bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Postpartum Lactational Amenorrhoea as a Means of Family Planning in the Sudan: A Study of 500 Cases
Authors: Adnan Amal M. , Bakr Salah Abu 
Published: July 2008

SummaryThe lactational histories of 500 Sudanese women were studied retrospectively to examine postpartum lactational amenorrhoea as a method of family planning. Particular attention was given to the factors affecting postpartum lactational amenorrhoea, including supplementary feeding and the use of modern contraceptive methods. Breast-feeding was overwhelmingly practised (90%) among this sample, which was roughly representative of the Sudanese population as a whole. The prevalence of amenorrhoea among this group of lactating women was quite high (73%). Duration of lactational amenorrhoea ranged from 2 to 36 months with a median of 12 months.Introduction of supplementary feeding had little effect on lactational amenorrhoea up to the 9th month of breast-feeding. Beyond the 12th month of breast-feeding, lactational amenorrhoea was significantly prolonged by postponing the introduction of supplementary feeding until the 4th month or later.Ovulation, and hence conception, during lactational amenorrhoea was unpredictable. It occurred as early as the 3rd or as late as the 36th month postpartum. Conceptions interrupting lactational amenorrhoea soon after delivery (3–9 months) were more frequent among primiparous women. The failure rate of lactational amenorrhoea as a contraceptive was 8·4%. Though extremely high compared to that of the pill, lactational amenorrhoea was more useful as a fertility control mechanism because, in this study, a high proportion of women initiated pill use, but soon discontinued it because of side effects. Modern contraceptive practice was not prevalent. Amenorrhoeic mothers accepted the pill after the 6th month postpartum (41%), compared to lactating mothers whose menses had returned who started it much earlier. Forty-nine percent of the women studied relied completely on the protection of lactational amenorrhoea. Fifty-seven percent of all lactating women who used the combined pill reported a reduction in milk production. There are several policy implications of this study.
Child Survivorship and Pregnancy Spacing in Iran
Authors: Janowitz Barbara , Nichols Douglas J. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryUsing data collected over a 12-month period (1977–78) from more than 15,000 hospital deliveries at a single maternity hospital in Tehran, Iran, we have examined the effects of previous pregnancy outcomes, breast-feeding and contraceptive use on birth spacing. The outcomes of previous pregnancies, particularly the most recent, significantly affect the length of the pregnancy interval, and so does breast-feeding. Pregnancy outcomes influence both breast-feeding and subsequent contraceptive behaviour, and breast-feeding adds to the degree of protection against pregnancy afforded by conventional contraception. Improved survivorship increases the length of pregnancy intervals most when it results in increased use of contraception and when breast-feeding is commonly practised for extended periods.
Molecular surveillance ofNeisseria meningitidiscapsular switching in Portugal, 2002–2006
Authors: SIMÕES M. J. , CUNHA M. , ALMEIDA F. , FURTADO C. , BRUM L. 
Published: July 2008

SUMMARYNeisseria meningitidiscapsular switching has been reported in several countries. In order to establish the genetic relationship within group B and C strains expressing subtypes 2a or 2b, and to evaluate whether C to B capsular switching occurred in Portugal, 64 meningococci (56 serogroup C and 8 serogroup B) isolated from invasive meningococcal disease were typed using molecular methods. The studied phenotypes, 2b:P1.5,2 and 2a:P1.5-1,10-8, were the most frequent among serogroup C, but were uncommon among serogroup B strains. The multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) allelic profile and the pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) fingerprints showed that seven serogroup B strains were genotypically identical to C strains, suggesting that capsular switching occurred. Active laboratory surveillance to find evidence of capsule switching is a now priority as MenC was introduced in the Portuguese vaccination schedule in January 2006.
The classical AI planning problems in the mirror of Horn linear logic: semantics, expressibility, complexity
Authors: KANOVICH MAX , VAUZEILLES JACQUELINE 
Published: July 2008

