ObjectiveThe aim of this project was to explore changing patterns in patient refusal to transport by emergency medical services for classified heroin overdoses and possible implications on heroin overdose surveillance in Kentucky.IntroductionAs a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Enhanced State Opioid Overdose Surveillance (ESOOS) funded state, Kentucky started utilizing Emergency Medical Services (EMS) data to increase timeliness of state data on drug overdose events in late 2016. Using developed definitions of heroin overdose for EMS emergency runs, Kentucky analyzed the patterns of refused/transported EMS runs for both statewide and local jurisdictions. Changes in EMS transportation patterns of heroin overdoses can have a dramatic impact on other surveillance systems, such as emergency department (ED) claims data or syndromic surveillance (SyS) data.MethodsAs part of the ESOOS grant, Kentucky receives all emergency-only EMS runs monthly from Kentucky Board for Emergency Medical Services, Kentucky State Ambulance Reporting System data. Heroin cases were classified based on text and medications (Narcan) administered, with comparisons to historic data discussed elsewhere (Rock & Singleton, 2018). Transportation classifications are based on EMS standard elements defining treatment with transportation vs refusal to transport to hospital and canceled runs were excluded. Initial analysis included trend analysis at state and local levels, as well as demographic comparisons of refusal vs transported heroin overdose encounters.ResultsStatewide trends in EMS heroin overdoses with refusal transport significantly increased from 5% (n=42) in 2016 quarter three to 22% (n=290) in 2018 quarter two (Fig 1). Initial demographic analysis does not show any significant difference between refusals/transported for age, gender, or race. However, there are significant differences among geographic regions in Kentucky with heroin encounter refusal proportion ranging from 3%-48% in 2018 quarter two. Specifically, one urban area (Fig 2) shows the change in proportion of refusal increasing from 15% (n=23) in 2016 quarter three to 47% (n=110) in 2018 quarter two. In this geographic area, combined refused/transported EMS heroin overdoses compared to traditional ED data demonstrates opposing heroin overdose patterns for the same local with EMS showing and increasing trend overtime and ED showing a decreasing trend (Fig 3).ConclusionsTraditional public health surveillance for heroin overdose has historically relied on ED billing data, though agencies are starting to use syndromic surveillance, too (Vivolo-Kantor et al., 2016). These systems share similar underlying ED data, albeit with different components, quality, and limitations. However, in terms of the overdose epidemic, both are limited to only heroin overdoses that result in ED hospital encounters. The recent drastic increase in refused transport can have significant impacts on heroin surveillance. Jurisdictions relying on SyS or ED data for monitoring overdose patterns and/or evaluating interventions may be significantly underestimating acute overdose occurrence in the population. This analysis highlights the importance of this preclinical data source in surveillance of the heroin epidemic.ReferencesRock, P. J., & Singleton, M. D. (2018). Assessing Definitions of Heroin Overdose in ED & EMS Data Using Hospital Billing Data, 10(1), 2579.Vivolo-Kantor, A. M., Seth, P., Gladden, ; R Matthew, Mattson, C. L., Baldwin, G. T., Kite-Powell, A., & Coletta, M. A. (2016). Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Vital Signs: Trends in Emergency Department Visits for Suspected Opioid Overdoses — United States, 67(9), 279–285. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/pdfs/mm6709e1-H.pdf


This article will review 2 clinical trials that recently compared the safety and efficacy of the oral direct thrombin inhibitor ximelagatran (fixed dose, 36 mg twice daily) with warfarin (adjusted dose, target international normalized ratio [INR] 2.0-3.0) in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation and at least 1 risk factor for stroke. These noninferiority trials involved 7329 patients and a mean exposure to study drug of 18.5 months. The Stroke Prevention Using Oral Thrombin Inhibitor in Atrial Fibrillation (SPORTIF) III (open-label, N = 3407) and V trials (double-blind, N = 3922) were designed for pooled analysis, and the data showed the efficacy of ximelagatran therapy was comparable (noninferior) with extremely well-controlled warfarin therapy in preventing stroke and systemic embolic events; the primary event rates were 1.65% per year and 1.62% per year in the warfarin and ximelagatran groups, respectively (P = .941). In patients with a history of stroke or transient ischemic attack (about 20% of the SPORTIF population), the event rates were 3.27% per year and 2.83% per year in the warfarin and ximelagatran groups, respectively (P = .625). The distribution of stroke subtypes was similar in the 2 treatment groups. Intracranial hemorrhage occurred at a rate of 0.20% per year with warfarin and 0.11% per year with ximelagatran. Combined rates of minor and major bleeding were significantly lower with ximelagatran than with warfarin (32% per year vs 39% per year; P < .0001). The myocardial infarction rates were the same in the pooled database (no difference between agents). The aspirin data will be the subject of two substudy papers. Oral ximelagatran administered without coagulation monitoring or dose adjustment was as effective as well-controlled, adjusted-dose warfarin for prevention of stroke and systemic embolic events and was associated with significantly less total bleeding. This oral direct thrombin inhibitor is a potentially promising treatment option for the prevention of thromboembolism.


Pathogen resistance genes represent some of the most abundant and diverse gene families found within plant genomes. However, evolutionary mechanisms generating resistance gene diversity at the genome level are not well understood. We used the complete Arabidopsis thaliana genome sequence to show that most duplication of individual NBS-LRR sequences occurs at close physical proximity to the parent sequence and generates clusters of closely related NBS-LRR sequences. Deploying the statistical strength of phylogeographic approaches and using chromosomal location as a proxy for spatial location, we show that apparent duplication of NBS-LRR genes to ectopic chromosomal locations is largely the consequence of segmental chromosome duplication and rearrangement, rather than the independent duplication of individual sequences. Although accounting for a smaller fraction of NBS-LRR gene duplications, segmental chromosome duplication and rearrangement events have a large impact on the evolution of this multigene family. Intergenic exchange is dramatically lower between NBS-LRR sequences located in different chromosome regions as compared to exchange between sequences within the same chromosome region. Consequently, once translocated to new chromosome locations, NBS-LRR gene copies have a greater likelihood of escaping intergenic exchange and adopting new functions than do gene copies located within the same chromosomal region. We propose an evolutionary model that relates processes of genome evolution to mechanisms of evolution for the large, diverse, NBS-LRR gene family.


Background Coronary artery disease is one of the main causes of death in industrialised countries. The recommended treatment is 'BASI' (B for beta-blockers, A for antiplatelet agent, S for statin and I for ACE inhibitors or sartans) together with appropriate treatment of major cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs). Purpose To study compliance with the standard care of coronary patients, choosing to focus on hospital discharge in the context of improving professional practise. Materials and Methods This study was conducted in two cardiology units, over 2 years. It focused on all inpatients with a positive coronary angiography. An evaluation of professional practise was conducted in 2010. Improvement actions were then taken: the results were presented to cardiologists and a booklet was written summarising good professional practise recommendations. In 2012, practise was re-evaluated through a second study. We collected and analysed information on treatment after hospitalisation, CVRFs and information in the discharge letter. Results The study included 179 patients in 2010 and 111 in 2012. Concerning drug treatment, the recommended 'BASI' treatment was prescribed in 72% of cases in 2010 versus 70% in 2012. For non-compliant treatments (i.e. other than BASI), 17% were justified in the discharge letter (BASI not indicated or contraindicated), against 16% previously. Concerning the management of CVRF, lipid analysis was performed for 94% of patients in both groups, and recorded in the discharge letter in 82% (2010) versus 77% (2012). 30% of patients with diabetes and/or obesity consulted a dietician or diabetologist in 2010 versus 44% in 2012. Last, 68% of smokers received a nicotine substitute in 2010 and 35% in 2012. Conclusions Our work shows that the recommendations are generally well respected. This may explain why, despite successive changes of junior doctors, practise has changed little during this study. However, further action will be required concerning management of CVRFs, which is still less satisfactory. No conflict of interest.


In recent years we face the growing interest in building automated diagnosis systems detecting 'normal' or 'abnormal' functioning of a system. But little is known about the distribution and shape of the data describing 'normal' functioning. The shape of the data is of paramount importance in determining the mathematical model of the data serving for the diagnosis. We got real industrial data by gathering vibration signals of a gearbox working in a mine excavator operating in time-varying conditions. The main considered problems are: what is the shape of the recorded 15-dimensional data and what kind of outliers may be found there We have used for this purpose pseudo grand tour, PCA and simple auto-associative neural network. The methods used proved to be very effective in answering our questions.


While the proximal or upper third of the rectum is readily accessible through the lower abdomen, lesions of the distal rectum are difficult to reach both from abdomen and the perineum. The transsacral approach (Kraske) gives excellent exposure of the mid and lower rectum. The experience using this approach in sixteen cases for various indications which include local excision of benign tumours, segmental excision, repair of recto-vesical fistula, perineal excision of rectum and abdominal excision of rectal carcinoma and low colo-rectal anastomosis with preservation of ano rectal sphincters is reported. In some cases where wider exposure of the rectum is required, this was easily achieved by excising the last three pieces of sacrum and/or extending below by dividing the external sphincter. While incontinence is not a long term problem, attention to technical details and creation of a temporary colostomy are necessary for all cases of excision and end-to-end anastomosis to prevent leakage and septic complications. Temporary colostomy is not required for excision of part of the circumference of the rectum as in the treatment of most benign lesions.


