Lemmatisation, which is one of the most important stages of text preprocessing, consists in grouping the inflected forms of a word together so they can be analysed as a single item, identified by the word's lemma, or dictionary form. It is not a very complicated task for languages such as English, where a paradigm consists of a few forms close in spelling; but when it comes to morphologically rich languages, such as Russian, Hungarian or Irish, lemmatisation becomes more challenging. However, this task is often considered solved for most resource-rich modern languages irregardless of their morphological type. The situation is dramatically different for ancient languages characterised not only by a rich inflectional system, but also by a high level of orthographic variation, and, what is more important, a very little amount of available data. These factors make automatic morphological analysis of historical language data an underrepresented field in comparison to other NLP tasks. This work describes a case of creating an Early Irish lemmatiser with a character-level sequence-to-sequence learning method that proves efficient to overcome data scarcity. A simple character-level sequence-to-sequence model trained during 34,000 iterations reached the accuracy score of 99.2 % for known words and 64.9 % for unknown words on a rather small corpus of 83,155 samples. It outperforms both the baseline and the rule-based model described in [21] and [76] and meets the results of other systems working with historical data.


Temperatures can be measured from relative intensities of rotational Raman or rotational coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) from ground and vibrationally excited molecules, provided that relative Raman line strengths are known. Here rotational Raman line strengths are calculated and corrected for vibrational anharmonicity, for N(2), O(2), CO, and H(2). These line-strength-correction factors for vibrational anharmonicity have a pronounced effect on temperature calculations; they lower temperatures previously calculated from O(2) rotational CARS intensities at approximately 3000 K by more than 300 K.


Mechanically responsive materials have been increasingly explored, mainly in terms of photoisomerization. Here, we report the bending actuation of salicylideneaniline crystals induced by a thermal phase transition and photothermal effect. Long rod-like crystals bent reversibly on repeated heating and cooling near the transition temperature. The bend motion was also induced by the photothermal effect under ultraviolet (UV) and visible light irradiation, with and without phase transition. The photothermal-based temperature rise at the irradiated site of the crystal edge resulted in localised elongation near the crystal surface and slight bending due to the temperature gradient in the thickness direction. This bending motion was amplified by tip displacement at the opposite end of the long rod-like crystal. Finally, high-frequency bending actuation of 25 Hz was achieved by pulsed UV irradiation. Thus, the results of this study demonstrate the potential and versatility for mechanical crystal development based on the photothermal effect.


Octopus laqueus is a small tropical octopus found in Okinawa, Japan and the greater Indo-Pacific. Octopus are often viewed as solitary animals but O. laqueus live in close proximity in the wild, and will potentially encounter one another on a regular basis, raising the possibility of sociality in the species. To test for social tolerance and social repulsion in O. laqueus, animals were kept in communal tanks, and the number of dens and sex composition was varied per tank, with a set mixture of sizes and with den occupancy tracked per individual. We found that O. laqueus will socially tolerate other individuals by sharing tanks and dens, including several animals in contact and sharing a den under den-limited conditions, and with typically no loss to cannibalism or escape. However, animals also exhibit significant levels of social repulsion, and individuals often chose a solitary den when given the option. The patterns of den occupancy are observed to be consistent with a maximum entropy model. Overall, the preference to have a den is stronger than the preference to be solitary in O. laqueus, and the animals are socially tolerant of others in the tank and in a den or shelter, a first for octopuses outside mating. The relaxed disposition and social tolerance of O. laqueus make it a promising species to work with in lab, and for development into a genetic model for social behavior in octopuses.


Objective: For materials science and generally, for long-term operation of work-pieces in industry the significant role is attributed to dependence of macro-mechanical properties of consolidated body on crystalline phase composition, its dimensions, form, distribution in matrix and the form factor. While working in responsible fields of technology of ceramics and ceramic composites the above referred properties are attributed extremely great role with the view of durability and endurance at the terms of heavy mechanical loads. For description of the resistance of any concrete type work-piece, the crystalline phase plays the greatest role in mechanical strength or deformation of any material. It plays the important role in correlative explanation of materials mechanics and matrix properties. In our case, in the process of destruction of ceramic materials and composites, which will give us exhaustive response to the role of macro- and micro-mechanical properties of materials, the role of a macro- and micro-structural component, that is, of crystalline phase in the process of transition of stable state of materials into meta-stable state is extremely big. Our study aims to develop a formula of dependence of macro-mechanical properties of ceramic and ceramic composites on crystalline phase, the most powerful component of their structure, which will enable theorists and practitioners to select and develop technologies and technological processes correctly. Method: On the basis of the study of micro- and macro-mechanical properties of ceramics and ceramic composites and the morphology of crystalline phase and the analysis of the study we determined and created parameters of the formula. Results: The formula covers macro-mechanical properties, that is when the work-piece is thoroughly destructed: mechanic at bending at three and four-point load, mechanic at contraction; among morphological characteristics: composition of crystalline phase and their spreading in matrix, their sizes, form factor; correlative dependence of the above listed properties. Absolutely new definition of a factor of spreading of crystalline phase in matrix is offered. Conclusion: The created formula is of consolidated nature and it can be used in technology of any ceramic material and ceramic composites. The formula will help practitioners to plan correctly and fulfill accurately all positions of technology of production of work-pieces, to carry out the most responsible thermal treatment process of technology of manufacture of work-pieces; to determine correlation between mechanical and matrix properties of materials.


The study consisted of a road-based trial involving 48 participants using a navigation system to complete a
complex urban route. The participants were divided into three matched groups experiencing one of the following landmark conditions: good, poor or no landmarks, incorporated in verbal instructions. A range of objective and
subjective measures were taken to assess driver performance with and attitudes to each of the landmark
categories. The aims were to:
• assess the impact on driver performance and attitudes of presenting navigation instructions which included
good, poor or no landmarks
• validate the REGIONAL model, which was developed to predict the navigational value of individual landmarks
• identify any other factors (e.g. driver or manoeuvre characteristics) that may affect the value of landmarks


We compare the following three notions of uniformity for a finitely additive probability measure on the set of natural numbers: that it extend limiting relative frequency, that it be shift-invariant, and that it map every residue class mod m to 1/m. We find that these three types of uniformity can be naturally ordered. In particular, we prove that the set L of extensions of limiting relative frequency is a proper subset of the set S of shift-invariant measures and that S is a proper subset of the set R of measures which map residue classes uniformly. Moreover, we show that there are subsets G of N for which the range of possible values μ(G) for μ∈L is properly contained in the set of values obtained when μ ranges over S, and that there are subsets G which distinguish S and R analogously. Mathematics subject classification (2000). 60A05


Abstract Elevated heating by cumulus convection and sea surface temperature gradients are both thought to contribute to surface winds over tropical oceans. The relative strength and role of each mechanism is examined by imposing forcing derived from data on a linear primitive equation model with idealized parameterizations for the two forcings, and comparing the response with observed surface winds. Two test cases are studied: one related to the El Nino–Southern Oscillation, and the other related to the "dipole" mode in the tropical Atlantic. It is found that in both cases, elevated heating dominates the surface zonal wind response, and contributes significantly to the meridional wind response, especially in the subtropics and the South Pacific and South Atlantic convergence zone regions. Surface temperature gradients dominate the meridional wind forcing in regions near the equator with strong meridional temperature gradients.


The fluorite deposits of Asturias (northern Iberian Peninsula) are hosted by rocks of Permo-Triassic and Palaeozoic
age. Fluid inclusions in ore and gangue minerals show homogenization temperatures from 80 to 170C and the
presence of two types of fluids: an H2O–NaCl low-salinity fluid (<8 eq. wt% NaCl) and an H2O–NaCl–CaCl2 fluid
(7–13 wt% NaCl and 11–14 wt% CaCl2). The low salinity and the Cl ⁄ Br and Na ⁄ Br ratios (Cl ⁄ Brmolar 100–700
and Na ⁄ Brmolar 20–700) are consistent with an evaporated sea water origin of this fluid. The other end-member
of the mixture was highly saline brine with high Cl ⁄ Br and Na ⁄ Br ratios (Cl ⁄ Brmolar 700–13 000 and Na ⁄ Brmolar
700–11 000) generated after dissolution of Triassic age evaporites. LA-ICP-MS analyses of fluid inclusions in fluorite
reveal higher Zn, Pb and Ba contents in the high-salinity fluids (160–500, 90–170, 320–480 p.p.m. respectively)
than in the low-salinity fluid (75–230, 25–150 and 100–300 p.p.m. respectively). The metal content of the
fluids appears to decrease from E to W, from Berbes to La Collada and to Villabona. The source of F is probably
related to leaching of volcanic rocks of Permian age. Brines circulated along faults into the Palaeozoic basement.
Evaporated sea water was present in permeable rocks and faults along or above the unconformity between the
Permo-Triassic sediments and the Palaeozoic basement. Mineralization formed when the deep brines mixed with
the surficial fluids in carbonates, breccias and fractures resulting in the formation of veins and stratabound bodies
of fluorite, barite, calcite, dolomite and quartz and minor amounts of sulphides. Fluid movement and mineralization
occurred between Late Triassic and Late Jurassic times, probably associated with rifting events related to the
opening of the Atlantic Ocean. This model is also consistent with the geodynamic setting of other fluorite-rich
districts in Europe.