We introduce Horn linear logic as a comprehensive logical system capable of handling the
typical AI problem of making a plan of the actions to be performed by a robot so that he
could get into a set of final situations, if he started with a certain initial situation.
Contrary to undecidability of propositional Horn linear logic, the planning problem is
proved to be decidable for a reasonably wide class of natural robot systems.The planning problem is proved to be EXPTIME-complete for the robot systems that allow
actions with non-deterministic effects. Fixing a finite signature, that is a finite set of
predicates and their finite domains, we get a polynomial time procedure of making plans for
the robot system over this signature.The planning complexity is reduced to PSPACE for the robot systems with only pure
deterministic actions.As honest numerical parameters in our algorithms we invoke the length of description of a
planning task ‘from W to
Z˜’ and the Kolmogorov descriptive complexity of AxT, a set of
possible actions.
Carbon abatement costs: an integrated approach for India
Authors: Gupta Sujata , Hall Stephen G. 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTEconomic models for assessing costs of greenhouse gas abatement can be classified as macroeconomic (top-down) models or micro (bottom-up) models. As yet little attention has been focused on the modelling of developing countries. This paper proposes a methodology for integrating the two approaches and illustrates it with the example of India. The results show that a carbon tax would have limited effectiveness in controlling carbon emissions. Investing carbon tax revenues in carbon-abating technologies can give substantial carbon savings. The costs of carbon abatement using the integrated model are higher than those predicted by other global models with India as a sub-region.
Macroeconomic policies, second-best theory and the environment
Authors: Mäler Karl-Göran , Munasinghe Mohan 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTThis paper seeks to develop a basic analytical framework that can be used to trace the environmental impacts of macroeconomic policies, and especially to identify where unforeseen negative environmental effects may occur and design remedial measures. The framework is based on a formal mathematical model which shows the second-best nature of macroeconomic policies in the presence of environmental externalities. The model confirms the empirically observed and intuitively appealing conclusion that it is the combination of macroeconomic policies and subsidiary imperfections (policy, market or institutional), rather than macroeconomic policies alone, that leads to environmental degradation. Several illustrative examples are presented from case studies in selected developing countries.
Bretton Woods intervention programmes and sustainable development
Authors: Opschoor J.B. , Jongma S.M. 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTSince the beginning of the 1980s the Bretton Woods institutions (World Bank and International Monetary Fund) have introduced structural adjustment loans and stabilization programmes to correct balance-of-payments distortions and to realize the conditions necessary for economic growth in developing countries. In the course of the 1980s, the concept of sustainable development was launched which asked for a qualitatively different orientation of growth. This paper presents a summary of what has been learned with respect to the relationship between Bretton Woods intervention programmes and development. Adjustment programmes appear to have evolved through three different stages, with attention for environmental aspects of sustainable development emerging in the third stage. A sectoral analysis is presented of the possible environmental impacts of the various components of intervention programmes. Recommendations are made regarding possible improvements of WB and IMF adjustment strategies in the light of sustainable development, without fully translating them into actual changes at the level of specific programmes.
Economic analysis of deforestation in Mexico
Authors: Barbier Edward B. , Burgess Joanne C. 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTThis paper uses panel analyses to estimate relationships for agricultural planted area and beef cattle numbers at the state level in Mexico during the period 1970–85, in order to determine the main factors affecting forest land conversion. Of the key policy variables, maize and fertilizer prices appear to be the main influences on the expansion of planted area, whereas beef prices and credit disbursement influence cattle numbers. Population growth also affects both livestock and agricultural activities, and income per capita is positively correlated with cattle expansion. These estimated relationships are used to examine the effects both of agricultural and livestock sectoral policy changes and of trade liberalization in Mexico resulting from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). To avoid any unintended impacts of NAFTA on deforestation, it may be necessary for Mexico to make complementary investments in land improvements, especially for existing cultivation on rainfed land.
International transfers, price uncertainty and tropical deforestation
Authors: Bulte Erwin , Van Soest Daan 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTInternational transfers to developing countries are sometimes advocated on the ground that they contribute to tropical forest conservation. Here we demonstrate that the effectiveness (and attractiveness) of this instrument is reduced if the restrictive assumption of deterministic prices is relaxed. With stochastic prices, the steady-state forest stock in the absence of transfers is greater, implying that the marginal benefit of additional hectares conserved is less. In addition, the ‘wealth effect’ of transfers counteracts the ‘freeing-up effect’, which implies that per unit of subsidy fewer hectares of tropical forest are protected. Both effects reduce the attractiveness of transfers as a policy instrument for Western governments to combat tropical deforestation.
Impacts of development and global change on the epidemiological environment
Authors: Daily Gretchen C. , Ehrlich Paul R. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractAlthough improvements in human health represent a crucial aspect of development worldwide, many trends associated with development and global change appear to be reducing health security. In this article, we define the human epidemiological environment and describe key biophysical, economic, sociocultural, and political factors that shape it. The potential impact upon the epidemiological environment of aspects of both development and global change are then examined: the influences of human population size, mobility, geographic distribution, and nutritional status; modernization; loss of indigenous medicinal knowledge; microbial evolution of antibiotic resistance; land conversion and biodiversity loss; agricultural intensification; stratospheric ozone depletion; and climate change. Human vulnerability to infectious disease is often strongly and deleteriously influenced by ongoing, intensifying changes in these factors. An unprecedented level of communication and cooperation between experts, institutions, and nations is required to respond to the increasing threat of epidemic disease, which points to a promising area for enhanced interdisciplinary collaboration.
Effect of community-based nutrition education intervention on calcium intake and bone mass in postmenopausal Vietnamese women
Authors: Hien Vu Thi Thu , Khan Nguyen Cong , Mai Le Bach , Lam Nguyen Thi , Phuong Tuan Mai , Nhung Bui Thi , Nhien Nguyen Van , Nakamori Masayo , Yamamoto Shigeru 
Published: July 2008

