The small, colorful cinder cone near Flagstaff, Arizona, called Sunset Crater, probably erupted during the latter part of A.D. 1064 and, or, the early part of 1065. The dating of this eruption is based on the interpretation of known evidence, and is the result of research in the fields of archaeology, dendrochronology, geology, paleobotany, and volcanology. A brief resume of the geology and the dating of this phenomenon follows.


Fingerprint evidence played an important role in investigation, prosecution, and trial process due to the belief of its uniqueness and unchanged characteristics. However, in recent years, the science behind the process of fingerprint comparisons has been questioned. Main research questions have been focusing on the opaqueness within the comparison processes, subjective judgments, lack of universal standards, no error rate expression on final conclusions, and poor scientific fundamental research data. Facing the above-mentioned questions, this paper aims to suggest a quality control system (QCS) for fingerprint comparison processes. This QCS is based on the use of software (PiAnoS) and its technological features, being able to provide a data management model to increase the transparency and quality of fingerprint comparison processes.


This article offers a contribution to the understanding of the Stoic notion of the kathekon, by exploring the meaning of one of the terms in which its definition is formulated. The kathekon is that which, once done, receives a eulogos defense or justification; my purpose is to investigate what is meant here by "eulogos". The conclusion of the article is limited and negative. There are scattered bits of evidence that have led some critics to adopt one particular interpretation of "eulogos" in the definition of the kathekon; I hope to show that this evidence does not give any support to what has seemed a tempting line of interpretation. I also offer some positive support for the opposing interpretation. Here, then, is the question that I shall ask about the definition of the kathetkon: does the word "eulogos" in this context mean "reasonable" in the sense of conforming to everyday norms of sensible, prudent behavior the sort of reasonableness that we all can and do attain to with fair regularity or does it mean something more like "in accordance with right reason", i.e. conforming to some higher standard, like the rationality of the Sage? Or, to put it a different way, are the eulogoi justifications that kathekonta get, justifications that even non-Sages are capable of giving in a reliable and non-accidental way? There is no doubt that non-Sages perform kathekonta, but then they might perform them without being able to justify them in the relevant sense, or without being able to do so reliably. Is an action a kathekon so long as it can receive a justification that is reasonable by normal standards, or is some higher standard of justification required?


Transmission electron microscopy and KOH etching were used to determine the structure of the carrot defect in 4H-SiC epilayers. The defect consists of two intersecting planar faults on prismatic {11¯00} and basal {0001} planes. Both faults are connected by a stair-rod dislocation with Burgers vector 1∕n [101¯0] with n>3 at the crossover. A Frank-partial dislocation with b=1∕12[44¯03] terminates the basal fault.


Hantavirus infection was diagnosed serologically by μ‐capture IgM and IgG ELISAs in hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) patients admitted to Tuzla Hospital, Bosnia‐Herzegovina. The results indicated that more than one hantavirus caused the outbreak. To address the question of which hantavirus serotypes were involved, sequentially drawn sera were analyzed by focus reduction neutralization test (FRNT) for antibodies against Puumala, Hantaan, Dobrava, and Seoul hantaviruses. The data revealed that acute‐ or early convalescent‐phase sera, even when drawn as late as 3 weeks after the onset of disease, could not be used for typing of the causative hantavirus; a significant number of these samples showed similar reactivity of neutralizing antibodies to several different hantavirus serotypes. Moreover, although several acute‐phase sera showed the highest FRNT titer to Hantaan virus, convalescent sera from these patients in all cases showed high specificity for Puumala or Dobrava viruses. This phenomenon, interpreted as a cross‐neutralizing primary antibody response, makes several earlier reports concerning causative agents of HFRS questionable. Serological examination of small rodents trapped in the endemic area identified Puumala‐ and Dobrava‐like virus infections. RT‐PCR and sequencing of rodent lung samples identified Dobrava virus in one yellow‐necked field mouse (Apodemus flavicollis). Cross‐FRNT data, using polyclonal rabbit antibodies, clearly confirmed Dobrava virus as a unique hantavirus serotype. In conclusion, the results revealed that both Puumala‐ and Dobrava‐like viruses caused HFRS in Bosnia‐Herzegovina, whereas no signs of Hantaan or Seoul virus involvement were found. J. Med. Virol. 53:51–59, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Purpose: This is a critical review of the empirical literature on earnings management ethicality and its application in public sector organizations in the Kenyan context. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-systematic review approach and thematic/content analysis technique were utilized in forming opinions on deductions of the study by reviewing previous publications between 2008-2022. Findings: Outcomes of this study portray that the main factors influencing the management of earnings include; a conducive environment that permits practicing creative accounting without stakeholders' knowledge, dodging declaring losses in the economic reports, meeting analyst predictions, circumventing submission of higher taxes, to qualify access to debt, contracting motivations, and to accomplish perks knotted to performance. Moreover, there is legitimate and illegitimate management of earnings since there is no consensus in regard to the ethicality of earnings management. Further, this review evidences that both accrual and real earnings management techniques are practiced by managers during reporting. Additionally, there are mixed results as to whether creative accounting is practiced in the public sector or not, and with reference to Kenya, no studies on earnings management ethicality have ever been conducted. Research limitations/implications: There are limited studies on earnings management ethicality in the public sector both in Kenya and globally. Besides, this is a qualitative study that depended on the previously published data in its entirety. This then, implies that all the findings here are not first-hand and are purely dependent on the findings of other studies that had been published. The researcher, therefore, had no control in regard to ascertaining the accuracy of the previous data analyzed. In mitigating these limitations, the majority of the publications included in this study were from high ranked journals. The bulk of the literature reviewed was from research work already conducted in other countries. Originality/value: This study contributes to accounting theory as an area of study. It depicts the deductive approach of research which can then be embraced by other graduate accounting students in furthering accounting research. Besides, it contributes to strategy makers like the Kenya Accounting Standards Board in the formulation and implementation of accounting principles. It also forms a basis for further research in the management of earnings and its ethicality among public sector firms. That is, no other study has been done in Kenya and just a few studies have been carried out globally.


The invention provides a parking positioning system and a method. The system includes a vehicle-mounted wireless launching device which is used for sending wireless signals and a mobile terminal which is used for detecting and recording moving tracks of users and displaying in an electronic map and receiving the wireless signals which are sent by the vehicle-mounted wireless launching device. The parking positioning system can automatically recording the moving tracks of the users through a built-in Bluetooth function of an automobile and a cell phone and a global positioning system (GPS) positioning function of the cell phone so as to define a parking position of the automobile so that the phenomenon that the users forget the parking position of the automobile is avoided. The parking positioning system and the method have the advantages of being low in cost and convenient to use.


This study explores the capacity of the United States (US) Foundation's international health investment to remote and rural Australian Indigenous people. It does this primarily through the application of appreciative inquiry tools to the 'giving' culture within US Foundation's venture philanthropy. It examines the US and Australian philanthropic hegemonic history to provide a reference point for exploring what greater cross-cultural engagement could mean to US Foundation's international Indigenous health giving.

There is much evidence of lower life expectancy by remote and rural Australian Indigenous people. Deserving Indigenous grantseeker's projects that seek holistic health including human rights are not resonating with US Foundations. Indigenous people's environmental stewardship and actions to progress reconciliation and restoration lacks true recognition. While the common practice of US grantmakers co-opting Indigenous grantseekers to become more culturally homogenous with the rest of society is disturbing.

There is little research on the hegemonic ideology behind venture philanthropy's health funding agenda of public health disease intervention through social entrepreneurship models. This is concerning as it promotes the rhetoric that international intermediaries administration is more efficient than direct funding. In light of such systemic anomalies, a suggested way forward is for US Foundations to return to catalyst funding principles of change through health promotion projects. New Shared Indigenous Giving Principles and a Compact of Understanding were created as examples for peak Indigenous philanthropic organisations like Philanthropy Australia and International Funders of Indigenous People for possible inclusion in their health promotion strategy of building capacity through education and advocacy.

The study's outcomes also suggest a First Nation's Entrepreneurship as a new type of entrepreneurship, a way forward that could bridge venture philanthropy's driver style to a return to partner and catalyst philanthropy. It could reside alongside social entrepreneurship, increasing Indigenous health funding that values Indigenous holistic aspects for health including human rights as Social Entrepreneurship does for social justice rights. This vision could warrant further research on social entrepreneurship synchronicity with the Bangkok Charter for Health Promotion in a Globalised World and the Social Determinants of Health.


This work demonstrates the detection of GHz ultrasonic (U/S) pulses using a 130nm technology-based PFET transistor, monolithically integrated with a GHz Fresnel focusing ultrasonic transducer. The focusing transducer enables the concentration of the ultrasonic strain at the PFET location resulting in observable modulation of the transistor current due to piezoresistivity in the transistor conduction channel. 50ns wide U/S pulses with 1-2 GHz frequencies were successfully detected using the PFET transistor. The outcome of measuring strain with nm-scale transistors indicates the potential application of 3D arrays of CMOS transistors for sub-μm spatial resolution and high bandwidth active sensing of high-frequency ultrasonic pulses and waves.


In the present study Rayleigh-Benard convection within a rectangular cell is analysed. Turbulent Rayleigh numbers up to Ra = 6.0 × 108 have been simulated using Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) and Large Eddy Simulations (LES) employing the tensor diffusivity model by Leonard and Winkelmans (1999). The effective exponent of the Nusselt-Rayleigh relation is found to be 0.284 which matches theroretical and experimental predections of 2/7 (≈ 0.286) very well. Furthermore, the thermal dissipation rate distribution is investigated based on the approach by Shishkina and Wagner (2006). The distribution function is found to consist of three distinct regimes featuring the thermal turbulent background, the plumes and the conductive sublayer. Two functions are defined to approximate the distribution of the turbulent background and the conductive sublayer, and hence limits could be defined for the integration of the three regions. With these limits it is possible to quantify the respective contributions of the different parts of the flow field showing that the contributions of the turbulent background up to Ra = 6.0 × 108 are very small but increse rapidly, once a fully developed turbulent field is established. For the highest simulated Rayleigh number it occupies more than 80% of the fluid volume.


