The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of radiation emitted by mobile phones on the hearing of users. The study was carried out on three groups: 1) 20 men who have used a cellular phone frequently and spoken approximately 2 h per day for four years; 2) 20 men who have used a cellular phone for 10–20 min per day for four years; and 3) 20 healthy men who have never used a cellular phone (the control group). Brainstem evoked response audiometric (BERA) and pure tone audiometric (PTA) methods were used to measure the effects of exposure on hearing function of the subjects. In BERA measurements, I–III, III–V, and I–V interpeak latencies were evaluated. Interpeak latency of subjects in two experimental groups was compared to that of subjects in the control group. The BERA results showed no differences among the groups (p > 0.05). In PTA measurements, detection thresholds at 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz, 4000 Hz, and 8000 Hz frequencies were measured in all three groups. No differences were observed between moderate mobile phone users (10–20 min. per day) and control subjects. However, detection thresholds in those who talked approximately 2 h per day were found to be higher than those in either moderate users or control subjects. Differences at 4000 Hz for both bone and air conduction for right ears, and 500 Hz, and 4000 Hz bone and air conduction for left ears were significant for mean hearing threshold. This study shows that a higher degree of hearing loss is associated with long-term exposure to electromagnetic (EM) field generated by cellular phones.


Aims: This study aims to determine the short term effects during off-season of pre-wetted straw and urea incorporation on lowland rice field soil carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions using climate change adaptation food security mitigation option tool (CCAFS-MOT) model. Study Design: The experiment was performed using a Randomized Complete Block Design. Place and Duration of Study: Nigeria, Niger State, Bida local Government from April to July 2015. Original Research Article Koglo et al.; AJEA, 13(5): 1-11, 2016; Article no.AJEA.27088 2 Methodology: Integrated formulations of rice straw and urea at different rates respectively: 2, 3 and 4 t/ha and 25, 50 and 75 kg/ha were used with one check plot (C) (without straw and urea). The experiment was a Randomized Complete Block Design, and ten (10) integrated formulations (treatments) were used with four (04) replications. Each replication, was made of ten (10) plots giving a total number of forty (40) plots. The effect of treatments on the following variables; Soil Organic Carbon Density Gain per Year (SOCDG/year, kg/ha) and GHGs emissions (kg/ha) were determined in order to identify the best treatments. Data collected were analyzed using GenStat 16.2 and CCAFS-MOT 1.0 for SOC balance. Matlab 11.0 and Excel 2013 were also used for data processing and graphs. Significance and Duncan's Multiple Range Test were performed at 95%. Results: Results indicated significance difference of treatments on each parameter evaluated. SOCDG increase is function of the quantity of straw and urea incorporated (Fpr. <0.001). Moreover, the study revealed three best treatments (T2, T4 and T5). Their responses (TR, %) to Soil Organic Carbon Density Gain per Year (SOCDG/year, kg/ha) have increased up to 43%. Potential carbon sequestration estimated by the CCAFS-MOT was about 44.4% for the improved practices identified with 0% methane emission and scanty nitrous oxide emission up to 31.3%. These results give strong evidence concerning the use of pre-wetted technique as panacea to both mitigate climate change and enhance croplands productivity and resilience to these changes in Niger State, Nigeria. Conclusion: Pre-wetted straw and urea application can help to deplete greenhouse gas emission and enhance carbon on agricultural lands. However, additional trials are needed before validation of the method under different agro ecological conditions in west African zones.


The author offers a pair of proposals for possible practice-led tactics for live electronic music research, both aimed at enhancing musical communication within the sub-discipline and based on activities that the author takes to be informally present in much of the conduct of musicians. By way of background, he first explains why improving musical communication is important in terms of its potential benefit to our disciplinary coherence and our collective ability to communicate fruitfully with each other and with researchers in allied disciplines.


Simulations of plasma dynamics in a fast capillary discharge are presented. The temporal dependence of the plasma column's resistance validates the one-dimensional model that was used in the numerical simulations. Numerical analysis of the laser absorption determines the pump parameter range for efficient excitation of longitudinally pumped transient collisional x-ray lasers.


The purpose of this research was to explore how college students with learning disabilities perceived that their family environments and early educational experiences influenced their decisions in college. An additional goal of this study was to explore how these students understood their learning disability diagnosis and how that understanding affected their academic choices. Participants had documented learning disabilities and used support services during the time of their enrollment at the university. All were students in good standing and had attended the university for at least three years. A qualitative method using unstructured, personal interviews was used. Interviews were analyzed according to broad themes reflecting the research issues. The study is organized according to the chronology of events in the students' lives and reflects their experiences before they attended the university and during the time they were enrolled. The results of this study generally support research of college graduates with learning disabilities which indicates that early and continued personal support, accepting and understanding a learning disability, adequate academic preparation and personal characteristics of persistence, goal setting and extra effort are important components to academic success. This study's results also underscore the importance of transition planning that incorporates students' interests and skills when determining the best match for higher education settings. Implications for further research are included.


While symbolic and statistical approaches to natural language processing have become undeniably impressive in recent years, such systems still display a tendency to make errors that are inscrutable to human onlookers. This disconnect with human processing may stem from the vast differences in the substrates that underly natural language processing in artificial systems versus biological systems.
To create a more relatable system, this dissertation turns to the more biologically inspired substrate of neural networks, describing the design and implementation of a model that learns to comprehend and produce language at the sentence level. The model's task is to ground simulated speech streams, representing a simple subset of English, in terms of a virtual environment. The model learns to understand and answer full-sentence questions about the environment by mimicking the speech stream of another speaker, much as a human language learner would. It is the only known neural model to date that can learn to map natural language questions to full-sentence natural language answers, where both question and answer are represented sublexically as phoneme sequences.
The model addresses important points for which most other models, neural and otherwise, fail to account. First, the model learns to ground its linguistic knowledge using human-like sensory representations, gaining language understanding at a deeper level than that of syntactic structure. Second, analysis provides evidence that the model learns combinatorial internal representations, thus gaining the compositionality of symbolic approaches to cognition, which is vital for computationally efficient encoding and decoding of meaning. The model does this while retaining the fully distributed representations characteristic of neural networks, providing the resistance to damage and graceful degradation that are generally lacking in symbolic and statistical approaches. Finally, the model learns via direct imitation of another speaker, allowing it to emulate human processing with greater fidelity, thus increasing the relatability of its behavior.
Along the way, this dissertation develops a novel training algorithm that, for the first time, requires only local computations to train arbitrary second-order recurrent neural networks. This algorithm is evaluated on its overall efficacy, biological feasibility, and ability to reproduce peculiarities of human learning such as age-correlated effects in second language acquisition.


Background Despite growing evidence of the effectiveness of cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT) for psychosis, typically only about 50% of patients show a positive response to treatment. This paper reports the first comprehensive investigation of factors which predict treatment outcome. Method In a randomised controlled trial of CBT for medication-resistant psychosis (see Part I) measures were taken at baseline of demographic, clinical and cognitive variables. Changes over time were assessed on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale and the relationship between potential predictor variables and outcome was investigated using analysis of variance and covariance. Results A number of baseline variables were identified as predictors of good outcome in the CBT group. Key predictors were a response indicating cognitive flexibility concerning delusions (P=0.005) and the number of recent admissions (P=0.002). Outcome was less predictable in the control group and was not predicted by any cognitive variable. Conclusions Good outcome is strongly predicted in patients with persistent delusions by a cognitive measure, while this was not the case in controls. Thus we argue that positive outcome in CBT is due in part to specific effects on delusional thinking.


It is well understood that the spilled oil from damaged oil tankers poses a severe threat to the marine environment. Although great efforts have been devoted to studying the oil spilling from damaged oil tankers, especially double hull tanks (DHTs), the majority is subjected to an ideal condition (e.g., fixed tanks in still water; simple damage conditions) and adopts hydrostatic theories or quasi-steady models with over-simplified assumptions on data analysis or analytical prediction. These conditions or assumptions may not stand in the complex dynamic spilling process in the real spilling accident. This study brings a step further on the knowledge of oil spilling from a damaged tank by combining experimental and numerical investigations, with a focus on the dynamic spilling process from damaged oil tankers which is either fixed or subjected to motion, which have not been systematically investigated.

In the experimental investigation, the submerged oil spilling from DHTs under different accidental scenarios including grounding and collision is studied. Two new sets of laboratory tests are carried out, where the damaged tank is fixed in still water. In the first set, the axial offset between the internal and the external holes on two hulls of the grounded DHT is considered to widen the scope of damage conditions which the tanker may suffer from during grounding accidents. Although all cases in this set are subjected to the same hydrostatic conditions, completely different dynamic spilling processes are observed. In the second set, the initial water thickness inside the ballast tank of the collided DHT is considered. This aims to represent the real scenarios that the external hull is generally damaged prior to the internal hull and, therefore the ballast space is partially filled by the water flowing from the surrounding environment before the internal hull is damaged. These experiments do not only advance the state of the art of the experimental study in this field, but also provide a reference for validating the numerical models developed in this study. Based on the experimental data, the correlation analysis for the discharge through the internal hole by using quasi-steady Bernoulli's equation is presented, contributing to the development of an improved analytical model for predicting the oil spilling from damaged oil tankers.