The late 19th century in America was a time of technological advances, demographic transformations, and scientific and psychological inquiries of great magnitude. In addition to these new environmental factors, the impact of the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species in 1859 and, later, Freud's writings on human behavior caused disorientation in the sphere of human development. Human beings were now perceived to be subject to many external and internal forces over which they had little control. Indeed, the question of what governs human conduct became centrally important in science, religion, and ethics as well as in psychology. Such questions were also a major concern for Frank Norris, an American writer of the late 19th century, and especially evident in his 1899 novel McTeague. Throughout the novel, the protagonist repeatedly asks his wife Trina "Who's the boss?" - a question prompted in part by her winning of a $5,000 lottery ticket and played out in McTeague's eventual murder of her. As a Naturalist, and follower of Emile Zola, Norris believed that human behavior could largely be understood in terms of the impact of heredity, environment, and the pressure of circumstance, and that free will or the ability to make choices was limited. What also interested him, in turn, was how such beliefs might affect individuals and/or how such theories might be enlisted to account for the abnormal or pathological in human behavior. With the question of "Who's the boss?" in mind, my purpose in the following essay is to examine the way that Norris uses this novel as a laboratory for examining the relationship between determinism and responsibility, and how in the process he creates characters who evidence symptoms of what today is known as obsessive-compulsive disorder. In order to foreground both the contemporary relevance and the larger context of Norris's pioneering efforts, I will first briefly describe the current theories of obsessive-compulsive behavior anti trace them back to the early research on this psychiatric disorder begun in the 19th century; then I will identify the key points of similarity between such thinking and that of Naturalism; finally, I will provide a detailed analysis of McTeague with a view to suggesting how a novelist's struggle with conflicting attitudes toward moral responsibility provides observations closely connected to those of medical practitioners today. In this way, my essay will complement but also extend beyond studies by William Freedman and Edwin Haviland Miller which note compulsive behavior components in McTeague but in a more general psychological sense. After years of study, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is now thought to evidence a distinctive set of closely related symptoms. At the VIIIth World Congress of Psychiatry in Athens, Greece, in October 1989, psychiatrists Steven A. Rasmussen and Jane L. Eisen stated that OCD almost always includes an underlying feeling of incompleteness, pathological doubt or abnormal risk assessment; behavior characterized by multiple obsessions or compulsions; an exchange of one obsession for another during the course of the illness; and no significant differences in the course, prognosis, or response to treatment amongst subtypes of the illness (20). Although obsessive behavior is often coupled with compulsive behavior, the two are somewhat different. An obsession is a persistent, ritualized thought pattern; a compulsion is a persistent, ritualized behavior pattern. In 1979, psychiatrist Matig Mavissakalian proposed a productive functional classification which consists of four forms: "(a) obsessions; (b) obsessions plus anxiety-reducing compulsions; (c) obsessions plus anxiety-increasing compulsions; and (d) autonomous compulsions" (qtd. in Jenike and Asberg 14). Thus, obsessions and compulsions can occur by themselves or jointly and are frequently accompanied by feelings of anxiety. A decidedly human trait, anxiety is often associated with a perception of loss of security, and, according to psychiatrist Leon Salzman, it is a reaction caused by "feelings of isolation and imposed or imagined threats to [one's] feeling acceptable as a person" (8). …


Blockchain technology enables the creation of a decentralized environment, where transactions and data are not under the control of any third party organization. Any transaction ever completed is recorded in a public ledger in a verifiable, secure, transparent and permanent way, with a timestamp and other details. Introduced in 2009 as the core mechanism for the Bitcoin cryptocurrency and its worldwide payment system, blockchain has had many applications in domains such as IoT, finance, business, management, health and education. Also new platforms and tools for blockchain implementation were developed. As education becomes more open, diversified, democratised, and decentralised, the blockchain technology is taken in consideration by researchers, teachers and institutions, to maintain reputation, trust in certification, and proof of learning. In the first part of the paper, we explore the blockchain technology. Next, existing global and governmental initiatives, together with potential applications of blockchain in different domains are presented. The need to learn about this emerging technology is demonstrated, together with pioneering cases in different universities. Then we propose a public blockchain called OpenEduChain, designed as a repository for open educational assets (Open Educational Resources - OERs, Massive Open Online Courses - MOOCs, open pedagogies and scenarios), but also to deliver issued certificates and open badges by universities and other educational and training institutions. At university level, OpenEduChain, implemented on Ethereum, is used to store data about the open educational items created by faculty members and students. Also digital certificates or open badges are provided to the participants in the trainings and workshops. After a period of tests, OpenEduChain usage could be extended at national level, but also for new purposes such as e-portfolios or assessment.


The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of accessory corpus luteum (CL) induction on fertility in dairy cows. On day 5 after artificial insemination (AI), lactating Holstein cows were assigned unequally to receive gonadotrophin-releasing hormone treatment (GnRH) (n = 641) or no treatment (control; n = 289). Cows had their blood sampled for progesterone (P4), and ovaries were scanned by ultrasound on days 5, 12, 19, 26, 33, 47, and 61 after AI. Pregnancy diagnosis was performed on days 26, 33, 47, and 61. On day 12, cows treated with GnRH were allocated to ipsilateral (n = 239) or contralateral (n = 241) groups based on the side of accessory CL formation relative to previous ovulation. Accessory CL cows had greater P4 than controls. In total, 52.7% (78/148) of pregnant cows in contralateral group had accessory CL regression earlier (<day 33; 30.8%) or later (days 33-61; 69.2%) in pregnancy with coincident decrease in P4. No cows with ipsilateral accessory CL underwent regression. There was no difference in pregnancy/AI among groups. Cows with contralateral accessory CL that underwent early regression had greater pregnancy loss (30%) than controls (10%), or cows with ipsilateral CL (3%) or contralateral CL with either later or no regression (12%). Cows with ipsilateral accessory CL had lower pregnancy loss than controls. In conclusion, elevating circulating P4 by the induction of accessory CL, particularly ipsilateral CL, increases P4 and reduces pregnancy loss. However, contralateral accessory CL that undergoes regression before day 33 of pregnancy has increased pregnancy loss, possibly due to an abrupt decrease in P4 at a pivotal period of pregnancy (days 26-33).


—Low-power, single-purpose embedded devices (e.g., routers and IoT devices) have become ubiquitous. While they automate and simplify many aspects of users' lives, recent large-scale attacks have shown that their sheer number poses a severe threat to the Internet infrastructure. Unfortunately, the software on these systems is hardware-dependent, and typically executes in unique, minimal environments with non-standard configurations, making security analysis particularly challenging. Many of the existing devices implement their functionality through the use of multiple binaries. This multi-binary service implementation renders current static and dynamic analysis techniques either ineffective or inefficient, as they are unable to identify and adequately model the communication between the various executables. In this paper, we present K ARONTE , a static analysis approach capable of analyzing embedded-device firmware by modeling and tracking multi-binary interactions. Our approach propagates taint information between binaries to detect insecure interactions and identify vulnerabilities. We first evaluated K ARONTE on 53 firmware samples from various vendors, showing that our prototype tool can successfully track and constrain multi-binary interactions. This led to the discovery of 46 zero-day bugs. Then, we performed a large-scale experiment on 899 different samples, showing that K ARONTE scales well with firmware samples of different size and complexity.


Supermarkets have responded to the growth in direct marketing and alternative agri-food networks by promoting local produce ranges, and increasingly sourcing organic produce from the UK. Thus consumers now have a choice of outlets for local and organic produce. This paper examines the implications of that choice for direct marketing in particular, and sustainable consumption in general. Mainstream and alternative models of sustainable consumption are described. The paper tests the hypothesis that consumers make a conscious choice to engage in an alternative food network when they purchase through direct marketing channels, and that they are deliberately avoiding mainstream supermarkets. Research findings are presented from a survey of customers of a local organic food cooperative in Norfolk, UK which examines consumer motivations and perceptions of alternative and mainstream food provisioning. The hypothesis is confirmed: consumers expressed wide-ranging preferences for participation in the alternative food system, but the convenience and accessibility of supermarket provisioning of local and organic food threatens to erode the wider social and community benefits achieved by direct marketing initiatives.


We review the formation and evolution of compact binary stars consisting of white dwarfs (WDs), neutron stars (NSs), and black holes (BHs). Mergings of compact-star binaries are expected to be the most important sources for forthcoming gravitational-wave (GW) astronomy. In the first part of the review, we discuss observational manifestations of close binaries with NS and/or BH components and their merger rate, crucial points in the formation and evolution of compact stars in binary systems, including the treatment of the natal kicks, which NSs and BHs acquire during the core collapse of massive stars and the common envelope phase of binary evolution, which are most relevant to the merging rates of NS-NS, NS-BH and BH-BH binaries. The second part of the review is devoted mainly to the formation and evolution of binary WDs and their observational manifestations, including their role as progenitors of cosmologically-important thermonuclear SN Ia. We also consider AM CVn-stars, which are thought to be the best verification binary GW sources for future low-frequency GW space interferometers.


The closed rule constitutes a critical component of managerial power in the contemporary House of Representatives and an increasingly important element of the legislative process. Subject to the approval of the full membership, the closed rule allows managers to block all amendments to a measure when bringing that measure to the floor. Despite objections from the minority, both Republicans and Democrats regularly use the closed rule when in the majority, and rank-and-file members ordinarily approve any closed rule put to a floor vote. Once rarely used, the closed rule has become managers' preferred instrument for controlling the House floor agenda. This Article presents the first comprehensive analysis of the closed rule in the legal literature. After situating the closed rule within its institutional and theoretical context, this Article examines the use of the closed rule by the Republican majority in the 109th Congress and the Democratic majority in the 110th Congress. The Article then undertakes both a positive and normative analysis. The positive analysis generalizes three prominent accounts of the closed rule from political theory and argues that the closed rule can more accurately be understood as a broadly managerial instrument for maintaining order on the House floor. The normative analysis identifies and discusses several undesirable effects of the closed rule - its tendency to increase legislative fragmentation and redundancy, its facilitation of third-party capture, and its weakening of bipartisan cooperation and compromise. But the normative analysis rejects claims that the closed rule is inherently undemocratic, arguing instead that the closed rule represents a deliberate, rational, and legitimate attempt by the rank and file to locate the House at the optimal point between too much managerial power and outright chaos on the floor.


