An analysis of an effective middle level teacher preparation program reveals signature pedagogies.The John H. Lounsbury College of Education (JHL COE) at Georgia College (GC) is located in a state well known as a national leader in middle level education; and within the JHL COE is a middle grades program that has been preparing teachers to teach young adolescents for more than 30 years-a claim few programs in the country can make. In 1996, the JHL COE made the transition to an innovative field-based teacher preparation program in which candidates are guided by a knowledgeable "mentor leader." According to the JHL COE's conceptual framework, the goal is to produce teachers who will be "architects of change"- prepared to take a leadership role in the community and possessing the skills to collaborate with others to meet the needs of students in the 21st century.A successful programSince that transition, the middle grades faculty has worked diligently to ensure that program graduates are highly-qualified middle grades teachers. Through specialized professional development, application of findings from program and self-evaluations, and extensive collaboration we have developed a distinctive program through which graduates become exemplary middle grades educators. For example, 98% of the teacher candidates pass our state's certification test on their first attempt, principals have rated 91% of our beginning teachers as "good" or "excellent' on performing their teaching duties (JHL COE Survey), and graduates of the middle grades education program remain in the profession at unparalleled rates (JHL School of Education Retention Study, 2006). In addition, our graduates often elect to return to graduate school to complete master's, specialist, and doctoral programs; assume leadership roles in their schools; and achieve recognition for their excellent teaching. In the last three years, 14 graduates have been selected for school-level teacher of the year awards, and three were honored for such awards at the system level.These data underscore noteworthy achievements of our graduates, yet recurring observation persuades us that our graduates' impact is more extensive than even these measures suggest. The number of graduates from this program who embody and enact the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of professional middle grades educators and who have embraced the specialized professional preparation to teach young adolescents, as endorsed by the Association of Middle Level Education (AMLE) is noteworthy (National Middle School Association [NMSA], 2006) and has led us to reflect upon what our program instills in teacher candidates that explains this intensive impact.The middle grades education model at GCThe middle grades education program is a two-year, field-intensive curriculum managed through a cohort model. Each cohort of teacher candidates is directed by one mentor leader who is responsible for shepherding them through all facets of a complex developmental process. Within the program, faculty are able to model middle grades structures and practices such as advisory, integrated curriculum, looping, teaming, and advocacy; this modeling helps candidates develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions they will need to collaborate and work as successful middle grades team members. Using a "middle school model" in higher education to prepare future middle grades teachers seems like a natural fit, but enacting middle grades pedagogy matters as well. How might the structures and practices that define effective schools for young adolescents work in concert with current findings about teacher development to reliably produce exemplary professional middle grades educators? This is the question that drives our inquiry into a "new professionalism" (Lieberman & Pointer Mace, 2008) for middle grades teachers and a search for "signature pedagogies."Theoretical frameworkShulman (2005) and others associated with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching have developed the concept of "signature pedagogies" to describe the fundamental means by which practitioners are prepared in various fields: medicine, law, engineering, and the clergy. …


In the digital communication engineering,bit error rate is one of the main standers to test the data transmission facilities and the channel working conditions.The system is used AT89C51 single chip microcomputer with bit error rate tester DS2172 to complete simple designing.


The present invention relates to antibodies, particularly humanized antibodies, that bind to IL-15. In particular, the anti-IL-15 antibodies of the present invention are capable of neutralizing the activity of IL-15 and are capable of autoimmune and / or inflammatory diseases, malignant tumors, transplant rejection, metabolic conditions, and / or parasites. It is useful for the prevention and / or treatment of infectious diseases caused by viral or bacterial pathogens.


Basic parameters such as exhaust efficiency are needed in local quantitative analysis of equivalent enthalpy drop,which would be influenced by local change.With less consideration of this ruthless influence,traditional arithmetic model affected using effect of equivalent enthalpy drop method in different degree.In order to analyze influence on traditional local quantitative arithmetic by changes of steam extraction heat release quantity,drain water heat release quantity and feed water decalescence,this paper studied local quantitative model of extraction pressure change(two conditions),compared different influence on local quantitative model by enthalpy changes of extraction steam,out flowing feed,and drainage,and advanced amendatory arithmetic.Validated result of thermal balance method showed the correctness of amendatory model.


With two alleles per locus, partitioning of the hereditary variance of diploid populations factorially into additive,dominance, additive by additive and higher order components depends only on the assumption that genotypic frequencies are proportional to the marginal frequencies of the phases(AA, Aa or aa) of each locus (COCKERHAM 1954).


Economic development zones played the great promoting and facilitating role in the development of China's economy.The paper studied quantitatively the sustainable development state of several economic development zones in Anhui Province from the year of 2000 to 2011.


Chloral hydrate has been used in clinical medicine for almost a hundred years. It is safe, effective and reliable, and induces little tolerance or habituation, but it has been relegated to a secondary place in the list of hypnotics by the barbiturates and newer drugs because of its unpleasant taste (tablets are unsatisfactory since chloral is hygroscopic). It has an undeserved reputation as a cardiac depressant and a more justified one as a gastric irritant. The latter effect is much reduced if the drug is diluted in milk or in a pleasantly flavoured elixir or syrup.


final references, an appendix provides addresses of helping organizations and a descriptive list of relevant journals and books. In summary, this book is highly recommended, not only for teachers but for all who have contact with children with communication problems. The clear and comprehensive nature of the text will appeal to busy parents and professions and, hopefully, will provide a common source for discussion. It will be essential reading for in-service courses on the special needs of children with speech and language difficulties.


artificial sphincter intraurethral magnetic drive for female patients consisting of a device installed inside the female urethra similar to a urinary catheter allows voluntary control over urination by the patient, carrying out the control by a external magnet (6) to the body placed in the proper position, opens a solenoid valve incorporated in the invention and when said outer magnet (6) is removed, the magnetic valve closes automatically preventing the flow of urine, by setting this valve an axial displacement of a ferromagnetic plunger soft under the action of the outer magnet, opening the discharge port of the urine, and in its normal position, ie, without the action of the outer magnet, the plunger is attracted by a small internal magnet ( 5) closing the discharge orifice.


Since the 1960s, researchers all over the world have discussed problems of education technology. This article discusses the theoretical background of pedagogical technology, which is a vital tool in enhancing the quality of pedagogical intervention. A lot of information concerns the typology of pedagogical technologies, their functions and distinctive features that emerge from the discrepancies in the particular conceptions and their theoretical backgrounds. Our analysis allows a synthetic presentation of the theoretical principles of education technology, with special emphasis on the following aspects: philosophical ideas and currents in education, psychological and pedagogical theories, scientific conceptions and principles behind social functionalist organizational structures and management.


Issues of negative impact of digital processes on society in general and on people in particular are considered as well as problems of influence of network communications, virtual space, digitalization of education, formation of digital culture on personality. It is argued that in emerging digital society devalued the phenomenon of knowledge in the traditional sense, value and significant in practical terms, is not the possession of knowledge per se, but the ability to buy it, isolate of tremendous information resource, and at a certain time and at scale. There is an analysis and generalization of the transformations generated by the "age of the figure" and affecting humans. The category of "person in his social ipostasis" is chosen for scientific analysis, which allows to better understand the essence of the ongoing transformations, and, most importantly - their social and psychological consequences. The analysis found that the radical transformation of human existence has led to changes both in human psychophysics and in his cognitive, mental, communicative, axiological spheres.


The reaction progress in supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) of methanol is simulated in terms of a detailed chemical kinetics model for the two ideal reactors, plug flow reactor (PFR) and continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR). The reaction has an induction time and a character of first order reaction against the methanol concentration in PFR. The reaction does not appreciably depend on the oxygen concentration as far as the methanol conversion is concerned. In CSTR, the dependence of methanol conversion X on residence time t can be described using a simple first order relation applicable to CSTR, taking into account the induction time τ phenomenologically, that is, X/(1 − X) = k(t − τ). Conversion in the CSTR increases very rapidly against the residence time, compared with that in the PFR, and correspondingly the induction time is much shorter. The dependence of concentrations of intermediates, i.e., CH2O and CO, against the residence time in CSTR is weaker than that in PFR, which is also the case for radical species, in particular, HO2 and OH. Relevant elementary reactions are discussed.


Glacial–interglacial climate stability and contemporary climate could affect bird diversity through their direct effects on diversification and physiological tolerance, and indirect effects on plant species richness, which could provide more food and ecological niches. This study aims to quantitatively assess the direct and indirect effects of these drivers on species richness, phylogenetic and functional structure of bird assemblages.


