In the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico, Precambrian rocks are overlain by a thin but complex sequence of sandstone and limestone of pre-Pennsylvanian age. These rocks, formerly classed variously as the lower limestone member of the Sandia formation, and the Arroyo Penasco formation, are here divided into two new formations on lithologic bases. The lower formation, consisting of sandstone, sandy dolomitic limestone, and crystalline and clastic limestone, is here named the Espiritu Santo formation. The Espiritu Santo formation ranges in thickness from a trace to more than 80 feet, with an irregular but general increase in thickness from south to north. No fossils of undoubted stratigraphic significance have been found in this formation. On the basis of stratigraphic position and lithologic similarity to rocks of Devonian age in Colorado, the Espiritu Santo formation is classified as Devonian (?). Overlying the Espiritu Santo formation, with widespread erosional unconformity, is a sequence of limestone breccia and conglomerate, crystalline limestone, and calcarenite here named the Tererro formation. The Tererro formation has been divided into three members. In ascending order these are the Macho, Manuelitas, and Cowles members. The Macho member is composed of limestone breccia derived in large part from solution and collapse of cavernous parts of the upper part of the Espiritu Santo formation, and in minor part from collapsed parts of the overlying Manuelitas member. The Manuelitas member rests unconformably on the Macho member and is composed of crystalline limestone, limestone pebble and cobble conglomerate, and calcarenite. At many places these beds were involved in collapse into large sinkholes in the Macho member and Espiritu Santo formation during deposition of the Manuelitas member. The Cowles member rests unconformably on the Manuelitas member and is composed of a lower unit of calcarenite and an upper unit, present locally, of marly quartz siltstone and intercalated limestone beds. The Tererro formation ranges in thickness from a trace to 130 feet in the southern part of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and from 6 to 48 feet thick farther north. A sparse faunule found in the Manuelitas member indicates Early Mississippian age for that part of the Tererro formation. The Tererro formation is overlain with erosional unconformity by sandstone and coaly shale beds of the Sandia formation, as here restricted, of Early Pennsylvanian age.


Introduction The critical need for novel therapeutic approaches to pancreatic cancer treatment is clear. Genistein, a naturally occurring isoflavonoid, is active against certain solid malignancies, but its effect on pancreatic cancer is unknown. Aims To investigate the bioactivity of genistein in experimental pancreatic cancer in vitro and in vivo. Methodology The effect of intraperitoneal genistein administration on local tumor growth and metastatic disease was determined in an orthotopic nude mouse model. Apoptosis in tumor specimens was determined by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)–mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) technique. In vitro, the effect of genistein on cell growth was assessed by cell count and MTT (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) colorimetric assay. Apoptosis was determined in vitro by DNA laddering and annexin-V. Caspase-3 and nuclear factor–&kgr;B activity were measured following genistein treatment. Results In vivo, genistein significantly improved survival, almost completely inhibited metastasis, and increased apoptosis in an orthotopic model of pancreatic cancer. In vitro genistein treatment resulted in apoptosis in all pancreatic cancer cell lines tested, and this appeared to be mediated by activation of caspase-3. Conclusion These findings suggest that the antimetastatic effect of genistein treatment in vivo is mediated by induction of apoptosis. Genistein may have a therapeutic benefit for patients with pancreatic cancer, in particular after surgery, to prevent recurrence of metastatic disease.


Adoption of high yielding wheat varieties is one of the measures presumed to enhance wheat yield in Ethiopia. However, there are several socioeconomic and institutional factors that limit the adoption of high yielding wheat varieties. The main objective of this study was to identify factors affecting adoption of high yielding wheat varieties in Mao-Komo district of Benishangul-Gumuz, Ethiopia. The study used cross-sectional data collected from sample of 174 farm households selected through two-stage stratified random sampling techniques. Descriptive statistics and econometric models were used to analyze the data. Probit model was employed for adoption analyze of high yielding wheat varieties. The probit model result depicted that land holding size, tropical livestock unit, access to agricultural information, frequency of extension contacts, off-farm income, and perception of farmers toward attributes of high yielding wheat varieties affected the likelihood of adoption of high yielding wheat varieties positively and significantly. But, sex of household heads, and affiliation to organizations had negative and significant effect on the likelihood of adoption of high yielding wheat varieties. The findings suggest that the government and stakeholders should need to focus on improving farm land and livestock productivity, strengthening frequency of extension visits, encouraging participation in off-farm activities, creating reliable information and awareness towards farmers' perceptions in the area. Finally, further support of high yielding wheat varieties adoption should be given due attention for smallholders. Keywords: Adoption, High yielding wheat varieties, Smallholder, Binary probit DOI : 10.7176/JNSR/9-12-03 Publication date :June 30 th 2019


In times of the "Brexit" and "America First" policies, several industrialized countries' governments are turning toward more national-oriented migration policies. Simultaneously, societal aversion to immigration is growing. Both trends are sending negative signals to highly skilled employees and making immigrants feel that they are no longer welcome. Consequently, international careers are becoming uncertain, risky, and unpredictable. This new reality in industrialized knowledge-based economies may affect firms' talent pool and the skill set available to a country. To shed light on the new environment of international human resource management, we interviewed Mary Yoko Brannen and David Collings, leading experts in the field, to explore their perspective on how the field is changing. The interviews reported here uncover fascinating insights, including the need to counteract the globalization fears in the West of the predominantly White working and lower-middle class through education. Companies may also rethink their organizational boundaries and the notion of traditional employees by using their agility to counteract the political forces harming their talent pool strategy.


The effects of the peptide inhibitor acetyl pepstatin on the structural stability of the HIV‐1 protease have been measured by high sensitivity calorimetric techniques. At 25°C and pH 3.6, acetyl pepstatin binds to HIV‐1 protease with an affinity of 1.6 × 107 M‐1 and an enthalpy of 7.3 ± 0.5 kcal/mol, indicating that binding is not favored enthalpically and that the favorable Gibbs energy originates from a large positive entropy. Since the binding of acetyl pepstatin is associated with a negative change in heat capacity (−450 cal/K⋅mol) the association reaction becomes enthalpically favored at temperatures higher than 40°C. The presence of the inhibitor stabilizes the dimeric structure of the protease in a fashion that can be quantitatively described by a set of thermodynamic linkage equations. The combination of titration and differential scanning calorimetry provides an accurate way of determining binding constants for high affinity inhibitors that cannot be determined by titration calorimetry alone. A structure‐based thermodynamic analysis of the binding process indicates that the stabilization effect is not distributed uniformly throughout the protease molecule. The binding of the inhibitor selectively stabilizes those conformational states in which the binding site is formed, triggering a redistribution of the state probabilities in the ensemble of conformations populated under native conditions. As a result, the stability constants for individual residues do not exhibit the same change in magnitude upon inhibitor binding. Residues in certain areas of the protein are affected significantly whereas residues in other areas are not affected at all. In particular, inhibitor binding has a significant effect on those regions that define the binding site, especially the flap region which becomes structurally stable as a result of the additional binding free energy. The induced stabilization propagates to regions not in direct contact with the inhibitor, particularly to the strand between residues Pro9 and Ala22 and the helix between Arg87 and Gly94. On the other hand, the stability of the strand between Asp60 and Leu76 is not significantly affected by inhibitor binding. The structural distribution of binding effects define cooperative pathways within the protease molecule. Proteins 1999;36:147–156. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The process of extracting phenols from schistous tar using extractants based on water solutions of technical ethanol with concentration of 70% is considered in this article. According to chromato-mass-spectrometric (CMS) analysis, initial schistous tar contains 28.29 % of summary phenols, after extraction with 70% alcohol solution this had dropped by 8.76 %. According to results of laboratory studies, the best extraction properties were identified as occurring with 70% water ethanol of schistous tar with the ratio 1:1. As we see from obtained data, after extraction with ethanol, phenol content in tar is decreased by up to 8.76 %. After elimination of phenols, schistous tar might be applied as hydrocarbonic material for future processing into motor or boiler fuel.
Keywords: Schistous tar, phenol, extraction


Since the mid 1990s the OECD, the EU and many national innovation policies have pointed to universities as the most important direct providers of solutions to use as sources of innovations for growth and societal welfare. Also, through their respective governments, universities are exposed to rather detailed requirements on how to fulfil the increased direct utilisation of research results. This paper takes a closer look at how two internationally recognised universities from the same country, namely Sweden, addressed the innovation commission. A case study investigates how the Karolinska Institute and Uppsala University interpreted and implemented the Swedish government's commission on an increased utilisation of publicly funded research for innovation. The main finding is that both universities' ways of fulfilling this commission are more directed towards 'betting' on potential innovations than on 'muddling through' the context of innovation.


Aluminum composites containing 10wt. % of Al2O3 with 3 µm size of particles have been produced using powder metallurgy (PM) method and wear behavior of the composites were tested under dry condition. A comparison is also made with SiCp reinforced Al composite produced at the same conditions. The wear rate of both types' composites increased with all applied loads, but wear rate of the composites was a strong function of normal load rather than that of type of particles used for the manufacturing MMCs. Furthermore, the wear rate of Al-Al2O3 composite was smaller than that of Al-SiCp reinforced composite, but not indicating significant differences on it. Moreover, SEM examination showed that plastic deformation was the dominant type of wear for the Al2O3 particle reinforced MMCs, but the fragmented-deformed layer of particles was more effective for the SiCp reinforced MMCs due to more fracturing of particles.