Abstract. Metoposaurids are a widespread and ubiquitous constituent of Late Triassic non-marine paleoenvironments. In North America, this group is practically the only large-bodied temnospondyl clade, and is particularly well documented from the American southwest and south-central regions (Arizona, New Mexico, Texas). However, metoposaurids are poorly documented from eastern North America, with fragmentary, doubtfully diagnostic historical material such as "Dictyocephalus elegans" Leidy, 1856 and "Eupelor durus" Cope, 1866. The Zions View (early Norian?) locality in Pennsylvania preserves more-complete material, which previous workers noted as belonging to "Buettneria perfecta" Case, 1922 (=Anaschisma browni Branson, 1905). However, the material has never been described in a fashion that characterizes the anatomy or that justifies the taxonomic assignment, yet it would represent the most complete material in eastern North America and a substantial expansion of this taxon's geographic range. Here we redescribe the Zions View metoposaurid material in detail, differentiating it from Calamops paludosus Sinclair, 1917, the only other Late Triassic temnospondyl from the eastern seaboard, and demonstrating confident affinities with A. browni. Our study is the first to properly justify the taxonomic referral, underscoring the broader importance of proper documentation of voucher specimens, especially for potential geographic outliers. Anaschisma browni is thus the most widely dispersed metoposaurid. Its easternmost documentation underscores the importance of the undersampled and understudied metoposaurid record on the eastern seaboard for understanding the development of a metoposaurid zone of exclusivity in North America and demonstrates the need for further exploration to refine conceptualizations of Late Triassic tetrapod evolution.


Shaft humerus fractures account for approximately 2 to 3 % of all fractures and are commonly encountered in clinical practice. Many can be managed conservatively and those that are operated can be treated by either plating or nailing techniques. This study was done to compare the two commonly performed surgical techniques. 60 patients who were admitted with fracture shaft of humerus and given operative treatment were studied for functional outcome, radiological outcome and complications of the procedure. 30 of these patients were treated with ORIF with Locking Compression plates and the remaining 30 were treated with CRIF with IMIL nails. The two groups were comparable at baseline when the demographic characteristics were compared. Follow up showed a statistically significant difference in the operative time, operative blood loss and hospital stay post-surgery all in favour of the IMIL nail group. Functional outcome in both the groups was comparable except for a statistically significant increase in the incidence of shoulder related complications, and increased risk of implant failure in the IMIL nail group. No significant difference was seen in the radiological outcome between the groups. We concluded that ORIF with locking compression plates is a better surgical option for managing humerus shaft fractures as compared to CRIF with IMIL nails due to a better functional outcome and lesser chance of implant failure, despite there being a larger volume of intra-op blood loss and longer duration of surgery.

Keywords: Shaft Humerus, Locking Compression Plates, Intramedullary Nails.


ABSTRACT Bacteriophage K is a member of the virulent Twort-like group of myophages infecting Staphylococcus aureus. The revised sequence presented here includes 12,436 bp of additional sequence not present in the previously available phage K genome (GenBank accession no. NC_005880) and updated annotations, and has been reopened at the predicted terminal repeat boundary.


Current resource allocations for water supply and sanitation are far below those required to meet basic needs, particularly in low-income countries. Many organisations supporting advocacy and arguing for change make use of the primary statistical data for Official Development Assistance (ODA) which measures donor aid flows to the sector. From 2010 onwards important changes have taken place to the way ODA is reported including disaggregation between aid flows for water supply and aid flows for sanitation. This paper reports findings from a consultative group regarding issues requiring clarification for the revised codes to be applied consistently. These include: disaggregation of water and sanitation from within integrated water sector projects; disaggregation of water and sanitation components from projects in other sectors; clarity on working definitions of 'large and basic' when reporting water and sanitation projects; capacity development that directly supports implementation; and recording the transition from projects to programme-based aid. Case studies drawn from donors9 reporting of ODA are used to illustrate key issues for users of ODA statistical information who aim to capture data on aid flows to the water sector.


An abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a focal full thickness dilatation of the abdominal aorta, greater than 1.5 times its normal diameter. Although some patients with AAA experience back or abdominal pain, most remain asymptomatic until rupture. The prognosis following AAA rupture is poor. Management strategies for patients with asymptomatic AAAs include risk factor reduction, such as smoking cessation, optimizing antihypertensive treatment, and treating dyslipidemia, as well as surveillance by ultrasound. Currently, aneurysm diameter alone is often used to assess risk of rupture. Once the aneurysm diameter reaches 5.5cm, the risk of rupture is considered greater than the risk of intervention and elective aneurysm repair is undertaken. There is increasing interest in detecting AAAs early, and national screening programs are now in place. Furthermore, there is increasing research interest in biomarkers, genetics, and functional imaging to improve detection of AAAs at risk of progression and rupture. In this review, we discuss risk factors for AAA rupture, which should be considered during the management process, to advance current deficiencies in management pathways.


ABSTRACT:In December 1998 the body of the Burkinabè novelist and newspaper editor Norbert Zongo was found in his burned-out vehicle in the village of Sapouy. He had become a victim of the impunity of the dictatorial regime of Burkina Faso's president, Blaise Compaoré. Sten Hagberg contends that the killing of Norbert Zongo characterized a certain political culture and was thus perceived as the starting point for an organized and widely mobilized sociopolitical struggle against impunity (31). Strikes and riots characterized the struggle to bring justice for Zongo and other victims for whose deaths the perpetrators had been neither tried nor punished. It was time that impunity came to an end, it was argued, before any rule of law could be real (Hagberg 219). While the critical focus has rested predominantly on the sociopolitical dynamics of this struggle, this article contends that the fight against impunity also found expression in Zongo's outspoken journalism and in his fictional work, as well as that of his contemporaries. This article traces the critique of impunity in Zongo's Le Parachutage (1989) and in the later Burkinabè novels of Patrick Ilboudo and Loro Mazono. I approach these Burkinabè novels as dictator-novels and argue that while a focus on the aesthetic qualities of these texts is important, they must also be read as part of the sustained fight for accountability in contemporary Burkina Faso.


Simulation is becoming increasingly integral to surgical training with progressive restrictions on working hours. This paper describes a unique, cable free, laparoscopic trainer that can be constructed using items readily available to the average surgical trainee. The trainer described is not a substitute for surgical practice but, nonetheless, a useful tool in developing skills such as hand-eye co-ordination, triangulation and depth queuing.


In big and crowded cities with limited urban areas, it is sometimes necessary to build twin tunnels to overcome transportation problems. In a city like Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, tunneling becomes very essential to solve effectively traffic conjunctions and associated problems. The city started to construct big tunneling projects and it is expected in the near future to start building twin tunnels. If the design and construction process of twin tunnels are not understood and considered, damage to the tunnel lining or excessive ground surface settlement may take place. In this study, the interaction between adjacent tunnels excavated through soils in Saudi Arabia has been investigated using FE analysis and the range of the encountered soil properties. The investigation considered the effect of spacing between the twin tunnels and ground conditions on tunnel behavior. The analysis focused on the effect of constructing twin tunnels on ground surface settlement, contact pressure between lining and ground, and change in tunnel diameter. Based on the results obtained, it was observed that as the compressibility ratio, c, and spacing between tunnels decreased, the interaction effect between tunnels increased. For compressibility ratio of 0.01, the excavation of the new tunnel caused an increase in the lining deformation of the old one in the range of 0.1% to 0.3%. Furthermore, the excavation of the new tunnel leads to an increase in the contact pressure at the crown of the old one by 7% - 9%. At the spring line level, the excavation of the new tunnel had almost no effect on the far side of the old one. On the other hand, and for low compressibility ratio, the new tunnel excavation significantly affected contact pressure at the near side of the old one. For an expected tunnel life of 100 years, the results show an increase in the normalized contact pressure at the crown of the old tunnel due to the excavation of the new one in the range of 2% - 7% for compressibility ratio ranging between 0.01 - 0.1, respectively.


LAY ABSTRACT
The challenge of finding autistic children, and finding them early enough to make a difference for them and their families, becomes all the greater in parts of the world where human and material resources are in short supply. Poverty of resources delays interventions, translating into a poverty of outcomes. Digital tools carry potential to lessen this delay because they can be administered by non-specialists in children's homes, schools or other everyday environments, they can measure a wide range of autistic behaviours objectively and they can automate analysis without requiring an expert in computers or statistics. This literature review aimed to identify and describe digital tools for screening children who may be at risk for autism. These tools are predominantly at the 'proof-of-concept' stage. Both portable (laptops, mobile phones, smart toys) and fixed (desktop computers, virtual-reality platforms) technologies are used to present computerised games, or to record children's behaviours or speech. Computerised analysis of children's interactions with these technologies differentiates children with and without autism, with promising results. Tasks assessing social responses and hand and body movements are the most reliable in distinguishing autistic from typically developing children. Such digital tools hold immense potential for early identification of autism spectrum disorder risk at a large scale. Next steps should be to further validate these tools and to evaluate their applicability in a variety of settings. Crucially, stakeholders from underserved communities globally must be involved in this research, lest it fail to capture the issues that these stakeholders are facing.


The new code BetaShape has been developed in order to improve the nuclear data related to beta decays. An analytical model was considered, except for the relativistic electron wave functions, for ensuring fast calculations. Output quantities are mean energies, log ft values and beta and neutrino spectra for single and multiple transitions. The uncertainties from the input parameters, read from an ENSDF file, are propagated. A database of experimental shape factors is included. A comparison over the entire ENSDF database with the standard code currently used in nuclear data evaluations shows consistent results for the vast majority of the transitions and highlights the improvements that can be expected with the use of BetaShape.