Cities around the world face an increasing need for land as density in urban areas increases rapidly. The pressure to expand a city's space is especially acute for a city-state like Singapore. In the big data era, a data-driven approach of underground spaces is necessary for the sustainable development of a city along with rapid urbanization. A reliable three dimensional (3D) digital map of utility networks is crucial for urban planners to understand one of the most impactful aspects of underground space planning. How to map reliable 3D underground utility networks and use it in the land administration? This is a challenging issue, especially for cities with limited land resources, congested underground spaces, and a lack of uniform existing practices. First, this paper proposes a framework for utility data governance from the underground utility data survey to data usage. This is the backbone to support coordination of different roles in the utility data management and usage. Then, an initial design of the 3D utility cadastral data model is introduced, which aims to support the 3D modelling of utility networks and connect it to the cadastral parcel. It is expected that reliable and accurate information on underground utility networks can lead to a better understanding and management of underground space, which eventually contributes to better city planning, making the unseen structures visible.


Parameters control is the key issue during impregnation,which affects final product's performance.Herein,solubility control is the most important.This paper sums up the operating tips in this process,emphasizing in solubility control.


Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most frequent etiological agent of otitis externa. In this study polymerase chain reaction was used to investigate the genotypic properties and genetic relationship between P. aeruginosa obtained from human and dogs with otitis externa in Iraq. Seventeen (17%)P. aeruginosawere isolated from 100 ear swabs of human and six isolate (6%) from 100 ear swabs of dogs by conventional methods (culture and biochemical tests). A total of 23 P. aeruginosa isolate from human and dog were subjected to PCR to detect the Exo A gene by amplifying a 396-bp region using the same primer. Results showed that, six(26 %) and two (8.6 %) isolates from human and dogs give positive product for exo A gene respectively. in conclusion, there is a genetic relationship between P. aeruginosa isolated from human and dogs in Iraq.


For the development of an intelligent robot with many degrees-of-freedom, the reduction of the whole body motion and the implementation of the brain-like information system is necessary. We propose a reduction method of the whole body motion based on singular value decomposition and a design method of the brain-like information processing system using a nonlinear dynamics network with polynomial configuration. By using the proposed method, we design the humanoid whole body motion that is caused by the input sensor signals.


This paper presents a 3D FEM model to predict the thermal behaviour of a high speed motor spindle. This model allows a transient simulation which considers complex boundary conditions like heat sources as well as contact and convective heat transfer between spindle parts. Verification experiments are implemented on a test spindle. Compared with the measured data, it is shown that the developed model can predict well the thermal behaviour of the test spindle. © 2012 Published by Elsevier BV. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Prof. Konrad Wegener Keyword: Spindle; Thermal error; Modelling; Simulation


Pure water is most essential for human life. But it is not available and rare in most of the place in the world. Pure water is not only important for drinking purpose but also for other issue such as boiler make up or feed water, distilled water for medical uses etc. Hence purifying water is the demand of time. Water purifying is an energy consuming process but our conventional energy resource is limited. In that case alternative renewable energy resources can give us better solution. Solar energy is available resource and gives an optimum solution for this experimental purpose. Designed solar water distillation plant has two parts. Upper part is made by glass and a copper plate for absorbing heat inside it. Proper Insulator is attached behind this arrangement. A small container is linked below it by a small elbow, condensed pure water stored in this container. The lower part is made by cellulite. The cellulite box contain wick. This wick spread from the ground to the backside of copper plate. The wick absorbs the ground water and conveys it up to glass box where this water is evaporated in presence of solar energy. Total system is completely air tight. This plant works quit well but its performance is most depended on wick material. A composite wick material can gives better result.


Over the past decades, user engagement has become central to product success more than ever before. However, while engagement has been studied extensively in various disciplines, these bodies of knowledge are siloed. One indication of this separation is that there is no existing user engagement measure that can be used consistently and reliably across research domains. This emergent research paper aims to progress towards bridging this gap by developing an engagement scale that may be generalized to multiple disciplines. To that effect, we first identified engagement as a three dimensional phenomenon and developed definitions for each dimension. Next, we conducted a series of four studies to develop and validate a measure of user engagement. This resulted in a 16-item measure to assess cognitive, behavioral, and emotional engagement. Future steps include further refinement of the measure, and additional studies to test the generalizability of the scale across disciplines.


The imaginary components of the anomalous dispersion correction terms for the heavy atoms gallium and indium, evcaluated from a systematic and precise experimetal measurement of the Bijvoet ratios for the spherically ground single crystals of GaP and InP, are reported. The procedure used is based on the work of Engel and Sturm who refined the crystal structures involving light atoms using anomalous scattering and employed the measured structure factors to evaluate the f″ values of the heavy atoms. In the present work, instead of refining the crystal structure, the structure factors are obtained using a refinement program. The experimentally evaluated f″ values are in very close agreement with the reported theoretical values.


Western formalism justice has unique cultural causes,which is rooted from positivism law.Case law,codification and the difficulty of justice improve the formalism.Chinese and foreign formalism justice has different mechanism in settling disputes.Chinese justice reform can learn a lot from western formalism.


RESULTS: We examined 574 patients (952 total TEs) in our analysis. Baseline demographics and did not differ significantly across patients with and without ADM, though breast weight was higher in patients without ADM (685.7g vs. 543.2g, p<0.001). Rates of TE loss were similar in both groups (No ADM: 5.45%; ADM: 4.44%, p=0.65). Secondary outcomes of interest did not differ significantly between the cohorts.


PurposeTo address the key problem of lack of use in the advancement of open government data (OGD) portals from the aspect of good usability, which is an essential prerequisite to the acceptance and usage of a portal, this paper aims to develop a usability framework including design principles and criteria for OGD portals and to discover problems in the present usability design.Design/methodology/approachThis study builds the usability framework by extending usability principles for general websites to address the specific needs of OGD portals. Criteria for each principle are developed accordingly based on the literature. A comparative heuristic evaluation involving five expert evaluators and 13 Chinese province-level OGD portals has been carried out to test the capability of the usability framework.FindingsA usability framework with 24 principles and 63 criteria has been built. The heuristic evaluation shows OGD portals performed better in meeting general principles than the OGD portals specific ones. Insufficient help functions weakened OGD portals' usability. Similarities and differences were found of Chinese OGD portals compared with similar studies in the United States.Originality/valueThis paper proposed a usability framework for OGD portals and proved its capability in recognizing usability problems and its causes by carrying out a comparative heuristic evaluation in China. By comparing the evaluation results with other studies in the United States, the findings and lessons learnt in this study can thus be shared across international borders.


A set mapping on a set S is a function f mapping S into the powerset of S such that x ∉ f(x) for each x in S. The set map f has order θ if θ is the least cardinal such that |f(x)| < θ for each x in S. A subset H of S is free for f if x ∉ f(y) for all x, y in H. In this paper we use classical results about set mappings of large order to investigate conditions which ensure a large free set for set mappings of unrestricted order.


The dissertation regards the study of Officium Stellae's sources, the Epiphany music-liturgical drama developed in Europe between the X and the XV century.
The research, leaded under different methodological paths, firstly the recognition, discovery and identification of survived sources and the investigation about those lost, obteined as result the acquirement of 50 sources, some never studied before.
Showing for some of them an high degree of parchment damage, has been operated a digital restore with innovative techniques, revealing music and texts unreadable before.
Starting from the transcription of each component realized both with traditional methodologies based on the study of repertoires, than innovative methods, such as that of digital tracing, has been structured a crossing system of tables, synopsis and indexes, hold in Appendixes I and II.
The drama has been studied under an interdisciplinary point of view: textual, musical, liturgical and dramaturgical. After a preliminary exposition of important drama's features and on its development in relationship with Epiphany liturgy, has been considered relevant sources for the composition of text and music: Bible, apocryphal Gospels, Church's Fathers, Classic writers and extra liturgical elements. Three specific chapters are specifically devoted to analyze textual, musical and dramaturgical structures testified by the sources.
The study allowed not only to discover similarities and relationship between sources or groups, but also to testify an evolution of some compositional features characterizing the Officium Stellae.


Abstract Emanation coefficients for radon (222Rn) and thoron (220Rn) were measured from fully metamict samarskite collected from Centennial Cone after 1 h and 24 h annealing in argon from 473 to 1373 K. For the 1 h annealing run, 222Rn emanation coefficients ranged from 5 × 10-6 to 2.1 × 10-5 %, while 220Rn coefficients varied from 6.3 × 10-3 to 2 × 10-2 %. For the 24 h annealing run, 222Rn coefficients ranged from 5.8 × 10-6 to 2.3 × 10-5 %, while 220Rn coefficients varied from 4.1 × 10-3 to 1.5 × 10-2 %. The 222Rn and 220Rn emanation coefficients vs. annealing temperature data can be described by an exponentially decreasing sinusoidal function. Both 222Rn and 220Rn emanation coefficient values after annealing considerably exceeded those measured from an unheated powder reference sample and from the original samarskite sample.