This work studies physical-level characteristics of the recently proposed compacted matrix instruction scheduler for dynamically-scheduled, superscalar processors. Previous work focused on the matrix scheduler's architecture and argued in support of its speed and scalability advantages. However, no physical-level implementation or models were reported for it. Using full-custom layouts in a commercial 90 nm fabrication technology, this work investigates the latency and energy variations of the compacted matrix and its accompanying logic as a function of the issue width, the window size, and the number of global recovery checkpoints. This work also proposes an energy optimization that throttles unnecessary pre-charges and evaluations. This optimization reduces energy by 10% and 18% depending on the scheduler size.


The mechanism of emergence of robust quantum criticality in Yb- and Ce-based heavy electron systems under pressure is analyzed theoretically. By constructing a minimal model for quasicrystal Yb15Al34Au51 and its approximant, we show that quantum critical points of the first-order valence transition of Yb appear in the ground-state phase diagram with their critical regimes being overlapped to be unified, giving rise to a wide quantum critical regime. This well explains the robust unconventional criticality observed in Yb15Al34Au51 under pressure. We also discuss broader applicability of this mechanism to other Yb- and Ce-based systems such as β-YbAlB4 showing unconventional quantum criticality.


ABSTRACT: In recent years Russia has undergone radical changes in all spheres of life, prompted by the transition from a centrally planned economy to an open market-based economy. Dramatic changes such as privatization, the development of private business entities, and foreign investment in the Russian economy have brought changes in the accounting field, including those arising from a decision to adopt the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). While Russia has not yet implemented IFRS in full for all types of businesses, it has made considerable steps over the years to introduce IFRS into its accounting system. From 2012, Russia is adopting IFRS fully for publicly listed companies. This paper provides an overview of the changes in accounting education that have ensued from the decision to adopt IFRS, including the educational reforms that have taken place. The paper reviews these changes from a historical perspective and investigates existing problems caused by the transition.


This is a case report describing successful treatment of a challenging case of an 18-year old previously healthy high school male student with multifocal tuberculosis involving the spleen and mediastinal and abdominal lymph nodes confirmed by histopathology of splenectomy tissue. The patient initially responded well to antituberculosis therapy with complete resolution of fever and improvement in his general health and weight. However, two months after initiation of anti-tuberculosis therapy, the patient developed paradoxical reaction manifest as recurrence of fever that persisted for five months and was associated with enlargement of lymph nodes. The fever failed to abate with continuation of the same antituberculosis therapy. Despite reassurance that the fever was due to a prolonged paradoxical reaction, a decision was made by the family to seek advice in another hospital where lymphoma was excluded again by histopathological examination of an excisional lymph node biopsy that revealed caseating granulomatous lymphadenitis and negative tuberculosis stain, culture, and polymerase chain reaction. The patient was continued on anti-tuberculosis therapy and treated with corticosteroids that resulted in complete resolution of fever and subsequent full recovery from his tuberculosis.


Abstract How can unwritten histories of gender, and, in particular, colonial histories, be recovered? In this paper, emphasis is placed on unwritten albeit materialised traces of history. Instead of concentrating solely on texts and images produced by diverse European colonial agents, the focus of analysis consists in objects made by Papua women — the pieces of bark cloth or maro that were made and used as loincloths by Humboldt Bay and Lake Sentani women. As a dress for initiated and married women only, maro was strongly associated with ideas about the female body. For European travellers and collectors, its presence as well as its absence, was linked to prevailing European notions about sexuality and civilisation. Yet bark cloth also reveals a localised dialogue between colonised women and men in interaction with predominantly male Europeans. This paper thus shows how a gendered colonial history is embodied in things.


BACKGROUND: Pharmacy faculty manpower has been debated within the academic pharmacy community over the last several decades. Previous investigations studied job satisfaction among faculty members, but have not evaluated faculty retention and turnover among academic pharmacy departments. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate retention and turnover rates in the departments of Pharmacy Practice and Basic Science (Pharmacology/Toxicology, Pharmaceutics, Medicinal Chemistry) over the last 5 years. METHODS: Individual instructors and assistant, associate, and full professors across 80 colleges of pharmacy in the US were tracked between the years 1996 and 2001 using the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy published rosters. Differences between departments were analyzed by year-stratified cross-tabulation table analysis. RESULTS: A greater percentage of Pharmacy Practice faculty resigned (10.6%) compared with Basic Science faculty (6.0%; percent ratio 1.76; 95% CI 1.58 to 1.95; p < 0.001), which remained constant across each academic year. Approximately 2.7 faculty members left their academic institutions per year in Pharmacy Practice compared with 1.1 faculty members in the aggregate of Basic Science departments. A higher percentage of women resigned in Pharmacy Practice (13.2%) than did men (8.7%; percent ratio 1.5; 95% CI 1.34 to 1.68; p < 0.001), despite a 1.3-fold male to female ratio. Likewise, regardless of a 4.1-fold male to female ratio in the Basic Science group, a higher percentage of women resigned (8.0%) than men (5.5%; percent ratio 1.45; 95% CI 1.18 to 1.78; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Over a 5-year period, Pharmacy Practice exhibited a higher turnover compared with Basic Science. Women displayed significantly higher turnover than men across all pharmacy academic departments. New retention approaches, especially for female faculty members, should be explored.


Background In transfusional siderosis, the iron binding capacity of plasma transferrin is often surpassed, with concomitant generation of non-transferrin-bound iron. Although implicated in tissue siderosis, non-transferrin-bound iron modes of cell ingress remain undefined, largely because of its variable composition and association with macromolecules. Using fluorescent tracing of labile iron in endosomal vesicles and cytosol, we examined the hypothesis that non-transferrin-bound iron fractions detected in iron overloaded patients enter cells via bulk endocytosis. Design and Methods Fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry served as analytical tools for tracing non-transferrin-bound iron entry into endosomes with the redox-reactive macromolecular probe Oxyburst-Green and into the cytosol with cell-laden calcein green and calcein blue. Non-transferrin-bound iron-containing media were from sera of polytransfused thalassemia major patients and model iron substances detected in thalassemia major sera; cell models were cultured macrophages, and cardiac myoblasts and myocytes. Results Exposure of cells to ferric citrate together with albumin, or to non-transferrin-bound iron-containing sera from thalassemia major patients caused an increase in labile iron content of endosomes and cytosol in macrophages and cardiac cells. This increase was more striking in macrophages, but in both cell types was largely reduced by co-exposure to non-transferrin-bound iron-containing media with non-penetrating iron chelators or apo-transferrin, or by treatment with inhibitors of endocytosis. Endosomal iron accumulation traced with calcein-green was proportional to input non-transferrin-bound iron levels (r2=0.61) and also preventable by pre-chelation. Conclusions Our studies indicate that macromolecule-associated non-transferrin-bound iron can initially gain access into various cells via endocytic pathways, followed by iron translocation to the cytosol. Endocytic uptake of plasma non-transferrin-bound iron is a possible mechanism that can contribute to iron loading of cell types engaged in bulk/adsorptive endocytosis, highlighting the importance of its prevention by iron chelation.


Abstract:This article takes so-called migrant labor fiction in South Korea as an opportunity to think about the long-standing question of the politics of representation. Looking at recent fiction from Kim Insuk, Kim Chaeyŏng, and Kang Yŏngsuk, Hanscom argues that whatever its avowed politics, a text presenting the experience of the migrant laborer must claim a certain veracity or proximity to the real to achieve its effects. That the crossing of geopolitical borders is figured in these examples through the fantastic representation of speech outside of linguistic difference does not diminish the need to think through such representations in terms of the problem of realism, for which fiction is comprehended and valued to the extent that it expresses the actuality of the subject. In these stories, this actuality comes to the reader in two linked forms: the mundanity of the everyday, particularly the trope of urban poverty and the figure of the common people; and the imagined divorce of speech from ethnic-national or cultural context. What the essay finds is that rather than presenting a transcultural ideal of post-national community, representations of speech in these stories instead retain a culturalist impulse for which the "tie of language" remains linked to the "tie of blood." Beyond the interpretation of an empathetic surface politics that aims to persuade the reader of the humanity of the laborer, culture remains linked to an economy of human types signaled by linguistic belonging.


Accurate mathematical calculations are a critical skill that nurses must demonstrate in order to safely administer medications. This study was designed to investigate differences in mathematical calculation ability and mathematical anxiety for a group of baccalaureate nursing students (n = 56) and a group of undergraduate students majoring in fields other than nursing (n = 56). Results showed the nursing students had significantly lower mathematical skills test performance than the non-nursing students. No group differences were found for mathematical anxiety. These results are consistent with previous findings that indicate that nursing students are seriously deficient in mathematical skills. The greater deficiency in mathematical skills performance noted in the nursing group indicates that nursing education must consider more selective admission requirements related to mathematics. Mathematical calculation skills must be evaluated early in the program of study and educational opportunities to increase mathematical proficiency must be planned throughout the nursing program.


BACKGROUND
 Use of real-time continuous glucose monitoring (rtCGM) systems has been shown to be a low-pain, safe, and effective method of preventing hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia in people with diabetes of various age groups. Evidence on rtCGM use in infants and in patients with conditions other than diabetes remains limited.

 OBJECTIVE
 This case study describes the off-label use of rtCGM and the use of an open-source app for glucose monitoring in a newborn with prolonged hypoglycemia secondary to transient congenital hyperinsulinism during the perinatal period.

 METHODS
 The Dexcom G6 rtCGM system (Dexcom, Inc) was introduced at 39 hours of age. Capillary blood glucose checks were performed regularly. In order to benefit from customizable alert settings and detect hypoglycemic episodes, the open-source rtCGM app xDrip+ was introduced at 9 days of age.