The scale of the 2005 riots in France was unprecedented, with violence spreading to
suburban areas across the nation. The events that unfolded in the Villiers-le-Bel in 2007
represented the aftershock of 2005. With almost identical causal circumstances and
influenced by the memory of 2005, these riots recorded new levels of intensity.
Following these expressions of violence, social commentators aired differing
interpretations: some reduced the riots to simple acts of destruction; others evoked an
ethnocultural fragmentation of society; and others viewed the riots as a social crisis.
However, the issues at stake in the suburbs are more complex than these readings
suggest. The events of 2005 and 2007 revealed the extent of the divide that exists within
the Republic. Young people living in these areas seem to be angered at the failure of the
Republic to treat them as the equals of people from more affluent areas. Could it be that
these young people were attempting to address the blind spot of French republicanism -
the juxtaposition of an abstract proclamation of universal equality with the reality of the
racial and social discrimination that dominates life in the suburbs? Did the riots represent
a rejection of French society and values at large, or could the violence be seen as a call
for social inclusion? Using the riots of 2005 and 2007 as a starting point, this project
explores the sociocultural situation in French banlieues and, on a larger scale, the
republican model in terms of its validity in contemporary French society. The project is
based on empirical evidence gleaned from a case study of Villiers-le-Bel, a suburb
sharing many of the characteristics associated with the banlieues. Extensive fieldwork
offers an in-depth assessment of the true nature and causes of the riots of 2005 and 2007,
and to what extent these events have challenged the French republican model.


As FinTech promises to increase competition for both banks and investment firms, we consider the market failures that emerge from its existence, particularly as they relate to issues of financial stability and investor protection. This chapter discusses the wave of technology-enabled disintermediation of financial services, asking how regulation should cope with the risks associated with disintermediating finance.

While regulation of financial intermediaries has been embraced because the industry is particularly prone to market failures, disintermediation has the potential to make current frameworks obsolete. The law & economics problem is twofold: 1) potential market failures, and 2) the issue of enforcement. This chapter discusses the foundations of financial intermediation and the traditional regulatory approaches to both banks and other providers of financial services. Our analysis establishes a distinction between FinTechs working outside and inside the blockchain. For the former, the crucial regulatory trade-off is between efficiency gains from innovation and regulatory arbitrage. For the latter, our analysis suggests that regulating the convertibility of cryptocurrencies into fiat money is a promising strategy not only to safeguard financial stability, but also to attract financial services to the regulatory perimeter, whenever it is efficient to do so.


This research work presents numerical simulations of supercontinuum (SC) generation in optical waveguides based on Ge11.5As24Se64.5 chalcogenide (ChG) material. Rigorous numerical simulations were performed using finite-element and split-step Fourier methods in order to optimize the waveguides for wideband SC generation. Through dispersion engineering and by varying dimensions of the 1.8-cm-long ChG nanowires, we have investigated dispersion curves for a number of nanowire geometries and identified a promising one which can be used for generating a SC with 1300 nm bandwidth pumped at 1550 nm with a low peak power of 25 W. It was observed through successive inclusion of higher-order dispersion coefficients during SC simulations that there is a possibility of obtaining spurious results if the adequate number of dispersion coefficients is not considered.We then investigate MIR SC in dispersion-tailored, air-clad, ChG channel waveguide employing either Ge11.5As24S64.5 or MgF2 glass and ChG rib waveguide employing MgF2 glass for their lower claddings. We study the effect of waveguide parameters on the bandwidth of the SC at the output of 1-cm-long waveguides. Our results show that output can vary over a wide range depending on their design and the pump wavelength employed. At the pump wavelength of 2 μm the SC never extended beyond 4.5 μm for any of our designs. However, SC could be extended to beyond 5 μmfor a pump wavelength of 3.1 μm. A broadband SC spanning from 2 to 6 μm and extending over 1.5 octave could be generated with a moderate peak power of 500 W at a pump wavelength of 3.1 μm using an air-clad, all-ChG, channel waveguide. We show that SC can be extended even further covering the wavelength ranges 1.8-7.7 μm and 1.8-8 μm (> 2 octaves) when MgF2 glass is used for the lower claddings of ChG channel waveguide and rib waveguide, respectively. By employing the same pump source, we show that SC spectra can cover a wavelength range of 1.8-11 μm (> 2.5 octaves) in a channel waveguide and 1.8-10 μm in a rib waveguide employing MgF2 glass for their lower claddings with a moderate peak power of 3 kW. Finally we present microstrucured fibre based design made with same glass to generate SC spectra in the MIR region. Numerical simulations show that such a 1-cm-long fibre can produce a spectrum extending from 1.3 μm to beyond 11 μm (> 3 octaves) with the same pump and peak power applied before. We consider three fibre structures with microstrucured air-holes in their cladding and find their optimum designs through dispersion engineering. Among these, equiangular-spiral microstrucured fibre is found to be the most promising candidate for generating ultrawide SC in the MIR region.


World War II was a watershed event for many of America's minorities, but its impact on Chinese Americans has been largely ignored. Utilizing extensive archival research as well as oral histories and letters from over one hundred informants, K. Scott Wong explores how Chinese Americans carved a newly respected and secure place for themselves in American society during the war years. Long the victims of racial prejudice and discriminatory immigration practices, Chinese Americans struggled to transform their image in the nation's eyes. As Americans racialized the Japanese enemy abroad and interned Japanese Americans at home, Chinese citizens sought to distinguish themselves by venturing beyond the confines of Chinatown to join the military and various defense industries in record numbers. Wong offers the first in-depth account of Chinese Americans in the American military, tracing the history of the 14th Air Service Group, a segregated unit comprising over 1,200 men, and examining how their was service contributed to their social mobility and the shaping of their ethnic identity. Americans First pays tribute to a generation of young men and women who, torn between loyalties to their parents' traditions and their growing identification with America and tormented by the pervasive racism of wartime America, served their country with patriotism and courage. Consciously developing their image as a "model minority," often at the expense of the Japanese and Japanese Americans, Chinese Americans created the pervasive image of Asian Americans that still resonates today.


We provide an algorithm that automatically derives many provable theorems in the equational theory of allegories (ALL). This was accomplished by noticing properties of an existing decision algorithm that could be extended to provide a derivation in addition to a decision certificate. We also suggest improvements and corrections to previous research in order to motivate further work on a complete derivation mechanism. The results presented here are significant for those interested in relational theories, since we essentially have a subtheory where automatic proof-generation is possible. This is also relevant to program verification since relations are well-suited to describe the behaviour of computer programs. It is likely that extensions of the theory of allegories are also decidable and possibly suitable for further expansions of the algorithm presented here.


Dictionaries and phrase tables are the basis of modern statistical machine translation systems. This paper develops a method that can automate the process of generating and extending dictionaries and phrase tables. Our method can translate missing word and phrase entries by learning language structures based on large monolingual data and mapping between languages from small bilingual data. It uses distributed representation of words and learns a linear mapping between vector spaces of languages. Despite its simplicity, our method is surprisingly effective: we can achieve almost 90% precision@5 for translation of words between English and Spanish. This method makes little assumption about the languages, so it can be used to extend and refine dictionaries and translation tables for any language pairs.


The Integrated Processing and Understanding of Signals (IPUS) architecture is a general blackboard framework for structuring bidirectional interaction between front-end signal processing algorithms (SPAs) and signal understanding processes. To date, reported work on the architecture has focused on proof-of-concept demonstrations of how well a sound-understanding testbed (SUT) based on IPUS could use small libraries of sound models and small sets of SPAs to analyze acoustic scenarios. In this paper we evaluate how well the architecture scales up to more complex environments. We describe knowledge-representation and control-strategy issues involved in scaling up an IPUS-based SUT for use with a library of 40 sound models, and present empirical evaluation that shows (a) the IPUS data reprocessing paradigm can increase interpretation accuracy by 25% - 50% in complex scenarios, and (b) the benefit increases with increasing complexity of the environment.


An aim of the Personal Inquiry (PI) project, underway at the Open University and University of Nottingham, is to explore the challenges and opportunities for technologically-supported personal inquiry within the institutional setting of the UK secondary school. Our developing view of personal inquiry learning coheres around three key themes:

1. choice (e.g. choosing a hypothesis)
2. relevance (to myself/my community/my world)
3. individualisation (e.g. my learning trajectory)

These themes are important if learners are to be motivated by, and engaged in, understanding themselves and the world in which they live.