The numerical study is carried out using a numerical model developed in OpenFOAM framework, where the VOF is applied to deal with the air-oil-water multiphase flow. This model enables the users: (1) to consider air, oil and water three phases of fluid and their interaction with solid tanker hull using dynamic mesh technologies;
(2) to model turbulence associated with the oil spilling process using various available turbulent models; and (3) to investigate the effects of the compressibility of the fluid. The oil spilling from damaged DHTs is simulated and validated by the experimental data. Intensive investigations are carried out to clarify uncertainties in existing numerical modelling of the oil spilling from damaged DHTs. These include (1) the associated turbulence behaviours and selecting an appropriate approach to turbulence modelling; (2) the role of fluid compressibility during the oil spilling; and (3) the effect of tank motion on the oil spilling process. For the turbulence modelling, various approaches to model the turbulence, including the large eddy simulation (LES), direct numerical simulation (DNS) and the Reynolds average Navier-Stokes equation (RANS) with different turbulence models are attempted. It is concluded that the oil spilling from DHTs is more sensitive to the turbulence modelling than that from SHTs. For DHT cases, the effective Reynolds number (Re) considering both oil outflow and water inflow is suggested to classify the significance of the turbulence and to correspondingly select the appropriate turbulence model. The investigation on the role of the air compressibility in the oil spilling from damaged DHTs reveals that the air compressibility may be considerable in a small temporal-spatial scale (e.g., jet-jet and jet-structure impact pressure), but plays an insignificant role in the macroscopic process of the oil spilling (e.g., spilling discharge and volume). In order to approach the spilling phenomena in the more realistic environment, a systematic numerical study is carried out to investigate the effect of the periodic ship motion on the oil spilling from the damaged tank. Different tank designs (i.e., SHTs and DHTs), accidental scenarios (i.e., grounding and collision) and tank motion parameters (i.e., types, frequencies and amplitude) are considered. The result indicates that the tank motion does not only cause a periodic oscillation of the oil/water flow through the broken hole, but also induces a second long-duration stage of spilling after a quasi-hydrostatic-equilibrium condition occurs, resulting in the more significant amount of spilled oil.

By using both the experimental data and numerical results produced in this research, an improved prediction model for oil spilling from damaged DHTs in still is formulated. This model considers the case-dependent hydrodynamic interaction between the oil and water jet flows inside the ballast tank and its effect on the spilling process. The result using the improved model is compared with the numerical result indicating its superiority over the existing model.


Objectives: To explore the engagement of second year pharmacy students in a South African University, in the implementation and evaluation of an integrated assignment. Methods: The integrated assignment focused on integrating the concepts of health promotion and pharmacotherapy of chronic non communicable diseases in the Anatomy and Physiology course. On completion, students engaged in a process of evaluation that focused on reflection of the assignment experience and their skills development. Results: Insights from the evaluation process revealed ways in which the assignment was educational and empowering. The students positively highlighted their ability to understand the link between various courses in Pharmacy after doing this integrated assignment, enhanced understanding of addressing chronic non communicable diseases, team building and communication skills. Conclusion: The students' feedback highlighted that the assignment facilitated the achievement of conceptual integration, skills development and positively influenced their understanding of health promotion. The constructive engagement with the students created a space for reflection and facilitated a conducive environment for students to think freely, creatively and recognize the need for health promotion in their role as future pharmacists.


The paper commences by considering the similarity between Dr King, MK Gandhi and Nelson Mandela and argues that they are high mimetic figures who inspire us to be better. Their legacy and memory operate as a yardstick by which we can evaluate the conduct of those exercising public and private power over us. Each remains dominant in his respective society decades after passing on or leaving public life, and the paper suggests that very little societal value is had by deconstructing their lives and judging facets of their lives through the prism of latter day morality. We gain more by leaving their high mimetic status undisturbed. There is a clear link between their various struggles with King being heavily influenced by the writings and thinking of Gandhi, who commenced his career as a liberation activist in South Africa. King was instrumental in commencing the discourse on economic sanctions to force the Apartheid government to change and the Indian government had a long and committed relationship with the ANC. The second half of the paper turns to an analysis of how Dr King's legacy impacted directly and indirectly on developments in South Africa. One of the key objectives of the Civil Rights movement in the USA was to attain substantive equality and to improve the quality of life of all. The paper then turns to assessing the extent to which democratic South Africa has achieved these objectives and concludes that the picture is mixed. Important pioneering changes such as enabling gays and lesbians to marry have taught important lessons about taking rights seriously. However, despite important advancements, neither poverty nor inequality has been appreciably reduced. One of the major failures has been the inability to provide appropriate, effective and relevant education to African children in public schools. Effectively educating previously disadvantaged persons represents one of the few means at our disposal of reducing inequality and breaking the cycle of poverty. Fortunately, there is a general awareness in the country that something needs to be done about this crisis urgently. The paper notes comments by President Zuma that the level of wealth in white households is six times that of black households. The critique is that comments of this nature do not demonstrate an acknowledgment by the ANC that, after 19 years in power, they must also accept responsibility for statistics such as this. Keywords: Martin Luther King; Mahatma Gandhi; Nelson Mandela


VIRTUAL WORLD COMMERCE ADOPTION (VWCA): A CASE STUDY OF SECOND LIFE INVESTIGATING THE IMPACTS OF PERCEIVED AFFORDANCES, TRUST, AND NEED SATISFACTION by Kamolbhan Olapiriyakul Virtual worlds are computer-simulated worlds in which multi-players can simultaneously interact in a rich graphical environment. The development of virtual worlds, along with the massive growth of users, creates opportunities for business organizations. This dissertation involves many studies regarding virtual world adoption in business by virtual consumers. Most of the research in Information Systems (IS) was conducted investigating factors influencing technology adoption, such as ease of use and usefulness, subjective norms and behavioral controls, self-efficacy, performance and effort expectancy, flow, etc. However, most of these research studies focused neither on design aspects related to affordances nor users' goal-oriented behaviors, such as need satisfaction. This dissertation examines the effect of affordances, referring to a property of an object, animal, or environment that affords, or makes available certain actions. Particularly, this dissertation investigates the users' perceived affordance of virtual products and environments, in which business transactions take place. In addition, relationship-based trust and need satisfaction are considered as crucial determinants of virtual world commerce adoption in this dissertation. There are three studies that were conducted in Second Life in this dissertation, which are two preliminary studies and a main study. The preliminary studies use multiple data collection methods, including user interviews, documentation, direct observations, and questionnaire surveys. The results of the preliminary studies suggest that trust, social influence, system security, system quality, and service quality are vital for users when they make purchase decisions. The initial measurement model containing valid and reliable measurement scales of the main research constructs was proposed. The main study, using a revised questionnaire survey from the preliminary studies, was conducted to develop the conceptual framework of Virtual World Commerce Adoption (VWCA). Covariance-based and PLS-based path analyses were employed based on the data obtained from the participants who have different experience levels with online business transactions. The final results show a significant relationship between perceived affordances and intention to purchase products in the virtual world. This relationship is mediated by need satisfaction. However, the mediating effect of relationship-based trust is not significant. This is due to more concern about trust related to technical aspects of the system rather than trust from social exchange process. VIRTUAL WORLD COMMERCE ADOPTION (VWCA): A CASE STUDY OF SECOND LIFE INVESTIGATING THE IMPACTS OF PERCEIVED AFFORDANCES, TRUST, AND NEED SATISFACTION by Kamolbhan Olapiriyakul A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of New Jersey Institute of Technology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information Systems Department of Information Systems


A total 104 specimens of equal or unequal conjoined skeletons of actinommid radiolarians, where 2 or 3 individuals are conjoined, were recovered from Holocene and Pleistocene sediments in the Japan Sea. Several combinations of ontogenetic stages are observed in the conjoined actinommid skeletons. For example, juvenile actinommids with one or two concentric spheres may be fused to adult three or four sphere actinommids in different combinations. Actinomma leptoderma with 3 concentric spheres can also conjoin with other actinommids possessing four spheres such as Actinomma boreale , Sphaeropyle langii and Prunopyle antarctica . This suggests that these species are closely related and capable of cytoplasmic fusion during stages of skeletal deposition. The species with conjoined skeletons are at present placed in three different genera, but our new results suggest that they should belong in one genus. The conjoinment of actinommid skeletons is thought to be a result of successive skeletal growth through "bridge-growth" and "rim-growth" patterns. The different combinations of skeletal conjoinment stages strongly support asexual reproduction by binary fission. Our observation also suggests that the actinommids can reproduce at the juvenile stage (one or two skeletal spheres developed), not only at the adult stage (three or more skeletal spheres developed). Frequent occurrence of the conjoined forms in the Japan Sea might be related to its habitat in well oxygenated, cold, deep-water with higher nutrient supplies from the surface.


This study aims to assess the impact of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD): ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) on the patients' quality of life (QoL) and to identify the significant changes in QoL depending on the developmental particularities of IBD and the epidemiological parameters. A prospective study was conducted over a period of 36 months (October 2011 – October 2014) at the Institute of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Iai. The study was conducted on 254 patients diagnosed with IBD, 187 patients with UC and 67 patients with CD. The quality of life was assessed using the questionnaire IBDQ- 32 (Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire), which is one of the most widely used questionnaires in QoL assessment. The total IBDQ score was slightly more reduced in the patients with UC compared to the patients with CD. Of the 4 subscales of the IBDQ score, the scores highlighting the emotional and social component were significantly more reduced in the patients with UC, while the scores for the bowel symptoms were significantly more reduced in the patients with CD. In both the patients with UC and with CD, the correlations between the UCDAI, respectively CDAI score and the IBDQ score were indirect, highlighting reduced values of IBDQ in patients with a severe activity of the disease. The severe flare of the disease had a negative impact on the patients' QoL. The present study confirms the fact that the activity of the disease is the factor likely to have the highest impact on QoL in IBD patients.


