is recommended to create a structure of project work starting from the analytical research existing at the enterprise or recommended by standards and guidelines on project management approaches to building a hierarchical structure of works, templates of project work structures. It is noted that the created structure of project work should be audited by participants of the project office. According to the results of planning the sequence and duration of operations for managing the scope of works, a precedence diagram of the investigated process is constructed. Value/originality. The developed recommendations regarding the consistency and structure of subprocesses and operations of the project scope management will allow the enterprise to significantly save time for planning the scope of subsequent projects, using the database created in previous periods, statistics on the implementation of the described operations.

The FLuorescence EXplorer (FLEX) satellite mission, selected as ESA's 8th Earth Explorer, has been designed for the measurement of sun-induced fluorescence ( F ) spectra emitted by plants. This will be accomplished through a multi-sensor approach by placing it in a common orbit in tandem with the Sentinel-3 (S3) mission, which will have two optical sensors on board, OLCI (Ocean and Land Colour Instrument) and SLSTR (Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer) to complement FLEX. These S3 instruments will be used in combination with the imaging spectrometers on board FLEX to provide data useful for atmospheric correction of FLEX data. However, a fully synergetic approach, i.e. by exploiting the spectral and directional information from all tandem mission instruments together, is an attractive alternative which is explored in this paper. By employing all combined top-of-atmosphere (TOA) spectral radiance data, one can (i) characterize the relevant optical properties of the atmosphere, (ii) retrieve biophysical canopy properties including the associated reflectance anisotropy, and (iii) retrieve a more accurate and consistent canopy F . Regarding retrieval methods, Fraunhofer Line Depth (FLD) and Spectral Fitting (SF) are well-known techniques applied to hyperspectral data. Both methods depend on a high spectral resolution and assume a Lambertian (isotropic) canopy reflectance. However, most vegetation canopies are non-Lambertian. This implies that, in particular when ignoring the anisotropic surface reflection, substantial retrieval errors can occur due to the interaction between atmospheric absorption bands and surface reflectance anisotropy. In this paper, a novel method based on spectral radiative transfer (RT) modeling is proposed, in which coupled RT models are used to simulate TOA radiance spectra. These are then matched with ‘measured’ spectra in order to retrieve surface fluorescence, along with a suite of biophysical parameters, by model inversion through optimization. By applying coupled RT models of the soil-leaf-canopy and the surface-atmosphere systems, TOA radiance spectra can be simulated for all optical sensors of this tandem mission. In this way, complex effects due to surface reflectance anisotropy and the spectral sampling by the various instruments, which are difficult to compensate for in the end products, are properly taken into account by their incorporation in the forward modeling. Next, by model inversion of TOA radiance data via optimization, the most accurate F retrievals can be achieved in a consistent manner, along with important canopy level biophysical parameters that may help interpret the F spectrum, such as chlorophyll content and leaf area index (LAI). The potential of this approach has been explored in a numerical experiment, and the results are presented in this paper. We find that, with the assumed well-characterized and plausible FLEX/S3 instrument performances, the simultaneous retrieval of biophysical canopy parameters and F spectra would be possible with a remarkable accuracy, provided the correct atmospheric characterization is available.

This article presents important aspects related to the project management process, mostly based on the PMI (Project Management Institute) methodology. It addresses key issues for project success, such as what should be observed in managing the scope to minimize impacts on project timing, cost, and quality. In the case study item, greater emphasis is given to the issue, addressing real examples of how the lack of a well-defined scope contributes to inopportune changes to the schedule, cost increase, and declining quality of an offshore oil exploration project. These types of projects, due to their size, complexity and interdisciplinarity, are subject to the scope analysis, making interventions from the basic engineering phase to the execution phase, making management of the scope fundamental for the project to achieve its goals., Este artigo apresenta aspectos importantes relacionados ao processo de gestão de projetos, majoritariamente baseado na metodologia PMI (Project Management Institute) e no guia PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge Guide). Nele são abordados assuntos fundamentais para o sucesso de um projeto, tais como o que deve ser observado no gerenciamento do escopo e de suas mudanças para minimizar os impactos no prazo, no custo e na qualidade do projeto. No item relativo ao estudo de casos é dada uma maior ênfase sobre o assunto, abordando exemplos reais de como a falta de um escopo bem definido e problemas na gestão da mudança contribuem para alterações inoportunas do cronograma, aumento do custo e queda da qualidade de um projeto de implantação de sistemas submarinos para a exploração offshore de petróleo. Os projetos de exploração de petróleo em função de sua dimensão, complexidade e interdisciplinaridade estão sujeitos à análise do escopo fazendo intervenções desde a fase de engenharia básica até a fase de execução, tornando a gestão do escopo fundamental para que o projeto atinja suas metas.

