Glioblastoma is the most common cancer arising within the brain and contributes to ~190,000 brain tumour related deaths/year globally. Current standard-of-care therapy consists of maximal safe surgical resection, radiotherapy with concomitant then adjuvant chemotherapy (Temozolomide) which triggers the cellular DNA damage response (DDR). However, survival for patients remains poor (median OS ~ 12-15 months). Lack of progress in the development and clinical translation of novel therapeutics is largely attributed to extensive inter- and intra-tumoral heterogeneity and resistant glioma stem cell (GSC) niches. Traditionally, primary ex vivo and in vivo models of glioblastoma have been derived from the resected tumour mass potentially omitting significant genetic, epigenetic and phenotypical characteristics exhibited by post-surgical residual tumour cells that are ultimately responsible for disease recurrence and morbidity. We therefore hypothesise that GSC's isolated from the invasive edge of the tumour are inherently treatment resistant due to an increased "stemness" and upregulated DDR. Here we display novel methodology for the generation of multiple parallel primary ex vivo GSC cell models from anatomically discrete regions of specific partial lobectomy specimens. Importantly, these samples contain large portions of infiltrated adjacent brain to recapitulate features of resected (tumour core) and typically residual glioblastoma (distal invasive tumour edge). Initial RNA-seq analysis has revealed large divergent transcriptional landscapes of resected vs residual tumour cells and protein expression analyses has identified key differences in DDR proteins and subsequent cellular responses to current standard-of-care radio-chemotherapy regimens. Immunofluorescence analysis of DNA damage markers has also revealed differential capacity & kinetics for repair of DNA damage between resected and residual GSC populations. These data therefore highlight the potential clinical relevance of our novel parallel resected and residual ex vivo glioblastoma models, which will hopefully aid evaluation of novel therapeutics capable of targeting post-surgical GSC subpopulations leading to improved disease outcomes.


Prostaglandins (PGs) are known to exert profound physiological and pharmacological effects on the female reproductive system in women and in many other species (Weeks, 1972; Labhsetwar, 1974). Indomethacin and aspirin, inhibitors of prostaglandin biosynthesis, block PMSG-induced ovulation in immature (Armstrong & Grinwich, 1972; Orczyk & Behrman, 1972) and adult female rats (Tsafriri, Lindner, Zor & Lamprecht, 1972). In the rabbit, ovulation induced by HCG, LH or coitus was blocked by indomethacin (O'Grady, Caldwell, Auletta & Speroff, 1972). In mice, ovulation was blocked with indomethacin and the effect was reversed by injecting prostaglandins E2 or F2\g=a\ (Saksena, Lau & Shaikh, 1974). All these studies provide indirect evidence that PGs are involved in the process of ovulation. A more direct approach, namely the specific binding of endogenous PGs by anti-PG sera raised in rabbits, was used in the present study. Attempts were also made to reverse the antiovulatory effect of antisera to prostaglandin F by administration of PGF2\g=a\. Anti-PGF2a serum does not cross-react with PGAs or PGEs, but there is an 80% crossreaction with PGF\g=a\. Mature female Charles River CD-I mice (22 to 26 g) were housed under standard laboratory conditions. Vaginal smears were taken every morning and the stage of the oestrous cycle was identified in unstained wet vaginal smear preparations as described by Allen (1922). After two consecutive oestrous cycles, pro-oestrous females were allocated to different experimental groups. The treatment schedules are shown in Table 1. Between 09.00 and 10.00 hours on the morning of oestrus, the mice were killed by cervical dislocation, and the oviducts were excised and flushed with saline through the fimbria using a 30gauge needle attached to a syringe. Cumulus cells were removed with 0\m=.\1% hyaluronidase (bovine testis; Sigma Chemical Co.) and the number ofova were counted under a dissecting microscope using \m=x\25 magnification. Since the numbers of ova recovered from the control animals treated either with normal rabbit serum or rabbit serum which had been dialysed against saline for 72 hr were not different, the results for all the serum-treated animals


bug genus, previously only by two Palearctic and one Nearctic species (Kerzhner & Josifov 1999, Schuh 1995). In Japan, only a single species, P. stlaniki Kerzhner, 1979, a Japanese stone pine inhabitant, was reported from alpine belts of Hokkaido and central Honshu (Yasunaga et al. 1999, Yasunaga 2001). During recent investigations in the warm temperate zone of southwestern Japan, a unique phyline species was collected by sweeping male inflorescence and branches of Pinus densiflora. Subsequent examination of the male genitalic structures indicated that this mirid obviously represented an undescribed species, related to the alpine Plesiodema stlaniki. This species is here described as new. Brief comments on diagnostic characters and biology are also provided for the genus and P. stlaniki. All measurements are given in millimeters. In the synonymic lists, only selected references are cited for every taxon, as comprehensive catalogs are available (Kerzhner & Josifov 1999, Schuh 1995). The specimens examined for this study are deposited in the collections of National Institute of Agro-Environmental Sciences, Tsukuba, Japan (NIAS); Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg (ZMAS); and Zoological Laboratory, Faculty of Education, Okayama University, Japan (ZEOU). TAXONOMY


The number of people aged 60 years and above is increasing in the UK. In total, this age group represents 22% of the population with estimates indicating a rise to 29% by 2050 (United Nations, 2009). One market sector that is extremely important to the health and wellbeing of older people is grocery retail (Khan, 1981). However, little previous research has addressed how older people rate the service delivered by their grocery provider, particularly in regard to satisfaction. To reconcile this gap in theoretical understanding, a sequential transformative mixed-method research design was specified using 36 qualitative interviews and quantitative questionnaires with 524 subjects. A model including both drivers and consequences of satisfaction was formulated using past research. As such, an antecedent scale for grocery store image was developed via procedures suggested in the extant literature (e.g. DeVellis, 2003). Pre-existing scales (i.e. commitment and loyalty) representing exemplary reliability and validity were borrowed and specified as consequences. The scales were modified and integrated into a 'structural equation model'. Older people were found to place a high level of importance in aspects of merchandise, store environment, personnel and services. Price/promotions and clientele were found to be insignificant in driving satisfaction. Differences in factor mean scores and structural parameters were then analysed using 'finite mixture structural equation modelling' to identify segments of similar respondents (Jedidi et al, 1997). Using posterior probabilities, the emerging segments were subjected to profiling using personal and behavioural variables (Hahn et al, 2002). Market Segmentation showed three groups of similar respondents in the sample population, differing in factor mean scores and psychological operationalisation of satisfaction. Nonetheless, only several differences in personal and behavioural characteristics were found between the segments. Whilst, the results show that segmenting this group is necessary when measuring satisfaction, basing this purely on a priori descriptive variables might be erroneous given the inherent levels of unobserved heterogeneity. The model developed and tested in this study is considered the most up-to-date available in the literature.


Introduction: Students learn and process information in different ways. In macroscopic anatomy, certainly the visual part plays an important role [1]. The increasing prevalence of technology means that medical educational software applications have an increasingly important role in medical education. We come up with our experience of 5 years in the creation of models and three-dimensional (3D) materials applied to the teaching and understanding of macroscopic anatomy. Presented at the 3rd World Congress of the UNESCO Chair for Teaching and Research in Digital Anatomy Paris Descartes at Egas Moniz University Institute - Almada, Portugal. Materials and methods: Surface scanning technologies such as 3D scanners and photometry software were used to obtain 3D models made from anatomical dissection models in cadaveric material. The models were loaded in the free Access online platform (www.proyectohdm.com) applied to online 3D visualization systems, anaglyph, augmented reality, virtual reality, as well as advanced prototypes of mixed reality and 3D printing in solid and flexible materials to obtain surgical educational simulators. Results: An online platform, easily accessible and multiplatform, was created with 50 three-dimensional topographic models of different anatomical structures, which allow users to view all angles of the anatomical piece. 3D anatomical models can be visualized in technologies such as anaglyph, augmented reality and virtual reality. The 3D printing allowed obtaining replicas of the cadaveric model of dissection, in various types of materials at low cost for its anatomical study. Printing on flexible materials enabled the possibility of creating educational neurosurgical simulators. The platform currently has more than 100 thousand monthly visitors from around the world. Discussion and conclusions: The use of 3D technologies applied to the field of anatomical study has been previously demonstrated [2]. The anatomical models presented in this work to be generated from the cadaverous structure allow a high level of detail and precision. Through ts incorporation into visualization systems in anaglyph technologies, virtual reality and increased reintegration of the virtual model to a tangible plane, using mixed reality and 3D printing, students and academics have a better understanding of the three-dimensional disposition of the anatomical structure manifested by the academic acceptance of the online platform, based on the growing number of visitors.Figure 1. A) Brain photography B) Reconstruction 3D brain C) Virtual reality D) 3D printing flexible material E) Augmented reality.


The paper discusses the development of sealing technology within the organisation with particular emphasis on the novel gasket (NG) referred to as Change.The paper will introduce the concept and product; it will discuss the series of tests including comparison with four other gasket styles commonly used in the sealing industry. A brief summary of product development is under taken and sealing industry gasket constants and calculations are used to highlight the benefits of novel technology.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


Objective To observe the change of measurement value of Impulse Oscillometry in OSAS patients and to explore its meaning.Methods The respiratory impedance were measured by using IOS technique and polysomnography(PSG) were done synchronously in 36 OSAS patients,14 COPD patients and control group(12 normal subjects).Results R 20 in OSAS group was significantly higher than those in COPD group and control group( P 0.01).R 5 R 20 in OSAS group was still significantly higher than that in control group( P 0.01),although it was lower than that in COPD group.AHI correlated with R 5 and R 20 ,with correlation index ( r ) 0.66 and 0.86,respectively.The lowest SO 2 was correlated with R 5 and R 5~R 20 ,with r -0.66 and -0.79,respectively.The mean SO 2 was correlated with R 5 and R 5 R 20 ,with r -0.81 and -0.69,respectively.Conclusion IOS technique is a valuable tool for assessing the degree of upper airway obstruction in patients with OSAS,and can help to explore its pathological mechanism.