AbstractObjectiveTo examine the effect of community-based nutrition education intervention on calcium intake and bone mass in Vietnamese postmenopausal women.DesignA controlled trial was conducted in two groups as intervention and control. The intervention group was given nutrition education during 18 months to improve calcium intake, while the control subjects had the usual diet. Calcium intake and bone mass were evaluated every 6 months. Bone mass was assessed by speed of sound (SOS) at calcaneus, referred to as quantitative ultrasound measurement. Anthropometric indices and serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) were determined at baseline and at the end of intervention.SettingTwo rural communes of Hai Duong province located in the Red River Delta in Vietnam.SubjectsA total of 140 women aged 55–65 years, who were more than 5 years postmenopausal and with low calcium intake (<400 mg/d), were recruited. After 18 months of intervention, 108 women completed the study.ResultsCalcium intake in the intervention group had increased significantly (P < 0·01) while it had no significant changes in controls. SOS values were not changed significantly in the intervention subjects while it decreased significantly by 0·5 % in the controls (P < 0·01). The intervention led to a decrease in serum PTH by 12 % (P < 0·01). In the controls, there was an increase in serum PTH by 32 % (P < 0·001).ConclusionNutrition education intervention was effective in improving calcium intake and retarding bone loss in the studied subjects.
IT in Law and Law on the Web
Authors: Bebbington Laurence W. 
Published: July 2008

The use of intelligent technologies in legal document preparation continue to develop so as to integrate with new software and operating system developments. At the end of May products were launched by both the West Group (WestCiteLink) and LexisNexis containing smart tag features allowing integration between Windows XP (Microsoft's new operating system to be launched in the UK in October) and legal databases. As users type, smart tags activate automatically and find and identify legal citations to statutes, cases etc. Once identified a set of options can provide automatic link creation to the documents on Westlaw or LexisNexis, without the user having to leave the Word document. WestCiteLink is the result of a strategic alliance between West Group and Microsoft. As the cursor hangs over the citation the user is presented with options which can:• find the document on Westlaw• determine the KeyCite history• identify citing references• create a hyperlink to the document• mark the cite for inclusion in a Table of Authorities.
keeping FE/HE “Legal, Honest and Truthful”
Authors: Weedon Ralph 
Published: July 2008

AbstractThis article aims to give a broad outline of what the JISC Legal Information Service is and why it was set up. In particular it deals with the challenges of the Internet and the new legislation that attempts to regulate it or stimulate its use. The Internet is fast becoming embedded in the FE/HE sector, in teaching and learning, research and administration–ignore it at your peril some might say. Yet there are risks to this, in some cases, enthusiastic rush to embrace all things that utilise the WWW. The relative ease of access, extraction and dissemination on ‘the net’ has tempted some to overlook the legalities. This article summarises briefly the main areas of law under consideration and the potential costs of infringement. It explains that FE/HE is subject to this legislation sometimes in specific ways. It concludes by stressing the need for feedback from the sector including BIALL members in order that the service can improve.
Employment Law Information Sources
Authors: Ogden David 
Published: July 2008

An indexed and annotated copy of the Employment Rights Act 1996 as amended at 1st January 2000, including amendments made by the Employment Relations Act 1999, is included on the professional area of this Web site. DiscLaw Publishing Ltd provides e-LOAD (employment Law on a Disc). The subscription service includes CD-ROMs updated every six months plus a password to their Internet site, updated every three weeks with the latest employment law developments. The site also contains lots of free information based on an earlier issue of the CD.Costs: Prices start from £5 plus VAT a day for the professional service (£190 plus VAT p.a.)Contact DiscLaw Publishing Ltd 0870 751 8905 www.emplaw.co.uk
E-Product Review
Authors: Heaney Siobban 
Published: July 2008

Murdoch's Irish Legal Companion is a CD-ROM and Web-based product from Topaz Publications and Lendac Data Systems. It incorporates a new edition of A Dictionary of Irish Law as well as the full text of cited Acts and statutory instruments from 1922 to 2000. I reviewed the Dictionary on CD-ROM.The coverage of the Dictionary is fairly extensive, providing definitions of approximately 6,500 thousand legal definitions with cross references and hyperlinks to related terms, legislation and relevant Web sites.
CaLIM: Current Awareness for Legal Information Managers Web Database
Authors: Gee David , Whittle Steven 
Published: July 2008