The scalar-vector-tensor theories with second-order equations of motion can accommodate both Horndeski and generalized Proca theories as specific cases. In the presence of a perfect fluid, we study the cosmology in such a most general scheme of scalar-vector-tensor theories with parity invariance by paying particular attention to the application to dark energy. We obtain a closed-form expression of the background equations of motion by using coefficients appearing in the second-order action of scalar perturbations. We also derive conditions for the absence of ghost and Laplacian instabilities of tensor and vector perturbations and show that the existence of matter does not substantially modify the stabilities of dynamical degrees of freedom in the small-scale limit. On the other hand, the sound speed of scalar perturbations is affected by the presence of matter. Employing the quasi-static approximation for scalar perturbations deep inside the sound horizon, we derive analytic expressions of Newtonian and weak lensing gravitational potentials as well as two scalar perturbations arising from the scalar and vector fields. We apply our general framework to dark energy theories with the tensor propagation speed equivalent to the speed of light and show that the observables associated with the growth of matter perturbations and weak lensing potentials are generally affected by intrinsic vector modes and by interactions between scalar and vector fields.


Since their existence libraries have been acquiring, organizing, disseminating and preserving recorded human knowledge only. However, inventions enforced through information and communication technologies have brought drastic changes in the medium of information storage, dissemination and use. There have been a number of studies in the developed world, which investigated and reported how they created, managed, adopted and reacted to the challenges and opportunities provided by the new information and communication technologies. Now the question is what type of systems, skills and services we need to establish and convert existing libraries into hybrid 21 Centry Libraries. This paper traces the shifts occurred in the developed world libraries and identifies the extent to which academic and other libraries in the developing world have adopted or should take a paradigm shift in improving the systems and services to meet the new challenges. This is first of its kind a study from this part of the world trace what has happened in the developed world in terms of information and communication technology applications in their libraries & their user expectations, and where we stand in this global phenomenon. Evidenced recommendations based coupled with more than three and half years of field experience provide applicable solutions to be our own and in the forefront of the developed world in terms of library and information services.


The study of taboo language spans several fields, from psychology and neuroscience to sociolinguistics, yet many gaps remain in the research. It has been established that swearing is most likely an emotional response, originating from the limbic centre of the brain, and that context has a significant bearing on the strength of a taboo. This study tests how the context of a taboo word affects our perception of its strength. Two separate groups of participants were asked to rate the strength of eight taboo words in British English, taken from existing literature and popular culture, namely: cocksucker, cunt, fuck, motherfucker, nigger, piss, shit, and tits. One group were given the words in context, with definitions and sample sentences, whilst the other group were given the words alone, without context. The results show that both groups rank the words in a roughly similar order but that the words from the Context Group yield more similar scores and are generally perceived as stronger. Though the results do not offer any conclusive findings, the study has opened up several possibilities of future study which could offer some more useful insight into the topic.


In this paper we describe a technique for closed formulation of an iterative operator-splitting method and embed the method in the classical exponential splitting methods. Since iterative operator splitting have been developed, an abstract framework to relate the method to other classical splitting methods is needed. Here an abstract framework considering the iterative splitting method as waveform-relaxation or exponential splitting method is devised. This is achieved by basing the analysis on semi-groups and fixed-point schemes. Abstract results illustrate differential equations with constant and timedependent coefficients.


The focus of the photovoltaic industry is a continuous reduction of the cost of solar energy. Lowering the wafer thickness during the processing by means of multi-wire slurry saw technology is one of the key issue to reduce these costs. However, reducing the wafer thickness without increasing the wafer strength leads to a larger breakage rate during the subsequent fabrication steps. Hence, recent studies have been carried out to enhance the sawing process by minimizing the sub-surface defects. Nevertheless, little efforts have been made to determine at which stage in the wafering process, the most dangerous defects are created for solar cells processing. Are they made during the shaping of the silicon bricks from cast ingots, or during the slicing operation into wafers, or else? State of the art consists in polishing the bricks prior to wafering by multi-wire slurry saw. The goal of this paper is to bring some insights on the importance of the edge defects on the wafer strength. Results using various methods such as roughness measurement, wafer strength measurement with the 4-lines bending tests and finite elements calculations are presented. The main conclusion of this study is that the defects made during the shaping of the bricks prior to wafering can be of high importance with respect to wafer strength.


The optical properties of two dimensional photonic crystal (PhC) waveguides were investigated using ferroelectric barium titanate (BTO) thin films as the optical medium. The photonic band structure was calculated using a 2-D finite difference time domain (FDTD) method; a broad band gap is observed that results from the high refractive index contrast. The simulated transmission spectra indicate the stop band of PhC is mainly determined by three parameters: lattice constant, refractive index contrast, and waveguide mode order. From transmission measurements the PhC with a lattice constant a = 420 nm shows a strong light dispersion and the other PhC with a = 450 nm shows a 120-nm broad stop band. Strong localization of visible light within the PhC cavities is demonstrated from the light scattering images. The observed strong light confinement and its spatial intensity profile due to resonance agree with the calculated profiles. From polarized optical microscopy we discovered the scattered light wavelength was highly sensitive to magnitude of the lattice constant. The optical scattering properties indicate BTO PhC can potentially serve as micrometer size electro-optically tunable switches and color filters.


The function of the human endometrium is to accept the implanting embryo and provide an environment for its subsequent growth and development by forming the maternal side of the placenta. The endometrium undergoes rapid cyclic changes of cell proliferation, differentiation and renewal and briefly becomes receptive to the embryo allowing its attachment and subsequent invasion during the implantation window. These processes are controlled systemically by steroid hormones which are thought to activate and control local molecular effectors including chemotatic cytokines known as chemokines. Chemokines are known to recruit leukocytes by chemotaxis, but also have a wider multifunctional in the control of cell function.Limited studies have shown expression of the chemokine ligand CXCL12 and its receptor CXCR4 in the human endometrium. However, little is known about the precise role of these molecules in endometrial function. To investigate this further, real-time RT-PCR was used to measure the expression of CXCL12 and CXCR4 mRNA in endometrial biopsies throughout the menstrual cycle. Both CXCR4 and CXCL12 were expressed by the endometrium at all stages of the cycle. Expression of CXCL12 mRNA was relatively low and did not change throughout the menstrual cycle. However, CXCR4 mRNA significantly increased during the early proliferative phase of the cycle, with a second slight increase during the mid secretory phase.Expression of CXCL12 and CXCR4 in cultured human endometrial epithelial and stromal cells was investigated using real-time RT-PCR used to measure levels of CXCL12 and CXCR4 mRNA expression. CXCL12 expression was found to be higher in stromal cells compared to epithelial cells, while expression of CXCR4 was highest in the endometrial epithelial cells. Expression of CXCR4 mRNA was also investigated in Ishikawa and HEC-1-B cell lines. Both cell lines were found to express CXCR4 mRNA, though levels were higher in Ishikawa cells compared to HEC-1-B cells, which was more comparable to their primary epithelial cell counterparts.Although the functions of CXCL12 in the endometrium remain unknown, CXCL12 has been shown to increase the expression of interleukin 6 (IL6), interleukin8 (IL8), matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2), matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) and vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) in various non-endometrial cell types. As all of these factors have previously been shown to be of potential importance to endometrial function, their basal mRNA expression was quantified in primary epithelial and stromal endometrial cells and Ishikawa and HEC-1-B cell lines using real-time RT-PCR. To investigate effects of CXCL12 on these endometrial factors, all four endometrial cell types were incubated with CXCL12 and the expression of IL6, IL8, MMP2, MMP9 and VEGFA was measured using real-time RT-PCR. Basal levels of IL8 and MMP9 mRNA were found to be significantly higher in endometrial epithelial cells in comparison to stromal cells, while VEGFA was significantly higher in stromal cells in comparison to epithelial cells. Expression of IL6, IL8, MMP2 and MMP9 was several orders of magnitude lower in the Ishikawa and HEC-1-B cell lines in comparison to their primary epithelial counterparts suggesting that these cell lines are not good models to investigate endometrial function. Incubation with CXCL12 had no significant effect on the expression of any of these factors, in primary epithelial, stromal, Ishikawa or HEC-1-B cells, which suggests CXCL12 may not regulate their expression in the endometrium.To investigate the potential wider effects of CXCL12 on the expression of endometrial factors, a genome-wide microarray expression analysis was carried out in Ishikawa cells. Incubation of these cells with CXCL12 resulted in the identification of fifty one mRNA transcripts that were shown to be significantly and reproducibly up-regulated by CXCL12. Fourteen of these transcripts were produced by unknown genes, but thirty seven transcripts could be identified and potential functions attributed to them. Several of these genes have previously been shown to be of potential importance to endometrial function or to be known components of the CXCR4 signaling pathways.Overall, the results of this study have increased our knowledge of the expression and cellular distribution of CXCL12 and CXCR4 in the endometrium. This study has also identified several potential roles for CXCL12 and CXCR4 in endometrial function which would warrant further investigation.