THE NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE Acyclovir for the Prevention of Recurrent Herpes Simplex Virus Eye Disease The Herpetic Eye Disease Study Group . Background: Long-term treatment with antiviral agents has been shown to prevent recurrences of genital and orofacial herpes simplex virus (HSV) disease, but it is uncertain whether prophylactic treatment can prevent recurrences of ocular HSV disease. Methods: We randomly assigned 703 immunocompetent patients who had had ocular HSV disease within the preceding year to receive 400 mg of acyclovir or placebo orally twice daily. The study outcomes were the rates of development of ocular or nonocular HSV disease during a 12-month treatment period and a 6-month observation period. Results: The cumulative probability of a recurrence of any type of ocular HSV disease during the 12-month treatment period was 19 percent in the acyclovir group and 32 percent in the placebo group (P Conclusions: After the resolution of ocular HSV disease, 12 months of treatment with acyclovir reduces the rate of recurrent ocular HSV disease and orofacial HSV disease. Long-term antiviral prophylaxis is most important for patients with a history of HSV stromal keratitis, since it can prevent additional episodes and potential loss of vision. Arch Ophthalmol 1998;279:1820-1825.


diatom-derived aldehyde decadienal affects life cycle transition in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis through nitric oxide/ERK signalling. Subject Area: biochemistry/developmental biology/molecular biology The diatom-derived aldehyde decadienal affects life cycle transition in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis through nitric oxide/ERK signalling 1. Summary Polyunsaturated aldehydes (PUAs) are fatty-acid-derived metabolites produced by some microalgae, including different diatom species. PUAs are mainly produced as a wound-activated defence mechanism against microalgal predators or released from senescent cells at the end of a bloom. PUAs, including 2,4-trans-decadienal (DD), induce deleterious effects on embryonic and larval development of several planktonic and benthic organisms. Here, we report on the effects of DD on larval development and metamorphosis of the ascidian Ciona intestinalis. Ciona larval development is regulated by the cross-talking of different molecular events, including nitric oxide (NO) production, ERK activation and caspase 3-dependent apoptosis. We report that treatment with DD at the competence larval stage results in a delay in metamorphosis. DD affects redox balance by reducing total glutathione and NO levels. By biochemical and quantitative gene expression analysis, we identify the NO-signalling network affected by DD, including the upregulation of ERK phosphatase mkp1 and consequent reduction of ERK phosphorylation, with final changes in the expression of downstream ERK target genes. Overall, these results give new insights into the molecular pathways induced in marine organisms after exposure to PUAs during larval development, demonstrating that this aldehyde affects key checkpoints of larval transition from the vegetative to the reproductive life stage. Diatoms are photosynthetic unicellular microalgae contributing up to 45% of total oceanic primary production and playing key roles in the transfer of energy through marine food chains [1]. The reason for their ecological success still remains a matter of discussion, and different mechanisms have been proposed to explain their widespread occurrence in the oceans. One main reason may be because they have evolved a chemical defence system which can potentially affect both predators and competitors. Indeed, different diatom species are able to produce a wide range of secondary metabolites belonging to the oxylipin family including polyunsaturated aldehydes (PUAs) with toxic effects on reproductive processes in grazing organisms such as crustacean copepods [2–4], echinoderms [5,6] and filter-feeding organisms such as ascidians [7]. These metabolites are the end-products of a lipoxygenase/hydroperoxide lyase metabolic pathway, initiated by damage of algal cells as would occur through grazing [8]. Briefly, cell damage activates lipase enzymes, causing the release of polyunsaturated fatty acids from …


Using ECR plasma-assisted ing,¬ YBa<inf>2</inf>Cu<inf>3</inf>O<inf>7-x</inf> films with c-axis orientation were grown epitaxially on (100) SrTiO<inf>3</inf> substrates. YBa<inf>2</inf>Cu<inf>3</inf>O<inf>7-x</inf> films prepared by ECR plasma-assisted sputtering had a smaller lattice constant c and a higher Tc than films prepared by magnetron sputtering alone. Optical emisssion spectroscopy measurements were performed during deposition to investigate the relationship between the superconducting properties of films and the plasma species in the ECR plasma. The film superconducting properties were closely related to the activated particles of oxygen in the ECR plasma.


In this study we investigated the relation between disclosure of spending on R&D and the level of innovation in Brazilian firms traded on B3. We also analyzed the relation between corporate governance and the disclosure of spending on R&D, and the relation of this disclosure and the market value. Our sample included all 350 firms listed on B3 in the period 2015-2017. Innovation was proxied by the number of patents filed by each firm, according to the Espacenet website. Corporate governance was proxied by participation in special corporate governance listing segments, and market value was proxied by Tobin's Q. The results of the Mann-Whitney test revealed that sampled firms making disclosure of spending on R&D filed more patents and had higher market value than non-disclosing firms, but in the regression analysis, in most firms in the sample, disclosure of spending on R&D was not significantly associated with the level of innovation. The logistic regression model showed that firms in corporate governance listing segments were more likely to disclose spending on R&D than non-listed firms. In regressions with the ordinary least squares method, disclosure of spending on R&D had no significant impact on market value. Our findings provide regulators, investors and brokers with evidence that disclosure of spending on R&D has no measurable effect on the level of innovation in the sampled firms and suggest that innovation may come through channels other than internal R&D activities and/ or that in many firms disclosure is of poor quality.


Since the 1980s,a large number of officialdom novels sprang up,with the themes that narrated the officialdom personnel,depicted the officials' daily life,exposed and criticized the bad practice of the officialdom.This phenomenon shows people's serious thinking and deep concern about the political reform in the process of China's modernization.In the new period,the officialdom novels publicize justice and democracy and castigate the ugliness of the officialdom.But in the meantime,they cater to the patriarchy-centered ideology implicitly or explicitly,and this mark is mainly seen in the shaping of females' demonization.The women in the officialdom novels serve as a foil to male charm,or the symbol of males' higher power,or the alien who has lost the feminine features,and even the main reason for male's corruption.These negative descriptions of female images can be called the twisted portrayals of men's despicable mentality and the vestigital or possession of feudal ideas,which should be alerted and seriously considered.


The development of male and female gametophytes is a prerequisite for successful propagation of angiosperms. The small GTPases RAN play fundamental roles in numerous cellular processes. Although RAN GTPases have been characterized in plants, their roles in cellular processes are far from understood. We report here that RAN GTPases in Arabidopsis are critical for gametophytic development. RAN1 loss‐of‐function showed no defects in gametophytic development likely due to redundancy. However, the expression of a dominant negative or constitutively active RAN1 resulted in gametophytic lethality. Genetic interference of RAN GTPases caused the arrest of pollen mitosis I and of mitosis of functional megaspores, implying a key role of properly regulated RAN activity in mitosis during gametophytic development.


This paper details research exploring relationships between marketing orientation, internal marketing and discretionary effort. We propose that in order for firms to undertake successful marketing activities in dynamic business environments, employees must be willing to offer the required effort to adapt quickly and effortlessly to external environmental change. Further, we propose that internal marketing will assist in encouraging discretionary effort and this will be fostered by a marketing orientation within the context of the organisation's culture. A self-complete questionnaire was used to collect data from 213 respondents. Results support the proposed relationships amongst the variables of marketing orientation, internal marketing and discretionary effort. An important implication for management is that customer culture and internal marketing are valuable (and inter-related) antecedents to a firm's competitive advantage.


This paper explains a philosophy for modeling the higher level communication functions into a network architecture for heterogeneous computer networks called Data Communication Network Architecture (DCNA), the logical structure of the architecture, and several protocols based on it. To specify higher level protocols among computers of different types, DCNA defines a logical model of a computer network consisting of three submodels: the basic model, the logical network model, and the virtual network model. The basic model represents a logical view of the network resources, e.g., processing power, files, data bases, I/O devices, and a layered structure for the basic mechanisms for accessing such resources, which incorporate the concept of sublevels as well as levels. The logical network model describes the mechanisms for unified management of network resources. The virtual network model describes the mechanisms for using network resources. The. common use of network resources, by several sets of interrelated applications is made easier by treating the logical network and the virtual network separately. These models form the basis for the stipulation of higher level protocols, such as network management protocols, message transfer protocols, virtual terminal protocols, and virtual file system protocols.


Abstract : This thesis presents a stability analysis of rotor bearing system operation affected by a single labyrinth seal. Labyrinth seals, primarily intended for leakage control in turbines, have been observed to affect rotor stability in high pressure steam turbines. A small experimental rotor bearing system, existing in the Mechanical Engineering Department, and a compatible labyrinth seal are the subjects of this analysis. Linear analytical models of these rotor bearing and labyrinth seal systems, both isolated and coupled, are developed. Labyrinth seal geometry and pressure variations generate various affects on rotor bearing system stability. These affects can help develop labyrinth seal design criteria directed toward high pressure turbine stability enhancement. (Author)


Surface coats can be demonstrated on human peripheral blood lymphocytes by staining with ruthenium red, alcian blue, Thorotrast, and cationized ferritin, which are similar in distribution to a 40- to 65-nm layer of amorphous extracellular material recently reported on fixed, freeze-dried lymphocytes. Several additional lines of evidence, including X-ray microanalysis, suggest that the latter is not a contaminant added by freeze-drying. Freeze-drying may provide the means for a morphological assessment of the lymphocyte surface, including the extracellular coat, which may give additional insight into the immune response.