 RESULTS
 Time in range (45-180 mg/dL) for interstitial glucose remained consistently above 90%, whereas time in hypoglycemia (<45 mg/dL) decreased. Mean glucose was maintained above 70 mg/dL at 72 hours of life and thereafter. Daily sensor glucose profiles showed cyclic fluctuations that were less pronounced over time.

 CONCLUSIONS
 While off-label use of medication is both common practice and a necessity in newborn infants, there are few examples of off-label uses of medical devices, rtCGM being a notable exception. Real-time information allowed us to better understand glycemic patterns and to improve the quality of glycemic control accordingly. Severe hypoglycemia was prevented, and measurement of serum levels of insulin and further lab diagnostics were performed much faster, while the patient's individual burden caused by invasive procedures was reduced. Greater customizability of threshold and alert settings would be beneficial for user groups with glycemic instability other than people with diabetes, and for hospitalized newborn infants in particular. Further research in the field of personal and off-label rtCGM use, efficacy studies evaluating the accuracy of low glucose readings, and studies on the differences between algorithms in translating raw sensor data, as well as customization of commercially available rtCGM systems, is needed.


In 2002, an examination was carried out of a small quartz vein at the knoll of Cnoc Dubh, a few hundred metres from the southern shores of Loch Ceann Hulabhig on the Isle of Lewis (NGR: NB 2318 2998). The vein proved to have been worked in prehistoric time, defining it as a quarry, and it was measured, photographed and characterized. In the present paper, the Cnoc Dubh quartz quarry is presented in detail, to allow comparison with other lithic quarries, and it is attempted to define attributes diagnostic of prehistoric exploitation, and to schematically describe the 'mining operations' by which the quartz was procured. As part of this process,quartz quarrying is compared to the procurement of other lithic and stone raw materials, mainly drawing on research from Scandinavia, Australia and the USA, and the location of quartz quarries in relation to prehistoric settlements is discussed. The average distance between quartz sources and Neolithic–Bronze Age sites on Lewis is then used to discuss ownership of, and access to, prehistoric quartz sources, as well as the possible exchange of quartz.


A flight investigation to determine the effectiveness of an automatic aileron trim control device installed in a personal airplane to augment the apparent spiral stability has been conducted. The device utilizes a rate-gyro sensing element in order to switch an on-off type of control that operates the ailerons at a fixed rate through control centering springs. An analytical study using phase-plane and analog-computer methods has been carried out to determine a desirable method of operation for the automatic trim control.


The scope of this thesis is to develop knowledge and methods, based on mathematical programming, for the Maritime Fleet Renewal Problem (MFRP). The MFRP consists of finding the best modification of the current fleet of ships by adding or removing ships. Ships can be added and removed in several ways (e.g. second-hand market, charter, new build, demolition). Modifications are done pursuing the shipping company's objective while meeting the market requirements.This thesis consists of four research papers describing and improving the state-of-research relative to the MFRP. Given the high volatility in the shipping business, particular emphasis is put on handling uncertainty. For this reason, the new methods proposed are based on stochastic programming, which consists of mathematical programming when parameters are described by distributions.The first paper presents a survey of the scientific literature on the MFRP. The paper, in the first part, analyzes and categorized past research contributions to the problem. In the second part, based on the analysis of the gap between the available methods and the industrial needs, the paper proposes new research direction.The second paper presents a new stochastic programming model for the MFRP. The new model improves the available ones by considering more real-life elements of the problem, and uncertainty extended to several market parameters. Based on the case of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, a major liner shipping company, the paper shows the benefits of including uncertainty in the model, and suggests in which market conditions uncertainty is more important.The third paper presents a solution method for multistage stochastic programs with a special structure which is also present in the MFRP. The method is tested on the MFRP but can solve general multistage mixed-integer stochastic programs with the same structure. Tests show that the method outperforms commercial optimization software on medium and large instances.Finally, the fourth paper presents a method to numerically evaluate a model of the uncertainty affecting the problem. The method evaluates the importance of individual properties of the model of the uncertainty.


This paper is about few-shot instance segmentation, where training and test image sets do not share the same object classes. We specify and evaluate a new few-shot anchor-free part-based instance segmenter (FAPIS). Our key novelty is in explicit modeling of latent object parts shared across training object classes, which is expected to facilitate our few-shot learning on new classes in testing. We specify a new anchor-free object detector aimed at scoring and regressing locations of foreground bounding boxes, as well as estimating relative importance of latent parts within each box. Also, we specify a new network for delineating and weighting latent parts for the final instance segmentation within every detected bounding box. Our evaluation on the benchmark COCO-20i dataset demonstrates that we significantly outperform the state of the art.


OBJECTIVE: In this study, the relationship between osteoporotic vertebral fractures and 9041 Guanine/Adenine and 3673 Guanine/Adenine polymorphisms related to the vitamin K epoxide reductase complex subunit-1 (VKORC1) gene in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis was investigated. METHOD: DNA was isolated from blood samples collected from 150 women with postmenopausal osteoporosis. Genotyping of the two polymorphic regions (9041 Guanine/Adenine and 3673 Guanine/Adenine) in VKORC1 was performed using polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. The presence of radiographic fractures among the 150 patients was ascertained by using the Genant method. RESULT: At least one fracture was detected in 98 patients, and no fracture was observed in 52 patients on radiological images. We found no association between the 9041 Guanine/Adenine (p=0.283) and 3673 Guanine/Adenine (p=0.232) polymorphisms of the VKORC1 gene and the development of secondary postosteoporotic fractures in our study. CONCLUSION: There was no relationship between osteoporotic vertebral fracture and VKORC1 gene polymorphism in a postmenopausal Turkish population.


Introduction The concept of "Death Anxiety" has been used to denote the apprehension often created by human awareness o f the possibility of death and dying. For example, humans are unique in the sense that they must learn to live with and adapt to the awareness o f their own ephemeral existence. Similarly, confronting the inevitability of death and its related anxiety is a universal psychological problem faced by most human beings. For nurses working in palliative care, death is an unmistakable reality regardless of experience and understanding. This means that within the process of helping individual patients and their families cope with death and dying these nurses have a central responsibility for providing emotional and social support for the very phenomenon that most threatens their own ephemeral existence. Given the universality o f death anxiety, it is academically both interesting and most challenging to investigate how death anxiety might interact with such other variables as burnout and aspects o f caring. It is also interesting to note that to date there are no studies that specifically look at possible cause and effect or association between death anxiety, caring and burnout. Aim This thesis investigates the relationship between caring, death anxiety and burnout among palliative care nurses with a view to understanding the possible interaction of these three variables. Methodology A correlational survey design was used to look for relationships between death anxiety and burnout among palliative care nurses working in hospice, hospital and community settings. A total of 213 nurses completed the 25 item Templer's Revised Death Anxiety Scale, the 22 item Maslach Burnout Inventory, the 5 item Social Support Scale and the 13 item Sources of Pressure Measurement Scales. Spearman's rho correlation was used to establish associations between variables of interest, and multiple regression to determine significant predictor variables of burnout. The Kruskal-Wallis test, tested for significant differences in the mean scores of death anxiety and measures of burnout. Results The results show a positive and moderate correlation between death anxiety and burnout. No correlation was found between death anxiety and age/gender. No correlation was found between burnout and age/gender. Social support was negatively correlated with emotional exhaustion (the first stage of burnout) that is, the more social support nurses received, the less emotional exhaustion they felt and the need to depersonalise their care was minimal. Caring shows as a unique statistically significant predictor of emotional exhaustion. The more nurses felt unable to control psychological pain and other symptoms, the more their death anxiety and burnout levels increased. Of the 98 hospice nurses, 91% showed moderate levels of death anxiety, while 8% showed high levels. O f the 78 hospital nurses, 92% showed moderate levels of death anxiety, while 6% showed high levels. Of the 31 nurses from the community, 87% showed moderate levels o f death anxiety, while 13% showed high levels. Of the 98 hospice nurses, 35% showed moderate levels of Emotional Exhaustion (EE), while 20% showed high levels. Of the 78 hospital nurses, 30% showed moderate levels o f EE, while 22% showed high levels. The 31 nurses from the community, 45% showed moderate levels of EE, while 23% showed high levels. Discussion These results are consistent with previous studies particularly from North America. High levels of death anxiety and burnout may interfere with nurses' ability to provide high quality care or engage in reflective practice. Implications of these findings for clinical practice and future research are discussed. These findings are timely for managers, educators and policy makers in devising ways of supporting palliative care nurses if they are to continue caring for dying patients effectively, and without the danger of developing burnout and death anxiety.


