There was no relationship between spinal curvatures and diaphragm excursion in the groups studied here.

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We propose a novel beam model for radio pulsars based on the scenario that the broadband and coherent emission from secondary relativistic particles, as they move along a flux tube in a dipolar magnetic field, forms a radially extended sub-beam with unique properties. The whole radio beam may consist of several sub-beams, forming a fan-shaped pattern. When only one or a few flux tubes are active, the fan beam becomes very patchy. This model differs essentially from the conal beam models in the respects of beam structure and predictions on the relationship between pulse width and impact angle β (the angle between line of sight and magnetic pole) and the relationship between emission intensity and beam angular radius. The evidence for this model comes from the observed patchy beams of precessional binary pulsars and three statistical relationships found for a sample of 64 pulsars, of which β were mostly constrained by fitting polarization position angle data with the Rotation Vector Model. With appropriate assumptions, the fan beam model can reproduce the relationship between 10% peak pulse width and |β|, the anticorrelation between the emission intensity and |β|, and the upper boundary line in the scatter plot of |β| versus pulsar distance. An extremely patchy beam model with the assumption of narrowband emission from one or a few flux tubes is studied and found unlikely to be a general model. The implications of the fan beam model to the studies on radio and gamma-ray pulsar populations and radio polarization are discussed.

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PurposeTo evaluate the validity and reliability of the Foot Function Index (FFI) in its Brazilian Portuguese version.MethodsThe validity and reliability of the FFI were tested in 50 volunteers, with plantar fasciitis, metatarsalgia and chronic ankle sprain. The FFI validity process used the Short Form-36 (SF-36) and Foot and Ankle Outcome Score (FAOS) questionnaires. The correlation between FFI, SF-36 and FAOS was done using the Pearson’s linear coefficient. The inter and intra-evaluator reliability was ascertained by means of the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and the internal consistency by means of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The scores were used to assess the standard error measurement (SEM), minimal detectable change (MDC) and ceiling floor and effects.ResultsThe validity process showed that there were correlations between FFI and the “pain” and “social aspects” subscales of SF-36 and all subscales of FAOS, except for “other symptoms”. The Brazilian-Portuguese version of FFI showed excellent intra and interevaluator correlations, with an ICC range of 0.99–0.97 and score reliability that was considered highly satisfactory, with Cronbach’s alpha range of 0.80–0.61. The SEMs for inter and intra-evaluator reliability were 1.32 and 1.08, respectively. The MDC was 2.42 (90 % confidence interval). No ceiling and floor effect were detected.ConclusionsThe Brazilian-Portuguese version of the FFI questionnaire was found to be a valid and reliable instrument for foot function evaluation, and can be used both in scientific settings and in clinical practice.

This paper offers an analysis of the influence of management behavior on the relationship between factors such as market, governance and resources of a firm, and the choice of the type of technological innovation in Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs). The authors develop a structural equation model and 12 hypotheses and test the model and hypotheses using a sample of 274 SOEs in China. This study discovers that the choice of innovation types among Chinese SOEs depends on the turbulence in the environment, and on the organizational resources. The key contributions of the study include: testing existing theories of innovation in the context of Chinese SOEs; studying the factors that affect product innovation and process innovation in that context; and demonstrating that market forces and internal governance simultaneously influence SOE innovation. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007Product innovation, Process innovation, State-owner enterprise, China, M1—Business administration, O31—Innovation and invention: processes and incentives, O32—Management of technological innovation and R&D,

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