Life history strategies of Calanus sinicus in the southern Yellow Sea in summer

Ecological and physiological features of the planktonic copepod Calanus sinicus in the southern Yellow Sea in summer were studied to reveal its life history strategy. From the coastal shallow waters to the central part of the southern Yellow Sea, a shift of the stage composition occurs from being dominated by the egg-nauplius stage to being dominated by the fifth copepodite (CV) stage. Most CVs reside in the Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass (YSCWM), where both temperature and food abundance are low. CVs in the YSCWM have longer body lengths, heavier body weights and higher carbon contents than those outside the YSCWM. Onboard incubations show that the development of CVs in the YSCWM is suspended. Energy conservation, development suspension and lack of diel vertical migration (DVM) behavior suggest a diapause status for the CVs in the YSCWM, although vertical distribution patterns indicate the CV individuals are not fully synchronous in physiology and development. This adaptive oversummering strategy would help C. sinicus to live through the warm and food-limited summer in the central part of the southern Yellow Sea; both low temperature and low food supply are necessary for CV to maintain the resting state in the YSCWM. Calanus sinicus exhibits different life history strategies in different regions of the southern Yellow Sea in summer.

Oceanic iron fertilization: one of strategies for sequestration atmospheric CO2

Carbon cycle is connected with the most important environmental issue of Global Change. As one of the major carbon reservoirs, oceans play an important part in the carbon cycle. In recent years, iron seems to give us a good news that oceanic iron fertilization could stimulate biological productivity as CO2 sink of human-produced CO2. Oceanic iron fertilization experiments have verified that adding iron into high nutrient low chlorophyll (HNLC) seawaters can increase phytoplankton production and export organic carbon, and hence increase carbon sink of anthropogenic CO2, to reduce global warming. In sixty days, the export organic carbon could reach 10 000 times for adding iron by model prediction and in situ experiment, i.e. the atmospheric CO2 uptake and inorganic carbon drawdown in upper seawaters also have the same magnitude. Therefore, oceanic iron fertilization is one of the strategies for increasing carbon sink of anthropogenic CO2. The paper is focused on the iron fertilization, especially in situ ocean iron experiments in order that the future research is more efficient.

Planning and Teaching Compliant Motion Strategies

This thesis presents a new high level robot programming system. The programming system can be used to construct strategies consisting of compliant motions, in which a moving robot slides along obstacles in its environment. The programming system is referred to as high level because the user is spared of many robot-level details, such as the specification of conditional tests, motion termination conditions, and compliance parameters. Instead, the user specifies task-level information, including a geometric model of the robot and its environment. The user may also have to specify some suggested motions. There are two main system components. The first component is an interactive teaching system which accepts motion commands from a user and attempts to build a compliant motion strategy using the specified motions as building blocks. The second component is an autonomous compliant motion planner, which is intended to spare the user from dealing with "simple" problems. The planner simplifies the representation of the environment by decomposing the configuration space of the robot into a finite state space, whose states are vertices, edges, faces, and combinations thereof. States are inked to each other by arcs, which represent reliable compliant motions. Using best first search, states are expanded until a strategy is found from the start state to a global state. This component represents one of the first implemented compliant motion planners. The programming system has been implemented on a Symbolics 3600 computer, and tested on several examples. One of the resulting compliant motion strategies was successfully executed on an IBM 7565 robot manipulator.

Strategies for surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion according to the region of transverse maxillary deficiency

This study evaluated different techniques for surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion (SARME) according to the type of transverse maxillary deficiency using computed tomography (CT). Six adult patients with bilateral transverse maxillary deficiencies underwent SARME. the patients were equally divided into three groups: Group I, maxillary atresia in both the anterior and posterior regions; Group II, greater maxillary atresia in the anterior region; and Group ill, increased maxillary atresia in the posterior region. in Group I, a subtotal Le Fort I osteotomy was used. in Group II, a subtotal Le Fort I osteotomy was used without pterygomaxillary suture disjunction. in Group III, a subtotal Le Fort I osteotomy was used with pterygomaxillary suture disjunction and fixation of the anterior nasal spine with steel wire. the midpalatal suture opening was evaluated preoperatively and immediately after the activation period using CT. for Group I, the opening occurred parallel to midpalatal suture; for Group II, the opening comprised a V-shape with a vertex on the posterior nasal spine; and for Group III, the opening comprised a V-shape with a vertex at the anterior nasal spine. the conclusion was that the SARME technique should be individualized according to the type of transverse maxillary deficiency.