Joint prosthesis are usually subjected to several failing mechanisms, including wear of the ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) insert. The main goal of this study was to assess the possibility to improve the tribological properties of titanium component by depositing zirconia thin films on its surface by pulsed plasma deposition (PPD) method. Zirconia-coated titanium spheres were tested against UHMWPE disks, both in dry and wet conditions. Zirconia films exhibited a homogenous sub-micrometric grain size distribution and low roughness. Interestingly, zirconia-coated titanium spheres showed lower wear rate of the UHMWPE component, compared to uncoated titanium spheres, supporting the feasibility of the proposed approach.


SUMMARY The effects of acidic and trace element components of polluted rain on pollen germination and tube growth in vitro are described. The sensitivity of pollen to pH in vitro was related to the species' position in canopy and was different for conifers and broad-leaved trees. Most pollen assayed revealed significant inhibition of germination and germ tube growth in response to pHs currently observed in rain samples in eastern Canada. Acer saccharum Marsh and Betula alleghaniensis Britt. pollen in vitro showed a high sensitivity to pH in combination with copper. The pollen of Populus tremuloides L. was shown to be highly sensitive to pH, and a synergism between pH and copper on pollen function in this species was also demonstrated. This was in contrast to the general antagonistic interaction of pH and copper noted in the other species tested in which copper by itself either did not affect pollen function or was stimulatory. Zinc has little or no effect, whereas lead at the concentrations used significantly inhibited both germination of Pinus strobus L. pollen at pH 5-6-3-6 and tube growth of both P. strobus and Pinus resinosa Ait. The increase in pollen mortality in response to air pollution at the time of pollination raises certain implications for reproduction and breeding. These implications are also discussed in the light of the significant genetic overlap between pollen and sporophytes of higher plants.


Abstract The use of Jatropha curcas in biodiesel production is one of the emerging alternative sources of renewable energy. However, the extraction process leaves a seed cake waste and the lack of disposal protocols poses serious threat to ecosystems. This study aims to determine the toxicity of the seed cake extract to Danio rerio (zebrafish) through the analysis of heat shock protein 70 expression. The median lethal concentration (LC50) was first determined through an acute toxicity test coupled with probit analysis. For the HSP70 induction test, fishes were subjected to a non-exposed setup and sublethal concentration (50% of LC50) of detoxified, washed, and untreated seed cake. Total RNA from liver samples was isolated and reverse transcribed followed by amplification through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and gel profiling. Results indicate an LC50 of 0.172% (w/v) or 1.72 g/L. The heat shock induction test showed a significant downregulation of HSP70 expression in fishes exposed to washed and untreated setups. This underexpression may be attributed to phytochemicals such as lectins which have been widely reported to interact with HSP70. Furthermore, mRNA levels in the detoxified setup have no significant difference with the non-exposed setup, possibly indicating a successful inactivation of toxic phytochemicals in the seed cake. Moreover, the present study shows that downregulation of HSP70 is also an indicator of stress, and low HSP70 levels may lead to a decreased resistance of liver cells to stress-inducing agents.


The objective of the present paper is to deal with the solution of the third order non-linear boundary layer equation governing the magneto hydrodynamic (MHD) flow of a viscous fluid over a stretching permeable surface using the homotopy analysis method (HAM). The solution obtained has been constructed in the form of series, the convergence of which has been examined carefully by way of plotting convergence control curves. The effect of suction/injection and magnetic parameters on the skin-friction parameter, velocity profiles and stream function have been studied. The results obtained in the present analysis have been compared with the corresponding available results of other researchers. It is observed that the numerical values of the skin-friction for different values of mass transfer and magnetic parameters are convergent and agree well with the earlier existing numerical values. The accuracy in the results shows that the HAM is a very proficient and easily applicable technique for solving differential equations with strong non-linearity.


Acromegaly is an acquired disorder related to excessive production of growth hormone (GH). The condition was described more than 120 years ago and later ascribed to pituitary over secretion and adenomas. Acromegaly is a rare condition with a tendency towards mandibular overgrowth, maxillary widening, tooth separation and jaw malocclusion which makes its diagnosis important even for dentists. If the condition is untreated, enhanced mortality due to cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and pulmonary dysfunction is associated with a 30% decrease in life span. Till now majority of cases of Acromegaly are diagnosed by general physicians/endocrinologists. So, we thought it's worthwhile to report a case of Acromegaly diagnosed by oral physicians with review of the literature.


The first authentic record of the green peach aphid (Myzus persicae Sulz.) for Rhodesia was made by Hall (1932) from Mazoe; he collected specimens off various Brassicae including rape, cabbage and cauliflower at the end of 1927 and early 1928, and stated ""that probably, as elsewhere, it has a wide range of host plants"". Up to that time M. persicae was not known as a pest in Southern Rhodesia. Ten years later, when Turkish tobacco was first severely attacked by an aphid, Hall identified it as M. persicae.


Objective To evaluate the results of the treatment of fresh type Ⅱodontoid fractures with closed reduction and percutaneous screw fixation. Methods From May 2009 to February 2013, 15 cases of fresh Anderson-D'Alonzo type Ⅱodontoid fractures were treated with closed reduction and percutaneous screw fixation. Eleven were males and 4 were females,aged 42 to 67 years(51.3 years on average). The operative time,intra-operative blood loss, length of stay and complications were recorded. During follow-up, the atlantoaxial stability and implant position were evaluated with X-ray films. Results The average operation time was 98.7 minutes(range, 84-125 minutes).The average intra-operative blood loss was 11.2 ml(range, 8-30 ml). Good reduction of atlantoaxial joint and primary healing of incision were obtained in 15 patients. The average follow-up duration was 13.8 months with a range of 10-21 months. All cases showed fracture healing during 4 to 9months(mean 6.8 months). The X-ray films showed odontoid bony union, atlantoaxial stability and good position of screws. No major complications of carotid artery 1aceration,nerve injury, airway obstruction,and implant failure occurred. Conclusion Percutaneous screw fixation of fresh type Ⅱodontoid fractures is associated with minimally invasive surgical advantages, early rehabilitation and excellent results. The procedure is the most suitable for type Ⅱ odontoid fractures, but the operation indications must be strictly controlled.


Embedded UICC (eUICC) is a new form of UICC, soldered into a device during manufacturing. On the contrary to the traditional UICC, the eUICC is not fully controlled by one specific MNO (Mobile Network Operator) since not removable physically from the device and not issued by the MNO. Thus, the profiles necessary for its operations should be provisioned remotely into the eUICC by new entity. For this remote provisioning, SM (Subscription Manager) is newly introduced by the standardization organization. However, this new ecosystem around eUICCs can cause tremendous security issues unless thorough consideration of security is accompanied during the standardization because the profiles usually include the security-sensitive information. In this paper, a novel secure profile provisioning architecture for eUICCs is proposed. Our architecture mainly defines the overall architecture of the secure profile provisioning for eUICCs.


The acoustic environment of a typical Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is highly diverse and may contain a large number of sounds coming from numerous sources, such as alarm sounds generated by di erent biomedical equipment, noisy mechanical ventilation, telephone ring sound and people conversations. Various acoustic events are usually taking place simultaneously in a NICU and the maximum recommended sound pressure level limits are exceeded frequently, a fact that is of great concern according to the medical literature. In particular, equipment alarms are extensively present in a NICU environment. They are used in monitoring or supporting equipment to alert of situations requiring medical attention. This thesis work is focused on the detection of these equipment alarms by using a Neural Network (NN) architecture for binary classi cation between speci c alarm classes and background noise. As acoustic alarms have a clear frequency distribution and duration, this information can be used to train models. The database used in this work was acquired in a real-world environment in previous works on automatic event detection in NICU. It contains more than 1.5 hours of recorded audio data, and about half of it was manually annotated. In total, 7 di erent alarm classes have been selected due to their importance according to the medical sta , and due to being the most represented in the database. The features used are the spectral bins extracted from each frame and the classi cation has been performed at a frame level. Further, a post-processing step has been included after the classi cation output to evaluate the system at the period level. Two types of models are presented to address the acoustic alarm detection problem: Generic Model (GM) and Particular Model (PM). First one does not take advantage of any speci c alarm class knowledge, that is to say, the input is the whole spectrum representation of the signal and the model has to learn the alarm localization in frequency. On the other hand, the input of the second model is a concatenation of the speci c frequency sub-bands where the alarm event is located, which makes a smaller and more informative input for the speci c alarm class. Both models have been applied rst to detect the most populated alarm class from the database, and then the best architecture from each model has been used to train and detect the rest of the alarm classes also in a binary class vs. non-class way. Conventional single-layered NN has been explored in this work rst. But due to the low amount of available data, other alternatives have been considered in order to exploit the spectral information while avoiding over tting during training. Hence, partially connected hidden layers have been


When the Western Australian government announced in 2010 that Indigenous people would be compensated for unpaid wages, a Yindjibarndi woman named Bigali Hanlon submitted an application to access her government files so that she could lodge a claim. At the age of four, Bigali was taken from her home in Mulga Downs, Western Australia to live in a church‐run hostel for 'fair‐skinned' Indigenous children until she was sent into indentured domestic service as a teenager. Three large files document her history. These files, combined with in‐depth interviews, and a film about Bigali and other Indigenous Australian people, Walking Tracks Back Home, form the basis of this paper. In reflecting on the issues raised by Bigali's story, we draw on feminist writing on the costs associated with being called to give an account of oneself, considering how listening might form the basis of an ethics of recognition in feminist praxis.