Joint purchasing arrangements are a popular means for reducing costs. Employees purchase group health insurance jointly. Consumer cooperatives procure groceries and other items on behalf of their members. Fast food franchisees typically employ a single buyer to negotiate for packaging materials and food ingredients. Automobile dealers selling the same brand purchase television and newspaper advertising collectively. There are cooperative groups for purchasing supplies for retail stationers and for


Henry Rosenberg, MD† In one form or another, the following scenario is occurring daily in hospitals throughout the world: a 10-mo-old infant with progressive hypotonia and failure to thrive is scheduled for a surgical muscle biopsy and gastrostomy with general anesthesia. The neurological evaluation reveals a differential diagnosis that may include central white matter disease, metabolic encephalopathy, mitochondrial myopathy, or others. The neurologist recommends a nontriggering general anesthetic in the event that the infant is susceptible to malignant hyperthermia (MH). The anesthesiologist performs an uneventful general anesthetic with total IV anesthesia. Regardless of the results of the muscle biopsy, for each subsequent required anesthetic, a nontriggering technique is performed. What is the likelihood that any of these infants is truly MH-susceptible? This month's issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia presents a series of articles that helps us answer this question more definitively, though inconclusively, than ever before. As hotline consultants for the Malignant Hyperthermia Association of the United States (MHAUS),* we commonly receive requests to help clinicians by defining the specific disease entities that predispose to MH susceptibility. With the exception of a small number of inherited conditions, the answer is elusive. With all of our knowledge to date on MH, why is this so? Because in clinical medicine, it is extremely difficult to establish definitive causal relationships without prospective randomized controlled trials, and cohort studies are impossible to perform for rare events. Therefore, we are left with a broad generalization derived from case control studies and case reports and series. To complicate matters, these historical reports did not have the benefit of genetic linkage and pedigree analysis which have, in the current era, furthered the definitive diagnosis of various syndromes and their link to MH. The path to this specialized issue on MH-associated diseases began several years ago when we and several other MHAUS hotline consultants hosted a series of panel discussions on MH at the annual meetings of the American Society of Anesthesiologists and the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia. At the 2006 winter meeting of the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia (SPA), Barbara Brandom, Richard Kaplan, and Ron Litman participated on a panel of challenging pediatric MH cases. The response from the audience was overwhelming and clear: "Tell us who should and who shouldn't receive a nontriggering technique." Thus began a 3-yr process that now culminates with the articles presented herein. First, we identified international authoritative experts on each of the broad categories of diseases that have purportedly been linked to MH. Next, we created a partnership between SPA and MHAUS with the purpose of presenting a one-day symposium on MH-related diseases at the 2008 SPA winter meeting.† The organization and implementation of this symposium would not have been possible without the philosophical and financial support of SPA and MHAUS. By all accounts, the symposium was a resounding success. Each of our authorities presented a lecture on a specific category of disease and the From the *Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and †Saint Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston, New Jersey. Accepted for publication May 7, 2009. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Ronald S. Litman, DO, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 34th St. & Civic Center Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19104. Address e-mail to litmanr@email. chop.edu. Copyright © 2009 International Anesthesia Research Society DOI: 10.1213/ane.0b013e3181ae6b96 *Available at: http://www.mhaus.org. †Available at: http://www.pedsanesthesia.org/meetings/2008winter/spa08_program.pdf.


In this paper, the problem of the fixed-spectrum frequency assignment, where the objective is to minimise the cost due to the interference arising in a solution, is studied and solved using a discrete particle swarm optimisation, which is refined by a deterministic local search heuristic. Computational results, obtained for eight well-known benchmarks problem, confirm the effectiveness of discrete particle swarm optimisation.


In this study, 36 cores (30 starless and six protostellar) identified in Orion were surveyed to search for inward motions. We used the Nobeyama 45 m radio telescope, and mapped the cores in the J = 1 → 0 transitions of HCO+, H13CO+, N2H+, HNC, and HN13C. The asymmetry parameter δV, which was the ratio of the difference between the HCO+ and H13CO+ peak velocities to the H13CO+ line width, was biased toward negative values, suggesting that inward motions were more dominant than outward motions. Three starless cores (10% of all starless cores surveyed) were identified as cores with blue-skewed line profiles (asymmetric profiles with more intense blueshifted emission), and another two starless cores (7%) were identified as candidate blue-skewed line profiles. The peak velocity difference between HCO+ and H13CO+ of them was up to 0.9 km s−1, suggesting that some inward motions exceeded the speed of sound for the quiescent gas (∼10–17 K). The mean of δV of the five aforementioned starless cores was derived to be −0.5 ± 0.3. One core, G211.16−19.33North3, observed using the Atacama Compact Array of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in DCO+ J = 3 → 2 exhibited blue-skewed features. Velocity offset in the blue-skewed line profile with a dip in the DCO+ J = 3 → 2 line was larger (∼0.5 km s−1) than that in HCO+ J = 1 → 0 (∼0.2 km s−1), which may represent gravitational acceleration of inward motions. It seems that this core is at the last stage in the starless phase, judging from the chemical evolution factor version 2.0 (CEF2.0).


In the present study, we designed a microfluidic flatform that generates monodisperse droplets with diameters ranging from hundreds of nanometers to several micrometers. To generate fine droplets, T-junction and flow-focusing geometry are integrated into the microfluidic channel. Relatively large aqueous droplets are generated at the upstream T-junction and transported toward the flow-focusing geometry, where each droplet is broken up into the targeted size by the action of viscous stresses. Because the droplet prior to rupture blocks the straight channel that leads to the flow-focusing geometry, it moves very slowly by the pressure difference applied between the advancing and receding regions of the moving droplet. This configuration enables very low flow rate of inner fluid and higher flow rate ratio between inner and outer fluids at the flow-focusing region. It is shown that the present microfluidic device can generate droplets with diameters about 1 micrometer size and standard deviation less than 3%.


Background:  Insulin is the most effective drug available to achieve glycaemic goals in patients with type 2 diabetes. Yet, there is reluctance among physicians, specifically primary care physicians (PCPs) in the USA, to initiate insulin therapy in these patients.


Adverse antiepileptic drug effects: Toward a clinically and neurobiologically relevant taxonomy This study shows that adverse effects of antiepileptic drugs segregate into five biologically plausible classes. Reduction in the toxicity associated with certain classes translates into improved quality of life. These findings are relevant to a better understanding of the neurobiology of adverse effects and can lead to improved clinical management.


Coolant temperature and velocity fields of rectangular channel in a marine reactor were simulated and analyzed with computational fluid dynamic codes when the ship was swinging.Effect of the mass flow rate distribution variation by ship motion on channel inlet average velocity was taken into account.The result shows that during the ship's swinging,coolant temperature and velocity fields are affected by the variation of inlet average velocity and swinging of the channel because of the ship motion.When the variation of channel inlet average velocity is great,the change of coolant temperature and velocity fields is dominated by it.But while it is little,the change of coolant temperature and velocity fields is affected by the channel swinging remarkably.


Block copolymers were synthesized using methyl methacrylate and butyl acrylate as the monomers and a multifunctional initiator, di-t-butyl 4,4'-azobis(4-cyanoperoxyvalerate). The polymerizations for the formation of the block copolymers were carried out in two stages. First the poly(methyl methacrylate) polymeric initiator was synthesized and isolated. In the second stage, the thermallyactivated azo group in the polymer backbone initiated the polymerization of butyl acrylate. Upon termination by combination a tri-block results. Selective solvent fractionation was used to separate the block from the homopolymers.


There are serious among various components of the hypersonic vehicle at wide-range Mach numbers, and the coupling among aerodynamic shape, propulsion system, structure, and control system is remarkable. For excellent performance, its components and functions are highly integrated, which brings serious challenges to traditional design examples, methods, and tools. To solve the integrated control problem of flight-propulsion coupling, a controller based on pole assignment is designed in this paper, and the control parameters can be adjusted according to real-time aerodynamic data. The parametric model of hypersonic vehicle at wide-range Mach numbers with coupling characteristics is established and the flight data under various working conditions are obtained. The flight dynamical model is established with a coupling relationship between the airframe and engine. Combined with the characteristic parameters of the aircraft attitude control closed-loop system, the control gain is designed based on expected poles and adjusted in real-time. The comparative simulations are carried out, and the results show that the control gain adjustment strategy based on aerodynamic parameter identification can improve the attitude angle command tracking quality and the robustness of the system.


The problem of the low efficiency of the existing spatial interpolation algorithm for hydro meteorological information is discussed and two fast interpolation algorithms based on the conventional Thiessen polygon method was proposed in this paper: improved Thiessen polygon method and self-adaptive Thiessen polygon method. Studies of the Luan River Basin had shown that the self-adaptive Thiessen polygon algorithms are 10–200 times more efficient than the conventional Thiessen polygon method and guarantee calculation accuracy. A comparative analysis of the factors influencing the interpolation algorithm efficiency revealed that the number of grids and stations had the greatest effect on the calculation efficiency, while the number of sub basins was a secondary factor.


Georeferenced user-generated datasets like those extracted from Twitter are increasingly gaining the interest of spatial analysts. Such datasets oftentimes reflect a wide array of real-world phenomena. However, each of these phenomena takes place at a certain spatial scale. Therefore, user-generated datasets are of multiscale nature. Such datasets cannot be properly dealt with using the most common analysis methods, because these are typically designed for single-scale datasets where all observations are expected to reflect one single phenomenon (e.g., crime incidents). In this paper, we focus on the popular local G statistics. We propose a modified scale-sensitive version of a local G statistic. Furthermore, our approach comprises an alternative neighbourhood definition that enables to extract certain scales of interest. We compared our method with the original one on a real-world Twitter dataset. Our experiments show that our approach is able to better detect spatial autocorrelation at specific scales, as opposed to the original method. Based on the findings of our research, we identified a number of scale-related issues that our approach is able to overcome. Thus, we demonstrate the multiscale suitability of the proposed solution.