As peanuts age, the lipid component deteriorates, and the peanuts become rancid. The Health Department of West em Australia has received numerous complaints from consumers who are unsatisfied with the quality of peanuts they have purchased from certain grocers. Presently there is no standard methodology for detecting rancidity in peanuts, thus enabling grocers to continue selling peanuts of poor quality. In an attempt to overcome this problem, a standardised methodology needs to be developed, which will enable offending grocers to be prosecuted. The three methodologies trialed were the Peroxide Value (PV), Acid Value (AV), and Fatty Acid Profile (F AP) methods. In order to test these methodologies fresh raw peanuts were aged under various environmental conditions, primarily heat and light. The aging process occurred over an 8 week period, with samples being tested for PV, AV, and F AP periodically. The 40°C, and 60°C peanut samples were found to have little on the quality of the peanuts. It was found that the peanuts exposed to sunlight aged more rapidly than any of the other peanut samples. Overall the peanuts were found to be more susceptible to rancidity when exposed to heat, oxygen, and light at the same time, rather than exposure to only dry heat. The PV, AV, and FAP methodologies were all effective in detecting changes in the peanut oil. On the basis of the results from this study, none of the methodologies trialed could be singled out as being the best method for detecting rancidity in peanuts. However, the PV, and AV methods were found to be faster, and less costly than the F AP method. It is suggested that using the PV, and AV methods for determining rancidity in peanuts would provide enough evidence for prosecution. If further evidence is required, then perform an F AP test, otherwise it is best suited for other purposes, since the PV, and AV adequate evaluate the quality of peanuts. Detection of Rancidity in Peanuts I certify that this thesis does not, to the best of my knowledge and belief (!) incorporate without acknowledgment any material previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any institution of higher education; (ii) contain any material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text; or (iii) contain any defamatory material. Sophe Lee Williamson Date: 13 .JJ.. -rlov.fMJJU-2. 12 'if? lV Detection of Rancidity in Peanuts V


This paper investigates the pavement friction–texture relationship, using a decomposition method of the pavement texture that is part of a new signal processing technique called 'Hilbert–Huang transform' to develop a texture parameters–friction relation. This method allows the empirical decomposition of the texture profile to a set of basic profiles in a limited number, called 'intrinsic mode functions' or IMFs. From the obtained IMFs, a set of four new functions called 'base intrinsic mode functions' or BIMFs, are introduced and are characterised from the density and sharpness of the peaks contained in the individual BIMFs. Then these two parameters are correlated with the pavement friction using different combinations. This procedure is applied to a set of texture and friction data measured through test roads in France. The textures and frictions are measured using, respectively, the Circular Texture Meter and the Dynamic Friction Tester in France and also on a number of test sites in the USA. The obtained results show a good correlation between some of the BIMF parameters (density and sharpness) and friction.


Siamese networks have become a common structure in various recent models for unsupervised visual representation learning. These models maximize the similarity between two augmentations of one image, subject to certain conditions for avoiding collapsing solutions. In this paper, we report surprising empirical results that simple Siamese networks can learn meaningful representations even using none of the following: (i) negative sample pairs, (ii) large batches, (iii) momentum encoders. Our experiments show that collapsing solutions do exist for the loss and structure, but a stop-gradient operation plays an essential role in preventing collapsing. We provide a hypothesis on the implication of stop-gradient, and further show proof-of-concept experiments verifying it. Our "SimSiam" method achieves competitive results on ImageNet and downstream tasks. We hope this simple baseline will motivate people to rethink the roles of Siamese architectures for unsupervised representation learning. Code is made available.1


The molecular dynamics simulations are performed with single-crystal copper thin films under uniaxial tensile and cyclic loading to investigate temperature effects on the mechanical responses. With the changes of sample temperatures in uniaxial extension, the variation characteristics of maximum stress, the Young's modulus, the maximal potential energy, the atomic structure of the emerging dislocation, and activation volume and activation free energy at the maximum stress point make us identify and explain the critical temperature for the transition of deformation mechanism in a temperature range from 293 to 460 K. Under cyclic loading, with raising temperature, the number of cycles to failure of copper films increases under different manners in different temperature range, which can be explained by our constructing model based on the evolutionary features of dislocation. Thus, the mechanisms of the strange temperature dependence of tensile and cyclic deformation have been explained. When the temperature is above 370 K, the rate controlling mechanism is dislocation climbing during uniaxial loading, and the number of cycles to failure goes up quickly with temperature; when below 370 K, the mechanism of uniaxial tensility is mainly characterized by the overcoming of Peierls–Nabarro barrier and a few localized pinnings, the number of cycles rises slowly; and when about 370 K, the mechanism in single-axial tension is pipe diffusion, the number of cycles increases at middle speed.


This article suggests a multidimensional globalization measure, encompassing economic, (socio)technological, cultural and political dimen- sions of global change. This measure builds on previous work by Dreher, Lockwood and Redoano, the OECD and Kearney, but extends it by additional dimensions and indicators that represent central facets of a genuine sociologi- cal concept of globalization. The article first describes in detail the multidi- mensional nature of the globalization process and then develops an overall sociological index of globalization, which the authors call GlobalIndex. This index covers the development of globalization in 97 different countries from 1970 to 2002. Using the GlobalIndex, the authors describe the development of globalization on a worldwide scale as well as for different country contexts. Finally, they include the GlobalIndex as an explanatory variable in two micro- level longitudinal analyses of labour market transitions during the early career period in Germany and the UK.


: The literature has produced sufficient evidence to suggest that spinal manipulation may be more effective than standard medical care in the management of painful musculoskeletal conditions; most notably that of low back pain. However, much of the research has been severely criticized because of poor methodological design characteristics, the incorporation of systematic bias and the increased likelihood of making serious beta errors. This review identifies the essential components which distinguish 'good' clinical research and critically appraises the nearly four dozen clinical trials of spinal manipulation which have been published to date. It was observed that only the randomized control clinical trials demonstrated sufficient rigor to adequately control the data collection and analysis but agreement about the clinically relevant outcomes of manipulative therapy still have not been consistently demonstrated.


Synthetic biology has emerged as a multidisciplinary field that provides new tools and approaches to address longstanding problems in biology. It integrates knowledge from biology, engineering, mathematics, and biophysics to build—rather than to simply observe and perturb—biological systems that emulate natural counterparts or display novel properties. The interface between synthetic and developmental biology has greatly benefitted both fields and allowed to address questions that would remain challenging with classical approaches due to the intrinsic complexity and essentiality of developmental processes. This Progress Report provides an overview of how synthetic biology can help to understand a process that is crucial for the development of multicellular organisms: pattern formation. It reviews the major mechanisms of genetically encoded synthetic systems that have been engineered to establish spatial patterns at the population level. Limitations, challenges, applications, and potential opportunities of synthetic pattern formation are also discussed.


Wireless Mesh Networks have attracted attention because of the advantages of these broadband access networks. The Round Weighting Problem has been addressed as an effective relaxation of the joint routing and scheduling in the case of steady state operating networks. We propose a new robust model considering traffic demand uncertainty, efficiently solved by column generation, and quantify the price of robustness, i.e., the additional cost to pay in order to obtain a feasible solution for the robust scheme. Results show that the robust approach has the potential to outperform existing methods.


ABSTRACT The association of binucleate Rhizoctonia (BNR) AG-K with soybean and the interaction of BNR, R. solani AG-4, and soybean seedlings were investigated to elucidate the mechanism of biocontrol of R. solani by BNR. Sixty-hour-old seedlings were inoculated and incubated in a growth chamber at 24 degrees C; plants were examined with light microscopy and with scanning and transmission electron microscopy at various times following inoculation. BNR grew over hypocotyls, roots, and root hairs, but only colonized epidermal cells. Hyphae of BNR appeared to attach to the epidermis and, 5.5 h following inoculation, began penetrating cells by means of penetration pegs without forming distinct appressoria or infection cushions. There was evidence of cuticle degradation at the point of penetration. Infection hyphae moved to adjacent epidermal cells by direct penetration of epidermal radial walls. There were epidermal and cortical cell necrosis, beginning with the fragmentation of the tonoplast and followed by the disintegration of cytoplasm, organelles, and plasma membranes. Cell necrosis was also observed in adjacent cells where there was no evidence of BNR hyphae. Cell walls were not destroyed. After 144 h, there was noevidence of BNR hyphae in cortical cells. Attempted penetrations were observed, but papillae formed on the inside of cortical cell walls. Pre-inoculation of soybean seedlings with BNR 24 or 48 h before inoculation with R. solani (1 cm between inocula) affected the growth of R. solani on soybean tissue. There were fewer hyphae of R. solani, the hyphae branched sparingly, and infection cushions were rare when compared with hyphal growth on soybean inoculated only with R. solani. These effects were observed before the BNR hyphae began to intermingle with the hyphae of R. solani on the surface of the inoculated host. Preinoculation of soybean seedlings 24 h before inoculation with R. solani significantly (P = 0.05) reduced disease incidence and severity caused by R. solani AG-4. The lesions caused by R. solani always appeared distally, not proximally, to the BNR inoculum. The interactions of intermingling hyphae of BNR and R. solani were examined in vitro and on the surface of the host. There was no evidence of lysis, mycoparasitism, inhibition of growth, or any other form of antagonism between hyphae. The results of these studies strongly suggest that induced resistance is the mechanism of biocontrol of R. solani on soybean by BNR. The inhibition of hyphal growth of R. solani on the surface of soybean tissue preinoculated with BNR appears to be a novel characteristic of induced resistance.


DiffServ networks support three forwarding classes: EF (expedited forwarding); AF (assured forwarding); BE (best effort). Scheduling algorithms based on priority queueing, such as Cisco LLQ (low latency queueing) and MDRR (modified deficit round robin), seem to be a natural choice to provide an EF service. The main problem with priority queueing is that, due to lack of service isolation, QoS to AF classes may not be guaranteed if EF traffic is bursty. As an alternative, fair queueing schedulers can provide service isolation and guarantee QoS to all classes by reserving certain bandwidth. However, over-provisioning required by the EF service leads to low bandwidth utilization. We propose a bandwidth-efficient scheduler to provide QoS guarantees to both EF and AF classes. Simulation results show that the proposed scheduler outperforms Cisco MDRR in guaranteeing QoS to AF classes and excels fair queueing schedulers in bandwidth utilization.