Electrically conductive and wear resistant Si3N4-based composites were developed in order to facilitate electrical discharge machining (EDM). The microstructural and mechanical properties of Si3N4-based composites with different amounts of TiC0.5N0.5, fabricated by hot pressing at 1650°C for 1 hour, are investigated and evaluated. The hardness of the micron-sized TiC0.5N0.5 powder based composites increased with increasing TiC0.5N0.5 content from 20 up to 40 vol. %, whereas the bending strength decreased. The fracture toughness reached a maximum at 30 vol. % TiC0.5N0.5 and exhibits a strong anisotropy with respect to the hot-pressing direction. The EDM behaviour of the composites is strongly influenced by the TiC0.5N0.5 content. The composites with a higher TiC0.5N0.5 content have a lower material removal rate but a better surface quality.


BACKGROUND
Since insomnia and depression are interrelated, improved sleep early in antidepressant pharmacotherapy may predict a positive treatment outcome. We investigated whether early insomnia improvement (EII) predicted treatment outcome in psychotic depression (PD) and examined if there was an interaction effect between EII and treatment type to assess if findings were treatment-specific.

METHODS
This study is a secondary analysis of a randomized trial comparing 7 weeks treatment with the antidepressants venlafaxine, imipramine and venlafaxine plus the antipsychotic quetiapine in PD (n = 114). Early insomnia improvement, defined as ≥20% reduced insomnia after 2 weeks, was assessed by the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D-17). Associations between EII and treatment outcome were examined using logistic regressions. Subsequently, we added interaction terms between EII and treatment type to assess interaction effects. The predictive value of EII was compared with early response on overall depression (≥20% reduced HAM-D-17 score after 2 weeks).

RESULTS
EII was associated with response (odds ratio [OR], 7.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.7-23.4; P = <0.001), remission of depression (OR, 6.1; 95% CI, 1.6-22.3; P = 0.009), and remission of psychosis (OR, 4.1; 95% CI, 1.6-10.9; P = 0.004). We found no interaction effects between EII and treatment type on depression outcome. Early insomnia improvement and early response on overall depression had a comparable predictive ability for treatment outcome.

CONCLUSIONS
Early insomnia improvement was associated with a positive outcome in pharmacotherapy of PD, regardless of the medication type. Future studies are needed to confirm our findings and to examine the generalizability of EII as predictor in treatment of depression.


The merger of British Petroleum and Atlantic Richfield as proposed would have made BP the sole operator and 70 percent owner of Alaska's oil fields. The Federal Trade Commission challenged the merger partly out of concern for higher West Coast gasoline prices, and required a divestiture ARCO's entire Alaskan business. However, West Coast crude prices are governed by the cost of the marginal source of supply to the region, imported oil. Because any cutback in sales of Alaskan oil on the West Coast could be offset with higher imports, with minimal impact on the import price, the merger would have raised crude prices by tenths of a penny per gallon at the most. The impact on consumer prices was even more tenuous. More serious concerns, which were given less attention, were that BP might gain monopsony power in bidding for oil leases and perhaps in negotiating with suppliers.


Research on achievement goals usually defines mastery goals as the desire to acquire knowledge, and performance goals as the desire to outperform (or not to underperform) others. Educational contexts are most of the time social contexts, involving various persons and groups, of various hierarchical positions, and various cultural and ideological contexts. Surprisingly, most research in the achievement goal field has been conducted at an individual level of analysis. In the present paper, we will review the social consequences and antecedents of goal endorsement. This research indicates that goals strongly affect the way one behaves with co-learners. Moreover, it suggests that more than merely individual dispositions, goals reflect the social relation students have with other persons, institutions, and with the society to which they belong. We conclude this paper by setting an agenda for future achievement goal research.


Background: Monthly variation in multiple sclerosis (MS) relapses has been found. The relationship between seasonal environmental factors, infections, serum vitamin D [25(OH)D] and MS relapses is undetermined. Methods: We prospectively followed a population-based cohort of relapsing-remitting (RR) MS patients in Southern Tasmania for a mean 2.3 years (January 2002–April 2005). Associations between monthly ambient environmental factors, estimated serum 25(OH)D, upper respiratory tract (URT) infections and relapse rates were examined using weighted Pearson's correlation and linear regression. Results: Of 199 definite MS patients, 142 had RRMS. The lowest relapse rate of 0.5 per 1,000 days (95% CI: 0.2–1.3) occurred in February (mid-late summer) versus the March–January RR of 1.1 per 1,000 days (95% CI: 0.9–1.3; p = 0.018, weighted regression). Monthly relapse rates correlated with: (1) prior erythemal ultraviolet radiation (EUV): lagged 1.5 months, r = –0.32, p = 0.046; (2) URT infection rate: no lag, r = 0.39, p = 0.014; (3) 25(OH)D: no lag, r = –0.31, p = 0.057. The association between URT infections and relapses was reduced after adjustment for monthly EUV. Conclusions: Relapse rates were inversely associated with EUV and serum 25(OH)D levels and positively associated with URT infections. The demonstrated lag between EUV but not 25(OH)D and relapse rates is consistent with a role for EUV-generated 25(OH)D in the alteration of relapse rates. Future work on the association between URT infections and relapses should be considered in the context of ultraviolet radiation and vitamin D.


Decentralizing water management responsibilities to water users, private initiatives and regional governments has been on the agenda of States and donors since at least the mid-1980's. These often, but not always, include more systematic efforts to organize water user organizations and higher scale network platforms and federations as new actors in local irrigation management. These reform packages have had a neo-liberal flavour and generally advocate for a reduced role of the state, water pricing, financial autonomy of irrigation agencies, and devolution of management responsibilities to lower levels. In Ecuador, NGOs and state institutions have embraced this idea for at least the last two decennia, leading to different institutional reforms, programs and policies. In the irrigation sector water users were compelled by law to organize in water user associations and slowly started to take over responsibilities of operation, administration and maintenance of the formerly State managed systems. Once these organizations were consolidated water users participation was expanded to broader spatial scales of governance. This article analyzes these changes and presents evidence of how in the last two decades new state and non-state institutions and organizations have emerged through processes of decentralization. These new centers of authority have created new fields of contestation for authority, legitimacy, resources and control that struggle to defend and further strengthen the playing fields in which they have gained autonomy, power and control. As this paper argues, the struggles that emerge in such a polycentric setting make water management a highly negotiated and politically laden issue.


Challenging conditions in a HP/HT well in the UK Central North Sea, led to the deployment of a contingent expandable liner. Under-reaming tools were needed to facilitate running of the contingent liner. Under-reaming operations are associated with a degree of uncertainty on the final hole diameter. A technology was deployed to monitor cutter position, wear and vibrations. With the aim of removing the above uncertainty. An open-hole calliper run was performed to validate the technology.
 The monitoring system utilizes an arrangement of sensors to measure variables that are critical to under-reaming operations. The sensors are housed within the expandable cutting structure of the under-reamer and comprises of a cutter block position indicator and a PDC cutting structure wear sensor. The monitoring system can also record downhole dynamics at the under-reamer. The system can therefore determine, via memory data, the actual under-reamer extension size at any point during the run, therefore allowing the minimum hole diameter to be derived. Providing immediate feedback at the rig site once the tool is at surface.
 The first run globally of the 12 ¼" × 14" size is presented, the monitoring system recorded 187 hrs of data. The cutter blocks position sensor showed the cutting structure was fully expanded as required whilst pumping at drilling flow rate once the tool was activated. The wear sensors were fully active and showed no wear for the duration of the systems battery life. A combination of the positional and wear sensors indicated full gauge hole to the recorded depth. Due to the type of contingent liner the delivery of gauge hole was critical. As such, the data was validated using a dedicated open-hole calliper run on wireline. The calliper confirmed the open-hole diameter calculated based on data provided by the wear and position sensors. Based on this result the requirement for an open-hole calliper run can be reconsidered. In addition, the acceleration recorded was well correlated with the MWD recorded vibration data and allowed parameter recommendations to be generated.
 The ability to monitor the position and status of the under-reamer cutting structure eliminates uncertainty on the final hole size following under-reaming operations and identifies any problem areas and their probable causes prior to running casing/liner. In turn this has the potential to eliminate the need for wireline runs and therefore reduce the open-hole time in a potentially unstable formation.


This study uses multiple satellite datasets to map paddy rice areas and yields for the Thai Binh Province, Viet Nam, over the summer growing season of 2015. The major datasets used are: first, surface reflectance and vegetation indices (VI) by fusing the optical observations from the Landsat sensors and the MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer; and second, the L-band radar data from the PALSAR-2 sensor onboard the Advanced Land Observing Satellite 2. We find that although the fused VI time series are not necessarily beneficial for paddy rice mapping, the fusion datasets reduce observational gaps and allow us to better identify peak VI values and derive their empirical relationships with crop-cutting yield data ($R^{2}= {\text{0.4}}$  for all the rice types, and $R^{2}= {\text{0.69}}$  for the dominant rice type −58% of all the sampled fields). The L-band radar data have slightly lower performance in rice mapping than the optical satellite data, while it has much less contribution to yield estimation than the optical data. Furthermore, our study suggests the geolocation errors of satellite images be taken into account when selecting small sample areas for crop cutting. This practice will ensure the representativeness of crop-cutting sample areas with regard to satellite observations and thus better linkages between field data and satellite pixels for yield modeling. We also highlight the need of crop-cutting data from multiple years and/or at different regions to account for the spatial and temporal variations of harvest index to improve the spatially explicit rice yield estimates through satellite observations.