This research explores the different forms of religious practice within a mosque in north London. It was built by one migrant group, the Guyanese, but the congregation includes those from different Muslim communities now living in the vicinity. These different communities have brought with them their own religious traditions.
The ritual of Friday prayer brings this diverse group together as a congregation but the mosque is also a space for the communal life of the Guyanese and those who share their way of being Muslim, while globalised currents of thinking are apparent in the work of a Guyanese preacher who teaches an explicitly text based Islam in classes and lectures. My research examines the different ways in which Islam is present within these three domains and the relationship between them within the context of the mosque.
The research contributes to the idea of 'mundane Islam' and 'everyday religion' through an exploration of the implicit, unsystematic way of being Muslim lived by the Guyanese and the everyday relational concerns and ethical commitments it carries. Though the classes offered the very different view of Islam
to which the teacher was committed, one purified of cultural traditions, the women who attended them brought the complexity and ambiguity of the mundane back into the process of religious transmission


Cameroon's upheavals since 1990 have not been widely reported among the more visible and violent African state-society conflicts. Their anonymity on the continent's political agenda is understandable, since by the formal, most visible indices, little has changed since pluralist pressures appeared. The 'Gaullist' monolith state remains fundamentally in place after 25 years: the constitution retains the unitary executive stamp of 1972, against federalist and devolution challenges, although multi-party politics were legalised in 1990. This and a new press law have been the régime's major concessions to emerging opposition forces, and led to presidential and national assembly elections in 1992.


Background: Interferon-(IFN-) has been shown to regulate epidermal keratinocyte growth and differentiation and can be isolated from subepidermal vesicles in bullous pemphigoid(BP) patients. In general, the INF- effects are up-regulatory, and the corresponding transcriptional mechanisms have been elucidated in the case of several genes. One of the markers of the mitotic basal cell phenotype is the expression of BP antigens(BPAG), two hemidesmosomal proteins that were initially recognized as autoantigens in BP. Objective: Since down-regulation of BPA gene expression is one of the earliest events during epidermal differentiation and BPAG is served as the target of autoantibodies, in this study, we examined the effect of IFN- on the expression of the gene encoding the BPAG1 and 2. Methods and Results: Northern analysis revealed a dose dependent suppression of BPAG expression by IFN- in cultured human skin keratinocytes from 3 different donors, and incubation of the cells with IFN- in the presence of cycloheximide demonstrated that this effect reqiured ongoing protein synthesis. Transient transfections of cultured keratinocytes with BPAG1 promoter-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene plasmids indicated marked suppression of the promoter activity by IFN-. Conclusion: This data, which inactivation of transcription of a basal keratinocyte-specific gene(BPAG1) by IFN-, provides new insight into the mechanisms of IFN- mediated keratinocyte gene regulation and epidermal differentitation in inflammatory and blistering skin disease.


Mucuna pruriens andMucuna prurita belong to the family Papillonaceae. The seeds and leaves of these plants contain large amount of L-Dopa. LDopa[ L,3,4- Dihydroxy phenylalanine] is one of the most widely used drugs in the treatment of ParkinsonÂ's disease. The present paper deals with the simple method for the isolation and quantitative concentration of L-Dopa in leaf, stem, callus and seeds of twoMucuna species. Qualitative analysis of L-Dopa was carried out by TLCand quantitative determination was done spectrophotometrically. The comparative analysis between two species reveal that L-Dopa concentrations are considerably higher in Mucuna prurita compared to Mucuna pruriens in all tissue types and seeds.


The present invention is the overall appearance yirumyeonseo the movable stage type concentration in the interior of the apparatus are box-shaped body for the driving appearance is visually checked from the outside is held only movable stage type regardless of between stop, and the running, a driver for this purpose as the operation based on the image displayed through the display in the vehicle body inside or the vehicle body on the box-shaped parade vehicle having a form of a translating stage function to remotely operate the running externally, box having a moving stage according to embodiments of the present invention parade vehicle, the upper surface is formed in the stage and the four-way side and the vehicle body of the form is closed, in order to effect movement of the vehicle body is installed in the interior of the plurality of wheels and the vehicle body is installed to the lower the vehicle body above the wheel generating power for the rotation of the An electric motor and a movement direction change and steering systems and braking for either or both of the braking of the vehicle body is installed in the vehicle body that is moved through the battery and the wheel for supplying electricity to the electric motor wherein while the device either or associated with both the driving condition adjusting unit which is installed in association with the wheels in the state including the both, with the steering device or a braking device for the operation of a steering system or the braking device for the running condition adjusting section individually of It may include one or two or more driving operation portion is installed inside the vehicle body.


Present paper deals with capability of media content management with available mobile devices. Discussed the requirements for hardware and software parts. The example of implementation is given.


The formulas describing the shapes of current and voltage pulses - generated by optical radiation with small time width - in the output circuit of photocell are given. The mean value of voltage pulses generated across load resistance is calculated. The obtained results may be used to measuring such quantities related to optical radiation as irradiation and radiation power.


This paper investigates market-oriented way of development within sub-sectors of Uzbekistan, while searching the shortcomings of issue in the presence of its positive solutions. Moreover, life standard of inhabitants, the rate of socio-economic advancement also studied and concluded with possible suggestions for the forthcoming investigations. Model of deployment, which is unique in the case of Uzbekistan, is considered as a major fundamental source while conducting analyses. Gained finding through investigation is believed to serve in the further studies of development.


From July 1986 to July 1988, 1434 hospitalized patients were treated with clozapine according to their psychiatric disturbances.Among them 239 patients (16.7%)had abnormal leucocytic counts, 188 patients given definite leucocytosis within 29 ± 6 d while 51 patients, leukopenia 33±4 d.The causes of these variations were studied.Suggestions of management and prevention were preliminary outlined.


Objective To study the changes of the corneal central endothelium density,morphology and thickness in diabetic patients undergoing cataract surgery,and the relationship between the density and thickness of corneal central endothelium.Methods The corneal central endothelium density,coefficient of variation of cell area,and central thickness were investigated before and three days,one week,one month,and three months after ECCE+PCIOL surgery in 26(28 eyes) diabetic patients and in 34 nondiabetic.The data was analyzed between inter-group and within group at different time. Results There was no significant differences in terms of corneal central endothelium density,coefficient of variation,and central thickness between the two groups at any time(P0.05).The postoperative reaction and rehabilitation period of the corneal endothelium in diabetic patients were longer than in the nondiabetic.No correlation between corneal thickness and endothelium density was noted(r=0.095,0.084;P0.05). Conclusion The post-operative changes of corneal endothelium in diabetic patients after cataract extraction mainly reflect as weakening of reaction and rehabilitation.


In this paper, load frequency regulator based on linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) is designed for the MAPS with communication delays. The communication delay is considered to denote the small time delay in a local control area of a wide-area power system. The system is modeled in the state space with inclusion of the delay state matrix parameters. Since some state variables are difficult to measure in a real modern multi-area power system, Kalman filter is used to estimate the unmeasured variables. In addition, the controller with the optimal feedback gain reduces the frequency spikes to zero and keeps the system stable. Lyapunov function based on the LMI technique is used to re-assure the asymptotically stability and the convergence of the estimator error. The designed LQG is simulated in a two area connected power network with considerable time delay. The result from the simulations indicates that the controller performed with expectation in terms of damping the frequency fluctuations and area control errors. It also solved the limitation of other controllers which need to measure all the system state variables.


To study the interactive impact and multi-agent intervention effect caused by multiple public opinion events, a SI3R interactive public opinion communication model is proposed in this paper. Based on interactive public opinion evolution and influence paths of multi-agent interventions, the dynamic equation under multi-agent intervention is formulated; the equilibrium points of the model are calculated and the stability of the model is validated; and the assignment functions are constructed. Further, real data of the case study are obtained and set as initial model simulation parameters, the multi-agent intervention and control measures are numerically simulated and the effects of comprehensive public opinion control are obtained and put forward to suggestions for public opinion management. Simulation results show that the model can simulate the interactive propagation and evolution trend of multiple public opinion events, and imitate the intervention effect of each agent. Compared with the traditional transmission and infection model, it provides an assignment method combined with actual events. Taking the interaction of multiple public opinion events and the effect of multi-agent intervention into account, a new perspective for the formulation of public opinion supervision and control strategies can be provided.


The transportation, transfer and especially storage of oxygenated fuel in underground tanks present a risk to the environment. Leaks and spillage can contaminate ground, surface and waste waters, representing a significant threat to drinking-water supplies. Consequently, there is an increasing need for the analysis of MTBE in water by many state and federal agencies. In addition, there are new regulations requiring that MTBE be phased out, so the detection and quantification of other fuel oxygenates must also be considered.1


Concentrations of achiral and chiral organochlorine contaminants (OCs), including hexachlorocyclohexane isomers (HCH), chlordane congeners (cis‐ and trans‐chlordane, cis‐ and trans‐nonachlor, MC5, MC7, and U82), and related metabolites (oxychlordane [OXY] and heptachlor exo‐epoxide [HEPX]), were quantified in seawater (100 L; n = 6) and biota from the coastal Beaufort–Chukchi Seas food web near Barrow (AK, USA). The biota included zooplankton (Calanus spp.; n = 5), fish species such as arctic cod (Boreogadus saida; n = 10), arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus; n = 3), and marine mammals including bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus; liver: n = 23; blubber: n = 40), beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas; blubber: n = 20), ringed seals (Phoca hispida; blubber: n = 20), and bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus; blubber: n = 7). The food web magnification factors (FWMFs) for HCHs and chlordane compounds ranged from 0.5 (γ‐HCH) to 6.5 (HEPX) and were expected based on known recalcitrance and biotransformation of OCs. The enantiomer fractions (EFs) of all chiral OCs were near racemic (EF = 0.50) in seawater, zooplankton, and all fish analyzed. In contrast, the EFs for most OCs analyzed were nonracemic (EF ≠ 0.50) in the marine mammals blubber (range: 0.09–0.79) because of enantiomer‐specific biotransformation and (or) accumulation. However, EF values were not significantly correlated with isotopically determined trophic level. The EFs for all chiral OCs (except α‐HCH) in bowhead whale liver closely approximated the values in zooplankton, suggesting that the accumulation of chiral OCs from prey into this cetacean is not enantiomer specific. However, the modification of EFs from bowhead liver to blubber suggests that this species has the ability to enantioselectively biotransform and accumulate several chiral OC compounds.