We will report findings from a pilot study involving 76 pupils, aged 14-15 years, who undertook a location-based inquiry on urban heat islands (UHIs) for their GCSE Geography coursework. Detailed qualitative analysis of videotaped classroom observations suggests that several contextual features play a strong role in mediating opportunities for personal inquiry:

1. the institution (e.g. exam board criteria)
2. reporting conventions (e.g. presentation)
3. writing conventions (e.g. scientific terminology)
4. organisational logistics (e.g. data sharing )

However, teachers encouraged the creation of individualised pieces of coursework, and our analysis identifies 3 main ways in which this was achieved:

1. pupils writing in their own words
2. pupils making choices (e.g. ways of representing their data)
3. individual data analysis and conclusions

With regard to the relevance of the UHI topic, 88% of pupil respondents thought the fieldtrip was beneficial. However, 66% thought that UHIs were not relevant to their lives. Organisational logistics meant that it was necessary for all pupils to attend a single fieldtrip on a single topic.

These findings suggest a need for exploration of the possibility of increasing opportunities for choice, relevance and individualisation. In future work we will be addressing this through, for example, facilitating individual hypothesis creation and choice over data collection points and equipment.


For the design of pile foundations, estimation of the pile-bearing capacity is important because the size and number of piles are determined from the estimation. Although there have been many different methods predicting pile-bearing capacity, no one method provides reliable predictions except for methods based on actual loading tests. Due to time and money constraints, conventional pile-load tests tend to be limited and, consequently, design relies on relatively high factors of safety. In this paper, a new and simple method of performing pile-load tests is introduced. The suggested method uses a separable pile shoe with a reduced-size sliding core and has proved to be efficient in terms of both time and cost. By choosing the newly developed testing method, a more economical pile design can be attained.


Theories to design a three-dimensional superresolution filter (TDSF) for confocal microscopy are proposed that can obtain a globally optimal solution through linear programming. The designed TDSF is proved to be a phase-only element introducing a phase delay of 0 or pi. Five design examples of the TDSF are presented to demonstrate the validity of these theories, Regardless of transverse superresolution, a curve of Seu(Ga+/-) defined as the maximum value of Strehl ratio S under the axial resolving power of Ga+/- is calculated to set the fundamental limits of axial optical superresolution. Finally, what is to our knowledge a novel analytic expression of Seu(Ga+/-) is deduced.


Abstract: Vector‐borne diseases are a potential public health threat to U.S. Forces Korea (USFK). Ehrlichia and Anaplasma spp., transmitted by ticks, are only two of several diseases that may affect military readiness and operations. Rodents were collected at selected U.S. military installations and training sites in the Republic of Korea. DNA was extracted from spleen tissues and assayed by PCR methods for Ehrlichia and Anaplasma species. From rodents and mustelids collected during 1999 and 2000, a total of 196 Apodemus agrarius (striped field mouse), 2 Mustela sibirica (weasel), and 1 Cricetulus triton nestor (Korean greater long‐tailed hamster) were assayed for Ehrlichia and Anaplasma species‐specific DNA fragments. Rodent surveillance indicated a very high prevalence of Ehrlichia and Anaplasma spp. at selected training sites. Ehrlichia/Anaplasma DNA were identified from spleen tissue from 157 Apodemus agrarius, 1 Mustela sibirica, and 1 Cricetulus riton nestor. Species‐specific DNA fragments of E. canis (45), E. ewingii (16), A. phagocytophila (5), and A. platys (62) were amplified by PCR techniques. Seventy‐one striped field mice had single infections, while 24 had mixed infections of 2 (17 specimens), 3 (7 specimens), or 4 (1 specimen) pathogens. The striped field mouse plays a role as a reservoir for latent infections of various Ehrlichia or Anaplasma species.


Over the past decade or so, several advances have been made to the design of modern large vocabulary continuous speech recognition (LVCSR) systems to the point where their application has broadened from early speaker dependent dictation systems to speaker-independent automatic broadcast news transcription and indexing, lectures and meetings transcription, conversational telephone speech transcription, open-domain voice search, medical and legal speech recognition, and call center applications, to name a few. The commercial success of these systems is an impressive testimony to how far research in LVCSR has come, and the aim of this article is to describe some of the technological underpinnings of modern systems. It must be said, however, that, despite the commercial success and widespread adoption, the problem of large-vocabulary speech recognition is far from being solved: background noise, channel distortions, foreign accents, casual and disfluent speech, or unexpected topic change can cause automated systems to make egregious recognition errors. This is because current LVCSR systems are not robust to mismatched training and test conditions and cannot handle context as well as human listeners despite being trained on thousands of hours of speech and billions of words of text.


Federal preemption is perhaps the most important public law issue of the day. The stakes in preemption cases are enormous, as preemption determines whether the federal government or the states control regulatory policy in a host of politically controversial contexts. Congress clearly has primary constitutional authority in setting federal preemption policy, but, for numerous political and practical reasons, cannot be solely responsible for its implementation. Determining which organ of the federal government is best at implementing preemption policy has therefore become the central preoccupation of the academic literature. While this comparative institutional analysis is certainly important in allocating preemption policy-making business, it has elided a very important issue: Congress has an interest not only in what substantive preemption policy should be, but also in who should be primarily responsible for implementing it. In other words, there is a strategic delegation choice to be made by Congress for which current institutional choice approaches to preemption do not fully account. This Article addresses the delegation issue by providing a framework for how Congress should be "legislating preemption." It identifies two previously overlooked challenges posed by delegating preemption implementation responsibility to the federal courts instead of to federal agencies. First, Congress has only weak policing tools when it delegates to federal courts, and therefore has little opportunity to correct the judiciary when it strays from Congress's preemption policy preferences. Second, in its preemption jurisprudence, the Supreme Court has adopted what this Article terms a Centralization Default, which leads it to generally disfavor antipreemption arguments when Congress does not provide clear instructions to the contrary. The Article then proposes that Congress respond to these challenges by drafting broad standards and creating favorable legislative history when preemption policy coincides with the Centralization Default. By contrast, Congress should draft clear rules when it wants to overcome the Centralization Default. After developing the "legislating preemption" framework, the Article uses the Dodd-Frank Act's national bank preemption provisions to illustrate what happens when Congress does not apply the framework. As the Article shows, Congress's failure to account for its weak post-delegation policing tools or the Centralization Default will likely lead to more federal preemption than Congress intended.


This Essay explores the seminal role played by SEC v. Texas Gulf Sulphur in establishing Rule 10b-5's use to create a remedy against corporations for misstatements made by their officers. The question of the corporation's liability for private damages loomed large for the Second Circuit judges in Texas Gulf Sulphur, even though that question was not directly at issue in an SEC action for injunctive relief. The judges considered both construing narrowly "in connection with the purchase or sale of any security," and the requisite state of mind required for violating Rule 10b-5. We explore the choices of the Second Circuit judges by analyzing not only material available in the published opinions, but also the internal memos that the judges circulated among themselves prior to issuing the decision. Ultimately, the Second Circuit majority construed "in connection with" broadly, a choice ultimately validated by the Supreme Court. The Second Circuit's choice of negligence for SEC injunctive actions, however, was rejected by the Supreme Court for both private plaintiffs and the SEC.


Gas hydrates are ice-like crystalline compounds that are formed when small gas molecules get trapped within the water molecules under high pressure and low-temperature conditions in oil and gas transmission lines. The formation of these hydrates is a major threat to oil and gas industry as they have a tendency to agglomerate and completely block the oil and gas transmission lines, which may lead to an explosion or cause unwanted operations shut down. Therefore, annually industry spends around 1 billion US dollars on hydrate prevention procedures which includes extensive use of chemical inhibitors. These chemical inhibitors are generally classified as thermodynamic hydrate inhibitors (THI) and kinetic hydrate inhibitors (KHI). The thermodynamic hydrate inhibitors function by shifting hydrate dissociation temperature to lower values and kinetic hydrate inhibitors function by delaying the hydrate formation time. The commercial THI like Methanol and Mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) perform well, but these inhibitors are required in large quantities (g 30 wt%) and cannot be easily disposed of into the environment. Therefore, there is a strong industrial need to design inhibitors that are environmentally friendly and are required in low dosage. Ionic liquids (ILs) well known as ionic fluids are a type of organic salts that have low melting points and tendency to stay in a liquid form at low or ambient temperature. Ionic liquids are extensively being used in different chemical processes due to their negligible vapor pressure and low viscosity. Recently, ionic liquid has been recognized as the dual functional inhibitors as they have the tendency to perform as kinetic hydrate inhibitor and thermodynamic hydrate inhibitor simultaneously. In this experimental-based work, the thermodynamic inhibition (TI) and kinetic inhibition (KI) effect of ionic liquids (ILs) 1-Methyl-1-Propyl-pyrrolidinium Chloride [PM-Py][Cl] and 1-Methyl-1-Propyl-pyrrolidinium Triflate [PM-Py][Triflate] have been investigated on a methane-rich gas mixture at different concentrations (1–5 wt%) and pressure ranges (40–120 bars). The effect of the addition of synergists with ionic liquids has been also studied and the experimental results have been compared with the commercial thermodynamic inhibitor methanol and literature data. All the experimental work has been conducted using PSL system tecknik rocking cell assembly (RC-5). The ionic liquid [PMPy][Cl] was found to be more effective than the IL [PMPy][Triflate].These experimental results, clearly show that the selected ionic liquids have a tendency to act as thermodynamic and kinetic inhibitors both simultaneously. In order to improve the kinetic inhibition effectiveness of the ionic liquids, the synergist polyethylene oxide (PEO) was added in equal ratio with the ionic liquids [PMPy][Triflate] and [PMPy][Cl]. The addition of PEO helped to enhance the kinetic inhibition effectiveness of these inhibitors significantly and delayed the hydrate induction time by 6 to 14 hours at the pressure range of 40–120 bars. A delay of 6 to 14 hours in hydrate induction time is highly beneficial for process operators as it allows them to take necessary action to avoid process disruptions as a result of hydrate formation. Acknowledgement This work was made possible by NPRP grant # 6-330-2-140 and GSRA # 2-1-0603-14012 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.