Probabilistic abductive computation of evidence collection strategies in crime investigation

J. Keppens, Q. Shen and B. Schafer. Probabilistic abductive computation of evidence collection strategies in crime investigation. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Law, pages 215-225.

Debugging: the good, the bad, and the quirky -- a qualitative analysis of novices' strategies

Murphy, L., Lewandowski, G., McCauley, R., Simon, B., Thomas, L., and Zander, C. 2008. Debugging: the good, the bad, and the quirky -- a qualitative analysis of novices' strategies. SIGCSE Bull. 40, 1 (Feb. 2008), 163-167

Strategies that students use to trace code: an analysis based in grounded theory

Fitzgerald, S., Simon, B., and Thomas, L. 2005. Strategies that students use to trace code: an analysis based in grounded theory. In Proceedings of the First international Workshop on Computing Education Research (Seattle, WA, USA, October 01 - 02, 2005). ICER '05. ACM, New York, NY, 69-80

The paradox of using tacit and explicit knowledge: Strategies to face dilemnas

Jasimuddin, Sajjad, Klein, Jonathan, and Connell, Con, 'The paradox of using tacit and explicit knowledge: Strategies to face dilemnas', Management Decision (2005) 43(1) pp.102-112 RAE2008

The Arab Spring as a Test of post-Lisbon Capabilities and Strategies of the European Union in North Africa

This study aims to present the conditions related to the European Union’s involvement in the Arab Spring, as well as examine the extent of this capability-based involvement in the first months of 2011 against the background of competence disputes between institutions and inter-governmental contentions. These considerations will be the basis for conclusions on the theoretical and practical viability of the European Union’s action in the region of North Africa, in terms of both interests defined in Brussels and representation of a jointly agreed position and undertaking practical actions in the international arena. These assumptions can facilitate a new perspective for the EU’s strategic approach framework in the region of North Africa.

Promoção da Adesão à Terapêutica e da Qualidade de Vida na Epilepsia

Tese apresentada à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Doutor em Ciências Sociais, especialidade em Psicologia

Urbanization effects on welfare and income diversification strategies of peri-urban farm households in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia: An empirical analysis

Urban areas in many developing countries are expanding rapidly by incorporating nearby subsistence farming communities. This has a direct effect on the consumption and production behaviours of the farm households but empirical evidence is sparse. This thesis investigated the effects of rapid urbanization and the associated policies on welfare of subsistence farm households in peri-urban areas using a panel dataset from Tigray, Ethiopia. The study revealed a number of important issues emerging with the rapid urban expansion. Firstly, private asset holdings and consumption expenditure of farm households, that have been incorporated into urban administration, has decreased. Secondly, factors that influence the farm households’ welfare and vulnerability depend on the administration they belong to, urban or rural. Gender and literacy of the household head have significant roles for the urban farm households to fall back into and/or move out of poverty. However, livestock holding and share of farm income are the most important factors for rural households. Thirdly, the study discloses that farming continues to be important source of income and income diversification is the principal strategy. Participation in nonfarm employment is less for farm households in urban than rural areas. Adult labour, size of the local market and past experience in the nonfarm sector improves the likelihood of engaging in skilled nonfarm employment opportunities. But money, given as compensation for the land taken away, is not crucial for the household to engage in better paying nonfarm employments. Production behaviour of the better-off farm households is the same, regardless of the administration they belong to. However, the urban poor participate less in nonfarm employment compared to the rural poor. These findings signify the gradual development of urban-induced poverty in peri-urban areas. In the case of labour poor households, introducing urban safety net programmes could improve asset productivity and provide further protection.

The effects of copayment policies on adherence to prescription medicines in publicly insured populations