SummaryThis paper provides a brief introduction to caLIM, the Current Awareness for Legal Information Managers (http://193.62.18.223/dbtw-wpd/textbase/cadquery.htm) web database developed at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in London and made freely available on the IALS Web site.
The Grand Tour
Authors: Clinch Peter 
Published: July 2008

“Seen one library, seen the lot. Drive on!”Reputedly, this command was uttered by the President of an emerging African nation to his chauffeur, when his official visit to the campus of the state university was running behind schedule. After visiting over fifty university and three national libraries in the last 18 months as part of the data collection phase of the FLAG project, I am able to report that, in the UK at least, the generalisation is not valid.
Law-Making and Devolution: the Welsh Experience
Authors: Roddick Winston 
Published: July 2008

Bore da. Diolch am fy nghyflwyno mewn ffordd mon garrdeig. A gai hefyd ddiolch i ch Cymdeithias am fy nghwahodd i chwarae rhan yn eich cenhadledd blynyddol yma ym mrhif ddinas Cymru. Ar ran y Cynulliad Cenedlaethol, Croes i Gymru.Good morning. Thank you for your introduction Madam Chairman. On behalf of the national Assembly for Wales, it is my considerable pleasure to welcome your annual conference to Wales and to its capital city, Cardiff.
Legal Education in Albania Programme (LEAP)
Authors: Lynwood Wendy 
Published: July 2008

The programme is a twinning arrangement between the University of Tirana Faculty of Law and a Middlesex University Consortium, consisting of the Institute of Social and Health Research, Middlesex University, the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, the London Metropolitan University Department of Law, Governance and International Relations, the European Public Law Center, Education for Change Ltd and Cavendish Publishing, and has three main aims:• to help train and thus produce better qualified staff• to improve the institutional management of the Law Faculty• to prepare teaching, learning and research material that meets the needs of students entering the legal profession.Within the main programme there is a library strand. This aims to develop the range of services provided by the faculty law library in order to support academics and students to the highest possible level given available resources. It was to help facilitate this development that the visit to Hendon took place.
Presence and activity of anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria at deep-sea hydrothermal vents
Authors: Byrne Nathalie , Strous Marc , Crépeau Valentin , Kartal Boran , Birrien Jean-Louis , Schmid Markus , Lesongeur Françoise , Schouten Stefan , Jaeschke Andrea , Jetten Mike , Prieur Daniel , Godfroy Anne 
Published: July 2008

AbstractRecent studies indicate that ammonia is an important electron donor for the oxidation of fixed nitrogen, both in the marine water column and sediments. This process, known as anammox, has so far only been observed in a large range of temperature habitats. The present study investigated the role of anammox in hydrothermal settings. During three oceanographic expeditions to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, hydrothermal samples were collected from five vent sites, at depths ranging from 750 to 3650 m from cold to hot habitats. Evidence for the occurrence of anammox in these particular habitats was demonstrated by concurrent surveys, including the amplification of 16S rRNA gene sequences related to known anammox bacteria, ladderanes lipids analysis and measurement of a 14N15N dinitrogen production in isotope-pairing experiments at 60 and 85 °C. Together these results indicate that new deep-branching anammox bacteria may be active in these hot habitats.
Micro-eukaryotic diversity of the human distal gut microbiota: qualitative assessment using culture-dependent and -independent analysis of faeces
Authors: Scanlan Pauline D , Marchesi Julian R 
Published: July 2008

Abstract
Molecular ecological surveys of the human gut microbiota to date have focused on the prokaryotic fraction of the community and have revealed a remarkable degree of bacterial diversity and functionality. However, there is a dearth of information on the eukaryotic composition of the microbiota, and no culture-independent sequence-based surveys of human faeces are available. Culture-independent analyses based on DNA extraction and polymerase chain reaction targeting both the total eukaryotic 18S rRNA genes and fungal internal transcribed regions (ITS), together with culture-dependent analyses of fungi, were performed on a group of healthy volunteers. Temporal analysis was also included wherever possible. Collectively, the data presented in this study indicate that eukaryotic diversity of the human gut is low, largely temporally stable and predominated by different subtypes of Blastocystis. Specific analyses of the fungal populations indicate that a disparity exists between the cultivable fraction, which is dominated by Candida sp, and culture-independent analysis, where sequences identical to members of the genera Gloeotinia/Paecilomyces and Galactomyces were most frequently retrieved from both fungal ITS profiles and subsequent clone libraries. Collectively, these results highlight the presence of unprecedented intestinal eukaryotic inhabitants whose functional roles are as yet unknown in healthy individuals. Furthermore, differences between results obtained from traditionally employed culture-based methods and those obtained from culture-independent techniques highlight similar anomalies to that encountered when first analysing the bacterial diversity of the human faecal microbiota using culture-independent surveys.