EuroClonality/BIOMED-2 guidelines for interpretation and reporting of Ig/TCR clonality testing in suspected lymphoproliferations.

PCR-based immunoglobulin (Ig)/T-cell receptor (TCR) clonality testing in suspected lymphoproliferations has largely been standardized and has consequently become technically feasible in a routine diagnostic setting. Standardization of the pre-analytical and post-analytical phases is now essential to prevent misinterpretation and incorrect conclusions derived from clonality data. As clonality testing is not a quantitative assay, but rather concerns recognition of molecular patterns, guidelines for reliable interpretation and reporting are mandatory. Here, the EuroClonality (BIOMED-2) consortium summarizes important pre- and post-analytical aspects of clonality testing, provides guidelines for interpretation of clonality testing results, and presents a uniform way to report the results of the Ig/TCR assays. Starting from an immunobiological concept, two levels to report Ig/TCR profiles are discerned: the technical description of individual (multiplex) PCR reactions and the overall molecular conclusion for B and T cells. Collectively, the EuroClonality (BIOMED-2) guidelines and consensus reporting system should help to improve the general performance level of clonality assessment and interpretation, which will directly impact on routine clinical management (standardized best-practice) in patients with suspected lymphoproliferations.

Techno-Economic and Life Cycle Assessment for the Production of Green Composites

Botanically, green composites belong to an economically important seed plant family that includes maize, wheat, rice, and sorghum known as Saccharum offi cinarum. There are so many natural fibers available in the environment such as rice husk, hemp fibers, flax fibers, bamboo fibers, coconut fiber, coconut coir, grawia optiva and many others also. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a process to estimate the environmental feature and potential impacts related to a product, by organizing a directory of pertinent inputs and outputs of a product system, assessing the potential environmental impacts related with the said inputs and outputs, explaining the results of the inventory analysis and impact evaluation phases in connection to the objectives of the study. Particularly Bagasse, an agricultural residue not only becomes a problem from the environmental point of view, but also affects the profitability of the sugarcane industries. This chapter discusses the properties, processing methods and various other aspects including economic and environmental aspects related to green composites.

Preliminary Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the ACL Scale: Factor Structure, Measurement Invariance, Reliability, and Validity

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-08

"It’s just very natural" – interpersonal knowledge as a didactical device in guided classroom conversations in religious education

This article investigates how teachers in religious education (RE) think and act as professionals while working with differences in religious and philosophy of life experiences and beliefs in class and trying to do this in respectful and inclusive ways. It analyses data from two research projects that were carried out in lower secondary school in Norway. The main research question is: What is the relationship between teachers’ contextual knowledge and knowledge of the child and how do these two dimensions of professional knowledge interact when religious education teachers try to strike a good balance between inclusion and productive learning in their teaching practice? The data analysed were drawn from three different data sets featuring three Norwegian religious education-teachers. The research was part of the EU-funded "REDCo"-project and the "Religious education and diversity" - project ["ROM"] funded by the Norwegian Research Council. The interviewees emphasized the potential of the religious education subject to contribute to a wider tolerance for difference and to support individual students in their identity management. The analysis shows, however, that considerable contextual awareness - of the classroom and of the local community - is needed to realize this potential. It also shows the importance of interpersonal knowledge between the teacher and each student if contextual awareness is to be effective in terms of inclusion, participation, wellbeing and good learning outcomes for all students.

Self-regulatory behaviours and flow dispositions in musical practice: a survey with advanced performers

Flow experience, a holistic sensation of total involvement in an activity, seems to have positive influences on musical performance activities. Although its main requirements (balance between challenges and skills, clear goals and unequivocal feedback) are inherent elements of musical practice, there is a lack of research about flow occurrences in the context of musical practice and on how specific practice behaviours affect the experience of flow and its particular dimensions. The aims of this thesis were to investigate advanced performersʼ dispositions to flow in musical practice, and to investigate whether the frequency of these experiences of holistic engagement with practice are associated with self-regulatory practice behaviours. 168 advanced classicallytrained performers (male = 50.0%; female = 50.0%), ranging in age from 18 to 74 years (m = 34.41, SD = 12.39), answered a survey that included two measures: the Dispositional Short Flow Scale, assessing performersʼ flow dispositions, and the Self-Regulated Practice Behaviours Questionnaire, developed specifically for the present research. The overall results of the survey suggested that advanced musicians have high dispositions to flow in musical practice, but not associated with the participantsʼ demographic characteristics. Three of the individual flow indicators were less experienced, suggesting that the most intense flow experiences are rare in musical practice. However, the results point to the existence of another relevant experience, named optimal practice experience. Practice engagement levels were positively associated with knowledge of oneʼs own personal resources and a capacity for practice organization, but not with inclusion/use of external resources. A capacity for setting optimal practice goals was related to self-regulation and to immersion aspects of flow. Current findings offer new clues about the assessment of flow dispositions in performers, helping to clarify how daily practice can heighten positive affective responses in musicians who are vulnerable to the requirements and difficulties of deliberate practice, as well as to other negative practice outcomes. The current research questions issues pertaining to the optimization and sustaining of flow in daily practice, suggesting future directions in the study of the affective subjective functioning of engagement with deliberate practice.