Introduction: Copayments for prescriptions are associated with decreased adherence to medicines resulting in increased health service utilisation, morbidity and mortality. In October 2010 a 50c copayment per prescription item was introduced on the General Medical Services (GMS) scheme in Ireland, the national public health insurance programme for low-income and older people. The copayment was increased to €1.50 per prescription item in January 2013. To date, the impact of these copayments on adherence to prescription medicines on the GMS scheme has not been assessed. Given that the GMS population comprises more than 40% of the Irish population, this presents an important public health problem. The aim of this thesis was to assess the impact of two prescription copayments, 50c and €1.50, on adherence to medicines.Methods: In Chapter 2 the published literature was systematically reviewed with meta-analysis to a) develop evidence on cost-sharing for prescriptions and adherence to medicines and b) develop evidence for an alternative policy option; removal of copayments. The core research question of this thesis was addressed by a large before and after longitudinal study, with comparator group, using the national pharmacy claims database. New users of essential and less-essential medicines were included in the study with sample sizes ranging from 7,007 to 136,111 individuals in different medication groups. Segmented regression was used with generalised estimating equations to allow for correlations between repeated monthly measurements of adherence. A qualitative study involving 24 individuals was conducted to assess patient attitudes towards the 50c copayment policy. The qualitative and quantitative findings were integrated in the discussion chapter of the thesis. The vast majority of the literature on this topic area is generated in North America, therefore a test of generalisability was carried out in Chapter 5 by comparing the impact of two similar copayment interventions on adherence, one in the U.S. and one in Ireland. The method used to measure adherence in Chapters 3 and 5 was validated in Chapter 6. Results: The systematic review with meta-analysis demonstrated an 11% (95% CI 1.09 to 1.14) increased odds of non-adherence when publicly insured populations were exposed to copayments. The second systematic review found moderate but variable improvements in adherence after removal/reduction of copayments in a general population. The core paper of this thesis found that both the 50c and €1.50 copayments on the GMS scheme were associated with larger reductions in adherence to less-essential medicines than essential medicines directly after the implementation of policies. An important exception to this pattern was observed; adherence to anti-depressant medications declined by a larger extent than adherence to other essential medicines after both copayments. The cross country comparison indicated that North American evidence on cost-sharing for prescriptions is not automatically generalisable to the Irish setting. Irish patients had greater immediate decreases of -5.3% (95% CI -6.9 to -3.7) and -2.8% (95% CI -4.9 to -0.7) in adherence to anti-hypertensives and anti-hyperlipidaemic medicines, respectively, directly after the policy changes, relative to their U.S. counterparts. In the long term, however, the U.S. and Irish populations had similar behaviours. The concordance study highlighted the possibility of a measurement bias occurring for the measurement of adherence to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in Chapter 3. Conclusions: This thesis has presented two reviews of international cost-sharing policies, an assessment of the generalisability of international evidence and both qualitative and quantitative examinations of cost-sharing policies for prescription medicines on the GMS scheme in Ireland. It was found that the introduction of a 50c copayment and its subsequent increase to €1.50 on the GMS scheme had a larger impact on adherence to less-essential medicines relative to essential medicines, with the exception of anti-depressant medications. This is in line with policy objectives to reduce moral hazard and is therefore demonstrative of the value of such policies. There are however some caveats. The copayment now stands at €2.50 per prescription item. The impact of this increase in copayment has yet to be assessed which is an obvious point for future research. Careful monitoring for adverse effects in socio-economically disadvantaged groups within the GMS population is also warranted. International evidence can be applied to the Irish setting to aid in future decision making in this area, but not without placing it in the local context first. Patients accepted the introduction of the 50c charge, however did voice concerns over a rising price. The challenge for policymakers is to find the ‘optimal copayment’ – whereby moral hazard is decreased, but access to essential chronic disease medicines that provide advantages at the population level is not deterred. This evidence presented in this thesis will be utilisable for future policy-making in Ireland.

Strategies to prevent potentially inappropriate prescribing and adverse drug reactions in older patients

INTRODUCTION: Potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) is a major contributor to adverse drug reactions and overall increased healthcare costs. The aim of this thesis was to identify, develop and implement strategies with the potential to prevent PIP and ADRs in older patients. METHODS: A systematic review of the qualitative literature (Meta-synthesis); A qualitative study in Irish hospitals; A randomised controlled trial (RCT) to assess the impact of an online educational module on doctors’ prescribing knowledge and confidence; Exploration of the potential for a frailty index score to enable doctors identify patients at increased risk of PIP and ADRs; Exploration of the potential for the SHiM tool to enable doctors to optimise prescribing for older patients. RESULTS: The meta-synthesis identified four key concepts: (i) Desire to please the patient; (ii) Feeling of being forced to prescribe; (iii) Tension between experience and guidelines; (iv) Prescriber fear. Similar themes also emerged from the qualitative study. In the RCT, the online educational module resulted in a highly significant 22% difference in test scores between intervention and control groups. The studies exploring the frailty index score showed a significant positive relationship between a patient’s frailty status and their likelihood of experiencing PIP/ADRs. Patients above a frailty threshold of 0.16 were at least twice as likely to experience PIP/ADRs. SHiM was found to be a useful tool in terms of reconciling patients’ medications. However, the evidence for it being capable of preventing clinically relevant adverse events was poor. CONCLUSION:Qualitative research in this thesis has proposed novel theories relating to the causative factors of PIP in older patients. In doing so, it has identified several areas for intervention and laid down a road map for future research.