Unemployment is widely described as a situation that engenders stress, malaise, and a loss of identity for those affected by it. Whereas the deleterious effects of unemployment are clear, people may also develop an alternative relationship to unemployment and hold other perceptions of this transition period. Some studies have indeed pointed toward a shift in the social work norm, whereas others have questioned the negative impact of unemployment on some individuals. Yet to date, few studies have directly focused on the process through which these other, less negative perceptions of unemployment may arise. The present article thus explores one possible experience that we have termed unemployment normalization. We conceptualize unemployment normalization as an emotional regulation process based on cognitive reappraisal. This article suggests some variables that may influence it and presents a roadmap for future research.


Researchers World – International Refereed Journal of Arts Science & Commerce Research (RW-JASCR) is a quarterly online peer-reviewed research journal that provides an international publication platform for Professors, scholars, academicians, professionals and students engaged in the field of Arts Science & Commerce Research. The main object of the journal is to encourage research publication to Professors, scholars, academicians, professionals and students engaged in their respective field. The journal also provides an international forum to disseminate their knowledge.  The journal publishes the original highly qualitative research articles in the field of Arts Science & Commerce. The journal is an international journal and the language of the journal is English.  The journal is quarterly in online and print format. All articles submitted are subjected to peer review process. The submitted article will be published in the consultation with the editorial board's decision. The acceptance and rejection will be informed by via email. The submitted papers should be as per Author's Guidelines and should be written in a scholarly style.


Access card authentication is critical and essential for many modern access control systems, which have been widely deployed in various government, commercial, and residential environments. However, due to the static identification information exchange among the access cards and access control clients, it is very challenging to fight against access control system breaches due to reasons such as loss, stolen or unauthorized duplications of the access cards. Although advanced biometric authentication methods such as fingerprint and iris identification can further identify the user who is requesting authorization, they incur high system costs and access privileges cannot be transferred among trusted users. In this work, we introduce a dynamic authentication with sensory information for the access control systems. By combining sensory information obtained from onboard sensors on the access cards as well as the original encoded identification information, we are able to effectively tackle the problems such as access card loss, stolen, and duplication. Our solution is backward-compatible with existing access control systems and significantly increases the key spaces for authentication. We theoretically demonstrate the potential key space increases with sensory information of different sensors and empirically demonstrate simple rotations can increase key space by more than 1,000,000 times with an authentication accuracy of 90 percent. We performed extensive simulations under various environment settings and implemented our design on WISP to experimentally verify the system performance.


The Fermi surface topologies of underdoped samples of the high-T(c) superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O(8+δ) have been measured with angle resolved photoemission. By examining thermally excited states above the Fermi level, we show that the observed Fermi surfaces in the pseudogap phase are actually components of fully enclosed hole pockets. The spectral weight of these pockets is vanishingly small at the magnetic zone boundary, creating the illusion of Fermi "arcs." The area of the pockets as measured in this study is consistent with the doping level, and hence carrier density, of the samples measured. Furthermore, the shape and area of the pockets is well reproduced by phenomenological models of the pseudogap phase as a spin liquid.


Abstract Objective Both tacrolimus (Tac) and infliximab (IFX) are effective for moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis (UC). The aim of this study was to compare the therapeutic efficacy and safety of both drugs. Materials and methods We performed a retrospective analysis of 46 patients with moderate-to-severe UC who were treated either by Tac (n = 21) or IFX (n = 25). We compared the remission and response rates for 10 weeks between the two groups. In patients who achieved a clinical response, the subsequent relapse rate was compared. The overall adverse events were also compared between the two groups. Results The remission and response rates at week 10 did not differ between patients treated with Tac (67% and 86%, respectively) and patients treated with IFX (76% and 92%, respectively). Among 41 patients showing a clinical response, eight of 23 patients treated with IFX and eight of 18 patients treated with Tac showed a subsequent relapse. The risk of relapse was not different between the two groups. While no serious adverse events were observed, the incidence of adverse events was higher in patients treated with Tac than in those treated with IFX. Conclusion Tac and IFX may be equally efficacious for the induction and maintenance of remission in patients with UC while minor adverse events are more frequent with the former treatment.


This full-color atlas includes outstanding photography of endoscopic sinonasal anatomy, pathology, and surgery. It also illustrates the technique of rhinoscopy, sinoscopy, and nasopharyngoscopy. This comprehensive book includes useful clinical cases that clearly illustrate the application of knowledge to real-life experiences. It covers new surgical techniques such as powered instrumentation and computer-aided endoscopic sinonasal surgery. This valuable resource is a compilation of some 70 articles on sinonasal anatomy and pathology that appeared in Rhinoscopic Clinic Section of the Ear, Nose, and Throat Journal over the last six years, plus never-published case studies. Find all the information you need in one comprehensive resource.


Artificial structures get introduced into the marine environment by accident (e.g., shipwrecks) or intentionally, for logistical (i.e., coastal protection), industrial (i.e., oil exploitation) or biological habitat enhancement (i.e., artificial reefs). Similarly to other types of man-made submerged structures, offshore oil and gas platforms provide adequate hard substratum for the development of sessile marine invertebrates and to increase habitat and food availability for fishes and other motile marine organisms (Svane and Petersen, 2001). Furthermore, offshore platforms generally face minimum external interference and are usually located in waters with strong currents, which facilitate larval dispersal and settlement. Despite the fact that there are currently more than 800 offshore oil and gas platforms in the Arabian Gulf (Sheppard et al., 2012), scarce information exists about the biological assemblages associated to these structures (Burt et al., 2012; Stachowitsch et al., 2002). In fact, oil and gas platforms are high-security areas with an exclusion zone of at least 500 m around the structures (Kashubsky and Morrison, 2013), which prevents fishing and other human impacts, but also restricts sampling for scientific purposes. Considering the substantial habitat and diversity losses of natural reefs in recent years, the perceived ecological role of these offshore structures is gaining increasing recognition. Several research and industrial programs have tried to promote the transition of decommissioned platforms into artificial reefs (e.g., Rigs to Reefs, Reggio Jr, 1987). It is vital, therefore, to study the community structure in such isolated marine habitats, to assess their structural and functional similarity and connectivity to natural marine ecosystems (Zintzen et al., 2008), in order to provide the scientific underpinning to the planning and decommissioning stage of the platforms. These issues are currently being addressed in the framework of the project "Connectivity, diversity and genetic flow between offshore natural coral reefs and oil platforms - NPRP No.: 7-1129-1-201". In this specific study we aim to understand the recruitment and succession patterns of fouling communities offshore in Qatari waters, using stainless steel plates as artificial substrates, in order to mimic the stainless steel jackets, which generally support offshore oil platform in the Gulf. In October 2016, six vertical structures were deployed in the northeast of the Qatari Exclusive Economic Zone, in an area between the Al Shaheen oil field and natural offshore reefs, to investigate the source of the epibenthic species that colonize these artificial substrates. Each structure supports 30 stainless steel fouling plates (20 × 20 cm), spaced by 1 m, at depths ranging between 10 m and 45 m. Temperature data loggers (Onset TidbiT) were attached to the plate structures, at max and min depth, to investigate how the temperature and depth variations affect recruitment and development of fouling assemblages. All the structures were successfully retrieved during the first assessment, done 15 weeks after deployment, in February 2017. After all the plates were photographed and data downloaded from the temperature loggers, the structures were re-deployed in the same location. This imagery is currently being analyzed using the online platform CoralNet, to assess the percentage cover, abundance and diversity of the fouling assemblages. Preliminary results of this first assessment indicate strong invertebrate recruitment, with almost 100% cover of the plates, at all depths and locations. A clear vertical gradient was, however, apparent, with diversity and cover generally increasing with depth. Barnacles, bivalves, anemones and fenestrate bryozoans were dominant at shallow depths, while other types of macroinvertebrates, such as encrusting sponges, foliaceous bryozoans and hydrozoans, became more dominant as depth increased. As expected, important seasonal variations of seawater temperature (e.g summer-winter) were registered in shallow (l 10 m) and deep (g 40 m) layers. Variations observed in deep water (g40 m) during autumn and early winter were, however, larger than expected. High variability was found in all locations, with sea temperatures ranging 3-4°C during one single day. The semi-diurnal and lunar periodicity of these variations strongly suggests they are associated with tidal cycles. The full seasonal time series (one year), which will be available in November 2017, will allow the precise delimitation of the periodicity and magnitude of these temperature variations. The final data analyses will integrate data on temperature with depth and distance among structures to infer on recruitment and succession of sessile and mobile epifauna. References Burt, J.A., Bartholomew, A., Feary, D.A., 2012. Man-Made Structures as Artificial Reefs in the Gulf, in: Riegl, B.M., Purkis, S.J. (Eds.), Coral Reefs of the Gulf, Coral Reefs of the World. Springer Netherlands, pp. 171–186.Kashubsky, M., Morrison, A., 2013. Security of offshore oil and gas facilities: exclusion zones and ships' routeing. Aust. J. Marit. Ocean Aff. 5, 1–10. doi:10.1080/18366503.2013.10815725Reggio Jr, V.C., 1987. Rigs-to-reefs. Fisheries 12, 2–7.Sheppard, C., Al-Husiani, M., Al-Jamali, F., Al-Yamani, F., Baldwin, R., Bishop, J., Benzoni, F., Dutrieux, E., Dulvy, N.K., Durvasula, S.R.V., Jones, D.A., Loughland, R., Medio, D., Nithyanandan, M., Pilling, G.M., Polikarpov, I., Price, A.R.G., Purkis, S.J., Riegl, B.M., Saburova, M., Samimi-Namin, K., Taylor, O., Wilson, S., Zainal, K., 2012. Environmental Concerns for the Future of Gulf Coral Reefs, in: Riegl, B.M., Purkis, S.J. (Eds.), Coral Reefs of the Gulf, Coral Reefs of the World. Springer Netherlands, pp. 349–373.Stachowitsch, M., Kikinger, R., Herler, J., Zolda, P., Geutebruck, E., 2002. Offshore oil platforms and fouling communities in the southern Arabian Gulf (Abu Dhabi). Mar. Pollut. Bull. 44, 853–860. doi:10.1016/S0025-326X(02)00085-1Svane, I., Petersen, J.K., 2001. On the Problems of Epibioses, Fouling and Artificial Reefs, a Review. Mar. Ecol. 22, 169–188. doi:10.1046/j.1439-0485.2001.01729.xZintzen, V., Norro, A., Massin, C., Mallefet, J., 2008. Spatial variability of epifaunal communities from artificial habitat: Shipwrecks in the Southern Bight of the North Sea. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 76, 327–344. doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2007.07.012


Lots of research focuses on the combinatorics behind various bases of cluster algebras. This paper studies the natural basis of a type A cluster algebra, which consists of all cluster monomials. We introduce a new kind of combinatorial formulas for the cluster monomials in terms of the so-called globally compatible collections. We give bijective proofs of these formulas by comparing with the well-known combinatorial models of the T-paths and of the perfect matchings in a snake diagram. For cluster variables of a type A cluster algebra, We give a bijection that relates our new formula with the theta functions constructed by Gross, Hacking, Keel and Kontsevich.