Summary Contraceptive effectiveness is conventionally measured by a pregnancy rate, which reveals little about the way in which pregnancy risks vary among couples. In this paper a technique is presented for estimating curves of pregnancy risk. The technique is applied to data from the Family Growth in Metropolitan America study for purposes of estimating how much these couples would have to Improve their initial contraception In order to realize, by contraception alone, the calibre of family limitation claimed by respondents late in their childbearing period. A very substantial improvement Is estimated as necessary. It Is also argued that the notable increase In contraceptive effectiveness before and after second birth, observed for couples desiring only two children is attributable mainly to a more regular practice of contraception. Changes Iin method preference, decline in average fecundabillty and increased contraceptive skill are viewed as secondary factors.


This study aims to analyze the law interpretation used by the
Constitutional Court in examining the 1945 Constitution on the verdict with legal
law power in the period of 2009. Meanwhile, the root of the matter studied


Article history: Received on: 23/01/2013 Revised on: 05/03/2013 Accepted on: 02/04/2013 Available online: 27/06/2013 Present study was conducted to quantify and compare the levels of heavy metals in plasma sample of kidney patient before and after dialysis belonging to different areas of Sargodha region. In this study, the level of copper, zinc, cadmium, iron, manganese, lead, chromium and cobalt in plasma sample of Kidney patients has been investigated using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Heavy metal profile in both normal and diseased subject was determined using dialysis time period and age factor parameters. The mean value of Zn and Fe was found lower in kidney patient as compared to normal subject and reverse was found in case of Pb, Mn, Co and Cr. The heavy metals composition in male patients were found somewhat higher but non-significantly (P>0.05). Age factor revealed that those patients whose age was >30 years have greater values of metals as compared to 2 years.


Background: Health care professionals are supposed to work in teams. Students in health care need to learn how to collaborate during their undergraduate education. Interprofessional learning environments, where collaboration is necessary, may be differently accepted by students depending on their approach to learning. Aim: We investigated health care students' evaluations of interprofessional clinical training in relation to their study orientations. Methods: The participants were 369 students (40 occupational therapy-, 85 medical-, 52 physiotherapy-, and 192 nursing students) attending an IPE course at a Swedish University Hospital. Data were collected by questionnaires measuring orientations to studying and attitudes towards the clinical training and the IPE concept before and after the training. The response rate was 77 %. Study groups were formed by a cluster analysis on the basis of the students' learning orientations. Results: Three clusters were found: Low collaboration-, Collaborative Constructivist-, and Cookbook groups. These clusters were related to different professions and how students perceived their interprofessional learning environment. Conclusions: Study orientations appear to play a role in the way students evaluate interprofessional training. This should be taken into account in instruction. Students with a 'Cookbook' approach to learning showed an increased understanding of interprofessional collaboration after the course.


Arounding the problems caused by innovation cultivation on the course named Single Chip Microcomputer Principle and Application, the authors carried out teaching reforms. This article analyzed the problems of the students' course design, introduced some measures to improve innovation ability. The teaching practice proved that these teaching methods could develop students' study interest and cultivate student' independent innovation ability. It improved students' comprehensive quality.


Oleyl oleate (OE), a liquid wax ester, has been reported as a potential raw material for cosmetic and pharmaceutical uses but little is known about its phase behavior in ternary systems. Two types of nonionic surfactants were selected, namely, Tween‐60 (T60) and Span 20 (S20). Phase diagrams of OE/T60/water and OE/S20/water systems were constructed at 25.0±0.5°C. Ternary phase diagrams of OE/T60∶S20 (20∶80 and 60∶40)/water systems were then constructed at the same temperature. The ratios of 80∶20 and 60∶40 of T60∶S20 were selected due to different solubility points of the surfactants in water. The results showed that the oleyl oleate with mixed surfactants system, OE/T60∶S20 (20∶80 and 60∶40)/water, gave better performance than the individual surfactant systems. The high percent of T60 of 80∶20 in the T60∶S20 system contributes to enlargement of the isotropic region. In contrast, by increasing the percent of S20 of 60∶40 in T60∶S20 contributes to a larger liquid crystalline region.


Provided are a digital communications test system and a method for testing a plurality of devices under test (DUTs) in which multiple sets of a single vector signal analyzer (VSA) and single vector signal generator (VSG) can be used together to perform error vector magnitude (EVM) measurements for one or more DUTs in parallel, including one or more of composite, switched and multiple input multiple output (MIMO) EVM measurements. This allows N pairs of a VSA and VSG to test N DUTs with NxN MIMO in substantially the sane time as a single VSA and VSG pair can test a single DUT, thereby allowing a substantial increase in testing throughput as compared to that possible with only a single VSA and VSG set.


Abstract : Recent improvements in the manufacturing of MOSFETs have reduced the minimum feature size and brought transistors with submicron geometries into being. For certain materials such as GaAs, gate lengths on the order of 0.2 micron are not comparable in length to the mean free path of the electrons in the channel at room temperature. It has been suggested that these electrons could cross the channel without suffering a collision, a phenomenon referred to as ballistic transport. For silicon devices the ballistic transport phenomenon might occur at cryogenic temperatures (4.2K) where decreased scattering results in high low-field mobilities. We characterized submicron silicon MOSFET's down to 4.2K in the subthreshold, linear and saturation regimes. A 500um MOSFET was used as a comparison device. The measurements indicated that the effective channel mobility was inversely proportional to the ambient temperature, longitudinal field and transverse field.


Recently there has been an emerging interest in unsupervised vision-and-language pre-training (VLP) that learns multimodal representations without parallel image-caption data. These pioneering works significantly reduce the cost of VLP on data collection and achieve promising results compared to supervised VLP. However, existing unsupervised VLP methods take as input pre-extracted region-based visual features from external object detectors, which both limits flexibility and reduces computational efficiency. In this paper, we explore end-to-end unsupervised VLP with a vision encoder to directly encode images. The vision encoder is pre-trained on image-only data and jointly optimized during multimodal pre-training. To further enhance the learned cross-modal features, we propose a novel pre-training task that predicts which patches contain an object referred to in natural language from the encoded visual features. Extensive experiments on four vision-and-language tasks show that our approach outperforms previous unsupervised VLP methods and obtains new state-of-the-art results.


Local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) breaks down in directly or indirectly driven laser plasmas because of sharp gradients, energy deposition, etc. For modeling non-LTE effects in hydrodynamical simulations, Busquet's model [Phys. Fluids B 5, 4191 (1993)] is very convenient and efficient. It uses off-line generated LTE opacities and equation of states via an effective, radiation-dependent ionization temperature Tz. An overview of the model is given. The results are compared with an elaborate collisional radiative model based on superconfigurations. The agreements for average charge Z* and opacities are surprisingly good, even more so when the plasma is immersed in a radiation field. Some remaining discrepancy at low density is attributed to dielectronic recombination. Improvement appears possible, especially for emissivities, because the concept of ionization temperature seems to be validated.


It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 2015 ACM SIGPLAN/SIGOPS Conference on Virtual Execution Environments (VEE'15).

This year's conference continues its tradition of providing a forum for researchers and practitioners to interact, shared ideas, and discuss the latest work on virtualization. The conference brings together people from different domains of computer science, from the top of the software stack down to the micro-architectural level.

This year's call for papers attracted 60 submissions. Out of these, the program committee accepted 17 papers. Reviewing was double-blind and was done entirely by the program committee members. All submissions received 3-4 reviews, and authors were given the opportunity for rebuttal before the PC meeting.

In addition to the papers, this year's technical program includes two invited keynote presentations.


Although evolutionary interpretation of treaties has recently attracted academic interests, its entire reasoning process and the difference of its approaches among adjudicatory bodies are still not fully understood. This paper therefore aims to re-examine evolutionary interpretation and to elucidate above points. This paper concludes that the reasoning of evolutionary interpretation is composed of two distinct stages and that the two-staged analysis of the jurisprudence among several adjudicatory bodies reveals, among other things, the sharp contrast between the ICJ and the ECtHR.


OBJECTIVE To study the distribution of the pathogens causing nosocomial infection and drug resistance about inpatients with lung cancer. METHODS Four hundred and forty-two lung cancer cases with hospital acquired infection were analyzed by using the software of WHONET-5. RESULTS Of all the pathogenic species,the most prevalent species were Gram-negative bacteria with average positive detection of 54.8%. The second were fungi(26.2%). The third were Gram-positive bacteria(19.0%). The results of drug sensitivity tests showed that all of strains had higher resistance rate. The rate of extended-spectrum β-lactamases(ESBLs) was 40.5%,and meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus (MRS) was 78.1%. CONCLUSIONS The resistance of bacteria to the commonly used antibiotics is produced in various degrees. During clinical therapy with antibiotics,we should select antibiotics according to the results of drug sensitivity tests and consider the spectrum of pathogenic species as well as the changes in the resistance trends of isolates. In order to reduce the production of drug-resistance,the appropriate use of antibiotics must be strengthened.