Objective To study the effect of Jinwugutong capsule(JWGTC)on osteoporosis in ovariectomized rats in order to provide evidence for its clinical application.Methods Sixty SD female rats at the age of 6 months were randomly divided into 6 groups.An osteoporosis model was established by ovariotomy.The rats were given drugs after 12 weeks.Bone mineral density(BMD),bone biomechanics and biochemical indexes were measured after 24 weeks.Results JWGTC improved BMD,bone biomechanics and biochemical indexes.Conclusion Osteoporosis can be cured with JWGTC.


Rationale Lung fibroblasts are implicated in respiratory disease pathology including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Phenotypic differences between fibroblasts isolated from the airway versus the parenchyma have been described but no studies have compared the cell types on a genome wide scale. DNA methylation is a reversible modification of the DNA structure with the ability to affect cell function via the alteration of gene expression. Here we compared genome wide DNA methylation profiles from airway and parenchymal fibroblasts and assessed modification to these profiles in cells isolated from individuals with COPD. Methods DNA was isolated from parenchymal and airway fibroblasts at passage 4, and bisulphite treated. Site specific, quantitative genome wide methylation was determined using the Illumina 450K Infinium Methylation BeadChip array. Linear modelling and DMRcate functions identified differentially methylated sites and regions respectively between airway and parenchymal fibroblasts isolated from individuals with normal lung function versus those with COPD. Results 3980 CpG (methylation) sites significantly differed after Bonferroni correction between airway and parenchymal fibroblasts isolated from healthy individuals. These sites had a broad distribution of effect size, with 240 CpG sites displaying a difference in methylation of >50%. 78 of these sites validated in a second cohort of 7 sets of paired airway and parenchymal fibroblasts isolated from the same individual. There was genomic proximity to these sites and DMRcate was used to refine the individual CpG sites to 5 regions of interest associated with 5 genes; HLX, TWIST1, CREB5, SKAP2 and PRDM16. Differences in methylation were less pronounced when comparing cells isolated from healthy individuals to those with COPD. In airway fibroblasts 47 DMRcate regions were identified with a maximum difference in methylation of at least 20%. In parenchymal fibroblasts 3 DMRcate regions were identified with a maximum difference in methylation of at least 20%. Conclusions DNA methylation profiles are significantly different between airway and parenchymal fibroblasts but only small modifications are associated with COPD. Future work will focus on validating a methylation based markers of parenchymal versus airway fibroblasts and associating our differential observations with gene/protein expression.


This paper aims to display a brief preliminary synthesis about the results obtained through an exploratory investigation, which is intended to know the specific practices of the System for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Children and Adolescents, in a specific socio -political and geographical context, from the perspective of the subjects entitled to the special protection. The research seeks to identify, analyze and reflect about the dilemmas and tensions that can


The role of C4-alcohols (n-butanol, 2-butanol and tert-butanol) in four component microemulsions is studied using neutron scattering. These microemulsions are dispersions of nanoscale droplets consisting of a core of water surrounded by a surfactant-stabilized shell. The particles are suspended in an oil (octane) continuum. The addition of a co-surfactant, such as a short-chain alcohol, modifies the droplet size and structure, as well as the rigidity of the surrounding shell. In this work, we investigate water-in-oil microemulsions employing small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) experiments performed at the NIST Center for Neutron Research. Using this technique, it is possible to probe structure on the nanometer scale and extract information rele\ant to the structure of our system. The SANS data is analyzed with a model sensitive to the overall shape, size, polydispersity, and the internal structure of the dispersed droplets. In addition, the model also incorporates corrections for droplet shape fluctuations and smearing resolution associated with the SANS instrument. This work focuses primarily on the effect of the tert-butanol structural isomer on the microemulsion system. However, data from the n-butanol and 2-butanol cases is included as well for purposes of comparison with other research groups. For all C4 isomers examined, when increasing the alcohol content, the size of the droplets decreases, whereas the polydispersity and shape fluctuations of the droplets increase.


Multi-server single-message private information retrieval is studied in the presence of side information. In this problem, $K$ independent messages are replicatively stored at $N$ non-colluding servers. The user wants to privately download one message from the servers without revealing the index of the message to any of the servers, leveraging its $M$ side information messages. For all coding schemes satisfying a symmetry condition, we prove a converse for multi-server single-message PIR with side information. Specifically, in this case, it is shown that the capacity is $(1+\frac{1}{N}+\frac{1}{N^2}+\dots+\frac{1}{N^{\left\lceil \frac{K}{M+1}\right\rceil-1}})^{-1}$.


A general introduction of the items development and examination design for the USMLE was conducted by Dr. Anthony LaDuca, the principle Assessment Scientist of the NBME, in the 2nd Seminar on National Medical Licensing Examination of China. Trie feature, important aspects of examination design of the licensing examination, and the distinction between the licensing examination and the medical school examination were introduced. The Model-based practice analysis has been used as a principle approach for defining the examination contents of the USMLE. The characters , rationale, and procedures of the method were presented.


We consider a linear Schrödinger equation with an unbounded bilinear control term. The control term is the derivative of function with bounded variations (impulsive control). Well-posedness results and regularity of the associated propagators follow from classical theory from Kato. As a byproduct, one obtains a topological obstruction to exact controllability of the system in the spirit of the results of Ball, Marsden and Slemrod.


This study is aimed at development of a moderate power sheet-beam traveling wave tube (TWT) amplifier with grating slow-wave structure (SWS). A fast and accurate code for calculation of eigenwaves in the grating SWS is developed, and results of numerical modeling of a G-band TWT are presented. Electron gun producing an intensive sheet electron beam is developed. Beam focusing and transportation is discussed.


The primary objective of this study is to establish a comprehensive fi nite element model of the human knee–ankle–foot to quantify the biomechanical responses of knee structures to various foot supports in gait. Laterally wedged insoles (LWI) were fabricated for interventions. Gait analyses were performed to obtain input information for the muscle model and fi nite element model. Muscle model was also applied to provide muscle loading boundaries in each foot support condition for the fi nite element model. The simulation results indicated that LWI diminished the contact pressure at the medial meniscus and femoral cartilage.


The present invention has a polishing surface, absorb the fluid, and relates to abrasive hand cleaning article comprising a non-abrasive aqueous hand cleanser absorbed in the substrate and the support which may have, of the hand cleaning agent in a solvent and a surfactant including one or both of the cleaning action occurs by a solvent or a surfactant, causing a cleaning action by the abrasive polishing surface of the support. The support may comprise a fabric-type towel. A plurality of the towels has been embedded by selectively sealable substantially cylindrical confinement of the continuous frame to form the container. A user through the opening in the lid of the container is removed to me each towel containing an appropriate amount of cleaning agent to the surface of the towel.


The Song of Songs was considered as Sacred Scripture before the Christian Era. The Pharisaic discussion in the 2nd century C.E. as to whether the Canticle defiles the hands refers neither to canonicity nor to inspiration; it expresses a doubt as to whether for any reason whatever in the text an exception could be applied to the Song with regard to the general rule that sacred books defile the hands. The copy of Esdras in the Temple was such an exception. The reason for the presence of the Song of Songs in the Canon is not based on its author (Solomon), nor on any allegorical explanation (which is not interpretation but application of the text). The reason for canonicity can be seen in the sapiential character of the Song which shows itself in its literal sense that presents the natural love of a couple in all its amplitude and that by analogy can be referred also to the love of God.


This work reports reticular measures of the social network analysis in the communication of small groups while solving a recall memory task and their association with the perceived influence. The task used is a story and the 65 subjects, students at the Mar del Plata University had to reconstruct the story, first individually, then in collaborative groups and again individually. The subjects' interactions in face to face and computer mediated communication groups were recorded; the prominence measures, the centrality and the prestige of the communication and the type of speech were analyzed, oriented to the group management or towards the task (conceptual). Significant associations between the reticular measures and the perceived influence were observed, for both media, and differences in the group management communications were found. These results in relation to the restrictions of the communication mediated channels are discussed.


Earlier studies with the perfused rat heart have shown that the rate of glycolysis was inhibited by the addition of fatt)y acids or ketone bodies to the perfusion medium (l-4). The rate of glucose phosphorylation was shown to be an important factor determining the over-all rate of glucose uptake by the heart when membrane transport was stimulated by insulin. On the basis of changes in the tissue content of glucose B-phosphate, fructose 6phosphate, and fructose 1,6-diphosphate in the presence and absence of fatty acids, ketone bodies, or pyruvate, Newsholme, Randle, and Manchest'er (2) proposed that phosphofructokinase was the rate-limiting step of glycolysis in the perfused rat heart, and t,hat the activit,y of phosphofructokinase was decreased during the oxidation of these metabolic substrates. Decreased phosphofructokinase activity resulted in increased levels of glucose-6-P, and it was further proposed that hexokinase, being product-inhibited, was limited by the accumulation of glucose6-P. Reports from several laboratories (5-8) have since suggested that citrat,e may have an important role in the regulation of glycolysis, as indicated by the ability of citrate to inhibit phosphofructokinase in the cell-free system, and its accumulat'ion in cardiac muscle under conditions of low carbohydrate utilization (6-8). Variations in the citrate content of a tissue such as the heart, which maintains a fairly constant respiratory acGvity under conditions of constant work, is of great interest in terms of the over-all regulation of t,he citric acid cycle, and is a problem which merits furt'her attention. In this investigation, isotopic glucose was used to determine the major pathways of glucose metabolism in the presence and absence of insulin: after the addition of either acetate or pyruvate to the perfusion medium. These substrates were chosen as suitable fuels to compete with glucose for respiration, since they have previously been shown to be readily metabolized by the perfused rat heart (9, 10). The levels of most of the glycolytic intermediates, the adenine and pyridine nucleotides, and several of the citric acid cycle intermediates and related amino acids have been measured after the addition of either acetate or pyruvate to hearts perfused with glucose, in order to gain further insight into the mechanisms involved in the control of glycolytic activity. The mass action ratios of the glycolytic reactions, calculated on the basis of the observed intermediate levels,


with the developmcnt of IT and information industries as the basis of economy knowledge and the globalogation of the world economy and with the conbination of the present situation in China,this paper discusses the rapid development in information industries and put forth sone urgent problems so as to promote the development of the information industries in the direction of bordertine sciences.