In the world today, information remains the most sought for factor of production and the key to effective decision making in any organisation or institution. It is that which clears one from any state of uncertainty. This study therefore, is a survey into the future and prospect of special libraries as transformation agents in public institutions in Nigeria as custodians and disseminators of specialized information for the realization of the objectives of establishing these institutions. Eight public institutions were studied using purposive sampling technique. While structured and validated questionnaire, interviews and observation were the instrument used for collecting data for the study. The data obtained for this study were analyzed using simple mean scores. The findings revealed that special libraries and public institutions in Nigeria are bedeviled with hydra-headed challenges including: inadequate qualified personnel; lack of ICT equipment and infrastructure, poor funding, lack of maintenance culture, negligence on the part of management and moribund public power supply. It was further discovered that the special libraries were far performing below by every standard their functions as transformation agents. It is against this backdrop, that recommendations were made which include, tackling all identified challenges by both the government and management.


Over the past few years consensus has grown around the idea that current EU legislative framework for copyright lacks the flexibility needed to accommodate emerging interests, specifically those arising in connection with technological development. In particular, the principal directive in the area of EU copyright, ie Directive 2001/29/EC (the 'InfoSoc Directive'), has been widely criticised for having failed to increase legal certainty in the EU and, overall, has been considered a badly drafted, compromise-ridden, ambiguous piece of legislation. While debate as to whether the InfoSoc Directive – notably, Article 5 and its enumerated system of exceptions and limitations – should be reformed has gained momentum, very limited (if any) attention has been devoted to exploring the relationship between this directive, the emerging doctrine of EU pre-emption and the room left for national initiatives. It remains uncertain to what extent Member States are free to legislate in areas affected by the InfoSoc Directive, notably exclusive rights and related exceptions and limitations. This contribution seeks to address two main questions: Are Member States entitled to alter, ie broaden or restrict, the scope of the exclusive rights harmonised by the InfoSoc Directive? May Member States decide (as the UK did) not to transpose the full language of exceptions and limitations once they chose to implement a certain exception or limitation from Article 5 catalogue into their national laws? The answer should be in the negative in both cases. This is because Directive 2001/29/EC leaves much more limited room for independent national initiatives than what has been so far understood. However, this may not be necessarily to the detriment of (re-)establishing a proper balance between exclusive rights and related exceptions or limitations. Furthermore, this interpretation appears necessary to comply with the principle of EU pre-emption and thus permit the establishment of a real level playing field in the area of EU copyright.


Purpose
Sustainability has become an important objective for most organizations, as it is emerging as a competitive necessity. This study aims to develop a framework for the identification, categorization and prioritization of sustainable management practices (SMPs) in the hotel sector.

Design/methodology/approach
An extensive literature review was conducted to identify SMPs in the service sector, and a survey tool was used to categorize and prioritize the most important practices based on expert opinion. An analytical hierarchical process (AHP) was used to prioritize the main criteria and sub-criteria of SMPs. The study is composed of 8 main criteria and 33 sub-criteria relevant to the hotel sector.

Findings
It is observed that employee management and government management take top priority under the main criteria, and policy requirements, customer culture and education and training were determined to be the three most relevant sub-criteria as SMPs for hotels in UAE. The results indicate that hotels mostly focus on economic sustainability; however, the environmental and social dimensions of sustainability are ignored in management practices.

Research limitations/implications
The results are derived from four- and five-star hotels and therefore cannot be generalized. In addition, future research on specific categories of hotels is needed in other countries. The current research model can be also applied in different types of companies in tourism and other sectors.

Practical implications
Hotel managers should exert greater effort with regard to the environmental and social dimensions of sustainability practices, as they are highly important. Internationally, there has been considerable debate with regard to these issues, and at present, customers are well aware of such social and environmental efforts.

Originality/value
This study offers original insights into the area of SMP in UAE, especially in the hotel sector.


: Focusing on Euripides' Trojan Women , we investigate distinctive cases from its rich performance history —mainly in Greece and Cyprus during the period 1965–2010— which go beyond essentialist frameworks of reception to activate a contemporaneous cultural presence of the play and re-imagine its grim landscapes of war and refugeehood . In the early post-war period in Greece, revivalist theatrical conventions and fixed representational codes were utilized disregarding global trends of updating anti-war themes by using contemporary experiential material. Since the early 1970s, and especially after the junta period, the ancient warscapes of Troy have been reinterpreted more freely through ecumenical and/or culture-specific contemporary references to modern wars. As varied experiences of warfare were transcribed on stage through adaptation strategies, as well as directorial, and in particular scenographic formulations, greater visibility and impact of the play's themes of war devastation and refugeehood has been achieved. Performances of Trojan Women from the 1990s onwards frequently display intentions of cultural and political commentary —or even intervention— providing more diverse stage versions with contemporary local and/or global references. The main areas for this contextualization of the real in contemporary Greek theatre were the Balkan region and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia Minor and Cyprus, next to other international war zones and conflicts.


While known and feared as the most dangerous global jihadi group, since 2014 al-Qaida has only been involved in one attack in the West. In the same period, al-Qaida's renegade affiliate and current competitor, the Islamic State, has organised or taken responsibility for as many as 38 attacks, thus legitimately positioning itself as the primary threat against the West and pioneer of the global jihad movement. This article argues that the contestation and competition that emerged between the two groups as a result of their split in February 2014 is part of the explanation of the dramatic change in the enemy hierarchy, or political preferences, of the two most dominant Sunni jihadi groups. Furthermore, the article explains how the inter-group competition also prompted the definition of other jihadi actors, identified as the internal enemy, into the enemy hierarchy of al-Qaida and the Islamic State, although to a different extent.


This report contains an overview of the development of aqueous point source emission factors for cadmium in the Rhine River basin in the period 1970-1988. Based on these emission factors the aqueous emissions of cadmium for different industrial activities in the basin are calculated. For some activities defining emission factors does not make sense, since their cadmium emission is determined by e.g. ore or scrap purchase policy and not by the applied process technology.

The overall cadmium emission to the Rhine and to its tributaries is compared with the point source component of in-basin cadmium monitoring data. The results show reasonable agreement. Further study is required to include hydrological characteristics in a tributary-Rhine model, in order to justify the comparison of monitoring data and emission estimates. In the table below, a summary of all the calculated point source emissions in time and per branch is given. A second table provides an overview of the development of emission factors for point source emissions in the Rhine River basin in time.


Patient interactions with health care providers result in entries to electronic health records (EHRs). EHRs were built for clinical and billing purposes but contain many data points about an individual. Mining these records provides opportunities to extract electronic phenotypes that can be paired with genetic data to identify genes underlying common human diseases. This task remains challenging: high quality phenotyping is costly and requires physician review; many fields in the records are sparsely filled; and our definitions of diseases are continuing to improve over time. Here we develop and evaluate a semi-supervised learning method for EHR phenotype extraction using denoising autoencoders for phenotype stratification. By combining denoising autoencoders with random forests we find classification improvements across simulation models, particularly in cases where only a small number of patients have high quality phenotype. This situation is commonly encountered in research with EHRs. Denoising autoencoders perform dimensionality reduction allowing visualization and clustering for the discovery of new subtypes of disease. This method represents a promising approach to clarify disease subtypes and improve genotype-phenotype association studies that leverage EHRs.


Abstract Social safety nets are transfers targeted to the poor or vulnerable. They facilitate access to health and education services to build human capital. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (earlier known as Millennium Development Goals), national and state governments as well as international organisations have focused on increasing the investments in social transfer programmes. Public works are the policy instruments for mitigating the negative effects of climatic and systematic risks on poor farmers and unskilled and semi-skilled workers. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is the largest social protection programme in the world that provides 100 days of unskilled wage employment to any household residing in rural areas whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. In the state of Odisha the MGNREGA scheme is widely implemented. However, the irregularities involved in the implementation of this social protection programme are of great concern. The present study focuses on the implementation of MGNREGA in three districts of western Odisha. The study has tried to identify the bottleneck in the success of MGNREGA scheme.


The computer continues to assume a role of increased importance in university education, and professors must determine appropriate means for its integration into the curriculum. This article describes the incorporation of a studio lab component into undergraduate courses in introductory statistics. We detail the objectives of these courses and describe the motivations, general structure, and main features of our approach. The labs typically involve a two-step frequentist approach where a simple hands-on experiment is performed that is subsequently replicated using the computer. We describe in detail two labs that typify the main features of our approach, and discuss the exibility of the labs with regard to the target audience. A discussion of our perception of their impact on student learning is given, along with some comments on alternative modes of delivery.


Even though the national-level political scene in Ukraine is dominated by the Party of Regions, the west of the country has seen a progressing increase in the activity of the Svoboda (Freedom) party, a group that combines participation in the democratically elected local government of Eastern Galicia with street actions, characteristic of anti-system groups. This party has brought a new quality to the Ukrainian nationalist movement, as it refers to the rhetoric of European anti-liberal and neo-nationalist movements, and its emergence is a clear response to public demand for a group of this sort. The increase in its popularity plays into the hands of the Party of Regions, which is seeking to weaken the more moderate opposition parties (mainly the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc). However, Svoboda retains its independence from the ruling camp. This party, in all likelihood, will become a permanent and important player in Ukrainian political life, although its influence may be restricted to Eastern Galicia.