The root anatomical phenotype root cortical aerenchyma (RCA) decreases the metabolic cost of soil exploration and improves plant growth under drought and low soil fertility. RCA may also change the microenvironment of rhizosphere microorganisms by increasing oxygen availability or by reducing carbon rhizodeposition. We tested the hypothesis that plants with contrasting expression of RCA have different rhizosphere prokaryotic communities. Maize inbreds were grown in two field sites, Limpopo Province, South Africa and Pennsylvania, USA, and their rhizosphere soil sampled at flowering. High- and low-nitrogen fertilization was imposed as separate treatments in the experiment in South Africa. The rhizosphere microbial composition of plants with contrasting RCA was characterized by metabarcoding of the 16S rRNA genes. Geographic location was the most important factor related to the composition of rhizosphere microbial communities. In the site in South Africa, RCA explained greater percent of variance (9%) in the composition of microbial communities than genotype (7%). Although other root anatomical and architectural phenotypes were studied as possible cofactors affecting the microbial composition, RCA was among the best significant explanatory variables for the South African site although it was neutral in the Pennsylvania site. High-RCA rhizospheres significantly enriched OTUs of the families Burkholderiaceae (in South Africa) and Bacillaceae (in USA), compared to low-RCA plants, and OTUs of the families Beijerinckiaceae and Sphingomonadaceae were enriched at the two nitrogen levels in high RCA plants in South Africa. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that RCA is an important factor for rhizosphere microbial communities, especially under suboptimal nitrogen conditions.


Cement milling has traditionally been considered more art than science. In the last 10 years, significant improvements in process equipment have been made and we are finally taking significant steps toward approaching grinding as a science. Two machines have been at the center of this development. These are the roll press and the high efficiency separator. The former can be considered as a new technology or adaptation of existing i.e. roller mill. The latter is clearly an improvement of existing technology. Other machines have been introduced to a lesser degree and later. Among these are the CKP and Horomill. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the currently available modifications for operating systems and options for new milling circuits with some comments on their application and history.


Cysticercosis is an endemic disease in many developing countries. This diagnosis is based on the cystic aspect of the lesions, particularly in case of stay in endemic areas and serology. The clinical manifestations are of very variable expression and go from the completely asymptomatic form to very severe tables putting at stake the vital prognosis of the patient. We report in this article the case of a 43-year-old woman who was admitted to the neuropsychiatric center Dr. Joseph Guislain of ''Brothers of Charity'' in Lubumbashi/DRC for a neurocysticercosis revealed by a behavioral disorder and generalized tonic clonic seizures. She was treated with albendazole 15 mg/kg/day/15 days, phenobarbital 100 mg/day at 20 h, haldol 5 mg/day/10 days and prednisolone 1 mg/kg/day/15 days. Its evolution was marked by a clear improvement of its clinical condition under treatment.


Introduction Non-attendance at outpatient appointments (OPA) costs the NHS an estimated £600 m a year, with over 94,000 missed (first) OPAs in England from 2013 to 2014.1 We reviewed the arrangement and attendance of OPAs for illicit drug smokers, after hospital re-admission with an 'exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)'. Methods All illicit drug smokers re-admitted between January 2009 and September 2011 with a presumptive diagnosis of 'exacerbation of COPD' were included. Planned respiratory OPAs were reviewed retrospectively from our COPD admission database to determine the number attended or unattended. Unattended OPAs were classified as (a) hospital cancellation (b) patient cancellation (c) patient did not attend (DNA) or (d) 'unknown'. Results Of 89 patients, no OPA was arranged in 28 (31.5%). 334 respiratory appointments were made for 61 patients (mean = 5.5 per patient); of these, only 86 (25.7%) were attended (see Table). Conclusion High recurrent admission rates suggests that these patients should all have specialist respiratory OPAs arranged at discharge, with the aim of preventing re-admission and improving their respiratory health. In our cohort we noted poor OPA attendance with a DNA rate of 52.0% compared with around 8.6% for first OPAs overall in England in 2012.2 This suggests alternative approaches are needed in order to engage with these patients such as community based secondary care outreach services. We will now study the effects of an intensive community-based secondary care outreach services; involving smoking cessation, targeted pulmonary rehabilitation, specialist respiratory (consultant and nurse) involvement, vaccination, inhaler technique reviews, medication concordance checks/ prescription and health trainers. References Department of Health (2014). Referrals and Attendances for Outpatient Appointments: Hospital Activity Statistics. London: DH Department of Health (2013). NHS inpatient elective admission events and outpatient referrals and attendances, quarter ending December 2012. Available from: http://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/2013/02/22/nhs-inpatient-elective-admission-events-and-outpatient-referrals-and-attendances-quarter-ending-december-2012 Abstract P89 Table 1 Not attended (n = 248) Reason Hospital cancelled 92 (37.1%) Patient cancelled 8 (3.2%) DNA 129 (52.0%) 'Unknown' 19 (7.7%)


This analysis of the introduction of racial theories to Brazil and their reception by Brazilian intellectuals in the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries looks at miscegenation, racism, and whitening policies through the lenses of two novels that bear witness to the era's mentality: O cortiço (1890; A Brazilian tenement, 1976), by Aluísio Azevedo, and Canaã (1902; Canaan, 1920), by Graça Aranha. Through historical and literary analysis, the article examines how fiction has portrayed Brazil and the national dilemma aesthetically.


Abstract Continuing professional development is important for improving and reforming teaching.Classroom observation of others' teaching has been used for the professional development of eight lecturers from three Myanmar universities who visited the Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore over a period of three weeks.To bridge the socio-cultural and educational background differences, Gagné's 'Nine events of instruction' was used as a pedagogical framework to guide and evaluate the classroom observation and learning as it is well-established for instructional design and resonate well with educators.This study aimed to evaluate the participants' abilities and their learning through classroom observation based on their perceptions of the 'nine events of instruction'.The study found that most of the participants have positive views of their abilities in relation to the 'nine events', especially in practicing the early events of instruction. The classroom observation has benefitted them with respect to the 'nine events', particularly 'Informing the Students of the Objective/Outcome', 'Stimulating Recall of the Prior Knowledge' and 'Presenting Information/Content/Stimulus'.Notably, 'Assessing Performance' was the most perceived 'event of instruction' that the participants wanted to improve on and that the participants perceived will benefit Myanmar lecturers the most.Qualitative feedbacks by the participants revealed lessons learned, their potential applicability and desires to reform and share.The study further demonstrated that the 'nine events of instruction' is a useful pedagogical framework for guiding and evaluating perception of abilities and learning in classroom instruction and observation for continuing professional development in a cross-cultural context.


: Experiments were conducted on dogs which had sustained a 10-minute circulatory arrest caused by electrotrauma; the acid-base balance of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and the blood was studied during the postreanimation period. Although the systemic uncompensated acidosis persisted in the course of the first hour of the postreanimation period, compensation of the CSF acidosis occurred much earlier and the pH was maintained at the initial level for 6 hours. Despite a high lactate concentration for a period of 3 hours of the postreanimation period the bicarbonate concentration remained near the initial one at this period.


Management of silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix has become a growing concern for multiple state and federal entities. Commercial fishing may have the greatest potential to control silver carp. However, for a management action to be successful, the level of exploitation required to reduce silver carp populations must be quantified. Therefore, silver carp were collected from Midwestern U.S. rivers (i.e., Upper, Middle, and Lower Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, and Wabash rivers) to obtain population dynamics (i.e., recruitment, growth and mortality). Parameters obtained from population demographics were used to simulate exploitation levels using a spawning potential ratio (SPR) approach to determine target size and the amount of exploitation needed to recruitment overfish silver carp within each river system. Overall, we determined that silver carp populations (regardless of river) must be exploited at a small size (i.e., 27–33% of population exploited at ≥300 mm or 33–44% exploited at ≥400 mm), in order to reduce SPR to 0.2, which is identified as a threshold for recruitment overfishing. However, an understanding of the impacts of small mesh sizes on native species and an incentive program for commercial fisherman to promote catch of small fish is needed. This study provides federal and state agencies levels of exploitation and a target size required to effectively reduce silver carp populations in multiple rivers.