Climate changes influence in occupational exposure to fungi and mycotoxins

Climate changes and their effects on fungal distribution and activity are aspects of concern regarding the human exposure to mycotoxins. An exhaustive search was made for papers available in scientific databases reposrting the influence that climate cchange has on fungi and mycotoxins. Also a review regarding fungal burden, collected between 2010 and 2015 in different settings, was done to support the discussion about future fungi and mycotoxins ocuupational exposure. A. flavus complex, E. graminerarum complex and F. verticilliodes were the most reported to be influenced by climate changes. We noted also that the analyzed Portuguese settings presented already an occupational problem due to their fungal burden. It will be important to know future climate changes to select what complexes/species and strains, and consequently the mycotoxins, we should consider as indicators of an occupational problem. In addition, epidemiologic studies are needed to increase knowledge about potential health effects related with the exposure to both risk factors.

THE MUSIC PERFORMED FOR THE SACRIFICIAL RITE AT THE ROYAL ANCESTRAL SHRINE OF THE CHOSŎN DYNASTY (1392–1910): INDIVIDUAL AGENCY AND DISCOURSE ON MUSIC EXPRESSED IN THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY KOREAN ENCYCLOPEDIA _TONGGUK MUNHŎN PIGO_ (1770)

In 1964, the South Korean government designated the music for the sacrificial rite at the Royal Ancestral Shrine (Chongmyo) as Intangible Cultural Property No. 1, and in 2001 UNESCO awarded the rite and music a place in the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The Royal Ancestral Shine sacrificial rite and music together have long been an admired symbol of Korean cultural history, and they are currently performed annually and publicly in an abridged form. While the significance of the modern version of the music mainly rests on the claimed authenticity and continuity of the tradition since the fifteenth century, scholarly inquiry sheds further light on contextual issues such as nationalism, identity, and modernity in the post-colonial era (after 1945), as well as providing additional insights into the music. This dissertation focuses on the Royal Ancestral Shrine’s musical past as reflected in documentary sources, especially those compiled in the eighteenth century during the Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910). In particular, the substantial music section of an encyclopedic work, Tongguk Munhŏn pigo (Encyclopedia of Documents and Institutions of the East Kingdom, 1770), mainly compiled by a government official, Sŏ Myŏngŭng (1716–1787), provides a considerable amount of information on not only the music and sacrificial rite program, but also on eighteenth-century and earlier concerns about them, as discussed by the kings and ministers at the Chosŏn royal court. After detailed examination of various relevant documentary sources on the historical, social and political contexts, I investigate the various discourses on music and ritual practices. I then focus on Sŏ Myŏngŭng’s familial background, his writings on music prior to the compilation of the encyclopedia, and the corresponding content in the encyclopedia. I argue that Sŏ successfully converted the music section of the encyclopedia from a straightforward scholarly reference work to a space for publishing his own research on and interpretation of the musical past, illustrating what he considered to be the inappropriateness of the existing music for the sacrificial rite at the Royal Ancestral Shrine in the later eighteenth century.

Knowledge management capabilities and organizational performance: an investigation into the effects of knowledge infrastructure and processes on organizational performance