During lactation, female small mammals frequently reduce their fat reserves to very low levels. The function of this reduction is unclear, as calculations suggest that the contribution of the withdrawn energy from fat to the total energy balance of lactation is trivial. An alternative hypothesis is that reducing fat leads to a reduction in circulating adipokines, such as leptin, that play a role in stimulating the hyperphagia of lactation. We investigated the role of circulating leptin in lactation by repleting leptin levels using miniosmotic pumps during the last 7 days of lactation in Brandt's voles (Lasiopodomys brandtii), a model small wild mammal we have extensively studied in the context of lactation energy demands. Repletion of leptin resulted in a dose-dependent reduction of body mass and food intake in lactating voles. Comparisons to nonreproducing individuals suggests that the reduced leptin in lactation, due to reduced fat stores, may account for ∼16% of the lactational hyperphagia. Reduced leptin in lactation may, in part, cause lactational hyperphagia via stimulatory effects on hypothalamic orexigenic neuropeptides (neuropeptide Y and agouti-related peptide) and inhibition of the anorexigenic neuropeptide (proopiomelanocortin). These effects were reversed by the experimental repletion of leptin. There was no significant effect of leptin treatment on daily energy expenditure, milk production or pup growth, but leptin repletion did result in a reversal of the suppression of uncoupling protein-1 levels in brown adipose tissue, indicating an additional role for reducing body fat and leptin during peak lacation.


This is the first edition of the correspondence of Philip Quaque, a prolific writer of African descent whose letters provide a unique perspective on the effects of the slave trade and its abolition in Africa. Born around 1740 at Cape Coast, in what is now Ghana, Quaque was brought to England by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. In 1765 he became the first African ordained as an Anglican priest. He returned to Africa and served for fifty years as the society's missionary and also as chaplain to the Company of Merchants Trading to Africa (CMTA) at Cape Coast Castle, the principal slave-trading site of the CMTA. Quaque sent more than fifty letters to London and North America reporting on his successes and failures, his relationships with European and African authorities, and his observations on the effects of the American and French revolutions on Africa. The regular references to his African mission in popular magazines made Quaque well known in the English-speaking world. Initially writing when the transatlantic slave trade went largely unquestioned, Quaque in his later letters traces the period of abolitionist fervour leading up to the ban in 1808. Although his employers supported and facilitated slavery, Quaque's letters reveal his evolving opposition to both slavery and the slave trade, particularly in his correspondence with early abolitionists. Quaque's life offers a fascinating perspective on transatlantic identity, missionary activity, precolonial European involvement in Africa, the early abolition movement, and Cape Coast society.


Consultants have increasingly been using flexible, synthetic linings for a variety of civil engineering applications. The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture has been using membranes to line irrigation canals, rather than using concrete or asphalt. A number of potable-water storage ponds, especially in water-short areas, have been lined with plastic sheet, the largest being an 88-acre reservoir in Williams, Arizona. A big and growing area for liners is the wastewater field, including the storage and treatment of both municipal and industrial wastes. Membranes are also used for covering reservoirs, to protect the water from air-borne pollutants. Here are the pros and cons of using these liners and the circumstances under which they are most attractive, least attractive. The article also examines the impact of recent Federal environmental legislation, and presents several case histories.


Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic disease which becoming health community problem in the world. DM patients can be treated by antidiabetic drugs throughout their lifetime. Therefore, to alleviate the concern for the side e ect, it is important to have an alternative therapy which has same e ect but less side e ect. One of alternative therapies which has been known for a long time ago is Mulberry leaves ( Morus alba ). For something to be clinically used as an alternative therapy, e ective and lethal dose should be known. Here we tried to discover the lethal dose (LD 50 ) and the liver morphological changes, using the e ective dose that had been known from previous study. In our experiment, we used Morus alba leaves infusion and 25 male Wistar rats. These rats were divided into 1 control group and 4 groups treatment dosage, 0.3, 3, 30, and 300 grams/kg bodyweight. We observed the mortality in 7 days and examined the liver morphological changes. From this study, we conclude that 300 grams/ kg bodyweight or 48 grams/kg bodyweigtht in human was pseudolethal dose in male Wistar rats. We did not found any signi cant liver morphological changes. Therefore, we can categorize Morus alba as a harmless alternative therapy. Key words : Alternative therapy, diabetes mellitus, liver morphological changes, lethal dose, Morus alba.


Vallombrosa Center was host during the week September 7-12, 1985 to about 40 mathematicians, physical scientists, and engineers, who share a common interest in free surface phenomena. This volume includes a selection of contributions by participants and also a few papers by interested scientists who were unable to attend in person. Although a proceedings volume cannot recapture entirely the stimulus of personal interaction that ultimately is the best justification for such a gathering, we do offer what we hope is a representative sampling of the contributions, indicating something of the varied and interrelated ways with which these classical but largely unsettled questions are currently being attacked. For the participants, and also for other specialists, the 23 papers that follow should help to establish and to maintain the new ideas and insights that were presented, as active working tools. Much of the material will certainly be of interest also for a broader audience, as it impinges and overlaps with varying directions of scientific development. On behalf of the organizing committee, we thank the speakers for excellent, well-prepared lectures. Additionally, the many lively informal discussions did much to contribute to the success of the conference.


Advocates of online alternatives to face-to-face interviewing suggest online approaches save money and time, whereas others have raised concerns about the quality and content of the resulting data. These issues affect researchers designing and costing their studies and application reviewers and research funders. We conducted a scoping review of English language articles describing the range of online alternative approaches. Furthermore, we systematically identified studies directly comparing online alternatives with face-to-face approaches. Synthesis of these 11 articles (565 participants) suggests that online alternatives should not be viewed as a straightforward replacement for face-to-face, a particularly important finding given the rapid communication changes occurring in the COVID-19 pandemic. When applied with consideration of the evolving evidence on their strengths and weaknesses, online methods may increase the likelihood of obtaining the desired sample, but responses are shorter, less contextual information is obtained, and relational satisfaction and consensus development are lower.


[1] Integrated atmospheric water vapor (IWV) estimates from a 15-station-wide network of Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers have been collected continuously since November 1997. The core of this network consists of five stations of the active GPS reference system in the Netherlands. A network with sufficient long baselines was chosen to secure the absolute accuracy of the GPS IWV data. Rapid satellite orbits available 12 to 24 hours after data acquisition are used in the processing of the GPS data, and IWV estimates are available with a typical delay of 1 day. Comparison of the GPS IWV data with data retrieved from a water vapor radiometer and radiosondes shows a good agreement. Different network configurations and processing strategies have been investigated to optimize the network and processing for future near-real-time use. In near-real-time applications, only predicted orbits are available; however, the accuracy of the predicted orbits is, in general, not sufficient for accurate IWV retrieval. We tested whether orbit relaxation, i.e., the simultaneous adjustment of orbit parameters during the processing of the GPS data, could increase the accuracy of the IWV estimates. During an experiment with orbit relaxation applied to predicted orbits a significant improvement of the accuracy of the GPS IWV data was found. The accuracy was comparable to GPS IWV data retrieved with final orbits, the most accurate orbit data available. Results of the experiments and the analysis of operational acquired data are presented.


An X-band radiator as an open-ended waveguide with a hybrid dielectric insert is proposed. The insert is in the form of a parallelepiped, which fills the entire cross section of the waveguide and constitutes a Teflon matrix with local inhomogeneities in the form of dielectric cylinders with a different permittivity. The design allows for forming various near-field distributions and, hence, the radiator performance by means of definite combinations of the local inhomogeneities can be modified. A number of configurations in the location of air and quartz cylinders are investigated. The calculated and experimental results are in good agreement. The proposed approach to the near-field formation of the aperture antenna is promising, because the variety of possible configurations in the location of local inhomogeneities with different permittivity provides new opportunities in terms of designing both single radiators and antenna arrays.


The Carlina hypertelescope is a planned sparse aperture 100 m telescope with pupil densification. The telescope has a spherical primary with segments located in a valley between mountains, and additional optical elements in a gondola suspended in eight cables some 100 m above the primary mirror. The resolution is about 1.2×10-3 arcsec. It is imperative that the position and attitude of the gondola be maintained within tight tolerances during observation and star tracking. The present design has servo-controlled winches on the ground for control of the gondola via the cables. An integrated model of the system, including optics, cables, gondola, position and attitude control system, and wind disturbances has been set up. The structural and control models are linear. Calculations in the frequency domain and simulations in the time domain show that the performance of the telescope with the present design seems adequate for short exposures. However, for long-exposure operation, the gondola stability should be improved by about two orders of magnitude. Recommendations are given on possible approaches for performance improvement.


Software updates typically require stopping and restarting an application, but many systems cannot afford to halt service, or would prefer not to. Dynamic software updating (DSU) addresses this difficulty by permitting programs to be updated while they run. DSU is appealing compared to other approaches for on-line upgrades because it is quite general and requires no redundant hardware. The challenge is in making DSU practical: it should be flexible, and yet safe, efficient, and easy to use.In this paper, we present Ginseng, a DSU implementation for C that aims to meet this challenge. We compile programs specially so that they can be dynamically patched, and generate most of a dynamic patch automatically. Ginseng performs a series of analyses that when combined with some simple runtime support ensure that an update will not violate type-safety while guaranteeing that data is kept up-to-date. We have used Ginseng to construct and dynamically apply patches to three substantial open-source server programs---Very Secure FTP daemon, OpenSSH sshd daemon, and GNU Zebra. In total, we dynamically patched each program with three years' worth of releases. Though the programs changed substantially, the majority of updates were easy to generate. Performance experiments show that all patches could be applied in less than 5 ms, and that the overhead on application throughput due to updating support ranged from 0 to at most 32%.