We have been doing code clone analysis with industry collaborators for a long time, and have been always asked a question, "OK, I understand my system contains a lot of code clones, but how slim will it be after merging redundant code clones?" As a software system evolves for long period, it would increasingly contain many code clones due to quick bug fix and new feature addition. Industry collaborators would recognize decay of initial design simplicity, and try to evaluate current system from the view point of maintenance effort and cost. As one of resources for the evaluation, the estimated code size by merging code clone is very important for them. In this paper, we formulate this issue as "slimming" problem, and present three different slimming methods, Basic, Complete, and Heuristic Methods, each of which gives a lower bound, upper bound, and modest reduction rates, respectively. Application of these methods to OSS systems written in C/C++ showed that the reduction rate is at most 5.7% of the total size, and to a commercial COBOL system, it is at most 15.4%. For this approach, we have gotten initial but very positive feedback from industry collaborators.


As mature as the field of Ras research is, interesting findings continue without abatement. The three isoforms of Ras, c-H-Ras, c-K-Ras, and c-N-Ras, share very high sequence identity except for their COOH-terminal hypervariable domains. Although little is known about the specific roles played by each isoform, some light is beginning to be shed on their functions. Walsh and Bar-Sagi have observed that c-H-Ras and c-K-Ras differ in their ability to activate Rac-dependent effects. By expressing constitutively activated forms of c-H-Ras and c-K-Ras (c-H-RasV12 and c-K-RasV12) in cells, the authors observed that c-K-RasV12-dependent membrane ruffles were highly convoluted and underwent marked changes in appearance, whereas the morphology of the c-H-RasV12-dependent ruffles did not change greatly. Additionally, cells expressing c-K-RasV12 exhibited greater motility. These effects correlated with enhanced activation of Rac by c-K-Ras in COS cells. Cells expressing chimeric proteins consisting of c-H-RasV12 except that the last 25 residues were from the c-K-Ras COOH-terminus exhibited similar characteristics (including the same subcellular distribution) as those cells expressing full-length c-K-RasV12. This indicates that the difference in the ability of c-H-Ras and c-K-Ras to activate Rac-dependent functions was mediated by the COOH-terminus of c-K-Ras, which includes a stretch of lysine residues not found in c-H-Ras. Thus, some of the different biological functions of Ras proteins may be imparted by their hypervariable COOH-termini. A. B. Walsh, D. Bar-Sagi, Differential activation of the Rac pathway by Ha-Ras and K-Ras. J. Biol. Chem. 276, 15609-15615 (2001). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Advances in technology now make it possible to integrate hundreds of cores (e.g. general or special purpose processors, embedded memories, application specific components, mixedsignal I/O cores) in a single silicon die. The large number of resources that have to communicate makes the use of interconnection systems based on shared buses inefficient. One way to solve the problem of on-chip communications is to use a Network-on-Chip (NoC)-based communication infrastructure. Such interconnection systems offer new degrees of freedom, exploration of which may reveal significant optimization possibilities: the possibility of arranging the computing and storage resources in an NoC, for example, has a great impact on various performance indexes. The paper addresses the problem of topological mapping of intellectual properties (IPs) on the tiles of a mesh-based NoC architecture. The aim is to obtain the Pareto mappings that maximize performance and minimize power dissipation. We propose a heuristic technique based on evolutionary computing to obtain an optimal approximation of the Pareto-optimal front in an efficient and accurate way. At the same time, two of the most widely-known approaches to mapping in mesh-based NoC architectures are extended in order to explore the mapping space in a multicriteria mode. The approaches are then evaluated and compared, in terms of both accuracy and efficiency, on a platform based on an event-driven trace-based simulator which makes it possible to take account of important dynamic effects that have a great impact on mapping. The evaluation performed on both synthesized traffic and real applications (an MPEG-4 codec) confirms the efficiency, accuracy and scalability of the proposed approach.


This study proposes a conceptual model to link IT capabilities, industry types, and value implications. We attempt to use a contingency analysis to theorize that which types of IT capabilities (e.g., externally-focused, internally-focused, and aggregate IT capability) should a firm develop and then what benefits (e.g., firm value and firm performance) it will gain according to its industry's value creation logic (e.g., value chain-based, value shop-based, and value network-based industry). The empirical findings show that a value network-based firm should develop externally-focused IT capabilities to create its firm value and a value chain-based firm should develop aggregate IT capabilities to improve its firm performance and create its firm value.


The proliferation of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) has resulted in a heterogeneous regime of trade rules applicable among WTO Members. The interplay between PTA and WTO rules has several implications, including risks of legal tensions and incoherence between both regimes, as well as between overlapping networks of PTAs. Consequently, adjudicative bodies both under regional PTAs and global WTO dispute settlement mechanisms are increasingly confronted with taking account of alien legal sources for the purpose of interpretation. Coherence between PTA and WTO rules thus depends on the degree to which adjudication at both levels—PTA and WTO—allows integration of alien legal sources. This article explores the role of systemic integration as a method of interpretation under public international law allowing adjudicating bodies to deal with possible tensions and promote coherence within international trade law. It traces the various approaches to systemic integration pertaining to international trade rules as employed under both WTO and PTA adjudication. While systemic integration offers a public international law tool for reducing fragmentation of substantial law, there is heterogeneity in adjudicative practice regarding the readiness to employ systemic integration for the purpose of interpretation. The article identifies possible avenues through which future dispute settlement can exploit the potential for coherence through systemic integration, as well as elements which could be taken into consideration when integrating multilateral and preferential rules. It also provides insight on how PTAs could facilitate the application of systemic integration by adjudicating bodies at both levels.


Since Muskegon Public Schools serves a multicultural population, and since the canon of the textbooks used in the secondary language arts classes reflects neither this diverse population nor the current publications of the diverse cultures of the society, this study, in the form of a survey will show the need for the district to include literature contributed by ethnic minority writers from the American literature scene. The study shows the increasing need for such inclusion as well as offering rationale for doing so. Finally, this paper will propose a three year pilot class, minority literature, similar to the minority history class which is currently offered to students at Muskegon High School. Following the three year pilot and its evaluation, the recommendation will propose the placement of ethnic minority literature into the canon of the language arts curriculum.


Objective: Little is known about the course of anxiety disorders in the general population. This study provides insights into the course of anxiety disorders in the general population taking into account transition to residual symptoms and to other diagnostic categories. Methods: Using data from three waves of the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study-2 (NEMESIS-2; n = 6646), subjects with anxiety disorders (T0; n = 243) were divided into three mutually exclusive course trajectories according to their diagnostic status at 3-year (T1) and 6-year (T2) follow-up: remission group (no disorder at T2), intermittent course group (no disorder at T1 and disorder at T2) and chronic course group (disorder at all measurements). Transition to residual symptoms or other psychopathology were studied. In addition, predictors of course trajectories were assessed. Results: During 6-year follow-up, 77.8% of subjects achieved remission, 14.0% followed an intermittent course and 8.2% a chronic course. Of those in remission, residual anxiety symptoms remained in 46.6%, while 7.9% developed another disorder between T0 and T2. Compared with the remitting group, a chronic course was predicted by not living with a partner, multiple negative life events, neuroticism, lower mental functioning, severity of anxiety symptoms, use of mental health care and medication use. Limitations: The intermittent and chronic course groups were small, limiting statistical power. As a result, certain predictors may not have reached significance. Conclusions: In the general population at 6-year follow-up, 77.8% of subjects with anxiety disorders achieved remission. Because of transition to residual symptoms or another diagnostic category, only 52.4% of those subjects had a true favourable outcome.


Samples ofCumin (Cuminumcyminum),Curry (Murraya koenigii),Galangal (Alpinia galanga) and turmeric (Curcuma longa) were evaluated to generate data about their microbiological profile. These samples were procured fromdifferent regions of Jeddah province, SaudiArabia (SA). These samples were evaluated for their microbiological qualities i.e. contamination load of total aerobic mesophilic bacteria (TAMB), mesophilic aerobic sporeformer bacteria (MASB), coliformbacteria (CFB), and lactic acid bacteria (LAB), food borne bacterial pathogens such as Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium perfringes, The samples were also evaluated for the presence of pesticide (dimethoate, malathione, prefenofos, dieldrin, hepatochlor and lindane residues. Samples of all the four spices were found to have some load of TAMand MASB in the range of log 1.71 to log 6.80 cfu/gm. Curry and turmesric samples were containing CFB and LAB in the range of log 2.48 to log 6.70 cfu/gm, where as cumin and turmeric samples showed the presence of yeast andmolds and Bacillus cereus. Clostridium perfringens was detected only in cumin. Only cumin samples showed the presence of organophosphorous pesticide residue.


In 2011 it was estimated that in Thailand there were 498,800 stroke survivors of both sexes but most were over the age of 65. They were served by only 625 occupational therapists (OTs). Occupational therapy (OT) plays a key role in the rehabilitation service for stroke patients, in particular, by enabling stroke survivors to reengage with activities of daily living and to resume work or family tasks. OT needs to be culturally appropriate and relevant to the therapists, stroke patients and their families. The Occupational Therapy Mahidol Clinic System (OT-MCS) has been designed to be culturally relevant and is based on collaborative teamwork which can better address the needs of the stroke patients.

OT-MCS was introduced in 6 regional OT clinics. This study compared perceptions of stroke clients who took part in the new approach 8 weeks before and during the rehabilitation. One hundred and twenty stroke participants were divided into 2 functional groups (slow and fast stream rehabilitation). Stroke participants (N=120) and OTs (N=60) explored the arrangement of activity items into domains for creating a new activity card sort (ACS). Sixty stroke participants
(slow stream rehabilitation) and 60 OTs were surveyed to investigate the attitudes of "satisfaction" and "importance" via 40 therapeutic activities. Sixty stroke participants (fast stream rehabilitation) evaluated the levels of their activity engagement in diverse cultural-therapeutic
activities. Lastly, 23 stroke participants (slow and fast stream rehabilitation) were interviewed in order to ascertain their lived experiences after the use of OT-MCS and the data were analysed using thematic analysis.