ABSTRACT A "synclinal truncation trap" is a combination trap (subtle trap) that occurs at the updip edge of angularly truncated reservoir rocks. The folded reservoir rocks may be truncated by erosion (angular unconformity), or by tectonic movements (thrust faults). Additional geological constraints are needed before hydrocarbon trapping can occur. These constraints are: the truncation surface must be impermeable (seal) and tilted in the same direction as the plunge of the synclinal termination; the reservoir rocks must lie on an impermeable stratigraphic unit and must be limited and preserved by an updip synclinal termination; the reservoir's synclinal termination must be farther updip than the same reservoir's anticlinal terminations. Synclinal truncation traps can be found worldwide in any petroleum sedimentary basin. In Southeastern Saskatchewan, many oil fields related to the post-Mississippian angular unconformity are synclinal truncation traps. Ralph and Hume oil fields (Tp. 7 and 8, Rge. 12 and 13 W2M) are excellent examples of synclinal truncation traps. In Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the Dakotas (Williston Basin), significant potential for oil pools of this same trap type may be found along the porous Mississippian subcrop belts as well as other Phanerozoic angular unconformities. End_of_Record - Last_Page 164-------


CSAMT(Controlled source audio magneto-telluric method) is an economical and effective method for geophysical electrical-exploration.To show the exploration data,the traditional ways are through manually or automatically drawing profiles,contour maps and etc.However,these ways are usually with the shortcoming of data showing incomplete,and the results are not intuitive.In order to overcome these shortcomings,in this paper we using the computer 3D-visualization technology,taking the data from an area in Gansu Yumen as an example,explore and realize the modeling methods for 3D-visualization of CSAMT data.Above all,we analyze the storage mode and spatial distribution of CSAMT data,and propose a high-performance algorithm for data reading and organization.According to the original data,we present a method of generating TIN based on the data points in exploration direction,and implement the modeling of exploration line.In order to predict the 3D spatial circumstances of exploration space,we also present an efficient and rapid partial interpolation method for CSAMT data,and then we create the models of data field.This paper indicates that the data will been shown more intuitively and comprehensively by using 3D-visualization technology to model and draw CSAMT data into virtual 3D-models,and can service for geologic interpretation and decision-making and planning,and also have good prospects for promotion.


Abstract: Many phenomena in the economy are influenced by geography. The size of new firm start-ups vary in many dimensions, among them industry and geography. The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of the geographical distribution of the size of new firms. Re¬gional size itself can be expected to influence the size of the new firm. Given that there are fixed costs present in the new firms small and low-density regions will demand a larger size of the new firm. The reason for this is that in small regions the firm may not be able to find customers nearby, but need to sell its produce over some distance. This means that the firm must house capacities to do so and this increases the fixed cost component and hence forces the firm to produce a larger amount of the output. Another possible reason can be found in the availability of producer services. In small regions, the number of producer services is more limited and, hence, force the firms to produce some of these services in-house. Gener¬ally, the overall diversity found in small regions is smaller compared to large re-gions. This means that the variation in goods and services available in the market will be smaller, once again forcing the new firm to do more things within the firm. In addition, it is ex¬pected that there is a relationship between entry rate and the size of the entrants.


An expanding element is achieved by collocating virtual nodes along the perimeter of the traditional discontinuous element. There are two kinds of shape functions in the expanding element: (i) the raw shape function, i.e. shape function of the original discontinuous element, involving only inner nodes; (ii) the fine shape function, which involves all the nodes including inner nodes and the newly added virtual nodes. The expanding element inherits the advantages of both the continuous and discontinuous elements while overcomes their disadvantages. With the expanding element, both continuous and discontinuous fields can be accurately interpolated. In this paper, w e apply the expanding element interpolation method to analysis of 2D crack problems. With the proposed method, more accurate stress intensity factor can be obtained.


In real‐world domains (e.g., a mobile robot environment), things do not always proceed as planned, so it is important to develop better execution‐monitoring techniques and replanning capabilities. This paper describes these capabilities in the SIPE (System for Interactive Planning and Execution Monitoring) planning system. The motivation behind SIPE is to place enough limitations on the representation so that planning can be done efficiently, while retaining sufficient power to still be useful. This work assumes that new information given to the execution monitor is in the form of predicates, thus avoiding the difficult problem of how to generate these predicates from information provided by sensors.


AbstractTwo independent experiments were performed to determine effects of salinity on survival and growth of adult Channa punctata. The purpose of the first one was to determine the median lethal salinity (MLS-5096h) and that of the second one was to assess survival and growth of the fish at different sub-lethal salinities under field conditions. 5, 10, 15, 18 and 20 g l−1 salinities were used initially to determine the range of salinity tolerance. After 100% mortality had been obtained at 20 g l−1 in the first phase, a definitive salinity tolerance test was carried out in the next phase to find out the median lethal salinity by direct exposure of the test species to 10–18 g l−1 salinity for 96 h. The estimated MLS-5096h for C. punctata (11.50 cm length; 12.05 g weight) was 13 g l−1. In the second experiment, survival and growth performances of the fish were recorded at two sub-lethal salinities viz., 5 and 10 g l−1, along with those in fresh water as a control. Salinities up to and including 10 g l−1 di...


Let (X ij z i ), i = 1, 2,..., k, j = 1, 2,..., n i , be independent observations such that z i is a fixed r x 1 vector [r can be 0 (no z's observed) or 1, 2,..., k − 1], and X ij is distributed according to a one-parameter exponential family which is log concave with natural parameter θ i . We test the hypothesis that θ = Zβ, where θ = (θ 1 ,..., θ k )', Z is the matrix whose ith row is z' i and β = (β 1 ,..., β r )' is a vector of parameters. We focus on r = 2 and z' i = (1, z i ), i = 1, 2,..., k, z i < Z i+1 . The null hypothesis on hand is thus of the form θ i = β 1 + β 2 z i . In such a case the model under the null hypothesis becomes logistic regression in the binomial case, Poisson regression in the Poisson case and linear regression in the normal case. We consider mostly the one-sided alternative that the second-order differences of the natural parameters are nonnegative. Such testing problems test goodness of fit vs. alternatives in which the natural parameters behave in a convex way. We find classes of tests that are unbiased and that lie in a complete class. We also note that every admissible test of constant size is unbiased. In some discrete situations we find the minimal complete class of unbiased admissible tests. Generalizations and examples are given


A study of ..gamma..-ray data produced by neutron inelastic scattering from a lead sample enriched in the isotope /sup 206/Pb has resulted in placements of 106 ..gamma.. rays as transitions among 88 known or postulated levels of the /sup 206/Pb level structure.


Objective To identify the optimal management of airway in patients after maxillofacial tumor surgery. Methods Between June 2009 and June 2010,112 patients with oral-maxillofacial tumour were operated.Following data were divided into 3 groups according to the post-operative airway management strategy:extubation(32 patients),indwelling nasoendotracheal tube(29 patients),elective tracheostomy(51 patients).Tumour site,mandibulectomy or not,method of neck dissection,method of reconstruction were recorded and evaluated by logistic regression,a threshold score was then defined. Results A tracheostomy scoring system was developed to guide post -operative airway management.Tumour site, mandibulectomy or not,method of neck dissection,method of reconstruction were identified as significant parameters with different weightings.When threshold score was above 4-5,an elective tracheostomy was needed.Conclusion Whether an elective tracheotomy in maxillofacial tumour surgery is necessary can be facilitated using the score system.


Full disclosure, right up front: I have seen Cirque du Soleil a handful of times, and enjoyed the performances. At one point in my life, I toyed with becoming a physiotherapist, but only if I could specialize in treating people from dance, theatre or circus. I spent two summers painting faces as a job and once had a group of friends who practised hula hooping and slack lining. So I was primed to like this book on several levels, but was still surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Cirque Global: Quebec's Expanding Circus Boundaries is deeply interesting and expansive. This is a foundational piece of scholarship on the unique art form of Quebecois contemporary circus and is obviously an essential book for the burgeoning field of circus studies. However, this book also has a great deal to contribute to broader discussions of the arts in Canada, especially in its steady investigations into the complex ways in which locality influences artistic creation, and vice versa.