Two experiments were conducted to characterize changes in serum hormones prior to and during puberty in bulls and to study effects of castration or shortening the scrotum on these hormonal changes. In the first experiment, four of eight prepubertal bulls (135 days old) and four of eight pubertal bulls (278 days old) were left intact and four of each group were castrated. Two weeks later, serum LH concentrations did not differ between prepubertal and pubertal animals, but steers had higher mean LH and more frequent episodic peaks than bulls at both ages. Serum prolactin concentrations did not differ significantly between bulls and steers, but older steers and bulls tended to have greater prolactin than younger animals (17.3 ng/ml vs 8.1 ng/ml). Prepubertal bulls had higher mean growth hormone concentrations than pubertal bulls or steers at both ages. Testosterone concentrations were fourfold greater in pubertal than in prepubertal bulls. In a second experiment, 12 2-week-old bulls were assigned to be bulls, steers or bulls with shortened scrotums (SS bulls). Blood was sampled at .5-hr intervals for 24 hr each month for 10 months. Serum LH concentrations increased significantly from 1 to 3 months in steers, from 1 to 2 months in SS bulls and from 1 to 4 months in bulls, while frequency of LH episodic peaks increased fivefold from 1 to 4 months in each treatment. Steers had greater serum LH concentrations and more frequent LH peaks than bulls from 3 to 10 months, while SS bulls had higher LH concentrations at 5 and 6 months and more LH peaks than bulls at 3 and 4 months. FSH concentrations did not


Validation provides the objective proof that the chosen testing method is capable of achieving a certain result. Especially in a field without established standards, validation is a meaningful tool that the client has confidence in a certain method to solve the problem successfully and that his requirements are satisfied. According to DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025 that defines requirements for testing in laboratories a methodology has been developed regarding boundary conditions of NDT in civil engineering (NDT-CE), e.g. inhomogeneous composite material such as reinforced concrete with dimensions up to 1m plus. This methodology will be presented for thickness measurement of a foundation with varying thickness and reinforcement ratio. This work is a synthesis of validation according to DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025 and determining uncertainty according to the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM) applying latest technology of NDT-CE.


More and more attention is paid to the thermal equilibrium question of the plane hydraulic in hydraulic system.Based on defining the thermal equilibrium concept of the hydraulic pump in the hydraulic system,reducing the calculation formula of the thermal equilibrium and analyzing the applied case of the thermal equilibrium,this paper states that under specific working conditions,increasing the service life of the pump and the whole hydraulic system is realized at the price of enlarging the pump's oil return volume and reducing the efficiency of the pump and its system.Therefore,in order to improve the work efficiency and the service life of the pump and the system it is necessary to improve working conditions and anti-occlusion power of frictional pair materials.


How can anthropology develop its own investigation beyond nature and culture? Along with Latour or Descola, Tim Ingold and Gisli Palsson are dealing with this issue, proposing specific theoretical frameworks and methodologies. The aim of this review is to show that, for anthropology, the study of life can be carried out from at least two standpoints: integrating biological data in ethnographical surveys or restituting conceptions of life in non-Western societies. I also tackle some epistemological problems arising from theses approaches.


Title: From the Sociospacial Training to the Differentiation of Circuits in Agricultural Region of Araçatuba (SP) This research analyzes the formation of the socio-spatial agriculture of Araçatuba / Sao Paolo / Brazil. Guided by the timeline of the hegemonic occupations in the regional agriculture space, weighed up the plot presented from the analysis annexations of upper objects that underpinned systems in different time territorial divisions of production and labor. Coffee, cotton, beef cattle and sugarcane configured cycles of occupations that were characterized as dominant spatial circuits of agriculture in Araçatuba. Users of most agricultural areas of Western Sao Paolo State, the beef cattle and sugarcane farming conformed in recent decades a land ownership defined as cane-ox system. In coexistence with these hegemonic occupations, other food crops worked productively for the priority supply of local, regional and national domestic market. Arranged in different levels of technological improvement, and organizational capitalizing, these agricultural activities are present in the horizontality of the used territory in spatial circuits complementary hegemony and subaltern. Characteristic of food supply in nature in the regions is the most distant source be consumed. Result of the territorial division of production of different food cultures in geographic space and the accumulation of technicalorganizational knowledge producers in agricultural regions, each food has predominantly concentrated circuits originating in spots and stains the territory given to productive specializations in the capitalist market. However, in maintenance survives and reproduces rudimentary techniques (in the interstices of new modernities) autochthonous rationalities that persist in offering traditional products of regional culture. For the current period, is presented in this research the current manifestation of this multiterritoriality geographic space of Araçatuba.


This book deals with Research into the history of insect synanthropy in Greece and Egypt', more specifically with insect remains from the Late Bronze Age site of Akrotiri and other evidence from ancient and Roman Egypt. Eva Panagiotakopulu outlines her methodology of analysing fossil insects, addresses issues of extraction, preservation and reconstructing past environments, life conditions, hygiene, crops and stored goods, as well as implications for economy and trade in the Mediterranean.


An app developed by a private firm and customised by a hospital trust has been helping senior nurses carry out ward inspections.


Acoustophoretic particle focusing is a modern and very attractive method of removing a variety of objects from solutions in a microfluidic channel. The process is inherently general and can be readily extended to multiple types of applications such as healthcare (e.g. malignant cell removal), academic research (e.g. nanoparticle separation), industrial (e.g. reclaiming of rare earths) and environmental applications (e.g. sequestration of suspended solids). According to classical understanding, particle separation is realized by the acoustic radiation force. Traditionally, the wavelength of the acoustic wave has to be fine-tuned to the channel width and specified to λ = 2Lchannel. This creates a constant pressure node in the middle of the channel that forces particle motion towards it. Particle motion is theorized to be caused by differences in the pressure gradient acting on the partciles and/or wave scattering. This article also demonstrates that particle focusing can also be achieved under different conditions, provided that the amplitude of the oscillations is sufficiently high. In this study, results from numerical simulations performed in FLOW-3D help promote understanding of acoustophoretic particle focusing by closely examining the forces that act on the particles. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first explicit study of this phenomenon that focuses on the different force contributions This computational analysis can be generally applied to a multitude of acoustophoretic processes and should prove useful in promoting understanding of the phenomena involved in particle focusing.


The concept of digital justice is intended to open up discourse about strategies for bringing relief to those who believe they have been discriminated against or harmed by algorithmic decision making. Digital justice has depended on algorithmic accountability, a means by which entities can be held accountable for the consequences of algorithmic decision making. This paper critically examines the concept of algorithmic accountability to assess its utility as a ground for digital justice and argues that it is fraught with difficulties. After discussing digital justice and algorithmic discrimination, algorithmic accountability is decomposed into two types, technical and sociotechnical. These approaches are critically assessed and a cautionary note is struck about the difficulty of enacting algorithmic accountability. If this argument is persuasive, it implies that the concept of digital justice also has difficulties. The paper concludes with suggestions for moving forward that do not use either version of algorithmic accountability.


This paper introduces the practice of hot charging of billets at Xingtai Iron and Steel Co ,Ltd A set of effective measures were adopted The practice of three months in 1997 has shown the advantages of this technology as follows:reasonable technological flows,lower investment,good hot charging ratio(60 %),satisfactory temperature of hot charging(in average 600 ℃)


This paper aims to see how anonymous social media accounts are used as a medium of self-disclosure and by adolescents in the era of postmodernism. This study uses a constructivist paradigm with a descriptive method through a qualitative approach. Data collection is done by using library research techniques. Data sources come from relevant literature, such as books, journals, or scientific articles. Data analysis was carried out by identifying problems that occurred related to the research topic, then analyzed with a postmodernism perspective to reveal social realities that occurred in adolescents in the use of anonymous social media from the standpoint of Jean Baudrillard's simulacra theory and conclusions were drawn. The results of the study show that both the positive and negative impacts of using anonymous social media accounts, in the view of postmodernism, put forward a very subjective truth. In the context of adolescent self-disclosure, limits will be determined by personal will, and the benefits of self-disclosure refer to individual satisfaction. Adolescents are forced to enter into hyperreality conditions that are intended to deceive adolescents in a subtle way, namely deceiving and believing that the simulation is the real reality so that adolescents become dependent on the simulation and possessive.