For point sets A,B ⊂ Rd, |A|=|B|=n, and for a parameter ε > 0, we present an algorithm that computes, in O(n poly(log n, 1/ε)) time, an ε-approximate perfect matching of A and B with high probability; the previously best known algorithm takes Ω(n3/2) time. We approximate the Lp-norm using a distance function, d(•,•) based on a randomly shifted quad-tree. The algorithm iteratively generates an approximate minimum-cost augmenting path under d(•,•) in time proportional to the length of the path. We show that the total length of the augmenting paths generated by the algorithm is O((n/ε)log n), implying that the running time of our algorithm is O(n poly(log n,1/ε)).


Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a condition that has garnered more attention in the profession of pharmacy in recent years as a result of being more commonly diagnosed in both adult and pediatric populations. With new medications available, pharmacists need to be knowledgeable about how these products may affect patients, especially children. It is crucial to understand pharmacists' perceptions and knowledge of ADHD and its treatments to optimize their provision of treatment for these patients. Due to the lack of literature dedicated to pharmacists' knowledge, familiarity, confidence, and perceptions as it relates the condition of ADHD and its treatments, the objectives of this study are to measure community pharmacists' knowledge of, familiarity with, confidence in counseling for, and perceptions of, ADHD and associated treatments for children. The study objectives were met by employing a descriptive, cross-sectional design. Responses were generated using a self-administered survey that was distributed electronically to Mississippi pharmacists using Qualtrics Survey Software. The results of this study demonstrate that Mississippi pharmacists are generally knowledgeable and comfortable in their role as dispensers of ADHD medications for children and also in counseling patients and families about those medications. However, there still appears to be some need for supplemental education in the form of continuing education or enhanced pharmacy school education to reinforce pharmacists' knowledge about pharmacological treatments. Pharmacists were less knowledgeable and familiar with diagnosis of ADHD and non-pharmacological treatments, which is expected given their practice area. The question to be asked is whether education for pharmacists in these latter areas is necessary, especially if they are not specialists in ADHD. It can be argued that pharmacists would benefit from training in ADHD outside of pharmacological treatments. As the most accessible healthcare professional, pharmacists are likely to be called on by families of patients with ADHD for guidance. Additionally, a collaborative healthcare team approach should be taken between doctor, pharmacist, and therapist to ensure the patient's ADHD is not only being handled through medication therapy, but through a holistic approach.


In this paper, eight indicators such as inventory turnover ratio were selected, and the company's business performance indicators were constructed by using principal component analysis. A model was established based on the data of listed companies in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry from 2010 to 2020, and the heterogeneity of property rights and dynamic panel analysis were conducted to study the relationship between R&D investment, compensation gap and company business performance, taking into account the differences in the nature of property rights and lags of variables. The study found that: firstly, there is an "inverted U-shaped" effect of R&D investment on company business performance, which is common in private enterprises but not obvious in state-owned enterprises; secondly, there is a lagged effect of R&D investment, and company business performance in the previous period will have a positive effect on business performance in the current period; thirdly, there is a positive effect of pay gap on company business performance, and there is a positive effect of pay gap on company business performance. Thirdly, there is a positive effect of pay difference on company's operating performance, and the effect of pay difference on operating performance is greater in state-owned enterprises. Finally, the article proposes countermeasures for planning R&D investment, balancing compensation differences and improving operating performance of listed companies in pharmaceutical manufacturing industry in the light of the research findings, and provides an outlook on future research directions in view of the shortcomings in the article.


Polysaccharides are the dominant components of a plant cell wall. Chemically the plant cell wall consists of cellulose microfibrils embedded in a matrix of hemicellulose and pectin. The matrix polysaccharides are made in the Golgi from nucleotide sugars and are then exported to the cell wall. The goal of this thesis is develop in vitro and in vivo NMR methods to study nucleotide sugar interconversions that lead to the starting products for matrix polysaccharide synthesis and to analyze the data using multivariate statistical methods. The in vitro method included the detection of UDP-Apiose formation from UDP-Glucuronic acid in presence of UDP-Apiose/xylose synthase. The organelle method was developed to study the interconversion of nucleotide sugars within the Golgi apparatus.


This paper mainly deals with the preparation and performance of microencapsulated paraffin insulation mortar. Silane coupling agents are used to modify the surface of the microencapsulated paraffin, and fibers are introduced to solve the cracking of microencapsulated paraffin insulation mortar. Research has been carried out on the effect of the type and dosage of silane coupling agents and fibers on the performance of insulation mortar, the result of which shows that KH550 and polypropylene fiber are of good performance and that their optimum dosages are 13% and 0.3% respectively, the dosage was referred to as the percentage according to the weight of cement.


The [1-14C]acetate and [1-14C]glycine incorporation into hydrophilic and hydrophobic components of total phospholipids molecules was investigated in the rat brain. The intensity of phospholipid metabolism was identified as a relative specific activity of phospholipids carbon skeleton. The rate of labelling fatty acids and hydrophilic fractions of total phospholipids was different with these precursors. The incorporation of [1-14C]acetate into the carbonic part of fatty acid components was more rapid than into the water soluble fraction. The labelling of the hydrophilic phospholipid fraction was more rapid with [1-14C]glycine than with [1-14C]acetate. There were practically no labelling of fatty acids with the former precursor. These differences between both labelled precursors indicate that the rate of their conversion in the brain tissue is relatively low.


This paper discusses the recurrence and the recurrent limitations of liberalism as a general discourse, strategy, and regime. It then establishes a continuum of neoliberalism ranging from a project for radical system transformation from state socialism to market capitalism, through a basic regime shift within capitalism, to more limited policy adjustments intended to maintain another type of accumulation regime and its mode of regulation. These last two forms of neoliberalism are then related to a broader typology of approaches to the restructuring, rescaling, and reordering of accumulation and regulation in advanced capitalist societies: neoliberalism, neocorporatism, neostatism, and neocommunitarianism. These arguments are illustrated in the final part of the paper through a critique of the World Report on the Urban Future 21 (World Commission 2000), both as an explicit attempt to promote flanking and supporting measures to sustain the neoliberal project on the urban scale and as an implicit attempt to naturalize that project on a global scale.


Gradient-dependent plasticity where a characteristic length is involved to consider the microstructural effect (interactions and interplaying among microstructures due to the heterogeneous texture) and the measured nonlinear shear stress-shear strain curves for different loading strain rates are used to calculate the distribution of local temperature rise in adiabatic shear band (ASB) for aluminum-lithium alloy specimen of thin-walled tube in dynamic torsion test. ASB is assumed to initiate just at peak shear stress in the specimen. The temperature rise in ASB is decomposed into the uniform temperature rise in strain-hardening stage and the nonuniform temperature rise in strain-softening stage. The former depends on the measured nonlinear shear stress-shear strain curve prior to the peak, the density, the work to heat conversion factor and the heat capacity. The latter is related to the softening branch of the measured nonlinear shear stress-shear strain curve, the internal length parameter and the physical parameters. For binary Al-Li alloy, the predicted maximum temperatures in ASB are 413K at strain rate of 2000s-1 and 433K at strain rate of 2600s-1. These peak temperatures are lower than the recrystallization and phase transformation temperatures. Higher loading strain rate results in higher pre-peak and post-peak temperature rises, steeper profile of local temperature and higher peak local temperature in ASB. These predictions qualitatively agree with the previously analytical solution for ductile metal exhibiting linear strain-softening behavior beyond the peak shear stress based on gradient-dependent plasticity.


This thesis will examine the interactions of a cloud of charged vortex rings (CVRs) in the low temperature limit in helium-II (0.2 < T < 0.8 K) in a cubic cell containing a quasi-uniform electric field. A model of geometric collisions between vortex rings is proposed to explain the observed critical density of CVRs given by nR^3 ~ 3 cm^{-1} R where n is the CVR number density and R is the average CVR radius. This model was simulated in a simplified situation where two perfectly circular parent CVRs collide geometrically to create two perfectly circular daughter CVRs, conserving momentum and charge and dissipating a random amount of energy. The simulations are in qualitative and quantitative agreement with experiment.For an intense injection of CVRs into a strong electric field the CVRs quickly reconnect with one another to form a tangle of charged vortex loops. These loops move as one quasi-connected unit, it was found that the charged tangle's response to forcing was given by a law of the form t3 ~ (QE)^{-1/3} where t3 is the charged tangle time of flight, Q is the charge of the tangle and E is the applied electric field. Simulations of the displacement current induced in two electrodes in the cell were run in order to glean some information as to the transverse distribution of charge in the tangle, which was found to be approximately constant with time of flight and injected charge.


Conventional uncemented femoral implants provide dependable long-term fixation in patients with a wide range of functional requirements. Yet challenges associated with proximal–distal femoral dimensional mismatch, preservation of bone stock, and minimally invasive approaches have led to exploration into alternative implant designs. Short stem designs focusing on a stable metaphyseal fit have emerged to address these issues in total hip replacement (THR). Uncemented metaphyseal-engaging short stem implants are stable and are associated with proximal bone remodeling closer to the metaphysis when compared with conventional stems and they also have comparable clinical performances. Short stem metaphyseal-engaging implants can meet the goals of a successful THR, including tolerating a high level of patient function, as well as durable fixation. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2013;95-B, Supple A:57–62.