It is not many years since the medical world was intrigued by the work done and proofs shown regarding the omnipotence of the thyroid gland. It was called ' the sun round which the body rotated' the draught to the fire' the sparking plug of human metabolism', terms comprehensive and doubtless correct. Now in this small volume Professor Graves sets out to review and make clear the romance of the hypophysis, and there can be no question that he has achieved his object in a masterly and fascinating manner, indeed like some detective story the tale unrolls, and for myself I never put the volume down until I had finished


ABSTRACT Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate temporal trends of salt intake with stroke incidence, stroke subtypes, and blood pressure in an adult population. Methods: Data were extracted from Isfahan Salt Study. The stroke incidence rate, average salt intake, systolic and diastolic blood pressure in adults, aged over 18 years were considered from 2000 to 2014. The Average Annual Percent Changes (AAPC), parallelism, and the coincidence of trends were estimated, using a permutation test. Results: The trend of salt intake was increased from 2010 to 2014 (AAPC = +1.59, P-value = 0.004). The trend of the stroke incidence rate was nonlinear with two change points in 2003 and 2009. The overall stroke incidence rate increased by 6.65% per year (95% CI: 1.66, 11.8, P-value = 0.015). The temporal trend changes of stroke incidence rate were steeper in patients who aged 40–45 and over 50 years (+6 to +11.5%) than in patients who aged 19–40 and 45–50 (range: −3.3% to 0). The parallelism hypothesis of longitudinal changes between salt intake and ischemic stroke was accepted in patients, aged <50 years (P-value = 0.871). Conclusions: The average salt intake and its cone-shaped variance over 15 years of the study, indicated that salt intake reduction programs and policies were effective to stop associating intake increase until 2007, however, associated intake was increased since that time, which necessitates performing preventive programs. More importantly, the trend of salt intake and ischemic stroke was similar in patients who aged <50 years, regardless of considering their blood pressure.


The snow cover distribution in alpine terrain is known to be highly influenced by the local wind field. In this study the correlation between different wind conditions and patterns of snow deposition was analysed for a potential avalanche release zone. For the purpose of this study the spatial distribution of snow depth was measured using terrestrial laser scanning technology. Showing an accuracy of +/- 5 cm and a high resolution of 24 cm (at a distance of 800 m) this measuring system is able to capture the major snow drift zones. As the meteorological conditions were known for the different snow fall events very high resolution wind fields (5 m horizontal resolution) were simulated with an atmospheric model ARPS (Advanced Regional Prediction System). The modelled wind fields combined with a very simple classification of snow conditions were correlated against the spatial snow depth data measured by terrestrial laser scanner before and after respective events. The authors suggest the combination of both methods as valuable tool in terms of avalanche forecast and protection.


The purpose of this study is to investigate if subjective well-being could be improved by visiting urban forests near residential areas. Because visiting an urban forest is not an intense positive experience, this research is focused on frequency of affective experience rather than intensity. The independent variables are number of visits and length of stay. The dependent variables are positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction. A polling agency was employed to select 600 respondents by quota sampling, and data was collected by online survey. The results of ANOVA showed that there was no interaction between the number of visits and length of stay. Regardless of the number of visits, the subjective well-being of visitors of urban forests was enhanced: (a) positive affect of respondents who had visited in the past 2 weeks was increased while negative affect was decreased, and (b) life satisfaction for those who had visited at least 1 time per month was enhanced among usual visitors. The stay of length, however, had little effect on the increase or decrease of these three variables. The results of this study support the existing theory that one could reset their genetically determined happiness set point to a higher level by participating in intentional activities such as visiting urban forests that offer ways to achieve long-lasting changes in well-being. This means that it would be a valuable government investment to construct and maintain urban forests for improving citizens' welfare. A few comments were suggested regarding data collection and inclusion of influencing variables to make future subjective well-being studies more reliable.


Yeast cells having a reductive TCA pathway from pyruvate or phosphoenolpyruvate to Succinate, and which include at least one exogenous gene overexpressing an enzyme in that path Way, further contain an exogenous transhydrogenase gene.


Yorùbá oral literature is of three categories namely chant, song and recitation. This paper, therefore, focused on incantation as a means of communication among the masquerades in Yorùbá land with its data drawn from "Eégún Aláré", a Yorùbá novel. Incantation is a combination of carefully arranged speeches or words in a poetic form and its use makes things work miraculously as the users wish or words that make human wishes come to reality with immediate effect. Before Christianity and Islam gained prominence in the Yorùbá society, Alárìnjó masquerades were among the well known traditional public entertainers and that during performances, incantation was often used to know who is who among the masquerades. However, Christianity and Islam have made the use of incantation, as a means of communication during masquerade performances, a thing of the past and what used to be a family profession in the past is no longer so because members of the Ọ̀jẹ̀ families who were in charge of this cultural profession in the past have now been converted to either Christianity or Islam or have been negatively influenced by Western education. This study nullifies the communication chain as the person to whom incantation is directed does not need to understand the language of the person that uses the incantation as the feed back would be the effect of the incantation in positive or negative form. The essence of this paper is to promote Yoruba oral literature through formal documentation of incantation as a Yoruba linguistic verbal art.


The multi-dimensional instability of obliquely propagating multi-ion acoustic (MIA) solitary structures was studied theoretically by the small-k (long wavelength plane wave) perturbation expansion technique in an ultra-relativistic degenerate magnetized plasma, which consists of inertia less electrons, inertial ions and stationary arbitrarily charged heavy ions. The Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation is derived by the reductive perturbation method and its solitary wave solution is analyzed. The basic properties of small but finite-amplitude MIA solitary waves have been modified significantly by the combined effects of the degenerate electron number density, heavy ion number density, external magnetic field and obliqueness. The underlying physics of the MIA solitary waves, which are relevant to space plasma situations, and the basic features, such as amplitude, width and growth rate, are briefly discussed.


The short-circuit oscillation mechanism in IGBTs is investigated in this paper by the aid of semiconductor device simulation tools. A 3.3-kV IGBT cell has been used for the simulations demonstrating that a single IGBT cell is able to oscillate together with the external circuit parasitic elements. The work presented here through both circuit and device analysis, confirms that the oscillations can be understood with focus on the device capacitive effects coming from the interaction between carrier concentration and the electric field. The paper also shows the 2-D effects during one oscillation cycle, revealing that the gate capacitance changes according with the shape of the electric field due to the charge distribution in the n-base. It has been identified that the time-varying capacitance leads to parametric oscillations together with the stray gate inductance, which limit the reliability of the IGBT.


In today's world where diabetes has become an epidemic, our aim evaluated the effect of probiotics fermented milk prepared using Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) and Lactobacillus casei NCDC19 on progression of type 2 diabetes. Male albino Wistar rats were fed with normal chow diet (control) and HFD i.e. high fructose diet (68.35% fructose) for 63 days. The high fructose diet fed rats were also given LGG and L. casei NCDC 19 fermented milk along with HFD till the end of study. The groups fed with probiotic fermented milk along with HFD showed low fasting blood glucose, glycosylated haemoglobin, cholesterol, triglycerides than the pure diabetic group fed with only HFD. Oxidative stress was also decreased in these groups. These results concluded that probiotic fermented milks have beneficial approach against type 2 diabetes. Therefore continuous feeding of fermented milks can be considered as an important dietary defense weapon to fight against type-2 diabetes in our daily life.


ABSTRACT This paper discusses Claudine Verheggen's account of what she takes to be Donald Davidson's response to the sceptical paradox about rule-following and meaning developed in Saul Kripke's interpretation of Wittgenstein's 'rule-following considerations.' It focusses on questions about the normativity of meaning, the social character of meaning, and the role of triangulation in Davidson's account of the determination of meaning, and invites Verheggen to compare the non-reductionism she finds in Davidson with that developed in Crispin Wright's judgement-dependent account of meaning.


The content changing rules and accumulation levels of soluble sugar,sucrose,starch,and protein during the critical period in the female flower bud differentiation and the morphological differentiation period of the male flower bud of Chinese chestnut were studied. The research indicated that during these periods,the content of soluble sugar and sucrose of female flower bud changed as a parabola,the content of male flower bud decreased linearly. The starch content in both flower buds changed like a'S'line,after the cross dot starch increased in the male flower bud and decreased in the female flower bud. The protein content in both flower buds increased all the time,at the later stages of period,it rose much more rapidly in the female flower bud than in male flower bud. Moreover,at the end of female bud critical differentiation period,the content of sol-uble sugar,sucrose and soluble protein was very significantly higher in the female buds than in the male buds. Starch content in the female flower buds was very significantly lower than content in the male flower buds. Meanwhile,this research believed the differentiation of both flower buds needed abundant nutrient substances as development fundaments,and these substances were mutually competing and constraining.


Received: 30-04-2017, Revised: 22-06-2017, Accepted: 11-11-2017 Catheter associated Urinary tract infection (CA-UTl) is the most common nosocomial infection. In the present study a total of 55 urine specimens from catheterized patients were cultured using standard loop technique. The 60 uropathogens isolated were then identified by standard, conventional methods. Escherichia coli, (41.6%) was the most common organisms followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (21.6%) Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18.33%) S. aureus (11.6%) and Proteus vulgaris (6.6%). Antibiotic susceptibility was performed by Kirby Bauer method. The results showed most of the uropathogens were Multi Drug Resistant (MDR) to the tested antibiotics.


In this paper, a design method for the Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) filter using the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is developed. Because the PSO has a strong directivity toward a local minimum, the PSO updating tends to stagnate around such a local minimum and thus indicates a premature convergence. Recently, the Asynchronous Digenetic PSO with Nonlinear dissipative term (N-AD-PSO) has been proposed for a diverse search. It can be expected that the stagnation can be avoided by the N-AD-PSO. In this study, the N-AD-PSO is adapted for the IIR filter design. Several examples are shown to present the effectiveness of the proposed method.