Knowledge is one of the most important assets for surviving in the modern business environment. The effective management of that asset mandates continuous adaptation by organizations, and requires employees to strive to improve the company's work processes. Organizations attempt to coordinate their unique knowledge with traditional means as well as in new and distinct ways, and to transform them into innovative resources better than those of their competitors. As a result, how to manage the knowledge asset has become a critical issue for modern organizations, and knowledge management is considered the most feasible solution. Knowledge management is a multidimensional process that identifies, acquires, develops, distributes, utilizes, and stores knowledge. However, many related studies focus only on fragmented or limited knowledge-management perspectives. In order to make knowledge management more effective, it is important to identify the qualitative and quantitative issues that are the foundation of the challenge of effective knowledge management in organizations. The main purpose of this study was to integrate the fragmented knowledge management perspectives into the holistic framework, which includes knowledge infrastructure capability (technology, structure, and culture) and knowledge process capability (acquisition, conversion, application, and protection), based on Gold's (2001) study. Additionally, because the effect of incentives ̶̶ which is widely acknowledged as a prime motivator in facilitating the knowledge management process ̶̶ was missing in the original framework, this study included the importance of incentives in the knowledge management framework. This study also identified the relationship of organizational performance from the standpoint of the Balanced Scorecard, which includes the customer-related, internal business process, learning & growth, and perceptual financial aspects of organizational performance in the Korean business context. Moreover, this study identified the relationship with the objective financial performance by calculating the Tobin's q ratio. Lastly, this study compared the group differences between larger and smaller organizations, and manufacturing and nonmanufacturing firms in the study of knowledge management. Since this study was conducted in Korea, the original instrument was translated into Korean through the back translation technique. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine the validity and reliability of the instrument. To identify the relationship between knowledge management capabilities and organizational performance, structural equation modeling (SEM) and multiple regression analysis were conducted. A Student's t test was conducted to examine the mean differences. The results of this study indicated that there is a positive relationship between effective knowledge management and organizational performance. However, no empirical evidence was found to suggest that knowledge management capabilities are linked to the objective financial performance, which remains a topic for future review. Additionally, findings showed that knowledge management is affected by organization's size, but not by type of organization. The results of this study are valuable in establishing a valid and reliable survey instrument, as well as in providing strong evidence that knowledge management capabilities are essential to improving organizational performance currently and making important recommendations for future research.

Some initial results and observations from a series of trials within the Ofcom TV white spaces pilot

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Remédiation cognitive portant sur les aspects fluide et cristallisé de l’intelligence auprès d'adolescents présentant un fonctionnement intellectuel limite : approche par le jeu

L’objectif principal de cette thèse était de créer, d’implanter et d’évaluer l’efficacité d’un programme de remédiation cognitive, intervenant de façon comparable sur les aspects fluide (Gf) et cristallisé (Gc) de l’intelligence, au sein d’une population d’intérêt clinique, les adolescents présentant un fonctionnement intellectuel limite (FIL). Compte tenu de la forte prévalence de ce trouble, le programme de remédiation GAME (Gains et Apprentissages Multiples pour Enfant) s’est développé autour de jeux disponibles dans le commerce afin de faciliter l’accès et l’implantation de ce programme dans divers milieux. Le premier article de cette thèse, réalisé sous forme de revue systématique de la littérature, avait pour objectif de faire le point sur les études publiées utilisant le jeu comme outil de remédiation cognitive dans la population pédiatrique. L’efficacité, ainsi que la qualité du paradigme utilisé ont été évaluées, et des recommandations sur les aspects méthodologiques à respecter lors de ce type d’étude ont été proposées. Cet article a permis une meilleure compréhension des écueils à éviter et des points forts méthodologiques à intégrer lors de la création du programme de remédiation GAME. Certaines mises en garde méthodologiques relevées dans cet article ont permis d’améliorer la qualité du programme de remédiation cognitive développé dans ce projet de thèse. Compte tenu du peu d’études présentes dans la littérature scientifique concernant la population présentant un FIL (70

Governmentality and exclusion in post-disaster spaces : conducting the conduct of the survivors of Typhoon Sendong in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines

Lorsque les aléas naturels se déroulent en catastrophes, les réponses des religieux, de l’Etat, et d’autres acteurs puissants dans une société révèlent à la fois les relations complexes entre ces parties et leur pouvoir dans la production des espaces auxquelles les survivants accèdent. La réponse en cas de catastrophe comprend la création d’espaces post-catastrophes, tels que des centres d’évacuation, des logements de transition et des sites de réinstallation permanente, qui ciblent spécifiquement un sous-ensemble particulier de survivants, et visent à les aider à survivre, à faire face, et à se remettre de la catastrophe. Les acteurs puissants dans une société dirigent les processus de secours, de récupération et de reconstruction sont des acteurs puissants qui cherchent à problématiser et à rendre un problème technique dans des termes qu’ils sont idéalement placés pour aborder à travers une variété d'interventions. Ce projet de recherche vise à répondre à la question: où les survivants d'une catastrophe reconstruisent-ils leurs vies et leurs moyens de subsistance? Il enquête sur un cas spécifique de la migration environnementale dans laquelle des dizaines de milliers d'habitants ont été déplacés de façon permanente et temporaire de leurs résidences habituelles après le typhon Sendong à Cagayan de Oro, Philippines en 2011. La recherche est basée sur des entretiens avec les acteurs puissants et les survivants, des vidéos participatives réalisées par des survivants pauvres urbains, et des activités de cartographie. L’étude se fonde sur la théorie féministe, les études de migration, les études dans la gouvernementalité, la recherche sur les changements de l’environnement planétaire, et les études régionales afin de situer les diverses expériences de la migration dans un contexte géographique et historique. Cette thèse propose une topographie critique dans laquelle les processus et les pratiques de production d’espaces post-catastrophe sont exposés. Parce que l’espace est nécessairement malléable, fluide, et relationnelle en raison de l'évolution constante des activités, des conflits, et des expériences qui se déroulent dans le paysage, une analyse de l'espace doit être formulée en termes de relations sociales qui se produisent dans et au-delà de ses frontières poreuses. En conséquence, cette étude explore comment les relations sociales entre les survivants et les acteurs puissants sont liées à l’exclusion, la gouvernementalité, la mobilité, et la production des espaces, des lieux et des territoires. Il constate que, si les trajectoires de migration de la plupart des survivants ont été confinés à l'intérieur des limites de la ville, les expériences de ces survivants et leur utilisation des espaces urbains sont très différentes. Ces différences peuvent être expliquées par des structures politiques, économiques, et sociales, et par les différences religieuses, économiques, et de genre. En outre, il fait valoir que les espaces post-catastrophe doivent être considérés comme des «espaces d’exclusion» où les fiduciaires exercent une rationalité gouvernementale. C’est-à-dire, les espaces post-catastrophe prétendument inclusives servent à marginaliser davantage les populations vulnérables. Ces espaces offrent aussi des occasions pour les acteurs puissants dans la société philippine d'effectuer des interventions gouvernementales dans lesquelles certaines personnes et les paysages sont simplifiées, rendues lisibles, et améliorés.

BLACK SURVIVAL POLITICS: ORGANIZED MOBILIZATION STRATEGIES IN AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES TO END THE HIV/AIDS EPIDEMIC

The purpose of this study is to examine organizational patterns of African American activism in response the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Given their political, economic, and social disenfranchisement, African Americans have historically developed protest and survival strategies to respond to the devaluation of their lives, health, and well-being. While Black protest strategies are typically regarded as oppositional and transformative, Black survival strategies have generally been conceptualized as accepting inequality. In the case of HIV/AIDS, African American religious and non-religious organizations were less likely to deploy protest strategies to ensure the survival and well-being of groups most at risk for HIV/AIDS—such as African American gay men and substance abusers. This study employs a multiple qualitative case study analysis of four African American organizations that were among the early mobilizers to respond to HIV/AIDS in Washington D.C. These organizations include two secular or community-based organizations and two Black churches or faith-based organizations. Given the association of HIV/AIDS with sexual sin and social deviance, I postulated that Black community-based organizations would be more responsive to the HIV/AIDS-related needs and interests of African Americans than their religious counterparts. More specifically, I expected that Black churches would be more conservative (i.e. maintain paternalistic heteronormative sexual standards) than the community-based organizations. Yet findings indicate that the Black churches in this study were more similar than different than the community-based organizations in their strategic responses to HIV/AIDS. Both the community-based organizations and Black churches drew upon three main strategies in ways that politicalize the struggle for Black survival—or what I regard as Black survival politics. First, Black survival strategies for HIV/AIDS include coalition building at the intersection of multiple systems of inequality, as well as on the levels of identity and community. Second, Black survival politics include altering aspects of religious norms and practices related to sex and sexuality. Third, Black survival politics relies on the resources of the government to provide HIV/AIDS related programs and initiatives that are, in large part, based on the gains made from collective action.

Coping religioso, resiliência e qualidade de vida de pessoas com HIV/AIDS

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Psicologia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Processos de Desenvolvimento Humano e Saúde, 2016.

Report of the Working Group on Introductions and Transfers of Marine Organisms (WGITMO). 16-18 March 2016 Olbia, Italy