Understanding the psychobiological basis of relapse remains a challenge in developing therapies for drug addiction. Relapse in cocaine addiction often occurs following exposure to environmental stimuli previously associated with drug taking. The metabotropic glutamate receptor, mGluR5, is potentially important in this respect; it plays a central role in several forms of striatal synaptic plasticity proposed to underpin associative learning and memory processes that enable drug-paired stimuli to acquire incentive motivational properties and trigger relapse. Using cell type-specific RNA interference, we have generated a novel mouse line with a selective knock-down of mGluR5 in dopamine D1 receptor-expressing neurons. Although mutant mice self-administer cocaine, we show that reinstatement of cocaine-seeking induced by a cocaine-paired stimulus is impaired. By examining different aspects of associative learning in the mutant mice, we identify deficits in specific incentive learning processes that enable a reward-paired stimulus to directly reinforce behavior and to become attractive, thus eliciting approach toward it. Our findings show that glutamate signaling through mGluR5 located on dopamine D1 receptor-expressing neurons is necessary for incentive learning processes that contribute to cue-induced reinstatement of cocaine-seeking and which may underpin relapse in drug addiction.


Quantum technology promises revolutionary advantages in information processing and transmission compared to classical technology; however, determining which specific resources are needed to surpass the capabilities of classical machines often remains a nontrivial problem. To address such a problem, one first needs to establish the best classical solutions, which set benchmarks that must be beaten by any implementation claiming to harness quantum features for an enhanced performance. Here we introduce and develop a self-contained formalism to obtain the ultimate, generally probabilistic benchmarks for quantum information protocols including teleportation and approximate cloning, with arbitrary ensembles of input states generated by a group action, so-called Gilmore-Perelomov coherent states. This allows us to construct explicit fidelity thresholds for the transmission of multimode Gaussian and non-Gaussian states of continuous-variable systems, as well as qubit and qudit pure states drawn according to nonuniform distributions on the Bloch hypersphere, which accurately model the current laboratory facilities. The performance of deterministic classical procedures such as square-root measurement strategies is further compared with the optimal probabilistic benchmarks, and the state-of-the-art performance of experimental quantum implementations against our newly derived thresholds is discussed. This work provides a comprehensive collection of directly useful criteria for the reliable certification of quantum communication technologies.


We investigated the role of interleukin 8 (IL-8) in the pathogenesis of proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). The IL-8 level in the vitreous and the blood of 20 patients with PVR was measured by a specific enzyme-linked immunoassay method. Vitreous from cadaver eyes (n = 20) was used as the control. The IL-8 level in the vitreous was between 31.3 and 65 pg/ml in 40% of eyes with PVR. IL-8 was detected neither in the blood of the patients with PVR nor in the vitreous from cadaver eyes. IL-8 levels in the vitreous did not correlate with either the grade of PVR or the duration of symptoms. These results suggest that IL-8 may play a role in the pathogenesis of PVR.


Two forms of clathrin light chains, LCa and LCb, are expressed in all mammalian and avian tissues that have been examined, whereas only one type is found in yeast. Regions of structural dissimilarity between LCa and LCb indicate possible functional diversity. To determine how LCa and LCb might differentially influence clathrin function, light chain expression patterns and turnover were investigated. Relative expression levels of the two light chains were determined in cells and tissues with and without a regulated secretory pathway. LCa/LCb ratios ranged from 5:1 to 0.33:1. A higher proportion of LCb was observed in cells and tissues that maintain a regulated pathway of secretion, suggesting a specialized role for the LCb light chain in this process. The ratio of light chains in assembled clathrin was found to reflect the levels of total light chains expressed in the cell, indicating no preferential incorporation into triskelions or coated vesicles. The half-lives of LCa, LCb, and clathrin heavy chain were determined to be 24, 45, and 50 h, respectively. Thus, LCa is turned over independently of the other subunits. However, the half-lives of all three subunits are sufficiently long to allow triskelions to undergo many rounds of endocytosis, minimizing the possibility that turnover contributes to regulation of clathrin function. Rather, differential levels of LCa and LCb expression may influence tissue specific clathrin regulation, as suggested by the predominance of LCb in cells maintaining a regulated secretory pathway.


Abstract : The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has adopted a Whole of Community approach to emergency management, and seeks to enhance emergency management outcomes through improved preparedness, response and recovery efforts. The significant amount of time and money required engaging disparate partners, technological and cultural barriers to interoperability, and a lack of training/familiarity with each other inhibits the collaboration necessary to achieve a state of shared situational awareness. A lack of shared situational awareness results in an incomplete operating picture, which complicates decision-making and can lead to inefficient preparedness, response and recovery activities. This thesis explores the terms situational awareness, shared situational awareness, collaboration and common operating picture. It argues that a common operating picture is a state of shared situational awareness achievable only through the process of collaboration, which can be greatly enhanced through a comprehensive Web 2.0 strategy. The thesis reviews FEMA's current strategy for Web 2.0, and using a structure of appreciative inquiry and successful implementations of Web 2.0 as a guide, proposes strategy adjustments for FEMA. A comprehensive Web 2.0 strategy can foster a culture of collaboration, which will significantly increase FEMA's ability to achieve enhance emergency management outcomes and support the Whole of Community. FEMA's strategy has applicability throughout the homeland security enterprise, as all agencies therein seek a state of shared situational awareness reflected in a common operating picture, and all are considered part of the Whole of Community.


Background: Herpes zoster optic neuropathy (HZON) is a rare manifestation of herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO). The aim of our study was to better characterize the clinical features, therapeutic choices, and visual outcomes in HZON. Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed at multiple academic eye centers with the inclusion criteria of all eyes presenting with optic neuropathy within 1 month of cutaneous zoster of the ipsilateral trigeminal dermatome. Data were collected regarding presenting features, treatment regimen, and visual acuity outcomes. Results: Six patients meeting the HZON inclusion criteria were identified. Mean follow-up was 2.75 months (range 0.5–4 months). Herpes zoster optic neuropathy developed at a mean of 14.1 days after initial rash (range 6–30 days). Optic neuropathy was anterior in 2 eyes and retrobulbar in 4 eyes. Other manifestations of HZO included keratoconjunctivitis (3 eyes) and iritis (4 eyes). All patients were treated with systemic antiviral therapy in addition to topical and/or systemic corticosteroids. At the last follow-up, visual acuity in 3 eyes had improved relative to presentation, 2 eyes had worsened, and 1 eye remained the same. The 2 eyes that did not receive systemic corticosteroids had the best observed final visual acuity. Conclusion: Herpes zoster optic neuropathy is an unusual but distinctive complication of HZO. Visual recovery after HZON is variable. Identification of an optimal treatment regiment for HZON could not be identified from our patient cohort. Systemic antiviral agents are a component of HZON treatment regimens. Efficacy of systemic corticosteroids for HZON remains unclear and should be considered on a case-by-case basis.


Sampled-data system's nature is the main factor that causes virtual wall to demonstrate active (non-passive) behavior, destroying the illusion of reality. To enhance the stability of haptic rendering by virtual wall model, a novel spring-impulse model based on energy conversation and momentum conversation is proposed. In the model, an impulse in the opposite direction of avatar's velocity is exerted on avatar at the instant from inner of virtual wall back to balance position during unstable state. This resistant forces eliminate extra work to reduce the non-passive behaviors of the haptic system, which lead to improved realistic rigid perceptions and system stability. The experiments have verified the effectiveness of our spring-impulse method in a virtual stiff-wall prototype system via a Phantom Omni haptic device.


This volume features a discussion of recent advances related to the cellular and molecular mechanisms mediating the generation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species and their role in the pathogenesis of human disease, with a particular focus on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. The volume brings together contributions from basic and clinical scientists in the field with unique approaches and research efforts. The information presented may help facilitate future collaborative studies that will lead to new insights into the pathogenesis of cardiopulmonary diseases characterized by excessive oxidative and nitrosative stress and may suggest innovative directions for therapeutic intervention. NOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/nyas. ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full-text access to the Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information about becoming a member


The past several decades have seen the emergence of a movement in the criminal justice system that has called for a greater consideration for the rights of victims. One manifestation of this movement has been the "right" of victims or victims' families to speak to the sentencing body through what are called victim impact statements about the value of the victim and the full harm that the offender has created. Although victim impact statements have been a relatively noncontroversial part of regular criminal trials, their presence in capital cases has had a more contentious history. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned previous decisions and explicitly permitted victim impact testimony in capital cases in Payne v. Tennessee (1991). The dissenters in that case argued that such evidence only would arouse the emotions of jurors and bias them in favor of imposing death. A body of research in behavioral economics on the "identifiable victim effect" and the "identifiable wrongdoer effect" would have supported such a view. Using a randomized controlled experiment with a death-eligible sample of potential jurors and the videotape of an actual penalty trial in which victim impact evidence (VIE) was used, we found that these concerns about VIE are perhaps well placed. Subjects who viewed VIE testimony in the penalty phase were more likely to feel negative emotions like anger, hostility, and vengeance; were more likely to feel sympathy and empathy toward the victim; and were more likely to have favorable perceptions of the victim and victim's family as well as unfavorable perceptions of the offender. We found that these positive feelings toward the victim and family were in turn related to a heightened risk of them imposing the death penalty. We found evidence that part of the effect of VIE on the decision to impose death was mediated by emotions of sympathy and empathy. We think our findings open the door for future work to put together better the causal story that links VIE to an increased inclination to impose death as well as explore possible remedies.


In this paper, we discuss Data Driven Marketing (DDM) and its use in different segments of business. We suggest DDM as an effective tool in determination of a strategic part of business management from the point of data analysis. There will be affected not only the case for the use of data driven marketing, but the algorithm by which the implementation can be applied in almost all types of business. This article will be informative for marketers and CEO in applied IT field, banking, digital agencies.