The integrated analysis demonstrated strong satisfaction and engagement with OT-MCS. The use of the activity catalogue met with positive attitudes from the stroke participants and in particular the collaborative approach of OTs and participants gave meaning to the activities and a sense of
self management. In addition in the fast stream rehabilitation participants reported satisfaction
with the transferability of the activities to the home and external environment and their relevance to supporting family life.

The OT-MCS for Thai stroke rehabilitation is a comprehensive OT service, which improves the perception of benefit in stroke clients enabling them to perform meaningful and purposeful activities based on their local and regional lifestyles. This culturally appropriate approach helps stroke clients to re-develop their life-skills. Through the use of meaningful and relevant activities which meet their specific needs, stroke clients can lead more satisfying and fulfilling lives.


This paper reflects upon my own uses of photography, which investigates the activity of walking as a means of comprehending, recording and representing the environment as a series of interconnected experiences. Many of my photographic journeys have taken place in the north of England and examine cultural and historic aspects of place through the use of photographic strategies that challenge Cartesian approaches to perspective. The research outlined in this paper reflects upon somatic, psychological and phenomenological experiences of place and their related histories.

Taking the form of an ongoing practice led PhD, the aim of the research is principally to move away from the disembodied or disassociated view of landscape. This distanced view is symptomatic of an adherence to Cartesian perspective, which has its origins in the early technologies of the Camera Obscura, has dominated the medium from Victorian landscape photography through to the present era. As the artist David Hockney acknowledged, 'photographic perspective (…) implies a single fixed point of view, the reverse perspective principle, as rediscovered by cubism, suggests the viewer is in movement and hence implies time'. (1999. p.136). The idea of engaging with a place through movement over duration in addition to the tacit awareness one develops through walking is one that I believe leads to a deeper experience of space and place. My objective is to generate photographic responses that reflect experience and consolidate my position, which is embedded within particular northern locations, while engaging with what Tim Ingold refers to as 'co-presence' (2016 p.8) – walking in the footsteps of others – inhabiting the land rather than occupying it.

This paper discusses these ideas specifically in relation to a series of extended photographic projects in Yorkshire, Lancashire and more recently in Tyne and Wear. This recent project involves tracing the historical pilgrim trail of St Bede, documenting the entire length of the pilgrim trail, which runs from Jarrow to Sunderland passing through rural, urban, suburban and 'non-places' (1995). Adopting non perspectival approaches to photographing these locations, has led me to explore new scopic regimes, a move towards authentic, phenomenological encounters. In practice this has led to the realisation that eliminating or suppressing perspective yields more subjective images that more accurately embody my experiences of the places encountered. The result of this is a series of abstract flat images of 'groundspaces' encountered on the trail.

The resultant photographic images are incorporated into a grid system of sequential and dynamic arrangements that extend narrative possibilities and reflect the processes of navigation on account of their visual resemblance to cartographic grids. Maps and GPS tracking are incorporated into the process as a means of contextualizing my activities within the spaces. The dichotomized experience of passing through physical and virtual pathways, are realized as both cartographic and photographic forms. These interchangeable, hybrid forms engender a wider discourse on post photography, indexicality and post-phenomenological frameworks, which are discussed in the papers concluding chapter.

The research elucidates tacit knowledge gained from my previous projects, as well as documenting and reflecting on the ontologies concerning current practical work in the field of post photography. Related discourses on landscape, psychogeography and human geography are employed to interrogate my own photographic images providing theoretical frameworks, which support findings.


type="main" xml:id="poms12387-abs-0001"> We examine two time-related incentive project management contracts (C1 and C2 contracts) when the manager conducts a reverse auction. Under the C1 contract, the contractor with the lowest bid price wins; however, the manager imposes a linear and symmetric incentive/disincentive for early/late completion according to a pre-specified due date. Under the C2 contract, the winning contractor has the lowest composite score that is based on the quoted price and the quoted due date; however, in addition to the linear and symmetric penalty/incentive, the contractor is subject to an additional penalty for late completion. While the C2 contract is more sophisticated than the C1 contract (in terms of the number of decisions that each party has to make), our analysis reveals that, unless the project is truly urgent, the more complicated C2 contract adds no value to the manager— the simple C1 contract will suffice.


Objective: To describe the epidemiology and analyze the symptoms of the most common diagnosis of patients with "vertigo" who visited the emergency department.
Materials and methods: We reviewed the Epidemiological, transversal, descriptive and retrospective study, in which the records of all patients were evaluated by the otolaryngology service in the emergency department, in a one year period, with a diagnosis of vestibular dysfunction.Results: A total of 182 patients with vertigo, 55 men (30.2%) and 127 women (69.8%) with a mean age of 50 years, with the following diagnoses: Benign postural paroxysmal Vertigo (BPPV) of the posterior semicircular canal (PSCC) (25.27%), vascular (14.28%), metabolic (12.08%), as the most frequent; the most common associated symptoms were neurovegetative (59.34%), vertigo (51.09%), instability (43.95%) and dizziness (38.46%).
Conclusion: Patients suffering from vestibular dysfunction have various symptoms but vertigo is not the most common, The BPPV as marked in literature is the most common diagnosis, however, there are others that should not be ignored.


Does what economies export matter for development? If so, can industrial policies improve on the export basket generated by the market? This book approaches these questions from a variety of conceptual and policy viewpoints. Reviewing the theoretical arguments in favor of industrial policies, the authors first ask whether existing indicators allow policy makers to identify growth-promoting sectors with confidence. To this end, they assess, and ultimately cast doubt upon, the reliability of many popular indicators advocated by proponents of industrial policy. Second, and central to their critique, the authors document extraordinary differences in the performance of countries exporting seemingly identical products, be they natural resources or "high-tech" goods. Further, they argue that globalization has so fragmented the production process that even talking about exported goods as opposed to tasks may be misleading. Reviewing evidence from history and from around the world, the authors conclude that policy makers should focus less on what is produced, and more on how it is produced. They analyze alternative approaches to picking winners but conclude by favoring "horizontal-ish" policies, for instance, those that build human capital or foment innovation in existing and future products, that only incidentally favor some sectors over others.


The anatomical re-investigation of the ovary in the holotype of Gyrogyne subaequifolia W.T.Wang is carried out in order to clarify the ovarian structure of the genus Gyrogyne W.T.Wang (Gesneriaceae), a seemingly unusual ovarian structure according to its original description. The present anatomical re-investigation reveals that the ovary is, in fact, bilocular with a swollen axile placenta in the centre, that is, the median area of the membranous septum. The ovarian structure of G. subaequifolia shows, thus, a common feature frequently observed in the ovaries of Gesneriaceae rather than a unique ovarian characteristic that contributes to the family Gesneriaceae. The systematic placement of Gyrogyne and the relationship between Gyrogyne and allies are discussed. SB03 Not var e of e Y.- Z


An updated H2/O2 kinetic model based on that of Li et al. (Int J Chem Kinet 36, 2004, 566–575) is presented and tested against a wide range of combustion targets. The primary motivations of the model revision are to incorporate recent improvements in rate constant treatment and resolve discrepancies between experimental data and predictions using recently published kinetic models in dilute, high-pressure flames.

Attempts are made to identify major remaining sources of uncertainties, in both the reaction rate parameters and the assumptions of the kinetic model, affecting predictions of relevant combustion behavior. With regard to model parameters, present uncertainties in the temperature and pressure dependence of rate constants for HO2 formation and consumption reactions are demonstrated to substantially affect predictive capabilities at high-pressure, low-temperature conditions. With regard to model assumptions, calculations are performed to investigate several reactions/processes that have not received much attention previously. Results from ab initio calculations and modeling studies imply that inclusion of H + HO2 = H2O + O in the kinetic model might be warranted, though further studies are necessary to ascertain its role in combustion modeling. In addition, it appears that characterization of nonlinear bath-gas mixture rule behavior for H + O2(+ M) = HO2(+ M) in multicomponent bath gases might be necessary to predict high-pressure flame speeds within ∼15%.

The updated model is tested against all of the previous validation targets considered by Li et al. as well as new targets from a number of recent studies. Special attention is devoted to establishing a context for evaluating model performance against experimental data by careful consideration of uncertainties in measurements, initial conditions, and physical model assumptions. For example, ignition delay times in shock tubes are shown to be sensitive to potential impurity effects, which have been suggested to accelerate early radical pool growth in shock tube speciation studies. In addition, speciation predictions in burner-stabilized flames are found to be more sensitive to uncertainties in experimental boundary conditions than to uncertainties in kinetics and transport. Predictions using the present model adequately reproduce previous validation targets and show substantially improved agreement against recent high-pressure flame speed and shock tube speciation measurements. Comparisons of predictions of several other kinetic models with the experimental data for nearly the entire validation set used here are also provided in the Supporting Information. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 44: 444–474, 2012


The application of biotechnology to agriculture is highly controversial between consumers and lawmakers across the globe, especially in the case of Genetically Modified Foods (GMFs). Consumer attitudes toward GMFs are largely negative in the developed nations. However, studies conducted in Lesser Developed Countries (LDCs) find that consumer attitudes toward GMFs are positive in some cases. Using a theoretical model of the political economy of the media, we argue that the increased time cost of obtaining media information or 'stories' in LDCs leads to a lower consumption on average of biotechnology information, especially negative information than that of the developed countries. In addition, ideological influences on media firms in many LDCs leads to differing supplies of biotechnology stories between LDCs and developed nations. Hence, reduced consumption of biotechnology media stories and the potential for increased positive stories contributes to lower risk perceptions among consumers in LDCs.