We present Tactile Echoes, a wearable system for augmenting tactile interactions with any object. This system senses vibrations in the fingertip that are produced by interactions of the finger with a touched object. It processes the vibration signals in real-time via a parametric signal network and returns them to the finger as "Tactile Echoes" of the touch interaction. Just as acoustic echoes continuously respond to sound, Tactile Echoes are continuously generated in response to the sensed tactile contacts. A short finger tap produces discrete Echoes, while a slide can yield continuous feedback. We also render the signals as sound, yielding multisensory feedback. Many different effects can be designed using ten signal processing parameters. Distinct effects may be assigned to different touched objects or surface regions by sensing the hand location in a mapped environment. We investigated how Tactile Echoes are perceived in a behavioral study using semantic differential scaling and multidimensional scaling methods. This yielded low-dimensional, semantically grounded representations of the perceptual similarities between different Echoes. This system holds promise for enabling evocative haptic effects during a wide range of free-hand tactile interactions.


A sense of perspective is needed. When steroids were first used, in the early 50s, there was a worry that these wonder drugs would bankrupt the NHS. Nasty side-effects cut down the prescriptions and saved the NHS from too much financial embarrassment, but the principle remains, and the NHS has never, in all its nearly 60 years, managed to stay within budget. If its current overspend is about £800 million, that represents — to quote a posting to one of the internet medical discussion groups — about 1% of its total budget. Each of Britain's 232 ordered Eurofighters costs £68.5 million, which is 2.5 times its originally estimated cost. We are spending £1.5 billion every year keeping troops in Iraq.

Just what is the problem in 'bailing out' the NHS?

NHS Chief Executive Nigel Crisp having fallen on the sword of his recently announced peerage (Lord Crisp of Spud'u'like?), Patricia Hewitt has been in bullish mood, telling PCTs and hospitals to tighten their belts and stop moaning. Oh, and give Herceptin to everybody who wants it. 'Efficiency savings' have never worked before, and they won't work now. Paring money off budgets reduces efficiency as the unforeseen consequences work their way through. Cheaper disposables prove less good, so you use more of them. The only belts that will tighten are the patients'.

Sir Nigel's parting thoughts were revealing. He was proud that the NHS had achieved or exceeded many challenging targets, which is fine — and to give him his due the King's Fund acknowledged his contribution to an NHS 'in a much better state than when he took over'. I'm less happy with his being proud 'that old hierarchies had been broken down'. What this meant was left unsaid, but according to some disturbing television revelations about independent sector treatment centres it looks as if it is the old hierarchies who are being left to sort out the complications.

Ken Jarrold, himself an ex-NHS civil servant, listed seven qualities that the new NHS chief executive will need. Just one — his number four — needs shouting out loud: to tell ministers that not everything is affordable; that choices have to be made, and difficult decisions have to be taken. I add to Jarrold's advice that the new chief executive must then find a way to stop doctors being blamed for those decisions.

NICE has just advised obesity surgery for children who can't lose weight. Well, at least the government's new initiative for 'health MOTs' will give them free heart check-ups should they reach 40.


The social, political and economic impact of the decline of the old colonial powers in Africa, India and the Middle East are still key areas of scholarly research and debate. Based on careful social observation and empirical research, these titles explore the tension between agriculture and industry in developing economies, and trace the complex political process of independence. Aimed at administrators and academics, these studies are central to Development Studies, and also present the work of renowned anthropologists such as Raymond Firth.


Water planning and management are faced with increasing levels of uncertainty, complexity and conflict. Multiple decision makers and managers, legislative requirements, competing interests, scarcity of resources, deskilling of management agencies and large uncertainties about the future in a more connected and rapidly changing world, are all drivers for the need to develop improved approaches to aid decision making in the water sector. This paper proposes a 'participatory values based risk management approach', designed to help to make uncertainties explicit, structure complexity in more understandable forms, increase collaboration and manage conflict. The approach will be explained through a case study example: the creation of the Lower Hawkesbury Estuary Management Plan in NSW, Australia. This process, driven by local government, included three interactive stakeholder workshops based on stages of a generalised 'participatory modelling process to aid decision making' and the Australian and New Zealand Standard for Risk Management (AS/NZS 4360:2004), as well as an external scientific and legislative review. A range of stakeholders from state and local governments, the water authority, local industries, community associations and residents took part in the process stages of: 'initial context establishment' including the definition of estuarine values, issues and current management practices; 'risk assessment' based on the stakeholder defined values (assets) and issues (risks); and 'strategy formulation' to treat the highly prioritised risks as input to the estuary management action (or 'risk response' plan). As the plan has not been finalised or implemented, the external process effectiveness can not yet be properly gauged. However, preliminary evaluation results appear to demonstrate that the process is efficient from time and budgetary perspectives and has a number of other potential benefits which will be outlined in this paper. Other lessons learnt and possible suggestions for best-practice when using such an approach in future water sector applications will also be highlighted:


We constructed a sensitive ellipsometer to study extremely small ellipticities that are acquired by laser light when it traverses a multipass optical cavity in a 9-m-long superconducting magnet. This setup was used to measure the Cotton–Mouton constant (CCM) of neon at 514.5 nm. We find for 760 Torr (1 atm) and 25°C that CCM(Ne) = (5.5 ± 0.3) × 10−20 G−2 cm−1.


The Sound Toll Registers Online project has opened a trove of information for historians, but calculating the actual volume of the trade it represents remains a challenge. Attempts have been made for products that were measured in weight or volume, but timber products were usually recorded by the number of pieces in a ship's cargo. Different timber products varied greatly in size, so the amount of pieces is not useful for determining the volume of timber. Here I propose an approach for estimating the volume of Baltic timber trade using Spain as a case study. Such an estimate can be made by dividing distinct products and assigning them predictable dimensions. First, the process of converting the amount of timber pieces into volume is discussed. I then discuss the possibilities and problems with estimating tonnage. The article concludes with a discussion of the problems and limitations of this methodology.


This study evaluates the performance of a cascade system in subcritical operation using the pair R744 / R134, as an option to conventional systems in supermarkets, which usually uses R404A, or R22. The experimental apparatus consists of a variable speed reciprocating compressor for R744 and an electronic expansion valve that promotes direct evaporation of the CO2 inside a cold room (2.3m x 2.6m x 2.5m) to maintain the internal air temperature stable. The high-temperature cycle consists of a reciprocating compressor for R134a, a thermostatic expansion valve, and an air-cooled condenser. A plate heat exchanger, which is at the same time, the condenser for the R744 and evaporator to R134a completes the setup. Two parameters were manipulated: The superheating degree of the R744, 5-20 K, and the R744 compressor operation frequency, 40-65 Hz. In order to contribute to the improvement of the cooling processes, mainly about the sustainability and energy efficiency, a drop-in has been made at the hightemperature cycle, whose R134a load has been replaced by R404A. The alternative cooling system (R744 / R404A) was subjected to two stages of tests which allowed the energy comparison between the two refrigerant sets. Through the obtained results, it was estimated maximum COP equivalent to 1.36 and a minimum value of 1.06 for the R744 / R134a pair, demonstrating the applicability of this cascade system of variable thermal load conditions, the values of capacity cooling, settled between 4.09 and 5.13 kW. The minimum value of the air temperature within the cold room was 28 °C and -5 °C the maximum. Finally, it was found that the results obtained for R744 / R404A pair attended the air temperature condition inside the cold room with similar COP values. However, R744 / R404A pair operated at lower refrigeration capacities, these settled between 2.16 and 3.00 kW. This reduction is due to the large difference between the volumetric cooling capacity values of these HFCs in question, resulting in adaptation problems of the R404A to the compressor and the expansion mechanism.


Purpose: Whether it is safe for estrogen receptor–positive (ER+) patients with breast cancer to consume soy isoflavone genistein remains controversial. We compared the effects of genistein intake mimicking either Asian (lifetime) or Caucasian (adulthood) intake patterns to that of starting its intake during tamoxifen therapy using a preclinical model. Experimental Design: Female Sprague-Dawley rats were fed an AIN93G diet supplemented with 0 (control diet) or 500 ppm genistein from postnatal day 15 onward (lifetime genistein). Mammary tumors were induced with 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA), after which a group of control diet–fed rats were switched to genistein diet (adult genistein). When the first tumor in a rat reached 1.4 cm in diameter, tamoxifen was added to the diet and a subset of previously only control diet–fed rats also started genistein intake (post-diagnosis genistein). Results: Lifetime genistein intake reduced de novo resistance to tamoxifen, compared with post-diagnosis genistein groups. Risk of recurrence was lower both in the lifetime and in the adult genistein groups than in the post-diagnosis genistein group. We observed downregulation of unfolded protein response (UPR) and autophagy-related genes (GRP78, IRE1α, ATF4, and Beclin-1) and genes linked to immunosuppression (TGFβ and Foxp3) and upregulation of cytotoxic T-cell marker CD8a in the tumors of the lifetime genistein group, compared with controls, post-diagnosis, and/or adult genistein groups. Conclusions: Genistein intake mimicking Asian consumption patterns improved response of mammary tumors to tamoxifen therapy, and this effect was linked to reduced activity of UPR and prosurvival autophagy signaling and increased antitumor immunity. Clin Cancer Res; 23(3); 814–24. ©2017 AACR.