Current microprocessors are designed to execute instructions in parallel and out of order. In general, superscalar processors fetch instructions in order. After the branch prediction logic determines whether a branch is taken (or not) and its target address, the processor decodes the instructions and renames the register operands, removing name dependences introduced by the compiler. Because processors generally have more physical than logical registers, multiple instructions with the same logical destination can be in flight simultaneously. The renamed instructions then go into the issue queue where they wait until their operands are ready and their required resources are available. At the same time, instructions go into the reorder buffer, where they remain until they commit their results. When an instruction executes, the wakeup logic notifies dependent instructions that the corresponding operand is available. Finally, instructions commit their results in program order. This article focuses on the design of the logic that stores the instructions waiting for execution, as well as the logic associated with identifying whether operands are ready and selecting the instructions that start execution every cycle. All these components are part of the issue logic. Issue logic is one of the most complex parts of superscalar processors, one of the largest consumers of energy, and one of the main sites of power density. Its design is therefore critical for performance. Researchers have used a variety of schemes to implement the issue queue. In particular, several recent proposals have attempted to reduce the issue logic's complexity and power. To the best of our knowledge, this article is the first attempt to perform a comprehensive and thorough survey of the issue logic design space.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the consequences of the increasing cases of malpractice litigation for the South African health care delivery system. Malpractice litigation has been on the rise in both state and private hospitals, throughout the country. The study was conducted in the province of Gauteng where increasing malpractice litigation has cost the Health Department millions of Rands. The study followed a quantitative research methodology approach. The data collection was conducted through a questionnaire survey; a technique which was selected because it enabled the collection of large amounts of data from many people in a short space of time. The targeted population numbered 244 and the sampling was done using a probability sampling technique (simple random sampling), which gave all the respondents an equal chance of being selected for the sample. The data analysis was carried out using the Statistical Program for Social Sciences computer program. The results were presented in frequency tables and charts. Kew Words: Impact, Medical, Litigation, Malpractice, Healthcare. Introduction The issue of medical malpractice is fast gaining momentum throughout the world and the South African health sector has not been spared. Medical malpractice is defined as the failure of a medical practitioner, hospital or hospital employee, in rendering services, to use the reasonable care, skill or knowledge ordinarily used under similar circumstances (Reed, 2009:1). According to Pepper and Slabbert (2011:29), litigation involving medical malpractice has been rising in South Africa. Medical malpractice claims have escalated, in terms of both size and frequency, and this is affecting both private and public sectors, equally. The rise in cases of medical malpractice litigation has been further increased through people being encouraged by the legal fraternity to become aware of their rights. According to Studdert, Mello and Brennan (2004:283), there are three main social goals of malpractice litigation: to deter unsafe practices, to compensate persons injured through negligence of medical , 2016 1 Vol. 2, No. 1 Journal of Research and Development (JRnD) 150 www.arabianjbmr.com practitioners, and to enable corrective justice. Choctaw (2008:13) argues that medical malpractice litigation has a negative impact on the retention of doctors, as doctors are now leaving the field of medicine, and those who remain are working in fear and silence. Child (2015:1) further stated that Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi announced an investigation into the reasons for the increase in medical litigation and negligence claims, as well as recommendations for remedial action. The rise in medical negligence lawsuits led the Health Minister to set up a team to investigate cases of medical malpractice. The minister suggested a cap on payouts to help health departments avoid bankruptcy. Subsequently, a litigation summit was held in Pretoria in March 2015 where the Minister affirmed that the country is experiencing an explosion in malpractice litigation (The Citizen 2015:1). The Aim of the Study The study aims to investigate the consequences of increasing medical malpractice litigation for health care delivery in South Africa, Gauteng. Research Objectives The objectives of the study are as follows: To identify the causes of the increase in medical malpractice litigation in South Africa; To ascertain the consequences of medical malpractice litigation for stake holders; and To offer and provide recommendations to the state and professional bodies regarding mitigating the causes of medical malpractice in South Africa's health delivery system. LITERATURE REVIEW The issue of increasing medical malpractice is becoming grim in South Africa. Government health institutions, as well as private institutions, are increasingly being confronted with litigation related to medical malpractice. Pepper and Slabbert (2011:95) have reported that South Africa has been gradually gaining prominence in matters relating to medical malpractice. The problem of medical malpractice has resulted in medical insurance premiums rising rapidly and doctors are now more wary of being sued by patients than in the years before. There have been numerous incidences which have indicated the seriousness of medical malpractice in South Africa. The Medical Law website (2015:1) reported that according to a well-known medical journal in 2011, the percentage of reported negligence claims rose by over 130 % in South Africa over a period of two years. This rise was attributed to the increased awareness of patient rights across the world. The downside of the rise in medical malpractice in South Africa has been the rise in medical costs. Medical Malpractice Explained Medical malpractice, also known as medical negligence, has been defined by the American Medical Association as a doctor's failure to exercise the degree of care and skill that a physician or surgeon of the same medical specialty would use under similar circumstances (Brenner, 2010:9). Oginski (2012:87) defined medical negligence as the departure from good or accepted medical care. Medical negligence has also been defined as the lack of reasonable degree of care and skill or willful negligence exhibited on the part of Medical Practitioner while , 2016 1 Vol. 2, No. 1 Journal of Research and Development (JRnD) 151 www.arabianjbmr.com treating a patient, resulting in bodily injury, ill health or death (Bardale, 2011:33). Medical malpractice includes other forms of irregular medical practice that medical health professionals might engage in, which is not fair or constitutes wrong practice. Negligence is described as a state of mind, amounting to carelessness that leads to failure to meet the set standards (Erasmus, 2008:5). Statsky (2012:124) defines negligence as the failure to use reasonable care that an ordinary person would have used in a similar circumstance, and which results in harm or some other kind of loss. The researcher defines negligence as the failure to take the reasonable precautions that a reasonable person in the position of the health professional would take when in conducting work as a health professional. The definition by Erasmus (2008:5) brings in two key elements with regard to negligence: carelessness and failure to achieve agreed standards. According to Oginski (2012:87), medical negligence can cause significant and permanent injuries to the victims. Society protects the rights of those who have been negligently injured in botched operations, or simply through the negligence of health professionals in the hospitals and clinics. Doctors are required to prepare for such eventualities by paying for medical insurance. In the United States, doctors are required to take out annual malpractice insurance, which usually costs over R1,54 million, while foreign doctors operating from the US are expected to pay insurance equivalent to R46,000 (Connell, 2011:121). Due to the rising levels of medical malpractice litigation, health professionals are urged to understand the factors which lead to possible civil claims for negligence, and to considerably more serious charges of criminal negligence. Both categories can arise from a failure to uphold required and suitable standards of care (Bryden & Storey, 2011:124). Medical Malpractice in South Africa The global rise in medical malpractice litigation has reached South Africa, a developing African country, which is now facing a serious rise in the numbers and frequency of legal battles related to medical negligence. According to Pepper and Slabbert (2011:29), until recent years, South Africa appeared to have been spared the scourge of rapidly escalating global trend towards increasing medical malpractice litigation. The country has since experienced a 132 % spike in clinical negligence claims, with the five highest claims being reported between 2006 and 2010 (Bateman, 2011:216). According to Bateman (2011:216), the most expensive medical negligence claim to be paid on behalf of a South African doctor was R17 million, paid to a patient who suffered catastrophic neurological damage in 2010. The largest claims have emanated from obstetrics, gynecology and orthopedic surgery (Pepper & Slabbert, 2011:29). The increases in malpractice settlements in South Africa have included compensation being made to young children who have been harmed through negligent treatment, specifically the substantial costs of funding lifetime care packages (Bateman, 2011:216). According to Dr Graham Howarth, MPS Head of Medical Services for Africa, obstetricians, spinal surgeons and pediatricians who perform neonatal work bear the greatest chance of facing the most expensive negligence claims (Bateman, 2011:217). According to Malherbe (2013:83), the cost of reported claims more than doubled between 2011 and 2012. The author states that claims exceeding R1 million have increased by nearly 550 %, compared with those of 10 years ago, while claims which are valued over R5 million rose by 700 % in the past 5 years. This trend in medical malpractice litigation in South Africa is , 2016 1 Vol. 2, No. 1 Journal of Research and Development (JRnD) 152 www.arabianjbmr.com approaching that of the developed world, and this is an indication that the problem is expanding with recent times. Other countries that have experienced notable malpractice suits include Taiwan, where the largest settlement was between $100 000 (R1 151 million) and $200 000 (R2, 3 million), and Kenya where one case reached $500 000 (R5.75 million) (Uejima, 2011:24). The results of the increase in medical malpractice litigation have seen a move away from compassion-Centred health care towards 'defensive medicine', and have also revealed the devastating emotional effects of lawsuits on health professionals (Moore & Slabbert, 2013:60). Medical practitioners are now being more careful as they attend to patients and they are more fearful of facin


The present application discloses a method of creating index data, a method and system for data retrieval. A data wherein index creation method comprising: obtaining all the file information table index record; calculating an index recording area size information corresponding to each index, and calculates an offset address of each first index information according to the index recording area size; The data sequentially stored in the data file, the data file stored preset data block size in a fixed-size memory; read data from the memory one by one and acquires the data and index information for each data address information of data read; determining index information data index information corresponding to each piece of data, the data is stored address information corresponding to each of the data of the first address offset index corresponding to the index information recording area; data addresses of all data in the data file after the index information is stored into the recording area corresponding to the index creation completion data to save space and increase the reading speed.


The authors are well known in the area of speech and language pathology, and the information in the book seems valid and reliable. Although their preface states the aim of the book is to provide a "single, complete practical source for the graduate student or practicing clinician," the latter may find that texts less broad in scope are more suited to their needs. However, the organization of the book makes it easily readable. Each chapter begins with a summary of its purpose, and clear headings subdivide the material. Chapters end with examination and interview formats and useful lists of resources, as well as complete references. The appendices present a list of standardized tests and a glossary of terms. I particularly like the authors' eminently practical suggestions, which should prove useful to beginning clinicians. For example, Dr Hutchinson specifies how to structure an examining room. Displaying sensitivity to students, she also


Thermodynamic properties were obtained for negative ions of the lower boron oxides by means of the Knudsen cell-mass spectrometer method over the temperature range 1623-2100 K. Second and third law studies were conducted involving negative ions with neutral atoms and molecules for the reactions BO(g)+Cl–(g)= BO–(g)+ Cl(g), BO2(g)+ Cl–(g)= BO–2(g)+Cl(g). The heats of formation ΔHf298 for the negative ions BO– and BO–2 were obtained from the reaction thermodynamics as –71.9±2.0 and –159.3±2.0 kcal/mol, respectively. The electron affinities were E.A.(BO)= 71.9±2.0 kcal/mol and E.A.(BO2)= 82.3±3.0 kcal/mol.