International audience; Many languages across the world are known to have constructions that indicate pluractionality, entailing the existence of a multitude of events. In this paper, we introduce a pattern of pluractionality in sign language, via reduplication of verbal forms. We focus on the semantics of two pluractional markers that appear pervasively in French Sign Language (LSF): exact repetition (/-rep/) and two-handed alternating repetition (/-alt/). We show that /-rep/ and /-alt/ fit into a larger typology of pluractionality in (spoken) language, where pluractional morphology specifies distribution over various dimensions. Additionally, however, the LSF pattern shows several novel properties. First, we observe a compositional puzzle, wherein the pluractional morphemes appear to be trivially redundant when they appear under distributive operators. Taking inspiration from work on ‘dependent indefinites’ in the nominal domain, we propose an analysis in which pluractional markers are scope-taking predicates, that are licensed by distributive operators by taking scope over them. Second, we show that the rate of reduplication for both forms is iconically mapped to the rate of event repetition over time. We show that this iconic mapping is an at-issue entailment that must be able to interact with logical meaning throughout the composition of a sentence. We propose an integrated model, in which pluractional morphemes incorporate an iconically defined predicate. In the context of our compositional system, this proposal makes the novel prediction of ‘scopable iconicity,’ in which the iconic meaning can be evaluated at different structural positions.

Purpose: We aim to provide an update of the definition and scope of behavioral medicine in the Charter of ISBM, as the present version was developed more than 25 years ago. Methods: We identify issues which need clarification or updating. This leads us to propose an update of the definition and scope of behavioral medicine. Results: Issues in need of clarification or updating include the scope of behavioral medicine (biobehavioral mechanisms, clinical diagnosis and intervention, and prevention and health promotion); research as an essential characteristic of all three areas of behavioral medicine; the application of behavioral medicine; the terminology of behavioral medicine as a multidisciplinary field; and the relationship and distinction between behavioral medicine, mental health, health psychology, and psychosomatic medicine. Conclusion: We propose the following updated definition and scope of behavioral medicine: “Behavioral medicine can be defined as the multidisciplinary field concerned with the development and integration of biomedical and behavioral knowledge relevant to health and disease, and the application of this knowledge to prevention, health promotion, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and care. The scope of behavioral medicine extends from biobehavioral mechanisms (i.e., the interaction of biomedical processes with psychological, social, societal, cultural, and environmental processes), to clinical diagnosis and intervention, and to public health.”

Digital transformation is an emerging trend in developing the way how the work is being done, and it is present in the private and public sector, in all industries and fields of work. Smart cities, as one of the concepts related to digital transformation, is usually seen as a matter of local governments, as it is their responsibility to ensure a better quality of life for the citizens. Some cities have already taken advantages of possibilities offered by the concept of smart cities, creating new values to all stakeholders interacting in the living city ecosystems, thus serving as examples of good practice, while others are still developing and growing on their intentions to become smart. This paper provides a structured literature analysis and investigates key scope, services and technologies related to smart cities and digital transformation as concepts of empowering social and collaboration interactions, in order to identify leading factors in most smart city initiatives.

In Japanese toritatejoshi Bakari is a particle that shows the meaning of limitation by way of highlight an element in the sentence and shows that there is only one element of the sole, while the other elements similar omitted. Meanwhile in a Indonesian Toritatejoshi Bakari has lexical meaning 'just' and 'only'. Matching of toritatejoshi Bakari in a Indonesian language included in limitedly adverb is an adverb that describes the meaning associated with the limitation. The problem in a this paper are (1) What is the structure of a sentence that uses toritatejoshi Bakari as limiting particle in a Japanese sentences and their counterparts in a Indonesian? (2) What is the meaning of a sentence that uses toritatejoshi Bakari as limiting particle in a Japanese sentences and their counterparts in a Indonesian? (3) What is the scope of toritatejoshi Bakari as limiting particle in a Japanese sentences and their counterparts in a Indonesian?. Based on the analysis conducted, it is known appropriation of both languages. In practical terms this study are expected to be useful for foreign language speakers of Japanese in the understanding toritatejoshi fueled as barrier particles so as to assist in the Japanese language proficiency both orally and in writing and helps understanding in Indonesian

Over the last two decades, R&D costs have been increasing significantly across almost all industries. While there is much literature studying different strategies to exploit R&D investments, we know little about the relative importance of controlling costs. Based on case studies of European and US multinational, R&D intensive companies, we study how firms deal with growing R&D costs. We investigate different strategies companies can employ to respond to growing research costs. Such strategies can be oriented towards controlling cost or focused on opportunities to create value. The case studies reveal that company spending on R&D is not perceived as a cost per se, but rather as an investment. Cost considerations are secondary factors and the main drivers of research investments are based on the expected value of innovations, risk and strategic competence development, and anticipating uncertainty concerning the kind of research that might be needed in the future.

Sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) observations are strongly affected by canopy structure. Modelling the radiative transfer of SIF provides an approach to quantifying the canopy structure effects and a better estimation of photosynthesis from SIF. The spectral invariant approach allows for the separation of reflectance into spectrally dependent parameters and spectrally independent parameters. We extend the spectral invariant theory to model the radiative transfer of SIF. The spectral invariant approach gives similar simulations of SIF emission and scattering of far-red SIF as the SCOPE model does. This work can help to disentangle the part of SIF signal that is dependent on the structure from that which is dependent on physiology.

This study analyzes the extent, range and nature of science communication scholarship in Lithuania. The purpose of this study is to explore whether there is a presence of this research field in the Lithuanian academic context and if there exists a body of empirical evidence that can be used to inform practical science communication initiatives. More generally, this study asks: is there a science of science communication in Lithuania? Results indicate the presence of an emerging field of research with fragmented scientific activity. Most papers do not explicitly identify “science communication” as the object of study. Most of the relevant work is focused on audience research, indicating the potential for using the results for evidence-based science communication practice. The science of science communication in Lithuanian, however, has yet considerable room for growth and could benefit from more large-scale, nationally representative, data-driven and methodologically sound research.

Advances in gut microbiota research have triggered interest in developing colon butyrate producers as niche-specific next-generation probiotics, targeted at increasing colon butyrate production and countering disease-associated microbiota alterations. Crucial steps in the development of next-generation probiotics are the design of formulations with a reasonable shelf life as well as the safety demonstration of an intervention in healthy volunteers. One such potential next-generation butyrate-producing probiotic is Butyricicoccus pullicaecorum 25-3T, with demonstrated safety in in vitro as well as animal models. Here, we examined the strain's safety, tolerability, and impact on microbiota composition and metabolic activity in healthy volunteers in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study in 30 healthy volunteers. The study design consisted of two 4-week intervention periods (108 CFU B. pullicaecorum [treatment] or maltodextrin [placebo] per day) with a 3-week washout in between. We assessed adverse events, blood parameters (primary endpoints), and fecal microbiota composition and metabolite profiles (secondary endpoints). The number of reported adverse events during the B. pullicaecorum treatment was similar to that of placebo intervention, as were observed changes in blood chemistry parameters, bowel habits, and fecal calprotectin concentrations. Administration of the strain did not induce any disruptive effect in microbiota composition or metabolic activity. In this first human intervention trial with a butyrate-producing Clostridium cluster IV isolate, we demonstrated B. pullicaecorum 25-3T administration to be both safe and well tolerated by healthy participants. This safety study paves the way for the further development of the strain as a next-generation probiotic. IMPORTANCE This study is the first to determine the safety and tolerance in humans of a butyrate-producing Clostridium cluster IV next-generation probiotic. Advances in gut microbiota research have triggered interest in developing colon butyrate producers as next-generation probiotics. Butyricicoccus pullicaecorum 25-3T is one such potential probiotic, with demonstrated safety in vitro as well as in animal models. Here, we produced an encapsulated B. pullicaecorum formulation that largely preserved its viability over an 8-month storage period at 4°C. Administration of this formulation to healthy volunteers allowed us to establish the intervention as safe and well tolerated. The probiotic intervention did not cause disruptive alterations in the composition or metabolic activity of health-associated microbiota. The results presented pave the way for the exploration of the impact of the strain on microbiota alterations in a clinical setting. ispartof: MSYSTEMS vol:3 issue:6 ispartof: location:United States status: accepted

WOS:000450056500165 This article aims to understand the behavior of project managers in a context of skidding when monitoring and controlling projects in the area of information systems and technologies and identify which performance dimensions are most valued in this context. The results obtained in this research indicate that the most experienced project managers prioritize Cost and Time, while in internal projects the project managers act by norm on the Scope. info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion

Collaborative management of natural resources involves two or more parties working together to govern and/or manage a set of resources within a defined area. Although a number of collaborative management frameworks have been developed for protected area and fisheries management, few exist for freshwater resources that enable their comparative analysis. We present a framework of collaborative management for freshwater resources comprising three elements: scope, governance, and management. Application of the framework to 11 cases from Australia and New Zealand differentiates between primarily consultation/government-based arrangements through to cogovernance arrangements. Our framework differs from others because it highlights the multiscalar and nested nature of collaborative management arrangements that influence effective water resource management. Our analysis highlights the diversity of arrangements that exist for freshwater resource management. Cases involving indigenous groups, a social tradition of waterways management, and those outside the scope of national water resource management reforms generally had higher levels of power sharing and involvement. We argue for greater attention to the effectiveness of and links between governance and management processes to ensure collaborative management remains innovative and appropriate to context. We contribute a framework that contains a continua and three core elements that enables a parsimonious evaluation that could be applied to other resource management contexts and, thus avoids criticism of overly prescriptive, simplistic, and idealistic analysis.;

Reliance on market forces can lead to underinvestment in social welfare enhancing innovation. The lack of new medical products in the area of neglected diseases is a case in point. R&D for neglected diseases has increased with new funding and collaborations taking place mainly through product development partnerships (PDPs). PDPs are self-governing, private non-profit R&D organizations. In contrast to push and pull instruments designed to address private-sector R&D underinvestment, PDPs have emerged voluntarily to address this public health challenge. In this study we examine how non-profit R&D collaboration for neglected diseases takes place through PDPs. We find that PDPs act as 'system integrators' that leverage the resources and capabilities of a network of public, philanthropic and private-sector partners. This paper contributes to an understanding of R&D in a non-profit context and highlights the importance of collaboration and non-market institutions for promoting innovation where market failures occur.

