218 research outputs found
Textbook Publishing for Secondary and Higher Education
Given the number of high school and college students in need of textbooks, there is an opportunity for individuals interested in becoming textbook authors. The process begins with conducting research to determine the appropriate type of book and the market for that book. The research for secondary education includes understanding curriculum standards for the given subject. Understanding the market for the book is important to also determine the appropriate publisher for the proposed textbook. Next, it is time to prepare the items needed for the prospectus. These items include the table of content, end-of-chapter exercises, and likely a few chapters of the book. Beyond a new textbook proposal, taking over for an existing author on a textbook is another means of becoming a textbook author. Publishing a textbook is a lot of work, but the payoffs may include filling a gap in the market, recognition, staying current, and royalties or flat fee payment
Balancing Market Share Growth and Customer Profitability: Budget Allocation for Customer Acquisition and Retention
This study adds to the knowledge of budget allocation for customer acquisition and retention spending in an inertia segment. The results indicate that when retention spending surpassed the optimal budget allocation, increased spending did not grow the expected value of customer equity. Since the inertia segment is comprised of loyal customers, an examination of brand equity and its role in customer loyalty and its influence on customer equity are discussed
Dynamic LycraÂź orthoses as an adjunct to arm rehabilitation after stroke:a single-blind, two-arm parallel group, randomized controlled feasibility trial
Radiative equilibrium in Monte Carlo radiative transfer using frequency distribution adjustment
The Monte Carlo method is a powerful tool for performing radiative
equilibrium calculations, even in complex geometries. The main drawback of the
standard Monte Carlo radiative equilibrium methods is that they require
iteration, which makes them numerically very demanding. Bjorkman & Wood
recently proposed a frequency distribution adjustment scheme, which allows
radiative equilibrium Monte Carlo calculations to be performed without
iteration, by choosing the frequency of each re-emitted photon such that it
corrects for the incorrect spectrum of the previously re-emitted photons.
Although the method appears to yield correct results, we argue that its
theoretical basis is not completely transparent, and that it is not completely
clear whether this technique is an exact rigorous method, or whether it is just
a good and convenient approximation. We critically study the general problem of
how an already sampled distribution can be adjusted to a new distribution by
adding data points sampled from an adjustment distribution. We show that this
adjustment is not always possible, and that it depends on the shape of the
original and desired distributions, as well as on the relative number of data
points that can be added. Applying this theorem to radiative equilibrium Monte
Carlo calculations, we provide a firm theoretical basis for the frequency
distribution adjustment method of Bjorkman & Wood, and we demonstrate that this
method provides the correct frequency distribution through the additional
requirement of radiative equilibrium. We discuss the advantages and limitations
of this approach, and show that it can easily be combined with the presence of
additional heating sources and the concept of photon weighting. However, the
method may fail if small dust grains are included... (abridged)Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in New Astronom
Randomised single centre double-blind placebo controlled phase II trial of Tocovid SupraBio in combination with pentoxifylline in patients suffering long-term gastrointestinal adverse effects of radiotherapy for pelvic cancer: The PPALM study.
BACKGROUND: Preclinical data suggest that combined gamma-tocotrienol with pentoxifylline ameliorates radiotherapy-induced gastrointestinal damage. AIM: To test whether gastrointestinal symptoms arising after radiotherapy, and persisting after maximal medical therapy, can be improved using Tocovid SupraBio 200Â mg and pentoxifylline 400Â mg orally twice daily for one year. Patients stratified by severity of symptoms, and randomised to active treatment or matched placebo were assessed after 12Â months. The primary end point was improvement in gastrointestinal symptoms measured using the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire, bowel subset score. Changes in bio-markers of fibrosis were assessed. RESULTS: 62 patients, median age 66, 34(55%) treated for prostate, 21(34%) gynaecological, 6(10%) anal and one(1%) rectal cancer were recruited; 40(65%) randomised to treatment, 22(35%) to placebo, 39Â months (median) after radiotherapy completion. Gamma tocotrienol was not detected in serum in 41% of treated patients, despite good compliance with study medication. Treatment was completed in 28(70%) and 17(77%) patients in the treatment and placebo groups respectively. No improvement in symptom scores nor in quality of life was identified. Thirteen serious adverse events occurred. A transient ischaemic attack, was possibly related to pentoxifylline, others were assessed as unlikely to be related to treatment. Levels of EGF, PDGF and FGF were significantly reduced and consistent trends in reduced inflammation were seen during treatment but were not sustained once treatment ended. SUMMARY: This single centre study closed prematurely and therefore data interpretation is of necessity limited. No clinical benefit was demonstrated. However, biochemical data suggest that this intervention does have anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects
âSons of athelings given to the earthâ: Infant Mortality within Anglo-Saxon Mortuary Geography