We present a general analytical formula and an ab initio study of quantum interference in multibranch molecules. Ab initio calculations are used to investigate quantum interference in a benzene-1,2-dithiolate (BDT) molecule sandwiched between gold electrodes and through oligoynes of various lengths. We show that when a point charge is located in the plane of a BDT molecule and its position varied, the electrical conductance exhibits a clear interference effect, whereas when the charge approaches a BDT molecule along a line normal to the plane of the molecule and passing through the center of the phenyl ring, interference effects are negligible. In the case of oligoynes, quantum interference leads to the appearance of a critical energy E-c at which the electron transmission coefficient T (E) of chains with even or odd numbers of atoms is independent of length. To illustrate the underlying physics, we derive a general analytical formula for electron transport through multibranch structures and demonstrate the versatility of the formula by comparing it with the above ab initio simulations. We also employ the analytical formula to investigate the current inside the molecule and demonstrate that large countercurrents can occur within a ringlike molecule such as BDT, when the point charge is located in the plane of the molecule. The formula can be used to describe quantum interference and Fano resonances in structures with branches containing arbitrary elastic scattering regions connecting nodal sites.


Bromodomains (BRDs) are protein interaction modules that selectively recognize e-N-acetylated lysine residues. BRDs are present in diverse proteins that play key functions in chromatin organization and regulation of gene transcription. Aberrant transcription is a hallmark of many diseases in particular cancer and inflammation. The complexity of molecular processes regulating gene transcription identified transcriptional regulators as interesting targets for the development of specific chemical tool molecules (chemical probes) that help to understand the molecular mechanisms of transcription and to explore the potential of BRD mediated interactions as sites for pharmaceutical intervention. Recently a number of highly specific inhibitors have been developed against the BET (bromo and extra terminal) family of bromodomains. The availability of selective BRD inhibitors had a significant impact on the validation of bromodomain-containing proteins as targets for drug development and for our understanding of the biological roles of these proteins. In this review we will summarize the discovery of BET bromodomain inhibitors and their roles in target validation.


Integrin cell surface adhesion receptors play a central role in mediating cell migration. We have developed a model system consisting of CHO cells ectopically expressing the alpha IIb beta 3 integrin to study integrin affinity and cytoskeletal interactions during cell migration. The alpha IIb beta 3 integrins are suited for study of integrin receptors during cell migration because they are well characterized with respect to ligand binding, cytoskeletal interactions, and signal transduction, and mutants with altered receptor function are available. The alpha IIb beta 3 receptor specifically mediates migration of alpha IIb beta 3-transfected CHO cells. The migration of transfected CHO cells was studied on a fibrinogen substrate both by time lapse videomicroscopy and by random and haptotactic transwell assays. Haptotactic and random transwell assays measured distinct aspects of migration, with the random transwell assay correlating most closely with time lapse videomicroscopy. Mutations in the cytoplasmic domains that increase ligand affinity or activation of the alpha IIb beta 3 receptor into a high affinity state by the LIBS6 antibody decreased the migration rate. Likewise, mutations that increase cytoskeletal organization without affecting affinity also decreased the migration rate. In contrast, truncation of the beta chain, which alters cytoskeletal associations as assayed by absence of focal adhesions, decreased haptotactic migration while increasing random migration. These effects on the migration rate were partially compensated for by altering substrate concentration, demonstrating optimum substrate concentrations that supported maximal migration. For example, cells expressing integrins locked in the high affinity state showed maximal migration at lower substrate concentrations than cells expressing low affinity receptor. Together, these results implicate the strength of adhesion between cell and substrate, as modulated by receptor affinity, organization of adhesive complexes, and substrate concentration, as important regulators of cell migration rate. Further, we demonstrate a dominant effect of high affinity integrin in inhibiting migration regardless of the organization of adhesive complexes. These observations have potential implications for tumor metastasis and its therapy.


In Maine, people have long used private land for recreation. James Acheson points out that this "open land" tradition—unique in the nation—has huge economic implications, especially for the state's tourism industry. In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in land posting, largely in response to abuses by the public. Although a number of different kinds of institutions have arisen to allow continued public access to private land, Acheson suggests that more needs to be done if Maine's "open land" tradition is to be maintained First page 18 Last page 30 Recommended Citation Acheson, James M. . "Public Access to Privately Owned Land in Maine." Maine Policy Review 15.1 (2006) : 18 -30, https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mpr/vol15/iss1/5.  Download


Although several studies demonstrate that inflammation contributes to neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders, the physiological functions of immune molecules in synapse formation and functionality are not completely known. Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) has been described as one of the main pro-inflammatory cytokines involved in several neurological disorders. IL-1β is produced by many types of cells, including immune cells in the periphery, as well as glia and neurons within the brain [Dinarello CA, 1996]. The ability of IL-1β to influence cellular functions depends on the expression of the appropriate receptor and the activation of specific intracellular signaling pathways. Two receptors for IL-1β have been identified, but only the type 1 receptor (IL-1R1) is signal transducing [Sims JE et al., 1993]. IL-1R1 is expressed on central nervous system (CNS) glia (astrocytes and microglia), particularly after injury [Friedman WJ, 2001], and also on specific populations of CNS neurons, including hippocampal pyramidal neurons [Yabuuchi K et al., 1994; Ericsson A et al., 1995; Friedman WJ, 2001]. IL-1β elicits distinct functional effects in these CNS cell types, regulating the production of inflammatory cytokines in glia and influencing synaptic function of hippocampal neurons, affecting long-term potentiation (LTP) [Katsuki H et al., 1990; Bellinger FP et al., 1993; Murray CA and Lynch MA, 1998; Kelly A et al., 2001]. Previous studies reported that impaired Interleukin-1 signalling is associated with deficits in hippocampal memory processes and neural plasticity [Avital A et al., 2003] and that IL-1R is essential for the activation of microglia and the induction of proinflammatory mediators in response to brain injury [Basu A et al., 2002].

Despite the well-established role of this cytokine in different brain diseases, its putative physiological function during normal brain development is not completely known. The aim of this study is to clarify if, and how, Interleukin-1 signalling participates in the maintainance of synapse homeostasis in the CNS. In order to study how endogenous IL-1β signaling may alter normal brain development and functionality, we took advantage of an IL-1 type 1 receptor (IL-1R1) knock-out mouse model, where the IL-1 signaling is genetically blocked.

Our results show that lack of IL-1R affects excitatory inputs in vivo, leading to a significant increase in the expression of excitatory synaptic markers in both cortex and hippocampus. In line with this evidence, Golgi-cox staining of fixed brain slices revealed a significantly higher spine density in CA1 pyramidal neurons of IL-1R-/- hippocampi. Consistently, electrophysiological recordings from hippocampal acute slices demonstrated enhanced frequency and amplitude of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents in IL-1R-/- mice, confirming the functional potentiation of the excitatory signalling in the hippocampus of knock-out mice. We also observed a transiently increased number of parvalbumin-positive GABAergic interneurons in the hippocampal CA1 region of P30 IL-1R-deficient mice (although, this increased number is completely rescued in older mice), suggesting a possible role of IL-1 signalling in the control of the GABAergic system during early stages in life. These data demonstrate a key role of the IL-1 receptor in controlling excitatory and inhibitory network refinement and strengthening during brain development. However, this process was not observed in primary culture of hippocampal neurons established from IL-1R-/- mice, thus suggesting a non-cell-autonomous effect. In line with this observation, we observed a transient increase in microglia number in IL-1R-/- mice during the first weeks of postnatal life (a critical time point for synapse maturation and elimination), although completely recovered in older mice. Moreover, using mixed co-cultures, we found that IL-1R-/- microglia cells were less effective in promoting synaptic elimination when compared to WT microglia cells.

In conclusion, IL-1R signaling seems to play a key role in modulating glutamatergic and GABAergic synapses and its absence leads to a general and long-lasting potentiation of excitatory inputs. Since microglia contribute to synaptic pruning and network refinement in the first postnatal weeks, the alteration in microglia-mediated synapse pruning in IL-1R-/- mice may be involved in this process, eventually leading to short-term effects on postnatal synaptic maturation and long-term effects on adult brain networks.


BACKGROUND
Several approaches traditionally have helped opacify the bowel when computed tomography (CT) is used to diagnose appendicitis. With the development of multidetector row CT (MDCT), the need for enteral contrast agents is less obvious. Purpose The objective of this study was to evaluate retrospectively the accuracy of MDCT demonstration of appendicitis using enteral contrast agents.

METHODS
We reviewed radiologic reports of all 246 adult patients with suspected appendicitis who underwent 16-slice MDCT during 2005-2006 at our department. The use of enteral contrast agents and the route of administration were documented by one investigator. A radiologist evaluated whether the responses in the reports were consistent with diagnosis of appendicitis. The accuracy of the radiologic reports was assessed using the results of surgery, histopathology and 3 to 21 months of follow-up.

RESULTS
Of patients studied, 14.6% received no enteral contrast agent, 8.5% received both oral contrast and rectal contrast (enema), 46.7% received oral contrast and 30.1% received rectal contrast enemas. The accuracies for the CT diagnosis of appendicitis with different combinations of agents ranged from 95% to 100%, with no significant difference among groups.

CONCLUSION
Our study shows that the accuracy for diagnosis of appendicitis by abdominal 16-slice MDCT is high regardless of enteral contrast use. Therefore, further use of enteral contrast agents for CT diagnosis of appendicitis in adults cannot be recommended.