International audience; Context. An extension method is a method declared in a package other than the package of its host class. Thanks to extension methods, developers can adapt to their needs classes they do not own: adding methods to core classes is a typical use case. This is particularly useful for adapting software and therefore to increase reusability. Inquiry. In most dynamically-typed languages, extension methods are globally visible. Because any developer can define extension methods for any class, naming conflicts ocur: if two developers define an extension method with the same signature in the same class, only one extension method is visible and overwrites the other. Similarly, if two developers each define an extension method with the same name in a class hierarchy, one overrides the other. To avoid such " accidental overrides " , some dynamically-typed languages limit the visibility of an extension method to a particular scope. However, their semantics have not been fully described and compared. In addition, these solutions typically rely on a dedicated and slow method lookup algorithm to resolve conflicts at runtime. Approach. In this article, we present a formalization of the underlying models of Ruby refinements, Groovy categories, Classboxes, and Method Shelters that are scoping extension method solutions in dynamically-typed languages. Knowledge. Our formal framework allows us to objectively compare and analyze the shortcomings of the studied solutions and other different approaches such as MultiJava. In addition, language designers can use our formal framework to determine which mechanism has less risk of " accidental overrides ". Grounding. Our comparison and analysis of existing solutions is grounded because it is based on denotational semantics formalizations. Importance. Extension methods are widely used in programming languages that support them, especially dynamically-typed languages such as Pharo, Ruby or Python. However, without a carefully designed mechanism , this feature can cause insidious hidden bugs or can be voluntarily used to gain access to protected operations, violate encapsulation or break fundamental invariants. ACM CCS Software and its engineering → Modules / packages; Theory of computation → Formalisms

Organizing excursions or afternoon snacks, putting together a team of the most fashionable online game as well as studying in groups and many other things are common activities among young people. Such activities are framed in a project, since they all have a defined time framework, they have limited resources that need to be managed and they set goals that must be met. However, according to our professional experience in university subjects related to IT projects management, teaching this module is difficult because it is taught in the last courses of their degrees and students may reach this level with bad acquired habits. For this reason, we have set out two objectives to carry out this work: On the one hand, to identify everyday activities where we usually apply project management skills without being aware of it. We aim to show our future students the use of good project management practices, following the Project Management Fundamentals Guide (PMBOK® Guide) of the Project Management Institute (PMI), and how to apply them. In this case, we have taken the organization of a barbecue as an example. Thus, the new university student will learn that questions such as where and when will it take place? how many people will be there? what will we bring? among others, hide good project management practices. Young people know more about project management than they think they know. Therefore, bringing this knowledge to light will help them manage a project, naturally and unconsciously, when they reach university degrees. For this purpose, we will display simple techniques and tools in order to make a barbecue be a successful event. On the other hand, to make teachers, both university and nonuniversity, aware of the importance of incorporating basic concepts related to project management, in an entertaining and motivating way, in the early stages of students’ education., Organizar excursiones o meriendas, montar un equipo del juego on-line de moda, estudiar en grupo y muchas cosas más son actividades habituales en jóvenes (y no tan jóvenes). Las actividades anteriores pueden enmarcarse en la definición de proyecto, ya que todas cuentan con un marco temporal definido, tienen recursos limitados que es necesario gestionar y plantean objetivos que se desea cumplir. Sin embargo, basándonos en nuestra experiencia docente en asignaturas universitarias relacionadas con la gestión y dirección de proyectos informáticos, la enseñanza de esta materia es difícil. Al ser asignaturas de últimos cursos universitarios los alumnos llegan con malos hábitos adquiridos. El objetivo de este trabajo es doble: 1) Exponer cómo en actividades cotidianas aplicamos conocimientos de gestión de proyectos, aunque muchas veces no somos conscientes de ello. Queremos mostrar a nuestros futuros estudiantes el uso de buenas prácticas de gestión de proyectos tomando como referencia la Guía de los Fundamentos para la Dirección de Proyectos (Guía del PMBOK®) del Project Management Institute (PMI) y aplicándolo a la organización de una barbacoa. Así, el alumnado aprenderá que detrás de cada una de las preguntas que se plantean: ¿dónde lo haremos?, ¿cuántos seremos?, ¿qué llevaremos?, ¿cuándo? y otras tantas preguntas, se esconden buenas prácticas de gestión de proyectos; y 2) Plantear al profesorado, tanto universitario como no universitario, la importancia de ir incorporando en etapas tempranas de la formación de nuestro alumnado conceptos básicos sobre diferentes disciplinas aplicadas de forma amena y motivadora. Nuestros jóvenes saben más de gestión de proyectos de lo que ellos mismos creen y ayudarles a sacar este conocimiento a la luz les ayudará a gestionar un proyecto de forma natural cuando lleguen a la universidad. Para ello expondremos técnicas y herramientas sencillas para que su barbacoa sea un éxito.