Under occlusion,an image matting technique is first used to extract the object,and an image segmentation method is then used to realize inpainting.The matting technique based on an auto-method of foreground object extraction is improved,the occlusive object removed,and then the background image extracted to accomplish the inpainting work.And the image inpainting method based on fuzzy C-means clustering with edge detection is proposed.Experimental results show that the proposed method works well in the inpainting of damaged image.


Many inadequacies are noted in transfer of patients to higher centres of care. This descriptive cross-sectional study was done to investigate some aspects of this issue. Data were collected from 116 patients who were transferred to a general medical ward at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL) over a period of 3 months. Many inadequacies were noted in documentation, obtaining consent, accompanying medical personnel and appropriateness of transfer. Based on the findings some recommendations are made for future improvement.


The goal of this study was to develop and explore a closed‐chest animal model of sustained VT. Seven of 11 domestic pigs had successful induction of myocardiai infarction by injection of agarose gel microbeads into the left anterior descending coronary artery tbrougb an inflated balloon angioplasty catheter. Four of the first five pigs died and seem to represent a "learning experience." During a 3‐ to 50‐day follow‐up period, each pig underwent 1 ‐3 electropbysiological studies. Sustained, monomorpbic VT was induced 1–4 times in 5 of the 7 pigs (a total of 19 episodes), was reproducible during the same study in all pigs, and could be repetitively induced during successive studies in some. Ventricular fibrillation was induced less frequently (nine episodes) and was successfully terminated by DC shock in eight episodes. We conclude tbat a closed‐cbest pig model of VT is feasible and is associated witb a relatively bigb induction rate of sustained, monomorpbic, and reproducible VT and a relatively low mortality rate.


To ensure improved peformance and achieve organizational results, practitioners in industry must extend their eforts beyond the classroom to the workphce.


Introduction Ischaemic heart disease consists of a spectrum of disorders in which unstable angina acts as a bridge to worsening outcome. Methods Myocardial ischaemia occurs when there is an imbalance between coronary blood flow and myocardial demand. Morbidity is determined by the degree of coronary artery narrowing and the number and length of the stenoses. There are multiple triggers of myocardial ischaemia which interact with each other. Myocardial ischaemia itself can have harmful feedback effects, including left ventricular dysfunction, leading to a vicious cycle. Results Nitrates, beta-blockers and calcium antagonists have all been shown to improve morbidity. European Society of Cardiology guidelines suggest that first-line therapy in angina pectoris should be with a single agent. Combination therapy with two agents may be beneficial, but triple therapy does not appear to confer any advantage. To date, only aspirin and the lipid-lowering agents have been shown to improve mortality and this is an important area for research. Conclusions Although medical therapy is reasonably effective at reducing symptoms in angina pectoris, considerable numbers of patients still require invasive procedures. Novel agents or more appropriate use of currently available therapies are needed.


This paper introduces a global uncertainty propagation scheme for the attitude dynamics of a rigid body, through a combination of numerical parametric uncertainty techniques, noncommutative harmonic analysis, and geometric numerical integration. This method is distinguished from prior approaches, as it allows one to consider probability densities that are global, and are not supported on only a single coordinate chart on the manifold. It propagates a global probability density through the full attitude dynamics, instead of replacing angular velocity dynamics with a gyro bias model. The use of Lie group variational integrators, that are symplectic and remain on the Lie group, as the underlying numerical propagator ensures that the advected probability densities respect the geometric properties of uncertainty propagation in Hamiltonian systems, which arise as consequence of the Gromov nonsqueezing theorem from symplectic geometry. We also describe how the global uncertainty propagation scheme can be applied to the problem of global attitude estimation.


In recent years, the IT industry in Korea has grown so rapidly that Korea now hold the best technology of this area. To support this development, the statute for security of this area was recently enacted. Also, as the size of M&A of companies becomes bigger, the international trade also has grown. Following this kind of change, the laws regarding science-technology, intellectual-industry and intellectual-property have more grown. In the same vein, the special concern on the reformation of the systems of the Criminal Code and the relevant statutes. In this paper, the issues of the laws regarding science-technology, intellectual-industry and intellectual-property are analyzed to look for the better policy of statutory reformation. These works mainly aim for the reformation of unnecessary and doubled penal provisions to incorporate into the Criminal Code. If it is impossible to incorporate the penal provisions into the Criminal Code, other types of reformation of the statutes will be considered. This paper cover lots of areas of the statutes and the relevant issues, so that it is very difficult to analyze or arrange. Therefore, the entire subject is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the criminal provisions in the statutes regarding industry-regulation and trade and the second part deals with the criminal provisions in the statutes concerning science-technology and information. The crimes regarding industry is the concept which comprises the crimes regulating the statutes concerning industry development and industry security. the crimes of company and trade is the crimes which inflicts harm on national security and competitive power of domestic industry. These concepts are not from typical criminal law but created in the area of recent penal policy. Therefore, each statute is vulnerable to the change of our society and thus is so sensitively changed for elements and types of punishment. The statutes of industry development and industry security contains the penal provisions that is similar to those in the Criminal Code. Although it seems that these seemingly doubled penal provisions would rather be incorporated into the Criminal Code, it does not look easy to do it because each penal provision has its own significance. The penal provisions in the areas of industry as well as trade is very sensitive to the development of industry. Each statute regarding industry and trade has different purpose and trait but has in common the system of direct and indirect regulation on the release of technology. Also, some other countries punish the offense of release of business and trade secrecy. Like this, considering recent trends of this area inside and outside of Korea, the incorporation of relevant penal provision looks to be justifiable.


The purpose of the paper is to show relationships between the stock of labour and economic growth in the XXI. century, and especially to show the shares of this factor in economic growth. The empirical basis of the research is based on the statistical data for Poland and groups of the EU countries in the years 2000–2019. The research indicates the indicators of the shares of employment growth in GDP growth (the so-called absorption indicators) are in Poland much lower than in the country groups of the Eurozone, EU 15 and EU 27. Estimations of the limits of jobless growth indicate they are in Poland much lower in the years 2000–2019 than earlier, and moreover their levels are in Poland much higher than in the mentioned country groups.


JUnit is a very classic unit testing framework used in Java, deserving deep study and research. This paper analyzes file structure, design patterns and the extension so as to better test software by JUnit.


Storm and combined sewer collection systems can fill rapidly during large precipitation events leading to a dynamic condition referred to as geysering in which…


An introduction of ActiveX automation technology and the ActiveX automation interface of AutoCAD R14 is given in this paper, the solution of automatically extracting information from title block and list of materials of AutoCAD drawing are presented, and the source codes of core technology are listed. A software package implemented using such solution demonstrates its advantage in practice.


This report summarizes progress during the past year in the following areas of nuclear structure and reaction theory: Meson interactions with nucleons and nuclei, including elastic and inelastic scattering of pions, three-body theories of scattering and absorption of pions by deuterons, ..pi..-p bremsstrahlung, and multiple-excitation models for meson absorption by heavier nuclei. Studies of the inverse scattering problem including /sup 1/S/sup 0/ nucleon-nucleon scattering; the relativistic two-body problem, particularly for relativistic effects at low energies: the unitary-pole expansion in nucleon-nucleon scattering with hard-core interactions. Statistical spectroscopy including: strength distributions and sum rules(both energy weighted and inverse energy weighted) for nuclear excitations; fluctuations and correlations in spectra, strengths and expectation values; studies of Garvey-Kelson and similar mass relationships; spectroscopy in huge spaces including spectral methods for renormalization of the interaction and for using (two + three)-body Skyrme interactions; technical aspects of operator averaging.


Over the past years, sophisticated air-conditioning systems have been icreasingly installed in many museums, archives, and libraries. However, serious damage has been reported in materials kept in mechanically controlled environments, resulting from the improper design, installation, maintenance, or operation of these systems. Furthermore, in some historical buildings, the installation of such systems may not be a practical or reasonable solution to improve environmental conditions. This article investigates the feasibility and aplicability of ventilation strategies to control microbial activities in historical buildings. The efficacy of ventilation to arrest and decrease microbial activities was experimentally assessed in contaminated environments and cellulose materials located in the basement of the National Historic Archive in Madrid (Spain). Microbial analyses were carried out in a room modified for the performance of experiments under conditions simulating hot and humid microenvironments. The temperature and relative humidity were varied to determine the minimal ventilation required for controlling fungal and bacterial growth. Ventilation has been found to be a practical and effective method for reducing microbial growth in museums, libraries, and archives, even in a high relative humidity environment, providing a viable and cost-effective alternative to air-conditioning systems.


Software Defined Radio (SDR) enables the execution of many hardware-based operations through software. With an open-source LTE software and an SDR, we are able to run a LTE base station on a PC or a portable and low-cost device. At the same time, simple devices such as Raspberry Pi can be turned into WiFi APs. In this work, we will work on the developed LTE/WiFi integration solution using OpenAirInterface software that implements the LTE eNB and the core network.


Objective:To explore the diagnostic value of glycosylated hemoglobin test in gestational diabetes mellitus.Methods: One hundred and twenty patients with GDM were divided into normal pregnancy women group,impaired glucose tolerance group and gestational diabetes mellitus group,each with forty patients.The fasting blood sugar,oral glucose 50 g screen and HbA1c were measured by automated biochemical instrument.Results:There was no difference in the levels of FPG group GCT between normal pregnancy group and impaired glucose tolerance group(P0.05).Compared with those in impaired glucose tolerance group,the levels of FPG, GCT,HbAlc in GDM group were significantly increased with significant difference(P0.01).The positive rate of HbAlc in normal pregnancy women group,impaired glucose tolerance group and gestational diabetes mellitus group were 2.5%,25%and 80%,respectively, which were significantly different(P0.05).The screening sensitivity,specificity,reliability,positive prediction of HbAlc was 80%,95%, 90%,95%,respectively.Conclusions:The HbAlc test is effective in diagnosis and monitoring of gestational diabetes mellitus,which is rapid,simple,practical,little sample of less blood,less susceptible to other factors.