Agroecology is a science that emerged in the 1970, as a way of establishing a theoretical basisfor these different movements of non-conventional agriculture. Considering that agroecology isgaining more and more space in rural areas, this work aimed to evaluate the perception of familyfarmers in the municipality of Picui - Paraiba on agroecological practices. The case studywas established as a basic and field research, in the Pedreiras, Mendes and Barra do Carrapatosites. The research was conducted in April 2017. During the research it was found that mostof the family farmers interviewed are not aware of agroecological practices. In response to thequestionnaires all producers stated that their final production is intended for own consumptionand marketed the surplus. Even claiming to be unaware, there are some practices used in thestudied community that go against agroecological methods.


This research  is low thingking ability of mathematic students learning  in the  five class SDN  217/III  Talang Kemuning Kabupaten Kerinci. The direction this observation describes the description of increasing ability thingking  of mathematic students  at  five class  SDN  217/III  Talang  Kemuning  Kabupaten  Kerinci  by  using  Inkuiri   model.  The kind of this research is action research class. This  research  is done in two methods. The data of  students  in  class  five  217/III  Talang  Kemuning  Kabupaten  Kerinci  is  now  11 students. The instrument that is used for the activities of teacher and thingking ability of student test. Based out the analisys of ability thingking of students percentage of student by him self increase the ability. First 63,33% increase to 73,66%. From these data that is gotten, we can conclude the ability students  of mathematic in class five  217/III Talang Kemuning Kabupaten Kerinci, after using  Inkuiri  model. The use of Inkuiri  model can be used for studying is more interesting in order to get the maximum result. Word keys: Critic Thingking, Inkuiri Model.


A certificateless chameleon hash function was constructed based on the certificateless cryptography.It resolves the key escrow problem in identity-based chameleon hashing perfectly.No one except the specified verifier can find a collision of our proposed chameleon hash function.Moreover,a certificateless chameleon signature was given in this paper.The designated verifier only can verify the validity of signature in the verification process of our scheme.The new scheme is simple and efficient,which is secure in the random oracle model.


Abstract Background Aberrant methylation changes are present in nearly all cancers. The goal of this study was to determine if changes in cfDNA methylation patterns during the course of treatment could predict non-response prior to routine imaging. Methods We prospectively collected clinical data and blood from 52 patients with advanced malignancies (25 lung, 11 breast, 16 other). Blood was drawn prior to start of a new treatment, after first cycle (median 23 days), and/or second cycle (median 43 days). We performed whole-genome (WG) bisulfite sequencing (median depth 18X) on plasma cfDNA to determine methylation levels. By tracking how methylation levels change across 19,710 regions throughout the genome, from baseline to subsequent timepoints, we classified patients as either progressors or non-progressors. Treatment response at first follow-up imaging (FUI) was determined by RECIST 1.1 or clinical assessment. Study endpoints were agreement with first FUI and progression-free survival (PFS) by cfDNA classification. Results The cohort consisted of 58% females and the median age was 71. Main treatment regimens were immuno- (22), chemo- (20), targeted- (7) or endocrine therapy (3). PFS was significantly shorter (log-rank p = 0.003) in patients classified as progressors by cfDNA (N = 10; median: 90 days) compared to non-progressors (42, median: 263 days). 6 out of 10 patients classified as cfDNA progressors were later confirmed to progress at first follow-up evaluation (60% positive predictive value). The cfDNA assay for these 6 patients preceded imaging and clinical evaluation by a median of 40 days. For the remaining patients, 39 of 42 did not progress (93% negative predictive value). Thus, sensitivity for the assay for identifying progression was 67% and specificity was 91%. Conclusions Our results show that WG cfDNA methylation change is a novel cancer signature with potential to identify patients whose treatment regimen is ineffective prior to imaging, and allow switching to a more effective alternative at an earlier time. Moreover, integrating methylation-based changes with information about genomic alterations may increase performance of cfDNA-based response monitoring. Legal entity responsible for the study The authors. Funding Lexent Bio, Inc. Disclosure A.A. Davis: Travel / Accommodation / Expenses: Menarini Silicon Biosystems. W. Iams: Travel / Accommodation / Expenses, Clinical Trials Visit: EMD Serono. R. Srivas: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Full / Part-time employment: Lexent Bio, Inc. N. Lambert: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Full / Part-time employment: Lexent Bio, Inc.; Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options: Sequenom. A. Robertson: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Full / Part-time employment: Lexent Bio, Inc.; Full / Part-time employment, Prior employment: Color Genomics; Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, 2015-2018: Counsyl. N. Peterman: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Full / Part-time employment: Lexent Bio, Inc. A. Shah: Full / Part-time employment: Lexent Bio, Inc.; Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options: Myriad. T. Wilson: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Full / Part-time employment: Lexent Bio, Inc.; Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Full / Part-time employment, Prior employment: Illumina; Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options: Counsyl; Licensing / Royalties: Gen-Probe. J. Close: Full / Part-time employment: Lexent Bio, Inc. P. George: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Full / Part-time employment: Lexent Bio, Inc.; Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options: Hologic. H. Wood: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Full / Part-time employment: Lexent Bio, Inc. B. Wong: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Full / Part-time employment: Lexent Bio, Inc. A. Tezcan: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Full / Part-time employment: Lexent Bio, Inc. J.C. Spinosa: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Full / Part-time employment: Lexent Bio, Inc.; Full / Part-time employment: San Diego Blood Bank; Advisory / Consultancy: Gestalt Diagnostics; Advisory / Consultancy: SonicHealthUSA. H. Tezcan: Leadership role, Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Full / Part-time employment: Lexent Bio, Inc.; Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, 2015-2018: Counsyl. Y.K. Chae: Advisory / Consultancy: Foundation Medicine; Advisory / Consultancy: Boehringer Ingelheim; Advisory / Consultancy, Research grant / Funding (institution): Biodesix; Advisory / Consultancy: Counsyl; Advisory / Consultancy, Speaker Bureau / Expert testimony: AstraZeneca; Advisory / Consultancy: Guardant Health; Advisory / Consultancy: Takeda; Advisory / Consultancy, Speaker Bureau / Expert testimony: Genentech; Advisory / Consultancy: ImmuneOncia; Advisory / Consultancy: Hanmi; Speaker Bureau / Expert testimony: Merck; Speaker Bureau / Expert testimony: Eli Lilly; Research grant / Funding (institution): Abbvie; Research grant / Funding (institution): Bristol-Myers Squibb; Research grant / Funding (institution): Lexent Bio; Research grant / Funding (institution): Freenome. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


This study aims to investigate the effect of some algal extracts as antibacterial agents against some pathogenic bacteria. Thus the ethyl acetate and methanolic extracts of the marine algae Ulva lactuca, Enteromorpha compressa, Ulva fasciata, Pterocladia capillacea, Corallina mediterranea, Hypnea musciformis and Padina pavonia, collected from the coast of Alexandria (Egypt), were tested as antibacterial agents against fish and human pathogenic bacteria; Aeromonas hydrophila, Vibrio anguillarum, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella typhimurium. The best activities were shown by the methanolic-L extract of P. capillacea against P. fluorescens, V. anguillarum and P. aeruginosa. The methanolic-L extract of U. lactuca showed high activity towards A. hydrophila, V. anguillarum, P. fluorescens and S. aureus. Cluster analysis was used to study the action of the crude algal extracts.


The article examines the issues of dissolution of the legislative body of the subject of the Federation. Attention is drawn to the fact that the institution of dissolution is an institution of constitutional law, and when the legislative body is dissolved, it is not responsible to the body or official who decided to dissolve it, but to the population, its voters. On the basis of the study it is concluded that it is necessary to Supplement the list of grounds for early termination of the powers of the regional Parliament, as a measure of constitutional and legal responsibility, by including such grounds as the loss of voter confidence. The question of the need to empower the population of the subject of the Russian Federation with the right to decide in a referendum on the dissolution of the legislative (representative) body of state power of the subject of the Russian Federation.


In this paper, we study discrete spectrum of invariant measures for countable discrete amenable group actions.

We show that an invariant measure has discrete spectrum if and only if it has bounded measure complexity. We also prove that, discrete spectrum can be characterized via measure-theoretic complexity using names of a partition and the Hamming distance, and it turns out to be equivalent to both mean equicontinuity and equicontinuity in the mean.


Corruption has become a pressing concern in Indonesia, penetrating various sectors of society. Tackling this issue, integrity education at the tertiary level has emerged as an underexplored strategic solution. This study aims to analyze the effectiveness and role of integrity education in fostering anti-corruption commitment among university students. A systematic literature review examines diverse integrity education strategies and implementations. Results indicate that integrity education positively influences individuals' awareness and attitudes toward corrupt practices. Challenges, however, persist in fully integrating these concepts into curricula and promoting active student engagement. The main conclusion emphasizes the crucial role of integrity education in cultivating a resilient anti-corruption generation within universities. Implications encompass the need for interdisciplinary collaboration and partnerships to develop a comprehensive approach. Practical recommendations include innovative teaching methods and further research to assess integrity education's impact on higher education. This study contributes to comprehending anti-corruption efforts through integrated integrity education within research limitations.