Our paper presents a novel approach for absolute sustainability assessment of a building's environmental performance. It is demonstrated how the absolute sustainable share of the earth carrying capacity of a specific building type can be estimated using carrying capacity based normalization factors. A building is considered absolute sustainable if its annual environmental burden is less than its share of the earth environmental carrying capacity. Two case buildings - a standard house and an upcycled single-family house located in Denmark - were assessed according to this approach and both were found to exceed the target values of three (almost four) of the eleven impact categories included in the study. The worst-case excess was for the case building, representing prevalent Danish building practices, which utilized 1563% of the Climate Change carrying capacity. Four paths to reach absolute sustainability for the standard house were proposed focusing on three measures: minimizing environmental impacts from building construction, minimizing impacts from energy consumption during use phase, and reducing the living area per person. In an intermediate path, absolute sustainability can be obtained by reducing the impacts from construction by 89%, use phase energy consumption by 80%, and the living area by 60%. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The graduate advanced psychiatric nursing (psychiatric nursing specialist) from master degree in Indonesia are about 70 nurses, 67 nurses were graduated from University of Indonesia. They are working at mental health services and educational setting around Indonesia and yet seem not ready to perform some specific advanced competencies in clinical area. The mastery on mental health assessment, neurochemical perspectives, medical management and psychotherapy have not yet performed by the psychiatric nurse specialist in the clinical area or community.To have those competencies and its performances, therefore the curriculum in a psychiatric nursing graduate program must include advanced courses in physiopsychology, psychopathology, advanced psychopharmacology, neurobehavioral science, advanced mental health assessment, and advanced treatment interventions such as psychotherapy and prescription and management of psychotropic medications as their core and major courses in the curriculum. Those courses should be performed in their clinical practice courses or other related learning experiences. When those qualifications are met, then they are competent to be called advanced psychiatric nurse.As advanced practice registered nurses, the advanced psychiatric nurses should be able to demonstrate their direct expertise and roles in advanced mental health assessment, diagnostic evaluation, psychopharmacology management, psychotherapy with individuals, group and families, case management, millieu management, liason and counselling from prevention, promotion until psychiatric rehabilitation. Meanwhile the skill such as psycho-education, teaching, unit management, research and staff development can be added as their indirect roles.

Historical footprint of problem based learning (PBL) could be traced back at McMasters University, Canada 1968. Since then, PBL is enriched with development in the literature and multiple PBL models across the world. PBL, has gained importance in modern era of higher education as it has been implemented in many universities across the world in higher education. Although, world is weighing up for PBL and its positive outcomes, it could not extend much in Indian higher education. An objective of this manuscript is to give an overview of PBL across the world and in India. In addition to this, Indian higher education landscape and scope of PBL to Indian engineering education is discussed. Article ends with some recommendations to ensure growth of PBL in India.

The assessment of the environmental performance of an organization is an essential part of the decision making process of an Environmental Management System. Having robust indicators enables a reliable assessment. The Ecological Footprint Assessment is used in different types of organizations, including universities. Its ability to clearly communicate over-consumption by using a land-base unit is an advantage when involving the university community in achieving better environmental performance. However, its lack of standardization makes it difficult to use as an indicator. It is believed that Life Cycle Assessment offers a framework with which to standardize the Ecological Footprint Assessment. In this paper, an Ecological Footprint Assessment considering Life Cycle Assessment methodology is developed as a case study for Universitat Politecnica de Valencia. Findings regarding the critical decisions of the methodology are compared with 23 Ecological Footprint Assessments of universities using a Life Cycle Assessment framework. Only 26% of the studies analyzed reference the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. Critical decisions such as defining a Functional Unit were relevant but not standardized, while the definition of the product system was the most standardized and homogeneous decision. The difficulty of gathering information when Environmental Management Systems are not available makes the Ecological Footprint Assessment a weak indicator. Nevertheless, results show that Life Cycle Assessment can guide an Ecological Footprint Assessment methodology where comparability and reliability is possible. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The cyberspace today has become the unavoidable part of today’s society, its virtual dimension. The nations and international community put many efforts to assure certain terms and responsibilities in this virtual dimension of the society. Many national cyber security strategies, including EU and NATO strategies, in a very short time have become high priority activities. The questions about the responsible institutions to address in the strategy, guiding principles to follow, and the way of implementing the strategy, still remains very differently approached within different nations. The goal of this paper is to propose a method that offers a more consistent approach to the development of cyber security strategies. The key research question is whether the proposed approach results in a more consistent national cyber security strategy that covers all the necessary national requirements and expectations, and that is easier to harmonise with different international requirements. In order to verify the proposed method, the paper shows the brief overview of the results achieved in the case of the development process of Croatian National Cyber Security Strategy.