FOR 20 OR MORE YEARS early Anglo-Saxon archaeologists have believed children are underrepresented in the cemetery evidence. They conclude that excavation misses small bones, that previous attitudes to reporting overlook the very young, or that infants and children were buried elsewhere. This is all well and good, but we must be careful of oversimplifying compound social and cultural responses to childhood and infant mortality. Previous approaches have offered methodological quandaries in the face of this under-representation. However, proportionally more infants were placed in large cemeteries and sometimes in specific zones. This trend is statistically significant and is therefore unlikely to result entirely from preservation or excavation problems. Early medieval cemeteries were part of regional mortuary geographies and provided places to stage events that promoted social cohesion across kinship systems extending over tribal territories. This paper argues that patterns in early Anglo-Saxon infant burial were the result of female mobility. Many women probably travelled locally to marry in a union which reinforced existing social networks. For an expectant mother, however, the safest place to give birth was with experience women in her maternal home. Infant identities were affected by personal and legal association with their motherâs parental kindred, so when an infant died in childbirth or months and years later, it was their motherâs identity which dictated burial location. As a result, cemeteries central to tribal identities became places to bury the sons and daughters of a regional tribal aristocracy
On the source of the late-time infrared luminosity of SN 1998S and other type II supernovae
We present late-time near-infrared (NIR) and optical observations of the type
IIn SN 1998S. The NIR photometry spans 333-1242 days after explosion, while the
NIR and optical spectra cover 333-1191 days and 305-1093 days respectively. The
NIR photometry extends to the M'-band (4.7 mu), making SN 1998S only the second
ever supernova for which such a long IR wavelength has been detected. The shape
and evolution of the H alpha and HeI 1.083 mu line profiles indicate a powerful
interaction with a progenitor wind, as well as providing evidence of dust
condensation within the ejecta. The latest optical spectrum suggests that the
wind had been flowing for at least 430 years. The intensity and rise of the HK
continuum towards longer wavelengths together with the relatively bright L' and
M' magnitudes shows that the NIR emission was due to hot dust newly-formed in
supernovae may provide the ejecta and/or pre-existing dust in the progenitor
circumstellar medium (CSM). [ABRIDGED] Possible origins for the NIR emission
are considered. Significant radioactive heating of ejecta dust is ruled out, as
is shock/X-ray-precursor heating of CSM dust. More plausible sources are (a) an
IR-echo from CSM dust driven by the UV/optical peak luminosity, and (b)
emission from newly-condensed dust which formed within a cool, dense shell
produced by the ejecta shock/CSM interaction. We argue that the evidence
favours the condensing dust hypothesis, although an IR-echo is not ruled out.
Within the condensing-dust scenario, the IR luminosity indicates the presence
of at least 0.001 solar masses of dust in the ejecta, and probably considerably
more. Finally, we show that the late-time intrinsic (K-L') evolution of type II
supernovae may provide a useful tool for determining the presence or absence of
a massive CSM around their progenitor stars.Comment: 23 pages, 15 figures, to be published in MNRA
Addressing overtreatment of screen detected DCIS; the LORIS trial
Abstract Overdiagnosis, and thus overtreatment, are inevitable consequences of most screening programmes; identification of ways of minimising the impact of overdiagnosis demands new prospective research, in particular the need to separate clinically relevant lesions that require active treatment from those that can be safely left alone or monitored and only need treated if they change characteristics. Breast cancer screening has led to a large increase in ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) diagnoses. This is a widely heterogeneous disease and most DCIS detected through screening is of high cytonuclear grade and therefore likely to be important clinically. However, the historic practice of surgical treatment for all DCIS is unlikely to be optimal for lower risk patients. A clearer understanding of how to manage DCIS is required. This article describes the background and development of âThe low riskâ DCIS trial (LORIS), a phase III trial of surgery versus active monitoring. LORIS will determine if it is appropriate to manage women with screen detected or asymptomatic, low grade and intermediate grade DCIS with low grade features, by active monitoring rather than by surgical treatment
The Westerbork HI Survey of spiral and irregular galaxies III: HI observations of early-type disk galaxies
We present HI observations of 68 early-type disk galaxies from the WHISP
survey. They have morphological types between S0 and Sab and absolute B-band
magnitudes between -14 and -22. These galaxies form the massive, high
surface-brightness extreme of the disk galaxy population, few of which have
been imaged in HI before.
The HI properties of the galaxies in our sample span a large range; the
average values of M_HI/L_B and D_HI/D_25 are comparable to the ones found in
later-type spirals, but the dispersions around the mean are larger. No
significant differences are found between the S0/S0a and the Sa/Sab galaxies.
Our early-type disk galaxies follow the same HI mass-diameter relation as
later-type spiral galaxies, but their effective HI surface densities are
slightly lower than those found in later-type systems.
In some galaxies, distinct rings of HI emission coincide with regions of
enhanced star formation, even though the average gas densities are far below
the threshold of star formation derived by Kennicutt (1989). Apparently,
additional mechanisms, as yet unknown, regulate star formation at low surface
densities.
Many of the galaxies in our sample have lopsided gas morphologies; in most
cases this can be linked to recent or ongoing interactions or merger events.
Asymmetries are rare in quiescent galaxies. Kinematic lopsidedness is rare,
both in interacting and isolated systems.
In the appendix, we present an atlas of the HI observations: for all galaxies
we show HI surface density maps, global profiles, velocity fields and radial
surface density profiles.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A. A version with
the full atlas can be downloaded from
http://www.astro.rug.nl/~edo/WHISPIII.ps.gz (gzipped postscript, 9.3Mb
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