The present study evaluates the quality of gaze data produced by a low-cost eye tracker (The Eye Tribe©, The Eye Tribe, Copenhagen, Denmark) in order to verify its suitability for the performance of scientific research. An integrated methodological framework, based on artificial eye measurements and human eye tracking data, is proposed towards the implementation of the experimental process. The obtained results are used to remove the modeled noise through manual filtering and when detecting samples (fixations). The outcomes aim to serve as a robust reference for the verification of the validity of low-cost solutions, as well as a guide for the selection of appropriate fixation parameters towards the analysis of experimental data based on the used low-cost device. The results show higher deviation values for the real test persons in comparison to the artificial eyes, but these are still acceptable to be used in a scientific setting.


A linear regular problem involving singularly perturbed difference equations is considered. The basic features of singularly perturbed systems-order reduction, separation of time scales, boundary layers, etc.-are highlighted. Application to the numerical treatment of control problems involving stiff differential equations is discussed.


This study therefore examines the Land use/land cover analysis of The Polytechnic Ibadan using remote sensing and GIS. Landsat TM imagery of 2005, 2010 and 2015 was used to identify and classify the assessment spatial changes that have occurred in the institution between the year of the study. A GIS database of the study area and their location within the interval of 5years (2005-2010-2015) was generated and analyzed with the aid of GIS analytical functions. These includes: Land use/land cover classification using ArcGIS 10.2 Software and ILWIS 3.4. The result showed that the intensive rate of admitting students and insufficient administrative and academic offices has resulted in spatial changes in land cover land use between 2005_2010 and 2015. It also shows that population growth among student admitted as well as the need in more administrative and academic offices in the institution imposes a lot of pressure on the institution in providing a conducive environment. This research highlights the increasing rate of student admitted which leads to creation of additional infrastructural facilities by the institution and the need to apprehend the situation to ensure sustainable environmental development. Keywords: Institution, Land Use/Cover Classification, infrastructural facilities, spatial changes


This paper provides a natural deduction system for Partially Commutative Intuitionistic Multiplicative Linear Logic (PCIMLL) and establishes its normalisation and subformula property. Such a system in- volves both commutative and non commutative connectives and deals with context that are series-parallel multisets of formulae. This calcu- lus is the extension of the one introduced by de Groote presented by the second order for modelling Petri net execution, with a full entropy which allow order to be relaxed into any suborder — as opposed to the Non Commutative Logic of Abrusci and Ruet. Our result also includes, as a special case, the normalisation of natural deduction the Lambek calculus with product, which is unsurprising but yet unproved. Up to now PCIMLL with full entropy had no natural deduction. In particular for linguistic applications, such a syntax is much welcome to construct semantic representations from syntactic analyses. 1 Presentation Non commutative logics arise naturally both in the mathematical perspective and in the modelling of some real world phenomena. Mathematically non com- mutativity is a natural both from the truth valued semantics viewpoint (phase semantics, based on monoids which can be non commutative) and from a syn- tactical one (sequent calculus with sequences rather than sets of formulae, proof nets which can have well bracketed axiom links). Non commutativity also ap- pears from real world applications such as concurrency theory, like concurrent execution of Petri net, and in our favourite application, computational linguistic, and this goes back to the fifties and the apparition of the Lambek calculus. We first give a brief presentation of non commutative logics and then stress their interest for concurrency and computational linguistics. Non commutative linear logics Linear logic (6) oered a logical view of the Lam- bek calculus (9) and non commutative calculi. During many years, the diculty was to integrate commutative connective and non commutative connectives. A first solution, without a term calculus, was Pomset Logic, now studied with extended sequent calculi callled Calculus of Structures (7).


PURPOSE: To provide a logic gate device where rise time and fall time are highly matched by providing specified constitution trough the use of pairs of stack transistors and pairs of complementary stack transistors. CONSTITUTION: The pairs of the stack transistors are connected between a first node and a second node. The pairs of the complementary stack transistors are connected to the respective connected pairs of stack transistors in parallel. The PMOS transistor 20 and the PMOS transistor 22 of an XOR circuit 10 are provided with the pairs 24 of stack transistors, for example. A PMOS transistor 26 and a PMOS transistor 28 are provided with pairs 30 of complementary stack transistors which are complementary to the pairs 24 of the stack transistors. The matching of outputs in an exclusive OR gate is obtained when the rise time and the fall time of the output of the exclusive OR gate do not change with the change of input.


Production requirements are growing and companies needs to adapt to the latest trends with state-of-art technologies. Virtual reality (VR) technology promises big changes in Industry sector, even this technology is still evolving. This immersive technology allows to visualization and interaction of complex engineering data in virtual environment, provide various inspection of 3D objects and allows to communicate changes on objects or process between production teams and customers. This paper discus about potential of VR systems in Industry and purpose of usage to improve development process and the use of this technology in the design of future robotic systems. The goal is to compare causal designing methods of robotic work station and method with using VR environment and their possibilities. Development supported by VR systems shortens preproduction phase and brings to user immersive experience with designing product or process without creating physical prototype or real production systems.


As to whether M. Trichomanes should be considered a species, subspecies or variety, the question is bound up with that of naturally occurring polyploidy. Is a natural diploid a separate species while the same diploid produced artificially by regeneration from the sporophyte of the haploid species is not a species? Lowry would argue that the natural diploid (autodiploid) is a fully justified species, that is, that the North American dioicous haploid of M. cuspidatum should be given specific status. He did not definitely associate it with M. Trichomanes. In connection with these closely related pairs of Mniumr species I have been justly criticized for inconsistency in my treatment of Mnium in Grout's Moss Flora in that I have there recognized as separate species dioicous M. affiine and synoicous M. medium, dioicous M. orthorhynchum and synoicous M. marginatum, while I reduced the synoicous M. pseudopunctatum to the dioicous M. punctatum. From present knowledge and accepting the present tendency to treat naturally occurring polyploids, if separated by any morphological differences, as valid species, M. pseudopunctaturn should be so recognized. Its chromosomes had not yet been counted in 1940 and morphological points of separation, apart from the inflorescence, are somewhat variable. Kabiersch suggested M. pseudopunctatum is perhaps rather a subarctic variety and quoted Hampe to the same effect. In all of these species pairs the natural assumption that the dioicous haploid is the older form could account for its greater variability, which has led to segregation of additional species that are not in all cases wholly clear.


In this open study, 20 toddlers and 80 schoolchildren received an intramuscular dose of Epaxal® and a booster dose 12 mo later to assess the efficacy and safety of this aluminium‐free, virosomal hepatitis A vaccine. Four weeks after primary vaccination, 94% of toddlers and 99% of schoolchildren had seroconverted, and all toddlers and 94% of schoolchildren remained seroprotected for 12 mo.


The investigations were made in the orchard of the firm "Zubresti" S.A. established in spring 2003, the tree planting distances are 4 x 2 m. The trees are conducted by the fusiform crown. There have been studied the influence of Urea concentration on the growth of shoots in intensive period of growth in apple tree , at "Golden Delicious", "Florina" and "Idared" varieties grafted on the rootstock M26. We have used the Urea 46% N in concentration from 0.4% to 1.2% in different stages of development of apple fruit. At the end of period of growth of shoots, average length Idared variety in 2009 was at 33.00 cm in control variant up to 49.00 cm in variant 4 or 48% higher than the control variant. In 2010, the difference in length of shoots in "Idared" variety depending on the concentration of Urea 46 % used: in variant 2 was 12 % compared to the control and up to 39 percent in variant 4.


The invention relates to the technical field of mono-ammonium glycyrrhizinate, in particular to mono-ammonium glycyrrhizinate and a preparing method thereof. The preparing method comprises the following steps that firstly, a secondary extracting solution is added into glycyrrhiza acidification precipitate for extraction, and a primary extracting solution and primary residues are obtained through filtering after extraction; secondly, pure water is added in the primary extracting solution to adjust the water content of a mixed solution, and then the PH value of the mixed solution is adjusted; thirdly, active carbon is added into a neutralizing solution for decoloration, and a first mother solution and coarse mono-ammonium glycyrrhizinate are obtained through crystallization after decoloration; fourthly, ethanol water and active carbon are added into the coarse mono-ammonium glycyrrhizinate for decoloration, and a second mother solution and the mono-ammonium glycyrrhizinate are obtained through crystallization after decoloration. Compared with an existing technology, by means of the preparing method, the production cost is greatly reduced, and resources are effectively utilized; meanwhile, compared with mono-ammonium glycyrrhizinate obtained through the existing technology, the prepared mono-ammonium glycyrrhizinate is low in content of impurities A, lighter in color and better in quality.


Many current active and semi-active supplemental damping devices are highly complex, limiting robustness, and those that can generate larger response forces typically suffer from increased response lag time. Thus, an ideal device would offer high forces, low complexity, and fast response time. A 2-4 viscous damper device provides damping in the second and forth quadrants of the force-displacement plot, resisting only motion from a displacement peak back toward the zerodisplacement position. The 2-4 viscous dampers offers significant promise for their ability to mitigate not only displacement, but also the base shear. This paper provides design spectra analysis that quantifies the risk of exceedance of an uncontrolled structure for displacement and base shear response. Spectral analysis results are compared to the uncontrolled case and to a standard, passive viscous damping case for context. In particular, performance is assessed by evaluating reduction factors (RFs) compared to an uncontrolled structure for maximum displacement (Sd) and total baseshear (Vb) indicative of structural and foundation demand respectively. RF spectra results are presented as median percentile RF to define the distribution and change in risk across the 60 events. Statistical summaries of the results indicate that the 2-4 viscous damper reduces the median value of Sd and Vb by ~1040%, over all periods up to 5.0 seconds. There is thus no risk of exceedance greater than 5% that any response will increase over the uncontrolled case. In contrast, a conventional linear viscous damper reduces Sd as much or more, but at a cost of increased Vb in comparison to the uncontrolled state. These results show that the reduction in terms of both displacement and base-shear is only available with the use of the 2-4 viscous damper device. Damping reduction factors play an important role in most design procedures. In this study, a method to calculate the damping reduction factor of response for structures using the 2-4 viscous devices with different device damping coefficients is presented. The overall results indicate the robustness of potentially very simple and robust 2-4 viscous dampers to mitigate the risk of seismic damage to all the structure and foundation in a way that is economically suitable for either new designs or retrofit.