Introduction. In anaesthesiology, economic aspects have been insufficiently studied. Objective. The aim of this paper was the assessment of rational choice of the anaesthesiological services based on the analysis of the scope, distribution, trend and cost. Methods. The costs of anaesthesiological services were counted based on “unit” prices from the Republic Health Insurance Fund. Data were analysed by methods of descriptive statistics and statistical significance was tested by Student’s t-test and χ2-test. Results. The number of general anaesthesia was higher and average time of general anaesthesia was shorter, without statistical significance (t-test, p=0.436) during 2006 compared to the previous year. Local anaesthesia was significantly higher (χ2-test, p=0.001) in relation to planned operation in emergency surgery. The analysis of total anaesthesiological procedures revealed that a number of procedures significantly increased in ENT and MFH surgery, and ophthalmology, while some reduction was observed in general surgery, orthopaedics and trauma surgery and cardiovascular surgery (χ2-test, p=0.000). The number of analgesia was higher than other procedures (χ2-test, p=0.000). The structure of the cost was 24% in neurosurgery, 16% in digestive (general) surgery,14% in gynaecology and obstetrics,13% in cardiovascular surgery and 9% in emergency room. Anaesthesiological services costs were the highest in neurosurgery, due to the length anaesthesia, and digestive surgery due to the total number of general anaesthesia performed. Conclusion. It is important to implement pharmacoeconomic studies in all departments, and to separate the anaesthesia services for emergency and planned operations. Disproportions between the number of anaesthesia, surgery interventions and the number of patients in surgical departments gives reason to design relation database.

Public participation (PP) is increasingly expected to enhance the effectiveness of water resources management. This is recognized in recent legislation such as the European Union Water Framework Directive. We identify five key constituents that affect the success of PP processes and which can be used as indicators thereof. These comprise: 1) the scope of the participants; 2) communication with the public; 3) capacity building; 4) timing; and 5) financing of participation. They are based on the management of resources—namely time, human and financial resources—and on further aspects that emerge from the utilization of these resources throughout the PP process. Drawing on existing case studies from the European Union and Canada, we demonstrate the applicability of our evaluative scheme. We find severe deficits in the PP cases that can all be attributed to the five key constituents. Although not representative, our analysis points to important challenges for water policy, particularly in the European multi-level context. Public participation (PP) is increasingly expected to enhance the effectiveness of water resources management. This is recognized in recent legislation such as the European Union Water Framework Directive. We identify five key constituents that affect the success of PP processes and which can be used as indicators thereof. These comprise: 1) the scope of the participants; 2) communication with the public; 3) capacity building; 4) timing; and 5) financing of participation. They are based on the management of resources—namely time, human and financial resources—and on further aspects that emerge from the utilization of these resources throughout the PP process. Drawing on existing case studies from the European Union and Canada, we demonstrate the applicability of our evaluative scheme. We find severe deficits in the PP cases that can all be attributed to the five key constituents. Although not representative, our analysis points to important challenges for water policy, particularly in the European multi-level context.

The rapid internationalisation of organisations in recent years has heightened interest in the need for cross-cultural preparation and support of individuals undertaking international assignments, and the reverse culture shock and adjustment issues that face repatriates. Research has suggested that organisations that do not successfully repatriate their employees will lose financially from attrition and lose knowledge gained from repatriates' international experience. Prior research has demonstrated that intense repatriation programs are the most e fective means of retaining repatriates and transferring their knowledge, yet many organisations do not employ repatriation programs. This paper investigates factors that influence Australian organisations to utilise repatriation programs, and proposes that the function of international transfer and organisations' beliefs about the value of international experience will determine the scope of repatriation programs. Based on research conducted in 2003, the findings suggest that Australian organisations recognise the importance of repatriation, but provide insu ficient support.

In this paper I focus on scope phenomena connected with semimodal (and modal) verbs and mainly on the syntactic behaviour of these groups of verbs. One important question is: why can semimodal verbs (and modal verbs in epistemic use) not have perfect and future tense forms? Taking among other things Reichenbach's tense system as a starting point I try to point out that the interpretation of a semimodal or a modal in epistemic use is problematic 1. if there is more than one reference time/if the reference time is indefinite or 2. if the verb in question stands together with an auxiliary of future which has a certain modal meaning itself. The comparison of the treatment of these phenomena in the framework of the Semantic Syntax with a non transformational approach (fragment of a categorial grammar) shows, that some important transformational rules and principles easily and economically can be represented in a non transformational grammar. The transformational approach needs rules like RAISING and LOWERING (or at least one of the two, and in addition to this a rather extended set of rules) for the generation of sentences, while in the categorial system we need only two reduction laws. It has to be investigated whether and to what extent the formation and transformation rules in a transformational grammar on the one hand and the dominance / linear precedence rules together with the lexical entries on the other hand are equivalent.