Based on Fogg's Functional Triad, we develop a model to explain how a feature of persuasive technologies can influence usage intention by shaping an individual's beliefs in regard to the Functional Triad. Specifically, we operationalize the Functional Triad by adopting the constructs of perceived usefulness, perceived medium function, and perceived social presence, respectively. We investigate the trade-off transparency of an online decision aid as a persuasive feature of a computing technology. Through an experimental study, the results show that 1) perceived tool function, perceived medium function, and perceived social actor function all significantly influence intention to use a computing technology; 2) trade-off transparency influences the perceptions of these three functions; and 3) the three functions fully mediate the effect of trade-off transparency on usage intention. Implications for researchers and technology designers are also discussed.


The uptake and distribution of stable 133Cs and 88Sr in sunflower(Helianthus annuus L.) were studied by pot experiments.The results showed that the content of 133Cs or 88Sr in leaf increased with the increasing soil concentration of each element.The 88Sr content in sunflower leaf was generally one order of magnitude higher than that of 133Cs in each same treatment level.The 133Cs and 88Sr were unevenly distributed in the different organs.The 133Cs concentration was higher in roots than in other plant organs(stems,leaves,flowers).Contrary to the distribution of 133Cs in plant,88Sr,except for roots,were mainly translocated to leaves.The distribution of cesium and strontium are agreed with the results of present research on radioactive 137Cs and 90Sr,133Cs and 88Sr could be useful to understand and predict the long-term movements of 137Cs and 90Sr,respectively.Sunflower is the acceptable plants for phytoremediation to the low-level radioactive soil.


Environmental damages such as the detachment of original surfaces caused by cavity formation under the surface of natural stone and ceramic objects are usually not externally visible. Envirromental influences as temperature and humidity fluctuations, particularly when frost or saline accumulation forms can result in the generation of cracks, gaps, and even full detachment of parts of artwork in the exterior area. By using terahertz time domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS), we illustrate this promising method to locate and measure small subsurface cavities. This method is applied to produce three-dimensional images and pulsed terahertz "time-of-flight" measurements of the cavities.


The drying rate and water content of fresh jujube was one of the main technological indices for the evaluation that a jujube variety was good or not. The determination method of dry matter and natural water content in fresh jujube was introduced by the writer and the dry matters and natural water contents in fruit of 21 jujube varieties of Binzhou City in Shandong Province were determined and cam pared, so as to provide scientific basis for vast farmers to optimize planting structure and plant good jujube varieties with local conditions.


The forms that assessment takes are widely recognised as determinants of educational practice. This paper, however, argues that a teacher's professional consciousness is a more fundamental determinant of teaching practice. To explore the issue, this paper examines data from a larger study which set out to examine the relationship between teachers' practice and their beliefs in the context of a mandatory school-based assessment scheme. Using a theoretical framework that advocates an emancipatory approach to educational changes, it was found that some teachers adopted a passive role regarding policy interpretation and implementation while others adopted a more critical stance in interpreting the policy requirements, demonstrating a more proactive approach in its implementation. The emancipatory approach is conceptualised in terms of three key dimensions: professional confidence, professional interpretation and professional consciousness. The findings of the study carry implications for teacher professional development.


A direct numerical simulation of a spatially developing turbulent boundary layer with a large-eddy breakup (LEBU) device was performed to investigate the influence of the LEBU device on the near-wall turbulence and frictional drag. The LEBU device, which is thin and rectangular in shape, was located at 80% of the boundary layer thickness (δ). The LEBU device reduced the skin-friction coefficient (Cf) up to 17%. The breakdown of the outer structures passing through the LEBU device reduced the energy of the long wavelength motions (λz+>200) along the wall-normal direction. The reduction of Cf mainly arose from the contribution of the Reynolds shear stress by the difference in the spatial coherence of the outer high- and low-speed structures. We investigated the relationship between the large-scale motions and the velocity–vorticity correlations (vωz and −wωy), which directly contribute to Cf. The contributions of vωz and −wωy accounted for 80% of the total Cf reduction. The amount of the Cf reduction induce...


We show that a crystal base exists for any Kirillov-Reshetikhin module of type Dn(1), generalizing the result of Kang et al. for the end nodes of the Dynkin diagram of Dn.


This paper expounds the concept of the green building materials and the inevitability of the occurrence of the green building materials,introduces the developing outline and the certification procedure of the green building materials in some developed countries,and puts forward some problems existing in and developing directions of the green building materials in China.


Safety culture surveys have been fielded in many different sectors of industrial activities. Many of these surveys consist of a long list of questions which is time consuming for the respondents. As part of the FP6 HILAS project a shorter survey has been developed, which aimed at getting a high response rate. The survey should give insights into employees' views about safety, safety culture and climate. It is aimed at identifying issues for improving safety performance in rapidly developing airlines. The survey has been conducted in a globally operating aviation organisation. 1921 employees responded, which corresponds to 68% of the workforce. Each set of statements had a comment field to explain or illustrate answers. In addition to quantified scores to assess the employees' perceptions, we got many and valuable comments. The comment fields give more insight in the areas in which the employees have concerns.


The structure and working principle of hydraulic tension system of endless-rope winch were described. The mathematical models of hydraulic tension system based on ignoring some of the minor factors were built,and the related parameters of transfer function of mathematical models were obtained according to the known parameters of endless-rope winch transport system. The model was simulated and analysis by using the Simulink module of MATLAB software. Finally the tensioning system has gained better dynamic characteristics through correction by the proportional integral and differential( PID) controller.


The utility model relates to a solar constant temperature system of a swimming pool. The solar constant temperature system comprises a solar heat collecting plate, an expansion tank, a solar work station, a heat exchange water tank and a gas furnace, wherein the solar heat collecting plate is connected with the heat exchange water tank through a pipeline, the expansion tank and the solar work station are arranged on the pipeline arranged between the solar heat collecting plate and the water exchange water tank, the heat exchange water tank is connected with the swimming pool through a pipeline, and the gas furnace is connected with the heat exchange water tank through a pipeline. The solar constant temperature system has the advantages that solar energy is utilized for heating water, the energy saving and the environment protection are realized, auxiliary heating systems including fuel gas, heat pumps and the like are adopted, the control is convenient, and the water temperature of the swinging pool is kept constant in four seasons of the year.


The invention discloses a household hybrid power supply system which comprises a DC/DC converter, a two-way AC/DC converter, a first-stage DC bus, a second-stage DC bus, an AC bus, an automatic switch device (1) and a storage battery pack. The automatic switch device can be used for setting different power supply modes according to different power utilization environments so as to control energy flow direction among different modules. The AC bus is divided into two channels respectively connected with an uninterruptable power supply load and an interruptible power supply load. The storage battery pack is connected with the second-stage DC bus. Solar energy or electric power output by wind-driven power generation can be converted so that grid connection function is achieved, dynamic or static support or reactive power compensation is provided for a power grid, and power mutation of the power grid and impact to the power grid are relieved. In addition, the household hybrid power supply system has power generating and supplying functions, can optimize conventional energy supply ways, is widely used for household power supply in the future, and has effects of supplying clean energy 24 hours, minimizing loss of the power grid and maximizing benefits for users.


There are gene polymorphisms which can impact on the pharmacodynamics of anticancer agents used in the treatment of colorectal cancer. It is the case for thymidylate synthase, for methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase and for UGT 1A1. Polymorphisms of UGT 1A1 are considered as potential indicators of a risk of toxicity treatment by irinotecan. Clinical trials are in progress so as to validate the clinical usefulness of these germinal genetic analyses so as to select treatments/doses adapted to individual profiles.


An object-oriented model is presented for optimized scheduling of repetitive construction projects such as: high-rise buildings, housing projects, highways, pipeline networks, bridges and tunnels. The model provides a number of practical features, and incorporates newly developed algorithms for scheduling of repetitive construction projects including: (1) a resource-driven scheduling algorithm for repetitive activities; (2) an interruption algorithm; and (3) an optimization procedure. The scheduling algorithm identifies the scheduled start and finish times as well as the assigned crew for each unit of a repetitive activity. The algorithm provides a schedule that complies with precedence relationships, crew availability and crew work continuity constraints, and considers the impact of a number of practical factors commonly encountered during scheduling. The interruption algorithm generates feasible interruption vectors for each repetitive activity in the project and provides added advantage over available formulations that consider arbitrary user-specified interruption vectors. The optimization procedure is based on a dynamic programming formulation. Unlike available dynamic programming formulations, the present formulation is capable of incorporating cost in the optimization process, thus offering valuable support to project team members in minimizing the overall cost of the project. For each repetitive activity in the project, the present model assists the planner in selecting the optimum crew formation and interruption vector from a set of possible alternatives. As such, the model can be used to evaluate the impact of different project acceleration strategies (i.e. multiple crews, increased crew size, overtime policies, or additional shifts) on the overall cost. The present model is implemented as a prototype software system. The system is developed as a 32-bit windows application that supports user-friendly interface including menus, dialog boxes, and windows. A number of application examples are analyzed to illustrate the use of the model and demonstrate its capabilities. The model can be used as a decision support system for generating optimized schedules for repetitive construction projects. This should contribute to cost-effective delivery of constructed projects.