Background: Aligned with our Primary Stroke Center's goal to achieve Comprehensive Stroke Center (CSC) designation, nursing leadership met to discuss strategies to increase bedside expertise following an influx of new graduate nurses. CSCs are required to operate inpatient stroke units staffed by qualified stoke caregivers, comply with professional standards, and demonstrate a commitment to providing stroke related education. Thus, a stroke nurse fellowship (SNF) program was developed. The SNF serves as an essential resource for nursing/patient education, performance improvement, and staff retention. The purpose of this abstract is to provide an overview of the SNF Program content, implementation, and feasibility. Methods: The SNF curriculum was developed from the American Board of Neuroscience Nursing's new Stroke Certified Registered Nurse (SCRN) credentialing. The program reviews CSC standards/performance measures and provides interdisciplinary neurology rounding experiences, mock survey tracer exercises, rehab facility observation, and BAT code simulated learning. Program classes are 4 hours biweekly for 6 months and culminate with a mentored process improvement (PI) project. Potential applicants are recruited from the pool of less experienced nursing staff. Results: Nine candidates from 3 nursing units submitted applications. Seven were selected to begin the fellowship program in September, 2013. Program outcomes include percent of stroke related patient education standards documented, percent of candidates successful on SCRN examination, PI project impact, and increased nurse retention. Also, barriers and facilitators of the program will be reviewed. Conclusion: Developing a SNF program was feasible due to interdisciplinary collaboration and use of existing resources, thereby minimizing financial constraints. The SNF Program supports the UMMC's commitment to the regulatory and educational standards of a CSC. There is potential for other specialty services to use this program as a model for developing unit based experts and improving the quality of patient care.


Occasionally I hear a brilliant discourse which sends me scurrying off on the trial of more information about a particular person. It was my singular pleasure to hear such a talk on John Coakley Lettsom delivered by Dr. Edward Rose. So when I came across Abraham's biography of Lettsome: His Life, Times, Friends and Descendants in a medical book catalogue I gathered it in. Now I have read it. Who was this Lettsom? He was born in the West Indies and brought up in a family of the Society of Friends. He used the proceeds of a very wealthy practive to support charities of almost every kind. He broke ground for the employment of air and sunshine and bathing in the ocean to treat tuberculosis in the scrofulous victims of the London slums. He got the English out of fetid summer hot houses and helped to popularize holidays at ocean


Abstract. Despite the recent success of learning-based monocular depth estimation algorithms and the release of large-scale datasets for training, the methods are limited to depth map prediction and still struggle to yield reliable results in the 3D space without additional scene cues. Indeed, although state-of-the-art approaches produce quality depth maps, they generally fail to recover the 3D structure of the scene robustly. This work explores supervised CNN architectures for monocular depth estimation and evaluates their potential in 3D reconstruction. Since most available datasets for training are not designed toward this goal and are limited to specific indoor scenarios, a new metric, large-scale synthetic benchmark (ArchDepth) is introduced that renders near real-world scenarios of outdoor scenes. A encoder-decoder architecture is used for training, and the generalization of the approach is evaluated via depth inference in unseen views in synthetic and real-world scenarios. The depth map predictions are also projected in the 3D space using a separate module. Results are qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated and compared with state-of-the-art algorithms for single image 3D scene recovery.


This work describes a computer simulator for an integrated command and control (C2) multi-sensor system acting in a maritime border control scenario. The analyzed system is composed of two platforms of multiple sensors: a land based platform, equipped with a vessel traffic system (VTS) radar, an infrared camera (IR) and an automatic identification system (AIS); an airborne platform, carrying an airborne early warning radar (AEWR) and an IR camera. The mission of the system is the detection, tracking and identification of multiple naval targets inside a sea region, their threat level evaluation and the selection of an intervention against possible threat targets, in order to inspect their nature. The measures of effectiveness (MoE) of the integrated system are evaluated, i.e. the system performance during the detection, the threat evaluation process and the intervention.


The absorptive properties of the atomic transition in the Rb^85 D2 (A) line (5S1/2-5P3/2) at 780.Onm are measured by using a continuous tunable diode laser and a CCD detector in Rb vapour cell under the condition of extremely weak incident intensity. When the intensity of incident light decreases from 420pW/cm^2 to 0.03pW/cm^2, the transmittance is found to be independent of the incident intensity within our experimental accuracy.


Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors in mammals consist of five subtypes (M1-M5) encoded by distinct genes. They are widely expressed throughout the body and play a variety of roles in the peripheral and central nervous systems. Although their pharmacological properties have been studied extensively in vitro, colocalization of the multiple subtypes in each tissue and lack of subtype-specific ligands have hampered characterization of the respective subtypes in vivo. We have mapped mouse genomic loci for all five genes (Chrm1-5) by restriction fragment length variant (RFLV) analyses in interspecific backcross mice. Chrm1, Chrm2, and Chrm3 were mapped to chromosome (Chr) 19, 6, and 13, respectively. Both Chrm4 and Chrm5 were mapped to Chr 2. Although a comparison of their map positions with other mutations in their vicinities suggested a possibility that the El2 (epilepsy 2) allele might be a mutation in Chrm5, sequencing analyses of the Chrm5 gene in the El2 mutant mice did not support such a hypothesis.


La2/3(Ca0.6Ba0.4)1/3Mn1-xVxO3 (x=0, 0.03, 0.05, 0.07, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20) nanoparticles were synthesized using sol-gel technology. The experimental results reveal that, (1) the substitution of V for Mn in La2/3(Ca0.6Ba0.4)1/3Mn1-xVxO3 lowers the Curie temperature TC and the metal–insulator transition temperature TMI; (2) there exists the evident difference between the TC and the TMI for different V substitution ratio; (3) the low-temperature tunneling magnetoresistance and maximum magnetoresistance near Tc increase with the enhancement of V-doping content. Based on the tunneling magnetoresistance model and the percolation model near Curie temperature, the experimental results are explained well.


A comprehensive overview of high-performance pattern recognition techniques and approaches to Computational Molecular Biology This book surveys the developments of techniques and approaches on pattern recognition related to Computational Molecular Biology. Providing a broad coverage of the field, the authors cover fundamental and technical information on these techniques and approaches, as well as discussing their related problems. The text consists of twenty nine chapters, organized into seven parts: Pattern Recognition in Sequences, Pattern Recognition in Secondary Structures, Pattern Recognition in Tertiary Structures, Pattern Recognition in Quaternary Structures, Pattern Recognition in Microarrays, Pattern Recognition in Phylogenetic Trees, and Pattern Recognition in Biological Networks. Surveys the development of techniques and approaches on pattern recognition in biomolecular data Discusses pattern recognition in primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary structures, as well as microarrays, phylogenetic trees and biological networks Includes case studies and examples to further illustrate the concepts discussed in the book Pattern Recognition in Computational Molecular Biology: Techniques and Approaches is a reference for practitioners and professional researches in Computer Science, Life Science, and Mathematics. This book also serves as a supplementary reading for graduate students and young researches interested in Computational Molecular Biology.


The behavioral effects of 2-p-chlorophenylpyrazolo[4,3-c]quinolin-3(5H)-one (CGS 9896) were compared with those of lorazepam and zopiclone in squirrel monkeys. Two groups of monkeys were trained to respond under a fixed-interval schedule of food presentation. In one group, responding was suppressed (punished) by superimposing a fixed-ratio schedule of response-produced shock. Dose-effect curves were determined for all three drugs by administering cumulative doses i.v. during timeout periods that preceded sequential components of the fixed-interval schedule. Low and intermediate doses of CGS 9896 (0.03-3.0 mg/kg), lorazepam (0.03-0.3 mg/kg) or zopiclone (0.1-1.0 mg/kg) produced dose-related increases in the rates of both suppressed and nonsuppressed responding. The maximal increases in response rates produced by CGS 9896 were usually less than those produced by either lorazepam or zopiclone. Pretreatment with the benzodiazepine antagonist Ro 15-1788 antagonized the increases in suppressed and nonsuppressed response rates produced normally by intermediate doses of CGS 9896, lorazepam or zopiclone, suggesting that the rate-increasing effects of the three drugs are mediated similarly. CGS 9896 was studied additionally for antagonist activity by administering selected doses before lorazepam or zopiclone. Pretreatment with a high dose of CGS 9896 (5.0 mg/kg) antagonized the rate-increasing effects of both lorazepam and zopiclone, suggesting that CGS 9896 has antagonist effects in addition to its agonist effects at benzodiazepine recognition sites.


Relocalization inside pre-built maps provides a big benefit in the course of today's autonomous driving tasks where the map can be considered as an additional sensor for refining the estimated current pose of the vehicle. Due to potentially large drifts in the initial pose guess as well as maps containing unfiltered dynamic and temporal static objects (e.g. parking cars), traditional methods like ICP tend to fail and show high computation times. We propose a novel and fast relocalization method for accurate pose estimation inside a pre-built map based on 3D point clouds. The method is robust against inaccurate initialization caused by low performance GPS systems and tolerates the presence of unfiltered objects by specifically learning to extract significant features from current scans and adjacent map sections. More specifically, we introduce a novel distance-based matching loss enabling us to simultaneously extract important information from raw point clouds and aggregating inner- and inter-cloud context by utilizing self- and cross-attention inside a Graph Neural Network. We evaluate StickyLocalization's (SL) performance through an extensive series of experiments using two benchmark datasets in terms of Relocalization on NuScenes and Loop Closing using KITTI's Odometry dataset. We found that SL outperforms state-of-the art point cloud registration and relocalization methods in terms of transformation errors and runtime.