: A macrothermodynamic model of evolution of the supramolecular structures and chemical composition of living objects during ontogenesis and at long-term stages of general biological evolution is presented. A study of quasiclosed (thermodynamically and kinetically) systems, phases of the biomass supramolecular structures, enables a conclusion on the thermodynamic direction of biological evolution to be made. In correspondence with the second principle, this direction leads to variations in the chemical composition and structure of the living systems during their development. Indirect and direct evidence of the trend to a minimal Gibbs specific function of formation of the supramolecular structures in animal tissues during ontogenesis are presented. The conclusion that thermodynamics is the "driving force" of evolution of the biological world is confirmed.


MNCs activities in less developed countries (LDCs) are regularly contracted to undertake rural development around their sites. Likewise, they regularly fail. How can a profit-making MNC encourage rural development in an undeveloped area of a host LDC? The purpose of this research is to investigate how an MNC could fulfill its contractual commitment for local development in a way that benefits MNC and also the involved parties. This study concerns the urgent and interesting issue of how MNCs manage their relationships with other organizations in LDCs for local development. This study followed ten years of a mining company (Lamco) in Liberia which promised success in rural development, had it not been for drastically falling prices for iron ore and a civil war. Apart from the MNC and the host government, a PVO and the rural people were involved. The main result of this study is that the use of an intermediary PVO is an effective means for an MNC to fulfill its contractual commitments related to rural development. The empirical contributions discuss the implications for MNCs, host governments, local communities and PVOs.


This thesis builds on the work of previous coleopteran-based climatic reconstructions to recreate the environment and climate of the last 20,000 14C years of northwest Europe using the data and methods available within the Bugs Coleopteran Ecology Package, and aims to assess the ability of the BugsCEP results to provide information regarding events and anthropogenic changes on environment during the Anthropocene. Samples and data from 134 sites across northwest Europe and the British Isles were included in this study. The Mutual Climatic Range method and the BugStats module based on habitat code classifications were used to create the climatic and environmental reconstructions respectively, the results of which are provided in eight isotherm maps for 14.5-9 14C years BP and 2 EcoFigure graphs for 20,000 14C to present. While the results of some isotherm maps align with the changes described in previous studies, other climate trends are muted within these results. Likewise, some previously recognized environmental shifts in Europe are visible, whereas other major events are not distinguishable within the environmental record. An assessment of the environmental reconstruction results finds that though there is not sufficient material to support any proposed Anthropocene start dates, effects of anthropogenic influence upon the environment may be visible starting within the last 2,000 14C years; the results also show some support for the Vera Hypothesis.


We report the complications of prophylactic pinning of slipped upper femoral epiphysis with Crawford Adams pins in 95 cases. Complications of pin placement were seen in 13.7%. Although seven hips had penetration of the joint, there were no cases of chondrolysis or avascular necrosis. Excavation of the lateral femoral cortex was required at pin removal in 12.5% of cases. Analysis of the growth around pins allowed recommendations to be made regarding pin protrusion. The use of improved fixation devices may reduce the need for multiple pins.


A method for simultaneous separation and quantitative determination of arabinose, galactose, glucose, xylose, xylonic acid, gluconic acid, galacturonic acid, and glucuronic acid was developed by using high performance anion-exchange chromatography coupled with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-PAD). The separation was performed on a CarboPacTM PA-10 column (250 mm × 2 mm) with a various gradient elution of NaOH-NaOAc solution as the mobile phase. The calibration curves showed good linearity (R2 ≥ 0.9993) for the monosaccharides, uronic acids, and aldonic acids in the range of 0.1 to 12.5 mg/L. The detection limits (LODs) and the quantification limits (LOQs) were 4.91 to 18.75 μg/L and 16.36 to 62.50 μg/L, respectively. Relative standard deviations (RSDs) of the retention times and peak areas for the seven consecutive determinations of an unknown amount of mixture were 0.15% to 0.44% and 0.22% to 2.31%, respectively. The established method was used to separate and determine four monosaccharides, two uronic acids, and two aldonic acids in the prehydrolysate from dilute acid steam-exploded corn stover within 21 min. The spiked recoveries of monosaccharides, uronic acids, and aldonic acids ranged from 91.25% to 108.81%, with RSDs (n=3) of 0.04% ~ 6.07%. This method was applied to evaluate the quantitative variation of sugar and sugar acid content in biomass prehydrolysates.


This review was undertaken to draw together research on how climate change impacts sugarcane production, and to assess the implications of climate change for the sugarcane industry, as well as possible response options. Much of the extant research examines how changes in climate lead to changes in primary production; however, few studies consider how climate change translates into industry‐wide impacts and economic consequences across the sugarcane value chain. Of the 90 studies we reviewed (published as journal articles, proceedings, and book chapters), 61 assess observed and/or projected impacts of climate change on sugarcane production. These studies reach largely different conclusions regarding how increases in air temperature or atmospheric carbon dioxide levels impact sugarcane production. These mixed results can be attributed to differences between the studies in terms of methods, time frames, and growing regions, which all limit cross‐study comparability. A total of 17 studies focus on the adaptation to observed and/or projected impacts of climate change, such as changed management procedures or farming practices, but there is limited evidence regarding successful adaptation outcomes. In addition, a separate stream of papers discusses mitigating energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in the sugarcane production process, often with a view to reducing environmental impacts. Our review concludes by outlining the pathways for future research, highlighting that further insights are needed in particular regarding the economic consequences of climate change for the sugarcane industry. WIREs Clim Change 2018, 9:e498. doi: 10.1002/wcc.498

publisher-specific, author manuscript: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#am


A general technique to design a multichannel fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is reported, which incurs the minimum refractive change of the core. The grating thus designed can compensate a large number of wavelength channels with different dispersion and different spacing. It also enables the design of a multichannel optical add-drop multiplexer (OADM), and at the same time, the channels are dispersion compensated. The technique is extended to linearize the group time delay of the grating by the inclusion of the third-order chirping factor of each channel. Finally, the fabrication tolerance of such FBG is discussed


The rapid thermal response(RTR) molding is a novel process developed to raise the temperature of mold surface rapidly in the injection stage and then cool rapidly to the ejection temperature by air or water. The objectives of this paper are to investigate the effect of mold temperature, pressure and thickness of micro pattern molding and to provide a optimization of RTR injection molding for micro pattern from Moldflow simulation. Optimal minimum temperature and pressure was found without shortcut according to thickness. Filling percentage was influenced by glass transition temperature with the kinds of resin. Optimal temperature is slightly higher than glass transition temperature irrespectively of pressure, thickness, the kinds of resin in the micro pattern molding.


Food production systems are partially responsible for contributing to elevated levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to the heavy reliance on fossil fuels and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Organic farming systems, however, strive to work so far as possible within closed systems, which attempt to use appropriate technologies and scarce resources sparingly. Drawing data from recent case studies this paper examines how close modern UK organic farming can come to these ideals. The paper will conclude with recommendations for the organic farming sector to deliver a food production system that will be required to operate within tighter economic, social and environmental constraints in the future.


BACKGROUND
Endoscopic antireflux treatments for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) are still evolving, and most of the published studies address symptom relief in the short-term. Objective - We aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis focused on evaluating the efficacy of the different endoscopic procedures.

METHODS
Search was restricted to randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on MedLine, Cochrane, SciELO, and EMBASE for patients with chronic GERD (>6 months), over 18 years old and available follow up of at least 3 months. The main outcome was to evaluate the efficacy of the different endoscopic treatments compared to sham, pharmacological or surgical treatment. Efficacy was measured by different subjective and objective outcomes.

RESULTS
We analyzed data from 16 RCT, totaling 1085 patients. The efficacy of endoscopic treatments compared to sham and proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) treatment showed a significant difference up to 6 months in favor of endoscopy with no heterogeneity (P<0.00001) (I2: 0%). The subgroup analysis showed a statistically significant difference up to 6 months in favor of endoscopy: endoscopy vs PPI (P<0.00001) (I2: 39%). Endoscopy vs sham (P<0.00001) (I2: 0%). Most subjective and objective outcomes were statistically significant in favor of endoscopy up to 6 and 12 months follow up.

CONCLUSION
This systematic review and meta-analysis shows a good short-term efficacy in favor of endoscopic procedures when comparing them to a sham and pharmacological or surgical treatment. Data on long-term follow up is lacking and this should be explored in future studies.


The MIT Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model is applied to an exploration of the national emissions obligations that would be required to stabilize atmospheric CO 2 concentrations at levels now under active discussion. The results indicate that the needed voluntary participation will be difficult to achieve, not least because nations at very different income levels would have to undertake similarly costly emissions restrictions. The need for more attention to the linkage between short-term policy proposals and long-term stabilization goals is highlighted.


The free radical chlorine dioxide (ClO2) is a strong oxidizing agent that is used to purify drinking water and medical equipment. The existing literature shows discrepancies in the explanation of the solvent dependent properties of ClO2. The following thesis investigates these properties by integrating integrates inorganic synthesis, spectroscopic analyses, and computational methods. ClO2/water hydrogen-bonded networks were computed with the DFT method B3LYP with 6-31G(d,p) and 6-311++G(2df, 2pd) basis sets. Raman frequency computations were performed on local minima geometries. Experimental Raman spectra of chlorine dioxide solvated in water and methanol were obtained, and the fundamental symmetric stretch (nu1) of each spectrum were compared to the computed frequencies. An overall red shift of 12 cm-1 for nu1 was observed in the computational spectra as ClO2 became more solvated, indicating hydrogen-bond formation between ClO2 and water. However, no shift was observed in the experimental spectra. This is due to the difference in mole fraction(ClO2) values for the computations and experiment. However, the experimental value for nu1 was different in water (945 cm-1) and methanol (940 cm-1) solutions. Also included is an advanced undergraduate laboratory exercise that takes advantage of the unique spectroscopic properties of chlorine dioxide to allow for a direct comparison of its symmetric stretch in both the ground and excited states. Students synthesize aqueous chlorine dioxide, analyze a vibronic progression of the symmetric stretch in the excited state using UV-Vis spectroscopy, and also record the energy of the symmetric stretch in the ground state using Raman spectroscopy. In addition to offering advanced undergraduate students the opportunity to study the chemistry of a radical first-hand, this exercise also reinforces the use of synthetic techniques for the purpose of studying how a molecule's physical properties vary with the electronic state.