Prior literature argues that business relationships provide firms with competitive advantage. However, there is a need for more empirical evidence on whether and how they influence the growth of small technology firms. Through a statistical analysis of 90 small technology firms in Finland, we explore whether the scope and scale of customer relationships and the level of networking with partners can be associated with the financial growth of a firm. The results show that the growth of operating income in small technology firms is linked with their scale of customer relationships; i.e., growth firms employ a broader scale of customer relationships compared to non-growth firms. Hence, we suggest that focusing on deeper relationships with few customers may hamper the firm's financial growth, and entrepreneurs and managers of small technology firms should aim at a broader customer base even in niche markets.

JMBE Editor-in-Chief Christopher Woolverton reflects on all that the Journal has accomplished in the last five years and announces two exciting changes for 2014 and beyond: an expansion of the Journal’s scope and a change in leadership.

Summary\ud \ud The scorecard summarises key indicators of the burden of osteoporosis and its management in each of the member states of the European Union. The resulting scorecard elements were then assembled on a single sheet to provide a unique overview of osteoporosis in Europe.\ud \ud Introduction\ud \ud The scorecard for osteoporosis in Europe (SCOPE) is an independent project that seeks to raise awareness of osteoporosis care in Europe. The aim of this project was to develop a scorecard and background documents to draw attention to gaps and inequalities in the provision of primary and secondary prevention of fractures due to osteoporosis.\ud \ud Methods\ud \ud The SCOPE panel reviewed the information available on osteoporosis and the resulting fractures for each of the 27 countries of the European Union (EU27). The information researched covered four domains: background information (e.g. the burden of osteoporosis and fractures), policy framework, service provision and service uptake e.g. the proportion of men and women at high risk that do not receive treatment (the treatment gap).\ud \ud Results\ud \ud There was a marked difference in fracture risk among the EU27. Of concern was the marked heterogeneity in the policy framework, service provision and service uptake for osteoporotic fracture that bore little relation to the fracture burden. For example, despite the wide availability of treatments to prevent fractures, in the majority of the EU27, only a minority of patients at high risk receive treatment for osteoporosis even after their first fracture. The elements of each domain in each country were scored and coded using a traffic light system (red, orange, green) and used to synthesise a scorecard. The resulting scorecard elements were then assembled on a single sheet to provide a unique overview of osteoporosis in Europe.\ud \ud Conclusions\ud \ud The scorecard will enable healthcare professionals and policy makers to assess their country’s general approach to the disease and provide indicators to inform future provision of healthcare.

Background: Neonatal survival bespeaks the quality of neonatal care services available and accessible to the population. Intensive care improves outcome of high-risk infants with serious illness. The tiered level of care is yet to be applied to newborn care in Nigeria. Classification of care is key to improving neonatal survival with enhanced referral of high-risk patients to higher-level centres. Objective: To ascertain the scope and classify available newborn services offered at major Nigerian hospitals. Methodology: A semi-structured validated questionnaire was administered to attendees during 2015 Pediatric Association of Nigeria conference. The information derived was used to categorize neonatal care services. Results: The respondents consisted of doctors 201 (84.8%) and nurses 36 (15.2%) in 54 health facilities from all geopolitical regions of Nigeria. Of the 54 facilities, 34 (63%) were located in state capitals and 47 (87%) in public hospitals. Half of the evaluated units belonged to Class I, 22 (40.7%) Class II, and 5 (9.3%) Class III levels of neonatal care. Majority (81.6%) of the doctors have been trained on neonatal resuscitation; with senior residents being the highest 49 (89%) and Medical officers (MO) the least 4 (40%) trained. Doctors with training in mechanical ventilation (MV) were 39.2%; Consultants (51.2%), MO’s the least 1(11.2%) trained (p=0.025). Monitoring is usually by pulse oximeters 54 (100%), multi parameter monitors 23 (42.6%) and rarely ABGs 6 (11%). Conclusion: Neonatal care in Nigeria is still developing. Most centres provide basic neonatal care services. Regionalization of care may be the solution to higher level neonatal care. Kewords: Neonatal Care; Scope