The emergence of the concept of sustainable development was caused by the need to solve global problems, some of which pose real threats to the existence of mankind. Conceptually, the "blue economy" is a promising direction for the development of cooperation between states and regional organizations of the Azov-Black Sea region, as well as the European Union. The practical application of tools for its implementation in the EU predetermines the need for additional study and evaluation of this experience. Marine spatial planning is one of the main instruments for realizing the "blue economy" and "blue growth". The article examines aspects of its development in the Russian Federation, including the Azov-Black Sea region. In general, the use of marine spatial planning, together with the introduction and dissemination of data collection and continuous monitoring systems, leads to the formation of a new format for marine resource management. To create an equitable system of distribution, use, conservation and restoration of resources and spaces of the Black and Azov Seas, it is necessary to involve all stakeholders and maintain a balance of their interests. The specificity of the Azov-Black Sea region is expressed primarily in the presence of a number of unique physical and geographical factors. It predetermines the need for additional assessment of specific economic, environmental, logistic and other conditions of the region in order to prepare rational decisions with the participation of stakeholders. To make informed decisions, it is advisable for the Russian Federation to expand the scope of its participation in scientific research and discussions on this topic, including in the development of international documents regulating this type of activity


In [1, p. 243] the author formulated a conjecture concerning Lebesgue-measurable sets on the real line; this conjecture was connected with an analysis of the structure of a class of translationinvariant function spaces. The purpose of this note is to give a proof of that conjecture. The proof is based on an idea of E. Calabi. The research was carried out while the author held a fellowship granted by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Let R denote the real line and let A be Lebesgue measure on R. The sign \ is used to denote set-theoretical differences. If F, F' CR are ,u-measurable, we say that F is essentially contained in F' if ,u(F\F') = 0.


The purpose of this application, under Article 23.9.3 of the Code, is to conserve the prevailing usage of the widely used generic name Dactylozodes Chevrolat, 1838 for a buprestid (jewel beetle) by suppression of its little-used senior subjective synonym Lasionota Mannerheim, 1837.


Aim  Climate limits the ranges of many animals, but the mechanism whereby it does so remains poorly understood. One explanation is that climate (e.g. temperature or rainfall) affects energy expenditure, eventually limiting where a species can occur. We propose that climate can also affect energy uptake through its effect on foraging efficiency. We examined this idea for the case of the hadeda ibis (Bostrychia hagedash) which has considerably expanded its range in southern Africa over the past 80 years. Hadedas forage mainly by extracting earthworms and other invertebrates from soft soil. Soil moisture, in the absence of irrigation largely determined by climate and soil composition, may therefore be a factor limiting feeding efficiency in hadedas.


-------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT --------------------------------------------------This study focus on forecasting properties of Linear GARCH model for daily closing stocks prices of Zenith bank Plc in Nigeria stocks Exchange. The Alaike and Bayesian Information Criteria (AIC $ BIC) techniques was used to obtain the order of the GARCH (p,q) that best fit the Zenith Bank Returned series . GARCH (1,2) was identified as the models. The results of statistical properties obtained supported the claim that the financial data are Leptokurtic. We therefore concluded that the Optimal values of p and q GARCH (p,q) model depends on location, the types of the data and model order selected techniques being used.


Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) are electrochemical devices that convert chem-ical energy into electrical energy. However, one of the main problems of SOFCs isthat they have an exceedingly high resistivity at low temperatures (<600◦C). Thecurrent solution is to power these devices at temperatures as hot as 800-1,000◦C.Thermal cycling at such high temperatures invokes a penalty on energy efficiencyas well as exposing them to material degradation due to thermally-induced me-chanical failure. Modern day SOFCs are typically made with the ceramic Yttria-stabilised zirconia (YSZ) as the electrolyte layer. However, YSZ requires theseexceedingly high temperatures to produce energy. YSZ, as well as most otherSOFC electrolytes afford ionic conduction of oxide-ion by means of a vacancymechanism.

In contrast to this, novel-melilite ceramics such as lanthanum strontium tri-gallium heptoxide, LaSrGa3O7, are a relatively new category of ionic conductor.This family of materials perform ionic conduction through an interstitial mech-anism. The parent structure LaSrGa3O7is not a good ionic conductor, but in-troducing oxygen-excess by substituting trivalent lanthanide cations in place ofgroup two alkaline-earth metals yields La1.5Sr0.5Ga3O7.25, which introduces inter-stitial oxide-ions. The highly conductive nature of these materials have been at-tributed to oxide-ion defects. However, the exact location of the interstitial oxide-ion remains unknown and the mechanisms underpinning diffusion in melilite-type materials are still poorly understood.

The objective of this thesis is to understand how the local structure in oxygen-excess melilite rearranges itself to incorporate interstitial oxide-ion defects intoit and to establish where they are situated. Their presence will be experimen-tally assessed by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at the Ga and Ge K-edge.This is the first XAS study done on these materials to date.Ab initioand molec-ular dynamics simulations will be used to model the structure and to study themechanism of oxide-ion diffusion. By doing this, we can elucidate how oxide-ion transport takes places in these materials, which is of great importance as itis not yet entirely understood how the transport of oxide-ions takes place. Fromthe property of diffusion, the conductivity and activation energies will also becalculated as a function of temperature and dopant.The advantageous prospect in studying melilite-type materials is that they may afford ionic conductivity at lower temperatures than current SOFC elec-trolytes. However, in order to design next-generation materials, we must firstunderstand the structure and mechanism of conduction.


To establish cut-offs for neuromarkers such as neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and S-100 predicting good neurological outcome for patients treated with therapeutic hypothermia with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) as current cut-offs had been derived from normothermic cohorts.

 Consecutive data of all patients with OHCA admitted to our institution between 01/2011 and 12/2016 were collected in a database. Patient received standard intensive care according to the Hannover Cardiac Resuscitation Algorithm (HaCRA) including mandatory hypothermia. Neurological markers such as neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and S-100 have been used to assess neurological damage following OHCA.

 Mean age of overall patient population (n=302) was 63±14 [54–74] years with a male predominance (77%). Cardiac arrest was witnessed in 81% and bystander cardiopulmonal resuscitation (CPR) was performed in 67%. Initial rhythm was ventricular fibrillation in 69%. ROSC had been achieved after 24±17 minutes. Hypothermia was applied in all patients. In 95% percutaneous coronary angiography and in 57% of them coronary intervention was performed. After ROSC, STEMI was present in 44%. Mechanical support was required in 19%. 30 day mortality was 44% in the total cohort. Mean NSE was 27±69 μg/l, mean NSE with good neurological outcome was 20±8.7 μg/l, highest NSE with good neurological outcome was 46 μg/l. Mean S-100 was 0.114±2.037μg/l, mean S-100 with good neurological outcome was 0.068±0.067 μg/l, highest S-100 with good neurological outcome was 0.360 μg/l.

 Even when using a strict protocol for OHCA patients and routinely applying therapeutic hypothermia, the cut-offs for NSE and S-100 regarding good neurological outcome are similar to those reported before without therapeutic hypothermia, but they must not be used solitary to withdraw life support as even very high markers can be associated with goof neurological outcome in individual patients.


Consortium blockchain is the preferred implementation form of blockchain for cooperation between enterprises. As an indispensable underlying technology of consortium blockchain, the Byzantine fault tolerant protocol guarantees that the replicas in network reach agreement even when there are arbitrary faults of a fraction of the replicas. Byzantine fault tolerant protocols that currently exist for consortium blockchain fail to meet the requirements of practical applications, such as satisfying low algorithm complexity, robustness and dynamic scalability at the same time. In this paper, a new Fast, Dynamic and Robust Byzantine Fault Tolerance (FDRBFT) protocol is proposed to address this problem. It applies random threshold signature consensus scheme, unique cryptographic algorithm and proactive recovery scheme to achieve fast agreement, dynamic scalability and robust system. FDRBFT protocol is implemented on Hyperledger Fabric and its performance is compared with existing widely accepted protocols. Experimental results show that FDRBFT achieves competitive throughput, dynamic scalability and better robustness.


Skyline query is widely used in multi-standard decision making process. As the extension to skyline query, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\rho$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-dominant skyline query controls the base of the result set by adjusting data proportion, which is suitable for the application on fast deciding data stream. However, skyline query on data stream cannot satisfy the need for skyline query of corresponding value ratio, and the traditional <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\rho$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-dominant skyline query cannot provide skyline query with frequent data update. As a result, a data stream-based algorithm that can achieve the goal of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\rho$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-dominant skyline query is proposed. First, the definitions of full-dominant relationship and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\rho$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-dominance are given, after which the definitions of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\rho$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-dominant skyline and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\rho$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-dominant skyline based on data stream are proposed. Second, by analyzing the characters of data stream-based <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\rho$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-dominant skyline, a new data filtering method is established. Based on the method, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\rho$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-Dominant Skyline Query on data stream over Sliding Window (DSSW) is proposed in order to improve the efficiency of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\rho$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-dominant skyline query. After that, we expend the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\rho$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-dominant skyline query of data stream into <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${n}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-of-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${N}~\rho$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-dominant skyline query and the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$(n_{1},n_{2})$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-of-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$N \rho$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-dominant skyline query in data stream. Finally, we prove that DSSW has obvious advantages in responding time and storage skyline space by comparing with the traditional <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\rho$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-dominant skyline query algorithms through abundant experiments.