The Faculty Notebook is published periodically by the Office of the Provost at Gettysburg College to bring to the attention of the campus community accomplishments and activities of academic interest. Faculty are encouraged to submit materials for consideration for publication to the Associate Provost for Faculty Development. Copies of this publication are available at the Office of the Provost. This newsletter is available at The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College: http://cupola.gettysburg.edu/facnotebook/44


This was an exhibition of previously unseen archives of the NSK Slovenian art collective widely seen as the last avant-garde movement of the 20th Century. The show included work across visual arts, theatre, music, graphics and architecture, and examined a little known relationship between London and the former Yugoslavia.

This exhibition was in co-operation with Tate Modern and Calvert 22 Gallery, which led to a three part London wide NSK presentation where CHELSEA space focused on the archive material, Calvert 22 showed contemporary work by some of the collective, and Tate Modern hosted a symposium and concert.

Whilst the exhibition dealt with historic material, it raised questions about the NSK movement's contemporary relevance since the fall of Yugoslavia and the Soviet block. The art of the Balkans is still not widely accepted into the art historical cannon and this exhibition attempted to better understand the critique of totalitarianism from artists within a socialist republic.


Very short time series (with lengths of approx- imately 40 s or 5 7 wave periods) of wind velocity fluc- tuations and wave elevation were recorded simultaneously and investigated using the wavelet bispectral analysis. Rapid changes in the wave and wind spectra were detected, which were found to be intimately related to significant energy transfers through transient quadratic wind-wave and wave- wave interactions. A possible pattern of energy exchange between the wind and wave fields was further deduced. In particular, the generation and variation of the strong wave- induced perturbation velocity in the wind can be explained by the strengthening and diminishing of the associated quadratic interactions, which cannot be unveiled by linear theories. On small time scales, the wave-wave quadratic interactions were as active and effective in transferring energy as the wind- wave interactions. The results also showed that the wind tur- bulence was occasionally effective in transferring energy be- tween the wind and the wave fields, so that the background turbulence in the wind cannot be completely neglected. Al- though these effects are all possibly significant over short times, the time-localized growth of the wave spectrum may not considerably affect the long-term process of wave devel- opment.


Over 300,000 children are estimated to be conscripted participants in conflicts throughout the world. Depending on the particular armed group that employs child soldiers, girls represent 6 to 50% of child soldiers. Despite this prevalence of involvement, the experience of girls as soldiers in war and political conflict has rarely been investigated. In order to build a foundation for more focused study on girl soldier experiences, this literature review aims to provide a comprehensive report of girl soldiers throughout the world. The analysis focused on three aspects of conflict experience: (1) how girls become affiliated with armed groups; (2) their experiences while associated with armed groups; and (3) the effects of participation in war. Particular attention was given to whether girls' experiences vary across geographic area. Generally, in African conflicts (e.g., Sierra Leone and northern Uganda) girls become affiliated with armed groups through abduction. Often, they experience sexual abuse and, as a result, are stigmatized by their families and communities when they return home. In contrast, in the Americas (e.g., Colombia and El Salvador) and in Indonesia/South Pacific (e.g., Philippines and Sri Lanka) girls become involved as an escape from unpleasant home lives. These girls are less likely to experience sexual abuse, and do not experience the same stigmatization from families and communities. Often these girls are taught a skill, such as nursing, while with an armed group but are unable to find job opportunities post-war using their newly acquired skill. The apparent variations in girls' experiences in armed conflict have implications for both research and application in helping focus attention on the conflict-specific aspects of girls' experiences. In some regions both research and applied efforts need to focus on the effects and treatment of sexual abuse, whereas in other conflicts, time and resources would be better spent at understanding and promoting female integration into the postconflict occupational sphere.


Title of dissertation: STORAGE-CENTRIC WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS FOR SMART BUILDINGS Baobing Wang, Doctor of Philosophy, 2013 Dissertation directed by: Professor John S. Baras Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering In the first part of the dissertation, we propose a model-based systems design framework, called WSNDesign, to facilitate the design and implementation of wireless sensor networks for Smart Buildings. We apply model-based systems engineering principles to enhance model reusability and collaboration among multiple engineering domains. Specifically, we describe a hierarchy of model libraries to model various behaviors and structures of sensor networks in the context of Smart Buildings, and introduce a system design flow to compose both continuous-time and event-triggered modules to develop applications with support for performance evaluation. WSNDesign can obtain early feedback and high-confidence evaluation of a design without requiring any intrusive and costly deployment. In addition, we develop a graphical tool that exposes a sequence of design choices to system designers, and provides instant feedback about the influence of a design decision on the complexity of system analysis. Our tool can facilitate comprehensive analysis and bring competitive advantage to the systems design workflow by reducing costly unanticipated behaviors. One of the main challenges to design efficient sensor networks is to collect and process the data generated by various sensor motes in Smart Buildings efficiently. To make this task easier, we provide an abstraction for data collection and retrieval in the second part of the dissertation. Specifically, we design and implement a distributed database system, called HybridDB, for application development. HybridDB enables sensors to store large-scale datasets in situ on local NAND flash using a novel resource-aware data storage system, and can process typical queries in sensor networks extremely efficiently. In addition, HybridDB supports incremental -approximate querying that enables clients to retrieve a just-sufficient set of sensor data by issuing refinement and zoom-in sub-queries to search events and analyze sensor data efficiently. HybridDB can always return an approximate dataset with guaranteed maximum absolute (L∞-norm) error bound, after applying temporal approximate locally on each sensor, and spatial approximate in the neighborhood on the proxy. Furthermore, HybridDB exploits an adaptive error distribution mechanism between temporal approximate and spatial approximate for trade-offs of energy consumption between sensors and the proxy, and response times between the current sub-query and the following sub-queries. The implementation of HybridDB in TinyOS 2.1 is transformed and imported to WSNDesign as a part of the model libraries. STORAGE-CENTRIC WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS FOR SMART BUILDINGS


A structural vector autoregression model is developed to analyze the dynamics of bond spreads among a sample of mature and developing countries during periods of financial stress in the last decade. The model identifies and quantifies the contribution on bond spreads from global market conditions (including funding liquidity, market liquidity, as well as credit and volatility risks), contagion effects, and idiosyncratic factors. While idiosyncratic factors explain a large amount of the changes in bond spreads over the sample, global market risk factors are fundamental driving forces during periods of stress. The relative importance of the different risk factors changes substantially depending on the crisis episode. Contagion from emerging markets becomes small or non-existent when global financial market risks explicitly are taken into account.


Central Pattern Generators (CPGs) are biological neural circuits capable of producing coordinated rhythmic outputs in the absence of rhythmic input. As a result, they are responsible for most rhythmic motion in living organisms. This rhythmic control is broadly applicable to fields such as locomotive robotics and medical devices. In this paper, we explore the possibility of creating a self-sustaining CPG network for reinforcement learning that learns rhythmic motion more efficiently and across more general environments than the current multilayer perceptron (MLP) baseline models. Recent work introduces the Structured Control Net (SCN), which maintains linear and nonlinear modules for local and global control, respectively. Here, we show that time-sequence architectures such as Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) model CPGs effectively. Combining previous work with RNNs and SCNs, we introduce the Recurrent Control Net (RCN), which adds a linear component to the, RCNs match and exceed the performance of baseline MLPs and SCNs across all environment tasks. Our findings confirm existing intuitions for RNNs on reinforcement learning tasks, and demonstrate promise of SCN-like structures in reinforcement learning.


ABSTRACT: This paper presents a modeling approach based on a geographic information system (GIS) to estimate the variability of on‐ground nitrogen loading and the corresponding nitrate leaching to ground water. The methodology integrates all point and nonpoint sources of nitrogen, the national land cover database, soil nitrogen transformations, and the uncertainty of key soil and land use‐related parameters to predict the nitrate mass leaching to ground water. The analysis considered 21 different land use classes with information derived from nitrogen sources such as fertilizer and dairy manure applications, dairy lagoons, septic systems, and dry and wet depositions. Simulations were performed at a temporal resolution of one month to capture seasonal trends. The model was applied to a large aquifer of 376 square miles in Washington State that serves more than 100,000 residents with drinking water. The results showed that dairy manure is the main source of nitrogen in the area followed by fertilizers. It was also seen that nitrate leaching is controlled by the recharge rate, and there can be a substantial buildup of soil nitrogen over long periods of time. Uncertainty analysis showed that denitrification rate is the most influential parameter on nitrate leaching. The results showed that combining management alternatives is a successful strategy, especially with the use of nitrification inhibitors. Also, change in the land use pattern has a noticeable impact on nitrate leaching.


For sixty years a civil war has raged in the jungles of Burma. One of the lingering questions asked by human rights advocates and the international community is to what extent war crimes have been committed and whether the actions by the Burma Army amount to genocide. Based on significant data collected in the field over the past decade, this article argues that forced displacement of the Karen ethnic group does arise to the international standard of genocide. Tracking Genocide explores the theory and application of genocidal intent through the inference of a systematic plan to destroy an ethnic group or nationality.