Background: Rural surgical practice is the practice of Surgery under conditions of limited resources which brings surgical services to the doorsteps of the rural Populace, majority of whom are poor. Aims: The aim of this paper is to highlight rural surgical practice in Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A review of personal experiences in rural surgery and interaction with other practitioners in the field as well information gathered at Rural Surgery conferences in Nigeria and abroad. Results: Scope of surgery performed is commonly usually limited by infrastructure, manpower and funding. Procedures include fields as Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Urology, Orthopaedics, Ear Nose and throat, Anaesthesia as well as General Surgery. A high proportion is contributed by emergencies especially Caesarian Sections, removal of foreign bodies from the ear, nose and throat, initial management of simple fractures, Hip-pinning, appendectomies, relief of intestinal obstruction, suprapubiccystostomies, catheterization and management of ruptured ectopic tubal pregnancies. The procedures are carried out by General Duty doctors with only a few surgeons in established self-owned practices. Challenges include poor living conditions, poor accessibility, lack of infrastructure and equipment, lack of suitably trained assistants, inadequate schools for their children, lack of suitable jobs for spouses. In spite of difficulties Rural Surgery in Nigeria has come to stay and is growing especially with formation of Rural Surgical Practitioners in Nigeria. Conclusion: Rural surgical practice is feasible in Nigeria and should be encouraged by the Government as it forms an important arm of Healthcare delivery in Nigeria. Key Words: Rural, Surgery, Scope, Challenges, Limited resources, Poverty

International audience; Dynamic deployment of aspects brings greater flexibility and reuse potential, but requires a proper means for scoping aspects. Scoping issues are particularly crucial in a distributed context: adequate treatment of distributed scoping is necessary to enable the propagation of aspect instances across host boundaries and to avoid inconsistencies due to unintentional spreading of data and computations in a distributed system. We motivate the need for expressive scoping of dynamically-deployed distributed aspects by an analysis of the deficiencies of current approaches for distributed aspects. Extending recent work on scoping strategies for non-distributed aspects, we then introduce a set of high-level strategies for specifying locality of aspect propagation and activation, and illustrate the corresponding gain in expressiveness. We present the operational semantics of our proposal using Scheme interpreters, first introducing a model of distributed aspects that covers the range of current proposals, and then extending it with dynamic aspect deployment and scoping strategies. This work shows that, given some extensions to their original execution model, scoping strategies are directly applicable to the expressive scoping of distributed aspects.

The objective of this article is to identify typical tobacco farms according to determinants of diversification that can be used to explore possibilities of diversification in the province of Salta (Northwest of Argentina). National Agriculture Census data of 278 farms in the main tobacco production area of Salta were used for the analysis. The variables selected concerning determinants of diversification were: land area, irrigation, general capital goods and specific capital goods, ownership of land, education, off-farm work, and labour availability. The analysis of the principal components applied to 16 selected variables allowed to reduce the dimensionality of the data to four components. Those components were used to apply K-means cluster approach to classify the farms. Four clusters were determined. Cluster 1 and Cluster 2 are the largest clusters. These concern highly specialized tobacco farms. They differ regarding determinants for diversification due to different levels of education of the farmer and different levels of off-farm work. Both clusters are interesting for further analysis regarding diversification alternatives to maintain or improve income and to reduce soil degradation. Cluster 3 concerns large tobacco farms being somewhat less specialized than the farms in clusters 1 and 2. Intensive tobacco production makes this group interesting for exploring diversification alternatives to improve soil conditions. Farms in cluster 4 already have a high level of diversification with substantial livestock production. The presence of perennial pastures suggests a better soil management than the other clusters. This cluster looks appealing to investigate what can be done regarding diversification. El objetivo de este artículo es identificar explotaciones de tabaco de acuerdo a determinantes de diversificación para ser utilizadas en la exploración de posibilidades de diversificación en la provincia de Salta (Noroeste de Argentina). Se utilizaron para el análisis datos del Censo Nacional Agropecuario correspondientes a 278 explotaciones de la principal área de producción de tabaco de Salta. Las variables seleccionadas como determinantes de la diversificación fueron: superficie de tierra, capital general, capital específico, propiedad de la tierra, educación, trabajo extra predial y mano de obra. Se aplicó análisis de componentes principales a 16 variables seleccionadas y así se redujo la dimensión de los datos a cuatro componentes, que fueron utilizados en el análisis de conglomerados (K-means) para clasificar las explotaciones. Se determinaron cuatro conglomerados. Los conglomerados 1 y 2 son los más numerosos; están compuestos por explotaciones altamente especializadas en tabaco y difieren entre sí por el nivel de educación del productor y por el grado de trabajo extra predial que el mismo posee. Ambos grupos son interesantes para posteriores análisis relacionados a alternativas de diversificación para mantener o mejorar el ingreso y reducir la degradación del suelo. El conglomerado 3 consiste en grandes explotaciones tabacaleras menos especializadas que las anteriores. La intensa producción de tabaco hace a este grupo interesante para la exploración de alternativas de diversificación tendientes a mejorar las condiciones de suelo. Las explotaciones del conglomerado 4 tienen un nivel alto de diversificación con importante producción de ganado. Este grupo es atractivo para investigar lo que puede hacerse en relación a la diversificación.