To our knowledge this is the first report to provide a detailed
description of surgical procedure for adhesiolysis and hepatectomy in patients
who have undergone esophagectomy and reconstruction. We performed a hepatic resection
of the left medial segment in a patient with a reconstructed stomach tube after
esophagectomy for the esophageal carcinoma. The reconstructed stomach tube
overlapped with the left medial segment of the liver and the hepatoduodenal
ligament and was extensively and strongly adhered to them. It is important for
clinicians to know how to perform the detachment procedure successfully in
order to secure a surgical field for liver resection without damaging the
fragile reconstructed gastric tube. In order
to avoid vascular injury of the stomach tube, it was decided that detachment
around the hepatoduodenal ligament preceded detachment of the stomach tube from
the liver. After complete separation of the hepatoduodenal ligament from the
stomach tube, the hepatoduodenal ligament was encircled with tape.
Subsequently, adhesiolysis was performed between the stomach tube and
the liver. Finally, parenchymal transection was performed using the
intermittent hepatic inflow occlusion and crush clamping techniques to dissect
the parenchyma. The patient was discharged two weeks after surgery without
complication.


Vasovagal syncope is the most common cause of syncope in pediatric patients. The present study is aim to provide a comprehensive literature review of the latest advances in the diagnosis and treatment of vasovagal syncope in children. Diagnosis of vasovagal syncope is based on clinical history. For patients with suspected VVS but lack of confident diagnosis after initial assessment, head-up tilt test is helpful. There are four options for treatment of vasovagal syncope: conservative therapy, pharmacologic therapy, pacemaker therapy, and catheter ablation of ganglionated plexi. Conservative therapy (health education, avoidance of triggers, salts and water intake, physical countermeasures and orthostatic training) is recommended for patients with occasional syncope. Pharmacological therapy should be considered for patients with recurrent syncope or for whom conservative therapy has failed. Patients with the predominantly cardioinhibitory response, associated with repeated injury, limited prodromes, and documented asystole may benefit from cardiac pacing. Catheter ablation of ganglionated plexi is a new strategy, its efficacy and safety in pediatric patients should be verified by randomized controlled trials.


Motivation: High-dimensional single-cell snapshot data are becoming widespread in the systems biology community, as a mean to understand biological processes at the cellular level. However, as temporal information is lost with such data, mathematical models have been limited to capture only static features of the underlying cellular mechanisms. Results: Here, we present a modular framework which allows to recover the temporal behaviour from single-cell snapshot data and reverse engineer the dynamics of gene expression. The framework combines a dimensionality reduction method with a cell time-ordering algorithm to generate pseudo time-series observations. These are in turn used to learn transcriptional ODE models and do model selection on structural network features. We apply it on synthetic data and then on real hematopoietic stem cells data, to reconstruct gene expression dynamics during differentiation pathways and infer the structure of a key gene regulatory network. Availability and implementation: C++ and Matlab code available at https://www.helmholtz-muenchen.de/fileadmin/ICB/software/inferenceSnapshot.zip. Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


This article is about how African American missionary Max Yergan and other African American anti-colonial activists working through the Council on African Affairs (CAA) contributed to the emergence of the struggle for South African liberation in the United States. It subsumes Yergan's arrival in South Africa in 1922 through the establishment of the Council and its initial campaigns on behalf of black South Africans. My intent is to show that the struggle for South African liberation in the United States developed from transnational contact between African Americans and black South Africans, and that the struggle began not in the United States as is most often assumed but in South Africa under the leadership of Yergan, that the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 pushed Yergan and other anti-colonial radicals more assuredly into the fight for South Africa's liberation, and that the Council on African Affairs was critical to the emergence of the struggle in the United States during this early period. It will have further served its purpose if it overturns the lingering idea that African Americans were slow to get serious about the anti-apartheid movement. To the contrary, African Americans were organised and openly protesting for the rights of black South Africans more than three decades before they had won their own civil rights and at least a decade before apartheid had been established in South Africa. Liberal whites played an important role too, especially in providing financial support for the struggle but also through their active participation. My concern is not to write them out of the history of the struggle for South Africa's liberation, but to more effectively write African Americans into it.


The common dermatosis Gianotti-Crosti syndrome (GCS), which affects children aged 2 to 6 years, was first reported in 1953 by an Italian dermatology resident. He described a unique monomorphous papular rash in children that was associated with fever, mild hepatomegaly, and widespread lymphadenopathy. More than a decade later, the connection to hepatitis B (HBV) infection was proven. In the 1970s, GCS epidemics occurred in Japanese …


The strongly swirling turbulent flow through an abrupt expansio n is investigated using highly resolved LES and hybrid RANS- LES, to shed more light on the stagnation region and the helical vortex breakdown. The vortex breakdown in an abrupt expansion resembles the so-called vortex rope occurring in hydro power draft tubes. It is know n that the large-scale helical vortex structures can be captured by re gular RANS turbulence models. However, the spurious suppression of the small-scale structures should be avoided using less diffusive methods [1]. The present work compares LES and hybrid RANS-LES results with the experimental measurement of Dellenback [2]. The com putations are conducted using a general non-orthogonal, block- structured, finite-volume method with a fully collocated storage available in the OpenFOAM CFD code. The dynamics of the flow is studied at two Reynolds numbers, Re =6.0×10 4 and Re =10.0×10 4 to study the effect of high Reynolds turbulent flow with almost constant high swirl number ( S r =1.16 and S r =1.23, respectively). The delayed detached eddy simulation (DDES) Spalart-Allmaras model [3] and the dynamic one-equati on LES model are used to predict the coarse (8.2×10 6 cells) and fine (12×10 6 cells) discretized computational domain. The averaged velocity field, pressure field and the root mean square of the velocity fluctuations are captured and investigated qualitatively. Fig. 1 shows the instantaneous pressure iso-surface for the two operating conditions. The flow with lower Reynolds number gives much weaker outburst although the frequency of the structures seems to be constant for the plateau swirl number.


The peculiarities of red-and-white Holstein-Friesian cows' adaptation to influence of low temperatures of varied range while cold loose-boxing method of keeping in climate conditions of Central black earth region of Russia. It is established that thermal effects of -50С and -200С cause stress-reaction development at cows, training and desorption stages. It is confirmed by decreasing of lymphosytes content in leucogram, and eosinophil with simultaneous growth of segmented neutrophils. However stress reaction strength and its tension as the result of lower temperature is higher. It is demonstrated by overrun of physiological standard and variation degree of some leucogram parameters, namely, proved decreasing of eosinophils, limphosytes, monocytes quantity increasing, segmented neutrophils, as well as dynamic changes of leucocytal indexes.


The effects of the Multiple-Representation Lesson Study (MRLS) on pre-service Physics teachers' technological competence were investigated by employing a pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design. The research was participated in by 18 randomly-chosen Physical Science majors of the Bachelor of Secondary Education program in a Philippine state university. Specifically, the Technological Knowledge and the competence in the production of instructional materials of the research participants were measured using the Technological Knowledge Test and the Scoring Rubric for Instructional Material Assessment. Results showed that the experimental group incurred a significantly higher mean score both in the written test and in the instructional material assessment than the control group. Findings suggest a higher technological competence of the pre-service teachers exposed to the MRLS than those exposed to the Traditional Instructional Planning Approach (TIPA). The integration of the Lesson Study framework and the utilization of multiple representations in the teacher education curriculum were recommended.


1Division of Plastic Surgery; 2Surgical Outcomes Research Centre, Department of Surgery; 3Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario; 4Second Department of General, Vascular and Oncologic Surgery, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland Correspondence: Dr Achilleas Thoma, Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, McMaster University, 206 James Street, Suite 101, Hamilton, Ontario L8P 3A9. Telephone 905-523-0019, fax 905-523-0229, e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com It has been estimated that 25% of health care dollars in Canada are wasted (1). In the United States (US), this is estimated to be closer to 50% (2). On a global basis, this figure is estimated to be somewhere between 20% and 40% (3). The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in Ontario, the largest province according to population in Canada, spends $8 billion on physician payments (2009/2010) – equivalent to 20% of total health care costs ($40 billion) (4). In 2009, total health expenditures in Canada were $182.1 billion, with the most spending going toward hospital expenditures (29.1% [$58.4 billion]), drug costs (16.0% [$32.0 billion]) and physician payments (14% [$28.1 billion]) (Figure 1) (5). Health care costs have been escalating in both Canada and the US over the past 30 years. Between 1975 and 2011, the cost of health care in Canada per capita increased from $527.10 to $5,811.20. This represents an increase from $12 billion to $200 billion annually, representing 7.9% of the gross domestic product in 1975 and 11.5% of the gross domestic product in 2011 (5). This increase is not sustainable. Governments in all jurisdictions are beginning to ask for accountability from their health care providers. We can no longer continue to squander precious health care resources that could be better spent on other sectors of society. How does waste of 25% to 50% occur? Setting aside bureaucratic inefficiency, in our case as heath care providers, it occurs when we have options to manage a surgical problem but we opt not to use the optimal approach. This happens when we do not apply evidence-based surgery principles to our surgical practice (6-9) and, more importantly, we are not familiar with the levels of evidence (10). As health care dollars shrink, wait lists for surgery become longer and longer (11). Governments have already started to prioritize certain surgeries. In 2004, the Canadian federal government published the 10-Year Plan to Strengthen Health Care (12) and identified five priority clinical areas in which it was decided wait times must be reduced. The five priority areas included cancer, heart, diagnostic imaging, joint replacement and sight restoration (13). We must wonder, however, why these areas were prioritized over many of the reconstructive procedures that we perform as plastic surgeons. It is intuitive that surgery for cancers, which may save lives, should be prioritized. Why does cataract surgery, however, take precedence over breast reduction surgery? Surely not all cataract surgery patients require immediate surgery; not all of them are close to blindness and in need to 'jump' other specialties' wait lists, such as our breast reduction cases. So what makes governments decide? The answer is simple: the health burden associated with cataracts has been well characterized (14-16), whereas the health burden of breast hypertrophy has only recently been measured (17). One of the 'sins' of academic plastic surgery is that we still rely on before-and-after photographs in our publications and scientific conferences as the outcome of our interventions. The use of before-and-after photographs and physiological measures, such as range of motion, grip and pinch strength, are proxies of the improvement of the quality of life of patients, which may or may not be review


OBJECTIVE To establish a method for quantitative determination of Levofloxacin(LOX) in hunan serum.METHODS LOX was determined by SDS-fluorescence spectrophotometry.RESULTS Absolute alcohol was used to remove protein in the serum.And in the LOX-SDS system,the linear range was 0.1-5.0 μg·ml-1 and regression equation was F=5.552+40.019C(r=0.9990).The average recovery of LOX was 99.72% with the RSD of 0.68%.CONCLUSION This method is simple,accurate,rapid and can be used to determine LOX in human erum.