The 42th meeting of the ICES Working Group on Introductions and Transfers of Marine Organisms (WGITMO) was held in Olbia, Italy, 16–18 March 2016, with Anna Occhipinti-Ambrogi as host and Henn Ojaveer as chairperson. Representatives from 19 countries participated in the meeting. Attendants were from Belgium, Canada, Dennark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States. Sweden contributed by cor-respondence. The objectives of the meeting were to update information and discuss several aspects related to the introductions and transfers of non-indigenous aquatic species. Data and information management were two of the discussion topics of the meeting, with special focus on the better exploitation of the ‘Information system on aquatic non-indigenous and cryptogenic species’ (AquaNIS). The WGITMO also dedicated time for addressing the MSFD D2 issues: indicator on new non-indigenous species introduced by human activities, and opportunities and problems related to cross-regional comparison of non-indigenous species indicators. Preparation of the manuscript of the alert report on sea squirt Didemnum vexillum, which is to be published in ICES CRR series, was discussed and the steps to be taken to finalise the report were agreed. As usual, adequate time was devoted to discuss national reports, to exchange of information on the management of NIS and to review ongoing and planned research activities. The approach taken during the meeting facilitated presentations and discussions on the issues of relevance related to the Terms of References as well as on a few generic and strategically-important issues of general relevance to bioinvasions. The meeting began with a full-day joint meeting with the Working Group on Ballast and Other Ship Vectors (WGBOSV), which provided an opportunity to discuss and address issues of common interest, such as shipping and biofouling as introduction vectors. The proposed ICES demonstration advice on ‘Risk management of non-indigenous species associated with shipping in the Arctic’ was discussed, and edits were suggested for both the orientation of the demonstration advice as well as for the exact questions to be asked. Both working groups agreed that the practice of conducting back-to-back meetings with one joint day is useful and will continue in 2017. All Terms of References to be addressed for 2016 were discussed. For some Terms of Ref-erence, more detailed presentations were given, and a short overview of the information and subsequent discussion is provided herein at the end of each section. This report is structured so that each Term of Reference is dealt with in sequential order. The main body of the report contains summaries of the presentations and discussions with the more detailed documents being contained in the Annexes. WGITMO progressed each of the Terms of Reference by either completing the task or clearly identifying and agreeing on the inter-sessional activities required to still finalise the work in 2016. From 2017, WGITMO will be shifted to multi-annual management.

Sustainable Energy Production in the United States: Life Cycle Assessment of Biofuels and Bioenergy

The United States of America is making great efforts to transform the renewable and abundant biomass resources into cost-competitive, high-performance biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower. This is the key to increase domestic production of transportation fuels and renewable energy, and reduce greenhouse gas and other pollutant emissions. This dissertation focuses specifically on assessing the life cycle environmental impacts of biofuels and bioenergy produced from renewable feedstocks, such as lignocellulosic biomass, renewable oils and fats. The first part of the dissertation presents the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy demands of renewable diesel (RD) and hydroprocessed jet fuels (HRJ). The feedstocks include soybean, camelina, field pennycress, jatropha, algae, tallow and etc. Results show that RD and HRJ produced from these feedstocks reduce GHG emissions by over 50% compared to comparably performing petroleum fuels. Fossil energy requirements are also significantly reduced. The second part of this dissertation discusses the life cycle GHG emissions, energy demands and other environmental aspects of pyrolysis oil as well as pyrolysis oil derived biofuels and bioenergy. The feedstocks include waste materials such as sawmill residues, logging residues, sugarcane bagasse and corn stover, and short rotation forestry feedstocks such as hybrid poplar and willow. These LCA results show that as much as 98% GHG emission savings is possible relative to a petroleum heavy fuel oil. Life cycle GHG savings of 77 to 99% were estimated for power generation from pyrolysis oil combustion relative to fossil fuels combustion for electricity, depending on the biomass feedstock and combustion technologies used. Transportation fuels hydroprocessed from pyrolysis oil show over 60% of GHG reductions compared to petroleum gasoline and diesel. The energy required to produce pyrolysis oil and pyrolysis oil derived biofuels and bioelectricity are mainly from renewable biomass, as opposed to fossil energy. Other environmental benefits include human health, ecosystem quality and fossil resources. The third part of the dissertation addresses the direct land use change (dLUC) impact of forest based biofuels and bioenergy. An intensive harvest of aspen in Michigan is investigated to understand the GHG mitigation with biofuels and bioenergy production. The study shows that the intensive harvest of aspen in MI compared to business as usual (BAU) harvesting can produce 18.5 billion gallons of ethanol to blend with gasoline for the transport sector over the next 250 years, or 32.2 billion gallons of bio-oil by the fast pyrolysis process, which can be combusted to generate electricity or upgraded to gasoline and diesel. Intensive harvesting of these forests can result in carbon loss initially in the aspen forest, but eventually accumulates more carbon in the ecosystem, which translates to a CO2 credit from the dLUC impact. Time required for the forest-based biofuels to reach carbon neutrality is approximately 60 years. The last part of the dissertation describes the use of depolymerization model as a tool to understand the kinetic behavior of hemicellulose hydrolysis under dilute acid conditions. Experiments are carried out to measure the concentrations of xylose and xylooligomers during dilute acid hydrolysis of aspen. The experiment data are used to fine tune the parameters of the depolymerization model. The results show that the depolymerization model successfully predicts the xylose monomer profile in the reaction, however, it overestimates the concentrations of xylooligomers.