Introduction: The aim of thestudy was to determine atherosclerotic risk factors and angiographic view in veterans and or retired militants underwent CABG in comparison with civilians in Iran. No document were found addressing prevalence of CAD risk factors in Veterans and or Retired (VR 48(3):153-156)


The characterization of Judah in Gen 499, rrjw πη$ τυ »a lion's cub is Judah«, except for the name itself and its syntactic location, is identical with that of Dan in the Blessing of Moses, Dtn3322, TU ft πηκ. Whether the metaphor constituted a stock expression in the repertoire of (Canaanite-) Hebrew poets, to be applied by them s occasion might warrant, or whether newly coined, or of hoary antiquity it was the »property« of one tribe and was subsequently appropriated by or for the other, are unanswered and, perhaps, unanswerable questions. Even, s I suspect, were the Blessing of Moses older than the Blessing of Jacob, this factor by itself would not be conclusive of precedence, for if the explanation of the similarity of the metaphors lies in the use of a still older tradition, then priority of attestation in the Hebrew Bible, from the poetic point of view, is irrelevant. Yet the »oracle« concerning Judah in the Blessing of Jacob, Gen 498-12, s the present study will attempt to demonsfrate, utilizes still other combinations of terms — amounting virtuaJly to a figure of speech — which, on grounds of word-play suitability, or word association, would have been appropriate, I believe, only in remarks concerning Dan, and would therefore appear to have been applied to Judah secondarily. If this be so then there is reason to suspect (and additional evidence and argument will be adduced in support of the thesis) that the lion-cub metaphor may have been similarly appropriated by the poet of Gen 498-12 for his own ends. It will then be necessary to investigate these,


BACKGROUND
Plutella xylostella, one of the most destructive and cosmopolitan pests of cruciferous crops, was especially harmful to the young tissues of the flowering cabbage (Brassica campestris L.). Although emamectin benzoate (EB) had high insecticidal activity against Plutella xylostella, EB had very low utilization on account of no internal transport properties of plants.

RESULTS
In this study, four kinds of amphiphilic nanocarriers of polysuccinimide (PSI) functionalized by glycine methyl ester loading with EB were prepared. The obtained nanoparticles (EB@PGA NPs) could effectively protect EB from photolysis, and the degradation rate of EB@PGA NPs was less than 30% in 24 h. Simulating the intestinal pH=9 of Plutella xylostella, the highest cumulative release rate of EB@PGA NPs could reach 89.61% in 24 h. Furthermore, EB@PGA NPs could delivery EB into the young tissues of the flowering cabbage through the nanocarrier, and the highest transport efficiency of EB@PGA25 reached 1.437%. The bioactivity of EB@PGA25 against the Plutella xylostella larvae (LC50 =0.34 μg/mL) was 1.6 times higher than that of EB (LC50 =0.53 μg/mL). EB@PGA could easily "internalized" into the intestinal wall of the Plutella xylostella, which increased the penetration of the drug and enhanced the insecticidal activity.

CONCLUSION
The accurate delivery of insecticides by PGA nanocarriers into young tissues of the plants could be a promising new method for the efficient management of field pests and diseases. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Acute pancreatitis (AP) is an acute inflammatory process of the pancreas that presents with severe epigastric pain and tenderness which can lead to splenic vein thrombosis (SVT). Affected patients can develop gastric varices as a result of associated portal hypertension which may produce a left-sided portal hypertension with gastric varices in the absence of esophageal varices. In this case study; we present a patient who developed a non-occlusive thrombosis in the setting of active alcohol use.


[Objective] The aim of the study was to develop the removal technique of Cr6+ in waste water by utilizing the adsorption of chitosan.[Method] The coated Co-ferrite magnetic microspheres were prepared by cross linkage of glutaraldehyde and chitosan and used to adsorbing Cr6+ from water.The diphenylcarbohydrazide spectrophotometry was used to determine Cr6+ concn.in the solution,and then the removal rate on Cr6+ was calculated out.[Result] The removal rate on Cr6+ increased along with the increment of pH value.When pH value was about 6,the removal effect on Cr6+ was best,but when pH value went on increasing,the removal effect reduced.The removal rate on Cr6+ increased along with the increment of time,after 140 min,the removal rate tended to be stable.The removal rate on Cr6+ increased along with the increment of absorbent dose and the effect was significant,but since the dose exceeded 0.7 g,the removal rate no longer increased significantly.[Conclusion] Though the adsorption performance of cross-linked magnetic chitosan on Cr6+ was lower than that of activated carbon,it had advantages such as magnetic separation,fast adsorption,no secondary pollution and convenient recycling.


Single subject or n-of-1 research designs have been widely used to evaluate treatment interventions. Many statistical procedures such as split-middle trend lines, regression trend line, Shewart-chart trend line, binomial tests, randomization tests and Tryon C-statistics have been used to analyze single-subject data, but they fail to control Type I error due to serially-dependent time-series observations. The interrupted time series analysis maintains Type I error but assumes that the intervention effect to be a linear trend change from baseline. In this paper, we consider an improved intervention analysis model (Box and Tiao, 1975) for dynamic characteristics of an intervention effect in a short series of single-subject data. The maximum likelihood estimates are derived and a hypothesis testing procedure is proposed. The method is illustrated with a real clinical trial on constraint induced language therapy for aphasia patients.


Despite the complex emotional and interpersonal challenges inherent therein (Koerner, Rust, & Baumgartner, 2002), credential students often comment that their student teaching experience had the greatest influence on their development as new teachers (Clark, Smith, Newby, & Cook, 1985; Wilson, 2006). An essential component of teacher education programs, the field experience serves many purposes. Among them is the opportunity for student teachers to "try on" the role of teacher as they bridge theory and practice, develop a reflective practice, and form a sense of belonging to a community and a profession (Simpson, 2006). An optimal field experience is important to provide for teacher educators who want to prepare their students for the varied challenges they will face in the classroom. Before implementing reforms, our university used a triad model of student teacher supervision in the field experience. Supervisors and on-site cooperating teachers were assigned to observe and conference with student teachers six times over the course of the semester. Feedback to the student teacher was both formative and summative. The cooperating teacher completed both a midterm and a final evaluation,


The New European Wind Atlas (NEWA) is a joint research effort from eight European countries, co-funded under the ERANET Plus Program. The projects's final aim is the creation and publication of an state-of-the-art electronic European wind atlas. An offshore wind atlas extending 100 km from the European coasts is foreseen within the project, based on mesoscale modelling and various observational datasets. Satellite wind retrievals from scatterometers and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instruments are used to validate offshore modelled wind fields and to identify the optimal model configuration. The aim is to present the initial outputs from the offshore wind atlas produced by the Weather and Research Forecasting (WRF) model, still in pre-operational phase, the METOP-A/B Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) and SAR derived winds. Different experiments were established to evaluate the model sensitivity for the various domains covered by the NEWA offshore atlas. ASCAT winds are used to assess the performance of the WRF-derived offshore atlas. In addition, ASCAT and SAR winds were used to create an offshore atlases, where various spatial wind characteristics, such as channelling and lee effects from complex coastal topographical features, are visualised.


J A Hudson 1980 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press viii + 226 pp price £14 Elastic waves in solids can involve shear strain as well as compression, and the two types are capable of separate existence in a homogeneous, unbounded medium. At interfaces they interact, giving rise to special motions such as Rayleigh waves, Stoneley waves and Love waves.


Planting of herbaceous vegetation on riverbanks is a measure for reducing river flooding occurrence, through the protection of the bank face from fluvial erosion. In fact, mitigating the erosive action of the water flow and improving soil resistance by increasing the strength of the bank material with their roots, such nature-based solution reduces the risk of local and shallow instability mechanisms that may lead to the collapse of levees and riverbanks during flood events.

While there is nowadays a wide experience on the use of vegetation over hill slopes and other ‘mainly dry’ soil conditions, a carefully calibrated design approach to understand the vegetation impact inside the river bed and banks, under flood flow forcing, represents a much less explored research field, which is investigated in the Open Air Lab-Italy in the EU H2020 project OPERANDUM. To address this important and complex problem, a combined use of laboratory experiments, site monitoring and numerical analysis is required to improve actual procedures and standards.

In the present work, the principal focus is on the design, preparation and deployment of the laboratory activities, extremely rare in the literature, with a discussion on the first experimental findings and observations. A set of experiments in a recirculating, tilting hydraulic flume are designed and implemented, in order to gain, in a controlled environment, information on the influence of the vegetation on both hydraulic and erosive processes.

During the experimental tests, water flow depth and velocity are monitored through UPV Ultrasound Velocity Profilers and Particle Tracking Velocimetry, in order to estimate the tangential stress at the soil-water interface. The main challenge resulted to be the estimation of the volumes of soil eroded during the experiments, due to the very limited quantities that are eroded and to the particularly fine-grained texture of the soil (that was collected from a real embankment of the river Panaro, reference case for the Open Air Lab).

The laboratory experiments allowed to compare the impact of different flow regimes (varying the channel slope, different flow velocity fields were tested) over soils vegetated with both shallow-rooted and deep-rooted perennial herbaceous species, and the results will successively help to analyse the hydraulic and erosive processes on the riverbanks, where such vegetation cover will be installed.