Objective To quantitatively assess measures of static balance and limits of stability (LOS) in an aquatic environment compared to on land. Methods Fifteen healthy, young adults (23 2 years) performed 90 s static balance trials on land and aquatic immersion at two different depths (greater trochanter, xiphoid process). Measures of 95% ellipse area and center of pressure (CoP) mean velocity were computed from the force data. Additionally, participants completed a visual analog scale (VAS) of perceived stability for each environmental condition. Following the static balance trials, participants performed anterior-posterior and medial-lateral LOS assessments. Results Significant differences in 95% ellipse area and CoP mean velocity were observed for the aquatic environments compared to on land (p < 0.05). VAS data revealed significant differences in perceived balance in an aquatic environment compared to on land (p < 0.05). LOS assessments revealed a significant difference in maximum CoP excursions in an aquatic environment compared to land (p < 0.05). Conclusion When participants performed a quiet double-leg stance task, measures of balance and perceived stability were inferior when the task was performed in water than on land. Additionally, participants achieved greater CoP maximum excursions in the water compared to on land. Although future research is needed to assess factors influencing balance in the water, the added instability in the water is clinically relevant. Results of


I study the returns to investments in durable assets since the start of the twentieth century. These assets are generally characterized by relatively low capital gains and substantial price fluctuations. The rate of value appreciation has been more pronounced for collectibles, but transaction costs are very high in such markets as well. However, a rental income yield can add substantially to the returns on housing and land, and likewise owners of collectibles may receive a significant emotional dividend. Because of the lack of such an income or utility stream, gold, silver, and diamonds appear to have been particularly bad long-term investments (at least if not held in the form of jewelry). Finally, durable assets are unlikely to be good inflation hedges, but they may still help diversifying a portfolio because of the imperfect correlations with financial assets.


In recent years, remote imaging systems have been used for a wide range of applications in geological exploration, oceanography, meteorology, military reconnaissance, etc. Differing from the normal cameras, the remote imaging systems capture still scene with the camera in uniform motion. With the limitation of the system moving velocity, only a short integration time is allowed, which will result in a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in dark illumination conditions. Therefore, time-delay-integration (TDI) image sensors are widely applied. In an integration-mode TDI image sensor, the active pixels are placed in more than one row (stage) in across-track direction, with the pixel stages perpendicular to the image sensor movement direction (along-track direction). When the camera system moves at a constant velocity, the pixels are exposed to the same scene stage by stage and the panoramic image in the along-track direction is thus produced. As a result, each pixel stage has contribution to the optical integration, so the effective integration time and the signal strength is enhanced. For the multi-pixel-stage integration mechanism of TDI, the charge-coupled devices (CCDs) offer an effective solution. In CCD image sensors, the photo charge is stored in the potential well of the original pixel following integration, and then transferred out row by row. Meanwhile, the charge of the same column yet different rows can be added together during the transfer operation with higher efficiency. Accordingly, CCDs can perform TDI operation without any external support. Consequently, CCDs still have the largest share of the TDI image sensor market, i even through complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors have increased in popularity in recent years. In most office and industrial applications, TDI cameras are supported by stationary rails and powered by direct current (DC) adapters. Accordingly, the additional motion and power consumption are not serious concerns. Nevertheless, in remote imaging applications, the issues and limitations should be taken into account. Firstly, the satellites which support them are sometimes affected by unforeseen disturbances, such as adjustments of the solar panels, alterations to the momentum wheel and so on, which would introduce residual motion to the across-track direction (vibrations). In TDI CCD sensors, the traveling of the charge pockets on the focal plane should be always aligned with the along-track direction. However, owing to the vibrations, the image produced would be blurred and distorted. Furthermore, miniaturization is a prevailing trend in satellites. Consequently, the batteries and solar panels cannot provide sufficient power for the CCDs, which have higher power supply voltage and power dissipation, to sustain long-term operation. Moreover, the CCDs lack random accessibility and system-on-chip capability. Therefore, based on these factors, TDI CCD sensors have been rendered unsuitable for small satellites. In a attempt to overcome the aforementioned shortcomings, this thesis primarily focuses on the TDI CMOS image sensors. The main contributions can be summarized as four aspects: (1) A TDI CMOS image sensor was proposed with dynamic pipeline adjacent pixel signal transfer. Following the operation of conventional TDI, the photo signal will be shifted stage by stage and a given photodiode will be reset by the previousstage photo signal. Meanwhile, this TDI sensor can also configure effective TDI stages for dynamic range and signal-to-niose ratio optimization, as well as the signal transfer direction to compensate for the vibrations. (2) A TDI architecture with single-ended column-parallel signal accumulators was proposed. The TDI operation will be conducted ii by the off-pixel accumulators, whereby all the photo signals of each TDI stage will be read out after exposure. Accordingly, a 256×8-pixel prototype sensor was designed and fabricated. (3) An online deblurring (ODB) algorithm was proposed to address the blurred image issue caused by vibrations, which was subsequently developed into an 8-stage TDI CMOS image sensor with 256 column-parallel signal accumulators. The sensor can compensate for image shifts on the focal plane, enabling the production of sharper images even in scenarios involving complicated vibrations. (4) A two-step analogto-digital convertor (ADC) prediction scheme was proposed for low-power CMOS image sensors, and optimized for TDI sensors. Based on the spatial likelihood of natural scenes, the prediction scheme identifies the most significant bits (MSBs) of a selected pixel using the quantization results of its neighboring pixels in the previous row, which enables a significant reduction in A/D conversion steps on MSBs and power consumption. A 384×256-pixel prototype chip was also developed to verify the scheme. Based on it, an improved TDI CMOS image sensor with high dynamic range was designed.


»Diskurse, Konventionen und Kritik – Perspektiven des institutionalistischen Ansatzes des Economie des conventions«. The institutionalist approach of economics of conventions (EC) was developed in France in the last decades and recombines pragmatist and structuralist concepts. In EC, conventions are not regarded as institutions, but are conceived as interpretative frames how to interpret the meaning of institutions and situations, and how to handle institutions in situations of coordination. The difference between institutions and conventions offers space for "critical movements" and can implement a tension as well as an infrastructure for critique. The article introduces main concepts of EC, which could be applied to the analysis of social critique. In fact, the pragmatist analysis of critical moments and practices of justification was one of the birth moments of EC and EC has developed strategies to analyze and explain social change. The article presents some newer reflections of EC on power and dispositive. Furthermore, the article relates the Foucaultian notions of discourse and power to EC's analysis of critique and social change. Finally, a current strand of EC research is discussed, which is the study and critique of neoliberalism and the role of the state.


In the past year, initiatives to block judicial consideration of foreign or international law have been introduced in over half of the states. The proposals vary, ranging from the "softer" versions, which codify existing common law principles governing judicial decision making to the more extreme versions, which aggressively bar all consideration of foreign and international law, virtually eliminating judicial discretion regarding the relevance of such law in a particular case. This Essay contends that in all their variations, these anti-transnational law measures pose serious and fundamental challenges to the American judicial system. They undermine our federalist system by ignoring federal constitutional text specifying that ratified treaties and international customary law are the "supreme Law of the Land," to be enforced by federal and state courts alike. Moreover, the uncertainty they create could have dramatic impacts on the nation's ability to conduct foreign policy, international trade, and national security. The result of these proposals, should they be enacted, would likely be frustration of international business transactions, elimination of judicial discretion in individual cases, and restriction on individual freedom to contract. Far from preserving American values, these proposals would serve to undermine them.


Abstract:A great deal has been written about authoritarianism in Ba'thist Iraq as a domestic phenomenon. However, the Iraqi Ba'th archives reveal that migration out of Iraq during Saddam Husayn's presidency (1979–2003) pushed the regime to extend its authoritarianism to cover the growing Iraqi diaspora. This article describes the development of the resulting transnational authoritarian system and investigates its implications for Iraqi history as well as international politics.


OBJECTIVEMRI scans obtained within 48-72 hours (early postoperative MRI [epMRI]), prior to any postoperative reactive changes, are recommended for the accurate assessment of the extent of resection (EOR) after glioma surgery. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) enables ischemic lesions to be detected and distinguished from the residual tumor. Prior studies, however, revealed that postoperative reactive changes were often present, even in epMRI. Although intraoperative MRI (iMRI) is widely used to maximize safe resection during glioma surgery, it is unclear whether iMRI is superior to epMRI when evaluating the EOR, because it theoretically shows fewer postoperative reactive changes. In addition, the ability to detect ischemic lesions using iMRI has not been investigated.METHODSThe authors retrospectively analyzed prospectively collected data in 30 patients with glioma (22 and 8 patients with enhancing and nonenhancing lesions, respectively) who underwent tumor resection. These patients had received preoperative MRI within 24 hours prior to surgery, postresection radiological evaluation with iMRI during surgery, and epMRI within 24 hours after surgery, with all neuroimaging performed using identical 1.5T MRI scanners. The authors compared iMRI or epMRI with preoperative MRI, and defined a postoperative reactive change as a new postoperative enhancement or T2 high-intensity area (HIA), if this lesion was outside of the preoperative original tumor location. In addition, postoperative ischemia was evaluated on DWI. The iMRI and epMRI findings were compared in terms of 1) postoperative reactive changes, 2) evaluation of the EOR, and 3) presence of ischemic lesion on DWI.RESULTSIn patients with enhancing lesions, a new enhancement was seen in 8 of 22 patients (36.4%) on iMRI and in 12 of 22 patients (54.5%) on epMRI. In patients with nonenhancing lesions, a new T2 HIA was seen in 4 of 8 patients (50.0%) on iMRI and in 7 of 8 patients (87.5%) on epMRI. A discrepancy between the EOR measured on iMRI and epMRI was noted in 5 of the 22 patients (22.7%) with enhancing lesions, and in 3 of the 8 patients (37.5%) with nonenhancing lesions. The occurrence of ischemic lesions on DWI was found in 5 of 30 patients (16.7%) on iMRI, whereas it was found in 16 of 30 patients (53.3%) on epMRI (p = 0.003); ischemic lesions were underestimated on iMRI in 11 patients.CONCLUSIONSOverall, given the lower incidence of postoperative reactive changes on iMRI, it was superior to epMRI in evaluating the EOR in patients with glioma, both with enhancing and nonenhancing lesions. However, because ischemic lesions can be overlooked on iMRI, the authors recommend only the additional DWI scan during the early postoperative period. Clinicians need to be mindful about not overestimating the presence of residual tumor on epMRI due to the high incidence of postoperative reactive changes.


