Determinants of ICT innovation and imitation in the agrifood sector

Diffusion of innovations has gained a lot of attention and concerns different scientific fields. Many studies, which examine the determining factors of technological innovations in the agricultural and agrifood sector, have been conducted assuming the widely-used Technology Accepted Model (TAM), for a random sample of farmers or firms in agricultural sector. In the present study, a holistic examination of the determining factors that affect the propensity of firms to innovate or imitate, is conducted. The diffusion of ICT tools of firms which are engaged in the NACE 02/03 as well as in the NACE 10/11 classifications for 49 heterogeneous national markets is examined, using the Bass model. The innovation parameter is positively associated with rural income, female employment, export activity and education of farmers, while the imitation parameter is increased in societies with large uncertainty avoidance

The menstruation experience: Attitude dimensions among South African students

This study aimed to investigate the attitudes and experiences regarding menstruation among undergraduate women at a historically disadvantaged South African university. A total of 255 women participated in the study. The majority of participants were black women (coloured = 55%; African = 29 .2%). They responded to the Menstrual Attitudes Questionnaire (MAQ) and a demographic questionnaire. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA with post-hoc tests. The majority of women in the study (78%) had positive attitudes towards menstruation, viewing it as a natural event that can be anticipated and predicted. However, many of the women (51–58%) perceived it as debilitating and bothersome to everyday living. Menstruation was perceived by women as impacting on participation and performance in higher education, suggesting that the provision of tertiary education for previously disadvantaged groups needs to consider the needs of women who experience difficulty managing menstruation. The provision of material resources, education in self-care strategies and distribution of information to normalise menstruation may assist the adverse impact of menstruation on their higher education experience .DHE

A de novo 2.9 Mb interstitial deletion at 13q12.11 in a child with developmental delay accompanied by mild dysmorphic characteristics

Background: Proximal deletions in the 13q12.11 region are very rare. Much larger deletions including this region have been described and are associated with complex phenotypes of mental retardation, developmental delay and various others anomalies. Results: We report on a 3-year-old girl with a rare 2.9 Mb interstitial deletion at 13q12.11 due to a de novo unbalanced t(13;14) translocation. She had mild mental retardation and relatively mild dysmorphic features such as microcephaly, flat nasal bridge, moderate micrognathia and clinodactyly of 5th finger. Molecular karyotyping revealed a deletion on the long arm of chromosome 13 as involving sub-bands 13q12.11, a deletion of about 2.9 Mb. Discussion: The clinical application of array-CGH has made it possible to detect submicroscopical genomic rearrangements that are associated with varying phenotypes.The description of more patients with deletions of the 13q12.11 region will allow a more precise genotype-phenotype correlation

The diverse nature of island isolation and its effect on land bridge insular faunas

Aim: Isolation is a key factor in island biology. It is usually defined as the distance to the geographically nearest mainland, but many other definitions exist. We explored how testing different isolation indices affects the inference of impacts of isolation on faunal characteristics. We focused on land bridge islands and compared the relationships of many spatial and temporal (i.e., through time) isolation indices with community‐, population‐ and individual‐level characteristics (species richness, population density and body size, respectively). Location: Aegean Sea islands, Greece. Time period: Current. Taxon: Many animal taxa. Methods: We estimated 21 isolation indices for 205 islands and recorded species richness data for 15 taxa (invertebrates and vertebrates). We obtained body size data for seven lizard species and population density data for three. We explored how well indices predict each characteristic, in each taxon, by conducting a series of ordinary least squares regressions (controlling for island area when needed) and a meta‐analysis. Results: Isolation was significantly (and negatively) associated with species richness in 10 of 15 taxa. It was significantly (and positively) associated with body size in only one of seven species and was not associated with population density. The effect of isolation on species richness was much weaker than that of island area, regardless of the index tested. Spatial indices generally out‐performed temporal indices, and indices directly related to the mainland out‐performed those related mainly to neighbouring islands. No index was universally superior to others, including the distance to the geographically nearest mainland. Main conclusions: The choice of index can alter our perception of the impacts of isolation on biological patterns. The nearly automatic, ubiquitous use of distance to the geographically nearest mainland misrepresents the complexity of the effects of isolation. We recommend the simultaneous testing of several indices that represent different aspects of isolation, in order to produce more constructive and thorough investigations and avoid imprecise inference

Implementing QVT-R bidirectional model transformations using alloy

QVT Relations (QVT-R) is the standard language proposed by the OMG to specify bidirectional model transformations. Unfortunately, in part due to ambiguities and omissions in the original semantics, acceptance and development of effective tool support has been slow. Recently, the checking semantics of QVT-R has been clarified and formalized. In this paper we propose a QVT-R tool that complies to such semantics. Unlike any other existing tool, it also supports meta-models enriched with OCL constraints (thus avoiding returning ill-formed models), and proposes an alternative enforcement semantics that works according to the simple and predictable “principle of least change”. The implementation is based on an embedding of both QVT-R transformations and UML class diagrams (annotated with OCL) in Alloy, a lightweight formal specification language with support for automatic model finding via SAT solving.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologi

Least - change bidirectional model transformation With QVT- R and ATL

QVT Relations (QVT-R) is the standard language proposed by the OMG to specify bidirectional model transformations. Unfortunately, in part due to ambiguities and omissions in the original semantics, acceptance and development of effective tool support has been slow. Recently, the checking semantics of QVTR has been clarified and formalized. In this article we propose a QVT-R tool that complies to such semantics. Unlike any other existing tool, it also supports metamodels enriched with OCL constraints (thus avoiding returning ill-formed models), and proposes an alternative enforcement semantics that works according to the simple and predictable “principle of least change”. The implementation is based on an embedding of both QVT-R transformations and UML class diagrams (annotated with OCL) in Alloy, a lightweight formal specification language with support for automatic model finding via SAT solving. We also show how this technique can be applied to bidirectionalize ATL, a popular (but unidirectional) model transformation language.This work is funded by ERDF-European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by national funds through the FCT-Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-020532. The first author is also sponsored by FCT grant SFRH/BD/69585/2010. The authors would also like to thank all anonymous reviewers for the valuable comments and suggestions

The European Union, borders and conflict transformation: the case of Cyprus

Much of the existing literature on the European Union (EU), conflict transformation and border dynamics has been premised on the assumption that the nature of the border determines EU intervention and the consequences that flow from this in terms of EU impact. The article aims to transcend this literature through assessing how domestic interpretations influence EU border transformation in conflict situations, taking Cyprus as a case study. Moreover, the objective is to fuse the literature on EU bordering impact and perceptions of the EU’s normative projection in conflict resolution. Pursuing this line of inquiry is an attempt to depart from the notion of borders being constructed solely by unidirectional EU logics of engagement or bordering practices to a conceptualization of the border as co-constituted space, where the interpretations of the EU’s normative projections by conflict parties, and the strategies that they pursue, can determine the relative openness of the EU border

A novel clinical risk prediction model for sudden cardiac death in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM Risk-SCD)

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