Our understanding of social insect behavior has significantly influenced artificial intelligence (AI) and multirobot systems' research (e.g., ant algorithms and swarm robotics). In this work, however, we focus on the opposite question: "How can multirobot systems research contribute to the understanding of social animal behavior?" As we show, we are able to contribute at several levels. First, using algorithms that originated in the robotics community, we can track animals under observation to provide essential quantitative data for animal behavior research. Second, by developing and applying algorithms originating in speech recognition and computer vision, we can automatically label the behavior of animals under observation. In some cases the automatic labeling is more accurate and consistent than manual behavior identification. Our ultimate goal, however, is to automatically create, from observation, executable models of behavior. An executable model is a control program for an agent that can run in simulation (or on a robot). The representation for these executable models is drawn from research in multirobot systems programming. In this paper we present the algorithms we have developed for tracking, recognizing, and learning models of social animal behavior, details of their implementation, and quantitative experimental results using them to study social insects


A TSK-type recurrent fuzzy network (TSKRFN) control system is proposed to control the position of the mover of a field-oriented control permanent-magnet linear synchronous motor (PMLSM) servo drive system to track periodic reference trajectories in this study. The proposed TSKRFN combines the merits of self-constructing fuzzy neural network (SCFNN), TSK-type fuzzy inference mechanism, and recurrent neural network (RNN). Moreover, the structure and the parameter learning phases are preformed concurrently and online in the TSKRFN. The structure learning is based on the partition of input space, and the parameter learning is based on the supervised gradient-descent method using a delta adaptation law. Furthermore, all the control algorithms are implemented in a TMS320C32 DSP-based control computer. The simulated and experimental results due to periodic reference trajectories show that the dynamic behaviour of the proposed TSKRFN control system is robust with regard to uncertainties


The work at hand studies the possibilities and limitations of the use of finite automata in the description of infinite structures. An automatic presentation of a countable structure consists of a labelling of the elements of the structure by finite words over a finite alphabet in a consistent way so as to allow each of the relations of the structure to be recognised, given the labelling, by a synchronous multi-tape automaton. The collection of automata involved constitutes a finite presentation of the structure up to isomorphism. More generally, one can consider presentations over finite trees or over infinite words or trees, based on the appropriate model of automata. In the latter models, uncountable structures are also representable. Automatic presentations allow for effective evaluation of first-order formulas over the represented structure in line with the strong correspondence between automata and logics. Accordingly, automatic presentations can be recast in logical terms using various notions of interpretations. The simplicity and robustness of the model coupled with the diversity of automatic structures makes automatic presentations interesting subject of investigation within the scope of algorithmic model theory. Although automata have been in use in representations of infinite structures in computational group theory, in the analysis of numeration systems and finitely generated infinite sequences as well as in the theory of term rewriting systems, a systematic investigation of automatic structures using model theoretic methods has only just begun in the last twelve years. There are two main lines of research in this field. One would like to have a classification of automatic models of certain first-order theories of common interest, such as linear orderings, trees, boolean algebras, groups, etc. Though efforts aimed at obtaining structure theorems have produced considerable advancement in recent years, this programme is still in an early stage. Even further lacking is our understanding of the richness of automatic presentations of key individual structures. A prominent result in this area is the deep theorem of Cobham and Semenov concerning numeration systems. In this style, one would like to know the degree of freedom in choosing automatic presentations of a particular structure. In this thesis we present contributions to both of these problem areas. We also study restricted notions of presentations and clarify the relationship of automatic presentations over finite and infinite words. The peculiarities of using automata to represent structures up to isomorphism introduce problems out of the range of classical automata theory. We present some new techniques developed to tackle these difficulties.


Controlling crown gall in grapevine ( Vitis vinifera L.) caused by the pathogenic bacterium Allorhizobium vitis is a major challenge for global viticulture, as this pathogen is highly persistent in vineyards once infected. The bacteria can enter the plant through open wounds during pruning and then systemically colonize the plant. This study aimed at evaluating the potential of Paraburkholderia phytofirmans PsJN, a beneficial endophytic bacterium able to colonize the xylem of grapevine, the same ecological niche as A. vitis, to control grapevine crown gall disease. P. phytofirmans PsJN was root-inoculated on grapevine plantlets before infection by A. vitis S4 on shoots. A. vitis S4 level in planta, vitopine production, accumulation of lignin in tumors, and symptoms of crown gall were investigated on grapevine prebacterized or not with PsJN. The expression of 28 grapevine genes involved in defense mechanisms was also simultaneously determined by quantitative real-time PCR. Despite a direct antibacterial effect against AvS4, PsJN has no significant impact on the incidence of crown gall or disease severity. However, PsJN leads to a stronger accumulation of vitopine in tumors and significantly reduced the population level of the pathogen in planta. [Formula: see text] Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license .


ABSTRACT Several lines of evidence support for the role of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Most human genetic studies have focussed on ACE insertion (I)/deletion (D) polymorphism and have yielded conflicting results. We have evaluated the association of ACE polymorphism with serum ACE activity in 95 AD patients and 110 healthy controls from north Indian population. In Alzheimer's patients a higher frequency of D allele was detected (I/D ratio 0.53:0.47) compared with the control group (I/D ratio 0.54:0.45), the difference being not statistically significant (p > .05). AD patients were found to be more homozygous for the D allele (26.3%) compared with controls (20.8%). The observed genotype distribution was in agreement with Hardy- Weinberg equilibrium. We observed that the D/D genotype is more in patients with a higher serum ACE activity. The D allele and the D/D genotype in AD patients may influence increased risk of cognitive impairment.


Can leveraging family history reduce xenophobia? Building on theories of group identity, we show that a family history of forced relocation leaves an imprint on future generations and can be activated to increase sympathy toward refugees. We provide evidence from Greece and Germany, two countries that vividly felt the European refugee crisis, and that witnessed large-scale forced displacement of their own populations during the twentieth century. Combining historical and survey data with an experimental manipulation, we show that mentioning the parallels between past and present differentially increases pledged monetary donations and attitudinal measures of sympathy for refugees among respondents with forcibly displaced ancestors. This differential effect is also present among respondents without a family history of forced migration who live in places with high historical concentration of refugees. Our findings highlight the role of identity and shared experience for reducing out-group discrimination.


Abstract A binuclear phenoxo- and azido-bridged copper(II) Schiff base complex has been synthesized along with its mononuclear copper-Schiff base analog. The compounds have been characterized by IR spectroscopy and CHN elemental analysis. The single-crystal structure and variable temperature magnetic properties of the binuclear compound have been studied from the X-ray crystallographic data and superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry, respectively. The synthesized crystalline binuclear complex has interesting spectral features that allow it to act as a spectral sensor toward an organophosphorus pesticide which is a potential environmental toxicant coming to the environment as agricultural waste. Although both the mononuclear and binuclear complexes are suitable as sensors for the organophosphorus, the binuclear complex being crystalline is suitable for attaining structural and mechanistic details of the interaction. Density functional theory calculations and ESI MS analysis of the interactions with the binuclear complex suggest that the binding of organophosphorus substrate with 2 occurs through one copper center.


Drought is a major abiotic stress that affects crop productivity. Endophytic bacteria have been found to alleviate the adverse effects of drought on plants. In the present study, we evaluated the effects of two endophytic bacteria Shewanella putrefaciens strain MCL-1 and Cronobacter dublinensis strain MKS-1 on pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum [L.] R. Br.) under drought stress conditions. Pearl millet plants were grown under three water levels: field capacity (FC), mild drought stress (MD) and severe drought stress (SD). The effects of inoculation on plant growth, physiological attributes, phytohormone content and drought stress-responsive genes were assessed. The inoculation of pearl millet seeds with endophytes significantly improved shoot and root dry weight and root architecture of plants grown under FC and drought stress conditions. There was a significant increase in relative water content and proline accumulation in the inoculated plants. Among the phytohormones analysed, the content of ABA and IAA was significantly higher in endophyte-treated plants under all moisture regimes than in uninoculated plants. C. dublinensis-inoculated plants had higher GA content than uninoculated plants under all moisture regimes. The expression level of genes involved in phytohormone biosynthesis (SbNCED, SbGA20oX and SbYUC) and coding drought-responsive transcription factors (SbAP2, SbSNAC1 and PgDREB2A) was significantly higher under SD in endophyte-inoculated plants than in uninoculated plants. Thus, these endophytic bacteria presumably enhanced the tolerance of pearl millet to drought stress by modulating root growth, plant hormones, physiology and the expression of genes involved in drought tolerance.