Few-shot video classification aims to learn new video categories with only a few labeled examples, alleviating the burden of costly annotation in real-world applications. However, it is particularly challenging to learn a class-invariant spatial-temporal representation in such a setting. To address this, we propose a novel matching-based few-shot learning strategy for video sequences in this work. Our main idea is to introduce an implicit temporal alignment for a video pair, capable of estimating the similarity between them in an accurate and robust manner. Moreover, we design an effective context encoding module to incorporate spatial and feature channel context, resulting in better modeling of intra-class variations. To train our model, we develop a multi-task loss for learning video matching, leading to video features with better generalization. Extensive experimental results on two challenging benchmarks, show that our method outperforms the prior arts with a sizable margin on Something-Something-V2 and competitive results on Kinetics.


Multidisciplinary and highly dynamic pHealth ecosystems according to the 5P Medicine paradigm require careful consideration of systems integration and interoperability within the domains knowledge space. The paper addresses the different aspects or levels of knowledge representation (KR) and management (KM) from cognitive theories (theories of knowledge) and modeling processes through notation up to processing, tooling and implementation. Thereby, it discusses language and grammar challenges and constraints, but also development process aspects and solutions, so demonstrating the limitation of data level considerations. Finally, it presents the ISO 23903 Interoperability and Integration Reference Architecture to solve the addressed problems and to correctly deploy existing standards and work products at any representational level including data models as well as data model integration and interoperability.


Background: Normal and pathological narcissism have been the focus of considerable theoretical discussion and empirical research in recent years in personality psychology and psychopathology. Kernberg [1-4] has argued that there is a particularly dysfunctional and impairing variant of narcissistic disturbance known as malignant narcissism. This exploratory study sought to develop, using established assessment methods, a dimensional measure of malignant narcissism that incorporates the key features of grandiose narcissism, paranoid propensities, psychopathic features, and proclivity for a sadistic and aggressive interpersonal style. Method and Sampling: This study examined 57 subjects, diagnosed with borderline personality disorder that were treated using 3 different empirically supported treatments in a previous study [5], for possible deviance on the proposed malignant narcissism index. It also evaluated 2 important clinical domains of change in relation to malignant narcissism. To wit, it was predicted, based on Kernberg's [3, 4] clinical model, that elevated levels of malignant narcissism would be significantly associated with slower rates of improvement in both general psychosocial/psychological functioning and anxiety among treated individuals. Results: Higher levels of malignant narcissism were associated, as predicted, with slower rates of improvement in both global functioning and anxiety. The proposed malignant narcissism index was a more powerful predictor of slowed improvement in global functioning than simple narcissistic personality disorder features. Conclusions: The heuristic potential of the malignant narcissism construct is discussed and the utility of a dimensional approach to this construct is explored, especially in reference employing personality traits/processes to better understand pathological configurations and personality disturbance.


Tamm I. eds. Viral and rickettsial infections of man. 4th edn. Philadelphia: JB lippincott, 1965: 562-568. 3. Acland HM, Littlejohns JR. Encephalornyocarditis virus infection of pigs. Aus' Vet J 1975; 51: 409-415. 4. Tesh RB. The prevalence of encephaJomyocarditis virus neutralizing antibodies among various human populations. Am J Trap Med Hyg 1978; 27: 144-149. 5. Littlejohns JR, Acland HM. Encephalomyocarditis virus: a potential zoonotic pathogen. Med J Aus( 1970; 2: 101. 6. Hawkes RA, Boughton CR, Nairn HM, et al. Barmah Forest virus infections in humans in New South Wales. Med J Aust 1987; 146: 569-573. 7. Cybinski DH, St George TD, Paull Nl. Antibodies to Akabane virus in Australia. Aust Vet J 1978; 54: 1-3. 8. lookers AH. Serosurvey of encephalomyocarditis virus neutralizing antibodies in southern Louisiana and Peruvian Indian populations. Am J Trop Med Hyg 1961; 10: 593-598. 9. Craighead JE, Peralta PH, Shelokov A. Demonstration of encephalomyocarditis virus antibody in human serums from Panama. Proc Soc Exp Bioi Med 1963; 114: 500-503. 10. Tesh RB, Wallace GO. Observations on the natural history of encephalomyocarditis virus. Am J Trap Med Hyg 1978; 27: 133-143. II. Pope JH, Scott W. A survey for antibodies to encephalomyocarditis virus in man and animals. Aust J Exp Bioi Med Sc 1960; 38: 447-450.


This 4-week, double-blind, randomized study was undertaken to determine the dose-response relationship of amisulpride in 319 patients with acute exacerbation of schizophrenia. Fixed doses of amisulpride (400, 800 and 1200 mg/day) and haloperidol (16 mg/day) were compared to amisulpride, 100 mg/day, as a potentially subtherapeutic dose. Efficacy data (BPRS total score and PANSS positive subscale) in the amisulpride groups generated a bell-shaped dose-response curve, with 400 mg/day and 800 mg/day being the most effective treatments for positive symptoms. Parkinsonism did not increase significantly between baseline and endpoint with amisulpride 400, 800 and 1200 mg/day compared to the amisulpride 100 mg/day group, whereas the difference was significant for haloperidol (P<0.05). It is concluded that amisulpride 400 mg and 800 mg/day is highly effective in treating the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, with less extrapyramidal side-effects than haloperidol 16 mg/day.


There are many controversial results concerning whether the intercanine could be change. The aims of this study was 1) to improve is the intercanine width will change during orthodontic treatment and 2) are ther correlation with the type of treatment. To test this hypothesis, study models of 79 patients with good condition were evaluated. This study was carried out in Orthodontic Clinic RSGM FKG – UI. The results showed that there is a significant changes in the upper and lower intercanine width in extraction group. On the other hand there was no significant changes in the upper and lower intercanine width in non extraction group.


This article starts by summarising major theoretical debates regarding European polity and governance. It highlights the role of statehood in those debates and suggests moving beyond the constraints of institutionalist and constructivist perspectives by adopting specific notions from the theory of autopoietic social systems. The following part describes the EU political system as self-referential, functionally differentiated from the system of European law, and internally differentiated between European institutions and Member State governments. Although the Union transgresses its nation-state segmentation, the notions of statehood and democratic legitimacy continue to inform legal and political semantics of the EU and specific responses to the Union's systemic tensions, such as the policy of differentiated integration legislated by the flexibility clauses. The democratic deficit of instrumental legitimation justified by outcomes, the most recent example of which is the Lisbon Treaty, subsequently reveals the level of EU functional differentiation and the impossibility of fostering the ultimate construction of a normatively integrated and culturally united European polity. It shows a much more profound social dynamics of differentiation at the level of emerging European society—dynamics which do not adopt the concept of the European polity as an encompassing metaphor of this society, but makes it part of self-referential and self-limiting semantics of the functionally differentiated European political system.


In this work, a straightforward technique for protein immobilization on Sylgard 184 is described. The method consists of a direct transfer of dried protein/salt solutions to the PDMS interface during the polymer curing. Such non-conventional treatment of proteins was found to have no major negative consequence on their integrity. The mechanisms of this direct immobilization were investigated using a lysine modified dextran molecule as a model. Clear experimental results suggested that both chemical bounding and molding effect were implicated. As a proof of concept study, three different proteins were immobilized on a single microarray (Arachis hypogaea lectin, rabbit IgG, and human IgG) and used as antigens for capture of chemiluminescent immunoassays. The proteins were shown to be easily recognized by their specific antibodies, giving antibody detection limits in the fmol range.


The article presents the results of a study of the internal structure of highly elongated diamond crystals from placers in the Krasnovishersky district of the Urals. Very elongated crystals are found within diamond-bearing placer with unrevealed primary sources. Determining the conditions of such crystals formation can help one to determine the primary deposits type. There are three hypotheses for the formation of the elongated shape of such crystals: 1) crys- tals initially elongated along the (strongly distorted octahedra); 2) individual crystals of columnar aggregates;3) elongated crystals fragments. To study the internal structure, we selected three most elongated individuals of the 155 crystals samples. The study of the internal structure of selected crystals with the usage of photoluminescent (PL) tomography, cathodoluminescence (CL), and optical microscopy has shown that these samples are fragments of lar- ger single crystals. CL imaging allowed to determine slip lines within the crystal's volume. The recorded PL spectra show the 912, 946, and 986 nm peaks, which are characteristic of crystals with plastic deformation. The revealed fea- tures are indicators of plastic deformation accompanying the destruction of the crystals. The significant dissolution following the destruction of the crystals led to the rounding of the vertices and edges of their fragments. Apparently, most of the very elongated crystals from placers with unknown sources are also highly dissolved isometric crystal fragments. The obtained results have shown that the deformation and dissolution of diamond crystals are related events characteristic of diamonds from hitherto undetected, but highly productive primary deposits.


Gibbs sampling is a Markov chain Monte Carlo technique commonly used for estimating marginal distributions. To speed up Gibbs sampling, there has recently been interest in parallelizing it by executing asynchronously. While empirical results suggest that many models can be efficiently sampled asynchronously, traditional Markov chain analysis does not apply to the asynchronous case, and thus asynchronous Gibbs sampling is poorly understood. In this paper, we derive a better understanding of the two main challenges of asynchronous Gibbs: bias and mixing time. We show experimentally that our theoretical results match practical outcomes.