The gravitational-wave (GW) memory from a radiating and decelerating point mass is studied in detail. It is found that for isotropic photon emission the memory generated from the photons is essentially the same as the memory from the point mass that radiated the photons, so that it is anti-beamed. On the other hand, for anisotropic emission the memory from the photons may have a non-vanishing amplitude, even if it is seen at small viewing angles. In the decelerating phases of gamma-ray burst (GRB) jets the kinetic energy of the jet is converted into the energy of gamma-ray photons. It would then be possible to observe a variation in the GW memory associated with GRB jets on the timescale of the gamma-ray emission if the emission is partially anisotropic. Such anisotropy in gamma-ray emission has been suggested by polarizations detected in recent observations of GRBs. The GW memory from GRB jets would provide clues for clarifying the geometry of the jets and the emission mechanism in GRBs. Thus, it will be an interesting target for the next-generation detectors of GWs.


The paper considers the technique of modeling and formation educational components of the planned training of CDIO Syllabus, realized in the form of the educational adaptive environment of engineering education. The following key concepts of the methodology have been accepted: competence models of the stages of the CDIO initiative, the method of project training, syntax for describing the concepts of the domain, models for mapping support concepts in the form of expressions of knowledge and ontological engineering.


This research reports a study on students' and teachers' attitudes and perspectives of the implementation of a micro-credential course in a higher education institution. The course was implemented to equip the students with the necessary life and employability skills that help them cope with a post pandemic everchanging job market. This research is based on an experimental study that describes the implementation of the Micro-credential Life and Employability Skills on 212 university students. The research then implements a survey research method to evaluate the attitudes, perception and knowledge of both students and teachers involved in the course. From the 212 students that took part in the micro-credential course, 157 students responded to the survey. The results of the study indicate that students seemed to have positive attitudes towards the courses and found them beneficial. These findings imply that implementing a micro-credential course provides opportunities to foster life and employability skills amongst university students. The findings also revealed that although many teachers believed these types of courses are beneficial, they portrayed an inconsistency in their knowledge of what skills are required for future job markets. The originality of this research is that it reflects an application of a newly maturing aspect of education in the Gulf region. The outcomes of the research will give students new career prospects that match the post COVID-19 labour market. Tomorrow's labour market is intensely competitive, and degrees are not enough to secure a job. Spreading awareness among students on the importance of life and employability skills is essential in higher education.


This paper analyzes the influence of positive accounting theory on the scientific output of postgraduate accounting programs in Brazil, by examining the scientific production reported by these programs to the Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES), an arm of the Education Ministry that works to improve the quality of college education. We only considered works published in periodicals and annals of scientific events classified by CAPES as "National A" or "International A". We employed the descriptive documental method and then applied statistical tools commonly used in bibliometric studies to evaluate the authors' productivity and the level of concentration of the works on the positive accounting approach. The results show that there was undeniable growth of positive approach research in Brazil during the period studied (2002-2005), but that this research was mainly concentrated in only two postgraduate programs, those of the University of Sao Paulo (USP) and of FUCAPE. The results also show a high concentration among authors.


This article deals with the definition of the concept of "anthropogenic infrastructure" and attempts to find its place in the structure of urbogeosystems. The concept itself can not be called new, as many foreign authors have already used it, but the final definition never happened. The reasons why city studies are becoming more relevant in the face of ever-accelerating urbanization are briefly presented. Prerequisites for the emergence of the urban environment and approaches to its study are given. A special attention is paid to the consideration of urbosystems and their component structure. The main four components are described, which include the technosphere, biosphere, population and abiotic nature. The causes of the appearance of urban ecosystems and their specific features are analyzed. Based on the deficiencies of the "Urbosphere", "Urbosystem" and "Urboecosystem", the notion of "Urbogeosystem" is formed once again. Since architectural and construction objects are key components of such systems, their integration into anthropogenic infrastructure allows us to operate with a more general concept.Functional zones of the city, which are part of the anthropogenic infrastructure, are described. These include residential, industrial, forest and park areas. Examples of the use and functioning of each of the zones are given. An attempt has been made to estimate the boundaries of urbogeosystems. The existing approaches to the classification of anthropogenic infrastructure are analyzed. For one of them, it is advisable to allocate separately "hard" and "soft" infrastructure by the nature of the tasks of society, which they are called upon to satisfy. An alternative approach is to divide the anthropogenic infrastructure into "human" and "physical" ones. If the first satisfies the socio-cultural needs of people, the second is used for production, development, establishment of communications, transportation. It is proved why it is expedient to single out a separate concept "anthropogenic infrastructure".


The promotion of the independent innovation ability of small and medium-sized enterprises concerns the construction of national innovation ability, concern the lasting sound development of the economy of our country. Still there are a lot of restriction factors in the autonomous innovation of the small and medium-sized enterprises of our country, the existence of these factors has hindered the promotion of the independent innovation ability of small and medium-sized enterprises of our country to a certain extent. Have carried on the discussion to the question which influenced the independent innovation ability of small and medium-sized enterprises, and the countermeasure against that these questions have been proposed correspondingly , facilitate small and medium-sized enterprises' promoting independent innovation ability.


This paper presents an investigation into the practical performance of a direction of arrival (DOA) estimation method for sparse regular arrays, called VEXPA. Its ability to estimate the number of incoming signals through cluster analysis is compared to the traditional method used by dense estimation techniques. It is seen that the usefulness of the cluster analysis method depends on the underlying estimation method used by VEXPA. The effect of quantisation errors introduced by the use of an ADC is also investigated. It is found that VEXPA performs satisfactorily with one-bit data for a maximum of one signal.


In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Tanner et al report the therapeutic benefit from tailored and dose-escalated adjuvant anthracycline-based chemotherapy in high-risk breast cancer patients with coamplification of the genes encoding human epidermal growth factor-2 (HER2) and topoisomerase II (TOP2A). Adjuvant chemotherapy can substantially reduce the risk of recurrence and death in high-risk patients with breast cancer, and a number of chemotherapy combinations have established efficacy and safety data. Adjuvant chemotherapies can be broadly classified into three groups: cyclophosphamide/ methotrexate/fluorouracil (CMF) combinations, anthracyclinebased combinations such as doxorubicin or epirubicin, and taxane-containing combinations such as paclitaxel or docetaxel. In patients with hormone receptor-positive disease, the value of endocrine therapies (ovarian ablation or suppression, antiestrogens, and, more recently, aromatase inhibitors) have been well established also. The availability of techniques to detect hormone receptors has made it possible to identify the patients who might benefit from endocrine therapies. Patients whose tumors lack hormone receptors do not achieve any benefit from endocrine therapies and are thus treated only with adjuvant chemotherapies. The value of chemotherapy is established from the data from individual randomized trials and from the Oxford overview's 15year meta-analyses of randomized chemotherapy trials. It is now accepted that anthracycline-containing therapies are superior to CMF combinations. The Oxford overview data showed that anthracycline-based chemotherapies reduce the risk of recurrence by 11% 0.03% ( standard error) and reduce the risk of death by 16% 0.03% compared with CMF combinations. However, anthracycline-containing combinations carry a small risk of cardiac dysfunction. At the present time, there are no reliable, validated, predictive biologic markers (like hormone receptors for endocrine therapies) that can guide the selection of an appropriate type of adjuvant chemotherapy. The mechanisms of action of chemotherapy drugs are complex, and these drugs affect a number of cellular pathways. In the past two decades, efforts to identify a subset of patients who would benefit from a given type of systemic adjuvant therapy have met with limited success, but these efforts have resulted in a better understanding of the biology of this disease. For example, overexpression of HER2 and TOP2A, which regulate cellular processes, such as replication and transcription, has been shown in a number of retrospective studies to be associated with poor survival. Tumors overexpressing HER2 have been shown to respond more favorably to anthracycline-based chemotherapies, and HER2 has become a standard predictive marker for response to treatment with the humanized monoclonal antibody trastuzumab. The HER2 proto-oncogene, which is located on chromosome band 17Q21, is overexpressed or amplified in approximately 15% to 25% of invasive breast cancers. Tanner et al reported that HER2 was amplified in 32.7% of their patients; of those, 37% had coamplification of TOP2A. Data obtained over the past few years have established that TOP2A amplification occurs only in the presence of HER2 amplification in most patients. In one series, approximately 8% of HER2-negative patients had changes in TOP2A that would have been overlooked if they had not been specifically investigated. The number of patients with TOP2A amplification in the absence of HER2 positivity may be in the range of 1.7 to 10.9%. Although HER2 and TOP2A are located on chromosome 17, they are on separate amplicons, as supported by the fact that HER2 and TOP2A often have different copy numbers within the same tumor. In breast cancer, TOP2A functions as more than just a proliferation marker: topoisomerases in the cell nucleus allow access to the information stored in DNA by regulating cellular processes such as replication and transcription. Deletion of the TOP2A gene can lead to reduced protein expression and, consequently, possible chemoresistance to topoisomerase inhibitors. The subpopulation of patients in which TOP2A overexpression is induced by gene amplification may be the ones who would benefit from treatment with topoisomerase inhibitors. Tanner et al noted that patients who had coamplification of HER2 and TOP2A had better relapse-free survival after nine cycles of tailored doseescalated anthracycline adjuvant therapy compared with the patients who had only three cycles of anthracycline-based therapy followed by treatment with high-dose chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, thiotepa, and carboplatin. Similarly, in other retrospective studies, patients with topoisomerase II-amplified breast cancer treated with anthracycline-based JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY E D I T O R I A L VOLUME 24 NUMBER 16 JUNE 1 2006