This article analyzes the power consumption of nodes in ad hoc IEEE 802.11 networks. The main objective of this analysis is to discover theoretic restrictions for the gains obtained in node lifetime through different energy conservation techniques found in the literature. The evaluation of energy consumption considers the characteristics of the medium access method and the interaction of the nodes in the packet forwarding process. The basic idea is to regulate the lifetime of a node based on its average consumption. Consumption is estimated based on the amount of time the node remnants transmitting, receiving or idle. The potential gains obtained by different techniques for saving or balancing energy consumption are then analysed. It is shown that the flow balancing technique can achieve a maximum gain for the node lifetime between 11% and 30%, depending on the network configuration.


The use of photogrammetry technology for aboveground biomass (AGB) stock estimation in tropical savannas is a challenging task and is still at a preliminary stage. This work aimed to use metrics derived from point clouds, constructed using photogrammetric imaging obtained by an RGB camera on board a remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), to generate a model for estimating AGB stock for the shrubby-woody stratum in savanna areas of Central Brazil (Cerrado). AGB stock was estimated using forest inventory data and an allometric equation. The photogrammetric digital terrain model (DTM) was validated with altimetric field data, demonstrating that the passive sensor can identify topographic variations in sites with discontinuous canopies. The inventory estimated an average AGB of 18.3 (±13.3) Mg ha−1 at the three sampled sites. The AGB model selected was composed of metrics used for height at the 10th and 95th percentile, with an adjusted R2 of 93% and a relative root mean squared error (RMSE) of 16%. AGB distribution maps were generated from the spatialization of the metrics selected for the model, optimizing the visualization and our understanding of the spatial distribution of forest AGB. The study represents a step forward in mapping biomass and carbon stocks in tropical savannas using low-cost remote sensing platforms.


In the presence of copper(I), certain di- and tri-topic ligands derived from reaction of substituted anilines with 2-pyridinecarbaldehyde or 2,6-pyridinedicarbaldehyde form a new type of polycatenar metallomesogen around the tetrahedral metallic centre.


The role of ocean circulation in transforming surface forcing into interannual‐to‐multidecadal oceanic variability is an area of ongoing debate. Here, a novel method, establishing exact causal links, is used to quantitatively determine the role of ocean active and passive processes in transforming stochastic surface forcing into heat content variability. To this end, we use a global ocean model in which the dynamical response to forcing can be switched on (fully active) or off (purely passive) and consider the resulting effect on heat content variance. While passive ocean processes mainly control the surface variance (over 92%) in all basins, most regions show the importance of active processes at depth. This role is particularly important for full‐depth North Atlantic heat content, which we investigate further, highlighting signatures of the meridional overturning circulation in delaying the variance growth.


Every surgeon subjects the tissue of their patients to ischemic damage when performing a flap (pedunculated or microsurgical). The greater the ischemic damage, the more the body's repair mechanisms will be stressed and activated. If the damage exceeds the tissue resistance and reparative abilities of the organism, the flap will develop necrosis (completely or partially). Many linked factors can occur in damaged flaps [1, 2] including venous stasis [3], insufficient blood supply, or the presence of hematomas, and all of these events contribute in differentways to ischemic damage [4]. Between 1970 and 1980, many studies were conducted on the survival of the flaps [4–7] to identify the elements that could induce necrosis [8]. In the following years, researchers focused on microcirculation and the flap peduncle and found that by increasing the blood flow [9–11], it was possible to improve the result [12]. The story became more interesting as we increased our understanding of the molecular aspects of the survival mechanisms of the flaps. Over the years, in fact, we have identified the molecular factors involved in response to ischemic damage and oxidative damage, the factors involved in ischemia-reperfusion injury, and the proteins and transcription factor protagonists of these phases. These findings are radically changing our approach to the treatment of ischemic insult; researchers and clinicians are now able to intervene before, during, and after these critical events to increase the overall number of cells that survive after an ischemic insult.


PurposeThis article discusses the public library system in Morocco, compiling the available information tackling the historical background of public libraries and their early work and the system that has been adopted during and after colonial periods. The main purpose of the study is to shed light on the present situation of the public library system in Morocco and also to further identify some of the recurrent issues in the public library system in Morocco.Design/methodology/approachThe authors relied on a literature review as a theoretical reference in order to study and extract the available studies done previously on the Moroccan system for public libraries.FindingsPublic libraries in Morocco face various issues such as lack of available data and research, lack of appropriate funds, education in the field of library and information sciences, low rate of reading culture within the country and the high rate of illiteracy, all of which obstruct the development of Moroccan librarianship. There is a necessary reform need and action in order to help in the development of libraries in the country.Originality/valueThis paper is the first paper that discussed the state of public libraries in Morocco and that draws and highlights the importance of public libraries in relation with the country's development.


S pecies arise and species disappear. The Homo sapiens, being more one species of mammal in the Earth, probably will follow the same destiny of all the other species that live or once lived in the planet: it will be extinct. The objective of this article is to analyze the role of the material culture as an element that can lead Homo sapiens to extinction. Two models of extinction of Homo sapiens are presented. In both of them material culture works as a core of the reflexions. In one of the models, is analyzed the role of the atomic weapons of mass destruction, largely produced during the second half of the XX century, in the case of a "nuclear war". In the other model, is analyzed the destructive role of the material culture on the biodiversity that can lead Homo sapiens to extinction through environmental degradation.


The present thesis encompasses a work on the effect of Gold Nanoparticles on the growth, development and behaviour of Zebrafish. In the present times, when science and technology has made progress by leaps and bounds, had at the same time its side effects on the human population as well as on other species. Nanoparticles are particles with the minimum measurement between 1 and 100 nm. Because of their peculiar size and characteristics, nanoparticles are used in very delicate missions in the biomedical field. They have been actively used for the drug distribution, cellular imaging and other diagnosis. These nanoparticles have revolutionized the medical field. Gold nanoparticles being a type of this category have also been widely used for drug distribution, detection and diagnostic methods. But along with these benefits, there are apprehensions that these nanoparticles at the same time may have an affect the growth of the organism. In this work, an attempt has been made to gauze the possible neurotoxic effects of gold nanoparticles on the growth and development of Zebrafish (Danio rerio), particularly its behaviour and axon development.


Purpose— The role of consolidative radiotherapy (RT) for stage III and IV DLBCL in the era of rituximab is not well defined. There is evidence that some patients with bulky disease may benefit, but patient selection criteria are not well established. We sought to identify a subset of patients who experienced a high local failure rate after receiving rituximab-based chemotherapy alone and hence may benefit from the addition of consolidative RT. Methods and Materials— 211 stage III and IV DLBCL patients treated between August 1999 and January 2012 were reviewed. Of these, 89 had a complete response to systemic therapy including rituximab and received no initial RT. Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression were performed with local recurrence (LR) as the primary outcome. Results— Median follow-up was 43.9 months. 50% experienced LR at 5 years. In multivariate analysis tumor ≥ 5 cm and stage III disease were associated with increased risk of LR. Five year LR free survival for patients with ≥ 5 cm lesions were 47.4% versus 74.7% for patients with < 5cm lesions (p = 0.01). In patients with < 5 cm tumors, SUVmax was ≥15 in all patients with LR. Five year LR free survival was 100% in SUV < 15 versus 68.8% in SUV≥15 (p=0.10). © Conclusions— Advanced stage DLBCL patients who are stage III or with disease ≥ 5 cm appear to be at an increased risk for LR. Patients with < 5 cm disease and SUVmax≥15 may be at higher risk for LR. These patients may benefit from consolidative RT following chemoimmunotherapy.