Fresh beef is a highly perishable food. It has a shelf life of one day at
ambient temperature and a few days at refrigerated temperature. This
study was conducted with the objective of extending the shelf life of fresh
beef by infusing organic acids such as citric, tartaric, acetic and lactic
acids, and combination of the organic acids with sodium chloride. Fresh
beef (longissmus do@ purchased from the local market were sliced and
were infused with citric, acetic, lactic and tartaric acids in concentration
of 0.5%, 0.75% and 1 %, and combination of 1.00% of citric and acetic
acids with and without sodium chloride by placing samples in vacuum
desiccators and pulling the vacuum to 29.5 in. Hg. for 20 min.,. All
samples were packed in vacuum packs (22 (L) x 18 (w) crn. and stored at S°C for 28 days. pH, A, Total Plate Count (TPC), Thiobarbaturic acid
values, Hunter colour values , instrumental texture, proximate
composition were determined. The pH values of treated samples
dropped from the initial pH of 5.30 (untreated) to 4. 20 - 4. 47 and upon
storage, the pH values of all sampies increased gradually. The TPC
values were lower than 10' CFUlg on day 16, 20 and 28 in samples
treated with 0.5%, 0.75% and 1.00% acids, respectively. The proximate
com p s iti on of treated samples was affected by infusion process.
The instrumental texture of fresh beef was harder upon treatment. The
maximum shelf life of treated beef was 12 - 24 days for samples treated
with 0.5% of all acids, 16 - 24 days for samples treated with 0.75% and
20 - 28 for samples treated with 1.00%. Citric acid in concentration of
1.00% gave the best effect which was followed by acetic acid.
In citric and acetic acids and citric and acetic acids with sodium chloride
combinations, the later in the ratio of 2:1 was more effective in
decreasing the initial pH of fresh beef immediately after infusion.
Increasing concentration of NaCl in the infusion solution resulted in the
smaller decrease in the pH values. The TPC value was observed in
samples treated with 2:1 citric: acetic acids. The growth of S.aureus and
E.coli 0157:H7 were significantly (B0.05) decreased by 0.85 loglo and
0.73 logto, respectively. The initial thiobarbituric acid value in untreated
fresh beef was 0.735 mg MDNkg which significantly (pc 0.05) decreased in all treated samples. At the end of storage study, lowest TBA values
were obtained in samples treated with 2:l citric and acetic. The increase
in the addition of NaCl caused a parallel increased in TBA values. For
colour, Hunter 'b' and 'L' values increased with storage time while 'a'
decreased significantly (R0.05). The processed beef burger during
chilled storage had a storage life of 8 days.


Because of their close physical relationship, it is often assumed that there are strong functional relationships between sediments and biota. Yet, there have been few studies of the characteristics of sediments over multiple spatial scales, despite evidence that micro-algae and macroand meiofauna vary greatly at cm to km scales. This study quantified variability in macrofauna, micro-algae, and physical and biochemical properties of sediments over scales from 50 cm to km. The benthos was most variable at small scales and, even where there were large mean differences in abundance at large scales, these were small compared to the variation from plot to plot along a shore. Only 1 of 24 analyses showed larger variation at the scale of km than that found at 50 cm. Some measures of microphytobenthos showed large variation at the scale of 100s m or more, but other measures of the same flora did not show similar patterns. Concentrations of sand were consistent at different depths and at large scales, but concentrations of mud were more variable within than among shores. Neither sand nor mud correlated significantly with most biochemical properties of sediments. For sediments, variation at the scale of km was only larger than that of 50 cm in 13 of 57 analyses. To understand the relative importance of ecological processes in determining distributions and abundances, it is important to get quantitative data on the scales at which organisms or habitats vary. These are the scales at which ecological processes are likely to have large effects because large-scale processes are unlikely to explain variation at much smaller scales. The importance of small-scale variability in sediments and the associated biota is discussed in terms of sampling protocols for understanding ecological processes, or for assessing impact or restoration.


In dialectology, it is often necessary to obtain a measure for the level of dialectal accent shown by individual speakers, especially if statistical analysis is needed. This also applies to studies on standard variants which are "coloured" by regiolects or dialects. In this paper I explore the feasibility of letting native speakers judge the degree of accentedness in Low-Alemannic German. Specifically, I investigate whether listeners who speak a similar dialect as the speakers who are evaluated assign different judgements than listeners who do not. A novel methodology is applied, which involves an on-line elicitation task using audio files. This experiment shows that listeners who speak different varieties of German form a homogeneous group, with respect to rating the level of accent.


Obsidian pyroclasts, a common component of rhyolitic tephra, preserve a range of volatile contents, which has been used to infer syneruptive conditions of magmatic degassing. Here we show that the textures of obsidian pyroclasts provide information on physical mechanisms of magma flow and degassing along conduit margins. Obsidian clasts often contain xenoliths, sheared bands of lithic powder, and textures consistent with magma autobrecciation. These features suggest that pyroclastic obsidian primarily forms near conduit walls where magma fragments and reanneals during ascent. We use these observations to develop a degassing model for pyroclastic obsidian from the A.D. 1340 Mono Craters, California, eruptions. We suggest that degassing was buffered by continual flux of vapor through highly permeable, brecciated magma along conduit walls. Continuous reequilibration of magma with vapor of relatively constant composition not only explains the CO 2 -H 2 O and δD-H 2 O data from Mono Craters pyroclastic obsidian, but also requires much lower magmatic CO 2 values than the commonly accepted model of closed-system degassing. Taken together, the chemical and physical evidence suggests that magma brecciation along conduit walls aids the degassing of ascending rhyolite.


ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS. mechanized planter, seeder SUMMARY. A mechanical planter was developed to sow seed of baby lima beans (Phaseolus lunatus) in small plots. The mechanical seeder allowed small plots to be quickly and consis- tently seeded at a fi xed spacing. Seeds were manually spread along a 10-ft (3.0 m) base plate containing 50 holes of slightly larger diameter than the seed length and at the desired seed spacing (2.4 inches (6 cm)). Once all the holes were fi lled, a slider plate below the base plate containing holes of the same diameter and spacing, but which were slightly offset, was slid horizontally so that the holes of the base and slider plates aligned and the seeds dropped to the bottom of the furrow. Compared to manual plant- ing, the mechanical planter increased the precision of seed placement and reduced the time needed to plant 50 seeds. The planter was easy to use and transport, and was inexpensive.


Some scholars defend the contract law's ban on punitive damage awards on the grounds that breach of contract, in itself, is not morally wrong. In this Article, I offer two responses. First, I refute one prevalent argument of Steven Shavell's in support of this view. Shavell argues that contractual breach is not immoral in those cases in which the legal regime would offer expectation damages because the contracting parties would not have agreed to require performance had they explicitly deliberated about the circumstances occasioning the breach. I criticize his argument for failing to justify this hypothetical-contract approach and, in any case, for failing to apply the approach properly. Second, I provide some arguments for the general default interpretation that, unless explicitly delineated otherwise, a commitment to perform, morally, entails a commitment to perform rather than a commitment to perform or pay.


Background

The catheter-related bladder discomfort (CRBD) of male patients is a common clinical problem, albeit lacking effective solutions. The present study aimed to investigate whether dexmedetomidine intravesical instillation alleviates the postoperative urinary discomfort in male patients with catheter under general anesthesia.

Methods

This single-blinded, prospective, randomized study included a total of 167 male patients American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I-II scheduled for surgery under general anesthesia were allocated to two groups: 84 in the dexmedetomidine (Dex) group and 83 in the control group. Dex group patients received intravesical instillation of the drug 0.5 μg/kg and normal saline 20 mL, while the control group received intravesical instillation of 20 mL normal saline. The catheter was clamped for 30 min after intravesical instillation for all patients. Bladder stimulation scales and urethra pain numerical rating scale (NRS) scores were measured at admittance to post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) (T0), intravesical instillation (T1), 30 min (T2), 60 min (T3), 2 h (T4) after intravesical instillation, discharged from PACU (T5), and 6 h (T6) and 24 h (T7) after the operation. Patient satisfaction at discharge from PACU and 24 h post-operation were compared between the two groups.

Results

Bladder stimulation scales and urethra pain NRS scores after 30 min of dexmedetomidine intravesical instillation to 24 h post-operation were significantly lower than the control group (p<0.001), and patient satisfaction was higher at discharge from PACU and 24 h post-operation (p<0.001). No differences were detected in Steward score out of PACU (p=0.213) and from the time of the end of operation to fully awake (p=0.417).

Conclusion

Dex intravesical instillation reduces postoperative urinary discomfort and urethra pain and improves satisfaction in male patients under general anesthesia.