Objective: Preterm infants are prone to intraventricular hemorrhage. They may suffer from significant morbidity and mortality particularly in those with high-grade hemorrhage. Our objective was to determine the incidence of intraventricular hemorrhage in premature infants transported to a tertiary center compared with those delivered at the level III facility.  Methods: We evaluated all premature infants admitted to neonatal intensive care units affiliated with Shiraz University of Medical Sciences from April 2008 through April 2009. Neonatal transports from 20 facilities were compared with those delivered at the same centers' level III facility with respect to intraventricular hemorrhage. Serial neonatal brain sonographies were performed on admission, 7th and 30th day post - admission. Results: From a  total of 161  premature  neonates,  96  were  inborn  and  65  were  outborn. Intraventricular hemorrhage was significantly higher in transported infants ( 24 of 96 inborn infants or 25% and 36 of 65 outborn neonates or 55.4% ) This difference was statistically significant (p< 0.001) Conclusion: We found that transported neonates had a higher risk for intraventricular hemorrhage compared to those born at the level III facility. Our data emphasizes the importance of improving teams for neonatal transfer. Ideally, high-risk pregnant women should be transferred before delivery to a perinatal center capable of caring for both the mother and infant.


This thesis explores the relational dynamic that exists between metaphysical belief and the economic cosmos, and how this relationship manifests in technically advanced societies that have undergone processes of secularisation through activity referred to as "work". Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this thesis critically examines claims made by Organisational literature that the incorporation of "religious" and "spiritual" belief in the workplace is an inherent good for the organisation and their employees' through contemporary sociological analysis of religion and the works of Weber (1905), Nietzsche (1888, 1889), Arendt (1958) and Berger (1964, 1973). Highlighting the condition of homelessness that results when previous taken-for-granted collective frameworks of belief are no longer invested with faith through which to conceive existence as meaningful or purposeful, such theoretical analysis underpins discussion of the "problem of work" identified by Berger to manifest in contexts that have undergone technical advancement and processes of secularisation. Providing historical contextualisation of the subsequent rise of soft capitalist Human Resource Management strategies, rhetoric and practices that seek to "bring life back to work" through the incorporation on (non)conceptual values, aspirations and ideals, this thesis considers what significance the nature and character of work poses in the contemporary Western UK context that is predominantly characterised by a condition of homelessness. Adopting a nominalist, social constructivist lens, through qualitative in-depth interviews that explore the theoretical arguments raised in Chapters One, Two and Three, this thesis draws on Arendt's distinction between activities of work, works of art and activities of labour to outlines how organisationally designed roles are inherently damaging to the human condition, and particularly for those who are spiritually homeless who construct a "home" for their being within their place of employment because such activities constitute labour as opposed to work. It argues that contemporary organisations that mis-appropriate rhetoric, practices and techniques originating from metaphysical traditions and secondary institutions capitalise on the need of the human condition to construct meaning relative to material existence by making activities of labour appear to function as activities of work. Encouraging the alignment of being to organisational aims and objectives by obscuring the alienated condition of being that results when activities of labour are undertaken as opposed to activities of work and works of art by promising what most want to hear and believe, this thesis argues that soft capitalist approaches encourage human resources to break their spirit in pursuit of (non)conceptual ideals by requiring them to put their beliefs, values and desires secondary to organisational demands. Simply, the more human resources invest in soft capitalist "homes" and strive "to become" through the performance of labour, the more they cease to recognise what it is "to be" human. This thesis thus concludes that desires to attain neoliberal (non)conceptual ideals such as "happiness", material and personal "betterment" and "self-actualisation" in material reality is in fact passive self-annihilation that results from (non)conceptual idolatry and slavery, and faith placed in the economic cosmos in order to cope with the loss of metaphysical homes. Keywords: the death of God, the problem of work, work, labour, Arendt, work ethics, homelessness, Berger, material being, soft capitalism, self-actualisation, self-annihilation


A forward operator for Global Positioning System (GPS) slant total delay (STD) data and its adjoint were implemented into the Mesoscale Model version 5 (MM5) 4DVAR system to investigate its impact on quantitative precipitation forecasting (QPF). An operational forecast system was set up providing two forecasts per day, one driven by ECMWF forecasts only and the other additionally by 4DVAR of GPS STD data. The investigation of statistics for August 2007 demonstrated a positive impact on the representation of the watervapour field and the diurnal cycle of precipitation in southwest Germany. The spread of observation-minus-model departures was strongly reduced during the first 6 h of the simulations. As compared to the control simulation, the averaged diurnal cycle of precipitation in the 4DVAR integration was closer to observations in spite of the limitations of the 4DVAR system. Especially promising is the almost complete removal of the spin-up at the beginning of the simulation. This study not only demonstrates the potential of water vapour data assimilation for nowcasting and short-range QPF. It also suggests that improved GPS retrievals and extended networks are important to further improve the forecast performance and demonstrates the potential to apply observation operators for model verification.


SIR,-I see from the article by Dr. R. G. Gordon in your issue of December 19th, 1936, that we are returning to the conception I have advocated for the last twenty years-namely, that in chronic rheumatism a series of external factors-meteorological, dietetic, mental, toxic, and infective-acting on a specially predisposed individual disturb first of all the regulators of metabolism (the endocrines, including that most important endocrine the liver, the vegetative nervous system, and the psycho-associational cortex), and thus determine metabolic disturbances which, acting on the tissues of the joints, cause the terminal lesions of chronic "non-specific" arthritis. The fundamental error which has encumbered research on rheumatism during recent years consists in having taken the part for the whole, and thus having laid undue stress on the infective factor (one of the external factors) and concentrated on an exaggerated pigeonholing of the terminal results of the disease-the arthritic localization. Recent work confirms the importance of the metabolic factor and the necessity of considering the rheumatic patient as a whole and not from an exclusively bacteriological or anatomical point of view. Two points must be stressed in consideration of the metabolic factor in chronic rheumatism. The first point is that metabolic disturbances are not uniform. Every individual, and therefore every rheumatic, experiences psycho-neuro-endocrine reactions, and thus metabolic disturbances according to his own special psycho-neuroendocrine constitution. For this reason, as I pointed out in my communication to the International Congress for Rheumatism in Moscow, we find in certain rheumatics a low basal metabolism, in others a high one, in some a low blood calcium (hypoparathyroidism), in others the contrary (hyperparathyroidism), and so one. The seccnd point is that among the metabolic disturbances found in chronic rheumatics are included those which manifest a special inadequacy of the joint tissues, and these are important because they explain the localization of the general disturbance on the joints. Sulphur is an important element in the local metabolism of the joints. Derangement of the regulators of sulphur metabolism indicates an inadequacy of the local resistance of the joints. This explains the frequency with which a disturbed sulphur metabolism is found in chronic rheumatics-a frequency accepted by most authors since my first work on the subject-and also the efficacy of sulphur spas and sulphur treatment, including gold treatment, which, in fact, is treatment by gold plus sulphur.-I am, etc.,


With few exceptions, empirical household production studies ignore unobserved inputs. We demonstrate that without additional assumptions, the estimable impacts of the observed inputs cannot provide informative estimates of their marginal products due to contaminating variation in unobserved inputs; not even the sign of marginal impacts can be ascertained. Instrumental variables cannot solve this problem since every candidate for an instrument affecting an observed input, including experimental assignments, would also affect unobserved inputs choices through the budget constraint, invalidating this variable as an instrument. We show that under certain additional assumptions an appropriately specified empirical model can provide bounds for true marginal products. Our main point is that unless one is willing to make assumptions of this nature, estimated effects would have no useful interpretation. Almost all existing empirical studies of health, child development, and job-training programs fail to account for this issue, rendering their conclusions incomplete and possibly misleading.


Standard multigrid algorithms have proven ineffective for the solution of discretizations of Helmholtz equations. In this work we modify the standard algorithm by adding GMRES iterations at coarse levels and as an outer iteration. We demonstrate the algorithm's effectiveness through theoretical analysis of a model problem and experimental results. In particular, we show that the combined use of GMRES as a smoother and outer iteration produces an algorithm whose performance depends relatively mildly on wave number and is robust for normalized wave numbers as large as 200. For fixed wave numbers, it displays grid-independent convergence rates and has costs proportional to the number of unknowns.


Recently, several experiments reported a muon deficit in air shower simulations with respect to the data. This problem can be studied using an estimator that quantifies the relative muon content of the data with respect to those of proton and iron Monte Carlo air shower simulations. We analyze two estimators. The first one, based on the logarithm of the mean of the muon content, is built from experimental considerations. It is ideal for comparing results from different experiments as it is independent of the detector resolution. The second estimator is based on the mean of the logarithm of the muon content, which implies that it depends on shower-to-shower fluctuations. It is linked to the mean-logarithmic mass $\left \langle \ln A \right \rangle$ through the Heitler-Matthews model. We study the properties of the estimators and their biases considering the knowns and unknowns of typical experiments. Furthermore, we study these effects in measurements of the muon density at $1000\,$m from the shower axis obtained by the Akeno Giant Air Shower Array (AGASA). Finally, we report the estimates of the relative muon content of the AGASA data, which support a muon deficit in simulations. These estimates constitute valuable additional information of the muon content of air showers at the highest energies.


The article argues that in constructions where there is more than one phrase at a phasal edge, only the highest edge is available for movement and anaphor binding. This shows that only the outermost edge counts as the edge of a phase for the Phase Impenetrability Condition (PIC). The article also demonstrates that moving the element that counts as the phasal edge in multiple specifier/adjunct cases can affect the PIC status of the remaining edges. These conclusions provide a new argument for the contextuality of phasehood. A number of recent works have argued that the phasal status of a phrase can be affected by the syntactic context in which it occurs. This article goes one step further: it shows that the concept of phasal edge, more precisely the status of a specifier/adjunct regarding the PIC, can also be affected by the syntactic context in which the specifier/adjunct occurs. The article also discusses several issues regarding the syntax and semantics of adjectives, possessors, and demonstratives, including what Partee (2006) calls familiar demonstratives, as well as anaphor binding.