This paper presents a study which aims on the one hand at describing family narratives when the first child is 5 years old, and on the other hand at exploring longitudinally the interactive precursors of these narratives when the child was 18 months old. The sample contains 17 families and their first born child. Family interactions were assessed at 18 months by direct observation in the Lausanne Trilogue Play (LTP) situation, according to two dimensions: non-verbal coordination and emotional benevolence, that is, the type and the intensity of the affects expressed in the interaction. When the first child was 5, the families participated to a standardized situation where they were asked to tell a story about a separation between the child and the parents for the week-end. Narratives were transcribed and analyzed with the NES coding grid, which assesses narratives according to twenty variables shared in three domains of analysis: interactive context, structure of the story, content of the story. Results show first an important variability among families narratives in the three domains at age 5. Regression analyses shows that non-verbal coordination and emotional benevolence at 18 months are both predictors of several aspects of the narratives at age 5: the more the non-verbal interactions are coordinated and marked with positive affects, the more the narratives mention emotional (positive and negative) and psychological elements (motivations and intentions of the characters).


The invention relates to a vehicle-bone navigation and video recording integration system and method, wherein the system comprises a master processing module, a navigation module which is connected with the master processing module by a circuit and in charge of transmitting a received navigation signal to the master processing module, a video capturing module which is connected with the master processing module by a circuit and in charge of transmitting captured original video data to the master processing module, a storage module circuit connecting the master processing module and a display module which is connected with the master processing module by a circuit; wherein the master processing module transmits processed data to a storage module. The system and method combine satellite navigation information and content of video recording and adopt a flow of controlling the video recording by the satellite navigation information, thus not only space of a storage device is effectively utilized, but also video information during accident is reliably stored. The invention can play an important role in responsibility determination in traffic accident management.


We have developed a sensitive ELISA using MAb 4D3 for the detection of a novel epitope on Small Intestinal Mucin Antigen (SIMA) and report here that SIMA is present in the serum of patients with colorectal cancer. SIMA has been shown to occur in tissue from a high proportion of patients with colorectal cancer. SIMA derived from serum was similar to tissue‐derived SIMA: both eluted in the void volume of a Superose 6 column indicating a molecular weight above 5,000 kDa and they exhibited similar buoyant densities on CsCI gradients. The ELISA was most reliable after pre‐treatment of serum with 0.4 M perchloric acid to remove interfering substances. The upper limit for SIMA in normal serum was set as the mean plus 2 standard deviations determined from a group of 97 healthy control subjects. In a samßle of 113 patients with colorectal cancer, SIMA serum levels were elevated in 15% of patients with Dukes' Stage A, 38% with Stage B, 32% with Stage C and 75% with Stage D colorectal cancer. SIMA serum levels were compared with those of the widely used tumor marker, carcino‐embryonic antigen (CEA). The SIMA assay detected a significant number of sera that were not detected by the test for CEA. We propose that SIMA will prove to be a valuable serological tumor marker, in combination with CEA and other tumor markers, for the detection of colorectal cancer.


racy." Roughly, this term includes conceptions of democracy that transcend voting-based institutions controlled by power elites (as with Joseph Schumpeter) or competing interest groups (Robert Dahl's polyarchic conception of democracy that dominated the postwar scene). Sometimes enthusiasm for deliberative democracy indicates an interest in a return to a more local, popular democracy, reminiscent of the New England town meeting. Often it indicates a desire to make rationality and argumentation central to the practice of democracy. Much of the literature has focused on this desire in either a fairly abstract fashion, as with James Bohman, or in a more hortatory fashion, as with Benjamin Barber. But a staggering number of scholars from a wide range of disciplines are currently working on these issues. If the pendulum has indeed swung back toward an interest in more radical and idealistic forms of democracy, it has so far produced more good questions than answers. And why not? The world of American politics is quite different from the one in which Progressives such as John Dewey, Mary Parker Follett, and a young Walter Lippmann proposed democratic reforms. Not only has the political and institutional environment changed, especially with the advent of the civil rights revolution, but an enormous array of scholarly positions would have to be made square with any conception of deliberative democracy: varieties of Marxist theory, cultural studies, social theory, and the recent focus on globalization all have a claim on democratic theory. As scholars contribute to a democratic renewal, one of their first tasks will be to assess the relationship of various ideals to their potential realizations in practice. In this special issue of Rhetoric & Public Affairs, scholars from different fields assess the cultural resources for democracy, both in the United States and other countries. In the Progressive Era, democratic reforms were deeply influenced by available philosophy (especially Dewey's), and we will certainly see both academic research and activism taking its cue from philosophical debates. Darrin Hicks's reconstruction of INTRODUCTION: CULTURAL RESOURCES FOR DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY


Research on the Existence of Heirloom Keris in the Era of Globalization (Case Study of Keris Craftsmen in Aeng Tong-Tong Village, Sumenep Madura) originated in the global era, keris is seen as an object that has its own elements and advantages.  This study tries to examine the existence of heirloom kerises in the current era of globalization which is starting to develop.  The main problem in this research is focused on the existence of heirloom kerises in Aeng Tong-Tong Village in the era of globalization.  The theory used in this study uses the theory of symbolic interactionism and the theory of functionalism.  The approach used is a qualitative approach with the type of descriptive-qualitative research.  Data collection techniques used are observation, interviews, documentation, and literature studies.  The results of the study reveal that the kris as a cultural artifact, in the development of the era of globalization, is faced with two choices.  First, the conservation view requires that all cultural forces are always oriented to the past, so they must maintain the core values ??of that culture.  Second, the progressive view requires changes that lead to cultural modernization.


Given a partially-ordered finite alphabet $\Sigma$ and a language $L \subseteq \Sigma^*$, how large can an antichain in $L$ be (where $L$ is ordered by the lexicographic ordering)? This fundamental property of partial orders is known as the width and its computation is the central extremal problem for partially ordered sets. More precisely, since $L$ will in general be infinite, we should ask about the rate of growth of maximum antichains consisting of words of length $n$.
In this work, we show that if L is regular or context free then there is a dichotomy between polynomial and exponential antichain growth. For regular languages we give a polynomial time algorithm to distinguish the two cases, even if $L$ is specified as an NFA. On the other hand for context free languages we show that the problem of distinguishing the two cases is undecidable. We generalise the lexicographic order to tree languages, and show that for regular tree languages there is a trichotomy between polynomial, exponential and doubly exponential antichain growth. Finally we discuss the motivating problem for this work, which is related to information flow in the context of computer security.


A technique is described for removing interference from a signal of interest ("channel 1") which is one of a set of N time-domain instrumental signals ("channels 1 to N"). We assume that channel 1 is a linear combination of "true" signal plus noise, and that the "true" signal is not correlated with the noise. We also assume that part of this noise is produced, in a poorly-understood way, by the environment, and that the environment is monitored by channels 2 to N. Finally, we assume that the contribution of channel n to channel 1 is described by an (unknown!) linear transfer function Rn(t −t ′ ). Our technique estimates the Ri and provides a way to subtract the environmental contamination from channel 1, giving an estimate of the "true" signal which minimizes its variance. It also provides some insights into how the environment is contaminating the signal of interest. The method is illustrated with data from a prototype interferometric gravitational-wave detector, in which the channel of interest (differential displacement) is heavily contaminated by environmental noise (magnetic and seismic noise) and laser frequency noise but where the coupling between these signals is not known in advance.


Vertical biomass distributions for western wheatgrass (Agropyron smithii Rydb.) from 3 locations in western South Dakota were evaluated to determine effects of location, date, topographic position, past grazing history (vigor), and phenological development. A linear, quadratic regression was used for model development and testing, and analysis was by general linear hypothesis testing. All factors except topographic position were significant; however, only phenological development was useful in a general model for estimating utilization from the percentage of height remaining. This factor was best expressed in 3 leaf-classes of 2-4, 5-6, and 7-10 leaves per tiller. Thus, height-weight relationships can be improved as a biomass predictor if separate regressions are used for these 3 phenological classes.


ABSTRACT Social constructionism, and Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe's discourse theory in particular, are well-known for their anti-essentialist understanding of identity. Hence these discourses have theoretically been utilized for understanding social identity construction and for deconstructing identities. However, I claim that social constructionism and Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory may have the as yet non-theorized operation of detecting and combating wholesale indictments of identities. This operation helps us diagnose how ethnic identity and affect become incriminated as supposedly inextricably intertwined with racism, chauvinism and related pathologies. Yet interestingly, instead of unveiling and critiquing the new hegemony of blanket indictment of ethnic identity/affect, social constructionism and Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory have been used to incriminate identity as such. The present article interprets Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory against the grain to chastise the tendency to declare ethnic identity/affect as the new enemy. It shows how such new, hegemonic incrimination aspires to fill the empty signifier of peaceful coexistence with otherness, yet runs the risk of effacing otherness. The article concludes with an example of a reconstructive alternative.


As the 21st century begins, Asia's security environment seems likely to be shaped by the distrust, if not rivalry, between China and Japan that is the legacy of the past century. The ability of the U.S. to play a buffering role in stabilizing relations among the states of the region, as it has done for the past five decades, is not a certainty. Its capacity to continue to play this role will be shaped by a combination of smart strategic analysis implemented through effective policies supported by a sustained, forwardbased U.S. military presence in Northeast Asia. Policy mismanagement, however, could lead to U.S.-China tensions becoming the predominant factor influencing regional security trends. The record of America's dealings with the region over the 20th century suggests that its ability to formulate and implement effective security policies is not a strong one. Moreover, it will be difficult for the U.S. to sustain forward-deployed forces in Japan and Korea in a time of reduced international tensions. Thus, East Asia may face a future security environment much like the one that made the 20th century so costly for all the states of the region, with Sino-Japanese tensions unbuffered by a U.S. presence, or a SinoAmerican confrontation, driving great power relations.